Real Kyper & Bourne - Big Apple Worries + Canucks Check-In

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee take a look at the Florida Panthers edging out the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final rematch, the future of the New York Rangers' core players and Kaapo Kakko's comments after his healthy scratch. Then, Nick and Justin are joined by Mike Halford (27:55) of Halford & Brough to chat about Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet navigating his way when speaking to the media about the team's performance this year, Elias Pettersson's and J.T. Miller's relationship on the ice, Kiefer Sherwood's exceeding expectations out West, and whether Thatcher Demko has rounded back into form.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.

all right let's take it national here on the real kipper and born show nick kip realist justin born sammy mckee and we are live on sports at 650 in vancouver sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Adam Oates, former NHLer, Hall of Famer, and overall, good guy. Love having him on the show. Gets us to see things much like our buddy Steve Aliquette in a different way, in a different look. He's got, of course, president of the Oak Sports Group.

He works with a lot of top stars around the league, helping them form out their game, making the most out of what he observes. He sees it in a unique way, which is really nice. Really nice. We'll probably start with what we witnessed last night between the Stanley Cup champions and the Edmonton Oilers, a game that had a feel like the Oilers were in command,

but this Florida team will not go away. You wait for it to go. That's catching up to them, right? All of it. Winning the Stanley Cup last year, losing two of their top six defensemen. Bobrowski doesn't have quite the same look to start the season, but they still find a way. They're defining characteristic of the Florida Panthers.

And I don't know what you guys would say it is for yourselves. My defining characteristic for Florida is they're mean. They're just a bunch of meanies. Mean. And they're smart too. Like Sam Reinhart, that bank goal, you know, thoughtful. Loved it know thoughtful yeah just like rips it off stew skinner's helmet you know they're but they just in those games they they just have a little bit of an edge you know they're just a tough team to play against it was just to touch on sam reinhardt and like i'm i so missed this because i remember him as a top two pick.

I think he's the most wrong I've been on a guy who I saw young. Oh, no, no, no. I've got you beat. I thought he was a disaster in Buffalo and a guy that was just going to fade. He's like Jimmy Vesey. He was like Jimmy Vesey at that age where it was like, you know, Keith called him vanilla or whatever. It's like, yeah keith get called him vanilla or whatever it's like yeah he's fine that bank goal and how he okay it was a 200 foot goal or should i say 150

because he had the perfect stick in his own zone a dry saddle play to the point right yes yeah perfect stick so defensively he is right there and he goes and he beats a one-on-one 50 50 kind of puck with a very very good defenseman the best defenseman that the oilers have and then to hold on to the puck actually cross the goal line he had nothing right and you could see his eyes fixated on Skinner's position. Yeah. And he put it exactly where he wanted it, off his head. Our usual Tuesday guest, Valley, who couldn't do it today, he would be just so mad about the reverse VH there

because it's where he's down on one knee. He's guarding against the wraparound, I guess, and Reinhhardt just fires it off his melon in the back of the net he shot it so hard he did oh yeah that hurt oh yeah if there is one example that goalie coaches could show their their students on why you to kind of bail on this. Or at least let the play develop further before you. The whole premise of the reverse VH is that I am giving you a 20% chance to hit this area. And if you do, I'll tip my hat to you.

But these guys are so good now and the sticks are so good and their ability to hit a 15 20 area now yeah is better than it's ever been in the history of the game yeah you can't invite guys and say if you hit this you get it because they'll hit it they will like i don't even know what the percentage was for for reinhardt probably two percent five at the most yeah and he still can have his eyes up stare at it and hit it yeah the uh the other takeaway you know in those sort of games at home you mentioned uh you know is their best defenseman or whatever bouchard he is such a talent offensively and he's just and he's been good this year but he's just gonna have some nights like that and that was one of those nights for him one of those nights where again i don't

mean to slag a guy who's a good hockey player but he he just has some nights where it's like oh man you know not uh not overly forceful the big mistakes the is that not what cost him team canada yeah i mean is definitively what cost him team canada they just you can't risk that one moment and he i will say though watching that game that i'll watch zach hyman play. And I'm like, yeah, maybe could have sent him, you know, like about that. I had the opposite feelings watching those two guys. Cause I'm like Bouchard.

I feel very, feel very confident in the fact that they didn't take him. But Hyman, now that he's gotten hot, just the way he skates, just the lanes, he opens up his ability to go to the front of the net. Like,

I mean, and take one off the melon. Oh my God, that was horrible. But like, I just, you watch him play and you're like, you know, that's a guy you probably could have taken i i hate that the puck didn't go in from early go ahead kim i was just gonna say uh i don't have the lineup team candle

is lineup but give me one guy that hyman should take off seth jarvis as the name yeah okay i mean i i can see that yeah yeah you got me there i i think that he hadn't been scoring this year and everyone went well then the 57 or 54 he had was a mirage it was like well he's still getting a ton of these chances and you don't want him to be a scorer anyway but yeah there's the see i think jarvis i think with zach it it really put a ton of pressure on the staff, Team Canada staff, to say, we know he's struggling. We know he's not scoring at the rate. But we completely trust by the time this tournament arouse,

we're going to get the Zach Hyman that's been at the top of his game for a long time here. And they couldn't do that. But I do wonder if he won't play himself into the next man up position here. You know, the thing with Hyman, like last year's goal total, the year before, he didn't score 10. He had 36 the year before.

