Real Kyper & Bourne - Blues Say Bye to Berube

Episode Date: December 13, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with Craig Berube's dismissal in St. Louis and whether or not it was the right move. Then, some quick takeaways from the first meeting between Connor McDavid and Connor Bedard last night. They are joined by Blues analyst Andy Strickland (7:40), who shares his thoughts on the decision in St. Louis, the team's goals for the rest of this season and what they have in interim coach Drew Bannister. Later, news and notes - Brady Tkachuk boils over after Pyotr Kochetkov's diving poke check, the All-Star Skills Competition gets a makeover, a move coming for the Capitals' home ice and how Ohtani's contract structure impacts the financial side of sports.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 welcome everybody in for the national edition of the real kipper and born show we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 the kip reels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee for the next hour. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Andy Strickland, host of 590, the fan in St. Louis, co-host of Cam and Strick podcast. It's always fun listening to those two guys talk hockey. And of course, we'll discuss the biggest story

of at least yesterday is the firing of Craig Berube head coach of the St. Louis Blues yeah yeah I mean one of those guys that you just imagined was going to be there forever like I never thought about the Blues in their coaching position because their coach is Craig Berube what do you mean like you're never going to fire that guy however they've been underperforming long enough and at some point you got to do something okay underperforming i think i see what 13 uh what's their record 13 they're probably 12 and 13 and one sorry okay yeah okay uh game under 500 that's a fireable offense when you won the stanley a short while ago. They don't have no one. Robert Thomas and Kairou and Saad and Bucinavich and Braden Shen.

They got players. Perroco. Perreco. Perreco. There it is. Krug and Falk. They have enough players to win some hockey games. Like Nashville.

Of course, firing earlier this year as well. Are these teams expecting to make the playoffs? Mid. I actually think the fact that the West is so bad at the bottom, at the wild card level. That everybody wants to sneak in. Well, everyone's going, you know, maybe if we make the change, we can get that extra 10% from the dead cat bounce,

and we can be the team that gets in. Get my owner the seven home gates or the six home gates, whatever it may be. Berube guided the Blues to the Stanley Cup when they were dead in the water by that year, that Christmas year, I think, or even January. One of the worst teams in the league. I mean, this is a guy that made history,

and we may never see that type of history ever again. Right. You sound like you're a little upset about this. I just, I'm not sure that it's, nothing in life is fair, but I just don't know whether or not this warranted a firing. I think that there are a, there's a type of coach and I'm not calling putting him in Tortorella's camp, but like he's a hard guy with high expectations, right? They're called hard asses, JB.

Yeah. And you know what they are? They're a part of this honest era of hockey players who demands something of their players every day because that's what they gave and i think at some point it does wear on guys but hey look at this like rick talkett is in that camp to me and look at the success he's having in vancouver rod brindamore another guy who played the game hard honest demands of his guys you know i don't know if it's wearing thin there but he's had a lot of success i don't know that i would put torts in that camp necessarily but no he's one of a few guys who that's the reputation they have right and so he will be valuable to another team

is my point the type of guy he is will earn him another nhl job before the season's over leafs are playing great keith's doing a good job but god can you imagine berube the coaches of the leafs you're firing Keefe? No, I'm not. Then why are you bringing it up? I literally just said he's doing a great job. But can you imagine him as the coach of these guys, what the difference would be?

Because it's just such a different style of thing. Yes, he would lock some of their best players out of the dressing room. When we, I booked Craig Berube in our first season of the show. And the PR guy's like, ah, sure, here's his number. Try him. He just called him straight. He doesn't care. He's just like, he gave me his number.

I gave him a call. Hey, yeah, sure, I'll come on. Yeah. Yeah. Not a red tape with this guy. He calls it like he sees it. Yeah. I don't know much about Drew Bannister, who takes over.

He was coaching Springfield in the American Hockey League. You haven't been following the system structure of the american i don't know i mean you know my my first thought is they just want to get through the the season don't want to not having to pay the big bucks don't have but if if there was somebody out there would they even pay the big bucks i don't know but there are coach q come back yeah yeah you need you need uh a blessing for that to happen at the national hockey league office any other good ideas born yeah no i know what you're saying it's not like there's an obvious replacement there for him all right we uh we expect to talk to Andy Strickland about that

and where the Blues go and their expectations. So we'll wait more momentarily for him. Sammy, any word on... I told him five after, so he's coming soon. Okay. All right. Anything else you want to discuss before we get to Andy? Yeah, we can talk about who they're fighting against there.

The Calgary Flames last night playing Vegas. Another tough loss for this Flames team. And they played two really good teams. Yeah, they did. Really hard in Colorado and Vegas. And leave those games with one point. Disappointing, I would say, for for the flames and where their season's at moral kind of victories that you can go toe to toe and and and look good against colorado at times

and then the stanley cup champions there has to be something in there at least that that that lineup can say even without tan of that we're not that far off boys no there are a few points out of the wild card spot like like two or actually just two points but with games played then they're helped out a bit but yeah so they're close and you're right with that moral victory you feel like maybe they're a team that can climb up there they're actually uh one point behind the blues who fired their coach so goes to show how or owners feel about teams at that part of the standings. I was watching the battle of the Connors last night, and it lived up to exactly what you guys were talking about.

