Real Kyper & Bourne - Constructing a Championship with Kelly McCrimmon

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne, and Sam McKee open the show with speculations of the Leafs buying out TJ Brodie, will Brad Treliving relationship with the former Flames d-man and if a trade makes more sense. Next up, the guys look ahead to potential free-agency signings for the Leafs, the clock ticking on Auston Matthews, Luke Schenn's number and term, and if William Nylander worth keeping around. Finally, general manager for the Vegas Golden Knights Kelly McCrimmon joins the show to break down the feeling of winning a Stanley Cup and the process of constructing a championship team.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.

This is Real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. We're back. We're back. And under two weeks before the NHL draft, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Dirk Brandeo, Jen Rolnick, Sammy McKee as we wind down towards the draft and free agency. Yes, that's going to be big.

Well, that's annoying and loud. That's never happened before. I don't think it has. The draft is one week away, Kipper. Sorry, a week and a day. And we are actually going to do shows after free agency as well. The show will continue on July 3rd and 4th, so people know. Is that true?

Yes. Okay. Did you know? No. Well, I'm happy to break the news to everyone. Oh, guys, I'm sorry. What is going on? I found the mute button. So how much action are we going to see?

Because there's a ton of speculation out there. Here's what we know factually. There's a lot of teams with handcuffs on right now because of the salary cap. And Toronto is one of them. Lots of speculation about players that they can sign, players they can't sign, and who may be in a position to be bought out. Yeah.

We're going to get to that in a second. Let me just tee up Kelly McCrimmon, general manager of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights, will join us in about 19 minutes. And we'll get a thought on if anyone's found William Carlson's shirt. No chance. Oh, my God. He must have set fire to that thing along with his liver.

I mean, I've been drunk in my life, but I don't know about that. Okay. We'll get to that. But let's go back to Frank Cervelli, who's been on the show, one of the better insiders out there, speculating on a TJ Brody buyout. Now, that, for me, is right out of left field. But is there a sense?

You want to go first, Sammy, on this? There's just the context on there. They were talking about different buyouts with him and Jason Greger on the Daily face-off podcast and they were mentioning how they're talking about matt murray and the potential of him getting bought out and then you know he brought this up we can listen to the clip and talk about it after if you want let's do it yeah yeah so he has a he because of the way his contract is structured, he has a $0 buyout for this upcoming season. So it's $0 this year and then $2.5 next year, which if the cap isn't increasing by more than a million this year, it's probably in the $7 million range next year.

And so if you can get off of TJ Brody and clear $5 million right off the books, no dead cap hit for this next season. I think you punt it down the road for a year and do that. My only question is because Brad true living comes over from Calgary and would also really know TJ Brody's game. Well, is that something that he's willing to do or is he just going to ride it out for the year again? It's so tempting to just be like, I can get through this year and have no penalty moving forward. But it's also not a make or break year for the Leafs.

But it feels like, you know, obviously the pressure is mounting. The problem is then going out and replacing TJ Brody, right? Like because then, yeah, it's great to have a $0 cap hit. What are you going to do with that 5 million bucks to make your team better? Okay. That's a lot to absorb here, but you go first, JB. You know, in this business, we have to, you know, this time of year, we're kind of kicking on a lot of theories and what could happen, what it might look like. And I think that's what Frank's doing, but Hey guys,

he was their best defenseman last year in the regular season. That don't make no sense. He was literally their best D-man at a $5 million cap hit. Every person you wanted to be better, you played with TJ Brody. And so unless there's some sort of like tree-living-hates-Brody thing, he's off the books after this year for 5 mil clean. He's a great defenseman. He's a value guy to

them at five million i watched the playoffs though but he wasn't bad he just wasn't as good as he was all year long it's not it's not are you are you pro buying him out i wouldn't say i'm pro it but listening to frank who knows a lot talk about, I was interested in what he had to say. I'm interested in what he had to say too. I really, I don't, he was really good for them this year, but I do think that there's a world in which we saw the decline. He was hurt way more this past season than he had been in years past. He was pretty bad throughout the playoffs.

He had a couple good games, but most of the time, I wasn't necessarily trusting with him with the puck on his stick a lot, which is somewhat important for one of your better defensemen. Listen, I think they'd probably bring him back. I don't think they'd do this, but I don't think it's the wildest idea when you have a huge win-now year, when you have a ton of cap space and you want to add a little bit more to it to do something a bit bolder. Like, you know, would you rather have

Dimitri Orlov next year or TJ Brody? Yeah, Orlov costs $5 million and would sign here. That's a good conversation. But, you know, what's he going to be? Where are you at on this? My thought is that, to Sammy's point, there's some nights we can look at any player and say, hey, no good or good on any particular night, but there's value there.

