32 Thoughts: The Podcast - What’s Going On Off The Ice In Arizona?

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

Jeff and Elliotte discuss Katie Strang’s investigation into the Arizona Coyotes’ alleged business practices and internal workings (00:00) and what they have been hearing. They also touch on Connor McDavid hitting 500 points (18:00), Elliotte’s mystery player (31:20), potential moves in Nashville (35:00), Florida’s strong start (37:00), another PWHPA partnership (42:00) and much more. Then […]

So today, Jeff, I expect you not just to make a contribution, but a commitment. Elliot, one of the questions around the Coyotes, now of course Arizona, previously Phoenix, and these questions go back to the days of Jerry Moyes and Judge Redfield T-Bomb and Jim Balsillie is why? Why own this hockey team? What is the motivation for owning the Arizona Coyotes? Like we all understand that when you own an NHL team, any sports team, it gets you into a club. It gets you into a very prestigious club that allows you to meet certain business people and do business things for lack of a

better term. I remember Tom Hicks talking about this, who used to own the Texas Rangers and the Dallas Stars. And he talked about being a billionaire, but it wasn't until he got into buying sports organizations, sports franchises, that he was able to pick up the phone and get a table at any restaurant that he wanted at any given time. You do get that type of prestige and profile when you own a sports team. We all know that. Why the Coyotes? And I want to get the Katie Strang's piece here from The Athletic in a couple of moments, but what's the possible motivation for owning the Arizona Coyotes at this point?

I think you just answered it. I remember talking to one owner and to be honest, I don't remember which owner it was because it was a phone conversation and not in person. And what he said to me was, nobody knew who I was. Now everybody knows who I am. And it's both good and bad. It's a double-edged sword. If you do well, everybody loves you. If you do poorly or you do something wrong, everybody knows your business. You know who gets covered like this now is tech people.

You know, as Google and Facebook basically control the planet and Amazon controls the world, everybody knows about the people who run those businesses. Everybody knows Zuckerberg. Everybody knows Bezos. That's the way it is now. I think tech is now a world that gets covered at the ownership level like sports does. And if you're an owner, good or bad, everybody knows about you.

Harold Ballard loved that from our generation george steinbrenner loved that yeah i remember when george steinbrenner got suspended from baseball because of the dave winfield incident and he announced himself his return on the cover of sports illustrated in a napoleon pose that was a big deal and he loved it. Some people really love that attention. It turns them from a nobody into a somebody. But also with that attention, as Alex Morello learned this week, comes a lot of scrutiny and not necessarily only scrutiny on this business, but your other businesses. Okay.

So that then leads us into the Katie Strang piece and Katie Strang's piece in The Athletic. Yep. And I don't think we need to go over, you know, Katie Strang's history, her reputation, which is impeccable. The work that she's done has always been first class, a really important person in this industry. Her piece outlines a questionable work

environment by some people in the organization, including, you mentioned Alex Morello, the CEO of the team, Javier Gutierrez, General Manager Bill Armstrong is discussed in the piece. She talks to over 50 people, current and former employees as well. I think by the time people listen to this podcast, the majority, if not everybody, has read the Katie Strang piece. Before we start to get into the specifics of it, just as a generalization, what did you think of Katie's piece on the Coyotes? I mean, it was huge. There's no question about it. Some of the hockey business-related stuff had been covered before. Jeff, we had reported on the late bonuses which happened twice once for july 1st and then there were some players who had bonuses due in september and they tried to send them through

mailing addresses and the players fought back very hard against that and they got done electronically uh we had talked talked about the per diems during the return to play that they were late and the players were very upset about it. Katie had one specific story in there that I had heard that was not able to confirm about a desire to have pizza requested after a game and it was turned down.

She was able to confirm that that story occurred that I didn't, but where she went the extra mile was, you know, talking to a number of lenders and people in the organization who felt that they're, uh, if they'd been terminated, that they were owed money and things like that. And, you know, it's brutal to read there. There's no question about it. Look, the coyotes have a long history of uncertainty as you said it just always seems to be the case there that it's never easy you know the the one thing you know i'll tell you is that it's not something i've really liked to talk about because i don't like being in the middle

of things like this is that when i was reporting on the split between John Chayka and the Coyotes and some of that stuff about the per diems and the bonuses, Murillo and the people in Arizona were really unhappy about it. I was told that my name was brought up in the arbitration between Chayka and the Coyotes about how I was getting my information. I had one person tell me that they went through Chayka's communications to find out if there were any links to him and me. I think they also accused Chayka directly of leaking to me.

And I should say, for the record, he changed his phone number during that whole escapade and went dark for a very long time, at least with me. The one thing that we do know about Morello is that he responds swiftly, and we saw this with Katie Strang as well, the Arizona Coyotes, I don't know, how do you describe it? An aggressive response that hinted at legal action as well.

I'd like to see that. I don't think it happens either, but listen, the response does hint at that or bring that up yeah so you know he's gonna fight you there's no question about it that's just i mean you know when that stuff started coming up i rolled my eyes at it but because that just happens like in this business that's an occupational hazard that's gonna happen to you from time to time you get people who threaten you and say hey i'm going to find out who your sources are and i'm going to fire them yeah or i'm going to get them i kind of just rolled my

eyes at it but you know so when i saw the response such as it was i kind of rolled my eyes at it and said that's no surprise the other thing too i think of Jeff, when I see a story like that is what isn't in the story. Right. My thought on, on what you're talking about here is I read the Katie Strang piece and like you, I say, okay, is this tip of the iceberg? Like, is this only the information that Katie

and the athletic. Clear. Have been, have been able to lawyer. I always wonder that. You wonder what else is out there. I mean, you know, this more intimately than I do. There's a fraction of, of what you can put out

that won't get you in legal trouble. And then there's the rest of the iceberg that's beneath the water. You sit there and you say, okay, Katie's piece said it talked to 50 people. Okay. Over 50, yeah. Over 50, right.

Excuse me, thank you. So this first story, is it the best stuff she got from 50 people, more than 50 people, or is it the stuff she could lawyer from 50 people? And those are two very different things because if I was in their shoes, I would be sitting there and saying, okay, what's next?

And there's one specific thing at the end of the story. Like, it really surprised me when I read the story. And I'm not trying to play down anything else that happened in it. But there was some things at the end that were low at the story that really blew me away. So Safe Earth Shaw is a law firm that Strang writes has been involved here in January, meeting with employees and asking some questions. Now, I was saying this sounds familiar. And the reason it sounds familiar is that when the NHL was investigating

Dale Tallon for the accusations against him last summer, that was the law firm the NHL hired to carry out the investigation. So there's an NHL connection here. Now, the league has said Arizona is not under investigation. And okay, maybe they're not. Somebody's definitely asking questions here. But if they are under investigation, then, you know, look, like I've been around for 28 years now.

I understand how leagues do things. They try to keep their problems in house, right? So maybe they just don't want to say what's going on here exactly maybe not technically it's not an investigation i don't know but this is a law firm that has connections to the nhl the nhl has used before that's asking questions about the coyotes and one of the questions they're asking is was money for the industry growth fund misappropriated or misallocated. And the industry growth fund is something that was created with the Players Association to grow hockey in your community.

And so if that is true, number one, people are going to be mad that that money is misallocated. But second, and this is one thing I've heard a lot of since the piece dropped, was that money comes out of revenue sharing. And as you know, Jeff, there are a number of larger revenue teams in this league that hate the fact that they subsidize smaller revenue teams and then lose to them in the playoffs. Sure.

