32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Two Goals, One Assist And No Licks

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

“I’m back!” Jeff and Elliotte discuss Brad Marchand’s impressive returns to the Bruins lineup (1:00), Vancouver finally wins a game (5:00), Connor McDavid (will score 60 goals) and the Edmonton Oilers (13:30), Arizona debuting their arena this weekend, Toronto having a tough west coast road trip (25:00), the Blues potentially changing their identity (31:50), the Flyers claiming Kieffer Bellows off waivers (35:50), Buffalo on the lookout for some defence (38:30), Ilya Sorokin’s play (41:00) and what the Ducks might be doing this season (43:20).Plus, Elliotte is changing things up with his 32 Thoughts blog and he tells us about it (50:00).GET YOUR 32 THOUGHTS MERCH HEREMusic Outro: Origami Human - Share A MindListen to the full song hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: 630 CHED, Arizona Coyotes Instagram, NESN, SN650, Sportsnet, Toronto Maple Leafs Radio Network, WBZ-FM and WGN Radio 720.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.

Let's try to get this all in 20 minutes so Amel doesn't go crazy. Yep, no problem. Bedtime. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by GMC and the new Sierra AT4X. Merrick Friedman, Dalich Friedman, on the road. Coming home after doing the Toronto-San Jose game. More on that in a couple of moments. And plenty on Vancouver.

Hallelujah, they have a win. They now have a single win in the win column. And Bruce Boudreaux has win number 600. More on that in a couple of moments. And we'll talk about Molitorina. And we'll talk about Connor McDavid. But Elliot, first let's talk about the return of Brad Marchand. Now, a lot of us didn't think we'd see him until December.

Last time I checked, he returned on October the 27th, and in grand fashion, Boston beats Detroit 5-1. And number 63 gets a comfortable two goals and one assist. What a comeback. Center point Lindholm. Left circle. Marchand shoots. He scores!

He's back! 63! Brad Marchand with a laser just inside the far post. A power play goal! Bruins 2. Red Wings nothing. This is after, by the way, hip surgery. Coming back way earlier than expected for each.

First of all, he did not get the Brad Marchand hat trick. You know what the Brad Marchand hat trick is, Jeff? Does it involve a lick? A goal, an assist, and a lick. Nope, didn't get that. Our little boy's all grown up now other than that he was perfect okay and first of all am i surprised that the that marshand and the bruins were not completely honest with the timeline no i don't think i'm surprised at all. Marshan said in the morning that... We had this date circled on the calendar months ago.

You know, we obviously wanted to keep it kind of close because a lot of different variables about things that could happen or how I was going to feel, we weren't quite sure. But we've kind of checked the box all along. Each step that we took in the progression, I felt good and I responded really well. I got to give a ton of credit to the training staff. They did a phenomenal job.

We sat down and talked about when we wanted to come back, and obviously there's the initial timeline, but we all wanted to get back as soon as we could within reason, and they did a great job at executing that and allowing me to get back early i think that's what teams and players do they set a bar but they set the bar in a way that you can jump over it because it's always better to say i beat the timeline as opposed to i missed the timeline so i'm not surprised they were a little bit dishonest about that.

You know, the thing that says to me about Brad Marchand is whether you love him or you hate him, and I know there's plenty of people on both sides, you cannot deny what an elite mentality he has and what an elite player he is. John Butcher-Gross of ESPN had a great tweet, and I forget the exact verbiage, but basically what he said

was, one thing you also always have to scout is how much a player loves the game. And Brad Marchand loves the game and he's a competitive guy and that's why he is who he is. And don't look now, but these Boston

Bruins are 7 and one and i also like the fact jeff that they have a plan that they said look he's not going to play back-to-backs for now yeah so he's two plus one against detroit he's not going to play friday against columbus i have no doubt he probably said something after the game on th like, you sure I can't play tomorrow? But I like the fact the Bruins have a plan here for attacking this and all the credit to Marchand, all of it. They're 7-1,

they have 14 points, top of the Atlantic and won four games in a row and they still don't have Charlie McAvoy. Now, you know my thoughts on players coming off hip surgery and what my expectations are for them. Namely, zero. Which makes the game that we saw Thursday night for me, Elliot,

so much more remarkable. Yeah. Just knowing at his age with that type of surgery and other players that have gone through it, just how it looks painful watching them get through those first few games. And sometimes it takes a long time. My expectation for guys coming up, hip surgery is nada, zero, nothing. This guy's a freak, Elliot.

This guy's a freak. Also, Jeff, elite social media game from the Boston Bruins. When he scored, the tweet came out, out of course I thought that was fantastic because that's what everybody said all right Vancouver Canucks have their first win of the season it was a top seed trivia fair Vancouver goes up one nothing Ilya Mikheyev scores and then it's back and forth leads Seattle scores a pair but a good save by that potential crack and win the face off Alexiak tees up a one-timer for the point he scores for Vince Dunn now ahead for leads. Seattle scores a pair. Kyle Burrows fought Morgan Geeky.

First time since 2016, the Canucks have had three fights in a game. And this one's not done. Vancouver scores a pair. Can't pass into the slot, broken up by Coleman, but it comes to Mikheyev, right circle, he scores! As Sheldon drives, knocked it loose, and Ilya Mikheyev rips it past Martin Jones for his second of the game. And the Canucks tie it at two. Holds in for Miller.