Yeah. It's just, I mean, Conor Medard, his first goal, the only goal of the game, was unbelievable. Like, the way he brings the puck into the middle of the ice where his body doesn't move, gets it far corner, bar down, beautiful. The Blackhawks are just way too bad for that game to matter i should have asked you to get the stew skinner clip about this about the goal he was like yeah you know he pulls it in quick and he gets it off quick and he placed it perfectly but there's probably something i can do there he still didn't even know what he could have done to

have theorized he's like yeah i probably could have done something to to change the angle of of where he set up and i don't know yeah for me it's also i don't know i don't know if there's anything humanly possible that you could you could change your your vision of where your your puck line is that quickly that's how but he also knows that D-man is about to put pressure on him, and he lets him get close enough so he can pull it back and shoot it through the guy's triangle. And that D-man, by the way, Ekholm. Yeah, like a guy who's been in the league a few minutes.

It wasn't like Cody Ceci or one of those. It's Ekholm, their top guy. That's a nasty goal. Really nice. Okay, let's welcome in Andy Strickland, host of 590, the fan in st louis coast of cam and strict podcast day uh you good you ready where do we find you kipper where do we find you andy kipper i'm trying to do some christmas shopping man i got like two hours my

son's got hockey tonight they fire the coach it's an off day today you off day today. But you'll want to tune in tomorrow night, Valley Sports Midwest, for the game. It'll be interesting. Drew Bannister makes his NHL coaching debut. A lot of people are asking who that is. Who Bannister? Drew Bannister. Yeah, he's been coaching

down in the American League. He's the only guy in the organization that has head coaching experience. They were limited in terms of the options. But I would imagine Doug Armstrong, he'll be working the phones and they'll be trying to find a permanent replacement relatively soon. Hey, imagine your first one on your list, your shopping list, is something for Craig Berube because, I don't know, man, he could pack up and move at any second now.

How surprised were you? This is a coach that, like we're talking about some serious history just a few years ago of taking a team out of nothing and turning them into Stanley Cup champions. I imagine it was a very difficult emotional decision for Doug Armstrong. Yeah, I think it's difficult. I've got to be honest with you, Kipper. Like I've been through a

number of coaches here in st louis um you know and starting with joel quimbo this this has the feeling that's closely you know closeless a close resembles joel quimbo you know in terms of when he got fired you know in terms of his popularity with the fan base uh the accomplishments he had behind the bench and you know with the team on the ice and just, you know, how good of a coach he was. I remember a lot. He, you know, was put on the Blues organization, Larry Plough at the time, for firing, you know, Q because the team, you know, was above 500

and, you know, they had a lot of success prior to him, you know, being ousted. This has a much more similar feel, you know, way different than when Andy Murray came on board or Davis Pay to him, you know, being ousted. And this has a much more similar feel, you know, way different than when Andy Murray came on board or Davis Payne or, you know, Mike Yo or Ken Hitchcock, all these guys that have, you know, come through here. So listen, the fan base is a little upset today. I think they look at, you know, the, the blues organization, you know, how much it's changed, you know, since they won the cup back in 2019, the popular players who have moved on who are no longer here, you know,

David Perron was in the house last night. He didn't play, obviously, as you guys know, because of his suspension, but no, he had a couple of former Blues in the lineup who scored goals. Robbie Fabry had a goal. Jake Wallman had a goal. Billy Huso's in net, but you don't have Vince Dunn who's here, who obviously has gone on to Seattle from the expansion draft. He's had a lot of success there. Ryan O'Reilly was the captain here.

And, you know, he's another one. Ivan Barbashev, you know, 27 years of age, signs a five-year deal to stay in Vegas. Tarasenko's no longer here. I mean, he's got a lot of players. Jaden Schwartz is another one. I mean, who were integral part of the core, core you know that brought this team a stanley cup but i know you can't keep the band together forever as doug armstrong said today but uh the plate the pieces that they've

used to replace those guys just really haven't panned out and it's a a big part of the reason as to why we're in the situation that we're in today. So how much of this then is the team really underachieving the roster compared to just looking at maybe the job Doug Armstrong has done with some of those players and go and boy, we're losing. And I got to do something here. You know, listen, I think it's a great question. And I think the fan base and a lot of the media, to be honest with you, they're pointing the finger at Doug Armstrong right now.

I'll tell you what, we're going to find out what that answer is in terms of how the team responds and how they play the rest of this season. You know, is this a coaching issue or is this a roster issue? You know, I look at this team and I don't think anybody expected this team to compete for a Stanley cup this year. You know, you had a lot of pieces. You know, obviously that, you know, the Blues got, whether it's off of waivers or off the scrap heap from other organizations who had term left in their contract,

hoping that they would maybe catch lightning in a bottle. Guys like, you know, Kasperi Kapanen, you know, Jaka Barana, you know, who's, you know, going down to the American League today. He cleared waivers. Sammy Blais. The three of those players last year when they were brought on board around the trade deadline, I think they combined for close to 30 goals. Nobody expected them to produce at that level this season. But you just kind of have a bunch of different personalities,

a bunch of different players, and you just don't see that line-to-line and shift-to-shift chemistry or cohesion that we're used to seeing with the St. Louis blues team, you know, so I'm not going to completely let Craig Berube off the hook here either. I mean, defensively, they've been poor. Their special teams have been historically bad over the course of the last two seasons. I mean, their power play is absolutely atrocious. They had an opportunity again last night to have that make a difference in the

game and they didn't, and they haven't been able to figure that out. So, you know, listen, I'm not of the belief and Kipper, you can comment on this too. I mean, you can talk about skill and all you want. I don't know if skills required to always keep the puck out of the net. You know, sometimes you just got to have a little bit of commitment, a little bit of compete. We're used to seeing that from a St. Louis Blues team.

