32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Mid Summer Check In

Episode Date: August 3, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman offer a surprise mid-summer check-in across the NHL. They begin with big-name 2026 UFAs, including McDavid and Kaprizov, and discuss how these players could influence the rest of the UFA/RFA class. Elliotte shares notes on the Winnipeg Jets (15:00).The duo dives into the NHL's decision to retain the decentralized draft format (20:57), followed by a discussion of Rogers McQueen’s commitment to Providence in the NCAA (24:27). They also check in on Pittsburgh and consider the possibility of Nick Robertson landing there (30:19). Kyle and Elliotte explore Matthew Tkachuk’s path to returning next season (34:12) and discuss Team Canada’s orientation camp ahead of Milan 2026 (38:07).The Final Thought revolves around a long-standing listener question that finally has an answer (41:48).In the final segment, Kyle and Elliotte are joined by Nashville Predator Spencer Stastney, who opens up about a challenging period in his life and the importance of seeking help (45:46).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

I think we had to anticipate that this was going to happen once the floodgates opened. If you're an NCAA sports fan, you don't even have to be a hockey fan, a sports fan, if you've seen what the portal has done to NCAA sports at all levels, once it opens up, it becomes an uncontrollable floodgate. If players are unhappy or players are given a better offer, they are going to jump to somewhere where they think they get the better offer. Surprise! Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X, a midsummer pods dream.

Elliot Friedman, an episode that for our listeners, you didn't think you needed. And by the end of the two of us talking, you will probably still feel the same way. How are you doing? Everyone's having a great summer. What have you been up to? You've been at concerts lots. I saw you get out and play pickleball.

Are you any better than when we squared off in LA last September? Not yet. No, you, you got me pretty good. I will tell you that one of the things I've really been working on is fixing my golf. I was really unhappy with the way I played the first time I went out this year. And I said, that's enough. I said, that's enough. I'm working on this. I've been working on my swings, slowing it down. And I have seen some improvement, but that is in addition to trying to keep in good shape,

considering my gigantic sweet tooth, my other summer project is becoming a more consistent golfer. And I have made some progress. You? All right. Have you had like a shot of the summer yet? Yeah, I missed a hole in one by inches.

Oh, yes. At Wind Dance Golf Club earlier in July, It was the closest I've ever come. I made the birdie putt, I am happy to say. I didn't choke that. That same day, playing from the blues, I was at 74 with three holes to go, and I choked and shot 92. Like I just butchered the last three holes.

No, no. But- For a guy that was so upset with his golf game at the beginning of the off season, and you're 74 with three holes to go, that's a hell of a turnaround for each. Yeah, so I'm just trying to, I was just angry for a guy who's golfed as much as I have,

and I don't golf a lot, but I've been doing it obviously for a long time. I really try to give the summer to my family. I was just angry at my first round of the year. I was so furious that I was like, you cannot tolerate this anymore. So it was time. Let's just say that it was time. How's your summer been? Oh, well, of course we've got Berkeley in our world now. So we're figuring that out. We backed up the family station wagon and move west. We're in Calgary now. So we're

Westerners back closer to family. That was the purpose of the move. Dana's from out here. I grew, of course grew up in BC, so closer to everybody here now. And it's funny you mentioned golf. So as you know, in a couple weeks, the Rogers Charity Golf Classic is here in Calgary. And that's- Well, I don't know because I never get invited to it. You know, and I suspect some other guys know, but I didn't know until you just told me. Okay. Well, it's been going on for a long, long time. Of course, it was under, it was under the name of the Shaw Charity Golf Classic. And now that has become Rogers. So anyway, I think I'm going to be involved in some way or another,

at least hang around that for a day or two when that event comes. The thing is, Elliot, with everything else going on, I have not touched a club yet this summer. I have not touched a club yet. No. And I'm trying to get out, but I haven't yet. And there's two days worth of Pro-Am. There may be a chance to get into a foursome there, Elliot. I'm just really nervous, but I can't say no to an opportunity like that. No, no, you can't. You just, you know, I like, that's what I do. I go, I go out to a range and I just hit balls and I totally understand.

Yes. I see it that way. You just got to like, and let's be honest, let's be honest. Dana would like you to go do that from time to time. She would like you out of the house. Yes, it's all on the show. It's all fake. She's she's really saying get out of the house. And we should say we don't do this with video,

but this is the longest I've ever seen your hair. What's going on here? Yeah, not by accident. video, but this is the longest I've ever seen your hair. What's going on here? Yeah, not by accident. Well, there's just been no reason to cut it for the longest time. And then I was like, well, I need to do something. I just think it's time to try something different, more or less. And I've loved it. I had a very similar look for a lot of years, Elliot. Long time. Just going to try something different. We'll see how long it lasts.

The good thing about hair is if you hate it, you can always cut it. Charles Barkley is going to be so disappointed. What if it turns out okay? Maybe I'm just being naive and stupid. No, it might. It's so, you've gone all the way across the country, now living in Calgary. You're a Western Canadian, you're a parent, and your hair has gone just crazy.

A new Kyle Bacoscus has landed on Earth. I think there's ever a time it's now, Elliot. So we'll see, come September, October. We're still kind of in the tweener phase now. We'll see in about six or eight weeks if it's any better. So the real reason we wanted to drop in this episode halfway through the off season there about is that we had an opportunity to have a conversation with Spencer Stasney, who was a defenseman in the National Predators System.

We talked to him the other day, recorded that interview. He has a real eye-opening story to share, one that he has kept private until now. So be sure to stick around for later on in this episode for that conversation with Spencer. So yes, Elliot, we are about halfway through the summer. Normally we'd still be in hiding at this time, but I think this is proof Elliot that you miss me and you miss Dom and you wanted to bring us all together. I don't know if I would swear that on a stack of Bibles, but okay, let's go with it. All right.

You know, we figured since, as Kyle said, Spencer was good enough to tell us his story and we'll talk a little bit more about that on the back end of the pod. We throw something together and just talk about some stuff we're hearing. I'll be honest, I haven't done a lot of in-depth reporting, just hearing some things and reacting to things here and there. So where do you want to start, Kyle?

Just some of the stuff we're hearing around the league. Yeah, well, I guess we should start with maybe some of the big names like in terms of the UFAs right now, there's still Jack Roslavik amongst others, but the big ones that are eligible to sign an extension that will be due a new contract a year from now Connor McDavid, Karel Kaprizov, Jack Eichel, there's the RFAs, Luke Hughes do a new deal this summer, Lane Hudson a year from now in Montreal, anything you're hearing or where any direction in those cases could be going. So what it sounds like is that one of the things that's really obvious, Kyle, is that there are a lot of players who don't want to sign a contract that quickly goes and looks like too much of a bargain.

And so, for example, this week, the the athletic did an article which was, you know, the the top 10 best value contracts in the league. And the funniest reaction I had to that was that someone told me that there are teams out there who hate being on that list. Like, if they get a player who's on that list, they think it makes it harder to negotiate contracts with another player, because agents will say, oh, you got that guy. Well, you're not getting me. Yeah, it does happen. I've been told that this does occur. And like you think the teams would be upset about being on the, these are the worst contracts and I'm sure they are.

But I had a couple of guys tell me that you also don't want to be on the best list because then people really grind in and dig against you. So it was funny. It was funny to hear that feeling. It's very obvious out there that teams are trying to hold the line and say, okay, well, if this player, like the top players are going to get what they're going to get. But it's very obvious that some of the teams are trying to say, hey, whatever percentage was signed in this contract before this cap bump, we don't want

to do that. Because for example, a percentage that might be worth, say, say for argument sake, five or six million, well, that could be going up in the next couple of years to seven, eight, nine million. And they're like, we don't want to do that. We don't want to argue percentage anymore. And the players, of course, are going to argue percentage. And the one thing I'm always reminded about, we don't talk about it very much, Kyle, is that these players, they only compete on the ice. They compete in terms of contracts.

I have several agents who say to me, especially with younger players, and I don't know a lot of the younger players yet. There's obviously a little bit of a generational divide between me and a lot of them, but they say they're even more competitive than ever when it comes to their contracts. And so they don't want to sign contracts that they look back at in a year or two and say, oh, I really regret signing that. Like the one that, and we'll talk a little bit more about him and his team in a few minutes, but the one that really stood out to a lot of people recently was Dylan Sandberg, who avoided arbitration with the Jets by signing a three-year deal. And

there were a few people who said to me that, don't be surprised if you see a lot of players who say, I'll do that and hit the market again at 29 years old or in that area and see where we go as opposed to signing a deal with term that I don't like. And look, like I think a lot of players expect that the two highest salaries after this wave of signings are going to be McDavid and Kaprizov. And look, I don't think anyone's going to have issue. If the orders could pay McDavid 50 million, he would deserve 50 million.

