Stuff Is Insane

It's a crazy time of year. I think stuff is insane. All right. Where do you want? You got anything else for me, Kyle? Well, I think we found the title of the episode. Stuff is insane. Stuff is insane. There's a lot of crazy stuff going. I mean, this is the time of year where a lot of crazy stuff flies around. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 2026 Tacoma. Get yours before Red Tag Days are over. Dom, Elliot, and Kyle back with you. Another Stanley Cup edition on your Friday. We will get to the matter at hand of the Stanley Cup playoffs. One series remains in the second round. Three now have punched their ticket to the conference final, but the news this week, Elliot, it remains pretty juicy. And a couple of different markets. And we will begin this edition in Edmonton because now it is official. Chris Knoblock is out after back-to-back trips to a Stanley Cup final after a three-year contract extension that never even got to see the first day of, while still the head coach of the Oilers and a first round playoff exit at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks this past spring. So now that it's official, now that you had Stan Bowman address the media about everything that has gone on there in Edmonton, and just the messy nature that all of this seems to be, what's your reaction to Thursday's news? Kyle, what I really tried to find out over the last 24 to 48 hours is how we got from there to here. Meaning we got from the end of their first round loss to Anaheim to Chris Knoblock being replaced. How did this process occur? You know, there's some things that you said there I completely agree with. Number one, I don't think it's good for the Oilers that they're firing him before his extension kicks in. It's just not a good look for the organization. I agree with you in the sense that it looks bad. I have heard from people I haven't heard from in a long time who wanted to express their anger and disappointment for the way they felt Knoblock was treated. And so I wanted to put that out there too. I think we all understand that. We all understand both those things and we all understand how bad they look. My big thing though was, I think we all have our takes about it. I think we all understand how everybody feels about it. I really tried to figure out why this happened. And here's a couple of things I can tell you that I think were part of the decision making process. Number one is the owner. I think Daryl Cates is really unhappy. I think he's angry at the result this year. I think he's angry at the way they played this year. And I think he made his displeasure clear. I mean, look, I've heard, I saw it reported that Knoblock was to be paid $7.5 million over the next three years. I had some people say to me it was closer to $9 or $10. Whatever the case is, Daryl Cates is eating that. He's the owner and he has to agree. It's a tough thing to do to go to an owner and say, hey, we're going to eat $10 million. But I think he was so upset at the way this season ended. I think he was a driving force. I don't think you can underestimate the role he played in making his feelings clear that significant change needs to happen. There is great organizational pressure to win now for a lot of reasons, including the fact that Connor McDavid is only under contract for two more years. So I think the owner's feelings were a very, very big part of this. As I said too, and I believe that even more after looking at things the last 24 hours, is the Oilers don't feel they're going to make any apologies for this. That after a season like this one, you have to look at what happened. You have to make hard decisions and you have to say we're going to make what we think are the best decisions for our organization so that we can win. And I think when you look back to when Chris Noblock got hired, I remember I jokingly called him on the air, Kyle, and on the podcast, Kometo's Chris, because he never seemed to have a reaction to anything. He was so calm, like at times I wondered, was he breathing? He was calm. And the Oilers laughed at that. I remember the first time someone reached out and they said, are you insulting him? And I said, no, I am just unbelievably impressed by how calm he was. And at the time, that was one of the reasons the Oilers really liked the idea of hiring him. They felt they needed a calmer presence behind the bench, and they felt that's exactly what the players needed. And Kyle, they responded under him. They went to two Stanley Cup finals, a game seven and a game six. And one thing I hate is people who say, oh, well, he had a great team. You know what, there's lots of coaches who have great teams that don't make one Stanley Cup final, never mind two or two in a row. We rip coaches when they don't get results. We can't strip them of the credit when they do. And I think the Oilers felt that Nobloc's demeanor and how calm he was was a major factor in getting the team there and was what the players needed at the time. Now, Kyle, I think in the aftermath of this defeat, I am hearing that the Oilers feel there needs to be a different approach. And how many times does this happen, Kyle, that you go from one person as a coach, and you make a change. And yes, Kyle is making a circle move with his fingers. You go completely different. You go 180 degrees, you go the opposite. And I do think that's a play here. And I think the Oilers want a coach who will be a bit more of a grinder, a bit more strict, and on top of their players, a bit more. And this points in the direction of one person. And we'll get there in a minute, because everybody knows who I'm talking about, because he certainly has that reputation. But I believe the Oilers felt that their team, just like they needed a change in personality, when they brought in Chris Knoblock three years ago, they felt they needed one now. And one of the things that I was talking about with another coach, as we were talking about this on Thursday, and he suspected that was the exact reason that Edmonton made the change, he said that the big challenge with that is that if you're asking Knoblock to act like that, the players are going to think he's a phony. They're going to say, oh, now, after three years with us, you're suddenly this guy, this is who you are. And it can be a very, very difficult change to make. And ultimately, this is the path, I think, between ownership pressure and this kind of overall vision about how the coach needs to approach the team on a day-to-day basis. They decided to make the change. Like, this is not all on Knoblock. Yes, there were decisions that were made that were out of his control that didn't help him. Yes, they had major injuries, especially down the middle for the Oilers. It is not all on Knoblock. But I think one of the things that they discussed as an organization was they want someone to maybe grind their players a bit more, be harder on their players a bit more, push their players a bit more, and they didn't think that was him. You can agree, you can disagree, but I really believe that is at the heart of this decision. That leads us to Bruce Cassidy. When I was talking about this with people, we were all laughing that it sounds like one guy, because Bruce Cassidy, he's got a great hockey mind, he really knows the game, he can grind you. We've all heard the stories. He will get on you, he will push you, and he will make sure that you do what he wants you to do. And if not, he will challenge you. As of Thursday night, I still don't believe anyone had been given permission to talk to him. I don't think it's a no, I just think it's a non-answer. Now, one of the things I do believe is that the Golden Knights, whether you agree with it or not, had decided they didn't want to deal with this during a series. Well, as we know, they've knocked out Anaheim, they're not playing again until Wednesday. I suspect now we're going to get a bit more clarity. Is there a chance that he doesn't end up in Edmonton? Yes, there's a chance, but I think they're going to go hard at him. And the other thing that's interesting I didn't realize until somebody pointed this out to me today, is that Bruce Cassidy and Stan Bowman have history. They worked together in Chicago. Before Bowman was the GM, he was a scout in Chicago. And Bruce Cassidy, after he was fired as coach of the Capitals, he became a scout for the Blackhawks. He had a tie-in. Bob Pulford had known Cassidy when Cassidy was drafted by the team. And I don't know, I don't want to speak for either one of them. I don't know if they're friends, but I think they are friendly. And I think they enjoyed, I heard they enjoyed working with each other. And they had kind of a respect for each other. Again, that doesn't mean Edmonton is 100% a lock to get them. But I do think there's a history between the two of them, which means there's a familiarity there. I don't think Cassidy is going to end up in Toronto. I think that it's unlikely that he goes there. And I wouldn't say he's their number one choice either from what I'm hearing. But I do think the others have a legitimate rival in LA. I think the Kings are very interested in Cassidy. I think they want to talk to Cassidy. It just comes down to me, Kyle, unless there's a lifestyle reason you're picking LA over Edmonton, if you're talking about purely the team that can win you the Stanley Cup, you're closer to winning the Stanley Cup with, even with Edmonton's disappointment in the playoffs this year, I just think they're ahead of LA. You watch LA against Colorado in the first round, the Kings have a long way to go. And they're also a team in transition. Bottom line though, with the fact