32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Under the Hood in Detroit

Episode Date: October 5, 2026

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin by unpacking the Simon Edvinsson trade request out of Detroit. They talk about the first edition of Rogers Saturday Night Hockey and the battle of Ontario (19:00). Elliotte talks about the San Jose Sharks going for it this season as Celebrini's ELC expires (25:00). The fellas touch on the Sasha Barkov injury and the LTIR conspiracies (32:00).They make sense of the Flames who are firmly in a rebuild (34:00). Elliotte proclaims he wants the league to do away with white goalie glove webbing (41:00). They talk about the Oilers looking for depth forwards (43:00). The Final Thought focuses on which teams have made good first impressions (48:00).Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline (53:00).Today we highlight Atlantic Canadian songwriter Carleton Stone and his track Used To. Check out his music here.Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here.Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.32 Thoughts is produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You can find me $11,000. I am going out there. Look, Elliot, we're all very happy for your new deal. You don't have to rub it in by talking about your private jet landing next to your house. We've got to stop with these jokes. It's getting to be too much. Colby, Ron, you. Oh, they were all over Saturday.

Oh, no. I mean, yes, you gave me, I couldn't not right there. The sound of a jet landing next to your house must be nice. I did. I did walk into that one. Yes, Dom said Crosby. Yeah. He took his opportunity in Vegas.

Yeah. What's going on with your contract? Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, your Monday, October 5th edition. Dom Shramati, Kyle Bukascus, Elliot Friedman, with you once again. Elliot, you ever see the 2007 flick Hot Rod? With Andy Sandberg? Yes. Absolutely.

So you remember the scene in the forest, like the parody of the punch dancing scene? and footloose where he's letting all of his emotions. And then comedically at one point trips and then starts to tumble down the hill and he just keeps tumbling and he just keeps tumbling and he just keeps tumbling and he falls way, way longer than he otherwise should have been. I feel like that's Detroit at the moment with Simon Edmondson.

What a reference. All summer. Don't get a deal done. Okay, there's a lot of stuff going on. He shows up to training camp in good faith, which does not usually happen in these instances. Nothing gets done. He heads back to Sweden after the preseason ends.

And on Saturday night, your first headlines of the year, you begin with a report that Edmondson now prefers to be traded. So how did we end up here? Great question, Kyle. We've seen that kind of thing before. Remember years ago, Stu Barnes and Dallas showed up without a contract, said it's going to get done. So what's the big deal? Remember Scott Gomez for the one year with the Islanders?

He basically practiced until November until he finally got his contract done. So it's rare, but it does occur. So one of the real challenges with this one is that the Red Wings didn't want to talk about. it and his agents didn't want to talk about it but he's a free agent so anyone's allowed to talk to him and you know I had some people who said to me he's a holdout and no I I am a stickler for this he is not a holdout he does not have a contract and a contract takes two sides to tango So because he is unsigned, even though Detroit maintains his restricted free agency rights, anyone is allowed to talk to him. And because everyone is, it was only a matter of time until this got out, his unhappiness.

And I just think that he showed up, as you said. I think he believed, I don't want to speak for him, but I think he believed it was going to get done. and then when it didn't get done, I heard he was pretty mad. And he went back to Sweden and I heard he just made it clear he kind of wanted to be left alone for a bit and had enough that it's taken this long.

Like it's not just the fact that it didn't get done during training camp, Kyle. It didn't get done all summer. He's been eligible for an extension for the last, what, 15 months? Right. Seeing everything else going on around the league. Yes, it's just fed up.

It's taken this long. Now, I was careful what the word prefers because I've learned that nothing is final and that sometimes situations change. And I do think that one of the things that's happened in this is that Detroit has moved off the bridge. I think they're agreeable to a bridge, but I've heard they've also made some longer-term offers. And I would assume it's not five years because that would tie them up with cider. And I don't think they would want cider and Edvenson up in the same year,

but I do think they've made other offers. And, you know, we'll see. Detroit has maintained in the last couple of days that they're going to sign Edvenson and they're going to get this done. But I also do believe, and there are practical reasons for this, they have gauged his market, who's interested, what the price would be, what they could get in return. And I mean, when you're in that chair, even on an interim basis like Sean Horikoff is, you have to know this and I believe he's been doing his research. So we'll see where this goes, but he is a really, really frustrated guy. And, you know, I'll say this.

I reported that their preference was a bridge. That was certainly the case when Eisenman was still in charge. And, you know, the one thing is there's a lot of talk about. about Detroit doesn't want to pay anyone. Let's see where we are at the end of this. I don't know that that is a fair comment to make because Eizerman, when he was the GM, and anybody who follows the Red Wings

or negotiate with the Red Wings knows this to be true, he thought the money for the young players was too much too quickly. and he negotiated hard. He negotiated hard with cider. He negotiated, who's their best player. He negotiated hard with Raymond. He negotiated hard with Larkin,

even in Larkin's deal that led up to unrestricted free agency where he extended, and he negotiated hard with Ed Vinson. I don't think it is fair to say that Detroit doesn't want to pay these guys when eisenman was in charge he one of the things he strongly felt was it was too much too soon for them and he fought them hard that's why i'm curious to see when this is over a is ed vincent still a red wing and b what number does he end up at now is has the world changed on the red wings yes like

everybody else. Are they adjusting to it? Yes, like everybody else. And if you take a look at some of these other deals that have been signed, Booiam, Tristan Luno, it's bad for Detroit. Like they're going to have to, if they want to do Edvenson with term, it's going to be a bit, is it going to be a bigger number than Detroit wanted? Yeah, of course it is. But they're bigger numbers than everyone else wanted. And I know people are pissed off at the Red Wings right now, especially their fans, and Detroit has created some of this mess by the way they did their search this summer and how long it took them to get into position to make decisions again. That is on them. No question about it. I still don't know if it's fair to say they were refusing to pay. I think part of it was Eisenman's

philosophy. And I think now, because they got such a late start on getting their business done again, we're really haven't found out yet in this new post-carlson world what their philosophy will be. But there's no question. There's a lot of uncertainty there. The walls, the foundation doesn't seem very stable, but I always believe, always, you can fix your problem, always. I mean, you talked about it when Horcoff took the, got the interim role officially,

and what an opportunity for him to make an impression to establish a reputation in a positive way. Man, and, and you, the situation at the end, you can't fault him for any of it. Like, he's, he's coming into it and it's already effectively been done. But, man, it just feels like a really, really challenging spot to try to, to try to hit some home runs here, given what he is up against. Like, there's still the Dylan Larkin aspect in all of this as well.

