32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Utah Should Keep HC?

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman kick things off with the St. Louis Blues hiring Jim Montgomery as their new head coach following his departure from the Boston Bruins. Afterwards, Elliotte ponders aloud whether Utah Hockey Club should just stick with their current name (12:49). Then, Kyle and Elliotte delve into the Toronto Maple Leafs who have won seven of their last eight without Auston Matthews (20:05). That makes way for a conversation around the Canucks-Senators game from Saturday night and the opposite directions both teams are heading in (25:19).. Elliotte provides an update on Kirill Kaprizov's injury (33:18) and unpacks the latest developments with David Jiricek (38:16). The Final Thought focuses on Joe Thornton and his jersey retirement in San Jose (40:18).  The Final Thought  focuses on Joe Thornton and his jersey retirement in San Jose (40:18). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions in the Thought Line (50:37).In the final segment, Kyle and Elliotte talk about the OHL's plans for aggressive expansion (1:09:05). Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.  

I try to throw trivia in there every time and there's always trivia questions submitted and then I also try to find like just are you eating those tables again yes gosh are you finally got the bag open you should I had some great lines about that like the one guy who sent me the picture oh that was funny oh that was great and the fact that gosh you you forced your poor wife to put out an explainer just to try to I didn't did it she did that I don't know you gotta stop eating over recording though see you smacking in the background okay i'm ready anytime are you sure yeah oh god you sound like my dog welcome to another edition of 32 thoughts the podcast presented by the gmc sierra at4x dom

shramadi kyle bakoskis and a very demure Elliot Friedman. At least that's what he was on Saturday. What was the word you just used a moment ago, Dom, to describe his look on hockey night? Debonair. Debonair. Terrific. You're gunning for the hair title

and the hair and hot air alternate title of this pod fridge. I have to tell you, that hair I had in there, it was a fire hazard gus put so much of that spray in my head i warned everybody if you have a flint lighter on your persona don't bring it anywhere near me it was too much it was actually too much i was too clean i don't like that i i think it was a nice change for a lot of people but when you don't like that i don't like looking like you like you're like lindstrom you're the perfect human i

i don't like that i like being an unmade bed you should see me right now as we tape the first part of this podcast on sunday i can pick i i look like an unmade bed that's the way I prefer it you know what actually a story I heard I heard that Jack Victor who does our suits and I love them they make great suits great sponsor for the show they were like we have a reputation we can't have Elliot going out there in crazy suits anymore. I'm sure that must have hurt a little bit. It did. That's your calling card. It wounded me. I was wounded.

Not mortally wounded, but just a few stitches. All right. Well, I'm glad you're still able to get through this episode with us. Got a few things to get through here today. So why don't we start with the big news sunday morning i don't even know if you were up yet after the late night saturday elliot but just as it was happening i got a call just as there you go yeah drew bannister out jim montgomery hired by the blues not only does he take over signed to a five-year deal to be the head coach. The Blues went 39-31-6 over Bannister's time as coach interim

and then the brief time as the full-time coach. We had talked about on last pod, you had made the connection to St. Louis for Montgomery Elliott because he'd worked for the organization in the past. There's a family tie there too. Were you at all surprised that this move came so soon after his time in Boston ended this was always the plan if it didn't work out in Boston this was always going to be the outcome always as a matter of fact within an hour of the

announcement being made I got calls from two different people who said to me you have no guts and guts was not the phrase they used but they said you have no guts and I was like why and they said because you danced around it when you wrote about it last week and you danced around it when you talked about it on the podcast on Friday but you knew this guy was going to St. Louis and you didn't come right out and say it and I said you're right I did lack the guts to come right out and say it because it's one of those things if you're wrong you look like an even bigger idiot than normal. And at that point, you just couldn't prove it. Look, I think, let's just go back to this, okay? Drew Bannister got the coaching job

last year on an interim basis when Craig Berube was fired. He did not get the official job until May 7th, which was just after the Boston Bruins played game one of the second round last year against the Florida Panthers. And especially now, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what was going on. Doug Armstrong was waiting to see if there was any chance if the Boston Bruins lost in the first round of the Toronto Maple Leafs would Jim Montgomery become available. The answer they won, they hung on, they won that series and now Montgomery's not available. He also looked into David Karl from the University of Denver. David Karl has made it very clear he's not leaving Denver unless he gets an offer he cannot say no to, make him an offer he

can't refuse. He went back to Drew Bannister and he hired him for a two-year extension. What was the key about what Doug Armstrong said on Sunday morning? He said he made the change because of who came available. Because of the way it all sort of worked its way out last year, Jim Montgomery was not available. But the moment Montgomery became available as Armstrong said he was going to be the guy that St. Louis honed in on as you said Montgomery has a family connection to St. Louis it's the place I think he really wanted to be if he wasn't in Boston and I think Doug Armstrong knew that but also Armstrong a he wants to make the playoffs this year, and B, he doesn't want to

take the chance that anyone else comes in there and pulls the rug from underneath him. No, he's, when you have the opportunity, you lock it down, and that's what Doug Armstrong did. Five-year deal. I don't believe the Bruins offered five years. Someone will tell me if I'm wrong, but what I've heard is that the Bruins offered Montgomery three years. But like we said on Friday's pod, I think this was bigger than simply the negotiations and the offer. And I think it was about philosophy. I think it was about approach. I don't think the coach in the front office in Boston were on the same page,

and I just think everybody realized that was not a long-term match, and I think everybody knew that the Blues had one eye on Montgomery, and Montgomery had one eye on the Blues had one eye on Montgomery and Montgomery had one eye on the Blues. And I would think that the Bruins knew that this was possible all along. That Montgomery realized that this other situation was there. And if he wasn't happy with the way that the Bruins situation was working out

he could potentially go there and that's exactly the way it unfolded I don't think this is a surprise to anybody and you know what the thing about Doug Armstrong is whether you like him or you don't he's not afraid to make hard decisions if he thinks they're for the betterment of his team and he came right out and said it he was honest it was about this one coach and I believe that's a hundred percent true I don't think he's blowing smoke or making stuff up or fudging the truth or anything like that. I think this was all about Jim Montgomery. And if Jim Montgomery had been available last season, he would have been the coach of the blues from the summer.

