Real Kyper & Bourne - 2026 Rookie Class Early Review with Jason Bukala

Episode Date: October 12, 2026

Pro Hockey Group and Sportsnet hockey analyst Jason Bukala joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to discuss the Calgary Flames rebuild, the hurdles of learning how to defend in the NHL, if the Flames would consider going even younger and trade away Zach Whitecloud, how he sees Gavin McKenna adjusting to the speed of the NHL early in his career, Viggo Björck and Ivar Stenberg's early assessment, Philadelphia Flyers' slow start and the early calls to fire Rick Tocchet, and Evan Bouchard's hot start. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee chat about Connor Bedard's potential return from injury and making his 2026-27 NHL season debut, Montreal Canadiens fans chanting Dylan Larkin's name, Igor Shesterkin's injury and how the New York Rangers will bolster their goaltending position, and expand their conversation on Tocchet's future.  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 affiliate. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It is the national hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet, SportsF590, The Fans, streaming always on SportsNap Plus. Also on YouTube, where we always appreciate a thumbs up from our trusted, loyal followers. If you miss our show, catch us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods. This hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippery host Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, who does all our bookings on our Guess? Listen, I would say I got a pretty good record of people showing up.

You know, I do a pretty, I get them here, I get them on. I usually do a pretty great job. Yeah, listen. It's all good. Brad May was scheduled to be on our Leaf Hour edition of our program, and I don't know if he just ran right through the third base stop sign. It's all good. Let's move past it.

Let's move past it. I decided to put up the Flames jersey because they need some love. They do need some love. We're going to welcome in Jason Bucula, who's scheduled to be on. pro hockey group, of course, does a great job with Sportsnet here. We'll get plenty around the league, including the Calgary Flames. And Bookes is there. Oh, thank you.

Bookes, thank you for showing up, buddy. You really appreciate it. You're going to be like a running back. We're just going to hand you the ball. I just hopped on. I'm still like Hillary just walked out of the room. Like, it was unbelievable. So, Bookes, plenty to get her.

around, but let's start with Calgary because we put the jersey up and we assume that they are heading in the right direction, but in today's world, we don't know if that's going to be two or three years, five years or ten years, you know, in terms of when actually you see a team start contending again here. But let's just start with how long of a season could it be for their goaltenders like Dustin Wolf and Cooley. Long, very long. They can't outscore their deficiencies, right guys?

So on the nights that they, it's just going to be so uneven. I'll just say that. There's going to be with those anomalies where they might score four or maybe five, I hope, or maybe more. I don't know. The NHL so destroying it to start the season, but Calgary has trouble of scoring goals.

And on the nights that they do score, you know, you're probably going to see those games turning to the ones that you need in a save. And then there's going to be a lot of nights where the score looks so lopsided, but honestly, they really got 10 or 15 saves. So it's a pressure cooker for the balltending every night. What's going on in front of them defensively? I've got some growing pains going on. You know, Nemich coming over from Jersey.

He's just trying to round into form and become the best version of himself at the NHL level. He had a good year last year in Jersey. but everybody knows that he came into league as a really highly touted prospect. He's starting all over again sort of in Calgary. And then, of course, you've got Zane Perak, who's a whirling dervish. And, you know, he's got to learn to defend at the NHL level. And there's just a lot done back there with the flames. It's going to be, it's going to be tough to watch a lot of nights.

It's not going to be for the faint to heart. I'll say that. The good news, though, guys, like we talked about it last week, Borny, they do have some guys on the horizon. They have some prospects on the horizon. But also, I don't want people to get over the moon too excited and be misled any step of the way. And the reason I bring that up is because I was at University of Michigan on the weekend and watching DuPont play. But, you know, there's a lot of prospects that are popping early in the NCAA season that they got to plane that season out and wait until they get into.

As you know, Borni conference play matters a lot. like Michigan Alaska on the weekend they're going to Denver this weekend and everything changes. So there's a lot going on in Calgary, a lot going on with their prospects. It's going to be a slow burn, guys.

So when you were working in the NHL, how would you have felt about trying to develop prospects within that chaos you're talking about? Like, you know, Nemich and Perich, I think Perks minus 10, Nemich is minus seven. You know, not to be the plus minus guy,

but there's a lot, it's tough to play well when you're in your own zone the whole time. How do you evaluate players within that? And then is it good for them to be thrown to the wolves like that? Well, it's never good to learn how to defend in the National Hockey League. I mean, that literally is being thrown to the wolves, isn't it? You're having to square up against Gavin McKinnon or whoever you're facing. They're under duress all the time.

So that part isn't good. The one thing I would say is this, that in my experience, and listen, we went through a lot of pain in Florida. We really did. It stunk for a while. Like, you know, first overall, second overalls, et cetera, top 10 picks. You have to incubate them and take stock of the reality around them.

So it's very easy for a young athlete. Let me answer this on a couple different levels. And I think Kippar, you would agree with this. Like your pro got, your veteran guys in the room, They're veteran guys in the room who are towards, let's say they're a veteran guy. He's 30 years old. I'm just spitballing here. And he's on a lower-end deal.

