Real Kyper & Bourne - Cody Hodgson's Comeback

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start the second hour with Milwaukee Admirals forward Cody Hodgson (2:25). He discusses his return to pro hockey after his diagnosis of a rare muscle condition, why he decided to come back to the game and what it was like to be back after 8 years away. Later, they regroup with Sam McKee for NHL news and notes - takeaways from Gary Bettman's presser in Winnipeg, Crosby keeping the Penguins relevant and the Canucks' skid continues.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.

welcome back into the real kipper and born show this is our national edition of our show we are live on sports net and sports net 650 in vancouver sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee relatively quiet night in the national hockeyockey League tonight. Oilers and the Blues and the Rangers and the Blue Jackets. And for some reason, I think more of the attention might be off Connor McDavid and company tonight. Maybe more on a six-round draft pick

who just got called up about a week ago, JB. Matt Rempe played four NHl games i believe he has fought three and a half times the the one time he left someone so bloodied with a hit that no one really wanted to fight him it's been a whirlwind for him coming out of the gates the last guy he fought was matthew oliv, who punched his eye just about closed. I don't know if you've seen a pitcher, Rempe, since, but he's struggling a bit. We talked with Steve Valliquette in the last hour, covers the Rangers, about Rempe and his thoughts on his fighting.

They play this team again. Like, is he going to fight this guy again? The guy who just punched him in, it's a little much, Kip. For those of you just joining our show uh here at the top of the hour uh we did have steve alicat on earlier and if you get a chance download that and and have a listen because usually we talk to valley and it's around the the numbers of the goalies and you know the, the overall view of what he sees outside the crease. But he talked about fighting and the closeness that he's had with teammates who some have lost their lives.

Steve Monador and Steve Page. Steve Monador, yeah. And it's really compelling stuff. Give it a listen. We do have another guest, though, before we have time to finish that convo. So I'm going to let you tee it up. All right.

Our next guest is a guy who I want to take a little credit for. Agent Kipper? Not so much. Line mate Kipper? Agent Kipper, line mate Kipper. Thursday morning, Eric Lindros skates. You know, we formed a line with myself myself Big E and and our next guest uh Cody Hodgson and uh I think that's where the the seed was planted right correct me if I'm wrong let's

welcome in Cody Hodgson from the Milwaukee Admirals who went eight years between professional hockey goals Cody thanks for joining us man how are How are you? You look great. You look better than me. I can tell you. Oh, I feel great. No, it's nice to be playing again. And no, not that I didn't, you know, consider playing with you also playing, but in a professional manner. If you're playing with Kip, it is not in a professional manner. In all seriousness, how good was our line? I think we were great. You know, you could see why we played. It was like, we're reminiscent of the old days playing,

but no, we had some good chemistry out there. So go ahead. No, no, you go. So Cody, you had a condition that was associated with some medication you had been taking at the time. For those people who aren't familiar with your story, could you give us the background of how you went from stopping playing in 2016 to being back and, by the way, scoring three times in five games in the American League already?

Well, yeah, it's a bit of a crazy story, to be honest. But, yeah, I was diagnosed in 2016 with a rare muscle condition called malignant hypothermia. I was having some severe issues. Most people know it as an allergy to anesthesia where your body gets super hot and things just basically start shutting down. Everything seizes up and you trigger this reaction that is fatal. The name malignant means can kill you and then hypothermia just means your temperature rises too high. So that's what I dealt with while I was playing and i was told once i once i was diagnosed

100 with it i did the genetic testing first just to try to confirm it wasn't exactly conclusive so i did a muscle biopsy they take a big chunk of your muscle and they test it through a bunch of um yeah they put through a bunch of tests and then they showed that i had it full for sure so they said avoid contact sports avoid prolonged physical activity avoid going from hot to cold or cold to hot avoid uh you know high stress environment basically a job description and they said if you don't do that you could trigger this thing it could kill you so um you know i was having some heart arrhythmia stuff i was having uh you know my lungs were shutting down i was urinating blood i had a whole bunch of issues while i was playing that

had to go to the hospital a couple times for just in the emergency room um and it really was scary so uh after the the testing i you know took about four and a half years off i didn't touch my gear um and then some alumni guys in nashville while i was living there i was working for the predators they they knew i couldn't play hockey and they still check off on me every you know a couple weeks you're just a really good organization really good people and so i decided to stay in n in Nashville and oversee the youth development. I did that for about seven years and just played basically hockey once a week. And then I moved home.

My brother just had a kid and my other sister was pregnant. So I wanted to be an uncle, moved back to Toronto, started skating a little bit in the summer. And yeah, it kind of took off from there once I started feeling healthy. Can I ask you that stretch of retiring to the point where you went back? Did you ever really have closure? Is this why you're coming back? Is it because you never felt right about the time that you did retire the first time?

Yeah, I always wanted to play. You know, I played, you know, six years, but I always felt like, you know, a lot of my buddies are still playing and it's still, you know, it's the best life. You want to be out there and competing. And I knew I didn't have a chance. I knew, you know, while I was, you know,

having these issues and even, you know, in the previous times, if I skated hard, if I was, you know, did a hard workout, I knew my body would seize up. It would trigger and I wouldn't be able to do anything for a day or two and have to take these drugs that make you kind of loopy, and you can't really play on them.

