32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Long Island Love Affair

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman start with Matthew Schaefer’s memorable “flu game” and Kyle’s recent interview, before discussing the impact Schaefer has already had on Long Island. The guys run through injury concerns around Gabriel Landeskog and Devon Toews (19:37), surprising seasons from the Penguins and Sharks (23:39), Darren Raddysh’s breakout in Tampa (27:21), and a rough night for Luke Hughes as New Jersey continues to feel the fallout of missing out on Quinn Hughes (29:28). They touch on a strong Canadiens road trip with Juraj Slafkovský coming into his own (42:38), trade and contract chatter surrounding Kiefer Sherwood and Andrew Mangiapane (49:23), and mounting frustration in Winnipeg amid a nine-game skid (1:00:03). Elliotte also clarifies Olympic officiating comments ahead of Milan (1:02:36), while the Final Thought reflects on Canada’s loss to Czechia in the World Junior semifinal (1:13:11).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:22:02). In the final segment, Kyle and Elliotte speak with Toronto Maple Leafs legend Matts Sundin after Auston Matthews broke his franchise goals record (1:41:38) and we announce the winners of the tickets to our live show in Moncton on Hockey Day in Canada. Today we highlight Hamilton pop group Superstar Crush and their track U Fold, I Fold. Check out their music here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.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

We have drawn five names. Okay. How many people got it right? Honestly, Elliot. Five. No way. Yeah. We got a good number of submissions.

Okay. We have five pairs to give away. And honest to goodness, we got five correct answers. Welcome to a Monday edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. I'm Shemati, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukascus with you. Once again, we are recording this late in the first. evening on Sunday night, Mr. Friedman, and there were some banner, or as you put out over the weekend, banger finishes, just on Sunday alone. World Juniors, we'll get to Canada, check you a little

bit later. There was the Sunday nighter in the NFL, Steelers and Ravens was wild. The games almost ended simultaneously. I don't know if you saw in the PWHL, Montreal, Victoire, and Minnesota. Crazy finish to there. Marie-Philippe Palin had her fingerprints all over that as you can well imagine great overtime finish after a late time goal in montreal there on sunday so how are you feeling as we settle into another edition of the pod after soaking all of that in over the weekend vikings missed the playoffs i've come to grips with that i knew that was going to happen then i see that the packers and the bears are playing next week between the packers and you and the Bears and Renault-Lau-Vois,

I hope everybody loses. So in order to make myself feel better, I am cheering for Aaron Rogers to last longer than the Packers and the Bears because that would be torture for everybody involved. So if I'm going to be miserable, I want everyone else to be miserable too. Such bad teammate behavior from you,

here. It's just unbelievable. I hope everybody takes this in. The true colors of you are coming through. All you need is some tough results for your Vikings, and the true colors always shine through. Better late than never. The question I actually had

for you was, how do you feel? Man, that was, first of all, where I was on Saturday night, phenomenal game. Well, yes. That was special to be a part of. But I was worried for your health, because the way you leached on to Matthew Schaefer, who was battling some kind of cold or flu.

I didn't even know until we started. I said to myself, Kyle has glommed on to Schaefer so much, trying to catch a little bit of that aura and steal it for himself, which you need, by the way. I thought for sure. He's got a lot to give. Yes. He won't even notice that some of it is missing. He's got so much of it. I thought for sure, by the time you got back to Calgary on Sunday night, you would have a tickle in your throat because you had caught. Schaefer's cold. No, actually, I feel all right right now. I came home to sickness that was already starting in the house. So I'm kind of walking around carefully. But anyway, I guess it comes to the territory. Tell us about it.

Tell us about it. What was that night like on Long Island in Belmont, whatever? As you know, Elliot, like working when you do games ringside or when the panel's on site, it's really cool when, you know, the stars that are on the marquee going in deliver like beyond what you're kind of anticipating or maybe hoping for as you're watching the game, whether a broadcaster or even a fan, right? So, of course, it's Austin Matthews with the chance to take Sundeen's record and surpass 420 goals in a Maple Leaf uniform. He does that. Vintage Matthews actually should mention we have Sundeen coming up later on in the podcast. He's going to join us to talk about his record being broken by number 34. So that was cool.

And then you've got Schaefer. And we've seen it from afar. It's just felt different around there since he's come. come on to the scene. You could hit in the crowd. He has changed the franchise. As we put it during the show, it's like a Schaefer shockwave through Long Island. And it was, it was something to behold and see in person.

So the number I was given, 30% of Islanders jersey sales to this point in the season have been Schaefer's number 48. And I have to be honest, looking around UBS. Like, that number feels small. Like, you would think it would be, I wouldn't be shocked if it was. Like 97% because of everybody's wearing one. Yes. It's incredible. Like apparently, Elliot, the team store there, they could, leading up to the holidays,

could not keep up with the demand of how many fans wanted a jersey for a Christmas gift or just to have. So that gives you a little bit of a glimpse of how much the love affair has taken hold there between the player and the market and so I talked a little bit with a member of the family there earlier in the day and he was saying like it's great

Was it his dad? No, it was his brother. It was his brother Johnny. So actually I've got something a little bit more about Johnny later in the thought line later on with him. But it's just neat because you know, like he's,

there's a bit of an age gap there, right? Nine years I think between him and Matthew and, and, uh, And you could tell he's very much like, we're keeping the situation grounded here. Not that he necessarily feels he needs to because I think Matthew's got a very good head on his shoulders as is.

But even he marveled. Like when they came, him and his dad, Todd came down for some games early on in the year. And some of the things that the fans were saying to them, like he was shocked that they even knew who they were. You know what I mean? It was really, really cool to see. And just the, A, the ovation he got in the starting lineup was different than all the others.

And the pop in the building when he scored not only the tie of the game, but then in overtime. I haven't had the pleasure yet of working a playoff game in that building or at Nassau Coliseum before it. But you could sense of get a little taste of what those nights are like because it was really going. going off, really going off. And there's something, our broadcast location there where I was, I was kind of at the top of the 100 level in one of the end zones. And, you know, you could just get in a chance to talk to some of, whether it was the arena staff workers or Islanders fans there, it was almost like, it was a big point of pride for them to be like, you see? Like, look, look who we get to watch here now. Like they just, it was like, we can't wait to show off this, this new kid that we've got here that we absolutely adore and is lighting it up.

So it was a real treat. Austin Matthews delivered, Matthew Schaefer delivered. It was a heck of a show. And it was neat how we called a shot looking for the towel to Biazza and Ron and everybody in the pregame show. And he certainly earned it by night's end. Whatever it is, he's got it. He's magnetic. And the moment he was picked and the story about his family and he referenced his mother again, his mother's strength.

Sometimes an arena doesn't come across on TV as well as it does when you're there. One of the arenas I think is kind of like that is the one in Edmonton. I've been in that rink in Edmonton when it's going bonkers and it doesn't always come across on television, I've been told. But that arena, Kyle, you could tell that place was Bedlam on Saturday night. And you know what I think the thing that Schaefer has really changed about the Islanders as a franchise is that the islandish fans, the last few years, whenever something is wrong or went wrong, they would be like, this is a disaster. We are screwed. We will never be able to overcome this. And this year, like, you take a look at the last few weeks.

Sorokin had been out of the lineup. Kyle Palmeri got a pretty serious injury, made an under. unbelievable play, but he had a pretty serious injury. Now with this kid, they think they can overcome anything. Like Austin Matthews, it's funny, Austin Matthews sets the record for leaf goals. He has a massive night as he's suddenly red hot, but it doesn't matter. Schaefer overcomes that. The last time I may believe had a record setting night, they played the Islanders.

That was Sundin. He set the record for goals. and points in the same night, Darrell Sittler beat him, and they beat the Islanders eight to one. Like, this was a night where you would think Matthews could have scored 25 goals and Schaefer was going to score 26.

It just wasn't going to matter. Like, it was, it was an awesome, awesome evening to watch. And I'll tell you a funny story, and I saw it happen with you there. Some Islander fans put on social that they could tell Schaefer at the end of the game, He was waiting for Shannon Hogan to come out to do an interview with them because whenever a game ends like that, he does his interview with Shannon Hogan. But not tonight because uncivilrous Kyle Baccoskis with the big shot national broadcaster had walked in and said, oh no, we are doing Schaefer tonight.

And so he had to come off and talk to you first and get his towel. Now, I'll tell you something. This is a story. This has happened before to me. You remember that double hat trick night, right? Yeah, the playoffs, right? 100%. So at the end of that game, the capitals were,

the game was in Washington, and the capitals were going, the building was going bananas, right? It was, as you would imagine, it was just a great game, a great night. I remember, as a matter of fact, I stayed up to, I was so excited that night, I stayed up to three or four in the morning, like writing a blog about it, which ran the next day because I was like, I have to write

about what I just witnessed. And at the end of the game, the public address announcer in Washington through to live on the ice, here is Alexander Ovechkin. And because we were the national broadcaster that night, we pulled rank. We're like, no, we're getting Ovechkin. so live on the ice whoever was doing the interview had to say I'm here with another capital

and you could tell the audience was disappointed and the next time and I felt badly like it's one of those situations I've always felt there's got to be a way to satisfy every master here like I think on a night like that you'd find a way for someone to do more than one interview it's just the way it worked out at the time

And the next game, O'Vachan had a big game, and we asked for him again. And the PR guy at the time is the great Nate Ewell. I think Sergei was there too, but Sergey wasn't in charge then. It was Nate Ewell. And Nate looked at me and said, you are not getting O'Vatchkin tonight. And I'm like, Nate, we got the first call. And he said to me, you could have the first 500 calls tonight. after what happened last game

Ovetskin's doing the building and I just laughed because you know Nate is like most PR people in this world if they're doing this to you something's coming down from the top telling them that you're doing this so A you're like I'm not going to win this argument anyway

and B you know what sometimes you got to give other people a win right so I always remembered that like that was when I saw that happening Kyle I was like, I remember when I was on this side of that and they said, never again. So you will not be able to steal Matthew Schaefer from Shannon Hogan ever again. Okay, you want me to clarify that or you're just sticking to your story and that'll be fact? I think we should go with my story as fact, but I know we probably should put the correct record in.

What happened? Well, I, first of all, I don't believe Shannon was working. Saturday night. It was a different host on the MSG network. And I don't know what had gone on because she'd worked the previous game when they hosted Utah. So she wasn't there. But they told me, as we're waiting in the hallway, they say, okay, he's going out for first star. He's going to do MSG first.

Then, because we were still waiting on our camera, because we didn't want to break a camera with overtime going on. He'll go in the room quickly because everyone's waiting for him and he'll come out to you guys. I said, no problem. Why an MSG didn't happen, don't know. But apparently up until he was heading out on the ice to be first star, that was part of the plan. So I did not pull rank. I happily took my place in line. Who here listening to this podcast actually buys this story.