And now when you see them not competing at the level that's been the standard here for a long time, I think that's hard to accept for the fan base, to be honest with you. But you go back to this past weekend, right? Back-to-back games against Columbus and Chicago. You lose both those games. I think at that time you had a feeling that we could be getting to the point where we're at right now.

Then you lose last night to Detroit. They're without Larkin. They're without Perron. You lose that game. They lost to San Jose on the road earlier this year. They lost to Minnesota on the road when Minnesota was in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. We're not even 30 games into the season. They've got some bad losses on the record right now andy so what is the the the big picture here that this is a coaching change

uh made because we believe we are a playoff team and uh we should be there or was it, was there ever a thought that this is a transition year all out with the, the Taros Senkels of the world and Petrangelo's and we got to start developing young kids again. Like what, what is the main goal here moving forward development or getting to the playoffs? Well, there's spending to the cap. You know, I know most teams do spend to the playoffs? Well, they're spending to the cap.

You know, I know most teams do spend to the cap nowadays anyway, but when you're spending to the cap, I think the idea and the mindset has to be to make the playoffs. I mean, you can't tell the Blues chairman, Tom Stillman, that, hey, we're going to spend to the cap, but we're going to miss the playoffs. I think the mindset is always to make the playoffs. I think they looked at the division and they said, okay,

you've got your two alpha males in Colorado and Dallas, and then the third place position is going to be up for grabs, you know, and now obviously the wild card as well. And they felt like they could compete with the Winnipegs and the Nashvilles and the Arizonas, you know, to slide in behind Colorado and Dallas. But all it takes is one, you know, losing streak. You know, they lost four in a row now.

You start to lose more than that. I mean, you're out of it. You're done-zo for the season. And it's tough to recover from that. But I think it's a great question. I think they came into the season thinking they could make the playoffs. I asked Doug Armstrong that today. Does he think this is the playoff team? I think he believes that they're thinking they could make the playoffs. I asked Doug Armstrong that today. Does he think this is the playoff team?

I think he believes that they're good enough to make the playoffs. I don't think he goes beyond that, thinking that they're a contender. But once you get in, anything can happen. But, you know, you look at their roster side by side to the teams that they're losing to right now. I just think it's unacceptable. And, listen, I had a chance to talk to Craig Bruby. I think that he probably would admit that his message wasn't getting through to the team and that it got stale. And he's a very intense coach. You know, he wants his team to play a certain way. And I think he looks at the roster right now and says this is not what you would typically see from a St. Louis Blues team and it's probably not a good fit for his coaching style

I think he would admit that so with some of the pieces that you have in the lineup right now it's these aren't really Craig Berube type players where you can make the case they certainly were when they were having a lot of success and obviously won the Stanley Cup. A couple of teams in the West that'll be fighting for the wildcard spot are Canadian teams, both in Alberta. The Oilers have been climbing up, and the Flames have been,

I don't know what you want to say they're doing. They're trying their darndest, just like the St. Louis Blues. Do you have any thoughts on either of those two teams that they'll be competing with for those final spots? Well, it looks like Edmonton is who we thought that they would be coming into the season you know i mean that shouldn't be a surprise it's interesting because they fell so far down at the beginning of the season that that kind of opened up the idea that maybe one of these

teams out of the central could steal one of those wild card spots you know and uh and now they're back to you know playing at the level that they should you know sometimes the coaching change can do that guys listen i've seen it man i mean and you guys obviously have too but you know i saw andy murray take over a team that almost made the playoffs they were completely out of it when he took over then they made the playoffs the the next year, I believe. Davis Payne, no one even knew who the hell he was. And he gets a contract extension, you know, as the head coach here. I've never been a head coach in the NHL.

Great guy, by the way. Sorry, Payner. He's now an assistant coach in Ottawa. He was my coach in the ECHL. He was a great coach. Oh, yeah, yeah. The house of Payne. And then, you know, Ken Hitchcock wins the Jack Adams when he took over. Craig Ruby wins the Stanley Cup the year that he took over.

So, you know, you look at what Edmonton's doing right now. They're winning virtually every night. What John Hines is doing in Minnesota. You know, sometimes we've seen this before. You make that coaching change, a new voice that gets people's attention. You know, Drew Bannister knows a number of players inside this dressing room, having coached them in the American League, both in San Antonio and most recently in Springfield.

