Real Kyper & Bourne - Canucks' Shop Not Closed

Episode Date: December 4, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the second hour with a look at the Canucks/Flames game over the weekend and Nikita Zadorov instantly getting a revenge stage against his former team. They are joined by Satiar Shah (4:55) of Canucks Central, who shares his thoughts on what Zadorov brings to Vancouver, JT Miller excelling under more accountability and looks ahead at the team's potential next move. Then, a conversation about 'alpha dogs' in the NHL and which teams lack one. Finally, news and notes - Vasilevskiy refuses to leave Tampa's net in a blowout, Niederreiter signs an extension in Winnipeg and Tortorella compliments his team's 'balls.'The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

let's welcome everybody into our real kipper and born national hour we are live on sports and sports net 650 in vancouver and sports net 960 in calgary and this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 so vancouver and calgary good way to tee off this Monday. Not often you see a trade between two teams and then tee it up a few days later. Yeah. I mean, I really enjoyed that game. Nice to see Zdorov almost score, too, against his old team, the empty netter that got tipped on the way. He also had a bomb from the half boards that missed by a centimeter, too.

He hits it hard. He hits it really hard. He's got to be in the top, I don't know, 15 guys in the league or something. We got Sat Shah, who's going to join us momentarily from Canucks Central. Canucks game host as well, and we'll get his thoughts. But my first one is, man, he's a big guy who can move. Yeah. And that is a scene we don't see too often in the National Hockey League.

Well, he is one of those rare guys, and you feel like some of the best big men kind of take some time to figure it out. I'm not saying he's Zidane O'Chara, but, you know, that was a Chara thing. Early in his career, I remember watching him with the Islanders. It wasn't like it was in Norris Trophy Bruins years.

So this guy's going to get better for them. He has a lot of tools. And, I mean, look at the Canucks decor. All of a sudden, you look at it and go, gosh, that's pretty good. So, yeah, good thing for the Canucks here. Myers and him playing together is a lot of human being on the back end. That's not something you want to go up against. They call him the chaos giraffe.

I just wanted to read the ap headline of the um of the canucks and uh canucks and flames game on saturday here i'm just pulling it up um sorry i just lost it oh boy here we go uh mckeough and lafferty lead canucks to 4-3 win over the calgary flames so a couple guys missed that in our leafs hour that's when you should have led with that one mckay of and lafferty two fast long guys who can contribute kill penalties two guys and if you include the door off at what a third and a fifth not exactly uh big big pieces to give up to get some real quality depth in your lineup. Yeah, they took on some money with the Zdorov thing, but you got rid of it with Pavilion, so it makes sense.

You know who I think deserves some love on that Canucks decor is Ian Cole. Wherever he goes, he makes a difference for them. He was with the Avalanche in pretty good, the Wild, Carolina tampa every time he's on a d-core it's like their team has success yeah in a championship no yeah yeah he's been a part yeah in 2016 17 16 pittsburgh penguins on a d-core that you wouldn't have probably looked twice at he's just one of those guys winning a stanley cup led by latang he might have won both of them yeah he's just one of those guys. Ends up winning a Stanley Cup led by LeTang. He might have won both of them. Yeah, he's got two really long playoff runs on his elite prospects, 24 and 25 games.

So I imagine he did win two cups. Yeah, there you go. And he's a steadying guy. Once they have Soucy back, like all of a sudden the Canucks have a really solid decor. And I'm sorry, but an opening goal that looks familiar with a few other goals this year by Quinn Hughes. Like it's not a great

angle for markstrom low glove but you cannot catch what you cannot see yeah gets that off awfully quick i gotta ask like you know and we can get into this with sat when you guys talk to him but what fan base has had their expectations shift more from the start of the season to where we're sitting at right here than the Vancouver Canucks? It's crazy. I don't know that I've ever seen it.

I don't know that I've ever seen a team go in. Think about what we were talking about this team like heading into the season. You know, Rick Tockett took over. They were good last year, but you don't know if that's a, at the end of a year thing, you don't know. And now you look at their,

what are they, plus 35 goal differential? They they're right there they're ahead of the kings who are really good they're right behind the golden knights and they're just like a legitimately with a great goalie well coached good decor good forwards like well how do we not see this well so it kind of makes me feel sane because last year i would go on halford and brough in the mornings and they'd be like what do you think whatuff in the mornings and they'd be like, what do you think? What's going on here? And I'd be like, I don't know. They're good.

It's a good roster. I don't know what to tell you. They got good players. I think Vancouver's turned themselves into the poster child for about 12 other teams right now going, maybe we're not as bad as we thought. Maybe with a couple of changes or just a new attitude, we can turn ourselves around as quickly as Vancouver has.

The Flames could have been thinking that on the other side of the game Saturday night, going, boy, flip a couple guys who knows here. Okay, as promised, Sad Shah, host of Canucks Central and Canucks game host, will join us. Sad, thanks for doing this, pal. How are you? I'm doing great. Always a pleasure, boys. How are you? I'm doing great. Always a pleasure, boys.

