Real Kyper & Bourne - Clock Running Down on Oilers Turnaround

Episode Date: November 21, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick off the second hour with a look at the Oilers' loss to the Panthers last night and how the question of their season is beginning to change as they continue to struggle. Former NHL forward and current analyst Justin Williams (7:13) gives his perspective on the mental aspect of Edmonton's disastrous stretch, the challenge for Knoblauch to turn things around as a first-year coach and goes through the headlines around the league. Finally, news and notes - Prince Harry dropping the puck in Vancouver, the Leafs rocking blue helmets with white jerseys, a potential fire-sale coming in Columbus and Patrick Kane/Panthers rumours.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

all right let's go national on the real kipper and born show we are live on sports net sports net 650 in vancouver and sports net 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 wherever you get your, make sure you download us and always to text us at 590-590. If you add a comment or a question, our boy Sammy McKee will read them on air. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Derek Brandale, Frank the Tank with you the next hour. Nice.

Top story. Seems like it's an ongoing thing with the Edmonton Oilers. But a second straight setback in the state of Florida has them losing last night to the Florida Panthers 5-3 and yet digs their hole a little deeper as we get to that all-important J.B. American Thanksgiving. I know. People talk about the deadline like it's real playoff cutoff time.

There's lots of hockey to go. I think they have 65 games left here. I know. I know. You guys got them dead and buried, eh? I don't want to be the bear of bad news here, but they're just not getting better. I know.

My main defense of why I have yet to give up on this Oilers team is the teams fighting for the wildcard spots are not good. They're eight points out of a wildcard spot right now. Seattle, Anaheim, Arizona, okay. I think the good news, if I can find any silver lining here, is to your point on the 7th or seventh or eighth and you're a computer guy

so i know you'll just punch you'll punch a few buttons and you're going to give me the exact answer the feeling is for for right now seventh or eighth you would need low 90s to make the playoffs the the yeah so you need to play at 106 point pace from now on and which would put them in what a 645 650 clip yeah about that would get them to 95 points so maybe a little lower if in the numbers 92 could be it yeah you know 90 92 points yeah so maybe it lowers the clip but but i get the point that they're not dead but they're dying well how close based on again what we saw last night how close is this team to snapping your their, and turning themselves into a 9 or a 640 clip. Not that close. I mean, I watched that game last night,

as I know you guys did too, and that Florida Panthers team is a good team, and they played an emotional, engaged game. Kachuk said they're going to take it to the alley, and they did. They're physical. They looked like the team that had playoff success last year edmonton did not look on their level however they score three times they got some bad breaks they're breaking the puck out and it hits hyman in the back ends up in their

net you know a drop stick by verhage falls under broberg skates goes in their net like they had some bad breaks they don't feel terrible to, despite the fact that the record's terrible. Listen, for the second consecutive game, they go up to nothing. I know. And you can't find a way to make that work for you. You need it so bad right now. And like, Picard wasn't terrible.

You know, maybe you don't love the second goal or whatever he was fine they just need one game where their goalie is the better goalie in the game just a game because now they got carolina coming up i think that like the ask of even pickard last night was a really big ask and i thought for the most part, he did terrific. I really did. Okay. For a guy that never envisioned feeling like you have to have a must-win

riding on this season, riding on your shoulders when your $5 million guy is in the minors like that's i thought i thought he made some some really good saves that were enough to give them a chance to win yeah put it that way david scores twice penalty shot goal and a one-timer from the game-winning goal, the Stenland goal. Okay. Typical Edmonton Oilers where I don't know what Evan Bouchard is thinking here. He does not defend well.

Even the fact that he got caught flat-footed, you can almost live, and I hear the Edmonton Oilers fans already, you can live with the fact that you got caught up. I just hated his response to get back in the play. And I don't know if you saw it. I had to reply. I watched it several times. Three times I watched it.

And there's no sense of urgency to get back. And once the puck comes back out to Stenland, Bouchard decides to take the wide turn. I know. And that scenario, you're taught, if you had any decent coach at all as a kid growing up, you know that is a stop and start you know that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and this guy decides

to turn like a train he's spinning like a top he another rebound he's around he's around just stop find a guy and if you would have stopped started, there's even a chance that you could have blocked the shot. For sure. But you just don't allow yourself to recover. Yeah. And I just can't imagine right now where you're Conor McDavid or you're Leon Dreisaitl, and you're watching this over and over and over again.

The frustration would be very real. And so that is the biggest drama underlying all of these conversations is what becomes of their frustration? You know, and it's not me. But what's the next convo here? I guess it's not me. But what's the next combo here? I guess it's, you know, the coach goes now. So now the, oh boy, how happy is Jay Woodcroft right now to be out of that situation?

