The Struggling Edmonton Oilers | 32 Thoughts
Tris Alexander Instagram, you totally jinxed the hockey world with the topic of odd injuries on the podcast. First Jack, now this. And he has a picture of Louisis Dan barbecue incident. Welcome to 32 thoughts the podcast. Dom Elliot Kyle back with you once again. Fridge, as you know, many, many moons ago, Lover Boy told us, everybody’s working for the weekend, and so we’re all trying to figure out how to spend our time over the next couple of days, particularly Saturday night. You can’t help but notice on the NHL calendar, there go the Edmonton Oilers. As agonizing it has been for the Oilers and their fans for much of this sevename road trip where they have just two wins on it thus far, it wraps up in South Florida of all places. The site of where their last two seasons, their last two cracks at realizing a dream of winning a Stanley Cup have come to an end. And as much conversation as there has been over the last little while of when are the Oilers going to start showing signs of a team that has hopes of getting back to that stage a third consecutive year. There could be a lot to be learned and potentially a lot to be gained with what they put forth by way of effort and maybe a result back at Amarant Bank Arena in Sunrise. Where does that one rank for you for things to watch this coming weekend? Number one, it’s the number one thing I’ll be watching. First of all, I would like to say, Kyle, I had some people reach out to me and said last podcast, the one we taped on Monday, I was too verbose. They said, “You talked too much on Monday’s pod. There was a lot of filler and extraneous stuff.” So, tonight I am promising to be more concise. So Kyle, when you ask me, am I looking forward to Saturday’s game Edmonton Florida? Am I watching it as my number one game of the weekend? The answer is yes. Next topic. And on we go from there. And on we go from there. No more Oilers Panthers. So it was interesting. thing I had I had some conversations with some people about the Oilers on Friday just calling around and asking what people thought and number one um they looked terrible against Buffalo on Monday just an awful performance. Um, number two, they were better, I think, on on Wednesday in Washington, but it was an ugly defeat. And that was a night they they could have gotten a save or two in the and it might have been different, but they lost and they weren’t great. I thought they were really good on Thursday. Um, Vasilleski robbed them in overtime. They went down the ice and scored. I mean, Gensel might be having the best season in the NHL that nobody’s talking about. He’s he’s a hell of a player for Tampa, but that was a a a much better effort. And you know, I’ll say this. I I think a guy who’s really stepped up for them over the last couple of games was Nurse. He had he had two goals uh against Washington. And he took on like that. Douglas is a big man. He is a big man. And there’s nobody on the Oilers roster who was really equipped to fight that guy, but Nurse didn’t like the hit and he went and dropped the gloves. And uh I have seen Nurse the last couple nights as is a guy who’s really trying to drag them into the fight. They they could have had a better fate on Thursday night, but the one on Saturday is is big and not only for the reasons you mention. Um they’ve lost there twice. Um, it brings back a lot of bad memories, but the Oilers as an organization were not happy with some of the post celebration commentary from the Panthers. Like the Panthers, they really rubbed that second one in. They they really did. And look, and and you know, Kachchuck’s not going to be there and Barkov’s not going to be there and it’s not Florida’s best team, but I see this as okay. Edmonton’s been in a bit of a malaise and and I think internally the heat is really on. I I think it’s really on internally. Um because everybody understands that maybe you don’t start the year grade or um you know you’re you’re you’ve got a bit of the Stanley Cup defeat hangover, but there’s a point where that’s no longer an excuse and and I think we’ve reached that. And so I I think the the owner is a guy who puts a lot of pressure on the people he works with and I think everyone’s feeling it now. So this to me will be a statement night uh from the Oilers. And if we look back 6 months from now and this is the one that turned Edmonton season around and we’ll see how they do. I think a lot of people will look at it and say, “Okay, we can we can deal with this.” Say one other thing about the Oilers, someone pointed out to me, they’ve now played, I think, 15 games on the road. Um, that’s a lot of road hockey. A lot of road hockey. Um, you know, Calgary’s played 13. Um, LA’s played 14 um in the Western Conference. Um, I I look at that and I say this could be a a really good thing for them in the back half of the season that the schedule’s tough, especially in an Olympic year. It’s really compressed. I had a couple people point that out to me that maybe just maybe they get maybe maybe just maybe they look at this and say we got some of the worst parts of our schedule out of the way and we figure ourselves out. So, we’ll see. But I I expect a fierce effort from them on hockey night Saturday night, especially this trip alone. two backtobacks and going from Washington down to Tampa isn’t exactly the easiest or shortest flight either. No. And heck, that’s a backto-back hike. Like that is that is a backtoback hike. Heck of a performance from Calvin Pickard on Thursday to to give them a chance. I just wonder for Edmonton as a team that as we’re all kind of wondering where do they start to turn there? like you mentioned the heat starting to get to turn up uh internally. Like do you think it’s it’s equally dispersed throughout the organization? Is there one area where maybe it’s hotter than others? What’s your sense at this stage? Well, I I definitely think the goalending is under the spotlight. Look, they they’ve only got four regulation wins, right? Like that’s the fewest in the NHL. And you know, again, we’re still six weeks into the season. That’s always one of the metrics I check I check going into the playoffs because overtime, shootout, regular season is completely irrelevant to what the playoffs are. So, they have to get going and start winning some games in regulation. But there’s no question in my mind the goalending, you know, the the major focus. As I wrote, um, you know, they’re they’re not playing like the 1977 Montreal Canadians in front of Skinner and and and Pickard, but the heat is on those guys. You know, I just want to say one thing about Skinner. I see a lot of people making fun of his comments about he said at the beginning of the year, I envision myself playing for Team Canada and now he’s been struggling. It’s kind of, you know, the viral world we have, Kyle, it’s not enough just to poke fun at somebody. Um, everybody has to pile on and you have to pile drive them to the center of the earth. And so, I’ve seen that a lot in my feeds lately and people poking fun at him. Like I have a theory about Skinner in that quote. And I remember when I heard it, I was thinking to myself, “Oh, this one might come back to bite him, but I understand it.” And and basically what it is, like you can tell that’s a guy who relies on like sports psychologists and mental coaches to help him, right? Um obviously we know he feels the pressure. He’s a big believer in trying to be positive with that kind of thinking. And that’s exactly what that was. You know, I I’ve told the story before, but Mike Weir, I remember covering him a couple of Canadian Open golf tournaments, and whenever he missed a putt or a shot went badly, especially around the green, he would say, “Oh, there were spike marks and stuff and they affected my shot.” And finally, I just said like, “Does this guy ever take responsible for anything?” And remember it was Bob Weekes who kind of we were chatting about it and he said that you know the word on Mike Weir was he really faced uh confidence issues and one of the ways that his sports psychologist helped him battle with that especially around the green was if you miss a putt it’s not your fault something else happened and that way it like he made the biggest putt of his life to win the Masters and it was that mentality that helped him do it like this is not going to be my fault. I’m going to hit a great shot. And I I’ve always thought about that that, you know, that’s not the way I personally think. Um I generally feel that if I make a mistake, it’s my fault and I did it. But I understand that everybody’s wired differently. So when I heard Skinner say that before the year, that’s I immediately thought of Mike Weir like he’s putting himself in the right frame of mind because he needs to feel that way. He needs to feel he’s that good because if he’s struggling between his ears, he’s got no chance. So, when I see people kind of making fun of that, I feel a bit badly because I think I know why he said it and I understand where he’s trying to come from. Um, but there’s no question on my mind, Kyle, that as as this goes on, the goalending is going to be the thing that they get leaned on the most to either figure out or solve or settle. They tried changing the goalie coach. It I don’t know if that’s going to end up being the long-term solution here, but that’s the thing. I I definitely feel that that’s the thing. Yeah, I did hear that, you know, the relationship establishing all that early on between Pete Aubry, as you say, the new goalie coach in Edmonton and Stuart Skinner in particular has been a positive one. But, uh, on that note, Elliot, it’s like, okay, now you go into Florida, it’s a big game. It’s been a long road trip. And up with a shut out there, got shut out New Jersey. Yep. He’s getting ready. Yep. What was the conversation through much of the Stanley Cup final? Right. Who’s starting in goal for Edmonton the next game? And now it’s like, okay, who do you start on Saturday in Florida? Is it Skinner or is it the guy that, you know, nearly stole one for you in Tampa on Thursday night? And Calvin Pickard, you know, that’s a great question. I’d probably start Pickard. I would, too. Like, as I said, and I are both both Skinner fans. Uh, but I think the Oilers are at