How are you guys? We're good. We were just mentioning not often that you can see a trade and then watch it from both sides of it like we did Saturday night. But I don't think it disappointed. No, I don't think it did. I mean, Nikita Zdorov got an assist. He was out there for the class. And, you know, he's been,

he's what this team has needed in terms of adding somebody else in the back end. This team hasn't been short of storylines with their success so far this season. The Pedersen contract that has yet to be signed and a bunch of other things going on. But it was nice to have a new storyline about a trade. And honestly, a team that's played really well

and you were kind of worried about some of the depth on the blue line and getting a guy like zadora paid dividends right away against calgary on the weekend so sat i kind of want to ask you not even about this year but about the year before and like this team has a lot of the same pieces where was this like i was saying before you came on like i kind of thought they were good before and they weren't. So I guess what's changed and why wasn't it working prior to this? Well, I know, Justin, because we've spoken to you. I've heard your hits on Halford and Buffett's one. And I know you're always kind of flabbergasted. This is a talented hockey team.

Look at Patterson. Look at Miller. Look at Hughes and Demko and a number of other star players they have on this team. I think a lot of it honestly comes down to stability organizationally, having real alignment now with the head coach and the players and obviously with the management team. And I do think what they needed to do was really shake up that core, shake up what has sometimes been kind of deemed as a country club atmosphere

in Vancouver over the years in terms of how people felt about the players not taking enough accountability. So I do think it was a lot of maturation individually for a lot of these players, the organization being aligned and changing the mix enough that they had to build a new standard, a new culture. And in terms of how these guys are playing, I mean, last year, yes, they struggled. Yes, there's a lot of stuff going on, but they really shot themselves in the foot more often than not. I mean, they had the most unforced errors in the league, I would say, based on the turnovers, bad turnovers they had. Defensively, they weren't paying attention to what other teammates were doing.

Guys were playing for themselves. It was kind of like guys making sure that they're getting their stats when the team isn't performing well, when they didn't feel like the organization was going the right direction. The players went out and just produced. So last year, you saw Horvat career year, but defensively, he struggled. They looked at JT's score. Defensively, he struggled. All their key players were scoring, but they weren't doing anything defensively. So I think it's been, more than anything, a real mindset change

and having real organizational alignment for the first time in many years. JT Miller, to me, is, I think, the biggest thing that I look at when I see the Vancouver Canucks on a guy that maybe had a reputation for looking after himself first or being loud in the room at the most inopportune time.

And yet, now this year, it's completely fallen into place. Is that Rick Talkett? Is that maturation out of Miller knowing where he is in his career? Where do you look at first? I think maturation plays a part into it. And not to get too philosophical here. I mean, Kiefer, you would know better in terms of NHL locker rooms and everything.

But he's a type of personality that's a real alpha personality. he's a guy that isn't disliked by his teammates i think last year some stuff came out about him being a salty teammate and i think that was taken out of context because the guys on the team all love him and they all got along with them and i know there's been some talk that over the years him and patterson maybe weren't you know best of friends but it's been you know a fine working relationship at the very least so i think there's some maturation being done but i think a lot of it comes down to accountability he's the type of guy that needs to have somebody above him that he respects somebody who's not afraid of calling him out holding him accountable and not even so much about yelling at him and getting mad at him but somebody can relay that message with a with a level of respect it just seemed like last year

under bruce budrow a guy that very clearly was on the way out and it was very clear that he wasn't the organization's guy it was it got to a point where it seemed like the players were just not responding the way they would to a guy that they felt like was a lame duck head coach so i think having a personality like rick talkett that can hold miller accountable but also relate to him in a certain way i think he's one of those guys like a wild stallion in many ways, that you need to just harness the right way and make sure that energy is being put into the right areas

and the fact that you don't let that get the better of them. And I think that's a big part of it. Maturity is part of it, yes. But I do think when you have a personality like JT Miller, you need to have a good cohesive ecosystem around them with accountability, with other leaders that aren't afraid of calling guys out if they have to but having a coach who earlier this season the game they were winning benching him for five minutes and this is where JT was leading the league in scoring the coach wasn't afraid of sitting him down after taking two bad penalties

at the end of the second period to cool down and said after the game it is for accountability and also making sure that that guy harnesses his frustration and energy the right way. So I do have to give a lot of credit to Rick Talkett and having the leadership group now where guys are holding each other accountable a bit more. You know, I look at the best teams, the teams that win Stanley cups and a lot of people will tell you,

there's a number true number one D man. There's a true centerman and a goalie. That seems to be like a, an integral part of most Stanley cup teams. The Canucks check those boxes. You know, Quinn Hughes is not your prototypical big number one guy, but he does defend. And it sounds like he's taken some offense

at the implication he doesn't defend. Talk about his evolution a little bit into a guy that they can use as much as they do in both ends of the ice. Well, he's really matured in a huge way. And it's not that he's afraid of taking chances. I don't think that's where his game has changed, really. I think it's really come down to his eagerness

and willingness to get into the tougher areas. And it's not even so much about going out and hitting a guy, but it's about you putting yourself between a guy sometimes. You not being afraid of going to the corner and digging a puck out and being on the right side of a guy in front of the net, even. And those are the types of things that, Hey,

you don't have to be the most physical guy, but don't let somebody just go right through you. And I think those are the things that he's done a really good job of, but he's such a smart player and he's using his smarts with his anticipation to break plays up and get ahead of things. You see his stick being the right in the right passing and shooting lanes, deflecting pucks and, and angling guys away.

