Real Kyper & Bourne - Brock Boeser Returns + On and Off Ice Altercations

Episode Date: November 26, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne bring in Sportsnet's hockey analyst Luke Gazdic (0:31) in-studio to chat about where Brock Boeser fits on the Vancouver Canucks roster as he returns from his injury, the Oilers' depth and blueline deficiency, the Flames' long-term focus following their unexpected success, and what it's like to be in the locker room with a midseason head coaching change. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss the disclosure of injuries in the NHL compared to other leagues and hand out NHL Awards at the season's quarter mark.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

all right let's kick it up on our national hour of the real kipper and born show we are live on sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour of real Kipper and born is brought to you by bet. Three, six, five, Nick Kiprios, Justin born, Sammy McKee. And let's take it live in, in studio with Luke Gastic,

sports net hockey analyst, former NHL, and now one of the busiest guys at the network. Welcome in Luke. How are you pal? Great. Thanks for having me. You need an energy bar or something or i just had my timmy's up on the second floor shout out timmy's

free ads but um no i'm good thanks buddy um you guys are working tonight we are so you've got bank we've got two games on tap it was a busy night in the National Hockey League last night with 10 games. Kind of calmed down a little bit with Vancouver and Boston, Utah and Montreal. And then it kicks back up on Wednesday. I assume this is all thanks to our friends south of the border for U.S. Thanksgiving. Good chance. Good chance. Good chance.

Lots of noise, including General Manager Patrick Alvin making a comment today about JT Miller. And it doesn't sound like they expect him anytime soon, but clearly we talked about in our Leaf Hour certain distractions out there, contract talks, but this one has to be something that Vancouver fans are kind of on the edge of their seat when will they see their their star winger back yeah and I don't mean to suck the air out of the room at all but I certainly have had my

struggles on the mental side retiring in the middle of a pandemic for me was not ideal that that was one part of it and you know throughout my career it was something I had to deal with so first and foremost I really hope you know he has a good support system around him friends family whatever it may be inner circle because that's one that hits close to home for me and I think the bravest thing you can do is step away and say I need help and that's exactly what he did and all the all the power in the world to him and i truly hope he you know he gets through and we see him back here at some point uh he is like the heartbeat of their squad i feel like him and quinn covering them on a regular basis anytime they need big play big hit big fight big goal it's always jt

um and they've seemed to kind of rally around him I thought they had a great did a great job on Saturday in Ottawa they had multiple guys stepping up Sherwood Patterson starting to play some better hockey Jakey DeBrusque has come along now all three of those guys are playing on a line they were excellent on Saturday so I'm sure they're trying to rally around that point and uh feeling for JT in the moment right yeah um the general manager Patrick Alvin spoke with Ian Mcintyre of sports and said first and foremost i'm very proud of jt seeking help i don't know if he said it but i believe he's going to be a better person better teammate and better hockey player when he returns

we sure miss him impactful player i think we have uh and the league has all uh the right support to help him so that's good for him so he's going to be out an undetermined amount of time but besser's coming back yeah um pedersen's playing well you mentioned debra starting to come around and where do you got this canucks team is this a team that can get back to the top of the pacific division uh not right now i think demco's a huge part in that trying to figure out what's going on there uh injury wise at some point i do love that there's internal guys that have really stepped up their game i know we've talked about sherwood a lot i've talked about sherwood a lot uh i love talking about former

teammates he's a guy i spent two years with in the minors at the beginning of his career and to see five years later having the success he's had it's unreal to see stuff like that but for them i watch a team on sat on Saturday that finally played the right way for the first time in a couple games that I've seen them play a full 60. Goaltending might be an issue here along the way, but I think they're going to be just fine. To me, they're right there on the edge, and once they have a couple of their big guys back,

they're going to be just fine. What would you do now with brock besser let's just assume that uh he's back and he looks a lot a lot like he did last year as a legit 40 goal score like where do you think vancouver is on brock besser moving forward because he will be an unrestricted free agent and the urgency to get this guy signed, sealed, and delivered. I think he's controlling that narrative right now. It'll be interesting to see how he plays without JT. That's a guy he's played with for the majority of, you know,

his time there the last little bit. Looks like he's going to slide onto the right side with Suter and Heinen. I thought they might switch Suter and Bluger because that Bluger-Garland-Joshua line has played so good before. Power play is going to be his strength. Their power play needs to get going. He'll be a guy always in that bumper spot.

But I think he's going to control the narrative here a little bit. I'm excited to see what Brock shows, right? Is he a guy that can drive his own line? Is he a guy that can step up in the absence offensively? Because they need him. If they want to have any success, he's a huge part of that.

Anything else on Vancouver before I turn the page? No, we're good. Talk about your Edmonton Oilers. Yeah. This year, they currently sit one point ahead of the Vancouver Canucks, but they've played three more games, minus five goal differential. Feels like a team that for years was like, it's Connor and it's Leon, and it's like, is there enough around them to get them to where they need to be?

It felt like they found it for a while last year. Are we kind of right back to where we've been? Yeah, I think so. Honestly, it feels like they're getting offense from two guys. Saturday was the outlier, which is nice. You need games like that every once in a while. Where Nersi steps in and Pod Coleson gets his first, and you get scoring up and down the lineup.

