Real Kyper & Bourne - Are There Deeper Issues at Play in Edmonton?

Episode Date: November 23, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee are joined by Sportsnet's Luke Gazdic (3:28) to discuss whether or not the shine has already fallen off new Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, the play of the defence, and how perhaps if the same issues are cropping up under a new head coach that the players might have to shoulder more of the blame. They also take a look around the Eastern Conference and take a look at some of the surprising teams in a pair of loaded divisions. Plus, they discuss the Canucks/Avalanche game, get to the red-hot Norris Trophy race between Quinn Hughes and Cale Makar, and take a peek at the Gregg Popovich 'booing controversy' over in the NBA. 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.

we are back for our national hour on the real kipper and born show we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 for the next hour we will go in in-depth analysis on the green bay packers 29 22 victory over the detroit lions poor fake punt decision we don't have any nhl games today what else are we gonna do um good question we're gonna rank thanksgiving foods oh yeah it's like hey i got an idea what are you most thankful for in the nhl this year i'm thankful for you guys what's what's the swivel on your most thankful i think cranberries way overrated yeah i'm the complete opposite we're doing this that to me that's it's a deal breaker if you don't have it you gotta really yeah i would never touch it way too sweet i'd rather pile on the gravy yeah but to me it's

that extra kick of sweet you need with the meat because it's you know a drier meat happy thanksgiving american thanksgiving of course to our friends south of the border. And we know that wherever you're listening, all over this great world, however you pick us up. And now YouTube as well. We're thankful for all of you. We have so many good friends on YouTube that weren't very happy. What up, Susie Q? Yeah, and what are the other ones?

Jeremiah. Oh, yeah, the sports beard. He's the one. Yeah, he's our dude. Alaska. Yeah, but he found us without it. He was already, he's all over. Anchorage represent. Yeah, he is. We've got Luke Gastek will join us in a few minutes, but before that,

let's just get your thoughts on, again, what we saw last night from the Edmonton Oilers. This is a story that just keeps growing legs today in the toronto star i kind of did a a piece on the edmonton oilers and how uh-huh it's a reminder to the toronto maple leafs and i do write an article for the toronto star again right not first word important there. The Toronto.

But I got a few notes today from, I think, people in Alberta that kind of mentioned, like, what's this got to do with the Leafs? And I'm like, well, I'm just kind of comparing the thought that high expectations from two teams. And basically, I wrote 700 words of one basic message. You can't take making the playoffs for granted. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's not that easy in a 32-team league.

And say what you will about the Toronto Maple Leafs and their ability to choke in the first round or the second round now. Really good at doing that. Excellent at that. But, hey, these guys bring the numbers for 82 games to get you there. And it's not easy. I actually, it's funny you wrote that article today

because I woke up sort of thinking, I watched that whole game last night where they're dreadful for most, but they get back into it a little bit. It was a fake comeback. But, like, can you imagine this was happening here? Well, yeah. Because they're teams that have the exact, like, very, like you said, very similar expectations.

Very similar teams. We've talked to them a million times how similar the teams are. Like, the world would be burning if they had this here. Like, this would be the biggest story. And it's that way, I think, in Edmonton. For sure. But I guess Toronto's just a different thing in terms of the national attention, and we know all about that.

People get mad at us. But, like, it's crazy how much this has happened. Well, the one guy that's experienced playing as an Edmonton Oiler that we can't speak of is our next guest, so let's bring him in. Luke Gazdik. Luke, how are you, pal? Thanks for joining us. I know you're covering the Oilers. You're watching it like the rest of the hockey world.

And it was not pretty. I guess the first 22, 23 minutes, they were down, what, 4-1 at a point where you thought maybe the game should be just getting started. Yeah, it's frustrating, right? I'm heavily invested in this team, not just covering them, but I also played there for three years, right? And even with some of the guys that are playing there now, still know a lot of people there.

And covering them now, it's frustrating as ever. I mean, even a game like last night, you settle into the chairs at the studio and, you know, I'm expecting a good start. And it's just the same old story again. It's watching the same record spin around and the same story unfold game after game. It's been tough covering them because it's really tough to find any positives to flip on this. And all in all,

it's starting to spiral out of control for these guys. Gaz, now I've been going up against these two in studio here on the Oilers and starting to lose a little faith here myself. But I watched the game two games ago. You know, they have some bad luck. You know, Broberg steps on a stick and they hit Hyman on a breakout. Pucks end up in their net.

