Real Kyper & Bourne - A Greasy Weekend in the NHL

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start with a wellness check for Sam McKee after Ohtani's decision and share some Shohei conspiracy theories. They are joined by former NHLer PJ Stock (5:39) who shares his thoughts on the Canadiens' long-term process, the expectations on Slafkovský and the significance of Suzuki to hold the team together. Then, he weighs in on the uptick of hit-from-behind penalties this season, if players aren't protecting themselves well enough and where to draw the line when it comes to retaliation. Finally, a look back on the weekend for Canadian clubs - the Oilers are all-the-way back, the Jets lose Connor after his knee-on-knee with Strome and the Canucks coming back down to earth.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

kipper take two welcome back in the real kipper and born show our national edition we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 sam rest of the country. Want to know if you're okay. Well on the Otani watch, prove he's still okay. Are you okay? The good news is that we didn't do that nationally at least. Yeah. The bad hour,

the bad hour, the nightmare hour, the nightmare hour was not. And I will say, I think there's not like the, like, I think Vancouver kind of has a bit of a non-cheer for the Jays kind of thing.

No, no, no. I grew up in BC. Big Jays 5. I think it's really truly turned into Canada's team. It'll tie in with the Leafs? There's never really been another baseball team outside of the Expo, so it's actually the closest team. Just making sure.

Didn't know if that was a thing. Bye. So we're in the, we've been so far off of Stanley Cup. We cheer for anybody that's still around. Any sport, any Canadian team. May and June. Not true. Not Sam.

Not you. No. Okay. Like I've said many times. We're talking about the rest of the country. They're like really nice people. We're referring to Otani. I'm talking about nice people.

I'm sure that all the people in Vancouver would just be rooting so hard for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Stanley Cup final. Oh yeah, I'm sure. Like I've said a million times, the only way I want it back in Canada is down Yonge Street. We're going to grab PJ Stock in a few moments, but before that,

do you bite any into the conspiracy theory that there's no way Major League Baseball would ever allow Otani to come to Canada? No, but I do buy the theory that you need leverage in a negotiation to get an extra 100 mil and if Canada's willing to provide it. I do believe that it would be horrible for ESPN. Why?

They're playing in the American League. They're playing against the Yankees and the Red Sox all the time in the Eastern time zone. You got the Dodgers on Sunday night baseball, or you got the Jays on Sunday night baseball. Yeah, winning the division for the 10th straight time. It's a different vibe, I'm telling you. TNT didn't even want to do the outdoor game

between calgary and edmonton didn't even want to do it i think baseball is a different animal i think that they i think it's a thing okay it's a thing and i had to write read every article from every american guy being like oh wow thank god he didn't go up to that igloo place like you know it's like it drove me nuts that part of it drove me nuts. Yeah. With people being like, this is better for the game. It's like, like I said in our other hour, the Toronto Blue Jays viewership dominates.

Higher per game than any other major league team. Any other major league team dominates. More eyeballs every single night. And does major league baseball care which side of the border they're on? Yeah, sponsors do. And I guess they would prefer Otani to play against the New York Yankees once a year as opposed to 18 times a year. Or against the Red Sox in Boston 18 times a year.

Those are the two marquee markets. Anyways, I'm not over it. No, you're extremely not over it. Extremely, extremely not over it. Sam has said he's going to the first Otani game in Toronto, buying the best seat he can and full booze. Yes. Coming for, he's got a lot of show hate over here.

Oh, a lot of show hate. There's also a tremendous spike of tickets. Yeah. A very small window. Yeah. What do you mean? Oh, people were going to buy tickets, Blue Jay tickets. Ahead of time.

Yes. And when the odds were really close for him coming, I think the tickets that you could normally get for $60 or $75 were $150, $175. Well, it's going to be fascinating to see how the Jays pivot because they just spent $300 million on the lower bowl, Renos. And I'll say, say like the first time in my life i had talks with friends of mine like are we gonna get a package like you know like you are we gonna go like in on a flex pack or whatever can i present to you matt chapman yeah but they

need to present someone right so we'll be interested well it's a good thing you quit drinking because uh you don't have to debate whether you're going to pay for a 60-buck beer or not. Yeah, exactly. You can get a $32 iced tea instead. We got P.J. Stock, former NHL player, tough guy. He's going to tell us that the Habs don't suck. Think so? I don't know. Well, I put it in there because they don't suck. They're ahead of Kyle Dubas' Penguins.

That's a good thing for you. There's some issues going on in Pittsburgh. We'll get to a little later on in the show too because kyle met with the media i was listening through it well you guys are talking to hickey there's trying to cut some of it it's just so kyle dubacy it's there's not a like it's not really newsworthy no no oh i think him coming out yeah and talking about his head coach yeah is very newsworthy. Okay, in what way? The fact that he's doing it.

In what way? Yeah. Drawing attention to it, for one. Has someone asked him about it, though? Was it? Regardless, you have to know that it's coming. And you just go, I'm not talking about Mike Sullivan. He's Mike Sullivan.

He did. Yeah, yeah. But you think he should have just moved on from the question? I think he's put a timeline on his job. Because wasn't he, to start the season, he said something about never get rid of Sullivan. He's Mike Sullivan. Anyway.