Call it, you know, a million dollars in today's league. While those guys are always fighting for their next deal, right? So they're not really, they don't really have the appetite necessarily to be babysitting, the newbie on the block. That's not in their, it's not in their toolbox because they're fighting every day for the next contract for themselves. You're, your captain and you're, like, you're Michael Backlens and your captains and your, your, your guys. that are making the bigger money, I need for them to, you know, do play the game the right way to incubate those guys.

But on the flip side of all of that, the younger guys cannot afford to get too high or too low because it's going to be so uneven. And that's where player development and great communication will come into it. You know, you have to structure them. You have a plan for how you want them to play long term. Don't stray from your goals,

like set short-term goals. In the next five-game segment, I want to be this. I want to do this better than I did in that segment. And, you know, Parek, he's going to chase points. But you know what, Zane, we need you to keep it out, your dash 10. So let's work on killing more plays with your feet, you know, stick on puck. Let's work on your routes. Let's work on, you know, on the power play breakout.

We can't afford it in a 4-1 game when we can make it for two for you to drop it through the neutral zone, straight up the middle of the ice and knock a guy's stick out of his hands. That's just dumb. You know, so there's a lot of things that you got unpacked there. but you incubate them to the best of your ability so that they don't, A, learn too many bad habits and B, honestly, get too down on themselves.

You're watching and listening to Jason Bucula Pro Hockey Group and Sportsnet, also a former NHL Scouting Director, which we rely heavily on in our segments here, Bookes. One of those 30-plus-year-olds you're talking about with Calgary, Zach White Cloud. We do know Brad Trilliv, Tree Living, liked them a lot.

when he was a member of the Leafs, it's trickled in now with the thought that Chris Tanna's gone. Maybe the Leafs revisit a guy like that. If you're Calgary and you're watching all these young players, you know, you're trying to develop, does it make sense to go move a 30-year-old right now who's probably very attractive playing 18 minutes a night, 20 minutes a night, making $2.5 million?

Or do you just say, screw it, man, get as much value as he can out of him right now. And I don't know, in your opinion, is he worth a second or a first round pick right now if you're the Leafs? But is there a thought that no matter what, I can't keep losing also some veterans to help some of the young players? And more importantly, what kind of message does it send? If I get rid of White Cloud for a draft pick,

does it send my goalies, you know, particularly Wolf, who's signed a big contract is under pressure to look like a star still. Yeah, no. Sinker swim at this time of year. I'm not making that deal if I'm the Calgary Flames for a variety of reasons. First of all, I don't think you're going to maximize your asset value. Like, I think it's just poor asset management at this stage of the season. You know, the Toronto Maple Leafs have a need there now with TANAB and whatever else goes on here between.

You know, I'm very curious to see how a lot of teams, like a lot of guys are dropping. and right now fellas they like the short training camp and there's some things happening here. I just think that you sit on that value of the player first of all. And then, you know, when he came over from Vegas, he really was excited to come to Calgary. And I think that he's part of the reason or he's part of the solution in terms of showing the guys the right way. I don't ever, he's not the guy that I worry about, you know, only looking inward. I think that he's going to look outward. I think he's got that personality.

So I think he's a good pro to keep around in the room for that reason. Now, having said that, that will run his course. And he will be, I would imagine, right there as an asset, a trade chip, if you welcome, trade deadline or maybe a little bit before that. But as far as asset management goes, right now, I'm not doing that. There's no way. I need to know more about, I need to know more about what's going on with other teams around the league. It might be, might have more draft capital, might have more depth in their system to give me the return I want. Maybe I don't want a return that's a prospect, Kipper.

that's the other thing. Like maybe they want to get like a mid-range guy, maybe a guy on a bridge deal or something like that. I'm spitballing here, right? But that's how early it is in the season. Poor asset management to make that move right now in my estimation. Bukes, you know, we just finished up our Leafs hour, but we'll sneak one in.

You know, you talked quite a bit prior to the draft, you know, and McKenna, and you've done lots of interviews and all that on him. He had rough few games, good few games. How different does he look than maybe you expect or is this sort of like the start you thought you would see out of him? I would say on balance it's probably the start that I thought I would see. There's been some really cool indicators, if you will, like the undercurrent, Borny. You and I, again, we talked about it last week.

It was interesting to me that, you know, the first couple of games of the season, Montreal Islanders, dating myself already here, Montreal Islanders. I was looking at his metrics and how he was playing the game. He was shot out of a cannon compared to most recently. So he's had some speed bursts where he's peaked. And boy, oh boy, that back check the other night, I don't know what that was, but it was great. Whatever it was, that was great.

He's starting to recognize where to travel on the ice surface better. And that doesn't mean that you dash all over the place and overskate an outlet or overskate maybe a loose puck opportunity or, God forbid, even just being on the wrong side of it, defensively, all these things. So what I'm seeing right now is very similar to what I saw, post World Junior last year at Penn State. Like this is how it was a slow bleed.

The three of us and Sammy, we talked about it, you know, a lot. Michigan State around this time of year last year. I go see me in Michigan State. We'll see him at Penn State. There's a lot to be desired off the pocket, you know. I'm not going to revisit it. But the growth, the exponential growth after World Juniors was evident. And then his preparation at the combine was fantastic.

