32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Tortured Insiders Department

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and noted Swiftie Elliotte Friedman open the proceedings with Producer Dom's public apology to the Grunge community. The fellas delve into the hockey talk by focusing on the Pittsburgh Penguins possibly notifying the league of their direction with the Lars Eller trade (7:00). Kyle and Elliotte talk about Colorado who have won three in a row (18:00). They also delve into solutions for video review and how it's slowing down the game too much (23:00). Elliotte unpacks the Matvei Michkov healthy scratch (32:30). He also talks about where things are headed between the Blue Jackets and David Jiricek (35:00). The fellas talk about Connor McDavid reaching the 1000 point milestone on Thursday night (39:11). That's followed by a conversation about the struggling Boston Bruins (44:20). They also talk about the New Jersey Devils who are flying at the moment (46:45), and a big night for Mika Zibanejad who needed something to go his way (50:50). The Final Thought focuses on the future of the Commissioner position as the league's head office promotes a few names to new positions (54:00). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (58:43).In the final segment Kyle and Elliotte speak with CHL President Dan MacKenzie about the new rules giving CHL players NCAA eligibility (1:14:14).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.  

I'm a verified Taylor Swift fan. Elliot is a Swifty. Yeah. My son is. You know how that works. No, don't use your son as a front. We know you love Taylor. You know what?

I'll say this about her. She gives people their money's worth. I know people who've gone, and they're like, you know what? She tries. Well, I would hope so. Well, you know, some don't. I've been at concerts before or where no i i saw timberlake years ago and was like blown away like he just no intermission he just

give her for two and a half hours welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra 84x i'm kyle bakaskis. He's Elliot Friedman. And Dom, with arms wide open, Shramati is our producer. Elliot, we have a very busy show here, so we should probably not waste any time. Oh, hold on, hold on, hold on. We're going to violate. I'd like to apologize to John Bucciagros in advance because we're going to violate the Bucciagros rule, which is get right to it. Okay?

Okay. But I have never had more DMs in my ex-account or my Instagram account than I did about one particular topic this week. Like I was deluged with them. I could not believe how many of them I got. Was it about our Montreal rebuild talk? No, it was not about that. Okay. So I just wanted to shout out Nick. This is one of the people who wrote to me. And I think this pretty much gets down to the heart of the matter. Like I said, a ton of messages like this.

Always appreciate your podcast, but noticed when you mentioned the coach from the Avalanche looking like a Seattle grunge guy and then played Creed on the pod. Come on now. Creed is literally from the opposite end of the country and is a fourth wave diet caffeine free grunge band Soundgarden Alice in Chains Nirvana Mudani all applicable answers I forgive you but

it had to be said signed a Seattle resident who loves hockey I had close to 20 of these. Kyle, I believe you have a voicemail that we have to play. Yes, there was a number of submissions in the thought line the last few days on this topic too, Elliot. So why don't we roll that while we're here? Hi, Elliot, Dom, and Kyle. This is Mike calling from Vermillion, Alberta. I'm here with my kids, Jude and Abby.

And we were driving, listening to the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast when Elliot mentioned Seattle grunge music from the 90s. And, Dom, I think this one's probably on you. You went to a clip of Creed singing higher. And I just have to say that's a bit of a disgrace because not only is Creed not grunge, they're certainly not from Seattle. And that song barely made it into the 90s. And I just think that was a real missed opportunity.

And, you know, I understand maybe you couldn't get, you couldn't play the 90s grunge from Seattle because it was too expensive to get the rights. But you would have been better served by playing nothing at all instead of Hire by Creed. We still like your podcast, but that was a real moment that gave me a real apoplectic response. Have a great day. Bye-bye. So, Dom, I want you to understand what happened here. You com like this year, the biggest issue on the pod was the triangle controversy.

This completely overwhelmed that and that in that voicemail, you have multiple generations of a family complaining about your work. How do you defend yourself for the shame that you have brought on the 32 Thoughts podcast for this? Hold on. I need a second to stop laughing on my side of the mic. Hold on. I just need to collect myself. I also want to tell you that at least one of your coworkers at Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver sent a note saying, you have to trash Dom for this.

Oh, I think I know who it was. Is it Dan Riccio? I cannot confirm or deny, never reveal who I speak to. Okay, I am going to publicly apologize to all of our listeners of the 32 Thoughts podcast because, yes, I got very cheeky with the edit in the last podcast. I had two songs queued up, Creed, Pire, and I had a song from Pearl jam because i knew pearl jam was from seattle and dan riccio my co-worker being a massive grunge fan i was gonna do him a service and play him some pearl jam but then i thought why don't we have some fun and poke a little fun at oh wait wait wait wait you're claiming you did this on purpose yes Kyle's all done sarcastically yeah Kyle are are you buying what he's selling

this is a hard one Tom to set this kind that's a no by the way kyle's too nice i am not buying what you're selling i googled is creed grunge and it came up as the post grunge era and i thought if i put this in here people are going to lose their minds and boy was i right i am so sorry to everyone that i had a laugh at your expense oh come this is the work this is the week like you know what no i'm not no no we are not you eat it take the you are not spinning this as you joking with everybody and screwing with people's minds. Take the L. Take the sack. Don't throw an interception. Take the sack.

I'm sorry to everybody. I feel terrible. I'm sorry. That's better. We have solved the problem. We apologize to all the Seattle Grunge fans. Like I said, I don't think I've ever got as many DMms about a single thing that's ever happened on this podcast aside from this i am not letting you spin this as your joke on the world no chance sir maddie do not mess with the grunge community and dominic has spoken on the podcast

today by the way john sorry for the delay getting to the topics great interview with brendan dylan community and Dominic has spoken on the podcast today. By the way, John, sorry for the delay getting to the topics. Great interview with Brendan Dillon. That was very good. He threw 37 punches. I stopped counting at 20. What an answer. Really good.

And with that, we should get going here. Elliot, back to the hockey chatter. Why don't we start in Pittsburgh? The Penguins freege. They are 6-9-3. That game Monday night against Dallas, man, was that a tough first period to watch. This week, they traded Lars Eller back to Washington for a couple

of draft picks. Kyle Dubas told local reporters it's allowing some younger players they feel deserve a shot with the big club some more minutes, Sam Poulin being one of them. Elliot, you know sometimes when you go to a fireworks show and a few minutes prior there's that one blast that's set off as kind of a hey everyone look over here the show's about to start is that maybe what uh this eller transaction

represents for what's going on in pittsburgh i, but I don't, like, people are wondering about, like, massive earth-shaking moves. I don't know that we should be expecting that. You know, that game was very tough to watch the other night, and they've had a few of those. Like, the game in Edmonton, only Blomqvist, who was just sent down to the minors, was the reason that game wasn't equally as lopsided.

He was brilliant on a night that the penguins were very leaky and the one thing about pittsburgh is that since crosby and malkin have got there they've never thrown in the towel and you know i'll say this you talk about what we ripped on for at the at the top of the podcast i wrote in my notes that john snow does not bend the knee well i got hit by the game of thrones people are saying you know what he did bend the knee at least once so i was even like we have we have to stop we have to stop with the culture references here because we're just not very good at them but you know i i think they're they're look like they've missed the plows now a couple years in a row and they're really going to fight, have to fight to make it this year.

And it's not trending very well. I think what Dubas is trying to say is that sooner or later, you can't just keep trying the same path. You know, they, they tried last year. They didn't make it. And I think what he's trying to say is you've got to do something a little bit different. And the other thing here is, and I didn't write this, but someone called me and mentioned it to me this morning before we recorded, is that Dubas is a seven-year term. So his mandate is to get them through the Crosby era, and I hope it never ends.

The guy is still a great player. But prepare them for what it's going to look like when it's over, right? So at some point in time, it has to start. And I think what Dubas is trying to say, and this is the key, when I saw the Eller deal, i said to myself he's going for the lottery tickets he's going for the lottery tickets like like if you look at montreal this year you know they've got a ton of picks in this year's draft like more and more lottery tickets but you know someone said to me don't call it that because what dubas has said first is that if he's

going to make deals he wants young players who are ready to play. Like he's looking for young NHLers or young prospects who are, you know, have been drafted, are close to being NHL ready if they're not already there. So he's not really looking for lottery tickets. Eller's different. He's a rental. That's what you get. really looking for lottery tickets Eller's different he's a rental that's what you get but you know like like the one thing one guy said to me is it's going to be interesting with a guy like Pedersen Marcus Pedersen because there's more and more D being taken off the market like Adam

Larson signed and not all these guys shoot the same way but Adam Larson signed Jake McCabe signed and you know as I as I wrote yesterday there's a lot of people who think that gavrikov like la is going to make sure they keep them so that may increase the amount of interest there is in pettersson it should help you make your deal he's got some guys like nadelkovich has got another year achari's got another year he's got to decide what he's going to do with these guys um you know so he's got some of those players who've got another year achari's got another year he's got to decide what he's going to do with these guys um you know so he's got some of those players who've got another year and o'connor although he doesn't have a ton of points he doesn't make a lot of money and he can go up and down your lineup now i know that's not what everybody's thinking everybody's talking about sid like would sid ever

wave would sid go as i said before we interviewed him in Vegas Kyle I think if he was going to go he wouldn't have extended I I think it was in his head to stay he wanted to stay he wants to be a penguin despite the fact that uh Nathan McKinnon would drive to Pittsburgh tomorrow throw Crosby in his trunk and take him all the way to Colorado without stopping I think Crosby wants to be a penguin the only thing that I could ever see changing it is if deep down Crosby was always convinced the penguins were going to try to contend and he looks at this and says holy smokes we're waving the white flag and I won't be able to stand this. That's the only way I could ever see it changing, and we're not there yet. And I don't know if that would ever happen during season.