He's not even watching. Honestly, they did him. He doesn't care. They did him a big thing. It was mercy. Yeah, they got him out of there. But it's just, like, there's levels to these conversations, right, where it's like, ah, it's the general manager. That's the coach goes. And then it's like, oh, there but it's just like there's levels to these conversations right where it's like ah it's the general manager that's the coach goes and then it's like oh well it's the

players it's and we'll talk goalie in a bit okay as we mentioned earlier let's welcome in justin william former nhl forward three-time stanley cup champion con smith and now the star of sports net nhl hockey on Rogers. Justin, how'd you like that? How'd I like what, the intro? Yeah, the intro. Or the star of Rogers. Yeah, Elliot Friedman wrote it for me.

No, good. It's been good. It's interesting. It's seeing how your side works. Everyone says welcome to to the dark side i'm not sure what it means but uh i've uh i've enjoyed it so far listen we were just talking about the edmonton oilers and uh happy to get your thoughts on on what you've seen so far and you've been with you've been on Stanley Cup champion teams. You've been on teams that a lot more was expected of. Where do you see them as of waking up this morning? Well, I see a team who's had a little bit of tough puck luck.

I do think that. I think they're playing better than their record. But, you know, at the same time, we're in a result-oriented league, right? And when you don't win, there's going to be scrutiny. So do I think they're as bad as their record? Absolutely not. Do I still think they're Stanley Cup contenders?

Yes, I do. But they obviously need to get there. And sometimes the hardest part is getting there. I remember when I played in 2006 for the Hurricanes, we won the Stanley Cup. The very next year, we missed playoffs. And I thought we even had a better team. So it's important to get in. And right now, things aren't going well for them, clearly.

But I think it obviously starts in the net. Take last night away. I think he played quite well. But I still think at the same time that if you're getting sub-900, it doesn't really matter what the players are doing. Well, how much do you believe in that momentum of an early start, whether positive or negative, having an effect on the whole season? It's tough to say a bad start's enough to write off the year,

but it does kind of make guys start gripping the stick tighter and maybe making some decisions they wouldn't normally make without that pressure. Yeah, sure. No, absolutely. I mean, it's kind of like when you start the season, you always want to get that first goal out of the way so you don't even have to think about it anymore. Right. And, you know always want to get that first goal out of the way so you don't even have to think about it anymore. And once you get the first goal out of the way,

you kind of relax a little bit. I think they need to get themselves back just in the conversation of playoffs. They're so far back now. They look at it every morning. They hear about how poorly they're playing and how they're underperforming. They just need to block that stuff right out, right away.

I'm sure the new coaches' staff, that's exactly what they're doing, just trying to be like, we're in this together. These people in the room, look around. These are the guys that got us in it, and these are the guys that are going to have to get us out of it. So I think it's important to have that belief. You have to have that belief within the dressing room that you're capable of getting yourselves out of it.

And we've seen in the past that they have a very talented team and they're more likely to do it. We're talking to Justin Williams. Justin, as far as the weight of the world seemingly on Connor and Leon's shoulders. I mean, you've been part of a leadership group in the past. If you were to advise them on how to handle this or what they should be saying or doing,

where would you go first? Well, I think one of the really important things as Kipper is if you're not producing at the level that you've been accustomed to, the team needs to start winning in different ways. And they're giving up far too many grade A opportunities to win 3 to two, to win two to one. And there seems to be a lot of pressure on them as a fact that if I'm not scoring, if I'm not getting two and one or one and two or, you know, four points in a night, the likelihood of us winning is not very high.

And this team has to find a way to win in different ways. And they need to grind um just start out be like grinders in the first and just be like i'm not going to give the other team nothing and then see how that goes just i don't know if you ever played for any uh first time coaches but i i would be interested to get your perspective on these guys handling a coach who hasn't coached in the nhl before i think back to an old teammate of mine jeremy call it and eventually trying to coach kane and taves you know what would the relationship be like for them would it be mcdavid and dry side of the sidle trying to bring knob lock along or how does that

relationship work when you have a new guy calling the shots who hasn't done it before at that level? Well, he certainly needs to, and it's not easy coming in. I mean, we interviewed him on Sportsnet. They're coming in and, you know, had some questions for him. But he needs to make this team his own. He needs to exude his own confidence and make it his team. Like, you know, it seemed a little, you know, definitely unsure of the start a little bit, you know, thrown into kind of the gauntlet of getting into the Edmonton all of it right away.

But he needs to, you know, just impose his will on the team. Be like, this is what we're going to do, boys. This is my leadership group you are going to pass your my message on to the leadership group the leadership is going to pass that message along to the rest of the team and this is the way we're going to go he can't be uh you know wishy-washy it's got to be this is the way we're going to do it i know i'm a first-time head coach but i have confidence in my abilities what i've seen in the past and what i expect this team to be. And I think that's a really important thing. You can't be, you know, as you said, hey, guys,

what do you think we should do? We're doing this. This is the way it's going to be done, and let's try and follow through with it. Hey, Justin, we know what the spotlight means to places like Edmonton with star players, and we've seen Connor and Leon at times get frustrated with the media here. But I guess my question to you is, like, you know, what do you do if you're getting asked the same questions 10,000 different ways?

