Real Kyper & Bourne - Another Off-Ice Setback for the Sens
Episode Date: November 1, 2023Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the second hour with more on Pierre Dorion and the story in Ottawa. To shed more light on the situation, Senators analyst Jason York shares his take on ...Michael Andlauer's rocky start to his tenure as owner, takeaways from his press conference and what comes next for the Sens in their GM search (2:27). Then, a chat about everything breaking right for the Canucks right now, the Rick Tocchet effect, the young core taking a big step and the momentum starting to snowball. Later, they discuss Nicklas Bäckström stepping away from the Capitals for health reasons, if this may be the end for him and his Hall of Fame case. Finally, a debate on if the NHL should mandate neck guards.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.
Transcript
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welcome to the real kipper and born show this is the national edition
we are live on sports at sports at 650 in vancouver sports at 960
in calgary and as always this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne
brought to you by Bet365.
All right, plenty to get into,
including the big story of the day.
Pierre Dorian has been relieved of his duties
as general manager of the Ottawa Senators
or officially he's resigned.
Yes, he voluntarily is departing.
Because as we've mentioned on this show, JB,
no one gets fired.
You cannot be punished.
Everyone gets to resign.
You get to resign.
I hope Sportsnet doesn't resign us.
Yeah, yeah.
You guys should resign.
We will have Jason York,
co-host of the coming in hot sends podcast of course he's
based in ottawa and always a helpful uh voice to our show on anything about the ottawa senators so
i can't wait to get his thoughts on this but uh listen i don't think anybody really expected uh
dorian to last through an ownership change
because we've always
heard the rumblings but
it wasn't supposed to
happen this way
no I guess not the
Dorian thing though it does feel
like to me it's almost a healthy thing for the
Sens to get to have a fresh start new owner
get a new general manager in there some of your own
people so it's not necessarily a terrible thing,
but it's strange how it kind of came to be,
but I'm glad to see Ann Lauer,
you know, one of his things he talked about today
was accountability,
saying that this wasn't good enough
and moving on from Dorian,
so I think Stens fans should like that.
For many catching up on this story,
the Ottawa Senators earlier today were uh
uh they they lost a they lost a first round pick uh massive punishment based on uh a deal that
happened uh two years ago between uh them and anaheim which where they where they where they
weren't forthcoming on a no-trade list.
And that was the basis of it.
Okay, let's welcome in Jason York, former NHLer
and a guy that has a pulse in Ottawa.
Yorkie, thanks for doing this.
Listen, I'm just, you know, I'm watching Ann Lauer
during his press conference
and I'm just kind of going through over his list.
You know, he's got a top young player in Alex Formington
where the balance of his future lies in an investigation from 2018.
He's got the Shane Pinto where one of his players broke the gambling policy.
He loses a first rounder.
He fires his GM.
I'm really happy.
My Greek group didn't buy this team,
man.
It's,
it's a mess.
Yorkie.
Listen,
Kipper,
I,
I watched the press conference in,
in its entirety and two things that were clustered crystal clear to me.
Michael Andlauer is a straight shooter,
totally honest.
And this is coming at a left field for him because he had no idea about the Pinto situation.
And he had no idea about this mess he's inherited with losing a first round pick in that whole Vegas deal.
So he sideswiped here.
He made that so clear.
But I got to say, man, I am so impressed with how he handled this press conference.
I'm convinced now more than ever, guys, that the senators are in good hands, but totally caught off guard.
Handle it with class.
And how about this?
Face-to-face meeting.
So many people do things via text, phone call.
He fired Pierre Dorian at a dinner
and i heard you talking about it kipper and basically said hey it's got to be this way
face-to-face so to me uh just an impressive guy yeah it was an unbelievable press conference he
didn't seem super comfortable at the start but he found his legs there a little bit towards the end
he was starting to say some things I'd say Yorkie,
where he was like,
he implied that the NHL didn't tell them about the potential loss of a
first and that he felt that should have been included when you're buying
something,
this is a liability.
And frankly,
he said,
I don't know if a first rounder matters to you guys,
but it does to me.
You know,
do you think there's going to be more from Ann Lauer and the Sens on this
pushing back against that punishment? From what I borny no yeah i i he said and i heard him flat out that
there's no point i'm pissed off now but there's no point in pushing this any further it's a closed
case but i'm with him like you're buying a billion dollar asset. And what's the biggest way you improve your assets on the ice?
It's through the draft.
It's first round draft picks.
So like, that's, that's, that's a big loss.
And at the end of the day, I think Dorian makes it to the end of the season.
We all know when you buy a team and you bring in your own people, that's going to happen no matter what.
But that was just the last straw.
The Pinto thing, you can argue, Dorian, what's he going to do?
It's not really on him.
But the buck stops with the general manager.
It's on him for this one.
He knew it, and Lauer knew it, and that's why this happened so swiftly.
I heard this press conference was called, and all of a sudden,
we're like, all right, they're firing the general manager
because you don't call a press conference if there isn't some big news coming.
So we all saw it coming.
It just happened a lot sooner than people initially thought it would happen.
York, I totally agree with you on the transparency of Michael Anlauer.
And we watched the press conference as well on video.
And I don't know if you watched it long enough where it was over.
