Real Kyper & Bourne - Connor McDavid's Mindset

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome Oilers analyst Jason Gregor (5:09) to the show to discuss the angst in Edmonton as Connor McDavid remains without an extension. They get into McDavid's mindset, what moves the Oilers can make to entice him to stay, and how the team looks beyond the expiring superstar. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam McKee to discuss whether the Leafs or Oilers would be interested in recently waived goalie Connor Ingram, Easton Cowan's chances of making the Leafs' lineup, and where David Kämpf and Calle Järnkrok fit within the Leafs' roster.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 season five. We are live on Sportsnet 590, The Fans, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, Sportsnet Plus. And immediately following the show, you can download us on our YouTube Sportsnet channel. where you can give us a thumbs up. Poor Sammy last night at the ball game. Jay's conclude a three game set against Boston tonight. Oh, God. Right across all your Sportsnet channels.

And Sammy, how were those nine innings that you were so excited last night to leave our show to get to? There was not one bit of excitement. I was feigning it. Like, of course, I'm pretending to be excited about it, but I wasn't excited. It was pure dread. Sam is a reluctant fan.

It's horrible. It was horrible. It was, you know, one of the worst regular season viewing experiences of a baseball game I've ever had, for sure. Like, I mean, I've seen some bad playoff ones, but that was as lifeless. So were you and 42,000 other Blue Jay fans, like, not excited or is this just the feeling like this is all caving in? It's hard to get excited when you're, you know, you're sending out Max Scherger out there who got five runs put on him

by the Kansas City Royals before he recorded an out in his previous outing. So you're thinking, okay, maybe this is the one he figures it out, strikes out Duran to start the game. You're like, oh, maybe bonk, bonk, bonk, they just, everything they touch turns to gold. And then they just, they are, I mean, you can blame the pitch, you can blame the umpires, you can blame whatever you want. They are historically ice cold right now at the dish.

It is incredible. They are unrecognizable boys. They were the most exciting electric top to bottom team, and they're in the freezer. They're just frozen. Can I tell you what I think makes it worse is that I think this looks a little bit more like going into the season, maybe what people expected. That's what April and May look like too. Right.

And so there is this fear that like, oh, they're not going to be able to hit. And then they surprised us all. And so when it's not going great, there's this element of like, oh, man, are they really just coming back to Earth? Yeah. That's the fear. I ain't watched it. We got Jason Greger, host of the Jason Gregor show out in Edmonton on Sports 1440,

joining us in a few minutes. So we promised we won't turn this into a complete baseball show. But just one more for me. Oh, boy. Okay. You love what I'm told you. Is Vlad is a piece on it? Are Toronto fans going to be as hard on Vladdy as they are on Mitch Marner, Austin Matthews,

and the rest of the Leafs over the years? I think it's a different relationship between the Leafs fans and the Leafs and the Jays. I think it's a different, it's a different sport, different relationship. But I do think that, listen, like, I always do the hockey dressing room barometer of what people are talking about. And, you know, I played hockey today, my morning, my usual Thursday morning skate, 10.01 club. And the boys are turning on Vladdy. Like, the Vladdy talks are, well, he's making 500 schmills.

He's smiling at first base, blah, blah, blah. Like, it's happening, bud. So I turned the channel last night and I see the Yankee gazillionaire hit two home runs and our gazillionaire can't get 25 over the season. Yeah, here's what I'll say about Judge. He makes $125 million less than Vladdy does in his contract. So that's food for thought. It's truly you can tell when Kip knows that he's like in the chat way more being like,

what's going on, Sammy? I'm checking on. you, bud. You go dry on us every once in a while and I get nervous. Last night was bad. And I went with an obnoxious socks fan who's a buddy of mine. He was just in my grill the entire game and just every good thing

happened for them. And tonight, I'm not going to watch. I'm going to a junior hockey game tonight. I'm going to turn my phone off. I'm going to sit there. Maybe have a beer, have some popcorn and I'm not watching. Because we do know the NHL playoffs involving the Leafs has on occasion forced you to go outside and have a dart.

Please tell me we're not there yet. No, the darts are happy darts, usually. Like if the Leafs win a series or when Canada beat USA and the Four Nations face off have a dart, not usually have a lot of sad darts, but I do have a pack in my, in my closet for situations that may arise. Break glass. I do have emergency darts.

They're probably pretty dry. I haven't touched it in a month a couple months, but they're there. I hope kids aren't listening to our show right now. They're not. Anyways. The Edmonton Oilers, we started off our show this week

what we thought maybe would have been a I don't know four or five minute conversation on Connor McDavid has turned into I think predominantly our first hour yeah in a few minutes we'll welcome in Jason Greger and we now have word that he is joining us now host of the Jason Greger show on SportsEd 1440

in Edmonton and Jason first of all thanks for joining us I hope it was a good summer but I'm not sure what that means in Edmonton, knowing that the greatest player on the planet has less than 12 months to go before he's completely free to pick another team. Yeah, there's definitely some angst, I think, amongst Edmontonians and Euler fans for sure.

I actually have an article today coming out to Order's Nation about there's currently 125 players in the NHL who are in the final year of a multi-year deal, that are unrestricted free agents. And then there's 51 guys who signed one-year deals, but they're not eligible to sign a contract until January. So it didn't include them. And, you know, there's obviously lots of big names.

