Hot Starts Around The NHL | 32 Thoughts

Hot Starts Around The NHL | 32 Thoughts

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If you haven’t been watching Hazel May’s interviews postgame at these Blue Jays playoffs or her interviews during the celebrations, you are really missing out. I am reminded how untalented you and I are compared to Hazel. She has been doing a phenomenal job. Phenomenal. Yeah, the whole crew. Now, I would just like to say something. Both Kyle and I were at the game, game six on Sunday night. Great game, great entertainment, great building, looking forward to game seven tonight, nervously but confidently. If the Seattle Mariners lose and Seattle sports fans are looking for someone to blame. Oh wow. I have a name for you. The National Hockey League and the media that covered it are blessed with some great media relations members out there who sometimes they battle us, sometimes they help us open doors, sometimes they allow us access to players when we ask for it specially. But there are other times that they pick fights that they shouldn’t pick and tempt the sporting gods in ways the sporting gods should not be tempted. And last weekend, one of those people was Kyle Shahara, the media relations maven extraordinaire for the Seattle Kraken. On Friday night, as the Blue Jays bullpen coughed up a hairball, he was in downtown Toronto having dinner decked out in Mariners gear in front of a legion of despondent Blue Jays fans. On Saturday morning at the Kraken’s morning skate in Toronto, he was gleefully showing pictures of Toronto born Josh Naylor wearing a Kraken jersey in their celebration when they knocked out Detroit in the ALDS on Saturday night. He had the Kraken players, even the Toronto Bournes, Shane Wright and Vince Dunn, wearing Mariners jerseys to their game in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. And then, of course, the Kraken won. Now, if you if Seattle and Toronto are going to play all these nights in a row, logic dictates that you’re not going to one team or one city is not going to win all of them. So if the Mariners lose game seven, it’s all because Kyle Shahara taunted Toronto for 24 straight hours and taunted the sports gods. There was a lot of Oh my. Hey man. Oh, I’m glad you went there. There was a lot of torn players in that Kraken dressing room Saturday morning. You mentioned the Toronto Bors. There’s 15 Canadians on the roster, nine from Ontario and asking a few of them, boy, they were afraid to give the wrong answer. I’ll say that. We asked Shane Wright about it in our postgame interview Saturday night. Yeah, he he’s he stick handled it quite well. What a politician Shane Wright is. He has been taught well. What a politician. He goes, “It’s a win-win.” Well, I can’t push back on that one. So, it’s just setting up to be an incredible scene Monday night, and it’s been a fun week between the Toronto and Seattle sports extravaganza. I have a question for you, Elliot. Another one? Not the uh are you ready one? Yeah, this is a different one now. Okay. Okay. In your mind, most impressive individual start to the season so far. All right. Hit me. Matthew Schaefer, fivegame point streak to begin his first season in the National Hockey League. Contract year, Shane Pinto, seven goals in six games out of the gate for the Ottawa Senators. or Seth Jarvis, who has four game-winning goals in the first five games of the Hurricane season. And let me just say that the Hurricanes will not end the road trip at 500 like you predicted. I It’s amazing. Over a year we’ve been at this and the simple simple things you fail to understand, but go on. I would have to pick Schaefer and and the reason now understand this for the flow of the pod the way we scripted this the better answer would be Pinto but Kyle I cannot lie to the audience it has to be Schaefer Pinto’s a veteran he’s scoring at an incredible pace but he is a veteran and a really good player Jarvis as you mentioned is captain clutch to start the year but this is a gold medalist at the four nations and could be on the Olympic team. It’s almost expected from Jarvis. Now, the reason I’m going with Schaefer is that 18year-old or 19year-old defenseman are not supposed to do what he has done right now. And you know, they they started off, they didn’t win, they won a couple games and he’s not their best player, but he has made an immediate impact and he has breathed life into the franchise. So he’s at five points, five games with points to start his career. That ties Kell Macar for second place all time. Anytime that someone says ties Kell Macar, that’s that’s pretty good for your resume. Um, but I, you know, he’s right right behind Americy’s at six, so I have a chance to tie it next game. But I go with Schaefer because he’s the youngest. He’s a defenseman. really what he’s done is bring a bright ray of sunshine to the New York Islanders. Thought a lot about what you said on Saturday, just he is a presence, which sounds kind of odd for a guy five games into his NHL career, but I think you’re bang on. So, cap tip to him. There’s been a lot of whatever it is, he’s got it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There’s been a number of impressive starts to the season. uh across the league. But as you said, Shane Pinto, that was your lead item on headlines on Saturday with Ron, that the Senators had offered him an eight-year deal this past week. Where do things stand between Pinto, who’s in the final year of his deal, and the Senators? So, as I said on Saturday night, and I was trying to get more detail on this, I don’t think it means a deal is close. I don’t think it means that we’re on the track to get it done. But what I do think is that this was a realization from the Ottawa Senators that whatever talks they were having before, it wasn’t going to get it done and they had to get more serious. And like I said, I I don’t think whatever this was at the number it was at um it was going to do it. But I think it is at least a movement in a better direction. Now, the reaction I had to this was really interesting. I had one executive from another team who bet me that this is going to still be a short-term deal. And the reason he thinks it’s going to be a short-term deal, as I mentioned, is that even though Pinto’s contract is up this year, he still has two more seasons until he’s an unrestricted free agent. There’s a lot that could happen between now and even two years from now about where the cap is and where it’s going. And that’s number one on a lot of people’s mind about why they think it’s going to be hard for I mean look Ottawa could throw all of the money at him and that could get it done but I just don’t get that on a team with you know Brady Kachchuck on a team with other contracts they’re going to have to deal with over the next few seasons I think they recognize they can’t do that They are going to have to like Shane Pinno is going to make a lot of money. He’s a center in a league that is craving for centers. He’s showing a scoring touch. Like he’s a top two center in the NHL. He is. And those players, everybody covets them and they get paid. So Ottawa is going to have to step up at some point. I just I I I really understood this this guy’s logic that he thinks it’s going to be so much harder for them to do a long-term deal because essentially if you’re doing eight years, you’re doing two RFA years and six UFA years and even at that point, we don’t know where we’re going. So I I liked his logic that it ends up being a shorter term deal, but I still think it’ll be a a reasonably big number even on a short-term deal. I’ll tell you what someone else said to me. I thought it was really interesting. He’s represented Pindo by Lewis Gross. The last really big contract he did was Knander. And it’s a little bit different because Knander was going into unrestricted free agency. But basically they as Knander started his UFA year strong, they just waited and waited and waited until Toronto was in a position where they had to give Knander what they wanted. And what a couple people were saying to me was if Pinto, like nobody expects that he’s going to score 90 goals this year, but if he keeps going the way he’s going, the hammer is going to tip farther in his direction, even if he’s not a UFA for a little bit. So, you know, they said that unless the player gets what he wants, it benefits them to wait. So, we’ll see. I I think at the very least uh Ottawa moved into a better direction of where it has to go here. It’s interesting where over the course of Pinto’s time in Ottawa, it seems like negotiations have been say rugged. There’s been some friction there along the way. I know there was the one year the gambling issue came to the forefront. Obviously, that changed a lot of things. Uh he was in the middle of getting a contract done then. I’m not taking that into consideration here, but it seems like it’s never been easy between Pinto and the Sens for some strange reason because he’s their most trusted two-way center. Um he maybe doesn’t have the offensive numbers as a Stutla or a Kachchuck, but he’s got 20 goals twice. seems rather as a locker room guy pretty low maintenance and a popular teammate. It’s just interesting how I mean understanding if you’re looking at okay where’s the cap going team wants to do eight years naturally there’s going to be some time to get something over the finish line. Um, but I I’ve thought about that a little bit. Why there seems to be with Pinto in particular in the Sans, it just it’s never been easy to get something done between the two sides. It’s a good question. It’s a really good question. And honestly, Kyle, part of me wonders is I don’t necessarily think that Pinto is disrespected, but that’s a team with a lot of young star power, right? Mhm. So when you look at the senators, how many of those guys do you name before you get to Pinto? Yeah. I mean nowadays they’re your favorite team. So like tell me how many how many how many guys do you name on the like for example let’s just say before this year, okay? How many guys on and and I want to understand that I’m not disrespecting Pinto. I think this is part of the problem. Everybody knows that that guy is a really talented player, but let’s look at the Senators and say, who do you name before you get to him, right? So, you’re probably saying Stutsla, Kachchuck, Jake Sanderson. I mean, Shabbat’s been around there a while, of course. Maybe Drake Bathson, but even then, like I I probably mentioned Shane Pinto because of the different areas of the game that he touches. What about Omar? Would you would you probably name Allark, right? I guess he would be in there, too. Sure. Okay. So, you just name 825 and go. And I and I think that’s that’s fair. Like, maybe you don’t name I mean, Giru’s got the name power, but he’s not part of your young core. So I understand why you may not name him. So you’ve got Stusla who’s in the eights. You’ve got Kachchuck who’s in the eights. You’ve got Shabbat who’s at eight. You’ve got Sanderson who’s in the eights. And you’ve got who’s in the eight. So you just named a bunch of guys before him. And I’m sure Otto is sitting there and saying, you know what, like as good as Pinto is, you know, we don’t want to go there, too. And what have we all talked about? If Pinto pushes past there, you’re wondering, “Okay, how’s our room going to handle all that?” That’s then you’re like Winnipeg, you’re going to your players and you’re saying, “Okay, are we going to be okay? The Jets were okay. Like Shley said, do it. Hallelu said do it. Are you got to make sure all your players going to do it? Say do it.” But, you know, I I think too that you’re probably looking at it and saying, “Well, we want to keep him under those guys, and I just don’t know that you’re going to be able to unless you go short term.” Right. Right. And you can, as you laid out, can see why that would be an attractive option on the player side. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. So, we’ll continue to monitor that between Pinto and the Senators. Uh, so they played Saturday afternoon. A tough one losing in regulation. A late goal. What a play by Anders Lee. Big win for the Islanders. And as we say, the point streak continues for Matthew Schaefer. The late game on hockey night in Canada. Elliot. Uh it was a tough one for Calgary. Six to one. They get blown out in Vegas. I know we’re still early in the year. Calgary has scored 11 goals in six games. That’s the lowest in the league. Yeah. Their goal differential worst in the league. and they sit at the bottom of the standings with a 1 and5 record. Kevin Baxa had some very pointed comments uh about one play in particular involving Igor Sherangovic towards the end of the game on Saturday. The concern is if you’re losing games and guys are not giving it their all. That that’s what I would be worried about. You know, the culture of the team like it’s one thing to lose but it’s the way you lose. So like this is a 6-1 game. I’m going to pick on Sharon Govich. Watch this effort right here. Down 6-1. I think he apologized. I literally think he apologized for almost running into Carlson there. Like I would absolutely lose my mind on the bench if I saw that. And I don’t even know if the coaches saw that cuz there’s so much going on. You watch that in the video. That’s a culture thing for me. So I would show that clip in practice and I would say, “Where are my guys that care? Where are my guys that care about losing?” I’ll play Longberg. I’ll double shift Lombberg the rest of the game. If that’s the way guys are going to compete, Clapka, like play the guys that care. If you’re going to get an effort like that from a guy, get rid of them. You know what I mean? You’re you’re disgracing the NHL with an effort like that. Down 61, be a little mad. Like as Brian Burk used to say, give a guy a dirty look. Like hate to lose. Like I hate to lose more than I like to win. And that guy doesn’t hate to lose. And I wouldn’t want a guy like that. And I’m picking on one thing and I don’t know like how long his shift was. I don’t really care. But that’s a pretty glaring problem for me if I’m anyone in that team. Just curious what your feelings were amongst the group in studio watching that Saturday and and your thoughts on Calgary overall and how they’ve come out of the gate. You know, first of all, Vegas should mention Mark Stone got hurt at the end of that game and nobody expected him to come back because it was over, but he didn’t do his skate as the star of the game and Bruce Cassidy said should know a bit more by Monday. So, that’s something to keep an eye on. that Vegas power play. The first week of the season, Doraf Favv is scoring from everywhere. And this game, they didn’t really look for him, but the power play was still lethal between Eel and Stone and all those other guys they got out there. It’s and Dora Feev, it’s insane that power play. Like basically what you try to do as a penalty kill team is you say this is the other team’s number one thing that we want to take away and this is if we can we’ll take away this number two thing and then it’s basically up to the goalie like Vegas has got about four or five different looks that they can just kill you with that power play is going to as long as everybody stays healthy on it and already we’ll see what happens with Stone that power play is absolutely lethal. and it shredded Calgary early in that game. Um, flames, you know, they got pounded. Um, they were, you know, Hubo coming back. For all the guff Huberto takes about his contract and stuff, the bottom line is they have nobody like him. Uh, he he created some things for them before that game got out of hand. the goal obviously a couple more chances um you know that they couldn’t bury that when they still had a chance but it was important to have Huberto back there as I said after the game this to me is a really careful time for Calgary and I think it’s going to take some strength to go against the grain of what they normally like to do the flames do not like to throw in the towel. Um, you know, I I think they’re trying to time it here with their new building coming in a couple of years. You know, keep some veterans don’t go full tank, have the kids be ready, and they have some really good young players like that that grit in. You can see a player even though he was just sent back down to the American Hockey League. You can see a player there. parak. You can see a player there. So, they’re kind of trying to bridge until the new building comes in. The thing that I can see that could be a real danger for Calgary is stay away from a shortterm fix. I think this is an organization that in the past would say, “I don’t like where this is going. Let’s see if we can do something to keep our heads above water.” Now, I think there’s a big difference between that and being offered a great slam dunk trade that you’ve got to take. Now, those don’t usually come that easily. What’s my old line? When you’re drowning, they don’t throw you a life preserver. They throw you an anvil. Um, but if there’s something you have to take, you take it. But I don’t I think the Calgary Flames the best thing they can do is if this is the year where they say, “All right, do we have to feel some pain? This is a really good draft. It’s going to take somebody inside the organization standing up and saying people aren’t going to like this, but this is what we need to do. And if it doesn’t get better with the group of guys we have, if they can’t dig their way out of it, we cannot do a short-term fix. We if anyone comes at us with a short-term fix, we either have to hang up the phone or tackle each other so nobody can call Central Registry and they just have to grin and bear it because if it really goes off the rails and you get a high pick, when I look at the Flames, what do I think they need? Kyle, you talked about it off the top. If you can get a McKenna or a highskilled player at the top of the draft, that’s what you need. That’s what you need. And it and it it may look like it’s 6 to 8 months into the future, but you don’t think you’ll be able to sell tickets to the new building with somebody like that there on your roster? I I know what they’re saying in that organization. Are you kidding us? There are 75 games to go. And yes, maybe they’re the team that gets hot after the way this started, but I would be demanding if our group turns it around, they turn it around. We are not doing quick fixes. No way. And I mean to give Craig Conroy credit, I would say that’s been a hallmark of his going about business since he took over GM. Like he hasn’t I wouldn’t say he’s particularly chased a lot of those or in terms of going out and overpaying for the aging free agent to think that they can help you right in the here and now. He has prioritized youth. I think a lot of ways that’s helped set them up down the road. Yeah, clearly there’s still just some growing pains to go through, but as you say, there’s McKenna, there’s a very deep draft, it appears coming up next June, and there’s also that Landon Dupont fella the year after. Now, now, now you’ve now you’ve gone and ruined it for me. Now you Now you’ve destroyed it because the Flames are going to say, “Wait a sec. You want us to completely do this for two years?” I didn’t say two years. I’m just Yes, you did. You brought up the A year from now, Kyle. Like, you know what the Flames fans just did? They all drove off the road. You just made all those people in your new city say, “Where does Bicoscus live? I’m going to dump my garbage on his front lawn because they are they are that’s a great W care in Cincinnati episode. Dr. Johnny Fever says to dump all the garbage on the mayor’s lawn and everybody does it. But I’m no mayor. No, you’re definitely not, which is good. But two years in a row is not going to work there. There’s there’s too much scar tissue from too many years where Calgary wasn’t competitive. I’m trying to get them to accept one, Kyle. Don’t bring the second year into it. Actually, we should point out about a month into last year did a whole pod around you pleading with the Canadians to go into tank mode and then they ended up making a playoff. Really what we should be telling Flames fans after this conversation, pony up and get your playoff tickets ahead of time now while you still can because if last year was anything like this year after this conversation, they’ll turn my whole my whole point is if they pull themselves out of it, great. But they can’t chase the shortterm fix. And they’ve got a busy schedule this week. They’re back at home. They host Winnipeg uh later on tonight and will be the feature matchup on Scotia Bank Wednesday Night Hockey uh against Montreal on Wednesday. Actually, we should also mention too with the comment of the Winnipeg Jets, your conversation with Jonathan Taves, part of it aired during the Hockey Central pregame show on Saturday night. We’ll have the whole interview for you later on in this edition of 32 Thoughts. The Vancouver Conucks, Elliot, uh, in less than 70 hours, they went out on the road. They beat Dallas, come from behind, came from behind to beat Chicago, and then on Sunday afternoon, they hang on to a lead against Washington. But it was not without some casualties along the way. Most notably, Philip Heedle. That was a heavy, heavy hit that he took from Tom Wilson. There’s been plenty of discourse about the timing on the hit and naturally a big part of it is Hedel’s concussion history. Uh we spent some time with him in Milan while we were over there for the media tour. Seemed to be in great spirits then. Uh so regardless of how you feel of if it was clean or not, that just isn’t great to see. Um so some love to Vancouver for grinding out three impressive wins to kick off this road trip. Um, anything you can offer by way of update on Heedle or any of the other bodies that they lost on Sunday? No, I assume we’ll get more uh at Foot’s next uh availability. But remember at the beginning of the year, Kyle, what did Quinn Hugh say? Like to see us get off to maybe like a seven and three start in our first 10 games. Mhm. They’re now 4-2 after six. Right. So, and you’re right, like down two nothing win. down two nothing win. Let’s make this one exciting the other way. Up 4 nothing, hang on and win. So, and you know, I I think we should shut out Person too because they were all over him. And you know what? To be fair, like I don’t always care about numbers. Are you impactful? And he was not impactful uh early in the season. He was very good against Washington, including the two shot blocks. And they were two of the ugliest shot blocks I think anyone’s ever seen. But the point is not how, it’s how many. They want to see you make the effort, your teammates especially. And Patterson made the effort. So all credit to him. Um, as you said, Heedle, um, wishing him the best. There will be no supplemental discipline for Wilson. I believe everybody was informed that on Sunday. Um, you know, I I look at that hit and I I think the only issue you can take like I will not watch anything in slow motion. I think that is one of the worst things that people can do is watch it in slow motion. You I mean unless you’re checking for contact to the head, which there wasn’t, or anything like that, you cannot say somebody was late by looking at it in slow motion. Because in slow motion it looks late to me. Was it possibly a touch late? Possibly. Yes. But that was not dirty. The elbow was tucked in. He didn’t hit the head. And what people sometimes forget is that blind side is no longer in the rule book. It was for a time. It’s not there. Um, so I I mean I understand people who say it might have been a touch late, might have been. It depends. Like I I think that’s one of those things that it’s kind of in the eye of the beholder. Um, but I’m not surprised at all. There’s no supplemental discipline for that one. You know, Ian McIntyre had an interesting tweet later in that game. He said he heard from the press box that when Wilson was on the ice later, he could hear Philip Bronick yelling at Quinn Hughes that Wilson was out there. So, in that moment, on that hit, there’s two things I wonder. One, you know, Heedle obviously wasn’t aware of him. You’ve got to know when Wilson’s out there, but I also wonder, did anyone warn him, you know, heads up or anything like that? But I’m not surprised there was no supplemental discipline on that one. H uh you like do you disagree? No. No, I don’t. Like I’m I’m in the same boat as you where the slow-mo doesn’t do you any help. the freeze frame to show the distance when Heedle got rid of the puck doesn’t provide the proper context because it’s a fast game. It’s not a stop and start game. Um the gap closed very quickly. Could it have been a late same thing? Maybe. But Adam Foot’s comments after the game, he felt it was clean, just very heavy, and kind of said, “I’ve got to go look at it again to have a better understanding.” Um, but I mean there was a coach of course who played and uh I mean would have dished out a few of those back in the day. Different time back then in terms of what was acceptable and what wasn’t in terms of timing, but Heedle’s coach is going it did look clean at first glance. So it’s it’s just tough to see again knowing his his history. Uh that’s where my mind goes mainly uh when you see something like that. But those ones stick out because again there’s not not a lot of guys in the league that step up in those moments. So when they do happen, it’s jarring obviously for the players at times and of course for a lot of us watching because it’s just not as frequent as it once was. I agree with that. When he’s out there, you’ve got to know. You got to know. you have got to know. Okay, so productive weekend for Vancouver. We