So, yeah, it was tough. Those four or five years were really tough. I literally didn't touch my hockey gear, like my professional stuff, for a long time. And then J.P. Dumont said, if you want to come back out and play, it's just alumni guys. No one's there to prove anything, and we just have fun. So if you can't skate, you can't skate, and you just get off, and no one's going to try to kill you or anything like that. It's not super competitive. No one's there to prove anything. And we just have fun. So if you can't skate, you can't skate. And you just get off and no one's going to try to kill you or anything like that.

It's not super competitive. So I loved it. It was good for the soul to be back in the game, being around the dressing room, being around the guys. And it was nice to allow them to come out. And then from there, I started playing once or twice a week. And then when I got back in Toronto, a little more intense skates with Linda Ross and Gary Roberts as a skate as well, I joined. And they just make you feel comfortable. And but once I started feeling good, it was about midsummer.

I called some of my buddies that were still playing, Cameron Gons, Kevin Carr. And I said, hey, do you guys ever need an extra guy? You know, I'd love to love to jump out there with you guys and see what I can do. So I just haven't won. I was still I was still 235 pounds. And so I've lost 45 pounds since then but uh well it's fun to get back out there and compete with them they were uh they were still training like they all wanted to play back in the national hockey league and some of them were still playing so um just kind of took it from there imagine being so good at hockey you just call

up guys and playing pro hockey like can i just jump out there a little bit like i'm just a drop 40 and get back in the mix so is your health condition then is that gone is that how looked after is it a risk still for you i mean i think it's a genetic condition so it's always there but hopefully with the the right medication that i have now and and being able to do these techniques that i've kind of developed over the last little bit that it hasn't triggered and i've pushed myself harder in the last six months than I have in my entire life thinking that I would try to trigger it so that, you know, I wouldn't come back and then I have to stop. Yeah. So, um, no, and luckily it's been great. I, we called up the doctors that told me I couldn't play anymore. And I said, please test me for everything, you know, test my lungs, liver,

kidney, heart, all that stuff. And it all came back clean. And I, you know, after skating and normally, like I said, it would be like a couple of days I have to take off. But after skating with the guys that were still playing and I, you know, I'd try to come back the next week and then maybe I'd do two skates a week and then start into three and I just kept pushing it and pushing it. And then I called the doctors again. I said, hey, I'm going to try to, you know, push this as hard as I can. Can you guys monitor me, please?

And so every week I would send my blood work in and blood tests, and it's been clean. So, yeah, knock on wood, nothing comes up. But it's been feeling great. We're talking to Cody Hodgson, who's made a remarkable comeback after eight seasons and now is playing in what's still considered, I think, the second-best league in I think, the second best league

in the world, the American Hockey League. And on the best team by a good distance, too. What did you guys like? Have you haven't lost in 19 games or something? 20? We just lost on the 20th game, unfortunately. But yeah, the second all time in AHL history, the streak. That is awesome.

So let me ask you something like eight years, like a few things have changed. Tell me about those first couple of days walking in is like you get a little Marty McFly thing going back to the future. Like what, what was noticeable for you that you maybe you noticed that you didn't notice eight years ago? Well, I know no one takes slap shots anymore. That's the first thing everyone kind of told me about no time in the game, but we'll see if I can bring it back.

No, the next thing is just everyone's so talented and skilled and fast. I thought that was going to be the biggest adjustment, just the speed of the game. And honestly, the mental side of it, that was probably the most difficult. I mean, the first game back, I got to give Milwaukee credit, though. The coaches have tried to put me in a situation to succeed. And they didn't put me in the first little bit. I was practicing, trying to get up to speed and then got put in a couple of games. I broke my rib the first game, like second period. So try to play through that for a bit.

Had a bruise long. The second game was feeling it, but then yeah, I had to shut down for about three weeks and then just coming back now that's had had to take a little break but that was nice welcome back to pro hockey a nice broken rib right at the beginning is it but no yeah sorry go ahead I just like is it being back around pro hockey and the routine of you know travel morning skate game shower you know the 3,000 showers per day is something I remember vividly that I was glad to get out of when I was done. Is it like a time warp to be back doing all that again? Yeah, it is.

But like I said, these guys are such professionals here. They got great food in the mornings. They got top-notch medical staff. So honestly, it feels great. I don't know what else you need. As a hockey player, it's kind of three days a week. You know, you get game day practice day, day off. It makes things real simple.

So it's weird being back in that environment after, you know, being in the business world sort of in real estate. When I got out of hockey, I started investing in real estate. And so there's, you know, you had to get rid of your naps. That was pretty nice. Getting the midday nap now. Bring that back. Yeah.

How about video games with some of the 20 something guys? Like what do you guys do all day in Milwaukee? No, I haven't. I haven't gotten back into the video games. I actually never was really into the video games when I was doing it. But now, now we're into the red light therapies, the PMF, the, all this stuff to take care of your body. It's changed a little bit. I guess.

