32 Thoughts: The Podcast - There Was Alcohol Involved

Episode Date: October 13, 2020

After the longest NHL season ever, a few drinks are deserved all around as Jeff and Elliotte run down the past week in the NHL. Vegas landed the biggest free-agency fish in Alex Pietrangelo (00:01), to the displeasure of some Golden Knights players and their agents. The Canucks added Nate Schmidt (28:30), but only after […]

so just on this podcast, I cracked open my beer because now that Petrangelo is signed, I feel I can relax a little bit and I've got some scotch here too for after the beer. So I would suggest to anybody who's listening, stay to the late ends of this podcast because it could get better. Here's a buckled Elliot Friedman trying to stammer out a few words.

Elliot, there's a lot of layers to this Alex Petrangelo situation, and that's why the podcast is out late when you consider we wanted to do this once all the big stories were put to bed. Here we are on Monday night, 9.46 Eastern, and the Alex Petrangelo situation is put to bed, which bleeds into the Nate Schmidt situation,

which bleeds into the Vancouver Canucks situation, which goes back into the Vegas Golden Knights situation. And let's begin there. Alex Petrangelo, the deal is seven years it's 8.8 million dollars on the aav and a full no move clause before we talk about the team let's talk about the player what just happened with alex petrangelo go brick by brick so i think that alex petrangelo and st louis chatted several times in the last week but from what i've heard although there was plenty of talk and plenty of negotiation i don't know that anyone ever believed it was going to get done. I just think the sides were too far apart philosophically and it had been left too long.

I think by that time, you know, Petrangelo was frustrated. He was upset. I think there was a lot of emotion involved. I just don't think they ever got close enough where anyone was confident that they were going to get a deal. So free agency started at noon Eastern on Friday. I had heard Friday afternoon that he was going to go to Vegas on Saturday, couldn't get it confirmed.

And then of course, somebody who worked at that airport was gracious enough to tweet out a picture. I heard the deal in Vegas was going to be seven times 8.5. It came out obviously at seven times 8.8. As you said, it's got the no move protection. As we tape this, I haven't seen the structure yet, but I've been told it has the protection that Petrangelo wanted, the buyout protection later in the deal. It's there in the form of signing bonus. I heard it was a grind. I think everyone is curious to see if St. Louis is going to file a tampering charge here. It's been rumored that they were going to do it and we're going to see if they actually do. I know that when Toronto signed John Tavares,

the Islanders filed a tampering charge against the Maple Leafs, and I don't think that went very far. I think the Leafs were clear. They did an investigation or whatever, but the Leafs were cleared, and I don't know if anyone ever thought that the Leafs were going to be in trouble. I mean, it remains to be seen what happens here. I do think there were some other teams that wanted to get in on Petrangelo, but I just don't think Vegas was going to let that happen.

No matter how grindy the negotiations got, he was their target. He was the guy they wanted. I think Vegas was always Petrangelo's first choice. That if he got to free agency, they were his first choice. I had heard he told people that, that they were his first choice. And I don't think that anybody is surprised that we're here.

You know, the one team I wonder about, and this is purely my own speculation, is Columbus. There's people in the Columbus organization who know Petrangelo. Kekulainen obviously does. Columbus is not far from St. Louis. Columbus cleared cap room.

And there was a time that, you know, they traded Ryan Murray. They moved Nudavara. There was a time they looked like they were going to trade David Savard. And then I heard that David Savard was taken off the trade block, that he wasn't going anywhere so i admit this is purely me speculating but i wonder if columbus wanted to make a big offer for him well columbus we're

going to bounce around a lot on this pod columbus was rumored to be interested in taylor hall last year we all knew about the dance they did with the Mitch Marner camp and the will they, won't they offer sheet. So this isn't new Columbus trying to be aggressive here. And when they started to clear the decks, I think we all looked at it and said a couple of different things. One, they want protection

in case Pierre-Luc Dubois gets offer sheeted. Two, they want to have the room to resign Pierre-Luc Dubois. And three, they want to take some runs at guys here. Like they feel that they've built something and they want to take it to the next level. I definitely think that. I think one of the biggest questions that Vegas is going to have is going to be internal. I've heard there are some really upset players there. Okay, let's get to that because that is a big piece of all of this.

Okay. And I do want to get to, let me ask you one more follow-up on Alex Petrangelo, and this is about St. Louis. When you look at Doug Armstrong, and we heard quotes talking about, you know, the reluctance of giving out no-move contracts, and the quote is something akin to, and I'm capturing the spirit here, Reg, not the actual quote, you give out a no-move clause and the player has more power than the owner. And we've talked on this podcast and elsewhere,

Elliot, about a hesitation in bonus-laden contracts. That's just not something that Doug Armstrong does. So when you marry those two facts together and you look at it it seemed and again hindsight 2020 impossible for alex petrangelo to go back true or false i never like to say it's impossible but i think it was unlikely like i said they took a real run at it in the last week before free agency and i never heard it was close gotcha okay to the team itself and to help clear the financial deck here, Nate Schmidt goes to the Vancouver Canucks who are a huge beneficiary, get an outstanding defenseman and the media gets a great interview in exchange for a third round pick.

So that goes the other way. And we've heard like, geez, I remember I was with you on draft night and we were talking about Vegas being in the middle of everything and wild names, you know, like everybody's on watch. And when it became obvious over the weekend that Alex Petrangelo was going to Vegas, all I could think about was all these guys. They've seen Stastny leave. There's a rumors about Marc-Andre Fleury and Max Pacioret. All I'm thinking about is

all these guys are saying to themselves, I might be gone. I may have skated my last shift in Vegas in this uniform, and I just signed here recently. This is a new team. The paint isn't dry

yet on this expansion squad. None of the concrete is hardened, and already I'm out the door. Has there been too much turnover already in Vegas? Well, this is what I would say about that. The Golden Knights want to win. And, you know, one of the things that Kelly McCrimmon said in his conference call is that we had what we believed was an incredibly rare opportunity to add a defenseman an elite player like Alex to our team and in different positions but for us we really

viewed it as a very similar situation to the opportunity where we acquired Mark Stone generally these are players that don't hit the market. And we were fortunate to be able to make a trade for Mark Stone and then sign to a contract extension. And in the case of Alex, he did get to market as a free agent. It's when a player like that becomes available, you have to go for it. And I know he's not the only GM who believes that way. They just say, look, like when this, these kinds of players don't become available too often. One of the conversations I remember having about it was early in Mark Bergevin's time in Montreal. You know, he talked about when Chicago could have traded for Chris Pronger when Anaheim got him from Edmonton.

And he just said that we weren't ready for that trade. It would have cost us a first rounder that Chicago was not ready to give up because we weren't ready to win yet. It was too soon for us. And he says, when you're building, you hit singles and you hit singles and you hit singles. And then when you think you really have a chance to win that's when you swing for the fences and you go you do your chris prongers like he said anaheim made the right call to go for chris pronger then because they were ready to win

chicago wasn't and chicago stayed with what they did and they won three cups and a couple years into his tenure i remember talking about that conversation. And he said, my feelings on that have changed. That now when you have top players, you have to go get them because they don't come available too often. And that's what Kelly McCrimmon said on his conference call tonight. He said that we saw this player. this kind of player does not become available often we decided we were going to target this player and i don't think he's alone in that what i can

tell you however is that there are some players on the vegas team who were bent out of shape over this. And some of their agents were, and some of the players were. Like we already know that Fleury's upset about his situation. Alex Martinez just got traded there, and his name was out there in rumors. Schmidt, who did get traded, was in year two of a long extension, and he did get traded. And Stasny got traded,

and there were rumors about Pacioretty, who's got three years left in the extension. He signed there. And Marcheseau, who has four years left in his extension. I also heard some teams that Vegas talked to to create cap space. They asked for Tuck who just signed six year extension.

I don't believe Riley Smith was someone they wanted to move. I heard a couple of teams asked about Smith and they were told, no, we're not moving him. But I think some of those players kind of look at it as the whole identity of the Golden Knights was we were a lot of guys who were brought here who had a chip on our shoulder and we committed here and not all those guys did Stasny came later Martinez came later but you know now you're moving us out and or we just signed here and now guys are getting traded or there's rumors about us and also don't forget like this is a team they fired gerard gallant when he had verbally agreed to a contract extension so the organization you have to be ruthless sometimes there's no question when you

want to win you got to make difficult decisions but there's no question this organization is getting a reputation of that even internally. You mentioned the agents. How are they feeling about this? And how do they advise clients when it comes to the Vegas Golden Knights now? Is it beware or is it, listen, this is a tight salary cap universe right now. Don't worry about getting your feelings hurt. If you can get a chair, grab it. It's like you know your enemy, right? Or you know the person you're dealing with. And I think you know, like Stone got a no-move clause.

Now, Petrangelo, I guess, got one or definitely did get one. I mean, you just have to know if you go there, this is the organization. They churn. They churn players. And if you go there, you know it's possible. Like I know some of the players were upset. And it's not going to be news to the Golden Knights. I'm sure they know that the players are upset.

You know, how do you handle it? That's the one thing you got to do like you can simply say look guys this is business and you have to show up and do your jobs and that's the way it is or maybe they'll talk it over with the players i don't know but there's definitely a feeling from these guys that they know that the organization isn't wedded to them. That sort of winks at the point that you made earlier, which is, you know, this was a group of guys not wanted on the voyage. Like that's it.

The cast off. This is Gilligan's Island, you know, getting rid of these guys off these different organizations from around the NHL. They come together and bam, the chip on their shoulder and they go to the Stanley Cup final. And now it does seem more like, okay, now you are there

to do a job be a professional and you're going to see that with the goaltending situation where kelly mccrimmon on monday night at the conference call said that mark andre florey and robin lenner are our tandem those are going to be our goaltenders well one of the reasons they did is because lenner needs shoulder surgery. Yep. And there were rumors in the last couple of days that it was going to be a long surgery. Now, Kelly McCrimmon said on the conference call tonight, it was a cleanup and they hope he'll be back for the beginning of camp.