Last night, Carolina's first goal kind of banks off a couple of guys and pinballs in. And, you know, it got progressively worse from there. But is there any chance this has just been a really unbelievable bad run of luck? Is there any chance or is this something just fundamentally flawed here no there is a chance and you're right like the bounces really haven't gone their way everything that can pretty much go wrong has but in saying that i think the the thing i was told over my career more than anything was control what you can control and i never really

even understood that at the time i would just listen to assistant coaches and tell them to beat it when they said that. And now I'm seeing, you know, the things you can control out there are your effort and your urgency. And the lack of urgency in their defensive game is so stunning. And it's just so tough to watch every time. I mean, playing defense is a choice, and it's hard work. Not just the position defense, but playing defensive is hard work,

and it's not fun. It's fun to go rip around in the offensive zone and score goals and cycle the puck and mix it up down there, but it's tough to play defensive hockey. And they're looking like they're openly making the choice that they do not want any part of playing defensive hockey right now. And I think that's the most frustrating part for me is, yeah, the bounces are going bad, but there's still some things they can't control.

I did a little breakdown in between periods of the first and second. They've snapped back two draws in the d zone clean wins and you know as a player you win a draw in the d zone you have a set plan whether it's reverse d to d you name it it they the defenseman didn't even know what to do they just kind of they both went for it and then one went in cc's feet like they're not even on the same page back there so it just seems like there's just a disconnect and a lot of things that they can they can control are self-inflicted mistakes here look for you who kind of is the face of that lack of energy and i don't want to pick on evan bouchard here but i'm watching i think the game-winning goal, Studland in Florida. Yeah, circling. I just don't understand, you know, basic fundamentals,

stopping and starting. It just isn't there. I mean, is he kind of the poster boy for all of this, or is it by committee here? Yeah, I hate to look at it as one person, but he's certainly one of them. I would categorize it as their defense core as a whole has to be much more urgent in coming back for pucks.

And I mean, the very first thing we're told as players in day one of every training camp you've been to since you were 10 years old is like, go back to the house and stop and then sort it out if you don't know what to do when you go back in there put the brakes on take a look around see what you have and kind of sort from there and it's these like circles back into the zone kind of coasting where it's just guys pointing at each other and not talking and just breakdown after breakdown but for evan i know he's a bit of the whipping boy but man it just looks like when he makes mistakes they are catastrophic

like he doesn't make a ton he really doesn't like if you watch his game he doesn't make too many blunders he makes up for a lot of them with how good he is offensively. He's got a point per game, man. It's the mistakes he does make end up being catastrophic for their team and usually ends up in the back of their net. The goal against Florida, that was the one I think you were mentioning. Yeah, it was a Kevin Stenland goal. I mean, he can avoid all that by just putting on the brakes and instead he goes for a loop I don't know where he's going I don't think if I don't know if he's cheating for offense thinking the puck's going out that way but it's just simple decision making of just putting

on the brakes and going from there yeah I'm fascinated by the big mistake guys you know like whether here in Toronto is Jake Gardner for a while, the guys who are really good players, but just kind of make these like, oh my God, errors at times. It seems to be a whole genre of player. Gaz, talking a little bit about the coaching here in the show,

they obviously get rid of Woodcroft. They bring in Chris Knobloch. You know, could you give the guys some slack with a new coach that maybe they're trying new things or things are different? What are your thoughts on the decision to go away from Woodcroft and kind of how the change in coaching staff has affected what has been a pretty rocky last? Well, transition, frankly, the last five games at Nauvoo has been there. Yeah, switching coaches mid-year is tough for anyone. I went through a couple of those.

You know, I played for Jay. I had him as an assistant coach in Edmonton. He ran the forwards, and he's a good man. He was very detailed, extremely meticulous in his game and his teaching and the way he goes about things. I wasn't a fan of it at the time, to be honest. You could see the things that the guys were doing and a lot of these bad habits that were creeping into their game. And for the

longest time, I was on the side of, I really don't think changing the coaches is going to be the right thing to do. But sometimes that can really spark your team and really turn things around, kind of just put a jolt in the room and and change morale a little bit it can get i don't want to say stale but listening to the same things over and over again from the same guy can get stale after a while so at the same time i'm thinking you know maybe this is a good thing but knobs has come in and you're seeing the exact same things happen now so i you would expect uh you know a little bit of time for system stuff to come in and i really haven't seen that many changes you know in in stuff like that in x's and o's if anything you're watching a lot of the

same mistakes and in the same habits which is the most frustrating thing, not just for me, but for fans and viewers of the team, of watching this Oilers team. It's the same stuff that was happening with Woody is happening with Chris. And I like the hire, to be honest. I don't know a lot about Chris. I at first wanted them to get maybe more of an older harder coach in there on them but they've had that too so i it's the group and i was i was the player i was those guys so one of those guys and i'm usually taking their side but you're kind of

seeing now that it's on the boys here it's it's on the players to turn this thing around i don't think anyone's going to do it for them. We're talking to former National Hockey Leaguer Sportsnet Hockey Analyst Luke Gazdik. Luke, the body language for me quite concerning. Connor McDavid and Leon Dreisaitl. And yes,

the focus is as early as tomorrow night when they go into Washington before going back home against Anaheim and Vegas. But when does the conversations are less about preparing for the next game or two and they turn like long-term and what's going to happen to Leon come this summer when he's eligible to sign a new extension

or what happens in two years from now with Connor. How do you see that scenario kind of playing out when it comes to concerns for Edmonton fans? I hear them loud and clear. And for a guy like Leon, especially with the body language, I see the biggest difference between last year and this year is they would go down in games last year, two, three, heck, four goals. And you wouldn't even think twice. They could rip a comeback.

