Real Kyper & Bourne - Capital Decisions

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start the final hour of the week with Doug MacLean for his Off-the-Rails Friday appearance. Mac shares his thoughts on the Tortorella/Couturier drama, the relationship between captain and coach, the Senators' biggest need as they head into a crucial offseason, the Lightning starting to roll and the difficulty of inspiring buy-in on a losing team. They regroup with Sam McKee for news and notes - Kuznetsov returns to Washington, Patrick Roy's odd response to the Islanders' rough loss to the Red Wings and Celine Dion reads out the Bruins lineups. Finally, answering 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.

all right here it is off the rails friday the national hour live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver sportsnet 960 in calgary this, real Kippernborn brought to you by Bet365. Breaking news. Doug McClain's book is going paperback. Is that right? I don't know. That's the best I got right now. As we welcome in a very, very wet Doug McClain, who bailed on us yesterday for nine holes only to be rained out.

So, listen, there's only one change. I need the cover changed on the book. Oh, to what? I need it changed because the paperback edition is going to be the identical cover, but in bold letters across the top in red, it's going to say national bestseller. I think I need the change. If you're going to promote it, I need the change done. I want you to be accurate. Wow.

Life is really good, isn't it? And it got a lot better since I made you a regular on Fridays. Yeah, it's really helped my career. It really has helped. So I got a golf story for you. First, to start off, I play. I play the other day. I play it.

I get invited to play at Boca Rio Rio which is a real exclusive club in Boca Raton hundred or so members so I go and play and the caddy comes up and he said I understand you're a hockey guy and I said yeah you know I coach the Panther oh and he gets all excited so on the boat the sixth hole he started to call me David hey David uh David, you know, one cup, you know, just move it one cup. You know, these caddies, all they do, caddies now, is tell you how to putt. They don't carry your clubs. They help you look for the oddball, but they just tell you how to putt. So he called me Doug, Doug, Doug.

And I finally said to my buddies, can one of you guys tell them my name is Doug, not David? Okay, can you do that? So in the ninth hole, he goes in and gets us nice tags for our golf clubs, Boca Rio, so you could have them on your bag. So I look at mine, it's got David McLean, M-C, capital C-L-E-N. So he spelled both my names wrong. He called me David. And then at the end of the round, the guy that invited me, who I thought, hey, this is unbelievable.

Caddy and bite, you know, beautiful course. He said, I said, thanks a lot. I really appreciate it. He said, yeah, that'll be $400. Come on. I know it cost me $400. come on so I end up costing 400 bucks anyway I got a tag with Troy leaving that tag in my bag

at least they got your name right on the book don't get greedy I'm going back to TEI with that name tag on my bag so just so I can tell all the boys what a big wheel I am in South Florida they don't even know my name you know so I have the Mario story for you

and now I got this one. Like it's a disaster. Disaster. Alright. Hockey. John Tortorella. I'm opening it up with what you've watched this week between the Philadelphia Flyer head coach and their recently appointed

captain of what? Four and a half, five weeks ago to be not only a healthy scratch once but twice this week yeah it's a you know i don't think we should be surprised when we we watch what has gone on like i want you to keep something in mind here okay so at his last days in columbus or his last year in columbus he wanted to move into management okay he wanted to move into management and actually move out of coaching and keck the line didn't want it nothing to do with that nothing to do with that he wanted him to coach and then at the end of the day it was a mutual parting of the ways and it was in fact a mutual parting of the ways kekelenin didn't want

him in management and torts wanted you know to so he did they both decided to move on it will not surprise me that after this season tortorella will move into management with the Philadelphia Flyers. And that a guy like, keep in mind, Berube may go there. Obviously, he's got Toronto if they stumble. But I wouldn't be surprised if Torts will move up. And if Keith Jones and Breer are smart, they'll move him upstairs, I think, because things go south with this guy. Nobody's denying he's not a really good coach.

He's done a good job everywhere he's been, except in Vancouver, which was a debacle. But let's not forget Tampa Bay, you know, when they were a good team. Stanley Cup, Columbus, he kept them in the battle. He's done a great job in Philly. So I wouldn't be surprised this will unfold. a good team, Stanley Cup, Columbus, he kept them in the battle. He's done a great job in Philly. So I wouldn't be surprised this will unfold. I don't like what he did to Couturier. I think there's so many other better ways to handle it if he doesn't like the way he's playing, instead of making him a healthy scratch and embarrassing him. And then he doesn't talk to

the media. He refuses to talk about his name, his captain, who he named a captain, like you said, recently. I didn't like it. And you know what? They're in tough still to make. They're lucky the Islanders are awful right now. They're lucky that the Islanders have really stumbled and Washington's hanging in, but they're probably going to get into the playoffs.

