Sports
Elliotte Friedman Interview
In this episode, Elliott Friedman shares insights on Connor McDavid's recent contract and its implications for the Edmonton Oilers and the NHL at large. He discusses loyalty, team dynamics, and t...
Elliotte Friedman Interview
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Interactive Transcript
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Elliott, we were just debating whether or not this contracted sentient for economic
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David is a timeline.
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Your thoughts, is it a deadline for Ebb and Tinda to win the cup?
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Yeah, well, it's not a deadline for them to win the cup, but what it is is it's a deadline
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that we can, I think what he did here, guys, was he told everybody, do not take my loyalty
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for granted.
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I think he's loyal to the oilers.
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I think he's loyal to the veteran group of teammates that he's tight with their dry
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sightled nurse, Nurgent Hawkins, Atcom, Hyman, like that group of guys.
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But I think the message he sent here is don't take it for granted.
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Don't take it.
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Like I burned to win.
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I think the victory at the four nations gave him a taste, only increased it.
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Obviously, the losses the last two years in the Stanley Cup Final, he did him and make
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him want to win it so badly.
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And I think he's so possessed and so consumed by that.
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He says that, you know what, guys, I'm going to make sure that you're as dedicated to
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it as I am.
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I think that's what he said.
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I don't think it's as simple as if they don't win in the next three years.
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He's gone.
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But what I do think it is is that it's, if you look at Edmonton, they're older.
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They're one of the older teams in the league and that's really helped them.
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But where's the next wave?
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Yes, they traded for Savoy.
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Yes, they traded for Howard.
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But you can see, like if you just look in your crystal ball, you can see there being
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the chance, even with McDavid and dry sightled for a drop off in a couple years, once
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father time, who was undefeated, starts to come in on these oilers.
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And I think that's what he's saying.
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Like I like where we are now, but I want to make sure where we are, I like where we
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are in three years.
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And that's the message that he sent here to me is don't take my loyalty for granted.
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I have to say, Elliot, it's just so nice to have another adult on the show because that
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that just made all too much sense from the argument that Johnny and I were having because
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everybody thinks it's like Stanley Cuffer bust.
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And what I'm sitting here, ranting like a lunatic about is, yes, you have to be a great
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team to win the Stanley Cup.
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But there is circumstances around that guys get injured.
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Gold tenders, especially could have issue.
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I mean, there's just so many things that need to go right for your team to win a Stanley
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Cup. And that's why it's not always the team or it really never is the team that wins
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the president's trophy that ends up hoisting it in, in, well, I guess we're edging closer
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to July these days for the Stanley Cup.
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But let me ask you this, Elliot, around the league, how are other GM's players, coaches
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reacting to this contract?
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Because I made a statement on Jeff's show on the sheet yesterday.
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That was, I think this is great for players in Edmonton and for Edmonton and their fans.
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But I think it hurts other players around the league.
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We read the Alan Walsh tweet about, you know, Bob Goodnow and how he felt like salary
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caps would make players look greedy to fans, to media, to clubs.
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And I already saw yesterday, everybody yelling and screaming saying, Capri's off this,
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Capri's off that.
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And I don't agree with it.
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You know what?
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I understand Alan's point, but you know, part of me is like, if you're one of those people
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that's going to talk like that, you're going to think players are greedy anyway, right?
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Like to me, I don't know if a salary cap changes a lot of opinions on that.
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I think people are just wired a certain way.
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You know, the number one thing I always believe cold be is that, you know, whenever I've signed
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a contract with my own self, I've tried to do something that will help everybody else
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on my team.
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Can I do something that, you know, moves the line a little bit or raises the bar a little
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bit because it's very rarely as a contract negotiation only about you.
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It's usually about everyone.
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But one of the things I also believe, and I believe this very strongly, is at the end
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of the day, it's your life and it's not anyone else's.
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And you have to do what's right by you.
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And I think everybody understands that sometimes you have to do things.
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Maybe you don't have leverage, but sometimes you have to do things that make you happy.
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What Connor McDavid said yesterday was, I am happy in Edmonton.
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I want to win in Edmonton, but I want to make sure the team is always as committed as I am.
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And I want to make sure that everybody there understands that my loyalty is not a blank check.
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So I'm going to do it this way.
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You know, the funniest quote I got from someone was they said,
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someone in the Western conference, they said, I really respect at McDavid for doing that.
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But I really hate that it allows Edmonton to be better.
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And, you know, I think that's what a lot of other teams in the Western conference would say.
