32 Thoughts: The Podcast - They Really Did It...

Episode Date: June 22, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman revisit the Oilers Game 6 win over the Florida Panthers to force a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final after trailing the series 3-0. They also take some time to analyze the decision to review the Barkov goal (10:56), and then reflect on the historical significance of this comeback (20:00). In the news, Jeff and Elliotte discuss the possibility of the Winnipeg Jets trading Rutger McGroarty (29:20) and they provide an update on the Arizona Coyotes' land bid (30:42). The fellas also shed new light on the Linus Ullmark situation in Boston (35:50) and break down the Jacob Markstrom trade to New Jersey (43:14). Jeff and Elliotte also unwrap the many layers of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade (50:11) and talk about the San Jose Sharks claiming Barclay Goodrow off waivers (59:00). Plus, Elliotte hints at a possible backup plan in Vancouver should they miss out on the Jake Guentzel sweepstakes (1:03:51). They wrap the opening segment with an excerpt from Steve Yzerman in Sean Shapiro's column about the NHL Draft (1:04:43). The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (1:08:05).They close the podcast with a couple notes about the NHL goal mesh and the genesis of the Murphy workout (1:20:43). Plus, a tribute to fellow colleague Lance Kennedy (1:25:28).      Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Well, Phil Pritchard doesn't take it personally, but the Oilers didn't want to see him for three straight. They were 2-9-1. They were 0-3. And they will, Monday night, play a one-game showdown for the All-The-Marbles and the Stanley Cup. Welcome to 32 Thoughts to Podcast, presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. Elliot, one thing that you probably know about me by now, we've known each other going back to what, like 94, 95? You ask weird questions. There is that, that is true.

You have weird ideas. Let's bracket all of these things for now, Elliot. Here's one thing that I think you know about me by now. I really try hard not to be jealous of people. I try to celebrate when people are part of big events and great things happen to them and try not to play. Woe is me. I wish I was part of that. But Elliot, I'm really jealous of everybody that was at that rink in Edmondson on Friday night for that game and that experience and that noise i've already lost i don't know how much of

my hearing in my life but i'd be willing to risk even more just so i could have been at that rink rogers place friday night to be part of that event no question to start just the floor is yours thoughts on friday every time the oilers are winning a game in the third period it's karaoke it really is you're right a lot of living on the prayer some Shania Twain a little Bomba at the end of the game that's good music good music mix in there sure uh it was including some newer stuff too it isn't all the old old rock stuff from the 80s that i love so much it was from from the moment they got into that building very confident crowd very confident crowd not nervous alive from the moment things really got started great anthem again excited

nothing really happened that knocked them out of the game. Like Edmonton had some really good shifts early. Bobrovsky held. Then Florida started to put together some good shifts. Maybe not a lot of shots, and we'll get to that in a second. But definitely a lot of zone time. They kind of controlled the flow of play for a little while. But nothing overly bad happened.

Crowd never lost faith. And of course, once Fogle scored, it just turned into one big party. And you know, again in this game, and we'll get to the offside review because that was the biggest moment of the game for me. You know, I didn't see post- game the video that any videos the others put out about who gets their plunger or anything like that but you'll remember when florida went up three to nothing the the panthers and it was matthew kachok presented that puck to their team services director who was responsible for getting them to edmonton on a difficult day of travel. I thought that was an excellent gesture. Well, I would assume, and this pod will come out after everybody knows for sure,

that there was a lot of love given by the Oilers to Noah Siegel, who's their video coach. Because that was the only time in the game I really felt the Oilers were threatened. You know, when barkov scored to make it three to one you know the other day when in game five when when florida made it four to two never mind four to three when florida made it four to two i really thought they were going to tie it i never felt edmonton was as threatened in this game as they were in game number five. I thought they were firmly in control most of the way through. And it just struck me as a game that was, aside from the moment of the offside challenge,

was a game the Oilers had an excellent grasp of. Let's make sure in a little bit here, we get back to Noah Siegel, because I want to do a little bit more on him um he has a fascinating story and there's a point that i want to make about him and video coaches in general further to the conversation we've had about video coaches this season um but period by period here fogel scores that goal the place erupts it's one nothing on an absolutely gorgeous saucer pass made by one of the best passers and one of the best players. According to the players, twice in a row, one of the best passer in the league.

Creative players in the game. And he was excellent all first period, as were the Oilers. Leon Dreisaitl. Both Leon and the Oilers dominated that first period. Elliot. Yes. You know, look, they won comfortably in a game where Connor McDavid didn't get a point. Did you have that on your bingo card tonight?

Joe, I had Connor, you know, catching more Wayne Gretzky records on my bingo card tonight. You're supposed to say yes, of course I knew that. Because if you don't take credit for things you didn't do, then you're never going to be successful on this planet. Riding a hot streak earlier on Thursday. I went cold during the game. You know, there were things that Dreisaitl did very well the first few games, but he's judged by production.

You know, when you're one of the highest paid players on the team and you're as talented as he is, you are paid to score and produce. And you could see it really bothered him. If you've watched any of his media conferences, you could see that he was really upset. He was really disappointed. He wanted to contribute. When they won game four, he made a comment along the lines

of back in florida um the that you know obviously i was happy that we won the game but uh what this does is it gives me another night to make my imprint on the series and they win game four and before game six the morning of game six he said the same thing you know I still have my chance to make an imprint on the series and he did in the first goal of game number six and I agree with you I thought it was his best game and that's a good sign for the Oilers to me there's there's a bunch of different stories about the Oilers there's McDavid's pursuit of Gretzky which was temporarily halted in game six, but there's also Stuart Skinner becoming the best closer since Mariano Rivera, unbeaten late in series, and again, shutting down the Panthers in this one. The save he made on

Barkov was a huge save in that second period. And i just think that he looks so calm and looks so under control the team defense i thought was another great story for them you know as everybody knows by now a panther forward didn't have a shot for 31 minutes like that never happens when does that ever happen in a game um they they smothered those guys and they're playing a very disciplined team game but for me too it's you know it's it's their other forwards it's it's the fogles it's the yanmarks it's the browns it's the henriques like those players are the ones you know even i would even throw philip broberg into there those players are the clowns you throw him in the cloud yeah he had a big night like those guys are the guys that have made a significant as they have

risen and their arc has gone up edmonton's chances to win have been that much better so like there's no passengers on this order like i think one of the biggest criticisms of the oilers at times was there were too many passengers there were too many people along for the ride there's that that criticism is gone there and that's a major reason they've come back from three nothing to three three they've been they've been excellent and florida i'm sure we'll talk about this a bit more but but they're reeling. And you saw that at the end of the second period specifically. They were reeling and frustrated and didn't know what to do and having a hard time making a pass.

And you just saw the frustration boil over. Now, I just thought that Vlad was trying to get a rise out of his team. Of course he was. That's what he was trying to do. Ryan Lomberg, you know. Same deal. We all know what they're doing. This is as old as hockey is.

This is as old as rubber pucks and frozen water. We all know what's going on here. Okay. The second period. Adam Enrique scores. And we talked about the Leon Dreisaitl sauce pass. A beautiful saucer pass by Matthias Janmark to Adam Enrique there. And I thought that Kevin bx had brought up a

great point uh he just looks perfect on this oilers team like there's a big decision in the off season there uh with adam and reek and the edmonton oilers but before we get to the hyman breakaway which made everybody forget about how we used to complain about zach hyman skating he created he created separation on that breakaway. We're going to get to that in a second. Let's get to the Barkov disallowed goal, the challenge for offside. Now, interestingly enough, in the postgame, Paul Murray said he wouldn't have challenged it.

