Real Kyper & Bourne - Coaching Around the League with Ken Hitchcock

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in Hockey Hall of Fame coach Ken Hitchcock (3:57) to discuss his role with the St. Louis Blues, what direction they might go at the deadline and how the team's adjusted to midseason hire Jim Montgomery behind the bench. Then, he shares his thoughts on the Red Wing's turnaround under Todd McLellan, Craig Berube's season with the Leafs, the next steps for J.T. Miller in New York and much more. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam McKee to discuss Sidney Crosby's status putting his 4 Nations availability at risk and evaluate the early returns of newly traded faces in Vancouver, New York, Carolina and Colorado.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Let's get her going on the national hour. It's the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. In about five minutes or sooner, we'll welcome in Ken Hitchcock, fourth winningest coach in NHL history. $894.00. Couldn't hang on for six more, get to $900.00. I bet he blames a couple of players for that one. I bet he blames a couple of players for that one

Also kid before we move on want to say thanks to Brady Lee of old of support here Sammy's wearing the sweatshirt They do a lot of good things promoting conversation around mental health and substance abuse disorders and all that check out puck support comm Thanks, Brady. We appreciate a pal big supporter of all you do. We'll get you on the show. It's a big fan of Brady Yeah, so busy night in the NHL last night Kim. Yes Knots back hard not to think about Two markets Toronto and Vancouver going into a game without their teams MVPs Mitch Marner in Toronto and Quinn Hughes for Vancouver and two pretty good performances from both hockey clubs. Yes I think the most

encouraging thing out of Vancouver last night were the vibes. The vibes! The goaltender is spectacular Demko had maybe looked the best. He looked this season. The fans were up and out of their seats. The energy was good and beat a very good team. So that was huge. And hey, good night for the Leafs too in Calgary. So fun that these two teams are going to go head to head where everyone's feeling pretty good about things. Will both guys be back? TBD? Mitch gonna play on Saturday? I think the

concern for Team USA and Team Canada probably would lean towards more of a concern for Quinn Hughes with the US team than Mitch Marner who all indications will play tomorrow night in Seattle. So this one's tricky for Vancouver Canucks fans, I think a lot more than what the Leaf fans might be looking at. Did I have the order wrong? It's Seattle first and Vancouver. Yeah, yes.

So Quinn Hughes won't travel with the Canucks to San Jose. You know, this is third straight game tonight. So, or not tonight, I think they played third straight. Now that, we are close enough to say, if he plays, it's gonna piss off Now that, we are close enough to say, if he plays, it's gonna piss off a lot of people in Vancouver. If Hughes plays. Yes.

And that's different than Marner? Yes. Yeah. Based on severity of injury or? Third consecutive. Third straight game, not traveling. Not traveling. That is, I think, if Marner missed the game

against Seattle or missed three straight going into the break then played, traveling. That is I think of like I think if Marner missed the game against Seattle or missed three straight going into the break then played I think people will be pissed here too but you know missing one game then playing to before the break going to different story but it seems like the severity of the injury with Quinn is much more serious than the one with Mitch so we'll see. Yeah I mean hey let's not mince words here if you're a Canadian hockey fan that's not terrible news I know Knaus fans don't like hearing it. But if no Quinn Hughes is a huge huge loss for them

Yeah on that topic Sydney Crosby being evaluated in Pittsburgh if we don't get to place see Sid play with McDavid Shut the tournament down. Yeah, just cancel it. Just fold everybody. Everybody's got everybody's got everybody's got a he did come back. He did but I Don't know if it's enough to convince anybody that whatever whatever happened to him last night is not a concern What are the pens playing for anyway, it's gotta play. It's all I gotta send them Alright, let's welcome in Ken Hitchcock as we mentioned one of the most successful guys behind the bench I was kind of giving it to you Hitch a little a little bit. You know, $8.94. You couldn't have hung on for six more, get you to $900. I got too old, too quick, kipper.

How are you? We have not had you on the show, I believe, this season. You know, in terms of where are you and what you're up to, let's start there, Hitch. Okay, I live in San- in Palm Springs area. I'm kind of in the PGA West complex. I split my time between Palm Springs and Kelowna. When it gets too hot here by mid-May, I'm going back to Kelowna.

So I've stayed out West, but I'm actually, as I talk to you, I'm staring at the Santa Rosa mountains right now. I'm sitting in a golf course patio. So life is okay. Yes, it sure is too hot. Really good problem to have right now. So I go to Kelowna. How do you remember at harvest?

