32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Trick or 92 Million Treats

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast with Martin Necas's contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche. Elliotte hijacks the show with focus on Cale Makar and his future with the Avs (15:30). They shift gears to LA and Adrian Kempe (19:30). The boys also talk about Panarin and Tuch as the next big contracts to keep an eye on (23:30). Kyle and Elliotte talk about the changing cap landscape as things really settle (26:20). The fellas talk about the Utah Mammoth and getting their young stars signed (34:02). Kyle and Elliotte check-in on all of Thursday night's NHL action (47:30). They talk about a really tough homestand for the Minnesota Wild (53:54). Elliotte does an unexpected deep dive into Hand Foot and Mouth disease after Chris Kreider's diagnosis (58:35). The Final Thought focuses on Steven Stamkos and the Nashville Predators (1:02:10). Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (1:08:17).Kyle and Elliotte talk Halloween to wrap the show (1:36:18). Today we highlight Toronto's Jay Feelbender and his track Disco Disco. Check him out here.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

I'm rolling. You good, Fridge? Someone needs to unplug Fridge and plug them back in. Have you tried turning it on and off again? The robot dysfunctioned. He's locked in. He's so locked in right now.

Can you know how to hear us? I don't know. It's like, uh, what's on the social network? What's the term they use? Plugged in? Why am I not hearing anything? Hold on.

There we go. That's what it is. All right. Welcome to it. 32 thoughts, the podcast consisting of five tool player Elliot Friedman, the utility man, Dom Schramatti, and I'm often the one wearing the golden sombrero. Once again, one final weekend. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, not according to Ken Reed.

you are the Trey you savage of Hockey Night in Canada I have to tell you for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about the Jays win game 5 over the Dodgers to take a 3-2 game lead in the series we start going to our post-game coverage

and they're back in the studio with Ken and Ivanka and Ken starts talking about Trey is Savage and how he has completely come out of nowhere to dominate the Dodgers hitters, and he's trying to draw a conclusion. And I thought he was going to say Ken Dryden, because I think there is a comparison to be made there, the late Ken Dryden, who won the Kahn-Smith trophy after playing, I think, six regular season games, and then ended the Boston Dynasty for a year.

They ended up winning the cup two years out of three because Dryden and the Canadians beat them. And the next year won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. I thought that's where Ken was going to go. Any normal person thought that that was where Ken is going to go. Especially a hockey historian like Ken Reed is. I mean, especially a hockey is another book coming out, Ken Reed. I believe the launch party is next week. But no.

What does Ken do? He says that the closest comparable to Trey Yusavage is Kyle Baccoskis, who showed up at Hockey Night in Canada at age 19 and is now the king of Hockey Night in Canada. Yeah. Yeah. I felt uncomfortable enough as is watching it for the first time, and now mentioning how Ken Dryden would be the much more sensible comparable in this situation, I feel even more sick to my stomach.

So thank you for that, Elliot. You're sick to your stomach. How do you think the rest of us felt watching that? Yeah, exactly. You know what I actually thought it was? It was one of those things where you think, is this one of those sci-fi movies where Ken Reed is only talking to me and a different broadcast is going out to everyone else?

but no, Kathy Broderick on our text, said, did you just hear what Ken Reed said comparing Trey Savage to Kyle Bacoskis? And I knew that Ken had broadcast this to everyone. There's someone on the wing, some thing. That is, my wife loves the Twilight Zone. That has her favorite episode ever. Really?

That's great for Steph. That is a, for a guy who's 12 years old. That is a great pull, Kyle. I've gone from 19 down to 12. I will take it, considering it could be much worse. You are aging in reverse. Okay, by the way, we cannot start this podcast without mentioning. Kyle, you're headed to Philadelphia,

where the Maple Leafs will play on Saturday night on hockey night in Canada. I'm here in Toronto. I'm in the city. It is impossible not to start. start this podcast without mentioning what this city is like today. I remember, you know, the Raptors had a chance to win the NBA title at home in 2019. They lost game five to Golden State and won on the road. As excited as everybody was there, and it was hugely exciting.

I think it's different when you have a chance to win in your own city. It's going to be bananas in Toronto. today um you can feel it there is nothing anyone out there who likes a team in any sport when your team has a chance to win a championship especially at home it changes the mood of your city for the better everybody's in a better mood everybody's talking about it this city is alive you can feel the electricity um i want the blue jays to wrap it up on friday night for a couple reasons number one i want them to win and number two i don't want to be not paying any attention at all to you on hockey night on saturday and i thought that's what you would prefer no no when i'm working i actually

like to pay attention to what's happening on the games like you have to be prepared like we joked last week about all the stuff that i could say and nobody would care it will be triple that on saturday night if the jays and dodgers are playing a game seven and kyle you me Dave Amber and Kevin B.X have a busy Sunday. We are headed down to Detroit for Lions Vikings. I am ecstatic. I know the Vikings are struggling. I ordered a new Chuck Foreman jersey specifically for this game.

I cannot wait to wear it. And I know the odds aren't good for the Vikings. I know it doesn't line up well for them. But I can't wait to go. And Amber was saying, can you imagine if the Blue Jays wins Saturday night and we have to leave at 7 a.m. on Sunday to get there for the game. It's going to be bonkers. Absolutely bonkers. Like I said, when your city has a chance to win a championship, it's a great day in your town. Yes. I thought the same thing being there last weekend. Not many things left in this world that can bring everybody. together, but this has been one of them in our country. So that's going to be incredible Friday night.

You going? I think so. I don't know 100% yes, but I think I am. It's like Martin H is signing a contract, right? Nothing is done until it's done. Yes. All right. So we're going to get there.

But first, one more baseball reference, one of the stars of Thursday Night's action, an early Cy Young candidate in the NHL, Kiefer Sherwood, second career hat trick, nine goals on the season, zero assist. But who cares when you're scoring

at the rate that Sherwood's doing? We'll get to him and some of the other action. You know who's up there with him? Who'd at? Dorofiev from the Golden Knights. The last time I checked. I think it was nine and one. So yes,

it's Pedro Martinez on one hill and Randy Johnson on the other. Who do you like? like very good okay so we'll get to thursday's action on the ice in a little bit but it was a big week for business in the nchel friege you mentioned marty natius you had the news there on thursday eight years he reups in colorado 11 and a half per lots of signing bonus money front loaded full no move for the first seven years correct yes so all all the bells and whistles for for natius after coming over from carolina last year i guess it wouldn't quite be

the same deal that they were prepared to give Miko Ranton in a year ago, but it did allow the extra space to go towards a player of Natchez's stature. How did we ultimately arrive at 11 and a half and Natchez stay in the mile high city long term? So this actually came together pretty quickly. Like at the beginning of the season, I had heard Naceous was willing to wait a while to see how it went. And obviously it went really well. But I had heard he was willing to wait. Like last year was such a whirlwind for him. He goes to Colorado. They lose in the first round. I don't think that he had anything necessarily that he considered hugely negative against it. But I think he just wanted to make sure that this season started okay. And he was comfortable where he was before he

made the commitment. You know, I could see the avalanche. The surest predictor of future behavior is past behavior, right? What happened last year? The avalanche were uncertain about ranting, what Rantan would do, and they made the deal. So I could see the avalanche saying to nature, look, we have to know. We're not doing this again. We have to know.

And, you know, to be perfectly honest, if I could go back in a time machine and give everybody advice a year ago, you know, the one thing I would do is I would probably have the Avalanche be much more firm with Rantanin about if we don't get a commitment at this time, we're going to make this trade. And I think that was the thing that caught Rantan by surprise. I don't know if it was his fault or their fault or whose fault was it. I really don't even want to re-litigate it. But it was clear he didn't believe that the Avalanche seriously would have traded him. But now, because they did that, I think everybody knew it could happen again this year.

And the avalanche wanted an answer. And, you know, Nages, like, I think the bottom line is, and I think this is the case for almost everybody. Players want to play in good organizations where they can win, right? You know, the avalanche are a good organization. They've got McKinnon there. He's still got a lot to give. They've got McCar there.

He's still got an awful lot to give. And we'll get to McCar in a couple minutes. You know, one of the things I've really heard is that Landisog being back on a full-time basis has really been great for them. Like, he runs the show. First of all, he is so respected, he is so beloved, and it's only gone to an even higher level because of what he came back from. If he had just said, you know what, I'm mailing it in, I'm never coming back, I'm collecting my money, nobody would have begrudged him but because he's come back and he's been effective

the level of respect for Landis Gogg has gotten even higher and you know McKinn is a super intense guy you know he puts a lot of pressure on people he's very demanding the key is he demands nothing of anybody else he doesn't demand of himself but Landisg is the kind of the guy that goes in there and says all right Nate like just dial it back to like nine

it's not spinal tap we're not turning it up to 11 dial it back to like nine and you know i think that's that's been huge for them i've heard it's a it's been a really big deal that landis cox presence is back there but at the end of the day like they're a contender every year um you know Denver Colorado that surrounding area there it's a great place to live and you know the thing about natius is when he was in carolina they were always good like they were, they didn't break through, but they were always good, and they were always a threat. He won a world championship with the Czech Republic team a couple years ago at the worlds, and I was reminded, actually, I'd completely forgotten about this.