And Kaprizov is a great player in a great spot to hit it big. So once those players sign, I think you'll see some of those other potential top UFAs next year say, okay, now the top, top, top of the market has been set. It's easier for me to find the sweet spot or the comfortable place with the team to go after those two guys are done. We'll see if it turns out that way, but that's kind of what people are expecting. I think with some of the RFAs, it's the same deal. I get Devil's fans asking me all the time, what's going on with Luke Hughes? What's going on with Luke Hughes? The Canadian fans are wondering about Lane Hudson. I just think that with the cap going up, the market is getting reset.

I don't see problems getting these guys signed, but I do see the sweet spot for both team and player being a challenge. Everybody just trying to figure out where that is. Lane Hudson, I'm sure initially, the Canadians probably wanted him to be under Nick Suzuki. And now you look at the deal Noah Dobson just signed. Well, if Lane Hudson is going to sign for term, it's probably going to be up closer to Noah Dobson. And so what's the sweet spot?

I just think that we're going through this whole contract reset and we're still just figuring out exactly where all of this is going to land. But I definitely feel that the teams and the players aren't a hundred percent comfortable yet to say this is where we're going. I think they're still figuring it out and I think that's why you still seen some of these biggest deals not yet signed. It's kind of like when you see

the housing market spike in some areas. You know, like a home sold and then three months later, a similar one a few blocks over is now selling for 30% more. And it's like, wait a sec, how did that happen? And the price and then it just over time in a short period, boom, boom, boom. What would be considered a similar type of home is now over the course of a year

or two years, just thinking of what the salary cap jumping up as high as, as it is over the next little bit, I think I'm sure that's what players are trying to avoid those that would be considered in a similar realm in terms of percentage of the cap, depending on when your contract comes to. A hundred percent. And like I told you, if you're a player, you hate being on or you're an agent, you hate being on that list of, oh, these are the best deals. Like, right.

It's. That's right. It's like, I'm not knocking the list. I mean, hey, it's content, but I heard that there's not a lot of players or agents who really are thrilled when their name is on that list. Because they look at that as a loss. Yep. Yep. It is a big game of winning and losing.

You're right. You are right. So anything else on that front? You know what? I want to talk about the Jets for a second. They got Velarde done and they got Samberg done and They're still waiting on Lowry and they're still waiting on Connor. You know, I think the other thing I should mention here is You know the new CBA kicks in September 15th of next year 2026 There has been some talk about when some of the new rules are going to kick in. For example, at the announcement between the league and the players association that they'd agreed in principle on the new deal, they'd said that there was the possibility that some

of the new draft rules in terms of how long teams keep players they draft could come in next season before the actual CBA kicks in. Apparently, the league and the players association have been talking about some of the other things too. And I would be surprised if things like the term limits or the changes in bonuses come in early. But it's been talked about. I would be surprised if the players would agree to that. But at the very least, it's been discussed.

Like this Jackson Blake deal that just got done, it's got deferred money, that's going away. They did that with Seth Jarvis. They did that with Jacob Slavin. That's going away. It's supposed to go away September 15th, 2026. Is there any chance it comes in earlier? Like I said, it's been discussed, but if I was one of the players, I would say, why would

we bring it in any earlier than we could? As I mentioned with the Jets, the Sandberg one is really interesting. First of all, someone I know saw, I guess, Kevin Sheveldayoff late night negotiating in the lobby of the hotel that they stay at for arbitration and said, you know, he saw them late Tuesday night and it was done early Wednesday morning. So I think that was the only one of all the cases this year where the team and the agent actually went to Toronto for the hearing. I don't think any other one, like even the Nick Robertson one, which was settled Saturday,

I don't think everybody traveled to get there. So that was the only one and that's how close it got. I thought that one was really interesting because I had a gentleman's bet with an executive in the NHL that Samberg wouldn't go over 6 million AAV and he's just under. But the point I made, so I technically I lost the bet. But the thing I told him is that for the two UFA years of the deal, he's at six and a half. The RFA year is four and a bit. But Dylan said, and that's one, that goes back to what we were just talking about. Is that this is a player, he had 20 points last year, I think 75% of them were even strength.

He had 20 points last year, but he's a really good player and there aren't a lot of defensemen like him. And if he keeps going, there's no doubt in my mind, he could be a $7 million player or more. And I think that's a perfect example of what we're dealing with here. If it's so hard for the Jets and the player to find long-term agreement on a player like Samberg, I think it shows you the challenge here. But the really interesting thing about that was what one of the players said to me,

and that was, obviously we'll see what happens with Lowry and Connor, but this Jets group of players, like Velardi just signed two, like they're, they really believe in themselves. And not only they really believe in themselves, but they really like each other as a group. Like they, they jokingly kind of call themselves like Scheifle is known as kind of the hockey nerd. The rest of them, I think kind of are like that too.

Like they're just really a group of, of guys that really like hockey and really like playing as a team. And it sounds like, you know, they, the one thing that the Jets have going their way as an organization right now is they have a group of players who really like each other and really like competing together. Now, you've still got to sign them all, and we'll see what happens with the other ones, but it's obvious to me,

from what I heard about the signings of Velarde and Sandberg, is that as a team, it's a group of guys that really like being around each other, which is very important. Yeah, and music to the ears of Jets fans, of course, It's a group of guys that really like being around each other, which is very important. Yeah. And music to the ears of Jets fans, of course, given the narrative that has surrounded that market for many, many years. That's fantastic to hear.

Were you surprised that any of the negotiations that were slated for an arbitration hearing, none of them reached that point? I think it was the first time in four years, right? Something like that. I think the first time since 2021. The only reason I'd say no is just because of what happened last year with Swainman. You know, that process, it played a major part in sending the Bruin season into an iceberg, right? And so I could see a lot of teams looking at that and saying, we're just going to avoid that, like the plague. We want no part of that.

So I'm not surprised. No. OK. How about any surprise on the vote amongst the teams to continue a decentralized draft? We've made our feelings on this program about how we feel about all that, but it's gonna remain that way next year. Well, it was closer. When they originally voted to decentralize it

the first time, it was 26 to six. I understand this time the vote was 20 to 12. So we just have to keep moving the line. Right, Kyle? Just six more next year have to eat it. I'm going to sabotage it next season so we can get six more to change their minds and get back here. I really thought, as you knew, because of how Batman was like openly ripping the GMs about this, I really thought it was going to change. I was actually surprised he gave them the vote. I really was.

You know, I, um, it's, it's obvious to me that these teams that voted to keep it the way it is, they value the secrecy. From what I understand, it was all about secrecy. There's a guy, Mark Unetti, who runs the draft for the Kings. And he gave a quote, and I can't remember where I saw it, but he gave a quote where he said, I was able to look up injury reports and not worry about someone looking over my shoulder.

And I understand that was a big deal. People just said, I could talk to people at my table or I could have a conversation without worrying who was listening to me. And like one guy said to me, I think people read lips. I'm like, come on. And he goes, I think people do read lips. Everybody's got a camera right now. I was worried about getting my lips read.

And he was serious about it. And that's how they feel. They also do feel that if you streamline the broadcast, it will be better. I have no doubt that that is something they're going to do for next season. But the vote was closer, so it only gives me 10 months from now to figure out how can I make it so that six more people flip next year for next year's vote? Well, do you think that's going to be a thing like a yearly check in of, okay, how do we feel about it?

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Like, I'll tell you this, Kyle, the privacy thing is very real. Yeah, I can see that. Like, it didn't save them any money. They still had to fly in all their scouts from everywhere. They still had to put them up in hotels.

And they realized it didn't save them any money. But for the people who voted to keep it the way it was, privacy was, from what I understand, the number one thing cited. OK, well, one of the cool moments of that draft this past year in L.A. was Roger McQueen going to Anaheim and, of course, helicoptering to Disneyland soon after. And it sounds like he could be taking a helicopter, a plane, something to Providence next year after the last three seasons in Brandon of the Western Hockey League, another CHL player making the jump to Div.