You've talked about it, especially with Connor Hallibuck and Winnipeg and the desire for Kevin Shevolde off to whatever the outcome ends up being there, get it right. because of the fear of what the ripple effects could potentially be in the dressing room. And rightfully so, I mean, we're seeing Kyle Connor, for example. How good did he look again Sunday in Detroit with a couple of more goals? You want that guy remaining in your locker room for the long term.

As time goes on here, does Detroit not get nervous of what does more at sighter think of all of this? What does Lucas Raymond think of all of this going forward? It's just a hundred percent a hundred percent potential snowball effect is the big one is to be so damaging Debrinket is right there right he's a ufa after this season I think though if you're detroit on one level like if I was if I was there and first of all I do think the red wings are telling the truth when they say their preference is to keep Edmondson they might not be able to do it, but that is their preference.

They've been in a standstill with Larkin. They don't have a trade they like. Okay. Maybe, maybe, and I always do try to look at life in an optimistic manner, Kyle, because I am a sunny, sunny guy. What if now they have an opportunity with Edvenson to get something, that maybe they couldn't, they weren't willing or couldn't do with Larkin. Now, what happens if now you have the opportunity to make, if you look at it, say,

we have the opportunity to make two trades here. Maybe there was something we wanted that we couldn't get with Larkin, that we could get with Edvenson. Like, you could really remake your team. That's what I would be, like, if I was in Horkoff and the, Red Wing's shoes and I'm concerned about how cider feels how Raymond feels what I've got to do with the brinket and all of that stuff is perfectly legitimate what if you've suddenly been handed an opportunity to do two trades that could remake your team and make your players happy that's the way

I would be attacking it yeah it's just it's a lot riding on those decisions and as we That's life in the big city. For sure. I mean, a lot of this also rides on. Is this Edvinson being mad right now? And eventually he calms down and he talks and he says, okay, okay, okay. I was mad for a bit and but I'm fine and I'll come back once I get a contract I like. Or is this I've had enough?

I think everybody's trying to determine that. But there's no question the Red Wings have taken this farther than it needed to be. Like they can say, look, we weren't ready to do this. That's not his problem. Of course. Of course. So he's been ready for a while. Yes.

So that's the way I'd be looking at it if I was Detroit. We're stuck on this Larkin situation. We haven't been able to get a deal we're happy with. What if we can make two deals? What if all of a sudden having Edvinson out there gets us something that we couldn't get for Larkin? And now we can change our parameters of a Larkin deal. It's a good way of looking at it because you run the fear of it getting late early. They still without a win as we lost a couple times.

this. Yeah. That's a lot going on there. Did you, by the way, have any issue with that scene there Friday night and Larkin appearing on the bench during the player introductions? No. Me neither. I know the Tint guys. I watched their broadcast.

I saw that they were upset at it. I didn't have a problem with it. I was glad he went out there. You know, for example, if all the other guys who aren't playing go out there and he doesn't. Yes. If it was me, I would not allow that to happen. Right. If it was me, I would say, you can put me in a straight jacket.

You can chain me to a wall. And I'm going to find a way, if I have to go out there in the straight jacket, I'm going out there. There is no way I would allow myself to be hidden. I would go out there. I would face the music. If I got booed, I would get booed. You know, fans, you can boo, you can yell, that's the limit. Don't go over the line.

But the way it was there, I said to myself, to my old line, I'll only judge others like I would judge myself. I would have done exactly what Larkin did. I would have gone out there. I would have stood out there. I would have waved. I would have taken my medicine. And I liked that he did that. And booing, fans are entitled.

If you want to boo, boo, boo. I thought that was the right thing. A hundred percent. Because whatever you look at the criticism that came of that Friday, if he doesn't show his face anywhere, it's a bazillion times worse. A hundred percent. A bazillion times worse. You look like you're hiding. I would rather go out there and get booed to the decibels of a jet landing next to my house than hide and not do it.

Like if every other player goes out there and gets and gets introduced and I'm not there, I'm the one guy who's not there. No. No. You can find me $11 billion. I am going out there. Look, Elliot, we're all very happy for your new deal. You don't have to rub it in by talking about your private jet landing next to your house.

We've got to stop with these jokes. It's getting to be too much. Colby, Ron, you. Oh, they were all over you Saturday. I mean, you gave me, I couldn't not right there. The sound of a jet landing next to your house. Must be nice. I did.

I did walk into that one. Yes, Dom said Crosby. Yeah. He took his opportunity in Vegas. Yeah. What's going on with your contract? No, I thought that was totally the right thing. And I think it's, and also, I think it's possible Larkin' place.

You do? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We're all wondering. Yeah. I think it's possibly play soon.

Okay. So that's the situation in Detroit. None of it reaching a conclusion. All of it still to be determined. By the way, I also like what McClellan said. There's still pride in being a red wing. Yeah, you can't lose that. Like putting on.

You know how that fan base said. Well, also too, you know, like putting on an NHL jersey is a gift. How many of us listening to this would give our, would give a small body part to play one game in the NHL? Yeah. It's like, what's the old line about golf? The worst day golfing is better than the best day working. you could say the same thing about the NHL, like your worst day in the NHL

could be better than your best day of doing anything else, potentially. Like it's still a gift, you're still making a good salary. That's, like even when we're having a bad podcast, which has never happened, Kyle,

which has never occurred. Yeah. What does that feel like? You've got to put your best effort into it. I loved what McClellan said. Yeah, I understand you're short-handed. There's a dark cloud around you. You're still in the National Hockey League.