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I quote this book all the time.
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I've done it a billion times on the pod.
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I refer to it all the time.
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And that is a book called The Bald Truth by David Falk, who used to be Michael Jordan's agent.
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And he would always talk about how, just because this is someone else's situation,
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it doesn't mean it's my situation.
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And yes, I think teams are going to go to players and they're going to say,
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look what McDavid just did.
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He's the best player in the league.
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If he takes less, you should take less.
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100% I believe that's going to happen.
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But a smart agent and a smart player, they will say, look, that's his situation.
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It's unique and it's not my situation.
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And sometimes you just have to have the courage to say that.
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I think you're hinting at one specific player.
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I don't know if I'm reading this correctly, but I think that player might be Quinn Hughes.
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Because I think if this...
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I wasn't expecting anyone.
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I don't think I wasn't referring to anyone, but I mean, I saw people ripping Caprizov yesterday.
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People are fair to have whatever opinion they want.
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It's a free country or in both of our cases, it's a free two countries in all of our cases.
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People can say whatever they want.
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And Caprizov, he's going to have...
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People are going to be waiting.
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If he doesn't play well or he goes five games without a point,
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oh, this is what 17 million buys you.
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You just have to have a thick skin and you've just got a power through.
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We all make our choices and we have to do the best out of them.
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I mean, Elliott, speaking of that, you're going to see a lot on Twitter tonight.
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If the Pittsburgh Penguin score, you're going to see a quote saying 11.5.
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Everyone has been going out through Igor Shasturken now since he signed that deal last year.
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And then all the goalies are taken eight and a half.
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Like, that's just... That's what comes with it.
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But my last thing about McDavid for you,
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what will it take to have a one-on-one sit down,
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Connor McDavid, the decision, because Christine LeBron,
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do his second one today.
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And I think hockey needs that for McDavid's contract when it comes up.
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Well, I'll say to him that Johnny Lazarus wants a decision if he ever leaves Edmonton.
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And I'll see what he tells me.
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And you can pick whatever is left out of my carcass on some dumpster
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in downtown Edmonton after I ask him the question.
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I think it'd be awesome to see that on TV.
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He's definitely a guy that I'm business.
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Yeah. No, go ahead, Cole.
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Go ahead, Elliott.
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No, no, I want to hear your thought.
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No, you're given us all this wisdom here, so keep going.
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You know what? I just think I'm a huge McDavid fan.
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I always have been. He doesn't always like everything we ask him.
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And I think we've all been on the other end of that McDavid player from time to time.
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But he's all about winning.
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And you know what guys? I'll tell you something too.
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Deep down, he knows that...
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And I'm not even sure so deep down.
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I don't even think he thinks it's all on the oilers.
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I think he expects a lot more of himself.
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I'm sure that he looks at some of those games and then Stanley Cup Final the last two years.
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And he says I could have done more.
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So I think he comes out this year like a man possessed and has an awesome season.
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Yeah, he's been talking about wanting to shoot the puck more.
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I think we talked about that in our division previews.
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It's scary for the rest of the league of an extra motivated
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Conor McDavid who says I'm going to score goals because he seemingly is the only player in
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the national hockey league that can just do things at will.
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I mean, that's what I think separates him even from that next year, you know,
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of McKinnon and McCarr or dry whoever you have in that top echelon of the national hockey league.
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So it will be fun to watch and there will certainly be a lot of eyes on him.
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But you know, there are other things I'd say floating around out there when it comes to the
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Edmonton Oilers and now that they have an idea of what their cap situation is going to look like
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they got the Walmond deal done.
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Yeah, obviously noblock.
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That was the announcement that you made the other day as well.
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Is there anybody next in Edmonton like shoot a drop, I guess, as far as contracts go or
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things that we can expect to see here in the in the near future?
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I think, yeah, Colin, you know, I think that they kind of had, I think they wanted to get McDavid
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done before the season if he allowed it to happen, which he did.
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I do believe there was a real goal of getting Walmond done before the season.
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And I think I don't know if it gets done before the season, but I do think they want to get a
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deal done with that column. And I think he wants a deal done there.
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And it's just a matter of they kind of had to wait till some other things got done first.
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Now, I've heard a couple different things on that column.
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I've heard short term deal.
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I've heard like a Chris Tannish style deal with a longer term just to get the A A V down
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properly. It'll be one or the other, but I think we're going to get a point where at
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home gets signed here. I expect that to happen in the not too distant future and I'd be surprised
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if it didn't. Do you think they're going to be aggressive as far as making trades and season
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goes as well? Like kind of building this team out on the fly.