a point of the season of, okay, who’s had the best result for us in the short term? And it’s what Picker just did on Thursday night. So, if you believe that he’s got a chance to follow that up 48 hours later, like, keep running with it cuz you just need a win. Yep. And this is a big night. This is a big night. I’m looking forward to it. Really excited for that game. I’m always look forward to Saturday nights, Kyle. Yes. I wonder why. As one of my best friends, Seth Mandel, used to always say in university, I can’t wait till tomorrow. You know why, Kyle? Why? Cuz I get better looking every day. Yeah, you’ve been on a heck of a run the last little while, I have to tell you. Um, okay, so goending once again part of the conversation in Edmonton and suddenly in Montreal, that’s been a big part of the conversation as things continue to be a little rocky for the Canadians after a dynamite start to the season. Another loss on Thursday night, it was close for much of the game and then just got ugly. the final five six minutes of the third period against Washington. Hatrick for Ovetchkin as he continues to torch Montreal as he’s done much of his career into 10th all time in points surpassing Joe Sackic. Uh but for the Canadians I mean it was three goals on 10 shots for Sam Mottenbo. Out he went. Uh Jakob Dovish didn’t fare much better and Dovish was a guy that was the steady hand early on when Montbo was shaky kind of out of the gate and now you’ve got two guys who you’re not really sure about if you’re Martan St. Louis company. How do you view things in Montreal these days? Well, like I I really think that uh Hughes and Gorton who run that team are are are people who would try to be at the front of this. The thing is that you didn’t believe if you were in Montreal that this was going to be this much of a problem earlier this year. I I think you really felt that Montbo team Canada last year and Dobish who has is looks like he’s got a real future that this wasn’t something you were going to have to think about all year. But as my grandmother said, you plan, God laughs. And you know, Montreal, as we all know, they’re kind of holding and waiting. What’s the best center option that we can find? Well, now I think you’re going to have to start thinking about, okay, um, how seriously do we have to consider this? Like, you know, all of a sudden we look up, we look at the standings and they’re not in the playoffs right now. You know, they’re only a point out and and in the Eastern Conference, like nobody’s out of it. But you weren’t expecting this. And you know, it was funny. I got uh a text from a regular uh listener of the pod on Thursday before the game saying, “Your precious Atlantic division has nobody at a 600 points percentage while the Metro has six.” Well, he’s not quite right. Uh two teams in the Atlantic one, Tampa and Ottawa, that got them to 60. And the correct answer in the Metro is five. not six, but point taken. Anyway, you know, I think now Hughes and Gordon are probably sitting there saying, “All right, how much do we really have to talk about this? How much do we really have to start looking at at this?” And, you know, how long of a runway are you giving here before you start to say, “Okay, this isn’t a blip, but we’re pretty concerned.” Um, you know, Montbo, the one thing that Kelly always said was if he ever got pulled, he he looked at it for performance, he would always look at it as I really let down the other guy because that other guy wasn’t expecting to play tonight and now because I’m awful, uh, he is. And it just seems to be happening a lot in Montreal. So I think that’s the biggest question is we know that Montreal’s been sort of saving their quiver for the second position is for this for the center position. The other thing too, Kyle, is who’s out there goaliewise? That’s what I was just wondering. PE people say Cam Talbot, you know, Detroit got embarrassed. the the Islanders. I mean, and what a run they’re on. But they’re they’re in first place, you know, like, do you think the Detroit Red Wings are breaking up a a very good goalie tandem while they’re in that kind of a position? Um to me the one interesting guy and I wrote about it briefly the other night I is going to be Lucin like Detroit like like Buffalo still has a lot of goalies there and you know it’s clear they really like Ellis and you know he beat Edmonton and then they had a really ugly night against Calgary but that wasn’t only on him. So, I I wrote on on Thursday about um about Lucin and I had a couple people call me and they say that that’s going to be the interesting one to watch because if you look at it, Finland’s goalending for the Olympics. Sorrowos and Lanin are their top two guys to me. You know, I know there’s a lot of Fins who listen to this podcast and we appreciate it. You guys can tell me if I’m wrong about Soros and Lankanin being one, two. So number three to me is Lucin and Corposalo. Okay. Mhm. If you’re Lucin, you’re sitting there at four games and that you’ve played and you might not make it. Like Corposal is playing like he’s getting games. Um Lucin isn’t. And let’s be honest here, he’s got to be better, too. The some of what’s going on in Buffalo is that Ellis has has been good for them and Lion has been good for them. And you know, you have to you have to win the net if you’re lucinid. That it is partly your responsibility. But it’s clear from some of the things I’m hearing that it is a thing that Lucinin would be concerned if he doesn’t get to play enough games and Finland says sorry, you know, we can’t we need a third guy who’s played a lot this year. So, that’s going to be the guy to me who who I start to think about is does he become the guy that some of these teams really start doing their background work on and saying, “Okay, he’s the one we’re going after somewhere down the road.” Right. And he’s a guy, I mean, there’s the injury history there, too, that I’m sure everyone would have to ask questions. Raised it ugly hand this year. Yep. right out of the gate. Okay, so that’s one guy. Um, another Finnish goalie like Soros and Nashville as we’re all trying to figure out what the Predators are doing here. Elliot, I saw like Barry Trotz the interview they did when they were over in Sweden last week where he’s saying, you know, we’re in a a building phase right now. Not so much a rebuild. We’re we’re building right now. So, I suppose moving someone like Soros out would perhaps be opposite or counterintuitive to what building would be. Um, but do you think they would ever That was an interesting podcast, by the way. I thought it was an interesting idea. I imagine Yeah, I imagined both of them with Bailey’s in their coffee while they were doing it. Well, last year they did it with uh Maurice and Dbor when Dallas and Florida were over in Finland. Uh, and that was great conversation, of course, cuz they’ve known each other forever. So, I like that they’ve kind of kept that theme going and now with a couple of general managers over there, it’s different. I like it. So, so Trods, I do like it. any kind of content that’s different I I find interesting. So I, as I’ve mentioned before, I do a hit on Nashville every week on their 1025 uh the game uh station with uh Adam Vingan, Derek Mason, and sometimes uh Willie Donic when he feels like showing up. And so Barry Trotz usually goes on Tuesday and I usually go on Thursday. And uh Trotz was on Thursday this week because of the trip home. he was on before me and I went back and I listened to it and it was it was pretty interesting like he launched into a defense of Andrew Brunett like when they won that when they won that first game on on the Friday when they scored late and then won in overtime you know someone texted me right away and said this guy’s not getting fired like they’re still playing and I I agree with that and he didn’t and Trotz defended him and to his credit Trotz said some of this is on the roster and I don’t want to hold him responsible for that. That that’s reasonable. Um the other thing he did though was he talked about some of the the names that are out there and he kind of said like some of these things are just not true. They’re not happening. And one of the names he mentioned was Philip Forsber. He took pains to say, you know, Philip Forsber getting traded. That’s not happening. Now, the one thing I always believe is that it can always change if the player wants to change it, but I have no reason to believe at this point in time that Forsber feels that way. However, Trotz did go out of his way to say um that Foresberg that stuff is all completely made up. Uh the the thing I’m hearing about Nashville is I still think they are trying to figure out what they want to do. Um so I I think at times they’re talking about some of the older players on their roster. Like the guy that everybody would covet there would be O’Reilly. And Barry Trotz has shown great respect to O’Reilly in the past that even though he doesn’t have a no tree clause, they’re treating him like he’s got one. So O’Reilly would have a big say in where he would want to go if he wanted to go anywhere. And so I think that at times what I’ve heard is that he’s talked about older players and I’m sure um obviously O’Reilly would be in that. I think Michael Bunting would be in that. I think Eric Hollow would go in that. But I think also at times he’s talked about uh younger players too. And I’m not talking about like the hot prospects. Like I’m not talking about the Camels and Brady Martin and stuff like that. I’m not talking about that. But maybe some of the younger players who are around the roster. So I think people are just trying to get a handle on what he’s talking about. Sorrowos, I just don’t know if I see that yet. I mean Trot’s at the start of the year, right? We want to prove everyone wrong for a third straight year. And I just wonder how much longer into this season they go before they get to the point of deciding, okay, maybe we’re not going to prove lots of people wrong this year. It’s going to be another season of disappointment for us and how they ultimately navigate the rest of the way. But I could see Sorrowos being a part away from that conversation. Just thought it was interesting when we started talking goalies. I I think the other