Real Kyper & Bourne - Behind the Jets' Success with Kevin Cheveldayoff

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne and joined by Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff (4:27) to weigh in on what has fueled his team's hottest start in NHL history, which players have elevated their roles on the ice, whether the team is better poised for the post-season, Josh Morrissey's performance on the blueline and what he thinks are the biggest challenges are to make it out of the Western Conference. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss how Matvei Michkov has handled his healthy scratch in Philadelphia before diving into the rumour mill surrounding Evan Bouchard's, Noah Dobson's and others' next contracts.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.

it's the national edition of the real kipper and born show we are live on sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 nick kiprios justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. And let's not forget Derek Brandeo and Jen Rolnick as well. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Kevin Chevaldeoff, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets. Saw Kevin last night at Coley Campbell's Hall of Fame dinner last night. Oh, nice.

Where was that at? Yeah. Sammy, you know, you're on a need-to-know basis with me, and right now you don't need to know. There are doors with no signs on them in this city that people like them go eat at. How was it? Next to Coley getting inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, Kevin Shevelday probably had the biggest smile there. As he should.

With good reason. Yeah. The hottest start. With good reason. Yeah. The hottest start in NHL history. All they do is win, man. All they do is win. Hellebuck was named the NHL's first star of the week. He had consecutive shutouts for the first time in his career, which no big deal.

Yeah, 4.47 goals per game, 2.07 goals against per game a plus 36 goal differential and a 42 power play well i mean what else do you want end the season now they've done enough put them in playoffs let them have a buy the rest of the way this was supposed to be the edmonton oiler start it was absolutely it was can you imagine what we'd be saying about edmonton right now if that was the case unbeatable is what we would say so you'll never beat this team give them the trophy now because they came within a game in the spring but now they are next level stuff so yeah winnipeg doesn't quite get that same level of respect here, but maybe, well, I shouldn't say maybe, is due a lot more respect than they've been given in most places, I think.

And, you know, they're starting to play some real teams here. This is not a mirage. They've got a good club. Yeah, and you mentioned the Oilers there in your little conversation. They beat the crap out of the Canucks on Saturday night. Was it 7-3, 7-2, 7-3, I think? Yeah. Yeah.

Think they're warming up a bit? You'd think. McDavid with 2-2. Yeah. Maybe showing some signs of coming back to life. Well, that part will never get questioned. Right. That they could just find a way to turn that switch on

between Dreisaitl and McDavid, and then they pull up the rest of them. That blue line, on the other hand, still has some question marks here. Yeah. I don't think there's any doubt that they're going to make a change at some point. They need a little bit of help on the back end. Canucks are a curious team. 7-3-3.

Great start. Minus one goal differential. Curious there. Not sure about goaltending. And they just have trouble at home. Yeah. Which, what the heck is that about? I don't know.

Yeah. That is a little strange. And the other big news out of Canada is Anthony Manta is out for the year for the Calgary Flames ACL. Hate to over-dramatize it, but they don't have a ton of guys so when you lose a guy like that who can be impactful that sucks but they're trying to lose are they not is that not part of this year's plan that wasn't the plan in the first little while that's for sure they got they had a lot of people excited about the start and uh you start envisioning that this could be a team that can just overachieve but for how long

seven five and three right now 17 points through 15 games not a bad it's not a bad record for them no not bad at all and it helps that beneath them seattle anaheim san jose none of them look particularly great so you think that yeah they could stay up there and stay in the fight obviously it's not over for them but yeah, that hurts them quite a bit. All right. A couple minutes. We'll welcome in Kevin Sheveldayoff. Outside of that, where do you want to go?

League-wide or around Canada? Do you want to league-wide leave Canada for a little minute here? Nathan McKinnon? Before we do that, we do have Kevin now. All right. Let's welcome him in. Kevin Sheveldayoff, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, along with the hottest start in NHL history. Chevy, how are you, man? Thanks for doing this.

I'm doing well. Thanks very much for having me on today. Good. I just told the guys moments ago, last night, we saw each other, and next to Coley, you probably had the biggest smile on your face, for good reason. Like, so, Justin, moments ago, just before he came on, said, you know, at 14-1, will we start seeing you make some healthy scratches

and just keeping guys out until the playoffs start? Just resting up. Load management. Will you load management? The analytics department working on that right now to give us some good recommendations. Okay, like you would have hoped for a good start, but where does this come out?

How do you explain this in your eyes this start well you know again i i it kind of comes in kind of dribs and drabs and so to speak like it's come in a lot of different um you know revelations it hasn't been just one guy playing great it's it's been different things and we probably didn't deserve to win every game. We won three in overtime. We all know those can go either way. And the other night, two nights ago, I guess, when we played Colorado and beat them 1-0, we had no business winning that game other than Connor Hellebuck wasn't going to let us lose that game.

