A Buyers’ Market and Nobody Wants to Blink

Hey, Minnesota's got their own fluid game now. Oh, can you imagine? Oh, there's like frozen vomit in the crease, and you've got to go down and try to make a save in it. Oh, so when I was eight years old. Oh, I can only imagine where this story is going. Good, I can't wait to hear this. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the Toyota BZ. Go all electric in a winter-ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. Dom, Elliot, and Kyle back with you again. Friege, we are back. We're back home. We're on North American soil. You're back in the eastern time zone, mountain time zone for me. Dom remains out in the Pacific time zone. In a lot of ways, this week has felt almost as or more exhausting than the two and a half weeks we were over in Milan for the Winter Olympics. We are one week away from the trade deadline. How are you adjusting? Travel home Monday, NHL returning Wednesday, and the news picking up. I was great until the schedule resumed, Kyle. Wouldn't allow myself to go to sleep Monday night, my travel home day, until 9 p.m. Good night's sleep. Woke up once or twice. Got back to bed. Wednesday, sorry, Tuesday, did not allow myself to go back to bed until 10 o'clock. Slept all the way through the night, nine hours. Fantastic. I felt great. I was like adjusted myself right away. And then these darn 1030 starts. I am too old for 1030 Eastern starts, Kyle. I am too old for this. Come join the party out here. Yes. Yes. It may have to happen. I'm too old and creaky for 10.30 Eastern starts Edmonton Kings on Thursday night 10.40 television the scourge I know we were just coming off good sleep television ruins the world ruins it I know but we were just working 9.10 local puck drops across the pond not too long ago. That's true. But, yeah, it's been an adjustment. I had men's league hockey Tuesday night. My legs were still in the sauna at our hotel. Yeah, how did you play? Horribly. Not that when I'm good am I any good, but it was terrible. I offered nothing. More horrible than normal. Yeah, offered absolutely nothing. But okay, let's dive into it here, Fridge. As mentioned, we are a week away from deadline. One week from today, you and I will be chopping it up in studio once again, along with the cast of thousands on deadline day. So leading into it, what is top of mind for you? The buyers, the sellers, the market at large across the NHL. So I had a long conversation on Thursday with one of the teams that is a buyer. And he said something very interesting to me. He said, unless you have a particular target, you say this is the player I want because you think they're a top-line player or he fits your team. He says there's a lot of teams out there with somewhat similar guys, and he thinks that some of these teams are going to be stuck, unable to unload players. He thinks there are too many sellers and not enough buyers. and he said and we'll see how this he said call me in a week and we'll see if I'm right but he said some of these teams are going to get really nervous because they've got players they want to move and they're going to get stuck because there's too much inventory and he said the teams that are really buying are banking on this. They are hoping that some of these teams that want to sell and need to sell are going to panic. And he's got seven days to be proven right or wrong. So how did we get here then? Because I feel like it was yesterday, just before we got on a flight to head across the pond, is, well, look at how many teams are still in the race. Look at how close things seem, more so in the East than the West, of course. But inevitably, you knew the separation was going to come. But to get to the point here where there are a lot of sellers to the point where the market could really become saturated, how did that happen so fast? I think in the Eastern Conference, there began to get some separation. You know, Washington is four points out. Columbus is six points out. Ottawa, after their loss, they're seven points out. You know, Florida won. They're eight points out. You know, I think there's some separation there. That's one thing. And in the West, I think with some of these teams that are out or around the fringes, I think they're having honest conversations about where they really are. Like if you take a look at, go with Seattle, and I think Anaheim's a little bit different because they're younger. But if you go with Seattle and everybody below them in the Western Conference, the Kraken have the best goal differential and it's negative 10. Like the Predators are two points out. They're negative 27. Right? So I think some of these teams are like, where are we really? But there's also some teams that are really out there. And so I just think all of a sudden, Kyle, a bunch of these teams have said, okay, let's be honest about where we are and where we're going. and let's make guys available. And all of a sudden, there are more sellers than there are buyers. And some of these buyers are hoping that these sellers are going to panic. So who are you looking at that maybe have entered the chat more recently as sellers? Or if you've got... So why don't I do it this way? Okay, because I was making notes. Like, here's my list of sellers. Okay. Rangers. I think Rangers have a lot out there. I mean, they certainly have things that they're not willing to do, but I don't think there's a lot of it. And other than that, I think they're willing to listen on most ideas. You know, Trocek is the big one. I think nothing he did at the Olympics has decreased his value. You know, at the Olympics, he accepted a role. He didn't complain. And in the biggest moments of that gold medal game on a five-on-three, he played unbelievable. And, again, he accepted a role that was not going to be the biggest role, and he did it without complaint. And that did not go unnoticed. And so, I mean, everybody's tied Minnesota into him. I think that one's obvious. I think L.A. really likes him. As I've said before, with Trochik, his preference, he's stated that his preference is East. It's not a hard and fast rule, but he stated his preference is. I know there are teams who suspect Colorado. I just don't know after what they did last year to get Nelson. Colorado has a lot they can do. Although there's been some talk about Ross Colton and just his fit there. You know, I still don't know how much Colorado can really do after what they did to get Brock Nelson. You know, I'll say this too. I heard some teams say that they suspected Pittsburgh could be around the Trocek. He's obviously from there. I think he'd be a great roster fit there. I just don't know that the Penguins, at where they are, are going to be making the kind of trade it would take to get them. I don't know if they see it working with what their plans are and where they're going and the stage they're in. And then the other team, I've always kept an eye on Detroit just because they tried so hard to get him when he was a UFA a couple years ago. And Iserman likes term. So one other thing with the Rangers, Kyle, did you see Adam Fox postgame? I mean, I'm just trying to, you know, focus on this year right now and play each game. I mean, that's really all I could do right now, could control this. I was just trying to work to get back and help the team finish strong. So I think that's where my head's at, obviously. That's the focus right now, and I think that's a conversation when we're down playing games. We're trying to win games and do that tonight, and I think that's where my focus is right now. That sounds like a guy that's really starting to think about his future. What that says to me is that's an end-of-season conversation. Yes. And the one thing I'm going to be careful with here is that this is a guy who moved heaven and earth, as was his right under CBA rules. This is a guy who moved heaven and earth to become a ranger. So to me, it's all about everybody take a time out and we'll see how we feel about the end of the season. But that's another thing to keep an eye on with the Rangers. Philly, Darius Seller, Ristolainen, another guy who liked Trocek, did nothing at the Olympics to hurt his stature, played very well, hit McDavid a couple of times. The thing that someone said to me, though, is there's a lot of D out there, a lot. and it's not that people don't like this player who's also got a reputation as an excellent teammate, by the way. It's just that the challenge for the Flyers will be is there's a lot of D out there. So if you don't like the price on him, unless you've really got your heart set on him, there's other players you can move to. That's the challenge for Philly. Toronto came out of the break, Kyle. Ugly. U-G-L-Y. You ain't got no alibi. Oh, yeah. They really ugly return against the state of Florida. And they're coming home. That was with the video team being absolutely dialed. It could have been much worse. You know, someone made a joke to me. One of my buddies texted me. He said, if the Leafs want to get a couple of first-rounders, they should trade the video team somewhere. Yes, that's right. That'll restock the coverage. I actually thought that was pretty funny. That market ain't saturated. No, no, it's definitely not. But, you know, I know there was some talk about the next three games will determine where they go. I don't believe any of that. I really, they had decided they were sellers. I think they wanted to see some pride from their players. I think they wanted at least to finish the season strong. They didn't get that, obviously. Really ugly. They didn't get that, obviously. It was really tough to watch. Ottawa on Saturday night, I assume you're coming in to work that one? Yes. Okay. I know you've got to go see your Senators. Nobody else is allowed to be the ringside reporter when the Senators are playing than you. That's right. But they're selling it. Danny's under the suit. they're selling and they've been selling for a few weeks right now. You know, there's been a lot of questions about Easton Cowan, the fact he isn't playing and what's going on there. You want to know my theory? Yes, I do. My theory is they've basically said, wait a week and you'll be playing the last month of the season. So everybody that potentially could be assets to move out, they want him playing right now. Yes, that's what I think it is. That's my guess. And then he plays after the deadline. Right. Or before the deadline if they trade guys first. Now, I said on radio with Marchese and Futa that I've had a few people tell me there is the path to an extension with Bobby McMahon. We're not there. I don't know if we'll get there. I don't even know if it's possible they trade him and then he comes back in the summer. But I did have a few people say to me, like, it's not impossible what gets done there. We'll see. Lawton as I said and it can always change and it can change very quickly I just heard there was a wider gulf with Lawton that's all we'll see if that can change but I do think again there's a lot of defensemen out there and you've got to be careful about how you handle things in case someone says this is too much and I want to go somewhere else, but I do think the interest in Ekman-Larsen is real. I do think Edmonton's interest in Ekman-Larsen is real, and I think it's just going to be really interesting to see what happens with him in particular because I do think they could do that if they wanted to. I had this written down here because I was talking about extensions. I wanted to mention Alex Tuck. Buffalo is not a seller. They're going for it. Again, I could make myself look really bad here, but the betting on Tuck is that he stays in Buffalo next week, whether there's an extension or not. Like, even if they don't sign him, and I would suspect at this point in time they're not, I think he stays. And don't forget that Jarmo Kekalainen has been in this position before. When Columbus won their first ever playoff series beating