No, I play all over the place. There's a golf course in summerland that I play at. That's just a terrific place. So I, I play a lot there, but it's mostly just public golf. Here I've got, I think I'm a member of seven courses here. So I, I get, I get golfed out by the time I go back to Colona. So you get your, you get your 18 games, 18 holes in, and then you come back a quick bite to eat and you kick, kick up your, your heels to watch a hockey game. Is this still in your blood? Oh yeah. I I'm fanatical about it. I'm, I'm on the watching TV from basically four to 10 o'clock at night every night. So I love watching it and I'm still doing work with the blues. So I feel like I'm a part of a team anyways skipper and you know for

me personally I don't want to ever lose that feeling but but I was being gracious enough and I talked to the coaching staff at the NHL team pretty much every day and then I talked to the American League guys once a week so I've got enough to do and it keeps me active and interested to be honest with you. Hitch, a lot of people are looking at the Blues and kind of admiring their retool. We've had Armstrong on, you talked about the players that they have coming and sort of kind of bridging that gap. Leafs fans are coveting guys like Braden Shin.

What do you think the Blues are poised to do here the rest of the way? Well, we're in between right now. You know, we're a team that's, we can, you know, we're chasing it and we've got, we're competitive right now and we've got a core younger guys playing the American league that are really legit prospects, four or five guys, maybe even six. And it's, you know, when do you bring that group up and get them into the NHL? You let

them ripen more and whatever, you know, we've got some decisions to make here in the next few months, deciding which direction we want to go because there've got some decisions to make here in the next few months, deciding which direction we want to go because we've got some young guys that are really beating down the door with their play in the American League. So we've transitioned into, we're not young, we're not young and we're not old. We're in the middle, but we've got a young core that's coming on that's going to really help our team out. So it's when do we pull those guys in?

So there's no question it sounds like you're, they'd be crazy not to lean on you coming up to a trade deadline, Hitch. Not specifically now today moving forward with your involvement with a trade deadline. But can you tell me over the length of your career, how a coach specifically you behind the bench and the evolution of being a coach to being involved in a trade deadline and letting them know crystal clear in your eyes, what you think you need, what you don't need. And is that prevalent today as much as anything? Getting the feedback from a coach on a trade deadline?

Yeah, well, Kipper, when I worked with Doug before, we were meeting together a long time. And when I worked with him before, the arrangement we had, which has not changed, that is, if he wanted my opinion on a player, he asked me to look at a guy or look at the guy's previous four or five games, give me his thoughts. But I never knew who we were giving up. I didn't want to know.

And when I was coaching, I didn't want to know. And even now, I don't want to know. So he might call and say, hey, can you look at this guy, or what do you think of this guy, An opinion of where I think he fits, but I don't know what's going on in our end. And I don't want to know. That's none of my business. That's between the coach and the general manager. So I just evaluate individually the player and then give him my assessment. And then he moves on to what he has to do there. But right now, most of my helping part is on tactics with Monty and then with Cono and the American league.

We kind of talk every Monday and we go over the week's play and then we go over what, because there's so much practice time in the American league, he's got a real opportunity to grow his game, grow the game there. And, uh, so we talk about some of the drills that we want to do with practice, but money's more evaluation of the team game and what I saw and what I think needs to get better and what I think he needs to work on a practice. So the blues find themselves just six points out of the playoffs,

certainly not out of the hunt by any stretch. Uh, how has it gone in the transition to Montgomery here? Has he been able to make the positive changes that people had hoped he'd be able to implement? I think what Monty's done is make subtle changes that are going to end up being big advantages for us. What I mean by that is there's a real strong structure to the game now. You can see it. You know, we're in every hockey game pretty much. We're competitive against good teams like last night's game against Everton was a great game. And there's

real structure in everything he's doing. So it's not overwhelming or it's not, you know, awestruck, but it's growing. And so we see us making more and more positive plays and negative plays now. The game isn't as freewheeling for us as it was before, but I think he's done a great job in bringing the fine structure in our checking part of our games. He really brought that to the group. You're listening to Ken Hitchcock, fourth-winningest coach in NHL history. Hitch, when we look at coaching changes and you've been a part on a positive side or a

negative side, it's hard to argue, you know, whether or not the decision is the right one when you look at the Detroit Red Wings. And this is not, you know, a shot at Lalonde. But like, how do you explain 14 and 4 with Todd McClellan? Well, you know what, Kipper, the first guy to know that you're gonna get let go as a coach is you because it's a feeling you have inside the locker room there's this vacuum and you can feel the vacuum inside the locker room either they're not listening they're staring into space

they're trying to absorb it. You can feel that as a coach. So you know when you're in trouble. It shouldn't and doesn't shock many coaches when they're in trouble. But I always feel like when you're bringing in a team or you're coming to a team, if you can partner up with the workers on the team,

like Todd's done What's really changed for Detroit is the working element of their game If you can convince the team that the working parts the parts that don't get notoriety things that are hard like tracking and reloading Second man support on contact how you play on both lines. If you can convince the team to change their way of thinking in those areas, you can be successful right away. That's what happened to me in St. Louis. When I went into St. Louis, I was

able to convince through the leadership of the players to change right away in our way that we wanted to play the game. And we took off right from there. And that's the same thing for me that's happened in Detroit. He got them to compete in competitive areas. And if you watch their practices, he's got a lot of small-sized competitive games in the practice. So he's amped up the energy level by doing that. And the players have responded quite frankly. Ken, how hard is it to get young talented players to become, you know, something like Anjay Kopitar? That's a ridiculous guy to name probably, but like, you know, I'm thinking of

