32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Who’s Out, Who’s In: The Full Breakdown

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman break down all 16 teams that have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs and what lays ahead for all of them: New Jersey (1:00) Toronto (11:00) Nashville (24:00) Vancouver (29:00) Chicago (35:00) Calgary (41:30) Rangers (45:30) Seattle (49:30) Winnipeg (56:00) Florida (1:01:00) San Jose (1:05:00) St Louis (1:12:00) Islanders (1:16:00) Columbus (1:21:00) Detroit (1:27:00) Washingtion (1:34:00) Kyle and Elliotte answer listener questions in the Thoughtline (1:49:34) In the final segment Kyle and Elliotte preview all eight matchups in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Senators Hurricanes (2:05:00) Wild Stars (2:10:00) Flyers Penguins (2:13:00) Kings Avalanche (2:17:30) Habs Lightning (2:20:00) Bruins Sabres (2:24:00) Mammoth Golden Knights (2:26:30) Oilers Ducks (2:30:00) This week we highlight lo-fi alternative indie rocker John Shambles and his track Back On The Gas. Check his music out here. Listen to all the 32 Thoughts music here. Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail. This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

Did we find at least one thing you and Robert F. Kennedy have in common this week? How many people sent me that story? I had at least 100 people who sent me that. We're not going to, if you want to go search it, go do it yourself. Yes. Because I'm not sure what the Rogers editorial standards are for this kind of conversation. But I had about 100 people send me that story. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast, presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers, the 100% ElectricBZ, available now during Red Tag days.

Dom, Elliot, and Kyle back with you, and we have reached the end. The regular season is over. Finally, we have got all eight first-round matchups set in stone. We are still waiting for a few in the West, but that is all settled now, Elliot. We will preview those first-round series in a little bit. but first we have got to get to the news. We'll also make a way through the 16 teams that are not postseason bound in 2026. But Fridge, we begin in New Jersey.

News Thursday night. Sunny Mehta has been hired as the general manager, someone who has worked in the organization in the past, a name that had been out there more frequently the last number of weeks with openings in New Jersey, in Toronto, the popularity, and the success, of course, that he had along with the Panthers the last number of years. So it was no secret that the devils were interested in this man, Elliot. How did this one get over the finish line?

Earlier this week, Matt Marquesi asked me on his show with Mike Futa, which of these openings I thought was going to go down first. And I really felt it was New Jersey. I just didn't know that it would be this quickly. But I had a feeling it was going to be them first, because one of the things that was kind of making its way around the NHL was that Tom Fitzgerald had asked the devils for clarity on his future because if they were going to let him go,

I think he wanted the opportunity to interview in Nashville where he was the first captain, at least for that job. And I don't believe that the devils were going to do that. I think it was their goal to have the season, finish and then make any decision that they were going to make. Instead, what happened was a couple Saturdays ago, we mentioned on Hockey Night on the headline segment that Toronto had interest in Sunny META, and they definitely did. And two days later, they announced that Tom Fitzgerald wouldn't be returning and that they had an open search. I don't think those two things

are a coincidence. Meta was going to be a candidate in Toronto. The Maple Leafs were interested, and the devils wanted to have him back. And, you know, I think what happened there is that the devils were looking at META. They were looking at John Chica, and New Jersey didn't want to miss. They really liked the idea of the local guy who I think, I think that was his first choice. I think New Jersey was Mada's first choice. choice and the devils looked up and they said, we've got this guy who knows us. We've got this guy who we want. We're not taking any chances here and we're getting this done. Like I'd mentioned,

I thought they might have interest in Jamie Langanburner. I don't even know if they interviewed them. And I think a lot of us thought they would have interest in Brendan Shanahan. I don't even know if that went anywhere either. And, you know, they have a guy there who kind of leads the sports operations of their organization, Bob Myers, who's the former general manager of the Golden State Warriors. He was the GM when they won all those championships and lost the Toronto Raptors, we should mention Raptors 2019 NBA champions. But he was a very successful executive there. And I did have some people who wondered if the devils would go down the Shanahan route because they already have Myers and kind of like that overseeing role. They weren't sure if that was

a fit anyway, we'll never know, because the moment I think they realized that Toronto had interest in META and had asked for permission to speak to META and received it, they just weren't going to let that happen. They just, they were just going to stop and say, nope, we're getting this done. This is our guy and we're getting this done. And I think he was the kind of candidate they were looking at, and I'll tell you something else, too. One thing about the devils, apparently they pay very well. So I'm sure that they did that here too and got things done. So, and as you report he kind of after this news came out, Elliot, it sounds like now, and it makes sense, he's going to take some time to assess some things, get his lay and land the organization before making a decision

is Sheldon Keefe still part of the plans or other things like that going forward for the devils? Well, that was the initial reaction. Like, they're not going to have his introductory media conference until Tuesday. I was wondering why it wasn't Monday, and somebody sent me a note that there might be a Springsteen concert there on Monday, so it's not a great time to actually do it. I would wait a day. I would hope that at very least for waiting an extra day, he would get good seats to that concert. I would say, no problem, but I'll take a couple of floors as the consolation prize. So I think that, I think also it just makes sense.

You get there, you explain what you're looking at yourself. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be in any rush to do anything, at least until he's introduced. Like I was told nothing imminent. And there's a lot of staff there that don't have contracts too. So, and, you know, I don't know that that means that he's going to be clearing everybody out. It's always uncertainty when there's change. but I heard he was not in a rush to do anything, and I don't believe there's any immediate announcements

about people that might be coming with them. So I think that's the smart thing to do. Go in there, talk to people, figure out, at least meet them face to face, hear what they have to say. You know, Sonny Meta has a reputation as being a pretty deep thinker. I think it's really easy thinking to walk in there and saying, like Jeremy Piven and entourage, right? like with the paint gun, get out.

Like, you know, it's sometimes it makes sense just to go in and listen. But, you know, we'll see. It's an interesting job there because, you know, New Jersey has a lot of talent, a lot of talent. You know, you look back, they kind of had a funny season, Kyle. They had a lot of injuries at the start of the year and they were still, I think, 13, 4 and 1. Like, they got off to a great start, even though they were really battered. and their season fell apart when Jack Hughes got hurt at that dinner in Chicago. When they couldn't, when he was out, they really struggled.

And, you know, the whole Quinn Hughes thing, I think it was a really difficult time for that team. You know, I just think, you know, I think there were a lot of reasons to be excited about the idea of three Hughes's on the same team. I'm not sure everybody in there shared it. I'm not sure it was unanimous among the players too. And I think it kind of just threw their dressing room into chaos a bit.

And now he'll have to manage that. He's sure they're going to have to talk about an extension with him. I know Devils fans were in a panic about how he sure looked the other day. But to me, it's kind of like Matthews. You can't expect people to look happy when you. your team is missing the playoffs. When you have expectations and you, especially the way the season started, I don't understand how everybody can expect a guy like Hissar to look like guy smiley.

Of course he's going to be upset. And I'm sure they'll sit down and they'll have a conversation about it and we'll see where that goes. He'll want to hear the plan. But, you know, the other thing too is I think Fitzgerald tried to make some moves at the deadline that were blocked by no trade clauses. So, you know, you're always wondering where is that, like, we'll see how meta feels about the roster.

We'll see how he feels about the players there. I'm sure he'll get some feedback. I mean, Jack Hughes is a new man. He'll argue with that, but he sure looks like a new man after the Olympics. You know, you can build around Hughes and Hissure. I do think they do, they want to become a little harder to play against. We'll see how he feels and goal. but he's got a lot of decisions to make.

And as much as people talk about Keith, the biggest one is he sure. You know, what does the player feel like? And does he accept the plan? And I think that's probably the biggest thing that Meadow will have to deal with. But he wanted this job and they were not going to let Toronto get him. They wanted to make sure that as much as they may have liked some other candidates,

and I do think they wanted to talk to some other people initially, they jumped on him. Interesting. Sheldon Keefe said the other day that, I mean, some of the exit interviews with players went as long as two hours. So that, to me, says, I mean, whether it's a guy that's still going to be there,

whether it's someone who may not be there going forward, I mean, there's a lot of care in there about trying to get to the bottom of, okay, why did this season not work? obviously the Hughes injury was a big part of it, but trying to find solutions to ensure that it's much better going forward in New Jersey. Two hours, it's a long time. That's a long time. We sit here for two-hour podcasts and I zone out and start glazing in the middle of it.

So, you know, I can't imagine what Sheldon Keefe and, I don't know, he's sure talking about for two hours. Yeah, we need a detox the next day. And that's just like us two talking. Just for Keefe, it would be next, next, next, one guy after another. All right. So the devil's got their guy. Anything else in New Jersey you want to add before we proceed? No, I think we can we can jump ahead.

Okay. So New Jersey has their guy, Toronto, meanwhile, still searching for their next president or general manager, however it's going to look like. They had their exit interviews on Thursday. We'll get to some of Austin Matthews comments and how Craig Barouba navigated things and fielding questions as their season is now done. The playoff streak is over in Toronto. Is there anything new on the front of candidates that could be considered for a role within Toronto's front office? Yeah. So, first of all, Matta was obviously a contender.

There were several people that told me they'd heard his name in Toronto. internally. So he was clearly a contender. And so now we'll see how they adjust their group. And so some of the other names I've heard, Gilles, obviously, Mike Gillis, that's everywhere. I think his this week was Zoom, but he has met with them in person before. John Chaka, Chris Pronger, I believe the two current acting general managers. Ryan Hardy and Brandon Pridham got interviews. I think Ryan Bonas from the Islanders has been interviewed. I'm not yet sure about Gregory Campbell. I'll mention it again. Ryan Martin interviewed in Nashville. I have wondered if he's on the Toronto list, but I don't know for sure.

I know there's been a lot of talk about Ross Mahoney this week, but I'm not sure that that's actually happening. I think Toronto has done, this week was a lot of Zoom. Some of it might have been in person, but I heard it was a lot of Zoom. And, you know, they spoke to about nine or ten people. And I think the question we're all kind of wondering tonight is, how do things adjust because meta's off the board? And so I sort of, I think they could go two ways here.

They could continue where they're going and cut it down and maybe go to two or three finalists and bring them in. Or they could just say, look, we've had one person off the board. There's someone else we really like here. Let's do it. So I think Toronto has a couple of choices that they could go. Now, there is another name here, although it's not for general manager. I have heard that the Maple Leafs are meeting with one of the greatest players in franchise

history, Matt Sundin, about bringing him back. in what sounds like some kind of advisory role. Like, I don't want to get cut up in titles here. I don't know if he would be an advisor or he would be a VP of hockey ops. Like, I don't know. But he's meeting with them, and I believe he's going to be meeting with ownership. And I think it's a great idea. Sundin was a great leaf.

He really cares about the organization. You don't need me to tell you that. you know how much he cares. And I think they want to bring him back in and have him be a part of the new management group. Like I said, I don't think he's going to be GM, but I do think he's going to be like a vice president or a special advisor or something like that. They've brought him to North America to meet with them. And that is ongoing. So I wouldn't be surprised if, I don't know if they've talked to any of the candidates about it.

I don't know who knows about it and who doesn't, but I do believe it's their plan that they want Sundeen to be part of the new management group. It makes so much sense. Way too much. I remember living in Ottawa when they first brought Daniel, I mean, you know, Brian Murray was still around at the time when they brought Daniel Alvarton back in the fold to work in management.

Of course, now we know he's part of the coaching staff. But it just seemed like an absolute layup, like can't miss. It's a home run with your fan base. it's a voice and opinion that matters within that organization that you know is conveying his thoughts and trying to come up with ideas for all the right reasons. That could be, I'm honestly, maybe it's because Sandin hasn't been in a position in his life where that would interest him, but I'm surprised in a sense that it's taken to this point were they're meeting with them in this capacity.

Yeah, I've always had all the time in the world for him. And, you know, like I said, I just think that he really cares about the team and, and he still, he really cares about the team and the fact that he wants to be a part of it, I think is a really good sign. That you, you don't need AI to tell you, that would be a good idea. That I can tell you for sure. You know, a lot of those jokes this week, I would simply say, Kyle, that when you have a season, like they just had, those are the kinds of stories that get written about you. Like, this doesn't happen when you have a good year.

But the other thing, too, is, remember when Dubus left, all of, like, his loyalists who spilled the tea? And now this is happening. Whenever Toronto makes management changes, it's a gold mine for reporters. Like people just sing like mob informants. But like that's, but that's what you go through when you go through seasons like this. Same thing with the Caddox, like that agent survey in the athletic.

People don't say those things about you when you're winning. No question. Okay. So from what we heard from the players on Thursday and Austin Matthews in particular, because it's the first time he spoke since the hit that he took from Rod Kogutis back. in March. I mean, there was a few things that stuck out. I mean, he had kind of an opening

statement before he took questions. Among what he said there that he loves being the captain Toronto, it's not something he takes for granted. He also said he can't predict the future in terms of how this is all going to play out. He was asked if he still wants to be part of things here moving forward. He didn't answer it head on. I suppose none of that is unique to how a guy like Matthews operates in those types of situations. Is there anything in particular that caught your ear listening to him Thursday? I wasn't surprised. He said exactly what I thought.

