Time to Move On

I was talking to somebody who works in the league the other day, who made the point that we need to hear from Dom Moore on this podcast. You like me, right now, you like me. His argument was, there's no way anybody said that. I'm telling you. Let him go. They said, Dom is the voice of the people, he's the voice of the fans. Look at me. Sure. Look at me. Sure. I'm the captain now. That does not have hearing. Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth? No. Well, when I spoke back to them, they understood what I was saying. So I think their hearing was okay. So welcome to 32 Thoughts, The Podcasts. First edition of the month of November, however, with this new, I don't know what we're calling it, permanent daylight savings in some places, but in others not, I don't know if we're still stuck in October or how this all starts. I'm stopping you right here. It's time thing. It sucks. Okay. I don't want to type the podcast got a lot to get to. Yes. But these provinces and states, it's idiotic. What is happening? I have no idea what time anything is. I have no idea when games start. I have no idea what's happening. But the various governments in North America have completely screwed this up. And please God, come to your senses and fix this. It is insane. What is happening in North America with these time zones? So there's every day, every day, I don't think we can get dumber and every day, I'm proven wrong. It's like Robin Williams and Jumanji. What year is it? It's crazy. And you actually, you're still living in somewhat degree of normalcy in Toronto. We did wind the clock back an hour on Sunday and the rest of us out here. I'm in Alberta time and Dom's in whatever the new version of Pacific time is. I'm going out to Alberta this week. I have no idea what time it's going to be. No clue. It's going to fly for four hours and I don't know. I don't know what day of the week it will be when you land here. I can't even give you a guesstimate. But anyway. It's stupid. There's Elliot. Dom's here as well. And all of this leads us to where we begin this edition of the plot and Elliot. You know the old saying you hear from General Managers all the time that two time heart trophy winners, two time Ted Lindsay award winners, three time art Ross trophy winners and a guy who has also won two Stanley cups. They just aren't available via trade. Those are ones you have to get in the draft. Now we will see how available a trade is on this file. This leads me to this was a stone called stunner on the rock level shocker. Nikita Kutrov and your report late on Friday night that not only has he informed the lightning that he will not be resigning with them as he is do a new contract next summer. He has requested a trade. It has become the biggest story across the national oculi. So Elliot, where would you like to begin? Let's start with this. You saw that video of Kutrov and Stamco's lining up for the opening face off in national and Saturday afternoon, the two of them smiling at each other. Yes, I did. We all did. How many times this year do you think that Nikita Kutrov has started a game for the lightning? Now off the top of my head, I would guess about half, but with the way you asked me that, I'm in a guess. I'm nowhere close to being right. Good stuff because I would have guessed the same thing as you, but I went and I looked it up. Two. Two. Two. What was the other one? Seattle. Okay. He played the first shift. He had another game where he came on at four seconds. I assume that Cooper had a matchup he wanted, but every other, but he's only started twice. And that was the second time Kudos to John Cooper and Andrew Bernad. They knew the assignment Cooper throwing Kutrov out there first because he's on the road. He has to submit the lineup first and Bernad looking at this and saying, all right. I'm going to counter with Stamcoast and we got a viral moment. Remember, this is the entertainment business first and foremost Kudos to Cooper and Bernad for getting that done. So Kutrov goes out that game and Tampa loses in the shootout, but he has three assists and he has one of his best games of the year. And on Sunday, as I was following up and just chatting about all this, I had one manager and he's interested. I mean, who isn't? They're all interested. They all want to know if they've got a chance, right? Maybe even not now, but later. And he said that aside from the loss, and I do agree with this, that was the best thing that could have happened to the lightning because from the outside, you're looking and you're wondering, is this going to turn into a disaster for them? Is this going to go totally off the rails where Breezebaw is going to feel a need to say, okay, I've got to deal with this. And the answer appears to be no. He comes out, he gets three assists. So if you're looking at that from the outside, you're saying that Kutrov will keep his word. He will play for the lightning for as long as he has to. If it's the rest of the season, and he will compete at his high level, if he doesn't get treated this year, it won't affect him. That's one thing we learned on Saturday. He's going to be a pro and he is going to play. He's not going to sit out. He's not going to have a work to rule on the ice, letting passes go by him, throwing bad plays, being a drill killer in practice, he's here to play. So I have some theories on where this is going to go from here. These are two alphas, both very proud, a strong belief in themselves and their philosophies. And there are moral codes. I'm talking about Kutrov, and I'm talking about the vice president and general manager, Julian Breezwa. A lot of people are talking about this as if it's Breezwa taking a hard line with an older player. I don't believe that. I don't. I think that he adores the player and recognizes how important he is. I think John Cooper adores the player and recognizes how important he is. I think they both understand what he means to the team. I do not think this is about the aging curve. In Tampa, the top players have always accepted less, always. The taxes situation is better there, but also all those guys, Kutrov, Vasylavsky, Edmund, Point, all of them could have made more money on the open market than they did signing in Tampa. But that's what they do. That's their way. And you know, there's an agent I know who in situations like this with Kutrov, he says if you want to be successful, the message has to be, look, if you want 20 million a year, you deserve 20 million a year, you deserve every penny. But here's why I'm going to ask you to take less so we can win. If Breezwa wants to get this back on track and try to reassign him, he has to reassign you start with that. If you look, and it's been reported now, I know Dave Peniotta had a report. I know Kevin Weeks had a report. I know that Chris Johnson had a report about a want for six times 20 weeks reported four times 12 something and then four times 15 and Peniotta had that one first. You know, I reported that initially his ask was Kutrov, which was 17 million. To be honest, I don't even know if he asked that, but I was told by a couple people that that's where he was targeting. Kutrizwa was the highest paid guy in the league when this started and that's where he was looking to be in that area. Someone pointed out to me that if you look at the initial offer in the 12 to 13 million dollar range, that's about the same percentage of the cap that Kutrov was previously making and so I kind of see why Breezwa did that. That's where his start. starting point was. One of the things I really feel is, especially just after going through a negotiation myself, you can't get mad at starting points. I don't get too frustrated with opening offers because a team is always going to come in low almost always and a player or a worker in our case Kyle is always going to come in high. You should never negotiate against yourself. As I said, the problem here was there was a vacuum. There was no. Kuturov felt there wasn't any progress being made. There wasn't enough negotiating being done. And I think he was concerned. If you'll remember the last big one they had was Stamcoes and it came right down to the wire. And Stamcoes moved on. And I think Kuturov thought that was going to happen to him. Even though I think these I think the Tampa organization knows how valuable he is. Even though I know they want to keep him. He got it in his head that for whatever reason, he wasn't a priority. And like I said on Saturday night, he's a proud passionate guy, just like Breeze what is. And he said, that's enough. I've had enough. And Tampa is going to let this breathe. And at some point in time, they're going to see if they can get him to change his mind. That's the way this is going to go here. Now I had some people who loved what Kevin said when I brought up Toronto and Montreal. I said there's no way he's trading in a Toronto and Montreal. And Kevin is probably right. He might not get traded at all. Okay. But all these teams, if he doesn't get traded, they'll be there in the summer. And I had one GM say to me that based on that report of six times 20, whether it's right or it's wrong. In terms of what he actually wants. And I do believe the report was correct this weekend. You know now that if you want to get into this poker game, you're going to have an anti, you have to be prepared to have an anti of 120 million dollars. So there's a lot. There's a lot of organizations right now who are seeing there and saying, if this guy's available, are we going to offer them? Are we willing to pay 120? And like I said, maybe that doesn't end up being the number. But you know that that could be on the table. And you know what the answer is going to be for a lot of these teams Kyle. It's going to be bring it on. We'll pay it. We'll do it. We'll pay it. And you know, the funny