32 Thoughts: The Podcast - You’re on the First Floor!?

Episode Date: May 22, 2026

In this episode of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin by revisiting Montreal's domination over Carolina in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final. They also unpack Game 1 from the Western Conference Final between the Golden Knights and Avalanche (13:30). Elliotte runs through the markets that continue to search for an answer at head coach (23:00). The guys dissect what's next for the Sabres (26:00) and Ducks (33:30) now that their seasons are done. The Final Thought focuses on a couple players; Simon Nemec, Mario Ferraro, and Dan Vladar (44:00).  Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and comments in The Thought Line (51:06). 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

Dave Amber full-on tarps off in the gym just rushing a workout. He's like, oh, there's no one else in here. He's like, who cares? Just getting comfortable. I'm like, hey, man. I still feel, Kyle, that that's kind of a violation. This is a public gym. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast,

presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 2026 Tacoma, Get yours before red tag days are over. Your Friday edition, Dom Shramati is our producer. My name is Kyle Bukascus, joined by Elliot First Floor Friedman from Raleigh, North Carolina. Oh, I knew I was going to get this. I knew I was going to get this. So at the end of the night, Dom, we finish the show. We come back to the hotel.

And as we're going our separate ways to record the podcast, Kyle Bacoskis and producer Jeff Giridat see me not walking to the elevator, but the hallway beside the elevator. And they look at me with snobbish disgust and pity and contempt. You're on the first floor? Yes. Yes, I am.

I am on the first floor. We had a nightmare travel day. We were supposed to fly on Wednesday night to Carolina to Raleigh, but our flight was canceled. So we had to fly at 6 a.m. to Charlotte. And then we drove Alvin Sison, the great sports net cameraman, was the one that the car, it had to be under his name because he needs it for his gear. So he drove the two and a half hours from Charlotte to Raleigh so we could work. and as a result, I checked in at that time when it's early to check in, but nobody has left yet. And as a result, yes, I got put on the first floor like a total loser.

We were shocked. We're like, where's Elliot going? Elevators were over here. And you just kept walking. It was amazing. And it was, yeah, that's quite the travel snafoo, you guys, and apparently somebody asked Alvin that, you know, who drove out of the three? And he was like, I'm not trusting those two guys.

I don't. I have to say this, for all of you listening, Kyle could not wait to get to his podcast microphone to drop that first floor line on everybody. He was so excited that I can get an edge over you on and that was one so I had to take advantage so that was good all right I had to take advantage there

and credit to the Montreal Canadiens Valley we watched Thursday night taking advantage of a well-rested Carolina Hurricanes team coming into game one of this Eastern Conference final I don't know about where you and Dave were stationed. It was deafening in that building at the start of the game. And obviously when Seth Jarvis opened the scoring, and it was an absolute Hornets nest.

But it's amazing, Fridge. The hurricanes gave up five goals over their four games against Ottawa and round one. They gave up five goals against Philadelphia in their sweep of them in round two. They give up five in game one plus an empty netter for good men. measure to Montreal in game one of this Eastern Conference final. Fresh off another emotional game seven, the Canadians were in rhythm to begin this series against the hurricanes. Yes, they were.

And I think there's going to be a lot of people who say the hurricanes were dopey or they just weren't sharp. I think that cheats the Canadians out of what they accomplished in game number one. The hurricanes were 8 and 0. they were a steamroller. They played the minimum number of games. They set a record for most days off between series and the Stanley Cup playoffs. And they were 8 and 0 for a reason.

They were doing almost everything perfectly. They weren't giving up goals. They were scoring when they did it too. They weren't falling behind too often. They were getting great play up and down the lineup, including in goal. And as you said, they had that early lead. and then the Canadians who don't seem to be phased too much by early disadvantages, as we learned in the Buffalo series, they just exploded all over them and dominated them.

And I think the thing that really stood out to me was not the fact that they had four goals in the first 11 and a half minutes. But when Eric Robinson scored to make it four to two, as you've talked about, that building gets deafening. I still remember game seven of the 2006 Stanley Cup final when they stood for the entire third period as they beat the Oilers to win the cop. And this is an arena that gets very, very loud. And so they come in for the third period. It's four to two.

The second period, the ice was tilted. They thought they were going to dominate the final 20 minutes. And Montreal gave them zero, not. nothing, no shots for the first 18 and a half minutes. To me, that was as impressive, if not more impressive, than the four goals they scored in the first 11.5 minutes of the game. In a building that was hostile, in a building that was excited, in a building that was difficult to play in,

they absolutely smothered them and held on, not just held on, but were never really seriously threatened. And I think if you just say, oh, the hurricanes had too much rest. They weren't themselves. They were sloppy. That's not what this story was about. Were they as good as they've been? Obviously not.

