32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Oilers Surrender Home Ice

Episode Date: May 13, 2024

Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman dive into the Vancouver Canucks-Edmonton Oilers series and Sunday night's game that saw Vancouver take a 2-1 series lead and regain home ice advantage. Afterwards, the fellas shift focus to the Florida Panthers-Boston Bruins where, following some officiating controversy, the Panthers took a 3-1 series lead (11:40). They park the Stanley Cup Playoff chatter for a moment to focus on the Leafs' coaching search (30:08). Elliotte provides an update on Utah's leadership (40:10) and they wrap A block by paying tribute to the late Ron Ellis (43:21). The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (46:29).Jeff and Elliotte wrap the podcast by previewing Monday's action between the Hurricanes and Rangers, and the Stars and Avalanche (1:04:02).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.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.

yes we're going to get to sam bennett don't worry about that welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra elevation merrick alongside friedman and dom schrammati who's battling elliot i was battling a couple of weeks ago now dom is fighting his way through it's the playoffs boys suck it up just like the players do yeah they, they may have broken bones, but we have the sniffles. That's a wash as far as I'm concerned. All right. We are just as tough. We're just as tough as NHL players.

We have the sniffles after all. Vancouver Canucks 4, Edmonton Oilers 3. That's the final score. Getting there was certainly interesting. Vancouver now leads the series 2-1. Getting there was fascinating. A lot of goals in the first period. A little bit of a comeback by the Edmonton Oilers.

A goalie pull. Skinner out. Calvin Pickard in. Final shots on goal 44-18. Favoring the Edmonton Oilers. And stop us if you've heard this one before. But the Vancouver Canucks got wildly outshot and still won the game.

Artur Shilov is the star again, 41 save performance. Elliot, what do you take away from this one? The first thing I think is the last thing you mentioned, and that is Shilov. He deserves a lot of credit. Right now, he is the difference in this series. I know there's a lot of talk about refereeing, lack of Oilers depth, Brock Besser narrowly missing a natural hat trick in the first period. There's a lot of great, great subplots.

But the number one story of the series is Shelov's. He was marvelous again tonight. And he's why Vancouver is up two to one. There's a few things I really look at here from Edmonton's point of view. They have to score five on five. No matter what Vancouver is doing or not doing, they cannot score five on five. And I just don't believe they're going to be able to win this series going 25 out of 30 on the power play and getting nothing at even strength. That is one thing that has to change.

Their top players need more support. The rest of the group is just not dangerous enough. And, hey, we mentioned Shilovs. You've got to mention Skinner. He got pulled in this one. And I loved Chris Knobloch trying to get the extra time out at the end of the game. If you're not cheating, you're not trying. That was old school.

Roger Nielsen. Yeah. Mike Keenan. Mike Keenan, yes. They all would have tried something like that. Good on Chris Knobloch for trying. But Skinner is really struggling. And look, I think he comes back and he starts game four.

And look, I think he comes back and he starts game four. But what I was thinking, Jeff, watching this game is, if he falters in game four, is your next goalie Pickard? Or is your next goalie Jack Campbell? Oh, my God. Is that Campbell's music? Is that Jack Campbell's music? I was talking about this with someone, and they said, look, Jack Campbell has been in the minors for months, and Calvin Pickard has played really well. And I said, yes, that's true. But I am here to ask questions and stir debates. And Jack Campbell was only in the minors for a certain amount of time because they couldn't fit him to call him back up.

Can you refresh my memory? I'm kind of new to hockey. Where did Archer Shelofs ply his trade for the majority of this season? In the American Hockey League. Okay, just checking. Okay, so that's fine. Anyway, my point is that, you know, obviously if you're Edmonton, you want Skinner to write himself. You don't even want this to be a conversation.

But if it becomes a conversation, I'm wondering if there's any chance this could mean the return of Jack Campbell. It's a fascinating series, and it's a wonderful series. And it's been emotional. It's a fascinating series and it's a wonderful series and it's been emotional. It's been violent. By the way, I'm still scratching my head because we've seen this play countless times and there's never a call. How did Nikita Zadorov get a penalty for dumping Evander Kane into the bench? I have no idea. I have absolutely no idea. I have no idea. I don't have a good answer.

I didn't think he deserved a penalty. And I thought the Euler bench minor, which Perry served, was fair. Because I thought Zdorov was definitely held in the bench. You know what? Every year, refereeing becomes a conversation, especially in the playoffs. I think as these games get more intense and the players go at each other even harder, I just think it's, even with two referees on the ice, Jeff, I think sometimes it's too fast. I just don't think they can see everything, and it leads to some of the confusion,

if not a lot of the confusion that we get um and i i didn't think the zadorov deserved a penalty at all the the only reason i bring it up is and listen you know me by now like i i i just refuse to go through you know chapter and verse on every single penalty and you know defend yourself defend yourself there's good calls and there's bad calls well that's just it and i'm fine with it it's hockey like deal with it i'm fine with it the only problem that i have with this one is that's never a call like you don't see that like that's what we're like really he's getting called like i get that there's an offset on it all right but still like i just how many times have you seen that and the player skates away and it ain't no

thing it's like well it was a solid collision was a solid body check anyhow i'm getting too sidetracked on this one i just sort of scratched my head at that a little bit what about at the end of the game though well here's my question about susie and zadorov on conor mcdavid now he did slash susie but there was a cross check from behind. Again, all of this is under the umbrella of this is after the game. And as we saw this season, most specifically with Morgan Riley, plays after the whistle, or in this case, after the game, get treated differently. So the game is over.

There's an altercation between Susie and Connor McDavid. McDavid slashes Susie. Zdorov comes in with a cross check from behind. And as he's doing that, Susie gets him with a cross check up high. Ooh, that did not look good. I don't know. If you were going to punish someone here, who are you punishing? Zdorov or Susie or susie susie see i think

it might be the other way around you think it's a drop in the cross check from behind well because i'll tell you why if susie if if if mcdavid is not falling or buckling because of the cross check from behind susie doesn't get him in the face i don't know how hard i'd have to squint to to see to see that point i i still i still think that it's a cross check that's that's up high versus a cross check that's low i do see your point that mcdavid does start to fall downwards but still how many times have you heard control of your stick control of your stick i'm looking at it more of your body changes position right there's a material change you talk about that what they hit i mean whatever the case is i don't think we need to discuss this too deeply but we both look at that and say

you can't have that that's not good i don't know if that rises to supplemental discipline but i wonder if some of these guys get fined and warned. And if you're Vancouver, you'll take that. The thing is, again, I want to keep coming back to this one. It's been established that violence after the whistle or violence after the game gets treated more severely. Like if this just happened in the course of a game, like they're battling in front of the Nets,

Adoraf with a cross check, Soucy with a cross check. It's like, it's bad. It it's probably a penalty but i don't know that anyone's getting suspended this is after the game the game's over isn't that one of the things that they really want to stop finish put out extinguish that's my that's that's my issue with this one it's after the game one thing i thing I think Vancouver has to change here, Jeff. They have to stop trying to protect leads in the third period. It doesn't sound like this is

by design based on the way Rick talked after game two, but in the third period, they are just letting the Oilers come at them over and over and over again. And I said before the series, I know a lot of people were picking Edmonton.

