32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Trouble in Northern Alberta

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Jeff and Elliotte dive into the latest Edmonton Oilers news, including an injury to Connor McDavid and an interesting comment from Evander Kane (00:21). They discuss Rasmus Andersson and the Flames appealing his suspension for charging Patrik Laine (15:43). The Detroit Red Wings come under the spotlight after a big weekend for Alex DeBrincat. What can we make out of the direction of their franchise (25:00)? Next up is a discussion on the Calder Trophy race and the impressive Leo Carlsson in Anaheim plus Elliotte adds to his interview with Elias Pettersson that was released over the weekend (51:00).  They finish up the podcast talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs' and their comeback over the weekend (1:08).Jeff and Elliotte answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (55:00).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and Jordan McRae and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

The other one, because I've thought a lot about this today, Elliot. I can tell. Dom, you've got to stop sending Jeff the questions so early because this part of the pod takes longer than the rest of the pod. Once again, here we go with 32 Thoughts, brought to you by the new 2024 GMC Sierra HD. Elliot and I have a lot of things to go over, but maybe the biggest news that greets us this Monday morning

when you're probably listening to this is the news that Conor McDavid will not be playing in the Heritage Classic. Elliot, he's out one to two weeks with an upper body injury. That's not the only story with the Edmonton Oilers, but right now that is the big one. Conor McDavid out for one to two weeks. Well, first of all, Jeff, let's not ruin the Heritage Classic yet. One to two weeks, he could potentially play. I'm like that guy on the broadcast. It's 54-0 at halftime,

and talk about how the team that's losing is famous for their comebacks, so the viewers don't turn out. Yeah, it doesn't look good. Like I always say's he's off to lourdes this week to bathe in holy water and come back a brand new healthy elite level hockey player yeah it doesn't look good jeff there's there's no question about it if you read lips and i did it once earlier in my career that caused me a lot of trouble. If you saw what McDavid was saying on the bench,

there were people thinking, oh, he's saying he tore something or something like that. Look, you're going to be careful with Conor McDavid now. As much as the Heritage Classic is a really good event for the Flames and the Oilers, and I'm very excited to go there this week, you're not going to risk Con Connor McDavid for an outdoor game where the conditions are not as controlled as you would get in an indoor environment.

I'm hoping somehow he plays, but I'm not expecting it to occur. It wasn't only that he left the game, but the thing that all of a sudden, you know, people started texting during the overtime saying is he not playing the overtime i was saying no and they said that's when you know it's bad because if conor mcdowd is not playing an overtime a three on three then you know yeah it's bad uh they lose to the winnipeg jets 3-2 in overtime mark shifley with the ot heroics there but again that's not the only story going around uh as it relates to the edmonton rollers evander kane in a second intermission interview with scott oak intimating

that well i'm not too thrilled how things are going so me and brendan dylan decided to take our helmets off and fight for a little while uh yeah i didn't uh didn't play much in the first period so i thought uh might as well get into a fight and uh take seven or eight much in the reverse period, so I thought might as well get into a fight and take seven or eight minutes in the box. And also, Leon Dreisaitl, who once a year kind of has a bit of a dig at one of the questions he's asked, he had it in the postgame when he was asked about Stuart Skinner and the one play where he hesitated going after the puck and the Jets took advantage. Everything that happened to Edmonton on Saturday

night was not good for the second weekend in a row they looked like they were going to blow out whoever they were playing Vancouver yeah a week ago the first shift they had five shots and a goal you thought they were going to win 10 nothing they lost and here in this one they were up to nothing Hellebuck stabilized the J jets and the oilers lose again faster than we thought it was going to happen things are getting tense in northern alberta and this is where we're really gonna find out who the oilers are and what they're really made of because mcdavid's not going on ltir right now they have them just on regular injured reserve they can only carry the minimum they've got no cap relief

so the group of players that they've got there right now those are the guys that are going to have to get them through this and get them started and i'm serious jeff when i say we've all talked about the oilers as a stanley cup favorite we're gonna find out just how good they are over the next one to two weeks they play minnesota tuesday the rangers on thursday as you mentioned the heritage classic against the calgary flames on sunday. Let me circle back quickly to the Evander Kane situation. How do you see that one, Elliot? Obviously, he wasn't thrilled about his ice time, where he's being used, how he's being used. So him and his former teammate from San Jose decided to go for one. And we just heard the comments a couple of seconds ago with Scott Oak.

How do you read the Evander Kane situation? Obviously, he's unhappy. He said it kind of in, it was funny the way he said it. We were sitting there watching it and we all kind of looked at each other and said, did he just say what we think he said? It didn't, it almost didn't come across overly pointedly. It didn't come across as a dig.

It came across as more matter of fact. Well, I'm not really playing a lot, so I figured I might as well do something else. And BX had told a story about how he did that in a game once too. He wasn't playing a lot, so he got into a fight because he figured he would engage himself in some way. If I was Woodcroft, what I would say to Kane right now is, okay, you're not happy. You made that clear.

Well, we need you right now. We need you to get us through the mire of the next two weeks without Connor McDavid. So you let me know what you need, and I will do it. I will put you in that position. If I was Woodcroft, I would say, okay, Evander, you don't like it. What do you want? And now it's on you to show me, can you get us through it? And as a player, I would want that. I would want my coach to say to me, I need you to get us through this. And I would want my coach to say to me i need you to get us through this and i would want him to challenge me so that i knew the team thought it was incumbent on me to get them through this so what do we have here then with the oilers is this a a raging volcano or is this a controlled

fire what is this i don't think it's a volcano but it could become one like we just said we're about to find out what this team is when you're the edmund norlers one of the things you can do when you're in trouble oh number 97 get on the ice oh yeah number 97 just give me a three foot pass in the defensive zone so i can get it to you and you can skate the puck all the way out of trouble that's over now you don't have case of emergency break glass case of emergency break glass and out comes number 97 that's over now you don't have any of that you can't throw them over the bench every third shift you can't have them playing three to three and a half minutes of overtime you don't have the one man breakout now you still have

dry sidle and that's pretty good and you have some other good players too but they're gonna have to find other ways to win games now i remember in 2001 when colorado won the stanley cup without peter forsberg oh yeah oh yeah and now they had a hell of a team they had joe sackick they had rob blake they had alex tangay playing the games of his life at that time who's the goalie again they had patrick waugh yes that's that's a pretty big one uh they had adam Foote. They had Ray Bork. They had a hell of a team, but they also beat a really good team, the New Jersey Devils, in seven games to win the Stanley Cup. So you can do this without a key player, but they're going to have to change the way they play. The one thing that has really shown from Edmonton in these first two weeks of the season is the details have been sorely lacking. And I thought against Philly last Thursday, they really showed their frustration. I did not like the way that they looked in that game. And so now you've had leads in games and you've blown them.