And if the worst case scenario is getting rid of him, then trade him. Like, there's value in a trade. That's a really good point. Just trade him. Who wouldn't take a year of Brody for $5 million? Exactly. We're not giving you a player who's a 12 minute that's such a good point a 12 minute guy here 20 minutes you know we're at

the deadline we'll give you a second for him or whatever two seconds deadline yeah you're getting a top four guy who can log 20 minutes yeah trade him to buy him out is crazy to me. Yeah. You know what really stood out to me, though, from that clip? And again, not coming out hard on Frank here, but the sense that, or the idea that if the cap only goes up $1 million this year, it'll go up $7 million the next year. And recently I read an article by Ian McIntyre on Sportsnet.ca

that mentioned that in three years, talking about the OEL buyout, that in three years, the cap could be $100 million. It's 82.5 this past season. Or there could be a new virus. Oh, my God. Thanks, Debbie Downer. Okay. My cat is feeling it.

Everything in life, like there are no guarantees. Of course. I get the idea. And again, I don't know if you necessarily want to play that game on let's speculate where the cap is and let's spend accordingly. Right. I see your point there. Didn't Kyle Dubas just get burned by that? There's a lot of teams that I think got burned by it.

There was a lot of Dubas defenders that when they look at the Leafs cap situation, that their number one go-to line is that the coronavirus screwed Dubas and that the cap was supposed to go up and the cap flattened because they didn't have as much revenue. All good points.

Yeah, oh yeah, of course. But of course. I'm just saying that's one reason that people kind of point to and they spent money that they thought they were going to have and it turned out they didn't have it. Right.

Right? I've done that. Oh yeah. Do that every day. Yeah. So if you're Brad Tree living, we know the hot button topic is Austin Matthew matthews yeah you think he's by now he's got a pretty good idea of what's happening but you and i had a conversation where we we said i think you

proposed to me how much time would you need if you knew you're going to trade what's a fair amount of time to give the gm if you're not going to sign to trade you and i think we settled around two weeks would be a fair amount of time to where are we on that well it's june 20th so free agency starts in his contract uh he has a no move clause starting in 11 days so we're past the official two-week thing so one of two things has happened here where it seems likely that he's going to sign and they kind of know and they're comfortable with it or this is a Lou Lamorello tight ship thing that Tree Living's

running here and he's talking to people. Or they're just going to keep him and let him play. Is it possible to not have a real firm idea on Austin Matthews and then skip that or put it to the side for a second and then go deal with william nylander now go deal with ryan o'reilly good point go down the ladder batter and uh nola chari luke shen is there any way at all that he can focus on those guys if

he doesn't if he hasn't nailed down he doesn't know what his team looks like he doesn't need know where he would need to spend his money but we know whether or not austin signs before july 1st or not you know what he's making next year that's true so yeah you could sign a one-year deal his new number does not kick in until a year from this july 1st but if you're trading him you don't know what your contract situations are right you wouldn't know if you need a first line center how do you go about getting one what does a trade look like i saw i think chris johnston said something today to the effect of the fact that achari o'reilly and shen are not signed as of now yeah kind of implies they're not gonna sign right there's been plenty of time since the end of the season i don't buy that for a second you don't no no no no no You think they could just go UFA, see what's out there, then leverage that for more here?

No. No. What I think is, hey, guys, hold on. I got to do a few things. Yeah. That's what I think it means. Okay. Yeah, hey, I just showed up.

No offense, Noel. You're a great kid, I'm sure. I'm trying to find money. That's what I think it means. Okay. If they're not signed right now, it's because Brad Tree Living's got these shackles on him right now, thanks to Kyle Dubas.

And he's got to find a way to free up some money. He wants Luke Shen. He wants Noel Achari. he's got to find a way to free up some money he wants luke shen he wants nola chari and he wants ryan o'reilly the thing is they have a lot of cap space but they just have so many people to get signed you know i guess you could prioritize those guys and make them among the first people you do sign but it's still money in, money out for a lot of these teams, including the Leafs. A lot of the money out is pretty decent players, you know, like whether it's Kerfoot, Hall, Bunting. Like, those are hockey players, guys,

and I know that they're not huge hits in the Toronto market necessarily, but, you know. Flex Seal. Yeah. Old Flex Seal patched a lot of holes over the years would you take flex seal at a significant discount no oh yeah oh yes i would no you can take him to five doesn't matter what he makes because sheldon keith see i'm with him plays him take his toys away he He can make $750,000. It doesn't matter about the money.

He's still going to play 13, 14 minutes a night, and he's going to. More than that. You know, it's. Let me look back here. Okay. The day is December 17th, 2023. And we're going through Kippers, Clippers, and Sheldon Keefe goes, well, you know, I just think that Kerf's the best option with Austin and Mitch this week. Like, I can just see it.

No thanks. Cut the cord. What did he score, 15, 21 years? Cut the cord. Cut the cord. Cut it. OT winner in playoffs, no big deal. Yep.