Left circle with a shot. Tip. They score. Andre Kuzmenko at the top of the crease. Off a nice pass from JT Miller. And the Canucks have their second power play goal of the night. Matty Beniers ties it up before the third. And then Pedersen and Garland score in the third period.

Harris to the left circle. Trying to shot. It's tip. Pedersen bats it in. Top of the crease. Elias Pedersen on the redirect in front. Just 1-16 into the third period. jayden schwartz scores with 30 seconds left because of course but still vancouver wins this one five to four deep in the zone crack and hold in burakovsky right circle shoots blocked by miller right at four. And Bruce Boudreau finally has win number 600. A couple of fights in this one. Pearson and

Larson, Miller and Soucy. Horvat tried to, I think it was Alexiak he tried to draw into one. This game had a little bit of everything. A big shot blocked by JT Miller at the end of the game. Your thoughts on Vancouver finally getting that massive piano off their back. Do you think that

the greatest honor that the Canucks received on Thursday night was that they now hold the in-season cup. You just listed a whole bunch of things that were great for the Canucks, but do you think all of that fails in comparison to them having the in-season cup?

The worst part about it is their next game is against Pittsburgh, and you have the Penguins. Do you think there's any chance that after two losses in a row in Alberta, the Penguins spent a lot of time at the Roxy? About zero, Elliot. About zero time at the Roxy.

Apparently, someone said to me that Sullivan was snapping at them during practice on Thursday. I can see them being force-fed video of the Vancouver Canucks and force-fed video themselves. Clockwork orange style for the last couple of days by Mike Sullivan. That's what I expect. three one goal leads they took a 3-2 lead and seattle went right down the ice off the next face off and scored like it was just shaping up to be the same kind of game that they lost the whole time then they go ahead 5-3 on the empty netter and of course seattle scores once to make it more interesting you just knew that was going to happen it was interesting there the canucks on their social put out some video of the players going into the room

and Boudreaux fist pumping them. And you could see some of the relief in the players. And I thought it was really interesting. Garland got benched by Boudreaux once during this, and he seemed to have some really nice words for the coach. And Horvat, the captain, really seemed to have some nice words for the coach. It's interesting you mentioned the fighting. That said to me that these guys felt challenged.

Either they were challenged or they felt challenged. That they were being told that they were accepting losing too easily. That maybe they didn't care. And I'm not saying that I don't think they didn't care. Cause if you're going to say that you better be able to prove it. And I don't think that's the case, but I can see them being challenged with that. You guys don't look like you care or you guys are going down meekly.

You know, you don't fight four times in a game, Jeff out of nowhere. That's a team that's getting, that was getting challenged, but you know, it don't fight four times in a game, Jeff, out of nowhere. That's a team that was getting challenged. But, you know, it's a huge relief. It's still a long hill. But for 24 hours, you get to feel good about yourselves. And they made an interesting move on Thursday.

Jack Studnicka. So I got a tip earlier in the day that he was out there, and I made a couple of calls, and then, woof, all of a sudden he was gone. And, you know, that was Marchand coming back, and I know they put Riley on waiver so they could get Marchand on the roster. But, like I said, I heard in the afternoon that Stoudnika's time in Boston was coming to an end. Now, DiPietro had fallen down the death chart in Vancouver.

There were some people who were surprised that the Swedish defenseman got included in that. Jonathan Mirenberg. Jonathan Mirenberg, because they don't have a lot of right shot D prospects. You know, I'll tell you a couple of things about it. I did ask people who said to me that because Vancouver doesn't have a lot of that kind of player that they were surprised they trade them. I did have some other people who said to me that he wouldn't be as highly regarded if the Canucks weren't so thin at that position and at that depth and that he's still a few years away.

I had someone who said to me that Boston liked them. What it came down to is Vancouver's taking a gamble here that the reason he's so seen higher as a prospect with the Canucks is they're just really thin prospect wise. We'll see. I mean, this guy's not going to be in the NHL for a couple of years, but I did hear Boston liked him. Stunica, I think, is a really interesting gamble for Vancouver because it wasn't going to work in Boston. His time there was basically done.

And if you're going to give a player a shot to go somewhere else, Vancouver, especially its center, is the perfect place for this. I also don't think, Jeff, that the Canucks are done when it comes to looking for a defenseman. Even though they're not going to race into anything, I still got the impression I heard Thursday night that they're still going to be looking for d out there there's a couple of things there for the um from those vancouver players that ended up going to the boston bruins one for mirenberg uh the the feeling that i got calling

around was this guy has a shot at playing in the nhl but he's not necessarily a lock a lot of the good offensive numbers that he put up in junior haven't translated to the men's pro game yet. And for Michael DiPietro, man, I felt bad about DiPietro falling down the depth chart for one very specific reason. And it's a really tough spot. He was taxi squad guy. And when you're a taxi squad goaltender, you're not playing. And didn't part of you always wonder,

what is this doing to Michael DiPietro's development? Sitting on that taxi squad for so long and not getting into games? That's kind of how I felt about Michael DiPietro with the Vancouver Cubs because he was pretty high on the depth chart for a long time. And then COVID happened, taxi squads. I always wondered about young goaltenders sitting on taxi squads and not playing. Michael DiPietro was that guy.