But yes, preliminarily it's been two guys and that's a tough, that's not sustainable, right? It's a tough way to play hockey for the entire year. I think it floats throughout the lineup in the sense that Connor and Leon drive and everyone kind of follows but man, that is a

that's a tough way to play hockey for a long time. I think that third line that they really had going last year towards the end of the year,rik and mark brown gotta give them a little more offense uh gotta start getting some from the back end because it's it's only so much those two big boys can do right they have them on opposite lines right now which i think is a good thing drive your own yep um but for the time being they need to find some scoring throughout their lineup and so jeff skinner not been as good as hoped. And is Barry Kaplan just played the one game?

Just played the one game. Jeff, to me, he's bringing good energy. I'll say that. It's just a little too perimeter right now. And that's with a lot of their team. You'll hear it so much. Louie loves talking about it, playing on the inside. But, man, it is just a lot of perimeter hockey, I will say, excluding Saturday.

Saturday, I think they did a good job of driving the net. They just, they want to get cutesy sometimes, right? They want to get a little fancy and make that one extra pass. If they have a three-on-two or a two-on-one, any odd man rush, it's always one more look. It's so much deference. I even saw that on the power play early. It's like open looks, left, right, and center,

and they're deferring. I could never understand deferring i could never understand deferring in an nhl game not shooting the puck shoot everything was gone i didn't get too many minutes but everything was going off my stick and and and at the net so i think that's just one of one of the bigger things especially a guy like jeff like they need guys like this on the outside of those two to at least start finishing you you know? We're joined by Luke Gazik, Sportsnet analyst, in studio on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. So, Luke, where are you in terms of this blue line?

Because I know Skinner, his play's dropped. Yeah. But it may have a lot to do with a weaker blue line than the one that ended for him Game 7. So where are you on this blue line than the one that ended for him game seven so where are you on this blue line and can this blue line get them back to where they were not in this current state i i think they they do need some help and i i think i think they need to defend a little harder to be honest i i see too many nights where opposing teams get in front of the net way

too easy not boxing simple things like not boxing out defending rushes at the line uh i think a lot of those things can improve but they they should go get a guy at some point i think they need someone that can play both sides depending on what way he shoots you know mike matheson's a guy i'm going to talk about on hockey central tonight who have been watching a lot in montreal that i'm a big fan of someone that's mobile that can move think of guys like cam fowler and anaheim is another one i just think they could use someone to slot in on a second pair behind boucher at home uh that can drive the play a little bit bring the play up create a little bit of offense and can also defend. I think they have about three.

They're trying to have probably three guys do the job of one right now. And that's nothing against Ty Emberson and Travis Dermott and Josh Brown who just came up. But they're trying to find a guy to do that. And it looks like they're extending it to multiple guys. They've tried going 11-7, which I liked as a player it's it's a tough rotation but but i do think they need to melt back there so if we're going to take it around canada you mentioned that montreal team are they really going to willingly get worse trade players off that roster like what what is happening there have you ever played for a team where it's just felt

like you have no chance to win yeah it's a team that i've covered for the last couple weeks now two nights uh two hockey nights in a row, they've been my game that I've had to clip and analyze. And it's two things for me. It's personnel, A, they're young and experienced, right? They're young guys aren't playing an incredibly good brand of hockey right now. But it's also the system that they're playing. Like Marty asks a lot of those guys.

They play a hybrid in zone which is more like a man-to-man so you have mathson and ghouli running around trying to chase jack eichel and barbachev on saturday connor and leon on the monday and demand is hard to play in today's nhl and that's just one aspect of their system that is incredibly hard that i see by the time they get out they get to the red line it's dump in, and there's no offensive zone pressure or time. It's a tough brand of hockey to watch right now, and I feel for it because you can tell they're working. They're just not working smart.

I feel for guys like Slav. Slav's taking some major regression right now. It's just not a great particular brand of hockey right now. Do you put some of that on the coach, that the first overall pick is struggling? At that age, it's hard to he's 20 yeah so young t yeah like yeah he's 240 pounds i feel like it takes a while to learn how to use a machine that big yeah you would know yeah i hear you played at 245 but did you oh yeah it wasn't nearly as good as Slath, though. Are you okay, though, in terms of, like, I like Nick Suzuki a lot. I just don't know if he, when you're contending for the Stanley Cup,

is this your number one breakout kind of game-changing guy? Is Cole Caulfield your number one winger on a contending Stanley Cup team. Where does anyone else fit? Montreal, to me, still needs a superstar. A franchise type of superstar. Patrick Laine is coming back. That sailed a long time ago hey i hope he can come back and i hope he can score some goals but i think it's still missing guys yeah and i hear you like

vegas on saturday exposed that to a t like a team that's deep big heavy skilled plays the right way it was like watching and this is not i feel like I'm being tough on them, but it was like watching a team in a different league stack down the middle, a team that loves to hunt the puck and possess it, and it was just a clear indication of how far away they still are. Ugly. Ugly in Montreal. The fourth line tonight, I believe, is Lfkovsky, Armia, and Doc.