They expect him back for the beginning of camp. And I mean, we'll see when camp even is like like that's another one of the issues here but we'll see but the fact is they say they're keeping flurry now the other thing here that's really interesting is that i think vegas was one of the finalists for taylor hall really yes i think they wanted to do it long-term deal or short-term deal short It was one year. Now, it was probably, I would guess they were offering them around five, but they wanted them. And that would have meant they would have had to move more. And I'll tell you the other thing too is that there's a whole situation

in Tampa over Stephen Stamkos. And I believe Tampa has gone to Stamkos and asked him if he would waive. And I think Vegas at least had a conversation about it. I think Vegas at the end decided not to do it because, you know, Stamkos' health, like basically if you're doing that, you probably have to get rid of patch already right

and patch already has less term and he's healthier and i think that's kind of where it was that was one of the names that was out there last week right around draft day yeah was stamkos and watch vegas and vegas being one of the only teams that we could see Stephen Stamkos waving his no move for, because we've talked about this with Nashville and no move clauses before. If you're going to give a team a discount

because of a tax-friendly situation that you find yourself in, you better be sure you have protection. Because if you don't, you could go to a very non-friendly tax situation. But Vegas would be one. So that would make some sense financially for Stamkos to look at the marketplace and say, okay, I'm keeping the same amount of money in my jeans. If I go to Vegas, I'll waive to go there.

Would that be the only way you could see Stamkos waiving the no move? You know, he just had surgery. So, you know, he's probably just recuperating at this point in time. But if I was guessing, I would guess that would be one of the considerations. And I don't know what the post-tax breakdown is. But in terms of pure salary, he left around $2.5 million on the table, right? So I would think that protecting his net income is a big part of this.

Do we expect anything else from Vegas? Oh, they have to do something else to be cap compliant. And Kelly McCrimmon said on opening night we'll be cap compliant, but are we looking at something significant here or just nibbling around the edges? I look up and down their roster. Look at the guys who potentially were available.

I think Pacioretty was available. I think Marcia So was available. Martinez was available. They're saying Fleury's not going anywhere. I got to think you've got to consider the possibility that you know more could be coming like they have to get cap compliant we'll see so you'll see more value contracts like peyton krebs and cody glass in the lineup next season yeah you gotta think so although those guys could have bonuses. True. All right.

We have a lot to get to on the podcast today. And also Zach Bogosian of the Toronto Maple Leafs is going to be aboard. This was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed this interview with Zach. Some great stories and some interesting insight as well from his past. A lot of talk about what he went through with the Buffalo Sabres, how close he was originally to signing with uh, with the Maple Leafs. Um,

he talks about playing, you know, with, uh, with Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonough and Mikhail Sergeyev and the Tampa Bay Lightning and winning the Stanley cup. So that interview is coming up a little bit later on, but I'm going to preface this entire podcast by saying it's going to sound

like the last few days, uh, that we've seen in free agency. As you refresh your Twitter, it's going to be all over the place. It's going to be scatterbrained. Apologies if you're looking for something with structure or something with order or something with any linear progression. This is going to be like, it's going to sound like the last few days of free agency.

As we like to call it around here, welcome to the Cats and Laser Pointers edition of 31 Thoughts, the podcast. We begin with breaking sports news tonight. He's the league MVP and a number one draft pick, but as of tonight, Taylor Hall is a Buffalo Sabre. He has been one of the most highly sought free agents. The forward has agreed to a one-year, $8 million contract. Sabres GM Kevin Adams said he expects big things,

especially when you consider the combination with center Jack Eichel. We want players that want to be here. We want players that are humble and hungry and want to win and want to be part of something special. And if that didn't fit, then we wouldn't keep going down the road and have conversations. But it became very clear quickly that there was interest and Taylor had an interest in being here and being part of something special. And there's where we got to. So it's exciting. Okay, so here we go. Welcome once again to 31 Thoughts, the podcast. We'll get right

into it and we'll bounce all over the NHL starting with the eyebrow raiser. Taylor Hall, Buffalo Sabres, one-year deal, $8 million. There's a lot of reasons I think we can point to as we've had a few, well, a couple of days here now to try to figure out what the motivation would have been, whether it's setting up for next season, whether it's a chance to bump numbers with with jack eichel whether it's an adoration for playing for ralph kruger why did taylor hall sign elliott with the buffalo savers so here's my understanding of the timeline so taylor hall goes to market and he gets a lot of teams that call him, like probably around 25. And I don't think anybody would be really surprised by that.

Now, one thing that happened here is that we all knew Petrangelo was going to get paid. And we suspected that Krug was going to get paid. And he did. And I thought the goalies were going to go fast because there were so many of them. And then I think what kind of happened was the forward market cratered. A lot of teams needed goalies and there were a lot of goalies.

So everybody wanted their date, right? Nobody wanted to be the last dance at the prom and not have anyone to dance with. And the two big D went, or at least everybody thought Petrangelo was going to Vegas, and Krug went first day. And I heard the forwards just got stuck. Like, look, as we tape this, Grandlin still hasn't signed. Hoffman still hasn't signed.

And I just think they got caught in the crunch. And I heard that there were a number of teams that said to hall if you want to do short term we'll do it but then i don't think they could offer a ton of money like i said vegas i think vegas was like five million i don't know if colorado even got to money but i think if they did like they traded sod, it's 5 million for them because Chicago kept a million dollars. So I bet you they would have offered hall 5 million if they would have gotten there, Boston. I think they were willing to go higher. I think, I think,

but they had to clear out room first and I think that's so we start getting into Saturday and we start getting into Sunday and Hall's hearing yeah we can do this but we got to clear up room first and I think he was just like you know I want to know where I'm going so I do think Boston was willing to I don't know if it was the exact same offer, but I think they're willing to consider a bigger one year offer, but they had to make moves and he got to a point where he didn't want to wait. No,

the one team here, I think that was really willing to go term was Columbus, but I'm not sure that hall liked the term number. Like he really felt it wasn't a big term number from what I understand. And so here comes Buffalo and he knows the coach. Eichel will be the best center he's ever played with. And I think he just said, you know what?

I'm sitting here. I know what this offer is. I don't want to wait any longer i'm just taking this and next year these players as it stands right now are playing for 72 percent of their gross salary let's just say he went to colorado for five let's just say it i don't know if it even could have happened but let's just say it could have happened. 72% of five and 72% of eight, you're leaving a lot of money on the table. But I just think at the end of the day, Buffalo was the offer he knew. He didn't want to wait for Vegas anymore. He didn't want to

wait for Boston anymore. And I just think the long-term deal that was on there for, or longer term deal that was on there for Columbus, I think he thought it was low. And I think he just said, I'm taking this. That's what I think happened. This one to me makes some sense. Like initially you think, whoa, hang on a second ago, two seconds ago, Taylor Hall, you know, at the close of the season for the Coyotes is talking about, you know, winning is most important to me. And the next thing you know, he's signing with the Buffalo Sabres on a one year deal. And it doesn't make sense at first glance.

But then when you sort of pull back and try to take as much of a bird's eye view of all of this and have a look at the marketplace, not just this year, Elliot, but next year as well. You know, you look at the list of UFAs for next season, and Taylor Hall is getting $8 million, or however much a percentage of $8 million he's going to get. And you look at the UFAs next season, and Alex Ovechkin's top of the class, but Washington is going to get something done there. And then you go to Ryan Getzlaff, and David Krejci,

and Derek Stepan, and Stny and Saad and Hopkins, Landis Gog, although I can see Colorado doing something there, Zajac, Jaden Schwartz. If you're Taylor Hall, do you not look at this and say, you know what, I can really juice up some numbers here playing with Jack Eichel. Maybe I get moved to the midseason trade deadline. I'm playing with Ralph Eichel. Maybe I get moved to the mid-season trade deadline. I'm playing with Ralph Krueger. I'm going into another series of being an unrestricted free agent.

And again, I'm top of the class. So it's $8 million this year. Maybe I wait one more year where I can be the top dog in free agency and ring the bell when I have some big Eichel-juiced numbers beside me. I think that's all a good plan. I think it makes a lot of sense. The only question, Jeff, is, is the cap going to be any bigger next year? I doubt it, but he'll still be the big dog.

And big dogs are the ones that we've always seen. The big guys always get paid. Yeah. And if you look at that class, that's still a lot of older guys. Like Getzlaff and Krejci and stephan and stas like these are older dudes like he's gonna walk i mean dougie hamilton if he gets a market next year as an unrestricted free agency that'll be a certainly a big contract but when you look at that do you not say yeah you know what taylor hall's kind of a pup there you would think so again if he has a big year you're you're totally right but i just

think the the issue is you know again what's it going to be like next year like you look next year who are the big free agents ovi yeah those guys i figure that one gets solved taylor hall ryan gets laugh butlaff I don't think He's going to be 36 right Yeah he's part of the 203 draft The biggie Like all those guys that I laid down Like Stastny, Saad, Stepan, Nugent Hopkins

Jaden Schwartz, Travis Travis Zajac I don't think Gabriel Landis Gets there I think he gets an extension Okay bouncing around the NHL Jacob Markstrom lands with the I don't think Gabriel Landeskog gets there. I think he gets an extension. Yeah. Okay. Bouncing around the NHL, Jacob Markstrom lands with the Calgary Flames. Six years, $6 million is the AAV. First of all, where did it break down with Vancouver?

I haven't spoken to Jim Benning. He was ducking all my texts about confirming the Nate Schmidt deal on Sunday night or Monday night. I don't even know what day it is anymore. Monday night. So I think what happened was they got to a fifth year on Markstrom on Friday morning and they were simply told it was too late. It's too late. Like I think Markstrom wanted to be in Vancouver and I think the Canucks tried to use that. And they got to a fifth year on Friday morning and they were told it was too late and Calgary had the six times six

and Edmonton had the seven times five I think Edmonton thought they were getting him I think Edmonton really thought they were getting him my impression is that the Oilers thought they were getting him. My impression is that the Oilers thought they were getting him. And then in that morning or that day, they didn't get him. And I think there was another team, Carolina, that made a stealth run at him. And so Vancouver was out and Edmonton was out. And there were all these reports that Calgary was getting him. And I think at the end, Carolina made some kind of stealth run. And I don't know how close it got or if he was even going there,

but I think the Hurricanes tried. And he ended up in Calgary in the six times six. And then I think Calgary was talking to Brody and the Leafs were talking to Brody. And I think there was another team in on Brody, though I'm not 100% sure who it isdy and the Leafs were talking to Brody. And I think there was another team in on Brody, though I'm not a hundred percent sure who it is. And the Leafs got them and Calgary's offer

to Brody was four times 4.5. And I think they turned around, they gave it right to Tanev. They said, okay, Brody's not taking this. It's coming to you. And I think that Vancouver moved off two years for Tanev, but too late.