McDavid's the biggest, right? But then there's Caprisoff and there's Kyle Connor and, you know, Artemi Paneraan and Sergey Bobrovsky and, you know, John Carlson. So there's others, but obviously, you know, it's McDavid. So it gets a lot of talk and understandably so. I always thought he would never sign a contract until September at the earliest anyway. Now that looks that I'll be wrong, that he's not going to sign in September. I still, when I look at the orders and, you know, they're close to signing Jake Wallman,

they just got pod coals and obviously dry settles there for a long, long time. I think people forget, like, they dominated the Western Conference in the playoffs last year. Like, it wasn't close against Vegas and Dallas. They just lost to a juggernaut Florida team. So if Connor McDavid leaves, I always say, like, where is a better place? Like, I get you want to win. but is it guaranteed you're going to win? Like we've seen that in the NBA.

Superstars chase rings doesn't always catch one. So it'll be fascinating to me to see what he ultimately decides. Okay, before we get there, just in terms of up until this point, Jason, where do you see the method to his madness of coming out and being so non-committed to anything past this season? Because I don't think it's money. So what do you think it is? What's the reason of putting everybody on high alert

as early as, you know, July 2nd? Now, obviously, you know, Connor and his circle is pretty tight. So it's not like you're going to get a lot of information. So this is a little bit of, you know, I would say, I've covered him for, well, this will be 11th year. And, you know, I have a decent relationship with Connor. I'm not going to lie to people and pretend that it's like super, you know, know, intimate and we, you know, we text all the time or talk, it's not like that.

But I've talked to him, had many, many conversations with him and other people around. Connor is, is very much a deep thinker. I think he's using what he has at his disposal, which is time. And he feels like for him personally, I'm sure like the outside people, like fans and even the organization, they want him to sign, obviously. But Conner McDavid's like, well, I want to do what's right for me. So I think there's a few things here. He looks and he tried not to think about a contract this summer.

That's why I always thought they would never do it. You know, his brother's getting married, Dressel's getting married. They lost the Cup second year in a row. He probably didn't want to focus on it. Because the truth of the matter is, Nick, when you said, like McDavid says, okay, you want a contract. It's not a hard negotiation. Like, let's be real here.

This is not one where the agent's got to grind it out to see what you can get for Conner McDavid. If he wants to get the max, Emmington would pay him the max. But he wants to win, so I don't think he'll ever want the max, right? Because it's just too hard to win in the NHL if one guy's eating up that much cap space. So I think he'll get a fair deal. Like I've even heard like it wouldn't shock me if McDavid signed a two-year contract at like 14 million,

similar to Leon Dry Settle, right? And it looks and say, hey, man, we want to win. And Leon in the regular season the last two years, that's probably being a better player than Connor McDavid. If you look at offense and defense and you combine it all, McDavid obviously had, you know, great playoffs. Don't give me wrong. But in the regular season, I think you could, there's a lot of data that would suggest that the dry Settle being being the better player top to bottom

in the regular season. So, you know, if you sign for 14, 15, 16, whatever the number is, I don't think that changes. I think he's looking and saying, hey, what are we going to do? And he's probably looking a little bit here to say, okay, hey, the organization, I just want to make sure that they're still like pedal to the

medal, let's try and win. And if he waits a bit, that just probably keeps them on their toes. Jay, yeah, yeah, no, that is. J.B., how do you do that? How do you make sure? That is the question. The Oilers are obviously they're like win now mode they're Canada's best chance at a cup here what moves can they take

to drive that point home that we're trying here man we're in well I think I spoke to Stan Bowman about this and and he says really it's a lot of just conversation about what's his plan because I agree to you guys like nobody in the NHL can sit down here today and I don't care what team you're on well this is our plan

and it's for sure going to work and we're guaranteed to get a cup it's impossible Like, look at the orders last year. It's an if, but what if Zach Heimann doesn't break his wrist in like one of the weirdest non-dangerous looking hits that we've seen, right? What if he's healthy? What if what ifs? What ifs? But it's legit in the playoffs because you take away two of your top four forwards and Matthias Atcombe, you know, is playing meh, because of an injury, like, how different would they be?

Maybe they win. None of us will ever know. And so you can have the best laid plan and plan. pro sports. One key injury at the wrong time, guys, and it derails it. Like, Florida might have won three in a row if Matthew Kachuk wasn't hurt in 2023. So, I think that just that he wants to win, like, yeah, and who doesn't, right?

Yes, exactly. So, like, I mean, there's no, there's no trade waiting for him to go, that's the one. Or, okay, I need to see Isaac Howard in two more exhibition games. And if he looks like a stud, I'm signing. Like there's nothing out there that's going to do that. And I agree with you. And that's why, you know, McDavid, when he asked, he goes, well, it's just going to be a feeling, which was probably actually honest, but it's hard for most people to wrap their head around.

It goes, well, what do you mean? It's a feeling. But I, because you're right, Nick. Like he, there's not going to be a trade. Now, I guess, hey, let's, you know, pie in the sky here. If they suddenly could make some, you know, out of this world trade, you know, and they get a top five goal in the league. That might do it.