So, you know, what are the aspirations? I mean, obviously you'd like to get back and play at the highest level one assumes. Yeah, no, I think anyone who plays it, you know, hockey and competitive level wants to play at the top. So that's my goal. I mean, it might be insane to think about it, but no, that's what I'm pushing for so yeah uh pto would be a good start by next september with the national

hockey league club yeah i mean to be honest i'm just trying to do well with this team you know i'm trying to get involved as much as i can and then be part of this uh you know hopefully we can start another streak but it's been fun to be around. I really liked the coaching staff, the GM. They gave me a chance when I first called, they're like, uh, you know, that might be a little, I haven't played in eight years, but I was fortunate. I got to talk with, um, I actually called people that knew me and knew my character and knew I wasn't just, you know, calling, you know, kind of, you know,

in this pipe dream that I was training and knew what was going on. But, you know, a couple, a couple couple guys made some phone calls on behalf which is really nice and um i was able to talk to you know gibu shea and terry crisp was a good one in nashville i just basically asked him like he has been around the game a long time how would you try to do this or what do you think would be the best way to do this and they said you know it'd be tough to try to convince a team to give you a tryout right away but maybe if you pay your own way or you come down you do your own skates and you show them as part of practice and maybe they can you can help their team so that's what i did i called milwaukee i called a couple

teams and these guys are you know fortunate i was fortunate to get a chance with them and so just trying to reward that uh that decision i'm just trying to yeah keep in the lineup and do as best as i can so it's uh it's a different mentality right now but i'm not looking too far in the future just day by day trying to score as many goals as i can and uh contribute to the wins where are you uh in like your fitness compared to where you would have been as a player do you feel strong in the gym like you were oh i'm way better shape i before when i did i would i would get. Like my body would shut down. And so it was really tough for me to do that type of conditioning.

Now I feel like the more I work, the more I push, the better I get. So yeah, I'm down to 189 pounds. I think we just did our body fat about 8.5, 8.25% body fat. That's like better than when I played at the peak. Can I ask you about the goaltender, Askarov, I think. Highest drafted Russian goalie in, I think, NHL history. I think, if I'm not mistaken, 11th. How good is he?

Oh, he's unbelievable. Yeah, it's incredible. I told him I play with a lot of good goalies. I started my career with Wango and Schneider, Miller, and then Pekka Rinne and he's up there. Honestly, and then Pecorino. He's up there. Honestly, his caliber is pretty intense, pretty high. So I like working with him.

I like shooting on him. He competes on every puck. It doesn't matter if it's a rebound in practice. If it's a warm-up before a game, he'll dive for pucks. It's pretty fun to be on the ice with him. On trade deadline day when he's packing his bag to go to Nashville, can you call us and let us know? They actually

have this figurine coming out for ASCII night. They have him bench pressing the net. And I asked him, like, if you get a couple of these, I want a couple of signed of these. It's pretty historic. So yeah, he's ready to go. Well, it's awesome seeing you. For those of you that uh aren't

watching on one of our platforms uh tv uh cody you look great man and i'm i'm taking credit for a lot of it i want to be honest with you here oh thank you you should hey and put in a good word for me in the big e if you can do it we can Get some red on the fourth line with the Admirals. You've inspired me, Cody. Thanks, guys. All the best, buddy. All the best. We'll stay in touch. Cody Hodgson, everybody, from the Milwaukee Admirals,

who's eight years removed and back playing professional hockey at age 34. First game scored, second game scored, third game scored. Listen, he was a top 10 pick, was he not? He was 10th, yeah. And there's so much skill. And, you know, all joking aside, when we skate Thursdays, like you can be with a 55-year-old, a 60 year old but you know the mind and the iq or the ability to shoot a puck doesn't leave yeah the the leg the legs leave yeah right oh yeah and the quickness leaves

but you can see the difference between an amateur and a professional hockey player i tell people he came out he came out the first day we skated together i'm like i gotta get off the ice you know i uh i tell people all the time i was privileged to skate in the summers in colonna with uh dale howarchuk and brian trache yeah in skates and so you know you play in these games and even a lot of the former pros who were very good pros don't look like those guys who still, at their ages, you know, this is 10 years ago, the deception and the vision and, you know, these guys at 60s, bing, bing, bing.

You know, you get a guy like Hodgson who's as good as he is, and, you know, in his 30s still. I'm sure it was impressive to watch. And I have no doubt in my mind right now that he's in the best shape of his life. Yes. Well, you know, it sounds like he has reason to be able to get there now. He's able to get to new levels. And 34?

33 right now? No, I think he turned 34. Okay. Just recently, I think. He played left wing? Leafs got him at the deadline? He's a right-handed shot. Eh.

But. Pretty good right side on the Leafs. It's not like he's 37 or 38. It's not like he's got a ton of wear and tear on him. That is different,

right? The mileage has not been there. It's not the number on the birth certificate. It's usually the miles accumulated. Can I ask you about

this? Because I'm fascinated about this skate. Like I. Yeah. Who makes, because it's like you're saying these big names you got biggie you're always talking about like cab or like yeah who makes up the rest ah there's some college kids out there and uh you know there's some there's some few pylons out there i'll be honest with you of course there but i gotta feel good when I score.

