This Town Is a Make You Town

Even for the way Vegas makes decisions and they don't make a lot of... What's the word I'm looking for? And when you look back and you're romantic about something... Reflect? No. Reminiscing? No. When you have a good feeling about something, something that you... Because of an S. You guys are useless. Can't wait to hear this word. Uh... Sentimental. Oh, come on. Well, you couldn't think of that? Okay, so... You couldn't. I know, but then I asked you guys... Came up on a roll of toilet paper. Was that the word of the day? Sentimental. You guys are even more useless. Welcome to 32 Thoughts the Podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 100% electric BZ, available now during Red Tag Days. Stom, Elliott, Kyle back with you once again. This recording dropping, as always, on Monday morning. And it will be 19 days from the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Elliott, on Sunday night, Vegas made a coaching change. Bruce Cassidy, the man at the helm for their Stanley Cup triumph in 2023, he's been fired. And in comes John Tortorella to finish out the year. Now, Vegas is still third in their division, but one win in their last seven. And for the first time, they will have a season with more losses than wins, if you include the ones in overtime and a shootout. As part of the statement and the release, Kelly McCrimmon saying, with the stretch run of the 2025-26 regular season upon us, we believe that a change is necessary for us to return to the level of play that is expected of our club. This has long been a franchise since it came into the league, Elliott, that when it decides it wants to do something, they make it happen. Your thoughts on the coaching change in Vegas. Kyle, I have to tell you, I've been watching Vegas a lot lately, and I was sitting here saying, man, is Bruce Cassidy in trouble here? And could they do this? And you're sitting there and you're thinking, it's Vegas. Absolutely, they could do it. And I'm trying to make a list of people that could possibly take over, and I'll get to that in a second. And I'm watching two things here. Number one, they have one of the best goalie coaches in the league in Schoenberg. But this year, their goal-tenning has been terrible. It's statistically some of the worst in the league, and I think at five on five, they have the worst save percentage in the NHL. You know, we've been talking all year about how Ottawa is better than their results indicate their underlying numbers are better. The same is true for Vegas. Vegas is West Ottawa. That is probably the first time that Vegas and Ottawa have been put in the same sentence as comparable destinations. But when I... Yes. Las Vegas Boulevard. Very similar, very good comparison. I think it's very important for everyone to recognize here that when you have goal-tenning like this, no coach can win. Nobody. And I don't care if it's Bruce Cassidy, I don't care if it's Scotty Bowman, I don't care if it's anybody else. You just can't win like this. And, you know, it's kind of timing is unbelievable. The guy that they lost to on Saturday night in Cassidy's last game was Logan Thompson, who's a guy that they traded, and that would be a huge money on the board game for Thompson, who is at his best when he has a big chip on his shoulder. But remember, they just won a Stanley Cup under Aiden Hill. Like, Vegas is not a team that generally makes sentimental decisions. I think we all understand that. But, you know, when Hill was, he'd just been on the Four Nations team too. Like, what has happened to him this year has been shocking and unexpected, but you can't be successful when you have that kind of goal-tenning. In terms of the numbers and what it says about what their record should be, you know, Vegas has good underlying numbers. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking, you know what, if he gets fired because his goal-tenning is like this, then it's kind of unfair. He deserves better. And unforgiven, Clint Eastwood, deserve has got nothing to do with it. Now, the other thing I think that's happened here, and this is the third kind of thing I've done today about this, and I did something on an HL network and I did something on Sportsnet with Martine, and I talked a bit about Cassidy and his relationship with the Golden Knights, the players. Bruce Cassidy, first of all, noticed the number of the reporters who cover Vegas, how they tweeted, that they really liked the way that Cassidy treats them in press conferences. Cassidy always wins press conferences. He gives great answers. He's very thoughtful. He explains things. He's one of the best to do it. And I've met a lot of reporters, including myself, but especially I've met a lot of younger reporters who may be newer to the business or newer to covering hockey. And they have talked about how he answers their questions so well and he talks about strategy and what he's thinking about. And I've met a lot of younger reporters who really enjoy covering him for that reason, and it's no small thing. But behind the scenes, he is tough. Like, if you look at Vegas, they've had assistant coaches leave before because he can be a hard guy to work for. We know now that in Boston and Vegas, you know, there's been players who he's battled with behind the scenes. He's a tough, hard demanding guy and some great coaches are like that. And he really knows hockey. He's excellent at what he does, but he is hard on the people around him. Assistant coaches and players. And I had a player say to me tonight after he saw the interview, he texted me and he said back in 23, even when Vegas won the Stanley Cup, he was having battles with some of his players. There were big battles back then, but you win the cup. Everybody celebrates together. I just heard last year and I've told this story now a couple of times. I actually told it on this podcast last summer. I had a couple of people ask me about it. So Edmonton beats them in the second round last year in five games and it was a very disappointing series for the Golden Knights. And I just heard that in the off days before games four and five and I haven't looked at there was one off day, whatever it was between games four and five. I guess there was a really hard meeting or a really hard series of meetings between Cassidy and some of the players and the players didn't like what was said. And I also heard and I had people tell me that this was true after even some obviously I didn't standing on the pod before I checked it. But then I had more people reach out after I said it. I guess at the exit meetings, some players were pretty blunt about how they felt about what was said to them. And Kelly McCrimmon backed his coach who we want to Stanley Cup with and he came back this year. And I just think that it really sounds like just the message wasn't getting through to them anymore. And I know some people will look at the underlying numbers and say it still looks like it was getting through pretty good. Aside from Goal Tending, they were good. And yes, that's true. But I just think that it was simply a situation where players and coach were not on the same page. They weren't responding to him anymore. And the Golden Knights knew it. Now, Tortorella. So I said this in both Devonte Smith-Pelley on the NHL Network and Martina on Sportsnet said, you do realize we're not exactly going to the Easter Bunny here with John Tortorella, right? I said Santa Claus with Martina and she goes, Elliot, it's Easter to the Easter Bunny. I'm like, good call, Martina. I'm going with the Easter Bunny. And yes, that's true. Nice of her to save you. Yeah, it's very nice of her to save me. It's not the first time and it probably won't be the last she's done that. But that's true. I think there's a couple of things. The best players on their teams, a lot of them have really liked playing for Tortorella. And, you know, BX had talked about how he and the Siddheens, even in a nightmare year in Vancouver, a really hard year, they liked playing for him. He leans on his best players. Yes, you've got to block shots. Yes, you better give an effort, but you get to play. Um, Eric Johnson, who I think is a hugely respected player, sent out a tweet tonight on social talking about how much he loved playing for Tortorella. Yeah, that one really stuck out to me. Yeah, because, you know, Eric's got a lot of respect among his peers. And I think it's just a different voice. Like, even though he can be hard and even though he can be tough, it is a different voice. Sometimes you just, even if it's the same message, even if someone's grinding you, you've got to hear it in a different way, or you've got to hear it from a different person. But it's pretty obvious. And I think that the Vegas players had tuned out Cassidy and it was just time. Like, they went from three nothing down against Washington to a tie game, Lickety Split. But in a lot of their, and they, and the Edmonton game was actually a great game on Thursday, even though they lost. But there's just been a lot of times in recent games, I've been looking at them and saying, this is not the Vegas, I know. Like they aren't always the fastest team, but they were, they really executed beautifully and they really grinded you. And a lot of that was kind of missing. And I just think that the message wasn't being received anymore. It was being tuned out. And I think that they saw it. Now, the history of this, Kyle, it's mixed. Everybody quotes the one that worked. It's a little bit more mixed than that. But I remember when I saw the tweet and we were taping the thought line, I was like, holy cow, holy cow. And I think for me, the biggest mistake I made is that I just didn't see Tortorello being the guy. Although in the summer, when I reached out to him and asked him if he was retired or coaching, he said, oh no, I'll coach again. I am not retired. I would love to coach again. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Well, you mentioned the history. So why don't we get to that right now then? Because this cannot wait until the thought line segment itself. This is the hot thought. We've got to get to it right away. So at Mike Chaz asked that exact question, has a team ever replaced their head coach this late in the season while still holding a playoff spot? The answer is yes. Over the last 35 years, Vegas is now the fifth team to fire their head coach with 10 or fewer games remaining in the season while sitting in a playoff spot. And I'm sure you know the one instance where that team went on to win the cup. I can name three. Okay. By the way, I have to stop interrupting you. There was a podcast listener from Great Britain who sent a note saying, I interrupt you too much. And I'm sure many more send notes saying you don't do it enough. And as a proud member of the Commonwealth, I have to listen to what my rulers, my ancient rulers from Great Britain tell me. That's good. So the three of them, you said there's five, right? Yes. Does that include this one? Yes. Vegas is the fifth. So the one everybody has quoted is Robbie Fittorch being fired in 2000 and being replaced by Larry Robinson. And that one happened with eight games to go and they rallied behind Larry Robinson, the Devils did, and they won the Stanley Cup. The Devils tried that again in 2007. Claude Julian was fired with three games to go and Lou Lamarillo took over. The Devils did win in the first round. They beat John Tortorella and the Tampa Bay Lightning that year, but they lost to Ottawa in round two, the year that Ottawa went to the Stanley Cup final and lost to the Ducks. That was 2007. The other one I remember, Young Bacoskis, was in 1989. I remembered this. The New York Rangers were in first place in whatever division they were in then. I don't even remember back that far. And they had a really bad March. Things started to fall apart and Phyllis Pizito fired Michelle Bergeron on April Fool's Day. I can still remember this. And he replaced him for the final two games of the season. And then they got swept in the first round by Pittsburgh. That was the reverse Robinson, let's call it. That was exactly what you do not hope to happen. But that was carnage and that didn't work. So the fourth one, do you want to give me the year? And I'll try to remember it because I don't remember it off the top of my head. Well, as I mentioned, this is the fifth since the 1990-91 season. So good on you for going outside the box. I just remember that day. Yeah, which is great recall. But there's two other instances in this time frame. Yeah. You know, that reminds me of one of my tests back in high school when I was like, I answered this other question and my teacher was like, that's great. You did some extra work, but you didn't answer these three that were actually on the test. Okay, I'm trying to think. Was Ken Hitchcock one of those? No. Unfortunately, Robbie Fatorick fell victim to this twice. Was LA Tom Webster? Boston. Oh, Boston. With nine games to go, he gets let go and Michael Connell comes in to finish the year with the Bruins. Oh, yeah. I forgot. Now that you mentioned it, I remember, but I forgot it in the last in the first round. That was in 2003 and then in 96. And Mike Sullivan got hired the next year. That was the next year, 0304. Mike Sullivan coaching Boston. That was my first year at Occhonite and Canada. There you go. There you go. 96 Vancouver. That was Rick Lee and Pat Quinn came down. And Pat Quinn takeover? Yes. Yeah. All right. They were out in the first round too. It's some good ones. But that's the history over the last 35 years. So it has happened, but as we say, only once has a team gone on to win the whole thing. That was New Jersey back in 2000 with Larry Robinson. Oh, a couple of things here. I remember, well, both at the Four Nations and at the Olympics, because Tortorello was there as part of Mike Sullivan's staff. And Sullivan really tried to instill to him, John, you need to be the old wise man. Everyone's seen the fiery side of you, the grinding side of you. We've all seen that. We appreciate that aspect. But there's a caring side of you too. And I want the players to get to know that part of John Tortorello while you're here. So I can imagine for the Jack Eichels of the world, the Noah Hannafans of the world, you got a bit of exposure to it that way. And now you're going to get the full package here when he rolls in, rolls into Vegas. It's going to be all of it now that he's once again the guy. What did you say that Tortorello has to be again? Can you repeat that? The old wise man. Did Tortorello punch Sullivan in the face after Sullivan told him to be like that? I don't know. I never saw a Shiner or any stitches or nose out of place. I'm calling this right now. I know the Canucks producer, game producer, just worked with them on the telethon. I want John Tortorello fonted on the Sportsnet broadcast, not as new Golden Knights head coach, but John Tortorello, old wise man. Yeah. First time we see him right out of the anthems. Right out of the gate. Yes. Come on. It was a term of endearment. It is. I just want to see it on television. That would be an all-timer. That would be really good. But either that, even better, they have to ask for a pre-tape, a pre-tape interview with Tortorello and Dan Murphy. Now you're open to him again. We'll be at this game. And Dan Murphy has to say, Kyle Bacoskis said, Mike Sullivan called you an old wise man. How do you feel about that? And John will say, who's Kyle Bacoskis? Well, I think they had a good rapport when Tortorello was in Vancouver. Oh, yeah. Totally. I just, it totally, I just get totally done. Dan gets along with everybody. I just want to see it. I want to see what his reaction is. But no, I'll say this. Like, they had to ask Philly for permission because he's still getting paid by the Flyers. I have no doubt that Tortorello will be thrilled to get the opportunity. Coaches don't like to see other coaches get fired. But remember, he went into Columbus that year when Columbus was 0-1-8. And you're thinking that this guy's going to turn us around quick. He went in there, Columbus was 0-1-8, and he got them righted fast. And, you know, it's a team with expectations. Tortorello will love expectations. That won't faze him. If you go back through Tortorello's first eight to 10 games with a new team, it's not great. I think his record is significantly under 500. But I think this is different. I don't know that any of those teams that he would have coached would have been as good as this one. Like, this is a team, even though they haven't played very well, as we said, with the underlying numbers, this is a team that's ready to go. And it's Vegas's gamble that they will, I mean, aside from, as long as the goal 10ing gets better, I feel like I can't ignore that. But I think they feel with a different voice, they've got a better chance as long as they can stop the puck. You know, like I said, he wanted to coach. I think this was the toughest thing for me was that when I was sitting here and watching Cassidy, you're thinking, okay, who's the option? And everybody's been thinking of Peter DeBoer. And yes, I know some coaches have gone back to their former teams, but I didn't see that one. I didn't see the possibility that DeBoer would go back to Vegas. But I thought about John Stevens, former head coach on the bench there already. I was also thinking Peter Lavalette, like that's a name that would make sense, but I guess I just didn't think of Tortorello. And that's a miss by me. I should have been more on top of it. It's going to be interesting, Kyle. Vegas is sending a message here. I think they're fine to make the playoffs. LA, I mean, they coughed up a hairball the other night. First game of a seven-game homestand, lose 6-2 to Utah. They would be right behind Vegas if they'd won that game, right behind them. And it's a desperate move, but it's also a reminder. Vegas doesn't retreat. Certainly not. They haven't from the beginning. And it kind of, because he's only this season and then they'll figure it out. Then we'll see. In the off season, right? We'll see. It's almost, I mean, say what you want about Mike Babcock, but you think about the success he had with Canada in 2010, 2014, World Cup 2016. He, of course, a grinder as a coach, but he's going, I'm with you guys for two weeks, for two and a half weeks. And this is how we're going to have to play. And this is how I'm running the ship for this time. And if you can buy into it for this short period of time, we're going to be successful. And they were. It's a little bit longer than that, of course, here, but for Tortorella coming in, going loves to grind. He's brutally honest, but you know where you stand with him. As many players who have played for him said, go on, who knows what beyond the season holds, but if you still want to get something out of this year, this is how we're going to have to do things. And we'll see if it comes together. It'll be interesting. Going to be interesting. As Michael Keaton said in Batman, you want to get nuts? Let's get nuts. Yes. Yes. Got to like the playoff race continues to be. If you thought a week later, we would have any more clarity. We do not. That's fantastic. I love it. I sat at home on Sunday. You know, it's baseball season again. I'm watching the Jays, but I'm also watching Hockey, a lot of it. That Dallas Philly game, that Columbus Boston game, that Tampa Nashville game, shout out Montreal too. Like that is a tough back to back. Tough back to back. The games puck drop are 22 hours apart. You lose an hour flying into Carolina from Nashville. God only knows what they were doing Thursday night on Broadway. Probably dancing on tables, playing violins. Who knows what they were doing? And to go back to back and yes, I know they got outshot by Carolina, but Doberts stole them that game. What did you say that when you go into Carolina, that's what they do to you? Right. I mean, a back to back in Carolina is tough, no matter the circumstance, wouldn't you say? Well, it's usually that Sunday game tends to start at five o'clock. Yes. They've seen Toronto play that one before. That is basically you're being served up as that's like in college football when they, oh, it's homecoming. We're going to bring in the junior varsity team from a high school to play against our guys. So the final score is like 59 to nothing. We got to look good in front of the big donors. That's right. When you get that five o'clock game in Carolina on Sunday after you've played seven o'clock on Saturday, you're the entree. You're not just the Caprese salad. You're the actual swordfish steak. Also, when, remember the Raptors, they would always have the Sunday afternoon home games, right? Oh, yeah. Well, they were no good. That was their day to make hay against teams around the league. Get them into Toronto on a Saturday night. You're right. I mean, I remember Grant Hill, he called Toronto Cape Fear because he said the one o'clock game on a Sunday afternoon after everybody had been out late the night before. You're right. Toronto won some games because of the great nightlife in the city. They beat the Bulls on a Sunday afternoon. Yes. Yeah. And actually, there's Alvin Williams tells a phenomenal story with Butch Carter when he was coaching the Raptors. And one of those times that MJ and the Bulls came into on a Sunday. They didn't beat the Bulls, but if they did, all they could to set themselves up to try to beat them. And MJ wouldn't let it happen. That's fantastic. Yes. Very, very good. So some great games on Sunday. That Flyers team, like suddenly now they're right even in points in games played with Ottawa, with Detroit. They have re-entered the chat here in the Eastern Conference wild card spot. Two points out. They all have a game in hand at Columbus. The only bad thing for the Flyers is they have the bad tiebreaker. They've got to win out. Like they're not catching anybody. They're number 23. If you look at all the teams in the playoff race, the closest team to them is Columbus and they're 27. So Philly's got to win out. And the guy I was happiest for is Erson. He's had a really tough year and he gave them a great game on Sunday night. Dallas, I'm getting a little concerned about. The injuries are starting to mount up there. Like Sam Steele is a good player for them. He's been out. Bunting got hurt the other night. You know, we all already know about hints. Obviously, Sagan's out for the year. They've declared it. Like Dallas has, and everybody's banged up now. But I'm a little concerned about the injuries going for them. But that's a big win for Philly. They get Marton signed. The other thing too about Marton is like all the media was all over them. They had no chance of not getting that done or reported in the afternoon. But I have to say, part of me was thinking Philly should just