But it's really hard to get that into the cap space. And so there is, there's no guarantee, guys. That's probably, I think, what's frustrating for a lot of oil fans and even for the organization is that they're like, like, we're trying to win. I think we've shown, like, nobody's gotten closer other than Florida, right? Like, so how much better of a job can you do? The only reason I do not sense that he is going to sign anytime soon is because there is no feeling coming.

I don't believe for one second he's going to wake up tomorrow and he's got the feeling, but he didn't have the feeling when he was talking to Elliot Friedman a week and a half ago. They win some hockey games, things start to feel right again. No, no, no. That makes no sense to come out and scare the hell out of your town and your team and your fans

and the sponsors and the season ticket holders only to wake up with this feeling that nobody knows about. Well, but here's the thing. There's really nothing the Emmington owners can do. Like McDavid has a no movement clause. He's committed says he wants to play this year. And so even if it got to the point and they said, hey, okay, you don't want to decide,

well, we don't want to lose you for nothing, so we're going to trade you. Well, he's going to have 100% saying where he gets traded. And what if the team, say emminton hypothetical here made a deal with pick team a and we're like man we're going to give you this guy this guy and this guy and then mac david's like well i'm not going to accept that trade because now the team i'm going to is not going to be as deep so i'm not really sure what the options are for the orders other than to keep the lines of communication open

hopefully get off to a good start and and feel that you know what someday that feeling arises or maybe there's a move that changes mine i don't know because other like there's really nothing guys that I can think of, unless you can, that the owners can do here to expedite this decision. Well, how are things shaping up around him? You know, a couple of young guys, Savoy, Howard, you know, is there a chance for these guys to pop? And it's like, all right, we got a little extra flare this year. How is the team looking outside the McDavid Factor right now? Well, you're like, the owner's got one of the best defense scores in the game, right? Like, you look at their top five defense. It's really good. So you start there. You know,

Stuart Skinner is going to be a question mark until he becomes more. Actually, if Stuart Skinner played like he did in the 50 regular season games and 21 out of 23 playoff games. So really 71 out of 73 games and 24, the orders will be fine. He had two bad games against Vancouver. But go look at his regular season 50 starts under Knoblock and his other 21 in the playoffs. They're actually really good. So if he gets back to that, they're okay because then he's one of the best value goalies in the NHL. But their depth is obviously a concern, especially without Zach,

Hyman, he's not coming back until November. And then when he does come back, it's a wrist injury, guys. Like, how is, how much is it going to take? We see players when you miss camp, it's hard to play catch up. So you probably got to lower your expectations for Hyman. But the big one here is Connor McDavid had 26 goals last year. He had 32 the year before. So that's 58 and two years.

Drysettle himself had 52 goals and he missed the 11 games last year. Like McDavid's got to score more himself and he's talked about it. So their main core guys are still there. The orders are a playoff team. I think they're going to look to get a scoring winger between now and the trade deadline and maybe a goal tender, depending on how it goes, maybe a right shot defenseman. But their depth is good enough to get off to a good start. Although the last two years, it's funny.

Like the last two seasons where the orders went to the Stanley Cup, they got absolutely annihilated, 8 to 1 by Vancouver and 6-0 to Winnipeg on opening night. And they didn't have good starts in the first 10 games. So they've got, I think it's seven of their first 10 on the road this year. And funny enough, they have all 16 of their Eastern Road Trip games done by December. That's never happened in franchise history. So we'll see. They got a five game or a seven gamer and then another five gamer that ends in Minnesota.

And that's going to be real, like the first three months here is going to be tough for the orders, I think to have a really great start. You're watching and listening to Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger show on Sportsnet 1440 in Edmonton. And so Jason, as far as Howard is concerned, they give up Sam O'Reilly, the first rounder out of London for his rights. What have you seen out of Howard so far? Well, I was, I'm always one who likes to caution people when it comes to young players. The NHL is a very difficult league. You guys know it firsthand.

And, you know, young guys on cup contenders, like, I went through the list, guys, like, outside of the Stan Coven and, and, Lake and Carolina. There is no rookies. Like, look at Florida. Samaskowitz scored 15 goals in regular season. He didn't even play in the playoffs. So you know what? You can have young guys help you, but they're not going to be the difference maker. Let's be a spade, call a spade a spade here. Like, I won't be shocked if Mike Howard gets a little American League time like 85% of the NHL does. So we'll see. I think Matt Savoy is definitely going to be ready for an NHL role, probably a third line player on the penalty kill, five on five. You know, he's a smaller for it. He's a complimentary guy.

You know, Ike Howard, maybe down the road because of his shooting ability, could be a big time score, but I'm not sold he's in the NHL all season long, just because when I look at the roster, and if Ike Howard's not playing 14 minutes a night, 13 minutes of night, he's better off developing

in the American League like Matt Savoy did last year. For sure. Well, one of the reasons I like some of what's going on Edmonton is I liked the front Trent Frederick trade, the pickup. Like, I really like the player. I think he's Perfect for what the Oilers need, assuming he can be the guy, you know, at the high end of his game. What have you seen from him and what do you expect from Trent Frederick this year?

