32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Where Is It Hottest in Canada?

Episode Date: November 6, 2023

It may be November but the temperature in three Canadian hockey markets is rising by the day. Jeff and Elliotte key in on Edmonton, Ottawa, and Toronto as these three NHL teams continue to struggle out the gate. In Edmonton the scrutiny is being placed on the goaltending (03:16) and they discuss whether Jay Woodcroft should be on the hot seat (13:00). In Ottawa they're chanting "fire DJ Smith" and Brady Tkachuk did his best to distract from it (20:30). In Toronto, the criticism is placed on the new players (29:00). Why has it been so difficult for them to translate in Toronto? They also touch on the San Jose Sharks giving up 10 goals in back-to-back contests (41:10). What is the way forward for San Jose and how will ownership tolerate a season like this? They wrap the pod by talking about Jack Hughes' injury and how it may not be as bad as originally feared (1:11:24).Jeff and Elliotte answer your questions in the Montana’s Thought Line (1:00:22).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Montana's Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This 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.

I remember the California Seals paid streakers. It depends on who we're talking about here. If it's Kevin Biaxa, no. I don't want that. If it's you, no. I don't want that. Okay, here we go. Once again, we're going to get a weather check

from Elliott Friedman in a second. But first, 32 Thoughts to Podcast, brought to you by the all- new 2024 GMC Sierra HD, Merrick Friedman and New Dom, Old Dom. We really don't have a handle for Dom yet, but we'll sort it out in upcoming episodes. Okay. Meteorologist Friedman, I have a question for you. It may be the fall. It may be the fall in Canada. As we record this a little bit after nine o'clock Eastern on Sunday, November the 5th, I have a question for you and it is this.

Where is it hottest in Canada? Now, here are your three choices. Edmonton, Ottawa, or Toronto. Which of these three hockey markets are lit on fire like none other right now well if you look at the weather app it's two degrees celsius in edmonton but there is a fog advisory it's zero in ottawa and it's plus five in toronto i knew you were going to do this so i did my research so technically it's hottest in Toronto, plus five.

Okay. From a hockey point of view, just talking about hockey, I think the answer is Edmonton. Now, what should be said here, Jeffrey Merrick, what's your middle name? James, JJM. Jeffrey J. Merrick. Yes.

The Oilers always go through one week a season where it looks like the Titanic sinking. One week a year, it always happens. A couple years ago, it's when they made the coaching change. There was one last year too where it appeared as if every day brought a new level of anger and pain and angst to the oiler nation and this year it started early i don't know if it's ever been as early in the last few seasons as it started this time around. But, you know, there's my November 1st stat, which is teams that are four points out

after the games on November 1st make the playoffs around 10% to 15% of the time. Well, the Oilers are one of those teams this year. Them, the Flames, the Sharks, and the Penguins. Those are the four teams that have to beat those odds. And I thought after the outdoor game that have to beat those odds. And I thought after the outdoor game, things would be okay here. They are far from okay.

With one of their sources of kryptonite, the Vancouver Canucks looming on Monday night. They are so hot right now, Vancouver is. And I believe Dom was telling us that it hit 18 degrees in Vancouver as well. So the temperature is warm and the team is legitimately hot right now. But back to the Oilers. 2-7-1. Sources say, Elliot, that is un-good. And the scrutiny is being placed very much on the two netminders. And most specifically, Jack Campbell.

You mentioned on Saturday, it sounds, looks, feels, smells, however you want to describe it, like the Oilers are about to give Stuart Skinner a run here. How do you read the goaltending situation? I thought Bob Stauffer nailed it on the Edmonton-Nashville game in the intermission. What did Bob say? I refuse to believe Bob Stauffer got something correct.

He compared them to the San Jose tandem as well and said that even San Jose is outperforming them and that's the main problem here in Edmonton. I think it's more than that. Look, they're not getting saves. There's no question about it, but the Oilers are leaking. This is a double whammy combination. Jeff, I may not have played hockey to a high level, but I know that if you're giving up great chances

and you're not getting saves, it's bad. Sources say that is bad. So yes, they're not getting saves, but I don't think this is only on the goaltenders. The Oilers right now, they can't defend. The teams are just going right through them, and they're getting to everywhere they want to go. Before we talk about the goalies, though,

I want to talk about the head coach because, you know, I started getting calls. When that game started getting away from the Oilers against Nashville on Saturday, people started asking me, do you think Woodcroft could be fired? Do you think something could happen after the game on Saturday or we could all wake up Sunday morning

and there was a new head coach? And there's two things I look at in these situations. Number one, what is the coach's history? And number two, who's the replacement? Who makes sense? It's very easy to sit there and say we're firing the coach, but it's a lot harder to say who makes sense to replace him. I always think about that. I wish I could credit the general manager who told me this early in my career. I'm getting old now, so my memory's going.

But he would always say to me, I don't want to hear fire the coach. I want to hear who and what makes you better. Now, the number one thing here, I think, is that, yes, I do believe that the Oilers are starting to ask some serious questions internally. Like, what is wrong? What can we do to fix it? And has it been thrown around that maybe they might have to look for another coach? Yes, I believe it has.

I think you would be doing the ostrich, burying your head in the sand, if you didn't think the Oilers were at least thinking about this. But let's remember one thing. Jay Woodcroft, before this season, was the Oilers' head coach for 120 games. They'd won 76 of those, and they'd won three rounds in the playoffs. Is he perfect? No.

But he's gotten results on that team. And to me, you need to have a, when you've got that kind of record, you need to have a good reason to say, you really have to have exhausted all your options when you are saying we have to change the coach. Now, are you going to have to go in there and say you might have to do things a little differently? Yes. You might have to change the way you approach some things? Yes.

But how many teams fire a coach with that kind of winning percentage and find someone better? So that's the number one thing I look at here. You know, so you sit there and you make your list Jeff of and this also goes for you know Ottawa too you make your list of who makes sense you know Claude Julien is a person like if you're really craving structure that is definitely the kind of guy you're looking at you know know, Patrick Waugh, and we'll talk about him with all in one a second, I've always wondered if the day would come that he would get another shot in the NHL.