Edmonton's done this the way they've done it, they have to get them. Like, to me, it's you get permission to talk to him, you lock him in the trunk of your car, and you do not allow him to leave without signing a contract. And Cassidy's leverage on them is enormous. As far as I'm concerned, Edmonton has no choice but to draw bags of money on them and make sure they get their man. I mean, that's just kind of the situation they've been put in. And everything I heard Thursday about why they may have made the decision, it just screams Bruce Cassidy. Could they talk to Peter Lavialat? Yes, I think they could. Could they talk to Craig Barube? I think they could. They want people like that. I'll tell you, I was listening to the end of, because I was driving home from Buffalo, Kyle, I was listening to the end of Vegas, Anaheim on the radio. And I was thinking, if Vegas doesn't keep John Tortorella, he might be a guy that feels kind of what they want. But to me, it just screams Cassidy. And I think if you're the Oilers, you've got to make sure you get them. Thoughts, questions, opinions, ideas? Yeah. Well, also, and there's a connection, McDavid now has some familiarity with him with Hockey Canada the last couple of years, him being on that staff. So there's a bit of a known commodity there. And I also, yeah, if Cassidy is the guy that they ultimately want, like, even if you're unapologetic about how this all played out this week and something getting out before, you're able to officially make a decision on Knoblock and just how the perception and all of that looks, by the end of it, you can't be going, well, we ended up with Option B or Option C. You've got to get your guy when this is all said and done. And I didn't go through, I didn't have a chance, obviously, we had a game day here on Thursday. I didn't have a chance to go through the entire Stan Bowman press avail. But one of the lines about him trying to find a coach that they can get the most out of the group and particularly how they defend. And I mean, that's been the ongoing conversation in Edmonton since this whole era began. Wouldn't you say that's always been kind of there? But when you look at like two years ago, and that's the team that Drysidle pointed out is that was the best oiler team that he had been part of. And it wasn't just because they had got the closest that they had got to Game 7 of the Cup final against Florida. But what was the main reason? Like they had depth, they had options, they had other guys that they could play so the top ones didn't have to play over half the game. And lo and behold, that team defended better. Like when we came on, we did the, we were there, the conference final against Dallas, we were there for the Cup final against Florida. And there were some shaky moments, no question. But I don't recall the narrative in general around the Oilers being once again, this is a team that is choosing not to defend. It was, it was a different team and a big part of it was personnel. Yes, there was coaching and the way NobLock had him going. But they had, in a lot of cases, the right people in the right spots for a team that could handle two months of a playoff journey and almost got the whole thing done. So, you know, as much as they want to get the right coach, and if they have determined that Chris is no longer the guy, okay. But now, you know, it's the off season, July 1st, however they go about it, because it's not going to be through draft capital in the short term, it's becoming so, so critical in filling out a lineup that at least gives you a chance to whoever the coach ends up being, a chance to play the style that is, is necessary. And it's not always the same guys that, that it's been for the better part of the last decade. I think I also wonder, Kyle, we'll see how this all turns out. But I wonder if a lot of these teams are just looking at with so little being available in terms of free agency, unless you think you can make trades or there's trades you want to make, how much change can you do? And that's why you have a pro scouting staff or your analytics department that you really trust. Like Colorado turned Parker Kelly into a 20 goal guy. Yes. You know, like for using them as an example. And like, and they've, and that's 100% finding a guy that is fit in your system. And, and just the environment that pulls that out of players, they rebuilt their goal-tenning tandem in a span of 10 days last year. That used to be looked at after they won the cup, those years that ensued, a real weak point for them. They got that figured out. And now, you know, they're, they won the President's Trophy this year. They've lost one game so far in the playoffs, like they're, they're still every bit the favorite that you looked at them as back in January and December. So like, I think there's ways to do it, Elliot. It is, it is a struggle for sure. But I mean, like, I think that's, that's why you, you have those areas of your hockey department. I mean, we'll get to the Montreal game that we were at here on Thursday, but what was Martin St. Louis line that he gave you when you were asking about a possible goalie swap tonight in Yakub Dobish and power those that have the expertise in that certain situation? Yes, I think you're right about that 100%. I like the two guys that got at their deadline, Murphy and Dickinson. I thought they were great fits. That makes me wonder if they're going to be able to keep them. And if you can keep them, you may have less flexibility to do other things. So I just find the whole thing very fascinating. Bruce Cassidy with that team, could be really interesting. It just says to me that they want to shake up their group as much as anything. You know, it wasn't easy for Trent Frederick under Bruce Cassidy in Boston. So that's another reason that this whole thing is interesting to me. Yeah, that's a good point. Do they see Cassidy as a guy who can unlock them? It's interesting. We'll see where this goes. But I wanted to try to explain what happened. That's, that's what I think happened. Have added everyone. Couple of things I just want to do here. As I mentioned with LA, I think they're very interested in Cassidy. I also would suspect they're going to ask to speak to Jay Woodcroft now. Nobody knows Woodcroft better than Ken Holland. I've got to think he's going to be a factor in their conversation. And I, well, I don't think, as I said earlier, that Cassidy is going to be a factor, a big factor in Toronto. I do think Woodcroft is going to be interviewed by Toronto too. All right. We'll get to Toronto in a moment. So the Oilers off season is already off to an interesting start in Northern Alberta. Meanwhile, in Vancouver, that also became official on Thursday, Elliott, the Sedine twins are in their co-presidents of hockey operations. Ryan Johnson is the next general manager of the Canucks. So this is something that we were anticipating to happen this week. And now it has, I think unsurprisingly, the initial reaction among the fan base is excitement. There's familiarity. There's trust with the Sedines. And of course, how long Johnson's been within the organization and all the positive reviews he's gotten, whether it's from Jim Rutherford. I saw Max Sasson is on Dolly Wall and Donnie there and spoke very highly of him as well. What's your take on what you heard and what you saw out of Vancouver Thursday? Do you want to give your doll wall impression? No, because really it's Dom's impression. And I just don't want to give your doll wall impressions. Kyle, Kyle, what do you mean, Kyle? Kyle. That's pretty good. They can't have two VPs. Elliott, listen, Elliott. Okay, so because I was driving home after Savers Canadians, and I made some notes after the game, I asked Dom to give a checklist of what he wanted us to talk about, because Dom is the president of the Canucks Fan Club. Okay, so this is what Dom gave us a list of, Kyle, and I'll try to answer them all. Foot's future, head coach, Adam Foot. So let me start out backwards a bit here. Did you notice how the Sedines and Johnson were very careful about everything they said, Kyle? Yes. Dom, did you notice that? It was the main takeaway. Okay, so someday John Ferguson, who now works for Utah and used to be the GM of the Maple East, is going to get another shot at this. Someday he will. And I always remember that one of the things that got Ferguson in trouble, in his first day with Toronto, was they asked him, are you going to bring back Doug Gilmore? Gilmore had come back, he'd been injured, playing for the Leafs. And they said, are you going to bring him back? And he said, we're not going to bring him back. It was his first day on the job, just his introduction. And instead of the headline being, John Ferguson is the new GM of the Leafs, here who he is. Like the front page of Toronto Sun was like, new GM, no Gilmore. Like it was just, he electrocuted himself on the first day. And like I said, someday, Fergie's going to get another shot. I think he deserves it. But I've always remembered that, don't do that on your first day. And I think that's what this was about. This was about the Siddheens and Ryan Johnson. This was not supposed to be about anybody else. And also, I think in Vancouver, it's very easy to light yourself on fire. And they were determined not to do that. I think also, any decision they make about Adam Foote, they're going to do it with him directly. He's going to hear it from them. He's going to, they're going to talk with him. They're going to, he's going to know whatever they decide before the general public is. Look at this Craig Barube, Toronto thing. They said, very respectful things about Barube publicly. I