You know, I know, Dom knows, our audience knows, Kyle Bacoskis, torpedoed MSG. don't try to drag me down to your level because you ruined 18,000 capitals fans back in the spring of 2009 Kyle was getting more of his airtime with the man of the hour, Matthew Schaefer. Oh, that was not my airtime. Let me assure you. That was just standing aside and tilt the bike over. Yeah, it was a fantastic game to watch. It was a great atmosphere. And you know, the one thing, too, on the winning goal. I assume you used to play dodgeball in gym class, right? Yes. There was always, you know, there'd be the circle and there'd be one of the people

that was supposed to be in the middle and they would hide amongst the people in the circle just to escape getting hit. That's what he reminded me of on the winning goal. He kind of hit over by the linesman and all of a sudden, Kaboom. There he was. Nise and Riley couldn't find him. He hid and he exploited.

was a great game. Great game. And, you know, the other thing, too, about Schaefer is, like, this whole week, it's been about the Olympic team, right? And we know he's one of the alternates, potentially. Devon Taves, on Saturday night in Carolina, he got accidentally tripped up by Nick Eilers. He went into the boards, skates first. He came back and played, and then he didn't play on Sunday night as the avalanche loss in regulation for just the third time this season in Florida. But the avalanche announced it was an upper body injury, not a lower body injury. And the last information I could get before we taped this podcast is we're going to see

what the doctors have to say over the next few days. And I don't know what his status is going to be for the Olympics. I just don't think we have a full picture yet. and we should know or have a better idea sometime later this week. But watching Schaefer have that game, he is so magnetic and so talented. Like, if you look at the stats, he's got the puck on his stick third most in the NHL this year.

Quinn Hughes is number one. He exits the zone. He enters the zone. His percentages are among the best. in the league this year. I know that people are going to be nervous about taking an 18-year-old over there. Whatever it is, he's got it. It's going to be hard for them to say no.

Patrick West said, I'm not playing him 24 plus minutes if I don't think he can defend as well as have the puck on his stick. And boy, did he ever take that game over in the third period? You know what this is with Schaefer, Kyle? It's the Long Island Love Affair. Oh, very nice. How long it takes you come up with that? Actually, it hit me right away.

I'm big on the alliteration. Usually these things start in the summer. Normally you think of that as like a kind of like a May to December romance kind of thing. But no, this is a true hallmark movie Long Island Love Affair. Matthew Schaefer and the Islanders fan base. I'll tell you something this too. If I could just mention this also, Kyle, I think Patrick Waugh,

I think in some level, Schaefer is fortunate that he ended up playing for Waugh. Because Waugh's a gambler. He's a gambler. I don't know if every coach would take the kind of chances with Schaefer that Waugh is. It's a good match. Patrick Waugh is the kind of guy to me who I would look

look at and I would, and he would say, I know this guy is 18. Let's go for it. Right. And also, someone told me there on Saturday, Elliot, like, don't discount the Wah Matthew Darsh dynamic. Like, apparently that's a real solid one out of the gate here. And Darsh's first year as GM, like the, in terms of alignment on how they think, what they believe is important for, for building a winner there. I think that's, been a really positive, positive part of it all, too. Not to say that it wasn't great with Lou or anything, but just new guy comes in, how is it all going to mesh?

And it sounds like that's been rock solid to this point. Well, I do think Lamarillo and Wa had disagreements over how they were going to play. I had heard that. Some players there had told me that, that they knew that there was a bit of a push and pull over the style they play. That's not going to be an issue for Juan Schaefer. And, you know, the other thing is, Taves is a lefty shot,

Schaefer's a lefty shot. So, you know, we'll see. Hopefully, I don't want to see anybody missed the Olympics because of injury. Hopefully, Taves is okay. But if he's not, like, Schaefer did nothing so far. And, you know, he pushed himself onto the list.

And that game on Saturday night, I bet you there's a lot of grizzled hockey watchers out there saying, my goodness, how could you not include them? Really rough night for Colorado with the loss. Not only did his, it was Taves out, but Gabriel Landisog suffered a really ugly looking injury. I think it's ribs. I don't know how serious. You know, another guy, I thought it was interesting.

I can't remember which avalanche player it was, but I saw some sound at the end of the game where one of the avalanche players was saying the Florida guys were asking how Landisg was. Because, you know, everybody respects how hard he fought to come back and what he did to get back. He's one of Sweden's original picks to make the Olympic team. And, you know, if you hurt your ribs, you know, we're four and a half weeks to the first game, right? Yeah, that's not a lot of time. This pod is dropping on January the 5th, so we're basically at 31 days. And it's not a lot of time for a rib injury. So I hope it isn't as bad as it looked for a lot of different reasons.

I don't think Landisog deserves that himself, but everybody wants to see him at the Olympics, and that would be a huge loss for Sweden. You know, the one thing about the avalanche was someone was saying to me on Sunday watching that game, they said, you don't want to see guys get hurt, especially around Olympic time, but he said to me,

it actually might not be a bad thing for Colorado. Like, they've cruised through this season. Like we said, only three regulation losses now after the one with Florida, and it doesn't mean like they have a, worked for it or they haven't earned it, they're dominant for a reason because they're talented and they're good. But someone was saying to me, it's not the worst thing.

As long as you get both these guys back for the Stanley Cup playoffs because you're going to need them. So it's not the worst thing for them to feel a little bit of adversity. And it's always good to have your season go wrong at some point. So you can understand what it takes to crawl out of it so that in the playoffs, when you do get the eventual adversity, you say, okay, we've, we've dealt with this this year. I thought it was an interesting theory. Like, I look around, Kyle, right now, you know, we'll talk about Montreal and a bit. They're going well, but Dallas is going through it right now. They're in probably their

worst stretch of the year. Vegas, I watched the end of their game on Sunday night. You know, maybe I just have to stop watching them because, like, I really like Vegas. I like the way they play, but every game I seem to have watched with them. They got out shot. They had two shots in the third period tonight, and none in overtime, and they lost in Chicago. And some of the games I've watched with the Golden Knights this year

have been some of the worst games I've ever seen them play. So I don't know what's going with them right now. They're just in a bad spot, but this league right now is sort of like you win three, you lose three, you win four, you lose four, you win ten like Buffalo. It finally gets snapped. Columbus ends Buffalo's one streak.

Yeah, and they blow the game to Pittsburgh the next day. They're up four to one and they lose. Like Pittsburgh was the one losing games that way all the time, and now they win one. It's, you know, it's really, it's really wild watching these teams right now, up down, up down, up down. But maybe for the first time all this year, Colorado goes through it. But hopefully that both Landis Gog and Tays can play in the Olympics,

and if not, they'll be ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs. But for the first time all year, you know, Colorado, gets really bad news. No question. So Colorado, I wanted to point this out. I think Mike Kelly put it out there on Saturday. So obviously they are the last team in the league to get to three regulation losses on the year, right? The second last team to get to three regulation losses was Vegas.

That happened to them almost two months ago. November the 6th. Here we are January the 4th and the Avalanche. Edge finally hit three in the regulation loss column. Also, just quickly, Fridge, I got to tell you, we're kind of, we're basically at the halfway point. Everyone's kind of 40, 41, 42 games. The biggest stunner for me this season at the midway point is the fact that the Pittsburgh Penguins are tied for third in their division this deep into the year. Especially as you say, when they went through that week where it was multi-goal cough-ups, multi-goal cough-ups, loss, loss, loss, you thought, okay, they're finished.

They're not. That's been the biggest, biggest surprise and credit to them for any around. You know what I would say my biggest surprise is, is San Jose. My biggest surprise is the Sharks, 43 points and 41 games. As we finish Sunday night, they're technically out of a playoff spot because the Kings have played one fewer game than them. And so have the crack. And both those teams have 43 points. But Seattle's played two last games and the Kings have played one less.

so San Jose is out of the playoffs. I just thought the way they played at the beginning of the year that Kyle, we were, that they were doomed to a bunch of wildly entertaining 8-7 losses, like 60 of them, 68-7 losses this year, where we were going to look at them and say, wow, are they fun to watch, but they cannot win games. And what have they done, Dave? Ascarov looks like a real star.

You know, I'll say this about the sharks. I think they've made a couple of really interesting small moves that are going to set them up for years. And Ascarov is one of them. I think he's a stud. And, you know, they just signed Alexander Vanberg to an extension. And, you know, they're happy not to do it for term. Like, celebrating when they sign him, you know,

what do you think his next contract is going to be? It's going to be like five times 15 or something like that. Like I'm just kind of throwing that out there. But he's, you know, they're going to have to keep money free to extend all their guys, their, their core star players. But they have a, like, I was interested in seeing that Vanberg was the first guy Greer got done. Because if you look at him, he's got a whole lot of guys. He's got a sign.

Like his whole defense, basically, he's got a sign. Right. and make decisions on. So I look at them, and I'm really impressed that they're in the race, because I didn't think they were going to be there. Sellebrini has really dragged them into the fight. Ascarov has really dragged them into the fight, and I'll tell you, I don't know how much you could watch on Saturday afternoon, but Tampa Bay was kind of pushing Seller Brini around a bit, and the sharks turned that into a free-for-all. Reeves, Goodrow, you know, they, they went at the lightning.

I think the lightning were surprised. You know, Hegel was mad. They pounded them. I think they won that game seven to three. Yeah. But those lightning guys, they, the sharks went after them. They went after them hard when they felt Celebrini was getting roughed up. And again, it's the old Anthony Stewart line.

Are you a team or are you a club? And, you know, those, the Goodrow Reeves, those guys were more than happy to rough up some of the lightning when they felt they didn't like the way their guy was getting treated. Yeah, I think I mentioned this earlier in the year, but Ryan Reeves stall right next to Celebrini, I think at home and on the road. And it's not by coincidence either. You also mentioned Tampa Frege. We should shout out Darren Radish, by the way, a hat trick on Saturday. We were given J.J. Mosier, his flowers a couple of weeks ago. he gets the new contract and all well

deserved for the season he's put forth. But how about Darren Radish, an undrafted guy, and for a lightning team that's gone through injuries in its own right on the back end, he's another one that's emerged not out of nowhere. He's been around and been a guy there the last couple of

seasons, but gone to a completely different level this year. So good on him. Unbelievable. And the interesting thing about that is that so he's 29 years old he's an unrestricted free agent after this year he's making $975,000 as you mentioned he's a point per game guy he's got 34 points and 35 games and his agent is Dave Gagne no shrinking violet you know he's going to want to cash in

as will radish it's best chance that would be interesting in Tampa because because Tampa would be a team that historically would say, we've got a line and we're not going over it. And they would be the kind of team that would say they would recognize that as great as this. And you look at it at the last two years. He had 33 points the year before or two years ago. He had 37 points last year. So he's got some offense.

