Real Kyper & Bourne - Big Changes for Junior Hockey

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a look back at last night's NHL action and the parity at the top of the league. They are joined by former NHL scout Jason Bukala (4:40), who shares his thoughts on the Capitals' & Predators' impressive stretch runs, Leafs' special teams problems, likely call-up college players to watch and what issues could arise if the NCAA lifts restrictions for CHL players. Finally, news and notes - the Bruins and Panthers scrap, Guentzel speaks on leaving Pittsburgh and a dream-come-true moment for Josh Doan.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.

let's get her going the kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee this is our national hour on the real kipper and bourne show we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 all right busy busy night in the national hockey league last night great night we had some real signature games including the edmonton oilers and the Winnipeg Jets, where I saw a few fisticuffs, too. Yeah. You saw Nurse get into it there. With Dylan. Logan Stanley and Corey Perry have a fight.

Corey Perry's a big guy, in my opinion. And he looked like just a little feller. Yeah. Logan Stanley, I feel like, needs to,, needs to manhandle a guy like that. He didn't necessarily accomplish it. Corey Perry still just got that dog. He just wants to fight still. Aren't you getting up there fighting?

He loves the game. I know. That fella. Can you see it? a match up there like a conference final right there pretty even teams at the give the edge to the goaltending situation with hellebuck yeah the defense the depth defense off of winnipeg compared to edmonton or just run with McDavid and Hyman and Dreisaitl? You know, I think in the history of the NHL, there is not a lot of stories, not none,

but not a lot of stories where the team with the better elite guys doesn't find their way past the Carolina you know the carolina hurricanes 106 or whatever with with a team group but typically you know gretzky and mcdavid and you're sorry gretzky and lemieux and go through the list those guys tend to get theirs crosby ovechkin they tend to get theirs i tend to think this oilers team has that elite elite factor that's going to make them really hard to beat in seven game series i think the golden knights you could think of as more of a i think there's more the decor there that would be the the calling card but they're definitely more of like the the non-superstar right team

that got the abs high high end yes you know lightning high end i just i don't know i'm not gonna make a lot out of the Montreal Canadian win over Colorado last night. Would you if it was an Av show? For one hour? I could dissect that thing. Well, they won nine in a row. Eventually going to lose. We have an idea of what teams can bring.

But I think last night, with so many games on and marquee teams going at it, like Winnipeg and Edmonton, boys, this thing's wide open. Wide open. The Rangers win. I do, yeah. They're the first team to clinch a playoff spot, and there's five teams within a point of them. Last night, as I'm flipping around, I'm going,

okay, there's a lot of teams with a lot of strengths and it comes off the backs of their superstars i get all of that but man everybody's also got some issues here and there everyone the top teams in the league like there's no two teams where you're like oh my god like rangers 100 points dallas 99 bruins 99ins, 99. Canucks, 98. 97 for Panthers. 97 for Avalanche. 97 for Hurricanes. They're all within three points.

Seven teams. But I don't, you know, wide open to me is like, I feel like there's only four or five teams that can win. There's seven teams within a point. Three of them you're going to rule out? Yeah, I got, honestly, I think eight. Can I quickly, I know we have a boost, but can we quickly go through the top ten teams and if I want to offend some fan bases here.

The Rangers, they can win the cup. Yes. Vancouver can win the cup. Yes. Dallas can win the cup. Yes. Boston can win the cup. Yes.

Florida can definitely win the cup. Yes. Avalanche. Yes. Okay, it's wide open. Carolina. Carolina. Carolina.

Oilers. Oilers. Your Leafs, the Lightning, the Knights lightning leaves they cut it off at least i'm watching roman yosi and i'm like oh my god what a player he's unbelievable so would you like to talk yourself into the feds yet give me time okay ask me later in the hour all right let's welcome in jason bukela former NHL head scout writer for Sportsnet.ca, pro hockey group, and one of our favorites. Buk, what's going on? What's up, fellas? Okay, so I don't know if you heard all our BS in the last five minutes here,

but how wide open do you think it is once we start in April? I think it gets less wide open than we believe. It is wide open. I guess it depends how you define it. Like you call it 16 teams wide open or like eight or 10. Yeah, we're at eight or 10 right now, which to me is a healthy number that we're not talking about one or two that have stood out over 82 games to say, oh, no, they're the team to beat.

Yeah, I agree with that. It feels like this isn't the year that a 16, I don't think there's going to be like a florida from last year i know that it's that you know win get in get a chance type thing but i just don't feel like that i went to you there like i think there's like eight or ten teams that you know like carolina looks so good nashville's on this heater that's ridiculous like could nashville could nashville play the part of florida last year i guess yeah i guess i gotta talk myself into that right like of course because

they feel good about themselves at the hardest time of year they got 10 games left let's say they go five and five but do they really feel like oh we're we're slumping going into playoffs we've already proven to ourselves what we could do. You know, we can come from behind. Listen, can we send a shout-out to Andrew Burnett here? Like, how great a job does this guy do as a head coach? Like, when he took over in Florida a couple years ago under, you know, trying circumstances, he took that team, you know, as far as they could possibly go. An argument could be made that he established sort of the culture,

you know, the beginning of what became the Florida Panthers today. And then, of course, New Jersey, I'm sure they wish they could have it back. But what a job he's done in Nashville as well. And then in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals are kind of Nashville in that, like, Spencer Carberry deserves some love for bringing this team from, I think a lot of us had them dead to rights a month ago. And, man, the Caps are getting back into it. The Caps looked like they were skating in mud at the end of October, middle of November.

