Real Kyper & Bourne - Canadian Teams' Stretch Runs with David Amber

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Sportsnet host David Amber (0:52) to chat about the state of the Eastern Conference, the promising young core with the Montreal Canadiens, if he was surprised by the quiet trade deadline for Montreal, Nathan MacKinnon's collision with Connor Ingram, questions around Alexander Ovechkin's future, and which direction should the Maple Leafs and Canucks take as they both near the bottom of the standings. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee dive deeper into MacKinnon hitting the Oilers' goalie, the connection between Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on offence, and the chance we see Canadian NHL teams losing superstars.  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 get her going coast to coast here on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Do we give Sammy the... Zaja! Where are you? Walk a shame for our boy, Sammy. We need Zsa. Give him a thumbs up on YouTube. Please, for Sammy, walk a shame.

Sammy, what jersey are you going with? Yeah, we got to go Oilers. Big win last night in Colorado. Yeah, I mean, they... I just have no doubt that that team is still that team. When it gets to these games. We're live on Sportsnet. SportsSets 650 in Vancouver.

SportsSat 916 in Calgary. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365 as we welcome in a very dapper. Nice suit. Very dapper DA. Professional today for once.

Is that what we call you? David Amber, welcome aboard. How are you guys doing? We're good, pal. How are you? I'm doing well. is here. I love it. Sunlight, right? Well, no sunlight today, but it's, you know.

Been a nice week. Brightness till 7.30 or whatever. We needed it badly. Tonight, Scotia Bank Wednesday Night Hockey, Montreal Canadians and the Ottawa Senators. Certainly huge implications, especially for the Ottawa senators who try to find a way, David, to hang in there without Jake Sanderson.

Yeah, it's a big loss, right? That's a really big loss. But you saw their first game back without Sanderson. Rimer, what, a 16th? 17 save shutout. They're insulating their goalies. They are, so they were horrible. The whole storyline with Ottawa this year, as you guys know, is the safe percentage and just how miserable it's been. And if they have 900 save percentage or better, they're like 20 wins and two losses.

You have that on the show not too long ago. They're finally getting the saves. Allmark's been good. Rimer, when he's been thrown in, has been quite good. They're second in goals against since the end of January, like since the middle end of January, as opposed to dead last in the league. So they're a good team. I went on record saying you guys will love this kind of goofy hot take.

If they make the playoffs, I'm picking them to come out of the east. I don't think it's that crazy a notion. Yeah, we talked a little bit about that, Buffalo as well. If they're smoking hot here, certainly over a longer stretch than Ottawa's. You just got to wonder how many people would make them maybe a favorite. I don't know where it stands with Tampa Bay and how you feel about that. Is it just simply Vasilevsky or bust for them? But you could sit there and say, well, questionable goaltending in Ottawa too at the end of the day.

East is wide open though, right? Wide open. This is why you, like for me, some of the teams on the cusp there, I'm like, yeah, make a move at trade deadline if it's not going to sacrifice your future because it is wide open. I think more so than any year I can remember, being the top seat, the second, see, the third seed, it's pretty immaterial. Like we saw last year, the Jets were the best team. They came within two seconds of being eliminated by the number eight seed. A few years ago, Florida, when Boston had that historic. Yeah, the biggest disparity between two seeds ever in a playoffs were the lower seed won.

There were 47 points behind. And Columbus swept Tampa, the one year that Tampa had 126 points. There you go. Kutrov got thrown out of the end of that series. I remember that well. So I think more than ever, the margins are so small as you guys know. And whether it's Ottawa, Buffalo, I mean, this is what's making the playoff, potential of the playoffs really exciting. It's specifically in the east.

We have all these teams. Detroit hasn't been there. in seven, eight, nine years now. Obviously, Buffalo 14 years and Ottawa, if they can kind of climb in, it's wide open. I think it's going to be fun. So one of my favorite things when I get to do the Wednesdays with you guys is you guys meet on Monday mornings, sit on a call and say, what do you think? What do you know about this team?

What do you like? Well, you know, what are potential topics for the night? For me, Ottawa being one of the best defensive teams in the NHL is certainly part of that, Buffalo not. But so when you guys are having that conversation this week and you're looking at this matchup tonight. Was that the main thing that stood out was Otto's defense? Or were there other things that you're like, all right, this is must

mention tonight for these teams. Montreal, I mean, they're one of the sexiest teams in the league. They are. They're young. They're fun. We talked about in Toronto, the core four for so long. Think about this. Hudson, Cofield, Suzuki, Slavkovsky, Slavkovsky.

I mean, they have kind of this. None of them make eight million. No, this is the thing. Great value. This team could be good for a long, long time. And they seem to be incredibly tight. Sorry, Sam. We're crushing Sam over there.

But they're so fun to watch, right? They are really fun to watch. And we saw how good they could be that first period versus the least last night. They were so dominant. I know they were only up to nothing, but it could have been five nothing. Like they were that good in the first period.

Are you okay, D.A. on them not doing much at the trade deadline because we did hear some noise at 3 p.m. deadline 24 hours later. Not in Maynay. You know, stirring it on. Tell us, D.A., what do you think? Yeah, I mean, listen, I'm not going to pretend to know more than Kent Hughes and Jeff Gordon and those guys. Would I have liked them to have done something?

Potentially, it all depends what the deals were offered to them and what they were offering, right? I think they maybe are looking at it in a longer, more measured approach. Like, we're going to be good for a long time. We don't have to go all chips in and get rid of some high prospects or some draft capital to add a guy who's a rental or someone who's maybe making more money than we think they should be making and to try and make that run. I also think you got to remember, right, New Hook missed a huge chunk of time. Doc missed a whole bunch of time.