He's already at 34 with half the season still to go. So he's going to set a record. But Tampa's the kind of front office that would say, outlier But as they age And this guy's a fit Like you can imagine inside Lettinger saying this guy is perfect for us

He's thriving with us And Rattish is probably saying they're saying This is perfect for me. I'm thriving here But Tampa's front office would be like Okay We got a line

And I'm very curious to see what the line's going to be there. Great season for him. All right. Let's do some Luke Hughes. Okay. All right. So, yeah, that was a tough one Sunday.

Well, tough two plays. The first one is like, God, you see that happen to guys during the year. It's in the moment reaction. You're trying to clear the puck out of the front of your net. And it just goes the wrong way and it ends up behind your own goalie. uh second one was a tough play and prudential center let him hear it the rest of the night i wasn't watching that game at the time i can't remember what i was watching if it was world juniors or something else but all of a sudden i started getting texts kyle do you see what's happening

in the devils game are you watching the devils tonight i was like no what and people started to tell me what was going on. And I have a few thoughts about this. Number one, I don't believe this is really about Luke Hughes. I believe that Luke Hughes is the conduit and he is the vessel. He had the wrong night at the wrong time. The Devils, as we wake up on Monday morning. They have 46 points in 42 games. There are two points behind Washington for the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and there's three teams between them, Florida, Buffalo, and Boston. The Devils started this year really well, really well. They were beaten up. I think they were 13, 4 and 1. They won their first game after Jack Hughes got hurt. And since then, it's just been

a nightmare. I think they're 9, 14, and one since then. They've been beaten up and, you know, it's interesting. They got their guys back. You know, Jack Hughes came back. Timo Meyer

came back. Gritsuk came back and Keith really likes Gritsuk. You could tell the way he talks about him. And all those guys that played hard or had the bigger, better role when those three players were out, I don't know. if they sagged back or they said,

okay, these guys are back to do the heavy lifting or just the mix isn't right. I don't know what it is, but it hasn't been the same. And you can tell for a while now, especially when they didn't get Quinn, when Quinn went to Minnesota instead of New Jersey, I think everybody knows who watches hockey

that things really turn there. And their fans got angry and they were upset. and it was almost like you were waiting for them to explode. And there's been the reports of guys not willing to wait their no trade, and they're going to have to do something to activate Kovacevic, everything else that's part of this, that perfect storm of frustration boiled over after those two plays, and Luke Hughes became the conduit.

He became the guy. It was as if the devil's fans said, enough is enough, we're letting someone have it tonight, and he's the guy. Now, that's tough to watch. You know, I'll say this. I covered the Maple Leafs. I was early in my career when a Hall of Famer was run out of town. Larry Murphy at the time was 35 years old.

He'd already crossed 1,000. points. He'd already won two Stanley Cups. He gets traded to Toronto. It doesn't work. And they start booing him every time he touched the puck. And I remember I was at the first game where they started doing it. I was covering it for the fan radio the first time they started booing him. And then it started happening all the time. And he, and this. This This is, again, this was a guy who was 35 years old, and he was furious at it. I was in a couple of scrums where he bit his tongue. He just wouldn't say anything, but you could tell how much he seethed at it.

And then, of course, in 1997, he gets traded to Detroit. He goes and he wins the Stanley Cup, and he wins the second one, so he won four. And I remember Ron interviewing him on the ice after he won. And he basically says, isn't this so much better than all that BS I was going through in Toronto? Luke Hughes is 22 years old. You know, like I said, Murphy was 13 years old at the time. Like Jake Allen defended him after the game. You know, Hughes obviously is going to try to roll with it.

My attitude has always been, like I've been through this before when you're that guy on the internet for a day. and all you can do is like grind your way through it. You can't fight with people. Like you need, remember when the Canadians fans were brewing Patrice Breesbois in the exhibition season, Bob Ganey came in and said, we don't need those people here. If you're doing that, I'd rather not even come to the building. And, you know, you need, you can't do that. You need someone else who has to come and do that for you.

Yeah. And he did take questions after the game. He did. Like, he didn't run away. I was, I was really impressed. He didn't run away. But all you can do is sit there and grind your way through it and say to yourself, oh, yeah, like, this is how you feel?

Well, up yours. I'm going to show you that I'm better than this. Or you're wrong about me. Or I don't need to put up with this garbage because I'm just going to play the best I can play. You can't get into a war of words with the fans. And the other thing there is that, you know, Jack really can't do it either. I mean, it's, there almost has to be, whether it's another teammate or another member of the organization, you have two choices here. You can go out and you can say, all right, we're going to ignore this or someone's going to come out hot like Bob Geaney.

And Jake Allen really tried to defend him. But the other thing here I would say is this, is that if I, devil's fans, be careful what you wish for. Like if fans want to boo, fans can boo. I don't like to lecture fans at all about what they do. You pay your money as long as you don't cross a line. You do what you want. Be careful what you wish for here. Because like I said, Larry Murphy went from the target in Toronto to the Stanley Cup.

Seth Jones last year, remember when he spoke out and the Blackhawk fans were like, get this guy out of here? A couple months later, he won a Stanley Cup and now he's going to the Olympics. Luke Hughes is 22 years old. Yes, he's got flaws in his game. Yes, he's got things that he's got to get better at. Maybe you don't like the contract. I mean, what's he supposed to do?

Say no, he got the deal. Of course he's going to say yes to it. But the worst thing you could do is run this guy out of town and watch him become a success somewhere else. And I got to tell you something. You know what I was thinking watching this, Kyle? And I want to stress, this is just me, okay? I've got no intelligence telling me that this is happening. but the thing that I was thinking about watching that

what's Bill Guerin thinking because he's got the other one The vultures will be circling And again, I don't think this is about Luke Hughes As much as I think the devil's fans, they're just mad And he had a rough night, so he got it. Sucks to be that guy. It always sucks when it's you.

And like I said, I've been that guy on the internet before. It's not a lot of fun. You've got to grind your way through it, but that's not a lot of fun. No, not at all, especially even the third goal, the Stankoven goal, and Jake Allen owned it afterwards, but that was a tough one on him too. It's like all three against for New Jersey on Sunday.

You could put the E next to all three of them. or enforced anyways it was just one of those nights in Jersey So yeah of course Like one night where the crowd's getting on Luke Hughes Yeah Are you gonna go okay

Do we have to change something here I don't think that for a second But you talked about the growing frustration Ever since the Quinn Hughes Situation played out And he ended up in Minnesota Not in New Jersey He ends up in Minnesota

Well, you know what, Kyle, I'm glad you went there because the thing that's changed for me this year, I was talking about this with actually BXA the other day, we're just chatting off camera. How many guys have we seen traded this year quickly after it got out that they weren't happy? Dono? Yep. He wasn't happy. Kings weren't happy. Gone. Marchman. He wasn't happy. Cracken weren't happy. Gone.

Quinn Hughes. He wasn't happy. Canucks knew it. We got to deal with this fast. Gone. We'll see what happens with Manjapani. Guts out. He's not happy. Oilers don't see a fit. How long is it going to last? Don't know. So now all of a sudden, just as a reporter, I'm adapting to this too. And I'm not saying, and again, I want to be very clear about this. I have no information that he's unhappy or he wants out or anything like that or the devils want to do it. Like, none of this stuff. But I think it is a fact of life that the league is changing in that way.

The teams, they don't like it when it gets out a player isn't happy because now it's a story now it's everywhere right it's like a it's like a grenade in your dressing room so again like maybe this turns out to be a one-off and we all wake up tomorrow and we all have a great day except for this stupid snowstorm that's supposed to hit Toronto again but and we all look back at this and we laugh and we say oh remember that funny never happened again but I'm just saying like as a reporter now one thing this year has taught me is

people move fast well that's why I just when I was kind of getting at their fridge like the amount of the growing volume of frustration in that market like is that an organization do you believe for a second

that if it gets loud enough they feel we've got to do something it's it's a great question i'm sure everybody there feels the heat i just think when you look at their cap situation they're going to have to do something yeah so the short answer is yes but because i think the math dictates it but nobody there feels comfortable right now it's i mean look i mean every week it's another team like two weeks ago was toronto now you know before that it was Vancouver, then it's Toronto, now it's Jersey, and, you know, at the beginning of the year,

it was Edmonton, and it was Calgary, right? And there's also Winnipeg. Winnipeg's going through it right now. Like, the super stressometer just picks up and moves around the league. The stress box, it travels. Yeah, it's the cloud. It just kind of bounces around the dark cloud. But I would just say to the devil's fans, like, I've seen this before, because, careful what you wish for. Okay. All right. Good conversation there. And you talk about how that's kind of gone around to different teams throughout the year. I mean, there was a time back in November where Montreal was going through it. Remember Dallas came in there and put up a touchdown and maybe even a little further damage. Like it got real ugly for a little bit with the Canadians. But now they've played, it wasn't all the same road trip, but they've played seven straight on the road. They've gotten 10. of a possible 14 points over that stretch, including going into Dallas on Sunday Fridge and grinding out a win in overtime.

Beautiful shot by Lane Hudson on the winner there. It was right around this time last year, Friege with Montreal. They always go on the road for a chunk of time coming out of the holiday break. Their arena is always in use. But it was right around this time last year where they put some pretty darn impressive results

and pulled them seemingly out of nowhere that thought, okay, maybe their season's not dead. And this time around, you know, the results they've gotten here the last couple of weeks has kept them out of that mushy, whatever you call is going on with the bulk of the Eastern Conference. And they've got themselves in a real good spot here. They finally had home.

The thing that would impress me the most is all three goalies won, right? Like, they've got some injuries. but Montembow won games, Dobish won games, Fowler won games, they all had good performances. The thing about Montembo is, and this is kind of the way we all are,

he struggles and people are like, what are you going to do with him? Well, the best thing you can do with him is fix him, right? You can solve your problem or you can trade your problem. The best thing is always to solve your problem because if you're trading a problem like that, you're at a disadvantage.

Now, I don't know what they're going to do here in terms of keeping all the three goalies? Are they trying to shine them up to move them elsewhere? What are they trying to do? We'll figure it all out. But that was the best thing for me about the trip is that all of those goalies won games and they all played well.

But Slavkovsky right now, I mean, we talked about this about a week ago. He's rapidly becoming one of their most important players. Suzuki is the captain and he's the leader and he's kind of like the, He's kind of like the glue, but Slavkovsky is Reggie Jackson to me. He's the straw that stirs the drink. You know, Suzuki is almost like the silent killer just does his thing, gets you.