He got up off the podium podium but the camera kept going
and the mics were still hot and you could hear the exchange loosely so you thought the press
conference was over but it was still miked and my my own my own my only thought at the time was god
i hope he doesn't say anything because he thinks the press conference is over and it's not because the whole world can still hear you on the internet.
But he, he, he stays there and he talks to people and it's like, that's,
that's not your,
your old typical owner who would go up there,
read a statement and get the heck off.
Listen, you did. We all did tell, we all done television, Kipper,
yourself, Barney still doing it um
one thing i was taught hot mic hot mic don't say anything and how many guys have got in trouble
with the hot mic um but you know i i saw i i saw it too and i'm like oh boy here we go and he went
over talked to ian mendez for a while who we all know is a great guy gave him a hug shook his hand
he's just man there's so much passion there and he didn't say anything out of context no no no not
at all he's too smart for that he's too smart and you heard the honesty just coming out where
he really feels this is my take on it that he should have been notified about some of this
the investigate and i'm with them the investigation with with the
whole dadnoff thing like he's got a point like you're buying a huge asset a billion dollars
and hey by the way we're gonna let you know about this after the fact we knew about the pinto stuff
he didn't know about it now all of a sudden he's got this thrown at him so that's a lot to digest
in the last in the last week but i i'm convinced he's got this thrown at him. So that's a lot to digest in the last week.
But I'm convinced he's going to handle it with class.
He did today.
Probably somebody else in hockey office is going to get hired sooner than later.
I know Stahels is going to take the job over for now.
But I could see another hiring coming in the near future.
And then they'll move on.
They'll move on from this.
But that first-round pick, loss, that's that's gonna leave a mark no question about it how big of a hiring i got the
sense that they're not there's not going to be this mad rush to find the next general manager
i'm get i'm getting that sense too the only thing and i and i believe him when he said this is
he believes that the job of handling
the hockey ops department it's it's such a huge job it's better to have a couple people in there
peter mctavish is still there sorry not peter mctavish he was he was there um ryan bonus so
he's a kind of a guy that nobody's been mentioned he's a real sharp guy so he's there to kind of
help steve stales kind of offset the load right now.
But, yeah, I think they'll take their time.
I'm with you on that.
Make sure you get the right person.
Go through a list of candidates, who that's going to be.
I keep hearing Peter Shirelli's name floated out there, who I know, Pete.
I had him in Boston.
Signed me.
You know, maybe not one of his best moves, signing me. You know, maybe not one of his best moves signing me.
I think I was pretty well done.
But he's an Ottawa guy.
And that's just a hunch I have.
We'll see.
I'm sure there's going to be a lot of other names coming out.
But they'll take their time and get the right person for the job.
Yorkie, I think you're the first two-time guest on real kipper and born we're still in our first
month and we uh sammy found our lineup from like two weeks ago and it was yorkie come on to talk
about the hot sends everything going right undefeated or whatever they were like things
have really turned around here um you know how are things how are the vibes right now and just
yeah is there any chance they give up the 24 pick i know those are separate
questions but i know they get to choose which pick they give up so i kind of have those two i wanted
to get to yeah i think it's too early to talk to like we'll see where this team's going okay i'll
say this they lost oh they lose three in a row before this two or three in a row the vibe wasn't
great and then they went in and beat pittsburgh on the road and the vibe was great again we're back they had the three injuries on the blue line but they're
able to beat a pretty pretty good pittsburgh team but things changed in a hurry but i i honestly
this was going to be a thing that happened sooner or later all people bring in their own guys when
you take over a franchise i pure dorian wasn't going to last. This just expedited the process.
And, you know, it is what it is.
You move on.
It's a shitty day for the franchise, but they'll move on.
They'll move onward.
And, you know, I am a big believer in Michael Andlauer.
I know Steve Stahels is pretty green as far as a GM goes,
but he's a sharp guy.
I think he's going to make all the right moves, and like I said,
they'll get somebody in place in that hockey ops department
in the near future, and I'm sure it'll be a great move as well.
York, we've been around the NHL scene long enough
when a general manager or a coach gets fired,
and there's that ripple effect, and you walk into the dressing room,
and you're like,
you're looking over your shoulder.
What jersey color do I get today?
And it's like, oh, am I next?
What's going to happen here?
I don't get the sense that this is going to phase the players in Ottawa
one iota here.
Kipper, there's not a lot left to do with this team besides get Pinto signed.
And this is going to be easier now, unfortunately,
to what happened with the game.
You're not going to have a lot of leverage.
That's going to get done, and that's pretty well.
Well, you still have one other thing going on with the World Junior investigation,
but that will take care of itself as well with Alex Formington.
But as far as this year goes, there's pretty well not a lot of stuff to do.
So, and the players are the players.
You know this well, Zayadu.
We've all been players.
Once you're in the dressing room, this stuff doesn't bother you.
It doesn't bother you one bit.
So you move on.
I'll tell this to you.
DJ Smith, coaching staff, I don't think it's going to bother them.
Hey, the heat's on.
You got to win, right?
