32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Top Headlines Coming Out of the Holiday Freeze

Episode Date: December 29, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte circle around the NHL to touch on a number of headlines since we last spoke a week ago. They talk about Antti Raanta situation with Carolina (8:46), the Stefan Noesen hit on Juraj Slafkovsky that pulled him out of the game (13:26),  and the continued goalie issues with New Jersey (18:07). Jeff and Elliotte dig into the Matt Murley-Elias Pettersson rumour about how he would want to go to Chicago and play with Connor Bedard (30:11). The guys also talk about Ethan Bear officially signing with the Washington Capitals (40:20) and Elliotte mentions some upcoming free agents that could be signed in the new year (42:53).The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (47:31) and Sarah Nurse of the PWHL joins Jeff and Elliotte ahead of the league's opener next week (1:09:51).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This 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.

I would just like to say to the people who run, who own the Philadelphia Flyers, Comcast, Spectacore, I've got no problem with this. I take it in good humor. I think it's really funny. But you are not an organization without funds, and I think I should be compensated for my performance. Oh, jeez. Here we go.

Here comes the lawyer's note. The lawyer's cease and desist. Okay, here we go. Once again, welcome back. 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented, as always, by the GMC Sierra. Merrick alongside Friedman, alongside Dom Schramatti. And we're back. Now, warning.

Did you have a good Christmas? Oh, I did, yeah. Thanks for asking. It was nice. Did you get anything? Anything good? Well, this was one of those seasons where we all we all of us just said let's not buy presents for each other and actually and actually stuck to it

yeah i know i know so this is i just wanted a nice christmas around family a nice dinner and peace and quiet i got everything except the peace and quiet. We took the kids to Blue Mountain to go skiing. And I'm not much of a skier. I know nothing about skiing. Was there any snow? Okay, so we booked for two days. The second day we were rained out, but the first day we had snow.

So the boys had a wonderful time. And what I really found that I like is, I like watching the kids do things that I have no knowledge about. Like I cannot help them with skiing at all. It's like if the kids want to go golfing with me, it's like if I step on a rake, that's the best two balls I'm going to hit. Like I'm not going to help you. I'm not going to be able to help you at all kids. You got to figure it out for yourself and skiing is like that so i just like standing there and watching my kids figure out how to ski and snowboard so it was awesome how was your break good for you yeah thanks how was your break it was really nice

it was really nice um i the one thing i'm still struggling to make time for that i have not been able to do yet because we have three broadcasts this week is I want to see the Von Erich movie, The Iron Claw. Me too, yes. And I got the veto from Steph. I'm not allowed, because Max and I like going to movies together.

Yeah. And I was told, when I explained who the Von Erichs were and what the story was about, I got the maternal veto that he was not allowed to be this so still not there i have to go figure this out i hope everybody out there had a great holiday break and i will say this i got a bunch of dms about the lack of the holiday party this year look this year and i will take the blame for it

i have dropped the ball on two things the holiday party and the in-season cup they will both be back next year i promise that and the year the year of 2023 revealed me to be a total slacker. I am going to get over that for next year. It revealed you to be a workaholic, Elliot, is what it did. If I was a workaholic, Jeff, I would have this stuff done. I'm obviously not enough of a workaholic. You take no time off. And like I've been saying all season long, this isn't like other hockey seasons, Elliot.

This is a daily drama. This is a telenovela disguised as a hockey league that we're following right now like seriously so every day is just jam-packed as it is uh making time for extras is tough but on today's podcast we did make time for one very special extra and that is our interview with Sarah Nurse from PWHL Toronto. The new league launches January 1st. Mattamy Athletic Center, 1230 Eastern Toronto, hosting New York. And you're going to hear from Sarah coming up later on in the program. Hope you can make it to the end of Elliot and I blathering on because Nurse is outstanding. And first of all, she's really thoughtful.

First of all, she's really talented and a really thoughtful interview as well. And doesn't duck anything outside of one question. And that's about the all-star participation. That's the only thing she ducked, though. In like a 30-minute conversation, she only ducked one question. So bravo to Sarah Nurse. Stay tuned for that one. Also, Elliot, on the thought line, who hasn't wondered,

hmm, I wonder which number leads the NHL all time in points? That was a great question. Have you ever thought about that? Of course you have, and we have the answer for you coming up. I can't say I thought about it, but unlike the ridiculous questions you picked, this was actually a really good question. Now, I would like to start out the pod by saying I would like to thank a tweeter or an X-er,

I'm not sure what we're supposed to call these things anymore, by the name of Colin Moy, who tweeted at me tonight during the Philadelphia-Vancouver game to tell me, and I have not heard this, so I'm getting this secondhand, but to tell me that I am the star of one of the commercials in the Flyers broadcast now. Apparently, Jeff, it is about me apologizing for getting the Flyers so wrong this year so i got a good laugh when he sent me the note i think that's awesome he basically tweeted at me saying i wonder if this

guy knows that he's in a flyers commercial right now so i sent him a dm saying okay fill me in and obviously you know this as i've told you and as i've told ron this has been the year of terrible predictions i have never had a worse year of predictions than i have this year everything i have predicted has gone completely the opposite i'm like george costanza do the opposite i don't i i'm, I live with my parents, and I have no prospects. Like, it's the opposite. All I'm going to say about this, though, is...

Hang on, I'm quite offended that the focus of that ad wasn't how I got the flyers right. No, no, no, it never is, Jeff. Like, it's not news. Oh, okay. When people get something right, it's dog bites man. Nobody cares about like when when people get something right it's dog bites man nobody cares about that when people get something wrong yes it is the oldest sports trick in the world we are disrespected and here is our list of victims of our of our disrespect if it bleeds it leads if

it bleeds it's right i would just like to say to the people who run who own the philadelphia flyers comcast spectacore you know i've got no problem with this i take it in good humor i think it's really funny but you are not an organization without funds and i think i should be compensated for my performance here we go jeez. Here we go. Here comes the lawyer's note. The lawyer's cease and desist. No, no, no. You can play it all you want. I'm willing to accept regular union wages for this. That's all.

I just wanted everyone here to know. You can send it to the Human Fund. You can send it to S-Clause 1234, the North Pole, is where you can send it to uh s clause one two three four the north pole is where you can send that uh to elliot anyway so i got a good i got a good laugh out of that all proceeds go to the elliot friedman benevolent fund okay very good i'd love to see this this sounds delicious uh one thing i do want to note thanks to everybody by the way i gotta get all these thank yous out of the way here and then we'll get to the some of the news um thanks to everybody, by the way, I got to get all these thank yous out of the way here, and then we'll get to some of the news. Thanks to everybody who sent me DMs about the Sweden-Germany game at the World Juniors today,

which featured Sweden wearing yellow and Germany wearing black. You know I have a lot of hockey dreams, Elliot, and wearing colors is one of them. So thanks to everyone who gleefully pointed that out. Hey, this actually looks really good, Merrick. You're not as dumb as you sound, which I'm going to take as a compliment because I could use the flattery. Okay, to the news.

And the Montreal Carolina game had a couple of things come out of it. I want to get to the Slavkovsky-Nason hit in a second. But it's been a difficult season for auntie ranta um he was waived the last time we spoke he's been recalled and on thursday night he beat the montreal canadians 5-3 was the final andre svechnikov with the hat trick uh sebastian ajo with four assists we're going to talk a lot about goalies here but let's start with auntti Ranta. Your thoughts on his situation. Jeff, I thought there were two really big moments during the game.

One was he makes a big save in the second period and gets a huge ovation from the crowd because the one thing you know for sure is that Ranta is nervous. He's back up. You know know what does his coach say earlier in the day time to put your big boy pants on and play and like when I saw that quote from Brindamore it's basically what he said I'm paraphrasing but that's basically it you know he's right you know he's right about that. And sometimes a coach has to be blunt. And you can

tell that Brenda Moore is at that point where he says, look, no more excuses. We need you to be what you can be. And so the pressure's on Ranta here coming back. That says to me, the fans haven't given up on him. One of the toughest things to go through as a player, especially at home, is when you know your fans have given up on you. We've all seen it. It happens in every sport. That's when it's over. In those moments, it is over.

And that clearly had not happened in Carolina. Number two, Josh Anderson scores early in the third period, a goal that gets through him. He could have had it. It squeezed through him, 3-3. I don't know about you, Jeff, but in that moment, I'm beginning to think, oh boy, is Montreal going to win this game now 5 or 6-3?

And he settled down, Carolina settled down, and they won that game. And, you know, they're going to have a big one in Toronto on Saturday night. It's going to be interesting to see what the Hurricanes do in net for that one. That's a more potent team and a better team than Montreal is, but it's baby steps, right?

You get through your first game with him and the answer is yes and everybody can breathe a little bit easier that's you know at least your post christmas isn't ruined by what you saw on thursday night you're saying okay we got through that now can we build something out of this just as a quick aside before I get to the Slavkovsky hit, how much do you put into first game back after the Christmas break? Because I put in about zero. Well, first of all, one of the things I always look at is how far are you traveling, okay?

