32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Tick Tocc

Episode Date: January 13, 2023

Never a dull moment out west! Jeff and Elliotte do a deep dive into the Vancouver Canucks (1:00), their coaching situation and comments made by Quinn Hughes following their loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.They then talk about the red-hot Kraken (13:45), K'Andre Miller’s heroics (17:50), the latest on Patrick Kane (21:15), Minnesota Wild and Matt Dumba (25:15), the injury to Auston Matthews (28:45) and the All-Star Game in Toronto in 2024 (50:50), the ceremony for P.K. Subban in Montreal (36:10), potential concerns in Colorado (42:00), Joe Sakic being named to the Hall of Fame selection committee (43:30), they recap the Ryan McDonagh interview (51:30), marvel at the goal scored by Nela Lopusanova at the Women’s U18 Hockey Championship and they add more tickets to the live show in Owen Sound on Jan. 19th (58:45). Email and leave us a voicemail answering the following question — Which NHL team has drafted the most Owen Sound Attack players?Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailGet your 32 Thoughts merch HEREMusic Outro: Skinny Dyck - Dreamin’Listen to the full track HEREThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Watch the FULL INTERVIEW with Ryan McDonagh HEREAudio Credits: 104.5 The Team, KJR AM, NBS Sports Chicago, Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650, Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Network and WFLA.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.

Emil, can you turn your microphone off? Sorry. Yeah, just keep eating, Emil. I'm starving. Well, just turn your... You can eat, man. Just turn your microphone off. As part of hockey days.

Okay, have your laugh. That's the open. That's the open. How many times has Elliot stopped to cough? 32 Thoughts to the Podcast. Welcome to it. Presented, as always, by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Merrick Friedman, Delich, welcome aboard once again.

We have a lot to get to. We're going to do an update on Patrick Kane. We're going to talk about Colorado, a little wrap on the Ryan McDonough interview that we did the other day. I want to talk a little bit about Joe Sackick and the Hockey Hall of Fame, but Elliot, and we should mention the All-Star game next season as well.

Let's begin by talking about Rick Tockett and the Vancouver Canucks. We discussed it on the radio show this afternoon. That would be Thursday. What is the latest as I'm sure this is a, as we say in the industry, Elliot, evolving story. It is indeed, Jeff, a developing situation here. You know, here's the best information that I can give you. I think earlier this season, when things showed a sign of really going off the rails in Vancouver,

the Canucks started reaching out and saying, if we do make a change, what roads can we go down? And I think one of the people they reached out to was Talkit. It's hard for me to know because nobody will confirm this, but there were some level of deeper conversations. And I think they got to a point where the Canucks were interested, but it didn't close. And then things kind of went away a little bit. And you know how the Canucks season's gone.

It's been like going a little streak, get to within striking distance, and then just belly flop, unfortunately. And at some point in time, I believe they went back to talk it. And I think the conversations got a little bit more intense. And I do believe that the Canucks are in a position where they know what they have to do if they want Rick Talkert as a coach. They know what he wants. They know what they want. They know what the philosophy is going to have to do if they want Rick Talkert as a coach. They know what he wants. They know what they want.

They know what the philosophy is going to have to be. And I think quite simply, it's Vancouver's decision. And I'm not expecting that we're going to have to do an emergency update pod on Friday. I don't think it's imminent. But I do think in a couple of weeks, the Canucks know if they want Talkert, what they're going to have to do to do it. And I think it's in their hands and it's their decision.

You know, when it comes to Rick Talkett, Elliot, I think it was only a matter of time. And not to say that this is going to happen. I'm trying to get ahead of myself here. But I think we knew there was only a matter of time before Talkett was reintroduced into the NHL coaching ranks. There were discussions with him in Winnipeg. There were discussions with him in Seattle. Thereg. There were discussions with him in Seattle. There's always been interest around the league for Rick Tockett.

And particularly salient for Vancouver is the fact that, you know, it's pretty easy to draw a line between Alvin, Rutherford, and Tockett. Just look to Pennsylvania with the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's the obvious statement of the podcast. Yes, and the other thing too is this

is a huge hire for Vancouver now I think they had knowledge uh Jim Rutherford did when he was coming in that they were far down the road with Boudreaux and he was going to be the guy and obviously he didn't stand in the way in that and wasn't going to stand in the way of that but this is really his first hire after having time in the organization to really see what he had and that makes it a huge hire Jeff and you know you said it on your show today people talk about hockey being a cronyism business I think every place is like yes I really agree with what you said you know I've worked in the media business. I've seen other businesses. A lot of people in life are simply comfortable hiring who they know when their jobs are on

the line. If my own legacy or my own performance is going to be determined by this hire, I think there's a lot of people who even less like the idea of putting their neck on the line but the thing i've thought about a lot is not only they know him but one of the storylines of this season has been miller you know some of the highlights of him not going full out to back check the situation with Colin Delia. I have to say, like I've told you this many times, I don't think you can have a team of all nice guys. You need people on your team who can be pricks,

but you also need to have people in your organization who are going to say enough is enough and we have to dial it back. And I think that's one of the reasons that rutherford and olivine are looking at rick tocket because i think they know that he's not going to be afraid to handle personalities and it's not always i'll fight you in the corner to get you to bend to what we need you to do you You know, he also used the velvet glove with a guy like Phil Kessel. He was the Kessel whisperer. So I think Talkit has a lot of those skills to understand how to motivate people.

I think there is a line, but I think you're right. Like you don't need a room full of guys that all like each other and get along and joke around and hang out. The one thing that I always come back to is something that someone told me right when I was breaking into the industry back in the in the mid 90s, Elliot. And we were having a conversation about people in like dressing rooms or in different sports or, you know, in in radio at that point when I was breaking in the same time that you were. And this person stopped me and said, hold on a second. If you think you can only do business with people you like, you're not going to last very long in this industry. And one of the things that I think people that are successful have learned is you're not always going to get a room full of people where everybody gets along. We have to figure out a way to work with everybody, even if you don't like them. And again, you don't have to like someone to do business with them.