And, you know, at different times, they've had some defensemen out. They're probably looking at it as like, we had our own injury reserve coming back and they're still waiting on line A, whether he'll be, you know, as effective as he's been a few years ago. We don't know. But my point is, I think they sort of said internally,

we can maybe fill these gaps without having to cost ourselves in the future, which I think's a pretty measured approach. And they might think they're good enough to win without making any moves. Yeah. I guess my only counterpoint is we just said how open it is. It felt like you hear that if you did that thing, it could be the year that you give yourself that edge. There could be regret.

If they lose in the first round, Kipper, there could be some serious regret. Like, oh, shoot, we could have added A, B, and C, and we decided not to, and we weren't enough. If their goaltending gets filled in, it will very likely come up. So while we're talking goaltending and Canadian teams, the Edmonton Oilers found it last night. They beat the Colorado Avalanche, got a win. Now, are you a believer that this is still the same team we've seen the last couple of years? They're going to be back. They're going to be in it again?

Or do you think they're worse? because it's been worse, but they still look pretty good. Listen, it's hard. I'm never going to bet against 29 and 97. That's kind of what everyone's going on. But having said that, it's been a struggle this year. But maybe they're taking a page right out of Florida's handbook. Who cares what we do in the regular season?

We just got to win four out of seven four times in a row. Tremendous heat on Stan Bowman going into the trade deadline. And Connor Murphy, I think, had 21 minutes last night. And Dickinson looks like a guy that could play in certain situations against top lines. Doc, I think, got hurt last night and only played a couple of minutes. But it has given them a jolt at least post-trade deadline. Absolutely. Now, did you guys see the collision, McKinnon and Ingram?

Yeah. I didn't think that was a five. I'm with you. Like Darnell Nurse was repeating and kind of left him no lane. And I don't think he was maliciously going to the net. I think he was actually trying to go on. I think he jumps out over and out of the way if it wasn't for the nudge. Yeah.

But I'm shocked because we know how the league feels about its stars. Yeah. And I think they could have easily been talked out of it with a five-minute major. They didn't? I don't know. I mean, it's kind of hit and miss around the net these days. Yeah. Not that I knew any.

That had air on this side. Here we go. Better to err on the side of protecting the Goaltenders when we can, I think. It's been around for... It's hard contact. Since the mid-90s when somebody took out a Hall of Famer. Did that happen?

No names to be mentioned, but it's been a challenge for the league over the years to really find a happy medium when it comes to protecting the goalies and not, you know... Any word on Ingram, by the way? Completely untouchable. Like, that was as violent collision with a goalie as I've seen in a long time.

I'm really surprised that Nate didn't give a bigger fight to the officials to stay in the game. I don't know. To me, he looked like. Well, he got a timidimist conduct. He said something. He said something, but we've seen that fire in him on many occasions, either with a coach or a teammate on the bench. I thought he, I was really surprised he didn't fight harder. He might have been in shock.

Might have been. He kind of was like, really? That just happened. Yeah. That feels like a series we could see in the conference final. The series I want to see is Tampa and Buffalo. You guys saw the game on the weekend. That's the series I want to see.

That was the other night. That was with No Stanley and Luke Shen yet. Right. And I was saying this to Sam, but how important it is to have the toughness come from your guys who actually play. You watch that game. It's Brandon Hagel running into guys, Rasmus Dahlien's in the fight.

It's the guys who are skilled, talented, top picks that are still like, no, no, no. Leading the charge and the energy. And I also think it's a great show. of respect from Tampa to go at Buffalo like that. They always push and test and all right, you're going to be a potential a real matchup here.

What do you got? That's Tampa's M.O. That's right? That's Tampa's M.O. is like who wants to get into the backyard and go here. It's becoming. It was a hard lesson in the last few years because it was Florida that stuck it to John Cooper and his team. And John Cooper says,

no, we're going to copy that blueprint. You can do some of that. That's exactly what's happened here. They've become the new Florida Panthers. Yeah, I think so. I do think so. I wonder if it'll have the same degree of success. We'll wait and see.

If you were to make me pick a favorite, even though I'm saying Ottawa, if you're going to say, you know, who's the betting favorite to come out of the east right now? I would say Tampa had a Carolina. That's the team. You mentioned Montreal not doing anything. Carolina not, okay, Nick, no knock on Nick DeLoree,

but I mean like doing something discernible. He would agree. That doesn't count. Why didn't they do something? I still don't understand it, right? Everything I hear about Carolina. is that they're big fish hunting. They're always looking for the next guy they can get,

who will stay, the big move. And it's hard for them. I think that they're probably on a lot of no trade list. They have to manage that, right? Anyone I've talked to that has either worked for the team or played for the team, they love it there. They love it there. But for some reason,

they can't land now for a couple of years, a big fish, like you said. And whether or not, And I know you guys have had it on the board that close to 40% of the no trade, the no move. I know you were a big part of our trade deadline day. He sat there for hours, twiddling your thumbs. But, you know, for the most part, there are some teams, I think, that need to be concerned on how can we get better if we're getting waived off on many occasions? Is that what happened to Carolina?

How can you make your organization more appealing, you mean? Well, not just appealing. Because the last two years, Gensel and then ranting in. That's right. And so they did do the big game hunting. They landed the big fish and then the fish jumped out of the boat, you know, like essentially is what happened. Yeah. Overall, like, I know you've done an amazing job over the years, but how was your day, trade deadline day?