And this year I looked into it. Remember last year there was a travel violation. The Maple Leafs left early with the approval for the players and the League and the Players Association said, we don't care. We negotiate these rules and you're going to follow them. So the Leafs got fined. This year I checked on Wednesday

and I was told from a couple of different places there were no violations at that time anyway. I don't think anything's been figured out since then, but I checked on Wednesday afternoon and was told a couple of places there wasn't anything here. So Jeff, the first thing I look at is how far are you traveling? And Montreal's traveling a bit farther, but it's an extra day, right? So that doesn't matter. I remember there was one year when Chicago was good and Colorado wasn't. Colorado had to fly from Denver to Chicago,

and that's about as long as it gets after Christmas. It was two and a half hours, they lost eight to two and i or something like that it was bad it was a big loss and and healy was upset about it and i'm like i'm like glenn come on like is it really that bad and he went psycho like it was it was a true healy psycho moment so and he and he, and he believed, and don't forget, this is a guy who's dealt with the league and worked in the players association. He believed that anything over two hours was unfair. And he thought two hours was pushing the limit.

So maybe if you're playing the first game, cause you can't leave until midnight the night before, if you're playing your first game on the first day and it's over two hours travel because glenn healy berated me i think that is fair but montreal has no reason to complain about this scenario glenn healy ptsd about him screaming at you about that. Very good. Okay. The Slavkovsky hit. Stefan Nason catches him. Oh, boy. He gets pulled out of the game, pulled off the bench.

This doesn't happen as often as it did last season. That's the number one thing I thought. That doesn't happen as often as it did last season. But still, did you not have that same feeling? Like, uh-oh oh here we go again with slavkovsky absolutely i did and uh you know hopefully everything will be okay um i think that's the key thing you mentioned there is that it was actually the first thing i thought of when he got hit it was you know we haven't seen this as much this year, and that's a good thing.

I didn't think it was suspension-worthy or anything like that. I don't think Nason launched himself. That's one of those hits where although there's head contact, I could see the NHL arguing that the primary point of contact is the chest. It was not a pick to the head. It was straight on. I just don't like to see that kid get hit anymore like that, to be perfectly honest. I have to say this, especially, like, if you watch Philly Vancouver late,

Cam Atkinson jumps Noah Juleson on a play, and, you know, Juleson's like, why do I have to fight here? It's, I didn't do anything wrong. And I know there's this whole big debate about this you know and I know I'm starting to see more instigators now and I heard this was a conversation or more extra penalties about you know if a guy has to fight after a clean hit maybe the other team should be getting the uh the extra penalty and we're starting to see more of it but were you concerned at all about the lack of response like the one guy who kind of went there was cole caulfield who's the last guy i'd

want doing anything like good credit who was there to do it though yes i i know but you know what like like i said cam atkinson did it in the philly game, and Cam Atkinson's not exactly prime 2005 Donald Brashear. If you're going to have a response like that and there's no one on the ice to do it, the last thing I want is Cole Caulfield to break a hand. Well, that's what I'm saying. I give Caulfield credit for going there, but did it concern you?

Because it kind of concerned me a bit. I didn't like that it was Caulfield. If I'm Montreal, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. but did it concern you? Because it kind of concerned me a bit. I didn't like that it was Caulfield. If I'm Montreal, I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. There's still runway in this game. There's still runway in this season. This doesn't have to be swift. This doesn't at all.

You don't have the right people there to do this. It's not like Arbor Jack Eye is standing right there. It's like, okay, Nason, here we go. Ding, ding, ding. Let's take the gloves and the elbow pads off and drift back to center ice and put a spotlight on us. That wasn't the situation. I just, I didn't, I did not want to see Caulfield there at all. Especially, I mean, like who knows, like when you confront someone like that, like who knows how Nason's going to react? He doesn't know who it is at that moment. What if you just drop the gloves

and started swinging at Cole Caulfield? That's the last thing if you're a Montreal Canadian that you want to see happen. Because then someone's going to jump in to protect Caulfield too. I think that's kind of what I'm saying. It's just, it was, the Canes didn't really respond to it.

And, you know, Marty Saint-Louis, he's one of the toughest players I saw in his own way right and i just um i can't imagine that was easy to watch for the canadians organization to see i get it i understand that but when it comes to marty san luis his toughness was getting rocked and getting high sticked and getting slashed and playing through it that's that was the Marty St. Louis toughness and never complaining about it I mean how many interviews did you hear Martin St. Louis do during his career where he said I'm not going to complain about getting hit I'm not going to complain about getting slashed I mean there were interviews there was one it was I think it was an Ottawa series, where he's still bleeding in the top bridge of his nose.

And he gets asked about the crosscheck. And he's like, no, we're just playing hard. I'm not going to complain about this. This is playoff hockey. I expect this. This is fine. I love them. I can't be unbiased about it. I have to be honest. I just loved Marty St. Louis for for so many reasons and that was one of the reasons why i love them it's like look i'm gonna get hurt playing this game the way that i play but that's gonna be my toughness i endure i don't have to conquer i endure yes i and again i understand that i i just can't imagine they would have liked watching that this is still a mean game it's still a mean game okay a couple of other

goalie issues quick and then let's move on to a couple of other things here um new jersey devils akira schmid sent to ahl utica the goalie issue with the devils continues yeah so they're not the only one um you know when they called dawes, it kind of made sense what was going to happen here, that Schmid would be sent down. It's going to be really interesting in a few places. The Devils are clearly looking. They are clearly looking. They're trying to figure out what they're going to do here um you know i

toronto samsonov has a massive start for him on friday night he's going to play in columbus you know that's a that's a big game for ilya samsonov all of a sudden um you look in edmonton and what's happening now olivier rodriguez on fire in the american hockey league and unfortunately jack campbell is basically the fourth goalie now and um you know you saw eric comrie's quotes on on thursdays and then it was interesting. Like they put, they put Tyson Jost on, on waivers instead of anything in goal. You know, the thing about it of Ranta, it was going to clear waivers at what he makes.

I just don't know who's taking Comrie who makes more than Ranta. I, it's really hard to see. And I was talking to a GM who's been looking around the goalie market just before Christmas, and he told me it's extortion out there right now. And it's going to come down to, like, these teams that have extra goalies, they know that there's some desperation out there, and they're preying on it.

You know, the thing I think about a guy like Kent Hughes, I think Kent Hughes has made it clear that he's got a price. And if you're going to meet his price, then he'll make his move. And if not, he's prepared to be patient. And I heard it was. Now, there's the price and then there's poker, right? And you know I have my annual around Christmas poker game, so I'm just out of this mood.

There's the price and then there's poker. So you set the price, the price is high, and the question is how much can you move the Montreal Canadiens? is high and the question is how much can you move the Montreal Canadians and at this point in time I don't think anyone's obviously moved them enough like Anaheim out there uh they have Gibson um and you know Gibson's family they just had another uh baby congratulations to them and um you know it's obviously it's it's a fantastic thing. I think everybody in the league knows that Gibson would like to go to a team that's a bit more ahead of where Anaheim is. But the thing is that with Pat Verbeek,

you're going to be talking about the price for Gibson and you're going to be talking about retention. That's not going to be talking about retention like that's that's not going to be an easy trade to make um because teams will be arguing that hey we're doing you a favor because we're taking the contract and that's not going to work with the ducks that's not going to work you know what's going to cost if it's like significant retention, like if we're talking about someone like John Gibson or Jacob Markstrom, if there's significant retention, it's going to cost a first round pick Elliot.

Well, so wait a sec. So Jeff, who's got the ability to trade a first round pick for retention and a first round pick for argument's sake or a top prospect for a goalie? Devils. You think the devils are going to be willing to, are going to,

are going to be willing to do. I think if they, I don't know if they're, I don't know if they're willing. I think they have, they have the ability to do it. I do. They want to do that.

It would be done already. They have the window. They, they have the window and they've, they've, they have, they have a couple of needs. One, they need to replace Dougie Hamilton.

And two, they need goaltending. And probably in the reverse order. But they have a lot of prospects, specifically on the back end. And they have the ability to release a first round pick. Because their team's in place. They have the team. They have the window.

It's a big price. It's huge. not elliot i get it it's huge price it's a huge price new jersey's going to do a deal it's going to be a whopper that's how i and and i and i don't disagree with you on that one i i don't think you're necessarily wrong but that's and then what so then what are you doing to get your defenseman is it the same deal or is it another deal i think if it's like you know we talked last podcast about noah hannifin yeah right so if it's if it's noah hannifin he's on an expiring contract what do you want if you're calgary are you looking to replace with a defenseman um you can make the argument maybe the new jersey devils have one too many forwards uh again let me tell you something too about this i don't i don't want to rehash the same argument we made last podcast yeah i went, I went through this with the flames.

Okay. Okay. Do you know how many times I think the flames have ever retained salary on a deal? Hmm. I don't know. Once David Riddick. That says something to me. I don't know because it's a totally different regime though this is craig conroy it's a different situation right no i don't think it is i think you think

this is above the office of the general manager i think it is an organizational philosophy now does it mean that they won't do it no but it means that like we already know in what they had they were talking to toronto and that deal came down to the cost of the players two of them plus retention and they couldn't work it out okay let's see where this so like like the but the one thing i really think here is that the goalie market is hot. Everybody knows who's got goalies, and everybody knows who's available. And there's a lot of teams looking. Now, the one thing about the Buffalo situation.