thing about the Toronto Toronto Montreal thing was that, you know, someone said to me, of course, you're throwing it out there. You're you're a Canadian TV show. It benefits you for this to happen. And I was like, I said to the guy, haven't you been watching? What has been happening? The last couple of months, it's almost been like the stampede out of Canada. The fact that someone might actually want to play here is news. And the guy actually started laughing. He goes, you got me on that one. And I think there's a ton of teams are going to be after him. And you know, I'll tell you something else. I think that Kucherov, if he does, because right now he hasn't submitted a list or anything like that of where he'd extend like Rantan and Carolina, Rantan gave them four teams like nothing like that's happened. Tampa's not even entertaining it. But I do think if he goes to the market, he's going to he's so cerebral that he's going to care about fit as much as anything else. What is your power play look like? Like someone said to me the other day that he could actually see from a pure hockey point of view, he could see a larkin for Kucherov deal. Because you said if you look at Detroit, you could have a Raymond on one side taking the one timers and you could have cider with the shot at the point like radish did. Right? And he thinks that that's the way that Kucherov will think. Not only about it's funny like one guy joke with me when he heard the story on the Friday night, he goes, what? Like it's Kucherov tired of good weather and great taxes. Like that's one of you there anymore. And I just think that that is the way he's going to think is that if he does go somewhere else, it's going to be about what is the hockey fit in terms of where he plays, where he'd go on the power play. Does their power play set up for what he does? We know where he always sits. We know when with Stamco's for years that tremendous one timer. What does he see out there that's like that for him? But tapas still has him. They're going to try to keep him. And the biggest question is, is there any chance this guy changes his mind? Because right now he's serious. People asked, is this a negotiation ploy? I don't believe it is. I just don't think this guy has wired that way. He knows he's going to get the money from everywhere. Man, this is so, so incredible. And again, even having a few days to let all this digest, it's fascinating that this is where we're at, regardless of where this all goes. I mean, you mentioned the Stamco's comparable. And I remember like that first at the start of training camp that year when he was going into his last season of his deal. Remember when he was taking questions from the media down there and tap, he talked about how disappointed he was that the fact there hadn't been much back and forth between his agent and the team. And we all know how that ended up. And I'm not plugged into the story at all to not even say the way that you are. But one thing I did here, I don't know if you'd heard similar, but you mentioned like the pace of the negotiations. But on top of that, like when July first rolled around, one thing I had heard was that there wasn't even necessarily anything, I don't know, the tangible is the right word, but a legitimate something on the table from Tampa's side, like the earliest they could to go to Kutraav and say, this is what we're looking at as some kind of starting point. And you talked about how proud of a guy Kutraav is. Now could that have been the first incident that stung up a bit. And now the Domino's continues to fall to where we are here as the calendar flips to November. I don't know if you heard anything similar, but it's all I didn't I haven't heard the exact timing. Now, even though Kyle, they can't sign them to July first, they can talk to him beforehand. So if you heard that there wasn't anything done by July first, it's, you know, you could have done it in advance. So the July first thing isn't really a good excuse. That's the first day you can sign them, but you can always talk to him before. It's very clear here that something like that occurred, either he didn't get an offer he liked or he didn't get anything. That is the number one thing that I heard all weekend was it's not so much the offer. It's the pace of the negotiation. That's what he's used to being signed early and he's used to seeing a lot of big Tampa stars getting signed early. Now, that was when he was younger and you know, maybe there's a fear of father time being undefeated, but Kuchirov, he is the again, you have to understand the the mentality of the people you are dealing with. Kuchirov thinks that he's the one guy who's going to defeat father time. He's not father time is going to beat him someday, like father time beats everybody, but you know, he's a pretty good bet for to still be at the top of his game for quite a while. I just think that's what it is. It's that he he wanted this one way or the other. He wanted this solved here. And I think the other thing is the six times 20. I think that It became a thing, the longer this talk. Like at the beginning, I don't think it was necessarily six times 20. But I think it got there because of the frustration with how long it was taking. Right. And you look at Breeze was track record as general manager. He's got a pretty good feel over even some of the most beloved and respected guys that were part of that core for a long time, that won with the lightning. He's got a pretty good feel over when I know that from a respect factor, we'd love to keep you, but it's time now. But as you say, okay, so he's 33 years old now. And if it is six years or whatever, his game isn't necessarily built off pace, where you're wondering, okay, what is that? That's an interesting comparison. You know, now is he going to play as long as Yager does, I guess we'll see. But yes, like he's not a burner. It's the brain that does so much of the power and the hands, of course, too. And so long as those are able to keep up as he goes deeper into his 30s, which I think are two attributes that can last and keep up at that elite level as the calendars keep flipping over, you know, it's going to be a really fascinating one to project. And I'm sure why, as you're saying, if it does get to next summer, there would be a number of teams that look at the $120 million anti for argument's sake to go, no problem, bring it on. I'm glad you brought that up, because since speed is not his game, I remember having a long conversation with Craig Simpson once about Yager about how, for example, on in playoff games when they slowed down or as over, you went into double or triple over time, he thought that even in his older age, Yager became a more dangerous player because the game slowed to his pace. And Kucharov, he dictates, he's, he's not a fast player, but he dictates because of the way he controls the puck. And yes, I do think he has a better chance to last longer or deeper because that's more his game than anything else. It's, you know, it's, it's a really fascinating situation, but I, I think the fact that Kucharov has said he will play the rest of the year if he doesn't get traded and he came out and he started with that game on Saturday. That's a sign that this is going to be a longer story than a shorter one. Did you see Marco Stern when he was asked about it on the weekend and coached the Bruins? Oh, yeah. That was quite a line. Oh, it brought a smile. That was, that was excellent, because I mean, yeah, of course it did. I just, he said the quiet part out loud, like my head coach of another team in the division, he goes, Hey, lightning are a threat for us of the Atlantic and suddenly they've got some turmoil to deal with. I'm okay with that. You know what is interesting about it too is that I think that there, you look at all the top players in the league, okay? These guys don't become available. How many of the best players in the league do you think like think about the top, everybody out there put together your top five list, your top 10 list, your top 20 list, whatever you want. Everybody on there on that list was asking their managers or their agents, what's going on here? And we get this guy and I going to be able to, do we have any chance to bring this guy here to play with me? You know, he's tight with Capri's off. Minnesota's got a wild situation going right now for pardon the pun. I didn't even think what I was doing there. But you know, I mean, how many of these guys are asking around and saying, what are our chances? I bet you all of them. For sure. And I just, it may take to the summer to be able to act on it because I can't see, I'd be, I would be even more stunned than I was on Friday if there was, if there was a trade out there that a team was willing to do, that Julian Breeswell looked at and said, okay. I think it helps to, for him, that he's not somebody who's going to worry what other people think. Right. See, both parties involved here. Yes. But you're right. That's, that's very good because it was interesting that they normally tampas like nobody knows our business. We don't give anything away. If you call them, you say, hey, I'm hearing this. Their general, their general response is, we're not going to comment on that. This was such a big deal that they released a statement, which is unusual for them. But I think to, you know, both these guys, they'll be a lot of noise out there. They'll handle it internally. It's what they've done for many, many years down in Tampa. And now a situation I'm sure they didn't envision, but one that is only just beginning. It feels like between Kutra and the lightning and whatever the future holds down there. All right. Moving on, Elliot. There was a trade on Sunday and it was one for one. Shane Wright, the era with him and the Seattle Kraken is now officially over the fourth