You know, this kind of reminds me of Elliot. I mean, it's not the exact same scenario. You remember in 2017, Claude Julian was fired by the Bruins on February 7th. One week later, on Valentine's Day, Montreal Canadiens fired then-head coach Michel Therrien and hired Claude Julien. I believe the Canadians were first in their division at the time,

but had been teetering for a few weeks. But that's where my mind went, too. And it's not something where you could kind of see the stars aligning from a long way away, but similar where Marc Bergevin back then saw a guy of Julian's caliber available and wanted to nab him before anybody else could. Yeah, I think that's a great... Well, also, I mean, people have been talking about

the last three Bruins coaches to be fired, how quickly they've been rehired. Same deal with Bruce Cassidy. Yep. When he became available, the Vegas Golden Knights went and they snapped him up. He rocketed right to the top of your list. Like, it's a tough deal for Drew Bannister. It is.

Like, it is a tough deal. You know, when you know when you become a coach anywhere the the moment you get hired that's like the apex right you know that the day is eventually coming where you're going to get fired now Kyle one of my first jobs in high school was at Radio Shack okay no way yes if you bought a digital alarm clock at Radio Shack and it wore out this quickly, you would get your money back or you would get a new model. The time isn't supposed to run out as quickly on a coach as it did here. And it's a really tough break for Drew Bannister.

And I feel for him for that reason I just think that Jim Montgomery was the kind of guy that if he came available as Doug Armstrong said he was gonna go there the only reason it didn't happen last summer is because the Boston Bruins players saved Montgomery's job by not losing in the first round. And all of this also comes during a stretch where the Blues have won just two of their last nine. The other thing, Elliot, right now they are 30th out of 32 teams in goals for. I don't know if you saw or heard Pavel Bushnevich. Oh, yeah. This game after their loss to the Islanders on Saturday,

where, among other things, suggested, yes, we're maybe much better defensively than we were a year ago, but in terms of creating offense, it's just not there for us right now. We'll see. I don't know. We scored two goals a game. We can win the games like that. What's our goal?

We have to stop 50 shots every game. It's impossible. You know, our teams have good players and we're scoring. We've got to figure out offense. Offense is our biggest issue. Impossible to win with one and two goals. Just impossible. I guess hindsight always provides the perfect perspective,

but going back and watching that, knowing what we know now, you could tell that there was maybe some frustrations internally in the dressing room of the style of the blues were playing prior to this swap i always give a little bit of rope to players like buchnevich because they're not speaking in their first language and sometimes it comes out in ways that is not necessarily intended. So whether or not you want to skip over the way it was specifically said, the idea was still very much one that he wanted to convey. He didn't think they were creative enough.

He didn't think they practiced it enough. And the one thing about Jim Montgomery is he's pushed the pace. He's attack. He's let's create ways to score so that's not going to be a problem for Bucinavich under Montgomery he's going to be about how do we attack and get goals Blues in the middle of a road trip right now so Montgomery will make his debut behind their bench tonight Monday night with St. Louis in Manhattan to face the Rangers at MSG. All right, Elliot, as we watched Utah HC not only battle the traffic in downtown Toronto

on a Sunday, no less, having to walk the last few blocks to Scotiabank Arena before falling to the Toronto Maple Leafs, you, I understand, had an idea what is it well first of all anytime i have an idea it's a problem but i'm hoping this does not cause any serious issues so sunday night played cards with my buddies we have a group of us, about eight of us. We get together and we play cards. And so we're watching the Toronto game against Utah. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking,

what if Utah doesn't get a team name aside from Utah HC. Keep it. Hold on. Is this because you've got so much joy over calling them the Utahns? You just don't want that to change? Partially. I will admit that calling them the Utahns, to be honest, I'll probably keep doing it anyway. But that is that is something I thought of but I was talking about it with the group of guys there who were watching and some of them are big soccer fans and I said to them how would you feel if it was Utah HC in perpetuity not the Grizzlies not the yetis whatever they might be thinking about but just utah hc and a couple of them who are big soccer fans thought it was a really good idea i will say the vast majority this is a very unscientific poll but the vast majority of guys guys I play cards with actually thought it was a really cool idea and they think and and you know what what they said and I thought they made a really good point

say that if you're a soccer fan whether it's a worldwide soccer fan or an MLS soccer fan you are used to teams calling themselves that you're used to Real Madrid you're used to FC like that is normal yeah and the more they like Real Salt Lake exactly um the more they thought about it the more they thought it was a great idea. It was unique. It was different. And they said, and the one thing I think about is that maybe at the beginning, people would think it was weird, but eventually you just get used to it. Like you get used to anything. Now it would be on the Utahns to come up with a good logo, a cool logo, one that people would want to represent their team in their state. But Utah HC, it was growing on this small group of people. Now, I will say this,

the one thing they didn't like was, and this was a TSN regional broadcast, and I'm not saying this to take a shot at TSN. I was just looking at this on a font. They didn't like it when the score was up and it said, Hockey Club won Maple Leafs 3. They didn't like the looks of that. We were saying if you're going to use it on a font bar, it should say Utah HC, not Hockey Club. And so if you're the team and you do say that is your permanent name,

Utah HC, you have to make sure that's standard across the board, whether it's your broadcast or the opposition's broadcast. You have to say, hey, instead of calling us hockey club, can you just call us Utah HC all the time? But the more I thought about it, and the more our group thought about it, we just said, once people got over the initial weirdness, their position was the vast majority of people

would like it and be very comfortable with it as long as the logo was good. What say you, Bacoskis? And you know what? If you want to consult with anyone like I did, your dog, I know, is always around you. You can ask him. Yeah, sometimes we play cards.

Barry and I. Well, if you go back to June, when they had kind of honed the list of team names down to six through the fan boat that they did out there at Utah, one of them was Utah Hockey Club. So it's been on the radar, not only from a team perspective of let's have it this for now until we decide what we really want to do, but from the fan base also so it's not the craziest idea you have ever had and you go back to last week like the records they were setting when they finally had their jerseys available to sell at the team store thought of that too yes yes yes i was

just as you were talking there did a quick look I mean, you can't even find them through the proper channels, the jerseys to buy online right now. They've been hot items there in Salt Lake City. There's no question. And I just think about for all the fans there that would have gone to their, whether it was first ever hockey game this season or first, of course, Utah game,

and all the memories that will stick with them from that and the fact that they were going to see Utah HC for the first time. I wonder if that helps the idea of that grow with them too. I mean, as I say, this is just your idea of thinking out loud. I don't mind it at all. I like the colors like the colors i'm with you you got to have a good logo it can't just be utah across the the chest all the time but i do like the colors i have no problem with going with something a little more unique or european uh something non-hockey as opposed to trying to jam a nickname in that that may fit fit the Utah mold or the mold of the climate out there. And another thing too, that whole idea of hockey club, I mean, yes, it's a nod to the soccer fan,

but we see it over in Europe in certain hockey teams and leagues over there as well. You could even put it before Utah. HC Utah could be the name going forward. It's not the worst idea you've had, Freed. I'll give it to you. I feel as if that's a big victory for me, that it's not the worst idea I've ever had. And, you know, the other thing, too, is when you're trying to grow hockey, And, you know, the other thing too is when you're trying to grow hockey, there's more soccer fans out there than there are hockey fans out there, right?

