Business Before the Business

So Dom is a big Phillies fan. His team, you know, made the playoffs this week. And after, and I'm happy for you, Dom, because I was sending you memes all week about the Phillies just collapsing. But when your team backs into the playoffs like the Phillies did, you can't be taking shots at the Blue Jays. You barely made it. We've made the playoffs five years in a row. I can take as many shots as I'd like. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. It is regular season week, everybody. Dom Schimati, Kyle Bukowskis, and the birthday boy, Elliot Friedman, is here. However old you think he looks, he's actually 10 years younger. It's gone that far downhill. You don't have to tell us your age. But do you qualify? Okay, I was going to ask. Have you started? I started to qualify for the seniors discounts at the shoppers, participating shoppers. Yes, yes, I do. That would be yes. And the birthday was Sunday, and it was a great day, thank you. And not only that, but I can actually collect my partial pension if I want to. I am that old. Oh, wow. Well, we hope you're not doing that just yet. Maybe in a couple years. We'll get sick of you for good. But for now. We still do need you. I believe I will be shocked if it takes you a couple years. All right. I know you're in Toronto now, which means puck drop is right around the corner. We are a day away from the start of the season, young Bukowskis. How did we get here so soon? Tuesday night, it all gets underway. And I was looking back to, okay, what were we talking about? This time a year ago, a couple days before the regular season. Well, the biggest story, of course, was what was going on with Connor McDavid in Edmonton. And he signed his deal like a day before the season started. And it kind of put that story to bed for now. Looking at things as we sit here Sunday night recording this conversation, there are a number, we'll call it, there's a lot of unfinished business around the NHL. Kindling, sprinkled everywhere that has the potential to catch fire. and make for a real interesting year beyond what we see on the ice every night. And it's a lot of unfinished business. Connor Halibut is still in Winnipeg, not traded. No, he's with Winnipeg, but he's not in Winnipeg. Sorry, still a member of the Jets. Yes. And to your point, at this point, we have no anticipation of him ending up there to collect a paycheck. He will not start the year with them. We talked about it briefly on Friday, and that has not changed. So that's going on. You've got Kirill Marchenko, and the team's interested on him. What does the future look there? How long does he remain a Blue Jacket? You've got some notable RFAs still out there in Nikitian, who we anticipate at some point will be moved. And then you've got Simon Edmondson in Detroit that's still unsigned. And what are the Red Wings thinking with their captain, Dylan Larkin? And a whole whack of other things going on here, Elliot. Where is your guiding light directing you here just a couple days before the regular season gets started? I don't know if I remember a year starting with this many unanswered questions as we're looking at here in 2026-27. Normally, at the beginning of the season, you know, maybe there's one unsigned contract. Remember William Nylander all those years ago? There's one situation we're sitting there and we're waiting on. But to have this many things uncertain in the Quinn Hughes, you know, there's another one. Quinn Hugh and that's that you could argue is the biggest one of all so I think this is a chance first of all I think the hockey is going to be great I think these teams are wired to play as we were doing our prep phone call for this pod you brought up how the exhibition season seemed meaner than ever that the fact that there's only four games to play and so if you're a young player you have to work that much harder to make an impression and if you're a veteran you get maximum two games there you know everybody was seemed wired to play there were a lot of mean games there were a lot of really entertaining games and that was more than I expected so I think a lot of these teams are going to hit the ground running you know for example Kyle um there was a coach i was just chatting with and he said what's that stat you always use um about the beginning of november and so i went back and i looked it up for him i have a stat i use that if you are four or more points out at after games on the first of November then your chances of making the playoffs are basically one in eight and that is in 82 game cap era seasons okay there have been 75 teams that were at least four points out of the playoffs after games on November 1st you know how many have gotten in 10 so it's one in seven and a half and you know ken holland was a guy he sort of pioneered the whole u.s thanksgiving thing and a lot of people mention u.s thanksgiving at the end of november it's earlier than that if you start poorly you're in massive trouble so i think a lot of these teams will be ready to hit the ground running and go but i think this has a chance to be off the ice kyle an insane year by nhl standards you've got we're starting the season with all of this stuff all of those situations we've just mentioned plus also after the board of governors meeting last week we've got these questions about expansion and the the future leadership of the league and the next board of governors meeting is in the second week of december usually kyle at the beginning of the season those new segments we're doing on Saturday night you are really grinding to get something because most people are like we just want to see how our team looks in the first month not this year there's going to be big stuff going on and I really believe this is going to be one of those seasons where you're kind of sitting there and saying what on earth is going to happen next just because of the way we're starting it's nuts when you look at like i'm just i'm going through the whole spiel off the top and i completely for a half second forget about the quinn hughes situation in minnesota there's that much going on it's it's wild so where where where are you looking at right now i mean i heard you were saying before we started recording you got understandably a lot of feedback when you were talking about marchenko and those teams that were interested particularly some fans from boston that wanted to know okay what were the bruins looking at here i had like 20 dms from bruins fans asked me what do we offer for marchenko and uh and i and i do think and they're like do you think we can really get them like boston's lucky they got really passionate hardcore fans who love their bruins and i think there's there's two questions here and number one is who are the real contenders and number two is is Columbus really going to do this and so who are the real contenders I think a lot of teams in the league believe that for a long time in the summer everybody was kind of chasing montreal but i liken it to like a horse race or mvp voting the person who's the leader in at the quarter mark how often do they actually win the race you're always waiting for someone to come up late You're always waiting for, like, I do think people have general or recency-biased things, like whoever's