I just don't know. But I don't think we're there right now, and the Penguins aren't going to him to say, would you want to go somewhere else? I don't think. I think it would have to be him do it. So I think it's way – I understand it's sports radio talk or sports podcast talk and

i get it but in the reality of the situation i don't think we're there you know malkin said something uh really interesting uh the night of his ceremony when he kind of just talked about how he's happy there and that's that's what i hear too i heard they have no interest in moving him and he doesn't have any interest in leaving and And, you know, the other two guys, Letang is a really tricky one because of all the injuries in the term. Like I know there's teams out there that really love Letang as a player and have real respect for him. But, you know, it's because of the contract, it's really risky. And I think there are insurance questions with the contract. So it makes it even more risky. The one to me is Carlson and it's going to be Carlson's call. It's going to be up to him. And

like Carlson's money goes down, his salary is 11, five, it drops to nine, then it drops to seven and a half. And, you know, after his bonus is paid this summer I think his bonus this summer is five million so if he gets traded after his bonus is paid which is what happened when he got sent to the Penguins the financial responsibility of the new team gets even less like you can't tell me and again it's up to Carlson because he's got the protection you can't tell me that with that bonus coming off and a little less salary due and with a little bit of retention from the Sharks that there isn't a team out there that wouldn't take a shot at Eric Carlson I I just find that

hard to believe but like I said for the 98th time it's it's going to be up to him it's concerning just looking at the attendance and how it's dropping there out of the gate this year i mean what it was 15 years since they they had built you know what's now ppg paints arena where it was sellouts every single night they had such a good run there obviously that's not going to last forever but i did the game there we talked about it in early november their game before that was on halloween nightaheim was in town. So got the fact that it's Halloween. Anaheim isn't the biggest draw there. And I think I was reading Josh Yoa, the athletic, saying that that was the lowest attended game

that they've had in the history of that building since it opened in 2010. You just worry about apathy starting to set into the market, which is not something they've had to deal with really in the Sidney Crosby era. But maybe if there's one silver lining through all of these tough results and tough decisions that have to be made, if there is an actual, a tangible shift towards moving younger and trying to carve out a path of where they ultimately hope to get there with a new era of players and a new feel around the team somewhere down the line, maybe that helps drum up some interest, right?

Like your line, are you selling wins or are you selling hope? Maybe they need to start selling some hope here before too long to try to get the interest in the market that is such a great sports town somewhat on the uptick again because it's just been tough to watch there it's not something in really most of my lifetime i'm used to seeing here well you know the the fans there have had a great run uh they and i and they enjoyed every second of it but that probably gives like the penguins even more incentive to start changing their team like fans vote with their wallets right we don't like your product we're not coming and

if the fans are telling you they don't like your product then you can't sit still either kyle you know the other one for me there is sullivan um yeah you know like like he was in Toronto you saw him he that that's not a coach who's who's giving up like he's determined guy he wants to he's got pride just like everybody else like to me it purely comes down to it's going to be hard to find a better coach than him right yeah like there's there's if you're gonna if you're gonna rank the coaches in the nhl you're not gonna rank too many above him even though it's not going really well now the only reasons you're changing you're firing him are number one is if you don't believe these players are listening to him anymore and and we're talking about the key players,

and I don't believe that's the case with him and Crosby at all. I believe those two are very much on the same wavelength. But if you believe that he can't get this group of players to play anymore, then that's why you're doing it. Or you're just convinced that he can't win there anymore, then that's why you're doing it. Or you're just convinced that he can't win there anymore, which is probably basically saying the same thing. You're not making change there for change's sake because A, he still cares and he's still trying, and B, it's hard to find someone better. You're making change there because you think it's run its course. And even if you turn the roster around,

you don't believe he's the guy that can win with the group you're going to put together. That's it. Penguins are in Columbus Friday night. You joked about Nathan McKinnon a moment ago, Elliot. The Avalanche, they have won three in a row. It has allowed you to build on your in-season cup lead. You know, I do not get excited even the trackers are like tearing into you right now I don't get thrilled or disappointed with results watching

hockey over the course of the season Elliot but man I was in the dumps last night after the Kings let that one slip away there slip away they didn't get a shot for the entire second period well they had a lead and they couldn't hang on it's tough to see Kemper go down that was that was tough like I felt bad for David Riddick you're sitting there for two hours and all of a sudden you're like oh get in there like talk about a no-win situation. My in-season cup is just, it's a series of missed opportunities. It's like you prior to the spring of 1986, Elliot. That's very clever, Vukoskis. It's all the avalanche.

You're the guy on the pool that can say, I'm number one. Like, you can just go with that. That's right. Go with that. That's right. Go with that. I think now I've got to turn my attention to just being the last day with the cup guy. That's my only hope. So the avalanche, Freedj. Well, look, they put Chris Wagner on waivers on Thursday.

They activated Jonathan Drouin. They activated Miles Wood. Nachuskin is eligible to play on Friday. I mean, the one guy we still don't have clarity on still is Landeskog, who stopped skating for a bit. You know, the one thing I asked was, the fact he stopped skating, does it mean that there's any change in expecting him to play this year?

And I was told no. Nothing has changed in terms of the overall picture, although everybody knows what a challenge it is but uh you know i hope people got their licks in on them early because as you said they've won three in a row and you know the thing i'll really say about the avalanche i give them a lot of credit like those guys played hard and their best players like they really dragged them through it ranting at the hat trick the other night mckinnon's been fantastic mccarr's been terrific uh they've all they're all among like the top

scorers uh the other guys in the lineup have really pulled their weight like uh ivan ivan you know he gave them good minutes sam malinsky he's given them really good minutes even uh georgiev has kind of pulled them together a bit after Anunen held the fort while he was working on his game. So that's the one thing. I look at the avalanche and I say, when they were really down, they didn't let themselves get out, and everybody there pulled their weight.

That's a team that should be really – they won't be, cause that's not the way they're wired, but I would be proud of what I accomplished up till now in the maelstrom they were in. Like they competed, they, they, they showed everybody that when we're healthy, we're going to be a beast cause we're hard to handle when we're not. It's just a great sign or example of a team that's very much right in how they operate inside the room, right? Where there's no sense of do not approach this as this is a tough break and what are you going to do about this they went out and found answers and when you've got the top guys on your roster or on the payroll that are wired that way the trickle down effect is pretty neat i mean for years we've talked about a team like boston being examples of that and we're seeing it here with with colorado it's like the start of their season they were the the blue ghosts and pac-man a little bit you know

vulnerable to be eaten but those days feel over as the cavalry is coming back the blue ghosts you remember that don't you oh yeah i remember i'm old enough to remember when pac-man first came out right and were you a big arcade guy you would go not arcade not bad you know i did i i went my parents didn't believe in video game systems at home. They didn't like that As a parent now, I'm completely the other direction My getting max off my you need like the jaws of life to get the Nintendo switch out of Max's hands But back then like my parents didn't believe in that we didn't have any video game systems at home Actually, my dad did when i was in grade 13

that's how old i am grade 13 he bought me a pong like he said here oh wow something and it was a pong which i love but we didn't believe in that so yes i went to the arcades to to play the to play the games yeah it's funny like that was a cultural thing back then where it's like why would you have video systems at home when you can just go to the arcade but now it's completely the other way around and from video games to video review elliot it's a funny place this all day like a few days ago at the gm meetings you know as we discussed on the podcast so the kind of the vision the future of how they wanted video review to be was discussed. And then Toronto, Washington, Wednesday night, three video reviews on goals alone.

Two of them took goals off the board. Another confirmed a no goal call on the ice. I appreciate what you said not too long ago that this podcast is for trying to find solutions, not solely about complaining, though we do our fair share of that, don't get me wrong. There was a lot of complaining on Wednesday night, yes. Yeah, and so I just, watching that, as tough as it was at times

and how long some of the reviews took, it's hard to find or think of what would be a viable solution to remove the delay and to try to cut down on some of this stuff what do you think oh my god kyle so that game i was just like everybody else i was a fan i finished my writing i was in my jammies i was on the couch i was ready to turn off my brain and watch some hockey. And in the middle of that game, I was ready to ban video review. Not just at the end of the season, but actually right during the game. I was prepared to tweet, we need to ban video review right at this moment because I couldn't watch another one. I felt bad for the fans watching that game. I felt bad for the fans watching that game.

I felt bad for the fans in the building. I felt bad for the players. And I'm sure the people in the NHL situation room, they wanted to unplug or throw away their phones. I bet you it reached a point where they didn't want to do another review either. It was too much. And you'll remember, Kyle, there was a game a couple years ago,

and the Devils fans will remember this. They had a big winning streak, and the Maple Leafs came to town, and they had three goals disallowed during the game. And they were all the right calls. It snapped the winning streak. But after a while, it's just like, I'm sick of this.

I don't want to see this. It's bad. It's bad. It's bad entertainment. Just stop. And I remember there's a pretty legendary story about whoever refereed that game that when they decided they were going to overturn the third call and it was going to be no goal between Leafs Devils, that apparently he joked with the situation room, are you sending me a police escort so I can get out of here alive?

Like, they knew how that was going to be received. And the thing is about this game, they got all the calls right. Like, initially, the one that I was most uncertain about, the one I thought they had wrong, was the Nyes disallowed goal, the one off his high stick but our sports net truck found a replay later that made it pretty clear the contact was over the crossbar so I can't look at any of those calls and say they got it wrong it was just it was too much it's you know you there I don't know if you could ever say there should be a limit

on the amount of calls that ever can be done because in a Stanley Cup final game seven, you got to get it right. But I totally understand why everyone was frustrated. And the goalie interference thing, like I'm looking at John Carlson on the bench as they're challenging that. And the moment I saw Dowd's path and yes I know there was contact with Hockenpah but Dowd went into the crease himself and I know what John Carlson's thinking John Carlson plays a tough game he's like this is soft if they take it off the board Brian McClellan who

was a really tough player he's pulling out what's left of his hair as he's sitting there saying I can't believe that they might not count this but the moment I saw it I knew it wasn't going to count same as in the Rangers San Jose on Thursday night on the Adam Fox goal that got taken down when I saw the route that Trochek took and Blackwood Stick got knocked out. You know, Trochek chooses to go through the crease. I was like, that's not going to count. And I know the Sabres fans were furious about the disallowed goal with Benson. And yes, there was contact with Suter, but Benson went in there himself. And I said, this is not going to count.