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I mean, we saw so many departures with Edmonton this summer.
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Do you feel like that could be a move or is it kind of way to the deadline, see what we have?
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No, it's interesting right now, Johnny.
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I don't know how much trade action there's going to be early.
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There's a lot of young players being given chances here from
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Brady Martin and Nashville to look at all the young guys who are going to play for Pittsburgh,
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to Coots and Vancouver. Edmonton, Santa Isaac Howard down yesterday, but that I think is a paper
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move and we'll see what they come up with for their game tomorrow night. I think you're going to
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see a lot of teams try to give some of their young guys some time. Obviously some of them will make it,
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some of them won't. This is always famous last words and it just bites me in the ass, but I don't
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expect a ton of trade stuff at the beginning of the year, but I do think that once these teams figure
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out, either you get off to a slow start and you run out of patience or you realize, okay,
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this kid's not ready. Then I think teams are going to start going. I think Philly's looking for D,
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you know, Rick talk. It's been pretty vocal about how he didn't like the way his D played the
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exhibition season. I think Vancouver's still looking for that second line center like everybody
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else. I think Toronto is still looking for a top six forward. They've been doing that all summer
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since Mariner left. So I absolutely do think that Edmonton is going to be in this. Like for them
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all year, it's not even about the deadline. It's simply as in we got to make our roster better and
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we got to consistently try and make our roster better. I just think whenever that opportunity
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presents itself, I mean, right now there's only one real seller, right? And that's Pittsburgh.
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So the opportunity presents itself to go out and get a player. I don't know how many teams are
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going to be sitting there and saying, all right, we got away to the deadline. No, I think you're
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going to have to be aggressive because there's only so many of these guys available. I think the
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thing this year is the change in the CBA about the double retention. I don't know if it means
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we're going to start seeing guys traded 75 days before the deadline so they can get the retention
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again at March. But that's going to be a thing. That's, you know, the whole salary cap, the way
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that gets changed from in season to playoffs. Like it's going to be a big adjustment for everybody
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this year. Yeah. Well, and it's funny. You mentioned the Philadelphia Flyers, as you were talking
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about Rick, talk it and not so much about the Flyers, even though I did hear a lot of rumblings
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around the Philly media. I live in the Villanova area, Elliott. So I'm not far from sort of ears shot
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of Philadelphia media. And I'm I feel like a lot of teams, the Flyers included were sort of
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keeping an eye on Capri's off, keeping an eye on Mick David, not that every team wasn't. But
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I just heard a lot about how they're just sort of secretly getting ready to make their pitch for
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those two players. But now these guys are all sort of getting getting their extensions and staying
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put as we know NHL players like to do as I was explaining to Johnny how hard it gets to move as
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you start to lay down roots in a city. But what are all these teams that have been secretly hoping
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in their rebuild, whether it's Chicago, whether it's Philly, are these superstars going to be
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available? What's plan B look like for some of these teams now that probably are a little upset
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here in the last 48 hours that you've seen some of these extensions come down?
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Well, and you know what I'll tell you to cool be I will be surprised if I call doesn't get done
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too. I still think he extends there. I just think he likes it there. Lay like him.
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I don't think I know he loves it. You're not wrong. I know personally that he loves it in Vegas.
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All right. Well, I mean, I wonder how Apple's going to feel about you bragging about us for
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your friendship with him. And to me, I mean, you guys know, like sometimes guys just battle
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about their worth, right? Like they end. But I still think at the end of the day,
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they're going to be he's going to get done there. And I think they've been working at it quite a
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bit over the last little while. It's tough to get to a number that both sides are comfortable with.
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And I think Vegas kind of budgeted 25 million for Ikel and Marner. And you know, I just think
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right now it's over that and we'll just see who bends a bit. But you know, like I'm trying to figure
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out, you know, the the offer sheet thing. I always wonder when do we get to the point where somebody
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takes another whack at a at a big player. I think Carolina this summer they took a long look at
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Bouchard and Ed Benton locked them down. They did it with Keon Vermiller and they worked out a deal.
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I think teams were really nervous about me, me Canada this year and nothing he did last weekend.
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Arizona State changed anybody's mind. But I do think eventually the more these guys come off the
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boards, I just think that someone's going to feel the pressure to do it. I know we make this
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prediction every year and it every year it turns out to be wrong. But you know, the values are
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going up. The prices of going to games are going up. Eventually that pressure is going to get
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to somebody. It just it just will. The question is I'm 55 now. Am I going to be alive to see it?
