32 Thoughts: The Podcast

00:00 What's the question? It's just all the different players in history that scored first game, first shift, first shot. 00:09 I can think of three, but I don't know how many there are in total. 00:14 Sorry, who scored in their first game? 00:17 First game, first shift on their first shot. 00:21 Mario Lemieux. 00:23 Our teammate. 00:26 Craig Simpson did it? 00:27 No. 00:28 Another ex-oiler. 00:32 Louis Dabrowski? No. He's an in-season cut participant, not named David Amber. 00:41 I can't remember who's on the thing this year. 00:43 Oh, my God. I haven't even paid attention because you guys are after my team. 00:47 Luke Gastic? Yes. Luke did that? Yes, he did. 00:52 Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. Dominic Schramatti, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukaskis back with you once again. Elliot, I will borrow a line from the East Coast lyricist classified. 01:05 When it comes to the Red Wings, they had been waiting on some good news and they finally got some with the extension of Alex Dobrinkit, seven years, 13 million dollars. 01:16 All of this, and it speaks to the situation still that Detroit is in. It didn't take long in a Sean Horkoff's press conference on Wednesday to be, oh, but what about Simone Evertson? And what about Dylan Larkin? 01:28 Can't you just let me celebrate? 01:31 No. 01:32 They gave you like 30 seconds, and then it was back to the others. Not even. Yeah. But they needed a win. 01:37 And just to be fair, if I was in the press conference, I probably would have done the same thing. So it's not like I'm better than anybody else here. 01:44 No, but Detroit needed a win. They got one with to bring it staying on long term. So your thoughts on Detroit's state of affairs as we speak here late Wednesday night and everyone listening Thursday morning. 01:57 So, Kyle, I see the big winner here is to bring it. 02:03 Because, by the way, did you know that in Ontario, the lottery on Friday night is 90 million dollars? 02:12 Really? Wow. 02:13 I was today years old when I learned that. So if you win the lottery in Ontario on Friday, you too can sit at the same poker table as Alex Dobrinkit. 02:27 Ah. But Dobrinkit is obviously the big winner. 02:31 But you know who I think is number two? 02:33 Who? Sean Horkoff. 02:36 There we go. Okay. 02:38 So it's great for the Red Wings fans like that game. 02:42 I was at a piano concert on Tuesday night as that was all happening. But I went back and I watched the highlights and what a great game that was between the Devils and the Red Wings. And you talk about two teams that absolutely needed a victory. 03:00 I'm of the John Madden school of don't tell me it's a must win because if you lose, what are you supposed to do? Give up on the rest of your schedule? But that felt like a huge game for both those teams. 03:13 And Dabrinka gets two goals. His line looked fantastic. He almost banked one in off the goalie's head for his hat trick late in the game. And then Jack Hughes won it in overtime. So it was crushing for Detroit and their fans. That was a tough, tough loss. But Obviously, their fans are ecstatic because they need something to make them believe, and the Brinkett signing makes them believe. But the real reason I say Horkoff was second is through no fault of his own, no fault of his own, there was a belief out there that that he was handcuffed that he really didn't have a lot of ability to get things done and the franchise was in a state of inertia and you know what happens we're all focused on Larkin and we're all focused on Edvinson and that so the shiny things are over there and then we find out that the real news is coming from the other direction and one of the things I'd heard Kyle is that They recognized that because the contract rules changed on September 15th, there just wasn't enough runway to get DeBrinckitt signed to an eight-year deal. 04:33 And I'd heard that there was some contact and that the Red Wings basically knew that If it went to only seven max, the AAV was going to be higher. 04:45 And I think they just said, we're going to do it. We're going to do it. We feel that seven times 13 for a player that cares a lot about being a Red Wing, like Kyle, you remember him at the media day on the NHL, on the media tour. He was standing up for the Red Wings. He was talking up the Red Wings. Everybody knows his ties to the local area. 05:08 And Detroit was like, okay, Larkin, that one's not closing right now. Edvinson, that one's not closing right now. This one, we can close. Let's do it. And they got it done. 05:26 And, you know, the one thing I feel is good front offices, they can do more than one thing at a time. 05:35 Like, you can do this and handle other files as well. But I really think it's a massive win for Horkoff because now you can't look at him and say, he's got no power. He's got no influence. You look at Horkoff now and you say, okay... this is a manager here, even though he's in an interim role right now, he has juice. He has the ability to close things. Obviously it goes to ownership. 06:06 Nobody's handing out a $91 million contract without the approval of your owner. Let's be real here. But I think there's, I think, League-wide, Horkoff has more credibility in the job now than he did before Tuesday. So Dabrinkit's the first winner, Horkoff's the second winner, and I think the Red Wings fans who need a W are the third big winner here too. 06:37 Now, as you said, he was asked about some other things, and he confirmed what a lot of us have been saying publicly, that He does not want to trade Edvinson. You know, I don't know where this one's going to go. 06:51 You know, you guys have made jokes about my own contract situation this year. Like, I had a rule doing it. Like, generally... 07:01 I'm really not supposed to talk about this, but I want to tie it into Edvinson, okay? So we'll see how much trouble I get in after this podcast drops. We'll see if you're looking for a new co-host on Friday, okay? 07:13 Yeah. Lay it all out there. Spill the beans. Keep going. 07:17 So generally, I thought our negotiations were pretty professional. 07:25 But there were moments there when things were exchanged back and forth that made me crazy. 07:34 And I had a rule that when I went to sleep, the next day I was going to wake up and I was going to be over it. I was like, no matter how mad I was about something yesterday, I am going to wake up The next day in a better frame of mind and ready to move on and figure out. 07:57 How I was going to deal with what bothered me. I'm generally like that in life, and a lot of the times I'm very successful and I really tried to stick with it. 08:07 In. 08:09 this past case. And I think that's one of the reasons that it worked out because I think everybody was really professional and tried to work towards a solution, although it wasn't always easy to get there. 08:23 I think that's kind of where Edvinson is from what I've heard. And I want to be careful because I don't want to speak for him, but this is what I've heard. I've heard that this one has just taken so long that he's super frustrated and he's at a point now where it's not just as easy as saying, go to sleep and you'll feel better tomorrow. Like there's been too many sleeps like that. And until he decides he's going to change his mind and who knows, it could be all it takes is one phone call. 09:04 He's there. 09:06 And so what it sounds like right now is... Now, I do think the Red Wings have talked to other teams about him. I do think it's been a high price. But it's clear from what Horikov said, they want to outweigh him. They just want to... 09:21 They would much rather have him than not have him. And I've said this in a couple places now. I have been told by multiple people that Horkoff in particular really thinks highly of Edmondson because he worked with him. 09:35 The Larkin thing... 09:39 I do think what happened in Montreal last weekend slightly changed the equation. I just don't know if it's enough. It didn't hurt. That's what I would say. I just don't know if it's enough. But, you know, I just feel that if you're a Red Wing or a fan, you feel a little bit better today than you did the other day. 10:05 Maybe a lot better. 10:07 Yeah, of course. It didn't take long for him to become a very popular guy, Dabrinka we're talking about here, with the Red Wings fans, and he's off to another great start this season. And I'm not trying to back you in the corner here, Elliot, but when you say the stuff in Montreal last weekend, the Larkin chants may have changed things a bit, what do you mean by that? It's either the player goes, yes, I will go to Montreal, or no, mine hasn't changed. 10:33 Well, at this point in time, there's not a list that says he'll go to Montreal. But with a couple more days to kind of think about it and ask around about it, I think he was really pleasantly surprised by the reaction to him. But it hasn't changed far enough yet. 10:54 for it to mean anything actionable. 10:58 Okay. And then back to Edmondson, like one of the things that Horkoff said on Wednesday was, you know, because he's asked about just in terms of, you know, the team looking to do something short term with them or long term, and Horkoff goes, well, we're open to anything. Now, I know that doesn't mean... 11:14 Blank check, but have Detroit's stance on what they're willing to do changed considerably over this last little while? And is it more so the player going, can they get over the frustration of what this process has all looked like? 11:33 Could that be the biggest sticking point as opposed to actually agreeing on a deal itself? Has Detroit become way more flexible in what the player would want than maybe what we were looking at late August? 