But a big part of that was the team at the other end. And Dobish really outduled Anderson. Now, some of those goals early, Kyle, were just ridiculous chances, like unbelievable chances. Guys walking in alone. Slavkovsky, the goal, he scored. in the third period was ridiculous. He walked in alone. He recognized he was,

Svetnikov was the last guy back and he couldn't do anything against him. Anderson's going to take a beating because that's just what people do, but I don't look at this and say this one's on him. This was a full domination. Canadians deserve all the credit performance, take nothing away from them

in game one of the Eastern Conference final. No, not at a, all. And it's, I was kind of surprised by this, but in some of the stuff we got from Sport Logic before this game, just going over a couple of key storylines from their perspective, one of the things they pointed out was, like, as much as Carolina's, you know, steamrolled through the first two rounds, they've kind of been average when it comes to giving up chances off the rush and giving up chances from the inner slot. And that was true in the regular season. and it kind of carried over into the playoffs

among the 16 teams that got in. And of course we saw just the rush chances that were given up. It was incredible for Montreal right out of the gate. So they were ready for that and were ready to expose it. And it was interesting Marty St. Louis after the game saying how as they were tied at two with Buffalo four games and trying to hang on and win that series,

Meanwhile, while all that's going on, Alex Burroughs is still part of the coaching staff. He was pouring over video of just the hurricanes because they knew for a while that if they were to get through Buffalo, that's who would be waiting for them on the other side. So even though it was a tighter turnaround, certainly there's an emotional aspect that maybe wasn't there, going into their series against the Sabres that was there here on Thursday night. I think beyond that, like tactically, there was a lot of work being done behind the scenes. and when it was presented to the players, once it came time for that,

you know, they were a prepared group coming into Thursday. There's no question. Kyle, you need to have guys who can score. The hurricanes will give you chances, but you have to be able to score. And we all know the Canadians have talented scores, but at even strength, they hadn't been doing it.

Who got an even strength goal? Caulfield. Who got an even strength goal? Slavkovsky. Remember how we talked about hurdle, feeling the confidence of doing, something and his drought was much longer than these guys. They've had trouble at even strength. They go out of game one feeling really, really good about themselves. And that might be the

best thing about the Montreal victory for them is that Slavkovsky, who had really struggled to even strengthen the playoffs, Lee's feeling really good about himself with a beautiful goal. I like that the hurricane stayed with Anderson. I thought maybe when it was four-d-down, or 4-1. They might take him out, but again, he hadn't played in a long time. I thought it was the smart move to keep him in there. You know, interesting thing, I had a few Canadians fans who sent me, like, just notes. When we were talking about the series in the last pod,

what about the fact Montreal swept them in the regular season? And I don't always put a ton of stock in that. And the reason is regular season, 82 games, there's times you slip, where are you in the schedule, there's always going to be a team you don't play well against, and there's always going to be games where you don't have the details, right? I think in the playoffs, that goes away. I think in the playoffs, you know you get one team for seven games,

you're focused, you're sharper, you understand the plans. But for me who thought that way, that was one for the people who looked at it in the opposite direction, that Montreal has their number. Still early, lots of time to play. And one of the thing that I didn't get a chance to mention in game one, Brindamore has played twice in the playoffs as a coach against teams that have swept him in the regular season. One was the Capitals in 2019, and the Hurricanes won that series in seven games.

And the next was the next year in the bubble against the Rangers. and the hurricanes swept them. So in this case, Carolina seems to be better in the postseason against teams who've done well in the regular season, but that flew in the face of what we saw in game number one. Should be a much different night. On Saturday, the hurricanes certainly hope so.

No question. I typically tend to feel once the playoffs start, Elliot, it like the regular season stuff just feels old typically you know i agree it's it's just it's a brand new slate especially now that we're we're three rounds into it um but you know i i just think regardless of what happened in those three games montreal was was a prepared group and uh carolina you know didn't didn't have their best like you know i almost had to laugh with brittimore after the game when he was asked about jacob slaven being minus four in this game he's like ah like eight years i've been coaching i'm like i've never never seen that before you know

It was just one of those nights for the hurricanes. I was looking at it after the first three goals. He was on the ice for all of them. I had to do a double take and make sure I wasn't somehow getting it wrong. You just don't see it ever. No. And Craig did a good job showing on the broadcast. Just some of the over-aggressiveness, I think certainly from the defense,

where two guys go to one guy and that leaves somebody else open for Montreal. Anyway, just one of those. And y'all were wondering going in, okay, how was the layoff going to affect Carolina? I don't think it was a lack of effort, but maybe just effort spent in the wrong places. So game one to Montreal on the road, and worst case, they'll take a split back home

when the series shifts there after game two on Saturday night. Anything else from this one here, Elliot, before we move on to the West? Not really. I think we've broken. broken it down enough. What else can be said? We've said it all. That's right. Moving on then. So game one, Vegas, Colorado. I mean, look, first of all, you could understandably so. The avalanche are a different team without Kail Makar in the lineup. And I wonder it was the day before that Bednar was asked about him and he said, you know, I'm not worried

about it yet. And I believe he skated the morning of of game one, too, did he not? That's true. Yes. So I don't know if that's, if that has caused for more concern for, for Colorado or

or not that it was almost a little more last minute that they thought, okay, he can't go. But nevertheless, just like Montreal, it was an impressive showing from Vegas to come on the road into a hostile environment. and not lucked their way into a victory, they took Game 1 from the President's trophy winners.

I kind of had the impression that when McCar skated early that morning, that Colorado was doing this as a plan. They were saying, not that we're going to punt game 1, because they still have a really good team. and they came out hard and they can still win games without McCar. But I definitely had a feeling when I heard that, that they'd made the choice that he wasn't going to play, that they said that we're doing this,

we're making the call, we're giving them a couple extra days, and we think we'll be better off long term for that. Now, I thought the avalanche came out really well, and then Vegas kind of stood up and got going again. And Vegas did what they do. They set up their wall, they set up their structure, and Colorado had a difficult time getting through it. And that's the way Vegas is going to win this series if they do. They're just going to make it really hard for Colorado to get through them.