That was your guys. Oh, my God. It was a lot of. What is that? Nothing happened before. At four o'clock, yeah, I mean, that was his late. Like two years ago, or last year, I guess, we had Marchand, Ruff. at 259 and this year it was at Cadbury at four.

Maybe she's, you know, kind of we'll bring our show on at 1 o'clock. I have talked about like maybe tweaking it or, you know, between the league and the players association because it's a CBA thing too, right? Including no trades and no moves. But you think as an industry we got to revisit this day? Well, but Nick, you were a player and the players have the,

they earn those rights. And it's become sort of standard. You don't even have to be a superstar. And this is no disrespect to anyone, but I'll give you an example. Like Dakota Joshua comes to the least, and he's getting a limited no trade. I'm just using his name because he's a recent signing. You know, guys are coming over, and it's like some guys have five, some guys have 10, some guys have 13. And it seems reasonable because if you're not going to do it, they're going to do it.

The other team, like, and the agents are able to hold that over the teams. Well, we want this or else we're going to Team X. Do we have to examine that? Someone put out a tweet, I thought it was interesting. I can't remember who. I wish I could credit them. They sort of said, we should max the limit of players on a team. Let's say five guys on your team could have no movement, limited no movements.

And that's it. So after you've used those five spaces, sixth guy, sorry, we've used all those spaces. You come here. We'd love to do it for you, but we can't because player X already has it. That way, at least there's always a churn of players. I mean, it's fun from a fan's perspective to be able to retain players. It's nice to see a guy like Oveskin or his whole career in Washington, et cetera. But it's also nice to be able to, oh, my God, we trade it for blank.

and he's coming to our team and it's going to be amazing now. And we kind of missed that mark in the last couple of years, I think. Yeah. Speaking of Ovechkin, you were one of the first to predict that he was going to break Wayne Gretzky's record. You're also predicting that he'll retire at the end of the year. That I'm not so sure of. I thought he was going to stick around for another few years. He has 24 goals, right?

Like he's still producing Kipper, right? Like, he's still good. But what you think is love of the game? The Carlson thing might have really shook him. I think he's on the ice for more power play time than anyone in the league. Statistically, he is. Somebody's got to be. Four and a half minutes per game.

Not just that. He hasn't taken a defensive zone draw this year. I saw that. And I was like, oh my God. Like, they're legitimately as much as you can, like, elevate a guy. They're doing it. What we don't think that we'll see if he does come back next year is a full season, retirement tour.

Copa tar in Los Angeles has been a. one of the few that announces retirement and still comes back for a full year, whether you agree with it or not. You see a scenario like that happening. OV getting his flowers. Wayne did it just for what, the last eight games or something? I think even less than that, if I'm not mistaken. It might have been right before his last game.

He did it in Ottawa. If I'm almost 100% sure, he did it in Ottawa and then within maybe a week. So it was pretty quick. He was like since he's going to be Mike bossing. He's just going to randomly retire and move to a cabin in the woods and we'll never hear from him again or something. There's no chance he's doing that sort of fit group. No, I don't know.

I don't know. Is that in Ovechkin's DNA? I don't think he shies away from the fanfare, but I don't think he sits there and says, look at me, I'm so great all the time either. I don't know. And I'd have no problem with it because I think he's earned it. I think you're the greatest goal score in the hardest game in the world.

You earn however you want it. However, whatever terms you want to be celebrated or, you know, what makes you feel good. I think you earn that right, just like Sid has earned that right. And there's a handful of guys who, hey, great, good on you. Yeah. You know, I'm going to turn the page on, I'll actually. If you guys are good on that.

Vegas Golden Knights, 6 of 7, they've lost now. That one is, you know, we talked about the good teams, Colorado, Edmonton, where they're at. This was a team that was supposed to be one of the Cup favorites this year. And in a soft division this year, it feels like should be running away with it. What do you make it what's going on there? Is it as simple as this can't get a save? Yeah, I mean, it feels that way, right?

I think Ottawa is dead last still in safe percentage. I want to say Vegas is 31st. You'd have to check, but if they're not 31st, they might be. Yeah, they're down there. It's felt like that. It's felt like this is also a team. You know, there are a lot of veterans on that team. And that's not just to discount it.

But they might be taking kind of the adage of, look, we got to get to the playoffs. We know we got to go through that. Sorry, they're 30th. Florida's 31st. Wow. I know. So where's Vegas? Oh, they're 30th.

30th. So it's Ottawa, Florida, Vegas. Edmonton is right, isn't it? Yeah. You know what's compelling, guys, is we know Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, that's Stanley Cup final stuff we're going to see in both the first and second round,

right? Whoever, like Colorado, I assume, is going to win the first round and they're going to play the winner of that other matchup. Whoever's waiting in the Pacific, you know, it happened last year. I was in Edmonton and Dallas for that conference final and Dallas had the home ice advantage. Dallas, you know, one game won. Everything was pointed to them.

Credit to Oilers, they ran out of gas. They looked beaten up and beat. and down. And I wonder if that's going to replicate itself. I wonder if Vegas or even Anaheim or Edmonton get through that Pacific, I wonder if that path is just going to be so much cleaner and easier. I don't know. That's the one thing.

Yeah, the three teams that you mentioned, unfortunately, none of them like playing Canada. We know how you feel about your Canadian markets. We should all feel that way. Kim asked the other day, could we have zero in playoffs? I was like, oh my God. Could be two major classes? Come on.

Could we give Edmonton some credit for bouncing back right now and the Montreal Canadiens? You still have four? I'm hopeful. The loss by Winnipeg last night kind of hurt. Oh, you believe. Justin brought it up before last night's game. I said he goes, Winnipeg's still in it. You can squint and make it work, but it's getting tougher.