So he's auditioning for his job. I would not call him a serious candidate as it sits right now, but he can certainly coach his way into becoming one. It's interesting because when Chief took over, I don't think the idea for Doug Armstrong was to hire Craig Ruby as the next head coach. In fact, I think they were interviewing potential coaching candidates even after the playoffs had started, thinking about who was going to be the head coach beyond the 18-19 season.

Craig Ruby coached his way into being that guy, and now he's highly regarded throughout the league, and he's going to land on his feet very very quickly so this is an organization speaking of coaches man like hall of fame you just mentioned them all you didn't even throw in keenan my era like these are big bigger than life type of guys behind a bench our blue fans gonna be okay with this guy coming in, or you got to go out there and find a big name to someone that they've been accustomed to all these years? You know, listen, they're not happy right now, Kipper. They're really not. They're upset, you know, and they love Chief.

You know, he's a guy that you see out at a local restaurant, at a local bar, much like Quimble, and when he sees you, you know, he's a guy that you see out at a local restaurant, at a local bar, much like Quimble. And when he sees you, you know, he doesn't hide. He's not one of these guys who just hides. You know, he's a man of the people and very approachable, great guy. You know, he played over a thousand games in the league. Like, he just kind of gets it, and he has that relatability. But, listen, I get it from Doug Armstrong's standpoint as well.

You know, sometimes the message gets stale. And you look at how they're losing, who they're losing to. This one's not going to correct itself. Special teams, team defense. I mean, that's really the name of the game, to be honest with you. If you can't keep the puck out of your own net and you can't be consistent from a special team standpoint, it's really difficult to win hockey games. Listen, Jordan Bennington's been great this season.

And if he didn't perform the way that he had, you know, the first month of the season, this is probably a lottery team, to be honest with you. So he covered up a lot of those mistakes. They've been probably better defensively this season than they were last year but the negative trends that we're seeing from the St. Louis Blues right now these are not new these have been ongoing for at least the last two years one more for me Andy and I promise to let you go here so you can wrap up the last few years we've seen kind of the keys being passed over to robert thomas and jordan kairu eight-year deals big money uh they are the future is that still the case here

the building around these guys well i think so thomas has been great this year i mean he's he's mentioned the other team's number one center every single night. He's putting up points. You know, he and Pavel Buchnevich have chemistry together. You know, Cairo, obviously, for whatever reason, he's not scoring. You know, this guy had 37 goals last season. He was like, you know, minus 100. I didn't even have a good year last year and scored 37.

He can be an electrifying player, but it's not happening this year. So, you know, I talked to him today. He's got a good rapport, actually, with the guy who's coming in, Drew Bannister, who played for him down in the American League. I'll be interested to see. He's the one player that I'm kind of curious to see how he reacts and how his game translates now with having a new, you know, guy behind the bench.

Does this really get a guy like Jordan Cairo going? Because they've got to get him going. But there's no doubt they're committed to these guys. They're making a lot of money. But I look at some of these teams around the league, like Boston and some of these offensive teams who can get up and down the ice. They've got a ton of skill in their lineup. I mean, you put Jordan Cairo in one of these lineups, man.

I mean, he would be great, honestly. There's a lot to be left to be desired in terms of his two-way game, although he's had more commitment this year to playing in the defensive end. Not to get all analytic on you, but there was a time when he was, like, leading the All Blues forwards and blocked passes in the defensive end, and he was making more of a commitment to play in his own end and not just be a guy that wants to run and gun it and cheat a little bit, but you need this guy to perform.

And when you don't produce on the power play, it's kind of tough for your top offensive players to have, you know, impactful stats or impressive stats. And the three of us aren't hard to shop for. Just gift cards work too, right? Yeah, pretty simple, man. Don't overdo it. What do you want?

What do you want? Help me to be able to make a four-foot putt. Yes. A new putter or new hands. Andy, appreciate it, man. Thanks for doing this. You guys are the best anytime and good to see you guys too this doesn't look too goofy looks nah you're great man shopping the look of shopping always works for us andy strickland thanks from the cam and strict podcast

uh yeah i think i think the san luis blue fans have been spoiled with some really really yeah two questions i'm sorry i have a question for you before i get in this is completely off the rails but i have to ask anyway i was looking at um davis pain okay yeah because he was talking about him and he coached this is a echl question yeah what is the pd pride no idea okay there's a team the pd what year is that from 01 to 03 he was the head coach or an assistant coach oh head coach with them and then he was the alaska aces coach your your head coach i got nothing on the pride no never played against the pride no no idea i can't even think of a state or a city that would be called that's the coach's name again?

Davis Payne was the coach. Oh, no. Bannister. Bannister. Yeah. Isn't that like Incredible Hulk guy? Yes. Yes, that's right. Isn't that a character? Yes. Incredible Hulk? We actually are going to get killed for not knowing

Bruce Banner. Is that what you're looking for? Bruce Banner? Or Bruce Bannister? No, it's definitely not Bannister what you're like bruce bannister no it's definitely not bannister oh it's not bannister okay i'm in the ballpark yeah you're close i mean i mean by the way i made like a silly you know who bannister joke he played years in the nhl six years or something like he's you know i don't remember i do i just don't remember. How old is he? 49. 49. Two questions.