Where would you put, in Brad Tree Living's order of importance, where would you put bringing back Ryan O'Reilly? Well, we had a brief chat about it yesterday, and for me it's totally contract dependent. Like if he wants to come back for three years for $4 million, great. I'd be happy. But to me it's not near the top of the list, is it?

It's not the top of the list. I would no-er Austin and, and Willie situation making a decision on that. And all of a sudden Ryan gets a lot more important. If, if you're not comfortable with the Austin Matthews situation, take a look at a free agency. We've,

we've said that it's not the best of classes, and even next year doesn't look that much better, but not a lot of choices at center position. No. And we recently just saw Sean Monaghan ink a one-year deal with the Montreal Canadiens, if I'm not mistaken, $2 million. Yes. One point, yeah, one eight.

That's a guy that couldn't stay healthy and like there's value in him yeah i found that really interesting that despite so many issues with his health that montreal was willing to go back there sam made a good point before the show he basically said they spent that money to buy a draft pick at the deadline you know like you're the canadians aren't making playoffs next year like ottawa's good buffalo's good detroit's good and then there's the other teams who are always good you know so they're not going to make playoffs so you know you get into march and it's like who wants sean monaghan if he has a bounce back he might be valuable a hundred percent and that really is what it's all about for monaghan it's that proven opportunity.

You'll play in the power play here. And knowing, the knowing part. Yeah. That he loves Marty St. Louis. When he's healthy, he played power play. He's going to get a chance to get points. Yeah. And put himself in a position to go to a contending team in March.

And I think he's 28 years old. They're saying he's not an old player. So, you know, a chance to kind of rejuvenate his career. We know who injuries have. He's got to stay healthy. Yeah. And didn't they fire a trainer and a few people there based on their lack of success and staying healthy.

They had some significant changes, did they not, Sammy? The Habs? Yeah. Not sure. Yeah. No, no. That's interesting, though, and it's a tough spot for those medical professionals,

but at the end of the day, that is the job. I know the Leafs do a lot of proactive stuff, and I don't know, I'm not saying it's worked or not, but they do do a lot of proactive, like yoga,'t know i'm not saying it's worked or not but they do do a lot of proactive like yoga stretchy all sorts of body prep stuff well whenever sean monahan's played over 70 games he scored 20 goals like he's a he's a legit score in the nhl like he's 22 31 27 27 31 34 22 like he's had some good years so if i if you're the habs and he gets off to a hot start this year with the contract that you give him, teams get desperate at the trade deadline.

Depending on how good a year he's having, maybe get a third. I liked him. Who knows, a second, depending on how hot he is. That's a good bet for the Habs. I liked him when he was in, and he was one of their better players early last season, this past season.

Would you have liked the Leafs to have taken a run? Wow, listen. If it would have saved a first, second, a third off Ryan O'Reilly, him in his prime, he's not Ryan O'Reilly. No. We can all acknowledge that. But when he was really strong in Calgary, he was a player yeah yeah i mean he's it is these are the type of guys that are getting signed right now that you know you tend to think of as being guys

that are going to be supplemental to cup contenders interesting to see the way montreal and monaghan are going about it but makes sense so i can see it so you mentioned ryan o'reilly and you kind of talked about cj like saying that neither of those guys are going to be back. Do you get the sense that any of those guys are going to be back, Kipper? Right now I got it at 50-50. At any of them? Or is there one that you think is more likely? Yeah, I think Luke Shen's got a shot at coming back.

Do you? And Achari. Any idea what a number would look like? So you think Ryan O'Reilly's probably gone? Because that's probably the way. I would love him back, but I think he's probably going to get too expensive. Okay, let's start with Luke Shen. Where do you see his number?

I got a number right now in my head. I love Luke Shen if he's playing for $1.15 million. I'd say he's probably in the ballpark of two after having a good playoffs for a Canadian team. I would say two, probably. See, I'm with Sammy that it's between two and two and a half. Whoa. Two and a half is getting high.

Wasn't he minimum last year? 750, yeah. All right, All right. All right. There's two buyers. The buyer that thinks Luke Shen can help me make the playoffs. Yeah. And then there's the buyer that says that Luke Shen can help me win a Stanley Cup.

And that's a different price. The price to get in the playoffs with Luke Shen could be closer to two and a half million dollars. The price to think that Luke Shen can help me win a Stanley Cup might be between one eight and $2 million. Wow. And where are the Leafs in that? Well, yeah,

they certainly are looking for someone to help them get to the cup final. At least the other, the other equation with the Nola Chari's and the Luke Shands is, is it three years or is it four years? No, no, no, none of those numbers. Okay. With the Leafs. Yeah. Okay. Three years or is it four years? No, no, no.