Now, the thing I'll say about Matthews is there's a lot of, you know, we parse words, right? Austin Matthews has signed contracts to play 12 years in Toronto. He's played 10. You know, we'll see if he gets to 12. But he's signed contracts to play 12 years. So the moment he got here, it was like he'll never sign an extension, he'll leave. And then again, it was he'll never sign an extension, he'll leave. And we found out he guaranteed even the year before he could sign one.

He'd already said, I'm staying as long as it doesn't go off the rails. You cannot question his loyalty, okay? I think now he wants to hear the plan. And so, and I didn't expect anything different. He wants to hear the plan. he wants to hear what the new person has to say, and then he'll make his decision. I think he wants to win in Toronto, but if it's any kind of a longer process, then I think that changes. I think the calculus changes, but he's going to wait until he hears it, and he's going to have an hope in mind.

I think the interesting thing that, you know, some people could ask, and I wonder if they're asking this about the new can. is, you know, do they think it's the right time to trade him or do you wait a year? I was at a concert in Toronto on Thursday night, Florence and the Machine, Kyle, and it was completely ruined by the devil's news. Like, completely ended. I miss, like, I think she sang 17 songs or something like that, and I think I saw three of them. But, you know, one of the things. The dog days are over. You're like, no, they're not.

They're still killing with this. That was the second of four encore songs, by the way. Excellent. But the interesting thing was that, you know, someone was saying to me tonight that I was talking to, let's just say for argument's sake that you're going to trade him. Do you say, hey, now while he's got two years left, or do you say wait next to, summer because then we can maybe trade you somewhere with an extension or you want to go and we could make a better deal like this is a debate for everybody to have but and obviously matthews

will have a huge say because he's got control but it was just interesting that someone mentioned that to me tonight oh boy well it looks like right now they've got a shot at obtaining that draft pick in the first round, got the fifth best odds going into the draft lottery. It's going to be a fascinating offseason there. Now, a couple other things here. Number one, all of the focus was on Matthews because he's the captain and the best player.

But I do think they asked a number of players. Like, are you happy here? I think they wanted to get, like, this was a hard season, It sucked for a lot of people. You know, you heard Riley talk about it. Nielander mumbled away for a minute and a half. But I do think they asked a bunch of guys, like, how do you feel about the overall thing?

And Nielander, as we know now, has already met with them and said if it's a long rebuild, I'm not that interested. So we'll see what some other players have to say. I think Nyes is a big one. teams know that the Maple Leafs kick the tires on Nyes and put them out there right at the deadline. And I think some teams are going to come back and circle back and say,

okay, that happened before. Where are we now? I had someone who told me that one of the least plans was to take a run at Radish from Tampa if he hit free agency. Number one, we don't even know if he's going to hit free agency. But number two, how will a new general manager feel? about that? Do they feel that that's still something they want to do? And then there was Barubei. Are you going to come back? Are you think you're going to be back? Yes. I don't know

why anybody would expect Craig Barube, who's never run away from anything in his life, to say anything different, right? And so I think he's there as long as they, until they tell him otherwise. And we'll see. As you said, there's a lot that's going to happen here, Kyle. And I think that the change in personnel, it's only just beginning. All right. Oh, if I could mention one more thing before we do. Shane Donne, I think there's going to be some interest in him from other teams. Now, he might want to go back to Arizona and ride horses at the ranch or what I don't, I still think he doesn't, I don't think he has it anymore, the one I rode the horses on.

But, right. Yes, Josh was saying they don't anymore. That's right. It's gone. It's a real shame. And one of my least legendary moments, that's for sure. But is he going to go back and just relax and work on bringing hockey back to Arizona? Or does he join another organization?

I do think there's going to be some organizations that are interested in him. Why wouldn't there be? Maybe for a bigger role, you think? I don't know. I think a lot of that would have to do with him, right? Yeah. He doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do. All right.

So we'll get on the treadmill here, set it to a point about three or so, and work our way through the other 14 teams that are not, go ahead. Well, I was going to say, can I make a request? Yes. Can I make a request of where we go through first? Yes. Since we did Jersey, hired a GM, since we did Toronto. have to hire a GM. Why don't we do Nashville and then we'll go through the other one?

Sure. Why not? All right. So Nashville, in the end, they did not prove everyone wrong through a third straight year. The GM search continues for them. And also, too, there's quietly, and you've touched on this a few times, like how does new ownership and Bill Haslam feel about the direction the team is going or wants to go? So give us an update on where things are at for the Preds. I think among the people they've interviewed for the GM job, there was the internal candidate Jeff Kelty, but I think they're not going internal. I think they want to go external.

But there was also Darren York from Carolina, and there was Brett Peterson from Florida, and there was Bill Scott from Edmonton. and I just think they decided to expand their search. I believe they are going to interview Tom Fitzgerald. I don't know exactly when I think next week in person, but I don't know exactly when. And I believe they have also spoken to Ryan Martin from the New York Rangers.

And it's possible there's more, but those are the ones I, know of. So that's the group that they've spoken to. I believe that in this round of in-person, Nick Sabins played a pretty big role.

Like I think he's asking questions. I think he's sizing up the candidates. And it's pretty clear from what I've heard that he's got, you know, the guys have been very successful.

It's not, all apples to apples, Alabama football and the Nashville Predators, but he has some idea of what makes a person a success. And he wants to see it. And, you know, I've heard some of the interviews have been good. I heard someone mentioned to me the rumor going around was that Bill Scott's interview was good, but obviously yet there isn't an answer and they're looking to speak to a couple more people. So we'll see.

You know, I think Fitzgerald, everybody feels as the team's first captain, he feels a connection there and he wants this job. So we'll see what happens when he goes in there and where we go from here. And, you know, Ryan Martin's a really interesting guy. He's worked in Detroit. He's worked with the Rangers. You know, two years ago, he was a really hot candidate. and his stock was really moving up.

And, you know, it shows you the Rangers have had two years that have gone like the last two. And, you know, I always say I don't think people suddenly become stupid. We just, you know, it's a results-oriented business and we focus on results. So this is a big opportunity for him too. So we'll see where this all goes. You know, Nashville wanted to get younger this year. You know, one guy who I thought really had a good finish for them was Matthew Wood. I think there's people who look at him and say, boy, that's a good feather in our cap that this player looks like he's going to be a performer for us and they need some infusion of youth.

I'm really curious to go and see though there where this is going to go in the off season. You know, Ryan O'Reilly's heading into the final season of his contract with them. and there was definitely interest in O'Reilly. And it was a bit of a weird one. Like I believe that O'Reilly and his representatives, and that's Pat Morris at Newport, they held Nashville to their promise. You know, the one thing I'd kind of say is that I think at times,

the organization has kind of felt like, okay, we made a promise, but things are different now. and is there some way we could get some conversation about this? So we'll see where that goes in the off-season. Stephen Stamco's, as indicated, another Newport guy, that if they bring something to him, he would think about it. As far as I know about the trade deadline,

they didn't bring anything to him. But we'll see where that goes in the off-season. Like Nashville had a great second half of the year, and, you know, people were writing Stamco's off. for dead in the beginning of the year. I think he had one goal in the first 14 games, and he hit 40 again. So, you know, he's got a lot left,

and O'Reilly had a great year. I think we're, again, it's going to come down to philosophy, but a team that really looked like they were adrift early in the year made a huge run, and we'll see what that means. All right, the Vancouver Canucks, Elliot. 32nd in the league, they will have the best, odds at the first overall pick when the draft lottery comes around on May the 5th,

finished with just 25 wins on the year, nine at home. We talked about questions around some of the futures of members of the front office, both in bigger roles and maybe in lesser high profile roles. There's the Elias Pedersen question as well. This seems like another season in Vancouver that had a dark cloud hanging over it. They have entered rebuild mode. How best do you think they proceed from here? Okay, so as we were finishing recording this pod, just before 3 a.m. Eastern time on Friday,

there was a report at a Sweden that the Canucks had let go of Patrick Alvin. Obviously, we weren't able to confirm that. At that time, we'll see what Friday brings us. Well, first of all, as you said, there's been a lot of questions about changes. And, you know, the one thing I heard in recent weeks was that Jim Rutherford had some one-on-one meetings with some of their players. And that doesn't sound like somebody who is eager or expecting to leave. Like I heard a bunch of players had one-on-one meetings with Rutherford. So when I heard that, it also made me wonder, like, there's been a lot of crazy rumors the last few,

days and last few weeks. And some of that is my own fault because I've talked about how there's a bunch of people there that don't have extensions. But, you know, it swirls and it goes wild. And there's been some question about Rutherford. And, you know, someone said to me, he met with a bunch of a bunch of the players one-on-one and I checked it. And I was told that was true. So again, I don't have a great handle on what is going on here yet, but that doesn't sound like a guy who's planning on leaving or thinks he's leaving. I will say this. I don't think you can overstate how the collapse of the last two years has sent shockwaves and an earthquake inside the organization. There's a real disappointment, and even though they recognize now, it is rebuild time.

I think there was still a lot of shock and confusion about how we got from May 20, 24, game 7 against Edmonton to hear. And, you know, I think this. Vancouver is a market that tends to really talk about the past a lot. And I think if you're the Canucks, you say, okay, we're going to make whatever choices we make, and then we're shutting the door, and we're moving on. We're not going to talk about this anymore. But, and I think part of that is to get people to start looking forward because I really do think the events of the last two years and how we got from there to hear. I don't think people there really have come to grips with how and why it happened and how disappointing it is.

to be like I've heard that the metrics and the Canucks like in terms of their revenues and stuff are still very strong and if they win the draft lottery it'll probably still be very strong but that doesn't mean everybody's happy with what's happened and I think a lot of the uncertainty right now has been because they they're shocked that they're here they've tried to figure out what's the best path out and while they've accepted accepted or rebuild. When you're this disappointed, you start thinking about a lot of things. You know, the Ryan Johnson thing, I think there's some semantics there.

I do think Nashville asked permission to speak to him. And the Canucks denied that they said no. I think in their eyes, it's kind of like when we gave him this extension, we did it with the expectation he was going to be here. And we believe he understood that. and whether that's right or wrong, I believe that's their position. But I do think the prior is asked and the Canucks said no. But the other thing I do think is that, you know, and again, really tough update in the personal life of the Pedersen family.

And I feel awful for them. I do think if they, if as part of these one-on-one conversations, it hasn't happened already, I do think there will be some conversations with him about the future. And the other thing, I do believe Kyle is, like this would be tricky and they don't want to keep money. But I do think that there will be teams who will be willing to talk to him. And I think one of the more interesting things will be, do the Canucks give teams permission to meet with him face to face or Zoom whatever? so these teams, potentially interested teams, could talk to him. I think that is also a possibility,

but I just want to send the best to their family. It's tough, very tough. Absolutely. And you just can't help but wonder when you talk about, okay, let's close the door on the past and let's move forward. Maybe that is the best for both team and player, and it's not about picking signs or pointing blame one way or another to say, all right,

Elias, what do you want? What ultimately makes you happy? And is there a path in finding a fresh start both sides there? And that could be a big part of trying to turn the page over what the last few years have been and allowing, as I say, both the player and the team to kind of have a fresh start moving forward. More you talk about that, Elliot, it feels like that may be the best path over this offseason or wherever it may happen. Okay, Chicago.

So they were, I mean, kind of had a great start to the year in the mix until, of course, Bedard gets hurt in December. They slide all the way back to 31st to end the year. Now, Bard has the big breakout season, which cannot be overstated.

Danny Wirtz was lauding the job that Kyle Davidson did and building back up their prospect pool. He gets an extension. As general manager, we're one year with Jeff Blaschel as the head coach. How do you feel about Chicago that have a lot of young talent but are still trying to build a winner? So to me, this is the reality of what a true rebuild is, Kyle.

When I look at Chicago, if this is a true picture of how long it takes, like they got a nuclear weapon at the top of one draft, Baderd. He is elite and he took enormous strides this year. Changed his training regimen and he did an unbelievable job this season. But when you have so many young players, like I watched a game last week with them, I think their oldest defenseman was 24 and their oldest center was 22. When you're like that and you have that many young players, not all of them are going to pop as quickly as Bedard does. It takes time. Badard is the exception. Celebrini is the exception. They are not the rules. They are the exceptions. And when you have so many players in that age group,

this is what happens. You take your lumps. You have really, really, like they had a game two where Carolina basically played with their HL team and they still beat them seven to two. That is going to happen. And when you commit to a rebuild, like this team is committed to a rebuild, this is a cautionary tale for everybody else. If you're going to do it, and San Jose said the same thing, you feel pain for a long time. Now, I think the Blackhawks believe that eventually this group is going to figure it out. If you look at their points percentage last three years, I guess it was summer of 22, they went to the rebuild. their points percentage was 43 this year. It was 37 last year.

It was 32 the year before. It's slower than I think a lot of people would like, including themselves. I even deep down would say they want this to happen faster, but it's coming. You know, last year, they had no shutouts. This year, Spencer Knight, they had five. So, I mean, you can look at things and just, like, you can look at a, like, everybody you talk about process versus results. You have to have a good process. You have to have a good process.

