Real Kyper & Bourne - Canadian Teams' Playoff Potential

Episode Date: April 18, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start the second hour with Hockey Night in Canada's David Amber, who goes through the Canadian playoff teams, their Round 1 outlooks and which player will be the biggest difference-maker. Then, with the sale now official, he discusses the Coyotes' move to Salt Lake City, the emotional final game at Mullett Arena and what the league has learned from their nearly 30 years in Arizona. Finally, they regroup with Sam McKee for news and notes - the fallout in Arizona, Meruello not showing up to the final game and Jakob Chychrun's provides no certainty on his future in Ottawa.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.

welcome into the real kipper and born show as we go national justin bourne sammy mckee derrick brandeo frank the tank it's always good to get frank the tank back in the show it is it is he does great work his luscious flowing hair see i can almost see frank like coming in if you want to go golfing one day, we'll bring in Frank. Thanks, Kippy. Appreciate that. Listen, you guys thought I called in sick last week

to go golfing, so I didn't. To watch the Masters. Oh, right. That's what it was. You're right. That's what it was. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. As always, this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. All right, let's welcome him in.

Studio host does it all for us here at Roger Sportsnet. Monday nights, hockey night in Canada, you name it, David Amber. Round of applause. Clicks, clicks, clicks, clicks. DA! What's going on? Come on, guys. I heard luscious flowing hair,

and I knew you were getting ready to introduce me here, so here I am. What's going on? For those of you that can't see David Amber, he's on monitor today. You got the fake background going for us, or is that... Like, what's going on here? It's our entrance way.

I don't know what to tell you. All right. All right. Well, just something, and you're bundled up, too. Like, what's going on? Usually you're showing your guns. No, no guns. I like the free stuff.

Where's my real Kipper and Bourne free swag? I'm hitting up the 32 thoughts free swag right now. So send some my way. All right. I'll work on that. I'll make that happen. I'll work on that. There we go.

No one from personal experience, no one gets more excited this time of year than you. Four teams in DA and no wild cards. Four seeded teams here from Canada. Watching you watch playoff hockey is the equivalent to someone going to Canada's Wonderland

and riding the roller coaster. Yeah, it starts with excitement and it ends with I'm terrified and then I'm depressed. I was going to say, yeah, it ends if there's spikes at the bottom because it ends in a frustrating fashion it has recently for a lot of these Canadian teams. Maybe we'll start by getting your perspective

on the four Canadian teams heading into the postseason. Whose odds you like? How you're feeling about the situation? It's rare for me because, you know, they call me bipolar Bobby in the green room because I'm freaking out so much. But I think, you know, I like the look of the Canadian teams right now.

I really do. I mean, the Jets are on a nice roll, and I know momentum going into the playoffs doesn't mean that much, but they have shown at their best this year that they're a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. They have, you know, obviously a very solid team top to bottom. They're built for the playoffs.

They're big, so strong. They're deep. They have a great goaltender. Vancouver might be a bit of the wild card simply because we haven't seen them in the last few years in the postseason. But I like the first round draw they have in Nashville. I like the fact they don't have to go through, let's say, Vegas to start things out. It's nice for them and that's no disrespect to nashville but i prefer that matchup for vancouver a team they they handled nicely at least during the regular season um i you know i really like where they're situated edmonton you know we gotta wait to see who their first round matchup is if

it's the kings obviously in some respects you, they've been there, done that, disposed of them in the first round the last two years. Some people say, you know what, it might be good for them to go through Vegas. If they're going to have to go through Vegas regardless, you might as well start there and see where it gets you. I like how the Canadian teams

are positioned. I've said this, though, for two months with both you guys and with everyone else we've talked hockey with. There's eight or nine teams that are going into this Stanley Cup playoffs, seeing themselves as Stanley Cup contenders. The four Canadian teams are in that group. They can all be standing when we get through the first round, or they can all be

done or done the first round, and that's what makes the playoffs so exciting. As you mentioned, Edmonton will have to wait. Vegas and Anaheim tonight will dictate it. This time of year, whether you're an Oiler fan or a Leaf fan, prior to the results last night, you know, you could sit there and say, okay, Boston for the Leafs or Florida for Edmonton fans,

LA, Vegas, better to get it out of the way quickly with Vegas. Go at it in the first round. Can this be overanalyzed, David, picking your opponent, at least from a fan perspective? I think so. We saw that firsthand last year with the Leaf fans. We were pretty excited to get Florida in the second round. Hey, we don't have to worry about Boston.

And we all saw how that worked out. You know, listen, a few years ago we saw I think in the 15th playoff series the the lower seeded team won 11 of the 15 playoff series a couple of years ago so you know I talked to Colorado had to deal with Seattle like it's there's there's no you know it's the margins are so so tight in the salary cap era anything can happen we saw Florida as an eight seed get to the Stanley Cup final last year. I think it's more just how you match up, right? I do think there's an advantage

in home ice simply because you can dictate some of the matchups and you have a little bit of a mojo maybe on home ice. For some teams, it clearly hasn't been an advantage for the Leafs in the last few years and maybe it'll be better for them to start on the road. But I think you just got to look up and down the roster and sort of say how do we stack up versus team a or team b um but at the

end of the day it's going to take you know you have to get through four very good opponents to win a stanley cup that's the bottom line there's no easy path here as far as the leafs are concerned though i think this is actually a pretty good thing for them whether it was florida or boston like let's get at it right get you know in boston's case the psychological advantage is so overwhelming um maybe just for the fan base not as much for the players but the fans are just like oh god here we go again with boston but this could just be a really uh you know seminal moment in this leafs franchise history if they can get past boston the first round all bets are off you have to like how they match up despite the fact they were swept

during the regular season how they match up down the the fact they were swept during the regular season, how they match up down the middle. And one thing I've said about the Leafs, and Nick, you know, we talk about this a lot on our Leaf Regionals with you and Justin and Elliot. They're not going to get pushed around.