But you can't get 40 active great NHLers in the hood. Oh, we got a mix of like four or five guys in the rotation. You got to have a rotation. And they're good.

Cool. Yeah. All right. I'm just very interested in this. Yeah. We lost a couple goalies for a year. Now they're back.

There's usually some kid who's like 14 who's just happy to be there and try. This is the most, and I'll go again tomorrow morning, but this is the most I've skated probably in 10, 15 years on a semi-regular basis. Does it feel any better with consistency? I love it.

Yeah. I love it. It's a pain in the ass. You know, you wake up in the morning, you got to get your equipment. It still stinks. I haven't played a game in probably three years. know, you wake up in the morning. You got to get your equipment. It still stinks. I haven't played a game in probably three years. Oh, you could have Borneo.

Putting equipment on is labor. It's work. It's work. Once you're out there, it's awesome. Get Borneo to the skate. The reason I haven't skated is primarily because of it's like the work. They're like, yeah, it's 11 p.m. in Vaughan or whatever. And it's like, I'm not doing that.

Come out for one skate. I'd love to see that. I've got my skates. in, you know, Vaughn or whatever. And it's like, I'm not doing that. Come out for one skate. I'd love to see that. I've done my skates. No, you're a great skate. I just, I love. Just a fun group of guys. You know, just that camaraderie in the dressing room before and after. Well, that's the whole reason you go.

It's so good. Well, I got to tell you, if you stop drinking and people want you to play beer league, you're missing out on a good portion of the fun like sitting around after i mean i've been on the same team for eight years with guys and i often tell people the only reason i continue it going is because i'll never see them again it's just like an excuse to see these guys i love once a week and have a you know cold beer hot shower and talk to them for a bit it's it's that's part of the that's most of the battle

anyways i just love that he called up an ahl general manager he's like i want to play and you're he's so good that he's like yeah okay you're on the team and he's scoring now yeah imagine being that good at hockey it's great well and you know it's it's not an easy decision for these clubs to weigh out the pros and cons of having a 22 yearyear-old or, you know, but still a very competitive league. And some are independently owned. Some are owned by NHL clubs. Some want to win. Some want to make the playoffs.

Some want to make money with Gates. The coaches are trying to make the NHL too. They want to win these games. Yes, sir. Should we game time it up? Want to game time it? Yeah, let's game time it. Oh, wait.

Let me get my read here. Hold on a second. It's game time. It's game time. I should know this after reading this every single day for 90-something shows. It would be a fun test if you could put that paper down and see what you could do here. It's game time. I'm lost.

It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, there's only two games on the schedule tonight. I wish you could bet on it.

If Rempe was going to fight or not. I don't think he can. I was perusing while you guys were talking to Cody. I can't think of an easier way to kind of... Yeah, I mean, like, will he fight? Make money. Well, I mean, like, will he fight? Make money. Yeah.

Well, I mean, he's also fought every game or tried to. So I think the Columbus Blue Jackets are terrible. I know that's a really hot opinion from me. Yeah. And they just ended the Rangers nine game winning streak. So going to Madison Square Garden garden everybody's fired up i like the new york rangers minus a goal and a half tonight at minus 105 i think they're probably going to run it up on them at madison square garden minus two and a half so reasonable yeah you could go there too and i the blues did they play last night maybe is that why plus 245 tonight

for them to play in edmonton the oilers are minus 305 favorites to beat the st louis blues seems like a huge number to me um but if you wanted to you could bet on connor mcdavid the guy who can't score anymore he's just forgotten how to score you can bet on him scoring a goal tonight at minus 110 they're not giving you a big number because they know it's coming it's got to be coming here eventually. The Blues played in Winnipeg last night. Okay, yeah, so there you go. And they lost to the Blues, who have now won four in a row, I believe,

so they're getting back on track. Something else in that game, if you want to have a little bit of fun, give me a Zach Hyman goal at plus 105 on his trek towards 50 more goals, or 50 goals for him in his first 50-goal season. That was Game Time, presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19-plus.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Steve Valliquette, who we had earlier in the show that we spoke of at the top of the hour, suggested that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if the Rangers, the coaching staff, Chris Drury, didn't play Rampey tonight. Didn't play him at all.

Yeah, didn't play him at all. I don't know how I feel about that. That feels like punishment to me. For a guy who's put his soul on the line here in four games. I think there'd be a lot of disappointed fans, and it's not so much that they're hoping and they are, let's not make any mistake. There's a lot of people still hoping that they're going to go at it again

tonight, but I would rather almost a coach or a team publicly saying, we don't want him fighting tonight. We've instructed him not to fight tonight, but he's playing. But then you kind of take away some of his effectiveness, right? To me, the only way you limit it is

you put him in the press box. That's the only way you really stop him from doing it. I think you can tell him that you don't want him to fight, but you don't have to tell the opposition. The other thing is like genuine fear for his eye. He's in bad shape. You know, you don't want to become Jake McCabe's nose. You can't just take a lick.