You know, a lot of people talk Joel Quenville. What about Joel Quenville? Well, on Sunday, there was a report of another lawsuit, potentially in the 2010 Chicago-Cowell Beach case. And there's a media conference on Monday. I think at this point in time, we're recording this on Sunday night. I want to wait to hear from this media conference and see what comes out of it. But I think it's safe to say, Jeff, while this is unfolding,

it seems unlikely, very unlikely, the NHL would approve Joel Quenville's return while this case continued to proceed. So that's the one thing I sit here and I wonder. I think there are teams that would look at some AHL coaches or assistant coaches and other teams, but how often do teams let them go during the season? As a matter of fact, I was talking with an executive on the weekend who said that as far as he knows, and there are some situations that are different, there's a lot of AHL teams like if you're looking for an AHL coach or you

have a good NHL team you kind of tell your guys that once the puck drops at the start of the season we expect you to stay through the season and he told me of a situation he asked not to use the name because it would out who told me this story, but he told me of a situation where they had an AHL coach who got offered an NHL job with another team, and they said no. They said at the beginning of the year, you made a deal with us. Now, there are exceptions. Kirk Muller was the coach of the American Hockey League team

for Nashville in Milwaukee, and Jim Rutherford wanted to hire him in Carolina and he was allowed to do it so there are exceptions but generally teams prefer a commitment all year long once the puck drops so I think with the coach in Edmonton look if Jay Woodcroft had a 350 winning percentage or a 420 winning percentage I think we'd all understand that but the guys had one full season and his winning percentage is at 65 percent and they've gone to five playoff rounds in the last two years unless he's openly refusing to do things or you really think he's lost his touch you'd have to explain to me why that's a good reason. So a couple of things here. One, there's a number of reasons why I think it has to be incredibly frustrating to be an NHL coach. And I think the main reason, or one of the main reasons at least,

is the one position on your team that you have the least amount of input or expertise about is the one that generally dictates whether you will stay employed or will be fired. And that's the goaltending. What's the old saying? Show me a good goalie, I'll show you a good coach. Alain Vigneault, if your goaler is better than my goaler, you win. If my goaler is better than your goaler, I win. Ned Harkness, you should change the name of the game from hockey to goalie if your goaler is better than my goaler you win if my goaler is better than your goaler i win ned harkness you should change the name of the game from hockey to goalie because that's what it really comes down to but i look at woodcroft and look at the safe percentages of jack campbell and stewart skinner and say to myself man i i feel bad for him because how much of you know

the fate of the edmonton oilers and him rests on something that he doesn't really have much input into i don't disagree with you but i would feel better about that as purely the reason if they were playing better defensively i get that if you said to me that edmonton was locking teams down and still losing then one thing i'll say to you is i've had a couple of teams now who say to me they look at the oilers and and they say when do the oilers think we can't win with this goaltending like do the oilers get to a point where they say this is not going to work for us and we have to find a way whatever the cost is to extricate ourselves from it. Like 1GM was, it was really interesting to me. He says, look,

you've got McDavid, you've got Dreisaitl. They're in the prime of their careers. You think after the last couple of seasons that those guys are going to stay forever because you have a chance to win. And now all of a sudden this year starts the way it is and everybody's got questions uh-oh and what he said to me was if I was in their shoes Ken Holland and Jeff Jackson and Paul Coffey and whoever's there he said the question that I would be asking myself is is there a price that is too high to pay to extricate myself from this problem if I decide that we can't win with this goaltending?" And he said the answer would be probably not.

It's one of the few situations because it's McDavid and Dreisaitl in the prime of their careers and they're getting closer to the ends of your contract. That's one of those situations where you say okay guys i know you're not throwing me preservers you're throwing me anvils i'm ready to go to the bottom of the ocean to do what it takes to get myself a better goalie and you know he said he would think about i'm glad you got us there because that was gonna be my next follow-up there used to be very much a thing in the NHL pre-salary cap and even in the first few years of the salary cap once people started to really wrap their heads around it. And now that the salary cap is flat for this season, at least, things are complicated and it's hard to make deals. But

there used to be an old saying, before you fire a coach, you owe that coach a trade. You owe that coach a chance to shake up the roster. And then if that doesn't work, okay, your hands are clean. Go ahead and fire the coach. I know it's hard with the cap being where the cap is and how difficult it is to make trades, make moves in general, especially when you're in a salary cap situation like the Oilers are in right now.

But does Ken Holland owe Jay Woodcroft a trade to try to get this team out of this mess that they're in right now? If you're asking me, here's my question for you, Jeff. Do you see somebody there right now who you think should be the coach of this team over woodcroft and i am taking into account that they went to a defensive system early this year that seems to have screwed them up for a little bit i don't fire jay woodcroft right now i don't i think you go shake up the roster first. And then if that doesn't work, then all bets are off for everything. Then everything's on the table. Because again, how many times have we had this same conversation? Is the issue here coaching or composition? you don't have to be a wise old hockey person to look at save percentages and say,

hmm, it may not be the whole problem, but it's a big one, then you say to yourself, this probably isn't coaching. This is probably composition. That's what I think right now. By the way, I should have said when the guy said to me, I'm ready to go to the bottom of the ocean to make the deal. He said, at the bottom of the ocean with the Dracula squids. And I actually Googled what a Dracula squid is.

It's disgusting. He said, I will go to the ocean with the bottom of the ocean with the Dracula squids to make this deal. Oh, I just Googled it. Look at those things. Oh my goodness. Honestly, Jeff, I'm not afraid of a lot of things, but the bottom of the ocean creeps me out.

I have to say. It really does. You people who go down there, you are better than I am. I will confess. The vampire squid of hell thing is disgusting anyway anyway nice hockey podcast you got there oh hey welcome to uh mutual of omaha's wild kingdom uh but but i i agree with you. I think, you know, like again, you, I was looking back at some of the goals this week.

I know I'm sounding like a broken record and sometimes I, I really do think I repeat myself too much on this podcast, but I'm, I'm going to hammer this point. And that is that when I see the goals, I see two problems. They're not getting saves. And any good team that's playing against them can get to wherever they want. And here's the other thing, Jeff. I know we're going to talk about Toronto. I'm looking at Calgary right now.

Okay. Calgary could have three defensemen on the market. Three good defensemen on the market. Three good defensemen on the market. Noah Hannafin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zdorov. It would be hilarious to see Calgary bailing out Toronto and Edmonton on one level. I can't see it. Honestly, Farid, I can't see it. Honestly, for each, I can't see it.

Okay. Honestly, can you see it? Hey. Calgary throwing lifelines? I'm just saying this. I think they've begun to make their phone calls just to see what the market is. I don't necessarily think anything's happening soon,

but I think they're making their calls. If I'm Edmonton, I'm looking to make a deal that addresses my two problems. We're not getting enough saves and everybody's going, who's playing against us, wherever want to go how do i do that and even if it's a bit lopsided in the sense you have to give up like i don't know if you're giving up players but well i mean you might have to clear some salary out but you're not necessarily giving up top players or top prospects but if you have to give up draft capital to do it, if I'm the Edmonton Oilers, I'm saying McDavid, Dreisaitl, Prime, the marching orders are due what needs to get done. said to Sherry Basson when they were- Draft schnapped? No, that's a good one though. When they were talking about the Matt Sundin deal, the origins, like the beginning conversations

of the Matt Sundin deal, Sherry Basson brought up the name Wendell Clark and Cliff Fletcher said, tell you what, I'll do the deal with Wendell Clark on one condition. And Sherry said, what's that? And Cliff apparently said, you put me in the deal as well. Because if I trade Wendell Clark, I will be run out of town. I'll do the deal if you include me in the package going back to Quebec.