They just looked like a slow team that wasn't really, they were very undefined. Watching their power play breakout, you know how everybody drops it back to the speed demon off the rush. Like that just was not part of their equation. Fast forward to today, fellas, 36% power play percentage in the last 20 games played for the Washington Capitals. 36% at this time of year. Pretty impressive. Obviously, you know, they're right in the mix there. They could get in.

And Spencer Carver, he's done a fantastic job the one thing that i that i noticed about those two guys on the bench like for bench bosses in today's day and age they're not very demonstrative are they like they're just kind of low-key guys on the bench they don't they don't say too much to the press they they don't want the attention to be shelved on their shoulders both those guys have that found as well we're talking to jason buccala former nhl head scout now writer with sportsnet.ca also with the pro hockey group so where do you want you want to keep it in canada right now is there anything in particularly with uh in particular with vancouver or or we mentioned Edmonton and Winnipeg here, Toronto. What strikes out for you? I mean, the Leafs, is there a concern in the last 10 games

that they can look so good Saturday night against Edmonton and then come back with a stinker against New Jersey? Over the last 20 games, guys, the Toronto Maple Leafs, I don't know if there's something going on on my internet. I hope you still got me. But anyways, the Toronto Maple Leafs over the last 20 games have a 70% penalty kill ratio. I know, Barney, you ran something today, and I read it,

and even on balance reading it there, you tried to paint some positives and some negatives. I'm going to double down on it. Really concerned. At 70% heading towards playoffs, we better see a significant uptick in their penalty kill percentage here down the stretch. I've broken down a bunch of numbers, and I'm starting to simulate potential matchups and things. And, you know, even at 23.3 percent over the last 20 games on the power play, we're talking about middle of the pack there as well.

So some things got to give with Toronto. We need to hopefully get Edmondson back healthy and we need the buy in to be better defensive better uh defensively as a group you know in their entirety and um i gotta get this off my chest though like like guys i watched you guys on sunday night at the carolina game like the broadcast you were doing i felt so i was so tempted to start blowing up your cell phones because the egregious turnovers i don't care how much possession we have in offensive time, in the offensive zone, and how we buzz around the perimeter and look good, and even out-chance our opponents like they did last night

against New Jersey for the most part. It's the turnovers under duress or the most untimely turnovers in the most important parts of the game or most important sequences, last-minute periods, beginning of periods, stuff like that. We really got to clean this stuff up. I was really happy to hear Sheldon call some guys out last night. And there's got to be a much more of a buy in there because it's going to be a quick, it's going to be a quick 10 days against teams like Tampa Bay.

You know, they're sneaking up on them. Guess what? The Tampa Bay Lightning, they've got that culture in the room. teams like tampa bay you know they're sneaking up on them guess what the tampa bay lightning they've got that culture in the room 84.3 on the pk 28 points on the power plate down the stretch here these things become important uh in the next couple weeks books do you think that nhl teams play differently on offense like you're talking about the leafs and throwing pucks away i know that like in the analytics era here in the past five ten years way more shots come from the slot directly in front of the net than they used to right you used to fire but shoot from everywhere was like a mantra once

upon a time you know that to me bleeds into the leafs game where it's like throwing hope plays into the middle because that's where you want to get shots from and there's not always something there there used to be more emphasis on ragging the puck and cycling and those things and i'm not Throwing hope plays into the middle because that's where you want to get shots from. And there's not always something there. There used to be more emphasis on ragging the puck and cycling and those things. And I'm not saying that's better, but it does seem to be how teams play now. Is that not fair? I think it's really fair. And, you know, I actually think that there should be more room.

Like the fancy thing that we all talk about now, guys, is like the low to high cycle, you know, working off the wall, coming up top. And I think a lot of that is predicated, too, on how defensive zone coverages have changed over the years. Like when you're a man on man, if you could bring your check up top, work a switch, it might open up some space coming off the half wall. So I'd like to see more grind, you know, more pure cycle, like a circle cycle, if you will. You know, like when you work the corner and you work somebody until they can't do it anymore. I'd like to see a little bit more of that.

And I think that there's some teams that do it still proficiently. Like I still think that Florida can play that way. I think the Boston Bruins can play that way. And then they're going to slide something backdoor on you, like after they wear you out on one side of the ice. The Toronto Maple Leafs, though, you know, they've got some try to get the puck to the middle, but I think you're bang on with the adjective hope.