You know, he's established himself as a guy who scores some goals. Yeah. I don't know. We'll wait and see if they end up picking him but i think you're right kip that they they were in a tough spot because it wasn't going in but boy night like last night he's not afraid of the big moments he had 16 playoff goals last year yeah 16 playoff goals yeah it's a good season. Yeah. Okay. No Adam Oates? Trying to track Oatesy down.

Okay. I'm getting in my ear that possibly no video. Is that accurate? Maybe no Oates. Okay. Alright. That's okay. Well, we'll live radio, baby.

We're not lacking for conversation. Did you want to talk about uh what capo cackle had to say today uh no i just want to stay a little bit more on uh on on the oiler uh game for a second here and just in terms of where you see the goaltending last night because it is one of those games where I think if you can be highly entertained uh I think again coaching staffs would have find plenty of warts on both sides last night but Bobrovsky to me had a very I thought Bob was bad Grantjord, just make one save better than the guy across for me, and it'll be good enough.

And I thought it was appropriate that he made a miraculous save there to preserve the win off of Dreisaitl at the end of the game. He did. But, like, the Dreisaitl one he scores on, I mean, it's pretty ugly, right? Just like the one-timer from the corner down there. Like every goalie gives up that now to dry saddle. Like it goes in a lot, you're saying. It goes in a lot.

It does. But that shouldn't go in. I know, but it does. It's a flat pass. Great observation. He's been at worse angles on other goalies that have gone in that's the only benefit of the doubt i'll give bobrowski and his numbers aren't great and he has not looked they're terrible hasn't looked great they i can't think of the name another panther scored from the other side

on uh or sorry another oiler scored on the other side on bob earlier in the game like he he kind of struggled on both ones. Kapanen, Banks went in kind of behind the net. Like, just not a pretty night from Bob. So, if you're, you know, a fan of a first hour of our program, Leafs fan, seeing Bob's struggle has to be somewhat encouraging. So, Leon Dreisaitl has won the heart in the past. And his last five games,

his point totals are 2-2-4-3-2. He's scoring at will, it seems. Like, he's starting for me to move up my rankings. And maybe we'll do a little bit of it in game time in terms of where he's at when it comes to the odds. But there are a few guys better to watch in the league than him. It's just, it's such a unique game today because, you know, there's such a focus on speed and, like,

these guys that are just all burners and just fly up and down the ice. And he's much more methodical, the passing, the scoring, everything that he does. He's one of the best guys to watch in the league. I'm not breaking news here, but, like, last night I thought he was brilliant. Well, and, you know, in the Hart Trophy conversation again, he is also, you know, a guy, he's a 1.2 points per points per game in the regular season, 1.46 points per game in the playoffs. And that's when everyone says we got to shut down McDavid and dry side.

Yeah. You know, his numbers go up. This guy is just a beast and you can't, that's, I think it works for him in the post season because he's just, he's a lot of person. He's a big guy. Not that I'm going to drag our Leaf Hour edition into our national show. But you're going to ask me who you're going to have?

I will. No, I'm not. I'm just going to make an observation that I think when I watch Austin Matthews, i think he should aspire to play more like leon dry sidle in terms of just the ability the passing ability is that what it is yes yeah like is we should start using as boat or as good as stick as good as dry saddle is putting the puck in the net or having this area that he now owns, much like Ovechkin has owned the top of the circle or a stamp coast or anyone else that has a ownership of a certain area of the ice,

that guy is one hell of a good passer, one of the top passers in the world. Oh, for sure. I sure and this guy's another level i'm not i'm not saying that you know austin has the same vision that he has to move the puck but that's where i think if you're a top player in the league a top centerman man he's the perfect perfect role model yeah but this is a little like being like you know ovachkin should be more like backstrom like it's like this guy is he's 130 point season under his belt like dry saddle offensively is a do-it-all sort of guy he is yeah undefendable at times multi-dimensional there's a there's a youtube video out there for anyone who's not right now,

but I've seen it before, and it's called Leon Dreisaitl passes, but they get increasingly more impossible. And it's about a 10-minute long video. He has one of the most unbelievable passing mixtapes of all time. And almost all of them on his backhand. Yeah, he's great backhand sauce, good passer, great shooter, anything. It's a big conversation out there. They like to compare him to Matthews and say he's

better, so he probably is. We also have... Reasonable suggestion. We also have Mike Halford coming up, right? Co-host of Halford and Brough in Vancouver. And we're going to get into great detail on the Vancouver Canucks as well

because there's a lot of stuff going on in Vancouver. It's weird, man. Like, fans are upset at talk, and we can get more into those with Mr. Holford when we get there. Do you want to do some Rangers chat then? Yeah, yeah. So what are you hearing out there about this Rangers team? Because, you know, I follow Arthur Staple covers the Rangers

yeah they lose the last game and he basically said someone's gonna walk the plank next like it's not just Trouba and then they keep losing and carry on what comes next for this Rangers team yeah that's a really good question and I think when you when you're dealing with an owner like James Dolan, who it's hard to read. He's a hard guy to read. At times he can be a stubborn owner. At times he can be an owner that reacts quickly. How do you know for sure? With him?