Okay, as promised, PJ Stock for his second appearance. Yeah, we're talking about Dubas, so what, PJ? On the real Kipper and Bourne show. You guys bring me on. I get all excited. I comb my hair. I talk about, you know, the Ryan Reeves stuff. Two seconds later, he's not playing again.

He pulled him out of the lineup. And then no more calls and now that the Leafs have passed the Canadians you're like ha ha ha we can call them back up and get them back on the line so all right thanks for having me on guys let's start with the Montreal Canadiens. Not bad season so far with everybody considering a bottom feeder team, game off of 500. What's the vibe in Montreal? The vibe is great. I mean, the problem is in Canada we put the expectations so high,

especially in Montreal and, you know, Toronto. The difference is Montreal is supposed to be bad. And they're actually, I don't want to say they're trying to be bad, but the organization understands that this is not just a one-year, get a first overall pick. It may be not the strongest draft year ever, and things are just going to turn around. It's a process.

It's building pillars. It's starting from the ground up. And it's going to, you know, they have to get rid of a lot of contracts, bring in a lot of new guys, teach them how to win and build a foundation and i think the problem is everyone just expects him to win right away and they expected slovkoski to come in and be the next coming of god because he was drafted first overall and it's taken him a little bit to get going but you know he's not it wasn't a Conor Bernard, he wasn't a Sidney Crosby, or it wasn't that type of a draft. But where he is in his process, where the Canadians are in their process,

and where the expectations are, you know, normally I like to come out, swing in, and I've been really calm this year. I understand completely what the process is, where they are, what they're trying to do. And you know what, considering everything, they lost to probably number two center, number one centerman. They lose some big defensemen off the get-go.

They're on a couple points behind Toronto, who's at the salary cap. It's supposed to be the Stanley Cup final. Montreal's supposed to be one of the bottom teams in the league. And they're a couple, like you said, probably five points behind the Leafs. I mean, it's all beautiful in La Belle Provence right now. I'm more worried about what's going on in Toronto. You guys didn't get, you know, we're missing a baseball player.

Leafs are struggling. Don't rub it in, PJ. Having a tough time here. Sammy's having a tough time, okay? It is pretty crazy. Oh, they broke it down. I'm not sure. I think the sports you guys added on today, I think it was his play per game, per inning, per day, per minute.

They compared it to, I think, McKinnon's. And how much? He gets like $1.44 or something silly per second. Yeah, we're really rooting for him to hit 262 with 11 home runs next year. That would be really helpful. Such a mean panel here. I know. PJ, you mentioned Slavkovsky.

Does it give you any sort of, I don't want to say hope, like it's so terrible or anything, but seeing what's happening with Byfield in LA, like a big guy started slow and all of a sudden it's like, oh, the lights come on. Even Lafreniere is like, I don't know, he's almost got 10 goals this year. He looks really good too. Takes some time for some guys.

Tage Thompson? Yeah, yeah. They're big guys. Yeah. It's different for Slavkovski because first of all, he never really played a physical game. And he played on a bigger ice surface. And everyone's

like, he's the first overall pick, but he had 10 points last year in Finland. And he played in the finish line. So a bigger ice with no hitting and a lot of, as you know, the way they defend over there is kind of mirroring. And there's a lot more space. And I think now he's such a big guy

and the space closes on him so quickly. And there's no, like he runs into corners quickly. He almost looks like, you know, I'm lost a little. He's starting to, we're at, what, game 60, I think, for him. You know, he's not even a year in. Everyone, you know, Hughes probably might be the MVP of the league this year, and he's almost on pace for what Hughes had his first year,

Jack Hughes, that is. So, you know, it's a process. I think what isn't necessarily helping him a ton is the people around him. I think, obviously, you're picked first because you finished on the worst team in the league, and they have some veterans around them, but

the organization, Kent Hughes, has been trying to get rid of some of the older contracts that Bergevin had, and trying to bring in some newer guys, some younger guys, and build it up. So, I think there's a lot put on them because there's not an insulation around them. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caulfield are the two guys making a lot of money. They can be better.

You know, I know they're young as well, and they're part of the young nucleus, but, you know, Sivkovsky's on that line and there's, you know, I know you're the brains, the guy beside you, Kipper, is not. But, you know, the advanced stats, puck battles, he's won the most by a mile in the last little while for the Montreal Canadiens. And that's just starting to understand how big he is, where he is on the ice, how to use his weight, which he never really had to.

And he's not a year in, so it's not even a year of experience yet. And it's hard when your team's trailing all the time and you try and do stuff and the pressure's on you. And there's a lot of media in both these towns that we know all across Canada that the first pick, they're expecting, you know, this. And they're not getting that right now. So it's been a little tough on him.

But he's been pretty good. He's the last few games, he's had flashes. Flashes of, I'm going to say, not brilliance, but trajectory. How many times do I have to tell you I'm the muscle in this group here? I'm the brawn. We're an orchestra. Can't all play tuba. I know.