And I think the most successful people understand that lesson to the point about, you know, does JT Miller get along with everybody? It's okay if not everybody is on the same page with each other. What they used to say about Scotty Bowman, for example, 364 days of the year, the Montreal Canadiens players hated Scotty Bowman.

And on day number 365, they got the rings. There's a lesson in there for everybody. I also have another antiquated reference for you. One of my favorite lines was Jim Palmer, the Hall of Fame baseball pitcher. Oh, Baltimore Orioles, love them. So he won two world series and i think went to four of them being managed by earl weaver who was as crusty as they get love them too yes and uh when they fired earl weaver they had another manager uh named joe altabelli and palmer's famous line about Altobelli was he said hi to three

people on the first day and broke Earl's record but they all respected that he that Weaver was a brilliant student of the game and was a great manager now I think if you're gonna bring in talk I think you have to take chances on maybe some people around him you don't know as much like I do think you need to bring in people that you don't know as much like i do think you need to bring in people that you don't know and people who are like a little bit different from you but it goes to what you're saying jeff you know like you and i we can barely stand amal but we put up with him because he's a great producer of this podcast that's why we don't do the show together anymore that's why we're all doing this remotely sorry to find you sorry you had to find out this way

amal sorry about we don't even have to look at him. But the other thing too is, Jeff, how many people did you work with over the years in the business where you're like, I can't stand this person, but I got to put on the fake smile while we're on the air? How long do you have, Elliot? I think we've all got stories like that.

Of course. Elliot, meanwhile, on the ice for the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, a game that Vancouver almost tied in the dying seconds. A great save by Andre Vasilevsky on Curtis Lazar. Hughes feeds it across the bull line. Here's Horn, that right circle, put it in front. Passer! A pass!

And the Horn! What? That would have counted. What a stinking save that that was the one of the greatest saves i've ever seen but it was comments made by quinn hughes afterwards that once again has the vancouver canucks as the number one headline around the nhl commenting about the tanner pearson injury now tanner pe Pearson broke his hand a couple of months ago. He's had a number of procedures and he's been shut down now for the entire season. Yeah I feel bad for him. I mean it wasn't handled properly and um you know it's not

a not really a good situation he's got there and hopefully he's gonna be all right. Quinn Hughes with the comments afterwards. You know the key couple of words there, it wasn't handled properly. Roll the grenade into the room, Elliot. I think the other thing too, Jeff, is that it's Hughes. Hughes is not a guy prone to making controversial statements.

When I've talked to Quinn Hughes over the years, it's very obvious he has a really keen insight and an ability to break down the game. He's pretty thoughtful about that kind of thing. But I think that was the reason that people were so caught by surprise about it was because he's not prone to making these kinds of headline-inducing statements. And the other thing you have to look at is when the Canucks made the announcement, it was around 9 a.m. yesterday morning, Thursday morning. You read the tweet and it says, General Manager Patrick Alvin announced today that Tanner Pearson underwent a second hand surgery yesterday after a setback in his recovery.

And he will miss the remainder of the season. And then three hours after dropping that tweet, they put an addendum onto it saying additional information. Pearson's surgery yesterday was his second procedure since the original surgery in November. So you're looking at that and you're saying, that's odd. And then you realize he's already had three surgeries. By the way, Jeff, it's possible he may have to have more. That's one of the things that's kind of coming out of this. So what this says to me with Hugh's comment,

and I don't know all the facts and I don't like to guess, but there's obviously an issue here over the treatment. And I don't know who's right and I don't know who's wrong and I'm not going to make any judgments based on what we know so far. But it's clear there's a problem between player and team on this particular one. And we'll see where it goes. But the larger picture of what I'm looking at here, Jeff, is there's sometimes in our lives where so many things are happening at once that you have no choice but to take a deep breath and call a timeout. And you just say, I'm shutting everything down for a day, or I'm shutting

everything down for half a day. And the world can go crazy out there, but we're doing a stop and a reset in here. And that's kind of what we're getting to with the Canucks. Just there's so many things flying around the news cycle that you almost have to say, all right, we're going to take a look at all of these problems and we're going to pick one right now, just one, and we're going to fix it. And then we're going to get to the next one. But it's almost like somebody who's kind of like spiraling out of control in their life where you have to slam on the brakes and say, I'm taking control of this. And it's going to be slow and it's going to be sure, but I'm going to fix the problems. And it just seems right now with Vancouver, it's just constant, constant wild stuff happening.

And you just have to say, all right, we're putting an end to this and we're fixing this. And the Canucks are kind of in that spot right now. Now their road trip has two more games, Saturday against the Florida Panthers and then Sunday against the Carolina Hurricanes. Two days off and then they resume at home with fourth straight Tampa, Colorado, Edmonton, Chicago.

I look at those two days. Are those the perhaps decision days for the Vancouver Canucks? Should they choose to go that route? Well, if you're talking about the coach, I don't think it's going to be that quickly. I mean, they put up a fight last night. They had every reason to. They did. Vasilevsky, man.

Just completely walk away down five to two. And they got within one. As you said, they made the save. But just imagine everybody listening to this podcast. When you have your maybe issues at work piling up, your private life isn't going so well. That's what this reminds me of. We all have these weeks where everything seems to go wrong for us. And finally, you just say, okay, I have to come up with a plan to get myself back on track and i'm gonna

follow this plan religiously i mean that's what you got to do you've almost got to stop the news cycle and i know some of it is because every little thing in vancouver because of how rabid they are on social media becomes a big thing so you've got to make sure that you're not you know kind of pouring gasoline on the fire and i think that's kind of what we're seeing here it's just like almost every day there seems like there's another thing that blows into a big thing you just gotta grab hold of it and take control of it okay so continues. I want to get your thoughts on a couple of other games that we saw on Thursday quickly. The Seattle Kraken, how about that?