It's more hope sometimes, and sometimes those hope plays turn into 50-50s that more often than not in key situations of the game, it goes north against them and it turns into high danger scoring chances against books we saw two guys join the 50 goal club this week in sam reinhardt and zach hyman uh when we talk about austin matthews legit 50 goal score is this a one-off for those two guys are they now going to be looked upon as as as these pure goal scores or is this a career year for them like what are your thoughts on these two guys moving forward to have that type of pressure

to put the puck in the net yeah uh i think the the league on balance is going to start to introduce more of these types of players it kind of feels like we're in between right now like the track meets style and certain you know certain players go off every year i you know as long as hyman uh continues to play alongside uh number 97 and go to the areas of the ice that bernie was just talking about he's going to find a lot of garbage at his feet and and he's willing to do that compete for bucks and compete for space so that's a great story obviously he was a draft pick of ours in florida i'm not going to sit here and talk about uh the tampering that may or may not ever go on the nhl but anyways uh k Kyle Dubas was his agent at that time.

He ended up coming to Toronto. I got to know Zach personally over my time. This is just a great human being. So this is a nice story. I'm happy for him. I'm happy for the results. Now here's the Reinhardt one. Let's get to it.

There's this guy by the name of Jonathan Huberto that plays in Calgary who was a pretty productive player, I would say even a star player, when he was playing in Florida alongside a guy named Alexander Barkoff. Reinhardt's playing alongside Barky for the most part now. I think Reinhardt is similar to what Hyman's going to get in Edmonton. I think that if he decides to stay in Florida, he's going to recognize that or he's going to realize this type of potential going forward.

But, you know, I just want to take the opportunity to speak to certain players that make people better around them. And Alexander Barkoff has done that for Sam Reinhardt as well. That's great. That's really interesting stuff. I agree. The Barkoff connection is a good one.

You would know a lot about, well, a number of things that we don't know about here. So I'll check one off the list and get your thoughts on like top college free agents. We're kind of getting to that time of year. Do you expect any sort of movement

from anyone from college into the NHL? Yeah, I think that some guys are going to get a game and burn a year here depending on what happens in the next couple of days colin graff and quinnipiac is a is a hot commodity um i believe that even the toronto maple leaves new york rangers florida panthers he attended florida panther javama camp a couple years ago i think there's going to be a lot of people swimming in those waters there some names to keep an eye on though that could come out of school guys that are already drafted

and i'm keeping a close eye on this and i'll tell you why like lane hudson at bu the defenseman who's the montreal canadian draft pick 64th overall or something a couple years ago love this kid i mean he's a power play quarterback undersized but he's a bulldog really really good player the montreal canadians have an embarrassment of riches coming through the system on the back and right now something to keep an eye on because there's only room for so many of them and i'm curious to see come towards the draft, for example, if some teams start to reach out to the Habs to potentially add a player on the back end out of their depth pool there to sacrifice even what appears on the surface to be a relatively high draft pick in this draft cycle.

Books, just to pick up on that, what are your thoughts about these kids coming out of college, playing a few games and then jumping into the the fire of a stanley cup playoffs we saw that with matthew nyes with the toronto maple leafs last year and the hype that was around it to get him out of college and and in a leaf uniform and he ended up getting hurt, unfortunately, but is this the best for them to take them from that environment to the pros and put them in situations where at times I'm sure it might feel a little overwhelming?

You like it? I think it's situational, Kipper, to be honest with you. I mean, you know, like in Montreal, you're not a playoff team. So I see why you burned a year on Lane Hudson's contract. In the case of Nyes, I felt like he filled a need on the NHL roster. And that kind of speaks to the makeup of the organization at the time more than it speaks to what's maybe best for the player. So it's like, we have a need, this is the national hockey league.

This is our best option. And we got to plug them in there. You know, I was sharing some literature back and forth with somebody last night that they're, they're a little bit down on knives. And, and my return to on that is that, you know, we forget. And I think we do forget when these guys come up and they go into playoffs, you know, that's a heavy lift last year.

He's super energized coming off of losing a national championship of Minnesota. And, you know, he does as well as he could do last year, but this is his first real tour in the league this year, you know, all the ranks,

all the travel, all the everything. And I'd like his offense, his offensive numbers to be better, but then let's look at the body of work. Like, you know, all the ranks, all the travel, all the everything. And I'd like his offensive numbers to be better. But then let's look at the body of work. Like, you know, 154 hits leads the Leafs forward group. You know, and he's 21 years old. He's a rookie and he's playing, you know, up and down the lineup.

And, you know, I'd like to see 10 more points on the ledger, but he's also filling a need for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So my long answer here is that it's not the best scenario. It's not ideal. And it's not ideal, but it's situational. And it's even situational in Toronto. Ideally, Nyes would have had a year in the American League, and he wouldn't have had to go through all this.