Just to stay on this topic for a minute, like you've been a coach, you've been an executive. The relationship between a coach and a captain at the top of the list has to be communication. How do you end this relationship with no communication between you and your captain? I don't get it, Mac. I don't.

And you know what? The number one thing for a captain is you name a captain. And the guy, the one priority I had when I was naming a captain is I wanted a guy that absolutely cared about the team, cared about the organization, cared about his teammates. That was the number one thing. And I had Brian Scruton, who was maybe the best captain I've ever been around. And I was around Steve Iserman. I was around Scruton. I had Luke Richardson in Columbus, who was a quality, quality guy. I had some great people. You know, I was around Rod Langway in Washington. Some real good captains.

But you're right. Communication is the number one thing. It's the guy that you get the pulse of the team from. He's the head of your leadership group. You know, he's the guy that's got great respect in the dressing room. I suspect, I knew Couturier had it. I don't know where it stands. And I know what's he got one goal in 27 games. I get that. I know he's had tough injuries. But this I'm telling you what, if I'm the Ottawa senators, I'm on the phone to Philly saying, what do you want for this guy? And let Claude Drew go

move him on and bring this guy in to let Claude Drew go, move him on, and bring this guy in to be around your young guys. That's what I'd be doing if I was Ottawa today. These are, all right, this is good stuff, Doug. I'm trying to help everybody around the league here. I know, you're just a helper. You're a connector of people. This is nice.

I'm not happy my golf game was scratched today because of weather. Kipney was sending me weather reports. You couldn't even bluff, eh? I didn't think I could do the show today because I had this golf game. I promised this guy. And he's sending me pictures of the radar of South Florida. Like, how desperate are you guys? Super desperate.

By the way, I'm making more money playing golf than I am doing this show. Sounds like you're net minus 400 from what I know. You can ask him one more question about. Buddy, so go. Okay. Just between a coach and a captain right now in Philadelphia, is this irreparable damage? Can they ever put this behind them?

You know what i know of keith and the way he operates and his personality i don't know as well if there's a chance i think keith will try to work to repair it. I really believe he will. But you know, if there's going to be a change made at the end of the season, I don't know. I'm just... It's like my friend used to say. I'm not telling you it's the truth. I'm just telling you what I heard. You know, just keep that

in mind here. Don't run with this and you guys spread it all over. I'm just giving you my inside stuff. I think they'll try to repair it. I don't know if it's possible. You guys spread it all over i'm just giving you my inside stuff i think they'll try to repair i don't know if it's possible you guys spread it all over national television right now i don't know sean but i know his dad i had his dad sylvan in in adirondack and a little bit detroit quality person he's a gm of a major junior team he's had a good career post hockey quality fan quality people i i don't get this one i there's so many other ways down and davinsky i thought davinsky nailed it the other day and i

know he doesn't like torts i know they had a big falling out i get all that but i thought he he nailed it how it could have been handled you know now do you mention ottawa is somewhere for couturier because that looks like the best fit or do you think that's something they would really do and would the move be because of this rift with torts at all or just kind of those are separate things I think I think they're separate things but it's going to be it's a bit of a breaking point I'm just I'm thinking more of Ottawa. Ottawa definitely needs some veteran leadership in there. And for me, Giroux's not the guy. I know Giroux's had an unbelievable career.

To me, he's not the guy to work with a Stutzel and a rounded Kachuk. I think they need a Couturier type of guy up front, and they need a similar type of guy on the back end. That's what I think they need desperately. And they got to move out, I mean, Zub and Bernstrom and move these guys on and, you know, and find a goaltender. But I look today, they got a $10 million problem in gold with Corporate Salo. Like, what do they do with that? What do they do with that money?

I mean, a buyout just will will be a challenge philly want them i don't know they're on i would try to finish the late league or maybe the swedish elite league but i don't know they're on they've lost three in a row ottawa prior to that before you know they had three wins they lost seven in a row here mac like i am this This was supposed to be the turnaround year. A new owner, fresh, a guy that can come in and solve all of the problems that were apparently there with the late Eugene Melnick. What has gone wrong here in Ottawa? You know what?

I really, I don't know i mean look um norris has been a challenge you know a eight million dollar contract with with bad shoulders who knows whether this guy who knows where this is going this was supposed to be the year that take a big step and their goaltending fell flat in its face they're they're like just think gustafson's in gustafson's in Minnesota and he's been up and down and okay. And Decord in Seattle are two guys they let go that are better than what they've got right now. You know, there's problems. You know, a kid goes on waivers in Chicago, a defenseman. They pick him up because he played for sales in in junior and

they bypassed clevin and a couple of good prospects in in the minors i mean i don't i don't get it but i'll tell you one thing this is their biggest offseason in the history of the franchise wow this offseason is the biggest in the history of the franchise because they're going to lose a first-round pick over the next three years because of the debacle with Vegas. And they've got to fix this. And this is a huge offseason for Stahels and company. In terms of hiring a coach, talking about land, is that related to this, or we're just talking coaching personnel i would say the land for the new arena is in la la land until they fix this hockey team

they'll be able to play in the rink in canada or not canada where's an arm prior they can play in the arm prior rink if they don't get this team fixed. They won't need one downtown. Is that dressing room fine? Everyone okay there? Have you heard anything there? Does it sound like people don't get along awesome this year? I guess it's a frustrating season.