Now, you can argue whether or not that's the case in North America, but generally there's more soccer than there are hockey. If you're trying to grow your sport, something unique like that, I don't think it hurts. All right. You want to talk Maple Leafs a little bit too? Suddenly they've won, what, seven of eight without Austin Matthews here now? He's the problem. Just as McDavid was earlier for the Oilers.

That's right. It's been unbelievable because it's not only just Matthews they're missing. As you know, it's a laundry list of quality players that they're without for the time being. This is proof to me, when you look at the way that Marner's playing right now, it's like the whole Crosby-Malkin thing. When Crosby was out, Malkin played great. When Malkin was out, Crosby played great. The whole thing to me is, I think these these players they love the challenge of we're missing a bunch of guys and I'm gonna carry the rest of the group I really do think great players think like that

and they love those challenges but I want to talk about that i want to talk about the maple leaves right now their defensive metrics are great you know wool stallers they're playing really well um they have they have a couple of defensive pairs that statistically are fantastic right now and they're not giving up a ton of chances and to me of all of the teams that the maple leaves have had in the matthews marner nylander tavaris riley era even the one that beat tampa i don't think was as good as the one that was in the Canadian division. I thought that was the best Leaf team of that era. They won that division. They won that division comfortably.

There was a time in there, they went into Edmonton, and they gave up, I think, one goal in three games. They were a lockdown defensive team they were really really good defensively and there's still a lot of the season to go and we'll see where this goes but I couldn't help but watch that game against Utah while I was chasing inside straights and thinking I wonder if this is going to be the closest thing to that team. And that team coughed up a hairball. They were up to Montreal three games to one. They had no business losing that series and they lost that series. And Montreal, of course, that year, they went to the Stanley Cup final before they got beat by Tampa and Tampa won the Stanley Cup I

don't know if Toronto would have gotten to that final but of like if all the teams that the mapleys have had in this group that to me is the biggest what if team because they were really good defensively and I think the best one that they've had in this era so I'm watching this now and they've still got you know 60 games to play but their early defensive numbers compare to that group and I'm curious to see if this lasts. They've got a big test on Wednesday. They play the Panthers in a game on our air. But this is the first time I've kind of looked at them and said, you know what, defensively, they kind of remind me of what I thought was their best team. We'll see where it goes.

But I couldn't help but thinking of that as i watched them against the utah hc it's funny i'm trying to remember after which game it was it might have been the edmonton game just over a week ago luke fox asked john tavarez i believe the question was like of all the teams you played on here before could this maybe be the best one defensively? I believe that was the question he asked. You could tell Tavares wanted no part of saying definitively yes or no this early on in the season, which was totally, I think, a smart move to do. And he knew the game and the line that he was trying to walk there.

But it's been, A, impressive. My question is, as you kind of hinted at too, how does this all shake out when they get bodies back and guys start to slot in where they normally would and the trickle-down effect from all of it? Naturally, there'll be an exhale, but the foundation that they're building, you knew it was going to take a bit of time with the new coaching staff come in, but they seem very

comfortable in how they want to play. And as you say, I mean, Jake McCabe and Chris Tanev has been a wonderful defensive pair. And now with Hockenpah in the mix, like it's forced Berube to make some decisions on who he wants to dress for his defense pairs each game, but getting a lot of good results. So that'll be the tell. As the bodies come back, where do the metrics go from that point on? Okay, Saturday night, Hockey Night in Canada, another busy one at our network.

We had an all-Canadian matchup in the early primetime window here in Ottawa. The Vancouver Canucks came to town. It's now five losses in the row for the Senators, Frege. Vancouver, despite losing their captain, Quinn Hughes, just passed the midway point of the first period with that boarding major to Josh Norris, who, by the way, used to be teammates at the University of Michigan, roommates even, back in the day, Elliot. But I will say you could see the two of them chatting in the hallway after the game,

so clearly no hard feelings there. What was your takeaway from that one in the nation's capital? Can I ask you a question? Always. When you have a game in Ottawa, do you say, you know what, Dana? I'm going to stay at the hotel with the guys this weekend instead of at home. Do you think I would be breathing, let alone being able to speak to you for recording this podcast if I took that route? Not a freaking

chance and not that I would want to anyway well you know what it's more like not what you want it's I wonder if she would say hey Kyle why don't you uh stay downtown with the boys this week yeah yes I know maybe that's's where Steph would go naturally. So I totally understand the question, Elliot. But we're still early enough in the marriage that she hasn't. You guys have only been married for a year and a half. You guys still like each other. That's right.

I forgot. Wait till you get to 15 years, Kyle. Wait till you get to 15 years. I know. As much as I love routine, I was okay staying at home for this one this weekend well i'm glad to see the love is still strong kyle that's that's that's very important so what did you see what did you see around there what did you uh what did you think of vancouver uh auto we talked a bit about ottawa on friday so yeah i don't know how much you want to rehash it but

no what did you see and what did you hear i i would just say look we mentioned the hughes ejection they're already missing a number of other guys demko miller besser that could have gone one of two ways for the canucks on saturday because their results haven't quite been where they would have liked of late either. But that team found a way to win on Saturday. And the Senators, not to oversimplify, they're still trying to figure out how to get results when things aren't going their way. That's what I saw on Saturday.

And you know the frustration's building. I thought Craig Simpson hit the nail on the head where you can appreciate the frustration of a guy like Brady Kachuk, but to get yourself thrown out of the game when you still, not that the odds were great, but trying to come back into it, it was just, A, a tough look,

and man, it is once again getting late, early here in Ottawa I you're not quite at the point yet where you're seeing apathy in this market but there is uh much more room on the bandwagon around this team than there was at the outset of of this season because as much as you want to say what happened in years past doesn't necessarily guarantee what's happening now this is a fan base that has seen this script all too often and are getting fed up with it their patience thinner than ever i would say yeah i see it i mean you see it too um that you know i gotta to say, Vancouver's had a really interesting week. I think they deserve a lot of credit. You know, a lot of things could have knocked them sideways.

They're missing a lot of their core and firepower from the lineup. Hughes got thrown out early. I forgot that him and Norris were university roommates. I wish I'd remembered that during the broadcast. And I remember someone once told me they had like the messiest room at the University of Michigan. I believe that. Which is pretty funny. But, you know, there was some really interesting reaction, by the way, about that play.