hot late wins. And that doesn't always happen with trades. But I do think that teams have kind of said, okay, we have to get serious. But the biggest question is, what does Columbus really want to do here? And I think there are some teams that would like to do it now. I think they're going to try to do it now because they look at it like if we do it now, we have them at the start of the year, and we can also manipulate our cap at the start of the season to make this all work. And I have wondered if one of the things that Columbus is doing here is saying, all right, if you want. Marchenko, would you take Miles Wood? Or Voronkov or something like that? So I think there's all sorts of levels to this. And I think Columbus looks at it like we don't have to do this. But I have wondered about this whole thing with kind of like Bonas and Marchenko. Bonas saying, we've got to change the culture. You've got a player who clearly doesn't want to be there. It's the one thing that kind of makes me look at it and say, if you're the Blue Jackets, do you. I know I've said this a couple times, but it's the number one thing. If I was in. Don Waddell's chair, I could see him saying, we don't have to do this now. The whole culture thing that Bonas got into is the one thing that's got me sitting there. Plus also, I do think Columbus has asked people if they would be willing to take another player they want to move to take Marchenko. And what did you do? I just finished talking about how there's no time to wade into things for anybody, particularly a team in Columbus's situation. We know how much is riding on this year for it to be different than what it's been like the last three and four. So are you a better team by just putting this all to bed and he's now elsewhere? Or do you think you may be a better team in the short term by having a guy that can rip the puck in the net in your lineup? Yeah. Well, you know, for the time being, it's a fascinating one in Columbus for all those reasons, man. You know what we also didn't talk about off the top? The fact that we now know there's a cap estimate at 127 and a half. Right. Because a team that trades for Marchenko is going to want to know if they can sign him, right? So this is his last year of his contract. He's not a UFA. He's an RFA with one more season. Before a UFA. But all of a sudden, Kyle, you have a picture of where we're going in a year. The reaction of that cap thing was fascinating because a lot of people are like, all right, my team's going to have space. Everybody's going to have space. Yes. Everybody. If that does go to 127 and a half. And that has to be at least part of the reason that we're going to have space. And why this whole situation hasn't reached a conclusion yet is that unknown for inquiring teams, can I sign Kirill Marchenko to an extension? Yep. Have you heard? Okay. And will teams be given permission to talk to him? Right. Right, right, right. Wow. And that's just one guy. So Marchenko, we still are watching there. Is there anything, I feel you've said as much as you can to this point with Hellebuck last pod? Yeah. Anything to add? Not yet. Okay. Not yet. We'll see where this goes this week. Like I said, I don't expect him to be there at the start of the season. So we'll, we'll see where it goes. All right. And once the season does start, Hellebuck begins missing a paycheck there. Yep. Okay. How about Nikitian? Yeah, Nikitian. So he made an agent change on Thursday night. Um, and I, as we said, there are teams that have permission to talk to him. So let's go back. Nikitian was almost traded to the Rangers. Yeah. So they had a deal between the Hurricanes and the Rangers, and they couldn't come to a contract agreement. And I think Nikitian is looking for around, at least he was the rumor before the Booyum contract came in. He was looking for around 9 million a year. And I just don't think the Rangers got there. I don't think they were far away, but I don't think they got there. And I also believe St. Louis was around this for a while. Like they were legitimately interested. They claimed Justin Baron by the way, off waivers on Sunday, which says to me that Logan Mayhew, his injury is, is not great, I guess, but we'll see what they announce. But St. Louis has been very seriously interested in Nikitian. Now, I don't know where this is right now, but you know, since Booyum's deal came in, he's probably asking for even more and less. And I do suspect this has been true. He's not looking for as much term. Booyum, the full eight the rumor was that Nikitian was asking around five times nine so we'll see if that's changed or that's the same I also think Kyle we kind of talked about whether or not like I think Carolina is very very interested still in Hallebach I think they would like to get him and boy I am I know we're working on Tuesday night with an excellent doubleheader Montreal Toronto and Vancouver Edmonton but I cannot wait to watch that one game between Carolina and Florida yes I think those two teams are gonna come out and they're gonna pummel each other there is not a lot of love lost between you those two teams not at all and I can't wait to see that and I think I think the Hurricanes would really like to get Hallebach and one of the reasons I think that Nikitian's been given permission to some teams is to see if they can pull off a three-way with the Jets if there's some way to do that I don't know if it's possible but I think that is out there you know the one thing about Nikitian with Carolina here now I think that Carolina wants something akin to two first rounders for Nikitian whether it's two first round picks or comparable talent I think that's kind of in the area of what they're looking for like I'll tell you Nashville put 2d on waivers on Sunday Nick Purbix and Ilya Labushkin and people were wondering if that's what they were doing like because they have it they've had some interest in Nikitian but I don't know that might be premature we'll see but you know the thing about Carolina with Nikitian is he's got no rights he's not offer sheet eligible he couldn't do arbitration and you know Carolina just won the Stanley Cup they're like hey man we feel no pressure here no pressure and I think there's probably some legit disappointment frustration whatever word you want to use that that deal with the Rangers fell through so you know this is going to happen the one thing that it proved this summer is that if this happens whenever it happens it's going to happen on Carolina's schedule they had something that was close it didn't occur they're like okay you were inflexible before we can kind we can afford to wait now so we'll see you know I think I think Edmonton is looking for a right shot center okay they've been combing what's available and and you know Mike Babcock he is so minute in his coaching of hockey that he would look at this and say we need this like that's why the doc rumors have been there you know also Stan Bowman has a history with Doc but I also think he's a right shot guy who can play center I think a few teams have kind of looked at Doc you know I wondered about Shane Wright for Edmonton and I think he's a right shot guy who could play center I think a few teams have kind of looked at Doc but I think I've poked around but I don't believe