11:47 I don't even think it was late August. It's interesting. I had heard in looking back that in early July, there were some rumors going around the league that he was very close on a bridge deal. 12:02 Now, that has been disputed to me since then, but I think the Red Wings felt that they were getting close on a bridge deal and they had something that they thought might work. 12:17 But they weren't thinking long term, like definitely early in the summer, the Red Wings were We're a bridge deal team with this. 12:25 Now, I think they're willing to do whatever, as Horkoff said. I think it's simply now on the player to decide, okay, I'm willing to give my approval to negotiate with them. Like, I get it. It's taken a year. I think we've talked about this. It's taken a year, and I think it's just like everybody's got their boiling point, right? And he hit his. 12:50 Finally, business getting done in Detroit and still a couple of big files yet to be decided with the Red Wings in Hockey Town and a team that was a big win off the ice but continuing to need wins on the ice after a tough start to the year. 13:07 When it comes to the win category. Okay. 13:11 Very busy night Tuesday. Just two games Wednesday, but both were beauties. 13:17 Oh, great games. A lot of great hockey the last two nights. A lot of great hockey. 13:20 Yes. I think as you said over the weekend, like they're finally coming out of the preseason season. 13:26 type warts, and the games are looking a little more polished, and yeah, it's all, a lot of it's been very entertaining. So, Morosh Nishanko with the Capitals. Yep. First round pick a few years ago for them, and as we were talking before we recorded, like, this is a guy who I think has... Some eyeballs from others around the league that just hasn't been able to get into the lineup yet this season. He plays Wednesday. He gets on the score sheet. He catches Lewkowski with that hit. That draws a whole reaction. 13:57 And you're getting the sense that, yeah, not just the Washington Capitals are looking at him and his potential going forward. 14:06 So I was sitting at home watching that game, and he had that big hit that was initially given the penalty to Slavkovsky, and then they took it off the board. And I thought that was the right review. I don't think that was a dirty hit. I think people who saw it had more issues with the contact between Wilson and Slavkovsky after than they did with Mirosh Nishanko. 14:31 But that was his first game of the year, and he's had trouble getting into the lineup, and he scored two. 14:37 And I was texting someone, and there's someone I talked to about when you don't play, get noticed. Like, that's his thing. If you're someone who's been out of the lineup or – been hurt or you haven't been playing well, do something to get noticed. And I texted him during the game. I said, boy, you know, Marosh Nishanko is following your rules right here. He's getting noticed. And he just said, there's a lot of people watching. 15:08 And I was like, tell me more. And, you know, as you said, he was a first-round pick. You know, he battled some health issues. He's a really talented guy. 15:17 And he's good enough to play in this league. And the reason he hasn't played so far is that the Capitals are so deep. And, you know, they obviously what they added, they're a really good team. 15:30 And he's they're a really good team. And he got into this game because Dubois is under the weather. But I heard and this guy told me there's a bunch of teams watching him because they think he can play. 15:45 And you know what? 15:47 If the Capitals can't find room for him, He's, you got to put him through waivers, right? I could see them not being too thrilled about having to put that guy through waivers. He just said, look, it's one of those situations. Young kid wants to play, ready to play, deserves to play. Is there a role for him on this team with how loaded they are? And to me, he was just saying there's a bunch of teams out there saying we better be ready and watching in case... You know, he's available at some point. 16:19 He can play. And he sure showed it on on Wednesday night. 16:24 Are you getting the sense at this stage that, you know, general managers that that have the luxury of having some excess and certain positions are a little gun shy to do anything even more than usual? I mean, look at the we're seeing the injuries around the league. I mean, Montreal made the Struble trade. I think they could afford to do that because they've got a lot of defensemen in-house. But just look around the league where you're going, you think you had a guy earmarked for the American League or maybe being a 7th D or 13th forward. 16:55 For sure, suddenly now we're being thrust into action. I mean, we saw what happened with Shosturkin in New York and the whole Garand. He was on waivers, didn't get claimed. Now he's in the spotlight. 17:05 I just wonder for Chris Patrick, it's like, Oh my gosh. Yes, if someone came calling with a really enticing deal for a guy like Morosh Nishanko, of course you've got to consider it. But man, I just wonder how quickly we're seeing bodies go down at certain times here and certain teams around the league. I don't know. Do you get the sense that GMs are a bit gun-shy with that stuff with what we're seeing? Yeah. 17:31 I think they might be. I mean, you always want to have extra players, right? You always want to have extra players. But I think the other thing you're seeing is that players who aren't playing, they're pushing much harder to either get traded or waived or put into a situation. There's a guy on waivers today, Atu Ratu. 17:57 He wants to play, and it's very clear that it's not working out with him and Manny Malhotra. A lot of guys are like, put me on waivers or let me terminate my contract. Like, look how many guys have terminated their contracts and given up money because they want to play. So I understand completely what you're saying. And I agree with you. Like GMs are always worry warts, right? Like they're always worst case scenario planners. You can't have enough defensemen. You can't have enough goalies. 18:28 You can't have enough extra bodies to play. But like a lot of these guys who are at the bottom of the lineup or on the fringes, they're like, no, I want to be somewhere else if I can't play here. 18:42 All right. So we mentioned New York and the post Shisterkin situation. 18:49 And someone pointed out to you, Scott Clemonson, who's with their staff at the Buffalo Montreal game on Tuesday. 18:57 Yes. So Scott Clemonson, who had a 200-game NHL career and was a pro for 15 years, he's the goalie scout for the Rangers. 19:09 And I had a couple people say to me, watch for him over the next little while because they're going to send him out there and he's going to be the guy. So Dylan Garand has done a great job for the Rangers. They got two victories. They beat Vancouver. They beat Tampa. 19:26 They looked really good, I thought, in that Tampa game, too. But Drury, like we talked about, what are GMs? They're worry warts. They're preparing for worst-case scenarios. So what's Chris Drury doing? The best thing that Garand has done right now is he's bought them time. They can look at it and say, okay, we're good here. This kid... 19:49 He's shown promise. He's won the job in difficult situation, and he's got his two Ws. And I think when you're in this situation, all you care about is the Ws. Does the guy look composed? He's stopping one more puck than the other guy. Well, he's doing better than that now. 20:07 Garand has done an excellent job of creating chicken salad out of chicken poop for the Rangers out of Shosturkin's injury. But what Drury is going to do is – he's going to be like Santa Claus. 20:21 He's making a list. He's checking it twice. He's going to figure out who looks bad and who looks nice. Right. And Clemenson is going to be his guy going out there to, to look at guys firsthand. And he was in Montreal, Buffalo. I assume to watch Luke and in, and, you know, we'll, we'll see what goes on there. But yeah, That's what they're going to do. They're going to sit here and they're going to say, okay, we don't have to panic. 20:54 We've got some breathing room. 20:58 But if we want, and one thing I did hear is I heard they might be bringing someone into Hartford in the American Hockey League because they don't have a lot of bodies right now. They have Garand and they have Spencer Martin and Corpus Allo, of course, is still hurt. So I did hear there's somebody coming to their American Hockey League team, the Wolfpack, and we'll see where that goes over the next 24 to 48 hours. But Drury is going to compile his list. He's going to scout some guys. 21:30 He's going to rely on Clemenson. And maybe down the road, he makes his move. But what did he learn this week? He doesn't have to rush. 21:41 Garand can do this job for now. 21:43 You know, it'd be fair to say that it hasn't been a perfect last couple of years for the Rangers. And even coming into this season, I don't think there were many... 21:55 expectations out there that were particularly high so all of that being said i do respect what drury is doing here like it would be easy to go look we're still kind of in transition tough blow losing our best goalie but we're just going to ride it out with who we have and we're going to keep an eye on the future um the fact that they're I mean, getting time bought for them, as you say, with what Garand is doing in the meantime, but actively trying to find a solution for the here and now to reward his team, in a sense, for getting out to a really impressive start. 22:35 And they're a fun team to watch here in the early going. 22:39 I appreciate that mentality versus standing path. 22:44 I agree with that. Yeah. 22:47 It's the name of the game. You've got a chance to continue to push forward and maybe surprise some more. 22:55 Why not look for an opportunity to bolster your chance to do so? Because they look like a team that, at least in the early going, has some intention of disrupting maybe the early season predictions. 23:11 Well, you know what? I was on with Marchese and Futa on the hockey show on Wednesday, and Futa was talking about how well they forecheck. And I agree with that. I think they're like dogs on a bone right now. And what's the best way to prevent the puck from going in your net is keep the puck at the other end of the ice. That Carche has been a really nice fit with them. But you know where I really think the difference has been made? 23:40 I look at their D, and they've got an all-new second pair now, Marcus Pedersen and Sean Dursey. 23:47 Those guys, I think, are making a big difference. And the other guy, too, is Albert Schmitz, their first-round pick, who's playing with Braden Schneider. You know, Kyle, when Schmitz was taken, there's always this great debate about guys who are maybe a little bit older or a little bit more pro-ready. 