Slavkowski's like, he's like things happen around him. You notice Suzuki because he's got the puck a ton and he does things with it. Slavkowski's kind of that guy, like even when he doesn't have the puck, My eye is kind of like, what's he doing? Because somebody's getting affected. I really like watching him play. The other thing, too, is, you know, Gallagher and Dano. I mean, they're older than when they last played with each other.

It's been four and a half years. But you can see there's a real comfort level there. The thing I like about Montreal is they got guys coming back who can play. And when you feel threatened, by okay this guy's getting healthy you start to look around and say all right who's who's next like okay that guy's coming back who's going out of the lineup and there is no better motivator than that great road trip for them really good road trip like a lot of guys playing really well in that overtime, Hudson and overtime, like that was, that was ridiculous. Just, just ridiculous.

Yeah. And just on Slavkovsky, too, Elliot, like, I remember a couple years ago as he was still finding his way and few of his teammates were like, just wait until he realizes how big his body is and how to use it properly. You know what I mean? And now we're starting to get there. We've seen glimpses of it along the way, but it's becoming more and more consistent. And And, yeah, talk about a big compliment for Martin St. Louis to take him off of the Suzuki line, not because it's a demotion, but because I believe you can help get some other guys going by playing elsewhere. And you're seeing it just the confidence, the body language, demanding the puck in certain spots. It's been very impressive for what was a controversial pick at number one overall in their backyard back in 2022. This is a lot of what they.

I think they knew what they were. doing. I think they knew what they were doing. A lot of, a lot of, when you look at, since that groups come in, Elliot, like, you know, there's still a big hill that they ultimately want to climb. But there's been a lot of decisions looking back now where you're like, oh yeah, now I see why they did that. Give them credit, like for Ken Hughes, obviously Jeff Gordon's got tons of experience in front office, but Ken Hughes making the jump from player agent to now GM of an NHL franchise

and we all know the story of Martin St. Louis and his coaching background. It's been impressive. Where would Lane Hudson go if you did that draft again? Oh. Like, is there anyone your slam dunk taking ahead of him? Like, he still may end up in Montreal. Logan Cooley?

If you had a choice, Cooley or Hudson. Let me ask you, would you take Hudson over Slavkovsky? To me, yes. Like, there's just so much of the game he controls back there and players like him can. I kind of lean him. Okay. For me, it's tough to say no to Sanders, right? And I think Cooley's on the Olympic team if he's healthy.

Yep, yeah, you're right. It's easy to forget, but he was putting together a heck of a campaign before the injury. Be an interesting question. Where does he go? Two, three at the lowest? Yes. I'm sure a lot of people would say, one, I have a prejudice towards centers, but not by much. I have a lot of prejudices, but many of them are towards centers.

Okay. I'm glad you clarified that here, Elliot. That's good. More of your true colors coming through. All right. I got a couple of things I want to talk about. I want to talk about this Sherwood thing. So I got to tell you, okay, you know what makes me crazy?

People who get, there's a lot of things. But you know what really makes me crazy is people who get hung up on language, okay? don't get caught up in the language don't swim in the semantics i get a text i don't wake up early on sundays i don't like waking up early in general but i really don't like waking up early on sundays okay i woke up my phone's being i got like three texts from people yeah you got the story wrong on saturday night uh there was no offer made to sherwood you know what, shut up with that, okay? Like, that's, don't get caught in the semantics.

Don't get caught up in the language. They talked to him. They went back and forth. They threw some numbers out there. Like I said, it wasn't in the area where it was, like they didn't insult him. They didn't offer him minimum wage or anything like that. but they made an offer it was or they if you don't like the word offer they threw out some numbers okay they were not where sherwood's people see the market but they weren't an insult do I think

Vancouver was looking and saying can we get them for maybe a little less than market value didn't work out still like I said a sizable gap unlike that's going to happen. I also don't understand the people who are freaking out about I can't believe they made them an offer. I thought they were rebuilding. Like I said, don't get caught up in language. They were simply trying to see if they could get them at a good deal. I don't even know if they really thought it was going to even happen. But obviously there's still a gap. I don't know where this is going to go here. I had a couple of people on Sunday asked me, like, when do you think is going to get dealt since this didn't work out.

Like, what do you think the timeline is? I honestly don't know. I don't have a good feel for it. There was definitely some increased noise around him over the last few days. But now I think, look, everybody is in Minnesota at the world juniors. The GMs are there, scouts are there, people are talking. I think, you know, I think the fact that they were talking to Sherwood had some people saying, okay, if they're not going to sign Sherwood, maybe they'll deal him here.

while everybody's here. I don't know that. It's hard to figure out the timeline. But don't get caught up in the language. They talked. They took a shot at it. Just didn't bridge the gap. So we'll see where it goes.

So is the lesson... I don't understand people. I just don't understand people. That's all. Well, and to the people's defense, you obviously see this stuff in a much different, light and in much greater detail than most.

I just wondered, like, is the lesson here that stuff like that maybe goes on a little more often than we think? Because I kind of was of the same boat where I'm like, what do you mean they're talking about just even the idea of looking at resigning because this whole where they hope to go and you're looking at players of who could command good value, you think Sherwood is the guy to get something back of substance that can help Vancouver. down the line so you know it's surprising that they would look at even hanging on to him i guess he's a good player he could continue to help you in vancouver but does that maybe go on a little more

than we realize yes uh that does happen kyle there there's no question it happens and one of the things i think happens there too is that teams will go to each other and they'll say hey we're interested in this guy, have you taught contract with him? Yes. What did he ask for? What did he want? And

that definitely happens. Like, I'll tell you, I didn't an agent tell me once that he had a player and the team had shown no interest in resigning him and all the sudden they called him

out of nowhere and said, what are you thinking? And he thought it was weird. And he said, are you asking me for you or are you asking for someone else? And the GM kind of laughed and said, both. Ah, okay. And, you know, because the GM wanted to know before we entered trade discussions, is this a contract I'm going to want to sign? and then he could say to other teams, well, okay,

I'd just say I offered him three years at three million and he wouldn't take it. Well, the other team can say, okay, how do I feel about that player at that number? I think that does happen out there. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. It's very good. Once in a while. So some other stuff looking out there, Manjapani.

Second scratch, you know, we'll see, you know, one of the teams told me he's, like, if you believe in the PDO stat, which is what you're shooting percentage and your team save percentage is, apparently his is really bad. So that's kind of sort of like unofficially. It's kind of like the luck stat. That means you're not getting shooting luck and you're not getting saved luck when you're on the ice. I do think the Oilers are going to be able to find a landing for Monjapani. It's one more year. It's 3.6. I don't think it's going to be too hard.

He has proven he can score. It's just not like you look at Mason Marchman. Marchman was a bad fit in Seattle didn't work. He's gone to Columbus. He's been very good for them. So you can see some players that go and they have a change. We'll see what happens. I did mention Anaheim on Saturday night.

and one of those two reasons I mentioned them number one they've started to struggle a bit like they have a lot of guys who've never gone through this meat grinder before really talented team some good veterans you know the goodises the troubas the criders they just got a big injury to vatrano he's going to be out for a while and I just wondered if they might want a veteran to help some of their kids get through this and they have cap room the other thing there too is that I did have some people who thought that they thought maybe that like a strome for manjapani deal might make sense you know the problem is strome makes

about a million and a half more than manjapani and edmonton doesn't have the room to take all that so it would be interesting to see how anaheim would feel about all that situation i've also heard although i have not confirmed it through the others but i've heard it um that they are looking for a player who is probably would be more accepting of the role that Manjapani was going to start to have to play, which is sort of like a bottom six, you know, somebody who's not going to get as much of a chance probably to play with a Leon or a Connor, that maybe that spot wasn't going to be there as much. So we'll see.

And Strom wouldn't necessarily fit. that. So that's what I kind of heard with him. You know, I did have some people who said to me that they kind of wondered if Toronto might do it, like maybe a Machelli kind of move. Um, but I don't think Toronto's going to do that. Obviously, I think some people say that because tree living obviously had Montrapani and Calgary. I don't think that's the case. Um, but I do think they're going to find a landing spot for him. I just, again, I just don't know the timeline. And, You know, Toronto will be interesting now because, you know, I'd mention that I think TANF is going to be out a while. I think they're going to know better this week.

And we'll see what Toronto decides to do here. Do they go and say, all right, we're sticking with what we got or they go out there and look for another defenseman? Yeah, because that's, man, a big hurdle to overcome. If he's missing any more time, you can tell, right? away just having them back how that helped move everything into place understandably and now if you're looking at an extended absence that's a tough one the other thing too with tanniv is he's over last year's league average salary which was 3.8 million you know he's at four and a half so in order to get his full cap space you have to declare him out right and I just don't know at this

in time that he's going to be in a position where you can declare him all the way out. Like Tyler Sagan, Dallas hasn't done it yet, and they probably won't do it until right before the trade deadline after the Olympics because I think Sagan wants to play this year. So you can't, if that's the case and there's a chance he can, you can't use his full cap hit. So that's one of the things some of these teams have to kind of dance around. round like one of the guys who's definitely like Alex Petrangelo he's out the golden knights know they can use the full cap hit but Barkov isn't like that say again isn't like that can always change but right now it's not there Barkov was moving pretty good on the stage

there down in Miami over the weekend I couldn't understand the amount of people that had a problem with that like I don't know like what are we the fun police yeah well what's your line people are nuts. Okay, how about you wanted to touch on the Winnipeg Jets? So I wasn't able to watch them and the centers on Saturday. Of course, the Leafs and Islanders was going on at the same time. But I sure saw the brown paper bag as time was winding down on Winnipeg's ninth straight loss. It's tough.

When you're going through that, that's what you get. You just kind of have to laugh it off or shake it off. You can't let things like that bother you if you're a player. and I work in TV, Kyle. I know that when those paper bags show up, funny how the camera always finds them. Yes, I understand the way that this goes. Easy sell in the truck.

It is definitely an easy sell in the truck. No question about that. But, you know, one of the things I kind of saw, I went back and I watched it, but you could tell that it's just wearing on, everybody there. And you could see the body language on the bench. You could see the body language on the ice. You can see when some of the players were being told to come off. You could see like just they were, they're really grinding through it. And I know some of their fans are kind of like,

let's pack it in. I mean, that might happen organically. You know, you look at some of the other teams that are going through it. I still can't believe it, but it might happen organically. You know, I mentioned that I think they're trying to look for scoring. I don't think they're going to pay a big price for a rental or anything like that, but I do think they want to put some, inject some life into their roster if they can. But, you know, the one thing that was really noticeable to me, and somebody sent me some times of the game to look at it, but you could really see by just the facial expressions, the body English,

how much this is wearing on them. I remember Nick Kiprio is always saying, losing socks and I really saw that on them on Saturday night yeah because unfortunately they've done a lot of it here over the last little while okay so we were touching on Olympics a little bit earlier Elliot last pod you were talking about refereeing yeah when it comes to the men's tournament over in Milan the balance between double IHF officials NHL referees You referenced something Doug Armstrong said after the roster was announced back on New Year's Eve with Kippur and Bourne. There's something further to add to this. So why don't you take it from here? So in the last podcast, I quoted Doug Armstrong from Nick and Justin's show. And there were, I had some people reach out to me to say that some of that is right and some of that is wrong.

