Jeff and Elliotte break down the Evgenii Dadonov situation and provide some of their main takeaways from the trade deadline.
What a crazy NHL trade deadline! Jeff and Elliotte break down the Evgenii Dadonov situation and where we might go from here (3:20). They then go over some players that didn’t make a move — Filip Forsberg (21:20), Jakob Chychrun & John Klingberg (45:10) plus teams that went all in and ones that didn’t — Minnesota (24:30), Florida (36:00), Colorado (37:45), Pittsburgh (41:40), Toronto (39:10), Anaheim (43:05), and they take your emails and voicemails (46:30).
Music Outro: David Allen James - Where There's Smoke There's Fire
Listen to David Allen James’s entire discography on Spotify
This podcast is produced and mixed by Amil Delic, and hosted by Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman.
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.
Caller [00:00:01] [Marek, Friedge, it's your boy Ronnie, down here in hockey town, USA. Ey Elliotte, I'm gonna speak on behalf of the whole city of Detroit and let you know that you've got a pass only because you've worked on Hockey Night in Canada, and that's the only other place I've ever heard it. But you're allowed to say, Detroi-it, or however beep the you say it. I understand you're a distracted guy, but no one here would ever say it like that, but you got a pass. Okay. Love you guys. Let's go Red Wings.]
[00:00:31] [SFX puck hitting post.]
Elliotte Friedman [00:00:34] Thank you, Ronnie. I get that all the time. People say to me, it's Detroit, not Detro-it. I don't know why I do it. It's a habit. I've tried to change it. I have a mental block. I don't know why it is.
Jeff Marek [00:00:48] You know why I don't do that, there's one very specific reason Elliotte, because...
Elliotte Friedman [00:00:52] What's that?
Jeff Marek [00:00:52] Half my family is from Livonia, Michigan, so I spent a lot of time in Detroit going to see the Tigers and going to see the Detroit Red Wings so I'm always very sensitive, I'm very sensitive to that. But you know what? I have my own version of your Detro-it, and you know what it is?
Elliotte Friedman [00:01:09] Which one?
Jeff Marek [00:01:11] Saskatch-u-one? I used to call it Saskatch-u-wan because I'm from Ontario. And when I went to Memorial Cup, this would have been for the one hundredth anniversary. Driving from the airport to the hotel room, I was driving with Sam Cosentino and RJ Broadhead, and I said Saskatch-u-wan and RJ whipped around and said, I'm gonna help you with something right now. Don't ever call it Saskatch-u-wan. It's Saskatchewan. And I've always called that ever since then. He said, you're gonna sound like you're a tourist I'm like, I am! A tourist in this province. But ever since then, all due respect, I call it Saskatchewan. Just like it's not Toronto. It's Toronto. Right Friedge?
Elliotte Friedman [00:01:53] Marek I'm too tired for this.
Jeff Marek [00:01:54] I know.
Elliotte Friedman [00:01:55] I'm late for the taping of the podcast because I fell asleep while writing.
Jeff Marek [00:02:00] While you're, hang on.
Elliotte Friedman [00:02:01] So you cannot take advantage of my pronunciation issues.
Jeff Marek [00:02:04] Like head down on the keyboard?
Elliotte Friedman [00:02:05] No, I was sitting in bed and I was writing in bed and I fell asleep and I woke up and it was. We're supposed to start at eight for--at 8:30 and it was 8:45, and there was a lot of letter Ys on this. All right, let's get going. People want the news.
Jeff Marek [00:02:23] All right here we go. Presented by the all-new GMC AT4 Lineup, it is 32 Thoughts the Podcast and we wanted to get this done as soon after trade deadline as possible and this is it, like that's how busy it's been. Before we get to some of the trades here Elliotte and we'll get to the Filip Forsberg situation too, I wanna talk about that but, the latest on your Evgenii Dadonov right now and the trade to L.A., which is right now in limbo, as players are in limbo as well, most notably Dadonov here. As we record this, what is the very latest you know, or you can share with us from this situation?
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:01] This is Tuesday night, so it's a little quieter tonight than it's been since Monday night, during the day on Tuesday, where there was a lot of information coming in. We are waiting for the NHL to rule here. And I think the easiest way to do this is to start at the beginning. Let's just do it as if we're talking linear time.
Jeff Marek [00:03:22] Okay, so the Dadonov-Holden trade, that's where you want to begin?
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:25] I want to even go before that.
Jeff Marek [00:03:27] Oh, okay!
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:28] So I'm going to give you the information that I understand from Dadonov's contract, okay?
Jeff Marek [00:03:33] Okay.
Elliotte Friedman [00:03:34] He signed a three year deal in Ottawa, covering the 2021, '21-'22, and '22-'23. According to the contract, and nobody would let me see it, but I asked enough people for the language that I believe that this is true. Dadonov cannot be traded to another NHL team without first allowing the player to provide the club with a written list, a no-trade list of up to 10 teams that he can't be dealt to. And there's also three dates that the no-trade list must be provided to the club: January 15th, 2021, which was, of course, since we started last year in January.
Jeff Marek [00:04:23] Yup.
Elliotte Friedman [00:04:23] Or July 1st, 2021, and July 1st, 2022. Some people were saying to me, if you were a lawyer, you could argue that one either way. You could say, well, if you're gonna trade him, you gotta get asked for a list. Or you could say, he has to have the list on before those days every year, or it's voided. So that was one issue. That kind of became moot because as it turns out, Dadonov and his agent submitted this year's list on June 30th, 2021. So it was due July 1st, it was in the day before and there is now a record, I've been told by several people saying that yes, it was emailed to the Senators on June 30th, and yes, a receipt of confirmation, we've got this, was returned. I know you're gonna ask me who wrote that, I don't know yet. But there is, I've been told that the league and the players association are aware that an email was provided, saying, we have confirmed we have received this. On July 28th, Dadonov was traded from Ottawa to Vegas. Now. Ottawa could do that, Dadonov did not have Vegas on his 10 team no-trade, so he could be traded there. Anaheim was on it, but it didn't matter because he wasn't being traded there at the time. Also, something some people have asked me. If a player is traded, does their no-trade or no-move protection go with them? The answer used to be no. But now it's yes.
Jeff Marek [00:06:14] Yeah that got changed.
Elliotte Friedman [00:06:16] In the most recent CBA change, which was heading into the playoff bubble, the league gave the right to the players that if they got traded and they waived their clause, their clause would come back with the new team. So that is different now. Some people weren't aware of that. On July 28th when he was traded, somewhere during that conversation, the Golden Knights and the NHL gained the belief that Dadonov's no-trade was no longer in effect. So basically what happens when there's a trade called, the two teams are on it and central registry is on it. And central registry is sort of the clearinghouse. They make sure that every contract, every signing, every trade is done properly with league rules.
