32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Trentadue Pensieri

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

This podcast is dedicated to the life of Caroline Klien. Caroline's postIn this edition of 32 Thoughts from Milan, Italy, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman quickly discuss what they've experienced at the European NHL Player Media Tour before delving into the latest news and notes from across the league. Elliotte begins with his main takeaways from our interview with Bill Daly (13:32). The fellas unpack Marco Rossi's extension with the Minnesota Wild (16:55). They then shift to Frank Nazar's new contract with the Chicago Blackhawks (24:43). They touch on McDavid's future (31:48). Kyle and Elliotte talk about the Penguins potential sale (32:55). The Final Thought focuses on Kyle's experience at the Rogers Charity Classic (39:24).In the back half of the podcast you'll hear from Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly (48:56), Marty Walsh and Ron Hainsey of the NHLPA (1:00:49). As well as player interviews from Rasmus Sandin (1:13:03), Anton Lundell (1:24:58), Filip Forsberg (1:36:49), and Hampus Lindholm (1:48:29). 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

Okay, before we get started, we wanted to dedicate this podcast to The Life of Carolyn Klein, who was the chief communications officer with the Utah Mammoth and the Smith Entertainment Group as well, gone far, far, far too soon after a battle with cancer as someone who was very well respected across the industry. So we wanted to send our love to the Mammoth family and the Klein family as well. Well done, Kyle. Extremely well said. There is a post that she put together and we'll provide the link to it in the show notes

that everyone who is interested can click on. It's beautifully written and I would recommend you take a look if you can. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X Bonjourno, Elliot from Milan, Italy.

We are overshort. overseas for the European player media tour for a couple of days. My first question, are you an Armani guy or a Versace guy? I walked by an Armani restaurant that I would like to try on Saturday. So right now, I would say I'm an Armani guy. There's the great line. Armani dresses the wife. Versace dresses the mistress.

You know, there's a lot of ways I could go. from this but I think it's just I was going to ask who dresses your wife's boyfriend I don't want to know and I don't want to care all he has to know is I'm home at two Eastern on Sunday and he better be out of the house one final visit as you've been home much of the summer

how you holding up you jet leg you little loopy at all no I feel great how about you yeah surprisingly good wasn't sure how this was all going to go. I went through and counted Elliot on Friday. I think between the two of us we tackled 28 different

interviews as part of this player media tour. So it was a busy day but I think a very productive day. This is my first time over at this tour in Europe. How did you feel about it? Well, I love these all the time. First of all, we are lucky enough to see

a fantastic city. We both arrived. The big media day was Friday. We both arrived on Thursday or late afternoon and I just had a chance to walk around Milan. I've never spent, I've kind of driven through here before, but I've never spent any appreciable time here. It was great just to walk around. I look forward to spending more time doing it on Saturday. It is our plan to go see AC Milan on Saturday night. They play their Siri opener and there's the partnership with the NHL that's going on between the Syria and the league,

which is a number of players are going to the game. You can never complain. Like this European tour in past years has taken us through Paris. It's taken us through Prague. It's taken us through Stockholm. You can never, ever complain about being given the chance to see a beautiful city no matter how short it is. And as you said, Friday was a whirlwind. You know what I like in this, too, Kyle?

It's spring training. One of the things I miss about covering Major League Baseball is spring training because the players are all in a great mood. They don't hate you yet. It's not like Game 36 where they hate us all. They're in great moods. And it's just great to talk to them. And the thing that I really liked about it was there were a couple of them

and Philip Forsberg was one. And Alex Venberg, who was interviewer, doing another pot as another, they were like, it's Milan. I have to dress great. Like, I looked at, Van Berg was wearing a beautiful pinstripe suit.

Oh, yeah. He walked into our room. I said that thing is fantastic. And he looked at me and goes, Milan. Like I was an idiot to even suggest he wouldn't wear anything so beautiful. So I love it when the players embrace this and the

North American one is in Vegas in a couple of weeks. And I always look to that, too. It's great to see everybody before the season because, like I said, we haven't angered them yet. So they're all in great moods. Yes. It's not even September yet. So they're even more relaxed than when we'll see some of them in Vegas in a few weeks

from now. So, yes, we did a bunch of interviews sitting down. A lot of them meant for the pod. We're going to throw a number of them in to this episode, Elliot. You'll hear from Philip Forsberg. Nashville, Hemp is Linholm of the Bruins, Rasmus Sandin of the Capitals, Anton Lundell of the two-time Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers. You also hear conversations we had with Bill Daley, the deputy commissioner, and you had a chance to spend some time with Marty Walsh and Ron Hainsey with the NHLPA. Also, we got some time away from where the day was set up at the hotel we're staying at, some on-camera features that will run on Sportsnet and presumably online a little bit later. You were with Michael Backland, early Friday morning, had some coffee with him. I spent a little bit of time with William Nylander of the Toronto Maple Leafs,

and we both got a chance to hang out with Philip Heedle later on in the afternoon. So those won't run in this episode here, Elliot, but something for Canadian hockey fans to keep an eye on as we inch closer to the regular season. Now, William Nealander made some news. He was talking as he did the rounds. He was talking with Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. And those quotes hit the Internet. He said something similar to you in the sense that he, what did he say?

Like, you were there. So he said he didn't understand this idea that Mitch Marner had decided before the season he was going to leave. Is that accurate? Yeah. So that was kind of the gist of what he told Zyzerger in his time with him. My question was, did you have any sense leaving the ice after you guys had lost to Florida in game seven this past spring, that that was going to be Mitch Marner's final game in a Toronto uniform. And yeah, he said no.

And the similarities was that, you know, he was in the same similar position a year ago or a year prior. And of course, he signed partway through the year his extension to stay in Toronto. But because of that, he knew a lot of the things that Mitch would have been thinking, didn't want to bother him too much. But he did say at one point during the year, you know, he asked him, what are you thinking? And Barner said to him, you know, my plan is here to stay. And then even after the season was over, he asked him again, what are you thinking? And, you know, Mara said, I want to stay here, but let's see kind of what happens.

So at that point, you know, he was, I think, still hopeful that maybe something was going to get done. But after the season, the tone had changed a little bit to now the door was open to maybe he would be going elsewhere. And of course, he ends up in Vegas. You know, all I can say is this, Kyle. There are other players who feel that when Marner didn't sign last summer that the writing was on the wall, my position is this. If they beat Florida in the second round, which they should have done, and Anton Lundell has a good take on that in our interview today. I don't see how Mitch Marner isn't in Toronto. Like, it is, I could be totally wrong.

It's happened maybe once in my 55 years of existence that I could be totally wrong. But you tell me if I'm nuts, Kyle, I just don't see a way if they beat Florida that Mitch Marner doesn't find a way to re-sign in Toronto, and the Maple Leafs don't find a way to re-sign martyr. Do you think I'm nuts? I don't think you're nuts, but I do, like, from what you're saying, some other players seeing the writing on the wall, I felt similarly. Like, there were a lot of signs throughout the year that suggested things were going to change, but I get it. You can, what if this thing to death? What if they beat Florida? What if they go to the Cup final? It's a completely different

set of circumstances. We'll never know for sure. but the things that we did see that we did hear leading up to their season coming to an end and then the fallout between then and the end of June felt like things were trending that way. For not agreeing with me, you're fired. You brought me all the way over to Milan to do it, eh? You do not have, I have already, I have just texted Sportsnet. Yeah, flight's been canceled. You have to find your own way home.

That's right. Let me shout out the great Laura Cook. Oh, yes. She had to get us all here in the craziness that's been going on in Canada, flight-wise, the last couple of days. Laura, great job. Grazie, Laura. Fantastic. Anything you want to tease about your time with Michael Backland on Friday?

Always a great talker. always an honest talker you guys have something in common he's a coffee snob so i was saying we were like freaky friday on friday because i of course love my coffee you love a good negroni you ended up having coffee with backland and i was with nilander downtown where we were made negronies at a bar where it was like the birthplace of campari the bitter that is like an essential element of the Nogroni cocktail something you of course enjoy

so we flip-flopped on Friday you went to you and you and Nielander hung out with a celebrity chef right David Rocco who's had great success between the food network HETV from Scarborough

son of Italian immigrants that moved to Canada and has had a heck of a career in the food and drink scene making a variety of TV shows. He's got a new one coming on the Food Network in the fall. So he was over here, obviously a big hockey fan. And it was neat to see, like, Neelander really,

like they hit it off right away. I became the third wheel very quickly, which I'm used to. So it was not uncomfortable for me. But it was great to see how quickly they hit it off. Because David's got a restaurant in Toronto and Yorkville, bar appresivo, and as I say in the piece,

he knows the Italian food and drink scene over here, like the back of his hand. So it was neat to meet him, first of all, and have him teach us a little bit about the drink culture and the history here in Milan. I see that as a sign of maturity from you. I think it is the true sign of a good broadcaster

to know when, if you're there and there's more than one person, to know when they have chemistry and they're really going and you stay out of the way. I think that's really good. You know, the thing I'll say about Backland is not only is he a coffee stop like you, but I would say this for the Calgary Flames fans, he said that, you know, he's got a year left in his contract. He says he wants to continue to play after it's over,

and he wants to be a lifetime Calgary Flame. That's very clear. He would love to be a flame forever. and he did say that he wants to play in the new building. That is a goal of his. So he's not looking to go anywhere. He's proud to be aflame and he wants to play in the new building. That's what I would tease from the piece.

And, you know, I'll say this. One of the things we talked about was the speech he made at the Johnny Goodroll Memorial. And, um, I just told him how unbelievably impressed I was with the way he handled himself that day, and he talked about it a little bit. It was a good interview. It will air sometime during the season, but those are the snippets that I would give. And Heidel, I think for both you and I, it really stood out how much he's working on his mental game.

Yep. Yep. Recognize that's an important part of. for him being successful. First off, it's great to hear that he's healthy and going to be ready for the season, but recognizing that

and that predates coming to Vancouver. He's pretty in tune with not only what his body needs, but what his mind needs as well to be at his best. All right, so let's take a look at some news. Yeah. So there wasn't a ton of news

that came out of here. We both interviewed Bill Daley, the deputy commissioner of the NHL, and while you were interviewing Nielander, I interviewed Marty Walsh, the executive director of the Players Association, and Ron Hainsey, who's the assistant executive director. And there's a few things in there. I'll leave most of it to them. I'd rather not ruin the interviews, but Daly basically came out and explained the way the 20 28 World Cup will work, eight teams, and

people should listen to that. And here, he gives a pretty comprehensive understanding of how it's all going to go. I also, you know, we did ask about the hockey Canada players who were found not guilty at their

trial at the end of July. And it's clear that for the league, nothing has changed. The players still have to apply. for reinstatement, and it's also clear from what the Players Association has to say that they feel those players should be allowed to play. We don't have any clarity on that yet. I thought that the other thing that was interesting that Hainesi is particularly addressed

is that even though the new CBA comes into effect on September 15th, 2026, there are obviously some conversations going on between the league and the players' Association about whether or not some of the changes will come into effect beforehand. And, for example, draft rights. There's going to be, there have been some discussions on whether or not draft rights to change for next year's draft. But one of the things we mentioned in our previous podcast were rumors going around that maybe the new contract rules could come into effect next July 1st.

