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Heritage and Hellebuyck

from 32 Thoughts: The Podcast

1h 18m 58s

Heritage and Hellebuyck

The podcast reflects on a memorable weekend at the Tim Horton’s Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, blending personal anecdotes with in-depth hockey analysis. A central theme is the Connor Halibuk trade to New Jersey, framed as a pragmatic decision driven by financial constraints and a shared desire to avoid public conflict. The hosts argue that Halibuk’s silence and upbeat tone after the trade suggest acceptance, and they recommend he move forward—highlighting that the situation, though painful, may heal with time. The episode also explores broader team strategies, noting that GMs like Sonny Metta and Eric Tolsky, known for their goal-tending philosophy, appear to have influenced key trades. A highlight is the successful alumni game, which drew strong fan sentiment and showcased enduring Jets loyalty. The hosts also celebrate lesser-known aspects of the game, such as young goalie Jacob Fowler’s composure and Nikita Kucherov’s elite mental approach, which they believe offer valuable insights into player excellence. The narrative concludes with a heartfelt tribute to a fan’s experience with mental health resources through the podcast, emphasizing its role as a community support hub beyond sports commentary. The episode balances humor, insight, and human connection, offering both analysis and warmth.

Transcription

12505 Words, 64769 Characters

English
I just want to say we're having a good experience at the hotel. The rooms are very comfortable. I have nothing bad to say about it. But Colby says they can't find a room key that works for his room. So every time he comes back to the hotel, they have to call security to let him into his room. And I say to Kevin and Ron, there is no way this is true. He is making it up. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast from Winnipeg wrapping up our weekend at the Tim Horton's Heritage Classic. Dom, Ellie and Kyle back with you. This is the hotel hopping episode of the pod. Now those that have been listening for long enough, remember a number of years back, this was before my time with any association with this show. The first time, Ellie at Met Dom in person was in Seattle for the winner classic. And their first interaction was in Dom's hotel room. And Ellie, it sprawled out on Dom's bed much to this young man's horrifying dismay. I will just say to you, history has repeated itself. Ellie, it has made himself very comfortable in Dom's hotel room here at Winnipeg. We should say that Dom has two beds. Yes. And I specifically did ask, which is the one he's not using. Although Kyle did doubt, I could do a plank between the two beds. And I approved to him. It was possible. And it was good. Like it didn't, you didn't have the, uh, the point. No, no, I have a good plank form. Yeah. Good plank form. Nice and flat across the top. It was very good. So we've warmed up after a great night out in the cold at Princess Auto Stadium. And we'll get to the game and just the experience and some highlights over the weekend here at Winnipeg. But we have to start, of course, with the news that finally went down on Friday, uh, with Connor Halibuk being traded to New Jersey. We interviewed Kevin Shevelday off the other day. Uh, he was excellent and discussed. Very good. Um, but you had been withholding your in-depth thoughts on this whole matter until now, Ellie. It's so why don't you start us there and you're feeling on everything that's gone on here. So deadline's per action, right? And it wasn't a hard and fast deadline. They did not have to trade Connor Halibuk on Friday when they did. We know it was the first day that they were probably going to have to pay him, because it was the final day of the NHL agreed suspension that the Jets gave to Halibuk for being out of training camp without permission. So as of that day, they were going to have to start paying him. And that's a factor. Money is always a factor. But I don't know if it was 100% the factor. Kyle, one of the things I've heard that was in danger of occurring, uh, over this weekend was so at some point last week, Connor Halibuk informed the Jets that he was going to come into town and do a physical. And you need to have that physical and past that physical technically before you can be paid. And as part of that, there was a chance that Halibuk was going to talk to the media that he was going to make himself available. And look, regardless of what anyone feels about all this and who they think is right and who they think is wrong and whatever, while this is caused incredible strain on everybody involved, people were trying to be publicly respectful of each other. You know, you heard sheveled out in our interview on Saturday. What did he talk about? Hey, we're having an alumni game this weekend. And someday I'd like to for Connor Halibuk to be part of it. I think if Halibuk had spoken, the gloves would have gone off. And I think the Jets would have responded in kind. Like if people think that this was, if this was mean or bad or off the rails or anything like that, when this was all over, people told me it had a big chance to get worse. And it was going to get worse if everyone talked to the media. And I think, you know, between, you know, what do we also know now that as you talked about it, sheveled day off, met with his leadership group in Dallas. And they talked about what the next steps were. And you look at all the comments that were made before the trade, you look at all the comments that were made after the trade, like the Kyle Connor one really stood out in particular. Yeah, pretty succinct. I think the team knew how the players felt. I think, like, I just think the organization said, it's time. It is time to do this. And the time is now. And what I think and eventually, you know, Halibuk had agreed. They were working on it. I shouldn't say he had agreed. They were working on an agreement where he wouldn't come in to Winnipeg until next week or this coming week, if he wasn't traded. But even then, there was still a chance that it could go public. I think nobody wanted that. As much as the financial situation, I think the possibility of this going to another level of he said, she said, finger pointing, nobody wanted that, especially not the players. And that is, to me, is as much a reason that this trade happened now as anything else. I mean, you had gotten the sense Thursday night that this was getting close. I do believe for the team flying back from Dallas to Winnipeg late Thursday night, I think at that point, the players had a pretty good indication that this was coming down to an end on Friday morning. But then you listen to Halibuk when he speaks to the media the other day from New Jersey. And his line about, I've got a lot to say, but I know they've got the Heritage Classic there, so I'm just going to wait on that for now. I thought that was interesting only because at that point, he's not a Winnipeg jet anymore. If he wanted to speak his mind on whatever, clearly, there's still stuff on his chest that at one point, he'll get off. He could have done so there. So I don't know if he just fell to the end. It was civil enough. It got done. He did not want to pour any more gasoline on the fire because my point is he certainly could have. That point, he didn't owe anyone anything if he wanted to go down that road. Well, what's interesting about it is, and nothing you said is wrong, but what did he do on Saturday afternoon? He punted, right? He didn't say, I'm not going to talk about it. He said, I'm not going to talk about it this weekend, which I think was the right thing to do. I have to say this, I would never profess to tell Connor he'll about what to do, but if I was giving him advice, or he asked me my opinion, my opinion would be, take the W. You've won. You've won, and he got traded. You could see he was in a good mood, he was happy to be traded. It was time, as we said, he's in a situation where he's obviously very happy. I had people tell me, they play Tuesday night in Dallas and Wednesday in Colorado. I had people tell me they would bet that he'll play one of those games. Yes. And surprise if it was Tuesday. Yeah. I wondered, I forgot to check and see if New Jersey practiced on Sunday, but I was kind of thinking, if you go back a year ago when he had the surgery, he had two practices and then played. So the devil's fans can help me with this. If they practice Sunday, then practice Sunday Monday, maybe Tuesday, but if you don't practice Sunday, maybe you go practice morning skate, then play Wednesday. If it was me, I would say play Wednesday, but it's not me. But I would just say to hella buck, if I was being asked for advice, take the W. The only thing you can do, and we'll see what happens, we'll worry about November 10th, the game back here soon. But if what I heard was right, that of hella buck had talked, the jets were going to talk, all you're doing now is relitigating something that in a lot of ways is over. Right? Yes. Because if he says something that the jets feel they have to respond or protect their market, all he's doing is an extending it. And if I was the devil's, I would be like, hey Connor, it's a fresh start. You're here. You got what you're wanted. Let's move on. We'll worry about the devils. And let's not worry about relitigating or continuing to let that burn hot. Now he might not want to do that. He might not be interested in that advice. But if I was in his shoes or I was saying what to do, I'd be like, you won. Let it go. And you know what Kyle looked to, I was watching this weekend. we were watching this weekend. One of the best things, and we couldn't watch it, but everybody I know who was there had a great time with the alumni game, okay? - Place was packed. - It was packed, it was a competitive game. Like you saw the reaction, you know, Blake Wheeler, when he left, it was tough, right? Look at the reaction he got. You know, Bufflin, the fans always loved Bufflin, but it was tough because they had to battle with them because of his health, right? Didn't matter. You know, the feelings right now towards Hellowbuck are really raw, but one thing that this market has proved is they love their jets, and I think they're, it's not impossible to me that time could heal this wound. It just depends on what you do from here. - Yes. So, can I go back to, you touched on it a little bit ago, but that meeting that Chevrolet Day I've had with his leadership group in Dallas. Do you think it was not so much as Chevrolet Day I've, not given an exact play by play of where he's at, but just philosophically what he's thinking? - Yeah. - Do you think there was some stuff from the player side too of going, Kevin, it's time here. We don't wanna have to talk about this anymore. If your leadership group has any kind of juice and I think there's does in terms of honesty, they're gonna