Well, it looks like the Blackhawks are having a good process, getting a lot of young players there and waiting on them to grow. But until that happens, the results are going to be really hard. So sometimes I think people say, I believe in process, but when the results aren't as fast as they like, they're like, I want results. You know, you can't have it both ways. They committed to this. I completely forgot about the Davidson extension. We reported on that like five months ago. And then I just completely forgot about it. And someone texted me the other night and they're like, hey, they're just announcing Davidson's extension. I was like, holy souls. I completely forgot about that. But like I think organizationally, they believe that he is got them in the right

direction. Now, a couple years ago, they took a shot at Gensel. At that time, is Gensel going to Chicago or is he going to Tampa? He wants to win. He's going to Tampa. It's going to be hard for them until you're like, like the Quinn Hughes thing this year, every player saw it, wasn't happening a situation, got himself out to a winning situation. Top players want to win. Chicago was at the bottom of their cycle. You know, it's harder to get those guys. to come to you when you're like that. That's why I think they've tried, but they're not going to win those battles yet.

I think they looked at making some trades. I don't think they like the prices. For me, the interesting guy is going to be a guy like Nyes. If he is really still out there, I could see Chicago being the kind of team that would be like, what do we have to do to get that? But again, and they're getting another high pick this year. They finished 31st.

So the lowest, the lowest that pick is going to be is four, Kyle. They're getting another really good player. I just think they believe that as long as this is and as hard as this is, they are, they've got a super young team and they still believe it's going to work, even if it's not as quick as everyone might like it. And you know what? They're going to have the capital to acquire guys. I got a lot of picks. I got a lot of prospects. And, you know, I don't know how much you watched Frondell,

but I see why that guy was at the top of the draft. Like, there's a really good player there. Absolutely. So how do you think they proceed with a new contract for BDard? You know, that's a great question. I think they took a run at it last year. I think everybody wanted to wait and see how the market was going to go. Like, if you're Chicago, you get in that, like I always say,

When you have a guy like that, you pay him as much as you can for as long as you can. Like the price never goes down, but the market's been reset, right? Like that was pre-Kaprizov. I think they looked at him. I don't necessarily think Badaar's going to be making 17, but, you know, what they were probably what they were looking at last year. And I would bet it was in the eight figures. Like this is my personal opinion based on what I kind of heard out there.

It was in like the low eight figure range. but now it's different. And, you know, we'll see where we'll see where we go. All right, the Calgary Flames. So it seemed like this season, L.A., and it was like they're no longer trying to fool themselves and thinking maybe they were further along than they actually were.

You know, they took a step back, realized maybe we are a few steps away from playoff contention. They were so close a season ago, of course. Not the case this year. made a couple of deals in trading some long-time popular flames Rasmus Anderson, Mackenzie Weger, Nazam Cadry.

Along the way, so Ryan Huska got extended early on in the year, Craig Conroy and the senior staff, they got extensions to. Conroy is done well in acquiring assets. They've got 11 picks in this coming draft alone, six in the first two rounds. So, does Conroy and company,

do they remain patient here as they move along? think they approach this summer. Well, I think the biggest thing I would like to say is that they've really calm the noise around the team, right? It's, by the way, I know you're big on Zane Perak. Did you see that goal against the Kings? I was just saying, like, I mean, holy smokes.

I bet you all the Flames fans saw that. They're like, can we start the next season tomorrow? Yeah, yes. I don't want to stop this now. I know. But, I mean, you compare that to how he looked early on in the season. and I think there's kind of some fears of, holy, you just don't want this to be a loss season for the young guy

and there was the injury that kind of threw a wrenching things for a while. But he talked about he's starting to find a much better version of his game at the NHL level. Takes a while to figure all that out, no matter how good or how talented of a player you are. And that's going to be one of the more encouraging things too for Calgary going into the offseason to see the level he's been at lately. You always want to end the season.

a high. You can't get much of a better high than that if you're Zane Perreck and the Flames fans. So I think the thing is, like, they've kind of stabilized things there. I think the one guy you kind of look at is Coleman, you know, how are they going to proceed there? He did not seem anxious to leave, but, you know, we'll see how that goes. He's going to the last year of his contract. I think there's a couple of things. Another high pick they'll add to their group. I really think, The one thing that Conroy's whale, like the Moby Dick that he's looking for, is a center, like a top flight, top center. And they're so hard to find. Like BX had told a great story about Pat Verbeek a couple weeks ago on hockey night about how Verbeek said, we have to find a power forward to play with our guys.

And BX is like, you're going to trade for one. He goes, no, those guys aren't available. We've got to get it through the draft. And they went and they got Seneca, right? So, you know, that's what I look at there with Calgary. Can they get a center, a really good young center at the top of this draft? Or if not, you know, where do they go looking? They're hard to trade for.

But, you know, as you said, with a lot of assets, I think Conroy will continue to look for young players under 25 guys who might be available that can grow with the team. And everybody knows that that's what he's looking for. and I think he'll continue to be out there looking for it. You know, I think the other thing, you know, Dustin Wolf started this year really unsettled. He did not look like himself. And I don't know what the flames are going to look like next year,

but I bet you Wolf starts next year better. Like this year was just an unsettled start for him. And I just think he's too good to go through two consecutive years with that. All right. And, hey, maybe lottery balls roll Calgary's way. We're just over a year away from the new building coming there as well, and that could be a drastic change for them for the better also as they move along. Okay, the New York Rangers, I don't know if there's any way you can look at this season

other than a massive disappointment, Elliot. I mean, you don't bring Mike Sullivan in just to finish in the bottom five of the league. So we saw the letter 2.0 that came out partway through this year. Also, we want to all the best to Jonathan Quick and return. retirement. I'll miss quick. I'll miss that guy.

Yes, great quote. Most wins ever by a U.S. Borgoli. So the Rangers, sounds like they've got some decisions to make in terms of where they want to go and who they want part of it.

Where do you think it starts on Broadway? I think with the Rangers, the number one thing is the happiness of some of their players. Okay. So, and there's two guys I think we're looking at, specifically, Fox and Gavrakoff.

You know, Fox, it was tough for him. You know, the Rangers benefited from a trade where a player was unhappy about not initially making his Olympic team, and that was Martin San Luis. And, you know, Fox was disappointed, and I wouldn't expect any different. You're a competitor, you want to play. And probably seeing them win was even harder in some ways for him. Now he said all the right things, but I think this is one of those things where you decompress, you think for a few days, and then you have an honest conversation with the team about where you are and how you feel. And remember, Fox has control over this.

The other one, Gavrikov, I had heard during the year after Panarin was traded that Gavrikov was unhappy. Now, that was denied to me at the time. However, it has been reported and discussed elsewhere. I mean, the Rangers will know. You've got to get clarity on how Gavakov feels. And you know what? You still got the Trochik situation hanging around. And again, we'll see where that goes.

But teams know what the Rangers want. And I always assume after the playoffs are over, someone who's going to lose early is going to say, you know what? You know what we could use? We could use Vinny Trocheque. So I think the. Rangers have a chance to have a very interesting summer, particularly when, you know, there isn't a lot

available in free agency. The other thing, the one thing the Rangers have done really well, and, you know, it's New York, so it's Broadway and you focus on the big names, but the Rangers have hit singles. And I know sometimes in New York, singles are not sexy. You know, I don't, I don't know that I completely agree with that all the time. Lance Johnson led the league in hits. once for the Mets, hitting a lot of singles. So singles can work in New York, but that was way back in the 90s. Look, like Ty Karcha is a guy they found on the waiver wire late in the year. He looks like he's going to be a really good player for them.

You know, they found, you know, they made a good deal. Sam Carrick, who unfortunately is going to be hurt and missed the first round for Buffalo. He was a guy that the Rangers picked up, and he played really well there and made a good trade for them. And, you know, another guy is Will Cooney. Like, they've, they've found guys who can fit and be good players on their roster. And sometimes I think, I look at a team like that and I say, look, I know you face pressures and I know you've got a lot of things you want to do, but you obviously have an ability to find these kinds of players. Like, maybe hit some singles here. And, you know, build yourself up around your best players. You know, they brought back,

Kevin Maxwell in their front office. But, you know, I look at the Rangers and I see they do have an ability to find some guys. Maybe, you know, especially in a league where there's not a lot of stars available right now, those are the kinds of guys you have to focus on and adding. All right. Seattle Cracken. So, as Todd Lightwick, he said, I think it was a week ago, that they have not delivered on the promise of this team.

We know Ron Francis has stepped down. we talked about how they were in a great spot at the deadline and of course they fell off a cliff down the stretch. They've got some UFAs to figure out, Elliot. This is a team that wants to take big swings, tried to take a big one in landing Artemmy Panarin and a franchise that is still searching for that game-breaking score

since they came into the league back in 2021. Yeah, so, you know, Well, the thing with me in Seattle is you can see how disappointed they are. And I think that's the number one thing. That's the obvious thing. I want to talk about something else, too. I've thought a lot about the Cracket, okay? And they're talking about an audit that they're going to do.

And they've stressed since the initial media conference that's going to be an independent audit reporting to ownership. in some ways that win over Colorado in year number two was probably the worst thing that happened to them because they earned it and they deserved that series but I think it convinced people they were farther along than they really were. Like Dave Haxell, you know, I don't want to relitigate what happened. They made a coaching change and there were some divisions over it. I think we've talked about that enough.

But I think if you look back under Dave Haxdell, who did a really good job there, a really good job there, what he had was he had a team where everybody accepted roles. They had great structure and they had a true team. Everybody understood their roles and everybody bought in. But the thing is, now we go back to what you talked about, the lack of a true game. breaker. They've never had it. And if I was them, I would say we have an organizational mandate on how to find these players. Like a couple of years ago, they drafted Tolvinen, sorry, not drafted, they selected Tolvinen on waivers. That was a really good waiver claim for them. You know,

waivers come, they go, they lost Cartier this year. He looks like a player for the Rangers, but that was a really good pickup for them. That's what I, I would be challenging my staff is. The number one thing is between now and the draft, because they tried to trade for one, they didn't get them. I'm sure they're going to try to trade for others. They'll see what's out there. But the number one place you get them is the draft. And I think that that is what I would be challenging is that we've got a lot of players who can play systems, who are responsible, who are smart. We've got to find scores. Why have we not found scores.

What are our mistakes to find scores? That's what I would be saying. What were we looking at before? What were our hits? What were our misses? Why didn't we get them? Is there something we missed in looking for all these players? We are identifying scores.

Now, as you've mentioned, they have a lot of free agents and we'll see what that means. But I think right now, you know, you can throw money at these guys and eventually, like they did with Panarin, which I thought was a great gamble. I mean, you look at LA, he's almost single-handedly changed them and gotten them into the playoffs. But that's what I would be doing. I don't always like drafting for need. I think you should take the best player on your board.

But if I'm Seattle, I am looking at everything I can and say, find scores. And then if you have someone in your draft and there's a slight edge to a guy who can score, you take that guy. I mean, I just think that that should be there. Why haven't we found anyone like that? And what do we have to do to change that? That's the thing. You know, it's interesting, Kyle, you know, Todd Light Wickens Media Conference did say they had some challenges with players wanting to play in Seattle.

I can tell you this, like the family guys, they love it. It's a great place to live in the suburbs with your kids. It's a great place for kids to grow and family life. It's excellent. I have heard that that can be a problem with maybe some of the single guys. Like, we found a good bar at the Board of Governors, but there weren't a ton of them. And not everybody's like that, but you do want like some nightlife downtown or something. I heard that is a little bit of a challenge, but the family guys speak glowingly about it.

You know, the interesting thing is they are, they're in no tax state right now. They're changing that. In a couple of years, there's a law schedule to come in to change that. And even the Seahawks who just won the Super Bowl have admitted that that could be a problem for them. So it's another challenge. But like, I see an organization that's got a lot of resources. It's not afraid. I just, like, to me, the mandate is.

Why haven't we identified scores? and how are we changing that? Because, and I think also, get back to the values. Like Lambert and Haxstall are kind of similar guys, but get back to that. People who are, the identity was, everybody does their role, everybody plays the system,

everybody is hard to play against. That was what won and tried to rediscover that. And they were able to, to create offense through that. I mean, there's only one season since they came into the league where they were in the top 15 in goals four. And as you can imagine, it was the year that they qualified for the playoffs and upset the then-defending champion Colorado Abilage in the first round.

Okay, the Winnipeg Jets, one year removed from the president's trophy. And, man, what an ugly finish to their season, including on Thursday night. They got beat up by San Jose pretty close. good. And now the focus shifts to where they go from here. So you've got a guy like Klober Fetty, who's do a new contract, Eric Comreys among their UFAs that they've got to make some decisions on. We've talked about the speed that they lost in their lineup from last season to this one and just the offensive punch beyond the Shifleys and the Kyle Conners of the world

were not there for the Jets that consistently could not find the best version of themselves, this season. Yeah, I look at them, and I just don't like the way their season ended, Kyle. Like, I remember we talked about them at the deadline, and they were, the feeling about them was this was not who they really were. Hello Buck got hurt. It threw them into a bit of chaos and were better than that. And I think the only problem now, at the time, I was very accepting of that.