The Leafs might lose the first round. They really, it's a coin flip as far as I'm concerned, but they're not going to get pushed around. They're not going to be bullied as we've seen in previous playoff series at certain junctures during the series. And it's sort of caused a lot of angst

and consternation in Leaf Nation, the fact that they didn't necessarily equip themselves with a team that could handle what it takes in the Stanley Cup playoff time. So I don't think that's going to be an issue this year. So that'll be really interesting to see. Do you think this is the last hurrah

for the the core four and shanahan and the whole thing is this do you see a world where they you know win a playoff round and all right we're gonna run her back again for another try wow we're already into the postseason breakdown i gotta set the stakes to you uh listen i think there's a lot of teams that there's a lot on the line and Toronto's probably one of them where you've had this core group and what have we been able to accomplish? You know, what

are our goals and are we meeting those goals? Listen, I don't know. It really depends, right? There's a big difference, I guess, getting swept in four games, losing five, nothing every game and getting to the second round and losing in game seven in overtime, right? Like, at the end of the day, you don't accomplish accomplish your goals but they look and feel a lot different so i think we're gonna have to wait and see and specifically how those players perform and a lot's been made

you know marner uh kneelander uh matthews and if you want to include tavaris and riley in that group like what are they going to do this is what they're making the big dollars for this is they do all these great things in the regular season. Will it translate to the postseason? The supporting cast around them is probably a little stronger, a little deeper, and could provide them a little more space, which will be important for them. And now it's time to sort of step up.

So let's wait and see what happens, but that's what makes it really exciting, because I'm sure there's like five or six other teams going into this. Same idea. We've had this nucleus group together for a while, and now's the time we're expecting to have some real results. I want to get your thoughts on Austin's chase for 70. There's no question that the buildup was incredible,

led by broadcasters like yourself and Sammy McKee here. But where are you on the disappointment? And if there's a chance it could bleed into the first round, or can they put that completely behind them, including Austin, and start from ground zero here? But your initial thoughts of what transpired the last week with the chase? Listen, as a hockey fan i'm disappointed something

we haven't seen in so long right 1992 93 mcgillney solani it's been a long time i like these milestone chases you know i've been touting the the ov chase for some time now like i like the idea of a guy scoring 70 goals i like the idea of a guy getting 150 points those sorts of milestones um as justin pointed out to me hey it's just they're round numbers. It doesn't really mean anything. 69, 70 is one goal difference. True, but we do look at milestones for a reason. We do look at those numbers for a reason.

I saw the disappointment with Matthews, with his teammates, certainly with his parents. And you kind of feel on a human level like, oh, that would have been so cool. And maybe, let's say he's 20, what, six years old? This might not be the last time he's flirting with 70. So I think the second point you made, though, is the most salient point. And that's, okay, regular season's over. It was funny to watch in the last couple days where the team was, like,

uni-focused on scoring. I mean, Brody hadn't scored in a year and a half or whatever. If he scores a goal, you would have thought he was going to a funeral. It just looked so depressing for him. You know, like, it was funny. We saw something we'll probably, you know, never see again in that sense or in a long time, the level of disappointment. You know, Tavares looked, you know, crestfallen after scoring

in the last minute there. So I think now let's see the maturity of this team. And a couple times this year, Sheldon Keefe has called out the questionable maturity level of the team. It will show a great sign of maturity for when they hit the TD Garden ice on Saturday night. That's all in the past. Who cares about that? Let's get back to the real goal of the season, and that's to work our way through the Stanley Cup playoffs and show something really growth as a team, not just winning one series, et cetera. But let's start with game one versus Boston. I think the team will be focused.

I think they know what's at hand. You know, Tampa Bay is a mature team. They wanted to get Kucherov 100. He got his 100 yesterday. They're ready to turn the page as they get set for the Florida Panthers. I'm sure the Edmonton Oilers, McDavid got his 100. They're ready to turn the page as well.

So in all the individual marketplaces, there was things to be excited about, guys. But I think, you know, again, when puck drops Saturday, everyone knows what's at stake, what it takes. And they don't have to look any further than across the ice. They see Pasternak, they see Marchand. It'll be really clear right away, like, oh, man, we better be ready because they're going to be bringing it.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, before we move on from Canadian teams, and I know we want to talk, ask some Utah questions at some point too, but I did want to get your thought on, do you think of the Canadian teams? Connor Hellebuck has a chance to be the biggest difference maker.

We have Connor McDavid in Edmonton, Austin Matthews here, but a goaltender can truly steal series for a team. And does he not feel like the guy who's got the best chance to have a massive impact here? Well, Vancouver fans might say Thatcher Demko should be in that. Yep. Yeah.

And when you asked me right off the top, you know, how do I like the Canadian team's chances? I immediately thought, you know, yeah, Demko in Vancouver, Hellebuck in Winnipeg. You got two studs there and we've seen in the past, it hasn't always been the case. Listen, I know Colorado won with Darcy Kemper, and I know, you know, Washington won with Holtby. And, you know, like, they've had guys who weren't necessarily the top goaltenders. You have to get at least good goaltending.