And so now you've had leads in games and you've blown them. You're going to have to adjust. You're going to have to say, how do we win without McDavid? And everyone's going to be sitting here watching. You want to talk about Vegas? Vegas is 6-0. First Stanley Cup champion ever to do that. You want to talk about Colorado, Jeff? That's the other big Stanley Cup favorite ever to do that. You want to talk about Colorado, Jeff?

That's the other big Stanley Cup favorite in the Western Conference. They tore apart a Carolina team that's struggling a little bit right now, giving up goals, but still is one of the best teams in the league. Edmonton's big contenders or big adversaries in the Western Conference, the last two Stanley Cup champions, they're coming out red hot and they are clobbering people and now the others are without their number one guy and it's a test everyone's going to be watching them to see how they handle this let me ask you about these two teams you just mentioned because you're right like colorado just picked apart the carolina hurricanes they've been going through everybody lately they've just been since the start of the season

just they're a hockey lawnmower man like they're mowing teams down and you're getting they're getting production from up and down the lineup now everybody's starting to learn the name logan o'connor uh who scores shorthanded goals and will fight will do just about anything to help this team win um nathan mckinnon is nathan mckinnon good lord he was my heart trophy pick this year and nothing that's happened so far has said to me that that was a bad pick you want to maybe go from 29 to 96 on colorado and look at Mikko Rantanen and Elliott Friedman. He's playing really good too. Oh, he's fantastic.

But let me ask you a question. What's that? If there was a draft of players off of Colorado, what do you think the order would be? Kael McCarr number one. Okay. Nathan McKinnon number two. Mikko Rantanen number three number three see i think that's the

problem with ranton winning the heart trophy right i know i get it i think he'd be an excellent vote whenever mckinnon goes out who's the guy i mean he's always the guy but he could slide in the middle he could play on the right side he's he's mr versatility and not only can he do it but he's he's like excellent at it like whatever you want him he do it, but he's excellent at it. Whatever you want him to do, he's like, okay, coach, watch me go be the best in the world at this. He's just tremendous. Just tremendous. He's a phenomenal player. Excellent, outstanding player.

But it's tough to pick a guy for the Hart Trophy when, by your own admission, he's the third guy you're picking off the team in a draft of the roster. Although right now, you'd have to put alexander georgiev into that mix too he's been fantastic he's been excellent but i still think you'd take all those three guys over georgia of course you do i'm just trying to make talk radio here for you um let me ask you about vegas i want to talk at some point in this podcast, hopefully we can get there, about the nature of defending in the NHL right now. For my money, there's no team that does it better than the Vegas Golden Knights. That's pretty obvious.

Merrick, well done. Petrangelo's out and it's insert player here. As much as there's a premium in the NHL right now on offense, offense, offense, offense, Vegas goes out there. Sure, they can fill the net. Sure, they can score. But man, do, offense, offense. Vegas goes out there. Sure, they can fill the net. Sure, they can score. But man, do they ever defend well. This is a really humming machine right now. It's remarkable.

It's the big tall glass of coconut water before you go to bed because there is no hangover in the morning. A quick thought on Vegas before. I want to get the Calgary here in a second. Quick thought on Vegas for each. We talked about them last week. They just just look fantastic their best players are playing great their goaltending their goaltenders don't have to be outstanding although thompson made an

unbelievable save in winnipeg the other day their goaltenders just have to be really good, and they have been. And I'm looking at it right now. What happens, Mr. Merrick, on November 4th? Is it a meeting of Colorado and Vegas? Vegas at home against Colorado T-Mobile Arena, November 4th. I cannot wait for that game. We are two weeks away, and we get that matchup yep I love it that's one of those games where you don't watch anything else that's gonna be like a battle of unbeatens in the NFL in week 10 that's what that's gonna be let's see where they're both at when we get there

but this is uh this has been incredible from both these uh both these teams in the West, distinguishing themselves as the two best teams in the NHL. I know, Detroit, don't worry. We're going to get to you in a couple of moments. Calm down. We're going to get there. Settle, settle, settle. The last thing I just want to say about Edmonton. Okay.

I think right now when it comes to the Oilers, if you're Jay Woodcroft, I'm walking in there on Monday morning and I said, guys, everything that happened the last two, three weeks, two weeks, I can't even remember when we started the season. Everything that happened the last two weeks, we're flushing it down the toilet. It's over. We're starting again.

The season begins anew, but we're going to play the way we were supposed to and we're gonna have to play that way now because we don't have connor mcdavid like i said unless they want to change around their roster a bit they can't add an extra body so they can look at everybody and say hey everybody who's here you're playing everybody's gonna have to be dressed every night everybody's gonna get shifts and we need you all and we haven't played the way we're supposed to play forget it we're restarting and we're doing that the way we thought we were going to start the year we're doing it now and we have to because we don't have one of our nuclear weapons so we better that's what i'm saying to these guys calgary flames their opponent sunday at the heritage

classic a couple of things here i want to get to your report about Noah Hannafin from Saturday headlines. But first, the appeal of the suspension. Rasmus Andersen Friday catches Patrick Laine high. It's a four-game suspension. They are appealing. Now, one game has already ticked off after Calgary loses to the Detroit Red Wings. Again, Red Wings fans, we're getting there.

Hold on. I know you feel like you're getting the short end of the stick here, but don't worry. We're getting to the Detroit Red Wings. Again, Red Wings fans, we're getting there. Hold on. I know you feel like you're getting the short end of the stick here, but don't worry. We're getting to the Detroit Red Wings. They've been excellent. What a weekend they had. One game has ticked off for the Calgary Flames. There are, before the Heritage Classic, two more games.

There's a game Tuesday against the Rangers. There's a game Thursday against the St. Louis Blues. Game four, the suspension would be Sunday. They want to get it down, Elliot, I'm guessing to three games, so he's available for the Heritage Classic? Yes. What I think is

going on here is Anderson has never been suspended before. He's been fine once, but he's never been suspended before. I think it's important to say this first. Number one, I don't think anyone liked that hit. Bad hit. It was a bad hit.

