32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Utah's Here and Ready to Go

Episode Date: April 19, 2024

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Jeff and Elliotte dive into the official sale and relocation of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah. They also talk about what has to happen for the Coyotes to return to the desert (10:14) and Alex Meruelo’s absence from the final game in Arizona (13:54). Jeff and Elliotte also discuss how attractive the Coyotes’ roster is now with a cavalcade of young talent (18:08). Afterwards, the fellas delve into the Buffalo Sabres coaching vacancy and the return of hard-nose coaches (29:08). Jeff and Elliotte talk about the job Marty St. Louis has done in Montreal (37:59). They give Jeff Carter his flowers now that he is retired from the NHL (44:27) and talk about where Patrick Kane will land following this stint with the Detroit Red Wings (52:01). They also highlight Nikita Kucherov reaching 100 assists on the season (53:58). Finally, Jeff and Elliotte discuss Jack Edwards and Jeff Rimer, who are both stepping away from the mic after this season (59:15). The guys answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (1:06:19). Jeff and Elliotte run through and preview every first round matchup in the Stanley Cup Playoffs:Rangers vs Capitals (1:11:46)Islanders vs Hurricanes (1:16:12)Leafs vs Bruins (1:19:02)Panthers vs Lightning (1:24:39)Jets vs Avalanche (1:27:24)Canucks vs Predators (1:31:30)Stars vs Golden Knights (1:35:25)Oilers vs Kings (1:39:00)Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailThis podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

but there seems to be a feeling there among some people that he wants to go. Is he worried about his spot on the Olympic team? Yes, he might not make it. Hey, can you imagine that call? Doug Armstrong. Hey, Sid, it's Doug Armstrong. Are you one of the worlds? I don't know yet.

If you don't go, you can't play for Team Canada. Oh, okay, Doug. I'll pack right up. I guess I'll go, Doug. I'll be done by the time we hang up this call. Okay. That's pretty funny, Merrick. The National Hockey League's Board of Governors today approved the establishment of a franchise beginning with the 2024-25 season in Utah. That will be owned and controlled by Smith

Entertainment Group, which is led by owned and controlled by Smith Entertainment Group, which is led by Ryan and Ashley Smith. In addition, the board approved a plan that renders the Arizona Coyotes franchise inactive, with the right to reactivate if owner Alex Morello has fully constructed a new state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL team within five years. With that statement, with that release on Thursday, we said goodbye, Arizona. Hello, Salt Lake City. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. Elliot, before we get into, and that was just the opening paragraph

from the NHL's release on Thursday, before we get into some of the specifics here of arizona to utah i have a question for you on june 2nd of last year who told us here on this podcast we're here we're ready to go ryan smith jeff that is the easiest question that you have ever asked me can they all be as easy as this one Elliot what did you have for lunch I don't even remember I don't think I there you go today the hockey questions are always the easy ones the what did I do to get through a day are always the difficult ones. But here we are. And I wondered too at that time, that was our first opportunity to talk to Ryan Smith. Ryan Smith's first real chance in hockey, certainly people in basketball and the NBA know him well, but his first chance to sort of introduce

himself to the hockey audience. And I can't speak for you, but I came away from that conversation saying, well, that's someone that I can understand the NHL wanting under the tent. I don't think it happens anytime soon, but I think we're going to be saying Ryan Smith's name for a number of years. I didn't think it was going to be in under a year that he would have an NHL team, but here we are. Did you think that he would get one in under a year? I'd like to tell everybody that I am a genius and that I didn't know it. But if I was that smart, I wouldn't be wasting my power on making NHL franchise predictions. I'd be playing more lotteries or more high stakes poker because I could financially benefit. No, I didn't see it, Jeff.

I didn't think that was the case. But, you know, with 2020 hindsight now, we know what changed it. And that was the Coyotes. They lost that referendum for a new arena in Tempe last year, last May. And that changed everything. That changed the whole trajectory and when it became clear to the NHL and to the Coyotes ownership that they weren't gonna know until June 27th if they were gonna win the land auction and even then it wouldn't be until at least the fall of

2027 to get a new arena everybody realized here that we were out of time and it was it was the best for everybody to move on and find an exit plan and look I just think that if Gary Bettman had to move the Coyotes right now his best chance was Utah I think it was gonna be very hard to find another person right now in Arizona because of I think how Morello would have felt about it and what the arena situation was and there was a guy not far away another four-corner state Arizona in Utah who was ready with a building now we look we all know the building isn't perfect but he's committed to upgrading

it and he's going to do it this was the best path and i think that the people who really matter have known that it was going to play out this way for about five or six weeks. Okay. Let me ask something that we've briefly discussed. I am curious about this. I think a lot of people are curious about this as well. Is this about Utah or is this about Ryan Smith? Is this about the NHL wants Ryan Smith under the tent or is this the nhl wants to expand into utah this is about the owner and the reason i answer the question that way is because look at the market they're leaving you can have a great market but if you don't have a solid arena or solid

ownership you have nothing Jeff does the NHL want to leave Arizona no they want to go back as a matter of fact now that they're gone as we all tell our kids and Oh spells no they didn't want to Arizona, but they had to because it just wasn't working. Ryan Smith, and I think I've told you this before, when he went with Bettman a year ago after the NBA Board of Governors meeting in New York, people wanted us to know that because they wanted him in the league. He's a very successful businessman. He's very passionate about the sport. It's a growing market.

The Utah ownership with him and his wife, Ashley, is very stable and very strong. They wanted this guy in the league. And like we said, it was a matter of when, not if. And we got to this point on Thursday. And already, Ryan Smith, after the formal announcement, Ryan Smith met with the Coyotes players and staff. And as we record this, I don't know for sure yet when, but I think they're going to be able to visit starting next week.

The Coyotes players have a team party this weekend in Vegas. So I think next week some of them are going to start visiting. But you really think about it, Jeff, there were multiple reports. I didn't have this, but there were multiple reports on Thursday that Utah's not going to have an official team name next year. Or there's a good chance they won't have an official team name next year. I did know that they weren't going to announce anything on Friday, but I didn't realize this could go into next year.

They are determined to get this right. And I think that's the right answer. But I just, that to me tells you how rushed everything was. That this was a locomotive steaming down the tracks and not even Superman. And you can pick which version of Superman you want here was going to be able to stop it. That's how fast it was going.

And, and they wanted it done by these two days. They wanted to announce it Thursday and Friday. This was the goal and they pushed to get there. That is something interesting. The idea of playing with, you know, a temporary name,

temporary logo, for example. There's a certain PWHL element about that. Yeah, they did the same thing. That's a good point. That is one for everybody who snickered at the PWHL and said, you shouldn't start until you have everything together. What are they doing? And here's, you know, the Utahah franchise and they may end up doing the exact same thing anyhow just as an aside a little bit snarky for me but nonetheless um when i look

at this like it it does you can look at it a couple of different ways here right now you can make the argument that this isn't a relocation that this is an expansion and that there were it's kind of like in the nhl that's right this is this is this is existing in a very bizarre in a very bizarre place it's like there was an expansion to utah and they got to they got to their expansion draft they got to take every player off one team for their expansion draft all the ip all the you know the logo the team name and all that still exists with alex morello and the arizona coyotes franchise although that remains inactive it's like this is uncharted waters here for the nhl you can look at it and say on paper there's there's 32 teams, but really there's 33.

And one of the questions that I have here with the five-year window in order to construct a state-of-the-art facility approved for an NHL team, the rights of the Arizona Coyotes franchise still remains with Alex Morello. One of the questions, I don't know if you have the answer to this or maybe someone does, if he can't come up with a state-of-the-art facility appropriate for an NHL team within five years, what happens to that IP? You know, I don't have a great answer to that question, but this is what I can answer to you. What has to happen for it to come back? a few people have talked about if alex morello can deliver a state-of-the-art arena in the next

five years and repays the billion dollars he gets another team that's the best way to explain it and he's pre-approved as an owner he doesn't lose that that stays So but what does that mean exactly? Well, I can tell you what what part of that is There are guardrails or Timelines I haven't seen them yet But there are certain amounts of times where he has to declare that certain things have happened I mean the easiest one is on June 27th he's got to win the auction if he wins the auction and this is publicly available information 30 days after he has to make the payment and someone made a really good point to

me basically the 1 billion dollars that he gets is gone as part of selling the team he can use that to finance his new arena. Like basically that's you know they said the NHL has given Morello the best possible opportunity to make this work and that is a stack of cash. You know he's making out very well here he's when you take a look at everything he's lost over the years I would be I'm like show me how he's not coming out ahead I have to believe he was oh yeah and basically all day and basically so basically what's happened is they're financing his new arena they're giving him the opportunity with this money.

So, and then there are certain, and again, I haven't seen it, but there's certain targets and benchmarks he has to hit. Now, one of the things, and you asked this last podcast was, is it transferable? And the answer is no. Carolyn Cameron taped an interview with the commissioner where Bettman said it's not transferable and the answer is no Carolyn Cameron taped an interview with the commissioner where Bettman said it's not transferable now what I think he can do Jeff now I think I've heard he can do it is he can take in minority partners I believe he can take up to 20 percent

on the team and I think 49 percent of the arena maybe I have it backwards but I think 49% of the arena, maybe I have it backwards, but I think that's what it is. 20 of the team and 49% of the arena. Those are the numbers I heard. So he can't sell it off, but he can take on smaller partners. But with the money he's getting, he's being set up to make this work. All of that said, Jeff, I still sense that there is a real skepticism he's going to pull this off. I have mentioned this many times, that Morello is determined to prove everybody wrong. But the overwhelming sense I get around the league is people don't believe he's going to be able to do it.