You can put a visor on him then. If there's a, it wouldn't be the first time a player played with a visor or a cage. You mean like a bubble? Like a bubble. A bubble to protect the cheekbone. Yeah. You know?

Yeah. Hey, just tell him, hey, could you just not, unless this guy jumps you here, we need you badly. Could you just not? He's not looking so hot. Like, look at that picture.

All right. It's a black eye. guy please we've all had him sammy you get a black guy like that without real damage under underneath i don't know i didn't fight much it's been incredible though like from zero to a hundred miles an hour and just the attention that it it it grabbed right away like the seconds after that fight with uh delorier like we all watched it because it's it went viral and it's one of the first things you open up your phone and you could find maybe the first thing that you found was that fight yeah and i i loved 32 pims in five games so far yeah has he had over six minutes of ice yet this uh wow yeah no yeah it's the answer but he does have a goal and an assist to go with it too so he's getting on the score sheet he had

four shots i think he had 15 minutes of penalties and 13 seconds of ice time against the Devils. Against the Devils? Oh, wow. Time on ice per game, 13 seconds. The one thing that really stands out for me with this kid is that, like, I've been in a call-up situation, and I've seen call-ups with tough guys, and they knew what was coming they'd be quiet about it there'd be a maybe some anxiety that came with it like there seems to be nothing like this for this 21 year

old it's like having a beer for him these few fights. And then he speaks of fighting Matt Martin and he's telling the story about the conversation and the penalty box. And he genuinely loves it. And my experience is the guys who generally love it are the scariest ones of all. Yeah, absolute nut bars. I mean mean i know there's a number of them who feel that way but i don't even understand that he's not faced like this is like this is

taidomi territory where this guy loved it loved it and yeah and we'll see you kind of run i'm sure it's one of those things where like the league it, we're talking about it, it's getting lots of air, but also there is kind of people fighting has become a little bit more sensitive a topic, right? For sure, because now everybody's well aware of concussions and the risk, depending on who you talk to, the link of CTE, and it's always in our faces now. And I'm sure it's going back to the kid as well.

But you know what? He may get to a point where it's like Chara got to where people understand that he's the guy and no one wants to do it. And he gets to kind of dictate that space and create that space for his teammates where he's gone through the league, he's fought most of the guys, and he has that level of respect from people that he will

and he doesn't have to do it as much i mean that does happen for guys right yeah it does um and then it puts the onus on another team to go okay if they've got this missile on that side i need one arms race i need race. I need one just in case myself. And then we... But the problem is you can't find these guys. There's just not that many out there. Unicorns for sure.

All right. Take a break. Winnipeg on the other side. We got plenty to get into with our NHL news and notes. You just mentioned Winnipeg. Gary Bettman visiting Winnipeg. He met with corporate. He met with fans.

He met with, I'm sure, the team. So how concerned is Gary Bettman? How concerned should the fans be? We'll get into that and more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors, and Blue Jays

every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the Fan Morning Show. Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. All right. Commissioner of the NHL made a trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba to reassure everyone that Winnipeg Jets aren't going anywhere.

You know what's the first thing that came to my mind was the Kyle Dubas. Oh, everything's great. Everything's great. Things are great. Do we have any sound, Sammy? We do. We have a Gary Bettman clip. All right, let's go to it, and then we'll come out.

Yep. Mark's view, but Mark isn't issuing any deadlines. He's focused on what he can do to make sure the fan base is maximally engaged, and I applaud the effort. But again, we're not operating under the sword of Damocles or on a razor's edge. This is part of the evolution of what franchises sometimes go through. I remember a number of other Canadian franchises, for example, some of them considered to be small market,

where the season ticket base aged out and they had to go rebuild it with younger fans. It happens. Let's be clear about something, okay? I believe that this is a strong NHL market, and it will adjust. Everything's great. There's the one I was thinking of. Is he talking about Edmonton? Or the fan base edged out, considered small market?

Would that be referenced there? I don't know. Ottawa? Strong market, but strong enough in 2024 now? I don't know strong market but strong enough in 2024 now i don't know the issue here there was no issue and then mark chipman came out and said no there's an issue an issue with attendance yeah he said i wouldn't be honest with you if i didn't say we've got to get back to 13,000 season tickets the place we find ourselves in right now, it's not going to work over the long haul.

It just isn't. To me, that is pressing the panic button to try to get people to go, oh God, and go buy pity tickets. Pickets? Yes. Which to me is not a long-term strategy. I think you're not wrong in terms of it's a wake-up call

without it looking like a wake-up call. So I don't think it's Gary Bettman right now going into that market and reminding everybody, hey, do you remember the hockey market? NHL's here. Oh, yeah, okay, I'm going to buy tickets. That's not the case. The case is they're not going right now because there's an issue with the economics

of maybe that market right now. Maybe they just don't have extra money to go to a hockey game. What's concerning is that the Jets are first in the Central. They are winning. And they still aren't going as much as they used to. Yeah. It is a concern. I'm not saying that it's not a concern that tickets are down.