You don't think Vancouver's done here at all? No, I don't. It might not be imminent. I don't have any information to believe it's imminent, but I do think they're going to be looking for defensemen still. That is not over. Not over.

Remember before the year began and we were in Paris and then we were in Vegas. And when we were in Paris for the European players tour, Leon Dreisaitl talked about Connor McDavid shooting more and this guy could score however many goals, what did he say, 60 goals or whatever it was. Yes. Connor McDavid's going to do it, isn't he? A hat-trick against Chicago. He now has eight.

He's shooting more and finding the back of the net. Kicked out. Bouchard had it. Dickinson in his grill. Bouchard fought him off, threw it across. McDavid, beautiful drag move to the net. Scores! Hat-trick Connor McDavid!

The 12th of his career! And it's 5-4 Edmonton. Edmonton wins. Pretty exciting game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. He gets the hat trick. Your thoughts on McDavid right now? It was a weird game. I was watching it with one eye because I was working the San Jose-Toronto Regional.

And were there like 5,000 penalties called in that game? What was going on? Sometimes it's just candy in the penalty box, man. Well, it was a fun game to watch. It was entertaining. Dry Seidel right now is the best motivational speaker in the Western Hemisphere. Like if that's what it takes him to come out and say,

hey, Connor, you got to score 60. He should be charging it. He should be walking in to offices and getting unmotivated employees to work because that clearly worked and McDavid is lighting it up. I'll say this. I didn't see the Evander Kane disallowed goal live, but all of a sudden I had people tweeting at me and saying,

you have to explain this one. So I looked at it and when i first saw it i was like what seriously that didn't count right side here's dry suddenly into the hawks and on the right wing back to the blue line to barry across the nurse he'll shoot it saved by staloc don't think he saw jones and evander kane battle in front of that evander kane to elizabeth will shoot and score and staloc is down at the top of the crease lost his goal stick evander kane pushes seth jones over the top of alex stay lock who had no chance of making the save i want to see what the officials are going to do here the call on the ice is no goal

and then what i thought happened was i didn't realize that stayoc didn't pick up his stick. And I kind of wondered if they were going to say that Staloc wasn't able to pick up his stick. Because initially, I think they called it a goal because they felt that Keane was slew footed into the net. Pause on that because in the official's announcement afterwards, it was, you know, the call on the ice was no goal. But clearly you can see when the puck goes in the net, the call on the ice is, it's a goal. I think that's what confused people. I can explain that one. And what you are allowed to do, and I can't remember specific examples, but I have seen it before where in the moment they call it a goal then they huddle and then they say our official call is no goal before we go to review they can do that and that

has happened before and you're right jeff i think that was a source of the confusion but when i watched the replay i was like how is that no goal? I thought Staloc had plenty of time, but he didn't pick up a stick. And I kind of wondered if that was the reason that he didn't get a chance to get his stick back and he scored. So first of all, I heard the reason the original good goal was overturned was because they thought that Kane was slew-footed into Staloc. But when they huddled, they said, no, he wasn't slew footed. He went in on his own, which I was fine with, but I thought Staloc had plenty of time

to reset. I heard though, that they disagreed, that they felt that Staloc never really was able to get reset. And that's why the goal didn't count. I don't know that I agree with that. I actually think it should have been a good goal, but that was the reason they just felt that he wasn't able to reset. And I have to say, the fact that he never was able to pick up his stick, I actually think that's kind of a big deal. Personally, for me, I wanted to see the goal count. A couple of more things before we get to the game that you worked

and that is Maple Leafs and San Jose Sharks. A big win in overtime. What a move by Eric Carlson to salt it away for the Sharks. I want to ask you about Mullet Arena and we'll see the Winnipeg Jets there on Friday night. You know, there are four home games they have coming up. It's Jets Friday,

Rangers Sunday, Florida Tuesday, Stars on Thursday and now we've seen the visuals we've seen the uh the the virtual tours through the rink i know the visitors dressing room is getting a lot of attention and not for any reasons that are remotely good uh your thoughts on what we've seen and your thoughts on what the Winnipeg Jets are marching into Friday night. Look, my whole philosophy in life is make the best of everything you can. OK, we all have good things that happen to us. We all have challenges we have to deal with.

The best way, as far as I'm concerned, to live is make the best of everything. And that's what the Coyotes are trying to do. I liked the GM, Bill Armstrong. He had his Instagram post saying, we need you to make this the loudest arena. Hey, Coyotes fans. We are so excited about having you tomorrow night at the Mullet Arena. We need you to be the loudest fans in the NHL. Give us that home ice advantage.

Look forward to seeing you. Go Yotes. He should be doing that. They should be selling this as, this is a unique atmosphere and we've got to make it a home ice atmosphere. This is the hand you've

been dealt and you've got to play it. Jeff, you're not always dealt four aces or a straight flush. Sometimes you get the royal sampler and you just have to play with it. That is a very hip Simpsons reference, by the way. That is very good. Well done.