Tampa, they had some UFAs. And Yarmo was in a position where he just said, you know what? Yeah, Columbus has never won a series. We're going for it. And if we lose guys, we lose guys. And that's what they did. And so he understands this. He knows how to handle it. And I think that's the way he will do it in Buffalo. So as I record this pod late Thursday night slash Friday morning, My bet, Kyle, is he stays and even if he doesn't have an extension, which he probably won't buy next week. Again, things can change, but that's my call right now. Vancouver, Dom's Canucks. Jim Rutherford, he did a podcast, the John Shannon, Darren Millard podcast. The Canucks, they'll listen on just about anything right now. aside from their young players in Philip Ronek. The way this year has gone, they've recognized. I think there's a lot of disappointment inside the organization about where they've gone in two years. And I think if they could move people out of the organization, more of them, they would. And, you know, I think it's going to be hard. Some of those contracts make it difficult. The Myers thing is interesting to me because I don't think – initially when it got out, Myers found out Tuesday morning that Detroit had an offer for him that Vancouver wanted to consider. Wednesday night when he set out the game, I had a couple people tell me that it didn't look like he was going to accept it. I don't know where that stands as of the time we recorded this. But I do think what it does is it opens up other possibilities for Myers. Other teams might come into it. We'll see kind of what happens there. But I think the thing that Myers has to consider, and I think this does make him consider it, is his full protection ends July 1st. And when this happens, you basically have a choice. You can make the call when you have the power. or you can risk losing the power. And, you know, I think at this point in time, Myers has to realize that the Canucks are not afraid to move away from him. So I think they're all working together, and I think the Canucks understand that he won't want to rush. I understand why he does not want to go too far in the middle of the season for his family situation. but one way or the other it does look like whether it's now or later Myers knows Vancouver's prepared to move on so I think the effort now is to try to put him into a situation he's comfortable with there was a rumor that Jake DeBrusque had asked for a trade that was denied to me but I still think that if something happens that he likes, he wouldn't stand in the way of it. Pedersen, one of the things, with all the noise that's come out of there and all the news that's come out of there this week, one of the things I wanted to ask is if there was anything that was going on. Famous last words, but it seems quiet around him right there. I don't think the Canucks are eager to retain. It's a long time to retain for. and I think that's I think some teams have tried to ask them if they would consider it and I don't think it's something they're very interested in doing I've kind of wondered about Ottawa and Vancouver if there's a match there just over the year there's people said people have kind of hinted there might be something there I just have not been able to figure out what it could possibly be hmm maybe someone left over from the travis green era in vancouver that's what you all you always wonder about right yeah and um you know ottawa i think is looking at um and i just think the canucks have basically let people know aside from roenick and our kids we're out there um st louis everybody knows they've been out there for a while but the prices are big the price for Thomas is very high. Either another young player who's a younger player than Thomas, who's a potential 1C, or a Quinn Hughes type deal. I think the price on Kairou is high. The price on Falk, I've said before, is the Rasmus Anderson trade. You know, there's been talk about Binnington. I think they would consider just about anything, but the price is high. You know, So Florida, there's been a lot of talk about Bobrovsky the last few days. I think the challenge there is that, you know, Bobrovsky saw a lot of guys get paid last year. Ekblad got a big extension. He's 30. Bennett got a big extension. He's 29. But the other guy who got a big extension, Marchand, at 37. Okay? Bobrovsky is 37. And even though he's had a tough year at times this year, he's still a future Hall of Famer who was the backbone of a two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, possibly once removed. and you know the Panthers I would suspect they have a limit of where they're willing to go but it's not always easy when a player who's a key player on a team like that sees other guys get paid and especially especially one player who's right around his age and they say okay well we may not do we may not be able to do that for you So I don't know. I think Florida gets things done when they want to get things done. They've proven that to us. Don't doubt them. We didn't think there was any way they could get all three guys done last year, Kyle. They did it. But clearly they haven't gotten to a zone yet that Bobrovsky is comfortable with. So do you think, are they a team that's entering the seller's zone here, as you say? I know it's been a tough year for them injury-wise, results-wise. There's still a little ways out here in regards to the Eastern Conference playoff picture. I mean, couldn't see them being a big buyer at this juncture because of where they are, because of the limited assets that they have. Unless it's someone with term. But I just wonder, is there any part of them that goes, well, let's just see how long we can or how intricate we can make things. They've got a week like they did. Marchand fell on their lap like minutes before the trade deadline last year, right? So I always assume that they're not uncomfortable doing that. Especially, yeah, if the market is what your contact was suggesting out there. I wonder if they're a team that goes Oh really? That's all it's going to Cost to get that guy in Yeah, I think he could help us In some way Down the stretch here Why not? I mean they've proven to be The poster childs for Oh you don't see value In this player? Yeah, we'll take him And we'll make him an important Piece here They're a smart front office So I could expect anything from them But, you know, the Bobrovsky thing is interesting to me. I don't know how to handicap that at this point, but I understand why a player like that might look and say, okay, all these other guys got taken care of. You know, I should be too. Calgary, what's that? Well, the contract that's about to end, I mean, it's hard not to look at that and say, you know, they took care of him with that deal as a $10 million goalie. But I understand what you mean, that even later on in his 30s, like the Marchands and others, there was another payday to be had. So I get it. I'll just say this. At the beginning, that contract looked ugly. At the end, it looked like good value. He paid that over and over. Worst contract to first ballot Hall of Famer. Calgary, I heard a couple things with Calgary. Number one thing I heard, because there was a lot of questions about White Cloud, what were they going to do with White Cloud? Another team told me that they heard that White Cloud is not in a hurry to get out of there. That he's not someone who shows up and says, no, this isn't for me, and can I go somewhere else? That is not the case. Now, that doesn't mean he doesn't get traded. It just means that the Flames are happy to have players who are happy there, and they're not motivated to move him. They get a great offer, look out. There's not much else you can do. You get a great offer, you jump at it. But I've just heard from a couple teams that White Cloud indicated to the Flames he's happy to stay, and therefore they're not rushing him to the front of the list. We have to trade this guy. the biggest challenge I think the Flames will have is that all of their guys have competition Cadry I think people love Cadry the player I'm not sure they're crazy about the term and also there's other centers there's Trocek who we've mentioned there's O'Reilly who we'll get to there's other centers available so while I do think people like Cadry the player between the age and the term, I think that's the challenge that the Flames are going to have. And like I said, people like Coleman, people like Weger, but there are other players around them. And Conroy has shown he's not afraid to be patient. And if you look at some of the deals he's made to get younger, when he has had some leverage to wait, he's done a pretty good job using that. But the key I've heard there is that White Cloud is not in a rush to leave, and therefore they're not rushing to move him. Chicago, Murphy, again, a lot of defensemen available. That's their challenge. I've heard they've got Mikheyev out there. I think they tried to sign him at one point, but I think Mikheyev is out there. And Chicago is going to have a couple other guys. I know some people have wondered about Korchinski there because they've got a lot of D. He's been in the minors. His future is another thing I think people have wondered about. Winnipeg, I mean, obviously the one is Logan Stanley if they don't sign him. But especially the way Hellebuck played at the Olympics. and now I think the Jets look at it like he broke through, he's confident, the shackles are off, and also they look at it as their season really fell apart when he was hurt. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jets look at it like a lot of this year was a bad year, everything went wrong, maybe we're not as good as we were a year ago, but were better than we showed this year, I don't expect a fire sale. Nashville, I don't know what to say. Yeah, they won again. There are a couple points out. I had people say to me, O'Reilly's not going to move. I had people say to me, 50-50. I don't know what to make of it there. I really don't. And also, you know, you've got a new owner now who's starting to go public a bit. I think it's really hard when you're a new owner and the team makes a charge for the playoffs to wave the white flag. Now, everyone's different. Some people don't care. But it's hard when you're new and you're trying to make a good impression. um stamkos again i was told most likely not right now i still really think marcia so everybody's trying to work there to find a solution and also another guy who did nothing to hurt his value at the olympics was holla he played extremely well for finland and again there's a lot of centers out there, and that's the challenge. O'Reilly is the elite of the elite. If they want to move him, they'll have no problem. But, again, I got, like, no way he's moving to 50-50 he moves. I just don't know what to make of it as we do this pod. But Holla, I think, is a guy who did not hurt his value. Seattle, Seattle's got a bunch of guys unsigned, like Jamie Oleksiak. they're still in the playoffs race, but they've come out of the gate. They've had two really ugly losses, including one of them to St. Louis. It not it doesn make you feel great about yourself but they are in the playoff race And I think that very important to them You want to know what somebody said to me at the Olympics Kyle I heard this, and another player told me he heard it too. So I was in the mix zone with one of the players, and he says, did you hear what the Kraken offered Panarin? And I said, I heard a number. And he goes, what did you hear? And I told him, and he said, that's what we heard too. And so it was three years at 14 and a quarter per. Kraken are serious, man. So that's why you think they're still serious about this year? I think they're serious about getting a player who can electrify them offensively. Right. That moves the needle there. Shane Wright. That's where they move Shane Wright. And, you know, or they move him for another young, talented