Based on what he saw, he would not have challenged it. And as you mentioned, in a lot of ways, La Première Toile, as they used to say at the old montreal forum la premier etoile the first star of this game in a lot of ways was noah siegel the video coach who let me just do a quick little rundown of his of his background because when someone like him in his role does something as significant as we saw in game six you spend a little time there uh I I first heard his name as someone who was you know to to keep an eye on who was going to do things in the game um when he was a director of hockey ops for Canisius College now Canisius College is you

know just down the street from from where we live as you know and in Buffalo New York also worked as a director of hockey ops at University of Vermont, Wisconsin. Well, that sent a lot of people around. Oh, yeah. University of Vermont's a big factory, yeah. Absolutely. Now, one of his more intriguing jobs, and I'd love to talk to him about this,

he was head coach in the Pavel Datsyuk Hockey School in Russia for like five or six years. What an interesting gig that must have been. Was the director of hockey ops at RPI, video coach with the Charlotte Checkers of the American League, Bakersfield Condors, of course, the AHL affiliate for the Edmonton Oilers, and now has this position. One of the early points that you made about video coaches is they're more important than ever and they're under stress all the time and the one thing that I wondered about Noah Siegel's decision to review the Barkoff goal and like we're talking millimeters here like make this is like like by a hair is it on side or is it offside here?

The thing that I was wondering is, how much money do you think Noah saved the Oilers on Friday night? Like if that goal counts. Well, they don't have any more home games. No, I understand that. But you know what happens. Like if you're going to get to the Stanley Cup, that could have been the game. I don't have any more home games. No, I understand that. But you know what happens. If you're going to get to the Stanley Cup, that could have

been the game. I don't even think this is about money. Hang on a second here. No, hang on. I do want to make a point about money, though. You're very material. I'm talking about winning the Stanley Cup, and you're talking about money. You're overly materialistic. You're the guy that carries a CBA with him everywhere.

You're the guy that just wants to talk with him everywhere. You're the guy that just wants to talk about salary caps and contracts and all this. I'm not that materialistic. I don't think about money at all. Okay. Where are you taking me here? So here's where I'm taking you. I think all these people are horribly underpaid. I think they're all horribly underpaid. Like I think a top end for a video coach in the NHL to do what Noah does is probably around $200,000. I think he's right around a buck and a quarter. I checked around after that play. I'm like, I wonder how much, like what is his salary range? And I think it's about like 125, somewhere in that neighborhood.

And when you consider all the decisions that he's made and the biggest one on a big stage, Stanley Cup final game six, you make that call where we're all looking at it going and you stick your neck out and you're like no that is off side to me that's worth a lot more than he has compensated well you're right against the cap that doesn't you're right and that's true but i want everyone to know that that Jeff is only thinking about money while I'm thinking about winning the Stanley Cup. So understand who you want on your team here. Look, there's no question that he made a decision that should give him a significant raise. I would completely agree with that with you.

Because I'll tell you a few things about that moment I was looking at the replays and I was looking at the referees in the bench and I'm with Paul Maurice. I would not have challenged that I wouldn't I thought it was too close Like the fans who are around Dave and I are my perch Like they were looking at the monitor with us or those who couldn't see them are they were asking what do you think and i'm like man that is too close to call now i think one thing that not that really helped knob block is the oilers penalty kill because you know that if you if you're wrong it's two to one and the panthers are going on the power play. Like one of the things I wondered after that is, does Knobloch challenge that if his penalty kill is at like 64%? Like one of the

things I looked up during the game tonight was the Oilers have allowed four power play goals in these playoffs. And they're all at five on four. There are five teams that were eliminated in the first round that gave up more than that. The Islanders gave up five. Edmonton's at four. The Islanders gave up five. Toronto gave up five. Washington gave up five.

Winnipeg had six. And L.A. had seven. Like, what a stat that is. These teams have been gone for almost two months, and they've still given up more five-on-four power play goals than Edmonton has. And Edmonton just finished playing its 25th game of the playoffs. So I looked at that, and I said, Nodlock's got to figure it out. But ultimately, you put your faith in your video coach, right?

And you do have to have big guts to make that decision. No question about it. You have to have big guts to make that decision. No question about it. You have to have big guts to make that decision. And he did. And I'll be honest, I wouldn't have done it. I was with Paul Maurice. I was like, to me, that's too close to call. But obviously, Chris Knobloch has faith in Noah Siegel.

And number two, they knew they had that fantastic penalty kill that they could lean back on. It was the biggest play of the game. That was Florida's best chance to get back. And it was right after the second goal. Ten seconds. Ten seconds later. It changed the momentum.

It was the one thing that quieted the building all night. And when they won that, I just said, they're not losing this one tonight. That, to me, was moment uh the game was done i i really do believe that i i think that two of the biggest momentum swings in the series stewart skinner save off carter verhagen game number four and and now this one in game number six a few years ago there was there was a GM meeting where Steve Iserman stood up, and obviously, I think Iserman has a lot of great ideas about the game. And he said that, in his opinion, since we have video review for offside challenges, that the linesman should err on the side of letting the play go on unless it's really egregious and

they see it they should blow it dead but if it's close or they weren't sure he said we should encourage them to let the play go on and if it's close we can review it and take it off. Like that's one of the things I thought about during that play, that that was exactly what Iserman talked about. And I agree with him on that. Don't blow the whistle. Leave it up to the review. Let the players play if you can and leave it up to the coaches to challenge. And I know there were a lot of people who didn't like that challenge,

but the fact is you either get all challenges or you get no challenges. And if the call was missed and it was egregious, everybody would be screaming bloody murder that this goal counted. So this is the system we got, and I like the fact that even on a play as close as that one, it was allowed to play out and be reviewed that way because I do think that's the way it should be done. I think Eisenman was 100% right about that. By the way, talking about money, someone told me that the revenues, and I'm talking about gross revenues, not not net for edmonton's home game tonight

would have been enormous like i heard game four was a massive number like one of the biggest nights in the history of the nhl so i gotta think game six was even bigger if you are an nhler who is not in the playoffs you are loving this yes this goes into hrr but there you go thinking about the money again Elliot and I'm just yeah well you put it in my head because you're very materialistic and I'm happy to live off the Earth and be a communist everybody in their Edmonton all their jammies having dreams of games seven who's Connor gonna pass it to uh I want to mention Zach Hyman as well 16th goal of the playoffs 70th of the season it's a breakaway blocking a gustav forsling shot and then he is off to the races and

the one thing that i couldn't help but notice much like the connor brown short-handed goal he took bobrovsky from right to left and second game in a row i don't know if that is a thing i don't know but i just saw hmm maybe there's something there i don't know if that is a thing. I don't know. But I just saw, hmm, maybe there's something there. I don't know. Barkov does score in the third period. Pretty early in the third as well, making it 3-1. And then there was a pair of empty net goals. McLeod and Darnell Nurse

on a great play. On a great play by Stuart Skinner to get him the puck as well. That was a great save. And it's very rare that you do see goalies being part of the goal celebration but that was a nice touch i thought celebrating around steward skinner 20 saves for steward skinner in this one and like just flat out bluntly he is out performing sergey brovsky i'm gonna go on the plane but to on the on the plane to florida on sunday or saturday i don't even know what day it is anymore saturday now i'm gonna go back and listen to the pod after game three

and just laugh at how much stuff we got wrong and how much everything's changed they were they were i thought that we were wrong like we were right about how much florida was dominating the edmonton no we were wrong how Well, ultimately, yes. Okay, but here's the thing about this. I'm glad you took us there because the one thing that's so great about this right now, like I don't care that it's Edmonton. It could be anybody. This could be all reverse

and I'd still say the same thing. This is great. You know why? Because stuff like this doesn't happen in hockey because hockey's really hard. That's why you don't get like a lot of cinderella stories and you don't get like miracle stories like this sure there was 1980 right and i think that's what makes 1980s so special because these things don't happen

hockey's hard the playoffs are hard how many times have you seen i mean elliot we're kids of the 80s 78 years jeff it's the first time in 78 years a team of three nothing down we got to game seven now they lost that one uh that was Detroit and and they'll hold and the Panthers will hope to write a different history but like you said this doesn't this doesn't happen often this doesn't happen we're kids of the 80s yeah how many times did we see a team like a miracle team get to the stanley cup final only to get squashed there was vancouver against the islanders there was um minnesota against the islanders minnesota how many times that we saw this over and over and over again and even in the 90s there was there was florida and colorado yeah 1996 squash like there was washington and detroit squash

philadelphia detroit yeah but i thought was actually a better team they were they were a good team and it was like you you were looking at them like they deserve to be in the final like we were looking at our first sweep in almost 30 years and now we're going to game seven detroit washington someone said to me sent me a note tonight they said this is the first post-covered game seven in any league championship in any league i mean you would know better than i would really eh yeah uh i think it's fantastic i i really do i do again just i know it's been really spread out and I know it's driving people crazy. Um, but you know, the thing is like people say to you say to me, aren't

you like, isn't this too long for me when I'm caught up in the middle of it? I love every second of it. I don't, I understand how people out there who aren't covering it. Like we are like they, it makes them bananas. And I, I heard some teams who aren't covering it like we are, like it makes them bananas. And I heard some teams are really unhappy about it. But for me, right in the middle of it, I don't know. I love it. And I can't wait till game seven.

