32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Wow!

Episode Date: May 1, 2023

What an opening round! Jeff and Elliotte wrap up a pair of Game 7s — Panthers-Bruins (7:00) and Kraken-Avalanche (21:30), preview Rangers-Devils (35:00), a look ahead to Panthers-Leafs (19:30), Seattle-Dallas (28:00), and they wonder if Sunday was the craziest single day of on-ice events in NHL history (00:00).They also look at the off-season for the Lightning (53:30), Islanders (58:40), Kings (1:10:00), Wild (1:17:40), discuss Kyle Dubas as the Leafs (48:10), embellishment (29:30), the latest on the Ottawa sale (1:27:20) and a quick update on Calgary (1:29:30).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call The Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemailOutro Music: RICEWINE - Dreams/NightmaresListen to the full track hereThis podcast was produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.Audio Credits: CBC, KFAN 100.3 FM, KJR FM, Sportsnet, Steve Dangle (YouTube) WCMC and WQAM-AMThe 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.

Elliot Friedman, the enemy of fun on 32 Thoughts to Podcast. What an epic end to a weekend of hockey. Welcome to 32 Thoughts to Podcast presented by the GMC Canyon AT4X. Friedman, Merrick, and Delic along with you again. Wow. We have a lot to get to. And before we get started, I want to point out that, yeah, wow is the, that's that, you know what, that should be the name of the podcast right there.

Easiest name we've come up with yet. what that should be the name of the podcast right there easiest name we've come up with yet wow that's the name of the podcast and before we get into the podcast want to let everyone know this podcast is actually recorded in two sections one we recorded earlier on sunday afternoon that's going through some of the teams that have been eliminated and this part we're doing right now at 12 31 eastern a.m after the defending stanley cup champions have just been eliminated by the seattle crack and earlier on sunday something equally as stunning as well elliot the florida panthers eliminate the boston bruins two big game sevens this one took overtime. Carter Verhage with the heroics. In overtime, 4-3 the final. The Panthers take game seven, and they're moving on. The Panthers have done it. They've stunned the Boston Bruins.

The referees want to have a look at it because it went in so high and came out so fast. But the Panthers are pretty sure they've done it and knocked off the Bruins in overtime in game seven. Top shelf, and the Panthers win it. 4-3 the final in overtime the Panthers have stunned 18,000 inside TD Garden is it in yes it is 4-3 the Panthers win it in seven games the Panthers are moving on to round two that is the feeling here at gd garden is a stunned silence the bruins a record-setting season so heavily favored and they lose three straight at home three straight

in the series four three is the final but i believe you have a question to kick things off so like you said we're recording this seconds after colorado eliminated seattle so here's my question oh yeah this is the most stunning on ice news day in the nhl since when well or in hockey since when the president President's Trophy champions and the Stanley Cup champions are both gone on the same day. And it's not like the defending Stanley Cup champions had a bad year. They're still a hell of a team. Making it even that much more pronounced is, you know,

the President's Trophy winners are one of the best regular season teams. Some maintain the best regular season team of all time. Like, I don't think we can underscore just how spectacular. 77 Canadians. Don't start with that. That's where I default to, and that's why I put the qualifier in there. One of the greatest regular season teams of all time.

But nonetheless, like not to subtract from any of this, this is a spectacular day on the ice in the nhl one of the things that comes hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on quick thought before you go on your merrick tangent here most stunning on ice day since when probably columbus tampa but that's only one game. And it was a sweep. By the time it was over, we all saw it coming. Yeah. As you said, it's one game, not two,

and these were both game sevens. Hmm. Audience, feel free to drop it in. Yeah, weigh in. I have a couple thoughts here. Here's one. The Islanders knock off the Penguins 1993. That's one of the ones I was thinking about

because the Penguins had won 17 in a row and that was a game seven and it was done in overtime. I think that's an excellent contender. I thought about the year that Anaheim in Minnesota 2003 went to the Western Conference Final. Remember the Ducks beat the Red Wings in a sweep. That was a shocker. But again, I don't know if it qualifies

to the totally seismic nature of this particular day. Yeah. I hate to bring this up, although he won a Stanley Cup the next year. Steve Smith. Oh, yeah. Steve Smith, 1986, banks the puck off the back of Grant Fierskate and in the net, ending what would have been,

well, what would have turned out to be, you know, a string of five Stanley Cup wins in a row for the Edmonton Oilers. It hits McDonald. McDonald was upset by Steve Smith, and Gretzky comes back. Gretzky with Krushenetsky. Over to Napier. Napier with the shot. Vernon out of the net to make the save.

Vernon came out to challenge that time, as Grant Buehrer did in the second period on Steve Bozak. Oh, they score! Oh, Steve Smith, in attempting to get it out of his own zone, put it in the net. At the side of the net, he was trying to pass it out. And it hit Grant Fuhrer, I believe, and went in. Well, everybody's in a state of shock right now.

And the Calgary bench, they couldn't believe it. Now, there's the puck stopped by Grant Fuhrer. Watch Smith. It comes out right in front of his net and tries to pass it through the middle. It hit Grant Fuhrer. Watch Smith. He comes out right in front of his net and tries to pass it through the middle. It hit Grant Fuhrer and goes in. Now for a defenseman, there's so many safe plays you can make along the boards. Carry it out, but not through the middle. Off the left, back of the leg of Grant Fuhrer and in the net. And McDonald gets credited for the goal. And the other one I'll think of is probably the biggest one of all time. And it's not exactly a hip new cultural reference, but I go back to 1972, 7-3 in the first game between Canada and the Soviet Union.

Like I'm too young to remember that, but you ask anybody who watched that game. And I think that's probably bigger because the world was so different then than it is now, but I'm just going for anything that I can potentially think of. But to me, this is the biggest on ice day in the NHL, the most stunning on ice day in the NHL in a long, long time. A long time. So let's get into it then. We'll start with Florida and Boston. And the reason I want to start there is we may have now seen the last of Patrice Bergeron.

We've wondered all season long whether this was going to be the end. Everybody watched this game. We all saw Patrice Bergeron waiting to hug all of his teammates on the way off. We all saw the, the emotional hug with Brad Marchand at the end. As the fans were meaning, there aren't a lot of them at this point, but they are saluting the Bruins who stick around to give a wave to the

crowd. And Bergeron leading the charge and the team basically letting him do it. And a few hugs for him as he now departs the ice first, I believe. Right there for the Boston Bruins. And look at everybody with Patrice Bergeron. Look at this. A touching moment for a Hall of Fame player. Oh, boy.

It's a great game. That brings tears to my eyes, I'm not going to lie. You know, after the game, Patrice Bergeron talking about, well, one, had a herniated disc in his back, and that's why he missed the first four games, but also mentioned he wants to take time, talk to his family before he comes to any type of conclusion. But I don't think, Elliot, it would surprise anybody

if the infamous 2003 NHL draft has lost another player in its ranks. Watching the end of the game, the emotion, all the players hugging him as he went off he did a wave around the ice it reminds me of chara right chara all the islanders say goodbye and he waits till the eve of the next season to make his announcement now i'm not sure bergeron's gonna wait that long but it's hard not to look at that and think of the same thing. Somewhat sad embraces on one side of the ice. You know, I wanted to credit our production crew

that worked the Florida-Boston series. On the other side of the ice, Matthew Kachuk. What a series he had for the Florida Panthers. They win it in game seven. Let's send it to Carolyn Cameron. Carolyn Cameron did a great interview with Matthew Kachok. But when they threw to the interview, Bergeron hadn't hugged Marchand yet.

And I was like, oh my goodness, don't cut away. Stay with it. I know. Stay with it. Stay with it. Matthew, at the start of this series, you said that the word underdog didn't give your team's position in this series justice. Upset probably doesn doesn't either how do you put into words what your team's accomplished then you have to understand like i'm thinking like i know what the director's probably thinking he's

thinking okay we just threw the interview but we've got to wait for this. And to their credit, they waited on the shot. They waited for Bergeron and Marchand. Even though the audio came up with Kachok, the video stayed with those two players, which I thought was, you know, it's the kind of thing that a director won't get a lot of credit for in the public. As somebody who works in TV, I really appreciated that decision because I wanted to see that shot. You know, one of the things that was going on this year I heard was, you know, now the teams that are going on to Australia are next season are LA and Arizona. Well, initially it was supposed to be Boston. And I heard at one point the Bruins players were going to vote on it and there was a conversation internally about

you know would Bergeron vote because he didn't know if he was coming back next year and he didn't know if it was the right thing for him to vote if he didn't know he was going to play and you know I don't know where that ended up but that was the kind of thing that's been going on behind the scenes in boston all year the knowledge that this could be it patrice bergeron will make his decision when he's ready to make it but jeff i think i'm no different than anyone else in thinking that it's hard not to look at that reaction and the way he left the ice yeah on night and not think, unfortunately, that's it. One of the greatest of all time. Someone who was as classy as he was talented and someone- Don't do this all yet.