None of those numbers. Okay. With the Leafs. Yeah. Okay. Okay. But on the open market, it is like, if I'm Noel Achari. All the years. I'm pulling yarn crock in my meeting with Brad tree living. Sitting on my knee. And I'm not Yarncroft in my meeting with Brad Treeliving.

He's sitting on my knee. And I'm not saying a word. And all I'm doing is just going 2 million times 4 for him. And then look at the way I play in the playoffs. And you tell me that I'm taking less than this guy. And then the meeting would be over. But, I mean, Treliving obviously likes Yarncroft.

He traded for Yarncroft. Didn't he? Yeah, but I think that, well, that's the example of just like, come the postseason, Yarncroft contributed very little. What would you have given him? Two times four, though.

No. That was a weird contract when it's on. Two and a half, isn't it? It's 2.25, I think. Yeah. For Yarncroft. For four. Oh, I thought it was two.

No, it's... That even makes me shiver more. It's more, yeah. Kelly needs 20, I think. Yeah. For Yarncrock. Oh, I thought it was two. No, it's... That even makes me shiver more. It's more, yeah. Kelly needs 20 minutes, fellas. Okay. Just text me, so... What's that? He needs 20 minutes, so we're going to call him at 2.40.

For McCrimmon. Okay, we'll break earlier then. Luke Shinn's last five-year salary, 800, 700, 800, 850, 850. Yeah. Except... Except... Okay, how many of those early ones was he on waivers i lost track most yeah he was in them but that's that's what that was back then and then all of a sudden he went to vancouver and he turned himself into quinn hughes's partner he is like the skill guy's comfort goat. You ever heard of comfort goat? They put them in horses' stalls.

They calm them down, and they make them feel better. It's like a real thing, comfort goats. He's a comfort goat. All I envision is Luke Shen standing by the bench, staring down Tampa, going, where has that been? It's Maroon, and it's Perry, and it's Janot. That alone is worth $2 million for me. That's a good point.

Okay? That is something that the Leafs have never had. It's still hockey, fellas. It's still hockey. It's all part of it, Sammy. Part of hockey is getting to playoffs. It's all part of it. I'm comfortable giving Luke Shen $2 million here.

For sure. He's not going to be as good as Justin Halsman for $2 million. I'm just saying. Oh, my God. Not going to be as good in the regular season. What's Hall going to get on the open market? That is a fascinating question. I mean, whatever Kyle gives him in Pittsburgh.

I bet you he gets two years times $3 million. From Kyle Dubas? What did Labushkin just sign after being here? I bet he gets more. He's played like 20 minutes a night for a top team. He's their most important. He killed four and a half minutes of penalties per game.

I know. He's going to get money. That's a valuable human. And Nolichari game i know he's gonna get money that's a valuable human and and nola chari is another guy that has to be looked upon as giving us something in the luke shen mold and kept the leafs look borderline slow in playoffs that was one of the things wasn't it they weren't the faster team look borderline slow in playoffs. That was one of the things, wasn't it? They weren't the faster team. I'll take slow over soft any day of the week. Can I have neither? Can I? No.

No? You got to be one or the other? Yeah. You'll be the Golden Knights then if you want to both. Isn't that the answer? Having that little bit of pushback. I got to tell you, now that it's over and after he served the suspension, don't you love the Petrangelo chop on dry saddle?

Don't you kind of like it? Like a superstar that was targeted and the other team kept running him. I know it was dumb. I liked it. I liked it when I first saw it. Yeah. I know it was dumb, yada, yada, yada. It's true.

Don't hate that he's a guy that would stand up for himself. It's true. Kipper did come in the next day. I was like, I liked it. Right? Yeah. I saw Jonathan Marsh so talking about it on I think it was on Spit and Chickletooth talking about it. And he's like, oh, that. And he was talking to Phil

Kessel about it on the bench. And he was like, oh, that was dirty. He was pissed off. That's my best Phil Kessel impression. That was pretty good yeah so go down the list of toronto ufas like zach aston reese is another guy they used a lot is he going to be back no it's a no well you're not giving him much more than he's making now what did he end up he had a pretty good season didn't he scored some goals time was all said and done 10 goal season for zach aston reese this year in 77 games ryan o'reilly for me a team that could target him

is colorado to slide into landis coggs spot warmer colorado avalanche ryan o'reilly what do you think cool makes sense like they're gonna have to do something there fill that void it was just too noticeable this year you know they were crippled with injury so obviously not his fault but interesting centers on the market jonathan taves is available too. Is he that much different than Ryan O'Reilly in terms of value? Yes. Yes. Way below him? Way below him.

Really? First of all, there's the health issue. There's no health issues with Ryan O'Reilly, and you still don't know the effects of, I don't know, whatever. I forget how they clinically described Jonathan Tabes. Long-term COVID or, you know, yeah, there's another word, long-term respiratory, whatever it is. That alone puts him in a situation where there's just,

you can't take a chance financially on him other than probably a minimal type of contract if he wants to play and win. I know it's a lot to come to the Leafs. If you're him, you probably don't want to come here and all that attention when you're trying to reestablish your career. But there are other centers out there. I mean, Jordan Stahl is a UFA, I believe.

