Real Kyper & Bourne - Canucks Extend Rutherford

Episode Date: January 19, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Daniele Franceschi start with the news of the day that the Canucks have signed president Jim Rutherford to a 3-year extension. Joining the conversation, Canucks columnist Iain MacIntyre (4:53) discusses how the team has transformed from their disastrous state last season, Rich Tocchet's impact, Pettersson's contract situation and how aggressive they will be at the deadline. Later, news and notes - Shane Pinto returns to the Senators, whether the Flames should be buyers or sellers at the deadline and the Kings starting to crumble. They close the week with your questions on the text line!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 back into the real kipper and born show this is our national edition wherever you're watching wherever you're listening sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver sportsnet 916 calgary we're glad you're aboard got ian mcintyre does a terrific job covering the Vancouver Canucks. Sportsnet.ca to join us in a few minutes. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, and Disco Dan Franceschi in for the Sammy McKee. And he is knocking it out of the park right now. Just to give you some ideas how Disco has taken Sammy's job basically away from him.

I don't know any other way to describe it, JB. So just to give you an idea of how much Disco's stepped up the game, this is his lineup right here, okay? And it is like six pages deep, and it's on both sides, and it basically could be the whole show in itself. I could leave the next hour, and you'd be fine just reading this. Just read this, and it would be a thorough show. So this is like a lineup from like like harvard this is a

university report right here on last night and let me just i got i got a sammy lineup uh to compare it to you brought that one that's one of his better ones yeah this this let me just unfold this tim horton's napkin and they're sammy's for those of you that can't see the monitor right now, it just basically says, say hello at 4 p.m. We have two guests and say goodbye at 5.57 Eastern. Did he spell bye correctly? No, no. He's got one spelling mistake guaranteed every night.

Yeah. You know, it's a tough day for sam because it's not like he lost his job but his job description has changed now because he can't go back oh i feel we will never go back guys that was not my intention for sammy we had 10 questions for ian mcintyre we expect to line up like this every now. You don't know some stuff about the Canucks? Yeah. I'll tell you all kinds of things. There's some stuff going on with the Canucks.

Did you go home last night or did you just work on this all night? I did. I did. I have been known to do those things, though, Kipper. Really? Yeah, I can tell you. Another. When I was in the morning, Kipper, it was a different story.

That's a different world out there. Well, Sammy's going to have to get in here just a little earlier now yeah it's all good though it's all good we're glad you're aboard we're forever grateful for our sammy the uh the connection of the nhl's first team to reach 30 wins this season there's seven one and one to kick off 20 uh 24 that's not the big story today no no jimmy rutherford contract extension agreed to terms on a three-year deal. But I got a page on that too. Oh, yeah.

Like, it is remarkable, the turnaround from last season where, like, Rome was burning. It was chaos. It was chaos. It was chaos. You know, like, Bruce Boudreaux's situation was interesting right in the news, and Rutherford spoke quite a bit last year in the media, often being critical of his head coach. They had let Rachel Doree go at the start of the season. They had hired new assistant general managers.

They had, you know, talked about the Miller contract was going to be a should we trade this guy? Are we rebuilding? It was mayhem. And here we are. And they might, they're in the president's trophy hunt. I do have a point on this, actually. Something I thought about.

You know, we watched the Calgary Flames yesterday. If you're a Flames fan, you'd probably point at Vancouver and say, see, see, it's doable. A hundred percent. But the problem is, I think they're vastly different scenarios. Like, I think Vancouver was in a position where they felt like they had the horses to do it. And it just wasn't happening for whatever reason. Insert new coach, changes, boom, it happens.

Team's playing well. Even on balance, like since Jim Rutherford came into power there, they had the bad year last year. But prior to that, he comes in midway through 2021, that season going into 2022, and they were a 30-15 team. Like they were not that bad. So you could see it. My thing would be, if you're a Calgary fan, just be.

You got to probably try and be as logical and as rational as you can be right now. Okay, let's welcome in Ian McIntyre, Canucks columnist, Sportsnet.ca, does a terrific job on the broadcast. Ian, thanks for joining us. I don't know if you caught all of us

just describing, at least trying to describe the turnaround in such a short period of time. Like outside of your daily activities following this team, like for the people out West in Vancouver, has it totally sunk in like this remarkable turnaround? I actually don't think it has. Listening to Rutherford's press conference this morning, of course, Francesco Aquilini, the managing owner, was there as well.

And we don't often hear from Aquilini. But when Aquilini talked about the team being first overall uh five players and the coach going to the all-star game in toronto and he said uh as far as he knows the 1989 oriolers were the last team that that had that and whether that's true or not, it's exciting and it's fun to be a Canucks fan. Again, he was marveling as he said it. This is the owner of the team who still sounded in semi-disbelief. Everybody is enjoying this an awful lot, I can tell you that, because there has been enormous frustration and dejection about the state of this franchise until recently.