And so, first of all, let's go over this. So I went and I made a few phone calls and I got some information. And here's what I can tell you. The Olympics are an international ice hockey event in collaboration with the NHL. And that matters because there's some graying of the lines here. So there will be seven referees. brought over from the NHL. I don't think they've announced who they are yet.

There's some injuries, but there will be seven referees brought to the Olympics from the NHL, seven are from the International Ice Hockey Federation, some of whom from North America. There will be six linesmen brought over from the NHL and also six from the double IHF, and I believe some of those will be from North America, but they are double IHF officials. So we get 13 from the National Hockey League, seven referees and six linesmen, 13 from the IHF, seven referees and six linesmen, although some of them are from North America. Only one official from the world juniors is going to the Olympics, and that is a linesman. So if you're wondering about the calls that were made there, and I think that from what I've heard,

the one that was the most controversial, the one with Canada and Latvia, that resulted in the player getting thrown out of the game, I have heard that most people agreed there that was a miss and that players should not have been ejected. But anyway, only one official from the World Junior's alignsman is going to the Olympics. Now, one of the things that Doug Armstrong said, and I ran with it, was the idea that if a game has more than 50% NHL players means all the on-ice officials are going to be from the NHL itself. I've been told there is nothing written. There is no contractual obligation that says that that has to happen. So it's not a

guarantee that if it's 50% NHL players, all four on-ice officials will be from the NHL itself. But, and there's a but. one of the reasons it doesn't it can't work like that is it doesn't add up for example on the quarterfinals you'd need eight and there's only seven NHL officials are there and that includes the linesmen there's only six NHL linesmen and eight would be needed so you couldn't even do it even if you wanted to but I was told there is a recognition here that you want to put the the right officials in the right games to have the best possible outcome for the tournament. Basically what I was told was nobody's getting anything guaranteed, but there will be a lot of

NHL heavy games and the goal is to put quote unquote the appropriate officials on the ice. I think so what I don't think is going to happen, Kyle is, and most of the those games, especially Canada in the U.S., I don't think you're going to get situations where there's no NHL of referees out there. I think you may get a mix in some games, but I don't think you're going to get necessarily get all, and I don't think you're going to get none. Like, the one thing that was pressed upon me is they know how important this tournament is, and they don't want it to be like 1972 Canada, Russia, where the late J.P. Parise was chasing official. down with a stick because he was so mad at them they know how important this is the other thing

I heard which was really interesting was you know the people I was speaking to said we've heard you say before and we've heard other commentators say before and I like I said I've been guilty of saying this too is that this wouldn't be allowed in a double IHF game or this is an NHL game as opposed to a double IHF game. I've heard they're trying to get away from that. They're trying to create more of a one standard, not the NHL or the double IHF. It's hockey. They're trying to make it make the two games a bit more uniform. Like for example, last summer in August and Buffalo, the NHL officials have a camp. Well, the double IHF ones join them there. And they talked about what the Olympics are going to be like, and there'll be meetings before the men's tournament begins about how they're going

to want this to be called. Like, for example, like I said, that call in the Canada Latvia game, I think if they, as never mind, I think, I was told by several people that the word was, if they could go back and do that one over, it wouldn't have been an ejection. Now, there are a couple of places where I think the double IHF is going to be strict and one is protecting the goalies. late in the Canada Czechia game

on Sunday night Canada got a penalty for hitting the goalie, right? Like goalies are sacrosanct in the double IHF and I had some people say to me that is one area where you're going to have

to be really careful and you know one of the things that Armstrong said that people did agree with was he was he was quoted as saying they might call a foot in the crease

or a guy skating through but a body check is a body check they're not going to be able to say oh that's a body check last week and next week but not tonight their brains don't work that way so i just think the game is going to be called like an NHL game i was told he's right about that that you know that is going to be the case and that there are different rules but what they want is the standard on how the game is played to reflect the level of play and it's going to be just like the NHL if a major penalty is assessed on the ice it will have to be reviewed to ensure the major is deserved and I'm told that on that review

the final call is the officials so of all these teams have NHL officials on the ice whether it's 1, 2, 3 or 4 there is going to be an NHL official there making the call So I hope you can tell me if that all makes sense to you, but basically what a couple people said to me is there's no contractual guarantee that you get all four NHL officials if it's more than 50%, but they recognize it's going to be important not to make this a fiasco. It's a big tournament. They want it to be a good tournament, and it's clear that the key sentence is we want the officiating breakdown to be.

appropriate. And I thought the other thing that was interesting, Kyle, was they don't want it to be seen as double IHF versus NHL. They just want it to be good, hard hockey. Does it make sense to you? Yeah, it does because basically as you lay it out, it becomes a numbers game, right? Like, just with how many are going over there, whether they're representing the AAHF or they're from the AAHF or they're picked from the National Hockey League, there just simply isn't enough on some days to be able to satisfy all of that depending on the scheduling. I mean, it's encouraging to hear that they brought the double IHF officials to the camp in Buffalo before the season got going, but that's kind of where my mind goes of when

you have, when we're going to have hybrid scenarios where you've got a mixture of both working a game, well, does that become a problem where you've got certain officials that are wired a certain way in terms of how they see the game versus those that have come from the other side. But I guess it sounds like the work has already been started in terms of eliminating the separation and trying to bring the way of thinking together. That's my only concern with all that. Well, we'll see. I mean, all we're going to do, Kyle, is live with this all together, right? But one thing that's very obvious to me is that there is a slant here in the sense that These are NHL players, and they're used to being games being officiated a certain way, and it's clear the double IHF is willing to move the line a little bit, right?

Yeah. How much? We'll see. But, like, I was told, like, when someone saw that call in the, the goaltender interference late in the game, that was one that someone sent me a note and said, that's one thing the NHL. players are going to have to get used to like the goalies get protected here they will not allow them to be run over right and if you think about it with the way the game has been official in the NHL as that's of all particularly when it comes to stick infractions over the last 10 15 years and some of the crackdown now like they've already adjusted on that front right like anything now on the hands it doesn't take much at all and the arm goes up you know so that's already been then become part of the DNA in terms of what players think they can or can't get away with compared to, you know, they're going over to the 2006 Olympics and going, okay, how is a hook going to get called now versus what we've been accustomed to doing over in North America

or a slash or anything like that? I think it's a lot more similar that way compared to the gap that used to exist between the two sides. But I'm glad you're all going to discover it together. Yeah. All right. Well, let's hit to the final thought then and continue the international hockey conversation. So two great semifinals in the world juniors on Sunday.

There's a classic between Sweden, Finland, the forever rivals, goes eight rounds in the shootout, Sweden, victorious, and then Canada, Czechia. So for the third consecutive year, Canada will not be playing for a gold medal at that tournament. And SportsNet stats put out there that Czechia is the first team outside of Russia to eliminate Canada in three consecutive World Junior Championships. I don't think this is the place here where you and I, Elliot, are going to dissect, okay, who did they need to have on Team Canada, but didn't? I'm not, I'm not that guy. We're not those guys. I'll just, I'll just say here first, Elliot, what's been really, it was just, first off, a great game, compelling, fast. both semifinals

great games but it was really impressive as Czechia has gone through this now and as we just said three years in a row now they've knocked off Canada like they're they're not afraid

they are not afraid you think about in years past at the world junior tournament especially Chechchia was a team where okay if we can stick to our game plan if we can play discipline if we can frustrate them

maybe we got a chance to steal the game. Capitalize on a turnover. Find our opening, but we've got to stay patient. Nowadays, check you. Like, they go into that. You could tell body language, the way they attack the whole night, they were like, no, we can beat Canada.

We're good enough to beat them. It's a credit to where that tournament's evolving. And it brings a lot of consternation, certainly amongst Canadian fans, after seeing the result again, but tip your cap to how they played. You know why? People in Canada won't like to hear this,

but the more competitive a tournament is, the better it is, right? I love Canadian dominance as much as anybody else, but it gets boring when they're winning five times in a row. This isn't as satisfying. You're right. Chequia full marks for the win, they earned it. It's not as satisfying.

It's empty calories, but it's a better tournament when different teams are contending. It forces you to be better. Now, we had an in-game thought line tonight. Yes, we did. Because when that Michael Hage thing happened. Yeah. Hage is the way to pronounce it, right? Yep.

Because when that Michael Hage thing happened with the double penalty shot, I texted you and I said, we better ask, because we're going to get thought line questions. Has this ever happened before? And, Kyle, the answer is? To the brains behind these operations? No, it has not. At least not in the NHL. I don't think it's happened anywhere else at a past World Junior tournament or, I don't know,

about any other international event but we had our sports net stats team look at it the NHL did some digging they could not find another example

of a penalty shot attempt and then because of an infraction by the goaltender resulting in a second attempt by the same shooter and there's wording

in the NHL rule book for if that happens and it's very similar it would have been the same, it was called the same as it would have been in the NHL. But to everyone's knowledge. That is just bananas that that's never happened before.

It has not happened. And then it happens on such a huge stage. Yeah. And it's crazy. And like Hage was around it all night. Like he had like three posts, you know, and you just got, your heart went out to him because he had done enough for you.

like he deserved to be rewarded at some point but those kids look devastated i don't think anybody should expect anything different but i don't think they have anything to be ashamed of they got beat like i said the turn the the the better the the competition the better the tournament why do you think that four nations victory was so sweet for canada last year because it was an incredible victory. You know, to be honest, Kyle, like, you go back to it, of all the Olympic gold medals at Canada's won, they've won three. What is the least memorable?

Sochi. And why was that? Well, I know, two-parter. Part of it I probably time zone, but more importantly, I know you're getting that. There was zero doubt about what the result was going to. going to be by the end? There was no drama. They were so much better than everybody else.

And yes, I will by the time zone argument. I will. But there was zero drama in that tournament. They locked it down. There was, I guess I said this a million times. That one-nothing game against the USA, they could have played until 2020. And they weren't going to get scored on. You know, the other thing, too, you take a look at some of the big international tournaments.

but like obviously 2002 first one they won 2010 overtime in Vancouver but you take a look at some of the other international events that Canada has won 1972 incredible 1987 some of the best hockey I've ever seen 656565 look at the 2004 World Cup the 2016 World Cup those were very impressive victories but they didn't have the drown you need the drama yeah oh four there was incriminately against the checks that semi-final was like oh what's happening here that got tight well that's right because broger got hurt at the morning skate

luongo had to play and loongo played and it went to overtime la caveat yeah wasn't even supposed to be there ended up MVP of the tournament yes yeah i always remember You know, Cannon's going to go for bronze. It's going to be hard for them to get up for that game. But I remember one of the Olympics I covered was 04 in Athens. And that was the first time the American pros lost at the Olympics. They got beat. And I remember they lost to Argentina in the semifinal.