And for example, right now, if a team re-signs a player, it's eight years max. But if you sign with someone else, it's seven years max under the new CBA that will change to seven and six. And there's also a limit to the amount of bonus payments that can be offered as part of a salary. And, you know, for example, if you're out there, Connor McDavid-Edmonton, Jack Eichol, Vegas, Carrillo Caprizov, Minnesota, Kyle Connor, Winnipeg, Alex Tuck, Buffalo, name all the players that could potentially be unrestricted free agents next July 1st. One thing that Hainesi made pretty clear, and you'll hear his answer, is that these new rules will not go into effect for July 1st next year.

so all of these players who are still affected for next season can be signed to contracts under the current rules the new ones will not come in early and I think for a lot of fans they wanted some clarity on that and now they've got it all right and some other news that you know really I guess happened back in North America

but it was funny so Marco Rossi gets the three-year deal in Minnesota 5 mil AAV 6 million he's paid in the final year of that deal, which is significant when it comes to his QO when that all wraps up. But it was interesting. So the wild representative here at the media tour is Philip Gustafsson, their goaltender. And when he sat down with us this morning, he looked over at you and like it hadn't been put out public there yet. But he said something to you, like he knew something was up here with Rossi. Like something was coming here on Friday in terms of a deal getting announced.

Yes. And it did three times five. and I think this is a good thing for both the Wild and Rossi. It was pretty clear that Minnesota wasn't getting what it wanted trade-wise. It was pretty clear that Rossi wasn't getting what he wanted long-term. And because of what happened in the playoffs where Rossi was demoted down the lineup, he didn't want a short-term bridge deal. So they settled on three times five, which I think is a very fair,

contract, and he's there. Like, he's not going to miss camp. I don't think, first of all, I never think it's a good thing to miss games or camp. I understand sometimes it happens, but in this particular case, especially, I don't think it benefited team or player for this to happen. And, you know, sometimes, even though, like I said, I don't like it, I sometimes understand why it happens, and I can see, even though it can be ugly, a benefit for it happening. I didn't see that here.

Marco Rossi needs to get in there, make a good impression, and play. And the Minnesota Wilde need a motivated Marco Rossi in there on time to make a good impression and play. And I think this is a situation where player, team, and agent all came to their senses and said it doesn't benefit us to do this any other way. How do we make it work? You know, there's a great line from the old TV show Seinfeld. What's the problem with common sense? It's not that common. Here, I thought common sense prevailed on every part. And I think in the long run, everybody here will benefit. Like, I don't know if Marco Rossi's going to finish out his term

as a member of the Minnesota Wild, but I will bet you three years from now, the Wild Rossi will look back and say, it was a good thing that we did this and didn't let this linger. You know, there's a lot going on right now. I had some people say to me, well, Mason McTavish can't like this deal. I think that's a completely different situation.

I think that, Anaheim likes the player I think they recognize how good the player is I think there's a difference of opinion I think there's a difference of opinion on where the salary should go at different terms and that's why this is not done yet

I think the issue in Minnesota was that Rossi and the Wild were unconsciously comfortable with each other at the way last season ended. I don't believe that's the case with McTavish and the Ducks. I think the Ducks like the player.

I think that they believe in him. I just think that you've got a lot of grinders in this negotiation. Pat Morris who represents McTavish, he's a grinder. Pat Verbeek is a

grinder. And I think Pat Verbeek kind of looks at it like before the guy gets the super big money, I want him to really earn it. I don't want to give it to him too early. I think that's a philosophy. And Jeff Solomon, who handles the contract negotiations in Anaheim,

he's a grinder. I know people who've had negotiations with Jeff Solomon, and they come out of it, and they look like they've just spent a week in a sauna. Like, that's what it can be like to negotiate with them. So I think that's one of the issues here. I think that McTavish representatives looked for an offer sheet. It didn't happen.

You know, there's been a lot of talk about why offer sheets didn't happen this year after what St. Louis did that last year. I really believe it comes down to, Kyle, and I said this a couple months ago, and I'll say it again, I really believe the whole thing with Gavin McKenna has terrified teams from doing the offer sheet. Like, this is a player with a chance to do some great things in the NHL. And I think teams, you can't protect, like say, oh, this pick is top two protected or top 10 protected. You can't do that with an offer sheet.

And I think that really scared teams away, not only with McTavish, but with other players. So I'm not surprised that didn't happen. And I, you know, one of the, there's a lot of people here who don't talk. talk, but what I have heard just gossip-wise is that say, okay, say you're talking about a seven-year deal, what Anaheim sees on a seven-year deal, and what McTavish's representatives at Newport see on a seven-year deal is different. And so, like, I think that's the case in a couple of these terms, and I think that's one of the reasons that it hasn't happened yet. The other thing about Verbeek is he has shown he's not afraid to let this linger

a bit later. So, you know, this is a thing where one phone call can change everything. It happens. But there's a lot of tough, tough negotiators like Morris, Solomon, and particular Verbeek, nobody like Vrbic especially nobody is pushing these guys around so we'll see we still have time

Drysdale Zegra similar right those took a while to get done you say there is precedent with Vrbik and Anaheim let these drag on a bit but again like I don't know

I don't know how this will all play out I would be surprised if McTavish wasn't a duck. I've been surprised before. I'll be surprised again. I would be surprised if he's not there. Quickly, do you have a read on like another RFA out there and Conner Zerry and the flames and what the sticking point may be there? I've just heard that the two sides just

have been apart. So until that changes, again, like I don't think this is a situation where the flames are, don't like the player or the player doesn't like the flames. I I've just heard it's a disagreement on, you know, hey, if the term is X, this is what we think the number should be. The good news is that it's starting to pick up. Business is starting to pick up. A slow summer. It's been a slow summer. Business is starting to pick up, but I just think right now it's a difference of opinion.

Okay. Well, while we're on the topic of business, I mean, the business that has now. falling into the lap of Frank Nazar in the form of a seven-year deal just under 6.6 mil per. This is a guy Elliot who's only played 56 games in the NHL. I mean, he played 21 games in the American League last year. He still has another year left on his entry-level contract, and yet Chicago was comfortable giving him a seven-year deal. You have talked about how the salary cap as it's jumping over the next few years dramatically compared to what we've seen over the last little while and everybody trying to figure out where the comfort zone is here clearly chicago's betting on talent betting on

the future of nazar but in a lot of ways this is an unprecedented deal in the national hockey league it is because for anyone who's played his number of games no one's ever gotten a contract at that high a total number. Now, Caprizov had played 55 games. He got 45 million, five times nine. And as everybody out there knows, Caprizov was older. He had more professional experience in the KHL. And I don't believe there was anybody who looked at Kaprizov and said, I think that contract is a gamble. And he's proven to be worth every penny. and we'll see what ends up happening here with the wild. So that contract aged beautifully.

Nazar, who played one more game, 56, he's going to get a little over $46 million. And, you know, one of the stories that's kind of making the rounds was here at the media day in Milan is someone said, like, you know, why didn't he get seven times 6.6? like it's 6.599. And apparently, like the word here, I didn't get a chance to ask, but the word here is like it was some kind of superstition or something like that.

He didn't want the 6.6. So when training camp starts, yeah, somebody will have to ask them like the 666 or something like that. It was something, like someone said it was some kind of superstition. So someone will have to ask Nazar either at the captain skates or when training camp, against. We'll see if that's actually true or someone fed me a line of BS, which has happened before just to be the one time in 55 years, Elliot. That's right. Someone has just fed me something to see if I, like, you know, for example, I'll give you one, when we interviewed Luke Shen, when he was in Nashville a couple of years ago, there was one person I called a

former teammate and they said that Luke Shen likes to sing a particular song of karaoke. So I asked him about it, and he looked at me like I had three heads. He's like, who told you that? And so this happens periodically, and we'll see if someone's screwing with my head or that's really true. But, you know, like Chicago obviously feels that Nazar is a heck of a player, a critical building block alongside Connor Baderd. And they are trying, you know, they, and they obviously were very happy to extend them long term and they'll take the bet. it's just, if you take a look the last couple of years, like Dylan Gunther, he signed a big deal in Arizona. That was a precedent-setting deal, and he'd played 78 games. Now,

I think Gunther has done enough things over the last little while, especially last year, that you look at that and you say, that thing will age very well. And it looked to me, just going online, I realize social media is not everything. but the Black Hawk fans seem very confident that that deal will age very well. I'll tell you this, Nazar, the way he played at the World Championships, he's been invited to the Olympic camp, the U.S. Olympic camp next week. I don't know. Like, nothing against Nazar, but that's a big ask, I think, for him to make the Olympic team

next year. But I, as I was talking with that about people, I, guys saying to me, don't write them off. He might not make it, but he will get runway. Like, he impressed enough people at the World Championships last year that they're bringing him to their camp for a reason. And I'm going to be very curious about that, but it just shows, like if teams really believe in these guys, they'll make their bets, and it's very clear Chicago is going to make their bets. I don't believe there's anything going on with Connor Bedard right now who is eligible for an extension, but I do believe Chicago is considering some other business, and one of the things I do wonder about is Spencer Knight.

Like, he's up after this year, and the surest predictor of future behavior is past. behavior and I wonder if they're going to take a run at night and the other thing I also am looking at Kyle is you know team Canada meets next week two in Calgary I would expect after Connor McDavid is done there and he goes back up to Edmonton they will work on getting this done you know Carol Caprizov is coming back from Russia I think at some point in time He will sit down with the wild face to face. And I also believe that I think Jack Eichol, like I think he's staying in Vegas. I would be shocked if he went anywhere else.

But to me, a guy like Eichol, he's probably just waiting to see how the market is set. And then he locks himself in. Hmm. Never be the cheapest house sold in your neighborhood. Yeah. You're talking from recent personal experience? No, no, no. Why would you think that?