heard they were very respectful to Barube privately when they made the decision he knew before the general public did. And whatever happens here in Vancouver, that's the way it's going to be from now on. One of the things I heard, Kyle and Dom, is that apparently the Siddheens want to shut down the flow of information out of that front office. They are determined to make annoying people like myself and our lives a lot more difficult. And I think that's what a bit of today was about. We're going to control the information your guys are going to find out the information when we're good and ready. And that's the way this is going to go. Now, I can't guarantee it's always going to be like that, but I think that's the way they want to try to make it. We are going to shut down the flow of information of things we don't want out there. And that, and I think they were respectful to Foote. And they said when, first of all, he's going to find out before any of you do what we decide to do. And secondly, we are going to try to release things on our own time. Now, I did think it was interesting that Ryan Johnson pointed out what I do think a lot of people feel in Vancouver. And that was that Foote was thrown into a maelstrom not of his own making. And there were a lot of things that went sideways this year that were out of his control. To me, one of the biggest questions is where do they think this draft is going? Who do they think is going one? Who do they think is going two? And who's going to be there at three? And do they feel that Adam Foote can properly develop that player? And I think also two, and I said this on radio in Vancouver when Dom had me go on with Satchaw and Bick Nizar. And someone called me and said, I was listening to that. And they said, what happens if Vancouver thinks they're getting a defenseman at three? You know, you could do a hell of a lot worse for your first coach to be Adam Foote. If your first pick this year is a defenseman who you think could play next year. So I mean, these are some of the things that people were talking about with me. Anyway, I'd be lying if I tell you I knew where this was going to go. And I'm going to be even more careful after what happened in Toronto where some people got fooled. Like I didn't know which way it was going to go. And I was a little bit surprised. But you know, there were people who got fooled because they read the tea leaves wrong. So I'm going to be really careful here. Because I think Vancouver wants to do what Toronto did, keep people guessing until they make their decision. Are you satisfied with that answer? Dom? Yes, thank you. On to the next one. Okay, see, Don, Don gives me a checklist and I listen to whatever he says. The leaves going to put pressure on them to deal with Manny? Yes, I do think, I do think the Canox may have a decision to make here. I had heard that when Jim Rutherford was in charge, they were considering doing the same thing with Manny Malhotra that they did with Ryan Johnson. Nobody can talk to him until we sort this out. I believe they were considering that with Malhotra. I don't know if anybody's asked them for permission to speak to him. I had heard that the Kings would might consider interviewing him too. I mentioned that in a couple places on Thursday that I heard that Malhotra's name came up in at least one interview with the Maple Leafs that they were asking if you wanted to make a coaching change, who would you consider as a replacement? And I didn't think about it until later. I should have thought about it. I should have realized who it probably was. But I wondered if that was Mike Gillis who suggested it. Because obviously Gillis had him as a player. He recruited him. He signed him as a free agent. And I know Gillis has enormous respect for Malhotra. So it makes sense to me that that would have been the guy who suggested it. And I did hear that the Maple Leafs were, they know him. He was an assistant. He worked in the organization. I think they were intrigued by that idea. So I do think it's possible, yes, that they will force them to make a decision. Dom's next question was AGM's future. I think that goes to what I was talking about there. I do expect some change, but the Canucks are going to try to control the flow of information. I also had mentioned a couple of times that there were people who, a lot of people whose contracts were up. I have heard rumors so far unconfirmed that some of them were extended. So I don't know if the changes will be as sweeping as they could have been, but I am expecting some change. Jamie Langenbrunner leaving Boston. Where is he heading? There were some rumors that there were some philosophical differences on the Boston staff. You know, obviously Langenbrunner is coming out Thursday after Vancouver made his decision, tells you that Boston didn't feel the need to do this until they were certain that he wasn't going there. I'm not sure yet. There's been some speculation about Minnesota, but I don't know that for sure. I thought the interesting thing on Thursday about the Canucks was they were asked about a timetable for the rebuild and they gave actually a pretty good answer. The longer we take to be smart, the shorter the rebuild will be, that just says to me that they're going to hit singles. Unless a superstar player drops on their lap, which I don't think anybody is expecting right now, they're just going to try to make smart decisions to make themselves better. Honestly, I think anytime you put a time limit on a rebuild or a clock on a rebuild, you are asking for trouble. Chicago's got a lot of good young players. They're still trying to climb the hump. San Jose's got some good young players. They were closer this year, but they've still got to climb the hump. Anaheim won a round this year, gave Vegas a good fight. It was a long time to get there. Rebuilds take time. I think that was the right answer. Hit singles, hit singles. Any word on what is happening with Alvin? I'm not sure. Why did they choose Johnson over Gold? Okay. I think there were two searches going on here. One was the Siddheens, would they say yes, which they did. The other was for the GM, Johnson and Gold. I think the Siddheens at the end, they met with both of them face to face. They said it. They know Johnson. I'll tell you this. When I reported on Monday on the pod that the Siddheens were taking the job, someone called me right away and said, they're hiring Johnson. I go, what do you mean? He goes, the Siddheens like familiarity. They're going to go with someone they know. Johnson was running the scouting meetings over the last couple weeks. He's been around them for a long time. The other thing is, I think Johnson, never mind, I think, I now know Johnson was offered the job on Sunday night. I don't know where all this other stuff was coming on Monday. It's a crazy time of year. I think stuff is insane. Johnson was offered the job on Sunday night. Then I don't know why it took until Thursday to announce. Probably some blind negotiation at some point too of his contract. I would say that he's someone they knew. He's someone they saw. That doesn't mean that they don't think Evan Gold's any good. I think Evan Gold's time is coming too. It's just a matter of time. But I think they chose the familiarity and I believe it was their choice. Don, you got anything else for me? That clears everything, boss. All right. Where do you want? You got anything else for me, Kyle? Well, I think we found the title of the episode, Stuff is Insane. Stuff is insane. There's a lot of crazy stuff. This is the time of year where a lot of crazy stuff flies around. Really? Didn't you think listening to that on Thursday from them, as much as, okay, what are they going to do at third overall? How are they going to handle the development of who they have in-house and who ultimately will be coming? It seems like priority one is what sort of behavioral standards are we going to have in place for everyone in the organization? When you set foot in the dressing room, what are we going to be about? What matters to us? And then build it up from there. Not to keep making references to Montreal, but I think when Martin Saint-Louis and that whole new regime came in, there was a lot of that that went on there. Now you're seeing it kind of bare fruit in the playoffs where everyone's almost operating with the same brain in some way, shape or form. I just listened to Johnson a little bit there on Thursday. Sounds like that's almost as big of a priority from the outset compared to, all right, what's our target come draft? What's our target come free agency and beyond? You want to hear my theory on that? What's that? My theory on that is they feel that the pride in being a canak is slipped. It was fascinating and it triggered my mind when that stuff about the community involvement. I have to say, I didn't grow up in Vancouver. I grew up nearby on Vancouver Island. That, without even, it just is a kid and it's all anecdotal. I didn't have any actual awareness in my mind of what that all meant compared to other markets in the NHL, but I remember feeling that as a kid that it's just like, man, the canak players were always involved in stuff beyond the actual games themselves. It was interesting that that was brought up and is clearly a priority too because it's a big deal. You've heard Kevin talk about when that team was at the height of his powers when they played there. What did all meant? Yes, I took that to mean that, you know, look, we all know about last year, last couple of years, we don't have to re-litigate it that it's over. We're looking forward, but I think it's all part and parcel. It's all a big, it's all