I'm really excited. I always say momentum doesn't exist in the playoffs. It sure exists right now. Like, who's stopping this gigantic snowball coming down the hill? And, you know, that's the thing. Like, we talked about it during the game. You know, the Panthers, when they lost game four, it was like, whatever, blip. Like, we just went over a speed bump, and we're going home.

And I think everybody understood that when they lost game five you know even i was like uh-oh like this this could become a real problem and i thought matthew kachok had a great message when he arrived in edmonton he said look if you would have told us the beginning of the year we're up three to two and the stanley cup finally would have taken it and i was like like, that's good. That's the good mentality. But then they lose this game. And to be honest, like I said, at the moment that Edmonton won that challenge,

I really felt that they were going to win the game. I didn't think Florida really threatened them. And now you're going home three all and you're like, okay, what are we pulling out of the bag of tricks, the mental bag of tricks to win this? Now, one of the things that I think about in life, and for the most part, I've been like this in the last 30 years, is that I have a rule.

No matter what I'm upset about in a day, when I wake up the next day, it's over. And for the most part, I really do adhere to that. Okay, new day, day new challenge new thing and that's the thing I would say is that if I was playing in Florida you know hey well first of all I was playing for the Panthers they would never make the Stanley Cup final but if I was playing for Florida I would be like I still have a chance to win the cup on Monday night, but you can see it on them. Like it is, it is really wearing on them. And so you have to sell them on, you can still win the Stanley cup. You can still find a way to win. Now, the things that, you know, concern me about this, they're, you know,

they're, they're giving up a lot of breakaways. You know, that's, that's number one. You know, one of the things, one of the owners told me after game three was they said to each other, no more freebies. Like, you'll remember they lost game three when all of their mistakes ended up in their own net, including three of them in six minutes that basically decided the game. And they just said, like, no more freebies, no more. And, you know, they've played really good defense.

And if they're in trouble, like, they get rid of the puck and they create races and stuff like that. Like, they're playing very smart and very safe. And I think that's really eliminated things. But they're getting a lot of breakaways. They're really frustrating Florida. And the other thing, you know, Florida's power play is doing nothing there. You know, one player has been texting me saying they just don't have enough one-timer options,

he feels, with Florida. But the other thing too is like, I think Kachuk has given them really good moments at times. I think Barkov is giving them really good moments at times. You know, Ekblad, I really thought tried to drag them into the fight, but some of their other players, like Reinhardt's been very quiet. You know, Verheke didn't skate on Friday morning. And he has really struggled. Like, he's fumbled around with the puck at times. It makes me wonder if he's dealing with something.

But he's a really important player for them who's gone really quiet. And I think that's the thing. I think, you know, and we talked about this before with some of the owners that struggled at this time of year you can always rewrite your narrative and you can always rewrite your legacy you've got to you've got to sell these guys on you have one game to rewrite your legacy here and and that's what I would be doing and I would still say I would say this to the Oilers too no matter what you think no matter what's happened you're playing for the Stanley Cup on Monday night and that is enough to make

you feel really good the other thing I would think about for the Florida Panthers is and I always remember this I go back to 2003 and it was New Jersey Anaheim and New Jersey was rotating as their final defenseman ken danico and oleg tevredovsky and scott stevens went to pat burns the day before game seven and he said we would like danico in the lineup we we would like him in and you know i i look at this and I would just wonder if like a pozo, like you, you, you put them back in, you know,

cousins was quiet. They, I don't want to pick on cousins cause there's been a whole hockey night cousin things, cousins thing this year. And I, this is not that I don't want anyone to think this is that, um,

I, I just, I would look at a pozo and say you know for him to see him with a chance one last chance to win the cup i think unless you really think he can't give it to you i'd want him out there it reminds me of danico in 2003 i i know danico was a lifelong devil, and Ocpozo's new, but everybody knows what he's about, Jeff. Just from outside, I think I'd want that there. Don't disagree with you at all.

What do you think? No, I would put him in, even just to look down the bench and see, like, this is his last shot. Because at this point, you're looking for inspiration from anywhere. This is it. This is the no tomorrow last game

at the final buzzer. This game's over and we're all leaving and only one team is going to be leaving happy. You need to find inspiration wherever you can, whether it's the fans, whether it's a player, it's something emotional, it's something that Paul Murray says to you before the game. I think you need anything and everything at that moment. And if it means here's Kyle Arposo and you don't get many shots to win the Stanley Cup and this is his shot to win the Stanley Cup, I don't know, is that worth extra juice for a lot of guys?

I certainly hope it would be. Just like a lot of those guys on the Colorado Avalanche looked at Ray Bork and said, yeah, we want to win the cup and we want to win the cup for that guy. That guy who's going to the Hockey Hall of Fame, that guy that's been around forever, that guy. Honestly, for a game like this, wherever you can get a little bit of extra juice, I think you do it. I absolutely think you do it.

And it's not like Kyle Ipposo is going out there and showing that he can't play. He can still play. He can still play hockey. Right? Like he's still like a good member of this team. He still fulfills a role. I'm with you. I put Ocposo back all day long.

I put him back all day long, Elliot. Monday's going to be, and for Oilers, don't change a thing. Not a thing. No no you can't i mean i know evander king is i know but i don't i don't think you can do it no i don't think you can do it not a thing i i really don't everything's going great eyes on monday we can't wait we suspect you are the same okay so elliot from dreaming about a game seven to the news of the day and the news leading into the weekend we'll start with the winnipeg jets and what is happening with first round draft pick rutger mcgordy so i'm going to be really careful, Jeff, because there's a lot of answers I don't have. His family advisor is not talking and the Jets are not talking. But the one thing I can tell

you is that I have heard his name has come up in trade discussions, that the Jets have discussed trading and other teams have discussed acquiring McGordy's rights. Now you'll remember a few months ago after the NCAA season, McGrory announced he was going back to Michigan for his junior year and the Jets have his rights for two more years. And again, I'm not going to guess on anything here i'm simply going to say i have heard that his name has come up in trade conversations so we'll see where all this goes over the next couple of weeks he's a good player and he would be coveted he would um and there is a certain event called the nhl draft on the horizon and the winnipeg Jets do not have a first-round pick in said draft. I just wonder how much spicier action at the Sphere got next Friday in Vegas.

We'll see when we get there. Okay, so from Rutger McGroarty, let's go to the Arizona Coyotes. And we thought that in the not too distant future, next week, that the Arizona Coyotes would win an auction and find a new home for their rink and entertainment facility. But the Arizona State Land Department put an end to that, at least temporarily, and canceled the land auction. Now, the Arizona Coyotes were swift to issue a statement about it, saying, amongst other things, that they have been working in good faith

with the Arizona State Land Department and have been on track to win the auction. And then this suddenly got reversed on friday essentially pulling the rug out from under the feet of alex morello and the arizona coyotes um according to craig morgan an arizona council person saying the coyotes need to get a zoning attorney the coyotes need a quote special use permits to move forward and one of the things that morgan does uh question as well you know in the statement that the arizona coyotes put out there they didn't say anything about whether they would try to continue um to get this piece of land choosing rather to say they were exploring legal options.

I'm assuming you're not a fan of this story, Elliot. You know what, Jeff? I have decided. So today I saw Craig's tweet. I was like, oh, man, I feel sorry for that guy. He still has to deal with this. And then you know what? It hit me. I don't care about this story anymore.