player. Now, Matt Marchese, when I brought this up on the radio, he said, you know, they could do him for Lafreniere from the Rangers, right? And I said, I don't believe that's the case. I think that if those two teams wanted to do that deal, it would be done already. So I don't think that's the deal. Okay. But you think he still potentially could be an option? I still think right for the right offensive stud. or young player that they really like. But boy, that's a lot of money for, you know, I would like to tell the Kraken I will work for half that. Yeah, that's right. I think it's a bet a lot sooner out there too. I would only cost you $21 million. Yeah. You know, other teams out there, you know, Dallas, I still think term is a hard thing for them. Until they decide on Jason Robertson, I've heard term is a really hard thing for them. Although there's nothing official on Sagan, I heard it's going to be a real challenge for him to play again which is, I was really sorry to hear because I know how badly he wanted to come back and how important it was to him but I just heard it's going to be a real challenge for him to play this season so that might open up some room for them this year but again until they make a decision on Robertson they don't have a lot of room to take term if any at all do you believe just looking at those that are in the mix for one of those wild card spots in the west Elliot I mean the idea of who they would be looking at in the first round and the notion of, eh, not sure if that's worth it for us. Is that a real thing? I think it is a tiny bit. But, again, it depends on who you're talking about. I think a team like Seattle, especially now that the NBA has said they're going to consider expansion this summer, I think it makes it even more important for Seattle to show progress, right? So I think even if you go in and you potentially risk Colorado in the first round, you take it, right? And again, you know, Nashville, new owner, I think if someone says to me, he says, let's go for it, you take it. Like some of the other teams here, Utah, I've said before, I think they would like to add, you know, their goal differential is plus 24. Like only Colorado, Minnesota, and Dallas are better than that in their conference. Plus 24 to me, that's a good team. And like I said, I think they were around on Panarin. I think they made a serious pitch. So I look for them to add, or at least try to. Kyle, Kings. Woof. Where do you want to start here? Oh, boy. Well, there's a wide range of ground to cover. Panarin, I didn't sign up for a rebuild. No, no, no. And you think that the goodwill that must have been, you thought, built up with Bailey, was it a nice Rolex watch for the ability to wear 72? You know what the biggest scandal of the off day could be for the Kings? If the Rolex turns out to be a Frolex. Oh, man. Lose to the Knights, lose to the Oilers, Frolex. That is three strikes and you're out. What's worse? Did you see McDavid's goal here on Thursday? First player to 100 points this season, by the way. He got there in Los Angeles here Thursday night. I thought he was going to go around the net three more times. Darcy Kemper ended up in Redondo Beach by the time the puck finally went to the net. Goodness me. That was a microcosm of the whole night. And that night and how they finished against a depleted Vegas Golden Knights the day before. So for the Kings, as they are a team, as you've talked about, trying to figure out where they are this season in particular. They made the Panarin trade and sign, as you mentioned. But boy, of all the teams that didn't have great first few games back here, now that the season's picking up again, that's going to be near the bottom of the barrel. I don't even want to joke about it. We were joking about it before, but it's a real disaster for them. First of all, full credit to the Golden Knights. The fact that they won that game on Wednesday night, they were down after two periods, they were missing a whole bunch of guys, they had every excuse to pack it in, and they showed big guts by finding a way to come back and win that game. The only bad news for the Golden Knights is when all those guys come back in, the first game they lose, Bruce Cassidy is going to say, hey, we won without you. Let's just remind you of that. Anyway, it's bad. And, you know, I do think Holland's gone pretty hard after Trochek. and you know as we talked about earlier I've heard Trocek's preference is to stay east although it's not locked in I think that's his preference you know I think Holland badly wants to add someone who can get his scores the puck and Fiala's a big loss but it's kind of interesting Kyle about how some of the teams have just come out of this Toronto we talked about earlier Seattle's had two bad losses like Some teams you were hoping, as you said with Panarin, new player, new blood, new energy, and they come out like that in the first game, and then they get blown out at home on the second game, violating the stellic rule, which is if you're going to stink, stink on the road. And the other thing, too, is it comes against Edmonton, which suffered an equally ugly loss on his first night to the Ducks, blowing a third-period lead. You know, I don't know if Ken Holland, like I said, I think he wants to make another move. I don't know if it's going to be so simple for them to trade their way out of this one. And, you know, all of a sudden, as we finish games on Thursday night, the Kings in the wild card race, they are three points back of the wild card they're five points out of third place in their division they still got two games in hand on Edmonton uh but now they would need help Edmonton six points up against them so that was you know they could have been two points out with two games in hand. Instead, they lose 8-1 at home. You can see Ken Holland, he does not like to make coaching changes in season. The last one he did in Edmonton was Knobloch in, Woodcroft out and he really had to be dragged into that one. There was an obvious time he could have done it if he wanted to in LA and that was the Olympic break. It's really tough when you put your faith in your coach and you're like, We're not going to do that, and then this is what happens when you come out of the Olympic break. Just terribly disappointing. I think as bad as it was for the Kings, it was great for the Oilers, just in the sense that they lose their last games, a couple of games going in. Leon Dreishel comes out and says, hey, everybody's got to be better, including the coaches. And, Kyle, what do they do? They lose that first game, like we said, an ugly loss. and all of a sudden Chris Knobloch is cracking the whip. He's pulling his goalie with 13 minutes left after a long night. He's critical of his players in the postgame. It's almost as if he said, guys, if this is what you want, this is what you're going to get, and you better be able to handle it. I think the best thing for the Oilers is with that goalie pull, with the bad loss, with Knobloch being critical of them after the game the previous night, this is how they respond with an 8-1 victory. And maybe it's that simple with the Oilers. Maybe the kid gloves have to come off and everybody has to hear some things they don't want to hear. It snaps you to attention. You play better. We'll see. I do think that OEL thing with Edmonton is real, though. I just think the big challenge is I think they've found it a lot harder to move Mangiapane than they thought. I think they felt there would be opportunities out there. I heard that, and there just haven't been. And that's a complicating factor, but I do think the OAL stuff is very real. You know, in the East, Columbus, I know they've got some UFAs everybody's kind of wondered about. I think there it's they want to make the playoffs or try to. someone said to me over the break they took a run at Coyle it's a really tough one I mean he could be the number one free agent available right now so we'll see what he wants to do I think Boston we know they tried Rasmus Anderson so I could still see them being on the D market I've heard they want to add a forward if they can Don Sweeney did an interview with their Nesson during the games where he says we could work both sides of this. I think the Islanders would like to add, you know, the Islanders still have a lot of bodies, a lot of bodies. And I think they'd like to add, I think they want to reward their guys. They're having a magic season. All of a sudden, Schaefer is five goals away from the rookie record. It's all coming up millhouse for the Islanders. Like, I think they want to try to make their team better, give their guys a chance. Carolina always looking to add. I mean, we talked about Detroit. They're in on Myers. I've wondered about Trocek for them. You know, the Canadians, I do think they've looked at some of these D, these guys like Ristolainen or guys like that. And by the way, I think that the Canadians have given Lainey's representation, permission to talk to teams. And the interesting thing about this is Lainey is a guy who has asked out before. I don't think he wants to leave Montreal. I think he really loves Montreal. But it just obviously isn't going to fit, isn't going to work at this point in time. but I think he's actually really enjoyed his time there. So, you know, we'll see how this all works out. And I also think that, you know, we all know about their interest in a center. I've heard they've poked around O'Reilly. I just don't know how feasible that is. Like Montreal to me, Kyle, they're a team that could go through this week and kind of sit there and say, we have some choices here. We have what people would want. We have the ability to do things. Who's the best guy we really think we can get? Yes. That's what I was thinking about over the last couple of days, having no deep intel of what's going on there. They just feel like the team, like they could be Randy Orton, hiding somewhere in the weeds. You don't see him. You don't see him. He's not on your mind, on your radar. and then out of nowhere comes the RKO, and the place goes wild. Yeah, they like that too. They like to be seen as the stealth guys. And they've bided their time. They've recruited assets. They've done a good job setting themselves up for success. It's been a good year there. Tough one to let slip away against the Islanders on Thursday night. But in an Eastern Conference that, you know, there's Carolina has established themselves. Tampa's been brilliant. But they're a team that could say, I like our chances of making some noise here. And how do we best support the guys that we have already in-house? And this feels like a good time for them to try to do that, just with everything you're laying out here. So that was one team I was really starting to wonder about. I see them as waiting in the weeds. We got things people want. And like I said, they like to be stealth. Tampa to me, I'm looking at them, and they lost a really good game against Carolina on Thursday. If you haven't seen the Lightning defend the empty net late in the game, go look at it. after I mentioned it to someone, they told me the Lightning actually put it on social. It's very rare to show highlights on social of you losing a game, but apparently they put it on there of them defending the empty net. They're plus 60. They're tied with Carolina for first place in the East. They don't have a lot of holes there. I'm beginning to wonder if they almost just say, this is our team and we're pretty good. Right. Because, I mean, they've plugged holes internally beautifully all year. I'm watching them first game after the break, Wednesday against Toronto. You know, some of these guys, some have been certainly part of it for a while now, like the Gonsalveses of the world. But, boy, does he look good playing off a Kucherov and a point. I can't imagine that's the easiest thing to do in trying to get your brain synced the way those guys see the