But I think, like I said, I think there's a lot of guys, you know, talk, Kyle Connor, all of this group of players, I think they just want to see everybody's feeling themselves out to see how the market resets. And that is our one. You know, one of the reasons we found out about that one before the Blackhawks announced it was there was some talk here about how, wow, this is like a big deal. This is a precedent setting deal. And McDavid, in a lot of ways, as a governor when it comes to this stuff in terms of what his next contract will be, you mentioned so after the orientation camp going back up to Edmonton, I mean, could you see him as a guy going, yeah, I don't need to be asked all the questions about it at the start. a training camp, so I know what I want. Let's get it done before we show up to fitness testing day.

Or I guess there's no more fitness testing day of the next CBA. Well, just start a camp. I could see it, Kyle. Like, I just think, I just think everybody wants to get it done. So I would expect, I would expect between training, I would expect between the Olympic camp and training camp, they sit down. they say, how's this all going to look? All right. How about the Pittsburgh penguins?

He knows in particular, you're going to annoy him, and he doesn't want that. Yeah. I don't think anyone does. The less I'm around, the better. That's maturity. That's what that is. How about the Pittsburgh Penguins and what's going on there in terms of a potential sale? You reported the other day, the Hoffman family has emerged as a legit,

candidate as a buyer of the franchise. They also own the Florida. Everblades of the ECHL along with other assets. How did they come into the mix here, Elliot, and how serious or close is this to come into fruition? So I have to say when I reported it Monday, I thought it might get done this week at $1.75 billion. It didn't.

We're recording this on Friday night, Milan time, and it hasn't been done yet. And Bill Daly, and this is not in the interview, but he did tell us that there's nothing papered at this time. So it's still being worked on, but it's real, no matter what anyone says, this is real, and we'll see if it gets closed. in the near future I don't know when they came in but like I wrote on Monday they're very serious about it you know I had some people ask me

it was interesting the reaction I had after this you know I had some people ask me about Kyle Dubus I don't think this will affect Dubus at all I think he's going to stay on in his current roles from what I'm hearing. Someone asked me, do you think it'll change the direction of the team? And there's nothing I've heard in the days since this first came out that convinces me

that their plan is changing. Like one of the things we've joked about, Kyle, is that they're the only team in the league that is out there saying this is not our year. Everybody else is saying we want to get better. We want to take a step. Pittsburgh is the one team saying, yeah, that's not us. It's rebuild time. And I don't believe this changes any of that based on what I heard.

You know, I got a couple interesting calls in defense of Ron Hextall. I had a couple of people to reach out and say that if Fenway Sports does sell the team, that there should be a bigger conversation into how Hextall's GM term went. I had people who really defended them saying that when Hextall was hired, It was before Fenway bought the team. They took over a few months later. This was all in 2021. But, you know, Hextall was hired under the idea of the team was going to get rebuilt.

And then when push came to shove and, you know, remember there was that day where it looked like, Malkin was going to hit free agency, and the fan spoke up, and it was clear that not everybody was ready for that group to be over. The plan changed. And they just felt that it should be known that what he was hired to do and what he got instructed to do when the moment came were two very different. things. I think the other thing about it that's interesting, and Fenway Sports, I'm assuming at some point in time, can answer this if they want to, but they bought the team four years ago, and they're about to potentially sell it for double. And, you know, some people were asking, what's been the reaction to that, them selling so quickly? And, you know, part of me is like, hey, they may double their money in a short period of time. How can anybody complain about that? You know, I had other people that said to me,

they've got a lot going on between their soccer, their golf, their desire to have an NBA expansion team in Vegas, their baseball, the Red Sox. And, you know, I had a couple people say that David Beeston, who was part of their group and left and now was tied into the Houston expansion team, he was the biggest hockey fan that that group had. And when he left, it wasn't the same. And I also think someone I know who owns a team in another sport. he said that he wonders that there's no commissioner who has more power in their sport than Gary

Batman. Like he said that Rob Manfred in baseball, he doesn't have the control that Betman has. Roger Goodell and football, like nobody is telling, say, Jerry Jones what to do. Even Adam Silver in basketball, like David Stern had the control. like this guy said to me that no commissioner has a hold on their sport more than Bettman does and he wonders of Fenway

which is used to more control in other sports just didn't like that so that's kind of I believe it how it all that's the reaction to all this and we'll see where it goes but like I said when I reported it on Monday I thought that maybe it happens this week. We'll see where it all goes.

All right. That'll take us to the final thought. Brought to you by GMC. Elliot, can we talk quickly about my experience at the Rogers Charity Classic? We can. Okay.

We talked about it last pod with our Spencer Sassidy interview. It looked like there was a chance I could have had an opportunity to go out for one day. I did. What it was also cool, the week before that,

they do what's called a part three shootouts. So Chris Dornan, who I think runs a lot of the media stuff for the week of the actual tournament, he puts this on. He's involved with a lot of Canada Olympic stuff, so he knows a lot of Olympic athletes

that train in Calgary, other athletes in the city as well, and just other people around. So he brings them all in to Canyon Meadows Golf Club. It's an evening event. It starts like 9 o'clock local time, okay? And it is, They say a shootout, closest to the pin, bracket style.

So you are head to head with one other person each round, one shot each. It's 135 yards over water, closest to the pin. So they say one shot. Whoever's closest moves on. If you don't, you're done unless you both go in the water and then both get to shoot again. Oh, you both get to shoot again. Yes. Yeah.

Well, someone has to go on, right? I think you should both be a limit. If you put it in the water, it's a double disqualification. All right, shooter. So let's not even shooting. It's like if you put it in the water under pressure, you're out. I'm sorry. You were prepared to leave golf altogether like three months ago.

Yeah, that's because I put shots on the water. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, this is about second chances here. Okay, so imagine that. Overwater 135 yards. If you're standing there, what club are you pulling? out of the bag for that. Overwater,

iron 35, 8. Okay, yeah, that's right. So a lot of people, like I was, I had a nine iron and an eight iron with me. It was a little bit windy. I wasn't sure. And I was told because it's a nighttime thing,

so they're glow in the dark golf ball. So they don't play as true as a typical one you would use for a round. And it was also cool. There's a bar in Calgary called the Aussie Rules Bar that is renowned for the dueling piano performers. Those dueling piano players were on either side of the T-box playing music and playfully heckling you

as you lined up to hit your shot, okay? So I ended up being the first matchup of the night. And there was a lot of people, it was around a 64 to start. So it was a good turnout for people that participated. I got lucky in that I didn't hit a great shot, but mine wasn't as far off as the opponent. I stayed dry.

But it came up short, right? So I hit an eight iron, easy. And I was like, okay, good to know. The next couple of matchups go and it's like short, short, short, short, constantly. Okay? And now, like, you're seeing the murmurs.

People are looking at their clubs. They got an eight or a nine iron or a nine at a pitching wedge and go, ooh, do I go down to an eight? Do I go down to a seven? Luke Vluswick, who plays So the Red Deer Rebels, he's from Calgary. He was a fifth round draft pick to the Flyers this past year. He was there.

So he's like match up five or six. He's the first guy to actually put it onto the green. So everyone's looking at him going, what clubs you hit? What clubs you hit? He goes, I hit a gap wedge. Everyone's like, oh, my God. Yeah, like just, yeah, thanks for the help. Everyone's looking at going on.

Do I go to a seven? Do I go to an eight? Luke hit a gap wedge and hit the green. Anyways, that was a fun. never been part of anything like that before did he win he did not no i think he went out like second round um there was a couple of like jake bean was there i think he just just hit just bad timing he hit a bad shot he didn't go very far um Vernon adams junior was there of the stamps not a golfer but was a good sport about it um i eventually lost to chris olmsted who's part of the

Canadian bobsled team fell to him in the quarters you got to the quarter Kyle that's good you won three rounds nice I said I got lucky the first round and then anyway that's good three rounds

I'll take that yeah I was he was good player big guy too like you tell it effortless swing so that was neat but the pro am so we're in a group

on the Thursday Tom Pernice Jr. is our pro and Mark Schifley was out there as well. He was with our group that day, okay? And so we're out on the first T-box beginning our round and Billy Melville, who by the way said to say hi to you, Elliot. Yes. I met him for the first time there.

I was very nervous to meet him. I think Billy Melv was a big star. If you like watching the Chuck Wagon races and the Calgary Stampede, you know who Billy Melville is. Yep. So I'm very flattered. If you see Billy, say high back. I wish I would have known this a week ago.

So he's going over the whole day saying, Tom, you know, the pro is going to play from the pro T's. Everybody else will play from the blues. If, you know, there's a senior in the group or someone is just not as comfortable, you can play further up if you would like. And at that point, Schifley goes, can I play from the tips? And, of course, no one's going to say no to him. like yeah of course so mark and tom play from the back and boy is mark a golfer like i think

he had said like there's a pGA america event that comes through winnipeg i guess every year there's like a jet that gets an exemption spot he's played in that's uh eric comrie this year okay he's played in that before um and just i feel when you're golfing like either you are smooth swinging steady, consistent all day long, or you swing hard and you can hit it a mile, but you're also erratic. Find you're either one of the other typically.

He somehow had the bow. Best of both worlds. Hit the ball a mile and just consistent as could be. On the 18th hole, Elliot, it's a par five. His second shot, he is 245 yards in. There's water running across the front of the green.

He pulls out a three iron. And I kid not hits it inside 10 feet and knocks in an eagle put. The most unbelievable three iron shot I have ever seen. He shot a 69 that day. He shot three under from the Protees at Canyon Meadows with the extra long rough that's set up for the tournament for the PGA Champions event that went on over the weekend there. And what was really neat is that like obviously Tom realized early is going,

okay, I've got a player here with me. So it was neat to see like just the two athletes kind of come together and like, Like he's now talking strategy, the tips, just the suggestions that he was giving to him of, okay, now think about this next time he hit this shot or think about that, little things. And Tom was great too with all of us. Every time we got to the green, he read everybody's putts, so I put it here. It's not doing much. Maybe just think right center, that sort of thing.

It was a really neat experience. Like, I had never done anything like that before, but it was really cool. And so I'm sure a lot of Jets fans are well aware that Mark Schafeely is a very good golfer. It was something, seeing it person. How'd you score? So it was a shamble, which means you take the best T-shot, not including the pros T-shot, but from the T-shot onwards, everybody's on their own.

