Real Kyper & Bourne - Back Between the Pipes with Steve Valiquette

Episode Date: October 3, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome former NHL goaltender and New York Rangers analyst Steve Valiquette (4:07) to discuss the way they keep their body in shape off the ice, why Rangers fans should be worried about Igor Shesterkin entering the final year of his contract, if Linus Ullmark can push the Senators into the playoffs, how the Leafs split time with their goaltenders and the stalemate between the Bruins and Jeremy Swayman. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam weigh in on the fine lines of fighting in today's NHL following Conor Geekie vs. Josh Davies before quizzing Nick on his teammates from October 6, 1989 - his NHL debut with the Washington Capitals. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliate.

let's welcome everybody into our national edition of the real kipper and born show we are live live on sportsnet right across the country sportsnet plus what else sammy sportsnet what's that i lost my you lost your lineup right in front of you Plus... What else, Sammy? Sportsnet. Sportsnet. 960. I lost my... You lost your lineup?

Right in front of you. Okay. It's a lot of pages. It's not that many pages. It's three pages. That helps a lot, right? 960 in Calgary. 960 in Calgary.

650 in Vancouver. 360 in Vancouver. 1312 in Yellowknife. No. No. Here, I'll do it for you. 650 in Vancouver. 960 in Calgary. Sportsnet Plus, Sportsnet 360,

and I'm pretty sure maybe Sportsnet National. Oh, my God. I'm so out of practice. There's a lot of places we are. Is there any point in listing all the places? If they're listening to us, they're currently listening. It's always nice to mention. You tell Babs that. It's always nice, isn't it?

I mean, we appreciate it. I'll tell you what I can't forget, though. This hour of Real Kipper is brought to you by Bet365. Our boys. Getting multiple texts and tweets about Dante's fiesta. Is Dante still around? Really?

Someone talked to Dante about getting us a fiesta. Apparently the fiesta no longer exists, but still got pies. I think it's fair to mention that Gord looks kind of good right now that's great i if i gave him a dante's fiesta i could derail him right it's like giving me a beer or something yes like giving him off the wagon yes yes that's a terrible i got gourd with food you withze. I'm under a lot of pressure. I know. You got to keep it between the lines, pal. Don't worry. You still got it.

I'll still drink. All right, we're going to welcome in Steve Aliquette very soon, if he's not ready already. But he's been an amazing guest, just in terms of the way he sees the game. And, you know, just to go back to our start, you know, we didn't really know each other four years ago when they put us together on this show i thought maybe i was gonna listen to analytical numbers for two hours numbers.com oh my god get me out of here turns out with this guy

and that didn't happen and with valley that didn't happen either because anytime he brought out percentages or numbers like i'm like i get it i can see it in the game like he mentioned a lot of stuff over the last year and a half two years for us where i'm like wow that's fascinating yep i've seen your salary you're for You're good with big numbers. You can handle all these. You can do the math out here. Not quite. Not quite. But he has a terrific way of looking at the game.

He does. And, you know, it's a strange thing doing a hockey show and doing analysis. And goaltending is its own animal. Like, it is something completely independent. Is there anything like this in another sport? Pitching. Maybe like a thing pitching yeah we're like a baseball player who plays third base can't discuss the mechanics of pitching no he could probably could like i i goaltending is you know i don't know i've watched it my entire life and i'm not sure what they're trying to do half the time i guess like quarterback but all the guys think they could be a quarterback

field goal kicker yeah field goal kicker is a completely different thing, and it decides games. But I don't know. How nervous, as we go into Vancouver on our show in the National Hour, how nervous are those fans with Demko? Are we going to get the stock on to talk about the injury? Well, that, yeah, and a ton more, and the injuries in general. Like, how about? Line A, Ryan Bakker.

Drew Doughty. Yeah. Like, wow. more in the injuries in general like uh how about line a how about ryan bacher drew dowdy yeah like wow can you can you see the season altering can you see the la kings making noise right now without him for the kings two-thirds of the season i think they're gonna miss playoffs oh they had 99 points us here and i think we're gonna miss brand new gorgeous jerseys i guess the old jerseys that is a shame but we'll get to see them 82 times alright let's welcome him in Steve Aliquette your analyst

MSG oh my god see it took me all but two seconds to notice our books in the background for those of you that can't see him on zoom justin bourne down and back kiprios undrafted on the top shelf no no not really you got you got emmys on the top shelf guys the books are ranked in alphabetical order it's not least to okay So I just want to be fair. I read three books this summer. You're three.

I'm glad I could chip in. How are you? Really good. Busy summer. I was on the ice a lot. Probably 20 hours a week. Who are you working with, Valley? Got a lot of goalies that are between the AHL, college, prep school.

A lot of new goalies. You wouldn't even believe what it's like to start with somebody when they're 14 years old because it's the first time they're in an adult-sized body and protecting the net that they've protected since they were little having to reach and stretch for every save to now receiving the puck it's a big difference and one of the biggest eye-opening experiences I had this summer were how many times the goalies were flinching, like physically closing their eyes because the shots are now harder for the first time. So a bunch of exercises that I had to come up with to help guys to stop flinching. What do you do?