It's amazing. I went back and looked because this is what, January 19th. It was January 16th of last year, only 368 days ago, that Rutherford had a press conference where it looked like the team was in utter ruin the brand was at its nadir certainly this century and it just seemed like there it the work ahead was impossible and 12 months later uh here we are the team's in first place uh in the league and Jim Rutherford's got a three-year extension

to continue running this team until he's 77. It's amazing what's happened here the last 12 months. So what are the pivotal markers, the pivotal moments to take us from 368 days ago to going, I don't know, they might be the president's trophy. We talked yesterday about Canucks or Oilers, who you got in a series. That's like, I don't know, how might be the president's trophy. We talked yesterday about Canucks or Oilers, who you got in a series that's like, I don't know, how do you

pick against Demko versus Skinner? So how did we get here? Well, 362 days ago, right after that press conference, or soon after, Jim Rutherford fired Bruce Boudreau and he brought in Rick

Talkett. And it's the first time in a long time where there had been complete alignment from top to bottom in the organization. And Talkett has just done an amazing job. I mean, there's, you know, at that press conference that I referenced by Rutherford last January, he talked about major surgery. And people wonder, well, where was the major surgery? There were some major decisions. Obviously, the coach was a big decision. They traded Bo Horvat, their captain, which led them to do other things.

They brought on Philip Roenick on defense. And then they bought out Oliver Ekman-Larsen, for which Aquilini agreed to pay $19 million for him not to play for the Vancouver Canucks. But that buyout allowed them to bring in other players in the summer, Carson Soucy and Ian Cole, who have been terrific on defense, Teddy Bluger, Pugh Suter, to give them strength down the middle. And of course, they made the Zdorov trade at the end of November.

So there has been a lot that has happened. But I think at its core, at the epicenter of all this, is Rick Tockett and bringing in a system of accountability that had not existed previously. And it's worked because the core players that he inherited have all embraced these new standards and embraced the idea that nothing that they do as an individual is as important as the team winning. And you're seeing you know another incredible year

from elias peterson you're seeing an unprecedented year at least for this franchise in a defenseman in in quinn hughes thatcher demko's having uh a a year that has him in the vesna trophy uh conversation halfway through rick talkett it's either rick talkett or john tortorella's coach of the year at this point and you know brock bessers had a tremendous bounce back here and jt miller jt miller who may be symbolized at least on the ice a lot of the dysfunction that the team was going through jt miller having an incredible year as a two-way matchup center. It's getting all these core players to buy in, and they've set a new standard here.

And it's a standard, I can tell you, because I've covered the team a long time, it's a standard that hasn't existed, certainly since the Sedins retired, but possibly even slightly before then, because the team was on decline the last couple of years that the Sedins played. But there is a standard that's very reminiscent of the great teams

that the Sedins led to a couple of President's Trophies, went to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. I'm not making those kind of bold predictions for this team, but there's a lot of similarity in the feeling of what's going on now with these Canucks and what happened then more than a decade ago with those Canucks. We're talking to Ian McIntyre, Canucks broadcaster, columnist for Sportsnet.ca. Ian, nobody has followed this team closer on a day-to-day basis.

And we do hear from coaches the term accountability and everybody wants it, but not everybody can get it like Rick Talkett or as fast as Rick Talkett here. What have you seen that makes him successful while other coaches continue to struggle a little bit? Well, I think he has proven through action that he's consistent in what he's preaching. And it doesn't matter whether you're Nils Hoaglander,

who's near the bottom of the lineup, or was at that time and got sat out, or Andre Kuzmenko, last year's 39 goal scorer, who's, you know, if there's a crisis, because there always seems to need to be one. If there's a crisis for the Canucks, it's what's going on with Andre Kuzmenko, who's been a healthy scratch five times.

Or even if you go back to a spell in late November, when the team, the only time they've scuffled it, and by scuffling, I mean, they were winning one, losing one, which was a lot better than they did when they were scuffling the previous three seasons. But there was a period of time where Rick Talkett was telling us in the media, you know, PD's got to be better. And PD knows he's got to be better. So he handled it

in a different way. But every player, top to bottom of the lineup, is being held accountable. And because, again, the leadership group and Quinn Hughes as a young captain who's still kind of learning on the job, he's been tremendous in this as well that they that leadership group is taking that culture taking that responsibility onto themselves uh talk it has said a couple times recently he doesn't even need to tell the team this because they already know this and that's another thing that's very reminiscent of when uh the sedins were at their peak and this franchise was one of the best in the NHL over a period of about six years, is that it's the players setting the standard in the room.

