Could the Winnipeg Jets be playing their homes games in Saskatoon? Jeff and Elliotte discuss the results of the season ticket holder survey sent out by the team and the logistics required to execute such a move. They also touch on the return of Tuukka Rask, how Edmonton could save their season, and why Sidney Crosby is still fantastic.
The Winnipeg Jets surveyed their season seat holders to see if they’d be open to hosting home games in Saskatoon; Saskatchewan currently has no attendance restrictions. Jeff and Elliotte kick off the podcast discussing this news (00:10), how the fans voted, the logistics required to execute such a move, and where the team might go from here.
They guys also touch on the struggling Flyers (3:45), the return of Tuukka Rask (9:40), the Maple Leafs placing Nick Ritchie on waivers (15:40), how Edmonton could save their season (17:40), why Sidney Crosby is still fantastic (28:00), new GM candidates around the league (35:20), Jeff presents Elliotte with a different type of skills challenge for the All-Star Game (44:00), and a fun mailbag segment wraps up the podcast (49:30).
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of Grant Gilbertson.
We want to hear from you! Leave your thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions via email at 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca or call us toll-free 1-833-311-3232 and leave a message after the beep.
Full transcript for the episode can be found here by Medha Monjaury
Music Outro: SLEEPSHAKE - Medicine
Listen to more music by SLEEPSHAKE on Spotify
This podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.
Audio Credits: Sportsnet and TNT.
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.
OPEN //// Jeff Marek [00:00:00] It was a romantic podcast.
Elliotte Friedman [00:00:01] Can I say? Like, that is very 2022. I like that.
Jeff Marek [00:00:07] Elliotte right now as we record this part of the podcast, it is just shy of ten to 11:00 Eastern on Friday morning. Last night, you tweeted this: "Earlier tonight, the Winnipeg Jets sent out a survey asking season seat holders their opinion on the possibility of home games in another jurisdiction. It is believed the Jets are exploring playing some games at Saskatoon's SaskTel Centre while there are attendance restrictions in Manitoba. That arena seats 15000. At this point, Saskatchewan does not have restrictions. Obviously, there is work that needs to be done and approvals to be secured, but the Jets are doing their legwork." What's the latest?
Elliotte Friedman [00:00:43] The latest is is that, here on Friday morning as we update this podcast, that it's not going to happen. The jets and the, I don't know who they really met with, was it the team, was at the building, was it the province? I'm sure all these details will come out. There was a lot of work being done behind the scenes about what could be done, would it be possible, how could it occur? And I heard that there were three games that were being discussed initially: the 15th against Ottawa and the 25th and 27th, Florida and Vancouver. And from what I understand. The 15th, they decided they couldn't get that one done on time. And it, now sounds as if that Winnipeg-Ottawa game is gonna be postponed anyway.
Jeff Marek [00:01:27] Hmm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:01:27] And the 25th and 27th they were looking at. And, you know, the way I kind of got this confirmed was that there was a season ticket survey that went out to the Jets ticket holders, and I actually thought it was a really good idea for the Jets to ask their fans what they thought. And it wasn't overwhelming in any one particular way. Like I... Someone told me that they think it was about 40% said no, 30% were indifferent, and 30% said they had no problem. But I think for this all to work, it had to be, and I'm sure the Jets will comment at this particular point in time, it had to be overwhelming with everything else that they were doing because, I don't know how the players association felt about it? I had, you know, some players tell me they weren't crazy about the idea. And also there's the cost of, okay, who pays for Florida's travel, who pays for Vancouver's travel in addition to any other costs? And you know, they have to upgrade the SaskTel Centre to make it, you know, in terms of, I heard wireless was one issue to the NHL standards, you know, for the replay and everything to NHL standards. It would've been a cost, it would've been a production. And I like the idea. I like the fact they were thinking about it. It was obviously a big challenge and I think there were too many things that got in the way. I think the other thing too is what someone said to me, is that, if you've been following and I don't know how you could have missed, this Djokovic story in Australia.
Jeff Marek [00:03:03] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:04] Obviously he got the approval, and then when the blowback became so big, people who were responsible for the decision kind of ran away from it. I also wonder if there was a little bit of, you know, the province of Saskatchewan, because I guess the head doctor came out yesterday and said, we shouldn't be gathering if we can avoid it. You know, once that gets out after that said then the blowback is going to start and people didn't want to deal with that either so. Like I said, I really liked the idea, but I just think there was too much against it.
Jeff Marek [00:03:36] Creative thinking, but.
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:38] Now, Jeff, are we done on this topic or you want to continue talking about this one?
Jeff Marek [00:03:43] No, I'm all good. Let's move on.
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:45] Okay. This is all your fault.
Jeff Marek [00:03:46] Huh?
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:46] I know it's gonna be bad when I look at my DMs, and I just pick a couple to look at, and one of them says, you really have Flyers Twitter talking today Elliotte.
Jeff Marek [00:03:59] Oh, yeah!
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:59] And I'm like, oh no.
Jeff Marek [00:04:02] Yeah, man. We talked about the Flyers on the radio today.
Elliotte Friedman [00:04:05] If you hadn't brought up the Flyers, I wouldn't have said anything.
Jeff Marek [00:04:08] All I said is, after Christmas, this team always has an unfortunate road trip as the ice show comes in and the Flyers go out and they come back licking their wounds and wonder what happened. And it's gotta change next season, and then it doesn't change next season and they find themselves as we record this podcast on Thursday evening, about to face off against the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are poised to win ten games in a row, and this is a Flyers team that is, has very much taken a knee at a number of positions and is now kind of left wondering, what happens to us for the rest of the season. But I could see the thing that lit Flyers Twitter ablaze. Perhaps your points about Claude Giroux?
Elliotte Friedman [00:04:46] No it wasn't Giroux, it was Provorov. I was surprised actually.
Jeff Marek [00:04:49] Oh!
Elliotte Friedman [00:04:49] I think, I think I'm getting radioed a little bit.
Jeff Marek [00:04:52] By doing radio? Hang on, you're getting radioed by doing radio every day with me?
Elliotte Friedman [00:04:56] I'm getting radioed by doing radio with you. It's like I said, this is all your fault. Like I am completely innocent in this matter.
Jeff Marek [00:05:01] Okay.
Elliotte Friedman [00:05:01] But you are going to jail for grand larceny, five life terms.
Jeff Marek [00:05:06] Happens.
Elliotte Friedman [00:05:08] You ask me about Provorov, and I don't even remember what I said, but I don't think I said that he was on the block because when someone said to me, you said--
Jeff Marek [00:05:15] No! No!
