32 Thoughts: The Podcast - The Worst Kept Secret in Hockey

Episode Date: October 2, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte kick off with Steve Staios becoming the President of Hockey Ops in Ottawa. Then, they dive into Lassi Thomson being put on a waivers by the Senators (11:53) and the latest on the Anaheim Ducks (17:30). The guys discuss which players they were shocked to see make it to waivers on Sunday, including Canucks defensemen Jack Rathbone (32:14). Also, Connor Bedard becomes the focus of conversation as he continues to wow in the preseason (36:38).The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (51:11) and  sit down with Washington Capitals Forward Tom Wilson (1:16:38).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and Jordan McRae and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Everybody knows how I feel about Rathbone who listens to this podcast, the greatest number three in Canucks history, with a wide gap between him and anyone else who's ever worn it. Welcome once again to 32 Thoughts the Podcast, American Friedman with you once again. Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals coming up here in a couple of moments, sat down with Wilson in Vegas as part of the NHLPA Players Tour. Stay tuned for that one. Elliot, shortly after we hit publish early Friday morning, Steve Staios was named the president of hockey operations for the Ottawa Senators. We would have included it in the last podcast, but as I mentioned, it seemed as if the minute

that Dom hit publish, Staios was named. So let's have at it now. hit publish, Steos was named. So let's have at it now. Was with the Oilers in an advisory role, long suspected that Michael Andlauer, once he had the NHL Board of Governors magic wand waved over his head and became the official owner of the Ottawa Senators, he would send for Steve Steos. He did, and he's now the president of Hockey Operations. Staios' name has been one that we've heard attached to various teams in various positions. I remember during the Anaheim search, whether they interviewed him or not, his name was out there almost immediately. Anyhow, your thoughts on Steve Staios, president of Hockey Ops with the Ottawa Senators.

Worst kept secret in hockey. That's a pretty bad one. We all knew he was going maybe one of the worst kept secrets in hockey history Jeff I think Edmonton at some point during the summer they wanted uh to extend Steyos and that obviously didn't happen and everybody knew the writing was on the wall him and Michael Andlauer have a long history back from their OHL days and I think the process just had to play out I think at one point in time in the summer Edmonton got a little annoyed about it I think they were unhappy with the way the whole process worked out but the the challenge was, and it was a difficult one for Steyos and the Senators to navigate.

I think everybody knew he was going there and wanted to go there in the big role. But there was until a certain point where Michael Andlauer was given permission from the NHL to do it, he couldn't go. So he was kind of in no man's land, in purgatory between Senator land and Euler land. So they just had to wait for the process to play out.

Real quick, just a thought on Steyos, because as I mentioned, this is a name that's been attached to various teams at various times. It was inevitable that even if Michael Andlauer because as I mentioned, this is a name that's been attached to various teams at various times. It was inevitable that even if Michael Andlauer doesn't purchase the Ottawa Senators, I mean, he was already there in an advisory role with Edmonton, he was going to end up somewhere with some team in a senior capacity here. He's sort of ticketed as one of the quote-unquote next young managers or next young executives in the game his name's just been around a lot of conversations for a few years

now yes there's no question about that like the day was going to come for steve steos but the moment and lauer became the front runner in ottawa i think everybody knew it was going to be there like what's natural human instinct, Jeff, to go with the people you feel most comfortable with. Those two feel very comfortable with one another. I don't think anyone is surprised. Do you have a thought on Pierre Dorian, general manager of the Ottawa Senators, through all of this as well?

I mean, there was some people wondering, okay, and Lauer buys the team, he brings in Steyos, and he brings him in in a general manager capacity, but not so fast. Pierre Dorian remains. No, I always thought it was going to be the big position for Steyos as the president of hockey operations, and we'll see how this all plays out.

Like I said, I've said on this podcast before, I expect that Dorian will last the year. He will be the GM of the team this year. I don't think there's anything short-term here. And the other thing here too is if you're Ottawa, you have a chance to have a pretty big year. You have a chance to arrive back on the NHL scene. You've got a good-looking team there's

a lot of optimism the thing you have to avoid especially right on the eve of the season are unnecessary self-inflicted wounds I actually think right now the worst thing you can do is throw yourself into some kind of organizational chaos. So I think that, you know, just keeping it this way, the two of them will have to figure out how, you know, to best utilize everybody, work to each other's strengths. But this year, if you're Ottawa, and especially in a Canadian market, I think about this for all teams, don't give yourself any self-inflicted problems if other people want to speculate let them speculate but you don't walk yourself into any trouble and I think right now you know I'm sure Steyos has known exactly what's been going on there I'm sure he has a very good idea

of all the situations the Sanders face but I think on the eve of a season to make that kind of a change and then make a second one i don't think it's necessary i especially when you're primed to have a good year don't do anything that destabilizes your situation figure it out down the road i think you know someone said to me if you were Pierre Dorian, what would you think about all this? And you know what, Jeff, my response was, I said, I think people like you and me and other people in the media industry, we are uniquely prepared to answer this question and provide insights into this question. Because we work in a very volatile industry. How many different bosses have we had over the years? I think you get used to or you understand

what life is like when the ground is constantly shifting around you. And the advice I always give people in that situation is do the best job you can. You control what you can control, which is doing the work and showing up every day and being consistent and i find that people who do that and do that well they can get through any kind of situation so like look like i've told this story before about a guy named charlie casserly who was

the general manager of washington years ago in the NFL, and he got fired and he was at a game and a reporter talked to him about his next job. And he says, he says, you probably want Washington to do terribly. And he said, no,

I don't like that's my resume. And I think that that's the way you have to look at it. Whatever happens with Pierre Dorian, the Ottawa Sanders this year year that's his resume and that's why you have to make sure you continue to do the good and consistent work because if that team rises his situation improves he's done it based on what his background is and that is scouting you look at the rise of the ottawaators. What's it from? It's from drafting. It's from developing.

This isn't the Vegas Golden Knights, where I think there's like a grand total of two players that were actually drafted by the Vegas Golden Knights that are actually on the roster. This is a drafted and developed team. And of course, scouting is Pierre Dorian's background. Other Ottawa business here. Shane Pinto, that shadow looms larger and larger every single day that this contract saga goes on.

Elliot, what is the latest? So as I wrote on Saturday, there was a setback in the negotiations this week. And there's a couple of things around this we have wondered and i think a lot of other people have wondered jeff since the whole babcock thing in columbus and then stamkos goes public with his situation would players start to become a little bit more emboldened? And I do think this is why the Pinto situation kind of ended up out there.

Ottawa offered Pinto one times one this week. Nobody's confirmed it, but I believe it and I stand by it. And I see what Ottawa is doing here. They're trying to keep their roster together. That's what they can offer Pinto and keep their roster together. However, what do players want to do, Jeff? They want to play. Shane Pinto's body clock, just like Zekras in Anaheim

and Drysdale in Anaheim and anyone else, their body clocks are telling them it is time to play. And it's been all summer. He wants to play. So for him to get that offer at that time I think he's very frustrated I haven't spoken to him but I think it's very fair to me to say that that really frustrated him now things can change one phone call can change anything the other thing about this that's really interesting to me is that I have people who are adamant that Ottawa knows there's deals that they can make

to clear cap room and they know potentially which player it's going to cost them or what package it's going to cost them but they think they have something there like I've been sitting here thinking they're going to be able to move they They have to move another player, and then they'll just sign Pinto. I think now there might be two steps to this. I've heard they feel very confident they can move another player, but also they're not just at this point in time. I believe Pinto's number is 2-5, maybe a little less. I don't think Ottawa wants to go there.