And, you know, again, there's been different guys that have stepped up, different lines that have stepped up. Not only top six, there's been bottom six. But I think for us, it's just kind of, you know, like we ended the season last year on a down note, obviously, with the playoffs. We had some tough conversations as a group, you know, with respect to the veteran players coming back and the leaders of this team. We had a quasi-coaching change. Obviously, Scott Arneal is the head coach, but he was the associate coach. So the philosophy of the team shifted a little bit. You know, I think Scott's got a little bit of a different approach, but the foundation, he's been here part of laying that foundation for

a couple of years um but i just yeah i just don't think we've kind of gotten very high with the wins you know it's um you know just one by one by one so to speak so when you headed into this season you had to think you lost a couple decent players from playoffs last year monahan to foley um and then you know i guess a couple guys would have had to play at their very best or taken a step for you this season. When you look at your roster and go, this guy's success, you know, him being as good as he's been is part of the reason we are where we're at. What names stand out for you as guys who've not overachieved, but just done really well?

Well, you know, when Brendan Dillon moved on, and we knew that what we had in Dillon Sandberg, he was going to have to grow and grow into that, you know, new opportunity for him. We always envisioned him, you know, as someone that progresses into that. And sometimes you get that opportunity because, you know, someone that you've been understudying for moves on or, you know, transitions into a different part of the career.

And so we've always been high on Dylan and his abilities and now he gets that chance to show it. Cole Perfetti last year at different points in time obviously showed excellent different things with the organization. Unfortunately, when we made a trade,

he might have got stunted a little bit, but obviously it's his time to try and run with it. You know, Kyle Connor, Nikolai Ehlers, you know, Mark Scheifele, Gabe Velarde, guys that, you know, again, we go to them and say, you know, this is your team. You guys need to, you know, get X percent better over the summer and come back and be that much of a group of leaders. Adam Lowry being our captain obviously brings a different element to, you know, to our team on a nightly basis. But when we had our exit meetings last year, like there was, you know,

the guys felt that there was a lot of unfinished business and, you know, talk is cheap, but, you know, they felt, you know, they kind of talked about we need to come back, you know, whatever it is X amount percent better next year and do things a little bit differently somehow in order for us to, you know, take that next step. We're talking to Kevin Sheveldayoff, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets. Just want to talk Cole Profetti a little bit here because it's clear that there's next level stuff going on with him

with a chance to maybe score 65, 70 points. The decision to bridge him outside of maybe giving him one of those long-term deals in Chevy, we've seen a few of them, you know, with Slavkovsky and Lafreniere and so many of them. And it's not to compare, you know, play to play here, but just the challenges of general managers now making big time decisions on hedging or betting on

that this guy's going to be this player. That's why I'm locking them in for eight years and I'm willing to commit this. And I'm hoping in three or four years, it'll look like a bargain. But that's got to be really tough on you and your staff and your ownership group on some nights to really make a big decision right well I think everybody it's incumbent upon every team in the National Hockey

League to manage their cap prudently and you, you know, over the years, we've done different things. We've had different situations present themselves, and we've had to, you know, act accordingly. Obviously, Gabe Velarde, you know, we bridged him a couple years ago, and, you know, he's someone that's continuing, you know, to grow and blossom and I think is going to be a big part of, you know, what we have going. Obviously, you talked about Cole, Josh Morrissey.

We had to bridge, you know, back in the day, and and uh you know obviously it's worked out well we're you know for for him connor hellebuck we bridged um you know so there's there's lots of different scenarios sometimes uh you know you're in the cap situation where um you know you can take advantage of where you think your projections on your team are going to go obviously for for us, you know, we, there, there's probably been a few guys that, you know, we have to slow the process down a little bit because of the cap and, and some guys, you know, over the course of time, you know, we've benefited from being able to, you know, jump out and go long-term,

but you know, again, cap management looks differently for every different player, every different team, every different situation. And, you know, we're just kind of, you know, go about our business in our own Winnipeg Jets way. So looking at the way the end of last season ended, and you mentioned that earlier in our chat here, you know, I look at the San Jose Sharks of old who never ended up winning a cup,

but were really successful in the regular season. We talk about the Leafs for an hour a day. So we've seen their postseason disappointments. When you look at the success your team is having, do you feel like you're better geared for that postseason matchup when you get there? Well, so one of the things that we talked about is, you know, obviously, you know, we needed to play with more speed. I don't know that we played with enough speed in that playoff series. And that's one thing. You look at a player like Rasmus Kupari right now,

he's playing on our fourth line. But our fourth line has been, I think, a lot of our success. And maybe not from a point production standpoint, although last game they were very instrumental in us winning our last game. But, they were very instrumental in us, you know, winning our last game, but, you know, what, what they've been instrumental in is, is that, you know, Arnie, you know, coach Scott or Neil can put them out there whenever he wants. Like he, he doesn't have to line match. He doesn't have to, you know, feel like I can't play these guys against whoever I can go on the road and I