Elliotte Friedman [00:05:15] You know, someone said to me, you said he's on the block. And I said, I don't think I said that!
Jeff Marek [00:05:20] What we were trying, what we were having a discussion about was essentially the question is, who are we and who are the Philadelphia Flyers? And do they know what they have under the hood here? Like Chuck Fletcher went, you know, out the door and around the block trying to solve their problems in the offseason and... like, he identified the problem, we can't defend. He went about correcting it. Didn't anticipate, you know, Ryan Ellis's, you know, lengthy injury here, but he went about addressing it and things were once again supposed to be different with the Philadelphia Flyers, but whether it is injuries, whether it is COVID, it's a lot of indifferent play, I mean, I look at Sean Couturier and I say, this guy's been injured from day one this season, and we got around to talking about Provorov, and I think it led you in with something like, Provorov hasn't been the same since Niskanen retired, I would imagine they must be having a look at and trying to figure out who Ivan Provorov is.
Elliotte Friedman [00:06:13] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:06:13] I think that's it. And then you took it from there.
Elliotte Friedman [00:06:15] I think what I said was, the Flyers are going up and down everything. They're asking themselves a lot of hard questions. Who are we, where do we go from here, what's our plan? Do we do a soft rebuild, do we tear it down, do we try to add to what we've already got? I think that what I was trying to say was, that they're asking those same questions about Provorov like, what do we have here? What's our path forward with this? I don't have any information right now that would say that he's getting traded, but I do think the Flyers are asking hard questions about their group and where they go from here. Like I said on the show, Jeff, I... I do believe it's very possible that they go to Giroux if they haven't already and say, what are you thinking about here? And go from there? But you know the Provorov thing. I don't know that he's getting traded, but I do think they're asking themselves a lot of really hard questions about where they're gonna go from here.
Jeff Marek [00:07:08] Does it feel to you like this whole thing is now slipped away and that road trip out West sort of ended it. I mean, they came back and you know, this is in advance of the Keystone State battle here. The cut line seems to be in between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers, Penguins with 43 points, Flyers with 32. You know, coming back from those games Seattle, Anaheim, L.A., San Jose. It seemed as if with the Flyers limp back and they look ahead of them and they say, boy, we got a lot of climbing to do here. And that includes a wild card spot, too. That's not just having a look in the Metro. The math looks awful.
Elliotte Friedman [00:07:41] You know, the math is really bad where Boston's involved. Like if you look at their division, they're already 11 points out of a playoff spot.
Jeff Marek [00:07:47] Yeah!
Elliotte Friedman [00:07:47] And they're four points out of a playoff spot for that second wild card. But Boston's got games in hand on everybody. Boston's got two games in hand on Columbus, they've got four games in hand on Philadelphia, and they've got five games on hand on Detroit and Jersey, it's just not pretty. Now, you can get hot and you can change all that, but the math is just bad, particularly because the Bruins have so few games played. Anyway. As I wanted to say, this is all your fault that I got this direct message, and I wanted to blame you for it and say that you are basically an arsonist. I used to say that that was Anthony Stewart and Justin Bourne. Now you are the arsonist.
Jeff Marek [00:08:28] All I did was lead you down a path, and I said, would you like to come down this path with me Elliotte Friedman? And if so, be careful what you say because Flyers Twitter, much like other hockey Twitters, can be a very vicious place. With that we'll kick off the podcast. Welcome to it, 32 Thoughts the Podcast presented by the all new GMC AT4 Lineup.
Jeff Marek [00:09:13] Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed that snappy intro, kind of an old school feel with the old style intro there with the cold open there Elliotte, that really, that really warmed me once again. We gotta get back to doing that. Coming up a little bit later on, some of your emails, and some pretty interesting ones as well at 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca. Meantime, you mentioned the Boston Bruins there a second ago when we were talking about the Philadelphia Flyers and the big story around the Boston Bruins, the impending return of Tuukka Rask. Now he won't play for Providence Friday against Lehigh. That game has been postponed by the American Hockey League, but the Boston Bruins, as we've been talking about for a while, inching closer to a reunion with one of their favourite netminders, Tuukka Rask, your thoughts?
Elliotte Friedman [00:09:57] Of course. You think you have this plan. What's the podcast line? You plan, god laughs? Bruins.
Jeff Marek [00:10:04] That's your grandma's line and I love it.
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:06] Bruins! Yeah, you know, Rask going to get his first American Hockey League at last! No, no, he's not. So the other thing I want to say about this is... So someone was saying to me that Ullmark and Swayman are gonna be upsetm or this is gonna cause problems. First of all, I think players wanna play. I'm sure both Ullmark and Swayman are thinking, I wanna play here, no question about it. But I find it really hard to believe that everybody here wasn't aware of this being a possibility.
Jeff Marek [00:10:41] Do you think that Linus Ullmark was aware of this when he signed with the Bruins though, on free agent day?
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:47] I 100%--
Jeff Marek [00:10:47] Thought that maybe somewhere that Rask is gonna come back here?
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:51] How could you not?
Jeff Marek [00:10:52] I don't know I'm just asking, because I don't know if Linus Ullmark knew this or not.
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:55] No, I find that very hard to believe. I think that if the team doesn't tell you, you've gotta understand the landscape. You know, the Boston Bruins made it very clear last year at the end of the season that Tuukka Rask needed time. Rask made it very clear he needed time, he needed to get healthy, and they were gonna give him time to make his decision. And if he wanted to come back, he would be welcome to come back there. I just find it really hard to believe that they didn't think this was a possibility. The other thing too is, with Ullmark is, he got a great deal.
Jeff Marek [00:11:30] Oh, are you kidding? You got a fantastic deal out of the Boston Bruins. That surprised a lot of people.
Elliotte Friedman [00:11:35] Cause you were looking at the pieces and trying to figure out where they were all coming, right?
Jeff Marek [00:11:38] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:11:40] You're looking at the chessboard and you're saying, well if it's not here, it's gotta be here, and I had heard that he was one of the goalies on Seattle's radar, and then Grubauer signs there so there's not the opportunity there and, if I'm Ullmark, I'm looking at it as, I got a great deal, and I had to know what the landscape was. I don't know, I mean, I understand players wanna play and, you know, in Swayman's case, if he has to go down to the American Hockey League, I'm sure he'd rather be in the NHL. But, either you or your agent had to be willing to look at the overall picture and say, you know, if Rask decides he's coming back to play, he's coming back here.
Jeff Marek [00:12:21] Okay, so a couple of things here. One, I still don't, and maybe you do, but I don't have an answer as to why Buffalo protected Ullmark in the Seattle expansion draft. That one still boggles my mind.