Do you know anything? In where? In Ottawa. Arm prior? In arm prior. How are things in arm prior? I think that I got to believe it's been tough there. But Jacques is a veteran guy.

Alfredson is a quality guy. I got to believe they would keep the dressing room okay despite tough times. But you're eventually running into a problem is lack of playoff success. Shabbat never made the playoffs Stutzel never made the playoffs Brady could trip I mean how long can you let this go on look I was with an expansion team and it was it was not pretty let me tell you it was not pretty but not making the playoffs for an extended period of time becomes really tough on young players and you know, like you guys were talking about Max Domi. Max Domi was lost in Columbus. He was awful in Columbus.

Because why? You know, he knew they didn't probably have a chance. And, you know, you lose interest. But it's got to be fixed. And it's a big job. It's a big job in Ottawa. What is going down in your state of Florida here? A little role reversal here.

The Panthers can't win the last three games. And the Lightning are on fire, led by Kucherov, with 15 points in three games. Do you believe that? I saw that this morning. And you know what? I watched him a bit the other night. I mean, this guy is scary good right now. How good has this guy been?

It's unbelievable. But Vasilevsky, I mean, Hedman, Point, I mean, they're still a pretty good team, and they're thinner. They're not as deep as they were. They're a little bit thinner. Think about Paul. good team and they're thinner they're not as deep as they were they're a little bit thinner think about paul think about paul the kid that they picked up from where who are we just talking exactly i mean how much could ottawa use him right now instead and i know the kid that gots okay but he's not paul not for me not Not even close. Pinto. Sorry. No. Well, I got Roy.

Joseph. Joseph. Yeah. That's a deal, wasn't it? Yeah, that was a deal. But I think it was. So anyway, you know, I mean, we're just, as this show does, we try to help teams, you know?

Yeah, you're doing a terrific job. I think even Alfredson has had a spill of this group i would say do you think so he had some comments about how they've asked him hard as a first-time coach to like learn how to put together videos to put you know an appropriate meeting for a team it's a lot to ask they um they asked him about would you be interested in head coaching next year who asked him the media yeah? Yeah, the media. Yeah. I don't think Ian Mendez is picking the coaches.

I mean, I like Ian and I like Gary. They're not picking the coaches. Does Gary Ock and Mendez have a committee together? Are they going to be in the same room picking the coach, Mendez and Gary Ock? They're the search committee listen um somebody mentioned to me that since daniel albertson went behind the bench they may have the worst power play uh record since then and that should be one of his specialties is it not and that that gives you an idea of the challenges right now for

a guy like that to go behind an nhl bench well look i as much as we all love daniel albertson and the career he's had and you can read about him in draft day about his draft if you if you really want to about how john ferguson had to almost arm wrestle Randy Sexton to allow him to take him. You know, but look, the translation from being on a power play and actually running one on a bench is extremely different. And he's an inexperienced guy behind the bench, and there's not a snowball's chance they're putting him in as a head coach with what they've got on their plate. And I love Daniel Alfredson.

I'm all day long assistant coach for him if that's what he wants to do or get into player development. But not a head coach. Not in such an important, critical season for a franchise. Not a chance. So tell us the difference between when you're on a bench for a losing team. How much harder is it than when your team is having success? You talked about Domi kind of getting lost in Columbus.

You know, you see this with good players who it feels like if they don't, if they're not a part of some sort of chase, it's tough to really get traction. You know, when you're, when you're, I, from a management point of view and a coaching point of view, with a losing team is unbelievably hard. And that's a management coaching perspective. It's hard in the head. You try everything. You do everything.

But for the players, it becomes drudgery to have to go to the rink. It really does. And their play deteriorates because of it. It just becomes a mindset, and it's really tough to overcome. It really is. And that's why you've got to give Tortorella credit for how he's turned around an awful Philadelphia Flyer team into a competitive group that won't lay down.

And, you know, it happens to some teams. And, you know, it like lindy said to me with the day after he got fired he said you know we out shoot the team 50 to 20 and we lose 3-1 we don't get a say you know you need certain things happen so ottawa's problem started in goal and then it spread from goal to defense to forwards it just spreads throughout the whole group and it's losing does that to you. We're talking to Doug McLean, former NHL president, GM, head coach and now author of a paperback.