game, Kucherov, especially as we know. But even like Bastouce looks like he's a real player there. It just is incredible how they spent so many assets over their two cup runs, and it was like, well, what are they going to do now? How are they going to replenish? Players they had to say goodbye to because of cap reasons, and they've brilliantly bound bodies that can play and play how they want to play. It's been really impressive. So I think as soon as the idea of Blake Coleman being available, I couldn't help but think of a reunion there. You think that's at all possible? I don't know. I don't know. I just think somebody poured cold water on that to me I'll just say this Kyle the thing that makes me worry about this time of year Isaiah Thomas always say draft time and trade deadline time everybody lies so I did have someone pour cold water on that idea to me we'll see okay we'll see I think to me that the The number one thing for Tampa is the only thing I think they, or one of their biggest concerns, priorities should be, just make sure that Hedman is tapered. So on the third Saturday of April, he's ready to go. Agreed. That's what I'm looking at if I'm the Lightning. Hey, Victor, what do we need to do to make sure you're ready to go third Saturday of April? And this reminds me a couple of things here. Before we forget, condolences to John Cooper. His father passed away right after the Olympics. And I also wanted to shout out Boomer Gordon. there are some people in media who are media like you and me and there's other people who in media are kind of like the voice of the hockey fan and even though they're in media they never stop being a fan first and i'm not trying to say that like it's a bad thing i think it's a good thing because in media there's room for all kinds and even though he was in media he never stopped being a fan first. And a lot of people really liked him. Like when the tweet came out from the NHL radio account about his passing, like there were a lot of really sad not only co-workers, which was great to see, that the people he worked with really loved him, but also just fans who really liked listening to him. So I wanted to shout him out as well. Just a couple other things. I'm not sure what to make of the Devils. yet, you know, because this was supposed to be a big year for them, and it started out like a big year for them. And it didn't go well. Kind of went, like, two things really hurt them this year, the Quinn Hughes trade stuff and Jack Hughes injury. Like, they were really going until Hughes got injured the first time at the team party. So, and now they come out of the break, they've, like, It was really special with Jack Hughes and Tate Thompson, but they've lost two in a row. And so I don't know what to make of them going in the next week yet. I think everybody would love it if they could find a solution with Dougie Hamilton that works for everybody. But other than that, I'm not sure what to make of their situation yet. It's been really disappointing. But I wonder if a lot of those decisions get punted to the offseason. Really? Like Dougie Hamilton included? No, that one I could see happening now if there was something that worked out for everybody. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it feels like even beyond the roster, there's some hard conversations and decisions to be had within that organization. with the way things have gone this year, don't you think? Yes. And by the way, Kyle, what happened in the Minnesota crease? He got sick? Oh, yeah. So we just started recording here when this happened. Poor Phil Augustus, and clearly not feeling great. No pun intended, but guts it out to start for Minnesota. Big game against Colorado. Which they won. Which they won, but with just over a minute left, he couldn't keep it down. And he threw up right in his crease. Some of it got on his jersey. Oh, how did I miss this? And then, I don't know who you feel worse for, like Gustafson, who's clearly not in a great space. or yes for Wallstead that has to come into that crease and play the end of the game. And then he gets scored on the first shot he faced. Now, you know, the score was Minnesota had it well enough in hand that it wasn't a problem. Oh, but that's just, that's a tough way to close out. But, hey, Minnesota's got their own fluid game now. Oh, can you imagine? Oh, there's like frozen vomit in the crease. and you've got to go down and try to make a save in it. Oh, so when I was eight years old. Oh, I can only imagine where this story is going. Good. I can't wait to hear this. Yeah, yeah. My minor hockey league team got picked to go play in the intermission at one of the Canucks games. Okay. So I talk about excitement. And so we go there, staying right downtown Vancouver. We go to a moxie's, like a team out, and go to dinner first before going to the game. Now, growing up, it was a staple. If family was going out to Moxie's, which was like a big outing for us, you know, we didn't go there often. When you did, it was a big deal. I always ordered chicken strips and fries, okay? Always, always, always. Great plum sauce at Moxie's back then. Go there that night, and I'm like, I know what I'm getting. I go to order it. My dad was like, you always order that. Like, do something different. You can't have the same thing all the time. I'm like, all right, fine. So I'll order pizza. I really branched out, right? So I remember eating the pizza, and I'm like, this tastes a little off. I didn't want to make a scene, so I just ate it. Okay, we're going to the game. We'll get to play in the intermission. This is so cool. And I remember we got there early. We went down by the glass to watch warm-up. I remember sitting there, and I was like, I kind of feel a little funny. and uh and so we're playing the first intermission and and i remember some like i i don't know how i got through it but i mean my parents were saying like watch me go on he doesn't look himself out there uh but i i was so scared i was gonna have a philip gustafson moment on the ice I didn't but I did just about everywhere else around what was then GM place that night it was so bad it was so so bad and I stayed like I don't know like my only disappointment with this story is that you actually didn't throw up no I thought I thought for sure it was it was coming and I managed to just keep it down in time but oh man I had it like because you know dressed up nice to go to the game and I had all over my dress pants. I remember one time running through the concourse and I was trying to get to the garbage can in time and I just came up short. And yet I stayed for the whole game. I should have been taken back to the hotel at that point. Anyway, it was a different world back then. I have a legendary vomit story from university that I will tell on my last ever podcast. Nice. Nice. All right. Set your calendars, folks. You will not want to miss that one. People are tweeting at me, retire. It's worth the wait. I will tell you this story. It is worth the wait. So good. Get well soon, Philip. Get well soon, yes. All right. Before we go to final thought, you got anything else you want to ask about? Anything I forget? So I don't necessarily forgot. I mean, we touched on Anaheim briefly and their unique situation as a young group, but right in the mix. Yeah. But a team that almost a year ago, the messaging from management was playoffs this year. And now they're in a position to do so. Is Pat Perbeek willing to be super? I think they're one of, in terms of strength of schedule here down the stretch, they have one of the easier paths. I know that doesn't guarantee anything. All I'm saying is it's shaping up to be the Ducks in a really good position to be among the eight in the West. So how do you think Verbeek handles it? Well, again, he's got some big contracts to deal with, right? What do you think Leo Carlson's going to get paid here if they do term? like he came right out off a break where he was hurt didn't look too bad the other night against Edmonton like but what do you think Carlson's number and he's got Gauthier who scores and Seneca's a couple years away but boy he looks he looks fantastic this Calder vote I mean look like it's going to be really hard to vote against Schaefer like really hard to vote against Schaefer but Seneca is fantastic but So we knew he was willing to consider Panarin, right? Just no extension. Somebody reminded me when White Cloud came out of college, Verbeek was still in Tampa and tried to get him. But I don't think unless they really make it work their while, I don't think White Cloud's going anywhere, as I said earlier. But, you know, Verbeek's a tough one to read. that's what I heard. I heard he made a non-extension pitch at Panarin. I heard he liked White Cloud. Mindful of big contracts. I'm sorry I can't give you any more than that right now. I'm sorry to disappoint you. Add it to the list. Days since, Frege disappointed, back to zero. Back to zero. Previous high, three hours. Two and a half. Three hours. Okay. All right. With that, time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. Go all electric in a winter-ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today. It's been a heck of a week. The discourse around the U.S. men's Olympic team in the aftermath of winning their gold medal on Sunday, the celebration, who they celebrated, a phone call with the President of the United States, and where the victory lap all took them. We have seen, Elliot, hockey social media. It's gotten ugly and divisive in the past. It felt like the volume was really cranked up here the last couple of days. I don't think we're going to rehash all of it, but what would you like to touch on? Kyle, there's two things I'd like to discuss. One is the U.S. women's team, and secondly, the postgame celebration. First, the women's team. Nobody ever listens to anything I say, which is smart. Nobody should listen to anything I say. However, I am going to say this about the gold medal-winning U.S. women's hockey team, because I think it's important they understand this. You're in a whirlwind. You didn't create it. You feel that people are joking at your expense. You feel that you are being disrespected. You feel you are not being taken seriously. It is very important that those individual players and that team know that approximately 0% of the world's population. And, Kyle, I would say that it's not approximately 0%. It is 0% definitely of the world's population thinks any less of those players or that team because of the comment the president made on that phone call. No one with a functioning brain. And again I would add even people without a functioning brain saw whether they a hardcore hockey fan or someone who just watched them at the Olympics they saw the same thing that I saw you saw and Dom saw And that is, they were a steamroller. They were dominant. They were elite. They had a tremendous Olympic accomplishment. and that if Canada, to their credit, had not played the best game that they've played in the last four years, the gold medal game would not have been close. The only reason it got to overtime was the Canadians said, this is the only way we can beat them and we are going to do that for 60 plus minutes. And they almost pulled it off. But a close victory in the gold medal game is no shame. As far as I'm concerned, it made the Americans' legend even greater because they were finally pushed and they stood up to it and they found a way. Everybody, everybody sees that. And what happened in that phone call did not change that. And I think that that is something, like, I don't want to speak for any of the female players. If you saw their quotes, you understand how they all felt. I just thought it was important for them to know that what happened on that call affected the opinion of zero people. Zero. Worldwide. We all know how good you were individually. We all know how good you were as a team. We all watched it. We all saw it. We all know