One. I think we had to anticipate that this was going to happen once the flood gates opened. Like if you're an NCAA sports fan, you don't even have to be a hockey fan, a sports fan. If you've seen what the portal has done to NCAA sports at all levels, once it opens up, it becomes an uncontrollable floodgate. If players are unhappy or players are given a better offer, they are going to jump to somewhere where they think they get the better offer. As a guy who's been a fan of NCAA sports since he was

a teenager, basically, it always was so awaited against the players. The players had no power. And finally, it swayed back and the players are wielding their power to the way that they can, which I can't blame them for because of the way it was for a long time. And I'm never going to fault anybody for trying to cut the best deal for themselves. So there are some players who said no to the NCAA. Um, there's there, but there've been others who've gone and there's only, if you're in the middle of this, no matter what league you're in or what level

you're at, there's only one thing you can do. And the thing that you can do is say, you got to look in the mirror every day and say, are we giving players the best opportunities to pick us? Now, you know, some of these teams have facilities in the NCAA that are better than any CHL facilities. Well, you have two choices there. You can either build new facilities or say we can't compete with that, but we're going to find other ways to make you want to play for us.

That's all you can do. Like the, you know, and, and I think we're, we're going to see Kyle is that this, like the USHL is really worried. Like there was a note that went out through the USHL from its commissioner. Just saying, basically saying we have to work basically saying we're really concerned about all the players we're losing to the CHL. We're going to have to work to prevent the destruction of our league. They have the same concerns at the USHL level about the CHL that the CHL has about the NCAA. You can't stop it.

Unless someone's changing a law here, which I don't see happening, you can't prevent it from occurring. The only thing you can do is look in the mirror every morning when you wake up and every night when you go to sleep and say, am I doing everything I can to have the best possible program and experience? Some teams are always going to have disadvantages compared to other teams. That's geography. That's like the tax argument that we're always having in the NHL, right? Like there's gonna be teams like

London, there's gonna be teams like the Quebec Ramparts. They're gonna have advantages that other teams are not gonna have, Right? You can't beat that. There's only one thing you can do. And that is make sure that if a player walks away, that you can say to yourself, we did everything we could. And he just got, we got beat by a better offer. There's nothing else you can do right now. Nothing. Yeah, I totally agree. And I heard that as soon as I mean, Red Deer was one example, as soon as their season was over, they started a complete overhaul of their facilities for the players

because they thought we need to bring this up to a better standard. And I know like I saw Dan near the Commissioner of the WHL, like he had some comments that got a bit of traction about just the schedule and the lifestyle of the NCAA. The more I've thought about this, Elliot, it's just the feeling of, if you're the CHL, one of the three leagues there, if you're trying to compare yourself to the NCAA,

like you've lost, because you're never gonna, it's two completely different worlds, and that's okay. So I think to your point, the mindset has to be how do we set ourselves up the best to give the players that come to play in our league, the best opportunity to develop, to learn, to grow as a person, all those things. And not so much focused on, well, we do it this way, even though they do it that way over there. The comparison aspect, I think, will get these other leagues nowhere in the grand scheme of things.

It's all got to be internal in terms of figuring out how they best go about this new world. And the CHL can still be a great league. They're getting a lot of players who before NCAA age, who are coming and playing there and very happy to play there. I understand you're frustrated, you're losing the likes of McKenna. That's a huge loss. It's incredibly disappointing. They're playing preseason games up north this year, like Medicine Hat there.

They're going to play games up there with that thought that it was gonna be a grand homecoming for them right like it's yeah you just have to make the best of it you know yeah Kyle sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you and and you just have to be prepared for for both things but it doesn't mean the CHL can still be a great league for a lot of great players and send a lot of players to the NHL. But at the end of the day, for a long, long time, the players, the hammer rested with the teams. Well, finally, it swung with the other direction.

You can't complain about that. You had it your way for a long time. Life never goes your way 100% of the time. You can't cry about it. You got to adjust to it. Excellent. Okay. How about some news in Pittsburgh? I'm sure every now and then you're wondering, okay, Sidney Crosby, anything new there? No, he's going to start the year with the Penguins. I don't think there's any doubt about that.

You know, we also got like the, we got the preliminary media list and says Sidney Crosby Penguins. So that one was a sign to me that he's, if anybody doubted that he's not getting traded this summer. He's definitely not getting- For the media tour you mean? Yes, the media tour. You mean, yes, the tour and still laughing at last year when we asked him, is your contract going to have an 87 in it? Little did we know it actually was going to be 8.7. Yes, two

or three days later, still laughing at that. You know, people are always asking, are there any trade talks this summer? Obviously, Pittsburgh has been around it. I don't think there's anything imminent there on any file, although it can always change with one phone call. It's summer. People are trying to relax a little bit. I'm assuming that things are going to heat up later in the summer at some point in all these particular situations.

The one thing I think that has been news in Pittsburgh a lot has been the possibility of the Ron Burkle, Mario Lemieux group and whether or not they're going to come back and buy the Penguins. I can understand why the Penguins fans would be excited about the possibility of Lemieux. He's a god there and everything he touches turned to gold. But the only thing I've heard about that so far is that they're just well below what Fenway would want to be the number. If you take a look at it, the Lightning just sold, I know the Penguins sold for what, 900

and the Lightning sold for, I know the Penguin sold for what, 900 and the Lightning sold for around 1.8. I got to think that that's where the Penguins would want to be. And I just, from what I understand, that bid is just not close to that at this point in time. So we'll see where else it goes. I mean, that's a story that probably doesn't go away for a while. Also with Pittsburgh, Nick Robertson, I had a couple of people ask me about the possibility of Nick Robertson in Pittsburgh, just because obviously Kyle Dubas knows him.

They got the arbitration settled on Saturday at 1.825 million. The Maple Leafs have to clear some bodies there. They've got a lot of them. I had one Columbus fan ask me if Chinnicov for Robertson made sense. I don't know. I think Toronto would have to do more to get that done. I mean, I think I definitely think that the Maple Leafs have work to do here and I don't know what their timeline is, but nobody expects them not to do things before puck drops.

That's for sure. In our last pod, Kyle, another player we talked about for Toronto with Jack Roslovick, he's still unsigned. I've heard there's still a few teams looking at him and he's the best available player remaining and obviously he hasn't found anything he 100% likes. But there's definitely a few teams poking around there. I've heard five or six. So he has to get to something he's comfortable with. And we know with Toronto, they're trying to

move money around. Okay, well, how about what's going on with Matthew Kachak Elliott? I mean, he's had pretty damn good summer to this point, They're trying to move money around. OK, well, how about what's going on with Matthew Kachuck, Elliot? I mean, he's had pretty damn good summer to this point. Yes. Got married. Great day with the Stanley Cup for a second straight summer. But the health front, I mean, he revealed what he had been playing through and what kept him out in between the four nations and the start of the playoffs.

What does the path look like for him in terms of being able to suit up next season? Yeah, you know, I think that a number of fans have wondered if Florida would have to trade someone like Evan Rodriguez off their roster to make things work. I don't believe that's gonna be happening. First of all, they consider Rodriguez a really important player. But secondly, I think we're going to find out at some point here that Kachak will miss the start of the season. I think he'll be back in time for the Olympics. Obviously,

that's a huge deal for him. And it was always going to be set up that way. But I think he's going to miss a start of the year and a chunk of time after that. I don't know what the timeline is going to be, but it's going to be something like that. And congratulations to the Kachaks on what looked like a beautiful wedding. Something else I wanted to mention that was kind of funny. We know now from a couple of podcasts, one the Spit and Chicklets podcast and Sam Bennett went on the Empty Netters podcast about when Brad Marchand was traded there, the jokes that started going around over who was traded for them because it took a while for it to

come out. When Florida came to Toronto after the trade deadline, Evan Rodriguez, who's a great guy, pulled me aside and said, the next time you do a trade, you don't wait an hour to post what the return was. Pins and needles for a bit there. I think a few guys were. I mean, we saw what they all did to each other. They were, they were just clobbering each other by throwing fake returns out there. You know, he's a good guy. I got the message, Kyle, definitely don't let teammates play practical jokes with each other, making them terrified that they're

getting dealt out of a situation they're happy in. Message received. Message received. That's good. I mean, that's a tale as old as time though. The old trade deadline pranks about, hey, better get off the ice. GM wants to see you to try to hint at the fact that they might be being traded somewhere when nothing was in fact going on.

So, I remember there was one situation a few years ago where we were traveling and we were traveling with someone and they were wanting to get upgraded on a flight and they went in and sat down and we went into the plane and we said to this person, hey, they just called you at the front desk. So he went running off the plane and they're like, no, we didn't call you. And we texted someone else and said, when you get on the plane, because we knew that they were late or they liked the board last. Go pie this guy. I'm not going to say who it was.

Tell him that they called his name. So hey, they just called you and he ran off the plane again. I'm like, I'm sorry, we didn't call you. And he figured out after the second one, he was sour. Sour. Yeah, that's something that can get under the skin of a frequent flyer. The not so true call to the desk of. It's similar to taunting teammates about a trade.