Go out and play. And I thought, I mean, I thought they played pretty hard. They fell behind and they played, but I thought they played pretty hard. Yeah. Okay. So this weekend was a first edition of Roger Saturday Night hockey. One of the matchups was the Battle of Ontario in Toronto. It was the Ottawa Senators.

They were the last team. to play their first game of the season. I had to wait until Saturday night to get things going. Thomas Shabbat's first game is captain in a way, though it's very much a similar team. A new era, of course, with Kachuk there no longer. We're concerned with what's going on with Jake Sanderson. I played, what, less than five minutes,

and we know he had been dealing with something through training camp and the preseason. What was your, we were both down to the morning skate Saturday. What was your sense of that group just being around them given the summer they had? So the thing that's most interesting to me about Ottawa is that they chose to end the saga fast, right? Yes. They kept it the most quiet. And they were, and one of the reasons, and one of the reasons,

reasons was they got it done quick, right? I just think that it's so hard to keep these things quiet now. If you really think about it, there's only been a couple that have really stayed quiet. Cutter Goce stayed pretty quiet and Brady stayed relatively quiet. But the fact is they got the deal done. Like you look at Winnipeg, their situation still is with them. We just talked about Detroit. Carolina is a little bit different because I think they thought,

Well, they definitely thought they had a trade done, and they were mad it didn't get done for Nekishan. But Ottawa was the team that worked the fastest, and they said, we're doing this and we're moving on. And not only did they have the one trade in place, which was for Brady, but they also knew they could make, they were doing the groundwork at the same time to do their second trade, which was William Ecclund from San Jose. They knew they got that pick, and they knew what. was going to be out there for it. And I think it's going to be an interesting case study in Ottawa, do they benefit? They feel they're going to benefit from that approach. It's over.

Like, we're going to talk about it because, Kyle, that's what we do, right? But in the organization, they're like, we've moved on. The player's not here. He's in a new place. You move on. The noise is outside. people can argue the legacy, whatever, we're playing. And it's going to be interesting to me to see if, let's just say Ottawa has a really good year,

how much of that are people going to credit to they cut bait? Big time. Whatever you think of the deal, they made it. That was their approach. We're making this trade as quick as possible, and we're moving on. and I think that to me that's going to be an interesting storyline. If Ottawa was successful, do people look at their approach and say, if we have to go through this and a lot of teams are going to be going through this, Kyle,

is that the way we're doing it? We're making our best deal and we're making it as quick as possible. And if it means we're making a second deal to make the whole thing look better, we're doing that too. Like they were ready to play. I thought they were, you know, Toronto kind of dominated them for good chunks of that in the first two periods, but Allmark held them in, and in the third period, I thought they were the better team and they won the game. They got a big question here, and that is what exactly is wrong with Jake Sanderson,

and we'll figure that, see if we get any news about that on Monday. But I would call them steady if unspectacular, business-like. on Saturday. Yeah, I just look at what's, what are the hallmarks we've heard of Thomas Shabbat's personality style over the last week since he's been named captain? Good energy about having the group together. And you just talked about, you know,

worst day in the NHL is better than your best day working. I think he exemplifies a lot of that. He is always that kind of guy where it's a great day to be in the NHL. I know they had a lot of time to kill last week, not playing. I think they had a big dinner for the players and the wives and girlfriends and such. And, you know, he just recently became a father too, but like was still, he organized all of that. I think if not the whole team, most of the team, you know, went out for dinner together in Toronto the night before the game. He quarterbacked that as well.

That's that's the vibe by God. They're already kind of taken on the personality of their captain, the longest tenured guy that's being there. It was, they had Sanderson worry aside, they had a lot of good energy coming off the ice winning game one for them on Saturday night. If Shabbat, if they inherit his characteristics, does that mean they can all play 35 minutes without taking a deep breath? he can.

Yes. I was like back to the early rebuild days for Ottawa on Saturday with him playing practically half the game. There's a few guys like Schaefer played 28 minutes in Toronto. There were a few guys who I saw there playing 27, 28. Nobody was really easing into this 84 game schedule of the big stud defenseman. No, not at all. And yeah, Shabat looked fantastic.

And they'll be on Rogers' Monday night hockey here tonight. against Boston for game. Sorry, I don't watch Dave Amber. You know, I got to say, so we mentioned Helibuck a second there. So I watched the Sharks. Their game, their first game against Florida was a great game. It was one of the best games of the week.

Florida tried to bully them, and they stood in there. Like, the guys who had to take it, like Celebrini and Will Smith, they took it, and they found ways to play well. And the guys who had to stand up, like Trubah fought, nurse was mean. He was so mad at Kachuk for that one penalty,

a lot of bad blood between those two because of their Stanley Cup final histories. But the guys who had to physically respond did, they looked like a real team. And they found a way to win that game. And then they beat the kids. and overtime on Saturday night with Celebrity knocking byfield off the puck to set up the winning goal, made a great play in the D zone, and then started the other way. I look at them, and I know Escarov won twice.

So I've asked what happened between San Jose and Winnipeg. And the best answer I got is they talked, but it never really went a long way. And the biggest question was, I think that Hellebuck looks at this is the big three-year window, three years where that's where he wants to go to a team that things can win the next three years. And I've heard that he would consider San Jose. But what I've also heard is that they're not sure they're in that window. I don't know. If I was the Sharks, look, if you think Ascarov is the guy and you don't need them, that's one thing. But I look at the Sharks and Halebuck, I'd be thinking about it if I was there.

You're 2 and O. You've just won an overtime twice. You beat the Panthers. You beat the Kings in a really good game. Kyle, I might be nuts, but if I was the Sharks, I'd be thinking about this guy. and you may not think you're ready to win just yet now. Do you feel differently about that if Hala Bucks in your goal? Does your outlook change?

Of course I do. Yeah, but like that's. Especially because you've got one, you've only got one more year of like, like I look at it like this. And if people think I'm wrong, they can tell me I'm wrong, it's fine. This is your last year of Celebrating it on his ELC.