Yep, team can have a tough year. But, like Kyle, you mentioned it. I really don't like the way this season ended. Like a couple times they got within two points and we're like, oh, God, like they're here. And who wants to see Hellebuck in the first round of the playoffs after the way he played in the Olympics? And they just didn't get in.

And the way they ended the season, 7-1, Philly, 6-2 to Vegas the other night. Their last game of the season, they lost 6-1 at home to the sharks. I guess the Jets were not at all moved by the presence of Scott Oak, who was introduced to a thunderous ovation, only to see the home team go minus five. Like, Scott, you're a huge inspiration for the home club, I have to say. Yeah, shows you what they think of him. But, you know, I don't like that.

And you could see at times at the end of the year, Arneal was really gritting his teeth. right so I don't like the way that this has ended I think in some ways it's taken that sort of I don't know if excuse is the right word but it's kind of taken that narrative away from the Jets because they had a chance to show that the first 50 or 55 or 60 games were a fluke they were right there and they didn't do it and then they really fizzled at the end um You know, I think, I always think with them, they will look to see if there's moves they can make for players with term. Free agency is harder for them. They tried some things last year. They didn't work. Like, I always try to give the Jets a little bit of a break because, number one, I think they're really smart thinkers.

And number two, it's harder for them to get players there than just about anybody else. They're working on a shorter list. And I think I always try to remember that because, you know, when you're working with a shorter list, you have, you have less room to make mistakes. And like Nyquist this year, I thought that was a reasonable gamble at the time with what was available to them. It just didn't work. And when it doesn't work and you have a shorter runway, it's even more problematic. Now, I will say one thing. I listened to Vinny Hainola's comments on or saw them.

And he talked about just how tough it's been not to play. I've said this before, and I'll say this again about the Jets, I do think that is something they have to take a long look at. Like young players today, they want to play fast. They don't want to hear that, you know, they have to be in the minors and marinate for three or four years. Now, not everybody's ready, and we talked about this for Chicago. Everybody comes at a different pace. But I do think that's one of the challenges the Jets have are that they really want guys to wait.

And I think young players, that's harder to do now. And, you know, I was really tough to hear about. Hainola talk about all the feelings he's had. and Salamanson was a player who really showed up at the end of the year. And I thought he was pretty impressive at times. But I do think that the Jets are going to have to take a long, hard look at that because I think young players today, they see that. And they're like, okay, if I go there, I'm going to have a longer road there than some other teams do.

And it can be a problem. I think that was a factor with Magrorty. and, you know, Yeager played this week, and I hope he has a great career. I hope he never feels that way, but I do think it's a thing that they have to take a long look at. It's challenging, because you really do try to make sure players are ready,

but this generation is going to push faster than any other. All right, so from the President's Trophy winners last year to the Stanley Cup champions of last year, the Florida Panthers. Yeah, as we talked about a few pods ago, for the first time since 2014 into 2015, the President Trophy winner and defending champions do not make the playoffs the same year, the year after.

The quest for the three-peat, not happening. So at a certain point, Elliot, too, with Florida, it's like you almost had to laugh with all the injuries that were piling up for the Panthers. It almost felt like, you know, best intentions be damned. This was not meant to be there a year. But now they get a chance to recoup, to rest, to have a little bit longer summer, which they have not been used to for the last long while, and remind everybody that they are still very much in the conversation for best in the league. Before all that, though, I suppose, the Sergei Bavrovsky document looms large.

Yeah, so, and, you know, I've reported, and I think it's true that he looked for something in the market. Marshan range. And obviously it's not done at this point. So it's not something at least till now, the Panthers are willing to do. But I think we've learned that last year, if they want to be creative to get stuff done, Kyle, they get stuff done. You know, the one thing that I will say that I heard, this was one of the conversations I was having that ruined the concert for me on Thursday night is I do think there were some legitimate trade conversations about Bobrovsky around the deadline, just feelers that were sent out. Obviously, they didn't go anywhere, but there was something.

So, again, like I remember last year, we didn't think they'd be able to keep all three guys they did. We've learned that if Florida wants to do something, they'll find a way, but so far, they just haven't found a way. We'll see where it goes. He wants to stay. and he wants to stay there. But the number one thing I think, Kyle, is that, you know,

everybody get their shots in now because I think they're going to be back and I think they're going to be back in a big way. You know, like one of the players said to me last week when they were here, we're going to watch the Stanley Cup final and we're going to say, oh, we can beat that team. Whoever wins the cup and is lifting the cup, we're going to say we're better than them. And for the last three years, they'd been it twice and just missed it once.

I think you underestimate them at their own peril. You know, Kyle, they did finish inside the bottom 10. They will keep this pick. And to me, it's going to be the most interesting question. I mean, we'll see what happens at the lottery. If they really move up, you know, they can finish first or second. I don't know that I see them trading a one or a two pick. But if they stay at nine or even if they drop a couple of spots,

I'm very curious to see what they will do that pick. Like Florida's a team, they're hot, everybody wants to play there. If you told me they took a 9, 10 or 11 pick and they sent it somewhere for a really good active player, I would not be surprised at that at all. They will be back. Yeah, one of the few teams that can afford to not focus as much as building through the draft as other markets so desperately do. Did you see Marchand's comments on Thursday, by the way, about, well, I laughed. What's the difference between losing in the final and missing the playoffs?

You know, there's just one winner. Everyone else is a loser. If you're not first, you're last. Yes, not many could get away with that line. Ricky Bobby Marchand. Yes, that's right. He certainly can. That was awesome.

And good to know that Alexander Barkov's going to the World Championship. Yes, that's great. Great sign, obviously, in his recovery. Okay, the San Jose Sharks. emerged from the darkness this year, Elliot. The entire markets transformed, tenets is up. You saw the images of how many times their practice facility was jammed with everybody trying to catch a glimpse of their favorite players.

The Celebrini effect for sure has led the charge. Congratulations, new franchise leader. Most points in a season. Usurping Joe Thornton's previous totals, as he put up another, what, three points in Winnipeg to wrap up their season. So he is extension eligible this summer. So did you see the stat that Curtis Pichelka put out after their game? Which one?

Curtis Pichelka tweeted, Maclin Celebrini scored or assisted on 45.8% of the Sharks' 25.1 goals this year. That is the highest ever for a teenager in NHL history passing Wayne Gretzky, 45.5 and 7980. My goodness. Wow. So there's two bonkers stats that came out tonight. The other one was, did you see the McDavid one? No.

I must have been living under Iraq Thursday night. Wait a sec. What are you? What are you doing? Like, I was at a concert. I have an excuse. You know what Amber, you know what Amber says to me?

Like, we go over our votes together and he goes, here's some of my picks. He goes, do you even watch hockey? Like I'm like, I'm thinking about that tonight. What were, what were you watching tonight? Come on, man. I was actually packing. That was my issue.

Oh, yeah, I can understand that. That's legit. So this year, he had a point in 100% of the Oilers wins. And they didn't win a game this year where he didn't register a point. Right. And I think we had talked about how they had yet to win. I can't remember how long ago it was, but we did mention how at that point

they had not won a game where he didn't pick up a point this year. So that held true the whole way. That is, I'm going to double check that. I have to submit my ballot. All ballots have to be submitted by 5 p.m. Eastern on Friday. So I have to finish that off. I'm going to double check that before I file it.

But holy cow, is that tough to ignore. I know we're going to get to that a little bit later. Anyway, so let's finish this. So I think San Jose, I've been really impressed with a lot of the decisions that San Jose's made over the past couple of years. So I'm going to say that they're not going to screw around with this extension. He's eligible. Still got another year under his contract. But he's eligible for an extension July 1st.

And I think they go out at it hard. And to me, the question is not so much. much the number. It's even the term. Like, is he going to want to go? Like, I can't see him or his representatives and he's a CAA guy with Bresson. I can't see them going, wanting to go eight years or seven years. Like, I wonder, are they going to go, I don't know, oh, three, five? You won't go four because that walks them right to free agency. Like San Jose is not going to want to do that. But, you know, what's the term going to be here? And but, you know, San Jose, like Jonathan Becker, who's their president, he did a really good couple of interviews about how the business has been helped since Celebrini has helped the San Jose business.

And they went through a lot of growing pains too. But Brasson's going to shove all those quotes in Becker's face. Remember when you said this, this, this, this is, but they know it, right? So I, you know, the thing you do in this situation is you go in there and you say, look, Macklin, you are worth 20%. You are worth any penny you want. How can we give you a big number and put a good team around you? Now, they don't have cap issues anytime soon, but, you know, they come up on you.

The more you are successful drafting like they are or hope to be or get players to come there, eventually you do get into trouble. But, you know, they'll say to him, we want to give you a big number, but we want to leave some breathing room and they'll speak to him with the proper respect. Like, I think sometimes teams coming in, they low ball. And, you know, maybe, and it's always possible that the agents could say, hey, with this player, we want to wait another year to see where the market goes. Like we talked about Bidad, about how, where it was last summer and now Caprizov,

it's a completely different world. But I think the sharks will be proactive. I don't think they're going to fool around with this. And I think they know that this guy. deserves as much as he possibly can get. The other thing, too, is what are they going to do on the blue line? I think they've got two guys signed next year, Dickinson and Orlov, right? Yeah.

But the thing is, they've always been willing to, they've shown a willingness to be creative. So I'm curious to see what they're going to do. But I generally think the sharks are, seem pretty, pretty smart. And I'm, but this is, this is kind of like their first real big offseason where they're rising. And because they were so close this year, Kyle, nobody's going to want to go backwards.

That's always what happens is now you've gotten close. Nobody's going to sit here next year and say, oh, we want to go back to being 14th in the West. Like that's that's just not happening. I mean, Celebrity won their points race. He was 56 points ahead of Will Smith. And the third highest score, Wenberg, was 60 points back. It was funny.

Like someone said to me, we're talking about Kuturov. You know, Kutrov, I think, was 45 points ahead of the next guy on Tampa. And they said, well, point was hurt. I said, point is 80 points behind them. If he's healthy, he's 60 points behind him. Like, don't even bring that to be. Oh, gosh. I even, like, after the game Thursday,

Warsowski was, you almost got a little emotional talking about Celebrini. And of course, there's the motions of the season coming to an end and all of that. But again, it just speaks to all the different ways. That guy, still a kid did a lot of ways, has impacted that market, that organization. in all the right ways. You know, I'll tell you, too. That call and graph 21 goals looks like a player.

That Chernoshov looks like a player. I think Vancouver initially asked for Chernoshaven when they were talking about Sherwood and Shark said, nope, and good call. Like they have a lot of offense there, a lot. Just got to see, and I love the goalie, So we'll just see what they do on their blue line. Okay, the St. Louis Blues, and the transition now begins from the Doug Armstrong era to the Alex Steen era.

They traded away their captain, Braden Shen, at the deadline, a guy like Dylan Holloway, he's an RFA, Jake Neighbors is extension eligible. What I really wonder, Elliot, as they go from Armstrong to Steen, we know all the things that were swirling around them at the deadline. As this transition happens, I mean, how does the organization still feel about a Robert Thomas, about a Colton Pareko, about a Jordan Bennington and on and on from there? Well, you know, the interesting thing about Bennington is if you watch their game, the other night against the Penguins, and oftentimes you get a clue from watching the fans, it sure looked like a goodbye party. Did it not, Kyle?

Oh, yeah. Yes. They knew. Maybe it's just because I haven't watched as much lately of them as they kind of fell out of the race. But I would admit, like, I was like, wow, like these fans really think he's gone. And I'd see this, Kyle, if, like the Biddington I saw at the Olympics this year, this guy still has elite game. elite game when it matters. And, you know, before I even get to that, the guy I want to hear from is Steen.

Because I, apparently, I heard there was like a joke in St. Louis that when they announced their transfer of power, people wanted to talk to Steen. And apparently the answer from Doug Armstrong was, you can talk to him on July 1st, 2026. Until then, I'm still in charge. And I kind of laugh when I heard that. But now, even though it's not July 1st, it's Steen's time now, right? Because the decisions that are going to be made this summer will determine, you know, what happens next year. So I want to hear from Steen. I want to know what his philosophy is. I want to know what he thinks. Like I think Armstrong did a good thing in the sense that he did some heavy lifting for Steen this year. I think if you're going out and you know you're transferring power, especially in the way they've done it, there's nothing wrong with the

guy who's leaving saying, look, if you've got some hard decisions to make, all lead the way for you. So you don't have that on your docket. I do on mine. I like Armstrong likes confrontation sometimes, but I like that he really did that. So I'm curious to see what Steen has to say. You know, No, Bennington, to me, St. Louis and Detroit have done deals before. And I didn't think Gibson Talbot was the problem this year. But again, if I was Detroit, I'd be looking at that. If Florida, I was looking, for example, if Bobrovsky leaves, Florida, would Florida do something like that? I mean, the obvious one, and we'll see what happens with them, is Edmonton.

We'll see. but to me, Bennington still got big games left in them. The other thing with Steen, I'm curious about, you know, hey, Paraco, does he feel the same way about that? Thomas, as you mentioned, does he feel the same way about that? Cairo has been out of rumors. Does he feel the same way about that? Also, what's his front office going to look like? You know, Maxwell left to the Rangers.