That's definitely the same thing. Yes, exactly the same thing. All right. Well, how about as we look ahead to the Winter Olympics in Milan in February, So Team Canada announced their orientation camp coming at the end of this month, the 26th to 28th in Calgary. 92 athletes in total for the men's, women's and para. 42 NHL players, including all members that were part of Team Canada Four Nations team. So for those that were selected to this camp, what does it mean for them now going forward?

So one of the things we kind of wondered about and people wondered about is, does this just mean that only these players are now eligible for the Olympic team? That as in, can anyone not on the list be added in season? And I was told the answer to that question as in, can anyone not on the list be added in season? And I was told the answer to that question is yes. There is a long list of players that includes some who are not coming to Calgary this summer. So don't just assume that only these players are eligible. And one of the great things about enjoying hockey and being a hockey fan, whether you're in Canada or elsewhere, is debating national teams, right?

And so you are still have plenty of room to debate those who are not on this list because there are others on a long list. And one of the reasons I was curious about is with the IOC in the Olympics, you have to enter a protocol, right? So if you don't enter, sorry, that's a better way of putting it. If you don't enter their drug testing protocol, then you can't compete at the Olympics. So there is a longer list of players who, and you have to get into it early.

It's not something you can't just show up like a week before the Olympics and say, oh, I'm here for the testing. No, it has to start early. I know there were some players who were going through the process earlier this summer. So it is longer than just the names who were invited to Calgary. You know, I think I'm not surprised Celebrini was there.

I was pleasantly surprised that Connor Bedard was there. I think it's important to have players who are going to be a big part of the future on the common, at least by osmosis, be around some of these players. But, you know, Bedard, even though he had good intentions of working on his strength and his explosiveness this summer, as he's discussed, I was wondering if not going to the Worlds would hurt him. And I know I wasn't the only person wondering that. So I'm glad to see that he's at least getting an invite to this

orientation camp because he's going to be playing for Team Canada for a long time. And at the very least, he should be around some of those great players. Okay, Elliot. Another thing I wanted to mention here, the five players that were acquitted in the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, Cal Foote, Dylan Dubay, Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, and Alex Formonton. All five remain suspended by the league at this time. So I'll just ask you this, is there anything else worth mentioning on this file here for now until the commissioner decides what the next course of action is. I think it's really irresponsible to speculate until we have a league ruling on this.

I just, I don't think anything more needs to be said about that until we know if they're eligible to play. I think it's, I just don't think it's smart to speculate on where they could play. Okay. All right. With that, it'll take us to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC. So Elliot, before we broke for the summer at the beginning of July, it's our last thought line of the season.

Todd in Connecticut wrote in with a question about the first no move or no trade clause in the salary cap era. Now I went rogue with the question and went back to like one of the first ones ever in the history of the league. But you much more smarter and astute than I actually found an answer to the question Todd was specifically asking. What have you found? Well, I'm not smart or astute. I think that's I think you just committed liable against the words smart and astute. I was like, you're not going to sue me, are you? But somebody else did send in a note and they had the answer to that question that in the cap era, the first player to receive a no trade clause was Sergey Zubov.

Oh. So that individual did not want their name used, which is perfectly acceptable. If you prefer the cloak of anonymity, we will grant that. But he did have the answer. Sergey Zubov in the cap era was the first player to get it. I wanted to do a couple other shout outs too. I went to Anthony Stewart and his wife Shantae started hockey equality, and they had a fair or like a fun day a couple of weeks ago.

And I went to go see them. And Anthony was awarded with a certificate of exemplary work to Canada, which he's absolutely deserving of. He does a lot of great things to grow hockey in this country. And at it, I met a loyal pod listener named Joel who had a question for me, Kyle, and you're going to love this question. He said, when you are answering questions on the thought line, do you look them up as you're answering them?

And I was offended that someone thought I would cheat the thought line. No, I can back you on this one. You do not. You don't want to know what questions are coming, unless there's something specific in terms of someone wondering, you know, a salary cap or a CBA type question. Just so our bases are covered. But otherwise, like the trivia ones, especially, I don't tell you what we're going to talk about. And that's all your brain at work.

I am mortally wounded. Joel, first of all, thank you for keeping us employed by listening to the podcast, but I am mortally wounded that you would think I would cheat and tarnish the podcast. And I also wanted to shout out a young man who I met, a young Toronto area hockey player, Enrique Post-Pichal. I was walking out of my house and he was working with his dad. He's working doing trade work during the summer. He was working on one of my neighbor's homes.

I happened to be walking by and him and his dad came over to say hello. So I just wanted to wish he's 15, big kid, like a big strong kid. So I just wanted to wish Enrique a great 2025-26 season. Hard for me to remember what year we're in sometimes. Very good. Okay. That was the final thought brought to you by GMC. We'll take our first break and on the other side, you'll hear our interview with Spencer Stasny. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, welcome back to the pod Spencer Stassney, a 25 year old from Mequon, Wisconsin, just north of Milwaukee.

He's a fifth round pick of the Predators back in 2018, began his pro career with the Milwaukee admirals effectively his hometown team. The 2023-24 season scores his first NHL goal, played his first ever Stanley Cup playoff games. He finished that postseason with the admirals on the surface. It appeared Stasny was on a real exciting path under the hood, very much not the case. Last September, Stasny did not report to training camp for personal reasons. He remained away from the team until late November. The Predators didn't comment on the specifics. Stasny didn't elaborate

publicly until now, Elliott. Yeah. And the Predators, it should be pointed out, have a great history with getting players help when necessary. You'll remember Brian McGratton and Jordan Tutu were two players who really credited Nashville for saying, all right, you need help and we're going to make sure that you get help. So I'm not surprised in the least bit that the Predators kept it quiet and made sure that Stasny was in position to get the help he needed. And we'll hear him tell things in his own words here, but I think the key thing to recognize as we begin this is that he really wants to help people. I hope that anybody else who listens to him and says I kind of feel that way, I always believe this. If an NHL player is strong enough

to get help, there's no reason youL player is strong enough to get help, there's no reason you shouldn't feel strong enough to get help too. All right. And with that, here is Spencer Stasney's story, as you said, Elliot, in his own words on 32 Thoughts. So, Spencer, first of all, welcome to 32 Thoughts. Really appreciate you being with us here today. How are you doing?

How's the summer been going? What have the last few weeks looked like for you? Thank you. No, summer's been great. I just got back from a little trip to Arizona to see some family and then now I'm just getting into training. Just going to continue doing that, getting on the ice and really enjoying this summer a lot more than the previous few. Well, it's great to hear. We're glad to hear you're in a really good place. And, you know, we, I figured we'd start by taking you back to a, an important moment in your life.

And that's the 2024, uh, Calder Cup playoffs. You're playing with the Milwaukee admirals, which is the Predators American hockey league team. You guys, uh guys win the first round, you beat Texas. And in the second round, the division finals in a you beat Grand Rapids. And then it's the conference finals, you play Coachella Valley, and they beat you four games to one in the Western Conference Final. And it was then you said you had a major moment in the dressing room that brought you to a critical point in your life. Can you take us through this?

Yeah, the well the season prior we lost to Coachella, I think four games or two, and there was a little rivalry there. And the year before, I think I had a pretty good playoff run with my D partner, Adam Willsby. And then you scored the winning goal against the Manitoba Moose. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. That was fun one.

Yeah. And then that year we were, yeah, we lost 4-1 and I remember sitting in the locker room after that last game and it was in Milwaukee and I was looking to my left and I was looking to my right and I, I wasn't in a great place. I mean, we'll get into that a little bit more, but I saw Cal O'Reilly on my left and I was sitting there pretty happy that the season was done. I was absolutely miserable and I was just, I had nothing in the tank. And I saw him on my left just defeated, absolutely.

Just looking miserable, I with tears in his eyes. Like, he wanted to win that game more than anything. And that's kind of when I realized what I was going through and how I was feeling was not fair to him or fair to anyone else on this team. So what were you feeling? Oh, gosh, I think at that moment it was tough. I mean, right moment it was tough.