So I actually take my iPad and I Velcro it to the ceiling of my locker room. I lay them down on a Yolk-a- mat, put their upper body equipment on and a helmet. I just drop pucks and I can show them. I can show them when the pucks about to hit their face, whether they are blinking or not. The bad guys, they're like closing their eyes. They're like the faces they make. And the good goalies are like taking it, you know, in the mask and keeping their eyes open. So it's pretty fascinating.

You have to beat their natural human instincts out of them is this even good a lot of it is against your normal instinct i mean you throw anything at anybody and uh you know you flinch right and you've got to really keep your eyes open and that was an eye-opening experience for me this summer coaching a new group of six goalies valley i want to start this segment off on just, in general, the goaltending market, much like a housing market, man. It can be hot. It can be cold.

And it just seemed the last few years teams were more focused on less a star goalie than a 1A or more of a 1A, 1B than a star goalie. And then, lo and behold, Bobrovsky wins the Stanley Cup at $10 million. And now I'm not sure where teams are thinking. And then we've got the Swayman situation as well. But has there been a correction in the way teams think about number one goalies now or is is that a little

too far-fetched at this point i think you're right on it kipper because we have to talk about how we're going to allocate the money and because we're under a hard salary cap there are four really important things that teams need to know about how they defend and it is net front it is below the goal line to front it is off the rush with odd mans and it's east to west when you're in ozp or for in this case in the d zone and if you are off on any of those you're not going to win do you guys remember when i was on with you uh at the quarter no it was the eastern and western conference finals it was at the conference finals and i said if edmont and Western Conference Finals. It was at the Conference Finals, and I said, if Edmonton wins or Florida wins, it's good for my stats company

because that'll be the sixth year in a row that off the rush, a top five team wins the Stanley Cup. And it happened. It was the final. So you can talk about the goalies, Kipper, but it's a one-goal game in Game 7 away from a $2.6 million guy in Skinner winning. So the way that I'm thinking about it oftentimes now, and when you look at Shusterkin's situation, you're looking at Swayman's situation, can you stay healthy? Because that'll tie into Joseph Wohl's situation. Like, I'm on the ice yesterday at the Brunswick School, a prep school here in Connecticut.

And one of the goalies that I trained there that's probably an NHL pick this year, he's a great kid, but he watches a lot of video. He watches a lot of YouTube. I said, you know, Dylan, who are you watching right now? He said, oh, I really love Joseph Wall. Best technical goalie, I think, in the NHL right now. So it doesn't matter if you hear it from me, a guy that played 20 years ago or a 17 year old right now joseph wall's got the game but here's what i go back to if you can't stay healthy guys and you're not available and it's amazing to me because you can be the best you could physically and technically

be the best um but if you can't stay available for the games and and here's where i go with this one i remember matt nickel saying to me about five or six years ago valley it's inexcusable to have a soft tissue injury at this stage of the game with what's at stake and what we know and when you have injuries that are repeated you can only forecast it's going to happen again and here's one thing i remember i was 23 years old i had an mcl it was a non-contact injury. And it really bothered me because I thought maybe I was fragile and I was just trying to get my career going. And I get out of that injury. I've got a trainer from the Toronto Raptors, coincidentally, because I was at the Ricoh Center. I was playing for the Toronto Roadrunners. It was the one year we were there at the Ricoh

Center. And he says to me, look, you're going up and down for how many times per practice? And the pounds that are going through your knees and out of your hips. Well, fast forward, and I had this study done with a layer. We were going up and down, Lundqvist and I, 300 times in practice. And that's the math on it, guys. The science is it's 600 pounds. It's three times your body weight through your hips that's the math on it, guys. The science is it's 600 pounds. It's three times your body weight through your hips that's coming through that force. And we're taught that we have

to go down hard in the butterfly. The reason why is because it kind of pitches your body forward so you can actually get over the puck. So if you're working on doing it, you know, playing goal the right way, you're not going down soft. Your weight would be back. You'd end up on your backside and rolling over. So you add it all up. And I think you got to be in the cold tub. That's what these guys were telling me from the Raptors. They said that everybody was either wrapping their knees or getting in the cold tub as preventative. So the work that you're doing after is even more important than the work you do before. And the reason why, and I know I'm on camera here, but it's, you take your ligament and this is how it's explained to me. It actually raise a little bit. And what you see is your ligaments coming apart during a repeat of

exercises, like going down in a butterfly where the ice takes that swelling out and it gets stronger. Your ligaments, your tendons get stronger and i iced guys from age 23 from that injury all the way to 35 without a lower body injury but i didn't know until that time and even right now i'm playing a ton of pickleball i've got a cold tub outside my house now i got one for the side of the house i got the ice barrel and it's uh set to 40 degrees, but I'm right back into it because I don't want an Achilles or an MCL or an ACL. So do I have this right that guys are going to get injured sometimes, free things happen, but do you think if someone is getting recurring injuries to something in the NHL that there is some personal responsibility involved?