And the low score is what you mark down for your group. So I believe we were tied for third where we ended up. So we did okay. That's pretty good, man. And me and Matt Rosen, like, we had from 960 in Calgary, we had like the most strokes given of our group and there was anyway by the end there was a couple holes where we needed to make some hay and take advantage of the extra strokes that we got and we just couldn't do it so it took us out of the running at the end but it was a

really fun day well I'm glad you had a good time man even if you let down your team at the end I'm glad you had a good time doing it exactly yeah it was humbling but anyway it's always cool to watch always cool to watch all right that was the final thought we'll take our first break can come back with a handful of our interviews from our time in Milan, Italy, and the European Player Media Tour. 32 thoughts. The podcast continues after this. Okay, as promised, and apparitivo, we'll call it, of some of the interviews we were able to get done here in Italy over the last couple of days. You'll hear from players Philip Thorsberg, Hampus Lindholm, Rasmus Sandin, and Anton Lundell.

But we will begin with the Deputy Commissioner of the National Hockey League, Bill Daly, followed by Marty Walsh and Ron Hainesie of the National Hockey League Players Association. Bill Daly, Deputy Commissioner, first off, thank you so much for joining us. I want to start at the end of August, what typically is front of mind for the league, what is of greatest priority for the NHL right now just over a month before the regular season? Well, I mean, it's this time of year that we start kind of ramping up our activities for the upcoming season. You know, all the planning's done and in place. And, you know, we have all our events scheduled and we know what we're doing. Now it comes to executing on those

plans and making it happen. This is part of it, right? The European player media tour has become a fixture on our calendar and something we look forward to as kind of a precursor to the upcoming 25-26 season. We have another, as you know, player media tour in North America that this year will be in Las Vegas, has been for the last several years. We have a general managers and head coaches meeting coming up, which we're holding in Detroit, where we'll have a social night followed by an agenda of of things that are important and relevant to the channel managers and head coaches. We have a player orientation program

that we run annually with the Players Association that's set for Lansdown, Virginia. It's a three-day program kind of leading into rookie camps, which are coming up fast. We have a week of rookie camp and then 20-day training camp and then we're off and running.

Interestingly, One of the things we agreed on with the Players Association Collective bargaining is extending the regular season by two games, which entails also a corresponding reduction in the duration of our training camps and should allow us to start the season earlier so that we're not really extending the regular season or our overall season should actually get a little shorter over time. So we'll see how that works. would take that would so are we looking at the possibility of maybe a September start anytime we are really are how soon like 2026 seen that smile before what would that mean for getting the Stanley Cup handed out well I mean look there are certain things we have to accomplish within the the bounds of our our normal season right and and this year's a good example like with the Olympics you know we're taking a 17 day break in the season to facilitate the players

participation in the Olympics. That makes it very difficult to end the season any earlier than we've been ending it. If we get the right mix of elements, including no midseason international tournament, because we'll have the World Cup in 2008, the 26-27 season may be shorter. We'll see how that plays out. But, you know, I'm not apologizing for the fact that, you know, know, we have things we want to accomplish as a league, we and the players, and that takes time, and then that steals days from our season schedule. We don't want to crunch the schedule so much that the players are playing on an every other night basis for a full season. You know, that's too taxing on them. So it's a delicate balance. But I think the changes we made,

We're moving to a 13-day training camp. They're only playing four preseason games, and then we're off on an 84-game regular season. I think that will have the effect of creating a dynamic where we can shorten the overall length of our season. Okay. You know, we're here in Milan, Olympics, a lot of us are very excited for it. I'm curious, though, about the World Cup in 2028. Are we closer to a format figuring out how it's all going to work? work. Yeah, I think I think we're pretty, I think we're pretty finalized on format. You know,

it's going to be a mid-season tournament, which created some consternation among our international partners, not the federations as much as the International Ice Hockey Federation and its major commercial partner, but we're going with a kind of a February time period. We think it's familiar to international competition, right? It works for the Olympics, it should work for us as well. It's going to be an 18 tournament in the first iteration of it. It'll be separate countries representing, you know, separate teams representing their countries, no hybrid teams like we had in 2016. We're going to play one pool in a European location. We're in the middle of a request for bid process, expression of interest process,

we've gotten healthy interests, both for the North American and a variety of North American markets, actually more than 20 North American markets interested in hosting World Cup and similar interest and strong interest in European markets. So that's all part of a process that we hope will result in us being able to announce markets and venues, no later than the end of this regular season, hopefully, knock on wood. In Europe, they'll play the preliminary pool round and then probably two quarter final games here. We'll bring two teams over to North America to finish the tournament. We'll either be in one city or potentially two cities in North America and the semifinal and final will be played in North America. Now, have you set the eight teams yet or is there going to be qualifying? What are you thinking? Well, we hope to be in a position where in the 2032 World Cup of hockey, we do have a qualifying tournament.

We're not going to have one for 2026, so it's purely or 2028. So it's purely imitational. We have, you know, the usual suspects who you might think should be considered for those eight spots. We have not finalized our discussions with those. We think we have more than eight in terms of having the possibility of participating. I think that's a luxury that we have. So we haven't finalized that thought process yet in terms of locking in who those eight teams are, especially we still have a lot of uncertainty around the Russian team. Right.

Right. You mentioned two cities, potentially North America, in terms of the totality of it, do you have an idea of how many markets you would like to have host games for? that event. So at most it would be three, right? It'd be the European city and Okay, so just one in European cities. Yeah, that's a fair question. I think at least to start, we're focused on having games in one European city. We'll see how it develops. And, you know, we've used different models around that in the past. I want to check the hockey Canada. Has there been any talk about those players meeting with the league or where things stand at this point in time. Really nothing new to report from what we released after the verdict. Their situation

is still under our review for now. Okay. Okay. It's going back to the Olympic stuff, you were in Zurich to get the agreement signed and finalized. What were kind of the final hurdles to get cleared to be able to put pen to paper and confirm that NHL participation will be back. I mean, what I'd say, obviously, we got far enough down the road in our discussions with the double IHF and the IOC and the NHLPA to make an announcement at All-Star in 2024 that we anticipated NHL players participating in the Olympics. From that point on, I really didn't have a sense that there was anything that. that was going to stop us from doing a deal and being able to sign.

There are some things that, that, you know, you talk about conceptually and you can't put pen to paper to as a practical matter until, until more time has elapsed, you know, flight arrangements and locking in those flight arrangements or charter arrangements for the players, those types of things are kind of conceptual until they become papered, right? So the passage of time was almost a necessary element here. You know, there was some noise that came into play with the double IHF potentially having problems with our World Cup of Hockey strategy and that affecting their willingness to allow us or allow NHL players to come in the Olympics. I never expected that to really be a hurdle. And as it turned out, it really wasn't a hurdle. So when it came time to signing, we signed and announced. Okay. Just the, has the league decided what you hoped to do with what was going to be

All-Star weekend on Long Island just before the Olympic break? Yeah, I think we have a pretty good idea of what it's going to look like now. I'm probably not in a position to kind of preview that at this point. You're more than welcome. But I think we have a pretty good direction for 26. And then we're still discussing 27 and what that looks like on the island. It will have an All-Star event on the island at 27. I just can't tell you exactly what it's going to look like.

Do you think the All-Star game is dead now? Well, no, I don't actually. I think, you know, in fairness, I think we did a lot. And Steve Mayer and his team and George Paros and his team who focus on player skills did a lot to revamp skills in a way in Toronto where I think it was super entertaining and far better than what we had had for a fairly long period of time before it. I think it was actually compelling. And then I think are kind of three-on-three tournament that we have on the second day of the weekend is generally really good.

And I think better than the quality of some of the all-star events I see in other sports. Having said that, can you tweak it? Can you make it better? Can you make it different? Can you make it more compelling on some level? You always try to do that. And I think we'll obviously try to do that in 2027 as well. Final question.

You mentioned your son plays football. You played football. Who's a better player? Well, that's a loaded question. He's a really good athlete. I actually, and he's only been playing for three years. So I'm very happy with this program. Is he a running back too?

He's kind of like a flanker back that runs the ball. So I was more of a. tailback but he's a strong safety too he's he's he's good athlete so awesome yeah thanks very much all right guys okay i think the thing that really stands out to most people about uh the player association right now is just that for the first time in a long time there a cba got done without a real problem and um i i just you know i'm curious to know like was there ever a point you guys thought that wasn't going to happen i mean And during the negotiation, we were, as we're getting close towards what we didn't know

it was going to be the end, but towards the end during the Stanley Cup, we would have an internal conversation. It's like if we don't see significant movement here on either side, we saw the year left on the contract. But it was never really, it was never talked about. We didn't have to do that. I mean, the conversation was pretty, pretty fluid between Gary and Bill on their side, obviously, and me and Ron, I mean, I've done many collective bargaining agreements in the past.

Ron has as well for the PA. So having the knowledge of what we've gone through, Ron knowing that in the past, me becoming into this new saying, okay, we want to do something different. We never went into it with that thought that we're going to have a problem. If you go into it with a problem thinking

you're going to have a problem with the CBA, then you're going to have an issue with the CBA. So there really was in that moment. But there was, towards the end, we were thinking like, okay, it slowed down a bit right before the Stanley Cup finals. And like, that one kind of crept on my head. Maybe we wait. and see, but then they just sat a moving.

What would you say, Ron, was the most contentious issue? I don't know, contentious. I mean, we identified a year probably previous to starting negotiations, you know, what would and wouldn't be talked about. And that makes it, I said this previously, there's been a salary cap for 20 years now, right? In the NBA, it's 30 years. That's just where the system is. So if you're not talking about the salary cap,

If you're not talking about guaranteed contracts, right, a lot of big things were off the table early on. The process was set up where we, you know, most likely be able to work through it. Would it be six months? Would it be four months? Would it be eight months? You know, it would be a year you don't know until you get in there. But, you know, money's always the most contentious issue, right? That's just the way it's set up in the relationship as it is.

So when it came to things, look, both sides. identify at the beginning things that are very important to them. We did. The league did and you see if you can work through those things. So there really wasn't, if I'm forgetting something, one issue that that was a sticking point, right? You just continue to work and plug through and hopefully make progress as you go along. Did any of the, like, after it's over, there's always the debate, like, who won, who lost?

And I think everybody kind of won here in the sense that there's no stoppage. But, like, were you guys bothered by anything anyone said about the deal of you? put together. No, the thing that bothers me is when people give comments and then off the record, you know, no name to it. It happens all the time. Happened in my previous life, you know, somebody would give, criticize me for something I did.

No name. I'm like, come on, like, give the name. But, no, you don't lose any sleep over it. It's just, it's the nature of the business. It's just the nature of negotiations. You know, there wasn't, you know, that story that the PA won or the league won. So I guess at the end of the day, that's a good, that's a good. good outcome for everybody if everyone walks away from the table feeling good and I think that's what

happened here everyone walked away from the table feeling good and we're certainly pleased with a lot of things that we're able to get for the players um you know money that players were paying in the past payroll taxes and workers comp that I felt in the very beginning when I got here they shouldn't be paying that because there's employer payroll tax employers are responsible for workers comp so getting things like that were big for me and for the players for you look we answer to one group here and it's the players. And we went through our process through last year's fall tour meeting with every player going through.