Elliotte Friedman [00:12:36] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:12:36] Okay. I just think they thought he was coming back.
Elliotte Friedman [00:12:39] Yeah. Or at least they had a chance to bring him back.
Jeff Marek [00:12:41] I just think they had a shot, and I wonder how surprised they were at 11:59 Eastern on July 1st when he said, hey uh, I'm not coming back. And then they went into, you know, scramble mode to try to find a goaltender and settled on Craig Anderson. And two, you know what I find really funny? Because I'm like you. I look at this situation with goaltenders and I always say the same thing. We always hear, oh, it's a great relationship between these two. They really support each other and cheer for each--stop. Can we please stop? There are very few people that are content being a backup goaltender.
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:21] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:13:21] These are intensely competitive players at every single position.
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:29] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:13:29] And if you don't think that backup netminders are cheering for the starting netminder to falter so they get the gig, you're fooling yourself. So whether it's a three-headed goalie monster or it's a traditional two, or in some cases like we saw this season earlier on with Dallas four, there is no kumbaya here. They'll all say the same things publicly, but privately, you know, to their families, to their agents, certainly, there's no, we're all a big, happy goalie family here. It's this idea that, you know, Ullmark or Swayman should be upset? This is the reality of goaltenders. This is completely the reality of goaltenders. I don't put much stock in it or weight in the idea that you're getting--
Elliotte Friedman [00:14:10] So which coworker do you hope flops on the air so that you can get more airtime?
Jeff Marek [00:14:13] You! Because I want Saturday's all to myself, just me and Ron. That one week, the year at home when me and Ron was sitting there was great.
Elliotte Friedman [00:14:19] I agree.
Jeff Marek [00:14:19] I want you to drive it into the ditch, Friedman. Just steer it off the road.
Elliotte Friedman [00:14:24] He's seen me drive. It's very possible.
Jeff Marek [00:14:28] I've been in the car when you were driving and if you were driving in Dealey Plaza, the president would still be alive. Holy smokes, you got the heavy foot on you.
Elliotte Friedman [00:14:35] Yeah I'm aggressive, but you know, all of that is true, Jeff. My point is is that you have to be aware of what the possibilities are around you.
Jeff Marek [00:14:44] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:14:44] Sometimes things are gonna happen that are gonna upset you, piss you off as a player. Teams are--maybe some team does something that you look at and you think this is very wrong. But again, if you're in Boston this year, you know that the shadow of what Rask decides to do could affect the organisation.
Jeff Marek [00:15:03] Yes!
Elliotte Friedman [00:15:03] And I think you just have to be realistic about that, you don't like it, but you have to be honest and realistic about it when you're going there. Now the other thing too, is I just wanna say on Rask, I'm glad that he's getting the call, his shot. That he is getting a chance to say, I'm gonna make the decision on coming back or not coming back, not that he's unable to play because he's too hurt. So, you know, Rask has given a lot to that organisation. I really like Rask. I like dealing with him. I think he's a pretty interesting guy, and I'm just happy that he gets to make this call.
Jeff Marek [00:15:37] Elliotte. The Maple Leafs make a move, it's always headlines. This one is interesting, the Toronto Maple Leafs placing Nick Ritchie on waivers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:15:46] I was a bit surprised when that happened today. Sometimes you know when teams are gonna do something and sometimes you didn't. I was not aware of that one. Initially, my reaction was, did Ritchie ask for it because he was a scratch the other night? Basically, he's the first healthy scratch Toronto's had in forward because now they have their full complement of forwards. And I was told, no, that that wasn't the case, this isn't some--anything he requested. And I wondered if possibly, you know, could he end up in the in the taxi squad and I don't think that's their plan right now, I think he's gonna stay on the main roster if he's not claimed. But, you know, it's, it's interesting. That one caught a lot of people off-guard. What was your reaction when you saw it?
Jeff Marek [00:16:32] I looked at that and I said, is this a call to attention for Nick Ritchie?
Elliotte Friedman [00:16:36] I think that to me is what they're doing here, sending a message.
Jeff Marek [00:16:41] They signed him to a two-year deal. Like, they're determined to try to make this work. And there are only so many things you can do to a player to try to make it work. You can take away ice time, you can scratch. Waiving is a whole other issue. So I looked at this one, I said, You know, this is a cup check for Nick Ritchie. This is called to attention. This is, we're serious here. No player obviously likes to be put on waivers at all. That's how I saw this one.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:08] I think the first thing you always ask is, did the player request it?
Jeff Marek [00:17:12] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:12] And I was told that wasn't the case. Because sometimes like I think with James Neal, he was on waivers the other day from St. Louis, and I think St. Louis looked around to try to see, okay, is there somewhere we can send him? And then the last thing you do is, you do the waiver move. So that's what I kind of wondered with, if Toronto was doing the same thing, oh okay, they've looked around, they found no takers and, now they're doing this. And I was told, that ain't it.
Jeff Marek [00:17:38] You know, the--one of the other big stories this week, and it's still not over, this is gonna bleed into the weekend and certainly into next week when they finally play a game again, and that's the Edmonton Oilers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:49] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:17:49] Five losses in a row on the road, COVID to a number of key players, most notably Connor McDavid, injury to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. None of this is getting easier.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:58] No.
Jeff Marek [00:17:59] Friction between the head coach and the at times starting netminder Mikko Koskinen, and questions about what do the Oilers do next. And you've pointed out a couple of different times, you know, Ken Holland doesn't like to make, well he doesn't, he doesn't change coaches midstream, he doesn't do this. This isn't his M.O., and I always, you know, there's an old saying in boxing: hard times make monkeys eat red peppers. That when things are tough, you do things you don't--
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:29] Where's that from?
Jeff Marek [00:18:30] From boxing, from boxing! It's a--you've never heard that before?
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:33] No.
Jeff Marek [00:18:34] You've never heard that boxing reference?
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:36] No.
Jeff Marek [00:18:36] Hard times make monkeys eat red peppers. Monkeys hate red peppers. But when it's tough times, eat what you got.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:41] I've heard hard times make strong people.
Jeff Marek [00:18:44] Well, I'm trying to colour it up here a little bit on the podcast Elliotte, give you a little flavour puck to chew on a little bit. Come on, man. Work with me here.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:51] I just found it. I'm giving, I'm giving you credit.
Jeff Marek [00:18:54] Yeah, it's an old boxing term. That's where I first heard it anyhow.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:57] Ray Arcel.
Jeff Marek [00:18:59] There you go, see? Hard times make monkeys eat red peppers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:19:02] You know you're right, Jeff. I hand it to you. I've never heard this saying before.