24:11 Are you drafting a guy who can help you now or are you drafting a guy who can help you in the future? And the Rangers were willing to say, okay, we think this guy can help us now. And you see the vision, right? Like you see the talent. 24:25 I just think that those three guys they've added on D have really changed their mix for the better. 24:33 And that's when I, and you know, this is a league that there's probably about what, like what's the top tier of goalies, five, six, seven guys. If you don't have one, then you have to do what Carolina does. You say, we're going to get the best possible guy we can get. And we're going to play like heck in front of them. And that's the model that the Rangers are going right now. And you know, that Sullivan too is sitting in there and he's like, It's us against the world. 25:04 Nobody believes in us. They think we're going to go 0-80 without Shisterkin. And that is a very powerful motivator. I don't think that can work all the time, but I think in sports it works. There's something about sports and shock the world and us against the world and nobody believes in us. 25:27 I don't know that you could go into a room full of sideline reporters and say, rinkside reporters like you, Kyle, and say, no, but the world doesn't believe in you guys. You're going to go out there and knock it out of the park in tonight's broadcast. But I do think you can go into a dressing room and do that. Yeah, I'd be running to the bathroom stall. You guys need a lot more help than that. 25:47 Yeah, I'd be running to the bathroom stall in tears. 25:50 I can't go on. 25:52 Is that what they think of me? 25:53 The world will emerge victorious. There's no way I can beat it. That's right. 25:58 Yeah. I can't beat the world. Are you kidding me? 26:01 Me versus $7 billion, no chance. But if you told the Rangers without Shostakovich that they have a chance to shock the world, they think that can work for them. That can work. 26:11 Yes, that's, that's great. 26:14 By the way, I just wanted to touch on too, I don't know if you saw Steve Vallecat on with, he does his weekly hit with the Real Kipper. That's a good hit. 26:21 Really good together. Really good together. 26:24 And so of course, another former goalie that was around the league for a long time and now, you know, an analyst with the Rangers and has his clear site analytics business. Anyway, and I may have mentioned this, I can't remember if I did on the podcast last year. I'm just talking to a former goalie, but He was really big on, Steve was this week. 26:43 You know, we've all talked about, and we're hearing that term certainly more and more in the public sphere when it comes to goaltending positioning was the reverse VH, right? VH standing for vertical horizontal. And that move and what, you know, the former goalie had told me last year was like, you wouldn't believe The torque and the stress that position puts on a goalie's knees, his hips, and his ankles. 27:12 And that was Steve's point on the radio this week. And of course, they're talking about Chesterkin, and he wasn't blaming that on why he got hurt. You know, the amazing part when you look back at that whole incident was that the net didn't move. The post didn't come off as moorings as he went sliding into it. 27:31 But just as so many goalies have adopted that because it's an effective way to play, certainly, when it comes to stopping the puck. But the physical toll that it takes, and he just said, you know, now we're starting to see this generation of goalies that would have adopted that style and played the bulk of their careers that way that are now starting to retire. 27:53 And the toll that that is all going to take, man, it's going to be interesting to watch. And hopefully you don't see anything super serious where quality of life is severely affected. 28:05 But I guess, you know, my whole point is like, I just, when you hear the argument every now and then of, I can't believe goalies can't play back to back anymore. Like what happened to the days repaid 75, 80 games a year. I just think like the, the way they move now and, and how they contort their bodies with so much, so much torque, so much stress in certain situations. 28:28 You just can't, you can't expect them to have the same workload as, as goalies of the past. The position is completely different than what it was way back then. So yeah, Anyways, as New York's trying to figure out their situation and other teams, as you say, that don't have the top 5% to 7%, it was just interesting hearing his take on that as someone that lived the position and watches it as closely as he does. 28:55 Yeah, it's interesting stuff. I'm trying to think, I always think about when you see some of the retired goaltenders, how do they move? And a lot of them look like they're still moving really well, but I guess it's something I'll keep an eye out for. I hope it's nothing that's that bad. You don't want to see people struggle later in life because of, you know, they gave themselves to the game. The game was good for them and they were good for the game. Right. In any sport. So, you know, hopefully we don't we don't see that. 29:26 You know, the other thing that's kind of come out of that, I meant to follow this up, Kyle, is. 29:31 Do you remember a few years ago when was it Matt Murray of the Leafs was going through that phase where he was knocking nets off all the time? 29:41 Yes. And like everyone kind of honed in on Minnesota as that was. Yes. 29:46 Billy Guerin. Much to Bill Guerin's chagrin. He came up to me at the GMB and goes, what do you mean we can't put our pegs in properly? Yeah. Yes, that's right. Yes, I do remember that. Actually, he came up to me. He goes, there was something I wanted to talk to you about in your podcast that made me unhappy. I go, was it the pegs? He goes, the pegs. 30:09 I knew immediately what it was. 30:10 In his mind, there's a long list. That's right. There were so many of them, Kyle. He couldn't pick one to get out of his brain at the one time. 30:18 But I thought about that because there was definitely there was definitely a thing like where they inserted to lose. Right. 30:28 And I'm still to me, it's just still weird about how that whole injury happened. 30:33 Yes. 30:34 I think we had talked about it, I don't know if it came up on a thought line question, somewhere in the past about, I think they had made those, the flexible pegs, they had at least made them longer. I don't know if it was by an inch. I have to go back and check my notes. 30:48 But when that was going on, the brief epidemic of It's like goalies would sneeze and the nets would come off their moorings. They did make some adjustments to the pegs. Anyways, okay. 31:01 If I'm not mistaken, during that conversation, Garen called me like a leaf apologist. I think he was joking. I think. 31:11 Well, speaking of the Leafs, so they get three out of six on their road trip. That was another entertaining game in Utah there the other night. 31:20 That Utah crowd, that building sounded like an earthquake. It was incredible. 31:24 Oh, they're excited about their team. So we know Chris Tanev's on IR, and I think it's been out there since even the dawn of the season starting. The Toronto Leafs, could still be looking for another defenseman. And then those talks have only really ramped up with Tanev's future a little bit uncertain. So what are you hearing on that front? 31:48 Well, as I mentioned earlier, I can't remember if it was on the pod or one of my radio hits this week. Like there were a bunch of people on social, hockey fans, just asking, like, did I think the Leafs were going to go for a defenseman? I asked around and said, It looked like they were going to try to get through it. Like, I mean, the real challenge with Tanev, as everybody knows, is you just don't realize or don't have an exact idea of how long it's going to take. Right. Like because he's on IR, he has to miss seven days. 32:18 He can't play against Buffalo on Thursday and he can't play against the Islanders on Saturday. It's a minimum seven days. But, you know, the play that he got hurt on it didn't. look terrible so it's always the the unfortunately the question with him is what can his body take um but it was funny i i was talking about it with another manager and he said to me well one thing we're learning about chica in his second go around i said yeah what's that and he goes he doesn't go up to the plate to hit singles and Like, was it Chirino who hit the home run on the first pitch for the Brewers the other night? 32:56 He went full Davis Schneider off Blake Snell. That's right. Davis Schneider. I remember that one. So it's like, you know, Chayka is like him. He's not going up there to work out like a nine-pitch walk. He's hacking at the first pitch. So I don't know if... like a small move is on his radar right now, there was nothing I got a sense of. So I think their hope is they can play through this this week and then kind of see where they are over the next little bit. 33:29 Boy, that was a great game, though, that Toronto-Utah game. Holy cow, was that. That good hockey. They were, I mean, Dallas, Colorado, back to back. Just don't let them play anyone else. Just let them play each other for 82 games. I mean, nobody left standing. 33:46 Yeah. Well, it's funny you mention that, right? Because Hintz and McKinnon, they're exchanging blows on the Tuesday nights. And then there's some real bad blood there. Real bad blood. Yeah. 33:55 You could see it. You could see it. You could see Hintz wanted to go and McKinnon knew that. McKinnon knew. So for those of you who aren't familiar, Hintz has had a couple injuries. Like last year, he had a hamstring injury on a hit from McKinnon. And two years ago, we took a slash or a cross check from McKinnon, and he had to miss four games in the playoffs. He came back for the Western Conference final against Edmonton, but he wasn't effective. 