They're 27th in the league and they're still in it. That's how bad the West is. The top three in the West have been the best three in the league. And then everyone else has been mediocre, like from Vegas, Edmonton down. It's just they're 27th in the league and they're. right there. They have a lot of home games. They have an easy schedule, Winnipeg.

They don't have much margin of error. Like when you're five points out, you know, what do they have? 17, 18 games. They're going to have to go like. They have to go like 15 and 4. Yeah. Which is a lot. That would get you to 92 points.

They could probably go 14 and 5. Or 14 and 5. And there's still in it. Ottawa, though, I really think, I think Boston has a horrible schedule, almost two thirds on the road. I think they're hearing those footsteps. Columbus, keep an eye on them too. but I think Ottawa, I'm feeling good about Ottawa's chances.

I really am. I really am. And that would get to three and four would just be gravy at this point. Yeah, Ottawa. But boy, it felt different than last year. Last year was five. Remember how good it felt? And this year, four would still feel like.

Well, last year was five and Calgary actually had 96 points. Yes. Hyde for the final spot and then missed on a tie. Every team. In fact, Vancouver at the trade deadline was one point out. I was looking that up yesterday or last week. So you had all seven teams playing meaningful games right up to the end. And this year, it's just been a different story.

Okay. I can't get away from this segment without at least talking about the Toronto Maple Leafs and if you were in charge, DA, how do you turn this thing around? I think you have some really serious conversations this summer.

Conversations that may have already taken place unbeknownst to me, but, you know, this is the time where you have to evaluate everything. Everything's on the table. Last year, you can kind of preface it by going, well, we were, you know, one period away from knocking off the defending champs. You could sell yourself.

on hope. This year, I don't think you could sell yourself on any of that. And when I say serious conversations, whether it's with your top players who have those no movement clauses, I think you really have to identify. Are you ready for, there could be some pain ahead. This might not be an instant, you know, down and up like we've seen with some other teams in the last 10 years, right? Tampa had the swoon and then they came right up. Boston seemingly had a one year swoon and they're relevant again. Montreal dead last in the NHL and now look at them three years later. They're going to be good for a long, long time. It's going to take probably some big moves to get the Leafs stockpiled the way I think they need to be to sort of say sustained good team. Right. And out of this cap hell, right? And the

cap's moving up, as you guys know. I think all those things can play. But those are the serious conversations, whether it's with Willie, Austin. And it's not a matter of we're training you. It's a matter of how do you, how do you view this? And, you know, do you want to be here under what could be tougher circumstances? And then you can make those decisions accordingly. Yeah. Is there an argument that like Vancouver and Toronto are kind of in the same boat because they are our two biggest markets in the country. Yeah. Montreal.

Oh, Vancouver by numbers. Is that right? Vancouver by numbers. Oh, I did not know that. Vancouver seems to be at peace, at least for the time being. I may be wrong, but it just seems like they're now settled in for a major rebuild. What about the Lee fans for you? I mean, you live in this market.

So you think they're asking Sam these tough questions. Damn, you're ready for a rebuild? Do you think, you think two or three years, even four years? It's too hard to say because let's say they did trade one of these big pieces and got back a whole hall. And let's say some of those guys were ready. Like they, let's say they trade it. I don't want to start playing, you know, I don't want to get Twittered here. You're on this show.

This is what happens. But I mean, let's say they traded one of their two big parts. What if they traded whether it's Willie or Austin and you got a big package back and you could. And I'm not saying they should do this. I'm just saying, what if? Like, would I rather the 69 goal or something that looks like the 69 goal, Austin Matthews, than trading him 100%. But now we're two years into him not being that guy.

So you have to evaluate all those things, right? And you could quickly, you know, Mark Bursman deserves a bit of credit because he helped stock the cabinets before he left. And Kent Hughes, Kent Hughes has been sensational, right? Like making, not just deals, the drafting they've done, Hudson, Caulfield, et cetera. and the fact that they were able to turn some of these draft picks into the Kirby Docks, like training draft picks for dog and making these big moves. And within quick order, Montreal has used a blueprint that's worked really well.

Do the Leafs have the assets to do that? Potentially they do. I mean, it would be very hard to, you know, long rebuild to go Montreal's way. You talked about three years out of playoff. That could be painful. So let me ask you then. The next five games to the Toronto Maple Leafs are all against playoff teams. Anaheim, Buffalo, Minnesota Islanders.

Carolina, they could get to that bottom five. Do you think that that's the right answer for them to try to get down there, get a top pick, or do you rather just pay the Piper right up front here? Colby said last night, and I thought he was referring to Calgary and Toronto, like win with, or sorry, lose with dignity. Play hard, but if you lose, lose with dignity, but lose. So dress of America. Did you hear that, Sam?

Play with dignity. You know, how about that? There's no, I think you'd rather get that. First of all, talking to the people who know Jason Bucula, Sam Costantino, they describe this as a very top heavy draft. The five, six picks are going to be really guys you can count on. And I don't want to say generational, but like Gavin McKenna, this Verhoff kid, the defenseman in the Western League,

Stenberg, or Sternberg, who we saw out in the World Juniors, he was the best player of the World Juniors. There's some, if the Leaves could somehow manage themselves into the top three, it's going to really accelerate what you're talking about here. And I get it. It'd be unprotected in 20. 28, I believe, right? The next season.