Wow. Just thrilling. Absolutely. Didn't your guys start as paperbacks or did you go from you were going to go from paperback to hardcover? I went the other way. Mine's just a PDF, Doug. You can download it.

Doug, you can line the birdcage with mine. Don't worry about it. Hey, where did I want to go before? I just had somebody just text me. Hey, David. David. David, let me ask you this question. Tomorrow night on Hockey Night in Canada,

signature game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. For the Leafs, what does a good showing do against the Edmonton Oilers psychologically moving forward for them? Well, look, the Oilers are 8-1-2 in their last 11 games. Hyman with 48 goals. They're hitting on all cylinders right now. I mean, McDavid, four assists, dry sidle, Ekholm, a star. A star Ekholm.

They're hitting on all cylinders. So it's a big game. To me, it's like the Carolina game for the Leafs. It's a statement type of game. And that's what they have to come up with, a performance that makes them feel. I mean, I look at the East and I go Carolina, Boston, Florida, Rangers, and I got the Leafs as fifth in the East. Guys, that's frightening going into the playoffs. So a statement game against Edmonton

would be a big thing, especially with Marner out. If they can get a good game in goal, I don't know who's starting, whether it's the kid or Sam Sonoff. I hope that God is the kid, but we'll see. It's a statement game because the Oilers

are tough. And they can be down after two periods. There's no quit in them. And there's no giving up because they know they can score. How important is special teams going into playoffs? Because the Leafs PK is no good. The Oilers score like crazy. A lot of these other teams, Florida and Boston,

the Leafs might draw. How important is it to be a good special teams team? Well, it's real important. It's really hard to score power play goals in the playoffs. It really is because your penalty killing goes to, everybody's penalty killing goes to another level because of second and third efforts on the kill. Power plays become critical, and they have to be hitting on all cylinders because it's

much more challenging to be a good power play in the playoffs that's why tampa's had success kucherov point stamp coast headman sergachev not phased by by the you know the great penalty killer so it's it's real important to say the least. Does Hyman score his 50th goal in Toronto tomorrow night? Oh God, I hope so. Like Steve Simmons, what kind of column would that be from Steve Simmons if he gets his 50th?

What? Back off the media. They're just doing their jobs. If I was Dubas, I would have taken Hyman to Pittsburgh and not Bunting. He didn't want him, but I mean, anyway, the kid's been pretty good. But look, hey, he's playing with some pretty good players in Edmonton. And you know the way this kid goes to the net.

Is that true? Matthews didn't like playing with him? I mean, why? Who said that? Was it you that said that? No, Kippy said that. He told me that off the record a couple of years ago. No, Steve Simmons wrote it.

Oh, really? Yes, that's what he's talking about. Hey, what's going on with Sid this summer? Is he going to sign a three-year deal with Pitt, or do you look into his body language recently? I will be surprised if he doesn't sign. I've got to believe that Mario, I mean, I've got to believe he'll sign a three-year deal

and end his career there, won't he? But, I mean, we've seen to believe he'll sign a three-year deal and end his career there, won't he? But, I mean, we've seen it. We've seen guys move on. And, you know, but isn't it special to be like Iserman and finish your career with the Red Wings and Mario finish his career with Pittsburgh? Isn't that special? Gretzky didn't do it.

We'll see. just wants to win no that's the thing you're so competitive he's still so good like can you just write did people kind of looked at ryan getz laugh and went yeah you're content you're you don't even want to get traded to a contender you just want to be a duck like isn't that kind of quitting on what i mean his great hall of fame career yada yada but i mean people see it as anti-competitive, I think. You know what? It's really, it will be interesting. I'll never forget, and I told you this story before. My son was skating down in Charlottesville at 7 a.m.

with the college and pro guys. And he said, Sid's coming to skate with us tomorrow morning. And I drove down at 7 with Clarkark to watch sid sid skate with the guys i'm telling you i watched for an hour in awe of sydney crosby number one uh dion was on the ice as well group of guys like that i've never seen a kid go that hard in an hour with a bunch of college guys and they told me that the respect, the way he acted in the dressing room with them, the way he was on the bench with them,

the way he was in the drills with them was unbelievable. So this is a special, special kid. And loves the game and loves hockey. I hope he signs and they get better. That's what I hope happens. But, hey, they need a lot of changes with that hockey team right now, too.

I'm not helping them. I've tried to help Ottawa today, tried to help the Leafs, but I'm done. I'm not giving any more tips today. Is it still raining in Florida? What do old people do when it rains in Florida?

Nap. We'll probably catch a happy hour tonight. It used to be called the early bird special. Now they've changed it to half drinks, happy hour. Half drinks, happy hour. Aren't we lucky for the weather

today? I'm going to barbecue on the back deck tonight. I've got a nice piece of meat there. We'll barbecue. Barbecue Jeff Rimmer again? That's Jeff Rimmer on the menu. Jeff Rimmer just told me an unbelievable story today. He had dinner with Chris McFarlane last night in Colorado. He would have phoned Chris and begged him to take him out to dinner.