It really didn't matter. go down in games it's shoulder shrugs it's body language it's showing visible clear frustration of oh no like this is happening again and it's kind of like that poor me uh this is happening again our goalie let in a couple um this is this is the way i'm gonna act now and that that's the most one of the most frustrating signs to watch for me. But I know those guys both want to be there, and they don't want to go anywhere. They want to make it work in Edmonton. I know how much they both love being there and love playing there

and how much they both want to make it work. So I don't – I mean, I'm trying not to look too far ahead. Those are two pieces. I heard Mike Feud on here earlier, and I kind of echo his sentiment. And those are two absolutely untouchables, obviously, Connor. But I'm starting to hear the Leon discourse now about maybe it's time to be looking at moving him. And for me, I'm completely against that. I think you have to try about everything else in your repertoire before you look ahead to moving one of those guys.

Because I look at a situation like here in Toronto with Willie and about him possibly moving on. It's tough to get really, really good players in this league to actually want to play in a Canadian city like Toronto, like Edmonton. You can see how much harder it is with the state taxes and guys not wanting to deal with media. It's rare that you have players that really want to be there. And I know that those two guys really want to be there.

And I would try not to look too far ahead to the contract extensions and kind of take this one week at a time and, and see if they can maybe add a piece or a goaltender or whatever it is to, to try to salvage what they have here this year. Yeah, no, it's,

I'm totally with you there. It's impossible to even contemplate what a return would look like on a guy like dry saddle. We were talking before the show about like the trade value of a contract and his is i mean he's 20 86 2 2 10 he's won a heart trophy right he's an extremely rare valuable talent that makes very little money so gotta keep him the the thought about the goaltending stew skinner gets back in the net to me i didn't love the fourth goal he gives up you know but all goalies give up some weak ones. You know, how disheartening,

how much of their lack of success so far is on the crease kind of letting them down? And do you think they have to go outside the team or is it a thing where the guys can just say, we know these guys have played better before and you just kind of cross your fingers and wait it out? Yeah. The way I look at it is, yeah, we talked about the bad bounces and there's some goals where he's

both goalies all three put jack in there too have been absolutely hung out to dry but when's the last time we looked at this oilers team and or watched a game and post game we're going wow you know player x or goalie x stole that game for us right like as a play as a former player you just needed nights like that some nights where you just weren't going right or or things weren't clicking uh you gave up some chances and your goalie bailed you out and you came back after the game and you're like man we wouldn't have had a chance without you know buddy annette call it stew skinner and i just i i'm trying to remember when the last time we said that about the oilers i mean skinner had 31 saves versus the islanders last monday but he wasn't

fantastic didn't have to do anything really spectacular so for me it's like they're not bailing him out in net but sometimes if if it gets through check one and through check two and then under a stick under a seam you need your goalie to come up with huge saves just every now and then to bail the boys out and just they haven't seen any of that it's it's just been the same the same story and the same performance by whoever is in that net i would truly truly think that they're looking high and low to to put someone in the in the crease that can can make some of those stops i i really think that would send a huge boost of energy energy and jolt through the locker room to add somebody i don't know who that is but i'd expect them to try something just because borny like it's you just you need your

goalie to steal you some nights and right now it's just not happening we know what the stats say as far as the american thanksgiving uh target or their deadline Where are you? They have any chance at all under the current team, the roster, or you need a major change to still give them a shot? And if that change is coming, when? Yeah, I think they, I honestly think they need a change.

They need something just to at least... Like now. Yeah, at least as a message from management to the players saying hey we're not giving up on this season because kind of looks like that right now with you the worst thing they could do is just status quo just stand still right now like make a move and i think that would go a long way in management showing the team and the boys, like, hey, you guys might think we're giving up on this thing, but we're not. Like, here's some help. And I know they're up against the cap, but that's your job.

Like, good GMs get things done. And I don't care if you're up against the cap. Like, figure it out. And I think something has to be made here. I read a tweet. think what the oilers after 18 games have a worse record than eakins my second year in edmondson that led to drafting connor and i understand the expectations were different uh but i remember going to the rink at those times and just how miserable it was and walking on eggshells and just every day you were waiting,

waiting for something to happen. And I know expectations were a lot different for this team, but I truly think that they have to make a move in here and shake things up to at least send a message to the team that they're trying to salvage this as well. Hey, Luke, great stuff, man. Keep up the great work on Sportsnet. Thanks, guys. Anytime. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it.