They had to come back for bronze. And I remember Alan Iverson saying, this matters. Like, we're not throwing away a bronze medal. It's an Olympic medal. It matters. It's not the one you want, but you would at least get a chance to go home feeling like you accomplish something. So I know none of these players are going to be listening to this podcast on Monday morning.

They've got a lot better things to do. But, you know, 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now, you'll look at a bronze medal of tournament like this and say, you know what? It wasn't what I wanted, but I still did something when it would have been easy to give up. Sweden is not one gold at this event since 2012. They've got four silvers along the way. Chequia, not one gold since 2001. One of them will put an end to those runs Monday night.

With 2012, was that Zabinajad? That was Mika Zabanajad against the Russians in overtime. Yeah. The Saddle Dome in Calgary. With the candlestick. Sounds like a clue game. Yeah. That's right.

And in what room? At the saddle dome. Yeah, at the saddle dome. Oh, good. All right, so best select to them. It's been great hockey on Sunday and one more great game to finish that event. Okay, that was the final thought. Why don't we take our first break and come back with the main edition of the thought line?

32 thoughts, the podcast, continues after this. All right. Welcome back. It's time for the thought line, Elliot. I'm sure you remember. So we talked earlier about the great night that Matthew Schaefer had on Saturday against Toronto, his first appearance on hockey night in Canada. You remember when we had a chance to interview him just days before he was selected first overall back in June. June, right? Yes. And at one point, the conversation turned to his older brother, Johnny or Jonathan, and what he does for work.

So to jog everyone's memory here, Tom has went and sourced out the clip. So let's flash back here. Now, is Jonathan a good salesman? Is he a good salesman? He is. I mean, I mean, a lot of hockey players love talking. My family loves talking. So he's a good salesman.

he can, you know, get you some stuff. All right. So Jonathan Schaefer, if people out there, if you need stuff, Jonathan Schaefer. Johnny's the guy. Johnny's the guy. He'll get you on those. So I've rigged that up because I was talking to Johnny a little bit on Saturday before the game. And he brought that up with me and he said, you would not believe the amount of buddies of mine that sent me that clip of Johnny has stuff.

And he messaged his brother afterwards going, really? Like the amount of times I've told you what I do for work and the best you could give was he sells stuff. So it was, uh, I got a kick out of that. Software. We got to the root of it. Oh, is software? Sell software, yes. Did you ever watch Friends?

Were you ever a Friends guy? Oh, absolutely. So there's the episode where they have the trivia contest for whoever wins the apartment. and one of the questions is what is Chandler's job and nobody can answer it that is Johnny Schaefer what is Johnny's job

stuff the question that ended ended the game right it was the lightning round for the girls that was the last question what is Chandler Bing's job he's a trans monster that's not even a word

good Paul Freach so we got to the bottom of that what else you got before we move on you know I really don't have a lot, but I just wanted to say I'm trying something. I have people asked, do you have a New Year's resolution? So there is one thing I'm trying. So I set a timer on my phone for 10 minutes. And for that 10 minutes, I'm not allowed to look at my phone. And I try to do it once every hour. And so what happens? Just your phone's locked? It won't let you... No, I just turn it over. Oh, you just set a manual timer. Yeah, a 10 minute timer. Yes. I actually know people who do lockboxes, but I am not at that point yet. Yeah.

It's like going to see a comedian, like a big time comedian, right? And they make you put the phones in those pouches and they lock them up. So you can't take any video or anything during the show. So a guy I know once went to a party with a famous athlete once, a famous athlete whose name I might have gotten mixed up and I were in a race one. once, and to get into the party, you had to put your phone into a lockbox, a pouch. Yeah. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. I'm not at that point. I can't do that yet. I have no doubt it was a great party. But what I do is I just flip it over, set the timer for 10 minutes, can't touch the phone for 10 minutes. I'm just trying to, you know, trying to spend a little bit less time on a car.

Or like the thing. is getting a little twitchy by eight and a half minutes. So far, so good. So far, so good. We'll see. Excellent. All right. Once it really starts pinging around trade deadline, I don't think I'm going to be doing it around that.

Yes. Perhaps a weak reprieve from that practice and then back to it afterwards. We'll all understand and appreciate, I'm sure. Okay, let's get into it. We've got Dane from Prince Albert, Saskatchew. one. Okay, Dean. Good day, gentlemen, and Elliot. So a few nights ago in the W.HL, the Prince Albert Raiders beat the swift current Broncos eight to nothing. Now, this is the third game this season, the Raiders shut out the Broncos. In each of those games, the Raiders started a different

goalie. So to go through the list, Demetri Fortin, steel bass, and including the current Chekia World Junior goalie Mikal Orsalak. Making it extra special, it was also each of those goalie's first career. WHL shutout. So, my question is, has this ever been done in the NHL, have three different goleys for a single team, each had their first career shutout in the same season against the same opponent? Thank you, and go Raiders.

So I thought the answer was. was no, that there's no way. That is correct. You're kidding. No, it hasn't happened. Okay. For a second there, I thought you were leading to me into it's happened twice, no. So it has never occurred?

No, but what is amazing, there have been instances of three goalies all recording a shutout against the same team in the same season. It just wasn't the first shutouts of their career. That was amazing to me that even that's happened. how recently like when's the last time that happened 7778 okay give me the team i'm going to try to guess some goalies here give me the team boston okay 7778 boston jerry chevers yep jill jill jillbert yep and i'm trying to think for the life of me who was the third goalie now eddie johnston wouldn't still be playing then Well, he'd be retired by then.

Yeah, he's not the name we're looking for here. Okay. Jerry Cheever's, Jil Jilbert. If you're a hockey fan of that vintage, I think most people would get those two. I'm trying to think of who. Would it be like Pete Lopresti? It would not.

Do you want a slight hit? Yeah, sure. Yeah, give me a slug hand. Just keep the G-R-A-H-A. Is it Graham? G-R-A-H-A. Yeah, that's John Graham's dad. Yes.

Ron Graham. Ron Graham, that's right. You know what? It's funny. Like, that was the other name in my head, but for some reason, LePresti jumped in front of him. Yeah, Ron Graham, that would be totally right, yes. Nicely done.

So that was the last time it's happened, but how about that in the dub? That is a crazy, crazy stat. I can't even believe there's anything similar. that existed. Yeah. I thought it was just going to be a flat-out no. I got back from SportsNet stats, but they said, well,

they weren't all first career shutouts, but, so yeah, three times in NHL history that's happened, and the ruins in the 70s was the most recent. Dan, thank you for that. Okay, Hugh and Dallas,

Dear Dom, Kyle, and other Rogers minions. Nothing more true has been said. Question about the Olympics. For the players that don't get to go play over there, is it a full break for them? What are the team rules on practices, optional ice, etc? Is it mandated league-wise or is it flexible by team? Go Flames, love the show.

So, Hugh, it's not dependent on the team. There are rules as to how this works. First of all, there is an Olympic trade freeze, which starts on February of the 4th, and it ends right around the gold medal day. So there's number one. But secondly, there is a vacation break. Now, I don't have it right in front of me right here. Yeah, but you do have it?

Okay. Yes. But, okay, so Kyle will tell you what the dates are, but teams are banned from practicing. Like, it's sort of like March break, spring break, whatever you want to call it in university, high school. But there is a time and it's before the Olympics end that the players do have to report back to their NHL teams

and they can practice without their Olympic brethren, Kyle. Yes, so the off period, like last day of games is February the 5th of Thursday, and then they are off from the 6th to the 16th. And I believe after noon on the 17th, teams can start having practices again ramping up to and that's still a while because the first set of games

isn't until the 25th again so I mean that's all in some cases over a week before your plan teams will be able to practice again starting on the 17th there you go

and it's always like this there's always a setup like this over the Olympic Games and remember last year the Four Nations there were teams practicing before the Four Nations ended. It resumed just before that. Yeah, yeah.

The same deal was a long time ago. I was Sochi in 2014, I remember. That was the same thing ago. Teams were practicing again, but the medal round was ongoing over in Russia at the time. Okay, Hugh, thank you for that. Excellent work by the Rogers Minions. I strike again.

Chris from Erdry, Alberta. Hi, Dom, Kyle, and Elliot. I'm Chris from Airdry, Alberta, true Patriots fan and dumb sate alumni, but had a question about entry-level contracts. See what you've done? Dumb state alumni. There's no such thing, Chris. The first stage is acceptance, right?

You wouldn't last one day on that campus. You know what? You're saying that to me like it's a bad thing. I'm going to take that as a compliment. Yeah. It's not. Okay. So Chris goes out to say there was talk the Flames could send

Zane Perreck down to junior again, even though they have now burnt a year off his entry-level contract. In a situation like that, does the player get paid his NHL salary even if he's back in junior? I imagine he'd still get the money somehow, but it just seems odd getting paid in NHL dollars while not being there. Thanks for all the work you do,

and I'm all for having an all-thought-line podcast. Yeah, someday we're going to have to do that again, maybe burn it at the end of the year. It's not a bad idea. There could be a lot of carnage. Yeah, could be a lot of scores being settled that day. A lot of loose ends being tied up. be different people after that episode.

But okay, ELC in regards to Zane Porek, should he be sent to junior? Well, when you're, you're only paid your NHL salary if you're in the NHL. That's the way it works. Yeah. So he wouldn't be getting. He wouldn't be getting the, now you get your bonus, if you've been paid bonus money, you keep that. You don't have to return that or anything along those lines. But you only get your NHL salary if you're in the NHL.

Right. Okay. Jeff from Winnipeg. Hey, guys. Love the show. Been listening since the beginning when it was 30 thoughts. Now, I thought podcast-wise, it was 31 by the time that started. No? Or was there a brief time? I don't remember. I don't remember. I think it was 30. I think it was before the the Golden Knights came in. I, all right. Well, our listeners will set us straight, but I seem to remember their inaugural season. That was also when you guys fired up the podcast for the first time. I could be, I could be wrong, but I thought it was beforehand.

