32 Thoughts: The Podcast - This Podcast Is Also Decentralized

Episode Date: June 29, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman delve into the Marner-Vegas-Toronto situation as more news unravels over draft weekend. They discuss the Noah Dobson trade and a massive weekend for the New York Islanders (13:20). Kyle and Elliotte also talk about the John Gibson trade (22:19). Elliotte addresses the activity that didn't materialize over draft weekend, including Utah's involvement, the Crosby speculation, and Rasmus Andersson's future (28:24). They explore what did get done, such as Sam Bennett's and John Tavares's extensions, plus Evan Bouchard being close to one (33:37). Elliotte also discusses the potential of Brock Boeser landing with the Oilers (39:33) and the theme of defensemen being selected over the weekend (40:15). The Final Thought focuses on the new decentralized draft format (42:11).Kyle and Elliotte answer your texts and voicemail submissions through the Thought Line (53:20).In the final segment, Kyle and Elliotte discuss the biggest topics included in the newly ratified CBA (1:04:18).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

As one GM said to me, he thinks this was an act of sabotage by Betman because every time the GMs come up with an idea now, he's going to say to them, the last time I listened to you guys, look at this draft. He says, he says, we are not getting anything we want for as long as Betman stays in the game now. The year is 2034. Matthew Schaeffer has just won a second career Norris trophy and the 2025 NHL draft has finally come to an end as we welcome you to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X,

Kyle, Elliot and Dom back with you. We're gonna get to the last two days at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles for the entirety of the 2025 draft. What happened? What didn't happen? But Elliott, why don't we start with the news that really started to swirl again on Saturday while you were there at the draft for rounds two to seven around Mitch Marner and the Vegas Golden Knights. Now wasn't that long ago you had said that Vegas at that time were the front runners to land them seems like we're in that territory of information can change by the minute so why don't you lay out for all of us here now, what you know

and how we got to this point, between Toronto, the player, and Vegas. So Kyle, are you comfortable? I am, yes. Should I grab a drink or something, maybe some popcorn? Anything you want, just be comfortable, because I'm gonna tell a bit of a story here. Okay, so Marner and Vegas. Gather around kids. Get

your s'mores ready. So Marner Vegas in Toronto. This has been going on for about at least a year. At least a year. You'll remember on a previous pod we talked about Marner and Vegas in Toronto talking last year around the draft. Toronto proposing a Marner for Theodore deal. Vegas not wanting to do it because they wanted to keep Theodore, which they did. They just didn't think that move worked for them. It wasn't because they didn't like Marner,

it was because they wanted to keep Theodore. They were still very interested in Marner as a player. Let's fast forward, trade deadline. As we know now, Mitch Marner declined to waive his no move clause to go to Carolina. And I get that one. His wife was pregnant, she was due. I get that.

To me, that's perfectly reasonable. He wouldn't go to Carolina. That fell apart. Now, there was a conversation. Vegas was later brought in and they kind of talked about, or at some point there Vegas was brought in, and they talked about Marner to Vegas, ranting in from Carolina to Dallas as eventually happened, but they couldn't sort out a way to make it all work for the Hurricanes. Was there a player or packages of players

they could get that made them happy? But a three-way option was discussed. I don't think it ever went to Marner, but they talked about it. And again, it's another example of how Vegas was interested in Marner as a player. Again, it just couldn't work. Let's fast forward again.

Draft combine. I don't know the full context of the conversation between Toronto and Vegas there. I've heard different things. I don't know exactly what it was. I'm not gonna guess. But I do believe one of the things that was talked about there was Vegas saying to the Maples,

if you make Marner's rights available, we would like to talk to you about them. Once again, Vegas establishing that they like Marner. And I do believe over the last few days to a week, those conversations have begun, that the Maples and the Golden Knights have discussed what a trade for Marner's rights could look like. Now, some people have said to me,

why would Vegas do this if they're just going to get Marner in a few days, as many of us are guessing? There's several reasons. Number one, as we've reported and others have reported, Marner has talked about holding meetings with teams or going to visit. This allows Vegas to get in early and eliminate all of that. Make their offer, make their pitch, none of this other noise. We put our number on

the table and all of this goes away. So that's number one. Number two, Vegas still needs to clear room to make this work. They don't want to trade Carlson and they've told everybody that. They don't want to trade Hurdle and they've told everybody that. They don't want to trade Barbachev and they've told everybody that. So how does this all work? Well one of the ways and Kelly McCrimmon talked about this on Saturday with the local media there is that Alex Patrangelo they have some

decisions to make and Patrangelo as I said several times one of my favorite players going to the Hall of Fame but he's gonna be on LTIR for a while, looks like. So that will create some room. But they still, like in the summer, you can go 10% over the cap. They're still gonna need to do a little bit more. I've definitely heard Nick Wah's name. I'm not as certain about Nick Hague.

I'm not saying anybody's wrong. I'm just not as certain it's happening in this deal. He's definitely been out there, but I haven't been able to confirm that he would be potentially in this deal. I do think Nick Wah would be. Well, that allows them to clear more cap room. That gets them even in better shape to add Marner. And also, you know, Nick Wah is a good player. Toronto could use that guy under contract for another two years at three million. Nick Hague is a good player.

He needs a new contract, but he's a good player. You know, if Toronto's gonna lose Marner, it's better to have a Wah and potentially Hague over nothing. So I think there's a way that this could all work. Now I don't know that it means Marner's contract would be any different, whether it would be 4 times 12 or 8 times 12 or whatever it could be. They, the bottom line is they get to them early and they can head it off at the pass and get it done quick. There is another reason that I think people are wondering about this.

And people aren't going to be happy with this, certain people, but I'm going to say it anyway. I'm not passing any judgment here on guilty or not guilty of tampering. I have no idea. I'm just a guy holding a microphone in the bowels of the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. But, but there's been some talk that if Marner goes to Vegas,

the Maple Leafs will go after Vegas for tampering. Again, I have no proof that Vegas is guilty of anything, but it's a time around the league where teams are extremely sensitive about it, and as a couple of GMs told me on Saturday, they think the NHL is itching to try and make an example out of someone. Once again, I'm going to stress, I don't have any proof that Vegas is guilty of anything. But if they make a deal with Toronto

and send a good player to Toronto, I'm betting any chance the Maple Leafs file for tampering goes away. So all those reasons, getting the Marner faster, clearing cap space, Toronto gets good players and eliminating any possibility of any tampering investigation which is being whispered everywhere around the league. All that goes away if this deal gets done. We'll see. No promises, no assurances. That's why that's what I think is going on.

