Real Kyper & Bourne - Are the Buffalo Sabres a Real Stanley Cup Contender?

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome former NHL president, general manager and head coach Doug MacLean (1:31) back to the show to chat about the topic of 'tanking' being raised around the front office, if the Maple Leafs would be comfortable trading away Matthew Knies vs. Auston Matthews, the potential reasons for the Buffalo Sabres' massive turnaround since letting go general manager Kevyn Adams, whether they're truly a Stanley Cup contender, Jack Hughes request for the puck he scored in the Gold Medal Game, and GMs challenging Gary Bettman at the GM meetings. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee share their confidence levels with the Edmonton Oilers maintaining their playoff position, and read some of your texts! 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.

Welcome in to the National Hour of the Real Kipper and Born show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. Streaming, always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube, where Sammy's working on your pre-music. No, I just mentioned. Yeah, we're going to sort it out.

Listen, I feel bad about it. We are going to sort it out. What song do you want? I want it not to be just some guy jam band, guitar riffs. The silence would be fine. Silence is probably fine for people. BTO. taking care of business.

How about hauling out? We'll go back to the old goals. Oh, man. This hour of Real Kippren Bourne brought you by Bet365. Nick Ciprio's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, and of course, Doug McLean in the bullpen, warming up. We also want you to text 59590. We'll read them after Mac.

And yeah, lots of, we want them from all over Canada. Lots of different teams talked about. And just before I get to Mac, I'm going to run one draft lottery simulator here. Oh, okay. The Vancouver Canucks for our listeners in Vancouver have won San McKee's draft lottery. Chicago jumps up two spots to get the second pick. So they're going to get McHenna. Canucks would take Stenberg.

No, Vancouver goes first. But they'd take Stenberg. Oh, man. They would for sure. Ah, man. Anyway. Anyways, congratulations, Connux fan. You won the draft lottery.

Okay. As promised, as advertised. Do we advertise on this show? Not much. Not much. I haven't seen much. Okay, we're doing it right now. Come and watch Doug McLean, everybody.

Take it off the rails and drive it into the ditch. Former NHL president, GM, and head coach. Where are you? There you are. You okay? I'm great. Just finished a 40-minute swim and, you know, feel like a little sauna. I did the whole spa.

I did the 20 minutes in the hot tub. Okay. 40-minute swim and then a 15-minute sauna and then up in a nice shower. Ready to go. Folliated. Looking good. Is it true that you're like a lot of players right now, closing out the season on our show and a few bumps and bruises,

little wear and tear? Someone mentioned to me that your back might be a little bit out. Here's the problem. As I told you guys, Jill for Christmas gave me a strength coach and paid for it, you know? What is she doing? And I told you, after I'd gone the first few times, I thought the bastard was trying to kill me. And I don't know if it was a setup or not, but, you know,

but anyway, you know what happened? I get into there and after I did it for two months and I was, I was getting stronger. And he was, you know, 15 reps. Then I'd go to 16. Then I'd go to 20 and grinding it out, you know, and feel like a million dollars walking out of there feeling really good, you know, tight shirts, you know.

And then a week ago, I woke up with the first back spasm I've ever had. And I said, Jill, Jill, can you call the strength coach and ask if he can come down over and help me put my shorts on? So I'm rehabbing. I went and had an x-ray the other day. I started physio on Wednesday. and I'm hoping to be back at it. Would you like take the rest of the year off and improve your draft position for next year on our show?

No, I want to, I really, we leave here, you know, mid, maybe the 10th or so May, so I really would like to get another six weeks in before I go back, just, you know, for the beach, you know? Yeah, you're going to have that shirt off soon. You want to be lucky. So, Mac, we assume the players don't care about tanking, but you,

Your experience and going into a dozen games into the season and knowing that you're not going to make the playoffs, I think you've been there a couple of times. Yeah, I've been there a lot. What goes into a GM or a president's mind in those last 12 games? Are you purposely setting the coach up to help lose games? I mean, does it get talked about, really? Give us the goods here.

Come clean. You know what? It doesn't, I don't ever remember having that discussion with a coach. Even in Columbus when we should have been tanking. We should have been tanking. And, you know, I mean, just think our second draft, we picked eighth. You know, our first draft, we picked four because they let Atlanta and Nashville go ahead of us in Minnesota and we end up losing. So we go fourth in the first draft.

The next year, we pick eighth in the draft because we had, you know, a good season in our first season. I think, you know, well, we finished ahead of seven teams in the league, in our first year in the league. And all of a sudden we're picking eighth. And then every year we lost the lottery. Never won one lottery in, you know, eight years or whatever it was. And but it was never about tanking. You can't. Having that discussion with the coach.

just doesn't fly. The coach is trying to win every game. You can't take that away from them. If you want a tank, then you'd get rid of players. You get rid of players at the deadline, and that is, to me, the legitimate way to tank. I mean, I went through with Timmy Murray and Buffalo. We talked a lot that year when they were tanking

to try to get Connor McDavid and lost the lottery and got Iko. And I remember talking to Timmy after. I said, Timmy, really, you got a hell of a player in Ico. And he said, Doug, he's not even close to McDavid, not even close. And they were devastated, you know. But anyway, I just think tankings are really challenging. Like, I've never had that discussion with the coach ever. So, yeah, it is kind of, you know, it's not awesome behavior.

