Real Kyper & Bourne - Columbus Cuts Ties With Kekäläinen

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start with the news of the day that the Blue Jackets are parting ways with long-time general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen. Joining the conversation, Sportsnet analyst David Amber (6:00) shares his thoughts on what went wrong for Kekäläinen, the timing of the decision and possible replacements. Then, he gets into Crosby's future in Pittsburgh if they miss the playoffs again, who will wear the 'C' for Team Canada and the best trade target at the deadline. Finally, they regroup with Sam McKee for news and notes - which teams are legitimate cup threats, the Penguins' struggles continue and how shifts in the NCAA impact junior hockey.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 into the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee we don't even know where sammy is i think he's looking for david amber we are live on sports net sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by Bet365. Top story, JB. Yarmou Kekulainen, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets, no longer as he was relieved from his duties. John Davidson takes over as interim general manager while the club searches for a replacement.

Should we put on our surprise faces? Well, if the Blue Jackets won their next five straight games, they'd still be in last. So, no. Anytime you're that far down the basement, this is kind of inevitable. He's a GM in his 11th season with the team. So, you can't really blame anyone but yourself. This is kind of inevitable. He's a GM in his 11th season with the team.

So you can't really blame anyone but yourself. And I wouldn't say, you know, the future is immediately bright. So, no, I'm not shocked to see it. And, in fact, there have been enough stories this season that kind of surprised it took this long. So, dawn of a new day in Columbus. There were many that were calling for his departure. The moment they started backtracking, the moment they started backtracking. Well, he started backtracking on the hiring of Mike Babcock.

How do you mean backtracking? Let's start with we did our due diligence. Let's start there. You didn't do your due diligence. Didn't do due diligence. That's tough. It's really tough, but I pulled it off, and I'm not going back. There are so many stories out there on this guy that you, me,

and probably 29, 30 other general managers would not have taken that chance. Yeah. You know, I do feel like they were trying to do something big, a desperation swing, you know, a sexy name, a more militant-type coach, and yeah, that did not pan out, obviously. So yeah, you're on the hook for that when you make that decision, and he was lucky to get through there when they started losing the reading was on the wall so now

john davidson uh is the still the um president he's the interim gm will help them through this presumably we'll hire someone in the offseason it felt like davidson himself was on the way out by choice no like at some point here he's got to be in his mid-70s. How old is he? Well, first of all, it appeared that when he got rehired back to Columbus after leaving the New York Rangers, that he would come in as president of Hockey Ops, but not be in a position to oversee yarmo in the hockey department decisions

really yeah oh so all of this i believe is on yarmo and i'm not sure if john davidson got painted by ownership with the same brush but i'm sure there's some accountability there on on john davidson and be the first guy to admit that but i think he he he dodges this one because because of the power that yarmo had in columbus to to make final decisions yeah yeah that makes sense to me so i mean strange times in columbus right like you just signed good row patrick line a going through a hard time not sure if you saw some of the backlash there um some sort of harsh comments were made about him on a local podcast and now they're raising a lot of money for mental health well that's a good part yeah so that's a positive but you know they're

it just they've been in the news way too much this year but like what like is there like a black cloud over this organization they've won if i'm not mistaken they've won one round in 24 seasons i don't know what to tell you there i mean that is baffling you know uh fantilly is hurt right now so like one of their good things doesn't seem to be able to participate i just to me it's like they need to do the whole thing where they sell jenner and they sell and they sell and they i know no one when you've won one round in 24 years you don't want to take the long approach but gosh it's tough to look at this roster and think any quick fix is available to them and they've had top picks you mentioned fantilli and there's no question he will be the

face i think of this organization as early as next season if if not already now but like how does johnny gaudreau go from being one of the more dynamic forwards in the National Hockey League to this? I mean... Seven goals. Kip, he's not playing with anyone. You look at their salary cap structure, you know, we're here in Toronto and we cover the Leafs and we know what a ridiculous top-heavy structure

they have. The top four salaries among their forwards right now with line A out are Gaudreau at 9-7, ross levick at four boone jenner at 375 and sean corrali at 2-5 like that's the top end of their cap friendly page for who they're paying so tough to produce they've had they've had top picks but no one has has stepped up um this kent johnson came in highly touted. Yeah.

World juniors, college kid face. I mean, he's in and out. He scratched. He sent down. I just don't understand why certain players cannot rise in this organization. Hey, DA in the house. Look at this guy. He's wonderful.

He's talented. Put your hands together for the lovely David Amber. How's the weather? Did you get caught? It's the draft. What's wrong with people driving in snow? There's barely any snow on the ground. People. Took me an hour to get here.

You know where I live. Yes, I do. That long. Anyways. anyways well we're glad you're here and safe yeah got here safely how are you good how are you guys we're good good to be here we're just discussing uh yarmo yes and the end of the sort of the blue jackets there yeah and uh no no real surprise right for you you would have thought at this point they would like to hold on for 30 more games and do this in the summer but uh the sense i got was that ownership was feeling so much heat like there was a there's a collective uh fan base now that are starting to you know push on the ownership and

they don't like that right so there's been a dark cloud there for a while, and you mentioned I was driving in listening. By the way, Breer, amazing. How good is he? He's so, so good. Thoughtful. Honestly, the early returns, I know we're getting off topic here, but the early returns in Philadelphia, it's amazing. I love, I don't know, great guy.