Now, there's the argument, and some of the people who have argued in favor of Anderson say that sometimes if the other player moves before you hit that can mitigate your penalty and linea's body does move but the one thing i always feel generally jeff is it's the jamal mayer's rule one do you get half the body i like that and number two are you trying to really make a hockey play that and number two are you trying to really make a hockey play there's one second left in the game the game is over Anderson leaves his feet and liney gets hurt like I don't like any of that I don't think any of that favors Anderson at all I think what the flames and the players association feel here and it's the players association that has to launch the appeal on behalf of the player is that number one there was no there hasn't been a suspension of at least four games prior to this

since april of 2022 when evgeny mulligan got it and also they do feel that it's a big punishment to take them out of the heritage classically you, we were joking before about how if you're the Oilers, you don't want McDavid to play in this game now. It's not a controlled environment, and there's a lot of risk that can open up. Everybody still remembers Sidney Crosby getting injured in the Winter Classic. But make no mistake, it's fun for the players. It breaks up the monotony of the year a lot of them really do enjoy it and judging from the reaction i heard anderson was one of those guys he was

looking to play it so they're going to argue that i think that it's a three gamer instead of a four gamer the big challenge here is because it's under six games, there's no independent arbitrator. So it only goes to Bettman. And in many of the cases when suspensions have been dropped, it's because the arbitrator drops the suspension, not so much Bettman. So I think it's a long shot. I think everybody realizes it's a long shot,

but because I think the player wants to play in the Winter Classic, they're going to take the challenge. Now, to me, the big question here is Lainey's injury. We've already seen him miss one game. And if he continues missing games, look, like I said, that's not a hit that should happen. He deserved a suspension. I don't think anyone's going to argue

that line is injury here to me is is the really big tell if if he continues to miss games i just don't know how they're going to be able to shorten that i think it's a long shot as well i have a i have a hard time seeing gary betman go against ge George Peros on this one. Go against his Department of Player Safety at all. It's a public admission that they didn't do their job correctly. I can't see the commissioner doing it. I can't, Elliot. Like I said, it's not his way.

There's no question about that. You're right. It's almost a vote of no, well, nevermind almost, it kind of is a vote of no confidence in the people that you have helped pick run your department. I don't disagree with you. Also with the Calgary Flames, you report Saturday about Noah Hannafin and some movement with a new contract. Yes.

And since I put it out there, I've heard heard a bit more i think it's more now than some movement uh judging from the reaction i got after that aired i think it would be a surprise if it didn't happen now i don't know the exact timeline but I'm always careful as you know about language because then it turns into something viral that I didn't intend it to mean like I've had people say optimism I've had people say progress I had one guy say to me today that there was a breakthrough and it's going to get done but put it this way I think the best way to put it is it's going to be a surprise if it doesn't happen and we should say that this is a big big victory for the Flames because Hannafin you'll remember when there was all that talk about all the guys that wouldn't stay well they've got Backlund signed

and now now Hannafin was the one guy in the summer. And I reported on this pod that Hannafin had indicated he wanted to go back to the United States. And no one argued with me. No one. Normally, if I have something wrong on the pod, I'll get at least one phone call about it. Something like that. Someone will call me and say, you are wrong.

Fix this. And not a single person did because at the time that was what was conveyed now you know ultimately Hanifin at some point in time will give us a better indication of what changed his mind number one I think it's time you know obviously he's seen things in Calgary that he likes. I do think Jeff, as you and I have talked about, there are players who are nervous out there. The way the cap has gone the last couple of years, the market's been very tight.

I think there are players who say that if the money's there and you're happy in your situation, it's much harder now until the cap release starts going up a couple times. It's harder now to say no. And ultimately, I don't want to put words in Hannafin's mouth. He'll tell us. But like I said, it would be a surprise by now if it doesn't happen. So two things there.

One, I thought it was going to be Buffalo. I thought that was going to be the landing spot for noah hannifin and two and you've already sort of indicated this and so maybe i'm asking a rhetorical question here but is this michael backland effect i think it is to some degree those players really like backland we've talked about how yeah you know for a lot of reasons he was the captain last year even if he didn't have it in name only um and you know i'll say this there's all this talk about american players wanting to stay in canada this would be another big one you've got jt miller connor hellebuck, Hannafin would be another, Austin Matthews, Cole Caulfield, depending on how much longer you want to put the timeline on this,

Brady Kachok and Josh Norris. We all talk about who wants to stay here, but Hannafin would be a big one for Calgary as they continue to try to keep some of their players. Now, like I said, I think they've talked to Tanev. It could always change. I heard it hadn't progressed as much as Hannafin's was. And there's still Lindholm here.

And it's an interesting time for Calgary. They didn't have a great road trip. They probably deserved a better fate in Washington. But they didn't have a great road trip they probably deserved a better fate in Washington but they didn't have a great trip and it's always I remember a few years ago I think it was Cliff Fletcher who told me once there's this conversation you have about signing players when things aren't going great but I think at the end of the day you always look at the big picture and hannifin's still a pretty young guy that trade has turned out good for him and good for them and you know he's he's a really good player and he's on their top pair so i'm not surprised they're prioritizing him okay let's get to the detroit red wings and

what a weekend it was for the wings sat. Saturday against the Ottawa Senators, 5-2. And a brief video welcome back for Alex Brinkett, where he was soundly booed by pretty much every Ottawa Senators fan in attendance. And then we saw Brady Kachuk going at him. And this is going to be a feud for a long, long time. And it's beautiful. I didn't like the Ridley GreGreg penalty, I have to say. I didn't think that was a penalty.

That was the only thing about that game I didn't like. Yeah, I was fine with that hit. Yeah. I was fine with all of that. But Debrinket's going to get that every time he goes to Ottawa. Every time he plays Ottawa, Alex Debrinket is going to get that. And Sunday, it's a 6-2 drubbing

of the Calgary Flames when the aforementioned Alex Debrinket scores three goals. Cat with the hat, as they say. Alex Debrinket, hat trick against the Calgary Flames. And we're looking at Dylan Larkin and where he's at with the scoring race.

We're looking at Comfrecop and Rasmussen as being an excellent second line. And we're looking at a Detroit Red Wings blue line. I was at the Marlies-Chequers game today and talking to one person who said, you know, we're talking about the Detroit Red Wings. And I said, well, what do you see? And he said, I see a team that can defend.

He said, as everybody wants, as every defenseman in the NHL is just trying to get cookies, trying to get cookies, trying to get cookies, I see a team that can defend well in their own zone. Do they give up a lot off the rush? Yeah, they do. But in their own zone they defend and they defend well and there's no one out there just looking for points and trying to chisel points and i got

to get a point and i got to get a point that's the team that defends what we're seeing so far from detroit elliott really really impressive they look really good and i have to say this too there aren't a lot of people upset with the idea of detroit turning into a bit of a powerhouse at a time when there's a little bit of uncertainty about the economy it's a good thing they've moved into this beautiful arena that hasn't seen a good hockey team yet passionate fan base loves the sport if detroit is going in that building for the first time it's a perfect time for the national hockey league Red Wings. A few things about this. Number one, it shows how uncomfortable last year was for Debrinket. He just wasn't himself in Ottawa. For whatever reason, he wasn't comfortable and now he is. It's hard not to notice how seamless

the adjustment has been in Detroit as compared to Ottawa a year ago. So that's number one. And number two, you know who Detroit reminds me of, Jeff? Who dat? The Kings. In what sense? The Kings drafted. They stockpiled prospects. The prospects didn't really hit it out of the park. They went for veterans. And now, look, they're starting to go.