the ingredients of what they think went wrong. They feel the pride in being a canak and the pride of representing the community as a canak was not there. That's what that meant to me and nobody was more proud to represent the canaks than the Siddheans were. And, you know, especially when you're going younger and you're starting out, you have to have pride in the uniform, right? Like, you know, Kyle, I don't agree with everything the company I work for does, but I have a lot of pride to work for sports night. Like, that's the way it should be. It has to be like that. And that's what they were saying. Yeah. All right. So they did not, as you put it, electrocute themselves day one at the podium. And it's a new era in Vancouver with the Siddheans at the helm and Ryan Johnson there as well. So someone said to me, Kyle, you are getting nothing out of those guys. And I said, oh, yeah, let's see what I can do here. You are being thrown into the Siddhean spin cycle. The Siddhean cycle of silence. Yeah. So those guys are going to tell you nothing. Yes. Yes. The term Siddheanery is going to take on a new shape here now that they're working in the front office. Had again by the Siddheanery. Yeah, got nothing. Okay. So you touched on Toronto a little bit here earlier with, you know, Craig Barubi now out as head coach of the Maple Leaps after two seasons. And yes, it sounded like it certainly caught a few people off guard. Do you think Barubi himself was caught off guard by this? I kind of have wondered if some of the reason that the feeling that based on what I've heard after it happened, I do wonder Kyle, some of the reason that some people thought he was coming back was like, I heard the meeting was pretty cordial. And I heard some people walked out of it feeling like, oh, okay, this is all going to work out. Well, you know, I don't know. I wasn't there. I can't explain why that was. But I definitely, the word was around that some people walked out of there with a feeling of optimism. And obviously that wasn't the case. But, you know, like I said, I do think they'll reach out to talk to Cassidy, but I would not, I'd say it's extremely unlikely he's going to end up being the guy in Toronto. And I do think they are prepared to go fresh. Someone new, someone different. I think Malhotra very legitimate candidate. I think Woodcroft potentially a candidate. I do think, you know, if David Carl wanted to talk to them, I think he would be a candidate. And I think there's going to be others. I don't think this team is afraid of some, like the conventional wisdom in Toronto is you don't bring a new person into there. I don't, I mean, Sheldon Keefe was there. I don't think they believe that. I think they are willing to take chances. If they find the right guy, they want somebody like the word I heard on Thursday was build. You know, Sandin and Chaka are supposed to build a new era. Can they find a coach who's going to build that with them? Yeah, interesting times. And all those names you laid out, I think could potentially fit that mold there too in Toronto. Okay. Amber, by the way, was really pumping John Gruden. Did you hear that? No, I did not. Yeah, he was really pumping up John Gruden. I'm not talking about banana spider John Gruden, the football coach, talking about the coach, the Marlies, and they beat they beat Laval this week and they took game one against Cleveland the other night. So I don't know what Amber's connection is with him, but he was really pumping his tires. Nice. Yeah, I mean, he's to Dave's point, building a pretty decent track record down there with the Marlies. Okay, anything else in Toronto? No. Okay. So we talked last spot. I lived there. Yes, yes, you do. Thank you. Thank you for including that. You're welcome. So we talked last pot about Macklin Celebrini, captain of Canada at the World Championships, and now Sidney Crosby decided he's going to join. And so the conversation of, all right, so what happens with the captaincy? It's been determined that Celebrini's going to stick with it. Crosby was asked about he's going like, it doesn't matter to me. It's an interesting conversation now to have. Like I kind of said last pot, I know if I was in Celebrini's shoes, I wouldn't feel comfortable continuing to do that. But I also know like I don't have the same level of self-confidence of an elite athlete like Celebrini. So who am I to try to imagine what that would be? But Celebrini's going to remain the captain there. So Kyle, this is my response to you that you couldn't do it. Don't be a chicken. It's not about that. It's honestly, again, only my own feeling. It's just a respect thing. I go, I understand that. So another person I respect besides you, because I do have great respect for you, was another one of our teammates, Justin Bourne. Okay, I'm a big Justin Bourne fan. Yeah. And he like you could not fathom this decision. And I'm just reading his ex post. Sid not having to see for a Canadian team he's playing on is insane. Great's always talk about learning from the greats before them. If he's there, he's obviously the captain, just give him the letter. Doesn't matter, but sometimes we twist ourselves in knots overthinking stuff. I actually think it puts Celebrini in a weird spot. I'd be embarrassed. I really like Justin. I think his stuff is excellent. I disagree with both of you here. And here's my hot take. I think forcing Celebrini to get comfortable as the captain over Sid on a team is the best thing that could ever happen to him. Well, I shouldn't say that because there's a lot of great things that are going to happen to him. No, I think this is a great thing to happen to him now. Because I believe that the only way you can make yourself better is by sometimes forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations and learning how to make them work. Because I am with you and I am with Justin. If you put me on a team with someone like Crosby and I'm the C and he's the A, I'd be looking and saying, what on earth am I doing here? What kind of bizarre world have I ended up on? However, if you stay with it, you force yourself to adapt to it and you force yourself to become comfortable with it. And I think that's good for Celebrini. I mean, the guy's still 19 years old. He's an incredible talent. He sounds like an incredible person. And it's very clear, Kyle, the respect his peers have for him is off the charts. Like he was already the captain ahead of John Tavares and Ryan O'Reilly. Like talk about, like those guys aren't Crosby, but they're hugely respected among their peers. So now that this is done, I'm looking at it like you are forcing Celebrini to adapt to this and handle this. And I think that's smart. Now that it exists, and now that's going to be like that, I'm actually really interested to see it. And you know who's going to benefit the most from it? The San Jose Sharks. Because if this works, he comes back next year and he's even more confident in himself. And he's even more confident in his ability to lead. And I heard that Celebrini was genuinely uncomfortable. Saying the captain would sit on the team. I heard Crosby pushed back, said, no, you should stay. And I heard the players rallied in his support. Tell you this, if I was the Sharks, I would be thrilled with this. And I think in the long run, Celebrini will say, yeah, I didn't like it. But it turned out to be really good for me. Sometimes we need to be uncomfortable to be more successful. Yeah, it's all great points. And there's no question kind of how a hockey Canada sees him going forward. Especially as we've got a bit of an Olympic plan over the next little bit, the World Cup of Hockey, all those things like there will come a day where Sidney Crosby is no longer a player. Connor McDavid eventually one day, hopefully not for a long time yet, will age out. And you can see that guy as the face of the future. And it's already starting to happen. When you name him captain in that environment, even before, as you say, Crosby comes into the fold. That's a big vote of confidence from hockey Canada right there. So yeah, I hope that's how it ends up being because he's done nothing but show he's capable of everything that even the wildest of expectations that have been put on him and even more to this point in his career. By the way, when they're down to nothing to Finland after a period, I still want to hear Crosby start to get up and say something and celebrate to respond, hey, this is my team now. Yeah, you go sit in the corner. I've got this one said. Sit down, old man. Yes, that's right. So youth assert for Canada, the world championships and in that light, Matthew Schaefer, unanimous Calder trophy winner, all 198 votes had him first on their ballots. Only Tim Musilani is the other unanimous Calder trophy winner in the history of that award. Another beautiful scene with the family on good morning America. I mean, gosh, just as if we all needed another reason to be behind the Schaefer's there. None of that was a surprise, Elliot, but neat to see and just well deserved. Not only was it an incredible first season, it was a historic first season for him in the NHL. Yeah, and I think the most impressive thing Schaefer did this year was get 198 voters to agree on something because that never happens. All 198 voters had him in first. That's an incredible accomplishment first since Tim Musilani in 93 and also the first defenseman ever to do it. Single handedly changed the perception around the New York Islanders. And as you said, a really nice kid. And if I could shout out one thing in particular, it was the good morning America broadcasters who really realized the moment. Sometimes as a