that's I've poked around but I don't believe that's I've poked around but I don't believe that's gonna happen that's another thing we're looking at right now and you know we didn't even mention Edmondson yet we'll see if he's signed for they made a waiver claim we'll see if evanson gets signed before they start we'll see what larkin's health is to start the season and then there's hughes and uh you know hughes told us in vegas i don't care if i have to answer this question 200 times i won't be pressured into it someone said to me on the weekend hughes hasn't signed yet what's going to make him change his mind you know what my answer was kyle what 200 days of mike russo good good there were a lot of bad answers you could have gone with there that was a good one by the way russo was at the viaduct vikings game in tampa against the buccaneers i said to myself is he the jinx and the answer was no he was not the jinx enjoy it while it lasts vikings fans yes enjoy it while it lasts but i i think you know i think this season is going to this is going to be a bonker season on and off the ice you know the players have consolidated their power using it now the teams are like we have to wrestle it back i i think this is going to be like i i this is a year where i think there could be five absolutely five absolute what the bleep moments i i really do think we're going to see it and further to the landscape here and now if not for everything else going on and if this player was playing in almost any other market i mean kind of lost in all of this elliott is that the regular season is about to start and still one of the top players in the game today nikita kucherov is entering the final year of his deal down in tampa now the fact that that kind of remains quiet for now does that suggest that there's optimism on the inside that one way or another it'll get sorted when it gets sorted or am i being too naive for thinking that way because we haven't heard a lot other than the opening of training camp on that well the challenge here is that you've got one of the league's most successfully secretive managers julian brisebois and one of its least quoted players like kucherov shows up at the beginning of the year to say how dumb the league is and now we're not going to hear from him for four months yeah that's too bad that's too bad so is that that's all that's what it comes down to it's the the two main characters in this do a great job of staying quiet i think also too i i think it's interesting you know i think if you look at julian brisebois negotiation history it's rare really rare that a player who they consider this important goes this long without being signed right yes if it goes longer than this then it's almost like brisebois said i can what i'm willing to do for you if you don't take it i'm not i'm not doing it we've seen it from him before right you've hit my limit i'm not going any further so when i look at this what i see is a situation where brisebois has said at this point in time i've either got a number i'm not willing to go past or a term i'm not willing to go past right and i obviously that's where they are kucherov too he's just an interesting guy to me because he's obviously incredibly proud the reason he's as great as he is is he is he's incredibly proud so it's probably the same for him they just i i just i just find it really hard to believe that julian brisebois looks at this and says this guy walks everything's going to be close to the same so i just think they have to hit the sweet spot as smart as he is and i think he's really smart we're in a league now where everything has changed right and and i've got to think that kucherov is looking at some of these deals and saying i know he's a little bit older he's 34 and that does matter but he's got to be looking at this and saying okay if i was x before i'm y now in the long run i just i can't see why he's not going to be able to do that julian brisebois letting him walk i can't i think they get there but i do admit i think that it's been harder just because of how much the ground has shifted i agree with you on all of it there but as you and i both know and as lightning fans know and hockey fans that have followed it julian brisebois is also a guy that has made difficult decisions decisions that maybe other managers wouldn't have the stomach to do sorry steven stamkos thank you for your time ryan mcdonough i know john cooper sees you as con smythe worthy in our back-to-back stanley cups off you now go to nashville he's he's made some difficult decisions and stood by them i can't i'm with you i can't see him doing it but this is a decision that changes the course of your franchise like stamkos is going to the hall of fame someday but did that change the course of the franchise i don't think it did mcdonough is a hell of a player did it change the course of the franchise i don't think it did if he if kucherov is out it changes the course of your franchise i am willing to hear all arguments yeah very well said okay so of everything that we've touched on here to be honest with you i think it's going to be a is there anything else you got notes on you want to well i also did want to say that about this cap i did have a couple guys say to me they think that it's going to make the rich richer yeah i mean as just because like all those teams you think that have cap problems that everybody wants to go to now people are going to be like ah they're going to have more room to go to be fascinating to see yeah i'm with you also i wanted to to ask you too because there was another laundry list of players put on waivers on sunday and a few goalies of interest that popped up clay stevenson being one laurent bossua dylan garand yeah with the rangers really garand's an interesting one garand's a really interesting one but we've already seen a couple claimed vancouver took maryland right and then that was an interesting one that remy poirier won that new jersey took yep as somebody said to me that struck them as pure money ball like you look at him and you looked at like he is consistently above the ahl save percentage average consistently above it like the guy said i i don't i've never seen a player who's consistently above the ahl i don't really know remy poirier well so i texted a couple people and said okay tell me a bit more i confess i've just never seen him enough playing in ahl texas and this guy said to me like that is like a that's a numbers bet his numbers are consistently better than the ahl average and he deserves a chance and if if it doesn't work for him he's going to have to go to the ahl you gave it a shot but there is a chance for that to be a real steal like you know like the the people i know who've seen this kid play they said it was a really smart claim it's got no downside and potentially big upside so we're seeing this stevenson i've always liked stevenson i've always been a fan of his game i love the way he i've really thought he was ready you know washington i heard they kind of waffled this year there was a time where i think they were going to consider trading charlie lindgren and then they consider him so important personality wise for logan thompson at the end they kept it where it was grand is an Interesting one because I thought he really