Detroit hit one out of the park, Sider. That guy's a stud, and he's going to be a stud for a long time. But again, Iserman, last couple years, goes for the veterans. And now Detroit's starting to go. Now, I think the jury is still out on some of Detroit's prospects. I think there's a couple guys here that could still hit pretty good ceilings. But it's similar in the sense that Iserman said, I can't wait. I can't keep giving these guys chances yet.

Maybe eventually they will be cornerstones for us. But he's saying he couldn't wait. And he went out and he seems to be finding the right guys. I think we're leaving one person out of this. Who's that? Derek Lalonde. Are you saying that because he was our broadcast teammate last year? First of all, he was excellent last season.

Yeah, he was really good. In the playoffs at Hockey Night in Canada. He was tremendous. No, but I just look at the composition of this team, and further to your point about for two off-seasons now, Steve Iserman has went out and got a whole bunch of players and pulled a whole bunch of new players together and put them on the same team. And I don't think anybody looked at this blue line in the off season and said, you know what,

that's going to be a team that really defends well. That's going to be a team where we're going to make points about their blue line, you know, or seven games into the season here but here they are uh whenever you bring a whole new essentially a whole new team together you know twice in two years i think it makes it really difficult for the coach um to have any success i think it's a real challenge and i think he's done a great job i really do and i know he was our broadcast colleague last year, but that's irrelevant for this conversation. He's just flat out done a great job with this team. Everything is clicking.

I know you have to have things fall into your lap. Like the DeBrinket situation fell in perfectly with Detroit and fits perfectly with the Detroit Red Wings. And Larkin is Larkin. You're getting better performances from everybody. I mean, Shane Gossespierre looks excellent. A veteran. Out there.

He looks really, really good. Yeah, really good. Elliott, you know? And that, again, I can't stress it enough. That blue line defense. Do you have a thought on Derek Lalonde through all of this here? because we're talking about what Eisman did by putting players on this roster and what the brinkets doing and what the comfort line's doing we're kind of leaving out the coach here he's pretty important last time I checked you know the thing of course the coaching

is important I the one thing I really noticed working with Derek last year is that he's confident he took no shortcuts and one of the things I'll say about Lalonde is he would come in on nights where he wasn't working. He just wanted to see how we did things. How's the interaction goes? How's the meeting go? So he just wanted to be around on nights where he wasn't in just to see how we work together. Some of the people who come in, us in just to see how we work together. Some of the people who come in, they, for people who maybe aren't familiar with this, you know, sometimes when Kevin's up there or Jennifer or Kelly's up there talking about something, or even I'm up there talking about something, it's not necessarily our idea. A producer can suggest it. Sometimes we'll suggest it. Sometimes the producer will suggest it.

But we're not there with the editor when they put all the viz together. For example, on Saturday night when I did that thing with Conor Bedard or I did something this week with Tampa and Toronto meeting for the first time since the playoffs, I'll see that, what it looks like for the first time, about an hour and a half to two hours before the show and we do our rehearsal. Now I know what the content is and I'm responsible for coming up with what I'm going to say, but the editing and the pictures are done in advance. Derek would go up and he would sit with that editor and watch the editor put it together like that is above and beyond than a

lot of what we do so on some level i'm saying he was much more prepared than we were he puts our preparation to shame but on another level i think that just showed his curiosity and his desire i understand why he's a good coach seeing him do that because he wanted to understand how everything worked even stuff He didn't really need to know and he wanted to have a handle on how everything was put together And he always came with ideas and he was very confident in his ideas Very confident in his ideas. I think if you're going to be a leader of people whether children, adults, men, women, anyone, you have to be confident in front of a room. And he is that guy.

Everything I saw working with him last year made me understand why he has a chance to be a great coach because he knows how to command a room he's confident in himself and he does the preparation and so i'm glad you mentioned it because i saw a lot of it last year when we worked together start the engraving on the jackass there's there's going to be a lot of contenders this year there's going to be a lot of contenders this year. There's going to be a lot. Now, I wanted to mention to you a couple things that you talked about in the last pod. Number one, when we're talking about the draft, you had mentioned, you know, why don't we create some more time between free agency and the draft,

which is one of the issues here. June 28th and 29th last year, July 1st free agency. June 28th and 29th this year,uly 1st free agency june 28th and 29th this year this season and july 1st free agency really what i'm trying to figure out it's a sisyphusian task roll it up one side watch it roll down the other is just try to get the stanley cup final out of june but yes i'm trying to find some more breathing room between some events here. Well, one of the things that I was told was that it used to be that the season would begin the first week of October right before Canadian Thanksgiving. This year, it was second week of October right after Canadian Thanksgiving.

And now that ESPN is a TV partner, they have basically wall-to-wall baseball in the first week of October, the playoffs. So it's not getting moved up. Once again, TV is responsible for everything terrible. At least this time it's not Sportsnet, it's somebody else. And so that's the reason the season's not getting moved up. And I'll tell you something else, Jeff. You and I talked about increased playoffs and would that really help situations

and especially if there's expansion you know someone made a really interesting point to me that I didn't even think about until they made it to me on Saturday and that is that if you have a buy we talk about buys and a quick buy while teams play like a short series to see who makes the final eight and they brought up this year's Major League Baseball playoffs. In baseball, six teams from each league make the playoffs, and the top two get a bye. Well, if you take a look at the top two in the American League, Baltimore and Texas, and the top two in the National League

were Atlanta and Los Angeles, the Orioles, the Braves, and the Dodgers all lost in their opening round of the playoffs the only team that played in the first round didn't play in the first round and won were the Rangers and I have to say that did not go unnoticed and there's a lot of talk about what that means and were the teams that were playing given some extra momentum and all these think pieces are out about this and there were some i went back and read them but i was told that what happened in the baseball playoffs might even make it more difficult to get expanded playoffs in the nhl because now there's the theory that the teams that play, they keep the momentum, while the teams that get a break lose their momentum.