overall pick in the 2022 draft is now a Nashville Predator, Matthew Wood, a first rounder from the Preds from a few years back, headed back the other way to Seattle. We had talked about it on this podcast in the past. It was no secret that Shane Wright, at least, had been looking for a fresh start somewhere else. He now gets it with Nashville, Chris McBarlin continues to make deals as general manager of the Predators. What are your thoughts on the transaction here between these two clubs Sunday? What a fascinating trade. I think it's a very exciting trade just from a fan media perspective. How often do you see trades like this? Shane Wright, 22 years old, he'll be 23 in January, fourth overall pick gets traded for Matthew Wood, 21 years old, 22 in February, who was a 15th overall pick. You don't see this too often. It's very, very rare. I kind of have joking here, but I think Jason Bauderol, the GM of the Kraken, makes this deal so because he's sick of seeing the 303 area code come up on his phone. He's like, "Oh no, this guy again," and the front-rights agent Kurt Overhard is based in Denver. It was known that Wright had asked for a change of scenery and sooner or later Seattle was going to do it. I think there had been some interest in Wright. I think a lot of teams had been around on him. A lot of teams, a lot of different situations. I think I'd mentioned, or I'd written or mentioned in an earlier pot. I heard Edmonton was one of the teams that they were looking for a Wright shots center and they were around on Wright. He goes to Nashville instead. I thought it was interesting that the release from the Prouders and their GM, Chris McFarlane talk about pace, that he's a quicker guy and there's nobody better than you can learn from than Ryan O'Reilly. Hopefully, as long as O'Reilly is there, and I have no reason to believe anything there is imminent, he's a great guy to learn from, to watch him practice every day, watch the way he does things. I've talked about Wright many times in the past about how I think the COVID shutdown may have affected him more than any other player or prospect, and now it's a big opportunity for him. He has to take advantage of this and I think it's a really good place for him to do it. Matthew Wood, I think, is a really fascinating guy. Like I said, first round pick, 17 goals last year in 71 games in his first full season. He's not the quickest guy, but he's very smart and he can really shoot the puck. One of the things I heard that Seattle was looking for was some size on the wing, and this is a big guy. He's six what? Listen to what? 64202, something like that. Now he's played some center, but apparently he's going to start out at the wing in Seattle. He played with Berkeley Cat and one of the world's juniors a couple years ago, so he's got at least a tiny bit of history with him, so there's something there. The thing about Matthew were the two of them. very interesting is I went I went through his ice time this year. At the beginning of the season, he had a 1722, he had a 1606, he had a 1654, he had a 1522, and then he had a 1939 on October 15th and a shootout lost to San Jose. Right after that 1939, and he was taking a lot of face-offs too, his percentage wasn't great, but he was taking a lot of face-offs. Right after that 1939, he went to 942, and then after that 942, he had a 1418, but he had an 1124, he had a 1039, he had a 1229, and the last game that came against the lightning, he was 13. So his minutes were dropping. The other thing as well was he started the year on the number one power play, and I think in like the first six or seven games, he had three minutes of power play time again. Well, Marcia So got a spot back on that first unit, and in the last two weeks or so, his power, he went to the second unit, and his power play time has dropped almost a minute and a half. So you could see it, like, he had an opportunity early in the year, and for whatever reason, it just wasn't working out to their liking. Now one of the things that happened there was they have a lot of D, and I think they were going for 11 and seven at the time, and forgive me, practice fans, if I'm wrong about this, but I was looking through some of the shift charts, and it just looked like wood was one of the, like whenever you go 11 and seven, there's defensemen who kind of get hurt by it, and there's a forwarder too, that gets hurt by it, and wood just looked like he was one of those guys that was getting hurt by it. So I think this is a good gamble for Seattle. They wanted a bigger winner. He can play wing, he can score, and I'll tell you what else I like about it for Seattle. Matthew Wood is a NIMO guy. I don't see anything bad, and he played in the BCHL in Victoria. I don't see anything bad with Seattle, which is trying to attract some guys saying here's a BC guy, and we're going to bring them close to home. The traffic is bad, I know, so it's a bit of a longer drive, but I think I like that part of it too. What's that? Just hop on the clipper. Take the bull right from Washington State outside Seattle right to Victoria. Well, there you go. You could do that too. See, I learned something new. Stupid time zone and the clipper. But I like that. To me, that's a small thing, but potentially a big thing for Seattle. Does a guy like that appeal to you a bit more because he's a Pacific Northwest guy? This is a fascinating, fascinating trade. You don't see this happen very often. Both with promise, both with some flaws. Now it is about your development. It is about your environment. Can you get right and would to take the next step? And I think both of those kids will be excited to try. Now, Nashville, I still think I mentioned them a couple of weeks ago. I think a few other guys have too. I still think they're going to be a really fascinating team this year. They continue to look at defense and remodeling their D. You know, someone else point out to me on the weekend, Nashville has a couple of really good goalies. And he thinks that teams that have two of them are going to get calls as the season goes on. And some teams that, especially now that hella buck is off the board, the number one guy is off the board. If you have two really good goalies, you're going to get calls. What do you think in there? How married are you to the duo? So he thinks that Nashville will get called. And the other thing is, and I think McFarlane's been pretty open about this in Tennessee is as long as they're in the race, he's not making calls on his big guys. And they're hanging around right now. So I'm not getting, I'm not worrying too much about anything with the big guys. But I still think Nashville is going to be an interesting team. And I think that's a really interesting trade. I mean, you know what we talked about last year in the pod, Luke Evangelista's books so highly of just being around Ryan O'Reilly every day for a number of reasons. Beyond just the, the on-ice stuff. And so now Shane Wright goes right into that situation. And you look at some of the other guys that Christopher Farlane has brought in in a short time, Elliott. When you talk about pace, like Ross Colton, Jack Drury, Nils Holglander, like it's it all it all checks out. And a great. And from a team that's skated, right? Yeah. Colorado skates. Yeah, right. And two of those, of course, he had with the Avalanche as well. And then an opportunity for Matthew Wood for a team that, yeah, I can use more scoring. And a guy ripped 17 of them last year, as you say, his first full year in the league, not a bad way, not a bad way to start there at all. The only kind of recent comparison I can think of of a similar type trade was the Michele circuit chef Jonathan Drew and deal between Montreal and Tampa all those years ago, right? Both young guys, both first round picks that kind of, I mean, circuit chef really had just, he was just starting his, his pro career at the time. We know, Drew and was struggling to kind of get his footing with, with Tampa after being taken so high in 2013. But that was, that was the only one that came to mind for me that comes anywhere close to what we saw here Sunday. That's, that's a good call. Yeah. You rarely, you, I remember years ago, there was a big one in baseball when Pedro Martinez was traded for Delano de Shields. Pedro Martinez was traded from the Dodgers to the Expo's for Delano de Shields. And obviously that turned out to be an unbelievable deal for the Expo's. But Peter Gammons, who was one of the biggest baseball writers of all time, I remember hearing a radio interview with him where he was just gushing about how trades like that never get made anymore, like two good young players for each other. And he was so excited to see the way it turned out. Well, it, unfortunately, for the Dodgers, Martinez turned out to be a hollow favor in one of the greatest pitchers ever. But it kind of reminded me about that radio interview with Gammons, like, how exciting is this? You never see a trade like this. So, sorry, I'm just going off into one of my long-winded side-diet drives. That's all good. Time change guy, you just still, all it'll whack. Yeah. Elliot, the Winnipeg Jets, it's nine straight losses now. And that was, I'm sure you saw what the Hurricanes posted to their social account at the end of that one. One that would have stung our producer, Dom Sharmaadi a little bit as well, all the same, but seven nothing. They beat Winnipeg to the Hurricanes. And the losing street continues in Winnipeg. I mean, you saw some of the comments, whether it was from Captain Adam Lowry, from head coach, Scott Arneal, and the question naturally now is being asked, do you start to anticipate some major change, whether it's lineup wise or even deeper than that? What's your read on Winnipeg a week after finally getting the Hellebuck stuff settled, the celebration at the outdoor