ignore the noise, not make the announcement and just like drop Marton out of the rafters in the first commercial break in their game. Building what a gun banana is. Full gear. And full gear. Or just in a Flyers jersey. They did some really creative stuff. Like their social people did a really nice job. They did some really creative stuff. And you can tell those fans are ecstatic about this. You know, I'll tell you, the moment Michigan State lost to Wisconsin, and that was a real heartbreaker of a defeat. Like just a really, really, it wasn't quite as bad as Duke Connecticut on Saturday, but it was close. I had people texting me and saying, you better get on Marton. Like it's going to be fast. And obviously it was. Somebody at the rink told me that they heard that Marton wanted to play Sunday night against Dallas. Like he was just like, I'm going back to Michigan State with my teammates, but this sucks and I want to play. And obviously that didn't work out. It couldn't work out and we'll see when Philly drops them in. But that was a great win for the Flyers. And you know, I'm watching Zegris score an overtime and you know, I'm looking at this and I think the Flyers and Zegris have started talking. I don't know how close they are, but I think they've definitely been talking. And you know, I think I watched Zegris score and I'm like, yeah, this price isn't going to go down. I know it's three on three overtime and it doesn't always mix in very well, but he's been a really good player for them and the fit has been excellent. They've been good for him and he's been good for them. And I think they're working away at it and I do think it'll get done. I don't, I don't think there's a question that's going to get done, but I, I still think the two sides are grinding away at each other a bit here. If you watch that full overtime Sunday, like Zegris was just not going to be denied. Yeah, you look great. He was determined, determined on both sides of the puck that we are winning this game. And I couldn't tell, you could tell to Smith was fooled on the goal and ends up going five hole on him. I couldn't tell if he was trying to sell, go on high, short side, and purposely ended up sliding five hole. It looked like, I think it was, Heisken and the defender that I don't know if we just got his stick on Zegris's stick, just enough as he was releasing it that he ended up instead of going high, the shot went low and it was almost a change up. But anyway, he was, he was determined in that overtime. He feels important. You can tell. Yeah. Right away. And he feels, he feels really important. Start of the year where he's going, you know, this fan base gets on you if you don't play well. So I better make sure I'm playing well. All right. A couple of things. So it's, it's Philly, Detroit, Ottawa, 86 and Columbus 88, Pittsburgh's 88, but they're still technically third Islanders 89 and Boston has given themselves a bit of breathing room. Yeah. Up to 92. Yeah. Massive weekend for them. Columbus up two, one on San Jose, lose, don't get anything up three, nothing on Boston. And then at least they get it to the shootout, but they lose. Yeah. I think you're up three, nothing. You got to close that. You got to close that thing. You got to close that, got to slam that door. Yeah. And you said that bonus was upset at the end of the game. Well, it was, it was pretty, it was a good honest assessment. I mean, it's been such a magical run that they have been on, but it's been a tough week. And he pulled the curtain back a little bit and just some honest, honest thoughts about where some guys and the group was at and trying to be, trying to be a team here that gets into the playoffs. Well, we got away from being aggressive and we did. And I thought we got very selfish with the puck. Some of these guys, they've got a lot to learn about how to play in the league at this time of year. It gets harder and harder and harder. And we're going to keep reminding them and reminding them every day how hard it is to win at this time of the year. And you just can't get away. And you know, I hate when we play on our heels and we were back a little bit, give them credit. They started coming. But there's a, there's a lot to be learned from some of these guys. And they better damn well start listening. It's interesting there because bonus has done an unbelievable job, but you got to be careful how much you lose it at this time of year. It tends to, what did we talk about with green last week? You got to set the tone. You got to set the tone. It's just incredible to watch though. Couple of things, Detroit, was a tough weekend for them. They almost stole it against Philly. Philly hung on, got their win. I'll say this. So, you know, there's this conversation right now, is Iserman in trouble if they don't make it? May I present an alternate theory? Yes, please. I was waiting, I was waiting for your permission. Okay. That's the first time ever. My alternate theory is, Iserman goes up to president of hockey operations and they promote like Chris Draper, Sean Horcoff to be the new GM. But does that really change anything in terms of who has final say? It doesn't necessarily who has final say, but I think what it could do is it does, it at least empower somebody else. You're in the league meetings. You start to have, like I think in all of these situations, there's control. Somebody has final control. But the one thing I've always respected about him is that he's a grinder, right? It comes to a point where you have to ease up on the grind. You know, like the calendar is undefeated. And I looked at it, Iserman is about to turn 61. I noticed his birthday, Kyle is May 9th. You know who else was born on May 9th? Who? My dad. Really? So, you know what this means? The two people who have yelled at me most in my life or both born on May 9th. That all makes sense now. Seriously, it does. I hope Iserman at least cracks a smile over that one. I don't know about that. I said hope. That's all we have in this situation. Anyway, I just, I think you're right, like ultimately he'd keep the power. But I just wonder if it allows someone else to have maybe a bit more of a say, a bit more of a presence. Iserman can scale back a little bit. And I think as that happens, whoever that GM is starts to have more hands on, right? That's what I wonder. It's going to be your redlining every night to the end there in Detroit, whether you get in or... Because I thought that was impressive the night before in Buffalo. We're all kind of wondering, oh, is it off the rails? Is it off the rails? You go into Buffalo, three nothing early, hang on. Okay, they've got some. And then you kind of give it right back the next night at home against Philly. And now here we are, we're wondering about the future in the front office a little bit. And it's just been another march of no good for the wings. And it's allowed, as we said, a team like the Flyers to remain in. It's kept the sense of the road. It's a great win in Buffalo, like a great win in Buffalo, great win. Right. And then you kind of undo it, as I say. So there's storylines of plenty there. And then in Ottawa, talk about getting a lead and you've got to find a way to hang on. But two nothing early in Tampa, they look great off the hop. But of course, the big story at the end of that game was why was Lena Solmark, not the starter in that game? Why was it James Reimer? Travis Green, his line in the post game. I want to play Lienis every night. He needed a rest and he wasn't available to start. Do you have any thoughts on, I mean, that whole situation? And and all Mark's been a story in a couple of different ways, of course, this whole season there. So I, you know, I always ask, I've worked with a lot of goalies, right? Like Kelly, Milsey. By the way, I thought what you did for Milsey on Saturday night, talking about him in St. Louis, I thought that was really beautifully done. Really nice job. Oh, thank you. Really nice job. I can't believe it's almost been a year already. I know. I know it was, it was, yeah, it was the week I actually took my family on a vacation a year ago. That's right. During that week. So yeah, you're right. It's, it's, it's the, I think it's the last week of the regular season. Yeah. April 7th. I really thought that was beautifully done. You and the, and the crew there did a fantastic job. Thank you. But and Healy, and I remember like Healy was, was a really good sounding board for me. And I remember once, I don't remember the exact situation, but I said, like, he's not really hurt or that's not that bad, or you got to play through that on the air. And Healy got really mad at me and he said, after in a commercial break or after we got off the air, he said, if you're going to say that, you better know. Okay. And, you know, you, you better have done the research to know exactly what you're dealing with here because he said that the hockey code is to play through everything. So if a guy can't do it, he really can't do it. Okay. I said, okay. And I've always remembered that. And, you know, I asked Kelly, you know, what did he think? And Kelly just said, if, if, if a guy feels he can't go, he's not going to be able to help you. And I understand how a lot of people feel like it kind of is the way to like just push through it and persevere and grind your way. And generally that's the way I like to do it too. And I think, especially as the games get bigger, I think a lot of us on the outside are like, ah, just play through. But I always remember that exchange I had with, with Glenn. And I think the other thing here, first of all, Reimer has played really well for them. Like part of me has kind of bad for Reimer because like, oh, like, oh, Alvarn can't play. Let's throw this schlub in there. He's been excellent for Ottawa this year. But, you know, the thing is, like, I think the frustration too is you have no Kucharov and you, and no Nick Paul and you have a two nothing lead and you can't hold it. So obviously that's frustrating. But, you know, the thing is the true testimony of this is, let's see how it goes the rest of the year. You know, Almark has a chance to show everybody here. If he comes out and he wins that game on Tuesday in Florida and he is a two-nil. He goes on a tear the rest of the season in their final nine games. He and Green can look back at everybody and say, you know what? I had that game on Saturday. I needed off. Sure, it didn't work out for everybody, but look how I did after. So the one thing I will say about this is the final chapter of this story is not yet written. Yeah. I mean, because he had, it's been a pretty busy month for him. The two games he played earlier in the week, heavy workload. Faced a lot of shots like that Detroit game was crazy. The Pittsburgh game he was fantastic to. And I just want to say it and almost it doesn't even pertain specifically to this conversation. But goaltender usage in general. I start to roll my eyes more and more now, Elliot, when you hear the idea out there of, well, I mean, think about goalies back in the day and how many games they played. Like why? Guys now, why can't they do that? It's amazing now that goalies don't play back to back and the scheduling is all different and it's one a would be obviously having no direct experience and knowledge of the position. But my goodness, just go back and watch the highlights from the early nineties and the eighties of the goalies