Discuss amongst yourselves. Argue whether or not there's any factual evidence to that. But that is kind of the thinking. Never mind kind of. That is definitely the thinking right now. Especially, I'm told, to the person who matters the most. I got a call about all of this on friday right before i was uh starting the radio show um from someone about the idea of the expanded

playoffs and it was a pretty short conversation well mainly because i had to go on the air but essentially this person's message was and i'm paraphrasing here are you eating space cake what did you say yes the league making the playoffs was your answer yes i said yeah you you know this this person's known me for a number of years i'm like how long have you known me of course i am you know this i said the only point that i was trying to make is you know back when it was a 21 team universe 16 made it now it's 32 and he said something along the lines of yeah it was too much then we're not going back to that um i do want to read something to you about this i i got a really thoughtful text the other day about it and there's some really good points here um and by the way just to to reiterate or go over one of your points from

saturday as well uh teams need to respond to the NHL win. It's Tuesday, end of business, and I believe some teams have already voted. Okay. I got a note from someone here, and this is a really thoughtful one. By the way, Jeff, if you know me, if you knew I had to vote,

when did you think I would vote? What time do you think I would send my ballot in? When does it do? 5 p.m eastern on tuesday 4 59 30 okay i just wanted to make sure you knew me well or maybe 501 and then you'd complain about it no there's something wrong with your watch if i'm late it's my fault it's nobody else's fault i do not duck blame. Okay. So this is from, I told this person I wouldn't use her name. I'd just say this is a hockey person. This comes to me by text on Friday. It's the only NHL event that every stakeholder

has either an emotional or financial interest or both. From the NHL, owners, NHLPA, media rights holders, general media, agents, corporate sponsors, fans, players, and families will be all negatively affected. The economic impacts will be felt in the media exposure of the number of stories being published. As humans, we are emotionally connected through stories and face-to-face human experiences. In the short term, the NHL teams may save some money, but long term, I do not think the NHL can afford to not have the NHL draft as a spectacle

in a crowded USA entertainment landscape. Hmm. When you add up all the people that lose if you don't do this, like someone from every single, like that's the one thing that really, when you put it all together, the NHL itself, the owners, the PA,

rights holders, general media, agents, corporate sponsors, fans, players, families, all negatively affected if you go the decentralization route. I think I've made it very clear that I generally don't like this idea. One thing you always have to remember is that not everybody is a monolith. I have spoken to some agents who really hate this idea of decentralizing it, but I have spoken to others who don't have as much of a problem with it. The people I do think really lose are the media. Not that anybody cares about us, but the media I do think loses.

The rights holders I do think lose. The access to people is much worse. Young people in the sport, I think, lose. And I'm talking about young people who work for teams or want to work for teams. I think you lose that networking ability. I think it's possible some team executives could lose or staff members could lose, especially if the teams decide not to invite everybody to their own personal offices their own personal situation rooms you know we'll see

again if you make something special out of it the NHL con that we were talking about I don't necessarily think the fans have to lose. I was surprised that some of the people who said to me that they weren't as upset about the change. I have to say, though, again, I've said this many times, and I'll say it again, I don't like it. From a selfish point of view, and I am nothing if not selfish, then it is not good and i now someone said to me they heard that it makes it easier to go to the sphere this year if there's less people

but i had a couple people say to me don't say that because if it is decided to decentralize the draft then what can happen is there be one last big party at the sphere prince party like it's 1999 party like it's on sale for 1999 let's go um Okay, more on this this week as we'll find out while the teams will vote on by Tuesday. We'll hit pause on that one. When we come back, I want to talk about a couple of teams here that we saw play against each other this weekend. The Arizona Coyotes and the Anaheim Ducks.

And as I found out, and maybe you found out as well over the past few days on hockey Twitter, maybe in your DMS, certainly in your timeline, certainly happened to mine. Anaheim Ducks fans pay close attention to what you're saying or not saying about their team. That's next on 32 thoughts. their team. That's next on 32 Thoughts.

Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Okay, welcome back to the podcast. Still plenty to get to here, and we're going to mention a number of firsts. And we're going to start by talking about Leo Carlson and the Anaheim Ducks. I'm not sure about you, Elliot, but Friday after the podcast came out, Ducks fans were foul. Sorry, I couldn't resist. That's so bad. Thank you. I couldn't resist that. So wait a sec.

Sorry, I couldn't resist. That's so bad. Thank you. I couldn't resist that. So wait a sec. So we're only talking about Anaheim in this segment because you are intimidated by the Anaheim fan base? I got bullied, Elliot. No, I want to talk about,

actually, I want to talk about Ross Johnson and I also want to talk about Radko Gudis. We'll get there in a couple of seconds. Just a quick thought on Leo Carlson. This has been quite a time for the Calder race, been quite a time for the top three players in last year's NHL draft in Nashville. Do you have a thought on Leo Carlson getting his first? This kid's going to be a heck of a player.

You see these guys more than I do when they're prospects, but I really didn't know Carlson compared to some of the other players like Bedard, like Fantilli, simply because I didn't see as many of their highlights. I saw more of their highlights over here. The word was that Carlson was the guy, when Anaheim ended up second overall, Carlson was the guy that they were going to take and they had you know obviously they went through their their work they they did their research they talked to other players I heard Anaheim's interview with Fantilli was really something actually

but he wanted Verbeek I mean he wanted Carlson all the way and you can see it I'll tell you one thing I really liked about Carlson is I didn't realize it but he has a bit of a stutter and you could see him doing his interview after he scored the goal and I just have great admiration I used to have a bit of a stutter I still kind of do and I know how difficult it can be to feel comfortable talking when you're like that. And I just really enjoyed the effort he made because somewhere someone's going to see that and they're going to say, hey, he's talking. I can too. George Springer has talked about that a lot with the Blue Jays.

He had one as well. But this kid is a real talent. And I do find Verbeek's plan for him interesting. Eric Stevens in the Athletic wrote about it last week, about how Verbeek is going to have him not play certain games.

He played Saturday against Arizona and didn't play Sunday against Boston. And this is by design. Verbeek basically saying, I know what it's like to play in the NHL at 19, and I'm going to protect him a little bit. And the hope is that he'll be able to play more games at the end of the year or more consistently

at the end of the year than he can now. But what a week for some of the young prospects. Poitras scores, Fantilli scores, Bedard scored in Chicago's home opener. Going to be a tough Calder vote this year Jeff sure will now one thing about that Anaheim Arizona game

now I used to always circle LA Anaheim games whenever there was an LA Anaheim game like that was it I'm watching that game you know close the door don't bother me this is going to be amazing you know the beautiful violence that is hockey. That's what those games were. Now, after we've seen,

you know, the Arizona Coyotes rough up the Anaheim Ducks for a couple of seasons now, here comes the response. Ross Johnston claimed on waivers. First chance he gets right at Liam O'Brien and like, nope, Liam O'Brien. And like, nope, we're doing this. I'm grabbing you. I'm holding on to you until you agree to drop your gloves. And we're doing this. Radko Gudis taking out Michael Carcone in the game as well.