game, problem is any type of positive results on the ice have not followed. So, I didn't hear anything on Sunday night. As we record this, and we're recording this part of the pod after the last game has been played, which was Ottawa and I and I heard nothing at this point of the night. But you're right, you know, I gotta say there was there was one thing that Lowry said. I thought that really stood out to me and I thought it was very captain and very smart. I wonder if he realized he was doing it. He's smart enough that I think the answer is yes, but I just thought it was interesting was one of the first things he said. He said, you know there's going to be changes and there are some guys who are playing well down with the moose, right? Because what he and then he started talking about, hey, the players have to execute the game plan, right? But I thought it was really interesting that the first thing he said was there's some guys playing well down there with the moose because it took the heat off the coaches right away. And who knows, maybe some of those jets players want to see Yeager or something like that and say, okay, we need to give this guy a shot. But it struck me as very captain like that the first thing he mentioned was that because it's almost like he's trying to change the discourse a little bit. Let's talk about some players down there who might be able to help us as opposed to our coaches who are under siege. Look, I mean, you can see the look, I'm not telling anybody they don't know anything that they don't know. You're in this, when you win five out of seven, you lose a game seven and nothing. It's, you just shake it off and you say that was a stinker. When you're in a stretch like this one, you lose that game seven and nothing, it's bad. And it forces very uncomfortable conversations. Look, Scott Arneal, as he said, he's been around a long time. He understands what could happen if this doesn't turn around fast. The Winnipeg Jets are notoriously patient when it comes to coaches. Palmaris, when he got let go, he said that if he didn't force their hand, he might have ended up coaching forever there. And I always remembered that. I think everybody there sees the writing on the wall if it doesn't change quick. I'll say this too, I would bet that they want to be patient because the hellabuck thing threw them into chaos and they don't want Arneal to wear that. If you don't turn around quick, it's gonna force you into a decision. - And I just, well, let's see where it goes. I know, I mean, nine straight is a pretty decent sample size and not a particularly good one. I'm just curious where even bigger picture than is there something done behind the bench or otherwise? Is there a greater zoom out to look at, do we need to take a long, hard look about where we're going over the next number of years? For all the talk about, I need to keep things on the rails for the core that I got here now. How much longer until you revisit that conversation at the Winnipeg Front Office level? It's gonna be interesting because you don't wanna be caught in between in perpetuity. We've seen where that-- - Remember what Chevrolet Dayoff said when we asked him about that? Was he worried about more players asking out? Those guys are jets. I'm not worried about that. That stuck with me. Morrissey not playing, they are really different. Without him. Really different when he's not there. You know, I'm watching Ottawa and they blew that three nothing lead. I mean, you could make an argument in your own way that Allmark is like the MVP of the league right now. 'Cause I think, Kyle, I don't know how you feel. I know now that you don't live in Ottawa, you have no respect for them anymore. But I really like the Sanders as a team. I think that is a really good team. But they clearly are not the same without Allmark this year. And they, you know, their guys are battling but he's just another level from what they have. And I don't know what his situation is. I wouldn't be surprised at their next game. We see him duct taped to his equipment and just propped up on the net. Just go in there and do what you can do. Because they're just, that's a good team and they're not the same. I also did want to shut out Laurent Brassois first game since you played 18 minutes in the playoffs in 2024. That was a big return for Brassois. He's worked hard to get back. Yes, certainly settled in. IOs and it was too prong for Ottawa and Sunday. The goal-tending was one part of this equation for sure, but you can't spend the second half of the game in the box either against the team. Not against that team, you're going to live to see it another day. Shooting gallery. But, you know, I mean, more see when he's not playing, it's a real struggle for them. But look, I mean, it's pretty clear they went to all these guys and said, are you riding with us with whatever we have to do here with Hellowbuck? And the answer was yes. I don't know if those answers change in two weeks. But boy, it was really tough to watch on Sunday. And I always remember Brian Burke was going to the Hall of Fame the next week. He always said, I would never fire a coach until I saw no pushback. And it couldn't just be for one game. Well, it's been a tough road trip for them. Quality of opponent-wise has not been easy and does not change as they go into Montreal on Tuesday. And we know the Canadians have been absolutely rolling over the last week in a bit. So another test for Winnipeg there. Arneal had a great line when he says, you control what you control. That is the only thing you can do in this situation. You show up to work and you try to find a solution until they tell you not to show up to work anymore. Kyle, things are so rough in Winnipeg that someone sent me a note from the game on Sunday that Mark Schifley is always the last jet off the ice and warm-up. If you've ever watched a Jets game, you know that. He wasn't. They changed it up. I don't know who was off last. - Really? - But he didn't, when people are changing that stuff, that's when you know a team is really feeling it. You know who looks really good this year? - Who's that? - Yes, Barry, Kotkanyami. - Ah, I agree. - He had the seventh goal. It's obviously not a big deal in that game. But he looks like he's rediscovered himself a bit. He's been on the trade block for about a year. Nobody took him and there was talk that maybe Carolina was going to buy him out 'cause he was a one-third buyout, right? Since he was under 26, they said no, we're not doing that. And he's looking like he's regained his confidence quite a bit, quite a bit. He looks like a different player and the Hurricanes benefit, but you know, there were some teams, I don't know if wanna pay, consider them seriously at all, in the Hellowbuck stuff. I heard that the Kanox weren't crazy about him when they were talking Patterson. And I get it, he kind of went through this phase where acquiring him was not seen as a good thing, which is why they really couldn't move him last year. But whatever he was going through, and I know it's early, he looks like he's pulled himself through and I'm happy for a guy to pull himself off the mat like that. So the Flyers, Elliot, on Sunday, double up Utah, six to three, this was the first game since Sean Couturier dropped the S word, soft, which you don't hear often from the players themselves. And when it is used, it does make the ears and eyebrows perk up. So it felt like for them a perfect time to get Travis connecting me back in the lineup to say nothing of Owen Tipett's return as well. It was just a much needed result for Philly who still got a long way to go, but I think there was a lot of curiosity and to see how they would respond, having a few days to sit on the comments from their captain. It worked, maybe everybody didn't like it and I didn't get the sense everyone did like it, but it worked. You don't like to be called the S word, standard time. No, no, that's even worse than soft, suddenly. Standard time has has rocketed up the power rankings for worse S words. You know, Jared Bednar had a really interesting quote last week about Colorado where he said, I can't motivate these guys every day. Like when you get to the NHL, you should be able to motivate yourself and I agree with Bednar about that. I think he's completely right. It's like Carl, when I worked ringside reporter and I know you are like this, if you can't be motivated to bring five or six good items to a show every week and you're on the air basically once a week, you should not be in this job, right? And I agree with Bednar in that. I know you played you four games, I know it's a lot. And sometimes a coach has to kick your ass, but if you. You have to do it in a daily basis. You should not be in the league. This thing with, this thing with Couturier, you can't do it all the time, but you have to do it once in a while. And the captain is the one that has to do it. And now what the flyers have to show is it's not a one game thing. That's great. It worked on Sunday. You beat a really good team. I, I really like Utah. And I got to do it again, you got to do it again. Maybe he has to put the words soft up in the, in the, in the room somewhere so they can be reminded. Everybody has won one in a row. That's great. You answered the challenge thrown down by your captain. You got to keep going. It's like the other day I saw Don Waddell. I watched him. He was on the Columbus went to Dallas. He didn't interview and he said that bonus is going to turn down the public commentary. You know, I think we've all talked about it once in a while. The coach can do it. But generally, you shouldn't be in the NHL if you can't do it yourself 60, 70 times a year in every playoff game. By the way, I want to take Rick talk it off the hook here. So his touch comment went viral. Even John Boye picked it up, the media