broadcaster, you really have to recognize, hey, this isn't about me, get out of the way. And they did. They did a great job. They saw how that was unfolding. They saw all the emotion and they just stayed out of the way. And that is a class in broadcasting I would show people. I would say, you don't even know who's hosting this segment. They're just like, this is bigger than us. We're getting out of the way. And that's the way it's supposed to be. Yeah, very nicely done there. And congrats again to Matthew Schaefer. Okay, final thought now, which is presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers in LA, the Philadelphia Flyers had their locker cleanouts. They included itemized lists of all the players that were dealing with injuries. And it was a long one for the team that had a surprising run down the second half and into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Danny Brayer said, amongst other things, we're still in the growth part of the rebuild. And of course, there's the Matt Vee Mechkov question that we had kind of touched on after their season had ended. And that being the big one for the Flyers going into the off season, everybody seemingly who spoke there on Thursday backing their young forward. What did you think? Yeah, I really liked the way the Flyers handled that press conference because there was a lot of room for, again, what did we talk about with the Vancouver? Don't pour gasoline on the fire. There was a lot of room there to pour gasoline on the fire. Number one, I thought the players did a great job of supporting Mechkov. You know, I'm not there. That's true. And so there are things that I don't see. One of the rumors that has kind of been going around this year. And again, I'm not there every day is that maybe he doesn't have a strong relationship with all of his teammates. Well, whatever the truth is, those Flyers players made that very hard to believe. They came out and they supported them. And I thought that was very important. I thought Taukett made a point of talking them up because that's another one that the belief is they don't have a great relationship. Taukett didn't say anything about him that I thought was out of bounds or over the line. And Breyer made it very clear that he considers Mechkov still a very big part of their future. You know, I think that situation is such a lightning rod that you're until he's successful, you're not going to be able to totally short out that electric storm. But the Flyers did as good a job as an organization in their exit meetings as they could. And I think what they did was they calmed a lot of their fans and especially people who support Mechkov down. They made those people feel comfortable that there was a path forward for him in the organization. And I thought they handled it really well. Just wanted to mention it. Yeah, good stuff. All right. That was the final thought presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers. We'll take our first break. No thought line in today's episode. That'll be back on Monday's edition. But when we come back, we'll look at the two games on Thursday nights and the aftermath of the Minnesota Wild. Now that their season has come to an end at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche. 32 Thoughts The Podcast continues after this. All right, Elliott. So Thursday night, we were back in Buffalo for game five of the Sabres and the Canadians. Montreal doubles up Buffalo's six to three at the end of the game after completing the post game interviews for the broadcast, going into the dressing room, getting some of the post game sound. I walk back towards our little studio area down at ice level, just past the dressing rooms to gather up my things before heading on out. And just down the hallway from there is a door that kicks out into the big plaza out in front of the arena. And the roar I heard from that plaza as I'm gathering my stuff, Elliott, it was not let's go Buffalo. It was not Sabres on a Warpath. It was Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole. That sound encapsulated at least the end of the night for Montreal, even if the start was different. But nevertheless, the Canadians once again pick up a huge win on the road and have a chance to close out this series game six at home. What did you think? Kyle, before I get to that, and my thoughts on that game, I have to make a plea to one particular individual and they will know who they are when they hear this message. I was on the phone during the game with a call I had to take and somebody was waiting to talk to me and I couldn't talk to them. I was on the phone. I could not drop the call. So what they did was they wrote a message on their iPhone and they showed it to me. So I would like the watch expert and this person, if they know, if they hear this, they will know what I am referring to, the watch expert to send me a DM or go through the 32-thought line and tell me more about your message. And I know a bunch of you, because that's the way the world is, that's pretty funny, are going to start sending me cryptic messages. But I know what he specifically was talking about and the watchmaker knows what he was specifically talking about. So none of you are going to be able to fool me unless you hit me with this specific message. I didn't understand fully what you meant and I need to know. Okay. Was someone trying to sell you watches? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I will explain to you offline and I will explain it to people in a future pod if the watchmaker reaches out to me. Okay. Well, I'm holding you to that because there was a lot of holes in what you just described there. I know what people are going to do. They're going to start coming at me with this crazy stuff. And if I give it away, someone's going to fool me. Okay. If you're a Sabres fan, that was demoralizing. If you are a Canadians fan, that was ecstasy personified. At the end of the game, there were some Sabres fans I came across, Kyle, and I give them credit. They looked at me and Dave and they go, we'll see you Monday for game seven. I go, I like the confidence, I like the optimism. They looked at me and they said, right now it's all we got. Tough night, tough night. And you know, I think the really tough thing is, and everybody knows Kyle, they had dobes on the ropes. They had them on the ropes and they couldn't hold the lead. You know, I think the two most important things that happened in the first period were the two goals that Montreal scored. Because once again, the Sabres scored early and Montreal ties it. If you're a Buffalo, you're like, we got to hold a lead longer than that. Sabres score again and Doberts look shaky. And again, you let Montreal tie it. And you're like, geez, this guy's leaky. We can't hold it. And then he gives up that third one, which was the worst goal he's given up probably in months. And Martin San Luis is thinking of pulling them. That includes one that went off a stanchion. That's right. And he thinks he's getting pulled out of the game. And Martin San Luis is thinking about it. And as he explained later, the goalie coach said, leave him in there. Let him, let him figure it out. But right in that first period, if you are the Sabres, you have to deliver the knockout blow in the octagon. And they didn't do it. They didn't. If you're a Sabres fan, you're like, we had that guy. And then at the beginning of the second period, the ice is tilted, the Canadians can't get out of their zone, but now Doberts is holding. And Cal, the Sabres lost that game in the first period when they let Dobish get to the room to reset. Because whatever he does, and we've, and we had the interview where he talks about visualizing and imagining himself as the wall and things like that, the wall cracked in that first period. It was going down, but he gets to the intermission and he comes out renewed. That's where Buffalo lost this game. You score three goals in the first period against the Canadians. You think you're winning this game. The other storyline in there, in the goal, and you know, it was interesting. So I was talking to somebody about Lukanin and the big win he had in game four. He comes in, he says, I'm excited. He started nervous. But again, you know, the Canadians could have knocked him out and they didn't. And he got better as that game went on and he won. And someone said to me, the challenge for him is there's been a lot of cases where he came in, he pulled himself off the mat. But the problem is he can't sustain it. Like, and he said, someone actually said to me, his bigger game will be the second game. Because look, like he's shown he has the talent to win that first one. But could he keep the number one job? Can he maintain it? And, and this person said to me, from what I know of the savers, they'll go back to Lyon, if they feel that they will not be afraid to go back to him. And, you know, unfortunately, Lukanin couldn't hold. And, you know, Kelly called it, Kelly was hot. He said Demidov would score, he was right. And Kelly also called it saying Lyon would come out for the third period. And he did. And you've got to think Lyon. He said Dobish was staying in after the first. That's right. Kelly had a really hot night. Kelly should just retire. He had a great night broadcasting. And, and I think we'll see Lyon on Saturday. I don't think there's any doubt about that. But, you know, that was a night where both Goldies were vulnerable and Dobish pulled it out. And unfortunately for Lukanin, he couldn't. And I understood why all the savers fans were crushed. Like, you're thinking the way that first period's going. And even like the first four or five minutes in the