Real Kyper & Bourne - Carolina's Game 5 Mindset with Justin Williams

Episode Date: June 11, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee share some thoughts on the Knicks' historic comeback in the NBA Finals before welcoming in three-time Stanley Cup champion, Mr. Game 7, Justin Williams (11:28). They discuss Carolina's depth, Brandon Bussi's play, the top line's struggles, and Jordan Staal's leadership ahead of Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam weigh in on reports that the Senators are interested in Jake DeBrusk, Alex Tuch's value in free agency, and Darnell Nurse requesting a trade from the Edmonton Oilers. 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.

We are live and in color. It's the Real Kipper and Boren show. Nickyprio is Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeel, and assistant producer, Chris Gallagher. We are live on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, 960 in Calgary, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 360 Sportsnet Plus,

and YouTube where we always appreciate a thumbs up. This hour of Real Kippenborn, brought to you by Bet365. Tonight, Vegas, Carolina, get it going again. Game 5 tied 2-2. All the hockey world watching,

except maybe New York City, which is watching the Knicks last night with an... Sorry, Sammy, we're not going Jays for you. If we're going to go off topic, off sport, I got to mention the Knicks game last night, which I can only recall 1994. Madison Square Garden being that electric

and that had every bit of a feel of something very special. Yeah, unbelievable. I was telling Sammy before the show that I've got a friend who was giving me the old baseball trope, the basketball trope that like, ah, you only need to watch the last five, ten minutes. The rest of the game doesn't matter.

I watched the first 40 minutes of that game and I was like, ha, that'll show him. It really mattered. And then, cabam, 29 points. Gone. What a finish. You know, I was getting late, past my bedtime, had an early tea time today. It kept kind of being like, okay, it's time I can, you know, I can maybe go to bed now. And it just they kept coming back, kept coming back, they just kept sneaking.

There had to have been a lot of people that just said, I'm not watching anymore. Oh, I'm sure. And clicked it off and never came back. Oh, boy. Well, I mean, if you have any sort of social media or people are texting you or like, you know, I don't think you're totally oblivious. But you're the lead example of someone that, once you're sick, you shut it down. Yeah, but I'm within the, like I have people that will text me about things. Like if something, for example.

In your dart moments when you like shut everything down and you go for a dart, you're still receiving messages? Darts are post game. That's always post game. But I just, I really couldn't believe what I watched. That was this one of the most unfathomable things to see. Like it just, that game was over. Was it 71?

What was it at 79? 39, 39 at half? Like it's just, it's over. The best tweet. is Seinfeld with Larry David. They know how to take the lead. They just don't know how to hold the lead. See, the holding part,

that's really the most important of part of taking the lead. That celebrity row is off the charts. Yeah, I see some people kind of like complaining about how much airtime people are getting. I actually kind of like it. Like, it's cool to see famous people of the courts. I mean, like, I don't know.

That's the only ones who can afford it. So somebody sent me the whole celebrity list at MSG. Are you going to beat it or? Oh, I, sure, Taylor Swift. Steve Ellicott. I was Taylor Swift, Section 10, row AA C, 26, 27, 28. And you know, what's funny is that, like, you see who gets the double A's.

The double A's are the floor. Yeah. But then they run out of floors. And I'm looking at like Alex Rodriguez. What's he? Section 117, row 17, seat eight, nine. You can't even, he's like he's in the lower ball, you know? And then there's like some big names.

We're going to find you a suite somewhere up top in the level fours. Up with Trump. You can pullet roof glass. On the catwalk looking down from above. So 90% of the floors are controlled by the Knicks. 90%. So they, sorry? But 10% aren't?

I think 10, like, own their, have their seats all the time. Spike Lee probably owns this. They've got a large amount that they can float so they can pick and choose. And their website, I think, had game 3s available on an auction. Okay. You know what they went for? $200,000. $550,000.

Oh, my God. No way. Yes. Oh, my God. I'm just glad to see James Dolan finally makes the money. That's nice. He's got the sphere going. He's got this going.

That's not his money. I don't think, well, I mean, that might have gone to a charity. I don't know. But like, let me stop you. It didn't go to a charity. Dolan's new guitar fund. It's the resale. It's just the market resale.

Okay. But anyways. I have a quick parallel to hockey and I can make the Knicks winning that game about the Leafs. Like the Knicks now are up 3-1. Not many teams have come back. And I think it's only the cavaliers that did it against the Warriors. like 10 years ago, that's the only team to ever do it in the finals. If the New York Knicks get this done,

that'll be a 57-year drought that is now done. The Toronto Maple Leafs 100% have the most famous drought now. If the Knicks get this done in the next, like, I mean, you can talk with the Red Sox, it was the Cubs. The Detroit Lions haven't won since, like, you know, it's been 68 years. Arizona Cardinals haven't won since, like, you know, all those ones. But the biggest sort of fan base, famous team,

the Leafs now, are going to take over the longest, most famous drought. The only reason I'll stop you there is because... You don't think it's over? The Knicks are tortured, like, the Leafs. You know, you've got to get it across the line. And I think they will. They will. They will.