I thought Vancouver was good enough to beat this team. Never mind what's happening in goal. There are more players playing better for Vancouver than there are for Edmonton. And that's a big difference. That is true. Lynn Holm is doing himself doing himself Elliott a world of good specifically I know yes I'm glad you brought that up I'm glad you brought that up because

I have a saying that no matter your narrative in the regular season you can change the way it's written in the playoffs the playoffs are a new start, a fresh start. Every year I say it, and once every decade it comes true. And this is that decade, and Elias Lindholm is the player. He scored twice. He had some big hits on that first shift. He ran over Edmonton a couple of times. Lindholm is definitely changing the narrative. Look, I'll say this.

There's been a lot of talk about who Vancouver's going to keep. Is it going to be Joshua? Is it going to be Zdorov? Is it going to be Roenick? I really think if they could, if Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alveen had a draft and they drafted regardless of money, which player could they keep in what order I bet you right now Lindholm would be numero uno as we say in Spanish uh premium position as well and that certainly helps like one of the things Jeff in the post game tonight I just saw this as we're recording yeah leon drysaddle's act about

she loves and he says the post is not good goaltending and you know the first person i think of when i see that who tom barasso the hall of famer yeah famous line what you want me to stop the ones that aren't going into chris delivered as only tom barasso could deliver it with total barasso snark simmer mentioned on the broadcast to grant fuhrer whenever it hit the post you say yeah that's all that i gave you i'm waiting i'm waiting for someone from vancouver to snipe back uh post is not good shooting because you just did that there's going to be 40 lines about it on social media and on 650 tomorrow or later today i guess i have to tell you this this series is bringing out the best in people it really is it was gonna be like this we knew it was gonna be like oh my god i saw someone going to be like this. Oh, my God.

Someone said to me, Tony Gallagher is doing interviews now. I said, oh, Speck. I knew, Speck. That was the one mistake he made. He dragged him out. Don't go after the OGs. Do not do that. Vancouver leads the series 2-1.

All right, to the other game. And listen, even before Florida and Boston here, game four, and the Florida Panthers win this one, 3-2, getting there was fascinating. Even before the game, we saw a different angle of the Sam Bennett-Brad Marchand incident. One that it appears, well, our Sam Bennett, just to be blunt, pops Brad Marchand in the face, which we believe led to the injury and why Brad Marchand was not playing in game four. Now, he was interviewed on TNT afterwards and denied that he tried to or that he punched Brad Marchand in the head. And that was not what he was trying to do. He's trying to brace for contact, to which I always remark. Well, he's not

going to go out there and admit to punching someone in the head and injuring him so i don't know about you elliot to me that looks like a punch to the head how did it look to you don sweetie is going to be speaking to the media on Monday. This has serious Brian Burke vibes to it. Sadeen is not Swedish for punch me and headlock me in a scrum. One of his angry playoff media conferences. Now, Don Sweeney is not as loquacious as Berkey, so I don't expect it to be quite like that. But he's going out there with

a purpose. And I am really going to be curious to see what he goes out there to say, because it's going to be two things. It's well, it's going to be all about Sam Bennett, but it's going to be about that play. And it's going to be about the disputed goal. And we'll get to both of them. First of all, hang on. If you're Don Sweeney and you really want to send a message and you want a strong visual, come out with a checkbook. Sit down with a pen and a checkbook ready to write the fine. You know, you actually could do that. He could start off by saying, OK, I'm going to begin the media conference by writing out this check, leaving it blank.

Here's my signature. And on the memo line, it says NHL fine. So everybody knows. Fill in the amount. Fill in the amount. I like that, Jeff. That's a good idea. Thank you.

Thank you. Very proud of myself. So first of all, on the punch to the face I know the new angle came out on or right before game four they knew what happened I mean you could see from behind if you look at the angle of the Bennett Marchand play from behind yep everybody knew what happened there the people who work in the department of player safety they've watched hockey for a long time or they've played hockey for a long time they knew what occurred they didn't need to see the new angle you know someone said to me do you think that would change anything no the only time i don't agree with the answer is no, not at all. The only time I remember it changing anything was,

do you remember when Chris Pronger stepped on Ryan Kessler? Yeah, and a new angle suddenly appeared. Yes, so the Ducks television crew didn't, I don't even know what the proper word is, erase everything from the truck. And the next game, when the next TV erase everything from the truck and the next game when the next tv crew went into the truck they found that angle there and they submitted it to the nhl and pronger got suspended that's the only case yes and and to be honest jeff this is not that it's not good but

it's not that so i didn't expect to see anything different I have to say the reaction to the Bennett thing the hit was was very interesting to me on one level for the amount of players who had to have who had something to say about it and and you know this too like you know this too, like, you know, Bissonette, who's the key to that TNT show, he's a players guy. If he's going after players or Colby's going after players, it's because there's other players saying, hey, this is bad. Like he went after Nick Cousins earlier, just like Kevin did earlier this season, because there's a lot of players who don't like the way Cousins plays and I really got the sense to the amount of players I heard from is that a lot of players think that Bennett is one of the meanest nastiest most vicious players in the league when he wants to be and so like they like, they think, now,

now I did have one guy who said to me that Bennett is about to make contact with his left hand, which is the hand he broke, right, that caused him to miss action. So he did say if he had a broken hand and it could get hit by Marchand, he would do whatever it takes to protect it. So I did have one player say that to me.

But there were several players who felt that, and you know what, he had the play with Matthew Nyes last year that a lot of people were floating around social media. They just said that Bennett is a nasty player and he's become one of the meanest players in the league and it's why he's become so effective so they just said like that is part of his repertoire and they agreed with Jim Montgomery they're not surprised he didn't get suspended for it. And I'm not either for one reason. You don't see a lot of suspensions in the NHL for that play. And I know people say the Department of Player Safety is inconsistent, but I actually think they are reasonably consistent, if not extremely consistent, on what they suspend for and what they don't suspend for. And they don't suspend for that.