second, we're, we got this. At worst, we're coming home on Monday night for game seven. And you let that one slip away. That was, that was a really tough one. I got to tell you too, I wanted to, I didn't notice this until I got it from a viewer named Scott Weldon. He pointed out that Deline and Thompson have 40 penalty minutes in these playoffs. Thompson is 22 and Deline has 18. I just think it's too much. You know, Deline's penalty, he was playing defense, but that Thompson penalty. And you could tell there was an embellishment penalty called in the Anaheim game on Thursday night. And you could tell the way the first, the two teams played the first two periods of Montreal Buffalo, they were warned. They knew they'd be on the lookout and Thompson didn't like what happened on that play. But Thompson's got to be better than that. Like, and he's the one who said, we've talked about keeping our composure. We've talked about keeping our composure. But Deline and Thompson, 40 minutes in penalties, you need those guys on the ice. They just can't, no matter how frustrated they get, they can't lose their composure. Like, they, that was a concerning one. This has been a tight series back and forth. It's one of those games where, you know, you have no room for error, Kyle, but, and the Sabres has shown an awful lot this year. This is a, this is a big one for them, because it's the first time in the playoffs to me. They really looked rattled, rattled at the end of this one. Yeah. And the penalties certainly were part of it as you touched on and Montreal goes two for two in this game. And Craig Simpson always talks about, like, you know, as a player, like there's a certain moments in the game where a power plate creeps up and you're like, we're not, not scoring here. Like, we're taking advantage of this now. And they did both times. And now it's, you know, concerning for Buffalo too, is that, you know, unfortunately, Alex Tuck had a phenomenal series against Boston. And it just hasn't carried over. He still hasn't had his, his moment yet here in this series against Montreal. Thompson scored, you know, a couple of big goals, but is minus nine in the series. And now on the flip side, you know, the, the Suzuki line had been struggling to get things going five on five for the longest time. Like now they're starting to go a little bit here, right? Like Coughfield scored in three straight. Suzuki has points in every game, but one in this series, Slavkovsky, you know, got on the board a couple of games ago in Montreal. And, you know, his, he was a factor I felt in game five and the way that he was able to contribute. Like now, all of a sudden, you know, the top guys from Montreal are starting to feel it and the Sabres equivalent haven't got there yet. So, you know, now there's, there's nothing to save it for. If you're Buffalo, you go into Montreal, you know, you've won every game on the road these playoffs, except one. That was game three of this series. So it's a situation that they are comfortable in. But, you know, if, if game four was an opportunity missed or one that you felt slip away for the Canadians, it felt like that tenfold for the Sabres here in game five. And now, you know, just another one day in between to, to reset yourself and understand that, you know, one road win sets up a win and move on game seven. Yeah. I, Kyle, I, you know, one guy who has not made an impact yet in this series, I think is too good not to is Tuck. I just, I can't see this series ending without Tuck having a big night. Big night. I'm with you. That's gonna be crazy in Montreal on Saturday. So I'm usually I go in the night before I'm not this time spending Friday night with my family. And I'm going in first thing Saturday morning. I cannot wait for that day. It is going to be banana pants in Montreal. Banana pants. Yeah. Banana pants. It's gonna be great. Finally, a Saturday night. That's why the Caulfield came out of the dress room after the game. It was like, finally, we get a Saturday. Oh, nice. Wait, wait for one of those. I wanted to shout out Carl Bicknell, who is a, an ex follower. He was the one who sent me the note about Caulfield skates. Oh, way to go Carl. Yes. He was the one who sent and you pointed out the top of the show. He stayed with the ones from last game you scored with. And also Demidov went to the white tape and he was fantastic. Yes. He'd started from black tape to white tape. Then he went black. It was, when was it? I think it was after the second period game. Either game four or game six against Tampa, which, which every game it was when he had that great, maybe game six, that great chance at the side of the net on Vasilevsky on the power play. And Vasilevsky got across and then he switched after that up until I think, yeah, game five back to white. My only huge disappointment about this game, Kyle, was that I am going to get blamed for the saber tooth statistical meltdown. That's right. So saber tooth analytics just down the drain. Saberlytics. So I and me and Dave and you are located at the top of one of the sections. And before the game, saber tooth repelled down and one of the fans turned to me and they said, you know, we're two and O in the playoffs when saber tooth does the rappel and we're O and three when he doesn't. So we're winning tonight. I said to myself, there is no way this is true. Like I am being punked. Someone is trying to see if they can get me to put this to air and then say, can you believe this idiot listened to me and put this to air? So I sent a text to the great savers PR duo of Nicole Hendricks and Chris Durkin. And I said, this is the dumbest question I'm ever going to ask you. And I wrote, I realized that's a high bar. But this is the dumbest question I'm going to ask you, but is this true? They wrote back. Yes, that actually is true. So saber tooth. So the fans, the fans were actually ecstatic that like they were cheering this mascot like crazy knew what it meant. And then of course, we pointed out and they lose. So they were leading. Sorry about that. Yes. I'm sorry about that. I actually did it when they had the lead, which only makes it worse. Yeah. So we still got to do Anaheim and we still got to do Colorado and Minnesota. But can I do my shout outs here? Is that okay? Kyle? Yes. Yeah, yeah. We got no thought line today. So fire away. The first thing I wanted to shut out were the fans in the building, everybody. So in the beginning of the game, there was a lot of excitement as you could imagine. It's game five of a tide series, two big great fan bases, loud arena. And they actually, so all of a sudden kind of out of nowhere, they throw on the board. So May 14th was the fourth anniversary of a shooting in Buffalo, where 10 people were killed. And the thing, so I was surprised. I was like, Oh, this kind of came out of nowhere. I'd forgotten about this. But everybody instantly went quiet. And hey, like in Buffalo, that's a big deal. And we all understand it and we all respect it. But there were a lot of Habs fans in the building. And they went quiet too. And they asked for a moment of silence. And I didn't hear a peep, not a peep. And I just thought everybody that it's hard in that moment, because it's a very emotional thing at a time when everyone's really excited and being wound up for the game. And I was, I just wanted to say to the, all the people in the building, I was super impressed at how everybody respected it in that moment. You did not hear a word. The Sabres fans from Buffalo, obviously it's a big deal to them. And the Canadians fans who were in the building were incredibly respectful. And the other thing the Sabres did, which was really smart, was they didn't let it hang. It was reasonably quick. Everybody got the message. It was a great script that was written and said. And then they went on to the next thing. I just wanted to say, in a moment where the building was very excited to pivot like that, it's easy for a lot of things to go wrong. It only takes one person to be an idiot. And everybody handled it great and was super respectful. And I wanted to point that out. Okay, shout outs. Matt from San Rafael, California. So he came up and introduced himself to me at the game in 2015. He and his mother, June, decided that they were going to visit every rink in the NHL. And that's what they were going to do. So that was 2015. Unfortunately, June passed away in 2023. But Matt is continuing to finish the job. He was in Buffalo for Game 5 on Thursday night. And that was his 28th of 32. He says he still has to do Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver and Tampa. But you know, it's an inspiring story, Matt. And I love that you're finishing the job in honor of June, who sounded like a great lady when you were explaining her to me. There was a couple there, Alex and Mallory, that are from California. Alex is from Canada. He and Mallory were there. Alex's uncle Rick was there. And they were enjoying the game back home for, I think, a bachelor party. There was Eli Moville, who was there with his buddy, Sean. Eli is an assistant hockey coach at Fredonia State, which is the university, I think, where the Bills used to do their training camp. And he told me that he was going through his hockey bag a while ago, and there was an opossum living in it. He thought that my raccoon stories would appeal to that. There was somebody who came up to me and say, have you seen a Buffalo raccoon since you were here? I was like, thank God, no. And he said, they're huge. I go, now I'm even more happy. I didn't see any of them. I had two people come up to me and complain that I did not eat blue cheese sauce with my chicken wings. I witnessed one