34:27 And actually, I mentioned this and some Avalanche fan reached out to me and said, hey, Hintz cross-checked McKinnon at one point, too. So, you know, they've really given it to each other. But I guess Hintz feels that twice in the last three years, McKinnon's ended his season and he was looking for payback on this one. 34:48 And they both got bloodied, one in the hand and one in the face. Like it was, they really gave it, like there was some real, like sometimes the fights are like, okay, there was real hate in that one. You could tell those guys, like they were legitimately hammering away at each other. 35:08 Yes, yes. And then Hintz got the final blow on Wednesday night in the shootout. It was just back-to-back great games. Compelling. So, so good. 35:17 Haskin, by the way. Haskin, by the way. Here we go. Someone sent me a note again. I have always said that Haskin has been shafted in the Norris Trophy voting. 35:29 And this person wrote to me and said, it's been two weeks. 35:33 That guy is, once again... 35:38 the best defenseman in the league. I said, okay, like, come on, it's been two weeks. He goes, nope, best defenseman in the league. Okay. 35:47 But he's been really good to start the season. And one more thing before we go move on, I think Dave Haxel, Arizona State, Likely Thursday. I believe that's when the target date was Thursday for him to meet the team. They play in Lowell this weekend. 36:07 And there's some talk that they have their eye to on Matt Green of the Kings to potentially be involved. So, you know, we'll see where that goes. 36:21 You know, obviously, it's a horrible time at Arizona State. 36:26 And I think Haxel is is the kind of personality I think who can be good for the players who are still there. And everybody has a lot of respect for Matt Green. So that would be a good duo if that forms the basis. 36:42 Yes, well said. I echo that one for sure. Got lots of time for Dave Haxtell, my dealings with him over the years. So, Elliot, have the Oilers become a staunch defensive powerhouse, a California sweep? Is that enough to convince you that they are turning things in the direction that they had sought out for in the beginning? Mike Babcock is conducting interviews now, like cap tip to Paige Martin. She played that role beautifully in that video. That was amazing. Yeah, very well done. 37:15 Paige could give both of us some broadcasting lessons. I was looking at that and saying, she's way more professional than you and I are. 37:23 Yes, like we've gone from giving up touchdowns to like, just give us an early field goal and we'll nurse it the rest of the way. That's the mentality of Edmonton, it seems. 37:32 Well, I liked, you know, if you looked at it, they looked like they were going to get run out of the building in Anaheim and they won big. I wasn't crazy about their start in San Jose and they won pretty comfortably. And then, you know, even like, I haven't looked at the shot quality numbers from the game against the Kings, but even though the Kings had a lot of shots, I never, like, I didn't think the Oilers were really bleeding great chances. Like, do you think I'm wrong about that? No, I felt the same thing. Yeah. 38:03 I thought even though the volume was there, I thought they did a nice job with the quality of it. The Oilers players, their best players on down, talked a big game about were ready to be coached. And it is funny when you look back at the first two nights and how ridiculous it looked. 38:21 you would never have believed they would be the last team in the league without a regulation loss. I'm really looking forward to that one tonight against Utah. I think I like watching Utah. That West looks like it's going to be brutal. 38:36 Look at the three teams at the top of the Pacific. Vegas is 6-2. The Oilers 5-0-1. Seattle's on a good start to a road trip, 5-2. Great start for them. Anaheim's 4-2. Even that Central Utah's 5-2. The Jets are 4-1-1. The Wild 4-2-1. Colorado 4-2. The bottom of that conference doesn't look great, but these teams are going to be clobbering each other all year. I'm really looking forward to this Utah-Edmonton game because Utah's a fast, fast team. 39:12 They play fast. And that's a good challenge for what the Oilers are trying to show us. Be interested to see who gets that one, Jari or Levi. 39:20 Well, Levi's your ride or die this year. And he's looked good after that first one. His line after the Kings win. That's a great bad game. 39:33 That's how we phrase it, reading the Spectre's postseason. 39:36 They don't ask you how. They ask you how many. 39:40 So, Conor Bedard. By the way, you know what? Also, we forgot to talk about Colorado. Did you see Eric Johnson's tweet about Cale McCarr? 39:49 Oh, yes. But the zipper malfunction. His fly is down. Yes. Yes. 39:54 I had other sources were arguing that the fly wasn't down. You had a tear in his pants. Hopefully we get clarification on this at some point. 40:04 Guy just became a father for the first time. Give the man a break. 40:08 He's got a lot going on. Twins. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Congrats to the Makar family. That's great. That's awesome. 40:15 Nothing better than being a parent. Nothing. 40:18 Headfirst dive into that, too, with two right away. Phenomenal. So, Conor Bedard makes his season debut with Chicago. They pick up a win, injecting some much-needed life into the Hawks. But Anton Frondell has really caught your eye as well, Elliot. 40:35 I just thought he was really impressive. 40:40 I watched some of his, someone, like I said, I was at like a piano recital, and I didn't see some of those, the middle of some of those games, I couldn't see. And someone sent me a note, because I always send out like, On nights where I miss things, I'll send out notes to people. What did I miss? What did I look out? And someone just sent me notes saying, watch Frondell and Crosby. And, you know, I'm not going to sit here because I think that's crazy to say, oh, like, he... 41:14 He beat Crosby head-to-head or anything. I think that's insane, quite frankly. But he really battled him, and he wasn't intimidated. 41:26 I think when you're a young player and you get that, If you compete and you don't get embarrassed, that's really good. And I thought he competed and he didn't get embarrassed. And I was just really impressed with that Frondell. And, you know, like Chicago's got a hole to dig themselves out of here. They're two and five. It's still early. We've got a long way to go here. But there's no question with Bedard. 41:54 They look a heck of a lot better. 41:57 All right, a couple of things we still wanted to get to here before the final thought. Meanwhile, in Columbus, Elliot, so it was a tough loss to the Florida Panthers. The Chuck brothers finally break out. I mean, they were not going to be denied on that night. 42:15 Somebody was going to get that beat down. Somebody was getting it. 42:19 7-3, they beat Columbus. And Rick Bonas' comments in the postgame that you've got to believe that performance will embarrass them enough to stop this, right? Because if they're not embarrassed by that, we don't want them on the team. It's as simple as that. He has not relented since the comments he left at the end of last season. It's been one big carryover, really, by and large, when you look at the early goings in Columbus. 42:50 So, you know, we all love Bonus. We've worked with him. We've dealt with him. 42:56 We all got a ton of time for him. And he is a great coach. And I love the fact that he... 43:05 You know, he has a belief that this is the way that things should be done. And I think it's good to have high standards. I would rather somebody have high standards for me than low standards for me because God knows I couldn't jump over that matchbox. 43:25 My concern here, Kyle, is that he's done this a lot, right? 43:30 And I just don't know. 43:33 When I was a kid, that was the way it worked, okay? You got that a lot. I'm an old man. I'm 56. I'm a man. I'm Mike Gundy. 43:44 I'm an old man. I'm 56. Back in the day, that's how we got talked to, right? Yeah. I just, I think there's only so many times you can do that now. 43:56 And, um, I just look, look, like it sucks. 44:00 I understand he's frustrated. I, um, uh, And like you said, Brady Kachok was going to explode over somebody sooner or later. He's too good to have the start of the season that he was having. 44:15 I don't know how many times you can do that. 44:19 I worry for it. 44:21 I just can't. What's the number? How often until it just doesn't work? 44:32 I would really love to know, and maybe we'll never get this answer, of just what he has seen, what he continues to see on the inside there that's prompting this. Because I think if we look at Bonas' history as a coach, I know a lot of those years came as an assistant, and it's a completely different role and mindset and experience. 44:55 where you slot into the whole structure of things. But correct me if I'm wrong, L.A., like he hasn't really had necessarily the reputation of like 24-7 grinder-type coach. Like there was moments, certainly. We think back to Winnipeg at times. Winnipeg, yeah. There's been moments. But in terms of all the time, like we have seen here that we've just talked about with the Blue Jackets from how last season ended through the middle of October here now, And it hasn't, I don't really look at that and say, well, that's been Rick Bonas' whole career as a coach. 45:32 So I just, I would love to know kind of what's prompting this now. Like he's been around so long. He's seen so many different dressing room dynamics, so many different player personalities and how they tick or what makes them tick, what makes them go. And so to see this approach from him at this stage of things, I would love to get the root of what's inspiring at all. 45:56 Maybe we never will. You know what, Kyle? I think I can answer some of that. 46:02 It's clear that the message resonates organizationally in Columbus, right? Yeah. 46:11 You know, he had that big outburst at the end of last year. And I think among the fan base, they loved it. And I think inside the organization, they loved it. 46:23 Right. 46:24 So it's so, and you get an extension and they keep you because that's your core message. 46:35 Right. Right. 