And I thought for the most part in game one after the early bits, they did a really good job of it. You know, I'll tell you this, I am not convinced Vegas's initial plan was for John Tororello to coach them next year. I really wonder if their plan was to turn it over to Ryan Craig, who is a really good young coach who coach their HL, team and Henderson and has a long history with Kelly McCriman as a player and now a coach. But I'll say this about Tortorella. If anybody thought that he couldn't coach anymore, he is proving you wrong. And I'm curious to see, I kind of joked about it. Like, how about Tortoralla in Edmonton?

I don't know if that's even possible or not. But, Kyle, don't you think people are going to be looking at what's happened since he got there and saying, hmm, guy still wants to do it, guy can still do it. And the situation is kind of perfect for him too. I mean, he's talked about, obviously, it's a veteran group. He's going, I'm just kind of staying out of the way for a lot of this stuff. it's a dynamic that seems to fit him and where he's at because this is a team that's full of guys that are capable and now just getting the guidance at the right times

from someone who's been around forever. Like situationally, it's been, you know, an upper deck home run to this point. Like I said, Kyle, there's got to be somebody looking at this and saying, hey, if Vegas doesn't want him to coach next year, maybe we will. I was very happy for Dylan Coglin, and I'm going to make sure that I pronounced that right,

because one time I called him Coughlin, and his mom very politely sent me a DM saying it's Coglin, not Coughlin. Oh, well done, Melanie. Yeah, congratulations. It was a great moment, like the big smile on his face, and you could see how happy his teammates were for him. I don't panic about Colorado. It's going to be a long series.

You know, this one's going to be punch, counter punch. You know, the one thing that's amazing to me is that Vegas on the special teams, they are just dominating special teams. They scored on the power play. They were two for two, I believe, on the penalty kill. And the great stat about Vegas this year in the playoffs, is they've allowed four power play goals and they've scored four short-handed goals.

So they're a net zero on their special teams, which really is incredible. But again, in this one, they didn't score on the penalty kill, but Brett Howden's big goal came right after one. And their special teams are enormous for them. And the other one is that Hart, who had a nightmare of a season,

continues to be really good in the playoffs. And all of this is the record, that Vegas will need to win, and in game one, they got it. But again, lots of time still to go. McCar is obviously going to be a factor at some point in this series. It's early, but Vegas gets an early steal on the road in the first series where they don't have home ice advantage. Yeah, and you could tell it was a frustrated night for Nathan McKinnon

at certain points and you can only assume that's not going to be the way every night, however long this series goes. But you could tell it was there a couple times the body language even in the post game.

So that'll be something to watch going forward. And I will just say to Elliot, for everyone out there that was well, it's Marner against Utah. Well, it's Marner. Against the ducks. Can't make those same arguments anymore.

That was a heck of a play he made. That play passed the door if he hadn't happened for 20 seconds when somebody texted me and said, you know how you pointed, you asked people to put it behind them? I was like, yeah. He goes, good luck with that. That's right.

It's not going away. He's like, that'll be you, like you single-handedly fighting a tornado. You have no chance of winning this battle. That's right. He brought a twig to a tornado fight. How do you expect a... Silly man, he brought a knife to a gunfight. That's very good, Elliot.

Nice. Oh, my gosh. Out of nowhere. Not bad. That was very good. Yeah, and also, I mean, you mentioned Dylan Cogling, getting the scoring started for Vegas. I thought his interview with Sean McKenzie afterwards was excellent.

There's a guy who, I don't think, you know, far from a guarantee that, you know, was he going to get a chance to play in the National Hockey League again? He'd pretty much spent all year in the American League and now look at him. I think I mentioned on the podcast before. I mean, I've got a bit of a personal connection to the family. I mean, he played hockey and baseball with my younger brother for a few years. So I've known him for a long time. So I've got a soft spot for him till the end of time because of it.

And anyway, like, he's just just been playing well. Like, he's been a great, great influence on the Vegas blue line. And the goal is just a bonus for them. One thing Vegas does maybe better than anybody else is their pro scouting. They find guys that fit. They find guys that fit. Yeah. I did, I did, speaking of guys that fit, there was a new face who showed up with Vegas in game one in Denver.

And that was John Rosascoe. And you know John, a long time media relations person and front office staffer with the New York Rangers and then the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's been around the NHL for a long time. I heard he was there. and I assume that Vegas brought him in to help manage things after their public relations or media relations snafu of last week. And I was just glad to hear he was back. I was very happy for him.

Nice. I hadn't heard that either. That's great. Yeah. Someone told me he was there. Okay. Thanks for that, Elliot. All right.

So game two of that one goes later to. night from Denver. Why don't we go on to just some other newsworthy notes here as we work our way through a more abbreviated version of the pod compared to some of the others throughout these playoffs, Elliot. But we'll start with the coaching question that still remains in a few markets. Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and L.A. that still has the interim tag around DJ Smith for the time being. So, Kyle, one of the tricky things about reporting on a lot of. of these this year is that we seem to have different kinds of talks. Some are initial conversations, some are Zooms, and then we get to formal interviews. Like I said, oh, like someone getting a formal

interview there? No, it was just like an initial conversation. That's happening all over the place. So Toronto, I think, is in their initial conversation. Like Nashville started that. And now everybody is doing it. It's all the Predators' fault. So Toronto, I think, is doing their initial conversations. I think they've had a few of them this week, and they're going to start to go deeper over the next few days and next week. So I think that's where Toronto is, still early in the process. Vancouver, I get the sense we're going to know likely about many Malhotra in the next next few days. All right.