We saw that with Florida last year. Their goalies didn't steal series as much as they allowed the team to win the series um but to have a guy like demko and we've seen bubble demko we can see what he does you know dallas has a guy like jay cottinger i've never seen a goalie perform better in a series despite the fact they lost in overtime in game seven that jay cottinger versus calgary two years ago they should have been swept i mean it was unbelievable he's facing 50 plus shots a few times in that series goalies make a huge difference this time of year. So, yeah, I think that's 100% part of the reason why I do have a sense of optimism. If I'm a Canucks fan, if I'm a Jets fan, I go, yeah, we're riding with the two guys

who are probably going to finish 1-2 in Vezna voting this year. I like my chances for sure. You worried about Demko being off for such a long period of time, 14 games? Well, I mean, he played, what, two nights ago? And he looked Demko being off for such a long period of time, 14 games? Well, I mean, he played, he played what, two nights ago and he looked Demko-esque. He wasn't overly challenged, but he looked very solid. You know, someone was taking the adage that maybe some rest is a good thing. You know, maybe we've seen even with Vasilevsky last year, we saw he was probably a little worn down.

You know, the Leafs made him look very human in that first-round playoff series. Now Vasilevsky missed the first 20 games of the year getting back surgery, guys. He's starting to look pretty damn good again in net for Tampa. So maybe a little rest for any of these guys is not a bad thing necessarily. You know, time will tell. Again, of the four Canadian teams, I think Vancouver's a bit the most of a wild card simply because we haven't seen this group in the playoffs together. Having said that, they've been arguably the most consistent team

in the National Hockey League, right? They've led that division since December 21st. The Oilers were hard-charging fast. At one point, Vegas was hard-charging fast. They held everyone off. They held on to their first division title in 11 years. So I'm pretty optimistic about what Vancouver can do, and I'm pretty optimistic that Patrick Demko's back healthy

and will be the old Demko when the playoffs start for them. I think it's Sunday now. DA, the big story in the NHL today, I mean, on the eve of playoffs, is that the Board of Governors have approved the sale of the Arizona Coyotes to Utah, Ryan Smith in Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. What are your thoughts on what's going on here?

Some interesting details coming out, like the history of the Coyotes will not be going to Salt Lake City the way that, say, Hartford's went to Carolina or the Winnipeg Jets went to Arizona in the first place. It's an inactive franchise that they can reactivate. What's your feeling right now watching the Coyotes leave the desert after all these years well if nothing else it's probably i first of all i feel bad for that fan base you

know like we always we mock the fan base but you know there is a core of hardcore fans there and listening to guys like louis de brusque who played there and seeing shane down back in the building last night and seeing the fans crying at the end you You know, we can all make fun of their franchise and it's been a poverty franchise for so long, but at the end of the day, there's hockey fans there, and we don't have to look any further. You know, Austin Matthews and other players that have come out, you know, Matthew Nyes, et cetera.

I mean, it's become, you know, pardon the pun, but a bit of a hotbed in many respects for young, burgeoning hockey talent, and I think that's a pretty cool storyline to come out of the desert. But the bigger picture is it's probably a cautionary tale for the NHL. You better choose your partners well. And I think they feel really confident with Smith in Salt Lake that he's going to be a good partner. He's young.

He's progressive. He's wealthy. He's stable. He wants to bring some innovation to the NHL. And they've been burned a few times, you know, with Jerry Moyes and Bear Away. You know, these guys filing for bankruptcy, the NHL having to take ownership of the team. Morello's had a whole number of problems and questionable conduct with his employees and with his business dealings, you know, throughout his tenure as a as an owner. And it's if nothing else, it's another cautionary tale.

Like, you've got to be careful who you're getting, you know, pardon the expression, but getting into bed with, you know, if you're the NHL and just making sure it's airtight ownership, people who can secure arenas, people who can pay for arenas if you need them, people who can live up to the promises that they make. So if nothing else, I think that's maybe what will be sort of the historic view of the big top view of what's happened here in Arizona. But I do think the NHL is going to go back there.

I think there's an appetite. We've seen there can be success. You can see it in the other sports franchises that are there. It's a very wealthy community around Arizona and Scottsdale. So it has the corporate dollars. It just needs a good owner, a stable owner. You can get this, you know, can help broker a deal with the city and find the right location and get the right arena. And then I think it'll be successful much the way Seattle's been successful and Vegas has been successful. And a lot of these non-traditional markets are proving to be fairly successful in the NHL right now.

We're talking to David Amber, David Amber, studio host with Hockey Night in Canada, NHL on Sportsnet, as he awaits his real Kipperen-born hoodie. Me too. Just the thought that the league, Gary Bettman, his ownership group, would go to Salt Lake City so quickly

and not even consider anything in Canada, which would probably lend to Quebec? How bad of a sign is that moving forward? And ultimately, should Winnipeg be worried in the next few years, David? Well, Kipper, that's a good question. I think if you're asking that question to Gary Bettman as opposed to me, you know, he might say, well, we have this great eager owner.

If we had maybe someone with the same pockets in, you know, in Quebec, maybe that would be a different storyline. You know, I think they're eager. This is a different market. They want to penetrate. They haven't, you know, they've sort of seen that there's the possibilities there are pretty good. I think they're really excited to have a partnership with that family as the new owners. And I don't know.