Everybody knows it. And it's no different than any other day in a life of an NHL coach. It's a results-oriented business. You got to win. They know that. But like you said,
it's not going to bother this group one bit. There was the sense, though, Pierre really
believed in DJ, wanted him to sign an extension, was pushing for it for the last little while
either from the board before the ownership or after when and Lauer took over
does this leave him a little bit more exposed without Pierre Dorian there
I don't think so like you could see what was happening with the Senators
when Michael Adler came in.
They just did another hiring the other day.
Matt Nichols come in as the new director of performance for the players.
So he's putting his stamp on the team right now.
It was clear to me that Pierre wasn't making the decisions anymore.
They were coming from Steve Steyos.
They were coming from Michael Adler.
I'm sure Pierre was getting some input,
but this team was
heading in a different direction.
DJ's fate and the coaching staff,
it's going to be based on results, right?
And that's the way it should be. It's going to be
based on how this team plays.
It sucks being on a one-year contract,
but this is what happens.
Adler took over the team
a lot later than people thought it would
happen, so here we are.
Not a great situation for the coaches.
But at the end of the day, results matter.
So this is going to be a really important month, the month of November, for the Senators.
And I really believe for the coaching staff as well.
Well, hopefully the dust settles here.
And the Senators can move on off of it.
Yorkie, great stuff, buddy.
Really appreciate the feedback.
Yeah, yeah.
Anytime, guys.
Have a good one.
Thanks, Yorkie.
All right.
Jason York.
You can follow him and listen to his podcast called
Coming in Hot Sense.
Coming in Hot.
All right.
Yeah, I'm not thrilled that, you know,
teams are scared to fire people with or without cause.
And then there's this resignation. I think his headliner even said he fired him, right?
He's like, I just...
He did, but there's always kind of this...
When it comes to companies letting people go,
their thought is, how do we do it as clean as possible or
it's a negotiation even when you fire a guy with money on the table and
a resignation probably gets him a better recommendation if he goes for another job
like that's what people think about i guess but this doesn't feel to me like he got
let go from like uh i don't know the restaurant industry and he's gonna apply at a different
restaurant like we all know what happened here you know i i do wonder do you think there's any
chance that he wasn't the guy responsible for this particular mishap? Like an AGM was supposed to do something? Zero.
Oh, really?
Zero.
It's on him.
It's completely on him.
I'll give you credit for one thing.
You're consistent.
It's the guy at the top who wears it. Oh, my God.
Yeah.
Whether it's the coach, the GM.
From what I heard, an attempt to deflect a little bit.
It was Peter McGuire's fault. offload lane deflect yeah a little bit it was peter mcguire's yeah blaming someone already fires a hell of a move grab the mascot if you need it right
who didn't turn the fax machine on yeah fair enough but no sirree you don't want to talk about a no-trade list.
And it's still debatable exactly what was reported in the 73-page conclusion
on whether or not Pierre believed that Danunov and his agent didn't hit a certain time frame
that possibly made a list null and void.
So maybe that's what they thought, right?
Because it wasn't submitted that it didn't count anymore.
Maybe.
Yeah.
But the NHL's not stupid.
Go to the agent.
Say, hey, prove to us that you got a list a list that went in on time yeah and then
the agent goes yeah i got it right here on my phone take a look i was like yeah okay can't use
that one so so yeah when did you know what you knew for pierre dorian yeah yeah i mean it's um
it is going to be i think in the end a end, a positive for the Sens. Not because I think Dorian was, you know, someone terrible or anything like that.
You know, I hate seeing people lose their jobs.
But, you know, to the point that Yorkie make, you want to get your own guys in there.
The sooner they kind of get started with this process, maybe that's going to be a good thing for them.
Now, the one thing Yorkie didn't answer, because I asked the worst pair of questions in one question,
is what year he thought that they would pass on this pick.
Why would they ever give it up before 2026?
Like, they expect to be better over the next few years.
Like, what?
To me, you announce that tomorrow.
You're like, we're going to do the 2026 pick.
Yeah, like, what chance is there that this year
they decide to give up their first rounder?
Here, I can do it for you.
But there's a way for these guys to figure out in the next three years
which one's the strongest draft and which one's going to be the weakest draft.
Yeah, so if they finish high this year and it's a weak draft,
they may say, go ahead.
I just don't see it happening, Kip.
They're just too close to getting
better they need help immediately you know what i mean like it's still a coin toss whether or not
this team is making the playoffs or not no but it's one of those things it's like with money
would you like to spend you'd like to pay for this now or later there's no interest
it's like well later i guess but that guess. That's future me's problem.
They have a better chance of being a lottery pick this year than they do in the next two years.
Yeah.
I mean, things would have to go extremely south,
but they are extremely injured.
So you're not going to give it up this year?
No.
No way.
No chance.
It does suck for the Sens.
It was so exciting a week ago.
It pains me to have sympathy for the Ottawa Senators.
But, you know, they were a bit of a punching bag
when it came to the Toronto, sorry, just the Toronto
and the rest of the country, really, in terms of sports fans.
Like, everyone kind of made fun of them,
the whole Melnick thing, them not paying their play.
Like, there's some bad stuff.
And then for them
to finally be rid of that and then to have all this stuff just be happening in the year you're
supposed to be like the most exciting young team and have them kind of crappy out of the gates
be injured just sucks for sense fans if you're and are you not right now like give me the formington
news make it public like whatever it is we're doing, let's do it.