it. You earned it. You deserved it. It wasn't a fluke. It was earned and won the way it's supposed to be done. And I think it's very important that those players and that team recognizes that, that no matter what happened on that phone call, nobody thinks they're the butt of a joke. Nobody lost respect for them. Nobody thinks of any less for them. You were a steamroller that won that gold medal fair and square, and everybody knows that. Kyle, do I get my message across? Yes. We talked about it a couple pods back. It was an absolute thrill to be in the building that night, to watch that all unfold. And they were such a deserving champion and gold medalist. As great as that Canadian team was, especially that night, how they pushed them. To echo your points, Elliot, they held, they deserved it, and should be celebrated as such, and will continue to be. Nothing changes there. I'm just one guy with a podcast, and I don't like to speak, to presume I speak for anyone else but myself, but I think in this case I speak for the vast majority, if not 100% of people. We all saw what we saw. You're great. And in our eyes, you will always be seen with greatness. That's number one. Number two, the celebration. Okay. So, Kyle, every year, you and I, we get to see the Stanley Cup presented. and when it's over I have a routine I'd like to do we get off the air we finish all our responsibilities I go down to the dressing room with the team that lost in the final I try to see if there's anyone there I have a good relationship with shake their hands give condolences get the hell out of the way okay then I will go to the winner's dressing room where the celebration is underway, or on the ice if they're still on the ice, shake hands, give congratulations, get the hell out of the way. Did I win the Stanley Cup? No. I talked about the people who won the Stanley Cup, but I did not win the Stanley Cup. I should not be in that celebration. That celebration, there's room for the families, yes, But eventually it moves to become, it's the players who won, the coaches who won, the staff who won, the executives who won, the owner. That's who that party is for. If you didn't play a firsthand role on some level of winning the championship, say your congratulations and GTFO, get out. Okay? And that's what I try to do every year. I remember one of the years the Chiefs won one of their Super Bowls. I think it was the first one where Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift were dating. And there was a famous shot of them on the field together after the Chiefs won. And they hug and they give each other their congratulations and the cameras are on this. And I almost feel like a voyeur and I'm like, enough of them already, enough. But then something happened I never forgot. He says to her, I'm going to go celebrate with the boys now or my teammates now. And she nods. She understands. I can't remember if they hug goodbye or kiss goodbye or whatever, but she leaves. And I remember watching that and saying, Taylor Swift is one of the most powerful and accomplished people in human existence. If she understands that that is not the place for her in that moment, and she has to respect the team's privacy, Kyle, who among us should feel different? Right? Agreed. Have you accomplished in your life as much as Taylor Swift? No, but I'm working on it. I have not accomplished as much of my life as Taylor Swift, and I never will accomplish one one millionth of what she has done. Okay? But I just remember looking at that and saying, you know, that's pretty cool. Like, she understands that this is, as I'm sure there would be times where he would say, that's her time, it's not my time. This is a big, big star who's like, not my place. I thought that was so cool. Almost everything that went wrong this week was because that got violated. Okay? I think the lesson I would learn, and Megan Rapinoe talked about this on a podcast this week, the lesson is that if you're a player, you should gatekeep your celebrations. I think most people, Kyle, are like you and me. If you have to go by and you want to wish someone you know, congratulations. You either ask for them to come out of the room, or you go in, you shake hands quickly, and you get out. And, like, the thing is, like, I went to one of the women's games. I watched the gold medal game from the Canada Hockey House. But the only night I could go to a women's game was the Canada-US preliminary game. I walked in there, and the first person I saw in the building, the arena, was Vincent Trocek. First guy I saw. He's like, the hockey tournament hadn't even started yet. he was going there to watch Canada-USA women. I know the Kachuks, I think they were at the semifinal. The Hughes brothers, James Duffy told me he saw the Hughes brothers at the final. You know, Charlie McAvoy has been a big supporter of women's hockey. I think going back through the Olympics, you always see American and Canadian players at their female teammates' games. It happens all the time. and I know that a lot of those players are big supporters of women's hockey because I've talked about it with them before. So I just think it's too bad that a lot of the negativity that came out, what was a great victory, heartbreaking for this Canadian, but a great victory were because somebody was in there who shouldn't have been. and that's the way I feel. I feel that if you're not a competitor or a staffer or a coach and executive, you shouldn't be there. And if I was a team, I would look at this and I would say, from now on, if we win and you don't have a direct connection, you're out. so those are the couple things i wanted to say about it am i missing anything no i don't think so at all i think the one thought that i kept going back to here over the last few days um i mean i of course i'm not american i'm canadian um but i can only imagine what it would be like I mean, the thrill, you just helped capture an historic gold medal for your country. 46 years on the men's side since it last happened. And then you get the opportunity to visit the Oval Office. And take away who's sitting in that chair right now or at any other point, right? But you get the invite. Wow. And so, but with all that, I mean, the whole notion of, and we've heard a few players say, well, you don't want to get political about it all. And that's fine. Like, I take them at face value. Like, they're not looking at it that way. I get it. But the problem is that is still going to be perceived as such in some circles. And it's hard to see that changing going forward. And it's too bad. But that's the reality we live in now. And so whether you're an athlete, a team, when you get that invitation, is you have to know going in, if you say yes, the people are going to applaud you and some people are going to try to rip you apart for accepting the invitation. And you just have to be willing to live with that. You've got to know what you're getting into. The reaction shouldn't be a surprise anymore. You know, this is the world that we're in today. So what you achieve and accomplish in the field of play, that will always be unifying what goes on there but any type of political collaboration rightly or wrongly it's only going to lead to observers picking sides and it's too bad and whether you think that's not a problem or it is a problem that's for every one individual to decide for themselves how they feel. But that, it's clear now. That's what the reaction is going to be. And we saw it again here this week. Alright. That was the final thought. Presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take our first break. When we come back, long overdue. Brand new edition of the Thoughtline. 32 Thoughts of the Podcast. We'll continue after this. All right, welcome back. Oh, Elliot, I have missed this. The Thoughtline hath returned. I can, Griffin Porter, well done, man. I can only imagine the behemoth that was the Thoughtline inbox and the voicemail box while we were gone. But he managed to sift through it all. And we've got the latest pass ready. You know what I remember? When I was a teenager, there was a garbage strike in Toronto. Really? Yes. So all of us in our neighborhood had to dump our garbage in the parking lot at the York Mills Arena, which was the local hockey arena in our area. And I think it lasted a few weeks. And it didn't take long till the entire parking lot was full of garbage. It was disgusting. That's what I imagine the thought line looked like after two weeks of no thought line. Elliot Friedman, the thought line is just garbage. That's good. I'm impressed. That's really good. So it's just like piles taking place in the parking stalls? Not parking stalls, parking lot. Well, yeah, but like, right, where vehicles would normally park, it was just piles of garbage. Yeah, there was no room to park. There would be games there and people would have to park on the street. It was disgusting. I'm glad that got sorted. Yeah, it was disgusting. Oh, boy. Got any quick shout-outs you want to do? No, you know what? I do have one at the end, actually, that will kind of circle back. What have you got? Yeah, I got a couple. So on Tuesday morning, I went to get a coffee at my local Starbucks, which I know you will never go to. But there's a local Starbucks here, and I've mentioned them before. Yeah, yeah. The manager is a big fan of the pod, and he was there, and I went to talk to him. But when I went to go pick up my coffee, I mobile ordered, there was a note on the cup. It just said, welcome home, with a smiley face on it. Oh, nice. And I was pleasantly surprised. It was really a small thing, but a big thing. And the lady who did it, her name is Alicia. So I just wanted to shout out Alicia for, you know, I certainly wasn't expecting that, and I never would again. But it was a pleasant surprise, and it was a really nice thing. And it reminded me that even the smallest things you do for people can really make their day. So thank you, Alicia. I also just wanted to shout out a listener by the name of Dr. Rebecca Grady. I went to go see my nephew, Jake, play hockey also on Tuesday night. and there was a Dr. Rebecca Grady there who works at one of the hospitals in downtown Toronto and she says after some of her late shifts, she listens to the podcast on her drive back home to unwind. So I wanted to shout her out and a young boy named Romeo, he was a goalie for one of the teams there and he was wearing his team's MVP chain after their game. I said, what, they handed it out to the best player? He goes, yep, I got it today. So it was nice. And finally, I did get one person who called me, and it's a person in the league, a guy who I get along with really well. And he begged me. He said, you got to ease off the raccoon stuff. It's too much raccoon. And I agreed until a couple of people sent me this. Oh, man. This is when you think you're out. They pull you back in. They pull you right back in. They said, Elliot, I know you really hit it out of the park in your marriage. This is one of the notes. And you should hold on to her with your cold, dead fingers, which I completely agree with, by the way. But in case it doesn't work out, we have found the woman for you. And they sent me a news story. I'm not going to read the woman's name. I'm just going to leave it out. But a woman was arrested after police say she kept sneaking behind a Fresno Taco Bell to feed raccoons and call them the board members. According to officers, this woman allegedly showed up three nights in a row with a bag of soft tacos and began addressing the animals like she was running a late-night staff meeting. Police reports claim she named one raccoon, Mr. Whiskers, an attempt to hand it a crunch wrap to finalize the merger. Employees called authorities after customers reported what they described as an unsanctioned wildlife summit taking place behind the dumpster. When officers arrived, she allegedly insisted she was just networking and that the raccoons