But boy. If you win that game, it feels like you exercise some ghosts. Totally. So when we come off the ice, going to our New York Ranger dress room, there was a picture of a New York Knick, and it was Willis, Reed. Now, that's like

early 1970s. He's like the guy that led them to their very first NBA championship. And it's like him like in pain and it's like he had a leg injury. They weren't sure if he was going to play at all.

And you know, he emerged out of the tunnel like, you know, Moses parting the Red Sea. So every once in a while we come off the ice and be like boys, we got to be more like Willis Reed over here. We need some Willis Reed. We need some Willis Reeds in the room right now.

Love that. We don't have enough Willis reads. In the meantime, I have really no idea who he is or what he did. Game 7, you played through a very severe leg injury in the 1970 NBA finals. There you go. That was the most iconic kind of picture or feel for the Knicks fans for the last 60 years. It'll never. But something last night will take over.

A picture of Willis Reed. The hand of OG. I'm very happy for OG Ananoi, who was a really good rap, great rap. Really interesting guy. You see what did they ask him after the game? No. He was like, what did you?

Like, what he's like, I was cool, man. Like, all the guys were really fired up. He was like, dude. It was like an interview in November. Right? But he, I mean, even when he hit it, he was kind of like. But that's his thing. I know.

Which is an incredible thing. To have that in that moment, to be not like out of your mind is. Yeah, I think I'll enjoy it. Like, once my. career's over. I find it a little frustrating. Oh, do you? Yeah. Enjoy that? You're too cool. Like, oh, sorry, have you been through these moments before? The only guy in North America with an anti-OG.

I love OG. But I just think the too cool thing is too cool. No, no, no. He's not trying to be too cool. It's just who he is. Yeah, well, that's fine. That's fine. Because he definitely, it's not a one-off. No, it's typically been his comportment. I really like him. Good for him. What a moment. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Justin Williams. Three times Stanley Cup champion and a guy and that was a thing or two about game seven. Willis Reed moments? Yeah, a little Willis Reed, Game 7, Mr. Game 7.

Thoughts after a day off in terms of where this momentum is right now and maybe the pressure on Carolina to kind of find a way to win at home. Yeah, I feel like the pressure might have switched a little bit to Vegas here where they were up to one and a lot of us were kind of starting to write the eulogy for the series and now if you go into Carolina and you lose a game it starts to feel a little bit different I guess there's just pressure right it's the Stanley Cup final it's game five it's two two it's I'm thrilled for where the series is at I'm thrilled I'm thrilled this is going to be a great great game I do think that there's a world where we look back on this final in you know however many

years and we talk about the turning point with Bussie going in and Bussie kind of not necessarily that he's a fantastic goalie but just changes the energy of the series and it's kind of a turning point for it. I think that if Carolina wins this series, that'll be a huge turning point. Rod will get a ton of credit for pulling the lever even though it's the most obvious move ever. But that's kind of how I feel about going into tonight. It's not as obvious for Tortorella, right?

Right. Some people thinking Carter Hart could use a break. Yeah, I mean, I said that yesterday. I think you could make the argument, but I think you, did you say yesterday was too deep in the series? That's my personal opinion. And, you know, I don't know if I would have the guts to make that switch now and pull them. But Tortarillo was kind of asked on it.

Let's go to Clip 1 on a potential goaltending change. This is about, you got asked about them going from Freddie to. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, so we can play it. Yeah, let's have a listen. Clip. Tortero.

We'll go Tortorella, clip one. It's not my team. You need to talk to them about that. more for you from what you see. I don't care who they play. Does that mean that he was never asked about his goalie situation? No.

How do you not ask that question first before you go to the other teams? The first question I would ask him is like, have you had any thoughts of going to Aden Hill over this series? Yeah, a guy that's kind of been there too. He won the cup. Yeah. So like, come on.

You got at least mention that that as a possibility, but nobody in the media went there. Let me ask before we get to Justin, I'm sure we're going to get to here in a second. If they lose tonight in Carolina, let's say Carter Hart gives up in between three and five again. You're going home for game six. Do you pull the lever then? Or is that too deep? Aiden Hill hasn't played a hockey game since April.

But you just, right? I know this is. This may. sound like a cop out, but like, I got to see him. I got to see it. I got to see what it looks like. I got to see it is he lost his confidence. Is he, where's the body language, all of it? Aiden Hill's last game was April 9th. So he's well rested. Well rested. And before that was in March. So okay. All right. Let's get to Justin Williams. Three times Stanley Cup champion awaiting a game five. Justin, how are you? My friend.

how things out there? Hot. I mean, I know Vegas is hot, but it's like 100 here in Raleigh. It's hot. Where do we start here? Just in terms of the Carolina hurricanes per man, we don't see like that superstar.