Mark this down, this podcast down, and in five years or sooner, we'll look back and see who was right. I think overall, it's important to remind people that as powerful as Gary Bettman is, and he wields that power, you can't just throw out an owner for no reason. Basically, even though they couldn't get a new building done in a timeline that the league was comfortable with and the players were comfortable with, that wasn't grounds to just get rid of Murillo. And he had to make a deal. And the reason that Murillo maintains or has so much power coming out of this,

making a ton of money and so much control over the future, the next five years, is because Bettman lacked the leverage to force otherwise. And that's a big part of this. Now, one of the interesting things is, Murillo did an interview with John Gambadoro, who's a radio host in Arizona, who's done some really good work on this. And there was some really interesting stuff in there. First of all, we were all wondering why he wasn't at the game on Wednesday night.

He said because he still had work to do and he wasn't able to go. There was just too much to get done. I know there were a lot of rumors, and we heard the rumors too, Jeff, that there were concerns about his safety, that maybe he was advised not to go there. For what it's worth, he says that's not the case. But the other thing he said in the interview that was really interesting was he needs cooperation from the local politicians to get this done. And he mentions meeting with the mayor, but he needs cooperation. From what I heard, and I made some calls after I listened to that part,

From what I heard, and I made some calls after I listened to that part, that's a very big piece of where this is going to go. There seems to be a lot of skepticism from outside that he is going to get that cooperation. Now, again, I don't know enough about this. I'm not there. I'm only going with what other people are telling me. But one of the reasons that people really don't believe that he's going to be able to pull this off is they're not convinced he's going to get that cooperation. But we'll see. A couple of things here about Ryan Smith.

Let me drill down a little bit more here. I don't know that this is the way that Ryan Smith thought he was going to get into the NHL. Agree, disagree? I would agree with that, as we said off the top of the show. And you know what, Jeff, I'll tell you something else. As I wrote in that piece, if the Coyotes are not an up-and-coming team, I don't know if this happens. I had a couple guys tell me that.

They think the fact that the Coyotes are going in the right direction, especially the way they finished the season, they think that was a big selling point. Well, we've talked about this on previous pods. You look at some of the young players and you look at the stockpile of draft picks and youth, youth, youth, youth, youth. And now the availability to open up and play in the free agent market as well. Like it does seem like I feel bad for the Arizona Coyotes fans won't be able to see these.

Yes. I think that's one of the things that bothers them the most. Yeah, I don't disagree. But this is like this is a really nice setup. don't disagree but this is like this is a a really nice setup now on the other hand in other and again this it all depends on how you phrase what we just saw between arizona and utah but in other expansions you know there's a draft which sets you up quite nicely um the way they change the the expansion rules i think is one of the the most important things post salary cap that we've seen in the nhl and that has raised franchise values as well because expansion teams,

expansion values because expansion teams are instantly competitive. Ryan Smith doesn't get that, but he gets this young up and coming team with a ton of assets. My question is now you're Ryan Smith and you've just picked up all these hockey assets players hockey ops department all of it what do you do what's the first thing you do you're Ryan Smith and you get this well one of the things I heard he said was that continuity matters and uh you know Bill Armstrong is going to remain the GM and Andre Tournier is going to be the head coach from what I've been told. I have heard it's possible that they will add. I mean, as you can imagine, his phone is buzzing out of his pocket.

He used to say ringing off the hook, but, you know, we're not in that generation anymore. It's buzzing out of his pocket. You know, there have been a lot of rumors about who could be going in whether they do president of hockey ops i i think we're gonna have to see wait and see how that goes but one of the things i heard is that they had been telling people is that continuity is key you don't make change just for the sake of making change so i would expect that the that the key hockey ops people are going to be going with them and they're going to figure out how it all works and just basically

see how everybody works together. Now, I will say this. I think some relationships got damaged over the past couple of weeks. That is out of Utah's control. I think that they'll have to see whether or not that's just, you know, a short-term thing. Sometimes the temperature gets really hot, nerves get frayed, and you can repair those. I wouldn't want to say one way or the other about whether or not some of these relationships or friendships can get mended. We'll see where it goes. I mean, the other thing too is there were some rumors about players who might not be happy. They've got to determine that too. How do these players feel? And, you know, I think right now it's emotional. You know, I think the other thing that really happens is if you're a player

that was really unhappy with this and maybe didn't want to move well now you've got you know we've got a couple of months until the draft you have time to really think about it you know if after everything that's happened in Arizona the last couple years if you have an owner comes in and says look guys this problem it's not a problem anymore that problem it's not a problem anymore this problem it's not a problem anymore that problem it's not a problem anymore this problem it's not a problem anymore maybe you look at it and say with a little bit of time to think about it and you go see it you know what this isn't so bad I'm always wary about people who make decisions when they're emotional you have to take the emotion out of it you have to let yourself

breathe and I'm and I think what he'll want to do is let these guys breathe and show them that this is going to be very different. They're staying in the Central Division. You know, there's some great teams in that division. I mean, look at the teams that are going to make the playoffs. It's going to be hard. But, you know, like Arizona was kind of a free, it was like free parking on a Monopoly board. It didn't cost you anything and they weren't a challenge for the playoffs. Those days are over. And Smith made it very clear that those days are going to be over. One of the things they had set up here was that Ryan Smith could meet with the members of the Coyotes,

the players and the staff right after the sale was approved. And I spoke to three or four people. So it's a small slice. There are obviously many more reactions to hear from here. And I don't want to say that these people spoke for everybody, but the three or four people I spoke to, they came away with a positive first impression of him. They all said very clearly he wants to win. He made it clear that's important to him. One person told me in their particular meeting, because again, I don't know if it was one big one or multiple, can't answer that, but they told me that in their particular meeting, Smith went around to every person and introduced

himself. And that's a small thing, but a big thing. If you've ever been in a meeting with a new boss of any kind, if they take pains to introduce themselves individually, it's much more effective and much more calming than introducing yourself to a room. So I thought that was interesting. Look, obviously, they've still got to go visit the city. There's many more questions to answer. But the three or four people I spoke to said that he made a positive initial impression on them, which is a start, a good start.

Some really smart people here that are heading over, some really talented players as well. Spot quiz for you. The Stanley Cup champion goaltender from the last two stanley cup champions came from which organization oh very good darcy camper and hayden hill yes they were arizona coyotes very good and you know what you know who one of the secret weapons is in the entire nhl that not a lot of people talk about and should probably get a lot more while conor ingham the goalie i'm talking about the goalie coach though cory schwab very quietly good saskatchewan guy has been outstanding in his role and he's been one of the best kept secrets around the nhl and i don't see any reason why

that won't continue uh as he traveled to uh to salt lake city okay one of my favorite things is when you get mad at me for asking what you think is a frivolous question. Oh, God. I knew there were going to be some here. Are you ready for a frivolous question? Yeah, hit me. Does this mean we don't get to see the matching suits at the draft anymore where the Coyotes personnel or draft are all dressed up like the Beatles circa 64?

It's a good, you know, actually, it's a good question because we don't have a name. So maybe you just leave it blank. But also they've got a whole bunch of trademarks out there that have been reported. Like what, the Venom or the Yeti? You could do a mishmash. No, I'm talking like not the jersey they hand out. You remember how, you know, the last couple of drafts, they've all worn matching suits as they went out.

The lining. They all went out there. Oh, I see the lining of the suits. Oh, on the inside of this. Oh, that's a great idea. That's what I thought you were talking about. No, no. I was just talking about the suits themselves.

I mean, you could tell the Arizona table, they're not even seeing the nameplate on the table just because they all wore matching suits. But all the lining, oh, that's good, Elliot. See, that went into a place I never even thought about. Good for you. You took what I thought was a goofy question and blew it up.

Good for you. We'll see what happens there. Andre Tournier as well, we've talked about and you've written about and discussed him he was quite vocal here in the the final days and weeks leading up to this um you know standing up for you know players and you know everyone around the organization um he'll be fine he'll head over as well when you look at like the final days i'm always curious about you know the final days before the event happens you know who stands out to you as someone who really deserves praise i would think that andre tournier would be one oh yeah i i think tournier i i know he scored uh big points with

the way he stood up for them i i think i think the the fans of Coyotes showed very well the last few days, too. Like, this is not their fault. Like, I would say that they showed people that there's a market here, that there's a will, that there's a group of hardcore fans, that it really matters to them, that a team comes back. So I would say that they score very nicely here too. You know, Stan Wilson, the longtime trainer, or sorry, the longtime equipment manager,

they all went to hug him after the game. I think the players showed really well. Especially, like I said, the way they finished the season, they beat Edmonton twice. They beat Vancouver. They gave Calgary all they could handle. Jeff, if they had lost their last four games 40-2, nobody would have blamed them.