But we aren't afforded that luxury because we don't have the depth and we don't have the money to spend it otherwise to fill these types of slots so books you're talking about we're talking about ncaa guys there uh there sounds like there's the potential for some movement and how players are eligible for the ncaa could conceivably still play in the ohl and then go play ncaa hockey what can you tell us what you know there are your feelings about what could unfold if if things change i know it's going to be an absolute mess it's going to be convoluted and often be um the timing is going to be really important here like if you put your you know as you know borny like they're recruiting for next year at the college

level outside of the portal right now the transfer portal it's done right you know, as you know, Borny, like they're recruiting for next year at the college level outside of the portal right now, the transfer portal. It's done, right? You know, like you're all set for next year. So you've already slotted X number of dollars. Now, if they were to vote before June of this year and this becomes a strategy in the U.S., it's going to happen because they introduced nil in the U.S., as everybody knows. So, I mean, that eliminates a CHL player for being pro. They didn't let them go, go self because they were, the per diem they were making technically,

they thought that was like a pro athlete, which is ridiculous. But anyways, now they're going to have these kids potentially come self. I mean, think about this. What kind of effect is it going to have on the timeline for just the draft? So if we're drafting a player right now and he's a major junior player and he's on the clock for two years, and does that mean that I've got to sign him? But if he decides to go to college, does he go to my defected list?

Do I get an extra two years on him for development? That's just one example of how, from a pro perspective it it can hurt us um from an amateur perspective you know there are some kids that just they need extra time to develop and so you're going to see these uh third line players potentially from the chl go south of the border earn some extra looks maybe uh may take a little bit extra time to earn a pro deal but here's the real big problem. Tier two hockey in Canada, in my estimation, as a feeder system to the NCAA,

is going to get knocked right on its rear end. Like it's going to be a feeder system for more like Division III hockey. And I'm curious to see what the effect on the USHL has as well. So it's not an easy answer. It's a tough question for me to just kind of put in like a 30-second thing for you guys here. A lot of moving parts. But it affects everybody in this feeding system towards professional hockey

or college. So what happens now? Does the NHL get involved with the CHL and the NCAA? Do you get everybody in one room to say, how does this affect everybody? And let's find common ground here. Yeah, the first question would be, Kipper, the clock, right? That's what it's going to be.

So right now we have three clocks in order. So we have the NCAA route. So imagine a kid in the USCHL gets drafted this year in this cycle, but he's going to Minnesota next year. He's on the plot for four years. OK, you know, just because of the ways he's planning out with his with his strategy as an athlete. It's the same in Europe. And that's another thing I want to introduce to this. So, you know, Tom Willander, for example, in Vancouver, the draft last year out of sweden he's playing at bu this year he played um at the j20 level in sweden last year not the pro level and the reason for that is the ncaa doesn't let those guys play pro hockey in europe and come over here because they're calling them pros which they obviously are does that now mean that these kids

can play in the shl when we go over there and scout them and will they be on the clock for four years and come over here to the ncaa so i think the clock is going to be the biggest the biggest question because if i draft the kid in the in the from the london knights this year um let's say easton cowan last year you'll go the trial may please draft him he's on the clock for two years to get signed. If he's not signed, he's got a third year to prove himself, reenter the draft, or he'll become a free agent at the major junior level. Holy jumping. If they're not all on the same clock, how's it going to work?

Boy, that's complicated. I don't even know if they've. It's going to be a nightmare. Trust me, it's going to be a nightmare. And we're not even talking cross-border insurance, and we're not even talking about a CHL kid who had a school package. Hey, guess what, Mark Conner? I'm going to go to Michigan now.

Can I please have that school package for when I decide to go to university? Like, it's a lot going on there. Books, great stuff, man. As always, when you come on our show, we really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, Books. Anytime, fellas. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

I'm in town tomorrow. I'll see you over there. All right. Beautiful. Love it. Sam's all like, we should have had him in studio. No, no, no. We're not here tomorrow.

We're not here. Oh, yeah, yeah. Whoops. My bad. Sorry, Brooks. What kind of producer are you? He's going to come over and look for us, and we're going to be home eating chips on the couch watching the Jays. I'm actually playing golf tomorrow.

Oh, are you? That's insanity. Take me with you. They were stoning the ground yesterday. No. I just wanted to pick up on, it's a massive undertaking to try to change all of this. And I talked to a couple of junior A teams,

and they're like, eh, it's going to take a couple of junior a teams and they're like yeah it's gonna take a while here nothing's gonna happen anytime soon is there sense unless something's going on behind the scenes with some powerful people that are are making decisions for a lot of people that don't know about it it's crazy like myself having had to make a choice. You know, do I want to play WHL games in this exhibition season, but that'll kill my eligibility, so I'm going to choose Junior A so I can go to college. I think it was a huge decision at 17 years old. Would have been nice to know I could have carried on

even if I had played in the dub at the time. They wanted you to play? What's that? Was there teams that wanted you to play in the dub? Yeah, well, my hometown team, the Kelowna Rockets, it was a matter of should I play exhibition games for them or should I risk losing eligibility?