And I don't think Toronto offered Tanev term at all. I think they might've only offered him a one year deal. I think it's possible. And, you know, obviously he wasn't taking that. So that's kind of where we were. And Tanev ended up there,

you know, Vancouver tried to get Barry and they asked Stetcher to hang on, and he walked away for two times 1.7, and then Toffoli took the four at four-ish in Montreal, and Vancouver was about to get burned down on Monday before they made the Schmidt deal. Now, here's the way I look at it. So everyone's looking at Vancouver and they're saying, well, wait a second.

We could assign Stetcher for two times 1.7. We could assign Toffoli for four times four plus. Why couldn't we do that? And I'll tell you because it's happened in my own life with negotiations, Jeff. And I know it happens with players and it happens. I'm sure everybody out there listening to this

is going to understand this. And that is that, okay, Jeff, if you work at Sportsnet and your contract's up and we lowball you, which we should, cause you're garbage. That's a good point. Yeah. But if we lowball you and then you say, you do the old Johnny Paycheck, take this job and shove it, and then you go out in the open market and you don't get a great deal, you're

not going back to your previous employer unless you absolutely have to. Like if somebody else offers you a deal, you don't think it's great. You say, you know what? I'm taking that deal because I'm not going back. I feel unappreciated and I'm going to try my life somewhere new. Now, maybe you have a family situation that says, okay, I got to stay here or something else or you really love it or whatever.

But most people are going to say exactly what Troy Stetcher and Toffoli did. They're going to say, you know what? I'm going to take this deal somewhere else because this place didn't appreciate me and I can start somewhere fresh. That's the way life works. I would do that. If you were my boss and you offered me a 50% pay cut and I said, I'm going on the market and you said, you do what you want. And I only got the same offer everywhere else. Do you think I'm coming back to you unless I have to?

Not a chance. Not a chance. Not a chance. That's the way life works. So I don't think necessarily that Vancouver could do that deal with Stetcher or Vancouver could deal that deal with Toffoli. I think those players were like, you know what? I'm going somewhere else. Toffoli in particular, I don't know what the offers were,

but I heard there were a lot of teams that checked on him. I heard Philly was there. I heard Carolina was there. I heard Boston was there. Someone told me that Ottawa was there, I heard Carolina was there. I heard Boston was there. Someone told me that Ottawa was there. But Montreal finally got them. How much of this is, by the way,

they do end up getting an excellent defenseman in Nate Schmidt. Like there is a gift here. Like as much as Vancouver was torches at the castle gate, Monday was a gift for them. You get Nate Schmidt for a third round draft pick. That's a hell of a gift.

It does cost you $5.9 million, but that's a hell of a gift that the Vancouver Canucks got. But I look at it too and I say, if I'm Vancouver right now, I've got Sutter coming off the books. I've got Edler coming off the books after another year jordy ben coming off the books after another year um after that i've got rusell off i've got beagle off like i need to start worrying about quinn hughes and elias petterson here well that's what it is right like they're sitting there and they're saying we got to protect ourselves for this now i'll tell you something else i believe vancouver had decided they were going to change the mix of their d i've written about it we've talked about it they felt after that vegas series they couldn't come back with the same group nick schmidt i agree

with you he's a hell of a player he's i'm sure he's incredibly disappointed. You've got a long offseason here to get over that and prepare. And I just think Nate Schmidt is the kind of person that you bet on him with his personality saying, all right, I'm going to make it work. But the one thing I think you worry about in losing guys like Tanev is those guys are Canucks, right? Yep. I understand they didn't want to give him four years. And if you want to make that bet, you can.

But he's a huge personality of your team. He's loyal to the uniform. He's loyal to the organization. Like, I think you get guys who are mercenaries and you get guys who are loyal to the logo. And Tanev is one of those guys who's loyal to the logo. And Tana is one of those guys who's loyal to the logo. And I think it's tough to lose those guys. But I think Vancouver made a choice.

Their choice was they wanted a point in the next few years where they could move Tana down the lineup. They want a point where they could move Edler down the lineup. And now we'll see what they do. But they're thinner. they're not as good and i'll tell you the other thing too is i'm wondering if they extend green why wouldn't they i'm just saying like he's one year away yeah from unrestricted frequency as a coach and on paper as it stands now his team is it looks worse and because they brought in schmidt for 5.9 and no

salary went out or was retained they're cap tight too yeah and they've got jake for tannin to do and they've got adam gaudette to do but they have an arbitration case right and so those players can take two they can lock in at two well also now you have another buyout window so here's the other thing about uh your point about chris taniff and i think it's a good one too about keeping players that have played in and play through your organization like we just saw the tampa bay lightning win the stanley cup and every team's going to have players that have been traded to them and we make a lot about that third line specifically. But those key guys are all brought in, go through Syracuse,

make it to Tampa, win the Stanley Cup. And how many times have we looked at Nashville? Not so much in the blue line, but the forward mix and said, it's all trades. Like no one's been brought through the organization. It's not there. It's all, we grabbed this this guy from over here we got that guy from over here uh this guy came as a package over here we traded the other guy but this guy stayed i don't know i think there's a lot to what you're saying about guys that play through the organization i really do think that that means a lot

to an organization and we just just saw it with Tampa. The only organization that was different was Vegas, but all those guys had the chip on their shoulder, right? But that's it. Like, it didn't feel like they were going to work. It felt like they had a mission or they had a crusade. Like, this is what we are doing. We have a goal. All of us.

Like, we all look around the room and everyone said, okay, so who didn't want you? It's pretty motivating for a bunch of athletes because they all had the same story. I'm switching over to the scotch now, by the way. Okay, it's going to get tasty. Okay, so let's hit a hot button. Let's do Chicago and this quote.

I've never been told that we were going through a rebuild. This comes as a shock. Jonathan Taves, as Crawford goes to new jersey brandon sod goes to the colorado avalanche nikita zadorov comes back the other way and all of a sudden you have taves and you have kane and you have keith and you have seabrook saying hold on a second here i thought we were the blackhawks so my theory on this is that some of these teams that don't think they can win the stanley cup next year have just said we're not spending and you think chicago is one of them i do so one of the theories is and i don't know if it's true or not

is that john mcdonough was fired and one of the reasons was because he didn't want to rebuild and when Chicago decided they weren't signing Corey Crawford and they re-signed Malcolm Subban and stayed internal that said to me that they're kind of writing off next year a little bit now that doesn't say to me that Malcolm Subban can't improve he can but you don't think you're winning a stanley cup with that next year and then the brandon sod trade now i think they feel that zadorov will add some meanness that they've been missing but you know i don't think the players were thrilled about losing sod i think there's some players you don't have to ask for their permission to do things but you have to involve them specifically guys that have won you three

stanley cups guys have won you three stanley cups like you gotta just say hey guys this is what we're thinking like i've tried to track down jon Taves in the off season before, and he's very polite, but he's like off season is the off season. I'm good with that. I'm good with that for Jonathan Taves to go out and do that interview with the athletic. They want you to know how mad they are and disappointed they are. That's a big step.

That doesn't happen a lot in hockey. You know, often in hockey, they'll do it through the agent or they'll tell you off the record and one of us will do it. Like, Taze put his voice to this. That's a big deal, Jeff. You know this sport. But how many times have we talked about, and this is why I wanted to frame it

with the quote from Jonathan Taves. This is, again, the great emerge, I still maintain, the great emerging personality in the NHL that nobody knows about is Jonathan Taves. Everyone just knows that Captain Sirius and furrowed brow and get the job done and angry in the penalty box and brent seabrook's got to calm him down there are way more layers to this

guy and last year as we talked about during the return to play taves asked a lot of questions bingo like there were players who told me that he was not afraid to challenge and ask the questions that needed to be asked. To be honest with you, I'm not surprised that it's Jonathan Taves. I know many might be, but just knowing, and again, I don't know Jonathan Taves. I know about Jonathan Taves. I know people that know Jonathan Taves and have heard plenty of things that I really agree with about Jonathan Taves and his beliefs and his way of life, all of it. I'm not surprised one bit. I'm not surprised one bit. Like I read that Lazarus piece and I just, I'm bobbleheading the whole thing. Like, yep, yep. That sounds like

John Taves, this emerging personality. And to your point, like, I think we're going to see a lot more of a, of a, of an outspoken Jonathan Taves than we ever have had before. Well, like I said, I'll give you an example. So during that whole return to play thing, when I heard that Taves was being very vocal,

I tried to talk to him and he got back to me through someone and politely said, no, what happens there stays there you know he didn't deny anything but he simply said i'm not going to discuss it and he was polite about it was i had no problem with it so the fact that he went public with this it tells you what a big deal it is so what happens then with chicago these are beloved athletes i mean jonathan taves patrick kane the whole thing this whole foundation was built on them these two going back to that

first cup in 2010 and they've watched everyone around them leave coaches gms players goalies everybody well i think you have to explain to them what you're thinking. And I don't know if I'm expecting any of those guys to waive their no trades. And besides, even if they did, you think they're trading Jonathan Taze after the way he just played? You think they're trading Patrick Keene? Not a chance. The one guy,

and I think we've said this before. Duncan Keith. I think there are teams out there, you know, Keith's got three years left but it is a bigger number now it's 5.5 he is 37 but he keeps himself an unbelievable I like to call it Friedman s condition oh my like

exceptional condition yeah light matches off of him but is he gonna want to wave his no move? Depends how bad things get in Chicago. I don't know. Right? I don't know. Like, Kane and Taves would be real hard to do.

Duncan Keith less so. And we've seen this before with player frustration, especially proud players that are used to being on elite level teams and competing in the playoffs and every now and then winning the Stanley Cup. I could see it. I could see it with Keith. I don't know if I could see it with the other guys.

His choice. His choice. He's got the no move. Alright, St. Louis Blues bouncing around. Torrey Krug. They don't get the deal done with Alex Petrangelo and they pick. Torrey Krug. So they don't get the deal done with Alex Petrangelo and they pick up Torrey Krug. Seven years, $45.5 million. And the Boston Bruins are out a defenseman.

And as Petrangelo exits, Krug enters. Your thoughts on this deal? Well, first of all, I think Boston made one of the best free agent signings of Craig Smith. I thought that was a great deal. I think he's a really good player. Agreed. Krug was really upset.

I think he was really hurt by what happened. And I wondered how public he was going to go. And he didn't, I mean, typical of a guy who beat a lot of odds to make it this far. I mean, typical of a guy who beat a lot of odds to make it this far. Undrafted player, carved himself out to be one of the top echelon defensemen of the National Hockey League, and he let it fly. The offer I heard from Boston was six times 6.6, and apparently it came in September of 2019. And then it got pulled.