can, I can just roll the lines as I want. And that's, that's the importance. You know, when, when we kind of When we kind of traded for those players, for Velarde and for Ayafalo and for Kupari, we did it with the mindset that this was going to change the complexion of our team to more of a balanced kind of depth approach as opposed to maybe more of a top-heavy type of approach. And again, time will tell. Obviously, you've got to make the playoffs. approach as opposed to you know maybe more of a top heavy type of approach and you know again time will tell you know obviously you you've got to make the playoffs that's the first and foremost

thing you've got to eliminate eight teams which in our conference and certainly in our division is is no um you know no easy thing to do so um it's a long season we've played 15 games we're we're very very fortunate to be in the situation that we're in. I'd take that over anything. But, you know, obviously there's lots of runway ahead of us. Kevin, we had Rick Bonas, your former coach on maybe a couple weeks ago, and he just talked about how that room just needed to be settled. And now that they've had ample time time to be together uh you know it's

it's bearing the fruits right now does it give you does this start give you a even a bigger appreciation for what team chemistry can do to a hockey club and maybe uh you know is it a little overestimated sometimes the rush at a trade deadline trade deadline to get somebody or a group of guys and force feed a chemistry, or does it just have to take its organic shape? Yeah, no, you're absolutely right there, Kipper. It's sometimes, you know, the best things, you know, are unanswered prayers. You know, everybody, you know, at the trade deadline, you want to add, you want to do this, but, you know, you have to be careful.

And, you know, these players, if you get to that trade deadline, you have to assess where you're at because they're battle tested together. If you're a group that has, you know, done some different things, you know, you have to be very, very cognizant of that. Now, that being said, you know, deaths in a long playoff run can never be underestimated because all it takes is one injury and it changes everything. So that's the fine line. That's the balance.

As a management team, as an organization, you just have to prepare for all different avenues and be prepared. And you don't really succumb to the outside noise. It's more what you feel internally, you know, can or cannot help. You know, there's lots of organizers. I go back to the Washington Capitals when they won the championship there. They added some depth around the edges and, you know, and they won the Stanley Cup.

And, you know, so for every time there's, you know, there's a story of someone being traded at the deadline, there's another story of a team going on to greatness, you know, where they just kind of added in-depth position. So looking across your roster, there's some guys playing well enough that I imagine they will get some opportunity in the Four Nations faceoff come February. Name that stands out to me when we're doing our Team Canada

roster projections is Josh Morrissey. He has really emerged as one of the NHL's very reliable first pair D in the NHL. You know, and again, if you watch him on a nightly basis, you truly appreciate

what he brings to the team. Because on some nights, he leads our team in shot blocking. On other nights, he leads our team, you know, from a power play. And on every night, he leads our team from, you know, breaking the puck out of our zone quickly so that you're out of the end. Or breaking up rushes coming into your zone. And arguably, again, you know, you're going down the line here. When we were making our choices for Adam Lowry to be captain, you've got Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey

that equally could have been the captains of these teams. He's just such a well-rounded player and student to the game, just a wonderful ambassador for the community. And again, I think Canada you know, Canada would be, you know, very, very proud and very happy with his play if he gets a chance to play in that cup. Kevin, obviously coming out of the West is still a challenge no matter what your record is up against.

But, I mean, in a perfect world, do you feel like your lineup can match up against anybody's right now? Or is there still a sense that you know there's there's a specific area that you think that that uh you know you you is it maybe being a little tougher behind the the blue line or is it adding more depth but i know i'm not asking you for trade secrets here but uh how does it match up against what you believe will be your biggest challenges to come out of the west well we haven't played everybody yet

obviously so you know there's there's there's going to be those kind of challenges and um you know again the great equalizer and all of this is injury so you don't know what what every team is you know is going to come up with the injury but for us honestly like you know and we and we say it but we really, really mean it. You have to eliminate eight teams. You've got to get in. And, you know, that's the focus of this group is playing the right way, you know, and hopefully it continues to be our focus or else, you know,

again, if you lose your compass at any point in time, you know, this game is very, very unforgiving. So it's a steady, you know, 82-game march, and, you know it's it's this game is very very unforgiving so um it's a steady you know 82 game march and you know we'll play we're going to play some teams that uh you know obviously uh are saying the same things and we'll have to measure ourselves and uh you know as it comes up to the challenge but um you know at the end of the day you know we're very very fortunate to have a player like carter hellebuck who um you know know mans our crease you know for the majority of time and and obviously we talked about some some of the you know the great players we have up front but the I think the the underlying factor for us and whether we win or

whether we don't is is you know I see a commitment level from this group to want to try to do it together and they're open to listening they're open to listening. They're open to, you know, hearing what the coaches have to say. And I think that's important, you know, as a group, you know, whatever the outcome is going to be in the end. So Kyle Conner's obviously electric goal scoring. Nikolai Ehlers also has nine goals. But is it, you know, is it silly of me to say that when I think of the Winnipeg Jets, the thing that defines the Jets to me is the third line of Niederreiter,