I don't think you waste. it. Now look, the cap's going up exponentially, but they've got them at 18.8 starting next year. And eventually they're going to have to start extending some of these other guys. And nobody's going to be there, but they're going to be bigger numbers. I don't know. I'd be looking at this saying we got Celebrity on his ELC. We're going for it. I'd be all for it. This is a league where you just have to get in. Just get in. Well, yeah. And, inevitably, you know, the cream does rise to the top when it really gets down to an island.

Does anybody in that Pacific Division really scare you? No, Vegas is good. Sure. Edmonton is good. You know it's more than just that. Yeah, but that's generally your path. Yes. Anaheim, I'll say, they've looked really good to start the year.

They won in Vegas and they beat Florida on Sunday night with a really scary overtime power play. I was looking at that. Seneca, Carlson, Goch, Granlin, yish. But you don't have to face that in the playoffs. Yeah. And they, Quenville just left him out there until they scored. Seriously, if that game had gone on for another half hour,

he was leaving them out there for another half hour. Yeah. The other guys might as well just taking off their skates. Exactly. That Anaheim team is fun to watch. I have to say this, too, about the Ducks. I always joke about this, but 15 years ago, Alex Gilchrist, who's their longtime PR guy,

he won Cory Perry the Hart Trophy. So Henrik Sidina won it the year before, and Daniel was on track to win it that season, and Alex went on a huge campaign. And Perry won the heart as a player, but Gilchrist won the heart as a lobbyist. And I sent him a note with that I thought what they did something really smart. And it was that Leo Carlson led it to the fans before their first game.

Like I hope you all understand. I thought that was a great idea, a great idea. Now, I will say this. I said to Alex, this is your finest work since you won Perry the Heart Trophy. And he wouldn't take credit for it. He gave the credit to Adam Brady of the Doc's social team. So Adam, I thought that was a brilliant idea. And because it was so smart, I didn't think it could be Alex who did it.

And I was right. He said you did. And Carlson does not look like a guy that's nervous about living up to his contract here in the early days. No. He looks sharp. And that is not a small thing. That is not a small thing.

I think some guys are built to handle that and other guys are not. He strikes me as a guy who's built to handle it. But I'm still, I'm the sharks. I'm in go for it mode. Your building's rocking. The shark tank is back. Yes, the shark tank is back. That's an electric factory again.

It is back. It's fun to watch after some very dreary years there. As you've taught, if you want to embark on the rebuild, it is a long, long journey. Yeah. But it can be worth it if you hit the right notes. So you've touched on Florida here,

as we've made our way through California because they've started the season out on the road. Brad Marchand, almost surprisingly, comes back into the lineup Sunday. anticipating he was going to be gone practically all of October because of off-season surgery. He scores the tying goal late to get the Panthers a point. We know Sasha Barkob has gone on to LTIR after just a brutal-looking play against San Jose a few nights back. They are hopeful they have avoided the worst.

Okay. I was going to see if you had any other details over the weekend. The conspirators. that one. No, they're very careful about what it is, but the conspiracy theorists were out, eh? Oh, Barkhoff's an LTIR? Suddenly, Marshan is healthy. Yes. The timing is interesting. Just stay ready, Brad. You never know. Barkov is like, you know, when I've compared them to the, I've compared them to the bad boys' Pistons before. And Barkov is like Joe Dumars.

When the bad boys' pistons were at their highest, everybody hated Isaiah Thomas, everybody hated Bill Lambere, everybody hated Rodman, everybody hated all those guys, but everybody loved Dumars. He was the one guy on the Pistons that everybody had respect for and they treated them. No, no, no, do Mars is different. That's like Barkov. Like people, they look at the panties. and they're like, oh, I hate that guy, hate that guy.

Oh, no, no, no, I love Barkoff. He's great. So people want him to be, people were really disappointed to see him get hurt. You know, I don't know exactly what the injury is, but I, the one thing I did here was they were hopeful he escaped the worst case scenario. Okay. So we'll keep tabs on that as more information. information comes available.

So we were just talking about San Jose and when you get out of the rebuild, the type of excitement it can give you. What do you make of Calgary right now who is firmly in it? I have to admit, Elliot, like we're watching what Vancouver has done out of the gate, right? Like scored a ton of goals against Edmonton, you know, beat them once. They come back and beat Calgary on Saturday. They were right there against Vegas. Give Vegas.

Everything you can handle. Sure. I envision that for Calgary this year, and maybe they get there. I mean, they've only played three games. It's still early days. I know they don't have the same scoring up front that a Vancouver does, but just in terms of how you play, how you defend what matters to you in terms of your own standard, can you compete enough to at least be entertaining for your fans to go the short-term pain? it too shall pass. Elliot, Dustin Wolf's given up

12 goals and two games. Not all of that's on him. I'm not suggesting that for a second. But when you got a 6 GAA sitting next to you early on, that's a tough pill to swallow to get yourself, try to get your feet under you here early.

I think that's the real disappointing thing for them is that, like, I think they knew this could happen. I think deep down, They were hopeful. They were sitting there and saying maybe we surprise people this year, but I think deep down they knew this could happen. The one thing I think really hurts is that Wolf started last year really poorly, and they

believed that that would not be the case. So I think of all the things that have happened to them, the most disappointing one would be how Wolf has been lit up. And as you know, and everybody out there knows, it's not always. on the solely on the goalie. There's other things there too, but still that sucks. I think the difference between Calgary and Vancouver is,

look, the forward Pedersen in Vancouver has started the year hot and engaged. Yes. He's been big on the power play and he drilled Perak the other night. I was going to say, you were talking about him being a power play specialist. He may just go full on

Bash Brother at this place. A PowerPay specialist who clobbers people. But Calgary has nobody on their roster like him. Like if he's engaged, Calgary's got nobody like that. I really like White Cloud

in Calgary and I think it's going to be very difficult for them to keep them. I just think sooner or later somebody is going to make them an offer that they're going to do it. But you know, you look at Roanick. I just, again,

Ronick, as much as I like White Cloud, I don't think Calgary has a guy like Ronick, right? Yeah, yeah, that's fair. And the other thing, too, it's early. Sudden Rocket Richard Canada, Paul Carter's got four goals. Yes. Like, Vancouver just has, they have a Pedersen, they have a Ronik,

Those guys would, those guys would be the two best players. What's that? They have a couple petersons. Yeah, but the two I'm referring to, they would be the best players on Calgary's roster. And Vancouver's other guys have started hot. You know, Cotter's got six points in four games. Rossi's got four points in four games. So does Ogren, so does Linus Carlson, right?