And this goes on for years, but specifically in the lead up to bargaining formally starting where you go through every issue that the players may bring up. You know, we obviously identify some. The players will identify, you know, hundreds over the course of five, ten years. And we work through all that with the players, you know, prioritize what we're trying to accomplish. And, you know, when we do come back to them, this process,

This was a little different than the previous ones I've been involved in where there's really three of us on each side, right? For multiple months, there were no players, there were no owners. It was during the season, so you're not going to have players sitting there or previously. It was set up differently. And when we went back to the players with what we had, I mean, that's when you get the temperature of where everything is. And that's who we answer to, you know, the vote. When it came down to it between the board and then the general membership passed in the, you know, in the 94, 95. So at that point, when we're getting to that point with the guys, you feel, you feel good about where you're headed.

Everything else is irrelevant to us, to be honest. Okay. So we're talking to Bill earlier today, and he said that he smiled. He didn't give it away, but it sounds like it. It sounds like next year, 26, 27 is going to start probably in September because of the 84 game season. But one of the things I didn't get to ask, and I do want to ask you is there were some questions about, when the CBA would take effect in some of the parts of it. There was talk about would the new draft rules come early,

would the new contract rules come early? As it stands right now, like, where is all this going? We're continuing to work through that. As we sit here, I'd say the bulk of the agreement will start next September when the current agreement expires. We're working through things like the draft rights and through smaller issues that may make sense for everyone. some of the contracting issues, right?

When you do ELS players signing coming out of college, does it make sense to start that next March, right? Because that's when that starts. So we haven't completed that process. We're actively going through it. There could be pieces of this that do start this September when the players get to camp. And it'll be smaller things, like I just mentioned, contracting

and stuff like that. I would anticipate the bulk of things. And next July 1st, same thing. I was wondering, like, does it make sense to start some things next July 1st instead of September 16th, again, smaller things. So we're working through that since another negotiation through

within the negotiation. And I think we're making progress again. We need a little bit more time. But I think you'll see something start this September, something start next year and then a bunch of stuff start next September 15th. I think the biggest one fans would wonder about because it affects some of the guys

who are free agencies. Could we see a situation where the contract term limit or the bonus structure changes in time for July first next year. You will not. No, that won't happen. So the eight to seven won't be there. Okay. That'll be next September. Okay. You know,

we just went through a really tough thing in Canada. The 2018 World Junior trial. The league has continued to say it's status quo as the players have not been reinstated yet. Where does the players' association stand on this right now? I mean, we all went through the trial. We all watched it very

closely. You know, the players were found not guilty, which means the fact that to us is at least they should be eligible to go and return back to the NHL and we're working through a process. Okay. Have there been any meetings scheduled between the PA and the league? We're just working through a process. Okay.

Fair enough. I guess the other things I wanted to ask you about is where do you see it going from here? The league as a whole. You know, there's labor peace now. revenues are going higher than ever. You know, we saw a contract yesterday. Frank Nizarre signed a contract that's the highest contract for a player

who's ever played only 56 games. Like, everybody is benefiting financially. What do you say is the big next steps? I think it's about growing the game of hockey now. I mean, it's about, you know, growing the game in other markets, getting other fans to come on board, building the next generation of fans.

I think, you know, we're going to see the salary cap go up this year, went up next year the year after significantly, more than in the past. You know, revenues are in. So, revenues are up, I should say, but we still have more work to do. You can't just sit back and say, oh, we're doing great. Revenues are up X a 100%. I think it's really about creating new opportunities. I mean, we're here in Milan today and getting ready for the Olympics, you know, and we're going to be playing games in Stockholm this year. We had a very successful

four nations tournament in Montreal and in Boston last year, last season. after the Olympics, we're going to be looking at the World Cup. We're going to be looking at other games and other countries. So I think it's not just about having a game in a country. It's about having a plan for that country and that system put in place that grow the games. I think there's a lot of opportunity for growth. I said this when I first got the job. I was talking to a former senator from Iowa.

He was in my office in Washington when I was there. He said, I don't really follow hockey. And I'm like, I think of myself, there's a lot of people in the United States, too, that we have to sell this game to and get more fans to walk. you played what would you like to see just the continuation of setting the stage for our guys to be able to showcase themselves to become the biggest stars in the world that we started that with four nations as you said we've the cba is now we have five years some runway to go here um the guys will be here in milan for the olympics which is the next step you know coming off four nations a 28 world cup will be for four nations on steroids for for lack of a better way of putting it it, there'll be games in Europe, there'll be games in North America, what cities and all that, you know, we anticipate

really building off what we did this year. The NHL game, night in and night out, the playoffs this year were outstanding. Great. I mean, they were outstanding. Series were outstanding. The conference finals, we've got a little, maybe, you know, two, five game series. You'd like to see a little better than a great final between Edmonton floor. I mean, the product on the ice is as great as it's ever been. I truly believe

that. So, look, we've got to continue to put our players in a place to succeed, right? And that's what we've been focused on since Marty started. And we'll continue to do that, right? What does the all-star game look like? When it does come back in 27, we're already coming up with new ideas of what we may do there. And it'll be to try to showcase our guys one way or another in a way that maybe we haven't in the past. So we'll just continue to build off what we've really, you know, started to do together with the NHL over the past couple of years. Okay, last one. And it's for you, Marty.

there's been a lot of rumors about whether or not you would stay after the CBA got done that maybe you would go back into the political world I'm saying there has

there are all these rope you started them no I'm saying this is a great job I love it and you know the more I get into it you know I think

not because he's sitting next me but Ron and myself make a great team we have done a lot at the PA as well we made a lot of different changes there our business department

we brought on a new person to run our business department He previously worked at NFLPA, so we're doing a lot more there. I think we're working a lot, at least from talking to Gary Batman, we're working a lot closer with the NHL on the growth of the game as well. So it's not just, our function is to represent players, right? That's our number one job, and that's what we're going to do to collect the bargaining and the health and wellness and their well-being

and their mental health, all of the things that are important to the players are very important to us. But we also have say in a lot of other things that we're helping with. International hockey being one of them, the Four Nations tournament, really. We worked, we were a partnership on that. So, you know, I'm, you know, this march, I'll be three years in this job, and I'm settling into this job. And, you know, every day I get more and more into this job, the more and why I love it. So I'm not going anywhere. Thank you, gentlemen.

I appreciate it. All right. And now you'll hear from the players. Rasmus Sandin, Anton Lundell, and Philip Forsberg will begin with Sandin, the Washington Capitals defensemen. All right, Asmus, first of all, I wonder, did you take any memorabilia, any keepsakes from the season that was the OVe chase for 895? What did you take with you? Lots. Yeah? I mean, first off, ever season, I kind of ask OV for some things to always bring home so I can keep myself.

Everything from a pocket that we both played with or was like an assist or something. No, he wants to keep a lot of it himself. um stick from that game gloves signed jersey um he gave us a nice gift all of us too um so yeah a bunch bunch of things what is he gave you a stick from that game no not from that game okay okay but from that day oh from that day oh okay everyone get one no okay oh you asked pretty quick yeah yeah you got in there early he i think he used it like stick handling in the locker room or something like that was it so i never used the site actually quick yeah COA on there, it did it go, yeah.

I have to ask, what was the gift he purchased for his teammates? I don't even know if I should say this on. I think you should. Yeah, just because it's you guys. No, he gave us a custom watch to every player and lots of guys and the staff too. We're on the back. It's a picture of him from the, like from the celebration. I think it was 894, like that celebration he had.

And it said, like, thank you. and everyone's name in the back of the watch. That's awesome. Yeah, he wanted something. He told everyone that this is something that you can keep for the rest of your life so you can look back at it and remember it. So, yeah, I'm not selling that one. I'll tell you that.

It's going to be kept. That's, you know what, that's, you know, I've heard over the years, like in football, like if you are a thousand yard rusher, you buy something for, like, your offensive line and things like that. So I always really like those kinds of stories that. And great team moments are obvious, but great individual moments are also team. I like that. Yeah.

Yeah. No, he was very appreciative, not only with the gift, but the way he went around and thanked everyone and his whole family, how they thanked everyone. And yeah, it was an awesome thing to be a part of. You know, one of the things I'm curious about Rasmus is for, like, in a year like that, does it ever become too much for the teammates? Like, you guys had a great year last year. You took a huge step, but like, does it ever?

ever become like too much when one person's chasing such a big record? No, I don't know. I think for us, I think we were almost thinking about the record maybe more than he did. But at the same time, I don't think it was anything bad. I think we were just kind of striving for helping him. And if, I mean, as long as he scores, I mean, it's good for the team too, right? So I think we're all just striving to help him get the record. But at the same time, you know, every goal is, you know, one step closer to a win.

So I don't think he got too much. I think it was just something. Everyone was just really excited to be a part of too. One of the great things that the Capitals do I find that are always entertaining is just everyone's got the pregame something in the tunnel before going out for warm-ups. So what's your contribution to those couple of minutes before 16 on the clock? I mean, honestly, me, I'm more like whenever we sing a song or something like that in the tunnel. Like if you play your old team, we always have like, oh, we always.

screams you know what these guys don't want you but you know what we want you be and we all start singing that really oh so it's more like that um otherwise it's just handshakes with all the guys kind of um but that's pretty much it hmm so he'll he'll sing to a player who's playing against his yeah and then the whole team starts singing to this player that if you got traded or if you uh you know if you didn't get a contract extension or what uh just as long as you're old team so i think that's phenomenal yeah it's awesome it's all i think that i think There's not another team in the league that has the same routines that we have in the tunnel. It's a laugh before every game, so it's awesome.

You know, a year ago, we talked here, Rasmus, and you were just coming, you were talking about how Carver said, we're going to give you some time, and we're going to talk about your game. And you came back last year, and you got a tremendous year. How do you feel a year later? Yeah, I feel pretty good about my year that was. I mean, not only me, but the whole team, I think, just played into it. I think for me, I mean, obviously we had a lot of new players. We had a talk, me and Carbs, especially pretty early on.

They didn't really know exactly in the beginning how they were going to put the lineups together and power play and stuff like that. But we had a good chat pretty much every single day about what was going on and not only with me, but with every player. And we kind of talked, we understood both of us that I have to change a little bit if I want to keep my ice time up to and, you know, do whatever I can to make the team better. So him and Lover, D-coach, both helped me a lot. So I had to change my game a little bit.