It's great to see early success for him. On the other side of the ledger, dark cloud, right? Like, he was the third longest tenured GM. He had a pretty long runway. He had over a decade to put this together the last three drafts they had five players taken in the top 12 picks right think about it five like premier blue chip prospects they probably want to have a bit of a winning culture and a bit of stability there and i think you want to start that as early as possible and that might have gone into the thinking jeff merrick brought up something on his show,

Kipper, that might be true. Maybe there was something in the works that Cake Linen was trying to push through. And the owner, is it John McConnell, I believe, who owns the team? I don't know. Doug mentions him every other day. Mr. McConnell. And he probably was like, if this guy isn't going to be running the ship, then

why are we letting him make decisions? We see the decisions he's made in the past haven't worked out you know to fruition for what we wanted so they could have been all those things together yeah well listen i think in all honesty the decision to let him go was made a long time ago so i i think it was to get him without rocking the boat through the trade deadline um but like I said, maybe the pressure got to the family a little bit here. What would you do, David Amber, in terms of finding your next general manager? Would you go to...

I think John Davidson mentioned that the search starts outside, which means there's nothing internal, which means that we're not going to see Rick Nash end up being the new general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. But what does this organization need in your eyes? We're not famously going to see. I remember ML Carr was a basketball executive, and he said, I'm going to do a search high and low to find the best GM,

and it spent about a month. And he's like, okay, I've determined that person's me. John Davidson, I've looked around. I'm the guy. I can't find anyone better than me. You know, and there's like okay i've determined that person's me john davidson i've looked around i'm the guy i can't find anyone better than me you know and there's been a lot of speculation you know jd is all it has been a bit of a rocky tenure at times for him as well i don't know that's a great question because there's so many great young minds in the game i'd love to see you know i don't want to say an outsider but i'd love to see someone else some new blood get an opportunity you know like i think i don't have a name off the top of my head,

but there's just so many good, young, up and coming, you know, people in the game, intelligent, maybe think outside the box a little bit, who would be great to get that opportunity. Do you think you can sell that? Or do you need an NHL guy that's been there for- But who? Who would that be? I mean, I'm trying to think off the top of my head.

Coaches, it's easier. Mark Hunter. Mark Hunter's a good name, right? just keeps winning yeah and in london i think that's a great still an outside the boss name only because it's not a guy who has like 20 years of nhl gming experience under his belt but it's funny because i i think there's this desire sometimes to sell to your fans we have this young analytics guy he does numbers obviously dubas had some of that john John Chayko was that in Arizona. And it's not that easy. You know, like there is

as a GM, you are not playing fantasy hockey. You are a manager generally. So people, relationships, scouts, it's a big job. And so someone with some experience, to me, in a role like that for a team like Columbus who can't, you you know take a flyer

they need to have success soon some established name would make more sense but make no mistake this is a coveted role right there's certain roles like even when when kyle dubas left toronto and he went to pittsburgh i i sort of said wow um he's walking into a tough situation and i didn't know it was going to be as tough as it is yes sydney crosby yes malcolm sir but you look where they are in the salary cap you look at the age and sort of the scope of where those players, the trajectory they're on in their career, and you go, wow, you're not walking into Columbus where you sit there and you have five or six blue-chip up-and-coming prospects, right?

Like you look at some of the young players on that team, the Ken Johnsons, obviously the Adam Fantilles, David Jurczyk on defense. They have some guys that, you know, 31 other GMs would be calling up and saying, I'd love to have this guy on my team as a foundational piece under control for the next six, seven, eight years. That's a pretty good problem to have if you're going to walk into that situation. Yeah, they had no success.

They have good young players. They have 21 other next 21 draft picks, you know. They have another top five pick this year. We are in studio with David Amber, studio host of the NHL on Sportsnet. Not bad, eh? He's got it. It's like the first time Kimber introduced me to Troy, it's like he'd never met me before. It's like, yeah, we used to work together all those days.

This is Amber David. Buddy, you're the professional host, not me. I'm looking at you, and I'm thinking to myself, David, did I do good? Did I do good, David? You nailed it, brother. Okay, let's go down the path of the Pittsburgh Penguins because they lost last night to the Florida Panthers. What are they, three out of the last ten they've won?

They're slipping here. And Gensel got hurt. Gensel got hurt. Which is their big piece of the trade. Matthew Kachuk was an animal last night. Oh, do we have that Kachuk voice? Did you hear him post-game? Oh, yeah.

That is fantastic. Good host instincts, David. Because I think we have Matthew Kachuk last night. Ooh, let's see if we can play Matthew Kachuk clip one. No, I think Derek Brandeo went to the bathroom. Sammy left and he's like, no one's calling for clips. We got no producer. I saw Sammy outside.

We got no Derek Brandeo right now. Okay, so I'm going to tell you what he said. He said, we're just going to, our line is with Sam Bennett. We're going to go out there. And Nick Cousins. And Nick Cousins. And we're just going to play the first 10 minutes. There's no puck. We're just going to. And we're just going to play the first 10 minutes like there's no puck.