I know. I'm just saying. A, it's not over officially. And B, if it is, you're going to have to repeat all this stuff. Fair enough. I don't mind repeating myself when it comes to someone like Patrice Bergeron. I don't mind repeating myself when it comes to someone like Nicholas Lindstrom, and I don't mind repeating myself when I talk about people like Jean Beliveau. I think history has a very special place for these types of players that are both talented and classy and serve as examples for everybody else.

And Bergeron is that guy. But to the game itself, okay, let me ask you a question. So you're watching these playoffs. If you could choose, and you only had one, one player, game seven, do or die, choose your fighter from what you've seen so far in these playoffs. Who is your guy and why is the answer Matthew Kachuk? Well, actually, I would say my answer would be Connor McDavid

because if I'm going down, I'm going down with the best player. But one of the things we've talked about here is who was second or third on your ballot. And, you know, Kachuk was top three on my ballot. I mean, it really is the biggest upset in NHL history to every single other person other than the guys in that room. I mean, trust me, we knew we probably weren't the favorites against a 65-win team, but what an unbelievable effort. Down 3-2, tie one late overtime winner like

I don't know kind of one of those legacy games for uh for a bunch of guys on our team and uh and our franchise and we just did what nobody in the world thought we could do and that uh it's pretty exciting down three one in the series it was kind of a weird series in the sense that i thought florida played really well in the first two games in boston and i thought they played really terribly in the third and fourth game at home like the weirdest thing for me about this series is boston looked like the team that didn't have the experience. They looked more nervous. Like in that overtime, you could see that goal coming for the Panthers. You know, the Bruins were having trouble completing passes. Like you could see the nerves. It was really something. And led by Kachuk, who was

absolutely incredible, the Panthers win again, and all of a sudden they're playing with house money. That was the phrase I was using in the series. It was house money. The longer they got, the more they're saying, hey, we shouldn't be in this. Yeah. And the more relaxed they got.

Like the Bruins are supposed to be this relaxed, calm team. Yeah, we've seen everything. We can handle everything. I thought it was the exact opposite as the series continued. supposed to be this relaxed, calm team. Yeah, we've seen everything. We can handle everything. I thought it was the exact opposite as the series continued. That's the most surprising thing about this series to me,

is the way the Panthers looked versus the way the Bruins looked. You would have thought the Panthers were the number one seed and the Bruins were the number eight seed. How much of that, because I wondered about the same thing too, and listen, we saw a goalie change for game seven.

Okay, Jeremy Swayman comes in. How much of the Bruins' nerves do you think is tied to the fact that Jim Montgomery had to go to the extent of changing goalies? Like, Linus Allmark's probably going to win the Vezna. And by the end, they couldn't go to him for the most clutch game of the year do you think that has an effect up and down the lineup and the other point too is further to your point about kachuk you asked this i think it might have been

in our preview show you said i wonder at which point i'm paraphrasing you elliot i wonder at which point this series turns into mat Kachuk versus the Bruins. And you know what? The Bruins allowed it to become Matthew Kachuk versus the Bruins. And even you saw this on the Brandon Montour goal that tied things up. Yes. What's the first thing that Swayman did? Swayman takes a swipe at Kachuk in front of the net before getting set.

And what happens? He's not perfectly square to the shooter, and the puck squeezes through. Who's standing in front of Jeremy Swayman with a perfect screen on the Carter Verhege overtime winner? It's Matthew Kachuk. What happened was what you wondered about. The Bruins let this series become Matthew Kachuk versus them.

But swing back to the goalie question. And I thought it was pretty interesting what Jim Montgomery said afterwards when he was asked about the decision to start Jeremy Swayman. He said, quote, you'd have to ask goalie Bob, that's goalie coach Bob Asenza, you'd have to ask goalie Bob a little more in detail about that. I think that when the Bruins go back and do their debriefing of this series, they will say

what we should have done was played Swayman a game earlier. Like all year long, it was basically a rotation. This to me is the biggest challenge of the change in goaltending. It's that used to be your top guy played 60 to 70 games and you rode one person all the way through. Now we're talking about optimizing rest

during the regular season, which I understand, but it's counterintuitive in the playoffs. Like look at how many two goalie setups there were and how many true two goalie setups have there been in the first round. There have been none. Minnesota tried it. They abandoned it after a game. Jack Campbell saved Edmonton series.

They went back to Skinner. Phoenix Copley came off the bench once. They went back to Corpus Allo. Copley came off the bench once. They went back to Corpus Allo. Boston, which was the truest success story of all this, they went with Allmark all the way through. And I would wonder if when they sit down, like I said, when this is over,

if they start swaying, because Allmark was also hurting here, if they start swaying in game three or four, is the outcome different? And the other team that made the switch was Florida, but they didn't go back and forth. They made the change once and they stayed with it. For all this talk about you have two goalies, nobody's really comfortable with playing two goalies. The other big brass one call was Brindamore.

It's not like Swayman played badly badly i don't think he played badly but you talked about the one play with kachuk you know anderson's a veteran i think maybe you can get away with that one a bit more anderson played great and brindamore said that he may alternate in the next series but je Jeff, I think generally these coaches are still not at that point. And that is the danger of going tandem in the regular season. I just think if the Bruins could do it over again, they find somewhere else for Swayman to play in this series. The other thing I just wanted to say about Kachuk, last year the Oilers felt they could take him out of the series.

They thought if they really went at him aggressively, and I think a lot of that was Evander Keane, they felt that they could neutralize him. This Kachuk is different than that one. There were times McAvoy took a big run at him, and he stayed at kachuk he didn't go quiet and i think that's big for him and obviously the panthers okay level with me here on that kachuk breakaway where he tried to go five hole yep you thought he was scoring didn't you oh

a hundred percent they run a hundred percent a thought, oh, man, what a way for this thing to end. We'll talk more about Boston later in the week, but it's going to be a fascinating offseason for them. They traded a ton. They have the biggest bonus overage in the league. But let's spend two seconds quickly, because this is a massive podcast,ida toronto give me a quick thought first of all i think that um playing tampa is probably a great primer to play against a team

that has matthew kachuk on it because for everything the Maple Leafs put up with whether it was Corey Perry or Brandon Hagel Patrick Maroon or anybody like that that's probably a good way to get ready to play against the Florida Panthers would you agree with that yes I'll say this the Panthers they're going to be the same they're playing with house money jeff that doesn't change the one thing i'm most curious about now what's toronto like now that the shackles are off now that the first round is over and they're out of playoff jail how different are they it's going to be one of the great stories to follow here and this is an ex-toronto maple leafs coach in paul maurice coming back to face his old team uh there's going

to be a juicy sidebar there i mean i think first of all i think it's going to be a really good series yep any series that has matthew kachuk in it is going to be full of storylines and drama. My thing is, what happens if Barkov decides to show up? Our podcast where we talked about that players want to see a bit more mean from him got pretty big play down there. And I thought it was really interesting that Paul Maurice went public with the fact that Barkov was sick

at the start of the Boston series. That's Maurice coming out in defense of his, of his captain. I thought that was very interesting and I'm not at all surprised knowing Maurice that he would do that. I just know, and I think we all do how good this player is. And if you can add that player to this mix, then I think we got an even better series. I look forward to it. I think this is going to be a hell of a series. Again, we'll talk about the next round during the next podcast.