This is what I heard. It was September of 2019. There was a counter. It went nowhere. And then I heard, although the agent won't say anything, that Kruger, whoever, whatever you want to say, the agent's Louis Gross, made another offer last December. And it was, I assume, and I believe was much bigger than six times 6.6.

It was a much higher and Boston said no. And then I heard they never talked again. Never. never and i believe there was some communication as st louis was making its offer but it never went anywhere and i think they were also told as krug indicated that the old six times six wasn't on the table anymore you know krug really wanted to stay he's's a Bruin. But what I think happened was I think St. Louis looked at two defensemen on that day. One was Krug. I'm not sure who the other one was, but one was Krug. And when the other one didn't happen, they made the deal with Krug.

St. Louis can't be done yet. Like I look at Vince Dunn as an rfa there are a lot of teams asking like what's st louis going to do with vince dunn he's a stealth offer sheet candidate is he not are there going to be any offer sheets i don't know but there's a lot of teams that are up against it right now an offer sheet not like i've always we've talked about this before like not necessarily an offer sheet to the big boys. We talk about Sergeyev and Sorelli and Matthew Barzell. But those second tier guys.

Devontae just got moved. Freeing up room there. But Ryan Pulak is a stealth candidate for one. As much as Matthew Barzell is. And why not Vince Dunn? St. Louis is up against it. And we're learning this right now. And everybody is learning this right now and everybody is learning this right now.

There's no cash right now. None. So who's got the ability to do an offer sheet? I know that there's people out there thinking Columbus and maybe, you know, we know they talked about it last summer with Marner.

Why not Detroit? That's what I keep coming back to. Why not Detroit? Yeah. what I keep coming back to. Why not Detroit? Yeah. They got tons of cap space. They have a bold general manager looking to redo their defense. But I know there's a lot of teams out there

wondering about what St. Louis is going to do with Dunn. Maybe we should have got to this earlier because he's such a huge name. But Henrik Lundqvist signs with the Washington Capitals. One year, $1.5 million. They also pick up Trevor Van Riemsdyk, Justin Schultz, comes in on a two-year deal.

But Henrik Lundqvist is, you know, Henrik Lundqvist is the headline. And I can only imagine what the first game back at the Garden is going to be like. Shades of Vege Ackerman in a Detroit Red Wings jersey. But your thoughts on Lundquist going to Washington? Well, I'm happy for him. I hope he gets a chance to win a cup. He's going to play there. Yeah.

And they're really good. So I wish Henrik Lundquist the best. We haven't talked about Tampa, and we saw Tyler Johnson waved, and everybody said, no no if you want us to take tyler johnson you need to put more sugar uh in that coffee what's happening with tampa well first i thought that they had a deal with somebody that was not on his no trade on his trade list right because he has a full no trade yeah but he said you know it'd been reported and he did and he admitted that he was willing to look at seven, eight teams, and they couldn't make a deal.

So I thought that what had happened was they put him on waivers, and someone was going to take him, which obviously didn't happen. Now, one of the things that Johnson and the Lightning were saying was he's a Washington State guy. He'd be happy to go to the Kraken. You take him, kraken you take him and then you leave him unprotected and seattle takes him now the problem with that is what if seattle doesn't take him then you're on the hook for a lot of money that's the issue with that plan like in theory that plan is excellent but in practice what if seattle decides nah he's not the guy we want.

Or you have to give us something for us to take him. Give us something to take the burden of Tyler Johnson off your hands. Right. So I think that's part of the problem. Like I said, I think they've gone to Stamkos and they've asked him if he would wave. And there's a lot of secrecy around that right now and i kind of understand it there was some talk that he was willing to consider a couple of teams and as we mentioned earlier vegas was one of them but you know who knows you know the one thing about stamko's this

year is his salary is only a million dollars. His bonus has been paid. Most of his salaries and bonuses, and it starts to go down, but the issue is his health. You know, he's, he's had some injuries, but I think Tampa would do that if they could. I don't think they want to trade Killorn. Uh, there was all kinds of Killorn. Uh, remember last year, the draft in Vancouver, there was all kinds of, Oh, Killorn's going to

Buffalo. Don't worry. It's going to be a draft day thing. And that kind of came and went Detroit as well. Yeah. Is it there last year in Vancouver? Cause there was all the Tyson buried a Vancouver Canucks talk. There was the, the Neil for Luchich trade, which someone on the draft floor on the Calgary side just denied completely and uncategorically to my face. Yeah, there's a lot of that.

Which is fine. I get it. Like, hey, so I hear this is happening. Oh, no, I don't know where you're making that up from, which is fine. And that person listens to this podcast and hello. But yeah, his name was out there for a while. But again, he has the no trade as well,

or the modified no trade clause. This one is going to be an interesting bit of stick handling by Julian Breezebois. This one's going to be a tricky one, especially when, when no one took Tyler Johnson. Like what else are they going to attach? You know, I don't know. They traded their first round picks. Oh, I wanted to get a quick thought in here on, we talked so much about honoring your word or honoring a

verbal commitment and first of all the san jose sharks uh i thought at the uh at the draft were outstanding doug wilson jr signing the pick ozzy weisblatt oh yeah that was great what a perfect way to to end the draft so kudos uh to the San Jose Sharks for doing that. And then, and you can say like, oh no, hockey needs to be more ruthless and it's a salary cap. And this year it's an economic disaster and you can't do things like that. Kevin LeBanc, four-year deal, $18.9 million coming off a very tough season for that young man.

coming off a very tough season for that young man. $4.75 million is the AAV after he did the San Jose Sharks, a solid coming in for $1 million last season. I looked at that. I just said that is an honorable deal between two people. Yeah, no question about it. You don't think that one was sitting there for a year? Absolutely.

Marcus Pedersen, same way with Pittsburgh.sburgh like yeah we've pittsburgh yeah we've we've seen these before uh a thought on the montreal canadians and elliot their situation most recently picking up tyler toffoli look mark bergevin he had a checklist very quickly after the capitan deal deal, we're calling around, okay, what's next? What's next? And someone said, Mark Bergevin is going to be looking for a left-hand shot defenseman. That is a trade that you have to watch out for. Now, a couple days after he told me that, or this person told me that, Bergevin went out and they made the Edmondson deal. And that was number one on Bergevin's checklist. He wanted a left shot D.

He also wanted a grinding winger. He went out and he got Josh Anderson. And I'll tell you a story. Remind me to tell you a story about Josh Anderson. That's a whopper. You want to get back to Anderson or you want to do it next. That's a whopper. You want to get back to Anderson or you want to do it next? That's a whopper. Seven years,

38 million. Yeah. I want to talk about that contract negotiation after. Okay. And then to fully, like I said, I'd heard he'd been interested. I didn't know if he was going to get him,

but he wanted to get some scoring on the wings. Like everything that Bergevin, and he wanted a backup goalie, and he did that with jake allen like everything bergevin has said that he wanted to do he did and mark bergevin i am convinced he thinks he has to make the playoffs next year these are all moves made by someone who thinks he has to make the playoffs next year and And I think he's given himself as good a shot as he can get. The other deal we should point out as well

is the transaction that saw Max Domi end up a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Okay, so let me talk about Anderson for a second first. Okay. Josh Anderson, from what I understand, told Columbus one year or eight. That's all I'm signing for. Minimum or maximum.

And I think that's one of the reasons Columbus made the deal. Because one year walks them right to UFA, and I don't think they wanted to do eight because of his health. And then when Bergevin traded for him, apparently Anderson said the same thing. Minimum or maximum. You decide. Wow. wow you know that's big brass ones like that's that's a player unafraid and I don't think Bergevin was crazy

about it but that was his choice and so he got the seven Domi I reported and it's true domi told them he didn't want to be traded i just think that he wasn't trading to know i think bergevin didn't mind to know hearing his name and trade rumors a little bit because he wants to get him assigned to an extension and i don't think that's always been easy but i do believe it was always going to be domi over to know if he had a choice columbus was looking for a center they want to move jenner back to the wing and domi is a guy that and they're looking for more offense domi's been up and down but we know he's a 70 point player columbus was happy to make that deal because they couldn't get anderson signed to where they wanted them so

when that deal was made anderson for dome i think eyebrows were raised everywhere and i don't know that many people were anyone who watched the montreal canadians specifically this past season knew that something was off between the player and the coach yeah i know that domey hasn't wanted to address it does he just wants to leave it in the rearview mirror, wants to be a pro about it. But there was a disconnect there. Yeah. Like that was two different pages, Max Domi and Claude Julien.

It was, but the guy he's going to is not any less demanding. John Tortorella. Yeah. Let's get to the Maple Leafs. And Zach Bogosian, you're going to hear from here in a couple of moments uh but a couple of headline makers there at uh 1201 eastern yep anthony stewart breaks the news on twitter don't know how he got this scoop uh that lifetime buddy wayne simmons signed a one-year deal at 1.5 million dollars with the Maple Leafs. We'll get to TJ Brody, but let's start there.

Wayne Simmons of the Maple Leafs, $1.5 million. You know, apparently Simmons and Dubas met the night before, free agency. I don't know if that's been reported. Like, my head's a blur. I don't know what's been reported and what hasn't been reported. But apparently they met the night before. Was that reported anywhere? Did you see that?

Not that I saw, no. they met the night before and um like i think simmons was looking for trying to do maybe a bit better than one five but i think he was happy to come home to toronto like i gotta tell you like the moment he put his jersey out there, 24, 2 plus 4 equals 6, the 6. I know people who plunked down 250 bucks right away. Those MLSE gougers, they got people. I always think, you know, you have Wayne Simmons around town talking about how much he loved to play for the Maple Leafs. I ever tell you a story that Bill Waters told me about Wayne Gretzky and the Maple Leafs?

I think you've mentioned it, but it's a great story. It's Wayne Gretzky. How can you go wrong? Oh,'ve mentioned it, but it's a great story. It's Wayne Gretzky. How can you go wrong? Oh, how can you go wrong? But here's a sort of peek into it. When the Maple Leafs had a chance to sign Wayne Gretzky, so Cliff Fletcher's the general manager and Bill's the assistant general manager.