It's something that in our game we'd love to find a way to not have. I guess related to that is players who see a team that's not going anywhere in one out. Does it not feel more now that guys are just like, hey, I don't want to be here, like get me out of here? Or is it always been that way? Well, just go back to tanking. I think the easiest thing, like if you've got players that are banged up,

like take, you know, I've seen the nice, you know, conversation, you know, all about the fact that he's, he's banged up. Well, that's an easy, that's an easy guy to take out of your lineup right there and say, look, Craig, we don't, we're not playing. We're not playing. That's, that can be a GM decision to the coach very easily to get them out of the lineup, you know. You know, that's, that's what I would be doing to saying, okay, we're not going to play so-and-so. We're going to give so-and-so rest and go from there, you know. But they don't have to tank. They're tanking. And let's not forget, the playoffs have already started, guys. Like when I'm watching games right now, like you think about last night watching those games. Every game. right now is a playoff game. So if you're not ready to play, there's a very good chance you're not going to win.

I mean, it's gone to another level, you know, in the last 10, 15 games of the season here. And it's going to be like that right to the wire because everybody's fighting for their lives here. I still want you to weigh in, though, on the players asking, oh, because I'm thinking about Matthews and Nylander, are these guys going to be unhappy and say,

I just don't want to be here the same way that Quinn Hughes is implied if we're not good. I don't want to be here. Matthew Chuck said I don't want to be here. NBA, we see it all the time. Guys just being like, I'm ready to go somewhere else. Did it all, was it always like this, Doug? Did you always have players been like, get me out of here? If you, if you go for a rebuild, you're taking that major risk that guys are going to want to and not want to go through it. I mean, Matthews, what is he, 28, 29 now? I mean, come on, I don't think, I can't imagine he'll want to stay there in a rebuild. So can the Leaps rebuild?

You know, we've watched teams lately. Rebuild, how many teams rebuild? Detroit Red Wings are in their 10th year of the Eiser plan. 10 years. Ottawa went through six, eight years. I mean, how many, how many years can you go through a rebuild? Like, it's not the same anymore. It's all retools now.

It's not rebuilds because, you know, the draft used to be the number one way to rebuild your organization. It's not the way anymore. It's drafts. It's trades. It's free agents. It's waivers. It's the new Vegas Florida model. That's what it is.

And you retool. And, you know, Buffalo is one team, maybe the best team in the NHL right now, the Buffalo Sabres. And I looked at them today. they've got three first round picks on their back end. Three first round picks that are all of a sudden studs there. They got a great young goaltender and goal. They picked up lions. They've done.

They picked up Shannon Stanley with the trade deadlines. So between waivers, trades, free agents, and the draft. But everybody retools. There's no such thing as a tear it down and rebuild anymore because owners won't put up with that and fans won't put up with that. And here's the big question for me with the Leafs. Does ownership trust this management team to do the retool? Do they trust them?

And that's the decision that Keith Pelley and whoever he answers to have got to make a decision as to do we trust this group, which is Brad and Craig and company, to retool. this team. And that's that's the million dollar question right now. This is a team that rebelled against their coach almost from game one this year. They refused to play the way that he wanted them to play. And we watched it and we talked about it all year. And, you know, what the coach wants, they didn't want and wanted nothing to do with it. And it was evident often. So, you know, they've got a big, a big rebuild job here, guys.

they, you know, somebody mentioned Pronger for president. They don't need Pronger's president. They need them on the team. They need somebody like that. They need somebody like Pronger on the ice. Yeah. They don't need them up in the press box. So, you know, that's, it's the defense.

I mean, they need a couple of real good defensemen. They got to scour the free agent market. They've got to scour the trade market. And we'll see how they do. I mean, I think their gold end is fine. I think their defense from three to six is fine. Three to six. They're missing.

I'd like to see a one, two, three. How do you find that? How do you find that? So, you know, if Keith Pelley and ownership decide that they do trust Brad and Craig to retool, then Brad and Craig have to trust the players and the leaders that they can still be part of the retool. That's what you're telling me. What I'm telling you is they've got to decide if they're content with this management team to rebuild. That's what they have to decide.

Retool or rebuild? To retool. To retool. They can't rebuild. Okay. So you're telling me Matthews, Neelander, Nyes, Tavaris, they'll stay, right? I would look at moving one of them. I wouldn't move my eyes.