So I just believe that like last year, what did Calgary's top score have like 45 points. You looked at it this year and you said the same thing is going to happen. You could see that. Vancouver, I figured, no matter what their situation was, they were going to be able to score if Pedersen was indeed better. And he is. And, you know, you look at these first three games for Calgary.

Like I said, I think they knew deep down it could happen. And it looks like we're going to get it. And, you know, the one thing I'll say about the Flames is they got a lot of good young players, some of whom were there. And there's a bunch of guys, Reschnie, Potter, Wittenbach, who is off to a good start in the NCAA season. And they've got Shaiklis Lamoff, who's the young kid playing in Russia, who's off to a great start this year.

Yeah. Like they've got some, what's that? Carol, I was talking more about forwards because they have D. Oh, I see what you mean. I was talking. But you're right. Carols, of course. But I was talking more about forwards.

But they have young talented forwards that could make a difference. But you know what I think the one thing the flames don't have is, like that elite historically, they've never drafted up there. And what is the best way to get the elite of the elite skilled forward pick at the top? and like this sucks and this hurts and I already see flames fans going this is terrible this is a rebuild this is you said it ask the sharks ask the sharks what it was like look at the blackhawks ask the blackhawks what it was like you want to rebuild this is what you get and the only like the thing is you've really got to hope that out of this you get your

badard you get your celebrini you get a couple of guys like that and now you're entering it and Vancouver even off despite the start they're off to they're kind of there too the only bonus is that somewhere two or three years you hope you hope you hope it's that soon down the road you've got a guy on your team who's like has arrived and is pulling you out of the mess that's what this is you can't go into a rebuild and say i'm accepting of this and then three games into it saying oh my god we've got to get everybody fired this is this is unacceptable. No, this is what a rebuild is. You get your ass kicked over and over and over again. It has been a dose of reality in Calgary to begin the farewell season at the Saddle Dome.

By the way, Kyle, if I was running a team, I would have a rule. And that is, goalies can't have white, white laces on their gloves. no white webbing after the The Devin Cooley review Yes because we saw in the place a couple years ago Edmonton the Kings remember you always got a goal Because the Kings had that And back then I would have said you can't do it

Now you really can't do it And Eric Francis was on in the broadcast And he actually said That Cooley told him That he will be switching Wolf, I'm not so sure. He kind of indicated that Wolf wasn't so sure, but Coolly would be switching. And I would just say that if you're one of my goalies and we lose a goal because you won't change to the different colored laces or different colored webbing, it's like 10K in the team party fund.

I don't even know if the CBA allows me to do that, but I'd still do it anyway. really hey i still i think that example on the weekend white lacing or white webbing black webbing i'm thinking you're still going to see the puck there in that case but the white webbing makes it easier i just remember the one from the playoffs two years ago it was so obvious yes yes i don't know anything to help tip the scales your favor i get it but you know how goalies are i don't care convincing all of them. You got to be a team player. You look good. You want to feel good. Then you play good. I don't know. You can look good in black laces. Yes. Well, not with the gloves white. I don't know, maybe you can. Okay, a couple other things we wanted to get to. So, Mikey Asima on waivers for Boston. So he's got one year left on his contract, just under a million and a half. Yeah. I can see some interest. potentially being out there for him.

You talked about Edmonton looking for forwards. Yeah, I was interested in that because they're looking for depth forwards. They've got a lot of banged up guys. Savoy entered the season hurt. Now you can add Hyman is hurt. Other guys have been hurt. So I know they're looking at someone like in Asimant. So depending on the contract situation, we'd see how they felt.

you know sometimes I wanted to see if teams wait if this happens on waivers first so they know that the players waiver eligible and I don't know if Boston would be interested on one of the depth defensemen on the Edmonton roster but the olas would prefer to move one of their depthees pod favorite Spencer Stasney maybe hopefully we'd get a chance um you know the other thing too is Boston no chance they want to put poitress on waivers they know he wouldn't get

through so I assume that means he's he's ready to play um we mentioned the kings a couple minutes ago i heard the other day that drew dowdy who did his last contract eight years ago without an agent now has one he's hired uh pat person so doubty that'll be interesting because this is the last year of his deal. And as Ken Holland has said and Dowdy has agreed with, that they're going to wait until after the season or later to determine his future. And one thing we've seen early for Dowdy with the Kings is his power play time is way down. And actually, Kyle, not just his power play time, his penalty kill time was also down. I don't think you played on the penalty kill on Saturday in their game against the sharks.

So it just shows, and it's still early and things change, his overall situation there is really going different. So that'll be something to watch too. Another thing I wondered about watching as we go through the early days of this season, feels like for the longest time slashing penalties when it comes to stick on stick and the attacking players stick breaks

no matter how hard the act was the arm the arm always went up right stick breaks penalty being called but we've seen a couple examples over the weekend like there was mason marchman in that san oz a la game ab fans were furious Yvonne Demadob had his stick broken in overtime of Montreal, Pittsburgh, no call. Penguins later go down the ice, score, win the game.