We're just going to hit. We're just going to wear them down. We're just going to hit as much as we can. No puck on the ice, just running into guys for 10 minutes. I said, Kip, you've ruined me. Because after three years of working with Kip, I heard that, and I was like, yes! Kill him!

You know, like just. But, I mean, it worked to perfection against an older team. And it's not that they intimidated them, I don't think. I mean, I'm not going to pretend I watched the game. But there was only seven shots on goal, period, for both teams in the first period, right? Wild. Like, they were there, and as Kip was saying,

they were playing like there wasn't a puck. Wear these guys down, get them kind of looking over both shoulders as they're retreating. And we all saw last year against Toronto how Florida forechecks. They forecheck with a certain level of tenacity that is pretty much unparalleled in the league. Yeah, right. 32 teams in the league.

Give me another team that plays like Florida Panthers right now. Florida, by the way, now two points behind Boston. That actually could be good for Toronto if Toronto slips into that third spot, by the way. Rather than play Boston. You know, it sounds crazy to pick your poison, and Toronto right now is in a wild card, but I do think Toronto might prefer a matchup against Boston than Florida.

I really honestly believe nobody wants to see Florida. No, Florida is probably the best team in the league. Is that a wild statement? Yeah, no, it's not. It's not. Actually, I tweeted, I did not tweet out. I had a text exchange with some people in hockey and I said, does anyone, can anyone see Florida winning the Cup?

And a couple guys right away hit, yes, yes. Yeah, yeah. Wow. They're not there for you, huh? They're tough, they got attitude, and they got swagger. I do worry about Bob Brovsky, though. Well, Wade was the best player in the playoffs last year. He was, but there's eight years before that where he wasn't.

So it's like, which one are you going to get? He's been good this year, though. He has. He's been the best version of himself was it sammy mckee that was reading us off some pittsburgh penguin stats including like their he gave me like three or four categories which led to one thing they're really soft yeah the pittsburgh penguins well yeah and we kyle dubas team i mean i've called them the the gold leafs the yellow or gold leafs whatever their colors are they're very similar to the teams he built here i just wonder and i i understand it on a certain level getting carlson

i get it um but i think there were so many people just sort of saying are you going to get last year's version of carlson were they how many meaningful games out of 82 did the San Jose Sharks play last year? And that's not to knock the skill of Carlson, right? Yeah. But essentially, he was playing river pond hockey or however you want to put it. You know, the same way with Ovechkin chasing Gretzky right now in Washington is becoming less and less relevant

with every loss. You can just go out there with the freedom of I'm just going to try and score goals. Yeah. And when Carlson's having to play in a structure in a different system and then there's the whole power play the power play thing's been just baffling right and you took Letang you took the incumbent guy off a great power play you put Carlson in and it just hasn't translated I wonder if they're just going to rue the day they went out there and signed the most expensive defenseman in the league

what is Sid going to do on a team that if this team misses the playoffs this year, then you know it's going to follow in the next year and the one after that. What are you suggesting? They're only getting worse. What are you suggesting? I am suggesting that Sid may want to reconsider his options and one of them may be leaving. Or is he your guy that says,

I'm going in and I'm going out like Mario. One uniform. I mean, I think that this is what he wants to do. And I think he has every desire to see the Penguins just improve around him so he doesn't have to make this decision. But one of the things that we think of with Sid is competitiveness right like just this desire to win and we see it in the way he plays I find it hard to believe he's going to work through a rebuild and help turn it around on his way out the door I think what could

save Sidney Crosby finishing his career as a Pittsburgh Penguin are two things one he has three Stanley Cups and that doesn't diminish his desire to have a four Stanley Cup. No, but it does. Two, we're about to have the four nations face off, followed by the Olympics. He's going to get that ability to be, he'll be the captain of Team Canada. I can't see how he wouldn't be for this four nations.

Somebody named Connor? No. Well, okay, if you want. It's on the team, it's Sid. You know, that's a great debate. I mean, listen, there's no. I'm not disagreeing with you, but Sid is the type of guy that says,

I'm giving it to Connor. Okay. You very well could be right, and there's no wrong answer here. Listen, 87 or 97, I'm happy either way. But having said that, you know, it's not like Sid is a marginal player playing out the string here. I mean, he's still an elite, elite player. I mean, he's still an all-star caliber player.

And I don't – that's a great debate. But bottom line is those things I think will get his competitive juices flowing. That is an interesting debate. Actually, it would be the captain, Connor, or Sid, pretty good options to have. But I think those two things will keep him in Pittsburgh. I really do. Is he your MVP right now, Connor?

Nate? The Nate dog? They're running neck and neck, are they? It's probably Nate. I mean, we can't forget kucherov either kucherov is leading their team but he didn't try in the all-star game it would not be a popular no one's voting for it he doesn't have a chance of getting the vote you're right you're right um but i mean when you just look at the whole resume this year you know

if we took if we took the names off the nameplate and say here are the here are the lines you might say i'll take that guy who's leading the league who's 36 points more than the next guy in his team but you're right to me mckinnon's right there but mcdavid if i had to put money down and borny you might know the lines i think mcdavid's gonna win the art ross you do eh yes he's 10 points up on mcdavid right now with about yeah 30 to go well how many he has some games in hand though mcdavid as well doesn't he well he hasn't played as many so his points per game he's at 164 he is ahead of mckinnon points per game yeah so i i could see him winning another if he wins an art ross and the oilers get to second in their division it's gonna be hard to the whole narrative they

were in last place and here's mcdavid to save the day like he's the best player no one's disputing that and i think he'd probably be, in a way, the most valuable player if he continues on this stretch. I want to cannibalize our last segment with DA because I can't not talk Phil Kessel. We've come this far. We have to have this conversation. Oh, I had him on the list.