I like that. You know, one of the other things that happens here too is, you know, a lot of the players, what are they going to say? Okay. The Coyotes players, I'm sure not all of them are thrilled with it but that's what you do is is you make the best of it okay you're sitting here this is your home arena it could be your home for the next three years you can't just whine about it for three years you're gonna try to make the best of it. I understand all this. Do I think they're all happy?

No, I don't. Do I think they're going to voice that unhappiness? No, I don't. I think that's a self-defeating prophecy. And I think there's a lot of people around the league who know this isn't great, but they're like, you can't pile dirt on it. Now, I will say this. I got one call from one governor who in particular has a huge problem with this.

What he told me he didn't like, Jeff, is that he basically said, look, we have to deal with this. But he doesn't think like media members and everybody should be shilling it and trying to say it spin it as this great thing and that's what he took issue with he said look it's not great it's what we have to do we have to make the best of it but it's not a true big league look and you know what he said to me it was actually funny he said the worst thing is you bring the Rangers in the first weekend because there's no team that is used to more luxury around them than the Rangers are. And look what they're going to be in.

And he was kind of laughing when he said it, but it's going to be interesting to watch the visiting team's reaction. Do the visiting teams play ball? Do they say, yeah, this was fun? I guarantee there's going to be people who say to them, look, if you're not going to sell it, don't dump all over it. But that's what this person said to me. He said he thinks there's a big difference between making the best of it

and not being truthful about it. And he said that's what bothered him. But if I'm the coyotes, I'm doing exactly what they're doing. You, you'd simply have to make the best of it. You have no other choice. I totally understand that. And I totally get that. The one thing that I thought that you're, uh, the governor that called you was going

to say, to be honest, because, you know, outside of the, yes, this is a novelty. Yes, this is unique. Let's make the best of it. Let's find all the quirks about this place and celebrate them. Let's not try to, you know, moan about everything. Let's try to remain, you know, somehow positive about this as much as people can. You know what I thought the governor that called you was going to say or complain about or raise issue with? What's that?

Why are we writing the coyotes revenue sharing checks? Look where they're playing. Look, I think everybody thinks that. It's just that that's the third rail, right? If you're touching that and you're going public with that, you're basically electrocuting yourself on the Bettman subway line. That's a good way to phrase it. I just don't think anybody's going to say that. I think they all feel it, but I don't think anyone's going to say it.

We know those conversations have been had. Of course. Those have been had. But I'm with you. I don't think anyone's going to voice that publicly. But nonetheless, when you said you had one governor who had one issue with it i'm like okay here comes the here comes the revenue sharing checkpoint i think everybody already has that issue i think he was calling me specifically about this particular thing i look they're hoping that the end of next

month they're going to get some level of approval I think everybody wants to see some progress this year if there's no progress this season and I should say this year meaning this season not this year meaning to the end of 2022 calendar year if there's no progress this season then I am curious to see where this goes because what I think the hockey ops of the, of the coyotes has sold is in three years, we're going to have a ton of prospects on this team. And we have to be able to say in three years,

we're going to keep these guys and they're going to be the next generation of a good coyotes core. And it could work like they have good young players and i think they're going to have the opportunity obviously jeff to get more so i think it's a good plan but if you don't have an arena you know i mean it's going to be hard but if you don't have a path that's an obvious or visible path it's going to be impossible to make no mistake about it and it's as obvious um as the nose on your face like this is the plan for the arizona counties they are planning to be good when the new arena opens yes you can see that and there are more

high draft picks and more prospects that are coming make no mistake mistake about it. This is the direction they're going. Okay, let's talk about the game that you work, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the San Jose Sharks. This road trip hasn't exactly started off gangbusters. For the Toronto Maple Leafs, quite the opposite. The game on Thursday, the Maple Leafs went down 3-1. They tied it up. It goes to overtime.

Eric Carlson creates separation on a breakaway between himself and John Tavares. He separates from the Leafs captain quickly and that distance is large. Real fast. Nylander against Carlson one-on-one. He comes

across the line. Tries to feed it across the ice. Intercepted by Meyer. He feeds it ahead. Breakaway for Eric Carlson. Skates him ice, intercepted by Meyer. He feeds it ahead, breakaway for Eric Carlson, skates him, dekes, shoots, he scores! And it's a great move by Eric Carlson, who very quietly, Elliot, is having a really nice start to the season. I don't know how many

San Jose Sharks games you tend to watch, but he looks really good to start the season. Your thoughts coming off of this one, you, Anthony, and David working it. I am concerned for Toronto. There's just something missing. And I said it during the show,

I watched Philadelphia a lot of their game tonight against Florida. And Philly is off to a good start record wise. And look, we know Philly is not as talented top to bottom as a lot of other teams. And if you watch that game, you know that Carter Hart, who's been brilliant to start this season, he stole that one. 47 saves, 47 saves. But what I also see is a Philadelphia team that knows they're outmanned. They know they're outgunned, but they work and they don't quit.

And they throw themselves in front of things. And they're like, whatever we don't have top to bottom in talent as compared to teams like, say, Florida, we're going to make up for it in effort. I don't think you can make up a gap in talent over 82 games, but I think in short bursts, you can take advantage of some teams when you're constantly grinding and fighting for every inch of the ice and don't give up doing it. You know, Flyers fans, ice and don't give up doing it. You know, Flyers fans, that's the way the Flyers were built. They had an unbelievable effort and they played hard and that's what they're doing now. And in the short term, they're reaping rewards for it with a hot goalie. And I just look at Toronto right now and when they get their power play going, they're lethal. And you cannot give them power plays.