outplayed Corpus Allo this year, just that he doesn't have as much experience. The teams I'm looking at, Jets, especially now they know that Hello Buck's not starting the season. Do they take one of these guys? Buffalo, they've got injuries now. Lyon got hurt. Lukonen got hurt. And start the year with 11 goalies and seven skaters for the Sabres or whatever it's going to be. So I wonder if they make a claim just in the short term, someone to get them through the beginning of the season. And the other team I wonder about is Philly because Kolasov has really struggled, really struggled. And remember, if you claim any of these guys, you can't send them to the minors without waiving them again. You've got to keep them. So those are three goalies and three teams I'm really looking at. Yeah. And to start the year, the pecking order is based on last season standings. Yeah, until November 1st, it's last season standings. It's funny, actually. I didn't realize this when I got the note that the Canucks claimed Maryland. I guess they put it out themselves right at 2 o'clock. Because they knew, oh, we claimed them. Nobody else getting them. We're getting them. So they just waited until the 2 o'clock when they knew waivers were over. And I didn't realize it. Someone told me about it, and I checked it later. These teams, they really love announcing things themselves. It is a great source of pride when they do that. Yeah, yeah. I can understand why. Okay. So another thing that was much more discussed, and hat tip over the weekend to the rest of the Flyers doing warm-ups with their jerseys tucked in, is a stand of solidarity with Trevor Zegers, who, as we talked about on Friday, got the two-minute minor for it in a preseason game. The crackdown on tucking your jersey in, along with a couple other equipment do's and don'ts. But there was some interesting feedback in our conversation about that. Some conspiracy theories as well, in terms of why now. Now are they cracking down on it? What'd you all hear? First of all, I laughed when I saw those guys do it untucked. I'm sure the league didn't laugh, but I laughed. I think everybody understands the equipment stuff, like the visor, the helmet, the neck guards. I think everybody gets that. Yes. Not everybody agrees with this. I did laugh also, too, when I saw Zegers' Instagram and him referencing the tuck game with Tom Brady and the Oakland Raiders. That's right. I had pictures of him as a kid with the jersey tucked. Well, you know, because he did say that that's the way he's played his whole career, or his whole life. So I was like, okay. But I thought the tuck rule thing was really ingenious. I thought that was. Remember when I said last pod that there was a referee that said that Zegers is mischievous enough and likes to test us enough that we think he might have done it on purpose? Yeah. That tuck rule thing, that goes to exactly what I think that referee was talking about. I laughed my head off when I saw that thing. So, yes, as you said, Kyle, we did get some really interesting feedback on it. The number one thing we heard was jersey visibility. Some broadcasters saying they can't see the numbers. But also, it was interesting to me that as the league tries to market its players more, and there's talk about marketing the players more, there's talk about marketing the players more. They want to be able to see the numbers and names clearly seen. They want people to know who they're looking at. And especially now that they're doing more games that can air in primetime in Europe, they want that. That that's important to them. So I had a few people say that to me. I had a few people say they wonder if it's for, you know, we're using more and more chips and computers and things like that for visibility to those kinds of games. They want to know exactly who they're seeing. I had a couple of people point that out. And then there were a couple of people, there were others who, you know, I think the one person sent the same DM to both of us. And I had a few others say it to me. They think that events of the day will come. There's jersey ads down there and they want those ads to be seen. So those were all kind of the different theories we got. But I was very interested. And how many actually said to me, they think it's, it's not only about the clean look. It's that they want people to see, oh, that player, who's that player. They want their name and their number clearly seen, especially as they try to branch out into other places of the world. I don't know if I agree with it, everything. I don't care about uniform codes, but it's one thing people are really passionate about because we've got a lot of response to it. Yeah. I, I, I struggle with buying that one because whether the jerseys tucked or not, you see the name on the back and you know, of course, when you think Jersey tuck, everyone thinks of Gretzky. I don't think anyone had any issue knowing what number he wore, even though he had the Jersey tucked in the side of his pants, the practical entirety of his playing career. Uh, so I think that's all fine there. I, more, the more I do think about it, it, it does make some sense of, are we headed towards a day where there's, there's going to be advertising? I mean, the, the, the cat's already out of the bag, it's on the front of the jerseys. Um, and I'm sure at a certain point, the feeling will be, well, why, why stop there? And maybe this is help helping lay the groundwork for, for that, uh, to convince advertisers to go, look, we've got rules in place, players are getting penalties for it. Your, your branding, it will be seen there, uh, if, if you want to do business with us. So, ah, yeah, I, I don't love thinking that way. But in terms of all the reasons that I'm going, okay, what makes sense? That is one. And I do understand it from a broadcaster's perspective as well, especially as someone made the point to me, and it's a very good one when you talked about, okay, games being shown in Europe and prime time, if games are being broadcasted in certain languages over there, where commentators are doing the games off monitor. I mean, it's hard enough when you're in the building up in the press box, looking down at ice level, but calling them off monitor and with how fast the game is being able to see the numbers clearly to know who has the puck, who you're watching, who you're trying to describe in a moment's notice, I, I buy that as, as well in terms of, from a grow the game perspective, that makes more sense to me than, oh, just visible for, for everybody else. That's a, it's a huge part of it too. All right. A couple other things I just have for my notes. You see Crosby wheeling in the table. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. And so we talked about this and I, I, like everybody else thought again, what an upstanding citizen. Well, yes. Yes. Take that away from it. He is an incredibly, but you zigged while everybody else zagged. I didn't, someone else suggested to me, he's hiding the belt. This is going to be every game now this year, he's going to have something. Yeah. A couple things. Number one, when we walked out of the interview, he did say to me, you know, that every game now people are going to be focusing on my belt. Yeah. So he's in tune to it. And secondly, if you look at the way he's laughing with the other guys, I just wonder if they're all in on it too. Oh man, that was, there was, when I was in a 12 year last week, there was, there was a player I was talking to. It was like, I couldn't believe that Crosby story was real. It was actually Drake Batherson who knows Sid quite well, right? Like they, they skate together every summer. I'm like, did you know about this? He's like, I had no idea. He didn't know. Did Batherson buy you dinner? No, he did not. I'm sure he bought his teammates dinner. You have no reason to buy me dinner. I'm still trying to get you to buy me dinner. I have bought you dinner. No, don't spread those rumors on this podcast. I know. I know. There are few things that bother me, but I would not want people to think I have alligator arms. No, no, no. I don't want people to think that. As a matter of fact, I have to say, and this is one of the great things about the group we work with. There are people on our, bills can be a fight on our group as to who's, who's paying it. Yes. That is true. I mean, you always lose those fights, but you know, we, we do fight over them. Yeah. I do go down easy. Like, ah, okay. Darn it, darn it. A couple other things. I wanted to shout out those rings for the hurricanes. Woo. I, I, first of all, they're beautiful. Most teams do a beautiful job with these rings now. Um, I really, I thought they looked sharp. I thought they looked clean, but I always, I, I, what I love now is the teams are really starting out, do themselves with the hidden stuff. Right. Mm-hmm. And they have that. with these rings now. I thought they looked sharp. I thought they looked clean. But what I love now is the teams are really starting to do themselves with the hidden stuff, right? Mm-hmm. And they have that hidden thing in there that can turn into a pendant. I love. i love that stuff the hidden stuff always gets me always always always but they are sharp clean excellent uh rings and the last thing i actually wanted to mention was that so last pod we talked about the records and that how if i when if i would put a team back in arizona i wouldn't do the coyotes boy did i hit a nerve oh yeah i did you hear from matthew nyes i hope so i did i did not hear at the end of the week do you think that that guy would ever like call me no i did not hear from matthew nyes um why what did he say i missed that well he said he was going to do the coyotes and i was like oh my god i'm going to do the coyotes do you think that that guy would ever like call me no i did not hear from matthew nyes he just talked about because of course you know the lease went went back to arizona over the weekend and shout them out those the the visit to the family and those the t-shirts they should sell those things no kidding they would get snapped up in a hurry those shirts were phenomenal yeah and really great going to spend some time with the mage family as well you know he just talked about like missing that that logo the fact that it's not part of the the that was the reaction that one had a nerve i had some coyotes fans who were really unhappy with me does not change my opinion one bit but i will acknowledge your unhappiness and i hope for the true hockey fans of arizona that someday your team comes back to you and we can have this fight for real that's good that is good all right why don't we get to the final get your team back and then i can say then we'll talk coyotes is stupid oh jeez you're just doubling down now you're like i would love to see a team go back there for the true fans of the area of course of course yeah it's a great road trip okay time now for the final thought so last year when we did our kind of quasi i don't even know you want to call it it was two much one foot in and one foot out yeah we were trying to pick who's who's making the playoffs so we were just trying to find a format that was not just the simple who's in who's out okay so we're not going to go through all 32 teams this is what we have come up with all right we are going to pick our division winners in the two conferences and then one team each that we pick who that was in last year and then we're going to pick the team that was in last year and then we're going to pick the team that is most in peril to miss this year who was the team that did not get in last year that you see jumping up into a playoff spot this year and we will finish we will each have our own breakout player of the year and our cup final picks all right you want to start big boy okay best team atlantic yeah pal who do you got i got i put down montreal i put down montreal i hope this isn't boring okay i put down montreal metro i'm gonna go yeah i've got the washington capitals so i have a rule i'd never pick the stanley cup the stanley cup champion to repeat or defend anything because i just think it's it's just a way i do it because if number one it's really hard to repeat i will say this i have never felt more confident in a team's ability to repeat in recent memory than carolina like i will say that a hundred percent like even the teams that did it like tampa bay like florida i would feel more confident about carolina now than i felt about either of those teams going in but like pittsburgh did in 16 and 17 yeah i i feel really confident but i i refuse to do it so so far this is really boring i picked washington oh you did yeah oh yeah okay washington is a really trendy pick yes the caps bandwagon is full it is full they need a bigger truck the the capitals bandwagon this year is overflowing yeah i think about the mike feudal line the worst thing you want to hear as a manager is that you won the summer because it doesn't mean anything but they look good they had a good summer okay who's in peril in the east that got in a year ago who's your pick well i i have two teams i have i have the pennsylvania teams pittsburgh and philly okay yeah because i've got if we're not that we're doing this but i i have a couple of teams in my mind right now where i go i can see them missing after getting in a year ago so another team i had written down i'm a little nervous about buffalo right now elliot are you really because the little the goalie injuries yeah like lost alec tuck i know like i i think zellweger is going to be a heck of a player i'm starting hurt he got hurt last week yes he did yeah and byram was played had a role there i'm just i'm just a little nervous there in a very in a very tough division i'm just a little nervous there in a very in a very tough division i'm nervous so that's that's that's that i'll say this that is a bold pick because i think they're going to be okay but i acknowledge a i acknowledge all the change and b i acknowledge that they're starting not in a great place but that is bold i wouldn't i wouldn't have booked them in and then i think we've also kind of answered our other one who missed that's going to be in i think everybody's picking florida but we both picked washington so do you have anybody else besides florida and washington i think toronto is going to be a lot better i think bobrowski is going to change them yes that was one team i put down the other one new jersey i love evangelista there i know i got because we talked about it like they had a really brutal stretch where hughes got