It was a big decision. Would I have made the team? I don't know. Probably. You're good. That's okay. But yeah. Can I pick up a little bit of the conversation we had with Books on Sam Reinhardt and Zach Hyman? I thought you were going to say Barkov. No. I thought you were going to be like

he's so underrated. He's so good. He's so underrated. Yeah, I love him. I love him too. He's excellent. You see them ever having another 50 goal season in their careers? Hyman or Reinhardt? Yeah. Boy, Zach Hyman does one thing like no one else and that's get to the paint baby yes

aj mclean called him shack hyman you know because he gets to the shack hyman yeah that is awesome i've never i've never heard that and you know i think he scored 44 of his goals from within an arm's length of the net if he's still with mcdavid and he's still in those parts of the rink i can see it again that's the key and and no different with barkov with sam right heart is that it it's one thing to go to the net and it's another thing to expect the puck to be there when you're there to trust those guys get the puck to the net they get there and barkov can get it there like mcdavid can get it there so i'm not ruling it out would would zach hyman be a a 40 or 50 goal score if he stayed with the toronto maple leaves probably not i mean i don't think 40 is out of the question

i mean no you'd never get 40 with uh austs shooting the puck. What did he score here? Like 20-something, I think. 21's as high here? Yes. No, I don't believe that. Right? You're not scoring 50 if you've got a 60-goal scorer as a sentiment. He scored 21 in 51 games, so that's a 30-goal pace.

Yeah, 40's a lot. I absolutely, like, depends on if, because if Reinhardt resigns there, but to me, if he resigns there and, like, Book's laid out beautifully, that you probably should. Yeah. You know, like, you should take a little less

and play there. I think that's going to happen. I mean, why wouldn't you? People are talking about, I was listening to a radio show today. They're saying, like, he's $10 million. I'm like, I don't... 10?

Sam Reinhardhardt love him he could score 55 60 if he gets hot here he does not want to be a 10 million dollar player no big trouble and you're not scoring like that if he comes back to earth a little bit you just you don't want to be that guy that it's a unmovable turn his conversation into an unmovable contract right yeah so i think if he fits into 8285 which in many ways like stamkos is the equivalent to 11 in Canada, you're gold. Stay. Playing with Barkov? Why wouldn't you? It would be awesome.

Go to the rink in your flip-flops. Go play golf. I saw a video of those guys all show up to the rink in golf carts. I'm like, what a life. They're all driving. One reporter. I know. I got to go talk to George Richards every night. It's the only place they gotta go talk to george richards every night why tarasenko and jerusalem say it's the only place they'll go yeah fill me in i wonder why

yeah it seems pretty good but i to answer your question kevin i think they both could score 50 goals again yeah like well with connor for sure yeah like why would you and uh god i'd love but he won't if if connor decides to shoot the puck and put 60 back in depends what connor wants to do depends what connor wants to do but boy his goal in the overtime last night was not a product of connor that was a gorgeous goal hard work gets it to the net catches it on the forehand puts it in it was nice i know i used to say this all the time but you know having been the video coach with hyman there i've seen him at 1 a.m on a bus between utica and syracuse watching his shifts in a game we lost trying to figure out how to get better. This guy has committed himself to being the player he is now.

Love it. Do you guys want to do a game? We'll do a game time after the break. Okay, we'll take a quick break. Pay some bills. And when we return, our boy Sammy with game time. Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. all right sammy quiet night after last night yeah tuesdays busy. Wednesdays quiet for the more national games. Thursdays busy. Friday quiet. Saturday busy. Sunday what? Uh, you're Mike. The night before you did really well. You hit a couple good games. I can't remember. You called underdogs and hit both. I don't remember what I did last night. What did I

say last night? I don't know. I got a tweet from somebody that was like, buddy, if I was fading your picks I'd be a millionaire. I was like, thanks pal. I love that. That's so true. If you did the opposite of Sam all year, you'd be doing all right. I liked it immediately. I was like, great tweet, buddy.

It got me between the eyes. It's Game of Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So like you said, light night on the ice tonight. but i was looking at the to make the playoff odds and they are obviously getting a little bit thinner here but the detroit red wings now after their loss have gone from a

plus 650 under sorry a plus 260 underdog to make the playoffs and a minus 350 to miss the playoffs. So, and the Washington capitals with their win last night have gone from minus. So they're a minus two 50 to make it plus 200 to miss. So it's crazy that they're that big a favorite to make the playoffs after what they look like for most of the season. And even what they look like in the last time the Leafs played them and Wilson gets suspended and we're all like, they're done statletes has the capitals with a 65 chance to make the playoff detroit needed a regulation when bad detroit's down to 25 chance to make him play

and uh patty cane ties it late you know you think they're gonna get some rocket yeah like he's a point per game pat cane he is a point per game on a pretty middling team without a lot to work with. Turns out he's Patty Kane still. Well, what's that worth in the summer? Great question. I don't know. This guy, every guy who's not on the Leafs is about to take a big disc. Is he really worth much?

I don't know. He's going to sign Tampa eight years, 750K per. He doesn't strike me as a guy that's just going to hold the Red Wings hostage on a contract. Last one he made 10.5 per for eight years, right? He's probably doing okay. So you think he's staying there? He's north of 100 mil. I don't think he picked Detroit to think that he's going to go play on two different teams in two years after spending the whole career in Chicago.