Peter Shirelli, the word is he's not going to be back. I've heard that Steen really likes Scott Mellonby, who's there, and Tim Taylor. One of my favorite players to deal with over the years I've heard. And I believe Taylor talked to Nashville. I don't know if he interviewed there, but he was part of that big long list. Like, you know, how does Steen feel about the team? And I want to hear from him. To me, that's the big one.

All right, the New York Islanders. We did hear from Matthew Darsh in his first year at the helm just before the season came to an end, an opportunity to grab a coach he felt was the right guy moving forward. and made the switch for Peter DeBoer, it was not enough to keep things from slipping away this season. I mean, it was everything they could have imagined and more in drafting Matthew Schaefer and the impact he has had. But even though expectations as a group weren't necessarily sky high coming into the season, the fact that they had a playoff spot for so long and that it slips away, it does feel like a disappointment for them not getting in.

They lose seven of eight to wrap up this season. And so one year under Darsh, debaurs the guy going forward, they have got an absolute franchise changer in Schaefer, but it feels like a lot of work still to be done on Long Island. Yeah, you know, one of the, a couple of things. Number one, they have to find a backup that they have confidence in. And, you know, Sorokin, he got worn down at the end, but they just felt they needed them.

And, you know, it's interesting, Varlamov. is going to is now in the American Hockey League and I'm amazed I heard he was never going to play again and he's giving it a shot so I'm just rooting for him to do it right like it's and in some ways it's a lot like Landiscauk like just a guy who everybody thought was done and he's trying to work his way back so I really you know hope for Varlamov's comeback that he makes it it's it's pretty incredible dedication the the Anders Lee thing to me reading between the lines. Darsh is a Breezebois guy, right? If he learned anything at the feet of Breezebois, it's we have a line and we don't cross the line for anybody. Tampa didn't do it for Stephen Stamco's, for example, and he left. And what it says to me is that the islanders are going to have a line and they're not going

past the line. And I think Lee is a great islander. He clearly cares about that team. Remember last time it was a free agent. He signed that deal. He came out with the Wolf of Wall Street. I'm not leaving to announce his return. I think he's as a person.

He's everything you want as an islander. But I just think that this is a guy in Darsh who will say this is where we're going. And you have to decide if that's good for you. And I think that's, to me, it sounds like that's where we are here. You know, the thing is, too, is that, you know, it was interesting on the Montreal Canaan's broadcast, when Montreal played Philly at the end of the year, it was a pretty fascinating story where Tuckett said that when DeBore was at the Olympics, he looked at Tawket's team, and he said, try this with your defensive coverage, and it worked. It was one of the things that saved their season. So if you're an Islander fan, you're like, what the heck? like why is he you should have known that two months later

you were going to be hired by the Islanders you can't help the Flyers that's number one they're thinking but number two you're also thinking hey if he can do that and he's a good Axis and nose guy and elite X's and O's guys you think that there's going to be changes

in the way they play next year but you know I know the Islanders fans are disappointed and I really do get it but I think you're looking at DeBoar and Schaefer and overall there was new life breathed into the franchise. And I think ultimately, I think you're hoping that DeBoer,

you've got to fix that backup goaltender thing, no question about it. But I think you're hoping that their underlying numbers were very poor this year, very poor. And I think you're hoping that DeBoer, as much as anything else, is going to change some of that stuff. Interesting, they're sending Cal Ritchie to go to Bridgeport,

to play in the playoffs. I thought he had a pretty good rookie season with the Islanders, but a great opportunity for him to get some playoff experience. I don't think that's bad. I like that. I like that he's going to go. And like those are going to be hard games. He's going to play in really hard games.

And I think that's going to be very good for him. All right. The Columbus Blue Jackets. So two wins in their final 11 games. That slide cost them a chance to be in the playoff spot. It was a memorable Rick bonus postgame press conference after their final game among the lines. If he is back next season, he is changing the culture. And lo and behold, we learned Thursday he signs a one-year extension.

He said he is anxious to finish the job that he came to do and get them into the playoffs. But it was some pretty emotional pointed comments that the head coach had. certainly raw coming off of a difficult end of the season but he let it be known what he thought of what was holding this group back and not hating enough to lose and the suggestion that maybe some of them don't care enough anyway the players had their response to it but bonus will be back next year

how do you view the Columbus situation moving forward So whenever I hear something like that, I have flashbacks back to my childhood. Because as a child of the 70s and 80s, used to get that three times a week. Your parents yelled at you like that. Your teachers yelled at you like that. Yes, me especially. I was as dumb a kid as ever walked this planet. And your coaches in various sports would yell at you like that.

So I was like, I'm looking at that. And I'm like, yeah, I feel like I'm a kid again. because that's the way I used to get yelled at. You know, I think there were a lot of people wondering, could they bring him back after this? It sounds like for the Blue Jackets, it wasn't even a consideration. And Aaron Portsline wrote a really good piece,

and it was kind of what I heard. And, you know, he's there. So I really believed it after I saw him write it, that in the fan's ears, that was music to them. They wanted to hear that. You know, I think Columbus is great fans. They've proven it before, but they haven't seen enough winning or playoff hockey, right? So to the fan base, it was exactly what they wanted to hear.

Now, as you said, some of the players didn't like the don't care part, right? And, you know, the thing that kind of surprised me about that was that a year ago, the Blue Jackets went through a terrible tragedy. The worst thing you can go through is a team. And they showed a lot of character and a lot of guts. They almost made the playoffs when we all wrote them off and said, no chance they're going to do anything this year. So to hear them talked about a year later after that,

it was, you know, it's surprising because they showed a lot of heart and a lot of care last year. You know, I think clearly the players will look at it and say, hey, we're going to remember the good times with a bonus as opposed to the end, maybe the first 30 games as opposed to the last seven or so. And overall, you were almost there so you feel pretty good. Bonus emotional guy, he did a fantastic job there. I just think that, you know, he's done it before.

It's not like we've never seen this with Winnipeg. I just think in this day and age, the one thing you've got to be careful is, I think there's only so much your players can believe you're not on the same page. And we'll talk about this again. We get to Detroit in a couple minutes. But I just think like, okay, you did that here. And it looks like the players are going away. And it looks like they're going to say, okay, we had three really good months with him.

And we'll wave this off. I just don't think you can do that in this day and age. You can't do that a lot. And that's one. So, you know, if he comes back next year, he may not be able to go to that well a bit. I thought there were a couple interesting things. The comments about Merzleekins, like, it is very obvious. They do not mind.

They took a shot at Merzleekins last year. They took another one of them this year. They, they organizationally, they absolutely believe that they have to be on him. Because a lot of places they do the reverse of that. And I think, too, it was interesting hearing them talk about Kent Johnson and Cole Cillinger. They didn't have great ears, but Waddell really seemed to back them. And I think there were some teams that were curious about Johnson. And I really think there were some teams that are curious about Cillinger.

but I also know that in Sillinger, they really consider him a big part of their core. They told some teams that, that, you know, regardless of how he played this year, they think he's a really important player internally. So I'd be, you know, I don't think anyone's untradable, but it sounds like, as he said publicly, they weren't that interested in doing it. You know, the big one, they've got Jenner, a career blue jacket. they've got Marchman, they've got Coil. It's going to be tough.

Like, Coil is the best center out there and maybe the best forward out there aside from talk, right? Right. You know, it's going to be tough. I think, you know, Jenner's a bit of a different story because he's, like I said, he's a career blue jacket. Marchman, I think there's going to be stuff out there for him. And Coil, I definitely think there's going to be stuff out there for him.

them and I'm just curious to see how far the blue jackets are, are willing to go here. I, um, but boy, what a year for Wrenski. He just keeps getting better and better. And also they've got a big extension to do with Fantilli. Yeah. And maybe to a lesser extent, Jet Greaves as well. Yeah. You're right.

Yep. Jack Greaves, very, very good this year. And the other thing, too, about Grease is he's got arbitration rights. Now, he cannot be a free agent for another two years, but it'll be interesting. All right. So from Columbus to Detroit, so you had Rick Bonas who laid it all out there at the end,

and then there was Todd McClellan, who did all he could to hold back and not say what was really on his mind after the Red Wings, lost 8 to 1 down in Florida. And as we know, a lot of HL players in the Panthers lineup that night, another ugly end to the Red Wing season.

I mean, we talked about last pot, Elliot, about what Steve Eisenman maybe is thinking. I mean, but you go deeper than that and just look at their hockey staff and who's all there, right? Names of Lidstrom, Horkoff, Draper, Cronwall, Dan Cleary,

Alex Tangay on their coaching staff all great players in their day all that were part of successful teams and you just wonder when you get all of them in the room what they think of watching this group the last number of years going what is missing why do we have a collection of very

attractive and talented individuals that cannot seem to put it together as a group when it matters most late in the year You know, the other thing, too, is, and someone made this point to me the other day, is that last year, you know, there was criticism of, of Iserman for not doing anything, right, or not doing enough. And even still this year, he was careful, like with Quinn Hughes. He wanted, he wanted to know that there was going to be an extension and he wouldn't do it. But he did add, right? he well Gibson was earlier but you know they had a good goaltending combo of Gibson and Talbot

he went out and he had you know he was looking at Ekman Larson he was looking at Ristelining and he got Justin Falk but he went out and he added and it'll be interesting to see where that draft pick ends up in the lottery but and so he went out and he added guys he added Perron 2, who was a very popular player when he was there before. And so this year, you can't say that he didn't add, right? So you're looking at it and saying last year, well, maybe he didn't get anything. This time he did. So that excuse is kind of taken away.

You know, when they were in the middle of it, I'm not always crazy about coaches going hard at players publicly because I think you have to be, everybody has to be perceived as being on the same side. You know, when you're, even if you're losing, if you're competing to make it, you have to be rowing in the same direction.

But you cannot criticize McClellan at all for his reaction after that game. Like, you're right. He tried to get out of that scrum as quickly as he can. I think it went 45 seconds. And he could have buried them. And you could tell he wanted to bury them, but he didn't. And I give McClellan a lot of credit because he really could have destroyed them.

And he's like, no, I'm not going to do that. You know, the pictures said more than the words there. But, you know, like you can say it's a meaningless game. you still can't do that, right? And, you know, I've talked about Eiserman and what's he going to do and with his own future. But the number one thing I think they need to do, Kyle, is take a deep breath. Because all those guys you mentioned, the way this season ended, particularly that last game, I know how coaches and managers get.

And in the moment, you hate everyone and you want to send everyone to the moon. And luckily, you take a deep breath and you'll work on it and you'll figure this out. And the thing is, like, someone asked me, do you think that was Larkin's last game in Detroit? And I was like, you can't do that. And, I mean, you can always trade everybody you want to, but you have him signed for four more years at 8.7 million, you are not replacing a number one center at that contract, not in this NHL. You're just not doing it. And the other thing, too, is Larkin, in some of the biggest games in the last two years at the four nations in the Olympics, has been really good. And what I would

take that to mean is, okay, maybe he can't do it all himself, but you put him on a good team, and he is a really good player, a really good player. And if I was the Red Wings, I'd be looking at that as he's our captain. He's our number one center. We have to surround him, and he will deliver. And I know everybody's frustrated right now and everybody's angry right now, but you would have to show me a trade for that guy that made any sense, any sense. as a matter of fact, you've got them signed for five more years, not four.

You're still not getting them at five times eight point seven, a number one center. Like it's just not happening. So continue to grow it. Don't, I mean, I, but I'll tell you this right now. I've seen this. Everybody in that organization is, you do not want to be around those people right now. They all look like McClellan did at the end of that game. to manage your hate

and the most important tools in those roles yes got to manage your hate all right one more team to get here in the news segment the Washington Capitals so amazingly

they are not going to the playoffs despite when you sort the league standings one through 32 they finish 12th with 95 points just one of those bizarre years for each one of those bizarre years

So Alex Oveschkin did say, though, on Thursday, he's pretty sure it was not his last game the other night. He hoped that it's not his last game the other night. I suppose, again, until he has the discussions with his family and makes a decision there, we're all going to be left wondering. Beyond that, what should be top of mind for the caps? Well, first of all, on him, one of the things I've really heard, we've talked a lot, about it about how much he loves having his kids around. He loves still being around the rink and all that matters to him. Someone said to me on Thursday that another thing that people

should be aware of is that initially he was crushed by the trade deadline when Carlson Dowd got traded. Well, they were pretty good after the deadline. And we saw the other gigantic protist brother, right? And I heard he was kind of. energized by some of the things he saw. So I think a lot of it's going to come down to, look, the season, as you point out the other day, 84 games, it's going to be a longer season. But I think a lot of this is going to come down to how good does he think the team is going to be?

And you know what, Cole Hudson, 10 points in his last, in his first 14 games as a pro. Like that's not a bad start at all. Ilya Proto, four points in his first four games, right? And Logan Thompson had a phenomenal year and goal. I just think that seeing a couple of those guys might, especially those two, I think it might have said to Ovechkin, we got not a bad team here. So I really think that that energized him.

And I think one of the biggest questions is going to be, how good does he think they're going to be? I think he was energized by that. And does he think he can get through an 84 game season relatively well? He still had 32 goals. He was still their leading score. Well, one year later, what does that all look like? Yes.