When I came into the league, I was considered probably more of an offensive guy. They helped me so much with developing the play without the puck. And I feel like before last year, I wasn't very comfortable all the time playing against the other team's top players in the D zone and stuff like that. And now I kind of feel like it's one of my strengths almost on the ice with how I play defense, which is awesome. and now I feel comfortable all over the ice. So super happy about the steps I took without the puck, especially last year. Nice. So I wonder that, like, I know Luke Shen has said one of the hardest things to do as a defenseman

is to go back for a puck with back pressure and to make a play with it. For yourself, like, what did you find were the biggest hurdles or maybe biggest breakthroughs for your game defensively this year then? I think that part of the game has kind of been my strength for a while, just going back for pucks and make a play and make a breakout pass. So that hasn't changed much for me, but obviously it's not very fun sometimes when you have a big guy coming. You know, you're going to get hammered up the wall.

But I feel like the biggest thing is changing how I defend before. I kind of wanted to use my body a little bit too much. And I'm not the biggest, not the strongest on the ice by any means. But just try to outsmarting the other guys a little bit, have a better position and better stick. and I think me and lover especially we had a really good conversation about that he really understood that you know I'm not 250 pounds and I can't push every guy up the wall so he really tried to develop a good defensive stick and good positioning on me which I feel like I really try to take advantage of and really develop in my game which I thought I did so that's probably the biggest change I did

who is so when you're going back for a puck who in the current NHL is the guy who if you know that he's the one coming at you, you're like, I'm going to get it here. It's a couple. I feel like one of the guys that is tough is Braden Shann is tough to, you know, have on your back. But then also there's so many guys. I feel like Nathan McKinnon is so tough too

because he can also either just strip you the puck or he can just absolutely hammer you, which is super tough because sometimes you think he's not going to hit you at all and you try to make a play with a little bit of poise and you just get mangled but the next time you think the same thing

and you just tossing the puck up the wall and he's there already and he just reads the play in a different way so it's different components to every player and it probably helps that one of those guys is on your team and Tom Wilson I imagine he would be he was number one before

he absolutely hated playing against him and actually same with Ovi right you can hit yeah yes yeah I got some good memories or good memories but bad memories about playing against those two guys. So, yeah.

I wanted to ask you about the Plow Series against Montreal, because after that, it looked like those two teams hated each other. Is that fair? Yeah. Yeah, that's fair. I think, I don't know. It was a fun series to play. You know, Montreal, they were really good at the end of regular season first.

They came in with a lot of confidence. and then I mean we knew what we were all about too I think we all knew that we were a good team even though a lot of guys on the outside did not think we were that good and then obviously their game three I want to say when they beat us in Montreal it was kind of a wake up call for us a little bit too

game four and Tom makes that big hit before we score a goal win that game we kind of knew like okay and I think that kind of spark a little bit too where a little bit of the hate came from You know, so Dave Amber did Alex Newhoop's golf tournament, and there were a few of the Canadians there, obviously, and I watched some of the clips. It looked like, they basically admitted that they were yapping at you guys pretty good. Yeah, and the same the other way, too. It was both ways, yeah.

But, I mean, when Josh and Tom was in the bench, too, fighting on the bench literally, that was funny. I mean, the period was over, so we half the team went in the tunnel, and we're like, we're all the guys. and we kind of went out and looked, and they were on the bench fighting. But, I mean, that's what it's supposed to be, too. I think that's what makes the series a little bit extra fun, too. That was an awesome series. Yeah, it was a lot of fun to play, too.

Yeah. You mentioned old teams. Like, do you still check in with William during the season, just get all the latest gossip of what's going on in Toronto? Yeah, all the time. No, I mean, we keep in touch pretty much, maybe not every day, but almost every day in the summer, I see him every day, basically.

If it's playing golf, I mean, we work out together, skate together every day. So, yeah, he keeps me up to date. So you took a big step last year? What's your goals for this year, Razors? More about just building on what I did last year. Keep developing in both ways. I feel like I have a little bit more production in myself.

I feel like I can, you know, sometimes I want to pass the puck into the net a little bit too often instead of shooting. So that's one step. I feel like I should really, you know, take next year and keep building on my defensive play. Just want to be a solid two-way player that they can count on in every situation. But mainly individual goals, not that much,

more than just playing as good hockey as I can and give myself the best chance as to maybe possibly make an Olympic team. That's right, yeah, especially given it's going to be here. I wondered, you played a lot with John Carlson. In what ways has he impacted you the most? Oh, that's a lot of ways First off

John is one of my favorite teammates of all time He is I mean just the person he is I think every young player Learns so much about him Like we keep in touch during the summer After every practice basically

We're always going to sauna And we sit there chat about If it's the game that was previous Or the next game or practice And what he thinks I could develop I have this memory against Minnesota We were in Minnesota and we practiced the day after a game and he was like, you had this chance like two times last night

you try to pass this puck. I want you to shoot 20 pucks here, just rip it first, like, you know, different places. And he just wants you to develop and be better, both for my own say, again, for the team as well. So he's just a guy that wants to teach you everything, a single thing he knows and thinks that I can get better at. So, yeah, he's just unbelievable. Jeez, sounds like another coach to have.

Yeah, I know, but he's on the ice with you. Yeah, basically. No, but he's, yeah, he's just fantastic. Wow, awesome. Great. Anything else? Thanks very much, Rasmuch. Yeah, thanks, medicine.

It's always great to see it. Yeah, you as well. So, Anton, I guess we wanted to start there. How different is summer number two celebrating his Stanley Cup versus the first one? It's pretty similar in a sense. You have kind of the same things you've got to do, but it's been a lot of fun. It's been, obviously, a previous. village to be able to do some stuff that, you know, normal doesn't happen.

We were able to meet our Finnish president. He invited us to his summer house and also have a day with the Sandy Cup. You know, it's probably been the top two highlights of my summer so far. Yeah. Who has a nicer summer house? The Finnish president or Alexander Barkoff? I mean, Bark is almost the president too. That's very true, I bet.

That's very true. I don't know. That's a tough one. I don't. Bark has a nice ones, too. There is something presidential about him. I can't see that. You lived with him, right?

Like early on in your career. Yeah, I'm very, very blessed that Barkey wanted to help me. And I kind of took him under his wing and showed me around how to live in America because I obviously never lived anywhere else than Finland. And then moving from home to Florida the first time, that was a huge help for me. Right. Well, now I want to know, like,

what lessons did he give for you about living in South Florida? What did he tell you? Actually, it's funny. Like, you all know how Barkie is. It's just so quiet and nobody really knows what he's doing. Like, guys were asking me, even guys, like, played with him, like, eight years. They're like, what does Barkie do on his free time? Like, we never hear about him, like, how is he?

But he's just a pro, everything he does, like how he eats, how he sleeps, how he recovers. It's just like he's close, if not the perfect hockey player. And you see that that's probably why he's one of the best in the league. What's like the angriest or most animated you've seen him? Or does he even get to that level? I think I got him a couple times pretty good. You got to go back and forth and like, you know, if he thinks one thing is one way,

you got to just challenge him, I kind of annoy him a little bit in a friendly way. But actually I never seen him like, you know, mad, mad, like he's ready to fight somebody. That doesn't really happen that often. He's just so calm. Wow. You know what?

I have to think on a team with guys like, Matthew Kachak and Brad Marchand, like, somebody could get under his skin at one point in time. He's too good even for those guys, hey? Yeah, he also has the respect, you know, like guys are like, hey, bark at you. You do your thing. We make fun of somebody else. There's more meat to chew on there. Yeah, that's great.

Did you have any doubt that your three guys, Marshawn, Eklad, Bennett, that would re-sign? I heard we're most likely able to sign them, but I guess you never know. So I guess you were waiting to see, you know, at least two guys are going to stay. Is everybody staying, like, who's leaving, who's not? But when I saw everybody staying,

it was a pretty cool moment, you know, like a group chess was going off and the guys were just hyped, you know, saying congrats to each other and at the same time guys were happy to to keep the band together and you know trying to go on a new run next year so marchion gets traded there he moves on the line with you in lusterayan and it turned into magic pretty quickly like were you surprised anton how well he clicked with the two of you i mean yeah a little bit to be honest i i saw right away when he got to us

because you get to see a player even more when when he's on your team like I always saw his highlights and you know I grew up watching Bergeron yeah Hasry Bergeron a lot so I always like

seen his highlights and follow him but I never saw how good he really is with the puck and how hard it is to get away get the puck away from him but when when the coach put us together I just, it was just first practice, he just clicked and we're doing some crazy

things and we're just flying up and down the ice and I could see that he liked to play with me and the E2 as well like because he's, I mean, he's still like a Hall of Fame or legend so to be able to get him on my line was special and in the playoff we just clicked and then I feel like it was just hard time to shine. His personality is pretty incredible. I mean, he told us the story about when he was calling you phenoms and you guys didn't understand what he was talking about. Like, what was it?

Like, just personality-wise, like, what was he, what was he like, what was he like to get to know him, knowing how big a personality he is and how funny he can be? yeah it was it was a little weird in the start i think everybody in our team could probably say the same thing because we i mean we hated each other like we had such a hard uh you know emotional physical battles against each other in the playoffs over the last couple years but to get him on our side and you know see how much he actually you know talks during the games and just like half of the things he says

I have no idea what he means Like Finnish phenoth Yeah like he's calling Phenoms and then I don't know It was a few times during game Like he's suddenly he's chirping somebody about hamburgers

We're like me and Lusiriano were like What did he just say It's just like Everything just comes out of his mouth But it's so it's It's one of those guys you love to be around him Because there's never a boring moment by the end of the playoffs this year

again you guys looked very much like a machine that just could not be stopped but that second round series against Toronto you lose the first two games you're down early in game number three at home did you ever feel in trouble in that series I think there was always like a little pressure but

I got to say we were somehow we were so confident that we're going to turn the series over because we felt like in every game we were the better team but we lost so we just we believe that in seven games we should be able to win four

if that makes sense but obviously they they were such a good team like it was a hard series it was I mean they were up in game three as you said I three won in the second or something and when we won that game, that was the game changer. We were like, okay, now it's our time to press the gas. Now

we go. But I got to say, if we were lost that game, it could have been a different series, for sure. Yeah. It's amazing how quickly it changes. I just wonder if you, Anton, like, you played four years in the league. You've gone to three finals. You've won two Stanley Cups. You've got, I think, 77 career playoff games all before your 24th birthday. Like, it's not supposed to go that way, but I wonder what you make of your career to this point it's been remarkable yeah it's it's being pretty crazy when you kind of stop and look what you've been through but uh i guess say i've had a lot of unbelievable teammates uh still have uh be able to learn from them and talk to them and you know everybody's saying just you know it's not normal to go to the finals every year or win

uh even one cup not even speaking of two now, you know, seeing Kyleok Poe also lifting his first cup last year, it's just like hard because it's my third year, but then that was his last season of his career and just see the emotions, interactions with his family, just like, that's when I realized, oh, this is, this is not something that happens a lot, you know, and it's hard. But yeah, you appreciate. those small things even more because you have great leaders around you. It seemed like this year the party was even crazier than last year. Is that true?