Yeah. Oh, you don't. And I think you're totally at the mercy of someone with billions of dollars just doing what they want to do when they want to do it. So is the suggestion here that maybe he's decided that's enough and they're good to move on or the opposite? No, but like if people, if Ranger fans are sitting there going, the issues with Peter Laviolette and he must go,

or are they at the point where Peter's not the problem, Chris Drury is the general manager's not the problem, it's strictly player personnel, and the focus needs to be moving players out, like core players out. Yeah. Well, did you see this Caco stuff today? Do you want me to read the Caco quotes? But it just seems like nobody knows where he could potentially turn

to make a significant change. It's funny because until you talk to someone like Doug McClain, you don't realize how often some of these decisions aren't made by the general managers or even team presidents it's like the owner being like not paying him anymore yeah get that guy out of here and it's like oh well I guess I better make this look like it was my decision um well yeah I mean the latest the latest round of drama was with today with Kako talking to reporters and he's like talking about him getting scratched said i was surprised yeah i know you got to do something as a coach when

you're losing games but i think it's just easy to pick on the young guy and boot him out that's how i feel to be honest i haven't been on the ice too much when opponents score a goal uh i have not been the worst guy but that was me out of the lineup there's been older players who have sat out as well um but that's what lovely let said the decisions that i make they're tough decisions uh so they went back and forth but clearly a young player high pick who's not enjoying the coaching and i mean when you're throwing other players on your team i hate that comment i that's that's the part to me that sticks out where it's like that's how desperate you are to like make an impact with your words is talking about how like

there's guys out there that are worse than me it strikes me as siblings being like well he did this you gave him that or you know like throwing other people under the bus to get yourself ahead that's not team that's the type of quote that you end up on a different team because it's like how do you go back in to the room with all the guys like so who do you think yeah yeah go tell me which guy actually tell us all which guy you think you're better than yeah like it's just i i find that pretty pretty tough words i mean it's not like he's light enough four goals in 29 games yeah he has he's got the audacity to be the challenges coach will be in scratch well what and and three shots in his last five games on fire one point i can i can see where he's playing judge and jury on who should come out and who doesn't we we've all done that but we just we've never done it publicly right now but

we've all done it right jb yeah of course yeah that's half what you do in the bus with your you know in the dressing room sorry the hotel room with your guys but even if they picked him to move out what are you getting for him here he's been in the league for For what, six years now? He was the second overall pick. And his best year is 18 goals. And that was three years ago. 18 goals, 40 points. What do you think you could get for him? Can you get a first-round pick for him? I think so, Kip.

He's 6'2", 215 or 220. He's a third-line winger. Now, you tell me, like we had this earlier conversation you believe that he he could be a top six player uh yeah okay then yeah then you may spend a first round on him yeah but i think i'm going on age there like he's going to turn 24 in february um you know has some pedigree hasn't been given a ton of opportunity. You're behind Zibanejad, Panarin, Kreider. You know, you're behind Trocek.

You're behind good players. So I think there's an opportunity there for someone to scoop him up if you're the San Jose Sharks or the Blackhawks. If they can get a first-rounder for him, I'd be surprised. Oh, yeah, you don't think he has that much i agree cap like i just not ready to to spend a first rounder like first rounders to me at the trade deadline are impactful guys that can come in and help you even if you're renting them for for a playoff run but see here's where i would say you know i'm going to write an article for tomorrow on how i love what st

louis has done and i love what St. Louis has done, and I love what Washington did this past offseason where both teams are kind of middling to going the wrong way teams. And then they said, we're going to try to win. We're going to get competitive. We're going to say, you know, offer sheets, or we're going to get Matt Roy and Chikrin. I think you look at

CACO if you're one of these middling teams and say, maybe a first doesn't help us win the cup this year, but maybe this is a part of what we're building for the future. You might see more teams trying to turn things around. Because look at the Buffalo Sabres in year 13 who bottomed out or how long it took Edmonton to turn it around or Montreal who's in the pit. It's tough to get out of the pit.

Anaheim. Get some players. So if Anaheim wants to spend a first rounder and take a chance on him, that's one thing. If you've got a contaheim wants to spend a first rounder and take a chance on him, that's one thing. If you've got a contending team that wants to spend a first rounder on him. Agreed. You can do better with that.