I'm saying it went from nobody was aware there was a mild issue to people are like, are they going to relocate the franchise? Like, no. But I think they just went pretty hard after this. Like, hey, we're worried about this. Yeah, I think the message is that if this doesn't get fixed over what? Like, what are we talking about? A year and a half?

Two years? Three years? No, no. In two years, if that fan base doesn't get up to 13,000 season tickets, they can't stay. The building only holds 15,500. You got to sell 13,000 seasons?

I'm looking at the average attendance. They're second last to mullet. Well, but they have the smallest rink in the league that second last mullet well but they have the smallest rink in the league that isn't mullet but the percentage of capacity that's relevant the san jose sharks are last 79.6 buffalo is 83.7 and coming in third last is the winnipeg jets with 87.6 you have to stay they have to sell out that's the relevant number to me the next the next one is the calgary flames at 90.5 yeah but that building sucks too and they're gonna but they have to sell out. That's the relevant number to me. The next one is the Calgary Flames at 90.5. Yeah, but that building sucks too.

But they have to sell out. Yeah. Every game. Well, it's 15-5. You got to sell it out. I totally get that. And I recognize it's a problem and it's a dip right now. But like to get to 13,000 seasons just to make it sustainable,

I understand it would be nice if they were there. Well, then you attack whatever corporate world is out there to... That's the hard part, eh? That's the hard part, is that Winnipeg has the lowest percentage of season ticket sales that are corporations, where in a market like Toronto, almost half of seasons are owned by companies, not people. That is not the case in Winnipeg, where it's people,

which is way better, obviously, but tougher because when people have tough economic situations, they're less likely to be able to maintain them. So I get it's a challenge and I get it's tight, but this to me is, hey, we need to pay attention. The Jets and their fans need to take more care in terms of getting to a game as sort of a civic good than other places do but i'm not that worried about this yeah i'm worried i'm worried because they're really good

uh over over the next two or three years yes they could if things don't it it's getting more expensive you gotta understand too is that if they're having economic issues today, what would it have been like with no pandemic and a hundred million dollar cap? Maybe people would have more money with the pandemic. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know enough about economics to suggest that might be the case. But the cap is going to go up yeah and if they don't feel like they're generating enough revenue to support a point uh a cap today what's it going to be like when it hits a hundred million which you could in five years three or four years and you're still at nine and a half ten thousand season ticket holders yeah but i mean kip like it's at nine thousand whatever nine thousand five hundred i don't know exactly what it is right now but if they get another

okay a couple couple thousand more they get up to eleven five twelve yeah you know like i feel like this is there are small rev small market teams every building is not going to be the bell center some markets are supported by the revenue sharing within the league. Like, I feel like they're going to be okay. I get chuckled. Listen, I'm not panicking here either. There's plenty of time here, and they're going to make the playoffs. And if they have a good run, they will sell out, and they will create excitement.

And then individuals or corporations will make key decisions on how much they want to invest of their budgets into next season. And, you know, hopefully it's an afterthought. And meanwhile, the team has won seven of their last eight. They just beat Minnesota, Chicago, Arizona, and St. Louis pretty handily. Sean Monaghan has been a wonderful fit there. He's been producing pretty consistently. Before we move on to the actual team,

I'm just looking at these average attendance things. It's just fascinating to me. I'm looking at the average of capacity, like the percentage. The Arizona Coyotes coming in at 100%. Their average attendance is 4,600, and their capacity is 4,600. Yeah. Nothing fishy there, is there? Like, exactly your average is exact.

Like, you're selling out every game. It's average. It's perfect. Like, that number isn't right. It's just 100 right on the dot. 4,600 right on the dot. Yeah. Right across the board.

But I imagine. A little older to that. What are the most, how many teams are at 100%? The Coyotes, Dallas Stars, Colorado is above. Dallas. Is above 100%, 100.5. Carolina, Nashville, Boston, Seattle, Vegas, and Minnesota. Interesting list.

Yeah. What about Toronto? Toronto is, I'm just looking here quickly, they are 99.8%. Way to go, Doug. Some guy who didn't go one time. Yeah, you nailed it. Anyways, just thought that was fascinating with the Coyotes. We can move on now.

Vancouver Canucks. Yep. Sid won't let the Penguins die. I don't know if he's gonna have much choice because the season is shrinking fast everything's great like what kind of run do they have to be on in their next 20 plus you know why it's not as bad as it looks because the game's in hand that yes definitely a big thing but third place in the metro currently belongs to the philadelphia flyer so they're not even chasing that second wild card spot as so much as they're chasing third in the metro the flyers have 69 points in 60 games

penguins have 62 and 56 games so you know they've got enough they're not that far back if they win a few in a row they've won three in a row. They keep her going here. They'll be in the mix. So you have four and four starting the playoffs, or you got five and three? What do you mean? Five playoff teams out of the Eastern Conference, or three out of the Metro?

Three out of the Metro. Three out of the Metro. That's it. So who's dropping for Pittsburgh to make it? The Flyers? Flyers would be dropping. Yep. Oh, I don't know, man.