46:37 Yeah. 46:37 The fans ease up. 46:40 You can't. Well, I don't know if I would say you can't now ease up, but it's easy when something works for you and something gets you the reward of you. You get a new contract or you get the support of the organization. I think it's. 46:59 It's, hey, like, that's what the fans want. That's what the organization wants, right? I understand it. I understand it. It's like calling the same play. It's like going on a football field. If the play works, you keep calling it. Well, eventually it's going to get shut down. 47:18 If you have only one breakaway or shootout move, right, eventually the goalies figure it out and they shut you down. You have to adjust. Even the most successful people at the same play or the same move, eventually it gets stopped. And, you know, so I understand it. It's, yes, this is what we want. This is the message we want to our fans, our organization, to our players. 47:44 I just don't know if you can keep doing that. It's, it's hard, man. Like, like I just, like, I know myself it's I know myself. And when you work with BXA, I think everybody knows I can take a lot of abuse. 48:05 I can, and I can take, and I can take a lot of criticism. I can, but, Everybody has their like, okay, it's enough of this. And I just, again, I said it 40 times, I'll say it again. I don't know how often you can go to that. 48:27 All right. So last pod, we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the Flyers' state of affairs. They're still looking for their first win of the season. Having a few days to digest where they're at. Do you have anything new to add in Philly? 48:43 Not really. I think like we kind of talked about the Rangers and they've... 48:49 they've bought time and that's what wins do to you. I just think that Daniel Briere, he's not going to do something that makes no sense. 48:59 I just think he's trying to be smart and not walk himself into a bad move because of the pressure. 49:08 Um, you know, I will say this, um, um, The Konechny thing about they might ask him to waive because he's not an effective, there's certain things he does that just aren't effective enough. Like I'm not disputing any of the reporting. I have no reason to believe that's false in any way, shape or form. 49:28 As you know, Kyle, there are times when one of our favorite broadcast partners, Craig Simpson, looks at me and says, someone told you that? 49:40 And it offends his sensibilities. He gets upset. As a former coach and player, there are things that we report from time to time, and he can't believe that somebody would tell us that. 49:53 And I call those a Simpson, okay? Yeah. 49:57 And when I saw that Konechny thing the other day, I was like, that's a Simpson. 50:02 And, you know, I've been on the end of those calls where you call someone, you say, look, I'm hearing this and I want to check this or I'm going to report this. 50:15 And the person on the other end, they are steaming that somebody told you that. Yeah. 50:23 And I think that that thing with connect me, it's like, and again, I'm not knocking the reporting in any way, shape or form. I just know that when you're losing and something like that gets out, like, I know what happens behind the scenes. There's people there who are like, really? Really? We're losing? And this is what gets out? Because you know there's a lot of people who are going to be furious. 50:58 Furious. 51:00 to see that written or said and think that somebody told them that. Cause when the season starts the way it started, you want all your guys pulling together. Even if you're not winning, pull together. Okay. And when you see something like that, you're like, we're not pulling together. 51:24 And as a matter of fact, people are being thrown off the bus and, uh, Like I said, that's a Simpson. He would see that and he'd be like, somebody told you that? Really? Oh, I miss those days, Craig. I really do. 51:40 You got to come down and see us for a post game on Saturdays. 51:43 Well, that's the problem. 51:46 By the time we get off the air, you guys are all in your jammies. 51:51 I know. 51:51 In your 65 degree rooms. 51:54 Yeah, exactly. The audacity in Elliot's mind. 51:59 Something that cold. All right. Also, so just over a week from now, you will see Craig in the flesh. Oh, yeah. One of those moments we will be gathering in Winnipeg for the Heritage Classic at Princess Auto Stadium. 52:12 At that moment, we will find out if he considered this segment as funny as you and I did. 52:17 Exactly. 52:19 I can spoil the party for it. Let you know. 52:22 When you see him on Saturday. Yeah. Yeah. Well, no, I can just, I can just tell now he'll go. Yeah. 52:30 Not too sure what you guys were thinking about that. 52:36 Thankfully we can laugh at it. 52:39 So we'll just over a week for now. We're going to be in Winnipeg. It's the Jets and the Canadians should be a great spectacle. 52:46 And for the Jets, give them credit. They have put together some really impressive performances early going. And yet still. No Hellebach, no Morrissey. 52:56 Exactly. 52:57 And they're winning games. 53:00 That's another us against the world. You know our Neil is pumping that. Nobody thinks we can win without this guy. 53:08 Yes. So at the fear of seemingly asking this question every single episode, and yet I feel I can't not. Is there anything new on the hellebuck front that you want to get out there? 53:24 Not new, but I think there's a lot bubbling under the surface. It's going to be interesting next week. 53:31 It's just going to be interesting next week. 53:35 There's so many rumblings about Hellebuck coming back and when and what Winnipeg can do. 53:42 You can just feel it's all coming to a head, right? Mm-hmm. 53:48 I'm really looking forward to that weekend. I love, I know there's a lot of people out there who don't like outdoor games. I love outdoor games because they're not for TV. They look good on TV, most of them. But when you go to an outdoor game, you have a great time. I've been to, I think, 25 of them. 54:12 And I've never had a bad time, never. 54:16 And it's going to be Winnipeg and the people there are going to be so happy to be part of it. It's going to be Jets versus Canadians. I'm sure there'll be a bunch of Habs fans there. Like I am so excited for this. 54:30 I just, I love them. I absolutely love being on location for these. I like, is there any chance this all comes to a head next week? Who knows? 54:41 But you feel it, right? 54:45 You certainly do. What did John Fogarty once say? I see the bad moon rising. 54:51 Oh, nice. 54:52 Yeah. 54:54 Yeah, this is a bit of a bad moon, isn't it? 54:57 I just think it's such a celebration for the Jets and their organization. 55:02 And it's one of the great, great, great cornerstones of hockey in the world. It's just, I don't know where this is going to go. I think it's really fascinating, but there's too much noise around it for there not to be like, it's coming to a head. 55:22 All right, one more before final thoughts. News this week, Matt Dumba, 748 career games, but if not for injuries, would have been much more than that, of course. Calls it a career. Do you have a thought on the defenseman moving on to the next chapter in his life? 55:39 Well, I always really liked talking to Dumba. He was just a really approachable, easygoing guy. 55:51 I remember he was one of the first people, I think, who really understood that players were personalities, that you couldn't be afraid to put yourself out there a little bit. 56:04 He was on the media tour years ago for The Wild, and he had a camera crew with him. I think he was the first player, if I'm not mistaken, I think he was the first player I ever saw doing that. 56:17 And we talked about it and he said he was working on some stuff. He had some ideas. 56:21 And I just I just always felt that when you walked into him and you just said hi and you asked him a couple of questions, easy smile and really good when it came to talking about the game. you know i unfortunately had some injuries here and there like obviously got hurt in that fight right and that was that was really too bad because obviously yeah it really affected him which is terrible um but you know just like like when when my career is over the thing i'm going to remember are the people right the people i work with and the people i dealt with and i just found dumba really a really easy guy to deal with. 57:05 And I don't know. I know he just became a dad last year. And I don't know what he's got planned for the rest of his life, but I have no doubt he's going to be great at it. 57:15 Yeah, really great. 57:17 I was not afraid to step out in the spotlight in the easy times or the hard times. And yeah, just all the best in the next chapter, Matt. All right. 57:27 A couple other things. A couple of things. We mentioned Ratu. 57:32 I'm curious to see about it. 57:35 You know... 57:37 Obviously, they had him out there. 57:39 Nobody bit, but he's only making 850. He is a center who wins a lot of his face-offs. Does somebody take him for free? I got to think somebody out there is going to look at a guy with his face-off percentage and say, that guy can help us. The other thing, too, I always look at, and it's happened a few times now, sometimes a team... 58:05 likes to know that a guy clears to a certain level because like, for example, say like right now until November 1st, they use last year's standings. 58:20 And then after November 1st, it's points percentage this year. So if you're a team that claims them and you're really high in last year's standings, you know that there's a lot of teams that below you that didn't take them. And you don't mind that. So we'll see if that's the case. But I just think for 850, a guy who can win face-offs like he can win face-offs, there's got to be a spot for him in this league somewhere. 58:51 And finally, Kyle, it's Hockey Fights Cancer Month, and I wanted to mention that. 58:58 The League and the Players Association do an unbelievable job with this, and we're going to hear a lot of inspiring stories, and we're going to hear a lot of tough stories, but Hockey Fights Cancer Month is really something else. 59:14 Great. Thanks for that, Elliot. Okay, let's get to the final thought. So Wednesday night, Elliot, I went to a book launch event for... 59:23 Just a Girl by Cassie Campbell-Pascal. Sean Fitzgerald helped write the book as well. 59:29 Really nice event. Great to see Cassie. 59:31 Oh, Sean Fitzgerald wrote that one with Cassie? 