Jeff Marek [00:07:09] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:07:10] And as someone said to me on Tuesday as a joke and a compliment, they are anal retentive beyond belief. They are very thorough. And what happened here, and I have a couple of different theories. Number one, either it was somehow forgotten that he had submitted his updated list, or what was submitted on the call, because central registry would ask the question, hey, he's got a no-trade, is there any problem with it here, or the previous no-trade, for some reason, the 2020-'21 no-trade list was submitted, which again did not have Vegas but did have Anaheim, but wouldn't have had a problem with being traded to Vegas at that time. However, if the 2021 list was the one submitted, then everybody would have looked at it and said Dadonov is late with his list. He has lost the power to block any trade. You know the most famous case where that happened was Patrik Berglund, from St. Louis to Buffalo.
Jeff Marek [00:08:24] Buffalo, yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:08:25] He was late getting his list in and the Blues traded him to Buffalo in the Ryan O'Reilly deal. I believe there are two other recent cases where this has happened, but I don't have them all nailed down, so I won't say it.
Jeff Marek [00:08:41] There was one, although the player never got traded, there was a player in Florida. Who submitted late and it voided their no-trade. They didn't end up trading on, but there was a player in Florida and I am racking my brain all day to try to remember who it was.
Elliotte Friedman [00:08:58] I don't think that's the only time, I think, I know of at least one other situation where I believe that happened. But you're right, it comes down to does the team really want to trade you or not?
Jeff Marek [00:09:08] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:09:08] I think the number one thing that's gonna come out of this is, why aren't all of these filed with central registry? Like I've had a lot of people say to me today, well, you know, all you gotta do is go on CapFriendly and you know what the clauses are? Well, it's not entirely true. CapFriendly's an excellent resource that is right 99 percent of the time. They don't have every clause correctly. I remember R.J. Umberger saying, people go on these sites and they're wrong. And earlier this week, for example, the Tyler Myers one was wrong. So CapFriendly is a great site. Excellent. But like everyone else, they're human. They make mistakes. I think they're gonna have to do this now. They're gonna have to say that all lists go on central registry. But I will say this, one of the reasons it hasn't happened is some of the agents don't like it.
Jeff Marek [00:10:03] Why?
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:03] Because, for example, if I ever call an agent and say, hey I hear your guy is going to get moved and he says, yes, but remember, he's got a 10 team no-trade, well who's on that list, they don't wanna tell you, and they'll say, do you think I want it out there that so-and-so player doesn't wanna go to Ottawa or Toronto or Vancouver or New York or whatever because they don't want the grief from all those fans. They believe it should be private. And the more people who have access to something, the more that information has a chance of getting out there, right?
Jeff Marek [00:10:33] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:10:34] There are some agents who believe it should be just between the team and the player and the agent. And, you know, I'm saying, we have to change that now. Some of them agree, like like, yeah, you know this, we have to change it. But others are like, I'm still not crazy about it, but we're going to have to create something. So whatever the case is, whether it wasn't presented or the old one was presented and everyone says here now, oh, he's lost his no-trade protection. Something like that happened. And, you know, here's the thing like a lot of people go after Vegas and say, well it's typical of what they do or whatever. Here's the thing here, and there's a lot of people in the NHL saying this. The person who runs Central Registry, who's at the top of it is a gentleman named Sean McLeod, and Sean McLeod keeps himself at bay. He doesn't talk to the media. Like I'm gonna tell you one story about Sean McLeod. I used to send him emails from time to time looking for clarity on things. And he said to me in person once he saw me at GM meeting, he said, look, I'm never going to answer your emails. I just don't think it's the right thing to do, I shouldn't be talking to you. And I didn't do it for a few years and then this year, when the whole Halak thing was going on, was it 10 starts or was it 10 appearances, I sent him a note and he just sent me back another note saying, you know I know it's been a while but, I think this expertise is for the teams and it's not for you. And I said, okay.
Jeff Marek [00:12:06] It says no-talk list.
Elliotte Friedman [00:12:08] Yes.
Jeff Marek [00:12:09] You're on his no-talk list.
Elliotte Friedman [00:12:11] He's honest, people do not question this guy's sense of fairness and his sense of honesty. And I think that's the thing that's made a lot of people pause here, is that why would central registry and the person who leads it who's very honest in most people's eyes, I didn't speak to anyone today who had anything bad to say about him and says he tries his best to be helpful to everyone. Why would central registry believe that this trade could be approved? Something had to happen to convince him or them that Vegas could make this deal. This deal was approved.
Jeff Marek [00:12:51] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:12:52] So something happened in that Ottawa conversation with Vegas, where they believe that they could do this. Now I've heard lots of rumours about the last couple of days and when Dadonov knew and when Dadonov didn't do, I'm not comfortable wading into all of that. But, you know, basically when he got traded, either he or his agent said, you can't do that.
Jeff Marek [00:13:18] So okay, hang on, pause on that, because the one thing that I'm stuck on here is, this could've been a non-story if Vegas had just called the agent before the trade to say, we're trading your client to the Anaheim Ducks.
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:33] Yes.
Jeff Marek [00:13:34] At which point the agent would've said, hold on a second, we have a no-trade and Anaheim is one of the teams.
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:41] And, but we don't know that didn't happen. But Vegas would've said, I'm sorry.
Jeff Marek [00:13:46] We're doing it anyway?
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:47] No, not--it's not so much we're doing it--.
Jeff Marek [00:13:50] Or we're going to try?
Elliotte Friedman [00:13:51] No, no, no no no! Like, if that conversation happened, Vegas would've said, you don't have a no-trade, it's been voided. Because when we did the deal with Ottawa, hmm, we were told you're no-trade had been voided. That's the assumption I'm working under right now, and I have reason to believe that that's exactly what happened. I think the agent said, it's not voided, it was filed. And Vegas said, us, in conjunction with the NHL from that trade, believes that it was voided. So Vegas believes it had the right to make this deal and, remember, this deal was approved by the NHL. Like I'll say to you, I can't tell you, Jeff, how many people said to me on Tuesday, if they have a document that says it was received, this trade has to be voided. I had agents telling me that, I had teams telling me that. Like you name it, they said it's as simple as cut and dry. So I asked them one question: why would Central Registry approve the deal if they believe that, like it's simple! Piece of paper says you can't go to Anaheim? Central registry will tell you, he can't go to Anaheim. It's happened to everybody. That's always one of the questions that gets asked: is there anything here that prevents this trade from happening, from a no-trade or no-move point of view? And if there is, do you have the paperwork?
Jeff Marek [00:15:21] Essentially, how could both Vegas and the NHL not know? Just to simplify it?
Elliotte Friedman [00:15:25] Well, it's actually two questions. It's how could they not know? And I think the more curious amongst us are, why did they not know? Like what happened?