Yeah, that's some good insight on the Oilers team. There's no Superman coming. Gretzky's not walking through that door. Love what he said about getting someone else.'s not walking through that door. I love what he said about just getting someone else. Like another goalie. I know it's Pickard or whatever you call him up,

but, like, just it doesn't have to be Soros. It just has to be someone. I know, but you look, you got to make sure it's the right thing, the right one. You're going to have to give something up. You just can't be so desperate that you're throwing up against the wall to see if it sticks here. But you're not that desperate at this point.

You are desperate, but you got to act like a professional. Jack Campbell had a shutout in Bakersfield, so maybe he's coming back. You know, even if they were, Ken Holland, we believe, isn't coming back. There's still a responsibility. As bad as it is, there's still a responsibility to not actually make it even worse.

Well, and how about if you go out and do something big? You go spend assets to get someone. You're 5-12. Yeah. Like, you know, you spend assets, and all of a sudden that brings you to a worse draft pick and miles from the playoffs still. It could be a real bad luck if you get aggressive this far out. You spend assets, and all of a sudden that brings you to a worse draft pick and miles from the playoffs still.

It could be a real bad luck if you get aggressive this far out. So did you want to do the American Thanksgiving thing here? Because we just mentioned it with Luke. Yeah. Are you going to get the standouts in front of you? I wouldn't write it in stone right now for Edmonton Oilers to not get on a run. But, yeah, you will because it's easy to because you just don't see them turning around and getting 640, 650 production. Like nobody snaps their fingers and then turns around

and wins seven out of ten games. So not playing this way. No. My guy who runs hockeyviz.com, Micah Blake McCurdy, he's got some, like, you know, playoff odds based on the roster you have, past successes, you know, scheduled to come, whatever. He has the Oilers at a 39% chance of making playoffs.

Playoffs? Don't talk about playoffs. Which seems high. Which seems high, but that's kind of how I feel about it. 39. I'm digging in against you guys, not because I think they're over 50, but because I think they're better than five. I don't say this to be sexy.

It's not like I don't watch the Oilers. I watch them play, and they're just bad a lot of nights. But you know what, Sam? We just did this. They can't get a save. It's like, ah. We did this with Tampa. Is Tampa done?

And then we went through the roster, and they have all these good players. McDavid, Dreisaitl, RNH, Hyman, Kane, you know, Eckholm, Nurse. They have players, guys. Nugent Hopkins has got, like, one goal in, like, 15 games. But we have a sample of 10 years where he's a really good player. Okay, but he's not a 100-point guy. That was a career year, much like Jonathan Huberto had in Florida. Sure.

Is he a 70-point guy? He's not this bad. Yeah, exactly. He's not this bad. But, you know, I'm a little tired of hearing the bad luck stuff to me. It's not like, hey, everybody, this summer, yeah, we had some bad luck, but we're going to come back and be a lot better now. It was just bad luck.

No, you don't get to use bad luck. I'm sorry. You don't get to bad luck a 300 winning percentage. Bad luck is like a one in three start with a couple bad ones, not five in 12. And the domino effect is that Leon Dreisaitl this summer, who's eligible to sign July 1st, goes, no, I like it here to Luke's point.

I really like it here. And I'd like to win here. But it ain't happening. And I don't. What, the winning? Winning a cup. It's not happening. Not happening.

Okay. Okay. I got to move on. Not happening. Okay. Okay. Hey, listen. I got to move on. I tried it here, but I got an opportunity. Let's see how this season starts next year. If you don't think they're going to win a cup and you think he's going to feel that way. He thinks that this summer, why would I sign when in 12 months I can go somewhere else? I've given these guys ample opportunity to help me and Connor win,

and it's just not happening. And I want to go try to win a cup somewhere else. That's the domino effect of missing the playoffs this year. Your point being that the pressure is on now to go get uc sorrows yeah the pressure now is the domino effect of missing the playoffs and the repercussions and it starts with leon what about a good push where they get close to the playoffs they they went at a 600 clip the rest of the way and he goes okay next year if we just play like that, we're all right. Listen, there's always a chance. But I think he's been around long enough to know if that's really true or is that fool's gold.

It's been fool's gold on a lot of teams when the pressure's off. Yes, it has. I agree. Tough to tell. But this is an Oilers team that's won a lot of playoff rounds recently. So he may see that it's not that different and may believe in it has. I agree. Tough to tell. But this is an Oilers team that's won a lot of playoff rounds recently. So he may see that it's not that different and may believe in it more. I get your point, Kip, that the stakes are high. He's come this far, and then you miss the playoffs in the year

that people expected you to win a Stanley Cup. It's scary to say I'm going to commit the next eight years. Those guys who are going to commit the next eight years. Okay? Those guys who are going to the Hall of Fame, those guys that are going to the Hall of Fame, okay, their biggest fear, their foe, fear of missing out. FOMO? FOMO.