Well, it's an interesting one because, you know, O'Royer fans like, this guy got eight years because he was playing on one leg last year. So you didn't, you got a shadow of what Trent Frederick can bring. And preseason guys, like, oh my God, can we just, can we take a moment of silence to applaud the fact that we never have to watch eight preseason games again after this year? There's a door on last night, just skated off the ring. Dude, the Eminson Seattle game might have been the most uneventful hockey game I've ever watched, right? Like, I was just watching U-13 tryouts and they were better. And that's not, and I get it. Like the veterans, what the hell do I got to?

Like, I'm just trying to get through these games. So they only have two next year each veteran. It's going to be amazing. But so Trent Frederick, it's hard to know until the regular season comes. Guys aren't hitting anybody in the preseason. There's no one chirping. You know, like parts of his game that make him impactful, you don't really see in the preseason. But he's skating better, which is a good.

sign. So now he's going to be able to get to places he has the unbelievable opportunity of playing with McDavid and Dry Settle to start the season. So you know what? He'll have he'll have a huge opportunity there. And I do think he'll bring some some ruggedness and tenacity that they need in their top six. I'm not sold. He's a guaranteed top six guy, you know, but he's never played there. So sometimes you just need an opportunity. We'll see. Jason, Connor McDavid is not the only one heading into an unrestricted situation half the blue line is on edmonton then the most noticeable one is matthias at home now he's 35 years of age but i would imagine another consistent year out of him he'd want to raise at age 35 36 actually i think it's going to be the

opposite nick you think it's coming down yeah i think it's coming down at home kind of thing yeah they absolutely love emminton like you know But they're from Sweden. Their kids love the, they love the winter. I know some people like, oh, everybody hates the winter. Well, like, nobody loves minus 30. Let's be honest here. But when it's minus six and seven, you're tobogging, you're sledding, they love it.

And, you know, at Combe, he believes that Emerton has a chance to win, not just one year, but for multiple years. And so I think that he will get like a two-year deal done, maybe four and a half, something like that. I think Jake Walman's very close to signing a contract with the Emmington owners. I could see it being closer to like a six-year deal for him. And then Brett Kulak's the interesting one because he's, you know, he's a very steady player. I think they'd like, you know, he's from Stoney Plain just outside Eminton. He's very well-liked in the room. He's like, he's a really good third pair of defenseman, right, who can moonlight if you have injuries in your top four.

Like, what do you want? He's 2.75. Like he's a bargain. So I think they would like to resign him, but it just comes down to can you get everybody signed And, you know, he might come, like, if I look at, I think Walman's probably the closest, then it would be at home and then Kulak. Just one more on the blue line. And that's the narrative, the last few years, Jason, is that you can't win with this blue line. So you bring everybody back.

And that's that you can, you can win with this blue line. Well, they went to the Stanley Cup final twice. Like, it's funny. Like people, it's almost like people would rather value Evan Boucher. taking a stroll in November 28th rather than watching him dominate in the playoffs. Look at his postseason guys. Look at his numbers the last three years in the playoffs. There hasn't been a better defense when when you look at point production and then goals for,

goals against. And Matias Echcombe wasn't there as his security blanket last year, which was a valid thing to question the year before. Well, yeah, he's playing with Echcombe. He's really good. Well, Echcombe didn't play for the first three rounds. And Bouchard was still really good. So their defense core is is more than solid.

I think if you look from from one to six, even, I think they're probably a top five blue line in the NHL. It's all about puck moving now, right? And they've got size like Bouchard's 6-3, right? He doesn't play hard and physical in the regular season, but he plays more than hard and physical enough in the regular season. Eckhom's big, nurses big. You know, Walman's 210 pounds.

He's solid enough. So could they add maybe a bigger guy in the third? pair possibly but I think their blue line is more than fine the way they move the puck what their biggest questions are do they need wingers who can score and can their goal tending be more consistent so last one for me just looking around the division for the edmonton oilers who's a threat to them like you know L.A. Vegas is there anyone is this Edmonton's division to win here going away L.A. They haven't won guys they're over three they finished ahead of Edmonton last year yeah

The Eminton's got the longest drought in NHL history without winning their division. They haven't won their regular season division since 1987. So I can't say it's theirs to win. Yes, that's true. They're in 87 and the Islanders are 88. Those are the two longest in NHL history. So the Oilers, I think they'd like to win it because, you know, you get home ice advantage. It's just one less flight guaranteed every time.

So but Vegas is good. Now, they get Mariner, which will really help their offense, but they lose Petrangelo. I think that's a big loss and Nicholas Haig. But Vegas is still good. They always get off to great starts, guys. Like, that's where Eminton's usually playing catch-up. So they'll need a better start. L.A.

L.A. is a good team, but, like, Emmetton's just not scared of L.A. They're just not. Like, even when they don't play well, they come back and win four straight. So they're not really worried about L.A. I don't think. Like, the Copa-Sanara year-long thing, and I love them as a player. But I just going to say this, I hate season-long goodbyes. I'm sorry.

Hate it. It can be a month. It can be two weeks. We don't need a season long goodbye. I'm sorry. It's just not good for any player. I don't like it. And Vancouver's a real big wild card to me.