of these. That's right. Just delightful. You love that. He's like, enough with the honey garlic, too. He was like, he wasn't done with you after the blue cheese. Yeah, seriously. I had another thing. That's right. You saw that one. It was pretty funny. And then, so there was a gentleman who came up to me. His name was Jeremy Erbshott. And he said that his sister, Jessica, is married to the NHL referee Kendrick Nicholson. And I said, do you ever go to games where he's working? And he said, yes. And I said, do you ever rip his calls or have a sign that says that was an awful call Kendrick? And he's like, no, Jessica would kill me. But we were having a good talk and he's a really good guy. And he was pretty proud of the work that Kendrick does. So Kendrick, your brother in law, Jeremy's a big fan. You should know that. And I also wanted to shout out Sterling and Ron from Cincinnati, a couple other fans, Gina and Brian. I couldn't get everybody's name, but those were some of the more interesting shout outs we had, but in particular, Matt, four to go in honor of your mom, June. And good luck in closing those out. Yes. And one more that we wanted to include, we met on our way out of the building, Chris Sol, who's a broadcaster, is Eerie News Now, that came over and introduced himself. He's a big hockey fan, big ranger fan. He said, if I remember correctly, he was there covering the game. So it was great to meet Chris. And thank you for reminding me, Kyle, because I forgot to write that down. So thank you for doing that. And you can tell Chris very, very excited to be there. Positive attitude, unlike the two of us who are jaded and dreary. And a great head of hair. Oh my God, gels of that. Yeah, yeah, you and me both. Okay. Oh, please, helmet head, you've got the best hair in the business. Oh, my head. That's good. That's a good one, Stank. Game six, Saturday night, prime time, eight o'clock from Montreal. It's a, yeah, banana pants indeed. So that was first up on Thursday night. The later contest in Anaheim, the Vegas Golden Knights, for the fifth time in their history already are back in another conference final. They finish off the Anaheim Ducks in six games, a great season for the Ducks. Mitch Marner, goal of the playoffs, I believe that to this point. Unbelievable. Yeah, that was really something special. So where do you want to start here? Well, I mean, the Marner goal was a great place to start. I think we'll probably do a lot more Vegas, Colorado preview on the next pod. They don't play until Wednesday, so we can wait till Sunday to do it. And we'll probably do more of an Anaheim package or review and look ahead on Sunday for Monday. But one thing that's going to happen, Dostal's got to stop, he's got to work on that first shot of the game. And I know that Marner one, he turned him inside out, but that happened a lot this year. Everybody knows how much I love that kid and how good I think he is. It's so weird how often he gets scored on the first goal of the game. You know, Vegas came in in a really ornery mood for two reasons. Number one, I think they're annoyed at all this Cassidy stuff. And their position is we're in the middle of a series. We don't need to deal with this now. And whether you agree with it or not, that's how they feel and they're annoyed by it. And secondly, they were really annoyed by the Braden McNabb suspension. So I listened to this game on the radio. I was driving back to Toronto and I was listening to the Vegas field feed with Dan Duva and Vegas insider Gary Lawless. And in the post game, they interviewed Ben Hutton. And they asked Ben Hutton about winning it for McNabb. And he said, yes, we were talking about that. Do it for three, do it for three. And it was really good. It was a good interview actually. And Hutton, who's a good talker, you know, he was very good discussing it. They clearly felt, you know, McNabb has been in the league 14 years and he plays a hard game. I've always liked the way McNabb plays. They felt that was undeserved to get the extra game after he got kicked out of that other one. I think it comes down to quite simply, I don't think Paling was going to be able to play in the rest of the series. I think he was done if it had gone to seven, I don't think he was going to play. And the fact that he got ejected from a game on a play that caused a pretty serious injury, that's why he got an extra game. And whether anyone agrees or disagrees, that's my feeling on it. But clearly, Vegas was annoyed. They were really upset about it. And again, so they go into this game without McNabb, who's an important player for them, without Lozane, who's been a very good piece for them. And of course, Mark Stone, and they controlled this game. And Kyle, we've talked about in this pod how in two series now, the longer they've gone, the better Vegas has gotten than their opponent. It's two series in a row, where they were tied 2-2, they won game five at home, and they blew out their opponent in game six on the road. They did it to Utah, and now they did it to Anaheim. And Colorado, they look like Thanos right now, inevitable. But Vegas, in the Western Conference, of all the teams they are going to play, I think Vegas would have the best chance to beat them because of their structure. We'll see. I mean, we're going to find out all together. But look now, like, Marner's leading the playoffs in points. Dora Fiev is now leading the playoffs in goals. He's really gotten hot. William Carlson came back and was excellent again. They're missing a lot of guys. But right now, they are better than the sum of their parts. And they're structured. They're disciplined. They're smart. This is a huge challenge. But like I said, for the second series in a row, when it really mattered, they were much, much better than their opponents. And the other thing that should be mentioned, because of big difference from this year, they're getting saves. They're getting goaltending. Yeah, I, yes, I thought the same how they closed out Utah in Game 6 of that series. And then here on Thursday, like, they score first and just there was never a doubt the rest of the way. You know what I mean? They looked like that. And how often this year, Elliott, you made the comment as Vegas went along the way of, I don't really look like you're not really familiar with what you're seeing out of Vegas. You know, like it was very uncharacteristic at times. Well, like Vegas is looking a lot more like Vegas here. 100% We've gone on in the playoffs. Should shut out Shea Theodore too. He was really good at the end of this series. Really good. Yeah. Yeah. Glad you did that. So the Mark Stone injury still looms large there for the Golden Knights, but back they go to another conference final where they will meet the Colorado Avalanche who finished off the Minnesota Wild in five games. That was on Wednesday night as they closed that one out. And as Nathan McKinnon said to Sean Reynolds in the post game, if you're going to run up a lead on us, best to do it early for our purposes because we know there is still plenty of time to come back and come back. They did down three goals. And then Brett Kulak, the hero in overtime, his first playoff overtime goal. Colorado moving on, they emerge from the gauntlet that was the top half of the central division this year. And they go eight and one. A couple of things just about Colorado. We'll talk more like I said about Colorado Vegas next pod, but a couple of things I just wanted to mention about them. Kulak, who's one of the nicest people in the league. So the shift of the year in hockey this year, unquestionably, Jack Hughes in the gold medal game, but a 200 foot shift, how many people had a better 200 foot shift than Kulak in that overtime? Broke up a boldie, Caprizov two on one and then goes down the ice and scores. Yeah, that's a tough one to beat. The only thing that really concerns me for the avalanche, Kyle, is McCarr is clearly getting beaten up. See, when people say they should disclose injuries because people don't target them, I'm just going to show them a car this year. Minnesota pounded him, which is all fair in the playoffs, right? He was going in and out. He was rubbing himself on the bench. He was leaving games. He is far from 100%. And Vegas, who can be a very physical team, they'll do the same. My only, my biggest concern for the avalanche is they're halfway through this is he's, they're going to play somewhere between four and 14 more games, right? Is there any chance he can't withstand this? I hope the answer is no, because I like to see all the best players play in the playoffs. I like to see the playoffs determined in the Stanley Cup given out by who's on the ice as opposed to who's off it. But that's my only concern for the avalanche is that he's really battling and I admire him for it. He's, he's really battling. I did want to say too, so I listened to most of that game while I was driving to Buffalo on Wednesday night. I got, I got there in time to watch the end of it in, watch the back half of the third period and the overtime on TV, but I listened to most of it. It will not surprise you, Kyle, that the avalanche radio broadcast in the first 10 minutes set new standards for craziness and insanity that had me staring at my radio more than I was staring at the road. They come on. Like God for autopilot. So like the pregame show ends and they play their teas for puck drop and the announcer who's got a great radio voice comes on and says, I wrote it down. I actually, I actually, no, it wasn't, I don't think, I don't know if McGay voices the top. Oh, okay. Sorry. Okay. We haven't got to him yet. Well, okay. Yeah. So we haven't got to the