Yeah, you just kick it down the road. You kick it down the road, but you're hopeful that you kind of can find a bit of a resurgence. And I think, you know, bird in the hand. If you can get a quality player in the hand, I don't know what 2,028's draft year looks, the top draft looks like at this point. But we know, based on the experts, this upcoming draft is going to be quite good. So to me, I think the best thing, it behoove the Leaf fans to say, you know, let's win a few games.

Playoffs aren't happening. You might as well bottom out. You don't want to be in the murky middle. and you don't want a Tyler Sagan 2.0. You don't want with the sixth overall pick, the Boston Bruins select. Yeah. Right?

And you're holding the back. The guy who kills you for a decade. The guy, a guy who kills you for a decade. So. the draft and free agency could be very interesting. in Buffalo. It's going to be quite a scene. And we could have some, we could have Canadian teams picking one, two, three, four. I'll wait and see. I'm truly. Yeah. I mean, that's crazy. I think we got to get D.A. off to. Off and running, right? Yeah, we're on, what we're on?

We're on at 7 o'clock east. Seven, pregame, 7.30 puck drop or 735. And this is a big game. And if you haven't had a chance to watch Montreal and Ottawa, they've had two overtime games already this year. It's been pretty good hockey and both teams. You know, Montreal's desperate for home ice. That would make a big difference for them.

And Ottawa, as we know, five points out. So five points out. Two teams to climb past, they need these points. Huge game for the sand. It is Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey on Sportscent Montreal and Ottawa are where you can find. this man with his lovely panel tonight. Have a great show, Bal.

Thanks for having me on, guys. Thanks for joining us. David Amber, studio host, NHL on Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada. All right, take a quick break. And we return. We bring back our Sammy McKee. Back after these words. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk,

the Hockey PEOCast with Dmitri Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kipperis, Justin Moore and Sammy McKee. A reminder. Sauer of Real Kipperman Bourne brought you by Bet, 365. I did ask you during the break if they're doing the video challenges for balls and

strike. We just saw a Cuban pitcher strike out a Canadian player. Owen Casey, yeah. And he looked really ticked off. It was a very cool. It was right there. Didn't challenge it because he can't. why wouldn't they put it in this thing?

I don't know. I'm really petrified about this ABS coming into baseball. We've talked about this in hockey, that more video review and more review does not necessarily mean better just because it's right. Doesn't mean it's necessarily better. And I just, I'm picturing, okay? Let's say, for example,

the Toronto Blue Jays are lucky enough to get back to the playoffs this year and they're in a huge game. It's Sunday afternoon of the dome. bases are loaded. You got Aaron Judge at the dish. And let's say Dylan Cease rings one up in the outside corner. Umpy pulls the cord. Whole building goes bananas.

And then it's like, and it's like, we got to go up to this stupid screen to check out something that's been the same thing for a hundred years in this sport. It's like, we're really doing this. We're really doing this. And you know I'm right.

You hate it. You're going to hate it. Can we do something besides tapping your head? Like am I watching grown man play Simon says? I guess it's so stupid. I'm petrified of it. It's totally ruining the flow. I guess what do we need the ump for at all?

Yeah, to call one and two. No, but just like, we can't just have the machine be like green light, red light on strike ball? One of the core values of baseball is guys getting things wrong and arguing about it. Just kicking dirt. It's like now we got to have the robots. ruin it again. I can recall conversations in hockey where it's like, you're going to tell me we're going to award a Stanley Cup on a puck over the glass.

Yes. People were freaking out back then. Yes. And now it's like, yeah, it's a panel. I actually think that Sam makes the fringes of a good point here. Oh, like particularly. He's nibbling around the edges. Yeah.

Like for me. Like a strike. Offside in the NHL. After pick 10 or 15 seconds, it's void. Everyone has played on. We're not going back. Everyone is back in their positions. It's like a goalie who gets bumped for a goal of interference.

You've had time to reset now. We've moved past it. Yeah, this is out of the, it has no bearing on the play. Nothing. You don't just get a free pass. Do you remember, like, this whole thing started with the offside because not D'Shaine. Like, whoever the official was there that missed it, you ruined it, pal. I don't know what your name is.

Even Duchenne shot it so embarrassed. You, this is all on you. Yeah. Because if it didn't happen, there's a chance that we wouldn't be splitting a hair. But like, there are certain things that if we have the tech to get it right in real time. No, no, listen. No, shut up. Listen.

If you have the tech to get it right in real time, like in tennis they have and soccer, they have VAR. Which is ruin the sport. Everybody hates it. If they have the technology to get it immediately right, let's just do it right there. I don't see, oh, we need the guy to call one and two. Why? Like, if we can just go green light, red light, just get the answer.

Because they like when they fight. Okay, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Paul, there is, is there a better, like if you're a viewing experience across the board at any sporting event, is there a better viewing experience when you're in a big spot and your home team pitcher paints one on the outside corner?

Maybe it's a little outside the outside corner, but big boy behind the plate's like, I don't care, you're gone. best feeling maybe in sports. That is the best feeling that an official can give you. It truly is the best feeling. And we'll never trust it now. The players create the moments.

But now it's like every time a guy he does that, we have to, you're waiting for it. It's like football. I told you ruined football for me. And the guy's like, is that a catch? I don't love this stuff. It sucks. I know.

It's like anytime one's downfield, we're like, does that what happen here? Are we doing the flag? It is, with Sam's point, it is the equivalent to, questioning every entry in a zone in hockey. Totally. Every single one.

So every strike right now won't feel complete until we find out seconds later if he's going to challenge or not. And that, to Sam's point, will suck. It's going to be painful. I am not arguing it's going to be painful. I'm only saying if we can do everyone in real time,

let's go. If we can't, then I'm with you. I don't want to watch the whole, you know, circus after every call either. Have you um? I am my softball league, yeah. Okay, but you've never done it. I'd kill to do it.