He's really matured in terms of how he's defending, not necessarily with size and strength, but just being smart about where he puts his position, where he puts his body, where he puts his stick. And it's really evolved in a massive way. You don't see him really get beat wide very often. And you would think a guy that can skate well shouldn't get beat wide anyways, but his angles are better.

His gap control is a lot stronger. And it's stuff that doesn't really stand out to you for a guy who's not big. You got to really watch him closely in his own end. But he really excels with the little details of defending. And it's pretty impressive seeing him grow in that aspect when it was a clear weakness of his game only a couple of years ago.

We're talking to Sat Shah, host of Canucks Central on Real Kipper and Bourne. Sat, if you look at the change between the offseason with heronic and now the door off i mean those are major changes that other teams can dream of because they're so locked in um and and not being able to get either money in or money out or or add on its own so where do the vancouver connects go from from here? Can you see this roster settling in at a certain point, or are they still looking? I think they're very much still looking.

The guy on the back end that they're trying to get done is Ethan Baer, and whenever he's willing to sign, we'll see if they are able to get that over the finish line. I wouldn't be shocked, guys, that if they are able to clear a little bit more cap space, that they're still kind of in the market around some defensemen i know chris tanniv is going to be really hard to pull off we know that a team like la i mean sorry toronto's obviously been interested in him as well i know elliot mentioned how both zadorov and tanniv were kind of guys that were

after to get if the canucks can clear cap space i wouldn't be shocked if we start hearing them maybe sniffing around tanniv again to shore up the defense even more and even if they do all those things guys let's say they are able to get another defenseman inside Ethan Bear I still think they're going to be open-minded to doing some stuff up front because as good as this Canucks team has been offensively I think the goal scoring is somewhat misleading they lead the league in goal scoring but they don't generate consistent chances uh for that to really stay on top of the league the entire season i think there'll be a time where if they can add another top six guy that can fit in i think they would look at that as well because right now they have players like

sam lafferty phil giuseppe for a while was playing with jt miller so when you're using guys who are more third line players fourth line players filling in that F1 spot on the top six line. It means there's still some room for improvement. Clearly, the defense is a priority. But you guys know Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvina, obviously, making more trades than anybody ever since being named the Canucks GM over a year and a half ago. They're still going to be very active on the trade front. I don't think even if they add a couple of defensemen, they feel like this team is a finished product. I still think they would love to add some more talent up front if possible.

Yeah, that's the fascinating part here is I think there's been a recognition more than in the past or a lot of other front offices, like this team started out hot and they were kind of like, yeah, but we still need some work, which is pretty impressive to see. I was one of the people who was like, I don't think the Canucks are quite this good when they came out really good. And I know that was not a very popular sentiment in Vancouver because there was a lot of people basically being like, I don't think the Canucks are quite this good when they came out really good. And I know that was not a very popular sentiment in Vancouver because there's a lot of people basically being like, we know, we know it's not going to, you know, they're not going

to shoot at this great clip. So, you know, you think that this kind of puts them in an all in position then to continue to improve as the, as they move towards the trade deadline. I know they don't have a ton of flexibility, but where do you see them? Their true talent level compared to the other elite contenders in that division you know vegas and los angeles i think they're a notch below so i i'd say the top tier in the western conference you have teams like vegas you probably put colorado in that in that spot as well right and dallas kind of in that mix i think vancouver is just a tier

below and i'd say la is in the same mix as dallas and vegas right now but i think vancouver is a stronger team than teams like calgary obviously they're strong in teams like seattle i think and even you know clubs like like the same louis blues maybe the winnipeg jets are somewhat in that same tier what vancouver is so i think they're just a notch below those top end teams if they're able to add a bonafide top four defenseman and a top six player then all of a sudden i think you can talk about vancouver maybe being in a similar class to dallas being a similar class to the vegas golden knights they're not too far off when you have a great goaltender and you have the star players if you get hot and you still cause a lot of troubles for teams in that first or second round of the postseason but in terms of being able to go head to head there's still a talent gap between the

very top teams in the west and where vancouver is but's still, I think, a graduation point from this team, from being a team that was really in that mushy middle heading into the year in terms of how people viewed them. Now they're kind of viewed as a bonafide playoff team. That's maybe one or two moves away from putting itself in that discussion of being a Stanley Cup contender. Sam, one more for me before I let you go. And I just wanted to circle back on Zdorov

because, again, the price wasn't necessarily a first or a second round pick here. So is this a rental situation? We know Zdorov left Calgary because he was not happy that they didn't have any interest in resigning him. So

where is Vancouver on long-term Zdorov? I would be surprised if they don't get Zdorov done at some point. And I'm not saying imminently, but I'd be surprised that by the time we get

to the offseason that they don't get Zdorov done to an extension. I think that connection with Dan Milstein in this front office has been too seamless and too fruitful

for them not to get something done in this aspect. So I don't think they view him as a pure rental. It is interesting, though, that when you start looking at the cap space they have for next season, and they still have to sign Pedersen, they still have to sign Filip Hronik, and there's only so much cap space you have for it to go around.