Ooh. And I like Doc, but someone told me a long time ago this guy is a third-line guy. That was his ceiling. That was his ceiling. Yeah. Well, that's the thing is, like, when you're not a good team, you put these guys in positions that they're not ready to handle,

and they end up struggling, and it's like they were never quite meant to be in that spot anyway. So yeah it's uh it's fairly bleak um i did want to ask you about changing coaches and what it does for a team and a room the boston ruins you have you've had some different yeah i've had a couple let's go so you're gonna say something well i can we just stay with one more yeah yeah for love on in canada before we maybe move calgary yeah yeah let's talk and you you just talked about a coach yeah and they've got a good one i played for ryan oscar and oh did you yeah they've got they've got some good young talent here and yeah they lost to ottawa last night uh but But how do we not go, come on, guys, quarter pole here,

and they're right in the thick of things? Yeah. I mean, you've expected some regression at some point, but A, they worked their tails off. They're probably one of the best conditioned teams in hockey. 17-18 in the minors in Stockton, California. What a year. Played for Ryan Huska, Cale McClain,

who's on their bench as well. Ion, this guy runs their penalty kill. Both extremely detailed, meticulous guys, but it's tough days. Husk expects a lot from you, especially the older guys on the team, the vets on the team. I remember him calling me on my way down from Calgary

and him explaining to me how he was going to lean on me early and our veteran core, which was Cody Golobath, Colby Rollback. And we had a couple of good vets on that team, but practices were hard. Days were hard at the rink. Lots of video, but he is also a really good communicator and just a good dude. Like I really struggled. Talk about mental health. That was a year where living far away from home.

I don't want to say I didn't particularly want to be there, but it's a tough city to play in. And he was the guy that was always, you know, keeping it in check for me and, you know, checking in and making sure I was good. I have a lot of time for Ryan Huska, and there's a reason that that team is having some success right now. How much do you think they're helped by having no pressure, basically? Like, no one expects them to win any game. 100%. And, like, look at a guy like Dustin Wolfe, finally starting to make some saves, but there's guys in there that are just playing,

big smiles on their faces, Justin Kirkland and Ryan Lomberg, and talk about the opposite of Montreal. That's a brand of hockey I can get behind right now. Right. Just one more thing on Calgary, and just ultimately, yes, great great success but big picture stuff here and how tough of a decision will it be for craig conroy going into the new year going into the trade deadline ultimately what do you do with

rasmus anderson who's got another year left on his deal or Kadri or, you know, some of these type of players that are, when it turns, are they there? Are they not there? Would you try to sell high now? Like how much of a split is it between not giving up and protecting the future? Yeah, that's a good question. Raz is another guy that was there in the minors with us that year that has absolutely just taken off. One of the most talented defensemen I've seen.

You put that guy in a three-on-three overtime, it's game over. I think that's a question for them, A. You sit them down and say, do you want to be here? Do you want to be a part of this? Do you want, when we start turning this thing around, do you want to be a part of that? And you see what the answer is. If I'm one of them, I think i'd love to be there things

starting to turn eventually here in calgary but you got to figure out if the guy wants to be there first and foremost they're going to be in a similar situation to last year i just feel like they're going to hang around for as long as they can um and and at the end of the day especially a guy like naz like you you got to figure out where his heart is where his intentions are because if they're not there 100%, then I don't think you want him around, right? Just feels like that's a team you're on if you are a guy who's happy to be in the league

or you're trying, looking for more opportunity. Yeah. But, like, if, I got to imagine, Kadri's got his money, he'd like to win another cup. He'd like to be... He's a really interesting one for me, just because there's so much left on the deal. And Calgary, I don't think is going to want to retain anything.

I don't think. Kip doesn't think they have to. I know he's not having a great year, but I don't think they need to retain on a potential trade for him. Nor they shouldn't. And that's where I'm at. I agree with you. With the amount left on the term,

I don't think they should have to retain him. At that point, though, guys, you're giving him away. You're not getting an asset back. You're just saying, take the contract. I disagree. I disagree. I think he's got Stanley Cup pedigree. He's proven that he can come in

and play behind a star like Nathan McKinnon. The cap is going up. up yeah but i think he's 34 i still think he can put a team like that over the edge i think a type of guy like that can can give you high end till 37 yeah 38 maybe he'd be good back in denver actually that's that's not a bad spot to be honest and what do you think are potential landing spots? Our Doug McClain last Friday said that he had heard that the Leafs, but, you know, it's Brett Tree living, man. He kicks the tires on everybody.

But Tree also tried to trade for Kadri for TJ Brody when he was there. He's tried to get Kadri before. There you go. So you know he likes him. For sure. I just don't know how much business the Flames are going to be doing with the Leafs.

It doesn't seem like much. We need another hour. You know what sucks, though? I don't have that. Okay, so the Leafs can't do business with them, but then there's also like you're not going to trade with Montreal. Boston's not going to do it. Nobody.

You have a short window. But the list of teams that want to trade with the Leafs is like. There's 31 other teams. No, there's not. You go through the list. There's like nine teams that want to trade with us. Got to find somebody. You would think.