I know this. So he takes him out and Chris McFarlane shows up and gives him a macar jersey. And I said, Rems, why would he give you a macar jersey? And Rems said, because Cal and I spent time together in Calgary. Rimmer went to grade school in Calgary and got cut from the peewee team and it ended his career. You know, he got a stick tap in the ass and they told him to get off the ice. That was the end of his hockey career. And him and Cal spent, Carl McCarr spent time together in Calgary.

I mean, this guy's in, he's in, he's in. I'm scared. You know, he's going to retire, right? You'll have nothing to talk about when he retires. I just did a video for Columbus. They told me to do a video for the big four. You know what story I told? First time I met Jeff Rimmer 36 years ago he was the in-between period host of the Washington

Capitals and I went in to do the in-between periods intermission as assistant coach and I looked at him and this guy is sitting on the desk and he's got a raccoon tail on his head he had a toupee on and I couldn't stop looking at the toupee the whole interview. I'm thinking, what the hell has he got on his head? And it was Jeff Rimmer with a toupee. So I told that story on the tape. It looked better than he looks today. Well, thanks for coming on, Doug. Guys, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

Well, we do too. We appreciate your time. I don't know where you go from a toupee. Is he still on? Have we got rid of him? Cut the feed. Hey, listen. Matt Marstrom just sent me a text.

Great segment, David. Thanks, guys. I'm really becoming famous. All right. Dave McLean. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I know a great Dave McLean from PEI.

Is he serious? I heard a real one. He told that story for 18,000 people in a building to honor Jeff Rimmer? We have Off the Rails Friday. Can we get him on to defend himself finally? I legitimately want to have Jeff Rimmer on. Can we make that happen? It's time.

Can they play Columbus? It's time for the journalistic part of the show where we do the other side of it. It's time to bring some journalism in. Can we split screen them? Oh, yeah. We can probably get that. And just sit back.

No, because Doug will overpower whoever we put. I'd rather hear Jeff's side. No, Jeff's actually, he can hang. He can dish it back. Yes, he don't become friends with Doug unless he can hang. I mean, he just told the story on national television about how he had a raccoon day on his head. Oh, God.

All right. What do you got for us, Sammy? Let's go to break. And then I'll do game time. George is going to be a manager? Couturier in Ottawa? That was a hell of a bit. Maybe we'll get into that after the break.

And Sammy's game time. When we return to Real Kipper and Born. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk. The Hockey PDO cast with Dimitri Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Caprio, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee as we attempt to dig it out of the ditch.

We've got a long climb after that. Vancouver Canucks, a couple of wins. Game time first, buddy. Are we going to go over it? Okay, let's go. 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. Please's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why. It's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, a couple things quickly. The Carolina Hurricanes tonight

visit Washington. So, Evgeny Zgrusnetsov did not have to wait long for his return to his former team, which he won the Stanley Cup with. We all know the history there. So I'm looking at a Carolina Hurricanes.

I haven't done a same game parlay in a long time. But the revenge one, the Carolina Hurricanes win with a Evgeny Kuznetsov goal. Pays plus 500. Ooh, wow. Not awful odds. I like that one. So, you know, he might want to be keen to stick it to his former team. They are not very good, as we witnessed just Wednesday night

when the Leafs played there. So give me that for five plus. Hains in regulation for me, that one. And I'm just looking at the Hart trophy odds because we were talking about Kucherov and how ridiculously on fire he's been. Really hasn't shifted it much. I have it right here. McKinnon is still minus 180.

Kucherov is plus 375, so it hasn't shifted it a bunch. Not the worst bet the way that guy's rolling. He has 122 points in 68 games. Yeah, he's going to have like, I don't know, 150 points. To me, I'm surprised that they haven't shifted that a little bit. And now that Tampa has kind of caught fire and they're heading towards solidifying a playoff spot. Easily pointed him and be like, that's the guy.

That's kind of the reason they're doing that is he plays a lot and he scores every night. So those are two things that I was looking at. So there you go. All right. Just watching Carolina the other night. Like, their defense is led by Slavin. Yeah.

So good. But you know who's sneaky good that I've never really heard of? Jalen Chatfield. But he's going to make a lot of money. He's UFA. Yeah, he's pretty good. He defends. He scored the other night with a bomb.

He's like a new Taneends. Scored the other night with a bomb. He's like a new Tanev type of guy. He's going to be UFA. And Carolina's already taken a couple of cracks at signing him. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like for a million and a half. Low ball on him.