He's won a Calder Cup. He won one with the Charlotte Checkers, and he's also, like someone sent me his DB page when he played in the Czech Republic around the time he was drafted. he won a couple of championships there too. So this is a guy who's played on winning teams, and I think the fact that Colorado, you look at them and you say, they're always going to be around, I think he liked that. You know, I think he said, I have a shot to win here, and that matters to me.

And the number he signed for 11-5, even if Colorado had signed Rantan in last year, the number was going to be bigger than that. Like, Rantan was going to come in somewhere between Pinaran, which was 11, 7.64 and 12 or more. I mean, we'll never know. But the thing is, they get NACIS at a, like, I would have, like, what it says to me, Kyle, is that the teams are starting to concede. They're starting to say, okay, we wanted to hold the line. The world has changed.

The cap is going up. Top players like Caprizov, they move the line. They're kind of dragged into it, kicking and screaming a little bit, but they're recognizing that the world has changed. and I would have think of a year ago you wouldn't have seen a day where NACIS was signing for 11 and a half but that's where we are and he's going to be their third highest player

he's paid player he's going to be behind McKinnon and eventually he's going to be behind a McCar but the way it works out for Denver is they get NACIS for less than they would have paid Randon. We can all argue about who's a better player and we can all argue about like I said

it's over I'm not interested in relitigating it I said the one thing I would change from Colorado's point of view if I could, but the bottom line is this is where we are. This is the reality. And, you know, I think NACIS could potentially have gotten more on the open market, especially, look, he's got 13 points and 11 games this year, Kyle. If he's a 90-point guy, he definitely beats 11 and a half on the open market. But I think he likes winning and that Colorado team is going to be in position to win for a long time.

Yeah. coming off a career high 83 points last year and as you say like the way he's set up now in Colorado likely to blow that number or blow by that number this year and probably for a few years after the fact with who he's got around him with the avalanche so it's 26 right now he's going to be 27 years old in January yeah understand why that would be an attractive one for Colorado to get done for long term. I mean, we'll get to the other signings this week as well. But naturally, everyone kind of turns a little further west to Los Angeles again and

goes, all right, what does this mean? Can we do McCar first before we go to Kentucky? Oh, sorry. Like, no, no, but you're like you're in charge of this pod. You're the, you're the host. You take us. But I don't like to backseat drive. Like I know that that really makes people crazy.

But can we do McCar first? Of course. Of course. Yes. Okay, so, so here's the thing, like, this whole thing that Colorado had to do was about McCar. Like, every negotiation they have now is about Cal McCar, you know, where, what's the number going to be? And they can start negotiating with him this offseason. So there's a really smart negotiator out there in the league.

I'm just going to call him a negotiator. and we had a conversation once about how you handle these conversations when you're a team and you have a player who can write his own ticket and you know you're going to pay them and the player deserves to get paid but you want to have a situation where can we ask you not to take every dollar you can get so we can make this work. he says the proper approach to do that and there are teams that do it and do it very well is the first thing they'll say to a player is you are worth every penny you can get you deserve whatever we are willing to pay you or somebody else is willing to pay you

we're going to ask you knowing all of this to take a little bit less than you can get and he said that is the way you have to start these conversations because if you start it any other way the player and the agent will get their backup potentially and you've got a problem now you can't insult them with a stupid low offer you have to be willing to offer something that makes sense but he's told me that is the approach that works there is no question of my mind that Colorado avalanche are going to do that with Cal McCar. They're going to go in there and say 20%, you deserve it. You can get it. Someone will give it to you if you don't hear. I have to think that if you're the avalanche right now and you get him to come in a penny under Caprizov,

you are considering it a W. And not just a W, not a little W, Kyle, a massive W. And I can see that being their approach. And let me just say this. I don't. know what McCar wants. I don't know what he's thinking. He's probably just thinking the business will take care of itself. But I think if you're Colorado and you end up signing him under that number, under that 17, you're sitting here and you're saying, what a win for us. That one is, that's going to be a big one. Yeah. Big, big one. Like there's a few, like there's really know. It is the next the big one. Yeah. That's what I'm just like, you think about what we just went through the last couple of months around the league. And there's not a ton of time to exhale because then that one becomes a talking point. There's Quinn Hughes in Vancouver, of course, and what's all going to happen there. That's going to be a massive one. That's going to be a, you know what? You're right. You know what? Hughes at the same time because he actually, they don't have to, McCar doesn't have to sign for next year if he doesn't want to. Hughes. It needs a contract for next year.

So you're right. You know what, Kyle, that's another the big one. Yeah. So it's all coming up here. So Colorado gets one big piece of business done with Nature signing for eight years. And yeah, sorry, before I blatantly forgot to go the McCar direction first before really heading west out to the coast in Los Angeles. And now it's like, okay. 11 and a half for Natchez.

What does this mean for Adrian Kempe? A little bit older, but a longer resume has scored more in the league in terms of goals. And Los Angeles doesn't have much more of what that player provides. So remember when we said just a couple minutes ago how teams are starting to recognize they're going to have to concede some of this and they're going to be dragged kicking and screaming into it? That's my position on L.A. I've made it pretty clear that I think they're going to have to sign them. And, you know, it's been weird. Like, I don't like to be critical of other people's reporting.

Everybody has their own sources. And, you know, we all hear different information that sometimes conflicts. And I'm no better than anybody else. There's been some reporting that they've been close. with Kampi, and I've had people pushing back on me about that. Now, I don't think that means it can't happen or won't happen. I still think the Kings, at some point in time, will say, we have to do this. But I've just heard it's been harder to bridge the gap than maybe everybody expected.

And the Kings eventually, like some, of the other teams here will simply say, look, we, we've got to do this. I'd mention I heard they're around nine. I've had other people saying to me they got into the eight figures, you know, so they're at least 10, but there was still a gap, I heard. Now, Kempi wants to stay, and that's why I think at the end of the day this is going to get done. But you're right.

Like Kempay's three years older than Natchez, you said. Is that what you told me? He's three years older. So, you know, Kempi's 29, you know, if you're the king's, you're probably slightly more concerned about giving him eight years than NACIS at, you know, 26, but you're going to have to do it. But the goal scoring itself, as you said, a 40 and a few 30s, which, you know, NACIS hasn't done 40, hasn't done 30, you're going to have to go there. Like, you're just going to have to go there. And maybe at the end of the day, Kempi shaves a little bit to make it work for the Kings

because he wants to be there. But I don't know how you can't look at this and say, this is the neighborhood that Kempi's going to be in. And so all of a sudden, you know, like Kyle, the pool is shrinking, right? Like McDavid, First Marner comes off the board. McDavid comes off the board.

Natchez has now come off the board. I still think, hey, people can disagree with me. Certainly there's people closer to the situation between Kempi and the Kings than I am. But I think Kempi will come off the board. All of a sudden you're looking at talk and you're looking at Panarin. And all of a sudden now we're looking at Nick Schmaltz, too, who's on fire to start the season. Yeah. And, you know, the guys, the longer some of these guys go unsigned,

the more things sort of tip in to their favor. So the market is definitely shrinking. And in Kempe's case, he's also their most dynamic forward, right? Like every day he doesn't sign and every day another one of these deals gets done, the hammer drops more onto Kempe's side and Panarin's side. and tucks side so like all these teams you know they're going to have decisions to make now Kyle before we change the subject and again I don't like to tell you what to do you're you're the host and I'm just you know the passenger um you know what does it do now like like I said I think

can't be signs I'm going with that until I'm proven wrong now it's it's panarin and tuck like they're they're the guys there right and we'll see you what Utah does with Schmaltz, but it's, it's Panarin and Tuck, but if you're the Rangers and you're the Sabres, you're looking around at this and you're saying, we know the Rangers went to Panarin and said, would you consider a Kopitar kind of thing? And, you know, if talk was close, it would be done already. And again, famous last words, it could change in any second. But you've got to be looking at this and you've got to be saying,

we've got a decision to make. Where are we willing to go here? Because again, there's a scarcity. More players are coming off the market. The leverage for those guys is growing. Where are we comfortable going here? I think this now is firmly in the, hands of the teams. The player's going to afford to sit back and wait. Now it's, these are now

team decisions. How comfortable are we with where we want to go or where we're going to have to go? Because Panarin, you know, he's going to go for the biggest deal he can get. And so we'll talk. Again, he's, he's going to be 30 in May. And he's got. But two 36 goal years, and he's right around that pace, just a little below that pace at the start of the year, four goals and 11 games. So if you're Buffalo, unless Tucker's willing to say, hey, from the area I'm willing to give you a little less, you're in that 11-5 area, right? Like suddenly you're thinking, we're around there.

that's where the market is taking us. Your manipulative tactics are throwing me for a real loop tonight, Fridge, even more so than they usually are. It's a skill. And when you talked about teams getting to the point where they're conceding a little bit, albeit maybe in some cases going in, kicking and screaming, like can you point to kind of where they started to get to that realization, is it just a matter of looking around at what's gone on the last month and say,

okay, this ain't change and we can't hold the dam any further. I absolutely think like look at this week Thomas Harley. Yeah. You know, like I think Dallas made a conscious decision

that they wanted that Thomas Harley was next on their list. And we'll talk about Robertson in the second. That Harley was next on their list, that he was the guy they had to take care of. Now, do I think that Dallas Like, do I think that this summer, Dallas thought that Harley on an eight-year deal was going to end up just under 10.6? No, I don't think they did.