Now, sometimes an injury kind of tips the scales one way or another. And we'll hear from Sweeney for sure. But one of the things I heard upset the Bruins about this is that the Department of Player Safety basically said, no, that's not something we suspend for that and quickly moved on. And it wasn't like there was a long conversation about should we or should we not? It was more like we don't. And I heard the Bruins were very upset by that. more like we don't and I heard the Bruins were very upset by that they thought there should be more of a debate or a conversation about that play being suspendable now that may go to the all the appeals they had to face this year and I do think that that is not an insignificant factor

and everything Department of Player Safety does or doesn't do. But in that particular case, they don't generally suspend for that. You can certainly have a debate on whether or not they should. And the fact they don't, it didn't surprise me they didn't act. What did surprise me a little bit, Jeff, on this particular play, is how many players feel that Bennett has gained a reputation as one of the league's meanest players. But the thing is, I think he's had that reputation even going back to Calgary, right?

I mean, and, you know, we think of, like, some of the battles that Bennett has had his entire career. Like, do you remember every time he would play Evander Kane? Like, how nasty those two were to each other? Like, this reputation, reputation like this isn't something new like Sam Bennett has been a nasty and I say this as a compliment he's been a nasty bit of business for a long time he's been someone that's just like flat out miserable to play against like can you imagine playing a seven game series series against that guy? No thanks.

So I don't know that this is anything new. I think there might be more of a spotlight because of what the Panthers did last year and how good the Panthers are again this season. If nobody's watching or nobody's seeing you win in the playoffs, you don't get that as much. I completely agree with you there. But this is big. He's that guy. I completely agree with you there. But this is big.

He's that guy. I want to say this too. There's a lot of players who would have ducked. And Sam Bennett did not duck. Yep. He went out and he did that interview. And he talked about how much he loved getting booed. And this is a league where at this time of year players

duck for a lot less than this and Bennett deserves credit for that now the the the disputed goal I don't think that should have counted I don't think that goal should have counted at all I'm I'm looking for reasons why it could have counted, and I'll give you a couple of what I think, but I don't think it should have counted. I've got a theory on this one too. Okay. First of all, the reason I don't think it should have counted, Jeff, is that it says in the rule book, if you push someone into the goalie, it's no goal. Yeah, that's fucking right. And he clearly pushes Coyle into the goalie.

Yep. The NFL and football fans can tell me if they still have this rule. I can't remember. They used to have a rule that there was no pass interference if a ball was uncatchable. Like, for example, let's just say a receiver was trying to have a rule that there was no pass interference if a ball was uncatchable like for example let's just say their receiver was trying to catch a ball and he gets interfered with but they say the quarterback's throw was so far away or too high there was no way he could catch it and john madden used to hate that rule he would say who are you to say that pass is uncatchable he got interfered with he had no

i had no no so when they say that he couldn't make the save they're probably right but it still doesn't mean that the player should be knocked into him so i don't like the logic behind that ruling the second thing i'd like like to say about this is that somebody called me and they made a really good point. They said, I listened to you and Jeff on your stupid little podcast last week and you guys talked about how... Oh, you talked to Berkey, did you?

No, this actually wasn't Berkey, although it sounds like Berkey. He said, I listened to the two of you guys on your stupid little podcast last week and you guys said that they're trying to establish it as black and white that if you go into the blue paint yourself yeah the goals aren't going to count and he said look i can live with that rationale as long as it's black and white and they're trying to make it that way and then he says so why should there be a judgment call on

this play it's either black and white as much as you can make it to be or a judgment call you can't have one and then have the other and i actually agree with that thinking too now here's my two reasons i think they counted it. Okay. Number one, I guarantee you I would bet your mortgage on the Merrick Palatial Estate for the rest of this year My money makes noise in my pocket. It's not that long, quiet stuff you have in yours.

That they thought Coyle went down too easy. That he could have battled harder or he should have battled harder or shouldn't have been knocked down by that it is thought number one it is amazing how much gravity is stronger in blue paint on ice i've always remarked on that it's really okay so you're not disagreeing with me secondly i i hate making that call because i'm not i hate accusing players of that because i'm not them I always have found it

interesting how gravity is stronger in blue paint on ice though. Okay. That's theory number one. Theory number two is this is John Cooper's fault. John Cooper's fault? Yes. Okay. Because

what happened when Tampa got knocked out of the playoffs? They had those two disputed goals in game five. Okay. Because what happened when Tampa got knocked out of the playoffs? They had those two disputed goals in game five. Yeah. And he came out and he said, there has to be more battling around the net and goalies have to battle more. You know what? I'll let John Cooper off the hook a little bit here because it's also Kelly

Rudy's fault because he said the same thing. Yeah. He likes goalies battling too. So instead of Cooper getting a hundred percent of the blame, I'll give him 50. Yeah, 50 with Kelly. Kelly. And so I do wonder if some of that is, okay, you know what? That's what everyone's saying.

All right. Swayman should have battled harder. Whatever the case is, I disagree with the call. I think that should have been no goal. Okay, I have a theory and a problem. Okay. A theory and an issue all around this one. So my theory on this one is,

and you've already winked at this, and that is, the feeling is they want to keep goals on the board. They don't want to call goals down. And they looked at this and said, and I believe it's rule 69 they referred to earlier, about if you're pushed into the goalie, that's it. No goal. It's not going to count.

I think they looked at it. Again, my thought, my theory. goal. It's not going to count. I think they looked at it. Again, my thought, my theory, they looked at it and said, there's no way Swayman was going to make that save anyway. Why are we taking a goal down? Because of it. Let's just leave it the way it is. It's not a severe cross-check to your original point. It's more of a push than a cross check. Swayman's not going to make that save anyway. We're not in the business of taking goals down. We want more offense in this league. It's going to stand. Now, that's my theory. And if my theory is right, I have a real problem with one thing. You've heard me grouse about this before, and I'm going to do it again, damn it. And it's around this one. I understand the idea of wanting to leave goals

on the board. I get it. I understand that the cross check was probably going to be of no consequence for that play. So they said, you know what, we're going to leave it as a goal because Swayman wasn't going to make that save. I understand that. I get that. Philosophically, I understand it. My problem is that is the complete opposite of how they treat offsides. They will call goals down based on a pixel when it comes to offsides. It is not a game of inches. It is a game of pixels when it comes to no problem calling goals down on offsides, pixel by pixel by pixel, wasting people's time on the ice. How long is this review going to take? How long is this challenge going to take?

No problem taking goals down for an offside challenge. But for this one, no problem. And I just want to say, like, you've heard me this before. Offsides, close enough is good enough. Because that's, again, the original again the original go back in the history of the league the lines are there to keep players honest to keep them close enough and what we've turned it into is in my opinion ridiculous i really don't have any problem with the idea of swayman's not going to make that save. So the cross check is irrelevant.