that were incredible. The players that were there. From the early nineties and the eighties of the goalies that were incredible, the best in the world at the time. But technology was different. The equipment was different. The playing style was different. And the demands on the body was simply different back then compared to now. Like how much torque and leverage are put on the hips and the knees and all of that. How much you're in the crouch. Just watch, right? Now compared to compared to back then and it's not saying one's better or worse than the other. All of it at the time was the best in the world. But I just think that position has evolved so much over the decades. And even though the training and awareness of recovery and mobility and all of that has evolved with it. I just think it's it is no longer apples to apples. Fair, totally fair. Okay, so tell us about St. Louis, by the way. All right. Well, you want to hear about my day first? Sure. And we'll get into the, okay. So remember last pod when you were talking about every now and then, you know, maybe if you're in a bit of a rut with your shows, you mix it up. You know, maybe you take a different route into the studio. Maybe your routine changes slightly. So I like to keep my routine pretty well the same on game days. Like when I'm on the road, go to the rink or you get up, you have breakfast, go for a little walk. You go to the morning skates. You meet with the producer to go over the plan for the night. And then I like to go back to the hotel. I order food to the hotel for lunch. I stay in my room. I get my notes ready. And then I come back to the rink for the game. Well, not that I necessarily felt that I was in a rut, but I was kind of like, it's been a long year, right? Schedules been busy. We did the Olympics, which was great, but it's been a long year. And so a few weeks ago, I just happened to look at the Cardinals schedule, right? At all. Late March. Like I think that's, is that the opening weekend of the baseball season? So I see they were one of the teams though that played their home opener on the Thursday and then had the day off Friday, which was the day we all got in and then played an afternoon game Saturday. I'm like, man. And it was a perfect night. We were all lamenting going, this would be a perfect night on Friday to go over and watch a ball game, but there's no baseball to watch. However, did you see that new promo? The Cardinals are doing this year for fans that buy tickets in specific two sections out in left field? No, I haven't seen that. So out in what's called Big Mac Land, there's two sections there. If you buy a ticket there this year, not only do you get the seat, but you get unlimited concessions. No way. Yes. I thought you were going to tell me you did like the 999 challenge the day of the game. Oh my gosh. Nine hot dogs, nine beers, whatever it is. No, no, no, no. That would have been awesome. I would have been so impressed with you. Oh, I could not do that. I'm back to being unimpressed with you. Good, good, good. So nothing's changed. So I was him and Han about that, but again, I'm like, I like my routine, but I thought, forget it. That's just, let's mix it up here. So but a week before I bought a ticket and because the time was shifted slightly, we were in the central time zone. So puck drop was at six o'clock, not seven. Morning skates were an hour earlier. Ball game was at 110. I did the morning skate stuff as I normally would, went back to the hotel, got my work done and around 130. And our hotel was like right on the corner of where the ballpark is. Oh, it's nice area. And not only on the corner, like on the left field corner, right where I need to love it. I love that ballpark too. That is a great ballpark. I've never been to Busch Stadium before Saturday. So 130, I walk over and I look at it as my ticket. That was me paying for lunch and it just came with a really nice view. So I sat there with my free concession, my unlimited concession for about 45 minutes. I got about two and a half innings of baseball in, not much happened, but it was just a beautiful day to sit outside. And as you say, a great stadium. And then it was, and I cannot overstate this a two minute walk back to like door to door from my seat in the back of my hotel room. And then I got ready and I went to the game. And as if that was not enough fun for one day, when I was walking to the morning skate, you know, there's the theater that's basically connected almost to the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, right? And I'm walking out in front and there's the sign that's got all the upcoming acts they're promoting. And I walk by and it says Daniel Tosh tonight. So I love Daniel Tosh. I was a teenager when Tosh.0 came out. I've loved listening to his podcast. Me and some buddies, we would always watch his stand up stuff on YouTube and high school. Yada, yada, yada. I'm like, you, you, and I looked it up. He had a seven o'clock show and a 930 show. Now again, normally that would be no bueno, but because we started at six central time, 930 was now in play. So we got off the air at like 840. Post game done around nine. I walked back to the hotel, dropped the bag, quick clothing change. I walk into the theater at 929. By the time you stand in line to get a refreshment, I'm walking, doing the old awkward shimmy shake down the aisle. Excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me to get to my seat like as the music's playing of the show's about to start. And I sat there and watched that for an hour and a half. It was a great day, I have to say. I have to say, first of all, I'm happy for you. You got to do all this. I really am. What did you eat at the ball game? What did you eat? Did chicken strips, little fries. Of course I got a little thing of ice cream before I left. And was it in a helmet? Was it in like a Cardinals? No, it wasn't. See, I think, I mean, it's great that it's unlimited there. I know. I think if you went to a different concession stand that wasn't part of this unlimited promotion, you could get it into the helmet. It was a different setup here. There was a lot of grab-and-go type stuff. But anyway, it was like a little cup of ice cream, still tasted good. And I grabbed a little bag of chips for the road. Had that later in the night. I have to say this, I'm going to have to go back and watch this game because, like I said, you did a beautiful tribute for Milsie and it was well done. But it sounds like this weekend you were focused on everything but your actual job. I know. Well, trust me, I was not. As I said, I made sure I got my work done before I walked over to the ballpark. And then the comedy show was after the fact. Yeah. After the work was done. But anyway. If I would have known, I would have had them break a pane of glass or something like that. Glass delay. Yeah. But that's totally it, right? Like, as usually whenever you go, okay, you've got something lined up as rare as that is, so close after the game. That's usually when it's 12 rounds in the shootout or something. And everything gets thrown for a loop. But anyway, enough about that. So the game is, I got to tell you, Elliott, watching the Blues here lately and not even just last night. Yeah, because now as we switch West. Yes. They're making a run at, like, it's unreal. Like a week ago, again, you're looking at the Jets and the Blues and you're like, nope. And now, like, National struggling, Vegas is struggling, the Kings we just mentioned. Seattle got a point. Like, nobody's pulled away from these guys. The Jets and the Blues and the Sharks are still there, but the Sharks have the bad mad. Like, the Kings have the worst tiebreaker, but the Sharks have the second worst. Nobody's put these guys away. And again, I know Hello Buck has been kind of up and down, but I would like, all he has to do is get hot for a week and Winnipeg could still make it. Yeah. And the Blues have had some of the best goaltending of anybody coming out of the Olympics. So what did you see there? What did you see from them? I just think it's a young group that's slowly but surely starting to take a bigger hold of what's going on there. Like, some of those guys, it was good to see Robert Thomas back in the lineup. Yeah. But Holloway had a really good night. Like Snuggerud, you're seeing him start to be more of a factor. Dvorski, even like Logan Mayhew alongside Broberg, that's become a real effective pair for them. There's a lot to like on the youth side there. The other thing I was wondering, being around that group on Saturday, and this was just me wondering, there was no one, I didn't get any intel on this. I have no idea what they're thinking moving forward. But how would you feel about Jake Neighbors as the next captain of the St. Louis Blues? Why not? I think he's got all the hallmarks. And even we asked Craig Barubi about him, because he of course coached him the first couple of years in St. Louis. And that was the first thing he said, it's leadership. I wonder. We did an interview with Neighbors a couple of years ago that's one of the favorites we've ever done. Yes. Just mature beyond his years. Yeah. And actually, so I listened back to that in the lead up to the game Saturday. And while you were sitting at push stadium. No, I was on my walk. And I remember like it was kind of a last minute swap. We were initially going to interview somebody else and then they said, hey, you're going to do Jake Neighbors instead. And we're going, oh, okay, great. But of course there was no time to do any real prep work or anything and ended up being one of our favorites still to this day. Great guy to listen to. Yeah, excellent. Excellent. Blues have a great tiebreaker to 27 only Edmonton better. I'm not counting Utah. I think they're going to make it. But among the teams, they're probably shouldn't count Edmonton then if I'm not counting Utah, but whatever. 