I bring that up for one reason. back. I bring that up for one reason. Craig Conroy doing a deal to help bail out Edmonton as one of his first major moves as general manager of the Calgary Flames. Does Craig Conroy say, sure, Kenny, I'll make that deal. Put me in the deal as well. Look, it would take, I don't think you're wrong. I don't think you're wrong at all. For me to do that, if I was in Craig Conroy's shoes, number one, it would take... A premium. Not just a premium, Jeff.

Oh. A premium is nice. This would be a fleecing? I'm talking about a deal that would get a banner hung up in the new building whenever. But that's my point it can't just be a premium it's got to be like if you're going to do that and i agree with you it's incredibly unlikely this is this is a fun podcast argument but you have to make a deal

that every one of your fans is going to look at and say all right i can deal with that. And then if Edmonton straightens themselves out and wins because you made that deal, they've still got to be able to say, all right, I can live with that. I agree with you. It's unlikely, but they've got the type of players that Edmonton could use. Okay. Off the Edmonton page. So number two is Ottawa. Number two is Ottawa.

Last in the Atlantic, the fire DJ Smiths were loud on Saturday. I thought Brady Kachuk did a really good job jumping in front of all of it to distract away from the DJ Smith issue. You know, I'm glad you said that because there's all this debate and fallout about Brady Kachuk.

Brady Kachuk did this for one reason. And this is the only thing that anyone has to realize. Brady Kachuk was doing that to take the heat off his coach. He looked at everybody. He said, I'm the captain. I am stepping in front of the camera

and I am directing all of the commentary towards me this is not about he's not ripping the fans even though what he says he gave him but he's not give a sharp shock he gave but he wanted to be heard this is not about brady kachuk ripping the fans it's not. I can understand why everybody thinks it, but take your eyes away from the obvious. This is not about Brady Kachuk ripping the fans. This is about Brady Kachuk protecting the head coach.

He likes DJ Smith. He's said it. He likes playing for him. He's become a better player under him. All these guys who signed in Ottawa because they like Ottawa and they like playing for DJ Smith. This is Brady Kachuk stepping in there when they're all booing DJ and saying, hey, look at me.

Come for me. That's all this is. Just understand what he's doing. Here's the one thing that everybody has to remember. Brady Kachuk comes from a hockey family things like that come natural to people like brady kachuk because his dad is keith kachuk and he grew up in this environment and at that moment brady kachuk knew exactly what had to be done that's a guy that grew up in hockey right there that is the kachuk family now does it mitigate the fact that the heat is on the temperature is up in ottawa the gm search is underway um the fans are howling for a sacrifice they're uh they're getting their

pitchforks sharpened up right now what's the temp in ottawa it's it's very hot and the other thing too is you know and someone made a really good point to me about this on sunday he said the other thing that you have to take into account here is that it's an owner who just paid a record price for a team and how much do you think he needs playoff revenue to make that make sense? It's a key part of your cash flow is playoff revenue. So this guy said to me,

don't discount that. It's important. Now, again, I believe what Steve Steyo said. Steve Steyo's preference is let's calm this down. Enough going on. Let's calm this down. Here's the thing is, it's the old line. The road to hell is paved with the best of intentions, right? Steve St Deos is 100% thinking that this is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going to do. But eventually you could get boxed into a place where you're just saying, you know what?

If we don't start winning games, it may not be what I want to do. It may be what I have to do. Now, you know, here's the thing here. You got local fans cheering for Claude Julien, who's there. And Claude Julien's a structure guy. One of the other ownership groups, I don't know how Steve Steyos and mike and laura feel about patrick waugh but one of the other ownership groups was prepared to make patrick waugh the

head coach that was a decision that they were very interested in making had they gotten control of the team you know the the other name i kind of wonder about if they do anything is John Gruden. I just don't know if they're going to be able to get him during the season. He's coaching the Marlies in Toronto, and he won an OHL championship with Adlauer and Steyos in 2018. He was the head coach of that team hamilton bulldogs what did i say you didn't you didn't give a team name thank you jeff for mentioning that i forgot the team name again i take steos at his word

i absolutely take steos at his word in this particular case. I think that if he has to make a change, it's the absolute last thing he wants to do. And the other thing too is if you go back and you watch that media conference from last Wednesday, for me like the 97th time on YouTube, Steve Steyos is talking about what he sees as a player. This is a guy who played almost a thousand games in the NHL. He knows when a team is playing

for its coach. And he believes that if as long as a team is playing for the coach, you give him the longest possible chance to turn it around. And so I think he is pro DJ. He sees a team playing hard for his coach, a team responding to his coach, and Kachuk, what he said the other night, will only reinforce that. So I think he waits as long as he can before deciding to make a change i think the only way he does it is if he gets to a point

where he just believes i have no choice but to do it do you think the fans chanting has any bearing on this i think the the well it didn't toronto remember with ron wilson like that was that that was the big one that we all point to and brian brook has said that he said look it would be cruel and unusual for me to continue to keep throwing ron wilson out there but for this group for steve steos, do the fans' chants matter? It shouldn't. You know, Bob Knight died last week. He had, you know, he had a line, and I hope everybody understands where I'm coming from on this, where if you listen too much to what the fans say, pretty soon you're going to be up there sitting next to them. That was his line. And you have to respect your fans. You have to appreciate your fans. You have to show the fans that their fandom is wanted.

And we're going to talk about that, especially when we get to San Jose in a few minutes here. But you have to have the courage of your convictions. Like Ken Holland in Edmonton is a perfect example. There were times last year where people wanted him to do things and he wrote it out and it turned out to be the right decision. You have to know when to turn off your phone, delete your social media and say, bah, bah, bah, bah, bah.

I am not listening to anyone out there and especially when you're new you can't like steve steos is in his first job in the nhl at this level you have to be able to show that you can stick to the courage of it like they got thrown a curveball last week they got that penalty and they said you know what we can't keep going the way we're going i think everybody understands that but you can't keep changing your plans at some point in time you have to say this is the courage of our convictions and we're sticking with it. But they got to start winning games. That to me is the big question here. How long can you wait? I don't think it's the fans.

I think it's the W's and the L's. We'll see where that one hits. It's another crucial week for the Ottawa Senators on the horizon. Another crucial week for the Toronto Senators on the horizon. Another crucial week for the Toronto Maple Leafs as well. Eyes focused squarely in criticism, sharp and swift and focused squarely on the new players.

Bertuzzi, Klingberg, Domi, Reeves hasn't really worked out anywhere here, Elliot. And it seems as if Austin Matthews isn't scoring hat-tricks, Maple Leafs have a hard time, A, scoring goals, and B, winning. Case in point, Saturday against the Buffalo Sabres. Where is Toronto on your meteorological scale?