I wouldn't trust him to officiate my kids game. I'm a little decisive. Listen, people ask me to do it. That's because you got a lot of free time. I imagine you're looking like Kramer coming into Jerry's apartment. I was Kramer for Halloween four straight years in high school. It doesn't surprise me at all. All right, what do you have for us, Sammy?

Do you guys want to listen to Jared Bednar? Did you do game time? Oh, no, I didn't. Let's do that. Let's do that. I'm a host. Oh, my God. I might have been my best host.

You're on fire. Nice word. It's game time. Preserve I bet 365. Visit the app for later sods. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. So after, think, 13 games on tap last night, there is two tonight.

Two games on tap. One of them on Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey. It's the Montreal Canadiens in Ottawa to take on the Sends. Huge game for the Sends. It is a, You know, you looked at the standings this morning. It's an absolute must win. Montreal on the second half of back to back.

And I got to tell you, this line reflects it. I'm surprised by this. The Ottawa Senator is a minus 190 in this game tonight. Minus 190. Montreal Canadians plus 160. Cole Cawfield game time decision. Didn't look quite right in the Leafs game last night. They said maybe it was an illness or something that was not right.

So he may not go. But for me, if you're looking for a little bit of value, you could do worse than the Montreal Canadians at plus 160. The other game on the untowellation. tonight. Big one for the lease tank. I know everybody cares about that, but the Philadelphia Flyers are hosting the Washington Capitals. Need two points for the

Washington Capitals tonight. Sorry for the Philadelphia Flyers tonight to go even further away from the least to potentially drive that them down. Kipper would be happy about that. Plus 110 on the money line for the Philadelphia Flyers. Washington Capitals minus 130 on the other side of the money line. That was game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the Affladeuson 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Philly's not much of a tank. about getting below the leaves. But it could happen. You just need him to win. Yeah. By the way, I didn't tell Kipper about this, but I told him about this.

At the end of every leaf hour, maybe starting tomorrow, we're going to do a standings update, and we're going to see which crappy teams we need to win for the leaves to go down in the stand. Excited? Just stick a fork in my eyes right now. I didn't know where you're talking about sticking that fork for a second. Oh, my God. Just. All right.

This is uncomfortable. Yeah, very uncomfortable. So you guys talked about a little bit with D.A. But Jared Bednar, after the game last night, talked about his thoughts on the play with McKinnon and Ingram. Derek, if you want to play that clip, then we can react off the back of it. Jared Bednar, clip one.

Yeah, first thing I looked at for me, I look at the overhead, head, he makes the play on the puck, and I got his toes cutting up ice probably through the top of the paint. Ben Ingram's on the goal line. I don't think there's a chance. There's no chance that he hits the goalie if Nurse doesn't run into him. He's not hitting the goalie.

So to me, I look at that, and it's like I checked the overhead first. He's going to go where his toes are pointed, and they're going through the top of the crease with Ingram in the bottom of the crease until nurse makes contact with him and that's what causes a collision. So to me that's, like I'm looking at that right away.

I don't care if he's injured, not injured. It's a severe crash, not a severe crash. It's not a penalty. You put, if you put guys in your own goalie, it's not a penalty. That's why I see it. I wasn't that far off on that at all.

He said Ingraham's on the goal line. McKinnon flies close to the sun there. I mean, he's dropping the shoulders full speed right to the net. I actually do think that, like, if anything, you know, you can't just go to the net at full speed and be like, everyone has to get out of the way now. You know, like, you're allowed to defend and all that. So there is some recklessness there, but that's why I'm fine with it being a penalty. Oh, God, that's violent. Yeah, he does.

That is violent. Is there any update on Ingram today? Oh, man. I haven't seen anything, but good Lord, that is violent. Ish. Yeah. And that's their best goalie, too. There's no question that nurse definitely changes his angle.

So how much you buy into it? Do they put all the stock into how hard he was going in without slowing down? Maybe. That's Nate McKinnon, man. That's a balsy call. That is. Is Ingram going to be their guy in Edmonton? think?

Is he surpassed Jari? I just saw a video where his head was bleeding. Right. You get his head blown off. Might be. Yeah. Assuming they reattach it, though. Yeah.

Yes, the answer is for me, yes, right now, but come on. What do you got six weeks to go here still? Yeah. That's a lot of hockey to be played to open competition still. Determine anything.

Got to tell you, that was a fabulous hockey game last night. It was. And the winning goal is just so beautiful. The given goal between McDavid and. and dry sidle finds him perfectly inscribed. That goal to me just spells of a guy that's done that in practice or on his own 500,000 times.

He's just always thinking about how to get to the net. Like that to me is the difference between a guy in a slump and the guy not in a slump. The slumping player, you kind of get that touch on the outside and you're looking for holes. Like before he ever gets to that puck, he's thinking about how he's going to get to the net. There's actually a freaking nature. There's a few beautiful goals in that game last night. But the one that he set up Ryan Nugent Hopkins for, going to the net, just beautiful, through the legs, pass, barred out.

They are fun to watch. Fun teams. They are so fun to watch. Both let's pray that we get that in conference finals. Just the feeling of another team getting a penalty, it's must watch TV. For the Oilers Power. Yeah.

Oh, my God. It's unbelievable. Whoa, what are you guys doing? Yeah. It's like, and that's a competitive. To watch, obviously, us in Toronto, watching a power play where you're like, right? And then you go watch that for two minutes and you're like, okay, how many great, great eight chances are they going to have before it goes in? So the Leafs actually led the league and power play percentage.