At times I don't blame them, but at the same time, I don't necessarily blame the media who have to go out there and sell something. True. I mean, once you're a member of the media or you're a fan, it doesn't matter who's watching the game. If you're seeing the same thing over and over, I mean, chances are you might hear the same question over and over. I think that just kind of goes without saying. over, I mean, chances are you might hear the same question over and over.

I think that just kind of goes without saying. But, you know, if you're a captain, you're an assistant captain, you have to stand there after the games and you have to, you know, answer the questions. You have to stare at the media right in the face. And in turn, that's resonating to all the fans out there that, you know, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not shying away.

Okay. Answer the questions and do your best. I mean, that's part of the job. It's really not that hard. Obviously, it's frustrating when, you know, you yourself are frustrated and someone right after the game throws a microphone in your face and be like, what are you doing out there? I mean, it's frustrating. I get it. Right. I've had that microphone in my face where I'm not proud of the effort or, or, or, or the product that you've been putting on the ice.

But you just got to own it. I mean, everybody wants the same thing. We all want to win. Fans want to win. Coaches want to win. I'm pretty sure the media want you to win. It's better for them as well. So you just got to answer them. You got to, you got to you gotta just own it you know if you're crappy that night i was crappy okay if uh if you're good they'll be asking you questions that uh that you'll want to answer so where are you at now in terms of your you know you're partially in the media are you all you're still working with carolina is my understanding and how are you enjoying that is you're kind of walking the line, trying to do a little of both right now. Are you kind of feeling out what it is after your career that you like best?

Because obviously very recently removed from playing. No, correct. I mean, I'm pretty much kind of figuring out what I want to do when I grow up, when I get older. I'm doing that at 40 years old here. I've got my toe in a little bit of and fortunately the hurricanes have been great you know tom dunman and don waddell the whole staff there roddy brindamore obviously a really good friend of mine so um you know i'm i'm advising on on on that side of it and working on the development side actually a little bit too

with a couple of the draft picks so um you know it's been a perfect um you know kind of a perfect thing with me i'm able to stay home and be around my kids which is um you know which is really important to me and i have that flexibility obviously with doing the media and being an advisor right now gotta ask you then about carolina they seem like they're okay i mean right now their record suggests they're a middle of the pack team but have they had enough success uh in the last few years where they can maybe pull off a tampa bay and say it's not really about 82 games it's about getting ready for the playoffs i know i i i've thought about that and it seems it seems like that's something that you say kind of at the end of the year i mean mean, everybody wants to win the game. I mean, you don't go into a game and be like, well, it's not that important.

You just don't. We're not wired that way. Hockey players aren't wired that way. But, you know, I mean, I don't give a heck if we finish fifth or we finish first. I'd feel a lot better if we finished first. But you just got to get invited to the dance, right? And, you know, then you never know. And I think it's pretty wide open.

You know, not any team in there says, you know what, they're definitely winning it all. Or not two teams that you say, well, one of them two are winning it. There's two handfuls of teams that you can say, you know what, these guys could do it. And Carolina, we're fine on our way, right? We've added a few new pieces to the lineupolina we're fine in our way right we've we've added a few new pieces to the lineup um we're fine in our way but uh um being middle of the road with our

average game um is not terrible because i see a lot of things uh improving on the horizon so for that carolina team you know you mentioned that you know they've been close you know this team they've gotten in playoffs, and there's good things coming for them on the horizon. You know, it feels like Rod Brindamore is that team, right? Like that his core, his culture is sort of what everything is built around. You see that happening in Vancouver, where Rick Tockett goes there and kind of brings that swagger with it.

How does that bleed throughout an organization when you have a coach who's got that sort of mentality, this sort of you wouldn't mess with the coach. If you put the puck in the corner, the coach is probably coming out with it is the point. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, there's something to be said

where you speak to the players in the dressing room and you tell them, you know what, guys? I've been in you tell them you know what guys i've been in your shoes okay i know what it feels like i know how hard these 82 games are i know what i'm asking of you is hard but bear with me at the end of the day at the end of the season you could look back and be proud of what you uh what you've put out there as a product um but yeah i mean you know obviously bernie moore and and talk you know guys that played together um and and it actually seems like a lot of the players i've played with now they seem to be just coaches or gms or just kind of they're moving along the ladder here so um i mean rick's done rick's done an obviously an excellent job so far he's got them