Well, it's high because there's a lot of things that are concerning. First of all, the lack of response against Boston and then the way you know you heard you heard biz on Saturday night and you know biz play that played that role he played the role of I'm going to stand up for my teammates he was an emotional guy and he says when you play like that after you lose the way you lost in Boston that's a bad sign to him like there's a few things here number one it's a bad sign that all the new players are really having trouble fitting in and is it the way that Toronto plays like I was thinking about our interview with Jake Allen when he talked about how unique Toronto is offensively is it simply a matter that there's these four new guys in Toronto that they can't mix into the way Toronto plays like like don't you think it's weird

that it's all the new guys who are struggling the most that's a long pause, Merrick. Yeah, I'm just trying to think of, is it weird? Because I don't know, like these, a lot of these signings were kind of panned at the time that they were made. Oh, I don't know. I disagree with that. People like the Bertuzzi.

They love the one year on Bertuzzi. They like Bertuzzi based on what they saw in the playoffs. But I mean, everyone saw John Klingberg with Anaheim everybody saw John Klingberg with Minnesota I think people still had visions of you know Brian in Dallas um I thought Tommy had a really good year last year in Chicago and Dallas but I I don't know you know people praise the one-year deals. That's what people liked. Now, so I'm shocked at how hard these guys are having to translate to Toronto. I just don't know what is so unique about the way the Maple Leafs play that veteran players

like Tyler Bertuzzi and max domi and john klingberg have such a hard time fitting in i don't i don't have a great answer for you i'm just like i'm just trying but remember what alan said like they're unique in the offensive zone the way they create motion i went back and i listened to him talk about it when he we did an interview with them last year i Look, I'm sitting here. I'm searching for reasons as much as anyone else. Look, I see some of the obvious problems. I think they've been looking for defensemen.

I ran into somebody today. Where was I? I was at the gym. I know this story is almost hard to believe already, me talking about going to the gym. What's his name, Jim? And a guy says to me while i'm bench pressing 360 pounds a guy says to me a guy says to me are the maple is going to sort this

out and i said i think they're looking for d and this guy's like 70 years old he's like they've been looking for d my whole life i just started laughing looking Looking for defense since Alan Stanley was taking draws for Punch Imlach. So, but, like, look, I think they are looking for defensemen. It's just a matter of, like, and I think they've been looking for defensemen again. After they traded for guys last year, I think they've been looking for defensemen all summer. They just don't, haven't found the mix. You know the one I can see is Zdorov. And I'll bet you this.

If they could find a way to get Zdorov and Tanev, I bet you they would do it. I bet you they'd do both of them if Calgary was willing to do that. I really believe it. Brad, for a living living knows them well obviously and there's the now i'm not saying it's gonna happen but if you showed me a path where that could occur i i could see it but look i i i think they're looking for d um but i am amazed at how out of sorts they look and and then there was the team meeting on friday morning now you know i i want to make

one thing pretty clear like you know you know what's interesting about them is if you look back at them over the last few years you know nick felino fought cory perry after tavaris was hurt in the playoffs and i remember that's the one that's the one fight I remember all of us watching together in the green room and saying, oh, we don't want to see this because it was clear it was an accident. Jason Spezza got the only suspension of his career when he went bananas against Winnipeg a couple years ago for what happened. So there have been cases where they've done this.

But generally, it is not part of, I'm sure I can imagine Spetsa must've been going bonkers over the last day. As people said, the Maple Leafs never fight back. He's like, I got suspended for this. Um, but it like Nick was right on the broadcast last Thursday. It's just not in their DNA.

And they had a team meeting and the players spoke, Keith spoke, Bradtree Living, the GM I understand spoke. And what they talked about was it's instinctive for championship teams. And I heard one of the things that was said in there, nobody will confirm it, but I heard one of the things that was said was other teams know that they can push us around. And Jeff, that is one thing I agree with. In the NHL,L those teams they do not win you don't have to be seeking it out it's not the 1970s where you're sending Bob Kelly Dave Schultz Don Selesky and Ross Lonsbury over the boards but you know there was a video we showed on Saturday night of Robert Bortuzzo running into Vasilevsky.

And before he's in the corner, the whole team has their gloves down. They're all over him. All of them. That was a great highlight you guys showed last night. That was really good. And you know what? But hang on. The thing that really drives that point home is,

do you see the Tampa players that that are going after bertuzzo it's like kucherov right this isn't just like oh yeah like some of the you know bigger you know tougher defensemen and pat maroon no like this is like that was from a couple of years ago. And that was skilled players, like Hart Trophy candidates, that are out there going at Robert Bertuzzo. Absolutely. And I think that's normal for them. It's not unusual for their skilled players,

if they're on the ice, to do it. That's one thing. At the beginning of the year, there was a game where Bertuzzi poked at the one goalie. I think it was Gustafsson. And Matthews and Marner were right in the middle of the year, there was a game where Bertuzzi poked at the one goalie. I think it was Gustafson. And Matthews and Marner were right in the middle of it. They went there and they defended their teammate when the scrum started. But it's just...

The whole team just seems off. The thing is, though, and I keep coming back to this one. That's not how any of the top guys with the Maple Leafs play. They're not hardwired that way. Matthews isn't wired that way. Marner's not wired that way. But he did in that one case. Nylander's not wired that way.

Tavares isn't wired that way. You know, cows don't make ham. That's not their game. That's not their default setting. For those guys on Tampa, it is for those guys on vegas it is colorado colorado it is keep going like they're they're wired that way like to me i just wonder if this is all connected so then here we go coming back talking about composition and if the maple leaves keep trending this way and who knows we'll see it's the start of the season is there a shake

up coming the thing about the maple leaves is they have the opportunity this off season to redo their team and it's early like we're it It's November the 6th when this podcast drops. So that's still a long way away. But if this doesn't change, I wonder if that Toronto team is going to look very different next year. And there will be people who listen to this podcast who say, I have said this before. And it's true.

I said it two years ago. But now this is a time where the contracts all start to align, right? You've got one more year of Tavares. You've got one more year of Marner. And Nylander's at his end. And all credit to Nylander. Even though I didn't like him and Klingberg on the empty net goal, I think he's played really well so far this year. You know, Jeff, the other thing I wonder about what the Maple Leafs is, I wonder if they do a roster shock. Like a scratching, like Jeff Carter Saturday for the Pittsburgh Penguins? Even more than that.

A trade? I wonder if, no, I wonder if they bring up some of the kids from the American Hockey League. Nick Robertson looking your direction. Bobby McMahon too. if no i wonder if they bring up some of the kids from the american hockey league nick robertson looking your direction page bobby mcmahon too bobby those are the two guys nick robertson is scoring and someone sent me video of so toronto played in laval on saturday night and something happened and bobby mcmahon just went after people. There was a bit of a hit from behind.