Yeah. Is it FOCO if it's the Stanley Cup? I shouldn't say that on air. That was really close to not right. Is not winning the Stanley Cup. Okay? That is a hole in your heart

that no amount of money will fill. Yeah. Yes. No question. And especially a guy of Conor's level. Oh, yeah. Because guys of Conor's level always get one. Like, he is one of the greatest hockey players to ever put skates on.

Like, it's just there's no way around that. And he just needs a cup. And it's like. Yeah, but does he believe. What year is this? Does he believe staying in Edmonton the rest of his career, he will get that? I don't know. Or has he lost a little faith?

Well, I'm sure like a lot of people on a 5-12 team, he's lost some faith. Here's the hard part with winning a Stanley Cup today in the salary cap era, is if you step back at the start of the season and say, I'm going to go to the team with the best chance of winning a Stanley Cup, it's impossibly hard. There's like eight teams who have just as good a chance

in any given year, and going into this year, the Oilers were in that group. And they aren't. They aren't a cup contender at this point. It's obvious. It's clear. But it's really hard for one of those guys to say, I want to get moved to a cup contender. Who is it? And then

get it right. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. You know, I get the reason why people had Edmonton as a cup favorite was because of 150 points from Connor

and 50 and 60 goals from him. That's a real guy. Don't tell me that you could actually put them up against other teams when you weren't sure about Jack, not with Jack Campbell and Skinner and that defense. There's many questions as the Leafs on that blue line. They weren't there, quite there.

They were hopeful of people. There were people hoping that Connor is good enough to make up for all those mistakes. A lot of Sportsnet employees. A lot of Sportsnet employees. Had them in that group of teams. But the truth is, they weren't good enough on the blue line and their goaltending wasn't good enough.

I think they've gotten, you know, going into a year, you have a lot of questions about certain guys. They've gotten all wrong, disappointing answers. Bouchard has not taken the step to be the guy they want. Broberg has not, you know, it hasn't gone great. A lot of people, they've been going, what are we going to do with Connor Brown? This could be found money. They haven't got it.

They just haven't got the answers they wanted. Skinner, Campbell, they haven't. They got bad answers on everyone. And I think every year you go into the season with some question marks on a lot of players. And the questions might have been answered by now. I think we have a certain number of them. Right? So looking at the standings for the Western Conference,

it's the same. So we're at American Thanksgiving. We've arrived at the... Oh! A board. God, we're pro around here. You look at that. I guess they're

ten points back of the Kraken and the Blues. And this has been my argument, too, to you guys. Who do you believe in? Blues, Kraken, Ducks, Coyotes, Flames, Preds, Wild. Like, it's not a murderer's row of talent. Bit of a dog's breakfast. The East is loaded, not here. Everybody's gotta

lose. When one of them's losing, one of them's winning. That's a good point. They're not all going to stink at the same time. That's what we've learned in the NHL. It's a lot of teams. It's not a lot of points. It's a lot of teams. It's a lot of teams, and they play every night,

and there's some nights that they play against each other, and there's some nights the two of them leave with three points. I know. 11 points. That's the issue here. It's not many at all. That's why you can go year after year now to American Thanksgiving, and if you're at the bottom and you've got to climb up three or four teams, it's really hard.

I actually do like the Blues. I think the Blues have enough playoff pedigree guys. They can get in. I'll switch tone on them. I think I like the Blues, too. Squids, I mean, I've watched them a few times. They're not exactly. They grind, though.

They do. They play hard. They got D and goaltending. That's always going to get you, you know, 500. They're just incredibly average. Look at Washington now, okay? What the hell is going on there? Washington's second in the Metro.

10-4-2. And they have nobody lighting it up. But no one scores on them. They're amazing. Thank you. This is baffling. Thank you. Goals against.

Defense. Third in the league in goals against. I think there's only two teams ahead of them. Boston and New York. And they're getting good goaltending. Sandin, Carlson, Edmondson, Jensen, Alexia, Van Riemsdyk is their decor. Okay, and now tell me the scoring. Ovi's on pace for 25.

Yeah, he's got five goals. Ovi just scored his first goal the other day. Wow. Like. Where is he? 16. He's a one and one for two. He usually has that in a period.

And yet, they've won five in a row because they can play defense, they're structured, and they're getting good goaltending. I think they've got their – Wheels are coming off this team. Yeah, you might be right. You might be right. But for now, at least they show how you can have success. Defense.

You think that's one spot that's up for grabbing the East end for them? Their third goalie's got a couple of wins. Their third goalie. I don't know what his name is. Shepard, maybe? I don't know. Is he available for the Oilers? Go grab yourself a Shepard.

That's how you have success. Yeah. Keep the puck at your net. I think it's time. Perfect game time? Yes. Okay. It's game time.

Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary if Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Play responsibly. So, sorry Oilers fans,

but I'm going back to the Oilers here. I'm just looking at, they have the point totals for NHL futures. So you can, like it's over and under for how many points the teams will end up with.

And they have the Oilers set at 93.5 points as their total. Does that make it? It's got it. It's real close. The under is now a pretty big favorite. I would say it's a

minus 150 favorite for them to be under now plus 120 for them to be over that number. So it's a favorite. So they're starting to think here. The books have shifted in a week. It's shifted. They had them in the playoffs a week ago. And it's really starting to shift.

Wow, a couple of losses. I thought that Carolina one was just so telling to me. We dubbed it their biggest game of the season. Did you guys see? Sam showed it on our telecast last night. Okay, we saw Darnell Nurse take one off the beak. That was brutal. Brutal.

And he's got that double stuffed nose. How tough are these guys? I'd be crying. I get it. It's just a snowball coming right at you. Things are going wrong, man. And then Skinner's, like, trying to stop. Oh, my God.

He's like, and I think I saw him during the game, like, fall over on a guy coming down the wing. It's like. You know what it is? This is like a script. It's like you wrote a Hollywood script on what could go wrong. To me, it's like when you're having a bad day and somehow that's the day your pocket catches on a knob

in your kitchen or something. Everything's going wrong. It's really calamity. What about the clip of Connor that I sent to you guys? With the zoom in on him sitting on the bench? Did you see that clip? Oh, yeah. Yeah, look, I mean, he's the most competitive Connor that I sent to you guys. With the zoom in on him sitting on the bench. Did you see that clip? Oh, yeah.

Yeah, look, I mean, he's the most competitive non-Nathan McKinnon person. The fear is, like, it doesn't get necessarily better. And he's got to go play 60 more games. Yeah. Well. And he. Put him in bubble wrap. You know, if in 20 games they're, you know, they continue this sort of pace. I don't know what you do. Like, I don't know what you do.

Like, I don't know what you do. You just play. You just be a pro. That's what you do. By the way, still the overwhelming favorite to win the heart, Conor McDavid, according to Bet365. God, where is he in scoring on his own team here? Let's look this up.

That's crazy to me. That is. He would still be the favorite. Like, you know, Pasternak's now creeped up there. He's plus matthews plus 700 quinn hughes is up there elias petterson kucherov maybe at 14 to 1 a guy that's having a great start to the year but the first the number one and two favorites are conor mcdavid and jack hughes still i mean david's still fifth on his team in scoring he's uh tied with evander kane he's behind Hyman, Bouchard, and Dreisaitl. Yeah.

And the last quick one I wanted to bring up, that the Vezina Trophy, the odds have shifted pretty good there. Demko now the favorite. Plus 600. Oh, really? Yeah. Jake Ottinger second. Shusterkin has gone way down.

And Sorokin is behind. Do you have the odds? Is Norris odds available? Yes, I've got it. Has Makar caught? He has not. Plus 160 for Quinn. Cale McCarr is plus 220.

So those are the two pretty big favorites. Cale McCarr, in his last eight matches, has 18 hockey points. He's a defenseman, I will remind you. He had a breakaway goal. And the play he made to strip JT Miller. Let's pick up on McCar versus Quinn let me just finish this off for you Kipper that was game time presented by bet 365 visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please

play responsibly nice job Sammy okay and uh we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll pick up on that because it was a marquee matchup it It was. Good game. McCarr versus Quinn last night, Colorado-Vancouver. That plus Vasilevsky boys. Oh, boy. Did Tampa Bay do what they thought that they could do in tread water? Yeah, they did better than that. Get the Stone Cold music ready for that. And now they get their horse back.

Can you do a turkey? More of that after the break. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Before break, we were talking about Vancouver and Colorado last night, which I thought was a pretty good game. Vancouver looked every bit the part of a challenging opponent to Colorado going into the third period and then kind of dried up a little bit on Vancouver. That Colorado team has been through a couple of those big games.

They have a pretty good sense for how to find their way through all right uh listen i mean the hype is warranted on quinn hughes i've just been like many seasons incredibly impressed about uh where he's been able to take his game to another level, shooting the puck, the skating. Leading the league in scoring as of right now. Phenomenal. But it was almost as if Kael McCarr said last night, not so fast. Yeah. Honestly, I really hope that's his feeling. Because there's a lot of conversation.

I've been leading it, as you know, of my Canucks. Yes, huge Canucks guy. That Quinn Hughes is the Norris guy and he's unbelievable one of the best guys but Makar is still the best yeah you know Makar he's uh you know he he is actually ahead of him in points per game he missed a couple games but he's been the Norris guy before I mean they both play a lot of minutes there's no no doubt. But Makar is still... It just seems to me that Makar is a little bit more forceful. There's just a bit more power to his game than Quinn. Someone called him Nate McKinnon, but on defense.