And, you know, just a couple of people were saying to me that they wonder if the players and the league because this has to there's a process any rule change has to go through the competition committee has to approve it the GMs have to approve it and the board of governors have to approve it and they were saying look like when I saw that cross check I was like he shouldn't get thrown out of the game for that like he's not a dirty player and right clearly and then you know the officials see that type of cross check absolutely and the officials were adamant and they said no no norris is cut he's bleeding like he's injured and they don't know he's going to be back in two minutes so they were adamant on the ice like that's a major and if you give some if you call a boarding

major and there's an injury to the head or the face you know they got to throw them out and so um you know the and and someone was saying to me when you take a look at some of the things that haven't been majors over the past couple weeks and some of those are like 75 25 head hits or something like that where you know 75% of the head isn't hit but 25% of it is and it results in a more serious injury. You know maybe we should have some conversations about because there were a lot of people who thought that some of the other plays should have been more seriously penalized and they kind of agreed that one wasn't that bad. I mean

maybe at some point in time there can be a philosophical conversation about do we want to change any of this stuff based on that play they saw last night I don't know it's worth a conversation at some point in time but you know I looked at that and I was like I was surprised he got thrown out but you know Vancouver now they're down Hughes. You add them to the list of guys they're missing and they still found a way to win. Like they deserve the W. They didn't back into it. They earned it. And they're playing really hard right now.

And, you know, the thing about Pedersen, like I give Pedersen a lot of credit. Tough start of the season. Basically just grinded his way through it, never quit working, deleted the social media, and now he's coming on. And, you know, I think that you're always going to regress to the mean, and the mean is that he's a really good player. So eventually he's going to get back to where he needs to be. But the social media thing, I'm sure it helped based on everything I've been hearing.

But the bottom line is he's at a time where the team really needs him. No Besser, no Miller, no Demko. They haven't had, they've been going well, but there've been some weird bad games here and they lose Hughes the other night. And he's played his best at a time where they're the most vulnerable. And he deserves a lot of credit for that.

His line with DeBrusque and Sherwood were brilliant on Saturday. Cap tip to Max Sasson as well. NHL debut. That was a great interview, by the way, Kyle. Great interview. He was awesome. And his dad, Al, in the crowd, just great. And him watching that, it was really a deep moment.

Yeah, that was, and for DeBrus, a couple of goals, perfect time for him to get hot as they now go into his old home, Boston, on Tuesday night, do the Canucks. All right, and on headlines on Saturday, Elliot, you talked about the frustration, understandably being felt by the Wild with another injury to Kirill Kaprizov, their star player, didn't play in Calgary on Saturday. But the news you got on Sunday, the injury not as bad as maybe some feared? Yeah, the news was good. They had the MRI and all I heard was that it wasn't as serious as they were concerned and they'll see how he feels over the next couple of days.

You know, I have to say to you, like, that's, that's a really interesting conversation to me about the whole thing. I had some people like, uh, one of my buddies, when he heard what I said about the wild being upset about it, he sent me a, uh it he sent me a uh he sent me a text that started with a w and had like 136 a's on it like he just said oh no was it kevin no no this is one of my buddies from from non-hockey they're they're ruthless it's a great group of guys i i really love them but they are ruthless. And they were not sympathetic.

But, like, I understood. Like, you never want to lose. First of all, it's bad for the game for anyone to get hurt. But it's bad for the game for superstar players to get hurt. And, you know, when you're sitting here like the Wild Orange, the second time you're worried about it in three seasons, I understand the frustration. You know, it's the second time you're worried about it in in three seasons I I understand the frustration you know it's really interesting like you know I'll say this this is where Kevin like people ask me about me and Kevin fighting with each other and you know they I always say

that Kevin he has no governor I have a governor there's there are places I won't go he he does not have places that he won't go like one of the things he said to me once is he says you could make fun of me about the 2011 Stanley Cup final and I said I will never do that like that is like when I was hosting the CFL on CBC I once pointed out I had Greg Freres on the panel, I had Sean Millington on the panel, and I had Kahari Jones on the panel. And Sean Millington had won a great cup, and Greg Freres had won a great cup, and Kahari Jones hadn't.

And I pointed that out once on the air, and I noticed it right away. That really hurt Kihari Jones. And I actually went back, honestly, I really felt, I felt like an inch tall after I did that. And I remember I actually went back, I asked one of the producers to pull the tape for me. And he says, you never watch tape of this.

And I said, I got to see something. I would only look at it when I was really concerned about something I said. And I looked at it, and I told the producer what I was doing, and he looked at it and he goes, I see what you mean. Like, you really hurt him with that one. So I said, I am never doing that one. I will make fun of people for things, but I am never doing that one again if you never win but the

thing about bx was in the post game he talked about how um he could see why the wild were upset because kaprizov is a superstar and the players that he got in collisions with weren't right and and like that i'll be honest and I'll be honest with the audience. That is not a place I personally am comfortable going. You know, like I didn't play in the NHL. I didn't play anywhere close to the NHL. And I have incredible respect for the players I cover. Like the one thing I tell people is if you play, if you even dress for one game in the NHL, you are the

elite of the elite. You are an incredible player. And while I really try to save my bullets and save the criticisms for certain times so that I know they will really mean something when I say it, I am not comfortable going with where that criticism was. And I'll tell you, when I say it, I am not comfortable going with where that criticism was. And I'll tell you, when I initially mentioned it in the second intermission and I showed some of the injuries, I had people around the league texting me saying, you know why they're mad? Because he's being injured by players who are not anywhere near the same level as he is. And maybe that's true, but maybe that's just another reason I failed as a human, Kyle,

but I've never been comfortable saying that. I just, it's not something I've ever been comfortable enough to say. But when Kevin comes out and says it, it says to me that, you know what, that players see it. And I think that's part of the issue here. Gotcha. like separation or

discrepancy between podcast co-hosts we won't talk about it that's good that's good but other people may that's yes that's right that's that's very true you know i just i have to live with that yes yes that's right yeah yeah that's right. You know, you're really sacrificing, I got to tell you. You're doing a great job of hiding your true feelings. I also just wanted to mention Juracek quickly. Oh, yeah. You know, I don't like to mention it all the time. We know the situation is out there.