playing extremely well they've got their top players playing at the top level, which is obviously conducive to a lot of success. So, you know, Roddy's been extremely good at doing exactly what he does. He's getting the best out of his players more consistently every night than most teams. What about a week and a half, two weeks ago, our Sammy here gave Quinn Hughes the Norris. And I'm like, come on, the season's just starting. most teams what about a week and a half two weeks ago our sammy here uh gave quinn hughes the the norris and i'm like it's come on it's just the season's just starting and i'm watching last night

him move laterally beat two guys along the blue line to get to the net and bury uh the first goal of the game and i'm like yeah that guy's gonna win the norris um there it justin it was like me watching brian leach all over again just that that incredible uh ability on his skates edge work uh mccarr we've seen over the last few years but i don't see quinn hugh slowing down at all here yeah we were on the panel there a couple weeks ago and they said is qu Hughes going to score 100 points and I said no no he's not going to score 100 points that's ridiculously hard but I mean you see the way he's going right now and and usually uh you know a player is having kind of a special year when you watch the game and you're like what how did that happen he made that look so easy and that's what the great players do. I mean, you can tell on that one,

I think you're talking about, Kipper, that it looked like the goalie definitely thought he was going short side roof and he went far side roof. But, you know, it's just taking what they give you. And he's a perfect example of an undersized defenseman just using his body and his edge work to perfection. And he doesn't spend a lot of time in his zone. Last question for me, Justin,

I just want to get your thoughts on the, on superstars or even just, you know, good contributors who have off years, like Austin Matthews scores 62 years ago, last year he scores 40 and we don't really have an explanation for that difference. None of it. We watched very closely all year long. Tough to see, you know, this year, McDavid, I think is fifth on his team and scoring and scoring you know what happens from year to year when you have really elite players

who sometimes it just doesn't click like hughes it's clicking this year the year before maybe not as much i mean a lot of it is puck luck yeah there's not it's not everything but there is an element of puck luck to it right i mean you look, you look at a goalie. I mean, it works for every position. You look at a goalie and have this goalie put up a 925 and the next year put up a 901. I mean, I don't know. I mean, what happens? Confidence is an interesting thing. And we say, you know, sometimes you hear it's 50% mental, it's 50% physical. I mean, I don't know.

I'm not sure. Once you get to the NHL, it seems like the mental side is almost more important than the physical side, is making yourself feel good before the game and tricking your mind in the fact that, you know, maybe if you haven't scored in 10 games, maybe trick your mind in the fact that, you know what, I'm on a six-game goal streak. I'm going to get another one tonight. It's important, That's for sure.

But I don't really have an answer of kind of where you are through the 82 games. You know, it'll probably even out. I'm pretty sure McDavid will be tops on his, on his team and scoring. Well, don't feel bad. We've been doing the show now three years. We've never had an answer for anything. We got nothing. There's absolutely nothing. We just talk, right?

We do. That's literally all this is. We do. Hey, Justin, great stuff, man. Love having you on the show. Enjoy your stuff on TV. All right? And don't be such a stranger.

Come back and visit us. All right. Pleasure, boys. Thank you. Game seven. Thank you. Justin Williams, Mr. Game seven. Yes, sir.

Mr. to you. You know, it also helps. Hell of a nickname. Yeah, it's a pretty cool name. Just on Quinn Hughes, it certainly helps when a couple other guys are having career years too, right? Right. When the other best players are going, it helps.

The puck luck continues to roll and it you'd like to think the majority of it's earned but then there are some nights when you think you're working hard enough to earn it and it just doesn't happen no just doesn't go your way and that i actually really like that answer from you know williams that like sometimes it just doesn't bounce your way. Hockey is hard. Yeah. And then, you know, okay, you have a cold for one month and you feel crummy for two weeks and, you know, a couple bad bounces.

It just happens. Coming off talking about the Edmonton Oilers with Justin and a little bit on the media side, do you have that clip last night where our boy Mark Spector was at it again? We do have the clip, and we can play it here, and then we can talk about it after if you could do that, Derek. Are you better off to try to win this thing 4-1 or try to win it 7-5? You love this question, but I've answered it so many times.

We're trying to keep the puck out of our net, obviously. That's our main focus, and obviously we haven't done that, again, for a number of different reasons. So we're always trying to defend. Yeah. I get what Mark's trying to ask. He's basically saying, instead of trying to win a low-scoring game, are you better off just playing run and gun with all the offense you have that's the shape of the question yeah i would think

this is a mutually annoying situation for both of them yeah where it's like i don't want to come in here and have to ask this going in there after every one of these gut-wrenching losses that's taking them further and further away from the playoffs and he's got to go in there and ask these questions over and over at the end of the day he's got to go in there and ask these questions over and over. Well, at the end of the day, he's just trying to get a reaction off of something that is in the ballpark of always the same question. Is there something different you can be doing? On the surface, a loss is a loss.