So if there's a problem there, there's going to be a problem in a lot of places. So yes, Katie writes about that later in the piece. The industry growth fund allotment provided by the league is given to all 31 teams, quote, to help fund programs and initiatives aimed at increasing diversity and inclusion in the game as well as promoting social justice and racial equality.

This collectively bargained by the NHL and the Players Association. So my curiosity when I read the piece, and I want to get to the idea of strategy with this in a second, but my thought is, okay, what's the NHL thinking when they read this? And what are the other teams thinking when they read this? Do you have a thought on both? I would imagine some teams will look at that and say, maybe it's an uncomfortable work environment, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

But then I see that piece of information. And then I pause. That piece of information raised a lot of eyebrows. Like I said, I'm working at it. I mean, I don't know what else I can tell you. I'm trying to figure out how big a deal this is or is not. But I put it this way. People have reached out to me about it and say,

what do you know about this? I've heard the NHLPA, because they're involved in that growth fund, has been in contact with the league about what is this exactly. So it has the potential to be a very big issue and look it's not good as another owner said to me it's not good to have that kind of story about your league it just isn't yeah and when a piece draws a bunch of comparisons or drops a bunch of anecdotes about how you approach things with other businesses or other lenders or other vendors, and then that drops that nugget at the end, it doesn't give you a lot of the benefit of the doubt. So that's what everyone's kind of looking at there. I want to rewind here to the idea of, is there

more out there? And I thought, and I'm not going to try to compare Katie Strang to Edward Snowden, but I want to use Edward Snowden as an example here. I thought one of the things, regardless about how you feel about Edward Snowden, everybody, I want to make, turn this podcast into an audit of his behavior.

Whether you agree with it or whether you don't, that's not for these purposes. But I thought from a strategic point of view, one of the things that Snowden, I thought, did really well is he didn't just put everything out all at once. It was a little bit, and then the US government would refute it or deny it. And then another piece of information would move that story along that would completely refute the denial. And obviously it got to the point where, you know, if you're the United States government, you might want to stop denying things for fear of what is next and how your denial may come back to embarrass you.

From a strategic point of view, if you were writing this piece, because a lot of our podcasts is, you know, how does this work and what's the job? How would you do it? Would you put it all out there or would you make it, I'm going to drop this this week and then a little bit more and just, you know, drop breadcrumbs Hansel and Gretel style? No, my style has always been throw out everything I know. Why is that? that well just because i i think that that's the best way to do it why hold back something if you don't have to you know i think when when you throw something out there other people are going to start chasing it right and the most annoying thing is when you say okay i'm going to hold this back and then somebody else

gets it out there first if you're competitive you don't like that so you know my personal way is i really do it with the blog and the podcast i try to anyway is here's everything i know and we'll see where it takes us unless the lawyers tell me you can't do that so let's go back then to my original question. Why own this? What is the long-term play here for owning the Arizona coyotes, which has been mired in controversy. Some I talked off the top. I didn't even mention the Gretzky saga that the, the,

the organization and the league went through when he was owed money and it kept, you know, the, the greatest, you know, ambassador of the game is perhaps ever had out of the league. But what's the long-term here for Alex Borrello?

One of the things I wondered in the aftermath of that story was, is he going to walk away or is he going to be gone? And someone said to me, what's his background? And there's a history of pizza ownership, but he's into casinos. He owns the Sahara in Vegas. And someone said, look into that. What's happening in Arizona? And earlier this month, at the beginning of February, the state government has introduced a proposal that will allow professional sports teams in Arizona, like the Coyotes, to have the opportunity to create sports betting

at their arenas, at retail locations within a quarter mile of their arenas or online. And so I looked at that and I said, okay, sports betting is becoming a very lucrative business. More and more states are opening the door for it. Not long before we recorded this podcast on Thursday morning, Jeff, what did you mention? NHL partnership with bally's yep so this is becoming the the last puritans of the world the north americans the americans and the canadians are finally realizing that sports betting is not this unregulated evil it is something that the rest of the world embraces, understands, and does. And finally, it's coming here.

So this is what someone, and I think he would know, told me, is that the Coyotes are a stop in a long-term play for Morello to continue his casino-slash-gambling enterprise with a license to do sports betting in Arizona. And the only two ways you can do that in Arizona under this rule are you can own a pro sports team in the state, or you can be a native American tribe. The native American tribes have licenses to run casinos already in the state. And now they'll be given these same licenses that the teams will get. And I don't know how many of the specifics you know about it, but if you, you can only

keep your license as long as you own that sports team. So it's not a matter of Alex Morello owns a sports team. He gets his sports gambling license in Arizona. He's open for business and then can divest the coyotes because at which point the license goes away. That's what I understand. The license belongs to the team. Okay. That is an interesting wrinkle to this entire story. We're used to sports teams being an end for an owner, not a ramp. The story continues, as does this podcast. Welcome to 31 Thoughts, presented by the GMC Sierra AT4. On the right wing, Wheeler will shoot it in.

Smith out to play it. I am a sucker for the classics, so I love seeing Smith wearing that. Here's Pooley-Arby, left side, to McDavid and Pugliarvi all alone. Scores! Pugliarvi goes upstairs. McDavid gets the assist. And the Oilers are up 1-0. McDavid, 500 points. There you go. And how about the finish by Yessa Pugliarvi. He has scored some beauties this year

and that was a perfectly sequenced event the owners are gonna go get the puck for uh connor mcdavid for his 500th career point tying sydney crosby at 369 games and just an absolute snipe by yes a pulley army 369 games and just an absolute snipe by Yessa Poyer. Welcome to the podcast once again. You're going to hear from Blake Bolden, who's a very impressive person. Scout for the Los Angeles Kings. Former player as well.

She has her own stick made for her, which is pretty cool. We'll talk about Ferbero, which is Andy Sutton's company. Elliot, meanwhile, I want to talk about Connor McDavid to kick off the pod. 500 points in 369 games, the same as Sidney Crosby. I always have a hard time measuring off Connor McDavid against Gretzky or Sidney Crosby against Mario Lemieux just because they are such different eras.

Do you have a thought or maybe a context for what 500 points in 369 games means in the NHL? It means you're really freaking good. And it means that you look at Gretzky's numbers and go, oh my God. Yeah, it does shatter the field. So Gretzky's the number one, the quickest to 500 points. Let's just run down the list and riff on a couple of these names, Elliot. You did this on television on Wednesday with me.

Wayne Gretzky at 234 games to get to 500. Mario Lemieux at 287. Peter Stastny at 322. Mike Bossy, 349. Eric Lindros, 352. Yari Curry, 356. Brian Troche, 362. Connor and Crosby at 369.

And then, and I love that he's in there because it always allows us to have a conversation about him. And he's one of my favorite players ever. Kent Nielsen in at 372. Which names jump out there for you in this group that Connor McDavid is now part of the thing well first of all about McDavid just incredible debt like Crosby the guy he's tied with incredible dedication to the game with Crosby you're going to remember his legacy of winning three cups two gold medals the world cup everything else he's going to do and i hope mcdavid gets to a point where he does an equal amount of of winning but their dedication

to the game i think is incredible and also the injuries that they have overcome crosby you know a few years ago we didn't know if his career was going to continue mcdavid he that first year he was appointment television and then he got hurt and you know obviously the serious leg injury he had a couple years ago and how hard he worked to come back from of all the legacies that those two guys are going to have to me the most impressive thing was they had every excuse for it to go sideways a couple of times because of what happened to their bodies and they didn't let it happen but the list brian trache does not get enough credit for what a great player he was amen al arbor sends brian trache to center ice right gilbert on the left side by quasi on the right wing with paris on a pop fan at the blue line casper on the faceoff and Grotje breaks in quickly. He scores! Grotje, five seconds into the hockey game.