Lars Eller. Lars Eller. You like Lars Eller? Not as much as I like Jordan St. Lars Eller. You like Lars Eller? Not as much as I like Jordan Stahl. Yeah. I think Carolina is going to have some issues here. Carolina is going to trade for Willie.

In the next year or two. And where in your world do you think that Tom Dundon, the owner who's notoriously known for being frugal yeah would pay william nylander where well because if you're tom dundon i think you recognize as an owner you can't be competitive without spending to around the salary cap and willie's a good player who helps you win that makes people come to me a number for Willie right now, then. Give me a Carolina number that gets him. Six times 9.25. Now he wants more than that. I think, right?

I think he's into the double digits now. Sammy's right. God, that's so much money. Yeah. I got to tell you, Willie Nylander making 10 million a year in Toronto is getting eviscerated by people. He was making the right amount of money

for a long time for people to stomach some of his downsides. I think we can agree, but I'll let you guys confirm it, that we would all much rather have but I'll let you guys confirm it. Okay. That we would all...

We'd much rather have... I'm only thinking of New York. Boston's Pasternak pasta over Nylander. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll agree on that. All right. Let me go this way then for you.

Panarin or Nylander, who would you rather have? Next season, I would want William Nylander. See, I'm with him. Big, strong, fast, you know, all the stuff. Panarin is... I don't trust Panarin. Yeah. I think he's... He had bad playoffs last year, i mean he's an yeah i think he's too finicky for me yeah in his last three seasons

over you know the last three full seasons he's at 95 96 and 92 points he's good he's really good player can i give you two players no give me pan. I'll take Panarin. You'd take Panarin over Nylander? Yeah. Absolutely. Wait, you're saying that like he's crazy? No, no, no. I like William Nylander. I think Panarin's better.

I wouldn't. I think there's some nice when Willie, you want to slap him on the side of the head, but Panarin's way more high maintenance than Nylander. That's fascinating. So going through this Ufa list of potential guys there are some names like for the leafs to be to be different one of them that i like a lot that miles wood from new jersey let's see six four two thirty one of the fastest guys in the league can i give you one more it's probably not two okay sorry i'm

just on this willie neilander thing's stay, buddy. Let's have it. Johnny Goudreau or Willie Nylander? Willie, Willie, Willie, Willie, Willie. Oh, what? Are you guys trying to make me sound anti-lease? Are you nuts? Johnny Goudreau. Sorry, what do you got?

Johnny Goudreau. I quit on Goudreau when he quit on trying to win. Johnny Goudreau. Too tiny for me. The old basketball, too smallie willie's stronger he's physically stronger johnny gaudreau had an awful year yeah i had an awful year he was 74 points in 80 games with dash 33 that's such a bad year it's hard to have good numbers on bad teams but like i mean the one year was the outlier. His contract year was pretty much his outlier.

So, no, I take it back. I'd go Willie. I'd go Willie. Just between... Yeah, you're giving us guys who are making a lot of money. I get the idea. So, we're not far-fetched on $10 million a year. And what's Willie, 27?

Like, he's prime-aged. He's going to get a big ticket which really you know hurts his trade value that willie's worth a lot and that's good dev guys who are worth a lot but so uh you mentioned uh miles wood miles wood randy would i had his mentions way wrong he's like six three two hundred and he's already at two, isn't he? Two. I can give you that answer very quickly, actually. I have that right here. He's at 3.2 last year. He's not taking a pay cut, is he?

So that's the guy you had in mind for Toronto? Yeah, he scored 27 points, 13 goals last year, 76 pims. Fast. Really good. I'd take him as a third line. Well, he'd be a guy that would. Him and Kerfoot's role? Let's go.

Forget Kerfoot. Wood in for Bunting. Yeah. I don't know if he can play that high if the lineup is all. I don't know if he's ever scored at any level, really. Yeah, no, he hasn't. So, maybe not the perfect solution how about bringing home connor brown boys connor brown's a ufa coming off a major surgery 28 years old i really liked him in

washington before he got hurt yeah and i really liked him in toronto i liked him before they traded him yeah a lot he's a guy that I always really, really liked. Hard worker. Loved being a Leaf. Yeah. What was his number coming off of an Ottawa contract? It was three something. Yeah. Three two.