What are they going to do? Are they going to be the team from two years ago? Is Pedersen going to come back? Is Demko going to stay healthy? Because if that happens, then Vancouver should be a playout. Great stuff. Jason. Really appreciate your time.

As always, look forward to a great season having you on. Anytime, fellas. Have a good one. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Thanks for doing that. Jason Greger, host of his show at Jason Greger's show, 1440 in Edmonton. I don't know that I've ever hated anything as much as I hated the Derek Jeter retirement tour.

Giving him gifts to everyone, every city's in. Jays gave him a trip to Banff. Didn't they give him a Canada goose jacket? They gave him a trip to Banff, I think. And for the record, it's just Sports Sammy 1440. On Sports 1440, yeah. that's what it's written on the lineup what did I say

I mean you said sports done a few times you said sports you seemed very unsure of what to say but it's okay you've got through it No weather? They don't do any weather? Yeah yeah but why are you looking at like I didn't say anything What are you looking at me? I thought Derek mentioned to me that Oh Derek maybe said something

Derek how is it Oh Gregor said something That's all I okay I got you got you Well listen I wrote the proper thing in the lineup I don't know what to tell you I heard to tell you, buddy. You know me how quick I am to throw you under the bus. Yeah, you're throwing me under the bus.

I, for once, did it right. Like, I wrote it correctly. Just be happy he's reading the line. Yeah, but reading it incorrectly. First of all, he doesn't seem, he comes across like he's not overly concerned about the whole... McDavid. Yeah, McDavid scenario. You come across like you've got some concern.

Oh, yeah. I just do not understand how. you go from the end of the season to where Connor is right now and then turn around and to his point say, now I've got the field. I disagree with you on one point. You've got the point that you don't think he's just going to wake up and suddenly it's, you know, what's going to have changed? Well, no, not now, not anytime soon, but could he feel much better at Christmas or March?

Yeah, you know, it's one of those things where he doesn't have to sign now. Doesn't have to sign. He knows they want him, so there's no incentive to sign. Well, he could get hurt. You don't know what happens off the ice. I mean, those are long shots, but those are always considerations for an agent and a player and a family. And it might be part of the consideration come November when he wakes up.

And he goes, I feel pretty good about things. We're pretty good. We're first in our division. I'm top of the league. I don't want to break my leg. Let's do it. But I do think you can wake up one day and just go, ah, all right. I don't see Connor McDavid as an

I actually do agree with Borny as much as I don't want to because I want to keep the narrative that he's leaving because I think it's more fun but I do think there's a world where he's just like they're ripping their first place the young guys are playing great they look good he's like you know what I'll do three years let's just sign it. He's not an eh person

he's not the other factor is that we don't know how much of it is his feeling versus family feelings and maybe his wife feeling like you know There's a lot of airs going on right now out of your side of the gas. Hers is in a negative tone. Yeah, she's like,

yeah, the most exciting thing about this city is we have a heated driveway. It's good when it's like six and seven and the kids can tobogging. But anyway, I'm just saying, I don't know. I'm just none of us. There's lots of different people in his life that are telling him a lot of different things. And him and Os Matthews are the same agent. I also have to consider, like, overall, the, I don't want to say stress on. him but that might be part of what's bugging him it might be a little bit more than what he's

accustomed to dealing with so much first and foremost is he he's got this real sense of urgency that you feel about needing to win a championship right more so than other athletes want to kind of show i mean for him it's different than almost anybody because he is going to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game if he doesn't have a cup it's the first sentence of his bio yeah it is funny it does feel like that's like Quinn Hughes is also a captain of his team and also you know in this similar situation contract wise but it feels like his priority is to build the band back with his brothers but there's no sign of any stress or strain on Quinn Hughes right now it is funny so Ian McIntyre wrote a great column um about how you know

Quinn Hughes is going to do whatever it takes to win, right? He is going to be the best player he can and provide the best. As Connor. Yes, as Connor is going to do the same. But these are captains and they are responsible for quieting noise, keeping the group going the right direction. I wonder if there's not some strain that'll come with being the captain that's placing a burden and this extra stress.

Whether we're talking about Quinn Hughes or Austin Matthews, These are Brady and Ottawa. It's not even comparable to Connor. No. Conner's contemporaries are Sid and. Connor's carrying a league. He is the face that he's constantly has to be that guy. You think the league would ever care.

And then on top of that, we're in an Olympic year. So now he's got to be the face and the voice of Team Canada. So there's that whole Olympic. dynamic as well. This is going to be, this is shaping up for a very trying year for him in terms of hoping everything goes right.

Some media members are going to get told to go and he kind of looks at times like he's got a very short views. Well, he's always been a grump. But he has been a grump. I also like, you get grumpier. Oh, he's going to get grumpier. He's going to get grumpier. If you're good at a sport, you also have to

be this like media thing. He just wants to be a hockey player. Yeah. But that's not the way it works. That's what the 13-shmilla years for. It's also for shooting it in the net. Yeah, but like a big part of it is you're the captain, you know, one of the highest paid players in the league, you have to deal with that.

That's just that comes to the territory. I also worry about him getting hurt this year. Oh, yeah. I mean, he's already... That's a concern too. Because there's so much... He broke both his legs off at the femur. Gone?