Let's just figure out.
Let me know what I have to work with here.
He's a really good player.
It's just forgotten.
Alex Formington.
Yeah.
And there are teams that are asking every day on him.
They want him.
And Ottawa wants to keep him?
No, I think they've come to the conclusion that they've got to move off of him.
Okay, so you are expecting at some point for him to get traded.
You know, there was a sense prior to the sale that the ownership group, the Melnick girls,
wanted to move off of Alex.
Sure.
So I don't know.
They still own 10% of the team.
I don't know where that factors in.
It seems like another thing you'd want to wash your hands of.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly your point.
It just seems like the foregone conclusion
is that if and when
Formington comes back, it won't be
as an Ottawa senator. Well,
I think it's reasonable to expect the NHL
to release whatever that information
is. It seems like a very
long investigation at this point.
It does. And
everything that I've gathered up
until this point is nobody knows who needs to go first here.
Is it the London police who initially had the investigation?
And we still feel like it's an ongoing investigation.
It's not closed.
They haven't said it's concluded.
Does the NHL have to make a statement first yeah i mean a bit of a staring
contest between the two of them i don't know it is it's been a while it is yeah anyways you want
to talk about the canucks now before we go to break we were going to full disclosure we were
going to give the canucks some love and then that story broke so we could do some canucks here yeah yeah all right well they just seem to be the only team in Canada that is
relatively I don't know headache free let's talk about it this is our new segment on Rick Talk It
yeah I mean this guy's got him going in the right direction does he not well I shouldn't say that
because he had a big headache to start he ripped them at the beginning of the year yeah i think he's still all over him even when they're winning
i know but they've responded beautifully they have do we wanted to get into the quotes now
or do you want to save it well we could talk about it now because we got a good talk it quote
yeah there's there's a 40 second clip in there in there david or no i'm sorry uh
derek if you want to play it for, then we can kind of jump off from there.
Rick, what do you take away from a game that was a bit scrambly at times,
maybe not your most clean game of the season,
but you find a way to win nonetheless?
Yeah, obviously we're happy to win.
Obviously that's not our brand of hockey.
I thought we were pretty loose.
So, you know, you like these learning lessons when you win win you know if you lose it's a big learning
lesson but it's a big learning lesson even when you win so it's a little easier to for tomorrow
for us to kind of dissect this and get back to our identity yeah it was a loose game you know this
too many turnovers too many people diving in yeah it wasn't it wasn't a great game for us identity-wise.
This is, of course, coming off a 5-2 win over Nashville last night.
Yeah.
Petey with a hat trick.
Petey with a hat trick.
My God, I mean.
Tough stancher.
That is a coach that just refuses to take his foot off the pedal,
which I love.
And you got Patterson with 16 points and JT Miller.
He didn't even like his game.
He didn't?
No.
He did not like his game.
Do you have that clip of him talking about Petey and his hat trick?
We have a clip here that's a long one, but I'm sure it's in the back.
No, just the beginning of it.
Just the beginning of it.
Yeah, okay.
The talk it on individual performances, Derek,
if you can play that at the start of it.
How about Elias and his performance tonight, obviously, with the hat trick?
Yeah, I mean, yeah, he was turning the puck over a lot.
I liked that part, but he was one of the culprits of turning the puck over.
We got to make sure that, you know, he knows it.
By getting the three goals, obviously, that power play goal helped us.
But, you know, we have too many guys returning the puck over tonight.
Oh, my.
Well, Thatcher keeping you guys in this one.
That's good.
Oh, yeah, that's good.
Get out.
All right.
How great is that?
It's three goals.
What do you think are your best players, Hatrick?
Oh, the culprit?
Oh, I got some things to say about the culprit.
Oh, yeah.
The guy who was just named the second star of the month in the NHL.
Bad turnover.
Far turnovers than Sarah Lee.
Come on.
I mean, but he is getting the most of these guys.
JT Miller got benched last night, to Sammy's point earlier in the show.
Goes back out, scores a game winner.
Yeah, I actually love watching the Canucks play.
Watched a lot of the
game after they got some exciting players they're just they got they have exciting players and they
play hard they're playing really hard like they just really seem to be competing they're starting
to believe it's that positive snowball of momentum you start to feel like hey we kind of got it maybe
pedersen looks really good yeah Like, really, really good.
Like, he's taken another step.
Quinn Hughes is a top three defenseman in the league.
He could win the Norris.
Pedersen gets Hart votes, and Pete Hughes gets Norris votes.
They're worth staying up for.
Slow down, guys.
Slow down.
Pedersen's the best player of all time.
Slow down.
Good start.
What did I say that's not true?
Quinn Hughes is a top three defense in the league
I think he is
Okay
This guy's struggled in the past defensively
Yeah
And he's learning
And
He's also been playing with me
The attention to detail is much better
And Tuckett's been working on that
But
To go from
A guy that
Sometimes you question
His decision making
In his own zone
Early in his career To winning the Norris is a big jump.
But I'm not saying it can't be possible.
No, I think your point is good.
I'm not.
It's a salient point.
But we're 10 games in, and they're off to a great start.