have more loyalty than most coworkers, which may be true. She was charged with public nuisance and released, but reportedly told police the raccoons will be expecting her tomorrow. Oh, boy. Well, when you come armed with the double crunch wrap, the expectations shoot through the roof. Oh, man. The first comment is hilarious. Somebody writes, how is this a crime? Right. I don't see the problem here. Was it your comment? No, it was not mine. Oh, gosh. Yeah, I didn't see that one coming for the list of where can the story go from here. That is outstanding. And, of course, it's behind a Taco Bell of all the fast food joints. I didn't even check to see if this is true or not. People just sent it to me. Yeah. I mean, that's how your life operates in this business. That's right. people just sent it to me. I don't know what else you want me to say. That's awesome. Okay, anything else? No. Let's go to the thought line. Actually, no, I remembered. I do have a shout-out before we get started. It's so funny. Okay. So on my flight from Milan to Montreal, on my way home on Monday, I was seated next to a gentleman by the name of Jeff. Now, Jeff informed me that a number of years ago in the playoffs, he was seatmates on a plane with Chris Cuthbert and told Chris the story of how his group, it is believed, they are the longest running hockey pool in history. What, really? Consecutively, yes. Now, so back when this first happened and he met Chris and told him about it, CC mentioned it on the broadcast of one of the games shortly thereafter. Now, inevitably, you know, there's been, you know, I think Chris got bombarded with a few people saying, that's not the oldest one, this one is. That's not the oldest one, this one is. Anyway, it's, I think they're in their 47th year consecutively. Whether it is the oldest or very impressive run. So it started, I believe, with eight guys. I think it's up to around 16 now, if I recall Jeff telling me. And it's a playoff pool. And most of them are retired now. A lot of them still live in Canada. Some are down in the States. Some are across the pond in Europe. But every spring, they now, instead of doing it over Zoom or FaceTime, they have the ability to meet in person. They pick destinations. I think they're going out to Atlantic Canada this time around, and they do their draft in person. And he told me a great story that I believe their second or third season in, they were filling out their picks for the playoffs. And Jeff, who's kind of the main guy in charge, he does all the tallying throughout the postseason for everybody's totals. And I think, yeah, it was his second or third year. One of the guys, I don't know if he had to leave early or he missed whatever his final pick. So Jeff made the pick for him. and so the guy he picked for him was Dennis Vevergaard. Oh, Dennis Vevergaard, yeah. Vevergaard, sorry, thank you. Vancouver Canucks, yeah. Yes, but I think this was the year he was his first year with the Flyers. Oh, okay. So Vevergaard in the playoffs that year had all of two points, and this guy who was stuck with him for that year for 40-something years, He never won. It was almost like the curse of the Bambino. He never won until a couple years ago, Jeff found video of one of the assists that Dennis got in the playoffs that year. He found it on YouTube or something. And so he said to the group, like, how funny is this? Here's one of the points that he got. From that year that he only got two. And he goes, since that year, that guy has won back-to-back. Really? Pools, yeah. So finding the Dennis Vervaergaard video. Yeah. That's an awesome story. Yeah, yeah. It broke the curse. So anyway, I just think I admire how long they kept it running. Yes. He had, Dennis Viverger had an elite mustache. Oh, yeah. Elite. Like you just go pull up his hockey DB, the photo that's sitting there waiting for you, confirms what you just said. It is a beauty. All right. Now we can get into the thought line. And the first submission comes from Jeff. I don't think it's the same one. Just a coincidence. Hey, Kyle, Dom, and the Raccoon Whisperer. Now, there were a lot of people that... Someone's going to freak out about this. I know. That's what's written. There are a number of submissions on this topic, as Griffin pointed out. So after watching the Canada-Czechia game back in the quarterfinal and realizing Czechia scored with six skaters on the ice, seven in total if you include the goaltender, Dostal, how does the official score sheet get filled out with the blatant missed call? Do all six skaters get a plus? If that's the case, what if eight skaters were out there and the refs missed it. Do all eight get a plus? Or do you go back and check the film and the extra skater just doesn't get the plus? What if the extra skater was the one who got the goal or the assist? How does it work in that situation? Thanks for all you do. Love the pod. Well, because of how unique of a situation that is, and it doesn't happen often, especially on a goal-scoring play, that it was missed by everybody, but in what would have been the case like the game in question here, the last guy on the ice would be the one to not get a plus. It would be that simple. Well, one of the things I'm looking at here, by the way, did you hear Natchez talk about what happened? Yes, yes. That the lines changed and so they got confused and forgot and who was supposed to be going on. That's what happened. Yes, I was reading that today. Him and Palat went on for, I think, was it Chervenka? Yes. Yeah. And I love him. That was well done. It was a good article. And the celebration afterwards going, something doesn't look right here. Well, it's funny. I'm looking at the score sheet right now of that goal. So the players that are officially recognized as on ice are, one, That's De Stahl. 7-18. That's David Spacek and Andre Palat, the goal scorer. 48-88-98. So that's Thomas Hertel, David Pasternak, and Martin Natchez. So they're recognizing four forwards and a defenseman. Right. Right. So in that case, it wasn't the last guy on the ice. They just said, we're going to pick these five. That's precisely what they did. You know, one of the other things we didn't talk about, and I'm glad this came up because it was one of the things that, one of the reasons this play did not get noticed, and someone said you should point that out when you have a chance, is that this is a case, the way the Olympics work is, so when we broadcast a game during the regular season of the playoffs or even like the four nations last year we have our own truck so we control the replays and all the communication is between the say chris cuthbert mike johnson and the truck so they say can you show me that replay can you tell me what i'm seeing here and the producer who's and the director who are putting together the pictures, they can talk directly to each other and the on-air people. The Olympics is different. The Olympics, there's what's called a host feed. And a country, and Canada is the country in hockey, is hired to produce the games. Because you can't have 100 countries bringing 100 trucks to produce hockey games. So there's one country that's selected. Like, for example, when I used to work the Summer Olympics, China produced the table tennis because they were the big table tennis country in the world. And they knew how to televise table tennis properly. So Canada is the one that almost always does the hockey. But what it means is there's one group of people producing and directing it, and they don't have as much direct communication with each individual broadcaster. And somebody said that that was one of the reasons it didn't get caught. And then if it would have been televised like a regular NHL game, it would have been discovered. But since the setup was a bit different, that's one of the reasons it wasn't discovered. yes thanks for pointing that out uh because yeah you are limited in what control you have in terms of what's coming and it also like it it reiterates the skills of whether it's mike johnson or whoever's doing color during the olympics like typically you know okay this replay's coming then it's going to be this one you talk about the communication with the truck now you don't have that like it's out of your control and so the host feeds parameters is to kind of give okay the nuts and bolts these are the replays to kind of make it as on a level playing field in terms of what you're going to show and whatnot but sometimes depending on different color men or women may have preferences if they're doing a game over i want to see this first and then that but you just don't have that luxury in this setup so everyone's kind of got to conform to the host feed and it's uh yeah i wouldn't be able to do it but credit those who do uh okay i've got a few voicemails here the first one is zach from tampa i had a question for you guys obviously tried to watch as many of the games as i could um but would love to know from your guys perspective a list of the players you guys think get either a second crack at the nhl um from all the teams that participated or guys that haven't been in the NHL that might get a look based on their play in the Olympics. Love you guys so much. Love the pod. And I will say I've loved how much Dom has been a part of the pod recently. Would love to see that moving forward, even after the Olympics is over. And, yeah, so thanks, guys, for everything. Let's go Bolts. Let's go Blues. and Dom Dvorski is part of the future for Slovakia. So get excited and tune in to some of those Blues games. Thanks, guys. Dom, are you big on Dvorski? I'm huge on Dvorski. Dollywall calls him Labrador. Why does he call him Labrador? What's his first name? Oh, Dalibor? Oh, Dalibor. Okay. Labrador Dvorski? That's pretty funny. Okay, so I would say there were a couple of players on the Slovakian team that really stood out to me. First of all, there was Oliver Okular. And we talked about him on one of the previous pods about how I think he's a guy who could play in the NHL. And he played the American Hockey League for Charlotte last year, which is Florida's team. He didn't have a great experience. You know, the Panthers were loaded, obviously a great team. He was a fourth liner for Charlotte, the Checkers, and he went to Sweden this year. But watching him, I could see how he could potentially help a team and get a shot. Kelomans was another Slovakian player I looked at I think he played 14 games for Arizona We did mention this last week You know I also did mention Adam Rozicka He didn finish as well He struggled in some of the games, later games, but he's a big guy. And, you know, I just looked at some of those Slovaks, and it didn't end well for them. They lost their last two games, didn't get a medal. They got beaten by the States and Finland. But I saw some guys there who can definitely play in the NHL or should probably get another chance to play in the NHL. Those were the ones that stood out for me. Anybody I'm missing there, Kyle? Yeah, so I would throw another Slovakian, Martin Jernat, the defenseman. I know he's a little bit older now. He was originally in Edmonton draft pick back in 2011. But, man, on a pair with Eric Chernak for the majority of that tournament, really good. Like, put up some numbers and just was like a solid guy. Again, I know he's, what, into the, what, 32, 33 years old now. So, you know, maybe that causes pause. But I thought he showed really well. Another one, too. Now, he is a Boston draft pick. He's playing for Providence now. But Lachmelis with Latvia. I thought he was good. The other Latvian guy who I thought was good is the guy who was playing for Grand Rapids right now. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think he has 18 goals for Grand Rapids or 14 goals for Grand Rapids. Yes. Yeah. I thought he was good. Yeah. I think the Bruins are excited. But you're right, Locke Mellis, I thought he was good. And also, this may not totally fall in the category of what Zach was asking, but that Albert Smiths, the 18-year-old who's draft eligible this year. I know Sam Cosentino talked about him on the Wednesday night show the other night. Yeah, he did nothing to hurt his draft stock, only help it. He did not look out of place there at all. It was impressive to watch for a Latvian team. There's another guy who's a little bit older who has been in the NHL, and Sharks fans will remember him, Radim Shemek. He's 33, and he'll be 34 in September. So I don't know if he would even want or there would be a pathway back for him, but he had a great chance to win that game for the Czechs. And he didn't have a lot of points. I think he only had one goal at the Olympics, but I thought he played really well. I liked his game. Okay, here we go. I believe I'm pronouncing this right. Evil, that's how it's spelled, from Kingston, Ontario. Like E-V-I-L? Yeah. Let's go with Evel. Evel? Yeah. All right. I want something that sounds more exotic than evil. If that's not your name, Evel, we have now renamed you. It is your name now. A-A-Ron That's such a great sketch I knew you'd like that I was watching a couple of Key and Peele sketches the other day Oh my god Those guys, they do not miss No, they had a hell of a run Okay, hello Dom, Kyle, and Audiatore di Procioni Do you have any idea what that means in Italian? No, is it raccoons again? Raccoon hater. Lucky guess. Yeah, how do you know? Okay. During the France versus Canada game, Mike Johnson referenced one of France's equipment managers as a, quote, pit crew member as he came out and hustled quickly to get to their goalie to change his skate blade and back to the bench. It got me thinking how and who selects the Team Canada pit crew slash equipment personnel. As a Leafs fan, equipment manager Bobby Hastings is known to be one of the best in the league. Would he have to put his name forward to be selected, or do the coaches just pick who they have in their respective clubs? There is no eye in team, and the equipment personnel are just as important and are just as much a part of this Olympic Team Canada, so shout out to them. So for Team Canada this time around, it was the same guys I believe as Four Nations, Johnny Forgette, who is the equipment guy with the Ottawa Senators, and Darren Granger, who has been at this business for a long, long time, the equipment man out of Los Angeles. So it wasn't as simple as, you know, John Cooper taking his guys from Tampa or Bruce Cassidy in Vegas or Pete DeBoer from his time in Dallas or Rick Tockett in Philadelphia. There was a history between those two and Hockey Canada, of course. I think both have worked world championships in the past for Hockey Canada. But do you have any more insight in terms of how they are selected in the first place? I think that's basically it. Familiarity with both Hockey Canada and maybe some of the people who work on the teams. You know, the U.S. one, Chris Capetto, he is a really popular guy who's been, who worked for a number of teams. Like, there were people in the league ecstatic to see him win a gold medal. And he works for the Devils. But basically, everybody knows who the good equipment staff are and the good trainers are, right? And word goes around. And if players have familiarity with you, they'll vouch for you. Or if you've worked with these teams before, they'll vouch for you. And that's kind of how it goes. Very good. Okay, another voicemail. Ray from Revelstoke. Hey Griffin, Dom, Kyle, and Elliot. This is Ray from Revelstoke calling in. I was at the Games in Milan. What a pleasure. What a way to end it. I was just curious when seeing the other variations of other sports. Do you think the Olympics would ever do a best-on-best, three-on-three tournament? I know the goalies of the countries would not like to do that, but would you think that'd be something, maybe not the Olympics, but some other NHL tournaments or other independent tournament would set up just a pure three-on-three tournament? Let me know what your thoughts are, and thanks, Kyle, for taking the time to stop and let me introduce myself to you right before the gold medal game. Thanks, guys. Take care. Oh, Kyle, I'm glad you didn't blow off Ray like you blew off that guy from Montreal. I know. I had to redeem myself. That's the real reason why this one made it into this. You know, Ray, I haven't heard anything like that specifically, but I would tell you why I don't think it's impossible. In the Summer Olympics now, in addition to regular basketball, they also have three-on-three. So what it says to me is that if they thought there was a reason to do it or money that could be made from it, I don't think it's impossible. I actually think it's a really good idea. Do you remember when that story came out a while ago about the three-on-three summer league and things like that? Yes. Well, one of the things I'd heard the NHL had discussed, and I think even I've never asked our guys if this is true, so why not just throw it out there and see what happens? But one of the things they were kind of talking about was, was there a summer hockey television thing that made for TV thing that they could create? Like, would it be worthwhile to have a summer hockey three-on-three league with either, I don't know if they would do current NHLers, but past NHLers or other guys who play, and you could use it as summer TV programming. Because it could be, if it's packaged properly, it could probably be very good, right? So, like, I know that that kind of idea has been on the fringes. So, like I said, I haven't heard it, but it's not like it's impossible or you could never see them doing something like that. Right. In 92, they had roller hockey at the summer games, right? I believe. You know what? I don't – was it a demonstration? I don't remember. Oh, it was a demonstration. And also, don't forget, like, at the Pan Am Games and things like that, they used to have roller hockey. Yeah. I would like to see them circle back on that. Yeah. I mean, anything that is hockey-esque that gets you eyeballs. And I think the idea of a hockey summer programming is a great idea. Like years ago, when John Shannon was still running Hockey Night in Canada, they did the Labatt Blue Pickup Cup. I don't know if you remember that. No, I don't. But they had a pickup hockey tournament, and they filmed it in the summer, and they played it during the year. And it was good. I liked it. And it's like showdown. Well, that was actually pickup hockey. But something like that, like showdown or a pickup hockey tournament or three-on-three, I'd love to see some kind of summer TV property. Not to work on it. I need my summers off. Yes. But, Kyle, I volunteer you to be the host. Thanks. I knew that's where you were going. But, like, coincidentally, we had another submission. By the way, Alan McCauley was dynamite in that tournament. Oh, okay. I think his team won. Yeah. Yeah. Just by happenstance, Elliot, we also got another submission of Fernando from Brazil. Just a quick brief submission. Oh, is that the NHL Brazil guy? Good question. Yeah. All he wrote here is that he plays roller hockey and just talks about how it's really growing in popularity in Brazil. And he listens to the pod. Hi, Fernando. So I just thought seeing that and then also the idea of three-on-three hockey, whether it's that on the ice or in roller or in-line form. Like, I think there would be – it's different now. Like, you think about, you know, have you seen the Kent Johnsons and the Conor Bedards of the world play, like, in an in-line league in the summer back in Vancouver? It's – I think it could be a lot of fun. Like, they're doing flag football at the Olympics in Los Angeles, right? I'm all for this. Like, anything that grows the game, I'm all for it. Okay. One more voicemail. Steve from Newfoundland. What do you at, Elliot Moose, Moduscus Bukakis, and Don Toretto? How you getting on? If you haven't guessed already, I'm calling from St. John's, Newfoundland. Newfoundland, Newfinland, whatever you mainlanders want to call it, those Newfies don't care. But, like everyone in St. John's, I'm not from there. I grew up in a little town for about a thousand people called St. Lawrence on the Buren Peninsula, otherwise known as the Boop. Believe it or not, it is actually known as the soccer capital of Canada. Give that an ass, Jeeves. So even though I love hockey, football is number one in me heart. So here's me thought. In footy, a team can loan a player to another team, and in their league or others, typically to allow players to play who don't crack their roster. Old Don will explain it to you. So why not have this in hockey? For example, Texas A could have loaned one child for a seven-round pick, then returned to the Blues after a good year with some increased trade value, or maybe loaned a young fella who wouldn't make this contending team but would for a bottom brother. It'll never happen, but it will be fun. That's it. Keep up. Deadly job. Take care. Now, we've talked about this a bit in the past, but I do, I wanted to circle back on that idea. Steve, that is a reminder of why the Newfoundland accent is so outstanding. Because I'm not going to lie, we were sent this one in advance. I had to listen to it two or three times. So we went to Newfoundland years ago, Michael Ryder's rookie season, and we went to do a piece on him. and I just remember it was the first time I'd ever been out there and there were certain places you went where the accent got thicker and thicker and you didn't want to be rude. I thought I was going to cause an international incident by just not understanding people properly, right? And they're so nice and they're so friendly. It's the best accent. It's the best accent in the country by a mile. Yes. A mile. Our crew, so the two guys I work with the most over there in Milan, And one of our camera operators, Ted Dillon, and one of our audio crew members, Mark Strong, both of them from Newfoundland. And, boy, it was just every day was so fun hanging out with those guys. A, their perspective and just, you know, yes, the accent, their sense of humor, all of it was just top notch. It made the long days feel less long over there. It was a treat. So, loans. Think it'll happen? They don't really do that, but there have been trades before where people got traded, and then they got traded back, right? Like one of the great deals was about 40 years ago there was a player named Ken Solheim, and I think the deal was between Chicago and the old Minnesota North Stars, and he got traded from one to the other for a player to be named later, and later he got traded back for a player to be named later. So he was his own player to be named later. There have been some deals before. I think Sean McEachern was one where a player was traded for one team and then got traded back. So it can happen. The one rule, as I remember off the top of my head now, is that if a player is traded in a retained salary, he can't be traded back to the team he was traded from. So in theory, you could do it. Right. Without salary retention. Yes. So I don't know if you necessarily have to write it in, like Steve says, but you can do it. All right. You know what I'm thinking, Kyle? I should just actually check and see if I'm right about this Sean McEachern thing, as opposed to just throwing things in there that are. Yeah, let's change it up. Let's confirm what we're saying is accurate, just for fun. Instead of just like normal, just throwing things out there. Sean McEachern. yes traded from Pittsburgh to LA then traded LA back to Pittsburgh August 27th 1993 and February 16th 1994 well there you go excellent Steve thanks very much for the voicemail we appreciate it and all the best to you and your family Don't have to go any further than that, but all the best to you and the family. Thank you for listening. All right, a couple more here. We had to get one trivia question in. Oh, God. Okay. Ready? Courtesy of Gordon from Green Bay, Wisconsin. Hi, guys. This is Gordon from Green Bay. Oh, I know why you picked this. He does write GoFactGo. No, it's not just because of that. I refuse on general principle to participate. Hold on. But he says here, you'll get no passive-aggressive jokes about Elliott from me. Gordon's taking the high road. Oh, okay. And you shut him down right away. Amazing. Okay. Are you willing to proceed? Yes, proceed. You give your consent? Okay. I give my consent. This NHL season marks the 40th anniversary of Wayne Gretzky's single-season scoring record of 215 points. Yes. Back in the 85-86 year. Trivia question is, in the previous 40 years up to 85-86, how many times was the record broken? Bonus points if you can name the players who held the record during that time. In other words, how many times was the NHL single season point record broken between 1945-46 and 85-86? 