I want to say two or three years ago. The best that ever looked is when they had Matthews on the other flank coming up out of the zone and get it coming downhill for a catch and release shot. He can't play the flank. I mean, he also hasn't got a pass in his wheelhouse all year and no D has any deception. but they got to do something different. I mean, you mentioned it looking different than the lease. Like going from watching Habs, Leaves, and then doing Least talk,

and then going upstairs and turning on the TV and having it be Colorado, it's a different sport in general. Totally different. The pace of that game and everybody flying through the... It's just... It's awesome. I can't wait for the playoffs for the good games to start because it's going to be fun again.

Yes. The Winnipeg Jets. Big loss last night. You got Scott Arneal for us. I do have Scott Arneal. And I will. We can play the clip. He is the number one most Canadian-sounding guy on earth.

Yeah. So let's play that clip, please. Scott Arneal, clip one. We laid a big fat egg. Oh, buddy. We didn't execute. We didn't compete on pucks, chase the game,

chase the whole game. It was just, you know, they had the puck most of the night, and, you know, when we did have it, we turned it over. We didn't put it down low enough in their offensive, in their defensive zone to make them go to work,

just fed their transition, inside the line or just outside the line. We're too good a hockey team to transition the other way. We just kind of kept feeding it. If that man's favorite band isn't the tragically hip, I will eat by Yeti Cup. Yeah, he, yeah, it's either that or he's a Gordon Lightfoot guy. There's no.

I guess there's an older version of who it could be. But he's buried his team like five to six times this year. If, uh, it's not going good. It's not working. We're like, you know, we talked about Craig Bruby and his future and so many are now writing articles, like bold letters, right? Bye-bye.

Bye-bye. Like, we're Scott Arnail with his chances of returning. I just, I don't think they're good. You know, I, like, those comments are kind of like, yeah, he must know the writings on the wall. And just so many times this year, they've cut to him for press conferences where he sounded like Eeyore or, you know, even worse is. Canadian Eeyore.

Yeah, going right at his group where he's just like, we're just no good tonight, didn't have it. it didn't bring it you know it's gotta be over five times that we've played a clip on this show this year of him similar tone just bit maybe to stop the media one because it doesn't seem to be working yeah that one has not solved any problem so far they're an interesting candidate for a bounce back like they should god their direction pick one because they could get in free fall right now and get a pretty good hockey player i mean if you're they want to they might want to pull the plug if you're talking about rebuilding i mean there's some pieces of

on that team that could fetch you some. Well, not even rebuilding, just add to it by finishing. They've got 62 points. But here's the thing, though. Okay, this is a double standard. Because their core, they are Toronto Central of Canada, but nobody craps on them

like they crap. How many times have they gotten out of the first round? You know, they've had very eerily similar, you know, failures to the Toronto Maple Leafs. And everybody's like, oh, they could run it back next year. You know, like, they can't, but the leaves can't. You know, it's like their core is even older.

The Leafs ran it back seven times. Their core is older than the Leafs core, is it not? If it's older or not, I would say expectations based on the players the Leafs had were totally different, right? First, fourth, and eighth overall. Maybe. And then these guys, I think it's hard. What I'm saying is they get a bit of a pass. Not on Jets talk.

Look it a bit of a pass. I think we had it sound on Marchand possibly shutting it down yesterday. We didn't use it. No, we didn't. Like it's coming, guys. It's coming. A month ago. Oh, buddy.

Absolutely writing on the wall. I think they probably felt like they needed a bit of a cushion. You couldn't do it like right out of the Olympics. So have them play a few games and then shut them down. Smart organization. It's just, it is going to start. Like, Hellebuck, if you want to go the route of solidifying a pick, moving forward. there's an option to shut him down.

The Jets right now, looking at the bottom of the things, are so close to the- So you're okay with them doing it? That are fine. Jets can do whatever they want, but the Leaf's got to play with honor. Like, give me a break. What are we doing here?

But he- Shut down Matthews. His arm is falling off. He's been flying under continentally. I don't know that. Come on. Listen, I'm just... Can't have it both ways.

No, no. I'm not having it both ways. I'd sooner have him play, but that's the way it's going. That's the way they're thinking. All right? Okay. Okay. That's all. They are eerily close to the bottom three.

They haven't lost. Like, they haven't looked as bad. No one has looked as bad as the Leafs, Sammy. Nobody. You know, I had some concern. That's the biggest point I was making. Sorry, I just got a text from Jake about the music that Scarter Neal listens to. Oh, what is it?

What are you going? Scott Arneill does always listening to Heavy Rock. Said he's a 70s, 80 guys, including Zeppelin, ACDC, Gloria Sons, and the tragically hailed. I was worried I was going to have to eat that Yeti bug. Official research from a video on the Jets YouTube from Jake. So there you go. Hey, I have said this year, and I don't know how often I've said it on the show.

Why don't they trade hellabug? Trade him. You just won the heart trophy last year. Yeah, Matthews won it two years ago. Yeah, I said keep him too. Trade him. He's 32. I've been concerned about Canada losing.

Any team like that, yeah, those are options. there's only a certain amount of window opportunities you get. And if Winnipeg's passed this year and the Leafs have passed, yes, Sam, look at all of it. So what is you're concerned about Canadian teams? Losing the Superstars. Because there's a realistic possibility that Matthews could go. Quinn Hughes just left.