Jeff Marek [00:19:07] It's my broken clock moment, welcome to it. So it's not necessarily something Ken Holland has ever done before, but that doesn't preclude him from ever doing it, period. Two things: how do you read the order situation right now and, get your Elliotte Friedman crystal ball. What happens here?
Elliotte Friedman [00:19:25] They're losing, it sucks. The frustration's mounting. You know, the whole thing with Koskinen and Tippett? We all get frustrated. Imagine your office. Imagine our office. Imagine this podcast. You know, there are times, imagine everybody out there, imagine your office, your home, wherever you are with a lot of people who are the same, your zoom call, whatever it is. When things are going badly people get frustrated with each other once in a while and you blow off steam. And the difference between this and where a lot of people work who are listening to this, is that this is in public. And, I didn't think about at the time but I thought about it later. They lose that game Monday night. Koskinen had a really rough start to that game and a finish. And it's obvious to me that if Dave Tippett could go back in time, he wouldn't have said what he said.
Elliotte Friedman [00:20:32] When you're a coach, in these moments you really aren't supposed to pour gasoline on the fire unless you want to? I don't think Tippett wanted to, but he did. And sometimes that happened because you're coming right out after a loss like that and you know what's going on out there. It's a monsoon daily on social media about the Oilers, and people are calling for your job, and you shouldn't say it, and you don't wanna say it, but you say it. And then the next day, Koskinen speaks to a Finnish reporter and he fights back, and I have no problem with someone standing up for themselves, and all of a sudden it's a fiasco. I've always kind of looked at it this way. It shouldn't happen, but it does happen. And sometimes when things are going very badly. I'll say, all right, I'll give you a break on that one. And that's what I would do if I was Tippett and I was Koskinen and I was the Oilers. They would say, look, guys, you need each other right now. And Koskinen, we need you. And that wasn't good and it won't happen again, but we've got bigger problems to worry about than this. So if I'm the Oilers, the way I'm managing it is saying, Mikko, that shouldn't have happened. It won't happen again. But let's move past this right now. That should be over. As for what they're gonna do? I think Holland's thinking about what options he's got. You know, I really do. I don't think he wants to make a coaching change. It's not his way. I think he is potentially looking for a goalie out there, but I'm not sure, you know, when things are going bad, they don't throw you life preservers, they throw you anvils. I think he's looking, but when McDavid goes down and he's in protocol for however long, he's gonna be in protocol. I think you just know that the only thing you're gonna be able to sort out is playing better internally. This is not like the end of Avengers Endgame, where they're fighting Thanos to save the cosmos, and all of a sudden, all the heroes come back from the blip to help Captain America save the day. This isn't happening. And I think what the Oilers are trying to say is, we are gonnao attempt to do some things here, or look around to see what we can do. But until that happens, our solutions have to come from within.
Jeff Marek [00:23:12] See this is a difficult spot, because as we've talked about before, missing the playoffs is not an option for the Edmonton Oilers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:23:20] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:23:20] But then you risk doing more damage to the future of your team if you mortgaged the future just trying to get into the playoffs this season, I'm not saying right now the Oilers aren't going to make the playoffs, although right now playoffs are very much a question mark for the Oilers. Where we thought they'd be up around the top of the division, you know, neck and neck with the Vegas Golden Knights, that's not the reality right now. They have things that they're willing to part with, whether it's prospects, whether it's first round pick, but, and I guess everybody has a different line here. At what point do you say, it's not worth it to trade a prospect to bring in some help? At what point do you say, it's not worth it to trade the first round pick to bring in somebody for some help?
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:07] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:24:08] That can get us into the playoffs? I don't know where that line is. I'm guessing Ken Holland's probably thought about it a lot. You know teams have gone through it where, you know, at what point do you try, you know, what's the old saying, never try to catch a falling knife? Sometimes if you're a team that's just gonna bottom out, you've gotta let the knife fall, and that's what Montreal has done. Don't try to catch it, just let that knife--because if you try to catch it along the way, you're just gonna cut yourself. Don't. But no one's saying the Oilers' season's going that way right now. They're going through a bad stretch and they don't look good and some of the problems that have haunted the Oilers are haunting them again.
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:40] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:24:41] But at what point do you say, okay, it's not worth it anymore?
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:44] I would look at the goaltending if I was them.
Jeff Marek [00:24:48] Big time.
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:48] And the reason is, it's Smith's health, right?
Jeff Marek [00:24:51] Yes.
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:52] Last year, Mike Smith had a Hart trophy level season, and they bet on that again, and his body is having trouble. So Colton DeStefano, one of our faithful listeners, he was making trade suggestions to me via DM today, and he's suggesting Jake Allen and Artturi Lehkonen into Edmonton for Koskinen and Turris, I think he said said Xavier Borrgault and a first rounder. Now let me just say, I know this is gonna open my DMs up to a billion trade proposals.
Jeff Marek [00:25:29] Everybody send your trade proposals to Elliotte Friedman, no matter how outlandish they are. As a matter of fact, he likes the really crazy.
Elliotte Friedman [00:25:36] I actually didn't mind this one.
Jeff Marek [00:25:37] He likes his trade proposals with a little dash of crazy attached to them so, go for it.
Elliotte Friedman [00:25:43] I actually thought this one was somewhat creative, but when I look at this whole situation, I'm thinking to myself, what goalies are available? Who can you reasonably get? The problem there is, I'm not sure Edmonton's gonna want to give up that first rounder, right?
Jeff Marek [00:26:02] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:02] But Allen and Lehkonen are the kinds of pieces that make sense to me for the Oilers.
Jeff Marek [00:26:09] The thing about Allen is as well, he's got one more year on term.
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:12] Yes.
Jeff Marek [00:26:12] Okay, you know what the problem with that is?
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:15] To me, at least, that's an idea that isn't insane.
Jeff Marek [00:26:19] Here's the problem with this.
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:20] Yeah?
Jeff Marek [00:26:21] You signed Mike Smith for two years. So if you make the move for Jake Allen and you move Koskinen out, then next year you've got Jake Allen and Mike Smith, and Stuart Skinner needs waivers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:33] That's a very good point. I was gonna see if you brought it up yourself, and that's the flaw. Skinner is the flaw. The one thing though, is that Halland's gonna have time here. They now have one game in their next 12 days.
Jeff Marek [00:26:50] Yes. You know they play Ottawa... probably next week.
Elliotte Friedman [00:26:53] If he's gonna do anything, it makes sense to do it now.
Jeff Marek [00:26:56] Okay so Jake Allen's an interesting name, what about another name? Let's do the irresponsible thing, let's just start throwing names around. You know, cause we've all wondered about this one, too. What about Alexander Georgiev?