I'm not, you know, listen, the Winnipeg storyline wasn't great off the ice this year. I'm a lot more optimistic. Certainly in the next two months, we're going to see a lot of excitement potentially in Winnipeg. It's a great hockey market. And, you know, that ownership group has very deep pockets as well. I'm not worried about the security of the Winnipeg Jets at this point. You know, you say how quickly they moved to Salt Lake. Some would say, say my god how long

do they hang on to arizona for this is a move that probably could have been done maybe not to salt lake but certainly out of arizona years ago so i don't think gary bettman and the league has any interest in taking all that time and all those blemishes with arizona and then you know abruptly moving a team from winnipeg like that it it would take many, many years and many, many problems, I would think, to move that team. But again, this is me speculating. I have no inside knowledge of anything. How would you feel about the Utah Hockey Club

going by Utah Hockey Club for the first year? Because there is some rumblings that that will be the name for a year while they figure out what to name the team. Utah HC, are you into it? Real Utah, how are you feeling? I'm not feeling it. No? Do you want a name?

Is that really happening? I did see that. That's out there, yeah. I thought they're not going with Utah. I thought they're going with Salt Lake something. No, going to be Utah. It's going to be Utah. So it is going to be Utah.

Okay. I don't know. Listen, as long as it's not the jazz and people go, well, Utah, when I think of Utah, I do not think of jazz. I think of a lot of it.

Not a ton of lakes in Los Angeles either. Yeah. Well, exactly. Well, there you go. The Lakers came over from Minnesota and the jazz came from New Orleans.

So it all makes sense in that regard. I don't know what they're going to do, but it shouldn't be the Utah hockey team. I get it. I get the whole FC football club and how that works, but no, they got to come up with something. They've got a couple of months and I hope they have a big, nice reveal

the way Seattle did with the Kraken. The Kraken, I was like, oh gosh, I'm not a big fan of that name, but you warm up to it, right? I wasn't a big fan of the Raptors when they came to Toronto. I was like, the Raptors. Yeah, because it's bad.

But then it grows on you. And you're like, okay, I can work with this. So there it is. I don't know. Do you guys guys have a name do you have a good name for you know there's not a whole lot of uh alliteration names with you pal they can't call them the umbrellas or the ukuleles so i don't know we got some work to do to figure out a name here i got nothing i got nothing to go with salt lake city you know utah nothing shakers Lake City, Utah, nothing. Shakers? Zero. Zero. The university or the Utes. U-T-E-S. Utah Utes. I think, is it the Beehive State?

I've seen the stingers and bee-related ones. It's Joe Pesci, right? Utes? Two Utes. Two Utes. Two Utes. David, we know you're a voting member this time of year. Anything that happened in the last week

that would change your mind on voting for, say, MVP? DA and I have been arguing for a week. Yeah, this is really, it's really tough. I mean, Kucherov has an incredible resume. It's going to be an Art Ross, and he, you know, lapped his teammates, and, you know, 100 assists, something only four other guys have done.

The resume, it's really nice. The eye test to me would say McKinnon. If I had to pick one sort of seminal moment and go, this is my MVP, you guys saw McKinnon's hat trick last week against Minnesota, right? Yeah, going block five on every goal. There's only one other player in the league who could do that in my opinion that's 97 in edmonton and if he outscored mcdavid and you know

basically had every metric ahead of mcdavid this year you're not you can't vote mcdavid ahead of mckinnon this year i think and mckinnon to the eye test is just so incredible, guys. It's hard to lean off of him. You know, in a way, it's made the voting a little bit easier in my eyes. If Matthews got 70, that would have been a whole nother thing to digest. That's such a huge number. And again, he'd be the ninth player ever. And I get it. Sixty nine is still an incredible number. I'm not diminishing it. It's just I think it's a weird year, guys. On any of those four guys, McDavid, McKinnon, Kucherov and Matthews. And then you also even have Panarin in a different

year. Panarin will be getting a lot of consideration, right? Like a lot, Pasta, Hellebuck, Quinn Hughes. This is a very unique year. It's a bad year to have a year career year, actually the national hockey league. One thing I'll say about it is yeah, the eye test to me, you've got to kind of trust your gut and your eye. To me, and I'm still sort of hemming and hawing, but my eye is saying, man, McKinnon has just been an absolute

force and a beast this year. And this might be the year he definitely deserves to be that guy. Awesome stuff, David Amber. Thanks, DA. Don't be a stranger on our show. At any time, guys.

I'm excited. You put me on the hot seat with some of the Arizona stuff and the Canadian team. Well, listen, we've got to push you. You've never been pushed. Too kind. We've got to make him uncomfortable. Yes. Well, Kipper, you picked Dallas to win the Cup.

Before you boot me off the air, you're sticking with Dallas? Because that's the thing. I don't really know. Dallas might be the team to beat. Yeah. Well, you mentioned Ottinger's incredible performance a couple years back against Calgary. If he comes anywhere near that, they're going to be very tough to beat. I think as of today, I like Carolina.

I think Carolina's my team. Really? Yeah. Justin Williams would like that call. They addressed what they needed to address. Gensel's been fantastic. They just seemed a little more deep and a little bit more ready. That was the problem. They scored six goals in the

East final versus Florida as they got swept last year. Six goals. But Bras get a lot to do with that. But I do feel they're a good deep team. And maybe we are sleeping on Carolina a little bit. But also, Freddie Anderson winning a Stanley Cup would be the perfect thing to happen to Leaf fans. So that as well.