So what difference does it make for one or seven, five? Does it make you feel better, Mark? If we lost seven, five and we'd be more entertained, but I, I get it,

Mark. I get it. You follow the team every day. You've got to ask the tough questions. You got to get a reaction. You're hoping to have a different answer. It's not easy folks. the media side or connor's side i actually don't think connor's answer is that bad either i thought like he's not it's not he's saying like i've heard this before i don't have a new answer but i think he's well within

his rights to answer that like i marvel i don't disagree yeah i don't disagree it's just what justin had to say there i marveled at that answer because, you know, put me in that situation. Hey, I feel like once a month I would say something really stupid. Like, I don't know. I mean, you've done them before. You've done them before. It's just like, I don't know how the hell you sit there and these guys look

you in the eye and they're like, like he said, boy, you are bad out there. This is the NHL. It's hard. Like, I don't know how you don't lose your mind all the time. It's true. Like every level I played, I was so excited to get interviewed. You know, that didn't matter. I can't imagine if every day after bad games,

people are like, ah, turnover. I know. I was there. Listen, you can have a natural reaction without really thinking about it, and there should be some leeway for that because you are in a heat of the moment situation. But if you look at it on a big picture, any athlete, any political person out there,

you'll never win that battle against the media. They come at you every day. Why are you so pissy? Right? You'll never. They always get the last say. That's the best clip of all time. That's their job.

They gave voice to a lot of people's feelings. To get the last say. Yeah, no, I know. And you're right. You're 100% right. Sometimes you just have to say. Justin said it best when we just talked to him. Face the music and try to get out of it the best way you can.

It's a shame that it's just not even close to the story of where the Oilers are at. It's like the story is the players are getting frustrated. Yeah. And, you know, we is the players are getting frustrated. Yeah. And, you know, we were talking about before we got to this part of the show is like, what does that lead to then? Does that lead to, you know, you're not going to mutiny against a coach

you've had for three games, like requesting trades for the, like fans want the goalies gone. What do you do? I don't know. What is the next step for the like fans want the goalies gone what do you do i don't know what is the next step for the oilers here honestly it's to try to go nine one and one that's what it is but you're gonna do that with pickard and i know i i don't think so i don't see it but you've got to try now you have no choice if you If you're Jeff Jackson, if you're Paul Coffey, if you're Ken Holland, you have no choice.

You don't think about a trade right now. You don't think about anything. What? No. It's not out there. Guys, it's not out there. If it was out there, it would have happened by now. It's too hard.

Money in, money out no one's prepared to make a deal to no one's throwing you a lifeline the only thing you can do is hope and pray that this team goes nine one and one and gets themselves back in it you better lock it up nine one and one you see sorrows but i know where Soros. But I know where you're going. I know where you're going. We're a nationally televised show here. I don't want to be the Toronto guy. Go ahead. At some point, if you're McDavid or Dreisaitl,

you look around the room here, where is this getting way better? Are you got undeniable prospects? They're not that different from a team that's been good. I think it's the solace. I think they are. I don't know. I just, you watch them play every night.

I'm not saying they're going to demand it. I don't know what's going to happen. But at some point, Rubber's got to hit the road here. He's one of the best players of all time. He's rotting. They're so leaky defensively. And with no grand fear to bail them out it's i i don't see i don't see another 140 points making a difference out of connor mcdavid or 50 goals out of leon i don't i don't

see that being this is not baseball this is not football where one quarterback or one pitcher has a chance to significantly tilt the game every time he's out there yeah this is hockey man you need more more guys going more guys defending yeah the clock is ticking there and the clock sticking here on i understand with Nylander and with Marner, their contracts are up. And, like, I know, like, it's not a situation that they're the only ones in it. Yeah.

I will say, this is a conversation that comes up among buddies. You know, I do hear people say, do you think one of them would want, you know, want to get out of there? And it's like, I don't. If this thing doesn't turn around, there is a very good chance this whole thing implodes. Okay?

Do you think for one second Leon Dreisaitl signing this summer when he's eligible if they miss the playoffs? No shot. Great observation. Thank you, Leon. We have oiler drops for days, huh?

Right? No, I don't know. I don't know. It's tough to know. That's where you go first is Leon. Don't even talk to me about Connor McDavid until we find out what Leon is going to do this summer in the event that they miss the playoffs.

Yeah, like if Leon's not going to sign, you couldn't possibly entertain letting him leave for nothing. And then where's Connor's world without a world without Leon? I just think they'll do whatever it takes. They will overpay to the moon. No, it's not about overpaying, JB. It's about who's giving me the best opportunity to win a Stanley Cup. It depends if that's where those guys' priority is, I suppose.