thing too is that and and I wrote about this too, like I still think the owner is finding his way, right? Mhm. And obviously he’s going to have to sign off on whatever they want to do, but there’s no question Nashville’s got fillers out there. I just don’t think people are sure yet if the Predators are 100% positive on exactly which way they’re going to go here. By the way, Kyle, just in the middle of this, apppropo of nothing, I just want to shout out Colorado. So, one of the people I talked to, they they jokingly call our podcast the Who’s a Disaster podcast because they say we only talk about teams when they are a disaster. He said you should call it 32 disasters. [Laughter] 32 time bombs. So I said, “Oh, you know what? I’ll be proactive. I’ll shout out people who were good.” Um they’re a they’re a fun watch. And they they beat the Rangers. Um it was a close game score-wise. just the ice was a bit tilted, a bit tilted shotwise. You know what I I’ll say this about watching them a bit, it’s hard not to look at them as topheavy, uh just because of who they’ve got on the top of their roster talent-wise, but I I really look at some of their depth players like that Sam Molinsky. I think Parker Kelly, Parker Gretzky with that one great breakaway goal he scored uh earlier this year. Yeah. Um Gavin Brinley who got hurt actually uh against the against the Rangers, but Gavin Brinley who they got and very quickly has become a factor on their team in that Charlie Coyle trade. I I think one of the things they’ve really started to do there is to develop some secondary pieces or identify some secondary pieces and they’re always going to go as far as McKinnon and Macar and Nius and Nushkin and I would put uh Taves and Lechan. I would definitely put Lechanin. Uh what a hockey player he is. Oh yeah. But I I finally start to look at the rest of that team and it’s still early and we’ll see where we go, but I I look at the rest of that team and I I start to see like some other pieces there that they’re gaining a lot of comfort. Like Ross Colton only plays 13 minutes a game there. Like that guy’s a good player. So we’ll see. This will be tested over time, but I like the rest of their roster a lot more than I have. Um, you know, Landiskog coming back. Uh, we’ve talked about it briefly. We talked about it when Nate has signed. I think that that has brought a zen back into their room. Um, like I I think that and we all joke about McKinnon, right? He’s super intense. He’s super pointed. He’s demanding of himself. He’s demanding of others. Landiskog is the yang to the yin. And I just think having him back there, it’s just a they’re still driven. They’re still competitive. They still want to win badly, but the Landiskog knows how to take the edge off. And I think that’s um a huge part of it. And we’ll see where they go. But I like their depth a lot more. And you know what’s interesting about them too, Kyle, is that, you know, we talk about goalending, right? And that’s a team that very quietly redid their goalending. They look who they had last year, remember? Yes. They were very proactive. Uh, and they did it. And you know, Wedgewood, like this Canadian goalending situation has kind of been blown open. And I think you kind of have to look at him and say, okay, maybe at the beginning of the year, we wouldn’t have ever thought, but you know, Bennington’s going to be there, and I think Logan Thompson’s going to be there. We’ll see what else you come up to in the third spot, but at the very least, I’d be looking at him as someone he can play behind a really good team. There’s going to be a whole bunch of avalanche on team Canada. It is not preposterous to me that you would say, “All right, how about Wedgewood is our third guy?” feels like nothing’s off the table at this point when you’re talking about team Canada goending and you mentioned the depth there in Colorado like don’t you think Elliot like when you’ve got a situation where there are defined roles for players lower in the lineup combined with being surrounded by great players and a program that is all about winning. It is an absolute breeding ground for players to find a level of themselves that maybe they either hadn’t got to before or maybe didn’t even think was possible. Like some of those names you rattled off early on, all operating at levels that we probably haven’t seen before. Part of that is again the environment that they’re in. Um but it’s been it’s been really spectacular. one regulation loss through 20 games, fourth team in NHL history to be able to say that. The whole thing too is with with with the way the Rantonin situation played out and you can’t go back and change it. It happened. It’s over. There’s no point in relitigating it, Kyle. But I I think we felt that it would take them a long time to recover. And again, we’ll see where this all goes in the postseason. And you know, Ranton beat them last year. We’ll see where this all goes, but they look like they’ve recovered a lot quicker than a lot of us expected, right? And I think the fact that it was Rantin and the stars that knocked them out, that was maybe the uh dunking of cold water that they needed to maybe accelerate the healing process. I I think that’s fair. Sometimes life smacks you in the face and there are hard smacks in the face and there are soft smacks in the face. Like Kevin Baxis smacks you in the face it feels like a feather. That playoff loss that would be like a brick. Yeah. And now the now they’re doing the smacking. Yes, they are doing the smacking. All right. Couple of notes on the Islanders here. you mentioned earlier, Elliot, uh first up being the news that Matthew Schaefer has now been added to the Olympic drug testing protocol. So that would make him eligible if Hockey Canada wanted to have him on the roster and bring him over to Milan in February. Um talked about it a little bit last pod. Elliot to me I would love to see him as kind of the Kale Mar insurance as a depth option for team Canada. um recency bias totally playing a factor here, but man has he been fantastic as have the Islanders as a whole. But maybe first just where you’re at on Schaefer and when you heard that news that this week uh he’s now part of the protocol. To be honest, Kyle, that when I reported it, I didn’t know that it actually happened like yesterday. So, it’s like it’s recent recent. Yes. So apparently it happened uh well we we’re taping this late Thursday night. It happened on Wednesday. So I didn’t actually realize that the the story went live on Wednesday night Thursday morning and I’d gotten confirmation that evening but I actually didn’t realize it was that day like it just happened. Um you know number one I I just give the kid enormous credit. Um, the fact that Team K is saying, “All right, we at least want them part of the conversation.” That seemed as preposterous an idea 3 months ago as I don’t know what’s the most preposterous thing that’s happened in the world the last 3 months. There’s a long list, but that seemed as insane as anything that we would see. And the kid deserves a lot of credit. And you know, I I’ll say this too. I would give the Islanders a lot of credit. Like one of the things I wrote about in my notes is that they’re putting him in positions to succeed. Like Adam Pel is doing a lot of the heavy lifting here in terms of the number one matchups against the best players on the other team. Um you know, Schaefer is playing a lot of minutes. Um, you know, he’s I I didn’t check yet what he played on Thursday night, but he’s playing a ton of minutes over 24. So, he was just so he he didn’t get 25. So, he’s at 25, I think, six times, but he’s close. Like, the the one thing that the Islanders are doing is giving him a lot of ice time where he has a lot of freedom to roam, right? He’s not getting the head-to-head matchups. And and this this is at home against the best players. So they’re putting him in positions to succeed and the deserve a lot of credit for it, but nobody deserves more of it than Schaefer himself. He’s caught their eye. I I I still think it’s going to be a big challenge. There’s an eighth defenseman now. There were seven at the Four Nations. I think all seven of those guys are going back. You know, they had injuries. Um, they had illnesses. Theodore got hurt, Mar got sick, Morrisy got sick, and they overcame it all and they won. And I think they will be loyal to those guys. And also, none of those seven guys have played themselves off the team. Kyle Dowy’s injury is not a thing. So, you got to think Schaefer is battling with for with for one spot with a bunch of guys. I don’t know if he gets it, but it’s impressive and so are the Islanders and Schaefer’s a big part of that. His attitude like they’re playing better. Sroken has sorted himself out. Um they’re, you know, you can see the confidence really building in that group. The Islanders when they were at their best a couple years ago, they were greater than the sum of their parts. They’ve kind of got that feel to them again this year. uh and it’s really working for them. But Schaefer’s attitude is a big part of this. And and look at them. I mean, they just that road trip was not only tough teams, but it was a tough schedule. It wasn’t easy and they’re sitting there right now. They’re 84 and one on the road and they’re at a 619 points percentage. I give them This whole league has been fun this year. It’s really fun seeing a bunch of new teams really make a run at this and a bunch of unexpected teams make a run at this and the Islanders are absolutely one of them. Not only are they greater than the sum of their parts as they have been when they’ve been a good team in the past. They are greater than the sum of their parts and their scoring. Elliot, there’s that wrinkle that had not been ingrained in the Islanders DNA not all that long ago. They’re a team that can score, too. So, it’s another wrinkle to that team that’s become a big big problem for a lot of others across the league. And as you say, like that road trip, there were some good teams that they played and beat along the way. And finishing it up with, you know, a huge shutout victory over Detroit on Thursday. It’s been a lot of fun for them. Like you’ve got that coming together. There’s the Schaefer story. There’s this new way