And, you know, I was talking about this with a retired player last night. The problem is the way it looks. It looks S-O-F-T soft, all in capital letters, not just a capital S. It looks S-O-F-T soft. It's not what hockey is supposed to be. Hockey is supposed to be battling. He said the goaltenders should be forced to battle a little bit and like I don't disagree with any of this I hate the way this stuff looks like that Trocek play the goal

taken down it looks soft the Benson play the goal taken down it looks soft the Dowd play the goal taken down it looks soft but we all say they're not consistent enough they are trying to be consistent and this isn't about now it is about later it's about the playoffs now there's a bit of lollygagging going on out there but in the playoffs where no one takes a shift off the situation room is trying to set a tone if you go in that crease on your own it's not going to count you are the one taking the risk and I only hope that this is a message received and we don't see anything like this later it goes back to Justin Brazzo and that Boston Montreal game on the third night of the season I remember looking at that kn that goal getting disallowed for the Bruins.

And I was just saying, that looks terrible, but that's the way it's going to be. And I get it. It looks awful. It looks unhockey. But they're playing the long game with this. And all I can say is

they better remain consistent on it because it's the standard they are setting. I agree. Like watching the Lorenz goal school it reminded me remember the blake coleman goal that was called back in the playoffs against edmund oh yeah and i thought about that because i forgot i think that goal should count you do hey yes because it wasn't a kick yes i like i it might take a rule change but that was the one to me that i thought was fixable if you if it's not a kicking motion or like a punching motion or a headbutt motion count it ah but i i'm with you but then it's like well what's the difference like it would be one thing if you're picking the puck up and throwing it into the net,

I can understand that. But like whether he's lunging his shin forward or whether he's lunging his foot forward. Did you think that was a kicking motion? No, it wasn't. But when the referee said propelled, that's what,

again, took my mind back to Blake Coleman in the playoffs a few years ago. But by the way, I still think that was the wrong call too. So you're arguing with the wrong guy here. I hated that call. Luke Gazdix was saying last night, we want goals. I think Mike Johnson said it on X. We want goals. I'm with those guys. To me, that's a fix. Just kicking motion, with those guys to me that's a fix just kicking motion punching motion headbutt motion don't use propel change that rule that to me is fixable that one's fixable yes i think that goal should count i wonder if over time you know we we have player puck tracking technology now actually that'll come

up in the thought line a little later on elliot so stay tuned on that front but as that technology continues to evolve like do we get to a point on like the nize goal is there some sort of var thing that could be coming where we're not relying on okay do we have the right camera angle at ice level to truly tell will there be a more technological way to see okay contact is it above the crossbar or not yes no and it's a more smoother review and quicker review in that way got to think that something like that is possible down the line but other than that and some of the time i hope so because i think that would also help with goal line technology. I hope we have the day where there's a chip in the puck and the ice that can solve is the puck in or not too. I I'm with you on this. All right.

I just felt bad. I just felt bad for everybody in the building in particular, because you have to sit through that. We're not going to solve it here today, but we won't stop talking about it. I just hope there aren't too many more. That was the confluence of everything bad that could happen with Revu. Even though a lot of the calls ended up being the right calls, it was just all bad. It was bad.

I guarantee to you the people in video review review they wanted to run out of the room and not answer the phones they even they were like too much of us to escape all right matvey michkov fridge healthy scratch for a couple of games in a row returned against the sharks goal assist scored in the shootout you mentioned in your blog though the reason for him being a healthy scratch was because of something that happened on the bench in a previous game. Are you able to provide any further explanation to what all went on? First of all, Kyle, you have to love what Mishkov has done since that benching. Overtime winner in Ottawa on Thursday.

Boy, that's a bad loss for the Sanders. Bad loss for the Sanders. But great night for Mishkov and the Flyers. All I know is that it wasn't anything that was like worthy of controversy. It was nothing enormous, nothing serious, probably just some exchange or body language. And the Flyers just said we're gonna deal with this right now like I like you know like that's what I was told I I had heard it involved something that occurred on the bench and that it wasn't

a big deal but a teaching moment that had to come out of that that's what I was told but you know what the thing i was really watching with that kyle was what's that i always wonder like this is a young guy who's a big stud he's going to be a great player for a long time and sometimes i wonder like when i hear something like that what do the veterans think right and i think it's really instructive that in his first game back, Eric Johnson stood up for him. Like that Giovanni Smith, Eric Johnson is a big, strong guy. He is not in Giovanni Smith's class. Like he is not, he should not be fighting Giovanni Smith.

And he took him on. And like he's not doing that if they don't like Mishkov. So I think it says a lot that he sits out, he comes back, he has a huge game, a huge game. But to me, the most instructive thing, because Couturier has fought on his half before, that Johnson stood up for him right away smith is a is a tough customer like a really tough customer and there are not a lot of players in the

league you would take in a fight against him and i think it said a lot that johnson uh did it okay david eurocheck and the blue jackets this is an interesting one, Elliot, because, I mean, the guy's only going to turn 21 in a couple of weeks. He was their sixth overall pick in 2022. I know there's a different regime now in charge in Columbus, but 43 games last year, only five so far this year. Healthy scratch the last two, averaging under 12 minutes a night. Now they've got Dante Fabro in the mix, claiming him off waivers from Nashville.

Do you sense, have a feel of where this is all headed between team and player? You know, it was interesting. There was a quote today, and Mark Shea, who's a big listener of the pod and does great work covering the Blue Jackets, I saw his retweet was sent to me about Dean Everson saying, you know, we went over some video and, you know, basically said you've got to earn the right to play. And, you know, one of the things that I do believe about the Blue Jackets, and I believe some of the veterans have asked about it there too, is they want a tougher and a higher standard, right?

is they want a tougher and a higher standard, right? And, you know, young kids want to play. They, you know, he's, like you said, he's 21 years old. He wants to play. And the other thing too, as I was talking about with Mike Futa, and Futa was really shaking his head because he's like a 21-year-old with that pedigree. Like, you don't want to lose him. You don't want to lose him.

And you forget that he got hurt the year of his draft, and he probably would have gone even higher if he hadn't. So you've got a bunch of veterans there asking for a tougher standard. You got Everson, who's a demanding coach, and you've got a kid who wants to play and kids represented by alan walsh who's no shrinking violent either like it's this you know like they had a situation last year it didn't go very well and you know everybody kind of said okay we'll we'll try to work it out but you know you just worry like are the waters already too deep right and you know that's the thing here like you can see that this is a player who's

chafing a bit and this is a team that's trying to set a standard and um players want to play that at the end of the day players want to play but it's a tough position for Columbus to be in because you see the players ability and you see the players talent and that age is way too early to give up on someone but you can just see that if you know like fabro eventually got to a place where needed a fresh start and euro checks on that place now and ultimately we'll see where it decides and you know somebody said to me that's not that big a story and i said that's fine you can feel that way but you know kids like this don't don't become available normally that quickly after they're taken sixth overall. So I guarantee to you that there's people that are watching this and curious to see where it goes.

And I'll say like, I mean, as much as and everything that Columbus has dealt with over the last few months, Elliot, and though it was a tough trip out west for them over the last little while here, when I was down there for the home opener, you got a sense that there was like, there is a certain effort and how they go about things, despite results haven't been where they would want it to be the last few years that I thought was impressive

in how they're going about approaching things. So when you mentioned about the veterans kind of having a standard of what they want to see and the coaching staff too, that doesn't surprise me in the least bit. I don't have a problem at all with a coach saying like, these are my 18 best players or these are my 18 most deserving players and they deserve to be in the lineup. I have no issue with that. I have no problem with Dean Everson trying to set a standard for the way the Columbus Blue Jackets should prepare and play.

I have no issue with that. This is simply just a realization that you come to a fork in the road sometimes with a player, and how is it going to go? And that's, you know, ultimately how's it going to go and that's you know ultimately the player's going to want to play so everybody here is just going to have to figure it out and elliot connor mcdavid on thursday night early in the second period against nashville leon drysaddle with the puck on his stick everyone in rogers place in the province of Alberta knew where that puck was going. He was still able to find his captain.

McDavid made no mistake to hit 1,000 career points. Fourth fastest in NHL history to do so. He hit 900 points for his career in January of this year. And now he's into the quadruple digit mark. I really liked Elliott. I mean, I don't know if you saw him interview on the ice post game, interacting with the crowd saying, you know, hey, you're making me emotional here. I'm getting emotional in my own age.

Like contrary to some people's belief, Connor McDavid has always been human. He is very much human. And it was just neat to see him recognize a moment like that and talking about it afterwards about how cool it was for him to see how his teammates reacted to it all. I mean, someone who is so focused and driven and obviously for him, the team goal in trying to win a championship one day, but to take a moment and kind of bask in what is a pretty damn cool accomplishment i just thought that was awesome we're on the same wavelength in this one kyle because that's the thing that really stood out to me too is how much he enjoyed it i i really thought it would almost be the goals in it's one one this is a big game we really need it now let's go drop the puck and play like he had a big smile when it happened.

As you talked about the on ice interview post game with Tony Brar, you know, the fans, like you're kind of getting me emotional. I was really shocked at how much he let everyone know that was meaningful to him. I agree with you. He really dropped his guard. It was nice to see. My only critique about Wedgwood, who was playing goal on the play, is that I think Wedgwood could have just given Dreisaitl the net because there was no way that Dreisaitl was shooting that

puck. Like he should have just left Dreisaitl alone and just stared down McDavid because Dreisaitl was not shooting at him. But you know and the thing too like first of all you saw the shirts that they were wearing post game which I thought were great I hope they sell those you know charity or something like that there'll be a huge huge hugely popular thing but the other thing too is you could tell it was meaningful for him you mentioned dry sidle getting the assist well also they got a w and nurse scored twice right so you think about the guys that he's really tight with uh he's tight with obviously he's tight with more than just them but you know he's obviously very tight with dry sidle he's very

tight with nurse like he defended nurse in the playoffs last year um It's you know I think that was meaningful to him too. Not just that it's his goal but the people who kind of celebrated the game with him and yeah I'm with you. It was it was it was very cool to see McDavid drop his guard a bit during his game. He let us know how much that one meant to him. I'll tell you something else kyle uh someone asked me a really good question he said if mcdavid played in the 80s do you think he'd be a 200 point a year guy yeah 100 but no 300 300 points i think we're going for no just kidding well right but it's so like it's not even a like a realistic conversation you can have because

the eras and how the game was played is so different. And the technology. Well, thanks Mr. Science for playing along here. Okay. Like I was asking a rhetorical. Okay. 300. There you go.

300 in the eighties. Purely scientific answer, but he'd be, you know, in that era, he'd be a 200-point guy with Lemieux and Kratzke. Really great to watch. And he pointed out, too, that, you know, when he scored 100 points in the COVID-shortened year, the 56-game season, that Dreisaitl and Nurse had a hand in that milestone as well for him. And they were part of 1 on thursday night so the oilers will be in toronto on saturday night to adding to what's otherwise a quiet weekend couldn't this save otherwise a quiet weekend in the city of toronto that's right so i knew some people who were downtown at taylor swift tonight and they were texting me and they were like it is carnage down here really yeah the Oilers I know they couldn't stay at their regular hotel because

they couldn't get in there so they just said it's it's bananas in in our city that's that's what it's like right now all right Boston Bruins 72. They lose to Dallas on Thursday. Dallas, by the way, 14 goals, 4 in their last two games. But Boston, they are a 500-hockey team through the first 18 games of the season. What were the sticking points to you in another tough loss by the Bees? You know what really stood out to me in this one?

You know, they didn't pull Swayman. Swayman had a rough night, and I kind of thought in the third period, because Boston doesn't have a back-to-back. They play St. Louis on the weekend. I kind of thought they'd go to the backup. I kind of thought they'd pull him, and they didn't. And, you know, I just thought it was really interesting because, you know, you could argue that he missed training camp so he can use the

work. I don't have a problem with that argument, but I think in a lot of those situations, you'd see the goaltender get pulled. So that raised my eyebrows there. You know, the other thing too, is it's just weird to see them because they they look like they're they're sorting themselves out with back-to-back shutouts and they lose in Toronto they get another win they get pounded in this one like they're so hot and cold they are so up and down and it's almost to me like sometimes teams it's almost like they're waiting for something to happen when when i watch them tonight um and you know the thing is too is like so carlo gets hit by jamie ben and zadorov comes right to his defense and you're kind of like oh that's exactly what a

team needs but it didn't add anything to them and i i just i just look at them now and it's like i almost think they're kind of like just waiting for something to happen that that's just the kind of look that they have right now it's it's not the bruins as we know them and understand them at this time uh it's just they're not getting out of it it's just it's weird to watch yeah i'm with you montgomery said after the game that it what's been most frustrating is that them at this time. It's just, they're not getting out of it. And it's just, it's weird to watch. Yeah. I'm with you. Montgomery said after the game that what's been most frustrating is that they haven't been able to string together consistent efforts. And that has been the one calling card of that team for years and years through injuries, whatever they've managed to still look very much like the same team over the course of a season. And right now, they are the exact opposite.

So I'm with you. Maybe something is coming down the pipe for Boston, and they're all just kind of waiting for it. New Jersey Devils, a couple of impressive wins down in Florida, back-to-back games against the Stanley Cup champions on the road and victorious in both. 10-3 on aggregate. Well, if you look at them too, win over Edmonton, win over Montreal, a shutout of Edmonton, beat the Islanders.

They lose to San Jose, won nothing in a game, they get goalied, and then they get that back to back. And I like when the NHL does this with its schedule. I remember years ago, Winnipeg hosted Washington back-to-back. I think it was a Thursday night and a Friday night, when Adam Oates was still coaching the Capitals. And I loved it. I thought it was great.

I wish we saw more of this, but I remember teams were telling me the feedback they got was their fans didn't like it. They just, for whatever reason, the second game, unless the second game was a clearly better day of the week for scheduling, they always got notes of less enthusiasm for seeing an opponent back-to-back in the season if it wasn't the playoffs, which I think is weird. I like this thing that they did with the Panthers and the Devils having them play there twice in three days. And that game, those teams were riled up.

They had the big fight the other night, Gajevic and Dillon, and Gajevic was wired again. The Devils look fantastic. I'll say this. I love that Jack Hughes got that penalty. I remember Chris Chaleo telling me once he didn't mind getting suspended every once in a while because it reminded people that he could still hurt them. And he liked having that kind of reputation.

I always love that quote. You know, Jack Hughes, he's been playing great, really great. And if he keeps going like this, we're going to start talking about him in the MVP conversation. But, you know, one of the things about Hughes is I don't think it's a bad thing for him once in a while to do something like that he can't do it a lot um they knew him on the ice but not bad once in a while to just run over somebody and let people know that you've got

it in you I kind of liked it um you know Quinn got hit tonight by Siplykov it was a big hit the thing that surprised me most about it was that he got hit like Quinn Hughes is a really smart player you don't expect to see that happen to him um so when I was saw it live I was like holy smokes like that's out of nowhere you know maybe maybe Quinn Hughes was was still shocked that as a Pacific Northwest guy that Dom said that Creed's a Seattle grunge band maybe that a whole man but you know I'll say this too about Vancouver is we're waxing poetic about about Jack and the way the devils have gone Vancouver's got a great record I. I'd be interested to see, like, Talkett's watched a couple of his guys take big hits.

You know, Besser's out, and Quinn Hughes took a big one tonight, and they lost the Islanders. I'd just be curious to see how he handles the next couple days because obviously hockey's different now, and people don't like it when players have to answer for clean hits but I can't imagine he's enjoying watching like two of his best players get run over like this if you listen or watch because sometimes the facial

expressions are as important as what's said but if you listen to Rick Talkett after the game on Thursday, he tries the old, this one's not on the players, blame it on me. But he is clearly not thrilled with what he's seeing out there. We cannot play light. We're too light of a team. You cannot guess where the puck goes. You don't have to kill people. You don't have to ram guys to the boards. Even though every once in a while I wouldn't mind it,

I'd rather a guy just stay in front of a guy that's your man where you're just spinning off people and are not front. There's too many goal-like scramble goals. It's just a, you know, it's got to stop. You know, before we get to final thought, you've mentioned a couple times on the pod how you really like Zbigniew. He's under a lot of heat on Wednesday he pours his heart out he tells everybody how tough it is people back off I think people understand that even though you're an elite athlete and you're highly compensated

it still gets to you from time to time. And he has a better night. They beat the Sharks. And he's star in the building, gets a big ovation. That was a big night for Zbigniew. He needed something good to happen to him, and it did. And they were on him right out of the gate this season, Fridge. They came through. The way last year ended, you could tell it was gonna be like that for him they came through toronto early on in the year and like so he went the first two

games without a point and already there were pieces being written that oh zibanejad is off to a tough start and then he had three points in the third game of the season and you know suddenly things shake out i mean production wise it hasn't been poor no he's still just three goals on the year but the minus four against winnipeg was was a tough one and yeah as you mentioned like the off day before they played san jose on thursday said that this it's the the hardest thing ever to try to get over and to move on from from a tough night like that i remember him telling me a number of years ago this this would have been after he was traded to New York after beginning his career in Ottawa, that, you know, one of those off seasons,

he kind of sat down and had a heart to heart with some of the, the important people in his life. And it was like, where are we going to go here? Like, am I, am I going to really commit to being the best athlete, the best hockey player i can be here going forward is this really what i i want to do because i think when his pro career first started you know i think deep down there was still kind of that feeling of like okay i'm good at hockey clearly i've spent my life playing it do i really love it and And going through that process, clearly his, his answer was yes. And

he started to take off for a while there with the Rangers and the chemistry he's had with Chris Kreider over the years has, has been great when, when they get hot as, as we've all seen there. So thought about that, you know, just listening and reading through his, his comments after the tough night against the Winnipeg Jets earlier in the week. But just go back to thinking that this is a guy that certainly cares, that wants to do well, but has just had some stumbling blocks in the early part of this season. So was happy to see him. You could see kind of the sigh of relief after the goal in San Jose on Thursday.

And maybe a way to help kickstart things a little more consistently for Zibanejad here moving forward. You needed the wide-angle lens for that smile. You could see the relief on his face. It was good for him. And you know, we'll see. They got some bigger games coming up. But when things are going badly, it doesn't matter who you play.

It doesn't matter who's on the schedule. You need something to feel good about yourself. And he got it. That's for sure. All right. And that'll take us to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC. And Elliot, the NHL recently,

with a slew of promotions internally in their front office. Names Steve Mayer, Keith Wachtel, Stephen McArdle, Julie Grand, all with promotions and new titles within the league. What should we read into this, if anything. You know, Kyle, I wrote about this last week and I talked about it on NHL radio with Scott Laughlin and Gordy Stelik in my weekly Wednesday hit there. And someone reached out to me and they made what I thought was an interesting comparison. The most successful league in North America by a mile is what? The National Football League. Yes, you are right. You took that layup and you didn't just lay it in. You dunked it ferociously. Great job. Thank you. The commissioner of the NFL is Roger Goodell. He started in the NFL as an intern in 1982, and he's come all the way up through the league. And if you ever listen to him him talk it's all about protect the shield protect

the shield protect the shield he's indebted to the nfl for his career and it's it's he's a part of it and it's a part of him and i think the nhl likes that i i you know steer, who's been on the pod before is a great guest. He, he's had another life. You know, he was in media before. Obviously, they think very highly of him or he wouldn't have that new title. But the other three, they've been around a while, they've grown up in the organization, and they've got a good reputation internally very highly thought of and you know for example mccardle i've heard his name before i've had people say to me before that he could be uh the the next long-term commissioner like there's no doubt in my mind that the most qualified person to take over if betman ever leaves and he might outlast us all is Bill. Um, like, right. No, he's, he's, he's been the right hand man for a long time. He knows the league.

He knows everything that's gone on. It, you know, he is the most seamless person and the logical person to take over. But if it isn't him for whatever reason, I think there's a good chance they're thinking about who's our Roger Goodell. And I think we just got a clue. I really do. And, you know, I'll say this. One thing other people are wondering is why now?

Like this isn't the end of the NHL fiscal year. And I wonder if it has something to do with CBA negotiations. I wonder if it's got something to do with what Bettman is trying to do as a succession plan. Like one thing about Bettman is

he is fiercely loyal to people who have been loyal to him you know who introduced Colin Campbell at the hockey hall of fame inductions it was Bettman and you know he is Campbell's been loyal to Bettman and Bettman is very loyal to him so like all of this stuff like it's just interesting I had a long talk with someone about it this week. And, you know, we were just kind of trying to figure out what does the timing mean? What does this all mean? And then we ended the conversation by saying, doesn't matter because Bettman's going to outlast us all.

Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Because Bettman's going to outlast us all. Well, that's what I was going to ask you. Like, do you have any sense of when Gary Bettman may even be thinking about, you know what, it's time? Or is it still far too early for that? He's going to love this conversation. I wish I could see his face. Not that he would listen to this garbage,

but when someone tells him about it. I've wondered about after the next cba like does he want to get like he's making all this noise about getting a cba done early i wonder if he wants to get one done peacefully before he retires but the other thing like and this was someone else who said it to me he said he's still earning a very good living and uh even though uh i'm sure you know like there's always the question how much does someone one person need it's not easy to walk away from a good salary so that was the final thought brought to you by gmc we'll take a break when we come back dan mckenzie the president of the canadian hockey league he'll join us for a

conversation a little later on. Before that, though, the Thought Line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Okay, welcome back. Time now for the Thought Line. 1-833-311-3232 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca elliot we have had the triangle controversy we have had most recently the grunge music controversy and we've had not so much a controversy but the ongoing discussion about same name oh you know what i'm glad you mentioned that because i got another one of those what do you got well the first submission for the

thought line this episode pete from rockward michigan guys thank you for your continued work i currently work as the play-by-play voice for the USA Hockey's National Team Development Program, but from 1991 to 2015, I was the play-by-play voice of the Plymouth Whalers of the Ontario Hockey League. From 2007 through 2010, the Whalers had two players named Tyler Brown. They often played on the same line, even. I was asked, how are you going to handle it? I decided to go with tyler g brown and tyler j brown no nick nice not easy when they played on the same line but i worked through it

i found out the families appreciated the effort you know what i believe that a thousand percent like a little thing like that that's a good lesson for everybody a little thing like that, that's a good lesson for everybody. A little thing like that goes a long way. 100% great idea. I sent Chris Cuthbert a note just asking, like, did you have any memories of just some, whether it was some tongue twister names or same names on the same team? He pointed out there was that brief time in Vancouver in the 80s where they had two Greg Adams and I believe right Jim Robson like one of them he called he would call him Gus Adams right one was Greg Adams one was Gus to help differentiate but that was one that he came out with those are great I have more coming

in I'm just looking for the one somebody sent me one about tyler johnson tyler johnson the rams receiver tyler johnson the heat net shooting guard and tyler johnson a former cardinals pitcher three played concurrently that's kevin who sent it in that's actually just tweaked my mind remember when tyler ennis the basketball player played for the raptors michael russo Russo sent that in. That's right. Tyler Ennis and Tyler Ennis. And they almost got each other's surgeries confused with each other. Correct. Right. When Ennis, the hockey player, was playing for the Maple Leafs. Wild story there. Ah, that's fun. All right. Nikki from New York City. Griffin, Dom, Kyle and Elliot. How are you, gentlemen? Long time listener. First time emailer. My question is about morning skates during game days. To put it bluntly, why do they exist? While I admit I don't follow any other league as closely as the NHL, I don't see other examples where athletes warm up early in the day, go home, nap, have a meal, go back to the rink and then warm up again before actual puck drop.

I've never understood the concept, especially considering half the time it seems like they're optional and players elect not to participate. Thanks and excellent work, Griffin and Dom. Good job, Kyle and Elliot. There's always room for improvement. That's outstanding.

That is tremendous. Very good. Very good. I like that. You know, I'll say this, that I think the guy who actually created it was not Morning Skates. I think it was Morning Shoot-A-Rounds. Was Bill Sharman and and he was if you have if you watched like that

series the Magic Johnson series about the Showtime Lakers he was featured in that series but Bill Sharman was a Hall of Fame basketball player who later became a very successful coach and he created the morning shoot around. And, you know, if you look at Wikipedia, it said a way to burn off nervous energy on game days. But I think that it was because he wanted to get his players out of bed in the morning. So they didn't spend too much time out late the night before now I'm not sure that always worked particularly on a team that had Wilt Chamberlain on it uh but but that

was the reason is he he thought that he could do something in the morning maybe players would sleep better the night before and you know he coached the Lakers after all their years of not being able to beat the Celtics. He coached the Lakers to an NBA championship in 1972 and it became a pretty widespread practice after that. So that was why initially, and I think the NHL was similar. Like, you know, guys didn't, coaches wanted their players sweating it out

great thank you nikki for that email up next a voicemail keegan from tennessee quick question i was watching a game and the kids these days commercial came on with all the young stars in nhl and i was wondering how are those players compensated for that since the league technically, you know, oversees the teams, which oversees their contracts? So is that something that's built into their contract? Like if they have to have a media availability for any promotional shoot that the league wants to do, or are they compensated separately? Are they compensated at all? But love the pod. Thank you guys for what you do.

That's a great question. love the pod. Thank you guys for what you do. That's a great question. There is an understanding that when you sign with the team, there are certain events you do with the team. Like, for example, in Toronto, the Maple Leafs

have a great charity event, a gala. It's called their Blue and White Night and all the players go. You know, so there are some things that you do part of the team. Um, you know, for example, you know, the league sometimes asks you to go to the media tours. You hear a lot of our interviews from the media tours, right? Um, you know, there's one in Europe.

They shot that commercial. That's right. There's, that was a, that was a great commercial. There's one in Europe. There's one in Europe. There's one in North America. And so like those kinds of things that they can't ask a lot of you, but they can ask some of you. But, you know, there are other things,

whether it's set up by your own agents or, you know, through the team that you get paid for. But there is an expectation that you will be asked to do not many, but maybe one or two team-wide charity events a year. Like I remember when I started years ago as a reporter covering the Raptors, the Raptors used to have a deal with their players. We could ask you to do five things a year. And I don't remember if that was in the CBA or not, but that was the Raptors deal and players adhered to that.

They, they understood that there were some things that they had to do, but I'm just not sure what the formal wording of it is now. Jacob from Long Island. Hi, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. Greetings from Long Island. Last Saturday, my dad and I went to see his Devils take on the Islanders at UBS Arena. With a little over six minutes left in the first period,

a Luke Hughes dump into the Devils' offensive zone took a fluke deflection up into the seats and off my dad's face. Oh, oh boy he hung tough was treated by ubs emergency medical services and celebrated jack hughes ot winner with five stitches to his upper lip after the game how awesome is that well done dad wow i guarantee you young man your dad really felt it but because because you were there watching, he was like, I'm not letting my kids see me in pain.

I am gotten this out. Good on you, dad. So Jacob continues. His misfortune was rewarded with the game puck that hit him. And we noticed the six implanted objects in the puck that we concluded to be the nhl's new puck tracking technology our question to you guys is how does the tracking technology work can the nhl track where we live with this alien technology is now and all seeing alexa like an eye on our fireplace mantle thanks in advance My dad and I listen to every episode.

Great question. Well, first of all, congratulations on a memorable night that you'll never forget. That is dynamite, parent-child, father-son bonding. It doesn't get better than that. That's a story you guys will have to tell forever.

I would say this, that first of all, if you're like me and you're talking about something and then you see an ad come up on your laptop or your phone dialed into exactly what you just said, you should be aware that everyone is listening to you at all times, all times. Just as I always tell people, you should never write something in a text or an email that could end up anywhere. Never do that. You should always assume that in this day and age you are being spied on. And I'm not even a big conspiracy theory guy I just realized that's the way it is the one thing about that is that in all seriousness you're not near the transmitter anymore so you're not in a

position where it can transmit usefully unless they've moved it right next to your house somehow so I think you're safe but don't forget you're being spied on everywhere else awesome awesome night i love that story i'm glad you guys had it together yeah so that's why you see you know for say for instance craft hockeyville a pre-season game right there's no player puck tracking data for that game because those arenas that they're played in aren't equipped to be able to handle it. It's only the NHL buildings. Actually, last week we had Michael Rubin on with Fanatics. That was another wrinkle that jersey collectors love about the authentic pro jerseys that are available at retail. On the shoulder, they have the reinforced little area where they would put the chip for player tracking on their jerseys.

So that was a nice little feature for those that care about that sort of thing, too. Great story. Great question. You know what? And that is a great story and a great question. The other thing it reminds me of is that when the NHL knew they were going to put a chip into the puck, When the NHL knew they were going to put a chip into the puck, one of the things that they fought hard about was they wanted to make it that the price was never prohibitive

because they never wanted to be in a position where they had to go into the crowd and ask for the puck back. They said, if these pucks get shot into the crowd, we have to be okay with the fact that we're going to lose them, that fans are still going to keep them. Like, we can't be going to them and saying, hey, we've got an expensive chip in there. We need that back. And that was a big part of their process.

And it was smart because, you know, if that would have happened, it would have been a PR disaster for the league. Right. And it was the case for a period of time during the Fox tracks days, was it not? Was there not stories of having to go retrieve those because of the technology that was in them? Actually, you know what? I think you're right, actually. I kind of forgot about that.

That's good that they moved on. Yeah, they didn't want that this time. They were like, nope, we're not doing that. It's smart. All right. We'll wrap with Isaac from Bowmanville, Ontario. Hello, Kyle, Elliot, and Dom. I watched the Ottawa and Boston game back on Saturday

where Brady Kachuk had nearly more shots on goal, 12, than the entire Boston team had that game, 16. It left me wondering, has there ever been a game or games where one player alone had more shots than the entire opposing team? Long-time listener, love what you guys do and appreciate the consistent quality of the podcast. That's debatable. P.S. P.S., he says, I'm a paralegal student.

You guys would definitely be my first call at Friedman and Bukowska's injury law if I ever get injured. Yes, the word of mouth is spreading. Call someone good. That's the best advice I would give you first. I appreciate mouth is spreading call someone good that's the best advice i would give you uh first i appreciate that but call someone good um okay do you know the answer to this question yes i do i had to look into it as usual yeah that's okay there's nothing wrong with that i i have to say there's one game that jumps out into my head, and I don't know what the answer, if it's right.

Was it the game where Ron Tugnut made 70 saves and Ray Bork had like 20 shots? No, it wasn't. But I appreciate that that's where your mind went. Because if you remember, Ron Tugnut had a game where he made 70 saves in March 1991 against the Bruins and I don't know off the top of my head how many saves the Nordiques had but Bork had I think 19 or 20 shots that game so that's the first one that jumps out into my head what's the answer so it's happened

one time only one time in the NHL since, since they started tracking shots on goal, which was the 59 60 season. Okay. So what year are we in here? 1978. Off the top. I got nothing off the top of my head. Give me a team.

The Washington capitals were involved. Was it Dennis Maruk? Was he there? Was he in Cleveland at the time? Sorry. The capitals were the team that it Dennis Marouk? Was he there? Was he in Cleveland at the time? Sorry, the Capitals were the team that were outshot by one player. The Flyers were the other team. Oh, really?

The Flyers outshot the Capitals? I'll go with, well, one of their biggest snipers at the time was Reggie Leach. Bingo! Nice! No kidding! He had eight shots on goal

on February 12th, 1978. The Capitals had seven total. Oh, my God. That's terrible. Yeah. Leach didn't even score. The Flyers won 4-1, but Leach only had an assist to show for it, along with eight shots on goal.

I hope that assist was on a rebound. Wow. Like I said, I never would have gotten that. I had one name that jumped to my head, and never would have gotten that that was pretty darn good yeah so it's only happened once since they started tracking shots on goal so a very worthy question from isaac that's a great question a reminder if you want to submit something a thought a question opinion be tough to beat that father son story what a great what a great story what a great, a question, opinion. It'd be tough to beat that father-son story. What a great story. What a great story.

Such a dandy. Yeah. 1-833-311-3232. The email, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. When we come back, our conversation with Dan McKenzie, the president of the CHL on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Welcome back to 32 Thoughts. So in case you missed it,

last week, the NCAA voted to a seismic rule change that CHL players will now be eligible to play NCAA hockey starting next season. This was a decision that the CHL itself was not a part of, but it very much impacts them. Dan McKenzie, as the president of the Canadian Hockey League, was kind enough to spend some time with Elliot and I this week to discuss so many questions that remain in the aftermath of this news. Here now, our conversation with Dan McKenzie of the CHL. So I think with the news last week, of course, of the NCAA changing its rules of eligibility for players, something that has been on the radar for a while now, but naturally a lot of questions have come out of that already. What are some of the questions top of mind for yourself in the aftermath?

Well, I think first of all, I think there's a feeling on our end that overall this is a very good development for the player and for our players overall, current players and future players. So I think we're happy about that. We think it's going to give them, for our current players, it's going to give them more opportunities to consider as they kind of come through the CHL and finish their careers. And then for future players, we think that it's going to be positive because you always had that scenario whereby if you're an elite young player, you're 15 years old, you needed to make some decisions that were going to be very impactful on the rest of your life at a really young age.

releases that tension and allows, you know, allows you to continue to play in what we would view as the best league in the world, best development league in the world for 16, 17, 18, 19 year old players. And for most of our players, it allows them to play closer to home as they continue to pursue those dreams. And it doesn't, you know, force you to make some life altering decisions at the young age. I've been really interested in watching the statements from the various Canadian League commissioners, Dan. Dan Neer did it. Brian Crawford in the West. I saw Brian Crawford's in Ontario. statements to say that we welcome players going the NCAA route once their commitments to their current league or their Canadian Hockey League is finished after their 19th season now I've been

around long enough to know that these kinds of things are never included by accident so it looks to me like this is what the Canadian Hockey League is saying. We welcome this as long as you stay through 19. Do you think that's enforceable? Can that be adhered to? Well, right now, I mean, all of our planning has been around how we, you know, support these players who are graduating from our leagues. Make sure they understand what's involved if they they want to play in CAA, and also making

sure NCAA schools get a chance to properly scout our league. I mean, as you guys know, we're a big league, 60 teams. It's a big undertaking, especially, you know, with news coming sort of mid-season. So I'd say related to that, all players who play in the CHL today have made certain commitments to their teams. And in return, those teams have made commitments to those players. So I mean, our teams are going to honor those commitments and the expectations of players will as well. We think that the number of players who would consider leaving our league early for the NCAA is really small, given the environment that the CHL provides. I mean, as again,

as you know, our schedule, our team's play is a, is a, you know, pro like schedule 68 games versus 34. Players get a guaranteed academic scholarship when they, when they, when they're finished the opportunities when you're, when you're an older player, 18, 19-year-old player on your team, whether it be you're in a leadership position, you get lots of ice time,

you play in the PK and the power play. Oftentimes, those players are the ones that drive towards winning a league championship or getting an opportunity to compete for the Memorial Cup. These are all factors that come into play when we're talking about elite players and the decisions they're going to make. So we feel pretty confident that players

are going to want to stay with their teams. And right now, the focus really has been on that graduating class and making sure they can take advantage of the opportunities that are ahead of them. So you mentioned the scholarships, Dan. I know you come from a teaching background, so education is near and

dear to you. And even as you say, if you believe that it would be a small number of players that would even be looking at a scenario like that, that if they chose to maybe go from Canadian Hockey League to the NCAA after graduating high school or after their 18th year old season, I mean, do you see a scenario if that were to happen, they would then forego their scholarship opportunities through the Canadian Hockey League? You know what, Kyle, it's a good question. I think that's something that we haven't spent a ton of time yet on determining. Again, this thing just changed last week. So I think we needed to determine what the future is going to look like on scholarships. As I've said in the past,

and as our teams believe, the CHL really does provide the best of both worlds. We think it gives players an opportunity to, if you have professional hockey dreams, to really help develop those. But also if you don't, and the vast majority of our players don't play in the NHL, for them, the scholarship program is really important. And I haven't been part of any discussions so far that have talked about changing anything on the scholarship front at this point. But again, we haven't dug too deeply

into all the implications and the scenarios that would happen as we're talking about players who aren't finished their time in the CHL yet. So I think we need a bit more time to determine, you know, what all the implications there might be. But there's a lot of different roads or scenarios we could go down, but we're not quite there yet. Well, one family said to me that that is the single biggest question that they have is where how does it all work will the players who switch back and forth because you know people forget too in the NCAA you think you get a scholarship and you think you get it for four years no it's renewable after

every year so they think that that is the biggest question that needs to be answered for a lot of them is how the post playing education is going to work. Do you agree with that? Yeah, I do. And I think it's, it's, it's critically important. And I think for, for us and for our, you know, for our, our players, it's going to be a really important pillar as it relates to decisions you make after your playing career is over if you're not going to go pro. I think we have to determine if there are any implications.

Again, the NCAA guidelines and regulations, we're just digging into them as to what players can accept and not accept. So as I say, we're working through those things, but it's a really important part of the package that our teams currently offer. And I think that as we look to a world down the line where players and their families on both sides of the border need to make decisions on where their player is going to play i think it's going to become a really important um recruiting tool for our teams as well um because the educational package is really really really important one of the things uh dan that someone said to me was he thinks the chl could become even younger uh right now uh the whl has a 14 year old draft ontario 15 and quebec 16

he's curious to see if ontario and quebec drop to the whl number just so that players and teams know earlier when they're like what their path could be that way players have a better idea am i happy with this teams have a better idea of saying hey you're with us how can we convince you to come and they're curious to see if that makes the canadian leagues even younger because of the option to go to NCAA schools. Do you think that's a possibility? Well, it's funny because I've also heard, first of all, right now, given a change that's this monumental, there's been a lot of, you know, a lot of discussions that have a variety

of viewpoints in terms of what's going to happen. And anybody who says they know what's going to happen is, you know. Is kidding themselves and you, yes. It's a bit wishful thinking. But, yeah, I think that what I had heard was some people thought maybe it might go the other way. And because the, you know, if you look at the success rate of the O and the Q versus the dub in terms of some of the picks, because the players are a year older and have another year of development, they've had a lot more success. I think their success rate is a bit higher.

And that might be the reason why you move it up a year. I think all these questions we're going to have to deal with as we go forward. Again, we're not there yet. with as we go forward. Again, we're not there yet. I think overall, though, we are going to probably see, guys, a bunch of families at that age, younger age level, whatever it is, 14 or 15, considering the CHL when they never would have before. Agreed.

Part of it because of the, you know, now the idea that you can play in the CHL and keep your academic options open in the U.S. are there. Partly, I think, just because of the quality of our league. But then partly just because of the way, depending on where you are in North America, you know, I think we need to do a better job at the CHL now of telling our story in places where maybe we never have before. And I think about, you know, maybe some kids in who, who, who come through hockey in Minnesota, high school hockey in Minnesota, which is obviously very, very strong development system, New England, those kinds of places where, um, again, there never would have, because of the, the NCAA rules, they're never would have, they never even would have considered the CHL. And I think now, um, they, they might. And so considered the CHL. And I think now they might.

And so when you talk about, I know Elliot, your question was about the draft age of us getting younger, but I think we also might find that we get a bit younger in terms of young elite players who wouldn't have considered us before who are now going to look at us. So how much influx of interest are you kind of bracing for then with all of that in mind? That's what we're spending a lot of our time on right now. There's been a fair number of transfers into our league and we have transfer agreements in place with USA Hockey that sort of govern all that kind of thing. So that's begun to happen. I think for our teams, I think it really becomes an opportunity for them to,

again, probably knock on some doors that they haven't before. So I think that's one of the unknowns, Kyle, in terms of what the impact's going to look like. I also think that we may receive a bit more interest from European players who had NCAA aspirations and, again, wouldn't have considered us. So that's another avenue that we may need to start to look at as well. Expansion. That's one I'm hearing a lot of too.

I'm hearing Massachusetts. There's been reports of USHL teams potentially reaching out to the CHL about joining it. Are you going to be a bigger league in a few years? That is something that, again, I think we've just begun to start to talk about at our table. And just for clarity, the way it works with expansion is those decisions are made by each individual league.

So when you talk about Massachusetts as an example, that would be a decision that the QMJHL would make. But, um, but I think that, listen, this is, this kind of change is transformational change. And, uh, you know, I think that, um, there's some real excitement in our organization. And I think in probably other organizations about, you know, in the hockey world, you know, at this particular point in time, you know, in terms of what the possibilities for junior hockey in North America could look like going forward. We don't have the answers. We don't know exactly where it's going to go, but I think that, uh, you know, there's some real opportunity here. We just have to determine what it looks like.

So I was wondering on that note, Dan, and again, understanding this is all still very fresh. I mean, we had Brian Crawford on a couple of months ago, and it was still hypothetical at that point, but he talked about how he saw it as a great opportunity for his league. But on the flip side, has anyone from your three major junior leagues in the country come to you with any concerns about, hey, maybe this is something we haven't totally considered yet as a domino effect or trickle-down effect with the new agreement? Not really.

Again, I think this has been signaled for a while. So we've started to think through the possibilities. I think the one thing that nobody really knew was what the form it was going to take was going to be. You know, the NCAA is an organization that, that, that, you know, they have their processes and they, they, the language and the how things work within their rules. It was really their rule that they were changing. So, you know, I think we needed to see the text of that and then begin to deal with the implications. But I haven't, listen, I think there's always people who are resistant CHL and, you know, the leagues that are a part of the CHL.

I think we feel pretty confident that, you know, we are the number one development league in the world. I think half of the NHL, 300, I think our numbers last year was, this year at the beginning of the year was 390 CHL graduates on NHL rosters. So basically half the league, 88 draft picks in the NHL draft last year, which was, you know, number one. You know, we feel pretty confident that players are going to want to play in our league. And so, you know, we understand there's going to be changes the way we operate.

We're going to have to change a little bit, you know, the way that, you know, maybe the way our commitments to our players and vice versa, that may have to change a little bit going forward, but we're, we're going to be ready to do that. And we think at the end of the day, um, we're pretty well positioned. We're very well positioned to be the, you know, the choice for elite players at that age group, 16, 17, 18, 19 year olds. Dan, there's always a concern about some of the smaller markets the owen sounds in ontario some of the saskatchewan cities for example in uh in in western league do you worry about this making it even harder for them to compete um not really i mean we have they the i've heard that that is

that issue before and and listen every every league has that, right? Has markets that are bigger than others and smaller than others. But if you look at our track record of the teams that have been, like I've been here now for, I've had three Memorial Cups. And every year the teams have been different. And there have been big markets, small markets. Teams find a way. And I think if you run, if you have good ownership and you run a good hockey operation, you can compete. And, um, so I think, you know, again, like other leagues, that's the formula. Um, you know, we have systems in place to distribute players who come

into the league, high end players. Um, and so I think that will do its work. Um, but again, it's really up to the, going to be up to the clubs to make sure they have the right people and personnel and processes to, you know, to build their teams. We have talked a bit. We had a meeting about a month ago in Toronto. We brought together all 60 teams from the CHL into one place for a meeting. It was the first time it had been done in about 25 years. And one of the things we did talk about was certain standards in certain areas.

And so, you know, we'll see where that goes. I know our leagues are, it's a topic our leagues are beginning to dig in on. So we'll see where that goes. But again, I think the formula, you know, big team, big markets and small markets in our league can, you know, can win league championships in the Memorial Cup. And I think the formula, you know, big, big team, big markets and small markets in our league can, you know, can win league championships in the Memorial cup. And I think the history dictates that. Would you say the three major junior leagues in Canada, do they get along? Like, are they able to collaborate on big issues when called upon?

You can tell us if it's like herding cats, like it's okay. Yeah. Well, it's, it's interesting. You know, I, I, I've been, it's like herding cats. Like, it's okay. You can tell us. Well, it's interesting. You know, I mean, it's funny. So I started in 2019, and I'm now the old man at the table when we get together with the commissioners because Dan and Brian are within the last year, and Mary was only, you know, the year before that. So I was pretty fortunate when I first started to get to spend, you know, my first few years in the league with, you know, the likes of Dave Branch and Ron Robinson and Gilles Courteau, you know, who were, you know, I'd say they were transformational leaders for their leagues for a long time and, you know, really did set the standard for us. But I think

they also, one of the things that they also did is, you know, in most areas, they were very, they're able to work together and do what was best for the leagues and for the players and teams. So I think this new group of commissioners that we have, Dan, Brian, and Mario, you know, they're all in a position where they want to drive growth. They want to make their mark. You know, I don't think any of us are going to, you know, have a career where we're in the league for 30 years. I think we all have, you know, an understanding that we want to get some things accomplished. So there is a bit of a commitment to trying to work together, understanding that, you know, 60 teams is a lot of teams. And, you know, what may work in, you know shakutami may not be the best thing that might work in a market like portland so there needs to be regional you know some regionality

built in in terms of decision making but i think there is a commitment to work together and to do what's best for the for the collective that is definitely something that we've talked about and that there's been a commitment towards are Are you worried about poaching at all? Like I've been very careful to say, I don't know what a player like Gavin McKenna is thinking, but do you worry about NCAA teams coming at him now? Well, you know, like I said, I think the, I think our focus right now has been on not on that age group of player or a player like him, Elliot,

it's been more on the graduating players. But somewhere, Dan, you have to know that there's sharks in the water, right? Like even though it's a different era now, the NCAA guys, like they have fierce pride and they want to win the fight against the CHL. You know, that people have got to be thinking about this. And those decisions and those factors are very different than if it's another player. So I think we've got to be a little bit careful about – I think your question was, am I worried? And the answer truly is I'm not. I think that we – I'm really comfortable in what our – I said it earlier, some of the reasons why players want to play in the CHL.

I think those stand, whether you're Gavin McKenna or you're someone else. And so, you know, listen, do I have a crystal ball? No. Do I, you know, if things arise, are we going to deal with them? Yes. But we're not in a position right now where I can, you know, where I want to speculate on what's going to happen or what the issues might be for individual players. But I think we'll be able to deal with them.

I really do. I feel really confident in our league's ability to continue to be the best development league in the world and be a great place for players to develop when they're 18 or 19 years old. With the changes that got made, I don't see that changing. loose alliances put together like NCAA schools and CHL teams will call each other and say, look, we've got a player who wants to come when they're a little bit older to our school. What about we place them with your team? And then when you're done, you just remind him that he made a commitment to this school. Do you think that could happen? Potentially. I think it would likely happen after they're at their CHL teams, given the ages we're talking about, when our drafts are and when they can make commitments. I don't think they sync up perfectly right now. You might know better than I, but I don't think they do.

I can assure you, I don't know anything more than you do, Dan. Let's just put that out there right away, right now. Well, I think that it's interesting because when you talk about the kinds of things you just talked about earlier about, I think you used the word poaching. It's interesting to then bring what you just brought up because at the end of the day, the relationships that get built and that are going to get built, because right now there aren't a lot of them because of the history, but the relationships that get built between NCAA D1 schools and CHL GMs are going to be really important. And so I think that's going to be something that's going to, again, it's going to be like any relationships that get built on, you know, doing what you say you're going to do and trust and open communication and all those things on both sides. And so I think that, that, that, you know,

the kinds of situation you just raised, you know, could happen in the future and I think probably will happen in the future. But I think probably will happen in the future. But, um, I think, I think it's going to be built on the fact that probably the side, the two sides are going to have to work together a little bit more than they currently do. And I know our teams have had a long history of, of those kinds of working relationships with you sports. Um, and it'll continue with the NCAA. What Elliot's really is hoping for is like a remake of WWE versus WCW in

the 90s. Yes. That's what he's in. That's what I need. Oh, no. So you brought up U Sports and that's because it's exactly what I wanted to ask about, Dan, because you've talked about a number of times the importance of the partnership is with them. And I think that's U Sports hockey is one of the best kept secrets that really shouldn't be a secret at all in Canada in terms of hockey and how entertaining that level is to watch. Have you thought at all about what this decision means for them and the pipeline of players that would be heading that way in the future? We have, and we have had good dialogue with U Sports about that and if there are things we have had, we have had a good dialogue with you sports about

that and if there are things we can do to continue to support that partnership. So those discussions are ongoing and, um, you know, um, it's an, it's a definitely an important avenue for a lot of players. I, I think I, I don't necessarily subscribe to, um, the fact that once the dust settles that, that, that, um, I think I think I see it as there's just going to be a lot more opportunity. And I think it ties a little bit into, yes, some players, of course, are going to choose the NCAA.

That's inevitable. But I think that, you know, again, not unlike the decisions we were talking about for an elite player like Gavin McKenna, in terms of what he would decide to do, I think if you're a player who's making decisions on your educational career and where you want to go, you know, youth sports is going to stack up really well with NCAA.

I think in a lot of areas, especially when you factor in proximity to home. And so when you're a 20-year-old, 21-year-old young student, you know, do you want to be far away from home? So I think we may be in a scenario whereby, you know, I think eSports is going to be able to retain a fair amount of the players that come from the CHL. And I also think that it's probably going to, we're probably going to see some kind of alignment in the system below the CHL and it could create some real opportunities for junior A players who maybe right now don't get the opportunities in youth sports because CHL players are, you know, taking up a lot of the

spots. If some CHL players go NCAA, it could create more opportunities for youth sports teams to bring in players maybe from that next level and I think it could that I think all of that is positive in terms of aligning the system and providing more opportunities for these young student athletes Dan the NHL has kind of adopted the position that we're staying out of this until we have to and that is setting rules for once players are drafted into their league. But one of the questions I'm curious about is, do you think this will lead to a change in either or both or any of the following two situations? Making the draft a 19-year-old draft, but an 18-year-old first round?

Or the current NHL-CHL agreement, which would change the age or change AHL eligibility? Do you worry about or see either of those things being on the horizon? Well, I think both of those are decisions that the NHL and their GMs and ultimately, I think the PA are going to have to make, right? So that's very much, I think what you said off the top is correct. And I have spoken to Bill Daly a little bit about this in terms of, you know, what the impacts might be, but it's very much, you know, going to be their decisions and their negotiations.

And then when it gets to the CHL-NHL agreement, well, you know, we can and their negotiations. And then we'll, when it gets to the CHL NHL agreement, we'll, you know, we can deal with those things directly. But it's pretty, I think it's kind of hard to predict what that might look like right now. Again, as I said earlier, we're going to be, I think we're going to be in a really good shape from a talent perspective in our league to be able to continue to be a place where,

you know, NHL teams can feel comfortable putting their, you know, NHL teams can feel comfortable putting their, their, you know, drafted players when they're 19. I know the NCAA, I think the NCAA rule also indicates that if you've signed a deal, if you've signed an NHL contract that, you know, you're not eligible for the NCAA. So again, we just feel pretty confident that we'll be a good, a good, really good place for, for, for teams to put their players. But those, the specifics around that, around the draft, around, you know, how

they want it, where they want to take the return provision and, and also just the whole topic of, you know, retention rates, you know, depending on where you come, where you get drafted out of that, those are all decisions for the NHL and, and their constituencies to make. decisions for the NHL and their constituencies to make. I guess my last one on this topic would be, Dan, is that, you know, now the rule for the NCAA takes effect this August. Does that mean that it's like studying for an exam or at least the way I used to do it? It's the night before I better start. So you guys have several months here where you have to figure all this out.

Like, does this mean like sort of a quick track to answering some of these questions and putting policy on paper yes absolutely and i think i think you and i was in the same boat as you elliot in terms of night before the exam so uh that was my move too but But absolutely. I think one of the things that we were a little bit concerned with over the last month as we were talking to our partners in the development pipeline was that changes might happen and take effect during the season, which we think would have created some real chaos in the system. So the fact that the decisions won't happen until August, I think it gives us some runway to be able to try to figure some of the stuff out. And I feel pretty confident that we're going to be able to do that.

But it is going to be a bit of a process for sure. I just wanted to ask kind of a bigger picture, Dan, because for those that don't know, you worked for NBA Canada for the better part of 20 years before taking the job at the CHL. And I mean, we're seeing the fruits now of all the growth of basketball in our country and the time that you were there. And if I read correctly, I mean, part of the reasons for that is that you really targeted, you know, a younger demographic in those early years with NBA Canada. And so as you look now and opportunities of growth with Canadian Hockey League and I mean, the player development is one side, but also the interest of fans to watch and to tune in every season. Where are kind of the areas you're looking at now for maybe some untapped potential to try to grow the sport at that level here in Canada?

Well, you know what? Thanks for bringing that up because I think the parallels are pretty apparent to me anyway. When I started at the NBA, and Elliot, I think, were you doing Raptors basketball back in those days? Yes, we all know he used to cover the NBA. I was laughing at Kyle's question, your answer, because it's a running joke on this podcast how I referenced that. Yes, so it was pretty funny as Kyle was doing that. So, and court surfing on the score, right?

That's right. I remember that. That was a- That's right, yeah. I remember that. That was a great program back in the day. They did a great job. And a great example, I think, of some of the time innovation to be able to try to attract audiences that didn't want to sit through one whole game, right? So, I think that kind of thinking is the sort of thing that we need to apply to our business as we go forward. I think the one thing that we really focused on at MBA Canada back in those days in the late 90s was really digging into immigration trends. And when I used to go out and do TV deals or sponsorship deals and I've talked to companies, a lot of it was about how, you know, hundreds of thousands of newcomers

were arriving to Canada and they had a love for soccer and basketball. Those were the sports they knew. And so, you know, as a company or as a media partner, you know, there was going to be real opportunity. And we've now sort of seen it come to fruition. I think the reverse is our challenge in the hockey world. And I don't think we can do it on our own

at the CHL. I think we have to do it in partnership with, you know, some great partners that we have in terms of Hockey Canada and the NHL and some of our corporate partners. But we have to make sure that I think from, from our standpoint, we have, we have 10 million fans who come through our arenas across all of our, all of our buildings. That's a lot. That's more than all the NHL teams combined because we're in, you know, 60 markets. And so I think what we need to make sure that we do and, and, and our teams are really focused on it is how do we make sure that our buildings are welcoming to everybody? And so that when, and as immigration, um, you know, patterns, you know, move outside of the major centers, the places where a lot of newcomers are landing are in markets where there's CHL teams. And in those markets, you know, the junior hockey team is the number one thing in town.

So we got to make sure that our buildings and our teams are focused on attracting new people into their buildings and make them feel welcome. We actually had our meetings we had in Toronto last month. We had Bobby Sani, he runs a company called Ethnicity Matters. And he spoke to our owners just about that fact, is how do we make sure that CHL buildings are places where people feel comfortable? And once he finished speaking, there's a bunch of owners that came up

and wanted to get his card and talk to him about strategies they can employ to do that. So that's one, I i'd say tactic in the strategy but there's a there's a there's a few of them and we've got to focus on it you have the chl usa prospects challenge coming up at the uh end of november and it's probably great timing for this because a lot of the kids and people are going to have uh a lot of questions but what are you expecting for this one and uh how um how intense do you expect the hockey to be? I would think pretty intense, but what are you thinking? Yeah, you know what, Elliot?

You're right. I think for those who maybe aren't aware of what this is, it's a bit of, I call it the evolution of our top prospects game. And so we traditionally would run a top prospects game that would include 40 players from across the CHL and they would play each other in a neutral third party site. And we did that for years. And what we decided to do about a year ago is try to explore is where are there some elements we can change in that uh in that in that property to make it a bit more compelling

both you know to watch on television and to watch in the arena and um it sort of ties a little bit i think to what you just said about about making you know putting some more some more you know bite into the game we'll call it. We ended up approaching USA Hockey about whether or not they would have interest in having their national team come up and play in a two-game series against the best draft-eligible prospects in the CHL. And they agreed. And so we have a game on November 26th in London,

Tuesday, November 26th in London, Ontario, and Wednesday, November 27th in Oshawa. And what fans are going to get treated to is a two-game series that has the best prospects in the CHL playing against the U.S. national team, national development team program. and the CHL playing against the U.S. national team, National Development Team Program. Based on our projections, we think that you're going to have probably more than 60% of the first round of the NHL draft on the ice during these games.

And it is going to be, again, CHL versus USA. So tying a bit to that sort of Canada-USA rivalry, we know that from speaking to our friends at the NHL, their scouts are really excited to be able to look at, watch these prospects play in two games versus the traditional one. And, you know, we think that the compete level is going to be really high. So if fans are in Southern Ontario and they want to go see this event, it's really easy to do. So chl.ca slash prospects challenge, um, London and Oshawa, uh, you know,

when you, if you go to events in those buildings, you can just go onto their websites and buy tickets, but it's, it should be a great series. And we're really excited to, uh, to see how it does. So it kind of sounds like almost the, the amalgamation of, as you say, the, the top prospects game that had been around for years, but also the Canada-Russia series. It's kind of taking those two ideas and turning it into what you have coming up here. That's a great way to put it, Kyle. Absolutely. Dan, we really appreciate the time with us here today. Thank you so much for hopping on. No problem, guys. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

So once again, thanks to Dan McKenzie and the Canadian Hockey League for making that happen. No problem, guys. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it. Eastern 330 Pacific for early games this weekend. Plenty to keep you busy. Connor McDavid and the Oilers are in Toronto, Montreal hosts Columbus, Winnipeg look to keep it rolling down in Florida and Ottawa is in Carolina. The night cap this Saturday, Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks go to Vancouver Bedard's back in his hometown on Saturday night. Enjoy all of it.

Have yourselves a great weekend and we'll talk to you again on Monday.