A little bit of a slow start. Listen, he's going to hit the wall, fellas. Like he's going to run an 80 meter dash and 100 meter gym here for a week or two. That's going to happen. But I see a lot of really good things going on. And good for him. Like really, really good. Have you seen enough on the injury front that 5, 7, 8 games teams will be pressing a lot more now

with the names like Larkin or Hellebutt for that matter? Yeah, I mean, guys. Montreal. I mean, Larkin was. Right, the link there and the chance and all that? I'm sure that made him feel good. I'm sure that the Caulfield was in his grill a little bit about it. And, you know, if you're going to come to a Canadian market,

if you're Dylan Larkin, I'm sure that outside of Edmonton for different reasons, the Montreal market as being as rabbit as it is, I'm sure it's attractive. I don't know if that's going to happen. But yes, to your question about the injuries, Kipper, like, take a look at the league already, fellas. We got teams, the Detroit Red Wings and. included. I think they've got three points, if I'm not mistaken. They got three points.

They can't get, they got the Larkin thing floating around. They can't get the Evanston signed or they're not, they haven't yet got him signed. Already, already for a team that needs to make playoffs, because they do need to make playoffs, like I don't look at them like they're going to be the Buffalo Sabres last year

and all of a sudden go on a ridiculous run like that. I don't see that in the equation. There's no mood around the team to suggest that. And they're out of it already. Like, when you start to be five, seven, eight or nine points back already, and you're chasing four or five wins between now and the end of the year

with the parity in this league, I'll tell you, it sneaks up on you immediately. And that's why, you know, people, people start throwing rocks at my glass house when I always say that first 10-game segment in the season, but how many times in the past, we talked about Ottawa's 10-game segment,

or Buffalo's 10-game segment, you know, and how different does it look for Toronto if they lose that game against Nashville and don't carry that momentum into, and good on them, by the way, but carry that momentum into what they're doing on the road right now. So, yeah, injuries and mood equals losing teams, equals chasing the league for the rest of the year,

equals non-playoff teams. Yeah. So, you know, as you do a lot of your analysis of prospects and they break into the NHL, it must be fascinating to see the course of their career and the shape it takes. I don't know how much of an indication you get in the first 10 games of their NHL career,

what they're going to be. but Porter Martone, Cole Hudson, Stenberg, Bjork, any of these guys stand out to you that either like or dislike what you've seen in the early steps, the forays into the NHL? But it's been a great story so far, haven't they? Really. I mean, you take a look at what they got going on there with Halibach.

What I like about when I watch the Bego-Biorke play right now, guys, again, I don't want for words in your mouth, but I think we would agree that they weren't exactly a fast-off-the-watched team. They haven't been a team. the girth, the will to succeed along the wall and stuff, but they haven't really been that team between the blue lines to push the opponent back off their blue line

for zone entries offensively and get the edge. Beagle Bjork's been able to do that. He's making plays and if a couple of the guys in his line could have capitalized in a few things, you know, what goes around comes rounder to be fine. So what do I like about him? He's been responsible defensively. He's been

below average in the faceoff thought that will come, but his compete is right there. And I love the speed element. He gives them a different look. You start going through some of the other guys, Stemberg, you know, Sal Grini going down with a little bit of an injury there. Stenberg's, his burn, his burned into the league will look a lot different than some of these other guys, because his approach is a lot different.

He's like a surgeon where some of these other guys are like a sprinter. So he's going to be more calculating. He's going to take his time, and we'll see how that goes. Hudson in Washington. I'm seeing him trying to play like his brother, his brother, light, if you will. You see it. You see that it's going to take some time to come. but you see what he's going to be able to do.

And by the way, in Washington, now, the one thing about the caps, guys, I look at their D, I still wonder about it a little bit, right? Like, I'm, you know, fair her in the middle. Sorry, you know, I will screw the name up. But, you know, Chipperin coming off a career year, Hudson there. You know, you start to take a look at that. Like, I'm not in love with D.R.N., right? Are you love with Timothy Lilligran?

You know, like, I'm not in love with this. So that might hinder what he can do, you know, at the top of the table. I do his very, very, very best. and I'm forgetting a guy. Who was the last guy there? Horny? Stanberg, Martone, Hudson, any of those? Oh, Marton.

Oh, my God. The Philadelphia Flyers, holy geez. I mean... Based on your 10-game segment, are they mathematically eliminated right now? They're, yeah. They might be done. They might be done.

The big hole. I don't see an improvement. I'll tell you who else. Well, let me, let me spout off in a sec here. But Porter Martone, by the way. So Porter Martone hits the ground running coming out of Michigan State last year. He's a captain of team Canada at the World Juniors. At the World Juniors last year, he did some things that he was trying to get under the skin of his opponent a little bit.

A little bit, you know, those guys that are doing it, but it's just a little bit too much. You know, like take a log off the fire type of thing. The thing with Porter, I've seen him, you know, involved in things, but there's been, I hate to say it, there's been a little bit of acting going on here. I don't like that. Like get up. If you're, you know, if you're in the fight and your team stinks and yeah, you're a rookie, but you got some growl, some pushback.

Don't lie down about it. Don't get pushed down. Don't be looking to draw stupid penalties. You know, the soft way, if you will, you know, get in the guys' face a little bit. Punch them in those. Send a message a different way. And I think Porta Morton's got a lot more to give. But having said that, it's not on him.