27 is a great tiebreaker number compared to everybody else here. All right. You mentioned earlier, Porter Martone is now a Philadelphia Flyer. Some other names you're kind of looking at Owen Michaels out of Western Michigan. You think he could be turning pro in prison? I still think by the way, Jonathan Castania from Flames sounds, even though it's not done yet, it sounds like it's trending in that right direction. Doesn't seem to me that there's a lot of concern here that there's a lot of concern here. That this will eventually get done. Owen Michaels, who will be 24 on the 1st of May, not the 9th of May, the 1st of May, Western Michigan forward, he is not going back to school. He's got a year of eligibility remaining. We'll see where that goes over the next week, but hearing that he's going to come out and go pro. Yeah, I did want to. Thanks for reminding me about McKenna. I mentioned on Saturday night, he's the first of May, Saturday night, he's looking at Canada for the world and it looks like it's going to happen. I did get some pushback on that, I have to tell you. I was surprised because the person who told me about it is nails and they're never wrong. I was surprised, but people did say premature. Let's just let that play out. When someone comes to me and says you might be wrong about this, I do owe it to everybody to say it. We'll see. Good news for Michigan. Hage, who injured his ankle, he didn't play a ton, but he did play. You know what? I also wanted to shout out. I meant to do it on Saturday. I forgot in the middle of doing everything else, but I did want to shout out game one of the WHL playoffs between Calgary and Brandon, longest one-nothing game in Western Hockey League history, ended at 1-0-5-11. That's early in the third overtime. Ethan Moore scored the winning goal. Eric Too, who was in goal for Calgary, stopped a penalty shot in the second overtime. He made 48 saves. Philip Rzitska from Brandon, who took the loss and is a draft eligible goalie this year, made 64 saves, the only one that beat him. We should mention game two of that series. They went to overtime again. Calgary won 6-5. At least they didn't make everybody go to bed late. They were nice this time. They held it to one overtime, 10-04 of the first overtime period. Ethan Moore scored again. Yes, scored in the third period. They scored two goals to tie it, the tying goal coming a minute or 11 left. Ethan Moore made it 5-3 with seven minutes left and Axl Herdig tied it with 111 left. Then Moore scored again in overtime. He should say, it's going to be like you. I'm going to go watch a ball game and maybe a comedy show and I'll show up in the third period and win the game for us. It's common when you get to overtime. Mel Hill, sudden death hill, overtime score I think from the 1930s. Sudden death Moore. Great. It's a good nickname. I like where that can be headed. I would take that nickname. Yes, I'm with you. All right. As you say, baseball's back, but now with the integration of ABS, the automated balls and strikes, the ability to challenge as the catcher, the hitter, or the pitcher, a missed call, whether it was called a ball or a strike, to challenge the umpire. We thought about the initial first few days here and how it could apply to the future of officiating and review here in hockey. Did you see Suarez and CB Boknore on Saturday? Oh yeah. Yeah. That video made the rounds. So he challenges the two back-to-back pitches and that second one, I just wondered if we were going to get to a point where the pitcher was going to roll the ball to Suarez and Boknore was going to call it a strike just because. Anyway, the fans love this stuff, right? Like you can see they're going crazy right now. And you can see a point where by the end of May that somebody's going to commit a homicide during this. But the thing that I kind of look at is that, you know, we had, we had, we talked about last pod and I wrote last Friday about the conversation I had with hockey ops about those two replays from last week that looked similar. The Baron one from Winnipeg, Pittsburgh, and the Lee one from Islanders, Columbus. And, you know, I had a couple of people reach out to me with varying degrees of feelings on it, but I think a lot of people kind of liked, whether they liked it or not, they liked that there was a level of transparency, right? I think when baseball does something like this, it pulls all the sports in that direction. Like, you know, first, I can't remember who the first sport was to do replay. I think it was football. And then everybody started doing replay, right? Like the NHL did the situation room and then other leagues started coming and looking at their situation room and saying, maybe we can build something like this too. And I'm just watching baseball do this. And I think like that, like, where is this going to force other sports to go? Because fans are going to say, if baseball can do this, why can't we do this? You know, if you're a rugby fan, you're listening to this podcast, I have rugby fans, sorry I shouldn't say I have, but rugby fans before have written to us before and say, if you watch international rugby, that you can hear the replay officials talking about or talking through their decisions. Like they have a mic on them and you can hear them what they're talking about. And it's interesting, it's very interesting, but it's not happening here, right? Like rugby, while great sport and I love rugby, it doesn't have the North American presence. But baseball doing this, all of a sudden the other sports are going to start looking at it. And the other fans are going to start looking at it and saying, why can they do this and you can't do this? So I'm sitting here wondering, Kyle, if the umpires don't go into open revolt, where is this going to take us? Yeah, well, I remember umpiring as a kid, the one message when you went to the clinic to learn how to be an umpire, it was you were told, never let a player or a coach show you up. And it feels like anytime you do the tap on the head, it's like, suddenly you're trying to show the umpire up a little bit to go. Well, Suarez was like, are you kidding me? Like he was, you can tell he loved it, you can tell the players loved it and you can tell the fans loved it. That was a, and I'll say this, I've done a lot of umpire, I've done a lot of umpire, I've done a lot of baseball over the years. There has always been a thing in that sport between the players and the umpires and how they feel they treat each other. There's always been a thing. So now it's just blowing into the open. I'm just not sure with the NHL, like what's the equivalent of, of ABS? Because at least that is, that's black and white. Yeah. You know, like is it a strike or is it a ball? Okay. I just wonder if it's going to be more transparent conversations and things like that. I don't know. But I, but I look at that and I say, if I was a commissioner of another league, I'd be looking at that and saying, how is that going to affect us? Because it will. Once you open that door, it's hard to go backwards. Yeah, I get that. And we've seen it, you know, with the coach's challenges and everything that's come since then when it was implemented just over 10 or 10 years ago now, it's certainly gone to a level that probably not many of us anticipated going into it. I just, I like the rugby example is an interesting one where you can kind of able to listen in to the review a little. I'm just not sure how willing the NHL would be to go to that. It would be something to get some kind of audio when you've got the on ice officials looking over video on the iPad. I think that would help immensely. I just don't know if that's going to. It's, it's, it's just interesting. I like that, you know, I really, like I've said this, like I had a few people ask me about, you know, they, people ask me like, how was the conversation with them? Were they mad at you? And I was like, no, like they were very professional. And, and it was like, I had a bunch of people saying to me, boy, I'd love to hear more of that. And I was like, I agree. And like I said, I really learned a lot. So it's just the whole thing to me is just, it's interesting. I just look at these things and I say, what's the ripple effect? Like, for example, the NBA, they're, they're going all in against tanking. Right? The NHL changed their lottery. The NHL changed their lottery. It's a couple, a couple of years ago, but one thing that's very obvious right now is the NHL, they've had years before where obviously tanking has happened. You know, the, the famous one was the Lemieux one with Pittsburgh for Merrill Lemieux. And that turned out to be one, maybe the greatest decision in the history of their franchise. But you look at all these teams right now, like you, this, this league does not have a tanking problem at this time. No, those teams are going for the playoffs. It's great viewership, but I always, I always just wonder like when one league does this, where do we go? All right. How'd you go, how'd it go in your softball game tonight, Dom? We won tonight. We won by two runs, hold it on the, the, the, uh, lay in inks. Good boy. Because we couldn't record tonight because Dom wanted to go play softball and you know, I, I'm good with that because people need to have a social life and you work hard. But I'm going to say this, Dom, if you want us to delay the podcast for your softball game, you better win. No losing like last week. I promise you, every time we delay the podcast, we will win. Okay. That's, that's what I like to hear. With authority. Well, I, as clear hearts can't lose. Love it. Okay. Time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ Monday night, Elliot. Toronto Maple Leafs in Anaheim to face the Ducks. The first meeting since the Radco-Gudis knee on Austin Matthews that knocked him out for the remainder of this season. So the question is, will Gudis be in the lineup for Anaheim? You talked about it on headlines on Saturday night. Do you have any further inklings over whether the Ducks captain will dress against the Maple Leafs? I think he's going to play. Unless something really weird happens on Monday, I think he's going to play. So we did the podcast on Thursday night. That was the Anaheim played in Calgary and Gudis got hurt in the second period. And I woke up to a note on Friday morning because we had a late night on Thursday. So I slept in, I slept in on Friday. And I woke up to a note from someone saying, you have got to call me. Have I got one for you? And I said, okay, so I called the guy. He said, Gudis got hurt last night. And apparently he told the Ducks, I don't care how serious this injury is. I am playing Monday night. He didn't even talk about the Saturday game in Edmonton. He was like, I am playing on Monday night. And he made it very clear to anybody who would listen, he was playing Monday. And we were kind of laughing about it because what kind of story is this? And I think that it's turned out it's not as serious as they initially feared. Like he obviously didn't play Saturday and I think he'd probably miss a few more games under normal circumstances. But he just didn't care. Somebody said to me, if he had to play the one game and then set out games after and set out the game before, he was prepared to do it. He was like, no, I'm playing because they want a piece of me and I got to give it. So I don't know exactly who's been communicated to on this. But someone did tell me on Saturday, there was this whole thing about who ultimately has the power to make a decision. Like I guess in theory, the doctor could say, you're not playing. And it would be funny if Verbeek said, you're not playing. Because if when Verbeek played, like the idea of him running away from a team that wanted to kill him is entirely laughable. He would have taken them all on himself. But it became this thing like I was talking about with someone like who ultimately would have the say because how many times, especially in the playoffs, our doctors like, I don't think you should play and the guys like, I'll lock you in a closet and I'll play. So it's just, this whole game, George Parris was in St. Louis on the weekend and he was playing in that charity game, the charity game for Kelly Chase on Friday night. Did you see Parris at the rink on Saturday? Was he there? I think he was in the press box. I wasn't up there. I didn't physically see him. But I believe he was, he was supposed to be in the building. Yeah. Incredible turnout for that event, by the way. Yeah. Really beautifully done event. And I'm actually, I'm wondering if Parris is going to be in Anaheim on Monday. This is one of those games they usually send somebody to. You know, it's so funny that we didn't have, because the Blue Jays are playing the Rockies, we didn't have a pregame show scheduled for that game. We have that regional tonight. Right. And now if the Blue Jays finish early enough, we have a pregame. Like