There's two examples right there of like the players were almost thrown off because they're programmed to think, oh, stick breaks, penalties coming, and then there wasn't, and it's play on. So you'd heard anything about internally, the officials saying, let's check ourselves a little bit here because we've seen more than enough data now of where composite sticks are, even because they break doesn't necessarily mean it was a baseball-like swim. I have not heard anything, but I feel the exact same way that you do. Because it's, uh, I just hate that when it breaks,

it's not a manic penalty. It makes me crazy. I, I, the, I just thought about this as, as you were going through it. I wonder if it's,

that way just to eliminate the judgment call it broke we make the call right and you're then putting the player at a disadvantage because he's now got no stick to play with no stick um that's what i would think i mean these sticks are just they are so light now as you know those hairline fractures can leave them to disintegrate without much leaning on it like i think part of it is just that's that's the flip side of using the latest and greatest technology not unlike now right most players have the quick release steel in their skates and so now you got steel flying around on the ice because they're getting popped out and they're trying to one-legged get back to the back to the bench and it's like well you've chosen to use that equipment i i would feel the same about sticks so i just something to watch here as we go forward do we see more examples of yes the stick broke but that was it was not a lumberjack chop so as much as i hate it i'd rather they not turn it into something subjective where they guess on some and not others okay all right why don't we get to the final thought then so my father's old line how many chances do you get to

make a good first impression we are nearing the one week mark of the regular season elliott Who has made good first impressions in your eyes? Pittsburgh, 13 goals in two games, almost blew it against the Canadians, but 13 goals in two games, and Winnipeg goes back to back, right? They beat Detroit on Sunday, so does that mean Clay Stevenson

gets his first jet start on Monday night against the red hot penguins? I like, I like, I would, like to see that matchup, but it's hard not to like Pittsburgh early. Rangers. Do you know that Shisterkin is fifth on the Rangers in scoring? Yeah. Well, did you see Utah had the goalie out late in the game? He went to get the puck behind the net. The place went crazy. Three and one for the Rangers. That's huge. Fox is leading them in scoring. Like I said, Shisterkin is fifth. Grand got a

shut out. Hard not to like the way the Rangers start. I like Swamen's. start that Tyrell Bauer from the Jets talk about making an impression no I'm glad Colissar is okay that was that was scary for a second but this this bower talk about everybody noticing who you are making a name for yourself and Winnipeg needed some good news too they needed a nice story that's a good story. Colorado's power play, even though they lost the Rangers,

I like the way Utah started the series, or the season. Seattle, even though they lost in Edmonton on Saturday night, two big wins, win their home opener. You know, Seattle needed a good start this year. They needed to also inject some positivity, and they got a big home win to start game one.

I like the way the Canucks started. Like that whole Western conference, everybody, like almost all the teams at the top look really good, with one exception. Dallas is the team that started very poorly, and they can't score five on five for whatever reason. But all the contenders and a lot of the teams that were hoping to show that they were contenders in the West have really started well this year.

Chicago is the other one that they didn't have Byram and Buffalo. the other night, but Chicago's the other one that makes, you know, not everybody can start great. Some teams are going to start rough. They had the nervous first week, but I look at the West. A lot of those teams look really good. A lot of them look good. Sure do.

Like I just, we talked about Anaheim earlier, but that's the one that I'm highlighting if I'm picking one just out of the gate because I think you shared a similar feeling. I'm nervous of, you know, they got so many good young players. But with who departed over the summer, those guys are going to be asked to do even more. But out of the gate, they certainly don't look too intimidated by that whole idea. So good for them.

Good for them. Delivered their home opener to, just like Seattle did. It's fun to see that part, geographically of the league California being having the fireworks going off there again we're so used to that for the longest time went away for a while and it's coming back

it's really great good start to the season man a lot of good games a lot of good games it's awesome right back into it all right that was the final thought and with that we will take our first break on the other side another edition of

the thought line 32 thoughts the podcast continues after this We are back. We are back. Time now for the thought line presented by BetMGM Make It Legendary. So, Ellie, remember, was it last pod of the one before we were talking about your old university football tapes? It was two pods ago when I went to go see Western play. Yes. Right, right, right. So the other day I was reminded that it was the 12-year anniversary of the day that the senators, like all in basically one press conference. named Eric Carlson Captain and announced Bobby Ryan's big contract extension at the time. And I had just moved to Ottawa and was only at SportsNet for a year at that point. So that was like the first big news event there. And there was still the link to the video of would have been the live report.

I would have done that day into Sportsnet connected back then. Oh, yeah? Anyway, I just, I, so I was like, to humor myself, I went back and watched it. And not that I ever questioned it back then, but I really understand now why people poked fun of me for looking 12 years old. And I was like, oh, my God. Who is that child? Well, the, the good thing now, Kyle, is that all these years later, you look 13.

Yes. I'm like the reverse dog years, age. I'll hang on to that as long as I can. Yes, you should. Looking young is a great thing. When people say, what? You're how old? That's good.

I know. It's not going to last forever. We'll take it. You got any shoutouts? Anything you want to get off your chest? I do. I have a couple. On the last pod, you mentioned about hockey books.

that people like and I mentioned Breakaway which is by Tal Pichowski he reached out to say that he's working on a dock like a television doc about the book so I wanted to wish him good luck because it's a great

book and I look forward to seeing the dock it's those things are a labor of love and I look forward to seeing it Ian Cox who speaking of the Ottawa senators he is is a member of the Sanders equipment staff.

He's the assistant equipment manager there. Yes. When they were in town the other day against the Maple Leafs, he showed me a video of his garbage being attacked by a raccoon. And that thing was massive. Yeah, that had a burger hanging out of its mouth. Yeah, seriously.

Like the raccoon, like all that thing was missing was a napkin tied around its neck and cutlery. It was really helping himself to Ian's garbage bin. Ian, we were talking about it for a couple minutes. The thing that Ian's lucky about that I'm not is they haven't made a latrine out of around his house. Like I have that problem, which makes it exponentially worse. But Ian, thank you for the video. So on Saturday morning after the morning skate, Kyle, I went for a walk and, you know, went for coffee not far from the home office, the Rogers complex. And there was, I was crossing a street and there was a van driving past me straight. And then there was a pickup truck.

And he didn't see me behind the van. So he kind of had to hit his brakes a little bit. and I was like, okay, and then I just kept walking. And as I reached the end of the crosswalk, the guy rolled down his window and said, holy cow, I almost ran over Elliot Friedman. And his name was Jack. Good guy, except for the fact. You got his name out of all that?