You did with DA? Okay, good. I don't know if you saw any clips of him down in Abbotsford. He's on the ice. Did it not look good? Well, he's just tired. If you came to my skate this morning. You can still skate Thursday.

I got to come out and win your skates. More than welcome. You'll be faster than me, I guarantee you. He looked like someone more out of my skate this morning than he did an NHL player. I do want to push back on this. Because if any player because if a if any player if a very fit player had not been playing for 10 months professionally or whatever it's been

six seven months and then went to their first pro practice they're going to be hands on knees at times like they're trying to get their wind up they're going to look tired but of course we get the the odd clips and he's you know he's built like the way he's built and he's exhausted and it's 10 months he played i believe the first three playoff games and sat all through may and june like it's been 10 months so it's understandable for him to be gas but he's pretty gas this is nothing but a rolling the dice crapshoot for the vancouver canucks what's the risk though that's what i mean that's what i mean It's just like, but there's no downside to this. He doesn't cost you a different

player or a spot for someone? No, he doesn't. At his very best, if everything goes great and he looks half decent, he's their 13th or 14th forward going into what hopefully is a long playoffs.

Meaning, you're not getting in unless we lose two or three guys. Let's say Garland goes down or Brock goes down. Is he your best alternative to slide in for a game or two in the playoffs? I don't know. Maybe. Kessel is late career. Patrick Maroon would delight me. Gets his fourth cup with the Vancouver Canucks.

This guy's resume would be unbelievable. Guys love playing with him. There's not a chemistry issue. No. You're going to have a million laughs with this guy in the room. But he's also the guy that like, okay, you put him in for eight minutes one night and he gets a touch in the right spot. He can shoot one in for you.

Not many 13th, 14th guys can shoot one in for you. And he 13th 14th guys can shoot one in for you and he can quick segue uh seeing kipper do the the roll the dice motion brought me back to vegas a few years ago this guy was on fire uh he couldn't i mean he couldn't lose first time playing craps he rolled for like 54 minutes we weren't betting like such losers we could have yeah we should have retired that night people around us are, great, this made me 20 grand. It was like, great, I made you 100 bucks. Looking at my lousy pile going, I don't know this game that well.

That was a good night, though. That was a good night. So the other Canadian teams that are in the mix, I know you all have a watchful eye on the Canadian teams. You're my Canadian correspondent. And every year it's how many of these guys can legitimately have a shot at winning the Cup. The Jets still in there. How many teams do you have with a legit shot here?

Well, the three atop the West, I mean, we just did the odds board. I'm not sure who's sponsoring your show. Thanks to Bet365. Okay, good. Yeah, so Bet365 did our Stanley Cup odds, and Edmonton Oilers were the top odds at plus 800. Vancouver was second odds at plus 850.

Vegas knows what they're doing, right? They're not trying to lose money without making this a gambling segment. To say that Winnipeg, Edmonton, or Vancouver aren't legitimate cup contenders, I still want to put the Leafs in that group. They haven't shown us, and we are going to do a bunch of Leaf games coming up,

our regional show with us three and Elliott, which I'm looking forward to. We have a couple of games next week. They haven't looked the part of Stanley Cup contender, but I still am going to stick by what I've said for two months now. Let's see what they are on March 9th. And I'm not sure they're going to be anything different, but let's see what they are.

See, every day that passes by, like, I'm not a betting guy, but if I was, that first rounder's good as gone. The least first. Yes. So you think they're going to do something? Not a chance they're not.

Okay, so that's pretty darn good. So you are a betting guy then. So you're putting that out there. And if that's the case, if they go out and they try and hit the jackpot, whatever the jackpot looks like, whether it's Tanev, Markstrom, whomever, I don't know who they're coveting. They need something.

But if they go and they add two defensemen, they add two defensemen and a forward, they add a defenseman, a forward, and a goalie, we're going to look at them as maybe part of that group. Right now, I'm kind of saying they're on the cusp. There's about eight or nine teams I would take ahead of Toronto. But those three teams in the West, especially the ones that have Demko and Hellebuck.

Doing nothing is not an option for the Toronto Maple Leafs or any of the playoff games or any of the playoff teams right across the country. I'm telling you right now, there's bidding wars going on right now. And that includes every team in a playoff scenario, including Vancouver, still knocking on the doors. Who would you guys say is the most coveted free agent?

Not free agent, sorry. Trade. Trade asset out there. Like it's so, I guess it depends on your team. Well, you had some among forwards in your article today. You had Lawton. Lawton. I had Boone Jenner.

You think they're going to trade their captain? Who's to trade him? They don't have a GM right now. Davidson's doing it, yeah. So there's a couple of... At the end of the day, he knows what the parameters are. They're first-round picks, right? Boone Jenner, wow, that would be...