Madvei Michkov and Tortorella has got to try to figure out how to get him to defend and that seems to be, you know, Zygrass, these young guys come into the league and coaches have to be like okay you're an awesome talent how hard is it to make them into hockey players playoff hockey players it's hard it's not easy yeah because they're they're not going to do that you're trying to change a mindset but all of us know, like from us, the players want to trust the coach, but you know what? The coach has to trust the player too. And for us as coaches, if we want to trust the player, then we'd have to know at least he's going to attempt to back check, to compete on pucks, to stop on pucks. We

have to be convinced that that player is willing to do that stuff. The stuff that doesn't get noticed, the hard stuff in the game, well, we're gonna have trouble at times trusting that player. And that's the yin and yang that goes on. And it's like those players don't go through the wall

for you individually on their own. You have to help them get through the wall. And it's that period of time when you're trying to help them get through the wall, it becomes pretty contentious. And you've got to be able to, as a coach, absorb that because you're going to hear lots of mumbling in the background. You're going to hear lots of grumbling going on, but you've got to be convinced that at the end of the day, you're going to help this guy become a really good

team player. And if you can do that and you can survive of the day, you're going to help this guy become a really good team player. And if you can do that and you can survive the grumbling, he's going to come out on the other side as a real good player for you. Hitch, it looks like the scoring's down again in the NHL. I think last year, comfortably, there were four guys over 50 goals. Right now, I think Dreisaitl and Nylander about the only ones really on a Projectory of 50 goals, but like it's got to be co is your fault It's the coaches fault that you no matter how many rules we change you guys

You guys just find a way to just shut things down No, you that's not right. What's wrong right now is there's too many good players in the national hockey league. No, that's not right. What's wrong right now? Is there's too many good players in the national hockey major? When you played. You if your fourth line was on the ice, you chase them

off the ice. He wouldn't go near the other teams. First or second line. Now people use the fourth line to shut down the first and second lines. There's so many good players in the National Hockey League and there's so much depth that you're not afraid to play anybody in any situation and they can all skate and they can all check and so you feel confident in them and that's what's going on right now is the tempo of the game is way hot right now and every team's got four lines that can play and it's hard to create space or get opportunities if you got

fresh legs on the ice that aren't afraid to play. So you've got some experience with Craig Berube if I'm not mistaken. We've been following him pretty closely here in Toronto. We thought he'd be a lot meaner than he is. He's kind of nice about all of his players in the media, Hitch. What can you tell us about him as a coach? I've known Craig for a long time. I had him on my team when he was 17 years old and playing major junior. And I would say right now, the one word I'd have for Craig is relentless.

He's relentless in getting things done. He's relentless in making sure that it's done the right way. And he doesn't care who you are, where you came from, or what your involvement is. He wants it done a certain way and everybody's got to be included in that. I think that's why for me Toronto is gonna be a really tough out in the playoffs series. I mean they're going through ups and downs mostly because of injuries now but they're gonna be a tough out in the playoffs because he's got a lot of the top players playing right way.

The right way apparently is dump and chase. They've got some of the highest skilled players on the planet, and to say that he simplifies things for maybe too much for Leaf fans is debatable, but it still works, Hitch, does it not? Yeah, but I think the language has changed now. If I use the word dump and chase to the players right now, they would lynch me. And the word we use is strong, make a strong play on the blue line. And that's where Craig's at.

Whether you've got to dump it in or not, he's more, he gets on guys when they don't make strong plays on the blue lines and that's what good coaches do. That's the critical ice that you need to win the game in and he's more than determined to make sure that that ice is properly respected because he knows if you're good on those lines and you really embrace getting the puck to the end boards, he knows that you can win games and you can play games with one goal lead over long minutes and win series because of that. He's experienced that and he knows what it looks like. So he's determined that Toronto does it that way.

Is it true when he first came on board in St. Louis? He wanted pucks in deep so badly even if it was a three on two he'd he'd ask a guy put it in deep Yeah, we always get accused of that Yeah, you can get a little excessive at times So when you when you look around the league here It's a weird year hits the tons of teams within a couple of points at the playoffs We don't have a team that's running away with the president's trophy. How do you size up this year's? Contender, you know, it feels like 12 teams could win the Stanley Cup this year.