of Islander hockey. And then you’ve got a scene like they had in Dallas earlier this week where look tough hit from Rantin on Alexander Romanov. But the reaction from Patrick Wah on the bench and you can sit there and say, “Well, are you crossing a line by a coach yelling at a player?” Bottom line is that was a guy coming the defense of his player and his team and that was most important there. He’ll get a call on like March 25th. Oh, Patrick, remember what you said a few months ago. That’s That’s what’ll come with the fine. Yeah. No, no, no. It’ll be You’ll get the warning like right before they play again. It’s Oh, yes. Sorry. When the return affair. That’s right. You know, remember what you said way back in the middle of November? Uh, if anything happens, you’re getting fined and suspended. Yes. Which you deal with that when you get there, but in the meantime, I loved every bit of that. Yeah. It sounds like Romano is getting a second opinion, too. And whenever it’s second opinion, um, obviously that means you don’t like what the first guy’s telling you. So, yeah. you usually in my experience second opinion is I’m going to try to find someone who can say that path I don’t like it is there honestly a better path or hopefully a better path right so we’re wishing the best for a manov but I mean yeah like you can’t tell me with the reaction of him there in Dallas and then how that team came out to finish the road trip in Detroit um there’s got to be a little bit of synergy between the two so yeah things are going good on the island and speaking of coaches coming to their players defense. You had Baddard in Chicago on Thursday, newly sporting the A on his jersey, by the way. And the irony that two games ago, he’s going, “Oh, the referees are so much nicer to me now. I don’t get kicked out of faceoffs anymore.” And then, by the way, that that’s a true thing. Oh, I believe that’s a true thing. Yeah. 100% true. Remember years ago, years ago when I first really started covering the league, players would say to me, and even some officials admitted to it. If you don’t have a letter on your jersey, get away from me. They deal with enough during the game. I’m not talking to you. You’re unimportant. Hey, do I see a letter on your jersey? No. Get lost. So then you follow that up a couple nights later with Bazard not getting the call on the breakaway, letting the official have it, and then he gets two minutes for un sports like abusive official. Seattle ends up scoring on that power play. They win the game. Jeff Blashel came to a superstar players defense in in the media afterwards. Uh which again it was a tough circumstance cuz you’re like they call that penalty all the time. anything on the hands, it’s a penalty. And I know you love your penalty shots. Penalty shots 100%. First of all, I I I think the Blackhawks did a great thing putting the A on his jersey. Like there’s this whole debate right now, like we just talked about Schaefer uh playing for uh Hockey Canada, maybe making the Olympics. The other debate is Baddard and there seems to be a lot of and I I never mind seems it’s true like I think they they thought about taking one of the two of them Bard and Celbrini but they never thought about taking both of them and the two of them have forced this into the conversation. It’s it’s real. Do we do this? And I thought Chicago putting the A on Bard in the middle of that whole conversation. I don’t believe in coincidences, Kyle. I think that was intentional. We want to boost our franchise player. We want So that’s to me that’s twice this week the Blackhawks have shown out for Bedard in the middle of this Olympic debate. The A and what Blashell said after the game on Thursday night. What what’s interesting to me is that Blashel said he his quote was, “Oh, he must have said something really bad to get that penalty.” Now, I have if I had not been a sports cer, I would have gone to law school and I had I would have been miserable. I would have hated life and I would have hated myself. I would have loathed myself if I had been a lawyer. But what is one of what is the first thing that they tell you in law school, Kyle? First thing? God. Yeah. Well, the first thing they tell you is how to bill properly. What’s the second thing they tell you in law school? How to read between the lines? No. So, the second thing in law school is you never ask a question or bring up something in the courtroom that you don’t already know the answer to. Oh, of course. Yes. So, when I’m looking at this and I’m listening to what Blill has to say, I’m saying to myself, he knows exactly what was said to the official and it wasn’t that bad. Wasn’t that bad at all. I I’m I’m with Blashel on this one. I think at that point in the game, you can’t have rabbit ears. And rabbit ears is a saying for you hear something and it gets you really sensitive. You you have to understand the situation. And I don’t know, I I didn’t like that call. I I I did not like that call. I didn’t like the non-penalty. Like one of the things that makes me crazy about the rules now is that you can like just whack someone from time to time and not get called for it. And if you do like a light love tap and it hits the stick in the right spot and the stick snaps, that’s a slashing penalty. It makes me crazy. It I really hate that when that happens. But I, you know, I I I agree with Blashel on this one. I think in that situation it has to be egregious for Badard to get penalized there. And maybe we’ll find out it was egregious. But like I said, my brief legal background tells me that I really hope that that Blashell didn’t introduce that without absolutely knowing what Badar did or didn’t say. He’s had a heck of a week behind the microphone, I have to say. Capping it off with uh He It was funny. We talked in the last podcast about how he was on Saturday night and uh someone said someone sent me a text. He said, “Blash knew hockey night in Canada was in town.” He saw Chris Cuthbert lurking in the hallway. He’s like, “No, no, it was you. He doesn’t care about Simpson. He doesn’t care about Cuthbert. He’s there to see you.” No. Oh, now you’re just Okay. Talk about going into a courtroom saying something you don’t know the answer to. That’s a huge foul right there. Um, oh, I also just wanted to point out, so the first year I went to go be part of the Bruce Oak Gala, it was a September 12th, 2023. Could you hazard a guess of what piece of news made its way that permeated through the city of Winnipeg earlier that day? September 12th, 23. This is a good trivia question. I’m sorry, I’m not prepared because this is not the thought line. I don’t have my my guessing my invisible guessing helmet on. September 12,23. That wouldn’t have been like the Dubois trade, was it? No. You ready for it? Yes. It was the day they announced Adam Lowry was the next captain of the Jets. And that’s just stupid on my part. Like, how could I not figure that this tied into Adam Lowry? The night of the Winnipeg Jets Gala on Wednesday night. Yes, Mark Chipman announces he signed an extension for five years at 5 million per, which seems more than reasonable on I was really annoyed at myself when I heard that he signed that night because if I would have known that there was a gala going on, I would have been much more aggressive on what’s going on with Lowry. Ah, because that’s right up that’s right up the Jets and especially Mark Chipman, the owner. That’s right up their alley. So, they I I don’t remember which one it was, but I think it was a Mar a Paul Maurice extension when Maurice was coaching the Jets. He announced it at a an event and I had heard rumors that he was getting that extension. I think it was kind of rumored at the time and the Jets kept it really quiet because they wanted to announce it at this event. So, had I actually looked at a calendar and realized that they had something like that, I would have been much more aggressive. So basically what I’m doing right now is I’m loading all Jets events onto my phone calendar so I can know when they’re about to announce something like that happened this year too. Remember Kyle at the uh media tour in Vegas? We interviewed Dustin Wolf the day before their golf tournament and we told him we’d heard that he was signing there long term that he was going to commit to it and he kind of played dumb and the next morning they announced at the golf tournament and the Flames badly wanted to do that. They wanted to make that announcement there. So, if you want to cover the NHL, start learning when teams have events because that’s when they’re going to start announcing all their signings. I asked Wolf a few weeks after that. I said, “So, you must have had some idea that a deal was close when we interviewed you that day.” He’s like, “Oh, yeah. It was done. I just didn’t want to say anything.” I’m like, “Oh, good on you. You played played a lot.” Uh, yes, I know. Hope you give up 46 goals tomorrow night. I just thought he held a pretty good poker face. Very good. Don’t Don’t play cars with that guy. No. All right. So, yeah, that business gets done in Winnipeg Elliot five more years beyond this one for Lowry with the Jets, which seems to make all too much sense for both parties. It’s an interesting one. I I was talking with uh with a couple other teams and and a couple other uh agents about it on uh on th on Thursday. And if you really look at it, um there’s not a lot of comps for this one. Like there’s not a lot of guys who get five-year deals when they’re 33 years old. And you know, someone who might, and we’ll see where it goes here could be a guy like Paneran, but Paneran’s a guy who’s a point getter, right? So teams will take a bit more of a chance on somebody who’s got a bit more runway as a point getter. It’s rare, but I don’t think anybody disputes the value of it. And I don’t think that anybody in Winnipeg will dispute uh that it was a good thing to do. And you know, to me, what I see there is I see a team, and it shows what the deal they did with Connor, too. They think they can win now. They’re in their window and they have a really close team. Those players get along really well. Lowry showed wise the captain. They basically told him, “Look, we have to do Kyle Connor first because it’s a bigger number.” And Lowry’s