Although they did just hang five on the Tampa Bay Lightning. Yes, they did. In the third period. I don't know if Torts is going to let this team just fade into the sunset here. Just wanted to note on a Sid before we move past it. He reached a thousand even strength points last night. The other guys to do that are Wayne Gretzky, Yarmir Yager, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier,

Marcel Dion, Steve Iserman, Ron Francis, and Phil Esposito, and now Sidney Crosby. Wow. Solid list, I would say. A couple of shows ago, we didn't get to, we had sound of Sid talking to a former coach of his, Tony Granato. And Tony was on the set of TNT, if I'm not mistaken. And I thought it was fantastic.

And Tony, being the class act that he is, basically just thanked Sid for being Sid. And like a wave of emotion, you could see it come right through your screen, through Sid, and he got choked up. Yeah. We don't see Sid choked up a lot. You know what I don't love about that? Is that that means he recognizes where he's at in his career too, right?

People started to have allowed themselves to have like reflective moments. How can it not? Yeah. Like there's a lot of history there. The season's not going the way he'd like. And I'm with you. We have the clip. You want to hear it? I'd love it. Okay. Let's play it. Yeah I'm with you. We have the clip if you want to hear it.

I'd love it. Okay, let's play it. Yeah, thanks, Sid. And, you know, we've been discussing all along how important and how well you represent our game. And as always, after a tough game like this, to take a few minutes and be smiling, wear your Penguins hat on forward with pride. Thanks for being Sid.

That's just all I got to say. Thank you. Thanks, Tony. Appreciate it. Sidney Crosby, really appreciate it wow sydney cross we really appreciate him yeah listen i i did you hear it yeah i got it maybe it's more visual that i saw him but i'm telling you this guy is so guarded and he's so such a pro that i i sensed what you did jb that there was a reflection there that went far deeper

than just maybe their relationship, but it's where am I? What am I doing? It's like, Tony, I'm dragging these scumbags along every day. This Carlson doesn't give a damn. This Kyle D. was fun. These guys are all the same in the bottom six. No one's ever hit anybody.

Malkin has't sweat all year he left the cupboards empty in toronto and now he's doing the same thing here yeah he's seeing some having some issues but it wasn't always buttoned up remember back in the day when like young sid when who's with his whole career no the flyers he's like because i don't like him because i don't like him you don't remember that clip it's like an all-timer when they. No, the Flyers. And he's like, because I don't like them. Because I don't like them. You don't remember that clip? It's like an all-timer. When they were asking about the Flyers?

Some people have been old from birth. Yeah. I've been a pretty old guy most of my life. Sid feels like he's been an old guy his whole life. You know,

this part of Sid's career has been incredible. And I've loved Sid ever since the World Juniors since he was in, you know, Rimouski. But, like, there was, at the start of his career, Sid the Kid, he was a whiner.

People hated him much. He cried to the refs. If you remember, Ilya Kovalchuk. Penitent. Ilya Kovalchuk clowned him by, they've gotten a big scrap, and then Sid got put in the box, and he scored the power play goal, and he went by the box and pointed right at Sid. There was moments early in his career where, but then he's turned into the pro's pro. I don't like him. That's part of what you've loved about Sid and valued is that he has that fire, right?

Our show is so predictable. Kipper brings up the Canucks and I'm like, ah, Sid. Then we talk about Sid for 15 minutes. Yeah, yeah. Squirrel. Yeah, sorry. All right. The Canucks.

Canucks. Drop an overtime uh loss to sid yeah uh i don't know what the record is in february 500 by five and two or something yeah it's not uh not been great their past uh six games their only win is against boston They've lost to Winnipeg, Minnesota, Colorado, Seattle, and Pittsburgh last night. So, you know, every team hits the skids at some point over the course of the season. You know, is this just a regular lull to you, or is this Elias Pettersson sabotaging things after he said it?

I mean, we knew that was going to happen. We had an in-depth conversation about his contract situation yesterday. Did you guys get any feedback at all? Sure did. That we're creating something out of nothing. Really? Yeah. Because I got a little bit of, is this Matthew Kachuk all over again?

A guy who just does not want to be in Canada. Well, just is this going to go into the end of the regular season when it's like, I'm probably not going to resign here, so you might want to trade me now kind of thing? I mean, if he feels that way, he should say those words. That would help the Canucks out. Well, Matthew didn't say them until the season was over. You don't want to do that.

Right. Yeah, I guess you don't right you don't want to do that right yeah i guess you don't give me if you're i i mean i don't want it for my canuck fan friends but can you imagine what a trade request for what do to the the market that would not be good right now no because they're having their bet that's what i i feel for the fans there well listen we the jets are in first and we just talked about them and their arena situation canucks are in first and now we're talking about it sucks petterson contract hey welcome to pro sports i know kipper but like i'm a fan unlike you like you don't you don't care about any of the teams but i i care about

you care about anything i'm so insensitive i care about the trauma maple leafs and i care about them succeeding and i understand if you care about the toronto maple leafs and i care about them succeeding and i understand if you're a canucks fan where you're like wow finally we're good again like we actually have a team that feels like they could win something and then just holding over your head this entire time is pedersen being like i don't feel like i know but i don't feel like it's reality it's pro sports i understand understand all that, Kipper. Be a pro, Sammy. I get it. Just everybody from Vancouver management to Petey to the fans, just handle it.