Yeah, oh, yeah. Good guy, except for the fact he almost killed me. Other than that, really nice person. And I got a couple more here for you. there was one DM. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I knew I was going to get some of these.

This was Bruce Kay on Instagram. And I knew I was going to get some complaints about moving the pod. And he wrote, See what you missed by recording one day earlier than usual. Nis's two goals and the Oilers Canucks rematch. It's the hockey gods telling you to go back to Friday drops. And a goalie goal. and a goalie goal sorry bruce actually i i will tell you this uh michael rappaport who's part of the

media relations staff of the rangers and a really good guy he actually did reach out and say could have talked about the goalie goal on today's pod i can't i got a i'm not going to i can't find the text but he basically said either that or i'm really looking forward to to morrow's pod talking about the goalie goal knowing that there's that there's a lot of you're not going to There was not going to be a tomorrow pod. That one gave me a good laugh, Michael. And there was one other note I wanted to send out. I forgot the guy's name.

I wrote it down, but I can't find it in all my notes. So there is a guy who works out in my gym, young guy in his 20s, and he is a huge Penguins and Sidney Crosby fan. Like all year last year, before the penguins started winning and making a playoff run, he was saying to me, do you think Crosby will accept the trade?

Do you think he's going to stay with the penguins? Like every time I saw him at the gym, he would ask me, what's going on with the penguins? Is Crosby getting traded? What's happening? Fill me in. So really good guy. So he is now, he left in August to go to George Washington Law School.

Either George Washington Law School or Georgetown Law School. Whatever the case, it's in D.C., and he told me he will be the one guy at Capitals games this year in a Crosby, Jersey. So I said just once, I would go on the pod and say, Capitals fans, if you see a guy in a Crosby jersey at a Penguins game this year in Washington, give him grace the first time. This is somebody I know. You can ask him if he's a first year law school student

and tell him, tell him he gets some grace because of the 32 Thoughts podcast. But not a lot. I understand there's only so much you can give in those situations. It reflects in your power here. Yeah, I know. We'll see how much I really have. They might just destroy them anyway.

Well, 15 years ago, I would be really nervous for him. Now I feel there's far greater mutual respect between the markets. They've both won. They've both won. Closer to the end than the beginning. Yeah. It is a little different. But good for him.

Not afraid. All right. Here we go. Shout out curator Griffin Porter for the latest batch. Today, begin with Jeff, a Canucks fan in New Brunswick. Hello, gentlemen, and Elliot. With all the talk of the in-season cup, wanted to see if you were aware of the Rayburn Shield

in international rugby. So essentially, the first ever international rugby match between Scotland and England was played in Rayburn. Scotland became the first winners of the Shield. It has then been passed down like an in-season. Season Cup trophy for over 100 years. Australia took it from South Africa on September 27th, 2006. South Africa had taken it from New Zealand back in August.

Australia next plays New Zealand on October the 8th. Previous winners include New Zealand, South Africa, England, Ireland, Australia, France, Wales, Scotland, Japan, Argentina, Romania, Samoa. Anyways, I thought you might find it interesting. Also, I'm just looking it up right now. I was disappointed. Elliot didn't grab Calgary for the in-season cup to complete the Western Canadian team set. Yeah, auto draft had something to do with that, I think. Sorry, Jeff.

Yeah, so there's... I'm just looking at this now. Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah. Because it's not an official competition, but it's a thing that fans and fans of the sport use. And there's a women's version called the Utrecht Shield. Yes. That's fantastic.

Rugby ahead of the sport. the head of the curve when it comes to this stuff. That's great. Thanks for that, Jeff. I had no idea. No, me neither. Bill from Bowmanville. What a handle. I hope he introduces himself like that anywhere he goes. Hi, I'm Bill from Bowmanville. And you're not. You are not. Hey, crew, I was just reading an article about the San Francisco 49ers and an injured player, Nick Bosa, and the fact that the team wasn't sure if they were able to put him on the injured list due to not having enough injury slots to place them. This got me thinking,

could this ever happen in the NHL? Would an NHL team ever play with less than a full roster due to an accumulation of injuries? I know there are emergency situations, but that usually applies to goalies in my experience, but correct me if I am wrong. If there are emergency rules, how does that impact the allowable roster size and or the salary cap? If a team legitimately has nine injuries, what are their options, or do they face a penalty? So the answer to your question, Bill, is there have been situations where teams have had to play short-handed because of this stuff. They've run into cap problems, and they, for example, they have a lot of guys hurt, and they can't, and not all of them qualify for long-term injured

reserve, for example, and you're tight to the cap. And so you've had to play short. Now, one of the things that the NHL does is they have an emergency situation for this, but you might have to play short-handed for one game. So, yes, there is a situation where the league, in the NHL, where you can have to play short-handed if the amount of injuries and your cap situation ties you to, too tight for a game. Very good.

All right. We've got a voicemail next. Paul from Brooks, Alberta. Just regarding Gavin McKenna, just curious, if he struggles early in the year, would he be able to go back to college? Or where would he go play? Could he go to the minors since he doesn't have a junior team to go to?

Love the pod, boys. Thank you. Yes, Paul, I don't expect it to happen, but when you are drafted out of the NCAA, like basically the situation where you can't go to the American Hockey League right away necessarily is if you're drafted out of the CHL system. Now, it did change this year. If you're a 19-year-old, you can be sent to the CHL. That is new. but other than that, for example, if you're drafted out of college like McKenna was, if Toronto wanted to send him down, they could send him down to the American Hockey League.

And also, McKenna is going to be 19 in this NHL calendar year. He turns 19 right before Christmas, so that would help a situation too. But because he was drafted out of Penn State, they could send him to the HL. I still think he's going to be fine. Yes, I think I agree with that. It just has to shoot the puck more. Yeah. Okay, a couple more here.

Matt from Ottawa. Hi, Dom, Dom, and Dom. That's good. Does the league mate provisions to adjust the offer sheet compensation chart when the cap increases? The upper tier right now is four firsts for an 11.9 AAV.