we're like, we have to do a pregame for this, which is the right thing to do. But I'm actually curious to see if this goes anywhere. Like what happens exactly? Someone said to me, well, if Gouda doesn't play, they should go after one of their best players. And I was like, okay, this isn't the 70s or 80s. This doesn't really fly anymore. That there used to be a tolerance for that. I don't think there's a tolerance for that anymore. So I'm actually interested to see what comes of this, if anything. Well, it was a pretty somber group of Maple Leafs after Saturday night, as Barube said, the only guy that showed up for them against the Blues was Joseph Walde, the starting goaltender. But everyone that took questions on the aftermath all seemed well aware of, I guess, the anticipation and the reason why there would be anticipation for a Monday night game in Anaheim at the end of a last season. So we'll see what kind of show you get. I'm sure the pregame show will be great though, regardless. I know what I'm getting, that one. The game we'll see, but I know what I'm getting with Carolyn Cameron and company. Okay, that was a file of thought presented by the Toyota BZ. We'll take our first break when we come back. A brand new edition of the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts the Podcast. What do you get with 30 Bozo's attempt to solve the world's problems as viewed through the lens of their listeners? It's another edition of the thought line, Elliot. Why are you talking like that? I don't know. I just thought I was like TV promo guy for a sec. I was just in my mind all day, short sleep before flying home Sunday morning, and that's where my mind went. Old timey TV promo coming up tonight on City TV. Anyway, I miss those days. You got anything to get to before? I have no problem with anybody trying new ideas. I really don't. Don't do that one again. We'll see what the test audience has to say. A few things, actually. Yes, I didn't do any last time, so I've caught up on this one this time. I went through a few things. So in my written notes, the written blog on Friday morning, for some reason, I referred to the Boston College Eagles as the Boston College Golden Eagles. And their team colors include gold, but for some reason, my mind drifted back to when they had a good basketball team and they made the Elite Eight in like 1982 and they lost a five-slamma jamma and the Houston Cougars. And for some reason, I thought their name was the Golden Eagles. I have no idea why I thought that. It's just the Eagles. And it took such a life of its own that Brian Boyle texted me and Brian was with Mike Robb at the NHL Network and he, of course, played four years at Boston College. And he texted me and I totally gaslit him. He said, were we the Golden Eagles and I just didn't know about it? I was like, no, I'm an idiot. I don't know why I called them the Golden Eagles. A couple of people sent notes to me on social media. We've never, the Boston fans are like, we're not the Golden Eagles, we're just the Eagles. So let me just apologize to all those Boston College fans who were offended, upset, and mortified. I referred to them as the Golden Eagles when they are just the plain Eagles. You had me fooled too. Did I? Yeah, and I was like, am I wrong? Are they really the Golden? I was incorrect all these years just considering or thinking they were the Eagles. Either that, I just thought you were being very complimentary towards them. Let's go with B. I was big complimentary towards them. Okay, lots of good raccoon content sent to me this week. A Landon Almburg sent me a video of this guy and I watched it all and I went down a rabbit hole watching some of this stuff where a guy claimed raccoons are the first aliens in the world along with the octopus or octopi. And his rationale for this, Kyle, is that when you go look at historic drawings, I assume he's talking about cave drawings or hieroglyphics or something like that. There are no raccoons. So it's obvious that this is an alien species. I did get a lot of high quality entertainment out of this. Oh my gosh. Jeff Morrison was one of several people that sent me a video of a tattoo artist who does a drunk raccoon tattoos for people. I had several individuals. Exclusively? Yeah, they're pretty funny. James Maples the second, when I mentioned cards last show, he said that this is how I imagine you and your friends playing cards. And there's an antique, a couple people sent it to me, of raccoons at a table playing cards. And this is an actual, it's not just like dogs playing cards, the painting. It's an actual physical metal manifestation of raccoons playing cards around a table. Let's see what else I got. Oh, Connor Simkin, I think it is. I can't read what I wrote. He sent me a hilarious video of a guy who's supposed to record a proposal in a backyard. And as the guy is proposing to her, he sees a raccoon, he turns and he films the raccoon and he turns back and the proposal is already over. He missed the kneeling. I assume this is some kind of comedy sketch or something like that, but it still made me laugh. Nicholas Smith sent me something from some sort of exhibition where a guy was showing off a raccoon proof garbage bin about how since they don't have thumbs, they can't open this key. And therefore the raccoons can't get into it. Excellent. I might actually be buying one of those. There were a whole bunch of great, great raccoon videos, more urinal etiquette videos too. Actually, there was one more raccoon video I wanted to mention because it was really funny. Tassie Devil 87 found this story from Central Park in New York where people, they were losing their phones, they were being stolen and they were disappearing without anyone noticing a thing and then a raccoon apparently was doing it. Again, I don't know if this is real. I don't know if this is AI, but there's this, these pictures of a raccoon, there's a woman sitting on a park bench in Central Park and there's a raccoon coming up behind her and apparently grabbing the phone. So not only are they the bane of my existence around my house, but they are committing racco violations on a daily basis and have now formed an international criminal ring. And I did laugh. Remember last pod you said I repeat myself a lot? And you remember I said I don't like to. You said you don't like to. Yeah. Yeah, I don't like to repeat myself. I feel like you do it all the time. This Puck Presence person wrote, Elliot today, I don't like to repeat myself. Also Elliot every week, are you a club or are you a team? Yeah, that's great. Okay. And the last one I wanted to mention, and I don't know if anybody sent you to this, but there was a Insta DM from somebody named hockey stickman. And this is something you would be more familiar with than I would be. But he pointed out that Anton Frandell in his debut game Yes. Was using a retail stick. Is that true? Yes. Yeah. I had a buddy of mine sent that to me right away. And apparently even at the World Juniors this year too, he was there of course representing Sweden. He used retail sticks there. And they may not have even been the top of the line models, which is kind of hard to believe in this day and age, but it's working for him. Hey man, if you like it, you like it. So it was code, I want to credit Cody Leeming. He's actually the person who sent me the hockey stickman post. And it said Anton Frandell with a retail stick and not even the top of the line. The name bar appears to say P29 85 flex. And this reminds me of a feature I once saw on a golfer. And I don't remember who the golfer was, but I think it was in like the 60s or 70s. Who walked into a pro shop once and was just fooling around with putters. And he ended up buying a putter in a pro shop and it won him a tournament. He got red hot with it and won. So I guess this just happens periodically. You like what you like, right? Yeah. I was kind of wondering if he's going to keep that up. It almost becomes a bit more of an extra hoop to jump through for the equipment guys. Because maybe anyways, maybe not. I've wore your source and sticks typically with all the pro stock inventory. And now this guy wants stuff right off the rack. Anyway, it's like you with your suits right off the rack. Yeah. Yeah. I make it work. Hey man, you're still turning out. You're a good looking man. What can I tell you? Matthew Minzer cheers from Uxaya, Argentina, Pond hockey heaven. And he sent me a drawn cartoon from We Love Apostles with a woman in the kitchen saying, love, where's the trash can? And the guy on the couch says under the sink. And then he says, wait, I'm not married. And he rips off her face and it's a raccoon underneath. I mean, who thinks of this stuff? What? I love also, by the way, all these raccoon stories. It's kind of become like an anchor man. Like for the last time, anything you put in that prompter, Burgundy will read it. It's like for the last time, anything you put in his DMs, Friedman will read it. Almost. I don't see, like I have weeks where I can, I have weeks where I can't, but I sit on Friday's pot, I got to catch up. So I went through it and caught up. And finally, Kevin Wicca, I don't know why he sent this to me, but the Sabres apparently celebrated their win on Saturday over the Kraken with a proud Mary mashup featuring Gilbert Perot and Tina Turner. Okay. And I don't know if I've mentioned this song before. I must have. I have talked about how don't you forget about me, the one in Vancouver, I think is the best goal song in the league. But I will say this, proud Mary is spectacular. And if you've never seen the Angela Bassett biopic of Tina Turner, first of all, you should. And secondly, the proud Mary version in that movie is as good as any song that's ever been done in any movie ever. It is spectacular. We were joking over the weekend actually, Elliott, that you've kind of got a little Ciskel and Ebert going on this weekend. You're talking movies on hockey night. You've got your reviews going here today. Oh, that's right. Mr. Saturday Night, Cole Caulfield. So that is actually, normally I don't get a chance to watch anything during the hockey season, but the Olympics in some long travel have allowed me the opportunity to do a little bit. And it's actually nice and refreshing to do. But that movie, Mr. Saturday Night from 1992, Billy Crystal, David Paymer, Helen Hunt and Jerry Orbach, it's, I don't know if that, I haven't watched it in a long time. I don't know how well it would age, but I remember thinking like, that's a movie that made me think about, you know, like, I could imagine some people in our business watching that movie and thinking about, hmm, how does it make you feel about the end of your career? Because that's what it's basically about is your career rising and then coming to grips with when is it time? Interesting. I haven't seen the movie, Mr. Saturday Night. Yeah. Yeah. It's not for everyone. I would say that it's not for everyone. All right. All right. Well done. Thoughts on the thought line. Let's get to the heart of the matter here now. We'll begin with Steve from Toronto. Hello, Elliot, Kyle and Dom. Steve here from the Mecca of hockey disappointment, Toronto. Your recent pod describing the facilities a home team must provide to a visiting team, including a washer and dryer, got me thinking about how much laundry the equipment managers must do and specifically how much active wear they must