I think it's totally on the athlete. I absolutely do, especially when it's soft tissue, non-contact. You know, we're not talking about Kipron Fuhrer. We're talking about serious. That's hard tissue. Yeah, we're talking about overuse every day in the net that's repetitive and guys got to take care of themselves. Now, how you're allocating money for a guy that could be out or you know not playing that game goalies are playing 55 games a

season now it's a lot when you pay a guy 12 million to not be in the lineup for you and i have a hard time with that because look guys the odd mans this is the one that is really important to the toronto maple leafs and the New York Rangers. They've never been in the top five. The Rangers last year are 28th off the rush. I don't care who's in your net. It doesn't matter. You don't defend well enough as a team.

As a team. And you guys, I know this is your show. You guys are always talking about defense. You want trees back there. Kipper wants horses. You need it because you have to insulate that guy back there because guess what if you give up three two-on-ones in a game you're going to get one anyways against you we're talking to steve alicata analyst for the new york rangers on msg here uh i don't know what the numbers suggest but the perception out there that the new york rangers uh are a team that relies most

on their goaltender in shisterkin than any other team that i can think of off the top of my head so where does this play out i think he's publicly mentioned that he won't negotiate during the regular season which means i expect them to sign a new contract as early as next week. Where do you see this thing going? I think it has a lot of people nervous, including me, because he's great to cover. He's great to cover. But you look at the Stanley Cup, it's all about winning, isn't it? It's all about winning. And of course, I can see both sides of the coin.

I can see it. I can say to myself, would I rather have that $ million wrapped into some defensive defensemen or some checking centers and the positions that matter down the spine of the hockey club? But what are your options if you don't have them too? And he is so good. But at the same time, you're kind of saying, well, do we look, I could go all day on this one back and forth, fellas. I think it's a very tough one. And I did hear one thing. I did hear one thing about a year ago. He didn't like the Sorokin contract.

I heard that from an agent, that he hated the Sorokin contract. And that tells you that he's going to be digging his heels in. That's what it told me. Interesting. That is interesting indeed. I'm curious to get your thoughts on how a team, because there's goalies that have moved teams, and how teams impact the play of the goaltender.

Linus Allmark goes to the Ottawa Senators, who it seems like every goalie who goes there is suddenly bad, but every goalie who goes to Carolina for years has been very good. How impactful is a team, and so what can a team like Ottawa expect what can someone, a team like Ottawa, expect to get out of a guy like Allmark? That's going to be one to watch for sure. We haven't seen it.

I can't even remember one time where we've seen a goalie. You remember, go back to Ryan Miller going from Buffalo to St. Louis. We never see a goalie at the deadline go in and take a deep run. And I think that you talk about the same in the same context. It's not too often that I can recall a goalie coming into a situation and really running the table with a new club either. So I'm really waiting to see what Markstrom does, for instance, in New Jersey, because New Jersey, they had a season from hell last year, but they've got a really good team and i see them as a team that gets in on them in the metro so i wonder uh look i think that the one thing that

can really hurt a goalie is if you're used to seeing shots coming in with clear view and you've got a coach by structure that wants everybody blocking shots and blocking your view that typically can be a thing but through the course of a season, you'll see things change, which is why you can't really read into sometimes structure too much or team systems. Because, look, I experienced it with the Rangers with Lundqvist. By Lundqvist, he wanted to have two-on-ones jumped at the blue line because he'd rather have a breakaway than a pass across.

And it worked for a little while. His argument was, I just want to know what the player's options are. I'll take the one-on-one. I'll take the breakaway over not knowing if it's a shot or a pass. Fast forward to a game in Florida. A few weeks later, they score three two-on-ones in the first period. Well, there goes that system. Right back to D in the middle and let them shoot.

So, you know, you don't know over the course of the year, but usually the goalies do have some say if they're ever heard. So two teams in the East that expect to get a lot better and play more meaningful games, Ottawa and Montreal, last year, if I'm not mistaken, the Ottawa Senators missed the playoffs by 16 points, 17 points. So Allmark goes in there.

Can he make up 8 points, 10 points? Can he make them all up and get them in the playoffs? What's realistic? I have to take a deep breath because i don't know if he loves playing games yet i'm waiting on him he loves the split right oh yeah now oh the chest bump boom no no yeah exactly he loves he wants a guy yeah he just waits for the chest bump

i'll tell you where my bias lies with a personal experience. And there's statute of limitations on stories. I know. So it's been 10 years. I can tell this one. I don't want to use any names, but there was an instance where we're coaching a goalie in pro and we send him home on a break.

Just needed a mental break. Comes back after a couple of weeks. Try explaining that to the guys in the room. Comes back. We tell him that he's gonna play friday night plays great two to one win coach says to me why don't we go grab him bring him in let's let's tell him he's playing again tomorrow i was like all right the plan was friday but not saturday he's like no no he's got to go back in he played terrific tonight

bring the guy in coach looks at him he. He says, I got good news. Played great tonight. You're going again tomorrow. The guy's face was, you said I only had to play Friday night. And I'm looking at the head coach, you guys, and I'm like, oh, my God. I got to get out of this business. I can't take this. And I'm just saying I've heard things over the years.