Yeah, he's younger than me. I was looking at Brubé's hockey DB. Oh, yeah. The prospects page, actually. You must have played with him. He was in Hershey and Philly. You were? Okay. In Philly?

Sorry, in Hershey? In Hershey. So his Hershey stats are why I wanted to ask you this. 63 games, 7 goals, 17 assists, 325 PIMS. God, he's scary. You guys must have had some fun together. Scary. So then my eye goes to the PIM category.

He had like 15 years of like 200 PIMS. So all-time PIMS guys, I went to the list. Seventh all-time in NHL Pims with 3149 can you name the six men ahead of craig brube in all-time pims tiger williams number one ty domi number three bob probert number five rob bray number six there's two to go uh marty mcsorley yeah you got it boys. My numbers are all off. You have five and six. There's one more. We didn't get number four yet? Yeah, you don't have the number two guy yet.

Number two guy. I said Probert. Probert was said, yeah. Two. This is incredible you guys did as well. This is embarrassing. The guy who's eighth and the guy who's second are related. There it is.

Yeah. Dale Hunter. Dale Hunter. You don't really kind of think of him as the fighter guy. Yeah. Same way. Just a guy that... I can't believe that was really impressive trivia.

You guys just rattled off five of the six like that. My favorite thing ever was just to watch fights. I grew up... I like fights. Anyways. Yeah. Rounding out the top ten is Tim Hunter, Chris Nyland with some knuckles, and Rick Talkett at ten.

That's a lot of time in the penalty box. So there was this one time, I don't know what I did, goofy. You passed seven on the scale? No, I did something and I got Craig Brew be so mad that he jumped off the bench to come and get me. To chase you? Yes. And your old teammate?

Yes. But at that point, you'd be best friends if you i know his role he knows mine if you fight you fight like a bear chasing me i've been thrown his gloves i see him coming after me and then i'm like oh boys please you know i need the big i need the wolf pack mentality right now yeah and then sure enough bill mccurry's the referee and he grabs him he goes you just came off the bench you're suspended for 10 games and i'm like bill you just saved my life thank you because the moment bill told him that he came off the bench for a suspension he stopped focusing on me yes i'm like what do you mean what do you mean you came off the bench

no i didn't yes you did i'm like okay you guys go work it out amongst yourselves okay i'm just gonna go back to my bench that's more like being chased by a bear throwing a steak out of your pocket yeah it just took him off your scent a little bit that's great god dale hunter's hockey db is so impressive he got 14 just 1400,000 points, 3,500 penalty minutes. That's busy. That's as good as it gets. He was involved in the games when he was out there. Shane was up there.

And for one, you got to start considering these guys in the Hall of Fame. Absolutely. But they won't. Because why? They had too many penalty minutes? You know what? They were an impactful part of a period of hockey. Huge impactful.

He played 186 playoff games. They changed series. Would you say maybe one of the best cases might be Marty McSorley? Because he was a good player too for a while, right? No? I'm going to go through these guys. To me, one of the best transitions from complete tough guy, quote-unquote goon, to a guy that helped himself by developing a position on the LA Kings

to police and still play 20 minutes a night. Yeah. It's incredible. You know, it is. I would say of the guys who are, like, kind of top 20, talk it, Pat Verbeek is 11th in PIMS, but he's not really what you're talking about for that kind of impactful guy chelios and stevens i assume are in

i don't know you'd put in the whole thing pat wasn't buried in hartford all those years he could have he could have had uh an easier time to be considered for the hall of fame that's for sure probert you know like impactful guy i don't know they'll never they'll never do that deal hunter to me though like that i know i hate to praise him because just his junior hockey team was talking my life but we're talking his numbers are in oh talk it's talking to 3000 pym guy i was talking not in the hall of fame i mean he has the my favorite stat ever the all-time leader in gordiee hat tricks is the most badass stat you can have. You cannot be more involved in hockey games than that.

That's as good as it gets. Is there a stat column? I will fill it. Whatever you need me to do. Are you going to do game time or are we going to come back to it? No, we can do it right now. How's that sound? Let her rip.

It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app, the latest odds, and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. On tarot only. Please play responsibly. Going back to my underdog plays. I know people probably don't love it.

I don't think yesterday was great. No, I did. Got the Red Wings as an underdog in St. Louis. They won 6-4. My Flyers lost an OT to the Nashville Predators. Oh, and Kipper. Pittsburgh did beat Arizona. They did.

I wanted to mention, did you see Andy Frost do the play by, do the intros for the Philadelphia Flyers yesterday? I did not. Oh, did I not say that to the group? No, I don't know. Oh, my. Because obviously Son Morgan plays for the Flyers. And the sound of all those years on Q107 and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

His voice does something to me. Like, it brings out a feeling in me that I haven't felt. Like, it's just like your youth as a hockey fan. Like my wife when she hears Barry White. Yeah. Maybe a bad example. Maybe a bad example. Anyways, that was an awesome clip.

If you haven't seen it, Tortorella brings him in, and he does, like, the whole full-on announcing of it. But he didn't start Morgan. He didn't, no. Which is insane to me. You're going to bring in Andy to call the lineup. Hey. Andy's a hockey guy.