But I just see long stretches of games. Aside from the Winnipeg game on Saturday, I see long stretches of games where they're just not engaged. And I think the depth, third and fourth lines, have not given them a lot. I wonder how much longer they can go here without you know getting another defenseman and maybe someone who's a little bit heavier although those guys are hard to find i just see a team that is not as good jeff as the sum of its parts

and i just think they're in a place right now where if they're not getting power plays, they really lack energy for big stretches of games. And I don't like that for them. You know, I've always said this about the Pittsburgh Penguins, like Sidney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins. And that is, it's a team with a high level of skill, like elite skill, like guys going to the hall of fame skill. But when the Pittsburgh Penguins take the foot off the gas, they can really fall apart. Like it's almost like you call it the bicycle theory of success. As long as you keep pedaling hard, you won't fall off the bike.

And the minute you stop pedaling, you fall off the bike. That's always seemed to be the Pittsburgh Penguins to me. And when they were working hard, oh, like masters of the NHL, good luck touching the Pittsburgh Penguins. I'm kind of getting that feeling about the Maple Leafs too. That the minute they take the foot off the gas, it like we saw it against Arizona. We saw it against Montreal. Now we've seen it for the, at least those first two periods against the San Jose Sharks.

You know, they're, they kind of have that bicycle theory about them as well, don't they? What do we say about Detroit? They were beating teams they were supposed to beat. Look at New Jersey. Their schedule is to start the season. I think they only had one or two playoff teams from last year. You've got to beat the teams you're supposed to beat. Now, Toronto is supposed to be better than Detroit.

They're supposed to be better than New Jersey, but they're not beating the teams that they are supposed to beat. You've heard me say it before. Whatever it is, that person has it. Whatever it is, they don't have it right now. Now, I wasn't worried about Matthews, and he scored. Now, I wasn't worried about Matthews, and he scored. He's had a weird start to the season, missing the net,

fumbling some pucks that you don't normally see, and that happened to him again for the first two periods on Thursday. But then he scored an absolute bomb of a shot to tie the game. John Tavares getting it back to the blue line. Matthews along the wall, trying to play it back. It comes back to Riley. Now to Matthews, a shot, he scores! Austin Matthews got the shot away, and he blisters it into the net to tie the game at threes.

So I don't worry about him. I think he's going to be okay. Like I said, I think right now it's early, but they're not as good as the sum of their parts. And I would be concerned for them if I was them about how flat their games are. So it's a big weekend coming up for the Toronto Maple Leafs. They will face off Saturday on Hockey Night in Canada

against the Los Angeles Kings. Kings, by the way, Elliot, trapped a tough one to Winnipeg. Winnipeg only mustered up 19 shots. Los Angeles threw 44 pucks at Connor Hellebuck, who was excellent. Jonathan Quick did not have his finest night. Gabe Velarde, by the way, scored again. Wow. He continues.

So they'll face off against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Sunday, they'll take on the Anaheim Ducks and that concludes their Western Road swing. I was watching that Winnipeg game out of the corner of my eye. There were a lot of good games on Thursday night. A lot of good games. And I saw it was 1-0 Jets and I said to someone sitting next to me are the shots there 14-1 for LA? Or something like that? Yeah. Hellebuck was awesome he was great you know why the Jets won because they wore those uniforms clearly Elliot they should always wear

them they're beautiful just beautiful uniforms the empty net goal kings in the NHL or the empty net points kings in the NHL Zach Hyman came through in St. Louis and Lake Wheeler came through in LA. Jeff, you know who I'm a little concerned about? Who's that? St. Louis. Started out really good.

And the thing I wonder about them is that they always had a certain identity as being kind of a mean team. I don't know if that's still there. They don't have that same nastiness. I still think it's a really good team. I think it's a good team too. That Oilers-Blues game on Wednesday, to me, that's the best game that I've seen all season so far.

I thought that was a great game by both teams. The image of Leon Dreisaitl deking out Robert Thomas from his knees is one that's going to stay with me for a long time. I don't know that I would say I'm concerned about St. Louis. I think it's a really good team. I really do. Maybe concern was a terrible word.

Wouldn't be the first time I've used a terrible word to describe a team on this podcast before or anywhere, but maybe the best way for me to explain it is it looks like their identity is changing a bit and there's nothing wrong with having elite skill and expecting it to take over your organization. That's the bet they've basically made with Robert Thomas and Jordan Cairo. And I don't have a problem with that. It's just that you take a look like David Perron, it's just that you take a look like david perron sneaky mean guy i don't think it's sneaky elliot i'm not so sure that's sneaky mean but a mean guy which is one of the reasons i i kind of liked them oscar sunquist who's in detroit was a mean guy that i kind of liked their defense

there were always a lot of trees back there, right? They were not easy to get through. And, you know, Petrangelo, we all know, is not there anymore. And Falk is a thick guy who plays hard, but their D doesn't look as nasty to me anymore. I look at them and I wonder if we're just seeing a changing of the identity

before our very eyes. Listen, Elliot, I think I know what you're getting at. You're just not used to seeing a St. Louis Blues team play this way. And I know they've lost three games in a row, but here's the thing. You and I are the same vintage our entire lives. And we're too young. Well, I mean, it happened before we were born. We weren't there for NHL expansion in 67, but we've pretty much watched all of the St. Louis Blues history and they've always had rugged, tough teams. Yeah. I think I'm not used to seeing a St. Louis Blues team that isn't tough.