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Am I going to be saying this for 10 more years? I like you're looking at the groups like I'll tell
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you now in 2028 and that's a long time from now. Look who's unrestricted that summer. It's
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you think we get a chance where any of those guys are UFA's or you know, is it a crazy summer?
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Like I know like it's funny. People are are down on the insiders right now because
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we said it would be a crazy summer and it was bland as hell. So I can call you fall down here.
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All your fall. Yes, it is. It's it we better stop making predictions.
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I mean, this happens time and time again though.
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Was it Paul Holmgren who did it with with Weber? Is that was that like the last like
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Monumental one with with Philly and Nashville? I don't remember like a monumental size one since
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there, but you'd probably know that better than me. Well, I mean, that was obviously a massive
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massive one. I mean, Carolina and Montreal did it to each other with you know, Cautcanyemi and Aho.
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That was that was interesting because those ones kind of came out in nowhere and like I said,
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Carolina last summer threatened it and you know, I've said this too. I heard right before
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a McDabber signed. Someone told me there was a team out there that was trying to get a draft
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pick back that they traded because they were thinking about doing McDabbush. But at the end of
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the day, they decided not to and it wasn't Carolina. I think Carolina made it pretty clear. It wasn't
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them, but I think there was another team out there that was thinking about it, but Anaheim got
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McDabbush done. Number one and number two guys, I honestly think that aside from the hurricanes,
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there's a lot of teams terrified that they trade that McKenna pick this year. They just want
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no part of that, no part of that. Interesting. There are a lot of things too, Elliot, that Colby and I
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have kind of been discussing yesterday. I think you mentioned Pittsburgh being the only team that's
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really selling and the two teams that we were looking at that really made the most sense right now.
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Obviously the Florida Panthers with Barkah being out, but we saw guys talking about it last night at
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their ring ceremony that Barkah was not even on Crutches or anything and you know, he's going to
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miraculously. Well, he is. He just was the tour. You know, he is on the Crutches, but he refused to
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wear them walking up the stairs, which I think is really impressive. Like that. Yeah, that's tough.
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That's that's a man. That's an alpha male. Like that a lot. Yeah. And you know, just like point
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being, I mean, do you see Evgeny Malkin landing somewhere this year outside of Florida or Tampa Bay?
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Like he's going to be a guy that a lot of eyes are on, especially if one center and the top two
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lines for any team get hurt. I think every sign of Evgeny Malkin will point to said team,
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but how long does Pittsburgh wait until they make this move? Like I feel like he's going to be a guy
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who should be dealt before the Olympics, you would think. Well, I think this number one,
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does Malkin want to do it. He's always said he's going to finish in Pittsburgh, right? So
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and he's got control over the situation. So I think it would have to be it would have to be
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Malkin agreeing to it. Number two, I always kind of look at it this way.
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Florida's got a declare. They got to be with the new rules this year. Malkin salary will be
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an impediment to a team like Florida unless they're decled, Chuck's coming back and you're right.
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Looking at Barkhoff last night, he sure looks like he's coming back this year or at least we can't
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write him off yet. Like one thing that's happened is when Vegas filed their opening night roster last
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night, they listed Petrangelo as out for the year. He is officially declared with Petrangelo and the
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NHLPA is approval that he cannot come back this year, regular season or playoffs. So now Vegas knows
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they have the full Petrangelo cap relief. Florida doesn't have that at this point in time. They
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have not declared Barkhoff out for the year. So, you know, so number one, it doesn't even work.
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I mean, you can always make it work if you really want to work. But number two, I've always
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believed with Malkin, you know, he's been adamant that he's only going to play for Pittsburgh,
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or he just wants to stay for Pittsburgh. Is he going to change that? You know, the other thing
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to his, Pittsburgh's trying to get a sale done here. I've always wondered, how would a new owner feel?
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You come in, you buy the Pittsburgh penguins and the first things you're doing are trading
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Malkin and Crossway. I got to say, if I was a new owner, I don't know if I'd be, if I would be
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all that have the cash pay to do that would be if Lemieux. And what was his partner? I'm
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drawing a blank on the previous owner. That was Lemieux partner. Right. Maybe they are the only one
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thing that you can do that. I don't think that's going to, I don't think it's going to be them.
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Like right now, there's, there's another group in there, the Hoffman family, and they have,
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I think they're an exclusive window right now, Colby. So I think they're trying to close it.