Just so our listeners have a basis for this one, what Elliot is referring to is Eric Comrie, Lance Lasowski of the Buffalo News, asked him on Thursday how he's dealing with all the uncertainty around him, the three-headed goalie monster with the Buffalo Sabres. And this is the quote. I don't know. That's a tough question to answer, so I'm just going to leave it. I don't know.

That is frustration that is the phone call is coming from inside the house kevin the phone call is coming from inside the house yeah i mean that you know what connor is doing is he's giving you the answer without giving you the answer right yes um that's that's exactly what he's doing. But again, the moment that Ranta cleared, someone called me and said, that's why Comrie is kind of stuck because he won't get claimed at that number. He just won't.

Now, I think the other thing too is just Buffalo's season has been so hard, so disappointing. It makes everything worse. Like if your team is winning or you're in the playoff race, it's not even a thing. reed just doesn't say a word and keeps his mouth shut and he just says i'm not gonna be the killjoy or the debbie downer while we're winning games but because if they're losing and everyone there and the in the seasons like i have to tell you one of the most amazing things to me about the eastern conference season this year jeff is that the three teams that were supposed to take the jump in the Atlantic division, none of them did it. Well, it's still out in Detroit, but it's not trending very well, right?

Like Buffalo didn't do it. Ottawa didn't do it. Although they got a big win on Wednesday against Toronto. do it although they got a big win on wednesday night against toronto um but and and detroit is really taking on water right now they cannot stop goals now lion's gonna play on friday night and i think he's their best goalie so maybe he stabilizes the ship like i said last saturday jones stabilizes toronto season and kevin last Saturday, Jones stabilizes Toronto's season and Kevin and Jennifer started ripping me all over the broadcast.

But maybe Lyon comes back and stabilizes the ship, but Detroit's carrying on water. I had an interesting conversation with someone from a team on Thursday afternoon and he brought up an interesting point. We're talking about MVPs and he brought up an interesting point we're talking about um mvps and he said half and just but there's something to this as well he said you know the mvp of the season is

i said who and he said every backup goaltender who's either making league minimum or just above league minimum yeah that's the most valuable player to an organization whether it's jonathan quick at 825 whether it's anthony stolarz at 1.1 or you mentioned alex lyon at 900k or scott wedgwood at one or charlie lingren at 1.1 he said you know the real mvp is those guys that are just making barely above league minimum those those backup goaltenders are the MVPs. They truly are. There's no doubt about that. And, you know, I've talked about this,

I think I wrote about this, Jeff. You know what a lot of goalies are beginning to wonder? Are we going to be in a spot where, you know, unless you're someone who's obviously not a typical backup, are you going to be making a million or less now? Is this going to squeeze? Like, look, like Chris Drieger the other night in Calgary plays his first game in a long time and wins it. Like, they've lost Grubauer for a while. There's another example. So, again, you have to have three goalies that can play.

And the one thing I do think if Detroit could do it all over, Lyon would have played sooner. I've said this on the pod before. Lyon last year, the Panthers don't get into the playoffs. Last year, if it isn't for him. I am astonished at how long it took them to get to him. Detroit, like Detroit's taking a lot of criticism about the Keene signing,

and they've been losing since King got there look he is not the problem they have a ton of defensemen NHL defensemen on their roster and they're bleeding goals that is their problem they don't um it's the old Bob Ganey line. You got to be able to check. They cannot check right now. Speaker 1.: Okay. A couple of more things here before we get to the thought line and Sarah Nurse. Matt Murley and the Elias Pettersson rumor about him going to Chicago to play with Conor Bedard. Now, Murley did mention as well that, you know,

Elias Pettersson is a restricted free agent, so this isn't, I'm going to play out the year and I'm going to walk away. Maybe Chicago's going to offer sheet him. Is this going to be a steady stream of Pettersson? Well, that's what I'd like to talk about when it comes to this and you know

the one thing i'm always careful about is you hear a lot of things at this time of year and you kind of bank them right because people's feelings in december on december 29th and happy birthday to my long-time close friend jeff harris who turns 54 today but people's feelings on december 29th could be very different than their feelings at the end of april or even in june or july like July. And no better example is Winnipeg. How many people thought that this year, Conor Hellebuck and Mark Shifley, at this point last year, would be signing twin seven-year deals in Winnipeg?

Very few. Almost no one. I think I mentioned it a lot. I think I mentioned it on the radio think i mentioned on radio i think i think you're right on top of it yeah it's all over that one elliot yeah thank you so like feelings change i'm always aware of that circumstances change feelings change you know the one thing i'll say about matt murley i listen to matt murley's work like he's he's not an idiot he like he hears things um i've i've seen the stuff that he reports he he gets information people talk to him i i would say about this one i i think it's

premature but what i would say is that there's there's one person who can stop all of this one person who can stop all of this and that is petterson and you know the the thing about this is i believe the vancouver canucks have decided that when petterson is ready they're gonna throw a significantly sized bag of cash at him one that might have trouble fitting into a small suv but not a gmc it'll fit into there no problem uh i think the canucks have made the decision they're they're gonna do this and i think what they're doing is they're waiting for Pedersen to say, okay, I'm ready. And what happens is, especially in a market like Vancouver, in a vacuum, this is what happens. And that's life in the big city.

Like I had some people say to me today, like, this isn't fair. They're approaching 50 points. They're having a great year. You know, why is this a thing i said it's a thing because that's what hockey fans do um you know there's a big debate right now around the nba they just got clobbered in their christmas day ratings by the nfl and and what does this all mean it was the ratings that launched a billion think pieces today and I was watching some of the debates on Twitter and again I stand you a standard disclaimer Twitter is not a true picture of the world but I saw a very interesting debate

about how someone said you know I think the NBA would be better off if there was more analysis about the games than talk about who's leaving what team or who's gonna play somewhere next year and to be honest jeff this is bad for me but sometimes i've wondered if that's the same thing that hockey deals with too would we be better off if there was less of that kind of talk in the games? And someone made the point, he said, look, like everything we do, I can't remember which website it was, but everything we do on our website that's analysis versus everything we do that's about a player personnel move

or a trade or a contract, he said the traffic of it and the viral nature on social dwarfs analysis. And I get that. I understand that. When I write a 32 Thoughts blog and there's less trade rumors on it, I get people who say to me, give me more trade rumors. Like the Christmas one, the pre-Christmas 32 Thoughts, I really tend to tone down.

Because a few years ago, I had a player who said I ruined his family Christmas by putting something in there. And I am not completely heartless. I am sensitive to that. But my point is that it probably isn't something that's on Pedersen's mind right now, but because he's a star and a franchise cornerstone and because of where he plays that's life in the big city and you know I think Pedersen I really

love dealing with Pedersen I've really enjoyed my conversations with him I think he would hate that on December 29th with the Canucks in first place that this is a thing if I'm wrong I'm sure at some point he'll tell me I guarantee to you though he hates that this is a thing however the only person who can put a stop to this is him by saying either, okay, we're going to negotiate or we're punting this until the end of the season. And if you punt it until the end of the season, then, you know, like, because someone was saying to me today, he made, like, when we did the interview in Stockholm, jeff he said i want to make sure we can win they're first in the league right now chicago is the opposite of first in the league but you know with bedard they're going to be good for a long time once they get them a better supporting cast it's just like you know like that people are going to throw that and say hey you said you

wanted to win the canucks for winning whatever the case is Patterson's the one guy who can put an end to all this and he's got to decide when does he want to do it like the like the thing in Toronto Nylander Nylander came out in his interview with us and said I am not going anywhere else I don't want to go anywhere else and that's why I still believe this is going to work out. And I think that that will get done at some point. Because we're not as sure yet about Pedersen, this is what comes out of it. So brace yourselves, folks. There's more coming.

There's more coming. It's a tidal wave. Okay, Elliot, the Edmontoners uh continue their winning ways a five nothing blanking of the san jose sharks tough not to feel bad for magnus krona net minder first nhl start did you ever see the movie gladiator i did yes are you not entertained oh one of my favorite movies of all time when I saw him go out there and I saw the video of the skate I thought about

gladiators being thrown to the lions you think that's what was it for Corona against the Willis I was just like first of all and I want everyone to understand, I am talking about this guy with respect. 23 years old. That's his second NHL appearance and first start.

And he's getting thrown in there. And I'm watching him do the lap. And he's got the Edmonton Oilers coming in. And the final score was 5-0. It was 4-0 after one. And I'm just going to say that I am not going to... I know a lot of people are going to make fun of this because that's just what we do on social media.