And they did really well. And I would also say the broadcasters, you want to mention them. Todd Walsh had a great sign off tyson nash was very emotional matt mcconnell bob heat house uh lindsey fry like i'm sorry if i'm forgetting anybody but the broadcasters put a a great show together you know bob heat house who's the radio guy i wanted to talk to him after uh the after the game in Vancouver the night of the telethon. I couldn't see him. We missed each other.

But I heard he, you know, he's a very quiet guy. He doesn't like a lot of attention. But I heard he took it really hard. It was tough for me to hear that. And I think the other thing, too, and you mentioned Lindsey Frye. and I think the other thing too and you mentioned Lindsay Frye one of the things that a couple people reached out to me to tell me was they don't want to hear about how current Coyotes ownership is going to save youth hockey or be good for youth hockey like Lindsay Frye is one of the people and there's other members of the community who are very powerful and instrumental in youth hockey there and they're making statements like you know what we don't need that help we're going to make

sure this survives on our own and i think that's a very very good sign for like that kind of defiance whether or not that proves to be true or not that kind of defiance is very important for the future of hockey in that area because no matter what happens here you have to keep it going let me just say a couple of things to that as well i i it was mentioned to me that it sounds like lindsey fry is going to be either you know taking over um running i'm not sure what the exact status is um but you know she's taking over the the arizona kachinas um which is the girls program, which she's already helped establish and continues to be successful with. The Junior Coyotes as well, like that is Jake, who's of course now with the Boston Bruins, played on a team that had Austin Matthews and Brendan Lemieux on the team. There's a lot of NHLers that are still there.

I mentioned this last podcast as well. I think the U14 team just won a national title. I could be wrong on that. U14, U15, one of those teams just won a national title. It's doing well. It's doing great. It's growing the game. It's producing, you know, high level players and players just want to play to have fun

and learn about hockey and let it take them other places. I just hope that it can continue. I like that defiance about you mentioned. I just hope that that can continue because both programs, A, are a major source of pride, I'm told, in the state. And secondly, are really successful, both the girls' and the boys' programs. My fingers are crossed that those continue and get even stronger than ever. All right. More on the Arizona Salt Lake City situation in the next few podcasts.

This is a story that's not going away anytime soon obviously god i'm sick of talking about it already no no i'm sorry elliot this one is not done and i promise i'll come up with even more frivolous questions in the next few podcasts so keep your advil standing by um this was an interesting week around the nh NHL by way of coaching questions and coaching availabilities. I want to get to New Jersey with Travis Green. Thoughts on St. Louis with Drew Bannister. But Don Granato lost his job this week with the Buffalo Sabres. You know, one day after the final game of the season, he was relieved of his duties.

Kevin Adams had a press conference and mentioned the word veteran over and over again. We've seen players, Dylan Cousins talked about wanting to be, our players, our team is ready to be made accountable. Players have talked about needing to be pushed to get to that next level. So we instantly start to think about people like Lindy Ruff and Craig Berube, et cetera.

How do you read the Buffalo Sabres situation right now? I don't think anybody was surprised. I think if there was anything, I think people wondered if it would be a full clean house. But that obviously wasn't the case. I don't think, but again, I don't think anybody was shocked. I don't think, but again, I don't think anybody was shocked. You know, I have to tell you, the way the players were talking after,

in their exit interviews, I was thinking that maybe the Sabres should trade for John Tortorella. Well, hang on a second. That's an interesting comment. And I had the Dylan Cousins quote wrong. What Dylan Cousins said was something to the effect of, and it's even stronger than I suggested this team's ready to not be so comfortable if anyone makes you uncomfortable

it's John Tortorella well you know I can only imagine how tough that all was for Granato to hear because he's basically hearing his own players call him soft. Yeah. And that can't be easy. That can't be easy. And, you know, I think for me, one of the most interesting things about reading the Sabres comments when I was down in Fort Lauderdale, the players, I mean, is that, you know, one of the things that we talk about a lot in this day and age is the new way of thinking that players want to know they're going to ask you why why do i have to do this they're going to challenge you

um you know you have to you know and i don't want to make it sound like i'm making light of all this stuff because i think it's important but like mental health in the terms of the way you deliver the message and you know you have to be very careful that you deliver the message so it's understood but also softly so that you don't create any mental health issues for your players what i'm hearing for the sabers is no we need somebody who can pound us a little bit and i'll tell you something else too i would wonder about some of the Sabres who were traded from Buffalo some of the veterans either were traded or who are gone in years past they were probably listening to this and saying aha I told you so because I heard that some of those veteran Sabres were saying

these players needed tougher love so to me it you know, and like this is the thing, because I do believe, Jeff, that some of the best bosses I ever had were tough. They were tough. Now, I think it's a real skill how to know when to crack the whip and when to back off. And there are too many people who don't know that skill but you look at Tortorella this year in Philly and all the conversation about how that season ended when I was listening to the Sabres it said to me that they wanted something like that

they want someone to push them and you know you said it Tom Fitzgerald's talking about experience Kevin Adams is talking about experience we'll see what happens in some of these other situations um but you know there's some coaches out there that don't have a ton of NHL experience that probably deserve opportunities you know one of them I think would be a guy like Carl Taylor in Milwaukee. Another one of them for sure would be David Carl at the University of Denver. And Carl did a really interesting interview with Spittin' Chicklets this week where he basically said I have it really good right now and you're gonna have to really make it worth my while to get me to leave here because I have a good situation and I've got a young family

he's saying what I say all the time to myself is if I was a single guy or my kids were out of the house I'd be like let's take some wild chances but now you're at a point where you have to be responsible and that's you know and and I get it so I bet you coaches like Taylor coaches like Carl they're looking at all this and and they're going wait a second wait a second like all these hardcore guys we were talking about getting them out of the sport because they're too harsh or whatever but now you've got the sabers practically begging for it and you've got philadelphia backing their coach and you've got tom fitzgerald basically kind of not saying the same thing but you can see the message there you know it's it's really

fascinating to me to me this is it's a good sign for someone like Craig Baru. Otto was talking like this too. Like Otto was talking about, we have to get this right. Like there was a time this year, I was convinced that John Gruden was going to be the next Otto head coach. Now I'm not so sure. You know, I think Gruden could potentially end up being on their staff if he wanted to be.

But now I'm not so sure. So I think this is good for guys like Craig Berube. Like to me, he is a perfect example of what some of these teams are looking for. And I think this is going to be fascinating. Now, one thing, Jeff, I do think some of these teams are going to take a run at David Carl. I do think that's going to be fascinating now one thing Jeff I do think some of these teams are going to take a run at David Carl I I do think that's going to happen whether it makes them happy or not I can't say but I do think some of these teams are going to look at them but I just found that whole Buffalo situation fascinating because basically what they're talking about flies in the face of what we've heard about this generation of athletes

everything is a pendulum swing elliot it's it's a total pendulum swing the other name that i wonder through all of this as well and this is someone who does have nhl experience um someone who's been very successful at the american hockey league level won a championship last year, may win another one this year, is Todd Nelson, who's been an assistant with Atlanta and Dallas, has been an assistant and head coach with the Edmonton Oilers, has won championships with Hershey, with Grand Rapids as well. That's another name that I wonder about through all of this um but we'll see like you know i think i think there's a few i think i think i think he todd nelson's a great name i think dean evison uh dean evison can be a really hard guy i think jay woodcroft is a guy who has thought a lot about how he handled players and was he too easy on some guys or too tough on other guys like basically just managing and mandating how he was going to handle some of

the things that he dealt with in his short time in Edmonton I think all of these guys are kind of doing that but anyway like I said like one of the reasons I think Philly has fought so hard to say that Tortorella is going to be back and he's their guy is because guys like Keith Jones and Daniel Breer when they were players they recognized that that's the way coaches push them to be better and they wouldn't have been better players. Like both Keith Jones and Daniel Breer were driven guys. They didn't need a lot of help, but they still got it from coaches who grinded them to be better.

And they think, and they're right about this. I do believe this, is that if you are going to be a champion in the NHL, you have to, the other teams are gonna grind you. So you have to know how to handle grinding. We don't always like to accept that anymore and there are lines you cannot cross and everybody has to understand those lines but the the most successful people are grinders by nature and they learn how to handle being grinded new jersey st louis columbus ottawa eyes on coaching this offseason um but not in montreal where the montreal canadians have picked up a two-year option on Martin Saint-Louis.

So, Elliott, he is under contract for three more seasons with the Habs. I'll tell you, they're still in that, are the kids getting better mold of their rebuild here? And whether it's, you know, someone like Nick Suzuki who's taken another step, whether it's someone like Yuriy Slavkovsky who's taken another step whether it's someone like gary slavkovsky who's taken a huge step this year even though it wasn't a playoff year for the montreal canadians and there's a lot of optimism now even though it's only a two-game audition for lane hudson lane hudson looks great so far so good for marty san luis elliott yes i i agree with you but even now i think that it's gonna now Montreal is gonna start to change

the honeymoon I wouldn't say it's over but now the expectations are rising so I have a friend who's a big Canadians fan and he says to me you never talk about the Canadians on the pod and I said to him you know I'm sorry but they're kind of in no man's land right now maybe we should talk about them more because people love the Canadians and they'll listen to anything when it comes to the Canadians but you know I kind of found them in in no man's land this year there wasn't a lot expected and basically the season unfolded how we all thought it would and there weren't a lot expected and basically the season unfolded how we all thought it would and there weren't a lot of controversies around the Canadians which they'll probably say thank God I'm really

happy for that but as a result Jeff they're you know they're they're kind of just there and that's going to change next season. Now, next season, see, San Luis builds and builds and builds and builds. And now he's going to have to put the thumb down a bit. Like, first of all, nobody, we're talking about grinded. Nobody grinded more than Marty San Luis. Nobody. Oh, boy. Yeah.