All right. Well, Jeff is a loyal listener. That much we know. He's been an... Whatever the case is, Jeff, we appreciate it. Okay. From what I understand, Gary Betman is the first NHL commissioner, and before that, there were NHL presidents. Is there any difference, or is it just six of one, half a dozen of the other? That's a great question, actually. One of the reasons that I think it's different is because if you look at the other sports,

they've always been commissioners and not presidents and I remember at the time Betman was asked about that and he said they wanted to keep it in line with the other sports Everyone else has a commissioner were going to have a commissioner Also if you'll remember right before Bettman took over the last president was a gentleman by the name of Gilstein, and it didn't go very well. And as a result, there were some people in the NHL who felt that the title president had been kind of sullied, tarnished, and with Bettman, they wanted a fresh start. But I did hear, and I do remember being told that lining it up with the other sports,

was one of the reasons. But in terms of how he operates now versus the gentleman that came before him, it would be all fairly similar, right? You still report to the owners. Still have a lot of power. A lot of power. Like before Gilstein was John Ziegler,

and John Ziegler was a guy, a very nice man, from what I understand, I only dealt with him a little bit, but a small group of owners, like the Wirtz is, in Chicago, they really ran the show. The most powerful leader was Clarence Campbell, who was, I'm not, I don't have it right in front of me, but I believe he was president from 1946 until 1977. Now he ran the league with a really iron fist.

He was a very powerful figure. And then Ziegler and Stein didn't have that. And Betman, he sure, he sure's got it. Absolutely. Okay, one final one here. Dave from Bowmanville, wrap with a little more trivia to finish. Hello, gentlemen, happy New Year. As a longtime Capitals fan living outside of Toronto,

it brought me great joy to see Tom Wilson make the Canadian Olympic roster. After his monster, New Year's Eve performance, a Gordy Howe Hatrick with two goals. It got me wondering if anyone has gotten a Gordy Howe hat trick with an actual hat trick as well. If so, how many times has it happened and who was the most recent to accomplish the feat? Love the show. All the best in 2026. I do believe that that has happened before. I'm trying to think off the top of my head who I would have done it, but I don't think it's a no. It is very much a yes. 19 times we have found it has happened in history.

Do you have a guess at who was the last one to pull it off? I'm trying to remember. 21st century, pre-salary cap. Pre-salary cap? You know who I absolutely am 100% certain did it? Jeremy Roanick. Yes. Jeremy Roanick has the highest scoring Gordie Howe Hatrick, four goals, one assist, and a fight.

I vaguely remember this. I remember he was a Black Hawk when it happened. Yes. But I don't remember any other specifics of that. Yeah. Kirk Muller and Stan McKita both once had three goals, three assists, and a fight in the same game. Oh, really? Okay.

that's pretty impressive. But Roanick, I believe, is the only one to score four and also complete the Gordial Atric. Wow. So most recent. So 2000s before the cap. Before the cap, though he played much longer past, or much longer into the salary cap era,

and is a Hall of Famer. Would Zadino Chara ever have a Gordiala Hattrick? No. Well, he may have, I'm sure he's got a Gordiai Hattrick, but in terms of an actual hatric, as well? No. How recently did you go into the Hall of Fame? Pretty recent.

Is it Joe Thornton? It is Joe Thornton. Very nice. I could see your face and I was like, it was one of the guys this year. Not Duncan Keith, not Jara. Okay, Joe Thornton. Yes. Wow, that's a great trivia question.

2002, he's a member of the Bruins against Washington. Three goals, one to six. one scrap last guy to do it he's the last guy to do it eh that's the most recent yes we're going on what 24 years ago now almost so the league is due for the next one and tom wilson may very well be the guy to do it's a good question dave thanks for sending that excellent question all right that'll do it for this edition of the thought line you can email your question or idea or insult at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.com.ca or you can send a voicemail at

1833-3-3-1-321-32. We'll take one final break when we come back, our interview with Matt Sundeen, and we will be giving away and announcing the winners of the five pairs of tickets to our upcoming live show in Moncton, New Brunswick as part of Scotia Bank Hockey Day in Canada in less than two weeks from now. All of that on the other side on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. Okay, before we get to Matt Sundy and Elliot,

what were the words you were using in the pregame show Saturday to describe Austin Matthews lately? It's like swaggy He's got swagger He's got attitude He's got a bit of snark A bit of ego Like he's back to himself Yeah

He's a difference maker again I was watching their morning skate On Saturday and it's We with our group there that does the game We often joke about all This player looks really fast at the morning skate Like look out He's going to be really good

tonight like kind of tongue and cheek because you never really know right and we hear players all the time say i felt great the morning skate played terribly i felt horrible in the morning skate played unbelievably it can go both ways but watching him for the first time this year he there was a level of ease to how he was moving you mentioned the swagger like it was there in the morning he was scoring it will the chatter amongst teammates the chirping just the look there was something about it. I'm going, oh, man, I think this is going to happen here tonight. He is going to overtake Sundeen for most goals all time in Maple Leaf franchise history, and sure enough, he does it. You know, I thought he showed you big respect in the pregame, and the reason

was he gave you something. So when they won on Thursday night against Winnipeg, he talked with Sean McKenzie post game, and he said there's some adjustments. that the team has made, and there's some I've tried to make. And I've seen situations before where not only Matthews, but other players, they don't want to tell you. And you asked him specifically about that quote in your pregame one-on-one, and he gave you something. And I saw, I was, I thought you treated you with really good respect.

It's, you know, Kyle, that's, I like to make fun of you, but that's a real feather in your cap that obviously he trusts you to present with that kind of information. And it sounds not like much, but him skating through the middle of the, ice. And, you know, one of the things that Troy Stetcher talked about when he came to Toronto was the centers are very responsible. They give them outlets. But Toronto under Burube can be a dump and chase team. And it sounds like they've made some adjustments. I haven't looked at all of it yet or percentages or anything like that. But when you're struggling, everybody has to adjust. And it looks like they've made some adjustment to

particularly let Matthews carry the puck a bit more. But I thought it was really good. He shared that with you yeah it was great just glimpse into what's been a season that he obviously didn't see coming a lot of us didn't see coming initially but it's been a lot more matthews like the last few weeks and it certainly was on saturday a milestone night now the all-time goal score in the history of the Toronto Maple Leaf so who better to talk to on this podcast and the aftermath of that, then the man that previously held the record, Matt Sundeen, who you would have covered for many years in Toronto, Elliot. Yes.

He was great on all of this stuff, as you would well imagine. You have a thought on Sundeen before we get to him? You know what? I just, the longer he's gone, like, the more I kind of miss him. And just in the sense that I love dealing with him. And I think he thought we were all clowns. I really do. But I just love talking to him.

I really do. And you know what? He's just so much more relaxed now. Like he's dropped his guard a little bit. I would love to see him work in management for the lease. I really would. Yeah? Do you think they've surely had that conversation over the years?

Well, you know, he lives in Sweden. He's got a great set up there. He's obviously a very proud dad. Like, it's funny. We ask him, like, where's your gold medal from the Olympics? And his answer is so sundeen. I don't want to spoil it for you. I just don't know if that appeals to him, right?

But like I said, I think he thought we were these annoying little woodpeckers, but I love dealing with them. Yeah. Yes. And it was great to come on with us here for this episode. So it's part of doing a partnership with Budweiser Canada to commemorate the milestone that Matthews hit over the weekend. We'll get you to that interview here now.

Matt Sundyne on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, pleased to be joined by now the previous franchise record holder for the Toronto Maple Leafs and Goals 420. Now sits number two, Matt Sundane, after what Austin Matthews pulled off of the pair of goals against the Islanders on Saturday night. So, I know you're overseas in Stockholm. I imagine you didn't see it live, or maybe you did, but I just would love to know first what you thought, seeing him break the record and the way he did it. It was vintage Matthews on Saturday. Well, we know it can score.

I thought I was going to have this record a few more years, but he's a little too good of a goal score. And I'm sure he's relieved. I remember getting the goal record, and it becomes a build-up, and you're in the middle of a very important season. It's all about getting points for the team. and I'm sure it's relieved to have it behind them

and can focus on winning hockey games in trial. You know, Matt, someone said to me this morning, one of your former teammates, he said to me that Matt's was always happier when someone else did something as opposed to when he did something, so he bet you would be genuinely excited and happy for Austin. It's true.

And I mean, I think since Austin's first game in the league. I think everybody recognizes what he's such a special player, a superstar in the league. I'm sure, I hope he's going to be the captain for the American team in the Olympics. I don't know that yet, but he is a very special hockey player. And I think even more importantly, I got a chance to spend a few days with the team last year's training camp. And he is a very special person and a great leader and a great teammate. If you ask the guys around the team there, they have so much respect for him. So I'm very

glad for him, Meg, becoming the all-time goal scoring leader in Toronto. Matt, from outside, I see a lot of similarities between you and him. Like, guys who try to keep their emotions a bit, quiet, prefer to let their play,

do the talking, don't make waves, there's already enough going on, don't pour gasoline on the fire. How much similarity you see between yourself and Austin, and is there anything you see that's really different about the two of you? Well, I think in terms of leadership, I think, and I play with some great leaders in my career, I mean, I'm thinking about Jill Sacking, my first four years in Quebec, and get a chance to

play with Doug Gilmore and play with Nicholas Liddstrom, you know, I think the first European captain to win the Stanley Cup. Scott Niedermar get to know off the ice and had to play against them for many years. All very quiet guys. Joe Sackick, I don't think he ever said a word in terms in the dressing room, but he led by example. And I think I try to do that. I know you look at Austin Matthews, he's doing that. And I think that's great leadership.

There's no way around that. And on top of that, he cares about his teammates and representing the team in Toronto. So he's got all the attributes, I think, to be a great leader, the rest of his career. And obviously, we know he's a superstar on the ice, not only scoring goals, but he's becoming a great two-way player. And it's interesting because, you know, he comes into the organization, that first year of his, that was the centennial for the franchise, right? So there's a lot going on for the Leafs, a lot of alumni around the city. I'm sure you were a part of a lot over the course of that season in particular. What do you remember about those early days being around him?

Of course, he explodes onto the scene with the four goals in his debut. Anything stand out about first getting to know Austin Matthews back for you? I think and actually watching him even before he turned into league, I think everybody recognizes this is a very special talent. But saying that, being drafted first overall and coming to Toronto, and you guys know more than anyone, and I do what that means, It's a completely different hockey market than anywhere else. You're going to need qualities as a person to handle the pressure of maybe not being able to go anywhere you want in the city without people recognizing you.

And the media pressure is much different in Toronto than anywhere else in the league. How fans get involved, which is great that I love the most about being part and playing hockey in Toronto. but it also adds extra pressure and then you have the history of a team that hasn't won since 19-167 a market that is really thirsty for a championship so all that adds up and the way he handled that since his first game

I think has been very impressive it tells me that he comes from great family values and he's brought up in a great way and he handled all that in a super, super good way You know, they were having a really tough season until recently, Matt, they've kind of picked themselves off the mat a bit. Did you ever talk to them about, hey, when things aren't going well, this is what you do, this is what you don't do, this is how you handle it.