We see a bunch of really good hockey players and some of them for sure can stand out on any given night. But as far as signature superstars, I mean, it's led by Jordan Stahl, right? At 37 now, it never has felt more like his team than it does in game five. Am I safe to say that, Justin? Well, I mean, I think you're, I mean, that's always kind of been the outside knock on us, right? The media knock, the Savant knock on us is that we don't have a star, we don't have a game breaker.

Well, we got a lot of game breakers. You know, what we lack in a $14, $16 million player on our team is a bunch of really, really, really talented players who fit the system, who fit the mole, who are great guys, who want to win together, and who have been at this, you know, albeit from some interchangeable parts the last few years, a long time together. And, you know, right now, you know, our advantage, we feel every team we play is our depth. And we're getting contributions from up and down the lineup. And, you know, we got ourselves a best of three series with two at home. And, you know, we got to look at that as a huge positive for our team. Justin, as you guys get into a series, like I think the way you guys play, it's almost like when you got a stonebreaker that hits it 999 times and it's the

thousandth one that finally breaks the rock, you guys wear, teams down. Is it harder to keep up that sort of pressure game? Like, will it be harder for you guys as the series go on because you play that way? Or do you think you've been wearing down this Vegas team so much that this is where we'll start to see the advantage? Well, I mean, listen, right now, both these teams, let's be honest, they see the light at the end of the Tonga here.

There's a maximum of three games left here. So you are going to get everything, everything that you can out of everybody's tag. So it's not going to be, you know, all. you know, eventually, you know, if you keep doing this, keep doing this, you're going to wear them. But both teams are going to go right at it, okay? And for these three games, they know what's at stake here. They know, you know, they can't lose two games. And, you know, our team is a team that's going to wear teams down. And at the end of the day, you know, we're going to look back and say, you know what? When or lose, we gave every single thing that we got every single shift. If it

It doesn't work out. It's okay. We're going to come back tomorrow. We're going to do the same darn thing again. So if it doesn't work tonight, the boys are going to show up in game six and see if it works that night. But, you know, we got the system that we trust in. We got the players that we trust in. We got the way we play is not going to change. And as long as the opponent knows that, I think that's our advantage is that we're not coming back. We're not going to be sitting down. We're going to keep coming at you. You're watching and listening to Justin Williams, special advisor to the general manager for the Carolina Hurricanes, three-time Stanley Cup champion. The goaltending change and Bussie coming in and providing everything you needed to keep that momentum going now in game five here.

What is it about him? What is it about what you've seen all season long that certainly looks like he can control the moment right now? Well, I mean, listen, he breathed a huge breath into our lungs. this season the way he came in and we had some goaltending issues with some injuries um you know fredi wasn't on his game early um and this guy just just kind of came in and just you know led out a sigh of relief within the organization i mean i i don't know the exact number i think was something around 31 and 6 this year his his his record so i mean listen he wins games um you know we're hoping he doesn't have to steal a game for us um with the with the way we play

He's just got to be solid and he has been. And the guys seem to rally around that. But at the same time, we rally around all our goalies. All these guys, all three of them right now are super competitive. They want the net. And that's kind of the great part of having a great team, right? Is the intercompetitiveness amongst the players that makes everyone else better. So the guys are playing well in front of them.

And I anticipate the same thing tonight. You know, one of the talking points around the series and the playoffs in general, for you guys is okay Svec Chonahoe and Jarvis aren't scoring at the rate you want them to but I look at the other side of the ice and they're going head to head with Eichel and that line's not getting a whole lot either are you guys content with sawing off

with their top guys and then leaving it to the depth of your team to say KK handle the rest of it? Well we do I mean we alluded to that we think our advantage is our depth you know we really do I mean we've got you know Robinson Kerry and Jankowski who have been able to hit the score sheet

and keep the other teams off at when they're when they're on the ice and obviously having Stan Kovin playing, you know, his line playing the way they're playing and obviously Stahl, I mean, you mentioned him at the start. I mean, I can't say enough great things about him, but, you know, we are

a team that is able to recycle interchangeable parts right now. We haven't had I would, I would, it's fair to say we haven't had our top lines best. They've been good. They, they certainly haven't had to carry the load, which is

great for them. That should relax them a little bit, but I know the inner drive amongst those guys is the attitude the next three games should be, I got a chance here to make a difference. I get a chance to be the difference here in the next three games, regardless of what has happened throughout the playoffs or how we got here. I got a chance to make the difference and potentially be a difference in a Stanley Cup championship winning team. And that's the mentality they're going to have flush everything else that's happened. and look straightforward as to the possibilities that could be. And just, Justin, the Rod Brindonmore factor here.

And what you've seen not only throughout these playoffs, but all season long, that's really enabled him to really, really make it feel like this is his team. Yeah, I mean, I don't think he would put it that way. Certainly the coach, certainly the coach, you know, you take the characteristics, of your coach and you kind of take his personality, you kind of, you know,

all the stuff that he says kind of just seeped its way down the lineup. And his team, he wouldn't, he wouldn't think of it that way. You know, this is the players team. He's just, you know, the leader just trying to show them the way. And you could tell by his, even as, you know, his postgame, you know, how the media is allowed and seeing all the postgame speeches and everything and how invested he is in it and how into it he is.