Seattle knocks off Colorado. Six seconds to go. All the way back to the near side. McKinnon hit off the puck. Threw it out in front. There's the horn. A team that defied the haters they rolled their eyes at the naysayers and now they have defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions in seven games the next wave is crashing into the next round

the Seattle Kraken are heading to the Western Conference semis. 2-1 is the final score. What a game for Oliver Bjorkstrand. He was all over the ice. Like, I'm watching this game, and he scores the two goals, and he's hitting goal posts, and he's creating, and it's chances every time he's on the ice. And I'm saying to myself, I'm feeling really smart if I'm Ron Francis or maybe I'm feeling

really lucky if I'm Ron Francis that Johnny Gaudreau decided to go to Columbus because I got discount prices on someone that just helped us eliminate the defending Stanley Cup champions what did you make of Seattle the way it ended I think Florida Boston is a bigger upset than Seattle Colorado it's the defending cup champ yeah no no I'm not saying it's not a huge upset it is but I actually think that the way that series went and the way Seattle played I think Florida was a bigger upset Seattle scored the first goal in all seven games they never looked out of it Seattle was never out of it. Look, there was a time in that Boston series

you thought Florida was done. I never thought Seattle was done. And when it was 2-2, when Eberle scored that goal, I thought they were going to win. I'm going to credit Peter Baugh for this stat. Every one of their goals was scored or assisted by McKinnon, Rantanen, ranton macar and taves the one thing i did know is they didn't have a bottom six goal all series but he added that and jeff what are

the three things we feel or i should say i feel i don't want to speak for you you need to win goaltending elite talent performing and depth i I didn't think Georgiev was bad. They obviously had their elite talent, but where Seattle murdered them was on the depth of their roster. Like, that was the difference. And the more that went, the more I was convinced that Seattle could win that series. Now, we mentioned this on the last podcast, and I think that Jake Ottinger is the best

goaltender in the first round, but Philip Grubauer, what he's been able to do, because one of the stories here is how the Seattle Kraken were able to shut down this potentially explosive Colorado Avalanche team. And yes, a lot of this is Adam Larson, for sure, and that Seattle Kraken blue line. But a couple of words about Philip Grubauer here. Really good in the first round. No goalie raised his level of play from regular season to playoffs more than Grubauer did.

I haven't checked the numbers in terms of his save percentage of the regular season compared to his save percentage in the playoffs but from an eye test point of view like samsonov was great for toronto but he had moments in the year where he was phenomenal like a lot of good moments like that grubauer really didn't have too many not like samsonov did. I expect now what you said about Ottinger to be the case. Like he's just that guy. Oh man, he's good. I don't know that anybody was expecting Grubauer to be like that. He raised his game like no other goalie and Seattle deserve this win.

I've said this story a couple of times on the pod this year. The word is that Columbus had a deal with someone else for Bjorkstrand, and the Blue Jackets felt the other team screwed around with it too much, and they said, fine, we'll go somewhere else. And Seattle benefited from that. Poor Bjorkstrand. He could have had nine goals in that game. Oh, I know.

Every time he touched the puck. Every time he touched the puck was insane. But again, like Seattle, patient team, deep team. No Jared McCann. Like that's the thing. Like the Avalanche are going to be angry about this one. You know, you and I both agreed with the McCarr suspension for a game, but I think the Eberle one was a miss.

You know, I asked a doctor like about Eberle coming back into the game and, you know, how he could come back when it turned out later, he had a fractured neck. And what he said to me was, was kind of what Bednar said is they probably had an x-ray machine on site, but not a CT scanner and Eberle felt okay. And then later on when the adrenaline kind of wears off,

he feels the pain and you go get him checked out with the better machine and suddenly you realize oh my goodness this is what we've got here but look eberly's not a dirty player he isn't he's he's as clean as it gets and you know i'm sure he feels terrible the one thing i think happened, if Cogliano doesn't return, Jeff, that's a suspension. That's probably what happened there, but it's a miss. It just looks bad in the aftermath of the situation. You and I disagree on this one. I looked at Eberle and said, that is two minutes for boarding.

He didn't charge at him. He coasted into a hit. Was it from behind? Yeah. Eberle's head down looking for a puck. It's a minor infraction with a horrible outcome because he's coasting. He doesn't charge at him and shove him into the boards.

For me, I always looked as a player in Cogliano's position, do they turn at the last second? That's the one that I always look at. No. And that's why I think the onus is on the hitter. If Cogliano turns at the last second, to me that's on him, but he doesn't. And I think the onus should be on the hitter in that case.

If he wasn't coasting, I'd agree with you 100%. The only thing is he coasted into the hit. Anyway, I don't want to get sidetracked on it you know i just want to send the best to cogliano that's a tough one and hopefully we see mccann back in the second round too congratulations to the kraken congratulations to the florida panthers quick kraken dallas oh man i love the dallas stars as they Stars. As the playoffs are going on, I'm watching them going through this Minnesota team that can play you any way you want. And if Jake Ottinger's playing like this,

and if Miro Haskinen is playing like this, oh, man, Dallas is looking better and better to me for each. I love the Kraken story. We all do. It's awesome. That series was fantastic against Colorado. The pace was incredible. Just Dallas has so many ways they can hurt you,

and they have that goalie who can just snuff out a game. I think we've learned right now you don't count out the Kraken. No. There's one player I regularly communicate with, probably the player in the league I communicate with the most, and he wouldn't make a pick, a Stanley Cup pick. It's a cop-out. He admits it. There's one player I regularly communicate with, probably the player in the league I communicate with the most, and he wouldn't make a pick, a Stanley Cup pick. It's a cop-out.

He admits it, but he likes to see the way the teams play in the first round. After Dallas won, he said, there's my Cup pick. We'll see. We'll see. They do look good. Congrats to the Panthers. Congrats to the Seattle Kraken. Listen to the 32 Thoughts Podcast ad-free on Amazon Music,

included with Prime. Something coming off the Boston series, and there's a lot of, obviously, conversation about this online, David Pasternak and embellishment. Now, before I turn the recreation back over to you, I've always drawn a very sharp distinction between embellishment and diving because I'm of the mind that it's every player's responsibility to embellish. It's your job out there to try to score goals and also draw penalties. So players sometimes will put themselves in a position

or exaggerate something in order to draw a penalty. But there is a difference, and it might just be like, well, define jazz. Well, I don't know. I can't define it, but I know it when I hear it. I don't know where the line is other than i can just feel it or sense it and i guess that's different for everyone do you draw a line between embellishment and diving and are you cool with embellishments well first of all i think that

whole take was nauseating so no i i don't but it's true no it's nauseating ask any player if they embellish and they'll tell you yes. And it should be erased from this podcast. But I don't have that power. Alwell has the power. Just let people roast me on social instead. So, you know, obviously there were some Maple Leaf fans who were really unhappy with me last week over the nice thing.

That's fine. I wish I had phrased it a little bit differently, but I still didn't like it. And then whenever there was another play, like there's one very persistent Leaf fan. I give him credit. Every time there's an embellishment in the playoffs since that night, he's been sending me DMs.

You going to talk about that one? You going to talk about that one? You going to talk about that one? Well, yes, because now I'm going to talk about all of them. I think it's out of control. And on Sunday night, I actually texted, you know, just some players who've been around for a long time, some coaches and executives who've been around for a long time.

And I just said, look, tell me if I'm right or wrong about this. But I think the embellishment has gone way too far. And no one disagreed nobody disagreed and as a matter of fact you know there's usually a gm meeting during the stanley cup final one of the gms said he thinks it has to come up now it's funny though because if you ask all the players they'll say yeah it's out of control but i never do it to be honest i didn't ask any players who were active in the playoffs. I don't think that's a fair thing to do. First of all, I don't like to bug people during the playoffs.

And secondly, I don't think it's really fair. And I think they have to do something about it now. You know how I feel. Hold on. I like a tough game. I don't like ticky-tack fouls. The refereeing is already under so much scrutiny. And, you know, I mentioned elsewhere in this podcast that I heard from a couple of them on Sunday morning,

but this makes it harder and it's not good on some level. I do agree with you. Like if you're not cheating, you're not trying. But for for me i don't like that i think they have to put a stop to it right now they have to start calling more of those penalties it's really really hard because now you're talking about intention and i've always found it fascinating elliot i don't know how much time you spend in your life thinking about gravity but if you notice that somehow gravitational pull is just that much more powerful around ice that is painted blue i can't explain it i've watched it my whole life whenever players are around ice that's painted blue oh yeah the crease somehow they just and these are big strong powerful guys on their feet somehow they just get knocked down so easily it must be gravity elliot it's the only thing this has been my point is

it's been going on forever because i think it's part of every player's dna you're out there to try to draw penalties because when you do you go back to the bench and coach gives you a cookie. Fine, but I think it's bad. I think this round it's been really bad. And I'm not a soccer hater, but I don't want it to get to World Cup soccer bad. I just don't want that. I understand that because I don't want that to happen to hockey either.