Oh, yeah. You know what's up? Oh, no. They low ball. That's what they low ball that's what they do that's the owner's thing you know you gotta go in there again you know if he thinks he's worth one and a half give him two and a half poor people find out he's worth four he may end up with three and a half or four you shoot right yes interesting yeah and they're like that would free up brett they're like diamonds yeah would free up Brett Pesci. They're like diamonds in the rough

if you can get one of those for free. Someone's going to pay Pesci. Yes. Yeah, Pesci. Brady is also a free agent. Shea? Brady Shea. Yeah.

So they got to win now. No question. Steven and Burns, what a pair. That was Game Time, presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

It's text time, unless you wanted to say something first. I just want to mention the Pacific because, again, a big part of our Friday show is teeing up the Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs and just the Edmonton's push now. Can they still? Vancouver had a very good week against not easy games, lesser opponents in Buffalo and Montreal. Zdorov scores two goals last night.

He's kind of sneaky sometimes, eh? Putting the puck in the net. Yeah. But the push for Edmonton to try to find a way to close the gap on Vancouver, it's not happening? It ain't over. It's not over.

I mean, three games in hand. Three games in hand. And eight points back. So let's say they get a couple of those. Let's say four points, five points out of the six, and there are three games at hand. You're kind of right there. They do play.

One more meeting. They do play. With four games to go in the season or something like that they have a head-to-head game you know the oilers been winning at a clip if they're up to i don't know what their winning percentage is but 657 they've been winning a lot higher clip than that so it ain't over is all i'm saying yeah i think i think it's just a too big of a number like they're not going to win every game in hand and with the game head-to-head plus

the record that they already have where they have the tiebreaker already to me it's like I just can't see it happening. Vancouver had too good of a year for them to crap all over it now I think. So Canucks are staying up there. Vancouver just has to handle their business, right?

Win their game. They got Calgary tomorrow night, Vancouver, LA, Dallas, and then next week it kind of alleviates a little bit with two out of three against Anaheim and Arizona.

All right. There you go. I dug up this clip of Patrick Waugh that you made. I did. I dug it up. The. There you go. That should be all right. I dug up this clip of Patrick Waugh that you made. Oh, thank you. You did. I did. I dug it up. So the Islanders blew it.

Oh, boy. Head-to-head, red wings, big matchup. You know, the chance to really pull themselves into the standings race, they get thumped. I mean, really disappointing performance. Was it in? Was it on Long Island? Detroit, I believe.

Okay. And just a heartbreaker for Isles fans. A lot of Isles fans are saying tear it down, don't even want them to come back now they're furious. Patrick Waugh postgame was like, we were pretty good tonight. Do you want to hear the clip? Sure.

Let's play it. I'll say this. I mean, I thought we played well from the start to the end. Maybe we squeezed our stick a little too much in the first because we had two, three good chances, and then we didn't give them much. And then the second period, I mean, a couple bad bounce, you know, at the blue line, caused the breakaway.

And then after that, I mean, a couple of loss, you know, turnovers and cover, but overall, I mean, seriously, I mean, I know the name of the game is winning, but I will say this. Our guys play a really good game. I mean, you played this game again, and I'm pretty sure we would win it. Now, I didn't watch the game, so I'm not sure like where he's coming from, but it's just, you just hate the fact that he's a kinder gentler patrick i don't hate that i hate the fact that he clearly seems to be coaching his team in the media here to be like

we're okay we're not out of this sort of thing i believe in you is the vibe i get which is you know a fine vibe for a new coach to maybe he just knows he's they're not that good they're not that good man they so they're in real why dump all over them or yeah what's the advantage i don't know at this point a little more calculated in that instance but he's their team's gonna make torts look really smart because looks like the flyers are probably gonna unless the caps who stink yeah they they catch the flyers it doesn't look like because there's six points back now i guess they have one game in hand but they're gonna have to get hot yeah they've lost a lot in a row now

hey speaking of french accents did you happen to see celine dion read the boston bruins starting lineup to the bruins in the dressing room wasn't that a while ago it was yesterday okay then i haven't seen it celine dion is a Boston Bruins fan, which is greatly offensive. She's like high-fiving the Bruins fans around her at the game. What? No way. Yes, it is true. And also, it was horribly uncomfortable to watch.

Montreal fans happy about that? No, I think it's a national dilemma, or at least a provincial dilemma. I have a French-Canadian mother-in-law, Carol. Big time. Carol Levesque vibes from Celine Dion. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. She had a very certain cadence that was not of the dressing room. It was like, let's go. I'm hungry. Pasta. Pasta. Yes.