Zero. Okay. But who did San Luis play for? John Tortorella. Tampa for John Tortorella but John Tortorella those guys would kill each other they would kill each other oh yeah like oh listen if Santa Louise didn't like his minutes he would go but we're talking about him if Santa we didn't like his minutes he would go to Tortorella and he would say, what the heck? And Tortorella would give it right back to him. Like, he's like, first of all, this year,

I would say this about the Canadians this year. The best thing that happened to the Canadians this year is that at the beginning of the season, they said only Marty San Luis talking to Slavkovski. Nobody else talking to Slavkovski. That was the best thing that happened to Montreal this year, that that kid looks like he's a player. They've got him going in the right direction.

They deserve a lot of credit for that. I just think it's going to be interesting next year, for the first time, you know, San Luis is probably going to really have to grind guys. And I'm talking about some of the young guys. Because I think he grinds some of his veterans because he knows they can handle it they've been around now he's going to start grinding the kids because the expectations are

going to be there I think first and also I think it's I think it's a great thing to extend them because I think so far like what you want your goal for the last couple years is that some of your young players get better their young players are getting better including the number one pick and ken hughes he's gonna have some interesting decisions to make on his blue line uh yeah what do you think they uh what do you think ken hughes does in the offseason to get ahead of ourselves here a little bit like what are they looking for in montreal at this point of their rebuild if you say that there's going to be expectations next season i don't think anyone expects playoffs but maybe get into the same spot that we've been talking about around detroit ottawa and buffalo

that next step i don't know if it's that high because we thought those teams were going to make the playoffs this year and we were all wrong i think it's playing meaningful games i don't think they have to make the playoffs next year, but I think they've got to be in the race. One thing that stood out to me from the Ottawa breakaway day is that Jacob Chikorin seemed almost resigned to his fate, that he's not going to be in Ottawa long-term. And I would always caution things can change. But all I can do is go by the the way he seemed to be talking. Obviously, he heard a lot of the

rumors around the trade deadline that he was offered up or talked about in trade talks. talked about in trade talks obviously he heard the rumors around the deadline that he was in some conversations and he has one more year to go and you never know how extension talks are going to proceed but at least it created the impression in my mind that chikrin recognizes his future may not be there so that is definitely one to stay tuned on because otto was probably going to have to make a decision on chikrin one way or the other sometime this off season all right um a few more things here before we get to the montana's thought line um this is by the way, this can be a very long podcast. I probably should have mentioned that off the top of the show today, but, you know, there we go. Speaking of contract extensions, Bill Zito, general manager of the Florida Panthers,

adds president of hockey operations to the business card and signs a multi-year deal with Florida. And with Zito, Elliot, I can't help but thinking one thing, and I don't think it was a coincidence, and I do think it set a tone for what type of team Bill Zito wanted in Florida. Do you remember, do you remember the first player that Bill Zito acquired as he became a member of the Florida Panthers? No, who was it patrick hornquist oh yeah first acquisition by bill by bill zito to me i look at that and i say that was the message we need to get more miserable to play against no more country club no more easy skate we need to be miserable that was as i look back on it now and i see what the florida panthers have turned into elliot that was definitely the tone setter

yes it sure was and that's exactly who they are uh i went to their game on tuesday we'll talk about that a bit later but i think some people wondered of Bill Zito I know he had a year left but there were some people who wondered if he was gonna be a factor at all in this Columbus search you know that's where he came from yeah that's where he came from and you know weird things happen in this league and I mean the question is moot now right the the question is moot because he's extended and look results speak he's done a good job there and he deserves the extension but before that got signed i know there were people wondering if he was going to be on columbus's radar or columbus was going to be on his but the question is moot all right um meanwhile around the nhl we saw a

career wrap up on wednesday night uh jeff carter calls it a career what a wonderful career he had a couple of stanley cups of course with the los angeles kings um i thought it was fitting that a former sue saint marie greyhound retires as a Pittsburgh Penguin now run by Kyle Dubas. But that's just an aside. For a lot of people, Jeff Carter first popped on the radar at the World Juniors

in Grand Forks on that insane team that had a traveling all-star team of future Hall of Famers. And there was the game, it was the game against Finland where he scored a hat trick and he had

three goals three different ways and I remember talking to scouts who said did you see that that guy doesn't just score goals one way that guy is going to be a long time NHLer that scout was right a lot of scouts were right congratulations on a wonderful career for Jeff Carter. Yeah, and one of my funny memories of Jeff Carter was years ago when he was in Philly with a lot of other young players at the time, they would talk about how they would all get together on Sundays during football season and everybody would want to watch either the Eagles

or the big NFL game at the time and Carter would grab the remote, remember those days, and change it to NASCAR really hey oh yeah he loved his and back then you know Carter was a really quiet guy you know he still is a really quiet guy but he he got more comfortable talking as he got older. He's a really bright guy. He can really break down the game. But back then, he really didn't enjoy it. And I remember we did a piece on all these guys,

and we interviewed them all separately. And the one time he really smiled and got into it was when I told him that story about how his teammates hate it when he changes the football games to NASCAR. That he thought was very funny. The one thing he was is he really was one of the best snipers of his generation. You know, that was the Ovechkin era and everybody, you know, paled in comparison to him. I remember Dean Lombardi felt that and that was the year that they won the Stanley Cup as an eighth seed and if I remember correctly it was the first team ever to win the Stanley Cup ranked as low in goals as they were that year Dean Lombardi said

during the Stanley Cup final that they thought they were going to win the Stanley Cup when they got Carter. That they had all the, it was like the Blue Jays under Alex Anthopoulos in his last year when he went out and he traded for all those guys like David Price. He said all of our underlying numbers were great. We just couldn't score.

And Jeff Carter was what we needed. And that turned out to be true. And you know I'll say this too I think America I think one thing that really says a lot about Carter was how it ended for him with no announcement but Sidney Crosby on the ice playing wing for that opening face off you talk about a tribute that is a tribute that is the ambassador and standard bearer of the game saying you know what I'm gonna be on ice for Jeff Carter's last opening face off and then the two teams you know saying goodbye at the end I think sometimes sometimes we don't say how people see someone people show you how they feel about someone and that certainly happened on Wednesday night in Pittsburgh classy gesture by the Islanders

uh to a man classy gesture uh at the end of game. And you know what that does now, Elliot? And that removes yet another name from the 2003 NHL draft. Dun, dun, dun, dun. As we try to figure out who the last man standing is going to be. And just when you thought there'd be another name removed, Marc-Andre Fleury, who was drafted first overall back in 2003, signs a one-year contract with the Minnesota

Wild. He's back next season, one year, $2.5 million, and swears that this is his last year. That is going to be quite a tour next year. There's going to be a lot of good vibes. It's going to be NBA-like. I always remember the Dennis Pott fan tour

where before every game, it was a bouquet of flowers and a celebration and a presentation. That one seemed to go on for a long time. This will be another good one here. And why not? He's so adored and well-liked outside of a couple of certain general managers,

but generally very well-liked by just about everybody in the game. Jeff, you're right. Yes, he is. And the fans love him too. Just wanted to get back to the Penguins for a second. Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane. And I thought it was really interesting.

Crosby has one year left on his contract. And he basically said in his exit interview, and there are people, by the way, who believe he's going to play for Team Canada. He hasn't said yet for sure. But there seems to be a feeling there among some people that he wants to go. Is he worried about his spot on the Olympic team?

Yes, he might not make it. Hey, can you imagine that call? Doug Armstrong. Hey, Sid, it's Doug Armstrong are you one of the worlds I don't know yet if you don't go you can't play for Team Canada oh okay Doug I'll pack right up I guess I'll go Doug I'll be done by the time we hang up this call okay um that's pretty funny Merrick uh but he he said he's going to start talking contracts soon extension with uh with the Penguins and I I would say this as I've I've guessed at this before

I think it's going to be two or three years around ten and a half that's my prediction until I'm proven wrong now Patrick Kane I thought was really interesting because Troy played in Toronto last Saturday and after his after the morning skate we chatted a bit uh my I was there he was there uh Chris Johnson was there and I can't remember if anybody else was there and you know he was in a great mood just because you know he was talking very positively about the way things were going and you know there was nothing there I think I talked about it on your show there was nothing there that made me think there was anything to worry about here and I'd heard he'd really enjoyed it there and then after I got home from Florida on

Thursday I watched his exit media interview with the Red Wings media, and it seemed very different. And, you know, all I can think about is this, you know, he kept on mentioning the word term or he mentioned it a couple of times. This is a guy who went from Chicago his whole career to New York for the end of last year, Detroit for this year. He wants to settle down. He wants to end the revolving door. And, you know, we'll see what this all means, but we have seen that Steve Eisenman's very careful about term, especially for older players.