But then they saw the way the world developed and they were like, you know what, if we want to keep this guy, it's going to be 10.6. Kyle Connor. Like, I think Kyle Connor was another big one because Winnipeg jumped him to a higher level and also Winnipeg gave him structure, which they never done before. right so like the world has changed kyle and like i think like that sonning like the winnipeg one um just because winnipeg did a bunch of things they'd never done before that's one where i think the canary in the coal mine looking back hey yes like i think that was the one where people started to say with 2020 hindsight people started to say oh you know what like like here we are like Eichel didn't take everything he could have gotten,

but he pushed the Golden Knights a bit. They bent a bit to get that deal done. And so Winnipeg bent, Vegas bent, Dallas bent, but these are all really, really good players. Utah, and we'll talk about them, they bent, Colorado bent a bit, like everybody's bent here. So, you know, like I said, I don't think a lot of teams liked it.

And, you know, and as a matter of fact of, one owner said to me this week, this is why Bettman was so mad at you last year for talking about where the cap was going. Because we had to hear it from you and we didn't hear it from him. So we weren't sure if it was real. To which I said, well, it's clear that I'm much more trustworthy than the commissioner is. So you should definitely listen to me. But, like, that's, you know, like, that's the thing. Like, we're moving with the times.

We're definitely moving with the times. Yes. And the times they are changing. It feels like, I mean, Thomas Harley is one thing. I mean, he's got a few more years in the league. But the Logan Cooley deal, it's like 10 is the new. I'm going to, I'm going to backseat drive again. Hold on.

I just, I wasn't getting into that specifically, but just conceptually here, that like 10 is the new eight. Yes, I think that's very fair to say. Yes. You go back 10 years, right? Orange is the new black. 10 is the new eight. 10 is the new eight. Yes.

How many examples of guys. Now there's the select few that always the McDavid's, right, you know who they are, that push past, have push past will continue to push pass. pass there. But how many guys over time coming out of their anti-level and they sign long-term in the eight range? And it was like, whoa, that's a lot of money. And a few years in, you're like, well, good on them for getting at eight when they did. I totally see that being something around Logan Cooley as a guy signing for 10 years. But anyway, before we get deep dive into that, what else would you like to touch on? Well, we mentioned Robertson. So why don't we do this? Because there was a lot of, well,

Robertson's gone now. Say goodbye to Jason Robertson. I don't believe that. I don't necessarily believe that because I think that if Jim Nill wants to keep Jason Robertson and long term, he finds a number with Robertson's reps

that they're comfortable with, I would always, Jim Nill is the kind of guy to me. It says if he wants to get something done, he'll get it done. And players want to play there. Players want to play in Dallas. So to me, it's not a, I would never look at this and say, oh, Robertson's gone. Nope.

I would look at it and say at the end of the season or whenever they really get down to it, because I don't get the sense anything's close right now, famous last words, I don't get the sense anything's close right now, that if Robertson and the stars want to continue this marriage, they will find a way to continue this marriage. I just think that's the way that Jim Nill operates. And if he has to do other things to make it all work, he'll do other things. to make it all work. I just,

to me, it's, it's not as simple as A plus B equals C here. Harley signed so Robertson can't, he's gone. I don't,

I don't believe that at all. I just don't think Dallas is, is that static. You know, I think there's time here. Like, Jason Robertson's not a free agent

at the end of this year. He's got one more year. And, you know, he's talked about, his first healthy summer in a long time. He changed his skates

for the first time and since he was like 15 or 16 years old you know the stars are having trouble scoring they're not scoring and they lost again on uh to the lightning the suddenly surging lightning uh on Thursday night but there's time here you know there's time here like you know Jim Nill's not rushing into anything I think I think to jump to any conclusion now hey you might all be right maybe Jason Robertson and the stars don't work out but I think to jump to that conclusion just because of Harley I I think it's premature.

I think it's wrong. I just, it's not the way Dallas does business. There's time to figure this out to see if there's a way, a path forward for everyone. They're in, and I'll say this too. And there was a reason that Robertson was in trade rumors last summer.

Because, you know, they, at the very least, they looked out there and they said, what's the market for them? I don't think they saw anything that made sense for them. So they have time to figure this out. Right.

And I keep thinking about, Jim Nell's comments right around the start of training camp, right? Where asking it was about, at least alluding to Jason Robertson at the time in that negotiation and saying, we're at a point now where players are okay, taking their time and taking a step back, and there's only so much the teams can do. But it seems like since then, organizations have decided we can only be so patient. We've got to get aggressive in certain situations, but that seems to remain a case that, time is not necessarily a bad thing to use before you have time use it like it's like it's always it's

always different Kyle when you're an organization that people want to go to like Dallas has that advantage you know we're going to talk about Nashville a little bit later on like that's nothing that like I have a weekly radio hit on Thursday I go on with Adam Vingen and Derek Mason and Willie Donic and that's one of the things I talked about with them like Nashville's a destination it's not going well right now but it allows you to do things that other teams can't and Dallas is a destination and Nill knows that so he can he can afford to be patient all right Utah Logan Cooley let's go Utah you know it's it's you're the host you take us where you want to go I never like to interrupt.

Exactly. Sorry, I'm just shell-shocked. I got PTSD from 10 minutes ago. I'm just, I'm gun-shy. I did it twice. I stopped you on Robertson, too. So it's not like you're- I know, and I wasn't even going full on there.

I was, it was just a brief detour. It's not like this reaction is undeserved. Like you, I have been, I have been, hey, stay in the right lane. You're going too fast, although that's not a complaint I think I would ever have. Um, no, no, you like to move, not checking, yeah, not checking your blind spot there, Baccascas, like, okay, so let's go to Utah and, um, you know, Emily Kaplan had a really good piece on the ESPN website about, uh, the, the conversation that Ryan Smith, the owner there had with, um, Logan Cooley when they got that done. And, you know, like, so that's, that's an

interesting deal eight times 10. Like, that's another deal I'm betting on if I'm the team. I think Logan Cooley is going to, outplay that contract um i wonder if if you went back and you did that draft first of all as an aside you go back to 2022 and you do that draft who goes one who goes one who goes one who goes one I mean probably I know We all remember that I mean

Lane Hudson would have a big say about that I don't think he's necessarily the wrong answer No like you Just because it doesn't happen right away I'm loving how Slavkovsky's looked out of the gate this year Yeah I mean we're only three years removed from this draft

Still feels a tad premature Like Because I use year ago, if you were going, let's redraft 2022, where is Frank Nazar versus where you would have him today, right? Vastly different. It's interesting you said that because this is one of those things I think the answer could change several times over the years, right?

Yeah. Like Lane Hotson, at worst, at worst, Lane Hudson, to me is two. Okay? At worst to me, he's two. But, like, I think Cutter Goce, by the time his career is done, he's going to score enough that people are going to look at him and say,

you know what? He might be the answer. You mentioned Nazar. I think Nazar is a really good call. Like, he's coming. I don't think he'll ever be, like, I don't think these guys will ever be, you know, number one guys, but, you know,

Leon Bixel went 18th. Sam Renzel, who went 25th. I even think there's some guys in the minors like Tristan Luno who have a chance. It's not going to be number one, but Luno was drafted 53rd. I think he's going to end up ranking much higher than he did. But I think to me right now that it's probably Cooley or Hudson, right? like I think if you're if you're drafting that draft one, two right now, it's, and Slavkovsky to me is third.

Yeah. You got a problem with that? No, I don't other than that it just, it's still so early to say definitive. It's early. But to me, one, one, two, Cooley Hudson for me, right? Anyway, I think this contract is going to age really well for Utah. I think it's going to age extremely well. And I had people who said to me that, you know, like eight times 10, like did Cooley get enough?

And the one thing you have to remind everybody is he has four years before unrestricted free agency. So it's like in this deal, he's going to be way ahead in the beginning of it. And there's a chance he could be behind at the end of it. But the thing is that Cooley's 21 years old turning 22, he's going to be signing another Max term deal when he's 29, 30 years old. So this is a guy who has 15 years of peak earnings

at least, and if he plays like the way that he can play, he's going to cash in. Right? He's going to be that guy. Jack Deichael. Yes. So, I mean,

the other thing too is, and Smith actually kind of said this to Emily in the article, It, like, it's really hard when you're 21 years old and the team's offering you 80 million to say no. Like, just imagine what it's like, 80 million. Well, no, you know, we could go short term. We could do better. No, like, it's, it's, it, it, imagine the pressure on a 22 year old to say no to that.