I don't want to put any time. Yeah, I don't want to put like a timeline on it, but I think we're at least into the part where I think they really decide if this is where they're going to go and can they work out all the details. So I think that process really starts now with Malhotra. LA, I think Ken Holland was quoted on Thursday as saying he's heading to the Memorial Cup, so there likely won't be anything while that's going on. So we'll let that play out.

Edmonton, again, when Kelly McCriman met with the media the night before the Western Conference final, he said that he will make decisions after their season. and he was referring to Bruce Cassidy. We talked about this in the last pod. Vegas was sending out signals they weren't going to allow Edmonton or L.A. to talk to him. Again, I don't know if Toronto's even asked, but they weren't going to let Edmonton or L.A. talk to him.

The fact that McCriman didn't shut it down completely there and said, we'll talk after the season. It's opened the door a little bit. I think the Oilers will wait to see this play out. That's what my guess is they do. They wait to see when Vegas is done if they can talk to Cassidy.

You know, one of the things I wanted to do, too, Kyle, was do some dissections of Buffalo and Anaheim. For Buffalo, we talked a lot about them in the last pod, but there's, you know, there's a few things. things I wanted to go over. If you heard Yarmokekelein, you heard some of the players, he told Alex Tuck and Tuck agreed that they want to find a way to make it work.

He told Benson and Benson said, we'd like to be here. We'd like to sign you up for a long time. Okay, Byram is also a year away. Benson is a restricted free agent right now. What I'm hearing about the Sabres is that they have decisions to make. Because, and again, things can change with one phone call. I still heard Tuck and the Sabres were apart. Now, I don't know if they talked at all during the place. playoffs and who knows, maybe we drop the pod on Friday morning and they announced he's signing.

But I just heard before the playoffs that they were still apart. And Byron is at 625, and if he's a year away from unrestricted free agency, if he hits the market the way he's playing at 25 years old, it's going to be, he's getting a big raise. and Benson, you know, they just signed Donne long term at just under $7 million. We'll see what they do with Benson, but Benson's a guy. Like, I believe when you have guys like that, you lock them up for as long as you can because the price never goes down. You heard the way people talked about Benson, opponents, teammates,

the organization. B.Xa was comparing him to Brad Marchand and MacLen celebrate me. Yeah, Luke Shen said that he'll take the Marchand role on Team Canada at the international level. Like that price is only going to go up. They also have the one headache next year of Skinner where it's the biggest year of his buyout,

almost six and a half million. And I think that, the sabers know that they have choices to make. And I think what he's going to do is he'll talk to talk, see where they are. But like I said, last I heard, I heard there was a gap. Again, one phone call can change anything, everything. And who knows if it's happened since the season ended. They're going to want to take care of Benson long term.

And I heard they want to keep Byram too. How do you do all that? how do you make all that fit? And I think that's, those are the choices that they're going to have to make. Like I had some people saying to me, you know, maybe you trade Owen Power. You know, the way I saw Owen Power play in these playoffs, man, I am not eager to trade that guy. He played hard. He played tough.

He played hurt. I think that kid has come a long way. a long way. I think the interesting one there that they have is Kesselring. Kesselring didn't play in the playoffs. And really, he was far down the death chart. He's a restricted free agent, one year away from unrestricted free agency. I think that he's better.

Like, it just didn't work this year. Sometimes that happens. I think he's better than that, Kyle. and as a right shot, I think they'll have no problem finding somewhere for him to play if they decide to do it. I think the big challenge for the savers here in Keckelan will be aware of it is that, you know, next year or this summer, wherever he gets his next contract or wherever it comes is his best chance to really hit it big. like if he goes somewhere on a one-year deal or whatever or he takes an arbitration award and he goes somewhere,

he has to play because it's his best chance to hit a home run with a contract. And I would just think this year and after the way it worked out this year, I'm just not sure that's the best idea for the player. So I'm going to be very curious to see how that works out. because it's that point in your career where you have to go somewhere where you're going to play. Well, especially because, Elliot, two of the defensemen they traded for at the deadline, Shannon Stanley, their UFAs, Zach Metsa does have another year, but not the worst case to have potentially another body on the right side

and just bank on Kesslerang having a much better year. So absolutely that's something to consider there. I mean, you know kind of where at least the ballpark for a guy like Tuck, if you're going to keep him, what that's going to look like. I'm really curious in the case of Benson, where obviously it was a big time second half of the year, obviously a phenomenal playoffs. And now, like, what that looks like,

is it a slam dunk that they try to go term there? Is there possibility for a bridge? That's when I don't have a very good read on at all in terms of what makes most sense, I guess, for A, the team and also what the player may want to do. Do you have any read on that yet? They just went term on Done. Now, I know Done is older. I think he's three years older. That says to me they're going term.

If they can. If they can. They're going term. And that was one of the first things that Keckleina did when he took over, right? Was getting that Josh Done contract. locked up. Now, maybe they can't, but that's going to be the attempt.