company. It was all over the place. We all know where he got that from, right? Well, was it our interview with Martin Stanley Lee last week? It has to be the timing is too coincident. I don't believe in coincidences. And Rick talk it is a guy, you know, he loves to, he loves to talk hockey. He loves to listen to stuff about hockey. I would not be surprised at all when he saw Martin, because we know he's not listening to you and me and talk our garbage. No chance. No, gosh. But when he saw Martin Stanley Lee, he said, I'm going to listen to that. And if you listen to the interview we did with us from Winnipeg. He talked about you have a touch with a player. Touch this guy. You touch that guy. He's in check. Well, that's right, just that they know they're appreciated. Exactly. That's what he was doing. Exactly. Yeah. I'm glad you highlighted that. Also, I don't know if it's quietly, but as we sit here, the beginning of November, Matt Fehmichkov is just outside of the top five and goals in the league. He's got ten on the, impressive. For all the discourse around that, after last year and coming into this year, he's continuing to look much, much better, which is not nothing for the Philadelphia Flyers here, going forward. Do you have a thought on the San Jose Sharks, Elliott? I mean, they're not in a terrible spot. They're 7-7-1. Obviously, it was a bad result against Ottawa, who, unlike Sunday night against Anaheim, they were full value in their win against the Sharks on Saturday afternoon. But you had Ryan Worcowski talk about 15 games in, they really haven't found the complete version of themselves, other than maybe the opening game against Florida, but even that feels like a long time ago. A lot of new faces in their lineup this year, as we know, but still a young team that I think a lot of us were excited for, and maybe even the sexy pick to jump up into a playoff spot this year in the West. I think understanding that all that is great, you still got to make it happen as a collective and they're still finding ways to try to do that on a consistent basis. Ryan Worcowski just got an extension, and there's people out there like he should be fired. Everybody needs to take a deep breath, okay? You have to realize, San Jose last year people didn't take them seriously. They love Celebrini, but they didn't take the rest of the group seriously. This year, it's different. Almost made the playoffs, made a big run, gained a lot of respect. Now people aren't walking into shark land and saying free two points and good sushi. Not only were we getting good sushi on this visit to Northern California, but we're getting a free two points. That doesn't happen anymore. People are bringing their better games, their A games, and the sharks are also learning that it's a lot easier to be successful when nobody's expecting you to be that way. There's going to be hard points this year and maybe some of us like myself who predicted them as a playoff team might have gotten too far ahead of the game. There's still lots of runway here, but I think the sharks are learning what it's like when everybody's taking you a lot more seriously. When everybody takes you a lot more seriously, it's a lot harder to win. Long term, they'll be fine, but this path is never linear. There's always curves and speed bumps like a kid's playing zone. You got to slow down for those speed bumps. They're having speed bumps right now. Eventually they'll get there, but this is a hard league to win in. No question. It doesn't go tender Matt Tomkins know that for the Edmonton Euler's Elliott. So I just wanted to shout him out for picking up the win with the Euler's on Sunday in New York. Gene let him get undressed in the post game. Gene let him take his equipment off. Yeah. No, no. Gene waits for no one. And you can tell Matt like he had such respect for Gene too. He's like, I know. I know my role here. Those guys love him. Yeah. My gosh. First win for him. First NHL start since April 2024, not first career win, but yeah, first win and first start since just over 2 1/2 years ago and Conor McDavid, by the way, Elliott fastest ever, not fastest since fastest ever to 30 assists in a season. And what a goal to kick things off at MSG. He'll those years when Gratsky was getting like 160 assists. He didn't have 30 in the first, even that year where he had points in the first 51 straight games. The record. He didn't have 30 in the first month. I couldn't believe it. I thought for sure he would have had 30 in the first month. Crazy. I was ready. 30 in the first five games. Yeah. That's right. Right. No, that was, that's been spectacular to watch and he keeps adding on adding on and we were talking about before we recorded and I met that goal on Sunday night. It was like obviously he's coming with incredible speed and Gavrakov was a good defender. He just waited as soon as the crossed over towards the middle of the ice, bang, McDavid went wide and that was it. It's all he needed. Well, even Schaefer on Saturday afternoon and we were talking, I think I was talking about with Marquesian Fudo about seeing him again Schaefer and he got in Schaefer kind of stayed with him, but he drew the penalty from him. That's, that's one thing I love about it is like he sees like the number one defenseman on the other team and he bears, he bears down. It's another alpha move, right? It's like, oh, there's your number one guy. I'm going to go out of it and sometimes it doesn't work, but I, I just love, I love the attitude. I absolutely love it. It is one of the great things to see in person. If you're a sports fan, I remember, you know, covering the, what was known as the Rodgers Cup for a lot of years now, the national bank open. But when the doll was still near the height of his powers, you know, watching and hearing the tennis ball come off his racket, you're like, oh, this is, this is different than everybody else here. Who's the best in the world at this? Like watching, just, just, McDavid turn up ice, just that initial turn and start to go. Seeing that on television is incredible, watching in person. It's like, oh, this is, you got a collection of the best people in the world at this sport, but there's, there's a guy that's doing it differently than, than everybody else. It's spectacular. Okay. Before we get to final thought, Elliot, I enjoyed the back and forth you and Kevin had on the desk on Saturday night on the goal that was called back in the Montreal Pittsburgh game, where Kaden Gouli came, comes across in front of Murasov and his skate ever so slightly, but does go into the crease and then body makes contacts as Murasov is putting his glove out to try to track the puck and it goes by, I initially was called a goal and, and upon review was, was taken away. So your stance was the skate in the crease, not necessarily a factor is more so the contact with the glove, like Kevin hated the call was taken off the board. It's an interesting one. And I was watching it. I thought, and I know we've hashed out Gouli interference reviews a number of times here the last couple of years on the show, buddy. But I thought watching that, Elliot, honestly, was you have a third opinion, I do have a third opinion, which I think is the right one. I just want to say that there was a referee who texted me during the game and said he He thought Kevin was right and I was wrong, but now I think your right and we're both wrong. Go. Well, like, you're both half right. If, if my theory is, don't give us credit. We're both wrong and you're right. Go. So my thing is because we know if you go into the crease willingly, you are asking for trouble. So you highlighted, you're like, the skate isn't necessarily issue. It's the contact with the glove. I think because he went into the crease ever so slightly with a skate, then you can make the argument that he's impeding his ability to make the save with the glove, right? I think if he had stayed, if his skate has stayed out of the crease the whole time and he's going through as kind of a moving screen and Merchov sticks his glove out to try to make a save and makes incidental contact with Gouli's back and the puck goes through him, then I'm with Kevin all the way going, you can't take that off the board. He's not in the crease. It's not incidental. It's it's not deliberate contact. He's just trying to provide any type of screen. I think it would have been fine there. But even though, you know, where the shot was coming from, where the puck was, glove not being able to move, where Merchov wanted to, kept it from making the save. I think the fact that his skate went in ultimately gave the officials the ability to say, we can't allow that. I like it with that one. I give you the credit. I think you're right. All right. Congratulations. I think you're safe. That one, Tom. Put that to the favorites folder. That's great. By the way, before we do a final thought, I did mention Larkin on Saturday night. I heard that there were rumblings that he was going to change his no trade list potentially. As he record this late Sunday night, I haven't heard anything yet. But Helene St. James has been kicking everybody's ass on these things. So we're all chasing her. All right. So that brings us to the final thought. So the timing of this could not be more perfect, because Elliott, I was talking to somebody who works in the league the other day, who made the point that we need to hear from Tom Moore on this podcast. His argument was there's no way anybody said that. I'm telling you, they said, Dom is the voice of the people. He's the voice of the fans that tune in. Was it a person that does not have hearing? No. So I think they're hearing was okay. So, so all of this lends perfectly to Dom. What have you got for us for final thought? Officially Monday at 10 Eastern 8 BC time, nine Alberta time. And wherever else you live across our beautiful North America. The NHL is revealing the hometown remix jerseys for all 32 franchises. And so every team is going to get a unique third jersey that has some reflection to do with your city, your culture of each franchise. I think this is a great initiative. I love when the NHL and you're a big collector. But we should we should have like 50 turns in the closet when it comes to this kind of thing. Dom is the guy on this podcast. He's a bit now. How many of these have leaked online? 