Jeff Marek [00:15:33] Okay, so--
Elliotte Friedman [00:15:35] There was something on that trade call from Ottawa to Vegas that convinced both Vegas and the NHL that Dadonov had lost his no-trade protection, and it's either because they were told that he hadn't filed it or they were given an old list which made everybody assume that he hadn't filed the updated one. Those are the two most likely scenarios.
Jeff Marek [00:15:58] First of all, you know one of the questions I have about all of this? Like right now because there are players in limbo, you know John Moore's in limbo right now. And of course, so is Dadonov who we're talking about.
Elliotte Friedman [00:16:07] And Ryan Kesler, let's not forget Ryan Kesler who's in limbo.
Jeff Marek [00:16:11] Will someone please think of Ryan Kesler through all of this, thank you very much. Would someone please think of Kes. Who's paying Dadonov right now?
Elliotte Friedman [00:16:18] Yeah, you know, I don't know the answer to that question. You know, Amil told me, while... when I finally crawled out of bed, Amil told me you were thinking about that? I have to think it's Anaheim, but I would assume they would be reimbursed.
Jeff Marek [00:16:33] There's not a trade though!
Elliotte Friedman [00:16:35] Yes, there is. The trade has not been voided yet, and it was approved. I assume it's Anaheim, but I assume they will be reimbursed. So one of the things that is gonna happen out of this I have to think is, that they're going to have to come up with another system for this. I don't know that this has ever happened before. Like we've all heard of trades, you know, Burkei talks about the fax machine. Drew Remenda told me today, he reached out to Kelly Kisio, who now works for Vegas, was traded by San Jose, and the trade was voided because the fax machine didn't work.
Jeff Marek [00:17:11] That happened to Bill Watters in Toronto, remember what the owners [unclear].
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:14] All right, it was, sorry it wasn't Burkie, it was Bill Watters with the fax machine that's what it was.
Jeff Marek [00:17:18] That was, Wilborough always talked about that with the, [unclear] fax machine snafu.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:23] That's right. I'm sorry. You're right. I thought it was Burkie, Watters... They're all the same to me. One old school guy, another old school guy.
Jeff Marek [00:17:32] Here's what I've always wondered about, and Gary Bettman was asked about this, and his answer was, nobody is interested in that.
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:38] Mhm?
Jeff Marek [00:17:39] I've always wondered why the NHL, since they have all of the information, why don't they make their own version of CapFriendly?
Elliotte Friedman [00:17:46] I've heard that question a lot today, too, and I think they should. I don't understand why they don't. But again, I told you there were some agents who said to me, they don't want that information... they want that information kept as private as possible like some of them think it makes their clients look bad.
Jeff Marek [00:18:01] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:02] I would be curious to know what the players would think. Would you want it central? Or would you want this? Because that's basically what it's coming down to. It's central or this.
Jeff Marek [00:18:11] Right.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:12] This happened because it was not central.
Jeff Marek [00:18:15] All right. So this, this drama continues.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:18] Okay now, hold on, I think we should answer a couple more things like, you know, the one thing I believe. I believe unless Dadonov changes his mind, that this is going to get voided.
Jeff Marek [00:18:31] So if this gets voided, then Vegas is frozen.
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:34] Yes, but Arizona to the rescue.
Jeff Marek [00:18:37] How?
Elliotte Friedman [00:18:38] Well, the trade deadline remember is deadline for the rest of that year, correct? I believe that a team like Arizona will make itself known, if you want to try again, we're here. Again, I don't know if the Coyotes are on his list or not. One of the reasons that California teams apparently were on his list was for tax reasons, Arizona's got a really good tax setup. And the other thing too is now, if the Dadonov gets traded, he can't play the rest of this year, and that's something else I want to clean up. There are people saying that he can play in the regular season, but not in the playoffs. It's not true. You can't play at all.
Jeff Marek [00:19:19] He can't play.
Elliotte Friedman [00:19:19] That's in the NHL bylaws. But I don't think Arizona is gonna have a problem with saying, look, if you want to try this with us and he can come to us, we'll do this. So I don't think this is necessarily over. But definitely, the Golden Knights are in a bad way if they can't find a way to move his salary and do some work here, like I was asking the capologist from several teams and they were telling me, there's no way Vegas can activate guys without clearing some room here.
Jeff Marek [00:19:51] And that's why I said they're frozen. They're stung.
Elliotte Friedman [00:19:53] Like Elsa. They are frozen.
Jeff Marek [00:19:56] They are frozen.
Elliotte Friedman [00:19:57] Now did that all make sense?
Jeff Marek [00:19:59] I hope so. I've been reading so much about this today, and talking so much about this today is, it's interesting, you know, the more people that I talk to, the more different teams get their finger pointed at here. It seems as if, you know, a couple of people that I talked to said, well, this is all Ottawa's fault. A lot of people that I talked to said, no it's all Vegas's fault. So did that make sense? I think so. But to be honest with you, it's getting late, you're the guy that had the nap, so you should be refreshed. I'm, I'm getting a little dozy?
Elliotte Friedman [00:20:30] Well, like I said, the biggest one is that central registry now, which has no bias here, cleared the trade. You know, no matter what you may think about Ottawa's role here or what you, no matter what you may think about Vegas's role here. The fact is central registry cleared the deal. And people look positively at central registry. Remember when Jim Rutherford took over in, in Vancouver, he talked about how they were helping him through everyday until he hired someone to manage his cap, right?
Jeff Marek [00:21:00] Yes.
Elliotte Friedman [00:21:01] So that happening has everybody's eyebrows raised like, how did why did they believe Vegas could make this deal?
[00:21:07] [Break.]
Jeff Marek [00:21:18] Filip Forsberg is still a member of the Nashville Predators. He does not have a contract past this season. Should Nashville fans be concerned or do you look at this and just say, look, we're headed to eight years, $8.5 million.
Elliotte Friedman [00:21:35] To you and me, that number makes sense. But if it was so easy Jeff, it would have happened already.
Jeff Marek [00:21:42] Would it? I don't know.
Elliotte Friedman [00:21:43] Well I--.
Jeff Marek [00:21:44] Is that a number that Nashville's--cause like, I look at and I say it's below Josi, it's a little bit more than Matt Duchene and Ryan Johansen. It kind of makes sense.
Elliotte Friedman [00:21:52] I've always believed that that's where we're gonna get to, right, somewhere between those numbers. But I would have thought it would've gotten done by now. I don't think that the Predators are 100 percent comfortable with this. They look at their history, right? And they think about Ryan Suter, and they know this is a gamble.