So I totally understand why it happened. Um, I think it's a great deal for team and player. I have no doubt he's going to live up to it. He's only going to get better. And I think it's a huge victory for, look, everybody knows the history of Utah and where they came from and what it was like. And here's why I think this is such a major victory for Smith, because, look, he's not been afraid to pay. He traded for Sirgachev, who had a big deal. He traded for Petrka, and he gave him a big deal.

deal but when he looked when he wanted to move the coyotes to Utah and he looked all those guys in the eye and say and said and at that golf course or whatever questions he was going to answer and when he sold them on going there at the end of the day the way you convince your players is a you build top facilities which they're doing um the like the players association has talked about how they all take the extra mile and building their stuff. But also, do you bring in good players, yes, but do you also take care of the guys who were there? And obviously Cooley wasn't in Arizona a long time,

but he was one of them. And they took care of him. And that's a big victory for Smith. Because now the other guys who were there, particularly the younger ones, who are off to great starts, they now know that he'll pay and that's a big victory for Smith

and it's interesting because now a lot of the talk goes to Schmaltz who's off to a great start and he doesn't have a contract for next year and Utah's got a lot of cap room and Smith can circle back on this like the negotiations didn't go well last summer I don't think they were ever close but nobody knows Schmaltz

better than the mammoth do and if he keeps doing this and they change their minds you know what he's got the cap room to handle that too so you know like he can keep an open mind about this but to me that's a that's a big win for the mammoth and the organization because now they really know for the guys who are in Arizona and knew each other business has changed with that contract. I was listening to a little bit of Salogen Cooley the other day went on Sirius XM, did an interview

talking about the contract, and that was one of the things he talked about. It was one thing for, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, but he goes, when we first got to Utah, Ryan Smith talked a big game, promising the world, it was one thing to do that, but he has done nothing but

back it up. The contracts are one thing, but as you say, the practice facility, refitting the arena to be a better experience for the fans viewing-wise, all of it that he promised in those early days where everything seemed uncertain, he is effectively delivered on. And I don't think it's a big coincidence that the team now is off to a really wonderful start. And Cooley being at the forefront of all of that, and now a brand new contract to go along with it. It's pretty impressive. You know, the thing is, the thing of Utah is, Utah to me, is trying to do what I think is one of the

toughest things. And that is, like, I think it's hard to go from 20 to 12 in this league. Like, 20 is not a playoff team, like you're just missing all the time. And 12 is you're in and stay there. You know, the hardest thing is to win the Stanley Cup. That's a grind. It's hard to do that, obviously. But on the next tier of things, I think is very difficult is to go from that team that just misses every year and plays meaningful games in March to the team that actually gets in. You know, another thing that I'm more right than Betman about is that they should change the playoff format, right? But he's right when he says that it's hard to make the playoffs in this league and he's very proud of that. That matters to him. Like this to me is the hard hurdle. It's

the one from we're just good enough to miss to we're just good enough to get in. And now this is their time. Like, it is their time to prove that they have that staying power. You know, I was really interested in Smith's media conference, too. You may have heard I used to cover the NBA. And I've always been very fascinated by owners that own NHL teams and NBA teams. And obviously, Toronto was one of them. I always love talking to the ownership groups and sometimes the different managers where they talk about the difference between, you know, managing your team in hockey and managing your team in basketball. And obviously, it's very different.

The size of the teams is different. The cap situation is different. There are exceptions in the NBA that don't exist in the NHL. There's the obvious demographical and cultural differences. Like so much of it is so different. And even agencies that represent both NHL and NBA players, it's it's really fascinating to hear how like that they talk about the difference in representing NHL players and NBA players so I was really and it's not about you know what's I'm not a please

like my sport guy it's not one's better than the other I'm just I'm really interested in the differences and you know one of the one of the things that the NHL has is a longer term length even though it's changing in a year it's still a longer term length than NBA contracts like that's four and five years right and a lot of NBA players are not not afraid to sign short-term deals because the injury risks are less than in the NHL. So, you know, I thought that it was really fascinating to listen to that, how we talked about how the NBA is a bit more transient and he can buy a house. Like, he liked the idea of cool he could buy a house in Utah. There's a lot of nice areas to buy places there. So I was just,

the whole thing was really interesting to me. And I have to say, too, it's been interesting watching. Like, I don't know any of the media in Utah. I haven't had a chance to go out there yet. I have to correct that. But I've never really gotten a chance to cover a lot of, to meet a lot of the local media who cover them. Right now, there's a love affair between the mammoth and their locals.

And part of it is because it's new, but also the team's off to a good start. And now you get your star young player signed. And the jazz have really been struggling. That's been a problem that it's just everything has lined up well for the mammoth right now. Like they got there at the right time to hit the ground running. Now what they have to do is you have to take care of business on the ice. Like it would be disappointing the way they've started if they didn't make the playoffs this year, right?

and there's a long way to go. There's still 87.5% of our season to go here, Kyle. It's a long way to go. But the love affair is clearly on there. If you look back, Andre Tourney's first season behind the bench, back when they're in Arizona, 25 wins. Year 2, 28. Year 3, 36.

Last year, 38. So it's crept up bit by bit each. year you talk about the challenge of going from 20 to 12 in the grand scope of things they've been inching though it hasn't felt like it at times they have been making progress and set themselves up for the biggest leap to come here in 2526 got to get there all right how about what's uh was going on Thursday night around the league boy that shot block uh set jarvis took in the third yeah that's tough to see and rod brindmore afterwards saying doesn't look Good, which is usually throwing on the old.

Injuries are a big story early in this season, Kyle. Big story. Very, very big story. I just hate to see that. I really do. I hate to see anybody get hurt. I hate to see Olympic hopefuls get hurt. You know, Carolina has really battled a lot.

Like, their defense has been pretty decimated at times. And now, you know, and now, like, the one thing that it really says to me is that, The way they started the season, it gave, you know, everybody in Toronto's been joking that, you know, the Leafs and the Raptors haven't been playing well, but nobody cares because the Blue Jays kept winning. So it's covering up for just more scrutiny. Jarvis out here, you know, Svechnikov finally got going a bit, but with a couple points, but he's kind of, eased into the start of the season three points in ten games no hiding anymore they're going to need you jarvis being out they need them to get going so they beat up on the islanders Thursday night

what a day for them so barzel doesn't play uh do they just miss the team bus and then they try to bring cal richie in to play his first with the islanders and weather troubles keeps them from getting to raleigh in time so they can't even have him suit up unbelievable crazy day They play 11 and 7, and we'll see, like, if they, you know, we'll see if they, it's a tough one because it's a really interesting position for Darsh to be in. Like, one player sent me a text, actually, he was kind of laughing about it. He said, if you suspend a player for being late and then you put a player on the plane and the plane can't go there, does the general manager get suspended for a game? Like, that's what he was wondering. Or the travel coordinator, does the travel coordinator get suspended for a game?

We're kind of having a good laugh about it. But the really tough thing is there is now that you've told him, he's coming up to make his Islander debut, and it's not Richie's fault he can't play. So what do you do here? They play in Washington on Friday night. Do you just say, oh, sorry, there'll be other chances, or do you let them come up and play?

It's kind of an interesting one there. One of my buddies actually sent me a text. I don't rip people for being late, because everybody who works with me knows that I am always late. It's bad. You shouldn't do it. That's the punishment you risk. But it's so hypocritical of me to do this.

So I don't really go far. But one of my friends asked me to say, if you were not allowed to broadcast every time you'd been late to a hockey night in Canada meeting, how many shows would you have missed? And I said, like, half. And once again this week, no Saturday headlines. So, Kelly, how about the Canadians? How about the Canadians, Kelly?

That would be great. Just for like a month, that would be fun. That would be if I got suspended for not going. Anyway, you know, the other games, Kiefer Sherwood, what a time to go on a heater. Boy, oh boy. Yeah, and remember after they played, when Vancouver played Nashville in the playoffs a couple years ago, I mean, if this is at all an indication, if Quinn Hughes, hopefully a bazillion years from now when his playing days comes to an end, if he ever decides he wants to get into management, he was a big promoter of going to the Canucks Brain Trust and saying,

hey, that Kiefer Sherwood guy, I think he would really help us. He's been dynamite ever since becoming a Kinnock. yeah really good and like we said got hot at the right time and boy did they need that those were two desperate teams that was that was a good hockey game uh canox st louis like those are two really desperate teams all of a sudden and yeah you could tell the way both were sweating out the evander cane goal the looks on both at how important whether it went one way or another and it went st louis's way that time but uh yes to your point two teams desperate for results Thursday.

Do you think that Kiefer Sherwood's representatives called Rutherford and Alvin after the game on Thursday? Do you think they'll just wait until Friday morning? Like, what would you, what would you guess? I'm sure they're a classy bunch. They'll give them the night. Okay. They don't wake up to the text.