Elliotte Friedman [00:27:08] Here's the reason I wouldn't do that if I was the Rangers. Thursday night. If you're the Rangers, you're having a really good year. You have a chance for something. I think we're all kind of figure, trying to figure out how good the Rangers really are.
Jeff Marek [00:27:23] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:27:24] But what's Bill Parcells' old line? You are what your results say you are, and right now their results say they're pretty good. So if I'm the Rangers, Thursday night, Vegas, Shesterkin goes on the COVID list, and now you have Georgiev there. And I know that Georgiev has made it clear before if, you know, I'll move if I can get a more of a chance to play. But I think this is a case where if you're the Rangers you're saying, look, until we have a better alternative than you if Shesterkin is not in the lineup, I'm not trading him unless you absolutely blow my socks off.
Jeff Marek [00:28:01] You mentioned the Montreal Canadiens and trades there a couple of seconds ago and in your notes on 32 Thoughts at our website, you mentioned Ben Chiarot.
Elliotte Friedman [00:28:08] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:28:09] And we've talked plenty about Ben Chiarot, it's a pretty obvious one, we know he's going somewhere, he's a valuable guy certainly come trade deadline time. And you mentioned the St. Louis Blues, that you could see a fit there. Blues are an interesting team. The Blues like tough hockey, they always have, since the beginning, since they came into the NHL in '67 that's one of the ways they've always enjoyed playing. Niko Mikkola. Did you see his incident with Sidney Crosby on Wednesday night, sir?
Elliotte Friedman [00:28:35] Yes, I did!
Jeff Marek [00:29:33] What did you make of that and what did you think Brian Burke and Ron Hextall made of that?
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:38] I'm sure that they wanted to climb out of the stands and fight Mikkola.
Jeff Marek [00:29:41] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:41] Anthony Stewart was working in Toronto... Edmonton on Wednesday night and he showed video of Reaves roughing up McDavid. And three years ago, Reaves, as tough as he is, other teams would have sent five guys after him.
Jeff Marek [00:29:57] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:58] I have to say that that is one of the things about hockey that I don't like now.
Jeff Marek [00:30:04] What's that?
Elliotte Friedman [00:30:04] Is that a star player can get roughed up like that, and there's no consequence. I did used to like the old, okay, you do that to our star player, and we're either gonna do it to the guy who did it or we're gonna to pick one of your star players and we're gonna take it out on them. I do miss that. If you ask me about one thing I miss from the '80s or '70s or whatever you want, it's that. What's different to me is a legit battle versus a star player getting roughed up. A legit battle is one thing. If you get two guys battling for a puck or space or whatever, I got no problem with that. But I just don't like when star players get roughed up because there's no fighting anymore or nobody likes the whole let's get revenge or anything like that. I have to admit it doesn't leave me with a great feeling.
Jeff Marek [00:30:58] I always find the more bruisers go after the other team's star, because if someone wraps up a star player, they're more than willing to take on someone, the fact that they went out and roughed up a star, that's what they're supposed to do, and they took someone else off the ice with them and that's just fine but.
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:11] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:31:12] If they think that they caused their star player to be, to have certain liberties taken with him. That, to me, is always more effective. You know what the most famous one of all of that is, is 1993 Los Angeles-Toronto in the semi-finals, where Wendel Clark kept going up Wayne Gretzky and McSorley went by the bench and said, anyone touches Wayne again, he pointed to Doug Gilmour and said, he gets it. And Wendel kept going at Wayne, and the next time the Gilmour stepped over the blue line, we can all remember cause it led to that great Wendel Clark-Marty McSorley fight, what did McSorley meet Gilmour with? Like an elbow from the seller!
Jeff Marek [00:33:38] And that's what I think you were talking about. There's one of two ways it can go about: it could just have gone at Clark? Or he could say, stop it or he gets it.
Elliotte Friedman [00:33:47] I remember the year later in '94, when Gino Odjick was all over Gilmour.
Jeff Marek [00:33:53] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:33:53] And Clark pointed to Bure and said, if you don't stop, he gets it.
Jeff Marek [00:33:56] Yeah, him.
Elliotte Friedman [00:33:57] But I have to say I loved, I loved Crosby on Wednesday night and that same--
Jeff Marek [00:34:02] Crosby's been amazing.
Elliotte Friedman [00:34:02] I still think sometimes we take him for granted, I really do. I think he, we kind of forget how great he is. This year it's a lot been about Ovechkin because, you know, of the goal scoring, and he's had a phenomenal Hart trophy season. But sometimes because Crosby's such a grinder and isn't, there isn't as many highlight reel plays, if that's the right thing to say. We kind of forget how great he is and how much he carries a team too. It's amazing. Ovechkin and Crosby, I don't know if we'll get the 20 years for both guys.
Jeff Marek [00:34:34] I hope so.
Elliotte Friedman [00:34:35] I hope we do. But, I mean, they're between 15 and 20 years now, and they're still two of the league's best players.
Jeff Marek [00:34:44] It's great.
Elliotte Friedman [00:34:45] It's fantastic.
Jeff Marek [00:34:47] Just as an aside, do you have a thought on what the Blues are doing right now? Like I know they've had their speed wobbles and they went through everything with well, most notably COVID and the inability to do anything because the teams--.
Elliotte Friedman [00:34:58] They're in it to win it.
Jeff Marek [00:34:59] It's remarkable what, you know, this infusion and elevated minutes, you mentioned Jordan Kyrou in your piece this week, you know how much, you know, giving those kids a little bit extra ice time has meant for the St. Louis Blues.
Elliotte Friedman [00:35:12] I think they're in it to win it. I think the Blues think they can win.
Jeff Marek [00:35:15] And I think that Niko Mikkola's really found money for them, too.
Elliotte Friedman [00:35:18] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:35:19] He's a really nice defenceman. All right, a couple of other things around the NHL. Want to get your thoughts on the Ducks GM search. And I was surprised because I thought he was done, peace out, thanks for the Hall of Fame, I'll come to a party here and there, but I want nothing to do with hockey, I'm going to surf, thank you very much and enjoy my life uncomplicated. I was surprised to see Paul Kariya a part of this. Scott Niedermayer not so much but Paul Kariya absolutely.
Elliotte Friedman [00:35:45] I had heard that they wanted both of those guys involved with the team. The Ducks would consider that a coup. Did they have those players involved?
Jeff Marek [00:35:56] Everybody considers this one a coup.
Elliotte Friedman [00:35:57] Yup.