You're the look skipper. Yeah, exactly. Caulfield's got twice as many games as Slavkoski. Slavkoski. And he's on pace for 20 goals, and he's making now big money here. That's easily acceptable now in Montreal. Well, again, I think that's where, you know, I think a little bit of his situation is that if you break him down,

he's a specialist, and he's a specialist and he's specialist to shooting three on three three on three is actually it's funny because they're you know i hate when we do this but we all we all do he's oh new canadians record for the most overtime goals and you know well they play three on three now with no no touchy no whatever and you know there were we used to play overtime it was five on five and it was pretty much rugby. And then I went to four on four. And this is, you know, but yeah, he set some records. He's great with open space.

The problem is for his situation, no one is drawing people away from him, his checking, to let him get open. So, you know, if again, I'm just picking on that line because it's the only thing really to talk a lot about is Sokovsky, Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield. You know, Nick Suzuki has to beat his coverage for someone else to help out. And then that's what we saw last year. Now, Cole Caulfield's open and that's where he makes, you know, Suzuki so great at those quick passes, those quick looks. But if he doesn't beat his body, everyone's just, you know, space man to man. And Sofkovsky's been a little bit better at beating guys out of the corner. But he's got to get, you know, more eager to drive to the net. Right now, he beats the guy.

It's like, oh, where's Caulfield? I've got to get him the puck. I've got to get him the puck. So, you know, everyone could be a little bit better. I think the catalyst to that line is Nick. And Nick knows that he's a real good player. It's frustrating, you know, losing and losing and signing a big contract. And people want you to do more.

And if you shut down that line, you have a good chance to shut down the Habs. So a lot of teams are putting all their, you know, a lot of their players against their shutdown guys against that big line. And then you're down by two before, you know, you're just playing on talk. You're trying to catch up. Yeah. PJ, I wanted to get your thoughts on like a trend from the NHL right now. I think you're, you're a good guy to weigh in on this. You know, Baron got hit from behind by, I think it was Robert Robinson on Winnipeg.

We saw cousins, Greece, good Branson who went back at him the other day. We saw Brodine get hit from behind by Kane. A lot of these D-men going back on pucks, numbers showing. Who do you put it on? What do you make of guys kind of, you know, getting these boarding, these hit-from-behind plays that seem to be happening with increasing frequency? The game's going that way. And anyone that's, we've all known that we want to eliminate the physicality. There's still going to be some people that are physical in the game's going that way. And anyone that's, we've all known that we want to eliminate the physicality.

There's still going to be some people that are physical in the game. And I really thought the Cousins one was really bad. I did too. If Krabantzen isn't so big and so strong, that could be broken neck. That could be,

it's not like where he kind of turned into it where some people at the last second turn into it. He was full-blown going down and going to move it following the boards. His body just – I think his skates left the ice at one point. It could never have been a clean hit. There's no chance for it to be one. He launched his whole body into it. Launched.

And you know what? I think I'm going years back to Steve Downey throwing a hit like that and getting 20, not the same idea, but the intent to injure. There's no intent to separate from the puck on that play. There's intent to, which I get. I understand because we want that from a four checker, but there's also within the limitations of the game. If Branson gets more of a penalty than what Cousins gets,

I think we're totally missing the point here. Like that is, one is, you know, you're going to get your ass kicked because what you just did. And the refs aren't going to give it to you. Well, I'm going to give it to you. And that's the problem with the game. The refs in football, they come in and, you know you know basketball you look the wrong way you get a t hockey we we get away with a little bit more and i think there's a way over 82 games suspending the guy for two games or fining him five thousand dollars for an incident like that is a joke that it's it's really

it's you could really hurt someone because of the body check the gabranson thing is a retaliation to the body check which i understand um it's not legal he gets a penalty i'm totally fine with that penalty um but what he was going to get versus what is potentially sorry but cousins was going to get which he knew was kind of coming compared compared to what Branson could have happened to him on that play, I think it's something the league really has to identify. And two-game suspension? What's two games over 82? Like, you've got to suspend guys for – it should be –

and the problem is no one really knows what a suspension is. And I know George Paros and the guys, they're on both sides of the fence. They want to not over-penalize guys. But you got to give – that's a dirty play that can really hurt someone. And if that was five games or eight games or – if it was ten games, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I have a problem with Branson getting penalized and getting suspended. If he got two, five, ten, and if he got a fine, I'd have no problem with Branson getting penalized and getting suspended. If he got two, five, ten, and if he got a fine,

I'd have no problem with that. Talking to P.J. Stock, former National Hockey League player. I've been a fan of Nick Cousins. I love the way he's – I thought you were going to say me. Yeah. I thought you were going to say me. He says that off air.

You too. He plays the game hard. But if you're going to go that hard, you can't turtle. I'm sorry. You just can't. And think you're going to get any respect. But it did remind me a little bit, and I hate to call this up, but yeah, Bertuzzi on Moore chasing the guy.