say this is what we feel. Like in that kind of a meeting, then you're asking for their honest opinion. - Right. And they seem like a group that would offer it. - Yeah, like Adam Lowry's been around hockey all his life, right? Like this is a pretty mature group. They're gonna be pretty blunt. - Yes. So for New Jersey, because you know, everyone's drawn to comparisons of, for Sonny Metta, you know, there's the comments of understanding goal tending is a lot more of a tough one to predict where it goes. - Yes. - And you made the point on Sunday too, is that you've got Sonny Metta and-- - Eric Tolsky. - Eric Tolsky, two guys that are kind of similarly aligned in that thinking when it comes to goal tending and both of them were very much in discussions with all of this. So, and as Metta explained, like, you know, it's certainly that's one aspect of it, but there's also when you're trying to make a gamble, going down the path of Connor Hellerbuck, and his mind seems like a pretty good one to make. And now we all can't help but wonder, is this part of a larger plan for New Jersey? What do you think about that? - I think, and I said this a couple of times now, over the next six to eight months, they could be the most fascinating team in hockey. - Yeah, 'cause there's a couple different things to play here. - The Sonny Metta comments about goal tending, and we should credit the original writer of the article Mike Morialio of NHL.com. Those got a lot of play, and then I thought about Tolsky being in on this in a big way too. And you know what's fascinating to me, Kyle, is that there's people doubting Hellerbuck. You know, they're saying, you know what, he had the great Olympics, sure, but his playoff numbers haven't been great, and he hasn't been the same goalie in the playoffs, he's been in the regular season. Okay, but two of the managers who probably would be experts at quantifying risk, Metta and Tolsky were at the forefront of this, and two of the three most aggressive general managers when it came to this, right? It's very, very interesting. Tolsky's belief in goal tending, I once asked him for a bit of clarity, and he said, if you feel you have one of the best or access to one of the best, then you adjust accordingly. But if you don't, what you don't want to do is pay someone like they're the best, even though if you don't believe they are. And it's very clear to me that Metta's ideas are very similar. Like you basically said, for what we're giving up and for what his salary is, this is a good bet. And it's the same way that Tolsky would be. The devils though, look, we're watching, as we're doing this pod, the Kanox fans have just been shouting at Quinn Hughes and then the wild, he's not signing. And it's gonna be really fascinating. And then Larkin adding them to his no trade list, like the whole thing is really fascinating, really fascinating. And I can't sit here and say with any certainty that the devils are gonna pull this all off, but it sure looks like step one of a multi-step plan or a multi-step hope bet, which is something that Metta as a poker player would be familiar with. - Yes, yes he was and there was plenty of references to that over the last few days. So zooming out, Halibuk of course was a big part of it, but the whole package itself and what Winnipeg got back their way, what did you wanna touch on there? - So I kinda wanna go past it. It's, I went back on Sunday morning and I listened to our interview a shovel day of much more carefully making some notes. And it's interesting how the whole thing changed, right? And he talked about that, about how what was true now wasn't true back then. Like if you go and look back at the Florida deal, at the time, they don't have Skinner, they don't have Clay Stevenson. And so Florida's deal, and I've reported this before, I think was Rodriguez, possibly Luster Einen, although I will tell you, I've had people say, they don't think they Florida would put him in there. So I'll say possibly, I heard Lundell was asked and that was rejected, like Florida was not doing it. And some package of draft picks, whether it was all the ones that went to Ottawa and the Kachak deal or not, it was something like that. And at the time, Winnipeg's looking for a goalie. And if they knew, they were gonna be, 'cause one thing another team told me was that Winnipeg, absolutely a hundred percent were more comfortable with their goal tending now than they would have been without Halobok in June, at the draft, and it changed their parameters. It's interesting, if Winnipeg knew they would have those two guys, would they have taken that deal back then? I don't know, because, I mean, it looks like it could be a really good deal. I don't know if word regas appeals to them, and the restaurant is not a score, although it's a really good player. Anyway, at that time, they needed a goalie and Florida didn't have a goalie to give them. You know, Buffalo, there's been a lot of guessing about what that was. Lucanon, Norris, I heard they were concerned about Norris' injury history. I know some people have speculated in McLeod, I've never heard that myself. I can't say for sure. And you've gotta think they asked about one of those guys, like Oslyn, Holadius, Quinn, something like that. And then there was the 4/8 switch. I've always heard that the 4/8 switch was a very big deal, that Winnipeg wanted to get 4 and keep 8, and Buffalo was not willing to do that. And what did he say in our interview several day off? He talked about we're so happy we got Vigo Bjork. And one of the interesting things I've heard about that, and again, I will tell you that some people have argued this with me, disputed it with me, is that I heard Winnipeg wanted Bjork really badly. I think we can all see that this guy is gonna be a player. You know, the outdoor game was a rough one for him. He got banched for a little bit. He's a young first round, he's a first round pick in his first year as a North American pro. He's gonna be fine, he just had a rough day. I had heard Winnipeg didn't wanna take him 4th, that they would have taken one of those defensemen. I don't know if that's true, whatever the case is, I know they wanted both of those picks. Utah was absolutely in this at one point. I don't know what they put on the table. I do believe they couldn't trade Vamelka here. Whether that was pre-July 1st or post-July 1st, I don't know, but I think now he couldn't come here. But I think Utah was in this for a while and ultimately pulled out. You know, the other one, and we talked about this Carolina, they really wanted 'em bad. The Kishin wouldn't sign in Winnipeg, that was a problem. And Winnipeg wanted to forward, they weren't doing Stankhoven, they weren't doing Jarvis, they weren't doing Blake, and you know, after I talked about it on Saturday night, I had another team call me and they say, you know, you kind of undersold a bit. They said, Caroline, I really worked at that. Like they, they were aggressive, they were really trying to figure out whether they knew who Winnipeg wanted and they chased, or they created a profile and said, this is the kind of guy Winnipeg is going to want, they, they really tried, they, they really did. So I mean, I, we have pieces of all this. I don't know if I'll ever find out everything for sure. We have pieces of all this. The one that's interesting to me is the Florida one, the most because I do think that was, there was a time that was Hellowbuck's number one choice. I think initially that was the team you really wanted to go to and eventually you'll put it up more, but if, if Winnipeg knows, they're relatively solid in the future with Stevenson and Skinner, does that deal happen? But it's, you know, it's, it's all guesswork. Yes. It's all guesswork. But those are the teams you believe were legit in on this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there might have been more. I, I, I freely admit, there's always stuff I miss. The Utah ones, very interesting. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, and I will say too, like just even watching Skinner tonight so far this year, he's, he's looking like a different guy, like I can see why it's maybe a little comforting to Chevrolet off and why he was, I know they got Daws, of course, back in the devil's deal, but maybe why there was a pivot between Stevenson as well, of course, but it's one thing to sign Stu Skinner and now have a min house, but how he's looked to come out this year, far different than certainly towards the end of his time in Edmonton and even for large stretches in Pittsburgh too, he seems like a, like a renewed guy in that crease. There was a guy in our hotel wearing a heritage classic jet Skinner jersey and he told me they were all sold out. He had to buy a blank one and go to a store that would put the number and the name on it. So it's good sign for him here. Yeah, the Stu chance were very loud at Princess Auto on Sunday night. So you want to get to Quinn Hughes here. You mentioned that, I mean, there's the Connuck's fans have been letting him hear it that he's not resigning. They were all over him and warm up before we do that. Let's just wrap a bow on this weekend. What a great weekend. Yes. Like just the event, the hospitality, the people, they hit this out of the park. And, you know, it's, it's going to get tight here on the jets because they lost again. And they're having trouble scoring and the funds over and now with the great weekend and now they're, it's going to get serious. They were, it was such a fantastic, fantastic time. Like I really loved every second I spent here. I wanted to shout out Gregor Bure, who is one of the members of the jets media relations team, his partner, Kayla and her mom Debbie. They run a place called Sugar and Salt Big Shop. And it was like a 45 minute walk from our hotel to it. But I did it on Friday and oh my God, I can barely fit into my pants. It was so good. Like what? And I know I brought some treats for you loaded up for all you guys and all like just fantastic stuff. So there was one great story. There's a woman named Lindsay and she said she was on the same flight from Calgary to Winnipeg that you and Kevin were on. And she was wearing a jets team jacket. And on the sleeve, it said 2011. And she was talking to Kevin and Kevin said to her, why is that jacket of 2011 on it? And I said, no, he didn't say that. No way. And she said, oh, yes, he didn't understand why 2011. And so she I said, come on. And she goes, no, I had to explain it to him. And then she goes, as I was trying to get over my dumbfoundedness at this because it happened right in the middle of Kevin playing for the Stanley Cup. Yeah. And then, you know, the next season, oh, now we're playing games in Winnipeg and haven't done that before. And then we're done that. Well, he had, because you played in the minor. And he played in the minor. He wasn't in the AHL all the time. Was I? Yeah. I get sent down. Why are we here? Why are the connox