We looked at the beginning of the week and said this could be the showdown of the week. Seattle on Thursday taking on the Boston Bruins. The Bruins at home where they do not lose in regulation until Thursday night. This is sent down the ice. Jaden Schwartz shot scores! Jaden Schwartz from the near half wall of the Kraken zone

all the way down the ice into the empty net. 3-0 Seattle. 150 to go here in this one. Schwartz with the luck on his stick to bounce that down. 150 feet into the empty net. And the Krakenken the band of brothers come together and seemingly push Boston aside three nothing Kraken big stops by Martin Jones not only do they lose in regulation they get shut out by the Seattle Kraken three nothing Tanev

Tolvanen and Schwartz are your goal scorers. Martin Jones with the win for the Kraken. Your thoughts on this one? Well, it's a huge victory for them. Last week, I had people saying to me, do you think the Kraken are for real? Do you think anybody's saying that anymore? That was the statement game.

And here's the other thing. That's seven games in a row now for the Seattle Kraken, all those seven wins on the road. This is a brutal schedule for That's seven games in a row now for the Seattle Kraken, all those seven wins on the road. This is a brutal schedule for them. Three weeks in a row, the Seattle Kraken have the dreaded four-game week. This is anything but easy what they're doing here. The other thing too here, Jeff, is if you take a look at the Kraken, look at the statistics.

Where do you think they rank in goaltending in the league? Oh, they're not in the upper echelon at all. Goals against per game, cracking. They're right in the middle, 3.02 a game. They're 16th, okay? Goals four per game, 3.66. They're third in the league. Really impressive.

And one of them is because of your man crush, Daniel Sprong, who's given them really good minutes. 13 goals, 13 assists, 26 points, fourth line just getting 11 minutes of ice time, but we move along, we move along. We move along, yes. We try to get 1% of his next contract. You know, Tolvanen now has taken a hot streak since going there. 22 teams passed on him on waivers.

So I think one of the things you wonder about is the goaltending, is that going to hold? And we've been talking about, are they going to go out and get another center? I know that one of the things some teams are wondering are, or suspect is they will go and try to find another defenseman. So one of the major differences I think that's really changed Seattle as a team is one of their broadcasters, Ed Olchek, is a big horse racing guy. So I'm going to do this in horse racing terms. Last year, they were a plotter. They were a mutter. They were not a fast team. This year, they've added scoring, but not only that, they've added speed. They're closer to a thoroughbred. You've got to be fast or have the ability to be fast this year in the nhl and the kraken are much quicker if you make mistakes on them they can run it right down your neck and you have to be able to do that in this league and they have cap space

come deadline elliot they sure do and second round picks this year high second round picks might be worth more than first rounders next year because it second round picks, might be worth more than first rounders next year. It's a better draft. They have three. And they have three of them. Elliot, one final thing on Seattle. Shane Wright made his debut

for the Windsor Spitfires on Thursday. They're facing off against Saginaw. And this was kind of historic. This was two players that have both been granted exceptional status going head-to-head. Shane Wright of the Windsor Spitfires, Michael Mesa of Saginaw. The Windsor Spitfires won this game by a final score of 7-4. Shane Wright with one goal and empty netter,

one goal and one assist, Michael Mesa with two assists. So things going well for Mark Savard, the head coach of the Windsor Spitfires and Shane Wright, their new star center so far. So yes, very good to be the Seattle Kraken right now and really good to be Keandre Miller and really good to be Keandre Miller's agent and accountant. Under a second remaining. Keandre Miller ties it up, his fifth goal of the season.

Adam Fox wins it in overtime. The Rangers beat the Stars by a final score of two to one in OT around Hayes get in moves to the net Panarin shoot saved by Ottinger Buck now played by Zibanejad walks in front tripped up Buck is loose Panarin with it feeds Fox backhand shot he scores he scores Rangers! Adam Fox in overtime! The Rangers defeat the Stars in incredible, unbelievable, highlight-filled fashion. And front and center once again with the heroics, Keiondre Miller. He is looking at a large contract in the offseason, no?

I'm going to say that he's soon going to be able to afford prime manhattan real estate like sometimes when you're on an elc or an early contract yeah yeah you know you're doing well by most of our standards but you can't necessarily afford prime manhattan or vancouver real estate uh he's going to be able to do it. One of the things about Keandre Miller, Jeff, is that prior to this year, he never had enormous counting stats. His first season, he had 12 points. His second season, he had 27 goals, which is really good, but it's not the kind of thing that you're going to look at and say, that's enormous. Now this season, he has 23 points in 43 games. So he's on pace for 40, which is going to be very good for him.

But I think he was going to be the kind of case where even if he didn't get to the 40-point mark, you were going to look at him and you were going to argue that you better pay this guy like he's a top pair defenseman. Last night, obviously, they have him on the ice at the end of the game. So they see the offensive talent. But's playing with truba and i think he's a really elite defender and he reminds me a lot of what people say about jonas brodine is that he may never do things that wow you but he's gonna play in the nhl at a very high level for 15 to 20 years.

And I can't remember where I saw it, but someone sent it to me. There was a fan that put together on Twitter just a bunch of Keandre Miller stick plays. It's really brilliant, brilliant stuff. I have no doubt the Rangers are going to take care of him because they know how valuable he is. But I think he's one of those players in the league right now where even though he plays in the NHL's biggest market, I don't think enough people really recognize how good he is. Listen to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Now, as we record this podcast very early Thursday evening, the Chicago Blackhawks are poised to face off against the Colorado Avalanche.

Patrick Kane will not be in the lineup for Chicago. We've talked plenty about Patrick Kane going back to the last podcast. He has been placed on retroactive IR. What's the latest as far as you can glean with Pat Kane? Well, we should mention that he did an interview with Pat Boyle of NBC Sports Affiliate. And he was asked specifically about, is he thinking at all that he could have to be shut down?

And he basically said, we're not at that point yet. I don't think so. No, I don't think it's at that effect right now. I mean, I guess you never know what could happen, but that's definitely not where we're at right now. It's pretty obvious he's hoping that we don't even get to that point. You know, I just want to clarify, you know, what I'd said. I made it very clear.