I mean, right then I was thinking it's like I'm done. I'm absolutely done with hockey. That whole playoff run, I think I really took a deep dive into thinking about the future and thinking about what I've been through. And in that moment, looking at Cal, looking at the rest of my teammates, I knew that it wasn't fair to them. And I was at that point, like I was, I'm retired. I was struggling every day with, I think, depression, anxiety. I mean, a little bit of everything, it felt like, and it was just overwhelming. I would call the therapist

in Nashville almost every day before the game for what seemed like hours just crying Like every game I went into it thinking I can't do this. I can't get on the ice. I can't go there I'd hop on the ice I take 10 second shifts and even our D coach like Scott Ward was like Like what are you doing? We need you out there and I just had nothing Like I had a decent year at some points and then come playoff time I was, I was checked out. I think I had zero points in however many games I played and I just, I just wasn't there.

And that's when I realized that I can't do another year of this, putting my teammates through that when I'm just checked out, when I'm not even trying to be out there. And yeah, and I thought hockey was just not for me in that moment. So let's take, let's go back Spencer, because, you know, before we can talk about how you began to figure out how to climb out of that hole and get yourself into a better place, we kind of have to go back and figure out where it all stems from. You grew up in Wisconsin, and I guess it was between middle school and high school, your family split up and some of you moved to Chicago so you could get some better competition.

And a lot of what you were challenged by kind of stems from that, correct? Correct. Yeah. Yeah. So I grew up in Milwaukee. who were challenged by kind of stems from that, correct? Correct, yeah. Yeah, so I grew up in Milwaukee. I grew up, I have a younger brother and an older sister. And we grew up playing every single sport. My sister was a little more of like the theater arts person. She plays in sports as well.

And then as we started to get older, we started to specialize in certain sports and hockey was the big one. And we really didn't know what to do with hockey. My parents never played, even though they're from North Dakota and like they loved watching hockey. And when it came to get a little bit more competitive, we decided that Chicago was the place to play just through the recommendation of people that we talked to and were playing

against and we were around in the hockey world. So a school opened up in Chicago called Bridgedale Academy and they're like, hey, you should come down here, you should focus on hockey, like really take this seriously. And so we said, sure, we'll go for it. And at that moment, our family decided to kind of split up. My dad and my sister stayed in Wisconsin and my mom, my brother and I moved down to Illinois to go to this hockey school and like really take this hockey thing seriously. And then from there, I think what I was going through and what I was struggling with

I mean up until now and into the future I'm sure will, it started right there and I didn't really realize until much, much later as like when I started when I entered the NHLPA program and when I took some time away. But yeah, I mean I loved it in Chicago. I was there for three years from eighth grade, ninth grade and tenth grade and it was like the best time of my life. Like I was waking up playing hockey, going to school, going to play hockey in the afternoon,

and it was incredible. But I didn't really realize it until years later that when I was down there, my brother was miserable. My mom was miserable. And I mean, pretty much everyone was. My sister was in Wisconsin, my dad was and I was having the time of my life. And I think that when that realization came to me years later, that really hit hard. And knowing that everyone went through a tough time when I was having a blast with friends,

when I was living like my best life, that guilt really weighed upon me. And I'm sure it's – I mean, it was added with a lot of other things that I came to realize in therapy. But yeah, it was – you know, it wasn't easy. And it was something to really grapple with but the big thing with the move to Chicago was like I was I was just a kid but for years really until I went to therapy and I entered the NHL program I Thought that what happened to my family with? eventually my parents divorced my sister's depression later in life and my mom, things she struggled with,

depression and else when she was in Illinois with us, I definitely took that to heart and I took ownership of that and I thought they were all doing the Chicago move for me, for me to play hockey, for me to get here, for me to make the teams that would allow me to play at the NTDP, to play in college, to play pro. And pretty much everything that went south in my family after that Chicago move, I really took ownership and felt very guilty moving forward. Can I just ask you, how's everybody doing now

before we continue this? Like is the rest of your family, are they all in a good place? Are they all in better places now? Yeah, yeah, they are. I think I think it took the longest for me to get over all these things. Because I mentioned when we were in Illinois, my brother wasn't in a great place. And after the three years in Chicago, he moved back to Wisconsin and he played high school hockey there.

He was back with his friends and really like he got to do what he loved, which was just go to school, study, write, read. And he turned it around pretty quickly. My sister struggled for a bit just being apart from family. Like we didn't really have a great relationship because I was always in Illinois and I didn't really talk to her much. But she went through pretty tough in college,

but she's still working on it. I think one thing that really has helped her is therapy, as did with me, and she's on medication as well. And it's still a battle for her, but I think she's really doing well now. And she's getting married here in September. So a little, a little stress there, I know, but a lot of excitement and it's in Milwaukee. So we're all really excited for that. And then, yeah, my mom, she's doing great.

She had some tough years in Chicago and some tough years a little bit afterwards. And yeah, my mom, she's doing great. She had some tough years in Chicago and some tough years a little bit afterwards. She's now back in Milwaukee as well, but she's doing really well. And then my dad is thriving up north. He got a place in Door County. So you know, he seemed to take all of this a little better than others, but yeah, who really knows what's going on there? Okay, well, I wonder, like, I mean, as you know, like, parents, by and large, they just, they want what's best for their kids. So I wonder for you yourself when you came to this realization years later and the feelings that you started to have, like what were those conversations like with

your family? Yeah, so I started to come few years into college but with my parents when I was living in Michigan so I lived in Chicago for three years and then I played juniors out in Michigan and Plymouth for two and halfway through my first year they there my mom came out just alone and she sat me down after a game and said, hey, like your dad and I are getting a divorce. And if she had told me that maybe a year before I would have been shocked, but I was around like a loving billet family, a billet family that like had family dinners every single night that would

make jokes, that would have fun together. And when I moved there, I really realized what a family looks like, like how much fun you can have, just like how you can joke around, how everyone clearly loves and likes each other. And when my mom told me, hey, your dad and I are getting a divorce, I was like, you know what, that makes sense.

I kind of pieced together that, you know, living apart in Chicago and certain things looking back growing up weren't always what this family had in Michigan was. But yeah, I think at that moment I pieced it together. So you went through and one of the stories that you said behind the scenes is that you found a therapist last summer, the summer of 2024, that really helped you get to where you needed to go. And that you had said earlier in the interview that you were retired, you were done. But the work with this therapist brought you back. How did she help? And this is an NHL NHLPA part of the program therapist, correct? In Chicago?

Yeah. So how did she help you? How did she get you into a better place? Yeah, she was incredible. So I, I've had coaches and people telling me to get therapy for forever, pretty much all my life. I grew up going to therapy for certain reasons and then when I was in NTDP, when I was in juniors for the U18 team, my coach, Seth Thapert there, just pulled me aside and said, hey, you're not looking like yourself, talk to this therapist.

And I was like,, alright, I'm fine But let's do it and I got no room with a therapist and just started crying and I didn't really know why I talked to him for a few sessions. The year was over and I moved on and like, you know what? I'm fine and then in college freshman year was great sophomore year came and I Thought I was fine and my coach says, hey something's up, let's get you to meet with the therapist. He gave me her number, her name, told me to reach out and I just never did. I kind of always thought like I'm okay, like I'm not doing great but I'm okay. And then pro hockey came and I mean pros a little different than junior college

I think you're kind of not the coaches or people don't care but it's also like you're you're a pro now you know what to do to take care of yourself and I just I did I didn't take care of myself and I think slowly things started to deteriorate. I Wasn't Doing anything outside of the rank. I'd go to the rink, I'd come home, I'd sit on my couch and I'd just like, what do I do now? And that pretty much led up to meeting the therapist through the NHLPA program. The summer before was like my contract year and yeah, I mean I talked about retiring and I thought I fully was.

I went down to my agent's office in Chicago at the start of that summer and I said, hey, I don't want to talk about hockey for a good month. I don't want to hear anything. Just give me time to think about what I'm going to do moving forward. And I took some time, it got time to sign like the qualifying offer and I was like I I'm not ready like I just can't sign I'm not ready I don't know what I'm gonna do and I told them if it's between retiring or signing that offer like I'm going to retire and I signed my

retirement sheet and he was like are you sure you want to do this is this like actually what you want? I was like, I'm not ready to sign another contract. So yeah, that's it. And then throughout the summer, I thought, you know what? I signed my retirement form, I'm done, I'm gonna feel better and I just didn't, I felt the same. I thought it was gonna be a sigh of relief

and I was gonna get up in the morning and I was gonna feel great. I was gonna apply for jobs like I'm a new person. I'm free finally and I was still miserable. So my agent was also one of the people pushing for me to meet a therapist for forever. And that's Pete Rutile, your agent, right? Pete Rutile, yeah. Yeah. He's, And that's Pete Rutile, your agent, right? Pete Rutile, yeah. Yeah. I met him when I was like 14 at Panera and he's been like, like he's really been like a father figure.