Like, here's the problem with trading stars. You, you, are you comfortable getting back, you know, are you comfortable getting back a lesser talent in, and multiples of them? Like, I mean, if you're given up a six, like, let's say that Matthew Nyes is an impact player, okay? If he's going to, if you project him to be an impact player, which I project him to be, an impact player is Nylander, a franchise player is Matthews. You know, there's very few impact players in the league.

There's very few franchise players in the league. So when you trade a Nye's, are you going to get a player back as good as Nyes? You guys talking about draftbacks? You may have to wait two or three years to find that out, right? I mean, Nick Suzuki got traded right out of Vegas. It took him a while, but he's franchise. I said this time last year, be careful what you wish for with moving marner.

Be careful what you wish for, because they're hard to find really good players. Nize is a good player, hard to find. So your goal tendons comfortable. You really got to retool your back end for sure with puck movers, guys that can get the puck to guys that are talented up front. And they've got to retool their depth, big time. front.

You're watching. It's a tough job. You're watching Doug McLean, former NHL President, GM head coach off the rails Friday. So one of those teams that you mentioned Buffalo, the other one's Ottawa, a statement game last night out of Brady Kachuk last night, certainly to start the game as well. We know that the Leafs are heading in there Saturday night, questioning whether or not anybody will challenge Brady Kachuk. Do you anticipate it?

I certainly don't want to see. I may want to see some response to Sammy's earlier point, but I just don't think it should be Morgan Riley. Like I'd rather see him a McCabe or Carlo or somebody else than Morgan Riley do this. Yeah, look, what are you going to do? What are they going to do, seriously? So they've tried to respond the last few games by being embarrassed, which they should be, you know, for what happened.

but I mean that's over with that ship has sailed and you know I don't know what what's what's what's it going to do for them you know yeah I don't know I mean you got to do something you got to challenge you got to challenge them and that's it but go to Buffalo just think about Buffalo here for a minute Buffalo were have been out of the past for 14 years that that's how long they've been out if they if they were to miss this year I think it was 14 years or last year at at the 20 game Mark, they were one of four teams under 500. And today they're the best team in the league.

And it's, so what happened there? What happened was the players all of a sudden relaxed, and they started to trust management. They trusted management. So they didn't trust Adams. What? They didn't trust Adams. Well, I think in fairness to Kevin, Kevin brought these players in. Kevin's a guy that drafted a lot of these players, and they had won four in a row when he got fired.

But the cloud was over them because the media were so vicious on Kevin. They were so vicious on him, the media. And you understand it because, you know, I mean, I happen to like Kevin Adams. He's a good guy who played for me. But the cloud was lifted. When Kevin got fired, the pressure seemed to go away. And all of a sudden, you know, Lindy, you know, they're the best team. They have a chance to win the Stanley Cup boys.

They're that good. I watched them play Tampa Bay last the other night. I mean, they ran Tampa Bay out of the building. All right. This Buffalo Sabre stuff has gone on long enough. No, I like Buffalo. I like Buffalo. Top line Peyton Krebs left wing.

You're into that? Jason Zucker, number two left wing? And you look at Ottawa. I mean, Ottawa in the last, I don't know, 10 games or so of the best goals against in the league. in the last 10 games. They're right there. Can they get in?

But look at what they got coming. Look at the group they have there. There's a chance for that team to take a major step. Yeah. I love Buffalo's decor. No doubt. Absolutely loaded. We've been talking with the Leafs left wingers

and their cup hopeful years. They got Krebs Zucker, Osslin Benson, down the left side. I'm not sold yet, is all I'm saying. All right. You don't have to be sold because you've got guys on the other side, at center that make plays. And you've got to have,

you've got to fill with those types of guys in certain situations. Yeah. But you've got to make sure they're good role players and solid guys. So look, it's going to be real interesting to see how they step back with Toronto and really start this retool. That's, it's going to be amazing to watch,

you know? Like just the thing, just look, look at the Cousins for Norris trade. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. That was a hockey trade.

Cousins goes to, uh, Ottawa, he's been a pretty good player there. Norris injured problems, but when Norris plays for the Buffalo Sabers, they don't lose. I know. And if you watch this guy run a power play in Norris, it's amazing to watch. So this, you know, making deals, making the right trades, you know, scouring the waiver wire, looking at the, you know, it's just a total, it's a total situation. It's not acquiring draft picks, which is all I've heard you

guys talk about for a month, is a small part of it now. It's really, Mac, it's really the best place to go get star players. It is, but it's like you just said Nick, you draft an 18 year old.

He's five years. You know, you're getting second and third round, fourth round picks for guys. It's, how many second round picks and third round picks and fourth ever play in the league. Scott Lawton trade makes no sense to me if you're trying to win next year. Yeah.