talked about Toronto, Seattle off the top a little bit, Elliot. So I’m there Saturday night. Josh Mahura, who hadn’t scored, I think since January of 2023 on the ice in overtime. They didn’t have Brandon Montour, so he saw a few shifts at threeon three. Makes a heck of a play. I mean, didn’t look like a guy who had gone over two years without finding the back of the net in overtime. Stolars smashes the stick on the post. We take off for the Seattle hallway, of course, to do our postgame interview with Shane Wright, who’s off to a wonderful start this season. Just seems to be in a really great place. Like, happy for that guy. um everyone’s developmental path isn’t always the same and if it’s not linear doesn’t mean it’s the wrong path. He seems to be in a in a really great place. Anyways, so we do the interview and then I go back into the Toronto dressing room uh to help our camera gather the postgame Leaf sound and I come in there as Stallars is finishing his scrum. Like I catch the last answer and a half of what he said and I’m going, “Oh wow.” like I don’t that was different in terms of tone just the emotion in his face cuz he’s always been a pretty relaxed easygoing after a win after a loss all kind of the same. Um but that was much different on Saturday night and you could tell the other media that were in there that are in there every day were like whoa we haven’t seen that from from him before. Uh, and then after we finished gathering everything, uh, Dean Gary, who was our camera operator there that night, says, “You may want to listen back to Stolars in its entirety.” Like, it was it was quite something. Um, and it was and it was. And your conversation with Kelly, with Kevin, with Ron, uh, later on on Hockey Night Saturday, uh, was a fascinating one, too. particularly Kelly’s take on it all as a former goalie of yeah you’re frustrated with what happened and how the game ended u but it was a culmination of the contact that he had taken not just on Saturday night it’s felt like at least once a game there’s something considerable and this all comes after what happened with Sam Bennett in the playoffs last year and I think that was a guy that just had enough and he was letting it all air out there. What were your thoughts on it all? First of all, I agree with Kelly. I think he was mad that he’s been run over a lot this year. He has been hit a lot this season going back into the preseason, too, Kyle. He’s been hit a couple of times. He got hit in the first preseason game against Ottawa, and he got hit against Montreal, too. And I just think that he was angry about that first and foremost and then his anger spilled out into everything else. Um you that that’s what that’s the way I see it. Do you disagree? I don’t. No. Like again, I’m not going to try to speak for how he’s thinking or what he’s thinking. Um but it certainly felt that way. It’s so like when Marchman goes crashing into him late in the second period, I thought Brandon Carlo may have saved Marchman’s life by jumping on top of him before Stallars could get at him. It was unbelievable how he jumped up and bang goes back the net. Allah had Lungquist from a few years ago. And the fact that Carlo got to him first, I think may have helped Marchman’s well-being in the grand scheme of things. Holy smokes. The one thing that really stood out to me about this is Kyle, when’s the last time you heard a Toronto player talk like that? Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s been a while. I remember like Freddy Anderson years ago, like when this it was early in this era of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey, and it wasn’t to this level, but that’s really only one I can think of. It was a long time ago. Remember in 2023 when they lost to Florida, Morgan Riley was a little bit upset. I went back and I looked at his quotes, but it wasn’t anything like this. I am really trying to remember the last time a Maple Leaf really went to that level on his teammates and especially considering like it had been a decent week for the group. Like they outshot Detroit by a billion on Monday. Talbot was excellent. They beat Nashville. They beat the Rangers in overtime and then they get one point against Seattle. But it’s clear results aside, whatever the process has been out of the gate, like Stallars hasn’t loved it. The contact and how much he’s getting run is one thing of course, but even some of the stuff about, hey, maybe we take a page out of the other team’s book and start doing that to their guy a little bit. Like he goes, “We love to go low to high in the offensive zone, but for their goalie, it’s like playing catch in the yard. They can see everything, not making it hard enough.” Like that was like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That was the one I bet like he called out Knander, right? Mhm. He called out without saying his name without But everybody knew who he was talking about. So ultimately Knander will decide how much he’s annoyed about that. Okay. Mhm. That’s between the two of them. Now, somebody may say to him, “You don’t let that out of our dressing room, but ultimately that’s between him and Knander.” Like, nobody’s going to disagree with him on that. He simply made a bad back check whether he was tired or not. Probably was the one the one about the throwing the puck back and forth. That was the one I agree with you that that I I would be very curious to hear how that one gets handled. Yeah, because I could see a lot of the players potentially being upset about that. I could see the coaches being upset about that. Now, if I was Stallers, I would say, “Hey, I was furious about being hit and everything came pouring out.” And I think everybody’s allowed one like that. Like, I said this on the air, we always say that hockey players are boring, so we can’t rip them when they tell us exactly what’s on their mind. So, I I’m not ripping Stallers. That would be completely hypocritical with me. I think the Leafs have two choices here. They can say, “Look, he’s right. We weren’t defending him and he’s earned the right to blow off steam and it can happen one time, but that’s it.” Or, you know, they could come they could fire back against him, which is kind of not their way to do. But I bet internally that line about throwing the pucks back and forth, that one will that one could raise some eyeire. That could raise some eyeire. I I could see depending on whether it’s coaches or players saying, you know what, you stop the puck. We’ll handle the way we play in front of you. What would be really interesting and somebody will keep track of this because there’s good people out there who do it to see if you know when they start playing again after that Kyle their shot rate goes up like does anyone say be quiet don’t talk like that but he’s right right and yeah how much more traffic is is there in front of uh the other team’s net going forward Like the one thing we don’t know is in the immediate aftermath of that game, did he go off on guys in the room before the media got in there? Like did he go at them first and then convey his messaging publicly? Like that’s one thing. So I know that’s big thing that Kevin was big on too, right? Like going some stuff can just stay internally. If you’re only running to the media to talk about it, that could be a problem. But we just don’t know. Did he air it out with his teammates beforehand or not? It wouldn’t be surprising if he did. He seems like a guy that when it’s necessary, he doesn’t have too much of an issue with confrontation, but we just don’t know. I I have to say that I don’t blame him for being mad about the contact. And And I’ll say this, too. I think about I meant to say this earlier. I think the only reason that the Maple Leafs had any hesitancy, any hesitancy to extend Stallers was because of his injury history. He’s had a lot of them. So, if you’re concerned about that, you should be worried about how much punishment he’s taking. That should be a focus. I mean, if it was the 80s, they’d be dressing Ogulthorp and running over the other goalies, but that is one thing I would look at it from an organizational point of view. Hey, this guy’s been hurt a lot. We can’t have this. Didn’t take long for things to get interesting in Toronto again, and they certainly are. uh after things got fiery on the heels of their loss to Seattle on Saturday night. Another item you had on headlines, Elliot, the future of the Heritage Classic plans to come back next season and it looks like we could be headed west again. Yeah, I’m hearing a lot of Winnipeg. A lot of Winnipeg and don’t know who the opponent is, but I’m I’m hearing a lot of Winnipeg. So, it’s not done. Nothing is done until it’s done. But, um, they are talking about the Jets and they are talking about bringing it back next year. Last one was Battle of Alberta 2023. I like those games. Um, I realize that not everybody likes them on TV. I think they’re more for the people there. I have a great time at them. I love them and I would love to go to more of them. And quickly, Team Canada plans to meet a couple of times in person, the management side, at least before the deadline to submit the roster for Yeah. once in November and once in December face to face. The December one will probably cut the team pretty close to its roster with maybe a couple of extras. Um, the rosters are due December 31st. One of the things that’s kind of interesting is I heard that Team Canada and some of these other teams. Okay. Submit the roster December 31st. Do you ruin someone’s new year or do you wait until the new year to announce it? I think the women’s I think the women’s list is due December 23rd. Like what do you do? Do you wait over Christmas? Do you tell them before Christmas? It’s a tough one, boy. Let me ask you, Kyle, if you knew you could make a team on December 23rd, would you want to know before Christmas or would you want to wait till after Christmas? It’s like on Christmas Eve being handed a one-year membership to the Jelly of the Month Club or socks. Nine pair. nine pair, right? Would you would you want to know or not? Um, yeah, because if you know, if the players know that’s the deadline, like, God, wouldn’t it just be killing you? Yes, I’m with you. Just tell me. Just tell me. Just tell me. I wouldn’t blame you for ruining Christmas with my family because I can ruin that on my own. I don’t need anybody else’s help. Exactly. That will have no bearing on the damage I will do. If I’m going to ruin it, it’s just going to be me. It’s not because anybody told me something. Oh my gosh, that’s good. I I’m with you. Just tell me. Yeah, just tell me. Just tell me. It’s It’s like when when when my bosses say, “Elli, we’d like to meet with you tomorrow.” Okay, just tell me what it is now. Like, just I don’t want to wait till tomorrow. Just tell me right now. Yeah. Yeah. Oh gosh. All right. A couple other things. Couple other things I just wanted to mention here. Um Josh Don, first of all, we spent last week ragging on Buffalo because the way the year started. They get a huge win and then they get another huge win over Florida. And you know the thing that was it’s not only the victories. Um I give a lot of credit to Taage Thompson. A lot of credit to Tage Thompson. when Delane was getting mauled there, Thompson went to his teammates eight and I I love that. I thought that was great. Great on Thompson. But the other thing I liked for Buffalo, and this was big, too. Josh Don has a massive game in that victory over Florida. So, they make a big deal in the off season. Purka gets traded. Kessler hasn’t played yet, and he’s the guy they kind of got the key part of the deal, the guy who’s supposed to help settle down Owen Power. Well, you can’t even show what he is yet. But the other guy in that deal, Josh Don, saves your bacon. You need that as an organization because now the players look at it and say, “You know what? We got something here out of this trade.” You and the fans feel it, too. So, that is such a lift for your team. I also want to shout out Alex Lion. You cannot play Lion 20 games in a row, but how many times in the last few years has Lion come in in a shortterm situation and just done great? There’s a limit to how much you can use him, but he is a great pinch hitter. Great pinch hitter. Comes in five or six games, gives you what you need, stabilizes things, and then help him. And he did it again. Did it again. He’s been phenomenal to start this season. He is a great soldier, great personality. Yeah. And the guy just battles. Maybe he doesn’t win doesn’t win every night, maybe along the way, but he battles. Um, the other one uh I wanted to mention is did you see David Warsovsky’s comment at the end of the game the other night? Yeah, I mean I I thought nothing top family, but apparently in some cases wins do. Would you trade Berkeley for a victory? Sometimes on this podcast I consider