Flips the faceoff, through to the blue line, picks it up and beats Doug Keene. You know, Ovechkin I think goes down as the greatest goal scorer in the history of the game because of his rate compared to the rate goals are being scored at. But Bossy, to me, is second. Mike Bossy, Saturday

night, goal number 50 in the 50th game. Let's go to the videotape. A minute and a half left in the game. He's got 49 goals. Trot you ate a Bossy 20-footer. Look at the dance. He invents a new dance. Again, forgotten what an unbelievable goal scorer he was.

Eric Lindros. He starts out, gives it to Lindros. catch fire when it counts and big Eric Lindros scored this beautiful goal on a breakaway did he rocket the shot up over Ron Hextall's glove hand. Hextall has a good glove hand but it didn't come close on this one. You remember how dominant he was at the beginning of his career. You know Stastny, he can't fathom it now but how different the world was then. You know, we never really saw or knew anything about the players from the old Soviet Union or the old Czechoslovakia. They were the enemy.

They were the communists. They were the Iron Curtain. And then, you know, Peter Stasny comes over, and you see what a great player he is. And more importantly, Peter Stasny, for young reporters like myself who broke into the business 12 years after he played in the first game of the nhl what a gentleman he is what's the great stat about stasny that you mentioned last night uh if you look at the 80s

which we always consider you know high flying and you know every game is six to five and eight to seven and it's wild wild west of course gretzky's going to be number one in regard to points. That's a given. Number two is always a shocker. It's Peter Stastny. Yet we never talk about Peter Stastny in terms of the greats of all time or even in that 80s era. But he was.

He's right there behind Wayne Gretzky for total points in the 80s it is stunning anytime you mention it and i just wonder how much of that is because he played in quebec that nordics team was fun to watch too they had some great teams quebec was a fun flat out fun team whether it was stastny whether it was goulet um know, whether it was any number of their goaltenders, they were tough, they were skilled. The rivalry with the Montreal Canadiens, which was not just sports, but was cultural. I mean, Elliot, it was even to the point where it was brewery versus brewery. Oh yeah. Right? Like it was Molson versus

Carling O'Keefe. Like this was at every single level. This had so much to it. But Stastny always, you know, was sort of in a lot of ways an afterthought in these conversations. And I'm glad that this, that Conor McDavid hits, you know, 500 points in 369 games. Because once again, it gives us a chance to remind people of how great Peter Stastny was. Again, it gives us a chance to remind people of how great Peter Stastny was. So before I tell my story about Kent Nielsen, which isn't really a Kent Nielsen story, you said he was one of your favorite players. Yes.

Tell us about that. There was no one in that era who was, from my mind, like, listen, Gretzky is next level. Fantastic. is next level. Fantastic. But just as far as pure skill goes, just as far as the way that how creative he was with his moves, how accurate he was with his

shot. I never got the feeling, and we always saw it in international hockey, I never got the feeling that we ever saw consistently over a long stretch of time the best of Kent Nielsen. Having said that, he was the first European trained player to hit 100 points in the NHL. And the one thing that I'll always come back to, I love players that are creative and do different things and allow you to see possibilities. Whenever people do that Peter Forsberg move, as we call it, or the postage stamp

move, the Olympics move, the gold medal move on Corey Hirsch. We always call it the Forsberg. It's the postage stamp move. Kent Nielsen did that at the World Championships against John Van Biesbroeck years before that. Remember we had Forsberg on the podcast, and he said, yeah, of course, I saw that. That's where I got it from. I saw it the first time, to answer your question.

Yeah, that was Kent Nielsen did it the first time. And to be, but yeah, Ken Milton did it the first time, and to be honest, the way he did it was nicer than mine, but it ended up being my goal might be more important than his, but I stole his move, yes. I'm always curious about talking to players about

who they admired, and a lot of guys, you know, most recently we'll talk about Pavel Datsyuk and how being on the ice with him was spectacular. Alex McGilney, Alex Kovalev, these types of players. But if you talk to the guys that were in the era of Kent Nielsen, like the hockey players, hockey player,

like the guy that everyone looks at and said, man, I wish I had that skill and that creativity. A lot of players that played either with or against Kent Nielsen will point to him and say, man, if only I had that creativity, that vision and that skill,

I remember, I think it might've been hockey night or maybe another show that I was watching where, you know, Kent Nielsen, they're doing a warmup drill and he was just playing crossbars and firing pucks from center ice and bing, bing, bing, bing. It was like nothing, like that Alex Kovalev video that he put out

when he's tucking in one-handed shots in the top corner into those mini baskets or nets. That was Kent Nelson. Whenever I watched him, he always did something that made you say, well, I've never seen that before. Like when you saw Ulf Dahlen skate, you know, doing the 10 and 2 style skating that everybody does, you think, oh, okay, that's

something different. I've never seen that before. Usually when I watched Kent Nelson as a kid, I looked at him and said, I didn't know hockey players could do that, but Kent Nelson could. That's great stuff. I have a non-hockey related Kent Nelson story that I always remember. Oh, by the way too,

his trade from Minnesota to Calgary allowed the Flames to draft Joe Neuendijk. That was one of the picks that went the other way. That was the second rounder they took Neuendijk with. Anyway, go ahead. Which led to a Gimlet. Side story. Yes.

So we had a pool in high school and there was a rule. One year, everybody would be like, I'm making this pick. And then they'd say, oh, he's injured. Like, no, no, no, no. So we made a rule. You had to do the research. And if you didn't do the research, it was your fault.

Once we made a deal that once you said the pick, pick was in and all the money was collected up front. So you couldn't go back on it. So there was one year Kent Nielsen left the NHL to go back to Europe, and someone picked him. And we go, you know he went back to Europe, right? And he goes, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I don't want Kent.

Too bad. You knew the rules going in. We made him keep Kent Nielsen, who got zero points for him that year. So would that have been, if that had been 87? Yeah. Cause we were in high school.

I was in high school in 87. So that makes sense. Yeah. So that's when he went to play with, uh, I think he went to Italy after playing that, that final season with the Oilers. But the guy had basically lost the pool cause he got no points from Kent Nielsen.

First of all, I like that. I always ran my hockey pools. Anything that I was involved in, any one time, anyone made a pick, lost the pool because you got no points from Kent Nielsen. First of all, I like that. I always ran my hockey pools. Anything that I was involved in, any one time anyone made a pick, I would just dog face it. Like, okay, I know he's injured or yep, I know this guy's not coming back. Oh, you want to take Rio Ritzelainen, do you? Okay, well, he's not coming back until the playoffs because that's how Glenn Sather handles that player. There's a couple of more on that list. You mentioned Troche. We talked about

Stastny. We mentioned Kent Nielsen as well. You mentioned something about Eric Lindros and how dominant he was. I look at players a couple of different ways. I think longevity certainly means a lot. I do too. How many times do you hear players say, wow, that guy played a thousand games, 1500 games. This guy played 800 games. Like that means a lot to the players. I also think a really important thing to consider too is peak performance. Like if you are the most dominant player in the world, even if it's only for a couple of seasons, I still think that has, and thankfully the Hall of Fame realized it the same way, not just with Lindros, but Bure as well.