I'm not. I don't think you are either. I'm kind of used to seeing some Flyers teams who weren't as tough, but St. Louis Blues, like their teams were tough from the get-go, from the very beginning when six turned into 12. I'm with you in that regard. I'm just not used to seeing a St. Louis Blues team

that's that tough. That's the thing I would say. It's just weird. Don't forget that a week ago they went into Edmonton and shut out the Oilers, so maybe I'm overreacting a bit. They're still obviously very disciplined and they're still obviously very disciplined and they're still obviously a pretty high IQ team. Maybe they're just a little bit not

Berube-like on ice as I'm used to. You know what I would like, speaking of toughness? For someone to finally give Jordan Bennington his fight. That game Wednesday, he punches Evander Kane in the face. We've seen him go at Radim Shemek. We've seen him go at Devin Dubnik. We've seen him go at Jamie Benn. We've seen him go at Kyle Clifford. We've seen him go at Philip Brubauer. I like Jordan Binnington. I think he's tough. He should not be fighting Evander Kane. No, he should not be fighting Evander. You can just tell that he's itching for one.

It just needs to get it out of his system. Will someone please indulge Jordan Bennington just so he can get it out of his system? So, Elliot, considering the injuries to james van reams dyke uh sean couturier cam atkinson patrick brown perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that it was the philadelphia flyers who got keifer bellows off waivers from the islanders this is one of those things where i want to ask around and see if there were multiple claims yes the nhl doesn't tell you this they hide this just another example of how they make life so hard on us jeff

they hide this kind of thing because they don't want aids and annoying reporters to know how many claims there were on a player so we have to do our own work for that but do they not want agents to know because it could be considered tampering that That's a good question. I always heard it was more in terms of leverage and contract stuff and forcing trades or affecting negotiations. It could be tampering. If it's made public, right? That's what I mean. If it's made public, yeah, I guess it could be. It's not your worst idea ever.

Oh, thanks, man. But I would assume there would be more than one claim for bellows. The kid can really fire the puck and it makes a perfect strategy. As you're saying that Philly is really banged up and they can use them. It's interesting. I, I, this one surprised a lot of people that he was out there simply because you think that the Islanders could get something for him. So I just asked around, I said, you know, what am I missing here?

What am I not seeing here? And the answer I got from a couple of people is that he can really shoot the puck, but the rest of his game has not evolved. And that's the knock. And I think the thing that concerns some people some people because sometimes a change of scenery is what you need is that you take a look at the previous coach in New York it was a guy who was demanding a lot of structure and that's Barry Trotz and he's going to a guy in Philadelphia who's really going to demand it and John Tortorella and if you don't evolve to what those coaches want

you're not going to play. But I do think this is a great opportunity for him. This is one of those times where a kick in the butt can really help someone. But if you're wondering why Bellows was out there, I think it's because people just don't think his game has evolved to the level it should. Well, we saw the Philadelphia Flyers claim Lucas Sedlak not too long ago as well

to help down the middle where they are a little thin because of injuries etc and that's a John Tortorella Association going back to the Columbus Blue Jackets days anyway the Philadelphia Flyers remain Elliott's one of the most interesting teams to follow this season speaking of defensemen I believe the Buffalo Sabres are looking for one, Elliot, or maybe two. Yeah, they've got some injuries there. I didn't realize, too, that Chase Priskey, who plays in their American Hockey League team,

I didn't realize that... Yeah, Rochester. I didn't realize he was hurt, too. So they're kind of thin. It sounds like they were really fortunate on the injuries to Samuelson and Yokoharu, not as serious as they first thought. Kevin Adams said on Thursday that no surgery was necessary, but you still need to fill holes.

And Pilot, if they want to send him down, he has to go on waivers. And I think they would worry that he wouldn't clear. So I think they are looking for that depth. As Adam said on Thursday, I don't think they're looking to step up there and swing for the fifth deck, but they want someone. And I'll tell you, there's an interesting discourse going on about the Buffalo Sabres right now. They're playing hard.