it, but uh dang. No, he’s he’s got a cute face right now. Like I can’t I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do it. Would you deal Max in a trade? Only if I wanted to get divorced. And it’s too expensive. So no. So no. You know, this to me is why coaching is so hard. Okay. You go through what you go through in San Jose last year. You see the hope. You see Celbrini. You see some of the young talent. Smith has a great finish to last year. You add Misa. You’ve got good young players. You’re still so far away. Like so far away, right? Like Chicago is starting to turn it around. How much pounding did they have to take? Anaheim is trying to get there. How much pounding did they have to take? And you know the owner of Platner, what does he say? I don’t want to be picking Gavin McKenna this year. So as the coach, you’re probably sitting there saying, uhoh. But, you know, like nobody expects anything of the Sharks. Like, like we said, they’re fun to watch. I really do enjoy watching them. Nobody expects them to contend yet, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t eat you alive as a head coach. It’s sort of like what we just said with Stallers. You can’t go to that too often. You can’t do that. But when I saw him say that, it’s just a reminder that these guys are super competitive and losing sucks. Even if you know the and feel the future is bright, it stinks. Now, I thought it was interesting because Drew Randa did an interview with Will Smith where he talked about um he said, you know, Warsawski asked, “We need more from you.” And he said, “What does that mean to you?” And Smith just basically shrugged it off and said, “I’m just trying to do my thing.” You know, you’ve got to be careful with that kind of stuff. Uh, I’m not there, so I don’t want to jump to any incredible conclusions without really knowing the situation. But like that’s that’s one thing that just as a viewer I looked at and I kind of said, “All right, don’t jump to any conclusions. Let’s just see where this one goes.” Because I guarantee you Rameda thinks he’s John Stockton passing a layup to Smith and he didn’t get the answer he was expecting. So you always kind of All right. What is that? And where does it go 5 to 10 games from now? And you can’t tell me that that Vegas game still isn’t in the mind somewhere there. Like if they just hang on that night and there isn’t the crazy finish that there was that gives him a win early and it’s the whole butterfly effect. How does that impact everything going forward? Like you can still feel a bit of that in Warsovski going, “Yeah, I’d give up one of my kids for a bleep and win.” Good, good movie. Butterfly effect. You know what it is? like the Sharks like right now like everything around them like they’re doing a lot of really good things in terms of building like the the personality of the players, right? Like they’re they’re a fun group. You know, Celebrity and Smith did that interview last week on Spit and Chicklets. That was a really good interview. Both of them together in their hotel room. But sooner or later, you can’t keep doing that, right? It has to become actionable. You have to be able to turn that into W’s and on the ice success. What did we talk about? They’re fun to watch. Like, nobody’s leaving that arena saying, “Oh, I didn’t get my money’s worth.” But eventually, people start to say, “Okay, uh, this is nice, but we’d like to see some W’s.” And I don’t think it’s They’re not ready for that yet. But again, it just shows you like it’s tough to tell a coach that. It’s hard. Oh, yeah. because they are judged on one thing, their record. Their record. I I totally understand. I know some people who didn’t like that quote. I was like, I totally get it. I totally get it. You spend that much time at the rink going through that much video, coming up with all the different practice plans and looking at your lineup board and your depth chart over and over again. Yeah, it all makes sense. It all makes sense regardless of where the organization is at in their process. It’s all the same for coaching. It’s all the same. And Elliot, just one more thing on San Jose. Uh you discussed it a little bit on headlines too towards the end. Just terms of what their plans are from some of their defense. A little lower in the depth chart. I know Detroit’s another team you’re looking at too with some excess at couple different positions. Should we be keeping an eye on the waiverwire a little bit here over the next few days? Not only waiverwire, but potentially deals as well, like maybe some small deals. Detroit has extra players now. They have Eric Gustoson in the American Hockey League. He’s not an AHL player. They’ve also got Justin Hull, who they’ve been trying to move for a bit, but he’s there too. Like that Sandin Pelica, he looks like a player. So, it’ be interesting to see like what Eisermanman decides to do there. Does he keep him there? Detroit and I I’ve also heard, you know, with Finny who had his first NHL goal and they tried to get him a hatrick. Yeah. They tried to get him a hat-tick on uh Sunday. Like some of these guys are making such an impact that I think other guys like Burger too uh could be available. Like I think that I think Eisermanman’s got some players he’s trying to move just because suddenly he’s got too many of them or a lot of the same of them. But these new guys, remember if you go back to last season in the final pod where we did every team in the summer, we talked about Eerman saying that I’m not signing anybody long-term or I’m not going out to get veterans to block my guys cuz I believe in the young group. Well, look at them. all of a sudden after that bad first game, they’ve they they’re unbeaten. They keep winning and some of these young players are starting to make an impact. And it’s still early, but I think what it does have is I think it’s got him recognizing that he has extras or a few of the same. And I think just generally in Gustoson’s case, I think there’s a recognition that that’s not an AHL player. So, can he find him a new home? As you said, San Jose is now up to eight defenseman, and I I don’t know that there’s one he’s particularly willing to move, but he is looking to move a D. He’s had a few injuries, though. But I think he’s willing to move a D. Like, I think Edmonton, they’ve got some injuries on the blue line, too. When Regul is healthy and uh and Walman’s now coming back, they’ve got eight or nine guys, including the guys in the AHL, Kyle. So, I think eventually uh Edmonton could be looking at that, too. I think Nick Robertson in Toronto, that’s another one that I think the Maple Leafs are trying to solve. Um I I think people kind of recognize it’s time. And so, we’ll see if they can find something there. I I think there’s a lot of things going on that maybe aren’t big things, but they’re things. So, that’s all happening out there. Worth watching. All right, and that’ll take us to the final thoughts. So, Brad Marshon, boy, was that entertaining to watch. I mean, Dalene does a good job getting under his skin and he decided he had enough. Uh but that scene in the penalty box with Darene’s helmet, not only taking it with him, but uh ripping the chin straps out of it uh as well before tossing it back onto the ice was great comedy. Uh but frustrating night for Marshon and the Panthers there in Buffalo. And now back to Boston. First time he’ll have a chance to play there uh as a member of the Panthers on Tuesday night. And you are going to be there, Elliot. Yeah, I’m going in on Monday morning. The Panthers are practicing there. So, um, you know, he did a a good interview with Emily Benjamin that was published on uh Sunday on NHL.com. Um, you know, I I was thinking about some of the more recent ones. The one I really think about a lot though is is Matt Sundine. I reread Sundine’s book uh or at least the chapters about his return on Sunday. Sundine’s book, Home and Away, is is excellent. It’s it’s really good book and um I’d recommend it but just talking about um he says one of his teammates says everyone will be happy to see you. They love you here and he says I’m not so sure about that and remember the emotion that he had on the ice when the ovation came. Um I don’t think there’s any doubt about how Marshand is going to be recognized. I think the thing that’s really interesting is that there was a chance that this could have not been a celebration um in terms of maybe some bitterness or anger that he might have had and we’ll hear what he has to say on on Monday. maybe bitterness or anger towards the Bruins, but it turned out so well for him going to Florida, um, winning a Stanley Cup, signing there for six more years that I think you sit there and you realize this was the best thing that could have happened to me, even if I didn’t believe it at the time. And I have no doubt it’s going to be spectacular for him. Um, you know, I was looking at Zadoara. Zinochara came back. It was co and there was like nobody there and it was it was just unfortunate because it deserved to be so much bigger than it was but just world events, you know, prevented it from being that way. I I have a feeling this is just going to be massive. and I could see him reacting the same way that Sundine did that um just having trouble holding it in a bit because he’s nothing if not an emotional guy. We saw that in a different way on Saturday. I’ll tell you like the first thing I thought Kyle was when he did it was could he get suspended for that? like is it possible that he could get suspended for his return to Boston? Um oh geez, could you you imagine? But obviously that that didn’t occur. He just got a fine. Um it was uh I think it’s going to be really special there on Tuesday night. Yeah, should be great. Uh he embodied everything that Boston sports fans love to celebrate. um bit of a shocker and how it all ended uh last spring of the trade deadline. Um but that crowd’s going to be ready for him and I think he’ll be ready to to give it right back. That should be a great great great spectacle there for you to uh have a firsthand look at for you. So happy you’re going to do that. That’s great. All right, that was the final thought. We’ll take our first break. Come back with the thought line. 32 thoughts the podcast continues after this. [Music] [Music] Okay, back again with another edition of the thought line. Ellie, you remember last pod we were talking a little bit about Tusky, the new mascot in Utah? Yes. and trying to will into existence something to replicate Harvey the Hound and Craig McTavish years ago in Calgary. Yep. Yanking on the trunk. So Spencer in Chicago wrote in to tell us about his time when he played the role of Echo the Elephant. He said that not a team. Okay. Shout out to 7M Fair Family Fund Center in Calonia, Wisconsin for giving me the experience. My job was to promote the new arcade and kids area. I would walk the aisles of the indoor market buildings taking photos with a caretaker. Yes, people would grab my trunk all the time, but that was not the worst experience. As a solid piece of foam, the head mask was heavy and well attached with shoulder straps. That meant people touching my trunk wasn’t all that bad of an experience. It was the smallest anatomy that caused the most issue. My tail, people pulled on it so often it was starting to tear off. I should also point out that the visibility was awful with a blind spot that extended almost 5 ft or 1 and 1/2 m in front of me. It meant I couldn’t see small children who would so often come in for a hug and or picture. spent lots of time seeing with my hands like someone looking for their glasses would easily have trampled someone if it wasn’t if I wasn’t sure-footed or slowm moving. So hopefully technology has evolved enough that Tusky does not have the same kind of problems as Spencer did as Echo the Elephant. Oh my god, that is a great story. Great story. He he he attached a photo to of his getup and it was phenomenal. This is one of the few times I wish we had video on this pod cuz everyone see it. This is one of there was a time when people told me that the Raptor, the guy who was the Raptor was one of the highest paid non-executive non-basket players in the organization. When I hear stories like this, I understand why that’s the case. Right. That’s good. Any uh thing you got to clear the decks for here before we get into it? I don’t think so. I don’t really have anything that uh that jumped out at me this week. Us the usual amount of interesting notes and letters and funny comments and stuff like that. But uh let me just check and see if I liked anything on X that Well, there was this one guy Shark Week. Looks like Hishar’s off to a huge start to the season. E. Yeah. Is he dropping give everyone 20? Um and other than that, not really. Most of the stuff this week was not thoughtlinew worthy. Okay. All right. Plenty of time to change