Real Kyper & Bourne - Coaching the Postseason with Jay Woodcroft

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee go over the weekend's playoff action, including an uncharacteristic, low-scoring Oilers win and a dramatic Canucks victory with their third-string goalie in net. Former NHL head coach & Team Canada assistant coach Jay Woodcroft (4:01) shares how he came about his new role with the national team ahead of the 2024 World Championship in Prague. Then, he discusses the challenge of scoring 'playoff goals,' how to get underachieving stars going, the evolution of NHL coaching and this year's coaching carousel. Finally, they regroup with Sam for a deeper dive into the weekend's action.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 our national hour it's the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee we are live on sports net sports net 650 in vancouver sports net 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 in a few minutes we'll be be joined by Jay Woodcroft, former head coach for the Edmonton Oilers, and now part of Team Canada, and their coaching staff for the upcoming World Championship. You good, Sammy?

Sammy's favorite tournament of the year. I'll say my comments. Just loves a good World Championship. Oh, yeah. Give me Bedard and Crosby together, boys. We'll get a ton in with Jay, including what his thoughts are on his former team, Edmonton, with their impressive 1-0 score.

Did we ever envision Edmonton winning a game like that? No is the answer. That was not the way we saw it going with them. I saw an Oiler fan tweet, congrats to the Oilers for killing that 58-minute power play that the Kings appeared to have. Yeah, well, how many shots they end up with? 13, I think, yeah.

That, to me, showed me a lot. Like, it's just like, you know, if they can play, they can do the up-tempo, they can do that, like that, to me. That's a good sign. Scary team. Yeah, when you start finding different ways to win that don't include McDavid needing to carry everything with Dreisaitl,

that's a really good sign. It is funny. We just did the Leafs hour who have one goal on 17 power plays or something to that effect. I think McDavid has eight power play points. It's one for 14. It's the number. Yeah.

The other good sign, I think, for Vancouver fans is that it ain't over until it's over. Oh, yeah. That was one heck of a last few minutes to watch. What a push. What a game by Brock Besser. Quinn Hughes absolutely juked someone out of their jock strap it was nyquist there was actually like a the video of it he goes down the boards goes by him and gus nyquist is gone he's like out of the picture like he's not even back in the frame

not not to make leaf fans feel bad or sammy yeah okay but that's how you get a fan base to really get excited what happened last year with the Leafs when Ryan O'Reilly ties it late against Tampa they win an OT they have a moment they have the 4-1 comeback in Tampa where Kerfoot scores in overtime this is the whole thing being a fan if you get a moment like that per year it's worth being a fan oh it's the best it's actually boys this is really sad especially to our national audience a year ago this evening oh yeah john tavara slipped one by entre vasilevsky to give the leafs their first series win since 2004 what a moment for canucks fans who didn't think they'd have one this soon i don't think it was like you don't you think quinn hughes could disappear on

any other shift you know based on what a bad shoulder getting hammered and then to sammy's point uh what an amazing uh like less than a minute he's got the puck in his own zone he's absorbing everything he's sorting everything out and he makes just a brilliant play to start the whole thing i mean and how about the different visuals in that game where you have Pedersen getting bowled over in a goal celebration where he's kind of in the way and they body him down to the ground and they're all dejected. I watched the third period of that game. I was like, this is hopeless.

There's no way. And then bang, bang, that's it. Pedersen looked like he might quit at one point. He looked like he didn't want to be there. I know. Yeah, I just, you see all the videos of people reacting to those big goals at one point he was like i don't he looked like he didn't want to be there i know i'm like yeah i just you see all the videos of people reacting to those big goals and you know it's like the vancouver toronto rival is real but yeah gotta be happy for them yeah absolutely good on them

all right let's welcome him in jay woodcroft had former head coach of the edmonton oilers now jumping on a plane fairly soon jay how are you thanks Thanks for joining us. I know we haven't seen you around too often, so getting you on our show is a nice treat for us. How are you? Well, thanks for having me on, guys. It's a real pleasure.

Like you mentioned there, Nick, about to go overseas here pretty soon. So you caught me at a good time so just give us a bit of a background when did it all come together for you and uh you know just what are you looking forward to the most well uh probably happened about 10 days ago or so um i was approached by the general manager of our men's national team, Rick Nash, and then also talked to Andre Tournier, the head coach of the team. And they asked if I'd be interested in going over to Prague

and trying to win another gold medal. And, you know, I've only done this one other time before in 2015. We had an excellent group that was fortunate to win the gold medal that year. Ironically, it was in Prague. So when I was presented with that opportunity and listening to Rick Nash and Andre Tournier, you know, I accepted it and I'm really excited about it.