That's going to be the attempt, his term. I agree with you, the don't contract is excellent. And you know what? I was happy to hear that Yeri Kulik is going to be able to resume his career. And we'll also see what happens

with Devon Levi, because I don't know. I kind of see that the, it's interesting. There's a lot of talk there now about Sebastian Kosa. You know, Grand Rapids had a great, regular season, the American Hockey, I think they started 29 and 1,

but they were knocked out of the Calder Cup playoffs by the Chicago Wolves on Thursday night. You know, and Sebastian Kosa wasn't playing. So there's a couple of young goalies there, COSA and Levi. I'm curious to see who's going to jump at those opportunities. Okay. How about the Anaheim Ducks getting to the second round of the playoffs

after an absence in the postseason that dated back to 2018. How do you feel about them heading into the offseason? Well, you have to feel really good, right? The window is opening. They have an incredible amount of talent. They play fast, they play hard, they've got a lot of skill. You know, you look at it, and the other thing, too, is, you know, for Pat for Beak,

I always knew he was sharp, but now seeing him in the GM chair, he's patient and you know I think it's hard for organizations to be patient sometimes but he was he looks like he's hit a lot of home runs and what he really has done extremely well is say identify what they don't have and find those players and then fit them in I just find the other pieces you know Ryan Paling unfortunately got knocked out of the playoffs, but you looked at him, they got him in the Trevor Ziegres trade, and people were like, oh, throw in. Well, Paling fit a really good place in the Anaheim roster. He became a valuable player for them. Jeffrey Veal, another guy, you know, nobody really thought about it when they got him. I assume they're going to try to

keep him, he became a really good piece for them. You know, Ian Moore, Tim Washy, like all these guys are guys that, you know, weren't like Anaheim has so many sexy young names, but all these guys fit. And I think Seneca is another one because, and again, Kevin told this story, Verbeek says, I need a power forward. Well, where are you going to get it in the draft? Well, you're not going to trade for one? No, you can't get them. And he identified. Ceneca and he put him on his roster. I think it's, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, I think, has a really good idea of roster construction and what he needs.

You know, the John Carlson one will be interesting. He's got, he's got, he's got three veteran UFAs on defense. Um, you know, the John Carl's one will be interesting. There's some thought he wants to go back east. We'll find out if that's true. You know, Goudis. battled a lot of injuries. He's your captain, though.

And Truba, you know, I think Truba fills a really good role for them, a really good role for them. I think he protected a lot of their guys, and I think young players need that. It'll be interesting because I could see Pat Verbeek saying, we want that done, but we want that done on our terms, which brings me to the most interesting part of that. this. First of all, they have a lot of young D. They have, you know, Lacombe, obviously, he's a stud. They have Mintukov, they have Zellweger. You know, Mintukov, I thought, really took off in the back part of the year. There was some talk that he might want to be traded, and he played a lot better, and he got more of a role. Zellweger was a scratch at the start of the playoffs, and then I

thought he finished up better. But they also have Tristan Luno, who's 22 years old, another right-hand shot. Like all these kids want to play, right? And, you know, I just think, you know, Verbeek can just say, I'm going to keep you all. But I think a lot of them, I think when you're that age, you want to play. They're all 22. And it'll be interesting to see how Verbeek handles that. But the real test is going to be Goce and it's going to be Leo Carlson.

And they're both up. And Kyle, I was talking to a couple people this week about the group of four. Okay. And the group of four is Celebrini, Bedard, Fantilli, and Carlson. And here we're going to add Cutter Goce because Cutter Goce had 41 goals. this year. That's a big number. So as we've talked about, Verbeek and his negotiator, Jeff Solomon, they've really held the line. They have really held the line. Terry is at seven. Grandland is at seven, a UFA, McTavish, an RFA.

He got to seven. And then, you know, obviously the big one was Jackson Lacombe, who got to nine. And like a lot of these other bigger contracts, Carlson, they inherited. Truba, they inherited. Kreider, they inherited. So now, though, we're going into a new cap era with his two best forwards. And I was talking about this with someone and we were kind of laughing. you know Anaheim's going to try to hold the line here. The question is,

and this is going to be like waving a red flag in front of the Verbeek Bull, can you? With where the cap is going, can you reasonably hold the line, especially if you want term? Like McTavish signed for six years, six times seven. if you're signing those two guys, Carlson and Goce, for six years, I don't think you're keeping the number at seven. And I think it's going significantly higher than that.

And what everybody's wondering, like, Celebrini is almost a unicorn, because if he walks in there and says 20%, the sharks are going to have to give it to him. Now, I don't know that he's going to do that, but, you know, he could. But the thing is, Bedard, the Blackhawks are going to have to give him a big number. Fantilli, I think he's still going to be around somewhere close to eight figures, especially with terms, if not eight figures. And Carlson, I think, for sure, and potentially Goce for sure. So I think everybody's wondering who's going to go. first. You know, Celebrity can't go until July 1st. The other guys can all do it beforehand. Who's going first? What's the number? And how does it affect all the other guys? And, like, do we wait till July 1st and see what Celebrity signs for?

or, you know, I don't know that the Anaheim guys are going to be first. I really don't know. I could be totally wrong, but I don't see it. I could see Chicago just saying, all right, this is our franchise player. We're doing it. And I could see Columbus, which just gave a really big contractor, Charlie Coil, at a time that they're, it's a, It's a big time for their franchise and Zach Worensky's getting closer to UFA.