It's tough to tell because the video I sent was really grainy. Yeah, Logan Shaw got hit. And he gets right in there. And I'm sure all those AHL guys for the Marlies knew what happened. There's this thing called the internet right now. You know what happened on your NHL team. And I'm sure Bobby McMahon is like, Hey,

I better show these guys that I'm standing up for people. Cause that's what he did. So those are the names. I, I kind of wonder about a bit. That's another shakeup Toronto could do. Okay. Um,

let's take our first pause there. We still have a lot to get to and a lot to chew on. We will get to the San Jose Sharks here in a couple of moments. They are having an historically bad start to the season. We'll get into all of that. We should park some time and talk about Sidney Crosby, game number 1,200, against the aforementioned San Jose Sharks, where Pittsburgh put up a 10 spot.

San Jose gave up a 10 spot, two games in a row. All that plus the Montana. 10 spots, a place where you get your nails done. Thanks to Steph, I know about that. All that plus the Montana stat line and more to around the NHL in moments. We'll be back in a second. back in two games. Elliot, I'm new to hockey.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm just sort of dipping my beak in the hockey fountain here. Not sure if I like it or not yet. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I'm new to this. Considering it's only happened four times and this was the first time in 60 years, it's a bad thing.

Go back to 65 ruins. Okay, and you know what I got to say about San Jose? The number one person I think of right here is the owner. Hasso Platner. Yes, and because this is all in his hands. To me, there is one question. When I look at the Sharks this year, I say, what does the owner think of this that is the first thing that jumps into my head and the reason is number one

platner you know a few a few weeks ago we talked about the mcconnells with columbus they leave you alone they let you do your job and if you were to rank owners 1 to 32 would you want to work for them the mcconnells would be very high platner same deal he leaves you alone you do your job okay and look like they had doug wilson was there forever they had ups they had downs they had mostly ups but generally you know you generally, you had other teams say, geez, I wish I had the owner in San Jose the way he does his job, the way he lets his guys do their job. So that to me is question number one because I think this.

He was willing to do a retool. I don't know that he was willing to do a retool. I don't know that he was willing to do this. Now, I think what he's being told is, look, this hurts, this is painful, but if we get through this year, we get a high pick, we can start to turn the corner. I think he's been told and he's being prepared right now that as much as this hurts, if we do it right, we can come out of this. So you've got to be able to convince them. But number two, the tough thing is you see the crowds and you know the i'll say this if you're the san

jose sharks organization right now you have to be making it so that you are giving the fans that are going to those games the greatest experience of their lifetime like you you got everybody here will watch his hockey, probably saw that picture the other night before the Vancouver game or during the Vancouver game with the fan holding up the sign saying, I'm at my first sharks game ever. And that poor kid became a meme all across the internet. But what you, when you're in this situation, it's like a trick or treater comes to your door on Halloween, and you're like, would you like the whole bucket?

I'll give you the whole bucket. You have to sell your fans. When you're losing like this 10 games into the season, how are you convincing your fans to come back into the building for the rest of the year? And that's the thing that freaks out owners. He's looking at this and saying you know how are we going to keep customers so you you have to make sure you're giving them aside from winning games the greatest experience they ever could have to come into an arena but you know i know the

reporters the other day asked dave quinn like do you worry about your your job like like this isn't Dave Quinn's fault now I bet you he wants them playing a lot harder and I guarantee to you that nobody not the players not the coaches not anybody is enjoying losing back-to-back games by a 20 to three count but this is not on the coach like this is not a coaching change is not going to make anything better like jeff i i really don't know what to say aside from i hope the owner is on board with this because if he isn't then you've got a real problem there. I don't know. Maybe show BU highlights in the intermission. Start pumping up Macklin Celebrini. You've got to make sure you win that lottery, though.

Junior Sharks stand out. Let's bring them home. I know. There's that little thing about actually winning the lottery as well, which complicates everything. I mean, obviously, if you could sell that, if about actually winning the lottery as well, which complicates all of it. I mean, obviously, if you could sell that, if you could say this is our guy, and obviously, as you mentioned, he's a junior shark,

so they all know it. And on some level, you can't help but look at that and say, you can't help but look at that and say, maybe that was part of the plan that was sold to the owner. Like, this is a kid our fans know, and we've got to give our best shot at getting him here. But going from here to there, and sometimes banking on that fickle mistress

that is the NHL draft lottery, you have to make sure you get it right. Here's one of the reasons why, and there's a number of reasons why. I don't believe that the plan was the scorched earth, take it right down to the nuts and bolts type of rebuild. I'm still curious what Tomas Hertel was told about what the plan was in San Jose

before he signed that whopper of an extension nobody thought it was going to be like this nobody did nobody thought it was no one like this because i remember when people were interviewing for that job in san jose they were saying that we're we're not we're gonna retool like i was asking guys is is this a teardown and they were like no i read a book uh about the nba called built to lose which was about all those teams that tanked and people who support tanking they're like you have to do this you have to do this. But the one thing you forget is the toll it takes on the players, the coaches, the staff, the owner who's looking at empty buildings. And there's like, you sell hope, right? Like if we do this right, we get this, this, this, and this, all these prospects,

and we're going to be better. Well, what happens if you get it wrong? Or what happens if you scorch your earth so badly that when you start to get better, fans are like, eh, I'm kind of tuned out. Like, you're really going to have to get better before I'm coming back into that building. You know, there's been some teams that have tried it and it's lasted a lot longer than they thought.

And in hockey, hockey also is the toughest place to go scorched earth because, you know, even a celebration as great as he is like the best team in the NHL is a four line, three pair team. The Golden Knights de Vegas. Like it's, it's a hard road from here to there. So when I look at it, I say, is the owner okay? And number two, the Sharks have to stop at nothing in groveling to their fans this year.

What do we have to do to get you into the building and make you happy? You know, I remember Berkey telling me once, you're always trying to sell winning. Well, every year there's one team that wins and there's 16 teams that have losing records. So what are you selling when you're one of those teams? You know, once upon a time, and you can't do this anymore for a number of different reasons.

One of those things you did during your down period was fill your team with tough players. It may not be a winning environment, but there's going to be fireworks that's what we're selling but you can't do that anymore and a lot of those players don't exist anymore so let me swing into one other thing here um san jose loses and again like they surrender a 10 spot again it's the pittsburgh penguins and it's sydneyrosby. And that was game number 1,200 for Sidney Crosby. And there are, I tweeted this out on Saturday night, 18 players that have averaged a point per game

while they're playing in games 1,200. Crosby is fourth amongst them going into Saturday night. Gretzky's number one, averaging 2.12 points per game. Marcel Dion at 1.37. Filespazito at 1.27. Sidney Crosby, 1.26. Steve Iserman, 1.25. All at the 1,200 game mark.