There's so much... Someone's still giving him eight years, 13 million. No, no, I don't worry about the money. I don't worry about any of that. I just... You just worry about is, is it going to come to the point where, like, this is really heavy on him this year? All of it. Yes.

And the tendency is sometimes the body, the body can break down or shut down a little bit. There is a connection between stress and strain and the body. And as you've talked about a million times, Kipper, there's nobody that pushes themselves harder in terms of off-season workouts. Oh, this guy's a machine. He's just a machine. Yeah. And it's like a, it's like a very tight guitar string sometimes, you know. Sometimes they can, they can snap.

I tell you, if I'm an oilist fan, listen to Kip today, I want him to just stop. Put a sock in it. That's what you're hoping for. Time for a sock. Talk more huge. How many goals do you think you're potting with McDavid and dry saddle on your line? Me? Yeah, like right now.

Like, Borny's stepping in right now. 20? At 12. You're snapping in 12 to 15 100%. Well, I'm just going to the net and stop it. Yeah, and they're going to... Like, Zach Hyman got a cool does just stopping it.

I don't think people realize like how horrific his injury was. Hyman? Yes. No, it was so... Because it was so innocent and weird. No, no, the damage. Oh, really?

The damage, the actual damage that it was a very difficult surgery, I heard. Really? Yeah. So weird. And a big, big reason why... He needs extra time now. So I, to Jason's point there, you just, you hope that he can come back and pick up where he left off

because he's such a terrific hockey player and a big part of their team. And yeah, you just hope that the hands work again as well as they have in the past. You just have so much time because let me be the first to put this on record this year. Pacific is trash. It's no good. It's bad. Sharks, no good. Docs, no good.

Crackin' no good. Flames and Canucks, okay. King's okay. Golden Knights. Is them in Vegas? You don't think Ducks with Quenville and? Yeah, they had 80 points off here. So they get 10 points better? Yeah. 15 points better. They maybe take three to four off you as opposed to not taking any off you? Sure.

Yeah. The Ducks may be in a wild card race this year, but okay. Yeah, yeah. That's not the league, the Oilers, man. No, no, you're right. Not even a weekend. You're calling for the oilers fans to hate me. I'm, listen, you're calling for Connor McDavid to leave and snap his ACL.

I'm not. I'm not. I'm just looking at things to think about. Buddy, that's not just him. The captain of the team we cover every day is going through the same thing, bud, with the pressure and having to be the captain of Team America and the long year coming off injury, like it's a ton of pressure for these guys.

All right, with that. People are thinking. We're going to take a break. We should break. All right, we'll take a quick break. We'll return. We'll pick up on the conversation. on the other side of Real Kipper and Boren.

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, 6 to 9. It's the fan morning show. SportsNep 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcast. Back to the program.

Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, we are the Real Kipper and Born show. Seven players. On waivers today, six I've never heard of before. But there is a goalie. Ted Schneeby. Yeah, pretty much kind of like that. But Connor Ingram is a goaltender who's got some experience.

And at one time played some pretty good hockey for Utah and Arizona, I think. So there are teams out there that have been noted. could use some help here we're not sure where the Toronto Maple Leafs lie with Joseph Wall and his immediate future and how long that may be with the Leafs I'll start with you, J.B., consider

picking up Connor Ingram on waivers. Definitely. I think there's a strong chance that they are interested. I think the first question you have to ask yourself is how much better is Connor Ingram going to be than Dennis Hildeby? What's the Delta there? Is it a couple saves?

Does he make a few more? Because if so, one guy has proven he could play and be successful in the NHL and the other guy has it. He's over a 900 save percentage in his short NHL career. Right? Yep. He's not like he's 31 either.

I think he's in his 28 years old. Yep. So he also has an A HL. Two-A contract so he could play in the A if he had to. I have heard the Oilers are, kicking tires as well possibly on the thought of ingram and i had heard that at one point utah and carolina thought they had a trade this summer for ingram and you wonder if carolina would take a run at him you know the next question then is why is he available right

like what's what's Utah got that uh you know who are there to well they just yeah they just signed uh vermilka vermilka and van a check so they like a big big contract and ingram isn't free he's a 1.9 i think yeah so that's another one too could the do the leaps want to fit in a 1.9 million dollar contract right now well if wool comes out it's all right manageable although lTIR doesn't help them if they're not in lTIR much no but they have two million to play play with they can do it yeah so i don't know it depends on how you rate this guy connor ingram has so last year he was down the american league and a conditioning stint and then his mother passed away and he entered the the league's uh program then um in 2021 he was in league's program

some ocd and alcohol uh thing you know like i i just i don't know if why he's available he's not that much different than van to me as a goalie. So maybe they don't think he's... He was pretty bad last year for Utah. He was a bad year for Utah. He was... But, you know, that could be related to all his off-ice problems.

He was in 8-82 and everything. 8-82 and 22 games. Yeah. So, it wasn't great. You know, there's reasons to have pauses. All I'm saying, he's not like a let's get this guy for sure. To me, he feels like the perfect sort of Martin Jones, Matt Murray-y type of guy. To be clear, I think they should do it.