wash. My question to you and hopefully them is what do they use to get the players performance gear clean and not constantly smelling awful? My running and hockey stuff gets washed frequently, but always smells terrible as soon as I start working up a sweat. Kyle, I'm sure you can appreciate this situation and Elliot, I assume you have the same challenge with your pajamas. With an answer, maybe some practical knowledge. I smell like a flower, Steve. I want you to know that. Okay. Not in that sauna. So yeah, thanks for the tips and the years of entertainment. And I believe he jokingly signs himself at the bottom. Steve, associate brand manager, fabric care products, proctor in Gamble Canada. That's outstanding. Good question, Steve. So I assume you did the work here when you were at the rink? Yeah. Okay. First of all, you hazard a guess on a game day. How many loads of laundry are done at the rink? Now this is factoring in both home and visiting team stuff. Well, I'm also trying to imagine just the sheer size and power of these washers and dryers and how many they would have. I'm sure it's not like most people in their homes who have one regular size washer and one regular size dryer. I'm sure these are industrial size and I assume they have more than one, right? Yeah. Probably in most cases, yes. Let's go with 10 loads. Double it. 20 a day. Yeah. And on off days for teams, it's around 10. And is that that book? So if it's 20, it's both home and away. Yes. Yes. Wow. It's a lot. So they're constantly spinning. So consider that. And I didn't realize that a lot of the players' equipment, like they'll put in a wash cycle every few weeks, obviously not skates, not helmets, that sort of thing, but elbow pads, shin pads, shoulder pads, that sort of thing. They'll run those through the wash multiple times throughout the year. I think there's, as you can imagine, some antibacteria stuff and methods that they've come up with to try to maintain the odors throughout the season. The big thing is not letting the gear ferment in the bag. Right? That's the big one. Because you'll see after a practice day or even after a morning skate, after as the media's getting kicked out of the dressing room, income multiple dryers or big fans, they'll put on the floors in the room to get the gear dry as quick as possible. Or in some cases, if a team is not getting on the plane right away, leaving from a road game, if they're staying over and they leave the gear hung up in the dressing room, income the fans afterwards. Or also why, when they do head to the next city right after is while the players go to the hotel and go to bed, the equipment staff take the gear right to the rink at whatever it may be, 2am, 3am, and they get it all hung up just to get it dried out and not let the odors start to pile up. The men and the women who work on that training staff, man, they do not get enough credit for the work that they do. That is a true labor of love, a true labor of love. Yeah, I was shocked. 20 loads. I guess when you break everything down, all the stuff that you would go through in a day beyond just the gear, there's towels, there's everything else, it starts to add up. But gotta have a good washer. That's a great one. So there's a video that this one account puts out every year at the NCAA basketball tournament because Charles Barkley was on the panel. I don't know how long ago it was, but he was on with Kenny Smith and Clark Kellogg and Greg Gumbel and they were talking about how hard the equipment managers worked. And he said that when we played, we used to shower in our uniforms to clean them. And Kenny Smith and Clark Kellogg look at him and they're like, what are you talking about? And he says, oh yeah, we used to shower in our, we used to fly commercial and the only way to clean the uniform properly was to shower in it. And Kenny Smith came into the NBA after Barkley, but I think Clark Kellogg was before and they were looking at him like that never happened. Nobody ever showered in their uniform to clean it. And Barkley was like, yes, yes we did. And it is just like the look on Clark, like Kenny Smith keeps interrupting him. And Clark Kellogg is like, can you be quiet? I want to hear the rest of this story. And he says, it's total BS. It's not true. And Barkley's like, hey, if you had to travel and you had to travel on a regular plane, how do you think you cleaned your equipment? And they're like a washer and dryer and he's like, no, you showered in it. And they're like, no, it never, oh, Dom, if you want to drop this in, go ahead, man, you are free to drop it in. One of the things we take for granted is all the people who work at arenas, especially in a situation like this, where you've got multiple, multiple, multiple games, multiple, multiple, multiple practice. I mean, it's so much stuff that goes into this. And shout out to all the trainers also to have all and the guys who do all the uniforms to get these uniforms cleaned up and everything. Because I mean, I'm so old, we used to take a shower in our uniforms because you know, because we flew commercial my first few years. There's no error where you did. Yes, it is. You're making this up. There's no way that you you were supposed to watch it. When I know when in the right mind is never done. Let him finish. And soap they give you soap. When I first got to the NBA, we flew commercial. Yes. I'm not disagreeing with you. So when you played the night before and flew the next morning, when was you exactly going to get your uniform cleaned? You had to wash your uniform yourself. So after the game, when you got to your room, you took a shower when your uniform and dried and dropped on the commercial line the next day. You had to let him fit. Yeah, if you ever heard this in your life, come on. Well, how are y'all cleaning your uniform? Y'all playing in funky uniform? Washing the dryer or something. When you're when you're flying the next morning, you can clean your uniform without showering in it. Well, that is that is that is possible. You can actually clean it without showering in it. You don't have to have it. No, but it's easier to do it that way. Let's say that people have to count us as being educational. Oh, man. Are you? You take it off, you wash it, you put it back on. It's just easier to clean that way. It's phenomenal. That's amazing. Oh, gosh. All right, Steve, thank you for that. We'll go next to Kyle from Pimp Meadows. Fellas. I've been a lifelong hockey fan and recently took up ice hockey while bored on Pat Leave. Yes, my wife was real thrilled about that. My question comes from a recent beer league game I played in after numerous pucks cleared over the glass, we found ourselves in a situation where we ran out of the allotted pucks for the game. So I've got a two part question. How many pucks are allotted for each NHL game? And when are players allowed to keep the pucks for milestones? Thinking of all the chatter around Jack Hughes and keeping his puck from the Olympics? Thanks for all the hard work. Love the pod. I assume you did the research on this one too? I did, I did. Boy, the thoughtliners put you to work this week. I know. Happy to do it. Good job, bro. You deserve to break, rattling through all your DMs. You had enough on your hands. So there's always pucks at the rink. We'll just say that. There's never shortage of game pucks, first of all. But as we know, there's the little cooler by the penalty box area, where if a puck goes out of play or if they want to swap one during a commercial break, that's where the official goes to get a new one. And there's typically 15 in there to start the night. And obviously, if you start to get low, you can replenish in the intermission or there's other ways of always making sure there's enough. Yeah, I don't think we will ever get to a situation where someone's got to go into the crowd and go, sorry, we need the puck back. We're running low tonight. There's always going to be ones available. And when it comes to players allowed to keep pucks for milestones, I mean, yeah, Jack Hughes one was another matter, as it was the Olympics, but I think in the NHL, I don't know if there's really a limit. If there's any milestone in question, the puck is available for the player or the team or whoever may want it. For example, Saturday night in St. Louis, Justin Hall scored his first goal as a blue, so they grabbed that puck and had it done up for him. Just to say first goal as a blue, he got to keep that. Jacob Quillin got his first NHL point. We saw the video of Nylander going across to the penalty timekeeper and grabbing the puck to go over to the Leafs equipment staff to hang onto that for Quillin. I don't know if there's really a limit there. And also, I saw this, the blue show talked about this earlier this week and I followed up with Joel Hofer about it on the weekend. He's got quite the collection of pucks that he hangs on to, but they're not like what you would think. It's quite a random, everyone has a purpose behind it or some sort of story, but it's not like, oh, this was from my first win. This was from my first shutout. This was from my 20th win or whatever it may be. It's like, this is from Vancouver. I like playing here. He's got the puck from, so Macklin Cellebrini's first shot on goal in the NHL. Really? Joel Hofer was the goalie that made the save. He was playing that game. So he has that puck. He showed me one from a gaming in Colorado where he got lit up for four goals in the first period. It goes, I got a puck from that game just as a reminder. And he's got one from Madison, a game when he started at Madison Square Garden and he got into a bit of a scrum, I think in the second period. So he asked for the puck at the end of the period there, just kind of remember that moment. There's stories to everyone, but it's not all milestone theme. I thought that was really neat. That's really fascinating. I like to hear stories like that. Good work and good work to whoever first uncovered that. I keep all my media passes. Do you? When I go to a building for the first time and the big event ones where you kind of get a lanyard in the whole setup, I keep all those. I mean, obviously there's things you find along the way that you keep, but I do keep all my media passes. That's pretty good. Nice work, man. I'm just going to put my feet up here while you take care of the thought line today. Okay. All right. We'll see if we can put you to work here with this one, Brian from Atlanta, Kyle, Ellie and Dom. I could have searched for this online, but I trust Elliott's genuine intelligence far more than any artificial intelligence regarding all matters related to hockey. The jury is still out though on Elliott's unfiltered baseball commentary. We'll see how you feel after I try to answer this question. Yes. For context, I grew up attending Hartford-Waylor's games at the Civic Center with my father. I seem to recall that the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, which Hartford infrequently participated in, used to be a best of five with later rounds being a best of seven. One, am I remembering that correctly, or am I as delusional as my childhood hopes of the whale winning a Stanley Cup or even beating Montreal in the first round for that matter? If that was in fact the case, what led to the change to a best of seven for all rounds? Brass Bonanza forever from Brian. No, you are right, Brian. It was 1987 that it