Yeah. Well, we'll see, guys. Listen, hopefully I'll be back during playoffs and we can chat over some of this because this first round is going to be epic. And, you know, buckle up because I think fans are on the edge of their seats already in anticipation about what could happen for their teams in a good way or in a bad way. What do you mean hopefully? We got you penciled in for next Tuesday, Thursday, Monday, Friday. Next two weeks.

You're not going anywhere other than on Sportsnet covering the Stanley Cup Finals. Have a great run, buddy, okay? And we're going to get you back on soon. Thanks for having me, fellas. It was fun doing the Leaf Regionals with you this year, and I look forward to talking soon. You bet.

You too, buddy. Thanks a lot. That is David Amber, studio host, Hockey Night in Canada, NHL's sportsnet, and a great guy. The man. So as you guys were talking. Oh, boy. You were, you know, this is kind of my wheelhouse when it comes to naming teams and, you know, jerseys and that kind of stuff.

No, you don't seem very good at it. It's my wheelhouse. You like to do it. I like doing it. Okay. I never said it was good, but it's my wheelhouse. I like it. So the symbols of the state of Utah.

Okay. The state bird is a California seagull. Oh. Seems interesting. They picked a seagull from a different state? The state cooking pot is a Dutch oven. Oh, boy. The state emblem is a beehive.

Yeah. The state flag, the flag and seal. Don't really know what that means. The state folk dance is a square dance. The state fruit is a cherry. The state grass is Indian rice grass. Anything here, boys? Any inspiration?

I wore the uniform of the Dixie Beehives. Did you really? I was a Dixie Beehive. That's a hockey team? For like two weeks, yes. Out of Mississauga. I wore a Utah of the Dixie Beehives. Did you really? I was a Dixie Beehive. That's a hockey team? For like two weeks, yes. Out of Mississauga. I wore a Utah Grizzlies jersey in the East Coast Hockey League. Boys, the state vegetable is a Spanish sweet onion.

The Utah Spanish sweet onions? Hey, we're going to need the whole year for sure. They need a year to come up with it. The state historic vegetable is a sugar beet. Ooh, the sugar beet. Utah sugar beet is not bad. I'm in on sugar beets. And the state rock boy is a really exciting one.

Coal. Oh, darn. Utah coal. What about the coal miners? Utah coal miners. I didn't find anything in there. Nothing? No.

Well, the state motto is industry. That's the state motto? I mean, the state motto is industry that's the state motto i mean the state song is utah this is the place utah is known for a bunch of stuff but i gotta ask you guys because i get the sense you know amber kind of alluded to it there you were talking about the not coming to canada we're are you getting the sense that people are bent at a shape that they didn't move it to canada like is that something're are you getting the sense that people are bent out of shape that they didn't move it to canada like is that something that you're getting the sense of because i don't feel that at all i i think in all honesty i think reality's kind of set in yeah that we've we've

kind of maxed out in this country like there are no saskatoon love saskatoon. Shout out. Yeah. Just, but where is, where's the industry? Where's the markets? Where's the corporate support to buy $200, $300 tickets? Yeah, that's tough. And the salaries are going up. The league is changing in terms of each corporate support. In the next four or five years, we're going to blink from a $75 million payroll to 100 plus, right?

Mm-hmm. So where's that revenue coming from? And if you can't spend to that cap, then you can't compete, then it's kind of a cycle, a circle. So no, to answer your question, I don't think so because I think people are starting to understand the the challenges and the economics of it all and like their sports is getting into a dangerous area with uh how much are people willing to pay yeah and i think you know i think the older me would have gotten upset about this not getting moved to canada but i you know it's not they

didn't go back to atlanta with this team they didn't go to houston or they went to somewhere where it's like i don't know maybe it could work there maybe that's a team like that they've had hockey there in the past you know the owner seems good like i actually am totally fine with the salt lake city outcome yeah and uh travis yost had a good article today on why the market is very viable because it's much more than just the Salt Lake market itself with Provo and Ogden and the area. Like it's a pretty viable place. You know, the one thing I think that's shown over the last, you know,

I don't know, five or ten years is that it's, the strength is it's essentially a regional league, right? That we don't have the markets that can drive 32 interested franchises. Like, no matter how you slice it, whether it's TNT or NBC or ABC, like, it's I want Chicago. I want New York. I want L.A. I don't want Carolina. I don't want New York. I want L.A. I don't want Carolina. I don't want Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay might be in a different field, but there are markets where they just want nothing to do with it. Like TNT didn't even want to come up to Edmonton for an outdoor game. But they were told they have to. Yeah. So it's like Salt Lake City. Those guys, I don't know how far off they are from contending, but they got some talent there.

It's a gift to Salt Lake City and the state of Utah that they're getting a team that has tremendous upside in the next few years. So you're saying, though, it's a negative for the league to be in Salt Lake City and that they don't want to. That's not Boston. You get Salt Lake City in a Stanley Cup final. I'm not sure how many people are going to want to watch.

Yeah, it's much like Seattle, I feel, since they've come in. They've gone... Salt Lake, Columbus. On my power rankings of team I want to watch dead last in the league, Seattle can't be far from that. No? No.

It's like I don't have any. I mean, first of all. It would have helped if they had some more players. They had no stars. It's like they're a new franchise. I really don't have any desire really to watch them. But you're right. The teams I want to watch are the big market teams when they're good.