12, I believe. Has the conox one? No, but they put out a teaser today. So they're doing double blue. And maybe some Chrome. It looks like there's some hints of Chrome that might be involved in this, but we'll know in Monday morning. Who's of you like so far that you've seen? Oh, well, the the capitals ones fantastic. I really like the blue that they. You see there was there was a fan at the Caps game yesterday that was wearing one. Yes, are you serious? Yes, if that is, in fact, what their hometown remix jerseys is. That sounds like a plant. Let's put this guy in this. To get everyone talking about that would not shock me though. You would think like a team owned by Ted Leone's this would think of something like that. And I say that as a compliment. He's ahead of the curve. I could see him saying I want one fan walking or 10 fans walking through our building in those. Yes, but I will say this. The number one jersey. And because it tugs in my heartstrings, and I'm sure it tugs at Kyle's heartstrings, the Anaheim docks are wearing the original green jersey from the movie, the original movie, as their hometown remix. It's the first time I believe they're doing this as a franchise. And I couldn't be more excited that's finally going to be played on NHL ice that jersey. So that's the one I'm most excited for. Yes, it's the original colors. Now, I guess not technically the original logo that they would have in the first movie. It's more modern, I guess, D2 and onwards and the original Disney era of the Mighty Ducks. But yes, I'm with you, Don, with the ones that have leaked. If that is true, that's my winner. I don't even need to see the others that haven't been revealed. But like the Fisherman looks to be back for the Islanders Elliott. Oh, really? Mr. Fisher? Yes, yes. So we'll see how well that goes over. I think like it's similar to the reverse retros that we had for a couple of years when Adidas was still the jersey supplier for the National Hockey League. There was some great ones, one that didn't go over as well. But I love that they're mixing it up with these sorts of things. Obviously, it's an easy generator for easy revenue generator when it comes to its merchandise. But some of these are just completely knocked out of the park. And Anna, I liked those ones a couple of years ago. Now, I remember a lot of the, I remember Jack Edwards and Chris Cuthbert saying that some of those were awful to call games with. Yeah. The Toronto one that was the blue and gray. It was really hard to pick up numbers. I think they actually had to make some tweaks to the shade of gray that they used on those. So it was a little easier for guys like Jack and Chris in the booth to see them. And I looking at some of these, I mean, we'll see what they look like in person. I think there's the possibility for more headaches for the broadcasters. But anyway, they're trying something different. Dom, I will ask for a raise so you can buy 36 of these things. Oh, wow. Thank you. Yeah. That's great. I know. That's what you want to do. There's only 32 themes, so only only by 32. You buy one four times. The one you really like. Multiple sizes. One for each of us. Yeah. Yeah. When do we get our hometown remix? 32 thoughts jerseys. Yeah. I'm sure those will be hot sellers. Yeah. That's right. And right in the pile with my decoding Elliott Friedman hoodie. Line up the shelf. This has been special guest. Dom Shimati edition of the final thoughts. Nice way to mix it up. I hope whoever asked Kyle for more Dom feels really satisfied and happy today. All right, enough of this. Let's take our first break. The thought line is on the other side. You're listening to 32 thoughts. The podcast. All right, we're rested up and recharge and ready for a brand new edition of the thought line presented by Ben MGM. Make it legendary. Elliott, I had more than a handful of conversations with people around the league over the last few days that in one way or another could only shake their head and go Elliott and the rum hut. They could not wrap their head around. It was like you couldn't have picked a worse way to attack that whole story at the outdoor game Winnipeg last weekend. And that is just to say, I know you have some shout outs to get to here, but that story is not over new fresh information to the thought line. Oh, I got something too. Okay, you go ahead. Go ahead, bud. You want me to start? Okay, you start. Yeah. Okay, this is from Brandt, who is originally from Morton, Manitoba. She's about an hour and a half outside Winnipeg. Hello, gentlemen, Elliott and Dom. I enjoyed Elliott's tale of visiting the rum hut in Winnipeg. I immediately contacted my cousin, Kim, who works at the hut to see if she knew anything about Elliott's triangle. First, she was very thankful for Elliott to stop and take a photo. It's just below the time she met Marshawn Lynch while working at a Jetsky. Wow. No offense. No offense, Kim. But you can say that meeting the author of the famous Beast Quake is much, much higher than meeting me. I will not be offended. It is one in 1A and Kim's eyes here. That's what we're learning. I remember Kim, very nice lady. When you visited her in the first intermission, she had no idea what you were talking about because she had not yet come into possession of the said triangle. The aforementioned Aaron Nelson left it at the rum hut in the second intermission. Okay, I'm going to tell you this is I'm not I'm not buying any of this because I had received DMs or instant DMs, where do they call them on Insta from Aaron before that. So I figured that it had to be there already. - The fact that you're taking anything, this Aaron Nelson guy says is gospel, further throws your judgment into question. Just kidding Aaron, but so he goes on here. Now Kim doesn't know Aaron, but she held onto the triangle for you until the end of the game, thinking you were returning at some point to collect. The triangle still remains at the rum hut. I'm sure someone from the bombers of the jets could get you to that triangle if you want. Maybe it can be left there in your honor and it can be run when anyone visits the rum hut with no clue why they're there. I think that's actually a better idea. - Any time they just get blank stairs with someone, add another one to the list. - In all honesty, thank you for the pod. Been a listener since it was six thoughts. Next time you're out in Seattle, love to buy a kyle of coffee and let Elliot buy me an old fashioned. Dom, can I park at your place the next time I fly home? Yes, I can't remember if I met Elliot while I was working for CBC when hockey day in Canada was hosted in Winkler, Manitoba, but everyone was a pleasure to interact with. I brought a hockey bag of winter clothing for the crew because they prepared for cold, just not that cold, one of the best weekends of my life. - Well, that's a great story. Thank you for sending that. I was not in Winkler. I think I was on remote whatever game I was brings side reporter then. So we did not meet. You met plenty of better hockey night in Canada personalities than me that weekend. Anyway, that's a great story. This doesn't make any sense, but it's a great story. - Man, I was hoping this would clear things up, but I think we've only further muddied the waters in your eyes. So what have you got to add to this? - Okay, so I got another DM from Aaron's account from and it writes Celia here from the CRA. I assume that's Aaron's partner or something like that. Just listen to the Rum Hot segment. Apologies for sending you on that wild goose chase was not my intention as I know your time is valuable, especially during game times like that. Honestly, Celia, not that valuable. I'm barely working. Although the segment was an entertaining one. Thanks for taking the time to come down there. As I did say, there was a gift for Elliott Friedman, but maybe I should have said instead Cal Bacascus, the co-host. So clearly, Celia and Aaron feel that you could have accomplished this without fumbling like I did. - If I had known, I would have tried. And the other thing too, if I remember correctly, the Rum Hot could not have been further from where the panel set was. - It was the exact opposite part. And, you know, I say this with no criticism, but just impressed. That concourse was rammed all game long, all game long. Those jets fans and those stadium fans were up and down, up and down, up and down to the drinks and back because it was hard to get through there. I needed to be, and I know that I'm aging myself, willered reels to get through that crowd. - Anything, this person's actual name is Celia, or is this a reference to remember the Celia joke a couple of years ago? - Oh my god, now and everything. - Probably, I even think of that. I'm forgetting all the old stand by Celia, the triangle. - Yes. - Oh my god, it probably is. - Oh, it's Cal Bac's galore. - Come on guys, traits are breaking. My mind is not where it is. - Yeah, goodness. - Yes, not where it comes here to deal with the Shane Wright thing that we dealt with in the news block. So, we are in real time. Ellie, it's a bit of a mess here on Sunday. Okay, that's good. Do you have any other shout outs? - Yeah, I have a few I wanted to mention. First of all, I wanted to shout out. I have a Saturday afternoon ritual. When I go in to work at the Rogers campus, I like to go to a rooster