And you know, Kipper, all the great teams, I would even say every team that wins the Stanley Cup, you have to have the players who are setting the standard. It can't always be external so where talk it has succeeded and others have failed is that he's been consistent with this standard and he has somehow in a very short period of time going back to when he came in last january established this trust with the top players where they're taking it on themselves. I also think those top players had all been here for a few years. They'd seen the tire fire.

I think they were all embarrassed about how poorly the team had did because had done, because obviously they're good players and there were, there were other good players around them. I think they were ready for Rick talk. And I think this is a perfect example of the right coach at the right time for this group. Yeah. You know, you mentioned how there always has to be some sort of fire to put out.

You know, after the Nylander contract got signed, you know, we started being like, oh, Pedersen, you know, let's talk about him every single day. Why does it feel weird? It feels weird that this guy is someone who's been great. He's someone they want. He's someone they're willing to pay. He's an RFA. And it's not happening.

What am I missing about what's going on there? Well, you're not missing anything. It's a perfect summary of the situation. And it does feel weird. I mean, even Patrick Alveen, who I had a sit-down interview with on the Canucks' last road trip, admitted this is an unusual situation where you have an RFA, not a UFA, an RFA, who the team still has some control over

and is eager to start negotiations and make him by far the highest-paid player in franchise history. But Elias Pettersson has wanted to wait and he made it very clear you know it was an interview with our Elliot Friedman back in August where he he made it clear that he wanted to wait so that he could focus entirely on having a successful season and and obviously had there been any traction in negotiations last summer maybe he wouldn't have waited but things weren't going anywhere so it's elias patterson the player who has has shut this this down i know his his his agents would love to get a deal done you know but

right now it's uh elias calling the shots. It is an unusual situation. Rutherford said again today, you know, pledged his devotion and love for Pedersen and how much he wants Pedersen to remain with this franchise. But for now, because he's an RFA and not a UFA, it's a profound difference. And one of the big differences, say, with Nylander and others, there's not that dire urgency yet with Pedersen to get a deal done.

It's different than even last year with Beau Horvat as a Canucks captain who was going to be a UFA, and it became this constant kind of drag, among other things, on the team that they hadn't got a deal done of course eventually uh horvat was traded it's different than that but i'll say this you can only wait as an organization to a point and although it's it's accurate that the canucks do have control they can make a qualifying offer uh i don't think anybody's signing an offer sheet uh for pedersen and if they do the canucks are going to match but they want to know what's happening going forward alvin told me you know there's a pecking order of of how they tackle contracts and and pedersen he didn't say this but

it's obvious pedersen's at the top of the pecking order, and they need to know what he's going to cost and for how much longer in order for them to continue to build the team around him. They've got another really big RFA in Philip Roenick. They've got a pile of UFAs who have played really well in supporting roles for this team that they would like to keep some of those as well,

but it all gets back to how much is it going to cost for Pedersen. And if they get past this season, and Jim Rutherford alluded to this today as well, once it gets past the regular season, then things get a lot more serious. So if nothing happens this season, certainly between the end of the season and before qualifying offers go out ahead of free agency this summer,

they need to know one way or another on Elias Pettersson. It's an interesting thought, Ian, in terms of, you know, the more we know on what the number is going to be, the more we can start planning now. So I ask you this, he's loved out there, but is there a chance if he drags this thing out a lot longer that

there could be a shift of the way the fan base think of him? I think there's already some discontentment in the fan base, but Canuck Nation, you guys are really familiar with Leafs Nation.

Discontentment is never far away. It doesn't take much to provoke it. But certainly, certainly there are some people already who I think are frustrated that, you know, because, you know, as fans, you're not investing only your money, which is important to the team. It's that emotion that you invest, and you invest it in players

more than individual players as much as anything. And so there's a lot of people who love Pedersen and obviously want him to stay who are, I think, concerned, maybe more concerned than Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvina are to this point about him not coming back. But again, one way or another another the Canucks are going to need to know before free agency I I don't think it I wouldn't say it's impossible that say they end up offering a QO and that Pedersen plays next year on a one-year contract I wouldn't say it's impossible

but I'd say it's extremely unlikely because once once you get to that point, the balance of power is all with the player. I think the Canucks will want to look at their options before then. If they actually feel like there's a realistic chance that Pedersen isn't going to be back, they don't want to leave that decision until next year's trade deadline. They want to look at that before free agency, before this summer, so that they're still operating at least from a little bit of strength. Last one for me. Are you done on Pedersen?