And that just breeds confidence from the other guys. I think he said the other day, and I felt like I scored that goal when Jarvie scored the overtime goal. He's like, I felt like I scored it. But, you know, it's just these guys are creating memories right now. And that's the main thing. And regardless of winner-lews right here, these guys are going to leave it all out there.

And Roddy is, you know, the guy that's going to bleed first. I'm actually curious to hear your perspective on this, because Rod actually said something. They asked him if he was having fun or whatever, and he was like, no. You know, like it's too stressful. This is not fun now, enjoy it later sort of thing. But you were in those moments so often on so many good playoff teams.

I'm imagining you got more comfortable within them and found ways to enjoy it. But I could be wrong. Did you enjoy them as you got on in your career? Was it always just, I'll enjoy this later? So I think for me, I think for me, you know, a lot of people have asked me this. the most nervous I was was the two, three hours before the game.

The pregame nap, the getting up from the pregame nap, the walking over to the rank, the, you know, the anticipation of the game for me was more stressful than actually playing the game. Once I got into the game, I always told myself just to relax and smile. And especially in these playoff games, I mean, what an opportunity for all of these players right now.

It's just, you know, you train all those, all that work in the summer. that you do when no one's watching all of the extra stuff that you do in the wait room that nobody sees is all for this chance right now to play in the Stanley Cup finals and have an impact and I was just reminded myself I was sitting in that dressing room whenever it was a big game or something just smile and enjoy it because this is the stuff that you wanted your whole life and try and go out there and make a difference you know air on the side of enthusiasm not apprehension just go out there and go out there and give it a go and give yourself a chance.

I know you mentioned Rod, in terms of players kind of feeling that personality and taking on a lot of that kind of vibe. I think it was Taylor Hall the other day, talked about Jordan Stahl and never coming across nervous, no anxiety. I mean, he's every bit that leader you want this time of year. And at his age, it's just, I don't know, even for a guy like you, known as a game seven. You must marvel at what Jordan Stahl's done this spring.

100%, Gipper. I sent him a text there yesterday when, you know, I was hoping he got it just when he woke up and just, you know, told him just to keep it going and, you know, I'm proud of the way he's leading this team because right now, I mean, listen, it's hard to get back here, right? And, you know, whether or not, whether he has one more year, two more years, three more years,

five more years, I have no idea how much. years he has left, but he knows that this is probably the best chance he's going to get. I mean, there's 31 other teams who leave disappointed at the end of the year. So, you know, he is doing what he can for sure. He is putting the guys on his shoulders saying, follow me, boys. I'm going to do everything I can. And he's done that for umpteenth years. But now, I mean, it really just shows that his willingness, I mean, it looks like a darn Viking out

there when he scores a goal. He's just so pumped up. And I mean, the guys, the guys are following along right behind him. And he's been an awesome leader for us, not only for this year in this playoff run, but, you know, through the bad days that we're here in Carolina. And, you know, now he sees a chance at another Stanley Cup, you know, 18 years later than when he won his first one, you know, it goes by quick. Yeah, what a career. Justin, last one for me, just the idea or the value of home ice at this point because you see other teams try to replicate being on the road. People love being on the road right now, right?

It's always staying in a hotel at home. Something about that road environment, does it take pressure off? Or is, do you believe that the home ice is still an advantage as you get to these big games? I find the home ice to be an advantage really early in hockey games. You can tell, I mean, I'd like to actually see the numbers on this. When the home team scores the opening goal and they get. It's so excited and then the game kind of tapers off to being, okay, this is what it is. And the first five, seven minutes, they're running on adrenaline.

You know, I think, you know, you've been in dressing rooms, I'm sure Kipp, where you're like, just manage the first five minutes. Let's get through the first five minutes. The first ten minutes of this game, then we can settle into the game. That's where I really find the home ice advantage is important. After that, I mean, it all really just, it's the game of hockey and it's a sheet of ice. and it's, you know, 12 players on the ice. And it kind of gets back to normalcy after that.

But I would say the first start of the game is pretty advantageous. Mere hours away. Game five in Carolina, Justin, all the best of luck. Keep enjoying it. As you said, it's a special time of year. And we're all looking forward to puck drop in a few hours. Thanks for doing this, pal. Absolutely, fellas.

How about it. You too. That is Justin Williams. Three times Stanley Cup champion. Or if he wins this one. He looks great. Feels like he can still get made strong out there. Yeah.

He's just smart. Talk a big one. Yeah. Boys, I don't know if we can just say enough about Jordan Stahl. It's like I'm like 18 year. You just said. 1,400 and some games, 179 playoff games. Five goals in the couple of final.

I don't know if like people truly understand like the magic right now in Carolina between Jordan. and the rest of his team. And, man, if you can just grab that one guy. And the moment I heard Taylor Hall kind of talk about him with not nervous and no anxiety and just calm, I'm like, yeah, that's what Mark Messier did for us in 1994, man. We were like, is that right?