playing the moose? Yeah. So. And so she explained to him that it was because it was our first season and she I said, what did he say? He goes, let's dumb. Oh, my gosh. That's not quite as bad as you forgetting Luke Gazex and the in season Kyle is here. But it's, it's in the area code. It's in the area code. But just everyone involved with this, holy cow, did you hear it out of the park? It was fantastic. Yeah. Great spectacle. Great colors throughout. And they think, as time's gone on, of course, and as the leagues gotten better at putting these on, I, I loved how they did up the field in and around the rank itself, like those aerial shots where we're so neat. And good on Jacob Fowler, youngest goalie, I think everyone is starting to hear it just last like 21 years old. And some of the guys were saying in the room afterwards, Elliott, he, and Jake Evans is lying as he goes, he's actually like a normal guy. Like, I think it's kind of, it throws them off. It's not like a weirdo like most goalies. Well, his point was, and Noah's obviously said it too, you know, it's one thing, maybe some goalies more now are a little more loose in the lead up to a game. But when the game starts, they really zero in. They said, like Fowler will be in the intermissions, will be chirping guys in the dressing room. And then said, like, they were standing next to each other, you know, they all lined up there for the anthem tonight, and they're waiting for the anthem to start. He's talking to him, like there's, it's not like nothing else outside of a matters. He's just another player in that dressing room in terms of, of mentality. And it's, it's work and form right now, like he, he looked right there on, on Sunday night, like I push across on the Sheffield chance in that third period. Yes. Like he looked like he anticipated that so well. So it's going to be interesting, and we talked about it recently, like it's, it's going to be an interesting storyline going forward in terms of that Montreal crease. But, you know, for a guy that was a couple years ago now when Kerry Price said, he reminds me of me, and for him to still be able to carry on and, and just develop and, and look like a guy that's capable of handling the net. It's pretty impressive. By the way, I love the fact that they welcome Mercer too. Yes. That was such a, and you could see by the look on his face, he was, he was really impressed with that. Really, that really blew him away. Yeah. Like the timing of that, there was no, that was not a coincidence, right? Like it would everything going on here. No, it was great. And you could tell you did it on purpose, and I thought it was a great touch. Yeah. All right. Quinn Hughes back in Vancouver. So he got, and they would came up for warm up. The booze were there. First touch the puck. There's some chance going on. It's hard to look at what we saw in Ottawa, less than a week ago. But the heat isn't the same, right? It's different. Yes. The connox is an organization, or a different spot than Ottawa is right now. You knew it was going to be the same type of, no, vitriol. And you know what? I saw there were a lot of, like, there were, when they're in the video, I saw there were a lot of people who got up and cheered for it. And I, I support that. Recognize Quinn Hughes, Hughes, how you want to. Bird connox fan, as long as you don't go over the line and nobody did, you have the right to decide how you want to recognize Quinn Hughes. But I think anybody expecting that there would be the same level of anger or betrayal or hate that there was in Ottawa, I'm sorry, like, it was, I think a lot of people kind of saw it coming. As you said, the connox are really struggling. It's also been a much longer period of time since that happened. I can't imagine anybody out there thought that this was going to be anywhere close. And then Minnesota had a dominant performance. Hughes had that unbelievable assist on the fourth goal to Capriceau, like just a great play. And he got his 500th career point to which Dom, our producer and host of the connox intermission broadcast said, everybody gets their 500th point against us. He's just nodding along, exhausted. I think, you know, I'll tell you, I worry for, I mean, look, the connox know what they're doing here. They've accepted their fate. But you know, I'm worried about them after this, after this Hughes game, like it's just not going well, and the worst thing is apathy, you know, the worst thing is apathy. I want it, I want the league to be healthy. and I'm just worried about the apathy here. Like you look at Calgary. They started Oh and Three at home and they were getting killed and now they've at least even their home record, right? Like you have to protect your turf. Even if you're not good, you have to protect your turf. And Calgary has now done that. - Yes, and it helps that they've got the saddle dome celebration stuff going on too, like bring it back the old four arid jerseys on Saturday against Detroit, phenomenal. Heather Laskanos do it the anthem again. And there's just a lot going on that can at least distract you over the course of the year that Calgary's doing and they're just flat out playing better. They're looking more like a team I envision going in where gonna have more losses than wins that I'm sure over the totality, but you're way more, you're competitive most nights. And some flashes of real hope and intrigue from your young players, that's where they're at. - And Saturday night, so after the game, I know I don't know where you were, like you didn't even serve a paycheck for Saturday. You didn't even do anything. But we know when we're on the desk and it shows up, like oh, there's Koolie with Brendan Parker. - Oh. - We were like, okay, stop what you're doing. We have to see this. It's Koolie is first of all, you know what, if you talk like that, but you're saved percentage is 220, nobody wants to hear it from you, right? Like people like be quiet, you're saved percentage is 220. But when you're winning games and you're giving your players a chance, they'll let you talk like that all night long. And when the camera went to him, like Ron was like, okay, be quiet everyone. I want to hear this. And we were all riveted to every word. Like he's, you know, it's flow state. He's reading with the bunny rabbit. Like it's, I'm just looking at this and like, what planet am I on? (laughs) I feel like I'm at like some sort of 60s crazy party. (laughs) - Yeah, yes. He is not Jacob Feller. - No. - Different, definitely wired, but both so entertaining. - He gets this looking his eyes too when he's about to explain everything. - Yes. - It's like he's- - The wheels are spinning. - The wheels are spinning and he's far away. It's fascinating stuff. But it's the right mentality. - Yes. And man, it's working for him. - It's working for him. - It's impressive. By the way, Elliot, so you mentioned the baked goods that you got for all of us. I was thinking about this. I wanted to, I meant to tell you, we're walking over to the rank on Saturday morning to do our interviews. And Elliot's got like his backpack is around his forearm somehow. He's holding onto the baked goods. He's got like his sunglasses in his hand. He's got his cuffs aren't cuff-linked. Like they're just kind of flapping out of the wind. And I thought to myself, you're a broom closet with legs. That's what I thought. Watch your walk around. - That's not the first way. Nor last time I will ever look like you're up to. - A broom closet with legs. Anyway. - One of my friends once said to me, how do you function? - It was impressive. I thought, how was your forearm not getting tired with your backpack hanging off the way it was anyway? Just another day. Okay, that'll bring us to the check-in, which is brought to you by Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Dylan Larkin, Elliot. So I remember a few weeks back when the Red Wings were in Montreal and the chanting, of course, I went on there. And you said on the pod, you could see that maybe moving the needle a little bit there with the idea of could he possibly end up a Canadian after all? This, you're on with a TNT with Jackie Redmond before our game here in Winnipeg on Sunday. She asked you about that again. And you would reference that line. And also the whole vision of if this potentially could happen for Larkin and Montreal. How do you think it could get done? - So as we know, Montreal's not on this list of 10. And, but I've been thinking about this a lot. And here's my theory, Kyle. It almost has to be reverse engineered. So when we were driving over here to do this pod, I don't remember if it was you or Dom. Maybe it was Dom who asked. He said like, what happens if you're not on the list? Like does that, like it was Dom, okay. What happens if you're not on the list? Like can you get on the list? Well, as we've seen first of all, he's moved it. But, and I know there are situations like this where a manager has called and said, okay. This guy, Larkin, can I get in on this? And it can go one of two ways. The GM, in this case, the work-off will say, look, you're not on his list. He's not going to you. Don't even bother. And you're like, okay, you might try it, but if you're told no chance, there's no chance. But what has also happened is managers have said, look, you're not on the list, but you may have something I want. And if you give me something that I like or a deal that I would be willing to make, if you can convince me to go to a player, 'cause a deal is so good, I'll do that. So both things can happen. So what I think is almost going to happen here if it's going to be Montreal, or if there's any chance of it to be Montreal, you're going to have to reverse. My theory is you're going to have to reverse engineer it. The Montreal is going to have to call Detroit and say, we want to make a deal for Larkin. And, but you have to agree. And that's what I think is going to have to happen here. That if for any chance of this to happen and please understand before I get ratioed here, I'm just doing this as a hypothetical, and this is in my own head, that Montreal and Detroit would have to agree on a trade, and then Detroit would have to go to Larkin and say, look, we've got a deal here for Montreal. Like, there's a time I would have said there was zero possibility this could happen, zero. I think the line has moved for two reasons. Number one, the great reaction of the Montreal fans. And number two, 'cause I think Larkin is honestly trying, the way he's expanding his list, he wants this to happen. And so it's moved the line. I think the only way for it to happen is if Montreal makes a deal for Detroit and Detroit goes to Larkin and says, look, we have a deal with the Canadians. It's a really good deal for us, would you consider? And then where do we go from there? That's the way, that's the only way I see it happening. So other than that, right now. Okay, other than the hypotheticals, is there any other movement on the Larkin file