Well I more look at it as who can win a series like winning four games when the competition is this hard is really difficult and I'm looking right now at teams that are still winning even though they've got injuries like Dallas and and teams like Edmonton and stuff like that. I I'm looking at teams, Toronto has gone through it where they still won games and even though they've had a bunch of injuries. So you're looking for teams that can absorb punches in the stomach or punches in the nose and still keep winning. And so I'm looking at teams that have depth of competitive competitive depth and real leadership, strong

leadership. And so I think anybody can beat anybody on a given night. And sometimes between travel and proximity of games, you can have a different energy level. But when you're a playoffs series, everybody's got the same energy level. And those are the teams that I think are going to be successful Are the ones that are really deep in the competitive areas? It's I love your thoughts on

everything that's happened between the Vancouver Canucks and the New York Rangers and JT Miller now a member of the New York Rangers and you know when something like that type of trade gets and you know when something like that type of trade gets so played out in the media and and clearly there were some issues between JT Miller and and Patterson if you were la vie a la right now in New York and you brought in a guy like JT Miller how important would it be to a head coach to kind of find out what went on so you can maybe help a scenario where you know certain things might not surface again or like would it be important for a head coach to bring in a player that may have had a certain reputation to better understand

him? You know what Kip I really think that having a clean slate is critical. You've got to have a clean slate. And that means that unless the player wants to bring it up, it's none of my business. My business is what's going on. This is, I mean, you don't hesitate and say, this is the culture of our team that we want embraced. But I think bringing up things that happened before don't do anybody any good

And I think the quicker you can move on into a coach and get them excited to be with his new teammates the better Because I think if you start dredging through that stuff There's gonna be a lack of trust and I think you got to get out of it and stay out of it Did you watch the Miko Rantanen trade and find yourself completely shocked like the rest of us or do you think that these sort of things are going to happen more frequently? What was your take on the big trades recently? I was surprised to be honest with you. I felt like there's certain players that are untouchable.

I thought he was an untouchable player and obviously he wasn't, but you just know moving forward. Like when you get legit top three forwards or legit top two defensemen, they are really hard to replace. And so you're hoping that what you get back is equal, or else it doesn't help your hockey club, because it's not like you're trading a second line player or a third line player, you're trading top players

who have significant impact every night in the game. And for me, uh, those are trades that even when you're making the trade, it makes you nervous, you know, because you're not, you're kind of thinking, oh, you're giving up, but you're not sure what you're really getting. And you're hoping that what you get is going to be equal or better. One more for me, Hitch, and speaking of being nervous, we're going to see next week some of the biggest stars from respective clubs getting together for this Four Nations tournament.

And while it's an easy conversation to wonder, oh my gosh, what happens if one of them gets hurt during this thing? There's also the other side of it, Hitch, where, you know, sometimes a player's experience can change them for the better. You went through it, I'm sure, many times over your career with the Olympics or, you know, a World Cup. Just what are the possibilities of players going to the next level just based on being around some of the best players in the world? Kip, I'm telling you when you watch these games and when you know what matters to the players like the Olympics did for us or the World Cup did for us, when you get in these competitions

the hockey is amazing and the tempo and the speed and the way, the way that even when you bring them out and you watch the way the players practice is exciting because the skill level and the tempo and the speed is incredible. And then you pull that into the games where everything's on the line individually, the game by game, it's amazing hockey.

And it's like, I went out out by the time I coached my first Olympics, I'd been in the conference final three times and in the cup final a couple times and I never even, I didn't even think there was another level until I saw the level in the 2002 Olympics and from there on and I've never seen level hockey that high in my life and probably never will. Hey listen I'm just getting some text messages from the hockey world asking me if you still golf with four balls in your pocket. I wish I did. I'm one step away from hitting it off the forward team. That's how bad it is right now. Well, if you do, you got us to round out your foursome next time. We gotcha.

All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks. Thanks, Hitch. Appreciate it. Ken Hitchcock, one of the most successful coaches in NHL history. I liked some of his answers. Yeah. What are you thinking? The first one, JT Miller. And if I'm the head coach I'm like Not that I'd want to pry but I would really honestly feel if I had some idea of

Just just a little bit of an inkling of what would happen. I can I can help you or us, you know, and It's brought up a better point than mine. Just leave it alone. You don't want to ask your new girlfriend about her ex boyfriend. You just you don't need those answers. They won't help. Just, but if you're happy, but if I could get 15 minutes with the ex boyfriend, you'd learn a lot about her.

A lot. boyfriend or it could be like years later if I only knew what you think about him you mentioned their goal scoring being down and you're starting to blame Coaches and he was disagreeing with you as you were saying it. Yes, we just said there's too many good players I you know, I never thought of it like that It's interesting like it's just like, you know, the fourth line used to get caught out against someone they couldn't hold up or whatever But like so there's just too many good players. That's why scoring is down It feels like a stupid thing to hear but it's it's it's an interesting perspective. Yeah I am did a quick Google search while we were talking because that's kind of the kind of thing I do

So goals per game are down kept to your point. Yep You know, they were really down 10 years ago 2.6 goals per team per game That was the average output then it's 2.7 2., 2.6 goals per team per game. That was the average output. Then it's 2.7, 2.9, 2.8. We got all the way up to 3.14. Last year is 3.08. This year we're back down to 2.98. We're going the other way.