But I think even if those guys aren't quite done yet, they have a ballpark idea of what those ranges will look like for those two players. But I would be surprised, Kipper, that if they don't get Zdorov done, I think this was done in mind for helping them this season, but also being a player that they feel like can really fit in with this head coach and this organization long term okay well if i'm going down this path we might as well go one more with pd and where where that number could lie are you uh are you in in the market obsessed enough like uh many here in uh the east on willie nylander and his contract number and daily uh water talk moves like the stock market here

well it's gone down so when he when he was leading the league and scoring elias peterson was like is he going to be the highest paid player in the league is somebody going to pay him more than what conor mcdavid is getting what austin matthews is getting and and now he's cooled off and he's he's you know way down the list i think he's eighth or ninth now and as far as the top score in the league so people are looking at it and saying well is he closer to 10 or 11 million now and i think the truth has always kind of been in he's not obviously in the same class as a Mick David and Matthews yet. Matthews, the goal scoring rate is just incredible what he's done. So I do think that those guys have a greater track record clearly of where than where Pedersen

is. So I never took it real seriously for him to be a guy that makes 12, 12 and a half million. I kind of look at the contract David Pasternak got 11 and change perhaps over, you know, whether that's five years, whether that's four years or even longer. I've always kind of viewed his range of being somewhere in that aspect. Guys, I think it simply comes down to Elias Pettersson right now. I think this management team has made it very clear. They believe in this player.

They want to keep this player. They're willing to sign him whenever he's ready. It just comes down to, number one, what term is Pettersson looking for? Is it three? Is it four? Could it be a longer-term contract? And when is he willing to put ink to paper? And so far, as much as Pedersen's camp has said things are positive, he hasn't been willing to take that step yet to sit down and really hammer out a contract.

And hopefully it's only a matter of time, but I'd say the range would kind of be in that past or now contract when it's all said and done. It's that great stuff, man. So appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Hey, always a pleasure guys.

Thanks for having me on. Thanks. All right. That's a host of Canucks central Canucks game host does a terrific job out there. Yeah. It's funny. It is a very similar with the Willie contract.

We haven't talked about it in however many shows. It is funny that we haven't every time he scores it's like it's going up it's going up and when he doesn't score no one says it's going down yeah well because it's not going down i think we all are pretty yeah it's not going down but i don't i think it's probably pretty similar with patterson it's not going down there's one thing that that's that mentioned which i want to just pick up a little bit with you guys and uh jt miller and he said alpha dog yeah i am a big believer in an alpha dog there's no one you love more in the in the league i don't think yeah you love yeah he is your guy it's not a criticism it's not jt miller it's not i just love the fact that there's some guys in there that can just have no problem taking the weight on their shoulders.

And he is one of them now. So that was kind of ugly last year for him. Kind of ugly in terms of probably listening to everybody come every which way and tell you that you need to go and Bo Horvat needs to stay. And, I mean, he hung in there. Everybody thought that the contract was a disaster last year, and now it's good value. And how much has he really changed?

Well, so this is something that's impressed me with miller is when miller talks about his season last year he doesn't go well i wasn't quite this or i wasn't quite that he goes it's the same i'm playing the same but we're winning you know so people look at what i do differently he still had a few moments this year turnovers whatever that have gone the other way but he basically said last year he did say that he forced it a little bit but the biggest change is perception. And Sapp brought it up there. He's like he got benched while he was leading the league in scoring.

So it's like there's still going to be little things with him where. Well, the little things too sometimes for me is the body language, but I'd rather deal with his bad body language than a guy that shows nothing at all. Yeah, I agree. And, and you know i want to give their front office credit here you know the everyone was saying keep horvath get rid of miller don't sign miller i was one of the people at the time i think i said they should probably do a rebuild they should probably move on from their big contracts um yeah eating that one a little

bit this year because it seems like they got to go in the right direction i'm pretty surprised how good yeah i'm pretty surprised so jt miller's the alpha dog in vancouver who's the alpha dog in winnipeg well blake willer got sent to sent out of town so i don't know i probably shifley shifley or their current captain in Lowry. Yeah, I would say. I'd probably say Shifley, though. Best player doesn't necessarily mean Elf. I love this conversation. No, no, no. This is Elf of Dogs.

This is sports talk radio America's conversation. I love it. This is big voice. Love it. Big voice. Big personality. Guy that can take charge everywhere. On the ice and off the ice.

So in Edmonton, is that McDavid for you or is it Dreisaitl? All day long, 97. All day long. I mean, there's a lot of really obvious ones. Ottawa, clearly Brady. Clearly Brady Kachuk. He may be the number one

dog in the league. And he's still learning to manage that, by the way. And they're young and may not be completely ready to... It's unrefined. ...channel it

in a positive... A little Roth. Yeah. Yeah. How did you phrase it? Unrefined. There you go. Leafs?

No. Calgary? Calgary. I'm not sure they have one. Yeah. Lindholm. I like that Rasmus Anderson. The first one that came to mind, I don't know why, was Coleman.

I like Coleman a lot. No, no, no, no. It's like when Andrew Ferentz was the captain of the Oilers. Can't be a depth kind of lower tier. This is all baiting us to say that Matthews isn't a bad football. We'll get there. Caud player. We'll get there. We'll get there. Veteran guy.