Wow. What's a heck of a story. Is that actually eating popcorn or did Dom put in the sound effect? No, no, I had to, you told me to grab a snack, whatever I wanted, so I did. That was pretty good. I thought Dominic threw in the sound effect there. Oh wow, alright. I had perfect mic placement then. Broadcasting school finally came in handy all these years. Is that like regular salt popcorn or is there like a special flavor? No, actually Called an audible. I went with chips Nice. What kind of chips? Yeah

Sea salt and vinegar not bad not bad. Yeah sour cream onion, but it's pretty good. No, no And it was more so just for the audio effect as opposed to the flavor itself. Very good. I have to say very good. That's a man. There's a lot there. So my first thought, especially with the whole idea of potential tampering here, like that's been the. But end of so many jokes the last few years, right around this time

of year of, oh no tampering, right? There's the whole memo that came out earlier this year. So why is this situation any different do you think? I just think that, like I said, like there's, like there are teams out there who believe the league wants to clobber someone, like there are teams out there who believe the league wants to clobber someone like legitimately maybe Betman will be mad about all the negative reviews of the draft and he'll go out and just pound one of the GMs for tampering somebody's gonna pay for this I know, like honestly, like I, again, I want to, not that I care if Vegas is going to call me about this, but I don't know that anybody is guilty of anything. I just know the sensitivity to it they sent out another

memo this week about tampering so these GM's they're on alert they think somebody is gonna get hammered Wow okay so from Mitch Marner's, if it is a sign and trade, like you don't think it would be a slam dunk eight year deal through all of this, just because I, I wonder, as we talked about earlier, some of the reporting you had a couple of weeks ago, the idea of him taking shorter term, was there a shift in mindset I thought, or is it just because it's Vegas? I don't know. Like honestly, Kyle, thought or I don't know like honestly

I don't know I mean if you acquire if they do a sign and trade for example he can get the eighth year I don't know if Marner and Vegas are thinking about the eighth year I I really believed it was gonna be four times twelve if he went there I don't know if this changes anything it might not I don't know if this changes anything. It might not I don't know Wow, okay So, where do you think things stand right now between the two sides I Don't know I honestly they were talking about it They were taught like it's possible. I don't want to guess like there

There are some people who think it's gonna happen and I just don't know. All right, well, Brad Treleving in his media availability after the draft wrapped up on Saturday, of course wasn't commenting on that stuff directly, though he did hint at, if they are convinced that Marner's not going to resign with Toronto, they would like to get something for him rather than have

him walk for nothing come July the first. So yeah and I'll say this I was talking about it here with some of the guys I was working the draft with and they were like you know what you could do a hell of a lot worse than a player like Nick Wah. For sure and if a guy like Nick is in fact part of it I mean I Know they've done a lot of work in improving their blue line the last couple years since true living came aboard But that would be another great asset. Yeah, he was Vegas that's a lot For an unrestricted free agent a lot, right?

Okay, wow Well, thanks for bringing us all up to speed on that one, Elliot. That was... that's going to be a fascinating one to follow here between now and Tuesday. Another trade that was completed over the last couple of days, Elliot, Noah Dobson, who has been a popular name on this podcast the last few episodes. He's now a member of the Montreal Canadiens. Traded to Montreal, eight-year extension right away, nine and a half million he signs for. Martin St. Louis told our Eric Engels that he is coming at a time where the team is on their way. Elliot you have often talked about if yourself was in the situation as an NHL player wanting to play in a market where there is the most pressure because the payoff is the

greatest and it sounds like Noah Dobson likes to drink from the same fountain. Well he wanted to go to Montreal. There's no question about this. I mean, one of the things I think that's out there is that Columbus made a really good offer. I don't know how all the draft picks work. I don't know that it was the exact same draft structure, but the player that was on the table who I believe was Voronkov, was a really good player. Really good player. I also think that

Columbus offered slightly more money than Montreal did. I don't know about the structure. Montreal gave Dobson great structure. I don't know if Columbus's was the same, but I do think their AAV was higher. And so Columbus was right in there. You know, there were a bunch of teams looking at it. Ultimately, Dobson said he preferred the Eastern Conference, so some teams that were really into it, like St. Louis, they were told they were out. And then he narrowed it down to two teams, Columbus and Montreal,

and Montreal got the player. It's a great pickup for the Canadians. They're obviously very excited. I don't think they're done yet. We've talked about how they're looking for a forward on some level to play with Demidov, and I could see them continuing to work at that. But Dobson, he goes, as you said, Kyle,

he goes to some place where there's real pressure, real scrutiny and real intensity. And I love that. And he's happy to go there. I mean, the other thing too is that, when he goes back into Long Island, he knows what it's gonna be like. Tavares got that rude welcome a few times,

and now Dobson's going to get it. And on some level, I admire it. You're going to Montreal, and you know you're going to Long Island, and they're going to be waiting there for you. And I admire people who are not afraid of that. The Canadians are excited, and I can understand why. The thing that I really liked from the Islanders

was it could have been a devastating day for them and Matthew Darsh. And Darsh went to do quick work about changing that. I think one of the keys for a general manager is, can you pivot? Like, you're going to walk into situations that are out of your control. You can plan and you can plan and you can plan and you can plan. And you know what, Kyle?

You plan, God laughs, as my grandmother said. And that happened to the Islanders here. And Darsh, like, I don't know. Like, the Islander fans are some of the most hardcore in the NHL. And I would bet that when Dobson got traded, they were all sitting there and saying, oh my god, this is going to be a disaster.

And then like 14 hours later, they walked out of there feeling great. And it wasn't because it was Darsh's plan, it was simply because he adjusted as he had to do. Now, there's a bit of semantics here. He made at least two trade offers and potentially three. With the 16 and 17 picks, I think he definitely offered them to the Predators at five.

I think Philly told them, I think they called and said, we'll do this, but Philly's like, nope. I don't even think Philly considered it. I think once Marton was there, Philly was, we're not doing this, because they really liked Marton. And then they offered it to Boston. Now, Stefan Rosner, who's the great young reporter of the Islanders, he said that they

were asked for more than just the two picks. I don't know that, but I believe him. He's been really credible on this stuff. But whatever the case is, they couldn't get it done. Utah held and picked. As I mentioned, Philly did. And then Hagens went to Boston. But if you follow draft pick rankings, those three teams were right to do what they did.

16 and 17 together don't equal five. If you look at the, I've read a lot about people doing the history of NHL drafts and the value of picks and I've done a lot of research into it. 16 and 17 are not as good as five. Those teams by the math shouldn't take that deal. However, when you look at the way the draft played out, New York getting Eklund and Acheson, they did better than anyone could have thought. Those are two really good young players for the Islanders, and Darsh did as well as he could have done with the two of them and Schaefer. I guarantee to you no Islander at midnight on Friday night slash Saturday morning thought that they were going to feel as good about it as they did after the Dobson trade happened and it sounds like there's a possibility there could be more good news for the Islanders. It appears that

they're pretty serious about getting Romanov extended soon so I don't think it'll take too long. And Schaeffer like everything about that kid, Kyle, is a grand slam upper deck homer. Like when he got picked and the fans saw his, in the building, saw his tears on the big screen, do you know when you're in a room and it's noisy and all of a sudden everybody holds their breath and a room goes silent? That's what happened in there. The room went silent.

And then I don't care if you like the Islanders or you hate the Islanders, everybody's rooting for this kid. Everybody in that room gave the kid an ovation. And he's such a great kid, and the Islanders with the jersey, with the pink cancer ribbon, and the initials JS, and the collar, they hit it out of the park having that thing ready. But there is not gonna be a hockey fan

or a person anywhere doing anything but rooting for Matthew Schaeffer. Like it was, as bad as that day looked like it started for New York, it finished great. You know, that whole moment, I was thinking back to LA, do you remember when John Beliveau passed away and the days that followed, Elise Beliveau's widow, I mean, she was front and center for the wake that went on

at the Bell Centre in Montreal. She stood there composed, shook everybody's hands, unbelievable. And then that first home game after it, the ovation that she got there, the spotlight was on her, and then it was at that point that like all the emotion was released after what had been going on in the days leading up to that and it was like unbelievable how Matthew Schaeffer is how he's talked about what he's gone through the last couple years the grief of it all the the joy that he continues to look back at his mom with and then there's the moment of being

picked first overall to the New York Islanders and it was like all the emotion just came out at once and it was just unbelievable. So wonderful to watch and far and away the the highlight of the the whole night there at the the Peacock Theatre. Yeah that was that was spectacular. It came across yeah a lot of things from from the first round there maybe didn't come across on TV the way they would have hoped going in, but that moment certainly exceeded any expectation. One may have had for, okay, how is it gonna look

when the first overall pick is selected? That was truly special. It was, it was a great moment. It really was well done. You're right. And we'll get to the decentralized draft soon, but that was That was excellent excellent Where else you want to go here? I got a long file Yeah, well do you want to talk on the the John Gibson deal because that's been a talking point for years and now he goes

to Detroit Pat Verbeek who a talking point for years and now he goes to Detroit. Pat Verbeek who for years worked under Steve Iserman in Tampa and then Detroit and now as the general manager of the Anaheim Ducks him and Iserman get this deal across the finish line. How did they arrive here? Because Iserman had said like going back to the trade deadline a year ago they had been talking with Anaheim about potentially bringing Gibson in to the Red Wings organization. How did this one finally get done? So by the way EJ Radek did some great interviews with GM's and Iserman and Verbeek talked about how they how they discussed this at the deadline but

Gibson got hurt so it didn't get done. I'll say this. I would love to be on the fly on the wall of a trade conversation between eyes or I just want to hear these two guys go at each other about a trade. Um, you know, ultimately, I would say this. The price probably wasn't as high as I thought it was going to be. I thought it would be higher than this. But Verbeek was adamant that he wasn't eating money.

He's really, if you want him to eat money, I've been told the cost gets really prohibitive. So he did that. I'd also say, like, I think I'm one of the more recent, I can't remember if I said it on the pod or I said it with Marquesi and Fuda, there was a couple teams that told me that, you know, since Anaheim's trying to make the playoffs next year, they thought Verbeek would be okay,

staying with Gibson and Dostel which he obviously isn't doing now. There had been so much talk about Gibson getting dealt that I thought it would never happen but we had mentioned that the Red Wings were looking at a goalie this is the guy they got I think for this it all comes down to Gibson's health. It's always his health everybody understands how good he is how talented he is, but he's got to stay healthy and Steve Iserman is betting that He can do that

One of the things that I kind of heard that was funny I don't know if this story is true, but I want it to be true that. One of the things that I kind of heard that was funny, I don't know if this story is true, but I want it to be true, is that one of the funny stories going around the draft was it took a bit longer to finalize it. Because wherever Mrazik is, he either lost his phone or drop it, it dropped it into some water somewhere, and it wasn't working. So they had to track him down another way.

I really want that story to be true. But, you know, like it gives Verbeek more flexibility to do things. He's got a lot of flexibility to do things. And I think the other thing too is, nobody knew Gibson wanted to be out, and that's over now. It's just not a storyline in Anaheim, it's peace.

And that's the way it goes. By the way, Roger McQueen was one of the interesting picks. the way it goes. By the way, Roger McQueen was one of the interesting picks. I think there were some teams that tried to trade up before Anaheim who liked McQueen because they knew that McQueen wasn't getting past the Ducks. They're like, that's a verbiage player. He's going there. And I don't know if they tried to get to eight with Seattle or they tried to get to nine with Buffalo, but there were some teams who tried to get up there because they knew McQueen wasn't getting past the Ducks. I know there's a lot of questions about McQueen's back, but one

of the teams told me that the word is as long as he is dedicated to doing the work Physically and the training physically that he needs to do and obviously he's got a lot of incentive for that They think he's gonna be okay We'll see if that's accurate But that's what one of the teams told me that that the path that as long as he's dedicated to what he needs to do there wasn't a lot of concern about his back. Okay yeah Anaheim was another team that had a great couple of days you say the Gibson file is finally over with they can move on from that having Joshua Jackson and Marguerite Moreau, Connie and

Charlie Conway make the pick for McQueen was a very nice touch. And then the helicopter ride to Disneyland and we'll get to the thought line a little bit later. We do have one of those today, but somebody called in and suggested that there needs to be a provision in the next CBA Elliot that states that at some point in Roger McQueen's career, he joins Tampa, given his photos next to Lightning McQueen. Yes, yes.

And it's hard to argue. Was he your brother? No, no, my brother's a Ducks fan. He probably wants to see him in Anaheim for his whole career. By the way, for your brother and the WHL and the CHL, they needed a good, good draft and they got it. Yes. Yeah.

That was that couldn't have happened at a better time for the Canadian Hockey League. Absolutely. 21 picks in the first round. OHL heavy early and then, yeah, I think it was nine from the OHL, nine from the Western League, three from the queue. So it was considering the landscape and how things are changing, an important one for the Canadian Hockey League across the board. So, Elliot, what else about what you saw, heard over the last two days of the draft and maybe what didn't happen

over the last two days of the draft? Well, we talked about the Islander stuff, that was big. They tried to get a couple more picks. But okay, so let's, let me just, I'll just blast through my notes. Is that all right with you, Kyle? Yeah, I'll get the chips. Yeah, by the way, how's Berkeley?

Berkeley good? It's good, yes. Plenty of naps in between selections on Friday night as we watch together as a family. Then him and I have a lot in common. Dana good? Yes, she's good. Thank you for asking. Okay, all right. Okay, so I think Utah tried really hard to get to two. I believe that Utah spent a lot of time trying to get to two. San Jose kept it. They took Misa and Utah got Denoye and I'll have a story on him shortly. Jordan Kairou, there's a lot of rumors with him in Montreal.

You heard Doug Armstrong kind of say that if there was a center available, then he would consider it. I'll say this, one of the teams I wonder about for Kairou, Seattle. And I don't know if it's over because it happened at the draft, but Seattle has a lot of centers. And I kind of wondered, and that's the kind of player I could see Seattle being interested in, but between Seattle's centers and they drafted another one, Jake O'Brien, and what maybe St. Louis could have done with that pick if Kyru was traded there, that was a name and a team I kind of put together.

I think there was some talk about it before the draft and I don't know if it's still alive but that was something else I heard about. Sidney Crosby there were wild rumors on Friday night and Colorado cleared cap room like they made a deal with trading Miles Wood and Charlie Coyle to Columbus that gives them more cap room you know there was some fierce pushback on that including Nate McKinnon on Instagram I just think that we're all going to have to live with this. It's annoying. I actually send texts that say, I can't believe I'm writing this, but is there any truth to it?

I just think this is going to be our world. With the way Pittsburgh is going, and I think a lot of people would like to see Sydney Crosby go to a contender, whether it's an up and coming team with a chance at the playoffs, whether it's a team like Colorado or a team like Montreal. I just think we're in a world now, because of the way the Penguins are going and tearing it down

to the studs, we're going to have to deal with this, whether we like it or not. But I don't believe it was true on the weekend. Rasmus Anderson, when we reported that Dobson only wanted to go to two teams or was only interested in the East, I had people say to me, he doesn't have control of it or over anything because he doesn't

have a no move or no trade. Yes, you people are right when you say that. But you want to know what you're wrong about He does have the hammer because you're a year away from unrestricted free agency So if a team's not going to acquire him unless They know especially for the acquisition cost unless they're gonna be able to sign up like do you think the? Canadians were giving up two first rounders

and a useful forward in Heinemann in exchange for an unsigned Noah Dobson or a lack of commitment Noah Dobson? No, that's his power. And that is the same thing we're dealing with Rasmus Anderson. He doesn't have a no trade clause, but he has a lot of power. I think Vegas took a big run at him last week

but couldn't get it done and I think there was a team that did think they were gonna get something done but Anderson wouldn't extend at this time. So that is the power that a player like Anderson has. I don't think Vegas could do enough to get the player but I do think there were others and they just couldn't get the commitment he would sign. So when Craig Conroy comes out and says Anderson could start with us next year, I think it's for that reason. And the thing that the Flames will benefit from about this is that Anderson's gonna want to have a big year. He wants to hit the big paydays. He's got to have a big year. He wants to hit

the big paydays. He's got to have a big year. So I still think Calgary can see the benefit to that. And the second thing is, and this is another manager told me this, right now Anderson may only want to go where he's gonna sign or wants to sign. If you keep him till next year you can trade him to a team that is going to be good in the playoffs because that benefits Anderson. It's a gamble for the Flames. You have to weigh what's the right time. And I'm sure a part of them would like to do it now.

But if he's going to play for you, he's going to be motivated to have a big year. So I kind of thought about that a little bit. You know, Ken Holland said that Gavrikov looks like he's going to July 1st. So we'll see if the Rangers prediction is true. Sam Bennett, that got done, 8 times 8. It's a win for the Panthers, because he's

a great player for them. It's a win for Bennett because it's a great place for him to be. It's also a win for Bennett because he squeezed more out of the Panthers than they wanted to do. They wanted to do 8 times 7. They wanted to give him the same deal as Verhage so they bent a bit and to Bennett's credit his play made them do it. He was phenomenal in the playoffs. He deserves every penny, but they bent a little bit for him. Marshand and Echblad, I haven't changed a lot of what I said on Friday's pod.

I think they're really trying to keep Marshand. They made a pitch to him. I think he'd like to stay. I think there's potentially some big offers for him out there. And they just have to make it work. I have believed and still believe that the biggest challenge will be Echblad. It's just that from what I've heard, the difference between what he could get here and what he could get out there. I still think it's too large.

But you know, Florida's pulled this stuff off before, I'm not gonna count them out until it's over. I'm still, as I said on Friday, I'm not buying any of the Darnell nurse noise. I think he's staying in Edmonton. Tavara signed on Friday. One of the things that I, one of the reasons I think it really got done in Toronto

was Tavares never wanted to leave. At the end of the day, he wasn't willing to consider anything else. I think the biggest question about Claude Giroux is, is he gonna consider anywhere else? Others have reported what we've reported that this is about bonuses Taves got that great structure Ben came in a little bit less

Tavares did what he did I think Jiru wants the one-year deal with bonuses, but they can't agree on it and Now the true question becomes, is Giroud ready to go somewhere else? Tavares wasn't. They got it done. He deferred some money. Sooner or later, we're going to find out about Giroud. In Edmonton, Evan Bouchard, there

seemed to be a lot of confidence over the weekend that they're going to get this sorted out. I wonder if it's going to be around four times 9.5. That's just numbers that were being thrown around here. We'll see. But there seems to be a lot of confidence that it's going to get worked out. I do think Edmonton is considering a change at the goalie coach position.

Now some of their other assistant coaches need contracts and Glenn Gullitzen is still in the Dallas job picture, but I do think one of the things they're gonna consider is gonna be a change at the goalie coach. Gullitzen, I would expect the Stars to decide this sometime early this week. If it's Gullitzen, I would expect the Stars to decide this sometime early this week if it's Gullitzen or Neil Graham. Jim Neal did confirm the land Nasraddin interviewed. I don't know if I would consider him as serious a contender as Graham or Gullitzen. And you know the other thing I wanted

to mention was I like, you know, we talked about Mason West, the high school quarterback slash hockey player. Chicago took them at the end of the first round. I love the gamble. The Blackhawks have a billion picks over the last few years. Why not take a swing? And, you know, I asked them, I sent them a note. I asked them, like they had a note, I asked them,

like they had a pick, like three or four picks after they took them. And all he would say was that they had intelligence, that if they waited longer, they weren't going to get them. And when you have as many picks, yeah, it's it's a bit of a reach. But I'm all for it. Sometimes you've got to step into the plate, you got to dig in your heels, and you got to swing at the fastball and try to hit it as far as you can. This was a chance for them to do it. You know, I don't know if this kid's gonna end up hockey or football, he's going to Michigan State, but he's going to play football this year. You know, I'll say this, I have great respect for our panel. Amber did a ton of work. What Sam and Jason Bucola know is unbelievable. They know these prospects inside out. And Colby's just there

to rip everybody. One thing I think about this kid is he's 18 years old. Except the Saskatchewan guys. Except the Saskatchewan guys, he loves all of them. He's 18 years old. I don't understand people who are critical of an 18 year old for wanting to play high school football for one more year. Like when you're 18, you should. Like be a kid. Like you can choose your life and where you're going eventually. Eventually you'll be streamlined into a path but you're only 18 once. You've been playing football with those kids forever. Let them be a kid. Let them play football. If you lose them to football, you'll lose them to

football. But when you're 18, that's the choice you make. And such a credit to him that he continues to do both at age 18. A lot of kids may start in their early teens with a couple of sports. They're playing at a high level, but certainly when you get to that age, it almost always is one over the other at that point. So that's really cool. And yes credit to Chicago for yet taking a few cuts at the fastball or in the case of Mason West Throwing into double coverage. Sometimes you just got to do it Damarino always did oh and the other thing I want to mention about Edmonton is I don't know who was the first to mention it

But someone talked about Besser potentially going there. I Don't think that's like I don't know how Ed the first to mention it, but someone talked about Besser potentially going there. I don't think that's, like I don't know how Edmonton fits this all in, but I don't think the idea is wrong. Hmm. I don't think that's impossible that Besser would consider Edmonton if they could make that work.

Boy, that would be a great compliment. Yep. To what's already there. And also you wanted to touch on a theme of the defensemen selected over the weekend. Oh yes, I wanted to credit who tweeted this out. Jérôme Baroube, who's a really good prospect reporter, he put out a stat on the zero, Kyle, zero. It all changed out of COVID. Tampa, Colorado, Vegas, Florida, lean, long, mobile D. Who can see? And yet. And move the puck.

Right. And what was the profile of the? Now newest Calder trophy winner. Lane, yeah, but nine. Yes, 100 percent, but you wouldn't go with six of them. Not that anybody would. Oh, of course. Not that anybody would. Yeah, but yeah. Yeah, no, I'm just kidding.

It's a good point. Yeah, really, really good point. Way to make Jerome look terrible. He's not even. No, no, I think that's fascinating though. Though I wasn't thinking that at all. It's just Jerome. I think Kyle was ripping you. I think he just ate your guts for no reason. Why? Because he pointed out a fact. Yes. You're out there. Yeah. I'm allergic to facts. No, because every year in the playoffs, we see how much those types of players are valued. So it totally makes sense.

It's just an interesting juxtaposition that through all those big mobile defensemen that can move the puck, every now and then there's Elaine Hudson that can move the puck. Every now and then there's Elaine Hudson that can wow you too, so. Yeah. Great to have a mix sometimes. Okay, that brings us to the final thought which is brought to you by GMC and yes,

the decentralized draft. Elliot, why don't we have that conversation here? Now, we should point out as Friday night was unfolding and it was just an open invitation for everybody to tee off on how could the league possibly think this was going to be a good idea. We should remind everybody this was 26 NHL clubs that voted for this. This was not something where the league came in and said we're gonna do it this way this year. And I will say having taken the information from the majority of the NHL clubs

saying we want to change it up and do it decentralized and for their group to now take that and go. All right How can we still make something of an event of a spectacle under this format? Never criticize the idea of trying new things. It doesn't always work It looks certainly one way on television. Elliott. How did it seem from your vantage point? So seem from your vantage point? So do you want to know what one theory is? Okay well I have one theory of how Friday Night Unfolded. What do you got? Let's hear yours first. Well just in the few instances where there was some technical difficulties in the teams from their

home base being able to hear the show to communicate with the player they just drafted. I wondered if that was the commissioner himself just pulling plugs in the back to try to make an example of all this. You know we're on the same wavelength here. You know when Ottawa's didn't work I wasn't surprised because it's a government town and you can't find a computer technician after five o'clock on a Friday in a government city. Like, come on. Did you see Ann Lauer's face though? Oh, I saw it. Yes, I saw it. So I'm glad we're on the same wavelength here because as one GM said to me,

he thinks this was an act of sabotage by Betman because every time the GMs come up with an idea now, he's going to say to them, the last time I listen to you guys look at this draft He says he says we are not getting anything we want for as long as Batman Stays in the game now. It's over over You know, there were some really good look look everybody saw it I You know, there were some really good moments. Look, everybody saw it. I feel no need to pile on. I thought there were some great moments.

I thought, you know, I thought the Gary Mehar thing was really well done when he made the pick for Chicago after retiring 45 years in the NHL. You know what I really liked was Bailey, the WWE superstar coming out the second time she picked for San Jose and just saying you know how impressed she was to see all the kids realizing their dreams and how she really enjoyed watching that. Like this is an elite performer in a world that is all about performance, right? Performance and emotion and, you know, storylines, the audience has to be so connected to the people in the ring.

And for her to say that really hit her, I thought that that stood out to me. That was that was really something to me. You know and I'll say this on Saturday the second last pick Aiden Park to Edmonton like I'm always wondering who's the last cheer I hear and because it's like the latest person who's there I couldn't believe it when the second last person now I didn't realize at the time he lives in Southern California, but still he's there for 223 picks. Like to see him get his moment, I thought that was great

and I liked the kid Jeremy who Bill Daley invited up to scream, to make the Kings pick. And you know, sometimes people, they get up there and they're really shy not Jeremy like he leaned right into it right into it but this should end we should go back to the centralized draft and one of the things I wonder about here is maybe do we get a hybrid? And I thought this was an interesting idea. Like Mike Yannetti, who does a great job scouting for the Kings, I saw a quote for him saying,

you know what, I could look at medical reports that maybe I couldn't look at in the full room. OK. So maybe what you do, because nobody's saving money by doing this. You still have to bring your staff in. Maybe what you do is you have a centralized location. Maybe everybody doesn't have to be in the same room.

Maybe you try to find a bigger footprint where you can set something up that you can spread people around a little bit. And I don't know if that's feasible or reasonable or they can do it. I do think we're going to come back into the same city. This hockey gave up something that was its own, unique to hockey.