And I just watched him be a healthy scratch, like weeks before the trade deadline. That scares the hell out of me. I agree. I agree that, you know, if you're a team trying to win the cup this year, he's not the guy you get. But if you could buy low on an asset, are you like a team with a late first? Wants to make that move?

It is a scary one, though, if you're the Rangers, right? Because, like, I agree with Kip. You're not going to get a first for him. And if somebody, like, you know, you get a second or a third-round pick for him or whatever it takes to get him, you trade another, get another player in it. And then he goes somewhere else else and it's like, well and he finds it or he's playing with the right people. Him, Hedl and whoever

it was were a great line in the playoffs. Lafreniere. Lafreniere. The kid line. The kid line. They were really effective as a group and it's like, what if he goes somewhere and finds that magic? It's a scary trade. No question. Once upon a time, Kako was seen as a almost Yarmulke

like with big strong can protect the puck and drive it to the net like this guy was almost a can't miss type of heavy power forward and if you look at that draft no one's

questioning Jack Hughes as number one but kind of gets dicey a little bit it's a tough draft it's uh after that is doc byram honest for me for me matt boldy at 12 he's the best would look better at number two behind jack hughes than than all the rest of them and i we got dylan cousins in there philip broberg has made a nice comeback as an everyday player coming off of his yo-yo career in edmonton so easy to go deep into a draft and be like how'd they miss this guy you know shane pinto's at 32. Yeah. Anyways, I don't know where this goes.

I'm lost. But certainly, Rangers have opened up the door for a team like the Ottawa Senators. 7-2-1 or something like that. If you sort the standings by points percentage, the Senators are in playoffs in playoffs today wow rangers have tripped on their own shoelaces yeah they are in an absolute dog fight here now yeah and it just hasn't looked good so like what that brought pittsburgh back into it the rangers have brought a lot of teams back do you think that the next thing would be laviolette kip or uh because he is one of those quick impact for a year or two kind of guy and then wears out his welcome pretty quickly like that that's that's happened with him multiple times is this coach q's time or what quenville quenville gonna come back if there's one market that could probably welcome Quenville

and not worry about the repercussions of his history with Chicago, it probably would be New York. Because otherwise, who else is out there? Gallant was there. Well, a lot of people said Gallant was just, they needed more structure, and Gallant's not the guy anymore. Laviolette comes in, and now Laviolette kind of looks like what Gerrard went through with some of these guys.

Maybe it's personnel. Hopefully they get a taxi for Laviolette. Laviolette gave one of the best interviews we've had on this show a couple years ago. It was awesome. Game time, boys? Do it. All right.

Where's my sheet here? Where are we on that MVP? I'm going to check for it. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365.

It's a 19-plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So, just checking here. Just quickly, a couple of games that are on tonight. Two games that are on Sportsnet. The Penguins are home for the LA Kings.

And like you said, Borny, Penguins not totally out of it all of a sudden because of what the Rangers have looked like. They're plus 120 on home ice. The Kings are coming in. Kings are having a good year. They're minus 140. I miss the Kings, too.

I screwed up on the Kings. Did you? Early in the season season i didn't like them at all yeah me either i'm not sure why they're so good they're and they're without drew dowdy and i will say you know me how much i care about jerseys the kings road white versus the the penguins home blacks it's a really really good jersey matchup and the other game that's on sportsnet sportsnet one tonight boston bru Bruins in Calgary to take on the Flames. Flames are plus 115, and the Boston Bruins are minus 135.

And if you guys could just talk amongst yourselves so I pull up the MVP odds here. Bruins kind of finding it here, Kip. They, what do we got here? Last 10, well, last 10 is only 6-4, but it feels like they're kind of creeping back in. They're five points behind division lead, which, you know, we thought they were dead to rights for a while.

Yeah. For me, it's still about center ice position. And between Zach and Lindholm, good players, but not front-line kind of leaders for them do they go out and try to find something else switch it up a little bit here i i do believe that they'll they'll quietly be really active i think to try to fix the the level of inconsistency they're definitely flawed that's one of them you know swayman was supposed to save their bacon a lot, and he's been better, but not.

And the Hart Trophy favorite still is Kirill Kaprizov at plus 120. Connor McDavid there at plus 300. Nathan McKinnon plus 650. Kucherov plus 700. And if you want to get a good number on Leon Dreisaitl, who's having a phenomenal year. 850. 25 to 1 right now.

Plus 2,500. No way. 25 to 1 right now. Plus 2,500. Yep. Oh, my. So, I mean. I'm not allowed to bet on that because I vote. Oh, yeah, yeah. But. I don't.

I mean, that to me is a really nice number. So, what happens if you go on your phone and you bet on it? He's going to be. I would lose my membership. He's going to be Shane Pinto. Yeah. I'd lose my membership in the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Oh, okay. Is that all? And I go to jail. That would be devastating. I'd lose my membership in the Professional Hockey Writers Association. Oh, okay.

Is that all? And I'd go to jail. That would be devastating. We'd visit you. Would you? I'd bake you a cake. I'd bake you a cake with a file. I couldn't handle it.