He gets it. He thinks his son's not good enough. Didn't deserve it. Good for him. Tough love. Put Spezza in the press box. And the guys in the room were so fired up. They were just loving it.

So I wanted to bring that up if you haven't seen that. For tonight, the Bruins visiting New Jersey. Bruins are an underdog in that game, plus 105. You know, that's... Listen, if their goaltending goes just a tad south on them I'm fully off the Bruins I don't think they're very good They're right back in the mix

The Devils can't get a save The Devils' goaltending is really, really bad If the Devils and the Bruins flipped goaltending, the Devils would be where the Bruins are better For the Devils! So, I like the Bruins tonight in New Jersey as an the devil! And vice versa. Or the devil! So I like the Bruins tonight in New Jersey

as an underdog and the other one I was looking at second half of back-to-back for Kipper's beloved Pittsburgh Penguins playing in Montreal. They're a huge favorite.

I don't think they should be favored huge against anybody. Give me the Habs as a plus 125. Wednesday night I'm betting against Doobie. Wednesday night game of the week

here for you on Rogers. I am on late television I will be talking about how Cole Caulfield cannot shoot the hockey puck into the hockey net tonight if you'd like to stick around

and listen to that do you care to divulge any of those or are you going to save it for sure sure last year he was 12 for 27 on one timers

this year he's 0 for 15 and he's getting the pucks in the same spot 12 for 27 is really good really insanely high really good yeah he's hitting the net he's not hitting the net you know you're kind of getting the same shots in the same spot 12 for 27 it's really good really insanely really good yeah he's

hitting the net he's not hitting the net you know you're kind of getting the same shots at the same rates from the same places i'm not you know it's just not going in okay is it a given he's going to be a really good consistent no 40 goal scorer i thought so i'm gonna i can't say it's a given i can't say it's given okay i balk't say it's a given, no. Okay. I balked at that contract and it was signed. And to me, it's a scary one. Okay. That was Game Time presented by Bet365.

This is the app for the latest odds. And find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Okay. Still plenty to go here on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. News and notes including brady kachuk

a penalty shot that didn't go exactly his way but it's his reaction that we'll discuss after the break squirrely player he's captain squirrely squirrely also some talk about the washington capitals moving yeah yeah nobody mentioned this to me uh I was there earlier this year. All the way four miles away. Oh. Yeah. Okay. Prawn appealing his suspension. Plenty to talk about when we return on Real Kipper and Bourne.

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. We're back. Ottawa Senators seem to be in this kind of win one, lose one, win one. That ain't going to dig you out of that. Frustrating team.

It's not digging you out of the Eastern Conference. They played last night the Carolina Hurricanes, and the team that a few teams have taken advantage of while they kind of get their season on track yeah but late in the game four one the game over it's not over it's still about four and a half minutes to go left in the game brady kachuk gets a penalty shot uh kochet kochetkov is the goaltender for carolina also squirrelly did he drop his stick did he throw his stick do you think it first of all it warranted a penalty shot yes i'm pro if you're unsure call the shot yeah hold on okay yeah yeah i'm with you there you don't drop your stick yeah but they i mean they really have changed the goalposts on penalty shots.

Like a guy would have a step from the blue line in the first week of the season and they'd call. So true. And then the Leafs have had like two on O's where Nyes gets hauled down. They're like, no, nothing. They've changed the standard. Anyways, continue. Yes. Kochetkov stops him.

It was the reaction of Brady Kachuk that caught your eye. Well, the Kochetkov stopped himov-Stopped-Him thing is, I think, frustrating if you're a Senators fan because he makes a leaping aggressive poke check. A very Johnny Bauer-like poke check. And the poke doesn't come within a foot and a half of the puck, but it goes directly into Kachuk's skate, who goes down hard and hits the boards pretty hard

and gets up angry. You had a take and you wouldn't tell us about it before. Would you like it or no? What are your thoughts? Oh, I absolutely loved it from Kochekov. Yeah. You're trying to stop the penalty shot. I think it's a big, like, I love Brady Kachuk

and I love how aggressive he is. It was a big baby look for me. Really? Yeah. I thought it was a bad look for him to go out to the goal. He got his pad up and he got the shot off, but the stick affected him. He made the save with his...

What is Brady doing? I'm with Sammy. Like, the guy played you hard, and that's it. The play's dead. He was coming in too slow. He had his head down. He wasn't paying attention. If you're early enough, you can just stop and go around.

Yes. I will say, I saw some goalies tweeting that you don't necessarily make the poke check at the puck. The guy's going to be stick handling. You're poking towards where you expect the puck to be. And if Kachuk's going to go around him, you would lead him a little bit and you got your stick out there. Martin Jones did it to Zibinijad last night when he tried to cut out in front. He swiped throw out.

I've had a conversation a few times with some NHL head office people over the years. And I'm like, what happens if a goalie just comes out and plays the man? Just, wow. Dexum. Ask Tim Thomas about that. Absolutely Dexum. Tim Thomas smoked one of the sardines. The answer is nothing.

Nothing would happen. Nothing. Next. I love it, yeah. It will cross that bridge when we ever come to it. Probably won't. Yeah. I'd love to see it.