Oh, boy. I'm hungry. Pasta. So when we started our show, we kind of threw out, is our show better or worse when certain teams either stink or play great? And you got a lot of reaction off of that. Did you not, Sammy? A ton. A ton. A ton of text. And the general feeling is fan bases and we we

mentioned toronto in this instance that the show is a lot more i don't know followed a lot more the claim was that it's better when they lose but the reality by the statistics is that's not true people after the wins want to hear their favorite team get feted, get us to talk all nice about them. But, I don't know, the texts, people claim they like the lost shows. Nothing tastes more delicious

than schadenfreude. Love the show more when the Leafs lose. When the Leafs lose, to listen to Sammy. Yeah. Cry. There is that aspect. You have become like the mascot for like when people want to hear you, like they did with Steve Dangle,

they want to hear you cry when things go wrong. But I feel like I have like. You're the new Dangle. We're getting fired up for the big games. Like I don't think there's a whole, there's a whole audience of people that don't really know how I act when it comes to playoff Leaf hockey, and they're going to get treated to that. Like, this is just the warm-up. Treated is an interesting word.

Absolutely. I don't know if you guys know this or not, but I'm a very sarcastic person, and treated to it is a very interesting word. So, anyways. All right, so you got some text questions, Sammy. Any half-decent ones? Text, let's have them. I'm just pulling through them here.

Talk amongst yourselves. Folks, text 590-590. We got 10 minutes, and it's text time at the end of a Friday. Or we can just talk about Doug McClain and Jeff Rimmer's toupee. Sure, does anyone do toupees anymore? I don't know. Isn't there? You should go to Turkey.

They actually can do a really good job. Like you can't hardly tell. Yeah. I can't tell yours. I know. No one can tell. Why does Kipper want to torture us with Matt Murray on a Friday? He just got home from work, opened a beer.

We don't need this. Of all the angles Kip takes, it's definitely the one I'm most like, what is he working here? That is hilarious. He had a percentage of his next deal. What is happening? That is so funny. That's a Stanley Cup champion you're talking about too.

Just great guys. Kip and Justin. Doug and David's conversation was so friendly and funny. My snowy QEW drive went too fast. Great show, guys. On a side note, boys, don't sleep on my Jets. We'll listen next week. Thank you.

Yeah, we're not. I feel like we do a very good job of talking Jets. We talk about the Jets. We give them credit. We have Reynolds on once a month. We talk Jets. Jets, I think we've said, is the deepest forward group in the NHL. I don't know if it's consensus, but that's kind of my stance.

And Connor Hellebuck. Yeah. I don't necessarily believe their D is quite where the best Ds are. But when you have Connor Hellebuck, it doesn't have to be. So they got as good a chance as any. Last night was a game that they lost 4-1 to the New Jersey Devils, but it was... Brassois, right?

Brassois. But he played well, too. Like, they were right in the thick of things. Oh, I like the Jets. Throughout the hockey game. It's not like they got... Like, it's just one of those where you can look at it and go, come on, you lost to New Jersey, but they actually...

New Jersey's got talent. I thought they played a pretty good game. Toffoli and Monaghan changes how I feel about the Jets, and I do think they're a legit contender. I have an actual question here. Why does Pasternak get no love in the Hart Trophy talk? 100 points, 45 goals, 40 above nearest teammate on the

team, supposed to regress, but still tops the league. No pasta equals no playoffs from John and Hamilton. Supposed to regress? Why? No, the Bruins were. He is one of my favorites. The Bruins were supposed to regress. I just, I don't think that he is a offensive guy, right? He's not like a penalty kill guy or a physical, you know,

I know he throws physical. He runs into people. Oh, no, he's physical. He's not running people over. If you played here, you'd be all over him. Because he has nights where he's just. Not many. But any.

I mean, he's not McDavid McKinnon. He's not. Well, he's not Kucherov. And Kucherov is the winger. He's not. Well, he's not Kucherov. And Kucherov is the winger. He's the winger right now that's getting all the love. Kucherov's got 25 more points than him, you know. Sorry, Kucherov does over Posta. But he's really good.

He's unbelievable. He's really good. I'm not saying this to take away from Posta, but you're talking about the very best guy. He's clearly not it. So I think just like. He's him and Nylander are 90, 100-point guys who are underneath the big boys. Like Mikko Rantanen in that class.

Leon Dreisaitl's in that class. There's a handful of guys that are just up there right now, and they're just underneath. Just underneath. Tier two. No, I'm not even going to say it. I was going to be at Leafs past the question. Don't change your stripes now. Okay. I won't. No, I'm not even going to say it. It's going to be a Leafs pass to question. Don't change your stripes now.

Okay, I won't. No, say it. No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm saying just be you, Sammy. Okay. Come on. Do you? No.

It's a stupid question I want to ask. It's about Pasternak and Matthews. Why are they even a comparison? One's a winger, one's a centerman. Yeah, but there's, you know, I guess Matthews is a better player for sure. No question. But like in a big game, who would you rather have? I thought that maybe was where you're heading with that.

Well, who's had bigger games when they've mattered most in the playoffs? Pasternak or Matthews? I actually don't know. Has Pasternak had any big games? I have no idea. Yeah. I'll take Matthews. Yeah, me too. But I actually don't know. It's past any big games. I have no idea. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll take Matthews. Yeah, me too.