I was talking in sort of like theoreticals. I don't know at this point in time that he's going to need to be shut down. But what I do think is that there's definitely something lingering. I believe it's his hip. And I think just the fact that it hasn't gotten better has gotten people a little bit concerned. Like it makes a trade more complicated. And, you know, if you listen to that whole interview and I would advise you to, because it's straight from Kane's mouth and it's always best to go for the source my default is that Kane and Taves

thought they were going to be Blackhawks forever and I think they're still coming to grips with the idea that that is probably not going to happen and I think what the injury has done is just add another layer of uncertainty to this and I think that's what everybody's got to be sitting here and wondering hopefully this gets better because the best thing for kane and the blackhawks is it gets better but i just think there's a level of uncertainty now that we didn't have uh before and you know jeff i've probably caused enough problems this week and i probably don't want to cause any more no light some more fires here's some matches elliot here's some here's some gasoline go for it got a flint lighter there too the one thing that i do wonder about is uh what does this do to the

trade market and specifically teams that we've always considered as potential landing spots whether it's the new york rangers which might just be the one that's all too obvious but you know sometimes it's the obvious one that ends up being the right one. The Colorado Avalanche, for example. Like we've wondered about a lot of teams here with Patrick Kane. If he is, well, first of all, he's not himself. That is to your point. He is clearly not himself. You know, all you need to do is look at his numbers.

Those are not Pat Kane numbers. Something is off there. And also Jeff, he was like a point of game guy the last three years. Oh, that's what I'm saying. Like he he's been fantastic like there's been no slowing down just fall off a cliff like no unless there's something wrong so i do wonder whether he gets again this would be getting ahead of ourselves but again if he does get shut down or at least he's still at this pace what does this do to the trade market now what does this do with those teams and what does this do with other teams that are holding you know high-end forwards that they're looking to move you know what someone in the

league said to me it's not what like what you said is something that nobody has been thinking he said that you know if you have eyes in your head at all, like if you actually have eyes, is what he said to me, you know, you can see that he doesn't look right. I think that people have been kind of expecting this and grappling with this. The difference is now it's all out there. He's missed games and it's getting closer to the deadline. So it's on everybody's front burner.

And as he said, there's still time to figure it out it's not like no one's been thinking about this it just it hasn't needed to be a front burner issue okay so we'll see where this one evolves to another name that's out there very much and i'm almost embarrassed to say the name because for how many years have i said the name matt dumba around this time of year like honestly elliot i'm embarrassed to even bring it up again because i brought it up i think we all have so many different times around this time of the year but here i go again frege i was thinking the same thing actually remember that for the longest time he was going to edmonton for ryan nugent hopkins oh yeah stick it in the bank long term deposit all of that matt dumbaumba is still with the Minnesota Wild. Elliot, but for how long?

So there's been a lot of talk about him this week, and I think it's all pretty accurate. I think a whole bunch of teams have called at various times this year about Dumba. And what I have heard that Bill Guerin has told people is, if you want to talk to me about Matt Dumba, make me an offer that makes me think. Because Bill Guerin and the Minnesota Wild,

they are trying to win the Stanley Cup. And they are not going to make a deal that is going to make them worse. Or doesn't give them an opportunity to make themselves better. Like maybe they make one deal to do that. And that allows them the freedom to do another deal to do something else. But the number one thing is that they cannot derail themselves from trying to win the Stanley cup. And I think that's what Garen's told everybody.

And I think he's made it clear, basically don't talk to me unless you're serious with something. So I do think people have called. I think it's totally right that auto was called. I think it's totally right that Otto was called. I think it's totally right that Vancouver was called. I'm sure other teams have called too, but I don't get the sense it's ever been anywhere close. And even though he's a UFA and it's going to be very hard for them to keep

him, he's not going to make it easy on people. He's got a plan. He thinks they're good enough to win. And the worst thing a general manager can do is take a team that thinks it's good enough to win and trade them out of that chance. Bill Guerin was a player.

He played a long time. He knows how that would go over in his room and he's thinking about it. I really like Minnesota for a couple of reasons. One, I like a lot of the players on the team. Who doesn't love Kaprizov? I really love Joel Erikssonek. And I really like Jonas Brodine.

We've talked about this. Matt Zuccarello. There's a lot of reasons to love a lot of players on this team. I love that the general manager is aggressive. And I love hearing that this team, who's supposed to be in salary cap hell right now is going for it to win the Stanley Cup. Like to me, that's instant. I'm in your corner. Like we're not moving Dumba unless it makes us better because we want to win the Stanley Cup, despite the fact

that we have this giant $12 million black hole in the middle of our salary cap. Frege, I just love stuff like this. I just love it. I do. I love it. How many other teams would execute buyouts like that? No full well, they're living in salary cap hell and still try to win the Stanley Cup. You know, but the thing is, I think that's Garen.

That's what I'm saying. That's why there's another one of the reasons why I absolutely love this. Yeah. How many other teams that just say, you know what, we're going to be better when we settle our salary cap. Then we're going to be better.

You know, we're going to take a little bit of a pause here. It can be a lot of kids. We break in. No, not Minnesota. We're still going for it. Like free to just love it. I just love it.

Bill Garen didn't take too many steps backward when he played. No, no, no. I absolutely love it. Oh, it bill garren didn't take too many steps backward when he played no no no i absolutely love it oh one real i mentioned you know of course pat kane not playing on thursday evening ditto for austin matthews yeah uh i'm told it's nothing to be overly concerned about it's a combination of a a cleanup and a you know minor you know flu-like illness or something like that and could be in there saturday have you heard anything otherwise? Apparently someone, one of my buddies sent me a link.