45-46 and 85-86? Yep. I actually think I have a decent shot at this. Okay? I love it. Okay. Okay. So Gretzky, I think, broke it three times. Yes, if you include 215, correct. Yeah, okay. If you include 215, I think he broke it three times. Before Gretzky, and I remember this, the record holder was Phil Esposito with 152. Yeah. Okay. So we've got three Gretzkys, one Esposito, and Esposito broke Stan Mikita's record, which was 97. Yes. Now, you're absolutely right. Esposito did break his own record. So he had 152. Oh, really? Maybe I didn't realize he did it twice. Yeah. Two years prior, he had 126, which was the record then. And then, yes, he broke Stan Makeda. Not only Makeda, though, him and Bobby Hall. Oh, Bobby Hall were tied? Okay. All right. I didn't know that. Okay. So let me just, so what year did you start with? So 85-86, sorry, like the beginning? Yes. 45-46 to 85-86. Well, okay. So I'm just going to give you the names of guys I know who held the record. Okay? Yes. So Kratzky three times. Yeah. I had Esposito once. I didn't realize it was twice. Mm-hmm. Stan Mikita, and I forgot Bobby Hull. So I've got three guys so far. Dickie Moore, I know he held it once. Yes. Yes. Gordie Howe yeah and that's it in that span that's it Gordie Howe 45-46 it wouldn't have been Gordie Howe in 45-46 because I think Gordie Howe's rookie season was like 47-48 or something like that so just before that window the record was broken and then in 50-51 Gordie Howe broke it with 86 so I knew Gordie Howe I knew Dickie Moore. I knew Stan Mikita. I knew Phil Esposito. And I knew Gretzky. I didn't know Bobby Hall. I didn't realize that he held it at one point. And to be honest, I didn't know Esposito did it twice. And I don't know how many times Gordie Howe did it. But I know that Gordie Howe's record at one point, I think, was 95. Yes. And Dickie Moore got him by one point a few years later. Well, it would have to be because if Moore got tonight, I know he held the record at one point in time, and it would have to be 96. I knew Makita was 97. I totally forgot about Esposito 126. I didn't remember that. I thought he went right to 152. And the only reason I know about the 152 was that was the famous year he set the NHL record with 76 goals. He also had 76 assists. Right. Bravo, man. That's good. So I didn't know all of them. did you happen to know the name of who had it before how took it from him? You know what? No. I mean, the only guys I would guess, like the big scores in the 40s, like the biggest guys I remember, Max Bentley and Bill Cowley. Like those would be the guys I would guess, but it's purely a guess. Herb Cain. Oh, Herb Cain? Yeah. Was he not the oldest? Was that the oldest Hall of Famer we were talking about a few years ago? the oldest MVP a few years ago or am I missing? No, that was Herb Gardner. No, I would never have gotten Herb Keane. Like, no chance. Wow. But, I mean, you understood the assignment and I will give credit to Gordon too because he did the homework himself on this trivia question. So he had the answers, submitted a list, and I double-checked with our guys. Not that I didn't trust you, Gordon, but it's just due diligence and no, he had it right. So So good on you, Elliot, and good on Gordon for sending that in. Well done. Yeah, so I probably got about four-fifths of it. That's pretty good. I'll take that. Okay, this one. Loyal to the oil in Alberta. Hey, guys, big fan of the pod, and I have a question that most people in Alberta's capital region are dying to know. Let me preface this by saying that Elliot's appearances on 880 Cheds, Oilers now with Bob Stauffer are my favorite. He is a guest that I constantly tune into on a weekly basis. That being said, Elliot's hit on Tuesday, February the 17th, left us all wondering what small Italian appliance was he fighting with. The sporadic beeping sounds were unrecognizable. It sounded like Elliot was trying to figure out the defrost option on a toaster oven or attempting to make an espresso at 12 a.m. Milan time. This didn't ruin the segment by any means. It just left me and other Stauffer disciples wondering, what was he doing? Was it a microwave, air fryer, waffle maker? What does an elite insider do while doing regional radio in the early morning while on the other side of the world? Thanks for the time in keeping us in the know and hopefully pulling back the curtain behind the almighty Wizard of Oz that is Elliot Friedman. This is the first I'm hearing this. I don't even remember, to be honest. Apparently it's a big deal up in Edmonton. Like what in our hotel? Because we would have been in our hotel by then because it was 12 midnight or 12.30 a.m. in Milan. Was there anything in our room that beeped? I certainly wasn't using the coffee maker. We didn't have a microwave. were you getting into your room safe at that time? Yeah, you know what? That could be it because I would be getting back into my room and I would be, I bet you that's exactly what it was. Good call. This is the only thing I could think of in the room that would beep. That would be it. It would be the room safe. Okay. Hopefully we solved it here, loyal to the oil. Yeah, good one. Glad you pointed it out. All right, one final thing here. Ryan from Chicago. Hello from Chicago. First off, I appreciate the team's hard work covering the Olympics over the past two weeks. The epic stories from juice of Elliot's abuse of Italian bread and desire to sleep in a sauna had me cracking up. However, just crumbs left. However, with all the talk that was going on, cue Nona's and Negroni's. I simply cannot believe Kyle had zero reflections of the coffee in Italy. as the birthplace of espresso and one of the most historic coffee cultures in the entire world? Nothing. As an avid listener of the show and coffee fanatic, I always look forward to Kyle's coffee stories as he travels around North America, so I hope you can understand my disappointment. Hope you had a smooth trip home, and go Sabres. P.S., I have my very own cafe here in Chicago, plus Pilates Studio, which perhaps is more up Elliot's Alley, and I have an open invite to you guys whenever you visit. uh okay so ryan actually him and i have exchanged dms in the past and i believe that's like it's the name of his cafe is coffee and pilates it's very it's an obvious really but an effective one yeah i got a cafe and a pilates studio no kidding yes yes so here's the deal ryan i'm apologize that i failed massively on this part as we've talked about was it a very demanding schedule and where we were staying. It was perfect for what we were doing. It was close to the rink. Unfortunately, in this case, the rink was not near the heart of central Milan, where a lot of the best cafes and third wave coffee options could be found. So I just never had time. Never had time. You found a place not far from the hotel that you did go to. Yes. Yes. There was one morning where I was like, this is going to be my morning when I get up and go into town. and I'm going to go check this off the list because I haven't had a chance. And it just schedules got switched around. Never got the opportunity to do it. But yes, there was one place nearby where I'd go to. It became every morning, we'd have breakfast at the hotel. That's what I do. Get up, eat right away. And I'd walk to this place called Lissola, which is Italian for the island. And I would have my cappuccio. and about five days in because it was most of the days it was the same lady that was there working she'd come in and like as soon as she saw me she was like cappuccio i would say see uh and it was it was lovely it was nice like it was just a good you felt there's some locals kind of around always in there it was a good kind of taste of you're in italy a little village that was just adjacent to our hotel was right near Nona Emilia's, as Ryan alluded to. It was a nice little 10, 15 minutes. You'd never take it to go. I'd sit down. I'd eat it, observe, think about the day that was ahead. So I would go to the same place all the time, but I didn't get a chance to explore. When we were there in August for the media tour, I did some exploring then. So I sent a few people, ARP Ambassador being one, to a place called Orsonero, which is right in Milan, dynamite spot, owned by Canadians that had moved, other than a wife, moved to Italy and opened up a cafe there. So that was like one I wanted to get back to, just ran out of time. That's okay. We were there to work. Yeah. It was all wonderful in the end. Yeah. As I always said, everything about it was great, except the last play as a Canadian. Yes. The U.S. won it fair and square. Last goal was tough to watch. Yeah. Okay, so that was a bit of a longer thought line, but given how long it had been since we had done one of these, I thought I'd slide in a few extras to get the juices flowing again for each. So appreciate you all sticking through it, and it was a lot of fun to get this up and running again. So a reminder, because it's been a while, 1-833-311-3232 if you would like to call in and leave a voicemail, or you can email us at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. We'll take one more break here and wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast after this. Okay, before we go, I wanted to give you a heads-up of some programming notes here as we enter the weekend, some games to keep an eye on across the network. It starts early on Saturday, 4 Eastern, 2 Mountain Time. The Edmonton Oilers are in San Jose, another McDavid-Celebrini clash. That can be seen nationally on Sportsnet across all channels there, which leads nicely right into Hockey Central Saturday with Ron McLean and company at 6.30 Eastern. Three early games I hear this Saturday. First hockey night back, post-Olympic break. We've got the Battle of Ontario, Leafs and Sens from Toronto, Montreal hosting the Washington Capitals, and the Calgary Flames are in Los Angeles. That is one of the quote-unquote early games. So 4 o'clock Pacific Time or 5 Mountain for fans in Calgary. You can catch the Flames and the Kings. That game also, wanted to point out, can be seen on APTN as well, broadcast in Inuktitut. So wanted to shout that out as well. Late game this Saturday, Vancouver and Seattle to face the Kraken at 10 Eastern, 7 Pacific time. After hours this week, Brandon Montour, always such a good interview, always has good insight, great sense of humor. He will be the guest alongside Scott Oak at the conclusion of the Kraken and Canucks to conclude proceedings on Saturday night. Okay, so we know over the course of our time in Milan, some episodes we had music at the end, some did not. We're kind of just going through a phase right now because we've been away where we are restocking the shelves, if I can put it that way, of fresh Canadian content to wrap up these episodes with. So it's not going anywhere. We just don't have a track cleared yet in time for this episode here on Friday, but the plan is to be back to regularly scheduled programming by way of Canadian music on Monday's episode. So until then, have a great weekend, and we'll talk to you on Monday.