You throw him down on top of him, and you throw some punches. And that's the way the Moore one worked out was so terrible, but it had the same look where you maybe just have to fight the guy and take your lunch i say the difference is i just it's the guy that hit you like that's the only the guy that you ran over sure whereas bertuzzi was coming back that's a good defending naslin and no one really knows how that's gonna end he had already fought in the game. Yeah. Right. Well, Cousins has been great. He's been great for them. I'm not

saying him the person. I'm saying him the act. And there's been, you just mentioned, Borny, you mentioned three of them. In the last week. In the last week. But I was kind of wondering, Peej, if you wouldn't go the way that like at some point also going back on pucks. I thought the Goodbranson one was different. I thought he's going back on a puck and making a play baron i didn't think protected

himself super well nor did i think brodine protected himself super well and i guess my thought is just like your numbers aren't to force field and you have to at some point anticipate that the guy may hit you and protect yourself a little bit which doesn't seem to happen as much either good branson to me was separate from that conversation though. I do. I'm going to reference towards John Tortorella because was it a week ago or two weeks ago he brought up, you know, you know, and this is, I've been saying this, my kids went into hockey and contact hockey and it's, it's not so much so much or my kids driving for example as much as

it's teaching them how to drive it's teaching them how to be aware of everybody else on the road as well and that's the thing on the ice right now we put the onus on the hitter like i'm sorry i'm coming in and i'm gonna turn my back and like you can't hit me that's kind of what you're yeah you're not supposed to hit me you're not supposed to yeah like you shouldn't hit me you're but it's you're why are you putting yourself in that position in the first place because when i was a little kid i had a little stop sign on it and i'm just showing you the stop sign can't hit me and that's where it started and i played with big joe thornton and big joe thornton could get away with it because he was six foot four, 240 pounds.

And Jager did that would turn his big butt to us. And but the game's too fast. You can't hold up anymore. And I was scared that if I hit Jager too hard, that someone was going to rip my head off. First of all, the joke there is that I was on the ice with Jager. But it was actually one time down low. I have him in the corner. He does that exact same thing.

So I slash him as hard as I can over the back of his two legs. And then I cross-checked him on his big arse, and my stick broke in half. And he just turned around at me and looked at me. He had the biggest back padding, and the ultralight stick just breaks in half. And I'm like, now what do I do? But he was – too many guys do that. And with the speed of the game now, Lomer defense can't interfere with their partner.

Goalie's limited to come out to where they can play the puck. You want the speed. The league wants the speed. You like the speed. You know, you want the – you can pretty much get the 200 feet like that now and you have two guys flying down and the onus is on the defenseman to a you can't get it let him get it then smoke him but you can't put yourself in position to get hit sorry you can put yourself in a good position to get it but put put yourself in a position where you are okay with getting it

like that's the one thing the safe if you your two feet are facing the boards, that's not good. Like, I don't want to bring up an older name, but Brad Pertuzzi. Chris Chaldea has played 100 years in the National Hockey League, and everyone wanted to kill him. He never went into a corner without his head looking 15 different ways, stick up, get down. And if he has to eat the puck, he just kept it in his feet, jumps up and gets smoked. And then play carries on.

It's too fast today. I think a lot of the young guys don't protect themselves properly and put the onus on the person that's hitting them. And it's unfortunate because we're going to see some injuries if this continues because the last week has been pretty tough. Cousins playing great, no on him,

but his play is what the league has to eliminate from our game another scary incident uh we saw larkin yeah larkin knocked unconscious uh in a battle in front of the net uh matthew joseph if i'm not mistaken yeah and uh perron retaliating we'll have an in-person hearing. Well, a Zoom call. Nobody really goes in person anymore. He's got it. He's five plus. Five plus for sure.

But, but. It is pretty bad. Okay. Hold on. The Larkin thing I've watched a hundred times from every angle. And I, I don't know how he got knocked out. Same. Like I'm.

Did it not look like any other type of battle in front of the net that would, if, if, if Larkin gets up, you, Did it not look like any other type of battle in front of the net that would, if Larkin gets up, we would not have been thinking twice about what just happened in front of the net, correct? Not a two-minute? I don't think there's that. No, I know he didn't. But if he did, it's uncommon of any other battle in front of the net that we've seen.

Agreed. Okay. that we've seen okay and so one i'm talking about the hit on cousins which is the intent is there you can understand how it gets caught up in the action and it's kind of a hockey play that goes completely wrong and should be suspendable. The Joseph play we both, sorry, the Gabranson thing is retaliatory. Could you know,

Bertuzzi, well not Bertuzzi, but could McSorley, Brashear him if he wanted to. Johnson, Mano y Mano, like you guys said, we're putting the onus on Cousins for not sticking back up. I understand that part of it. The Braun cross-check to the face

is... Can't go there. You're in a lot of trouble. Yeah, I can't read that. As much as I'm mad at the Cousins stuff, I... Could really use a punch there, right? A good punch to the head.

Sucker him. The guy knows it's coming. He just does not know he's about to get two stick crosscheck into the face. That was on Zoop. It was just like, hey, whoever's in my way is, you know. So, again, now the precedent comes out of this is what if there's no call on it? Let's say it's two games. What's going to prevent someone doing something to somebody else and getting a two game one just before the playoffs?

Hypothetically, what stops me from doing that to McKinnon? You're saying two is not nearly enough. No, no, no. That is a two-handed crosscheck to the face. The game is try to eliminate every hit to the head anyways, which we totally don't understand. We're eliminating fighting. We get all that.