This is be the second year in a row. And same percentage is still going down all the while. Going down every year. So this is structural, positional, hockey. 100% it is. this is not goalies. And listen, we cover the Leafs. That's what we do here. Our first hours of leafs. We do 15 regional games like they're making less mistakes because they aren't allowed to Because they aren't allowed to put themselves in a high-risk situation. High-risk leads to more goals.

You know what's fascinating is I sent you guys the list of dump-in rate percentage. I sent you the top six teams and the bottom six teams in the league. Nobody possesses the puck more than the Edmonton Oilers. They dump it in the Leafs. 44% of the time roughly they dump the puck in. No one dumps the puck in more than the Florida Panthers. 59% of the time they dump it in. And then they smash you like a bug. And those two teams were in the cup final last year. Doing it the complete two opposite ways. Number one and 32 in the league league sort of ask where the in the national hour

What are the least rank in that the Leafs are? Only a few teams dump it in more than them. They're 28th in the league They dump it in over 56 percent of the time So yeah more like Florida than Edmonton a very high dump in rate with Ruby I mean why if you got dry sidling McDavid carrying the pot handle it don't go ahead you're good you carry it in there's no pressure can you imagine now if Craig Berube coached the Edmonton Oilers oh my god there's no worse fit in the league it would be mute well people you could say the same thing

with the leaves honestly you know how coaches call players in McDavid might call Berube like this isn't gonna work. You see any world where? Austin Matthews scores 60 goals again if you were done with Craig Barube. Yeah, that's a Keith partner don't be too fancy But just win and all is forgotten like the Florida Panthers proof I will say I you know I love love him mentioning the hockey connections and I think that's what makes hockey

really, really cool. He's like, yeah, you know, I had Barube, they coached him in major junior. That was a hell of a hockey team. Leading scorer on that team, frequent friend of the show, Rob Brown. The KBS. Really?

God, he shot it in all the time. For the 85, 86 Kamloops Blazers, he had 173 points, 58 goals, 115. I should ask Hitch because Hitch coached Rob Brown. And I think it was Hitch who turned him into a forward. Well, Brown was a defenseman? Yes. Well, good choice. Good good choice because he shot it in a lot Rob Brown also had a hundred and seventy one PIMS that year so he was busy and

Menace we gotta get we're gonna get Brownie back on the show Robin Bow Wow on that team That was a tough team Berube was on that team. There was a lot of tough guys I broke in the NHL with Robin. Yep. To Washington Capitals. That was one of the guys on your team. Anyways, you want to do a game time? Buddy you're the producer. Alright.

What are you asking me for? I don't know, I'm just making sure you wanted to do it buddy. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus on terror only. Please play responsibly. A few less games on the ice tonight than there was last night

which was one of the busier nights of the year quickly pulling up the game Sorry for malfunction a good one on Broadway the Boston Bruins in New York to take on the Rangers Repeat matchup because they played on the weekend The big game. Sorry, I just unplugged my headphone so I can't hear myself and it's really jarring. Just give me one second here. Bet365, there we go.

The Boston Bruins are plus 180 underdogs in New York. The New York Rangers are minus 220 on home ice against the Bruins. It's just another really good classic NHL matchup. So a really exciting one there tonight The Edmonton Oilers a game you can watch on sports net west force that as well Are in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks the Battle of the Connors. I Know everyone's really excited about that kipper and especially you you're really fired up about that big but I love the dark Just you can't stop it

about that. Big badar. I love the dark. Just you can't stop it. That right now. Okay, okay. I will stop right now. How about a Connor but guard goal tonight against his fellow Connor, future team Canada member Connor but guard at the 2026 Olympics. Connor but guard goal plus 200 tonight against his other Connor. And the last game the ice tonight another Canadian team in action Montreal in LA to take on the Kings on the second half of a back-to-back The Montreal Canadians are plus two or five underdogs the LA Kings minus 250 on home ice Kings looking for a win That's a that'd be a good one to both stole one from celebrating

And Montreal wins that's team Canada's goalie right there, baby Yeah, anyways that was game time presented by bet three six five visit the app latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary A bet three six five must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly. Okay. We'll take a quick break and we return We'll get into some NHL news and notes including Crosby being evaluated on an injury last night including Crosby being evaluated on an injury last night. Also another Stanley Cup champion drops out of the four nations. We'll tell you who and who replaces them when we return to

real Kipper and born. Hey, it's Ailish for afar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame 6 PM week days on sports that sports at 5 90 the fan and wherever you

get your podcasts. Yeah. The Kipper Hills Justin Bourne Sammy McKee reminder this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 3 65 Sydney Crosby being evaluated after an upper body injury last night where kind of looked like the Malachi crunch on him Malachi front remember that no I do guys Oh my god, it's not like it was a recent one. Stop it.