I just want to tip my cap and give my respect to him because that first period they took him out they put in kakunin um like i hope someday that we are that he's in a position he can look back at this and he can laugh and he can say like that was my first start of 500 and it all worked out uh great for me uh like i was rooting for that kid on thursday night i really was i know as a member of hockey night in canada i'm supposed to work for the oilers and the more canadian teams appear in the playoffs the better my job security but i really wanted that kid to do well yeah lose a two to one tough spot in overtime yeah i was hoping he made like 78 saves and the others won two to one but i just i just want i just wanted to show my respect to him because like that's

nobody's expecting you to do well there like you you're, that's a really tough position to be in. And, you know, that's your first start. You think you're going to get a better opportunity than that one. I just wanted to say I was rooting for the kid. I wanted him to do well. You are not the person you are on the first day of your job yeah and the sun is coming up on friday morning next week by the way everyone i will be heartless again but it's right around christmas so i'm trying to be nice okay snide elliot coming

up in seven days uh real quick ethan bearer washington capital's two-year deal do we see him against the islanders on friday do we see max patch already against the islanders on friday um ethan bearer skating with rasmus sandin which is a very intriguing combination elliott's yes uh you know the other thing too is we saw trevor van reamsdyke was the extra d right and uh that was a guy that that Washington could have traded last year and decided not to and extended him I really like Van Riemsdyk too so we're beginning to see the fallout from all of this and where where this is all going right so I the one thing that about Bear is that he's he had a very interesting quote where he said i went where i was wanted

not where i was needed and um you know it's it's pretty interesting to me first of all the capitals weren't were in a position they could give him a second year there were a bunch of teams that were like no we can give him the rest of the year and then we'll figure it out in the summer and like like i i heard that there was there was one team that kind of called him and i think what he was referring to is there was one team that kind of called him and said you know what we need him right now till we get our defense sorted out and bear kind of took that as oh okay like i they just need me to plug in and then my spot isn't guaranteed here, right? So, you know, the Capitals, they stepped up. They had the flexibility that some other teams didn't have.

They stepped up. They gave him the second year. They set up the contract in such a way that it was also very beneficial to bear. They were willing to let him, like his prorated salary this year is less than the insurance money he was making this year and i think the capitals were in a position where they could let him wait a few more days so that could work out well for him too washington just set it up in a way that you know they knew what they could do to that other teams could do and how they could beat it

and they did it and i think that really appealed to the player. Now, you know, he's got to deliver. And I'm sure he's not far away. I'm really hopeful for Pacioretty. Remember, he didn't last long last year after he came back. He got hurt pretty quickly. So obviously you're rooting for him to have a better year this year than he did last year or a better comeback. But I am amazed by the capitals i know

i'm on commercials in philadelphia but i couldn't believe what they were doing i'm equally as shocked at what the capitals are doing just before we wrap up um you know it's it's it's going to be january 1st next monday and we're going to be in seattle and um on the first um you know like there are there are some free agents who can sign players who sign one-year deals um you know they can they can sign and uh I think there's going to be some interesting ones coming out of this. I'm really curious to see, like Jeremy Swayman is one. That's one that I've kind of wondered about. Shane Pinto, he's not even signed yet, but he's back in Ottawa.

I assume he's going to sign his qo this year and then they'll kind of uh figure that one out um but i am i am really curious about uh some of these one-year guys and where they're going to end up and and if they're going to be extended you know like i said before i i thought that you know tyler uh bertuzzi was a guy that toronto had talked about a long-term deal with i i don't expect anything like that uh right now um to me one of the guys i'm i'm really watching is swayman there's a few others the two in d, you know, Joe Pavelski, he does one-year deals now.

And you know Dallas really likes him. Matt Duchesne, I think Matt Duchesne, Jeff, is going to be a really fascinating player. It's been a perfect fit for him. And I've heard there's nothing imminent there, but I would expect at some point in time to Shane in the stars to talk about okay do we extend this fit and what does that look like um I think that's a that's a pretty interesting one Sean Monaghan is one that you brought up and

again I've you know last year it worked out perfectly the way it it was and although and monahan too he got hurt so it complicated matters uh at the end obviously i've heard teams have been scouting monahan again so at some point in time both player and team are going to have a decision there um you know obviously that's worked out really well for him but again i've heard teams have been scouting them you know those are a few of the players starting uh you know january uh first that teams can resign i i'll tell you this again one of the other things i've i've heard around some of these contract extensions for UFAs in some cases like the ones we talked about with Pedersen and Nylander I don't think it's going to matter

but I've heard in a couple of cases there's been some some real battle about term like teams are saying we want to keep guys but we don't want to do it with term so it's going to be interesting okay Elliot before we get to the thought line here want to shout out the new jersey devils tv and radio crews specifically bill spalding who tweeted a great picture in ottawa of the new jersey crew and i'll name everyone who's at the table at montana's eating okay so it's bill spaldinging, Matt Laughlin, Ken Danico, Erica Wachter-Barnes, Leo Scaglione, who's the MSG graphics producer, and Devil's videographer Christian Singleton, all enjoying a meal at Montana's. There are lots of ribs there, Elliot, making you

nice and happy. And if you have a look what's in front of Matt a delicious pecan salad Matt you have my heart you are commandant francais as we say in French la premiere to all the first star of the New Jersey devil's table that's weak

Montana try the ribs at a boy Matt you're on team Eric love you plenty of room everyone climb aboard Montana's thought Try the ribs. Atta boy, Matt. You're on Team Eric. Love ya. Plenty of room. Everyone climb aboard. Montana's Thought Line is next. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, Elliot, time now for the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue.

Try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca, 1 311 32 32 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca 1833 311 32 32 and a quick note of thanks we got a great note from helene showing us a very special 32 thoughts inspired gift she got for her brother-in-law helene very creative let's start here elliot's this is. This is an interesting one. Curtis in Calgary. Hi, Jeff, Elliot, and Dom. I'm sitting in my cubicle shirking my responsibilities to the shareholders before the holidays while listening to your podcast and had a thought during your second one off. First of all, I do that 365 days a year,

so I got no problem with this. Yeah, but look where I got Elliot, working with me so you know curtis you might want to rethink these types of things anyway listening to your segment on the ottawa senators and their coaching search when a team fires their coach and appoints an interim coach is there anything stopping them from basically doing coaching tryouts for their team while the position is open essentially would a team team like Ottawa be able to appoint someone like Jay Woodcroft as an interim head coach and have him coach the team for a few practices or even games to make his case for the position before swapping him to another interim coach?

Admittedly, I see plenty of reasons for a team slash coach not to do this, but I'm interested if it would be allowed within the rules thanks for all your work on the podcast and bring back the beard elliot yeah tell that to my wife i'd like to be divorce is too expensive the 50 escrow yes put it this way i have no knowledge of any rule against it. As you said yourself, I don't know why a coach would agree to it, but I have no knowledge of any rule against it.

It's interesting, but I don't see it. I don't see a coach saying yes to that. I can't see players liking it at all. No, that's definitely true too. Coaching carousel every couple of weeks but interesting question nonetheless and we love getting them here okay this one elliot is from jasmine hey jeff elliot and dom was watching the ducks versus kraken game and saw trevor ziegers do the lacrosse style goal in the third period and my dad and i were debating whether or

not those types of goals should be allowed i say yes but he's a hardcore no it's just a high wraparound dad come on this got me to wondering is there any rule in place that prohibits a player from flipping the puck on their stick the way zegras did and just skating it all the way down the ice great work as always love the pod thank you jasmine jeff there is no rule that says you cannot skate with the puck on your blade down the ice feel free to do so but your stick can get slashed that would cause a quick turnover also it's really hard to pass when you're just carrying the puck down the ice i think if you're doing that you're not really interested in passing the puck yeah pretty safe to say that your uh your line mates on that

will just uh wave to the bench for a line change because they know they're not getting that thing. I have to say, I don't get all the hate for this. There seems to be a lot of it. I don't get it. You know, first of all, Biexa was saying on Saturday night that the Bedard goal was not a true Michigan

because, you know, normally with the Michigan, there's kind of like a stop, and even the Zegers especially, because the speed at which Zegers did it, I thought was really impressive. He barely even slowed down. And by the way, we should shout out Allison Lozoff, who does the ringside reporting for the Ducks,

who asked Zegers to do it, and then he did it. If only life was so easy that you could get people to do things as Allison Lozoff got Zegers to do that. You know, Kevin said it wasn't like a true, like put the puck down on the ice, lift it kind of thing. The speed at which these players are now doing it, I think is really amazing. It just shows you the ability and the skill

of this generation of players. It only gets better and better. I don't understand the heat for it. I think it's incredible. I am wondering about the day, and Jordan Bennington is basically warning us it's going to happen when the goalie just Billy Smith someone just sees the guy coming and says you're getting the the toothpick sandwich right here and how

everyone's going to react to that because you know it will cause a social media explosion and that's probably where we're going here but I don't understand the hate for this i think it's an incredibly skilled play and you know bedards was phenomenal but there was something about the smoothness at which zegras did it that really stood out to me really that one's closer to what they call the zoro um that's the way that andrej svechnikov did it just skating and scoop it up but you don't do that put your blade flat on the puck tilt it, get at the back of the puck

and scoop it up like Mike Legg or before him Bill Armstrong or even before all of these guys the first time that I'd ever seen it was video of Alexander Maltsev scooping the puck up in 1972 during that series you know I'm fascinated with the origins of these types of things Elliot so surprise surprise Maltsev scooping the puck up in 1972 during that series. You know, I'm fascinated with the origins of these types of things, Elliot.