The reason why Buffalo wasn't sure about him, and he likes to be in a tandem, and I wonder if not everybody, you guys, I hate saying this, but you have to know this. Not everybody loves to play the games. It's a great lifestyle. You look great. What do you attribute to that?

The stress of or stretching out an enjoyable moment of being a star one night and I want it to last three or four days. I don't want to end it the following night when I have to go in there and maybe poop the bed. What do people fear more than public speaking? Humiliation. You're always at risk, Kipper. You're going to be a tough guy. You're going to get humbled at some pointipper you're gonna be a tough guy you're gonna you're gonna

get humbled at some point you want to be a goalie right you're gonna get humbled at some point it's not for everybody it's not for it's not for everybody hey borny play the wing if you don't want to play if you play the wing right you're so safe nothing happens there i'm looking at you you know you know what i mean it's i'm just it's not it's not for everybody and uh it takes really thick skin i know that i played a lot longer than what a lot of people expected me to play when i was in the ohl playing for the sudbury wolves but i wanted to be in the net you know and that's it's a big piece of it you can look at my nhl stats and say well geez you barely, you barely played. Hey, man, I was playing behind Lundqvist.

The guy never got hurt. I never got a sniff to get a stretch. And that's if I have one thing that still burns me, it's that. Just to back that point up, I'm watching some Stanley Cup final footage. And Paul Maurice going into the third period. They're up 2-1 in Game 7 against the Oilers. And they played some audio in this clip I saw. And he says wants a puck 18 guys everybody wants the puck and it's a remote because in those moments you don't want to be the guy who blows it for everyone else and you see

guys shy away from it and say i'll just be on the d side here i'm not going to go get it and be the one who has to make a decision with it it is there that's part of being a pro hockey player is accepting that pressure and that's interesting to note. So can I just add and then go back to Joseph Wall and Stolarz? And Stolarz is coming off backing up in that comfort zone that you just mentioned moments ago with the Stanley Cup champions, and now you've thrusted him into a situation where not everybody's convinced joseph wall is going to take this thing and run with it i mean would he

have been mentally prepared for that thought of maybe you know can i go to 50 games this year do i want to go to 50 games this year how do you see this scenario playing out well i think it's fascinating that we're talking about, and this is the question off the top. You can't get between anybody's ears, but I know that everybody likes a safety net. Look at Pittsburgh winning when they won back-to-back, and they go with two guys.

And Washington really had two guys because hope he doesn't begin the series. And we can go to Aiden Hill, of course, and go on and on and on. A lot of teams that I spoke to this summer, guys, they're looking at having three and four and sometimes as many as five guys that they're thinking about that can play games this year.

How many are the Leafs going to play? The Hildebeest. Well, you could have four, right? If Murray, Hildebeest, Wall, Stolarz, are they all going to be healthy at the same time? Three of the four hurt a lot. Hey, if you ever get a chance to watch Hildebee,

we could use a review of his game because we don't know much about him yet. So if you ever get to see him, let us know. I know he's been in the minus. Keep an eye on him. That's an assignment. But, you know, guys, how many guys are going to be available? And I don't think teams believe, and I think this is a thing, the social media and the presence of back to the humiliation and the difficulty of mentally running with games and getting through the threshold where it's so hard and it's stressful.

And, you know, I could tell you that my games were stressful because I was playing once every two weeks. And the morning after the game, I felt like I was hit by a bus. Right. Because you're just so tense. And if you don't, if you're not careful guys, the biggest risk that you run in your preparation is making too many saves before the game begins.

And then the game starts and you're fatigued mentally. I mean, I've made that mistake. Guys make that mistake. There's just so much stress. And I just don't think that the microscope has ever been bigger on the goaltender than in this era. And I wonder how many kids really want to be goalies now too.

Okay, I got a couple of quick ones because we're running out of time and we need to do an hour segment with you. Even if we have to give up Sammy's salary. What about my new setup, boys? You didn't even mention the new setup. I went from a lemonade stand to this like decked out setup here. Well, you know, I was going to and i was going to be i didn't want to embarrass myself so i would humiliation be like this is the same setup but i thought it was different okay

good i told my wife i'm investing in myself this summer it looks incredible looks great incredible the jury what are the helmets okay vancouver canuck fans okay they watch their number one goalie uh uh leave in the leave early in the playoffs last year, and he's not ready. Where is their concern level, and where would you think would be the biggest issue, the unknown of what he's truly going through? I'd say all the way back to two summers ago

when I know there was a surgery that nobody really talked about. There's a long track record here, guys, of injuries. Repeative, lower body. Same issue I have with the butterfly, which, of course, we have to do on every shot. At every shot, the goalie will end up going down to the ice at some point. The reverse VH, oh, my God god is that bad on your knees and hips i told you guys i was on the ice 20 hours a week this summer and there's times where i'm getting into the reverse to show a 14 year old i'm like i'm not doing this anymore this is ridiculous

i can't i'm walking down the stairs sideways at the end of the day now instead of going down uh feet first now but i'm i i'm honest in my assessment that it's just very, very hard on the body. And I think of the injuries that Demko's had. I think he's one of the top five goalies. I know he's one of the top five goalies in the league. But it goes back to if you want to be a true starter, if you want to be a true starter, you need to have those three things going for you, which is playing consistently, playing 55 games, and staying healthy.