That's right. West Coast time. Some of them might still be in BC. The thing I, the thing, too, I wanted to say that it was obviously an emotional week this week because J.T. Miller went back. I liked the way the Canucks fans handled it. Like I saw big ovation for the video, but they boot him when he touched the puck, right?

Uh, early in the game. Like, if I was a visiting player and that was the reaction I got, I would be, I'm good with that. I'm good with that. I'm good with the positive video, but they hate me during the game. I like that. I thought that was,

I had absolutely no issues with the way, uh, that got handled. And maybe, just maybe that, turns out to be the turning point of the ranger season because they they went out and they beat Vancouver and they just came back to beat Edmonton that is two down on the third that is an ugly loss for the Oilers that is that's that's one that's going to that's going to leave a mark that's going to leave a mark because at the beginning you're saying ah you know

heiman come back we'll get healthy and now that's They said, no, Hyman won't be ready yet this weekend when he's eligible to come back. But that's a paint peeler, I think. I think someone's going to, and we can all guess who it's going to be, but someone's going to say, like, enough of this. Let's start playing. That was a bad one, really bad one. Another loss for Minnesota at home.

I think we've lost the first four of the six-game homestand. Are you worried it all there? is still just giving it a bit of time yet. So I was just reading John Heinz quotes postgame. And courtesy of friend Mike Russo, I'm reading his story, which has some complete sentences in it. Sorry, Mike, just wanted to see if you're paying attention. It's pretty interesting.

Like, they're on a long homestand here, and they're four games in. they haven't won a game they got two games left in this six game homestand they've got two points on a couple of overtime losses and the thing about

those early in the year is that it means eventually the bill comes due right if you have a big long homestand early in the year it means you're going to be making it up with road games later and what do we got here we got a compressed schedule

because of the Olympics It's a Western conference travel schedule. So even though Minnesota is not as remote as, you know, as Dallas or Edmonton or Calgary, it's still a place where there are some long flights to get to some places, right? So you know that you're burning and throwing away an opportunity to bank early in the year. And now you get boot off home ice. and it was really interesting watching Heinz parse his words. Like, he's like any other competitor.

He's frustrated. He's annoyed. Like, everybody feels like John Heinz does. But what I really thought was interesting was the way he straddled the line between defending his players and calling out his players. Like, I don't know who the reporters were, but they're basically saying they're fragile, they're, easily discouraged and he's like no no and then he talks about how we're losing battles we've got to win more battles so you know basically he thinks they're playing soft he stays away from the word soft which is like the third rail that you could call a hockey player so but you see what he's trying to tell

everybody we're we're not as we're not as tough as we need to be we're we're losing our battles we're getting out man other teams are beating us up we're losing hockey and we're losing to teams that we should be losing and we're going to have longer road trips later in an Olympic year that's going to get us for this. So he's frustrated. So I see what Heinz is doing. He wants to get the message out there, but he doesn't want to crush his teeth. He doesn't want to boot them when they're down. It's a, it's like everybody knows what he's thinking. Everybody's seeing the same things. But he's like, okay, I sense that people are starting to pile on. I can't pile on too. I have to keep some of this private, and I have to let some of these players, I have to let these players know that I'm not abandoning them when the media is about to kick the crap out of them.

So I see what he's doing. Like, to me, the biggest question is, how patient are they going to be? Like, you know, Garen, he'll look. There's not a lot out there right now, but he'll look. But, you know, like Leopold at times before, he's been patient and eventually gets to a point where he says, okay, we got to do something and Garen's been patient but eventually you get a point where you're like okay we have to do something I just look at this Minnesota team with so much expectation in that big contract given out to Caprizov and my biggest question there is how patient is everybody

going to be and that's the thing that worries me for them the losses the losses happen it's the schedule when you waste a six game homestine you look you start looking at your schedule and you're like, oh man, this is going to catch us later. So much positive momentum for them coming into the year. And yeah, it can change, change in a hurry. So Minnesota's going through it right now. They're trying to figure it out. So we say Tampa all of a sudden heating up after a tough first couple of weeks there.

And for those that haven't noticed, Elliot, tomorrow is November the 1st. Yes, I will update my staff. at the end of the day. Four points out after games on November 1st, you've got a one in seven chance of making the playoffs. By the way, did you see Chris Kreider missed games with hand, foot, and mouth disease? Oh my gosh, no. So you have a young lad.

eventually when he goes and Kreider has young kids eventually when your son goes into daycare um you will get to the point where you become familiar with hand foot and mouth disease it is the worst so i remember uh max is a kid like he had his moments as a as a young kid he had his moments like he at his moments like every young child has, but in public, he was generally very well behaved. He saved his big temper tantrums for the privacy of our own home. But I remember we took a family trip to Boston one weekend in the summer. We're having a great time. And all of a sudden, his mood changed.

And so we went to a restaurant. I went to, we said, let's go to a restaurant because Max loved going to restaurants. And he sat down and he grabbed his side plate and he fired it. And he barely missed a woman. And I was like, oh, my God. Like, oh, my God. And because he, first of all, I was mortified. But secondly, for me, it's always been, especially when he was young and he wasn't like a great communicator at that time.

like I always looked for this this is abnormal like there's I for a second I wanted to strangle him but then I was like oh there's something wrong here this is not like him and so then I remember we noticed he had like some like marks on his tongue and stuff like that on his lip I can't remember where it was and I was like he's in pain and we actually ended the trip early we went home and it turned out he had hand, foot, and mouth disease. And he was in agony. Now, we were lucky. We never got it. But it's one of those things you get in daycares and or kindergartens or whatever it is. And oh my God, I do not envy Chris Kreider. That thing is the worst. It is the worst. man you didn't even actually experience it firsthand you just no you watched on the periphery and thought

i watched on the periphery but i'll never forget like i'll just i know this is disgusting people are probably just like staring at their phones or their their car radios or whatever just like this is so gross i will never forget what the sores looked like i can see it right now it was it was brutal brutal I can see why you were adamant in getting that story in there it's like the moose when I saw it today I was like oh

poor Kreider it's exactly I did I saw the tweet like I can't I think it was Derek Lee who tweeted out the quote and I was like oh I feel terrible for that guy terrible geez oh well

hopefully he's feeling better that doesn't sound fun at all No, brutal. Brutal. Okay, with that, let's get to the final thought. And Elliot, what is going on with Stephen Stamcoast and the Nashville Predators? So I could remember being in the Sportsnet Studios, the day of free agency, two free agencies ago, when he signed for four years, the joy that was coming out of that market,

and all the optimism of where that team could ultimately be. not just with him, but the other bodies they brought in, Jonathan Marcia. So we know how last year went. You can understand a career bolt up until that point. As much as you think you're ready to move on, maybe it takes a bit longer than you initially thought. Out of the gate this year, year two, Fridge. One goal, one assists through 12 games.

What has largely been a key component of what's, made him great for a lot of his career. Even those later years in Tampa where he had been through the injuries, was getting on in age, but still finding ways to be real, real effective and a score at a great clip, hasn't been there in the early going in Nashville. What do you see and what are you hearing? So, Kyle, as I mentioned earlier, I do a regular hit every Thursday in Nashville. I really love doing it.

It's so funny. Like, you think when I first born. broke into this business in 1992, 93, you'd be doing a weekly hockey hit in Nashville. People would have thought you were insane, but it's one of the most fun things I get to do. And the last two weeks, that's been one of the key topics is, like, where do you see this going? And, you know, sometimes for me, it's not only about results, it's about process. and I think here you can just look at the process and you can see like it's just not built to work right now and it's not only that he's not scoring his shot generation is way down like

his last three years in Tampa he played 81, 879 games and in those years his shot totals were 241, 240, and 262. And in his first year in Nashville, 82 games scored 27 goals, but his shot total was 174. Like, if you look at his actual percentage, it was pretty good. It was pretty good comparatively.

His shooting percentage was, his career shooting percentage is 16-5, and the three years before, he shot 17-4, 14-2, and 15-3, Well, his first year in Nashville, he shot 15.5. So it's not like you're looking at that and saying he's lost the ability to shoot. He just didn't have as many opportunities. And this year, in 12 games, he's got 28 shots on goals.

So he's on pace for right around 170 again. And he's also shooting 3.6%, which is ridiculously low. And it's probably a cold streak more than anything. But I think what the numbers tell you, like there's sometimes, that the numbers tell you something and the eye test tells you something else, well, this is one where the eye test the numbers line up because you look at the roster and you don't see the fit there to feed them. Unfortunately, it just hasn't worked. And the numbers also tell you that he's just not able to get as many shots away. And is it because he can't get up and down

the ice? Is it, no, I think it's primarily because the facilitator, the prime Kucharov, for example, and there's not too many of those guys around. But there's just a facilitator isn't there. And I just think if this continues, at some point in time, there's going to have to be a longer conversation about what this is all going to mean. And to me, it's not even about what can you trade them for, what would the predators have to retain,

like how would the trade look like? The thing about this is that you, for Stan, for Stamco's to agree to it and for the predators to do it and make it make sense for everybody involved, it has to be to a team that's got someone like that. So if there's a team that has an issue down the middle, I don't even know that it makes sense for Stamco's to even consider it

or for Nashville to do it. So, I mean, so I think that, we're probably, if we're not heading down this road already, we're probably not far from there, Kyle. But at the very least, I think everybody's probably doing their due diligence here and saying, what makes sense? And particularly for Stamco's, who has the no move clause, he's really got to be saying, what makes sense for me? It's just been one where you're waiting for things to finally look like, okay, this is the way they envisioned it going, and it totally hasn't happened yet.