Like, the whole thing in Philadelphia has been nothing short of a disaster to start the season here. So, but let me throw something else at you guys because this is. the one that I'm fascinated by this and I want to I want us to revisit this by the end of the year. The Chicago black box. Yes, we're missing Connor Bidar. Okay. Yes, we're missing Connor Baderd. 29th and goals for two points or two goals a game. 30th and goals against 4.33. Their power play is 7.1% 7.1% I know it's early, but that's that's unbelievable. But making it worse, 68% on the penalty kill. Yes, your most elusive forward, your best players out of the lineup. But holy jumping, man.

When is any of that going to get better, too? So there's just some teams here that are separating themselves in the wrong way. Kipper, Philly, Chicago, Detroit. I just don't see it. You know, there's some people that are now questioning Rick Tockeet here. Like, there's no world where this gets pinned on a head coach and they're looking at making changes, in your opinion. Is there?

I mean, listen, the NHL, this is, this is, these guys, I say no. I say no. They got to the second round last year. You're going to give them, you're going to give them 10 games or less right now to, to, uh, it's crazy.

To me, this is crazy. To me, this is on the players. Like, let's, let's say they, they went home for the summer and they're having a kumbaya

around a campfire and they're like, you know, I really don't like the coach or whatever that, you know, you know, you don't want teams turn on their coach. We've all seen it forever in our careers. But really?

Like, this is the best preparation you guys could put together as a, as a, as a, as a, as a pro athlete in the first segment of your season, you're going to blame the coach for that? I'm saying that they're not prepared.

I'm saying they're not prepared. Like, you can system out, you can do video, you can present systems, you can try and make changes, yada, yada. And he's a hard-ass coach, yeah, fine, but they went to the second round last year. Everybody knew what they were getting out of talk to start the year.

This is far too soon to be just staring at the coach. I think I've got to look inward. And maybe the front office has got to look too, like there was that noise around the car, something. and I don't know, like maybe they, everybody's got to take a long, hard look at themselves, only themselves. Don't be looking to pass the blame there to the coach or anybody else.

Get your own act together and start pushing it in the right direction. Well, I think this question will be kind of similar along the same vein. First off, really enjoy the brawler golf stuff in the background there. Good looking stuff there. You know, the Chicago Blackhawks off to a slow start for the however manyth year in a row. Their whole plan was just tank and draft, tank and draft, tank and draft. It's almost like the flames right now.

It seems to be their plan. You know, we talked about the environment that these guys are developing in. Where are their young guys? Where, you know, in terms of their development, I know there's Cancerov and Frondell and Levschenov and, you know, all these different guys. How are those guys coming along and at some point they're going to be the core of an NHL winning team?

Renzel. I feel like they're that at once upon, a time they were a puppy right now they're they're not a puppy anymore they're that gangly kind of two-year-old lab but but the thing about it is that between you know at the beginning when you

you were teaching them how to walk on a leash now they're on a leash but they still don't know where they're going they're like that dog that's walking down the street pulling the owner you know and I just I don't they're one in five boarding it's a tough watch like it's a tough watch and then the other night

in Long Island when who had the flying elbow one, Horvath the other night? Oh, Frank Nizarre. Frank Nizar has a flying elbow and there's 13 seconds left in a game that they're not in anymore. And now they're like, I felt like they were trying to tough guide a little bit and whatever. There's just so

much to unpack there. I feel I'm concerned. I'm concerned. Kyle Davidson, I don't, this might be his fifth year. Like, listen, I'm not, I'm never the guy that goes, you know, this guy

should be fired, but. How long? How long? Like, there's, I get in being impatient, but I also don't get this patience for watching Chicago now this long with no real light at the end of the tunnel under his watch. Kippur and Bourne show started six years ago. If it didn't have a glowing light at the end of the tunnel,

you don't get the years since. I mean, it's just the way it goes, right? And that's us in our world. and we know how hard it is that exists in our world. This is crazy to me. And this is no disrespect to Kyle Davidson. I was with David Poil, who was in Nashville forever. I was with Dale Tallon, who was under the gun every day to make us a better team when we were not very good.

The pressure was immense. And he had to make sure that we were trending in the right direction. And we were. And they ultimately were, you know, when Zito came in. But the thing of this is, this is an original sixth franchise, the Chicago Blackhawks. And this, to me, every franchise. franchise matters. Don't get me wrong, but there's some franchises. I think we would all agree that they kind of have a little bit of a different cachet. And this is, this is, and they don't make playoffs this year, and they're not. I'm going to be fascinated to see what happens there because sooner or later enough is enough. You've got to, you've had way too many kicks at the can to get it right through the draft. And maybe they still will get it right. I just, it's, it's too loosey-goosey for me right now. And I know that my general managers that I work for, it We went through this for this along a period of time in a different time when I was in the league.

They wouldn't be long for the job. They wouldn't be in the round. One of the things that's, I don't know to say changing, but Evan Bouchard is plus 12 with 10 even strength points, plus 12. And, you know, a lot of people talking about, well, of his defensive play is great. He's just great. Are we ready to just move on that this guy is all around, all world, one of the best in the NBA? Mitchell. I don't think, I don't, yeah, I think that what you're really, what you maybe want to say

is he the best maybe. I think that's really the conversation. You can have the conversation for sure. Yeah, like, you know. It's been a wonderful two weeks. Yeah. That's not a body of work. Hold on for a second.