If you have those three things, you're a consistent guy, you play 55, and you stay healthy, you're a true number one. There are not many true number ones left anymore. Okay, last one, and I want Boston Bruin fans to cover their ears. Okay. Okay? Swayman, why wouldn't a team offer sheet him at, if I'm not mistaken, $9.1 million and give up a first, a second, and a third?

And I've got a few teams that should be thinking about it. I would do it. I would do it. I would do it. 25 years old tremendous upside where are you gonna where are you gonna find another guy like this uh in the draft i thought he was great last year in the series against toronto i thought he was great um i trust his game now i really do sam says yeah no i mean it like every sequence you guys and you know how I watch the game like I'm watching it

frame by frame yeah did he beat the pass did he set his feet is he locked in and tracking down does he move out of his save well he does all of those things and you know for the most part stays healthy right and I think that he's hurt by what happened in his uh previous arbitration hearing and he's let that be known. So, man, it cuts deep with him. He's really made it personal, and it seems like they have too. If it's that personal, he's gone. Sorry, you suggested a return for him there?

Did I catch that? What's that? If they traded Swayman, what would the return be? So you said it's got to be one, two, three? I think it's a first round a second round and a third one if you offer sheet them if you offer if you if you if another team offers sheet jeremy swayman for me off the top of my head chicago blackhawks why wouldn't you at 25 go get that goalie for conor bedard well you know who's a good team that's been a good team for a

long time with el goaltending is carolina hurricanes you know like if you're that close and you want to win uh there's a lot of reasons why you want to get an angle no not enough to be the guy no i don't know all right then no how's that hey morning no no i love that that's that's a proper answer. Valley, not a bad opening segment on the Real Kipper and Board Show. I got to be honest with you. Once we get going, I'm going to start making some more adjustments to this setup of mine, but I'm very proud. It looks amazing. Fantastic stuff.

Here we go. How recent are the Emmys? It's going to be a great year. How recent are the Emmys? Those are a few years ago. A few years ago. I've got more, but I don't put them all in the book. It would look good.

Congratulations. Can we borrow one? Can we borrow one? Yeah, right. All right, pal. Thanks for doing this. You're making me blush. Have a great start to the season, and we'll catch up to you soon.

Everybody, Steve. Take care, fellas. Valaket. Thanks, Val. I appreciate it, pal. He was awesome again. Yes. It's like an automatic. Valaket. Thanks, Val. I appreciate it, Val. He was awesome again. Yes. It's like an automatic.

It's always going to be awesome. It's like your Volvo. It's like your Volvo. Automatic. Right? Beautiful. So the compensation for offer sheets. Yes.

The numbers are very specific, so I'll do general numbers. But between 6.8 and 9.1 is uh one first round pick one second round pick and one third round pick between 9.1 and 11.4 it's two first two seconds yeah and a third round pick i don't think you have to go to that and 11 and above you do it at 9-1 but bruins a no-brainer match that right well then then just just pay it then pay it and let's move on right and then 11 up is four first and it will be that so i i don't know i don't know like a few lines a few lines have been drawn right now and i think if if if cam says i've got 64 million reasons why and now and now all of a sudden he's at what 60 well i mean it's an offer sheet would have to be seven years so right but at least you get out at least you probably get out

maybe at this point he's he's sick of the bruins and he wants to get out but if you're another team if you're sorry if you're the bruins and another team does that, it's almost like it makes the decision for you. Remember when the Habs did it to Ajo? Yeah. And they signed him to a really reasonable, great contract. They're like, yeah, we'll do that. Did Carolina favor him? Yeah, thanks for that.

It's like there's that potential with the Swayman. And if you announce it, then Boston would have to immediately match it and dump salary, I would imagine. They can't fit 9-1 in at this point. Chicago's perfect. I'll give you another team. Anaheim. For an offer sheet. Offer sheet.

And then throw them back Gibson. Yeah. Wow. He's still a good goalie. It's been a few years since he's had a good year but they've they've sucked forever it's just yeah he's a perfect guy he's a better option he's good because the team's not so bad he's a better option than what's out there what did they claim the other day oh yeah come on yuri latera is that a guy? Did I make that name up? No, that's Yuri something. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, all I know is if you're a Bruins fan, I do not like the things I'm hearing out of Swayman's camp. You know, he seems pretty upset by the whole thing, and that's not a good foundation of an eight-year contract. Game time? Game time. All right.

It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's ever ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds. Find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So I just went through and looked at the division favorites for the Central Pacific, Atlantic, and Metro.