Jay, you've been coaching at the you know and well the pro level for some 20 years now and this was probably your first time having a stretch of hockey where you weren't on a bench how was it how was your experience this year and how eager are you to get back at it here well you know you're exactly right. I got some great advice from some mentors around the league that I've worked with and some that I didn't work with. And they, you know, they said, you've been doing this for 20 years straight, going 100 miles an hour. It's OK to take a deep breath and spend some quality family time. And that's something that I really dug into. I got a fantastic wife, two great kids, spent a lot of time,

you know, but right around the month of January when the calendar flipped, you know, I was eager to flex some hockey muscles and, you know, just eager to be around the game a little bit more and um i spent the month of february uh over in europe and uh was able to be around two quality organizations in two different countries um it was welcomed in by two different coaching staffs at different points of their year um and you know it just met some really good people um you know, some really good hockey people. Picked up a few things here and there. And, you know, I'm going to certainly bring some of it in to my next opportunity, wherever and whenever that might be. We're talking to Jay Woodcroft, former head coach of the Edmonton Oilers, now part of Team Canada's coaching staff for the upcoming World Hockey Championships.

So just touching on that experience jay like correct me if i'm wrong but you were behind a coaching bench uh coaching stevie eiserman brendan shanahan and you're in your mid 40s here like is good time to reflect on on the experience that you've had and it's it's not like you're 65 here you know it's it's it's quite remarkable a guy your age right now who still in my opinion is would be one of the younger guys to go behind a bench again but thinking about what you've experienced up until this point yeah what a fortunate uh person i i've um i am because i i've had had not only raised by great parents and in a great family, you know, but also, you know, when I started my coaching career, I worked for three proud

organizations in the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose Sharks and Edmonton Oilers. And, you know, I had the opportunity to work under some really good coaches. I've built a lot of really good relationships over those 20 years. And, you know, like you said, I would consider myself a young 47, but to have the experiences that I've had and been behind the bench as long as I've been and worked with the quality of people and the quality of players that I've been able to work with I consider myself very fortunate and like I said I'm looking forward to bringing that with me here as the Canadian men's national team

heads over to Prague but certainly into my next opportunity as well so with all your experience I'd love to get your take on um the difference in regular season and playoffs just watching some great offensive teams vancouver canucks uh you know could produce all year long i think they had 12 shots in their last win the oilers had 13 and a one nothing win the other day you know and here in toronto you know they just can't get to the net and score a goal. So, you know, what is that fundamental difference? Is it simply better teams, different styles? What do you chalk it up to? Well, I think when Game 83 gets played,

there's a certain type of hockey that you start seeing. And certainly time and space is at a premium. The ability to get pucks through to the net is at a premium. And I think, you know, it's a fabulous playoffs this year. It's very exciting. You know, for me, I think the key is trying to find ways to win games. And that's the most important thing. And finding different ways to win hockey. And that's the most important thing. Finding different ways to win hockey games,

regardless of the amount of shots on net. And I think that's what you use an 82-game schedule to do. It's to set yourself up to find ways to build a game when everything might not be going to your liking. And for me, like I said, I've been really impressed with the quality of play in this year's playoffs. Pretty good example, 1-0, your former team, the Edmonton Oilers. What have you seen out of them down the stretch

and early in these playoffs? Well, I haven't watched much of the Edmonton Oilers since I was let go there in November. It was a choice I made that, you know, I spent more time studying the league and studying trends that are occurring during the league. For me, I've spent a lot of time during this playoffs watching the Eastern Conference. And like I said, I've been very impressed specifically with the competition level in some of these series how hard these teams are playing the physicality and not just the fisticuff physicality but the the willingness to take a hit to make a play the willingness to get

to hard areas on the ice the willingness of certain uh to play on the inside it's quite evident evident to me um to see how how the teams that are going to move on the reason why they're moving on so well how do you feel about the best way to get underachieving stars going at times we we talked about john cooper was saying to his guys when they fell down the series you know if you don't think we can get it done don't show up sheldon keep taking a different tact and saying you know i actually like our game and trust that our guys are going to be okay what are your thoughts and sort of the best way to handle these things well i think there's different approaches uh the big thing for me would be to try and take the pressure off that individual player, off the team in general.