So surprise, surprise. Maltsev was the first that I know to do it back in 1972. But really, all they're just doing is picking the puck up. And all that it really is, like if you hear someone grousing about it, about, oh, that's not hockey, all it is is a high wraparound. As a matter of fact, Bill Armstrong, who really popularized the move before Mike Legge with Michigan, that's all he used to refer it to. He used to call it the high wrap. That's it. There wasn't like a fancy name for it or anything. It was just a high wrap around. And that's really all that these goals are. I have wondered about is making contact with the goalie's face with your stick could be dangerous and like you there will be a goalie who does not look fondly upon someone doing this to him

we've seen plenty of hot-headed goaltenders in the past Elliot Friedman so yeah I think somewhere down the road someone's going to get a Billy Smith chop very much so if you saw bennington's instagram post after it happened where he showed like the young goaltender uh like spearing the skater coming around the neck i thought that was a really funny post and i saw a lot of people get a laugh out of that it's only funny until it actually happens in a game. And you know there's going to be some goalie who's going to do that someday. It's going to happen. It will happen. We should not encourage people to cowbell players

as they come out from behind the net, Elliot. It's got nothing to do with our encouragement and whether or not we say it's good or bad. It's just going to happen because some competitive goalie in a big game is going to see somebody about to do it. And they're just going to do it because that's the way elite athletes are. You know what the thing about these goals is now all kids can do it. It used to be a novelty of,

Oh, just a couple of people can do it. All the kids can do these things. Now just go to any rink at your, in your local can do it. All the kids can do these things now. Just go to any rink in your local community and watch some of the kids and warm up. You'll be amazed. Let's get to a voicemail. And don't be an angry boomer. Don't hate these goals because they look different. That's stupid. Old man shakes fist at Zamboni. Okay, let's get to a voicemail. Here's Rob. Hi, guys. This is Rob from Colorado,

longtime hockey fan who actually attended the Bill Masterton game as my first NHL. Wow. Wow. I believe the common draft for the NHL was instituted around the time of the 16 expansion. My question is, how did players matriculate to nhl teams prior to that thanks and again i really enjoyed the podcast especially when i'm out on long bike rides here in colorado thanks guys wow that's a great question and great historical memory the bill masterton game jeez i mean i'm just amazed if you know i can imagine there'd be people who would see that as their first game and never go back again so excellent to hear that you kept your your fandom despite uh seeing that so there was something called a C form.

And, you know, also there were teams that they kind of had, like you would say in Major League Baseball, forget the draft for a second. Major League Baseball has a farm system. They own teams, league a double a triple a and basically you work your way up to the major league baseball team um you know the nhl teams used to do that they for example um the montreal canadians had the Montreal Junior Canadians and the Peterborough Peets. And also, I think they had a team in the Western Hockey League at one particular time. You know, the Toronto Maple Leafs had the Toronto Marlies. That was one of their feeder teams.

And that's basically how it worked was the NHL teams had a whole bunch of minor or junior teams that had affiliates with them. And if they thought you were a potential player, they put you on one of these teams, and you moved your way up. And there was something called the C form. And if a player signed a C form with an NHL team, is that it was basically a contract that signed you, your rights belonged to that team. In perpetuity. In perpetuity, we should add. It's the kind of contract that got struck down by a lot of arbitrators we should like it's the kind of contract that got struck down by a lot of arbitrators or in legal arguments in kind of like the late 60s early 70s like baseball had its famous reserve clause

that got struck down in the early 70s and and basically created free agency but the c-form was the form that basically locked you in to an nhl team. And it was a very, very restrictive document. And before the draft, if an organization signed you to that, you were theirs. Am I getting anything wrong here, Jeff? No, I don't think so. Elliot mentions the C form.

There's also an A form and a B form. The A form only obliged you to go to tryouts. The B form to me is fascinating because the C form is the one that we always heard about, right? Oh, we signed a C form. That's how they signed a C form. The B form was interesting because when you signed a B form, it was actually the player who could force the team to sign that player for the average salary of the league at that time. That one to me is intriguing and very seldom used. That's why you don't hear about the B form at all. The C form, as Elliot mentions, is the standard one. Terms of a deal are already set. Teams will decide where the player plays, whether it's in the NHL or if he's playing in the American League or the Western League or the USHA or wherever it may be.

uh situation that existed and had a lot of access first access uh to the best french canadian hockey players um that were available and that ended uh i believe correct me if i'm wrong elliot that ended for montreal when gila point was traded to the st louis blues like that was the end of that era of hockey um and to the point about the draft, I mean, technically started in 63. But, you know, our caller is right, Robin, in Colorado. After the league doubled in 1967, doubling of the NHL, that's when the draft really first started to take off. And it's like other teams have done this. This is completely different than how European teams handle soccer, for example.

This was, you may look at it cynically, Elliot, not sure how you look at it, but you can look at the draft as a way to artificially depress salaries for young hockey players. So there's no bidding whatsoever for players to get into the league. That is a very bare bones and basic explanation for how players got the teams back then. But a very great question. And we always like the historical ones here on the podcast. A couple of things to tie into that. historical ones here on on the a couple things to tie into that when the nhl draft was first introduced in in 1963 um the canadians initially were given the option of selecting two french

players of their choice uh before any other team was given a pick and and now i've I look back I remember one time I looked back through Montreal's draft history and uh they didn't do it for five years they did it I think the first time they did it was in 1968 and the second time they did it was in 1969 and they drafted a couple of pretty decent NHLers Rajon Ull and Mark Tardif but they they never really used that as much as they could beforehand. And, you know, we should talk about, like, Gordie Howe, he was signed to a C form. There was a, yeah, Bobby Orr was signed to a C form. There were scouts who saw these guys play

and nailed them down to their teams. And I did mention the baseball reserve clause i did a quick google search while jeff was talking there the c form was basically the same thing and it was the baseball reserve clause said if you signed uh if you sign this with a team it was technically for one year but it gave you the rights to a player in perpetuity the teams could renew it at their own decision as long as they paid whatever fee was necessary to do it and there's a famous baseball book i'm looking at my shelf right now if you really want to know the business history of baseball the book is

called the lords of the realm by john hellyer and in it there's a significant chapter to a job about a man named peter seitz who was an arbitrator and he was the person who interpreted it as along with marvin miller the famous union leader who interpreted it as wait a sec this only keeps your rights for a year and now as I've always heard for every lawyer you can find another lawyer so you know you can have someone who'll say one thing but you can find another lawyer who will tell you no this says the opposite thing the key is Marvin Miller found an arbitrator who believed his argument that said, nope, this is only one year, and the reserve clause was struck down.

Now, that was after the NHL draft really got going. This was in the mid-'70s, but that's basically the key document before the draft. Excellent. And again, Robin Colorado, thank you so much for a great question. A couple of more here to wrap things up. I think you'll like this one,

Elliot. And again, I didn't do the research on this. This is from NHL stats. Okay. Sam in New Jersey. Hey there, Jeff Elliott and Dom,

the overlord. Good grief. I was having a discussion the Overlord. Good grief. I was having a discussion. Overlord. Overlord. You wearing your Darth Vader costume right now, Dom? He got up really, really early for us today, so we should thank him. We should thank him.

Yeah, that's true. I was having a discussion with my dad and brother on the way to visit family for Christmas when we came upon an interesting question. What number has scored the most points in nhl history meaning what number has the most points if you were to add the culmination of all points ever scored by players wearing that number uh geek time geek time is it still 99 is he so far ahead not even in the top. We're very curious to hear the answer. Yeah, I thought Jeff might enjoy a little hockey trivia.

Hang on. I thought Jeff might enjoy a little hockey trivia while Elliot could roll his eyes at the question. Thanks, gents. Love the podcast. I actually think this is a good question. I actually think this is a good question. Okay, let me grab it.

I really do. I was going to guess 99 first just because i was wondering if it was one of those things where he lapped the field my my other one off the top of my head yeah the guess would be would be nine how richard hull okay that would be my guess i got the top top five. Okay. Again, this is via NHL stats. Number nine, Elliot, to your point, has scored the most goals in the history of the NHL. 17,427 as of Wednesday night.

But that number doesn't have the most points. But it's number two in points, Elliot. Okay. Hang on. Let me go five down. Okay. The fifth number is number 12 with 36,783 points. 7,783 points.

The fourth number is number 19, with 37,571 points. See, the problem with... Draw J. Joe Sackick, I could see that one. The problem with 99 is, I mean, you're looking at, you know, three call-ups for the Montreal Canadiens and Rick Dudley, Wolf Paymont, and Wayne Gretzky. It's not going to come close to these numbers.

I have to tell you that with Gretzky, I was wondering, without looking, I was wondering if that would be enough. That was my default too, and I hadn't considered how big these numbers are. Nine was my second guess. Yes, you're good on nine. Coming in third, most points by a number 11 38 193 okay hold

on let me think here okay so that's number three and then holy smokes hold on no and then so you're hang on you're hang on coming in second place is elliot guest, number nine. Really good guess, 40,411. And that leaves number one. Okay. I'm thinking... Okay, I've got a few... I understand this is all on the top of my head, okay? Okay.

I'm thinking number seven, which is Phil Esposito, Ray Bork before he switched, Paul Coffey wore seven for a good chunk of his career. I'm thinking number eight, which is Ovechkin, Taimou Salani. I've also got 10 and 16 10 is Guy Lafleur

Ron Francis and 16 Dale Howarchuk yeah Dale Howarchuk's 10 I'm going I'll leave out 16 but I'm going 7, 8, or 10. Drum roll, please. The answer to this question is number 10. It is 10.

41,688 points as of Wednesday scored by number 10. It is the leader. But you nailed it with goals with number nine, 17,427. Well, to me, that was the first one that jumped into my head. And honestly, I'm surprised it's not number one overall. But yeah, number 10, Howard Chuck Francis. Pavel Bure. Pavel Bure.