And I don't think there's any surprises. Stars favorite at plus 190 in that division. Right. Oilers plus 100 in that division. Right. Oilers plus 100 in that division. Panthers plus 210, and the Devils are plus 180. Got to say, bet 365 absolutely loves the Devils this year. Love the Devils. They are all over the Devils on everything that I can find on. You know what's crazy is,

do you guys remember who won the President's Trophy last year? I don't. Rangers? Yeah, it was the rangers the new york rangers who their turnover was basically non-existent they're basically the same team and then just no love at all for the rangers uh i will say i also don't love the rangers but they had 114 points last year so not a bad bet there there's actually all of these you can quibble with except for Edmonton.

Panthers, were the Leafs close? So just given the numbers here for the division winners, in the Atlantic, it's very close here. It's plus 210 for Florida, plus 250 for the Leafs, plus 450 the Lightning, plus 450 the Bruins, and then predictably falls off a cliff, plus 1,100 for the Red Wings, plus 1,100 for the Sens, Sabres 13, Montreal Canadiens 75-1. And the next closest in the Pacific was the Vancouver Wings, plus 1,100 for the Sens, Sabres, 13, Montreal Canadiens, 75 to 1. And the next closest in the Pacific was the Vancouver Canucks at plus 300.

They're the next closest to win that division. They won it last year. Yeah, and the Oilers are plus 100. Colorado in the Central are the closest. Plus 220. Plus 220. So, yeah. So, some value to be found there if you're looking around.

Carolina is the second favorite in the Metro, which I definitely don't agree with. Didn't love their offseason. Don't love their goaltending but uh it's an interesting one one where you can find some value on the list of teams that people are sleeping on everyone talks about the atlantic how detroit or ottawa might be ready to take a step i mean buffalo's decor now is you know rasmus dolleen's the captain owen Powers in his second or third year, whatever it is, Bowen Byram's legitimate. Like, they have a good decor.

I'm not doing it. No, I don't think, but I don't think they're any worse than Detroit. No, all the teams underneath the four, to me, are all very similar, except the Habs. Like, the Habs are, they're not in that. All right, let's pick that up after the break.

Let me close it off here. That was Game Time, presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it here. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Terra only. Please play responsibly.

Okay, we'll get into that after the break in terms of how much we expect changes when it comes to April and who gets in and who gets out. Also, injury is still an issue, including one with the San Jose Sharks with their star draft pick. We'll get into that. Line A, the news isn't as bad.

I have a quiz for you, too. And a quiz. I have something to quiz you on. Quiz master. A quiz. Wrong network, guys. Oh, yeah, we can't say that. I have something to test you on.

Get that brain ready. It's not even a quiz. They don't even do a quiz. It's not even a quiz. They don't even do a quiz. It's not even a quiz. It's multiple choices. Well, this is a real test. This is a real quiz. Yeah, I got something for you.

All right. You heard him. After the break, Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Ailish Forfar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the Fan Pre-Game, 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet,

Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back into our final segment of the Real Kipper Inborn Show. This hour of Real Kipper Inborn is brought to you by Bet365 as we hit some news and notes. And I think just recently the Edmonton Oilers announced Tyson Barry has signed a contract. Oh, Calgary Flames, sorry. Calgary Flames.

Oof. Don't make that mistake. He's scared of some Oilers fans. He's perfect. Perfect. Right? Elaborate, please. They're not going to be great.

He's a serviceable NHL player and can hold the fort for them. His defense, Nick Robertson, is what you're saying. He'd be perfect on a team that's not really going deep. Exactly. Exactly. He's got experience. He can help some kids. Yeah, that's what you want.

And maybe he has a better than expected year with some elevated minutes, and you can trade him for a fourth-round pick at the deadline. Absolutely. Right? Like some team's deadline prices are high. He'd have to have a hell of a year. I think so. A fourth-round pick.

That's why I said fourth. Right? Yeah, maybe. He could still snap it around. Other than that, no. If you're in a pinch or you've got some major injuries, I think, again, he can be serviceable. I would, if I, you know, we cover the Toronto Maple Leafs,

would be falling all over myself to get my hands on Rasmus Andersen. Right shot, big guy. I love how he plays. I'm a big Andersen fan. But they have a few guys that people are going to be looking at their roster in March going, I'll take him, I'll take him. Just like looking at their roster like a menu, basically. Yeah, for sure.

Coleman? I know we touched on this in our first hour a little bit but patrick line a uh avoids surgery now he was i think the the initial thought was he needed surgery and then he went for a second opinion i think they they made him believe that the MCL wasn't completely damaged enough to warrant it. So, you know, could he be back by Christmas? I tore my MCL twice once. You're playing for the Hershey Bears, which you know well. It just is not a comfortable injury to come back from too soon,

to try to force it, to try to come back early. I did come back too early, and I tore it again. And, you know, for a guy like Laine, who they said wasn't quite in shape at camp, and that's just because he had had issues in the summer and trying to get himself ready, it's going to be hard for him. I don't know that you're going to get your $8.9 million or whatever his contract is worth this time around.

The next one? Maybe next year. Yeah. So Patrick Laine, not blaming Maple Leafs player Cedric Paré. Paré, probably. We have a clip of him talking about it. You want to hear it? Yeah, let's go to it.