Jeff Marek [00:22:11] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:22:11] I think they believe Forsberg wants to stay there. So they're hopeful. They definitely check the market. Like I'll say this, I had a bit of a blow up about something I said on the weekend with... it all calmed down with one GM and he said, you know, you shouldn't have said I was shopping this guy, I'm not shopping this guy, I never, he said I never said that. I said that I think there's interest in him. I think at this time of year, everybody's so sensitive that, you know, language, you know becomes an issue. And I don't think that the Predators were ever shopping Forsberg, but I absolutely think that they spoke to people about him so that they knew what the market was. Like after what happened with Suter, someone said to me it would have been a dereliction of duties for Poile.
Jeff Marek [00:23:01] Hang on a second, just for our listeners though. The situation with Ryan Suter was, you know, he went past trade deadline as well. The Nashville Predators were very much of the belief that they would be able to sign him going into the offseason instead, he turned around with Zach Parise and signed with the Minnesota Wild and that surprised and really disappointed the Nashville Predators.
Elliotte Friedman [00:23:19] And their fans.
Jeff Marek [00:23:21] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:23:21] So that's what someone said to me was it's a direction of duties if Poile isn't able to at least go to ownership or know for himself, this is what we could get if we make the deal. I heard that there were some people even in the organization who brought up at some of their meetings, maybe we should do it. But you know, the thing about Poile is that, you know, he's not afraid. You know, he's made some of the biggest trades in hockey history, and he simply went out there and said, we're gonna hold him, and I think we can do this. That's where we are. I think they're hopeful that at the end of the day, they're gonna be able to get Forsberg done and he'll wanna stay. But it's a gamble. I just heard they notified, at some point in time, I don't know whether it was Sunday or Monday. They notified Forsberg they're not trading him. And I have to say from everything I know in that seat, I would have to believe that I probably would've done the same thing.
Jeff Marek [00:24:21] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:22] You're putting yourself out there. It's risky, but I understand why they did it.
Jeff Marek [00:24:27] What's more interesting to you? A build up or a tear down?
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:30] A build up. You're always trying to win, right?
Jeff Marek [00:24:32] Okay, let's do Minnesota instead of Anaheim first. The Minnesota Wild over the weekend in the moves by Bill Guerin, led by the Marc-Andre Fleury deal, you were on this Saturday on Hockey Night, and it all came together on Monday. How'd they get there?
Elliotte Friedman [00:24:47] Someone reached out to me on Saturday morning, and this is a person I really trust, their information is good, and they sent me a text saying, Fleury to the Wild, you heard it here first. And whenever I get a text like that, it's like, tell me what you're thinking. And so I got some notes, which I will keep private, and I said there might be something to this. I called someone who I think would know, and we communicated throughout the day on Saturday, and we got to a point where we believed, yes, there was something to it. The Minnesota Wild, because they had nearly traded for Fleury a couple years ago out of Vegas, believed that because of their geographical situation to Chicago and the history between Bill Guerin and Marc-Andre Fleury, that if they could make a trade with Chicago, they could get it done. That Fleury would say yes to them. And I heard that Guerin reached out after the Hagel deal with Tampa and said, okay, you just got two firsts for Hagel. Would you take a second for Fleury? You know, I think Chicago said, we'd be willing to think about it, and they kind of re-engaged. Now, I think it was a battle. You know, it took some brokering I thin, to get them to where they were, a second first with conditions, because I think that Minnesota believed that it could get down for a second, I think Chicago said, no, we'd really like to hold out for a first. And you know, the fact that he started that game on this Sunday, that was really weird that he played that game on the Sunday night. I was very surprised. That was a bit of hardball, I have to say.
Jeff Marek [00:26:36] Not just weird, but also dangerous. Did you not get the, what're you doing feeling when he lost his glove and was playing in net without the glove, and you're all thinking to yourself, that could be it for Florida. He tries to catch that puck, that's gonna break his hand, and he's fearless with the glove off. And all I can think was, I'm watching this game while I'm thinking about as well, there goes someone off the list. There goes someone off trade deadline cause Marc-Andre Fleury's playing without a glove.
Elliotte Friedman [00:27:01] It is dangerous. I mean, that was some real hardball, but they got to the condition on Monday morning and the deal got done. And I like the deal for Minnesota. I have to say, you know, Kyle Davidson, as he starts his GM career, he gets into a fight with Kyle Dubas and, you know, I heard behind the scenes negotiations with Guerin were pretty hilarious, I think those guys went toe to toe with each other. You know, but that's okay. You know, you're you're getting yourself started in the NHL, I can understand you trying to tell people that you're not a pushover. They got the deal done but I heard those were some pretty contentious talks too at times, but that's what happens at this time of the year it's a big time, tough poker game, and Guerin does not back down, and I think Davidson wanted to show everybody too, he's not gonna back down in the heat of the moment.
Jeff Marek [00:27:53] I want to get to Dubas and Davidson here a couple of moments, but let's close the loop on the Minnesota Wild. Nick Deslauriers and Jacob Middleton. So the team gets tougher, the team gets a... listen, Nick Deslauriers' a really good penalty killer as well, scored the game winning goal in his first game with the Minnesota Wild as well, that's th way you leave an impression. Tyson Jost as well, and they trade Jack McBain to the Arizona Coyotes, getting a second round pick, which Bill Guerin was looking for all along in return. Do you have a thought on the rest of what Minnesota did here?
Elliotte Friedman [00:28:24] Well they wanted to get edgier and they did both the blue line and up front. They wanted some beef on the blue line, and Middleton definitely qualifies. I did wonder if they wanted to send, you know, one of the goalies to Chicago. I'm curious to see what Chicago's gonna do in net, like they don't have anybody to sign for next year. So I thought maybe one of those goalies was going to the Blackhawks, didn't happen. I like Minnesota. I think they've got a really interesting team. Those Central Division playoffs are gonna be brutal. I like them. I think they're going for it. There's gonnao be some great playoffs this year. The first round is going to be incredible. I really believe it.
Jeff Marek [00:29:06] How would you feel Elliotte, if you were a junior hockey player and you went to the draft and day two arrived and you had your family there and you heard every single name called right up to pick number 209 and the last one was 210, and then you heard your name.
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:23] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:29:24] Because that's what happened to Jacob Middleton in 2014, the last man in the draft.
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:29] It's amazing. You know, one of the things that I think is really amazing about the NHL is, you know, in the NFL draft, they call that guy Mr. Irrelevant, the last player that gets taken? How many Mr. Irrelevants have had good careers in the NHL in the last 20?
Jeff Marek [00:29:44] Jonathan Erickson,
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:45] Jonathan Eriksson was the last one? That's right I forgot about that.
Jeff Marek [00:29:48] And! And, and, the best looking last overall pick, we should throw in there as well.
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:53] Well, you know, I think that's, we should have a contest.
Jeff Marek [00:29:56] Who's the best looking last overall pick?
Elliotte Friedman [00:29:59] Last overall pick beauty contest. I'll counter with Patrick Hornqvist. He was the last overall pick, and I'm gonna cheat a little bit. Brian Elliot was the second last overall pick.