Now, he gave it to Dylan Larkin. That's different. I'm betting you he's going to give it to Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond if he can. They're young guys. But you look at other players like Alex Dobrynkit, four years. I mean, you're not signing Kane for four years, but it's very clear to me that he is prioritizing. He wants to go somewhere and stay somewhere for a bit. And I'm curious to me because what that means for Iserman and what he thinks, because the way it sounded last Saturday and the way it sounded Thursday was very different. And I'll be honest, it surprised me a bit. Hmm. I mean, there's going to be all types of questions and people wondering, you know, does he return to Chicago?

We can all recall that night, which we talked about on the podcast the night that it happened. Does he want to go to Buffalo, depending on who the coach is? That's the team that's ready to take the next step. The kid goes home. I don't know, but there'll be no and there's always, you know, the mystery teams that pop out of nowhere. But it'll be there'll be no and there's always you know the mystery teams that pop out of nowhere but it'll be uh it'll be interesting and what makes everything more interesting now elliot the salt lake what's that salt lake city someone sent me someone sent me some headline will patrick king go to utah and i was like already that's got to be a new record. Oh, yeah.

The ink is barely dry. And already we're marrying 88 to the Utah blanks. A couple of things from around the NHL on Wednesday night as well, all involving the same game. And it was Tampa and Toronto. It was Nikita Kucherov with 100 assists. Congratulations there. And it was Austin Matthews, not from a lack of trying,

not from a lack of opportunities, um, but not able to get goal number 70. Let me make a quick point about Kucherov here. What I really loved about the Kucherov assist that got him to the century mark. And he joins Gretzky, Lemieux or,

and Connor McDavid who did it previously. Um, what I loved about it was it was a signature Kucherov play. And still, I don't know about you, but I still bite on it. When he gets that one-timer feed from the point and he winds up to blast it and it's a fake shot and he slides the pass over to Braden Point for his one-timer and in, everyone always bites on it, but we always know it's coming. But he makes it look so good.

He makes it look so delicious. Like he's firing the puck and we all bite out and we all go, ah, he got us again. Elliot on assist number 100 Kucherov got us again. Yes, he did. Yes,

he did. Great deception. One of the best in the league at deception. It's going to be one hell of a hard vote bring the hate I already feel it you know I have to say this too Corey Massasack had a tweet that I liked because I really do agree with it if you're going to vote Matthews for MVP based on 70 goals what's the difference if he gets 69? If Kucherov had only gotten 99 assists out of 100, does that, instead

of 100, does that really change your opinion of him? I don't like the idea that I don't like the idea that oh, well, Matthews drops three spots in my voting or Kucherov drops three spots in my voting because he got 69 instead of 70 or 99 instead of 100.

Don't you think that's stupid? In some ways, yes. I mean, I realize that it's a benchmark. But the thing is like those are like the open the gate numbers. Those are like the open the door numbers. You know what? I know this whatever costs two dollars and 50 cents i have two dollars and 40 cents come on just give it to me well that's because you're cheap jeff

it's not a good example it's because you're cheap everything's a negotiation i thought i learned that from you thank you very much elliot everything a price tag is just a suggestion it's a starting point it's a bidding point that's all that that is but you know what i'm getting at like those are the numbers that they get the the velvet rope to lift up and you've entered the club yeah it's very major league baseball i i think you're either a great player or you're uh or you're not like it's hang on are you are you now are you are you hang on are you trying to give your heart trophy vote a softer landing here is that what you're chumming the waters for no trying to read it between the lines i didn't i didn't i didn't get a ballot i don't think i'm voting so maybe i've escaped here

i know who i vote for but we'll see okay i want to throw a couple of names out at you from uh from college hockey uh rutger mcgruddy and ryan leonard i thought for sure ryan leonard was looking like he was coming out yeah not so fast Merrick he's going back well he can play there's no question to me that Ryan Leonard is ready to play in the NHL but I was told that um basically all year from the people I know who really watch NCAA hockey that he wanted to go back that he that he was going to go back for a second season uh however i think the capitals made it i don't think they pressured him or anything as far as i know but i think they said look we we think you can play for us and we think you can play now for us and i would have liked to

have seen it because i i would have you know if you put him into a playoff series and he would have been eligible to play because he's on the reserve list i would have loved to have just seen it because i i think this guy's really talented but um you know he's going back and i'm not surprised like i said that was the goal but the caps wanted him to hear him out rucker mcgrarty um i gotta be careful about this one jeff because i heard his mom is a big fan of the pod. And the last thing I need is another NHL parent clawing my eyes out. Mrs. McGroarty, you have fine taste in podcasts. Like I said, Jeff, I don't need any more parents clawing my eyes out.

It's happened too much already. already the the issue I heard with McGroarty is that there probably isn't a lot of room for him on the roster next year and you know and and we talked about this on last podcast oh yeah what the NCAA coaches tell me is okay if that's the case and and I don't think necessarily McGroarty was mad about it just look at at that roster, okay? Look at that roster. And you say, okay, if you're not going to be in the NHL, do you want to be with the Michigan Wolverines or do you want to be with the Manitoba Moose? You want to be with the Michigan Wolverines.

And that's what happened here. Now, the Jets are supportive of this and I'm really careful about these things because everybody's because he's a junior right so it's going to be his third year and a year from now the Jets have to know. They have to know if there's an issue because if there is they have to deal with it but i don't like jumping to conclusions people say oh he's gonna leave he's not gonna be a jet it's going really well for the jets right now until i have a real reason to believe there's a concern i'm not going to panic about it but i understand the kid's decision because if i was 21 years old i'd probably do the same thing

because if I was 21 years old I'd probably do the same thing as a matter of fact I still wish I could go back to college now it is a tough lineup to crack listen Cole Perfetti knows that record McGraw-Roy Perfetti can't play exactly I mean I'm sure McGraw-Roy sees that hundred percent doesn't mean you won't but just means he won't he won't be able to do it next year um i want to finish up a block here by talking about a couple of broadcasters and someone two people that are that are packing it in um the columbus blue jackets longtime play-by-play voice jeff rimmer and boston bruins longtime play-by-play voice, Jeff Rimmer, and Boston Bruins, longtime play-by-play voice on Nessun, Jack Edwards. We've spent time with both.

I thought one of the more interesting podcasts, Elliot, that we've ever done. Yeah, Edwards. Was early on, was with Jack Edwards. When he sat down and he described the process that he went through as he prepared for a game and what he looks at and what his notes look like and all the different types of things that go into, you know, what he tries to feed inside his brain and keep in front of his eyes while he's calling a boston bruins game you know using you know civil war analogies and really colorful language i i have all the time in the world for both um i've worked with you know uh

jeff ramer's son uh on a, on a, in a couple of different, uh, a couple of different places. Wonderful guy, super talented. Jeff has always been a delight to deal with a great voice for the Columbus blue jackets, helping to, to, to introduce hockey essentially, um, in Columbus, uh, when they went there as an expansion team and Jack Edwards, man, when you talk about, I always, whenever I watch Buffalo Sabres games, I imagine with all due respect to everybody there,

and I love Dan Dunleavy, I absolutely adore. And I think we all love RJ as well, but I still hear Ted Darling, the voice of the Buffalo Sabres. And the Sabres have been blessed with great broadcasters. When I think of the Boston Bruins, I can't see a Bruins game and not think of Jack or hear Jack Edwards' voice. First of all, that's all extremely well said, Jeff. You know, first, we've talked a little bit about Rimmer before.

What I would like to say about this, it's not necessarily about Rimmer, but it's about his impact there. Columbus Blue Jackets just had a nightmare season very disappointing and there's going to be big changes and they're still their attendance was great and when they beat Carolina the last game of the season to win the in-season cup championship I should add saw that yes nice touch yes their Saw that. Yes. Nice touch. Their fans gave them a rousing sendoff. And not only is that a compliment to their fans who showed that they were great, but it was also a compliment to Rimmer. Because when you are a broadcaster, you are the window to the team. The fans identify with you or they should identify with you

as much as they identify with the players themselves even if you're rick nash you still have a finite career you know if you're lucky you play 15 years in one city you get your number retired you're a god and they love you forever and ever amen and in Nash's case a lot of that happened not all but a lot but when you're the lead play-by-play person you can last generations multiple generations of fans learn your face more than any player and you know that ovation at the end of the game I think it's and the passion the end of that game number one it's a credit to their fans and number two it's a credit to Rimmer because he for those fans he was the person who introduced them to hockey kept them interested in hockey and talked them through hockey good times and bad I think that's a huge compliment

to him and it shows the impact he had there you know when it comes to Jack Edwards you know I have an opinion on these things and that is that a team should only care if their fans like their broadcaster if other teams fans don't like the broadcaster who cares he? He's not there or she's not there for the other teams fans to like. They're there for your fans to like. Now, if your fans don't like them, then you've got a problem. You know, the thing about Jack is, you know, because he was such an emotional guy, he went over the top a few times and he got his knuckles wrapped a few

times and last year he had a really bad one with Pat Maroon and he screwed up like there's there's no other way of saying it he made a mistake and but what I really liked about it was he didn't text an apology he didn't an apology. He went right to Pat Maroon's face and went to apologize. Now, Pat Maroon has the right to handle that apology as he sees fit. And Jack Edwards went in there knowing the other players on the Lightning were looking for it and he knew that he was gonna get a rough ride and again that's Pat Maroon's right but did that prevent him from doing it did he take the easy way out no he didn't and what I didn't like about that at the time was the way some media members laughed about it like they they laughed at Edwards humiliation. I thought that was gross. You know I always tell young reporters that if you can go into a

dressing room where you don't know anybody at the beginning of your career and stand in there, you can do almost anything. It's one of the most intimidating things that can happen and here's Edwards who's been in the business 40 years whatever and he knew he was gonna get it and he went in there and he took it like an adult and I always liked that about Jack he didn't run away from his mistakes and I also wanted to shout out Andy Brickley because of this year you know Brickley you know Jack has really struggled with the fact that he doesn't know exactly what's gone wrong but Andy Brickley was a true teammate if there were times I'd be watching and you could tell Edwards was struggling and