You know what? I don't think it needs that. I haven't got into deep like that with them, but I think if you want to stay sane being in a market like Toronto, which is the toughest one to be in. I think no one would argue against me in the National Hockey League and in the world. You have to make sure that you're focused on your everyday routines and the business of doing things that you're doing on the ice and preparing. And I hope he's not being caught up in all the stuff that goes around outside of the ice.

Because hopefully he's going to be in Toronto for many, many more years. and lead this team to a championship as well. So when you got the record, Matt, I mean, you got the goals, and it was the points the same night off of Darrell Sittler and coincidentally, also against the Islanders. So do you at least still have that over us

and to say, come talk to me when you take two milestones down in one game as opposed to just one? Exactly. And I remember when I broke, I think the point record, actually the gaming assist and then they called it back.

I got an ovation at home, and then they called it back. And I had to play three more shifts, and finally I broke the record. It was kind of a stumble and stumble. Oh, no, it's been reviewed. Matt didn't get an assist. Oh, no.

What are we celebrating it? But I think we beat the honors 8-1. But I think, and I'm sure Austin is feeling the same way. It's something that he feels more than anything. happy to get behind them because like you guys know that Toronto's in a fight for a playoff spot

and getting points on the board to climb in the standings and I'm sure he's glad to have that behind him now and I'm sure he's going to enjoy more once his career's over and this season is over. Okay Matt so there's a line you get a chance you play center you get to be the center

Austin gets kicked to the wing like he's not playing center on a line with Matt Sundeen We all know that. Who's your other winger? Who's the third winger on a Matt Sundeen, Austin Matthews line? Oh, my God. And can I pick from past teams or current team? Anyone you want.

This is anyone you want. Anyone in the world. It'd be tough to look past Connor McDavid, I think. It's a good line. Yeah. And he'd be playing on the wing too then. That's right. Nobody's taking the center away from Matt Sundee.

We know that. Yeah. All right. Well, then on that note, then why don't we get to, so between you and Budweiser, Zera, you've got a really neat campaign

coming out here when it comes to the Kings of Assists and everybody that helped along Austin Matthews to 421. So how does this all work? Well, it's really nice. And I think I've been the, you know, I was scoring goals and when I reflect back of my career,

whether it's personal goals or teams, winning championships it's always teams that win right even though you have some players scoring a lot of goals or a goalie making a big save it's at the end of the days it's teams winning and all the players that makes an assist are actually part of this campaign the bud zero and and all the cans are numbers so from 421 everyone that's made an assist for austin is going to get one of those as a gift. And I'm very happy to see my godson pretty much Max Dome being part of that last goal and assist.

And as you know, I play with Ty for many years. And he keeps still calls me every month, reminding me I didn't get a concussion because of him during my career. And Max was in a room for since he was 70 years old. with the team. And it's great that he's part of the history books now on Austin's 421 goal. So, Matt, unfortunately, yours in Austin's career didn't overlap, but will you be calling Max and saying, hey, you're going to send me a couple of those cans, so I have them, right?

Yeah, hopefully exactly, it didn't, but I'm watching Max and obviously following Austin and and Toronto, and we're all cheering on that they're going to turn this season around. And sometimes when they go through adversity during the regular season, it actually might help might help them prepare for a playoff run. So good things comes out of adversity many times. All right, I got two last ones for you. Number one, I imagine you drinking beer like Stone Cold Steve Austin. Is that true?

I'm not, I drink beer, but I, We don't drink a whole lot here either, so I'll do that one when I visit Toronto. All right, that we're getting on camera. When that happens, we're getting that on camera. Exactly. Number two, Olympics, Sweden. Everyone's talking about Canada, USA. I like that Swedish team.

What do you think? You know, I like them too. And I think the chances are, you know, there's a lot of inexperience going to Olympics this time. On all teams, the American, the Canadian, the Swedish, the Finns and the Czechs, most players is the first time. And at the same time, you look at Team Canada and the U.S. team, they are the strongest on paper, but it's not best out of seven series. The quarterfinals, semi-ana final is a one game, and Sweden definitely have a good enough team to be able to beat those teams and the Finns or the Czechs in one game. But it's going to take a complete effort for Team Sweden to be able to win gold and get in the medals.

But it's going to be very exciting to see all the best players from all countries play a tournament on a global scene, finally. Well, I mean, 20 years, Matt, right, since Turin in 2006 with you and the Swedes. And I remember Daniel Alvarez is saying, you know, you're celebrated certainly back home there when you're playing. But when you're playing days are done, you know, they tend. there's something about the Swedish culture everybody moves on but for something like that i mean how often still these days are you reminded of your in your country's achievement that it it was special and and you guys i mean sweden up until oh six sweden has never won a tournament like a best-on-best tournament no canada cup didn't win the world cup you know the world championship as you know

you never get all the best players to the world championship but but it was very special for uh for Swedish hockey. And I think it had an effect on what we see today. I mean, we have so many, the Swedish hockey program is very strong. And we show those six that Sweden actually can win a best on best tournament as well. So hopefully inspire this team going to Italy in February this year as well. Where's the gold medal, Matt? Where do you keep it? It's actually somewhere in a drawer here, but I don't have it up. A drawer. I'd be walking around Sweden everywhere with that thing on. Hey, remember, I won this.

Yeah, I'm glad you reminded me. I actually have to find it now. Oh, my gosh. I hope it's still in the drawer. It is somewhere. Somewhere in the house. Great. This has been excellent.

All right, I'm good, K.B. Yeah. Thank you so much for the time. Thanks for having me, guys. All right, Elliot, before we wrap up, It's time. Time to announce our five winners. All right. 32 Thoughts Live show in Munkton as part of Scotia Bank Hockey Day in Canada, January 15th, two Thursdays from now.

We are going live in the afternoon. Who are our guests? Do we know? Well, we know Kevin's coming. Oh, my God. Not him again. well this time you know what the people who came as for dropping the ball about the anonymous caller we have to ask him we'll get we'll hold his feet to the fire in front of everybody so we have Kevin for sure Elliot okay because he's not allowed to say no we're still working on some others but I hear we got some good names that they're cooking up okay just got to confirm him here okay so as you know the trivia question we asked listeners to submit an answer to was how many New Brunswick-born NHL players have won the Stanley Cup? Do you have a guess?

How many New Brunswick-Born players have won the Stanley Cup? Yeah, in the NHL. Well, where else would they win the Stanley Cup? Well, as you know, the Stanley Cup was handed out before the NHL came into existence. Oh, oh, okay. All right. The one that jumps to my head right off the top

is Gordy Drillan of the top. Toronto Maple Leafs. Is he won? He is one. I believe he is the last Toronto Maple Leaf ever to win the Art Ross trophy, if I remember correctly. Oh, there you go. Did Greg Malone ever win the Stanley Cup? Yes. No, not as a player. No, I don't know. I'm like John Stevens would be another guy, not as a

player, did as a coach with the Kings. Right. But does not apply to this trivia question. I'm going to go with. Forbes Kennedy. I don't think he ever won it. Give me a number, baby. I'm going to go with three. Wow.

No way. Okay. Okay. Eight. Eight. Eight. Well, Jake Allen. I should have gotten Jake Allen.

Roley Malanson. Oh, yes. And he's even coming with us. Okay. Dick Gamble. Okay. Danny Grant. Oh, yeah, Danny Grant.

Yep. Eddie Wiseman. Ooh. And Billy Stewart. Longed to go with Gordy Drill and the name you already got. So eight total. I probably should have done this better considering I knew we were asking this, right? Yeah, that's okay.

Thankfully, we have drawn five names. Okay. How many people got it right? Honestly, Elliot. five no way yeah we got a good number of submissions okay we have five pairs to give away and honest to goodness we got five correct answers you know what this is proof of kyle god likes us oh you know why god likes us because i would hate it if somebody got right and like a say it was six and we had to cut one person out or it was seven and we had to cut two people

out yeah this is how you and i know and dom we live good lives because god is saying you know what i'm going to make this perfect nobody who deserves to be there loses a lottery brilliant brilliant i love when a plan comes together okay so the winners that we look forward to seeing at the live show in Moncton. Austin Taylor, Jeff Russell, Sean Foote, Carly DeMont,

and Dylan Vatour. You know what I have to tell you? All of those names sound like great hockey names. That sounds like five hockey players. Read them again. Austin Taylor. Jeff Russell.

Austin Taylor is, that's a skilled forward. Austin Taylor. Okay. Who's next? Jeff Russell Steady defenseman Is a steady defenseman Absolutely he stands you up at the line You don't get in the zone against him

Sean foot Sean foot another Adam foot It was Sean foot and Jeff Russell are on the ice He don't score goals That's what happens You can't even get in the zone Okay Carly DeMont

Goal score Yeah goal score Real skill gold score Deft hands reliable Yep. And Dylan Vettur. That's your number one center. Austin and Carly play on the wings.

They score. Dylan is the, Dylan Votour is the skilled two-way threat, Jacques Lemaire kind of player. Beautiful. Sean and Jeff on the blue line. We got ourselves a team here for each. This is perfect.

All right. So all of our winners, thank you for sending in your contact, as we requested. So we will be in touch, and we will see you in Moncton as part of Hockey Day in Canada. Less than two weeks for now, Elliot. Can't wait. Always love Hockey Day.

Okay, finally. Taking us out today, a track from Superstar Crush, who are a four-piece pop rock group from Hamilton that pack a punch and a backbeat. Their explosive stage presence and fiery hooks infiltrated the Ontario Vance. Manusine Circa 2022. They've won Hamilton Battle of the bands twice, played Supercrawl and sold out back-to-back nights at Mills Hardware. Their debut album, Way Too Much, was released everywhere in August 2025

with three lead singers and a danceable fury. They're sure to keep your head spinning and your shoes moving. Some upcoming shows, January the 16th. You can catch them in Montreal, January 30th in Toronto. and in late March in their hometown of Hamilton, Ontario. Here is Superstar Crush and You Fold, I Fold, on 32 Thoughts, the podcast.

Have a great week. Let me let up Let me let up Let me let up Let me let all You fall out You fall out for wanted you You fall and I fall too

I'm stuck I can't believe you A dead heart's would you You've got to lay down You've got to lay down to go Leave it, step, still, still. John, I'll stay and look for. So let me let up. Let me let it.

Let me let it. You fall I pulled, won't you? You fall an apple, wouldn't you? You fall an apple, wouldn't you? I'm starting out again. You fall, I pulled, wouldn't you? You fall, I pulled, wouldn't you? Before I want you, I'll stop, I'll live.

All but we're scraping around, corners, and sparks. Can you get into your heart? He's going to fold first. Claps in the jazz world. This guy's coming home and the score style. City hares at home. You're still at home. By now.

Do you worst kid.