I guess there was this debate on Twitter about whether or not he's still injured from the Jamie Benn cross-check, and I heard that it has nothing to do with it. I think he's been bothered by some things that have been affecting his shot. Look, he's had a weird year of fumbling pucks and missing chances he normally buries particularly early in the season so i think they're all connected like my assumptions i don't know i'm guessing it's like hand finger something around there but i don't believe it's related to the cross check and i also don't believe it's anything serious what i'm curious about though jeff is does it jeopardize his all-star game participation you know he's going

to miss two games and i know he wasn't the leaf selected it's got to be voted in forgive me for even suggesting this but we could have the invisible hand tweaking with the the voting machine to make sure that matthews is. I'm pretty convinced the league is going to want Matthews there. But I wonder if this throws any of that into question because he will have missed time recently. We'll see where it all goes. Here's why I don't think so. We talked about the nature of once upon a time,

the All-Star game was to reward performance during the season, but now it's just send us the stars i wonder about the timing of this little pause for austin matthews like this is a team that's that's going pretty well right now and has been for a little while i wonder if the maple leafs didn't stumble out of the gate to start the season if they wouldn't have done the pause earlier that's possible for matthews that's the only thing that i wonder about because they're going so good right now it's like the timing seems to be right for it that's the only thing that i wonder about here and you know he'll want to play saturday in boston absolutely like he'll sacrifice the wednesday

game against nashville he'll sacrifice the thursday game against detroit yeah but you know he's going to want to play in boston on sat Saturday. If there's a game he wants to play, that's the one. Now, while we were doing this pod, for about five minutes, Bobby McMahon scored his first NHL goal. There's a shot right on and a centering pass. They score! David McMahon, his first goal in the National Hockey League. It came right off the faceoff, and Bobby McMahon kept going to the net,

and finally when the rebound came, he was able to tap it home. And how about a big moment there for the young man from Alberta. Then it was waved off under review, and we're going to get the call right about now just 56 seconds into the game after video review the puck was kicked with a distinct kicking motion does not hit a stick therefore we have no goal wow all right so it was now i understand by letter of the law this is no goal but i don't like this one because he's trying to make a skill play, kicking the puck from his skate to his stick around the net, a play that everybody does in the NHL.

And after he kicks it, it hits Ole Matta and goes in. And yes, if you kick it and it goes in another player, it's no goal. But I don't know. First of all, it's Bobby McMahon. He's 26 years old i know christmas is over but put the grinches away back in the closet for another year yeah i know i know i know by black letter of the law that's no goal but he wasn't even trying to kick it into the net he was trying to kick it to his stick colin campbell was right about this one the law of

unintended consequences. Hold on a second here. I'm going to use your own words against you. Oh no, I hate when that happens. Okay. If that was a Stanley Cup winner, what would you think? That is a goal. If that was a Stanley Cup winning goal, are you cool with it? Yes. Jeff, he's not trying to kick it in. He's trying to kick it to his stick. He's not trying to score on the kick play.

You know, the defenseman wasn't trying to shoot the puck over the glass. He was just trying to bounce it out of the zone off the glass. No, that is ridiculous, but you're still shooting it in the direction of the glass. I hate when you make dumb false equivalencies. I love the fact that he's up. I love the fact that he made his debut the same day as Vincent Desharnais. And I'm such a geek so i think about bruce ramsey who's one of the good guys of the game that everybody seems to love uh head coach of the echl's wichita thunder i just love that little story the other night in the nhl that was that was a good one that you that you put out that you know

and i want to mention too just quickly i thought I thought Gene Principe had a great broadcast on Wednesday night. And I have to say, I don't say that too often. Most of Gino's broadcasts are like the fugitive train crash, but I really thought he had a great broadcast with Darren A's family and Koston. And it's been such a tough time for the Oilers to see two guys who are making the most of their opportunities one a first rounder and the other a total long shot you know he

interviewed the DNA family member to his brother I guess Principe hit it out of the park that night it was uh it was a great job by the way who had Clem Koston as the go-to interview of the year on their bingo card at the beginning of the season? He's pretty funny eh? Oh it was insane I was like oh like Devo was like just go like around everyone and look at like to pass it to me I was like no no no no just just let me go in front of the net and scream the goal.

Don't give me a fuck. Yeah, but it was a lucky bond. Did you hear the ovation that the crowd gave when you did come on for the power play? Yeah, my hands started shaking right after. I was like, guys, calm down. I'm not 97, I'm 21. Every time he's in front of a microphone, the guy's fantastic for each.

You know, reporters, I mean, I was guilty of this as well when I did that role too. There were just some guys that you always want to go back to because they always deliver and you're comfortable working with them. And listen, how many times did we see Dan Murphy with Kevin Bieksa? And for a reason, right? Because he was fantastic.

Same thing, right? So it just seems like Clem Koston is very much emerging as that guy with the Oilers. That guy is money every time he's interviewed. All right, get it before it's gone. Visit the Sportsnet shop to get your 32 Thoughts merchandise. That's hoodies, that's teas, crew necks, even a coffee mug that changes color when you fill it up with your go-to warm beverage.

Visit www.shopsportsnet.store to get your 32 gear today. www.shopsportsnet.store. P.K. Subban! The celebration for P.K. Subban before the Montreal Canadiens and the Nashville Predators game, we knew it would be something. We didn't think it was going to reach Maurice Rocket Richard level ovation and adoration.

That's reserved for one specific player in Montreal, Elliot. But what did you make of the reception, the thank you, all of it for P.K. Subban? Obviously, I think the replay that will be played forever was Carey Price coming out for the triple low five at the end of it. That is the defining moment that everybody's going to remember for this, the move that was banned when they played together in Montreal. I love PK's coat.

I know it's a ridiculous thing for me to even suggest, but I love Piquet's coat. Bonsoir, Montreal. And I thought Hal Gill had an unbelievable line about taking a picture when PK grabbed the microphone and said, puck drop in 45 minutes. I thought his comedic timing there was really funny. You know, the number one thing I think is that I believe there were a lot of fans who felt that whether it was his trade from Montreal to Nashville or his retirement for the NHL, Jeff, that they never got a chance to say a proper goodbye to P.K. Subban. Yeah, true. We all knew or we all believed that Zdeno Chara was going to say goodbye

and we all believed that Keith Yandel was going to say goodbye, but I don't think anybody knew for sure one way or the other if P.K. Subban was going to say goodbye. So that day before the season, when all three of them announced their retirements, I think that for a lot of fans, it was like, I get that one. I get that one. Oh boy, I don't like that one. I never got a chance to say goodbye to him. And I know he's still going to be honored in Nashville, but I think this is going to be an unofficial goodbye for a lot of people, a goodbye that they felt that they never really got fairly.