I just don't care about this story anymore i i just don't i looked at the coyote statement and i was like you know that meme that says i ain't reading all that i'm happy for you though or sorry that happened like that that's what came into my head i was like i i can't be bothered to chase the story anymore. What do we know? We know that Alex Morello must deliver his reactivation notice no later than December 31st, 2027. For it to be granted, the new arena must be at least 50% complete. I reported that back on April 20th, and I've made sure to keep that note. So I knew like on days like today how to reference it. And to me, Jeff, like wake me up when we're there. You know, I want to say one thing. Every time this happens, I really feel for the employees whose lives were disrupted by this and all of this insanity but I you know someone said to me are you going to look into

this story and I was like no for one thing it's game six of the Stanley Cup final I care more about that and two like I was like I'm done with this like just Just tell me when Arizona's getting another team or if Morello is going to meet his deadline. I'm not chasing this anymore. I am done with this. Stop trying to make fetch happen. Stop trying to make fetch happen. It's not going to happen.

You felt very hip reference. So you feel bad for craig morgan for still having to chase this story yes i feel bad for fans there that keep getting their hearts crushed like there's gonna be a viewing party for this for the auction like how many how many times can you get your heart stomped well i think what you should do is you should do what I do. Not care? And just say, no, no, no. Like, check out until Morello's date has passed.

No, I'm going to. No, I got to stick with it. I'm going to read every tweet that Craig puts out. I'm going to read everything. Yes. No, I'm going to. I don't care how long it takes. Dude, I was there.

I was there in the courtroom. Judge Redfield, T-Bomb, like all of it. Keys on the table, the whole deal. Bankruptcy. I was there for I can't stop now. So you have some issues here. First of all, you only care about money. And secondly, you're way too invested in this story. What do we all know? We all know that once Morello is out of the picture, they're going back there. Yeah, I know. So, you know, it's all you can do is you can, like, you're right. People get their heartstrings pulled and it shouldn't happen. The only thing you can do is check out until this is over. And that's the way I look at it now. is over. And that's the way I look at it now. Meanwhile, Elliot, before we get to some of the news from earlier on this week, on Thursday, we had a conversation on the radio about the future of Linus Allmark and the Boston Bruins. I think there's a couple of points here that we should probably sharpen the pencil on as well. The nature of the no trade, the nature of perhaps an extension coming along with waiving the no trade to go to certain markets.

How do you look at the Linus Allmark Boston situation? I think the extension you mentioned there is a very big part of this. I think the reports of Ottawa and Boston discussing an Allmark trade are very true. I think it's taken on added urgency because Markstrom is now off the board. Darcy Kemper is now off the board and also a team that was looking for a goalie, the Kings, are now out of the picture. So in addition to, you know,

just the fact that Otto was looking for a goalie and I think Boston would like to move Allmark, the number of dance partners, it's like last dance at the prom. If you didn't come with a date, you want to make sure you find somebody to dance with, right? And so we're kind of getting to that stage now. I thought Steve Iserman, in his pre-draft availability, he had it on Friday and he said something very interesting about,

like we'd heard Detroit was in the goalie market and he confirmed that, but he did make a point of saying, I'm not looking for someone who's going to be here for two or three years and then leave. I thought that was a very interesting quote. We know Toronto's in on the goalie market, but I think that's more of a Brassois, Anthony Stolarz type piece. Now that they, I think they, I heard their offer to Calgary

was comparable to New Jersey's, but I think because of all the politics there, I think Toronto was going to have to blow anyone else out of the water to get that player. I also think Markstrom at the end of the day preferred New Jersey most, but he opened it up to teams like Toronto and Ottawa in the Eastern Conference. But I think the Maple Leafs were really going to have to win that deal. But look, now you've got a situation where Boston's looking and saying, oh boy, like how many other places are reasonably going to be looking at goaltenders that we can send Allmark to?

And Ottawa's got to be looking around and saying, okay, what else is available? There's Allmark. There's John Gibson. I don't even know if that's possible to work out or how Ottawa feels about that. Allmark's no trade list dropped from 16 last year to 14 this year. And the thing you really have to talk about, Jeff,

is the way agents and players shape this. It's not as simple as saying, take the 14 places I hate the most and put them on the list it's also it's also strategic in the sense that they'll go look for it and they'll say well this team doesn't need a goalie we could get traded to this team that needs a goalie so how do we feel about it and if we don't like it we better make sure that team's on the list like a lot of these lists are very strategic about who's going to want you that you may not want to go to so you know ottawa i believe is on the list um but one of the things i've really

heard here jeff is that if you're going to pay the price that Boston is asking which is a big price are you going to be comfortable with all mark as a rental or are you going to want to have an extension in place and then it leads to two problems number one would all mark want to extend there and number two would all mark can you guys can two sides make a deal that both, say, Ottawa and Allmark would be happy with? And from what I've heard, that's going to be a challenge. Like, I do think New Jersey looked at Allmark, too, in addition to Markstrom. And I think that was a challenge there as well. Markstrom has two years left, so it's a little less of a concern.

But I think that was an issue. And, you know, one of the things about last year with L.A. and whatever happened there, you know, I don't think Allmark was crazy about relocating his family during the season. I think he was more open to a fresher scenario now as opposed to in the middle of the year where his family was not affected. However, I think now the extension becomes as big a concern for everybody involved if the price is high. Now, the other thing that could happen to Jeff,

because there seem to be less dance partners, I wonder if Boston's going to feel pressure to come down on its price. Like there's, you know, like this Iserman quote, like if he's interested in Allmark, that says to me he wants Allmark with an extension. I wouldn't be surprised at that whatsoever from Steve Iserman. Maybe I would be mildly surprised about trading within the division. Maybe I put more on that than other people. But would that be a concern if you're Don Sweeney? Ottawa's in the same. So you get,

as long as you get your price, you make the deal. Like, Berkey was a big guy like that. He didn't like the idea of trading a goalie within the division. Brian Murray did it with Ben Bishop, but if you get the price you want, you make the deal. The only thing, that is the one position I always get a little bit squirmy

about. Normally, I'm a, ah, within the division, not a big deal, except for goalies. That's the only one, and maybe that's that bit of old school thinking I need to get out of my brain, but I still have it, specifically for goaltenders. Speaking of goaltenders. But if you look out there now, aside from Allmark, who's out there? There's Gibson. Anaheim would move him but they really don't want to eat money I know John Waddell that deal Don Waddell has talked about you know

no one's taken the contract but Elvis can I talk about that for a second you know what I think that is that is a shot from Don Waddell across the bow of Elvis Merzlikens. Of course it is. Totally. That was a challenge. Yeah. Don Waddell came in, cowboy boots up to his neck. And he's like, Elvis, I'm coming right at you. It's going to be a fascinating time for the Columbus Blue Jackets. There's that. There's the Patrick Laine situation as well.

There's who's going to be the coach, if you have a thought on that one, Elliot. Somebody told me really to pump the brakes on Patrick Laine, too. They just said there's a lot of conversations that have to happen here first. Slow down on that one, I was told. Obviously, I think we're all very sensitive to what he's going through. I was told. And obviously, I think we're all very sensitive to what he's going through. But look, aside from that, there are very good options available, like the Brassois and the Stolarzes of the world.

But I think everybody's kind of wondering, if you're looking for a number one goalie, you've got Allmark, you've got Gibson, and who else is available now? got Allmark, you've got Gibson, and who else is available now? So, you know, the challenge becomes even greater, especially with Allmark's

no trade and potential extension or non-extension playing a role in all of this. Speaking of goaltenders, the big goalie news of the week. Surprise, surprise, the New Jersey Devils got Jacob Barkstrom. It's only been something we've been talking about for a number of months. 31% retention, Kevin Ball, and a protected first-round pick in 2025

goes the other way. It took a long time, but it got there. How did you look at this deal when it was finally completed you know I had to say initially I was like that seems pretty light you know I'll say that when I heard the return and then you know someone sent me to look at it and I mentioned it on your show so Markstrom is 34 and you just look at the trade returns for 30-year-old goalies, and I went back about 15 years. So Darcy Kemper was 31 years old in 2021 when he got traded from Arizona to Colorado, and he got a first-rounder. Ryan Miller was 33 years old in 2014 when he was traded from Buffalo to St. Louis.