That's what it comes down to. Original six team, Canadian teams. Right. Which is why the league is drawn to Atlanta where there's, I don't know, 6 million people or whatever. It's, you know, they're big, big markets. Phoenix is included in that. Greg, I forget his last name.

Forgive me, Greg. But Houston reporter talking about Houston and how close are they. And there's no question that that's a market that the league would love to kind of tap into. Rajon? Rajon, maybe. So that would whet the appetite because they would be considered a market that could tap into a very healthy portion. Yeah.

It's the same size as Toronto. South of the border here. Just quickly before I go to break, I was just looking at some of the notable alumni for the Dixie Beehives. Oh, boy. Nick Kiprios listed on that list. Are you kidding me right now?

Brandon Shanahan on that list. Dave McIlwain on that list. Wow, I'm in good company. Randy Cunningworth on that list. Yes. Rickwain on that list. Wow, I'm in good company. Randy Cunningworth on that list. Yes. Rick Dudley. Some good names on here, bud. What league is that?

Oh, that's Tier 2. That would be... Founded in 1949. What became of the Metro Junior B? Oh, Dixie's in Ontario. Yes. No, no, I told you, Mississauga. It was based out of Mississauga.

Oh. Yeah. So there you go. I thought he was like... Yeah, you should have seen that barn. Mississippi wire oh yeah right i'm sure everything that happened during those games was completely above board no greasiness completely fine jail for somebody absolutely let's do a game time the other side right okay we're gonna take a quick break when we return sammy with his game time and we'll get a little bit more out of the Coyote news last night

because we watched. I want to get your thoughts on what you saw last night and the emotion in it. And, yes, it's still the mullet arena, but the thoughts of even Arizona going back. I want to hear from you guys. I got thoughts. That and more when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. breaking down the top stories in hockey and elliot friedman every day

the jeff merrick show subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts So the Coyotes end their season last night in an emotional game, no question about it. Just your overall thoughts on... Before we do that, let's do game time. Oh, why don't you remind me before we come back on air? Why do you let me go,

and then you're like, oh, we gotta go game time. Because we literally mentioned it five minutes ago. I guess that's a long time. Okay, it's game time. Presented by Bet365. It's at the app for the latest odds.

To find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365, must be 19 plus, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, this's game time. Presented by Bet365. It's at the app for the latest odds. To find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365, it must be 19 plus, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, this is very interesting. As I'm looking at the futures for the playoffs coming up, they have already posted the odds for the Conn Smythe Trophy winner before we even started the playoffs.

Wow. Yes, which is very interesting. And the top three are, I find, predictable yet interesting. So let's guess them. Would you like to guess the top three favorites for the year? Hunter McDavid, number one. Correct, 10 to 1. Yeah.

The next favorite. McKinnon. Correct, 12 to 1. And the third favorite may be a little bit more surprising. Freddie Anderson. Nope, no. Kiel McCartney. Nope. No. Kiel McCart. Nope.

David Pasternak. 16-1. The name I do want to know is Freddie Anderson. If I think Carolina's going to win. I don't think they do goalies. They don't get consummates anymore? Think about it. How many have had it in the last 20 years?

Is it zero? No, there'd be Jaguar. That's 20 years ago. Vasilevski won it. Two. I'm just looking at the consummate winners by year as I pull it up quickly. Patrick Waugh in my day.

Vasilevski was 2021. Before that, it was, I mean, it was quick. Quick. In 2012. Tim Thomas, 2011. Cam Ward, 2006. There's a 2012. Tim Thomas, 2011. Cam Ward, 2006. There's a couple. It wasn't a ridiculous suggestion.

A handful in 20 years. John Sebastian Jaguar, 2003, and they lost, which is amazing. How about defensemen? How many defensemen in the last 20 years? McCarr was 2022, two years ago. Victor Hedman. Duncan Keith. No doubties.

No. Scott Niedermeyer, 2007. He was pretty good. Lindstrom, 2002. Stevens. Lindstrom. Put that N in there. Sidney Crosby, back-to-back.

So where would on your consmith list be of teams that we don't necessarily think is a top favorite? Like where would Austin Matthews be? Austin Matthews is 22 to 1, boys. And I'm looking at Sergey Bobrovsky is 16 to 1. And your boy, Freddie Anderson, is only 18 to 1. So they're thinking on your wavelength. They're thinking on your wavelength.

Freddie, the... First thing you have to do is pick who wins the cup. Yeah. Yeah, that's my point. And if I'm picking Carolina, I think Freddie, you know, like, Freddie, the. First thing you have to do is pick who wins the cup. Yeah. Yeah, that's my point. And if I'm picking Carolina, Seth Jarvis, you know, like, Aho. Yeah, Aho. You know. Wow, if they win the cup, then Freddie's going to do something.

Right. He's never done before and show up in the playoffs. Stoppox in the playoffs. Ah. Right? Yeah, fair enough. That's a good one. Ah. Right? Yeah. Fair enough. That's a good one. Okay.

And I'm just, just as a, another thing, just a little bit of an advisory here. It's the golf tournament after the Masters, which is,

I forget, it's the Heritage. It's actually called that. No, it's the Heritage. Scotty Scheffler fired a two under today. He's six back. It's 10 to one

on bet 365. With three rounds to go? Yep. You're doing it. You can make worse bets than that. All right. That would be my advice. He's very good.