For me, the biggest change that I see in that organization is JT Miller, who reminded me a lot of Blake Wheeler,
where good, talented guys that sometimes they thought
their voice was bigger than it actually is.
And I just think talk's kind of reigned him in a little bit.
I mean, he likes talk.
But he respects him.
And for talk to bench him, even at this stage of the season
and with their record and the success that they have,
man, that's just a great message for JT Miller.
He's one of their most important people to keep going in the right direction.
He can be the bad body language king of the league.
Him and Kucherov maybe for guys that when they don't want to do it or aren't
happy with how it's going,
we'll just,
ah,
Kucherov.
Kucherov's unbelievable.
Number one guy for that.
Or he'll just like bury somebody from behind when he's mad.
Yeah.
Just like do dumb stuff.
Super grumpy.
But I,
I will listen to you for Demko Vezna votes.
I'll listen to that.
You won't listen to Quinn Hughes Norris votes?
We just finished Halloween.
I will.
Listen, I can only.
Jackass votes.
I'm talking about what I've seen so far.
And if we're in this far into the season,
and I had a Norris
vote right now that for the first
six or eight, ten games of the season,
he is 100% in the top three
guys. Yeah, I'm not here to argue
that. Ole Heiskanen's been real good.
Fine. I'm fine with that.
That's my three right there.
I play 82.
Yeah.
I'm just trying to say a nice thing about the Canucks.
I just want them to like me in Vancouver.
No, it's not happening.
They're mean.
No one is going to like us.
They're mean.
You're just a Leaf guy.
You're just a Leaf guy.
No, they're really good.
All right.
Do you want to do the game time?
Yeah.
Okay.
We'll do some game time here.
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And I do want to do a bit of a pivot now that, um, we mentioned that, and I wanted to look
up what the Norris, um, what the Norris favorites are.
So I'm just quickly looking that up, but, uh, the, I have it right here i'm looking at the league leaders and points for d and hughes
is number one tied with adam fox three eight and eleven for both so the favorites for the norris
trophy is kiel mccarr is plus 160 adam fox is plus 700 rasmus dyleen is plus 800 and to get to quinn
hughes he is the tied for the fourth favorite at 9-1 with Miro Heiskanen
and just ahead of Dougie Hamilton.
9-1, though.
Keep your money.
Adam Fox at plus 700?
Yeah.
Already won a Norris?
Prime age?
Yeah.
I mean, have Kiel McCarty.
He's kind of like the...
If he's healthy, he's winning it.
Yes.
It's kind of like the McDavid of the Hart Trophy here
when it comes to him.
So I think... Is there anyone else in there you liked uh roman yosi 12 to 1 this is
absurd that eric carlson is 12 to 1 yeah um darlene i like him but not ready to uh win anything
defensively still for me no you still got some question marks there yeah i've been
watching enough buffalo to say sometimes this guy okay make some poor decisions out there hughes and
heronic were on for their first five on five goal against of the season last night it is november
and i said all those and i said all those nice things about him and so just checking in on some of the other other other futures with the with the favorites conor bedard still a overwhelming
favorite for the the calder plus at minus 175 uh the selkie is nico he sure with mitch marner second
for that uh heart is still conor mcdavid jack hughes has come a little closer to him at plus
450 so he's still hanging around there.
Austin Matthews is the third favorite at plus 600.
I had a McKinnon, Leon Dreisaitl, and David Pasternak.
And the last one I'll give to you is the Rocket Richard favorite,
who was Austin Matthews at plus 150.
Leon Dreisaitl, the second favorite, plus 500.
All right.
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Okay.
We take a quick break.
Yes,
sir.
All right.
We'll take a quick break.
And then when we come back,
we're going to discuss maybe the end of the line for a Washington capital
legend.
Take a deep breath.
It's not Ovi.
Ah,
that more.
When we come back on Real Kipper
and Born
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of everything NFL
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the show on Apple Spotify or wherever
you get your podcasts This morning, Washington Capitol Center,
Nicholas Backstrom let his teammates know
that he's going to take some time away
from the game for health reasons.
This is a guy that had major surgery on his hip
last January.
Returned to play,
maybe not at the level that he's been accustomed to
i think last year he recorded seven goals and 21 points in about 39 games this year uh i think just
one lone assist uh one point in eight games and playing a little over 14 minutes. So I don't know if this was kind of predetermined
that we'll give you a chance to come back,
but if you don't play at the level that we need you to
at the salary cap number that you're at,
we may ask you to shut it down.
And again, I don't say that in a way that I'm saying bad things
about Washington pressuring anybody here,
but very seldom do guys come back off of this injury and play well.
And I got to think he doesn't want to play
if he can't perform at a certain level
so i think this may be the best thing for for both of them yeah so this would be like a long-term
injured reserve he's got 9.2 this year and next sammy what does he have left i think he's real
early on a brand new deal him and him and Ovi just re-upped.
I thought he was two, but it says nine, two this year and next on CapFriendly.
Yep.
All right.
Which, if Washington's going to be able to compete.
Yeah, you want to spend that on a 14-minute guy.