I did hear on Saturday there were some rumors of some teams who thought they might be getting close. But, you know, he played in the American Hockey League on Saturday night. So that said to me that, like, I think if he was close to getting dealt, he probably wouldn't have played that night. I've heard they're looking for another player like similar young player you know maybe someone who hasn't popped yet as as Berkey would say you know there there were some reports about Edmonton I just like I looked at it I don't see the match I don't I don't see how the match could be there I'll say I'll say who I have wondered about.

I've wondered about Nashville because Nashville has young players. Nashville got a huge win in beating Winnipeg the other night, but the guys who've kind of felt the squeeze in Nashville are some of their young players who've been in and out of the lineup. So I could see, in theory theory if the Predators wanted to do that that's the kind of player I could see Columbus looking at I think Minnesota has some fits there if if Minnesota wanted to do that you know another team that's got a lot of young

players but I don't know how they feel about this is Philadelphia like I'm looking at teams who've got young players who maybe haven't popped yet and you could make that kind of a deal so those are some of the teams I look at I don't know if there's a favorite here I'm sure I'm missing people but when I heard Edmonton it's like a hockey Oh, HockeyNet in Canada, you got to see, and you kind of go up and down the list. And like, I don't see them having what Columbus would want. Like, like those other teams I mentioned would have. All right. So that takes us to the final thought,

which is brought to you by GMC Saturday night, Elliot, San Jose, California, Joe Thornton had the number 19 raised to the rafters to join his old teammate, Patrick Marlowe's number 12. That seemed like just a monster upper deck, as you say, fifth deck home run across the board. First off, Joe looked terrific. First off, Joe looked terrific. The amount of teammates and important people in his life that were there for that ceremony emphasizes, reiterates the impact and the type of person that he has been. It was neat for him to connect the fact that it was the Sabres playing that night. His first game as a shark was against Buffalo. He grew up going to the old auditorium in Buffalo for games as he loved watching Pat LaFontaine. It seemed it touched all the right notes. His speech was terrific. What were the highlights for you?

Well, everything you mentioned, I think let's start with the great Douglas Murray story. Because if you didn't hear this, you should hear the story that he told about Thornton. Unbelievable equilibrium between being great people and also superstars. I got a phone call, I don't know, three years into my career. I was asked to come and help move a family. I drive to the address and they're moving into a two bedroom apartment in San Jose. And I'm like, who's living here? Is it, we getting traded for a player or something? Like no, it's a mom with two kids and was homeless, and she needed a place to stay.

But you can't tell anybody about this. So now it's been such a long time ago, so now I'm going to break the trust and tell everybody about this. But there it was, moving into a homeless mom, two kids. Nobody ever knew. That's who they are. It's beautiful stuff, and you could see by the reaction like whoever worked camera and whoever was directing did a great job because the moment that story finished they had the camera on Thornton's face because when I hear a story like that being told you're always

wondering is Thornton gonna say you you so-and-so Murray I said that was a secret or is he saying you know what it was supposed to be a secret but if anybody was going to tell a story about me tonight that's the one I'd love and obviously it was option B and Thornton was really emotional and really happy that story got told it was good on Douglas Murray for telling it you know as you said a lot of people were there. He's got a lot of fans. He's got a lot of friends. He had a huge impact. And, you know, now we're going to get to some of the other stuff, which is really funny. I have to tell you, in sending notes around to ask for stories about Thornton I got more stories back that there's no way I could tell on this podcast than any other player I was like I can't say that oh yeah I can't say that

I can't tell that and you know one of the things about Thornton is that he liked to be undressed right um you know he would always do his he was always do his interviews shirtless like one player is that he liked to be undressed, right? Did he ever? He would always do his interviews shirtless. Like one player used to tell me he'd get onto the plane for a team flight and he'd be shirtless. And the player's like, what? Really?

Oh, yeah. I remember my first year in Montreal working ringside. I think, I don't know if it would have been, it may have been Hurdle that I was interviewing in the intermission. And the French broadcaster was doing Thornton for an interview. And he comes out, he's got skates, his hockey socks on over his shin pads, but no hockey pants. So it's just like skates, socks, jock strap, obviously no shirt.

And then like the little tea towel around his neck that was it that was joe yep it tracks that was that that was the way it was so and like he really liked being undressed i think i think mike zeisberger wrote a story on nhl.com about him over uh last week and peter deborah said the same thing like just about how much he liked to be naked and you know first of all i should say too in addition to what murray said um the stories about his generosity were pretty legendary like young players would say like if uh you know there was a break or something like that whether all-star and thornton wasn't invited and and he would say what are you doing over the break?

Got no plans. He'd say, show up here. And he would be invited on a private plane with Thornton and some other teammates and maybe some of Thornton's friends because he's very loyal to his friends. And they would go somewhere, and it would all be taken care of. Like there was another guy who told me a story about how Thornton had some buddies in from out of town and they played somewhere and they were supposed to meet up after the game and the Sharks played terribly. And, and whoever was coaching said, no one's going out

tonight. And cause you guys don't deserve it. And Thornton handed one of his buddies an envelope full of cash and said, you're going out on me. like the stories about his generosity were just off the charts as you could imagine by that one that was told on the scoreboard but like so I was I was writing down like how many of these stories can I actually tell and uh you know they they talked about his love for showers like you know nobody loved to be in the shower more than Joe Thornton. And one of the stories I got told that was really funny was at one of the All-Star games, he invited all his friends from home down with him. And he said, I won't tell you what we were doing, but we were in an activity and thornton had us all wearing undershirts and the undershirts one of them had a c on it for the captain and i guess two of them had an a on it for the alternate captain and there's like eight buddies so some of them didn't have letters on

them at all and his you know thornton was like the most durable of everybody so he he won everything and but the the thing they told me was as guys started to bow out and say we can't do this anymore Thornton would like snap at them he's like what he goes you can't do this anymore you're giving up and the guy would be like one that was like Joe I can't I this anymore. You're giving up. And the guy would be like, one of them was like, Joe, I can't, I'm tapping out. And he's like, and the guy was wearing the C and he's like, take off that shirt. He's like, but he goes, you are no longer the captain. You have lost the captaincy.