And we're going that way after this round. But here's the problem in this one, because I've thought about this at the same time that you have i think the problem with that is though it's really hard to ask an official to judge intention and that's what you're doing if you want to hear and you want to see controversial calls ask officials to call more embellishment. You watch what will happen to this game. You think it's bad the way referees have it now? Start the crackdown on embellishment. Because again, everyone sees it through their own eyes.

So embellishment to me is going to be different than it is to you, Elliot, that's different to Emil, that's anyone listening to this podcast right now. Fine, but you know what, Jeff? I would rather see players say, I better not embellish because I might get a penalty than I'm going to keep doing it because I'm getting the calls right now. Then you got to go to the coaches

because you come back and you put your team on the power play. Here's your cookie. Thank you for doing that. Not every coach is like that. Some coaches really ban it. Paul Maurice was that guy. I remember- So was Kevin Dineen. With was kevin denine with a big banner of diving he would sit guys with the marlies if they dove

and there was one player specifically i'm not going to mention this player's name i remember paul maurice sitting when he coached the marlies when i was doing color with john bartlett um anyhow okay elliot we're uh we're not quite done with the Game 7s, although what a weekend of Game 7s that was this weekend. There's one more. It's the Battle of the Hudson. It's the suddenly there are signs of life, New York Rangers facing off against the,

you talked about house money. Maybe New Jersey's felt like they're playing with it. New Jersey Devils. How do you see this one now that, you know, the giant and the big apple has woken up? Who are you starting in Game 7 for New Jersey Devils. How do you see this one now that the giant and the big apple has woken up? Who are you starting in game seven for New Jersey? Schmid is starting. I would do the same thing.

It's his crease. Unless for some reason you think he's tired, I'm going back with him. He's won you three games. He's won you three games. He's won you three games and he's battled, he's, he's wrestled the crease away and I don't think you can just surrender it after one questionable outing.

Unless you think he's exhausted or for whatever reason he can't handle it, which would seem wild to me. Yeah. I'm going back to Schmidt. You know, to me, honestly, one of the biggest questions i have about this game is meyer like he's been around it i'm getting sent these stats about his expected

goals or how many primary assists he should have it's the famous cam neely story hey i'm getting chances harry syndon i don't pay you to get chances i pay you to score and right now in six games he's got zero points like i think it's so huge you know it's one game now so anything can happen but if you would tell me that the devils would be 3-3 and Meyer would have no points, I'd feel pretty fortunate, and I would feel like there's no way he's giving us a $7 trillion. You just don't think that's going to happen. I think all the pressure's on the Rangers.

I really do. There's so much on the line here for New York. All their great players are going to come in in great moods. Zibanejad scored. Tarasenko was better. Kreider was better. He scored. Power play.

Power play. The Rangers are going to come in feeling great because all their big guys got something, got their cookie, as you said, in game six. But the pressure is all on them. Okay, Elliot, I want to go through some teams that have been eliminated. Now, we had to wait a little bit extra on Sunday to hear Kevin Sheveldayoff, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets.

Sheveldayoff, by the way, confirmed that Rick Bonas will indeed be back next season as a head coach of the Winnipeg Jets. But as we're going through the eliminated teams here, man, Winnipeg is a fascinating story. And last podcast, we talked about Rick Bonas and his 60-second-long press conference after his team was eliminated by the Vegas Golden Knights. And then several players at their media availability,

most notably Blake Wheeler, took exception to how that was handled by the coach. I thought that Rick had an opportunity to address us as a team, you know, because now we have to answer that question, right? And I think, you know, he could have been honest with us. We could have had those discussions behind closed doors. So I didn't agree with how he handled himself after that game. I know that our performance in Game 5 wasn't up to a standard that we would have liked it to have been and you know there's disappointment in that. I know how my teammates and I prepare for every

game. This is the most important thing in a lot of, you know, our lives. Not my life, but a lot of my teammates don't have kids, you know, so this is the most important thing in their life. And, you know, the preparation and what we do in between games is nothing short of, you know, being all in on trying to win that game. And unfortunately, we didn't show up in on trying to win that game. And unfortunately, we didn't show up in a manner that we would have liked to. So there's, like I said before, there is room for disappointment in that.

But I didn't like how we handled after that game. You know, some of the decisions here are big ones. We mentioned Wheeler. We've mentioned Shifley. We wonder about Pierre-Luc Dubois. You talked plenty about Connor Hallebach. You know, as we're getting set for another week of conversation about all these teams, including Winnipeg,

where are you at right now with the Jets? So someone said to me on Sunday night, I was talking to them while the games were going on. They said they listened to the podcast on Friday and they were really interested about what we said about Hellebuck, that we didn't think that he was interested in a rebuild. And then he said that when the quote got out on Saturday where Hellebuck came right out and said it.

Yeah, my main goal is to win a Stanley Cup and I'm starting to run out of time and I can feel it. I know Wheels talks about this all the time it just it flashes by and I'm starting to understand you do you do need to be in the hunt every single year you got you got to make the most of your years but I'm going to make the most of whatever my situation is and give my all in the spot or the team that I have. It was like a shockwave throughout the league. I haven't thought about negotiations at all. I think that's a better question for Chevy.

Could be important. I haven't had my meeting yet, so I don't know where his mind's at. But for me, like I keep saying every year, I just want to win a cup. So I don't know what the future of this team is going to look like. I don't know what their plans are, and I don't know if I'm in it. To be honest, I'm not sure what they're thinking. As far as I'm concerned is I'm going to give everything wherever I am if they decide to move me that's their call if they decide to try to talk I haven't really thought about that yet so time's on my side I got a whole summer so I'm not in any rush if you're looking for a goalie

you're now calling Winnipeg and you're saying, what are your guys' plans here? Because Hellebuck just sent a message saying that he's going to be available if he doesn't like what's going on here. And you're probably going to have to pay him as one of the best goalies in the league. But that one sent off alarm bells. So that's one of the first things I think of. sent off alarm bells so that's one of the first things i think of you know like the whole thing with bonus and and the players first of all i go to rule number one elliot friedman 32 thoughts rule number one if we want people to be honest in hockey we can't complain when they're honest because that's when we get boring quotes. Everybody out here, bonus came out honest.

The players came out honest. I don't have a problem with that. I think what the jets have to sort out is, does this mean that they can't work together? Does this mean that these players won't play for Rick bonus anymore? That's what you have to sort out. Now we already think there's going to be big changes there between Dubois, between Shifley, between potentially Hellebuck and Wheeler.

But I think for the Jets, what they have to figure out is, is this real or is this people blowing off steam? Because sometimes, Jeff, I don't have a problem with adults being adults and blowing off steam, providing you know that now everyone's got their position out there. You can move on. If you don't think you can move on, then you've got a problem. If everybody sits there and says, yeah, I said my piece, it's over.

You can deal with that. Shovel Day House media conference on Sunday. I couldn't watch it live. I watched it later. Nothing about that surprised me. Like Kevin Shevelday off is one of the closest to the vast general managers in the league. Like a guy like Steve Eisenman,

a guy like Doug Armstrong, guy like Lamorello, like those guys don't give away a lot, but when they talk, they have something to say. Shovel day off, you know, probably because they've got big decisions to make. And also it's the Jets and he doesn't want to slip up and say anything he regrets. He just doesn't do that.

Even if he goes out publicly, he very rarely tips his hand on what he's thinking. So nothing with that media conference surprised me. Where I think the Jets have a problem here is, you know, they're kind of at a crossroad with their fan base. They came out with that ad a couple of weeks ago. So they're obviously concerned. Right. I think there's always times where you have to say, look, even if our way is not to say much, there are times when you have to say, you know what?

That approach isn't working right now. We have to tell our fans what's going on. And I think in a situation like this one, I think they have to be more clear. Because imagine what your fans are thinking after watching that. If they're voting with their wallets and they're saying, this isn't what we like right now, how is that approach going to change your ticket sales? It's not. Maybe they argue we have a bit of time till we sort some things out. But at some point in time, the Jets are going to have to give a message to their fans about, okay, this is where we're going.