That to me is an incredible stat that talks about how consistently great Crosby's been his entire career. I think it was, you or someone else on the panel doing the highlights refer to him as Sidney Crosby of Hockey's Mount Rushmore. I think that's true. And like, look at the names he's in with.

Gretzky, Dion, Esposito, Iserman. And he, look at that. Look at the names he's in with Gretzky, Dion Esposito, Iserman. And he's four to the 1200 game mark. If you think about the, the, the five guys, when people rank hockey players all time, there's generally five guys they put there.

Gretzky, Lemieux, or how Richard, where's Crosby? Crosby's right in there. Where? or Hal Richard? Where's Crosby? Crosby's right in there. Where? I think that both Crosby and Ovechkin. Look, if you had to put him into the top five,

where is he going? Well, my top five would be different than those, though. No surprise to you. Who's your top five? Of course. No surprise to you. Who's your top five? I would have Gretzky, Lemieux, Lidstrom.

Lidstrom over Orr? Yes, Lidstrom over Orr. You are on crack. Okay, you want me to go over the... Yes. No, no. Bobby Orr dominated at a time when the nhl was at its weakest not saying he wasn't a great defenseman i'll just take lidstrom over him i can't believe i have a lidstrom sweatshirt upstairs in my closet that i proudly wear i cannot believe you're forcing me to take this position but you're that's insane i i'm sorry that is just insane 99 66 lidstrom crosby ovechkin i think that jean beliveau needs to be a lot higher

in a lot of these too um but those would be my five right now and if you want to throw a goaltender to that mix i'll throw dominic hash yeah i i don't i don't mind hashick at all but but you hate ludstrom eh wow yes i know the idea okay i really hate him and all swedish people um but no crosby's crosby absolutely has to be see i'm in a wonder i'm in a wonder if crosby's fourth so you go gretzky lemieux or or Orr, Crosby, and then who's your fifth? I don't know yet. I have to go over all this. Rocket or Ovechkin. What about Gordie Howe?

I think Gordie's getting punted here, bud. Well, the reason I'm thinking four is because I said Mount Rushmore the other day, and the last I checked, Mount Rushmore only had four heads on it, not five. You can take five. Make up your own Mount Rushmore. It's hockey Mount Rushmore, not the real Mount Rushmore only had four heads on it, not five. You can take five. Make up your own Mount Rushmore. It's hockey Mount Rushmore, not the real Mount Rushmore. My Mount Rushmore is larger than the real Mount Rushmore. No, that's chicken.

That's chicken. If you're going to say Mount Rushmore, it's four. I think Crosby's fourth. Over Ovechkin? Yeah. You have to. All the winning, he's done. Okay.

You know what, Jeff? He's done. Okay. You know what, Jeff? The other thing you can sell if you're Sharks management or try to sell is look at Anaheim here. A year ago, it was really tough for the Ducks, and now here they are on Sunday night giving the Vegas Golden Knights their first regulation loss.

Now, what do the Ducks have? They have Mason McTavish. They have Adam Henrique. They have Leo Carlson. They have Trevor Zegres. Troy Terry, Frank Petrano. They've got Carlson. They have Trevor Zegres. Troy Terry, Frank Vetrano. They've got Troy Terry. They've got Frank Vetrano leading the NHL in goals this week.

You know, you have to find players. You absolutely have to find players. But you can say to your fans, that's our goal. Now, and think about that and on some level you're i know what you're going to say and you're right i guarantee there's going to be people on this podcast they're going to say exactly what you're about to tell me but at this point in time jeff you have to sell hope and the and that's a great drive down the coast of cal. It's scenic. You can sell that too. Here's the thing too, though.

You walk a very delicate line here. Selling hope is one thing, and rushing players to the NHL is another. Anaheim has this stockpile of prospects. That pipeline from kids getting into the system and going to san diego and getting to the anaheim ducks team like that is a well-oiled machine right now like that looks fantastic i mean every time every time you watch an anaheim ducks game elliott

there's like another first or second round defenseman who's starring on this team and there's even more coming oh yeah and ditto for forwards as well. They're in a really unique position here where they can continue to populate their team with elite-level prospects. And that's been accrued for a number of years. They've done a great job drafting and developing. But San Jose hasn't been that team. They don't have that wealth of prospect pool

like Anaheim does. Anaheim's in a really, really special position. And listen, they've kept Lucas Dostal down in San Diego for what seems to be the appropriate amount of time. And he's the NHL Rookie of the Month in October. And he's pushing John Gibson. And, and, and, and, and. It's like at every single position.

They've got players. They can plug in like to the point about selling hope. I mean, I know that they're on this, this win streak right now, and that's awesome for the Anaheim ducks, but they're still in the, we're selling hope and we're selling the future here. San Jose is still not there yet. They don't have those guys. They don't have those guys like Anaheim does. Jeff, I'm just trying to find, you know me, I'm an optimistic guy.

I'm trying to find ways that they can make this work. I just, I don't think it's good for business when one of your teams is going through this. So I always try to think of if i was in charge how would i get out of it i remember the california seals paid streakers it depends on who we're talking about here if it's kevin biaxa no i don't want that if it's you no oh i don't want that. All right. Just trying to make ends meet, Elliot. Just trying to make ends meet.

And then, speaking of Anaheim, Jeff, they ruined the Vegas segment of tonight's pod. Oh, I know, right? Well, how about Vegas coming off that glorious whipping of the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday night? Seven bagels, statement game, big dog, woof, woof woof woof and then here come the ducks it's clear that vegas's problem is they're overconfident like like vegas needs another team to have great games with and yet another rivalry like they have

this like heated one with san jose we've talked about vegas minnesota games we know that vegas and colorado make fantastic games. How many more teams can have just great games against the Vegas Golden Knights? How many rivals can one team have? Well, that's when you know that you're great when everybody's playing their best against you, right? Completely true.

That's when you know you're great. Look, Vegas, first of all, I give credit to one Avalanche fan. I don't remember their name. They tweeted at me several times. They disagreed with my tweet about how Vegas was absolutely dominant. And he tweeted at me and he fought with a bunch of other fans too. It was pretty funny.