Win the cup. Always had that kind of swag. I like Kadri a lot. I just don't have him as a number one centerpiece kind of guy. He's always been the third best player on his team or whatever. I have trouble putting Kadri in as a complete alpha dog Stanley Cup. I like him behind Nate McKinnon.

Send us your alpha dog top ten. I love this conversation. I can't tell you how much I love this conversation. Did we cover Sammy? Did we cover every team in the league? You didn't bring up the Leafs. I didn't bring up the Leafs. I didn't bring up the Leafs. Do the Leafs have an alpha dog?

Are you saying that Captain John Tavares is not? Not even close to being an alpha dog. I was going to say Morgan Raleigh would be the guy I would pick. Morgan says the right things. Because he does, no one interviews him. He's a passionate guy. Yeah. Cares.

I don't know. It doesn't steer in that direction uh for me for not mitch for no not mitch reeves austin doesn't i'm not sure he wants that and i think if austin wanted to be the captain and and portray an alpha dog image he probably could have had it by now he would have been the captain if he didn't show his little hiney to somebody. I truly believe that. Doesn't mean that it would have been the right choice. I agree. I think Tavares was the easy choice. I think it was the one that

especially after whatever happened that... Morgan all along. I agree. I actually agree. But I guess we'll find out in a couple years. Montreal have one? Gallagher. No. No?'s got too quiet he's a guy who i think i think jack guy oh gallagher maybe a few years ago but i don't think now but i think they're they're yeah they're looking for one yeah that's i mean i don't know

how many of them fit your criteria in the league where you're one of the top three guys on your team but you're also outspoken wow you could pick 12 teams and go through it and i guess no for sure like mark stone's that they have like four i'm telling you i love petrangelo too yeah i think he's sneaky alpha slash on dry saddle was pretty, pretty confident. Boston. McKinnon, 100%. Boston, no problem finding one there.

Yeah. Right? The, you could call, instead of the cats, you could call them the Florida alpha dogs. Yeah.

Every guy on that team. Yeah. All right. Okay, go ahead, Sammy. Boys, what a great conversation.

You love that. Oh, I do. I do, I do, I do. Well, I look through a lot of

American sports talk. Like, I like talking about basketball and everything else, and it's like, that's much more of a thing you'd talk that. Oh, I do. I do, I do, I do. Well, I look through a lot of American sports talk. Like, I like talking about basketball and everything else, and it's like, that's much more of a thing you'd talk about. Anyways, 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+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, a couple

things. Just looking at a few games for tonight, before I get into a future. I don't. So the Habs are pretty big underdogs on home ice tonight. They're plus 140 against the Seattle Kraken. The Seattle Kraken are minus 160. And to me, watching the Seattle Kraken play teams, there is no way they should be favored by that over anybody.

And Montreal's actually not that bad. They have professional hockey players and they can play. So to me, that's an easy one for the Habs tonight on home ice. They cannot score. No. Squids? Oh, they suck. Now they lost Schwartz for a long time. And they got shut

out by the Sens on Saturday night. I don't love them as a huge, huge favorite in Montreal. The Flyers on home ice, plus 100 against the Penguins. We can listen to Torts later in the show, talk about why they win so many games. But yeah, love the Flyers and love the direction. So give me the Flyers.

What was my Pittsburgh number there? Minus 120. I still like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's results have not matched their process, which has been pretty good. Yep. And so the future that I wanted to bring up I still like Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's results have not matched their process, which has been pretty good. Yep. And so the future that I wanted to bring up was,

do you think for the worst regular season record, the Sharks were such overwhelming favorites for this for so long, and now they're down to minus 150 for the worst record to finish with, and the Blackhawks are right there with them at plus 230. So there's been such a huge change from the start of the season to now for the worst team in the league. The Blackhawks and the San Jose Sharks. Go ahead. I was just saying like San Jose

Sharks hung in there at Madison Square Garden last night. They did. Scored five on the Rangers. Like, yeah, that's I think half the team was skating at Rockefeller center or something for the rangers for that to happen but hey you know they have both they played similar amount of games the uh blackhawks are minus 29 the sharks are minus 55 yeah you lost 10 nothing twice that doesn't help how is that an endorsement because those are two games there's just one offs they're just two

off actually so i just find it very interesting that like yeah right from the start of the year we're all like ah they're gonna be by far the worst by far the worst and the third best odds for that who do you think it is for the worst team columbus yes correct columbus is there and then it goes to montreal anaheim and then a Arizona. So they don't really have a lot of options. Arizona? Yeah, but they're like plus. Arizona's in a playoff spot. Yeah, but they're like plus 150.

Okay. So it's just, anyway, so I just thought that was interesting to bring up. And it was. Okay. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Okay, we're going to take a quick break and open a window in here or a door. Is there a sunroof somewhere we can open up? I'm going to be shirtless when we come back and know it. It has absolutely gotten way worse, right? What is going on? They hate us. I'm melting.

Like, I'm physically getting tired as the show goes on. Sam's napping in a shirt. They're trying to smoke us out. That's what's happening here. All right, but we're going to battle through it. Yes, pit stains and all. And we have plenty more around the NHL to get to, including a $12 million contract in Winnipeg.

