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Chapter 1: What led to the Carolina Hurricanes winning the Stanley Cup?
The perfect storm in the 20th anniversary of their first title. Once again, the Carolina Hurricanes are Stanley Cup champions.
Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by your Canadian Toyota dealers and the 2026 Tacoma. It's time to Toyota. Happy Monday. Dom, Elliot and Kyle back with you. A Monday in which the Stanley Cup final is now over. A perfect storm. Hits Vegas on Sunday. It was Carolina Hurricane hockey in a multitude of ways, Elliot. Rod Brendamore takes the head coaching job in 2018.
They make it to the conference final the next year. They make it to the conference final in 2023. They made it to the third round last year. No further in those three attempts. And really, last year, Elliot, the noise started to build around Brindamore and the way he was so convinced they had to play. Was it truly going to work to get to the ultimate goal of winning a Stanley Cup?
On Sunday night, Elliot, it proved to be yes. The Hurricanes, for the second time in the franchise's history, are Stanley Cup champions.
Incredible run, 16-3, which rarely happens in the salary cab era. To win the Stanley Cup in 19 games. When I was a kid, I remember there was a year the Islanders went 15-2, and people thought that was impossible. First round was best three out of five back then. And people were saying nobody would ever do that again. And 16-3 in the cap era, it's an incredible accomplishment.
And I think one of the things, Kyle, that really stands out about this one for me, and I was really thinking about it as this game unfolded, In every one of their previous series, Vegas, as it got deeper into the number of games, they got better and they overpowered. They steamrolled the other team. They did it with Utah. They did it with Anaheim. They did it with Colorado.
I mean, that one they were dominant from start to finish. But in Game 3, they had that massive comeback. In Game 4, Colorado was broken.
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Chapter 2: How did the Vegas Golden Knights struggle in the finals?
But this is the first team... This is the first team that Vegas played that didn't bow to them. at the end of the series. As we got into games four, five, and six, Carolina actually got better and they imposed their will. I think Vegas completely ran out of gas, but I don't mean that to take it away from what Carolina did.
I thought Carolina was the one team that as the series got on, they said, nope,
Chapter 3: What does Tortorella's future look like after the season?
You're not taking control of us. We're taking control of you. And, you know, I think the thing that there's a lot of things that happened late in that game or the aftermath of that game that really stick out in my head and we'll get to a few of them.
But one of them that really stood out to me was your interview with Jordan Stahl, where he talked about how some guys bailed, but a lot stayed and turned this from a loser into a winner. And the other thing was just sitting there voting on the con Smythe. Like, to me, and the votes will come out.
Chapter 4: What are the highlights of the 2026 NHL season recap?
We make them public at some point. I think it'll be later Monday. But for me, Jordan Stahl was the easy one, right?
Chapter 5: How did the Carolina Hurricanes improve their roster this season?
He was number one. But the thing is, I really had trouble deciding two and three. Like, one of the things I thought about was, do I put Mitch Marner on there because of the great playoffs he had? And I ultimately decided not to because of the way that certain Hurricanes played not only throughout the playoffs, but as the Stanley Cup rolled to its decisive points.
And my ballot will be revealed, but I had a really difficult time between Ehlers, Hall, Stankoven, Jacob Slavin. To be honest, I didn't do it, but I thought about Bussey. You start to play that thought in your mind, should he get votes?
But I think that is the truest compliment to Carolina is that you could have put six, seven different guys on the ballot and nobody would look at you and say, are you demented? What are you thinking about here?
Yeah, yeah. Well, especially because, I mean, to your point, as the series went on, it became clearer and clearer that if they were to win, Jordan Stahl was to be the favorite. But, you know, even after two games, whatever, if you're looking at it and you thought, OK, Carolina wins the Cup, who's your pick? And that was my exact feeling. Like, is that not...
true to what the Hurricanes are where they're for a long stretches, there wasn't an obvious one. Like you think about the Stankhoven line, round one against Ottawa, completely dominant. You know, Seth Jarvis makes a big play in the Philadelphia series to tie the game in game two to set up Taylor Hall to be the overtime hero and have them off and running then.