or anything? I just think with Detroit, it's very clear that they are looking at young centers, very clear. And I've mentioned this before in the last part, I mentioned it last part, I mentioned in Saturday night, and I keep hearing it. People keep saying to me, you're on this one, look at guys that teams have. And I think it's the case for Edvinson too, honestly. Look at guys that teams have young centers. And I'll say this, if I'm in Soda and I'm seeing this list expanding, we all know how aggressive Bill Guerin is. I'm doing what I can to end this. But I'll say this, we joked about Yurov last week, right? We talked about the Winnipeg deal, things changed, what was true in the summer was not true now. I'll bet you Detroit is looking at Yurov and saying, you know what? This guy has taken strides. I bet you a guy like Yurov is more palatable to Detroit than maybe he was five months ago. But it's those kinds of players, whatever deal Detroit's thinking about here, and there could be more than one, they're looking at guys like that. And even some guys who aren't in the NHL yet. All right. That was the check in, brought to you by Expedia, the one place you go to go places. So also on Sunday, Elliot, Alexander, Nikkeeshan, staying in Carolina for now. So one year deal for $3 million. So that to me suggests it gets the player back playing again and puts an end to that. But really, when you zoom out big picture, this is just kicking the can down the road for a matter that still needs to be dealt with one way or another at some point. Kyle, the night God deathly quiet and his face lost all expression said, if you're going to play the game boy, you've got to learn to play it right. You've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run. That's one of your favorite songs. It is one of my favorite songs. Look, like someone told me that Nikkeeshan was taking a beating on social media. I'm not interested in that. But there are times you have the hammer and there are times you don't. We've, you know, he didn't have the hammer in this case. And, you know, it was time to fold. You know, it was time to fold. It's never easy, it's hard. But, and you know what, I'll say this, like, it's very clear. Niketian saw a value for himself and a worth for himself. I don't have any problem with that. But there's times you realize, hey, it ain't going to happen. And the closest it came to happening with the Rangers, it fell apart. Carolina was annoyed at that. There's, there's just a moment where you have to say, I'm not going to win this. And he hit that time. And I think it's, I think as much as it might hurt his pride and feel crappy, he's making the right decision. Now, he'll get his 10 games in, I assume. And next summer, he'll be arbitration knowledgeable. He'll be eligible for an offer sheet. We'll see if anything happens. He has to get back in and he has to play. Sometimes you just have to, we don't win all the time. Sometimes you just have to concede and take the L and get ready for your next fight. The best thing, the thing, what is he control? Get in there and play and play well. And that's what he had to do. He wasn't going to win this one. And he probably hasn't got his Stanley Cup ring yet. You know, that's, that's a good point. I don't know. Andy Anderson got his in Edmonton this week. Yeah, I don't recall seeing him when the whole team got it initially. Yeah, it's a good one, Kyle. I didn't thought about it. So that's part of it, too. Yes. And you know, we'll see. We'll see, like, you know, if you play as well, that takes care of business. All right. So Ivan Moroshna-Shanko, we talked about this a couple weeks ago. That is more so at that time, there was some interest out there and some teams wondering what are the capitals planned for them because you saw a young player with some real upside. It was just tough to crack the lineup. And with your headlines on Saturday night, you're learning that the capitals have given the player and his representation permission to seek a trade. Yes. Loud to talk to other teams. I like this player. I do. It's, it's kind of just weird timing because if Ovechkin doesn't come back this year, I don't even think this is an issue. And even Ovechkin played the lowest of his, on Saturday, he played the lowest he ever played, right? But, you know, it is an issue. I think there's quite a bit of interest. I thought it was fascinating. The capitals made it very clear they're not putting them on waivers because they know they'd lose them from zero. And they're not doing that. And so somebody compared it to me to the Chinacov trade. He went from Columbus to Pittsburgh for a second and a third. And I'm curious to see if that's kind of the market. Is that what we're talking about here? Because he's a talented player. Like Chinacov wise, this is simply a numbers game. He can play, I think, and we'll see where this goes. Okay. The other thing too is, and actually, somebody said this to me on Sunday Kyle is, the other thing that could happen here is, like Washington just had, Dubois miss a bunch of games because he was sick. If somebody gets hurt, this guy could be playing. So we'll see how long this lasts. All right. You wanted to touch on quickly to the Nashville predators. I feel like each of the last two years, because of how things have gone there, fairly early on in the year, the conversation starts already of what are they thinking with some of the guys that other teams may be interested, whether it's Ryan O'Reilly or go down the list from there, I mean, they've been very active under Chris McFarlane. Yeah. It was, you made 50, like, 11 trades already. Yeah. And started Chris. He's not wasted any time. Where do your thoughts, and where do you at with the predators here in the early going? What a big win over Colorado year? So I saw on Saturday night, they lost an overtime to Pittsburgh. I was like, okay. And in that one, actually, they had a two-one lead and Requel tied it late in the third period. And I saw some of Andrew Burnett's quotes after that when I was like, oh, and then they, Colorado has had some, Colorado and Vegas have both had some really weird losses lately, like really strange stuff. I generally don't worry about those two teams because they're really good teams, but weird losses early in this year. So that was a big comeback for them. But I think there's, first of all, Chris McFarlane himself said, let's see how the start goes. And it's been okay, up and down, 500, which is probably what you expect. But, you know, between the Strubel trade and the Hunt waiver claim, and I've talked about before about how I think he wants to remake his defense, all of a sudden they got a lot of defensemen. You know, there's rumors about Shay. I think there might be, they might be looking at some other things there. And also the other thing is, you know, the longer a rally goes, though, the extension and depending on how their season goes. So it's like almost every week, I'm kind of doing like a Nashville pulse check. Like, where are they right now? So I saw that one on Saturday night and I saw Burnett's quotes. And then I was like, oh, and then they had that big win on Sunday. But they're an interesting one to me. I'm also going to be, you know, there's been some big money on the board games this week, right? Like, obviously he was one would be a big money on the board one. The Kachak one was a big money on the board one. I would love to know what it looked like in Edmonton, Toronto. Because, you know, Babcock can't technically put money on the board, but you saw how mad he was after that game. He was he was calm about it. He had the blue shirt all the time at home. I think he was like four one and one in the blue shirt at home or something like that, but the blue shirt got pounded. But I would bet some of the Toronto guys would have had money on the board too. They're left over from, you know, when he was there. Just fascinating number of results here. Like, there are some, we saw some really good teams get pounded this week. Colorado, Vegas, Edmonton when they were on fire. And a week ago, everybody was starting to say, Oh, Toronto knows dive and all of a sudden, they won four in a row and they look like world beaters. It's, it's fascinating out there. It's, I don't know how anybody bets on this league. I really don't. Like, we joked last week with Brian Spear going out in three weeks and four weeks in the, yes, in the survivor pool. I just, I just don't know how anybody gambles on this league, man. There's so much crazy stuff that happens. The Toronto, they've, if you look at it over the last few years, I feel like anytime they go into Edmonton, they're wired. Yeah. Like, they've, they've had good results in that building for a while now. And, and a big one on, on Saturday night with a few ex oilers getting on the sheets. And anyway, the top dogs were doing what they were doing. Okay. And that leads us to the final thought. So another thing that happened over the weekend, Elliott was Nikita Kutraev. Now officially is the franchises all time leader and points surpasses Steven Stamcoast. He's a player we talked about on this podcast a few times for a few different reasons. And we have let it be known. We would love one day to sit down in the film room with him in some capacity or even just a conversation on the podcast. Though he's my great way of well. Yes. We know he doesn't do podcasts. I don't do podcasts. He's fooled you flat out, but he didn't blink when he said it. One of the more fascinating players, maybe the history of the game when it's all said and done. Because a guy that on the outside doesn't let many people in for his peers, one of the most respected players going. And for his teammates and his coaches, they look at him as as one of the brilliant minds in the game that they have ever come across. Well, it's just amazing. I was going through the call. I mean, first of all, I was thinking, congratulations to him becoming Tampa Bay's all time leading score. But again, it's ever since McKinney came on and basically called him like the hockey players favorite hockey player, like the thinking man's hockey player, whatever he called them. I really looked at him in a different light. And again, as he was setting in the record or approaching it, you know, the waste surrogate you have talked about him, you know, Andre Ternier had him in junior. The way that Andre Ternier talked about him. It's just I would love to spend like one of the things right now is embedded journalism. You go spend some time with somebody. I would love to spend a month just watching this guy. And he is really happy to keep the world at arm's length. But It's like Nikita, you have to donate your mind to hockey science. Like whenever you're retired or wherever you're gone, there has to be some sort of database or journal or copy of what you do. He has such gifts of competition, drive, mindset, excellence. People need to have access to this. The archives must be