He strikes me as a guy that I picked it, I liked it, I want to stay there. And it's also like you could reach one hand and touch Buffalo, reach the other and touch Chicago. He's kind of in the middle of his homes there. Anyways, I think he looks really good. And it's weird because he's a guy that wore a jersey his whole career and then he went to the Rangers and I never thought he looked right in that jersey

that's because he stopped wearing red and he's back in red and now he's wearing red wow big brain on you he wasn't healthy the old gerbil upstairs couldn't get it going for me he wasn't healthy he knew he needed surgery I wish he didn't go to New York

yeah last year and I said it he should shut it down He knew he needed surgery. I wish he didn't go to New York. Yeah? Yeah, last year. And I said it. I said he should shut it down. He's got his cups. Don't chase. It's a hope pass. And it was a weird last year.

To go to the New York Rangers. It was weird. Remember all the stuff they had to do to fit him in? Also, their power play didn't have room for him. There was no... They got Panera and all these dishers. Did they trade for Tarasenko at the deadline last year too? Yes.

I can't remember. Anyways, so two games on the ice, like I mentioned. Just an absolute barn burner in Buffalo tonight. The Sabres are taking on the Ottawa Senators. Hey. What? That's his game. I'm working on it.

Pump it up. Oh, it's a great game between two excellencies. It's our national game tonight. Ottawa Senators, what's left? Can they fight? Come on with the plot. Fight? No, they are fighting for a lot internally.

There's no doubt about that. To figure out who we're keeping, who's staying, who's going, what are we, what's our identity, who's a part of the solution, Who's a part of the problem? Enjoy it. I need to do well externally because internally it's going to be harder. The Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning do play tonight though.

So that's a great game. Boston obviously in the second half of back-to-back. Tampa Bay Lightning are minus 115 on home ice. Bruins are minus 105 on the road. Give me the Tampa Bay Lightning in that one. They've been hot. Bruins with a big emotional comeback last night.

Maybe a bit of a letdown spot tonight. I think the Tampa Bay is going to get them and get the two points and we'll come in here and we won't be on tomorrow, but we'll come in here on Friday and talk about how the Tampa's two points behind the Leafs. Here come the Lightning. Make no bones about it. They have slowly creeped along my little sport logic chart

to the good team part. And Bukes just sent a chill down my spine talking about how their special teams rounded into shape at playoff time. Just the capacity to play well in there as good as anyone. I thought we were done with them. I know. I thought we killed them. Is it a toss-up right now for MVP for you?

Yeah, you love Cooch. I do like him, but just watching Nate McKinnon, I think somehow, someway, Tampa wouldn't hurt as bad if they lost Cooch than Colorado if they lost Nate. I think that's fair. For sure. He's essential. I am a voter and I have twice voted for

McKinnon in years he should win the Hart Trophy and he didn't. One year Taylor Hall won it because he had a good last couple weeks in New Jersey and Wyshynski wrote an article that the day everyone voted he won by like nine votes. Terrible. Because of it.

McKinnon's year. Because of the article? I just know a lot of voters made a decision on the day this came out that I didn't agree with. New voters. I know. Well, and then I voted for him another time when he didn't win. Vote for him again.

I, he's my guy. Yeah. So not like I'm, this isn't a lifetime achievement award. I think he's been the best player in the league, most to his team but and our is to lose now our beloved bet 365 agrees with you he's a minus 350 favorite still if you like uh nikita kutrov he's plus 500 conor mcdavid has creeped up there to plus 550 austin matthews has fallen off the cliff down to plus 1800 18 to 1 so don't bet on that do not bet on that unless he scores i guess 10 in his next 10 good 70s and we can talk but i don't think maybe yeah uh that was game time presented by bet365 visit

the app for latest to find out why it's never ordinary at bet365 us19 plus ontario only please play responsibly speaking of fisticuffs from winnipeg and edmonton bruins and panthers last night you know it was a good game when you don't see the go-ahead goal until about two minutes left in the hockey game. And Lindholm kind of sort of fought Bennett. Bennett, not really, but kind of. He had a glove on because he couldn't get it off. But also Marchand fought Mikola, and Mikola's a monster.

Didn't he need a stepladder ladder he yeah it was one of those fights we saw an eclipse last night marshand actually dropped the gloves very rare this guy over here wouldn't fight dolmy but he'll fight micola he also didn't really fight micola but yes he uh yeah bennett put uh lynn holm in the locker pretty good that was not a great it was not a great showing for for him but great game i uh those two teams clearly quite good sure wish they could play in the first round yeah that would be really can we figure out a way to do that so did you want to do that genzel yeah i think so so jake genzel returns to pitts last night, gets a nice video. His wife's in the crowd holding their kid, having a tear. It was really nice.