This is what our approach is. Because right now their fans are saying, we don't like this. And you have to convince us why we should think differently. like this and you have to convince us why we should think differently so again my response to that was i'm not surprised at all that that's the way chevalier i've handled it that's who he is but i think the organization has to realize that at this point in time that's not going to work with the people buying tickets i got a text on Friday, Elliot, from someone who heard our conversation about the Winnipeg Jets. And this is someone that's been around for a long time who said, you guys are missing one name. And this was about our conversation about what happened to the Winnipeg Jets.

How did things start to crumble? to the Winnipeg Jets? How did things start to crumble? You and I had a big discussion about Dustin Bufflin and his ability, his release valve ability with the Winnipeg Jets and being able to, you know, let some steam out of the room so everything wasn't so tense and so tight. And this person sent me a text and said,

you're forgetting one name. Who that? Brian Little. That's a good name. Brian Little. And I asked Ken Wiebe about it on radio, and Ken said he was the conscience of the team. I know that Mark Chipman was a real big fan of Brian Little,

his character, how he held himself, his relationship with his teammates, et cetera. So I just wanted to make sure that we had that name out there as well because I spent a lot of time thinking about Brian Little and his presence with the Winnipeg Jets. Do you have a quick thought? Because I've just defaulted and said, you know what? When Bufflin left, that was the beginning of the end.

And bad me, I've kind of forgotten about Brian Little until this person pointed it out. And I think it's a really good name to remember here. I think it's a great one. I'm not going to say much more because I think you said it so well there, just that I completely agree with you and that person who texted you, because we know you couldn't come up with that on your own. Fair.

Riley's still up there and it's played for Shadu missed his pass but Tavares keeps it going and it's John Tavares behind the net coming out in front John scores!

John Tavares! They finally caught lightning in the bottle and the Maple Leafs have broken the 19-year curse. Yes! Yes! I am going to do my absolute best to get through this without crying. Leafs win! 2-1 in overtime of Game 6.

Eliminating the Tampa Bay Lightning and advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2004. You got a bunch of piles of celebration. One for the goal scorer. How about the goaltender, though? Samsonoff again. A great story. Here's the quick little turnaround off the skate of Radish in front. Masilewski never even saw it. Okay, so Elliot, the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games and the

entire city of Toronto finally exhales after 19 years. And we wonder now what this means for, not so much the Maple Leafs players and the coaches and all that. They go on to the next round. But what we're wondering about is what does this mean for Kyle Dubas? You know, there was the feeling that this whole season was going to be essentially an audition in Toronto for another contract for Dubas. But anyone who has any, even a passing knowledge of how things have worked out this season around the NHL now understands that not only is this advantage Dubas,

but maybe super advantage Dubas when you look at the Pittsburgh situation, which present options for someone like Kyle Dubas. Well, Kyle Dubas was forced to bet on himself, and it looked like he rolled a seven. Let's go back in time. I believe there were members of the ownership group of the Toronto Maple Leafs that wanted to extend

Dubas and I think they were blocked. You know, Toronto's ownership group is 37.5 good telecom, 37.5 evil telecom, 25% Larry Tannenbaum i believe that one of the owners wanted to extend them and the other two blocked it and uh full disclosure i believe my bosses were

one of the groups of people that didn't want to do it. And they said results speak. And I've said this many times that when Mike Babcock was fired and he still had 25 million left on his deal, it changed everything in MLSC when it came to contracts. And that's why there was such a big fight over Masai Ujiri's extension after they won the NBA title. He deserved anything he wanted to win an NBA title, but they drew a line because of the Babcock thing. And like I said, I think there were people who wanted to extend Dubas. I think Dubas wanted an extension. It was blocked. And then Dubas had no choice but to bet on himself and I don't think he was afraid of it I don't think that's something that scares him at all now what it comes down to is this

now he's got some leverage and it'll be interesting to see when they decide to play this out like is there any chance they go to him now and say all right let's get this done to me the win is almost as fascinating as the if because now he's got the leverage is tipped towards him i do think there are in some of these situations they're going to wait to see what happens like i've told, there have been people who said there's no way they're letting this guy go even before they won the series. Record, even though he hadn't won in the playoffs,

is the best by any Toronto GM since 1967. But now he's got more of a bat. I think he wants to be the general manager of the main police. If you win here as player executive, like even give a good product, you're a God in the city forever. I think he knows that. And I don't think he's afraid of that,

but I think number one, he's going to look around. He's going to say, what are the top executives paid? Well, I'm in Toronto. My leverage is going to be high. I deserve to be in that ballpark. And they can fight over that.

Number two, like right now, the structure is that he does not have the ultimate say in hockey operations. I think there's going to be a conversation about that and we'll see where that goes. So I think it's two things. I think it's the offer and I think it's the control. And does that conversation, this is the one thing that I wonder, because after John Tavares scored that goal on Saturday night and the cutaway was to the GM's box and he's hugging Spezza and Brandon Pridham. Part of me thinks maybe in the back of Kyle Dubas's mind, I just became the highest paid GM in the NHL.

You know, I don't think he would think about that in that second. I think in that moment, you're just thinking about winning. I think you're right about the win. But in the back of his mind, I'm sure he's gone through the scenarios. If he thought about it on Sunday, maybe I could see that. Look, I judge others as I judge myself. There have been times

I've been forced to bet on myself. I'm not afraid of that. There have been times where that's worked out well for me. There have been times that's worked out not so well for me. You control what you control, and you do the best job at that, but you're going to need help from outside forces that you don't control. What's the line?

You plan, God laughs. This year, Kyle Dubas planned, God sat in his recliner and said, I'm letting you win this one. Okay, Elliot, so more conversations about teams that have been eliminated and a few immediate decisions here. We always look at UFAs for the Tampa Bay Lightning and, you know, this season we look at Alex Killorn, we look at Pierre-Edouard Belmar. We look at Corey Perry, Ian Cole, Brian Elliott. One more season for Stephen Stamkos. Tanner Jeannot is an RFA as well. First of all, just your thoughts on where Tampa's at right now.

We know that their general manager, Julian Brisebois, isn't afraid of making unpopular decisions. We saw that with Ryan McDonnell last season. Unpopular both within the team and maybe within the fan base as well how do you see tampa's offseason shoring up in a lot of ways this might be the best thing for them you know they played 20 more games than everybody else right and there's people out there saying well they were they were the better team in Toronto for most of the series. That's the way the playoffs go sometimes. You make your breaks and generally over a seven-game series, the better team wins. Samsonov out-dueled Vasilevsky. Toronto's best players had big moments

that turned the series around. And that to me was the difference between the Maple Leafs and the lightning. Like I said, I think that this is something that Tampa needed. They needed a break. They needed a shorter summer. I saw Brian Boyle tweeted that the lightning are far from finished. tweeted that the Lightning are far from finished.

And since Brian Boyle is seven inches taller than me and outweighs me by probably about 50 pounds, I'm not going to argue with that guy. I don't think the Lightning are going to be satisfied with, you know what? We had a great run. It's over. No, I don't think they're going to do that at all. I think they're going to reload. I think they're going to figure out what they can do here. And I think they're

going to say, we're going to take our summer of rest and we're not going anywhere. Big decisions, Kalor. Huge heart and soul player, Tanner Janot. I had heard rumors that Jeannot was going to be a healthy scratch going into game five and someone told me he's not healthy he's not as effective as he can be but he's not healthy and I think after the game that Isamont had in game five, there was no way they were putting Jeannot back in, which I totally understood. I'm curious to see how the Lightning view this. Do they look at it as a healthy Jeannot back next year with an offseason and a camp to fit in? Or do they look in any other potential direction like i wonder if they go to him and try like a nick paul style offer and see what that does that's kind of where

i saw it going before we'll see what the lightning and we'll see it you know say now as a quick aside if they go that route yes and uh the nick paul deal is a 3.1 aside, if they go that route, and the Nick Paul deal is a 3.1 AAV, if they go that route with Tanner Janot, who, by the way, is a restricted free agent, but he does have arbitration rights, that takes up more than all the cap space remaining they have, according to CapFriendly, which right

now is at $2.4 million. They got to really be cautious here about the nickels and dimes. Yes, but then again, as you alluded to, look, like last year, Like they had to really be cautious here about the nickels and dimes. Yes. But then again, as you alluded to look like last year, two days after they lost the Stanley cup final, they went to Ryan McDonough and said, you know,

Hey, we have to do something here. Yeah. So if they want to make sure no work, they're going to make sure no work. Like that's just who they are, Jeff. Yep.