You want to talk, Boston? Yeah, I just want to talk about, you know, they've won two games since they made the coaching change, and is it one of those things where it's like the new coach bump? What does that mean? What are we looking at there? It's a completely new slate for players is how I love to explain it. For a guy like me who was playing on the fourth line,

it's a new set of eyes. And the entire thing about a player-coach relationship is trust. Can that coach trust to put you on the ice in the situations that he wants you to, whether it's five on five, whether it's killing penalties. And you build that up over time with your guy. So you have X amount of years with him. New guy comes in, doesn't know much about you, probably seen you play, but you have to rebuild that entire trust.

And I think you get the best out of players early in those situations. I think guys tend to get a little complacent in situations where you just start to show up to the rink and it's Groundhog Day, one after another. It gives you a real spark. I remember my only mid-season nhl one but mine was interesting too because craig mcdavish was our gm he fired dallas eakins on like call it a monday and brought

up todd nelson from oklahoma city but mac t wanted to oversee the process so he was on the bench as well for the first two weeks now your gm's on the so now our gm's on the bench so now it's extra and i'm like oh boy we had an unreal conversation like two days after he told me it was the worst game he'd seen me play. I love Mac T. Pure honesty. He's one of my favorite guys in hockey. But then it ended up being the Todd Nelson show.

And I thought he did a great job with us. I thought he got the short end of the stick. They ended up winning the draft lottery. He hired Todd McClellan instead. But, yes, right when you have a new guy in there, there's that little bit of bump just because I think you're getting the best from everybody. Quarter poll.

Haven't dealt with too many controversial plays, but you've been a part of a couple, including Ryan Reeves on Darnell Nurse, White Cloud on Hughes, and the latest one that really bothered me was uh the uh the Quinn Hughes being ejected uh on yeah before Gascon what did you think of that you didn't like that call or the head of the play if if I'm paying 200 bucks and I watch Quinn Hughes get thrown out on that play yeah I'm pissed well I said that guy is worth my ticket I don't want like not on that play. Yeah. I'm pissed. Well, I said that guy is worth my ticket.

I don't want, like, not on that play. I'm sorry. Not on that play. Yeah, I know. And you know what? That's what the rule states. So as soon as there's a cut in injury blood, that's why the majors is determined.

I don't love it. That play happens 15 to 20 times a night. So often. Not even, like, hit from behind. Yeah, it's just like a little push. Ready for it. Sometimes play happens 15 to 20 times a night. So often. Not even like hit from behind. It's just like a little ready for it. Sometimes they're leaned over. To be honest though Kip like white clouds, Reeves

you just you see more and more of it. I just think guys. See I disagree I think we've seen so less and less of it. I do I think. But I think he means guys not being prepared to be hit. A not being prepared Is that what you're talking about? A think he means guys not being prepared to be hit. A, not being prepared. Is that what you're talking about? A, well, guys not being prepared to hit,

but I think guys have less respect for each other in the game, to be honest. Sometimes I see that. I really didn't like Rivos. That was one that. Well, he picked the head. Yeah. Right?

Before he got to the left side of the body, he picked the head. The white club one was different. I will will say though that like being up there i'm learning all this stuff in real time too you know what i mean so hard though it's crazy so as soon as it happens we're a we're calling the situation room we're watching replays and oh man i don't even i don't want to talk about the consistency it's just like i don't really know what to expect once there's a hit i'm i'm watching tv and listen i know this is our job we get paid for this but we are up and for the reeves one and for white cloud these are within the last couple minutes of the period so we're walking to the desk but i hear you plays are in my ear and i have to get on

tv and opinionate a concise yeah answer in real time and stick with it. And I'm not, you know, looking for sympathy here. I'm just saying that that can be challenging because there's some times where I'm watching it and then I watch the replay on the desk and I'm like, ah, you know, though, like... Did you disagree with your own analysis later? I usually stick with it. The white cloud one was the one

that I kept going back and forth on a little bit. I still, to the day, don't love it. Like, i i they say oh he didn't leave his feet on impact on impact but he ends up in the leaf's bench like he's he ends up jumping off his feet uh he's on the way as he has his head to head down the whole way which i don't like um but people people don't realize how difficult it is to see something and then go on air yeah but you know you get more reps underneath you you go through it a couple of times and you just there's also like an emotion part to it for me is like i played that way and i love the physical side of the game like i love that zach white cloud there's guys like zach white cloud in the

league that are still keeping guys accountable for keeping your head up and that head putting your head down in the neutrals i don't think there's many guys that know how to do it anymore exactly so i like throw that hit so i like that there's guys that still still make that hit um i just that's the way i played but um the guys are so big and so strong these days that it's it's insane so hard to be so precise and if you can't hit a guy in the head down who has his head down in the neutral zone while you're backing up to me it's like yeah who can who could be hit then like i i don't know listen i took a lot of pride 11 years i had 176 fights but zero fines and zero suspensions there's a there's a way to play like you can avoid a lot of that stuff and that's when i see headshots not saying there's a way to play. Like, you can avoid a lot of that stuff. And that's when I see headshots.