Well, we're in the, 18 million dollar era now. Seems like offer sheet values just hit an all-time low. The answer is yes. They are changed every year. Sometime in May, all of the thresholds

are set. So what is this year won't be the same as next year, just like what was last year, wasn't the same as this year. And it's basically tied into, there's a formula that's tied into salary figures and revenues and things like that,

basically similar to how the salary cap is figured out. Got it. Okay. Last one here. Nathan from San Clemente, California. Hi, Elliot, Kyle and Dom. First time writing the podcast and have been a weekly listener for over a year now. Great to have you aboard.

Last season, I saw the Blues take on the Ducks in Anaheim and notice, Souter on the blues wearing number 22, and in the previous season, that name and number was also in use by Ryan Souter. Has there ever been a case of players of the same surname and of no relation to wear the same number for the same team in any other point in league history? Thanks for taking my question and keep up great work. What a great question. really good i mean you have to think there's maybe two smiths who followed it up who weren't related

or something like that but kyle off the off the top of my head i can't think of anybody yeah so the same name but with no relation you ready for this how many times there have been 63 examples including the one that Nathan referenced in the history of the NHL, 63. Wow. And they're not related. No relation. So did like Sid Howe were number nine before Gordy Howe did in Detroit?

Is that one of them? No, there's no, I don't see now here. But I mean, there's a number of Smith. There must be some common's last name. Yeah, there's a number of Smiths. Smith, okay. there's a herdina really and yon

with the penguins both wore 38 and how many years apart well now you're tested me here wow 63 I would have figured there was been like maybe five times I know but I wonder if it's ever been back to back

because Nathan's question was back to back right Ryan Pius Souter Well, his example was back to back, but he was just wondering if it's happened. I wonder how many times it's been back to back. That's amazing. Yeah. So the Herdinas was about an eight-year gap. Jan Herdina was with Pittsburgh around the turn of the century.

Correct. Yep. And Yuri was on their back-to-back cup years. Yeah, he would have been about 10 years sooner. Yeah. Yeah. And he also went up with Calgary. He had a good little run.

Oh, that's right. I forgot he was there then. That's right. 250 games in the NHL, three cups. Three cups. That is a charm career. No kidding. But yeah, there's some some beauties in here.

Like Dan and Brian Boyle, both War 22 with the Rangers. Wow. And I bet you those guys would have been pretty close. Not far. Yeah. Not far apart. Zach Smith and Craig Smith both wore 15 with the Blackhawks. That would have been a close overlap.

So Dan Boyle with the Rangers was 1415 and 1516. And Brian Boyle would have been, I bet you're right around there. Yeah, right, right, this last year with the Rangers was 13, 14. So that one, that one qualifies. It's right there. Nice. What a question. Yeah.

That, Nathan, that is an eagle eye. And again, I was floored at 63. Mike Sullivan and Steve Sullivan both wore 26 for the coyotes. Okay. Anyway, there's a lot of examples here when you got 63 of them. But fun question, because I like you, it's like the common names, surely, over 110 years worth of history. It had happened, but I didn't see that number coming.

That's pretty cool. Really good. Really good. Really well done. Yes. Thank you for that. That was well worth the expedition. That's, you know what that's too?

That is also like a very Ron McLean-ask mind. He would really be into something like that. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Okay, that'll do it for another edition of the thought line. If you want to submit your own observation with last names and same numbers or any other questions you may have, you can do so at 32 Thoughts at sportsnet.ca or leave us a voicemail at 1833-3-3-1-321-32.

Take another break and come back and say our goodbyes and another Canadian music cut to play us out on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, before we go, we wanted to remind you what is going on. tonight. It is the debut of the new Rogers Monday Night Hockey Show exclusively on Sportsnet Plus. There are two games tonight going on simultaneously. So the pregame show will begin at 7 ET. David Amber at the helm and the panel will get you set for the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators and the Pittsburgh Penguins and Winnipeg Jets. Both games at 730 ET exclusively seen on our streaming service. SportsNet Plus. Now, I know since this has been announced, there's been a lot of questions over how do we access it? Do we already have SportsNet Plus in my cable package? Is it an additional thing? We have to purchase to add on. The answer can be different strokes for different folks. So if you are still uncertain about how to access it and whether or not you need to add anything on to what you currently have already, you can go to sportsnet plus, plus, dot ca, Monday Night Hockey.

You should find your answer right there. So the Bruins and Sands, Jets and Penguins, tonight on SportsNet Plus, the first edition of the brand new Rogers Monday Night Hockey. Can't wait. Appreciate all you tuning in once again to another edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Taking us out today,

a track from Carlton Stone as a musician. Carlton Stone is a Swiss Army knife. The Atlantic Canadian songwriter, won Calus Awards for his solo records and those he released with his former band, Port Cities. He's racked up numerous songwriting credits, has become an accomplished producer, and is a season road dog, most recently supporting the crash test dummies on six major Jons. Stone's newest album, Midnight Rose is an electrifying collection of sophisticated Americana, lush pop, and propulsive rock. Following up 2022's critically-lawed paper cut, he is one

Once again in the producer's chair alongside the legendary Howie Beck this time, older and slightly wiser, the record fine stone musing on his own Sisyphian burdens, loves fickle nature, and smoking cigarettes with God. What an outing. He's got an upcoming show on October the 18th, his album release show, coincidentally at The Carlton out in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This song, just like last season, and along with all the others we will feature this year on 32, Thoughts the podcast can be found on the Spotify playlist, 32 Thoughts, The Music.

Here is the Swiss Army Knife himself and used to on 32 Thoughts the podcast. Still getting used to half an empty bed talking about you in the past tense. Still getting used to holidays alone. Make up stories. My mother, about why you're gone? Because I'm still getting you. used to saying we know you're probably out with someone i guess it always is when we're claiming up our friend look at the camera roll unless you got thick skin because you think you're moving forward 10 steps back again still getting used to even though you're probably out with someone new yeah

i'm still getting used to like a pair of new shoes