This is a deliberate retaliation with intent to hurt, which is not to the body. It's to the head, which is because of all the sciences. We're trying to eliminate all the blunt shots to the head. This is a two-handed stick to the face. I'm reminded of the Matthews on Darlene one, which kind of skipped off a shoulder pad and was not half as egregious as the Perron one here.

They were right beside each other. This is distance traveled, right? So an instigator in a fight is a lot of times not necessarily dropping our gloves at the same time or before each other. It's the distance traveled to the person. Like if I skate all the way to Toronto right now where Kipper is, I wouldn't go near Kipper. I would go near either of you. So if someone weaker in your studio, I'd go to that person. I'd be full Cousins turtle shell over here if you show up.

So that's part of the instigators so i mean that's going to be added to this as well i really do think the distance traveled look down see your buddy happened perot really wasn't sure what happened and then just got up and cross-checked the wrong guy which is i don't know how they do not make this problem is we don't have a menu but if this is not 10 games i'm i'm very but. The problem is we don't have a menu. But if this is not 10 games, I'm very surprised. The problem is we need the injury. This is the problem with a lot of these penalties. I agree with that, that it shouldn't be judged on that.

Yeah, it's a big factor. It's a terrible factor. Then they try to guess the intent. And if he, you know, hypothetically, what's his name? Has a broken jaw. Is it six games? Is it eight? Is it 15?

Why isn't it 20? The intent is you took your stick and cross check the guy in the face because your buddy's on the ground. It's, it's minimum X. Now, if he's hurt, if this is X,

we're adding to it. I, I, I, we don't, if this is, I just can't be here. I know it's in person, but if it's Zoom, does that count as in person? Oh, no, you just waive your rights to go in. I know, I know.

They've got to, our game's been so great. It's been a little, guys, I came in all positive. I started off with the positivity. No, it's good. We get this a lot from our guests that we pull them down. Yes. You're doing great. I was doing so well.

What's going on in Toronto? You good? Tavares going after 1,000 points in the island. In the island. On. I was thinking about this. There's a little nugget for you guys in Toronto to fool around with. We. On. I was thinking about this. There's a little nugget for you guys in Toronto to fool around with.

We like nuggets. Well, they haven't signed Stamkos yet in Tampa. Toronto hasn't signed Nylander. Oh, I see what you're doing here. Toronto, Stamkos has already made all this money.

Is he happy to come home and... Retire? Like everybody else? Like everyone else at the tail end of their career? Or... Del Boca, Toronto? And Nylander can take less. Go play on a kind of a winning team

where he's not always the focal point of the media for not being great. So are you trading them or having them sign as UFAs after the summer? I figure flipping UFAs, but there's no way Toronto can let this slide. There's no way they can let them go without signing. Or sign and trade or whatever it is. There's got to be something there. That's just not happening before March, I can assure you.

Well, then they lose them for nothing. You're losing Nylander. But to your point, though, if you wanted to sign Stamkos at $6.5 or $7 million, you're just using the cap space, and it's like a trade anyways. So what's the difference? Just wait. I'm just throwing this. I just want you guys. We appreciate you throwing. What if they both sign with the Dodgers?

I'm giving you guys a show. Is that a problem? You should throw for the Dodgers. I actually, I'm not a good thrower. I'm not. I used to be able to bring the heat a little, but I can't. And I'm the pop-up king. Well, pop up on our show anytime, bud.

All right, buddy. You guys are great. Appreciate it, PJ. Okay, PJ. Ciao, guys. PJ Stock. Always the delightful and entertaining PJ Stock. Good takes on Stock Talk.

Damn close. 750K next year in Toronto. I like that idea. Yeah, right. It's time. It's time, you know. Just a little earlier than the other guys when he's still got some. Time to come home. And he can rectify the Canadian tire fiasco.

Everybody wants to. You get the Jason Spezza contract? Yay. Why? I tell you, if Stammer comes here, he will get the Canadian Tire sponsorship. Why in God's green earth would he come to Toronto? He lives in Tampa where he's like, you know, it's just. He did it once already.

He did it once. He said, in my prime of my career, I'm staying down here to your point. Yeah. I got no taxes. I'm staying down here to your point. Yeah. I got a son. I got no taxes. I got one reporter to deal with. And now I've got two cops. What do you think Ohtani's yearly taxes are in California? What's that?

What do you think Ohtani's yearly taxes are in California? They're not that... Oh, California's brutal. Oh, no, that's what I'm saying. It's not that much different from Ontario. Like, Ontario's, I think, 62 now. 62%? I think it's about 50 in California.

Won't someone please pray for Oht%? I think it's above 50 in California. Won't someone please pray for Otani? I hope he's okay. He might lose a little bit of that $700 million. Which, by the way, is $949 million Canadian dollars. Game time? Game time. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app

for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, I had to go here for the same game parlay that I'm doing for tonight. The Leafs win and John Tavares gets two points,

pays plus 350. Do you believe that it happens this evening? Yeah. Yeah, me too. Yeah? Yeah. That's a clean sweep i mean it's not happening he he's streaky yeah he can he can end up with and just three tonight gotta be super motivated tonight like mitch knows what's on the line he's the you know the best setup guy going yeah i would imagine that but you know the something this team has done in years past is...