Yeah. Just what the Canucks would do at deadline this year. What do you think they'll be looking at? Will they be aggressive? I mean, they haven't been buyers in a while here. This is exciting to go to the store now uh what are they going to be shopping for well they've been they've been quietly i would say they've been quietly aggressive all along if you look at some of the things that alvin has done from last season there's been so few trades this year but if you

run through the ticker it seems like the canucks are involved in half of them and they've been able to get deals and and and good deals you know picking up Sam Lafferty right before the season getting Casey to Smith I mentioned the Zdorov trip they've made good moves along the way there's no reason to think based on that that they wouldn't continue to be aggressive but I would say and this might be my single biggest takeaway from today's press conference is that Jim Rutherford may as well have jumped up on the podium grabbed a microphone and said let's go because that was that was his that was his message you know his his quote about there's a risk in in making moves and adding players but he he said importantly there's also a risk in not doing

anything and he said he's seen uh teams that he thought were really good and then he he's surprised that they do nothing to make themselves better having witnessed so many losing seasons here uh the last decade uh i can tell you nobody is complacent now about the opportunity that the canucks suddenly find themselves with and it may be an opportunity that they didn't expect it may be right now maybe it's not sustainable maybe it's a different conversation two months from now but right now you know they're looking at my notes, 30, 11, and 4. They've been, from start of the season until now, very consistently one of the best teams in this league.

I think they're going to do everything they can to maximize this opportunity and see where it takes them this spring. And Ian, right now, you can't argue that Jim Rutherford couldn't have picked a better time to sign an extension here. Three-time Stanley Cup champion. The turnaround. Like if Jerry McGuire, if Jimmy went into Francesco and said, I want to be the highest paid president.

Did he, Francesco, are you much on that? Like any idea how well he did? Yeah, actually I don't. And that's a, that's a good question. Who,

so who would be the highest paid president right now? Would it be Davidson or would it be Shanahan? I got to think that Brendan Shanahan, the, the feeling is, is6 million U.S. in that ballpark. Yeah, Shanahan's had, I'm guessing, what, three contracts at least? Sounds right.

So, I mean, Jim at age 74 and on a second deal, I suspect didn't do quite that well. But, you know, the bottom line is this guy's won three Stanley Cups. He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He doesn't need this job. And to me, I actually wondered when he took the job, and I believe he was 71 when he took it, he's 74 years old now, whether it was just sort of one last thing that he wanted to do and he would put a team in place he would groom his successor in patrick alving certainly uh in terms of managing the hockey operations department and then might happily step back and say my work is done here but clearly he's still driven to win. He wants a fourth Stanley Cup.

I don't think the money was probably the overriding factor, but I think he's probably done pretty well. It's one thing about the Aquilines as owners, and there's been lots of criticism, some of it justified. They have never shied away from paying, whether it's you know players they've almost always are paying to the to the salary cap limit or over you know with the various mechanisms that allow that whether it's going out and getting jim rutherford i'm sure he didn't come cheap to begin

with you know to come out of retirement move his family from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Vancouver, I don't think that was an expensive proposition for the Canucks. So the fact that Rutherford has achieved what he's achieved to this point, and really as good as the Canucks have been the last 12 months, it still feels like this is kind of the launch pad. This isn't the destination yet of where they're going because their their core players are so young they've got other moves to make they've got they may be able to get some some cap flexibility yet uh i i don't think they there was probably a really tough negotiation about what it was going to take to

jim rutherford. He was their guy. Francesco Aquilini went out to get him. It's turned out to be the right choice. Almost everything that Rutherford has done, and certainly in the last year, everything this hockey ops department has done seems to have been the right choice. It's money well spent to keep him here. Really appreciate your feedback on the Canucks and a big day in Vancouver, knowing who their general is for the next three years. Ian, enjoy the rest of the season, man.

Tell us what it's like to just cover a team that just keeps winning. Just wins all the time. Sounds fun. Well, it's a refreshing narrative just for a change of pace. Success, optimism, enthusiasm, all those things surrounding the team that have been foreign for the last three years. All right. Thanks for having me.

Terrific stuff. Thank you, Ian McIntyre. You know, the other thing, I mean, we could talk to him the whole hour on the Canucks, but just the quick turnaround on the blue line. Of course, it's led by the elevated play by Quinn Hughes. Yeah, but the ironic trade helped him get there. Yeah. And the pickup of Carson Soucy is no small deal.

I know he's been hurt. Zdorov helps. Yeah, Zdorov, who's got his warts. Yeah, he's a roller coaster. Right? But the presence that he brings every night. Like, five guys on the ice know when he's on the ice. Yeah.

Right? Including his own teammates because they're like, okay, just got to double check. He is where we want him to be. The other name I want to drop is Adam Foote. We don't really talk about, we talk about Rick Tockett. Everybody's heard Rick Tockett. Nobody's talking about Adam Foote.