There's a thousand reasons to have shut down and find excuses and we can't win this way. and Mikean benched Brian Leach and and it's like, no, no, let's go talk to him. Things happen. It's Rocky. And he's in the room and he calls everybody in. And there's just this calm, confident, zero anxiety, zero. And it just ripples through your whole lineup.

And that's what Jordan Stahl's doing for them right now. If he, when he's, sorry, when he sues up tonight, that'll be his 180th career playoff game tying him with Ari Richard, Brad Marchand and Thomas Holmstrom. You know, it's funny. Brad Marchand, 180 playoffs. You can have, like, you pretty bad to mediocre round of golf, but if you burdie a couple holes coming in, a sudden you look at your card and you go, pretty good day. I kind of feel like that about Stahl's career.

If he wins a cup and a con smite at the end of this all, and you go, is he a Hall of Fame? Absolutely. It is. These two cups and Conn Smyth and 1500 games. So we know what Mitch Martin is doing for Vegas, but we don't know, really. what like Jack Eichel. To me, Jack Eichael has to have some presence tonight. Yep.

Right? Like above all. Yeah. He is. That line, I mean, Marner's line's been unbelievable. They need Jack Eichael's line to get going. They do. So.

Jack needs. But would they shuffle things up to try to help, you know, Jack, free him up a little bit, put him with maybe one of how to do it? Let's do it. Yeah. Love it. Clip two. I'm not worried about Jack.

If there's one guy that gets it and who accepts responsibility, he does. Yeah, it's an inch of way of being up four to three. It's an inch of way of tying at four to four. Another chance. He has a face-off chance, a face-off play chance. We don't want to keep talking about chances. We do need him to score. We do need him to lead the way, but he'll accept the responsibility.

Good time for him right now. Good time for him right now. I hear really good things about Jack Eichel. Oh, is that right? Yeah. Interesting. I do. Because that wouldn't, when he was younger, you used to heard negative things.

But right now, everybody tells me he's like the consummate pro. That's awesome. And he carries himself. And he cares. You imagine Taylor Hall, right? Like, guys grow up and they become veteran guys. Yeah. Yeah.

But he's just, he's got to find a way to be dangerous in the middle of the ice and find a clear path to the net either shooting it or driving towards it right now is carolina can match at home right it's going to be in tough they keep trying to shut them down but i i could easily foresee big iico tonight i mean he's he is around it like it's not oh yeah he's getting touches in the dangerous areas for sure i mean that one in uh the last the final minute in Vegas uh when the puck just magically landed on his dick like you've said you're like how did I end up here like Jarvis did there. Yeah, you admit.

Shutes it over the net. Like, if that one goes in, it's a different story. Anyways, game time? Game time. It's game time. Presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. So the couple things to look at tonight.

Let's do this first. Do I know how to do this? Maybe not. I was going to do the World Cup. I was going to get really exciting here. You guys want to do that or no. Oh, yeah, World Cup. Yeah.

Today's day one. Right now. goes playing right now. They're already up one zip. Let's look ahead tomorrow to Canada playing at Bimo Field against Bosnia, Herzegovina. You nailed it. Thank you. What should have been Toronto, Italy?

Or I mean, Canada, Italy. Should have played better, Italy. Should have played better. Sorry, no pushover, but glad it's not. I will say that there's probably a lot of people that are kind of being like, oh, we got an easier draw with not being Italy. Not sure about that. They're a proud

European nation. They are a strong, you know, European nation. They are a strong team. But Canada is a big favorite tomorrow. They're minus 120 in that game. Thai plays two. Yeah, it's a pretty big. I mean, Canada and soccer.

A little favorite. Plus 260 is a tie. And Bosnia with a little bit of value there, plus 3.30, plus 333. So. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Some decent value there.

Anyways. So that's the World Cup stuff that I was going to bring up. We'll look at the game line for tonight for the, hockey game here. Vegas is underdogs tonight. Plus 135 on the money line. Carolina minus 160. That's a big favorite.

Don't hate Vegas. Bussy night? No, that's a good number for Vegas. Don't actually get that one. And let's find a goal score. I talked about Jack Eichael. Give me a Jack Eichael goal tonight at plus 220. You could even convince me he's going to score the first one at 13 to 1. 13 to 1.

That was game time. Presented by Bet 365. an official partner of the NHL, must be 19 plus, and Tara only, please play responsibly. And as a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Born

is brought to you by Bet365. What are we going to say? Are you going to say something there? Nope. Okay, all good. We're good. We still got a lot of meat on the bone here. We got to,

we'll continue to tee up. Game 5 tonight on Sportsnet 8 p.m. Start. And then we'll go around the National Hockey League a little bit, some news about Jake Debrusk, Alex Tuck, J.B., you've got

out of sportsnet.ca on why McKenna is the right choice for the Toronto Maple Leafleaf. I want to ask you about that. And much more. Darnell Nurse requested a trade. Darnell Nurse. Moving on. Leaf?