Jeff Marek [00:30:13] Okay.
Elliotte Friedman [00:30:14] Only Arseny Bondarev of New Jersey was the last pick, but Brian Elliot has played over 500 games and that draft, 271, which was 21 picks earlier, was Halak.
Jeff Marek [00:30:26] Okay, let me give you another one and it's not anyone that had an NHL career, was cut, his hockey career was cut short because of an injury, but he's a major NHL personality. We go all the way back to the 1985 draft. Selected 252nd overall by your Philadelphia Flyers? Paul Maurice.
Elliotte Friedman [00:30:47] Ah, nice one!
Jeff Marek [00:30:48] Five picks before him or six picks before him. John Ferguson, now assistant general manager of the Arizona Coyotes. But yeah, Paul Maurice was a Mr. Irrelevant too, and not as handsome as Jonathan Eriksson either, sorry, Paul.
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:03] He's gonna be really offended by that.
Jeff Marek [00:31:05] He'll be very--Paul will be very offended by that, yes.
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:09] So that's a good one. That's a really good one. I didn't realise that Maurice was the last overall pick.
Jeff Marek [00:31:14] From your Windsor Spitfires, defenceman Paul Maurice.
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:17] Yes, he made of, of Peter DeBoer. What were we talking about?
Jeff Marek [00:31:21] Oh, we were talking about the Minnesota Wild and we went to detour. Let me get back to something here. So that was one of the build up, another big build up was the New York Rangers who added a lot. I mean, this was like lawn sprinkler time, like a lot of names coming in Justin Braun on the blue line. Andrew Copp comes in, and there were a lot of teams that were looking at Copp. Tyler Motte comes in like, what did you make of what the Rangers did? This is, this is, you know, Drury's first trade deadline.
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:45] I would like to know what he tried to do and didn't get done.
Jeff Marek [00:31:49] Do you have a feeling?
Elliotte Friedman [00:31:52] Giroux. Now I'd like to talk about Giroux for a second because there's been a lot out there. Claude Giroux earned the right to make his call. He signed a contract that said he had the no-move clause. And we were on top of this. We reported Colorado. We reported Florida, weeks ago, that Florida was gonna be in this. And I think all these teams made offers, you know, Sakic admitted that they were interested. I think Boston... And I would think that the Sakic offer, I wouldn't be surprised and I can't say this with a hundred percent, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Sakic offer was similar to Lehkonen's, that he got for Lehkonen? But better.
Jeff Marek [00:32:33] Justin Barron and second.
Elliotte Friedman [00:32:35] I wonder if it was Barron and a first. Again, that is my... that is me wondering about that, if that is what they kind of offered for that. Because I had heard that--and I think we said this on Friday's podcast. They liked the Colorado offer better than they liked the Florida order.
Jeff Marek [00:32:54] Florida, yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:32:54] So I gotta say to you on Thursday night, and I don't remember even what we said on Friday, but now I can crystallise it a bit more. Like everybody was saying, Giroux is going to Florida. And the guy who was saying no was Chuck Fletcher, who was the guy who could make the call. And I think I know what is behind all this. For example, they play that game Thursday, they have the great ceremony and then they fly to Ottawa and Giroux's not going. And one of the people who reported that he was gonna be traded to Florida that night was the Nasty Knuckles podcast, which is hosted by a former Flyer named Riley Cote.
Jeff Marek [00:33:35] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:33:37] Now, Riley Cote is not throwing that out there just blindly. You know, he's a smart guy, we've had him on the podcast before, and I asked somebody, why was this out so much on Thursday night when the trade wasn't done until Saturday? And they said, because the Giroux told everybody that's where he was going. He told the teammates because I guess some guys asked him, where are you gonna be? And he said, I'm going to Florida. So Riley Cote, I have no doubt has good contacts still in the players of the Flyers, and I think that's why he said what he said. That's my theory. So I think Claude Giroux had made his decision that he was gonna be a Panther. And I think some other teams kind of stepped up and talked. Avalanche obviously, I'm guessing Rangers, I'm pretty sure Bruins. But the decision was in. The Panthers, they grinded Philly hard.
Jeff Marek [00:34:29] So one person that I spoke to said it sounds like Florida's not even interested anymore. Like, that's how much they played yeah... we're only gonna do it on our terms and we're just gonna hand you feathers. Like it was a game by the Florida Panthers, they knew that they had him, and to your point, they were gonna grind the Philadelphia Flyers.
Elliotte Friedman [00:34:47] I think that's exactly true. I think that they just said, look like it's us. We believe it's us. And they made it really hard. If you look at last year with Taylor Hall from Buffalo to Boston, there were Boston fans who were disappointed about the return, but Taylor Hall had the right. He signed a contract that had the right. And that's exactly what happened with Claude Giroux here. And I'll tell you this, was Philly upset at Florida, probably. But I think at the end of the day, the Flyers knew that Giroux had the right, and I think there was also an understanding that this was their longtime captain who'd given them everything they had and they owed him to do right by him. And I think that's where we got to.
Jeff Marek [00:35:33] They got Owen Tippettt, they got a third, and they got a conditional first round pick in 2024. Given the circumstances? That's good, no?
Elliotte Friedman [00:35:42] Flyers fans didn't think so.
Jeff Marek [00:35:44] They didn't think so, but given the circumstances, like given, given, given, given what you're, what you're at, I mean, Florida's not going to negotiate against themselves. They knew they were the preferred destination. That was the place that, to your point, Giroux want to go. I think if anyone was in Florida shoes, they would've done the exact same thing. Do you have a quick thought on the Cats? I mean, the Ben Chiarot deal, the Aaron Ekblad injury, Giroux comes in at, at practise is exciting at practise on Tuesday morning, they're working on a five forward power play unit, which is terrifying for other teams. Giroux playing with Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe at the skate on Tuesday.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:24] Until the first shorthanded goal.
Jeff Marek [00:36:25] That's always the way it is, then it's going back to being conservative.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:28] Well I like, I like the fact that they're trying it. I really do. I mean, also Robert Hagg.
Jeff Marek [00:36:32] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:33] They got D. The guy I'm rooting for the most is Ekblad. I really do.
Jeff Marek [00:36:38] Stay healthy, man.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:39] Yeah. You know, I want him to come back. I do believe this, if he doesn't come back, I think they're gonna be in trouble.
Jeff Marek [00:36:44] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:45] They seem very hopeful. But if it's a high ankle sprain, which is what it sounds like it is, those things are incredibly tricky.
Jeff Marek [00:36:52] Yeah...
Elliotte Friedman [00:36:52] Incredibly tricky.
Jeff Marek [00:36:54] Two and a half months... normally you're looking at for a high ankle sprain, I believe? Again, I don't play a doctor, I'm not a doctor, I only play one on a podcast. But two and a half months seems to be consistent with people that I've spoken to that have had the high ankle sprain in hockey.