Well, it's a great fit for the Leafs if you're... I mean, I guess any team looking for a 30-year-old center. And these are the same teams, like the Rangers in Colorado that missed out, that put bids in for Monaghan. Winnipeg ends up with Monaghan, but now they're going back to the well here. We see Scott Laughlin tonight here. Lawton versus the Leafs.

Some people are saying he's not a first pick. Like at the best, he's three and a half, four. Really? On the depth chart. You know, like Nick Steeler, but Elliott keeps saying that they're going to maybe try to re-sign Steeler. He's a tough. I just told him.

Kip goes, check where he is in block shots. First in the NHL. Steeler is. Yeah, 155. That I didn't know, but I've seen him in some fights. Not that there's a lot of fighting. He plays, he's 10 at best. He's a first rounder all day long 5 11 to me

on a championship team he could he could slide in uh second pair defenseman you know i'm curious to see for the leafs like you know you're talking about spending that first rounder can they find something over the next month or three weeks from their third line you know Domi and Bertuzzi started to have a little bit last game because look at the other Canadian teams the the Canucks have Bluger Garland Joshua as a third line the lifeline those guys have been tremendous or at least I'm calling it the life I saw it online I was like I like that those guys have been fantastic to me that's that's a championship caliber kind of third line. You want to talk about Domi and Robertson now going to a conference final or a Stanley Cup final as a third line, I'm not buying it.

Third line on the Jets, Niederreiter, Lowry, Appleton. That to me is the best third line in hockey. But if Boone Jenner's in the mix, it totally changes how you feel about a third line. No question. You know? So, you know, we'll see what they do with that first. I love that. I didn't, I mean, I haven't heard anyone talk about Boone Jenner. I didn't know. I didn't, I think he's the captain. question you know so you know we'll see what they do with that first but they definitely defenseman

i didn't i mean i haven't heard anyone talk about boone jenner i didn't know i didn't i think he's the captain i looked at it differently but if he's available he's not going to be a part of them when they're on the way up right he's 30 years old you know what he's also an ontario kid um it's just an all-star like he also just greased ridley craig so whoever loves him here that would be great do we expect expect Bedard to play tonight? Yes, from what I'm hearing and reading. We have it on Sportsnet 360, I believe. Is it important that he comes back

and fills the net so the league can give him his Rookie of the Year, Calder? Still tied. I mean, this Brock Faber story is pretty nice, though. Brock Faber looks like the second coming of Ryan Suter, right?

He's eating up all these minutes. I mean, I wonder if at the end of the day rob blake and the guys in la are going what the hell did we just do and i like kevin fiala and i like the trade at the time but this favor kid have you guys watched him i mean yeah you you you never give up a top tier defenseman for a winger you just don't well and it's just that you can get burned so badly like the next decade this guy's going to be a number one number two guy and they knew the pedigree was there he played for the world juniors he went to the olympics he um you know he he was a second round draft pick but it just he's the fit's been perfect and they've just given him more given him more given him more and he succeeded every time so faber is going to be in the discussion but think about it you talked about the voting when

it came to kucherov the average voter for awards they're going oh my god bedard the savior of the league and the goals and this or a brock faber it's not sexy right it's might he's deserving but it's just not sexy he's gonna have to really do something he's gonna have to beat bedard and points probably to be even in that conversation yeah i think that's reasonable and uh last team for me while we're kind of going around canada ottawa kind on a bit of a tear one four in a row have we seen this before perfect timing one four in a row seven one and two in their last 10 uh their numbers their analytics the last 10 games compared to the first 13 under martin are way better do we believe it is it real or is the second half getting backup up goalies?

Everyone's playing no pressure. No, I think they deserve these wins. I think they're playing more like the team we anticipate. I don't know about you guys. I'm not going to sit here and pretend anything. We talked about Detroit, Buffalo, and Ottawa as three possible teams. For sure. And you know what I said?

I said, I like Ottawa the most. I like Buffalo second most. I like Detroit third most. And it's the exact flip of those. So we've often debated on what sells the game and how do we drive more awareness to this great NHL game. Where were you on Ridley Gregg? Oh, no.

On selling on what he did and the interest it created, selling the game, good or bad? I don't even know if I looked interest it created selling the game good or bad? I don't even know if I looked at it as selling the game. I had no problem with what he...

The attention that it had. Yes. Was that good enough? This is how I look at it. I had no problem with what he did and he had to fully expect a response.

Yeah, I think it's a great game. To do that and then to just sort of skate and... It's fine. Just expect people are going to like it. Listen, we can all relive the situation.

I know, and I saw you guys had some great clips on it and great dialogue on it. I'm glad there was a response. Luke Gastic, who I did the show with on Monday, said he thinks that'll be the galvanizing thing that'll maybe draw this team together. And you were kind of alluding to that too. Because we're dumb.

As Torts told us, we're just dumb. But it was a big response it's a big moment it's a moment i haven't had a ton of moments no no the battle of ontario in the last 10 years or 15 has not had a lot of moments we sat on the set earlier this year after marshan took yeah a little grin into the thing and nick was apoplectic losing his yes there was no response and understandably so. You heard Sheldon Keefe say the lack of response was embarrassing or whatever the words he used, and this was a real response.

Was it over the top? Yes. Some people don't think it is. I go, yeah, you don't stick a guy in the face like that, but I'm glad there was something, and it needed to be something. But I don't have a problem with Ridley Gregg. As long as you know there's going to be your wake. And he made no apologies for it.