Like, he does have that sort of that... Yeah, he's a big strong... I don't want to say big, but he's a strong guy. So maybe that's a separator for him. By the way, that's not to take away from Quinn Hughes, who is obviously having this unbelievable season, drives play, touches the puck more than anyone in the NHL. It's just, you know, for talk radio sake, you got to pick one.

Yeah, if I'm starting my team tomorrow and I get a pick between the two, go McCarr. Yeah, and I'm guessing a lot of people in Vancouver wouldn't. Yeah, that's fine. And then the goal last night. You were touching on it a little bit before break, go my car yeah and i'm guessing a lot of people in vancouver wouldn't and that's fine and then the goal last night you were touching on it a little bit before break but uh and it was miller who he stole the puck from and probably we saw a few more of those type of giveaways last last year out of miller than we have this year but he says no by the way miller yes i know yeah i know i'm

just yeah it's less noticeable because i'm surrounded by better players that's exactly basically what he said we're winning so people don't clip those as much i'm not sure he's wrong yeah he might be right like every mistake isn't magnified tough spot to hang one out there though i know i know i mean give mccarr some credit it was a good read being one hand al, Alpen, he's gone. Yeah. So. But we're seeing stuff out of JT Miller this year where,

and his goal last night. I mean, what a play. Like, and the guys talked about it in the booth. Just like an all-power forward goal. Go inside to go outside and then get to the net and kick the puck up off your skate and go short side. Like that was incredibly impressive.

It was. Do want to save though. But yes, it is. It was a hell of a goal. So great, great game last night. All right. We're going to go to the. Tell me where you want to go.

I'll tell you exactly where to go. I want to go to the Greg Popovich. Oh, you want to do that now? From last night night i i mean kip and i were talking about a little bit here at break it yeah this is this is not this is not for me a basketball story but more of a sports story because it's where are we as sports people what is going on if you didn't hear last night the clippers are playing the spurs Kawhi plays for the Clippers now used to play for the Spurs forced his way out eventually ended up in Toronto won a championship it was so fun all right everyone boos Kawhi when he comes back Greg Popovich outspoken guy uh very opinionated

did not like that last night literally grabbed the microphone during a live professional sporting events and told fans to stop booing. We have the clip. Do you want to hear the clip? Excuse me for a second. Pops on the mic. Can we stop all the booing and let these guys play? It's our whole class. It's not who we are.

Knock off the booing. Boo! What was the potential outcome of that? What's next? Tip your waitress? Honestly, I guess there's no other professional sport where a microphone is, like, readily available like that because it's courtside.

NFL ref could grab a, or coach could grab a linesman. But you're trying to beat the Los Angeles Clippers. And your fans are booing a man to try to get in hisippers and your fans are booing a man to try to get in his head. It's booing. It's booing. And booing's been around for a thousand years. It's the crux of people you don't

like on the other team. It's like a core sports thing is booing. That's all we got left. That's it. As fans, that's it. We get, you know, stuck up and saying the greatest, the weirdest, the best. Like, that's a very big thing

that we do, myself included, a lot. But that is truly one of the weirdest things I've ever seen in a sporting event. Like, I saw that clip come up on Twitter and I was, like, aghast. Great words. It reminds me of the reverse of, like, the Jeb Bush please clap moment moment where it's just like you can't will people to feel a way or to behave a way this man is one of the most respected coaches

in the history of the nba i don't think they won five championships i think it's i was that gave him you know the the that feeling that I can do this. For sure. Right? Yeah. It just gave him. Darko is not doing that here with the Raptors. Like, that's not.

I actually respect him a little less today. Like, it changed my perspective on him. That's how much I hated it. I couldn't believe it. If I'm a sports at the game, I would boo him even more. I would boo him. Well, first of all, if I i paid 150 for this c200 that guy forced his way out off our team don't don't tell me how to act i mean am i throwing stuff am i using obscene

gestures am i cursing i'll take it one further i think popovich should have to apologize agree that is not his place to tell people how to... Agree. You're preaching. Keep going. You know, and I love Pop. I'm a total Pop guy. I think he's...

I was. Yeah, I really bothered you. Oh, yeah, it really bugged me. Well, let's see if... I'm a sports fan. Imagine whoever the coach, like Dwayne Casey, gets on the mic when Vince Carter is here. He's like, don't boo Vince Carter.

That's our guy. It's like, that't boo Vince Carter. That's our guy. It's like, that's not who we are. That's not who we are. Who are you telling me who I am? Do what Craig McTavish did in Calgary. Go get the mascot and just beat the crap out of him or pull his tongue out of his mouth. That was a wild sporting moment.