And he made them for the guys who lasted longer, the guys he thought went participating better, that he had to give up the captaincy undershirt to somebody else who lasted longer. And they said, this was normal. Like the captaincy would be switched or the alternate captaincy would be switched depending on how well you were behaving

or what you were doing. I was howling at that one. Like I have never heard of like, he stripped one of his buddies of the captaincy. It was, it was, it was fantastic. And I'll say this too. I have no idea if the story is true. It might not be true, but I'm willing it into existence. There was one guy who said to me that he, when he got traded from the Bruins, he, he took the Bruins ping pong table with him he like just grabbed it and

took it so I don't know if that's true and maybe it's wrong but I want it to be true so I'm saying it on the podcast like the amount of legendary stories about him and it's clear that his teammates loved him and I'll say this uh to them too for as much as he could joke around he was a really funny guy when it came to playing games like preparing and taking care of your body and being detail oriented in games he was like he was a very demanding teammate if he felt you took shifts that were too long and you screwed up other players rhythm he would let you know um you know, Peter DeBoer tells the story, told the coaches' clinic a few years ago about how when they were scoring all of those goals against Vegas on that power play,

the five-minute major, the famous one in the playoffs a few years ago, how Thornton was on the second unit, and DeBoer wanted to get him out there and Thornton was like no the first line keeps scoring keep them out there keep them out there and he talked about how unselfish it was but there were guys who said to me if Thornton thought you weren't giving the best effort or if Thornton thought that you weren't preparing yourself properly, you would hear it. Like one guy said to me, he knew he was not playing well if he heard in that voice, are you going to break a sweat tonight?

And he said, like, that was what Thornton would say. Are you going to break a sweat tonight? Yeah, that was the line. And so just the respect that people have for him off the charts and you know someday you know maybe the podcast has to go independent so we don't have roger's standards and practices to deal with uh to tell some of these stories but oh my god like a couple of them were unbelievable with that in mind i do i did love how he referenced Tomas Churl's four-goal game in his rookie year. And the comment that came from that, he wouldn't go any further, but he acknowledged it.

And the reaction from the crowd told you everything you needed to know. Beautifully done. All right, that was the final thought presented by GMC. When we come back, the latest edition of The Thought Line. You're listening to 32 thoughts the podcast all right time now for the thought line 1-833-311-3232 is the phone number to call. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is where you can send us an email. Elliot, no submissions from any pucks that have left the playing surface

in games past, but still another solid lineup of Thought Line submissions. People are having a great year. Great year. We'll begin with Tristan from Olympia, Washington. Hi, Dom, Kyle, and Elliot. I was at the Seattle Kraken versus Nashville Predators game last week, and during the first stoppage,

43 seconds into the game, the referee announced that Nashville would receive a two-minute bench minor for starting the incorrect lineup. Now, I have been to hundreds of hockey games between the WHL and the NHL and have never heard of this call. My question is how many times in NHL history has this penalty been called? Do you guys have any stories of seeing this live bonus question?

Who is responsible for checking that penalty? Thanks guys. And remember to rotate your tires. Thank you for the reminder. Do you know the specific number of calls? Do you know that? So it is a tricky one because this penalty, when it's put into the NHL database, it is only listed as a bench minor.

Oh, okay. The good people, though, at Sportsnet Stats, Joshua Lessard in particular, Really? It's a real legwork for us. So there are three examples. The one last week, St. Louis versus Edmonton, December 15th, 2022, and Carolina versus the Islanders in April of 2011. Three examples, including the most recent one. He went and checked that in all three cases, the starting lineup card did not match the players starting on the ice for the

game's initial face-off not saying that those are the only three in nhl history but those are at least the three most recent well first of all let me just say joshua i i appreciate you trying to go the extra mile i do i uh i really do appreciate that wayne gretzky and rick talkett when when they coached Arizona, had one. And the thing I remember the most about that was Rick Tockett ate it. Like, he came out and said, I'm the one who fills out the lineup card. That one is on me. And I really respected Tockett for that. He ate it.

The other one I remember was the 1981 Canada Cup. Scotty Bowman was coaching Team Canada, and he caught what was then known as Czechoslovakia using the wrong lineup or inserting the wrong lineup right at the beginning of the game. And the thing I remember about that is watching the game, and I believe the Czechs tried to say that there was a language barrier issue,

but he was having none of it. I think I remember reading somewhere that they tried to explain to him it was a language issue, and he just didn't care. He was like, sorry, that's a penalty, and he was right. And so that's the other one I remember. So those are the two that really stand out for me. I would say this on each team, it varies on some teams. The head coach fills up the lineup card on other teams that the head coach will delegate it. So it gives like an assistant coach a feeling of a bit more responsibility. I thought the one thing that was really interesting is that it's in this particular case is it wasn't necessarily who wrote it but who caught it it seemed on the seattle broadcast

it looked like it was jessica campbell who was the one who actually noticed the lineup card was filled incorrectly and what a coach told me is that there is usually an assistant coach who is responsible for making sure the opponent's lineup card is filled out correctly because that's the thing that was was made me curious was whose responsibility was to make sure the other team didn't get it wrong and it usually is an assistant coach and obviously in this case she was the one who caught it yes and a big reason for that is because that's actually not on the officials necessarily to keep track of typically it is something where the opposing team has to flag it uh at the first stoppage of the game now i was told that there are sometimes uh the lines persons will have just on scribble down on a

piece of paper, okay, who's the starting lineups tonight, just to have handy in case the situation arises and one team flags it. But typically, it's on, you know, the opposing team of whoever committed this such an infraction to raise the issue with the officials. So that makes a lot of sense. Yep. Great. Good question. Thomas, good question. Thomas is next. Hello, Dom, Kyle, and Elliot.

Longtime listener, first time mailer. So he's watching an Oilers game recently where they scored with the goalie pulled. And Thomas goes on to say, my partner asked what I figured could be a great thought line question. She asked, when was the first time a goalie was pulled to gain an offensive advantage late in a game? Was it a part of the rules or a type of trick play that eventually changed the rules to accommodate the strategy? As a great partner does, I figure I'd pass the buck and ask someone else to answer the question.

Take notes, Elliot. Keep up the good work, Kyle and Dom. does i figure i'd pass the buck and ask someone else to answer the question take notes elliot keep up the good work kyle and dom do you know the answer to this one so what i found was that art ross at the nhl art ross is the guy at the nhl level who is credited with this yes and i think there's stories out there of it happening at lower levels of hockey in the years leading up to and it kind of was just it was a just a loophole right like the rule stipulated max six skaters but it did not say one of them had to be a goalie at all times and so he was one of the first that That's the one that I always, because I think this question was asked several years ago,

and we answered it then. And that's OK. We're happy to redo it. It had been a while. And I remember Art Ross being the answer. Great. Great question, Thomas and his partner. Thomas, you deserve more of the credit, though,

because you did the work. Yes. good point. Wyatt. Hi, Kyle and Elliot. My question for you guys is, the NHL has expanded twice in the last two decades. It would seem logical that the AHL and ECHL would need to expand to accommodate the prospects

and developmental players in the NHL team systems. I know that the AHL has loan agreements in the NHL team systems. I know that the AHL has loan agreements with some NHL teams and teams can also become non-affiliated like the Chicago Wolves did, but this would seem like more of a band-aid fix than an actual solution. I say this as a Minnesotan who thinks that an AHL or ECHL team could do well in a market like Duluth. Thanks and Kirill Kaprizov for the heart. Good pick, Kaprizov. Can't argue that, the way he started the year.