Happy days. Is that in color? You never heard that from the honeymooners. Shut that down right now. I'll turn this car right around. Yes, he did get crunched. Yes. If I had to completely guess, it looked somewhere

in this region, the ribular region. We just got to get through the weekend because this region, the ribular region. We just gotta get through the weekend. Because... Did you say the ribular region? Yeah, yeah. It's... Guys are starting to kinda drop like flies here. William Carlson, Team Sweden, is out now

and will be replaced by Raquel, Rochelle Rochelle? Ricard, Rical. Ricard, Raquel. Ricard, Rical, Rical. You owe me a coke. Pittsburgh should rest Sidney Crosby for the Four Nations faceoff, and I mean that. He doesn't get to play until the Four Nations faceoff. Yes, I agree.

They are not going to make playoffs, not even close. They're 55 games, they have 53 points, there's six teams above them, there's seven points out, They're out. Done. Sid loves this Canada stuff. It's important to Canadians. He's the one guy that now, if Pittsburgh's out, he'll probably go and risk it. Yeah. Yes. Absolutely risk it. Cortisol, get him out there. We need Sid on. This is a part of what we're doing here.

Their minus 37 goal differential is the worst in the Eastern Conference. Dead last, worse than the Flyers. We can't go though, we can't go. Like, you don't wanna. No, you don't wanna risk long-term injury to sit. That would be devastating. I think this is kind of the peril. Like there's the give-and-take of having a mid-year tournament where?

the pros of it Guys are in the swing. They're in the it's the they're in literal midseason form. It's like they've been playing hockey They're you know, they're in in the middle. Yeah, but the con is that you're gonna have guys banged up No matter what you're gonna have guys banged up no matter what. Yeah, you're never gonna have a healthy... The rigors of this, and it's a good warning because next year, 2026, is the Olympics, and it's around this time. Like, you know, it's gonna be a best on best and that's gonna be more of a true test. But like, there's a world where Kyle McCarter's knee's a little twisted and he's not gonna be able to play or this or that.

But like, Petrangel would play through it for the Olympics I think I do I do think it's related to what the event is okay oh and by the way I saw this stat the other day Sydney Crosby's all-time record with Canada Sydney Crosby is 45 and 5 all-time when he's in the lineup for Team Canada 25 and 0 in his last 25 games with them and he's 4-1 in international tournaments has joined in the NHL in You know what we're gonna we're gonna pull up his goal Let's watch his golden goal here. That's unbelievable. Oh, no, we can't no one can

That's Zach Wuranski also missed last night's game so something's going on with him too, and he's having a Norris type of season for Columbus. How about that decision? looming on an organization that has to Show their fan base that they're serious about making the playoffs one point out of playoffs Oh, oh, they've been through this year like so their decors gonna have no Quinn Hughes

No, Zach, we're in school. We just pushed Jacob Slaven down a well Halibut feeling all right I don't mean that no, I mean they already lost Their top goal scorer, uh, we're check Merchenko Yeah to a broken jaw and being on the bench just sitting there talking That happened to me. Uh, when I broke into the league, Washington capitals were one of the few hockey teams in the league that had video on the scoreboard.

Oh, like live pictures. Everybody else had just like numbers and digital flashes of something. But this was live video. I'm playing the Montreal Canadiens. I'm starting to watch the game on the scoreboard. Oh no. Not paying any attention. Peter Bondra does a circle around the neutral zone and shoots a puck. And I'm watching it going, hey, it looks like it's going straight for a boom. Right in my eye. Come on. Cut me open for like 40 stitches. Hey, did you see it coming on the Jumbotron?

Did you see the play coming that way? I saw him shoot the puck. Now I had no idea it was gonna come right at me. But he shot it. It goes off my cheek. I go, I fall right back on my back now. And the benches are right beside each other. And there's Guy Carboneau, pressed his face,

pressed up against the glass, laughing. Really? It reminds me of, was it Stillman? Corey Stillman in the fan? The fan was making fun of Stillman for getting cut? No, it wasn't Stillman, it was Steve Sullivan. Steve Sullivan. The fan guy was making fun of Stillman for always I know it was all of it. He saw all of it Yes, that was maybe the best exchange

I've ever seen It hasn't seen it. You have to YouTube it the player gets hurt He's bleeding the fans laughing at him and the same game that fan gets hit in the head of the pocket gets cut open And Sullivan goes and laughs at him. It's incredible. I will say that That's not my even my favorite Chicago fan interaction The greatest maybe fan interaction of all time is I forget who black he hammered somebody through the glass I think it was maybe and the guy puts the yeah, he's so hammered like can barely stand up Grabs a helmet pulls it off without undoing the bit and just like puts it on his head. He's holding the beer

He's wearing the players.'s wearing a player's helmet It's one of the funniest clips of all time. You played with Mike Ridley, right? I love it I played with Mike Ridley. I played some three-on-three in the summer with him Colona once I tell you that no He smashed my face all up. We were on the same team three-on-three I passed the puck out from behind that and he one timed it right back into my face It was like this ting BAM. No. Yeah broke my nose It's a good career for like a I timed it right back into my face. It was like this, ting, bam. No. Yeah, broke my nose. I got a star over here.