like, “Yeah, whatever. Do it.” And they did. And you know, he does a lot of their heavy lifting. Um, he’s hugely important to their team. But what it says to me now is, okay, let’s just say for argument sake that Lowry is not a $5 million player when he’s 37 or 38 years old because the contract is um was signed. It takes place when he’s 33. If you have good runs deep in the playoffs and hey, maybe even you win it. I think they’re going to be in this conversation for certainly 60% of his contract at least. It doesn’t matter how it ends. It doesn’t matter how it ends. Now, of course, Lowry is going to say when he scores 40 goals at age 38, “Hey, Elliot, you thought my contract would really suck at the end.” That’s not what I’m saying here. But what I’m saying is you take this bet if you’re the Jets because if you do win in the next three years and I think they’re going to be deep deep deep into this conversation, he’s going to be a huge part of it. I would take that gamble 100 times out of a 100. Now there was some other news out of Winnipeg today, right? to report out there, Brad Lambert, who is their first round pick in 2022, uh that his camp has been given permission to go about finding a trade partner. So, he’s only played four games with the Jets this year. Um looked like it’s just been tough for him to get into the lineup on a regular basis. Uh went down to the American League again. So, where are things at there and anything further you can add to that story? Well, I’m not hugely surprised. You know, it it comes the day after that the the news got out about Mint Yukov, right? And it it’s it’s the reaction to this stuff is is really interesting to me because there there are a lot of people who talk about that the days of patience are over if you’re not playing. Like I’m not here to sound like middle-aged man from Saturday Night Live. When I used to go to school, we used to walk uphill both there and home and we liked it. No, that’s not what this is about. I I but I do think it is a recognition that especially among young players, there’s less patience now. They they’re not willing to in most cases, everybody’s different. um if they don’t see a path, they want out faster. Um and you know, certainly uh Lambert, you know, Winnipeg’s a good team. He’s got to be a top six forward. You look at that lineup, there’s really not a lot of room for him. And maybe 20 years ago, he might have waited longer and been patient. That’s not the way today’s players are wired. Young players are wired. Mukov, same deal. Now, I will say this. I had a couple people that didn’t like it came out while Anaheim’s doing really well. Kind of same deal with Lambert, but because I was the guy who reported MYUV, I had some push back to that with me like Anaheim’s going really well. This isn’t the time for this. And I was like, okay, fair. I completely understand it, but it is out there. And you know, so I I just wanted to mention that, you know, Mukov was the 10th overall pick in 2022. He’s a really talented young kid. He made this team very quickly, but you look at it right now, he’s gotten beaten out. Like Jackson Lome is now a $9 million defenseman. He’s not playing ahead of him. Uh Zelwagger has done Zelwagger has been a great partner for Trouba. Trouba’s been one of the tremendous early season stories and Zelwagger’s playing a very big role there. And Ian Moore, who is the kind of the guy who’s beating out uh Mchukov right now, he’s played really well for them and he scored uh the winning goal the other night uh in the second game that uh Mchukov sat out. So, they’ve got a winning hand right now, but I think that’s that’s the realism of what we’re dealing with now in the NHL. The kids, they want to play faster. They don’t have much patience as maybe they used to or were forced to to have for the American Hockey League. Now, Lambert, it’s tough to see him in the top six there. They’re pretty loaded, so I’m not hugely surprised. Um, you know, I I he’s still young. Um, I could see him I could definitely see teams being interested just like I can see it with Mukov. Mchukov is a young defenseman who can move the puck. There’s going to be interest in him. with Lambert. What’s my what’s my opinion? Always the shest predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Winnipeg, they’re used to this. They are used to, you know, people saying, “Uh, maybe I want out or I want to move on.” And they’re now actually very good at handling it. McGory, it happened with him a couple years ago. What did they do? They were patient. They were patient. They were patient. They said, “Look, if you want McGory, you have to give us something that we see equal in return.” They got Joerger. Okay? So, that’s the way I look at it. If Lambert is going to go, the Jets will be patient and but they will say, “We want something Lambertike in return.” And people around the league are going to know that something the Jets feel that either is equal to him or maybe they can use towards something else. And and that’s what their history with McGory proved to people in Anaheim. I don’t know how what to make of this because Verbique, the more he gets pushed, the more he gets his backup. So, number one, I think he’s going to kind of say, “Hey, we’ll do I’ll do this on my time.” And, you know, I I’ll say this, too. They’ve had a lot of young players who are really popping right now. to their credit, they’ve done a really nice job. But at different times, some of these players have had issues with their ice time. And he’s always said, “I’m not giving you the easy way out.” Like, you’re going to earn your ice time. That’s kind of his philosophy. No easy way out. Earn it. Now, maybe this is different. I don’t know. We’ll see in the future. But I do know that he’ll he won’t be pushed into doing anything. That’s for sure. All right. Another thing you had noted in your latest 32 thoughts blog that came out this week, uh, the Ottawa Senators who beat Anaheim on Thursday night as they kick off. They’re everyone’s on a sevename road trip right now. Either on one or finishing up now. Ottawa’s just began theirs. There’s nobody playing at home. Everybody’s on. Everyone’s on a seven game road trip. Not two or three games. It’s seven or bust. Okay. They win Thursday. You mentioned them as a team looking to hit a home run by way of adding. So, how big a home run are we talking here? It goes back to what we talked about when they signed Pinto, right, Kyle? Like I I think they see this as their window now. And I and I think they would like to and and I I think they would like to add on the blue line and or upfront with the best they can get and we’ll see what that all means. This kid they called up Holidayiday is interesting. Like he was I saw some people who I was or I was talking to some people who had seen him play and they said he was really he was really pushing like this is a guy who earned this call up and he he had a really nice play on on one of their goals and beating the Ducks. But um I I just think like Carolina they did it last year with Ranton. took that swing at a at a big player and everybody knows they’re kind of like, “Okay, when’s the next try? We can make it that. We’d like to do that.” Um, you know, you just ask around and I think Ottawa is a team that it’s kind of out there like if there’s something big available, I I think they would love to try. I I think they really would. I And like I said, it goes back to what we talked about with Pinto. Their window is now. It’s now. And whether you think they’re ready for it or not, their window is now. And I think they see that too as an organization. You know what, Kyle? I I listed teams that were looking at things. Um, it’s not the biggest thing, but I did hear from a couple places Phillyy’s looking for another center. Maybe more of a dev guy as much as anything else, but definitely another center. So, they’re trying to stay in the hunt here. Yeah, I I think so. I I’m formulating some thoughts on that. Might take another pot or two, but I’m formulating some thoughts on them. I’ve been watching them a lot more lately. All right. Table it for next week or somewhere down the line. Very good. Okay. Well, with that then, let’s get to the final thoughts. And Elliot, as we mentioned a little earlier in the show, Thursday night, Alex Ovetchkin goes into Montreal as he has done so often in his career and had himself a big night. Another hat-tick, 33rd of his career. And after a so start to his season and for the team as well, they’re now starting to roll. Ovetkin starting to roll. The goal streak gets one game further. Um, I don’t know. I mean, we’ve had this conversation how many times over his career, but once again, he is a headliner that is looking every bit like a guy who continues to love everything that comes with the game of hockey, both in scoring goals and being around a group that is starting to heat up a little bit. Good week so far for Washington with those two back-to-back wins. Um, by the way, I I just wanted to say Tom Wilson had a big night in front of Doug Armstrong and Kyle Dubis against the Oilers on Wednesday. Wilson scored those two empty net goals. He could have had six empty netters. They would have keep them out there to pile them up right in front of those two guys. I was just laughing my head off watching that. Okay, I want to talk about Oie for a sec. I know they haven’t said anything here. Have you noticed how many jersey exchanges there have been with him? It’s been a couple. Yeah. McDavid the other night. Mhm. Like Kopitar, we talked about how they took a whole bunch of sticks on the trip for him and I thought it was, you know, really nice what San Jose did for him uh on Thursday night cuz big rival for a long time. and the Kings, they really tortured the Sharks a few times. So, I I thought that was really nice of San Jose to do that, but you can’t help but watch all these jersey exchanges with Ovetkin and wonder, okay, do the Capitals have a plan here? And Ovetkin says no. And I I think he’s definitely earned the right to call his shot on his own time whenever he’s ready, but it’s hard not to look at all of these jersey exchanges and say [Music] h it’s like other players around the league aren’t chancing it. They’re like, “If this is it, yes, got to get the jersey swap in.” It’s like when teams play Messi now in the MLS, it’s like a big mad dash to like got to get his jersey after the game. They’re tackling each other so they can be the one to get the jersey, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it would be like the Capitals to to want to do something. unroll it on their own. Hey, we just talked about teams love to line up announcements with their own events. They can control it. They absolutely will. I just What’s been impressive to me as I say like guy’s still making an impact. Still making an impact. It it was interesting at the at the beginning of the year I was actually you know he looked slower at the beginning of the year and it’s early in the season so I try not to take it that seriously and second but I think it was kind of affecting a little bit how they were playing and and also I I think that if you started to look at it a bit I think there were some teams trying to figure out okay do we put our best guys out there against Obi or do we put our best guys out there against somebody else, right? Like you could see some of the deploy some of the deployment was starting to change a little bit from what I looked over. And I will say this, I looked over it in kind of a cursory way. So if I’m way off on that, someone can tell me. But it looked like teams were starting to say, “Okay, like how should we be deploying ourselves here?” But now the C now he’s hot again, right? And so it’s back to he’s the focal point. We got to deal with this. Like I think some teams were looking at that sort of like right now they have Prous playing with Wilson. So some teams were like, “Okay, maybe we better put our best players against those guys.” Well, here we go. Ovetkin’s hot again. And and how about uh Dylan Stro? That’s a tough one. You find out in the warm-up that your wife is going into labor. And it’s true. Like there’s nothing you can do, right? And you still hold out hope. Well, maybe things just hang out. We can Yes. You know, the plane takes off quickly after the game. I labor 10 12 hours, right? Although if you know, if if I said to Steph, “Hey, I’m awake. You stay in labor for 12 hours. You stay in labor for 12 hours. Yeah, that’s I would get clawed in the face. So, I’m not sure that that would that would really work. That’s right. You wouldn’t live to see the birth. You know, I was talking about it actually with a with a buddy because it’s not like you’re getting a flight from Montreal to Washington right away and you’re going to get back in time. Like there’s no if it happens in the morning, that’s one thing, but no chance on this. That’s right. So, you’ve got that in your back of your mind. And he still he had what, three assists on Thursday. Um anyway, just impossible. Why is she going to labor every night? I’ll let you call her up and make that suggestion. But, uh, yes, Sutton Kimberly Stro, the newest member of the Stro family, born Thursday night. Great name. And I have to say, too, the Capitals, they have to have the best postgame huddle in the dressing room following wins. You like the Marines, too, right? I think it works for them. The the home helmets on the road. It’s a great look. And then when Spencer Carbury holds court there going through different performances of the game and everybody else chimes in on different things. Um I know everyone’s kind of got their own version of it now and so much of it which is great uh is put out there for everyone to see. Uh but they do it different there in in Washington and anyway they do it right. It’s very well done. That’s Are you a team or you’re a club? That’s a team. That’s a team. That’s a team. All right, that was a final thought. And with that, we’ll take our first break and come back with the thought line. 32 thoughts the podcast continues after this. [Music] Welcome back. It’s time now for the thought line. Elliot, what? So, we are starting. What was that? As you can hear, with a sage burning, we are cleansing the thought line of all negative thoughts, juju, and bad mojo right now. I don’t for a second is this because of the injuries? Absolutely it is. I don’t for a second think our powers are strong enough to have any type of impact and nor would we want to have any kind of impact in that capacity. But after I saw the Jack Hughes injury was one thing but after seeing Serinan out for a period of time because of a barbecue incident I thought it’s better safe than sorry. And so the burning has commenced and hopefully this puts an end to it all. Trish Alexander Instagram, you totally jinxed the hockey world with the topic of odd injuries on the podcast. First Jack, now this. And he has a picture of Louisis Dionan barbecue incident. Yeah, it’s uh it was starting to get a little too close for comfort. It was stretching the what would be considered reasonable coincidence. Yep. Anyway, just that was good, Kyle. Really well done. It put me put me in a great mood. I feel very serene, relaxed. Feel very relaxed and at ease with myself. That’s good. Love to hear that. And do you have anything else on your list before we get to today’s match? Yes. So, thoughts on the thought line, as one of you called it. I like that. Thoughts on the thought line. A lot more raccoon information. I appreciate it. Places where to buy ammonia. Places where to buy mothballs, which I’m not even sure are legal. I had a number of people, including the great Sher Ross. Always get good to get a note from uh Sherry Ross sending me that article about how raccoons are becoming more domesticated. They’re getting the smaller snout. Just unbelievable timing for that article. I had someone who wrote to me and said, “Here’s the concern with coyote urine. Do you have coyotes in your neighborhood?” And apparently we do. We have some ravines near where we live and I’ve been told there are coyotes there. and he told me the problem with that then becomes if you spread coyote urine it won’t be the raccoons in your backyard it’ll be the coyotes. I was like you know I’m not sure one’s really better than the other. So, I really I had I had someone who suggested hot sauce on the bins and I had someone else who suggested and it’s someone we know in the hockey world and and Kyle, when I tell you his name privately, you will not be surprised this was his suggestion, but he suggested I buy a paintball gun and just blast at them. Yes. Taking warfare to the next level. Um, I have a couple other uh notes that I wanted to uh read. One more about the raccoons from a Taylor Weston. And what Taylor wrote is that a year ago when we lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico, we woke up one morning to find our kitchen was completely torn up. Bags of bread shredded all over the floor, bananas smooshed and ripped. We knew it wasn’t our cat and quickly came to realize it was at least one raccoon coming in through our pet door and having absolute ragers in the night. So, we did set a live trap one night and caught one because we knew about the distance rule. And for those of you who haven’t been following, apparently it’s 60 km. If you put them closer than 60 km, they’ll come back. But because we knew the distance rule, I drove this spitting mad raccoon up the mountains, waving to some tourists about to set off on a hike as I set the animal free. The next night, we caught another. The next night, another. By the end, we caught five. One each night, and I like to imagine them reunited in the mountains, frolicking by a stream or something wholesome like that. Jeez, what has this podcast become? This is unbelievable. A lot of work. A lot of work. Yeah, it’s a lot of fuel. A lot of fuel. A lot of work, but happily a lot of frolicking. Yes. It’s good to keep the big picture in mind. All of them are united. You know, anybody whenever a story ends in frolicking, it’s a happy ending. Okay. And here is the final note. Hey Elliot, big fan of yours. I don’t miss an episode of 32 thoughts. You have always have the most well articulated takes to share and are a true professional. So far, I like where this is going. I can see why this one got in. If you’re open to constructive criticism from someone you’ve never met, I think the amount you interrupt and disregard Kyle’s points on the podcast is too much. You seem like a guy that values his impact and wants to treat people well, which is valuable in broadcasting. If you were to show him a little more respect, you would further improve your successful career. Hope you’re able to take that as a nudge in the right direction from someone who has a lot of respect for you. So, I’d like to thank the writer who, interestingly enough, is under the pseudonym Dana’s Burner. She would have to listen to this thing first before she could offer up any type of thing like that. Um, Elliot, get in line. Well, I’ll say this. First of all, I bet that she treats you a lot worse than I do. That’s number one. That’s why I said get in line. Yeah. Number two, Kyle, how you doing? Got any good ideas? Here’s my chance. The door’s open. Chance. Yeah. Oh gosh. I thought we were past the uh you’re being too hard on me phase. We I guess not. It’s back. Probably not. E, it’s come back. It’s back. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. And I doubt that that’s the one thing that’s holding you back in your career is being kind to me. But there’s a lot more that’s holding you back in your career than just that. Yes. Well, that’s very kind of at Dana’s Burner to write that in. No, the gentleman’s name was Matt. Okay. Thanks, Matt. Thank you for that. But uh I take no issue if Elliot’s going to jump in with something. It is mostly useful information [Laughter] or perspective mostly. All right, let’s get to today’s batch. Brett, hello Fridge, Kyle, and Dom. First, I have a follow-up from last year’s question about altered equipment. Kyle brought up a story about a goalie from Pal River that had pucks in his gear to take up more of the net. Well, I did some digging on this, asking a friend on that team and wanted to report it was not pucks, but a life jacket. I know the good people of Campbell River always need an excuse for losing to the better river across the pond, but just thought you should get your story straight. Quickly on this, Brett, I will only push back because I was playing in that game. I literally saw the pucks being removed from the top of his shoulders. So, all this proves is that there’s another goalie from Pal River willing to bend the rules far enough to throw a life jacket on. That’s so West Coast, by the way. Throw a life jacket on to make yourself just a little bit bigger in the net. So, something going on out in Piv. All I’ve heard is that if you’re going out to Powell River to play in a hockey tournament, you can be certain that someone on those teams is cheating and probably the goalie. Yes. But anyway, that’s not why it’s it was a a funny bit that Brett included here. And actually, he has a very good question to follow up. My question carries on with the theme of unusual ailments and bizarre injuries with Jack. Man, we just burned incense here. We can’t do this again, can we? Well, I thought we’ve got a clean slate, so hopefully one won’t impact the other. With Jack Hughes being injured at a team dinner and a non-hockey related injury, is the team obligated to pay him his salary during the time he will miss? Also, when an injury occurs and surgery is needed, who is the one paying the bill? I know these athletes seek out the highest medical care and best surgeons with some flying halfway across the world for it. Is there anything in the CBA for this or is it a team by team case? No. Uh that’s a that’s a great question by the way. Excellent. Um it is first of all in theory if someone suffered a non- hockey injury the team could grieve it if they wanted to but in this case they’re not going to do it. And in this particular case, Jack Hughes will be paid his full salary while he’s injured and he is compensated. So, um, the Devils will pay his salary. Now, um there have been situations I I I mentioned uh one uh several years ago in the major major league baseball where Paul Quantrol was injured riding a snowmobile in the offse and uh there was some uh debate about that one, but generally the teams will pay that. If you’re injured on the job, the team covers the payment of the surgery. And as a matter of fact, and Jack Eel has a lot to do with this, um the league and the players association have worked really hard to make second opinions uh more available to players. And you know, I’ve had guys tell me that they’ve never seen more cooperation and understanding between teams and second opinion doctors than they get now. Like they just say it’s it’s I’m sure there’s always incidents that don’t go that well. Nothing’s ever perfect, but a number of players have told me it’s come a long way. Awesome. Great to hear. Thank you for that, Brett. And yes, the goalie story continues out of Pal River. That’s fun. Um, okay. On the heels, Elliot, of uh you attending the Dallas Stars Hall of Fame night last weekend. Some great storytelling about Joe Newandike. Here now, some storytelling courtesy of Alex from Massachusetts. first time caller and I was just listening to the podcast this morning uh about all all you guys had to say about Newandike and I just wanted to share a quick story with you. Uh I was born about 3 months before uh the Stars won the cup in 99 and my parents lived in Chicago at the time and we drove uh to visit my mother’s side of the family in Boston and we stayed at my uncle’s college apartment at Cornell where he was playing at the time. Saturday night like a college kid would do. He was out at the bar and it was June and Mr. Newandike had brought the cup and the conmite to a bar and uh my uncle phoned my parents at at his own apartment and told him told him to come. the Stanley Cup is at the bar and they brought me and long story short, uh Joe Newandike took me from my parents, brought me up to his little roped off area and put me in the top of the cup in the whole the whole bar started chanting my name and I now have a pretty sweet signed picture from him uh with me sitting in the cup and then another one with him holding me at about three months old. So just another story about D and D being a absolute legend and good teammate just taking care of everybody around him. Thanks boys. Whoa, what a story. You know, you know, Alex, you know what you have to do is you have to send us the picture. Yes. So after the pod drops, we can include it with the link. I want to see the picture. What a great story. Not surprised by that in the least, but what a great story. Wow, that’s awesome. My only surprise is that the party was uh at Cornell and not Colgate. Oh, shut up. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. That was actually pretty good. Now you’re going to start getting DMs about how you’re mean to me. I’m not mean to you. You’re mean to me. That’s right. This is That was the table of turn. Yeah, that was actually a really good line. That was a great story, Alex. Thank you for sharing. That’s awesome. Very good. All right, we’re staying along the eastern seabboard here. Jacob from Maine. Hello, Kyle Dom. And if I must include Elliot question, the Boston Bruins currently hold Toronto’s 2026 first round pick and it is top five protected. If it ends up top five, which isn’t out of the question at this stage, the pick would naturally go to 2027. But that pick was traded to Philadelphia in the Scott Lton deal last year. So, would the Bruins pick then slide to 2028? And if so, is there anything preventing Toronto from trading their 2028 first round pick? How long would they be able to trade their first round pick? Is there anything stopping Toronto from perpetually trading their first rounder and Boston never getting it? And then what would happen with the Flyers pick? So whenever something like this happens, this is why in theory central registry exists and central registry is there to approve every trade. Nothing is done until central registry signs off. And their existence is all about checking off items like this and making sure there’s no way that the the this kind of problem can be unsolvable. Like they’ve traded picss in a way that eventually they won’t get sorted out. And one of the things they do is they say, “Okay, um, okay, we’re trading a pick. Are there any conditions already attached to that pick? If no, okay, tell us what the conditions are on this one, if any, and they approve it. If a team says yes and central registry is supposed to know um if uh there’s already conditions on a pick but if they say yes there are conditions they say okay well are we in danger of leaving them unsatisfied or is there a way you’ve agreed to work around it with the teams so eventually everybody gets what they need. So the the the long answer I gave you is that central registry exists to make sure that all of these conditions can be satisfied particularly when there’s more than one deal. Here is the situation with Toronto, Boston, and Philadelphia. So as you mentioned in your question, the 2026 pick that the Maple Leafs have traded to Boston is protected to the top five. So, if the Maple Leafs finish there and after the lottery they stay there, they have the option of keeping that pick. The 2027 pick has already been dealt to Philadelphia in the Scott Lton deal and that one is protected in the top 10. If the Maple Leafs keep their pick this year and don’t send it to Boston, the 2027 pick will stay with Philadelphia and Boston will then get the first rounder in 2028 and that will be unprotected. So that’s one thing you have to know. If in 2027 the Philly pick is in the top 10, the Maple Leafs have another choice. They can either give it to Boston and wipe this deal off the books and then give Philadelphia the 2028 unprotected. Their other choice is to send it to Philadelphia and give Boston the 2028 unprotected. So basically, if Toronto keeps its pick this year, it’s going to lose their 27 and 28 picks. And it’ll just depend on either Philly or Boston who gets what. That’s the way it goes. Even if it’s in the top 10. Yes. It slides. It slides. Gotcha. So that was their way of making these deals. They had to agree to all these conditions and a central registry approved them. You can see why there’s always such a backlog as the deadline comes and goes because all of this stuff needs to be ironed out and understood and agreed upon on both sides. The languages correct take and also don’t forget Kyle like those two trades the the Len deal and the Carlo deal they both happened in the afternoon of the trade deadline last year. Mhm. So, you know, Brandon Pridam, who’s the capologist for the Maple Leaf and has to know the CBA, he’s the one whose brain is frying while he’s coming up with this idea and proposing it to central registry and central registry has to approve it. Now, Kyle, did I explain that in a way that was easily understandable or cuz sometimes when you’re in the middle of explaining it, you don’t know if it makes any sense. Did it make sense? It made sense to me. So, I would say that’s a pretty good barometer. But the other thing that that Jacob threw in there, like is there anything tomorrow keeping Brad for living from trading their first in 2028? As you say, like with the potential of everything sliding back a year, depending on what happens or off the top of my head, Kyle, the answer is no. As long as he can satisfy Philadelphia and Boston. Okay. Like if they object, I don’t think he can do it. But if they don’t object, I believe he can do it. Okay. All right. Little trivia here to wrap up. Feed Stefan from Beachberg, Ontario. Hello, lads. piggybacking off the question about players scoring against their former team and after seeing Anton Forsberg shut out Ottawa as it seems with all of their former goalies. Let’s stick to the new modern era NHL as we call it now. So, salary cap era and find out which team struggles the most against their past net minders. Thanks. I gota say Stephan, you’re creative. I wouldn’t have even thought about it. This is what I’ve learned. The New Jersey fans think all their former players score against them. The Ottawa fans think all their former goalies shut them out. This is what I’ve just learned. Yes. Yes. And that’s a great question, Stefan. You guys are creative. I I say this, you guys are creative. It’s the natural progression over the course of this trivia and history journey. Do you have a guess, Elliot? Oh, at who’s struggled the most against XNet Minders since 056. I’m trying to think which team has