I'm not saying there's intention or maliciousness, but there's certainly a way to evade stuff. So when you play that type of role, and Kit, maybe you can speak to this too, people know that you're tough, you're willing to fight. How often do you encounter off the ice someone wants to show you or in like a rec league game, they want a piece, they want to show you. Because Paul Bissonnette just had to fight a bunch of guys. Do you guys ever have anyone off the ice someone wants to show you or in like a rec league game they want a piece they want to show you because paul b sonette just had to fight a bunch of guys do you guys ever have anyone off the ice be like oh you're a tough guy arian yeah and that's when i go check please i'm out with

this i'm out i'm done i had to leave the uh voluntarily leave the adult safe hockey league here in toronto it was just getting to be too much. York A on Tuesday nights asked some guy trying to get me to go at 11 o'clock on rink two. Like, I'm saying no. Yeah. But I, you know what? Truth be told, I had a similar incident to Biz early in my career down in Austin, Texas. Really? I said the wrong thing to a guy at a bar in a bathroom line.

And I ended up in an emergency room, you know, spitting out my teeth. And I think, you know, there's a fine line outside. I'm the least confrontational person ever. Right. Well, when it comes to outside the rink. It's hard sometimes because your ego and your pride can make bad decisions for you. Or you just make the most sound decision, and that is get the hell out of there. Yeah.

Because I never, I don't know, I never liked fighting. Fighting's fighting fighting's not fun no you say fighting is fun you're a nut job i never loved doing it it was a job and uh as soon as i got off the ice it was the last thing i was thinking of yeah it was funny my dad's played i know he got into it uh people in like charity events you're playing a charity hockey game or whatever and some guy on the guns and hoses team is chopping at your ankles. What am I doing this for? Can you imagine? That's not my philosophy when I go on the ice.

You want the puck that badly? Take it. It's yours. Take it. Go. Go until your heart's content. You got it. Luke, great stuff, man.

Have a great call with my buddy here on tonight's game and thanks for dropping by. Yeah, anytime fellas. Thanks, Gasp. Luke Gastic. And when we return, we'll get Sammy back in the chair. Maybe we'll go around the league a little bit on our news and notes and get our thoughts on the quarter poll.

You know, the pedantic people are going to fight you on that. You have to say the quarter mark. Why? Because the quarter poll is the final quarter of a race. Of a race. I know. i hate it i i'm just telling you people are thinking it out there i'm sorry i hate myself for having said it all right and he's not even the producer of the show and he's telling me what to do that more when we return real kipper and born hey it's ben ennis and i'm brent cunning we got you covered on all things

leafs rafters and blue jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the Fan Morning Show. Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Kipper, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. A little bit of news and notes coming back. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Were you surprised that Patrick Alvien spoke of JT Miller and using the word help? Yeah, a little bit.

I guess just because it... Would you like me to read the quote? JB did it. We don't have sound of him talking about it, do we? No, it was a little pull aside. I kind of found it strange at this point to use the word help. What about that seems strange? Not that he used it.

The timing of it. That we've gone this long since he's been gone. Right. And there's been like no follow-up. Just he's gone and it's personal. And then they kind of leave it alone. And then just now we get more insight on the term help. Yeah.

The article from Ian McIntyre, you spoke to jt's agent who didn't have a comment but said that they appreciated the thoughtfulness of alvin's statement so to me that's confirmation you know obviously alvin's statement is as well that this is what's happened yeah and he's in some sort of rehab well Well, I don't know that. Well, I mean, help is... Maybe he's seeing a therapist. That's a form of rehab. Whatever. Okay. I mean, I'm splitting hairs.

Sure. Of rehabilitation. Some sort of rehabilitation. Not like a house or a place like people go. A rehabilitation. Yeah, exactly. I'm not insinuating that it's for specific substance abuse or whatnot. That's not what I'm saying.

But help means that you're seeking professional rehabilitation, if that's the term. I'm just wondering, like, if you were going to kind of go down that path, maybe, you know, you would have used it earlier. That's just my... Used it earlier as the player or i just or the phrasing from the team yeah yeah that's all yeah you it's common for the nhlpa to put out a statement usually when someone does that right correct yeah yeah absolutely and to the

point where i think at that point you could seek uh relief off your salary cap as well i think they're you know i think kip that there are some personal situations that are hard that are really tough you just can't say to the world and you know there's some cases where you probably got to protect the player who's got something going on I don't believe that we're entitled to any type of news at all on it. I really don't. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that if you're going to go out of your way to absolutely give nobody anything in terms of information,

and we've gone through that with Austin Matthews. Just disappears day to day. You're on a need-to-know basis, and right now you don't need to know. And then he's off to Germany, and then Tree Living has to catch up to that news, right? So he's chasing it a little bit. Tree Living has to catch up to that news. Well, Brad Tree Living, you know, a few days ago,

met the media and said that he's on his way to Germany. And he wouldn't have known before he? Oh, he knew. Yeah. But he also knew that it was coming out because he knew Elliot had the story. Right. So he decided to go to the media and.

How is there not one, like, come on, Lease Nation. How is there not one person that got least nation how's there not one person that got a picture of him getting on a commercial flight it's insane anyways it's interesting because like what does you know professional sports leagues now are tied to betting sites um you know and they're and they're also people are put a lot of money into this as fans and season ticket holders is there some obligation for guys like matthews i don't think in Miller's case, but in Matthews' case, is there some obligation for the PR to not leave a vacuum but to say? I'm really surprised that the league has made this commitment to betting

and there isn't some sort of push on them to absolutely come clean on injuries. Just because of their leagues. The NFL in particular is like, know his left wrist yeah the tendon she has been yeah ankle like they're really crystal clear on it are they not you get a you get a report like on fridays i think it is and that's based on just the mere fact that practices and then it goes into the weekend but the basis is that there's no funny stuff when it comes to laying your bet. Pretty much.