Elliotte Friedman [00:37:10] Mhm.
Jeff Marek [00:37:11] Yeah, I don't like that one. You mentioned Colorado a second ago, Artturi Lehkonen, I really like this player.
Elliotte Friedman [00:37:19] I do too.
Jeff Marek [00:37:20] Josh Manson comes in, Andrew Cogliano as well. Listen man, like there's no way around it, this is go for it year for the Avalanche. And it's been that way all season long, it's been that way when they made the move for Darcy Kuemper. And it was this way when, you know, came trade deadline time, even before when they added Josh Manson and it was this way trade deadline time when they added Cogliano and Artturi Lehkonen. Your thoughts on Joe Sakic?
Elliotte Friedman [00:37:44] I think they were in on obviously Giroux. I think they were in on Copp. I'm betting they were in on Moore. I like Lehkonen a lot. I think that's a really good player for them. The thing that's interesting to me is, and I've said this a couple of times now, is the difference between the East and the West at the deadline. You know, who loaded up in the West? Colorado. It was Calgary, it was Minnesota, and St. Louis went out and they got Nick Leddy.
Jeff Marek [00:38:10] Nick Leddy.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:10] A lot of other teams kind of held stiff. I, by the way, I think Edmonton was in on Lehkonen. I think that was a player that they really liked.
Jeff Marek [00:38:20] Hmm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:21] And in the East, everyone went for it. Everyone added.
Jeff Marek [00:38:24] All the playoff teams, you mean.
Elliotte Friedman [00:38:26] Yes. That's all that really matters, right, at this time of year.
Jeff Marek [00:38:28] Well, I mean, listen, you, we just talked about the Florida. Boston goes out and grabs, you know, the big name there, Hampus Lindholm and signs him to the extension. Mark Giordano and Colin Blackwell go to Toronto, Hagel and Paul to Tampa as they try to redo that, that Yanni Gourde line. The Rangers made their moves. Carolina picks up Max Domi, and probably this is, this is probably the best team that Max Domi's ever played for in the NHL, too. This is gonna be interesting for, to see how Domi does surrounded by that all-star cast. Rickard Rakell to Pittsburgh and Marcus Johansson to the Washington Capitals. Those are the highlights from the East, and those are really big teams getting really big players Elliotte.
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:08] Absolutely. I think everybody there thinks they can win. It's a tough one with Toronto, Sandin.
Jeff Marek [00:39:14] Okay yeah. I mean, it doesn't sound good. Again, I don't want to throw darts at it, but it just, this one does not sound good at all.
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:22] I think the question is gonna be, does he think he can play on it with a brace or something like that? Tough call. Really tough call.
Jeff Marek [00:39:31] I did mention that I wanted to get to do Dubas and Davidson, so let's just get it out of the way now. What did you make of that?
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:36] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:39:36] Flare up between the two.
Elliotte Friedman [00:39:39] So we talked about it on Friday for Hagel. I didn't realise that Fleury was in it at the time? And they did ask for Knies and a first round pick and the Leafs just said, we're not gonna do that. So I think the thing that bothers Toronto the most is that it was a trade that was talked about that wasn't going to happen. Toronto said no.
Jeff Marek [00:40:00] Hang on, to clarify this was a trade the Toronto didn't bring up. This is a trade that Chicago brought up and Toronto said no.
Elliotte Friedman [00:40:06] No no no, I, I don't know of the, like I don't know if Toronto brought it up. I don't know who brought it up. I'm sure that Toronto called them about Fleury. They were looking for Blackwell slash Hagel type player right? So I'm sure Toronto called them, and I'm sure the two sides looked at the deal but once Toronto knew what the ask was gonna be, they were not willing to do it. It never got to Fleury, like he wasn't even asked because Toronto said, we're not doing it for that price. And Hagel goes to Tampa and they're like, yeah, we weren't doing this. Like it's not like Toronto made the offer and Chicago turned it down. First of all, Dubas hates leaks, like a lot of guys do so he's annoyed about that. But secondly, they're looking at it and saying, we decided we weren't gonna make this deal. Like it's not like they took Tampa's offer instead of Toronto's. They decided they weren't doing that. I think what they're worried about is, what is the effect this have on Jack Campbell?
Jeff Marek [00:41:05] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:06] By the way, I heard there were like five waiver claims for Sateri.
Jeff Marek [00:41:09] Hang on, how many claims?
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:11] I heard there were four or five claims for him.
Jeff Marek [00:41:14] How many were just to mess with the Maple Leafs? Because I don't know about you. But that afternoon, every time I checked in with the team and brought that up, the question was, well, we're not goinna do it, but we hope somebody else does.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:28] I wonder if Toronto's smarter play would have been to give him a two year deal?
Jeff Marek [00:41:32] Maybe.
Elliotte Friedman [00:41:34] I don't know. I mean, I'm just throwing spaghetti at the wall, but I just was thinking about that. I was talking about it with some people.
Jeff Marek [00:41:42] To the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Rickard Rakell is the big move there. I like Pittsburgh going for it because this will probably be Sidney Crosby's last shot at the Stanley Cup with this group that still carries with it the memories of previous victories and Stanley Cups and successes and future Hall of Fame performances, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. What did you make of the Pens saying, you know what? Eventually we're going to have to restock the cupboards, but this team is so good, let's kick the can down the road for one more season. I like it. Matter of fact, I love it. What about you?
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:17] Why not, Pittsburgh? Go for it. What'd Burkie say? They were initially offered or asked for a first and a prospect and they said no?
Jeff Marek [00:42:24] He said when they first checked in on Rickard Rakell about his availability, they were told it'll cost you a first round pick and a top prospect.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:32] So they waited it out. That's basically what happened was Verbeek was shopping him around, waited it out, took it down to the deadline, took his best offer, and his best offer was Pittsburgh.
Jeff Marek [00:42:42] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:42] Rakell as long as he stays healthy, he'll be great there. That's a great move for the Penguins.
Jeff Marek [00:42:48] It is. Burkie says he'll play a bottom six role, but I have a feeling that at some point he'll probably end up playing with Malkin, don't you? It just seems like a natural fit, but.
Elliotte Friedman [00:42:57] It does.
Jeff Marek [00:42:58] We will see. To Rakell's previous team. Actually we started the podcast by talking about the Anaheim Ducks in a way, but here we are again. What do you make of the tear down? Lik, there's a lot of people there that worked really hard this year to get the Ducks to a place where they were, you know, competitive and flirting with the playoffs and December was great, etc. And then Lindholm gone. Manson gone. Deslauriers gone. Rickard Rakell gone. And I think to some in that organisation, listen, it's a punch in the gut when that happens after a lot of hard work this season. Business is business, Pat Verbeek said, we're not letting people walk out of here without getting something. I think for some, it feels like they've jumped back two seasons, perhaps? But going into this year, I think, you know, pretty much everybody was told, expect some more pain this season and maybe next season as well.