I think that should carry you to the Hockey Hall of Fame realized it the same way, not just with Lindros, but Bure as well. I think that should carry you to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Well, it didn't used to be like that, but as you mentioned, I think it is now. Eric Lindros, Cam Neely, Pavel Bure. There would have been a time where none of those guys would have gotten in, and now they're all in. I want to move to Nashville.

I want to move the conversation to Nashville. I would love to move to Nashville. I want to move the conversation to Nashville. I would love to move to Nashville. I would love to move to Nashville too. Is this an option? I don't think it is right now. Maybe in our future, we shall see. The name you had written on the piece of paper that you revealed in the blog is Mikkel Grandlund of the Nashville Predators.

Would you care to expand a thought on that and pick up the conversation where we left off on the Nashville Predators last time we spoke on the pod? Well, as everybody knows, the Maple Leafs went out and they had some small salary slots available for players who wanted to come and play in Toronto. One was Wayne Simmons, who was playing very well until he got hurt. Another is Joe Thornton, who's now back

and has been quite a contributor to the Maple Leafs. And it's very clear too that Simmons and Thornton have made big off-ice differences. If you watch the way that other players celebrate their success, they really like those guys. Now, the other guys they kind of did were, you know, Travis Boyd, Jimmy Vasey, you know, just to see, okay, who's willing to come for whether

league minimum or just under a million dollars to play here with the Toronto Maple Leafs and get a chance at playing with some really good forwards. And obviously, uh, Boyd said, yes, he's making the most out of it. He's on the first power play the other night. Vasey has struggled, but he wanted to try and they offered it to Connor Sherry. Uh, he went to Washington instead. they offered it to Connor Sherry. He went to Washington instead. They offered it to Vlad Nemeshnikov.

He got a bigger offer in Detroit. And apparently one of the other guys they offered it to was Michael Grandland. And Grandland, he's in a higher salary bracket, and he went there. But they were interested in him. So I kind of heard a rumbling about that. And I think Nashville is going to make some decisions here. When do we want to sell? Who do we want to sell? And I think Granlund is a guy who can get you something

because he's a good player who can play with very good players. And he's going to be one of the best chips that Nashville has to deal. And that's the kind of guy I could see Toronto having a lot of interest in. So it was an educated guess, but it was a guess. I have, that's why I wasn't really willing to come out with it because, you know, I didn't want to make it any bigger than it was. I should have known it would get bigger than it was.

So, yeah, you didn't want to make it bigger than it was. You created a mystery around it. You know what? I'm just glad, I'm just glad people had fun with it. Like. They did. That's all, like, you know what?'m just glad i'm just glad people had fun with it like they did that's all you like you know what you know i i just want people to have fun life's hard right now let's have a good time and i'm glad they all did i'm interested that you mentioned he has the ability to play with good players and i think a lot of people think playing

with good players is easy but i don't think that it is like the idea of hey you're playing with connor mcdavid just go to the net keep your stick down he's gonna bounce pucks off of it and you're gonna have 80 points i don't think that's true like in order to excel i think you have to have a unique skill set to be able to play with and think like elite level players and you say that grandlin's one of those guys i do um there's two ways to play with elite level players there's kind of the connor sherry way brian rust is another got a big game this week is kind of another guy like that has been good man he's been real good okay i'm gonna play with crosby i'm gonna play with malkin what do you guys need me to do i'll just do that and there's another way which is kind of Grandlin's way is I'm not just a complimentary

player, although I understand that I will be at times, I can enhance what you do. And I've always liked Grandlin. I think he's just a really talented player. And I would be very curious to see him on a line with a Tavares and a Nylander, for example, and see where that would take you. You know, Nashville, I think they're going to be deciding pretty soon. The math just isn't good for them. There were a couple of guys I didn't mention.

You know, I mentioned, obviously, Granlund. I mentioned Cousins. I mentioned Hala. I forgot to mention Brad Richardson. I think Brad Richardson is a guy who will have interest. He's a center and good on face-offs. And, you know, Brad Richardson's a guy who plays hard in big games. And people have noticed that.

He's got a very good reputation. And the other guy I didn't mention was Eckholm. And it's kind of stupid of me that I didn't. I was actually really kicking myself. And I'll give some credit to Pierre Lebrun and Adam Vingen, who did mention him. You look at Nashville. Nashville's got an expansion issue on defense.

I don't think they want to protect 4D again. You've got to protect Yossi. You've got to protect Ellis. And you've got to protect Dante Fabbro. Dante Fabbro. They've also got a kid at Boston University named David Ferentz. He's 21 now.

He was taken in the third round in 2017. He's got 14 points in six games. And, you know, they think he's going to play. You never know how the transition is going to go from the NCAA to the NHL. But they're pretty high on him. I just don't think they're going to protect 4D again. And so all of a sudden, you've got Ekholm.

And if you don't trade him, he's got another year at a 3.75 million AAV. Like to me, that's a no brainer pick for the Kraken. Oh, hands down. So you're going to make that move. So I do think Ekholm is going to be out there. And I think there's going to be a ton of interest in him. He's a good player at a good cap number.

You know, you could probably do very well. Anyone who puts a lot of value in, and why wouldn't you, things like shot suppression, that ability for a defenseman, Ekholm's always in that conversation, if not the top of it. Speaking of top of something, the Florida Panthers, as we record this podcast,

find themselves first place in the Central, 10-2-2. They beat Carolina 4-3 in overtime. Previous to that, they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning to put together this modest two-game winning streak. They beat Tampa. They beat Carolina. Jonathan Huberdeau with an all-world spinorama behind the back pass to Alex

Vennberg on Tuesday night. An all-world tip goal by Vincent Trocek as well. How did this happen? First of all, that was a great game. That Florida-Carolina

game, that was a great game. Carolina goes up two Cobb quick and Jordan Stahl is scoring again and he's been on fire and you think, wow, Carolina's going to show the Florida

Panthers who the top team in this division really is, but got to give it to the cats for clawing their way back. You know, those players deserve a lot of credit. You know, you tried to get me to talk about Florida a couple of weeks ago and I turned it into a Roberto Luongo GM in Vancouver conversation.

And what's it going to turn into today? So some Panther fans felt ripped off by that. So I'm going to try to do a little bit better job of it this time. To me, that's been one of the most surprising divisions. Chicago's in it and Florida's in it. And to their credit, I think a lot of people thought that Florida was a paper tiger. They got off to a great start and you can't fault a team for beating the teams that are on your schedule.

That's what you have to do. If they lost to those teams, we'd be ripping them. But they hadn't played Dallas. They hadn't played Tampa. They hadn't played Carolina. Well, now they took two out of three from the Lightning in a really fun-to-watch series. And they had that big win over Carolina.

They're in the games. For one thing, I think Quenville's a hell of a coach. I think he knows how to get the most out of players. You see how excited he was at the end of that game yesterday? The players want to know the coach is invested with them, that he's excited. And the second thing is

that I think those guys were embarrassed. I think they were embarrassed by the way they played against the Islanders in the postseason. That's hugely motivating. And I think also the whole Yandel thing at the beginning of the year, it galvanized them. I think they were disappointed some of the way some of it was handled, but I think it made some of those guys realize that their organization wasn't crazy about them.