And I think he should be, have that, you should have that same conversation that you have with coffee and Edmonton calming these guys down. When you think about Adam Foote and where he's been and what he's seen and the experience that he's had with team Canada's and Stanley cup champions and playing with a guy like Ray Bork. I mean, come on, let's talk more about Adam Foote on that bench as well.

Yeah, certainly worth his due. It is a huge part of their turnaround. Part of the reason it's easier to believe in what they're doing doesn't seem like a fluke when there's major changes and a good coach involved. All right, Sammy, game time. Disco Dan. It's an automatic on game time

it's game time presented by Bet365 visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365 must be 19 plus Ontario only play responsibly alright guys we got 4 games on the slate

today in the National Hockey League tomorrow's hockey day in Canada so we got a busy Saturday slate. For tonight, here's what I was looking at and what caught my eye earlier today. The Panthers hosting the Minnesota Wild tonight. I don't

see value on the money line. They're minus 200 favorites. You're probably not putting any juice. There's not enough juice there for value purposes. But I will go puck line. Minus one and a half, plus 125 for the Florida Panthers at home against the Minnesota Wild. We've talked about, hey, this team just yesterday lost their captain, Jared Spurgeon, out for the year.

He's having two surgeries. Not one. He's going to have two. So I kind of like Florida to get it going, to take advantage of a depleted Minnesota team, pick up a win tonight on home ice. I was also keying in on the New Jersey Devils. And I know their season has been,

it's been a lot of ebbs and flows, right? Peaks and valleys, ups and downs for this team. And they've been the model of inconsistency this year, but they're playing Columbus. So their seventh in the Metro is New Jersey. The lone team below them is Columbus. So their seventh in the Metro is New Jersey. The lone team below them is Columbus. You can get New Jersey at minus 160 on the money line. If you want to get a little adventurous plus 155 on the puck line.

I also don't mind the over in that game as well. Six and a half. I mean, geez, I think we could see some goals. If Columbus can score a little bit, then we got some offense there. And the last one that was interesting to me, you got the Islanders and the Blackhawks in the later game. That's a 8.30 p.m. puck drop tonight. I kind of like the over.

Set at six. I kind of like that over. I think the Islanders are kind of poised for a bit of an offensive breakout here. It's been a little quiet from them offensively as of late. Just. Let's get some offense. Sold on that i like uh yeah i like new jersey in particular uh against columbus at some point here new jersey's

gonna start to win some hockey games so feels that way maybe a goal you'll get to save one night i don't know they don't like him eh well hamilton's out yeah the talk is that he may come back in the last week, 10 days. Oh, it's that timeline. But if they're in it, if there's a push, if there's something there, there's a slight chance he can come back. If not, they'll write him off for this year. But you lose your horse.

It's hard back there. Yeah, you don't get saves. You don't have your number one D. Jack Hughes has not been playing a ton. I still think that Columbus team is in such disarray that i'll take him in and morning but second night of a back-to-back for columbus and they just got shut out so let's see i mean yeah like that one ripe for the picking all right take us out i think you gotta say it all again yep that was game time presented by bet 365 again visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary.

Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Play responsibly. Well done, sir. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. And then when we come back, we'll tidy it all up with news and notes. Pinto in for the Ottawa Senators. We'll talk about that. What else have we got?

Do you want some text? Text us at 590-590. Oh, absolutely. Active text line. Oh, it's a lot of flooding. And we need your rating and review over Disco Dan compared

to our Sammy McKee. You just need to know the quality and depth of his work is all I need to say. This document right here is something special. All right. More real Kipper after the break. And born.

I don't care. Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts nick capreos justin bourne just go dan uh i know we're gonna get get to text, and I certainly am hoping, Daniele, that you can find a few that rip Sammy. We've got a few, actually.

Just, yeah. So before we get to that, a couple of news and notes I want to get into. Pinto's coming back. He's just 22 years of age, coming off a very emotional suspension. Can he be any good at all? Like when I think about guys that miss training camp

and try to play in November, they have a tough time. For sure. How about this guy coming back after 41 games off? I think the one thing he has going for him is that there's no expectations. Right? I mean, like... Well, he's an Ottawa senator.

The team's in last by, I think, 12 points in the Atlantic. Oh. You know, they're way in last. He has missed half the season. Any help they can get will be welcome. He's making league minimum. I just think they're looking for him to show that he can be a contributor and a piece of the solution for them.

You got a thought? Elliott had also mentioned that they're entertaining the idea of working on a long-term extension and that there had been talks surrounding that. So that's a consideration. They just couldn't do it this year. They just had no space. Yeah, yeah.