They're winning games. They had one stinker in Seattle. It happens. But I guess the teams out there with their proprietary expected goals, say Buffalo's not very high. A team like New Jersey, which has very high expected goals but hasn't always had the results, and Buffalo, which has better results

but it hasn't always had as high expected goals. I'm of the opinion that the Sabres are playing hard and the players there have earned a little bit of help. And Adams being a former player, I think he sees that too. So he'll try to help them. You know, that also, as I found out from someone from another team, extends to the goaltending as well. Not just expected goals, but expected goals based on shot quality. I found out from someone from another team extends to the goaltending as well, not just

expected goals, but expected goals based on shot quality. The subject line that I got from someone was unsustainable. And it was the, uh, it's after we were talking about Anderson, uh, and Eric Comrie and what they've done for the Buffalo Sabres so far. I got a, an interesting email from someone with the unsustainable. You know, what's going to happen with that Jeff? What's that craig anderson's going to have the word unsustainable above his locker i hope so he's going to get 26 shutouts this year because he's going to be pissed off at whoever said i would love that if both comrie and uh and anderson that became their because we

have nicknames for individual players we have nicknames for lines why do we never have nicknames for goalie combinations the unsustainable duo or the unsustainable pair the unsustainable savers the unsustainables there it is there's there's your hit new show for the buffalo savers the unsustainables as they keep on winning the untouchables and the unsustainable and they keep on winning that'd be awesome uh for the buffalo savers net mining tandem speaking of net minders i want to ask you about ilia sorokin boy was he ever good on wednesday And the unsustainables. And they keep on winning. That'd be awesome for the Buffalo Sabres net mining tandem. Speaking of net minders, I want to ask you about Ilya Sorokin. Boy, was he ever good on Wednesday night.

41 saves shut out against the New York Rangers. Rangers have now dropped a few in a row here. But I want to focus on the Islanders and I want to focus on Ilya Sorokin because when we talk about the Markstroms and the Shisterkins and the Vasilevskys and Saros, and I always throw Demko into this conversation as well. I mean, Ilya Sorokin is right there for each, and the evidence was laid before us on Wednesday. I think the Islanders have been one of the really fascinating teams to watch early in this season. There were high hopes for them this year that it would be better. It didn't start better, and year that it would be better it didn't start better and i thought it would be better bailey gets scratched and he's on the march to a thousand games he gets

back in beauvillier gets scratched you know it's always tough to tell what lula amorello's thinking and what's bubbling underneath the surface there je Jeff, you and I are on the wavelength that they were around the Chikorin situation. I also wouldn't be surprised if they were a team that if they had been good this year, they would have been one of the teams monitoring a Patrick Kane. As it stands right now none of those moves make sense for them because they're going to have to give up futures and you're not at a spot even with a guy like Chikrin who's got term you're not at a spot where you can really do that if you're headed in this direction Sorokin gave them a huge start the other night. You're totally right.

They needed him. He beat the Rangers. He's just stirking the Rangers from last season, really. Here's your medicine. Here's your medicine. They got a taste of their own cooking, really. And they're going to need him to be great, which he's very capable of. But there are some teams that it's kind of hard

to figure out what they're thinking, but that doesn't mean they aren't interesting. And I look at the Islanders right now. If they don't start to get going, it's going to be really interesting to see where their path takes them. I also wonder where the path is going to take the Anaheim Ducks. They've lost six games in a row now.

I wonder where the path is going to take John Gibson as well. And I wonder if a new team has entered the Conor Bedard chat. The caveat with everything at this time of the year is it's early. And I know the most recent game was against the tampa bay lightning and they got doubled up for two but how where do you see this thing headed both the team and listen we're always going to wonder about john gibson on a team that's going through a rebuild does it make sense for him does he want to still be there your thoughts on the Ducks,

your thoughts on John Gibson and where that road is going. I mean, how many people really expected the Ducks to be a top contender this year? You know what? I'm glad you mentioned that because I wondered how competitive they'd be based on what their blue line was going to look like. And there were, you know, three that jumped out right away. There's John Klingberg, who signed the one-year deal.

Now, many of us suspect that that's a deal that's going to be moved at trade deadline, and that's why he was acquired in the first place, but parked that for a second. And looked at Cam Fowler, and looked at Kevin Shattenkirk, and looked at the emerging Jamie Drysdale, and said, you know what, let's maybe not write off the Anaheim Ducks here because that blue line's not bad at all.

I understand what you're saying. However, the one thing I wondered about the Ducks this year is even if you're a great team in this league, you don't have the puck, what, 45% of the time? Oh, yeah. On average? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you doing when you don't have the puck? And the thing I worried about for Anaheim this year was that would they be able to check?

Now, they have a coach and they have a general manager who both knew how to check dallas akins knew how to do it and pat verbique absolutely knew how to do it he didn't just check people he chewed them up and spat them out i see a lot of offensive talent in anaheim and when they have the puck they do really spectacular things but when they don't have it, I think it's really hard for them. And it's not the sexiest skill, but it's one of the most important, if not the most important. You can't win the Stanley Cup in this league,

and you can't contend if you can't check. So when I look at them, I see a team that has a lot of talent, but it can't do that very well. I understand what you're saying about they have pieces and they have good players. They do have good players and they do have good pieces. But you know what, Jeff? They don't know how to do yet because they're still growing. The most important thing that you need to do to win in the nhl and that is get the puck back when you don't have it and i've seen that in a lot of games they play i don't know

what the numbers say and i confess this is an eye test thing when i watch the ducks play i just see stretches where they don't have it and they have trouble getting it. When they do have it, holy smokes, are they fun to watch. They come up with some great stuff. But they really have trouble getting it back. And I don't know what people expected. Last year, Pat Verbeek sent a message that this team was going to start again. And to me, that's what they're doing. They're beginning their return.