Yes, I do think that if the NHL does expand, that the AHL would consider expanding too. And right now, AHL franchises are doing extremely well they're the nhl franchise values have gone up and the ahl ones uh are going up too so that's not a bad thing for that level of hockey either nathan and calgary hello thought purveyors nathan and Calgary here with a question about the game last Thursday between the Flames and Rangers. First, I must admit that I wasn't hit in the head by a puck. Heck, I wasn't even at the game. This isn't even cleverly written by a lost puck. That's okay. Not a prerequisite here. It's okay, Nathan. We accept all kinds. What I don't understand is how first star Mackenzie Wieger

can assist on all three Calgary goals in a 3-2 win and still end the night with a minus one. Even if you take away the power play assist, the worst he could be is even. How is a negative goal differential possible here? So I went and watched their goals back in this game, Elliot. Wow, like this is elite research you're doing and the total extent of it i didn't go any further than this i did the minimal amount

of elite research yeah talk about an oxymoron so what's funny is so you're right he had three assists as nathan pointed out one of them came on the power play, but the other two, he's got the secondary assist on Matt Coronado's goal and the secondary assist on Connor Zeri's winning goal in the third period. And watching it back, the two were very similar in that he started to move the play up ice, and as he made his first pass, he went to the bench and changed so he was not on the ice by the time the puck actually went in the Kyle great work bud now it was tough

on the first goal I you can't see what's called like the all 12 like the high wide shot where you can see the entire ice surface at once I think think a case could be made that he should have gotten a plus on that one, but he was deemed to be on the bench in both cages, which is why three assists and minus one and a 3-2 victory was the result here. But a good question. That's a great question. And I have to say, Kyle, like excellent research.

I'm very, very impressed. You see, you know what you did here you did both the statistical analyst and the eye test which is the way that this is supposed to work look at that all right and it's unselfish he got another player a plus because if it happened the other way around where if a guy took a long shift and someone else got a minus because of it, there would be a brawl in the dressing room. Oh, yes. You hate those. All right. So I did my research on that one. I promise I didn't do any for this next one. Okay. Okay, sure. Dean and Mark from Carlisle, Ontario. Greetings, Elliot, Kyle and Dom.

Carlisle, Ontario. Greetings, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. A few podcasts ago, you mentioned the name Zarly Zalapsky as one of the more unique NHL names. Got us thinking. Is it possible to go through the alphabet naming a player who has played in the NHL that shares the same initial, Akeem Aliu, Brock Besser, et cetera? Thanks to HockeyDB, we found that letters Q, U, X, and Y

do not have any NHL players that share the same initials. It is possible, they say, for the other 22 letters. Think you can do it. Big fans of the pod appreciate all you do. Now, I should just say, for those that aren't aware, when Elliot and I, David Amber as well, when we have some downtime together on the road, we love hammering things like Immaculate Grid to get our minds going, thinking of unique players.

So I thought, between the two of us, Elliot, go through the alphabet. Let's see how far we get. Maybe this is a disaster. Maybe we surprise ourselves. What do you think? Okay. I'm thinking right now so I've got Andrew Alberts yeah Bobby Brink yeah how about Charlie Coyle I was gonna

say Charlie Coyle or Charlie Conacher yeah Derek Dorsett that's actually where I went too e ee uh edwin incarnation yeah yes yeah he played a game for the leafs at one point i'm trying to think is there an ee i can think of you got one no not yet. Beyond E. So did they say, which one of the letters? Q, Y, Z? No, I'm sorry. Q, Y, and what else? U and X. So there is an E. Okay. There is an E.

All right. We got to think about this and don't let me just. All right. Let's come back to it. Let's come back to it. Okay. Chop. All right.

We'll come back to E. Okay. So F, Frank Finnegan. Frank Finnegan. As an Ottawa guy, you have to get that one. Yes. G. Greg Gilbert.

Nice. H. Harry Howell. Wow. I. Oh, Erwin is his last name. He was a defenseman. Not Matt Erwin.

No, no, not. No no because that wouldn't be i like i know you think i'm dumb but how dumb do you think i am there's a great one in the modern nhl oh ivan ivan oh nice don with the assist okay jay uh jonas johansson yeah there's a lot of jays Jonas Johansson. Yeah, there's a lot of Js. K. Capocacco. Chris King. Chris King.

Boy, he listens to this podcast. He's going to be offended I didn't come up with him first. Sorry, Kinger. Yeah. L. L. Leo Labine. Wow. M.

Marc Messier. Marc Messier. Great one. N. Thanks, Swiss. Nina Niederreiter. Yeah. I would have gotten there pretty quick.

Yeah. But thanks for the assist, Dom. O. Ogie Oglethorpe. O. Is there an O-O, Kyle? They claim there is. Trying to think.

Hmm. Oscar something? Oh! Oscar O'Salla. Hold on. trying to think oscar something oh oscar osala hold on great one dom oscar osala yes he played three nhl games two for the capitals and one for carolina no i was not getting that without Dom. Dom, good assist. By the way, for G, we should also mention our colleague Gary Galley. Oh, yeah, we should. Yeah, that's true.

We should mention Gary. P. Peter Popovic, Canadian's defenseman. Okay, so Q doesn't exist. R. Rene Robert. Rene Robert, that's a't exist. R, Rene Robert. Rene Robert, that's a great one. S, Steve Sullivan.

What did we do for J, by the way? Jonas Johansson. Okay, we should mention Yarm or Yager. We should just mention it. Who? Yeah, very good. Okay, so what letter are we at? Steve Sullivan.

T, Tage Thompson. Okay, so what letter are we at? Steve Sullivan, T, Tage Thompson. Tage Thompson. You know, I also say, because I was at a game when I was a kid between the Jets and the Leafs where there was a huge brawl, Jimmy Mann and John Gibson, and one of the players who got a penalty on the play was Tim Trimper, and I just remember that because of the gong show that happened on the ice. Oh my gosh.

That's an incredible pull. It was awesome. It was a bloody mess. And I've just never forgotten going to see that. Like seven or eight year old me was like, couldn't get enough of this violent scene on the ice. Okay. So U does not exist. So we have V and W to get.