I think part of this is ottawa is like we're not sure we want to go to that number now maybe we end up there but maybe we don't so i think there are two things going on here i think it's ottawa making a move plus ottawa getting to a number that it's comfortable with. And I think that Ottawa, I think we've all kind of assumed trade gets done, Pinto gets what he wants, deal is signed. We all live happily ever after, la la la. I don't think that's the case here. I still think in Ottawa's mind, they're not at the number they want to be at.

And before we move on from Ottawa, we should mention, Jeff, the first thing I did after I heard he was unhappy is check and see if he's asked for a trade. Has he? No. As far as I could tell on the weekend, and we're recording this on Sunday, people were adamant that he has not asked for a trade. And I still think everyone's preference here is Pinto stays. I think it's Pinto's preference. I think it's the center's preference. I think he wants to stay and they want him to stay,

but they have to get him to a number. And everybody has to get to the number. Okay. Lassie Thompson. to a number and everybody has to get to the number okay um lassie thompson as we record this podcast a few minutes ago specifically eight minutes ago lassie thompson uh was announced uh claimed by the anaheim ducks on waivers uh lassie thompson is a first round draft pick going back to 2019 uh 19th overall by the ottawa senators right after dallas took thomas harley um this is interesting waivers have been a little bit interesting specifically for the pacific division ty emerson goes to the san jose sharks another right shot defenseman there lassie thompson was one of the players that the ottawaators tried to attach to any trade to sweeten the pots.

And obviously it didn't go anywhere, placed on waivers, and now Anaheim has claimed him. I want to ask you about Anaheim. We'll get to Killorn and get to Zegers and we'll get to Drysdale in a second. But what do you make of this move? I mean, it's not as if, I'll be honest with you, it's not as if the Anaheim Ducks need any more young defensemen, Elliott Friedman, whether it's Minchikov or Olin Zellweger. Like, they have a lot of young D. That is one area they do not need to shore up Elliott Friedman.

Well, I'm going to talk about where I was on the weekend a bit later on, but there were a lot of people there saying that Anaheim is really, really building something. Like, in terms of prospects, you're right. a bit later on, but there were a lot of people there saying that Anaheim is really, really building something. Like in terms of prospects, you're right. They've got, you know, they've got a lot of bodies there that look like they're going to be able to play. And you add Thompson to it.

Now, this is why you don't pay attention to the first week of exhibition play, because if you watched Ottawa, and I confess I didn't watch them a ton, but I know people who did, they said he actually played pretty well but the Senators looked at their overall defense and remember they know all these guys the best and they said look he is not going to be one of our top six seven guys and the one thing I do wonder about here Jeff is that I wonder if they looked what Pittsburgh did with Ty Smith. As you said, Smith clears. Emerson does not. I wonder if Ottawa said, if we're going to put them on waivers,

our best chance to do it is now. But at the end of the day, Ottawa made a decision that long-term, Thompson wasn't one of their best guys. And it's probably the best thing for Thompson. You know, the Senators, you have to make the call. You cannot fool the players. They know who deserves to be on the roster. And I bet you that they looked around and said, he's not going to be one of our top 70s, top 60,

and there's no sense in having him in Ottawa if he's not going to play. You know, I have to tell you, one of the things that has really surprised me over the last few days, and I think about it more, is that Ty Smith didn't get claimed. And, you know, I asked around. I said, this is a guy who a couple years ago had, you know, was basically half a point a game and was on the all rookie team and he's only making 775 i'm really surprised and i asked around about this and

few people told me i got the same answer it's basically that he has to be more competitive like he's not the biggest guy and he's not the greatest skater but he's a talented kid i think the thing that concerns some people was that he wasn't competitive enough and like I hope it really works out for Ty Smith he was a guest on this podcast he was a great guest I root for people like that but that was the one thing people said to me is that he has to show that willingness to battle a little bit more that said I'm I'm still shocked that he didn't get claimed. You know, quick regroup here on Lassie Thompson.

One thing as well, I don't know how you always felt with Thompson in Ottawa, but it almost seemed as if for a while it seemed like it was an awkward fit or it was a relationship that was destined to fail going back to when he played junior hockey in Kelowna. He played junior hockey with Kelowna Rockets from Finland. And after that one year with Kelowna, decided to go back and play in Finland. Ottawa wanted him to stay. Not only was Kelowna a good team, and we all know Kelowna's history, Elliot, of developing elite

level defensemen, but they're also hosting and COVID rubbed it out, but that year they were supposed to host the Memorial Cup. It was supposed to be in Kelowna that year, and they thought this could be a great experience for their player. He chose to go to Finland

instead and play there, and I was told the ottawa senators were none too pleased about that decision and you know how those things work with young players elliot and how memories are long yes they are and blah blah blah blah blah it almost and and then last you remember last season how good he started out the year as well like it was like okay so things have turned around i don't know how it felt to you, but it really felt like an awkward fit after that first year where he played in Cologne

and decided not to go back. And you know what teams are like. I don't know. It just felt like an awkward one. Okay, so we're talking about Lassie Thompson, now a member of the Anaheim Ducks. Some bad news for the Anaheim Ducks. Alex Killorn fractured finger four to six

weeks there and the contract sagas drag on with yes oh boy with with Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegers as well what's uh what are your thoughts lately on the Anaheim Ducks Elliot well I wanted to talk about Drysdale a little bit more here because someone sent me a note I guess I guess there was I don't know what it was or where it came from but they said they read something on the internet where things are always true that the Ducks were under investigation for the way that Drysdale's injury was handled at the end of last season and that's not true like I looked into that and I was told that is not the case. But what I do think is this. Drysdale, as we've talked about,

has two years until he's arbitration eligible. And one of the reasons he's two years away and not one is he fell two games shy of the minimum games played this year because of a shoulder injury so if he had played two more games this year he would have accrued a season towards arbitration he didn't so he's got to wait an extra year and that's part of this situation like anaheim is using its CBA hammer in this case Drysdale has you know, no rights at all Basically, so an Anaheim is grinding away at him now what I do believe and again

