Real Kyper & Bourne - Cruising Canucks

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in Canucks' analyst Dan Murphy to start the second hour. He discusses what the Canucks are playing for in their final 13 games, their small lull since the All-Star Break, Pettersson's play since his contract, what the team's summer might look like with Lindholm headed for UFA & attention on Hronek as an RFA. Then a look around the three-headed race in the Central and which teams pose the biggest threat to Vancouver. Finally, they regroup with Sam McKee for news and notes - Tom Wilson suspension predictions, Sean Couturier gets scratched again and what the next GM in Columbus has in store for them this summer, including a potential Gaudreau trade.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.

we are a go derrick brandeo tells me for our national hour here on the real kipper and born show glad you're along we're live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver sportsnet 960 in calgary as always this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 justin born sammy mckee and yours truly here gonna welcome in dan murphy host of hockey night canada sports net huge game for borneys islanders tonight massive massive game doesn't make it necessarily watchable between those two teams but it's a big one seven games on tap more more than that seven no how many you did the lineup maybe you're right seven okay and i'm the one that retired with a concussion all right that makes a lot of sense let's welcome in dan murphy to our show as uh

the vancouver canucks are set to host the Montreal Canadians and sporting for those of you that cannot watch them on zoom, a Grizzlies hat. That's a collector's item. Is it not? Country Reeves original right there. Well, do you guys know that I, I, before I did Canucks hosting, I hosted one season of Grizzlies basketball.

How'd you do? Were you good? He got the franchise folded. What do you mean? Did they leave because of you? Yeah, it wasn't my fault, but it was the early days. Bibby, Dickerson, Sharif,

Big Country, Othello, Harrington, Grant Long, man, the names I could give you. But yeah, one year of Grizzlies basketball. All right. We got, what, 13 games to could give you. But yeah, one year of Brisbane basketball. All right. We got, what, 13 games to go in the Vancouver Canucks season. They've got a comfortable lead over the Edmonton Oilers, or do we look at the games in hand? What's the feeling out there?

I mean, I think it's not comfortable. They're, what, eight points up. I think they have the tiebreaker, so that makes them, you know, Edmonton's got a clear nine points. But they do have one game head to head so it could get interesting but i am i guess what you're playing for at this point they're not going to play edmonton the first round um you're looking at either la vegas or nashville defending depending on how things break so i don't think they're too, too worried about winning the division. Of course, they'd like to. I think it's just more trying to get back to playing solid hockey

and getting back on top of their game, because it's been a bit of a lull here since the All-Star break. You know, it's funny you say that it's been a bit of a lull just going back over their schedule, but, you know, prepping to interview with you in March. They have won the majority of their hockey games, and it seems like maybe squeaking by a little bit more than they would like to. What is the state of their play on the ice these days?

Yeah, when I say that, it's been a lull. I mean, the last 20 games are 10, 7, and 3. So if the tough point of your season, you're still playing at a 90-point pace, that's pretty good, right? But the offense 5-on-5 has dried up a-point pace, that's pretty good, right? But, you know, the things that have, you know, the offense five-on-five has dried up a little bit, and that's not surprising. The team was shooting like 13.5% in the first half of the season.

That wasn't a continue. I think, you know, overall, the defensive game has been really good. Since the All-Star break, I think they're allowing a few shots per game. You know, defensively, they've been solid. But, but you know there's some areas that i think that could improve uh the power play finally looked good in their last game it had been really sputtering elise petterson you know his offense had dried up a little bit um so i think those are the kind of things they're trying to focus on he's still got 82 points this season but they do have to figure out what the top six is going to look like before the playoffs because it's been you know an ongoing audition of wingers for uh both you know miller and bester on that line and then with petterson um i think when they

got you know lindholm at the dead before the deadline i think they were hoping that that would be the guy you could play with with petterson that That hasn't worked out so far. I don't think they had, you know, Lindholm, Setter, Lafferty, and Mikheyev, which is what the line is tonight, in their mind when they made that trade. So I still think there's stuff to figure out before the playoffs. Just, you know, makeup of this lineup. We're talking to Dan Murphy, host of Hockey Night in Canada and Canucks Hockey on Sportsnet. You mentioned Pedersen, two goals and an assist against Buffalo.