We're not going to take the goal down, but at least be consistent because they're not with offsides. There's no problem taking goals down if it's a millimeter off, or if you're a tiny, tiny centimeter offside. Again, you've heard me gross about it before, but the minute this happened, the minute this call was made, I thought, okay, if my theory is correct, this is completely 100% opposite of how they treat offsides and taking goals down. What do you think? Like I've heard you say this before,

and I'm not going to argue with you. I think you deserve your chance to have your say. I just think it's philosophically, it's so different. Anyhow, this game itself, a fascinating game. So David Pasternak on the power play, 1-0. Brandon Carlo, 2-0. I think we should mention Charlie McAvoy rocks Sam Reinhart. And you're thinking to yourself, wow, is Boston really going to do this?

And then Anton Lindell squeaks one under the blocker of Jeremy Swayman. Then Sam Bennett ties it up. We've already talked about that. The one that's going to give Jim Montgomery fits, though, I think, is how the Boston Bruins let Alexander Barkov skate down Main Street and score that goal. That's the one. You can bark all you want about Sam Bennett

and should it count, shouldn't it count. How you let Barkov skate right down the middle of the ice in your zone like that. That's the one that's going to give Montgomery fits, no? I would agree with that. Look, Jeff, Florida's just the better team. Those two games in Boston, they have owned the territory. Game three, Boston, what, eight shots after the second period?

And what were the shots in game four, like 42 to 18 or something? Florida's the better team. They just are. And, you know, they deserve credit for that. With all the other craziness we're talking about, the Panthers have just been dominant. And you know, they deserve credit for that. With all the other craziness we're talking about, the Panthers have just been dominant. And you know this, they're going to lean in to all this bad guy Panther stuff. Oh, yeah.

When everybody was ripping Nick Cousins, they were defending him. What did Montour do? He wore that shirt. I thought that was a great teammate thing to do for Montour to wear that pro-knit Cousins shirt. Stand up for, regardless of what you think about Cousins, for the players to do that. I thought it says, Anthony Stewart's line, what does my dad say? Are you a team or are you a club? That's a team.

And you know they'll lean into this Bennett stuff too. Bobrovsky, 16 saves. Swayman, 39 saves. The Florida Panthers lead this series 3-1. Okay, Elliot, off the Stanley Cup page here for a second. News around the NHL, and I think we're all wondering about coaching and the latest situation involving either the Toronto Maple Leafs or their now ex-head coach Sheldon Keefe,

and we wonder about people like Craig Berube. What is the latest? So Craig Berube what is the latest so Craig Berube was in Toronto on Saturday from what I understand he interviewed with the Maple Leafs on Saturday thanks to internet sleuths in Los Angeles we know that Todd McClellan was flying. I'm betting it was 36E, no reclining seat, middle. Oh, my. From LAX to Toronto.

So we all assume he's interviewing Monday. We'll see if this goes any deeper. Who else might get a call here? One guy I wondered about was Gerard Gallant just because he seems like a tree-living kind of guy but that's just me talking. We'll just see how deep this goes. There was a time I thought that Berube was going to have an offer to coach the Devils. I'm not as certain about that now. It still may happen but I'm not as certain. As I've said, the Devils. I'm not as certain about that now. It still may happen, but I'm not as certain. As I've said, the Devils, I believe, were serious about Berube. They were serious about Woodcroft.

I am under the impression that Todd McClellan was going to get another interview with them, but I had some people saying to me this weekend that they think that Sheldon Keefe is a big factor in this job. And that Keefe has a legit chance at this if he wants it. I do believe there have been a few teams, more than one, that have reached out to either ask the Leafs for permission to talk to him or gauge his interest. He is a legit person of interest in this year's coaching searches. So we'll see how this all goes. Winnipeg, I wouldn't be surprised if they wanted to talk to Keefe. You know, Kevin Sheveldayoff and Todd McClellan have a long history. I'm not sure, though, that that's going to be where they go. You know, there's a lot of intrigue here.

And when it comes to L.A., I still think Healer has a shot at that job, which he took over last year on an interim basis. I'm not ready yet to proclaim that they're going in any different direction as of yet. I think they are going through their process with Hiller. So we'll see how this all plays out, but I do think Keefe is on New Jersey's radar for sure. What did you think of the media conference on Friday in Toronto? We decided, by the way, everyone, it was too boring to do a second pod. So we just came back with this one. What was your opinion, Jeff?

It was, to me, a lot of it was as expected. And the main thing that I took away from it was there will be changes. And unless your name is Austin Matthews and most likely William Nylander, maybe don't invest in any property in Toronto anytime soon. That was my main takeaway. That everything that, because it was a whole lot, there was a lot of talk about, this is the end of talking about process, done with process, and everything's going to work itself out. The process is going to lead the Maple Leafs to this promised land. Shanahan, Tree Living, Keith Pelley wanted to make sure that that was the end of that type of conversation in Toronto.

What I took away from it is get ready for change. Get ready for change. Yeah, I think that's very fair. You know, there was some appetite, but not full appetite to do it a year ago. Now I think there's full appetite to do it now. Was Dubas ready to do that? I think so.

You think? I think he, unfortunately, when it came to Dubas, the comments he made at his press conference about the toll on his family, and if he wanted to keep the job, it sent the whole thing in a different direction. At that point in time, it wasn't about plan anymore. It was about did Shanahan and the Maple Leafs ownership believe that Dubas was all in or the right guy for the job anymore? So, yes, I do believe that Dubas was prepared to do it. above him on the organizational food chart that became less of an issue than you know is he all in or is he burnt out or do we need to go in a different direction so you know people can look back and say Dubas was willing to do

this a year ago which he was but you know like I said the conversation at the ownership level became more about okay you, is he burnt out to the point where we have to go in a different way? And they decided yes. And that's where that broke up last year. I think some other things. That to me, that media conference to me showed that Keith Pelley is now very much in charge he is the skipper of the good ship MLSE initially that media conference was supposed to be held on Thursday I wanted to check it before I said anything. Always good to do that. But Pelly was out of town on Thursday.

And while they could have changed his schedule, they just decided to wait for one more day because he wanted to be there. He wanted to show support to Shanahan and Tree Living. And that was important to him, which is why the media conference was moved for a day. You heard him defend Shanahan in no uncertain terms. He said he's a champion. That's the phrase he used. And he backed him. But Pelley wanted to make sure that everybody knew that that's how he felt. And to me, it showed everybody that this is a president who's in charge. Michael Friesdahl and Cynthia Devine, who were his two predecessors, they weren't interested

in that. They were interested in doing their jobs quietly and behind the scenes. That's not going to be the case here. You know, Shanahan, I thought thought looked a little bit nervous. You know he's been through a lot in his career. He's battled to win cups. He's been the director of player safety which is not always a fun job. As a matter of fact Jeff it might be the most unfun job in the National Hockey League. So he knows what it's like to be thrown around in the pressure cooker. This is his time here in Toronto. And I thought he looked a little bit nervous.