You know, Shea Weber, I think it's a real credit to how well he did and how well he played in Montreal that eventually people understood that trade. When it first happened, Jeff, I'm not convinced we thought that Montreal was ever going to understand that trade no matter what the canadians motivations were i bet you there were people who said i will never accept this and i think the way weber played they eventually accepted it and i talked to one canadians fan a friend of mine is a big canadians fan he said i wish they could have found a way to play them together i mean i don't even think

that's possible but he loved suban and he grew to love weber and he understood you couldn't make the trade without both and uh so i thought it was closure for a lot of people and i thought the the final touch was uh was fantastic i always thought much like like Dennis Potfan in the 87-88 season, he was going to do the season-long farewell tour like Potfan did. And the gifts from all the teams, like all of it. I know that's not hockey. Not a lot of players do that.

It's still a very buttoned down, very conservative, don't jump in the middle of the spotlight. But that's what P.K. Subban always did. I always thought if there was one player that was going to do the farewell tour, much like Potfan did in 87-88, it was going to be Subban. And we never got it. I should also mention that the young fan he brought out to center ice with him,

he shared the spotlight for that ovation. I'm not surprised at all that he did that. I mean, it was a tremendous touch, a really beautiful touch. I want to introduce you guys to one of my close friends, Mila here. Mila is one of my friends from the hospital. I'd like to get a Mila chant going. Mila, Mila, Mila. Mila, Mila, Mila, Mila, Mila, Mila.

Oh, thank you. You know, he had some comments with Michael Trakos of the National Post about he didn't like kind of what was out there offer-wise. And as I said to you on your show, and I want to repeat it here, I had a conversation with a GM who I think was interested. And he said he'd never made an offer to Subban because he didn't want to insult him. And he felt that on his team, especially with the cap not moving, Subban was not going to be a top four guy and he didn't have a ton of money for him. And he kind of felt like he would be insulting Subban if he told him that was going to be the

role and this was going to be our offer. And reading the comments that he made to Michael Trakos, I think that GM was right for thinking that way. And I respect Subban for that. I remember Mike Schmidt, one of my favorite baseball players, Jeff, the moment he thought he was below Mike Schmidt's standards, he quit a month into a season. He said, I am not playing below the standard of what I believe myself to be. And some people think that's selfish. Fine. I think that's what makes people great is that you would demand a standard of yourself and what you believe you're worth and if you don't get that you go look for something else and i think we've always known about suban that he had his eye towards other things and he's going to have no problem stepping into that world. All right. A few more things here.

Colorado Avalanche. Concern from Elliott Friedman, yes or no? No, I think they're going to figure it out. I just refuse to bet against a team with all those guys. I know guys are hurt. I know they've been really banged up. I know that Makar's playing 53 minutes a game. I just refuse to believe that that team's not going to figure it out

maybe i'm wrong jeff but i'm calm my friedman panic-o-meter is like at minus 10 i think they're going to figure it out you know we're all searching for answers here and not that i'm just trying to big up one of maybe if not my favorite player in the nhl and gabriel landisgaard but i can't help looking at the avalanche and say so much of this is because they don't have Gabriel Landeskog. I've always maintained that when that super line is together with Rantanen and McKinnon, it's Gabriel Landeskog's work that allows McKinnon to be the rhinoceros on skates, that allows Mikko Rantanen to dance. It's because they have Landis Gog there. I can't help but making that connection, that if there's a healthy Landis Gog in this Colorado lineup,

things are probably different, and dopes like me aren't on podcasts saying, hey, Freed, are you concerned about Colorado? I think you're right. I know your love for Landis Gog. I mean, I don't even call it love for Landis Gog. It's lust for Landis Gog. You could do a t-shirt with that on it,

but you're not wrong. I just think they're going to be fine. I refuse to believe they're in serious, significant trouble. Speaking of Colorado, Joe Sackett, now a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee, Bobby Clark, has decided to retire,

to which someone tweeted at me right away, Jeff, does this mean that you finally get adam foot in the hockey hall of fame which i thought was very cute i think sakic is a great person to put on it you know there's been a few times now over the years since he's become a manager i've had a bit more time to speak to him and this shouldn't surprise anybody because of the player that he was but he is really smart and the way he's you know but like just the way he talks about the game right and the way like because when he was a player what was his nickname quote was joe yeah he never said anything and now that he was an executive he didn't talk a lot but whenever i did talk to him i always found that

he had a way like we've talked about people that we speak to in the game that have an ability to to fill you in on things and teach you things and give you insight in a way that peons like myself understand it and i think he's one of those people if i've ever asked him about a philosophy of something or or why he does things, he always explains it to me in a way that I really get it. And plus, the other thing too I like about Sakic is he has the courage of his convictions. You know, he could have fired Jared Bednar. He didn't.

He could have traded Matt Duchesne before he did, but he didn't. He held out until he got the right trade. And I just have to say that I think if you're debating things like hall of famers, you need that. And I think he'll be a perfect, perfect person for it. If I could say one thing about Bob Clark is that, um, I would love to have seen him in some of those conversations because Clark is another guy like everybody has this impression of him and I do too about you know blunt honest not a guy whose other side that you wanted to be on but when you know he dropped that and just talked to you about the game

he also had genius level intellect into it and the one thing i really know is gee carbino got in for years clark would always say that gee carbino should be in the hall of fame and i know a lot of people mock that i don't i think carbino was a great player and uh i think it's you should know that if you're elite level at something, you have a chance to get in. Every time I see him in the Hall of Fame, I think about Clark. When I think of Guy Carboneau, I think of 1993. And apologies to Kelly Rudy if you're listening right now. Yeah, they didn't like each other.