That's still in the upper echelons of great sports. That was awesome. Hey, so Harvey the hound has to be in that spot in the first place which is a little whatever how about my junior hockey team quick story yes the other team's mascot is behind our bench in playoffs our coach calls timeout 2-2 in playoffs whatever tight match yeah tight match tells our equipment trainer manager a little something. Timeout, the guy starts banging the drum. Our equipment manager over the top. I mean, full on, climbs over, lawnmower on the mascot,

assault charges. Like, we're during a timeout, and we're watching our equipment guy. Isn't that the equivalent to me, like, punching my couch? What do you mean? Like you're punching the mascot. No, he got the mascot head off. I thought he was pounding on the mask. No, it was a ruthless act of violence.

Really? That was like Conor McFarlane. Hold on. Coach has got the whiteboard. He's going, eyes here, eyes here. Our trainer's beating the hell out of a mascot. Yeah, yeah, you got my attention, coach. Good junior hockey days so anyway we'd rather encourage then greg to go back to the mic then and do that then yes maybe the verbal way is a better way to

go about it that's all crazy well that's like what's his name connor uh what's the the fighter that the irish guy mcgregor The super famous guy, couldn't remember? He decked a mascot. Yeah, I did see that. Recently. He laid him out and the guy was bad. The guy wasn't moving. I think it was a setup, but it wasn't supposed to end like that.

But there's something about a mascot injury that's just really hilarious because it's like they've got this stupid face on. Like the video of the Marlon who goes crashing into the boy and like he breaks his foot and they're trying to drag him off. There's a whole Twitter account about like mascots observing moment of silence. It's like you're trying to look solemn and you've got this painted dumb face on. Yeah, like the one that got stuck in the ceiling, the shark.

You guys are pulling a Mike Fuda. I don't know what we're talking about right now. I love mascot stuff. Okay. I got accosted by a mascot when I was a kid. All right, tell us about Ovechkin and what he said. He said that him and Sid saved the NHL. Saved the NHL.

Okay, like, was it a... Here, I can give you a quote. It was from a article in The Athletic that was written about, I'm just pulling it up here as I go to here. Give me one second. Give me some Jeopardy music.

Thank you very much. Speaking with Rob Rossi, we saved the league. Now they come in and I guess we're old news. But we saved it. It's up to those guys to come in and prove me wrong that we're not the best. We saved the NHL. That's what Alex Ovechkin said about him and said. Whoa.

Love it. I'd like to know the context and tone. Yeah. I don't know about save. The league's been around a long time, and it would have just been fine if he never existed. I don't know. I don't want to sound like, but it would have been fine.

It would have found a way to move forward. Yeah. But in saying that, there's no question that when you came out of that lockout, that particular lockoutout and then you felt like you needed to give the fans a different look and that's why we went into the the restructure of the the holding ups the yeah touching and grabbing the introduction of uh the three on three or not the three on three-three, the overtime. Yeah. At four-on-four?

Is that the way it started? I can't even remember now. When we came out of the lockout, it started four-on-four. It started four-on-four, and then it worked its way down to three-on-three. Yeah, and I think in 2015. And they leaned heavily on Ovechkin and Crosby. There's no question about that. But the argument isn't, did Ovi and Crosby help the game?

Yeah. Would it have folded without them? That's the question about that. But the argument isn't, did Ovi and Crosby help the game? Yeah. Would it have folded without them? That's the question I'm asking you. When you lower the overall talent level, whoever the next highest people were, like Malkin would have been Ovi in terms of celebrity. Oh, Malkin, so good. Yes.

You know, whatever it is. But he feels... But that's quite the thing to say, even if it's true. It does feel like, if that's the case, if we could just take it for face value as as how it reads yeah to us today it does sound like he's not very happy well and it also sounds like he thinks he's still as good as jack hughes and the other elite players in the nhl like ovi now is not one of the 10 best players in the nhl and it sounds like he still thinks he is which of course he thinks he is.

Yeah. I understand elite athletes have to think that way, but I think, you know, I'm really interesting. I'm interested to watch Washington move forward here because for the first 20 games, they've actually put themselves in a position to make the playoffs. Yes, for sure we talked about uh the hole that the oilers have dug both vancouver and washington if ov now let's just say he may have lost a step and he is now in that 25 or 30 goal

window it's not exactly a guy that can still play all two minutes of a power play anymore does i bet can or should is not the question yeah that does that's moving forward if you're a rookie coach like uh carberry do you have to go to ovi and say ovi i need you to come off after a minute and 10 you're gonna come off the bench You're the sixth man now. I don't think, yeah, that's a tough combo. But we've got Washington and Edmonton tomorrow night. Yes. So we'll see how that plays out. Boy, the Oil need one.

We had a ton of guests today, Sammy. Yeah, I know. Busy night in the NHL, Sammy? Yeah, locked and loaded with zero. Zero games. Leafs 2 p.m. tomorrow, though. All right. Our thanks. Leafs 2 p.m. tomorrow, though. All right. Our thanks to Luke Gazdik.

Our thanks to Mike Futa and Darren Pang on the Real Kipper and Boren Show. Enjoy the rest of your night, NHL-less. But we're back tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Boren Show.