Pavel Bure. Zalaps. Yeah, it's not the first name that jumped into my head. Some great names. I will say that. Yeah, I mean, it's a great question. I mean, 16 is Brett Hull, Bobby Clark. But yeah, I mean, that's a great question.

I'm not rolling my eyes at that one. I've rolled my eyes a lot worse than that. That's actually a really good question. It's a great one. It was a lot of fun noodling it around last night and guessing and going back and forth with our mutual friend and colleague, Steve Fallon, who says, make sure you mention NHL stats on this one. So we will.

So the answer is number 10. Some really great questions on today's edition of the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Sarah Nurse after the break. Welcome back to the podcast. The 16 PWHL League launching on New Year's Day in Toronto, downtown Mattamy Athletic Centre, Toronto hosting New York. And front and centre because she's always front and

center, will be an Olympic gold medalist, a world championship gold medalist, and one of the most accomplished hockey players in the world. Early Thursday morning, Elliot and I sat down and caught up with Sarah Nurse. Sarah, I want to start this interview by maybe treating you like my therapist for one second here. I want to tell you about a fear that I have. So my entire life, I've had this fear that I'll spend my entire professional life tapping the world on its shoulder. And when it finally turns around, I forget what I was going to say. Now, here we are a few days away from the launch of the new league. How are you feeling and what do you want to say? i would be lying if i said i didn't have one of those dreams the other night of me not being able to put on all of my equipment before i head out on the ice um so that's like

a reoccurring nightmare that i think a majority of hockey players have but i'm excited like i'm feeling really good i think we've had a lot of lead up and runway to get to January 1st. And the fact that we're only a couple of days away is pretty exciting. Equally kind of terrifying, but definitely really exciting. Can I pause on one thing here? You mentioned that nightmare. I'm curious about hockey players. Like I would imagine you would have the normal nightmare of, oh, I forgot my skates and I can't find them. Like what are your reoccurring hockey nightmares all through your career? So for me, it's the same one, which maybe I should actually talk to a therapist about this, but it is me sitting in the dressing room and not being able to get my equipment on fast enough and my team leaving me and going to play the game. So whether it's like me not being able to tie my skates up or like not being able to buckle up my helmet, like I cannot get on the ice. And I've had this dream my whole life. Do you have abandonment issues? I have to say this is not where I was expecting this interview to begin.

Hang on. We're getting into abandonment issues. We're getting abandonment issues here with Sarah Nurse. This is wonderful. Just get on the couch, couch sarah put your head back just talk to me like i'm your friend here go ahead elliot i actually thought it was going to be you were late to the game like to me that's sleeping in and missing the exam is the same as being late to the game i thought that's what was going to be the answer anyway i'm assuming all will work out fine that you will be on ice on time able to put the equipment on and for your first game I guess there's a lot of places where we could go from here Sarah but I think the sometimes the easiest question is the best and I'm going to go with that here we're days away from this league starting how do you feel about everything I'm nervous um I've never been nervous for hockey anything surrounding

hockey in my entire life and I feel like I played in some pretty big games on some pretty big stages and this feels so much bigger in a way than anything that I've ever done, just because of what this means. All of the work that's gone into getting us to this point on January 1st, when the puck drops, everything's going to be fine. At that point, it's hockey, but it's everything else that has encompassed this. Obviously, here in Toronto, being able to sell out our entire season and the building that we're playing in, all the promotional activities and the buzz around our league and our sport has been absolutely insane.

And I just want this to continue forever. What's it going to be like, you think? Like you say, the hockey just takes over, but at the same time, like you talk about the big stages you played on, Olympicsics you've won world championships you've won like you've won you've competed at a lot of different levels i mean this is your family story um not just you sarah but the entire nurse family as well but this one's different i know it's still going to be hockey but do you think it's going to feel like i don't know the puck's a little bit heavier or I don't know how to describe it.

What do you think it's going to feel like in playing that first game, uh, new year's day against New York? Well, I hope it's not feeling any heavier than it already does. Um, but I think that it's going to feel pretty good. Um, I think that there's probably going to be, I'm already like trying to prepare myself for this for kind of that moment of reflection as national anthems are going on and you're looking out into the crowd and there's so many people again who have got us here to this day. So I definitely think there's going to be a moment of reflection, but I want to put out the best possible product in the whole world. We've been training for this for so long. Our team obviously has been preparing for the last six weeks together. And so we want to put something on the ice that not only we're proud of, but everybody in the building is proud of and everybody sees the passion and the heart.

gets off of the ground. And we've been preparing for the last six weeks of the team. We've all been working our whole lives for this moment to be able to play professional women's hockey. And so the fact that we're able to do that, I'm so excited to be able to show the best possible product and, you know, be the best player that I can be and really show the next generation of little girls that they can be professional hockey players as well. Let me pick up on that for a second here. I'm really curious because your team, I mean, Toronto has a real Team Canada vibe about it. And whether it's, you know, Gina Kingsbury is the general manager and Troy Ryan is the head coach. The one thing that I wonder about, and the Toronto Maple Leafs get this all the time, when a team comes to Toronto,

they get the A game because there's lots of friends and family there and it's always nice to be Toronto and it's a big stage and it's lots of eyeballs I'm expecting that your team would be similar because A, any team coming into Toronto wants to take the two points but two they want to leave an impression on Team Canada management specifically Gina Kingsbury. Do you think that's accurate? I think you hit the nail on the head on most parts there.

I know even going into preseason in Utica, like we definitely had a target on our back for sure. I'm not sure necessarily the whole Team Canada management aspect there, but I do think from a standpoint of there is that familiarity with Toronto and similar to the Maple Leafs like teams want to come up and we get their best game and that's something that we have experienced with Team Canada whereas we play any other nation in the world we will always get their best game there's no taking your foot off the gas pedal and so I really don't anticipate anything different this coming season. I kind of wanted to take you back over the last couple of years, Sarah.

I want to talk about your Olympic experience specifically in a few minutes. But first of all, you know, you said something very interesting. There's the hockey aspect of this and there's the business and I guess guess, sociological impact of this. You know, there were two women's leagues. We knew eventually there were going to be one. I've been told by a lot of players that it took longer than they hoped, but now we're eventually here. I guess this is a long answer to a short question,

but just as someone who's lived it can you take us back through the last couple of years and what you saw and how we got from point a to here yes that that's a huge question elliot um i i guess from my standpoint, taking it back probably to 2018, 2019, and even before that, like I came from the University of Wisconsin, where there's a lot of money and a lot of investment, especially into the women's hockey team. And so I saw what it was like to be treated like a pro. And then I got to Hockey Canada and, you know, we're treated great there. And then I got to the CWHL where we were treated pretty awfully. And so that really sparked my passion because everybody just seemed to be accepting this. And so I really wanted to band together with, you know, a group of girls who wanted to demand better. And so after that league folded, that's exactly what we were able to do.

That's exactly what we were able to do. And I know there's been so much rhetoric about, you know, the two leagues, butting heads, clashing together. And there was never any issue with any of the players who played in either league. I think that off of the ice and on the ice, really, we all got along. We were just, we had the same vision, but we were running in parallel lines and we never really intersected. We had the same vision, but we were running in parallel lines and we never really intersected. And so when I think of how we got here today, there were contributions from the PHF, there were contributions from the PWHPA, there were contributions from the women who have come

before us. But to get to this point, we needed an investment group that was going to come in and be all in financially, but also be in with the passion and with the vigor to get a professional women's hockey league off of the ground. And so I think for a very long winded question, that's one of the best answers that I could give. Was there ever a time that you were worried it wasn't going to happen? ever a time that you were worried it wasn't going to happen? Many times, many times. There were so many times when, you know, whether it was the media, whether it was people around

us telling us that there was no market for women's hockey. There were a lot of doubters and a lot of naysayers and they really still are. But there were so many times when doubt would creep in, and you'd have to turn to the woman next to you and be like, hey, do we still got this? She'd be like, we still got this, let's keep moving. And so I think having the strength in the group and in the community was really what kept us pushing for four years. And because it was a long time, it was a long time that we played without a professional league. And there was a lot of time, like I think of so many careers like Marie-Philippe Poulin, like she didn't play in a professional league for three or four years.

And that's somebody who's probably going to go down as one of the best women's hockey players in history. So there was definitely a lot of sacrifice there on that side to get us here. How many offers did you get from the PHF? I got, I think, one offer in my time. And I was obviously on the board of the PWHPA. So I definitely think I would have been a bit harder to get. But I did get one pretty monstrous offer from the Toronto team when the new ownership group came in. And although I applauded all of the work that that group came in and was able to do, it just wasn't the right opportunity for me at the time. And so I was still strong in the faith in my group in the PWHPA.

Was it a quick no, or did you say, let me think about it and I'll get back to you? It was a respectfully quick no or did you say let me think about it and I'll get back to you it was a respectfully quick no um I didn't want to give any false hope I didn't want anybody to be talking about me thinking about potentially switching over and so for me again like it was a very respectful no you're gonna make a great politician someday sarah when was the moment you realized then that this was going to happen there has to be a light bulb moment where you said finally this is going to work to be completely honest it was when we sent our CBA to our player group for ratification. There were so many moments the year leading up to that, whether it was through our season and then through CBA negotiations, that I still had some doubts that I was like, man, I don't know if this deal is going to get done the way that we all thought it was.

is going to get done the way that we all thought it was. And so once our CBA was going through to ratification and we were able to share it with our entire player group, I was like, wow, we really did this thing. And so it was definitely a huge moment of pride too. I wanted to ask you a bit more about those negotiations. I understand you were part of them. On the other side of the table is a gentleman by the name of Stan Kasten who is a seasoned executive.