But right now, he got the backing of the most important vote, which is Pelly. And I do think things are going to be a little bit different. I think right now, they are going to let everybody take a little bit of a break and decompress um i think if you're tavaris or tavaris representatives you have to recognize the possibility that they may come to you if you're marner or marner's representatives you have to recognize the possibility that by simply saying that they're not going to do certain things contract wise, whether it's the number or the structure or whatever you want to make it that you're going to have to consider going elsewhere.

They're considering it too. I think right now we're sort of in the, okay, we're in the unwinding phase. And I would expect in the next week or two, some of these conversations are going to begin. And, you know, the one thing I definitely think is true is that there are teams out there who are going to start asking Toronto, okay, if Marner is available, what are we looking at here? And as I've said before, going back to last summer with Nylander, teams know that Toronto was looking

for the best defenseman that they can possibly get. So who's out there via trade and what are some of these teams willing to do? And I think that's what the next month before the draft is going to be all about. Elliot, anything else before we move on?

Yeah, one other thing just to keep an eye on this week, there's a Russian forward named Maxim Siplyakov. He is an unrestricted free agent. He had 31 goals this year for Moscow Spartak. And during the season, there were a bunch of teams that went to go see him and did some zoom calls with him you know Toronto was one of them and I think there's a few teams looking at him there's it looks like he is getting closer to picking a team and he could pick one this week so I know there were some fans this year who heard about him

and started watching him a little bit. Jeff, one other team in Canada that met with Siplikov was Montreal. So we'll see if one of those two Canadian clubs actually lands him. I believe that Toronto still had interest at least. Or he goes somewhere else. But we should get clarity this week. Gotcha. Okay. Elliot, a couple of notes on Utah. They have the sixth overall pick at the upcoming NHL draft, and it sounds like they're looking to populate the front office.

What do you hear? What do you know about Chris Armstrong and Ray Whitney? So Chris Armstrong was seen with Bill Armstrong. They are not related. Some people are wondering if they are related. There's a lot of Armstrongs out there, folks. They are not related, but he was seen in Vancouver for one of the games between the Canucks and the Oilers, and I believe that is not the last time that he will be seen

or they will be seen in this series. Any truth to the rumor that they're hiring Colby Armstrong as well? Can you confirm, deny that one, Elliot? You know what? It's funny you were going to do that. You said that because I was going to go with Stretch Armstrong as the official team mascot. Remember Stretch Armstrong?

Come on. We're the same vintage, man. I remember those things were great. Absolutely. So it is believed at some point that Chris Armstrong will be joining Utah's organization. He was kind of like, he's an agent, for those of you who aren't familiar with him. He has represented a bunch of golfers,

and he also represented, He has represented a bunch of golfers and he also represented and he also negotiated Kyle Dubas's record breaking employment contract in Pittsburgh. He's kind of like Ryan Smith's consigliere, the Robert Duvall. Oh, very good. Godfather, the Corleone family. Nice. Now, I don't know exactly how this is all going to work. And one thing somebody warned me, like he works at Wasserman, which is a major agency across lots of different sports and entertainment. Whenever you leave companies like that, it's complicated.

So these things take time. And I don't know exactly when we're going to get clarity but obviously there wouldn't be any surprise if he does join the as yet unnamed team the thing about this that is most fascinating though jeff is that at the board of Governors meetings, Toronto and Utah would sit right next to each other. Aha. Because they sit in alphabetical order. So maybe the Toronto and Utah guys could talk about, you know, Kyle Dubas together. Sure.

And listen, one of the other names that's out there. Now, I don't know how far down the road or where they're at, but there seems to be a lot around Ray Whitney and Utah as well. Another guy who knows Ryan Smith well. Whitney works in the Department of Player Safety. He's interviewed for GM jobs before. He did in San Jose. Like, obviously, I don't think he's going there as the gm bill armstrong is staying there they've already done that but i've won but they

have talked about bolstering their front office so we'll see we'll see how it goes but that's definitely been a name that's been out there um before we wrap up the segment here elliot i want to mention the passing of ron ellis and anyone who anyone who either knew Ron Ellis or had any type of encounter with Ron Ellis pretty much says the same thing. What a nice man. Ron Ellis played over a thousand games in the NHL, all of them with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He played on the 1972 Summit Series team on a very famous line, obviously with Paul Henderson and Bobby Clark. It was his job to shadow the great Valery Harlamov in that series as well.

That is a mighty big ask of anybody considering how great Harlamov was as a player. Later after retirement, he took a job at the Hockey Hall of Fame. And I can recall, Elliot, during the 04-05 lockouts because essentially I was kind of bored and looking still to do hockey things and have hockey conversations. And I had so many conversations, like lovely conversations with Ron Ellis.

And we spent a lot of time talking about 1972. And I'll never forget something that he told me about that series. He said, it's a good thing that the Soviets didn't play a North American style or else we were dead. And I said, what's a good thing that the Soviets didn't play a North American style or else we were dead. And I said, what do you mean? He said, you know, we were we didn't take it very seriously. We thought we were going to destroy them. It was going to be over.

We're going to win all eight games. It was going to be easy for us. And so none of us were really in shape or prepared for what the Soviets were about to bring. And he said something to me, Elliot, that has always stuck with me. He said, what worked in our favor was their system. And I said, what do you mean, Ron? And he said, they would attack our blue line. And if they didn't have a play, they would regroup.

They always wanted to hang on to the puck. And if it wasn't a play there, they would circle back, circle back, circle back. And we would come off the ice at the end of every period thanking our stars that they didn't decide to dump the puck be said because if they made us skate we were sunk we kept saying ourselves it's a good thing they're playing their style and not ours because if they chose to play a north American dump and chase style, we were dead. What a wonderful man. Really talented hockey player.

I encourage everybody to read the book Over the Boards, which is Ron Ellis's story, co-written by the great Kevin Shea, who's one of the great hockey writers of our time. He talks about his career. He talks about his battles with depression. He talks a lot about his faith and his family. Ron Ellis passed away on the weekend at the age of 79 and hockey really lost a wonderful, wonderful person, Elliot. That's a great tribute, Jeff. And I'm going to leave it at that. listen to the 32 thoughts podcast for the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for barbecue

And I will let you know, Elliot, I had a prominent Canadian actor text me over the weekend saying that that song has burrowed deep inside his head and he can't get it out. So thank you to Rick Turner for that one. As always, 32 thoughts at Sportsnet.ca. 1-833-311-3232. The ways to get in. Elliot, I want to start with a couple of... Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We cannot let this slide. Who is this prominent Canadian actor?