And that was the issue even coming into the season when obviously being an RFA, they couldn't do it this year. They just had no space. Yeah, yeah. And that was the issue even coming into the season when obviously being an RFA, they couldn't find the room or so we thought as to why he wasn't even going to be with the club initially. We learned obviously that he was suspended for the gambling. But 20 goals per year ago in his first NHL season. I mean, it probably doesn't hurt to have that kind of guy into your lineup. So seeing what he is at 22 years old and you kind of go from there and if he's a piece you can add into this mixture of young players that you're hopefully trying to

build around and take that next step with love it many clubs this week have had their pro scouting meetings and of course what comes out of those is a strategy on what it looks like going into trade deadline. Earlier this week, I wrote an article for the Toronto Star in it. I mentioned there's still as many as 20 teams that have aspirations on not only still thinking that they can make the playoffs, but maybe winning a round or two. Well, I got to tell you, I read your article and you wrote, you know, there's as many 20 as 20 teams think they can make the playoffs and i thought i think you're you're light i think

you're yeah i was conservative yeah 22 23 i mean you get eight and eight in each division that are in you're at 16 there's at least i don't know four or five on the outside looking in in the west that think they can get in one of them played last night. We watched the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Calgary Flames. And, you know, thanks to a horrific run by the LA Kings, the Calgary Flames sit today three points behind them, albeit they've got three more games played than LA. But half a season to make that up. It shouldn't be an issue if you feel like you can push forward

first of all i mean we we spent our first hour on our leaf edition talking about the toronto maple leafs but we never really we never spoke of the calgary flames and what we saw last night and i gotta be honest with you guys i was not impressed and i know they've played some good hockey and they've had some good goaltending. Even Vladar last night held them in it. He gave them a chance to tie the game. I was surprised by your texting last night, but I did not like the, no,

no, did not like them. You know, in terms of now watching them give everything they have and still falling a little short. And I get it. Like the, the Coleman's Manji Apani to me was their best player last night.

Yeah. But he really shouldn't be their best player last night. That should belong to Jonathan Huberto. It should belong to Lindholm. Like Huberto? Not even in the least. Oh. Not even in the least.

Like I saw a guy that didn't necessarily hunt down pucks. I didn't see Chris passing. I don't see a guy driving hard to the net. I didn't see him pull anybody in to make a pass. Like, he is, for last night, I thought Huberto really struggled. And I think there's been a lot of games like that. I just, I'm not watching as much as, say, Eric Francis or some of our other great analysts out there.

But, I mean, I saw a team that I don't know how hard you want to push thinking you're getting in while you hold on to assets. Watching the game, I kind of felt like the bottom six was more entertaining and just they were more engaged in the top six guys yeah listen i like it's weird sorry there sorry yeah there's a future there there's a future there 100 but like that's they were more tantalizing than some of the guys that you're supposed to be getting the production from i didn't see any push from lindholm i didn't see game breaker. I didn't see a guy leading necessarily. I just saw a guy that's just in the mix.

I would say a bigger concern is let's say they decide, okay, we're not quite it. We are going to sell. Chris Tanev didn't particularly sparkle. You didn't go, God, if we had that guy. So, yeah. sparkled no you know you didn't uh yeah you didn't go god if we had that guy you know so yeah it's uh and i just don't know what teams can pay calgary if you don't think for sure he's signing with you and i we've had this conversation the other day but like leaps can't give up a first rounder for him if they don't know he's signing if they for him. Even if they know he's signing? If they know he's signing, they could. If they know he's signing and you really feel like you could win with him

in the next two years or three years, I would imagine he can get no problem on the open market this summer. He can get a three-year deal. Yeah. And I imagine if you're the Leafs, you're thinking, we're picking after 20 you know quite likely if you trade for 10 having things go well so do you want to trade the 24th overall pick and then sign him for three times like giving brody's contract somewhere around there three times three four

i don't think you get three four five uh i i think you're in the high fours fives okay yeah okay i mean how attractive is that i don't know i i i would also say you know from calgary's perspective i wonder what the what what when what is the cutoff to say you know what we should probably just let's focus on what's next like let's just let's look ahead and and the guys that we have here the veteran pieces huberdo you can't move because the contract is just an onerous it's it's it's hard it's difficult that's the problem with that and he has to play well enough to even make it remotely appetizing to have somebody take money off of that when you do trade it away so then what's the point though when like a lynn home right do they just

move them? Because they're essentially committed to walking them out the door, if that, right? So what is that cutoff for them to determine, hey, we should probably just be sellers and figure out what's next. And lose another four or five if the Kings get hot or whatever. Because they're three points technically out of a wild card spot. They're right there, I guess, right? They're kind of on the periphery.