opened and I just got into this business. The best thing that being a sports reporter has been and working at hockey night in sports net with the more access you get as a rights holder, the greatest gift is given to me Kyle as it makes me understand why certain people are successful. How they tick and why I am not successful because I don't tick like that, right? But you know, it's just like I've seen it from so many people. I want to see it from him and you know, the other thing too is, you know, and we kind of talked about it in one of the recent pods, but he's not signed for next year. And I just think that I think that's, I don't know because nobody talks here like Julian Reese was a vault and Kucherov's not giving anything away. But to me, it's almost like it's tied into who he is. It's tied into why he's so successful. He has a value system. We do it this way, I do it this way. I expect this of myself. I expect this of you. And you know, I just think that, you know, the league has changed. The structure has changed and I can, and I just see a guy that Kucherov and again, I want everyone to understand this is me talking because I've seen people like him. If I expect this of myself and I demand this of myself, I expect and demand this of you. And he's got obviously, I don't know if it's a number or a general area that he feels should be his. And at this point in time, obviously, it's not there. But I hope someday before he retires, he lets us see him and how it all works. He feels like long odds, but I'm holding out hope. Actually, one of his former teammates told me a story of when he was there, and at one point, he got a chance to play on the top power play. And he said, Kucherov pulled him aside and like basically did a video session with him. And Kucherov effectively, like just went through all five guys on the ice and described, this is what, if you're here, you should be thinking about this and with the pucks here, you should be thinking about that. Like he basically gave what he felt was the proper thought process for all five guys on the ice in a given situation. And this guy was sitting here, like just listening to it. And I think basically the point was you just thought, like what, what a thrill this is to just sit here and be able to tap into his mind a little bit, right? And John Cooper had the great line this week too of like, has a coach, you treat everyone fairly, you don't necessarily treat everyone equal. And Kucherov is a guy, has a coach for him. He learned pretty early on that you don't treat him the same as everybody else because of how he plays and just what he can bring to the table in terms of how he can see the game and how he thinks the game. It's very cool. I believe it, very good. All right, that was the final thought. And with that, we'll take our first break here in Winnipeg. When we come back, it's another edition of the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, The Podcast, and it continues after this. All right, welcome back. It's time for the thought line presented by Beth MGM, Make It Legendary, Elliot, Tom. Welcome to my hotel room. I'm not too sure how to really feel about this, but we're just going to roll with it. I want everybody out there in Lissnerland to know what a gracious, gracious guest I am. Okay. I just got off the treadmill, a good 35 minute workout. I am dripping with sweat and I did not sit on Kyle 's bed. That's just common practice. This is me patting myself on the back. That's where you know you are so far offline most of the time that basic human decency is celebrated for you. That's right. Did you do what happened to Colby at this hotel? No, but now I want to know. So Colby gets in late on Friday night and he tells us that they can't get a room key that works for his room. He is making it up. So we come home from the wrink or the stadium on Saturday night after the show and I see him get escorted out to his room. So I go to the front desk and I say, wait a second, I have to ask you something. Is this true that there isn't a door key that works for him? And they go in the guy who smiles and goes, "Yeah, it's true for some reason to kick." So they have to use a special security master key every time Colby wants to get into his hotel room. Is he in the presidential suite? Is that why it was extra security? I was going to say this probably tells more about Colby than it does the hotel that he's a person that needs to be under supervision, 100% of the time. But it is really funny. The guy was laughing. He says, "Yeah, for some reason we can't get this door open with any room key." More guy. The last thing you want to deal with like in the middle of the night when you get in late, but it's probably for the best. It's probably for the best. I think that person should probably stay in there with them too, just to make sure there's no unseemly behavior. Okay. Before we get started, I wanted to shout out Cody who sent me a DM a couple days ago, Elliot, with a couple of coffee shop suggestions here and what a pain there this weekend. So I went to one of them this morning, Cafe Postal. It was lovely. So Cody, thank you very much for taking the time to pass along some suggestions. Great. Coffee. What do you got? Okay. I have a few things that I want to read here. On the last pod, we read a letter from a very proud father about his daughter, the teacher, who was growing the game of hockey in her classroom in Carolina. And Randy Craig is the father and he's very proud of his daughter, Katie. And he just followed up to say they appreciated the shout out and it took her less than 12 hours to raise twice the funds needed to take the kids to a game. So those kids in her classroom, which in case you missed it, was in fifth grade in Durham , North Carolina, they will go to see the hurricanes against the Philadelphia Flyers on April the 5th. Wow. That's awesome. So I have a couple other DMs I just wanted to read. First of all, from Cam Reed, Elliot, I just want to say thank you for paying for my next family vacation. While watching the outcome of the Panthers Senators game on Wednesday, I bet all my life's savings on you ripping the classic Anthony Stewart, are you a team or are you a club line in reference to the Senators performance on the next pod. And in classic, predictable, free, fashion, you let a rip in the first five minutes, beers on me next time you're in Columbus. Am I that predictable, Kyle? I feel there's some there's some Friedman stories that should just be taken off the betting market altogether. I think it's I think it's it's for the best because it's it's an automatic. It's an automatic sometimes. I think that's just that is your comfort in sharing who you are in this space and allowing the listeners to get to know you far more than the rest of people normally would. And this is the byproduct of it. They know when certain Friedman stories or phrases are coming. And if I can contribute to our listeners financial stability, I am proud to do that. Yes. I have to say Mike Russo sent me a note when we tweeted out that New Jersey was the team that hella buck was going to one of his friends sent him. a picture of the calcium market on how much that tweet changed the odds and I have to say that freaks me out a little bit yeah yeah those are waters you necessarily think of waiting into no you don't and then I'm gonna read another more serious note here and I'm not gonna name the person but I I saw this note and I wanted to read it firstly I wanted to say that you Kyle and Dom do a great job with the podcast I'm a long-time listener to every show thank you I've been struggling recently and I wanted to share a good experience I had with Connects Ontario I know you do add reads for them for their gambling services but it turns out they offer mental health services too I reached out for some help when I needed someone to talk to and they had a live chat for me they also sent me a customized list of free resources specific to my area I'm now in the process of signing up for ongoing counseling that I wouldn't have been able to afford or even known about I wouldn't have known about them without the podcast so thank you I thought that it was important to read that I'm not gonna share the name of the person obviously but I sent them a note saying just pay were with you and anybody out there who might hear this and say maybe I can use this to we're with you to awesome it's good to know that that's available and this person had a positive experience with that that's great Elliott thank you for sharing that okay let's dive into it here Morgan from Missouri go blues high 32 thoughts gang new-ish hockey fan here and I've really enjoyed listening to the pod and hearing more about the business side of the sport I also love the niche trivia and stats and some recent goalie milestones in the first few weeks of the season plus the discussion not too long ago about the outdoor games and fans visiting all 32 NHL arenas got me thinking about goalies with NHL game wins in the highest number of venues factoring in outdoor games like the winter classic and such as well as teams moving cities or arenas especially around the 90s might be an interesting little puzzle thanks for all the work you do making my commute to work a little more interesting wins in venues for goalies you know it's funny about this I recently did a sparkle quiz about who had the most home runs in each ballpark it wasn't well depends on the ballpark but there's a lot of as you imagine there's a lot of Hank Aaron you know there's a lot of Barry bonds Babe Ruth okay wins per building so no it's yeah the amount of different venues to record a win all amount of different venues to record a win how many different places there's two at the top broger he's second I guess technically third oh yeah okay says okay 50 different venues for March and Broder okay and the two a tie of the top are at 51 oh Luongo no at bell 4 yes yeah and I will say the other guy that he's tied with bell 4 succeeded him in this particular NHL market then I'm thinking of hmm this guy was there yeah I asked at bell 4 come Curtis Joseph there you go Curtis Joseph and Ed Bell for have NHL victories in 51 different venues over their career that's a great question that's a lot because I was trying to think who played a for a long time and be when a lot of arenas turned over hmm yeah like as Morgan mentioned the 90s when things were of evolving the expansion new buildings being built and then of course now we're into the air of so many outdoor different outdoor games neutral sites going to play over in Europe that'll factors into well by the way I forgot one shout out I wanted to give okay my shout outs list for this pod I don't know what I was writing down I I can't even read them so I there's one I can remember a fan of the pot I met like this three I remember a fan of the pot I met I met at the arena here in Winnipeg where the Jets play Steve Squire is the executive chef oh yes and he