He got a first-rounder. And Markstrom's only the third. Like, there's only three of them in the last 15 years who were 30 years old and got a first-rounder. And Markstrom's the oldest. He's 34. He was older than Kemper and Miller. He was older than Kemper and Miller. So, and, you know, the thing is now that teams are becoming more sophisticated at this stuff.

They all have lists. And, you know, what that is, it's a reminder of me to always check the market. Because like I said, when I first heard it, I was like, ooh, that seems light. And then, you know, a couple teams said to me, ain't that light? I mean, it may not look spectacular, but it fits with what has happened. And so Calgary told teams they wanted a first rounder and they wanted a player they could put on their roster right away. And so they got it. You know, Markstrom did them a favor. He told them that he would open up the search a bit more.

It was last year, it was only New Jersey. This year, he put more teams in. Now, I heard that initially he had it open to everybody, but then he kind of said, you know what? I'm 34 years old. It will really benefit me to be in the Eastern Conference with the better travel. So they went east, and they got the first rounder from New Jersey. They got Kevin Ball. You know, Kevin Ball is never going to score a ton of points, but I had a few people who really said good things about him. First of all, they say

he's got a great attitude. Secondly, he's 23 years old. He's already come a long way in a pretty short time. And, you know, like you need bulk in this league and uh you know the thing that a couple people said to me is really he's really willing to work like if you work with him or he'll do it and you know the the flames had the door off and i don't like like i don't think he's ever going to have the personality of zadororov, but I do think that they, and a couple, I checked with a couple of teams and they said, yeah, the statistical profile is kind of there. That, you know, I don't know if he's ever going to be as ferocious a hitter as he is, but he's a big body who knows how to use it,

isn't afraid to use it, and has a really willing work ethic. Like, there's a player there. And, you know, it't afraid to use it, and has a really willing work ethic. Like there's a player there and, you know, it's up to Calgary now. Calgary's got a lot of defensemen, a lot of young defensemen. It's up to Calgary now to develop these players properly. It's in their hands, but it's a fair return for what goalies get. And, you know, they ultimately, they wanted a first and a prospect and they got it. I'd love to know what Toronto's package was because I heard it was – the word I got was comparable. I don't know what Ottawa offered, but ultimately I think Ball and the first.

And I can't imagine New Jersey is going to be picking in the top 10 in 2025, so I assume it's a 2025 instead of an unprotected 26. But, you know, they got what they wanted. I spoke to Tom Fitzgerald on the radio show a couple of days ago and asked him about Markstrom, obviously, and the nature of the New Jersey Devils blue line. Trying to make the point that, you know,

having a goaltender is only part of it here. You still need to do something with the blue line. And he said, like, yeah, we still need veteran guys back there. Some of the injuries to the back end, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Egenthal, that opened the door for Simon Nemec, et cetera. But he said, look, we still need to have more experience back there. So I don't think the New Jersey Devils are closed for business at all. Elliot, I still think they're out there looking.

I think a lot of people, to be honest with you. I suspect they're one of the teams in on Pesci. Would not surprise me at all. I think a lot of people, to your previous point about it, that the deal looks a little bit light. I thought Flames fans were thinking about an Alexander Holst or maybe a Dawson Mercer, these types of players. I heard the Mercer rumors, and I said, to me, if Mercer's in that deal,

if you're Calgary, you run to the fax machine and get that done. Fax machine? Do not go. What year is it? Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. You run. You run to whatever you have to do to set it and you sign it um you know but i i to me like i mean who knows like the you know like i asked and people

said mercer was never in it and or at least maybe they asked about it but like it wasn't he wasn't in the deal like to me it was just if if new jersey was willing to trade dawson mercer for jacob markstrom if you're at calgary you you you do not let fitzgerald off the phone like that one always seemed weird to me you know i wonder is it unless it was part of a bigger deal that's what i always come back to like i wonder about going back to last year like if like noah hannifin is part of a bigger deal. That's what I always come back to. I wonder about going back to last year. If Noah Hannafin is part of something, then we're getting bigger names. That's what I'm wondering. Okay.

I don't think it's a one-for-one like that. That's a fair point, Merrick. But to me, I would wonder if Calgary thought higher of ball than holts. I don't know the answer to that. For what they need, big defensemen that can defend. It's not impossible to me. I don't know. I want people to, I want to stress that.

I don't know about many things. I don't know about this. But it's not impossible to me that Calgary thought higher of ball than Holtz. Okay. A couple of other things here. I know we've all had a couple of days to discuss it, but for the purposes of this podcast, and we're going to talk about it a little bit later on in the thought line,

but Pierre-Luc Dubois for Darcy Kemper. The goalie goes to LA, the big-bodied center goes to Washington. There's a lot of layers to this one. As I mentioned to you the other day, I think a lot of this is about Quinton Byfield and opening up not just a spot, but cap space as well. People told me you're nuts, by the way. Oh, okay. Well, that's fine.

Let's see what happens with the Byfield deal. You've had a lot of good ideas this week and some good ones on this pod. That's not good. You don't think that part of this is opening up a space for a spot for Quinton Byfield, the most improved player in the NHL last year? I don't disagree with anything you just said there, except that I think this is all about Dubois. They couldn't come back with him. They couldn't.

You know, I want to say something about Rob Blake, too. Rob Blake could have buried Dubois, buried him on the way out. And he didn't do that. He took it on twice. He said it was an organizational, he didn't use the word failure, but he'd said the organization deserves the responsibility

for the fact that this didn't work. Like I give Rob Blake a lot of credit for that that this didn't work like i give rob blake a lot of credit for that he didn't even he didn't have it he could have just said it was so tempting elliot he could have said it was just time to move on he could have buried the guy he had he it was choose your own adventure he had three forks in the road and he and he took the one that put the spotlight most on him like i got a lot of respect for that. I really do. But I think this was all about Dubois and the realization that this was not going to

work. And, you know, in LA, you know, there could be jobs on the line now. So, like, you have to put yourself in the best position to succeed. And I think they just felt like, and i'll say this too about blake so someone called me yesterday and they said there's a story here about how much effort blake put in to dubois and then he goes but i'm not telling you it. I'm like, what is the point of this phone call? So like, I, like, I believe that. I like, hang on.

I like that people call you just to put some cheese in the trap and then hang up. I like that. It's so infuriating. It happens way too. I love it. Please do it more people. Do it more. My response to this is I'm not very bright and I don't like to work hard. So please just spell it right out for me.

But, you know, they said that, you know, Blake made Dubois like a real personal project during the year to try to get the best out of him. And I just think this was all about they just felt it wasn't going to work. Now, one of the things I think that happened with Washington is and I'll say this, too. I want to make this very clear. I heard from a pretty good source also that Washington was not the only team in on this. That there were other teams who were legitimately interested in Dubois.

Do you want me to give you two predictions? I don't know. These are predictions. My one prediction, because it's a big-bodied center so i'll naturally default to boston yeah that would be one of my predictions i do think that's one of them i think the second one i actually thought you're going to guess the second one because i think it's obvious montreal yes i do hmm i i this is i like i haven't asked Montreal? Yes, I do. Hmm. I haven't asked. These are my guesses. I think that Boston, because I legitimately heard there were at least two other teams in there. And Boston, I think you gave the rationale there very well.

I think Montreal was interested too because Montreal has long had an interest in Dubois. I don't, before anyone even asks or X's at me, I have no idea about what the returns could have been, but I heard there were other teams involved and those were the first two teams I thought of. Like, I don't think this was the only deal that LA could have made. Now, I think they were determined to get a goalie. We all know that they know Kemper. Look, Kemper had a really rough year in Washington. I'll say this too. I had some people around the capitals say good things about Kemper that, you know, early in the year, uh, Carberry brought in the man to Mandy and they got lit up a few nights and Kemper took the brunt of

that. Like he got lit up early in the and Kemper took the brunt of that like he got lit up early in the season because they were figuring out how to play and he didn't cause them a lot of problems like Kemper ate some really tough games last year early on and he they said very good things about him and you know the Kings are obviously a more lock it down defensive team and you know blake says they're going to change some of that but generally the kings play pretty well defensively and i think kemper will take get the benefit of that the other thing and i talked about this with you on your show is that washington has a good record with first rounders that didn't pan out elsewhere. Oshie's a bit different, but we all know St. Louis wasn't 100% happy with him.