I could see them saying we're not fooling around with this either. So, but Anaheim's the one team because they've always kept a hard line, but we're in a new era with two absolute stud young players. And I actually think that the conversations between Carlson, Goce, and the Ducks could be among the most fascinating negotiations of the off season. I really like the team. You know, like you always wonder when someone takes over a team, do you look at their vision and say,

I believe in that. I do believe in Pat Rubin's vision. I think he has a really good handle on what he wants to do, and I think he's executed it extremely well. Now here's the one thing he's always done is he's fought hard to hold the line on salaries. this is going to be as big as challenge yet with these two guys. It just seems like it is extremely tough to hold a line in an era of cap growth and certainty in that regard,

not just a year out, but several years out. And rightfully so. I mean, the Canadians get a lot of credit for. Well, look at all the numbers. and where they're at for their young stars. But a lot of those deals were signed Elliott when the cap was flat, right? It just, the timing in hindsight

worked out perfectly for them. And clearly, you know, there was some great foresight at the same time and credit to the players for becoming what they've been as well. But really outside of Lane Hudson, you know, like Suzuki's deal, Kauffield's deal, even Slavkovsky's to an extent. Like it was a bit of a different,

the reality of that exact time when those were signed, where the salary cap was and what we knew for sure versus where things have gone in the few years since. So the timing for the organization, I suppose, you know, worked out very favorably for them at that time to set themselves up to have space to do other things they want to do without their roster. And now, you know, a number of Anaheim guys here are up when the salary cap continues to rise. And I agree with you on the timing there.

Like, I mean, your line, Elliot, about what's the greatest indicator of future performance, is past performance. We've seen Verbeek take things down to the wire and through training camp not all that long ago, right? So it would not be a shock of whether it's Gojee or Carlson. Lecombe was the one he did early. And he gave him a bigger deal than I think a lot of us expected.

He saw it. So it's saying, says to me he knows when he should act. Let's see, let's see what happens here. Like I said, it's going to be a fascinating, fascinating negotiation. Sure will be. Wow. Okay, let's get to the final thought, which is presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers

and just some notes on a few other players here, Elliot. And why don't we start with Shimon Nemitz, a play. there was reports out of Slovakia that he had requested a trade from New Jersey. And now it sounds like that is not the case. But Elliot, as you know, like there's been some smoke around this player and his future with the Devils for a little bit here now. So what's your read on this whole situation? It's just so hard. You know, evident, it came out later, forcefully.

that it didn't happen and that he didn't ask for a trade. Look, I don't know the individual reporters from overseas. I don't, like, I, I'm not here to throw shade at anybody. I'll just take this at face value for now, that the reports were wrong and that he has not asked to be traded. What I think one of the reasons I will give the benefit of the doubt is that I heard that there had been some conversation with Nemich and the team or some contact between Nemich and the team just recently. And then everybody was kind of blindsided by the fact that this came out.

So I'll just leave it here. Like I think obviously there's going to be a contract that gets done here. And we'll see where. those negotiations go because you always know that when contract talks happen, you know, things can potentially change, but it really sounds like the player would prefer to try to get off on the right foot with a new organization leadership and a new regime. So I think what we have to do is just simply let this one breathe and see where it goes. Okay. How about Mario Ferraro pending UFA in San Jose?

Yeah, so I just heard, I was checking around, I just heard it's likely he's going to UFA. It just doesn't sound like there's been a lot of movement with him and the sharks. And it just, I was just checking around. And, you know, you always check and say, hey, one of the chances that a player signs or a player goes, the market, that one seems, again, anything can change with one phone call, but that one seems likely it one's going to the market. All right. And there's some buzz around the Philadelphia Flyers

and Dan Vlodar potentially headed towards a contract extension. So there was an Instagram post that indicated Vlodar had signed an extension. And technically that can't happen until July 1st. But that doesn't mean the flyers can't talk to him. I think that Daniel Breyer has grabbed an axe and is chopping down trees. He's saying to himself, I have some trees I have to chop down this summer, and I'm getting to them. So if you were to tell me that he'd done significant legwork on a Vladar extension and that it's not signed because it can't be signed, but generally everybody here knows what it's going to be, I think that's a fair way to look at it.

I think he's doing, and I don't think, I mean, obviously they got to get Ziegres done. They got to get Drysdale done. I don't necessarily think that's the only contract he's working on right now. It just sounds like the way that one came out and the way it's being discussed, I've seen this before. It is, let's get our legwork done. Let's have everything in place.

Let's basically have work it out verbally and then come July 1st, we can announce it. And you know what? The Phillies seems to have found a number one goalie. Those are hard to find right now. You know, I know some people, I saw some people saying they were worried about what this could look like. I don't think it's, it doesn't sound like it's going to be anything that can't be handled. And also, number one guys in this league, if you find one, you can't. you keep them.

I was just going to say you talk about the importance of pro scouting. The role of played there and landing Bladar there in Philadelphia. They saw something there. They sure did. And he achieved. One other thing, there was a bit of a weird one with Jay Leach, the assistant coach in Boston. So I had heard that he'd been given permission to talk to other teams. and Dave Panyota reported he'd been let go by the Bruins and I heard that's disputed.

Now, I think Dave will be right in the sense that I don't, whenever you're giving permission to talk to somebody else, then it's just a matter of time, right? I don't think technically he's been let go. but I do think he's got enough of a name and a reputation out there that there are going to be other opportunities for him. So it was just kind of a weird one, but from what I understand right now, it is he has permission to talk to other teams and we'll see. But I think in the long run,

Penaulta will be right in the sense that I don't think he'll be back in Boston next year. Okay, that was the final thought presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers. We'll take a break. When we come back, we don't have a full edition of the thought line today, but we do have one submission that we weren't able to get to in time for recording Wednesday's podcast. We'll get that to Elliot. Also, some shoutouts to give out as well. 32 thoughts, the podcast continues after this.