Jeff Marek [00:35:58] I'm surprised they've got Paul Kariya off the beach and back like I've always, for the longest time, I think you and I have talked about this, I was always a big Paul Kariya, I think a guy like him... listen, whatever he wants to do with his life, that's up to him. But selfishly, I'd like to see Paul Kariya in the NHL in some capacity on either fulltime or semi fulltime basis. I think when you have someone who thinks the game like he did and like he does, it can only make the game better. We all know what the injury history and what happened to him and how he feels about the NHL at times. But I just think that, you know, you look at some players like, we always say this about Gretzky: it's always better when Gretzky is involved. I think it's better when a player like Paul Kariya is involved in the NHL, even Elliotte in this tiny little capacity, part of the GM search for the Anaheim Ducks. I just think it makes the NHL a better place.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:46] It's fascinating Jeff. Four teams searching for GMs in the middle of a season.
Jeff Marek [00:36:52] Yeah, not just searching--in-season. That's the caveat here.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:56] I'm very curious to see how many teams are going to allow permission.
Jeff Marek [00:37:02] I'm curious about that, too. The other thing is, because we've never seen this before so we're all looking at this and going like, wow, what a freak this is and trying to figure out what this all means. You know, one of the things that, and I guess the conversation really began with the salary cap, and you know, the idea of the salary cap within the salary cap, within the salary cap, which is essentially what the NHL has.
Elliotte Friedman [00:37:24] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:37:24] With team cap, player cap, like, individual player cap, rookie cap like it's a it's a multi-cap league right now. We've talked about the art of the general manager and how it's different. And long gone are the days of, you know, Sam Pollock running everything and you talk to the owner at the end of the year and this is what happened, Mr. Owner, and here's your return. The fact that there are four positions open in-season, do you think that is in some ways, a reflection that the position itself isn't as important as it used to be? And I don't mean that as any slight to any general manager out there.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:03] It depends on what your structure is.
Jeff Marek [00:38:05] I mean look at all the layers on top of GMs now.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:07] In Vancouver, where's the seat of power?
Jeff Marek [00:38:10] Jim Rutherford.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:11] In Montreal where's the seat of power?
Jeff Marek [00:38:13] Jeff Gorton.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:14] What we don't know yet is what Anaheim and Chicago was gonna look like.
Jeff Marek [00:38:17] Correct.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:19] So I've been trying to figure out maybe who are some of the candidates out there that we don't know about yet.
Jeff Marek [00:38:28] For which team, or for all of them?
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:29] Well, for all of them, like, I do think in Vancouver, Patrick Allvin is the most likely situation. In Montreal, I think a lot of the key names are kind of out there, although I think there's more. You know, Scott Mellanby's name is one I kind of wonder about for some of these positions. But I'm also looking out here to say, who else is kind of there that we haven't thought of, and I don't know if they'll get permission to talk to anybody during the season, but I kind of wonder about two guys in Detroit. Pat Verbeek and Chris Draper.
Jeff Marek [00:39:05] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:06] And you know Verbeek's been around a long time now. He's been in Tampa, he's been in Detroit. Draper's been around a long time now in Detroit. Detroit's on the way up, does that help their candidacy? Is it gonna be the Belichick rule where people look and say, well, Verbeek more than Draper but Draper's been under Yzerman for a couple of years now that, you know, people kind of say, okay, is there something that we can borrow from them that Yzerman teaches? I think the same thing is kind of going on in Tampa. We know Mathieu Darche has permission in Montreal, and he's think he's on Anaheim's list too. But I also wonder if they're looking in any of the other people in, in Tampa. You know and Al Murray--
Jeff Marek [00:39:52] Great eyes on Al Murray. Oh boy. If you wanna develop your team through the draft.
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:57] And you know, the other guy from Detroit who's not there anymore was Ryan Martin, but he just went to New York, right? People think very highly of Ryan Martin, but he just made a move, so I don't know if another move is that quick. But those are--like I was asking around like, what are some names that I had that nobody's mentioned yet, and those kind of were some of the names that got mentioned to me. I'm sure there's more. But those were the names that got mentioned. The other one too a couple of people have said to me, is Ross Mahoney in Washington.
Jeff Marek [00:40:27] His name's been out there a few times yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:40:29] It's been out there but still.
Jeff Marek [00:40:30] Chris MacFarland's name, it's out there.
Elliotte Friedman [00:40:32] I have this image of Joe Sakic blocking the door so Chris MacFarland... We were talking a couple of weeks ago I can't remember which week it was, all these weeks blend together.
Jeff Marek [00:40:45] What are these weeks you speak of?
Elliotte Friedman [00:40:46] About how after the Olympics are over, there's gonna be a run on retiring players and about where they wanna go and what they wanna do for a lot of the women players?
Jeff Marek [00:40:56] Right, yeah!
Elliotte Friedman [00:40:58] [Unclear] mentioned Haley Moore to me today.
Jeff Marek [00:41:00] I can see that.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:02] AHL.
Jeff Marek [00:41:03] Like we talked about Jennifer Botterill on the podcast not too long ago, Jayna Hefford's name has been out there for a little while too. I know the teams have talked to Cassie Campbell- Pascall. So I don't think that should surprise anybody. You know Emilie Castonguay's name is out there too. She's, amongst other players, agent for Alexis Lafreniere of the New York Rangers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:26] And Marie-Philip Poulin.
Jeff Marek [00:41:26] Marie-Philip Poulin as well. A number of the women from the Canadian team I believe as well. One of the names that I've always wondered about, I don't even know if he wants to do this, but every now and then the conversation will turn to someone like Eric Tulsky in Carolina like, look at what the Carolina Hurricanes have become and look at how far this Carolina Hurricanes team has gotten and how they get value out of players. A lot of that, you know, goes under the nose of Eric Tulsky.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:57] Actually I almost have like a separate list of people I'm trying to go through from that.
Jeff Marek [00:42:00] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:01] You know, Josh Flynn of Columbus is one of those guys. Columbus has a couple of them.
Jeff Marek [00:42:05] Yeah,.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:05] They have Josh Flynn there. They have Cam Lawrence there. There's a young guy there in Columbus too, his name is Zac Urback, I've heard about him a little bit. So they've got a few, there's, you know, there's Aric Parnass in Colorado, Tulsky, there's a bunch of them, and I'm gonna get notes from people saying, okay, you left this person out and you left this person out, it's not intentional. The only people I really like to insult are my podcast co-host and producer.
Jeff Marek [00:42:35] Hey! Whoa, whoa, hey!
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:35] Other than that, nobody. But there is a whole group, and I do wonder when, you know some of them are gonna come to the forefront too. I just don't know if any of them would be GMs yet.