And Willibert tells me he gets a call from, I guess it would have been Mike Barnett, who I think was the agent at the time saying, hey, Wayne's always wanted to play for the Maple Leafs, would be interested in Barnett, who I think was the agent at the time, saying, hey, you know, Wayne's always wanted to play for the Maple Leafs, would be interested in coming in, you know, just on a modest deal, like a $1 million deal,

just wants to, you know, put on the jersey, et cetera. And so Wilbur takes us to Cliff and says like, holy smokes, can you believe this? Like Wayne Gretzky wants to play with Toronto. We can get him for a million dollars. And Cliff says, hang up the phone. And Wilbur's like, what are you talking about? He says, this is how it's going to go.

We're going to start negotiating, and it's going to be around a million dollars. And then their side is going to leak it to the media, and the whole marketplace is going to be chummed with the excitement that Wayne Gretzky's coming into Toronto, and that one million will turn into 3 million. Hang up the phone now. And that's why I didn't go.

Come in low, get that marketplace all excited and then change the price. Wilbur loved telling that story about how close he thought the Maple Leafs were to getting Wayne Gretzky. But I thought about that as Wayne simmons vancouver would say the same thing right absolutely pat quinn always said it was because the ownership said get it closed tonight and he's like no he's

gonna say do it tomorrow and they said no get it closed tonight and gretzky got annoyed at that and that was it tj brody four-year deal 20 million dollars they get the defenseman they tried to get once in the cadre deal that's right they liked him a lot calgary was i think was only willing to go to four and a half i think also calgary was at a point where they were like we have to change our mix a bit too so i think calgary really thought about it about you know going to the extra number and and then i just think they said we have to change our mix a bit too. So I think Calgary really thought about it, about going to the extra number. And then I just think they said,

we have to change it up here. And so they moved on. Brody is a guy Toronto's liked for a while. I think there was another team in this too. But Toronto has had interest in him, as you said. And I think they talked about Uyghur from florida and i think there was something going on there i think the least were interested i think florida was interested and i still think weger might get traded i've heard there's been a lot of teams that have looked at him i you know i think colorado looked at him but they got the von taves so you know that's not

gonna happen i think boston is still around there and I heard Anaheim was still there. I mean, I've heard the Winnipeg rumors too. I think there's a few teams talking to Florida about Uyghur, but Toronto is definitely in there. I think that Florida made an ask, and I think they were looking at Janssen, who's now traded, and Dermott, and I think Toronto turned that down. And then they ended up with Brody and Bogosian.

And Bogosian, as you'll hear, he wanted to come to Toronto. The big question is, do you think Toronto's better? See, Toronto is one of those teams where you expect internal improvement from Matthews, from Marner, from Nylander. Those players specifically. So I think Toronto is better based on those players improving. I mean, these guys are all still 23, 24 years old. So I always say from one year to the other yeah these guys are this is a better team because those guys are going to be better do you think they're better i think they're better

but i think the best players have to be better what did tampa tell you this year you need depth like their depth players were great colman was great gordon was great good row was great colorn was great but they won because their best players were dynamite. The goalie played every game. Yeah. Hedman won the Conn Smythe. Kucherov had more assists in the

playoff year than anyone not named Gretzky or Lemieux. And Braden Point was fantastic. Your best players have to carry you. All drafted players, by the way. Yes. So what you have to do if you're Toronto is, yes, you have to make yourself better on the edges,

but you have to challenge your best players to be even better. The interesting thing I heard too is that I heard that they signed Vesey. I think they offered that contract around to a couple different guys for 900K. And I think VC was the guy they kind of wanted, but I think they also spoke to Connor Sherry about it. I think they also spoke to Namesnikov about it. Who ended up going to the Detroit Red Wings. For more money.

On a two-year deal, $2 million a year. I know these things generally get sorted out before you get to the room, but what kind of comparable can Ilya Mikheyev have in arbitration after playing 39 games? I think the team is going to try to get them in around one five. I'm sure the player wants more than that. You always look for what the leverage point is here. And is the leverage just, I could go to the KHL? That is the leverage just i could go to the khl uh that is the leverage yes you know don't forget toronto has some a couple of players here they have barabanov coming yep and they have

letnan coming and like i gotta tell you this guy letnan defenseman of the week in the khl this week defenseman of the year last year i was talking to someone who's watched him a few times already this year and he said look like you never know how it will go like you never know is a player going to adapt to the nhl ranks is the player going to adapt to life like there's always things that you have to check and see how does the change over go in a guy's game in his life but they said as a pure player this guy can play and you know what it gives you listen and i always talk about this to the draft every year that's why i loved what calgary did trading down a couple of times get yourself as many lottery tickets as possible whether it's draft picks or players like miko letnan it's a

lottery ticket and if it pays off that can pay off humongous for you if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs. That's a huge one. And so far, all the hurdles overseas, he's passed. And he's in at 925. That's a great lottery ticket if you're the Maple Leafs. Speaking of Maple Leafs defensemen, Zach Bogosian, Elliot.

We're going to hear from the Maple Leaf defenseman here in a couple of seconds. Before we goman zach bogosian elliot we're going to hear from the uh the maple leaf defenseman here in a couple of seconds can we before we go to zach bogosian i just want to talk about one story that's breaking as we do this and it's not a story that will be hugely on the radar but i think it is a significant story so danny rillen kerney who's been the commissioner of the uh national women's hockey league since its inception, was replaced as commissioner today. And she's still involved in the organization, but she's no longer the commissioner. And at times, Jeff, you and I, we've waded into women's hockey. And I have to tell you, it is an extremely complicated story

and it has not always been an easy story to report on. There was the NWHL, there was the Canadian League that folded last year, and the rivalry between those two leagues was fierce, as fierce and probably even more fierce than any rivalry in the nhl right now in terms of teams if you talk to anyone on either side when it was on it was nasty and elliot personal nasty and personal and i remember a few years ago when they had the outdoor game in boston

when they were negotiating to put that together i broke that story and it's one of the more difficult stories I ever had to negotiate because I found out the politics behind the scenes and the NHL told me that they had no idea about the level of dislike between those two leagues and how difficult it was to get the deal done. And every time I reported on it, I would hear from someone, multiple people who would say I was playing favorites on either side. Like I knew I was being pretty fair because both sides would complain about my reporting and it was very passionate.

And there, there would be times I would look at my phone after a conversation or a text message or an email or whatever and say, I can't believe this. And I just would say this about Danny Roland Kearney. And there's going to be people who don't like that. I'm going to say this about her. That league was, was her baby. It was her passion. She created it like everyone else she

made good moves she made bad moves i can't imagine that this is easy for her because she poured everything into it and i know there's going to be a lot of people who say you know she didn't do the right things whatever i'm just saying that i know this is a person who created this and wanted to make it work and i know what it's like when it's taken away from you and that's gotta hurt and i just want to say that i don't know enough to know if it was the right decision or the wrong decision i I had heard tonight it was brewing. The team that's in Toronto, I think they're going to be a real power broker. The chairwoman of the team, Tyler Taminia,

is the one that takes over on an interim capacity. She's the interim commissioner. I've heard that's going to be a power broker team. I heard that this was a move it pushed for. I still wonder, like, does the NHL ever get to a point where there's a WNHL? They have denied they're working on it, but I think they've at least looked at the possibility

and considered the possibility. You know, I know it's not the biggest story tonight, but in hockey circles, it's a big deal. Like, this is someone who, like I said, created something from nothing was very passionate about it she had her defenders she had her detractors there were people who swore by her there were people who disliked her but at the end of the day she put a ton of effort into it and i think we should recognize that this is a significant change and I'm sure it's not easy for her. I'm sure it's not.

Like I said, it was her blood. And just one final thought on that WNHL issue. There were many, and COVID threw a wrench into everything and scotched the remainder of the season after the middle of March. There were many that were expecting some type of information from the NHL towards the end of what would have been last season. On that.

I don't know what it was, but there were a lot of people that were expecting some type of information. At the outdoor game, I reported they were working on it. They denied it. I still think there's something there, but we'll see. I mean, especially now, like COVID, right? Yeah. It's decimating the business and not just hockey everywhere. Like I got to tell you, I was reading about Cleveland the other day in baseball and they're going to probably let Lindor walk over money.

And it's the sign of the times, right? I mean, all these leagues, they're getting rocked. Let me off of a high earth fan. Feelings lost at the node. Get me off on a quiet fan. I'll relate the latest code. Aliyah, one thing I did want to mention before we wrapped up, and you pinned this on your Twitter, Erin Ambrose, who plays with the national program,

a member of the PWHPA. We had her on 31 Thoughts when we were doing all those YouTube videos in the summer, and that's where we got to know her, and I've become good friends with her ever since. She has a piece up right now at the Hockey Canada website, hockeycanada.ca, and I strongly would encourage everybody to read this one, have a look at it and amplify it as well if you can. It's a piece where Erin talks about her struggles with mental health and trying to figure out who she is.

You know, we talk a lot on this podcast about not cheering for teams, but cheering for people. And Aaron is one of those people that I cheer for. And we talk a lot about the great people in hockey. And this sport is littered with plenty of them. And Aaron Ambrose is top of that list for a lot of people, myself included. I want to read you a little bit of them. And Aaron Ambrose is top of that list for a lot of people, myself included. I want to read you a little bit of this.

And again, strongly encourage you all to read it. This is part of the piece called In My Own Words, Aaron Ambrose. As the hockey season came and went, I continued to have issues with my overall happiness and struggled to, quote, find myself. I changed schools and started living with a teammate who was one of my best friends in hopes of turning the page and getting myself out of my own head and back to enjoying my teenage years. I longed to find true happiness and escape the emptiness that weighed on me daily. I felt more distant than ever from my family. Found myself questioning if I wanted to be involved with Hockey Canada. And most alarming, there were days that I contemplated my future. I found myself questioning my will to be alive.

Talk to Erin before she released this. And I said, listen, you're really putting yourself out there and you have my full support and entire community support. Does this scare you at all? And she said, no, I'm not scared putting it out at all. It's important to help people. She said, my only concern is that my message won't go far enough and not enough people will hear it. So if you read it, and again, Elliot's got it pinned on his Twitter. You can go to Aaron's

Twitter. She has it up there at Ambrose underscore 13. Have a read. Amplify if you can. Aaron Ambrose, thoughtful a person as she is talented a hockey player. To a mom Not my style Not my call She knows who Got in someone's mold Lawyers like They're the yard Like home on a shore Let me off over by a foot

The end's lost at the node Get me off on the quiet Then I'll make the latest move Zach Bogosian one year one million dollars plays with the Toronto Maple Leafs give us your thoughts

or do you have a story or two about Zach Bogosian before we hear the interview well the one I don't want to give it away

is the one about how close he came to signing in Toronto this year I was glad he was willing to talk about it because I think it's a pretty interesting story. Pretty funny story how the Zamboni driver, David Ayers, changed the course of history.