I don't want to say who. Let's just say his name rhymes with Jared Kiso. Oh, I was going gonna guess roy dupuy uh jared kiso i go i go i go back with jared like he's like so supremely talented like great actor great writer all of it and he just wanted to let you let everyone know how do you know that that one's and more importantly why i met him knowing you that's a very very good question i i got to know him a little bit um initially when he was doing the don cherry biopic uh when i was at cbc and they're putting that together and then we uh and then we said we were introduced um by a mutual friend and then we've just always sort of

kept in touch um and we've shared at various times a mutual admiration for hockey fights as we've, you know, exchanged various collections of scraps over the years. He's just a wonderful guy. Super talented and, you know, charming. And he's a family man. He's got a young boy

that he's raising as a good old hockey fan. Calgary Flames fan, as a matter of fact, for those of you that are curious. Yeah, a real cool dude. I got all the time in the world for Kiso. And he just wanted to shoot me a quick text and say, man, that Montana's theme, that one lives in my ear. Anyway, Jared Kiso, the great Jared Kiso. Aside from his work, the only kind of thing I about jared kiso is that i know he's a canada day baby other than that i don't know him that well is he really yes july 1st birthday i remember learning that one july 1st i had no idea ah all right so he's uh legit canadian then yes elliot loves hockey letter kenny

canada day baby yeah might as well be on the flag put him on the currency already everybody just put him on the currency the great jared kiso okay elliot uh we'll start with a voicemail this comes to us from jay cooper in tor So after the Sheldon Key firing, I'm just curious how quickly can a team start to look at other coaches who are going to free agency? My mind instantly jumps to Rob Rendemore, who let's say the Carolina Hurricanes are to be eliminated next week. How quickly can the Toronto Maple Leafs go after Rob as a free agent?

Is there a certain date they have to wait for? Just curious how quickly they can go after him, if they would go after him. Thanks, agent. Is there a certain date they have to wait for? Just curious how quickly they can go after him if they would go after him. Thanks, guys. Okay, good question. It's pretty simple. Teams can call right away. You know, sometimes they'll give you a day or something like that to get over your initial emotions, but you can call right away.

initial emotions but you can call right away and you know and in the nhl the calendar year is july 1st to june 30th so if you're on a contract that's expiring you technically are still under contract until june 30th someone like sheldon keith who has an extension is under contract for two more years so you have to call and ask for official permission to speak to them. It's almost always accepted in these particular cases. And you can set up interviews with them immediately. That's how it works. As long as someone's under contract, you need official permission to speak to them and negotiate with them. And one quick follow up to that for those that aren't aware of how this works.

What happens, Elliot, with the money? You have someone who's under contract, say, for another one, maybe two seasons. Another team hires that coach in question. How does the money measure off? That's a good question, too, Jeff. You should be a thought line uh caller or a thought line emailer jeff and stovill first time long time most of these contracts i i can't imagine any wouldn't but you just never assume have what's called

offset language so say uh say sheldon key for example was making two and a half million dollars in the next two years. What would happen is if another team hired him to a contract that was less than that, then the other team would pay whichever chunk they paid and Toronto would pay the rest. If Keefe signs a contract for more than that, then Toronto is off the hook. The other thing that happens here is you can't just say, okay, we're the New Jersey Devils and we're going to pay Sheldon Keefe a dollar and Toronto is going to pay Sheldon Keefe $2.49999 million. The NHL can rule on this you're supposed to sign coaches to market value and you know you could

argue it might be less than 2.5 Sheldon Keefe might say no but in theory you could argue less than 2.5 and let's say you made it two you know the Leafs would have to pay the other 500,000 that's how it works. Excellent. Jay Cooper from Toronto, thanks so much for the original question there. Rashid from Chicago, huge fan of the podcast, love that it's playoff season,

not just because of the intense hockey, but I get an extra Wednesday 32 thoughts. Woo, not a problem. My question is, what kind of questions, oh, this is interesting, Elliot. My question is, what kinds of questions get asked in the hiring interviews for nhl coaches and general managers i imagine it's more than just the common quote so tell me your strengths and weaknesses or tell me a time that you dealt with

adversity that we see in the business world also who attends these meetings? Love the pod. Keep up the great work. Rashid in Chicago. Also, Rashid, good question. I would say first, usually, usually there's like a first round and a second round. So your first round can be in person or it can be a phone call or it can be by Zoom. It all depends on logistics. For example, if a manager is overseas at the under 18 tournament or the world championships, maybe they can't meet a person face-to-face, but they do it by Zoom. Obviously, the preference is to meet in person as much as you can. I know of one case where this year where a manager called someone and they spoke for

about 15-20 minutes just for the manager to find out if the coach would be interested in the job. So sometimes that occurs. Now a second interview would usually be much more in depth. You'd come, you know maybe your significant other would attend to or your family so they can look around the city while you're being interviewed. Usually you'll meet the owner or any other important person in the organization who would want to meet you before you were hired. someone is such an overwhelming candidate, or there's so many people who want to hire them that you might compartmentalize it into one big interview. I think that could be happening, for example, in Toronto, because they started their process late and some of these individuals have been interviewed elsewhere and other candidates elsewhere. It's usually a two-step process. Both can be in person.

The owners will eventually be involved at some point if they want to be. And the thing that has changed a lot is they're much more in-depth than they used to be. There's a lot. It's not unusual for there to be lengthy video sessions. You know, what do you see here? What do you see from our team here? How would you do this? That kind of thing. Feelings on players. The other things, too, that really happens is if you're thinking of changing your coach or you have changed your coach, and in your exit interviews with the players you know there's a player who's played for a coach before that you're interested in players will joke that

their exit interview is not about them it's about the coach that the team is interested in so there's a lot of research a lot of research that goes into this there's credit checks there's I don't even know if you'd call them reference checks, but you just reach out to anyone you think who might have a connection with this person. And, you know, it's, you can't afford to make a mistake anymore. These hires are worth millions of dollars and they affect millions of dollars.

And you really don't want to leave any stone unturned excellent email uh really excellent question you know what part of it too is i can remember talking to one uh person who interviewed for a head coaching position and i asked you know pretty much the identical question that rashid was asking as well like what was the nature of the conversation and a lot of it revolved around this is what's happening with our team here are some examples of things i don't like how would you react if this player said this or this player did that what would your reaction be i found that pretty interesting yes that's um also let's get this one's interesting ryan in norfolk virginia hey guys ryan from norfolk home of the

echl's norfolk admirals here i have a question regarding the nhl draft lottery the sharks just won the right to draft macklin celebrini however for some thankfully but not this hawks fan the black hawks didn't win the first overall pick instead winning the second overall pick is this still considered quote winning the lottery that would hinder the blackhawks ability to win another one over the next five years or would this not be the case given they were slated to pick second anyway also fun fact my dad formerly won two riley cups with john brophy in norfolk back in the 90s. That would have been when they were the Hampton Road Admirals. The stories that I heard in my childhood rivaled some of the best hockey lore history.