I mean, what did they get for McMahon? Second and a fourth or something? Yeah. So anyway. So it's the whole rebuild process has changed. And I would like to know who's advising Keith Pellett. That's a really important question right now for Leafs fans. Who is advising Keith?

with this monumental task on his plate. One of our themes this week, Mac, we talked a little bit about the Jack Hughes hockey puck that has gone missing and is now turned up in the hockey Hall of Fame. Do you care about this story? I'm with Sid Crosby on it. Okay.

Did you see Sid's quote? Like, really, who cares? Sid was like, I was just proud that I was in the Hall of Fame? I'm just proud. No, he said, I was just proud. I got the, winning goal and I think about that goal a lot. It was one of the highlights of my life.

He never really thought about the puck. Seriously, who cares about the puck? Okay, this is coming from a guy. This is a guy, this is coming from a guy who's got a Wayne Gretzky All-Star jersey that was given to Clark. Right. It's probably worth about 20 grand, 30 grand. Except Wayne, I screwed up and so did Gretzky.

You got the name on it. He put two Clark. I can't flip that for anything. Maybe that puck's worth a little bit more than who cares about the puck. What I like about Clark's house, though, is his curtain rods, his curtain rods are made out of a Lindrauss stick, an Eisenman stick, a Cicerelli stick, a Fedorov stick. Those are his curtain rods.

That's incredible. Pretty cool. That's awesome. So, Mac, general manager meetings went on this past week. You've been in many of them. How many times did you challenge Gary Bettman like Tulski did out of Carolina? The only time I challenged Gary was I saw him out on a walk one day and I said, I think I can walk faster than you, Gary.

He's a walker, jogger. No, look, I don't recall. I heard it got pretty fiery in the meetings. I heard that to Tulski and, you know, he chirped about the headshots. I don't ever remember in, I guess I was at GM meetings for eight, ten years. I don't remember Gary ever getting in a heated discussion with the GM. I mean, he would be pointed in a conversation. He would be pointed.

He'd give his opinion. But I never saw him go after a general manager, and I never really saw a general manager go after him. I can't ever recall that happening. It's the same with Colin Campbell and Mike Murphy. When they were running the meetings, it was, I always, you know, there was guys that would talk and there'd be some arguments, but I don't recall disrespectful conversations happening very often, amongst GMs or would be, you know, but not to the league.

I never really, I never found that happening. And I was sort of caught off guard by it. And you know what? I'm really watching the games lately. I think our game is in a terrific place right now. I'm watching games and I'm enjoying the way they're playing. They're fast. They're skilled.

They're still physical. There's great goaltending. There's great plays. But I am not really enjoying the acting that's going on. The acting, when you get a stick near your face, or when you get hit in the face or when you get hit, the acting is getting, I watching this bunting kid play and I'm thinking,

oh my God, like how do the referees put up with this stuff? And the acting that's going on is putting the referees in a bed's spot. And I don't like it a little bit. And I mean, they've got us somehow. We've tried to get that out of the game. I think they've got some work to do to get that out of the game. I really do.

Would you bring that up at a GM meeting if you were there? Oh, sure. It would easily come up. And I've got to believe it's being brought it. If I'm seeing it, I guarantee 100% the other GMs in the league are seeing. Do you think the other GMs in general are intimidated by Gary? These are a bunch of accomplishments who've been through the game. Do you think it's all everyone's very comfortable to approach him with their concerns?

I think I would say that guys are definitely not intimidated. by Gary. The only, I mean, there's a good respect there between the GMs and the league office, in my opinion. And the one thing that GMs should keep in mind is that Gary Bettman is unbelievably influential on who gets what job in the league, GM jobs. I mean, and it makes sense.

Just think of this. If a guy buys a new franchise, so a guy buys Atlanta, his franchise and he pays whatever he pays a billion dollars plus or two billion whatever they're going to charge and he deals with gary bettman through the entire process and bill daly and the league's lawyer and you've got to hire a president of hockey officer you've got to hire gm who's the first guy you're going to ask it's gary betman and bill dail it and and every gm in the league knows that they're very instrumental in it and in my opinion i think they should be they're been around the league for 40 years and they know everybody and they want to give good advice

to owners. So at one time you're telling us Gary Bettman liked you? I still, I still have a good relationship with him. I met him in Delray a few times. Yeah, I mean, I happen to. But you walk faster than him. Yeah, yeah, big time. But no, I look, I think there's respect, but I guarantee you what, what?

What they're intimidated by is they know he is very influential and who gets jobs. And that's not a criticism of Gary Betten. No. For me, it makes 100% common sense. They're certainly... They guys tell me that they're not getting jobs because of the relationship. I know that. Mack, they're certainly not feeling intimidated about Department of Player Safety here and George Peros

and whether or not it's the fans or the media screaming at them, they didn't buckle one bit this past week. No, and they're not going to buckle, you know? I mean, I think, look, it's always been the toughest job in the NHL, okay? And it goes back to, you know, Brian Burke when he became the guy and Brendan Shanahan when he was involved in it, and then George Perros comes in.