Listen, in my next life, I'm coming back a defenseman. They are so few and short. Yeah. And that's why even a guy like Hannafin can turn around and say, I want eight years and I want seven, seven and a half. Yeah. And he'll probably get it. And he'll probably get it.

And we will never mention Hannafin in any Norris conversation. No, he'll probably get it and he'll probably get it and we will never mention hannifin in any norris conversation he'll just be but that's just the going rate for 20 minutes and chickren's not that far off from that conversation guys and now we're starting to hear more and more and i i mentioned his name a month and a half ago yeah that like Like, where does Ottawa think they're going with being in the position that they're in and thinking about signing Jacob Chikrin to $7.5 million? Like, Sanderson and Shabbat, and you're going to sign Chikrin too?

Like, that makes no sense. Tough to see, Kip, for sure. It felt like with Ottawa, too, if you look at the build and the stages of their build, the moves that they had made like two years ago with Pierre Dorian in charge, felt like that was them indicating, okay, we got to take this step, but it hasn't happened.

Oh, for sure it was. And those guys are not there yet. Drew and Tarasenko. They're not there yet. Yeah, the big goalie moves. And the money's been invested in a lot of different pieces there. It's hard for them to now pivot to what the actual next step is, the proper step to get into that, even that playoff conversation. Never mind anything further than that, but just playoffs. Yeah.

Should we text you something else? Yeah, you know what? One more thought. I know I mentioned the LA Kings yesterday. I think Rob Blake met with the media and gave his head coach, Todd McClellan, a vote of confidence. But I will say this, that they are so lucky being out west in that market where like imagine if if that team was in canada right now the heat that they would be taking it's a day-to-day i know dropping 10 of 11 huge trade to get pierre luke

dubois philip to know it signed a big contract fialiala was, you know, a nice add. Kopitar, Byfield, Kempe. I mean, they've made moves there, and I like their back end. Gabrikov was another big contract they gave us. My point is, there are expectations to succeed when you've, the rebuild's over. You're a team now. You're trying to win, and you're right. So, actually, I wrote a little bit about coaches today,

and McClellan was one of them where I don't really know, you it's it's tough to say like hey this guy's the issue or whatever because their top end talent is not that high but i don't know it's the the seat's got to be warming up a little bit but it's just funny because here we were talking about uh you know either brad tree living or brendan shanahan coming, maybe calming the waters on Sheldon Keefe. We don't hear a word. Media out there, and I don't know, it could have been one or two people who followed the Kings. Goes, hey, what about Todd McClellan, your head coach? Would you ever move on from him?

Oh, no, not at all. And then it's over. Yeah. It's just over. Came out and handled it. That's nice. All right, Disco, what do you have for us? Let's get the overall feel, the vibe of no Sammy and all Disco.

Well, first things first. We had somebody say, oh, what about the Edmonton Oilers? They won 12 in a row. Yes. The Edmonton Oilers exist. We're tired of talking about how they exist. Good job. 12 in a row.

Keep rolling. Can I just say one thing on that streak? Now it's regarded as the longest winning streak ever. Ever for a Canadian team. I think they passed the Montreal Canadiens

at 68. But there was no three on three. There was no overtime-on-three. There was no overtime. In that streak, how many overtime games? One, two, three, maybe four. Is that really fair to call them now?

Can we not just say it as is? This is the longest winning streak ever in the salary cap era. Can we just not say that? In the modern day, 32 32 why why do they good point why do they why does a 67 or 68 montreal canadian team get bumped off on that new to this business no do the whole hyperbole thing they're the greatest team excuse me yes excuse me yes are you not the guy that said i don't know who tweeted it out that the leafs were on a four game losing streak and then i don't know somebody else said no it's a four game

winless streak and you're like that's garbage it's the losing streak probably sounds familiar yeah i mean i don't even believe what i'm selling here, Kip. I know the 67 Canadians are better, you know, the all-time great teams. It should be over. If you want to be known as a team that has won 12 games in a row. You got to win 12 games. You got to win 12 in 60 minutes. That's how you pass the 67 Montreal Canadians. We can also qualify it because they do it in other sports where it's like

before or after the merger or whatever. Or to point kipper salary cap error there's nothing wrong with that nothing wrong with football it's super bowl era okay cool yeah because football's been played for hundreds and hundreds of years right just like it's totally you flush 80 years down the toilet when you start tagging everything salary cap error but don't worry about it some some poor guy wanted us to talk oilers, and we were just like, nah, we're just going to do with your record. All right, let's go. A damp run.