I'd be sitting there going oh my god I can't watch this and Andy Brickley would throw out a word or he would say a word. And that is a true teammate. And I think Andy Brickley should be recognized for that. Congratulations to both. You provided your fan bases with excellent coverage that all other fan bases should be lucky to have. Thankfully, they do. We have some wonderful broadcasters in this industry, but the NHL universe will now be poorer for your absence.

Well done, gentlemen. Montana's Thought Line is next. Listen to the 32 Thoughts podcast ad-free on Amazon Music, included with Prime. Welcome back to the podcast. Time now for the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Thank you, Rick Turner. And, you know, I've had a couple of people mention they kind of miss you saying, try the ribs. Can you just give us one more for old time's sake, Elliot? Try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca.

1-833-311-3232. Maybe next podcast you can sing along with Rick. Jonathan in Marshfield, home of Mike Sullivan. Hey, Jeff, Elliot, and Dom, you guys have mentioned twice in the past week or so the 1988 Stanley Cup final when the lights went out in the Boston Garden and it brought back some family memories.

Check this one out, Elliot. My dad, Dennis, was the head of the Boston Garden Bull Gang at the time, overseeing the building operations, including the changeover from the parquet floor to the ice. The power going out wasn't caused by rats eating wires, but by the vibrations from a nearby train line causing the power supply in the electrical vault to unlock and power off. Again, was from vibrations from the nearby train line causing the power supply in the electrical vault to unlock and power off. I have always, Elliot, believed that, as it turns out to be hockey urban myth, that it was rats eating the wires. So, Jonathan, thanks for that one there. And great job, Dennis. Here's Jonathan's question.

Will the Daily Playoff podcast be returning this season? Right before the playoffs last year, my son was born and spent the first month and a half of his life in the NICU. My goodness. My wife and I would listen to the Daily Playoff podcast going back and forth from the hospital to see him. It was the one moment each day where we could laugh and get away from the stress we were under. One year later, Colton Stanley, first name, middle name, just turned one one celebrated his first birthday and is doing great well first of all that's the best news and uh happy birthday colton stanley great name um podcast update for the playoffs elliot well first of all happy birthday and glad everybody's doing great we're going to do three days a week during the playoffs, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and

there will be carcasts. So one of the things that Jeff and I have started to do is some of the stuff like the thought line, we do it during the day if we can, and then we update the news after games to be as fresh as possible. And so you might see some podcasts that are only carcasts. You might have some that are part information and part carcast. We're going to try to do what we can to make these the most up-to-date pods you can get, but they're going to be three times a week. The things we do for our listeners. Oh, yes. Oh, the sacrifices we make. Our jobs are so tough. I may need stress leave.

Where's my fainting couch? Oh, my. We talk about hockey for a living. People are performing open heart surgery. This is a grind. One more, because this is a long podcast. So we'll get next podcast. We'll get to doing more emails and phone calls.

So this is from Ryan, who adds a proud Queens alum. So he spent a lot of time in Kingston. Hello, Jeff Elliott. Why do teams sign some college players right at the end of the season when they're already eliminated? For example, why would Anaheim sign Cutter Goche with only one game remaining? I understand teams wanting to add to the roster for playoffs, but what does Anaheim have to gain from this?

It seems silly to burn a year off his ELC for nothing. Keep up the great work. Ryan, a proud Queens alum. Well, it's not that silly. If your player is very happy, you burnt a year of his contract. Look what happened with Gauthier a year ago. Philly didn't want to burn it

and that turned out to be a problem. Now Anaheim, they're going to burn it. You'll have two years until UFA makes the player happy excites your fans a bit they get even though it's not at home they're in vegas they get a chance to watch them on tv when do you get the nhl schedule how quickly are you going to look at philadelphia and when anaheim shows up oh yeah that's going to be one of the games to watch next year no question question about it. That one will be fascinating. All right, thanks for the emails. We'll get to more of those and phone calls at the next podcast.

Again, the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's barbecue and bar, Canada's home for barbecue. Playoff previews next. Okay, normally the last block of the podcast here, Elliot, welcome back to the program, by the way, 32 Thoughts, a podcast presented by the GMC Sierra Elevation. Normally we reserve a sort of quickie couple of thoughts here, you know, and get you into either the week for the Monday drops or into the weekend for the Friday morning drops. But today, how do we not get a quick couple of thoughts here on the first round of the playoffs, which is always Christmas morning because it is the best round. So let's go east to west. We'll start at the east and we'll start with the President's trophy winning new york rangers facing off against the washington capitals you know i look at this one i say yeah the rangers have them beat in net on the blue line and up front and down the middle how can washington do this how do you see this series elliot on paper there's

no question that this is the biggest mismatch of the first round. You know, the Capitals, I was joking with someone that the Capitals should show up for game one wearing T-shirts that say minus 37 on them. Or they should come out. You know how when a player gets honored, everybody comes out in one jersey of that number? They should come out in warm-ups for game one wearing minus 37 shirts. That's really good. You know, I think this. The Rangers should win this series going away I mean the thing is is that you know the Capitals were this year

they were for years they were an offensive juggernaut by most measures they're one of the worst teams in offensive play this year in the NHL 220 of all the ball and there's the playoffs in the East they are last. So you know Ovechkin got hot after the all-star break and that obviously is very important for them but the Rangers can score and I just don't know how how the Capitals like in the playoffs we all talk about goaltending and goaltending is important but but I think to really be successful, you have to be able to score too. And I just wonder how are the Capitals going to be able to score enough to beat this team? Because also, not only are they a team that struggles with their underlying numbers offensively,

they also do defensively. So you're looking at this and you're saying, how is this going to work? Now, Charlie Lindgren had a phenomenal season. He's the reason they're here. He carried them into it. You know, he played 50 games this year. If you look at his IMDB page, the last time that he played 50 games in the regular season was in 2012-13 for the USHL's Sioux Falls Stampede. And at some point, you just wonder, is he going to run out of gas? to be is he going to run out of gas so number one lindgren's going to have it reminds me of when

washington lost to montreal all those years ago with 2010 and gill and josh georges this is going to have to be the reverse that was mike camilleri scoring the most clutchy clutchiest goals you've ever seen i remember that so well and kirk muller the assistant coach drawing up all the plays that was a great i remember you know what i remember from that one remember in our playoff preview that's what i was first starting at the i-desk with scomo and pj stock was on the main main panel and he and he they are going through everyone's predictions and ron asked pj what his prediction was and and he said Washington in three and we all had a good laugh about that one that's a great I forgot about that one that's a great one Elliot that's a great one so this is gonna have to be the inverse of that series I think Lindgren's gonna have to be superhuman uh to beat them like if you take a look and by the way I'd like to

shout out Andrew Brewer he helps me with some of these things. He also does some work for Justin Bourne number one sports I should hire Andrew and number two They should start giving some of our salaries to Andrew because he's making us sound good Like if he like he points out if you take a look at some of the Rangers things that they're not great at Rush defense about bottom five giving up chances on the rush but Washington doesn't do that very well so like it's gonna have to be lingering for there to be the upset great by the way great video coach we should point out as well yes excellent his videos online are fantastic yep really good um, so if the Washington Capitals should show up with

dash 37 on their jerseys for the warm-up, should the Islanders come up with a dash 17 as well for their series against Carolina? They should all wear 33 for Patrick Waugh. Like everybody come out in a Waugh jersey wearing 33. That's not bad. These are two of the best motivating coaches patrick waugh and rod brindamore um rod brindamore has a team that plays exactly the way he wants them to play

they all buy into what he does and patrick waugh he is he he made the new york islanders believe even when they looked like they were going to fall apart, he made them believe. And so these two teams are going to be ready to play, and they're going to have coaches who know which buttons to press. Now, one of the things I do think that's happened here is Varlamov has been revitalized playing under Watt. They said he looks like a completely different person, not only in the way he's playing net but how emotional he is on the ice just the fire he's showing you know Frederick Anderson has had a marvelous season since he came back you know the one thing that you know people talk about here is that the Hurricanes they don't create chances on the rush but they're excellent in the offensive zone. They have real talent.