This is the longest labor in history, his wife, right? Well, I didn't realize. She was like three weeks or something from her duty. Why did he even mention that he could leave the Masters? This is why I feel guilty. Because he got absolutely roped into answering this question. Did he? Okay.

The media was like, would you leave if it happened? He's like, yeah, I'd leave. And then it just like snowballed and snowballed and snowballed. It wasn't like she was in the hospital at the time. Yeah, she wasn't like at Emerge. Anyways. She's in a Zumba class reading the news. Like, what?

If I what now? Off-brand move for him to go to that bar after. Was it? Yeah. I loved it. I mean, how sick is that? You'rebrand move for him to go to that bar after. Was it? Yeah. I loved it. I mean, how sick is that? You're going to regularly show up with a... Park at a random pub?

Anyways. I mean, Augusta, the chairman, is probably calling me like, you can't wear that jacket. Anyways, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the stars and find out... You're not supposed to... Okay, go ahead. Start again.

Start again. We don't want to get anybody upset. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly it's not like you can pass that jacket over to your buddies and put it on see that and do you think it's like the cup i don't think it is like you can't yes no you're right you leave it in the're right, you leave it in the locker, right? Yeah, you get it for the year. It's a cup. Yeah, you get it for the year.

Because I do remember when Mike Weir won it and Sportsnet was all over him for coming to the hockey game here, dropping a puck or doing interviews. He brought his jacket home. He brought it home. Do you think you get two? You leave one, you take one? No, you get one and you get to wear it for a year and then it goes back.

Well, you get to wear it for a while, though. You have it for a year. Oh. It's like the cup. It's not Jack whatever his name is, buy two, get one free, you know, blazer sales. Buddy, there's three Stanley Cup. I just, yeah, I think. Anyways.

Yeah, and you can't lift this. If you haven't won the cup, you can't lift it over your head. I know. I saw Steve Levy. Yeah. That's bad. Anyways. Yeah, and you can't lift this. If you haven't won the cup, you can't lift it over your head. I know. I saw Steve Levy lifting it the other day. Yeah. I think Mast was prompting him a little bit, so maybe that one's. Well, like, and it's not the whole. If Mast says it's okay, then you can do it.

No. What? No. I kind of agree. No, you don't. You got to win it. You lift it over your head if you want it. Take all the pictures you want. Drink out of it all you want. But You lift it over your head if you want it. Take all the pictures you want.

Drink out of it all you want. But to lift it over your head? It's just, just leave it for the champions. All right. Keep it special. What were we talking about before? You were going to ask me a question. I derailed the boys with golf talk.

Sorry, my bad. Arizona. Yeah. Okay. Just your overall thoughts last night. You do feel bad for them, you know, but at the end of the day, whether or not, where do you want to lay the blame in all of this? Was it truly the lack of support?

I have it more on ownership and their inability to build them a proper home as the number one reason why they are no longer in Arizona. Because this sucks for fans from Arizona, everyone's going out of their way to be like, there are real fans there and we're sorry and whatever. There are. There's hundreds. But, like, it was not great. And it's not their fault that it wasn't great.

It was somewhere it shouldn't be. It was in the wrong building. It was bad ownership. Lots of reasons. But there's not that many of them. There is a pocket of 100 really great diehard fans. So I feel great for the league. This Utah thing is going to be a ton of energy.

It's not going to be a market that you'll immediately be having to pay money to in revenue sharing, I don't think. Like, I think there's going to be excitement there and season tickets and a new name, a new energy. I feel bad for the NHL players who worked their whole life to get to that league and had to play in a college rink. I feel good about this. This is awesome.

Salt Lake City's an awesome winter city. This is great. The whole thing was just brutal last night for me, watching Shane Doan pick up a banner out of the garbage i think it stinks for a few people it does but i'm talking i'm zooming out and i'm not worrying about the few people it does stink for shane don't and tyson nash let me just let me just talk about by far my favorite thing about the arizona coyotes thank you for austin matthews that's it and you like the uh kachina jerseys too don't you yeah they're fine the one

last thing i'll say too is this alex morello yeah we'll be waiting oh yeah i'm like last night this is a guy who didn't have the guts to show up last night. That is pretty gutless. Embarrassing. So you don't have the stones to show up. You are the guy that couldn't get it done and find them a home, but yet you think you're going to be the owner in four years and these fans will accept you? You really think that they have no problem with this guy coming back four years later and being the owner of the team when you can't show up last night?

Not paying hotel bills, apparently. Really? That's who you want as your owner in the future? Some of the details make it sound like he'll certainly be the owner in the future. It sounds like he has the opportunity within five years to give back the billion dollars, reactivate the franchise, and off you go. They kept the business operations. They kept the name. They keep the team history.

He negotiated to have observer status, according to Elliot Friedman, great article, with the Board of Governors. So he's able to follow along with what's happening with the NHL and how things are going. Why? Well, I guess to let, so the league could say, can we get him out of here to stop embarrassing us? Sure, we'll give you this. But now they have time to figure out. I wouldn't bet on it.

You think someone else will find a way? I just don't think they want him. Exactly. He still needs to get this plot of land in June or July. He still has to do it. Go get it and pitch a tent. You know what? Some other future potential owner should outbid him.