that. Yes. Back again on Friday. So, as you can imagine, there was a lot of reaction and engagement with all this international hockey talk. Okay. We’ve been having, okay, and our listeners have come from all over with ideas for international reachout concepts. All right. So, picked a couple for today. Our first one is a voicemail. Eves from Sudbury. Go ahead. Hey, three amigos. Um Eve here from Sbury. Uh listening to your uh podcast this morning. Always do. But uh the one about the um how to move on to the the global series bigger with the extra two games. Let’s get rid of the All-Star game. All 16 or sorry, all 32 teams, 16 games, spread them out all over the world. Pay those guys a trip. They get to play with bring their families. Um, you get to expend uh the global expansion here. And you’re not taking some money out of the uh owner’s pockets by using those two games that are going to be added to the schedule. Uh would love to see your thoughts. I’m on my way to Hunt Gap and uh enjoy your weekend, boys. So, we’re moving the Allar. Did Eve say that he’s on the way to hunt? Sounded like it. Yeah. Well, hope the hunt went well. Uh, first of all, I would like to change one thing about Eve’s voicemail that I think needs to be corrected before I address the All-Star game. And that is he called us the three amigos. The truth is we can barely stand one another. So, I think the first inaccuracy is calling us the three amigos. Am I right, Kyle? Or am I right? Stooges, maybe amigos. Whoa. Okay, here’s the thing with the All-Star. I bet you Eve’s suggestion will be popular with a lot of people. I I I can see a lot of individuals listening to this and saying, “Darn right, get rid of the All-Star game.” And especially last year after the Four Nations, I think it’s going to And the fact that we’re going to have now a World Cup every other year, so you’re going to have best on best every other year. Um, the All-Star game is going to pale in comparison and I thought it would disappear, but going right back to Bill Daly’s comments from the European media tour this year in Milan, it sounds like they’re going to keep it. Now, here’s the thing, Eve, and this is the big challenge that you have with this. Teams do want to host this and sponsors like it. And the reason is is that sponsors see it as a reward for their sponsorship. They go to the game, they have a good weekend, they have fun, they watch the players, you know, some of them get meet and greets, they bring their kids, their kids get pictures with the players, selfies. Like like for the for some of the most hardcore sponsors, that is a important date on their calendar. So, I’m not saying it’s impossible, but the fact that you have those people who like it and also that you still have cities that want to host it, um, they like being the host of the All-Star game. It’s a challenge. I I’m not convinced this thing is going away. I think, as I said, I think you’ll have a lot of fans and listeners of this pod who will support your idea, but I’ve always been told it’s tougher in practice than in theory. And the idea of doing 16 games, different parts of the world, conceptually brilliant, that would be a big bill, I think, too, to make it all happen. That’s why I think you should you could do like eight pods of four or four pods of eight or whatever you wanted to do that that Okay, just listen to this. All right. All right, we got another one. Okay, here we go. This is Eric from Calgary. All right. Is it Eric Francis? This is Eric Francis from Calgary. You know, Eric, you could just text me or call. You don’t have to I won’t only communicate with you through the thought line. No, he you don’t like rules. Eric understands them. He knows this is the way to get get into this thing. Good day Elliot, Kyle and Dom. The thought mentioned on the pod on Friday, October 17th regarding growing the US internationally grabbed my imagination and I wanted to develop the idea a little bit more. Concept, a 9-day regular season showcase the week before US Thanksgiving with all 32 teams playing roundrobin games in eight international cities. So, four per city, then returning for a Wednesday night rivalry game before a 3-day Thanksgiving break. And he’s laid it all out here. So, here’s his itinerary. You fly out Tuesday, nine days before US Thanksgiving, 6 days on location, three roundroin games per team. You return to North America the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. And then you have one game in an east or west coast city on the Wednesday to ease the jet lag upon return. And with a three-day break for Thanksgiving with return to play on Sunday. And I mean, boy, he goes into grave detail about prize money for the team that has the best record or total points from each hub city. Or maybe it’s one big grand prize for the team that does the best of all 32. He’s got different locations listed and where teams could go based on star power and connections to different countries. Laid a lot out here. But to your thought of eight hub cities, this is exactly what Eric is thinking. I Well, first of all, I know this isn’t Eric Francis because unlike Eric’s work, it is detailed and well thought out. So, it’s definitely not Eric Francis. Now, I’m going to have to face him at the saddle. Live in the same city. Now, I’m going to pile on some more. That is not just not Eric Francis, but it’s literally the sun to Pluto from Eric Francis. Oh my gosh. I can go longer. Yeah, I can go longer. Eric Kyle went to the Jay’s on Sunday night, but he’ll be back Monday or Tuesday. Um I I don’t I I don’t know. First of all, I Let me just say, Eric, it’s extremely well thought out. It’s very well done. I respect the work. I I really do. Um I just I don’t know if it’s practical. Like that sounds a lot like the inseason tournament that the NBA is is trying to do and I I I know the NHL kind of looked at that idea and they just decided it didn’t make sense for them. I also don’t know if it makes sense to do it all at the same time like just with building availability and stuff like that. Um, you know, one of the things about it is if you go away and everybody goes away at the same time, you lose all those dates. So, I’m just not sure in your home arena. I’m not sure that can work. I love the idea. I think you might just have to mix it around. Like, if you’re going to do hubs, there might just be one a year or if there’s more than one a year, they might have to be done at different times. It’s a great idea, Eric. Like I just don’t think it’s practical. Okay, raining on the parade goes Elliot again. Yeah, sorry. But I’ll tell you, it did give me it did give me the opportunity to set up a Texas death match between Kyle and Eric in Calgary. That’s right. He’s got his pizza pig out this week in Calgary, by the way. So Oh, really? Eric does a great job with that. Really, really great job with that. Yeah. Okay, staying with the Alberta theme. Bert from Grand Prairie. Hey Kyle, Dom and Elliot on the loose. Just wanted to ask a question in regards to on the loose. Very good. Yeah. Yeah. Just wanted to ask a question in regards to the Kings receiving Phoenix CPPley in a trade from Tampa Bay for quote future considerations. Given that Tampa Bay had just picked him up on waivers from the Kings, can you clarify how this trade isn’t reacquiring a player that should have been placed on waivers instead? We all remember the back and forth claims that Vegas and Edbbiton made on Raf Lavois and this Kings trade seems to be a loophole if the Kings don’t have to put CPPley on waiverss again. Great work, fellas. Thanks for your time. Yeah, there’s a couple of things there. Uh it’s a good question. Number one, I I think that the issue is there’s no retained salary there, right? So it really only becomes an issue if there it’s a retained salary transaction. Um if for so for example, if a team trades someone and another team keeps money on them, they couldn’t be sent back that quickly. So that’s kind of the one area where that thing’s an issue. Um, we’d reported that quite a couple times actually that uh Tampa had only taken CPPley off waiverss as assurance that uh Vaselowski was healthy and that the moment they determined he was healthy, he was likely either to go back on waiverss or get traded back to LA. And what this says to me is that Tampa traded him there just to make sure that nobody else claimed him. So, I don’t think the league would have an issue uh with this one uh at all because there’s no retained salary there. All right. Very good. Up next, another voicemail we got here. This is Mo from Hamilton. Regarding backtobacks, is there a leaguemandated maximum distance a team can travel? For example, Edmonton has a backtoback in New Jersey and Detroit. That seems like a reasonable distance. However, if there were a scheduling quirk that resulted in a team having to play one night in, say, Carolina and another night in Calgary, would the team just have to deal with it? Or is there something in the CBA that says no team can travel beyond such a distance for backtobacks? Enjoy the pod. Keep up the good work. That’s a good question, Mo. Uh Kyle, I I’ll say what I I don’t believe there’s anything specifically in the CBA, but from what I understand, it’s basically under two hours. Like you couldn’t do a Calgary from Carol and Carolina backto back unless there were extreme and unusual circumstances. And I’ll say this, I know where this becomes an issue, Mo, at times is right after the Christmas break. There have been teams that have been asked to travel right after Christmas, two and a half hours. When Patrick Wah coached the Colorado Avalanche, they played the day after the Christmas break in Chicago and he was furious about that. That’s like a a 2 and 1 half hour flight. Um, let me just check the distance. Maybe I’m I’m just going to double check this Mo before I answer it. uh because I want to make sure I’m talking about this. So for uh you’ll remember the Maple Leafs got fined a few years ago because out of the Christmas break they had a game in St. Louis. The flight according to the interwebs is 2 hours and 5 minutes. And they left early with the approval of the players. They asked their leadership group if they could leave early and they still got fined. Um because the Maple Leafs didn’t like that they had to take a 2-hour flight right after Christmas and they thought if they asked their players they’d be okay. But the union said, “No, we negotiate for these benefits and just because one team wants to change them doesn’t mean we’re going to accept it.” And so the league fined the Maple Lease for it. So, you know, I I would say this that um those are the situations where I hear the most complaints about and it’s not even really a backto back, but it’s sort of like a home to back. I I’ll say I I’ll say this. It’s interesting you pick Carolina because Carolina is kind of remote compared to a lot of other teams. And I have seen situations before where teams have played in Carolina one night and in Toronto or Montreal like that’s happened on hockey night in Canada before where a team has played like on the Friday in Carolina and the Saturday in Toronto or Montreal and they aren’t crazy about it. And it’s also we’ve seen situations Kyle where like Yeah. where the That’s right. where the Maple Leafs have played at home on a Saturday night and played in Carolina on a Sunday at like 5:00 p.m. And that’s not an easy task either. But I haven’t seen like if there’s anybody who could say that shouldn’t happen or give a concrete reason why that should be blocked from happening, obviously the league approves those. Yeah. even just this past week, right? Vancouver going from Dallas to Chicago, that’s almost a 2 and 1/2 hour flight. So, that’s not nothing either. Um, it does come up throughout the year, but feels like 2 and 1/2 seems to be the max. It seems based on purely anecdotal evidence here, Mo, that it’s about two and a half hours. I can’t remember a situation where a team played three hours back to back. The only time I could even think it would be a consideration in this day and age is sometimes you get uh postponements, you know, snow, something like that. Maybe that happens, but other than that, I’m I’m not familiar with it. All right, one final one here. This is from Paul. Hey guys, congratulations to Elliot on earning the inseason cup from a great Jets road win in Philadelphia this past week. Now, by the way, Kyle, you know how you were saying I get the benefit of the back of of the head-to-head matchups? I get another one Monday night. What are you talking about? I have Calgary. Oh, don’t they play Montreal on Monday? No. Oh, they play them on I think they play them Thursday. Well, after they beat Calgary, then they’ll play Montreal. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yes. The mind. Never mind. So Paul was excited to be attending the Jets Predators game this Saturday and even more so excited because the inseason cup was on the line that night as well. I hope we see a day that this gets big enough that like in the World Cup of soccer that in season cup there’s a physical trophy that makes its way around the league that’s there presented as the teams come on the ice each game just as a reminder of what’s at stake over the course of a long year. That’s the world I want to live in. What if the inseason cup had a trophy? What do you think it would look like or be of? Somehow I envisioned like a lost single sock that you couldn’t find in the dryer with lint. With lint. It would be curious to see what an inseason cup trophy could look like. Yeah. But I don’t think we have to worry about it anytime soon. No. Well, you just wait. Crazier things have happened with this program. So Paul goes on to say on another Jets related note, could Logan Stanley be an obscure NHL record holder? As on Monday afternoon on Long Island, the 6’7 defenseman scored his first and if history continues to repeat only goal of the season. In this his sixth NHL season, Logan Stanley has scored precisely one goal each year. Surely this must be an NHL record for most consecutive seasons for a player scoring only one goal, hoping he gets a second this year to finally break the six-way tie and set a new career high. Now, it was as if Paul spoke this into existence because as he was watching the Jets and Predators on Saturday night, he would have seen Logan Stanley score his second goal of the season and thus setting a new career high. But I thought, as unique as that was, I would ask the question anyway. the fact that he went the first five years of his career only scoring one goal each season. Where does that stack up amongst NHL history, consecutive seasons with only one goal? That has to be the only thing I can think of, Kyle, is there’s somebody in the like 40s who did it. like that. That can’t be anyone who’s done it recently. So, he is tied at top the list with five seasons. How many other players? Three. Done it. Mike Weber. Oh, the defenseman. Good interview. Good talker. Mike Weber. Yep. Scott Parker. Oh, tough guy. Scott Parker. Tough. And Rich Pilon. Another tough guy. Now, Stanley’s the only one to do it the five first years of his career. And the NHL record for total seasons, regardless of it’s in a row or not, of scoring exactly one goal. Jason Cullymore had eight seasons in his career where he only had one. Did Sports Stats give you all this? Of course they did. That’s phen that’s phenomenal. That is a great question. I am really impressed you got the answer to it. But Logan Stanley is the only one ever to do it in the first five years of his career. Correct. Yep. Yep. Wow. Stands alone there. That’s great stuff. Yeah. That was like And that’s got to be like hitting your number in roulette. Not five straight times, but maybe like maybe three straight times, right? and how coincidental it was that Paul was at the game that he saw Stanley set a new careerhigh in goals. You know what Paul should do? He should send in a thoughtline question about Stanley’s goal total before every game. And the way I see this, the Jets have 77 games remaining. Logan Stanley will have 79 goals this year. Yes. Or or he writes in the question like, “Hey, do you guys ever think like Sitler’s 10 points in one game record is going to be broken? I just so happen to be going to the Jets game on Saturday and then Kyle Connor rips off 11 or something. The man has a magic mutant power.” Very good. All right, that was a thought line. 833311-3232 if you’d like to leave a voicemail or you can email us at 32thsportset.ca. We’ll take another break and come back with Elliot’s interview with Jonathan Taves of the Winnipeg Jets. 32 Thoughts continues after this. [Music] Okay, welcome back. So Elliot, just as the regular season was getting going, you had a chance to spend some time in Winnipeg with Jonathan Taves to talk to him about number of different things, but of course his path to healing, finding inner peace once again. Uh, and really we learned a lot more about what was going on deep down during the height of what was considered the captain serious era during his time in Chicago and how he was really feeling uh through it all, all the greatness, all the championships, all the winning. Uh, what did you take away from the conversation? Anything you want to lay out before we get to hear it in full? So obviously a lot of people learned about TA’s route back with that GQ article where he talked about the Ayurveda which is or the poncha karma whichever one you prefer to call it which is sort of like the extreme treatment he had the body detoxification where he talked about you know being induced vomiting and the the the the massages he would have that were not relaxation massage. massages, but basically grind your body into dust massages. Basically, you’re you’re resetting your entire system. It was uh it was quite the read and people were really fascinated by it. And when I knew that we were getting taves, I basically Googled uh Kyle Ayurveda Toronto and I looked up some places and I emailed them. I sent them the link to the GQ article and I emailed them and I said, you know, can I try this? Like in in the televised interview, TAS goes, you did your research. It was it was I tried to make it even more than that. I wanted to see could I do some of these things just to understand what he went through. And if you read the article, you know that some of it was really it was a lot. basically you were cleaning your entire system. And you know, a couple, not every one of them wrote back to me, but a couple did. And they said, look, you’re not going to find that kind of experience here. And and one of them wrote back, if you really want to do what he did, you probably have to go to India itself. Like they didn’t know of anybody that would do that process. And I was like, okay, I I I don’t see a trip to India in my immediate future. Hockey pucks the season drops in a couple of days. I don’t I don’t think Sportsnet’s going to understand how I apply for that one. And one guy actually called me. He was a hockey fan, so you know, he was familiar with me. And he said, you know, even if we could do that, he said, “Doesn’t the season start soon?” And I said, “Yeah, we’re doing the interview uh on the Monday, which was the day before the season began.” And he and he kind of laughed and he said, “If you actually did this, there’s no way you could work for like a month.” Like like what you would put your body through, wow, it would be impossible. So I I kind of said, “Okay, thanks.” And um and to be honest, I thought that we would spend a lot of time talking about that cuz it’s just so different and so unusual and it’s the detail of TA’s recovery that really captivated a lot of readers. But Kyle, we spent almost no time on that. And people are aware if you’ve read his history that um he was battling long COVID and another condition which really sapped uh his strength and and really changed his body. And it was pretty clear after our conversation that as much it was about that, it was also about the mental game. Like he simply wasn’t at peace with himself. And that, you know, the one thing that really resonated with me, Kyle, is that I’m a guy who keeps a lot internal. Um I I really do internalize things. Um I’m like anyone else. Um there’s things out there, whether it’s my job or just in the world or in my life, that really bother me. And I’m a big believer in stoicism. My family is depending on me and my work is depending on me. and I have a job to do and I have to go out to do it. And I don’t know that there’s been too often that I’ve kept it bottled up like Taves did, but you know, I won’t say who it was, but there was there was one person who was really who we work with who was really blown away by him saying, uh, I don’t think that it’s a good idea for somebody to be captain at 21 like he was because everybody thought he was kind of the perfect captain. um was you know before we throw to it from what you’ve seen so far was there anything that really stood out to you? Well, it was mainly that like again when we saw on the outside and as I alluded to like he kind of had that from the public perspective the captain serious moniker and you thought oh that’s what drives him to be great that what makes him so great that’s what’s allows him to be a captain at such a young age to win at such a young age and continue to play at at a high level but uh to hear him discuss about what was really going on and how he was really feeling on on the inside um it really made V pause uh in terms of you know how we should look at certain things like that moving forward and I guess just a great reminder that as much as you think you know something when looking at it on the surface you really don’t know. That’s true. That’s that’s a that’s an excellent reminder. You know physically he looks great. Um I remember the last time we saw him when he was in Chicago he looked really big like he was just a lot heavier than he is now. Um, but physically he looks fantastic. Uh, his legs in particular, like they look like machines. So, I’m not surprised. He’s kind of off. Even though he hasn’t scored yet, Kyle, he’s off to a better start than I think a lot of us expected and that would play a big role in it. Um, I guess what I would also say is just I really appreciate his honesty. Uh, you never know when you do these pieces. You know, sometimes nobody texts you. Sometimes you get a lot of people who text you and I had a lot of people text and just say that it really um it really resonated with them. So I would just say thanks to TA for being so honest about what he was feeling. All right, let’s waste no more time and get to it. Taves and Freriedman on 32 thoughts the podcast. Okay, so first of all, we just want to start about uh Patrick. Couple big milestones this year. I assume you’re going to be rooting for him and what will it be like to watch him get there? Yeah, I mean it’s it’s I’ll say the one nice thing about being away from hockey these last two years is I I people stop asking me about Kainer’s milestones and then the second I come back to hockey and then that’s the first thing that seems to come up. So, uh but those are two big ones. So, I’m super happy for him and and uh it’s almost I feel like a a bad friend sometimes that those seem to sneak up and half the time I I forget or I wasn’t paying attention cuz there’s there’s always something that that he’s up to and a new level he’s reaching. So, uh you know, 500 goals is a huge one and what’s the other one? Highest points most points in America and that’s that’s huge. So, um, pretty cool to look at what he’s done, you know, as far as points on the board. But I always say that that, uh, you know, I watch the young generation generations of players coming up and and, um, you know, it’s I think of any superstar in the game in the last 20 years, I think he’s probably had the most impact on the young players. So, that’s that’s I’ll leave it at that. That’s the most I can say about him. But, uh, you know, he’s had incredible left an incredible impression on the game for sure. I’m sure this would be hard to pick, but is there a favorite memory of him for you? Uh, that’s a good question. Um, I guess on the ice, I would say, uh, one of the cooler moments, well, obviously his his Stanley Cup winning goal. That was a special one. Um but uh I think the game winner I think he completed the hattick and I put it right in his wheelhouse there and he finished a job against LA out of the conference final at one time and uh let’s say off the ice it’s pro probably the opposite probably a few more un least favorite moments uh I can think of a few maybe I can’t mention we were roommates but uh um a lot of great memories we share together. Okay. All right. Start the interview now. Okay. So, you know, I’ve only been in town less than 24 hours, but you know, a couple people they say, “Uh, what are you doing here?” And I said, “I’m coming to talk to Jonathan Taves.” And they all get serious for a second and they say, “I’m so proud he’s here. I’m so proud he came back.” What does that mean to you? I mean, that’s nice to hear. Um, I think there’s, you know, once in a while I’ll think about it and, uh, you know, you get that really, um, positive encouragement and feedback from people around Winnipeg and, uh, it’s added incentive to to keep digging deep and and giving more um, especially when it gets tough and and maybe things aren’t quite going your way. And uh you know, I’m I’m excited to play a game, get back at it this week cuz it’s it’s been such a long time coming and and obviously it’s it’s been a long journey to get back to this point. And sometimes you you know, you got to really remind yourself why you’re doing this. Cuz it’s easy to to get discouraged. At least there were moments