Maybe. Stay tuned. All right. That when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL. The J.D. Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio.

Nick Kiprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. What do you have for us? I made the grave mistake of putting on the golf in the studio. The boys are just... What a bounce. Nick Taylor just stuffed one in there. RBC's on. Yeah, we got the Canadian Open going, so heading up there this weekend.

Looking forward to it. What am I doing here? Very well prepared. Time now for the Accura performance matchup, the 2026, Accura MDX, precisely premium. Sorry, I got a little distracted with the golf on. Obviously, a rather large game tonight. Large.

A few stats, which I know you guys love. I'll start with Mitch Marner for Kipper. Mitch Marner, who has eight points, become the fourth player over the past 30 years to record 10 plus points in a single playoff final. The others are Daniel Breyer, Connor McDavid, and Sam Reinhardt. Sam Reinhardt had 10 points out.

Danny Breyer in 2010 with Philly. Yeah. They lost to the Blackhawks. on the on the on the phantom winner uh patrick kane along the along the goal line yep i recall uh so jordan stall has five what let um who uh mc david mc david brierre yeah sam reinhart and only one win the cup right sam sam as a man well hold on did reinhart win it yeah 25 yeah yeah yeah yeah um um So Jordan Stahl has six, sorry, five goals.

The only players in the expansion area to score at least six goals to the first five games of a Stanley Cup final are Brad Marchand last year. Esa Tickenen in 1988, Wayne Gretzky in 1985, Mike Bossy, six in 1982, and Johnny Bucic in 1970. It's crazy that it's like Gretzky and Bossy, two of the greatest goals scores ever, and then it's grit. Yeah, Marchan, 100%. Yeah, it's, you know, it can go both ways.

Brett and Bussy can become the first goaltender in NHL history to make his first two career playoffs starts in the Stanley Cup final and win both if they get it tonight. So that's never been done. Wow, really? Yes. It's crazy. I think he's going to be the dude here. Anything to add on that one, Kipper?

That wasn't paying attention. Okay. The Hurricanes have killed off 11 of the Golden Knights 12 power plays this series and own a 92.3% penalty kill throughout the postseason tied for third best rate in a single postseason

since it was officially tracked in 77, 78, the only teams of the higher rate are the 2024 Oilers who had a 94.3 and the 2,000 Devils who would have 92.5. So that's huge for them.

That I was paying attention to. Got it. Nailed it. 2000 Devils. Wasn't they the stingiest one? At least had six shots against them, I think. Six. Right? That was that the year?

Yeah. That was a tough pill to swallow away for defense. Yeah. Excuse me. Anyways, that was the Accura Performance Matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. We have a couple of quotes from Brindamore on the goaltending.

Are you done with the goaltending? Yeah, I was going to ask you about, like, why in the commercial break you wanted to reference a couple of slap shot quotes? Why did you bring that up? Because one of my favorite lines is Andre the Poodle-Lissard, living in semi-saclusion in northern Quebec, ever since the, what is it like, the Darren Prattie? And what could possibly?

get you there out of our first like 40 minutes. Seriously. I actually can't. I actually can't say that that's where it's. I don't care to call that. There's no slap shot reference that's socially acceptable anymore. Why don't you first go to Oglethorpe? That's the best one.

He's suspended. This young man with the litigation, the deportation to Canada and the country's refusal to accept them. That's the one you need. There's nothing I like more. That's my all-time favorite movie, and I have been dying for my son to get old enough to show it to him.

You're never going to be old enough. He's never old enough. He's nine. He's got to be 42. Oh, God. You have, son, must wait until you turn 42. And that that 41's too young. All right. Any thoughts around the league on DeBrusk,

ending up in Ottawa, according to a Bruce Garriott report, a boobinator, the boobinator report. Who's the boobanator? I have no idea. Who's that? Bruce Garriok. His name's a boobinator. He is the boonator.

According to whom? That's no way. But he's boo-boo. No way. He is now. I've never maddened. If he was, yeah, Bruce and I have no relationship, but I'm not comfortable saying that. I think we follow each other on Twitter.

Listen, I love you, Bruce. I'm not calling you the boobanator, bro. But he is from now. Hey, boo-boo. Yeah. All right, we got to get a show back in the rails. Come on. Pay attention.

Debrusk to Ottawa. I like the idea. You should stop in the way. I like the idea of Debrusk to somewhere else. I think he's a useful player on a good salary and he can help. He has no interest in a rebuild. Yeah. I mean, why would?

He's going to be somewhere. And what's he made? five and a half? Five and a half. Very manageable. With the cap going up, that's a price for you. And he can chip in 20 to 30 if he's on a other team.

Alex Tuck, is that surprising you that they cannot find a meeting of the minds? I think everyone's in a weird spot where everyone agrees that because there's no good free agents, he's going to get a bunch of money, but everyone also agrees that Alex Tuck is not an $11 million guy.