Hold on. And I'm a big fan right now. But right now, yeah. But can we cool the jets on like this is what he's going to be for 82 games? Didn't he have 95 points last year? It's all great. It's all great. But like, can you clean up everything in your own zone over a summer?

You two go to the corner of the sandbox for a second. I'm going to tell you something. This guy was plus 35 from January on last year, and I was still kicking him in the forehead, saying that he let me down more often than not. And it's his egregious mistakes that certainly stand out. But if we want to take it on balance for body of work from last January to now, if I'm going to be hard on him,

I've got to be the first guy's wall to give a credit when credit is too. Yes, it's a two-week run right now. And I'm like you, Kipper, I want to see it for 84 this year. That's what it means, right? But if I want to look at the macro here, which is from last January to whatever, you know, in season, that's plus 47. And that's pretty darn good for the amount of time he plays the game. We'll see, though.

Like, I want to see it for him to get into that category where he's in the Macar and the Warensky and, you know, some of these other guys, you know, we're going to have to continue to see it throughout the course of the year. But listen, he's certainly trending. He's giving you every reason right now to believe. And fascinating to me that he's going to maybe do it under the hardest coach he's ever played for. Like really? You know what the hardest coach he played for before this?

It was probably Dale, Hunter, here in London, right? Like, you know, the hunters can, you know, they get a little snarl to them sometimes, which is great. That's why they win. We'll see where this all goes, but he's been great so far. You know, the young kids today, books, instinct gratification. Tell me about it. It's a radio show. If we want to wait to

weigh in on everything. It's a short year. I really tip my hat off to him, for sure. But it's five, seven games. No accolades until you get 84 of them. No, not 84. What we're doing is we're building up the good and then he's going to have that week and a half

that he's going to stink because they all go through it when we're in 84 game schedule. I just don't want his stink to be the type of stink that's like really bad. You know what I mean? Like just be mediocre bad. I've seen the bad. It happens.

It happens. You know, the other thing, too, just on Edmonton, is that they just seem to be getting more out of players that aren't named Drysidal and McDavid. And, you know, that Matthew Joseph is a type of guy where, like, you know, you're not writing home about it. But at the same time, it's better and more consistent than we've seen in the past. and Formington, of course,

is this guy that's a bit of a lightning rod, but heck, you gave your general manager a second chance, so you shouldn't be so bent out of shape to bring Formington in there after welcoming Stan Bowman in, and he's a guy to me that's added a lot here, not to mention both Kozin's going to another level. Oh, great. He's been fantastic. Buckball's, and he's a pit bull, right, fellas?

Like, he really is. he's hard to play against. But I think that, you know, when they got off, when the offer sheets came flying in from St. Louis, I guess two summers ago now we're talking. Is it two summers ago? Yeah, two summers ago. The speed and some of the changes that they made,

like moving McLeod to Buffalo, for example, I felt like the speed fell off on balance for the top. Some of the identity pieces fell off. And they certainly added more speed to the group again with some of the names that you just named up there. But pot goals, and I mean, the middle of the lineup, to have a kind of a guy that's got some power, some pushback and, you know, some rip to the puck right now, he's not going to do it all year. But he could score 20. You can see that, you know, happening.

So, yeah, it's, I do think, though, Kipper, that, you know, when I see even Dry Settle interviewed now, I am buying, I'm drinking the Kulet more today than I was in the summer in terms of believing that they wanted this. And that's bad thought. Like the way that they talk right now and the way that they're accepting some of the challenges, it seems to me like they're buying into that. So I'm looking at some of the teams who are in the top 10 who, you know, surprise me. Anaheim being there is among them. The Rangers, the Jets, the Cracken, like those are some teams off to good starts that I didn't really see coming. But this Anaheim thing, last year they went a playoff round, a major step.

They lost, like, so many players this offseason. I didn't think that they were going to be particularly good. I also didn't know about who Tristan Luno was. So what are your thoughts on where they're at? They got a lot of money tied up in Mintikov and Leno that are basically gambles based on the success of the Lacombe deal. Yeah, no, well, LaCom is a great player. Lecombe, first of all, is a great player.

They are four and one out of the box. And, you know, the youth has been served there. for sure. I don't know. Like it's, it's, when is I've been on the weekend, one of their senior executives is at the game. And we were just having a coffee before in the game.

And, you know, they're, they're happy with where they are in terms of their youth there, including obviously what they've done with Luno. And a lot of it's going to be predicated on the balltending for sure. But, you know, Seneca's waiting in the wings too there. So there's a lot of homework that has to be done in Anaheim, in the next several months. And it's curious to see how they're going.

I don't know that they can survive this necessarily for the entire year. I hope they do because, you know, you'd like to see those younger teams take the step. And they work so hard to put themselves in a position with that youth up front to take the step. I hope they continue to trend that way. But they got some great players, some great, they have, like, their core group for a long period of time right now. now as long as Dostop and stop the puck. This is going to be a good team for a long, long time.

And Joel, the guy was around Joel in Florida. He does let these guys play free. You know, you hear that a lot in the NHL. He will allow them to play to the best version of themselves, whatever that is offensively and compete physically. Bookes, great stuff as always, man. Really appreciate your time. Great to see you guys.