like traded a lot of goalies. I’m going to say who’s had a lot of goalies. I’m going to say Well, what the heck? Let’s go with Ottawa. I was going to say Stefan is absolutely validated for feeling this way. They are at the top. Yes. 16 losses against The other team I was going to say was Calgary cuz they’ve had a lot of goalies, right? Ever since Kipper left. That’s true. But they’re not. So I got sent a list of teams that have 10 or more and they do not satisfy that. So, they’re further down than you might think, but Ottawa’s at the top with 16, followed by Chicago and Florida at 14. Stefan, you are not paranoid. They are really out to get you. Okay. And lastly, Andy in the Bronx. Hey guys, watching the Rangers play the Blue Jackets last week, Igor Shurken stopped Miles Wood on a penalty shot. Rangers announcer Alex Faustst just said that the Rangers have not given up a penalty shot goal in 8 years. That seems like a really long time. So my question is, what is the record for not allowing a penalty shot goal for both length of time and penalty shot attempts? Oh my god. Yeah, it’s a unique one. The Rangers don’t have the record. I was going to say, is it the Rangers? No, I don’t even know where to go with this one. That’s totally fair. I don’t think anyone would criticize you over that one. So, let’s save the pain. So, the longest span all time. Okay, give me the years. Okay. 1936 to 1961. Wow. 25 years. So, you know what? Like, I’m trying to think of the goalies back then. Like, Montreal had I think George Haynesworth, Bill Duran, Jacqu Pla would have been right around the time he put on the mask. Yeah. And we’re also I’ll say we’re going by and they were winning, what’s that? Yeah. Only six teams. And they were winning five cups in a row at the end of that. I mean, I don’t know if it’s right, but the logic says you got to go with Montreal. You would be right in thinking that. It’s not correct in this case. However, George Haynesworth is part of the answer here. So, it’s Toronto. Correct. Yeah. So, they but the thing is they would have George Haynesworth, Frank Mcool, um they would have had Turk Broadda who of course was in the Hall of Fame. So, yeah. I mean, it makes perfect sense. It’s Toronto. Yeah. So Paul Thompson of Chicago scored on George Haynesworth February of 1936 and Toronto did not allow another one until Gordy How beat Johnny Bower on a penalty shot in December of 1961. Do you know how many penalty shots they faced over the stretch of was that 25 years? Let me guess, it’s like two. Six. Six. Yeah. You would have you would have been so mad back then going, “We need more penalty shots. We need more penalty shots.” Well, you know, we all know the Maple Leafs don’t commit any penalties, right? So, that’s perfectly logical. Yes. Now, most consecutive penalty shot attempts that were stopped by one team. That would be, this is the more recent, the Dallas Stars stopped 14 straight from 0304 to 2010 2011. That’s a lot of That would be Marty Turo. Yes. Wow. I wonder if he knows that. I just saw him. I saw him at the Dallas event. He still looks great. He still looks like he did when he played. Oh, yes. I I hate people as well. Yeah. Just I remember seeing him there in the playoffs a couple years ago. It was like Yeah. Come on. Yeah. That’s a lot of penalty shots to give up though on the flip side over the span of seven years. Well, Darien Hatcher was even gone by then. You would think it would have been his prime when he was just chopping guys down and killing people. Yes. And uh the longest active streak, 626 games by the Philadelphia Flyers. Really? The Rangers don’t even have the record. They haven’t been scored on for eight years and they’re not Oh, that’s that’s amazing. 626 straight games for Philly. So anyway, not one that you would think about, but I’m glad Andy brought it up after hearing Alex mention it on the Ranger broadcast last week, cuz otherwise I can only imagine what’s what’s coming next. What team gets the players the most angry that they suffer the most major penalties against by a player who’s mad that he got traded by them? Yes, that’s right. What former players have committed the most 10-minute misconducts against Yes. against their old teams? Old teams. That’s right. We’ll get there by January. I’m sure that question will come in. Very good. Thank you, Andy. Thank you everyone who uh wrote in as always. Just the mailbags are so good to sip through each and every week. So, thank you to Griffin Porter for his help with that. And as a reminder, 32 thoughts.ca CA if you’d like to write into the thought line or leave a voicemail at 1833 311-3232. We’ll take one more break and wrap up this edition of 32 thoughts after this. [Music] Okay, before we go, some programming notes for you as we head into the weekend. Hockey Central Saturday as always, 6:30 Eastern, 3:30 Pacific. Ron Mlan and company. Chris Pronger part of the studio this Saturday. Looking forward to hearing him again. Three early games this weekend. Another busy prime time east slot including the all Cananadian clash Toronto and Montreal on Sportsnet East Ontario and Pacific and CBC as well as hockey night in Canada Punjabi Ottawa in San Jose on Sportsnet 1 and the rematch of the last two Stanley Cup finals. The Edmonton Oilers are in Florida on Sportsnet West 360 and City. Late game this week, the Dallas Stars are in Calgary to face the Flames. Tyler Sean will be part of after hours this week along with Scott Oak on Sunday. Calgary are in Vancouver and it’s the old double regional as it’s known in the biz. So the Canucks regional broadcast crew can hear and watch them on Sportsnet Pacific and nationally on Sportsnet 1. And for Flames fans that want to hear their broadcasting voices, you can do so on Sportsnet West as well. As you know, this weekend is the opening weekend for the third season of the PWHL. So great to have PWHL games back on Sportset this season, including Montreal and Boston at 1 Eastern, 10 Pacific on Sunday. One of the great joys over my time living in Ottawa and some of the more enjoyable atmospheres I was a part of while living there was attending those Ottawa Charge games. some of the best fans in the entire league out in the nation’s capital. Let’s not do anything to ruin that. I’ll just say that as uh we wish all those teams the very best uh in the third season of PWHL hockey. Okay. Taking us out today, heaven for real is a project formed around the nucleus of twins Mark and J. Scott Grundy. Since 2012, the back and forth between Mark’s evocative lyric-driven songwriting and Scott’s musically expressive instincts has breathed a precious life into heaven for real. Their sound is most simply described as art rock, but more accurately described as postpunk unraveled with one tug of a thread to reveal an internal pool of psych, jazz, ambient, electronica, and Brit pop. have some upcoming shows next month, including December 3rd in Hamilton. On the 5th, they’re in Toronto and in Montreal on December the 6th. Uh you can hear this track along with all the others we have featured so far this season on the 32 thoughts the music playlist on Spotify. Here’s Heaven for Real’s unlimited time on 32 Thoughts. Another nightmare. Oh, about where I came from. Boot up the guard down there among our fair share and more that maybe and more that maybe out the cauldron like the morning after blowing up the volume when it’s time to feel the night winds on the edge of life on the other side Heat. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] You make me better always say [Music] now or never I’ll leave for something. Take me out away. [Music] I’m not in a mad rush. But who am I faced with something beautiful and true? I’m not in a mad rush. But who am I with you? Face with you. To see through the double angst in place. Hard to admit you’re the realer. I found myself touched by the complete strangers. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] I’ve been in a bad [Music] I’ve been in a bad mood. [Music] [Applause] Heat up here. [Music] Heat. [Music]
In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman open with the struggling Edmonton Oilers heading into Sunrise and why their goaltending remains the biggest issue under the microscope.
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0:00 – The struggling Edmonton Oilers.
12:38 – Montreal’s 8–4 loss to Washington.
19:09 – Nashville and whether it’s time for the Predators to consider selling pieces.
24:07 – Elliotte gives the Avalanche their flowers.
30:58 – Matthew Schaefer being placed on the Olympic drug-testing protocol.
38:23 – Connor Bedard earning an ‘A’ in Chicago and the debate around bringing him to the Olympics.
44:53 – Adam Lowry’s extension in Winnipeg.
49:49 – Brad Lambert receiving permission to seek a trade.
55:20 – Ottawa aiming for a home-run swing on the market.
57:52 – The Final Thought highlights Alex Ovechkin and a Capitals team that’s heating up.
1:05:26 – Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline.
Email the podcast at 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.
This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.
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The Struggling Edmonton Oilers | 32 Thoughts
#hockey
5 comments
Noice!
As a Panther fan I've seen the script for this Saturday since the schedule released. Florida win or loss does not matter, the golden goose squad in Alberta is getting the spotlight. I'd still rather a win just so we can move on without much thought
Not one negative word from Friedman about McLoser, who's on a pace for his fewest goals in nine years. Does either one take responsibility for anything? We know the answer.
While the goaltending needs to be better for the Oilers, I think it's ridiculous to single them out when the team is playing like complete garbage most nights. You can count on one hand the number of games this year where the Oilers have outplayed the other team and 2 of those are games 1 and 2.
I would love to see the fan's reaction if we had a 8M goaltender and he was getting lit up from poor play in front of him.
As a side note, I absolutely love the McDavid haters out in the world. Truly the lowest common denominator.
Trouble in Northern Alberta! WIN is the only for sure lock to make the playoffs in Canada.