Lowry, and Appleton. I think that, you know, again, for several different things, it defines us because that's how we have to play. Like, we, you know, we have to play with that mentality of a 1-0 game. And, you know, like when you can get the ultra skilled players to buy into that, you know, the, the, the Shifley, the Connors, the healers, the, you know, the perfetties, the Velardes, you know, those guys to buy into playing like that, that that's when you have,

you know, something. And, and again, like our, our fourth line, we don't look at it as a fourth line. It's kind of like third line light. And, you know, but, you know, so, you know, again, that's, that's what we want to try and achieve. That's what we want to try and accomplish. And if you watch us on some nights, you know, and things are going well, chances are we're sticking to that identity. And on nights when we're not, it's probably pretty easy to see that, that we're, we're not playing to our identity.

We're talking to Kevin Chevalier off presently in Toronto, taking in the hockey hall Hall of Fame festivities also on the agenda. Kevin, if I'm not mistaken, all the general managers are getting together tomorrow. I believe on the agenda will be video review or the length of

time that it takes. Where are you on that or just in general where those conversations can go? Well, one thing about these meetings in November is, you know, they're here to spur on conversations. We'll get updates, you know, from about a lot of different aspects of the hockey operations

and maybe a little bit on the business operations. But, you know, as it pertains to the game of hockey, you don't make any rule changes necessarily at these November meetings. It's kind of, you know, a conversation session on a lot of different things. So I'm sure we'll hear, you know, some things from the National Hockey League. Those guys watch every game, you know. So that's the thing. Like, you know, as managers, you're so immersed in your game

and what things, you know and your perspective on different things. The people in the hockey operations department, they watch every game, so they see everything. They look at all the trends. They'll give you updates, and we'll have some spirited conversations about different things. Where the game has come from to where it is at right now, there's some nights where I'm sure we from to where it is, you know, at right now. Yeah. You know, like there's some nights where, you know, I'm sure we all get angry at different aspects of things,

but you know, where it's grown to, it's, it's in a pretty good spot. Well, your team gets right back at it. If I'm not mistaken, a more night in New York,

wish you all the best pal. Thanks very much. Appreciate you guys having me on. Thanks Chevy. Appreciate it. All right. That's 14 and one chevy what is you know that division nashville at the bottom colorado below 500 minnesota's 10

2 and 3 like what is cats or dogs everything's upside down i mean not that i didn't expect the jets to be good but 14 and one holy smokes i he's like, ah, we're not in the play. I mean, unless you lose every game. It is. Hey, how about that, like, hockey talk where it's like, you still got to get in. Get in. Just wait with wrong-handed sticks from now and get in.

Maybe 10 years from now, you'll be like, can everybody just relax? It's 15 games. But we know how it works and it's it's hard under at any time to be buried underneath three or four teams trying to make the playoffs and everybody and everybody's gonna get their three points and everybody's gonna beat each other and to to make any ground at all you need to go on a heater you absolutely do you need a long on a heater. You absolutely do. You need a long winning streak.

Like Winnipeg just now. It's like, come on, you put that string together. You're going to ride this thing for the next four months. Yeah. And, you know, once you start to win, people buy into your system and they play it tighter. They're like, all right, this thing the coach wants us to do works. Let's do it really well.

So that helps. And then your team is saying, okay, the deadline, we're going to add, we're going to make you guys better. All these things snowball in a positive direction. Meanwhile, we talked about the Canadians in the first hour of our show where they're going, this doesn't work. Not sure if I want to fight because we're down so much. It's like all the stuff when it's negative goes that way too.

So the Jets on the right side of that. And the Nashville Predators in the division now dead last in the Western Conference. With 11 points through 15 games minus 13 goal differential. But old Trotz had to walk back that rebuild comment, didn't he? Oh, he was. He said, well, we wouldn't rebuild. He had some quotes about how he. It would be a rebuild if they lost again.

He's like, maybe we'll just. Can we get the beep, beep, beep to back it up, Sal? It's like, I need to find a couple of reporters to get out there. They didn't really mean it like that. No, not a rebuild. It's a retool. I'll retool you. Brock Besser, out indefinitely.

Don't really know when he's coming back. Rick Tockett said that he wasn't sure how long he was going to be out he he wasn't overly concerned but you know tanner drew drew with you know you know sorry with uh three games and should be more yeah should be more i i thought i... What are we doing here? I thought it was bad. Three games. That's one of the ones where it's like, that is clearly a malicious blindside headshot

to a guy who's had concussion issues, if I'm not mistaken. And it's just, to me, there's... I don't... You know my thoughts on the player department. I don't think they're probably a very big fan of... If a Leaf had done it... They're not a very big fan of my opinions.