59:33 Yeah. So the story was shortly after she retired in 2006, I guess Sean approached her and said, would you be interested in writing a book? And she just said, not now. 59:45 wasn't time for her in her mind. And then, you know, years went on and, and suddenly that idea kind of came back into her head. So the first phone call she made was to Sean and said, okay, that's nice. 59:57 I'm not surprised Cassie would do that. That's, that's, that's, that's pretty impressive. 60:04 Yeah. So anyway, it was great to see Cassie. 60:07 She read an excerpt from the book in front of everybody, chapter 15, Fun and Games. Anyway, I won't spoil it, but it's quite the story of one of the ultimate pranks they pulled off on a teammate at the Montreal airport. So for those that decide to and should go out and get the book, they have a chance to. Anyway, it's a great story. 60:30 Did you get an autographed copy? 60:33 I did. Yep. I waited in line with everybody else. How much did Cassie charge you for it? Oh, for me, double. I think she was like, everyone else she was just happy to have there. 60:42 But I was- For you, $50. And we know something else, Kyle. You did not wait in line. You pushed to the front with, excuse me, young child- 60:54 Do you know who I am? 60:57 I use Dana as a shield. I'm like, sorry, we've got to get through here. She's got to get out of here. I just, I, what I, I mean, I haven't obviously read the book yet. I look forward to get starting, but I was at a couple events with her this past summer where she was talked about kind of what it is about. And it's certainly, it's much more than just career highlights. I think there's a lot of depth to it too. It's not a rah-rah type book. 61:21 I think about, you mentioned Craig Simpson earlier. One of the things he says about those Oilers teams that he played on that won, he goes, you know, all good teams have the responsibility, accountability, respectability, but the best teams have vulnerability with each other as a group. And that's what takes you to a different level. And I think for Cassie here in this book that she wrote the memoir um there's a lot of vulnerable moments that uh that she talks about and anyway i've just i've long been such a big fan of her you've been teammates with her uh much longer than i have i think most of my life was just a fan from afar but it's it's really been wonderful getting to know her the last few years and congrats to her for getting this baby out and seems to be doing really well so far 62:07 Yeah, good, good. Like I said, I'm looking forward to it, too. There's a lot of reading that I'm going to be doing over the next little while. There's Cassie's book, Jennifer's book. Justin Bourne's got a book out. Jeff Rimmer has got a book out. 62:25 Really? Oh, I didn't know that Jeff Rimmer had one out. 62:27 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's... 62:30 A lot of reading to do. A lot of reading. But it was good of you to go support Cassie, and I'm looking forward to reading it. 62:37 I'm looking through. And in the testimonials here, the first couple of pages, Elliot, Kathy Broderick is among them. 62:44 Really? Yes. 62:46 She brought out all the heavy hitters to say something nice about her. 62:49 Nice. 62:50 That's nice. All right. That was the final thought. 62:53 Did you refuse? 62:56 You will be shocked to hear I was not asked. 63:01 You think I had to pay a lot for the autograph? Jeez. 63:07 Would have paid for the whole production of the books to get my name on that. That was the final thought. With that, we'll take our first break. When we come back, it's another edition of The Thought Line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts, the podcast. 63:33 All right, we are back for another edition of The Thought Line presented by BetMGM. Make it legendary. And Elliot, I don't know about you, but the same birthday topic continues to spark a mass reaction in DMs from across the Twitterverse, the Instaverse, the emailverse, the textverse. Everyone is weighing in on this. 63:54 Yes, I had a couple more. Why don't you do yours first and then I'll get to mine. So... 64:02 Another notable birthday shared by some notable names. August 7th. Of course, we think of August 7th. We think of Sidney Crosby. But beyond Sid, Mike Trout, Jalen Hurts, DeMar DeRozan, Kyler Murray. Wow. Great list there. And a couple people reached out. through the Thoughtline and other channels, when we were talking about scorer and goalie born on the same day of the same year, we accidentally left out one of the... 64:36 most iconic duos when it comes to this category, Mario Lemieux and Patrick Waugh, October the 5th, 1965. 64:44 That was the one that was sent to me. And it's not only them. Well, they're on the same day. Absolutely. Someone did send that to me. You're 100% right. That was a miss from us. But that October 5th day also includes Grant Hill, Travis Kelsey, Laura Davies, the Hall of Fame golfer, and Michael Andretti. 65:07 Oh, I had no idea. Yeah. So that is, they're not on the same day, but that is also, I believe Kate Winslet was born on that day too, who's a bigger star than all of them. 65:24 Yes. Transcending sport there. Yes. That's awesome. So those are the big ones that I got. 65:30 Yeah, October 5th was one, and you know what? There were some others, but I'll be honest. I have not been able to curate a lot of my DMs this week. I've been tied up on some other stuff, so I'll have to catch up with them in the future. I do have one shout-out I want to give, Kyle, and that shout-out is to Producer Dom, and here is why. Okay. Producer Dom sent us a photo of, of the Thanksgiving spread he cooked for his girlfriend and her parents. 66:06 And I just want to say, Dom, for three minutes, you convinced me that you might actually be a keeper. So I just wanted to say congratulations to you for that. You did a great job. It was a good looking spread. Thank you. 66:21 Thank you very much. Just three minutes. I, after three minutes, I came back to my senses, but you really, you really outdid yourself. Like that was like, I just want to say partner of the week, whatever you want to call yourself, boyfriend of the week, Dom won it this week. All of you out there playing for second place. 66:45 You nailed it, Dom. Like the old WWE tag team, three-minute warning. Three minutes and we're out of here. That was Elliot putting Dom at the top of the cream of the crop. All right, let's get into it here. Colin from DC. 67:00 Hi, Kyle, Dom, and whoever else. 67:07 That's good. 67:09 Colin from D.C. here. I was listening to Monday's Jersey conversation about potentially moving away from white jerseys or at least having more color on color action. While I think a lot of the jerseys are cool, those of us who have severe color blindness might really struggle with that. I'm glad you brought this up. I see about five colors total, and when watching soccer on TV, I find myself not being able to tell green teams from red teams. Hockey hasn't ever had that issue because nothing contrasts with white. 67:40 I fear for my companions who see as well as dogs and cats. Love the pod. Let's go, Caps. 67:46 You know what? I'm so glad you brought this up because I got a message. I actually wrote it down for the next time I write my 32 Thoughts blog. I have it in the notes to put there. 67:58 But I'm glad you did this, Kyle, because I did have someone to reach out to me, one on Twitter and one on Instagram. with the exact same thing. And I think it is important to mention that I never would have thought of it. It's not something obviously I deal with, but I'm happy to give people dealing with colorblindness and representation here. Good thing, Kyle. Good job. 68:21 Yeah, absolutely. I'm with you. 68:24 Never had crossed my mind when we were discussing it the other day. And, of course, I think one of the big drivers why for many, many years, the standard has been a colored jersey and a white jersey. Of course, going back to the days when games were first televised, it was in black and white. And you needed one team to be in white to be able to tell the difference between the two. And our teammate, Chris Cutler, reached out. I didn't realize this, Elliot, because I wasn't working in the business then. But even... Well into the 90s, and I think in some cases, even the early 2000s, the monitor wall in some of the production trucks that would do games. 68:57 So the wall that had all the different screens up of the different camera angles in the broadcasts of the EVS machines. So the technology that would play back replays, those were all in black and white. Like when the rest of the world was watching games in color. Yeah. Like even into the early 2000s, there were still some production trucks that were black and white. So another reason why it was imperative to have me neither to have white sweaters. But I still. 69:23 That's because Chris is like 140 years old and the two of us are not. 69:28 Exactly. It was hammer and chisel when he first started. 69:32 But I will advocate for Chris here because it's a career-long dream of his, and I hope he gets his wish granted at one point. But one of these days, we got to see Montreal Red against Toronto Blue on like a Saturday night. 69:48 Yeah. 69:50 For sure. Make it happen. Make it happen. 69:53 Yeah. Brian from New Jersey. Hey, guys. Long time caller. First time listener here. Huh? 70:01 That's what it says. Good flip, Brian. Good flip. 70:06 It got noticed. 70:07 Yeah, yeah. The discussion about Shosturkin and Hellebuck on Monday's pod got me thinking. 70:12 Is it possible for a trade— Can I just interrupt you for a quick second? 70:16 Yes. 70:17 A lot of Rangers fans did not like that idea. 70:22 Really? 70:23 Yes. I wonder why. They were not crazy about that idea. But anyway, go ahead, Brian. Yeah. 70:28 Yeah, so he's wondering, Obviously, Hellebuck is not a long-term fit with Shesterkin healthy again, but they could use the services for the year while Shesterkin is out. This could be the best option for all parties involved. 71:01 Hellebuck gets out of Winnipeg and gets to play while figuring out where he wants to end up. Winnipeg gets assets back. When New York gets a goalie for the season, is there anything in the CBA or otherwise that would prevent this from happening? Thanks as always. And let Elliot know that thanks to him, every time I go to a city with an NHL team, I am always on the lookout for discarded nail clippings on the side of the road as I am walking around downtown. 