door. He will get to him. Okay. But so I had to, I actually pulled over and wrote this down because it was so crazy in game five, the wild tried to put their money where their mouth is. And once again, the avalanche collected change. I started laughing so hard. I was like, what did I just walk into here? What are the, I literally pulled over and I wrote this down. I was like, that is so good. I am keeping that. So I'm laughing. And then Rycroft come, Mark Rycroft comes in and he refers to, so McCarron, they score right away. McCarron set up Johansson and Rycroft called McCarron, Gronkowski and Skates, which I thought was actually a really good line. I, that was a really good description of him. But then, so they're down to nothing. And then they, the Minnesota gets a goal disallowed, which clearly should have been disallowed. And the two of them are hilarious. They're like, they're trying to convince us, listening that they're not being avalanche homers for this, because they're saying this, this third Minnesota goal shouldn't count. And Rycroft's like, yeah, if I was even working the wild broadcast, I would say this wouldn't count. I'm laughing so hard by this point. And, and then he's talking about, they're talking about how the avalanche, the avalanche are really struggling to start this game. And he says, they look like a rudderless ship right now. And he's like, you know how you can't pilot a ship without a rudder? That's what the avalanche are right now. And McGay, he says, and I'm like, I, by this point, I'm, I'm literally looking at my radio going, what planet am I on? I say, you're now at Windsor. It's, it's, seriously, I was like, what McGay, he says, you know what, there's a, you know what famous ship didn't have a rudder, Mark? And Rycroft has no idea. He's like me, he's like, where is he going with this? He goes, Noah's Ark, didn't have a rudder. And Rycroft's like, I didn't know that. I was like, I can't say you two guys, you guys are great. I was sitting here. I was listening to this. I didn't know where they were going next. I said, I could, I could not be this good radio broadcasting a game. Oh my gosh, that is excellent. That is, well, I mean, that's, that's that show at its finest. When it's like some early adversity, you're going to muster your way through it and then it ends with just like, boom, through the roof energy, right? And like, call a great game. Call a great game. They call it a great game. Like most of the broadcasters in this league do. But I was, I was sitting here and I said, where is this going next? Noah's Ark. Anyway, you know what ship never didn't have a rudder. I'm like, I'm like, what? Then I'm guessing like the Titanic. No, I had a rudder. It's didn't get steered very well. That's right. It's like, I had to go baseball mode there for a hot minute. Like you just, you got to fill the air while the pitchers get warm. While they're doing the review. Yeah. So like I said, my big question about Colorado was just McCarr's health and is he going to last? But Minnesota, Garan, he's proven he'll take big gambles. Did for Hughes this year. Some people are like, was that really worth it? I'm like, come on. He traded for, like what a stupid argument. I mean, he traded for one of the best players in the league. Come on. What are you supposed to wait till you have 100% guarantee you win the cup? Before you make that trade? Yeah. Okay. It's craziness. And like I said, my prediction is three years. That's my prediction. He's going to reward the wild for taking the plunge with him, taking the chance until I'm proven wrong. My predictions he signed for three years. I haven't yet got a good guesstimate for the number, but he also have showed big guts in his Olympic selections. They won the gold medal. You know what's going to happen this summer. He's going to try again. It's got a lot of cap room. Doesn't have a lot to trade, but he has cap room. And it's just who he is. It's the way he's wired. You know, they lost this series four to one like Carolina, Colorado's esteem roller. They're, they're good. You know, they, everybody knows they have to find another center. I'm really curious to see if they keep McCarran because I think someone's going to throw money at that guy. So I'm curious about that. McCarran ended up playing 2C in, in, in game five. And even though he fanned on the one, one timer, he was huge in the early part of that game. He's, he's a good player. But look, I mean, one of the reasons they lost is that Colorado has like nine centers on the lineup. They don't even all play center. You know, so Erickson X injury, they, they couldn't overcome it. You know, somebody made an interesting argument to me. They said Brodeen, you know, he always gets hurt. Like, do you move on from that? And I'm like, you can't, he's too good. Yes, the injuries are a big pain, but the guy is too good. He's too important. I like, I see two things with Minnesota, like everybody else, you've got to get that center. And, but I think you also have to improve your depth. I think, you know, he had a lot of veterans there, which is fine, but Colorado also beat them around the edges. Like there were just places that between down the middle and depth around the lineup, Colorado beat, beat them in both those places. And the wild have to get another center, but I think they got to improve themselves at the margins too. And you know, Garen, he's got a good team. They're all locked in. They're all, they're a lot of great contracts. He will, he will take his shot and he has the flexibility to do it. You know, the thing about Caprizov is he didn't shoot that puck in overtime. And I thought he should have, but now Caprizov and we'll see how long it lasts. But right now he's going to be about to become the highest paid player in the league. Deltalans told a story once about Brian Campbell. I always love this story and I think it's true when he signed Campbell that big contract in Florida, he told them, hey Brian, don't worry about the money. Don't, don't define yourself by how well you do. You don't have to do more. We gave you, we gave you the money. It's not your fault. We gave it to you. We threw this in front of you and we want you to just be who you are. That's why you got the money. But Campbell admittedly, he had, he put so much pressure on himself when he got that big deal. It was hard on him. Caprizov was about to go there now and everybody knows he's a great player. He's one of the best players in the league, but now he's, and we saw it this year, it's almost like he's a target now, Kyle. Like he's the guy who pushed the contracts in the new stratosphere. When he doesn't play like that, he, he's going to come under ferocious criticism. And it's not always right and it's not always fair, but that's the way it is. And it's going to be interesting to see how Caprizov handles that. That's why I wonder if Hughes takes like a three year deal to a really big number, that actually might ease some of the pressure on Caprizov. But right now he's that guy and he has to understand that's how you get judged. Got to deliver. Yes. And for Garen, I mean, there's a number of contracts coming out the books in the summer and also not only Hughes, but Jared Spurgeon would be extension eligible, Ryan Hartman as well. So yeah, there's a bunch of different ways he can go about. And what's he going to do with Gostason? Is he going to keep the duo together? Or how's Gostason going to feel? Because his extension kicks in next year. Yes. Yes. Going from 3.75 up to 6.8. So yeah, number of different directions he can go in, which should be a busy off season for a guy and a team that has not been afraid to take big swings in the past and really has no choice but to continue to do so, to keep up with the Joneses there in that division. All right, well with that, we'll take one final break. And when we come back, we'll wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts podcast and the latest 32 Thoughts music track as well on the other side. Stay tuned. All right, before we go, in case you missed it, Game 1 of the Walter Cup final and the PWHL was in the books on Thursday, more late game drama between Ottawa and Montreal. They rarely play boring games against each other. The victor tying it with three seconds left in regulation and then Abby Rock, her second goal of the night. She plays hero in overtime. So Game 1 goes to the victor, Game 2, Saturday there in the Walter Cup final. And then Saturday night for us, Game 6, the lone series remaining in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Canadians and the Sabres from Montreal, hockey central pregame show on the air at 7.30 Eastern, 4.30 Pacific time, puck drop a little after 8.00 ET on Sportsnet and CBC. Canadians trying to punch their ticket for a date with the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference final. It's going to be a great scene Saturday night in Montreal. All right, taking us out today, a track from the liquor store, who coincidentally is also from Montreal. The liquor store is all about making music that makes you want to move. They combined funk, R&B, jazz and hip hop to create something new that will get you into the groove. They recently launched their latest album called Right Place Wrong Time and we'll be doing a live recording in front of a studio audience next week on May the 20th. If you'd like to attend, you can purchase tickets through their Instagram bio. You can find this song and all the others that have been featured on 32 Thoughts the Podcast this season on the 32 Thoughts the Music playlist on Spotify. Here is the liquor store and too fine to ignore on 32 Thoughts the Podcast.