But let's talk Strom. Let's talk Sonny Milano. You know, that was one of the reasons. But to me, this is all on Dubois. He has got to figure this out. At some point in time, everybody else can put you in a position to be successful. Everybody else can say, we believe we can be the difference maker in this person's attitude or environment that makes them better.

At the end of the day it's all about you you decide look sometimes you need luck sometimes things happen that are out of your control but far more often than not we determine the success of our outcomes in our lives and you know when la was signing him there were people that warned them not to do it. And a year later, they're making this trade. It's up to Dubois now to take control of his destiny and prove that he can be the player that everybody thinks he can be. It's also a big comment on not just Charlie Lindgren, because that's the obvious one. And he had a wonderful season for the Washington Capitals, and's been great but Hunter Shepard as well and now Hershey is tied with Coachella

Valley in their best of seven two two yeah and he's been real good I know you've gone out of your way to mention Clay Stevenson as well Elliot so like coming up here like there's some there's some good goalies on the horizon for the Washington Capitals. That has to be part of this. Yeah, I agree with that, too. I think they have goalie depth. There's no question about it. What would be interesting is if it's Lindgren and Hunter Shepard next year, that would be unusually small for an NHL goaltending combination.

While this goalie coach from another team said they like both those guys, so they're not the biggest guys. And what do we always say about big goaltenders? You get accidental saves, and everybody likes a good accidental save. It's true. You were talking about Dubois. You had your tweet about big guys always get more chances. So, yeah.

Do you remember an NBAba center named mark eaton i don't i don't know the nba as well as you do that's true so uh mark eaton played for the utah jazz and he was seven foot three and he didn't play a lot in college but the jazz drafted him. And Frank Layden, who was their general manager at the time was asked about the pick. And he said, you can't teach height. I've heard that quote before.

Yeah. Yeah. Mark Eaton turned into a block machine in the NBA, a very effective player, not an offensive player at all, but a very effective player, not an offensive player at all, but a very, very effective defender and a key part of some very good jazz teams. The quote that Elliot is referencing, it's an old saying and it goes like this. A small player has to prove he can play while a big player has to prove that he can't.

That has been the history of the NHL. And I would imagine to Elliot, probably a lot of other sports. Who's kidding who? You go to go look at Major League Baseball prospects. If you're not 6'3", they're not having a look at you either. Jeff, they told me size didn't matter. They lied. Oh, it's true.

The Barclay Goodrow situation. I want to focus on a couple of moves by San Jose this week here as we sort of wrap up the news segment. Barclay Goodrow placed on waivers by the New York Rangers and claimed by the San Jose Sharks, as we had discussed. Not exactly a surprise, although maybe the Goodrow camp was surprised by the timing of this. At the end of the day, Jeff, I think this will all work itself out. Like Barkley Goodrow, he's, he's a good pro and he's a good pro. He's going to make a lot of money and you're going to make the best of it. I just think for Goodrow, it's just, I think he just felt he deserved, we talked about a lot in your show, deserved more of a courtesy um like i like

chris drury has to run his organization as he sees fit his job is to win a stanley cup mike greer is to is his job is to run his organization as he sees fit his job is to build a team around eckl and Will Smith and Celebrini and maybe Mark Giordano too, still looking to play. As you said, could be a perfect shark. And one of the things that happened too is that Greer, he knows, like there's been reports about Atkinson, Cam Atkinson, not allowing a trade to San Jose.

Like Mike Greer, he's goter, at some point in time, you have to stand up for your franchise and say, you know what? I have an opportunity to get this player. I'm getting this player. I have to do it for my young players, and I have to do it for the vision of this organization. I have to do what's best for the Sharks. I understand that. I just think Goudreau would have preferred more of a heads up that this was a possibility. Now, I'll say this. One team did tell me that they are going to wonder.

Remember, you told the story on the last pod about the NHL and that whole Marchand for Fedorov trade and oh boy yeah kind of looked at Columbus Anaheim yeah like we want to make sure there's nothing fishy here one team did tell me that they'll be curious to see if there's any trades between the Sharks and the and the Rangers because you know they did get around his no trade clause right and he did say that is something both the Union and the league and therefore the league will be on top of but you know like I said it was it was a tough it was a tough thing for good row to go through he wanted more of a heads up, but I think in the long run, it's all gonna sort

itself out. Like, like I said, he's a pro and you know, it's good money. Um, you know, I had a lot of people sending me the mad men, uh, gif of Don Draper yelling at, uh, Elizabeth Moss. That's what the money is for. It's actually one of my favorite scenes ever in any TV show or movie anywhere. And I think we'll eventually get to that. But in the moment, I can understand Goodrow's emotion.

I think it came as a really big shock to him. Speaking of the San Jose Sharks, Ty D'Andrea goes from Dallas to San Jose, a fourth-round pick going the other way. This one is interesting. I've mentioned to you this week that it sounds to me and feels to me very much like this is setting up other moves for the Dallas Stars. You had talked about the Stars taking a good run at Chris Tanev this week, trying to bring him back. Matt DeShane, there's a desire on both sides for a fit. Maverick Bork is going to play full-time with Dallas next year.

Where's that ice time going to come from? So it seems sort of destined that they were going to have to do something with Delandria, and this is it. Yeah, it'll give them an opportunity to play. There's no doubt about that. As I mentioned on your show, too, I think there's a suspicion that dallas has interest in william carrier um so and you know i'd forgotten he'd played for deborah so deborah knows knows him very well from his time in vegas and he's he's perfect for the way uh dallas plays um i do think they're really trying hard to keep Tanev. I still think they're very interested in Duchesne, you know, but Dallas,

you know, again, like we've been talking about Wyatt Johnson extension, Jake Ottinger extension and Thomas Harley too. I hadn't even mentioned him. So those, they got some dancing to do. I think Jim Neal is one of the guys who said you can run out of your space really quickly. I think there's more deals. Like, like honestly i think there's more coming i really do um someone told me too that washington is not done they think washington's going to be very busy they think really well yeah yeah yeah they they there's some more there. I really wonder about them.

I heard there's more coming there. Something else, too, is depending on what happens in Vancouver with all these other things that they're working on, I wonder if Tyler Toffoli is back on Vancouver's radar. Really? Yes. Yes. I thought it was Jake Gensler.

I thought it was Jake Gensler bust. Well, I mean, in case you bust, you actually have to have a plan, right? Like I've heard, and I could see Toffoli being a guy who's on the Rangers radar, too, with the money that they got now. For sure. For sure. But with Goudreau off. But I wondered about Toffoli in Vancouver this week. They know him.

And that's another name that popped into my head. Keep that in mind. All right. Oh, by the way, before we do the break here, Jeff, I had to say we talked about Detroit a little bit. So I couldn't watch Iserman's availability because it was during the morning skate. But I read about it after, and I'm lifting this quote from Sean Shapiro's column. He did a good summary of what Iserman said. I almost died laughing when I read this. For the draft itself, Iserman prefers the war room setup

that will take over next year when the teams will be decentralized. He doesn't like the current setup with all the teams on the floor. Said it makes it feel like everyone is spying. There is no better Iserman quote than that one. Everyone is spying there is no better eiserman quote than that one everyone is spying on me for the for the new loo as we like to call it all eyes are on my table what a tremendous quote what a tremendous on-brand quote oh yeah by the way i know there's a lot of Marner signings, rumors going around. There's a lot of smoke, yeah. All I'll say is this.

Again, I go back to the agent here, Darren Ferris. His philosophy, and there's a saying when you're dealing with Darren Ferris. You know what it is? What's that? Ride the ferris wheel only jeff when we're talking about this ferris wheel we're not talking about like the safe ferris wheel you see in 99 of amusement parks oh i see the older the older ones where yeah this would be a ferris wheel that violently tosses people around and would be condemned in most places in the world.