They're not the greatest natural goal scoring team but they know how to play the way that their coach wants them to play and they're great at it. One of the other things Andrew points out with the Islanders is they don't have a lot of ozone possession time. He pointed out they're 29th in the league in offensive zone possession time, and that's where Carolina breaks down. They play man-to-man. If you can control the puck in the offensive zone, you can create problems for them so one of

his questions is and i think it's a great question is with the islanders not a team that does it a lot can they create the holes in carolina's man-to-man uh if they're not going to wear number 33 a good one to go with as you mentioned is number 40 varlamov has been outstanding and we've seen that battery before uh with these two varlamov and patrick waugh going back to colorado um this one many are looking at elliot and saying it may be the most evenly matched series now this is one that haunts me beliefs fans in their heads i always look at things like this and wonder, you know, can someone please rid me of the ghosts that I have summoned? The Maple Leafs haven't beaten the Boston Bruins in a playoff series going back to 1959. And we know how things have gone recently. But what do you make of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins? You know, I have friends who grew up in Toronto who are lifelong Leaf fans

who are convinced the Bruins threw their last two games to play the Maple Leafs. Now, they poured it on in the last 20 minutes against Ottawa, yes. The Washington game, maybe. Actually, maybe. What's a little bit stronger than maybe Elliot because I thought that during that Caps game man that's that's one where the Bruins own lawyers

would not let them take the stand how about that okay that's good yeah I like that I said I said to them did you not see the end of that Ottawa game they like the ice was completely tilted they were trying to score and one of them said well you can't make it look too obvious I was like I can't even deal with you guys but they are convinced so you know the thing the thing with the Maple Leafs and the Bruins are the the Bruins this year have really overachieved. I don't know anyone who believed after they lost Bergeron and Krejci that they would have a chance to win their division going into the last game of the regular season. I don't know too many people who thought that.

They have great goaltending, and it was interesting how Don Sweeney said on Thursday, we have a plan, but I'm not going to tell you what that plan is. But we have a plan. You know, the thing that Boston does really well, and they've done it really well against Toronto this year, is forecheck. They forecheck extremely well,

and they've given Toronto a lot of trouble with it. And if Toronto doesn't solve that problem in the playoffs like they couldn't in the regular season, then they're really in big trouble you know I do think that uh the other area that and and Andrew did point this out and I think he's right they have not had a good power play this year the Maple Leafs and Boston could pick it apart Pasternak tortures the Maple Leafs, and if they don't get their penalty kill better, they could be in real trouble.

That said, I think the Bruins are a better matchup for Toronto than Florida was. I was at that game Tuesday night in Florida, and that second period when the Panthers decided they were going to play, the Maple Leafs just didn't touch the puck. And I was saying this is really really bad news for them I think I think Toronto um I think Boston is the better matchup for the Maple Leafs the other thing I think about the Maple Leafs is this I I really like the way that they like guys like McCabe

and Edmondson and Bertuzzi and Domi, who was hurt, went down the stretch. I think that they are the team that can dictate physicality more than the Bruins will, which seems weird to say. The one thing that was interesting about Tuesday night's game is the Maple Leafs kept on getting the extra penalties. So if that's the way the postseason is going to be called, it actually could be a problem. I think the Maple Leafs have really overachieved this year.

They used 13 defensemen. They used four goalies. They had a lot of excuses to fall apart this year. They never did, which I think is real credit to them. For me, the question is, you know, Boston can play two goalies and nobody's going to panic. They're going to say, ah, they got two good goalies. If Toronto's playing two or three goalies, Jeff, that's probably a pretty bad thing. One guy is going to have to grab this net and hold on to it.

Don't disagree. I think that's an interesting point about trying to out-Bruin the Bruins. Is this the year one effect of Bradshaw living at the helm? I think so, because I think that's what he likes. You know, I was surprised that Samsonov didn't play on Wednesday. They went to Martin Jones. And someone pointed out to me that Samsonov with a week off or two weeks off when he rediscovered his game, it worked out very well for him.

So I said, okay, you know what? I can, I can buy that thinking. I've heard the criticism of the Maple Leafs down the stretch where they lost four games, guilty too much of just looking for Matthews, trying to get Matthews the record. And we think about teams that, you know, listen, Sheldon Keefe, you know, in that old Maple Leaf documentary talked about, you know, Stanley Cup habits, Stanley Cup habits. Listen, I'm not an NHL player.

I'm not in that room. I don't know that, you know, what we saw in the last four games is going to impact how the Maple Leafs play. But do you think that there might be anything there that they've spent too many games down the stretch just looking for matthews no i i think they looked at that as a team thing and they wanted to get it i don't think that's going to be a factor here at all these series i am most looking forward to the florida panthers and the tampa bay lightning you know how once upon a

time and it wasn't too long ago every time los angeles and anaheim played you had to watch you had to watch those games they were skilled they were rough borderline violent uh at times some of the players looked like you know they should have been arrested but it was great hockey it was up tempo really rough it was like had something for everybody i can't wait for tampa and florida and i don't care what happens i just know that i won seven games of it your thoughts on holy smokes the battle of florida legit two outstanding teams well it's going to be a great series i'm really looking forward to it uh a couple weeks ago, I think it was the second weekend of March or third weekend of March, right before the GM meetings, Florida outshot Tampa something like 50 to 5 and Vasilevsky beat them. game like that is that going to kind of be in their heads a bit because Vasilevsky didn't have a great year but he really started to come on Florida's the better team in the past when Tampa

has beaten Florida they've done it with special teams dominance but you know this year the Panthers they have a great penalty kill against as you you talked about Kucherov, an incredibly creative power play guy. And Florida is one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Really, really good defensive team. One thing that was interesting to me was I thought Florida would want to play Toronto instead of Tampa. And if they lose that game the other night they would be but you know someone someone said to me that those players they aren't upset with the idea of playing Tampa instead of Toronto because number one everybody you play is good so that's that's one thing but secondly they

said look the travels much better and you don't have to deal with the circus. The circus meaning you and me, Jeff, and those of our ilk. And they said that Florida was more than happy to take the easier travel and the quieter nature of the series versus Tampa than Toronto. But I just think this, I think, number one, does Florida's goaltending hold up?

If it does, they're fine. But number two, one of the areas where Tampa always killed them, special teams, Florida's much better at them now. I think the three best teams in the Eastern Conference in no particular order are Florida, the Rangers, and Carolina. And so I think Florida should win this division, but as we know, it's going to be an emotional series, and the lightning has shown they've always found ways to beat them. All right, that's the Eastern Conference.

To the west we go, the Winnipeg Jets. As we all predicted this year, Elliot, we're going to have a tremendous season and claim second place in the Central Division, the very competitive Central Division. They'll face off against the Colorado Avalanche. Let's start there. It is Rick Bonas versus Jared Bednar.

How do you draw the battle lines in this one? Nathan McKinnon's in the bunch. What do you say? Well, for one thing, Anunan started Thursday night in their last game of the year against Edmonton. Now, like I said, when it came to Toronto, they were right.

See, Bednar listened to this podcast. I heard he listens to you at two times speed. Yeah, and me, he listens at regular speed. Okay, very good. Okay, just just talking to speed get back to Elliot again it could be like Samsonov they're giving him the time but I also do think it's a shot across the bow for their goaltender if you're Winnipeg you have to feel really good about hella Bach going

in the way he's going in the one thing I wonder about Winnipeg is when inevitably in this series when those Colorado guys start going downhill and I'm talking about McKinnon and Makar and some of the other guys, Rantanen, Natchushkin, obviously they're big guys. You mean skating downhill, like not in decline.

You're talking about like they're picking up speed. Yes, Jeff. I'm not saying they're getting worse as players. I'm saying they're skating downhill. That's the one thing. They're getting them with the heart. Yes. That's the one thing. They can't win with the heart. Yes, that's the one thing. How does Winnipeg handle these guys skating downhill at them?

Because Winnipeg's not a soft team or a weak team by any imagination, but you don't think of them always as a power team. Like you think of Colorado as a power team or Vegas as a power team or always as a power team, like you think of Colorado as a power team or Vegas as a power team or Dallas as a power team. They're very good, but I don't know if you put them on that level. And I think, to me, that's going to define this series. I like the goaltending matchup if I'm Winnipeg. I love the fact I have home ice advantage if I'm Winnipeg.

It's clearly a very confident group as it ends the season. They really like where everyone's started to fit in. You can tell Bonus really likes where guys are getting plugged in

and where they're playing. Colorado's reeling a bit, but don't forget they were reeling when they started the 2022 playoffs and they won the Stanley Cup. You can always restart your narrative. You can change it. You can write a new one. This thing in goal with the Avalanche, though, is really interesting

because when you're not sure you know what's the old line if you think you have if you think you have two goaltenders you know what you're worried about that you really don't have a goaltender and that's the worst way to start the playoffs the other intriguing series here i I'm calling this one the Jack Adams series, Rick talk versus Andrew Burnett, the Vancouver Canucks fight for it and the Nashville predators. Ooh, Rick talk. It's really raw bone tough. I always love Andrew Burnett as a player. Yeah. The wonderful hands. Speaker 1 Yeah. No, no, no, no. Thanks. Elliot. No thanks on that one.couver canucks and the

nashville predators i mean this this one is fascinating we all know about vancouver and they have impact players at every single position thatcher demko quinn hughes elias petterson jt mill like on and on and on and you have a look at the nashville predators and they'll say hold on a second here you know last time i checked we have really good defense we have a really good goal to have really good goaltending combination we have a stanley cup champion first line center we have some elite level wingers um i don't think that there's any reason even though we might look at this thing and say like oh yeah this is vancouver's i think nashville is a really good team and I think that low-key, this might be one of the best series of the opening round.