That's part of it, yeah. Well, I mean, they've always kind of done it that way, but I think it's more, I would say that gambling is much more synonymous with the NFL than it is the NHL, but you know what? Sure. NHL. If you could have that clarity

or refs come out and talk after the game and explain calls, which would you pick? I've always said this. I hate the refs explaining calls because it doesn't, it's not going to solve anything. No, it just pours gasoline. Exactly. Like, you're going to have this guy come out here

and what, it's not like the fans are going to get to be like, hey, bozo, how'd you call that hook in the second? It's going to be, he's going to be like, yeah, well, I saw it that way. It was a fast game

and I made that decision. And then I wasn't happy and the ref just looks dumb. Yeah, you're never going to have a guy say a thing that happens a lot, which is I didn't see it. Yeah. What you're not going to get is, oh, okay.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. The ref changes mind. No, it's a little more time. I wish I hadn't made that call. John and Maple, you were right about that call against the Leafs. You were right.

And having said that, all that gambling done, it's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly only two games tonight but one on the network the uh vancouver canucks are in boston to take on the bruins actually a really good hockey game here oh yeah with uh love these two teams playing always makes you think of that that final just gets smoked tonight yeah like they had two pretty middling results against two bad teams they won nothing against utah and two one over red wings right so they haven't had any real tests since joe sacco took over so this is

the first one i would say that i do like the canucks tonight i think they're getting better back there's the talk of you know the talk of demco coming back it feels like they're getting Besser back. There's the talk of, you know, the talk of Demko coming back. It feels like they're starting to get a little bit more healthy. I like the Canucks tonight, and they're plus 100, so they're a bit of an underdog. The other game tonight is the Utah Hockey Club in Montreal. I have no idea who's going to win this game. Is it not Utah?

I guess it's Utah, but, I mean, I saw that team on Sunday night. They didn't have a ton. I don't know. They're better than Montreal. They're minus 135. If you wanted to do a Vancouver Canucks and Utah Hockey Club parlay, it plays plus 248 for the two games tonight. So that was game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. It's 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Plus 238. I'm betting that. Okay. Okay. We're going to have some fun here going around the league.

Before we do. Okay, I have a before we do too. Oh, we're never going to get to the things then. What do you got? The St. Louis thing. Martin St. Louis thing. Yeah. Gaz talked about the actual system they play.

Yeah. He's got them playing, you know, a hybrid, which low in the zone means they're man on man. So you got the youngest decor in the history of the league maybe they're a bunch of playing man on man chasing guys around i don't like that like it's hard sometimes to like have layers and stuff but they need help they need help defense they can't just you just can't say hey chase around the league's best guys. And that always exposes you in front of the net. It does. You're just chasing.

And, yeah, you got Gooley and Barron and Hudson and, you know, Jack Eye. That's tough, tough sledding for those D. Okay. I do like that Matheson, and he mentioned him. That guy flies. Go ahead. You trading for Matheson?

I like Matheson. Not with the Leafs. I think the Leafs decoy. That's not a part of the. I didn't say anything about the Leafs. Why do you always go to default? Because I'm a Leaf fan. That's why I'm here.

So you're like, am I? And then I usually take the. You're not allowed to do that on a national show. Too bad. So if I'm the Oilers, am I trading for him? Yes. Of course. Like no question.

He'd be a game changer for the Edmonton Oilers. He's a big game changer for them. Both Skinners. Both Skinners? Yeah. Yeah. Okay, one more for me, and then we can move on. Okay, because we did talk about him briefly.

He's going to be back in the lineup, Brock Besser. Cannot have a Mitch Marner conversation without having a Brock Besser. If you're the Vancouver Canucks, what do you pay him to stay? So Brock Besser is off a 40-goal season. He's just 27 years old. And he's making 6.65. And is that next year as well, or is he? No, he's a UFA.

UFA, baby. He is not Mitch Marner. Not even close. He is not the 200-foot PK. His ice time this year is... You're just loving Mitch Marner. You just gotta stop it. It's giving me the willies.

He's 17-08 TOI. And I just... it it's giving me the willies he's 1708 toi and i i just you know i don't think you want to get tied in for you know 80 million dollars to brock besser do you i mean maybe do 10 times eight is that um that's yeah that's a lot of money a lot of money that's a lot of money is he under that and i'm totally with you he's not not that. I don't know, though. Like, I don't know. The cap going up. It really throws a wrench into all this stuff. The problem for me with him is health.

So last year he played 81 games and scored 40. His previous years, like, it drops pretty good. He's got years where he's 62, 69, 57, 56. Well, 56 is the shortened season. But he just hasn't always been healthy. Correct me if I'm wrong, Bill. We're talking about a 28-year-old? 27.

Even younger. Yeah. And actually, now that I say that, two more seasons are pandemic-related. He's pretty healthy. Hey, he is right in the wheelhouse right now for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, I mean, you don't get better

by getting rid of good players. I'm not. Thank you. I'm not thank you i'm not letting this guy go because i cannot they're not easy you can't find them easily right right so i'm i gotta pay him i gotta just come to the the fact that i can't can't go and easily find another guy like that so i I've got to dig down deep here. What do you think then? What's the number you got?