Yeah, let's hear the clip there, Derek. I don't think anybody's trying to hurt anybody. You know, it's just hockey's a fast game and just kind of kind of you know myself put myself in that situation a little bit and you know he's trying to make a make a stop but um yeah it's just unfortunate collision um he texted texted me afterwards which was uh you know give him give him respect for that but uh you know it's just unfortunate play abs fans i'll tell you something oh my god they're frothing at the mouth and now he's like i did it well and maybe it gives them who are frothing a chance to look in the mirror a little bit and calm down yeah and you know got to go back to my Grant Fuhrer situation.

And the moment I heard him speak of, hey, listen, it's a fast game and Nick didn't mean to hurt me. Like, it changed everything for me. Completely changed everything for me. Oh, yeah. Like, I slept a little better. That he wasn't mad at me and thinks I ended his career too early. And I got to think for Paré or Cedric, that helps him.

He's one of the top scorers. Say what you will about his last few years. At one time, he was right there with Austin Matthews. One of the biggest up-and-coming stars in the league, 100%. So I got to think that it's a little weight off his shoulders. For sure. And, you know, great for Line A to have that sort of, he could be all in his feelings and just upset about what happened

and lashing out at whoever. So for him to have that sort of awareness and, I guess, compassion in a way is pretty cool. Did you guys see the lightning in Florida? Have a hootenanny last night? I saw old Victor Hedman get smoked. Another big hit. Rocked.

Yeah. By the way, I've seen Victor Hedman walk through Sportsnet here before. I didn't know you could knock that down. Yeah, he hit him hard. He got him perfectly. Like, just got him right in the chest, kind of came up from underneath him a little bit and knocked him down. So, everybody was saying that it was a huge reaction from Kucherov jumping him or whatever.

Like, I don't, yeah, it's a reaction, but it's the preseason. And it's a no-name guy trying to hammer your captain. Yeah. Which he did. Yeah. I would hope that you react like that. It was a good hit. It was a good hit.

But, like, what Kucherov did in that situation to me is a totally valid response to your captain but you know he's a 140 point small winger you know is it not surprising jack guys uh attack on pari what's that like it's justified yeah it's justified and i'm not saying that the he went about it the right way but the response course of the history of our game is to respond. And the fans overall, again, the course of our history, like that. But I will say this, where I'm coming around now more and more is that if you do want to confront the guy for a hit whether or not you think it's clean or dirty you you can't jump a guy you can't start jumping and pummeling him

but today guys won't give you the fight well then then okay guess what it's more accepted in 2024 that i don't have to fight than it's ever been before and if he doesn't want to fight then you just gotta suck it up and find a different way to send a different message well and that ends up being jack guy running who did he hit sorry what am i in which game stutzler the next day yes. Because Greg runs a guy. Doc. A doc on his team. Yeah. And so he doesn't jump him, and he says, I'll just find a different way to do it. You like that way better?

I would have suspended him. Yeah. But there was a fine line between technically, did a stick hit him? Did you clip him in the head? And you go through the process but at least at least it's not jumping a guy and not giving him a chance to defend himself that was more of a hockey play that may have crossed the line going wrong but that to me is more acceptable of a response than than tyler bertuzzi and Steve Moore.

Yeah. That's all. I don't want to see that anymore in our game. You have a chance to ask him to fight. If he doesn't fight, then you know what? You got to suck it up and find a different way. What's a different way? That's for you to figure out. I'm out of the game.

I don't play anymore. Yeah. But I don't want to see that interesting i don't want to see that and if if if you do if you do that it's it's not only are you out of the game i will say if you do it twice in a year you're it's an automatic suspension that you jump someone jump somebody and start punching him when he is not a willing participant. I think the days are over where, you know, you're not a man if you don't fight. Get rid of that now.

What has changed your view on this? Or maybe it's, did you used to feel like jumping a guy was more okay? Yeah, like you took out my best player. You better think it's coming, and if you don't think it's coming, then it's on you that you're an idiot for thinking. But just because guys don't fight now. I just think that we have too many guys that aren't willing to fight,

and if they don't, then you're just going to have to find a different way. But in 2024, it's a bad look now. It's a bad look in our game when we got one guy you know thinking that he's watching the puck and another guy coming blindsiding him and starting punching him in the head yeah i i i've had enough of it you know weirdly late hits like the headman hit was kind of late the puck was closer than it was on either of the ridley greg hit or the jack guy one the jack guy one's late this one's borderline late all these teams are playing against like their rivals every game yeah right like it's all in like you're playing all these guys that are the teams that you hate

the most during preseason it's like it's probably gonna happen yeah you know i i have seen some people say you know well you know you gotta to get hit today, but these are good players getting surprised by hits. These are really late. Well, that's the thing with the preseason we were talking about, where it's a guy trying to make a name for himself versus Victor Hedman, who's cruising around out there probably not getting expected to get hammered.

The other thing I'd like to add on what I just said is that, like, the officials cannot jump in and step in and not have them fight. The officials actually need a guy to go and challenge somebody. And, and if he doesn't, if he's not a willing participant, then it's just, it's play on.