Last year he made 3.6. He's, he, yeah. 3.6 the past three seasons. Are you okay giving him that or four? I don't think you'd have to though, would you? Coming off an injury. Yeah. Wouldn't you think'd have to though would you coming off an injury wouldn't you think that he could maybe you could get him for a little less maybe a bit of a prove it deal back in toronto oh god that's all he's done his whole career is prove it yeah you're

right in ottawa his first year his second year in ottawa he had 21 goals in 56 games so that's on pace for 30 you know he scored 10 and 64 though with ottawa the next year so yeah i don't know you probably you're probably in the ballpark of a similar number but he's another guy that appeals to me as you're trying to find you know instead of going buntings making 900 and you know you're paying someone else you know ryan o'reilly whatever the big number is a couple of guys in three million dollar range miles wood connor brown whoever you know you can make the team look different can it be different enough without trading a core piece that i'm not sure the biggest danger is that it looks a lot like it did last year yeah i know that's that's the

sense you're kind of getting right now it always will it always will unless you trade one of the main players the thing that i just keep coming back to is you can have 10 UFAs or however many UFAs, but if you got the same four guys and the same coach, how much difference is it going to look? Not that much. Not different at all. So you just have to, like, Treliving has to believe in this group,

which Kyle did already. I know. You guys want John Klingberg to come score on the back end for the Leafs? But he was... The numbers that he was asking for right around this time last year were like off the charts.

It was gigantic. Off the charts. Yeah. And he's not... They took a gamble. Anaheim took a gamble that he could help some of the young kids and keep them close, but he just didn't get there. He almost had 50 points the summer before when negotiating his deal.

And then last year he, it just wasn't there. What do you guys, what do you guys think? I know we're going to go to break soon here and we're hoping to find Kelly McCrimmon still. Maybe celebrating a little bit don't blame him he said he was on a call uh talk about noah hannifin in calgary being on the block because he will not resign a field similar to johnny goudreau and matthew kachuk and sure enough is hannifin heading in that same spot yeah i guess so you know hannifin what really shocked me about him he had a good year

he's only 26 years old yeah barter draft and eight years under his belt yeah six foot three 215 pound great skater kind of found it last. That's the way it works with the top five picks. They play their first year they're eligible, and they go into free agency at age 26, 27. Yeah, 48 points two years ago, 38 points last year. Plays every game. Similar situation as Johnny Goudreau and Matthew Kachuk, where you got an American player who's been with you, and then first chance of freedom,

wants to go closer to home in his own country. Modified no trade. Do you think he wants to go to the U.S.? Yeah. Well, I think the Calgary situation was kind of crappy in terms of the arena, in terms of the winters there. Like, you know, you could get these guys wanting to leave. For sure.

Like, Edmonton has the big draw of McDavid and Drysaddle. And they got a nice barn, like, a brand-new building. Like, you look at, remember when they did that tour last year with Goudreau and Huberdeau, and they showed, like, the home room? Oh, with Weeger and Huberdeau. I was like, oh, my God. Welcome to the rink. And it's like, oh. It, like, the home room. Oh, with Uyger and Huberto. I was like, oh, my God. Welcome to the rink. And it's like, oh. Is this AASHL?

Like, my rink can't live better than this. Is this just the new reality here where, obviously, hockey's grown so much to the point that now you're producing real superstars on a yearly basis out of the U.S. And if these guys come up, they'll spend whatever time they need to, and then they want to go back south of the border here. There's no doubt it's getting harder to keep the talent here. Is it a bigger issue than just Calgary here? And let me ask you something.

If it's Austin Matthews that says, I want to go home, now does Canada have a real problem? If it's Austin Matthews that says, I want to go home now, does Canada have a real problem? Yeah, you know, I think you're asking a worthwhile question. I had this conversation with my next-door neighbor the other day just about how it is getting harder. Like there's more awareness, I think, of the differences in tax situations. The Jose Bautista thing here is another red flag. If it's tougher to help these guys shelter some of their money,

you know, say what you want. They should or they shouldn't or whatever. They're going to protect all the money they can. If they can't get it here, it's harder. Winters are colder. You know, I think the big thing, too, was during the pandemic, getting your family up here. And I know it's not the case anymore.

Not the case anymore. But that one was something that I think bothered a lot of the American players playing in Canada. I don't blame them. They didn't get to see their people. It was really hard. That's what made you feel like Canada, U.S. It's like there's not a sense of a true, you're in a, you know, you're in a foreign country. Yeah.

It's very North American. For sure. But that one, you really felt. We felt the divide a bit, for sure. The divide. Yeah. We should get to break so we can get to Kelly. All right.

Sammy says we're going to break, and then we'll come up, hopefully, after the break with Kelly McCrimmon, general manager of the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. Maybe he's in a, maybe he's in a pond somewhere like Ovi was a while ago. We'll find out. Real Kipper and Bourne after the break.

Everything Raptors, before and after the games. The Raptor Show with Will Liu. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Real Kipper and Born on Sportsnet 590, The Van. Nick Kiprio's Justin Bourne on Summer Hours, Real Kipper and Born. Waiting on Kelly McCrimmon.