But, you know, I think the Kachuk reaction is a product of a growing sense of frustration. You know, they need that one or that game is slipping away. That game is gone at that point. But that puck not going in the net. And I think Kachuk's just, he's sick of it. He's competitive. He doesn't want to be on a team that's eighth in the Atlantic all year. He had a fiery look in his eye.

I've got no problem with the reaction of Brady Kachuk there either. It's fine. Kachuk has a little office nut, too, which is great. So they should let him go. It's a bad look. No, it's not a horrible look, Sammy. No, it's not. It's a competitive look.

You're going after the goalie. The ref has to get in between you and the goalie, and none of your teammates are on the ice to defend your goalie. It's a bad look. It's a bad look. I'm sorry. No good. For Brady?

Yeah. He can go after the goalie. What other situation? If he really wanted to get him, he could have got him. Yeah, but what other situation do you ever have in a hockey game where you get to go mouth-to-mouth with a goalie and give him a piece of your mind because he made a save on you everybody else is on the bench they can't defend their goalie like it's just a bad look for brady you got stopped like i love brady kachuk now you're making this way too

big i think it was bad i think it's a bad look i really do sour grapes man you got stopped on a breakaway he stopped you too bad this is the start of an anti-kachuk stance we haven't had her on the show very pro kachuk show love kachuk stance. We haven't had her on the show. Very pro-Kachuk show. Love Kachuk. Truly one of my favorite players in the league. Hated last night. Hated it. No. Fine with it. I mean, they're last place. They're last place. Don't need you to be

polite. We got enough of those guys in the league. Okay. Sour grapes. Good. Entertaining. Good stance for the team before you go to otani oh go to otani no no we thought we wouldn't go to otani we've got like otani like yeah we do an otani show okay no we're gonna save otani okay all-star game all-star game yes um the league announced a new skills format. Yes, which I love.

And you love. Okay, so tell us about it. So the skills format is 12 NHL players will be in the All-Star Game Skills Contest, and there will be six skills events. Each player will get to pick four that they want to participate in, and they will earn points based on how they rank in those four events. Okay. The players who have the most points that are remaining,

I think it's six or eight of the players out of the 12, whoever the most points, will go on to two more events, one of them being a shootout and one of them being an obstacle course. And they're playing for a million dollars. The winning player will get a million dollars. They will care about that. It's the NHL. It's not the nba play-in

tournament so we know connor will be one of them for sure but how do they go about picking 11 other guys good question maybe they just hand pick up who we think is the most entertaining it's our show uh excuse me it's a million bucks in line why is he more entertaining than me i want a million buck chance oh what's the uh what's it called in the DJ tour? The player impact? Yeah, they have like a, I don't know, whoever's getting tweeted about the most. We're putting the people in who people care about the most.

If you want to be in the All-Star Skills next year, Kip, then tweet something interesting. Give us a good interview. Dress nice. We need to be entertained. Okay, so you got Willie in there then. Willie's in. Willie Stiles.

You cannot. Medard's in. McDavid's in. Sid's in. All the guys that are selling your tickets. In Toronto for a million bucks. Kucherov? He's a fringer.

I mean, he's leading the league in points, isn't he? Hughes is in. Oh, Hughes is in for sure. My first thought is I like it. I'm going to watch it. There's stakes. A million bucks is auto stakes. I'm not going through the motions on my lap.

When I hear this, the first thing I think of is, hey, they got hockey people to go back and do it. Doesn't it feel like that? No, that's exactly what happened. They took it out of non-hockey people with dunk contests in Florida.

I'm shocked they're still in business after that. The league should have folded after the dunk competition in florida last year okay okay just the mere fact that we're all here with jobs in itself is a miracle at christmas no but the fact that we didn't die of boredom watching people try to pass pucks into the the little. It is impressive that we're finally here. Can I just say that I take a lot of pride as a Toronto person that they're like, okay.

We're going to Toronto. This thing's going to Toronto. We got to do this right. We got to do hockey. I really appreciate that. Yeah. Because it's like it's in the hockey mecca. Connor's all over it, right?

That's the thing. They kind of built it around Connor. Well, I think they had a say. Hockey guys. Yes. It's not hard to figure it out. Yeah, Connor helped him. Of course.

Connor, the league, hockey people in the league, NHLPA, they all got back again and said, we can't have that atrocity that we had in Florida last year. Yeah, we'll throw a couple bucks at this thing. So good. We're watching. We're watching again. 100%.

Are they doing, I'm embarrassed. Is it five on five this year? Have they said? I believe it's five on five. Is that accurate, Kipper? Do you know? Yes, because it's a draft, right? Oh, yeah, right.

So it's five on five. They're doing hockey this year. Thank you. you for that okay yes uh what's the deal i'm not really up on this do the washington capitals officially say that they're moving to potomac i don't really know kipper i i thought you would know this kind of yeah not official um but they're gonna it sounds like there's no option to like i think dc was like yeah we'll do a 500 million dollar reno and they're like that's gonna sounds like there's no option. I think D.C. was like, yeah, we'll do a $500 million reno. And they're like, that's going to be great for the lower bowl. But that's not going to cut it.