And look, it's a tough job. It's one of the toughest jobs there is. Everybody's mad at the guy all the time. I really didn't think. I mean, could he have given Goudis another game or two? Yeah, he could have. But you've got to go by the history of what's happened. I know he's got a terrible...

I read Damien Cox's article in there. Oh, Mike. Anyway, why did I bring that name up? Anyway, did you tell him yet? I'm not playing golf with him. Did you tell him that yet? No, I think you keep telling him. telling them every week you're on our show.

I don't play with guys that throw their clothes. But anyway, I look, I knew Gary was going to back up Perros and he should. And I hear from people in the league that George Peros

is a well-respected guy in the league office and is really thorough in his job. So, yeah, he could have given him seven games. Could have given him six. Could have given him five. I wasn't really overly surprised by it. And I'm not being critical of them.

I think it's a tough job. All right. Anything else on your mind before, I don't know, you get an ice pack for your back? Tell us about Rick Bonas in Columbus. You impressed by the jackets? Yeah, how about that?

I'll tell you what I'm impressed back. I said I put a tweet out this morning that today is a great day in the NHL because as of today, the Buffalo Sabers and the Columbus Blue Jackets, at this point are in the playoffs. And I think it's two great stories. Buffalo, we've already talked about.

Kekeleinen does a good job, I guess, by whatever he did. I don't know. He picked up a couple of players recently, but obviously he's set a different tone. Lindy Ruff has done an unbelievable job, and I think he's a great coach. And Rick Bonas was the perfect guy to bring into Columbus.

He's a good guy. He's a good person. He's a good hockey man. And he relaxed the team. This is a team that have hardly lost, what have they lost? Two games and 15, 17 games. And this is a team that was a disaster. And he comes in and calms the waters.

And I think Rick and Lindy deserve a ton of credit. I really do. And I'm happy because those fans in Columbus, have gone through thick and thin with that team and that organization, and the fans in Buffalo, and I'm thrilled for both fan bases. Hey, God, you're so positive here. The game's never been better. Gary's never been better.

George, you want back in the league? You're looking for a job now? You know what? Foamy it when we're off the air and we'll have a better conversation. No, I mean, I'm telling me the truth. That's just how I feel. I'd love to see Ottawa get in here. I'd love to see Ottawa get in.

Boston, I mean, talk about culture. Look at that culture in Boston. When you pull that broom jersey on, you play hard. That's what they've got to get it figured out in Toronto. When you put on that leaf jersey, I know they were so damn good the last five, six, nine years. But they've got to figure out that culture there. Go, ice, you're back. Okay.

Geez, it's stiffened up in me just a minute ago. Listen, you know, I said today, I said when I phoned for my physiopointment, I said, by the way, you think it's okay if I play golf on Sunday? And I gave you a yes, no? She said no, but I got a brace. I got a brace, but my swings bad enough. I have to wear a brace. I'm nervous. Hey, Jill with this.

Maybe don't. Jill with this personal trainer, I think she's slowly trying to kill you. Good first step. Let's go. You know what? After 48 years of marriage, can you imagine 48 years of being married to me? Oh, my.

Seriously. Buddy, we 20 minutes with you here. Whatever's above heaven. Get her there. All right, go. Go away. Doug McLean, everybody. Thanks for having me on, guys.

See you, Mac. Thanks, Bell. Doug McLean. Whatever's the both having. Great line. Oh, man. What a time that was. What do we got?

Game time? Yeah, we should do game time. Text us, 59590. Get some text in because they're going to read a bunch of them because there's nothing else to talk about. So you're going to give us their content for the last segment. It's game time. Instead of my bet 365, an official partner of the NHL must have 19 plus.

Ontario only, please play responsibly. Five games on tap tonight. Would you like to hazard a guess what the Carolina hurricanes are his favorites tonight against the Army Police Justin Board? Minus 2.20. bang on. Oh, wow. Bang on.

Nice. They are minus 220. The Toronto Maple Police are plus 180 on home ice. That's uncharted territories. Uncharted territory for the Toronto Police being that big of a dog in this era, but they suck now. So I guess that's what you had to deal with. Later on, Anaheim in Utah, taken on the mammoth, minus 135 ferrets on the money line for the Utah mammoth. And Florida Panthers in Calgary to take on the flames, the same.

second half of back to back. Big game for the tank. Need them to pull off the Alberta sweep, get a couple more points. Oh, cats go, meow. Meow. I'm all the way in on them. And give me in that game against his former team

a Sam Bennett goal at plus 205. Sam Bennett to score against the flames tonight at plus 205. Sam send it. Yeah, you shouldn't have traded him. Nope. Who did that? I don't know. That was game time presented by Bet365.