Jordan Stahl has a moment against Montreal, but there's a whole multitude of factors of guys delivering when it counted. Svechnikov, the overtime winner. Ehlers had an overtime winner that series. And then Jordan Stahl does his thing in the final. Like it was, though offensively, you can't have everybody contributing at once, but everyone had a say in where they ultimately got to.
And that's been what they've been about since this journey all started for them.
The other thing, too, and this is, I think, really important. When you have good players, you have to hold on to them. And everybody out there, think of your favorite team and think about when you had good teams and they couldn't break through. And how many times did you sit there and say, we can't win with this group, can't win with this group?
And sure, you always have to tinker and you always have to try to make yourself better. But there's been three Stanley Cups now. It's amazing. You think Vegas has been in the league eight years and they've had three Stanley Cups, one on this ice now. Okay. And the first one was by Washington in 2018. Okay. And how many times do we say they're never going to win with that group? Never.
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Chapter 6: What insights did Jordan Stahl provide after the victory?
He said, we're kind of like the Golden Misfits. Yes. He compared the Hurricanes to that 2023 Vegas team that won the Stanley Cup, and he talked about himself in that way. Sure. Because he's up at the podium with Sean Walker, and he was asked about him being a number one pick and Walker being undrafted.
You know, I think that goes back to what we just talked about, is that Carolina knows that Brendan Moore likes to play a certain way, and they are extremely careful about about trying to bring guys there who can fit. They can skate. They can go in straight lines. They can play man-to-man defense.
Like Rantanen, like one of the stories I heard about Rantanen was there was a practice and he tried something and Brendan Moore said, hey, that's not the way we play. And one of the Carolina players said to me later that they knew that was the moment it wasn't going to work. You're not going to have that problem with Hall. Like he's straight up and down. You know, it goes to Miller.
Miller, the way he skates, he's perfect. For that system. But it's, you know, it's an example of, oh, Hall, he can play the way we want to play. And also, too, remember, you know, in Chicago, he was a healthy scratch in a game we did last year in Vancouver, right? And, you know, I think like any prideful athlete like he is, he was probably miserable about it.
And when he came there to Carolina, he's like, okay, new start, fresh start. How many more of these do I have? And it goes back to also what Stahl talked about was there's a lot of guys who abandon them. And now there's a lot of guys who are like, maybe this is my last chance or these guys see something in me. And like we said, Brindamore, like all these guys rally around him. All of them. Yes.
Yeah. So Jordan Stahl, the oldest ever to win the Conn Smythe, 17 years between his first Stanley Cup and his second. That's also a new NHL record. And it was really great listening to him in the postgame where he talked about, I just wanted to win so bad. And how often do you hear athletes say, I want to win so bad? But the way he said it, it was like, man, you really did believe it.
You could feel how bad he wanted this. And he got it now, as we talked about. He stuck around. Eric left at some point, and it was in 2016, and Jordan stuck around, and now he's been able to see it through, regardless of what happens from this point onward. He helped bring another Stanley Cup to Carolina. I mean, just thinking of some of the moments that sit out to you on the ice afterwards.
I mean, the shot of Jordan and Eric and Mark and the staff coming together. Oh, my God, that was a great shot. Unbelievable. Eric was phenomenal with you and David in the pregame, by the way. Like, you could feel how amped up he was for Sunday night.
Yes, Eric was great. He looks fantastic, by the way. They all do. Like, they really all do. But... I think it's... Let's talk about some of those interviews, okay? Okay. So which one stood out to you of the ones you did?
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Chapter 7: What were the standout performances in the Stanley Cup Final?
And he nearly one-upped it when he got it. The way he manhandled that trophy was... I've never seen anyone whip that thing around like he did. That was unbelievable. Um, and you could feel all the emotion come out there. Uh, so him talking about that and you mentioned, well, we'll get to, to more about Brenda Moore in, in a little bit.