And if that's the way they're going to approach things, none of us are really that safe. And Ekblad has been, I haven't broken down Ekblad's game, but I've had some people saying to me, he's playing incredibly well. He was really good last year too, Freed. It seems like he's over the injuries,

over the injuries, the concussions, all of it. He's playing really good. He's gone to another level. Huberto's been fantastic. Barkov's been fantastic. They've got a lot of good players there, and I just think a lot of things between motivation for different reasons, Quenville, I just think a lot of things between motivation for different reasons,

Quenville, I just think they've pulled together a little bit. And I'll tell you this, it's similar to Ottawa. Do you get the saves? That kid, Drigger, is giving them the saves. You can tell that they think that they can win when he's playing. I'm happy for that guy. That's a great story. It is a wonderful story.

We've said this before. You'd hate to be a goaltender in an organization when the top guys wrapped up for that term at that dollar. It was like feeling like a New York Islanders netminder when Rick DiPietro signed his big ticket. Like, well, there goes my career unless I go somewhere else. Carter Verhage, welcome to the Alexander Barkoff is going to make you rich club. Seven goals, five assists, 12 points for Carter Verhage.

The late bloomer. It's happening for Verhage with the Florida Panthers. Is this just to be blunt and no offense to the player? Is this just the Barkoff effect? You know, what did you talk about 10 minutes ago?

Can you play with good players? Yeah. True. You know, honestly, I think it was Paul Maurice I had this conversation with once and he said, you think it would be really easy for a guy to be put on a line with a great player and just do what they tell you to do and you'll

be successful. It's not that easy. You know, Carter Verhage, maybe he's the next Connor Sheery. Maybe he's the next Brian Rust. Maybe he's that guy who says, okay, Alex, where do you need me to go? There? Okay. Where do you want my stick?

Here? Okay. You can do very well doing that. Like some people say that as an insult. It's not an insult it's not because to get to this level you have to be good yourself and then you let a great player elevate you even more should probably acknowledge before i move on to talk about chicago here um throw mckenzie wieger into that conversation of yes players that are having real good seasons

and you can tell the coach loves him. Average ice time is around 23 minutes. You know, he's right there with the same amount of ice as someone like Aaron Eckblad. He's been real good for the Florida Panthers. That was a weird one too in the off season. Like there were people who thought that they were going to get rid of him.

Well, everybody in Toronto thought that Dubas was going to, was going to get Mackenzie Wigger. They, they asked them for Dermott and Janssen. Toronto said no. One of the other big stories this week in Chicago, the PWHPA and their now third partnership with an NHL team. This is on the heels of their partnership with the New York Rangers. Will they be a game at MSG?

And the Toronto Maple Leafs? Now the Chicago Blackhawks have entered a partnership with the PWHPA. And I remember we asked Jaina Hefford, where is this going? What's the end game here? Is this a formal partnership with the NHL? Is that the goal?

And remember she said, that's certainly what we hope for or something to that effect. When you see all these partnerships popping up between the NHL and the PWHPA, what goes through your mind, Frej? Well, I got in trouble once when I addressed this before. So just because I think I got ahead of it.

You're with me. You think this is going to happen eventually, right? Yes, I do. I do wonder what the pandemic and the pandemic economics are going to mean for all of this. It's another layer of a challenge for everyone in the business. But I do think there is a small, I don't know if they're going to call it the WNHL or what they're going to call it. I don't know if they're going to call it the WNHL or what they're going to call it. I do think there's a chance of a small WNHL, six teams, maybe the year after the Olympics.

Like I said, I don't know what pandemic economics are going to do with all this, but I think the possibility exists. It's got its hurdles. It's got its challenges. But I think there's a want and a will on a lot of different sides here. Very true. And congratulations to the PWHPA and the Chicago Blackhawks formalizing that relationship. Quick pause here on the podcast. When we come back, you will hear from Blake Bolden, who is a Los Angeles Kings scout, the first black female professional scout in the NHL. Stay tuned.

So Elliot, this morning in preparation for our interview with Blake Bolden, I called someone who is very much knowledgeable about the LA Kings organization. And I said, when I say the name Blake Bolden, what comes to your mind? And this person paused and thought about it and said, overwhelming calmness, which is unique in hockey as we welcome Blake Bolden to the podcast. First of all, Blake, thanks so much for coming on today. I was going to be really looking forward to this conversation. When you hear that you are overwhelmingly calm, what goes through your mind? I'm laughing. I've been told that I have a calm demeanor a lot, but that's the first impression I'm making. So I guess that's good.

That's equanimous. I like that. In a sport where everyone is hysterical and reactionary, Blake, it's probably a good way for you to distinguish yourself amongst everybody else. Were you like that when you played? Because I've met plenty of people who are calm personally, but right before a game, they flip that switch. I think I flipped a switch and turned into a beast,

but I was like one of those calm, don't poke the bear kind of people. And if the bear got poked? Oh, you know, if the bear got poked, if I had to protect a teammate, then it was a wrap, but you know. Have you ever come off the ice and said to yourself in the room, ooh, I can't believe I did that? No, you know, I think everything that I try to do is intentional, whether that's making a statement or, you know, scoring a goal.

It's all intentional. There's nothing I've been like, dang, I wish I didn't do that. Well, that's a good way to live. That's a good way you've found yourself at this spot in your life. The origin story, we have a lot of I get it, Elliot gets it. I'm sure you get it, Blake, too, but you've done it. How can I get a job in the NHL? Oh, I'd like to scout.

I think I have a good scouting eyeball. I can do this. What's your story of getting into the Kings organization as a scout? My story was pretty serendipitous. It just was an opportunity that met preparation and I took advantage of it. So I was actually in Los Angeles visiting Black Girl Hockey Club's event at Staples Center with Renee Hess and her group of diverse fans. And I was a special guest during this occasion. And I actually had never been to an LA Kings game before. And what Black Girl Hockey Club does is they bring their group of fans into the rink. They get to see backstage or behind the

scenes alleyways and go into the rinks and see different aspects of the game than just being a spectator. So we were in the Zamboni door entrance and Luke Robitaille comes to me and, well, comes to meet the group actually. He didn't come to me specifically. And I was freaking out because I was like, oh my gosh, that's Luke Robitaille. Like he's, we were just taking pictures by his statue out front. So I mustered up the confidence to go say hello. And we started talking about hockey, of course, and women's hockey. And he was, he impressed me with his knowledge about the women's game and what we were trying to do to bring women's hockey to a better stage. And he had just honestly just asked me straight up, have you ever thought about being a scout?

And I stopped and had to think. And I was like, you know what? I haven't, but I am interested. So from that moment, it was interview processes and figuring out how it could make sense with me with Los Angeles Kings. By the way, I have to say, serendipitous, quantumous, this is too smart for Jeff and I. There's no way we are going to be able to keep up with this in this interview. I've already gone to the thesaurus twice in this conversation. Oh my gosh. When they brought you in, what did you think was going to be your role exactly?

What kind of things were you hoping for? What did they tell you was going to be expected of you? You know, it's one thing to be told, hey, we're interested in you. Let's see if we can make this work. And then it's another thing to, okay, what are the responsibilities? What do you need from me? What do I need from you? How did that all work out?