It's just play on. And if the guy wants to chase him around, throw two or three invitations. Put him in the box? I just think it has, well, within reason. Within reason. Like, it's almost embarrassing, too, for a guy to have another guy kind of follow you around for five seconds. That's embarrassing enough.

And it's embarrassing. Yeah. And you could live with that. And, you know, that's fine. But after a certain cutoff, if you're an official and you know that he's not a willing participant, then you get away from him, go back and play the game, and figure it out some other way.

But if you keep following around, it's a two-minute misconduct or I'm going to kick you out of the game if you lay one hand on him. When I was at Islandersers camp so 2008 or something trying to make a name for myself just looking for someone to hit i hit andy sutton really late oh boy yeah or something like that and i just you know big guy well i just was looking to hit whoever it was i was on the four check and just wanted to finish my check and it was quite late and i went back into my zone playing wing waiting for a pass on the wall, and Andy Sutton came the length of the ice

and just puck hadn't come anywhere near me yet and absolutely blew me to pieces. My visor was around my chin when I realized where I was. You know, there's this thing with guys like, you know, I wasn't an NHLer. And, you know, there are guys looking to say, looking to show people, hey, you know, I'm here, I'm relevant, and it

sometimes ends badly, as we've seen in preseason. Ended bad for me. Hey, quickly, before we go. Okay. I was scrolling TikTok last night. This is never a good way to start a story. But I was scrolling TikTok last night, Kipper, and I saw this account called Batboys, and they go up to these guys who are established major leaguers,

and they ask them if like their starting lineup during their MLB debut and they quiz them on how many guys you got. So inspired by that from October 6, 1989, your NHL debut

against the Philadelphia Flyers. How many guys on that team do you think you could name off the top of your head? I don't even remember what I had for breakfast. So you like to say that. I will take a crack at this. Okay. And I'll start with my line.

Okay. Okay. Kip Rios, Rob Murray, and Robin Bow Wow. Oh, I remember Robin Bow. He's tough. Big, tough guy. Yeah. Yep.

Okay. Yep. Second line was Ridley, Miller, and Dave Christian. I'm actually... From the USA 1980 team. Okay. We're hot. We're hot.

Hot star here, Kippy. Center. Dale Hunter. This is shocking. Okay, we're hot. We're hot starting here, Kippy. Center. Dale Hunter. This is shocking. Okay. Jeff Cortnall. Uh-huh. And Dino Cicerelli.

Oh, my God. That's an unbelievable line. So they had a great night that night. Cortnall had two and one. Dale Hunter had one and two. Plus three. Zero pims for Dale Hunter. Impressive.

I got Michael Pavonka at center. I've got Steve Le leach my roommate on the right hand side and i am struggling for another left winger i'm a forward short alan may alan may was in there is that right yeah so what was the one steve leach steve leach you know maybe he didn't play that game leach okay maybe he didn't play that game. No, Steve Leach. Okay, maybe he didn't play that game. A guy with a wild last name that I never even tried to pronounce. Scott.

Oh, wait, wait, wait. Tim Bergland? Nope. He's not there? Nope. Oh, no, no. He's a defenseman. We're going defense.

Okay. No, no, no. Defense. Okay. So, Scott Stevens. Mm-hmm. Rod Langway. Yep.

Callie Johansson uh kevin hatcher yeah yeah maybe neil sheehy maybe scott klein endorsed that was the one i couldn't pass there you go there is so you got you got dombo pray in that yes with all of kolzik backing up that's a good team were you guys good buddy how many did i get a lot like way more like all of them there's nothing more dude than just play remember a guy listen i love naming dudes one of my favorite things to do did you say kelly miller i did say okay yeah miller's brother or is that kip himself how many guys in the other team brother i think her first cousin there's a million millers yeah how many guys the other team can you remember we don't have much time oh my god so i played the philadelphia flyers who washington claimed me off of yeah every shift

shift chirping kiprios who do you think you are take it easy rick tockett giving it to me tim kerr giving it to me every and i barubi was me. Tough guys. And Berube was on that side too. Yeah, he was. No wonder they didn't need you. No disrespect. I do remember we won our first game. You did. You won 5-3.

So that part of your brain is fine. I don't know. Yeah, it is. It's weird. That was incredible. That went way better than I expected. And I can tell you who shot left and right. Oh, my God.

Yeah. But then again. What was our show about yesterday? Who did we have on? No idea. Books. Books. That was it.

Oh, yeah. Books. Isn't that weird? Yeah. I'm scared. Yeah, well. Impressive. I'm scared where my head's going.

Very, very impressive. All right. Our thanks to who? Who's on our show? Steve Balligan. Valiant Gordo. And to Dante. And Gord Stelic.

Dante's Fiesta. We are on tonight. Detroit. Oh, yeah. And the Toronto Maple Leafs. Stick around. There's also baseball. Is there not, Sammy?

Yeah. Big game three. Mets Brewers. Decide who goes on to play the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday. Colorado and Vegas as well at 10 p.m. Eastern. Late night. Have a great night, everybody. Watch it on Sportsnet.