And helped win the Tampa Bay Lightning a Stanley Cup. That would be the one that I would kind of laugh at and smile at and talk about the most. But Bogosian was a good guest. He's a good talker. Oh, as you're about to find out, here he is, Zach Bogosian, Maple Leafs defenseman on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. All eyes of life go to town Knowing without really knowing Really knowing The way to go

Ellie, we talk a lot on this podcast about cheering for people, cheering for great stories, wanting happy endings, and as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars, there's a few people I think that we all thought of, and I think a lot of us thought of our next guest, Zach Bogosian, now of the Toronto Maple Leafs. First of all, Zach, congratulations on both the cup and the Maple Leafs contract.

I want to ask you, before we get all the Maple Leafs stuff and Peter into your background, describe those moments. I'm always curious what goes through someone's, you know, tumultuous year. Describe, you know, the clock is counting down and you become a Stanley Cup champion. What's going on

between your ears? It's a surreal feeling, obviously. Sorry, my daughter just busted in. No worries at all. Mila, go back inside, honey. Dad's doing an interview.

Sorry, guys. That's okay. It's all good. Yeah, those feelings, you know, when you're on the bench and you see the clock going down. I think it was Barclay Goodrow blocked the shot and it ended up going out to neutral zone. I think it was him. Just that feeling of excitement.

It's surreal, obviously, being a hockey player and you're about to win your first Stanley Cup for me it was such a I don't know how to explain my year in a word but it was a uh up and down year for sure and I I always tried to stay positive throughout the entire process and you know there was times when they were the the low moments of my career and obviously finishing off, you know, the 2020 season was the highest moment of my career. So you just think of how far you've come as an individual, as a group. You know, I love my family. So I think about them. Yeah, it's just a ton of emotions that are kind of rifling through you.

And then once you see the cup, obviously, it's such an exciting. I mean, it's the greatest trophy in sports. It's the most beautiful thing. Yeah, it was an awesome experience. You know, Zach, we're watching this on TV, and it's so different because normally part of the fun thing about winning the cup is celebrating your family's come on the ice. You're there with your wife.

And how did this get celebrated you know this was different because nobody could be there so how did the lightning as a team and yourself individually celebrate it yeah i mean obviously um the only one that had won was pat maroon as far as a player. And then some of the staff was around in 04 when they won. So obviously super new for all of us. So we never really knew how the celebration would have gone with the families. But hearing them talk about it, it was awesome that they had their families there in the years before but to kind of share that moment you know with the guys you know you were you were away from your families for so long you're together with these guys

every single day for I think if you're including training camp you know basically 80 something days you know I know that was 60 something in the bubble but then you got to factor in you're going to the rink every day and basically during a quarantine and a pandemic you're really only hanging out at home or with your your teammates so just to have that experience with the guys in the room was awesome i look back and i have a ton of pictures and videos on my phone that i'll cherish forever but just to be present and live in that moment you feel so grateful to be able to share it with a group of guys that was an amazing group of guys i think people think of the tanning bay lightning and they think of high-end skill but if you actually you know cut the team down and get to know most

of the guys in the team they're amazing human beings it was a fun group to be a part of for sure what does it feel like coming to the rink every day as a uh as a right side defenseman knowing uh you're going to be on either paired with uh headman or mcdonough or sergachev describe that feeling as a defenseman i mean you can't go wrong um i wouldn't say it's an easy transition but i I mean, you got a guy in Hedman that's, you know, one of the best players in the world, best defenseman in the world. You have a guy, Ryan McDonough, who if you're a hockey fan, obviously, you know of him as the, you know, such a great competitor. But if you really know the game and you watch Ryan McDonough play, everything he does from the little things to the big things, it's basically a defenseman's dream to be able to play the way he does, to skate the way he does, to think the game the way he does and compete. a fellow American that has known Ryan since we were 16 and 17, coming up in the USA hockey stuff together.

To see him every day and what he was up close was special. And then get to Sergeyev and, I mean, what can't the kid do? I mean, he's an all-around defenseman. He's tough. He competes. He's got a bomb of a shot. He's got good hands and he can make plays. So basically, anytime you're walking into the rink and your name is next to one of those guys, which we did quite a bit,

the deep airings changed all the time during that. It was a pretty cool feeling. The back end, it was a fun group to be a part of. So it's hard for me to look at the overall Zach Bogosian story of this past year and not think of David Ayers because the night that he goes in net for Carolina in Toronto is a Saturday. And on Sunday morning, Zach, you're supposed to meet with the Toronto Maple Leafs and all indications are that you're going to sign there. Yeah. And then David Ayers and Carolina beat the Leafs and the Leafs are so frustrated. They cancel the meeting and you end up in Tampa. Isn't fate a crazy thing?

It is. And that is true. When I was going through my situation in Buffalo and not really sure what my future was going to hold. Toronto was obviously a team that I thought I could help. They showed interest, you know, and it was something that I thought I could step in the lineup and help out their team right away. And obviously that didn't work out. I go to Tampa, win the cup, you know, talking to Kyle. The Leafs, you know, after that, they had a chance to play some of their younger guys,

which I think, you know, set the Leafs up better for the future as well, just to get those younger guys some experience, get some NHL games and scenarios under their belt. So essentially, I guess you could say it worked out for both of us. And then to come full circle and be able to to sign you know with the leafs um obviously is cool it's something that i think it was a long time coming and super excited about it yeah what was that i mean as elliot mentions before that david airs game because you know we all were getting you know texts and questions like you know why is why is zach Bogosian skating with Yari Burski at Von Iceplex?

What's going on here? What was going through your mind, Zach? What was going through my mind? A lot. Obviously, that was the first time in my entire career that I was ever a so-called free agent, and it was in the middle of the season. So I never really envisioned myself being a it was in the middle of the season. So I never really

envisioned myself being a free agent in the middle of a season, but I wanted to stay ready and I wanted to stay in shape. And I wouldn't be doing myself any favors if I sat at my house and sat in my basement and felt bad for myself. There wasn't one time during my entire experience that I felt bad for myself. I was was extremely motivated i'm an extremely competitive person which i'm sure you know people that get to know me they understand that about me and for me i was just like i'm staying ready no matter what happens at this point i've gotten myself to a situation where i'm gonna bet on myself myself. I'm going to stay confident, believe in myself, believe in my morals and my values and just kind of stick with it. And it's nice for a situation

like that to come, you know, full circle, like I said, to be able to win the cup and to be able to try to bet on yourself a little bit in a situation that was not very fun to go through but in the same breath i look at everything as a learning experience and i learned a lot from the past year you can be at your lowest of lows in the hockey world and then finish off the highest of highs so i learned a lot this year people have told me you have a pretty big temper now you mostly directed at yourself yeah not so much at others. So this has been a hard year for a lot of people, Zach, just because of everything the world has been through.

And I'm sure you had to find ways to handle that temper and that disappointment and that hard year you went through. What got you through it? How did you do it? Yeah, I guess I do have a little bit of a temper I usually tend usually tend to use that on the ice but obviously when you go through a situation uh in your professional life that not very fun thing to go through I'd be lying if I said it was fun to go through but at the end of the day I mean I I found motivation in being in that situation and being able to mentally stick with it and stay strong and

my family obviously is a huge part of that I've talked about my family multiple times over the last few months doing media and my wife is my number one supporter. And just to come home to a happy family with three kids with smiles on their faces obviously got me through that. And think about my mom and dad and all the sacrifices they made. And just to get through the year that I got through. And I wake up every day and try to be motivated, try to learn, try to be a better person. And in doing all that, there's ups and downs for sure when you're that type of person, when you're always trying to be motivated, try to learn, try to be a better person. And in doing all that, there's ups and downs for sure

when you're that type of person, when you're always trying to be motivated and you're always trying to find that extra inch of motivation. But I was happy that I stuck with it. And I test myself all the time, whether that's mentally, physically. I've always been like that my entire life. I think I wouldn't have gotten to the National Hockey League

if I was any different. And for me, it was an exciting time of year for me where I could potentially go on a playoff run and have it come to the Stanley Cup final and to win the cup. It was such a great experience. Now, you mentioned you like to test yourself. You are in great shape. You pride yourself that you are in great shape. Is there anyone you look at in the NHL and say, damn, that guy's in better shape than me.

Um, I mean, there's a ton of guys that are in great shape. I think what separates some guys from others, I've always been a smaller guy my entire life which comes to a surprise to a lot of people but yeah i was i was always the smallest kid on all my teams i was always short and skinny and i was the kid with big hands big feet and like big kneecaps but like everything else was just like i was just wiry and uh I always played a few years up I was always going against

bigger stronger kids so that was instilled in me at like a young age but as far as guys around the league I mean you look at just guys that I have firsthand experiences with is like a guy like Chris Kreider, who is an absolute specimen. I had a, most recently, Victor Hedman is the most proportionate six foot six hockey player you'll ever see in your life. He looks like a Viking Thor or whatever. He's absolutely jacked. He's huge. And he moves like he's six foot tall and 180 pounds. And he is just a specimen.

So you look at guys, especially the bigger guys that can do that. It's super impressive. All right. Sticking with workouts then, because this is, was sort of legendary. And I know there were a lot of victims of it. In Atlanta, Rick Dudley's 10, 10, and 8. Yeah. What can you tell?

Now, that's like what, 10 incline, 10 speed? Like, describe those workouts for people that may not be familiar because those were legendary. Yeah, so it's a treadmill test. You have the speed on 10, the incline on 10, the 10, 10, 8, so there's eight reps. But you have to go as long as you can every single rep now you can cheat and you can go for like a minute and be like okay i'm done and then you can like

get like a halfway decent score but i don't remember the final timing of of things but it was just you get on there and you just give it all you got for as long as you can. And then I think, I don't know how long the rest is in between. I can't remember that detail, but it was super tough. And Duds is notorious for a lot of that fitness testing. And it's funny because you'd be doing that stuff. And then like, I don't know how old Duds is right now, but that was, I don't know, 11 years ago probably. I don't know how old duds is right now but that was I don't know 11 years ago probably and like you'd walk in the weight room and he would just be like bench pressing like 300 pounds and I'm like this guy's an animal and you know what's funny is he'd be wearing like a sleeveless shirt

with like a sweatband like just like how he played like when he played yes yeah you know he played with a sweatband like him and and him and Craig Ramsey, I think. Yeah. So he would always just like, this guy is a maniac, which is being, uh, wired a certain way. You see stuff like that and you're like, this is awesome. I mean, it's a legendary player. He's your general manager and he's doing bench press and I don't know how old he was, but he was benching a lot more than I'll ever be able to at that age. He would have been 60 then. Crazy, right? Yeah, he was an animal.