I agree with you. You know, the travel will be a challenge for both the teams. There's no doubt about that. That's going to be a long a lot of travel, but you just have to deal with it. I think the Canucks have

really handled Demko it. I think the Canucks have really handled Demko well. I think they've done some really smart things with him at the end of the year. We've got two of the best defensemen in the league, Yossi and Hughes. So much runs through both of them. They're going to be the number one. Maybe it's the Norris the norris series

then not the jack the norris series but you know they're going to be the focal points for the other team the you know we mentioned last week when when lynn holm played center for vancouver and they were four deep down the middle they really looked tough to be yeah in in the game they beat Edmonton last week. That, to me, is a big challenge for the Predators. Vancouver down the middle. You've got to be looking at that and saying, how are we going to match that? I think this is such, for the Canucks, in a lot of ways, this is house money for them. Nobody thought they were going to be here this year. The Can You know, nobody thought they were going to be here this year. The Canucks didn't even think they were going to be here this year.

They were selling concert dates. So we have a crazy schedule for the first round of this series. But, you know, to me, the Canucks, the pace they play at, their strength down the middle, Demko healthy, everybody accepts a role. You have to like the way they're set up going into the playoffs. Predators, I agree with you, really good team, red hot, confident, and not as deep down the middle but still they can score and I always wonder about the O'Reilly factor. This is where he really shines. I'm

curious to see who does Tockett put on the ice against O'Reilly? Does he go JT Miller against O'Reilly? Does he goT Miller against O'Reilly does he go because you know the Burnett's gonna keep throwing him out there so does talk it say whatever or does he say there's someone I want against O'Reilly but I think to me Vancouver's deeper that's the thing I think Vancouver has a few more guys who can beat you. Who are Nashville's unsung heroes in this series? I think that there's one player here we do need to mention and talk about playoffs or where this player shines.

I look at this series and I wonder about Ryan McDonough. Again, one of the players we don't talk about a ton, but ask any player on his team who plays against him, who's the biggest beast on the ice every single time they're out there in the playoffs? Ryan McDonough. You know, we always looked at, okay, who is going to be that final piece that Tampa couldn't afford to

lose? I always thought it was going to be Andre Palat. They haven't been the same since they lost Ryan McDonough. I just love the fact that we're going to get a chance to see Ryan McDonough in the playoffs here, outside of all those other names you mentioned. But as far as, you know, the O'Reilly factor with the Nashville Predators, I'll also throw in the Ryan McDonough

factor here. You know, as Hal Gill, I had Hal Gill on the radio show not too long ago, and he brought up a really good point. He said out of all the defensemen in the NHL, nobody gets back to position quicker than Ryan McDonough. And it's a really underrated skill. And that guy, listen, we've talked plenty about McDonough here on this podcast.

I don't need to gush anymore. I'm just so looking, like the more that I think about it, the more I'm really looking forward to this series here. Vancouver and Nashville. This one should be a good one. And I guess Elliot will call this one the It's So Unfair series. The Dallas Stars, maybe the most complete team in the entire NHL, as you've mentioned, good one and i guess elliot will call this one the it's so unfair series uh the dallas stars maybe the most complete team in the entire nhl as you've mentioned a couple of different times

against the oh i don't know defending stanley cup champion vegas golden knights your thoughts on this one first of all jake ottinger that was my biggest worry about d Dallas was Ottinger's play this year. Now he's so hot, he's looking bored while making ridiculous saves. He swung to the other side of the pendulum. I've made my feelings on Dallas very clear. I think they can, hey, you want to play this way? We'll play this way. You want to play that way? We'll play that way.

1-20 deepest team in the league. 1-20 deepest team in the league. The other team that can make that same point or argue, hey, what about us, is Vegas. Now, the question is, who's all there? Carrier, still in a no-contact jersey on Thursday. Stone, still in a no-contact jersey on Thursday. Stone still in a no contact jersey on Thursday. Petrangelo, no real clarity on his situation, although like I said, I don't believe it's long term. So it does depend on what their lineup looks like.

I cannot believe we could see dallas vegas in the first round no other sport well i know hold on i know you're a big wrestling guy do you remember when wcw put goldberg versus hulk hoganogan on Monday night for free? Free TV, yes, of course. And all of the wrestling marks ripped Nitro for doing that. They said, that's a pay-per-view. They're just trying to pop a rating against Raw. That's all that was.

Well, I know, but you still gave it away for free. This is Goldberg versus Hogan on Monday night. The Dallas Stars should not be playing the Vegas Golden Knights in round one of the playoffs. Here's why. Hang on. As an aside, here's why I disagree with you. Here's why I disagree.

I don't care who wins. See, I don't have a dog in this. I don't care who wins. I just want to see teams at their healthiest playing against each other because it's going to give you the best hockey. And as the playoffs roll around, it's a war of attrition. Well, we just don't know yet if Vegas is at its healthiest. We don't know yet.

Listen, we don't know, but getting deeper into the playoffs, like if you want this later on, I don't know how healthy everybody's going to be. I want the great teams early. Listen, I know I'm in the minority. I just love the first round, so I want teams that they're healthiest. That's why I look at Dallas-Vegas

and I say, yes, exactly what I want. Again, I know I'm in the minority, but this is what I want. Jeff, you don't give it away for free anyway. Last year, Western Conference Final. To me, the biggest thing is Vegas' health. You know, who shows up in game one? Do we get the maximum carnage

where I hear hockey fans screaming like banshees all over the world? Or are they still not 100% ready to play? We'll see. I think Dallas should beat Vegas. I think that's a seven gamer, a great series, a true battle of attrition, but I think Dallas should beat Vegas.

Okay, Elliot, we'll wrap up here and talk about the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings, two foes who know each other quite well in the postseason, and it will not be tough to drum up some good hate between these two. I love the matchup. I love the way these two teams mix. I know LA has an issue scoring goals. That's been well documented. Edmonton does not. How do you see this matchup this time around?

Well, I think, again, they've beaten them twice before, so they'll be confident. Again, my concern is, as you kind of said there is is LA going to be able to score enough to beat these guys that's I think you have to be able to outscore Edmonton and last year Vegas was good enough to do that because Edmonton's going to play games where they're going to score four or five times and you're going to have to beat them and especially with Byfield struggling I just don't know if they're going to be able to do that I you know Byfield took such huge steps this year I think he has to be a massive massive factor for them you know goaltending too Skinner's kind of had an up and down year. He's looked stronger lately.

LA's had points where sometimes Talbot looked like the guy. Sometimes Riddick looked like the guy. One of those guys has got to be the guy. But, and the other thing too is Dubois. This is what they got him for, Jeff. You can sleepwalk through the regular season. It's not preferred. You shouldn't do it, but you can sleepwalk through the regular season it's not preferred you shouldn't do it but you can now there's no hiding and you know what's going to happen right from the puck drop in this series everybody's going to be watching Dubois every single one of his shifts

is going to be picked apart we're all going to be watching him. You get a chance to change your narrative right here. And if Dubois doesn't do it, the worst place, Jeff, that he can flop is when you're playing against a Canadian team because there's no hiding. We've seen players do it before. And, you know, one of the more famous examples is Claude Lemieux. When you talk about maybe sleepwalking through a season, but then turning it on in the postseason, Claude Lemieux. When you talk about maybe sleepwalking through a season but then turning it on in the postseason,

Claude Lemieux would do that consistently. We'll see about Dubois. It's interesting down the middle with the Los Angeles Kings. You know what's going to happen with Andrzej Kopitar and what he's going to bring.

Philippe Deneau's story is, like, let's face it, Philippe Deneau's story is playoffs. That guy sparkles in the postseason. But I'm with you. The big one in this series for LA, outside

of, you know, can Quinton Byfield find another gear and another level is Pierre-Luc Dubois. Because without him, this is going to be really tough. Like, without him playing at the level that we've seen at times him play at, this is going to be tough for the Kings against a really good

Edmonton Oilers team. We'll see where this one goes. Now, Jeff, as we wrap up the the pod we're going to turn it over to luke gazdik justin bourne and carolyn cameron all the best carolyn we look forward to seeing you in the future can't wait to see you back cc good luck carolyn for the viewers that don't know this is carolyn's last show she's going to be leaving on maternity leave uh we just want to thank you. You're an absolute pleasure to work with. You've helped me a lot in my evolution as an analyst, and we just want to thank you for your work here. We want to wish you and your family, your husband, call in the best, and most importantly, wish you a safe, healthy, and happy pregnancy. We are certainly going to miss you. You're a delight

every day to come to the building and really hope you have the best year off. We are certainly going to be. You're a delight every day to come to the building and really hope you have the best year off. We're all going to miss you. Thank you guys. I really appreciate that. I know my husband and I are very excited, but I'm really going to miss

all the people here.