Well, how much havoc he caused in front of Kelly. Carbo was relentless. Like, that's the thing I I'm with you. I loved watching Carbino, uh, and he was fearless and relentless and drove goaltenders nuts. After game one of that series, he went to, uh, the coach, Jacques Demers and said, give me Gretzky. And I remember when he was coach of the Canadians,

Carbino, uh, we did a sit down with him and I asked him about it and he was great talking about it. Like it was one of those guys really confident, but when he would sit and on the ice, he was super cocky, which is kind of what made Kelly crazy. But when sitting and talking to him, calm

but confident, which I always like. Here's one thing I want to get your thoughts on. And I know for a while, we're not going to get this with this composition of people on the hockey hall of fame selection committee. We are just not, but you know, you talk a lot about the next generation of hockey players coming into the league who have, who don't have any assumption about privacy, that everything is out there. This is the world that they grow up in and they expect

everything to be out in the open not like our generation or the generation previous elliot you know what i think would be a fantastic television property doesn't have to be a youtube show like whatever i'm dating myself has to be a tv show what would make a wonderful property what's that hall of fame conversations around the table with people that are there now. Camry Granato, Yari Curry, Igor Larionov, Scott Morrison,

Bob McKenzie, David Poyle. Now Joe Sackick, David Branch, Mike Gartner, Cassie Campbell, Pascal, Ron Francis,

like around the table with all these people as they discuss potential Hockey Hall of Fame members. That to me, I know no one they would want to do because they don't want to offend anybody. I get it. How dare you say this about whatever player? But that to me would be fascinating because you've talked to these people privately. I've talked to these people privately.

A lot of people have talked to these people privately about Hockey Hall of Famers. And everyone in the NHL has opinions. When the cameras are off and the microphones are off you have candid conversations about them to have them around the table having those conversations oh yeah i'm with you elliot that is just hockey heaven right there see i'm convinced there will be a time when Sportsnet will come to us and they're going to say, we want a camera on you guys while you watch the periods. What, you and me? I'm talking about when we're on the panels,

like watching the games and picking our highlights and stuff like that or our conversations. Oh, I see what you mean. But I could see them even going to a point where, well, for example, after the first intermission of the Saturday game, you and me meet with Ron McLean and Brian Spear to go over the topics for 32 Thoughts on TV that night. Yeah. I could see them getting a point and say, we want to film that.

Yeah, I'm fine with that. And I used to say never. I'm fine with that. But I realize I'm going to get to a point where it's going to happen. I'm going to have to deal with it. And the reason I don't like it is because I never want to lose the ability to say what we say to each other. I think there's so much full outrage out there now, Jeff, that like, for example, some of the stuff that a few of us say to each other, it would, like, be the end of our careers.

Like when Kevin pokes his head in in the middle of the meeting? Yes. And what he gets? And I just want to say to everybody, it's nothing that really should get you fired. Like, it's nothing that you would look at and say that you should be fired for that. But, you know, we give it to each other really good. And I think there's so many things now, like there's some legitimate things in the world

that people should be outraged about, but there's so much false outrage out there too. I really do believe there will be the game on TV and there'll also be maybe packaged YouTube videos of last night during the first period. This is what it was like watching the game with our crew. Here's Elliot burying everyone's idea on the

panel around the table. Why this idea stinks and that idea is awful. I have to say, I generally don't do that very much. You do it to me. You mean you don't do it to Kevin and Jennifer and Kelly? Hey, man. I was the one who told you last week,

go hard on the All-Star Game stuff because I knew people would love it. You did. Oh, speaking of All-Star, by the way, something we mentioned about a month ago, which is now starting to pick up more steam. We talked about it on, as you mentioned, the Hockey Night in Canada segment. All-Star Game in Toronto next year. Yeah. So Kipper mentioned it on as you mentioned the hockey night in canada uh segment all-star game in toronto next year yeah so kipper mentioned it on his show i believe the other day and it just

dovetails with what you and i had said uh when it got uh postponed or or when the world cup next year got canceled and or postponed or whatever you want to call it i do think it's going to be toronto not confirmed yet but i I do think he's right, as we had said, that the All-Star game is going to be in Toronto. A couple things here before we wrap up. We had a really good time with Ryan McDonough the other day.

First of all, great setting. Toroni, which is a fantastic restaurant in downtown Toronto on Adelaide. Just wonderful staff, wonderful venue. So we released the podcast on Wednesday. Also, this was shot for video release on the Sportsnet YouTube channel. That comes out on Friday.

And I want to mention Mark Utley who made this thing look fantastic. Direction from Jeremy McElhaney as well. Yeah, beautiful. The whole thing looks fantastic. If you had a chance to listen to it, thank you. If you want to see the entire thing, it'll be available at our YouTube channel on Friday.

So check that one out. We got some really good feedback on the McDonough piece. Now that it's been a couple of days, I've thought a lot about what McDonough talked about when it came to the art of blocking shots and how it's not just jumping in front of the puck and screening the goalie and essentially turning yourself into a second goaltender on the ice uh the dustin brown stuff uh i think was really

profound too like that stuck with me yeah he's a guy that as we mentioned during the podcast in the interview he doesn't do this very often like you talk about we just talked about joe sakic and how you know he was relatively quiet but when he spoke you know it had a lot of gravity to it walking coming away from that ryan mcdonough interview he gave us a lot to think about in that one have you had a couple of further thoughts on mcdonough since we sat down with him i wish i'd let you press him uh talk a bit more about his relationship with pain because he gave kind of a short answer and then i kind of regretted what I did about, hey, well, I hear you kicked the trainer's ass in Tampa in fantasy football.

And he kind of went off to a different tangent. And I think that was one case where I wish I'd let you talk about it a bit more with him because... Just big dog in the interview. Yeah, I did. I totally did. It was pathetic. I mean, that's the one thing I really thought about.

I mean, the one thing I will be looking for, because, hey, we know who's playing in the first round of the playoffs it's Toronto against Tampa most likely I'm going to be watching is Kucherov where McDonough said he was and you know does that play happen again

because the Lightning know where Kucherov is I think the other thing I wanted to do I wanted to laugh I wanted to shout out a couple. So when I posted the link on my Twitter, at Corsi HL, talking about Toroni, Funghi Assoluti to start and Tagliatelle a la Bolognese main. All other choices are wrong.