Yeah, that's a really good question. You know, when I had reached back out because I had to email Luke my resume, my background, my experience, all of that. I was nervous because I wasn't sure if I could make the cut. I mean, I knew that women especially weren't really in this operational side of hockey a lot besides Cameron Granato at that time. So I was just hoping to gain experience in whatever they put me in, but they had asked me to be an AHL Pacific region scout. It was a gap that was being filled by different scouts and everybody was putting their hands in the pot, but there wasn't one specific Pacific region scout. And so that kind of fit perfectly because I had lived in San Diego. I could drive up and down the coast in a job 100%

so everybody else could do theirs. And that was my expectation. They told me, you know, this is going to be a learning curve. Ask us as many questions as you need. We'll be there for you. But they kind of just kind of dropped me in there and were like, listen, we trust you. Go out there and tell us what you see. And I was driving and coming back and I was nervous. I mean, I can only say that I was nervous. I was inexperienced and I just wanted to make a really great impression. So I worked my butt off. Who's helped you along the way? Oh man, so many. I mean, our team has such great support system up to our leadership and down throughout our entire organization. So lucky Luke definitely would call and check in on me. Nelson Emerson, our player personnel director, he would call and say, Hey, Blake, is there anything you need? You know, I took a look at this report. I liked it. Here's some constructive criticism for how you can do better. And the next few different scouts for different pro scouts would actually reach out to me and say, hey, Blake, how are you doing? This is how you do this. This is how you

make your spreadsheets for this. This is how you stay organized because it is very time consuming and you have to be on top of all of this. You got to go see the game. Then you have to watch the game. You have to analyze it. You have to pick your players. Then you have to go home and remember all of it from your notes and put it down on paper and then put it in a computer. And then hopefully Blakey will read it if necessary. But yeah, it's kind of just like one of those things where you learn as you go. There's a lot of terminology that I didn't know. And I'm someone who likes to figure things out. And I ask questions and hopefully didn't annoy anybody.

But everybody seemed to be very helpful. And I love that. Okay. Can I give you an on-the-spot assignment? Oh, shoot. Okay. Okay. Here we go.

Surprise quiz. You must have loved those at school. Blake Bolden, LA Kings scout. I want you to give me a scouting report on yourself as a player. Ooh. I'm sure you've gone back to watch video of yourself. Watch now that you have all of a sudden, you know, NHL scouting eyes, go back and give us a scouting report on you.

Oh man. Okay. I would say that I am a consistent player. I'm a great skater. I would say I'm like a 4.2 out of 5 in the skating category. I have good change of direction. I'm explosive and powerful. I have good change of direction.

I'm explosive and powerful. I would say I have great momentum changing capabilities. I can rush the puck. I'm offensive defenseman, so I'm a three-quarter blend, which means that I like to get up in the play. I've got a wicked release. I think my cons would probably be, I could probably be more physical. I'm 5'7". A lot of defensemen are like 5'9 and up.

If you want to, you know, keep the guys out of the crease efficiently. A little bit more urgent, you know, because I am calm. So I think my urgency could be better. But when I want to turn it on, I can turn it on. What did you learn about Blake Bolden during your combine interview? So I think my urgency could be better. But when I want to turn it on, I can turn it on. What did you learn about Blake Bolden during your Combine interview? I learned that she's, you're really putting me on the spot here. I learned that she's passionate.

I learned that she's humble. I learned that she's going to be a good teammate and could be a good leader and that she will be a difference maker in our organization. Excellent report. By the way, I'm surprised you didn't say hard shot, too, because you won the hardest shot competition. Oh, yeah. So I was a bit surprised that didn't get in the scouting report. Hashtag humble. I tried to put in a quick release though i tried you know i don't want to brag too much mine would be an easy one blake uh shows promise but lacks

focus that's for every job i've ever had by the way anyway elliot go ahead you were talking about just putting together reports and things like that i'm curious about the nuts and bolts of that. One of the things I think people would be very interested in is how does it work putting together a scouting report? You get to a game at a certain time. As you mentioned, you have to leave after. How long does it take you to do? Is it all online? How is it entered?

Can you explain just to the listeners and the fans how you go about putting together a scouting report on a player for sure i think um it might be different for every club and i don't i don't want to dish out too many of our secrets but i'll just do a simple generalization i go to the games i have my cute little booklet that i open up because i think taking notes by hand helps me remember later for later on when I input the report. So I like to know who my prospects are, the people that I'm actually going to the game to look at. I like to look at one team rather than both because it can get very confusing if you keep flip-flopping between the people that you're watching. So I pick like three to five people from one team

that are a part of my prospects that I'm checking out. I will assess their skating, their stick handling, their vision, all of these metrics, right? And I'll write them down. I also like to know the lines because that's very helpful in understanding where they can be placed in the NHL later throughout their career as they develop and grow as players. And then when I finish the game, I go home or to the hotel or wherever, especially if I'm in the hotel. I just open up my computer and I'll just start typing it into the system that we use that night so it's fresh.

And honestly, I click send and away it goes. And then I'm on to the next game. How long does it take you to do? So to finish all your scouting reports for one game? I would say for me, because I'm new, I think, um, cause I was asking this question to a former pro scout and, you know, for them, it could take them like five, 10 minutes to get theirs done. For me, it takes 15, 20, 30 if I'm feeling a little ADD and I can't really focus. So for me, I just want to, I guess, understand the players perfectly. Nothing's perfect, but I want to understand the players and catch up to all my other peers because everybody else has been doing it for so long. And I need to know what the heck I'm talking about if Blakey calls me and asks me about a player. So I think

I just take a little bit longer of a time than everyone else because I just want it to be accurate. There's nothing wrong with being conscientious. Nothing wrong with that at all. Now, how often will you watch a game and you say that you're looking at three to five players and how often will someone else just show up and you say, you know, I'm not supposed to be watching that person, but they're having a night. You got to take note of that. I mean, that's an incredible example. You definitely take note of that because that just adds to the collective of information for us to look back on. So if someone's having an unreal night and then we take note of that and then they have another one, they might just become a prospect in the future. So I definitely,

if I see something, I'll say, hey, listen, such and such had an amazing night. This is what happened. I'm going to take a look at them in the future. Do the Kings have a type? When you're watching, whether it was Luke Robitaille or Rob Blake or Nelson Emerson, do they say to you, this is the kind of player we're looking for, or these are the kinds of attributes that we're looking for? Yeah. I think every team definitely has a type based off of our leadership, our GMs, our coaches, what they want and to fill the puzzle piece. So we'll have a group call before the season and definitely checkups during the interim of this

season to say, hey, this person might be out for a little while, especially now with what's going on in the world. We need backup here. We need a veteran for this position, for our AHL team, or just as an example. So yeah, we definitely have types and things that we're looking for. Shooting hands that we're looking for, positions that we're looking for, just depends on what we need at that time. You know I'm going to ask you, what's the king's type? Hit us. Give it away. What's the king's type? Surrender. Surrender all the info.

Surrender. What's the king's type without getting in trouble? I would say right now we're just looking for a spark. And as you know, our prospects are pretty sparky and pretty awesome. So if you can have an idea of what our type is, I would just look at our nine prospects that are coming up. We're just absolute studs at the moment and we'll take some time to grow and develop and be ready for the big stage. But I actually just saw our AHL team in person because watching it in person is so much different than watching it on TV. You can just feel the energy.