Who's a healthy scratch in Washington? Is it baseballs, basketballs? What is Tortorella talking about? I don't know, but I'm also looking forward to talking about baseball at some point in the show because there's Soto and Otani to talk about, so we need to get to that. And a Tampa Bay argument

or argument conversation. We have so much show left. What's going on in Tampa Bay? This was supposed to be fixed with their goalie coming back. Not the case for the Tampa Bay Lightning lightning as you can tell plenty more still to go on real kipper and born

big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the leafs jays raptors and the nfl the jd bunkin podcast subscribe and download the show on apple Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Vickiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. News and notes. Where do you want to go? Not sweating. I'm going to go somewhere cool. Okay.

My vote is lightning. Okay, lightning. Okay, they got their lunch fed to them by the Dallas Stars. Spoon-fed their porridge. And I think it's... Are you all right over there? They're all tangled up. So I think it's a horrible look.

They're all like, oh, Vassie's a competitor. He won't come out of the net. You gave up six, bud. You got to come out of the net. Too bad. Got to come out of the net. Too bad. Did they not pull him?

He wouldn't come out. He wouldn't come out. He wouldn't come out. The backup, what's his name there, Johansson, was getting all his gear on and wouldn't go. Wouldn't go. I didn't see that. Yeah, he wouldn't go. That's a big deal.

It's embarrassing. That's showing up a Hall of Fame coach. I know you play every minute. Listen, I think John Cooper has really gone head and shoulders above and beyond respecting Vasilevsky over the years in this sort of scenario, but to blatantly go against your head coach on a coach's decision like that. Listen. Is a listen.

All right. Let me just throw this out there. Is Cooper in trouble? The big thing with Cooper has been sammy yes he he doesn't need to go he's gonna get they're gonna fire sheldon and i'll get higher john oh my god the big thing is that cooper doesn't need to go with these guys often because they know they know what they need to do they can turn it on at the right time. They're 10-10, minus 10 goal differential, lost four in a row. He's lost it on them a number of times now.

The goalie's not coming out of the net. I think you could say they're underachieving their roster. Or just the roster isn't that good anymore. No, but people don't admit that. You're not allowed to admit that. I will say this, that I expect them to finish the season regardless. Yeah. But they all have a shelf life, including John Cooper.

The longest tenured coach in the NHL by a good distance. So have they finally tuned them out or they finally had enough like there's some distractions out there you cannot tell me the steven stamp coast contract scenario absolutely was not anywhere near a distraction looking at the longest tenured coaches in the league he is more than two years the longest tenure going back to march of 2013 so we're oh we're coming up actually we're past 10 years which is incredible right in there yeah that's a really that's longer than i thought it was that's really good i bet you keith sneaky high on that list you know what he is he there is uh one two three four five six guys ahead of keith he's the seventh longest tenured coach wow you know who the

guy ahead of him is just uh by i don't know four or five months dj smith yeah been around a long time with ottawa who i know some sends fans have won him... So, hold on. We're done on the lightning? No, we're not. We're done on the lightning? No. Let's not lose the... Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. This is a very exciting time for me

and my family. I think... I'm so happy for you. I also think... I'm thrilled. ...that it was not a foregone conclusion that Vasilevsky was going to come back from major back surgery

and just step in and be the savior for Tampa Bay. It just doesn't happen that way. You know, for my money, he's been the best goaltender of the past 10 years or whatever in Cooper's time in the NHL, and that's probably why. I believe he never pulled him last season, regardless of what was happening. I don't know if he ever has in the last gazillion that's probably why I believe he never pulled him last season regardless of what was happening. I don't know if he ever has in the last

gazillion years I can remember. He's only 29. Remember our playoff conversations where we would be like, the Leafs ran it up on them a couple times but they scored six and we're like, how is he not taking them out? Take them out, give them a break. It's insane. They just never did.

How old is he, Sammy? He is 29 yeah see he is an incredibly young successful goalie crazy that he's 29 nine and a half until 2028 if he never regains the status of what he had before back surgery. Like, there's a pretty darn good reason why your game falls off. Back surgery for a goalie. You're not even backing out on me. Derek's on fire.

So, since 2017, 2018, 2016, 2017, these are regular season games played. 50, 65, 53, 52, 42, 52 42 63 60 and that doesn't even i'm not even looking at the playoffs here the playoff numbers are even that's 4 8 17 4 25 23 23 it's just a ton of hockey it is a lot of games and we we should we should consider him like a dog. He's 29. But in goalie years, he's like 73. Yeah. And you know what's fascinating?

As we sit here and talk about Cooper, is he in trouble? It's the same thing as every coach who's ever been fired. They're the fourth last team in the NHL in team save percentage. They're getting 88% is the team save percentage at this point. Only teams below them. Oilers, Devils, and Hurricanes. Devils have been brutal goaltending. They've got no help. They're second to last.

Canes have got the worst goaltending in the NHL this year. Oilers climbing on up. Victor Hedman, 1,000 games. Another guy that's had tremendous wear and tear over those thousand games. And just, again, to revisit that blue line outside of Victor Hedman. How good is it? Sergeyev, we have him as, you know, according to his salary, at over $8 million, one of the better defensemen in the league.