But that's a terrible suspension. Brock Besser, it's not a big fan of my opinions, but that's a terrible suspension. Brock Besser, it's not a bang-bang play. It doesn't have an effect on the game. It's not like there's some mistake that was made. A big tough guy made a decision to throw an elbow into a guy's head unsuspected from the blind side, and you're going to give him three games? You could have talked me into six or seven. That's a rotten hit. Rotten. when besser's back strange timing for uh to lose

sprung to seattle with brock besser out like that was a weird one 20 goal score in detroit i just didn't like it my guess i don't know like sometimes the coach is like i'm not gonna use this guy or do you think something behind the scenes, maybe personality conflict? That happens a lot more than people know. It's always a personality. I don't like the way you personally play. Right? It's always a conflict.

Yeah. Yeah, it is true, though. Like, I think sometimes when you're in the dressing room, you have a guy who's not taking well to their role. And part of the reason that they move on, maybe he's good, but not good enough with that attitude. So, yeah. And I think...

I'm not saying that's his case. These people have got called back up today. I wonder how much longer they're going to go without Demko here. Seems like eventually it's got to happen. I guess. I don't know. Let's do game time.

All right. It's game time. You got right. It's game time. You got it. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the Athletic's odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. It's been 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Now, a few games on the schedule tonight. I'm looking at a couple here. Colorado Avalanche are at home to the Nashville Predators. They are minus 140 favorites in that game. Colorado Avalanche are at home to the Nashville Predators. They are minus 140 favorites in that game. I love the way they're looking recently. Nathan McKinnon is on fire, and he's lighting it up.

McKinnon almost has two points a game. 15 games, he has 29 points. I feel like they could get to the total just themselves, the Colorado Avalanche, the way they're going offensively. not as great defensively maybe some goals in this game so give me the over at minus uh 115 over six over six and a half goals in there love that and you could also talk me into the colorado avalanche minus a goal and a half at plus 165 and looking elsewhere the calgary flames are home to the la kings just lost lost anthony manta for the year. Love our Calgary Flames.

Love our boy Kadri, who was so good to us on Friday. But I think they're heading in the wrong direction. Give me the LA Kings at minus 135 in Calgary tonight. All right. So somebody mentioned to me that before the season started, Nate McKinnon had a number in mind for total points. That he wanted to hit. Yes.

Really? How many did he have last year? Let's see here. Okay. Before you look. Okay. Guess what that number is. For this year?

150. Yes. I was wondering if that weren't the case. Was it that high? Higher. What do you mean higher? What are we talking about here? 160.

It's the number so he wants to be a two point per game player. He had 140 last year. Did he? Yes. He had 51 goals, 89 assists for 140 points. And guess what his pace is right now. I'm going to do it.

1.93 times 82 equals 158.26. Oh, he's got to get on his horse. He's on a 159 pace. Wow. 22 assists in 15 games is absurd. Seven goals. 22 assists. Yeah,, leads the league. Anyways, it's not a bad thing to be 15 games in

and currently on the pace that you maybe circled. That's pretty crazy. Cole Caulfield, first in the league in goals, 12. Do you count the 15 points in the four games he gets at the Four Nations face face off in that total when he's shooting holes through uh connor hellebuck again all right uh anyways that was game time presented by bet365 this is the athlete asad to find out why it's ever ordinary at bet365 let's be 19 plus on terror only please play responsibly what tage thompson boys he got hurt today do we know what happened i don't know what

the injury is i know that he's been back to being tage lemieux last year was not his year but he's been awesome 11 goals this season and uh a huge part of all their success so oh yeah oh they've been all right i think the sabers 500 team for the loss today you can't blow it to montreal be a serious team i mean in terms of making playoffs. I'm just looking at McKinnon's point totals. And, you know, you talk about McDavid getting close to 1,000 here. McKinnon's at 928 points in 806 games played. He's going to finish really, really high when it's all said and done. Like him and McDavid both have an outside shot at the 2,000 point club to me.

He's age 29. He's a little older. Maybe not 2,000 for him, but 1,500 up in the SID numbers for sure. Big numbers. Big numbers. Unbelievable. Okay, let's take a quick break. When we return, we'll get into a few things, including the revolving door of healthy scratches with the Philadelphia Flyers.

That and more when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Matt Marchese. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world weekdays at noon. It's the Fan Hockey Show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. We're back on this Monday night, Real Kipper and Bourne.

This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne is brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. All right, Mishkoff. Oh, yeah. Back in the lineup tonight after head coach Tortorella took him out of the lineup. Yeah. And I don't know when it was, but like three weeks ago, a month ago, I read this article about the vibe out of Philly is very reminiscent of the Eric Lindros being a flyer.

Yes. And I'm like, could be the dumbest thing I've ever read. The dumbest. Eric Lindros is... Clearly you weren't born back then because... It was like, look out for this offensive freight train. This guy built an arena, a brand new arena.