Like he's the reason why I'm even playing pro hockey. He's the reason why I'm still playing. And yeah, he's been awesome. He's been incredible. But to get to my therapist, and he's the one that recommended in partnership with Vicki Woosley, who's with the Predators, who recommended like this NHLPA program when there was no chance I was going to report to training camp. I couldn't get myself there. And he put me in that program. and at that point, he pretty much said like, this is not going to force you to go to therapy.

It's like to meet this therapist and to finally figure out what's going on here. And I met Cindy, my therapist, who was in Chicago and I'm up in Milwaukee still. I was living at home and I took the train down to meet her about two weeks after I entered the program. They're like, let's take your time, let's breathe, let's relax and when you're ready, let's get into therapy. And I took the train down one day on a Friday just to meet her, like a quick consultation, see what's going on because she just knew, all right, hockey players coming down here, they're in the program, don't really know what's going on, but let's find out.

And I head down there, take the train down, I sit in her office and I'm feeling like stressed, anxious, depressed, but fine. And she's like, all right, what's your name? Spencer, like, blah, blah, blah. All right, let's tell me about yourself. And I think I cried for an hour straight. I probably got like three words out that whole time. Wow.

Yeah. And she kept making herself available, right? Like, it was like, normally it's like one session a week later, but that didn't happen here. No, I think once she's, once she sat there in a, in a chair, five feet across from me and witnessed me crying for an hour straight, I think she realized this guy, this guy might need some more help than one meeting a week.

So it was a Friday and she's like, you know what, why don't you come Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and then let's just keep going. So I think I was down there almost every day for a week or two, probably more than that. And then we're going like three, four times a week. We were pretty nonstop until I started to feel some progress and it was pretty quick. She sat me down and she's like,

I'm not here to, I know I'm in partnership with NHLPA, they reached out, this is their program, but I don't care about hockey. I don't care about you playing hockey. I care about you as a person. We're not even gonna talk about it. And at that point, that's when I realized, all right, this is great.

Because I couldn't, for years, I had a rule with my family, no hockey talk, like absolutely nothing about hockey away from the rink. I don't want to think about it. I don't want to talk about it. Like nothing. Because I get stressed, I get anxious, like horrible. And as soon as I heard her say that, I could just take a sigh of relief, like, all right, like we can actually make some progress here here like figure out what's going on. And she's like she was I can still text

her whenever I could text her right now and she'd get back to me before this podcast was over for sure. But like she was my best friend for her months. Great. Yeah, she's awesome. And yeah, I think we just, she got into, she really dug deep into my mind and we figured out what was going on. And I think we're still making some progress there, but like things I didn't even know were affecting me, things that I didn't know that were like holding me back

or causing a lot of distress we talked about. And what I thought was because of hockey really wasn't, there's a lot of things with my family and things with me personally that were affecting me. So how would you describe then the work that was done from when you first met with her to when you were ready to get on the ice again in November? Yeah. So I, so training camp started, I believe, like September 18th. And September 11th, I told Nashville, you know, I'm going to be down there. I'm going to be a

training camp, be there early. And it was the 11th, the 12th, the 13th, and I didn't leave my couch. I was the only one at home, couldn't get down there. And then I think two days before they all realized I wasn't gonna make it. And I entered this program and when I entered this program, like the first thing she said to me was, you know, we're not gonna talk about hockey. And we just talked about my life. Like we sat down, I cried for an hour the first session, 30 minutes the next session, 15 minutes maybe the third and we got all the way down to the occasional tears.

She'd always have a tissue box in front of me ready to go just in case. But it was just, we didn't even talk about any therapeutic techniques or like we just were talking for a good probably week or so. I don't think she really needed to get into anything specific to really get to me right away. It was once I was comfortable being there with her, once I was just done like just crying for no reason, then I think we could start making some progress. And it was a lot of like, all right, you just cried when you were talking about your dad,

like what's going on there? You just cried when you were talking about like your sister, what's going on there? And then that's where I'd be like, well, then I'd have to look inside, like, well, I probably cried because like, I don't have a great relationship with my dad or like my sister went through all this when I was apart

or when I wasn't living with her. And it was things like that where I'd start digging deeper into little things and she'd occasionally be like, maybe you're feeling this way because of this, because of this sort of thing or this sort of thing. And I'd be like, oh, like maybe yes or maybe no. But I think it was a lot of just

It was great because there was no hockey talk. It was just we're trying to figure out what's going on with me and Like the timeline getting back into the game was I absolutely like nothing that she ever brought up. It was Probably two months into the going to see her and I was like, you know what? Like I'm actually kind of looking forward to getting back on the ice and she never pushed that once which was which was pretty incredible So when did you start to feel better and what helped you start to feel better like was it the conversation? Or just not even speaking about hockey. What kind of got you on a better path? yeah, well like I took time away from the game and I like, retired in my mind from the game earlier that summer because I thought

that hockey was what was making me miserable. Like I'd go to the rink every morning dreading it and I'd come home, I'd sit on my couch and I'd just think about hockey the next day. And I'd be like, I don't want to do anything because I have to go to the rink again and I have to go to the rink again. And game days, I'd fall apart. I just – I couldn't nap. I'd be jittery.

I'd be like, I don't want to play. I don't want to be on the ice. I don't want to do it and I just couldn't get those thoughts out of my mind. So when I went to therapy, I thought hockey is the issue and I thought hockey was what was making me miserable and making me freak out and depressed and I like couldn't do anything because of hockey and then I realized that it was not hockey, it was like me, it was my family, it was what I was guilt, like guilt I was feeling. It was a lot of ownership that I had that I didn't need to have because a lot of things

happened when I was just a kid. And I think progress really came once I realized that hockey is not the issue. And once I realized that, once I addressed some things with my family and really once I started talking to people in my family, when I talked to my brother, my mom, my dad, my sister, then I started to realize that, you know what, hockey has nothing to do with this. I actually have like fond memories of hockey. Like when I was younger and I didn't realize any of this was going on when I was in Chicago, when I was in Wisconsin, like I love being on the ice.

So I just, you know, it's like, you know what? I'm gonna, I'm feeling a little bit better. I've talked to people in my family. I'm gonna get back on the ice. I'm gonna see what happens. And yeah, it was a pretty freeing experience being on the ice and not attributing hockey to things that have happened to my family or feeling guilty for being out there.

It was just like, I can just separate myself from that now. Like I can just be on the ice and I'm like, this game isn't the reason why I'm gonna get off and be miserable later. Like I can play hockey, I can get off the ice and actually feel good about my day. Nice. Really good, really good.

How would you describe your relationship with the game now? I think it's still evolving. I think, like I, I'm still trying to figure out my relationship with hockey. I think I've played for so long where I thought I was miserable, where I thought like this isn't for me. And I've also felt a little like when I was going through all of this a little outside of the hockey player bubble, like the hockey identity and the hockey this and that. When I was in college, like I loved classes, I loved school, I loved, I was a finance and

film major, like I loved going to classes. You have a double degree. Yeah, I totally classes. I loved school. I loved I was a finance and film major. I loved going to classes Yeah, like the smartest guy in the NHL you've got a finance and film Not quite. Yeah finance. I mean finance. I snuck by film. I don't know if we're gonna count that but Watch a lot of movies for homework But yeah, I I watched a lot of movies for homework. But yeah, I, sorry, what was the question? We were just talking about, sorry, Kyle just asked how your relationship is with hockey now. Yeah, it's still evolving.

I'm still coming to terms with everything. I think one thing I realized was once I got back into hockey and I like let Nashville, Milwaukee know I want to come back but it's still going to take some time. They sent like Boro down to train with me one-on-one for however long I needed. And I didn't know a lot about Boro's story and meeting with him and grabbing lunch with him and having him just bag me on the ice for an hour every morning at like 8 a.m. was something special but like I hadn't skated really. I skated once from June to like October or November and then I show up and borrows theirs you know what like let's get on the ice and I remember the first

shift I like the first practice I had with them, we were just skating nonstop for three minutes around the ice doing certain as work things. And I think by the third minute or the third lap, I was, my legs were locked, like I couldn't move. I could barely breathe. Breathe. And he was like, that's sneaky hard, right? Like, no, it's just extremely hard. Like, I am dying. But I think I got back into it pretty quickly. I don't know. It was really nice having him there. You know, he's away from his family.