I give them credit because this is a true hockey fan who loves the avalanche. And I admire your passion. And I admire your willingness to stick in there in a tough battle. But I'm going to say this, when your team loses seven to nothing, don't send me the deserve to win a meter at 63%. When you lose seven to nothing, you deserve to win a meter at 63 when you lose seven to nothing you deserve to lose like it's it's that simple and i guarantee to you that jared bednar is going to make sure like that form seven to nothing is around the avalanche room for the next month like he's going to take their name plates off their stalls and he's going to put seven and nothing above all their names but you know vegas they got bit by the ducks you watch the reaction when the when carrick scores the empty netter to make it four to two for anaheim on sunday night like the coaches are going crazy the bench is going

crazy like the fan the fans are up like if you're anaheim you you need this you talk about giving your fans reason to come into the building. Anaheim, you know, you made the joke that Verbeek is going to start trading people because they're winning too many games. But you're giving your fans reason to come back into your building. And sometimes you can do it with wins

and sometimes you can't win. But the Ducks went through this last year. Now they're giving fans reason to come back with the building the way with winning games but i just think even though vegas slipped up on sunday night like i think if you were ranking the teams 1 to 32 now they'd be they'd be one vegas and i think there's there's a bit of a drop to number two even with this this loss I mean you're gonna have to lose eventually you know Vegas has sent a message to the league that one year later the Stanley Cup still goes through Nevada okay let's get to the uh the

thought line now that we've given the bouquet of flowers to the Vegas Golden Knights. It is time for the Montana's Thought Line, Montana's Barbecue and Bar, Canada's home for barbecue and the greatest tagline in any podcast. Go try the ribs. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca is the email, the phone number, 1-833-311-3232. A quick one to kick it off. Ace, if that is indeed your real name ace from saskatchewan how much does the nhl spend on pucks so this was a really interesting question uh i i know this

person uh ace and he sent it to me and uh it's like like nepotism and who you know works on the thought line too apparently is what i said to him and bribribes too. And bribes of wings. Do you think you can bribe us to get on this podcast? You're exactly right. So I asked someone and I said, I thought this was an interesting question. And this is what they proposed to me. Like 16 to 24 pucks a night. So I took 20.

How many games are there in a year between exhibition, regular season and playoffs. I came up with 1,450, give or take. Like people can tell me I might be a little bit off, but this is pretty close. And apparently a puck with the tracking costs about $47. So I came up with just under 1.4 million.

I came up with 1.36 million. Yeah, I'm surprised that I'm netting all around the rink of 47 bucks a puck. I came up with just under 1.4 million. I came up with 1.36 million. Yeah. I'm surprised that I'm netting all around the rank of 47 bucks a puck. Actually, I have to tell you, that was one of the things when they were talking about tracking in the puck, that was one of the things they talked about.

They said, we have to get it down inexpensive enough where we're not chasing people for pucks because keeping a puck that shot into the crowd is part of the game for people they and you know what the with with the fox puck those were those were expensive pucks and they used to go and they would have to offer like fans like home team jerseys or tickets in order to get the pucks back it's a great story how they used to have to hound people like and and bribe them to give the pucks back. It's a great story, how they used to have to hound people and bribe them to give the pucks back.

And they said this time around, they didn't want to do that again. People have to be able to keep pucks that are shot into the crowd. Yep. So there's your number. It's about, rough estimate, 1.4 million. Okay.

Mike in Peterborough. Hi, Jeff and Elliot and Dom. Dom getting some love. Love the show. First time emailing or calling. I listened to the most recent episode where you discussed the idea of mandatory neck and cut protection for NHL players. I played hockey my entire life. And when I was a kid, they introduced a mandatory CSA approved neck protection. The thing I've never understood is where are the insurance providers in all of this? Seems like if I decided I was going to disable my vehicle's airbags or get rid of other safety features, my insurance company would have something to say about it, not to mention the government. Anyways, that's my question for you today. Do the insurers not have something to say here? Surely they must be pushing hard to lessen the chance of them having to pay out huge sums of money when someone's career is cut short by a preventable injury. My deepest condolences to Adam Johnson and all who knew him.

Mike in Peterborough. I think that's a great question. I don't have, look, look, insurance companies, like when you deal with them in real life, you know how much power they have. We used to live in a house that there was a lot of flooding. It was just one of those areas where the sewer systems were older. They couldn't handle it. The grounds didn't drain very well. And eventually, one of the things that happened that eventually forced the city

into redoing the sewer system around us was that the insurance companies told the houses in our neighborhood that if if we kept on having to have like basements fixed and stuff like that they would stop insuring us so we had to go to the city and say you can't put us in this position now eventually we moved because it was too much of a pain in the ass, but they eventually did do it. So, yes, they have enormous power. Like, for example, there are contracts in the NHL that aren't insured for certain injuries because of the injuries that players have suffered in the past.

So I do think that's a thing. I just don't know in the immediate aftermath of this if that has become a thing i just don't know in the immediate aftermath of this if that has become a thing yet like it looks like the players are simply going to start doing this themselves slowly one by one two by two uh as we're seeing each and every night around the nhl um from peterborough mike thank you this from eric uh hey jeff elliott and dom one of the games i was watching over the weekend had a Mike, thank you. This from Eric. Hey, Jeff, Elliot, and Dom. One of the games I was watching over the weekend had a situation where the team on the power play... Oh, you'll like this, Elliot.

Where the team on the power play had potentially gone offside and the refs let the game play on. The play stayed inside the offensive zone for approximately another minute, and while the play continued, the broadcast crew kept referencing that all of this could be for naught if they score and it's deemed the play was offside this got me to thinking if the play was offside and the team scored does that mean that the team

on the power play is going to get a redo of all that power play time. Ultimately, that would mean the team on the penalty kill needs to defend almost two power plays in one. That's got to be not great. Anyway, great job, old Dom, Elliot, and Jeff. I've asked about this before. I've asked if they... It was, the clock resets. Correct, which means that you could end up having to kill

two minutes and 30 seconds of a power play or three minutes of a power play. It resets. I've asked if there was ever a consideration of a carve out. And you know what I was told? No. Too bad. Two minutes and 30, three minutes, whatever. Your job is to kill it off yes and and i actually agree

with that i remember at the beginning when they started talking about the offside challenge they said look if a team doesn't clear it out they were saying should there be an amount of time where let's just say if the puck gets in it's offside but you don't get it out for 30 seconds at some point they said isn't it on you for not being able to get the puck out and i think right at the top of the league like batman daily it was it was no like once it's tainted it's tainted and that's it and they've always taken that line so i'm not surprised at all you were told that, and that's exactly what would happen. The actual quote was, yeah, too bad. Will in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Jeff, Elliot, and fearless leader Dom. This is getting out of hand. There are six active players left who don't wear visors. Beginning in 2013-14 under Rule 9.7, quote, all players who have fewer than 25 games of NHL experience must wear a visor properly affixed to their helmets. Does this rule mean that a player that played 25 games before 13.14,

let's say tinted visor wearing Beauty David Perron, could take his visor off and play visorless? Yes. Or is he stuck wearing it for the rest of his career? No. The answer is yes, he could take it off. Yeah, he stuck wearing it for the rest of his career no the answer is yes he could take it off yeah he could take it off if he wanted to so if he outplayed let's say let's say it came down to like david perron and ryan o'reilly and perron was still wearing the visor and o'reilly thought oh i'm the last guy to go visorless i'm the craig mctavish advisors and he retired and then david perron

played one more game and decided to go visorless would you count him as the craig mctavish advisors or is he just getting off on a technicality i could see david perron doing that because he's he's enough of that kind of guy who would say i I could get away with this. I'm going to do it. I love it. Okay, two that I have quick answers for here. Spencer and Regina, I got a question. I'm not going to read the whole thing. Spencer Regina is asking about Alex Ovechkin switching to Bauer sticks.