I think for teams that have their back up against the wall, those teams, I think, just need to focus on trying to win one game. I know that in certain sticky circumstances in Edmonton over the last few playoff runs, and we were fortunate to play a lot of playoff games over the last few playoff runs, and we were fortunate to play a lot of playoff games over the last two playoff runs. In sticky circumstances, we reminded our players that we had to take care of the day's business,

take care of what was immediately in front of us. And I think when you narrow the focus of a player or a team, it allows you to get the best out of them. And so for me, if I had any advice to those teams with their back up against the wall, so to speak, it would be to focus just on winning one game. Hey, Jay, when we see how tight checking it is and some stars can overcome it,

some have a more difficult time, but how important is it to have a different layer coming from the back end and last last night we saw the very best in the world and kale mccarr and just that support group and the the depth that he allows the forwards but like how important is is that to have a guy like that to go deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Very important. You know, I know in my first playoff run here in Edmonton, we got to the conference final, and I saw firsthand just how effective Kael McCarr is.

What a hockey player. He's a one-man breakout. And certainly, I think when you activate defensemen in all three zones, you get them up and involved in the play. It makes you that much more of a difficult team to defend. But I think in general, today's game is about being connected, five men, and activating five people. To me, they're hockey players and not know tethered by being called a defenseman

and you can see certain teams that have those weapons um are having some success here in this playoff playoff run um the other thing i would say is that you know at this time of year the teams that are having success are are the ones that are fighting for space out there because space is at such a premium the teams that fight for space instead of looking for space those are the ones that i think you see move on um you know we were talking earlier about game 83 to me when the playoffs begin what what happens in the league is that you've chopped off 16 teams you've narrowed uh how good the league is and it got better on that day well pretty soon the first round of the playoffs is going to be over and the league is going to get better and

that's what happens as you you know march your way uh into a Stanley Cup final. And I think the teams that have success, like I said, are the ones that fight for space, not just look for space. So, Jay, you started off as a video coach, I believe, which is a very noble profession, I'm told, in 2005. And I imagine the evolution and how games are covered and prepared for has changed drastically over time you know tell us about what you've seen in the different ways that you prepare for an opponent in a playoff series than you were able to then well i'll tell you what um you know at that time i began right after the

full season lockout and uh there was a huge change in the technology at that time most teams before I began working most teams only have one computer for an entire coaching staff or a pinnacle machine it was called and that's how games were cut up and there was a lot of VHS and then eventually it went to DVD but when I started to to work, we were one of the first teams to adopt a computer for each coach on the staff. And I can tell you this. You're right. It is a noble profession. Those are some of the most uns the door in an entry-level

position, learn from the quality of coaches that I was learning from. Again, I am going to use the word fortunate. I was very fortunate. And I think that understanding of how technology works and how information is shared on a cohesive and coherent coaching staff. That helped me as I moved up the ladder and became, you know, a third assistant and then a second assistant, then a lead assistant, and eventually my own head coach. I think the better you understand that, the faster you're able to work and you eliminate a lot of the hiccups that some teams or some staffs have with technology by having that understanding. So Jay, back then it was strictly the eye test, right? The optics of what

you saw on video. But today you add to that the analytics, what the numbers are telling you. So as a coach today, how do you decipher what is more important here, the eye test or the numbers or what your gut is telling you? Well, I think all of those are important. And I think, you know, the new in vogue term is analytics and stuff like that. And I was fortunate to work with some of those teams that are so so-called analytic darlings the ones that are held up as some of the best teams ever and you know they did this and they did that and i can tell you at the time we didn't talk a lot about the term analytics we just talked

about it as doing our work we put a lot of focus on the tactics that led to those numbers, not the numbers in them of themselves. That said, I'm up to date with the times. I spend a lot of time thinking about ways to improve. I think analytics are part of today's game. I don't think they're the only part of today's game. I think there has to be room for things that you can't measure. You know, for example, Nick, when you played, if someone gave you a shot off a faceoff, how do you respond to that?

That doesn't show up in a number analytically, but that has an effect in the way the game is played. I do believe there's room for things that you can't measure but i think today's coaches uh you're dealing with a lot of different types of information video uh eye test analytics uh human intelligence uh there's lots of things that you have to deal with. I think the best ones are ones that can work through that puzzle and put the pieces together. And I know that I get a lot of really good information from analytics. I'm not afraid of them. In fact, you know, I look forward to seeing some of the information come my way. But it's not the only thing behind the decisions I

make. So with all those things you can kind of work through them right it's a little pc analytics and you watch a video and you talk about your systems when you're talking about goaltending as a head coach you just kind of go i don't i don't know well you know like you just like hand it off to some other guy on the staff and hope he knows what he's doing a little bit is there a bit of helplessness that comes with relying so heavily on a guy that doesn't really fall under your purview yeah yeah certainly um you know that's a that's you know they should have their own category for sure and um you know most most staffs have great goaltending coaches and a goaltending department that deals with with that type of thing but um yeah i know for me as a head coach i kind of deferred on that

uh with the goalie department and some of uh you know what was going on down there so uh have you had a chance to see the roster yet in terms of uh your your team canada who you looking forward to working with the most here? Well, you know, this past week, I spent the last few days in Arizona as a staff. It was great. It was a great get together. Andre Tournier had everybody on the coaching staff, a couple members of the Hockey Canada offices,

and Kyle Dubas as well was there. He's part of the management staff for the team as well. And we spent some time talking about the way we wanted to play. We went over the roster. We went over the minutiae details that go with, you know, a training camp and then the tournament itself. And I think it was a really good experience because what it did, it sets us up to hit the ground running when we land in Europe. There's no getting to know you phase.