71:28 Look what you've done. 71:31 Well, there's nothing wrong with that. 71:34 There is so many things wrong with that. Brian, they're out there. 71:41 So the answer to your question is there's nothing preventing two teams from making a side deal or three teams making a side deal like that and a promise to each other. But you can't write it down and say, all right, we're trading Connor Hellebuck to the Rangers today and the Rangers agree to trade him to X team on, say, June 25th. You can't do that. And the whole reason Central Registry, which is what approves all these trades and signings, was created was because of the Eric Lindros fiasco between Quebec Rangers and Philadelphia. 72:17 Right. So they won't allow that. The whole point is to avoid something where that becomes an issue. So they would say, OK, you can make this trade now, but you can't put anything that says we do this something here in six months now. 72:34 If the Rangers want to make a side deal with someone and say, we'll trade you a hell of a buck in six months and this is the deal, the two can shake on it and say, we'll do it then. But everybody has to live up to it and the NHL wouldn't enforce it. They won't enforce anything that's not on paper, and you can't do what Brian suggested. Doesn't mean you can't make a gentleman's agreement, but it does mean you can't put something like that on paper. Great idea, though. I love this stuff, and I love these kinds of ideas and questions. 73:05 Right. Okay. So anything that goes to central registry, it has to be for something in the here and now. 73:10 Yes. And if you see a trade with future considerations, it's nothing. Like, that's basically a way of saying there's nothing coming back. Future considerations have been abolished in this league, for lack of a better term. However, I think Hellebuck is at least worth three of my nail clippings. 73:32 Oh, gosh. 73:35 If I was Conor Halibut right now. 73:39 You would be honored? The phone call, yeah, I would be making to you. 73:44 That is so disgusting. 73:46 Three nail clippings. 73:54 All right. 73:57 Dom says in our chat, two big toe clippings and a middle finger clipping. 74:02 Yes. I guess they could be more valuable depending on which appendage they come from. This has gone too far. 74:09 All right. Trying to save us here. Kyle from Connecticut. Hello, Dom and friends. 74:15 The probable upcoming MLB lockout had me thinking. When the NHL was locked out in 2005 due to the owners wanting to institute a salary cap, what happened if a team was already over the new cap? If there were any in that situation, were they forced to trade away multiple players immediately to get under the new cap? And how did they decide on what that would be? Baseball's current salary discrepancies probably make this a way bigger issue, and that's what made me think of it. But it made me wonder how the NHL handled the adjustment. 74:47 What better way to find out than a classic Elliott explanation of NHL history? Love the pod and all that the team does. I appreciate your great work and have a great season. 74:58 I feel like I should be in a big leather chair with a robe and a pipe to answer this one. NHL history. 75:06 That's right. 75:06 So, Kyle, one of the things that happened back then was each team was given two buyouts that did not count against the cap. It's the only time that this has happened. Right now, all buyouts count against the cap under the buyout formula. But back then, you were given two that didn't count against the cap, so you would be compliant. and you know one of the teams that did that for example was the red wings with darian hatcher they he was it was called a compliance buyout and he was given one and eventually he signed with philadelphia but that's that's basically what happened and that's the only time The league and the owners agreed to it. 75:49 For example, when we had the next lockout in 2012-13, people were like, oh, we'll have compliance buyouts. And they were like, no, that was a one time only situation because that meant there was quote unquote money outside the system. Players were getting salaries that didn't count against the revenue split between the league and the players. So that was how it happened back then. And it has never happened since. Each team, if they wanted, were given two buyouts that didn't count against the cap. 76:21 Now, were there not situations for certain players that they took salary rollbacks? 76:29 So it's actually an interesting story about that. Yes, the players accepted a 24% rollback on their salaries. 76:38 And it's interesting because When they proposed that, they kept it quiet. 76:48 I had one player tell me that word got out that the players were going to make a proposal during the lockout. And he said that a big star called the Players Association to find out what the proposal was going to be. 77:05 And I have had this story confirmed 20 years later. 77:10 And they were told, look, we want to keep it a secret. 77:14 And they wouldn't tell him. He's like, OK. And then it got out that they had offered a 24% rollback on players' salaries, which the league was happy to accept. 77:27 Needless to say, Kyle, that did not go over great. 77:33 And yes, that was one of the other. I'm glad you brought that up because it is part of the equation. The players accepted a 24% rollback on their salaries, which helped teams get down to the cap. You know, one of the other things too is right now is I think a lot of fans know there's a 20% max on salaries. That is the most a player can make in one season is 20% of the cap in the year he signs the deal. So right now the max is $20.8 million because the cap is at $104 million. 78:09 And there have been two players who've been over 20% because their contracts with the rollback were still over that figure. But those players were grandfathered in. It was allowed to happen. It's never been allowed to happen for anybody else. One was Yaramir Yager, and the other was Brad Richards. Richards had one year where his contract was over the 20% number. 78:33 But thanks for the reminder on the rollback, because that was a big part of it, Kyle. 78:38 And that was NHL History with Elliott Friedman. 78:43 Danny from the Bay Area. Griffin, Dom, Kyle, Eyal. 78:48 Hello again to my favorite podcast. Hello again. I'm ready to share that. Yes. Yes. 78:53 Writing to share that, I, along with my 10-year-old son, Desmond, have decided that we are going to see the Sharks play in all 32, 34, I'm sure, by the time we get around to finishing this, NHL arenas. 79:07 Desmond is an avid hockey fan, plays in the Junior Sharks House League, and just so happened to be born on the greatest sports birthday of all time, as mentioned by Elliot, December 30th. 79:18 Well, Desmond, your future career is guaranteed. December 30th means you are special. Congratulations, my man. 79:28 As Shark season ticket holders, SAP Center was the first one off the list. We crossed the United Center off our list in February and we'll be headed to TD Garden on October 24th to catch the Sharks and Bruins. Hopefully, when we make it up to Canada, we'll run into you and get a shout out on a future pod. That is a 32 thoughts guarantee right there, Danny. Run into Elliot. You will hear it on this show. 79:52 Yeah. 79:53 Teaching Desmond about the sport I love has been one of the great joys in life and it also sparked a question I'd love your thoughts on. A few years back, the NBA redesigned and renamed their award trophies. Household names like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Will Chamberlain, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Bill Russell all have trophies named after them. That is obviously different in the NHL. 80:25 So my question is this. Would you be open to the idea of refreshing the names of the trophies every 40 or 50 years so that more generations of the game get represented? I'd also be curious to hear who each of you would consider naming the trophies after if you had the chance. Thanks for all the work that goes into the pod. I really appreciate the switch to Thursdays. Hope to run into you at an NHL arena soon. 80:50 Danny, thanks for the note. Desmond, all the best. Like we said, you've been gifted a fantastic birthday and the idea of you guys going to all the different cities is spectacular. I think anyone listening to this, whether it's father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, mother-daughter. There's nothing better than a parent and a child who go and spend time together, especially on the road. Those are some of the great moments that all of us as parents have with our kids before they become teenagers and just hate us. 81:27 It's always great to... 81:30 Spend some time with them at whether it's a sporting event or a concert. Oh, I can't do it enough. I can't do it enough. So I wish you guys, Danny and Desmond, all the best doing it together. So, you know, Danny, this has come up from time to time. 81:47 And I once had a conversation with a pretty senior executive at the NHL about it. And, you know, he said that there's been different times throughout the years, going back probably about 20, 25, maybe even 30 years, where they've discussed it. Should they redo it? And he said, you would be surprised that at how much opposition there is to it. Like one I wouldn't rename is the Rocket Richard because it's only been around for what, 20 years? 82:18 I don't think you want to redo that. 82:19 A little bit longer, but yes. 82:21 Yeah, 20, 25 years. 82:23 But some of the other ones, I'm in favor of renaming them. I think the hard trophy should be the Wayne Gretzky Award. 82:37 I think there should be a Mario Lemieux Award. I think the Norris should be the Bobby Orr Award. People can decide what the Mario Lemieux Award should be. I think absolutely he should have something named after him. It might even be, you know, I thought about the Masterton, but I don't like the idea of renaming the Masterton. I actually think that one should be left alone, although Lemieux is a perfect example of what that's all about. 83:04 One of the stories I heard, Kyle, was that they had real difficulty figuring out the Lady Bing. 83:14 And I'll give you one guess who they were going to name the Lady Bing after. 