So I operate from the feeling that, and we haven't heard breeze was speak yet. makes you no work they're gonna make you no work like that's just who they are jeff yep so i operate from the feeling that and we haven't heard breezeball speak yet as we tape this but i operate from the point of view that the lightning will not accept that this core is over and they have to retool i agree with that they're gonna come from, we're going to use our summer to rest. That's what we need. And we're coming back next year pissed off. I'm with you. I think they come back with basically the same group kind of because they have to, Elliot. And you have Anthony Sorelli going from 4.8 to 6.2. You have Mikhail Sergeyev going from 4.8 to 8.5. You have Chernak going from 2.9 to 5.2. Like there are some natural raises

that are happening as new contracts kick in. And that's where, to your point, Julian Breezebois makes the difficult decisions. And I think they come back out of necessity because they don't have that depth anymore, whether it's Syracuse or whether it's draft picks, they don't exist anymore for the Tampa Bay Lightning. But I'm with you.

I don't think that this is the end of the Tampa Bay Lightning by a long shot. I think one thing they do have, though, Jeff, I think they have a player in Radish that they weren't sure they had. You can look at him after this series and say, we've got a player here now. And that helps the right side. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay.

So another team that we look at and say, you know what? Maybe they're kind of frozen here too. And they're going to come back with something the same as the New York Islanders. Yep. The Islanders will get to it and just flip it out to center ice. Islanders try to change. They will as the Canes get this buck in deep.

But Pellick gives it away. And a step on. Stasny, he scores! He scores! Paul Stasny ends it in overtime! They lose to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games. They have no first-round draft pick this year. That was thrown Vancouver's way in the Horvat deal.

Beacon of Horvat, he jumps to 8.5 next year. Matthew Barzal jumps to 9.1. UFAs are Simeon Varlamov, Elliot, Scott Mayfield, Zach Parise, Pierre Engvall. Hudson Fashing, who is really good for them. I was impressed with Hudson Fashing this year. Good for them. I was impressed with Hudson Fashing this year. And they only have $6 million of cap space, according to CapFriendly, to play with right now. And by the way, this offseason, they can extend Ilya Sorokin.

Your thoughts on what happens with Team Lou? They just didn't have enough pop. It's that simple. Whether it was the power play, even strength, their scoring dried up. They weren't dangerous enough to beat Carolina. That's what I see. So my question for them is, you're sitting there with Horvat and saying, you're an eight and a half million dollar guy. You've got to be more dangerous than that. It's that simple. Your best players and your highest paid players, they have to deliver more. And I'm sure that the Islanders are going to look at this and they're going to say some of this is internal. Like, I think there's going to be teams looking at Seattle

and what Seattle did this year. You know what it's like when you go into the thrift shop and you find three great t-shirts for $10? That's what Seattle did last summer they got their sprung t-shirt they got their well tolvanen was during the season yeah they got their tolvanen t-shirt and they got their bjorkstrand t-shirt yeah and they're walking out of there and all their friends are jealous because they found those great shirts on the rack before anyone else did. I look at two teams like this. I look at the Islanders like this, and I look at Minnesota like this, but the

Islanders identity has always been down the lineup. We crash and bang. And I think that's very important because I think you need a lot of that and it definitely fits with the identity the Islanders put together and sometimes these things are easier said than done but when I look at the Islanders they've got to find a bit more scoring depth they just didn't have enough to score on Carolina if you're going to win in your division, you know the way that Carolina is going to play, you have to be able to score on them. And they couldn't do it.

It's unfortunate. I look at two players who are in their early 20s, and I wonder, okay, at what point are they really going to pop? One we already saw a little bit of last season towards the end, and that's Noah Dobson. Yeah. And I don't think that this was, you know, by his definition or anyone else's, a successful season for Noah Dobson. And I know there were injuries, but I can't help but thinking that the Islanders had planned to have more offensively from Oliver Wallstrom.

Yes. By this time. Those are a couple. But to some of the UFAs, you have a thought on this one. Now, the Islanders have $6 million of cap space to play with. Varlamov, we've talked about before and that battery with Sorokin. We've talked plenty about Scott Mayfield.

We've talked about the 20 goal campaign by Zach Parise. We've talked about Engvall and we just mentioned Hudson Fashing as well. Do you have a thought on any one, any combination or maybe all of these pending ufas all of this is based on finances we should say i really like fashion i thought he was a good fit there players like fashion who don't know what their future is and

then they find a place that really works for them unless he gets intel that someone's going to blow him out of the water with a huge offer that he can't say no to i find that those kinds of players they kind of look at it like well i really didn't know what i was going to be and now i've found a place to trust me i really don't want to fool around with that so So if the Islanders really believe it's real with fashion and nobody knows them better than they do, I'm going to him and saying can we get some security here, maybe

not at a huge number, but at a number that makes you say yeah, you know what, I'd be happy to lock up for a couple of years and a number where you know you guys can work around i've seen that before engvall to me is really interesting because you know he's got a good numbers case like toronto knew at a certain time that they weren't going to be able to keep him

because the counting stats were always very good the thing about engvall is he's kind of got this reputation whether deserved or undeserved that the sum should be larger than it is like all the parts are there and it should be more than you get you know i think that's why toronto ultimately decided to trade him because they looked at the number that he was going to cost and say we don't think that that number fits for this player like he's such a gifted physical player like he's got every physical gift you could want it's just that the team that knew him the best, they just said, it doesn't work for us. You know, the other one here too, is Josh Bailey. It can't continue.

Didn't get into any of the games. So you have to find a solution for that. And I wonder if that, depending on how they decide to do it, does that clear up some room for the Islanders to do some things? You know, I'd like to talk about Dobson for a second. Sure. He had a rough playoff. You cannot give up on that guy.

He's too talented. No chance. Like, obviously I was watching, you know, we're working the Florida Boston game while that Carolina Islander games going on. So I can't watch this closely.

I'd heard about the complaint about the icing so i re-watched that shift someone told me there were some more icing complaints i didn't see them all i saw the last one dobson took a lot of criticism for that last play obviously you wanted to make a better play but it's not like he had a lot of options there. He didn't really have anywhere he could go with it. I guess he could have gone off the glass. Like, I guess that's the other thing he could have done, but they were in a line change. There weren't any options for him.

Carolina knew it. They're a smart team. They're coming at him, and he was trapped. And as for the icing, you know, the one thing i'll say about that play is people say it's a race to the dot it's not that's not the way it gets officiated what it is is it's at the dot when everyone when the first player gets to the dot the linesman's call is who they think is going to win the race to the puck and not who's first when you get to the dot. And you watch that puck, it's going around the net. That's not an indefensible call. I can tell

you this, no matter which play they ruled that, the other team was going to be mad. If they'd ruled for the Islanders, the Hurricanes were going to be mad because we'd ruled for the islanders the hurricanes were going to be mad because we know rod brindamore isn't always so easy when it comes to calls and i knew when i saw it why the islanders and their fans were going to be mad but that was a tough call because the puck was going around the net and it's not a race to the dot that's the big one when they get to the dot who they think could is going to win the race. And I understood why that call happened. Put it this way, Jeff, I got to say, I heard from a couple of officials last night and

this morning who were not happy with me about some of the comments I made on air Saturday night. But on this one, I thought the icing call was defensible. I think that's one that needs to be banged home too, because everyone thinks it is a race to the dot. It's not at all. It's whoever is in best position to touch the puck first. It becomes so obvious on pucks that go behind the net. Again, like many other calls, it's a judgment call. This isn't just a race to the dot. This is a judgment call.