I thought it was really well done. And, you know, certainly we talked about the roster. I think as what happens most years in preparation for the world championships, when playoff series ends, sometimes piecemeal players get added to the roster and whatnot. So I don't think it's a fully formed team just yet. I would reserve my opinion until we have a little bit of more clarity on exactly who will be there.

But I know some of the names that were bandied about are really exciting. And I know that all of the people involved are looking forward to putting a great effort in so that we can represent our country proudly. Well, we wish you the best of luck. Before I let you go, I just want to note there was another firing today in the NHL in Seattle. A head coaching spot opened up. Might be one in New Jersey.

What do you prefer? You want the West Coast? You want the East Coast? We're a powerful show here, Jay. We can get you anywhere you want to go. People listen to this show. Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, guys. What a crazy business we're in, though, isn't it?

Yeah. I was reading something, 16, 17 coaches in the last year or so. But, I mean, we're all big boys. We know what we sign up for. And it's just part of what we do. So, certainly for me, I'm anxious to have good conversations with people that look to talk to me. But right now, my focus and concentration is on helping our country win a gold medal over a prop. And good luck to you for that, Jay.

We so appreciate your time and wish you all the best. OK. Thanks, guys. Have a great show. Thanks, Jay. Appreciate it. Jay Woodcroft. Yeah, quite remarkable for him to be in the business that long

and barely 47 years of age. Yeah, 05 was his first year at Detroit. He was a video coach. Had a ton of time with San Jose, Edmonton, Bakersfield, Edmonton as a head coach. Oh, yeah. Joe Thornton behind the bench. I mean, great San Jose Sharks teams.

Like, he's seen a lot for a guy who's just 47 years old. Did you catch what he just said? I mean, I listened. The 16 or 17 coaches change in the last year, year and change. 10 just this season. Like, correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't another sport that comes close to that many coaching changes over a little over a year.

That's crazy to me. It is nuts. Soccer. Is that that frequent in soccer? Oh yeah. Really? Oh yeah. Guys lose their jobs every week in soccer.

Oh yeah. Sheldon Keith, four guys have been coaching longer than Sheldon. But never in the NHL like this ever. I can't remember a year like this. Not close. every week in soccer. Oh, yeah. Sheldon Keefe, four guys have been coaching longer than Sheldon. I can't remember a year like this. Not close have we ever seen anything like that. We've talked about it

a million times on the show. Can't trade anybody because there's a cap. Yeah. It's like, well, I guess we're firing the coach. Cooper, Mike Sullivan, Jared Bednar,

Rod Brindamore, and Sheldon Keefe are the longest tenured coaches. And Sheldon Keefe was hired four years ago. Hmm. You know, it's pretty crazy. A loss tomorrow night and there'll be another one.

Four and a half. Right? There'll be another opening. I think quite likely. Although Sheldon hasn't started his extension yet. Jay should have a fun time working with Marner at the World Championship. Who else hasn't started their extension yet that got fired? Four other. Lindy.

Lindy Ruff. Yeah, Haxtall today. Haxtall. Kings. McClellan. McClellan. And Granato. Yeah, none of them have started their next contract.

And Sutter just got fired. You're right, Sammy. That's just an owner just going, I got to do something. Well something well yeah and to their credit they care enough to pay millions of dollars to someone to not coach in hopes of winning a few more games to stay home to stay home unless these guys get new jobs in which case someone takes that contract off their hands which they like a lot i'm told actually you know what's funniest about the longest tenured coaches? This is remarkable. After Sheldon Keith, the sixth longest tenured is Martin St. Louis.

No, it's not. Yes, it is three years fewer time. Two and a half years fewer time than Sheldon, according to this. Yes, that's correct. Yeah, Bruce Cassidy was just after him. Torch was just after him. Torch just after him. Yeah. So, Martin St. Louis, only five guys been coaching longer with their team.

That is unbelievable. That's just, again, goofy. You don't have time to set a culture, do you? No. Two minutes. Next. Game time? Game time.