Thanks, Bookes. You're welcome. I'll talk to you soon. See you, Sammy. See you, pal. Have a good. Bye, Bookes. Jason Bucke.

Tomorrow in the NHL is the NHL's frozen frenzy, which means all 32 teams are in action, and all start times are staggered by 15 minutes. When is the first puck drop? 6 p.m. first puck drop, Red Wings, Devils, and then it's 615, 6.30, 6.45, all the way up, leaves her at 9 o'clock, obviously. Final puck drop, 11 p.m.

There's also something note. worthy happening tomorrow, Justin. What else is happening tomorrow? Oh, my book. Yeah. With Daryl Sutter. Yes. It's privileged to be a part of things.

But we can't get him on. We can't get him on. Every podcast in like globally, but we can't get him on the show that you wrote the book with. I love the cover. And here is, it's awesome.

The best part is Daryl read the audio book if you're an audio book. Really? You can't understand it. I could not believe he agreed to do it, which I'm thrilled that he did it. That's worth it just alone. Just to listen to it.

Waste to eight days. I would say the book is a combination of like stoic philosophy from Daryl. You know, Lessons from the Ranch and Rink is the subtitle there. So I think there's lots in it for parents and players. You excited? I am excited, actually. I haven't thought about it much. And then the last couple days I'm like, all right, well, I guess we'll see what people think soon.

People lie to me to my face, but I'll find it. Put yourself out. When you get books, it'll be scared. Put yourself out there. Sammy's book. Oh, my God. I can't wait. I will have no book.

What would we title it? Idiot. Short headline makes sense. Tortured. No, or change the jersey. Change the jersey. It's a great name. Anybody got a title for Sammy's book.

I bet we could sell a number of copies of the McKee's story. At least 10. You're like, well, he golfed 112 times a year. You know, they'd be really big and on sound. be a popular book to O&Saint. Game time? Game time. It's game time.

Presided by Bet365. Home of the three goal, early payout, and an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus, Ontario and Alberta only. Please play responsibly. Only two games left on tap today.

There was one in the afternoon, 1 p.m. puck drop. The Sabres, was it, 5'3 final? Brady Kachukut off the Schneide. But nice win for the Sabres. How about the goal that Tage Lemieux scored coming down Broadway, caught the puck and just shot it through the net? Among forwards in the NHL, he shoots it hardest.

Is that a fact? Statistically, he has the most like 100 mile per hour shots, 90 to 100. Remember when they didn't? Rips it. Remember when they didn't take him for the Four Nations team? Yeah, and they got like. That's a good point. That's good.

That's good choice. Anyways, the two games left on tap tonight. One on Monday night hockey tonight on SportsNet Plus, the devils are hosting the Ottawa Senators. Ottawa Senators off to a nice start. Pretty even on both sides of the money line there. Minus 117 for the Devils on Home Ice, minus 103 for the Ottawa Senators. The Sends fans are really excited about Tim Stutzel.

He's having a fantastic start to the year. I won't even make a joke about diving because he's been really, really good. And he seems like he's really improving quickly. Give me a Tim Stutzla anytime goal tonight plus 250. And the other game on the ice night, it's a good one later on. the Vegas Golden Knights in Minnesota at 8 o'clock to take on the wild. Two good teams.

They're minus 108 for the Minnesota Wild minus 112 for the Vegas Golden Knights and a really good football game tonight, boys. Buffalo in L.A. to take on the Rams. Bill's underdog in that game plus 149. So if you think Josh Allen and Co. We're going to take it there to SoFi. It's a good sports night. Got a couple hockey games on, got baseball, football.

Bad. My couch is not going to see me coming. Anyways, that was game. presented by Bet365, home of the three-goal, early payout, and an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario and Alberta only. Please play responsibly. Okay, we'll take a breather here on this Canadian Thanksgiving.

When we return, we'll go around the National Hockey League. How close is Connor Bedard to returning? Larkin, was he caught off guard with those chance? We want Larkin out of Montreal. And Shisterkin, what the heck? are the New York Rangers going to do without this guy? We'll talk about the Rangers and Shisterkin and how bad was the injury?

We'll tell you when we returned to Real Kippur and Born. A reminder of this hour of Real Kippron Bourne brought to by Bet365 in studio on this Canadian Thanksgiving. Sammy McKee, Justin Boren. Energy levels high today. But I'm lying. We're almost there. We're just crushing it.

What was head coach Blaschell really trying to say about Connor Bedard? We got to listen to this clip. So he was hurt. I listened to the whole thing. And he was kind of playing tongue and cheek with somebody who was in the front row. So he said something before and then this was his follow-up about if he's playing tomorrow. Badard's availability? Yeah, let's play it.

So, yeah, we've definitely, he's definitely churning towards, you know, whatever. We've got a day tomorrow, a skate in the morning. certainly churning towards looking like he's got the possibility to play. Certainly trending towards looking like he might have the possibility to play. I would have loved to like seeing him

what a ham sandwich. When he was a student explaining to the teacher why he didn't hand in his homework. Well, because the dog and you know I guess he's going to play. Why can't he just say how he's going to play?

I don't know. Just in case he doesn't, he doesn't want to embarrass him. But you're going to rush back, rush him back to this point? You have to. They're going to miss playoffs. Well, no, I mean, they're going to stink anyway, even if he's there. The Blackhawks, this blows my mind. Just look at the Central Division.