Just handle it. Manage it. Do better than Tavares did in managing the market on your way out the door. In the old days, you could lie. Tavares with the Islanders. Right? He didn't lie. He exercised his right as a free agent. Lie is a strong

word. I don't think he lied either. You can deceit. Is that better? How about a fib? I don't think it is. Fib. You can fib. You don't really like it here. I want to stay. Maybe. Who wrote this article on the It's frustrating canucks momentum uh in mcintyre in mcintyre so one of the paragraphs in mcintyre's article is uh listening to the

players and rick talking it feels like the team's five five and two february is a disaster to be sure it would be worse if conference rivals like the colorado avalanche it goes on to list the rest of the division abs four five and one in their last ten dallas stars four three and three vegas four five and one edmonton five four and stars four three and three vegas four five and one edmonton five four and one these are good teams these are cup contenders losing a few games over a 10 game stretch does not kill your season they're a good team they're a good team good goalie good defense i i like i've said a million times center like number one d like watching them play a lot everything's great great. Everything is great.

Ottawa seemed to have had some good synergy going into Nashville, except they lost. It's a frustrating team. And Josh Norris is hurt again. Yeah, it sucks. It sucks. You know, we just talked about Drysdale's shoulder. Like, Norris is now a young kid with multiple hamburger shoulder issues.

It's not good. I played those guys. Two surgeries. All over and it pops out all the time. Two surgeries on the shoulder, didn't he? Yeah, and young. So that's a concern for them. I would say all these other Ottawa concerns this year, a lot of them feel fixable to me, like need some veteran guys,

need some D, need some goaltending. That's all fixable. If the guys who you have as a part of your core, like, all right, we're going to turn around on the backs of Kachuk and Norris and, you know, whoever you consider in that, having one of them be, you know, this injured this often this early is one of the genuine red flags of the rebuild. That doesn't sound like any type of major trade is coming there might tweak a few things i don't think they'll

move off one of chikrin or shabbat i don't think there's enough time to pull off a chikrin trade to be honest with you unless they've been working behind the scenes that nobody would know about feels like it would be one of those ones that would happen pre-deadline if it's not going to be like chikrin moves at 2 3434 p.m. on the deadline. Bigger one than that. Because I don't know what's right for the Senators team, but this season has been so disappointing for them. Shabbat makes $8 million.

I want him at $8 million. You do? I do. I like Shabbat. I believe that you'd have a tough time finding a team to take him at $8 million. So if you don't want't have to put up much. Can you give me a team that could use him? All the time.

He plays 25 minutes a night when he's on. So he's a left-shot guy. Tampa? Offensive. Yeah, Tampa was – they've kind of been rumored to be in on everyone, right? Hannafin has come up. And any sort of name that can produce offense and replace Sergeyev and his money, you know, could Chapat be that.

Yeah, he's playing 23-58 this year. Yeah, he plays 24 minutes in his sleep. Quickly before we go, how about the Flames, boys? They just won't quit. Can't lose. Four in a row now. I know. Playoff teams. Yeah, who'd they beat? They beat the Bruins, Oilers. Crazy. Yeah. Didn't you love

Gary Galley on our show the other day telling the management bugger off? Is that a nice way to put it? Conroy's like, sorry, Gals. Scram, beat it. Sorry, Gals. I'm about to get a boatload of picks here in prospects. We're going to load it up.

It does suck if you're on that team and you're a cadre and you're like, we're hot. There is a different feel for a team like Calgary to unload than it is Kyle Dubas' Pittsburgh Penguins. That's a team that you go, oh my God, how many years would they need to come back? Five? No, I agree. And then Calgary going.

You can see it. Calgary can be next year's version of Vancouver, possibly. For sure they can. If you keep Markstrom. Yeah, Markstrom, and you like the young kid in Zari, and Kadri's kind of playing well. Huberto can still find it and have a good year. You like Uyghur a lot.

Anderson's great in the back. They have a lot of good players. This is the thing with Vancouver that we said last year, too. They had a lot of good players, even when they were losing. I know Calgary's winning right now, but you can see a quick turnaround. Okay, quickly. Rangers, Columbus, we see a big fight tonight or not? No, I hope he doesn't call.

I do too. I do not want to watch him get punched again. Yeah, I'm watching that game. A lot per se. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right, our thanks to Steve Valliquette, who does an amazing job, and Cody Hodgson, now star player with Milwaukee Admirals,

and we wish him the best of luck moving forward. Enjoy your games tonight, and we're back tomorrow for Off the Rails. Thursday. It's Thursday. It's today, only Wednesday? Okay. Never mind. See you tomorrow. Is today only Wednesday? Okay. Never mind. See you tomorrow. Yeah, we'll just see you tomorrow.