Someone who wants an NHL franchise, all these people who want them, someone should go outbid him for that plot of land. Lovely campfire stuff for you there, buddy. I mean, it is beautiful. Buddy, it's the best. That's a nice plot of land you're talking about stuff for you there, buddy. I mean, it is beautiful. It's the best. That's a nice plot of land you're talking about. Driving around there. One last thing here on this thing.

It would be a great spot to camp. It would be really nice. Seasonally depending. Scorpions and stuff. Explain to me now like what gets passed on, what doesn't get passed on, where are the records?

Yeah, it's a great question. Like, I don't understand this. So typically when a franchise relocates, it takes all its history. Yeah. So Shane Doan leaves, you know, T. Mussolini's records are with the Arizona Coyotes. All his Winnipeg Jets records are with the Arizona Coyotes. This happens with every relocation.

So hold on, Carolina has all Hartford. Yes. So somewhere, somewhere. 17 goal season was with the Carolina Hurricanes. Somewhere my penalty minutes are on a list somewhere in Carolina. You'd be on the list of PIMS leaders for the Carolina Hurricanes. Okay.

So why isn't this team, why isn't Clayton Keller's numbers being followed to Utah? Because it is like a dormant volcano in Arizona. It is just laying low. The franchise is going to hold all its records, and they're going to. What franchise? The franchise is in Salt Lake City. There is no franchise.

Well, see, this is how Salt Lake got an expansion team, but they didn't have to do a draft, a new hiring of staff, and they just said, you get all the hockey assets, but this franchise is staying here, and then it's going to re-erupt in five years. Could be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Agreed. But then, you know why I like

it? I hated the idea of the Winnipeg Jets records now being in Salt Lake City. You know, like, could you keep track of the organization if they're just passing around the history. To me, the history stays where the team was. It should have stayed with Winnipeg in the first place. They shouldn't do this, but they have done this.

To me, the historical record should stay with where the team was. Two cents there, fellas. I don't know. I'm really confused. Go Stingers. All right. I don't know. I'm really confused. Go, Stingers. Go, Stingers. All right. We beat that up. I was feverishly looking for the all-time leaders in Carolina Hurricanes PIMS.

Yeah. But I have failed. I have failed you guys. How about most in a season? Okay, let's see what we got here. Robertson. I'm looking down the list to see if I can find you. Robertson.

See, this is just showing, I don't know. Let's move on. All right. Okay. In Utah, they're talking about building a 17,000-seat arena. That'll be a co-arena, I believe. With the Jazz? It's the only way to go.

New Utes? Yeah, the co-arena makes some sense. But I think until that's ready, it'll be like a 14,000 seat sort of setup that doesn't have great hockey sightlines. So not awesome to start, but better than it was to say the least. You have Marty Walsh,

a lot of credit for making this happen. Uh, it didn't hurt, you know, at the end of the day, the players do not participate in any of this money so other than making 20 guys feel better that you directly have under your your your umbrella plus plus future revenue, I think it didn't hurt him. By far his most significant contribution since being named executive director was his stance on this.

Well, I mean, there's two massive things that have been hobby horses for a lot of fans to just beat up is the fact that there's been no international hockey for 10 years and that the phoenix coyotes are still in this stupid arena and within a calendar year he fixed it done yeah like immediately done it's like what do we whine about now yeah he he did it so i give the guy a ton of credit for both of those things. So tomorrow we're going to preview all eight playoff series. The first hour, we'll talk a lot of Leafs in Boston, but the other seven, I guess, in the second hour, really just the Canadian ones.

We'll focus on those three series in the second hour. So before we leave today, I wanted to get your thoughts on Jacob Chikrin's comments. Asked if Ottawa is the place he wants to play the next couple of years. He says, it's a tough question. I don't know. I honestly have not thought about about that I know I have one year left my contract there haven't been talks of an extension so I haven't got my head wrapped around it tough to sit here and act like I have take it day by day whatever that's yeah that's a much

different feel than someone saying I love it here I want to be here yeah and uh i hope we can work something out much different vibes so i do know that right now there seems to be a little bit of a race for a head coach here between ottawa buffalo now new jersey why did you in your article you mentioned the granado thing that it was interesting that he got fired like three days before the end of the season what's up with that i just think that it could have been easily handled on the weekend that's all or early next week buffalo wanting to get in on these coaching there is a distinct possibility that uh from what i'm hearing they're going hard on uh Berube. Buffaloes? Yes.

They need that. They need that so bad. God, Berube's going to be so rich. Yeah, every team wants him. He's in the ballpark of, I think, $4 million right there, $4.5 million. I don't know how aggressive he wants to get. It's crazy all the money you spend on players

and the difference a head coach can make. To me, that's like, okay. Berube feels like perfect. Yeah. So Ottawa wants to get a head coach can make, to me, that's like, okay. Brubé feels like perfect. Yeah. So Ottawa wants to get a head coach before the draft? When will it be available for someone? Buddy, I don't think we'll see him. That's just my personal opinion.

Outside of that, I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I think Rod Brendamore will re-up. I don't think he's going anywhere. So, Lindy Ruff. Lindy back to Buffalo. Maybe back to Buffalo. So, we'll be interesting off the ice as much as it will be on the ice starting Saturday night.

So, tomorrow, as JB had mentioned, we'll tee up all the series throughout the National Hockey League. What do we got? Six games to go tonight? Lots of West action. All West. And we'll decide the Western Conference tonight. So outside of that, we thank David Amber for being on our show. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love

to hear from you. Give us a thumbs up on YouTube. Have a great night, everybody.