Jeff Marek [00:42:46] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:48] You know, Flynn is probably one of the closest. But again, I just don't know when the timing is, is going to be. But one thing I think that's definitely going on around the league, Jeff is, there--when I was talking to someone about this today about, who are some of the names that we're not hearing out there, there is definitely a look for that. Okay, who are other names?
Jeff Marek [00:43:11] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:43:12] Is there anybody that we're missing? And I think those questions are, are being asked.
Jeff Marek [00:43:18] Honestly Elliotte, I think a lot of it is, those questions that you're asking, that teams are saying, okay, let's just not turn to the usual suspects, let's leave no stone unturned here, which is why I think GM searches are gonna take a lot longer than they have. We talked about, oh jeez, we've talked this a couple of different times, but the idea of, you know, you always bring up the idea of Lou Lamoriello, if you have the time, take it. Mike Forde talked about this from Sportsology when we had him on. You know, don't just think the regular names. Think outside of your comfortable hiring zone. And even if you're not gonna do it, at least go through a process with different people to see what you learn. I think a lot of teams are probably going through that right now. I wanna ask you a question.
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:02] No.
Jeff Marek [00:44:03] Well, I'm anticipating the answer is no, but just humour me for a second.
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:08] Okay.
Jeff Marek [00:44:09] Have I ever given you an idea that on initial contact, you shrug off, but then you think about it for a little while and you warm to like it. Grudgingly, grudgingly, grudgingly?
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:22] I do think the penalty kill thing was one.
Jeff Marek [00:44:25] Okay, so you like that one, okay cool.
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:27] Cause that happened in a game not too long ago, Winnipeg-St. Louis, I think it was the last game in Canada before the freeze.
Jeff Marek [00:44:34] Three shorthanded goals?
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:36] No, no, no. They scored one. Winnipeg scored one and then St. Louis, scored on the powerplay right after. And I remember thinking, Marek's idea works here. Powerplay should be over if you score shorthanded.
Jeff Marek [00:44:48] Done.
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:48] But I think that's only happened once and the other 5,000 times you come up with terrible ideas. I have never changed my mind.
Jeff Marek [00:44:55] Okay so I tried this on radio with you the other day, I'm gonna try with you now in the podcast. So reading your bit in 32 Thoughts about Zdeno Chara and the hardest shot contest and defrosting, I love that term, defrosting Shea Weber and bringing him back for a couple of shots only. I think it's a wonderful idea, and I submitted to you as an event for the All-Star Game. Backward skating. Who can skate backwards the fastest? I love the idea because I'm legitimately curious. I have no idea who the fastest backwards skater is in the NHL. No, I have a pretty good idea of who can skate fastest forwards, I think we all do. We all know the suspects, and it starts with Connor McDavid and goes to Dylan Larkin, Andreas Athanasiou, etc., etc., etc..
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:34] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:45:35] But I have no idea about who goes backwards? So any time you can create an event that answers a question, I think you have a hit. Like, whenever I look at new sports or new ideas for an All-Star Game, that's when I say, okay, what is the question that this is trying to answer? And this particular event at an All-Star Game answers a question: who skates backwards the fastest. Now, you kind of shrugged it off, and that's your default setting with me because, oh, it's Marek and here he goes, here he goes with the mouth again. But now that you've sat with it for a couple of days, have you given it any concert? Have you warmed to it?
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:08] I'm always interested in something that, if fans like it, I'm for it. To me, the All-Star Game is all about fans.
Jeff Marek [00:46:14] Yeah!
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:15] And if the fans wanted it, I'm for it.
Jeff Marek [00:46:18] Do you have that curiosity? I know you're always like, oh Marek only you would think about that, but I don't believe that with this one specific--I think you would generally be curious.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:26] No, I, judging from some of the reaction I got, people liked it.
Jeff Marek [00:46:30] I think you would be curious about it. I think that would be a well-viewed moment at the All-Star Game.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:36] I think it would be too.
Jeff Marek [00:46:37] Just lobbing it up there, anyone in the NHL listening.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:39] I mean, how many people take a run at the fastest skater? There's what, six people, right?
Jeff Marek [00:46:44] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:45] I don't know if I want to see that six times. I want it to be a race.
Jeff Marek [00:46:49] Like a lap.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:50] No, I don't think I want it to be a lap. I think what I want it to do is....
Jeff Marek [00:46:54] You want red line to a red line?
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:56] No, I think what I want is, I almost want the defenceman to be at the offensive blue line, someone to flip a puck over their heads, they turn around and charge back, and then they have to turn around a certain point and skate backwards to the goal line.
Jeff Marek [00:47:12] Ehhh, no.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:13] No?
Jeff Marek [00:47:13] I like the lap because I want to see two things here.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:16] No that is so terrible, a lap of backward skating?
Jeff Marek [00:47:19] Correct.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:20] That is so boring.
Jeff Marek [00:47:21] No, because here's why: I wanna see crossovers and I wanna see C-cuts.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:25] But nobody does that.
Jeff Marek [00:47:27] Nobody crosses over? Nobody does c-cuts?
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:30] What, no, no, no, I'm not saying that, but nobody's skates backwards in a circle around the rink, like you skate around the rink skating forward, but you don't do that backwards.
Jeff Marek [00:47:40] So what?
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:41] I wanna do it in game circumstances.
Jeff Marek [00:47:47] Ugh. I came close, but it's obvious, folks. I am still amongst the heathens here on this podcast.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:54] Actually, it grew on me. I have to say it grew on me. But this is, a lap of backward skating, that's, it's pointless.
Jeff Marek [00:48:02] Yes, it's brilliant. Only one way to determine this one. Elliotte's DMs, start flooding them with how good an idea this is.
Elliotte Friedman [00:48:10] I'm gonna be getting a lot of crap in my DMs after this podcast.
Jeff Marek [00:48:13] Good times. Let's hit a pause then come back in and answer some emails.
Jeff Marek [00:48:16] Welcome back to the podcast, Elliotte before we get to some emails here, want to take a little bit of time and offer condolences to the family and the friends of Grant Gilbertson. Grant was an 18 year-old hockey player with the Peninsula Panthers, the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League, was on his way to practise on Monday when his car crashed and he was killed. Again, we offer our condolences.
Elliotte Friedman [00:48:51] It's just been a really, really challenging time in the B.C. area. In addition to everything we're all dealing with with COVID, they've had so many challenges and difficulties in there and then to hear about this one. Just really feel for everybody out there.
Jeff Marek [00:49:10] And also condolences to Grant's teammates, I know they're going through a really tough time as well.