Just always seems like a good idea to bring up Brophy on the podcast. You got that right, Ryan. Thanks, and I always enjoy the pod. Did a little bit of snooping around. His dad is Dennis McEwen, who played on a couple of Hampton Road Admiral Championship teams. And Dennis would have been someone that I would have watched play in the Ontario Hockey League because he played with the London Knights, was someone that I played baseball with,

and I always admired as a hockey player. I think he was one year older than me and that is Kelly Kane so whenever London would come to town I always go out of my way to go to Marlboro's games to watch the London Knights because I wanted to see Kelly Kane who I thought was like a the best hockey player and be the best baseball player that I had ever seen also Elliot's on that Hampton Road Admirals team Paul kropelka the florida panthers senior vp that would have been the hampton road admirals anyway is that still considered quote unquote winning the lottery can the hawks now not win the first overall pick in this five-year segment

a couple of things to say here kelly kane so yes so some people i know who went to western and played hockey at western played with kelly kane in the ohl and apparently the stories about him were legendary i was on a bus once i was on a bus once traveling i don't know somewhere western was playing and kelly kane's name came up and about seven guys on the team their eyes popped out and they were telling Kelly Kane stories like this guy was a legend an absolute legend in Ontario Hockey League circles Paul Kropelka good guy I like Paul Kropelka black belt will kill you if you say the wrong thing to him uh oh i had no idea yeah uh his hands are lethal weapons um no the the answer is no and this this gets people confused jeff winning the lottery is considered moving up okay or or changing your position as a matter of, if you read the NHL rules of the lottery,

they are very clear. You can only win the lottery twice in any five-year period. However, it does not affect a team's ability to retain its presumptive draft position in any draft lottery. Okay, so if Chicago's second and they win the lottery to finish second, that doesn't affect them. So any year that you get the spot that you're picking at, this year San Jose won, Chicago too, it does not count as winning the lottery you're always allowed to pick where you finish always it's when you move up that it's considered winning the lottery so James Higgins could potentially still become a Chicago Blackhawks? Yes. Next season. Excellent question.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane with John Brophy. And congratulations to your dad for winning a pair of Riley Cups with John Brophy. Awesome. That's fantastic. Yeah, who heard a lot of great hockey stories growing up here. One more really quickly here, Elliot.

And this comes to us from Bernard, an Oilers fan in Acadie. So, hi guys. I really miss the pod and love listening to it on my mini commutes. It's the one thing I'll insist does not get changed to the pop channel my daughters listen to and they understand. As an avid 45-year-old beer leaguer now disillusioned, I will never make the NHL I've known for a while now. I got wondering, which player holds a record for being the oldest

to either sign a pro contract in the NHL or play his first game in the NHL? Thanks for the hockey data, info, trivia, and laughs. L.A. Oilers, la coupe c'était année.

You know how that is, Elliot? It's one of my favorite people to talk about in hockey. Whoa, wait, wait, wait. There's two questions here here who's the oldest player to sign a contract that would have to be Gordie Howe he was 52 when he played right yes okay so but I know you're talking about the oldest yeah I'm guessing it would be Gordie Howe so yes absolutely but you're talking about the oldest rookie and I would leave it to you on this one. Yes. He played his entire career outside of 20 regular season and five playoff games in the minors. He was a legend in the Western League when it was a pro loop playing for amongst other teams where he made his name the Portland Buckaroos. This is the legendary tough guy,

defenseman Connie Mad Dog Madigan, who, by the way, he played in the movie Slapshot at the end, in that final game, when they introduce all like the biggest goons in hockey, Connie actually played a version of himself, Ross Mad Dog Madison. So he was called up and signed to the St. Louis Blues February 6th, 1973 at the young age of 38 years old.

Had always been a minor league pro, terrorized various leagues, most certainly the Western Loop, was one of the toughest to ever do it. Connie mad dog Madigan is the name we are after. And actually Connie just passed away not too long ago, January 2nd. Yeah. Right after new year's this, this past year passing away in Portland, Oregon at the age of 89 years old, one of the toughest players in the history of hockey. Thanks so much for the note on that one. And another trip down memory lane,

Bernard, Oilers fan living in Acadie. And that is the Montana's Thought Line once again, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We're back in a moment. Jeff Alley and Tom of 32 Thoughts try their ribs today. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Welcome back to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. Elliot wrapping up here, reminding everybody a pair of big games tonight. It is Monday. You will see the Carolina Hurricanes looking once again to stave off elimination at the hands of the New York Rangers as the venue shifts once again to Madison Square Garden.

And game four between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche, the Stars lead this series 2-1. These were a pair of games that we watched on Saturday bleeding in here into Monday. So let's rewind to Saturday then. Carolina 4, the New York Rangers 3. Brady Shea on a power play, we should say here. Brady Shea with the slap shot on the power play

gives the Carolina Hurricanes their first win in the series and the Rangers' first loss of the playoffs. Along the way, we saw Kuznetsov score and do his celly and slam his stick into the glass in front of some Rangers fans. We saw Kuznetsov try the Michigan-sl michigan slash lacrosse goal slash high wraparound as well this one was uh this one was an intriguing game the alexi lafreniere goal which you know we talk about you know kind of goals you can't have go in real nice play by lafreniere but still what did you make of sat's Rangers-Carolina game?

Great game. Very entertaining. You know, the Rangers, I don't think anybody would have been surprised if the Rangers would have come back and won that game. Even when it was 2-0 and Carolina was on them early, the Rangers kept coming at them and coming at them. Cooley scored to make it 2-1. The Hurricanes scored again to make it 3-1, but the Rangers kept coming and coming at them. Cooley scored to make it 2-1. The Hurricanes scored again to make it 3-1,

but the Rangers kept coming and coming. I was very curious about the start and goal. Anderson, like to me, Anderson signed for one more year. If you don't give him that start, you're basically taking the number one job away from him. That's the balance, I thought, that Brindamore was kind of dealing with there. And ultimately, you have to start the person who you think gives you the best chance to win. But in my mind, if he had gone for Kuchetkov instead of Anderson,

it was a passing of the torch. Anderson stays in. They tried to bank another one off him earlier in the game, and they almost did it, but he held strong, and they won. And it was interesting. Kevin pointed out in the postgame that they had righty shots on the point earlier in the series and the playoffs on the power play. Burns and then D'Angelo, but they go lefty-lefty. Tara Vinen to Brady Shea, and it gives them a one-timer