The whole world, the whole NHL revolved around this guy where teams were volunteering, going public with three of their best players to try to get into the bidding with this guy. What world would you ever compare this guy to Eric Lindros? I can't imagine. Eric Lindros is a freak of nature. Mitchkoff is going to be a very good hockey player, but right now he's kind of a power play specialist learning to play in the

league. So yeah, I would say they're looking for something in Philly to hang their hat on and say, we got one. We got one of the league's best. Which again is okay, but when you're healthy scratching,

it seems. When you're Tortorella and... It's not a crisis. It seems like a pretty... Is it Ricky? Me, me, me, me, me move. It's a dumb move. As usual, but...

Like, you mean... No, I'm okay with it. They suck. I know, they do. They suck. It's like he's your top pick. It's like, let's healthy scratch him so everybody asks about, I'm okay with it. They suck. I know. They do. They suck. It's like he's your top pick. It's like, let's healthy scratch him so everybody asks about him. Everybody talks about it.

Just play him 10 a night. There is a danger, Sammy, of a guy like this coming in, having early success, and then getting full of himself. And if Tortorella needs to remind him that you're still learning and you're not who you think you are right now and put him up in the stands for a game or two I'm okay with that because at the end of the day your team stinks and it will continue to stink uh for for quite a while here still so that's that's all that's happened here he's just he needs to take some air out of this guy and they're back you put him back in the lineup for

a home game so that's good yeah two road games down in florida watch a game tor tor set it himself watching the game is not a huge deal for a kid that age as long as he takes it properly. It doesn't say. I'm going back to the KHL. Who's coming out now? Oh, Drysdale. Jamie Drysdale. But he's IR. Drysdale is scratched. Is that right? Drysdale, IR.

IR? Upper body injury. Upper body. Okay. He's not a healthy scratch, though. Nope. But I like Torts being like, nobody is above what we're doing here. We're losing.

We're bad. None of you are too good to come out. Yeah. I guess. But, like, they've got no goaltending right now. And I don't know where. Fedotov. Fedotov.

Samuel Arison. I guess they've got some upside. But. I mean, losing Carter Hart suddenly definitely affected their i mean free situation yeah i don't need to read out the numbers of fedotov but they are bad so not good but did you what were you talking about the break you're going on about something we want to do here i want to do numbers i want to talk about contracts kip loves this part i know this about kip i love numbers he likes when someone throws out potential contract numbers and so uh i do the martyr one here why no we're not gonna have any conversation you want i like

to check out uh specters hockey loud lyle richardson always writes these sort of news uh nhl rumor mill articles so we'll start with evan bouchard where he cites a luke fox article where fox believes edmonton oilers could end up paying defenseman evan bouchard an he cites a luke fox article where fox believes edmonton oilers could end up paying defenseman evan bouchard an aav of somewhere in the 10.5 million dollar range on his next contract what are your thoughts my thoughts are he's not that far off of that really with the with the uh just the the offense and the numbers that he can produce. So, again, anytime you're dealing with these younger players and you're thinking about locking them in past their unrestricted free agent years, then that's where it's going.

So they're picturing themselves as UFA, and what could I get out on the UFA? What would... Evan Bouchard was showing up as a UFA. He had 82 points in 81 games last year as a defenseman who shoots it 100 miles an hour. Yeah, he shoots it hard and has great offense, but boy, he's a... You're not wrong.

He's on pace for 40 points this year, though. Does that change how you feel about this? Watch a lot of Oilers, bud. There is a lot of gaffes. Yeah. There is a lot of gaffes. Yeah. There's a lot of gaffes. Listen, were you worried about Connor McDavid's pace the first two weeks into the season?

It's just, it'll balance it out. Point pace, okay. Point pace. And the answer's no, not really. Are you worried about Austin Matthews? Even if he has an off year and he scores 60. It's still that guy. He's early 20s scoring that many points.

He's still that guy. So someone's going to pay him for that offense. Someone's going to pay him for that shot. So then you're going to pay Leon 14, Connor 15 then? He's getting more than Leon, presumably. Up. 16? Now you're...

And then Bouchard, 10 and a half. Now Connor's sitting there going, do I really want to squeeze another mil and not get... Only the Toronto guys do that? Only the Toronto guys do that? So would you take the same as Leon? No, no, no, no, no. You have to take more.

How much more? One, 1.2, 1.5. Do you give him 15? 15, 2, no, no, no. You have to take more. How much more? One, 1.2, 1.5. Do you give them 15, 15.25? Call it a day. I understand. Call it a day. The cap is going up. I understand that.

But you're talking about three players and 30 million. Yeah. Sorry, 40 million? 40 million. A lot of time. I know, I know. I know it is. But this is the way the league's gone guys yeah it's like

here you got your stars and then you got your seed fillers um new york islanders blue liner noah dobson could get something nearing eight million annually on an eight-year contract if lou lamarillo wants to go long term now for context uh context um he's had 51 points, 49 points, and then last year 70 points, struggling this year. Ten million? You want to give him eight million times eight years. You said ten million times eight years. Maybe I did, but I didn't mean to if I did.