We all know how hard a hitter Radko Gudis is. And I understand that there was, there was some criticism of Padford Beak when he let go of Nicholas Delorier, that Delorier was there to fill a very specific role and could also play second unit, penalty kill, et cetera, et cetera. And then once that security blanket was gone, we saw a lot of Anaheim Ducks players

taken advantage of and bullied and pushed around and punched by a very aggressive Arizona Coyotes team. The presence of Johnston and the presence of Gutis levels the playing field now. And it's still a rivalry. I know there are two teams that are not close to anywhere near the top or middle for that matter of a winning cycle. But all of a sudden now, Arizona Anaheim games, Elliot just got way more interesting.

Red line, Ross Johnston. That's what people in the Eastern conference called them. You know why? Why? Because he always skated right on the red line in the warm-up there used to be guys in the old western league kelly rudy would tell me well boris fistrick being one who would skate over the red line and take shots at him well they were notorious for that and sometimes the new westminster bruins kelly told me, Kelly played for the Medicine Hat Tigers, would take the net off the moorings, skate them over to the red line, and stand beside the net and say to the Medicine Hat Tigers, what are you going to do about that? This is all during warmup. There are no officials on the ice

to say it was the wild, wild West. Elliot was an understatement. Okay. Speaking of interesting Elliot, um, your lovely cruise with Elias Pettersson in Stockholm. Uh, this goes back to August. Uh, the video released late last week by Sportsnet you retweeted it take us behind the scenes on this one well first of all I have to give credit I want to thank the people who run the cruise and the other people

on the boat because the tour started a little bit late because of things we were getting set up and they were incredibly patient and i wanted to say thank you uh for that because we did slightly inconvenience people now i know that being on the same cruise boat with especially me and also a little bit peterson might have calmed down what a little bit of that disappointment turning on the charm the people were incredibly patient yes and and i am hugely appreciative

i'm gonna write a little bit more as you know jeff and a lot of these things when the and i thought it was really well put together uh by mark m by Mark McDonald and the group that edited it. But it ran for four minutes and 10 seconds. And there's always things that are said that are good that you wish you could find more room for. So I'm going to put them in the notes when I write them this week. But I found Pedersen really interesting to listen to. And, you know, one of the things he talked about scoring his first goal, but he also talked about, and I'm going to write more about this, the energy of scoring in a building like Vancouver's. He talked about, you realize what it can mean when you have success in a place that is as

passionate and burns as hot as Vancouver does. And I thought that was very important. And the last thing we talked about in the piece in Stockholm was how much he wants to win. And I found it really interesting hearing him talk about how emotional he got watching Lionel Messi and Argentina win that world cup. And what that says to me is he wants to win, and we've talked a lot about his future and his contract and stuff, but he wants to win in a place where it really matters to win.

And that is what is Vancouver's best selling point is. I think there's always going to be some loyalty to the team that drafted you. I think there's always going to be some loyalty to the place where you start as a boy and began to grow into a man. But ultimately, for example, I was watching in the postgame today,

I was watching some highlights online from the Giants. They beat the Washington Commanders. And one of the Washington players was like seven years of this I can't take it anymore it's been seven years and no matter how good you feel about the place that drafted you and developed you ultimately you want to win there and what I really feel is Vancouver's best asset here is that he knows if he wins there,

it matters. You know, you saw it like those players that finally won the Stanley cup in St. Louis, those players that finally won the Stanley cup in Washington, those players that finally won the Stanley cup in Los Angeles. And those players that ended a the Stanley Cup in Los Angeles and those players that ended a 50-year drought in Chicago, how much they were beloved.

They are gods in those cities because of what they did on the ice. And I think that is what Patterson sees. He knows that if he wins there it's going to matter and that as long as vancouver is going in the right direction that is the best pull they have to keep him there because i think he realizes that that's what the impression i was left with after talking to him. No surprise that to kick off that cruise, you made life inconvenient for everybody on it. Elliot. But no, seriously though, it's a wonderful piece.

I encourage everybody to have a peek at it. Time now, Elliot, for the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Phone number 1-833-311-3232. We've got a pretty good voicemail coming up here.

1-833-311-3232. This from Nate. Good morning, Jeff, Elliot, and new Amal. We've had a lot of penalty shots through the first week of the regular season, and it got me thinking. In the NHL video game, you can skate backwards, but we don't see that in shootouts nor penalty shots. I understand movement towards the goal through the entire process is a must,

but is backwards skating towards the goal against the rules for penalty shots and shootouts? As always, nice job, Jeff. Great job, Nuamal. And great to hear you in Nashville, Elliot. That from Nate. Skating backwards on a penalty shot. Essentially what he's saying is, do you have to push the puck or can you pull it? It's an interesting one i would say they wouldn't allow it to happen but the rules are much more gray than i i think we realize because i want to say it was lenis omar someone will tell me if i'm

incorrect on this but he had a move where he spun around and the opposing teams would argue that technically that shouldn't be allowed because the puck isn't moving forward and i think patrick kane copied it after a while and the the league said we're allowing it now i don't think they would allow a guy to skate down backwards i think they would you know you're right they could who knows anymore i think they would maybe they would but i could see that one see the spin around was discussed yeah and they allowed it the kuznetsov thing is allowed i think the time someone skates in backwards yeah that might wake people up out of their slumber i don't know you're still moving the puck forward though but

you're just pulling the puck as opposed to pushing it yeah i don't know i i i don't know i i don't know jeff i just i could see someone saying we're not doing that there was i want to say it was like timo hardikainen there was someone in the finnish league that did this someone's gonna remind me well marty san luis turned around backwards yes he did yes he did but he didn't do it the whole way i think they'd allow it i think it's fine you're still moving the puck forward so your turn backwards it looks different. So what? We're talking out of our butts

on this one. We don't know, but someday someone's going to try it. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. Do it, shootout specialists. Do it.

Okay, Colin from West Kelowna. This is interesting. And there's an obvious answer. And I blame Mike Keenan. I have always wondered why goalies get basically no time to stretch or warm up when a goalie change happens, especially when a goalie is injured. This seems like a risk to injure your backup too. They don't even go to commercial.

I know baseball has a much different mentality, but pitchers not only get to warm up for a while in the bullpen, but get a commercial break to throw some pitches from the mound you know this one elliot why don't they allow goaltenders to warm up well this is right up your alley you should tell this story free time out because so many coaches would just change goalies get the warm-up it's a free time out that's all it is i mean how many times did mike keenan change goaltenders like all the time essentially it's why burn a timeout if you can just change your goalie instead and then next whistle put the other guy back in that's really what it comes down to here you don't want as much as it may you know you're sending a goalie in cold i understand that but really what

it does is just give a team a free time time now the one thing i have wondered is the one thing i have wondered is before you do that is if there's an obvious injury for example in a major league baseball if a pitcher leaves due to injury the guy who comes in gets a longer warm-up basically is allowed to warm up as long as they. They didn't get pitches in the bullpen because they weren't planning on coming in. Thanks, Tips. I'm just making it clear. But I've wondered if a goalie is injured and clearly injured,

should the goalie get a warm-up? A quick one. If it's pulled because just the other guy wasn't very good or the coach is throwing a temper tantrum, no warm-up. If it's pulled because just the other guy wasn't very good. Yeah. Or the coach is throwing a temper tantrum, no warmup. Here's a question for coaches in the audience. If you have a situation where a goalie's coming in cold, maybe it's like late in the second period and all he's done is sat there, or maybe he's just sat there with his baseball hat from a strategic point of view should the opposing team fire as many shots on the goalie

as possible as quick as they can because he's coming in cold or do you wait for the perfect shot so you don't let him get warmed up to the puck the only thing i can say to that is i remember there was a game carrie price came back after an injury and pj stock got angry at the other team for like floating some weak ones in on them because they said they were warming them up yep yep i agree i agree i would be team don't fire a lot of pucks on him right away. I would be team wait for the perfect shot. But again, I have coached exactly zero games of hockey. So don't listen to me.