What has life been like for Pedersen after signing the massive contract in terms of expectations amongst the fan base? Because as Sammy here out east has reminded me since Willie Nylander signed his massive contract not quite the same player that he was in the first half of the season oh how's it been for Petey I mean I think that the fans have been on him a little bit uh you know kind of February on he scored 14 goals in January I believe he was the leading goal scorer in the league. So, you know, it's not like he's having a poor season. He's already at 82 points.

But, you know, we haven't seen recently as many of those games that he takes over, you know, where the offense, you know, has just been, you know, he can change the pace of the game. And that hasn't happened as much. The last game was much better. And I will say this. I think part of it has to do with the fact that they haven't been able to find them consistent winners um so you know the the pedersen we saw in the first half of the season has been gone a little bit here but i

don't think it's the contract um you know a lot of people say you know what about this guy and his personality and i said well if he chose to sign in vancouver for eight more years i think his personality is going to be just fine to play here and accept the criticism because he knows what it's like so I wouldn't say that the contract has been the reason for the dip in play recently I think it's just been you know one of those lulls in the season you know we do a Leafs hour earlier um you know before this one we end up talking about contracts pretty much 90% of the time and everyone hates it I don't know why we do it but let's try it in Vancouver and see if they like it how are things with philip fronic where he's at what he should be worth where's that conversation at these days out west well he's a restrictive

free agent as we know and now that pedersen's done that the focus shifts to that and you know he's in line for a massive raise so i guess the question is um you know how much can you pay him and how much is he a product of playing with quinn hughes i mean that's the big question right alan walsh is going to go in and say here's a 55 point season 60 point season for defensemen somewhere in there leading the league in plus minus and primary assists and you know on ice goals for even strength they're going to want a big race. And the Canucks are going to say, hold on a second. You know, if we paired him on his own pairing, we had to give him a pairing of his own, would he be able to lead it?

So they're going to have to find the sweet spot. Does Hronik like the situation he's in here? And it's not just, you can't just say, you just play him with Quinn Hughes and anybody can do it. Not anybody can do it. You have to skate with him. You have to think the game like him. And I think he's been a, you know, a really, really good partner for quinn um you know i think it's going to land somewhere just north of seven

um you know which is making more than quinn right now but of course the cap's going up so i think they'll get it done they paid a first and a second to get this guy they're not going to let him walk but i think it is going to be a tough negotiation because al walsh is not going to want to take a discount for the numbers he's putting up. Speaking of Quinn Hughes, pretty good body check Tuesday night against Buffalo. And just the sense that his game seems to be strong enough to finish this season off and win a Norris. Your thoughts on Quinn and the strength that he's showing down the stretch here. I think he's the best player in the Canucks

and it's not particularly close. We've almost become desensitized to the stuff that he does out here on a nightly basis, on a game-by-game basis. If he has a bad game, they're so rare it sticks out. If there's a game where he's slightly off, you're like, oh, that was a bad night for him. You say it once

every month, if um you know you know as you prepare for these games you get the stat packs and it's like every single game it's like pretty hughes with this assist has joined bobby or and paul coffee to do that yeah he's where he's with like any of the people he's mentioned in some of these numbers are the best of the best of the best. And Kael McCarr is often in a lot of those as well. He has been excellent. You know, I really, as soon as Talkett came in last year and said, we need our young guys to lead, we need Pedersen and Hughes to step up. As soon as he said that, something switched in Quinn Hughes.

I think, you know, I often think to myself now, he probably thought I'm going to be captain. Like I'm going to take the bull by the horns and I'm going to be captain. Like, I'm going to take the bull by the horns, and I'm going to make them notice me, and I'm going to be the captain of this team. And he's done it. And like I said, no disrespect to Pedersen or Demko or Miller. I just think that, you know,

where Miller's the emotional heartbeat of the team, I think, I just think that the best player in this team is the captain. And this season, he's been fantastic. So we've talked a little bit about the tentpole guys there who have moved the needle to have this team is the captain and this season he's been fantastic so we've talked a little bit about the tentpole guys there who have moved the needle to have this team you know favorites to win the division and should win the division here uh when it's all said and done we haven't talked to you in a while and not since the deadline we were talking before the show and so i have to ask you what happened with the phil kessel thing at the deadline. How did that end up falling through? I never did get a scoop on that.