[00:49:14] Okay, Elliotte, the, the email address 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca, a few of them here, and some are pretty neat, like this one. From Al. "Marek mentioned how Brad Park couldn't get paid what he was worth by the Red Wings at some point, that was early in the Ilitch ownership, [unclear] they had to offer cars to get people into the rink. So they gave him a couple of Little Caesars franchises. Does this and can this still happen? Could a player get a stake in a business or some stocks, as well as their salary could, off the top of my head, Evgeni Malkin asked for a stock in Liverpool to stay with the Penguins in a $5 million a year contract." The short answer is no, right Elliotte?
Elliotte Friedman [00:50:14] Not legally.
Jeff Marek [00:50:17] Not according to the CBA.
Elliotte Friedman [00:50:18] Not according to the CBA. The NBA wanted a few years ago, I think that, if I remember correctly, Dennis Rodman was living in Mark Cuban's guesthouse and they made him leave, said, you can't do that.
Jeff Marek [00:50:30] Listen, you know what I always wondered about, and I've never had a satisfactory answer on this either is, how is Crosby allowed to live at Lemieux's house? Those first few seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins? And how did that not contravene the salary cap? I don't get that one at all.
Elliotte Friedman [00:50:46] Must have been paying a pretty high rent. Maybe Lemieux was extorting him on rent.
Jeff Marek [00:50:50] Okay, that, that must have been it. No, to Al. You can only be compensated. You can't get compensated outside of your contract as well.
Elliotte Friedman [00:50:58] Again, not legally.
Jeff Marek [00:51:00] Not legally. This one comes from Chris, who is a lifelong Wings fan. "I'm just wondering what it would take for a scout to make the Hall of Fame. Obviously, me as a Wings fan, I say Hakan Andersson should be first ballot given his track record as a scout. Do you think there'll be a scout ever in the Hockey Hall of Fame?"
Elliotte Friedman [00:51:22] It's a great question.
Jeff Marek [00:51:23] Glenn Healy made the point about allowing trainers in the Hall of Fame as well.
Elliotte Friedman [00:51:29] It's also a good look--
Jeff Marek [00:51:29] What they do. Honestly this sort of winks at it at an even bigger question, which is, you know, the term "builder" is pretty vague and pretty wide brush. There's a lot of, lot of elements that go into making a successful hockey team, you know? And you know, Chris mentions scouts, Healy would talk about trainers. There are like huge categories of people whose work goes unrecognised throughout the years that, you know, on second glance, you might look at it and you say, you know what? That was a Hall of Fame career from Person X. It's a really interesting question.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:05] Right now, the Hall of Fame is what, players and builders, officials?
Jeff Marek [00:52:09] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:10] Of course broadcasters because they're, you know, basically--.
Jeff Marek [00:52:13] Those are honoured members.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:16] 95% of the Hall of Fame should be broadcasters.
Jeff Marek [00:52:17] Media is honored members.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:19] Yeah, we're not official. We're sort of...
Jeff Marek [00:52:22] Honored members!
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:23] Honoured members, right? But I do, I agree that there are people out there who probably don't get considered enough.
Jeff Marek [00:52:29] Scouts would be one of them.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:30] Scouts would be one. But there's a limit to how many people get in every year, right? And the toughest thing is, who should be most of the Hall of Fame inductees? Players.
Jeff Marek [00:52:42] And broadcasters. From David Barrie, Colts country. "If the Leafs ever make that Cup run, what impact would that have on hockey-related revenue and the cap brackets assuming full stands? And how much does the tarp advertising help?"
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:58] Well, think about--I don't think the tarp advertising helps at all. They'd rather have the the building full. Look, how much is a is a Leafs game worth a night? Three and a half million?
Jeff Marek [00:53:09] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:53:09] So now imagine you're in the playoffs. Imagine you're in the second round of the playoffs. Imagine you're in the third round of the playoffs. Imagine you're playing a Stanley Cup final. How much do you think all that's worth?
Jeff Marek [00:53:19] Oh. Printing press, making money. Scrooge McDuck diving into a room full of, a basement full of coins. That's what that would be Elliotte.
Elliotte Friedman [00:53:31] It's enormous.
Jeff Marek [00:53:32] Like that would have a significant impact on the salary cap, would it not?
Elliotte Friedman [00:53:35] Oh yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:53:36] Like I've always maintained this. If you're a player, if your team goes out early or if your team doesn't make the playoffs, if you're concerned about your escrow, you're concerned about your finances? You want a long run from Toronto. You want a long run from the New York Rangers. Like, these are the teams you cheer for. I know it may be distasteful to some hockey players, to cheer for some of these teams, but if you're concerned about your bottom line, cheer for the big money-makers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:54:03] Well, I remember Paul Kelly when he ran the players association. He got in trouble for that. He basically said the quiet part out loud once.
Jeff Marek [00:54:12] Oh so he said the truth!
Elliotte Friedman [00:54:13] Yes, he said the truth.
Jeff Marek [00:54:15] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:54:15] And I didn't have a problem with it, but some people did. He said, I want to have long series, and I don't mind seeing the big markets do well and, of course, because that's what we do, we turn it into a fiasco. But he was being honest. I guess you have to be a bit more impartial.
Jeff Marek [00:54:34] I think of Winston Churchill, who once said, in wartime, the truth is so precious that she must be protected by a bodyguard of lies. From Spencer, "I have a question about conditional draft picks. The Oilers traded a conditional third to Chicago for Duncan Keith and the condition is, if the Oilers make the Cup final, the third becomes the second. Could the Oilers still trade that second round pick this year with a condition that if they make the Cup final, the second gets deferred to next year?"
Elliotte Friedman [00:55:03] There are ways, I don't know exactly what the way the rule works, but there are things that you can do for that. Central registry has told that comes up, and I wish I had some examples for you off the top of my head, but I don't remember them. But there have been deals where something like that has happened and the team has said, look, if we don't have this pick available, we'll move it to say next year's third round pick or next year's second round pick. And as long as the team that you're trading with agrees with that, you can make that deal.
Jeff Marek [00:55:34] Bingo. All right. And that wraps us up. Taking us out Elliotte, a Victoria, B.C., based band that originated on a, you'll love this, dating app.
Elliotte Friedman [00:55:44] Really?
Jeff Marek [00:55:45] Soon after finding--yes, listen here! Soon after finding romance online, Nate Prevedoros and Rhea George were joined by Sasha Ends and Steve Clarke to form... SLEEPSHAKE! Their sound is electric and adrenaline-filled that's a mixture of metric and royal blood. Very cool. With their latest single, dating app, check it out bud, dating app! With their latest single Here's SLEEPSHAKE with Medicine on 32 Thoughts the Podcast.