said he's a big fan of the pod this did not get me any free prime rib I'm sorry to say yeah but it was nice to meet him and I'd like to also thank two individuals who are working at the rank so Kevin Shivel they have had a media conference of 130 the day they traded Connor hella buck and I'm embarrassed to say I got completely lost in the bowels of the rank and two employees Gabe and Darian saved me kind of they grabbed a guy to you they were looking at me I think one of them I remember which one was saw me like twice go around is this like what are you looking for it was embarrassing I guess they painted the wall I didn't recognize it oh that's what it was yes I guess was white before now it said light gray completely threw me off that's great okay Mike from Riverton Manitoba okay hi Dom Kyle and Elliot first off thoroughly enjoy the podcast there has been talk on the pod recently of uniforms and having more colors with helmets and the Jersey matchup and the like with the heritage classic and any winter classic or stadium series I love seeing what jerseys they come up with for these events so with the heritage classic happening in Winnipeg I'm curious each of your opinions Dom included on which heritage classic jerseys of all time have been your favorites thanks gentlemen and Elliot keep up the good work Dom you're a big equipment concert you have a pick but Dom's doing his homework I know it's on my mind right now because we're here but I think Winnipeg's are incredible both here I think of all the ones that Montreal has played in the ones this year and I'm trying not to use recency bias but that kind of off-white cream touch on those sweaters look beautiful in person I think they really popped on camera and they may be the best ones that they've had and I also I know it wasn't a great memory for connects fans but those millionaire jerseys they wore in Vancouver I they were great I've long got a soft spot with the the off-white pants too Dom's got an answer yeah I'm gonna be a home or those Vancouver millionaire jerseys yeah I can't argue that normally I try to rip you but that's a fair that's a fair pick the baby blues Pittsburgh at the Colby Armstrong played I thought were he scored the first outdoor goal in at the winner classic of course that wasn't the first outdoor game but those were nice and it wasn't a jersey but I always loved at the big Edmonton Montreal one when Josie Theodore wore the tube with a goalie mask yes so that for me I have to say that a lot of the tukes I think are excellent I remember when the outdoor game was at Notre Dame I didn't do that one but I texted Sean McKenzie during that broadcast and I said you have to bring me back one of those tukes I think a lot of the tukes at these things have been spectacular yes and I love that you mentioned Wendipag the fact I think they've been in three of these now and twice they wore white in the one in Regina 19 they had the dark blue but it's basically been the same look in terms of the old Jets 1.0 logo I love that they haven't felt the need to reinvent the wheel there that logo is so great color scheme is so great no need to deviate even if it looks similar to what they wore in the past who cares it is so sharp all right a couple more here Brandon Carapellus greetings Kyle Dom and Elliott I am a writer for the Pittsburgh Penguins actually met Brandon last season for a game in Pittsburgh and for the games I sit in the booth with the game night PR team for the pens one of the game night wraps found an interesting stat from Nick Robertson's first period goal against the Florida Panthers on Thursday at PVG paint Serena Robertson five foot nine became the first player since 2018 to score on a gold tender who is over a foot taller than him Cooper Black six foot nine according to his research the last time this happened was when David DeHarnet scored on Ben Bishop my question is what is the largest height difference that was scored on a gold tender my immediate thought had to have been any Nathan Garvey goal but I wanted to ask the excellent crew at sports net stats what the record is thanks for taking the time fell as all the best and keep up the good work well I will Sabran and then thank you for writing in that you are completely on the money with your immediate thought going to Nathan Garvey no surprise there no the only other guy I could really think of was when I was a kid there was a player named Bobby LaLond who was the shortest player in NHL history at the time yes so I was but goalies weren't that big then it wasn't that wasn't an era where the goalies were giants but he was the first name to jump to my head Nathan Garvey is a great call that's the answer. It is the answer. So could you hazard a guess of who there's two goalies that he scored on that would have the record of. So I'm trying to remember like the really tall guys because Ben Bishop would have been my first guest and I assume is he one of them? Yes. So a 15 inch difference between nothing girly and Ben Bishop. The other goal is also 15 inches. Okay, I'm just trying to remember who that would have been. What team? So I think of the oilers for this guy. Oh, it's not cost. It is. It is. It is. It is. Wow. Yeah. So you had two on Ben Bishop, Gerby did and one on cost and that's a great question. Excellent. All right. One last one here, Elliott. I hope you like this one from Lucas Beruby. Hey, Jens, a big fan of the pod. I haven't missed a show since day one. Elliott, you've mentioned a few times that although you're not a big memorabilia guy, you do like to keep your media passes. Well, I'm getting in touch because I recently discovered that I have your media pass. What's from game five of the 2011 Western conference final and wanted to send it back to you now for those who may not remember. That was the famous Kevin B. X. Estantian goal that sent the conucks to the Stanley Cup final that year. You might get a kick at how I came to possess this past. My dad, very curious actually. Ken Beruby was a long time CBC employee and worked as an audio engineer on Hockey Night in Canada from the early 80s to mid 2000s. He passed away in 2010, but I stayed in touch with a few of his buddies from the old Hockey Night crew. As an aside, I'm forever grateful to Scott O. for the beautiful tribute he paid to my dad during game three of the conucks Black Hawk series in the second round in 2010 after he passed away. Anyway, I am a long time read, long suffering, diehard conucks fan and was of course heavily invested in their 2011 run. I had a nosebleed ticket to game five of the Western conference final from where I was sitting in the 300 level behind the shark's net. I had a perfect view of B. X's wounded duck winner and was one of the first people in the building to start celebrating. After the on-eye celebrations and Campbell Bowl presentation, I reached out to one of my dad's buddies to see if he could get me downstairs so I could watch, maybe participate in the celebrations. He met me with a media pass and down I went to celebrate with the boys. The night ended up being a bit of a long one and I had no recollection of what happened to the pass or who it originally belonged to until I discovered it in an old box of hockey memorabilia which included some awesome mid 90s conucks sign hockey cards, a few of my dad's old media passes and a really nice letter from Ron McLean on Atlanta 1996 Olympic letterhead. Please let me know the best way to return the pass. I appreciate all you do for the game and feel a bit bad that I've held it for so long. So we sent a photo of it. There it is. Wow. That is a great story. Yeah. That wasn't just any other game. No, that was that was a huge game. I'm trying, you know, you're trying to think, is there any way you can dig out of any corner of your mind, some kernel on how it ended up there? Because normally I would keep it but I have no recollection. So it sounds like whoever he got in touch with to get down to ice level grabbed your immediate pass because figured everybody knows who you are. You don't need to show your pass and then gave it to him. So he could be, you know what? That's a good theory because I wouldn't be wearing it while I was going to be on air. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's possible. I hope that 15 years later, the connoxies don't come at me for fraud or something like that. Yeah. At least it was dated just for the one night. The hilarious for the next 10 years. He was going into games. Hi. I accidentally freed me. So do you want to back? You know what? No. I, you know what? I'll say no because, you know, for, for Lucas here, it's a memory of an incredible night, right? So Lucas, you keep it. Like that's a memory of a special night for you. Keep it is a memory of that night. Right. I love that. Good way to wrap it up. We'll leave it there. Okay. So if you have any good stories like Lucas does, any other questions or perhaps something you'd like to send in to the thought line, you can do so by email at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232 or thanks as always to Griffin order for curating these for us each and every week. We'll take one final break and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts the Podcast from Winnipeg and the Heritage Classic on the other side. So that's going to do it for our time here in Winnipeg with the Heritage Classic, a really wonderful weekend and a great way to wrap up our time in the peg or a reminder, the latest edition of Sportsnet Monday Night Hockey, streamed exclusively on Sportsnet Plus is later on tonight. It's an all Canadian affair from Calgary. The Toronto Maple Leafs continue their western trip there in there tonight. You can catch the pregame show with David Amber and Lou Gassick and Justin Williams at eight Eastern six mountain time puck drop from the Saddle Dome a little after 630 local time 830 Eastern. Taking us out today, a track from Gizmo, who are Charlotte Town Rockers inspired by the guitar damage pop of the 1990s American Slacker bands and their contemporaries on Canada's East Coast. A 120 minutes band for the Gen Z set, they bring a new life into their vintage influences with a distinctive songwriting style and frenetic live show. They emerged to acclaim with 2023's Buddy System EP and just released their full length debut all your warships produced by Alex Edkins and Lowell Campbell earlier this month by a victory pool record. You can see them as part of the Winter Option Festival in the new year in January. Here they are. It's Gizmo and Gif Shop on 32 Thoughts to Podcasts. Have a great week off the way onto my chest. I'm a same place with spurs in like all the rest. Usually tourists hanging around in a kitchen shape like a circus clown. They settle away in the past tense and broke on the string. Feel, there's a way into my heart. From certain teeth, front of me, sleeping in a shopping cart. I'll be yours with the water out my wing. In an ancient calling into me to play. [Music]