for me where I got discouraged and and that self-doubt kind of crept in. And but as I get closer and closer to it, like I I really it feels nice to to feel that sense of pride just for myself too that aside from all that I’ve been a part of and lucky to accomplish in this game throughout my career, I’d say I’ I’d put this right at the top. just a, you know, a whole new level of difficulty and challenge and and really having to get to a place of of truly understanding myself and uh being a little bit wiser because of it. And um as hard as it’s been, I’m I’m very thankful for what I’ve been through these last couple years. and then now I get the opportunity to play the game that I love uh at the highest level um for the team that I grew up watching. So, I think it’s a whole new uh level of of dream come true once again. So, it’s it’s nice to be able to relive that at my age and like I said, have that added excitement and incentive and and inspiration that comes from that. There there’s so many places so many places we could go from there from that great answer. And you know the the first thing I think of Jonathan is that you know when you first arrived everybody always talked about you as mature beyond your years. You were 19 20 years old but you know you were a captain at a young age. Everybody always said like that’s a guy who really has it together. And um you know for you to talk about how much you’ve changed and how much you’ve learned. It’s interesting to me to hear that because so many of us thought that when you were that age and you were just arriving, you knew yourself better than anybody else and you had it together more than anybody that age. And I guess we just didn’t really know how much you really felt you still had to learn about yourself in life. Yeah. I mean, I think there’s two sides to that. And a lot of people ask me, what was it like to be a captain at s such a young age? And I I often think about it. I’m like, well, I don’t think there’s I don’t think it’s really fair to put a 21 or a 22y old kid in or whatever it was in that in that situation because you’re you’re trying to find yourself too as as your hockey career is taking off and it’s it’s not a normal life for anyone, let alone a 20-year-old kid. Um, but I I think the other side of it was was that perfectionist mentality h has kind of a a negative side where you know you’re not maybe allowing yourself to just grow and mature at your own pace. you’re putting I mean I put a lot of pressure on myself and whatever criticism or uh shortcoming or just any sort of weakness that maybe someone else would expose in me I would really feel that and be very sensitive to it and I would absorb that and kind of take it personally and then try to better myself from it as opposed to just like kind of just letting it like you know kind of rub off on you or just you deflect it a little bit and just be patient and, you know, kind of accept your own your own flaws, your own humanness as you’re growing as a a young man. So, um I think that pressure and and uh um that pressure I put on myself was was a lot and I just got to the point where like I I just wanted to shake it off in a sense. When did you learn to let it go? Uh, I would say these last couple years that’s pretty much what it came down to. I think my body just finally quit on me because uh, like I said, I was carrying so much um, just around every day and that that inner critic was so strong and it finally got to a point where like I I just had to had to let go. And I think that’s what get away from hockey and get away from from all those aspects of the game that kind of gave me that that sense of self and that uh structure for my own identity. Um, I just really had to to get away from it all and just kind of go listen to myself and listen to my body and wake up in the morning and just, you know, I just wanted to feel the freedom to to be able to choose what I wanted to do. And um, just kind of honor that inner process, I think, was really healthy for me. Um, and getting to the point where when you could come full circle and then you can kind of look back and uh get back to a place where you truly appreciate uh how special this game is and um how big of a part it’s played in my life. But at the same time, it’s not everything. um to like I said allow some your own humanness to come in and and to allow yourself to have a life away from the game and to make mistakes and to just enjoy life and you walk away from the ring to just like let the air out of the tires so to speak. Um all that was was extremely necessary for me. So now when you go away from the ring, how do you let the air out of the tires? Like what do you do what do you do to get away from it? Well, I think it’s it’s not necessarily um carrying the stress around like I used to to begin with. Uh you know, it’s just going out there and playing a little bit more free. Uh just allowing myself to make mistakes. Um and just being patient with myself. I think uh I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t have a whole new level of patience and awareness when it comes to just even this season. And like I I really feel good about where I’m at now and how far I’ve come these last few years, but I know that uh this season is going to be a process for me, too. And I know I if I stay patient, things are just going to keep getting better, too. You know, that’s one of the things I I wondered about. We we did a podcast last week and we did it in front of a live audience and one of the questions was like, what do you expect from Jonathan Taves this year? And my answer was I think everybody’s rooting for him, but I almost don’t want to set the bar so high so quickly. So like what do you expect from yourself? Like your your first game is going to be Thursday night home opener Dallas. Really tough team, really great atmosphere. Um what do you expect from yourself? I mean, uh, I’m really trying to, it’s, yeah, it’s a weird thing to not have any expectations at all, but also just, you know, you got to visualize what what you know you can do and and how you want to contribute and how you want to help your team, but uh, at the same time, like just not putting the cart before the horse and and um, going out there and really trying to just connect to the moment and be present. um clear your mind and and just has have as much fun as possible. And I think that’s a huge thing for me is um being in that place really helps the gas tank stay full. um as opposed to just I think the way I used to operate was more geared towards make yourself as miserable or not necessarily make yourself miserable but but just deal with whatever misery you have to until you accomplish the goal and that’s gets tedious after a while. Um, so now I I know the the goals and and the assist will come and and all that stuff if uh in a way I’m just kind of like letting that go completely and not thinking about it and just going out there and making plays and and letting the play develop. And I think all the great players, you know, understand that. And we all have moments where we maybe grip the stick a little bit too tight. But uh um yeah, just trying to play free and and just uh I think just be a good teammate and have fun and be that that energy in the room and on the bench that’s really uplifting, especially when when other guys are maybe kind of being hard on themselves in some sense. So a couple of your teammates were here on the Jets. They were kind of laughing. I guess the first inner squad game you said you were kind of nervous and they were saying, “Wait a second, Jonathan Taves is really nervous before an inner squad game.” They almost couldn’t believe it. Yeah. I mean, it’s been it was it’s been a while. Um, you know, some things were like riding a bike and other things maybe not so much. But I definitely felt like my timing was off and and I think maybe when uh you know camp camp is tough. They skated us a lot and then uh you know get to the games your legs are already a little bit tired. Um so it’s easy to be a little bit jumpy or you’re working too hard or you know you’re a little bit slow or a little bit too fast in certain situations. So, a lot of that is just getting the reps in and like I said, going out there allowing allowing yourself the freedom to make mistakes that uh things will will slowly kind of fall into place. So, um yeah, like it’s natural and it’s a good thing to feel some means you have standards. You have Do you think any of the younger players or even some of the veterans kind of looked at you like that’s Jonathan Taves? I bet you some of them were never expecting that they would be in the same dressing room as you. Yeah. I don’t know. It’s funny like, you know, when I was in my early 20s and I looked at guys that were in their mid to late 30s, you always think that that uh, you know, they’re they’re so much older than you and there’s just such a huge gap in a lot of ways. And I guess I don’t know, it happens fast. And when you’re kind of in that situation where you’re the old the old guy on the team, I don’t know if it’s denial or what it is, but I haven’t allowed I haven’t really wrapped my head around that yet, but um I think there’s a few things that stand out, especially when you look at lineups and you don’t recognize half the players out there and you got to check a few hockey DBs here and there. Um so that that’s something that definitely stands out. Did you watch much while you were away? Yeah, definitely later in the the last two seasons I watched a lot of like late in the season and a lot of playoff hockey as well. What did you notice? Like what stood out to you? Who stood out to you? Well, I’ll say one thing. The game is always easier when you’re quite removed from it and it’s easy to point out from the cheap seats. Uh you know, I think the game becomes kind of easy sitting there and and being a critic. Um but uh yeah, come coming back to hockey and and and playing with, you know, some of the top players, especially on our team here in Winnipeg, you start to notice the details to their games and and you know, their special kind of unique attributes to whether it’s how they move or how they prepare and how they handle the puck, how they skate, how they shoot, all those things. Um, you definitely remember how much goes into being a not only to play at this level, but being one of the top guys. Um, you know, I guess I’d say the other thing is like just the the the talent across the board, like even playing three on three in the zone in summer ice. Uh, you know, I always thought I was a player that was good at stealing pucks and I had a good stick and could take pucks off guys. And I’d feel like that’s gotten a lot harder cuz everyone um everyone can handle the puck, everyone’s got their head up, everyone’s knows how to make plays and they come in to the league now and they have um just such an incredible skill set. So I think the average player the talent’s definitely through the roof compared to when I was a young player. As I was I knew I was going to do this interview and you want to try to learn everything you can. I got a copy of the GQ article and I emailed it to a bunch of I googled Ayurveda Toronto where I live and I emailed a bunch of places and I said I’m going to be interviewing I’m going to but I said I’m going to be interviewing this guy. Can I do it? And a couple places called me and they were kind of laughing and they said, “I don’t think you would get that experience in Toronto.” Yeah. Like if you really wanted to do that, you would have to go to India. And one guy, he knew who I was and he said, “You could not go on hockey night in Canada at the start of this year if you got that treatment done. Like you would be out.” And so I agree. And so I want you to know that I I wanted to do it and someday I’m I’m probably gonna do it. For anybody who read this and is thinking about it, what would you say to them? Like who wants who’s thinking about doing something like that? Yeah. Um yeah, I don’t really know where to start. I think uh you know, I’m I’m always um a little bit apprehensive to kind of nudge people in that direction. I think, you know, I always I think that sort of thing really popped up in my life when I was kind of ready for it and at my wit’s end. Um, so I think if someone’s willing to try something like that and good for them and you know, obviously means they’re very open-minded and or desperate, which is not a fun place to be. Um, but yeah, if if that’s obviously if the ladder’s not the case, then then that’s great. I think it’s uh it’s definitely very challenging. Um, but if I look back on my experience, um, I would definitely recommend to go somewhere reputable and even just going all the way to, you know, the other side of the world to, you know, the southwest coast of India, you don’t realize till you’re maybe halfway through after the fact and you’re