I think he's kind of that perfect kind of guy. Yeah. I think he can be. a really good goal in the league when he's on his best game is very good yeah so it's an option cowen cowen back in tonight third straight preseason game only player i had him penciled in the starting lineup this year of the leafs yeah wow really well i mean when when i say starting i mean on the team uh one of 22 guys um do you want to hear the coach talk about him there's this is two separate clips kind of put together, but it's pretty

possible. So we'll play a clip one there, Derek. Just, you know, like I said, I like the way Cowan's playing, and another good opportunity for him to go up and play again. You're going to have a pretty good lineup, I imagine. And, you know, I want to see that line together up there. They're going to be playing against good players. So it's an opportunity to see what he can do and what the line can do together. You know, he has like

you know, very good instincts for the game, especially on, you know, the offensive side of things. And he's a highly competitive player. That's, you know, he's so competitive on his stick and things like that and battling for pucks. And he skates well, you know, there's a lot upside there the way I look at it. Not only offensively, but, you know, good offensive players most of the time have the instincts to play a good defense. if you're killing a penalty or they know what offensive guys are going to do they can anticipate.

So he's a guy that anticipates the game well for me. That's the most praise we've ever heard. Yeah. He put on anyone. So what gives him the best chance of being in the lineup is what's going on with the lineup tonight. They got him beside Lorenz and Lawton. It's technically their first line.

Yeah. But Lorenzen Lawton is exactly a line he could play on. Go for check, make plays. You can create a few goals. That's a place you could see him outside the top six. So this, to me, seems like not a, hey, get another game in, kid. This seems like, hey, does this line work? Is this one we can use?

We're building some chemistry with these two fellas. We're talking about one of the best players in junior hockey last year. He's one of the best playoff scores in junior history, I think. The last two years. Lit it up. How does that not buy you the first 10 games of the regular season? I guess the question is, do you care if it's the first 10 or if it's nine games or whatever? You know what I mean?

Like should he not be, where do you want him to be? Well, where you want him to be is developing and playing. That's where I'm getting that pathetic job doing it. You can find out in the first 10 games whether or not he can keep up and bring energy to your team, which you desperately need with youth and enthusiasm. and he's he's at the forefront for me all these names battling he's at the forefront for me I love the I love the sort of youthful exuberance angle that you kind of alluded to there but just a guy that you know just just enter it into the bottom half of your lineup and let

them just be pissed off of people and be horned up and trying to hit people and go to the net just be excited like I just you know this a lot of this group has been together a long time and they've had a lot of training camps and a lot of seasons that have looked a lot the same. It's his third training camp, correct? He was third. Excellent in his first one, not so good last year.

He's stronger, he's more mature, and sometimes that's still a battle for him. There's sometimes then he gets a little too excited. God, he got that look in last game in front of the net and blue or wide. He's like, oh, but he's, he's very close to being a regular for me. Yeah, listen, you can totally talk me into that you know i he punched whoever was in the face he got a minor penalty in in the exhibition game

and i was just like yes please punch people in the face he likes to compete yeah that's great so sure i i think that's a legit shot for him i think that's another nail in the coffin uh for nick robertson though if they've got cowen in right no i think they're this spot for him too i just the there's still the yarn crock and camp still being around those those You've got the options of having a team pick them up on the waiver wire. And if that doesn't happen, then you either send them down. Send him down. And Kelly Yarncrock to the minors?

Well, it's a good player. It's 10 minutes away. He's all right. Yarn Croc's going to play next season in the NHL. This season. This season. This season. And even if he starts in the Marley's for a little bit, it might take a month for

teams to go, my team's not that good. I need a penalty killer. They'll grab them. Camp's another guy. By the trade deadline, you're telling me somebody doesn't need a penalty killer. Yeah. They're going to be

they're going to be serviceable players for other teams, just not now right now. So you don't think Yarn Kroc and Kamp will be on the Leafs? No, I think I think

I think it's time for some new faces again like we just talked about. I would say the biggest. And it's $2 million, $2.5 million. Yeah, they make a little bit of money. It's just too much money. And the Leaf's tendency to have like pretty good players who don't have any punchiness to their game is. I don't mean physical punchiness. I just need energy, pep, dynamism.

If you're telling me that like, oh, you're going to start the season. And on the third line, right wing, I have a choice between Easton Cowan and Yacalli Yark Rock. I'm like, you know what? Just let me see Cowan. Yeah, let me see it, but okay, it's game seven of the playoff series. Yes, you know, I don't want neither of them. Yeah, okay. Is that fair?

For now. For now. I mean, Calli Young Cron's one combined playoff goal at the least. So, uh, and is it Hildaby again, gets another look tonight? Hildaby's in? So no Stolar's backing up. Pexas is getting another game. So last year, oh, Pexa.

Last year we did the. thing where we're like, hey, wool hasn't been in any, when are they going to put him in? Why aren't they putting him in any exhibition games? We're going to be through three here and Stolar's not even getting a minute of game action.

What's going on? Honestly, I think you got to worry about as early as this week. You got to worry about wear and tear and protecting his starts. Yeah, you got Austin Matthews is played. You got John DeVars is played.