But, you know, when he left, it was all, I guess no one was really sure what was going to happen. But here's what Jake Gensel had to say about leaving Pittsburgh. Jake, how awkward were the last few weeks here when you're hurt, you can't play, you know, your name's out there. Was that a tough time in your life, just kind of dealing? Yeah of dealing yeah it's you know you're not really sure what's going to happen so you're kind of sitting there just watching i mean not being able to help it was kind of tough um but yeah i got a little bit of heads up that it's probably something was going to happen and uh you know i just soaked in those last couple of days what's part of that aspect of it like maybe you have wanting to stay here if you could have gotten a deal done well yeah i mean now i mean my intention was to stay but um they just thought there was a

better direction to go a different way and um it's out of my hands so it's not my choice my intention was to stay it's out of my hands not my choice that's a big finger he did it to do this is it not he wouldn't pay me $9 million for eight years, so I couldn't stay. You think that's what it is? I mean, we loved it. I mean, we're in the news and notes portion of the show where we crap on Dubas,

but he wanted all the money in the world, and we're going to give it to him for a rebuilding team. I'm not going to really blame Dubas a ton. Everything's great. Fair enough, yeah. I mean, I guess it depends what the ask is. Chief Dubas blamer. Everything's great. Fair enough, yeah. I mean, I guess it depends what the ask is. Chief Dubas blamer? No, no, no. I'm going to

see if we can dig Dubas out of a hole a little bit here. He would be eligible to sign in the summer with Pittsburgh. He would. If his feelings weren't hurt, which they sounded a little bit hurt to me. And the last question in the scrum was

would you resign in Pittsburgh? He's like, oh, I play for Carolina. Yeah. Which is fair. Yeah, you can't say yes, I look forward to doing it. Yeah, can't wait to get out of here. But could Kyle not look a lot better to his fan base if he

got assets for Gensel at the trade deadline and signed him that would be unbelievable truly i would love a photo of the three prospects they traded for with genzel on their shoulders after he signed kyle nubis can go out in public again in pittsburgh if he does that yeah but that never know, but that's... When's the last time that happened? It was Aroldis Chapman did it with the Yankees when he got traded from the Yankees. It doesn't happen.

I don't disagree that it doesn't happen, but if Sid got involved and Sid wanted him back, you need something so Sid can look forward to being a Pittsburgh Penguin. Gensel would do it with a signing. Now, I don't know what that means.

Like, who blows up? How do you do it? It is crazy. I don't know, but that's Kyle's to figure out. You know, like John DeVar is on Long Island. If he says, all right, trade me, and then I'm going to re-sign, how different is that legacy if he's on Long Island and they got to trade him for assets?

It is a fascinating thing that we just don't see a lot of, but you're right. Literally never. Please tell me that if there was ever a thought about it, Kyle would have had that conversation with Gensel and his

agent. Listen, I got to move you. If Gensel's saying I had no choice or that's just, it was I got to move you for assets. If I can get a crack at signing you again in the summer, I would. What if it's this? Could you not have given him a heads up that there is a possibility if I can create the room on the cap? We'll give you five times five right now,

but if you let us trade you and then resign with us, we'll give you eight times eight. Come on back. It's the promise to come back for more. Those are terrible examples of dollars, but you get the point. You have to. Hell of an age. You've got to have a conversation with Sid,

and it doesn't sound like there's been much conversations on the future of the pittsburgh penguins and that's what kyle's gonna have to do the moment this season's over and by the way i don't want to see sid crosby at the world championships please oh my god please oh there'slings. Oh, listen, they're missing the playoffs now, and everybody's starting to talk about Sid playing at the world championships. I can't think of anything like a championship. What do they even call it, a world championship? All the best players are still playing. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Are you doing this to piss me off? Is this like a targeted attack? It sucks. The world championship sucks. Who watches that? I watch. Send always Canada, like team F. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, okay. I don't know if you guys noticed or not, but we haven't had many chances to watch anyone play for Canada. Hey, hey. You don't care. Hey, hey. Get a DVD.

Get a DVD of any team Canada in the last 40 years and sit and have a box of popcorn. If it fills your needs. Are you going to claim you watch or you follow what's going on in the world? The World Championship? I watch every game. What are you talking about?

I watch every single game. I do. I love Team Canada hockey. It matters to me a lot. I watch the game. What are you talking about? I watch every single game. I do. I love Team Canada hockey. It matters to me a lot. I watch the World Juniors. I watch World Championship. I even sprinkle on the Spangler Cup sometimes. Like, I love...

Because we don't get it. So we have to take all the opportunities to get it that we do. And you're telling me right now, if Bedard and Sid are playing on the same line for Team Canada, the World Championship, you're not going to care if Bedard and Sid are playing on the same line for Team Canada at the World Championships, you're not going to care? Because that's offensive to me. Listen, I'm fully being extent at this point.

I'll watch it. Of course you will. Who wouldn't? You'd have to be a dumbo. I'll wait for the highlights. Oh my God, Kiffer. You're the worst. I really want to go hard on this,

but like, I get it. It's cool. It's a collection of losers during the regular season. During the regular season. I actually used to call it the Danny Memorial Tournament. If you're not winning, if you're not in the Stanley Cup playoffs,

you'll have had a losing season. You know who used to crush? I see. You're last. Spezza used to crush that tournament. After the Leafs put him out in the first round, or he was out. At the end of the day, if you're going, you're going to have a good time. that used to crush that tournament after the Leafs put him out in the first round or he was out. Heatley. At the end of the day,

the guys, if you're going, you're going to have a good time. You're going to, you know. I think those guys go to juice their resumes so they can get picked for the Olympics. Did you hear Billy Guerin? He was kind of leaning on a lot of the U.S. guys. Hey, you don't want to be in the Olympics?