went from best of five to best of seven. The reason was, it's the same reason the NBA did it. The NBA first round used to be best of five. NHL did first, and the NBA followed later. It's playoffs, man. Everybody wants more of it, and there's more money to be made. Actually, Brian, you're younger than me, and this predates the whalers actually, but there was a time in the 70s when there used to be a best of three first round, and those games were wild. I remember there was one series between the Maple Leafs and the Atlanta Flames. I remember watching as a kid, and there was like a fight every three minutes. It was a crazy series, but they used to have a best of three. Then they switched it to 16 teams, one versus 16, two versus 15, and so on. And then the first round used to be best of five, and it was for the 1987 playoffs. It went to best of seven. The NBA kept their best of five, I think right until around 2000. And then finally, they went to best of seven as well. But you are not wrong, and you are absolutely right about it being best of five. Now, I'll say this, I'm going to check this right now as I'm doing this, but off the top of my head, I remember Hartford beating Quebec in the first round and losing an epic seven game series to Montreal in the second round on a Claude Lemieux game seven overtime goal. But I don't remember them beating Montreal in the first round. Yeah, their first ever playoff win was 86. It was the Nordics with the number one seed in their division. The Wailers were number four, and Hartford wiped them out in three straight games. And then they lost in seven of the Canadians. I don't see a first round win over Montreal, but I see three first round losses to Montreal. And that game seven and 86, that was an epic series, Lemieux with a wrap around on Mike Leut to win it. I can still remember that as if it was yesterday. Yeah, I think that's probably what he was alluding to, as he's saying. Yeah. Delusional hopes that they could beat Montreal in the first round series, though they did not. Though they did not. Brian, thank you very much for that. Let's go to a voicemail next. This is Sean from Massa Piqua Park. Gentlemen, I have been saying for a few weeks now, it's your friends of mine, that I would bet that next season, Matthew Schaefer will be a guest with Scott Oak on After Hours. I am an avid Islander fan of a 50 year old vintage. So I am aware that for much of the last 30 years, the Islanders were not hockey night worthy. That's my question is twofold. When was the last time the Islanders were the featured late game on hockey night? And when was the last time? And if there was a last time, an Islander was Scott Oak's guest on After Hours and who was it? Thank you gentlemen very much. Love the pod. Listen all the time. Have a great week. All right. Well, the one thing is the Islanders have to be on the western game, right? I don't know how many were they ever this year on the on our Saturday night late game? Nope. The last time they were featured on a late game of hockey night in Canada, February 12, 2022. They were in Calgary. And I messaged Scott today. I said, you remember the last time you had an Islander on After Hours and Oaky couldn't come up with what the name? He goes Brent Sutter, but he would have been coaching the flames at the time. Exile is a player, but a current guy, he's not certain that he's ever had one on After Hours because as you say, just the way the scheduling work and where the Islanders are versus where those late games typically happen. The stars have not aligned. For example, you know, as great of a player, John Tavares has been his entire career, as great of a player as he was with the Islanders, his first hockey night towel he did not receive until he was a member of the Leafs. And before anybody jumps to this conclusion, there are people who would be like, oh, Lou Lamarillo, he wouldn't want the Islanders on. That's not true. Lamarillo was always, there were certain rules he had and he would never tell you anything. But if the Islanders were available to do After Hours, he wouldn't stop anything like that. And 2022 would have been a time when Lamarillo was running that team, right? So, yes, of course, he would have had guests. And I'll say this, I'll say this also, the Islanders are very good with Schaefer. Like he does a lot of media, he's very good at it, they don't hide them. They don't say, ah, he's not ready for this. I'm sure there's things they say, okay, this is maybe getting too much in the moment. But you never call them and think, we might not get them. Like if there's a good, if there's a reason to talk to them, they do try to make it happen. So yes, I think it's just a matter of the schedule making it occur. But I don't see any reason why Schaefer wouldn't be a guest. Not at all. That would be, it would be good, good TV. Okay, little Trevi had a wrap up as we like to do. Dan from Wataskwin, Alberta. Elliot Kyle and Dom with Florida, not going to be making the playoffs this year and Winnipeg, the math not looking great for them right now. It got me thinking, has there ever been another year where both the defending President's Trophy winner and the defending Stanley Cup champion did not make the playoffs the following season? So Kyle, let me just clarify one thing. Does it have to be two different teams or can it be one team that wins both? Well, I see what you're getting at here. However, the instances where one would check both boxes, technically the President's Trophy itself was not a thing yet. Because did Carolina not win the Stanley Cup and the President's Trophy and missed the Stanley and missed the playoffs the next year in 07? No, I want to say Detroit won the President's Trophy in 06. Ah, okay. So one of the teams that I remember that missed the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup final was the 1970 Montreal Canadiens. So that is one. That is one, and they won the league the year before? Yes, they were the best record in the league, but they didn't have a Trophy for it back then. See, because that's actually a pretty famous one because the Canadiens missed the playoffs and I think it was the first time they missed the playoffs and I don't know how long. So that was also a game. I remember hearing about this, but that was a game where they lost out not only because of their record, but they were also lost out on goal differential. And one of the things that happened was you can find it if you Google it. I think it's Yvonne Cornway. So the Rangers beat the Red Wings in the last day of the regular season, a game they needed to win. And I think Cornway and the Canadiens accused the Red Wings of throwing the game. Wow. Yes. Yes. So they won by like five goals and the Canadiens had to beat Chicago and they were losing, like they were losing, and their coach, who I believe was Claude Ruel at the time, he pulled the goalie and I think they lost like 12-1, but it didn't matter. They had to score, right? Right. So it was embarrassing. Not only did they lose, but they lost in really embarrassing fashion and they missed the playoffs. That was just a pretty famous story from my youth. Now, other Stanley Cup champions, well, the Rangers won the President's Trophy in 92 and missed the playoffs in 93, right? Yes, but the Penguins would have been in the playoffs in 93, right? Right. But I'm just saying like the Rangers were the President's Trophy winner and missed the playoffs. Those are the two that jump out of my head, the 70 Canadiens, Stanley Cup champions, missed the playoffs, and the 92 Rangers, President's Trophy champions, missed the playoffs. So in 38, the Red Wings, top team in the league won the cup, missed the playoffs the next year, so would have fallen under the same category as the 1970 Canadiens. So the only other instance that would have been under the same category as the Canadiens is that in 37, the Red Wings, top team in the league won the cup, next year in 38, missed the playoffs. There is only one instance that actually checks the criteria here of two separate teams, or not even two separate teams, but in the President's Trophy era that you've got that winner and the Stanley Cup champion missing both of them, missing the playoffs the following year. And it happened not all that long ago. Hmm. Because I remember Carolina missed the playoffs the year after they won the cup, 06 and 07. So let me think of a team that missed the playoffs after winning the cup. Yeah, it was more recent than 2006. Did the Blues make the playoffs the year after they won the cup? Yes. I mean, it was the weird bubble year, but they were in there. Yeah, oh, that's right. It was the bubble year. Okay. Not quite that recent. So after that, we're talking Ducks. They definitely made the playoffs. Can I give you a hint or you don't want one yet? Give me a hint. Gary Galley. Oh, not about timeframe. He wasn't part of these teams, but just think about the colors he wore predominantly. Well, I think of Gary Galley, the player. What do you picture him in? I usually I picture him in Flyers first. Really? Okay. Yes. That's a bad hint then. Well, there's Flyers Sabers Kings, right? Bruins. And Bruins, yes. I think of him as a flyer. It's the first thing I remember of him and Capitals. I mean, he played for half the league. Bruins didn't miss the playoffs after 11, did they? Nope. All right, just hit me. I obviously don't know this one. Okay. They didn't miss the playoffs after winning an 11, but they missed the playoffs after winning the president's trophy in 2014. 2015 they missed. And so did the LA Kings after winning the cup in 2014. You know what? I was looking at them and I was like, no way they missed the playoffs the year after winning the cup. I just didn't remember it. That's okay. Wow. So 2015 is the only time both did it and it didn't happen. I didn't remember. That's very me. I can remember 1970 the year I was born, but I can't remember a decade ago. I know. He stumbled into the other right answer. And then anyway, I'm sorry. I thought that Gary Galleyhitten was going to be of more help and then it just only further mightied the waters. The problem with using Gary as a hint is he played for 26 different teams. I know. Well, I guess I'm just like, he started his career with LA. He went back there at the end, did he not? And then, you know, plays in the final with Boston. So I don't know. I had those two teams and Gary stick out in my mind, but Flyers makes sense too. Okay. Good trivia. Jam-packed thought line. Thank you again to all who participated. 1833-311-3232. If you'd like to call and leave a voicemail, the email is 32thoughtsatsportsnet.ca. One final break and wrap up 32 Thoughts of the Podcasts on the other side. All right. One last thing before we go. This week's edition of Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey takes us to the Mile High City, Denver, Colorado, the Avalanche host, the Vancouver Canucks were on the air at 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific Time with Hockey Central with David Amber and Company and Puckdrop a little after 830 Eastern, 530 Pacific Time. All right. That'll do it for this edition of 32 Thoughts of the Podcasts. Have a great week, everybody. Only so many hours in the day. Everybody's got busy schedules as we know, so we appreciate, does not go unnoticed for us the time you take to listen to us each and every week. We'll talk to you again on Friday.