This is a whole Glendale type thing where it's a real estate play. If they're along the Potomac River, it will be spectacular. It's supposed to be awesome. It's four miles from their current home. Not a crisis. I did see that technically it's the suburbs. And there's only a few teams in the suburbs and that hasn't gone well ottawa arizona florida but you know it's very technically the suburbs they'll be fine okay uh no real shock uh alan walsh the agent for uh david perron appealing the suspension only shock because

you know he did a six game suspendable thing. Right? Yeah. That's a really hard one to appeal. Yeah. What's the case? Well, the case is other examples where it doesn't look. It's just why him? Why not my guy?

Why my guy? Why not him? That's. But, you know, the goofy part about always an appeal is it's a slow process. It takes forever. It's to Gary first and then it's done with Gary and then it comes back and then they go find an independent arbitrator. That's the one, right?

That it took the length of his suspension to rule on. He may save one game. Yeah. If he's lucky, the decision off an independent arbitrator would come back and he'd save what? 50 grand? That's what it's about. Getting that money.

That's fine, but you're still out five games for sure. I wasn't aiming for his jaw. I swear. I didn't even see him there. It's a tough one to appeal three strides jumped so okay anything else around the league well i guess we just kind of got into the the connor versus connor thing but no no i want the otani now we have five minutes to do otani

okay so uh i saw uh our ben nicholson. Smith. BNS. The West End Weapon. West End Weapon. One of the nicest guys in the world. Tweeted out that our good buddy in Los Angeles now, Otani, has got an out clause in his deal that's around personnel, management personnel. If someone, I don't know, gets fired or resigns

or leaves, he can get out of his deal? That's baffling. Is that how I read it correctly, Sammy? That messes up contracts for every team forever. If you can have a contract clause that's like, if I don't like what you're doing, I can leave. How is someone not...

I had to take a lot of crap from all the American baseball writers You can have a contract clause that's like, if I don't like what you're doing, I can leave. How is someone not, like, you know, I had to take a lot of crap from all the American baseball writers and be like, this is good for baseball. How is this contract and this deferral and these things where he's like, I get whatever I want at all times, right? They're like, of course, Shohei. How is this good for baseball? I'm sorry.

Like, okay, he plays for a premier team. That's it. This is a joke. I think it's a joke too. No, it's embarrassing. Like, you, he plays for a premier team. That's it. This is a joke. I think it's a joke, too. No, it's embarrassing. Like, you're just catering too much to him. Yeah, it's, you know what? He's already hit 40 homers.

Like, he's not Messiah. It is completely messing with the integrity of contract structure. And, like, what was wrong with just, hey, you play 82 games, this is what we're going to pay you. But now it's so many of these things, and obviously they don't have a hard salary cap like we do in hockey. So you're going to find different ways to get out of the luxury tax, I think, in baseball, right?

Yeah, it's a competitive balance tax, yeah. But I think when you start dealing with these side deals and now it's like, are we going to get to the point where a player's paying a team to loophole all these things that are supposed to? Every team in every tax-heavy state is now going to be like,

do we have to give deals to the elite guys that say we'll pay you later when you're not here? For the Toronto Maple Leafs, they use something that few teams don't have the luxury of doing, and that is front-loading, signing bonuses up towards $12 or $14 million. Guess what? No other owner has that cash. And that is huge for the Leafs to use as a competitive balance to offset state tax, saving another guy a million dollars by playing in Nashville or Dallas, Florida.

Dallas, Florida. It's good for the team, right? If you want to trade him later. But how far are we going now? How far are we going to mess with that? Like, we're not going to even hear about contracts anymore so this clause kip is it about front office or is it player related at all like i think it's probably player related too it's just guys such too much power imagine a day though where he goes i'm not liking the way he's traded beth or whoever i'm out name him pitcher dh and

general manager yeah just do it now. Honestly. What happens if he starts playing okay for a bit? He's 30. He's still a human. Back in the 70s, what happened with a few teams, including the Philadelphia Flyers, was that the owner, Snyder, wanted to keep salaries low.

So instead of having it paid out in a contract, they would start giving away boats and cars. And word got around some guys were getting all these perks. Right. And other guys weren't. And the dissension was bad yeah well it was just is not now it's not a good feeling less than half of otani how do the dodgers feel about about show coming in there and just having all this power it's not it's not good agreed and it's

like mookie betts is unbelievable at baseball freddie freeman unbelievable baseball player who are both there and it's like we're just as important to this team as you are buddy they're like we disagree you know like so when someone gets moved down in the batting order it's because i don't know so who else made that decision so what we're saying is keep them yes keep them la unless he opts out and comes to the Blue Jays, of course. In which case. Hey, guys, this is a hockey show. Stop making me talk baseball. You love the Otani thing. I'm obsessed with the Otani thing.

You love it. Love it, love it, love it. All right, thanks to Jim Ralph in the first hour and Andy Strickland in the second hour. Five games on tap. Make sure you catch my good friend JB on Wednesday Night Hockey, Montreal, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Have a great night, everybody. on tap. Make sure you catch my good friend JB on Wednesday Night Hockey Montreal and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Have a great night, everybody.