And the GMs have to realize that this is still a show and You can make this work really well Maybe you'll put everybody in the same room Maybe you find different ways to do it But it still bothers me that they gave up something that was unique to hockey and was different for us And I would still like this to be even more of a convention. There's got to be more stuff we can do to make it good for fans. By the way, Kyle, there were a lot of great podcast fans there. And there were a bunch

of fans who stayed right until the end and daily made sure to thank them. This one was a little flat for me. Right. Yeah, for all the reasons you just laid out, like the energy of having everybody on the floor together is a really unique thing to experience in person. And just the look on TV is really great, too. Like even like you're in a pretty incredible venue, the Peacock Theater,

like that's held some pretty big shows over its time of existence, but yeah. If it's a hybrid or geez, just bring it back. And if you can find a way to make it, I don't know, three and a half hours. I understand every kid picked in the first round deserves their moment wholeheartedly. You don't want to make it feel like it's a rush job of okay get along get along get along it's time

for the next one. But shorten it up a little bit and to have that authentic feel that has been great for that event for so many years prior to this one. Bring it back please. You know it's one way you could shorten up if you make a trade. If you make an uncredited person he knows who he is who told this to me. If you trade into a pick you know who you're taking. Make the pick right away. Yeah and that was part of what was missing too. I mean there was a few pick trading on Friday night but no players. I mean I guess you few pick trading on Friday night but but no players. I mean I guess you could throw the the Dobson one in there when it was officially announced part way through but that of course really had been done earlier in the day. I know that's not always a guarantee but we're missing a

bit of that too. That drama that helps when everyone's together. A couple more things. Number one every year I say there could be crazy stuff that happens at the draft. I'm like the guy who predicts the housing bubble will pop. I predicted every year, eventually I will be right. But I'm never predicting it again, and I'm just tired of saying it. But I'm never predicting it again, and I'm just tired of saying it And not enough happens I have retired that prediction

But I wanted to tell you my favorite moment of the draft this weekend. Are you ready? Oh? Yeah, let's go so after the first night round one So after the first night, round one, all of us from Sportsnet, we go back to our hotel, there's an excellent rooftop patio, we're all sitting up there relaxing. Some of the players come by who've been drafted. There's Bill Zannon wearing his Penguin's jersey with his family and they're all thrilled. There's Caleb Denwyea wearing his Mammoth jersey and they're all thrilled. There's Caleb Denoyer wearing his mammoth jersey and they're all thrilled. And Caleb Denoyer sees Bukala, Jason Bukala.

And he's like, hey, and he says, and he basically thanks him. I guess he reads, he knows what's being said, and he thanks Bukalaah for believing in den way a as a prospect and saying he could go very high. And then he looked at Cosentino and says, and you thought I'd go seventh. That's upstairs. Like Buccalah had him second, right? He had him. Yes, yes. Way near the top. Yes. Now, actually, actually, I think I checked it.

I think Sam actually had him sixth, which was one spot lower than he went. But then why he knew he knew he didn't have him going top five. It was great. That is so good. And I remember last year, I gosh, I forget the particulars. It was all a blur. But I remember there was a steak dinner on where one player in particular was or was not going between Cosentino and Buca like it's those two guys are a lot of fun. They do a lot of work. They are very well prepared as you say for for that but they're a lot of fun to be around too. Yeah and you

know what I'll shout out the I'll shout out the NHL Network people Jameson Coyle, EJ, Mike Kelly, obviously Buchla Cosentino work again with Tony Granado. As tough as that first round is, because it was long, two to seven, you know, like that's 200 players. 200 players. And that is a whirlwind. And they did a great job. Okay, that was the final thought brought to you by GMC.

We'll take our first break and come back with The Thought Line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. It continues after this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, welcome back. Time again for The Thought Line. Elliot, by the way, did you get out to any of the weekend shows at SoFi while you were in LA this week? No, some of us are here working, Kyle. You know, I know you're changing diapers, but I'm working.

Oh, yeah. I know you. Yes, no fun while on the road for Elliot. Have you changed the diaper yet? Yeah, multiple I Can't help very much with the feeding at this stage, so that's one way. I can make myself useful job diapers Good job We are in it buddy. We are in it As you would have lived with Max all those years ago now. Mm-hmm. Thanks for asking. All right hit me with the thought. There we go. What do

we got? All right Howie from Toronto. Hey guys love the pod always appreciate the insight. Quick question about free agency and the CBA. We know teams in low or no tax states markets can offer players lower AAVs while still netting them more after tax. So I was wondering, could a team like the Leafs try to level the playing field by involving local sponsors in the pitch? For example, could brands like Oreo or Milk Farmers of Ontario come to the table during free agency with an endorsement deal ready to go, effectively boosting a player's earnings outside their

NHL contract? My gut says this probably isn't allowed under the CBA, but curious if there's any kind of gray area or creative workaround that a team in a high tax market could use to compete. Would love to hear your take. Thanks again and keep up the great work. Well there's endorsement. You can have endorsements right? That's one of the things they pitched to Stephen Stamkos when the Maple Leafs were trying to sign him. It really didn't work in his case. I don't think that was for him but that would be a perfect example of what you can do. If it appeals to

people, your earning potential outside the rink or around the city or the market could be a lot greater. Yes, it's a thing. You just can't tie it to actual salary. Okay, very good. Ace Jerry next. So I have been emailing often to try to crack the lineup to get onto the show, but it seems there is a lot of competition out there. I'm only getting older, slower, and dumber. Elliot can relate, I'm sure. Yes, I can absolutely relate to that, yes.

I have a question about buyouts. Is it possible to trade a buyout to another team? For example, Oliver Ekman Larson who has a lot of money still remaining on the Vancouver Canucks cap with a four plus million buyout cost. Could Vancouver get rid of this in any way or are they stuck with it until it ends? I love the way you're thinking, but unfortunately the answer is no. The league wants you to be punished for the bad contracts you sign or trade for. That's why they want you to think about it in advance. It doesn't want you to have an out.

So if you buy out a player, you cannot trade it, you are stuck with it. Great question though. Very good. All right. Philippe from La Vie de Quebec. Hi, Kyle, Dom, and Elliot. I gotta tell you. It's safe to say the last few.

I can't even tell. You're not French. Oh man. Yes, you could tell I lived in Montreal for two years. Hey, that's really showing through here. Man, oh man. Days away, Philippe. It's safe to say, Philippe says, the last few days have been busy in the NHL.