You can't play it on a guy that uh i can't perform at a high level anymore
you know i don't want this to come off overly cynical um but there are guys who have enough
injuries to not play you know to just say my body is definitely better off not playing and yeah it
can be salary related where you're like i can't play at the level i'm
because of injury like he could probably still play yeah he just want to play like this and his
65 or 70 percent is still way better than me and you stepping on the ice but unfortunately they
can't pay him 65 or 70 percent of his contract there's no choice here it's either you you're sucking up the the nine plus a year or uh we put you on long-term
ir yeah so and he is a sweetheart of a guy he is and he would want he wouldn't want to hurt
19 of his of his teammates and on hold them back so so you don't think this is just backstrom being
like it just hurts too much i can't't play. No, it can be.
I'm saying it can be.
But even if it's not,
and he can't perform at a $9 million,
it puts tremendous pressure on you,
even psychologically,
to say, I'm acting like a third-line centerman here,
and you guys can't improve because of it.
It's just another reason to really, really hate the salary cap.
Yep.
Sam already does.
So is he done done?
I don't know how you come back.
He's 35 now.
I don't think it's I'm in pain and I'm going to go away for three weeks
and the pain's going to go away and I'm going to come back.
I don't see this.
I see him fading into the sunset on a great career.
If he does, 17 seasons he's played, 1,105 games, 1,033 points,
762 of those are assists.
I mean, he's had an unbelievable career.
And then another 140 playoff games with another 115 playoff points.
I think...
Hall of Fame?
I hate that to be hated.
Stanley Cup, I mean...
It's always like you got to look at the guys who are not in.
It's more of a process to me
than just like yeah he's one of the games you guys you thought of as a great player in the
really really good time yeah and the number one feeder to the greatest goal scorer there based on
the greatest goal scorer in our game yeah so i think ovi and backstrom probably envisioned them together if and when
they'll go in like the siddians type of thing i think they envision themselves together breaking
wayne gretzky's record yeah and that must have been a motivation for for backstrom to come back
and and play as well off the major surgery. Can't you see it now?
Ovi is tied for the record or one short.
They pulled Backstrom, who hasn't unofficially retired,
back onto the rink.
Mr. 3000 style.
He only comes out for the power plays,
and they just sit there and let Ovi hammer away from Backstrom
to get it done.
No?
Too much?
No.
Dylan Strome's been pretty good this year.
Yeah.
They've won three in a row here now but
can dylan strome and kuznetsov help bovi get there i mean in the next year and a half boy that that
caps team they have won a few in a row i still i don't feel much different about their chances
this year like that's not a playoff team so yeah um i guess kip, he's not going to get there any faster
without Nick Backstrom.
Let's put it that way.
Yeah.
Big challengers for the Washington Capitals.
Ovi stuck on two so far this season.
One against the Leafs, one into an empty net.
In nine games?
Yep.
Eight.
Eight?
Eight points in eight games, six assists, two helpers.
Sorry, two goals.
What does that rank as?
Get some 20 goals on the year.
One of the slowest starts to his career.
Got to be.
He scored 42 last year.
I know.
You forget about that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Four players at Jets practice today wearing neck guards,
including Cole Perfetti.
Tried to bet you 20 bucks on that yesterday.
Nikolai Ehlers, which is great. It it's good message and we'll see if we're
in a game easy way to get likes on social media i don't think it's about that kip listen okay
can you turn a practice into the start of a hockey game can you turn a neck practice to the end of the first
period can you turn it into a full game hey you were just saying let's put it on your three-year-old
daughter and by the time she's 30 maybe the league will be ready for someone to wear one like this is
closer to getting it in game action you know than the long process we had suggested yesterday good message and it's
an easy one but like like let's put you're saying let's see let's see it let's see let's see someone
where can we see it in a game and can we see it uh throughout the game well we can and we will
because the uh ahl echm is that wording on purpose wow i really didn't we can we will because the AHL and ECHL. Did you use that wording on purpose? Wow, I really didn't.
We can, we will, right before I talk Dubas.
Oh, no, it's all stuck in the quagmire in there.
We can and we will.
But they're making it mandatory, are they not?
In Wilkes-Barre, they're a farm team.
Is this just Kyle Dubas and the Pittsburgh Penguins,
or is this a league?
I thought it was four teams I thought I saw.
Is it a league thing?
The Pittsburgh Penguins are joining the English Ice Hockey Association
and requiring neck guards for players with their AHL and ECHL affiliates
following Adam Johnson's death.
President of Hockey Operations and I have had discussions about it,
said Mike Sullivan.
We're in the process of right now trying to talk to our players
about some protective equipment in those vulnerable areas.
Our AHL team has mandated that.
They're going to wear neck guards and wrist guards.
Our ECHL team as well.
See, I'm not impressed with that.
No?
No.
You want to impress me?
Yes.
You walk into Sidney Crosby's dressing room and you mandate it.
Now that will impress me.
But you don't.
You know why?
Because Sid has a voice voice and the guys in the
American Hockey League they got no voice yeah that's why well I guess if you're doing it to say
do good which I is possible this may be a step to graduating players who are used to wearing a neck guard. Yep. Listen, this is Kyle looking for nice publicity.
Oh, you just don't believe that this could be
out of protection for the players.
I love it.
I think he's jumping all over an opportunity
to look like a good guy.