And if we also don't think that this Edmonton team is that much farther off than the next team, who I understand where their record is right now. It does look that way. It's just such a crazy concept a world in edmonton without a conor mcdavid no three years from now that's what you're saying it's it's i'm saying i yeah i can't see it happening i i think that they would change everything else to his liking to make it happen to me but he's a different type of guy to me than like a Tavares or like a you know a Sid or I think he wears his heart way more on his sleeve than a lot of these guys do

like you know he's emotional it's like oh I want to be with one guy my whole like I don't know I I got news for you all he cares about is winning the cup tunnel vision from last summer. Stanley Cup or bust. And you watch his body language right now, you can sense the stress on him feeling like it's going the other way. First time in his career, I feel that sense of real stress or real frustration that this is not heading in the right direction. I will say, so I've been waiting to write an article

just on, it's more of a summertime topic, but how every star is not going to win a Stanley Cup anymore. And I know I'm not the first person of that observation. Brian Burke has said it a lot, but it used to be, if you look at the greats in NHL history, I'm saying it used to be everyone got it, but like Lindros and Marcel Dion, everyone eventually got theirs. 32 teams is just too many teams.

Not all the stars are going to get cups anymore, unless they take a page out of the NBA and say, I'm going to force my way on to X team that has a chance every year, basically, or, you know, those teams those teams those guys Kevin Durant it get yourself to Golden State but I don't like I think there's a difference between stars and between in McDavid but David is one of the

best hockey players that ever have stepped on going to win a Stanley Cup he's going to get where is he going to win Jesus that's the question where Justin I don't know this Oilers team that I don't have written off yet is got good pieces you're gonna look really smart if they get hot here they turn around they go deep in the playoffs you're gonna look like a very smart man but i i don't see it's gotta happen

they're eight points out of a while wednesday like they they gotta win Wednesday. It's... They got to win Friday. It's getting late early expression. Game time? Game time. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app The Latest Odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365.

Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, Barney, who do you see as the teams that are in direct competition with the Oilers to make the playoffs? Who would you give me there? Love that question.

Okay. Arizona, Calgary, Seattle. Arizona is a plus 425 underdog. You buried Seattle last week on me. Yeah, but they're in the group of teams. There's going to be sniffing around there at the end. So the Arizona Coyotes are a plus 425 underdog to make the playoffs. So Vegas is not believing in them.

The Anaheim Ducks are plus 725 to make the playoffs. A minus 1200 to miss. Oh, my. So there's two teams that are in the mix that Vegas doesn't necessarily believe in. Bet 365 doesn't believe in. Anaheim. Anaheim. Anaheim is plus 725. All those teams are no good.

Calgary Flames are plus 135 to make the playoffs. So Bet 365 is starting to believe in them a little bit. Big two points in Seattle. But hey, have you seen Calgary's next 15 games? Oh, it's a meat grinder. They play everyone who's good in the league, essentially. Their schedule leading up to Christmas is ruthless. It's Vegas and Dallas and Colorado.

And I think they have one non-playoff team in their next 15 games. So yesterday they were minus 175 to make the playoffs, the Oilers. After last night, the number went down to minus 150. Oh, it's slipping. It's slipping a little bit. So who was the other team you mentioned? St. Louis Blues? night the number went down to 150 minus 150 oh it's slipping it's slipping a little bit so uh and who was the other team you mentioned st louis blues vegas or betches they kind of believe in them it's plus 175 for them to make the to make the playoffs so they i guess maybe more of a

pedigree thing with them and the guys have been around but got some players but yeah so i just found that interesting just to see what what guy what other you know looking at this plus minus 450 for the connects to make the playoffs. We're sitting here in November. Probably wouldn't have been having that conversation at the start of the year. Wild. I had a couple other ones quickly here.

There's no hockey games tonight, obviously. But they have a few numbers up. And no games Thursday. Yeah, no games Thursday. Yeah, I'm not coming to work. What are we going to talk about? Well, on Friday, we get to talk about the Leafs game because the Leafs play before our show.

So that's good. Regular season goal totals. They have three guys up here on Bet365. Austin Matthews, it's even on both sides of it. The number they have for him is 54 and a half. On the season? On the season. It's even money on both sides.

Which way would you lean? Over. Over? Over on that one. Kippy? I think 54 is a really good number me too the books are yeah i think it's i think that's a 54 55 yeah it's a heck of a season you want to hear some cool uh passing stats kip it's related to this the number one uh duo in terms of primary shot

assists this year is marner to Matthews. 44 times Marner has set Matthews up for a shot. Not a goal, but a shot. It's a cool stat. Shot assists. Schmaltz to Keller in Arizona, and Keller to Schmaltz are two and three. So that duo is pretty deadly in the desert.

That's interesting. I feel like that's an actually underrated pairing. Like, you know, we talk about guys that are underrated, but they're, like, really underrated. So we acknowledged Sunday that the Leafs aren't one of the better passing teams in the league. Right. Respectively, what, 29th, 30th, and 31 in three different.