Seventh place in the Central is St. Louis and Dallas at 2, 2 and 1. They're at 500 points percentage. Blackhawks are 1 in 5. Over. They're behind Utah, Minnesota, Winnipeg, Colorado, Nashville, Dallas, St. They got no chance. It's over. over.

October 12th, first team eliminated playoffs. We got Patty Kane though. Patty Kane, Showtime. Showtime's back. Come see Showtime. You love Showtime. Edmont in San Jose, Jake Wallman didn't play. And I think only

after the game, Babcock kind of insinuated that he's maybe not feeling well or he's hurt. But I think there's some that maybe have suggested that he was a healthy scratch

but needed to kind of protect him Yeah, too early to make it a thing but hey we know this guy to take a knee for a second Yes. Boys want to hear a Babbs clip? Always. I do have a Babbs clip. It's not, it's just the most Babbs clip ever.

I just play Babbs clip. So play the clip after they beat San Jose. Well, I don't know about the complaint part but what I would say to you is that we think we can be way better. And so if you can be way better, why wouldn't you be way better? So let's just keep getting

better every day. I mean, Dickinson's starting to get his legs, so he's getting to be an important piece again. You know, as we get more guys back, I think Himes is showing up next game, if I'm not mistaken, so we should get to be a deeper team and a much better team. You know, if you don't think

Daryl's book, it was going to be a success. Wait till I do Babs's book. Oh, you're Bavs' book. I'm knocking on his door if the Daryl book works. He's got philosophies. Love it. I love it.

I can listen to it all day. I legitimately listen to his post-game press conferences for pleasure. They're always the same length. They're between three minutes, 30 seconds, and four minutes and 30 seconds every single time. He says what he's going to say. He gets out of that. Would you ask Babbs for all his stories, that everything? Would you demand that he comes clean on why he was such a dick?

What now? He first would be like, Justin, let me look through your phone. There are two. He's done that. I allowed it. There's two ways you can go with those books, right? It's the tell-all, and it's the experience and lessons way. And, of course, people want the tell-all.

Which ones? Darrell's. No, Darrell's the experience and stories and educational. The ones that you can tell. Yeah. Without getting in hot water. Sure. He's got his opinions on things.

And Darrell's got unique opinions and strong ones. But Babs is, you know, he's, More polarizing, I think. That's for sure. More? Yes. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. No, no, that's all. Yeah. That would be an interesting book. It certainly would be. We'll work on that. So we can talk now about the Montreal Canadiens fans. Yes.

Chanting for Dill Larkin. Yeah. Yeah. So they want a winner there in Montreal. They say they think they can get better. They see a player they want and they asked. What do you think? Let's play Larkin's clip.

He got asked about it. his game. Let's play the clip of him. Dylan, what was that like to hear opposing fans chant for you on the road? Yeah, yeah, it was interesting. I mean, I never would have imagined that in this building and in my career, but, you know, I was just, uh, uh, the passionate fans. It's one of the best, it's, in my opinion, the best atmosphere in hockey and, and, uh, and, you know, they're, they're knowledgeable and, and, and they, uh, love their team. So, So that's how I read into it. And, you know, after a few seconds, there's just back to focus on the game.

But how did you receive that? Did you take it positively, you know, the fact that you're a good player and they would like to have you here? It's still raw. You know, I still, to be honest with you, was in the game and the moment. And I haven't put so much thought into it. And, you know, it was pretty focused on a good hockey game. And where's the follow-up question? Would you consider coming to Canada as one of your teams?

They didn't have Luke Fox. Why is that so hard to follow up? Um, I think that was that question. I don't know. I wasn't there, Kipper. The one we want the answer to. I wasn't there. Wasn't there.

I didn't ask. He wouldn't answer that, right? No, no, no. The tell is how he wouldn't answer that. Yeah, you're right. Okay, that's what you want. If he goes, well, you don't just brush it off as you want to make him say it or not say it or change the subject or whatever. But you have him there.

He's there. Ask him. And, you know, you might get the answer that's like, I saw this clip. Maybe he did. I didn't listen to the whole. Maybe he did. Maybe he did. Maybe I'm a bad producer.

It wasn't that interesting because it's not floating around anywhere. I'm a bad producer. So he could have said it. I don't know. It's a Monday. It's holiday. I don't know what you are off. Okay.

I don't know what you want from me. But I, it's pretty sad. What's that? I'm a show of Canadians fans. Like, have a bit, like you're the fan of the most

storied franchise. The only thing sad is, come on. You're chanting for. The Detroit Red Wings. That's the only thing I see sad. No, the Habs fans,

have a little pride. You're in the Eastern Conference finals last year. Like, you need a shiny new toy that badly? You're one of the best young You have all these incredible players and you're chanting for some American guy. Some American guys there and you're like,

we want it's like, give me a break. Dude, that's pathetic. You are. All I'm hearing right now is a Toronto Maple Leaf fan going, oh my God, don't get him, please. Oh, I don't care if they get him. Whatever. Just rooting for Matthews and Ross Levick.