You act like a neck guard is like a clown wig.
No.
No, I'm not.
I'm not.
It's not that big a deal.
It's still, like, even if it's the right thing to do,
mandating it and making these guys do it in the American Hockey League
is kind of wrong for me.
It's not educating them.
It's not empowering them.
It's the opposite.
Yeah.
And you don't have the guts to do it.
What's the difference? Tell me what the don't have the guts to do it to your,
what's the difference?
Tell me what the difference is.
They're men down there.
They're the same age. They got wives and kids in the American hockey league,
just like they do in the NHL.
Why don't he have the guts to walk into your NHL room and tell Sidney
Crosby,
put the neck guard on.
Why are you going to the American hockey league and making those guys do
it?
Well,
you've made the case before that it could be performance limiting,
and that's what those leagues are for a lot of teams.
Let's see what works.
Let's see what doesn't.
This can be a case where they say, let's see.
Let's see what the guys who aren't good enough to be here yet have to say.
And if it isn't performance limiting,
then they might have a little bit of a case to say to their guys,
all the guys in Wilkes-Barre wore it.
They won the Calder Cup.
Spoiler alert.
It ain't performance limiting.
We have one of the greatest players of all time
in the history of hockey
sit on that screen over there
and tell us that they should all wear them.
I listen to...
I'm with Moose.
I'm with Mess.
I agree completely.
Just put them all on.
Protect them from themselves.
Hockey players are dumb.
No, I don't...
It's easy. Put it on. I've worn it my whole life. It's just put it on. Protect them from themselves. Hockey players are dumb. No, it's easy.
Put it on.
I've worn it my whole life.
It's just put it on.
Put it on there.
You forget about it after two games.
Buddy, we're not in Russia.
What do you mean?
You just tell people what to do and they do it.
Yeah.
Okay?
Yeah.
No, that's not the way it works.
Okay?
There's process and there's choice and you're an adult you can make a decision yeah i just i'm watching
the leaves game last night and you know i they show close-ups of matthews cruising around out
there these guys are cruising around out there they're just it's you're not wrong you're not
wrong in everything you say except the part where you force people to do things that they don't want
to do it's just so different than that, because it's like the helmet thing.
You know, like some,
I bet you some guys would go bucket list, maybe not,
but visor list for sure.
Who is the number one guy in the league
who would go no helmet if you let him?
Would Revo do it?
Yeah, probably.
So we mandate helmets in warmup.
Good, good.
Except when we send a rookie out there for the first time.
Yeah, they're fine, though.
Or the outdoor game.
Let's wear toques.
Like, right?
Did you notice that?
They all ditched their helmets
and they all went with the toques.
There's some protection there.
Because it's really cool.
The most insane thing to me,
if I'm an NHL owner,
if you go on the ice with a helmet and warm up,
I'm fining you a million bucks.
It's the most unacceptable thing to me.
It's more unpredictable than the game.
Oh, it is for sure. It's maybe more dangerous to go out and warm up with no me. It's more unpredictable than the game. Oh, it is for sure. Pucks ringing
off the crossbar. It's maybe more dangerous to go out and warm up with no helmet
than it is to go in the game. Taylor Hall had his face
cut off. It's insane that you go
out there when guys are just firing pucks everywhere,
skating in all different directions.
It's crazy. Finding guys a million
dollars. Yeah, fine.
What's going on with you? Dictator.
Yes. Just put on a neck guard. It's not hard.
And you do have the choice.
Just do it.
So skip all the red tape and just go to the players and say that.
I stand with Moose.
Me and Messier think the same.
I'm with Moose.
So we should see four Winnipeg Jets wearing it next game.
Yes.
Okay.
That's fine.
That's good.
It's good.
Someone will.
Who's it going to be now?
I don't know.
I didn't put this in the lineup,
but I saw it from Kevin Weeks about the World Cup of Hockey.
Do you guys care about this?
Yes.
Yeah, so apparently.
It's like a Jay Leno started to a joke here.
You guys hear about this?
But sometimes you're a little funny about international hockey
and World Cup and that kind of stuff.
Sometimes you sneak up on me about how you don't care,
so I never know.
Because I care passionately about international hockey. I care passionately about best on best hockey, and that's and that kind of stuff. Sometimes you sneak up on me about how you don't care, so I never know. Because I care passionately about international hockey.
I care passionately about best on best hockey,
and that's not what it's been.
I care passionately about the Olympics.
You care passionately about garbage.
Yeah.
You do.
Well, the Olympics was fun.
I do not know who won Olympic gold at the last Olympics.
Was it the Olympic athletes from Russia?
I think it was the Olympic athletes from Russia.
Okay, then maybe I did.
I shouldn't have said that.
But apparently, from Kevin Weeks, that there's ongoing discussions the olympic okay then maybe i did it shouldn't um but apparently they're they're from kevin weeks
that there's ongoing discussions uh about a potential scaled down world cup of hockey
featuring only nhl players perhaps in 2025 on a potential timeline between the super bowl
and march madness it's just really lopsided for North American teams at that point. If you know,
if you can't bring players from other leagues,
right.
But how many teams would be,
can you feel the team from anywhere outside of Sweden,
Finland,
Canada,
us and Russia is probably not allowed to play.