This is kind of it's something that you know, like the one thing here at the end of what drysdale is Drysdale from what I'm told does not want to make a stink about this he wants to be quiet get his deal done and get back into play I've heard that he's asked that there basically be no conversation uh around him like he just doesn't want anyone talking on his behalf he wants it to be quiet as it stands he just wants he just wants to get this done that's basically the way he feels however I have heard that there have been some conversations about just how the end of last year went and whether or not he could have played there was a time last year at the end of last year there was some thought that he might play and he didn't There was some thought that he might play and he didn't and I have heard that

kind of an undercurrent of this conversation is Could he have played those two games to get him this service here? Which would change the tone of the conversation? So I think and again, I don't necessarily believe Anaheim did anything wrong here I don't believe they're under investigation but there is a little bit of discontent from what I understand that could Drysdale have played last year and gotten those two games so that's that's where we are i think that's an undercurrent to the entire negotiation is that because like i said the ducks really have the cba hammer here and they are wielding it like thor in the dark world so there is hang on so we can pause. There was some speculation that in order to make sure they had the hammer, there is a thought out there that perhaps they maneuvered this situation

into a place where it assured Pat Verbeek that he had this hammer. The one thing I've heard about Drysdale is he does not want this to be any more of a story than it is. Like he's just a really quiet guy that's what Jamie don't worry no one listens to this podcast like so like I want to be very careful of that I think that I don't think anyone is accusing the ducks of doing anything nefarious like that because I think that's a huge accusation and if you're going to make it you better be sure however what i do believe is that maybe he could have played maybe but now that he

didn't the ducks are using their hammer you get what i'm saying here yeah no i get it i get that uh and if you're the drysdale camp you're looking for a little more understanding and the anaheim camp is saying and we always use the arm of kick elaine an example around this one sometimes you have the hammer sometimes the player has the hammer both sides are going to use it don't be surprised when they do you know the one thing that i i really think here is that we are seeing some teams really use the hammer when they've got it it was so many teams right up against it how can you not i i understand drysdale's point of view and i also understand anaheim's point of view well look at that like i think when you're capped up, you might have to. But the one thing I always remember,

the one thing I always say is, I'm 53 now. I take negotiations less personally than I did when I was younger. But you always got to worry about how some of these guys are going to take it personally. That's the only thing. When you're a young developing team,

how much of this do you want to build up? Yep. Like eventually when this Ducks team, and like you said, like the conversation around Anaheim is look at the prospect pool. Nevermind the prospect pool. Look at the young players that are on the roster right now.

You know, look at Zgris, look at McTavish, look at Carlson on the horizon. Like you're starting to see, you know, the route that's going to lead to the fruit here for the Anaheim Ducks. When they finally arrive there, do you want them to have that sour taste in their mouth or have something bitter? Have something bitter in the back of their minds about how they've been treated by this organization. And that's not to say that Pat Verbeek should just, you know, open up the Brink's truck and say, you know, take what you want. Just leave me a little bit of dignity at the end. But I do understand that concern, you know, and I do understand that Drysdale, Zegers, all these guys understand that it is a business. But still, where do you want them to be at mentally with your organization when this team and these players arrive? I get it. I get it.

Just a quick update here. Wanted to add a little bit more about Zegers. I'm under the impression that there has been some progress made there. I wouldn't want to say it's anywhere close to being done. I don't know. I don't want to get anyone overexcited, but I do believe some progress has been made there. You have a thought on the cologne injury here?

And oh, we should mention as well, speaking of Anaheim, how about that scare last week? John Gibson injured against the Los Angeles and then everybody exhales when he shows up at practice the next day. Wow, it's been a while since we've seen someone who looked that sick on the ice. I was glad he was okay

because you're worried that's a bad concussion or something like that. So I was glad he was okay enough to practice the next day. Okay, the Minnesota Wild. Bill Guerin, general manager, getting some work done towards the end of last week. Matt Zuccarello, a two-year contract,

8.25 for a 4.125 AAV. Marcus Foligno, four times four, the $900,000 bump in the four-year contract. Your thoughts, and we're going to get to, you know, what's next for Minnesota here. Well, Ryan Hartman to come. I was going to say the impending ufa ryan hartman here but still uh zuccarello re-ups marcus felino re-ups as well the one thing about bill garren is

what's interesting about him is is that he's i don't know if i want to say uniquely impulsive when it comes to gms but like when he decides he wants to do something, he gets it done. If you take a look at these conversations with Zuccarello and Foligno, and they're both represented by the same agency, he basically got them done fast. They were done really fast. And one of the things that Garen told me about has some of his decision-making, like when he sometimes wants to trade a player,

he doesn't necessarily go out there to create a market for it. He decides what he wants for that player. He targets teams that can deliver what he wants, and he tries to make it and get it done. So I think he's obviously got a decision-making process but once he decides he's gonna do something there's no BS he goes and gets it done like I would bet when he called Foligno or Foligno's reps and I think Foligno's Pat Morris I bet you he said look here's my

number and and said if you want it it's there if you don't you don't and felino wisely he's like four times four i love it here sign me up and and you know the thing is like garren knows and you can read his quotes garren knows that not everybody thinks it's a great deal but he's like i i don't care what anyone else thinks. I know my team. I think I know what makes us successful or what puts together a winner. And come hell or high water, I'm going to do what I think is right.

I'll tell you something. I think that, I think Garen would be a fascinating guy to follow for a year. Like Michael Lewis is on 60 Minutes Sunday night. He's doing a thing on Sam Bankman free to be followed around and all this craziness. I mean, that's going to be insane. I think Michael Lewis should follow around Bill Guerin for a year

because it would almost be like the anti-Moneyball, I bet. You know, Moneyball was thinking, thinking, thinking, plugging guys in, looking at what the numbers meant who's the outlier how can we take advantage of something that we think is valuable that nobody else uses at that time walks non-base percentage and i think garen would be like i'm thinking i'm thinking i'm thinking i'm going with my gut and i don't care what anyone else thinks well i mean that was sort of one of the things that he talked about in, in, in Russo's piece when he, when he talked about, you know, defending the, uh, the, the Marcus Foligno contract, he said, and I'm paraphrasing here, I don't have it in front of me, something

along the lines of, uh, we're a better team with Foligno in our lineup. We're a better team with this guy around. It's not just, you know, the, uh, the, the the what you see by way of stats this guy makes us a better team we need to be a good team i think that if you're the gm of the minnesota wild you're looking at your division you're saying hang on a second here like it's like we know what colorado is going to be we know what dallas is going to be and after that it might just be jump ball and why not us again and this guy makes us better i. This guy brings an element that other guys on this roster don't. Well, if you take a look at Garen Stanley Cups,

and he won a couple as a player, he probably had one or two guys on his team that he looks at and says, Marcus Foligno. Listen, hang on a second here. Pause on that. I think that there's part of marcus felino that bill garren looks at and says i was like that felino's never been as talented a scorer as garren was no i'm not i'm not saying that that you know bill marcus felino is what is now what

bill garren was no bill garren was a much superior hockey player but i look at like the i look at the nature of what bill garan brought to every team and don't you see part of that in marcus felino yes like what is he talking about like skill like you know a player with skill who's tough yeah but you know what but but like i i don't think it's a fair comparison i'm not saying he's bill garan i just think you're trying no i think that's exactly what you're saying elements and i think you're trying to curry favor with the felinos i betray my my love for uh for the felinos of sudbury let me get on let me get talking about nick here and then i'll get on to mike that's pretty funny uh by the way before we go on oh

anything else minnesota wise i just wonder about ryan hartman and you know he's a an unrestricted free agent uh coming up at the end of the season you talk about getting deals done um when a decision is made here and look it's not exactly a secret that the minnesota wild and they've needed one for a long time are a little bit thin down the middle Elliot Friedman yeah how much does that play into Ryan Hartman here well I think also he likes Hartman I think it's I think you're totally right it's obvious he likes him he's um Hartman's making one seven now I think they've offered him a pretty significant raise One of the things someone said to me was they would be curious to see what Minnesota did for term here,

but I think they've offered them a pretty nice raise. So we'll see where it goes. Like I said, you know, he goes in hard guarantee says, this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm offering. And Garen,

I think he likes to know right away. Like, I don't think he goes in i don't think garen's the kind of guy like let's have a big long negotiation i think he says this is what i've got and this is what i've targeted for you and therefore and it's always interesting like someone one of the agents who's negotiated against him says like garen comes in and basically says here's what we got you slide at. This is what I think. And it's not always easy to move them.