hurt and there was a whole bunch of stuff around yeah he was great at the end of the year and then like they they finished okay i still think there's a lot to like there um we'll see about this i think they're a little bit thin like they're not as deep as a lot of other teams like the east has a lot of teams i look at them and they're not as deep as a lot of other teams like the east has a lot of teams that can throw four lines and six d at you i'm with you but i just look into that division like i i can see again this year five atlantic teams in the playoffs and three from the metro and it could be washington carolina new jersey in that division okay that's where i'm at right now okay let's let's go west yeah we can i hope we're not picking the same two teams here best team in the central i've got two teams in the central i've got two teams in the central i've got two teams in the central i've got two teams in the central i've got two teams in the central i'm back to colorado okay i was i was looking at them i was like i'm not doing it i'm i'm i'm going somewhere else okay just for the sake of interest i'm going minnesota ah all right i think queen everything's swirling is gonna have a monster year i like i like where you're you're putting your your money right now that's good i i i think i don't know i i don't i don't know like i don't know but i have this feeling he goes it starts the year unsigned and just comes out shot like he's out of a cannon don't run yourself into the net like you did or the post like he did the other night in that ridiculous dallas minnesota game those two teams just hate each other i just think hughes has a mammoth year and the wild win the division excellent okay pacific oil me too i put the oil we're really boring what three of the four division but that's the other ones where kind of we we differ and there's a bit more juice okay so who's who's in danger in your mind in the west kings interesting and i'll say this i don't know what to make of anaheim that's my team i think they have great players but i think they're really thin especially on the blue line like they lost they lost some personality i know they didn't lose 40 goal guys they didn't lose 100 point guys but they lost personality there i i think they have plenty of talent i worry about them in the meat grinder that is this an four-game season and I'll tell you something too for a long time I thought they were a stealth hello buck team I don't know now that would change the conversation slightly but yeah now the reason I still see LA even though like that last position in the West it was like anybody anybody want it who wants who wants Colorado in the first round anybody come on down but Peter Laviolette is there now yeah go back and look his first year always good yeah Islanders at the start in the playoffs first full year in Carolina won the cup first year in Philly went to the finals first year in Nashville in the playoffs first year Washington in the playoffs first year with the Rangers president's trophy it's what he does he can get through to a team quick that's true that's why I'm sticking with LA okay so who do you got jumping in this year in the West Sharks me too yeah I think to me the Anaheim of this year I had someone say to me that if you want a stealth Norris guy take Broberg I like Broberg but the Norris is gonna be impossible like you're it's gonna be impossible that was the other one I looked at there's a lot to like about who they've got yeah I just ultimately I feel there's a little more to like in San Jose right now so that's where I was that's where I'm leaning okay who is your breakout candidate this year it was tough for me to I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know I don't know knock this down but I wanted to pick a player on a team that we selected to win the division so I went through Montreal Washington Minnesota and Edmonton you know who my breakout player was gosh I hope we didn't pick the same name here who you got Devon Lieberman Levi oh I love the thinking there I really like that thinking I I told one guy I was I was doing that and he says you know what this reminds me of and I said what he goes Anthony Stewart picking Jack Campbell to win the Vesna oh geez and that was after he'd gone to Edmonton yes yeah well it's it is the it's a tough market for goalies especially Canadian ones as history has shown but I love your boldness all right you want to know mine no no of course I do I was just being serious I wasn't being serious all right I too picked from one of the four one of my four division division winning teams okay Cole Hudson I think that's a really good pick I think that's a really good pick he's he's behind some good defenseman there in Washington I know but I think that team's that's a good man and he's gonna have a hand in a lot of it so I I had a bunch of other names I I put down like I had Gavin McKenna on my list you know Marchenko is a better player but I think he has a big year but I want to say this too you know who I think has a really really big year although I'm not really sure how good they're going to be two guys number one I think Bowen Byram has a fantastic year I I think he embraces what is being asked of him and I think he plays really well and here's my other one a return to form elite level form for Roman Yossi whoa and that sets up a situation where Yossi enters the final season of his current eight-year deal and what's his future who so he gets back in the Norris conversation that's your priority Roman Yossi has a has a great year he's got a perfect time to talk a new contract I like it I like it this was much better than a year ago oh yeah we were so wish okay so so who's your who's your Stanley Cup final okay you have Washington no no okay all right I've got Montreal okay Montreal yeah I see I still let's see what Ken Hughes does between now and the trade deadline okay I still think that as I said before he is Randy Orton just legend killer mode lurking in the darkness at some point the RKO is coming like a skinny or less muscular Randy Orton - what no I'm not going to be able to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to keep up with this one I don't think I'm going to it's not even remote even if I squint I can't I'm way off way off okay okay I them and it's gonna be Montreal my pick is Montreal Colorado Montreal Colorado yeah all right okay Jordan ding-ding round three Edmonton Florida oh we're going back I hope there's a charter that is nightmare travel well round you've only done the charter round three Edmonton Florida oh we're going back I hope there's a you've only done the behind breakout player Devin Levi Edmonton Florida I I I excellent nice I like it all right now we watch now we watch good stuff for each okay that was the final thought and we'll take our first break now when we come back it's a brand new edition of the thought line you are listening to 32 thoughts the podcast okay we are back time now for the thought line presented by bet MGM make it legendary Elliot any gifts uh worth sharing that you got for your birthday this year look like you went for a great dinner oh my god fantastic dinner uh excellent you know what I I will say this um the you and I are both big ice cream guys and my favorite ice cream