Anyways, that was Game Time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the Athletist Odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. It's been 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. It probably is illegal actually. I would imagine. Probably quite illegal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wouldn't want to find out

what the repercussions of that are. That would bring shame to our show. And I wouldn't do that to us. No. Only the, you know, producer first day back. Sam does that. Stiffed by my cast at 5 o'clock. Okay, you guys are so professional. I really appreciate it let's talk about there's still lots to go still lots to go mike halford

co-host of halford and bruff will join us we'll get into vancouver and you know i mean shouldn't things be settling down now big win things never settle down vancouver we are blessed to have that market because it's like toronto temperature all the time it really did feel there's some we like maybe ask uh halford about this but the press conference last night was apparently pretty weird with with talk it and short and just watch it he said i'm not gonna talk a lot tonight prepared statement almost so interesting times there. I saw people say, what does he have notes? He had his game card.

And Pedersen and Miller on separate power play units. Everybody's getting all fired up about it. It's the temperature is warm in Vancouver. All right, we'll get into that. Plus Kiefer Sherwood. What a night. 11 goals. What a night.

First hat trick. Plenty of Vancouver Canucks coming up next after the break you don't want to miss it dive deep into toronto sports and the nfl the jd bunkus podcast subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kipriel's Justin Born in a few minutes. Or sooner, Mike Halford will join us and we'll talk Vancouver Canucks. All right.

Ask for him and you will get him. Yeah. Mike, how are you, man? Thanks for joining us. Good, boys. How are you? We're good. We're good.

Everything all hunky-dory now with Keeper, big hat trick, and a solid win. An emotional, everybody seemed emotional last night. Where does it sit with you? It's's good all you need is one win and you forget the debacle on saturday against boston so it's been a roller coaster man it has been it's been crazy like there's been so many really really bad performances on home ice this year i gotta get tweeted it out last night in three of their two of the last three games they had pretty comprehensive wins against two of the last three games, they had pretty comprehensive wins

against two of the last three Stanley Cup champions. It could be Florida, it could be Colorado. Emphatically, it was great. And this is the same team at home this year that's lost 7-3 to Edmonton, 6-0 to New Jersey, 5-1 to Boston on the weekend. So the emotions have been up, down, up, down, but at least for today, and thanks in part to Kiefer Sherwood.

Yeah, they were up. So, Mike, one thing I'd like to have people do from their local market is set the stage a little bit. Where are things at in Vancouver right now? What are the major hot-button issues that have the fan base talking? Oh, man, how much time do you have? Yeah, okay, well, there was... Well, let's do it chronologically, right? So prior to the start of the season,

you have the news that Dakota Joshua was undergoing treatment for testicular cancer and he was going to miss the start of the season. That also coincided with the news that Thatcher Demko had a popliteus injury in his knee and that was going to sideline him to start the season. Got all the excitement about all the new free agents that they brought in, you know, Sherwood and Heinen and DeBrusque.

And then the season starts, and they quickly realize that Artur Silas can't play in that. But no worries, because Kevin Lankanen's here, and he can hold down the fort. So that's good. Then Brock Besser suffers a concussion on a hip from Tanner's, you know, so he's out for a little while. Then JT Miller takes a 10 game leave of absence.

Personal reasons, no explanation given no reason why we don't find out. And we never will because he's not going to talk about it again. In the midst of all of this, Elias Patterson is going through a major struggle to start the season, kind of writes the ship a little bit, then kind of goes back into a funk and is now kind of going along at roughly a point of game place yet a point of game pace. And then it's still kind of facing some scrutiny from certain local radio

hosts in the morning. Anyway, it's a lot, right? Like it's a lot. It's been a rough, actually said it really well. It feels like there's a lot of tiny little fires burning everywhere,

and they're doing their best to stamp them all out. And despite all this, they're still in the first wildcard spot in the West. I think they're 15-9-4. So record-wise, it's been okay. But there's been a lot to unpack through 30 games, Mourney. Let me tell you. That was great. If we step off the ice for a second here, Rick Talkett and the Vancouver media.

I sense a bit of a, I don't, it's too much for me to say a love-hate relationship, but a love-be-very-careful-what-I-say relationship. He knows the game, the media game. I mean, obviously he knows hockey, but he did media. He worked at TNT for years so he knows what's gonna get a sound bite and it's just like delicate dance every time where he knows what the questions are really about and he does his best to not give anybody a sound bite because the one time that he kind of did last year and it was about Pedersen is he realized that it

was just more of a headache than anything else and doesn't prove anything he's a hundred percent not a guy that will call out anybody in the media doesn't like doing it with players he won't i mean you hear him talk he will never call out an official in post-game media he'll never do it he's the old standard answers right he's like we got the best reps in the world it's a real tough job that's it so he's very keen and savvy i think the thing is like he's got his frustrations with how the team has played this year too and he's balancing that line between being candid and honest and open and then knowing that can of worms would that would be open if he did that so it's just kind of terse and it's like