You can see how fast it is. And our boys are fast. So I would say we're getting some speed. We want speed. We want some goal scorers. I was going to say, because Elliot and I have talked about this on the podcast a couple of different times,

and there was a deliberate change in the type of player the LA Kings went after and drafted. It started a few years ago, and we saw it with players like Adrian Kempe comes to mind right away. There was a deliberate move towards foot speed and the team it was almost as if this la team who when they won their stanley cups you were a very straight line almost table hockey-esque deliberate hockey team but we're probably the slowest team in the nhl now they won two stanley cups out of it no one's going to complain but it seems as if there was a deliberate shift in la as if everyone the organization said we need to get faster we We need to get quick. We need to catch up to the rest of the NHL.

So when you're scouting, Blake, if someone isn't a burner, how much do they have to excel at those other areas to compensate for that? Or do you just say, you know what? He doesn't check the skating box. He's not for the LA Kings. Yeah, no, I wouldn't say that there is any sort of ultimatum of like, you don't check that skating

box, you're crossed off because there are some extremely skilled players that are just great with their hockey sense, right? And if someone knows that they're not fast. They definitely have to figure out a way to compensate for that. So yeah, I would say we're open to filling those puzzle pieces. But I would say, yeah, also, again, looking at our prospects, we are making a deliberate statement to where we want our program and our franchise to go in the future. So I probably didn't really answer your question, but that's all I got. No, you know what? You did because of the one person, as I'm hearing you talk here, the one person that pops to mind for me is Gabriel Velarde,

who even going back to when he played junior in Windsor, he was never the fastest guy on any sheet that he played, but dots down, he was the best. You weren't lifting up his stick. He was winning every battle. He was't lifting up his stick he was winning every battle he was going into the net he was chipping in goals yeah but you put him on a straight line with anybody else in the league and you know chances are he's not going to win that race but he's compensated for it use in in other areas that's from all of your prospects hearing you talk that's the one that jumps out to me yeah that's a great example i'm also like super fresh and

super new so I'm not really going to talk about anything that I don't know too much about. See, Elliot and I follow the philosophy of if you're not sure of something, say it loud, but that's just us. Go ahead, Farid. It's funny how that works. You know, you've had a really interesting career, NCAA player. You played in both leagues, both of the women's leagues, the Canadian League and the National Women's League. You went overseas to Switzerland where you played for a year. Where did you see yourself? If it wasn't for the Kings opportunity coming to you, where did you see yourself now? Yeah, that is crazy because I really feel like the Kings just stepped in and swooped me up and like, this is, I'm holding on and I'm running with this opportunity. Before I was doing a lot of skills development and mental skills coaching with my Blake Bowen Athletics mentorship program, playing, I've gone through a lot of ups and downs, you know, and I think one thing that stuck out to me the most was young girls, especially with myself and my experiences, didn't necessarily take the ice to train. But if you're not training your mind, I don't think you can go as far as you would like, which I think that happened to me. So that's what I really honed in on.

And I probably would have just built that up even more. And I still do my mentorships today. I just don't have time for 20, 30 girls at the moment as I did before. Well, this time in the world is a real challenge for mental health. And I think that your desire and focus to train the mind is very important. So if there's anybody listening to this podcast who is trying to challenge themselves to keep that positive mental state, is there something you would recommend to them to do that can help? Absolutely. Right now, especially, I think

there are two types of people. The first is to fall victim to a situation, and the second is someone who wants to act. And when the pandemic hit me and my family, we immediately acted on, okay, what are we going to do? If we're trapped in the house right now, what am I going to do to keep myself sane? I know I'm privileged and I live in Southern California and I have great weather. I got outside. I gardened. From that garden, I started cooking. I created a cookbook, an ebook. I was writing. I was building up my business with Blake Bowen Athletics. I was cooking. I created a cookbook, an ebook. I was writing. I was building up my business with Blake Bowen Athletics. I was scouting with the Kings. I just kept myself busy. And then at the same time, I would do my breathing exercises. I would meditate.

So I guess that's where I get my calm nature from. But you have to have a task. And when you complete that task, you're going to feel like you achieved something. But if you sit around Netflix and chilling all day, that's probably not good for your brain. So I talked to someone this morning from the PWHPA and I said, Elliot and I are going to sit down and talk to Blake Bolden later today. Was it Jaina Hefford? It was not Jaina Hefford.

And I know you're going to go on a fishing trip because Elliot's famous for this. I can't drop any reference without him going into journalist mode and trying to draw it out of me or anybody else. That's a good quality because I was wondering the same thing. Yeah, I have bloodhound over here. And I said, what would you want to hear from blake bolden and you know what she said right away the stick she said i want to hear about the stick so i want to ask you about verbero and now verbero is a company yes and actually they've just sponsored a number of pwhpa athletes

alissa gilardi uh bridget lequette and brit howard amongst others are now sponsored by verbero as well but what can you tell us about the Blake Bolden Verbero stick? And how cool is it that you have your own stick? Seriously, come on. It's amazing. Never could I ever have imagined that I would have a stick with my name on it, with my logo that I've completely designed from the ground up. But it's so exciting.

Pre-sale is now. It's out there if you want to snag it. But what I love most about Vibero is the newness. It's fresh, it's different. And I think myself personally, I have become this person in the hockey community that is just going out there and attacking it. And I feel like that coincides with Vibero's mission of being bold and being different and being new. You know, we have such a conglomerate with, you know, CCM and Bauer and all of those, but what about everyone else who, who's just trying to figure out hockey and where they fit in the space. So Vibaro and I partnered up with the owner, actually, Andy Sutton, who I was playing pickup with. And he was so impressed with my skill set and the way I skated and my release. He was like, holy cow, I had no idea female ice hockey players

professionally were that dang good. Andy Sutton's like a 16 year NHL vet. So I was like, yeah, man, we're doing it over here. And he sat down and was like, so this is what I've got going on. I'd love to work with you. And he just gave me an opportunity to create the first ever female stick line in the history of hockey sticks. And it's beautiful. It's light. It's 350 grams. It's got a mid to low kick point for me. We talked about my slap shot. I love the slap shots and the clappers and the one tees on the PP. So that needed to match with my personality on the ice. There's all different types of flexes for all the way down from youth up to senior. Dual curve or toe curve?

Oh, yeah. It's basically a V88. It's basically a caner. So it's got a little bit of a curve, but not too much. I just love snapshots from the point, just quick release. It just comes off really easy. And the touch is great. I don't know if I mentioned already, but it's 350 grams. So it's pretty darn light. You don't have to do anything. And that thing goes flying. So it's awesome. It's so cool.

And it's beautiful. It's got my signature on it. It's got my Be Bold logo on there. It's just an honor, honestly. It's an honor. Jeff, are you going to ask how Blake tapes the stick? That's your big question. Well, I always, I always say the old cliche, heel to toe gathers no snow. Do you have a specific way to tape your stick, Blake?

I'm a pretty simple girl. Yeah. I'm a heel to toe. I just tape black, you know, I don't even use wax because I just think it's a waste of time. Heal the toe, chill, black tape. That's it. Do you do the toe or do you expose it? And do you have the flat of the curved toe? I have a curved toe. There's an, it's exposed.