Oh, my. What are you doing? What are you doing to Darren Ferris? This would be the kind of Ferris wheel that would be that throws people around very violently and would be condemned in most. In most jurisdictions. Yes. This would be the kind of Ferris wheel that would jerk people around violently and would be condemned and not be allowed to be ridden in most jurisdictions. Oh, my. Well, as everybody in Toronto media likes to say,

and I count myself as one of them, the Marner story is the gift that continues to bear fruit. No, actually, I want to change that. You know what the Marner story is like? What? It's like a pot of scalding, boiling water that we keep dropping on ourselves. That's what this story is like. No, it's not. This is like, if you're a programmer, like you say to your hosts every day,

did you talk about Marner? It's true. You know it's true. Can't wait until it's over. It'll keep people's attention. You said that the last Marner deal. That's what we always say. All right, heading to break. That's what we always say. All right.

Heading to break. Montana's Thought Line coming up next. Listen to the podcast. Time now for the Montana's Thought Line. Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Try the ribs. Try the ribs. You got to try the ribs. 32Thoughts at sportsnet.ca

1-833-311-3232 As always, thank you for the tunes. Rick Turner of 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca 1-833-311-3232 We get to the thought line curated lovingly by Griffin Porter. Here is an interesting one, Elliot. Okay. I will decide if it's interesting.

I thought it was interesting, and I actually had to do some research for this one. So Jeremy submits this. Hi, guys. Love the pod. It will be a long summer without weekly entertainment. Oh, I'm sure you'll get by without us. With the Dubois trade, only a year after signing the contract made me think, is it the longest contract residual getting traded? With seven years left and nearly $60

million to be paid, is it the biggest contract left over to be traded? Thanks, keep up the good work. Do you agree with me that this is a good question from Jeremy Elliott? I do agree with that. Okay. So here's what I came. So Jeff, before you answer this with your quote unquote research. Thank you. Can I make a guess? By all means.

The floor is yours. So my guess is Roberto Luongo. And the reason I guess him is he was traded in March 2014. And at that time there were there were eight years left on his contract now as canucks fans will remember that was a backdiving deal which is why they were penalized and i still think that decision was ridiculous i agree but I agree. But anyway, by my unofficial count here, he was still owed twenty four, twenty seven, thirty. Thirty two, thirty thirty two eight. It looks like he was still owed about thirty three million dollars, which is less than Dubois, we should say.

Dubois is still owed much more. 59. Dubois is $59 million. Yeah, that was the closest one I could think of off the top of my head. Yeah, not even close. Okay. But good try. Thank you.

Do I get a participation ribbon for this? Yes, we used to get those in public. So we'll give you a little participation medal. Your parents can save it for you. That's get a participation ribbon for this? Yeah, it's used to get those in public, so we'll give you a little participation medal. Your parents can save it for you. It's very nice. Okay, so Pierre-Luc Dubois is $59 million. Okay. P.K. Subban, Shea Weber deal.

Subban had $58 million remaining. Shea Weber had $54 million. That's a great pull. That's a good one. That was on that infamous day when the Hall-Larson deal was made and Stephen Stamkos re-signed with Tampa. There's another one.

Jeff Carter. His 11-year, $58 million deal with the Philadelphia Flyers. Now, when he signed it, he had one year remaining on his old deal, but was traded to Columbus before the new deal kicked in. So that was the deal, $58 million. Still, still shy of Pierre-Luc Dubois' 59.

I have to hand it to you, Jeff. You've actually had a good day of research and opinions leading to my number one question why doesn't this happen more often I don't know what it is let's a lottery ticket day for me clearly now there is one so Pierre-Luc Dubois still to Jeremy's point Joe Dubois is a great call yeah 58 million there okay so but the other one is a kind of technicality okay how do you feel about matthew kachuk because technically he was signed and they sent the whole deal to florida yeah that was a sign and trade that was a sign and trade that

one doesn't i know but hang on but tech in a court of law with a skilled attorney, could you not make the case that that should be number one at $76 million? If you had a skilled attorney. You and I both know that if you are ever represented by anyone in a court of law, it's going to be Lionel Hutz. Probably true, yes. So you're going to lose. That's a good point. Okay. I'll say this. It's fair to bring it to lose. That's a good point. OK, but I'll say this. That's it's it's

fair to bring it up and it's a good argument. But to me, that's not Calgary's contract. That's Florida's contract. And the Flames gave him a break. OK, so that's what I was able to come up with for this one. Pierre-Luc Dubois, the leader at $59 million. There's still technically $76 million on this. 76, that's right. That's correct. So technically, your winner here is Matthew Kachuk, but to Elliot's point, that was a sign of trade. Anyway, great question coming off

the Pierre-Luc Dubois-Darcy Kemper deal. Okay, from there we go to Paul, who is in the south of Spain. Greetings from the... Nice, I wish I was there. How about this for Paul, who is in the south of Spain. Greetings. Nice. I wish I was there. How about this for an opening line?

Greetings from the shadow of Gibraltar here in the south of Spain. Holy smokes. Wow. Nice trip. A nice, nice life, Paul. I was looking at the Detroit Pistons' recent hiring of Trae John Langdon as their new team president and thinking about Eric Tulsky, who's from Michigan and has taken an unusual route to his new job as a GM of the Hurricanes. If the Pistons had wanted to, could they have hired Tulsky without asking permission from Carolina? What if an NBA team who had an NHL owner, say like Washington with Ted Leonsis, wanted to hire him for the NBA team?

Would permission be needed then? Thanks for keeping me up to date over here and helping me keep some ties to home. The pods make my day when they drop. And I was glad the Canucks didn't feature as prominently this year compared to last. Could they have hired Tulsky without permission? Not if Tulsky had a contract. If Tulsky had no contract with the Hurricanes, you can do whatever you want.

Even if they're hiring for a different sport? Yeah, a contract is a contract. Like he is contracted, assuming he's contracted to work with the Hurricanes, then you have to ask for permission. You know, for example, Jeff, if you were to go from the good telecom to the evil telecom no but that's what no no no no no no that would that that's that that I don't think that that's a good comparison well I know I know what you're gonna say because though

that's still the same that's still broadcast oh I see I see what you're saying yeah that's a fair point but still like like if it was something completely out of the industry. Like say that you wanted to leave to go, I don't know, work. Okay, let's just say you wanted to leave for a government job. Like, you know, or something like that. Sportsnet could technically say to you, you have a contract with us. Like I personally think they'd be very happy to see you leave. But you do have a contract with us.

Hey, wow, shot at me out of nowhere. Okay. But now what could happen is maybe, for example, Tulsky would have in his contract some outs that allow him to leave at any time. If that's the case, you could do that. But the bottom line is if you have a contract to work for someone, then you've got to work for someone.

And you have to. Now, I think I can say this now because it's been 20 years. But when I left the score or headline sports for Hockey Night in Canada, I had 11 months left on my contract. And the score, we negotiated, I had to negotiate an exit. They could have made life very difficult on me and thankfully didn't. So we negotiated an exit. I gave up something. They ended the contract.

But if you have a contract to work for someone, you got to work for someone. Technically, they can say, no, no, no, you can't do that. Okay, then here's what I wonder about. So Paul- I know you live in this lawless existence, but there are rules. No, let's find something here. So Paul mentions Ted Leonsis. Yeah. Okay. If Ted Leonsis went to Tom Dunnan and said,

I'm interested in hiring Eric Tolsky to run the basketball team. Yep. Manager's a manager. We wanted this manager to run our basketball team. With the plans that he was going to bring him in, fire him from the basketball team and hire him from the hockey team. Could he do that? to bring him in, fire him from the basketball team and hire him from the hockey team.