With the draft now behind us and Jonathan Tave's recently signing in Winnipeg, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the 2006 entry draft and ask a question no one has brought up on the pod before. That year's top five picks were Eric Johnson, Jordan Stahl, Jonathan Taves, Nick Backstrom, and Phil Kessel. What do they all have in common besides enjoying a good hot dog? Eating it out of the Stanley Cup. Yes, every one of those players

has won it. In fact, Taves and Kessel each won the cup three times, meaning this top five has racked up a combined total of nine Stanley Cups. So here's my question, and I think you see it coming, is the 2006 top five the only one where all five players have won the cup. And if so, has there ever been a more winning full top five? I am guessing not. Again, gentlemen, thanks for your time. Go Nordics, go. Wow. Yeah, I missed the Nordics, too, I have to say.

She's I got to say they're the winningest one. They are tied. Tied. Yeah. One other year matches them. And it's around the same time frame. In fact, very close to the same time frame. Oh, it's got to be Flurry, Stahl, Flurry Stahl Horton. Because Horton won one, Stahl won one, Flurry won three, four.

Yeah. But Gérard didn't win one who went four. Oh, Malkin Ovechkin. No, go the other way. Who went for oh? Malkin Ovechkin No go the other way oh Okay, it's It's Stamkos Doughty Patrangelo Luke Shen and right Bogosian just won one that's right. That's them that you're right 2008 So the only two years.

Yeah, like never would have thought of that. They're the only two years where everyone in the top five has at least one and also most combined. Nine a piece amongst those five players. That's pretty impressive. That's really impressive. I would have assumed that there was no chance. Two times. That's it. Merci Philippe for the question. One final one here, Elliot, okay? Mike from Victoria. Gentlemen and Elliot. Okay. I have a question about how the sausage is made. I'm curious to know what is said

in the earpiece as you wear on set during Hockey Night in Canada. Do they feed you stats? Do they tell you where to look? And is it ever distracting causing you to lose your thought while talking? Keep up the great work. It's a good question. Mostly, you know, for me there's not a lot in my ear. If you, in a lot in my ear it is if something happens like on trade deadline or if something happens on free agency day that I, you know, that I'm on the air and they say, oh this just happened, a lot of it's there. It's mainly for communication. Looking at the wrong camera absolutely can happen.

But if there's something scheduled, they can remember you're next. Or if they can see you about to butt in, and someone else has to go next, if they don't think it works, it can say, hey, Kevin's supposed to speak next, or Jennifer's supposed to speak next. If they don't think it works, it can say, hey, you know, Kevin's supposed to speak next or Jennifer's supposed to speak next. It's also, you know, for Ron's year or David's year hosting, it's a countdown. Hey, we got 10 seconds to commercial, five seconds to commercial, or Elliot, be quiet. We've got to go to commercial. So a lot of it's for communication. So you're not

made to look bad on air. Whether you need information or it's a timing thing. I think when you first do it, it's distracting, but most of the time now you're used to it. I think the only time you ever see people or you ever really notice people thrown is when someone's screaming into their ear like something major has just happened. That's what that is. It's a good question, but it's mainly for communication. So you all, for example, Kyle, when you're at ringside or I'm here at the draft not talking a lot, so A, we just know if they need us,

or we can communicate to them and say, hey, we need to tell you something. That's the main thing. Yeah, and certainly at the rink, I mean, a lot of it is, it could vary on which producer you work with. Some have different styles than others, but also just talking through, like if you're doing a pregame hit that involves elements like video or a photo or a graphic with information, you know, sometimes they'll say, okay, graphic or video so you know that the elements are coming up. And there's also times too where, you know, Elliot, because maybe on a Saturday we've got a hit at the start of the pregame

show, but we also have an interview at the bench when warm-ups begin. So because of the timing of that being right near each other, we'll do our pregame hit on the bench. And there's cases where we don't necessarily have a monitor there with us to see our show and to be able to, again, if we've got video elements to see those when they come up. So as you say, communication, that's also part of it too, where I'm kind of in the moment flying blind, but we've talked ahead of time about what we want to include in our hit. And so it's just the producer talking into my ear to let me know, okay, video is in,

okay, photo is in, graphic next, and coming back on camera to wrap. To keep me honest in terms of what the viewer is seeing at home. So it's somewhat kind of looks all in sync, though it doesn't always work out that way, which is nobody's fault but mine. Right. So it's a good question, Mike. Thank you for submitting all the way from beautiful Vancouver Island. All right, that'll do it for the latest edition of the Thoughtline. I believe we only have one more left, if any, Elliot. One more left this season. So if you wanna get one in before we wrap for the summer,

1-833-311-3232 if you wanna leave a voicemail or you can email us at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We'll take one final break and a little more CBA talk before we wrap here on this edition of 32 Thoughts. Okay, welcome back Elliot. Before we go, so now it is official. The Memorandum of Understanding has been reached between the players and the league on a new CBA. And as more information comes available, Marty Walsh and Gary Bettman held their press conference on Friday in Los Angeles. They weren't interested in talking about the particulars of the agreement just yet. And boy did Commissioner Betman ever

like to let it be known that he wasn't thrilled that some of the information had got out ahead of their press conference on Friday in a way that only the Commissioner can. But I mean we talked last podcast one of the things that you highlighted is you know players and agents weren't thrilled about the idea of Terms of contracts going from you know eight to seven for a player you've had in house or seven to six for a player you sign on the open market and As you're continuing to learn more information about how this is going to affect everybody There are some teams out there Elliot know depending on their situation or where they are at in their

stage of things that aren't going to be thrilled about those new rules either. No, it was interesting, Kyle. I figured every team would be okay with that, but teams that are rebuilding and one of them, the only one right now really is Pittsburgh. Although some are kind of going through it Chicago San Jose a bunch of other ones But rebuilding teams said that hurts them if you're rebuilding team and you have a really good young player You're gonna want more term even one year less It could really hurt you so in addition to just general players, there was another constituency that said,

that's not going to help them. As a matter of fact, one of the ideas I thought was really interesting was, there was one executive who told me that what they should have done was say, OK, you can only sign maximum six years while you're a free agent. And if out of your ELC, a team wanted to sign you for four plus six, so only six years of CBA, they could sign you to a 10-year deal.

Obviously, that's not happening, but he could see how rebuilding teams wouldn't like the idea of losing a year of term. Right. OK. And as you were highlighting that the other day Elliot you know starting to think all right players not thrilled about that so as you have learned more about what this all entails what are some of the things that stood out to you that you would consider a win for the players through all this? Well you know what I would see

this like the number one thing the players win is the players through all this? Well, you know what? I would say this, like the number one thing the players win is the revenues are higher than ever. They're gonna make more money than ever and that's a win. At the bottom line, compensation matters to people. What you're being paid matters to people and I think when you are making as much money or more money than you ever have before as a group, and you're going to do it for the next three years, it's easy to look at and say, that's the only win we need.