Morgan Riley's guys, that guy, Those guys' knees are in way better shape than Stolars' knees. If they're doing knee maintenance after three months off, they got big issues and should really pause on this contract they're about to sign. Maybe that's what's going on. Elliot said today something about one of the hypothetical deals was like, you know, could it be five years? Five years.

I think it's not going to be. Good on him if you can get five years. But he's got health issues. Oh, God. Connor Ingram, come on down. You're the starting goalie. I don't know, like, exactly what, how many games are you paying for, in your opinion, for Stolars?

40. Yeah. You're hoping for 45, but it's going to be from 35 to 45. Okay. 35 to 40. All right. Wouldn't you think? You like those odds after how many years in professional hockey that this year

is the year he plays 45 games? Yeah, I don't think he's been good enough to have that opportunity in the past. I know he's been hurt some too, but... A lot. Hurt a lot, too. With multiple surgeries. So if I'm, okay,

let's play a over-under game here. If I'm setting the over-under for starts this year for Stolars, and I make the number, let's do 33 and a half. Yeah. Because he started 34 last year. I'll do it over.

You're going to go over? Yeah. Kipper, what are you going to? do. But what is over me? Thirty-six? Yeah, exactly. His new career high. I'll take, I'll take him at 36. 36. And then Wolfe's going to play 30, and now we need 16 games from Hildeby? I would take the under at 41. You would, eh? That's the pocket we're looking at. How about you? I think he's going to surprise. I can't argue with you. I think he's going to surprise. I'll be optimistic.

You're hoping. Yeah. I'm, you know, almost all about to hope. not a plan i'm also hoping the jays win tonight boys i'm just i'm hope i'm hope right now it's it's september why wouldn't you like he he's proven he's a very talented guy but what he hasn't proven is he can play 40 games in an nishel season yeah that's what he hasn't proven no i i mean i love them last year i thought he was great i thought he was like an emotional leader for the team too like he just really seemed tough in there he's the big shiny helmet flying around in Tough to miss that big shiny helmet with an elbow, apparently.

Sam Bennett. William Nealander off the ice for maintenance. Different set of rules. He does whatever he wants. Sam Bennett. That's whatever he wants. Bam, send it. What are you hearing?

Simone Benoit did not skate, but he will skate tomorrow. Domi could play on Saturday. So he's close. I saw Willie missed today. And then somebody was like, it's because he was doing his YouTube channel. A little banged up, but he's fine. Willie has a YouTube channel? Did you clip Jonathan Huidow and.

Calgary? I did. I don't even know if I could find it now. I did. I was on the first show. I know. But he was just basically like I don't feel like skating today, but that was a lot of it. Yeah. It's okay. Yeah. Just kind of shows a bit of an attitude in terms of you know, what the guys think that they need or what they don't need. So everybody's

like maintenance day or, you know, you heard her. No, I just didn't feel like Yeah, he was clowning though. He didn't mean that. He was just clown. I didn't mean it. He meant that I just didn't, I came to, I didn't want to skate today.

No, I don't believe that for a second. No way. Oh, go find the clip. I've heard the clip. I've heard it. I thought he was like, yeah, I just didn't feel like skating. Like, of course there was a reason. Oh, so he's hiding something.

Yeah, Derek's got it in my play. All right. Listen to it. Yeah, this is really. Just made it into yesterday, not, uh... Yeah, I just woke up and didn't feel like skating. That's what happened. Yeah, he's smiling.

You know, it's funny? He woke up. He didn't be like skating? Of course there's a reason. I woke up. A lot last year didn't feel like coming to work. I got to tell you, I woke up this morning and I played hockey on Thursday morning. I didn't feel like skating either.

You didn't feel like going to bed last day. Oh, that's true. Well, listen, I was a good boy. But I couldn't sleep. Anyways, I think it's. I think it's. I think honestly, like 25 years ago, 30 years ago, you would never have heard that guy say that. Yeah.

Even if it was, even if he had a reputation for being a. a guy that jokes around. You know, Glenn Hall, you should tell the team, you used to say he was painting the barn. He'd miss the whole training camp, but just say, Peyton the barn can't be there until the game started. Pate in the barn is so good.

That's great. That's awesome. Back in the day. But Willie, apparently has a YouTube channel. I don't know what that means. Neither do I. Like, is he doing interviews? Is it a podcast?

He's doing the YouTube's. I don't know. Do we get to watch him walk his dog? Probably. Maybe you have a party while he has a severe concussion on that. Take the TTC. Yeah, probably. All right, what's going on in our movie?

No more. No more Willie Talk? YouTube channel. He's going to unbox gifts. What's the big deal, really? What's the big deal? He's going to unbox gifts. It's going to be beautiful.

The least compelling. Yeah. Jamie Ben has a collapse long. That's bizarre. I look for a month. From an exhibition game, you got hit during the game. He'll be able to... Sammy's emergency darts.

I don't know what that. Peace is a game against Minnesota Wild. And the Minnesota Wild unveiled the nicest jersey is hilarious. I tried this on Tuesday. Oh, there we go. Look at those. Beautiful. I tried to say this on Tuesday that tomorrow we're going to have Doug McLean on. That's confirmed.

But now I mean it. Confirmed. He's joining us tomorrow. Confirmed. Off the rails Friday. Your first one of the year, don't miss it. Thanks for joining us, everybody.