complimentary when you know he doesn't really want to be complimentary. And he did kind of go off on the weekend, which was good. But without naming individual players, right, we're all left to guess who the passengers were that he was talking about after that game against Boston. So, you know, hearing the run through and watching from afar, the two stories that I think stand out are, you know, you guys have your own Nylander and Pedersen where it's like good player, paid a lot. People talk about him. Some love him. Some people, you know you guys have your own neil ender and petterson where it's like good player paid a lot people talk about him some love him can't some people you know don't and then the miller thing the miller thing is obviously at the top of the list and these two things may be related is it you know are we tired of talking about the relationship between these two guys does it actually have any effect tangible effect on the ice i mean i think it's fairly well established without anyone actually ever saying it out loud that they're not best friends right no one's and no one's ever said

it out loud you got all these sort of inferences and anecdotal evidence and rumblings and whisperings that they're not compatible now on a surface level it's like not a huge deal we've all played a sport at a variety of level you've had a team and you're like, I don't jive with that guy. He's not my kind of guy. I don't like him that much. And it's fine because you can move forward and get along and be teammates and everything where it gets weird is that both guys have gone through the huge swings this season. Those two in particular, Patterson was invisible for stretches at the start of the year. And this is, you know, still fresh off. He hasn't even kicked in that contract extension yet.

And then Miller taking a 10 game leave of absence only for, you know, classified as personal reasons with no explanation, nothing from the club, no statement, nothing from his coach, nothing from the general manager, nothing from the president of hockey ops.

You're just kind of left staring at it and saying, what are we missing here? Because it seems like there's a lot going on without anybody knowing. And I mean, the sad part is like we do, the breath and I do this for a living and we have no idea what's really going on behind the scenes. And the amount of people that come up and ask me about it, they're all left disappointed when I kind of shrug. I'm like, I don't know,

man. Like I've got very little on this one. It's all very, it's a weird dynamic. That's the best way I can describe it. You're listening and watching Mike Alford, or just listening as we don't have him on Zoom, Monday through Fridays on Sportsnet 650. Mike, in terms of, okay, just the isolated look at maybe the relationship between Miller and Pedersen.

But is there a sense at all that is bleeding past the two of them that there, it could affect the chemistry in the room or are we not there? If you're willing to point to these gigantic clunkers that they have, where there's no passion and no emotion, and the team looks like it's completely uninterested in playing maybe, but then they have the ability to flip the switch seemingly on a night to night basis to where their attention to detail and preparation and carrying out the coach's game plan to a tee execution-wise is spot on.

So I think that there's definitely something off, especially when juxtaposed with last year. Because last year was great. It was everyone's 100% healthy. Everyone's buying into Tuckett's system. They're playing it perfectly. Vibes are immaculate. They're winning tons of games, right? percent healthy everyone's buying into talk it system they're playing it perfectly vibes are immaculate they're winning tons of games right it was the third most successful season in connect

history 50 plus wins 100 plus points i think everyone looks at that and is like well how come it's not like that anymore and sometimes it's the easiest thing to point to that nebulous well something stinks in the room but i just don't again like i just don't know if there's anything tangible aside from a bunch of people whispering about it and i mean there's been injury issues uh kind of throughout the lineup right now on defense we know that's a significant uh sore spot and it sounds like well you know jim rutherford he's not one to sit by passively when there's an an active need for the team how was the the reaction in town? And what are your thoughts about, you know, all freezed through a little bit of a nuke in the water

with a Pedersen for Cousins and Byram thing? Right, yeah. We talked about that a lot on Monday. We're like, man up from heaven. Way to go, Freed. Like, it's worth it to do three hours today. Hey, look, honestly speaking, if you wanted to point to the one most obvious glaring, like, keep it simple, stupid reason

why the team hasn't played as well as last year, it's because of the blue line. Like, it's not good. It's not good. I mean, there's probably three guys that are floating in and out of that lineup with regularity. Deharna, Juleson, and Friedman, who's been sent back down to the minors now, that probably aren't legit NHL defensemen.

I know DeJardin played all last year, but he's really struggled. Juleson's kind of like an AHL, NHL tweener, and so is Friedman. And they're playing constantly, right? And then when Kronick went down, you basically had a top-flight number one defenseman in Hughes, then two guys that would be better suited on a third pair in Susie and Myers. And then a bunch of other guys that are kind of fringe NHL is like, you can't win with that on a regular basis.

So when Rutherford said like, we're probably a couple players away from being a contender, I think he might've been talking specifically about the blue line, right? Because I mean, he's built blue lines before. I remember we were covering him when he was in Pittsburgh and LeTang went down and he went out and made a couple moves. I think he picked up Ron Hainsey and Trevor Daly and rebuilt a blue line.