And to your point, yeah, like shooting percentage last year was fine, scored 27, which is a drop-up, but it's not like he had completely gone missing. It just hasn't looked natural when you look at the totality of it all. yeah so I understand why we're now here having these conversations all right that was a final thought let's take our first break 32 thoughts the podcast will resume after this we'll come back with the thought line stay tuned all right gather around everyone it's time once again for the latest edition of the thought line, Elliot,

I understand you have some things to get off your chest before we get to get to the guts of the latest batch. Yeah, so we got some interesting text and notes that I wanted to mention. First of all, someone sent me, we're talking about hockey players and baseball players, right? Like anyone who played both. So someone sent me the link to the 1972 Covington Astros,

a minor league baseball team in the rookie league that played in the Appalachian League. And on that team were Bob Bourne and Clark Gillies. Bourne had that year, had 109 plate appearances. he hit 257 not much power there he had 28 hits 26 of them were singles double a triple no home runs 15 rbis like look at me ripping bob bourne's lack of power who am I to talk and also on that team was never showed much strength in the NHL that's for sure that's right his weakness carried over to the national hockey league and Clark Gillies was on that team he had had 156 at bats, and he had a bit more power. He had 40 hits, five doubles, two triples, two homers, and 20 RBIs. He hit 256. So they were both, didn't make it, but the fact that they were both on rookie

league teams of the Astros, that's pretty impressive. So I wanted to shout them out. Hold on. I've got to stay there for one sec. Okay. You know who happened to scout those two to bring them down to the Astros farm system? No, who was it?

Pat Gillick. Really? A young Pat Gillick before he became a GM on a handful of teams, most notably, of course, for us, Toronto when they won the World Series in 92 and 93. Yes, apparently his mindset of the time was just drafting big athletic boys who grew up on the farm thinking, well, we know they're in good shape and hopefully we can turn them into ball players over time. And that's when the two of them actually first met.

Hey, how often do you hear that now? Like, draft an athlete and we'll see what we can do with them. And that's where they actually first met. They met on the ball diamond before they ever met at an ice rink. And so I was texting Justin a little bit about this. I just asked if they, you know, they ever had any stories that they shared about their baseball playing days. And he said, yeah, I guess his dad appreciated the time getting to know

Clark playing ball because when they later played in the Western League born with Saskatoon and Gilles with Regina he was like it saved some

some butt kickins down the road like he went cutting deals the quintessential definition of cutting deals and I guess they both had these big paintings of them

in their Astros outfits oh cool they hung on to because those were the real Space Cadet outfits. Like that's when the Astros really wore those crazy orange, yellow

things back then. Those were, if you've never seen those uniforms, you couldn't miss them. I look forward to you texting Justin and saying that I told him his dad was a meek singles hitter. That's right.

I also had somebody who wanted to shout out a bit of a different athlete. The only person who has ever played in the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup final the same season. And that was Jerry James. Jerry James played for the Toronto Maple Leafs,

I think for about five years, and he's a member of the Canadian Football League's Hall of Fame. He was a running back. He played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and he won the Grey Cup in 1959, but the Maple Leafs lost the Stanley Cup to the Montreal Canadiens in 1960. He was a great athlete, a great athlete.

And so someone wrote in and said, you better shut out Jerry James, even though it's technically not the same thing. This person in the same text also sent this note. I can't I'm I can't believe this new rule is coming into the league tonight and because I was busy figuring out Mark Martin Natchez's extension I completely bit on this hook line and sinker and I said what new rule and he goes the benefit of the doubt rule a rule for creative players because of our Kucharov conversation oh yes I think he's going to listen to this and he's going to laugh and yeah you got me you got me good on that one I didn't I didn't see that coming I stand by my comments even if anyone thinks it's ridiculous and I did get one other message I wanted to read I wouldn't normally do this but it was funny it caught me the gentleman's name is Parker Arsenal Hey, Elliot, long-time listener of the pod. Today is the start of the fourth annual Mason-Perry Memorial Rec Hockey Tournament,

a charity tournament in Tignish, P-E-I that I organize in memory of my best friend. All proceeds go to our local rink and minor hockey association to keep kids playing hockey. If we can get a shout out on the pod, I'll rent Kyle, my Airbnb, and bring him a good breakfast. Wow. So Parker, because I am so unselfish, I've done this. You owe Kyle the BNB. You owe him a good breakfast, but let me warn you.

You better make sure you insert that cleaning contract there because Kyle is a gigantic slob. Yes. If you could see the video portion of what we're doing here, I'm sure you would look at the two of us and think I was the slob. That's my yes. I would back it up.

That's great, Parker. Well, we do love breakfast here. Kyle loves breakfast. That is outstanding. Okay, so a couple of other baseball hockey crossovers. I mean, the videos were making their way online this week. Ernie Clement, great high school hockey player. Yes.

ripping it up for the Jays. Our teammate Ray Ferraro, we missed that one, played in the Little League World Series, long career in the National Hockey League. Oh, of course, that's right. Ray did play in the Little League World Series. No offense, Ray, but it's a little far from the majors

even though it's a great accomplishment. Yeah, yes. You don't bite my head off the next time he sees me. Oh, yeah, I'm not touching that. And then, I mean, you had the great football hockey, crossover. This comes in from Rishi, a New Yorker now living in Denver. Dear Kyle, Dom, and sorry, I can't quite remember the other guy's name. He says in the last episode, there's a fan question about whether anyone has played both in the NHL and the majors. Great question and

great answers. I learned a lot. Anyway, this got me thinking about my two favorite sports, which coincidentally happen to have incredibly tangled roots. Hockey and tennis. at the forefront of this cross-pillination. I bet there's a lot of crossover there because we always see players go at the, you know who was a huge tennis fan? I'm not sure if he was a tennis player at all, but Martin Havlatte, I would always see him

at the Rogers Cup when I covered it. He would always be there when he played in Canada. Yeah, and then, of course, his teammate Alfredson, incredible tennis player. He's also a great Paddle player. Yes, he is. Yes, he is. Him and his brother both.

Anyway, at the forefront of this cross-pollination is none other than Yaroslav Drobney, who not only won the World Championships and an Olympic silver medal with Czechoslovakia and is an inductee in the Double IHF Hall of Fame, but also won four Grand Slam titles in tennis, including the 1954 Wimbledon Singles title over Ken Rosewall. This came after he had defected from Czechoslovakia and was representing Egypt, and he remains the only Egyptian Grand Slam winner in tennis history. He is a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame as well.

How many athletes can say they belong to the Hall of Fame of two different major sports, and he goes even beyond Robby. The ties between hockey and tennis run deep just to rattle off some other names. Yon Tureak, I didn't realize he was not. named to team Romania at the Olympics many, many years ago. I didn't know that either. I don't think he got into a game at the Olympics, but he did play for them

at a world championships, and he was added to the roster for it. I wonder if that was the 80 Olympics, because of the Miracle on Ice, Romania was one of the teams that U.S. beat. They wonder, it was it, was it 80 Olympics? That was when I see the years. It was the 64.

Yeah. It was 1964. I'm like way off. I'm way off. Well, he should have played in 1980. He was only 41 then. So he, of course, then later went on to represent some incredible players and became a bit of a tennis mogul later on in his life, but played won a doubles title at the French Open in 1970. Of course, there's Jess Pagula. I didn't know. There was a, yeah, Jess Pagula. I had no clue that there was a hockey tie in there. Jess Pagula, of course, great call. Yep. Mention her before on the

pod, an all-time tennis great Ivan Lendell. Yes. He had a minority share in the Hartford Whalers, did he not? Yes, because his buddy owned it, there is a great, great piece of video online. It was like an old whalers commercial

promoting fans to go buy season tickets and he's there dressed up in goalie gear saying something to the effect of, you know, whenever I'm in Hartford, I always go to a whalers game. And he also played a big role in getting Bobby Holy to North America.

Yes. I remember, too, he came up to Canada in 1994-95 to promote the tennis, and I went to go interview him. I was working at the fan at the time. And I asked him, I know you're a big hockey fan, who are you picking to win the Stanley Cup this year? And this was months before the playoffs. And he goes, I really like New Jersey.

And they won that year. That was their first cup. So I always remember that about. Lendell. Geez. A couple of months, we should call them up. Say, who do you like? Yeah, seriously.

All right, that's, that was great, Rishi. Appreciate you sending that in. Yeah, it's great stuff. I had no idea of some of those. No clue. Okay, on to the rest. Nate, hello gentlemen, and Elliot. I could see that one coming.