I think, I think forwards really like that, you know, toe coverage thing. And I don't, I don't do toe drag. So for me, I don't need all that. Because if I got caught doing a toe drag on the blue line or in the T-zone, I don't think I would be out the next shift. So I don't really do too much with my toe. I love it. Did you know, Blake, that the Kings were going out for warmup last week with your jersey on? No, I didn't know. It was literally the biggest form of like family that's outside of my family that I've ever received. It was, it was incredible. I remember talking to Jen Pope,

our VP of community relations. And, um And she asked me, hey, we're doing these homage Black History Month jerseys. What do you think we should do? And I came up with a gamut of random examples and ideas. And I thought she was going to take one of those. And come to find out, five minutes before puck drop, she sends me a text with a link to a picture that has you know dowdy's number and my last name on the back and she goes surprise turn on the tv and i was like what this is insane i was like freaking out i was on the biggest like high ever i was just so happy so elated so honored and to be with willie o'ree too because it wasn't just me it was just so happy, so elated, so honored. And to be with Willie O'Ree too, because it wasn't just me. It was just out of control, out of control.

And did you get one? Did they send you one? I actually texted Luke and Kelly. I was like, yo, what about one of those sweet jerseys? They were like, oh yeah, it's auction, BB. You gonna get one? And they're like, no, JK, JK, you could snag one. But yeah like oh yeah it's auction bb you're gonna get one and they're like no jk jk you could you could snag one but yeah i think it's amazing there that would have been pretty

hilarious if they would have made you at least bid on like once or twice and then say okay stop bidding and now we're gonna give you one yeah that would have been hilarious yeah well you know i don't have it yet, so maybe. Yeah, we're going to sign them. And obviously they're auctioned off for an amazing cause, Play Equity Fund and Black Girl Hockey Club scholarships. So it's just really cool that it's going to a good cause. It's Black History Month. I was honored, and I'm still just pinching myself

because some of the best players in the world are skating around with my last name honoring me that just is like crazy I called my mom she was like yeah girl that's not just your last name it's mine too we were all pretty stoked about it I'm glad you mentioned Willie or be there second. And I want to get your thoughts on this, you know, absolute, you know, huge person in the game. I do a radio show with Anthony Stewart in Toronto and Stewie won't call him Willie O'Ree. He calls him Mr. O'Ree. He always talks about the impact that Willie had on his life and always goes out of his way to point out that, you know, Willie doesn't actually talk about some of the awful things that happened to him along the way.

He focuses on the positive and the few. And that's been a big influence on Anthony and how he conducts himself and how whether it's with his hockey group, Stuart Hockey, or whether he's on the air on Hockey Night or on our radio show, it's really guided him just watching how Willie O'Ree behaves, dealing with his past as well. I'm just watching how Willie O'Ree behaves dealing with his past as well. I'm curious about your Willie O'Ree story. What are your thoughts on Willie O'Ree? At what point in your life did you first become aware of Willie O'Ree? And if you could share a thought or two on this legendary figure, that'd be great. Yes, absolutely. He is indeed

legendary. And I'm so excited that his jersey will be retired with the Bruins organization. I think it's an amazing accomplishment. no, a Soul on Ice screening. I think it was back in 2015. He was there with Kwame Mason, the creator, director, producer of Soul on Ice. And I reached out to Kwame because I remember hearing about Willie when I was a young girl. And I was like, Willie O'Ree is coming to Boston for a panel discussion and a screening of Soul on Ice, like I need to be there. So somehow, someway I found out how and when and what time and how to get there. And I showed up and I was fangirling so hard. And Willie was just so, just a gentleman. And he spoke and gave the crowd. It was, I think it was at the Boston History Museum or something like that. It was a beautiful location. And so he gave a spiel. I walked up,

I took photos and he was like, do you guys want to go out to the bar and eat and hang out? And I was like, oh my gosh, yes. So we went out to the bar. Willie was so fun, right? He's like in his 80s, just living his best life. And we're just having, we're all together just having intimate conversation about hockey and the sport we love as black players and people. And it was just like a dream come true. I just couldn't believe it. Cause you know, sometimes when people say you don't want to meet your heroes, because they'll disappoint you. Willie has never, not once disappointed me in how he presents himself to people when the cameras are on. And then when the cameras are off, he's just such an amazing mentor of mine. And I'm also really

lucky that we both live in San Diego, and I can just call him up and go for coffee. And he and his wife are fabulous. So Willie is amazing to me, honestly. Will you go to Boston, do you think, for the number retirement ceremony? Would you ask or make that trip now that we've moved it for next year? Yeah, yeah. I didn't ask, but you know what? I think that would be really cool.

I think that's a great idea. Thank you. I will try to be there, especially since it's pushback. So yeah, I think that's great. Well, it's obvious the two of you are pretty important to each other, so I'm sure he would love to see you there. The other thing I wanted to ask you too, Blake, was I've seen some quotes you talking about just not making the Olympic team, especially in Sochi. And, you know, that's the past. We can't change the past, but I think about the future. And here you are now, you're in management in the National Hockey League. And I wonder if any part of you says, maybe I didn't make it as a player, but why can't I be an executive on the American

Olympic hockey teams, male or female? I'm just going to be real with you. So USA hockey and whatever my past, I've just so focused on moving on and being in the moment and creating opportunities for myself and growing the game the best way that I can, which is sharing my story and speaking with people like you guys and doing what I have to do in the National Hockey League. So I haven't thought about being an executive for Team USA or the USOC or anything like that. I think right now I'm at a really good space. I have a really great platform and I'm just not up to that yet.

Nothing wrong with that. You're focused on the LA Kings and the NHL. Blake, I want to end on a quote by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And I want to get your thoughts on how you feel about your position right now in hockey. This is one of my favorite quotes and I'll read it verbatim.

She once said, when I'm sometimes asked when there will be enough women on the Supreme Court, I say, when there are nine. People are shocked. But there'd been nine men and nobody's ever raised a question

about that. Do you feel, and we could ask Cammy Granato the exact same question. You're the first two female scouts in the NHL. Blake, you're the first black female scout in the NHL. Do you feel like you're a trailblazer in the league? Yes, I feel like I'm a trailblazer in this sport, but this isn't like a blow my tires kind of trailblazer situation. It's more of a, I really take a lot of pride and I'm very passionate about connecting with non-traditional hockey markets and trying to make them feel

comfortable and even thinking about picking up a stick and playing hockey because it is possible. It's possible. And just in that quote, as you just mentioned, it would be a tremendous feat for it not to be an amazing story for a female to be an executive in the NHL, right? It's just something that's normal and welcomed and inclusive. So when we get to that point, I think it'll be a great day. But for right now, we're just celebrating our wins.

We're breaking glass ceilings and making room for people to come up from behind us. That's a tremendous answer. You're such a wonderful person. We wish you nothing but the most success with the Los Angeles Kings. And to the previous conversation, we hope to see you there when Mr. O'Ree's number goes to the rafters in Boston. Absolutely. Thank you so much. This conversation was so fun. You guys rock. Thanks very much. We really appreciate you taking the time for us blake we know you're busy appreciate it guys okay so that's the very excellent blake bold and she was such a delight to talk to we're taking you out with something funky today folks uh minneapolis minnesota artist cory wong has released nine studio albums in the last five years six in the the last year alone. From his latest album,

here's Coming Back Around featuring Cody Fry on 31 Thoughts, the podcast. But all the punches that I've taken They built me up, but while you got soft I know you think it's over But we ain't done You turned it up and I took the hit You turned around and thought I was weak You thought you got down Forgot to watch out Now I'm coming back around

I'm coming back I'm coming back Coming back around You started before I was ready I'm coming back, coming back around. You started before I was ready. I will admit you got the jump. But I've been working slow and steady. When you're burned out, I'll burn you up.

I know you think it's over, but we ain't't done You turn it up and I took the heat You turn around and gone was me You let your guard down Fuck out the fire now