I think, yeah, 8.5. 8.85? Is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he's an important piece of what they got going on. All right. That's it.

I just want to make sure that we can agree on a signing. I think we're there. Yeah. I think we're there. Handshake? Distance handshake. So I'm not supposed to say quarter pool awards? No.

Sorry. Quartermark. Quartermark. Okay. Horse racing related. Down the stretch we come. We're going to do some quarter mark awards. And we're going to do, I think, the big four.

Hart, Vezna, Norris, Jack Adams. Those are the big four. Okay. Those are the good ones. The sexy ones. Unless you want to pour over some defensive metrics for the Selkie, then I'll let you have that. But, all right. We'll start with the big one first.

The Hart Memorial Trophy to this point of the season. Kip, you'd like to lead us off? Yeah. Yeah. I get the excitement on Kirill the Thrill in terms of a team that I didn't see coming. Yeah. So he's in my mix. This Nakes coming. Yeah. So, he's in my mix. This Nakesh.

Yeah. Like, when you are leading the league in scoring, you got to get the name right, right? I think it's Nakesh. Nakesh? Nakesh? I'm willing to learn. Yeah.

Yeah, we'll work with him if he leads the league, for sure. Yeah, if he's... I got to think that he's right up there i think yeah you can easily go back to the mckinnons of the world and even leon's up there with the scoring but i think you gotta gotta look around too and look at some teams that you don't think necessarily will be there yeah we don't we don't give hearts to goalies, but how can you not look at Connor Hellebuck right now and look at that record and look at that goals against average

and that save percentage and go, come on. They have an award for goalies, though. Yeah, I don't think that's fair. I don't like that. I think you can win. A couple of goalie defenders over here. I think you can win the Vezna and you can win the MVP too. Yes.

Was it Theodore? Theodore was the last one in? Oh, no. Carey Price did it? He won MVP? Yeah. Carey Price won a Hart Trophy? Yeah.

Yeah, he did. Yeah, and there was Theodore before him. Yeah. So who's your pick? A lot of dancing over there. Yeah. I'll stick with Kirill the Thriller. You are're gonna do krill after 20 i think it's fine it's a good vote right like minnesota is overachieving where you thought i think colorado

like i i actually am on the other side of uh choosing this where it's like lebron james won four mvp trophies over his 22 yearyear NBA career. To me, that's insane. You know, you're like looking for guys to give it to, and it's like, that's the best guy. Give it to the best guy. To me, Nathan McKinnon this year is taking that Avs team without McKinnon. I just don't know. I don't know what they are.

They're 12-10, and they're 7-3 in their last 10, dragging them to relevance. He's picked it up. He's picked it up. And he's just, you know, z's picked it up and he's just you know zillion shots out there he's such a bull um you can go mccarr a little bit too in that conversation i like eichel yeah i like eichel like eichel i do yeah i mean we had jesse granger on and he talked to me he's a top power play kills penalties top center second in the league in points for a

team that's got 30 points already he He's taking his game to another level. I like Eichel. That's my vote. With his fused neck? His fused neck, yeah. Okay. So you have Kirill, you have McKinnon, I have Eichel. Vesna.

Vesna, you talked about Hellebuck, and I'm with you on that. Yeah, I don't think there's any. I think Stolarz is right behind him. You know, just the games played probably a factor for you there? That's the distance for sure. Yeah, I mean, if you look at just save percentage and go around the league, like guys who play with some consistency, it's a lot of guys that you don't hear a ton about.

Stolarz, you know, Vamelka, Gustafsson, Dustall, DeCord, Dustin Wolf. So it's not exactly a who's who of guys, and you don't have – Shusterkin is a 9-14. He's always good. Vasilevsky's a 9-15. He's always in the mix. Oh, Saros is back to 9-15 too. How many Veznas does Hellebuck have?

Does he have two Veznas? Yeah, he's – to me, he is the obvious one that you would say. But I think Stolarz does deserve some. If we're doing the finalists, the finalists at the quarter mark, he's in the finalists at the quarter mark. No question. But it's got to be Hellebuck. I mean, they're just having an unbelievable year,

and he's been a huge part of it. Okay. 17 and 4, or 18 and4, the Jets now. Norris, trophy winner. You got anything other than Makar? Are you going to do the Hughes thing? It's one of the two. Is there even a third choice?

Morrissey? It's just not the same league to me. No. I agree with you on that. Hughes is 11 points behind Makccarr like i've heard people in vancouver try to tell me that hughes points aside is better than his norris trophy season that he controls the play like no one else and drives everything for for the canucks mccarr is our generation's bobby or 11 point lead 20 games into the season is

too substantial for me to overlook particularly it just comes down to mccarr's mccarr better than quinn hughes yeah yeah he is and i know that's where you'll sway that's where that's where you're gonna yeah yeah that's my argument again they're as valuable to their teams equally yeah i would agree with that like they're both as cooked without the one guy totally yeah totally and there's just no one else that like you've talked about is morgan riley a number one it's like we're talking about different sports essentially with those type of number ones those are guys that put you ahead of the pack. Just looking at Bet365's odds here.