You better show up for this thing. Yeah. I mean, that's great. That's good management. You want me to help our team win? Let me lean on the boys. Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to?

Like, oh, Pat Cain's in Detroit going, if we miss the playoffs, I won't play in the Olympics because Bill Guerin told me to show up? They're picking him, regardless. They bet. No, you know what? Sid's eligibility for the Four Nations face-off

hinges on him showing up. It might for the Olympics, though, pal. No way! He's two seasons from now? I'll tell you right now. Captain. Two seasons from now, right? I can't see him falling off to the point where I don't want him

on the Olympic team. Doesn't matter. He falls off. He's the captain. He's going to be a point-per-game guy this year. If he's a 58-point guy, he's still... If they miss the playoffs next year, he could retire. Wow. Dark. No, he's not going to retire before 2026.

He wants to play on that Canada team. With McKinnon. Yeah. Have you watched his body language lately? He's not going to retire before he has a chance to play with McDavid on the Canada team. Come on, boys. He just texted Kiffinin said he would come on uh josh doan josh doan what a moment in mullet arena um scored a okay we're trying to make this a good story so keep the mullet arena out of it okay in an arena there was a, and he batted it out of the air, backhanded into the net.

They cut up to Shane Doan, who was just like, dad moment. He's beside himself. He's hugging people. A couple of tears. It was awesome. No, he didn't take his shirt off, did he? Well, who? So he scores a second goal in his first game, which, by the way, Doan also scored the first goal at Mulder Arena for Arizona State University.

But anyway, scores two last night. And then Doan is there beside a guy who's tarp off. And he's built like Brock Lesnar. Yeah, who was that guy? I don't know. He must be the strength and conditioning coach for the... WWE? Or the ASU or whatever.

I don't know. But he was jacked. That was a lot of dude. Bit of a barrel chest. Yeah, geez. That's a lot of dude. Bit of a barrel chest. Yeah. Jeez. That's a lot of chicken breasts to get built like that. That's all I got to say.

My salad. I want every day. One man, one set. A great moment. Love it. Yes, I meant. Yes. Great moment.

For a great franchise that will be there forever. All right. And some news. No takers. That the Washington capitals aren't going to virginia because they cut a deal with dc yeah but they this how is this even a conversation it sounds like the least leon's has had was till like 2047 yeah no no they they got something new and they're gonna get upgrades on the arena oh dc D.C. made some concessions?

Oh, yeah. Wow. How do you call? That's what you call leverage, huh? Negotiations. Teddy's been through it a couple times. You're going to watch my episode of Our Lists I did like 30 years ago. The whole episode's about the threat of a hockey team leaving town

and using leverage. If there is a place I can watch this, I will. Do you use two words? What is this? An old soap he's in. No, not an old soap. What the hell is Artless? Artless is a show in the late 90s on HBO.

Our guys at the Legion right now are like, The Legion boys are lighting up. It's on Crave. You can find it on Crave. Is your episode on Crave? Yes. Do you do words? Buddy, they were so impressed

with my first take, they invited me to stay the next day. Is that right? No. I was in with Stella Stevens, which is like a 1960s actress. Yeah. And Kobe Bryant was my episode. Really? What? Yes. As a baby?

Kobe was just out of, yeah, I think he was with the Lakers by then. And just out of Italy playing professional basketball. Were you hanging out with Kobe? Or just part of the episode? Kobe was a separate episode. Oh, okay. I'm so confused. I know, I know.

While we're doing athletes in shows, my wife and I were watching Oppenheimer this weekend, and is Sean Avery? Yes, he is. Yeah, and he's also in Oppenheimer? He's also in the other one that that guy did, the other weird one where everyone's like running backwards. Oh.

Tenet? Is that a thing? I don't know. It's a thing, but. He's also in that one. Can we get back on me? Yes. Is there more? Sean Avery being an Oppenheimer fully took me out of the movie at a pivotal time in the movie.

I'm going to give you guys like a week to hunt down my episode on our list. It's called What About the Fans? And you're going to watch it. And then i want to report all right are we gonna watch our list sam sure i'm just good i am googling this all right um we're not on tomorrow blue jays 410 first pitch are we are we any good or do we suck give me a give me a rundown of the season. Okay, we got much time.

Pitching's a little banged up heading into the season. The front office is betting on some positive regression from some of the hitters. Like the top four, worried about the bottom half. Need Varshow to be better. Need Justin Turner to be really good. Roger Sender looks great. Can't wait. Can't wait. We're off tomorrow and back Friday. Real K Sender looks great. Can't wait. Can't wait.

We're off tomorrow and back Friday. Real Kipper and Bourne. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening.