We Just Want Clarity

Today's 32 Thoughts podcast is dedicated to the memory of Jesse Pierce and her children Hudson, Caiden and Avery. I didn't know Jesse that well. I appeared on her podcast once, but I believe the most important characteristic that sets people apart is passion. If you follow Jesse's work and saw her social posts especially, you know she defined the word passion. She loved hockey and she loved being around it. There is no surprise from anyone who worked on this podcast that the memories of Jesse were entirely, absolutely and completely positive. You could tell from just what she posted online that she was a person you wanted to be around. We send our best to her husband, their friends and their families and our support is with those who are grieving this awful loss. Welcome to 32 Thoughts the podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 100% electric BZ available now during red tag days. Dom, Elliot and Kyle back with you and do not adjust your podcast playlist. This is not a repeat of last Monday's podcast but as Ron said on headlines over the weekend for the second straight week, everyone is talking about goalie interference and about player safety. Elliot, the news coming down on Sunday, AJ Greer boarding on Conor Zerry, Friday in Calgary, worthy of a three game suspension. Greer is someone who has one suspension on his file. That was back in 2023. He received a fine back in October in one of those Florida Tampa punch ups. You did the work again over the weekend in looking at precedent and history with these types of incidents. So when you heard three games for Greer, your reaction was what? Exactly what I expected. Exactly what I expected. Now, the one thing is and I should have been on top of this is that I looked at interference and one thing I forgot is even though the penalty was for interference and the ejection was for interference, player safety can move to a different penalty when it looks at suspensions. They have that freedom. So they suspended him for boarding as opposed to suspending him for interference. They do have that flexibility. They can do that. If you go back a few years and you look at Kevin Fiala's suspension, he got three games for boarding Matt Roy and Fiala was still a member of Minnesota at the time. I think that is the comparable or close to the comparable. So I wasn't surprised at all. I know that this is another suspension that leaves people with a very empty feeling that they feel that Greer should have gotten more. But this is exactly where I thought they were going to come in. All right. So I've got some thoughts on this and talk to a couple of people after this came down and even beforehand in anticipation. In trying to just and thought about this a lot myself. So I go back to one of the lines that Parros gave and you and I were both there back at the GM meetings. We feel very confident in this process. This is his quote. We've been doing it for a long time. That doesn't mean that we're not willing to evolve if we need to. And like I said, we're always looking to improve things if possible. And quote. OK. You can criticize player safety. Certainly if you're feeling upset about this one about the five games to Radco Goudis. All of its fair. I I really think Elliott I mean the players association deserves part of the blame here as well. At least how this is all set up. So it's just it's strange isn't it. The situation like this. Right. You've got with the A.J. Greer play you have an offending player and you've got a player that is injured. Both of them are card carrying members of the same union. Both pay their yearly dues. But it sure seems like there is way more mechanisms in place to defend and protect the offender. Not the guy that is hurt. So I don't know if it can be someone from the league. I don't know what the right answer is here. And maybe it's not even going so far as to stand up for the injured player. OK. You can't do that if you're maybe it doesn't work. If you're a member of the NHL as opposed to the players association. But you can you not at least stand up for the team that's now going to be without said player for however long. And another thing to this whole conversation about appeals. Right. And when Perot said we don't consider the possibility or threat of an appeal when we make our decision on the suspension length. OK. But when so much of the conversation is around like what did you just talk about. What's the precedent. What's the prior history. When it comes to suspensions for similar acts somewhere. Somebody is thinking about an appeal the threat of it. So if the league is serious about establishing boundaries on certain things certain incidents that are a no fly zone. Why not. If you are serious about that. Hand out a big number even if it's unprecedented. And if the players union wants to appeal go for it. No problem. We'll go through the process. So something's 10 games. Maybe it gets reduced to seven. Well that's more than five. And it's not going to happen overnight. But if you have that mindset over time that when it's warranted eventually when we have that talk of OK. What's the precedent. Well now you've got a track record of punishments being a greater number of games. And over time it then allows player safety a little more leeway a little more power to hand out more serious suspensions for certain acts that do not belong in the game. And that Greer Shavon Zerry in a vulnerable spot. And you do not have to have to have a hockey IQ of Nikita Kutcher ofs. You do not have to be an NHL player to know when you've got an opponent in a vulnerable position on the ice. Understanding the context of all of it. That is one of those acts that that don't belong in the game. So I don't know what's possible going forward Elliott. I don't know what the appetite is. But if they're serious about OK we've got to protect the players. That was one where more has got to be done here. Man this brings back Deja Vu. I have had this conversation so many times over the last 30 years. About and you know I'll just say this. The league has no desire to consistently get turned over on appeal. Maybe on some of the biggest ones they do. You know Tom Wilson had a big one reduced slightly. Dennis Wideman had a big one reduced slightly where he just got money back. Basically couldn't get the games back. They'll do that. But for these smaller ones. They've shown no inclination that they want to get either deal with appeals or. Be overturned. They really don't like it. And I've had this conversation before many times and unless their opinion has changed that has always been their feeling their lawyers. They don't like to get turned over on appeal. This whole thing about the players. The disc goes back to Steve Moore Todd Bertuzzi right. And even beyond beyond that. It's about who do we represent. Who's more important to us. The player who commits the damage or the player who gets injured. And it has always been this way. And it you know we talked about how for a time there under Gil Stein. You know people say the fines for players are a joke. And the reason the fines for players are a joke is because Bob Good know when he came in. Gil Stein who preceded Gary Batman. He was just finding players and suspending them for practice days. And the team paid no penalty. But the player got fined and the player. Chared between the team and the player. And he fought to have the fines really limited because he felt if the fines were higher then that's what the league would do. They would just find players. They wouldn't suspend them games. And that's why that's the way it is. You know ever since good know took over the players association was really hardwired this way. And it was interesting Kyle. The players association was upset a couple weeks ago when I or not this past Saturday but two Saturdays ago when I said that they presented the the previous neighing suspensions in the hearing with Goudis. Right. And you know I was actually surprised a little bit at the level of how upset they were. Like I made a mistake. I misspoke and I corrected it. And at the end of the day I made the mistake. And if you make a mistake you have to own up to it. But I was a little bit surprised by how upset they were. And then last weekend someone told me well the reason they were so upset is because players were mad about it. So I think again we've talked about this a lot the last couple of weeks. I don't like to repeat myself over and over and over again. But the only way this is going to change is if the players demand it. And then they'll have to negotiate it with the league and the league will be like hmm. Okay you want to change this. What do you want for us to change this. So there's a lot of challenges here to get change made. And you know one of the things the league might say to them well if you want us to change this. Are you still going to be as aggressive with your appeals. Or are you going to give us something else that we want. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the players won't want to do that in exchange for a change in the way supplemental discipline is done. So I don't know if we really will go anywhere here. We'll find out this summer. But everything you said there is stuff I have dealt with over years past. I think we just have to figure out is this group of players going to be any different. And this summer they've got a chance to prove that maybe they are if this is that important to them. Yeah because that's what I think it's important to make sure we get across is that there's ownership on both sides of this right like on the player side and the the league department of player safety all under that umbrella to your point but I just think like if it's constantly the league doesn't like having an appeal go against them and games reduce. I mean what's more important to you establishing a different standard again not every time but you mentioned OK some of the smaller ones like I don't believe I think we're fortunate that the Connors area wasn't more seriously injured than he was a higher I don't think that should be looked at as a smaller one like that was so dangerous such a tough we shouldn't be hitting people in the numbers I think we all agree with that you should not be hitting people in the numbers. Right so I think so long as the stance is constantly well we don't like the idea of appeals going against us like it to me if you're saying that at a one side of your mouth maybe quietly and loudly you're talking about how important player safety is like it's the same thing when you're on hold with a hotel and they're telling you your call is very important to us. Well we know it's not we sure we know it's not they're telling us that but it's not. Yeah I don't know Elliot. I was kind of not Zen but I was like I understand. There's an empty feeling there's dissatisfaction with the Gouda suspension last week and why it was so willing to hear. Parros Batman everybody out down in Florida but this past weekend again with the nature of that play and the result of it it's just it's not sitting as easy with me. I understand it's you know look I like a mean game you can't hit people in the numbers you just can't. Yeah like there's exactly exactly that goes beyond that so we haven't solved player safety do we have any chance I just think I just think this summer. This summer if the players are this are really this unhappy about it they can try to see if they can move the needle this summer they have their meetings they're usually in June they're usually right around the draft. We're gonna find out if they want to make this an issue. For real. And I know there's gonna people who say I don't want to wait that long I want it to happen now there's what's realistic and what's realistic is. In June they decide they want to make it an issue. Yeah yeah you're right I just think you know for all the talk of yes they're lawyers and when you think about the whole circle of due process so much focus is on the offender. Whether to punish or in defense of I just think sometimes we lose sight of. The player that is on the receiving end in some cases. 100% that has always been the argument. Yeah. Kyle I know you are younger and you are relatively new to all of this but that is has always been the argument going back 20 30 years. What about the player who got hurt. What about his rights that's always been the conversation. Hmm. Tell me about the original six now Elliot. I want to learn more. So yes the Toronto arenas. Oh I remember those days. Frank one eyed McGee 14 goals in the game. Yeah there was there was a great there was a great caller on on Kipper and board on Friday. Talking about how he was just a very young kid the last time he saw you know the Leafs win the Cup in 67 and he just he had this great kind of monologue where he's going through all these major life events over the course of his life you know he's like teenage years no cup. Graduating high school no cup start a career no cup I just on and on and on it was it was quite humorous. Okay I like the doctor they had on Friday who did the interview with the hairnet on. I heard it I didn't see it yet. It was so funny and a hairnet on I was when it was over I was like can you make me a meatball sub with cheese and some black pepper. Okay so Sunday night I was playing I was playing cards and I had a run on Sunday night of forehands in a row where everything was coming my way. Sometimes God just favors you he says you're you're about to have a good 25 minutes and I did and while that was happening so I wasn't watching a lot. My phone blew up. I thought somebody had been traded I was like my phone never does this unless somebody big gets traded and I looked at it and do you want to take one guess what all these people were texting me about. Well as you talk about you're on an incredible run for 25 minutes it feels like the exact opposite of the poor penguins video coaches all season when it comes to coaches challenges but this one is this Islanders Columbus 100% you nailed it like good job you went you went right to it people were like. Are you watching this did you just see what happened here how is this different than yesterday. I'll let you say what you want to say in a second. You know me. Kyle. I like to solve all problems. I am pleading. And I am begging. The NHL hockey operations department to put together a series of videos before the playoffs. Show the Winnipeg play Pittsburgh show the Columbus Islanders play tell us what's different. And do this before the playoffs so we all know what we're looking at like they put out the release saying they felt Lee. Took himself into the crease. Okay. All right. Let's go with that. Show us on the video so we all know and we can see it. I am pleading with them before the playoffs do a series of videos over some of these calls with specific understanding of why they were done. I am like I think it's the best for the players the coaches the teams the fans and selfishly the broadcasters as I said on the last pod it is my job to explain this. On the air. What was they know I'm going to call them during games. And you know what I'll say this they're always good when I call them they answer the phone. They explain it to me they're always there. I'm just before the playoffs give us all a reset. Please. Give us a reset. Show us the Winnipeg goal. Show us that Islanders non goal. Explain what's the difference. Because I will tell you I will say this. I thought that Winnipeg goal was no goal. And I was surprised how many people reached out to me and said that's a goal. I'm like really. And they said yep it's a goal even after Pittsburgh hilariously printed out the rule. They said to me that was a very nice done. That was by the way I did hear someone said to me on on Saturday afternoon that apparently the genesis of that is that apparently the penguins and the league have had one legendary phone call this year. That was going around at the GM meetings I was told. So apparently there was one I don't know who was involved. I don't know who was on what end but apparently there was one legendary phone call between the penguins and the league this year. Anyway, I believe that well especially now that the port team is 0 for 8 on goalie interference. And they printed the rule right like you don't like that's almost hard to do even if you're like going I don't even know what the calls going to be. If you're throwing darts you figure like the odds are not that you're going to miss eight times. Especially if you're a moderately skilled darts person. Yes. Anyway, so I was surprised at the amount of people who said to me that's a goal. I'm like really they're like yep that's a goal. I said why and they said because that's a puck battle. Baron's going for the puck and he simply overpowers Carlson. I'm like where does it say that in the rule. Look at the rule the penguins just printed out and distributed to everybody. It doesn't say anything about puck battle. They're like that's a puck battle. I'm like okay all right. Then one night like barely 24 hours later. And to me like that's almost the exact same thing. That's a puck battle too. You know Olivier and Lee are both going for the puck. And again it was felt that he was you know he went in there on his own. Again I am trying. I am trying to make everything better. My goal here is world peace. Everybody lives in harmony. Sings kumbaya next to each other for the next 10,000 years. Please put out a video series. Explain it to all of us right before the playoffs. Yeah I'm all for it. Because I think what happens is like I don't think the people who are in the situation room. Like I've been in there. They do not have negative motivations. They do not. Like I'm just like the same thing. I don't think Peros has any negative motivations. But I do think that what happens is this is what I think happens. I think that you see so many plays. You begin to like nobody watches more hockey than these guys. Nobody. And you begin to develop nuance that the rest of us can't see. Okay. You're sitting in the room and you're watching all of those plays. And you begin to see differences that the rest of us don't. Like I watch a lot of hockey. I don't watch as much as those guys do. So they see things that I don't see. Also they played most of them at a very high level. A lot of games. Okay. So they it's what they've experienced. It's what they see on a day in day out basis. And you start to look for things that the rest of us don't see. I understand how this all happens. Okay. Experts in their field are like this. They see things that we don't see. Okay. Put it out there. Explain it to us. And then let's stick to it. I think you I would just say we're giving or we're opening up our eyes, ears and minds to all of you. And then we just go with that. Yeah. I mean, it's also there's the whole idea of and it's been discussed before snowflakes, right? Like no two are exactly the same. I know, but give us the car. Always going to be there. I understand that, but like you like I'm just saying, I feel like I'm repeating myself. I don't like repeating myself. I like every podcast to be new and fresh. You love to repeat yourself. No, I know it sounds like I do, but I really don't. It's just the way I was taught to argue. You know what, Kyle? It's like no podcast is exactly the same. They're all snowflakes, but honestly, honestly, you have to explain it. You have to explain to us what's the difference between those two plays. Like what did you like? What did you see when you saw that play? I was I was a little more stunned, honestly, of the New York Columbus one than Pittsburgh Winnipeg a little more because you thought it was a goal. Columbus one, it's on it. Yes, yes, I did, especially because so at the beginning and I don't mean the money, the water is here further. The beginning of the explanation that the NHL put out that they they reiterate under coaches challenge rule 38.1 states in all coaches challenge situations, the original call on the ice will be overturned if and only if a conclusive and irrefutable determination can be made on the basis of video evidence that the original call on the ice was clearly not correct. So when watching that back, how can you say irrefutably that Matthew Olivier doing his job on the defensive side trying to tie up Anders Lee as he's going to the net? How can you irrefutably say that that does in that that does not in some way impact lesability to stop in time in front of the crease and avoid jet grieves the gold tender? That was what got me. Because of that sheet that one page of the rulebook that the penguins printed out on Saturday and highlighted the one paragraph, the one above it states if an attacking player has been pushed shoved or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule provided the attacking players made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact. All of that suggests to me that should have been a goal. Okay, so we're we're in agreement. Yes, I don't I don't think the yes. I think we're both both in agreement on this this situation here and all of the goalie interference headaches that have come across. But we keep coming back to it. Not repeating, as you like to say, but it's unavoidable, hilariously like the to the New York one, the Ottawa, Anaheim one in quick succession, and then on back to back nights here off the heels of the GM meetings. It's like, I don't know, somebody up there is just toying with us all. And you think he got going to figure out like that Ottawa Anaheim one as we talked about. Stutzler does the skate of shame. He's like, oh, damn, I cost us a goal. He thinks there's no way that that goal is going to count. And in this Columbus Yonder's one. Again, Olivier is doing the skate of shame. He's like, well, first of all, he knocked the puck in his own net by accident. But secondly, he's also saying there's no way that's not going to count. I knocked Lee into the net into the goalie. He thinks he's guilty. He's doing the same skate of shame that Stutzler is. And yet. And yet it didn't count. No need to feel shameful in the end. Now that we've solved this problem, actually, you know, I before we get to some other stuff. And we've got a doozy of a final thought here today. I have to say, I got a question for you. Okay. Hit me. How do you pronounce the word? M I S H A P. You're going back to this now. This was like over a week ago. Joel Darling was bothering me about it. Sorry, 90 asked me about it like twice. Really? How do you pronounce that word? I say mishap. I just want to say, I don't care what anybody says. That is worse than the way I say Detroit. It is not mishap. Yes, it is. It's not mishap. It's mishap. That sounds weird to me. I honestly don't even know where it came from. I think someone in my life said it once that way. And I was like, that's how, that's how you say it. Even Dom is blown away by this. Yeah, but given what Dom's been up to over the weekend, I take nothing what he's saying right now at face value. He was on a stag. I also wanted to mention, John Bartlett reached out about, we were talking about Rick bonus and 37 games last time. Bartlett votes for the coach of the year, the Jack Adams. He has a vote and he's a member of the broadcasting group. And he sent a note that there's no rule about a minimum. So nothing prevents bonus from getting votes or winning it, even though the maximum he can do is 37. And... So we know who's number one on his ballot. Well, no, no, no, but he could be on his ballot. He just wanted to clarify for us. I can't believe you pronounce it mishap. That is so wrong. It sounds so much better. It's like you're missing something. There's a lot of things that feel empty on today's pot, I have to say. You're missing something. That is brutal. Okay, you worked Toronto, Ottawa. Anything you saw there you want to talk about from that game? So a few things. I would say looking around the colors of the crowd Saturday, it wasn't totally full anyway. But good crowd. It looked to be around 50-50, say? It certainly didn't sound like it. I think about the last few years in particular, particularly on Saturdays in Ottawa when it's Toronto, there were some that we, of course, recall that was a total takeover. And not only that were the numbers. Leaf fans walked around, chefs pumped up, walking a little bit taller in the Canadian Tire Centre. Not the case this Saturday for all the reasons that you would expect. It's amazing though. I don't know if you saw the article Callum Fraser wrote about it for post-media, that there's further and great lengths still to come within the organization going forward about trying to ensure, particularly when it's the Leafs in town or the Canadians in town, that tickets end up in more Senators' fans' hands than the opponent's fan base. I think they felt that it was kind of passed them after they did a pretty good job in defending their house if you want to call it that. In the playoffs against Toronto, certainly as that series went on. But then that game in January when Montreal came through on a Saturday and it was unbelievably one-sided. I don't know how I feel about this. I have to think about this. You can feel however you want, but it's clear internally. Yeah, but if you... It is a touchy thing, Elias. Well, I get that. I understand that. And I remember, for example, when there was a Pittsburgh Capital Series years ago and one of the teams blocked the zip code of the other team so that you couldn't buy tickets from the other zip code. I think it's going deeper than that. What do you mean? They're going to threaten season ticket holders? No, I think it's like they are trying to vet and suss out legitimate Senators' fans and give them certain access to tickets for those games that otherwise wouldn't be available right away to the public. Well, okay. I mean, that's fine. I don't have a problem with that. You're a private business. You can do what you want as long as it's not illegal. But Kyle, we've talked about this with the Sabres fans. Even Lindy Ruff would joke. You did that game a couple of weeks ago with Toronto Buffalo and Ruff made a joke that maybe the Sabres fans are holding onto their tickets for a change for this one. Yeah, what are you going to do? Like, what are you going to do if your season ticket holders can make money selling those tickets? What are you going to do? Band them? Can you not control where those tickets go beyond once they reach your season ticket holders? Okay, this is a good conversation. I've had this conversation with people before. So, I have a friend who bought tickets to, I want to say it was an NFL game. And he bought tickets from a fan and he was going to see the visiting team. And he found out that the person he bought them from got in trouble because they saw that a visiting fan was in seats that were sold to a home season ticket holder. This was a few years ago. And I remember having this conversation with someone. And this is someone who worked in ticketing of an NHL team. And what he told me was that you can only pick that fight if you're like the Green Bay Packers. Right? You're a Packers fan. The Packers have a waiting list that's gigantic. So, they can afford, if someone is going to break, if they say, look, if we catch you selling your tickets to visiting fans, we're taking your tickets away from you, you can do that if you have a waiting list that's 100 years long. You know where you can't do that? You can't do that in a place where your market is maybe a little bit smaller or your demand is a little bit lighter, or when things aren't going well, people aren't buying your tickets as much. So, let me ask you, and I'm not taking a shot at the Sanders here or their fan base, I am simply dealing in facts. Kyle, I deal in fact. Do you think- Thank you for clarifying. Do you think the Ottawa Sanders can pick a fight with their fan base over that? In that regard, no, because you're right. They don't have the same season ticket base. And that's an unknown- I mean, there's some unique factors about this market that are different from others. They're just not the biggest market, right? And they don't have the season ticket base. They've got to move a lot of single-game inventory much more than a lot of other teams. And nobody's making fun of them, and I'm not trying to pick a fight with them, because God knows I've said a lot of things over the years that I walk myself into fights that I don't mean, okay? I'm not trying to pick a fight with anybody here. I'm just saying, I recognize that that makes you crazy. If I own the Sanders, it would make me nuts. But do you really think you can pick that fight with your fan- If your fans say, hey, I want to sell my tickets to the highest bidder, and that means you get leave fans, or that means you get Habs fans, or whoever you get, how are you going to stop that noddle? How? They're trying to get to the bottom of this. I guess that's- they're trying to cut- find creative ways to- You can't totally eliminate it, but at least curb it so it's not so damning out of the way. Now, what you can say is, can you please offer your tickets to a Senator fan first? Okay? Or what you could also say is, if you're going to- Like the one thing, like I've owned- I've never had Seasons tickets in my before, but I've had Partials, okay? Or, you know, like half Seasons packages to the Blue Jays before. And there's a lot of times, if I can't go, I will donate them. I'll- you know, and I think that, you know, if you want to donate your tickets, or you want to give them to the Senators and say, hey, find a Senator's fan who can't normally go, and they can go cheer for the team, I love that, and I wish people would do more than that. And then that stuff does exist. But tickets are expensive. They're very expensive. And, you know, again, we go back to the Sabres. There were Sabres fans who would come out even, if not ahead, selling their two or three Leaf Home games a year. How do you beat that? I know. I know. Especially now, the economy's a bit tougher. Yes. If you can do- the tickets are still very expensive. If you can do that, I think it's a really- Like, you know, again, I root for the Senators to find a way to do it. If you can find a way to do it, I say more power to you. But you- I wonder how you do it without picking a fight with some of your seasoned ticket holders who clearly are getting paid extremely well for this privilege. Okay. So a couple more observations from Saturday nights. So just before our reporter hits at seven o'clock, where you touch in on each of the rinkside hosts of the early games, and there were three this weekend, so Ron's wrapping up his on-camera open. And just as I'm getting ready to go, as Ron's talking, so our on-camera position is kind of at the top of the 100 level in the one corner of the arena. I hear from somewhere in the 200s, often, you know, darkness, I can't see, was I hear someone yell, Hey Kyle, let's see though, it sends underwear you got on. Yes. How I got through that hit, I have no idea. I- because my mind- Were you wearing them? My mind was in shambles. No, I was not wearing them. What did they look like? Like, what is your preferred style of Sanders underwear? Hold on. Does it say go sends go on it, or does it have the logo? It- yeah, the logo, and it says hard over hype. That was a slogan that went over very well in this market. So they put it- they put it on underwear. Nice, good pair. I was happy to sign up for it. Did you buy like a three pack or just a single? Yeah, no, of course. I went for the value buy. Okay, good, very good. So that was one, and at the end of the night, I mean first off, I still can't believe Nielandercut stole ours up by the way. Do you know that's the third time he's done that, at least? Really? So in 2023, against Ottawa, he hit Matt Murray in warm-up, and Murray couldn't start the game. And someone told me there's more. There's another one I thought I found too, but I thought it was Stalock, but I can't find it right now. So I thought there were- I have two, and I thought there was a third, but for some reason I can't find it, so I'll go with two. But it's not the first time he's done it. That's crazy. And especially when you consider- you remember back in October, like when Stolar's after that overtime loss to Seattle, kind of called him out without saying his name directly in the post-game. That was almost in hindsight maybe the first red flag, that like this may not be a very good season for Toronto. And though I don't believe for a second the two are related, as Nielandercut are catching Stolar's up high. And it's good to know that, you know, I think he obviously went to hospital for precautionary reasons. He was hopefully okay, and in the end was able to join the team on the plane back to Toronto after the game. But so I'm leaving the rink at the end of the night. The Leafs have already packed up and left. Most of the sends packed up and left. And I'm walking down the hallway just outside the dressing rooms and leaned up against the corner along the wall. And then the next one was Anthony Stolar's goalie stick, disintegrated into pieces after, well, we can only assume, as he left the ice after taking that shot up high and took his frustration out on his poor stick. It, well, it's summed up where things are at for Toronto right now. It's been a broken year. Ottawa talked much about the Kachuk meeting. It looked like he wasn't too eager to discuss it. No, I think like as Travis said in the pregame show, they have an open interview, by the way. He was, I mean, he's, he's good. You should play cards against Green. He's good. I heard that you're trying to get something set up. Yeah, we have to sort that out if we can actually do it. Okay. That would be fun. I think he would take me for all my money. He's a shark. I would only hope so. I'm an okay player. He's a shark. Yeah. I mean, they've got clearly a relationship where they talk a lot. I think he knows it's been a demanding year on Kachuk. There's times where I think the push is on. There's times where he's got to let him be. I just think everyone understood, you know, there's the injury for a while. There was wanting to get to a point where you could get to the Olympics and then get through it. There's the fatigue of trying to get back into things and Kachuk had talked about that on Saturday morning of you come off the high of all those games that mean everything in the moment in Milan. And now to get back on the treadmill here with your club team. And as he said, manipulating the mind to go every game matters here again, like to snap back into that zone. I think he knew full well. He needed to have a game Thursday. He did. I wouldn't say he was as big of a factor. I think he was around it certainly on Saturday, but like he didn't need to be. That's a pretty good four line team that's going right now. That's got some good momentum. Tough to see Dennis Gilbert leave. He did good for them. Yeah. And you know, of course, who they're missing already on the back end as is. But now they've got the Rangers tonight and then in Detroit Tuesday. Back to back huge games for Ottawa. You know, somebody said to me, do you think Travis Green would be in trouble if Ottawa misses the playoffs? I was like, how are you? I think like, how look at all the underlying numbers that support. I know the penalty kill. Even that's like it's getting better. But I mean, if that's your one big source spot, of course, we all know the discourse on goaltending. But there's so much to like in terms of what they give up. How connected they look for long stretches. Clearly they I mean, there are teams that dumps the puck in a lot. Players that bought into that idea. I would. I think that's crazy talk. Yeah, I thought that was nuts. I was like, are you serious? Like that's that's on another planet. Yeah, that's because Detroit now is the is the team that's out right as we as we work. Yes. As we do this podcast Sunday night, Detroit's the team below the cut line three points up on Ottawa. And boy, by the way, we mentioned we mentioned Columbus Islanders. Did you see the chaffer played the last three minutes of that game for the Alters? Yes. Credit to him. Also credit see Seroak and went back to back. Yeah. And got his seventh shot of the season tying a franchise record for most in one season. The first time this year. I could see why just saying like I knew like after they got bombarded and Montreal, I could just see why just looking at him and saying, Hey, if it was me, I'd want that game. What about you? What's Seroak and going to do say no. That's awesome. It's the first time this year he's running back to back. But the thing and I but the thing is now there's no time to screw around like I get it. But I would like I bet you was looking at him like I would want this game. Yes, especially because as we talked about you have a tough week and it changes everything like the Islanders blinked last week. Yeah. And Sunday night they had to decide again, we got to get this back on the rails and goal interference challenge be damned. They were able to hang on. I guess the Columbus team that hasn't been losing. It was impressive. That was very. He could get 50. He's he's two back of McKinnon for the league lead. McKinnon's got 45. He's got 43. Coffee will get 50 goals this year. He might win the rocket Richard. Absolutely. He's a you know for a guy that says every day what they have to do is they have to in the in his calendar. They have to rip out every day of the week and say it's only Saturday. Well, I was gonna say it but it remember his line he goes every day of Saturday in my life right now. 100%. He still is on a different level on the real Saturday each and every week. Yeah. It's been unreal like nearly the goal per game just electrifying stuff. I mean you kind of. I thought that was a great a great performance by the Canadians. They were challenged in that one. And you know what I don't know if like we talked about this a couple pods ago. Fowler he's he's not going back to Laval. Did you see that shot of him getting ready on the bench beforehand the self-talk? I am worthy. Beautiful. He's not going to Laval. He's staying there. They they you give him that game you're basically telling him we need you. Yes. By the way somebody sent me a note I know the Sabres lost in overtime to the cardiac kids. That's did it again. They did it again. But they said you know everyone's talking about because that's one of the things I'm going to ask them when I see them on Tuesday is that all of a sudden you guys just went from bad to good like there was no in between what happened and someone said to me do you know what happened and I said what's that so apparently it's a Sabres fan named Aaron of someone's sent me this tweet when they launched the beer Sabre you know what the Sabres record is since that I'm assuming best in the NHL 37 11 and 2. Oh my gosh they went from 29th to 4th. Oh man. So imagine the Sabres marketing team. It's not Thompson. It's not Dallin. It's not Alex Lyon. It's the it's the beer Sabre. Can you imagine the marketing team sitting there going like why didn't we come up with this eight years ago we have solved so much headache. That was a big win by the Bruins over the Red Wings too. Like just breaking mass of victory. You know I've gotten a few notes from people asking you know what's going on with James Hagans Bruins first rounder. They're season ended. He can join the NHL team. They have his draft rights for a few more years. I think Monday we'll get a clear indication of what's where this is going to go. You know the the one thing like first of all I don't think the Bruins have any doubt about his ability long term and I don't think that anybody doubts that James Hagans has anything but a great fit for them and a great player to have as part of their prospect pool and the future of the Bruins. I just know that some teams get really nervous about this in the middle of a playoff race. You know they they're they're two points into the playoffs. One up on the Islanders for the second wild card for the first wild card two up on the Red Wings for the playoffs five up on Ottawa. They've got a good tiebreaker number it's 29 it's better than the Islanders it's better than the Wings it's not as good as the Sanders they're one back but it's a it's a really good number they're tied with the Canadians in points although the Canadians have a game in hand but the Bruins have a great tiebreaker number on them to their three ahead. I just know some NHL teams they do get goofy about that like bringing somebody in at this point in time if you're not a hundred percent sure that they can help you I think we'll get I have no doubt that long term the Bruins believe that this is the right player for them and they're ecstatic to have them. I just know how teams sometimes feel about doing this right now when you're in the middle of a race. I think we'll have a clear idea Monday where this goes. Well remember they threw a young Charlie McAvoy right into the fire in the playoffs now they had gotten to the playoffs by that time. And also McAvoy was a bit different. Yeah also yeah another year older. Yeah like just I don't think that's comparable you know Higgins is 19 he's not the biggest guy I've just seen this act before again it's like but you know you know the one thing is it's like you know it's actually good that we're talking about this now because there's been a lot about Cutter Goche this week and you know there's Bruins fans like oh no this is going to happen to us. You know some people brought up some of my old videos about Goche and I was like uh oh just because I think things develop over time and I think the one thing that really happened with Goche was that he felt there was a promise made and in all those videos I did that people have been recirculating this week the one thing that I learned later was that you know that was a really hard year in Philly they were not in the same kind of more positive spot that the Bruins are now and the Flyers were really worried about bringing Goche into that and they you know they were like this isn't going well here our dress rooms had a lot of problems this year we don't necessarily think this is the right environment to bring you in and even though their intentions on that were pure it worked out badly for them long term so I just wanted to clarify the record on some of that we'll see where it goes with with Hagan's today. Alright also to Anton Frandell on his way to Chicago. Yes. Blaschel's putting them right into things as he said and I think Sasha Boivre should be on his way to Chicago as well. It's I gotta say this is all this visa stuff is very interesting we got a question about it before. Yes. I got a note from someone saying that it was pretty interesting like there's like like there's there's some teams that have reputations at being really good at this and we kind of talked about it on the pod and as someone said to me do you know why they have the reputations of being good at this and I'm like no and they go that's where you have to do your work and I'm like are you telling me that like they're paying off officials or stuff like that he goes no I'm not telling you that but there is a skill to it he said by the way was there do you notice anything around the Maple Leafs on Saturday like what was the mood around them. Well you know it's funny Elliot obviously they had played the night before so they're not going to do a full skate at the rink Saturday morning what kind of surprised me is that usually even despite that there is a scratch or two or some sign of life of the team at the rink in the morning there was nothing there Saturday at the Canadian Tires Center now I know as this year has gone on I think they've cancelled a lot of practices certainly once they've gotten to the point where you knew they were not going to be playoff bound this spring but that was a bit of a surprise I thought the whole stuff on you know Cowan in the post game giving up that first goal deflated us and Barube saying I don't understand the deflating thing it's a cop out it just it's more a continuation of what the last month has been very heavy and just a certain element of darkness hovering over it all that's what I'd say. You know I think the thing is like I understand why Barube doesn't want to hear that you know at the end of the day like the worst sport to cover when your team is no good is baseball because it's every day and it's 162 games and if your season is over like a game 70 that is 90 days of a nightmare and you're with them every day right at least in the NHL you get days off you don't have to cover everything you don't need to see everybody every day in baseball it's endless and it's relentless so I understand how players are like I can't wait until this is over like I can't wait until this is done I remember when I first broke out of the business there was one leaf team the first leaf team that was really bad when I get gone to the business I ran into a player at a restaurant and we just said hi and I said how you doing goes I can't wait until the season's over so like I understand it it happens but I think when you're a coach especially a guy like Barube who scratched and clawed for everything he got that whole idea and attitude is foreign to you it's like playing hockey right you know you're playing hockey you're not saving lives or anything like that and so I get that the one thing is like Cowan's a kid and he's talking to media after the game and you remember last year when Kovacevic said that the devils have to have to be a little bit better and Sheldon Keev blew up at him like the reporter thought he was throwing a softball and Keev just buried Kovacevic yes of course like it kind of reminded me of that like Cowan thinks like he's like he's a 19-20 year old kid he's new here and he thinks he's just giving a safe answer and you know Barube is like I don't want to hear it like I think Cowan deserves a longer runway than some of the other guys right yeah like if you hear like it's Cowan said that you know it's like ah he's a kid you know he's just you know him like he's just not trying to see he doesn't want to trip over himself he doesn't want to say anything wrong of course yeah yeah nothing wrong with that yeah even though I understand where Barube is coming from this is a 20 year old rookie like just let it go and also I guess as players at a certain point you're just trying to find different ways to explain another loss as they continue to mount because in reality why should a one-nothing goal in the first period be deflating it anyway but it's just been that kind of year it's my thing is it was more of a build up a culmination of what this has all been for Barube to finally say that's a cop out but we talked about Caught Field maybe being a 50 goal guy maybe taking over Nathan McKinnon we do have a new points leader and his name is Nikita Kucherov taking over Connor McDavid on a night I was just gonna get there I was just gonna get there you read my mind good good good good good so San Jose is five points out I'm telling everybody right now if San Jose makes the playoffs you're gonna have to make me really think or work not to put Celebrini number one on my heart ballot but they're starting to making you think and work hard no no no like if if sharks fans sharks pull this off and come back you're gonna have to convince me it's not Celebrini but like San Jose is five points out now and so it's it's trouble but if it's not him it's gotta be Kucherov it's incredible and what's I saw a stat of I don't know what the bulk of the workload is but it's like over several years now there's a greater likelihood the Kucherov has a three point game than he does having a zero point game he's got more three point games than zero point game it's ridiculous the guy's been ridiculous it's not even video game mode it's video game mode on rookie level yeah that's what he is doing right now and to overtake mcdavid on a Saturday night in Edmonton of all places that's a heck of a statement by the way is by the way he's also got three more he's got more three point games and he has smiles this year too yes like apparently just looks so grouchy and apparently he's more miserable after they win than after after a loss because he's one of those guys that like he could have a four point game but if there's one play that didn't go the way he had hoped at any point in the game he could be coming off the ice fuming about one little yeah but that's the best of the best I know but it's still a lot of that is so fascinating how that all works he was incredible now mcdavid first of all I loved him calling the Pacific Division a pillow fight yes but you know Anaheim won Sunday Vegas one Sunday so Calgary Calgary won Sunday so they finally got some wins but that was hilarious but you know the I gotta say the nobloc stuff it read worse than it sounded they had a great system they're perfectly coached they all know what they're doing all over the ice it's impressive and when you do break them down they got a heck of a goalie to to backstop him is that just a bunch of time doing the same things over and over again like how do you guys get to that to be that rehearsed to have that system you can rely on and all those things where does that come from how do you guys get that yeah that's a coaching question you can ask nob to that question you know obviously we've been playing together a long time and we feel like we're somewhat rehearsed and organized but not to their level that was one of those clips like I watched the clip and I'm like hmm and then when I read the clips on social I was like I can see why people think this is sounds worse than maybe it did listening to it but it's notable I mean dry-sidle called everybody out right before the Olympics mcdavid kind of does it here I I know what I would do if I ran the Oilers I would and I wait till dry-sidle gets back because he's supposed to get back from Germany this week I would say guys we're meeting and either it's in the room and they go to Utah this week so they're going to be on the road it's either in the dressing room or it's at a hotel conference room or they rent a room at dinner and they do it there and you have all the players and you have the coaches and you can even have the executives and you say guys we're airing it all out here you got a problem get it out everybody face to face get it out and after this meeting this is it no more public stuff and it's bad because I'm a reporter you like the public stuff no more public stuff no more of this we've got a job to do we've got a make the playoffs which they should do but it's been a little more interesting that it needed to be we got to make the playoffs and we got some games to win and it's not helping with what we're saying we're airing it all out here and then we're pulling together that's what I would do and I would say too when I mean we're airing it out we're airing it out go out there be unsparing tell the truth even if it hurts I'm I'm saving this story for my book but I was in one of those at hockey night Oh I was in a meeting like that could you give us ballpark of what era no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no before you got there actually I have to say two of those two I am fairly new to this so it makes sense that it was before I came before you got there both before you got there and there were things that needed to be dealt with and I had I was criticized and I was critical sometimes you need to give me a take you given you take that's a good plan that's what I would do I like you picked out and I would say I would say in these cases one of them worked and one of them didn't but whether it works or it doesn't you need to get it out there because then you make your decisions yes Edmonton it's the likelihood of a goalie interference challenge it could make all the difference in the world and springboard you towards a third Stanley Cup final or it could cause everything to come down crashing in a heap also so John Cooper he kind of quietly signed an extension last summer right yeah so he's good for so whenever the next negotiation is whether it's him or his representation they got to walk in just like that trend on social where it flipped the laptop around to face the camera and they've got the video loaded up and they press play and the person in the video is like limp sinking along to what's going on in the video and it's just that clip of McDavid where he's going they got a great system they're perfectly coached they all know what they're doing all over the ice let that do the talking for you next time he's doing new contracts in Tampa that's what I would do how long are you sitting on that one well I don't know McDavid just said that Saturday night so sometime on Sunday that's what I was you that was a big game Utah Kings did you see the ice and he and and Vamelica stopped them and they went down the ice and scored and basically won it but what a weekend for Nashville man they're in great shape two up on the Kings four up on the five up on the sharks and jets and the tiebreaker advantage over everybody except the Kraken 24 wins regulation Kraken have one more but they're one up on the jets they're four up on the sharks and they're six up on the Kings Nashville's in a good spot really good spot what for a row and through all of this they may very well end up proving everybody wrong for a third straight year is Barry Schwarz was hoping going into the season to begin with you want to mention here quickly before we get to the final thought about the the 19 year old hockey league players being the A H L eligible it sounds like we've got an idea of what that's going to look like yes so after the after the GM meetings. Finished they the league had some other meetings and one of them was with the CHL and I heard out of that that basically the G in the league in the and the A H L and the CHL are working on something that says that. Nineteen year olds drafted in the first round will be eligible to play in the A H L as soon as next year and the players association has to sign off on this now initially when they talked about it the new CBA it was supposed to be one 19 year old per HL team. But there were some teams who fought it because they said that we're going to have multiple players who might be capable of this and why should we have to pick between them. You know why make a prospect matter their agent mad and so it looks like you're going to get unlimited per team as long as they're 19 and we're taking in the first round. Now I still don't believe there's a lot of them here I think there's only going to be a few it's not like there's going to be 50 who show up but they wanted the open ended option per HL team and it looks like they're going to get it. The other thing I heard after I got on the off the air on Saturday is there's going to be a date where players are they're not teams are going to have to decide does the player stay in the A H L or does he return to the CHL team like in case it's not working as well or if you have a player who you want to return and maybe have a Memorial Cup run. You're going to have that option now the I believe the CHL trade deadline is January 10. I think it's going to be just before that like someone said to me they think it might end up being like January 6. If a player is not returned to the CHL by that date they can't go back. But I think it's interesting that the timeline because then you'll get a decision does a player stay in the A H L or do they get traded back to the CHL for a Mem Cup run. So that's that's going to be an interesting tie into this. I don't know if the other thing I don't know if someone asked me like you said that's for next year could change in the future. And the honest answer is I don't know. I just know that's what they're working on for next year. Yeah. I'm glad to hear that there is an a hard fast set number that goes across the board because as you say like there's different teams in different situations. It's also important to note that I mean not every 19 year old from the Canadian Hockey League that was drafted in the first round is going to be physically ready mature wise ready to go play in the American League. So it's not a sure thing. I think that will make it more unique and there will only be a select number that I think will be hallmarked for going that route and also to because if you're wondering well geez like Canadian Hockey League already took enough of a hit last year with the NCAA rules changing. Now another one here of 19 year olds being able to go the American League. I think and wouldn't you agree Elliot in most cases if a player now is ready to play in the American League at 19 under what the current setup is today they would be going to college hockey anyways so I don't think it changes much in terms of which players are going to be in the C.H.L. Going forward. Look I think the C.H.L. it's been a hard year for a lot of reasons but I think the C.H.L. is still in a really good place I think the best 18 and under players are going to play there and that's still a great place to be. Is it perfect no would you like it the way it used to be. Sure if you're the C.H.L. But things change and they're out of their out of your control and you better adapt to it. I would wonder too if the C.H.L. would be OK with this because their 19 year olds will they rather them be in the NCAA or the A.H.L. Probably the A.H.L. even though I don't think a lot of them are going to be there they'd probably say if we are choice would rather have them be in the A.H.L. Hmm that's a good point too. Thank you. Thank you very much. OK time now for the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ go all electric and a winter ready Toyota BZ at your local dealer today it has been well documented Elliott your travels last week the long flights the early flights OK the late night. Let me set this up OK I have to do this. Wait can I just say one thing. Sure. I had a number of people at the rink on Saturday beside themselves at the idea of you putting your laptop charge cable in a checked bag not in your carry on with your laptop and perhaps the conversation you had with somebody on Saturday about that helps. Yes set up everything we're going to get into here. I had a few people that reached out about that too. Like so OK OK let me just address that first OK. I figure if I'm taking a short flight that I don't need a laptop charger so I just throw it I carry like a cord bag that the only thing I carry if I'm if I'm checking a bag the only thing I take with me is a phone charger I have one I keep one OK. And that's it other than that I have this small pouch that I use for my spare batteries and cords and electronics and stuff like that and I throw it in there OK. So that's that OK. I have to confess. Brian Spear the producer was the first person to call me on Friday and say you don't pack your your laptop cord. And I had no recollection of what he was talking about I was like what. And so I'm going to come clean OK I'm going to come clean right here. If you listen to the pod you know at a terrible travel day and we did the last pod Thursday night after the Cox telethon. I was tired. I felt. I told Kyle and Dom they can both vote for this that I felt the podcast on Friday was horrible because I was too tired and I wasn't very good. As a matter of fact I didn't even link to it on my social pages because I was so unhappy with the podcast on Friday. Even with the urinal debate which I had a lot of feedback on I had people setting me videos about proper urinal etiquette etiquette which I will send to Renault. But I was really unhappy I was really unhappy with the podcast I was like I was too tired. I wasn't focused it wasn't a very good podcast. And so there's something that happened and Dom asked to play the audio. And I said no you're not doing it because not that I'm embarrassed about or anything like that that's not it and you'll hear it in a second. But because I don't want people to think I don't take the podcast seriously I take the podcast very seriously. I want it to be good and the reason I didn't allow this audio to be played was because I didn't want people to think I wasn't taking it seriously. So basically what happened you're about to hear but I told a couple people that happened like you have to play this. You have to people know how seriously you take it you have to play this. So it's like okay I have a good sense of humor I can laugh at myself. Kyle why don't you set the scene and then Dom can run the audio. So well there's really nothing much else to set up here we were going through our topics I believe we eventually got to discussing Nashville's search for a new general manager to succeed Barry Trotz anyway yeah I think that's enough said. Dom why don't we listen to it now. Starting to get more of a sense of timeline there and how Nashville would like to approach things and determining who will succeed Barry Trotz. Elliott you there. You there. Oh yeah sorry not an offer. I'm just tired. It's been a long couple days. Sorry what was the last thing you said. I was. Man. Oh yeah so so when that happened this is your finished recording Dom's like can I play it. I'm like no I'm not making a mockery of the pod. But I don't remember the I have no recollection of the chord conversation none zero but man I was tired I was really tired. You were. I mean we've had some late nights we've we've had some recordings where we've been on fumes but that was a new that was a new level. Last night we had some recordings where we've been on fumes but that was a new level. Last Thursday or early Friday morning. But amazingly there you were on set in Toronto Friday night there you were on Saturday. I gotta tell you I thought I was I'll say this I was I thought I was horrible on that show like I Carolyn Nick and Justin they carried me through that show. I was horrible I thought I was horrible on that show. I thought I was better Saturday people can decide if I'm right or not but I thought I was good in the pregame and once the game started for that Toronto Carolina game I thought I was useless. Yeah I'm sure they've felt that throughout the season at different times. Was not exclusive to last Friday. No it wasn't a. No. But hey energy levels are up here. On this edition much better tonight much better tonight. I'm glad you got to the point of comfort rolling that. That was well you know what you know me I can I can laugh at myself I just I don't I never want the audience to think like we are lucky people give us their time. I never want people to think we're either wasting their time or taking their time for granted. Great. I hope they don't think that way but it's a good reminder that we should probably take our first break because that was the final thought presented by the Toyota BZ. And we will take our first break when we come back another edition of the thought line 32 thoughts the podcast continues to be on the show. The podcast continues after this. All right welcome back brand new edition of the thought line coming your way right here Elliott normally this is the time reserve for shout outs or anything we want to get off our chest before getting into the heart of the matter. This time however we want to tap into Dom side a little bit here. Yes and a side hustle a side hobby that he's got going on so why don't you set it up. Go ahead Dom. Well I collect sports cards mainly sports cards I have a few Pokemon here and there but I have hockey cards football cards basketball cards baseball cards and last week I went to the Vancouver flea market they were hosting a sports card show. And one of the friend of mine and I did some trading did some selling tried to find some new stock for my collection and came away with a little bit of a find and so what was the client. So I was trying to get off of a Patrick line a PSA 10 rookie card something I've had in my collection for a while I thought highly of Patrick line a when he first came into league as many people did I thought this card would be valuable and unfortunately for Patrick and for me his career didn't pan out the way I hope it would so I went to try and get off this card and while I was there I was offered. I would say $40 for it and I saw a Zeeb William rookie card on the table and I asked the gentleman if he would be interested in a trade and Zeeb William listed it $30 so I offered him. The my card for Zeeb William and $10 and he took the trade now I'm the happy owner of a Zeeb William rookie card. Wow. So what are like what are your other I don't want to get your house robbed or anything like that but what what are your other valuable cards that you're really proud of. My favorite card or my favorite cards rather are my two Luca Donchich rookie cards I have two Luca Donchich PSA 10 rookie cards and I have a Joe Burrow as well those are my those are the ones I look at most fondly. And so like what's the value of those right now just because I'm not talking about the value of those. Why not. I don't want to share that information. No seriously there were there were there worth a lot of money I don't want to I don't want to talk about the. Okay. Honestly I don't know like I used to collect cards and I was a kid I don't know now. Yeah a lot of people will be coming after Dom for their half of a dinner bill if they number got out. Do you keep them in a safety deposit box. No so I have actually I have a display in my apartment where I just have them out and I like to look at them from time to time but they're out in the open. I live alone now it's all like anyone will take them from me. And what was your address again. I was just I was just thinking the exact same thing. It's so funny. So you said PSA to like what's the significance of PSA 10. Oh is that the highest grade. So 10 is a perfect grade. So explain that like for those of us who don't collect cards anymore. Explain what that means. So when you have a card it can be any sort of collectible it doesn't even have to be cards you can set it off to. There are many graders but the one that is most well known is PSA and you mail this off to PSA they will look at your card your collectible under a microscope and they will determine the condition of your card and the better condition of your card the more valuable it is and the most sought after cards are 10s because they are in perfect condition and I just so happen to have a few of those in my collection. Now is there a holy grail card for you that you would love to get your hands on. Yes but I'll never get it. Okay what is it. It's a PSA 10 Michael Jordan rookie card. And what again one of those right now. Yeah what is that worth. Currently there are three hundred thirty three of them in population and PSA 10s are worth two hundred and seventeen thousand US dollars each. So if you were to add up your two Lucas Lucas Donch's cards and your Joe Burrow card how close would you get to the Michael Jordan card. Why are you trying to get this out of me. I'm just curious I'm asking you know I'm interested in the barter system like how close is and maybe we'll add your Zeeboo yam card to that too is that is that get you closer. Yeah minimally. We're hoping Zeeboo yam turns into the next Quinn Hughes let's just put it that way. Well I think there's I would love to see that for a lot of different reasons. Did you see Jake DeBras there. Isn't he a card collector guy. No so I was I was kind of hoping he would show up but unfortunately he wasn't there this time. He is a big Pokemon card collector. Very notably so yeah. All I know about Pokemon is that I read this week that Pokemon Go game was that was the biggest scam ever because it became like a shoe and tracking device. Yeah yeah we didn't. I'm so excited about the opportunity to play that game. I didn't realize it gave all of your data to the CIA. OK last question for you Dom what is like your favorite non valuable card like we all had cards we got that really weren't worth anything but we just love the card what's that. I have a Reese Hoskins PSA 10 rookie card Reese is my favorite Philadelphia ever. Philly's yeah and doesn't matter to me that it's worth 10 bucks to me it's priceless. I love that you know what we all everybody who collects cards or anything has something like that that really isn't worth anything but you just love it because it appeals to you so I respect that I like that. Excellent good stuff Tom. Nice Tom. Congratulations on your booyah and purchase and I hope it turns out great for you. All right here we go. Henry from Finland. Hi Alliant and boys. I've been wondering after the Nix Schmaltz signing what is the point of front heavy contracts. I understand that it is nice for the players to get the money up front but what's in it for the team. Since the AAV is the same through the contract it's hard to imagine the teams would just do it to be nice to the players. PS let's go Red Wings. You know there's a couple of things there. Number one you know first of all some teams don't do that. There are some teams that make it a priority saying that we don't do bonuses or we don't front load like that. You know Winnipeg has been one although they Kyle Connor was different Nashville has been like that before. You know sometimes when you have a player who's got so much leverage there's not much you can really do about it. And you have to change but there are some teams that fight that you know more than others. You know the other thing it does is you can say all right well front load the contract maybe it the player gives up on something else like AAV potentially will give you the money so you have it sooner but maybe you'll get less of it overall. That is definitely happening in some cases. And the other thing that can happen is on the back end if you do a buyout sometimes with the money that's been left over the buyout is not quite as onerous as it would be if say a player had signing bonuses all the way through that made their contract basically buyout proof. Those are some reasons. All right very good. Thank you for that. Richard from Birmingham and Calgary. Hey Dom Kyle and the raccoon guy. I'm Richard I'm from Birmingham in the UK but currently living in Calgary. I've been involved with hockey since I was a kid despite routinely being asked if we play hockey in the UK while wearing my team Great Britain Jersey and Team Great Britain being in the top pool the world's on and off for years now. I don't think a best on best tournament would grow the game but rather ring fences around a few stronghold nations. I know nobody wants a team Europe at one of these events but would it be worth having a team at the next World Cup made up of a best of the tier two nations like Great Britain Japan France Italy Kazakhstan Poland etc. Last year I was in Denmark for the Olympic qualifiers in Japan took Denmark to overtime on home ice and then we beat Japan the next day. We also beat Italy at the tier two worlds despite how manfully Italy dealt with Sweden at the Olympics. I think the best of the minor nations could hold their own. I mean I'm just here looking out for my boys Liam Kirk and Ben Bounds. I think it would be great to get them on NHL ice because the Olympics have shown lesser known lads based in Europe can hold their own and having that exposure in Britain Japan and Poland off the back of the Olympics would do wonders for our programs and be a huge platform for the guys selected. Right now the MLB the NFL the NBA are playing games in the UK and eating the NHL's lunch in minor hockey nations. Anyhow thanks for hearing me out keep up the great work. Love your pod and go team Great Britain go Islanders on what I thought was going to be a bad year and go Cardiff Devils. I have to say this Richard I think this is a great great great submission and I was actually thinking about it this morning because I can't I saw a post on X today about the demand for ice rinks in the UK. And just that the fact there needs to be more talking about waiting lists. Big indoor sport in Great Britain like just doesn't get as much attention as it should considering how much interest it's grown and the phrase is the sport it's by Henry Stalins this tweet. The sport has grown quietly well past the current infrastructure available. This is not just a supply and demand issue that will go away. And I thought that was interesting and I meant to look at it a bit far farther somewhere down the road. And you know what Kyle we've talked about the World Baseball Championship and we were watching the game and our disagreement with the with the strike of USA Dominican. But I think that part of the success of that WBC is just some of the other teams that get to play in it like Italy went all the way to the semifinals and I know they're all a lot of them are Americans. But still it's it's great visibility. Netherlands plays Israel plays. You know I think it's I think that's really important and it reminds me it's a it's a good question to ask like is there a way that we can get more focus on Great Britain. Bulgaria other countries that are starting to pick up hockey Thailand Japan. Is there is there a way to do this. And you know I know when Don fear was running the NHLPA he brought up something about qualifying tournaments which would help do this and they just didn't have the ability to do it at the time. But I hope as they regrow it and as they try to make it bigger like I don't know if you'll ever be able to get more than eight teams during the regular season if you're going to play this in February I'm not sure it's going to be possible. But I do think it would be a good thing to have an NHL supported qualifying tournament somewhere down the road where the games could be televised and something could be done to boost up the visibility. I think Richard is 100% on to something here and best on best is great but I think he's totally right that we have to build it in some of the non in some of the countries that you wouldn't necessarily think of first Richard. I think you're totally right and this is something for me to look back into somewhere in the future. Great great great submission. Yeah. And my only concern was like because you know this is an NHL NHLPA run event and now we're looking at you know all these players that of course aren't part of that. Just the extra hoops like you know we were just down at the GM meetings and one of the conversation points being around for players like say for a team Czechia like not that we saw at the Olympics not every player on that team is from the the NHL they play professionally elsewhere in Europe. So figuring out clearance of allowing those players in theory to be able to leave their club teams to come play in an event like the World Cup during what would still be their regular season going on in February. I would love to see a path to allow for something like that or just something as you say for more exposure but with all the different nations and players that play in many different places and to get the the necessary stamps of approval and green light. To allow all of it to happen. Imagine that would be a big job but you know the way it's laid out here and to your point about what's going on in the UK and the DeVanbur for more ice. Clearly I think there would in a lot of ways would be very much worth it so. Yeah I'm all for that. I am all for that. Okay Phil from Lower Sackville but really Cape Breton. Gidey Dom the Don, Bruiser Bukoskis and Elliot who gets bullied by raccoons. Just kidding Elliot those craters. Don the Don. Jeez. Just kidding Elliot those craters. Don of what? That Don spelled like not Don like the Sopranos but Don like the Don of the Morning. Yes. Your dish soap Dom. Oh gosh I'm a massive hockey fan a hockey nerd as we are so lovingly called much like you fellas are have only been to a few NHL games in my life live but recently had the good fortune of being able to attend a game in Ottawa with two of my best good buddies as we call one another. The game wasn't great in general. It was a game against Carolina. They took it to the Sands pretty good so the atmosphere felt a tad flat. One positive takeaway however was the play of two unheralded defensemen. Jalen Chatfield of the Canes and Tyler Clevin of the Sands. Both were engaged physically. They made smart calculated plays breaking out of their own end and joined the rush offensively when the opportunity presented itself. Just wanted to shout out all of the depth players who don't necessarily get the appreciation they deserve but are integral parts of their teams in their own ways and on any given night a five can play like a one and that's pretty impressive to me. Who are some of your favorite deep cut players that you appreciated in this way. Thanks for the entertainment and appreciate your knowledge and hard work. Oh boy that is a great question Phil. Are we talking about current or are we talking about any time. I do love you've seen that there's those accounts online. It's like the Hall of Very Good. Like those are excellent. I'm guessing that he's probably going even deeper Phil is here than the Hall of Very Good because those would still probably be a lot of second line guys or second pair guys. Maybe in some cases it's like there's a name I haven't heard in forever. There are some that's true in there. You know one of the things that jumped to my head was the Red Wings. They had the Russian five at one point right and it was at one particular point. Doug Brown was the winger and it was for Russians and it was Doug Brown and Doug Brown's nickname was Brown off. One of their Stanley Cup teams. I think you might have been on both Stanley Cup teams in 97 and 98. But I always remembered that one because 98 was the first Stanley Cup I ever covered between the Red Wings and the Washington Capitals. And you know I just remembered Brown off and I always kind of thought that was a good tribute and a nice nickname at the time. But you know one of the I'm trying to think like I grew up in Toronto in a time where they didn't really have all the TV they do now. Like you got two games a week and you felt pretty lucky to be able to do that. You know one player that I would say he scored a really huge goal in the 70s was Yvonne Lombair of the Montreal Canadiens. And I always loved the guys that back at that time guys didn't wear helmets and Gila Fleur had the great hair like he would skate down the wing with the hair flowing and everybody loved Gila Fleur. And back then you always liked guys who had great means with no helmet. And Yvonne Lombair was another guy like that. He scored a massive goal against the Bruins. But you know he was a very good player. He wasn't a great player but Yvonne Lombair would be one of the first names that I would remember from my childhood who I liked like that. Great, great call. And I don't know if you would put this guy as a deep cut because I mean he had one 20 goal year. But I mean before like when I would have started watching hockey a lot more closely he was in more of the twilight of his career. But I always think of like Trent Klatt with the Canucks you know towards the end. I think that qualifies. Like Trent Klatt qualifies. I scored an overtime goal against St. Louis in the playoffs one year and did the big fist pump down on one knee. It was like that's still like ingrained in my mind. You know I remember vividly like when the flames went to the final in 2004 you know just some of the. Martin Angelina scored every big goal. Scored every big goal. I mean he was kind of more of a scorer and of course more well known but we even go into like the Chuck Cobasues of the world. Yeah. Christophe Oliwai you know like it's like those. Well a lot of the guys who really fought when I was a kid were a lot of those guys and a lot of them were also great charity guys. Like there was there's a long line between guys who did a lot of fighting and also were the ones who were the best people in the community. Like oh there was a lot of that. So I think that's also a good tie in. Very good. All right one question Phil. Yeah one final one here Elliott Clayton from Manitoba with Macklin Celebrini's MVP case a large part of the talk being the points gap from him to the second highest point score on his team. What is the highest point gap from a team's leading scorer and their second leading scorer where that team also made the playoffs in that season. Now Clayton's a Vancouver fan and he ended his note with a hashtag tank for McKenna. Manitoba and a Knuck fan what happened there. Well Kucharov like there have been a couple of big ones recently Kucharov and McKinnon right. Are those the answers. No there are I'm looking at one. I also got to think like five six seven was Gratsky like the or Lemieux like years that they were putting up video game numbers they could do it too. Yeah so to say of the top seven biggest gaps there are two names that appear on the list and one of them is like coffee at 150 points but Gratsky had two hundred and fifteen. Yes yeah he had yeah the year of two fifteen yeah coffee at 138 and Gratsky had two fifteen. Yeah and so the biggest gap was a hundred and seven points Gratsky two twelve Glenn Anderson 105. Oh my god. You imagine putting up a hundred points. I'm second on the team with scoring by a hundred. Yeah that's hilarious. Yeah and so the one year that in this top seven that wasn't Gratsky it was a Lemieux and 88 89 he had 199 and Rob Brown had 115 84 point gap. Geez. That's crazy. I have to double check that but I wonder what the biggest non Gratsky or Lemieux answer is because remember Kucharov and McKinnon had pretty big ones in the last few years. Right don't remind the lightning fans feel even more slighted. Yeah yeah I don't blame them. I don't blame them. Well there we go. I'm not sure Celebrini will get there this year but it's it's been a season for the ages. There's no question Clayton so we appreciate you sending that one in. All right we'll leave it there. 32Thoughts at Sportsnet.ca if you would like to send us an email or you can drop a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232. One final break and we'll wrap up this edition of 32 Thoughts the Podcast after this. All right before we go I would thought this would be a good time to update all of our listeners on the ongoing in season cup competition between myself and Elliott and Randy Bajanda and Emily Agard. We are coming into the final stretch so after I think over 90 days I went without holding the title. Colorado Avalanche wrestled it back for me on Sunday with the overtime win over Washington. That puts me at 42 days total. Elliott's at 29. Randy's at 31. I am two back of Emily at 44. And it just so happens that my avalanche play her penguins on Tuesday night. The title on the line again so a big game Tuesday between Emily and I a lot at stake and it feels fitting that as we've got some crazy playoff races particularly in the east and some good ones in the west as well that the in season cup for the total days looks to be headed towards a frenetic finish. And of course there's the other winner that will have the title on the final day of the regular season. So good drama yet to unfold not only in the NHL standings but the in season cup race as well. Okay couple things to keep an eye on network wise this week Tuesday night on Sportsnet one the Edmonton Oilers are in Utah another big game for the oil. That's at nine Eastern seven o'clock mountain time again on Sportsnet one the Oilers and the Mammoth Scotiabank Wednesday night hockey this week the Rangers in Toronto to face the Maple Leafs hockey central underway at seven o'clock ET pluck drop a little after 7 30 Eastern 4 30 Pacific time. We understand with how many of us have busy schedules time never seeming to stand still through all of that. We appreciate you spending some of your day here with us we do not take it for granted have yourselves a great week we will talk to you again on Friday.