All right, so we do have, I'm actually, I got to say, I'm pleased. Thank you for all the positivity in the text line. Disco Dan, way better than Sammy McKee. He's a real pro. No name on that one, but you i will say you know we love sammy's unpronous as well but there's no doubt that this is a thoroughly prepared individual here no no this show is just really about being unpolished that's all we have hope you like the lack of polish there was another one in here saying uh disco Dan equals 10 out of 10.

So thank you. I appreciate that. That's awesome. And no other Sammy bashing happening. There was somebody saying, I thought Sammy said he doesn't gamble. Once he left his seat open, Danny jumped in and gambled his job away. Yeah, Sammy gambled his whole career on one one day off you and vegas you and uh sammy gambled the moment you agreed to do a show with me no doubt about that man there's no doubt but

you know i i hope that sammy is he's in vegas he's watching the golden knights game tomorrow i believe i i hope he's you know having day drinks somewhere, playing some hands of blackjack. I don't know. Yeah. Hope he's enjoying his day because he's getting killed here. Big Saturday matchup, the Vancouver Canucks and the Toronto Maple Leafs. You give the Leafs any shot at winning? Yeah, you know how I feel about this Leafs team.

Whenever it's a weird game, you think they're going to get smoked. They show up. Did you do a stat on Leafs bouncing back off of three or four game losing streaks? And the record is phenomenal. So for the record, I didn't. But last night on Hockey Central, we had. No, but yes, I did tweet it. And I owe credit, and I can find wherever the credit is to someone else here,

Joseph Zeta, who did this. But yes, the last four years under Sheldon Keefe, they have bounced back from four game winless streaks. 15-2-1. 7-0-2. 15-2-1. to someone else here joseph zeta who did this but yes the last four years under sheldon keith they have bounced back from four game winless streak 15 2 and 1 2 15 2 and 1 15 1 and 4 8 2 and 4 like killer after losing pretty impressive so it is pretty impressive i'm not gonna say they can't uh be decent here but earlier in the week we had nazim kadri on and he all but admitted that like it like there's winning admitted that there's winning, and then there's winning against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

And I got to think, for all the success that the Vancouver Canucks have had, they're going to want this one really bad. For no other reason that we're the top team in the league, and we still have to start 4 p.m. local. I just, honestly, I don't always be a discussion point. I can't believe that still happens. I mean, I'm grateful it does. I don't want to watch a 10 p.m. game, so that's great.

But it's pretty crazy. You know why it's crazy, too? Because they play at 10.30 here when they're in San Jose. That's true. Yeah. Anaheim. Anaheim. Anaheim. We're starting at 10 there.

ESPN primetime down in the States where 10 o'clock with the Kings. It happens. Oh, what a comment I just got. Disco Dan is our Martin Jones. He saved the season of Real Camper Show. That's even better than Holbrook. That's better than Pontus. I kind of like Pontus, though.

It's got a special place in my heart. Pontus always has a special place. There you go. He's one of your guysus, though. It's got a special place in my heart. Pontus always has a special place. There you go. He's one of your guys on this show. He is. Now, the other thing I noticed is you've been wearing a Bills hat all week, and you didn't bring it on the show. I mean.

That's okay. We want to see your face. I told him to wear a tux today, so this is, you know. No Bills hat was showing up. Do you own a tux? Not a full-blown tux. I have suits, obviously. Okay, well. Do you own a tux? Not a full-blown tux. I have suits, obviously. Okay, well, think about it.

Yeah, I've got a tux. They're not cheap. No, no. I got a guy. You got a guy? You got a guy? I got a guy. I'm coming.

That we can talk about. But yeah, big one for my Bills this weekend, Kipper. What do you think? They got a shot against Taylor Swift? Oh, yeah. Well, we'll see. Here's what I will say. Measure of true love is if Taylor Swift makes the journey to Western New York,

that'll tell you that. You show up in Buffalo in January, that's commitment. With a shovel. No, no, no. Nothing behind the glass. You got to get out there. Shovel to the seat. That's right. That was incredible, by the way. Buffalo got to get out there. Shovel to the seat. That's right.

That was incredible, by the way. Buffalo, love you. Truly. Bill's Mafia is the best. All right. Hey, great job. Thanks. Good work.

A lot of fun working with you. Well, welcome back, Sammy, under any circumstances. Even a crappy lineup sheet. Yeah. Yeah, like give him some tutoring on it. Okay. Our thanks to Carter Hutton in the first hour and then Ian McIntyre. even a crappy lineup sheet. Yeah. Yeah, like in treatment and tutoring on it. Okay. Our thanks to Carter Hutton in the first hour and then Ian McIntyre giving us wall-to-wall coverage

on the Vancouver Canucks. Enjoy your weekend, everybody. Stay safe. Give us a rating and review if you get a chance. We'd love to hear from you. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Disco Dan Franceschi signing out