No way.
We're not getting Russia anytime soon.
Right now.
So we have four team journey.
Yeah.
I mean,
listen,
not to offend anybody else in the world here,
but it's going to be Canada and USA,
so just play a seven-game series between those two teams anyway.
Let's go.
Give me Canada-USA best of seven.
That's, like, I'm very, I'm actually happy.
That would fire me up.
I'm actually really happy that there hasn't been best on best
because I am extremely concerned about America's squad.
Buddy, their goaltending is absurd.
Their goaltending, their forwards, their defense,
like they're catching up.
Canada's goaltending is, what are we going to do?
Logan Thompson?
Well, look at the field they got to pick players at
and look at our little country.
No, I'm telling you, it's sheer numbers.
Well, we have more people playing hockey in our country
than in the U.S., surely.
I don't know.
The numbers are growing, man.
They got 350 million people to pick from.
We got 40 million.
How do you like a top line of Austin Matthews, Jack Hughes, and Matthew Kachuk?
I'm going to tell you, it scares the poop out of me.
Yeah, that's not good for Canada.
Jason Robertson and Jack Michael. I don't mind Crosby it scares the poop out of me. Yeah, that's not good for Canada. Jason Robertson and Jack Eichel and...
I don't mind Crosby, McDavid, McKinnon,
though, either.
They're very good, too.
Canada's forwards are very good,
and it would be an amazing thing,
and I think it would be a close series.
But they caught up.
And Finland, too.
Like, there's a lot of...
I need best on best hockey.
Best of five, maybe.
Soccer does it so well with, like,
it's the priority.
They stop hugely.
We just missed, like, decades of opportunities to jump ahead in all of this.
We had the international players first, and now we're chasing.
I know.
We had Russians and Swedes and, like, 70s and 80s.
Yeah.
We should be so far ahead in this part and we're not hey you can
only get we're chasing we're just chasing we don't even know what we're doing tomorrow next month
next year it's it is weird because like i said soccer they they shut down hugely you know revenue
building leagues for the international game.
I know.
And they have it.
And you qualify.
Yes.
Who are we mad at there?
Gary?
Is it Gary?
I don't know who we're mad at.
I don't know.
Who should we be mad at?
Rene Fasel?
That's definitely not how you say his name.
Yeah, well, we didn't grow an international department.
Our league didn't grow an international look at look at mlb and their international uh
program or nba i don't even know hey pal at least you're going to sweden coming up we got an
international pro we were in australia this year yeah we're doing stuff we're gonna put together
another north american team for you sammy oh boy we boy. We'll buy that jersey. I hate it.
I'm glad to hear that.
You seem like the type of guy who would have liked it.
I loved the one game against...
Yeah, they were fun to watch because they had all the good players
from the other countries.
But the last international best-on-best competition
was now close to 10 years ago,
and the final was Canada versus a mishmash of European teams.
We can't say it's best-on- best because we didn't have our best players.
Under 23 at some point.
Yeah, I know.
That was absurd.
Insane to me that that happened.
That overtime was one of the best things ever
between Sweden and North America.
McKinnon, right?
Last one you have is Austin Matthews
signing with this Prime Sports drink.
Yeah, this is a big deal for a certain generation
that is not mine.
My seven-year-old son would love it.
Yeah.
Logan Paul, prime.
It was recalled.
You guys didn't get that memo?
It actually says on the package,
do not serve to children.
I'm pretty sure.
What?
No, no, it says like it's not,
children are not supposed to have it
under a certain age.
Why?
If I'm not mistaken,
that and a bunch of other energy drinks
were on a recall list.
Is that true?
Well, first off, prime energy drinks contain excessive amounts of caffeine
and should absolutely be avoided in children.
But this is not even the energy drink
that my son saw.
I don't know.
But it also tastes bad.
So there's that.
But if they want to sponsor me, I'm here.
But here's the thing for Matthews.
This is a popular brand association.
You know, Logan Paul.
Yeah, KSI.
I don't know who that is.
Huge deal.
Like kids.
I mean, this is much bigger than signing with like Nestle
or whatever his generation.
You know, it's this big kid thing.
I don't know what's happening.
So early September, 20 types of energy drinks
were Canadian Food Inspection Agency says products might not be safe because of the caffeine content.
Prime Energy Drink contains 200 milligrams per 355, which is the same amount of caffeine as two and a half cans of Red Bull, three large coffees or six cans of Coca-Cola.
Three large coffees.
That's every day for me.
I can't think of a better endorsement we can give Austin Matthews on our show.
Prime energy drink.
Catch the literal fever.
Have you seen the Paul Brothers documentary?
Excellent.
It's awesome.
It's really good.
And listen, I...
I don't support the Paul Brothers.
No, no.
It's not about supporting it.
It's just about...
It's a good documentary.
...making something out of nothing.
Yeah, sure.
And I got a lot of respect for that
even though it's goofy at times. They've been grinding, man.
They've been grinding. I'll give them that credit. Okay. Our thanks
to Jason Yorke for joining us at the top
of the hour. I hope you had a good time on the Real
Kipper and Bourne Show and we're going to do
it all again tomorrow. So make sure
you return.