So we'll see what happens there. It's pretty clear he wants it done. Elliot, as we record this, it is October 1st and the waiver wire is frisky. We mentioned Lassie Thompson earlier and there are a number of players who are on waivers today. What jumps out or who jumps out rather to you? There's a couple here.

I think LA, very interesting. Akil Thomas. He would be a name that would be very interesting to me. Does Mark Stone smile at Hayden Hodgson? Yeah, I wonder if the Vegas reporters are all rushing to his locker today. I will be curious to see if anybody takes a leap at Akil Thomas. But the other one there that really stands out to me

is Jack Rathbone. And I mean, everybody knows how I feel about Rathbone who listens to this podcast, the greatest number three in Canucks history with a wide gap between him and anyone else who's ever worn it I think it's a bit of a shame actually because I really thought for a time ago that that was a really good marriage the Canucks and and Rathbone but it's been slowly deteriorating you know I do think there were times that Rathbone considered asking for a trade but never did.

But I've got to think now, if he clears waivers and doesn't get another opportunity, I wouldn't be surprised if that comes up. Maybe just another chance at another organization. I always root for Rathbone. The story of his family is very powerful to me. But I do wonder if, just unfortunately, there was so much promise when he signed,

and I think everybody envisioned a great future and a long future with him as a Canuck. I think we're at the point now where that chapter of the book or that section of the book is about to be closed. Just checking on Puckpedia here, Jack Rathbone represented by Elliot Friedman. What are you advising your client at this point, Elliot? Let's just see how this all plays out.

I do like the shot of Kevin Bieksa, by the way. That's a standing good one here. Jansen Harkins in Winnipeg is interesting. I know there have been teams previous who have called about Jansen Harkins. I believe Boston was one of them. I wonder if there could be some interest with the Red Wings and Jansen Harkins,

but much like everybody else here we'll we'll see where this one ends up here because a lot of people that are thinking that's uh harkins is more an nhler than an ahler we'll see what happens here although you know what the interesting thing we always focus so much on timing like the timing of when you put someone on waivers we talked about this last time yeah with goaltenders the timing of when you put someone on waivers. We talked about this last time with goaltenders. The timing is so sensitive. Like right now, everyone's terrified to put a goalie on waivers because you know who in Tampa is injured. So everyone's scared to do goaltenders.

There are some teams like that. You know who someone brought up to me? Alex Lyon. Oh, yeah, for sure. So last year, Alex Lyon saved Floridaida's season yeah until bobroski got healthy he won huge games for them and detroit's got him and reimer and huso and alex lyon is it two times 900k like detroit's got to be thinking about you know what what exactly they got to be worried about that I think there's

we talked about Buffalo but Detroit's one team I look at like we've all talked about Toronto with Martin Jones but if I'm if I'm Detroit I am really nervous about what's going to happen if I put Alex Lyon on waivers yeah

the only thing and you mentioned to kill Thomas a couple of seconds ago, and I mentioned Jansen Harkins as well. The only thing about this right now, from a timing point of view, you look around, every team's got a million forwards still. Like the time to get someone through waivers, if you have forwards, do it now. Do it now before this week begins. That might be the the saving grace there for uh for a couple of teams all right elliot chicago blackhawks conor bedard go well

so i'll get there in a roundabout way as i usually do about everything i talk about but on the weekend uh jeff for the western canada professionalockey Scouts Foundation inaugural roast. And basically what this organization has been created for, and Garth Malarchuk, longtime Toronto Scout, is one of the real driving forces behind it, and there are many. You know, Craig Button, who works for the Evil Telecom, he is also a big driving force behind it. And basically, what it's there for is they want to honor some people like there's no scouts in the Hall of Fame and scouts are a huge backbone

of the sport. So they want to honor some people. But also more importantly, what they want to do is when some of these individuals retire, you know, make sure they have medical care if they need it and if there's any other positive hockey related causes for kids to play hockey or whatever they want to try to help support it like for example they told a story of one a long time scout right now who's undergoing some medical work and they have to stay in an airbnb near to the hospital and these are costs and these are the kinds of people that they they want to help it's a it's a very worthy cause and they roasted ron as part of their inaugural banquet and it was a fun event and i was one of the roasters but that's great you know the

the one thing that really stood out for me on the weekend is there was a debate among them about bedard and how many points they think are goals they think he's going to get this year and oh geez i gotta tell you they were raving about him like yeah i know the one the one thing that you know you forget when you're in the studio so much is just how much good conversation is out there that you miss because you're not traveling but like i thought bedard had a hell of a week last week for a lot of different reasons and we'll talk about those but there was one person who said like you know when bedard was working out at the combine like you know you know he's not

the tallest guy in the world but you want to see how his body is and they said that when he was doing the reverse pull-ups or the reverse chin-ups they said you could see his arms and they said that when he was doing the reverse pull-ups or the reverse chin-ups they said you could see his arms and they were powerful like there were some guys talking about his forearms are already legendary yes like his forearms are already like gordy how but that's that's how they're talking about bedard's four but like an 18 year old you're wondering about his strength and they said like the moment you saw him do the reverse pull-ups, you realize just how powerful he is. And they're very high on him.

There were guys like 35 goals, 75 points, and nobody was really disagreeing. They were raving about Bedard. What are you saying? You're saying it's going to be lower? I don't know. For rook rookies i always come in conservative like i i mean i'm saying to myself okay to me the over under is like 66 points yeah you know i like i'm not gonna argue with you but i'm taking the over no we just we just know Chicago is going to have a challenging season. We're going to see who's playing around Conor Bedard and like NHL is hard,

man. Yeah. I don't, I don't argue with that. Like, like I look, I look at the first, like you,

I look at the first week of exhibition and I hope no one's insulted by this, but to me, it's not that it's unwatchable, but it's bad. Like really that the, the first week of hockey is a real tough watch. If you're just looking for NHL standard, like I look at it and it's like, okay, I'm watching bad AHL at this point. So I don't put a lot of stocks specifically in the first week, second week, it starts to warm up here a little bit and it gets better. And things that we saw from certain players, I always take with a grain of salt.

Like was I impressed by Conor Bedard? Yeah. How could you not be? But he still hasn't had the test because I look at those games in the first week and I say it every year. Important to have them understand why they have them. I get it. And have a look at what you have in the organization.

But Elliot, the games are a tough watch, man. The first week, the games are a tough watch. Thank you for ruining my story completely. But I was just trying, basically the whole point of my conversation is how these guys were raving about him.

Thanks, Killjoy. That's a great team player you are. Connor Bedard is remarkable. He's incredible. I just want to see a tougher test. And I don't think we have any doubt that he's going to leap over whatever hurdle they place in front of him this week coming up.

But I'm not going to base anything for the regular season based on what I saw in the first week of the exhibition schedule. I just can't. I can't do it. I can't do it. There must be a lot of fun at parties, Jeff. People must really invite you a lot.

Anyway. My invitations get lost in the mail plenty, Elliot. Trust me. But I don't know. I look at, what did Sidney Crosby put up? He put up 105, 103, 104 points in his first season. Is that a standard we should have for Conor Bedard? I just said 75 points.