He's not. So if you want them, you got to pay 10, right? Would you let them walk? Would you let them walk at 10? You wouldn't go 10, 25, 105, 11s. Where's your cutoff on him? Well, do you, I mean, you have to have one, right? Like, there's no 10, 7, 5, it's like buying a house.

Like, eventually you got to kind of pick a number and say, boy, that's too much for us. If you're Yarmo, like, after watching that series against the HABs, man, it's just like you're ready, you're supposed to sign, like, was he, zeros dash 9, dash 10? Yeah, but he was also. I know he was good, but God, that's the last memory of him and you're going into this contract negotiation to give him way too much money. Like, it would be impossible for that to not play on my bag.

I would have thought that we would have heard of signing a week after they got knocked out just to keep the momentum going. Like, tuck? They would have signed him? Yeah, I would have thought that if there was a chance for that, that for him to sign, they could have announced it while the momentum was still there during the playoffs. And you could push it towards ticket sales next season. And we've got everybody coming back.

My thought was like, would you go to him and say, and this is a big number, but we're willing to give you $60 million. How do you want it? You know, like you want shorter term? Do you want six years at 10? Do you want five years at 12? You know, like I would do shorter. I'm worried about his age.

So if I could get him for shorter term, I'd be more interested. Can we do five for 12? Six for 10? You know, I don't want seven years of talk. He's 30. He's already 30.

5 or 12 you would do, eh? Well, no, but maybe not that number. But do you know what I mean? Where it's like, we're only going to give you X amount, whatever you think that number is. We would prefer to be a little bit higher

on the payroll, but shorter term. The days of doing long term, it's not necessary anymore to get guys. It used to be you had to do. do it to get guys. And he used to get, had to give no movement clauses.

You can just pay them more now. You can just pay them more. Yep. Have more flexibility down the road. Okay, sportsnet.com. Your latest article on your daughter down nurse before we get to that? Okay.

Oh, do you want to do that first? Doesn't matter. Let's do the article thing. Well, I'm surprised that you want to mention it at all. Well, I mean, we got to leave show. It's written here. I just thought that my great friend, Justin Bourne wrote an article about the Toronto Maple Leafs

having the first overall pick that people are kind of forgetting about and that he came to his senses and wrote the cabbys. I don't really have much interest in it, but he... Oh, you don't have me. I'm kidding. What the hell? I'm kidding. Of course.

There are Lee fans out there dying to hear your take on McKenna. My take on McKenna is I wrote that I recognize he is not a perfect hockey player. No one is. But I recognize that all of the things that make him special are really special. And his offensive upside, his power play, his hockey IQ, he's built for this Toronto market. the defense, I think, positionally, he's pretty good. I like that he's from Whitehorse.

How bad is he going to be? What's his bust level? 80 points? Like, he's a talent. If I say this, I'd like to get your response. That's good because we're a radio. The the Leafs are in a bit of a dilemma. It would have been nice

if there was just a runaway number one pick. A Crosby, a Mario. Right? Oh, you mean the two best players the last? Okay. Celebrini Schaefer.

Somebody. Just somebody where it's like, he's the guy. Can't dispute it. But I would argue he is. That's, no, not according to many of the experts here, Sammy. Too many people disagree for it to be a bunch of people who are lying or wrong. So who's the latest that put Reed number one? Corey Prominend.

Okay, I don't even know who that is, but it's out there. So that's the only thing that maybe goes against the Leafs right now is that it is one of those you better be right. Yeah. And for me, Kip, all you can do is bet on upside. Bet on the guy with the freakish preternatural gifts at a young age who had 130 points and 50 some games in the dub. And then it was the second highest score in college,

hockey at 18 last year. He is a unbelievable point producer vision guy. And to me, all the other guys, it's like, oh, if this guy can figure out what X, Y, Z, I just feel like you have to take the guy who's got the most upside. And for me, that's, that's McKenna. Caleb Malhotra sounds like he's to be a great leader. And we interviewed the kid and he sounds like a great mature kid. How's McKinna?

He sounded awesome. You know, Chase Reed, very super talented kid. Much like Tortoella pulling Carter Hart tonight, I would be scared not to take McKenna. I mean, that's part of your whole thing, is the fear of if you don't take him. Yeah, I just think when you have what his upside is available, that's what you take with the first overall.

Yeah. I do think there's a lot of like proposed trades out there where the Leafs trade back into a top 10 pick, but get something else as well. So if all of a sudden you have Chase Reed and Alexei Lafranier or something, I don't know, whatever. It feels like, okay, well, the Rangers pick five, right? It just feels like some of those do appeal to me,

and so I'd be listening. Okay, Darnel Nurse. Yeah. Let the Edmonton Oilers know that he's okay with moving on. I'm surprised that he needed to, yeah, I am too, but I'm surprised he needed to say that because it seems like the team was saying that for him

and he didn't have to look like the one who wanted out, but. Yeah, but it's, uh, just, I think it makes him look real good here. Just, makes who look good? Darnel.