So who was the best and who was the worst at that then in Atlanta? I'll give him a little grief. You got to ask Stewie. Anthony Stewart. I don't know how he did on the treadmill test. I'll bust on him a little bit just because I got a chance to play with him and you guys know him a little bit. But I think Toby Enstrom was always really good at the treadmill. He's obviously in phenomenal shape, but he was a really good runner because I think a lot of those Swedish guys play soccer growing up.

So I remember him doing pretty well. He was always in really good shape. So speaking of Stewie, so he showed this on television, you know, you're Tampa Bay Lightning are winning the Stanley Cup and he shows us the most reluctant fight he's ever had. And it's with you. I guess it's after you hit Andreas Nodal and he kind of sheepishly said,

Ed, we kind of got to do this and sort of seat belted you and then fell down. What was your perspective on that fight to complete the story? Yeah, I hit hit nodal and a questionable hit he comes up to me we were in carolina and he said uh we gotta go and i said okay and uh i asked him if he wanted to square off or just grab right away and he didn't like really say anything and then i like, are we doing it?

And then finally the puck dropped, and then, like, he, like, kind of took a step to me, and I, like, wasn't really sure what he was doing, and then he just, like, grabbed me, and we both dropped our gloves. And Winnipeg attempts to get it out, and now a scrap. Payback for Zach Bogosian and Anthony Stewart is the one who obliges. Of course, Bogosian had the big hit on Andreas Nodal in Winnipeg on the 18th of March. And that one's over quickly. And that's what we said, make sure you watch that type of response earlier in this hockey game. We both kind of fell down, so it wasn't really much of a fight.

A little odd fighting one of your former teammates, but I looked at the ref because it was such a short fight i think i looked at one of the referees and i was like you're not giving me a five minute for that i better just be like maybe like a roughing but uh yeah that was uh that was a funny i remember that i was expecting it because they had a tough team they had stewie i think they had gleasonason. A couple other guys that were known for being pretty tough. Stewie was super tough, and he's a lefty. Yeah, I was kind of expecting it,

but it was funny that we had a little tangle there. I can't remember who told me this, but one guy said the worst is when they give you two minutes for delay of game. That's always the worst feeling. Did you guys see? I got that this year. Where was that? Scott Lawton, I think. he hit Blake Coleman from behind.

Blake Coleman taken down. And I just dropped my gloves in the middle of play, and I grabbed him. Gloves are down. Scott Lawton squares off with Zach Bogosian after that hit. And I don't think there's a penalty on Lawton. I don't think so. I think the referee knew that Coleman embellished it a bit, and Bogosian came into.

What does he get? Well, he's the one who should be the one getting the penalty, but I don't believe an original call will be on Watt. And then I think it was Wes. I think Wes McCauley was just like, he didn't even attempt to fight you. You can't do that. So he's like, delay a game. I'm like, I mean, come on.

He's like, give me a bony. So, yeah, I was like, really? Like, give me like a roughing or misconduct or something. Like, it was in the bubble this year. It was in Toronto. And I like dropped my gloves. And I think I got like a delay a game. And I'm like, oh, man, that does not look good.

You know, speaking of that game, because that was in the qualifying round. Okay. Yes. You don't have to get anyone in trouble that you don't want to get in trouble. But I have heard that for the teams playing in the qualifying rounds in Toronto and in Edmonton,

things were not taken as seriously as they were in the playoff rounds for obvious reasons. What were the differences between the qualifying rounds and the playoff rounds for the teams that did both? I think when we first got to Toronto, I mean, Hotel X was a nice hotel. It was a nice facility. So we obviously had already secured our spot. And yeah, the first four or five days, it was kind of a bit of like a resort for us. We enjoyed ourselves at the pool and the rooftop. But then once game one happened, obviously, you're in a hotel with so many other guys from around the league and other teams and it's like you're gonna bump into guys all the time whether it's the elevator at the restaurant

or whatever but you know obviously you're gonna be somewhat friendly to most of them but once the game started it was uh pretty much all business if there was a team at a certain level in the hotel or in a in the restaurant it was all right let's just avoid that and go to our own area. So that's kind of what it was. But the first few days, it was a ton of fun. Okay. I've been dying to ask you this one for a while. So when I think of Zach Bogosian, the phrase old school comes to mind

and not necessarily just old school, but the school they burned down to build the old school. And one of, Zach, one of the great... I remember talking to Jeff Tuohy a while ago, who was your general manager with the Peterborough Peets of the OHL. Just for context, for those that don't know the OHL, Zach played with the Peterborough Peets, and their

historic rivals were always the Oshawa Generals. These two teams did not mix well. The games took four hours. It is one of the great rivalries in Canadian junior hockey. So this is your or this would have been your second

year in the OHL and you're playing with the Peterborough Peets and you're playing in the All-Star game and that year it's in Sault Ste. Marie and you're driving to the game with Jeff Tuohy, your general manager, and you turn to him and at that point John Tavares and Michael Delzotto were playing on the, your general manager, and you turn to him. And at that point, John Tavares and Michael DelZotto were playing on the Oshawa Generals.

And you turn to him and you say, when I get there, do I have to be nice to these guys? Do I have to pretend to be nice to these guys? See, I love that, Zach. Do you remember that conversation with Tuohy and how much of that is just Zach Bogosian? Because now kids mix and they all play spring hockey together and they work out together and everybody knows each other

and they're chummy at center ice before games, but that ain't you. Right, yeah. That's a true story. I remember we're driving from Peterborough to Toronto and then we jumped on a plane from Toronto to um Sioux St. Marie and I was just curious because I like where I'm from in Messina New York like I never played against any of these guys that were like super highly touted to go to the OHL like I had never even really was on the radar for too many guys just because I grew up you know in New York State but rural

New York State so uh when I played in Peterborough against Oshawa those games like you said were super intense and it was good and bad for me because I never looked at any guy in the OHL as like oh man like that's an amazing player I'm like kind of starstruck because you can be at times of you know an 18 19 year old kid that's been drafted in the NHL is playing against a 16 year old kid and it's I'm sure it could be a little but I never had that feeling so I just remember we had so many battles with with uh with Oshawa and I always gotten into it with my job as a defenseman was you know shut down John and that was a full job in itself because he was such an amazing player.

And then, you know, Delzotto, you know, and at that time in junior was just like a extremely offensive, dynamic defenseman. And he was super good as well. And I just never wanted to get comfortable or them get comfortable around me or me get comfortable around me or me get comfortable around them enough where like we lose that edge on the ice and obviously i'm not walking around looking to like beat people up off the ice but if i could just like keep that competitive edge where it's like professional then yeah i do believe in that stuff but yeah me and john

especially used to battle all the time. Um, so basically when John jumped on the ice, my job was to hop over the boards and try to make his night as long as possible. But a lot of times he made, he made my night pretty long. So it was a fun, it was a fun rivalry for sure. Well, what do you think of it now when you see kids, you know, playing on your team and, you know, they're chummy with kids on the other squad? I mean, that is not you, but I mean, we're all mature.

We're all grownups about this, but is there a part of you that says, man, can you please just cut that out? Yes and no. I mean, obviously kids nowadays are so good that a lot of them play against each other and like high internments growing up. So like there's a relationship there. I get that. I never had that.

So it's easy for me to say what I just said. But I think for the most part, guys that play a certain way know there's a line that you just don't cross, especially when you're trying to win a hockey game. I have a really cool story. My brother Aaron was at Columbus's camp my first year in Winnipeg. We had just got to Winnipeg and Aaron had signed with the Springfield Falcons. And me and Aaron were playing against each other in a preseason game. And all I did that game was try to take my brother's head off. That's all I did was I ran on we almost got into

a fight. We had each other, like locked other locked up where we were almost about to fight. Then we looked at each other and we were like, yeah, mom wouldn't like this very much. We just kind of let each other go. There's cool pictures of me hitting my brother and him hitting me. Once the puck drops and you put your helmet on, you're trying to win a game. That's what I believe in. Vicky wouldn't have liked that. What about I your dad would he have liked that he probably would have loved it although my brother probably beat me up he was uh you know he played in the american league played in the east coast league and uh he was a tough customer so

yeah my dad probably would have gotten a chuckle out of it even though it wouldn't he wouldn't have seen anything he didn't see growing up because that's all me and my brothers did was beat on each other and wrestle all my entire childhood so of all the guys you've played against zach who was the hardest when you got into a dressing room and that player was on your team who was the hardest to put it behind you and say this guy is my teammate now so for me i'm usually like what happens on the ice stays on the ice i'm i'm usually pretty good at that for the longest time me i wanted to like just grab a hold of Yanni Gord. That was like my one, my one guy that I always was like, this guy bothers me. Plays so hard.

He's so effective. But it wasn't hard for me to get past that. It was, he's an amazing guy. He's so loved in that locker room in Tampa. But that was one guy when I was like flying down to Tampa, I'm like, I wonder what Yanni Gord's like. I was really curious. But then it got to the point where I looked at him one time and I was like, it makes full sense why I did not like you

when I played against you. Because he plays so hard and he's so competitive and he works so hard. His work ethic is just like through the roof. And then he's just this energetic, fun- guy you know off the ice it's great all right i got two more for you number one i heard that after you lost game five in overtime to dallas stamkos who by that point was out for the year came in and gave like a really like lifted everybody up is that true yeah he was there obviously that was a tough game to lose because we we thought we we had them

right they were battling and they worked Dallas you know stuck with it and you know came back but it was like we just had chance after chance after chance. I think in the first overtime, I think we only allowed one shot, one or two shots. I can't remember the exact number. But to lose after having so many chances, you can go one of two ways. You can get frustrated. You can hang your head and feel bad for yourself. Or you can kind of just say, all right, stick with it. We keep playing that way.

We're going to win no matter what. It's just a matter of time. And that was kind of the message that Stammer said. I won't get into it too much because I'm big on locker room talk, staying in the locker room, but he was such an uplifting, inspirational individual for us that entire run. As a reporter, I'm against the what's said in the locker room stays locked, just so you know that. Oh, yeah.