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Colby claims he can't access his hotel room due to a missing key, but the hosts suspect it's fabricated and highlight the absurdity of needing security to enter every time.
  2. The podcast reflects on the Connor Halibuk trade to New Jersey, attributing it to financial pressures and a desire to avoid public conflict, with both teams prioritizing stability over escalation.
  3. Halibuk’s post-trade silence and positive demeanor suggest he accepted the outcome, with the hosts advising him to move on and let the situation heal.
  4. The episode notes that key decision-makers like Sonny Metta and Eric Tolsky, known for their goal-tending philosophy, supported the trade, indicating a strategic, risk-aware approach.
  5. The hosts analyze past deals, suggesting Winnipeg’s goalie stability with Skinner and Stevenson may have influenced earlier trade decisions.
  6. A major highlight is the alumni game, which drew strong fan engagement and emotions, proving the deep fan loyalty to the Jets despite recent struggles.
  7. The podcast celebrates underappreciated moments, like Jacob Fowler’s calm demeanor and Nikita Kucherov’s mental approach to the game, emphasizing the value of player mindset.
  8. A fan story highlights a mental health resource linked to the podcast, underscoring its positive community impact beyond hockey analysis.

Summary:

The podcast reflects on a memorable weekend at the Tim Horton’s Heritage Classic in Winnipeg, blending personal anecdotes with in-depth hockey analysis. A central theme is the Connor Halibuk trade to New Jersey, framed as a pragmatic decision driven by financial constraints and a shared desire to avoid public conflict. The hosts argue that Halibuk’s silence and upbeat tone after the trade suggest acceptance, and they recommend he move forward—highlighting that the situation, though painful, may heal with time.