Like, he knows how to do it, and he knows what a good one looks like. And right now, the Canucks are doing a decent job patchwork and trying to stick guys into spots and everything. But long term, if it got down to a playoff series where they were playing a really good opponent and needed to beat them four out of seven times they'd have a hard time doing it with the blue line they got right now gotta ask you about uh keifer sherwood what a horrible time to have a great season with another year on your deal at 1.5 million dollars but as far as the vancouver canucks since i can remember them

there's always this this one guy who's on that wing either trent clatt or anson carter and now it's keifer sherwood who's just finding ways to light up man it's uh he's been fun to watch but last night was real special watching him have his first hat trick yeah so they they said patrick alveen said in the off season after they re-signed dakota joshua was like the goal for us now is to find the next dakota joshua and like full marks to them as an executive because they did it with sherwood i mean that's got to be i don't know one of the five best free agent signings maybe in the league for dollars to production. Yeah, it's right there, right?

And it's funny because one of the reasons they signed him was that after that first round playoff series against Nashville, Quinn Hughes told Alvin, he's like, get a guy like that because he was such a pain in the butt to play against in that opening round. And I don't think no one had any thought that he'd have this kind of

offensive upside, but if you look at his numbers in the American league, they were really good. He was, he was like a 30 plus goal scorer a couple of times. And talk, it has this anecdote. He always tells that when he first talked to Sherwood after signing him,

Sherwood was telling him like it was a Sunday morning. He was just going to shoot pucks. Like he's like, I got some spare time. I just want to shoot, shoot, shoot. I've got that. You know, I can't think it was kind of his nod to talk and to be like, I've got this offensive game in my arsenal, but no one expected this. Right?

Like there's three leading goal scorers right now are DeBrusque, who was a free agent signing Sherwood, who was a free agent signing and Q suitor, who was a free like an August signing last year. So, so I mean if you want to look at it from that perspective like amazing job by the management group for finding these guys and getting the production out of them but Sherwood has defied everybody's expectations he's awesome like I love the guy it's been a wicked signing it's funny yeah you're right they did a great job. I actually wanted to hear more on Pugh Suter. He has 11 goals this season. When we did some of the AWS underlying data sort of stuff,

he shakes out really well. He creates these kind of high-danger shots off passes. He's got a good shot. He seems like a really effective add for them. So you guys have some elite talent there, but it's easy to see how this can be a complete team with guys like suitor yeah suitor is also super versatile they played him everywhere like he was on a wing with miller and besser he's played like 2c in a pinch he's probably best served as a 3c but because he can bounce out wide they just kind of throw him wherever they

need someone it's like the rug that ties the room together. He's like, that's what he does. He just makes lines better because he makes savvy plays and he's pretty cerebral. And I never really understood why, because he was, like I said, he was the guy that he signed in like August. He just kind of hung around free agency. And after a couple of good years with Detroit, I think it was Chicago, if I'm not mistaken.

And it was very odd that he was just sitting there because they picked him up, they didn't pay him an awful lot, and he slipped in and just did all the things that everybody wants him to. His offense dried up in the second half of the year last year and in the playoffs big time, so there is that.

I don't know how sustainable it is because he's not a burner and he's not super physical, but for what they're paying him and what he's given them since he's come on board, it's like it's another, it's maybe not necessarily a home run, but like a stand-up triple, no slide, no dirt on the pants. Mike, one

more for me, and that's Thatcher Demko coming within, what, a minute of a shutout, and is that enough for Vancouver Canuck fans to exhale and go, yeah, everything's good again? He was really good last night. Really good.

Very solid last night. The exhale part is still not there because, I don't know, I think I reflect the sentiments of the fans. Every time he makes a save, everyone just kind of does that and then waits to see if he's hurt. Because the injury is, I mean, we've spent so much time talking about the popliteas is a

very strange injury. There's not a lot of research on it. There's not a lot of rehab procedures in hockey that they were able to kind of blueprint from. So it becomes one of these things where you're like is it gonna happen again is he gonna aggravate it one day is it something that he can kind of play through or play with and he had a save in the third period last night where he fell down before he made the

save and it took him forever to get up and we were i was just like oh man this is it right this is the one so and yeah you know he did play two games in a row because lincoln is out with the flu and i don't think that was ideal i think they'd like to go almost rotation seriously like one and one with him and lankan but as far as performance goes that was huge last night because the first two games even he admitted it it didn't go great but the third one it was old demko right like making big saves locking it down in the third period so from that perspective yeah everyone had an exhale, but I am still worried about the health factor

because the knee thing is super tricky. And last one for me, Halford, we'll let you go, pal. Canucks have 37 points. How many would they have without Quinn Hughes this year? Oh, man. Yeah, that's a good question. Is he Norris again for you? For me? Yeah.

There was actually a time where his play almost, it's going to sound stupid, but it almost became like a detriment because they were deferring to him all the time. Like they would get on the ice and then it would be like, well, when Quinn doesn't have the puck, we need to get it to him. And then when he does have it, we have to make sure he gets it back right away. And everything was coming from the point.

And I think even talk, it was kind of like, we need to do some he gets it back right away. And everything was coming from the point. And I think even Talkett was kind of like, we need to do some other things here. But he makes so much happen, especially when things aren't going great. He is a sort of get it back to him at the blue line, let him break somebody's ankles. He's worked on his shot so much that it's a way more effective tool now than it was when he broke into the NHL. I mean, we saw the two guys for the Norris last night, right?

It's him and McCarr. I don't, I don't know if anyone's in that conversation right now, but for like Brough and I have said, like, nevermind the Norris, like Hughes is a heart trophy candidate, the way that he's carried this team right now. I honestly, they might be a sub 30 point team. Now that I think of you, they got 37. Yeah.

But they might be, if he wasn't playing 37 yeah but they might be if he wasn't playing right now they might be sub 30 points one quick one for me mike and that was uh on the weekend we saw jim rutherford uh with scott oak and uh ray ferraro and we got a trade christmas freeze coming up thursday if i'm not mistaken at midnight And I really got the sense that he'd love to pull the trigger on something. Oh, you got that too, eh? Okay, good. Yeah, it's pretty obvious that he wants to get something done. One, his track record.

And then two, I go back to how the good vibes were last year. The Zdorov trade really worked out well for them. They didn't pay a ton to get him in the door. He fixed the defense. And then he got steadily better and better as it went to the playoffs. And then I still like the Lindholm trade. I know it's kind of been a bit polarizing in the aftermath because it was a big price for a rental.

But at the end, I thought in the playoffs, it was where you looked at it and you're like, that was a really good ad. So he's got that. He's always got that inherent trader's mentality, that he wants to go and make deals and tinker and put the team over the top. He's identified it. He said it over the weekend with Scott and Ray,

that he wants to add a couple guys. It's just the market right now is so soft. There's nothing there. Everyone keeps talking about Marcus Pedersen out of Pittsburgh, but he just went on IR and I don't know if he's the right fit anyway, but I got a feeling that once that trade freeze gets lifted on the other

side of Christmas, I would not be surprised if he starts making moves right away and gets something done in January. Vancouver Canucks in Utah Wednesday night, Vegas and then back home Saturday against the Ottawa Senators. Mike, really appreciate your time

giving us a great feel for what's going on out there in Vancouver. Thanks for joining us. All good. Call anytime, boys. Cheers. Thanks, I appreciate it. Alfred and Bruff. They're kind of like us. The Vancouver us? Yes, they are the Vancouver us, where they sometimes us yes they are the vancouver us where they wow yeah sometimes speak before they

think it's the best way i can describe it you like that right yeah you don't want everything it's good for the listener it could get us in trouble every once in a while that's all yeah yeah so uh what are your thoughts on that Canuck team? You know, it's been a tiresome year. Like, I'm exhausted hearing all that. It's like 30 games. It was a great professional breakdown. A year in review.

It just seems like something's percolating. Agree. Feels like someone big is going out the door. Something. Yeah. Would you do that, Cousins and Byram, for Pettersson? No, I would not. I would not.

Agree. Agree. Cousins has some defensive metrics that are putrid. And, like, if I wanted a center like him, a young guy, bigger guy, I would want someone who's tenacious and two-way. And, you know, I don't know that he's. Hated that clip of him leaving early, too. He went off the ice at the end of the game. Yeah he didn't like he just he just had it with the referee

yeah well i think he may have actually got the official oh no it was a 10 minute misconduct yeah he got a misconduct but it was a bit of a hissy fit for yeah pretty standard draw yeah well we we focused a lot today's show on the New York Rangers, but Buffalo's room and where they kind of sit moving forward here, it's going to be real interesting to see. Yeah, Pagoula has let them know it's in there to solve. Tonight they got the Montreal Canadiens. It's a great time to have a team meeting, though,

because in theory you have a good chance to win hockey in the next night and you can go hey ever since i went in there the boys rallied when derrick brandeo plays that music does everybody hear it yeah yeah is that my cue to shut no up i think what happened is it was potted up and it played or something i don't know but it just scared me you spook easy like a horse yeah i do i do have blinders but so i go to nhl.com and I look at the standings of the Buffalo Sabres, who are 0-7-3 in their last 10 games. And it says in the win streak column that they've lost three in a row. Yeah. That's incorrect.

Well, they haven't won. They've lost in a shootout or overtime. They lost. They've lost 10 games in a row. Yeah. They've accumulated three loser points. Congratulations. But they have lost 10 times in a row.

I hate that. Me? No. What would I say? No. The standings. Yeah, it's stupid. It's like, you know, regulation wins.

Like, overtime losses don't count. Three points. I don't know. This is ridiculous. Agreed. They've lost 10 in a count. Three points. I don't know. This is ridiculous. Agreed. They've lost 10 in a row. They stink. All right.

Fun show today. Yeah. Dr. Jason Smith in the first hour and Mike Halford in the second hour. We'll track down Otsi. Yeah. We'll find him maybe later on in the week. Yep.

Always great to have him on the show. All right. Enjoy your games today. We're back tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.