in the Toronto area is Tom's Dairy Freeze now it's a little bit far away uh West End from where we live so we hadn't gone to it all summer and we made plans uh we said we're going there we're going to Toronto we're going to Toronto we're going to we're going there Sunday night the great restaurant that we went to uh Florin Trattoria which is right near where you stay in Toronto they gave us an outstanding tiramisu for dessert oh we were like we're still going for the soft ice cream so the end of summer trip to Tom's Dairy Freeze was a real highlight you double dip dessert oh yeah I've been working out oh that's that is awesome that is awesome I'm not gonna say what Tom just said no you had a good summer glow up you deserve it I'm just glad it was so funny it was the of all the comments I got when I sent out the photo of Steph and I on our 17th anniversary and I wrote yeah I don't know how either and some guy wrote I thought you said you go to the gym come on come on I liked that one I thought it was funny no you're good what's what blows me away is that when you and Steph do those videos that she puts on her insta and you're walking down the sidewire in downtown Toronto and both of you do not break your gaze from the camera and I'm like how did you do you ever run into people you're never looking in front of you you're both looking right at the camera the whole time because you probably mentioned it now now we'll probably come deck you we'll be looking you know so I was I was calling us beauty and the beast I was going it's a beauty which is who, and she was like, I'm not airing that. I was like, why not? She goes, I'm not airing that. But I tried my best to say it three times, and she kept canceling them. Oh, geez. Different audience. Yeah, but I'll say this. Tom's Dairy Freeze, great ice cream. Great ice cream. Awesome. I'll take you out there once. Yeah, I'm in. I'm all in. You got any other shout-outs? It's not far from the practice facility, by the way. No, no shout-outs. Actually, yeah, I'm just looking at it now. No, no shout-outs, no. I really didn't get a chance. But, oh, don't forget, everybody, too, that Pod's back Thursday, so we're going to have our first Thursday drop this week. Yep, it's changing. Okay, we begin with Cam from Toronto. Good morning, gentlemen. Great to have the Pod back after the summer. I feel like a starving raccoon who's finally able to dip into Fridge's trash bin a few times a week for tasty morsels. Can I tell one story, Kyle, based on this, since Cam brought up the raccoons? Yes. I came home late one night last week, and I can't remember where I was, but I didn't realize that we'd left the garbage outside. So I back into my driveway, I get out of my car, and I hear something. And I look, and yes, there's a raccoon going through our garbage, and it looks at me, and I look at it. And I'm like, I'm going this way, to the door. Just leave me alone. And he watched me take a couple steps towards the door, and he went right back to the garbage. Once he figured out I was not a threat, we understand each other. We communicate. Did you have your raccoon shirt on? No, I did not have my raccoon shirt on. He was like, oh, he's one of us. It's fine. That's awesome. I'm glad there's something. Thanks for bringing that up, Cam. Yeah. Cam knows his way to your heart. Okay. Could the NHL, because we talked about Jersey Tuck earlier in the pod. Yeah. And enforcing different equipment rules. So Cam writes, could the NHL's push to enforce rules regarding safety equipment like visors and neck guards be coming down from the insurance, insurance industry who insures player contracts against grievous injury with the exploding salaries that seem like the kind of thing an underwriter looks at and worries the insurance company is one errant stick and an uncle Leo away from paying out a career disability of $20 million a year. Thanks for the time. Go Leafs go. You know what? You know, Cam, I think that's a perfectly logical theory. More and more money at stake. Yeah. And I, I don't see anything wrong with that theory. Wouldn't, I don't know that to be true, but it wouldn't surprise me. I mean, I used to live in an area where there was a lot of flooding and eventually the insurance company came to me and said, look, like, you know, if you keep having these, we're going to stop insuring you for them. And, uh, I absolutely, I mean, you could see, like, we already know that our situations where NHL players are not insurable for pre-conditioning. Uh, for preexisting injuries, like there are some players who have had multiple hip surgeries. You can't ensure their hips or their knee or their shoulder or something like that. So if you were to tell me that the insurance companies were saying, okay, we're not going to enforce some of these other things. If players aren't wearing their equipment properly, a hundred percent again, I don't know what to be true cam, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with your logic. Nothing. Okay. Okay. From will. Hello, Elliot and Kyle on Friday's episode, you were talking about the salary cap and the way it's skyrocketing is the NHL disclose where all this new money is coming from. The buildings haven't gotten any bigger, so they can't be selling that many more tickets. There's concern on the television front, particularly at the regional level right now to say nothing of the booming national rights. So then where is all this money coming from? Is this all from in-game games? Is this all from gambling advertisements or has growing the game actually worked in the money is coming from some sort of grassroots bottom-up movement. Thanks for your time. It's also a great question. Will, and I actually mentioned this to Kyle, we were talking before recording the show here on Sunday night, one guy said to me, you should call it the salary cap brought to you by Rogers. Oh, and, uh, I do think the national TV deal plays. A very big part in this look like the NHL is constantly announcing new sponsorships all the time. This week, for example, they announced one with Michelob ultra as the new beer, uh, of the national hockey league, but there's no question that the ticket money revenue still is a very, very big part of this. And so is the national TV revenue. That is by far the biggest, biggest driver. Yes, may not be able to sell more tickets, but they can sell a ticket for more money. Okay. A voicemail next from Eli. Hello, my name is Eli and I'm eight years old and I'm a goaltender and I've been a goalie for at least three years now. And I was wondering why goalies in the NHL can't wear number zero. Okay. Thanks for answering my question. Bye. Eli, you may be eight years old, but you are asking better questions than people who are 800. That's because everyone that's 800 is dead. That's why they ask bad questions. Couldn't ask good one. They wanted to. The, the double zero has been, well, the double zero has been worn before by John Davidson and Martin Baran. They both have worn a double zero and Neil, she, of course, now the current agent and a former player. He wore zero. Correct. And I believe all the e-bugs this year have to wear double zero, right? They do. Yes. I think all the e-bugs this year, the ones that are specifically the third goalie. Not an actual third goalie, but the emergency third goalie, um, I think they all, I think I read somewhere that they all have to wear double zero. Because initially like wearing double zero was banned across the league because for the digital statistical input. Yes. It couldn't read double zero. Like it became, it was like an error code in what the NHL used. It's like when they're all worried. When we got to the year 2000, we created this mass hysteria that, that the computers were all going to be shut down and the world was going to implode upon itself. And absolutely nothing happened. Right. I'm kind of circling back to that state of history again right now. Just kind of funny. And you're right. It is because of the database and things like that. The software. Yes. So the e-bikes double zero. Yeah. I think they have to wear a double zero. Don says that that's correct, but I'm not listening to Dom after what he said about me for having two desserts that I could not read on the podcast. Yeah. That's the old, the Guy Germain number from the Mighty Ducks movies. He wore double zero. Very good. All right. Luke from Dieppe, New Brunswick. Good evening. This is Luke Gazdik. Gentlemen. Uh, it could be. Has he, did he recently moved to New Brunswick? He should. Maybe. Took his new deal and left. It's like, I'm going to New Brunswick. So Luke writes. He had a, by the way, he had a housewarming party a couple of weeks ago. Oh, really? Was it in New Brunswick? No, it was in Toronto. Okay. So it's probably a different Luke then. Yeah. Good party. How was it? Yeah. It was good. Good. Really good. He's got a nice place. Great. He deserves it. Yeah. So Luke, New Brunswick, Luke says, good evening, gentlemen. I'm Luke Gazdik, inspired by your in-season cup concept. I proposed this initiative to our team in my workplace with a philanthropic approach. Cost is $20 each to participate and the winner will be able to choose a not-for-profit cause of their choice and make a donation for the amount in their name at season's end. However, we all understand that the ultimate grand prize is having the bragging rights throughout the post-season, as we do not have all the Sportsnet tools and expertise as you do. How do you keep tabs of the results? We would appreciate it if you could send me in the right direction. Thanks in advance. Love the pod and keep up the great work. Well, Luke, have we got a solution for you? What is it? Because, well, our own in-season cup tracker tracks things for anyone that wants to submit their in-season cup leagues, participants, teams that they belong. And we're going to be able to do that. And you can upload it. So you go to the, if you're on X. Go to the account at InSeasonCup, and he has got it pinned to the top, a link that you can click on to fill out your own league, and he will keep track of it for you, Luke, and anybody else. And I also wanted to include that. Good reminding people, Kyle. Yes. And I wanted to put that in to also remind, so our InSeasonCup, which we haven't done yet, plan is to drop that Tuesday morning. Just before the first game gets underway of a new season. We are back with a new InSeasonCup campaign as well. Yes. So thank you, Luke. Good luck in yours. Go get them, Luke. All right, one final one here. Cody in Winnipeg. Hello, gentlemen. My Fantasy League is entering its 11th season, and one of our traditions is determining how many NHLers are still older than us. I was born in 1989. So there is still a solid list, but some of us are heavily reliant on Brent Burns. And I think we now have two who are older than every active NHLer. Hearing Kyle talk about the start of his parenting journey got me thinking, what percentage of all players playing on opening night will be older than Kyle? I'm sending this before the first official puck drop. So perhaps there can be a steak dinner bet on whose guess is closest. As Elliot likes to say, father times remain undefeated, and we shall have to wait and see in which year it hits zero. Hopefully Elliot has covered a Canadian team winning the Stanley Cup by then. So. Tell me about it. Yes. I'm really interested by this now. I want you to give a percentage. I want Don to give a percentage. And we'll have it for Thursday's episode. There's five games on opening night. And so we'll take. like the actual 20 that dress for each team. The percentage of all those players. Of the hundred? Yeah. Who? How old are you? I am 33 now. Dom, you want to have the first guess? I'm trying to do math in my head. Give me a second. Oh my God. We'll be here until next year. I'm going to say it's close to. that are younger than Kyle. No, older than Kyle. Older than Kyle? Yeah. Oh my God. It's going to be 17%. 17% are older than Kyle? Yes. Okay. I'll go with. I'll take the under. I'm taking under 17%. Give a number you coward. Yeah. 16.99. Yeah. That's like the reverse price is right. That's exactly what I was doing. Yes. I'll give you a number. 16. By the way, I got to tell you something, Dom. And after, and I'm happy for you, Dom, because I was sending you memes all week about the Phillies just collapsing, but when your team backs in and the playoffs, like the Phillies did, you can't be taking shots at the Blue Jays. You barely made it. And you do the same with your Vikings every bloody week. Oh, but I know, but I know they're, like I said, we are going to lose in the most heartbreaking way possible. I am just enjoying it right now, but I understand what will eventually happen. OK, Cody, we'll have the answer for you, Thursday's pod. Under 17 versus 17 and over, I let Dom have the cutoff. Bingo. All right, that'll do it for another edition of The Thought Line. You can send in your own submission via email at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232. Take another break and wrap up this edition of the pod after this. We'll be right back. So we've got to figure out what the punishment is between Randy Janda and I for Elliott after he was a loser yet again last season. All that to sort out and what's at stake this campaign in the in-season cup. So looking forward to that Tuesday. That's the perfect way to prime yourself for the opening night of the regular season. And on Sportsnet, we've got a double header, all Canadian affair beginning on the air with Hockey Central at 630 Eastern. And then, as Chris Cuthbert loves to say, the forever rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, the NHL debut of Gavin McKenna at 7 Eastern, 4 Pacific on Sportsnet from Scotiabank Arena. That will be followed by the Mike Babcock era officially underway in Edmonton. The Oilers hosting the Vancouver Canucks from Rogers Place at 10 Eastern, 8 Mountain, 7 Pacific on Sportsnet as well. Three other games. Four games, of course, as we know, on Tuesday. The banner raising in Carolinas. The Hurricanes host the Florida Panthers. Can't wait for that. The Bruins and the Rangers. And finally, the Vegas Golden Knights and Chicago Blackhawks. A phenomenal way to kick off the 2026-2027 regular season. We are here already. We will talk to you Tuesday for the in-season cup. Back Thursday, as you know. The listeners have spoken. We have shifted our schedule as the regular season begins. Thursday morning, we'll talk to you to discuss the first couple of nights of a brand new campaign. Have a great week.