83:19 My mind goes to Jean Beliveau. 83:21 Well, that's why you have a good mind because that is 100% who they wanted to name it after. But he was like, that wasn't the way I played. 83:30 And even though Beliveau was obviously like the gentleman of all gentlemen as a person – If you take a look at his stats, like there's a year he had 143 penalty minutes. There's a year he had 105. Like he's not a Lady Bing player. And apparently he made that pretty clear. He's like, well, that's not really me. So if he didn't want the trophy named after him, they weren't going to name it after him. It was a funny story I was told. 84:02 But like I said, Danny, it comes up from time to time, but there's never been any real unity on it. But if you're going to tell me that they're going to give an award and name it after Wayne Gretzky, another one after Lemieux, another one after Bobby Orr, I've got absolutely no problem with that. On the whole, I... 84:26 I agree with the whole thing. You know, the NBA, by the way, also went through a thing like the logo, the NBA logo is the silhouette of Jerry West. And there's been a lot of debate about whether or not they should change that. And so far it's been a no, but you know, periodically we go through these things. 84:44 I mean, if there is one example of in recent history where they have switched the name, the Ted Lindsay Award up until 2010 was the Lester B. Pearson Award. 84:55 Yeah. 84:56 So they did make a change there. 84:57 That's a good point. And I agree with that. That's also the NHLPA, like they can do that unilaterally. The NHL is a much more bureaucratic animal. 85:09 Right. 85:09 So that's why it was able to... 85:11 You're easier to get done, yes, because that's the one where the players vote on. 85:15 Maybe that's one, Kyle. Another example, bureaucracy is brutal. 85:20 Yes. 85:22 Look no further than the history of NHL awards. 85:27 Great question, Danny. All the best to you and Desmond. Hope you enjoy your travels around the league. That's a trip that any parent and their child would love to do. 85:37 All right, one final one here. It comes from another Kyle, an Oilers fan in Calgary. 85:44 Hello, distinguished gentlemen. 85:47 And Kyle, what the heck? He's like you. He's an Oilers fan in Calgary. But he threw me under the bus. I did not qualify as distinguished gentleman. 85:57 I will not stand for Kyle infighting. We've got to stay together. 86:02 Just over a year and a As a new player who is still learning the game, I try hard and try to be difficult to play against, almost a Luke Gazdik style. I read a very interesting stat about Luke recently that he scored on his first shot of his first shift of his first game in the NHL. 86:36 So not only is he the second best looking Sportsnet host next to Elliott. Oh, my gosh. You don't need to stoop this low, Kyle. We're happy to read your question. 86:45 Yes, you do. You don't. 86:47 But he shares offensive prowess with Mario Lemieux, who also scored his first goal the same way. My question is, how many other players scored their first NHL goal on their first shot in their first NHL game? 87:02 And on their first shift. First of all, Kyle, thank you for reminding me that Luke Gazdick did it. I completely forgot. 87:11 And I think a lot of people would remember the Mario Lemieux. The other one I remember, I don't know the number, Kyle. I'm assuming you'll give me one at the end of this. But the other one I remember was Alexander McGilney. 87:26 That's the other one I remember that he did it. How are you? 87:30 He's on the list. The one that came to mind for me right away was Jake Gensel, because I remember seeing a shot of Sid. I think he was like mic'd up maybe when Gensel made his debut. And he's on the bench and Gensel goes out first shift, first shot scores. And like right away, he's saying to guys like Mario, Mario, because obviously Lemieux did it. And then there's Gensel in a Penguins uniform doing the same thing. So that was what I remember. 87:56 Nice. I think McGilney, that's a great memory. I think McGilney, by the way, has the fastest first goal of his NHL career. 88:07 Yes. And then Celebrini took a run at that, right? Remember his first game, he was pretty early too. 88:16 But those are the, so I remember McGilney, I'm sure more people have done it, but I wouldn't know the exact number. 88:23 Yes. Now, interestingly enough, Elliot, I don't have the exact number either, only because... 88:32 So our Essence stats team leaned on the NHL for this one, and they only have data, for whatever reason... 88:40 only as far back as 0-9-10. Really? So, yeah, anything beyond that, they can't say for certain. We know, like you mentioned Miguelney, we know Lemieux, of course. 88:51 I believe Tony Curry would be another one, and I'm sure there are others. 88:56 Yes. But there's actually... Yeah, that's another one that's... When you just said that I started flicking around and Tony Curry's name came up as I was looking at this. Yep. But I never would have got that one. 89:10 No, no, no. But in terms of since just 0910, I've got nine examples alone in the last 15 plus years. Yeah. So Luke Gazdek, Nikita Kucherov. He did? Yeah. I have no recollection of that. 89:32 Makes sense, though. 89:33 Dave Randor is going to be calling about disrespect to Kucherov. 89:37 I know. 89:37 Not only did he not win his second hard trophy until last year, but you don't even remember he scored his first goal in his first shift, his first shot. 89:48 I know. We can't escape that. Matias Janmark. 89:52 Oh, really? 89:53 Okay. Okay. 89:54 Daniel Carr. I remember that one. I believe that was a hockey night in Canada game. Montreal in Carolina. 90:00 Yeah. 90:00 I think his parents were there. 90:02 That's awesome. He's a good guy. We saw him at the Stanley Cup two years ago in Edmonton because he lives there. Heck of an angler. 90:09 Yeah. Good guy. Daniel Carr. Jake Ansel we mentioned. Max Comtois did it with Anaheim. Oh, wow. Gabe Velarde in LA. 90:18 Dave Gust with Chicago. Hmm. 90:22 And Lucas Rusek with Buffalo in the 22-23 season. 90:26 Wow. 90:27 Yeah. 90:31 Did you hear that? 90:32 What was that? 90:33 That's my... My dog is asleep and he's dreaming behind me. 90:40 Are you serious? Yeah. 90:42 You actually can hear that? That sounded like a laugh track. 90:46 First of all, I thought it was a laugh track, and then I thought somebody was trying to start a car next to your window. 90:53 Yes, I've got a 1987 Toyota Tercel in my driveway. I'm just having a bit of difficulty turning over. 91:00 I'm keeping this in the podcast. 91:03 I hope you do. I hope you should keep it in the podcast. You're having a heck of a dream, bud. 91:09 Jeez, he's usually not that vocal when he sleeps. 91:14 I think that's a cue to wrap up the thought line there, Fridge. 91:18 I don't want to wake him up from this outstanding dream he's having. 91:22 This life-altering dream that's occurring. Oh, the rabbits he is catching, I'm sure. 91:29 That's awesome. All right. That was another edition of the Thoughtline. You can submit your own question at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca or leave us a voicemail at 1-833-311-3232. Some Canadian music and our goodbyes on the other side of the break. 92:01 That's going to do it for another edition of 32 Thoughts, the podcast. We know there are only so many hours in a day, and we always appreciate you spending some of them here with us. A busy night on the schedule tonight. 11 games in total. Wanted to flag one of them for you. The Calgary Flames and the Vegas Golden Knights at 10 Eastern, 8 Mountain Time. That can be seen nationally tonight on Sportsnet 1. By the way, whatever... We're calling daylight savings going forward because I lost track of which regions are adhering to it versus which have abandoned it. 92:36 When that comes into effect next month, I will have absolutely no chance of accurately trying to tell which parts of the country what times games will be starting at. This whole exercise will become moot come November. But I digress. Taking us out today, a track from Amelia May, who is a Prince Edward Island-based songstress known for crafty music that serves as a catalyst for healing and growth through raw expression. 93:07 She comes from Canadian pop music royalty as the granddaughter of the great Jean McClellan, who penned Snowbird for Anne Murray, and the niece of Juno Award winner Catherine McClellan. With her dreamy vocals and honest lyrics, her music provokes deep feeling and introspection. Drawing inspiration from artists like Lizzie McAlpine and Madison Cunningham, Amelia weaves tales inspired by the mysteries of creation, the intricacies of human connection, and the transformative journey of motherhood. 93:40 Changes is from the forthcoming debut album, Unwreck Me, a musical storybook with an indie pop rock feel that delves deep into heartache, heaviness, and holding onto hope. This song, along with all of the others we featured this season and last, can be found on our Spotify playlist that Dom's put together, 32 Thoughts, The Music. Here is Amelia May and Changes on 32 Thoughts, The Podcast. 94:10 I share a room and a bed with my daughter Looking at houses, checking up on the market Can't pay for those with a change in my pocket And I swear I have problems Are they all in my head? 94:29 Some days I can't see the ways I've been blessed, I've been broken I've been hurt, I've been smoking I've been losing my wits 94:50 I work a job that takes most of my energy. 95:07 I get home late thinking, do I have entities? Wish I could just do the thing that I need. 95:16 I guess I feel I deserve anything but And yes, I'm the problem I'm so in my head Some days I can't see the ways I've been blessed, I've been broken I've been hurt, I've been smoking I've been losing my wits Close to close 95:45 But everything's changing. 96:00 Changes, ch-ch-changes, ch-ch-changes, ch-ch-ch-changes Been running in circles, trying to find the right place Just like a dog on a bed, trying to lay down, take a break Put my face out of the paper, let it work out in my favor 96:38 but everything's changing changes changes changes changes 97:27 I've been changing everything Everything is changing Everything's changing