Okay, for the next four years, is Dobson your top two defensemen? Oh, absolutely. Okay okay so then eight million for a 24 years old eight million for a top two even if those numbers drop again even if he's giving you 50 or 55 you know morgan riley's making 7.5. Yeah. Yeah. He hasn't had any 7-point years at age 20, 70-point years at 23. And again, like it's hard for people. We still want to do apples to apples, right? So if Morgan's at 7.5, but Morgan was 7.5 like three years ago, four years ago. Yeah.

So they go by percentage points of the cap now. He's got a case to make more than that for sure. And there's also a case that the cap has been artificially suppressed. And the real cap should be around $100 million now. Woo. So it's going to shoot up. To $100 million? Oh, yeah.

It's going to get very quick. In the year 2035? Or like next year? No, next year is in the 90s. Maybe three years it'll be over $100 million. In three years. This is time for Matthews to get his next contract. So that's the issue.

Throw me some more names. Alright, Wyatt Johnston. I think this was also our boy Luke Fox. Wyatt Johnston could get something comparable to the seven-year $7.14 million AAV deal that Matty Beneers signed with the Seattle Kraken. I love Wyatt Johnson.

You do? Oh, yeah. Slow year, right? Yeah. I love the player. Yeah. I like him a lot, too. Playoff player.

That one where you're hedging that in three or four years, he's going to be one of your top players at 7 million would be a steal for Dallas. Yeah. He's 6'1", 21 years old. He only has six points this season, but last year had 65 points and 32 goals. So we had Kevin Shevelday off, as we know, at the top of our show here,

and I brought up Cole Profetti, who could be in the ballpark of 60 points, 65, 70 points. Now, he bridged them. He didn't go give them the bait of locking them in for seven or eight years because that one would have cost him probably $45 million. Oh. Now, I think it was a few healthy scratches

at the end of last season. But now, it's a different ball game. So... Ridge is going to work in his favor. It should. 13 points in 15 games

for him. If he ends up being this guy that can score 70 points, then, Kevin lost. Mm-vin lost because he could go ufa when he's 26 i think 26 was it pk suban who had a bridge deal and then had a huge deal and cost montreal a bunch of money yeah nine i think yeah but so instead of locking him in for eight years at maybe six and a half or seven, you might have to jump him up now to eight, eight and a half. And the other thing too, but it's just not about the price.

This is the other thing. And we're talking particularly the Winnipeg Jets is do I have a guy that wants to stay here, or do I want a guy that if I give him a crack of leaving, he'll use it? Like, I need players. I need players that want to play here. Right. And, like, we didn't know a few years ago if Scheifele and Hellebuck wanted to stay.

Yeah, and they got great contracts. They got great contracts, but they also got the commitment that i want to be in winnipeg absolutely that's a big part of it and that's a big part of it so colt profetti was it a smart move bridging him or did that guy want to stay for seven years that's the other thing too dbd but yeah that's a really good point uh we started this conversation on wyatt johnston last year in the playoffs. He had 10 goals

and 16 points. A couple overtime winners too, I think. 22 or whatever it was. What I'm terrified to ask this one. Matthew Nyes? Hmm. Yeah, that's a good question.

So, are we getting into the slavkovsky territory we are like i got news for you six seven eight million per year if he's 22 scores 30 goals this year you know yeah like it ain't cheap like there's just no way that you're gonna negotiate down on the fact that I was a first overall pick and you only went in the second round. It's like that makes for stupid scouts. I shouldn't have to lose money because your scouts were dumb. It is funny watching Nyes being like, really?

Second round? That size? That offensive ability? A rare gift from Dubas and Kyle. Thank you. funny watching nize being like really second round that size that offensive ability you know he's got a rare gift from dubas and go thank you he's got a uh a great situation where he's on the number one line he's their best left winger right now most consistent give him credit for staying at minnesota when he did at the time it seemed silly, but now it's like, God, that helped. Extra year of puck handling and being the man, that helps. And so, yeah, he's making 925 this year.

He's an RFA after this season. Wow, he got to burn that goofy year off, right, where he came out. He stayed one year, and then the second year he got to burn a year off the contract. And started playing. And now it's like, okay, bridge me. So what then? There's an opportunity I can walk three years from now.

Right? And I mean, if he goes, especially with him being in Toronto, obviously more eyeballs on him. Obviously people like, I don't know, somebody maybe on the show talking about the potential of an offer sheet. Any other market that's just like under the radar kind of just doesn't happen but here this is going to be a thing if he's not if they don't bridge him here if he goes into the summer as an rfa if there's no contract or whatever there's going to be tons of offer

sheet it's going to be the hottest offer sheet i don't understand why like teams don't use that more i know it's worked out okay it's happening more crazy watching the blues be like yeah we I don't understand why teams don't use that more. I know. It's worked out okay for St. Louis. It's happening more. It's crazy watching the Blues be like, yeah, we actually need both these guys now. They're both very good. Yeah.