Elliotte Friedman [00:43:49] Yeah, I think it's obvious which way this is gonna go for Anaheim. They want to make changes. And it sounds to me in their GM interviews, they made it very clear to people that they were going to make changes. And I think that's one of the reasons. I mean, I think Verbeek might have gotten the job anyway, but his fearlessness to make change I heard really appealed to them, and he's now done it. You know, to me, the teams in the next few months that are gonna be the most interesting. Anaheim, you know, what's John Gibson's future? Philadelphia, the likes of Konecny, Provorov, Sanheim. Winnipeg, I think they're gonna have some big decisions at the end of the year. Sheifele, Dubois, Hellebuyck maybe. You know, where are they going with all these players? I think at the end of the year this year, there's gonna be a lot of, a lot of hard conversations about where some teams are going.
Jeff Marek [00:44:48] You wanna throw Dallas into that mix too?
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:50] Dallas to me has already begun the turnover right?
Jeff Marek [00:44:53] To the Heiskanens and Robertsons and Hintzes and--
Elliotte Friedman [00:44:58] Heiskanen's signed and they're going to extend Robertson and they're gonna, like, I think that's already happening. Even though Seguin's still there and Benn's still there and some of those guys are still there, I think they've basically begun their turnover.
Jeff Marek [00:45:11] To the guys that didn't move at deadline. Jacob Chychrun, John Klingberg as another one as well. Any thoughts on players we thought might, we already talked about Filip Forsberg, thoughts on those two defencemen that stayed, didn't get moved? I mean, Chychrun might just be a draft day deal, opening yourself up to 31 teams but.
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:31] Kessel surprised me too. But I heard after they kept money on Larsson.
Jeff Marek [00:45:35] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:35] They couldn't keep money on Kessel, and that ruined his chances of going anywhere.
Jeff Marek [00:45:39] How about his sister breaking it on Twitter?
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:41] Yeah.
Jeff Marek [00:45:42] Insider!
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:43] She should go on one of the trade panels.
Jeff Marek [00:45:45] We'll take her.
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:46] I just think Arizona's set a level, and when Arizona saw what guys went for, what Chiarot went for.
Jeff Marek [00:45:53] Oh yeah, they weren't budging.
Elliotte Friedman [00:45:55] Lindholm went for, they're, they said, we, we have to have a high price here.
Jeff Marek [00:46:00] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:00] And the other thing too is with with Klingberg, I think Jim Nill was like Kent Hughes, he said, I'm setting a price and meet my price or no.
Jeff Marek [00:46:07] And, we need him.
Elliotte Friedman [00:46:09] We need him.
Jeff Marek [00:46:10] In Dallas for this playoff push. Okay! We're gonna hit a pause, we're gonna come back with some of your questions and phone calls. 32 Thoughts continues, keep it here.
[00:46:16] [Break.]
Jeff Marek [00:46:27] Okay. 32thoughts@sportsnet.ca, the email address, the phone number 1-866-311-3232, that is a thought line 1-866-311-3232. A voicemail from Craig. Let's kick it off there.
Caller [00:46:43] [Hey guys. Craig here from nowhere, Ontario, quick question for you regarding Toronto's lost goaltender. Could you guys please break it down, how a foreign player can sign a contract with an NHL team, go on waivers, which makes sense, but then be scooped up by somebody else, even though they signed a contract with that specific team? That's the one thing I find confusing about the waiver situation. Jeff, Amil, Elliotte, great job, special shoutout to Elliotte for the autism awareness pens, it's seen by many and appreciated by all. Thanks, guys. Keep up the great work.]
Jeff Marek [00:47:21] Nice touch, Craig. Elliotte.
Elliotte Friedman [00:47:23] Well, I'm glad it's meaningful to you, Craig. I do appreciate it. Basically, what it goes back to was, every year there was defenceman named Reijo Ruotsalainen in the '80s, and he was a really talented defenceman who would play overseas for three quarters of the season and would come back at the end of the year, join the Edmonton Oilers, make them better and help them win another Stanley Cup. And eventually it got to a point where the league said, we have to stop this. So if you play overseas and you play in another year and you try to come back to the NHL late in the year, even if someone signs you, you know you have to be offered up to everyone. And that's exactly what happened here. It's basically the, the Ruotsalainen rule, if you wanna call it?
Jeff Marek [00:48:11] Yeah.
Elliotte Friedman [00:48:11] That's where it starts.
Jeff Marek [00:48:12] You know what you could also call it? The Ron Wilson rule, because they did that. The Minnesota North Stars did that with him as well. It was Reijo Ruotsalainen and, and Ron Wilson as well. So that's, that's the rule, and that's why we have it. Another voicemail, this one from Mike.
Caller [00:48:30] [Hey guys, Mike in Fort McMurray here. Just wanted to know, when a trade is made, is it possible that the team trading the player can retain all of the salary slash salary cap? So, for example, if Fleury is getting traded to Toronto, can the Blackhawks keep all of his salary, salary cap hit? Just wanted to kno, never seen it before, so just thought I'd throw it out there. And to close, as always. Great job, Amil. Great job, Jeff. Have a good day boys. Later.]
Jeff Marek [00:49:04] Yes!
Elliotte Friedman [00:49:03] No. No, the answer's no. You can only do 50 percent max. 50 percent max.
Jeff Marek [00:49:09] Is the max. Mike in Fort McMurray, thank you so much for that one. Okay, let's get in. Bill in Chicago. "I'm seeing the news about Eve Gascon becoming the third woman to appear in a CHL game this weekend." This was last week. "I know that men playing in the CHL, of course, lose NCAA eligibility when they register a game played. But is it the same for Eve? And will the new name, image and likeness guidelines loosen that policy at all for men and women looking to play collegiate hockey?" This is an interesting one, so I looked into this on Saturday.
Elliotte Friedman [00:49:44] This is for you, yes.