He was a CCM guy. He's been using Bauer this year Spencer but he hasn't formally switched to Bauer he's not a Bauer stick guy he's just trying different sticks out Warrior sent him samples as well so he does not have a

stick deal yet with any manufacturer don't be surprised if you see him shooting with Warrior sticks in the near future and this one you'll like this one Elliot I think with any manufacturer. Don't be surprised if you see him shooting with warrior sticks in the near future. And this one, you'll like this one, Elliot, I think. Holly submits this. Good evening.

My husband and I enjoy your podcast, and tonight we thought of a question that might be right up your alley. In the Toronto-Los Angeles Kings game today, the end of the first period had a five-plus-minute run of play to close out the period. What's the record for the longest uninterrupted run of play to close out the period what's the record for the longest uninterrupted run of play in an nhl game keep up the great work let's go ducks you know this i had to check god bless the felon and sports net stats play by play stats only go

back to 2009 2010 that's the only time that it's been tracked. There's been legendary games where, oh, we had a run of 20 minutes where we didn't have a whistle. But I mean, no one's documented all of this. So as documented by the NHL, the longest whistle-free run of play was March 11th, 2014, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Elliot, it went 13

minutes and 45 seconds. What? 13 minutes. How come I don't remember this? In 45 seconds, March 11th, 2014, Caps and Penguins, 1345, a beautiful whistle-free play. That could be three commercial breaks. Yeah, I was going to say, what's everybody doing in the control room

or in the truck at that point? Well, the worst thing about situations like that is then it becomes whistle, break, whistle, break, whistle, break. You sit there and you say, this is wonderful, but then when they have to make up for it, it's decidedly less wonderful at a certain point in the saloon they turn the lights on and the bills

arrive and that's what happens after the 13 minute whistle free shift in the nhl uh still plenty to get to here on the 32 thoughts podcast that was the montana's thought line montana's barbecue and bar canada's home for Barbecue. Back in a moment. Okay, Elliot, we'll finish the podcast today by talking about the issue that you led Saturday Headlines with, and that is Jack Hughes. And you mentioned that it is not the worst-case scenario for Jack Hughes. What do you hear? What do you know? And by the way, they win Sunday against the Chicago Blackhawks,

a game in which, and this is a weird one, Dawson Mercer gets his first point of the season. He'd struggled those first nine or 10 games, but no Jack Hughes in this one, no Nico Heischer in this one. New Jersey still wins, double up the Chicago Blackhawks. I have to tell you, i got great texts on saturday night from people saying that your tweet on the jack hughes injury was the biggest word salad we've ever heard or ever read and i said come on give me a break i'm just saying it wasn't as bad

as they thought it could be and he was still going to miss time and they were tweeting me or texting me back with word salad like I had one guy who texted me word salad like 24 times I think the thing is the sense I really get is it's one of those injuries and I think it's the shoulder I don't know that for sure but I think it is like if you've ever injured your shoulder before and i have i've had a broken collarbone everybody responds differently right so that's the issue it just it's how things progress but the one thing that i did hear was that it wasn't as bad as they thought i think they were really worried when he initially got hurt that this is a thing that was going to be months. And I don't believe they feel that's the case anymore. So that's why they're fortunate. They avoided the worst case scenario, thankfully,

because it's just not good for anybody. But he is going to miss a little bit of time and we'll just see how his body responds. It's, it's a shame. It, it's just not good for anybody. You could have said that quicker, but no word, word salad. Yes.

A couple of quick notes here to wrap up the pod. Uh, Patrick Kane, you talked about Saturday narrowing down the teams, inching closer to a decision. Yes. I think, I don't necessarily think the final decision is going to be this week,

but I do think that he's going to start taking some meetings or Zoom calls. And I think his goal is to narrow it down to a small handful over the next few days. Carolina looking to move a defender out? Yeah, they got too many. Pesci's coming back. I think D'Angelo's name is out there. I heard it might not be him. I heard it could potentially be somebody else,

but I have heard D'Angelo's name is out there. Do you have a thought on Johnny Gaudreau, benched the final 16 minutes and 7 seconds in the 2-1 loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals, who don't look now, but have won four of their last five games for each. Yeah, you know, I have to tell you, Jeff,

this was what Columbus wanted this year. That's why initially Babcock was their coach, and when they had to move on from him, they said to Pascal Vincent, this is what we want. They felt they had to move on from him they said to pascal vincent this is what we want they felt they had a country club and um you know they they've benched kent johnson a couple of times they sent him down to the american hockey league um they've benched other players uh during games

uh and now gudro the other night this is what the Ducks, this is what the Blue Jackets want. Like, Vincent is not doing this in a vacuum. He is doing this with the express, what's the word I'm looking for? Written consent? I like that. With the express written consent of the Blue Jackets management. This is what they want. If you don't think somebody's playing,

you sit them out. They don't get in the lineup. By the way, about Columbus, they have Eric Robinson in the American Hockey League. I've heard that teams like Robinson, and there's interest in him. The problem is the number. He's at 1-7.

It's hard for teams to fit him in. But I think if there's a way to do it that's a guy i could see getting moved at some point because teams like the player they just can't fit the number anyway like that won't be the last one in columbus this year that's what they want and and you know like if you're going gonna do that as a coach you have to have the backing of your organization and vincent does we'll see how the blue jackets respond as they face off against the florida panthers on monday one of four on the board to kick off the week elliot um take your pick there's some beauties on monday the tampa bay Lightning facing off against the very, how shall we say, emotionally bruised Toronto Maple Leafs.

Is that correct? The Boston Bruins, who have now been handed a regulation loss courtesy of the Detroit Red Wings, they'll face off against the Dallas Stars. That should be an excellent game, but the Vancouver Canucks are hot, hot, hot. Everything is sunshine in BC right now with a record of 8-2-1.

You mentioned it earlier in the podcast. I'm so looking forward to Vancouver and Edmonton on Monday night. There are some beauty games to kick off the week, Rage. I'm with you, and I will be watching all of them on multiple screens until my eyes glaze over and I can no longer see. Watch hockey until your eyes ring no sail

and you just drift off to sleep. And that will wrap up. Podcasts returning later on this week as well. Thanks again for joining us here on this Monday. Enjoy your week of NHL action that's on the horizon. Have a great week.