Yeah. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, I was looking at the series,

the series scores here. I just lost it. If you want to bet, here's... Okay, sorry. Hold on. Hold on. Let's just look at the games tonight i lost what i had follow the arrows sammy it's a little bit complicated i lost what i had so we'll just go to the games for tonight uh when i first looked at this the tampa bay lightning were plus 155 and

they've gone all the way up to plus 165 tonight vegas and bet 365 is thinking that tonight is the night that the florida Panthers advance minus 200, the Florida Panthers on home runs tonight. Yeah, that's, I would say of all the playoff odds we've heard, that might be the wrongest. So go ahead and give Tampa click there.

And now I've picked back up what I wanted to look at the, when will series end bets? So here we've been talking about toronto for the full first hour and i'll bring it back into the national hour here in the betting segment they have game five as a minus 165 favorite finish at the least so you get basically basically betting on the bruins yeah game six is plus 375 and then game seven is plus 300 so vegas thinks bet365 thinks that if the leafs happen to find a way to win in boston potentially without austin matthews that they will win game six and get it to game seven so that's what they're leaning so you're going to protect your

emotional uh status by betting for the bruins right sammy's already been no i did it once i'm not gonna do it again no i just i like if they there. No, I did it once. I'm not going to do it again. No. If they surprise me, great. I really, I'm not heartbroken enough to do it. I have heard the running kind of funny jokes about the Leafs that like, just losing on Tuesday night would not be nearly painful enough for Leafs fans. So the hockey gods have to build the hope back

before they pull the rug out. So I could see the Leafs winning a game or two. Just to check in on the Stanley Cup favorites to this point, the Edmonton Oilers are 4-1 right now as the favorite. The Carolina Hurricanes are plus 450. Florida's plus 550. And to me,

if you want to get some really good value on a team that's already into the second round, the New York Rangers are 6-1. Loved how they looked in that first one. They go up 2-0. Plus, they're 10-1. 10-1. Really good value there one. They go up 2-0. They're 10-1. Really good value there. They did look... I bet you that game shook them a little bit.

I thought Dallas looked excellent in that game. They're up 3-0. They're the favorites. Yeah, absolutely. Anyways, 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.

All right, let's take a quick break because we got a ton of sound to come from Edmonton, Vancouver. We got to talk about Winnipeg and what's going on. We mentioned earlier in our Leaf Edition hour of Kale McCarr, but it still didn't do justice on how good how good this guy is and then we're gonna pick up a little bit more on if tampa bay loses what's john cooper's future sound all right sammy what are you laughing at what are you trying to get me all fired up over here you're just gonna have to stick around all right yep all right more real kipper and born

after these words in-depth blue jays coverage with an analytical twist jay's talk plus with blake murphy be sure to subscribe and download jay's talk on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts that caprioles justin bourne sammy mckee canucks win using their third different goalie. Yeah. Three goalies, three wins. And they did it before, too. It's only been done like twice, I think. Yeah, I have it. Twice by Vancouver, right?

Hold on, let me pull it up here quickly. I have it. Cloutier? Yeah, Cloutier was involved. I'm sorry, I'm just scrolling down here. Alex Auld? I'm looking here. I can't find it.

But yeah, one of them was one of them was vancouver and then i heard chicago with tony esposito so you knew it a couple other guys i i did read that yeah but very very very uncommon to say the least no put that in your game time sammy and give me odds yeah yeah like get the odds getting a hole in one twice yes uh spheal loves is the seventh goalie in canuck canuck history can you give me what i said did i say she loves no okay okay he's the seventh goalie in canuck history to get a win in their first down the cup playoff start so i think he had two nhl games maybe nine maybe at nine one of the two numbers fine let's call nine. I love this quote, my time to shine. Is that what he said? Yeah.

Well, and listen, he's not afraid to show a little flair on a couple of the catches. He may have given a little hulkier to the crowd on the winner. You look calm. You look fine for me. If you're putting in a kid, you want that. Yeah. Like, you don't want, I'm scared. You want, it's my time.

No, and you do. And you also, there's a thing about young people in golf, and you hear it sometimes too, where it's like, I think you say maybe not smart enough, but it's maybe not experienced enough to recognize the gravity of the moment. You're young. You're just like, what are you going to lose? Too dumb to know?

Yeah, that's kind of what I'm saying. Yeah, I'll say it. Okay. All right, let's get Rick Tockett's thoughts on Brock Besser's tying goal. All right. Get Rick Tockett's thoughts on Brock Besser's tying goal. All right. Yeah, that's a pedigree of a 40s. You know, he scored 40 goals, something plus goals this year.