option that scores on that power play to win the game. I didn't want to see this series end in a sweep. Sorry, Rangers fans. I don't think sweeps are good and I think the series is better than that. You know Carolina has a huge hole to climb out of. It's going to be an enormous challenge on Monday night in Madison Square Garden. I'm not saying they're incapable but the Rangers look like a bit of a steamroller right now. I just think for me, Jordan Stahl has to give them some offense. Like they got a goal from Ajo. That was very big. Power play got a goal. That was very big. They just need offense from a few more people. And you know who I think is going to do pretty well this offseason jeff is going to be

nason um he has turned himself into a very very useful player i'll tell you everyone's looking for things that guys like stephan nason bring right now everybody can skate everybody can shoot what else can you give me? Everyone's looking for a little more toughness. Everyone's looking for a little more bite. And that's why I completely agree with you. In this world now where the skills are so high and so many players are skilled, what differentiates you? The pendulum, Elliot, is swinging back to tougher hockey players.

Mind you, you have to have the baseline of skill to begin with. But the pendulum is swinging, Elliot. The pendulum is swinging back to tougher hockey players. Mind you, you have to have the baseline of skill to begin with, but the pendulum is swinging, Elliot. The pendulum is swinging. It's not only that, Jeff. It's not only the toughness, but they've used him in high-value places like the power play, and the goal he scores in game four, it's a line change. Jarvis comes off the ice, and he just makes a high IQ play he charges on he doesn't lollygag into the play and he goes right to the net and he scores to me that's a high IQ

play that hockey coaches will notice they'll say you know what like he did everything right there and that's why a guy like him is going to be valuable uh okay also we will see uh game four between the dallas stars and the colorado avalanche on saturday night it was all sagan and stankoven for the stars uh each with a pair dallas for colorado one in a game that i i don't think i'm the only one that looks at this al you're probably the same way that looks at this and says, what a great road game by the Dallas Stars. Your thoughts on Saturday. When I saw the Stars get three penalties in the first period,

I thought that game was going to be 8-0 after 20 minutes. They weathered the storm. They did a really nice job. Ottinger has consistently gotten better. You know, even though the series was tied 1-1, that was Dallas' best game of the series for me. They got a lead and they didn't fall apart. They held it this time.

They didn't let Colorado charge back into it. Yes, it was 1-0 and Colorado tied it. But then they built the lead. And this time, I thought that Dallas put a pretty nice blanket on them. In the first two games, obviously, they lost the first one. They got the lead, and then they were on the ropes, and they held on for dear life. I never got that impression with this one.

I agree with you. It was a perfect road game. Chris Tanev, if he wasn't already worth every dollar that they're paying him, has really showed that in this series. But I think just overall, the Stars as a team have put up a really nice defensive web on the avalanche Saturday night. McKinnon created the one beautiful goal but generally I didn't think there was a lot of that there even though the Avalanche had a shot advantage to me the Stars seemed to be pretty in control Rantanen has got to arrive he has been

quiet through the first three games of the series. Sometimes your teammates bail you out or you still lead the series anyway. It is that time now for Mikko Rantanen. He has to come and he has to start making an impact because, as you said, Jeff, the mullet-wearing Tyler Sagan and the rest of his scoring teammates have begun to arrive in this series. So Colorado needs its scoring depth as well. Now, one thing I would like to recognize from the last pod is that I had some pushback on my Jamie Benn take

and a significant amount of pushback to the point where I would like to... On the hit? Well, not the hit. Not the hit. On Jamie Benn's reputation I pointed out that Ben has only one major in 92 career playoff games for the crazy cross check on Mark Stone and I heard from the Red Wings fans who did not want to hear about Jamie Ben's good judgment because of the cross check to Dylan Larkin and I heard from a couple of Flames fans who pointed out that he was fined in the playoffs

a couple years ago I think twice in that seven game incredible series against Calgary so their point was okay maybe he hits cleanly but he's not exactly a Lady Bing trophy candidate. So allow me to say that those people with the Larkin crosscheck, totally fair comment. The fines against Calgary, totally fair comment. I generally feel, though, that when Ben delivers body checks, he tends to deliver them hard but clean. deliver them hard but clean however there was enough representation of people saying that i was generally insane that i thought it was fair comment to bring it up at this part of the pod and and you know what hold on and hold on jeff one other thing i wanted to say too is we had we talked about recycled coaches last pod and and the job laviolette has done pierre de boer a lot of

people would consider him a recycled coach but he knows what he's doing and he's gotten close and we'll see what happens later on tonight uh one thing else uh we should mention as well pwhl uh exciting triple overtime montreal and boston on saturday Saturday night. Taylor Wenskowski with the overtime winner. 11-44 into the third overtime. Boston wins over Montreal. 2-1 is the final score. Boston grabs a 2-0 series lead in their best of five. Erin Frankel, net minder for Boston.

Incredible. 56 save performance. She was phenomenal. Game three goes Tuesday as Boston looks to close out against performance. She was phenomenal. Game three goes Tuesday as Boston looks to close out against Montreal and punch their ticket to the final. Toronto can eliminate Minnesota later on tonight at the Xcel Energy Center.

They lead that series to nothing. Wait, wait, wait. Friend of the pod. In these two. Erin Ambrose. Oh, she was, she played like over 60 minutes. I'm looking at it right now 61 33 61 33 there were five i think there were five players laura stacy played 52 30 katie taban played 56 49

marie philippe poulin played 50 33 kristin o'neill played 52 44 i see amanda boulier played a pedestrian 45 44 slacker and mariah keppel played 44 22 montreal had some wildly disparaged time on ices here the most time on ice for b Boston was Hillary Knight, the future Hall of Famer, who was at 49-23. So they had a bit more of an even spread. But 61-33, Aaron Ambrose. Aaron, I think you've earned Sunday off. I hope they had an IV in her in between periods that was an incredible performance by Ambrose um and all eyes now on Tuesday game three between

these two teams and don't forget later on tonight you can watch Stanley Cup playoff action starting at 6 30 with Hockey Central and your host, Ron McLean, 6.30 Eastern. That is 7 o'clock Eastern. It is Game 5 between the Rangers and the Hurricanes. Rangers lead the series 3-1 and then later, 9.30 on Sportsnet. You can watch, by the way, the Hurricanes and Rangers on CBC and on Sportsnet later on Sportsnet. You can watch the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche.

Dallas leads that series 2-1. Game 4 gets underway just after 9.30 Eastern. For the whole crew here, thanks so much for listening again. We'll join you again on Wednesday. Enjoy the hockey.