I do think so, yeah. Like was the, like, was there a reason, like, was there a reason you think this year the party was even bigger? I mean, probably, I mean, Marchy is not. Oh, that could. be the reason. But, no, I would say, you know, we did the same things pretty much than we did last year, but now we knew what's going to happen.

So you were able to kind of save a little bit more energy for, you know, special, you know, celebrations. But that's how I feel like we got a little bit more juice out of this year. But we, I mean, we have a team. We like to have fun. After a long, long season, it's just the best way to end it and celebrate together and make some helpful memories. I think three beats are really hard, but I don't think you guys are incapable of it. How much do you talk about it already?

It actually started pretty quick after the season, also when the guys were, when the guys signed, You know, guys were texting the group chat and being like, hey, like, last year was fun, but let's do it again. That was the mindset, like, right away. And we know it's not going to be easy. It's going to be the hardest one so far, like 100%. And we're going to face some, we're going to face a lot of challenges because we already felt it last year, like, emotionally and mentally to win the second time. it took a lot like every team is playing their A game against you doesn't matter if it's game 10 or game 16 regular season

they want to they want to show that they're capable of of winning their remaining champs which is which is the same thing we did when when Vegas won the year before so you know we know it's going to be a hard season but we're it's going to be interesting and we're ready to jump over some obstacles during the way. Awesome. I look forward to watching. Thanks very much. Anton, thanks very much.

That's great. So, Philip, I mean, we're in what many still consider the fashion capital of the world in Milan. You're dressed for the part. But, I mean, to your credit, whether we're in Milan, whether we're in Vegas or in Nashville, you would dress similar anyways. What are some of your favorite brands, Italian? or otherwise, how do you like to dress yourself this day? I mean, I think it's, you know, see it, I like it type of thing.

It doesn't really, it's not like I'm certain for, certain for, you know, certain brands, but there's a Swedish brand called Jay Lindberg that I've been working with a little bit in the past. And those have been mostly the shirts I've been wearing in Vegas. They're a little more, yeah, a little more out there than saw the other stuff. But I love that brand. I just picked up a few things there the other day,

and they've been really nice to me. So shout out to them. Are you the best dress predator? Or is it No, I mean he's up there I think Juice is up there too He's got a little more of the like hipster style Like non like suit and stuff

But he dressed well I think it's a European for sure That's we can lock that North Americans all dress like crap Yeah well they've gotten a lot better Than when I first came into the league So it's getting it's catching up a little bit But yeah

I'm in the top three for sure Okay so who's the worst dress present I felt bad I threw Tommy Novick onto the bus slash it But he's not there anymore So I can't do that to him Um, I don't know. I feel like the standard, like I said, the standard is gone up.

Yeah. That's good. I don't know. That's a good question. I have to think about it. Maybe it comes to me later. Okay. Now, do you work with the stylist at all?

Is it all just feel for you? No, it's all just, like I said, that's the brand. Like I'll, they'll let me, you know, pick a few things here and there and that when I like it. And, uh, no, it's all feel. I think my wife will tell me yes or no on some of this stuff before I walk out the door. But, uh, well, I'm looking at the shirt. Mm-hmm. Tell me about the shirt.

Yeah. Yeah, so I had it made, it's the stadium series. I don't know if you can see, yeah, Nissan Stadium. So it's the date when we played Tampa in the stadium series a few years ago. So I had it made for that and wore it with our whatever jackets that we had to sign and stuff. And he worked that well and figured it'd be time to re-wear it a few years later. Well, we should mention it's an Aaron Alvey shirt. So there's a reason you're wearing.

That's right, yeah. Fantastic. So you have a question about shirts. Yeah. So we interviewed Spencer Stassney on our podcast a few weeks back. And he talked about playing his first game in the end. NHL with the predators and shortly thereafter he got delivery to his house and it was a t-shirt that had Roman Yossi's face on it and he assumed it had something to do with playing his first

game of the NHL but he had no idea where the shirt came from would you have any insight into how this he just got a in his mailbox yeah in his mailbox he got a t-shirt with so I want to believe that it's Yossi that that's like his congratulatory thing for when players. That would be, I've never heard of this. This is. We're trying to get to the bottom of it. And yeah, so Nick says he, he's not sure. I honestly have never, I didn't know this happened, but this is great.

Yeah. He doesn't, he doesn't know, obviously. No, no. I want to be living in a world where Roman Yosey is dropping off shirts with his face on it. I mean, it would be hilarious if you did it himself. Yeah. I have to do some digging on this. That's great.

You got no liens. No, I'll get to work. It's still a mystery. It's still a mystery. That's very disappointing. Summer. What was your summer like? Any special plans or anything like that?

We went, actually, we were in Italy earlier in summer. Nice little vacation in Sicily, which is great. I never been to Italy before, so that was on the bucket list. So we went down, me and my wife and our son and stayed a nice little resort. Just hung out, little family time plates on golf. And it was great. And then, yeah, most of the time after that, just in Sweden and, you know, family and friends. And trying to make sure we get so much time we could with them and get some time, you know, for family, like my parents, my grandparents to meet Felix more to get more time with him.

And, yeah, then we went back to Nashville, like, mid-July, so we've been there up until now. Oh, okay. Just spent the second half, I guess, of summer in Nashville. And, yeah, it's been good. And who did you skate with? So now we're probably five, six guys that are in Nashville. So since I play the world, so I didn't start skating until July, kind of when I got back there, mid-July. So it's Roman, O'Reilly, Nyquist has been there a little bit until he's heading out.

His weather's supposed to get a bit cold. Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. I think he's holding on to Nashville as long as he can get forth. But yeah, a couple of guys, Stamco's just came into. Some more guys are obviously, I'm streaming this week. A lot of people are starting to come in. And then when I get back after this, it's probably be, you know, half the team at least there. Gotcha.

How's your captain looking, feeling? Yeah. No, I think it's obviously, you know, more for him to talk about. But he's out there skating with us and he's in great spirits. And, yeah, obviously we missed him a ton during the absence last year. And, yeah, we were excited for having him back. Don't want to belabor the past a bit too much. It was tough for your last year, Phil.

With time to think about it, if you kind of thought about just how things, just went sideways for the year. It's, it's one of these things because you'd think about it obviously, I mean, you think about it all year, right? Like you're trying to figure it out as you go.

But once the season's over, it's almost like, it's such a bad year that it's almost just hit the reset button, you know, and like go back. We had a couple meetings after some of the players and some of the staff and then, you know, almost get a little bit of sense of what people felt like.

And then like there's nothing, not like there was a, oh, perfect, we fixed it type of thing. Because you know how it goes. It doesn't work like that. But at least we had that a little bit of a, you know, sense of direction of where we, think we should go and then since then just kind of everybody's been working on their own game at

the end of the day you work on your summer trying to prepare mentally for what's coming and physically and just be ready to be your best version of yourself because at the end of the day I think that was like none of us had career years or anything like that some of the young guys took steps but there was not like a breakout player for our team none of the older guys you know it was just a dud that we here kind of for all of us so I think the mindset for me personally just to kind of wash it off and go back and be excited about a new season and, you know, try to get off to a way better to start, obviously. In those meetings, what do you think

was the most important thing that was said? I mean, like I said, it is, you know, a meeting a couple weeks after the seasons ended, so everyone's still doing their thinking. But I think, you know, there's certain things that I think we can do better, whether it's with the puck defensively. Like, obviously we were always been a really solid defensive team.

And last year we were not bad, we just didn't score. You know, like with the firepower we have, that should not be the problem. So I think whether it's changing, you know, a few things to get it in better looks or whatever. It was more of an open, open mic, almost like you get to express your feelings. And I said it was a few of us in the leadership group and Burnett and just kind of talk and just see where we go.

So that was kind of like a groupie as opposed to one on one. Yeah, it was more like obviously the exit meetings are, you know, kind of like that. But then this was after a couple of weeks after that and just almost like said, everyone gets, you know, due your meetings and you have your opinions kind of after that and then you get together. And at the end of the day, the leadership group is going to be the pushing factor

of where the team goes. Like the management is obviously going to do a lot of good things and you kind of point us in the right direction. But it's the players that are, you know, you see the teams that win like Florida have a great example of what I feel like is a player-driven team with a great coach, right? So I think that's what everybody's striving for.

And I think we have a really good, you know, group of guys in place for that. So I'm excited for that. Yeah, it's interesting because I remember I did that game when you guys had Toronto in town towards the end of the year and going to the morning skate there and see, like, there's a good number of guys like out early, whether it was some older guys, was like a Riley, Federer Svechkob, one of the younger guys, just working on little things. And I just watched that and I thought, you know, it'd been obviously a frustrating year. And there's two ways you could go there. You could sulk and just look at the clock and say, when is this going to be over? Or are you going to continue to find ways to get better within all of that?

And it looked like, you know, the team was very much going that direction. And I just thought, you know, okay, there's some building blocks for. For sure. And I think that goes to character, right? Like you said, O'Reilly is the perfect example. Like, he's, you know, he's obviously a little bit of a freak in a way. Like, he's out there, like, even now, like, we skate at 10 and he's out there at 9.15. Like, he just shows up, does a quick warm up and goes right on the ice.

Like, he does just what he does. Like, he doesn't, like, he works out in his way. Like, he does his, like, mobility stuff. But he's all, he's an on ice guy. Like, he just loves being on the ice. And, I mean, you saw it for a brief moment in Toronto there. I don't know if you guys spent enough time with it there, but like I'm sure it was the same there.

He just loves that part. And it's cool to see that. I mean, obviously, like I had some great older players when I was young too. But like I can, like even me, I'm just a couple years younger than him. But it's cool seeing it. So I can only imagine how it is, like you said, for Sreshkov and those guys seeing him, you know, out there super early. And, yeah, that's something that I learned from too and try to, you know, pick up pieces from his game as much as I can as well. Okay.