I've seen it happen all year. You know, a goal scorer knows, you know, that him, the passer, they know the right time to shoot it. Or, you know, sometimes somebody will over, you know sometimes somebody will just jam it and jam it. You see that goal? He didn't jam it. He waited, brought it back. I don't know how many seconds were left, but that's best, right? He's got a really good hockey IQ to score goals.

His timing is really, really good. Six seconds. Yeah, six. Yeah. Gus Nyquist still not recovered, by the way. He's still on the ice after his broken ankles from Quinn Hughes on that play it's such a crazy game that you can think of Brock Besser just a year and a half ago as a an anchor contract and can't trade him get your agent to call

team see if you can make your own trade. And now he's just... Nobody wants that distressed asset. As valuable as anything out there right now. The play he makes, like he said, Toc said, to not just like... He gets it behind the net, takes a second, brings it out, jams it home. It's good patience.

It's awesome. It is the ability, though. And sometimes these guys are not like great skaters he's not a great skater no but tyler toffoli is another one to me where it's when you know where to be at the right place at the right time and then you're able once you have the puck once you're able to kind of slow the game down in your mind so you there, there's some guys, it's just like, it's a grenade blowing up because they cannot calm themselves down and really have a feel for space and timing. Brock Besser,

like ice in his veins to pull it back off the goal line, three feet off the goal line. He's got a great release in general when he has time but you're right to have the sense for you know where to be and that's the biggest thing is some guys it finds them and it's like boy that guy gets a lot of lucky it just comes to him and it's like oh wait you know over a career you start to figure out that that guy's just kind of knows where to be you know this canucks team they get a huge game at the right time from elias lindholm and you can't help but think that this team they get a huge game at the right time from Elias Lindholm and you can't help but think that this team they showed belief in this team early with the trade to get Lindholm yeah

you know we do our Leafs piece and you don't get that deal where the GM says I really believe in this team that was uh Bertuzzi was supposed to be Lindholm, right? Like you can have a mediocre regular season. All is forgiven. Just get it hot in the right place at the right time. Make a big play. Sure. And that's a different story than the team in season going, we're going good.

We believe in this team. And that, to me, Lindholm is that boost. And maybe you didn't love how it went for him in Vancouver, but he gets you a playoff win. You probably don't win the game without him. And that could be enough to win the series. Not 2-2, it's 3-1. You're going home.

All of a sudden, it feels like you're going to get a series win out of that trade. Massive swing. I liked what happened there. You can't. There are few to have a two-goal comeback in the last, what, two minutes to not have the series go 2-2 going home, to have it go home 3-1. Like, that is such a massive swing.

And, boys, I mean, we're going to get to Edmonton here in a second, but we've got a Canadian collision course here between the Canucks and Edmonton Oilers. I mean, like, that's as good as it gets. That'd be awesome. Canucks, 71 shots on goal versus the Predators are the fewest in NHL history through the first four games of an opening round playoff series.

And they're up 3-1. Pretty wild. Pretty wild this sport. Crazy game. Stupid sport. Crazy game. Okay, speaking of speaking of goaltending, Skinner with his first Stanley Cup playoff shutout.

Let's go to defenseman Eckholm on what he thinks of Skinner. Obviously early on it was back and forth, but as soon as he gripped onto it and kind of realized, okay, I'm the guy, he's just been running with it all year. He's been great for us. I think he's showing it game in and game out. And as any goaltender, they're going to have an off night, but I think his biggest strength is the way he rebounds after those nights. And that's, in my opinion, a sign of a really, really good goaltender. You can't always control 82 games and playoffs and be on top of your game every night, but you can't always control 82 games and playoffs and be on the top of your game every

night but you can always control how you rebound and how you um respond to those games and i think that's the strength of this see to me i love i love listening to a guy with a real thoughtful answer he's he he doesn't mail it in right he's He's giving you... The commentary or the goalie? No, the commentary on the goalie, right? Yeah. And it's important that he articulates the way he feels because somehow, someway, it's reassuring for either the fan base, the media,

and more importantly, Skinner. Those words go back to Skinner. And it just, Skinner. Those words go back to Skinner. And it just, again, reinforces a team. Eckholm is a stud. He's a beast. But he reminds me of, like, Kevin Lowe was that guy for us, like what I heard from Eckholm. And, like, of course, it's McDavid's team and Drysaddle's team,

like it was Mark Messier's team and brian leach but when an ekholm talked or kevin lowe talked back then it had a rippling effect as much as the big boys did or even more well and you know i think this is reflected in the way i voted for one of my awards this year with ekholm who i really like but I I don't think that people know how much more value you get than just the individual player when they make other people better and what he's done for Bouchard this year has made Bouchard allowed Bouchard to take a step that I don't know that he would take if he spends the year with Cody Ceci or someone else no disrespect to anyone just to pick a random name but like I don't think he's able to become the fully realized version of

himself that he was this year Bouchard and now doing the same for Skinner and trying to you know just to pick a random name, but I don't think he's able to become the fully realized version of himself that he was this year, Bouchard, and now doing the same for Skinner and trying to elevate him. That, to me, is like one guy is not just the value of one guy. It's that plus the value he gets more out of the other guys.