All right, let's not waste any time. Let's welcome in General Manager of the Stanley Cup Champion, Vegas Golden Knights, Kelly McCrimmon. How does that sound, Kelly? Well, it sounds good, feels good. So thanks, Nick. Thanks for having me. And, yeah, it's been quite a week.

Just between the final whistle of the clinching game and up until now, can you just give us a general feel for what it's been like for you? When it happens, at least my experience is that you're not ready for what it is. You think you have an idea of what it might feel like, what it might look like, but it's so much more when you get on the ice with the players, as you know. The pure joy in people's faces, not just your players, but their families who are always part of the journey and the accomplishment. And, you know, the hockey operations people, George McPhee, Bill Foley,

Carol, his wife Carol, you know, my family were all there. It was really almost overwhelming that first night. And then everything was so well planned by the organization. We had a place to go, you know, the dressing room. organization we had a place to go uh you know the dressing room then we had a place to go in the arena then we had a place to go uh at one of the nearby casinos and then you know the work that went into the parade the players all went to montana for a quick 24-hour trip took their wives uh up there so it just was uh you know it just was tremendous from the time uh that game ended and of course you know as a manager you're not uh focusing on any of that you're almost avoiding having any uh kind of thoughts about what happens next so the fact

that the organization had done so much work on it really uh made it easy to enjoy and uh and be part of when you look back at the how got here, the course of shaping the roster and all the rest, you guys had to make some tough decisions with player personnel. How do you look back? How do you feel about those moves now, looking back at them and having it paid off? I feel the same way about them now that I did then.

Quite frankly, I think the one thing that we have done really well is we've got a real conviction in the vision that we have for what a championship team needs to look like, and we had a real burning desire to win. So that's from George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon. That's not coming from Bill Foley, who said at the outset he wanted to win a Stanley Cup in six years. I think some people felt that was sort of how we did our business

based on that. It wasn't at all. And it was, I guess, gratifying know the pro scouts that have a big hand in this our hockey operations which have a lot of input and then uh of course george and myself who've been been part of it since day one most of those people have been part of it since day one so it was uh rewarding and gratifying but i think uh but I think the moves we made, we made for the right reasons, and I think that that's part of how our team was successful at the end.

We're talking to Stanley Cup champion Kelly McCrimmon, general manager, Vegas Golden Knights. You know, Kelly, your team kind of squashed that term, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas because of Instagram and Twitter. We get to watch it all from afar. And I got to be honest with you, man. Sometimes I'm watching and I got a feeling that it might be a little nervous for you watching your players celebrate.

And I'm just wondering, you know, what's that, what's that like? You know, hopefully it's all in, it's all good. It's all safe, but is there a part of you that gets a little nervous watching this thing unfold? It's a problem I'd love to have again next year. Can you find William Carlson a shirt? Well, I said in an interview

earlier today, his nickname through his career has been Wild Bill because he's the exact opposite of that. He's probably the quietest guy on our team. And, of course, when he grabbed the mic and he's that close to the edge of the stage,

you get a little bit nervous that he might fall right into the crowd. You're more than a little bit nervous at what he might say next. And when it was all said and done, I thought he pulled it off pretty darn well. He had a good message. He introduced his longtime teammate, Jonathan Marcheseau, and no question who the star of the show was in the eyes of our fans it was uh it was william carlson on that night

so kelly when teams uh around the league around the league look at who won the stanley cup they always want to play copycat and sometimes they want to get bigger like the cup champs or faster or whatever it may be you know when you look at your own roster what would other teams look at it and take away what were the you know what's the core at the core of the makeup that got you guys over the top well along the way we had worked to uh put real key people in uh in the real important positions your number one d your number one center i think those were moves that were uh you know really important with petrangelo and then the trade for jack eichel so um you know you need those types of players to win a championship i think when you look uh you know

past that i'd add mark stone uh to that group as well for what he means to our team and then when you look past that i think it was just the incredible depth and uh the performances of um you know our fourth line our third pair of d when you look at our d uh time on ice the difference between the number one d and the number 60 was about three minutes and uh the that John Stevens gave those players when you look at the forward lines it was the same thing we rarely had a forward touch 20 minutes you know Nick Waugh's line which we would call our fourth line would always be over 10 Nick Waugh would be closer to 15 because it was work on special teams and it really put us in a position where um you know a

lot of a lot of different players took turns seizing the big moments which to me took um you know pressure off any one player individually and uh and spread it across the collective i really felt uh you know we've had other years where we went to the conference final and we we ended up not being able to score enough and this time we were able to score and have real balance offensively across our forward lines each line we had a we had a 10 goal scorer on uh on our first three lines which is pretty rare uh in the stanley cup playoffs So I think that spoke to the type of balance and depth that we had at all positions. Kelly, one more before I