The other thing I wanted to ask you was about this decision. You know, you could have gone somewhere for more money. You had a bigger offer. Why did you say, no, it's Toronto? So I think as a veteran, this is like my first actual crack at being a free agent where I could like have a little bit of time to think about it. Like when I became a free agent in the middle of the season, like I kind of had to make a decision like pretty quick. You know, you're talking to a lot of different teams and different scenarios and different teams are at different points in the standings. And so that was like a different experience.

Toronto was always on my radar when I went through that process. And then when I went through this process, it was, you know, you're curious to see how the market plays out. You're curious to see what teams are going to do. You know, leading up to, you know, in the draft, there was a lot of guys that got bought out or traded. And there was a lot of action that kind of makes you like open your eyes a little bit so i was just really curious to see how it all all played out and i talked to the teams that that were interested

and for some reason toronto just kept coming back to my mind of reminding me a little bit of my situation in tampa where they had a super skilled team and they were just looking to add some depth and some experience and kind of bring that physical aspect so it was an easy decision once I made it but obviously being a free agent you're you wouldn't be doing yourself any favors if if you didn't listen to other teams as well and I had some good talks with with other teams but essentially at the end of the day, I came down to, all right, Toronto is a spot that I want to play. And I feel like that's the best available option for me. Not so much, you know, financially, you can always try to get more money, but getting that taste of winning and kind of looking at the group that we have in Toronto, it's a very similar situation where we have a lot of high end players that are

already there in place and that core group of guys. And if you add a few more pieces in there, which they did, I think we're going to have a good shot at it. So that was kind of my whole thought process during all of it. All right. And, and Zach,

last one here, and we thank you for your time. I know this is a busy media day for you and you're spending a lot of time with us and we really appreciate it. And we'll put the link to this video up in the show notes. But as you move to the Toronto Maple Leafs, a video pops up of an 18-year-old Zach Bogosian

with the Atlanta Thrashers in a pimped out Escalade. It's a two-minute video of you describing your sound system. A, do you still have the car? And B, well, B, is that an Affliction shirt that you're wearing? And C, what do you still have the car and b uh well b is that an affliction shirt you're wearing and uh and c what do you remember from making that video all the stuff in here is jl audio and i have two 13 and a half inch subwoofers back here and um

it's pretty loud didn't expect it to have anything look like this. I mean, I had a few of my buddies at home have stuff like this, but it's good. I like the way it turned out. It's a lot of fun just for me just having it because, like I said, I've enjoyed it since I was young. I enjoy music and it's definitely something I've always wanted to do. A, I don't have the car. I don't have the Escalade anymore, the vehicle. B, I don't think it car. I don't have the escalator anymore. The vehicle B, I don't think it's affliction. I believe it might be a express. I think it was an express shirt. Um, what was C again? As you look back now, I mean, you're 18 years old. I mean, getting paid. I mean,

how many guys have spent their first check on getting a sweet ride? I mean, you're not the first. So, but what do you remember from that video? I mean, you're not the first. So, but what do you remember from that video? I remember thinking it was really cool. I love music. So I enjoyed the sound system in it. Looking back on it, what I think is cool at 30 is definitely not what I thought was cool at 18.

I'll leave it at that. And, you know, I'm sure my kids will get a laugh out of that video when they're old enough to understand how much of a tool move that was for me to do but yeah I love that vehicle I love that time in my life and then I'm glad that it's over but it's still out there in digital

stone on the internet yeah exactly this has been a lot of fun dude thanks so much for stopping by best of luck in Toronto But it's still out there in digital stone on the internet. Yeah, exactly. This has been a lot of fun. Dude, thanks so much for stopping by. Best of luck in Toronto. You know, it's a lot of Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on that team. You got JT who played, you know, Oshawa on the London Knights. A couple of London Knights guys on there.

But you have Nick Robertson from the Peterborough Peets as well. So you're not in exactly hostile territory with your new team. So thanks so much for this and best of luck with the Maple Leafs. Yeah. Thanks guys. I appreciate you guys having me. Okay. So I want to thank Zach Bogosian for stopping by the podcast this week and, uh, thank the Maple Leafs for making him available and Elliot, I'm glad we talked about his workouts, uh, cause he is somewhat legendary i can remember you know years i mean he's playing with the peterborough peats and remember uh as a younger guy he would he would make the trip from messina new york to ottawa i mean essentially it's like going from cornwall

there but every day to work out like over the, to go and work out every single day. And you know the one thing that I always wondered, and I asked Berkey about this on Monday's edition of Hockey Central too, I could never understand why, and maybe you have an answer for this, Don Waddell is probably the best person to ask about it, he was the GM then of the Atlanta Thrashers. He's 18 years old old this is his first year in the nhl and bogosian breaks his leg remember that his first year in the league yes and then i mean the season goes on he's you know rehabilitating recuperating and the season is lost

it's an atlanta lost season and he comes back and they put him back in the NHL right away. And I could never understand at that moment. I get it that you think he's a pro player and et cetera, et cetera. I just don't know that putting the kid right back. And he's a kid at that point. He's 18. Putting him back in the NHL was the right move instead of sending him back to finish the season in junior hockey.

Next time we talk to Don Waddell, like, what are you thinking? Why are you putting this guy back in the NHL? We have to get Don Waddell on this podcast. I would love to get Don Waddell on this podcast. You know how Bobby Orr got him to the OHL, right? Hit me. So Bobby Orr, when he was quite active with Orr Group, was having a conversation with Jeff Toohey,

who was then running the Peterborough Peets. And this would have been, geez, I can't remember, 2004 maybe? It was OHL draft, I want to say. And he said, look, we got this kid down here at Cushing Academy. You might want to come down and have a look at him. And so Toohey goes down, and Bobby Orr is like,

so what do you think of the kid? Like, I think he can play in the, in the OHL. And Tui's like, well, he's Boston. Like that's not OHL territory. That's Quebec league. And he goes, no, he's from Messina, New York. And Tui said, oh. And so that's why the Peterborough Peets ended up taking,

I think it was like 18th or 19th overall and at that point like none of the ohl scouts had a book on this guy at all as he mentioned the interview he's from messina new york no one really knew a ton about him uh he's playing at cushing and you know not a lot of ohl scouts are going to go down there because nobody knows about everyone thinks oh he's playing in Boston. He's a Boston kid. There's no chance. But he's from New York,

and that's the reason the Peterborough Peets took him at like 18th or 19th overall. So it was Bob Ewer that started that career arc for Zach Bogosian into the OHL. Let me just say how happy I am for Bogosian. Waved through the league, won a cup, picked his spot. Awesome.

I'm with you. Cheer for people, not for teams. One of those guys you cheer for. I mean, when he was getting, you know, healthy scratched by the Buffalo Sabres, did you ever think this season that there's Zach Bogosian and you say, hey, there goes the Stanley Cup champion,

Zach Bogosian? Life's interesting, man. Hang in there. Hang in there. And speaking of hanging in there, hey, there goes the Stanley Cup champion, Zach Bogosian. Life's interesting, man. Hang in there. Hang in there. And speaking of hanging in there, Elliot, we're not going to hang in there. We're going to take a little time off. Well, we have an interview

that we're going to tape later this week that I'm pretty excited about. And it's something a little different, Jeff, and we're going to release it on Monday, but we're pretty excited about. But other than that, the regular format, we're all going to take some time off. You're going to take some time off after this week, right? Uh, yeah.

Friday's my last radio and then I'm taking a couple of weeks off. Almost. You're going to take three weeks off, right? Somewhere in there. Yes. Almost out. I don't know what I'm doing. That's like normal for me.

I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm,. That's like normal for me. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'll probably take some downtime too. So we're going to give the podcast a bit of a break. Like I said, we're going to have one more interview podcast. And Amal, you said that's going to drop Monday, right? Yep, Monday morning. Sorry to make you turn on the microphone and answer questions, Amal.

What my client is trying to say, Your Honor. Yes. We're going to take a bit of a time out here as we refresh and reset like everybody we're hoping that we see a training camp in early to mid december and the puck drops on january 1st but god only knows so we wanted to say uh thanks very much to everybody who's uh listened and supported and continue to download the pod over the weirdest NHL season that all of us or any of us can remember. Thanks very much for your support. May we never have to go through that again.

And for everyone that sent in and they continue to pour in, I apologize for not getting back to everybody. Everyone who sent in word associations, we're going to get to a bunch when we get back because people seem to dig it and i love torturing elliot like you wouldn't believe you know what we're going to do i'm saying this right now after a few drinks yes i'm i'm a little bit happy right now as which is why i'm probably committing to this jeff we are going to do a word association pod i'm in we're going to do one pod and it'll

drop sometime in november that is only word association i love it okay i'm setting some rules right now maximum six names okay and we'll take a couple crazy ones we'll take a couple yellow laces i want some that are not stupid like yellow laces yeah we'll take a couple of crazy ones like yellow laces and we'll take some other ones but submit them to jeff don't submit them to me because it's kind of pointless submit them to Jeff or Amal and we will do a two hour word association pod. Oh, I love it. In November.

Oh, that's a sweet spot of the bat. Oh, you know, and you just swing right through the ball and you don't feel it at all. And it just leaves the yard. It takes the good scotch to get me to commit to this. that's fantastic. All right.

Well, well, that's got me inspired to get back from, from vacation sooner than later or start to put it together nonetheless no we'll do it in november we'll do it in november you got time all right i got november to look forward to all right that's awesome and a big thanks as always to our producer emil delage trust me you're listening to this podcast right now and you're saying wow these guys sound great wow these guys sound professional. Wow, their voices are lovely.

First of all, we're not professional. Elliot's drinking. I got a nasally voice. And this has been a scatterbrained podcast. But you don't know that because you've just listened to the final product as produced by Amal Delic. The secret weapon. And come on, Dion Francais, as they say in French,

le premier étoile of this podcast. Amal, you're the best. Thank you as always. And as Elliot said, thanks to everybody who's downloaded this podcast

and let us into your ears this season. Thanks so much for joining us as always on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. Have a break yourself too. Get away from all this hockey.

This isn't what I want to see Call me on another day You're always gone away to me The baby is laying at my feet I'm staying with the lady The extra music this week on the podcast is A Year in the Making and comes from someone who la-la-la-loves

listening to me read copy. Lift my sorrow again All the music you've heard on the podcast today is from Julian Brown and we will take you out with On an August Day from his album Undivided. On an August Day

Bye. Jesus daughter watching children play Past the office for a quick hello Hello Hello I'm running away to me I'm running, running Run away to me

Run and run and run and run And then you try to hide Away from me