And then Spicy B said the duck confit ravioli. So I really did say I appreciated people writing, say, to give their food recommendations. Toroni is a great restaurant. I do love it there. It's so good. I don't think you ordered enough pastry, Amal, in the morning, by the way.

I think you really had people there hungry. Amal blew the budget for the whole shoot on pastries. Yeah. When two people can't go to the Stanley Cup final this year, it's because of Ammo's pastry budget. Thank you, Ammo. It was really good. By the way, I also wanted to mention Christine Simpson

had a really good interview with Matt Duchesne where he said he wants to play to at least 40. So he's never said that publicly before. Listen, man, you know how I feel about things like that. If you still have the passion to play, make them drag you off the ice. Yes. I don't want to hear the, oh, leave the stage

while they're still clapping. Oh, you're ruining the legacy. No way, man. You want to play? You keep doing it. I applaud those guys. And I've told you about this before. That's one of the many reasons why I love Peter Forsberg.

He's just going to keep trying to find a boot. If I can find a boot to play, I'm going to play. And how many times did Peter Forsberg try to find different boots so he can get there on the ice? Matthew Shane, you want to play till 40? I got no problem with that. Go play till 40. Amen.

So, Jeff, before we wrap up, I also wanted to mention, I didn't know much about her, but I've watched a little bit of her this week, is Nila Lopusanova, a 14-year-old from Slovakia who scored a Michigan goal and has been lighting up the under-18 women's worlds. And the thing about this that I think is really critical is that she's not Canadian or American.

This is the breakthrough player that I think the non-North American hockey world needed. Like, I don't want to put any pressure, any more pressure on her. I think just by doing what she does, she'll accomplish. Other than she's what the hockey world needs right now. No pressure at all. Enjoy hockey, year old superstar but you know it's sort of like she doesn't need to do anything different than what she's doing right yeah she's already on this path and she clearly loves it and she's incredibly skilled you can see it hands and just by it's like the old line is that um representation matters so here we've got representation of a 14 year

old young woman from slovakia and she's really talented and i think this is very important for women's hockey they've had you know they kim martin they've had some players here and there sure but this one especially in the the viral short age, I'm excited to see it because I think it opens up possibilities. And so not only do I look at her as a talented player, but I look at her about a good sign about where the game is going. If I was hockey in general, I'd be excited about this. But if I was women's hockey, I'd be really excited about this. There's a couple of things in the video that I really like.

One, the water bottle flipping off the net is a really, really nice touch. Love that. That looks fantastic. The other thing, and as I watch it, I always find myself drawn to the defenders. I mean, the goaltender is surprised, clearly, but the right side defender is just stunned. So you look at things that are going to change the game. I don't think she's going to be able to come out from around the net like that anymore. Like every time you see, you know, Andrei Svechnikov coming around the net now, what do you think, Elliot?

He just might try it, right? Like there are, there's, there are certain people that you defend certain ways because you know, they have that in their skillset. Now that this is gone, you know they have that in their skill set now that this is gone you know all over the world and been on every highlight package and everybody has seen it how does she get defended when she goes around the net because i'm sure that that defenseman is going to defend differently now and here's the other thing and this again like you always look at you know the the evolution of games now that's in the women's game. And so now you have to defend against it. I just love that.

I know that I've been, I sort of like, oh yeah, everyone can do the high rap whoop-de-doo. Now it's in the women's game as well. So now this is another thing that you have to defend. All of that makes the game better, Elliot. Agreed. All of that makes the game better. And wow, what a highlight she gave us.

Nella, well done. That was a lot of fun and really cool. I always love situations where hockey players look stunned at something that another player did. And that happened because everybody on Sweden around the net was stunned. Pretty much. Great stunned. Pretty much. Great stuff.

Pretty much. No one's, no one's seen that one before. Hey, uh, with that bit of good news, here's some more good news. Elliot,

as Amel told us before the show, we have five more pairs of tickets for the live recording of 32 thoughts of podcast next Thursday in Owen sound as part of hockey day in Canada, Elliot, five more pairs of tickets from the benevolent one, Joel Darling. You know what that means? There were originally six more pairs of tickets, but we had to pay the Darling tax. The Darling tax.

First of all, I want to say thank you very much to everyone that the tickets for all these events in Owen Sound are selling so well. It's awesome to hear that the community is excited for it because we're excited to come along with everybody else from Rogers who's coming. So the guests include Lanny McDonald, Joey Hisham, Blair Turnbull, Les Binkley, sweet, Mike Fuda, and Bobby Ryan. I'll be guests at 32 Thoughts to Podcast

live recording, Hartwood Hall, next Thursday, Owen Sound. To get your hands on these tickets, again, five pairs, the phone number 1-833-311-3232 next Thursday, Owen Sound, to get your hands on these tickets. Again, five pairs. The phone number, 1-833-311-3232, or the email, 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. The trivia question remains the same. Which NHL team has drafted the most members from the Owen Sound attack of the OHL?

And we should mention that does not count the players. We're talking specifically attack. You know you make us sound old when we even just reference the platers. Because you know someone's going to do it. Someone's going to do it. You know that someone's going to do it. We're going to get one of those, well, actually guys, emails.

I remember I almost went to law school. That's the lawyer in me talking. Before I wrap up as well, we want to send all of our strength and thoughts to Jim Boomer Gordon of NHL Network Radio. Oh, yes. He's a fighter.

He's going to keep on fighting, and you got a whole hockey world behind you, buddy. We are all here at this podcast, very much in your corner, pal. You got this. Boomer always had some different ideas, but he was never unentertaining. Taking us out today,

a musician from Lethbridge, Alberta, who our producer, Amel, discovered during the pandemic. Skinny Dick is the alter ego to Coaldale-raised artist, Ryan Dick. Ryan's debut record dropped in 2020. It's a real fun listen. Here's Skinny Dick with Dreamin' off his Get to

Know Lonesome record on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Enjoy. Just dreaming Dreaming away the time I've got ideas When they grab a hold of me I can't settle down I want to touch them I can't settle down. I want to touch them. When I feel no pain at all, then I'll surely know. I'm dreaming.

Dreaming away the time.