All right, one more and it's a voicemail. This is Steve. Hey, boys. Steve in upstate New York. Although I am a Detroiter with a winged wheel tattooed on my heart. I was just curious what you guys would end up putting on your goalie helmets if you were professional goalies and you had free range to paint it up however you want. Thanks, as always, for the pod. Love it. and uh as always try the rips you got our slogan on the show um seriously i've had a few people tweet that at me that's good

uh do you have one i i love this question i absolutely love this question well love it you go first. Cause I know that you would, you would have been preparing this for seven hours. So you go first. Thought a lot about this all day long. Honestly, my honest first thought, and I've thought about this one a lot. My honest first thought is I would want to paint Andy Brown's face on the mask. And for those that may not know who Andy Brown was,

he was the last goaltender to go maskless in both the NHL and the WHA. I might be tempted as a tribute to go with something with Andy Brown, maybe his face, just so his lovely face can be back into the NHL. Elliot, I've got a couple more in my hip pocket, but what do you think of that one?

It's so you because it's creative, but it's supremely weird. It's a little bit goofy. One of my other thoughts on it is a tribute to the pioneers of the mask in the first documented example of someone wearing a mask, a goalie mask in hockey, was at Queen's University in 1927 on the women's team, Elizabeth Graham, who wore a fencing mask because she had just had dental surgery and didn't want to get her teeth mashed up. So that was the first one. I understand that. Sure.

Clint Benedict wore a mask with the Montreal Maroons in 1930. But before that, a lot of historians now, like Steve Smith from the Society for International Hockey Research, has actually traced it back to 1929. 29 and George Hainsworth after he got a broken nose from Aurel Joliet he wore like this rubber concoction over his like rubber and plaster over his face which may be considered the first goalie mask ever in the NHL Elizabeth Graham still has both of them beat as well but I might do a tribute to the early pioneers of the mask. Just one of Elizabeth Graham, one of George Hainsworth, and one of Clint Benedict of the Montreal Maroons. The other one, because I've thought a lot about this today, Elliot.

I can tell. Dom, you've got to stop sending Jeff the questions so early. Because this part of the pod takes longer than the rest of the pod. Okay, I got one more. I got one more. I would want a picture of the cover of one of my favorite hockey books of all time. And it's a goalie. It's They Call Me Gump by Gump Worsley.

It's a beautiful painting of Gump from behind. I'd want that on the mask. One, as a tribute to Gump Worsley, who I loved. And two, as a way to encourage people to read hockey books. What do you think about that, Elliot? Again, I got no problem with any of this. A mask is your canvas, so you should paint it as you feel right. So even though your answer took 17 minutes, I think it's all fantastic because it's it's like i said it's wonderfully weird it's

jeff merrick what would you do well there would be some tribute to my grandparents on there that would be for sure my uh my maternal grandparents i would find some way to to honor them can i can i raise this can i make a suggestion i know this is your this is your part of it can i make one suggestion as a tribute on the back back plate, can you write, you plan God laughs? Yeah, you know what? That's a good one. You plan God laughs.

That might actually be the tribute. Right on the back plate. I would have a purple Mustang stomping on a red Griffin. That would definitely be on there. Never happened. a red griffin that would definitely that's beyond there never happened like like maybe maybe like a purple mustang like barbecuing griffin meat like that that could be very good wearing a university guelph hockey hoodie right now as we as we speak elliot yeah it's probably from some remainder bin somewhere uh so i i would probably put something for you know the western because those

years really uh changed my life i you know what i i probably there would be some nod to kind of my career progression to uh fan 590 to the score well headline sports first the score to cbc hockey night in canada andnet. I would probably put something like that on there. But definitely something to my grandparents, definitely something for Western, and probably something there that nobody would know anything about. Like it's one of those things that if someone ever guessed it, I would look at them and say,

I really want to know how you figured that out. Hmm. Like the, the, the ultimate Elliot Friedman Easter egg. Yes. And I wouldn't tell anybody what it is. If someone asked, I would say, sorry, you got to figure it out. Hoping that somebody would.

Hmm. And so I could look at them and say that was pretty amazing that's awesome of all the ideas that I just threw out at you whether it's Andy Brown's face whether it's Elizabeth Graham George Hainsworth and Clint Benedict or whether it's

Gump Worsley is the cover of They Call Me Gump which one do you think is the best out of those three I would love to see if Andy Brown would come at you for copyright infringement that was my first thought oh and get Andy Brown back in the league somehow that is a great

voicemail love it and that's the Montana's Thought Line Montana's Barbecue and Bar Canada's Home for Barbecue we're back to talk about a Maple Leafs comeback and also Nick Robertson. Stick around. Elliot, finish up the podcast today talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs. Well, not just the Maple Leafs, but the Marlies as well.

More on that in a couple of moments. Saturday night, Ilya Samsonov pulled against Tampa, surrenders three goals on four shots, entered Joseph Wall, and it's cue the comeback time. Domi tenies a couple of times. It's a four to three comeback you were there working it for hockey night in canada your thoughts on what we saw saturday one of the good things about the league early in this year has been the ability for teams to come

back it wasn't too long ago probably about 20 years ago that this was a league where there were no comebacks. The last Stanley Cup final before the lockout, the Calgary-Tampa one, there were no lead changes that entire series. And that's not good. But we talked about Edmonton not being able to hold leads. And again, in the first period of that game the other night, when Kucherov was teeing off on Samsonov, I don't think anybody thought that Toronto was going to come back

and win that game. This is a big opportunity for Joseph Wall. You know, as you know, I've said that I wouldn't be surprised if he's the number one guy by the end of the year. And this is his first time this season, he's going to have a chance to take a run with the job because he's going to play their next game Tuesday in Washington. So Samsonov gets knocked out, to play their next game Tuesday in Washington. So Sam Stout gets knocked out three shots, three goals and four shots. And I didn't think Toronto really got going until the third period. But when they did, it kind of reminded me at times of the playoffs last year, when they really got going, Tampa couldn't keep up with them. You know, the whole Dubas era, I always wonder when a general manager leaves a team or a general manager goes somewhere else or gets fired,