Who's going to touch the puck first based on where the puck's going? I'm with you on that one. Do you have a thought on Sorokin here? I thought that, I think a lot of us did, found it bizarre that the Islanders season died on a play that we haven't really seen at all this year from the Islanders. A bad play by Ilya Sorokin. He turned in a fantastic season. He's going to appear on many Hart Trophy ballots. That could be number one, but he's going to appear on ballot and on Vesna as well. I just thought it was, and I think everybody did, found it bizarre

that the Islanders season ended with him letting in a very Sorokin-like goal. But they can extend him this offseason. We know how Lou operates. When he identifies someone, he tries to lock them up for as long as he can. Do you think he gets an extension this summer? Do you have a peek inside the brain of Lou here? Yes, and the reason I think he gets an extension this summer is because Lou Lamorello, if he believes he needs you,

then he does not let you go into your last year unsigned. Look, like he can make an offer and Sorokin can say no, like that could always happen. The player has obviously a lot of control here, but you know, when it comes to Sorokin, I think they'll lock them up. I think they recognize how important he is. I think they've always had that in mind. One thing someone said to me about a player like that is,

when you do your last deal, like he signed a bridge deal. You don't think at that time the Islanders and Sorokin didn't talk about a big-term deal. They knew exactly what they'd be looking at when they did the bridge so there's a reason it worked the way it was he said there's no way they didn't know what it would look like it's probably higher now but they still know what it's going to look like and lula amorello let barry trotz go a year ago because he knew he wasn't extending Barry Trotz. So he said, I'm not allowing the uncertainty. He won't allow the uncertainty of Sorokin going into his UFA year. The only way I don't think this guy gets signed is if the Islanders think the ask is outrageous.

Other than that, I think they get him signed. I think they get him signed. Could it be that Kyler Yamamoto might end up being the hero for the Oilers in Game 6? It's his first of the playoffs. 3-0-3 to go here. And they just added a second to the clock. Crunch time for the LA Kings and a must win. And the Oilers somehow find

a way again to regain the lead. Los Angeles Kings. They lose to the Edmonton Oilers in six games. Questions about Vladislav Gavrikov, unrestricted free agent. Jonas Corposalo, netminder, unrestricted free agent.

They're one year away from Montse Kopitar's contract expiring. Gabriel Velarde is a restricted free agent. Rasmus Kupari is a restricted free agent. And through all of this, Brant Clark is coming, Elliot. Yeah. Defenseman Brant Clark is coming. Your thoughts on the Kings? Well, I got to think he's going to be in the NHL next year. I think the Kings could low-key

have a really fascinating offseason. Everybody really loved their prospect base. And then what did the Kings do? They went out and they traded for Victor Arvidsson. They traded for Kevin Viola and they pushed some of their prospects down. We brought up Radish earlier. It was interesting watching the Lightning Toronto series with Derek Lalonde. Or sorry, Derek Lalonde. I keep forgetting. You keep correcting me on this. You're right and I'm wrong. Because Ken Daniels corrected me. Ken's just a busybody. Mind your own business, Ken. But, like, you know, one of the things that Derek talked about was when he watched Radish the whole series, he said, this is why you have to be so patient with young players.

Because Tampa didn't know what they had with Radish, and now they look at him and say, wow, we've got a player here. And Lalonde was so impressed with the way that Radish handled himself. So the Kings here, they're trying to do the same thing. Look, you've lost in the first round two years in a row now. It's not a shame, but you know what that means. The clock is ticking. Now ownership, management, coaches, first round's not enough anymore your

fans we've seen this movie before first round's not enough anymore so you probably have to make decisions on some of these players and the other thing too is some of these players jeff like i'm sure a guy like kaliev and i'm sure he's not the only one like he's like i should be playing i should be in the nhl i'm not an up and down player if i'm not the only one like he's like I should be playing I should be in the NHL I'm not an up and down player if I'm not going to be in your lineup it's time to move on like I think they've got a bunch of these decisions to make I thought Byfield gave them some moments in these series I would have loved to have seen what would have happened if he would have scored once because I think with him the floodgates just would have opened.

But these guys now, I think some of them, they're going to have to say, all right, we consider these guys NHLers and others. Maybe it's time to move on. Clarks, to me, in the NHL next year, but some of their other prospects, do they move on from them and then say, okay, this is what it means for our roster. Cause I think some of those kids are going to be impatient.

They're going to say, you know what? We're not AHLers anymore. We need to be in the NHL. Is it going to be in LA or is it going to be somewhere else? You know, it's, it's fascinating too,

because if you look at the Buffalo Sabres and what they've done, very deliberately now, they've stopped blocking. I understand when you have a bunch of young players, you want to put up blocks in front of them, not ready for the NHL yet. And Kelly Rudy always talks about this, earning your spot, having to take a job from someone else. And I think Kelly is 100% honest. And I believe in that. I believe in that too. Yeah. And then at a certain point you have to take the blocks away. Now, if you look at Buffalo, they're taking the blocks away.

Yeah. Like right now, Buffalo, Kevin Adams believes like it is time for his young guys. They are ready. I think we're going to see more coming up from Rochester next season. And I wonder, I'm with you.

I wonder if LA is at that spot now. Yeah. They've made some blocks here. You wonder if LA's at that spot now. Yeah. They've made some blocks here. You mentioned Fiala. You mentioned Arvidson. You can throw Philip Deneau into that equation as well. Yeah. I wonder if they're starting to say, we need to take some blocks away.

I look at it the other way, Jeff. I think they might say these blocks are going to stay. Like you're not taking Philip Deneau off that team. You're not taking Fiala off that team. I'm just using that as, as examples of guys that they have brought in, but I'm saying like, now you have to start to open up pathways for these guys from the Ontario rain to get into the lineup or move on from them.

Right. That's kind of what I'm saying. Yeah. I wonder if the King's decision is going to be, you know what? We might move on from some of these players. Now elsewhere. I think Todd McClellan gets an extension. decision is going to be, you know what? We might move on from some of these players. Now, elsewhere, I think Todd McClellan gets an extension. Gavrikov, they will try to sign. Now, I think they've tried to sign Gavrikov. I've talked about this many times. Everybody had permission to talk to Gavrikov.

Before the Kings made the trade, I think they tried to sign him. I think they said, here's the max we can do, and I think it was probably just under five, and they couldn't get it done. I don't think that number is going to get it done, but I could see the Kings trying to get Gavrikov done. You know, Corpus Sallow, he gave them a great run here. On some level, like, knowing Rob Blake

kind of the way I do, one of the most competitive players of his generation, he's sitting there looking and saying, we were up two games to one, and we had a 3-0 lead in game four. And that's not all on Corpus Salo, but now you've got to make a big

decision on do we sign them again i don't want anyone to make a thing like rob blake's gonna look at that and say no because i don't think that's true but a guy like rob blake that will bother him that'll make him be at least i'm not not sure, at least in the short term. We'll see where it goes. He and the rest of the Kings, they're going to be angry about it in the interim because that's just the way competitors are. But I just wonder,

does that change the equation at all for them, Jeff? Well, you know what? That sort of leads into the elephant in the room here. The Los Angeles Kings need a goalie. Yeah. The Los Angeles Kings need a goalie. Yeah. The Los Angeles Kings need goaltending. And to your previous point, I look at this Los Angeles Kings team and I say they are loaded with prospects. Now, it's tough for these guys to find spots right now.

Like we're talking about Brant Clark and players like Jordan Spence. You know, those two guys are probably fighting over one spot next year on the blue line. And there's a lot of guys that'd be fighting for a spot. To me, LA looks like a team that is poised to make a big move for a goaltender and they have the assets to do it. Yeah, I agree. Desirable young assets.

The way this thing is heading, I think if we're looking at summer blockbusters coming out of anywhere, I'd look at Los Angeles and it would be around a goaltender. I think you're right. I think it's a great call. You know, earlier in the year,

as you know, I thought that it might be Demco time in Vancouver. Yep. And to me, LA made all the sense in the world. I don't think Vancouver will consider that now. All right. The Minnesota wild, another first round exit. They lose to Dallas in six world. I don't think Vancouver will consider that now. Alright, the Minnesota Wilds.