I get it. Totally get it. All right. Time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. Elliot, how's that awards ballot look at air? 5 p.m. Eastern today. It's got to begin. So it's as we talk right now, it's 1.47 a.m.

I have, I'm, I'm getting closer. I'll get it done in the morning. Yeah. I know I'm going to get a text from Steve Winoe. We know you don't have your ballot in yet. Like, where's your ballot? And I'll say, Steve, I've got eight more hours. Leave me alone.

And that's what did you send me for? Exactly. So much sign. Did you send yours in yet? No, I have not. Okay, what do you send you? I'll usually. It'll probably be early in the afternoon.

I'm traveling. the first part of Friday, heading out to Tampa to do Canadian's Lightning. Oh, you're working Canadian's Lightning. Very excited for that. That's a good serious. So I think somewhere over the Midwest on my route to Tampa, I'll be putting the finishing touches on this thing. There's like, I mean, we talked about the names up for the Norris last pod, but as now

you're kind of working through the. different awards. Other than the Calder, I think it's, doesn't have to think too hard about who one was going to be. There's some really fascinating discussions. Do you think there's a chance it could be unanimous for Schaefer? I think there's a chance. I think there's 150 voters or something like that, right?

I don't know the exact number. It used to be around there. It's hard to get in this world now 150 people to agree on anything. Is that car black? No, it's navy blue. You get two people arguing over the color of a car. They can't agree. So it's really difficult.

But I think it's possible, but I do think that's going to be the most lopsided one. Lopsided one. So I'm looking at my, here's the two ones I'm really, I'm really battling with. So the Norris obviously, and, you know, every year, I look at what I say, boy, when these become public and they should be a public 100%, I'm glad they are, I'm like, people are going to kill me when they see this. The Norris, I guarantee to you there's going to be ballots this year where someone's going to be first on someone's ballot and they're not going to be on someone else's ballot. I guarantee that is going to happen. that because there's too many good candidates too many good candidates and you know and i'll say this too

there's great candidates who didn't make the playoffs there's two of them i think zach warrenski is a great candidate and moritz cider is a great candidate and they're not in the playoffs and i don't remember ever. I mean, I voted for one guy who didn't make the playoffs. I don't know if I've ever voted for two guys who didn't make the playoffs. And right now, as we're sitting here, you know, 15 hours before the ballots are due, both of those guys are on my ballot. And so I think the D vote is going to be all over the place. What do you think about your north? It's ever evolving. And Sider was the one for me. I mean, he's not going to be at the top.

But one where you watched him throughout the year and thought, really good player, obviously eats a ton of minutes, right shot, like everything that would excite you as a Red Wings fan, as a hockey fan. And then as I looked at it deeper here in the last few days, like he's, I don't even want to say quietly, but he has had a really impressive two-way type season. And that, of course, all factors into when you're trying to figure this out. So as I was kind of going into this, I mean, Cider was maybe a guy who I thought,

great season, but with so many candidates, maybe he's not in my top five. So now I'm going, man, even though Detroit is not playoff bound, I'm really having a difficult time not having them appear somewhere. on my ballot. Like, look, like, I think, in no particular order, I think those two guys, Bouchard, McCar, Haskinen, McAvoy, who am I missing? I know I'm missing guys.

Dahlene. Dahlene, well, Dahlene, I've said, is my guy. Yeah, we talked about leaving Lane Hudson. Lane Hudson. Maybe there isn't the same things defensively, but. He changed his game. man. Yes, exactly.

And it's not, if I'm saying that, I'm not saying, oh, he can't defend. I'm not suggesting that at all. But again,

just second, full season in the NHL for him. So he's going to be, if he's not a finalist this year, he's going to be all over it for many years to come.

Yeah. Like I said, there are definitely going to be guys this year that are going to be first on some ballots and not on other people's ballot.

which is going to make us at times look like gigantic morons in this year's voting. They're going to be like, how could Bacoskasov vote this guy, number one, and people not, and Elliot not have him on his ballot? Well, that's because Kyle's dumb. But, you know, there's going to be other examples. Yeah, that's an easy solution. It's like space balls. Evil always wins because good is dumb.

Yes. Thank you. It's been a few episodes since we got a space falls reference in. Well, they're making a new one, so there's going to be lots more of them. Now, what is your, what does your hard ballot look like? Oh, gosh. It's, well, in no particular order, like, Celebrini's going to be there. McDavid's going to be there.

Kutrov's going to be there. Like, I can't not have Nathan McKinnon there. Higher percent. And I mean, I think the top beyond that. Three, I think a lot of people have those three, one, two, and three. I think in some particular order. So I'll say this is I have Celebrini in my top three. And so we were joking earlier in the pod.

Like that's that about Celebrini as a 19 year old, just breaking Greshkes' record for most percentage of involvement in a team's goals, 49.8%. He won the team's scoring title by 60 points. Like it's, and they almost made, like they were in the playoff race until the last week, right?

I'm sorry. Like, I'm not, like he's not number one. I think you have to make the playoffs, especially when there's other candidates who did. But I'm sorry. He's in my top three and I'm not apologizing for this. The one thing that,

so when Amber is, said earlier, he said to me, do you watch hockey? He's like, wait a sec, who are you going to have, because you vote for five for both Norris and this, but you only have three that obviously get named as finalists. He says, so which of these guys, Kuturov, McDavid and McKinnon is not going to be a finalist? And I'm like, I don't know yet. And he's like, you're going to look like a complete idiot. And I said, yes, I might be, but I don't care.

Celebrini is going in my top three. He just is. Yeah, I don't think, I don't have any problem with that. And I don't think many should, should either for all the things you just mentioned. Again, you go back to the description of that award and the criteria. It all makes sense, even if he's not play outbound with the sharks. I will say if the Islanders had got in, Sorokin was going on my ballot.

Yeah, I agree with you. Sheifer and or Sorokin. The thing is, too, is like, I don't have a Vesna vote because that's the GMs, but we have to do our three all-star team goalies. Like, I've got Vasel, in no particular order, I've got Vaselowski, I've got Logan Thompson,

I've got Swamen, and I've got Sorokin. And people are like, Sorokin's numbers are terrible. I'm like, the team's numbers are terrible, and he had an MVP level season, like pretty close. I don't, I don't, I don't care what Sorokan's numbers are

almost. You know, like he he had a monster year. He just did. But, you know, so there's, I mean, there's other guys. I mean, there's, I mean, you're right, Shorokin,

Shorokin, I just combined Schaefer and Shorokin, I just voted, I wonder if I did that. If I put Matthew Sorokin what they would do. I'd probably never be able to vote again is what they would probably do. But, you know, obviously there's there's other, there's a lot

of other guys out there like had that had really, really good seasons. I mean, you know, who else is on your, like, I mean, the other names I'm really weighing, David Pasternak, Nick Sussook. Yeah, Pasternak is

a great one. Pastonac is a great one. Suzuki's a great one. Crosby. I mean, he's almost always, Crosby is almost always there for me. Pasternak, fantastic. You know, he is, he is,

Jason Robertson was a guy. I was kind of wondering about a little bit. Vamelka was another guy I was looking at for Vezna, by the way. But yes, Posternak was one. Even Worensky for me, I put him on my heart ballot last. year. I don't think I'm doing that this year, but, you know, I kind of thought about it a little bit. Would I want to do that? There's, I will say every year, too, the lobbying gets more and more

intense, more and more intense. I don't know if you get it, but I get it. No, no, no. I mean, you're one of the heavy hitters, so I can see why the lobbying goes your way. Your vote carries weight. Yeah, but I don't really say what it is, right? right? And I have to say, I've really wavered on the top, the number one guy on my heart. Like I, for a long time, I was looking at Kuturov and I really like him. But, you know, I will say like that's like, you know, McKinnon going wire to wire. Last year, Hella Buck went wire to wire. President's trophy, won him the heart trophy.

McKinnon this year was a leader on it. And I'll say, too, like that's that we talked about with McDavid. every game this year he got a point they won every game they didn't get a point they lost and I have to double check it but what a stat I know but even like what was the Kutrov one about having more three or four point games than zero point games over like it's like it's just I know it's insane riches at the top it's insane it's insane release the hounds when the voting becomes public yes and duck Duck and cover. Take cover. All right. Well, good luck getting this one submitted

here before the deadline. At 5 Eastern. Great stuff. Okay, that was the file of thought presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take our first break. We'll still preview the eight first round matchups a little later on.

Before that, though, the thought line. That is next on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. All right, welcome back. Brand new edition, a quickie edition of the thought line here as we make our way through this monster pod,

setting you up for the Stanley Cup playoffs. Alliot, I know he said a few weeks ago, and I was fully on board with the idea of maybe toning down the raccoon content ever so slightly. However, did we find at least one thing you and Robert F. Kennedy may have in common this week?

A hundred people sent me that story. I had at least a hundred people who sent me that. We're not going to, if you want to go search it, go do it yourself. Yes. Because I'm not sure what the Rogers editorial standards are for this kind of conversation.

But I had about a hundred people send me that story. And a bunch of them said to me, like, do you support this behavior or not? And I did not respond. They wanted your stats on it. Yeah. I did not respond to anyone because I knew it was a really, it's my 10 second rule. I never send a text or a tweet unless it's just hockey news related without looking at it for 10 seconds. And if I still think it's a good idea in 10 seconds, I send it.

And if I have any second thoughts, I delete it. And after 10 seconds, I looked at that and I said any response here would not be a good idea. Good call. Thanks. Oh, gosh. All right. Anything else to get 100 replies to? Just, no, just one quick thing I wanted to do because I was going through all the teams.

I didn't have a lot of time to go through my notes, my DMs. But a Kevin Bufard, who's a listener in Switzerland, said that a couple podcasts ago, we talked about the jerseys and helmet in Switzerland and just like the different colors and the flames when you're a scoring leader. And he wrote, here's the new plan for the second division. it's not even a joke. Have a nice day. And he sent me an Instagram post from Burger King, and it's the new Scorer King helmet. Scorer King? Yes. And it's, and when you do the video, it's like a slot machine. And it comes up with a Burger King helmet. And it's got a burger on it. The helmet is a burger, like design.

Oh, my gosh. So, Kevin, thank you for sending that. They should also have the hit of the week, and that person could wear a wopper or something like that. Yes, the double stack. The double stack wopper. Big hit. Score gets the single patty.

The big hit gets the double stack wopper. That's how it's tiered. How many patties are labeled on the helmet? I wondered if it was just. just going to be like the crown for the king but oh there's there's lettuce you can you can see it right yeah i wondered if maybe just each leading score they could if they wanted to customize how they wanted it to look maybe not everyone's a tomato guy i don't know curtis lazar will eat it off the eye that's right he'll be confused he's like why's that on your head

should be eating it honestly i had idea. Burger cake was in Switzerland. I've also never been to Switzerland, but clearly they're at least trying to make inroads. You should take your long-suffering wife and your child to Lake Lugano. Oh, all right, writing that down. Actually, your timing is impeccable with that, so thank you for the recommendation. Oh, you're going over summer vacation plans? Yeah, we're just, we're looking at options. That's all. Good luck. All right. Here we go. Eric from the Allend Islands, which is the according to Eric Swedish-speaking part of Finland.

Oh, wow. Elliot, Kyle, and Dom. I'm writing in today for one very noble reason to defend goaltenders and to publicly shame shooters who miss the net. What sends me over the edge is when a puck hits the post

and the call is, he beat the goalie just rang it off the post. No, the goalie was not beaten. The shooter failed. And yet the goalie's reputation takes a hit while the shooter gets poetic praise. This bothers me wildly out of proportion. And yes, I yell at my TV when it happens, not out of joy, out of principle.

I get why the phrase exists. It sounds good. It feels close. It implies danger. But right now, goalies are being robbed of their small, quiet victories while shooters who miss the net are being congratulated for imaginary success. This injustice must end. We need accountability.

We need commentations. to say what actually happened. A great shot that just missed, or he had the goalie beaten in theory, but not in reality. I am formerly calling for my linguistic correction for the sake of truth, goalie mental health,

and my blood pressure during a random flyers game. Thank you for your time and for giving voice to hockey fans whose passion occasionally defeats their common sense. I'll save the discussion about whether a post should count as a shot on goal for another day. Wow. Eric may be claiming his real name is Eric, but I know that he is Tom Barrasso in the witness protection program.

Yes, that's right. Tom Barrasso's famous quote when being, when talked about a couple shots that hit the post. Oh, so you want me to stop the ones that aren't going in, too? Yes, yes, exactly. And as Craig Simpson likes to remind us the Grant Fier line, it's all I gave you. I thought that's where Eric was going to go, actually. Eric, I will try to squeeze it in at some point in the playoffs. He hit the post because that's all Dolbish would give him. There you go. All right. So we got a couple of notes on this, Elliot, including from Caden from Armstrong, BC.