Um, you know, I thought Frederick Anderson was, was great with, with you and Dave and Nick Ehlers, how emotional he got talking about Winnipeg stuck with me too.
So he, after it was over, he said, you can't do that to me, man.
You know what else he said? What? This was early on, I think before they even brought the cup out, like the fresh off the initial celebration. So he comes out of the huddle and comes by the bench where we're standing. And he grabbed a water bottle, looked over at me, went, better hide right now.
That's what BX always says. Mix in a water.
That was pretty funny.
That's pretty funny. Actually. Um, you know, uh, First of all, I mean, with Anderson, so I didn't think it was the right place to ask him, but I heard he had a knee injury. And I guess he confirmed it on the ice. I didn't realize that he heard it. I thought he heard it in game three when he took that big hit, too. But I guess he said he heard it in game two when he tried to play in game three.
And someone actually told me on the ice that he had it drained. And that was why he initially couldn't start, and then they just stayed with what they did. But, you know...
teams win and the fact that's a true team like there's a lot of guys Dave and I were talking about who do you bet gets the cup second and we thought it would be Hall or Ajo and we thought probably like Ajo because he'd been there longer but the fact that they thing is Slavin was on my mind Slavin's been longer than Ajo absolutely but the fact that they give it to Anderson man like that's a team so good that that's a team
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Chapter 8: What are the upcoming challenges for the Golden Knights?
They ran out of gas. And the guy I saw it the most on was Shea Theodore. I think this series turned when he, it was clear to me that after about game three, he was on fumes. And I just think the series turned when that occurred. I have to tell you that if Vegas had won, Theodore would have been very high on my consmith ballot. I thought he had an incredible playoff.
I gained even more respect for Braden McNabb. I think what he did... You know, the other thing too is, Kyle... I don't think he got credit for a shot block on the play that broke his face. How? Because the puck wasn't going on that. Now I admit I am doing this without checking. Okay. So I could be totally wrong about guys. Add it to the list. I know you guys are like, what is he talking about?
Someone I'm tired. It's late. Somebody told me he didn't get a shot block. And I asked him if that was true. And he said, yes, he heard it was because the puck was going over the net. This has become a big scandal in gambling circles. about shots being taken down because they're not going in. So I guess it affects shot block too.
I just, I told McNabb, I said, I have a ton of respect for what he did. The one thing I'll say about Vegas is they will be sour about this because Some teams, they go this far, and they're like, what can we do? We gave it everything we had. We just got beat. That's not the way these guys are wired. They will be sour about it.
It will taste like the bitterest black licorice to them, and they will... they'll do what they can to address what they think their weaknesses are and get better. And the thing about this, and I was talking about this with someone in one of the off days during the cup final, the biggest weapon that Vegas has going for them is that guys want to play for them.
And, you know, if one of these players who's available this offseason is says, I want to go to Vegas, and they decide they want them, then they'll move heaven and earth to get them. Are you suggesting a possible reunion of sorts? Which reunion are you talking about? Alex Tuck? I actually wasn't talking about Alex Tuck.
But, like, for example, if they wanted Alex Tuck and they thought he would help them and was what they needed, they'll move, they'll, jettison what they need off their roster to do it. Like, it's interesting. I was talking to one guy here and we were talking about Vegas and he loves playing here. And he said that players here understand the way it works. They're like, you come here.
The organization is great. It takes great care of you. It's a great place to live. It's a great place to play. You're treated first class. but you know what they've learned is there's an expiration date. And you understand that, your eyes are open, that if it comes to a day where Vegas says, we've got to move on, they'll move on from you. But the trade-off is while you're here,
You're a contender every year. They do what they can to win, everything they can to win. You're treated first class, and it's a great place to live. So that's the tradeoff. And the other thing is they know that good players want to play for them. So, you know, the thing I'm looking at here is, okay, they lost. What's that move going to be for them?
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