Another first round exit. They lose to Dallas in six games. And the remaining faithful not pleased as Fabers' long shot at the horn tipped wide. The Dallas Stars take game number six. Four to one. They are moving

on and the Minnesota Wilds fail to advance out of the first round as they have now dropped six straight opening round playoff series. Another great regular season out of the Minnesota Wild, 103 points. Marc-Andre Fleury talking about one more season. UFAs here are Gustav Nyquist, Oscar Sundqvist, Ryan Reeves, Marcus Johansson on the blue line, Matt Dumba, and John Klingberg. sunquist uh ryan reeves marcus johansson on the blue line matt dumba and john clingberg

philip gustafson is a restricted free agent kaylin addison as well we have players that are bumping up to higher compensation next season most notably matt boldy who jumps up to seven million dollars and now the quote-unquote dead buyout cap space jumps from 12.7 million to 14.7 million. Elliot, oh, and they need a number one center, comma, still. Your thoughts on Minnesota? Well, I just think a lot of that's going to have to come from within, Jeff. Number one centers are hard to find. Now, I don't know if Kaprizov still felt the effects of

the ankle injury, but he was not himself. Zuccarello was not himself, and Boldy, and it was the second playoffs, he looked overwhelmed. And I think it will come for him eventually. I think he's too good. You're not going to win a playoff series if three of your most important offensive players struggle, especially not against that team. Like, if you're going to beat the Dallas Stars, Kaprizov, Boldy, and Zuccarello have to be impactful. And it's almost that simple with me to Minnesota.

impactful and it's almost that simple with me to minnesota but the one thing i i do think is that like the islanders they have a certain identity and i think you need that identity i don't worry about the wild making the playoffs because when you play like they do in the regular season not too many other teams play like that yeah you're gonna get enough opponents who see and they're like oh i don't want to deal with this tonight it's seasons too long to put up with getting thrown around by these guys that i think you're safe and you're good but they need more finish and it's going to come from two places one their best players have to deliver in the postseason but number two they have to do that thrift shopping like they had a great deal marcus johansson this year yep i thought that was a great deal for them but now they've got to find someone they can get for a really low

price like that they like to use their depth to beat people up, which again, I don't think is a terrible strategy, but I think they have to find one or two more players like Seattle did. Well, you know what makes things easier for them right out of the gate, Elliot? The presence of Brock Faber. Yes. I know it's a very, very small sample size, but we're saying goodbye to Matt Dumba on the right side. Are we saying hello full-time to Brock Faber on the right side here? I think so.

Like that Dumba run, you never thought it was going to end. Like how many trade rumors was that guy mentioned? You never thought it was going to end with him. Oh man, too many. You know, the thing about Minnesota, too, and I really read Russo's stuff because he's very plugged in. Like, he's talking about do they move on from Marco Rossi and Kalen Addison.

And look, like, first of all, I'll say this. Minnesota knows those guys better than anyone else. So if there's problems in those cases i will defer that bill garren knows more than i do but again i go back to what i'm calling on this podcast the radish rule you give up on young players especially young players as talented as those two guys are at your own risk unless the wild are absolutely convinced that those two players cannot help them i wouldn't be trading those guys yeah they couldn't play full-time yet in minnesota's eyes those guys can score and minnesota couldn't score one of my favorite lines i've heard in the NHL is you have two ways to fix your problem.

You can solve it internally or you can trade it. It's always better to solve it internally. Let me finish with this one. And it's a little bit of sports talk radio catnip. So the Minnesota wild have $3 million worth of cap space. Yeah. They play in the, I'm new to hockey here, help me out. Do they play in a division called the Central?

Is that the one where Minnesota plays? I'm new to hockey. Yes, they do, young Merrick. Yes, they do. Okay, thank you. Now, is there a team called Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL? And if there is, do they also play in this, check notes, Central division as well?

Is there a team called Chicago, Elliot, Mr. Friedman? Yes, Jeff, they do. Welcome to hockey. Yes, you're correct. Now, I was on a website on the weekend. I love websites and I love Twitter and I love social media. And I spend a lot of time there. And I read on a website that a team,

this team called the Chicago Blackhawks has like 40 million dollars next year so they can buy players and minnesota like they're they're gonna have a hard time signing a lot of guys i read on a website so maybe if you were like um chicago you might do something uh how do you pronounce it? I'm not sure if I'm going to say it right. Offer sheet someone like Philip Gustafson because he's a goalie and you need a goalie and you have a lot of money. Now your newness is showing. This is a stupid proposal. Do you think the Chicago Blackhawks are going to offer sheet someone? Not a chance.

I don't know. I'm putting it out there. We always talk about preying on a team's salary cap structure. Why would the Chicago Blackhawks, who are doing the tank-a-thon supreme right now, like it's not just a regular tank-a-thon, it's a tank-a-thon supreme. Yes. Rebuilds are about getting good players. And you just don't go about it one way.

All I'm saying is, if I'm the Chicago Blackhawks, I have all this cap space. And I look at what Minnesota is up against next season. I know that the offer sheet is a very, very rare creature in the NHL. I just want to throw it out there as a source of conversation. If I'm wrong, I'm not going to offer to lick the carpet like Jesse Pollock did,

but I would be very surprised if Chicago offers you to fill up Gustafson. You mentioned one of my favorite lines, and it's from Grandma Friedman, and that is you plan, God laughs. Sunday is a huge day for your grandmother.

Do you care to share this with our listenership? Yeah, she passed away a while ago. But Jeff, these are not words that come really easy to me. It's not a subject I'm overly comfortable talking about. But she's going into the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame today and taking the day off. I'm not working the two games seven tonight, so big break for the viewers, Jeff. But I'm just headed up to the ceremony. It's going to be interesting. Like, you know, she came canada to start a new life

montreal wasn't a great fit for her and she ended up in kitchener waterloo and uh she loved it there i still remember the day where she had to leave my uh my grandfather had died she was living on her own and it was just time to go into a home and get a bit more uh help you know she was so independent man she was tough and she was independent and i still remember i was away at the playoffs and i called her the night before she left and you know we had uh we had a conversation and uh it was it was tough for her to leave. And, you know, like it's interesting, like she's going in, I think, with seven other people. And there's some athletes here and there's some people who worked in government for a while, all very deserving. I read their bios and, you know, she's going to the Hall of Fame because she was a Hall of Fame person, really.

And I'm glad I get to go. It's very meaningful. And, you know, it's like, you know, it's kind of funny, Jeff. It's just like, I don't know, it's nice to see someone just get recognized for who they are. Like it's, I don't know

how I'm going to handle this, but I'm really, I'm really happy for her. That's all. All right, Elliot, some news to wrap up this part of the podcast. What is the latest with the Ottawa Senators?'m sure there's I mean every week there's something new as we march towards some type of conclusion what do you think

this week will bring well Bruce had an article on Friday I think it was about Ryan Reynolds preparing and Remington Group preparing a billion dollar bid I don't have any reason to believe Bruce is wrong about that I think he's right it's been

reported the deadline is may 15th but i think a push is coming from reynolds and remington i think they're going to push hard this week i believe that group has been in contact with the nhl in the last little while about what it's thinking and what it would like to do. I think there's some alignment with the Melnick family. I think there's some alignment with the local potential part of the ownership group, which is Jeff York. I think they have been getting everything in line and I don't have a hundred percent answer what clarity is going to mean yet, but I think this week we're all going to get some indication about how serious they are and that they're ready.

Um, and through all of it, we anticipate Ryan Reynolds to be charming as Ryan Reynolds has always been. That is the constant here. You know, the other thing too is I had heard there'd been some conversation about maybe some of these groups combining. I don't think that's going to happen. I think it kind of fell apart over the last week or two, but I do think there was some conversation

between Reynolds and Remington and some of the other groups about getting together. But I think it fell apart. This isn't then like Remington versus the world? No, I don't think that's going to happen. I think if anything, people talk to them about joining them. And I think there were conversations, but I heard it had fallen apart. We'll see if it changes, but I heard that.

Okay. New week on the horizon here. Calgary Flames, anything new there? I think we're also going to get clarity on their coaching situation this week. I do. I think it's been a pretty hard week of internal conversations. I believe that as an organization, they went through the player interviews, the end of year interviews. I think there was a lot of time spent processing them and some of the things that were said. And I think we get clarity this week. Any idea when we get clarity on the general manager's position or is that end of the year

once everyone is done no i think they're i mentioned i think on friday i think they're going to start doing some interviews okay on that we'll wrap uh hope everybody enjoys game seven on monday night and round two which begins on tuesday taking us out is a thai australian singer-songwriter and producer from Melbourne. Tally Rodden, stage name Rice Wine, treats his music like a time capsule, telling the story from that period of his life. From his 2017 record

here's Rice Wine featuring Brandon Eugene Smith with Dreams Nightmares. 32 Thoughts, the podcast baby you call me sometimes maybe I'm the one else going for me baby

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