And he's done a lot of radio with Bob McCowan in Toronto, so I've heard a lot of him. And he's a shark. He's a very seasoned executive, and he knows what he's doing. One of the things I heard about the players who did some of that negotiating, such as yourself, was you knew that you had to make some hard decisions to make things work there were things that you guys really wanted that you got and there were things that the group knew they would have to concede that would be tough can you walk us through some

of those negotiations Sarah and what were I mean I heard it was a really eye-opening experience and and what did you learn and what were some of the tough decisions that you had to make? Yeah, the CBA process and negotiating the CBA was nothing that I could have ever anticipated. I remember meeting with Stan in LA, actually. And he was just getting to know me and getting to know what my vision was and where I saw, you know, the PWHL potentially going one day in 10, 15, 20 years. And at the end of our conversation, he kind of looked at me and it was almost like a warning in the friendliest way possible. And we're like, he was just like, Sarah, I want to tell you, things may get really, really ugly, but we're going to find a way to make this work out. And he like, couldn't have been more right. And you have to understand throughout these

negotiations, there are five of us players. Okay. There's Liz Knox, Brian Jenner, Hillary Knight, and Kendall Point Schofield, along with myself. And we are sitting at every single meeting. We are at every single boardroom table for weeks and for months negotiating this. And we had amazing counsel. We had an amazing group of advisors. But at the end of the day, it was us making these decisions on what we conceded on and what we really pushed hard for. And that was difficult because there were a lot of tough moments. And although there were no tears or anything like that, there was a lot of raised voices. There was some yelling. There were some objects thrown, people, you know, leaving boardrooms pretty angrily. And it was hard. It was really hard. It took up a lot of time, a lot of our lives and understanding that we wanted to bring back the best possible package for our players. Because at the end of the day, if we came back to our player group, the CBA that they couldn't get down with, they couldn't sign, the league wasn't going to happen. And so we

needed to push for certain things, just like the league needed to push for certain things. I completely understand this. I think this is normal. And sometimes people don't recognize that this is normal, but I think it's perfectly normal. Like one of the things I heard that was one of the biggest challenges was the league wanted to keep the player marketing rights.

And especially in your own case too, I would only ask you to speak for yourself and not necessarily for anyone else but you know you're a very marketable person a very marketable player and I heard that those were some of the most contentious negotiations between the group of five players and the league can you take us through that a bit so I guess when we came into these negotiations realistically as a player group, we didn't have any leverage other than ourselves. We haven't had a league or an organization to promote us in years. For us to build a brand and for us to put women's hockey on a map,

we have had to do that as individual players. And so when the topic of marketing and promotion came up, it was pretty late in the game. It was like at the 11th hour. And all of a sudden, we had opened like Pandora's box. And it wasn't only individual player marketing rights. It was like group commercial licensing. It was promotional commercial appearances. It was biometric and performance data and who controls and who owns all of these things. And so it wasn't only the individual player marketing rights. It was a whole scheme of things

that we couldn't have been farther from each other on. And I think when it came down to it, ultimately I understand where the league was coming from and they were really innovative and they tried to present us a bunch of different models with varying levels of, you know, control of player marketing rights. And obviously because NIL is such a big buzzword

in the last few years, especially down in the NCAA, it was kind of new to everybody. And so when we started talking about this, it definitely sent kind of alarm bells in our minds. And it was something that we knew that we had to push for. And we knew that we had to give up certain things, but we were going to hold a lot of control over a lot of certain things. And so, again, I can't say enough about our council. We brought in Adam Larry, who's worked with the NHLPA as well, who specializes in licensing because it was all so new to us. And so we're very happy that we were able to stand firm on that one.

And ultimately, at the end of the day, the league and the players, we both want to promote the league. And that's all that they wanted. They wanted to ensure that their league was going to get promoted as the premier women's hockey league. Was that an issue big enough that it could have derailed the entire conversation around the CBA? Whenever the NHL and NHL Players Association get together, we hear terms like, this is a hill that we will die on. We not negotiate this thing like was that one of those issues for your group yes yes it was um for both sides really and as i mentioned this came in pretty late to the game and there were so many

conversations obviously when we would caucus and we would break off into our own little groups and talk about it that we would sit there and be like, I don't know if this deal is going to get done, because I don't know if we can find any common ground here. And after probably weeks of talking about this, we are obviously able to find common ground. Each side was able to concede some things, give up some things. And ultimately, we were able to get the deal. So I'm going to ask you for advice for people here, Sarah, because I think some things and I know I struggled with this earlier than life, and I'm a lot better at it now than I was earlier. But negotiating for yourself, standing up for yourself. Those are not easy things. And what advice after going through that? What advice would you give to anyone,

advice after going through that what advice would you give to anyone who especially maybe a younger person hearing this about negotiations and what the importance is or what the most important thing is to representing yourself and your teammates properly i would say that you wholeheartedly need to stand in and own and believe in your value. When I looked at what we were able to do, it was because our faith never wavered on the fact that we were the most valuable asset that the league was going to have. You have to wholeheartedly believe in yourself and in your value and really, really, really own that. Because if you don't, if you start faltering and you forget your why, that's when you start running into problems. That's when you start to doubt yourself, second guess yourself. And it all kind of falls apart. But I think that our biggest strength was the five of us, along with our counsel and our advisors, we wholeheartedly

believe in our value and what we were able to bring to the table. That's awesome. Great advice. One more CBA question. I'm always curious about the boardroom dynamic or the conversation dynamic. On your side, who had the loudest voice of all the athletes? I would definitely say Kendall Coyne. It wasn't me. No, I would definitely say Kendall Coyne. Like you talk about Stan being a shark.

Kendall is a shark. She was pregnant the entire CBA process. And I think the day after the CBA was ratified or went in for ratification, Kendall gave birth to her son, Drew. So that's how pregnant she was. And she was always the one at the table making sure that our voices were heard and i think the unique thing about our group is we all brought something a little bit different you know we talk about marketing rights hillary and i were very well versed and very vocal in that kind of area when we talk about you know parental rights and and

different things like that you have brian jenner who's a mom of three. And so she's very well-versed in that. Liz Knox, she's a retired player, a firefighter. And so she was able to speak on behalf of, you know, the non-national team players and what they've experienced in the last few years. And so we all brought something different, but I can't say enough about Ken McCoy and Schofield. So let me ask you about another negotiation, and that is the negotiation for

your contract. Now, January 1st, you're playing against New York. Tell us exactly how much it is down to the paint. We want to see a copy of the contract. Okay. Really simple, true or false question. New York offered you more money. True. How many other teams? Were there other teams that offered you more money than Toronto did? Yes, there was one other team. Was it Ottawa? Yes.

Ooh, I'm two for two. Okay, this is good. I wish everybody answered these questions so truthfully. Wow, you're our favorite. You are our favorite interview ever. Yeah, really. These are easy ones. You're seeing it up. So why Toronto then?

For me, when I looked at, one, the staff, the familiarity I have there, I understand the expectations. And I was also looking for a bit of a challenge of playing in the city. You know, this is a notoriously incredible hockey market, but it can also be hard. And so I looked at Toronto as really the Mecca of the hockey world. And that's what I wanted to be a part of. I grew up near Toronto, my family's close by, so that was definitely a big push, but I wanted the opportunity to play professional hockey in Toronto, and I'm very grateful that I have that. I wanted to ask, I was going to ask this question later, but since you brought up your family, I'm talking not just your immediate family, but all of the other nurses, Darnell, Kia, Donovan McNabb, the parents, all the great athletes, they get dropped in to an Olympic track and field for a two-day decathlon competition and we'll imagine that everybody is at the height of their athletic powers who's on the podium who's bronze who's silver who's gold i think that kia would be standing at the top of the podium. That girl is athletic as heck.

She's so fast. She's just such an athlete and a competitor, and I think she doesn't know when to turn it off. So she'd be standing at the top of the podium with the gold medal. I think that I would take second for sure because I think I have a little more killer instinct than maybe Darnell. I don't know, but I think that him and Uncle Don would be battling it out for third place on that podium.

You can do it like Olympic boxing. You can say that there's a double bronze medalist to make everybody feel not okay. Yeah, there you go. Well, listen, in the nurse family, not everybody gets a trophy, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. There is nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you've got to understand the difference between winning and losing exactly um just like now that you know now that we're a

couple days away um you know we we talked a little bit about the feel and the excitement as as everything's been put together you know what have you noticed this is everybody's kind of rushing into this a little bit. There's definitely a feeling of let's drop the puck and figure things out as they go. Anything that's a little rough around the edges, we'll sort it out. What are you seeing around you? I guess around me from a support standpoint, I would have to say that the leagues and the individual teams have done such an incredible job of hitting the ground running. There was no blueprint for how to do this. And we are completely making this all up from scratch.