The episode also explores broader team strategies, noting that GMs like Sonny Metta and Eric Tolsky, known for their goal-tending philosophy, appear to have influenced key trades. A highlight is the successful alumni game, which drew strong fan sentiment and showcased enduring Jets loyalty. The hosts also celebrate lesser-known aspects of the game, such as young goalie Jacob Fowler’s composure and Nikita Kucherov’s elite mental approach, which they believe offer valuable insights into player excellence.

The narrative concludes with a heartfelt tribute to a fan’s experience with mental health resources through the podcast, emphasizing its role as a community support hub beyond sports commentary. The episode balances humor, insight, and human connection, offering both analysis and warmth.

FAQs

The trade occurred due to financial pressures from the Jets' suspension of Halibuk, combined with the risk of public conflict if he spoke to the media. The team likely felt it was necessary to resolve the situation before it escalated, especially given the players' desire to avoid further confrontation.

Yes, Halibuk spoke to the media on Saturday, stating he wouldn't talk about it that weekend. This was seen as a respectful and responsible move, indicating he avoided further public escalation after the trade.

The meeting suggested that Halibuk and the team were working toward a resolution, with both sides agreeing to delay any public comments. It reflected a mature, honest dialogue that prioritized player and team well-being over public confrontation.

Yes, analysts suggest it could be part of a multi-step plan, especially given the alignment of New Jersey's GMs—Sonny Metta and Eric Tolsky—on goal-tending and risk management, which supports the strategic nature of the trade.

Colby reported he couldn't access his room with a standard key, requiring security to use a master key each time. The hosts believe this was likely a fabricated story, as the hotel staff confirmed the issue was real and not due to a lack of key access.

The event was highly attended and emotionally charged, with strong reactions from players like Blake Wheeler and fans, showing deep loyalty to the Jets despite recent tensions.

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