Lowe has a few cups, doesn't he? Sorry? Lowe has a few cups? Yeah. Yeah, Lowe's won a couple. How many? Six? Six Stanley Cups. yeah yeah those one a couple um how many six six stanley cups i think uh you know kevin or

ken holland kind of takes his lumps a little bit over the years for some you know decisions including you know the jack campbell contract or a couple other things i think he absolutely stole the ekholm i don't remember what the deal was What went the other way? I don't know This to me was the defenseman That probably six other teams Should have Paid a higher price for

It was Reed Schaefer Tyson Berry And a first round pick and a fourth round pick All day long And that First round pick was uh last year tanner molden mullendick yeah i'm not a and who else he had a good year in uh saskatoon okay good yep he's he's heart and soul guy yeah he is for sure he's a big part of it you know

last night it is uh does it change your feeling about the Oilers Stanley Cup chances? Seeing them kind of, you know, get outshot, but still hang on, get some goaltending? Yeah, I think, listen, if you can find different ways to win a few more games like that, how do you not like their chances? But I. If a game where Evander Kane looks good, if a game where Goley looks good.

We'll see how that blue line still holds up in the big picture for me. I do think the Kings are not that good. And Skinner too, right? If Skinner can hold his own. Yeah, you got to think that they've got a decent shot of a Stanley Cup final.

Yeah, there's definitely some. The Kings ain't great not great you gotta get you gotta you're gonna be dallas or vegas right to get there i mean colorado's pretty good right now yeah they're the they're humming along are you rating off the jets right now yes oh really yeah i mean they're down three one yeah if i wrote the least kind of the last three straight first rounds have seen a team come back from down three one really yeah oh yeah very exciting it's uh doable well they're they're running out of time but uh let's see what uh rick bonus has to say head coach of the winnipeg jets on facing elimination the problems are self-inflicted

you want to take penalties. You want to play a three-quarter ice game. You're playing right into their hands. So our issues are self-inflicted. You saw us play the right way for 10 minutes in the second half of that first period. And then you play it and then, you know, you take four penalties. You turn the puck over. That's exactly how they want to play play so the issues are self-inflicted is this just like no answer for macar i mean that goal is tough to not watch on repeat just the way he's able to cut through the neutral zone yeah he makes a big difference in that i would say that's a pretty pivotal point there for the Jets to contend with.

But the biggest thing is this Jets team is supposed to be, they're supposed to be what the Boston Bruins have been so far in playoffs. Pack it in, defend, great depth all the way through, and get great goaltending. And, you know, Hellebuck hasn't given them great goaltending yet. You can't, they were never going to win if he wasn't going to give them great goaltending. He's no Swayman right now. now no and you just need him to be so it's fingers crossed and kill my car's got eight points

in four games he's just dominating yeah again he every time he plays half the game right it's like playoff monster he won the con smite didn't he two years ago was it him or mckinnon i can't remember but it was one of those two you just can't you get no reprieve from him. When you watch those games, he's undeniable. He has the puck the whole time he's on the ice. Can you make a goalie change? He did win it. Can you go to Bressois? No.

I mean, Bressois has been good. Well, they put him in in the game, but they can't. No, I'm talking about starting. I just, I don't know. Can you? I don't know. I think he was good. but you're too heavily built around one plan right which is you gotta start by getting vesna caliber goaltending and i don't

think but you're not gonna get it from i don't know i think that's a decision it's gonna get there eight years yeah you gotta be them the loyalty. They go out. Winnipeg goes out with Hellebuck giving up another three or four goals. This is going to be a long summer for him. But to Sammy's point, you just signed an eight-year contract there. I know. You have a longer summer if you put him on the bench to watch, I think. I don't know if you know the numbers, what they actually look like. Go ahead with them.

Four games. 522, 870. No, it's not good. Probably not going to get it done. Yeah, you got to go down with the ship. Go down with the ship. Okay, no real surprises. New York Rangers sweeping Washington. I saw OV. Did he have a shot on goal not in the last game no

not in the first game either zero points they have one in the series he had a couple shots four or five total um not that we expected washington like we needed daryl setters pretty much eight days eight days i saw someone tweet that the Detroit Red Wings, between playoffs and regular season, they won 41 games and the Capitals won 40 total. You know? Listen, just the mere fact that they got into the playoffs was an accomplishment.