I think he's prone sometimes to look like he's made some big mistakes out there. He can look like Tyson Berry both ways some days. Is the door off? Another guy known for prone mistakes? Yeah, he's minus 16 in the year. So I had him walk through this building once. He was coming here to do an interview and he looked like that tree person

in Lord of the Rings. He's a mutant. And he skates like he's 6'1". it's ridiculous how good he is but i just i think time it always happens with every really good run like it kind of happens quicker than you expect oh sammy just it's over is it not saying it's close to over but i'm just saying you're thinking for headman or for the team for the team okay not for headman i mean headman will probably play 1500 games he'll team. Okay. Not for Hedman. I mean, Hedman will probably play 1,500 games. He'll be cruising around forever. For sure.

But I just mean, like, it happens quicker than you expect it always. Yeah. When these teams, just a downturn happens, and it's like, oh, they're not as good. You just use up all your resources trying to not go the other way, and all of a sudden it's like, God, did we trade Geno for five picks? Yeah, that was not. And then you don't have five picks. Mm-hmm.

All right, Winnipeg jets inc nino el nino nino rider three years 12 million dollar contract extension i thought uh these were going away as the dodo bird the middle class deals yes the middle class either you're making 10 million or you're making 750 there's no middle, but there is for Nino. Sam and I were talking about him. His career earnings are fascinating. He's just always been the middle class guy who's pretty good. And you love him on your team if he makes like three, and when he was making five, you didn't want him.

So he's like that guy that... Been pretty good with Lowry and Appleton. His last two contracts, he signed a two-year contract in 2022 with the Predators for two years, $4 million. And he just signed another contract for three years, $4 million. And he works hard.

He's a strong guy. He'll shoot it in the net sometimes. You know what you're getting from him. No one loves him. A little fiery, too. It'll expire by the time he's, what, 34. It's not horrible. And he'll sign for two years, $4 million again.

And, you know, keep him in Winnipeg. Yeah, get another $4 million contract. Do you guys want to play the Torts clip? Yeah. Torts really pumping up his team. He's like, I don't think we're very good, but we should do it. We suck. No, that was old.

So, yeah, the clip from after they beat the Penguins in a shootout on, or was it the Penguins? Yeah, I think they beat the Penguins in a shootout on Saturday, and then he talked about why they won the game. Derek, you want to play that clip? No, we win the game because we've got balls. We do. We do stupid stuff.

We don't make some plays sometimes. Loose sight of certain momentums in the games. A number of things we have to work on and try to get consistent. But one thing we do have is balls. There you go. Balls. Balls. Just one more time.

Let me follow up. Balls. Balls. Just one more time. Let me follow up. Balls. Balls. Hey, okay. I'm okay with it, but some nights where it doesn't look, you also got to say that we have no balls. Is that, yeah.

Does he want to go down that path? It's an interesting thing to say that, yeah, we got a lot of stupid stuff. We're not very good. I don't like, you know, some of the decisions we make, but we, you know. I will say. The size of elephant nuts. You have. Balls.

You have been critical of the Leafs this year for not being that version of success. What are you pinning it on me for? They've been called soft for four years. I'm the guy? You are the guy, yes. You're not the guy now? And where is everybody else on some nights? Like Sheldon. No, you're right. Sheldon called his

own team soft. He used his euphemisms. He beats around the bush, if you will. Oh, man. Is it important anymore to have these in 2023? Well, I think it's actually not smiled upon to use that language. To me, there's... No, but we can say bag skate.

Yeah, I actually did get a scolding for saying that Tavares was working his school bag off. Balls. Yeah. Working his bag off. I do like... I do like Torts sometimes I like Torts he's very

hitting me we're going to have a whole show on Torts and his sound bites of course you love him sometimes I hate him I guess that's what I'm saying Brooksie at least you talk about alpha

type of guys who will tell you what they think John would meet that requirement for Philly can the coach be that or maybe the coach should be that yeah he can set a tone yeah for sure i talk it's set a tone in vancouver tortorella has one in uh in philly so at least you know where you yeah i think uh i think most

definitely these these type of coaches can set the tone tor Torts does that. He knows what he wants. The guys know what they want from him. Looks out to the board of the college football guys. Their coaches are all the biggest stars. That's like the whole thing. It's like Saban, Kirby Smart, all these guys are the biggest stars.

Yeah. Coach Prime. Didn't work out too hot this year. They lost 100 in a row. But no, it's just like, I think the coach can be like a star, kind of. I think Babcock would have been the star if he had been on Columbus this year, but that didn't turn out so well, did it?

Yeah. So you mentioned briefly early before we brought it back to Tampa Bay, but you mentioned the Ottawa Senators. Big shout-out win over Seattle. After losing to Columbus. After losing to columbus after losing to columbus but where are we with uh the vibe that uh everything gets fixed with dj smith i'm team ottawa leaving i know no i don't think that's it i think this team you know what's going on right now they haven't played any games

you look at the standings they're with the bottom they're actually last in the eastern conference but they're nine and ten with a plus one goal differential the teams ahead of them are minus 14 minus 14 minus 19 minus 4 like ottawa is going to play more games they've played 19 and columbus has played 26 look at the gr games remaining yeah so if they you know they play five games they win three or four of them, all of a sudden they're up at whatever that is, 23, 24 points. They're in the mix. I like Ottawa still, and I don't think they're done this year. Kipper, your spidey sense about Corpus Allo, though, was...