In ozone passes completed, yeah. So if you took Marner out of the equation, how much worse would they be? Very much worse. A lot worse they be? Very much worse. A lot worse. Significantly much worse. How many teams wouldn't be way worse if you took their best passer off the team? That's kind of a...

The next pairs are like Scheifele and Connor, Kucherov and Point. Like, it's all... And most high-danger scoring chances this season, Matthews and Tavares are tied for second with Hyman. At 47, Kachuk has 48. And James Van Riemstuyck cracking into the top 10 with 39 high-danger scoring chances this year. Wow, did not see that coming.

All right, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Okay, we'll take one more break, and then we'll come back and get around the league

with some news and notes, including what's going on in Columbus. Reading. Nothing. Patience. Stagnant. Man, there's another market that just doesn't want us talking about them.

No, they're like, can we not be on your show? We're Columbus. How about Prince Harry sighting? Did I say William on the lineup? We're Columbus. How about Prince Harry sighting? Did I say William on the lineup? No, I don't know. I think I just almost did. I get a mixed up. Was it Duchess of Sussex?

All right. I don't know. Tea and biscuits. I don't know. Sorry. Tea and biscuits after the break. More Real Kipper and Bourne. 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 Kiprios, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee. mckimbray house justin bourne sammy mckee all right if the vancouver canucks start to their season wasn't a surprise enough prince harry drops the puck last night see how long the canucks game hurdle had some quotes about having to tell him to drop it that's hilarious. Not sure what he thought was going to happen. I guess he didn't know you'd drop it.

I mean, was that his first hockey game? I don't know. He seemed very invested. I don't think we've ever seen him before at a game. No.

But yeah, he was into it. He was watching. Like when they scored, he was reacting appropriately. He seemed to be in tune. And this was because of the Invictus Games

2025, I think. I don't know. You know better than me, buddy. 24? to be in tune. And this was because of the Invictus Games 2025, I think. I don't know. You know better than me, buddy. 24? I don't know. Is Meghan Markle Canadian? Isn't she? Yeah, she...

Don't they live in Victoria or something? She was in Toronto because she was in that series, Suits, which was based out of Toronto. Okay. Sounds like the three of us know nothing about this. Really nothing. Can we get a correspondent like oh my god somebody's listening to this i'm gonna i'm gonna try to royal correspondent try to

put a charity golf tournament together this summer do you think there's a chance i can get harry for sure he'll play yeah no security like if he's doing the nhl circuit how hard could it be come on let's get him on the show i'm sure he'll. I mean, it's awesome for him to go to see the Canucks play. Like, they are great. Yeah, good. They won. That's nice. Barely.

They beat them 3-1. That's barely beating them. Had a shark school disallowed and a couple of breaks. But hey, can't all be Monets. Did you see, this is a very inside hockey thing. I think Kipper will not care. But did you see that the Canucks' matte black helmet? I was actually hoping you would bring this up

so we could test Kipper's reaction. Did you see the paint on their helmets was flat and not glossy? Yeah. Could you believe it? It looked awesome. I love that look. Really? Yeah.

It looks way better. Better than the shiny, like, two-tone golden Knights helmets? I actually like when the Kings wear those silver buckets. I like the gold buckets. I like those, but I think the matte black look good too. You know the conversation we never had over two games in Sweden was the blue helmets to the white jerseys. Can you believe I'm the one that's bringing it up?

I'm excited about it. Let's talk about it. I thought it looked great, but some people hated it. I thought it looked like the equipment manager forgot the home helmets, and this is what we have to do to make up for it. I thought it looked – you didn't like it, so not a natural. No. Yeah, it looked good.

Do you like it? Ten out of ten loved it. Oh, really? Yeah, I loved it. There's a hot button issue. I got a lot of texts, and it was a hot conversation in the dressing room last night. People were invested in the blue bucket. I don't know how this, you know, we send people to the GM meetings every year and it never came up.

I don't think or I just didn't read the information that the GMs approved that you can wear any color helmet. One of you that matches your scheme with any jersey. So we could see some other. We could see the white helmet with the blue jersey. Did you guys? That would have gone off. It won't. But yeah, did you guys that would have a golf won't but yeah did you in theory did you guys see the the pro hockey game where the team

forgot their jerseys so they wore the team's practice jersey hl1 so they had to wear that's the feeling i got when i saw the blue helmets that they were just piecing everything together i can't imagine the moment when the equipment manager was pulling the stuff off the bus and went, oh. The Toledo Walleyes. Awesome team name. The Walleyes is a really good team name. It's very good. But, yeah, that's. That must have been a low career point.