There were a couple of things here that they did get that in the past, people think the players really lost on. I remember when this deal was done in 2004 and again in 2013, one of the things some people said to me was, the players are paying for things as part of their share that they should not be paying for. And for example, one of them is workers' compensation,

the other is payroll taxes. So last year, according to the document that's been sent out, the players had to pay $70 million combined in their share for both those things. And so what they're changing is now it's out of the players' share, and it's now the sole responsibility of the owners. Years ago, when the players first agreed to pay for this,

there were some people who were really angry. That's one thing that has changed. The other one here is the playoff fund, $24 million now. It's going up to $40 million by the end of the term of the CBA in 2930. And the league will be paying that. So that's something else that the players paid for before that they don't have to now.

And if you take a look at that and you do the math, that's a few escrow points that the players are going to save. So if you're going to point to victories the players got here, number one, just overall, they're making more money than ever. Number two, they're no longer paying for some things that they did pay for, although those were things that some people felt very strongly they should never

have been paying for in the first place. So that's the kind of stuff that the players would look at and say, we got a win for our group Because that no longer comes out of our share Okay, so The topic of LTI are whether it's the playoffs where that's going to have an effect on things now under this new deal But also the regular season as well. What are you learning there? There were some of these things that got out on Friday night. I was too busy working the

draft to really pore over the document but I got more of a chance after the draft and and really see it. And the playoff salary cap is is really interesting to me because the one thing that's there we were all expecting was your cap per game only depends on the 20 players dressed. You've got to be under the cap. And actually, there's a line that says to the extent this playoff cap has unintended consequences, we have the right to reopen the agreement on the issue.

That's the injury. If you're a Maple Leaf fan of a certain vintage, you'll remember 2002, the Maple Leafs won the Eastern Conference Final and they lost to Carolina, but they had about 10 guys out of the lineup. And it was Ken Holland who said, what if you can't field a roster because you have too many injuries in the playoffs? That's a disaster. So that's one of the reasons they had no playoff cap. Now they're dialing it back a bit. But the other part of their playoff salary cap

is that if a player goes on long-term injury, the only extra cap space is equal to the prior season's average league salary. So let's just say this year one of the players who went on LTIR was Matthew Kachak. His salary is nine and a half. Under this rule the Panthers do not get nine and a half million of relief. They would get, based on this year's number, approximately four million. The only way they would get the full nine and a half,

as it's written here, is there is no doubt the player will miss the entire season, including the playoffs. So if the Panthers wanted to use Kachuk's full money, he would have to miss the entire playoffs. So that is the real change here. It's not only your roster has to be cap compliant in a game. It's also that you don't get the same relief that you used to get if you're a high-salary player.

That's a big, big change. That is, I didn't hear it coming, I didn't realize that's what they were thinking, but that is the way that they're really gonna not close this loophole, but make it a lot more restrictive. Right, because it completely changes the dynamic for certain teams, especially come trade deadline. I mean, how many years now has that been a huge part of some of the biggest swings taken by contenders and I mean you mentioned Matthew Kachak that was what allowed them to bring in the guys that they did and win a second straight Stanley Cup

this spring. Yeah Seth Jones and Seth Jones and Brad Marchand were both huge pieces. I mean they're not the only team that's done it. And again, if it's available to you, I'm doing it. But they couldn't do that. They couldn't do everything they did this year based on this new rule change. It's significant. It's very significant. Okay, last one. How about double retention? Yeah, this was the one that surprised me too. I didn't see it coming. Is now for double retention of a contract, the second trade has to be a minimum 75 regular season days from the first one. And I asked some people, why is this there?

And they said the league felt it was cap circumvention against the spirit of the rule. Now, I hate when loopholes get closed. I am the loophole king. So I admit I'm not crazy about it. But the league and the players have signed off on it. So now, if you want a contract to be 75% retained, you have to do them with 75 days apart.

It's a big change. That's going to be another big one that's gonna fundamentally alter how people do business. You know, I'll say this too, we were talking before about some of the things that some people didn't like for the players, not only the contract length, but bonus is now limited to 60% of the contract from before it was anything but the minimum

salary during a season. But also the variance, like the difference from year to year has dropped from 25 to 20 maximum. And it used to be the lowest had to be within 60% of the highest year. Now it's 71. And so again, the way teams, especially the teams that love to give bonuses, they've been hurt a bit here. So they've tied a lot of things up. The player win is they are making more money than ever

and they're paying for a few less things they were paying for before but a lot of other things you know the leagues made a few more things restrictive they've got some big wins here that they'll be especially because the leagues are always worried about franchise value as we potentially go into expansion they got some things they really like. And I wonder if that's what helped make the players willing to sign off of it too, it's just the, I don't know, wink, wink, nudge, nudge of, yeah, we're going to have some more expansion money coming into things too.

Or I guess that doesn't even go to the HRR, does it? They asked, you know, Kyle, it's a good question you asked because they asked. They asked for a piece of expansion money and they were told, no, you get the jobs, but you don't get the fees. The last thing I wanted to mention about the CBA was, there was something that was added. The retired players health care program.

The league will contribute $4 million annually, and the players commit half of that. That has been the brainchild of Glenn Healy for a long time. Glenn Healy runs the alumni, and of course, we used to work with him. He has battled for that for years, to get something put in there, guaranteed in there. And I'll say this, Glenn didn't rip me as much as BXA did, or does,

but it was close. There was a lot of times I felt the irascible wrath of Glenn Healy. But I know one thing about him too, he really cares, and he does a great job for those alumni because he really cares. This is a big victory for him, and Healy deserves it. He really cares. He really tries. And I'm glad they did something that

starts taking even better care of the alumni, because Healy has been doing a lot of work towards it. Really great. OK, it had been a busy last few days, Elliot. Is there anything in particular you're keeping your eye on between now and July 1st. Well, we'll start to take a look at where you know on the 30th at night I always put out a blog with some of my free agent predictions

So I'll I'll work towards that over the next couple days and we'll see what happens with Marner and Vegas All right, if you can believe it, Elliot, one more podcast recording to do before the off season after this one today. It'll come sometime in the days following July the 1st. We've nearly reached the finish line. Yes, let the dust settle and put a bowl in the opening of free agency and wrap up the 24-25 season one final time. Before that though, on July 1st, Hockey Central signing season at 1130 a.m. Eastern, 830 a.m. Pacific is one to keep an eye for as well. Until then, have a great remainder of your weekend. Start to the week, Canada Day celebrations, all of it. We will speak to you again after the dust settles in the opening of Free Agency 2025.