You're poking the bear. Yeah. What's on tap tonight, DA? Busy night. In fact, I better get to my show meeting. We got a 6.30 show. Oh, jeez. Luke Gostick, Sam Cosentino.

We're setting up tonight. And tonight we have 8 o'clock. Oh, my gosh. I should know which game. Well, we have the Oilers, the Flames, and the Canucks. I'm not sure which one's eight, which one's nine. Vancouver's ten. But they're all on Sportsnet One, Sportsnet Proper, I think,

Sportsnet West. Check your local listings. Check Sportsnet Plus. But it's a busy night. Twelve games in the league. What? Every Canadian team except Winnipeg? Oh, wow.

Yeah, every Canadian team except the Jets tonight. So it's busy. And you obviously need to get to make up pretty badly. Yeah. It's not even fair to the public. I hope you are listening on the radio. We love having you. Shine is legit here.

Is it true you hate winter because it forces you to wear long-sleeved shirts to hide your guns? Oh, my God. Guns. He can just break out of those shirts if he wants to by flexing. You know, we used to do the board of governors down in Florida, and we'd be by the pool, and, like, you know, we used to do the board of governors down in Florida, and we'd be by the pool, and like, you know, we'd

barely be from the airport. This guy can't take his shirt off fast enough. Boots and shirts off? Boots and shirts? They're like, just boots, sir. He's like, oh, okay. This is a misrepresentation. Elliot and I look at each other going, I'm just going to go to the room. Elliot was in the main

genie, the Borat. It you know listen it was a good shot it was fun anytime i can swing back we appreciate you coming on man all right guys david ammer amber hammer i'm enamored i'm enamored with david amber there you go all right we're gonna take a quick break we'll find sammy we'll find derrick brandale we will find matthew kachuk's all right we're going to take a quick break we'll find sammy we'll find derrick brandale we will find matthew kachuk's all right clip more real kipper and born after these words hey it's ben ennis and i'm brent cunning we got you covered on all things leafs rafters and blue jays every weekday morning six to nine it's the fan morning show sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. 11 games on tap.

Five Canadian clubs in action tonight. Sammy, you got a little game time action for us? I missed you guys. That was fun with DA. We found you. We found Derek Brandeo. We found our Matthew Kachuk clip. Hold on.

Let me get this out of the way first. On Tuesday, February 20th, Scotiabank Arena will celebrate its 25th anniversary. It will be opening its doors to the community by offering the opportunity to skate on the lease home ice and shoot around in the Raptors' private in-venue practice court. For this occasion, we are offering two passes to this limited-time event. To enter, listen daily to the real Kipper Unborn for the code word,

then text the code word to 590590. Today's code word is hockey. Text hockey to 590590 right now for your chance to win. Listen tomorrow for the last code word. And if you do not win with us, passes are available at Scotiabank Arena slash 25th anniversary. That code word today is hockey. Damn, I forgot the code word.

What was the code word? I don't know how they come up with these. They're so hard. If you went any more general, it would be like earth. It's going to be on earth. Fair. It's great. I love it.

And the second thing I have for you is 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. A pretty full slate as Kipper mentioned before. Florida Panthers last night, boys.

I know you guys were talking a little bit with DA. God, my daily fears of waking up and thinking about the least playing that team in the playoffs they play a certain way they're going into buffalo tonight uh they are minus 160 favorites i know the buffalo sabers are coming off their biggest win of the year have they played since they shellacked the kings whatever it was eight nothing or seven touchdown on the kings yeah uh still love the panthers going in that game minus 160 team that just is that's the type of game where don't love minus 60 doesn't pay me enough i might do in regulation which you can usually get it like around even or minus a goal and a half plus 155 for them to win by two yeah i'm just quite sure that the florida panthers are going

to win that game they're gonna do a victory uh the next one I have another really good game here tonight uh the Colorado Avalanche and the Tampa Bay Lightning Colorado is a slight underdog heading into Tampa Tampa's been playing well recently but anytime I can get the Nate dog as an underdog I'm probably gonna do that plus 105 so give me the Colorado Avalanche in Tampa and I just quickly want to look this up because, of course, as every team that comes into Toronto, it's their Stanley Cup Finals. It's the biggest game of the year for them. And more specifically for Morgan Frost, who comes home tonight,

his father, Andy Frost, was the PA announcer forever for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Psychedelic Sundays. Absolutely. That's not his big show on Q107. I can tell you right now that he's going to be coming into this game pretty horned up, looking to score a goal. Give me a Morgan Frost goal tonight at plus 375 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

So those are my picks for this evening, fellas. Anything from you? Just Tiger Woods. Oh, Tiger Woods. He had an absolute shank um it's just a full hosel rocket i'm just looking he i think he's pretty close to the bottom of the uh of the the leaderboard uh plus one today but it's like these new pga tour events like three guys three guys gets three guys get caught like there's barely any cut like it's i think there's only

50 guys in the tourney like so it's very exclusive. But anyways, I don't have the odds in front of me. I can't get them at this point. Go ahead. Go on. Finish. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So before