And I thought it would be worth doing as we are now on the precipice of the playoffs, just refreshing our audience of playoff salary cap. What that means, how teams go about being compliant, is there a roster limitations in terms of how many players are available to dress on a given night? How will it all work come night one of the playoffs under the new rules? It's very simple. And thank you, Caden, and all of those who submitted it

because it's a good thing to remember. your dressed roster, the 18 skaters and the two goalies must be under the salary cap, which is 95.5. Okay? So that is the way that it works. And there is an app. and with this app, you have to enter your roster into the app, and it will approve it or not. It will not approve your roster if you're over the cap. Now, as far as I understand it, there are no teams that had to worry about it this year.

except if the islanders had gotten in and some of their injured players had come back, they were the one team that I think was going to have potentially challenges. But from what we understand, I don't think anyone's going to have a problem with this. But that is how it works. You have to be under the cap,

not with your overall roster, but the roster that you're using in the game, the 20 skaters, and you enter it into an app, and it approves or blocks you from filing it if you're over. Yes. Rastor limit outside of that, there is none. It doesn't matter. Ten extras.

Once your HL team is out, you can have as many players as you want. It's just matters for who's dressed for the game. Excellent. Thank you for that for each. Zach in Chicagoland. Hello, Kyle, Dom, Griffin, and all the guys. I think we flyer fans are shocked as anyone that this team has made this incredible run since the Olympics. I have a good friend and neighbor who is a Red Wings fan, and needless to say, it has been a tale of two cities this spring.

I hope you have been mercilessly ripping him, because that is what friends do. Yes, real friends. Do not hold back. My question is about the Flyers having the worst power play in the entire league. Is this a historical feat that my Flyers have pulled off making the playoffs despite having the league's worst power play? Yes, there are still a few games to be played here on Thursday as of this recording, but here and now, the Flyers rank 32nd Frege and are going to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I would say, is it historical? Not really, but it does not happen all that often. Do you have statistical evidence of this? I do, yes. So the last team to do it was Nashville in 2019. They went out in the first round. The only other team in the salary cap era to do it was Columbus in 2009. They also went out in the first round.

What's interesting, though, is that generally, if you have a poor power play in the regular season, even if you get into the playoffs, odds are you will not go very far. However, unless you are the 7980 Philadelphia Flyers, they got to the Stanley Cup final and lost with the league's worst power play, or the 2002-2003 New Jersey Devils, who we know won the Stanley Cup that year,

despite having the league's worst power play that regular season. But I suppose in that era of hockey with Martin Broder and goal, your power play could be zero and you'd still have a great chance at winning. The other thing, too, is I've seen situations, I believe when Boston won the Stanley Cup in 2011, in the first round of the playoffs against Montreal, a great seven game series that they won in game seven overtime, The Bruins, I don't think they scored a power play goal that series.

I think they went 0 for 22 or something like that. So there are stretches where teams have horrible power plays, but still find ways to win. So there you go, Zach. Has been done before, but it can be tough sledding to go deep in the playoffs when that's been your body of work in the regular season. Okay, one final one here.

Chris from Tampa, good evening. gang. Been a weekly listeners to the pod since it was 31 thoughts and will continue to be when it seemingly becomes 34 thoughts sometime in the future. Oh boy. Now that it is confirmed that our beloved Marty St. Louis will be bringing his Montreal Canadians into town this weekend for games one and two. It got me thinking.

Has any head coach ever coached in a playoff series where his number is retired in the opposing teams arena or will Marty be making it a league first? I am younger so I might be missing some obvious ones from back of the day but would really love to know. Thank you for any answer you might find and as always go bolts. That's a great question. Graski never coached in a playoff game. So that was the first thing that jumped into my head but he didn't coach playoffs. So it's not him. There has to be somebody who's done it before. Has to be. Wait, did Bob Ganey coach any playoff games against Montreal?

No. His was one name I went to. There is one other example. There's only two in the history? There will be two with St. Louis when that series starts. Ooh. This is, okay, I am determined to get this. Hold on.

I'm going through the teams. This might take me a couple seconds. One eternity later. Did Red Kelly ever coach against Detroit in the playoffs? No, not according to this. Okay. Hold on. Kind of going through.

Tell me when you're ready for a hint. No, not yet. I want to get it without a hint. A few moments later. Did Sutter ever coach against the Blues? Yes. It is? That's Brian Sutter.

All right. Nicely. done. Now, I just want everyone to know that we're on a really tight schedule today, and I just wasted half of it. Think going through teams and thinking about who this could be. The offered hints to him. He wanted no part of it. No. Knowing the circumstances. But it was all worth it. You got it. Yes. Brian Sutter, coaching the Blackhawks. Blackhawks coaching blues. Okay, yeah.

Went up against St. Louis in the 2002 first round. I should just quit now. For a lot. lot of different reasons. My hint was going to be Smyth Division, Central Division. That was going to be the... Yes. That was actually the last division I kind of went through in my mind, too. Excellent. Well done.

Great place to leave it. 1833-3-3-1-31-32. If you would like to submit a voicemail to the thought line or you could do it the old-fashioned way and email us at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We will take another break when we come back. We'll look at the 8. first round series to kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs. 32 thoughts.

The podcast continues after this. All right, welcome back. Yeah, we promised this was going to be a longer pod. It certainly has been for those that are still sticking around. What else have you got going on in your life right now? Clearly not very much. But we are grateful you are still here. But we do appreciate it.

Yes. All right. So let's get to it now. The good stuff. The Stanley Cup playoffs. It begins tomorrow, Elliot. We've got three games on. Saturday, and we'll just go through each series,

kind of in the order in which they appears. By the way, 2.30 Eastern, our pregame show will be on the air on Sportsnet, setting up game one of the Ottawa Senators and the Carolina Hurricanes, a little after three Easterns. So, Elliot, when I think about this one from the Senator's perspective, last year, Battle of Ontario, they go into Toronto, those first two games. I think they were a little overwhelmed. I think they were a little bit starry-eyed in terms of what that playoff atmosphere looked like and felt like.

A lot of them experienced it for the first times in their careers. Had they not taken two games to kind of get into that series, maybe the outcome is different. If they want to make the hurricanes uncomfortable here as they go on the road to begin this series as well, they've got to be ready right from the jump to try to push back against what Carolina is going to throw at them. So I think this is going to be a fantastic first round series. I really like it.

I like the matchup. I like everything about it. You know, the only thing I don't like about is the time it starts. Like, come on, there's one Canadian team playing on Saturday. Put them on at 7 o'clock. Anyway,

you can talk about goaltending in all these series, Kyle. But I think it's massive here. Elmark and Anderson, who's better? I think that's going to be a huge factor. Number one, we know the way Carolina is going to play. They're going to pressure you. Can Ottawa withstand that pressure?

Can they get the puck out of their zone cleanly? Do they win the battles in their own end? If they do, they're in good shape. If they don't, they're going to get buried. I agree with you completely. That was one of the things. I went up to Ottawa on Monday, Tuesday, and I did a bunch of interviews with the Sanders,

and they were great. Like those guys were fantastic to talk to. But, you know, one of the things they all talked about was what you said. Like last year they were overwhelmed. They were just happy to be there. And the next thing you know, they're down three to nothing. The other thing, Kyle, is they've basically been playing playoff games for three months. So I think they almost look at as, okay, we got a breather.

They finished their schedule pretty early. They could rest. And I just think that a lot of these Ottawa guys, they're going to be ready to play. And you take a look at Kachuk, you take a look at Sanderson. They just played massive games at the Olympics here. This year they won gold medals. I think they're like, okay, it's a bit longer now,

but we can tell you when you're playing in those high-pressure games, and this is the word they both use, it's fun. When you're going well and you realize you have a chance to win, it's fun, and they will do what they can to get this team, in that mind. I think for Carolina, like I said, it's the pressure. If they pressure you into

mistakes, they're going to bury you. And like, you always know how Carolina is going to play. You always know what they are going to do. Do you withstand that against them? And, you know, Slavin, it's been kind of a tough year in the

fact that, you know, he wasn't healthy for a lot of the season, but he's still a great player. And I just think that when Carolina's at their best and when they're winning games, he only played 39 games this year, Slavin is the lynchpin. And I would expect that he will be the lynchpin. And that is the guy who Ottawa is going to have to, they're going to have to make this series hard on him.

Everybody talks about it. Everybody says it. But to me, he's their best player, their most important player and a team with as much offensive firepower as Ottawa can have, I think that if you let Slaven

have a great series, you're in big trouble. One of the best sticks in the league. Throwing through Jacob Slaven. All right, so that kicks things off on Saturday at 5.30 Eastern, 2.30 Pacific Time, the Minnesota Wilde and the Dallas Stars.

So that's one where you looked at and say, gosh, that could be a Stanley Cup final type matchup with how good of a regular season both those teams have had. At some point here, Minnesota has to be thinking, when are we going to be much more than a one-and-done playoff team? It has followed much of their history of the organization. They got the big swing to Landquane Hughes, but the Dallas Stars are also a group that have done a lot of winning

in the playoffs here, the last number of years as well. Feels like a bit of a pick-um. What's your read on this heavyweight matchup right out of the gate? It's definitely a pick-um, but the thing is that there's a lot of guys on Dallas here who've beaten Minnesota before and multiple times. And so I think that that's one thing that the Wilder are going to have to deal with is that this is a Dallas team that feels like it can beat them.

Now, the Wilder very confident. When you look at them, they've got swagger. Garen likes swagger and they've got swagger. Dallas is starting this series hurt. Hintz is not going to start it. We'll see about Haskinen. To me, if Minnesota does not get ahead in this series early, it is like you're down one-nothing, okay.

But the more Dallas gets healthy, the more they fall behind or stay behind, I really don't like that for Minnesota. I think they have to jump on this series. They have to dictate it. They have to be in control of it. They've got to show that they're not afraid of these guys. And whatever's happened in the playoffs in the past,

it doesn't matter anymore. I think the other one for me is Ottinger. He has not had a great ear. But you can always change your narrative in the playoffs. What has happened before doesn't matter. This has to be, especially as Dallas finds its health, Ottinger, I think, has to be their best player early in this series. It is a total pick-um.

And the other thing, too, about Dallas is they're not as physical, I think, as they used to be, but they definitely, the one thing they definitely do is they know in the postseason how to make life very difficult on you, how to make it hard to get around them, how to make it hard to get through them. You know, they haven't been able to solve Edmonton, but they always get deep into the playoffs. They're battle tested,

and you know they're going to look at Hughes, and they're going to give them the roughest ride possible. The other thing I'd say, too, Kyle, is that Caprizov has never really put an exclamation mark on the postseason before, it's time. Like you're the highest paid player in the league are about to be.

You have to put your exclamation mark on a playoff series. All right. In 8 Eastern, the Battle of Pennsylvania, game one, Flyers, Penguins. I was looking at this, and it's got to be a fascinating one for you think of some of the young players

on the Flyers, whether it's a Porter Martone, a Denver barkey, go down the list from there, and suddenly, now you're in a best of seven against a Sydney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin, a Chris LaTang,

like just superstars of the league that you would have spent your entire lives growing up watching and now you're in a playoff series against them and how can you change your mind from not being googly-eyed about all that, Elliot, and kind of like we talked about it with Ottawa, not being caught up and just being happy to be there and locking in against a interstate rival

and knowing how much this means to both fan bases. Yeah, I think this is going to be fantastic. I know there were some people. They were upset. They wanted Sid and Ovi one more time, and I get it. But if you aren't going to get that, this is a good consolation price. Going to be fantastic series.

To me, the most fascinating thing about it is going to be, you know, Martone and Mishkoff. How do they do? like Zegreus this is going to be new for him as well and he's had a great year this year to me he's just simply got the presence and the personality that he'll be fine and Martone sure looks like he's going to be fine

but I'm really curious to see like Martone and Mishkov at the end of the year like Martone was such a huge addition and Mishkov finished the year strong. You know, Philly, I think Pittsburgh is a deeper offensive team than Philly, but it can change if those guys have a big series. It can change in a hurry or they make impacts. I think that's the biggest kind of X factor to me. I think Crosby, you know, he talked about Crosby, Malk, and Latang.

When they go on the ice there, it's going to be bananas in that arena. they're going to it's it's going to be so emotional i think crosbie will be the best player in this series for either team i just think that's who he is um i think you know do the penguins get saves vladar has been excellent i think you'd give him this light edge coming in but to me if mishkov and martone in particular score in this series Philadelphia can win it that's the way win. That's going to be, like, vivid memories. The last time they would have met with 2012, right? I think. Yeah, I believe so. Yes. That was a nasty series. And of course, you know, different era and the franchisers are both, you know, in different places than they

are now. But it's been long enough before we get another one. That's going to be a lot of fun. Okay, Sunday. I just don't, I just don't think you underestimated pitchers. to like they've overachieved all year and I think the way Philly's got to do it is those two guys have to score. And just one other thing, it's not so much about the playoffs, but there was Matt Dumbo was put on termination waivers the other day, his contract to be terminated on Thursday. And I just looked into that. Um, a dumb and his family just welcome to child and congratulations to them. Oh, great. And he wasn't going to play for Wilkesbury in the playoffs in the American Hockey League.

Also, too, if you notice the timing, you don't get paid like a salary in the playoffs. So he collects his full salary this year for being, uh, he's on one way. So he gets his full salary even though he's in the HL. He wasn't going to play. So if any other teams want to talk to him about next. year they can and if you're not going to play and you're a father for a newborn, might as well go home and be with your baby, right? So I don't think there's any negative feeling here.