An official partner of the NHL must be. I'd seem plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. All right everybody get there. Doug McLean break. 590, 590. Text, text, text, text. Text us. Please. That and another oiler goes down to injuries.

Yeah. I know who, but I won't say. A loss to the Florida Panthers last night. Plenty to talk about the Oilers plus your texts, all when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. dive deep into Toronto sports and the NFL, the JD Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, let's try that again. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kippurn-Born brought you like Bet 365. So now I get in a few text messages. Somebody's asked, sends a pitcher. It says, couldn't Doug find a better place?

to sit so we could see his beautiful face. And then Brian Burke sends me a text saying, Max never looked better. We're asking people to give up 30 minutes of their time. It'd be a really, like, it used to be a phone call so you could do while you're active, right? Like, we used to do a lot more phone calls. Hold on.

We're not supposed to be asking for 30. But when you ask somebody to do, it's an extra level to physically sit down in front of a computer or sit down and go on camera. It's just, you're not going to get the perfect backdrop every time. If we're not, we're not Marty Scorsese here. We're not making the Irishman. It's just the way it goes.

It feels like it some days. Yeah, just sometimes it's not going to be perfect. We could produce a movie. Three and a half hours long. Oh, my God. I would have made some cuts to that bad boy. Holy smokes. I actually didn't see it.

Oh, it's awful. The Oilers lose to Florida, which. embarrassing. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I know it doesn't matter, but like, this team has got you, man. They've got,

they've got you every which way. They're not making the playoffs because you've not found a way to have a better effort against them. Yeah. Edmonton. I thought Florida going into that game was like, we may be out of it

and even though we may be tanking. We'll just stick it to Edmonton once more. They could lose six nothing to Calgary tonight. Yeah. And just they don't care. No. We gave it to the oil. Trent Frederick, who has not had a good year.

But look better. He was coming on. He was coming on. He was coming on. He was coming on. He was gone. Uh, they have not said for how long, but undisclosed injury, but he left after, uh, second period on a four check. Yeah.

That's a concern. I mean, they no need these kind of depth guys. No dry saddle. No doc. No yarn. Mark. All right. Are we doing the thing?

No Lazare. Are you concerned the Oilers? They have a four point lead on. making the playoffs? I'm not. They just lose every night. I'm not as concerned. I'm not as concerned whether they miss the playoffs or make the playoffs

as much as I am that I don't know if they're going anywhere. Well, we had to talk, though, like just the other day off air where it's like they still have a lot of pros. You know, Hyman and R&H and all these guys to go with, you know, Drysettle will be back. McDavid's still there. Eckholme's a pro. You know, they, obviously, Bouchard's a super.

Superstar. Kippro. Let me ask. Let me ask you. If they get into playoffs and you too, Bornie, what first round matchup outside of them falling down? Like, instead of, and if they fall to the last wild card spot and they have to play Colorado in the first round or Dallas, whoever wins the Central. Yeah. What Pacific Division matchup are they playing that you're not super confident that they're going to win?

Options being Ducks, Vegas. Right now if it opened today, they'd get Vegas. Vegas, Utah. Sorry, that's the other side. Kings. They'd feel good going against Vegas who... They're no good either. But three goals on three shots.

Is that an NHL record last night? They should have traded for Bobroski. That they gave up three goals on the first three shots? I think Aden Hill has played his first three games in a row of over 900 hockey of the year. I don't know if he ended up over... I could be wrong on that. But yes, to your point, Kip, they are not... They don't get goaltending.

They don't get goaltending. They're going to win around. Probably too. The Oilers. Yeah. Like I really, if Drys out comes back, like they say he's going to come back, and they get around 900 goal-tending or 890 goal-tending from Ingram and McDavid and those guys are still on the team,

they're probably going to win a couple rounds. I don't know. I have a hard time believing they won't. It is really badly watching the Pacific. Last night, the Pacific Division went 05 and 1. Oh, my. They got shut out at least three times. Like, the ducks remain in first place with seven.

78 points. Crazy. Which if they were in the other conference, they would be out of the playoffs. Okay, perfect. Into the text here. This is related to the Oilers from Kim and Edmonton. If the Oilers don't make it far in the playoffs or win this year or next year, do you think McDavid will leave before his second year?

And which team do you think would go after him or could afford him? Yeah. I do think, like I've read, I know LeBron wrote his piece where he's like, it's kind of this year. and then you sign the two-year extension knowing that next year is kind of your next crack at it. If you're no good next year, the final year of this two-year deal,

if you're not good, better with a chance to win a cup if he's not extending, they're not going to let him leave for nothing. As far as who can afford them, everybody. Yeah, yeah. You give your entire team.

Everybody can afford them. And every team should be in on it, you know, in terms of making room for him, you give up whatever you need to give up. If you feel like you're in a window of winning a Stanley Cup and I got to think there might be 15, 20 teams. I know. In a window of, can we win the cup in two or three years?