I think Matthew Nyes is the exact type of guy that if you're a team with some cap space and you look at the Leafs cap picture, you're like, we know what they got to do here. We'll give him a lot of money. He fits our bill. They do have the Tavares contract coming off that can't spend. We know what they got to do here. We'll give him a lot of money. He fits our bill. They do have the Tavares contract coming off that they they'll match. Yeah.

And they also have Mitch Marner's contract coming off. Yeah. So that's a lot of money that you could fit somewhere else. Yeah. Luke Hughes in New Jersey has been a very good defenseman for them. The long-term comparable that they've used here is the eight-year, 8.5 million AAV deal for Brock Faber. Is Luke Hughes in the Brock Faber class of defenseman?

I know you love Faber. He was hurt. And, I mean, I don't claim to have watched Luke enough to go, okay, that guy just lights out out i'm sure he is yeah but i have not watched enough i don't think he has a ton of games under his belt not a ton like he's definitely shown flashes of big guy skates well offensive uh instincts like he looks good but doesn't help that they... Who'd they lose to last night?

San Jose Sharks won nothing. 6-2. 200. All bets are off. You guys stink if you lost to San Jose. Last year, Luke Hughes had almost 50 points as a defenseman. Almost 10 goals. Yeah, that's impressive.

Minus 25. Yeah, nine goals, 47 points, minus 25 and eight. They don't even, they were pretty bad last year. Slow start this year with just one assist. But he was hurt. Yeah, so that's one to keep an eye on. Sabres forward J.J. Paterka could seek something north of $7 million. Oh, my God.

If Kevin Adams wants to use up some of his ufa years everyone's getting all the money you can feel the cap going up and all of a sudden it's like middling guys are like i should go to me right this happened money this happened in the nba i like the turk the one year where the cap spiked like crazy yeah and it was like timothy moskov got all this money Like guys you've never heard of Luol Deng. Who is the name I gave you earlier this year? And I was like, who's that? He had 212... Oh,

Shingun from the Rockets. Shingun got a $212 million contract. Luol Deng built a whole basketball program off the one contract he got from the Lakers. Oh, the South Sudan. So it's like, yeah, it was a cap explosion and all these mid guys got extremely rich.

With so many deals still coming around for the league, I know there's TV money. If they find ways to still create revenue, the cap will jump. It's arguably a $6 billion revenue, yearly revenue. Well, and the rates are coming up. We are going to hear like, oh, my God, I can't believe that guy got paid that. It's just a matter of time when the cap gets bumped up

that we're going to start hearing contracts to guys and going, that makes no sense that's going to be like a price a bag of groceries now we're like wait what am i playing paying for butter you know where everything feels crazy but i went to get four things i spent 150 bucks how did that happen but that's what's going to happen like you know this is salary cap inflation i'm really really surprised, like, the Rangers just have not, like, done the Shusterkin deal yet. Yeah, like, didn't Weeks tweet about it vaguely the other day? Yeah, he did. I'm not sure 11 and a half gets it done.

You didn't think so at the time, but he tweeted 11 and a half eyeballs. Well, it went from 11 to 11 and a half, but I think they got to get to close to 12. Yesterday's price is not today's price. Give Shusterkin credit. I couldn't personally be like, I think I'm worth 12. They're offering me 11 and a half times eight. No.

It's just like, you're up to that in those numbers. Playing one of the most high impact positions in all sports. And yeah, I can math what half a million is times eight. I get that. What about Kirill? The thrill when your organization says, yeah, we're going to give you whatever you want. No one's going to outbid us.

They literally have their GM, or sorry, their owner, be like, no one will offer him more money. That's when I fire my agent because I don't need to pay you anything when I hear that and pick my number. Drew Doughty do that? Did his own deal? Which I absolutely love. Well, it's at 3% or 5% yearly.

Yeah, at times you're making 11 schmill or Drew's making 10 and a half. That's a nice way to make, you know, save 300 grand a year. Lamar Jackson did his own deal too. He doesn't have an agent. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, he did at one point. And then I think he maybe got one later. But he did one of those deals. Who did his own deal too. He doesn't have an agent. Oh, really? Oh, he did at one point and I think he maybe got one later but he did one of those deals. Who did your

lifetime deal with Sportsnet? Here, Sammy. Or the Fan 590. I don't know. What's the guy from The Simpsons? Old Gil. Old Gil! Old Gil! Old Gil is really good.

That's a heck of a negotiation on that one. What a reference that is. Thank you, thank you. For Lionel Hutz. Didn't Kramer do a lawsuit on Seinfeld and ended up just getting a billboard? Yeah. Good negotiation.

Buddy, I'd kill for a billboard. Get it in the next deal. All right, that's it? Yeah. Wow. Wow. All right. Have fun's it? Yeah. Wow. Alright. Have fun tonight, Kippy. Yep.

Heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Our thanks to Kevin Shevelday, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets. And Dr. Jason Smith. Doctor, doctor, doctor. Have a great night, everybody. We're back tomorrow. More Real Kipper in Board.