Not been there for him? Well, they've had some bad performances there for sure, but they get guilty of, like, overfeeding for somewhat meaningless records. Like, do you remember for the Mitch Marner's point streak? Oh, yeah. The circus when there was the empty net and they were, like, giving it to the puck

and he was, like, trying to get it up there and he, like, missed. Remember that? Yes, I do. They have a tendency to really overfeed these kind of things. Might be okay to look for Tavares a lot. Fun fact about him, he has one power play goal this year through 24 games.

Last year, he had 18 power play goals. One? One power play goal, 18 last year. If there was one knock on the Leafs Saturday night, it was their power play. Yeah. They got the one Matthews had a 120 foot two on

one, which is not a power play goal per se. It's technically a power play goal, but it's not a setup. It's not a Tampa Bay Lightning in the, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, in the net power play. They've been scuffling on the PP of late.

A little predictable for the last little bit. And the other one I had tonight for game time, Kippers' beloved Coyotes are playing tonight against the, I think against the, sorry, the Sabres. My computer is frozen here. They are plus 105.

Got a little value on the Arizona Coyotes. I know Kipper will be watching. It's his favorite team. Kerfoot to get a goal. Loves Kerf. Loves the Yotes. Big mullet arena guy. Regular season Kerfoot.

I'm good on him. I do not. So that's my other one for tonight. The Coyotes against the Sabres. I think the Coyotes is a survivor pick on them. I do not. So that's my other one for tonight. The Coyotes against the Sabres. I got the Coyotes as a survivor pick on Wednesday. I think they're pretty decent, this Coyotes team. Okay. In the bad west.

Okay. It was game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. On tarot only. Please play responsibly. Okay.

We're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, a few other news and notes including and maybe a conversation on a shift in best team in canada in the last two weeks has there been one yes there's been a shift tell me after the break i will tell you after the break. More real Kiprin born after these words. Covering the Raptors in depth like no one else. The Raptors show with Will Liu. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, just before we went to break,

I kind of teed up a little bit of a look back on the weekend. Canadian NHL clubs, for the most part, I think a lot of Canadian teams should be fairly happy. And maybe there's a bit of a shift on where do we start with, who's the team to beat in Canada right now? Because we all had Edmonton for dead. Yep. At American Thanksgiving.

And all they've done is, what, seven in a row. Okay. The only thing I feel stupider about than the Shohei show is how much I buried Edmonton. Yeah. They won seven in a row and suddenly are. Calvin Pickard, his first win in two years, 26 saves. Even he's in on it now. Did New Jersey touch the puck in that game?

They're unbelievable right now. I don't know what's wrong with them. I was looking at the standings, and I was like, the Oilers are currently, I don't know how many points, 11 points behind the Canucks or something like that. I was like, it's not over. You know, like that's not, them being a wildcard team, Edmonton, I mean, is not a lock.

They could be better than that still. But there are three teams, Kip, in a cluster. A 12 points back up. By points percentage. Three in a row. It's Toronto Maple Leafs, 667. Canucks, 661.

Jets, 654. Yeah, and we'd be the first ones to admit that we just don't give Winnipeg enough airtime on this show. They need way more love than they need. They've won four in a row now again. What we have not mentioned yet is the devastating knee-on-knee with Connor. Was it Strom? Kyle Connor going down with Ryan Strom.

Strom, yeah. Strom, sorry. And did you see it? It didn't look to me like there was a dirty extension. And this is not. Listen, I'm not. It's Ryan Strom too. I've watched every Ryan Strom game he's ever played,

but I've watched him long enough to go, it's not typical of that guy going to search out, taking knees out. I find it hard to watch any knee on knee. I think it's one of the most, it makes me queasy every knee on knee. I hate knee on knees. I will tell you something that I'd almost have anything done to me outside of the knees are the scariest for me. Really? Yeah.

If I knew someone went after my knees, I would go squirrely. Yeah. For sure. And it's just, I think it's hard for them not to look incredibly greasy to me. Like, it's the NHL,

it's the fastest league in the world, and he's trying to make body contact with the guy, and he just missed, and his knee's there, and it's like, I don't think it's, I don't think it was maybe on purpose,

but I think it doesn't matter if you're his teammate. Like, that's just, you want to kill the guy. And crazy too is, you know, Connor is two points off the league lead in goals right now, 17 goal season. Jets have won four games in a row. They're at the top of the Central Division right now. Yeah, Colorado.

Humming. And, you know, I think they're fifth in the NHL or sixth in goals against. Like, they are locking it down. They're playing well and things are going well. But they need all their pieces there. He's kind of one of their, like, you know, game breakers. And that's a massive blow for Winnipeg. But I, we had buried them a few times.

I remember last year. I'm taking it Kip is putting them as the best team in Canada. Is that what we're doing? Edmonton. Right now? Edmonton. No one's hotter than Edmonton right now. I don't know. You can't talk

enough about Connor McDavid's lateral movement. He's a freak. I don't know who he passed and then he stuffs it off the post. It's behind the net when he scores. One of the best goals you'll ever see. He's the most talented person ever to play hockey. I cannot believe that.