All right, welcome back. Elliot, before you get to your shoutouts, I forgot to mention during the Carolina-Montreal portion of the conversation to kick off this episode. So I was leaving the hotel to go to the arena around 4.45 on Thursday afternoon, and I'm walking past the gym to go out where my vehicle is parked, and through the frosted window of the doors into the gym, I see Dave Amber full-on tarps off in the gym, just rushing a workout. It was incredible.

For a guy that had, as you discussed and outlined, a pretty brutal travel schedule from the night before to a very early morning, he looked to be in good spirits. 4.45. I'm like, don't you guys have like a production meeting? I have to say, I'm really, I left the gym at about, probably about 4.25. I'm really happy I miss that.

He's like, oh, there's no one else in here. He's like, who cares? Just getting comfortable. I'm like, hey, man. I still feel, Kyle, that that's kind of a violation. This is a public gym. Am I wrong? I know.

Well, that's, I think it's why he was very quick to point out. Like, hey, no one's else in here. So, like, don't start judging me. I'm by myself. Anybody could come in at any time. And a hotel is almost full of strangers. Yeah, I know. But again, if I looked like that, I don't know, maybe I'd be a little more inclined to push the envelope.

I'm not going to argue with you on that. This leads me into some of my shoutouts. Matthew was one of the people I saw from Montreal. He came up to us at the game on Thursday, night, he said, hey, Elliot, and he looked at Amber and goes, hello to the anonymous caller. It was glorious. Oh, yes. Oh, gosh, like a year later, it's still, it still lives.

Okay, so I have a couple of other sibling situations that got sent to me. Matthew Wong brought up J.T. and Jesse Comfer. Jesse plays for the Toronto Scepters. Wes Phillips brought up two NHL players who have lacrosse playing brothers who are pretty good. First of all, he mentioned Riley Smith. Riley's brother is Rory, and he said Rory played a number of years in the NLLL for a few different teams, including Buffalo and Colorado. And he says Matthew Poitris is a brother Adam,

who was drafted in the first round of by the Vegas Desert Dogs and was fourth on the team this year in scoring. And then we had two that I really didn't know about that I thought were excellent. One of them came from a regular listener of the pod. His name is Lars Thorsel. and he mentioned that the Soder Bloms, Elmer and Arvid have a sister named Vera,

and she plays college basketball for the South Carolina State Spartans. I looked up, Vera. She averaged seven rebounds a game this year, so she's a pretty good player. And then I had Drew Simmons, and Drew gave me another one I had no idea about, not in NHLer, but Taylor Heise, the great American Olympian who won a gold medal this year

and plays in the PWHL for the Minnesota Frost, has a brother who just finished his career playing Division I basketball. It's Nate Heise. He played at Northern Iowa and then at Iowa State. and Drew writes he's probably going to play in Europe. So that's not an NHLer, but it is a women's player and a men's basketball player. So a couple more there.

I appreciate all of these because there's some of them I never would have known. Now, shoutouts. Alex Muir, I met him in our layover on our long trip. It turned out that Paul Bissonette was his paper boy. and a neighbor. And he was going to Cancun for the wedding of a friend of Biz's, Tyler Bilby. Biz was supposed to go, but obviously had to cancel.

So also in the gym, I met a gentleman from Calgary, Manny. He works for GFL, the garbage company. He was here for a conference and he went with some friends to the game, Game One. a member of the Carolina ice crew, Jeff, big fan of the pod. Nick and Paul from Richmond, Virginia, big fans of the pod. I met a man named Graham, his son, Micah. They went all the way from Edmonton to game number one. It was Micah's 13th birthday present, and he's a big Hurricane fan.

Unfortunately, didn't work out very well for Micah, but I hope that you enjoyed the trip regardless. There were three Canadians from Calgary, Tyler, Darren, and Chris, and on Friday morning, they were supposed to play Pinehurst number two, Kyle. So they were at the game on Thursday, and they said they're coming back on Saturday for game two,

and they were playing Pinehurst in the middle. They said they needed a fourth at 8.30 on Friday, and they asked me if I wanted to go, but as you know, I have interviews to do. So I had to bail on that. Another Pai fan, James... The weather's supposed to be no good. I feel for me.

I know. But you know what? I didn't want to... It's tough because you want them to have a great trip and you're also like, well, it's not the worst thing the weather's bad because now I can't go. So there you go. I want them to have good weather.

I want them to go. I don't want to sabotage their trip. James from Raleigh, who was wearing a Svetnikov jersey. So also I met at the airport. A gentleman by the name of Juel, he's friends with Anthony Stewart. I've met him before.

He and another friend, Cody Jessup, were going to take a 2015 elite team. I wrote it down badly. I think it's King De Nier. I apologize. I wrote it down terribly to a hockey tournament in Minnesota. Jewel's a big listener of the pod. Great guy.

And then finally, our audio guy in Carolina, his name is Shane Morris. Now, Shane told us after the game, I wish I would have known this beforehand, but his dad, Bill Morris, played 36 games for the Edmond and Oilers in the WHA in 1974, 75. and then came to Winston-Salem and Carolina to continue his pro-hockey career. And that's where Shane was born, and he works there now. And not only did Bill Morris play there, but also so did his uncle, Peter Morris, also played. and he played I think 78 games for them in 1976 and 77

he played more pro hockey in Spokane and his oh man I think this was I can't remember if this is his grandfather or his uncle or who it was I'm getting this all mixed up but Fred Morris he played in the Canadian

Football League as a member of the old Edmonton Eskimos. So just a big sports family. No kidding. Wow, that's a big list, Fridge. Good on you for remembering all those. Well, I write this down.