Just getting, I know. Fright trained. As a cross-state transplant, Tuesday, night, I braved the city of brotherly love to watch my Pittsburgh Penguins play their hated rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. By the way, let me just say,

let me just say it is good for the league when there is hate in that rivalry. And there was hate in that rivalry. Even while proudly sporting my Sydney Crosby jersey

in enemy territory, I managed to make out of their mostly unscathed. The exception being the fine Flyers fans, who thought my truck needed a wash and hurled their drink onto my back window as I was leaving the parking lot. Stay classy Philly.

The game ended in what was one of the craziest overtimes in recent memory with not one but two disallowed goals. My question is about the ruling on the first disallowed goal. It was deemed that Gino Malkin's game winner shouldn't count because he entered the ice on a delayed penalty call before Shilov's the goalie had gotten close enough to the bench. I understand the call. but don't understand the nuance about how this is enough to wave off a goal,

but not enough to result in a too many men penalty. Is this a specific rule only about goalies leaving the ice, or is it specific to delayed penalties, or is this just because it happened in overtime? Sincerely, from a fan of the only team not trying to get better. Nate, that's really good. Kyle Dumas would like to have a word with you. And so would Cindy Crosby.

but that's still really, really funny. Yes, so I assume, Kyle, you looked up the specific rule. I don't have it in front of me, but yes, there is a carve-out in the rulebook for if you are too quick to get on the ice before the goalie is within. I think it says five feet of the bench. There's a little bit of, yeah, there's a little bit of, basically what it comes down to is if the guy coming off the bench, touches the puck before the goal is close enough they will blow it dead and you can use a legal substitution instead of too many men Kyle yes exactly rule 71 premature substitution is the terminology in the rule book so I hate it when that happens yeah okay okay I could dig further

I can already feel my stomach getting queasy. Yeah. Premature substitution. So no penalty, but the play is whistled down. And in the case of what was going on in overtime that night, because it was a delayed penalty, the ensuing face-off still remained in the Philadelphia zone. If there was not a delayed penalty and that had happened, I believe the draw would have been at center ice. That would have been, I guess, the only.

penalizing aspect of it all to Pittsburgh where even though they were in an attacking situation the faceoff would have come out to center ice and so of course Nate was at the game so he would not have had a chance to see this but on the ESPN broadcast

that night Dave Jackson credit to him right away knew the rule and explained the plays blown dead but there's not going to be a penalty on the penguins here because of the premature substitution rule I saw this in a playoff game many, many years ago. I think between the Leafs and Penguins when Pat Quinn was

coaching the Maple Leafs, and that was when I learned that there was an exception for the goalie coming off the ice that didn't mean it had to be too many men. All right. So before we get to Tyler from Dieppe New Brunswick, this sets up another thing I wanted to discuss quickly. So last pod, there was the question about three hat tricks or more. And game. And you went beast mode and recalled that Minnesota Vancouver game from a couple years ago. Yeah. I was informed. I wanted to give a shout out to young Logan Sigelette, the 10-year-old son of Jonathan Sigelette, who is a high-end skills coach, works with a number of NHL guys, also ex-teammate of Kevin B.XA at Bowling Green. Apparently, Elliot.

So they love listening to the podcast in the car when they're riding in the from Rink. Hello, Logan. Thank you very much. Love it. Or going to school. And I guess Logan's memory when it comes to hockey stuff is so incredible that even while you were going, there may have been some Vancouver game. Didn't Quinn Hughes? I guess he was screaming at the car going Minnesota, Vancouver, back in 2024. Four, there were three, there were three. He knew it right away. Great stuff, Logan. Great stuff.

I wanted to give him credit for being even quicker than you, which I didn't think was possible. But he was dynamite. So that sets up this from Tyler. Hello, Kyle Dom and the one and only, Elliot. Oh, I like you, Tyler. I like you a lot. As a truck driver, I frequently listen to podcasts in the early mornings, this being one of my main ones. Thank you very much.

Excellent. I listen to your last pod and the question. about how many hat-tricks was the most in one game was brought up. And as soon as Elliot was bringing it up, I also remembered that Canucks Wild game. As a Canucks fan, I remember it vividly and was thinking at the time, wow, what a game, even though we lost. So my question is, how many games has there been that has had a score

of at least 15 or more total goals? And what is the record for the highest scoring game? Thanks for all the entertainment in the mornings and keep up the good work. So the highest scoring game, that one I vaguely remember. At one time, the Maple Leafs had a game against Gretzky in his prime where there were 20 goals. Toronto beat them 11 to 9. And then I think if I remember correctly, they went on a long losing streak after because whoever was coaching them said, now they think they can win every game like that.

And it just doesn't work like that. Then again, Toronto, a lot of long losing strings around that time. But I think if I'm not mistaken, Kyle, I think that got passed. I think 21 is now the record. Isn't there like a 14-7 game out there somewhere? Yes, but that's from even longer ago. Oh, so that 20 didn't break the record? No, but you're right.

It's right there. I think the record is 21, and I think there's a 14-7 game somewhere. Is that correct? Very good, yes. Way back in January of 1920, the Montreal-Canadian. Defeated the Toronto St. Pat's 14-7 only matched. This would have been not long before, oh my gosh, less than a month before that 11-9 thriller. Really?

Also involving the Oilers. December of 1985, they beat Chicago 12 to 9. Oh, I don't remember that one. I remember the 11-9 one because I watched it on television. so for some reason obviously I'm wrong I thought that was the record and then it got beaten but obviously it just missed the record and I don't remember the 12-9 game I don't remember that yeah the Oilers actually could win games like that when you have Gritsky messy Curry Toronto could not you're winning games like that yes yes and it's been 236 games that have had at least 15 combined goals heading into Thursday night's action yeah I believe that i i believe there have been a lot did you see dom's text hold on yeah did you cover the 14 to 7 game go back to sleep dom you in your red room that's i was born in 1970 man i know i know i know i qualify for seniors discounts now but i'm not

that old all right one one one final one this is a Sean. Either he was originally from Calgary and now in London, the United Kingdom, or he was from the London United Kingdom, and now in Calgary. Either way, happy to have you. Hi, Dom, Kyle, and Elliot, really enjoying the pod with the recent Jay's game going 18 innings. I got back to triple overtime, quadruple overtimes in the NHL from the last few years. What goes on behind the scenes of a broadcast as it becomes apparent that the game is going to run long? what discussions are had, and does the crew change anything for the overtime periods? Are any changes made to the broadcast team schedule for the next day to allow everyone to rest up?

It's a great question. I think the number one thing that starts happening, and you can speak about this as a sideline reporter, Kyle, is the intermissions because you don't want to do anything during the games. Like, the last thing you want as a rinkside reporter is to be talking when the puck goes in. That almost happened to me once, and it scared me straight. So, and you know what it almost happened was in game six of the Stanley Cup final in 2004, the one that Tampa won an overtime to send it back home for game seven against the flames. There was the Marty Jellina optical illusion play.

And I was explaining the NHTA's ruling. the parallax angle. I was explaining the NHL's ruling on that when Calgary almost scored off a face-off. And after the game, like Bob Cole, he gave it to me. And I said

Bob, like I had to explain why they said this goal didn't count. He's like, I don't care. That goal could have won the Stanley cut. And, you know, he's right. But, you know, the one thing I'll tell you, Sean, was when I worked ringside, the producer would always say to me, who's there, find out who's

here. Is there anybody here that's worth talking to? Because the thing that changes in the overtimes is that the intermissions, you haven't sold ads. Like anything that you, any ad that airs in the intermission is now a bonus. So normally intermissions, they're broken up into two segments. There's one. Then there's a smaller, a longer one than there's a smaller one. And you go back. Well, now all of a sudden, you've got one big, long blob of a segment and no commercial inventory sold. So they're always asking you, is there someone you can get on in the intermission? Is there anybody in the crowd you can talk to during the intermission? So that was always one of the things I was asked to do was, especially as it went on longer, like the studios

got nothing to say who's here. The other thing that was always fine was, you know, in most buildings, the two teams dressing rooms were really close to each other. What, I don't know if any of them have changed in recent years, Kyle, not that I remember, but there's one that's really far apart, and it's one that we work in a lot. Montreal? Yes, Montreal. So oftentimes Montreal, you would have to pick which dressing room do you want to stand nearby? Do you want to stand near Montreal's room in overtime, or do you want to stand near the other

room? And if, so you'd often go by, like, I'd always start. by the Montreal room. But then, like, if I saw that the ice was tilted against them, I would be like, okay, we're moving over this way. And then if you got the wrong one, you were charging across the building. That's right.

Dom mentioning, this is actually a useful text from Dom, which doesn't happen very much anymore. But it's like that in Vancouver now with the insane way that the Canox have restructured their building. yes this is how you know the Canucks cannot stand the media they have made it as difficult as they possibly can to get to the dressing rooms after the game but um you know that was one thing you always had to do too is okay in Montreal how which dress room was I going to stand next to but that was the thing Sean that they would always change it for me was who's here so we can find people to talk to next day if you didn't want to get up early you didn't have to. Right. Unless you had a plane to catch.