He didn't have to do that and he came down to Milwaukee. He was living in a pretty brutal hotel next to the rink. I don't know if he had a car, he had a car there. But like, you don't want to be in Milwaukee when you're away from your family. You could be in Nashville just one-on-one with me every day. Like, it was a lot to ask and he was great. I learned a lot about his story. Like, he was taking care of me and it's something I'll always be thankful for. And like, I know I talk about my agent being a big person, the therapist being a big person

And get me back into the game, but I think borough really was the final piece that was like, you know I'd like hockey's got great people. He's he's there for me cares about me in this organization and and He was a big reason why I wanted to to get back into the game even Once I was out there like touching the puck. He was like the final piece and saying, you know what, I'm gonna be ready. You know that last answer will not be sponsored by the City of Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce. Yeah, well, you know, I love it. He's a mech-wilder. He can say that. I love Milwaukee.

I absolutely love it. I'm here year-round. It's great. But I think I think they're probably better places to spend it than one-on-one with a recently defressed hockey player in the city of Milwaukee when it's gloomy and there's maybe one day of sun out in like a week. So, Borough of course is Mark Borovetsky, longtime player in Ottawa and then finished his career in Nashville and now works within the organization. So yeah, he said that he was very, once you got on the ice, he was actually quite like after, you know, learning about your story, he was very impressed with just how quickly you looked good on the ice again, after you both got out there and he said he was very envious of some of the things you were able to do. Cause as he said, he would put some, some tough drills on there and all the hours you guys spent on the ice. So what was like the toughest thing that he had you do?

That first day was horrible. I mean, I remember getting off the ice, probably like crawling off the ice that first day and thinking like, what am I doing? Like why, what is going on here? How am I going to get through this? The second day was fine. But about a week into him, just him and I on the ice one on one, we did. All right, we're going to simulate some contact now. So go to the corner.

I'm going to like pin you against the wall, try to move around, grab a puck and go shoot. And let's do that like three or four times. And I remember as soon as he plastered me into the wall my body just like I was done. Like I was like I don't remember getting hit like this ever. I can't move and I think by the third rep he's like move, move, move and I just pasted myself to the wall. Didn't move for like 10 seconds and he's like all right go shoot and I think I just probably

went two miles an hour, grabbed a puck and flicked it probably three feet wide. The guy was just dead. He had some good ones. He had some good drills that maybe I'd be fine doing when I was in shape midway through the season. But coming back from all of that and a summer where I was in the gym twice, maybe, it was really tough. So one thing that he said, and I'm sure you're aware, he's a big fan of yours, Spencer. But he said, you know, he goes, I can be proud of Spencer. The organization can be proud of Spencer, but Spencer needs to be proud of Spencer. So are you through all of this?

Yeah, yeah, I am. Great. Yeah, it took me a while to really feel that way. Like when I had, since pro hockey, I've had some tough summers. Like in college, we would always have six weeks of summer to train. And since pro hockey, like I've never found a place to train in Milwaukee. I've never really skated. I think one thing you mentioned in that last practice was just how I got back into it after not skating.

That was just a normal summer for me. The first year of pro hockey between signing with Nashville and playing two games with the admirals and then rookie camp, I got on the ice about a week before on a stick and puck session with my brother. And then the day before I flew down to Nashville, I went to another stick and puck and just stood at the red line. I was like, you know what, here we go. I didn't really train. And then the year after, same thing. I was in a pretty brutal place, wasn't getting out of bed, was crying all day.

My mom got me on some antidepressants like a month before the season. That gave me a little boost, but it was the same thing. I got on the ice the first time probably a week or two before, and then I got a last minute flight to Nashville and said, here we are. So I think I've been pretty fortunate that I can just do nothing and kind of get away with it and show up and be OK. But that's also tough, knowing that I'm not as prepared as I'd want to be. But I can kind of get away with it,

which has its pros and cons. Well, that's what some people did say about you, Spencer. Considering now people have a better idea of the things that you have been dealing with in your head, they said, you know, you're a heck of a player. And it's actually pretty amazing to see how far you've come, considering everything that you were dealing with quietly and privately that a lot of us didn't know about. Are you excited about what the future could be hockey wise knowing now that you have a

plan to deal with everything that you were dealing with? Yeah. Well, first of all, that's nice. I don't know who's saying that, but thank you to them. You'd be surprised. A few people said that, actually. Yeah. I am excited.

I am talking about feeling proud about myself. One thing this summer is, every time I wake up and I go to the gym or I'm on the ice, I'm already more accomplished in one day than I was all summer, all the summer before that. So I think it's just the little victories in that and just like no matter how many times I skate or how many times I work out, I'm going to be more prepared for this training camp than I have ever before.

So it's just a matter of like feeling proud, feeling excited and yeah, it's going to be a whole new training camp, it's going to be a whole new year. I think my relationship with hockey is still evolving. I'm still getting used to like being on the ice and enjoying it. And like one thing I never really did is like try to score. Like I've never been, you know what? Like I'm gonna go out there.

I'm gonna like, I want to change the game. I wanna do this. Like my coaches have always been, you're way too passive. Like you can do more. And I just didn't have that drive. I think I'm still getting used to wanting to do more and wanting to score and wanting to do this and that. But it's something that's coming and something that I'm still working on.

But yeah, I think moving into training camp, I'm feeling so much better. Most years I'd go and be like, I just want to go back to Milwaukee. So that's not a, I'm feeling so much better. Most years I'd go and I just want to go back to Milwaukee. So that's not I just want to go home. So that's not a good look. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to getting there and hopefully sticking there. It's awesome. I'm glad to hear that. Can we ask you some different kind of stuff? Yeah, no, anything.

Now, so, Kyle, before Spencer mentioned the movies and that he watched a lot of movies to get his degree, he joked. You had a movie question for him. Well, yeah, given your film study background at Notre Dame, I've got to know, is there a movie you have seen this summer, this year that for everybody out there listening is like a must watch? Gosh, this year. I mean, this is kind of cheesy, but I,

this is not a, this is not my film major take, but I'm a big Marvel guy. Well, big superhero guy of all sorts. And I just watched Superman and the Fantastic Four. Both were, Superman was great. Fantastic Four was pretty solid as well Let's see I gotta tell you I thought there was too much of the dog and Superman I wanted a lot of the dog I'm a lot of the Superman less

There was a lot of dog yeah, I I agree with that There was a lot of dog. Yeah, I agree with that. It came out in 2023 but like the Holdovers, I don't know if you've seen that. I saw it in theaters and I rewatched that. I think that movie is incredible. I love that movie. That movie is great. And then Licorice Pizza, similar to the Holdovers, I think they give kind of a similar vibe

that was incredible too. So those are two movies I'd definitely recommend. Two recent movies that are definitely worth a watch. What's your list of favorite all time movies? Like what's your? Oh, well so yeah, so if this is like my film major take, I watched an international, like a Korean film in school called In the Mood for Love.

And that is, for movies I love soundtracks, like scores, the music in the film. And In the Mood for Love, a 2000 Korean film has like one of the best main themes ever. So I remember sitting and watching that in film class just in a theater. And as soon as the music came on, I was like looking around like anyone else, anyone else seeing this and they're on their phones or whatever.

But I loved it. And then. I mean, Good Will Hunting is probably one of my favorites as well. I can I could watch that a million times. Yeah. That's a great one. Very good choice. Great choice. How about you guys? choice What you guys like well, I I would say like I mean the original like Godfather one and two I can always watch them I have a guilty I

Have a but there's a bunch of movies. I really like The deer hunter is a movie that used to come on late at night If I saw that come on late at night I could never turn it off and I would have been at 4 a.m Yeah, but I have a guilty pleasure movie that whenever I kind of in a bad mood I flip it on and that's the original Roadhouse Wow

when I'm in a bad mood, I put on Roadhouse and Patrick Swayze. I just Sam Elliott. I love that movie and it gets me out of a bad mood whenever I'm in it. Kyle? So one of the best endings that floored me was The Usual Suspects. And I saw The Dark Knight for the first time in an IMAX theater, and that's one of those you'll never forget where you were when you saw that one for the first time. Yeah, it's a great one.

I mean, there's a number of guilty pleasures. My problem now is I just, I've got whatever, 10 movies that I just watch over and over again. I'm bad for branching out. But late, a couple of nights ago, the Breakfast Club was on. I loved the whole story arc of that one and the character building and all the inner anyway. It's just great. Great, great, great. I wrote it down in the mood for love. It's on my list now. I'm going to have to watch

it. It's great. You know, Spencer, I just want to ask you a little bit about like some of your Predator's teammates. They used to call Nicholas Lindstrom the perfect human. Is Roman Yossi the new perfect human? He's got to be. He's got to be. Never looks bad.