I'll be really interested to see because on Friday, Friday, Saturday, they'll be home. They'll be away again. And neither of the teams they're playing against have blue helmets. So I wonder if they'll go back to the blue helmet look. I think it was just a sweden you mentioned they were fighting themselves in sweden they're trying something different and then come back to north america i don't know i can't wait to find out sammy i can't wait people care how many more sleeps do i have until i find out

too many way too many man it's Tuesday. They play on Friday. There's no games two of the three nights. Columbus Blue Jackets. John Davidson, we're not ready to win yet, obviously. Does he mean this week? I could have told you that. He says no rash moves and no white flags. I haven't got a clue what that means to Columbus Blue Jacket fans. He says no rash moves and no white flags. Okay. I have got a clue what that means to Columbus Blue Jacket fans.

That was like four different messages within one statement. No white flags. Like if they surrendered to me. But they're not ready to win. But there's no way. I'm confused on your message. But also surrendering is doing nothing, right? Like it would be more in pursuit of winning if you made changes and did something to me so what we're hearing is

more of the same you can expect a 50 point good row season and a lot of losses would you like to hear patrick line i talking about being a healthy scratch yes Yes, I would. Derek, if we could have that clip there, buddy. Did I put it in there? I think I did. Maybe not. Anyways, he was talking about how embarrassing it was. Yeah. Yeah, he was saying that it was really embarrassing.

I believe he said the most embarrassing part of his career up to this point or something. If I was half a dozen teams right now, I'd be trying to buy low on line patrick liney yep love that so what is this what's his contract he's got three more years maybe at eight and a half i'm gonna have this in just a moment he has this season and two more at 8.7 you're right 8.7 can i get them down to six 8.7 can i get them to six and a half dude scored 40 and 44 goals as a 21 year old yeah what do you want to get it down to kb six and a half somebody can do some scoring what's brock best are at i saw he's at he's at six isn't he so yeah you put him with the right center and that looks like the greatest trade you've ever made i saw one of

hockey's like premier skills coaches daryl belfry doing a breakdown on line a and he basically was just saying that the guy has added no pieces to his game since he came in the league he came in as a big guy with a long stick who shoots it hard like Ovechkin from that spot. And that's still what he does. You know, no second dimension, no tricks. He just hasn't evolved. You know, whether it's release or passing or whatever, he's just been the same guy. So, you know, I don't think a 30 goal score is what you want, but that's been his pace the last couple of years. If you believe he could be better than that,

then yeah, maybe someone will try to snap them up. We think we're getting closer on Patrick Kane. Yeah. Sir Valley was tweeting about it a little bit today when he wasn't reading with Tim Peel, but yeah, there's a firestorm.

Let me tell you something about your book today, Sir Valley. Yes. Thank you for that. I really appreciate a little plug for Down the Back by me. But he was linking the cane pretty hard to the Panthers, which I absolutely hate and love that fit. It's a perfect fit.

They are up against the cap, though. So it all depends. What do we envision Patrick Kane doing, signing a three-year deal at $6 million? Three years? Has anyone given him more than the rest of this year? I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't know.

I don't know where he feels like he is mentally and physically or where other teams envision him being mentally and physically. If he's healthy, guys, he's a nice piece to add. I know it didn't go well in New York, and I highly advised him not to go and shut it down, get yourself healthy. But he's gotten there in a different way. But I've got to think he's still really good yeah i mean that was probably

an element they were lacking last year is like an offensive piece like something like that you can create something out of nothing it's a sort of a bet on yourself thing here like if you if he signed for example a one year i don't know how much money it would take to get him but a lower aav he goes to the panthers they're already an excellent team he goes there he lights it up and he plays really well then he sets himself up for a multi-year thing after it but the opposite side of that is he goes there he's no good he gets no money yeah so it's weighing betting on yourself or taking some long-term security be a tough one for him yep i do see the fit though and i wish buffalo was a little better and looked

a little closer because i think that would have been that would have been a fun place i think for him to work with some of those younger talented kids what sucks about starting the year poorly is your team doesn't get the chance to get better usually you get great players and people are way out of it though the same but... They're three points back from the last playoff spot. Tage Thompson breaking a hand... Huge blow.

...hurts them. Yeah. For sure. And you mentioned it. Like... Our boy, Mark Spector and Tim Peel

going at it on social media. Ooh. That was a... Quite an exchange today. Okay, let me tell you about the media. Okay. They compete against each other for stories.

Yeah. But they drink together and they love each other and they defend each other. Yeah. Which I like. It's its own team in a way. Yeah. Boy, sometimes you just want to log off.

Okay. Sometimes it just want to log off. Okay. Sometimes it's the best answer. We're out of here. Our thanks to the very handsome Henrik Lundqvist. You're second. Thanks, pal. I'm third. Sammy's last. We're back tomorrow. Thanks to Justin Williams as well.