McDavid's a possibility. Brady Chuck's a possibility like this within a few years. If it all went south, that's the worst case scenario. You know, the league's best players could. choose to leave. Those are just fears I have because the Canadian teams are not very good. These guys' contracts are coming up. There is a chance that Canada could draft

1, 2, 3, 4 this year. Or at least 1, 2, 4, 5, or 1, 2, you know, whatever. Which is replenishing. Yes. So it's... Gavin McKenna could end up in Canada. Can we just say that, like, you know, there's a cycle going on and whether you're

Edmonton or Toronto, you had 10 years, 11 years, 12 years and it's just hey in with the new now. You heartless. You guys want to hear Braden Shend talking about his return to St. Louis? Sure. Let's play that clip there, Derek. You know, it was

pretty emotional night. I can usually hold it together pretty good. I'm not going to lie and driving in the rink today got me a little bit but you know the fans have been so good to me. The organization's been so good. It's been a long time since I've played a you know home return game, homecoming game, whatever you want

to call it. This one just happened so fast with a lot of emotions. But one thing I will say about this group and this team, these guys are super welcoming and they definitely make you feel part of it right away. Speaking of guys who love the tragically hip. Braden-Shen 1706 last night, one-assist, five shots. I get,

I get Schaefer and how excited everybody is in the island. But where do you think this lineup is going with Shen who's 34, Can I keep going here? Casey Sizicus, 35. Pallat, Peugeot, Sousy. Anders Lee, 35. Okay, what's happening here?

Like, come on. This is a bridge year. Going to the playoffs, probably. This is a bridge year and year that no one's any good. If they win a playoff rally, no one expected them to be any good. They have the best goalie in the league right now. Where are you going in the next two or three years?

You're bridging. Schaefer's going to be there. You got Atchison, you got Eklin. They got another kid. They're, oh, the kid in college, Eiserman, Danny Nelson. You gave up some pretty important prospects for Shen. Is he guaranteeing you coming out of their first round? I mean, no, certainly he's not.

What's your point? And they probably should have kept their powder dry a little bit more. There's a case for that. That's my point. I do think that this team is a tough out in playoffs. And I think the East is whatever. I think it's just like if you have the opportunity, to get these guys in those moments,

I think it's worthwhile. The Shen thing, you know, there was other parts involved, right? You're taking, getting rid of Drew Ann's money. There's, there's, there's, he is one of these kind of culture, Long Islandy guys. I don't know if he's going to stay there long.

You're right. I saw plenty of people make the case. They weren't sure about the Shen deal. Can I ask you? Could you've gotten something good for him? I think they're going to re-sign them. But, I mean, maybe. He's got 15 goals, 20 points, or sorry, 35 points.

Have you, like, Matt, talking about winning habits and culture or whatever. Have you ever heard somebody say a bad thing about Braden Shen or a bad thing about Pilat? Like these guys are culture, heart and soul guys. It's like Matthew Schaefer is one of the best young guys.

You want to teach him the right way to play? Like, it's fine. Okay. I think it's fine. All right. Okay. They traded their Colorado's first round pick this year, which I mean, the least ones.

Those are still major building blocks that you gave up to get them, Sam. I don't. I don't hate it, man. Right? I don't. I can't sit here and say that them getting Braden Schen's. and the bad thing.

Yeah. It's a... I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm saying is the price worth it. And with an aging core group, at some point, it's going to catch up to you. And your Leafs went in this year as one of the oldest teams. And kaboom. I think you wait and see.

And if the Islanders don't make playoffs this year, then you're not going to feel real good about it. But I think this is the attempt. to give them, you know, show the team the belief and get them in. Correct me of my wrong, but my Leafs don't have the best young defensemen in the league or the best goal in the league. So I don't need to correct you. Yeah, I think I'm right on that one.

Fortunately. Good building blocks. Totally. All right. The Islanders last 17 games, they have 12 home games five away. And lots of non-playoff team. So they should be able to get in face Pittsburgh in round one. How about the Sabres?

Eight straight wins. and if they... By the way, the sabers are a bit like the Islanders and that there's a bit of smoke and mirrors. And Islanders fans, I think you know when you win 10 stories. You know the Islanders are 10 and O in overtime? Wow. Yeah, it's not.

You're not going to do that every year. So they... They've got as many points as they can see what we could out of this. Three-on-three league champs. Buddy, Barzal is a speed demon. Schaefer's unbelievable. Holmstrom can fly. Peugeot's nasty.

Horvack can go. Like, they have great overtime players. I like the aisle of team, man. They're fun. They're a good team. They're fun this year. So if the Sabres win tomorrow night against the caps and the Leafs lose tomorrow night against the Ducks, that would set up a Saturday in Buffalo where the Buffalo Sabres had one nine in a row

and the Leafs have lost nine in a row. And an immovable object hits, whatever, what's that saying? How many Lee fans in that building? Well, they'll actually be able to have some real fans for once in that game. So that'll be good for it. You know, I think there's a real chance given how much. Leafs fans have been let down and how much Sabers fans have been let down that the Leafs would find a way to win that game. Totally.

You know? Totally. Just a one-nothing grinded out. Every game the Sabers play has 18 goals in it, so I don't think that's going to be the case. Yeah, probably not. On show today, boys. All right. Montreal and Ottawa?

What do you think? Ottawa tonight? No, I think Montreal. I like the Sanis. They need Sanderson, but they got to get to play. playoffs get sanderson back yeah they do find it they do our thanks to david amber who's getting you all prepared for wednesday night hockey on sports net do not change that channel just leave it all night long for nicky kiparroes justin born sammy mckee mckeeerickie dredo jake the snake thanks for watching

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