coffee, get myself a Tumeric latte. - Hmm, it's hot there. - Yeah, really good. I like to get one of their chia yogurts, usually with raspberry, and I usually get a butter tart. They have the best butter tarts of any coffee shop I've been to. So, that's usually my walk-in meal in the afternoon. And I ran into Mia and Tessa there on Saturday. They are big fans and their dad, they always watch the games with their dad. I couldn't get the dad's name 'cause I was on the phone, but I wanted to shout them out. I have a couple of notes that I wanted to recognize. First of all, a number of you have been writing after the Larkin thing broke on Thursday that this is karma for us changing the pod. And especially after the Kuturov one came down, not that that would have been affected by the pod, but Richard Fitzwell was one of several people who said something like this, you should probably go back to the Friday pod. It appears the hockey gods have voted and they didn't like your choices. Richard, I'm gonna tell you, you're not the only person that's written something like that, but you can't go and go back. That's bad. We're stuck like this and we'll simply make it better. I have a couple of other notes here, Noah Williams, who wrote, "Please apologize for the Vince Dunn pun. I almost threw up." He said, "I appreciate the shout out on the pod. Maybe this will get me a date or two." Good luck, Noah, but if you need my help, you've got even bigger problems than I realized. There were a couple others I wanted to shout out here. - You don't want to reach as a height man. - You don't. Elliot, this is Kayla Brander. Elliot, my friends and I have been arguing who would last longer in a zombie apocalypse. David Amber or Kevin Biaxa. And I wrote Biaxa because he fights dirtier. And Kayla wrote back, "Usually you are right and I can take you at your word, but I have a feeling you might be wrong on this one." Opinions, Kyle? - Oh, no, I'm with you, Fridge. Sorry, Dave, even though I know you don't listen to this. - Show. - No, it would be Kevin. David would be like, "I need to hire someone to take care of these zombies. I can deal this on my own." - Oh my God, I hope he listens to that. I hope somebody tells him that one. I got a few people who wrote that they love the reference to the road trip scene. I did get a few of those. - That was great. A great question. - Yes, yes. And then the final one I wanted to mention was just a note here from a Frank Asher. Hi, Elliot, Kyle and Tom wanted to know if you could mention this on the pod. The hockey road lost a good guy way too young last Sunday. Jeff Turner, former captain of UMass back in the 2000-2001 season, passed away after a battle with brain cancer. Jeff grew up in Saginaw, Michigan with some guys I got to know in college. I got to know Jeff a little bit through these friends. He was a fun guy to be around. He had a couple connections to the NHL. He played with Marco Casper's dad in Innsbruck with the Australian League. And he got to play against Chris Chalios, Darian Hatcher and Chris Draper during the lockout season back in 2004 and five. When those guys would skate for the Motor City mechanics, Jeff played for the Kalamazoo Wings in the UHL that season with his brother Tim, who also played for UMass as well. Jeff is survived by his wife Nicole and two young boys, Jet and Jace. My heart goes out to those young boys and his wife. Thanks guys, love the show and what you do with this segment. So Frank, thank you for bringing this to our attention. We're really sorry to hear about Jeff. Sounds like a great guy and I just wanted to send our best to his wife and their two sons. I also wanted to say I can't find the note, but someone sent me a note about there is some sort of labor dispute in Corner Brook, Newfoundland right now where they can't open the ice rink. And therefore, one of the teams has had its season halted and the young kids can't play. Now, I'm not going to weigh in on this. I don't know who's right and who is wrong, but I just wanted to say it's really unfortunate when these kinds of things affect the seasons of people who love to play hockey, doesn't matter what age they are, what sex they are, what level they play, and I hope that whatever is going on in Corner Brook, they can solve it soon so everybody can get back to work and everybody can play. Great, Elliott. Thank you for for highlighting that. Um, okay. Couple here from Foughtline proper Chris writes in says hi guys if a team was just over the minimum salary cap floor Then a player said he was no longer playing for the team once we traded kind of like what Dylan Larkin is doing Would that team still have to pay him to stay over the salary cap floor this may seem like a unique case But teams not spending much money could very well be the same teams for which players asked to be traded or are a bit Disfrontal PS Elliott your support of autism awareness is exemplary even as a 50-year-old who was diagnosed with autism this year I feel like you have my back call me crazy, but it feels that way. Thank you Well, first of all Chris, uh, that's very kind of you to say Um, and I hope you're doing really well um And I hope that the diagnosis that you got Uh, gives you some answers um, I will say this Chris uh That fatherhood in this particular situation explained a lot of things to me about myself Uh as as Kyle will tell you from being around me for a long time I exhibit a lot of behavior that is not exactly typical and Now I kind of understand why it's happened. So I hope it brings you peace and a good path um, you know as for your question I've never really even thought about it before aside from the fact that you know When Arizona was really a floor team remember all those players they acquired to make sure they were over the cap The players association was on top of them and the NHL does make sure on a daily basis And basically a transaction by transaction basis that you are cap compliant So if there was ever a situation where a team was blowing it was going below the floor Both the PA would be all over a team and the league would be all over a team probably have to call up a player or trade for one All right great question Chris a voicemail is up next courtesy of Peter from Cochran My question is related to the start of a season while I understand and appreciate that there is zero interest in expanding the season Especially from the players might there be an interest in allowing for an expanded roster for the first four or five games of the year In theory this would allow bubble players an opportunity to get into a game or two Of meaningful action in the NHL also at the same time maybe You won't require teams to become cap compliant until those four or five games are played Anyways, interested in your thoughts. Thanks. Bye. Bye. Well Peter. I can tell you the second part would never happen There there would never be a situation where the league would let there be money outside the cap it just wouldn't happen That happened for compliance buyouts and they will never do it again. They just don't want it I shouldn't say never. I guess there could be always unusual situations or if you're given some incentive To do it, but I would say it's incredibly unlikely you know the expanded roster I mean I guess if the league in the player association agreed to it you could have something like that But again, I think everybody would want to make sure it works under cap I don't think the league would necessarily want to move the cap and some of these teams are Or even the players association might not want to move the cap and some of these teams are pretty tight to it anyway So I would say it's unlikely, but never say never Yeah, and you wrote about it in your blog this past week that I mean as rough as some of the early games were this season It's not like buying large the players had any issue with it They were totally okay with the short and preseason and training camp as a whole and diving right into The regular season games that matter even if they weren't the the cleanest of games to start Apparently the only guy who didn't like it was John Tavaris. Yeah, he went public. He said I don't like this But I I heard he didn't have a lot of support and that was actually the reason I looked into it was because out Tavaris said it Let's see if if there's other support and basically it's like Welcome to the city of likes training camp population one Yes John in the cold tub Anyone else come on anybody I like the idea Peter. It's it's a really good point to bring up but creative Yeah, and you know and coaches are are going to dress his best guys right up the hop Okay, Anthony up next hi guys Jacob Fowler's having a great start in Montreal this year. Yes, he is rookie of the month for the month of October That good uh, so after Lane Hudson and Yvonne Demidov has it happened before the team had three Calder trophy finalists in a row Hmm I know it's happened in baseball I think the Dodgers have had two stretches in Major League Baseball where they had four consecutive rookies of the year one in the 80s and one in the 90s um I'm just that's the first thing that jumped into my head and I'm going to look at it right now Because I'm it's like I'm thinking about it So the Dodgers in the 90s want Todd Hollinsworth Hideo no more roll mod to see might piazza Eric caros they'd five in a row Wow in the 90s and in the 80s Steve sacks Fernando valensuela Steve Howe They had three in a row. So I was right they averaged four five and three the one that jumps to me Okay, I off the top of my head The black hawks would have had canon taves Now the year before the around them they had cam Barker who wouldn't have been a finalist but they had canon taves The Nordiques had that sundine Nolan time but they didn't have lindros Um, I'm trying to remember off the top there's got to be