You had a good career for a Canadian college kid, right? I was a big fan of his and Bondra, I loved. I loved watching Peter Bondra. Mike Ridley and Kelly Miller had this nice connection together. Was it Kip? No, that's the family. That's the whole Miller family.

So you mentioned Peter Bondra. Brother or cousin, I forget. So there a lot of talk about on the broadcast last night about Shane Doane How long it took him to get a hat trick? Is it Bondra that never had a hat trick? What no or bonder score all the time or maybe I'm getting him in Peter secora mixed up one of those two guys He's a core bondra. The best part is its name a guy It didn't have a hat bond rose at 500 goals his career is he not? Did he hit 500? He does have hat tricks according to AI. Does Peter Sakura have a hat trick or am I out of my mind? Should a hat trick come off an empty net? Sakura for most

two-goal games without a hat trick before scoring his first hat trick in 2008. Okay okay. So he had the record. Okay there you go. Should we credit a hat trick before scoring. Oh, we did score a hat trick in 2008. Okay, okay. So we had the record. Okay, there you go. Should we credit a hat trick still with an empty net goal? Yes. Okay, I'm just asking. Two and a half?

Two and a half. Unless Ovi gets it. Half a hat. Ovi has seven more empty netters than Wayne did. So it's not like it's a thousand more than Wayne did. Is it sullying the chase for you a little bit? Credit? I don't want to talk about the chase. Credit. I get in trouble when I talk about the chase.

Credit the team though for putting him in a position. For putting an absolute jog out there when they're up a goal. Credit the Washington Capitals for putting him in a position where they got to pull the goalie. But come on Paul. Yes, they're winning all the, you're right. It's just, if they were a bad team he'd have way less goals. He'd have way less goals. He'd have way less. I mean, and like, come on.

You know, we love Paul Maurice. Well, you guys love Paul Maurice on the show. Like, you really need the goalie out. You're down 5-3. Like, I mean, there's 10 seconds. You and Kip are quitters. Put him back in the net. What are you gonna try to win for?

Put him back in the net. Save your pride. Hey, 5-3 looks way better than 6 or 7-3. Does it ever? What does looks mean? Goalscoring is down, right? So we need to bring it up with empty net goals. Drop it up.

Should we, and we did mention the Canucks a little bit off the top of the national hour, but big win last night. They're now 4-1-1 in their last six games. People are pretty excited about Heedle out there. Heedle? Yep. Yep. I'm going to screw that up.

I want to say Heedle so badly. It's spelled so weird. It is. It really is. It's the Brady Shea of names. But you know, I feel, I follow Bick Nazar from out there, and he does post-game stuff, and he's on SportsCent 650. The station to listen to this,

very on this right now if you're in Vancouver, and he sent out a poll today. He's like, I feel like this is, I know how this is gonna go, but I wanna test it. Rest of the season, more points. Phillip Heidel or Elias Pedersen, he put out that poll. And in 340 votes, Phillip Heidel is leading it by 53% of the vote.

They're dying for anything out there. It's commentary on multiple things. If you go through the Canucks time on ice leaders last night, the guy who played the most for them on forward was Heidel. Really? 20 minutes and 45 seconds. He played for them. I don't know what he was playing in with the Rangers, but it wasn't 21 minutes a night. No, I can tell you that. Meanwhile,

Miko Rantinen, who is playing 22 and a half minutes per night for the Avs is averaging under 20 for Carolina right now has two points to goal and assist in four games. Yeah. And what's what's Marty doing? What's Marty Natures doing? Surely more than that. Can figure that out for ya. Wow. Not last night.

No, nothing last night. They had a big goose egg. Yeah. But I think there's an element of ranting in that is still a little shell shocked from being traded. For sure. How could he not? He had supposed last night. I don't know. I don't know if it's gonna work there or not. still a little shell shocked from being traded. Okay. How could he not?

He had the most. So I don't know. I don't know if it's going to work there or not. I do think that Natchez has a much better chance to have his new numbers do this. You're with McKinnon. If you check the NHL edge IQ stats there. The one thing that's crystal clear is he can keep up.

Well, it's him, McDavid, McKinnon are top three in all speed things. Like it's he is fast, he's quick, he's got the water bug kind of acceleration. Imagine you're a D, how bad would your gaps be if you were defending McKinnon and H at the same time? I'd be on top of the goalie. You'd be sick of it by the end of the game. Yeah, okay, gap up. So in six games Colorado, he has five points. One goal for us this he's a dash four didn't help because he was thinking he was minus three end of the game. Yeah, okay, gap up. So in six games, Colorado, he has five points, one goal for us since he's a dash four,

didn't help because he was thinking he was minus three in his first game, so yeah. I think there's something to be said about him being a shell shock still with Ranin. His time on ice, so he's played 23 minutes a game with Colorado and 18 prior to that. Carolina just had no faith in Negash being a guy that they can count on down the stretch. Didn't use him.