V that almost seems like a Russian. Someone's yelling a VV name at us right now. Yeah. I had a few people by the way, who were telling me that they were screaming flurry at the uh at their oh the shadow question yes i just cheated i know what what it is you do eh yeah oh you know who i'm thinking of vasslav varada oh great that was one i should have had, too. It was an Ottawa guy briefly. Was that the guy you had, Dom?

No, I had Vitaly Vizhnevsky. Oh, Vitaly Vizhnevsky. Another good one. Another good one. Okay, and W, I'm going Wes Walls, and we've already got Zarly Zalapsky. Yes. We did it. So what are the letters they say that you can't? Q, U, X, and Y. I can't think of

anything that would make me think that that's wrong. If anybody out there can think of an alliterative name with Q, U, X, and Y, please let us know. That was fun. I like that. Challenge accepted. Always at 32 Thoughts. Dean and Mark, great submission, great suggestion. Thanks for making our minds work here when they otherwise don't. Phone number to call 1-833-311-3232. 32 Thoughts at sportsnet.ca. Thank you to Griffin Porter for helping curate this each and every episode. Back to wrap on 32 Thoughts after this.

Okay, welcome back. Before we go, Elliot, your final item on Saturday headlines over the weekend, you talked about the board meeting that the Ontario Hockey League had last week to discuss the idea not only of expansion, but aggressive expansion. I think of that scene with the Joker in The Dark Knight. There's a lot of potential for aggressive expansion what was the takeaway and what have you heard about the fallout from those conversations at the ohl it's amazing how much interest there is in this and you know we're primarily an nhl podcast uh kyle but even people i know who are around the nhl they they can't get enough of this topic so they met on wednesday and

you know the aggressive expansion was the phrase we use. And I thought, I think expansion it's two, but I had people saying after the segment aired, they think it could be four to six teams. Now the question is, is it going to be only USHL teams or US markets, or is there anywhere they see they're going to do in Ontario? I don't know how many markets they'd even look at in Ontario and say, we can do this. So a lot of the thought is about the USHL. And one of the things that's happened is both the USHL and the BCHL, they're trying to stem the flow of players that are leaving their teams. And one of the things they're trying to do is ask for higher transfer fees for them. And they're trying to stem the flow of players that are leaving their teams. And one of the things they're trying to do is ask for higher transfer fees for them.

And they're trying to present a united front. Like let's all say it costs like $50,000 a player to leave for a team to buy them or stuff like that. And I don't know if it's going to work, but that's all these discussions. But basically the OHL is the first one to come right out and say we'd like to pursue expansion as soon as next season now the thing that's going to be the most interesting thing for the USHL is if it's these teams as has rumored to have been number one what are their options for getting out of their current league like can they just say we're moving no there's always an exit process you know i had

one guy say to me is it is it as simple as you dissolve your franchise and then you pop up in a new league like you know you always assume there are protections and processes for this thing so we have to find that out um also you know some of these players on these USHL teams, maybe they've already been drafted by other CHL teams. So let's just say you have a roster of 23 kids, and nine of them have already been drafted elsewhere in the CHL. Can they just move with their current team? Or do they have to go to the team that's already taken them? Also, Kyle, if you're born in certain places, you belong to certain CHL leagues. So for example, even if you're not drafted yet,

let's say the team moves to the OHL, but you're from a place in the US that is technically WHL or Quebec League property. Like they, in the agreements, if you you're from there you get drafted into them. So all these things are things that are going to have to get figured out. Like one interesting thing to me yesterday is I had someone from the Western Hockey League say to me like you know he was thinking that people would kind of just wait a couple of minutes to kind of figure out okay how, how's everything going to work? And then we'll strike. But now what the OHL is saying is, no, we're not getting left behind. We're being proactive. We're being aggressive. We're going right after it. This is basically

their stake in the ground. They don't know how everything's going to work, but they're telling everybody they're open for business. And, you know, it's it's it's a huge deal like we talked about this with dan mckenzie would there be expansion and he said we're open to it well now we're getting expansion that that's like our interview with him was a week ago and look how quickly things are changing well i was just going to make that point like has the rate of things starting to change on a number of fronts as leagues players other teams try to get out in front of what's coming with the NCAA next season I don't know knowing what we all know now should we be surprised by how quickly all things are are moving here I don't think we

should be surprised like like that's the thing like life, some people are planners and some people are shoot first and ask questions later. I think it's hard to plan with the amount of chaos here. I really do. I think even some people I know who are planners are telling me that. Like this is a situation where you probably have to do with what the OHL is doing and that is stake your ground and figure it out as you go along. Because like he said to me, there's sharks in the water and the sharks, they don't wait and ask questions.

Now, Kyle, I think that's possibly because sharks can't talk but they don't wait and ask questions. That's right. They've been misunderstood this whole time. If only we could communicate with them yes the sharks are swirling and this story is only going to continue to have more legs more tentacles to it as we move along here elliot so some games to keep an eye on this week on the network uh tuesday night vancouver is in boston that can actually be seen

nationally on sports net. Always good games. Always good games. Jake DeBusk returns to face his old team. Three games on Wednesday. Toronto's in Florida. Montreal's in Columbus. Calgary also in Detroit. All of them getting underway at 7.30 Eastern, 5.30 Mountain, 4.30 Pacific time.

Those can be seen nationally on the variety of Sportsnet channels as well. Also, Elliot. Oh, by the way, there's even a bigger story about Wednesday. Oh, yeah. I'm working. Oh, I heard that. What bet did you lose? No, you know what happens?

Eddie Hall calls me and he says, we don't have Jennifer. We don't have Colby. We don't have someone else. We've exhausted all other options. Can you come work? That's basically what happens. You were their last resort. That's pretty much what happened. We couldn't bring Dick Irvin out of retirement. know you you can you work well you should take that as a compliment so you've got that to look forward to we also teased at the end of last pod that we're taking this show on the road to can yes come january the week of hockey day in canada that celebration in full will be on the 18th of saturday but two days prior thursday we're going to be on scene i know you've been doing this for a number of years now but i can't wait to get out, we're going to be on scene. I know you've been doing this for a number of years now,

but I can't wait to get out there. We're going to have some tickets to give away to that show in beautiful Canmore, Alberta. So stay tuned on that front. We will get you more information on how you can secure tickets to a live show of 32 Thoughts. The Capcap is on, Preach. We'll start it. Next podcast. All right. Only so many hours in a day, of 32 Thoughts. The Capcap is on, Preach. We'll start it. Next podcast.

All right. Only so many hours in a day, and we appreciate you spending a couple here with us. Have a great week, and we'll talk to you again on Friday.