I don't think the penguins are doing it because they're mad at them. I just think everybody realized the situation here and found a workable solution. So all the best of the Dumba family. Congratulations on the addition. Sunday, four games begins at 3 Eastern, the Los Angeles, and the Colorado Avalanche. I think back to 2022, the line from Daryl Sutter,

don't want to face Colorado, a waste of eight days. Will this be a waste of eight days for L.A. in 2026, or do they have a chance to make the avalanche hot under the collar in any way? I always believe you have a chance. So you're saying there's a chance. I really don't like this particular matchup, though for L.A.

Now, as we talked earlier, Panarin has changed them, right? He has made them a more dangerous team. Like, I don't think, like, a player like Panarin, I don't think you can vote them for the Hart Trophy

because it was just, it was so not enough of the season, but I'll tell you, if he had been traded there earlier in the year and had been, had that kind of impact, I think you would have looked at him potentially for the heart trophy. It was just too much of a lost year.

But the avalanche are so fast and the kings are not really built to handle that all the time. I think the goalie is going to have to be, Kemper is going to have to be incredible. And I think Byfield, who finished the year really strong, I think he has to have a massive series. I really do. Colorado's goalies, they don't have to be great. They just have to hold.

I just don't like this matchup for L.A. The speed, Colorado's speed, this is, like everybody's going to have a problem with it. But the Kings, it's just a super bad matchup for them. All right. 545 Eastern on Sunday. No odd start time, 545. Game one, Canadians, lightning. As we talked about in the thought line, Martin St. Louis heads into the building where his number is retired to coach his team in the playoffs.

They got five games against the Capitals a year ago and now up against a lightning team that has been a perennial playoff threat, but they themselves haven't won a series since 2022. You've got plenty of great subplots here. Kutrov, the chess master. Demidov idolizing him, wants to be where Kuturov is one day in his career. And at the top of the list, the Suzuki's of the world, going up against the points of the world, it's going to be fascinating, entertaining, and I think mean hockey, if their last meeting in Montreal, which you were there for, was any indication. I'm curious to see, like, Tampa fought everybody at this year. Like it was almost like a year-long thing after what happened with Florida last year that they said that's enough.

We're sending a signal that we're not dealing with this anymore and we're going to try to clobber people. Like do they try to do that in the postseason? Like it didn't really work that night against Montreal. Anderson was energized and he took it to the lightning. Like I almost wonder if the lightning are going to look at this and say, it's probably better that we leave Anderson alone and don't wake them up, right? So I'm curious to see how the lightning do this. I loved, you know, Montreal was a one-game thing,

and they really didn't give Tampa a lot. And I really like that about them. I think they are learning to defend really well. I mean, look, Vaselowski. on paper, you're looking there and you're saying he's got the advantage over whoever Montreal has in goal. And I don't think it's impossible we're going to see two goleys for Montreal here. We've kind of have seen it before and I won't be surprised at all if we see it again. Like to be honest, and I know some people say I'm crazy.

If Montreal goes far, I wouldn't even be shocked if we saw three of them. Okay. So I just think that, you know, Vasilevsky's had a Vesna kind of year and he's the guy that they're going to have to make life really difficult on. I just think, you know, Montreal, too, I think they're really good. I think if they win this series, it is not an upset. To me, the key for them is, the key for them is can they make Vaselowski's like hard? life hard. And the thing too about Caulfield is, Caulfield has shown if you give him any semblance of time, he will find a hole on any goalie. If the goalie leaves him the smallest part of the net, he can put it there. I think if you're Tampa, you have to pressure him and you cannot let him shoot.

Now, he will, but you've got to make it hard on him because even against a big guy like Vasilevsky, if there's a hole, Caulfield will find it. 2021, also one of the rare times that you've got two teams meeting in the first round that previously met in a Stanley Cup final.

Crazy earth. Yes. Where the Canadians ultimately went after that defeat and now a chance to, in some ways, come full circle against Tampa again and a chance to prove how far they have come over the last five years

as Montreal's embarked on a whole lot of change. Okay, 7.30 Eastern, Sunday night, playoff hockey returns to the great city of Buffalo. Game one, Sabers, Bruins. For me, as we have talked about, it has been an exciting brand of hockey that the Sabres have played through much of this year as they turned things around

and won the Atlantic Division, but do they trust it enough? Will it work when the space goes away in the playoffs, how tight everybody checks, how good everybody sticks are and breaking up passes? Can the Sabres brand of hockey that got them at this point, how much of it will work come playoff time against a team like Boston? Yeah, so we talked earlier about Ottawa,

and last year they were just happy to be there. That's the number one thing Buffalo has to do is they have to be ready to play. As you said, the building's going to be rocking, but you can't just be happy to be there. You have to be on your toes and ready to go. That's the number one thing. Boston missed the playoffs last year, but they have a lot of guys in Swamen, McAvoy, and Pastornak, obviously, that they've played these games before. They will know what it's take to be ready.

So number one, Sabres, be ready to start. That's a big one. You know, I think Swamen, he is another guy that had a Vesna caliber year. Nobody will be surprised if Swamon is one of the three finalists. So you look at that advantage. But I think the Sabres have a deeper roster and a more dangerous offensive roster. I think they are the better team, one to 23, but I think the Bruins have the advantage and goal.

and they do have the advantage of experience. But look, to me, if Tage Thompson comes out like Tage Thompson, that's a big, big problem for Buffalo. If Alex Tuck comes out like Alex Tuck, that's a big problem for Boston. Like I think Suzuki's going to win the Selkie this year, but I have Tuck very high on my ballot. And if Tuck has, like, look, like obviously they don't have a deal yet,

there's still a bit of a difference. If Alex Tuck comes out and has a great two-way, a playoff, he'll get what he wants. Whether it's from Buffalo, and I would say likely from Buffalo or somewhere else. It's a big moment for Tuck, for the team thing and for the personal thing. I think Tuck comes out and has a big playoff. Can't wait to see a playoff game at that barn once again on Sunday night. Yeah.

Okay, late Sunday. Bonkers. Yeah, so good. Late Sunday, 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific Time, game one, the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Utah Mammoth. Now, Vegas has been starting to go under John Tortorella, finished the year great, wrapped up the Pacific Division, Utah, and all kinds of exciting,

especially down to the stretch, their first taste of playoffs, really as a franchise, of course, since they relocated to Salt Lake City. How do you put your finger on this first round matchup? So I think this is an interesting stylistic one, because number one, Utah's fast, right? And this is also a team that's going to be playing their first playoff game, right?

So the same thing goes to a lot of their guys. It's going to be their first opportunity. You know, the thing about Utah is they're fast. And Vegas is the kind of team. Like, I've never thought that Vegas really skated quick all the time, but they play fast because they move the puck. very well and when they're at their best they're really well structured and you guys were always in the right space so when i see Vegas i see a team that at least will be prepared to say okay here's what

utah does and here's how quick they move this is how we're going to slow them down or this is how we're going to counter that and when they've been at their best they play against that extremely well they they even know how to handle the fast teams even though they're not always so as quick as them. So that's the number one thing I'm looking at, Kyle, is, does Vegas still have the same great positional and team play that they've shown in the playoffs the past to handle teams that are quicker than they are? Number two, I mean, look, until recently, Vegas's big problem was they couldn't get saves. Like, Vamelka's been really good this year for Utah. He's, they believe in him. If Vegas gets leaky again in goal, that's going to be a big problem. So,

I just look at it and I say, I'd expect Vegas to have a plan to slow them down, but you can have the best plan in the world if you can't get saves. It's not going to matter. I think, too, you go back to that whole notion of always have a chance to rewrite your narrative come to playoff. Like you can change what was a difficult regular season with a great playoff. For me, that's Tomas hurdle for Vegas, the opportunity there. almost six weeks of the last regular season without scoring a goal,

but it doesn't matter now. Everybody's back to zero. It's all new. And this Vegas team, like they, I don't want to say they flick the switch back on, but I think they, unfortunately, they needed a change, they made the change, and it looks like everybody's responded.

All right. And finally, on Monday night, the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers at 10 Eastern 8 Mountain Time that'll be on Sportsnet and CBC So by the way, great, great play by Oilers admin with the image they put out, the stock photo that can be applied to almost any scenario

in life nowadays of the guy and the girl holding hands and the guy turning his back to the other girl catching his attention. Yes, for so many years, And there was a scenario on Thursday night that it could have been round five in a row of Oilers versus Kings, but in the end, it is the Oilers and the Ducks. A lot of offensive firepower, a lot of youthful exuberance from the Anaheim side.

This could be goals galore in this series, Elliot. Yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. This is going to be the blink if you missed it in the series. You know, I, they're going to play up and down. I'll say this too. Like, I don't know when dry saddle is going to show up here, but did you watch the video of him skating the other day? He didn't look too bad. He didn't look too bad at all.

Now, Anaheim was leaking as we came down the stretch, but, you know, you said it again. That's all over now. Like, you're in. You're in, right? You know, breathe. they got a lot of young players. You know, I think Jackson Lacombe, you know, he's going to have to be one of their best players.

He already is, but I think he's going to have to have a massive series for Anaheim here. I think he's going to have to be very, very good for them. Anaheim's got a lot of scoring. Like, Dakin, you always wonder how a team is going to handle the playoffs the first time they play in it. But the one thing you look up at them is you don't think they should have a problem scoring and go back to the Olympics and you remember my fears about Dostel, right? Like this isn't one game, this is four out of seven, but that guy terrifies me.

Like your ears, Oilers fans. Like if I was Joel Quenville, I'd be going out there saying, guys, this is your first playoff series, seven games from now. I don't want anybody saying I didn't bring my best. Like this is you're now you're playing with house money. Go out there and just play. And you know, the other guy too,

like Seneca in a playoff series, what's he going to be like? And they have those two guys on the blue line, Truba and Goudish. You know, those guys are physical, dangerous players and we'll see what happens. You know,

the thing with Edmonton this year, Ingram has grabbed the net. He's their guy right now. And the one thing he shows is he really, battles. He really battles. And that's what Edmonton needs. Edmonton's had a pretty hard year. There's been a lot of things that have gone on. But the one thing I really believe about them is they've had hard years the last couple of years and they've always gotten to the final. And they find a way at this time of year and they've gotten really good at shaking off losses and just like this is what we need to do to get there

and we get there, except for the, obviously, the final hurdle. This has been another year of craziness. I think we're going to see them get to a new level. You know, like I said, I watched dry sidal skating. I don't know what this is going to look like, but he looked, he looked like he was pretty good. Hyman is back. I think the Dickinson one, I don't like to guess on injuries, particularly this kind of,

this time of year, but the way they're talking about it, it's kind of one of those things where like it's almost like it's like ah i'm hurt anyway i just want to play can i play like is that the way it's going to go and you know they're they've had troubles and goal they've been banged up but the thing about the oldest to me is they're battle tested and when the puck drops they'll be ready to go i just think there's too much maturity there too much understanding of what this takes and no matter how crazy their regular season's been and this year it's been pretty crazy at times they brought back call paul coffee back after initially saying they weren't going to do it i just think when the puck drops they'll be ready to go they have to your point the last

two years shown a pension for getting stronger as the playoffs go on yeah now try to do it for a third time so you're going to be in studio like every night along the way here or how is this all going to look for you? I am in studio all the way. I mean, the last time I was out of the studio before the final was Dallas Edmonton two years ago. So, you know, if a Canadian team makes the semifinal, maybe they send one of us on the road, we'll see.

But it's kind of funny. We haven't seen a schedule yet. But the one thing is, like, I think we are going to be bringing in some players. I know they've been talking to some guys about it. I tend to get spanked if I let things out too early, so I won't say anything. But the other thing they've kind of talked about is, you know me, I like to work every night.

I've started to take the odd night off here or there. I think they're like, we want to keep you guys fresh, so there's going to be some double-headers where you don't work both games. And I don't always like that, but Kyle, for the first time in my career, I am trying to be a good teammate. So if my name is called,

I will acquiesce. I can almost hear the gritting of your teeth as you said that. You know what? 55 years, I finally just said, you know what, I'm going to be a good teammate. I'm glad you're starting to come around.

It's never too late. Ah, all right. What a month. Monster pod. Yeah. We made it. Anybody who gets through all of this pod, you deserve a medal from whatever government you're from.

Yeah. This is like the end of Ferris Bueller now after the credits. What are he still doing here? It's over. Go home. Go home. All right. But there's a reason why you listen all the way to the end of this pod because we've got music to run here.

Oh, yes. This edition, okay? So the track taking us out today, courtesy of John Shambles, the solo moniker of the glorious sons, dynamic frontman Brett Emmons. The project is a departure from his rock and roll roots,

finding its place in the lo-fi alternative indie rock space sitting comfortably next to artists like M.J. Lenderman, Alex G., and Mack DeMarco, featuring Brett's signature touch for relatable lyricism, The project is set against a swirling soundscape produced by Juno nominee Derek Hoffman. The first single, Fool in the Woods, began this world building,

working towards a project release at the end of April and his debut solo tour this May. The first stop, May the 7th, in Hamilton at Bridgeworks. And it's a fitting title with the playoffs set to get underway tomorrow, Elliot. This is Back on the Gas by John Shambles. on 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Talk to you on Monday. Yeah, laudy da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da back in this time back in this bar back in this bar we get down