let you go, and I kind of feel bad for you. There's not enough hours or weeks to celebrate. You've got to go back to work. There's the buyout period. There's the draft free agency. You've got to go back to work here, and where would a guy like Aiden Hill be on

a priority list of trying to get him signed before UFA well we won on Tuesday Nick last Tuesday a week ago and uh Wednesday I was only in the office probably for a couple of hours and it was more just to reminisce with the other people that were there and talk about the night before and I can say we did absolutely no work that day and yet the following day by Thursday you know you're beginning to to get back at it and we've now you know worked right through as we get ready for next week's draft of Of course, free agency, as you touched on, we've got some free agents of our own that we'll want to meet with to sort out where we are there. We only have one RFA in Brett Howden. So we're hopeful that we're going to be able to return

the core of our team. Maybe a little bit more fortunate in that regard than some of the past champions have been just with the you know with the restraints that the salary cap uh puts on teams so that's uh uh yeah there wasn't a long time to put our feet up and yet you've always just got that uh that great feeling of the accomplishment of your uh your organization so that part was uh will always be with us and we'll get some time here over the course of the summer to reflect when we get our day with the cup and that type of thing.

But for now we've got to get back, get back to work here, preparing for the next, the next couple of weeks. Well, at that time this summer will be well-earned. Kelly, can't thank you enough for joining us. We know it's a busy time still for you, but we sure appreciate it. And once again, congratulations. Yeah, you bet, Nick. Thanks a lot for having me, guys.

Thanks, Kelly. That's Kelly McCrimmon, architect for the Vegas Golden Knights in their Stanley Cup. You know, I heard him say, you know, in terms of how they, like, set their team up, key guys at important positions, one of my thoughts was, like, you know,

love Riley, and he was unbelievable in the playoffs. You know, would a, was there a way to get a number one D? Like, not that Riley's not a number one D in the league, but one of the 20 best in the league, whether it's Petrangelo or Hedman or Keith or Dowdy or Letang or Carlson. Those are all the guys that have won cups recently. Well, not Carlson. Well, John Carlson.

Oh, I thought you meant that where are you on the priority of uh uh aiden hill uh being needed to come back for vegas that decor boy yeah you know it's like is he yeah i think he's a good goalie would like him you can obviously win with him but i don't know like how much money you're gonna give a guy when you feel like he's one of the where's he in the league out of 60 goalies what what's he, 20 to 40? I like him. Good goals. I like...

Be careful, though. I probably like three quarters of the league behind that blue line. Yeah. For sure. For sure you would. They're just so nice. Samsonov could have won the cup with him. No question.

Yeah, I feel like he's in that ballpark. Yeah. You know? So... So... You're going to give him five million? No. Oh, my God. No? Well, I mean... That's overpaying for me. If he's a UFA, yeah, I don't so you give him five million no oh my god well i mean that's overpaying

if he's a ufa yeah i don't want to give him five million but like if he's a ufa he doesn't some team maybe four he made 2.2 and just won the cup what did kemper get five times five kemper was more accomplished though before he's over five was he not just barely over five a little more a little more pedigree there jack campbell got a lot times five yeah i i know you're right bernie probably would get five times five close anyway i mean i didn't mean to scoff at you so hard 4.5 i think but that's a that's to me that's a big gamble for a guy with such a small sample size in the heat of the playoffs really yeah it's a huge gamble goal Goalies are weird, man.

He could be terrible next year. By the way, before we go, did you see the brand new Philadelphia Flyers jerseys? No. Didn't I show them to you? They look like the brand new old Philadelphia Flyers. They're the exact same. They did this huge video about how they're revealing their new jerseys.

Like, oh, new jerseys. I love them. Yeah. A little bit more white on them. Guess what? Because the Flyers have sick jerseys. And they're one of the most recognizable. Always. Oh, they're one of the most recognizable jerseys in, oh, new jerseys. I love them. Yeah. A little bit more white on them. Guess what? Because the Flyers have sick jerseys. And they're one of the most recognizable. Always. Oh, they're one of the most recognizable jerseys in all sports.

Sometimes they're too orange. Always. These are not too orange. A great, great jersey. Great jersey. Why mess with a good thing? But don't do a big jersey reveal when it's the exact same jersey. It's legitimately the exact same. I don't know enough to say what the differences are.

I just know I like it. Good. The burnt orange is back, baby. Before we end, can you do something about the Jays, please? Oh, my God. They suck so bad. Watch. It's painful to watch.

I can't. I wish I could. Now they're getting hurt. They suck. They may miss the playoffs, boys. It's terrible. It's going to be a long summer around here. Get them going, Sammy.

I'll do my best. All right. Our thanks to Kelly McCrimmon, general manager of the Stanley Cup champion, Vegas Golden Knights. I'm Nick Kiprios. He's Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee. You all have a great night.

And we're back soon.