what does the team look like two years, three years, five years after that GM leaves? Because that to me is the true test of what a manager has done with a team is what it looks like a couple of years after he's gone. And nice. It looks like he might be the best draft pick of the Dubas era. Second rounder who was a first round talent who had a really bad year. Like I'm not convinced jeff he shouldn't be on the first line i think he's the guy that probably should be playing with

marner and matthews although they may not want to do it and the other guy is wool simply because of the contract they've got him signed to they signed him him two years ago. He's in the second year of a three-year deal at $765,000. And if he's your number one at some point this year, and then the job is definitely his to grab for next year, you know, that's a great contract so I mean Nyes was a difference maker and I think the real big thing was Domi you know he looked completely out of sorts in the first few games and he set up Nyes's two goals I mean I can understand why they would want to keep Nyes and Domi together for after that game because it really helped domey but the more i watch nice the more i think he should be on the first line with matthews and marner

totally skilled player now this brings me to uh another question for you and it's interesting you bring up matthew nice and talk about his progression here. So Sunday afternoon, I went down to Coca-Cola Coliseum to see the Toronto Marlies face off against the Charlotte Checkers. You know my love of the American Hockey League. I know you love the American Hockey League too. Yeah, yeah. And it's always interesting early in the season too, right?

Guys have just gone down. Teams are just starting to gel with one another get used to the schedule uh sometimes sundays aren't the best day to see an ahl game because it's the end of the weekend and sometimes the games can be a little bit sloppy because guys are tired um but i love it um marley's doubled up the the checkers four to two uh martin jones played for the marley's mac guzdaers four to two. Martin Jones played for the Marley's. Matt Guzda, old Barry Colt, in net for the Charlotte checkers.

There are some players that you can see. I mean, you've seen it before, like younger players that are trying to get up to the NHL. And you can tell like there are glimpses like Mackie Samuskevich was in the lineup for Charlotte. And there are moments where you're like, okay, he's clearly a better skater than almost everybody out here. Or you can tell, like, okay, this guy's close, and you can understand why he's, you know, right there and ready to make the Florida Panthers.

Rod Brindamore's kid was there. And boy, is he ever big, Elliot. It's the first thing you notice about Skylar Brindamore, just how big he is. And you wonder, okay, so what's the transition from college hockey to pro hockey going to be? Riley Bezo, Andy Bezo's son, who won him a World Cup in St. John. Riley Bezo, right?

You hear that name, right? We keep talking about like how old we are here we covered all these guys and now we're i saw that guy play in the ohl with niagara falls brad may and yeah heath primo thunder yeah when they knocked out london in the playoffs in my first year university 1990 he was traded for a washer and dryer and then they ruled the trade. This is who he's playing Fort Wayne and he was traded for a washer and dryer to Michigan. They ruled the trade ineligible. So he had to go back to Fort Wayne, but he had already played a game with Michigan and then he ended up getting traded somewhere else

i can't recall but that was a weird one one because he got traded for a washer and dryer was able to play a game and then they ruled the trade invalid anyway andy bizo was one of the toughest guys like probably ever to play the game alligator steve logic loved him. He loved him. He did, eh? Yeah. Yeah, Steve Ludzik loved him. Biso was tough. And he runs a, I think he runs like hockey academies out east. Anyhow, but the one player that I want to get your thoughts on is Nick Robertson. So Nick Robertson scored the goal to make it 3-2, proved to be the eventual game winner with a shot that you can only describe if you saw it as an NHL shot.

Like perfect place, gets the pass and like blistering speed. Like it's on his, it's on the blade of his stick for like such a fraction of a second. Like you look at it and bam, like that's an NHL shot. And you can tell, like there are moments all throughout the game where, okay, Nick Robertson's quote unquote, too good for the AHL. There was, you know, a couple of moments where there was one where he really schooled Sam Miskevich behind the net because, you know, Peterborough better than Michigan. There you go.

But like, you can tell like right away, like this guy deserves to be in the NHL. But guys like that have such a hard time finding a spot. Hearing you talk about Matthew Nyes and watching Nick Robertson in the afternoon, I just wonder, what are your thoughts on where Nick Robertson fits in this equation for the Maple Leafs? What have you heard? What do you know? They told him, from what I understand, look, we've only got 12 forwards and stuff happens. Guys get hurt. Guys struggle. Look look they called up holmberg the other day yeah and so there are going to be changes and they told him you have to give us a reason

there's going to be opportunity down there for you to come up you just have to give us a reason for you to do it and he started really. He had five points in his first two games. And after this weekend, he's got six points in four games. So all he can do is prepare. But you know what's going on here, Jeff. He played his first games for the Maple Leafs three and a half years ago in the bubble, in playoffs he scored a goal against columbus if you're in an organization for that long and you haven't cracked the team you get to a point where you say it's time for me to try it somewhere else and i could see robertson getting there i wouldn't be surprised if he felt that way when he was sent down, but I just don't think Toronto was at the point where they were willing to do

that at that time. And also I think they recognize this is a talented player. There are a lot of teams. I think he might get more of a runway than he does right now. I just think it comes down to when does his patients run out? If there isn't an opportunity and what does that mean you watched him on Sunday he's so good see anything that said he wasn't ready for a chance no this guy he again like you've seen it before like I always and he's been hurt too he can't forget that yes I always feel for those players um that are caught in that too

good for the american league and have a hard time finding a spot in the nhl position like when i used to well when i used to do color for the marlies and you know the the great john bartlett was was play-by-play voice of the marlies you know the examples we would always point at were players like kirby law and eric Westrom and these types of the Brett Sterlings of the world like there's you know the American Hockey League has always been littered with these types of players the ones that were just like okay you're too good for this league but where's your spot in the NHL and again you watch Nick Robertson you're like that's an NHL guy what does he need to do is it remember what they used to call baseball players like that?

They used to call them 4A players because AAA and then the majors. And they would call the guys. There was a guy, and if you're an older person, you're going to remember this name, Brad Komensk. He was a guy that used to have ridiculous numbers at AAA in the 80ss but he couldn't make it and i think that was the guy they called the 4a player well whatever that is

nick robertson's right there we'll see what uh what happens uh on that we'll uh we'll wrap it up on behalf of elliot on behalf of Dom Merrick signing off we're back Friday morning for another edition of 32 Thoughts the podcast enjoy the week of hockey

on the horizon and we look forward to Sunday and the Heritage Classic in Edmondson have a great week talk to you again Friday I'll see you next time.