So do you have any more in Nashville? kind of switch. No, I have one more quirky one at the end. Okay, so I'm, you obviously played four nations this year. So there was that crazy game between Canada and the U.S. With the three fights in the first minute. So here's my question to you. If Sweden and Finland were to have a similar game,

who would be the six players that would drop their gloves? Well, I'm assuming, I don't know, we probably have to go Hedman versus Mikola, just like the size and that. numbers and they're all like I think that would be a heavyweight and then um it's a good question i don't even know who maybe victor arvidson because he i've seen in fight nationally it's obviously featherweight but he thought maybe he would fight he's tough yeah he is he's a little guy but he he he yeah he's got a big bark so i think he would maybe fight like a ho or someone

like that maybe and um yeah i don't know who else Not like a Lucas Raymond. I could find he's got stuff like to do it. I mean, for, yeah, probably. I mean, at that point, it wouldn't. Like I said, it wouldn't be ideal, but I would, yeah, I mean, I'd do it. I'd try to pick someone about my size and so it's fair. And I don't know, I feel like Barkov is too nice to punch back.

So maybe he'll just hold and it'd be nice to take him out off the game for five minutes. I'll take him for the country's pride. Yeah, see, unselfish. That's exactly. Here's Sweden. That's right. I love your thought process. All that almost leads perfectly into my question.

Okay, so a few weeks ago, I watched the one night, there was a two-night thing, but of WWE SummerSlam, and Jelly Roll, of course, has spent some time around you guys. So, like, he fought. You see this? He was like he was in the ring. So I wonder, your buddy George Kittle, could you ever see after his football days were done him get into a WWE rink?

He's talked about it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He's already done it. Like, he hasn't been in the ring, but he's done some, like, sideline stuff. I've seen him, I don't know what it's called, but like slam someone down or whatever.

He just, right. So he's, yeah. I mean, I would bet most of what I've earned of this league that he will be in there at some point. Okay, good. Yeah, no, I saw the jelly roll thing. That was, that was impressive. That, like, I don't know, from nowhere to,

I'm assuming they practiced it somehow, but for sure. When I saw it, I was shocked. And he did well. Yeah, yeah, he does any. Yeah, and now, yeah. No, so George will do that for sure. I can almost get me. For sure.

I like it. All right. All right. Very good. Thanks very much. Thanks, Philip. Always appreciate. I appreciate. And finally, here's

Elliot's conversation with Hampus Lindholm of the Boston Bruins. First of all, Hamas, it's good to see you because we didn't see you a lot of last season. But every year, like I think Philip Forsberg,

every year, you, every year, I just love the fact that you're always willing to come to this every season. Yeah, it was a fun event. I think they do such a good job. And it's fun traveling around Rio Europe,

telling you here before it's it's super easy to get around for us here and when you pick spots like this it makes a little more exciting coming and obviously I'm a little eager to get the season going here too this year coming back from injuries so it would be fun so how are you doing first of all like I'm doing great yeah it's been obviously frustrating for me personally and for the team and then but had a lot of time to kind of refocus and kind of coming back here and just going for this season and coming back to full health and if not even better. That's been my focus

and I've been skating with Druggily. And they're in the training camp now so I've been fortunate to be able to pick up the pace there a lot and getting contact and playing like full games on and stuff. So that makes it's way easier for me

to kind of in my rehab process and skating and it's been feeling great so I'm excited about the season. And you'll be ready on time like no question. Okay, because I just kind of want to go through that so you blocked the shot. Yeah. And we knew you got hurt

but nobody seemed to know how long you're going to be out and all of a sudden the announcement came that you weren't going to play and just kind of can you walk us through exactly what happened? Because it sounded like it was just weird.

Yeah, no, it's frustrating. Obviously I knew right away when I got shot that something was wrong like you can feel it and obviously saw it was a fracture and then they usually say like six to eight weeks maybe four to six, I can remember exactly what it was

for fractured kneecap like and then I started, I went in, had a little, surgery used to kind of put screws in to kind of hold it in place to make it heal better and then came back maybe a little too early you don't really know how the body response and that's why the rehab

just ended up being it's almost like a ramp up but then I had to kind of calm down again and then I didn't have enough time for the rest of the season so that's what's frustrating that you ramping up and hopefully

play it in February it's about to come back but then I can feel it didn't feel right and then we took another scan and then I had to kind of like calm it back down and then the focus was for we were like no chances on let's focus on next season so it was frustrating I think it kept me sane in some ways that I was like hoping to come back in February so it's almost like if I knew like when it happened first of all that I wouldn't play all year I think that would be that would be really tough so in some ways like I always try to be optimistic and

look at it in a positive way so it ended up working out for the best. and now I feel good and it's been a tough year obviously for the team and that was probably the most frustrated to be able to help out your teammates when things were going going not so great but I think we got a good squad and we got the guys healthy coming back it's going to be a year when people underestimate us and I'm excited about that good you know well first of all I'm glad to see it like I said I'm glad to see you're healthy I figured that was probably the thing that made you the craziest was that you're sitting there watching saying like I can make a difference.

Yeah. And I'm curious, so when you watched, what did you see? Like, what was kind of some of the things that the Bruins have to fix that went wrong last season? We, I think we talked a lot about the Boston culture, but I think every team has their own culture. We need to earlier this year find our way of how we're going to play with the guys that we have in the locker room. Because every year is unique. It doesn't matter. We know we have, like, that Boston culture, how we want to play.

And then I think the guys in the room need to really buy into what we want to accomplish out there. I felt like watching the games, it was hard to really see what our identity was in a way. And I think that's what we need to get back to. And then you can kind of work from there. I think that will be the biggest thing for us as a team. But getting everyone back and having new veteran guys go there. And I think I'm one of those guys. I also can lead away with how I play.

I think it's important. And it's going to be way different than it was last year. it's got to be weird like i mean obviously chara and then bergeron and now marchand like it's yeah it's got to be and i know you came only a couple years ago but it's got to just be weird knowing that all those guys are now gone gone yeah no it was definitely like you can never replace those kind of type of players but it's also used part of the game i was saying to someone before i i kind of look at our team a little bit like when i came into anahe my first year it's Like they had a down year, missed the playoffs.

I got drafted that year. And then the next year, they're in playoffs. And then I made a team the next year, and we've been in playoffs all those years after. So it's like we get some good draft picks. I haven't met Hagen's yet, but I heard great things. We do have some really good veterans that shown that they can win in this league. So I think if we can just figure out to build around that now, I think people are going to restimate us, but I'm very optimistic.

and I think we get some good head things ahead. Is it past this team now? Yeah. Look at a smile on your face and I asked you about it. No, like obviously the way he played last year, like if some bright points talking about how he played with the guys not being maybe helping around him as much as he's had in the past was he was remarkable last year.

He's such a player, such a personality, such a love him as a person as a friend. too and just everything about him he's very special so I think he has his way of leading us out there and I think I have my way of leading us I think we get everyone back it's going to be a really

fun fun season and then obviously when you have guys special players like that it's it's it's going to be fun what's it's going to be like a locker room with sort of being run by Posternak, McAvoy yourself

guys like that like what's like what's the room going to be like what's the like we all have a vision of what a room looks like when it's run by charra right or bergeron right or marchant yeah but what's it going to be like with this group i think it's going to be like obviously cac and pauses had a lot of their learned a lot from bergeron and shara and that generation i think it's going to be very like that bruins culture but then obviously like i think it's important that you lead with your own way because people can tell right away if you try to be

if you're phony. Yeah. Or if you try to say something that you read somewhere. It needs to come from your heart and then people respect and listen to you. And we're all very passionate about our hockey and winning. So I think we've got some great leaders and it might not be the burden way, but it

would be we're going to lead by our way but still with that culture that we've had that they've created over the years. I think it's going to be really, really good. I don't think there's any pressure for anyone to be Bergeron or Sharra. I think the pressure is to go out there

and lay your heart in the ice and then I think the rest kind of take care of itself. I thought it was what you were talking about Anaheim. Like I wonder, like, when you remember your lessons of that, like who were the guys who walked in and said nobody thinks were any good or nobody respects us?

Who were those guys? Do you remember? I used, like I said, when I came in there, I think just Timo Solania, I played with him there in my first

year we had the Sakokovu yeah and Gets he was still kind like I don't know

how old he was when I came in my first year but you can just tell like all those guys like have been around winning teams and like been in teams

that are how no they know they know how to have success in the league and as for me

it was just watching what they did on daily basis it wasn't as much as someone standing up and saying something it's more coming in and being professional every day

and then when you get out there you compete even if it's for 10 minutes or if it's for 30 minutes like you lay your heart out there and then in the games show that it means something to you and I think all those guys that's what they had some of success Gatsloff Perry, Timo and all those guys I think I used to learn from watching

from those guys more than and I think it's going to be the same for us like you want to lead by example more than you one like, if I'm telling you, go and do that. But if you don't see me do it, why would you do it? I think that's the best way to be a leader. You just credited two fins, by the way. Yeah, I know.

It hurts. It really hurts. Yeah, it stinks. They're retired now. They're great guys. It's, you know, it's a lot of players are talking about how the start of this season is going to be so important because the Olympic teams are getting picked, right? Yeah.

And, like, when you watched Four Nations last year, what did you? you see no obviously I think personally I think it's I feel like I can go out and help out the team and be a different out there but it was just so fun to see that type of hockey like the best on best it's like it's been missed I haven't been having a chance to play it that much in my career so that would have it back I think it's so special and I think yeah me personally I used focus on my first game with Bruins and then like what I personally want to do for the Bruins I I don't think what I know I can do for the Bruins and do on an NHL ice. I think that's what I'm focusing on.

I think the rest is just going to take care of itself. I don't really focus on stuff I can't control. I think I'm just all about what I'm going to do here at first game and then go from there. Being here in this city, though, it must be hard not to think about it, though. Oh, yeah, no. I don't think I think I think too much about it because of that. I think it's just because I've such a good memories for national team. So like playing for your country

It's such a special feeling And I haven't had a chance to do it Because of injuries and other stuff in the past So obviously like if you get the chance to go there It's an absolute jest I think that goes for everyone Okay we hope you enjoyed those bevy of conversations Wanted to thank the National Hockey League

And their Players Association for their efforts In making that event happen It's a very busy day There was a lot going on But it was a very smooth one all the same. That is it for now for us from Milan, Italy, the site of the 2026 Winter Olympics coming up in February. That's something to look forward to. And if you can believe it, we are inching closer and closer to the 2025, 2025, 2026 regular season and

training camp in September. We will talk to you again next month. Until then, enjoy what's left to the summer. Enjoy the Labor Day long weekend. We will chat with you again real soon. Aderchi.