Colorado beat Washington, they had lost four in a row. Happens. Yeah, but you really like them still. Colorado? Yeah, you don't look at them and say, something's not right here. I think they're way too dependent on a few guys because they know that they're flawed down the roster

and they need additions. You know what really hurt them? Nikushkin. Yeah. Gosh. Losing him. Forgot about him. That one on top of Landis Cog being out this long,

like Nikushkin took his game to another level. Yeah. And Johansson being a dog doesn't help. Of course, he's dealing with off-ice issues right now through the program at the NHLPA, and we wish him all the best of luck. But this is really put a damper on their top nine yeah they're bottom six right now like i like kiviranta but

they got parisi on the third line who they just pulled out of his basement somewhere and you know some guys that are not uh super effective so i do think they're a little more flawed than they have been in years past but i do think they're also aware of how good their best players are and they'll be aggressive at the deadline. Remember in Nashville we were talking about Ryan Johansson? Yeah. Being a top player. It's over.

It's over. Yeah. Yeah. That ship has sailed. Old Matt Duchesne, though, is lighting it up for the Dallas Stars, but Johansson not having the same success. I look at their, so I just pulled up their cat-friendly page. They have all the next three years first-round picks.

They have a 20-26 second. They have thirds in the next two years, fourth in the next two years. They have a pretty solid amount of picks to be used here. I'm not sure of their prospect capital in terms of who they've got. That's really enticing. But this is like the sid penguins when they were really good this is all in every year yes like they're they are ahead of like obviously they're ahead of the

least and that's in that factor like you're trading those first for impact guys especially with the kushkin's money not on the books and that kind of thing expect nakushkin to be back this year would you not like maybe he comes back at the end of it all i mean a lot of these guys take a couple months you just don't know you don't know 100 i don't know if it's something that you can count on one way or the other and landis cog is no chance this season i don't know whether or not uh we're talking about this season or the rest of his career. Whatever he's trying to do to me is, I've been told,

is a bit of a long shot. Wow. Right? Honestly, that's heartbreaking. That is. He was such a stud. Kael McCarr, Gerrard, Manson, Taves, Byram, like their D is really effective yeah to me they are

still a big time threat okay i'm in a short series with nathan mckinnon ranting that top pair that i just i think they're a big threat still so colorado a big threat we just talked about how florida for you was like this nasty lookout can we do we have the matthew kachuk clip we definitely have that clip this this is what yeah yeah i mean i think i think tonight in particular the talk was first 10 minutes there's no puck out there and let's try to get as many hits as we can and try to wear their d out for the third period and um i mean yeah there was no puck out there we didn't have it in the first so uh i guess was no shots in the first either. I know, exactly. There probably was no puck out there.

But I think our line is a little bit different in the sense where we're pretty good forward checking and three guys that play physical and are tenacious and try to be on the puck and on the body. So I think especially come playoff time starting the first few shifts of the game or first few shifts of the period, but especially at the start of games trying to be probably overly physical and hoping that teams wear down by the end of the series.

You know, the Panthers have He's awesome. Yeah. He's a special. He's not what he scored last year? Over 100 points? 104 or something ridiculous. But he's not on that pace. Yes.

He hit 109 last year. 109. I'm sorry. That was in Calgary? 109 in Florida. Yeah. 104, then 109. Okay.

That's like ridiculous numbers for a guy that can still go out there and piss you off. 123 pims still. Right? Yeah. 123 pims. So he's going to end up with what? Okay, that's like ridiculous numbers for a guy that can still go out there and piss you off. 123 pips still. Right? Yeah, 123 pips. So he's going to end up with what, 80, 90 points? Yeah, he's well over a point per game. Almost 60 points in 53 games.

But just beat you every which way. And last night, I think he had four points. It's common. He made some great passes last night. Where are you with florida's defense because someone mentioned the name aaron ekblad to me the other day what is a tradable player no i love ekblad you do i do i didn't used to i do now wow okay he scored a nice goal last night i've come around but you know two names that i the other one right everybody wants right-handed

ekblad's a right-handed uh pareko's name is out there being floated a little bit more and more i think he's got like three years possibly four left at six five that might be a tough one for the leafs yeah but uh you know eric ekblad not that he's he's he's necessarily a guy that could get moved at the trade deadline first of all he has a complete no move he's coming off an amazing contract yeah he's making seven five they've been making seven five for a while here top pair right shot heavy d who gets points so he's got a no move clause so it's not like he's there's a threat that he's going to get traded but in the summer uh july it he loses the no move and then it goes to 12 teams that uh he can protect from being traded what are you saying here i'm saying that

florida is in a situation now where they're not sure if they want to resign him he's still at a very young age 28 eligible to be signed july 1st would he be looking for a raise off of the 75 would you sign him at 75 would you yeah we're talking that number for hannifin that they've also got uh brandon montour who's going to be a ufa um this summer and forsling is a ufa so where's florida going to be a UFA this summer and Forsling is a UFA. So where's Florida going to put their money moving forward? They're going to go back to Eric Ekblad or are they going to now focus

on signing Montour who's going to be 30 maybe on a four or five year deal? Sam Reinhardt's deal is up too this summer, right? So they've got a lot of decisions to make, and that Forsling's come out of nowhere, guys.