You think I can remember all that? Yeah, I know. Well, I was trying to leave the allusion to the listeners. Once again, you blew the cover. Okay, so as I said, so we don't have a full thought line here, But there was one that we couldn't get in last pod, but I wanted to throw out you here now. Usually we like to end with trivia,

and I've got a little one here for you that is a bit unique, but kind of finning, especially with how each conference finals, have started. So this comes from Stephen, from Dallas, Texas. And I will say, Stephen was not the only one that asked a question right along these lines. he goes, hello, Elliot Kyle and the rest of the 32 Thoughts crew. I know I'm making a very big assumption here, but with the HABs advancing to the Eastern Conference Final under Martin Saint-Louis

and Vegas being in the Western Conference Final under John Tortorella, I was wondering if there has ever been a Stanley Cup matchup where the opposing coaches are a former coach and player that previously won a cup together. And if so, who won more? The first coach or the player turned coach? Curious to hear your response. Love the podcast.

Thank you. Hmm. That's a thinker. Now, we're going way back, way back. Okay? So the Toronto Maple Leafs had two players who won Stanley Cups for them. I believe one was Joe Primo and the other was Hap Day and I think it was Dick Irvin Sr. who coached the Leafs and then coached the Canadians.

This is all off the top of my head. So if I'm butchering this, I'm butchering it. But is that in the ballpark? You are not butchering this at all. You have put together a Picasso because both of those are correct. Yes. It is 2.17 a.m. on Friday morning. I have been up for 23 straight hours. This is some of your finest work yet.

I think I'm just going to quit right now. I can't do any better at anything. I can't. I'm throwing this at you. Yes. After 2 a.m. and you're still hitting upper deck homers with this. So. See, that's one of those questions. You either know it right away or you don't. And I just lucked into that right away. Yeah. So Hap Day and Joe Primo both won the cup in Toronto with Dick Irvin Sr.

as their head coach in 1932. And then Hap Day coaching the Leafs beat Dick Irvin's Canadians in 1947. And then Joe Primo did the same thing in 1951. And there is one more example of this. that you haven't said yet, it is not as far back as 1947 and 1951, not nearly as far. Okay, I am, I'm going to admit it right now, I am going to look at, I'm going to look at the winners, okay? I don't have it off the top of my head. I'm going to look at the winners, and I'm going to find this.

You know, sometimes people will say to me, how did you know that? And you know what my answer is? I know everything. No, a lot of lonely nights in high school. Yes. Finally, you knew they would pay off at some time. Yes. All right.

So, trying to think. I'm looking through this. Okay. So the last one you said was 1947 or 49 or something like that. 47 and 51 yeah 51 okay let me see if I can figure out which one of these it is this was several decades after that yeah I figured I figured yours when you said not nearly as far you were you were giving me a hint Ron Wilson didn't play for Scotty Bowman did he no okay getting warmer all right

hold on it's Dan Bilesma over Mike Babcock well no because they didn't remember they lost in game seven they lost that's right yes oh I thought I had it for a second there I thought I had it great guess pre salary cap okay let me go back oh I know who it is I should have seen that I can't That's a bad miss. I should have seen it. It's Jacques Lemaire over Scotty Bowman. Yes. Yes, it is. 1995. Figures I would get the one from like,

from like 3,000 BC during the Paleozoic era and missed Jacques Lemaire and Scotty Bowman 40 years ago. Oh, yeah. The puck was just stone. It was just a rock. The tin puck. Yeah, yes.

Yeah, so they won five Stanley Cups together as player and coach with Montreal, and then they squared off in 95, and Lamar's Devils beat Bowman's Red Wings. So in the question, Stephen was wondering, who's won more? The coach or the player turn coach? Well, in all three of these examples, it's the player turn coach that got the better of the original coach. It's kind of amazing. Yeah, I'll say. So I don't know if that's a good omen for St. Louis and the Canadians

if they keep this going, but that's what the history indicates. Thank you, Elliot, for entertaining that brainbuster at this ungodly hour. But I suppose you're used to it by now. Yes. Excellent. I'm glad we got that one in. Thank you, Stephen, for submitting it. And thanks to SportsNet Stats for digging up that info for us.

Okay. We'll take one final break and wrap this puppy up on the other side. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. Okay, so that about does it for us from Raleigh, North Carolina, and where producer Dom is on the west coast of British Columbia. Game number two of the Western Conference final goes later tonight from Ball Arena in Denver. We are on the air with Hockey Central at 730 Eastern 430 Pacific on Sportsnet. Ron McLean, Luke Gastic, Jennifer Baudrill, and Colby Armstrong,

coming in for a shift in the playoffs on the panel. It should be a lot of fun hearing from him and the rest of the group as they navigate the evening from HQ NTO. And game two between the Avalanche and the Golden Knights will be just after 8 o'clock Eastern Times, 6 o'clock locally in Colorado on Sportsnet and CBC. Colorado trying to earn a split before heading out to Vegas. And game number two of the East Final, we should remind you, will be Saturday. That one, not an 80 Eastern start, 7 o'clock start, 6.30 pregame as we get you set for

game number two from Raleigh between the Canadians and the hurricanes. It's been a grind of a playoffs getting through so far to this point. Fewer games to watch now, but still so much drama to enjoy. We appreciate each and every one of you that has been along for the ride to this point. And we look forward to wherever the rest of this playoff journey takes us. Have yourselves a great weekend and we'll speak to you again come Monday.