So just to go back to Vancouver, because that's how we started the conversation, looking at that team, the Lees played last night in the Flames, who are a fantastic story, and I think they've been one of the great surprises in the league, great goaltending. But if that's the team the Canucks have to kind of

get by here, do you have a belief in this sort that's the team the Canucks have to kind of get by here, do you have a belief in this sort of quote unquote new look Canucks that they're going to kind of get hot here and make a run into the playoffs? Someone somewhere in this building today said, if that Canucks team isn't better than that Flames team, something's wrong. And listen, like you said, we got to Bad Flames. Got to Bad Flames night. It might have been me. Something's wrong. It might have been me. And listen, like you said. We got a bad Flames. Got the bad Flames night, I get it. I understand that.

Flames fans deserved a better show. Yes. They have looked much better than that most of the year. But yeah, I do think the Canucks are probably the better of the two. I do think that their D with Hughes is gonna look good. And it sounds like, you know, from some reports, I think Thomas Drantz said that.

They're gonna make another move They're still looking at yes That's not the fact that's not to say Calgary is not gonna be in a position to add as well, but The odds on favorite is that Vancouver will feel it a lot more to do something still then and Craig Connery. Yeah, Vancouver definitely has more pressure, but if you're looking at Hugh Sronick, Pedersen Meyers.

Which Pedersen? Yeah, Marcus. Elias Nils Pedersen, Forebort or whatever. You know, you had one other guy, Susie's there. And then add one more D. We have to get middle names, aren't we? Well, Nils is in there, Elias Nils-Pettersson. They would call them, I think they called, I saw DPD.

Do they have all middle names? I don't know. I presume so. Lester Madonna or something. I'm looking into it for you. I'm hoping for our friends in Vancouver that they figure it out because boy, they've gone to the ringer this year in terms of taking a beating and being in the spotlight. I'm hoping they figure it out credit though to our friends that are covering the Canucks been fun Yeah, you've had news to talk about and just win. Okay every week and it's like yeah, the goalie is good

They're pretty consistent. It's so funny You say that cuz somebody just texted in to our text line and said I guess the Jets don't have a team anymore fellas But he's just winnings not enough. Oh good. Have you seven in a row now? You yes seven games in a row drama. They're first in the league I know but president's trophy five seven straight wins you need drama now. They are in 55 games They're 38 14 and 3 79 points a plus 67 goal differential of one seven in a row they move and we talk and we don't mention It's like they're the park. They move the puck very good. Mm-hmm. They're great. Yep, Mark Shea they should be on team Canada. Yeah, Mark said we should be on team Canada

I'm gonna drop out here. Someone's gonna get he's gonna play he's gonna play for can you think so? I do Yeah, I'm almost certain you're gonna see Sanderson play for the US You're gonna see right for Canada if You think so? I do. I'm almost certain. You're gonna see Sanderson play for the US. You're gonna see Shifely for Canada. If you didn't get asked the first time and you're thinking you're having an unreal year and you already got the, you know, I don't know, you're going to Diamandus and Cabo, you're like, oh, they didn't want me to begin with,

so I'm gonna go play some golf. He's not like that though. Shifely loves hockey. I know. He's a hockey player though. No, I know loves hockey. I know he's a hockey player Yeah, right. So this is me saying Win a peg we totally love you and understand how great you are, but you're just nothing ever happened You all you do is win. You got good relationship The coach is good and new and like yeah, everyone works pretty hard

Is what he called them like horse crap pretty hard. The only time we talked about it recently is when he called them like horse crap. Oh I'll say something. I love Neil Pionk's slap shot. Yeah. Like the fact that he caught one last night and loaded it up. It's starting to be a bit of a signature for him. It is. After the couple Colorado OT winners. That's beautiful to watch. So I do hope that we add one more player. Jet quota. I got another jet thing. Are we I got I got another jet thing Are we good? I got another I got another jet thing here This is from Dmitri Filipovich that the Jets are now 27-5 and 1 in games Dylan Sandberg has been healthy for this year and they now have a

130 the 72 differential goal differential in those games. So there you go. Hey, another great jets that boys jets talk been great today. That was really fun. We should do that every day. It's just good. Checking into the jet. Still good. What do we got? Four games on tap tonight. Three, three. Yep. We have Boston on our network. It's going to be oilers. We got it. Yeah. We think Boston's going to get in still. No, I actually kind of do I know just limp in and beat the leafs All right Our thanks to Ken Hitchcock who joined us today Probably on the third hole now. Yeah, I would fire in

Also all of your questions in our Mckee mailbag as well. Enjoy your game tonight. We're back tomorrow on the real Kipper and born show.