It's insanity. It's not like, the puck's not Velcroed to a stick. That's the only way it could stay that close to him when you're moving your hands that fast. Well, there is someone, you know, like there's lots of really fast guys in the league. Like Mcid doesn't win the fastest skater by three seconds every year for a reason there's a lot of guys who hum and remember i forget who was i think it was like grager on the leafs i was like god if he could just handle the puck you know if he'd handle the

puck at that speed you're mcdavid like that's why you know mcdavid's such an absolute phenomenon Absolute phenomenon. Since November 24th against Washington, McDavid's point totals in these games, 4, 5, 3, 1, 3, 2, 2. It's hard to figure out why they're winning so many games now. Yeah, he is now seventh in league scoring. He was on page four at one point. The one thing that it looks like, at least, is that Edmonton looks patient enough.

And even the Leafs Saturday night had a little bit of this as well. A lot of it. Where you don't have to go toe-to-toe every shift. If guys can just hold the fort a little bit and you just wait it out, eventually it will fall towards your better players to find that one shift that one game-breaking shift and that's all you got to do is just wait it out and you know evan bouchard who was so bad like a month ago a couple defensive plays is just is just stay quiet until you put yourself in a position where you can shoot a puck just and yeah and god shoot the puck i mean what is he in terms of points for defenseman he's almost

30 points yeah he's way up there so yeah he's third in the league among defensemen 28 points you know it's just mccarran he was ahead of him at this point. One ahead of Hedman. That whole thing with Evan Bouchard now is probably a guy like Paul Coffey working with him now, what, three weeks, four weeks? Like, you're so good at this. We can get you okay over here. Pick your spots.

Just don't... Just keep your powder dry until we... The game will present you with opportunities. You don't have to make them out of nothing. And that, to me, looks like that's Paul Coffey now getting him to take a deep breath. Well, that's, I mean, not many better guys for him to lean on. Yeah.

With Paul Coffey, if you're having a boot shot and Paul Coffey's like, hey, listen to me. He wore tiny skates and didn't tie them up tight. No, it is a coffee thing right didn't paul coffee yeah yeah like two sizes too small yeah like you tied him up yeah oh you could i was worse skate smaller why than his regular shoes do you have do you have a reason for that i got nothing for you pal that's insane to me also i mean it's hard to doubt it he's a no sock guy too i have you guys no socks no i mean i've done it it's terrible when i forgot to put my socks in the laundry bag

not on purpose i'm gonna tell you i like it i don't do it very often but it does feel it's just really gross it wasn't good for the leather no oh it's not good for the leather well just teams buying them you're going through a pair every two weeks. Anyways. What was that stat you told me about JT Miller Saturday? Let me pull it up for you. Fastest to 40 points? Yeah, fastest to 40 points. Tony Tanti.

Tony Tanti. Yeah, there you go. I watched. Bless you. I watched Tony Tanti play junior hockey when I was a kid. Oh, yeah? Yeah. He was like, I don't know what he scored, 81 goals one year.

You know what's funny? I always get him mixed up with Tony Twist. Not their hands. Yeah, I guess very different type of player. Very different hands. In 80-81 with the Oshawa Generals, he had 150 points in 67 games with 81 goals kept. 81. Yeah, I was right.

I remember that number. number followed her up with a down year 62 the next a bit of a down year for tony yeah but you know the canucks they've come back down to earth a little bit here but they had a good win against carolina who's struggling on saturday night watched a lot of that game um miller scored a nice goal in that game but this is why an awesome start it's like you can play okay you can play just above 500 hockey for the rest of the year and you're like you got a playoff spot so it's inconceivable that the canucks could miss the playoffs to me now there there's just no one in that division like even if the oilers caught them like they're so far into the wild card they're fine yeah

canucks are coming yeah so what do you make of the hurricanes they're so far into the wild card, they're fine. Yeah. Canucks are humming. Yeah, so what do you make of the Hurricanes? They're not. Four straight losses. Four straight. They are firmly out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Just can't get a save. Dead last in the NHL and even starting save percentage. But still shocking.

You know what's crazy, though, is if you look at like analytics stuff. Dead last. That's not going to help. No. But they have the puck all the time. They play at the other end. Like all the possession numbers, everything. Like they're a top team.

So they're the same team with terrible goal-tending. And Freddie Anderson was so good for them. You know? Yeah. I don't know. It's got a bit of a theory on like Tom Dundon's the owner there. We know he does things differently there. And he doesn't want to spend a dime more than he has to.

And who's happy and who's not happy? Who needs a contract? Who doesn't have one? And I don't know. I don't know if it's, I don't know if that brings people together or not they don't look like a very close team i gotta tell you i have an irrational dislike for them i don't know just something about them i guess i don't want i don't root for them i get sam that there's issues too every team has to make those tough decisions yeah but do you mean the coach oh he needs a new contract too yeah but

players too you're thinking just i'm thinking everybody yeah yeah everybody yeah it could be it's funny this like contract stuff like i'm looking at uh kuzmenko in vancouver guy scored 40 goals for them last year 39 but 40 goals like that's unbelievable they've had to change your heart on them you think they could he's making 5.5 right like all of a sudden he gets paid You think he'd be more content to what you're talking about, and that hasn't seemed to be... With scoring still at a premium, they could easily move that.