Jeff Marek [00:49:46] I looked into this on Saturday, and here is the reasoning. So yes, she can still play NCAA hockey. She hasn't lost her eligibility. Now this goes back to in the NCAA guidelines rule 12.2.3: underlying competition. And it says, in sports other than men's ice hockey and skiing, I don't know why skiing, but someone from NCAA is gonna hear this and say, this is why skiing. In sports other than men's ice hockey and skiing, before initial fulltime collegiate enrolment, an individual may compete on a professional team, provided the individual does not receive more than actual and necessary expenses to participate on the team. So what this rule covers off is competition. So for Eve's situation, she is allowed because that's only for men's hockey, not women's hockey. But in an interesting wrinkle here, because Eve played in the QMJHL on Saturday, she does lose her eligibility to play on the men's side. Like she's committed to Minnesota Duluth, so she can still go and play, because there's no rule about women playing CHL hockey and then not being eligible. They can still, they can go and do it, it's only the men. But if Minnesota Duluth on the men's side, if they have, you know, goaltending issues, injuries, sickness, whatever, and they call her sideways to the men's team, she can't go and play because she's already played in the CHL, well the QMJHL, she's played junior hockey, which NCAA considers a pro loop. Now, there's an interesting situation this year Elliotte at Princeton, because the goaltenders there came down with COVID, so they enquired about reaching sideways for a women's goalie from the women's team, and it didn't go anywhere because the goalie in question got COVID as well. We almost got to that point where, you know, hey, someone from the Princeton women's team was going over but, for the purposes of this question, Eve Gaskon could only play with the women's team at Minnesota Duluth. She couldn't go sideways to play on the men's team because, I guess for the purposes of this rule, she would be treated as if she was a man playing in the QMJHL, therefore would be ineligible to play on the men's side, but could still play on the women's side.
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:30] I would have had no idea of that.
Jeff Marek [00:52:32] I'll ask you the same question you asked about Dadonov? Did that make sense? Did I explain myself--
Elliotte Friedman [00:52:39] Yes. It's very interesting. That's, I never would have guessed that. I automatically assumed when I saw her play that she couldn't play in the NCAA. Because if you so much as play of one period of one exhibition game as a male, you're done. I never would have known that.
Jeff Marek [00:52:55] Men's hockey does not allow ex-CHL players. Women's hockey Elliotte has no such rule. That is right from the NCAA bylaws. She just can't go and play with the men, but she's free to go play Minnesota Duluth. That is... Excellent question Bill in Chicago. Okay, I wanna make sure we get this in. This is from Andy. "Can we get some stick taps for Saskatoon Blades goaltender Nolan Maier? He's closing in on the all-time wins record in the WHL," three shy of the record, "undrafted, but we all love him in Saskatoon." Now Andy, Elliotte and I could try to blather on about Nolan. But why not go to a bigger authority than us on this issue? And that is Colin Priestner! The general manager of the Saskatoon Blades? Yes, Andy, we reached out to Colin for you. Take it away, Priestner.
Recording [00:53:47] [Colin Priestner: Well the first thing that comes to mind with Nolan Maier to me is what an incredible kid he is he's, he's the kind of goalie who could easily be captain of, of the Blades or any other team. He's, you know, the most professional player, and he's been that way since he's been 16 and he's just an absolute pleasure to have around the rink and guys gravitate to him and, and you know, that's rare for a goalie where you're the leader or one of the leaders of your team and it's something that's kind of separated him on the personal level since he got here five years ago but, you know, when we drafted him, we drafted him 25th overall, which at the time and still is the highest we've ever drafted ae goalie in our history. And, and, you know, our first round pick that year was Kirby Dach so they're kind of the one two punch that you kind of dream about as a GM in the years after the draft and both just taken their own paths to being great. And, you know, in terms of his style of play he's, you know, he's as good technically as any goalie in the country. He's, he's incredibly fast, he's focussed, he's athletic. You know, unfortunately being 5'11" at the start of his career now he's 6' tall. You know, that's really hurt him. In terms of his draft stock with NHL teams, a lot of teams have told us they won't even look at a goalie that's under 6'2" but there's always exceptions and there's a couple in the NHL and you know, to me, he's, he's one of those guys that should be that exception like when Sean McVay talked about Aaron Donald after the Superbowl, he used the term competitive greatness and he said, how the competitively great players are the ones that, you know, despite what they've done the entire game leading up to that big moment, like when you need them the most, your biggest players perform at the highest levels and to me, I thought instantly of, of Nolan with that like, I can't tell you how many times we've been up a goal with 30 seconds left or, you know, the other team's got the net pulled and you just know Nolan's gonna make an unbelievable save at the buzzer with 10 seconds left and we call it Nolan being Nolan around here, we even had tshirts made a few years ago that said "Nolan being Nolan", because he just does that kind of stuff when it matters the most, when the game's on the line. He's just an incredibly great athlete and mentally he's just exceptionally tough when it comes to those moments so, you know, his two wins from the all-time record now in the Western Hockey League for wins and three wins from having the record, two from tying and three from winning it so, if not for COVID, I think he'd already have the record by 30 or 40 wins and it would be something that I don't know if anyone could catch but I really hope you know it happens for him at home here in the next week or two because certainly, I think it's going to be one of the most special moments in Blades history, and nobody deserves it more than Nolan and hopefully it gets him the attention around the hockey world and the pro ranks that I think he really deserves.]
Jeff Marek [00:56:23] Now that is going to the authority. Colin, thanks for stopping by pal. Okay. From Brandon in Williams Lake, B.C. Wrap up with this one. "Hey, guys, just wondering how the waiver process works. Does each team have a set amount of--
Elliotte Friedman [00:56:36] Lotta waiver questions today.
Jeff Marek [00:56:37] Hey man, people are more curious--as it's harder and harder to make trades, people are more curious about waivers than ever before.
Elliotte Friedman [00:56:42] Yes.
Jeff Marek [00:56:43] "Does each team have a set amount of time to make a decision, like the draft? Does each team just email the league their decision and then it's sorted in order of standings with the time limit thing and them having 24 hours to clear? Would a team in the middle of the standings have to wake up at 4 a.m. or something like that for their decision? Can you please shed some light on how the waiver process happens?"
Elliotte Friedman [00:57:04] I like the way people think, I really do.
Jeff Marek [00:57:07] I love it, I love it.
Elliotte Friedman [00:57:07] I think that's really interesting. No. Basically what happens is, for the first month of the season, it's based on last year's standings, and then points percentage takes over. And, you know, whether you're ranked one or you're rank 32, you can make a claim and then it gets processed by the lowest ranked team that made the claim.
Jeff Marek [00:57:26] Mhm.
Elliotte Friedman [00:57:27] So Sateri, for example, four or five, since Arizona was the lowest ranked team that made a claim, they got him.
Jeff Marek [00:57:34] They get him. Perfect. Thanks so much for the emails. Thanks for the phone calls. We'll take you out with this. A folk artist who calls Prince Edward County home. Elliotte have you ever been to Prince Edward County?
Elliotte Friedman [00:57:45] Beautiful.
Jeff Marek [00:57:46] It's absolutely gorgeous. David James Allen released his third solo record last year, touching on several genres from blues to country. The architect was a 10 track recording, telling stories of politics, love, and the journey he took to take control of his life. With his latest single from Little Known Records, here's David James Allen with Where There's Smoke, There's Fire on 32 Thoughts the Podcast, post-trade deadline edition. Hope you enjoyed it as much as you enjoy this song.
[00:58:16] [Outtro music.]