Honestly, you're almost looking at maybe with the exception of like three or four teams, everybody feeling that way. And I, of course, you're going to watch it carefully from here till. June on the Euler situation if you need to bring them into another year but we should know by this time

next year truly where McDavid's future lies. And this is not about McDavid or Edmonton specifically like Matthews in Toronto are going through it. Quinn Hughes and Vancouver just went through it. Brady Kachuk and Ottawa are going to go through it.

Like these are everyone there's more player movement from superstars in sports in general now. They're more empowered. They want to chase championships. He's been there 10 years. He's signed multiple contracts. It's like he's committed.

It's not like he's not giving it the college try. He's one of the best players in the history of the game. Yeah. Just if he plays 12 years there. Just the mere fact that he's in his prime. He's the best player on the planet. And for whatever reason, our game, our CBA, our system, whatever it is, didn't allow him,

whether it's because of his, you know, obviously his conscience or whatever the case is, never got a race. Like, go find me a superstar that... But he could have got a raise, Kipp. I know he could have. But, like, he chose not to for a number of reasons because...

But players have done that across sports. Not like that, Sam. I mean, not in their prime, not in their prime with a small window, of you claiming that you are far and away the best player on the planet. So what is your point? My point is that he did it for a number of reasons,

but the biggest reason of all is when I leave, no one can accuse me of giving it every last chance to win here. Totally agree with that. Fair. This one's, Kippa, you're going to like this one. Can we have the Mitch Martin conversation? It's all doom and gloom about the Leafs, and understandably so.

but he went to Vegas and they are a tire fire. The Flyers have more points to them. Stray shot at the Flyers, I know, but still, Curtis and Kingston. Okay. I will say. It is a small consolation that he didn't go there and they turned into a super wagon

and they kind of stink too. That does help. They don't kind of stink. They're kind of good with stinky goal tending. I mean they. And Mitch Marner. Goleys are part of the team. His 80 points.

85 points on a and he's not he doesn't have a Austin Matthews shooting in the net he's got a 30 goal score in the door you say he needed Austin Matthews to get points no I'm saying that if he had someone

like that maybe 80 becomes 100 again for him yeah yeah I yeah he's it's a different role there right he's playing sub 20 minutes which he's never done before they got him playing center at times I think he's been really effective in a defensive sort of

with the way that Mitch Marner is effective quietly, right? He's not to take the game over and drive the play guy. Jack Eichel, Stone, who could still still one of the smartest guys in the game. They're a blue line. They just got Anderson there. Tons of talent. Tons.

Come on. Like, if they get any type of goal tending, then they're going to be one of those teams that can hang around and find themselves in a conference final. It's that simple. Either Vegas or Edmonton is going to be in the conference final. You think? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Right. No, no, you're right. It's going to be one of those two playing Colorado or Dallas. And they'll have a good chance in that series. We'd be sitting here at either of those teams in the cup final going, boy, we didn't think they were very good. And I don't think we're wrong in saying it.

We have like six different texts of saying that McDavid's going to go to the San Jose sharks. The sharks? Yeah, that's what they think he's going to go. Why do people think there's, Celebrini's good, they're going to be good? That's the idea. On the upswing. That's the, we have, there's been at least in the 150 texts we've got in the last 20 minutes.

There's probably six different ones about the Sharpe. People saw him connect with Celebrini in the Olympics and were like, aha. I don't think Celebrini and. You know who works with McDavid? I like everybody. I know, but. Todd Coles and Savoy. I like a situation where it's like one alpha dog number one centerman in the middle.

middle of the ice and then a very close second behind you. Not two guys in the same line? Not two fighting over. Celebrini could play two C? There's no such thing as two when you have guys like that. Celebrini to me is Sidney Crosby. I need a Malkin. I don't need a Connor McDavid.

Here's one. Mick and Sparwood. Fun question for you. That's nice. Because it is almost time to go. No matter what the sport. What is your most favorite trade A team you cheer for has made that you really loved?

Noah Dobson for two first round picks and Emil Heineman. Okay. No Dobson's having a great year, bud. He lights it up. I know. Let me actually think about that a little more thoroughly. Can you think of one Kipper or no?

That I've liked for one particular team. Yeah. It doesn't even have to be NHL. What other, like, if you're thinking baseball. New York Jets never do anything right. The Jays. Very excited when they got. too low and that didn't work out great.

Lanny for Wolf Paymont killed me when I was a kid. Yeah, that seems like a bad trade. Why did they do that one? All those ones that Because they wanted to rip Sittler apart. Zedano Charra that was a punch him lack. We wanted to get to Sittler by trading Lanny. The Js in I think

20, I think it was either 2013 or 2014 made this off-season blockbuster with the Miami Marlins who were looking to shed salary. They got Burley. They got Josh Johnson. They got Jose Reyes, Amelia Bono Faso. They gave up nothing.