You think they get value? Oh, yeah. I think there would be a lot of value in that. Yeah, I guess this year and next, $5.5 million for a guy with that sort of... Depends on... It's funny, though, because they wouldn't... Rutherford wouldn't commit to him.

They asked him about, like, you know, what are you going to do with them and he basically said we're not going to lock ourselves into a plan certainly nothing long term so maybe they are open to trading them um a couple quick things before we go here i'm looking at the eastern conference standings and the first three teams and you you can go four of the first five out of the playoffs to me, are pretty surprising. Look at Tampa on points percentage out of the playoffs, minus seven goal differential. The New Jersey Devils, who everyone kind of expected to have

a really good year again, follow up last year. They're behind them, minus three. And Carolina behind them even. And then the Penguins behind the Habs. Like those are, and you look at the Metro division, Philadelphia is now firmly in second place in that division. Washington's up there still. They have a plus 10 Philadelphia.

They just beat Colorado. It's a weird year right now. Very, very weird. Parody, baby. Just, we did mention this earlier in the show that Kyle Dubas met with the media today. And this guy does nothing without having some motive. Everything's great.

So a couple of quotes here included on his coach, Mike Sullivan. I'm certain that Sully's the best person to help us. Sully. And I'm going to give my players and coaching staff as much time as possible. He mentioned All-Star Break as time to fully assess. That's February 3rd, I believe, which is seven weeks away. Is that him putting Sullivan on notice

that he's got till then to turn this around? It's funny. That's what it sounds like to me. Could you imagine first year he fires Sullivan? Yeah, it's crazy. 40 games in? That would be really shocking. They have not scored a power play goal in a month.

They're over 37. That's really bad. They're 29th in zone entries on the power play goal in a month they're over 37 that's and uh 29th in zone entries on the power play so they got three or four hall of famers and they can't get past the opposing first block according to somebody that told me this today no media for kyle this weekend so kyle's coming to toronto for the the first time. The Leafs have already played there. There might have been one or two shots of him in the stands, but that would have probably had to do with more a Pittsburgh kind of camera or coverage.

But coming to Hockey Night in Canada, you know it would be a huge story. But he wants nothing to do with any interviews or nothing he should hold up his plus six goal differential and be like we're not that bad look at this so what what is that just sour grapes on on the way everything parted that i'm not i'm not turning myself into a storyline for you i don't know but in a way he is right here we are talking about the fact that he won't even answer some questions to me you know you you were the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs for, what was it, five, six years?

Yeah. Your first trip back. You might want to say a couple things. I mean, like, I don't, listen, he's probably not going to say anything newsworthy. Like, you know, these interviews, we always give them a hard time. There's not a lot said. But just do something.

Otherwise, it looks like you're hiding from it or whatever. The part that pisses me off the most. A little immature. For sure. I would agree with that. If they were leading the Metro, there are 10 games above 500. You better believe he's coming on the shows. Taking out billboards.

So I just thought that was interesting when I got that told to me today. He's doing nothing. So I don't know. I mean, maybe people don't care about that. Maybe like the general listener, maybe that's too inside baseball. Clearly, though, he's clearly unhappy with how he was portrayed on the way out the door in Toronto. Well, yeah.

So don't do any interviews and it'll get better. Not a good solution. Yeah. So you tried to drown out your Otani woes with a lot of NFL. Oh, yeah. I was real happy with the Buffalo Bills outcome. I tell you, I watch so much NFL. But I have a new

appreciation of how bad the whisker of the offside is in the NHL that NFL had a taste of it in Kansas City with the toe over the line, the scrimmage line that had no bearing on anything.

That's so, you think, okay, so you're on Mahomes' side here? It's offside. I am. I am. Mahomes saying the words, it was barely offside. No, no, no. Go watch any game, and I can guarantee you there's a lineman's hand that's over the line.

You couldn't see the ball, Kipper. There's a toe over the line. This happens all the time. If you're going to call that, you've got to get them right. And listen, I'm a Bills fan, so I'm happy about the outcome. But you can't pick that one when everybody else is over the line by a whisker, too, and not call it. No. I can't call that.

No, no, no, no. I lost a ton of respect for Mahomes. No. That was embarrassing. There was no bearing. No bearing. It was a toe. It was a toe. It was a toe.

It didn't help that one of the coolest plays in NFL history happened right after. Same thing with the NFL. Call it then. Call it all of the time. 11 times this year. Here it comes for the NFL. They called it 11 times this year. NHL's offside call.

It's coming. All right. Just like that, our thanks. Thomas Hickey, New York Islanders, and PJ Stock. We're back again tomorrow. Once again on the Real Kipper Inborn Show. Give us a rating and review if you and PJ Stock. We're back again tomorrow, once again, on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Give us a rating and review if you get a chance. We'd love to hear from you.