I think he plays the top 10 time on ice per game. I haven't checked in a long time. He's turned into a hell of a defenseman. It'd be a real shame if they just crumbled. It'd be a real shame. So my point is, do you want to go back and revisit Ekblad moving forward, or do you say goodbye to him and and revisit uh ekblad moving forward or do you say goodbye to him and and focus on i don't know keeping montour or forsling and and reinhardt

for that matter yeah what would you do well ekblad to me is the top guy of the guys you're talking about there like montour his numbers are down quite a bit from last year um 70 some points last year like unbelievable just absurd numbers um forsling you know is he's a nice story to me but he's not as impactful he's a great neutral zone gap defender tight gaps tough to play and all that but my only concern with ekblad is he just rarely gets through a season healthy you know he's hurt a lot and so you give a guy seven eight years into his 30s who's already hurt a lot in his 20s just to just to go back to colton preko he has six more seasons after this one at 6.5 oh my gosh what did i say three or four yeah it's six more at six five and what was

his age till 29 30 he is under contract he is 30 yeah yeah yeah you think the Leafs should go after him no well yes I do okay I like it well I just look at the way they're built and what they have he's a right shot he's a right shot big body right shot he's been was he on the company he was like you know and he's not that old presence no no no 29 yeah and he's not that old presence no no 29 yeah and he's generally healthy there's some wear and tear there is he's he missed games so uh somewhere in terror i think up back i think back issues he's had in the past back he had me and um just one more trade sort of note that the penguins announced that genzel is expected to miss up to four weeks due to injury. Oh. Yeah. Four weeks.

That takes you to, like, March 9th. Yeah, that won't have a... He'll get healthy. Won't play a factor if, in fact, Kyle Dubas would want to trade him. One, two, three weeks. Pretty abundantly clear here that they should be heading in that direction. Well... Like, I know it's a tough conversation conversation i was not supposed to miss the playoffs this year yeah making that i mean missed by one point last year after they lost to chicago and columbus in the last two games of the year do you remember that if that didn't happen florida doesn't get in and then the leafs win the stanley. What was your stats? Didn't you give me stats

on Kyle Dubas' Penguins being near the bottom of major categories? Well, they're all the least penalized team in the league. They're the least penalized team in the league. They hit the least. They do everything the least.

I think it's an underrated story that i think everything's great their coach likes to play a certain way too it's not just dubious like he's been there this whole time they've never been a force uh physically i think this is kind of sullivan's way they still create a lot they're third in the nhl and expected goals four which is very dubiousy they're all the same they're i'll say it that That Carlson trade's a disaster. It was from the start. And he knocked on the door.

He wanted it here. He wanted him in Toronto. Oh, my God. I don't think he got much support. I think we booed you out of the studio when you suggested it last year. I think there was a number of reasons why Kyle left. Very long list. That one probably was right there.

What, that he wasn't able to bring him here when he wanted to? That's right, yeah. Well, whoever dug in on that, if that's Brendan. Good on you, bud. Way to go, pal. You nailed that one. Way to go. How about the Penguins power play?

Like, you can't score with all those stars. I hate to draw a line, but I've watched the Penguins a lot this year. And it's Carlson trying to hammer it from the point, and it's over to Geno from the half boards a lot. The Geno slapper from the half boards kills. It just happens so much. Here it comes again. Did you guys catch this story?

I caught it from the corner of my eye about a lawsuit, junior hockey violating an antitrust law. Yes, I read that article this morning. What do you think? I think that the NIL rules in college and how those players are finding ways to get money now has changed how people are looking at the exploitation of other players. And these junior hockey players, I mean, it's not fair.

But the leagues will crumble if they have to pay them. Yeah. They can't. I mean, these leagues are operating on no margin. They can't pay them, but can they find other ways to put money in their pockets? Well, that's probably what it is. It's like Dave's auto, you know, tire changing service gives the guy.

And you know Dave's just rolling in it in North bay ontario well right if he's got enough to keep a good center on his team he might pull me up right buy season tickets chip in a little more we'll get to keep the good players most a lot of these guys are still making the same 20 bucks i made in 1983 250 per month is the most you can make as a junior hockey player well if you just look at the state of college football, it's great. Now that they've got NIL, they've really crushed it. So it's completely sarcastic. It's horrible.

They turned it into pro. Yeah. Just 10 teams of good players. They're giving room and board. They play in the number one development league in the world, in the CHL. They have all the scouts' eyes on them. If you're good in that league, you're going to it higher. You're gonna go to the next thing. It's like, you want to get rid of that? Fine.

It's like, it just, it goes to what Torts was talking about earlier. It's like, you want to change it all? You want all these guys to come in as superstars getting paid all this money? These guys work hard, and some owner sells tickets on the backs of their work and makes that money at least they

don't have to do it behind anyone's back now that's all they were always doing it right no you're right and there's all these like committees now that like pool their money to keep offensive linemen like it's a different world now how do you think by the way castles tryout with the amateur had it look there to start look good. Dynamic. He needs a few down and back. He's got to get the wallies going. All right, every drill. Down and back. Down and back.

Yeah, boys. What kind of name of a book I've heard of? I've done a few. All right, thanks to Daniel Breer, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers and the host of NHL Hockey on Sportsnet, of course, David Amber. 11 games on tap. Pick yours.

And then join us again tomorrow when we do it all over again on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Have a great night, everybody.