No, they said 75 points. I think that's very reasonable. But to me, people picture scouts as these crotchety old guys who hate all the young players. That was what really stood out to me was how much they were raving about him. I really liked that. I thought Bedard had a really interesting week. He keeps on saying, when I make like that. You know, I thought Bedard had a really interesting week. Like he keeps on saying when I make the team.

So there's a few things I'm starting to learn about this guy and figure out. Number one, I think there's a real personality there. I do. And I'm curious to see how it manifests itself. Like number one, and I think it's a real fun personality and a chance to be a real star personality for the NHL. Like, you know, first there was the bit about where he says, I want something to talk about with you guys, so I'm going to say I'm going to cook food.

And then he admits that he has no idea what he's actually cooking. I just wanted to say something to you guys. Like, I think that's funny. But it also says to me he's kind of armed with a plan about, okay, I better have some things to talk about here now he just knows he needs a little bit more depth on them you know that the day at the practice where he stayed out late to shoot some more pucks well first of all he works like he didn't want to go off the ice in the overtime and they asked him about a post game

and he says I love hockey well he shows it like you watch him at the practice the other day and he's staying late to shoot and this is why like I remember with the young Oilers they always used to stay on the ice late like Brett Callaghan once told a story and I think it's also in in the book the game of our lives where they would stay on the ice after practice they go to go to center ice and they'd bet each other money who's the first guy who could hit the crossbar at the other end right but it was because they had fun and they liked it and they wanted to be on the ice like i see that with this guy and even at the end of that practice that i think it was scott powers of the athletic who shot the video he's still doing a game of can i flip the pucks into the

bucket like i'm not putting the pucks into game of can i flip the pucks into the bucket like i'm not putting the pucks into the bucket i'm flipping the pucks into the bucket to see if i can do it and i like everything's a game to him everything's a competition i use game in a positive way not negative like everything is a test of what can i do and i think the other thing too is like if i'm a kid who's going to a practice and i get a chance to go in and watch the Blackhawks, I know if Bedard's out there, I'm going to get a show because he's going to stay on and do something fun for me. I, I think that's a small thing, but I think that's a big thing. Like, I think that's how you,

that's the kind of thing that can make a young kid a fan of hockey. I get it now. Like he's a bit of a compartmentalizer or like a bit of a, a, a task setter. Like when he says, first, I've got to see if I make the team. We all roll our eyes. First of all, we all know he's going to make the team. But to me, that's his process.

That's his, you know what? I'm not going to talk about 35 goals or 70 points, or I'm not going to listen to Jeff Merrick say, I'm going to get 12 points in 82 games this year. First, I'm going to worry about making the team, and then I'll worry about making the team and then i'll worry about the next thing so even though we're all laughing at that that's his process and the thing is as we cover him and we get to learn him and i'll tell you something of all the jerseys at this event this weekend for the scouts and okatokes guess which one went for

the most money it was bedard he's and listen he my kid's a guy i've got a 13 and 11 year old boys and uh when i was going to vegas for the nhl players tour this year what do you think the only question they had was will bedard be there yeah like we're going to talk to like crosby and dry sidle and a little bit later you're going to hear you know tom wilson for part of the vegas uh media tour as well all they wanted to know was you're going to hear Tom Wilson as part of the Vegas media tour as well. All they wanted to know was, are you going to talk to Conor Bedard? He hasn't played an NHL game yet.

He has not played one game in the NHL. And my kids are like a lot of other kids as well. Everyone wants the Conor Bedard tape job. We asked him that in the interview, right? What was it like when you saw everyone doing the Conor Bedard tape job? And he said, it's kind of weird that he would have that kind of influence.

But he does. Like already, kids are fascinated with the guy hasn't played one shift in the NHL yet. Yes. Hasn't played one regular season game. It's remarkable. Whatever it is, Jeff, he's got it. Yeah.

He hasn't shown it yet, but we're seeing the glimpses. The quote about the food. The quote about I like hockey. Like, you know, there's a real winner personality there but also he's showing it there he's got a fun personality he's got an all business personality and they all and you have to separate them and the all business personality is I haven't made the team yet and some people roll their eyes and laugh at it but if you really think about it it's a window into who he is he's telling us who he is don't bring me anything until i accomplish what's before

it mcdavid did that in erie with the otters when he went from the marley's and minor midget to training camp and i i think he like still had his marley's helmet and gloves on he's like i'm not wearing eerie i haven't eerie stuff i haven't made the team yet and to your point everyone just rolls the eyes and says like okay connor okay connor whatever whatever guy by the way this whole thing about the logo on the floor don't put the logo on the floor if you don't want to get stepped on look you know you're right but i also think about it this way jeff what rule if i come visit your house which will never happen because i never want to go there but if i come visit your house what rule do you have in your house that i'm going to say it's stupid but i'm going to listen to it because it's your house what rule do i have

yeah yeah there's really for guests there's really not many we'll just talk about you behind your back when you leave can you believe what elliot did well i'm used to that i work in sports media i know that happens all the time oh okay that's right yeah yeah but like some people have weird house rules and you have a choice do you want to go in their house or not? Part of that is, though, Elliot, that dressing room, I know players don't like hearing it, but that's where media works. Still, it's their house. They decide who gets let in and who doesn't.

I agree with you. Put the thing on the roof. I remember at the 2004 world cup of hockey when canada won they put a giant canadian flag on the floor of their room and you couldn't and like you couldn't not walk on it i was it's the most uncomfortable i've ever been in a room because i'm trying to like basically walk on the stall seats so I don't step on the Canadian flag like that was the dumbest thing I've ever seen well I've seen plenty of things dumber than that but dumbest on the floor and and that shouldn't have been done but and I think they should put

it on the roof but look if you're invited into somebody's room you gotta follow their rules yeah but if the rule is like if if uh if I invite you over and then put, like, a giant, like, German shepherd logo in the front hallway, and you and your family have to, like, tiptoe around it because I'll be offended if you dare step on the German shepherd head rug that's in front of the front door, don't you have the right to say to me hey dummy maybe don't put that here you've invited me over you're the host yeah why are you doing this to your guests no one focuses on like why are you doing this to media everyone's focused on well you need to conform to our you've invited us in here yeah but if if i if i get invited to your house which your dog lives in and i step on your dog it's an accident but i'm not gonna blame the dog for sitting there no that's totally

different that's chalk and cheese no it's not it's completely the same it's completely the same no as a matter of fact you know what you know what i got out of this you are not a true dog lover i'm not a true dog lover no because okay you're saying that the guest is over your dog which lives in the house i think listen you know what i think it was the montreal canadians they used to cover up the logo when the media came in so you could walk on the cover over top of the logo on the floor i got like again i agree with you should not walk on the cover over top of the logo on the floor. Again, I agree with you. It should not be on the floor. Put it on the ceiling. But when I get invited to someone's house, I understand.

House rules. House rules. And the rule of this podcast is right now we take a break. And we'll come back with the Montana's Thought Line, some questions, and some voicemails from you and Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals, all still to come on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Watch out where you stand. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. All right, welcome back to the podcast. Time now for the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue and fried pickles.