Yeah, listen, it's not, it's like. He'd be perfect there. Sure. And he can help them win the Stanley Cop. The only guy I want chant and we want him as the general manager to Sean Horcoff, whoever the general manager. Like, it just ruined me the wrong way.

It's like, come on, guys. You're supposed to have one of the best young teams in the NHL. You got all these shiny toys. They think that even though they're off to a horrific start. Ab's? Like two and two or something? Yeah. I mean, they...

You can't lose to... Did you watch that shoot? You can't lose to the Preds at home. I'm sorry. Oh, that's pretty good. They did beat Detroit in the world's most painful game. Oh, my God. That's true.

You can't... Come on. Find a goal at home. Yeah. Well, they did. They found three. They got waved off. Bull Duke.

How do you go offside? They'll be fine. That's actually the worst offside I've ever seen. How do you go outside? They'll be fine. The Texier, who ripped it, didn't even stutter anything. You just came clean into the zone. Like house kids in their first year of offside.

We want lurking. The New York Rangers get off to a start. Give us lurking. Okay, move on. The New York Rangers get off to a start that no one saw coming. Right. It was really off the back of an MVP and just her. He's out.

We saw the incident. They're talking about blowing out an ACL, MCL, a sprained ankle they're talking about. Oh, my. They're talking about in a cast from his foot to his hip. Tiger Woods, do you roll a vehicle?

Yeah, it's a mess. It's a mess. From his foot to his hip? Oh, man. Yeah. And you know what? If Dubois controls the puck and just scores on the play, he doesn't have to rush back to the ball.

post. That's terrible. So they also have injured, Corpusollos injured. They've got another injury in their system. So I know Elliot mentioned hella, there's no world where they go and get Hellebuck. No world. Well, what do you do when you got

exactly? Exactly. You got both guys. Yeah, you're not. Both have no trades. It's just, they're going to have to go out and find one of those second tier type of guys and hopefully keep them in it, but there's no... Acting him all for Fox.

What do you think? Ian? Yeah, yeah. Montable. Oh, yeah. But I'll tell you, here's the problem, is that... It's... He's banged up, too?

Yeah, but he's okay. Jeff Gordon, who's ex-Ranger, and he ain't throwing them a life raft. Oh, so we got a little... Or a lifeboat. We need a lifeboat for that one man to the show. He ain't throwing a man, something. Throw this man a gravy boat.

So, right? Unless they overpay. Yeah. So he's kind of got them where he wants them. Yeah, I can't think of any other plays. I don't know if that's the guy that they would target, but that would make sense to me. Wheelers want Montembow. Montembo is good enough to at least play, you know, whatever, 40 games for our team this year.

Yeah, he could turn out to. be like a skinner. Fowler looked good in the shootout. He was stopping everything, got the shout out that game. So, uh, Gobish obviously very good. Everybody, everybody talk going through it in Philly. Yeah. Um, you talked before the season even started about an immature Flyers team, which is funny because it kind of looks like that, right? Like they, they're all talking in their jerseys after the Zegras thing and warmups and the year you didn't like that. It just didn't seem like their head was in the right place. Squirrel. Yeah. And now they've come out, they played Carolina.

place, which, you know, that's tough, but boy, they're hurting. We have a clip from Talk if we want to play it. It's just him talking about his team after they lost. Seven straight losses. Yeah, let's play the clip from Talk it. Well, we were coming there. It was two to one

and obviously the third goal was obviously a dejected goal. Like it's just but they're all avoidable. It's like, you know, they're, you know, it's just you know, there's some guys like just just when there's a, I don't know if it's a pressure moment when there's a moment we need you to

you got to make that player be in the spot, you know, to protect that middle and we just lose our kind of focus for whatever reason. So, you know, it's just not, it's anybody. It could be young, guy, old guy, it doesn't matter. It just we lose our focus, but. There's a lot of teams

really happy watching the flyers off that start. Yeah, just based on... In a Hine ducks, number one? Just based on how they turned the salary cap upside down. Oh, they feel like they're responsible.

They're responsible. Single-handedly. Yeah. And it's not something that eventually couldn't get there. They just didn't expect the spike and that domino effect so quickly. It's a pretty darn big jump coming from the Leo Carlson contract. He's out to a pretty good start. But yeah.

He's really good. But like, you know, you have Danny Breyer, who's clearly aware of their deficiencies. We need a top-end guy. And he swung. hard at a pitch and missed. He also, you know, they've tried to track down other, like, number one D. Aren't they in on Larkin, too, at some point?

Their fans didn't chant. He won't lurking, so they didn't get him, but, yeah. The Flyers' mistake was just not understanding that they were going to match. That's all. That's all you needed to know. If you pick up the phone, you call Anaheim, and you say, I'm going to offer him this.

I think that you know what you think, though, Kipp, you have to pick a crazy number. Like, they're just not going to match 18. Oh, my gosh. All day long, they were never knocking them. He's one of the richest owners. I know he's got the money. It's the money.

It's just, and they're not going to, they're not losing a great young player like this. Right? It just, it was never going to happen for the flyers, ever. And you needed to read the tea leaves. You needed to read the tea leaves, unfortunately. and it's been a bad start on a bad response off of that. Fair enough.

Okay. We want Larkin. Our thanks to Jason Bukula, and we promise to get Brad May on real soon. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. And we'll see you tomorrow on the Real Kippron Born Show.