Okay. I think it's, whatever you can say, it's like, he knows it's time to move on. They know it's time to move on. everybody knows but for him to acknowledge it

and work with the team now is the right way it's the professional way to go about it does sound you know we kind of had a sense that was coming but don't you feel like Morgan Riley is kind of in the same spot here yeah I don't know if Morgan wants to come out

and say I'm okay with it either but I don't think it would hurt in any way shape or form if you want to keep it internal that's that's you you're right. But he's in the same boat as Darnell as in Doug Hamilton is in New Jersey. I honestly, guys, I think there's a fit, a rotation. Freddie Hamilton's Toronto Maple Leaf in the executive position here.

Go get your brother. The next Dougie. Dougie and Kenyon. Go get your brother. I don't worry about Darnell's 9.25. Are you talking about the Leafs for him? I don't know where anybody ends up. Dougie ends up in Toronto.

Dougie ends up in Edmonton. Morgan ends up in Edmonton. I can't see... Musical chairs. I can't see Doug Hamilton or Morgan Riley. Dougie. You're killing me. Douglas? I don't know. What is it?

He's Dougie and Freddy's Freddy. They're... I know. They're the Canadian voice. Oh, Dougie. Oh, Dougie. Either one would happily go play with Connor McDavid. it no for one year try to win a cup you would think so particularly when they have a new coach what was mike babcock's relationship like with morgan riley they like each other i can't remember yes yeah mike would have seen some his best years probably right and when he paired him with ron hansy and he had his

best year he ever had what else is mike gonna pair him with that time yeah was phlegic dj smith on the bench back then yeah yeah definitely definitely yeah dj'll end up with With Mike? With Mike in Edmonton. I can see that. Is Mike going to end up with Mike on the Oilers? Again, how long is this going to take? What does the PA want?

You're not going to keep them away from making a living. The way I see it is they'd like to probably get them suspended until like mid-November or something. What? If you do an investigation and things surface. Yeah. Okay. to suspend them for the first 10 games?

Oh my God. You're going to hire a coach? You can't coach? Well, I don't know. I mean, I don't know how this thing plays out, but I'm just, we're speculating here. I know. And in game, everything's to the wall.

And in game 11 of the NHL's regular season, like Willis Reed. Out comes Mike Babcock. The stone cold glass break music. You know, there seems to be. The sausage is unbelievable. Frank Sarvelli, who we've had on this show and he does a lot, is talking about something else out there

that is apparently a smoking gun but like okay can somebody say something about it please well that's kind of what's bugging me about this why hide it who you're protecting here I read like our boy the secrecy porty comes on our show great guy and he said this is what they're investigating

this is what the event he's got an article and the athletic and it was still the same things there was nothing new outside of the phone stuff Okay, so the code of conduct was that you invaded privacy, I guess. Okay. Five games? Five games? Three games?

I don't know. I don't know either. I don't know what HR says about grabbing or he didn't even grab anybody's phone. He actually asked them. Sure. Totally voluntary. Go ahead and put up on screen what you want to show us from your camera roll to show us what's important to you. And you know what?

Gary's not happy. Bebbing. Yeah. The end of the cup final. Yes. This is not good timing. Wow. And hey, I'm just.

I mean, we did 40 minutes on it yesterday. We're now on. Yeah. It's not premium timing. But if it's not Babs, Frank was mentioning Daryl Sutter. And you guys know. And you got a book out. How much would that help your book?

If Daryl starts coaching Connor and the Oilers in October and my book comes out in, let me check, October, it would not be a bad. Oh, it's gated. Now your book's gated. Nobody wants to read it. But like he is legitimately of that same mold of guy in terms of the way that he holds people accountable. And it's fascinating idea. I will say this. I reached out to Daryl. And I said, hey, like surely they're giving you a call here. What's going on? And it's the first text he hasn't responded to of mine in some time. That's all I'm saying. That's the ultimate Thursday morning recycle. Is it odd? Well, I mean, the guy is there. He's there. He's 40 minutes away in Viking. You get in the truck and you'd be there in 40 minutes.

He can be there for dinner tonight. Quickly before he go here, a little housekeeping. Marley's Minute. Games will be aired on SportsNet. Oh, yeah. Starting tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on Sports at 360. I can't... Going up against Nickerbockers.

Yeah, stop. I'll catch game too. I can't shake Ernie Clement. The next play Saturday. So you're good. I did the Joe Carter event. I came in second place. Me, Josh Donaldson, and James Laughton, right?

I don't know how much. Yeah. James? We came in second place. So I'm going to buy you guys lunch with my winnings. Ernie's Flemington. My wife just got an Ernie jersey. And I teed off at Roselle today who's teeing off in front of me.

Ernie. Ernie. Is he a member? No. Ernie wishes he was a member. Oh, I think. I think Ernie could get in. No, Ernie would have to know some.

Really? He'd have to ask him. Oh, my God. Fantasy land up there. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Enjoy game five.