I wasn't expecting them to really be a playoff team this year or contend for it, but I just wanted to see improvement. And I think the thing for me, and this is going to be the true test of, you know, where they're going and how far they've come this year. And this is what I judge a guy like Aikens on. I think if you're judging Dallas Aikens on, I mean, how many games have they played? What? Seven,

seven. If you're judging Dallas Aikens on seven games, Jeff, to start the season, I think that's crazy. I think what you're judging Dallas Aikens on is where are they in game 60 game 40. Sorry, i'm not counting linearly i go sideways a lot game 40 it's the elliot freedom and bunny hop that's right two forward one back it's like star

trek deep space nine the prophets there they did time linear sorry they didn't do linear time they were all over the place game 40 game 60 game 82 you know where are they does this improve and that's the way i think you should be judging anaheim this year you know verbig blew them up last year he took a bunch of guys who'd been there for a long time and he moved them out to begin the rebuild gets laugh the captain retired to me if you're judging them seven games in that's crazy there's an identity change there's an ice time amount change there's a role change let's see how these guys grow into it there is one name that i want to throw in going back to your previous conversation about playing without the puck um and playing the majority of

time without the puck and getting the puck back that's what makes a player like isaac lundestrom so important for the anaheim ducks because if you look at that roster um like i think mason mctavish is going to when he you transitions right now, they got him on the wing, he's going to be a center in the NHL. He's going to be a first line, really safe center for the Anaheim Ducks for a long time. Trevor Zegers, we all know how spectacular he scored a big goal the other night against Tampa and looks great. But you look at a guy like Isaac Lundestrom, who's almost like a mini Bergeron, like a mini Swedish Bergeron. When you talk about

having players in your roster that can get the puck back and play the two-way game, the two-way quiet game, the one that coaches love, just so we get the name out there, Isaac Lundestrom is that guy. Elliot, in 32 Thoughts the Blog this week, you write about 32 Thoughts the Blog and how in its current version and current state, it will cease to exist soon. Can you expand on that here?

Sure. I had some people who reached out to me. They were concerned. here? Sure. I had some people who reached out to me. They were concerned. They thought that maybe I was going through some kind of a mental health crisis or something like that. And I just want to say, first of all, that's not the case. I'm not going through that happily. I'm in a good place mentally. But last year, the blog fell off. To be honest, since since it got to sports net it kind of fell off a bit and that's not sports nets fault i think that's just the change from a how our role has evolved especially with smartphones we're always on and b you know at cbc where i was before i didn't have as many responsibilities during the week so there would it seemed like there was always more time

you know once you get to sports net there was at a 24 seven sports network, there seemed to be less time. And I was basically in a position where to get it done. I was going a night without sleep and I'd catch up later in the week. And it was a titanically stupid decision to make. But like I said, Jeff, and you know me, I've made lots of titanically stupid decisions in my lifetime. Like doing this with me. Like doing this with you. I just added to the list, basically. But it really started to catch up,

especially over the last couple of years. And the other thing, too, is I like the challenge of it. I saw stopping the blog as kind of a failure to be perfectly honest. And I first considered it a couple of years ago, but I said, this is a failure if you don't do it. And I don't like, I didn't like that feeling. It felt like a feeling of defeat. And to be honest, it still feels like a feeling of defeat, but it just got to a point where you said, you can't do this anymore. The other thing is I like writing and I want to continue writing. So it's just going to change. It won't be as long as it is. And I don't want it to be as inconsistent. I want it to appear two to three times a week shorter.

And that's what I'm going to do. I'm still going to write because I love writing. And to be honest, it keeps me in touch with people. But just one big, long, massive blog once a week, I couldn't keep up with it. And I felt the quality was dropping. So sometimes we need to make changes. And this is the change I'm going to make. But I did want to say for people who reached out concerned about my well-being uh that's very kind of you i appreciate it but i'm not in a bad place and i have a high standard and i hope that what you get now you will all continue to like it there are only two people and and unfortunately, Elliot, you're not one of them, whose opinion on this matter that I care about. One, Glenn Healy. Two, PJ Stock. Oh, no, actually three, Brian Burke, because he loves to roast you about the blog too. 32 turns, yeah.

So until they weigh in on this new version of the blog, I will reserve judgment. How's that? That's pretty good. Because they would call it 15 thoughts spread out into 31. That was their line. Yeah. Berkey, he's hilarious. He was ripping me this week. Just hilarious.

Listen, dude, I know you're going to still keep writing and versions of this are going to continue. But take a bow. That became must read for everybody, fans, executives, players, coaches, everybody read that thing. So don't look at it as a failure. Look at it as a success. I know you're not one to take victory laps, but you know what? I know you like walking a lot, so go walk around the block.

That's a little mini victory lap for 32 Thoughts the Block. I thought you were going to tell me to go take a long walk off a short pier. That's right. Go blank your hat. No. Good job, buddy. Well done. Congratulations.

Thanks, buddy. Taking us out is a two-piece band from L.A. Jack Coplin and Noah Aaron make up Origami Human, an indie dance group that stepped foot onto the music scene just a few years ago and have already made waves. With Share a Mind, here's Origami Human on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Where do I go to share my mind? Where do I go to share my mind? Where do I go to share my mind? To show up Thank you.