But I'm just projecting ahead and I think a lot of people, you know, anyways. We're getting so many texts, I can't keep up. Talk about Couturier to Ottawa. I honestly can't.

Couturier to Ottawa was just like a passing mention. That was really interesting. But it actually works to me. That works in my brain. Minus the money. I don't like the money. See, this is where I see a fork in the road in the Philadelphia Flyer organization.

And I have not talked to Doug about the thought of Tortorella moving up, but I have heard that. The other one I have heard is Keith Jones and Daniel Breer absolutely love Craig Berube. And that one could be very much on the table if in fact that there is any change that they decide with Tortorella behind the bench

that that would be an easy fit for a guy that already lives there. Berube does. Yeah. Tom Wilson suspended six games. Thank you for that. for a guy that already lives there. Berube does. Yeah. Yeah. Tom Wilson suspended six games. Six games. Yeah, that one was fairly easy to see.

The history. Yeah. I wrote about it today, sportsnet.ca, about how this is just compound interest punishment based on all the previous dumb things he's done. You know, like, it's really going to come back to bite the capitals of the third hardest remaining schedule in the nhl they're chasing a playoff spot that the actual action alone on gregor to me is like i don't do that there's just a

couple games but it's all the previous when you play on the edge and you can't stay on the right side of it eventually you pay and the bill came due at a really tough time for the capitals i'll always resort to my uh the advice that dale hunter gave me early in my career greece people after they score every once in a while you gotta get suspended it keeps them guessing yeah but i mean i don't hate that i hate it in this moment for washington tom wilson is not every so often. It's often. Take the every so often. Very often. Take the every so often. So is this his fifth or sixth suspension? Sixth suspension.

His third time with an in-person. Didn't he have... Three fines on top of him. He's a bad boy. Didn't he have a... What was the most massive one he had? Like 20 games brought down to like 14 or 15? Didn't he have one...

Didn't he appeal one and bring it down? I don't remember. He was, Will, for a brutal slap. No, that's the one that just happened. I think it was a hit,

a blindside hit. A legal check to the head of Oscar Sundquist. 20 gamer. 20? Yes. You remember that? I don't.

I'm the one with the concussions. How did I remember that? 2017? Probably. Pretty blurry. Oh, my God. Yeah. Go ahead.

I was just going to say, it was about if Kipper could, maybe it's an easy question, but if you were going to sign a one-day contract with one team that you played for and retire with them, who would it be? Hartford Whalers. Go out in Cooper Halls? Yes. Cooper Halls and Hartford.

Is it because you like the jersey the most? Yes. No, I would say it was the Rangers. The one that you have the cup range from. Yeah. They took me golfing last week. I'll sell the Rangers. There you go.

Family cup's not bad. All right. But the Tom Wilson thing to me is, you know, every team talks about how much they would want him, right? And how much that it would be worth the tradeoff of him getting suspended sometimes to have that intimidation factor and whatever. But there's a price to having guys like that. This is the worst one for him and the organization.

Did he not? Yeah, he did. He put his arm around him. He was like, oh, you can't do that. That was illegal. You know what I want to do is give Gregor a ton of credit for taking that hit and not rolling around. Didn't even go down.

Didn't even go down. Sat on the bench. A lot of the guys would have milked it a lot more. And they interviewed him, and he said, I don't think Wilson meant to do it, meant to hit me directly in the face. He said, I think Wilson apologized to him on the ice. Is Krieger that nice of a guy?

Now I don't like him that much. He's too nice. He's a little angrier than that? Yeah, I guess. He cracked a bunch of teeth. All kidding aside, good on him for not rolling around like crazy because he didn't have to. We just got this text.

This person must have just turned on our show for the very first time. What are your thoughts on the Pittsburgh Penguins in regards to how the team is being handled under Dubas? Let me refer you to section 3.2C of the charter, which is we talk about him every other day. Every news and notes for the last month. Yeah, just go. Hey, buddy, just download any show in the last two weeks.

It's not good. Like a random point in any episode the second hour. It's not good, as Brad May just said. Oh. Yeah. That'll be an interesting one as we see it progress through the next dozen games or so for Pittsburgh. And Washington, this ends their season, does it not? Yeah, you know why? Because they're not good.

So having a good player out here, that's the end of them. No OV. Congratulations, I just put you in. No OV, no Crosby. That's a different world. That is. That's a sad world. But what are you going to do? More sad about Sid.

All right. Only sad about Sid, actually. Yes, correct. Only four games on tap before we kick it over to Hockey Night in Canada, Saturday night. Our thanks to Doug McClain. If you get a chance, download this if you haven't heard it already. And Luke Fox.

Safe weekend, everybody, and we're back on Monday.