That team, that roster, their inability to score all season long, and Lindgren was unbelievable. They got to the deadline, and they traded, they got rid of Kuznetsov and Edmondson and Mantha. They traded Mantha. You know, like, they didn't try to make playoffs.

They lost the least in the way home, and then... That's my favorite drop. It's a very good one. One more time. There's just so many people who are on me and you a little bit about, you know, when I said the Caps weren't good and people were like, yeah, what do you have to say now? They made the playoffs. I'm like,

still a bad team. Still suck. Still a bad team. We suck. Alright, let's get a comment out of head coach of the New York Rangers, Peter Laviolette. It seemed like we had six days going into this first playoff game, and it was really good for our group. We were able to get some rest right off the bat

because the schedule was every other day for a month, and it gave plenty of time to prepare, and then it gave time to actually work on things on the ice. And so there's a real value in that where, you know, you can start to look at both opponents until you find out which one you're actually going to play. And so there's some value there. And I do think the rest is important.

And then, you know, series that are not concluded yet that could can possibly continue to go on. There might be value there, but there's, you know but there's you know there's awful there's probably a lot of um there's probably a lot of fact and proof behind the fact that a team that's gone seven and has to walk right out of a game seven overtime win and walk into the next series they're right on point with their game too i mean they're gonna get a decent little break here for the rangers and i like the way they look. That helps them.

The quick question on the Capitals, though, what are they going to do here? Well, they got decent 24-year-olds. There's some stuff they can work with. Yeah, they're not stars, but they're – McMichael. McMichael. Lapierre scored a nice goal. Not to be this guy, but, like, everyone's got them.

Well. Maybe not those. You know what we're going to do? They're not those. You know what we're going to do? They're missing the stars. You know what we're going to do? What? We're going to stand around and watch Ovi shamelessly blast them from the top of the circle. Yes, correct.

That's what we're going to watch. What's he need, 47? No, I think less. Yeah, it's like under 45. 32? No. 35? Oh, he needs.

What's he need? I think it's, yeah. It's got to be 40. He's not getting, whatever the number is, it ain't happening next year. You you don't think so god he he got red hot to get to 30 this year red hot but he's gonna be better than the in a very short period of time he's got 853 what's the record 94 okay no math on this show i think he's 39 short that's scary He's going to be trying to shoot everything in sight So that's what they And then he gets that and he retires

Then you start Well he actually doesn't retire he goes and plays in Russia What would our show be without a John Cooper clip For tonight's game Deeper this series goes Everything amps up So We had the benefit of A lot of things happening early in the game,

and our crowd is right into it, and I would anticipate the same atmosphere here tonight. People get jacked up, and these crowds are into it, so it's a ton of fun to be a part of it. But players can feed off the emotion as well, whether you're the home or the away team. It's just different ways to feed off the crowd. And so, you know, as the stakes get higher, the emotions will get higher.

And so, yeah, I expect nothing different tonight. I'm not here to start anything. Start it. Fire it up. i'm not here to start anything but start it uh there's there's some people wondering if tampa loses is this john cooper's last game and that's not to suggest are those people me that's no it's not you okay that's not to suggest that he's getting fired but john cooper much like sullivan and pittsburgh they're in a position now to reassess. Contracts or no contracts aside, those two guys are different from anyone else in the league

where they get to go. Listen. Yeah, they get to listen. They get to mutually discuss with their team. What are we doing? Where are we going? You know, do I want to be a part of this? Do I not?

If not, maybe there's something else out there you know you wonder how that would work right because if you think he's one of the best coaches in the league and you've got him under contract like i know that paul maurice basically just said i don't want to be here anymore or you know i know that's a much more complicated explanation than that but he left that's a show out there. Paul left because he just knew it was time. It was just time for him and it was time for Winnipeg. But if John feels like it's time for him with Tampa Bay

and I'm Tampa Bay, I'm like wrong. It is in time. But if he feels like it's worn out, it would be We do not agree. You're also factoring in you get your future Hall of Famers. They're in the discussion, too. Maybe a different voice here.

Maybe, how do you guys think? You're going to let him go coach the Leafs and bring your secrets? New Jersey. There'll be a few choices for John Cooper. Good coach. All right. What an offseason. But let's stay with the playoffs for a while.

What a show, boys. What a show. Everything is happening. We're back again tomorrow to do it all over again. Enjoy your games tonight. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Give us your thoughts on JB and Sammy.

I'm excluded from that. That'll help with our rating. Do that. All right. We're back tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Thanks for joining us, everybody. We'll be you next time.