Let's have it. I mean, it's McCarr is minus 280. Quinn Hughes is plus 900. And then falls off a cliff. Quinn Hughes is plus 900? Yeah, and then it goes to Josh Morrissey. It's plus 1600. God, if McCarr stubs his toe and misses two weeks,

it could be Hughes. Bet Hughes. Yeah, so there you go. So, value. The days of, like, Rod Lang langway winning it that was a unique for blocking shots or i mean there's defense there has been you know the conversation of a defensive defenseman award i just don't know how you would quantify that you know like yeah or it's like uh the most points plus 20 in carolina it's good. McNabb's plus 17.

It should just be called the defenseman with the most points award. Wins the Norris. Carlson won at the one-year-old points in San Jose and a terrible Sharks team. If you've got the most points, you win. That's basically what it comes down to. I wonder how often it's gone not to the guy with the most points. The last one I'll bring up is the Jack Adams award. Imagine saying anything other than Spencer Carberry. Anyone want to try? Yeah, I'll bring up is the Jack Adams award. Imagine saying anything other than Spencer Carberry.

Anyone want to try? Yeah, I'll try. I mean, Scott Arneal's pretty good. I'm going to shut my mouth. That's a great pick. He's pretty good. I've made this point on this show before, though. They had 110 points last year. Berube's top three. 20-1

on bet 365 for Greg Berube. Isn't he? Yeah, I mean, I guess. Like, Minnesota. I don't know. I mean, they've been playing this stretch with an AHL forward core. Where's Keefe? He is ahead of Craig Berube. Brandy Moore, honorable mention.

Yeah. Like, who's their goalie? Like, they're right up there. 15-5 Carolina, Ed. they're looking for a goalie you know what i think is going to be interesting is new jersey fought over getting a goalie and you know part of what's that what does what does it mean they fought well internally some of the management didn't agree with some of their analytic assessment of their need for a goalie i don't think oh gosh yeah i think that's part of the reason it didn't

happen and it was wrong to not do it they should have got a goalie my point is tyler dello got hired by carolina now and it's not necessarily a goalie guy i think they're yeah they were all the delay on markstrom was the price. Yeah. But I see where you're going with it. Was it Fitzy talking about, you know, we're not making the trade? Yeah, they probably had internal discussions on the sense of urgency on it. Yes. And I think the hockey guys won over the nerds.

Yeah, and they just didn't pull the trigger because of price? Yeah. I think Ryan Huska deserves some love. Yeah. You know, if they ever found a way to keep being good and sneak into the playoffs. It's so true that none of us picked Huska because none of us believe it's sustainable. I know. Like, if they ended with a 6-14 winning percentage after trading away and punting on the season,

he'd be right up there. But even to get to this point. Yeah. Like, they even fought hard in that game last night. They almost came back and won. Well, that's the thing with early season momentum. When you win some games and you get some belief yeah it's just tough to put those teams away it is uh flames got something good going on unlike the auto senators who don't have those vibes oh yeah they're like please god we can't blow this one uh most surprising

team for you guys so far flames uh no more washington for me i still look at their lineup and i go uh how yeah they beat uh florida yesterday right 401 and i'm with you kip you go through this roster and it's like okay ovi's out top line has protest and strom on it with wilson mcmichael dubois radish is their second line lap Lapierre, Eller, Mangiapont. You know who's been real good for them? It's Chikrin. Yeah? Yes. Yeah. I think he's come in and he's

alleviated a lot of weight off of John Carlson. Rasmus Sandin, their number one. Carlson. Oh. Carlson's been good too. And he's always been sneaky good. You never look at him and go he's one of the best in the league or one of the flashiest but that guy has been a rock for them for a very long time look at the theme of teams who overachieve you know you're talking

Washington who is very good on the back end with Chikorin Matt Roy that. I like that Fehavari or whoever you say it. They got Sandin's fine. Whatever. He's not playing a ton for them. Advanced stats love him. But their D's pretty good. Calgary has Rasmus Anderson and Mac Weeger playing big minutes. And that Kevin Ball's worked out for them too. It's a real theme. The Leafs

have been good this year with all their forwards gone because they got a good D-core this year. Good goalies. And you look at the teams who win cups. Vegas' decor, absurdly good. The Colorado decor they won was so good. You're right. I might be onto a theme here. Which defense wins championships?

Has anyone ever said this before? Which kind of would scare the Edmonton Oilers fans right now. Quick love for the Buffalo Sabres. Playoff started today. They'd be in the playoffs. That's a quarter mark. The Sabres.

Yep. Ahead of the Bruins. I would like to see them get active. Trade someone or for someone. 11-9-1. Get better. All right. If you like this conversation, just pick it up by watching JB tonight on Sportsnet.

Yes, sir. Luke Gassick and you. Yep. Got a score for me, Vancouver and Boston? Mm-hmm. Vancouver 4-1. 4-1. That's exactly what I was score for me. Vancouver and Boston. Vancouver 4-1. That's exactly what I was going to say. There you go. You heard it here first, folks. Enjoy your games tonight.

Our thanks to Gord Stelic and Luke Gastic. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. Download us. Watch us on YouTube. Thanks for watching. Thanks for for listening have a great night everybody