Elliot, what are you warm to today, Elliot? Try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the email by phone phone [phone] ryan from duluth minnesota i love this one okay elliot you're about to find out why elliot and jeff avid listener from duluth minnesota thoroughly enjoy the pod thanks for it ryan. Gotta say, as a geologist traversing the Great Basin Desert in Nevada, it helps dealing with the utmost isolation. However, I heard Elliot say he was dodging brontosauruses in the Paleozoic era. Now, I'm not sure how many of your listeners are geologists, and I couldn't let it slide. The Paleozoic comprises 550 to 250 million years ago, whereas the age of the dinos

wasn't until the Mesozoic, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, 250 to 66 million years ago. If you were indeed in the Paleozoic, you'd be swimming with a lot of fishes. Anyway, perhaps this little earth history will enlighten some of the listeners. All the best. Go Habs Go. Ryan in Duluth, Minnesota. You knew I was putting that one in. That's fantastic.

Time now for a voicemail. Hey Jeff, hey Elliot. You got a Colorado kid calling you. I was thinking about the three-on-three overtime and what would happen if they put a shot clock where teams have 30 seconds to register a shot on goal and if they don't do so, a small buzzer sounds and they have to dump the puck behind the net

and then get back and play defense and the 30 seconds starts for the other team right then. Thanks, guys. I think it's been discussed at times. I think so, too. At least the spitballing idea of it i can tell you for a fact because someone someone did tell me that's been that has been discussed before so i don't think it's out of the realm of possibility i like i don't get the sense it's a front burner thing or it's definitely going to happen but i think it's been thrown around because what we talked about this last season on the podcast i believe ellie what it's definitely going to happen but i think it's been thrown around because what

we talked about this last season on the podcast i believe elliot what it's turned into is you're waiting for the perfect shot and if you don't have it it just turns into endless regrouping in the neutral zone yes uh regroup uh regroup uh regroup or once upon a time the three on three overtime was just up and down house on fire this is incredible hockey and then you know what wrecked it elliot coaches yes coaches coaches coaches uh a colorado kid submitting that one thank you for that on the uh on the thought line at 1-833-311-3232 uh jose from laval quebec uh hi jeff and elliot big fan of the Learn a lot. Appreciate all the insights you both give. Was wondering why some teams are playing eight games in the preseason like the Oilers and

others like the Habs play only six. Thank you. Have a great hockey season. The answer is a five letter word. Money. Money. You can pick the Cardi B version, the the abba version the flying lizards version that not as well known so pick your version of money it quite simply that there's a minimum i

think it's six i could be wrong about that but i thought it was four i actually thought it was wasn't it minimum four elliot oh let's let's google this maybe we should actually check their facts before we answer it. But that would be... That's no fun. That would be, yeah, really. I think it's a minimum four exhibition games. But to Elliot's point, some other teams who...

Listen, fans come out. They can sell the tickets. They'll do as many as eight. And don't forget, at this point of the season, the players aren't getting paid. Yes. And I will tell you this. I was at the exhibition game in Calgary on Friday night

between the Flames and the Oilers. Happy for Jack Campbell. Yeah, he looked good. Spoke to him briefly after the game. And, you know, the one thing is it wasn't the biggest crowd and certainly wasn't the best game, but it was loud there. And you remember there's a lot of especially kids or fans who can't get into a regular season game and they can't afford the tickets or they

can't access the tickets and that's that's a big night for them and they were enthusiastic and uh that was the one thing that that really struck with me is just you know how many people cannot get into a regular season NHL game that go to exhibition games. And those are people, they're your hardcore fans. They want to see more games. And those are the people you've got to take good care of. True.

Braden submits this one. First of all, thanks for making my drive from Barrie to Bala tolerable every day. Just a question around guys signing contracts and getting the C. Brady Kachuk was announced as captain within days of signing an extension. Backlund just today.

This is from last week. Would NHL contracts ever include anything around becoming the captain? Is there any promise from the general manager to entice the player? Thanks, gentlemen. That one from Braden. John Tavares is another one that comes to mind well i do think it comes up like i remember when anza kopitar signed his big extension in la

they talked about how he would eventually replace dustin brown as the captain i remember for example when the ottawa sanders had curtis lazar and the canadian junior team wanted him ottawa said is he going to be the captain like they talked about it as part of it. So yes, I absolutely think in some of these conversations, you can't write it into a contract, but in these contract extensions, the captaincy comes up a thousand percent. Yes, yes, yes.

Wasn't one of the motivations of Mike Gillis, then general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. Wasn't one of the motivations putting the C on Roberto Luongo a way to entice him to sign an extension? Yes, that was part of it. You are right about that, yes. So that does very much come up. Braden, an excellent question.

Okay, one more. Anonymous from Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jeff and Elliot love the pod. Never miss one. Thank you. My question is about the Hurricanes HL affiliate. Oh, man. You love this one.

You just love this topic. They don't have an affiliate. I'm from Fort Wayne, Indiana. We have the Comets, our ECHL team. By the way, Fort Wayne hockey history is legendary and deep. We have the Comets, our ECHL team. By the way, Fort Wayne hockey history is legendary and deep. We have the Comets, our ECHL team, always one of the top attended ECHL teams, 7,000-ish per game. Rather than starting a brand new AHL franchise,

would a team try to grab an ECHL team that they know works and quote, call them up a league? Think of the Colorado Eagles. I feel like this would be able to get up and going much quicker maybe cheaper why not try to do that um the colorado example that i just cited that was that made the team that made the ahl completely in harmony with the NHL, which is 31 AHL affiliates for 31 NHL teams at that point. That has always been the dream and the main desire.

We all know what's happened to Chicago Wolves this year. They've decided to go independent. You know, I've heard, you know, wild talk about how much money, Elliot, they're spending on players this year. So they are without affiliate and to our emailers point,

anonymous from Fort Wayne, the Carolina Hurricanes have had to disperse players all over the place. We've talked about this plenty. You can do it. Like there are, Fort Wayne is one

because they have a great draw. I think that the Toledo Walleye would be another one. And that is a great, between the Mudhens and the Walleye, that is a great minor league hockey town. It's outstanding. And much like Fort Wayne, they draw, I think, like 73 or 7,400 fans per game. But here's one that I want to throw for your consideration.

And again, i don't think this is the preferred way for this to happen i think ultimately at the end of all of this chicago ends up with an affiliate and then carolina takes you know the affiliate that that team just left to go to chicago for i think that's probably the way the whole thing plays out but you know what i'm curious about was one team in one market specifically that I'm really curious about for Carolina and curious about for hockey in general. And they've got a great building called the End Market Arena.

I believe that's an Oakview rink, Elliot. So that does factor in as well. They're an affiliate right now for the Vegas Golden Knights, but the Savannah Ghost Pirates. Savannah, Georgia. Beautiful rink. They put 7,600 fans in every single, that's their average, 7,600 fans.

It's a, Savannah's a wonderful, a wonderful place to live. I wonder if there's going to be one, and you look at the proximity for, uh, for the Carolina hurricanes, if that would be the one like to anonymous from Fort Wayne's point, if you could call up an ECHL team, that would be the one that I wonder about wildly successful, beautiful building. I think it holds like six and a half, 7,000.

So it's a really good AHL size as well. Like, I wonder if in the back of everyone's mind when they're building the rink that they're thinking okay eventually this is going to be an ahl arena and it's georgia right and we all know where the nhl we suspect is going to end up again at some point i wonder about savannah elliot friedman i wonder about and by the way the merch for the Ghost Pirates, and you know how I love my minor hockey and junior hockey dry fits.

The merch is brilliant. The Ghost Pirates logo is one of the best in North American hockey, hands down. Like the Savannah is hitting on a ton, a ton of great levels here for hockey. That's the one that I wonder about. That was an incredible dissertation. I don't want to take away from any of it

except to say that it's just answer. You know, you just talked there for 28 minutes and didn't answer the question, but it was a great 28 minutes. No, I said you could. No, you can't just call a team up. No, no. I think what you would have to do is, like, would you have to, you know,

fold the franchise and then the parent team, the parent NHL team, would have to try to bring them in as an expansion team? I think that's how Colorado did it, didn't they, with the Eagles? I think that's the way that they did it. But, with the Eagles? I think that's the way that they did it. But again, that made the league whole. That made 31 affiliates for 31 NHL teams. So that worked. I don't think that they want 33 teams for 32 NHL markets between the two sides.

I think that ultimately what happens with Chicago is they play this year, there's another team that wants to change affiliates, they end up getting a deal from Chicago, going with them, and then whatever market that team leaves, Carolina goes into that AHL team, goes into that AHL market.

Again, I could be way off on that one, but just sort of looking at things semi-logically, that's kind of how I see it playing out. So I don't think that it would happen. I mean, if you could take an ECHL, that's what I'm saying. If you could take an ECHL market and presto tomorrow, it's an AHL market. The ones that I do wonder about, I do wonder about Fort Wayne. I wonder about the Toledo walleye and I wonder about my Savannah ghost pirates.

I got nothing else on this one, man. We just talked about this for 35 minutes. Got really happy when I saw that in the inbox. Okay, that's the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals next. Ghost pirates.

Ghost pirates. Canada's home for barbecue. Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals next. Ghost Pirates. Ghost Pirates. Tom, first of all, congratulations on the deal. How much of that is just the weight off your shoulders, the piano off the back, all of it? Yeah, I mean, it's great. I kind of expressed that I wanted to be there. I think the team kind of met us on that, and then we just figured out everything pretty quickly

and got it done before the season. So I love it there. It's where I always knew I wanted to be. And the team kind of reciprocated that and it's got it done. You know, we were talking off the air a little bit like, you know, that teams call for you and, you know, you're a very unique player in this game with a unique skill set. When you hear rumors about yourself what goes through your mind because i mean you love it in washington they love you you hear these things yeah i mean you never really try and think about it too much um when you wake up and twitter's

buzzing kind of randomly about la or ottawa or wherever um i don't know it's kind of fun like it's uh it's part of the part of the gig um but i think everybody knew i wanted to stay in dc and i was hoping i mean at the odd time i had to just text my agent or or pr guy in washington and say hey what's going on here like does the pr guy get back to you because he never gets back to us like does he get back he said don't worry elliot's taking care of it you know we're talking to mac all that so um i mean often there's smoke where there's fire i mean you never really know i'm sure there's a little bit of that it's part of the business but i was happy to kind of put that all to bed and get to stay in dc as you know uh brian mclellan has a little bit of a temper. And I have to say that I don't know if I've seen a team push back on that buzz as much as the Capitals pushed back on yours.

They were adamant. Nothing is happening here. Yeah, there was a couple of good video clips of death stares and him kind of looking at the media and they're asking where this came came from and he's like you guys you know like what you know where do you think so it was it was a couple days of that it wasn't too crazy but then everyone's like oh he's going to la he's going to i'm like okay enough enough is enough have you ever been on the receiving end of a brian mcclellan death stare not yet not yet on my on last deal, he kind of called me. We were talking after my previous deal

when I signed with Washington. I forget what he said to me, but he's basically like, all right, don't make me look bad. Keep doing your thing. I don't know exactly what he said, but it was a six-year deal and I was coming off a two-year deal or whatever.

And he's like, all right, let's do this like it was five six years ago now but that was uh that was funny he's got a good sense of humor yeah and uh keeps his keeps his cards close yes yes he does um you know one thing i want to ask you was the last olympic team the one that unfortunately didn't end up going were you ever told if you were on that team um i was never told if i was on that team no but i know that it was i was in the i was in the hunt um i think what i was told the last time was it was there was a couple guys left for one spot and i still was at the table so i don't know how much validity or truth there is to that i think it's i think it was real like i think it was real it was that whole experience was pretty crazy for me because you know team canada is it's just like a different monster right like it's just this team that is held up at the highest um the best players in the world and

all the superstars so that was pretty pretty cool have you ever thought about what it would be like to be in the same dressing room as sydney crosby uh yeah i mean i it doesn't really count but i was chatting with him yesterday when he was coming off the ice and uh such a great great person um i haven't crossed paths with him off the ice much. Um, we haven't got into it too much on the ice either. So with all the, considering the rivalry, um, you know, I just tried to make sure that he doesn't make me look bad out there. Um, but he seems like a great person. And I mean, to be in that room with the caliber of players that were on those calls and doing some of the meetings leading up to the Olympics.

It was definitely kind of a pinch me moment to be mentioned with some of those names. One follow-up on the Olympic thing. And you mentioned that Team Canada is its own beast. What would that mean to you? Every Canadian kid grows up and it's Stanley Cup, but it's also now the Olympics are a reality. Gold medal Olympics, it's on hockey players' bucket list, check mark list. Yeah, I think you said it perfectly.

When you're a kid in the backyard, on the backyard rink, when you're growing up, it's NHL, Stanley Cup, Team Canada gold medal. I mean, that's the hockey resume that matters most to every Canadian kid. Olympic gold medal, I should say. And I think growing up, seeing some of those teams, seeing Sid score that goal in Vancouver, those moments are just like such proud hockey moments and something that every kid that's playing the game dreams of doing. So, I mean, it never happened. So it's fun to talk about it.

Who knows if I would have been there, but just to be part of that process and to be mentioned in that group of players was pretty cool. Just summer of change in Washington. New head coach, some player changes. It's been a long time since we've seen the Capitals try to reload on the fly like this. What did you think watching everything that was going down?

Yeah, I mean, it starts with the coaching staff for sure. And I think Carbs is coming in. He's hungry, he's motivated. You can just feel the excitement from him. He wants to do well. He wants to... You feel the genuine approach. Like he wants the team to do well. He wants individuals to do well and he's hungry.

So that's great. And I think with a, with a proud group like ours, when you don't make the playoffs, you know, there's a bit of a chip on your shoulder guys. There's winners in that room. They want to get back to playing meaningful hockey at the end of the year in the playoffs. If you don't make the playoffs, it feels like a bit of a waste of a year. We want to be playing in those games, whether it's game one or game 20 or whatever in the playoffs.

That's the big time. That's when you want to be playing. There's definitely a cool feeling in the room. I think guys are excited. If we can get healthy and things fall into place, we've built a culture and an identity there where we were a team to be reckoned with pretty much every night for 10 years um and we need to get back to that and that's where we want to be you know i don't know that there was one team

that felt one injury more than you guys did with john carlson yeah like a look at the people used to joke with me last year that Carlson should win the Norris because we finally realized how valuable he was. Well, Hart, because of that. Yeah. MVP, like... Well, the one year he almost won the Norris,

I think he was on a point per game through like 50, 60 games. Yes. And then I don't know what, I don't know who won it that year, but... Yossi. Yossi, yeah. Because I don't know if it was the year

that we stopped or something, or maybe not, but he's a horse for us. He's steady back there. He's got great offensive mind. And he's just like, if you've seen him off the ice, he's a big guy. He's powerful. You don't realize it when he's out there,

but when he wants to skate, he's powerful. He can defend. It was really unfortunate. When Baki and I kind of got healthy and came back, I don't know if we even played. I think he was already hurt before we came back. Um, so we were, we were missing, we missed him for sure. He's just a steady rock on the blue line for us. I was going to say, I know that players, I understand that we all do the, you know, injuries are, it's part of the deal, right?

When you're a pro athlete in a contact sport like hockey, but how much do you look at last year and say, you know what, we had John Carlson in the lineup, things are different. Yeah. I think, you know what, there was, we were so close down the stretch. Like there was some big games that when we were right in the hunt, right in the wildcard race, if one game had gone our way, it would built momentum like there was a game in pittsburgh i remember down the stretch that like we started winning a couple games we were feeling good we might get in and then we didn't get that game and there's a few of those and i think a guy like johnny like you pull some of those games in your direction like he makes a difference so there was maybe a handful of games we ended up being 10 whatever points back but that was the end result

it's always tough down the line once you're out you may be not playing with that same uh hunger as a as a group but there was a couple games where i think if we had johnny we could have pulled him our way it would have put us in right right in the hunt and and who knows but you miss a guy like that it's tough when you have injuries especially if the guy of his caliber last one for me tom, Tom, you know, Ovechkin over the next couple of years, he's going to break that goal scoring record. And, you know, I was thinking, I was reading an interview with Mark McGuire the other day, his 25th year anniversary of him breaking the home run record.

And he was just talking about how crazy it was, like looking back, like everybody who was there and, and, and just the whole craziness of that chase. Have you thought at all about what that is going to be like? Yeah. I mean, it's pretty incredible what he's doing for everybody in hockey. And he's so, he's so inclusive to his teammates and his organization and his city to make everybody feel like they're a part of it. And I feel like the whole sport of hockey feels like they're, they're a part of it. Like they're what,

what people are, the ride that people are being brought on right now with, Oh, is something that no one ever thought we would ever see or may ever happen again. And he just does it with such, um, fun to his,

to his game. You know, people just love watching him, love him doing his thing, scoring hat tricks to get milestones, passing all these legends. And it's only going to get crazier, but as a teammate, I think his success in the team success kind of go hand in hand. If he's scoring goals and he's playing well, the team's going to do well. And, uh, you know, I'm sure he'll be looking at me and Koozie and Backy and Osh

to get him the puck and make sure he has a chance to shoot it. But he's just one of those guys, get him the puck, he'll do his thing. And it's been so fun to play with him and he makes you feel like you're a part of it and to have a front row seat is pretty special to see what he's doing and watched him growing up. And now you get to be a part of it and try and support him any way you can.

He's been in the game a long time, as you well know. And he's heard everything about his game. And you've heard a lot of people talk about Ovechkin and his game. What do you think everybody gets wrong about Ovechkin? Is there one thing where you look at and you say, how can you say this about Ovechkin? Is there one thing where you look at and you say, how can you say this about Ovechkin? This is not even close to being true. I think how much he cares.

For a while there, people were like, he's a great player, but maybe he's not going to win. This guy's held the bulk of the load for our team and as a superstar for 17, 15 years, 15 plus years and you don't get to be that good and that consistent without how much hunger and care you have for your own game your team's game winning um and he's just like the hungriest guy that i've ever he's never satisfied and he cares like he's had numerous conversations with me over the years about how to be better how to how to make you know how to make my game better how to be a better

leader from his eyes like we i mean we grew up on opposite sides of the world and we're different people and he's always trying to help me in whatever way he can and he's a he's a great teammate and he makes coming to the rink every day just that much more fun like he's such a personality he's himself through and through and he he makes it fun for everybody in that room from day one they come on board with the capitals you see all these guys that revamped their careers in washington and it starts with him they come in they're welcomed and you are who you are and everybody has fun and is part of the team and that's just it's a cool way that he leads it's very very unique and i guess some

people may not see that from from the outside listen it's it's bizarre not seeing washington in the playoffs i know you're gonna do your best to rectify that this season best of luck this upcoming season yeah thanks for having me guys that's tom wilson of the washington capitals elliot today ending the podcast um as we all have memories and are still very much thinking about uh the life of chris. And when I say The Life of Chris Snow, Chris Snow's legacy still lives on in other people as well. He was someone that, you know, right up to the very end was helping and giving. And that was the story of Chris Snow, who passed away Saturday at the age of 42.

I'm going to write more about this in this week's notes because I'm more comfortable writing about it than I am talking about it. But the one thing I did want to say was, you know, Chris obviously was at one time a sports writer before he worked with teams. And one of the things that we talked about is what he learned about covering the game or how he would cover

sports differently after he was in working for a team what he knew before when he was covering and what he would change after being there and the thing that he talked about was the impact that the words or that we say or write had on people's families like not always the players themselves or the executives themselves but the families around them now I've taught whenever I talk to families I talk about I say to them that one piece of advice I would give you is don't make life harder on your sons or daughters in sports by, or the people in your families in sports by telling them what you see or read. Because oftentimes I found it gets twisted. Like that's someone you really care about. So you tend to make it sound

even worse than it actually was in my experience, the vast majority. But that doesn't mean that your words don't have an impact. And I would think about that a lot. Just what I say or what I do or something I report in terms of a trade or anything like that, how that can affect the families of people. And that was the number one thing Chris said, and it was something I thought about a lot. As you just mentioned, Jeff, I really do feel strongly that Chris's legacy, not only being a great husband and father,

will also be about the experimental treatment that he went under and how, a lot of ways it was very successful for the future that you know when when he did it they weren't really sure how it was going to work and for a time it it really was successful and because he was willing to do that they will be able to try hopefully because this is such an insidious disease, they will continue to make progress and continue to improve quality of life and hopefully someday find a cure down the road. Like he moved the line, he advanced the cause and, uh, you know, he didn't know when he started, if it would be successful. So I'm, you know, I think that's one thing I think about a lot. At the Flames exhibition game on Friday night,

they did a short video of Chris Snow, and at the end, they wanted everyone to clap for him because of all the great things he did and what a great person he was. And I thought that was just such a beautiful touch. I often think, I want to say when Joe Lewis, the boxer died, that happened at his funeral was that people were told to clap because all the great things that Joe Lewis accomplished in his life. And I always liked that touch. I think it's such a beautiful touch. And I

think it's honestly, it's the way a lot of people should be remembered, But, you know, it's hard. It's hard on the family, obviously. You know, my mother died when I was 11. You know, my sisters, my two blood sisters, they were younger. I saw the effect that not, you know, having a mother around at that time, the effect it had on them.

I think about the kids a lot. I know they will have a huge support network. There's going to be people there who make sure they're taken care of. There's a GoFundMe for the family that Kelsey Snow has advocated for on social media that people can find. But the thing that you lose out on the most is just the emotions of having this person there, of having Chris Snow there. And that's what I think of the most. But when I think of Chris, I think that the most important thing he did, well, number one was being a good husband and parent, but number two was that he advanced the cause and and hopefully in the long run what he did is is going to get us closer to curing this peace to the snow family