really steeped kind of in in the culture and the energy of of, you know, a place that’s very foreign. uh to where we live and how we think and how we approach things. And I think that was equally as therapeutic as any of the other detoxes or other practices that I was a part of. And I think uh just being able to have a different lens and a different perspective to look back on my life and and kind of reassess some of the patterns that I think played a huge role in me kind of hitting the wall as well. Um all that was was very necessary for me. You know that was the question that our one of our producers Michael had for you and that was that you know what did eastern medicine do for you that maybe western medicine couldn’t. Well, I mean, for starters, I I think and and maybe this is not a fair um assessment, but I think in our in our part of the world, we’re always looking for some sort of secret formula that exists outside of us that can fix any sort of a ailment or sensation or feeling that we might have within. whereas um their mindset over there is it it starts in here and everything outside starts to reflect your inner environment. And I think uh and I definitely really started to take responsibility for everything that was happening in my life and truly having an understanding. And and also I kind of got to the point where I stopped looking for something else to like fix what I was dealing with. Um and that kind of goes with just, you know, it could be anything. our attitudes, um how we approach everything in our day, what we do. Um just even allowing ourselves to be still and quiet and not constantly uh being bombarded with information or activity or things that we need to do. And when you allow yourself to have some of that space in your life, then you can kind of see what comes to the surface, too. And I think ultimately it’s just taking responsibility for for what’s happening in your life and kind of flip flips things around for you. Is there one piece of advice? Cuz there going to be people who watch this or listen to this who’ve heard your story and they’re going to say that sounds like me. I need to quiet myself down. I need to find something within me. And you said you don’t like to give a a lot of or push people in certain directions, but is there one thing you would say to people? This really helped me find my peace and I would say maybe try this. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there’s there’s a lot of different ways to do that ultimately. You know, I think even not to get into politics or what’s happening in the world, anything like that, but I think to me it’s a lesson in that too, that that we’re never I don’t know if I believe that we’re ever going to find a perfect system to rearrange everything so that everyone’s happy. And I think that, you know, that joy and peace kind of starts with with us as individuals and working on ourselves and starting from within, you know, and I think it it goes with with anything in life really. There’s no perfect situation that’s going to make you feel completely at peace all the time. There’s, like I said, there’s no magic pill. There’s no magic formula. Um, I think you really need to to work for that sometimes instead of, you know, handing over the that responsibility to something or someone else. And that’s not that’s not the most convenient information for most of us. And it wasn’t for me either. But true. But I I do believe it is true. Yeah. And once we start taking that responsibility, we kind of turn into this attitude that that the things happen in our lives. It’s not happening to us, it’s happening for us. And then and then uh the rest is history. Obviously, it’s a daily practice, too. You know, it’s it’s not it’s never going to be perfect. You have a saying now that you talk about don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, right? What does that mean? Uh well I think in my case um I think it’s a a huge reason why I wanted to come back to play hockey was you know obviously for the next little while I could live a comfortable life and and find other things to do or I have many interests that being away from hockey and have time away from hockey would allow me to kind of pursue. But at the same time, I think these lessons that that uh I’ve kind of learned through this whole process and this whole journey kind of reminded me that it doesn’t really matter what you’re doing and it’s how you do it. And uh I was really able to get enough distance from the game of hockey to just remember how much I love the game and how much I appreciate it. And uh so not throwing the baby out with the bath water would be not walking away from the h from the game of hockey quite yet and knowing I do have unfinished business and and there’s a uh I think a new sense of self and a new kind of approach to just how I deal with life and how I deal with with anything really and bringing that to the game of hockey and just just enjoying every last minute that I get to play the game at this level. and uh it’s a pretty special thing. It’s a privilege and I just uh wanted to remind myself not to take that for granted in any way. Can I ask you what was the hardest thing you went through or the hardest moment? Uh, I think there was just many, you know, and I think it’s it was easy to always get, you know, I always I’ve been saying that after the season’s over, whether you you don’t make the playoffs or you lose, you know, you lose out in the playoffs, I was always kind of whether I was conscious of it or not, um, on some sort of a timeline where I was just kind of mapping out my summer and give myself a week or two, start training here, get back on the ice, there and then you kind of follow that natural progression. You kind of know where you stand and how your preparation is going for the next season. And um when I decided that uh I think after my last game in Chicago that season, I was going to take some time away from hockey and just completely like just focus on, you know, let my body heal and just enjoy life and slow things down a little bit. there was still that that that ticking clock in the back of my mind thinking like okay I can you know do this and that and the other thing for the next 6 months to a year and this one was I plan on getting back on the ice and there was always moments where I felt like I was taking steps forward only to just hit another wall and and feel like okay I need to like really learn a new level of surrender and patience in this and so one year turned into two years and then even this past summer there’s there’s always moments that a little bit of doubt creeps in and you just got to stay with it and and slowly climb climb that mountain again. And uh so I wouldn’t say there’s one moment that stood out. It was a lot of little ones though. Do you look at this as a one-year thing or do are you thinking I could play for a while? I’m honestly not looking too far ahead. Um, I’m I’m looking at this year and that’s it. And uh we’ll go from there. So, um, what was what was the best text message or call you got from a friend, a teammate, someone you know when it was come becoming common knowledge that you were coming back? I have to think about that one. Um yeah, but definitely a lot of like really nice heartfelt messages from guys that uh that uh you know we good friends that that were more used to chirping each other than really saying heartfelt things. So that meant a lot to kind of feel that love and feel that support from some of my closest friends and buddies that I I played a lot of a lot of hockey with over the years. So, um, yeah. Did Crosby reach out at all or anything like that? Um, I think he did at one point. Yeah. A little while ago. Okay. Cuz I figured there were probably some guys might have been last summer or something like that. So, I I figured there were some guys who used to rip you pretty good who were somebody must have taken a shot at you. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I know you know Andrew Shaw and I have kept in touch quite a bit and uh you know, he’s that kind of guy that was so quick to sacrifice himself for the team and and it’s been through a lot with head injuries and uh you know, and I think um yeah, just hearing it from him too, it just it meant a lot. you know, I think he was proud and and uh he’ll he would put himself through anything for the team and to play the game again, too. And and I think he missed the game a lot as well, too. So, um yeah, it was definitely reassuring to to hear from him once in a while. Okay. And I guess last one um is what will make you happy when this is all over? What is going to make you say, you know what, I accomplished this on my own terms and I’m happy with where it went? Well, Stanley Cup in Winnipeg, but no, I mean, that’s a good answer. Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s definitely on my mind. Um, but either way, you know, I think I can appreciate the the small things and and the big things as well. But uh um I’ll say this, it it feels really good to be a part of a of a group like this that that there’s so much communication. There’s so much connection, a lot of chemistry uh amongst these guys in this room. Um and they play at a high level. I play a great team game and it uh I think it fits my game and um I feel confident I can add a lot to it and uh it’s a long season. It’s a long journey to to get there. Um but I think you know that uh especially what they accomplished in the first round last year. It’s moments like that that you know everyone thinks you’re down and out and things are over and you just find ways to win games. And you know, I always say that the one of the best qualities we had as a team in in Chicago was that we were we were tough to put away late in the series. And it’s uh you know, I think we got a lot of lot of uh resilience in this locker room and that that experience from last year is going to help a lot and it’ll be exciting to see where we can take it. Okay. Our thanks again to Jonathan Taves and Stick Taps Freeze for stick handling that conversation. Just a reminder, this week Scotia Bank Wednesday Night Hockey, an all Canadian matchup from the Stampede City, the Flames and the Canadians. Hockey Central on the air 8 Eastern, 6 Mountain Time, puck drop a little after 6:30 local from Scotia Bank Saddled. Taking us out today is a track from Cola, who is a Montreal-based artist, producer, and singer blending soul funk and electronic music into a sound that feels both nostalgic and futuristic. Influenced by daft punk, D’Angelo, and Jay Dilla. He fuses smooth vocals, live instrumentation, and rich grooves into high energy performances and timeless feelgood tracks. This is Cola with Hypnotized on 32 Thoughts the podcast. Have a great week everyone. It’s not the way teasing me tonight. Why are you playing? [Music] You got me feeling something. It’s not right. Not right. The way you’re doing it tonight, you got me praying. [Music] You got me feeling something. And it must be the way you move. It must be the things you do. Baby, come on. You’ve got me hypnotized. [Music] It’s not like I’m in love. It feels like we should feel it. We should be saying something. Yeah. Must be the way you move. [Music] Must be the things you do. Come on. You got me and hit my face. Come on. And it must be the way to move. And it must be the things I do. I said you got me hypnotized. [Music] I’m [Music] far away, [Music] baby. It’s not nice the way you dance with me tonight. It’s like I’m dreaming. You got me feeling something something. It must be the way you move. [Music] Must be the things you do. Come on. Oh, you got me. I never [Music] must be the day. You got me hypnotized. [Music] Okay. [Music] You feel me? [Music] I feel my heat.

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman begin the podcast with a question, who has had the more impressive start to the season? Matthew Schaefer, Shane Pinto, or Seth Jarvis?
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0:00 – Who has had the more impressive start to the season?
16:00 – Do the Calgary Flames have a culture issue?
26:31 – Giving the Vancouver Canucks their flowers after their 4-2-0 start.
32:36 – Stolarz’s frustrated post game reactions from Saturday night.
42:31 – Elliotte provides an update on the future of the Heritage Classic.
45:36 – The Buffalo Sabres and Josh Doan’s massive game against Florida.
48:58 – How difficult it is to coach for a team like the Sharks.
56:18 – The Final Thought focuses on Brad Marchand, his helmet antics against the Buffalo Sabres, and his upcoming return to Boston. 
1:00:35 – Kyle and Elliotte answer your emails and voicemails in the Thoughtline.
1:25:00 – Elliotte sits down with Jonathan Toews of the Winnipeg Jets for an exclusive one on one interview.

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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