I mean, yeah, I don't have any experience with Lindstrom, but I can't say anything negative about Yossi at all. So I can't imagine there's another person out there like Roman. What's he like in the room? What's he like to play with? He's super nice. Like I remember getting called out.

It's actually a funny story. Like my first NHL game I had called out, and he's always like larger than life. He's super nice, like always smiling, great guy. But I played my first game, and then I remember getting home after the season, and I looked at my mailbox, and it's just a shirt with Roman Yossi's face on it,

just in my mailbox. And I go, I'm like, I don't think he sent this to me. That wouldn't make any sense. Like, does he send like a Roman Yossi shirt to everyone who plays their first game? So I was a little confused. I didn't reach out. I didn't tell him that.

I wasn't sure what was going on there. Maybe a fan did that. But I actually have a shirt with Roman Yossi's face on it, just smiling. So. You don't know who sent it? Still? I don't know.

I know I don't know who sent it. I thought it can't be him. Well, hopefully we can solve the mystery. I want to be living in a world where Roman Yossi sends shirts of his face to guys who play their first NHL games. I was like, I hope not, but at the same time, that would be pretty funny. Yes, that would be great.

Like if he takes the photo on that day, so it's like, this is what I look like the day you made your NHL debut. That would be awesome. That would be great. So who are your closest friends in the Predators organization? Uh, gosh, Adam Willsby. He was my D partner for a while in Milwaukee, and then he was up in Nashville for all last year.

Jake Livingstone, um, in Milwaukee as well. I mean, I would, I'm really close with guys in Milwaukee guys in Nashville, for sure. Like Luke Evangelista, I love he's something he's everyone loves him He's he's funny. He's great. But uh, I'm like Jane Kowski who was just traded away. I was close with him But no, I think like Kevin Gravel and Milwaukee and a lot of the Milwaukee guys. I've definitely bonded with a little bit more What do you remember from your first NHL goal? Gosh What do you remember from your first NHL goal? Gosh. Yeah, it was pretty exciting. I'm not one to, I've never really been one to Sally after a goal.

I think it's always like, I watch them and you smile, but you don't like, I know, it's insane. No, it's always, it's always like I'm in shock, kind of blackout like to that, like what just happened? So yeah, my first AHL goal and NHL goal were from Luke Evangelista. And it was just, just a rush. Like it was a three on two rush all the way. And they made like an errant pass, went around the boards and I just skated off as the fourth

day, like the fourth player, the first team in the rush. And fans found me and I just like, I don't just shot it went in. I remember like it was kind of a rip on his shoulder and went in and I remember being there with like Kiefer Sherwood and Vangelista and like those guys were I played with both of them in Milwaukee and and being up there and scoring with Nashville with them on the ice. I remember how excited they were and just I can picture their smiles and their cheers.

So I think that was really special to do that with them. And it was against the Blues who like my first game was against the Blues. Brayden Shen came up to me like, hey, like this is your first game, congrats. And I was remember watching him on TV and like thinking this guy is like, hey, this is your first game. Congrats. And I remember watching him on TV and thinking, this guy's tough. This guy's scary. And then all of a sudden, he's out there super nice. Congrats.

And then I score against the Blues. And after the game, he's like, was that your first goal? Congratulations. So I think he was my favorite player for quite a long while after he said that. This guy's great. But yeah, it was a really special moment. It was something that in the moment, and like when I wasn't in a great place,

it was like, eh, but now looking back, like I had my first gold plaque for the HL and NHL just buried in my car, like didn't want to look at it. Now it's just in my room. So we're making some progress there. Nice, good. Yeah, nice. That's great.

Now, did you get to know Luke Shen at all from his time in Nashville? Yeah, like when I got called the first year, I was with Barry for a bit as my D partner. And then, yeah, the past couple of years when I've been called up, I'd play with Shenner, with Luke Shen. So, I mean, he's awesome.

He's the best. I'm sure you guys know him and stories about him. He's a lot of fun, like the nicest guy and super easy to play with out there. Like really made the game a lot more comfortable as a guy that was in and out and just like trying to, trying to play out there in the NHL a little bit. All right, so who is the guy that scared you most

coming in on you on a rush? And who is the guy who's hit you the hardest so far? Okay. Gosh, on a rush. I don't know if this counts as a like, it's not really a rush, but I remember, uh, well, McKinnon, McKinnon for sure on a rush. I remember it was like a one on two and I had like a, I was going forward at him and we kind of turned the puck over in the neutral zone

and I was still going forward. And I just started pivoting backwards as he was coming with full head of speed. And I just got like a lucky stick on it. And I were thinking like, thank you. Like I somehow found a way to get stick on it and just didn't get walked. But I remember we were playing in Calgary and Luchic was on the other team and I went back for a

puck and I just like no Luchic on TV like you got to watch out and I the whole I was going back for a puck and I wasn't I didn't shoulder check and I hear the crowd going oh I'm like oh no what's going on and I just smack it and I wasn't, I didn't shoulder check and I hear the crowd going, oh, I'm like, oh no, what's going on? And I just smack it and I look and Luchi just come on a hundred miles an hour right at me, like dive out of the way. And I like, that would have, I think I would have been dead. Like that, that would have killed. So I think those two moments were like ones that I really remember is like, that's yeah yeah pretty scary there. Biggest hit in the NHL? I don't, I don't, well I got Joshua, Dakota Joshua in the playoffs I got, I got smushed

pretty bad but that was more just how I took the hit and not the bad hit but just a little concussion there, not too bad. Yeah. Kiefer hasn't got you yet? No, no, not yet. He I don't know if I played him and that I haven't played against him just always with him. So I mean, he's he's the nicest guy and he's always been like one of my biggest supporters. He's always like, he's always pumping me out.

So I'm sure he'd hit me, but I don't, he's always pumping me out. So I'm sure he'd hit me but I don't think he'd hit me too hard. One thing I just wanted to ask is towards the end, Spencer, was just curious, like it would be naive to think that you would, the only person in hockey that has gone through is going through something similar to what you've all dealt with. You could have kept your story private. Why did you feel it was important to share it publicly?

Yeah, I mean, I was struggling with depression and with anxiety and a lot of just feelings about the game and things personally that I didn't really want to share with anyone for a long time and I think just that silent struggle, I think realizing that, realizing that sharing and speaking out about these things is something that has really helped me get it off my chest and feel good and even in this like, in this atmosphere, in this environment, being able to talk to you guys about what I was going through and being able to just say it out loud that I was struggling and to acknowledge the people that

have helped me is really something that lifts a little bit of weight off of my shoulders and makes me feel better every time I say it. So I think, I mean, for years I didn't really know what was going on. I didn't want to think about it didn't want to address I wanted to just bear it away. But now that I'm like looking at it, I've addressed it, I've talked about it, I think it helps a little bit every single time just to keep talking about it. And hopefully, by sharing my story and some things I've

gone through that it helps other people and it makes them feel a little bit more comfortable to talk about their story as well. I have no doubt Spencer that somebody out there, whether they're a hockey player or just any other person in life is going to hear this and say that if somebody so accomplished to play in the NHL is willing to say this, then I can get help. I can get help too. I have no doubt you are gonna help people here. No doubt. Yeah, I hope so.

Awesome. Okay. Yeah, thank you guys for giving me this outlet and talking to me today. This has been really great. For sure. Well, we really appreciate it, Spencer. Thanks so much. Thanks for trusting us. Yeah, of course. Thank you very much.

Of course, yeah. So thank you again to Spencer for being willing to share his story with us and with you. Thank you to his agent, Pete Rutili, for his efforts in facilitating all of it as well. Elliot? Yes. And the one thing I would like to reiterate is that Spencer asked for help. If you were listening to his story and you feel you need help too, there is no shame

in asking for it. Even the strongest among us never accomplish everything alone. Now, outside of that interview, Kyle, if there's one other thing I'd like to see get done, I want to know the origins of this mystery Yossi shirt and who gave it to him. I really want it to be Yossi himself.

I know. I have a feeling it probably isn't, but I would like it to him. I really want it to be Yossi himself. I have a feeling it probably isn't, but I would like it to be. That's the only reason why I'm giving pause to getting to the bottom of it because I'm worried that that's not going to be the answer. And in my mind, I just want to think it was the captain that just sends players shirts with his face on it as a celebratory gift for playing their first game in the NHL with him and the Predators. All right, so midsummer check-in and we plan to be back again before things ramp up for real about mid-September. We'll be checking in prior to that. Until then, keep it straight off

the tee. Keep finding those rings and regulation. And if we ever find ourselves in a pickleball court over the next little while, hopefully your game's improved. Yeah, that was a smiting. I won't deny it. That was a smiting.