And so when I look at like game day operations, we have somebody who specifically that's their full-time job and so they're making sure that we have things ready for january one puff drop ready for one more back at home the week after that and so from a league and staff perspective i just see everybody running around and making sure that this is as a professional organization as possible from a fan standpoint from a supporter, I just see so much thrill for the game. I've posted on social media a couple times and people are just like incredibly excited to be able to witness this and that we're able to experience this. And so there's just so much buzz and so much excitement around the entire league right now. Okay, Sarah, some hockey questions. I know I've asked you this before,

but here we are a couple of days away. Center or wing? I think I'm going to be lining up on the wing. So catch me stretching the zone. So with Blair Turnbull, catch me stretching the zone. Catch me stretching the zone. Your coaches are going to love you, Sarah. Five on four in the D zone. Hey, put it on my tape. Put it on my tape.

I'll be at the far blue. Because I think we've always wondered about that. Like, is she a winger? Is she a center? We know she could do both. Where are you more comfortable? You know, I've had so many conversations about this. And I looked at Troy one day and just asked him because, you know, he's my coach.

He's the one who throws me over the boards. And he said he had absolutely no preference. He said, I like you in both positions equally. And I was like, all right, we'll roll with that. I do love playing center. I think it gives you more opportunity to see the ice. You generate seed a little bit lower. But I think that playing with a center like Blair Turnbull, you're not going to get much better

than that in the league. She's great on face-offs. She is great down low. She's awesome defensively, and she's great at head-manning the puck. So playing swing on somebody like her is line. I'll take it any day. One of the reasons I ask here is not just because of the new league, but also because of international competition as well. And I'm sure you've noticed that Sarah Fillier at Princeton is now playing on the wing, which is certainly interesting and leads to some eyebrow raising.

And we wonder what that might mean for the national team. Does Sarah Nurse grab a spot with Marie-Philippe Poulin? Does Sarah Fillier do that? Does that mean that Sarah Nurse moves to the middle? How much should we read into Sarah Fillier playing the wing, if anything, and what that might mean for you? You know what? It's all situational.

And obviously, Philly's playing at Princeton right now, and they have things going on in their season. And so, you know, talking to her, she's like, I'm playing in the position that's going to help my team be the best and help us succeed. And I think the beauty of what we do and being able to transition from wing to center is just versatility. So say the World Championship comes along and Troy wants to throw Philly up at wing playing with Poo. He can do that because she knows how to play on the wing. And so I think it all just comes down to versatility and the ability to be able to mix up lines and mix up lineups and throw different things at teams that they may not have seen before. Okay.

We've seen you at All-Star Weekend before in the NHL. There will be women as well this year in Toronto at the all-star. Will you be one of them? You know, I've just been hearing about all of this, so I'll keep you posted, Jeff. I'll send you a text, but I'm not sure yet. Okay. I think it's a pretty safe bet. At least the way I look at it. I've heard some really good things about all-star weekend.

So I hope I get invited. Okay. Very. Yes. I know. Yeah. I've heard some really good things about All-Star weekend. So I hope I get invited. Okay. Very yes. I know. Yeah. Don't lose any sleep, Sarah. Don't lose any sleep over that one. I wanted to ask you about, speaking of Olympics, I wanted to ask you about 2022.

Leading scorer in the tournament, gold medal, a goal and assist in the gold medal game, all-tournament all-star team. I just wondered, Sarah, how did that tournament change your life? I think it truly gave me the confidence as a player to really understand that my confidence can't lie outside of myself. I can't put my confidence, put my worth on my coaches or my teammates or the media or my parents. Like my confidence all comes down to me. And I went into that tournament having been injured for three months. I didn't play at all. I just started practicing with my team. So my expectation for myself was to just be on the ice

and to make an impact however I could. And that, it wasn't really on my radar to make an impact however I could. And that it wasn't really on my radar to make an impact on the score sheet. It was more, you know, be a glue girl, be a great teammate, because I was coming off of a pretty serious injury. And so I ended up having a great tournament, I had, you know, lightning in my stick, everything I touched went in the back of the net. And sometimes you have those weeks, we have weeks where we are on an absolute hot streak. And that was one of those weeks. And I played with some really awesome players. And I felt very good about myself, I felt that I helped make the players around me better. And so really, that just helped me have the confidence to be the player that I've always known that I can be. It's interesting for me to hear that from you, Sarah, because I've never in the limited amount of time I've had the opportunity to know you, you've never seemed to lack confidence, at least to me. And it's always a reminder that

you don't always know what someone is thinking. So just advice for people, when you do have moments where you're struggling with your confidence, how do you get through it? What kind of techniques do you use? You really have to fake it until you make it. I am a huge, I am a huge person that says, you can't think of the worst possible outcomes, you have to think of what if it works out. And so we're all guilty of this. Like, we all think if I walk into the Sportsnet studio today, I am going to mess up on air. My dress is going to rip. I'm going to say something stupid and it's going to like go viral. That's like the worst thing that could happen.

But it could also work out in a pretty incredible way. I could be really good. I could say something pretty profound. I could meet incredible people, make awesome connections. I can learn something from who I'm working with. meet incredible people, make awesome connections. I can learn something from who I'm working with. And so I try to just approach things with a what if it works out mindset

instead of a what if it doesn't. Because when you approach things with that mindset, you start to see that a lot of things actually work out and there are a lot of things to celebrate. That's great advice. And I also think of something you wore on your skates. Don't sit down and wait for opportunities to come get up and make them happen do you still wear that you've got it yep they are uh that's still

on my skates and and that is the quote from madam cj walker um and so she was the first self-made millionaire in america i believe and it's one of those things that opportunities are going to come to you but sometimes you've got to make them happen and you've got to put yourself in spaces. You have to take action. You can think about things as long as you want, but until you take a messy step forward, there's never going to be any movement. And sometimes that's the only way that things are going to move forward. I think that's a great line. Take the messy step forward. I'm going to write that down. And as we say in this industry, greatness borrows, but genius steals.

I absolutely love that. Take that messy step forward. I just have a couple. Yeah, exactly. As told to by Sarah Nurse. I just have a couple left here for you, Sarah. And one of the things that we know about you is, to your previous points, and anyone that's known you at all knows that you do a lot of different things. And you're always, whether it's, we all know about the hockey, but you have a lot of other interests in your life as well.

And you also do a lot of, just to be blunt, you do a lot of heavy lifting for women's hockey. Do you ever just say to yourself, Oh, can I just be a player? That's funny because I, I really do just think of myself, um, as a hockey player, but I'm able to compartmentalize a lot. And so when I'm at the rink, I am absolutely dialed. I am a hockey player and I understand that there are of course things away at the rink, I am absolutely dialed. I am a hockey player. And I understand that there are, of course, things away from the rink that I need to do, whether it's focusing on recovery, doing those extra little moments in the gym. But I'm just able to compartmentalize. And I understand how much of a privilege it is to be able to be one of the people that people talk about or people think about when they think of women's hockey.

Like, that's an incredible privilege. That's something that I never ever dreamed of but it is a responsibility that I get to have and it you know fills me with so much joy and it brings me to like a complete full circle moment when young kids boys and girls come up to me in arenas and want to talk to me about hockey like that that's incredible I never ever thought that that would happen. And so the fact that I'm visible and the fact that kids are able to see me as a professional hockey player, I hope inspires and empowers them

and really shows them that the sky is the limit for your dreams and for your goals. I love it. My last question here for you, Sarah, the most hard hitting question you will get this entire interview. When will you make up your mind? Black tape, white tape.

When will you make up your mind? To be honest, I just do it to mess with people now because I didn't realize it was that big of a deal. Clearly it works. Honestly, it really does work. It messes with people like i'll line up the face ups and they'll be like why are you using black tape today i'll be like why not you know um but no i i do like the white tape i've always used black tape my whole life but the white tape's kind of sticking with me so uh we'll see what i will see what i put on when i play montreal because

poo and ambrose definitely notice My last one for you is this league will elevate players that maybe we don't know as well yet. Who is a player that at the end of this season everybody is going to know? I think two immediately come to mind. One's my teammate Blair Turnbull. I definitely think she's one of the most underrated players in the world. She brings a ton of things, has so many tools in her toolbox. And I think off of the ice,

she's absolutely hilarious and a super fierce leader. So I think she's somebody who's going to be a huge crowd favorite throughout the league. And then the next one is Jessie Eldridge. And she's somebody who's kind of been in and out of the national team program. And she's somebody who's kind of been in and out of the national team program. And she's an incredibly, incredibly skilled player, but even a better person.

And I think the same thing. She's going to be pretty loved by her fans in New York and across the league. So I'm excited for both of those players. Sarah, this has been great. This has been fantastic. You spent much more time with us than I'm sure you bargained for when you woke up this morning.

Thanks so much for parking it here with us. We really appreciate it. Best of luck on January 1st and best of luck the entire season. Let's catch up soon. Of course. Thanks, guys. We'll catch up soon. Okay, so that's Sarah Nurse.

Don't forget, PWHL season kicks off Monday, January 1st, 1230 Eastern as Toronto hosts New York. As for you and I, Elliot, we are off to Seattle for the Winter Classic. So plenty of interviews to come from the Vegas Golden Knights, from the Seattle Kraken as well. Very much looking forward to the Winter Classic again for each. Going to be a great day. No rain, good temperature. Knock on wood.

Let's hope it stays that way. We will see you all in Seattle. Enjoy the weekends worth of hockey.