Yeah, that's not going great. It's okay, but he's not okay. Yeah, I know. No, he's okay as a 1 a 1b yeah he's an 897 so far this year making five by five 97 yeah 897 you know what though three four one kind of help him out a little bit what's the league average now it's just over 900 902 904 it's not crazy and they were without thomas shabbat who plays 27 one of their their number one guy in terms of ice time for 10 games or something for a stretch there so

the auto is too good they had too much talent elliot friedman on saturday i think uh and just part of that mentioned tyson berry allowed to shop his services you You know, when a player gets told you can go out and shop your own services, that's the team telling him, we're out of ideas. Yeah. What do you mean, we're out of ideas? How to use you, is that what you mean? Use you, play you. It's you don't have to go, but you can't stay here.

We don't know what to do with you. Yeah. You got any ideas? It is funny to go to the player and be like, could you trade yourself? Could we arrange this somehow? And the answer is yes, because that's what good agents do. And the very first thing my brain,

like a lot of Canadian teams' brains go, can he work in Toronto? Can he work in Edmonton? We saw it in both those places i know there's a lot of people uh pointing to the direction of new jersey devils because dougie hamilton's out for a prolonged period of time what'd he do he ripped his arm apart or something torn pack torn pack yeah so everybody wants to assume that tyson berry can go and fill those minutes up of dougie hamilton, but he doesn't strike me as a New Jersey devil type of guy. No, he does to me.

I can see them liking it. Yeah. You know, they had Subban there for years. You know, Dougie Hamilton is one of those. So, you know, Hamilton's working out pretty good. Hey, should we talk about Kuznetsov not playing this evening? Yes, Washington in disarray. That's a $5 million player not playing.

That's statement stuff from Carberry. Yeah, and he made a comment that said he just needs a mental reset. We need to reset his brain is another way of saying a mental reset. Like get him back on some sort of good wavelength. Would not be shocked were he to not be a capital on march 4th i think they've probably tried on a few occasions i mean he's had some issues there and then he's played well and then he has some issues there and i think we could just blame his shootout speed for all of it. A lot of people would like a guy who could score like him, right?

I wonder when Alex Ovechkin will go to the press box. Give us the OV update. How's his goal watch? He's got one since November 14th. That's a lot of days ago. Five up to now? Still stuck at five? Stuck at five. Boy, Kuznetsov had 12 goals

last year. I missed that tidbit. Speaking of goals, Sammy, did you see Trevor Moore's goal? Oh my God. Saturday night. I saw it. Put his name in the spin cycle. Off the charts. Yeah. Good. And I saw Byfield and who was it?

On the bench? No, no. Byfield and his buddy. Was it Kempe? Kope and Kempe? Yes. They did like a hug. They did a Boston Bruins goalie celebration.

Like a pre-planned celly. I'm in. I'm in on pre-planned cellies. I like them. Oh, my God. I'd crack my stick over your head if I was on the ice beside you. like a pre-planned celly i i'm in i'm in on pre-planned cellies i like them oh my god i don't get it i'd crack my head over my stick over your head yeah if i was on the ice beside you i scored no t winner in fairbanks i get i get it sign my stick and i probably have to be a little bit more patient now for cellies but pre-planned cellies is just energy wasted.

You did what? Well, it was right after T.O. had done it in the NFL. I scored an OT winner. Anchorage versus Fairbanks, OT winner. And by Fairbanks bench, I pretended to pull a Sharpie and sign my stick and give it to someone else. I think you actually did the Sharpie. And the next game, I lined up by a guy, Kyle Greenwood might have been his name something

like that and he goes that's a pretty fancy stelly for a guy who's had a bad career oh yeah yeah fair enough but no stick over the head no i didn't get kids college you know you were lucky that's a great sally yeah uh by the way la's coming on here. Oh, they're a wagon. They definitely deserve the conversation. They're my favorite team in the league. Strong. The only thing you kind of wondered, the goaltending, but Talbot's put that to rest early in the season so far.

But I'm not sure where you want to go with that goaltending. I'm sure they're keeping an eye on things around the league. I would imagine goaltending-wise. 9-0-0 on the road. It's crazy. Crazy. And Byfield. That's it.

So, yeah. Turning into a love them. Byfield, Kempe, and Kopitar. 6-2, 6-3, 6-5. Big power guy. Ting, ting, ting with a little tic-tac-toe the other night. Look out for that line. Loved him since junior. Glad it's turning out.

He was awesome for the whole juniors. Trying to hang on those guys in playoffs good luck stud all right how many games on top sammy six got a few there i prepared it for you i don't know where they are dallas and tampa bay uh dallas and tampa bay yeah tampa gets dallas again wow this will tell us a lot about tampa are they gonna darn right give us a better showing tonight? And at some point, are we going to have to talk about Arizona at all? I'm good. Playoff spot. I'll just say Schmaltz and Keller.

I like Keller as a good player. Yeah, really good. Our thanks today to Craig Simpson and Sat Shaw, host of Canucks Central, for joining us on Real Kipper and Born. Enjoy your games tonight. Give us a rating and review. If you get a chance, we'd love to hear from you. We're back to do it all again tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne. Enjoy your games tonight. Give us a rating and review. If you get a chance, we'd love to hear from you. We're back to do it all again tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.