Could he do that? Again, I think it depends on what is written into his contract. Like Tom Dundon, you know, first of all, Carolina and Washington are rivals. Last time I checked, both in the Metro. Like Tom Dundon could just say, I'm not letting you do that. Now, there are executives in the NHL that have things written into their contract that say you can't block them from a promotion. There's not a lot of them, but I've heard they're out there. Yeah. So if Tulsky had something in his contract that says you cannot block him from a promotion then he can go so that all depends on

what the contract says so that's the way he'd get him in on the basketball side with the plans then to transition him back to the hockey side yeah essentially it's essentially it's a way to steal a general manager yeah but these owners don't think that way at all. It's all on the up and up. Let's finish with this one. Zach in Indiana. Dear Free Agent Merrick, my name is Zach. I'm a student at Indiana University. My question is, how does consmith trophy voting work

if it's tied with 10 minutes left in a game seven and the consmith isn't completely decided like this year. How would that work? So, again, I don't have a vote for the consmith this year, but I voted for it before. And this is basically what happens. You have to submit in any game that's a potential decider. You have to submit in any game that's a potential decider. Like, for example, even when it was whatever the score was at the end of the second period in game four, whether it was 4-1 or 5-1, I can't remember.

You have to submit your votes, your top three votes, by the end of the second period. They always want them just in case. If there's a miracle comeback, just in case. just in case in a situation like that like say for example the the what was provided by the question you can do qualifiers you can say here's my one two and three but if this guy scores like the overtime winner or this goalie wins the game they're my consmith vote you can do that you can put in qualifiers Now I try not to do that that much because it can make the whole thing crazy however, I There are situations where you are allowed to write in like say say we're in game seven. It's tied Like if this play you can put

Let's go with this mcdavid one bobrovsky two barkov three but then say like if barkov scores the stanley cup winning goal i want him to be my consmith trophy winner you can do stuff like that that is allowed but you have to be very specific with your condition you can't just say oh if he looks good in the third period, give him the consmite. No, that doesn't work. You have to be specific. Zach in Indiana, great question. An interesting answer as well.

The Montana's Thought Line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. We're back in a moment. Chef, alien, dumb, and dirty two thoughts. Try the ribs today. barbecue we're back in a moment yeah 32 thoughts try their hands today whoa yeah yeah welcome back to the 32 Thoughts to Podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation and a couple of things coming off our last podcast.

One, got a note from someone commenting on, well, actually we got a lot of notes about the mesh and Marty Berdure cutting the mesh and a lot of people have pointed out that it is a tradition in college hockey still. And I got a note from one person who pointed out that in the NHL, it is not allowed because that mesh gets sold to either card companies, jersey companies. And that all, although it's not substantial, still counts as part of hockey-related revenue. They do the same thing with the ice when they take it out, when they melt it.

That ends up getting sold as well. So just a follow-up on the mesh in the NHL. It's not as if we're going to see it run on goaltenders clipping the mesh because the NHL owns that, thank you very much, and can make a little bit of a profit off of it. The other thing. No, I had no idea. That's a good one, bud. Yeah. So the other thing is we had a lot of people commenting on the workout that you did with Kevin Bieksa. Yes.

And David Ember and Kyle Bukowskis. I want to say thank you for all the people who pointed out the genesis of the Murphy workout. Really appreciated that. So it's called now one that I want to highlight here. This comes to us from Adam and Adam, we thank you for your service. A proud member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Let me read this email. Jeff, Elliot and Dom first love the pod. I'm in the Canadian army and your shows keep me in stitches during our long runs

and workouts here in Edmonton. Wow. Great topic on the last show about fitness challenges, specifically the mile run followed by the 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, followed by a final one-mile run. This is actually a CrossFit

hero workout called MRF. Named after U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael Murphy, who was killed in Afghanistan June 28, 2005. Although typically done in body armor for time, there are a ton of ways to adjust the intensity of the workout so all can pay tribute to Murph in their own way. Bands, ring rows, TRX straps, to name a few. Kevin, I believe, wears a 20-pound vest. I think Kevin has worn a 20-pound vest doing it. That surprises nobody. Yeah, yeah.

A Canadian version of the MRF is known as Nuts, named after a friend of mine, Lieutenant Andy Nuttall, who was killed in Afghanistan on December 23, 2009. Give this one a try. 10 handstand push-ups, 250-pound deadlift 15 times, 25 box jumps, 50 pull-ups, 100 wall ball shots, 200 double-unders, and run 400 meters with a 45-pound plate, all for time.

It's a doozy. Thanks for all your great work. Adam from the Princess Patricia's Canada Light Infantry, thank you so much for that email. And also we had some people, most notably Ian, who were ready to remind everybody that Michael Murphy, Lieutenant Michael Murphy, attended Penn State where he played hockey as well. So to Elliot's point, thanks to everyone who emailed in and reminded us about the Murph.

Yes, thank you very much. It was meaningful to hear all these responses and all these people paying proper tribute to those who created these workouts or inspired these workouts speaking of which Kevin in Philadelphia sends a tip for Elliot he says I always do it in 50 sets of two pull-ups four push-ups and six squats it takes a while but it helps and I don't have any problem with that the idea yeah you can go to the website themerfchallenge.com to find out you know what this workout is all about and the different variations of it uh kevin in philadelphia thanks for the email he says good luck elliot your arms will be useless for a few days and weeks after i just want to say they're already useless now but i appreciate the tip

before we bid everyone good evening or a good morning or a good afternoon depending on when you're listening to this are the podcast that won't stop um someone we should shout out specifically someone that we've worked with um in toronto radio for a number of years while going back to May 5th, 2003 specifically, and that is Lance Kennedy. Yep. Lance is a technical director for Sportsnet. He's worked on the board for a long, long time. A lot of times he would call me, Jeff,

to come on their show. I remember one time he put me on the show and this is just a funny story and he went to the bathroom and we got cut out and like he just wasn't there and you had to talk for like five minutes until he got back like no one it's no one's fault it's just nice man you gotta go you gotta go and uh but just like a guy who was always around his job no complaints low maintenance yeah and he's leaving us he's worked um so it's 21 years uh that he was at the fan and he's leaving for a position outside the industry And he's leaving for a position outside the industry.

Right? It's a long time, Lance Kennedy. A long time. May 5th, 2003. So I mentioned on the radio show on Friday, when he started, the Maple Leafs lost game seven to the Philadelphia Flyers. You remember the Jeremy Roenick goal? Yes, I do.

You remember the Darcy Tucker hit on Sammy Kapanen? Yes, I do. remember the jeremy ronicle you remember the darcy tucker hit on sammy kapanen yes i do the blue jays were managed by carlos tosca oh my goodness do you want to hear the jays rotation when lance started at the 2003 so it'll be roy holiday bingo yes cory lytle yeah keep going it was coming okay no okay hold on wait wait wait cory lidle joey hamilton no who else no joey hamilton no no was ted lily there no i got the easy one i'm trying to remember the easy one i'm trying to remember who who okay give them to me calvin escobar oh i should have got that mark hendrickson and doug davis oh my god i could have guessed until i died and i was not getting doug davis j.s jaguar won the consummate trophy from the losing cause against

the new jersey devils um yeah the one thing like he did I mean he was like like honestly he he was a board op for like Gordon Stelic and Don Landry uh Mike Hogan and Chuck Swirsky like all the hockey Central guys uh Doug faraway Norm rumak Roger lejoie like so many and by the way he always said I was his favorite um so much murphy now and dan delevy and jack armstrong and stephen brunt and bob mccowan and barb julio and at end but you know what i'll always think about when i think about lance a lot of times when like pretty much every time whenever there's a guest on the line and we're coming back from break he'll just you know get in my ear and say your guest so and so there. And he'll always have a line about the guest or about something

that just happened in sports that honestly, Elliot, would crack me up every time. And you see it if you watch the show on Sportsnet 360, usually coming back from break when there's a guest on the line, I'm laughing. And it's because something that Lance just said in my ear, I still maintain that if you put all those together, it's one of the best shows the fan never had. And he was one of the funniest guys that you would never know because it was only between him and the host. And Elliot, I like to think that he only did it for me, but there's not a chance. Lance Kennedy did it for everybody.

Lance, if you're listening, best of luck in your next career. We are all thrilled for you. And you made the fan a wonderful place to come to every single day. With that, we'll wrap up. Enjoy Game 7 on Monday. We'll talk to you again Tuesday.