And they were like the preseason World Series favorites. It was an unbelievable trade. It didn't work out. But that is as excited as I've ever been. That's a great question. When they got all those guys. And Donaldson was sick, though.

What about Alamar and Carter? Did they come from San Diego? Cleveland? I think Cleveland, no? I think Cleveland. I was a kid. I don't know. I was a kid. Cleveland, I think.

I can't remember it. but that trade changed the Jays. Here's a sneaky one I got that really I loved was Finoff. I was fired up. You were right. Oh, yeah, man. Big Canadian defenseman fires it, hits guys. Yeah.

Listen, I was the last Dianfanoff Defender. It was a tough position to take, but anyways. Good question. Thanks. Hold on. I'm looking it up now. Mick and Sparwood. Alamar to the Blue Jays.

Cleveland, I thought. Acquired Alamar and Joe Carter from San Diego. San Diego. Why did I think, do they go to Cleveland after? For Freddie Crime Dog McGriff. And Tony Fernandez, who we lost, I think. Yeah. Yes, we loved Tony.

Anyways, that one was a good one. That's some big names going both ways in that deal. Big names. Yeah, it's baseball trades generally, though, like, have had more just because, you know, there's prospects. It's wild. It'll be a one huge name for five. I think this summer has a chance to see some big names moving. The NFL.

It's our NBA summer. It's coming. Big names. I want to see it. Me too. Got a text from a Calgary listener that says, I'm really looking forward to having Vegas's first round pick here in Calgary this year. Keep stinking it up.

I just don't think either of those teams are going to be a lot of me. There's a couple interesting one, though, because in the Walman deal from San Jose, they have Edmonton's unprotected first round pick this year. So it's not going to be that. Oh, San Jose has Edmond. Yeah, that's what I mean. Yeah. So it's like there's a couple of them out there.

Yeah. No, that's, the first rounders that swap hands are always great drama. The Leafs. The Leafs last year's trade deadline is just devastating. It's just so devastating. It's watching. Given Boston, like, the seventh overall pick or whatever it's going to be. Here's a pretty bold.

Let's do trade lottery or draft lottery coming up. Okay. I mean, this. Yeah. Here we got. New York Rangers number one. Calgary Flames number two. Vancouver.

What do you got? What do you got? I'm going to reset it. Yeah, I got to reset mine too. Yeah, here we go. Draft lottery sims. This is... One, two, three.

I got St. Louis one, Florida, second, Vancouver third. Calgary and the Leafs are at eight. I can't tell you. I've hit the Sim lottery button so many times in the last week. St. Louis, Chicago, Vancouver, Calgary, Rangers, Winnipeg. Leaves are always eight. They're always eight. Yeah.

It's, they're always eight. Calgary, New York, Vancouver. Oh, here's another good favorite trade. The. Twice Calgary I got. Leamer. A lemur. Lehman for Gilmore, that whole blockbuster.

Like, there's a huge. How many, how many players was in that trade? 10. 10. Yeah. The New York Islanders back before I was, you know, alive traded for Butch-Goring. A lot of people call that, like, the best Islanders trade. You, like, put them over the top. He won the Kings.

Yeah. Yeah, 1980. God, there's so many good, people are texting in great trades now. New and Dyke for a Ginla. Oh, wow. Because back in the day, that was when they were trying to get over the top. And they ended up winning the cup,

and then Calgary gets a Ginlanian. That's a win-win trade right there. Yeah. Everyone's happy with that if you can win a cup within... Just win one cup. One or two. You're fine. Doesn't matter.

Get your cup. It doesn't matter. The Blackhawks had to trade away everything. signed and they just got three cups to show for it. We traded Tony Amante, who went on and had a great career for Brian Noonan and Stefan Mattoe

Mattoe, Mattoe, Mattoe, Mattoe, he did score a large goal for you guys. A good player for two talented slugs. We had him on, I forget when that was, but it was after somebody scored a big playoff goal and we had Stefan Mattoe on and it was one of my favorite interviews we ever did. Just him talking about what it did for him

and just like the early days. Can't find a nicer guy. The early days of our show up in the spaceship up there. We had ally Afraidy on telling us the story about being F bombs talking about being Buccane. David on a motorbike driving in. Stevie Tom, Stumpy Thomas dropping hard F bombs? We had locker room talking. Oh, yeah.

It was a wild time. What a time to be alive, boys. Kipp are doing our second show ever from his car because he had COVID. That's right. It's really our second show ever. Oh, my God. What a nightmare day that was. We're on the area, a television show to do it.

Oh, good luck, boys. Five games on tap, including ours, on Sportsnet, Ontario. Caprio's Justin Bourne, just warming up here. Pick your game. Have a great night. Have a great weekend. And we're back on Monday to do it all over again. And if you get a chance, give us a rating and review.

We'd love to hear from you and thumbs up on YouTube. Thank you.