Unless you had a plane to catch. That's right. That was always the, yeah. I think the longest game I did was that game won Florida, Carolina a few years ago when Kachuk scored. Yeah, that was not a travel day. Seconds. Seconds away from a fifth overtime. Yes.

I think there was 13 seconds left in the fourth when he finally beat Freddie Anderson to end the game. I think I remember leaving the rink there in Raleigh, and it was the cold. block in the building was right around 1.30 by the time we had finally wrapped up. The great story, of course, was from the 5-O-T game, Pittsburgh Philadelphia

when Keith Primo scores and Chris Cuthbert and the late Greg Mellon are doing the game. And they had been chartering. The crew had been because they had been bouncing around between a couple of series. And so they were due to fly to Denver that night to call Game 5 of Avalanche Red Wings the next day.

And earlier on in the series, they had, okay, we'll wait, the whole crew, the technical crew, they do their wrap, close up the truck, everyone gets on a bus, they go to the airport, get on the charter, and fly to where they're going next. Well, as you know, Friege, Millsie didn't love waiting around for much. So after doing that once or twice,

he was like, I'm not doing this again. So in the cab on the way that game in Pittsburgh, he tells the cab driver, look, our game's going to be done whenever. Around 930, be ready here at 945 and take me to the airport. So he tells Cuthbert, got it all set up. Even if he's got to go sit on the plane, he'd rather do that and wait for everyone else than to hang around at the rink any longer than he had to.

Well, of course, the game goes five overtimes. And so I guess the story, by the time they finally got in the cab the meter was around 260 US before the driver had taken it out of park that is outstanding i never knew that story that is a great story yeah that's a great way to end the thought line Sean thank you for that thank you once again Millsie and the late don whitman the two people who hated lines more than anyone i ever knew that's so good thanks everyone as always for submitting and Griffin Porter for putting it together for us. 1-833-3-3-1-3-2-32 if you'd like to leave a voicemail or you can email us at 32

Thoughts at Sportsnet.com. Back to put a bow on this episode. 32 Thoughts, the podcast. We'll wrap up after this. All right, welcome back, Elliot. We were so caught up in the excitement around the fall classic off the top of the show. We forgot to mention and wish everyone a happy Halloween today, first of all. It is rare that players and teams around the league disappoint when it comes to Halloween costumes each and every year. The one of my favorites happened to be Wednesday night in Seattle, Adam Sandler, on his You're My Best Friend Tour plays a show at Climate Pledge Arena

and goes to visit members of the Cracken in their dressing room after the show and a bunch of them are dressed up as not only Sandler characters but other characters from his various movies over the years. That's fantastic. It was so good.

As I mentioned you before we came on, Brandon Montour, dressed up as the brother from 51st dates with the mesh top. so good. I wouldn't have thought if I'm going something Sandler related

to go down that road, I'm certainly glad he did. Very, very good. Do you think there's any chance that Montour wasn't dressed up and that's just actually the way he goes to games? Or if it was one of those,

yeah, I can do that costume and I don't need to go to the store for anything. It's all in the closet. I have mesh shirts. I mean, there's no dress code anymore. If Montour wanted to show up in a mesh shirt,

He could. And does he not seem like the kind of guy who would show up in a mesh shirt? And I say that as a compliment. That is no insult. Oh, yeah. He can pull it off. I have a mesh Coors light shirt, which I wore to the beach this summer. Oh, my God.

Steph was like, that's ridiculous. Do you have photos? No, actually, I don't. When you send it the link for the pod Friday morning, include photos. of the Coors Light Mesh shirt. Please. Sign no one. Now, are you taking Berkeley out for a Halloween walk to get candy, which you're going to eat?

I wish if I wasn't in Philadelphia. Oh, that's right. Of course. You're stupid question. Is Dana going to do it? Dana's going out with a friend of ours. She's got two young boys. that are like right into the trick-or-treating.

They're in that phase. So she's going to go hang with them for a little bit. You know, the baseball game kind of obliterates Halloween a little bit here in Toronto. Right. Well, especially out here, like that's 6 p.m. Yeah, right. It's early, yeah, really. So, you know, Max now being 14, we've, you know, he's not going out trick-or-treating anymore.

I think I've told this story before about we saw, I stopped for a while. And then we were in our last year of high school, we were 18 years old. And we said, you know what? We're going out. We went out at the end. We let all the kids go out first. And then me and three friends, we tied branches to ourselves. And we went out as a forest.

And I, it was good. It was a great costume. I wish I had pictures. It was actually a great costume. And it was, I have to say, the reactions were really fascinating. Like we had some people who really thought it was funny. And we had some people who were really offended. like there was one guy who said did you guys tell your wives you were out bowling tonight like it was pretty funny like some people refused to give us candy so um so uh so so max he we're we're pulling the shoot on it and if we go to the ball game it wouldn't be home anyway but you know one of the things is i always like to give away candy because i always hated like going to that house where the people weren't um participating but i don't know what to do like if we're

not here, I don't like the idea of just leaving a bowl out there because the first kids come and take it all and you can hardly blame them. So I'm trying to think of a solution for this if we're not, if we're not home. First world problems. Yes. What was your, was that your best costume you think looking back? I would say yes. Yes. That was, that was a great costume. And it looked good. Like we actually tied them to ourselves and tied ourselves. together like we walked as a four oh nice yes like a three-legged race on steroids with with branches yeah with branches there's a Guinness world record to be had somewhere that's great that's pretty great what was your best Halloween costume um 11th grade a buddy

and I did Wayne and Garth from Wayne's world and did it up well that worked really good My favorite was in the sixth grade. Were you Wayne or were you Garth? What do you think? Garth. No, I was Wayne. My buddy had... Really?

Yeah, he had lighter colored hair. I mean, we had wigs on anyways. It didn't matter. But I remember I went on eBay, got the hat a whole bit. Because you're kind of a space cadet, so I figured you would have been Garth. Yes, that's right. This coat's gone bad. Sixth grade, my favorite.

Trailer Park Boys, Bubbles. Nice. Remember his wrestling character? I don't want to say the name because I know there are young children that we appreciate take the time to listen to the show I'm sure you remember the name

that's who I went as with the electrician tape GB on the front the green garbage bag is my cape I was very proud of it. That is outstanding. That is a good costume.

Very good, Kyle. Very good. And we should mention if you need an appetizer before Game 6 of the World Series, shrimp cocktail or caprizi salad to your tomahawk steak it is Vegas day tomorrow so the golden nights and the avalanche play an afternoon game oh yeah at four eastern and six one and four

versus six one three and those two teams don't really like each other very much so that's a that's a great and that'll be on sports net one so that'll be a a great game uh to watch in the afternoon streaming on SportsNet Plus. Music? Yes. I should just quickly, before we get there, Elliot, Saturday, Calgary, Nashville, 3.30 Eastern, 130 Mountain Time on Sportsnet.

And three early games on hockey night, Toronto, Philly, Ottawa, Montreal. That's going to be great. Vancouver in Minnesota. And Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks against McDavid and the Oilers is the nightcap. I'm not going to try to guess where all the games are going to be placed if there's a game seven of the World Series.

I'm sure that's going to throw all of it into a loop. So you just, you know the start times and check the ticker for the latest, right, Fridge? Check the ticker for my score days, yes. Check the ticker for the latest. Excellent, Kyle. Excellent. All right. Taking us out today, a track from Jay Feelbender, which is the captivating alt-pop

solo project of Toronto musician Jacob Switzer, a deeply personal creative journey that invites listeners into his world. With a career that spans over a decade, Jacob refined his craft as a founding member of Goodbye Honolulu and has shared stages with global acts like Hins on multiple U.S. tours, as well as the Canadian pop rock stars, The Beaches. Jay's newest album, Gallery of Desire, is out now by a victory pool. The Beach is the one that did the tease last week.

they did do it. Was it recently? That's right. Yes. The four women, right? Yeah. Yeah, they did the tease last week. Good tease. Excellent. Way to connect those dots. Jay's newest album. Gallery of Desire is out now via Victory Pool Records. Also, upcoming show of his, December 13th. He'll be at the Monarch Tavern.

It's his album release show in Toronto, Ontario. All right, let's get to it. Jay Fieldbender and Disco on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. Just keep holding on to me and baby I'm all right to you for a knife Because I got roses in my pocket And my lower's sharper than that naive Yeah

She wanted disco, disco Yeah, we're gonna go all night Yeah Yeah I said she looks good with me I never need to be free And I don't want to be famous I'm aimless

She's moving on without me Yeah, because she won a disco, disco Yeah, we're gonna go all night And if these go out this goes Yeah, we're gonna be all right Just keep holding up to me and baby I'll hold on in for a night Because I got roses in my pocket

And my large, I'm gonna' Naif Yeah, she rolled a disco, disco Yeah, we're gonna go all night Yeah, yeah, yeah