Kyle some team that did this there has to be teams that have done this yeah Yes, it's happened a few times okay, and it happened somewhat recently Well, I got to think too like the penguins flurry crossby malkin like that's got to be one I was not them all right, because malkin and crossby That's right even what then I have to go back and look uh I would have thought them for sure off the top of my head more recently than that Mm-hmm You want the team? No, because I feel like I should get this I should get this right Um, yeah, it was uh So within the three there was one winner and two finalists I'm trying to think off the top of my head and two of the three players Still play for the franchise that they were They spent the rookie season with I was actually looking back at some of these and wondering how wrong I was about them You know who I think that could be is that the connox? It is I should have got that right away So Besser was runner up to map our zealon 1718 alias peterson won at the next year and quinhus was runner up To would have been kale macaar in 1920 So the other one that jumped into my head, but it was before van koover, but they didn't have I just looked They didn't have one in the middle. I was thinking about ovechkin and backstrom from the The capitals But crossby and malkin went back to back, but they didn't have anyone the year before the year after Uh, oh, there's the there's the connox And the other one that really jumped into my head was um, you know, the I was trying to think because the the Canadians Demodov Hudson And I was trying to think if there was anybody the year before and there wasn't right Well the Leafs actually had three instances of three straight years of A call to trophy finalists in fact from 43 to 45 they had a winner for three straight years gay steward Gus Bodner and for how we move and Frank McCool wow mm-hmm and I believe the last instance So I know we were talking about this around the time when after peterson and wine and quinhus was obviously Having a great first full season with the connox the last day It just makes me shit poor dom to bring up the connox man Yeah, but the Bruins Bobby or and Derek Sanderson went back to back Did the last back to back winners? Yeah She's It's been a while So yeah, if not for Matthew Schaeffer, Montreal may have pulled it off last year With Demodov following up Hudson, but not to be It's hard to do you know what I forgot Cain and Taze debuted same year And then Christopher Steeke the next year so they had two Right, okay question. Very question, Anthony. All right, last one here, Tim and Halifax. Hi, Elliott and to a lesser extent, Kyle and Dom. Yes, Tim, that is correct. Correct. As much as I would, yeah, as much as I would love to try and stump you with trivia, I have a question that is a little inside baseball or inside hockey in this case, with Elliott breaking the news on Friday that Nikita Kutrav is requesting a trade. How hard do you take it when something that you have been working on for days, weeks or months gets broken by somebody else? I can imagine it is tough. How do you personally know something is ready to quote break? We're being first to correct breaking news is paramount to your position. But being wrong can cost you credibility. I can't imagine the tight rope. You would have to walk. I mean, you just have to trust yourself and the people you're talking to, Tim. I mean, there are some people in who I deal with, like their word is gold. If they tell me something, it's happening. And there's some other things that are just so unbelievable that you have to triple and quadruple check it. Like that one with Kutrav on Friday night, that was one of those. You know, I was supposed to go on NHL network at 520 Eastern and I told them, I need some time because I'm working on something. And they, you know, they said, are you going to break some news on air? And I said, I don't know. And I went on at 530 and I told them I just can't do it privately. I told them that. And I think that broke like at about 640 is 650. And it took that long until I was comfortable. And I think there's a couple of things. Number one, are you really confident in what you're talking about? Number two, I really do try. It's harder in the social media era, but I really do try to reach out in that situation. I try to reach out to the team, multiple people on the team. Sometimes it's the general manager, sometimes it's the media relations person. You know, I try to reach out to the agent. I try to reach out to anybody else who might be tied into it. And the trade on Sunday with Wright and Wood, it's both teams, both agents. And if I have a player's number, I'll text them directly too. And you're hoping that somebody comes through for you and not everybody does. Sometimes the direct people who are responsible won't talk to you or just ignore you. And you have to try to find enough people to tell you what's true that you're confident in it. And I think it just comes down to who's telling you what's true and how much you believe it. And once you go, you know, I will say, when I press sand on that one on Friday night for Kuturov, you're nervous because you believe it's 100% right. But there's that slight nagging doubt, what if I'm, what if I'm wrong here? And it's, you know, you're right. Like if you get it wrong, you feel like a gigantic idiot. Like there's no other way to put it. But you have to trust yourself, the people you talk to. And, you know, I, I think it's like anything else. If you do something and I've been in the business now, I'm an old man. So I've been in the business now 33 years. You, you start to know when something you have is correct or when something you have smells wrong. And, you know, there have been times I've been beaten because I just wasn't sure. But in your, in that situation, like the other people who, there's a lot of quality people that break stories in hockey. And they're good and they're going to beat like sometimes you're going to catch the bear. And sometimes the bear is going to catch you. But, you know, you want to break everything. I was on a podcast this week where I talked about how, you know, how we were doing an interview with Marty San Luis last Saturday in, in Winnipeg. And I missed the waivers and two guys got claimed on waivers. Jack St. Evannie and I can't remember who the other guy was that day. And we got it from the interview. I was furious. I was like, I missed the waivers and I think everybody, so that's why you stormed off. But it was everybody said, no, no, no. Everybody's competitive. Everybody is and you never want to get beat. And sometimes you do when you just have to say, okay, what did I do wrong? And how can I fix it for next time? It is fun being a fly in the wall when you go into that mode. I'll just say, you just get to watch what's coming. Your face changes. What's wrong with your changes? Yeah, I can only imagine what it looks like. Yeah, that's all good. Good question, Tim and nothing good round of the thought line. If you'd like to partake going forward, please do send us an email at 32 thoughts at sportsnet.ca or drop us a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232. We'll take another break and come back and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts the Podcast after this. All right, before we go, I wanted to remind you of this week's edition of sportsnet Monday night hockey comes your way from San Jose. The Calgary flames continue their road trip there on the air at 830 Eastern time. The free game show with David Amber and Luke Gazzick and Justin Williams. So that makes it, what is that 730 Alberta time at this whole time change thing? And who's doing it and who isn't? Check the ticker for the latest. That's all I'll say. Puttrop a little after 9 Eastern 8 Alberta time 7 BC time exclusively streaming on sportsnet plus should be a great game. Taken us out today, a track from a Taiwanese Canadian singer songwriter and artists. Gia who lures you into the vast lonely atmosphere of her debut album, Technicolor. She evokes the grit and stillness of an otherworldly desert through a blend of personal storytelling and cinematic drama using songwriting. As she would a journal, the influence of filmmakers such as David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino was integral to her writing process. Gia would often play their films in the background of her Toronto apartment during her sessions. There are echoes of 60s surf and garage rock with reverberating guitars reminiscent of Dick Dale and Link Ray. While a cool detached femininity stands on the shoulders of giants like Nancy Sinatra and Francois Hardy. Technicolor is out now on light organ records. You can hear this song along with all the others we feature here at 32 Thoughts the Podcast and our 32 Thoughts the Music playlist on Spotify. Here is Gia and let my baby go on 32 Thoughts the Podcast have a great week. I had to let my baby go. He was no longer good for me. On final kiss before I hit the road toward coastal highway seas. My darling, how I loved you so, oh how I love you, Steve, but you swallowed me up like tile and all and I'll very often you were in. On a comedy cave in a red hot place. Spotlight hit my baby center stage. Velvet morning sun. Picking through the blind. Couldn't help but let the world slip from my mind. My friends don't agree with the life he leaves. He's there in my gentle heart, but you're ready. He shot me down with his red right hand. Cold desert breeze, money promised me he'd be back. you. ♪ ♪ I have to let my baby go ♪ ♪ He is no longer good for me ♪ ♪ My final kiss before it all went wrong ♪ ♪ Coastal highway seas ♪ ♪ A dining hell of a soul ♪ ♪ A while we always win ♪ ♪ But you swallowed me off the tide ♪ ♪ And all in a very off view of our view ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