I mean, I think they sent him to Abbotsford to see what he looked like. I think the plan was to sign him and then have him, like, break glass in case of emergency if they needed some depth scoring. And my guess is that, you know, maybe they didn't like what they saw or didn't see what they expected to see and Alvin said something to the effect of you know we don't think he fits our style of play and that's why we didn't sign him so I just think probably when they brought him out for an extended look they decided in the end you know spending that money was not what they intended to do or there was no path forward for him to play on this team

even if they had a couple of injuries. So that's my guess why that fell through. You know, a term that we often use in the playoffs to talk about role players or foot soldiers here and particularly McKay of a guy that we know here out east a lot through his Toronto days. Is it 34 games he went without a goal? 30-some.

I can't remember what the number is. Yeah, 34, I think. Yeah. Yeah. And you guys know, like, this is a guy that, you know, never finishes on a high percentage of his chances. You know, he's kind of like, you know, the next coming of Grabner with getting breakaways and finishing one out of every 10 kind of thing.

But he was really struggling and the speed wasn't there. I don't know if the confidence in his knee after the surgery was there. But I will say over the past three weeks and especially into the last game, he's looked way better. And that has to be just a huge sigh of relief for Rick Tockett. I mean, they want this guy killing penalties. They need this guy's profile. They need the speed. They really only have a couple of burners on this team.

He'd be one, and Lafferty would be another. So, yes, I think he went through a crisis of confidence more than anything. He wasn't scoring when he was in the top six. He wasn't scoring in the bottom six. But he's one of those players that has been definitely trending in the right direction so the best season by a canuck here like if a guy who's maybe most above expectations well maybe he didn't say that he had high expectations but jt miller uh is rick talk it had just kind of like the miller whisperer the way he was a Kessel whisperer? Do they have a special connection? He sure got a lot out of him this year.

Yeah, like you guys might be able to explain it better than me. I think some guys want to be coached. And I think he's one of those players. He wants to be challenged. He wants to be told things. He wants to be taught. He wants to discuss everything. And I think he needed to be coached.

He needed like a firm hand, so to speak. And he doesn't care at all if he's held accountable if he does something stupid. He wants that. So I just think that Tuck has been the right fit for his personality and his style of play. You know, I think that he wants to win badly. And sometimes in the past that manifested in, you you know some outbursts that probably he's not you know real proud of but we haven't seen that much this year and maybe because the team is winning a lot more and he hasn't been as frustrated but i just think it's been a perfect match of

player and coach for for a guy that uh you know a guy like talkett he's got a lot of equity with hockey players right with the way he played and how hard he played and the style he played and i think that resonates with a guy like like gt murph just to take you out of the pacific for a second is there a lot of talk out west on on on the season that winnipeg's having because the focus all season long has been pretty much you know the at least the big ticket items have come out of Vancouver and Edmonton. But Winnipeg now is a real legitimate contender, in my opinion. Yeah. And who would have thought that? I mean, at the end of last season, of course, nobody thought that Canucks would be maybe challenging for a playoff spot, but not where they are now.

And remember how it finished with Winnipeg and rick bonus blowing up at his team in the playoffs like you would have thought come back like this and have this type of season um i love rick i'm so happy for him and and i i don't get a vote for these types of things but i would probably have connor hellebuck in the top three of heart voting for me when i looked at the numbers numbers and I know it's not a thing we do anymore um you know I don't even know who the last one was was it Carey Price or I can't remember um but I think he deserves to be there his numbers underlying and and counting stats whatever you want are so far above any other goaltender uh it's crazy so i think just the fact that you've got him uh makes him a legitimate threat a hot series can win you a cup and there's none better in the league right now

than hellevon so you know talking about other other teams you know you wouldn't potentially have to face winnipeg for a couple of rounds you could potentially face vegas who just did a whole bunch of stuff to get a whole bunch of players is that the worst case scenario for for the canucks or maybe you not believe in what they're selling out there um i don't know if it'd be worst case i think the fans it'd be the the sky is falling why is this happening to us type of thing but after that start the first 20 games i mean vegas is 500 team i know they've've had a ton of injuries without Eichel for a month, and Theodore was out, and Petrangelo's been out, and now Stone's out.

I think if they were fully healthy, then you'd say, why? But, you know, are they just what they are right now until they get healthy, which has been a 500 team? So I don't think they have that same mystique as they did in years past with the Canucks. The Canucks couldn't beat them. The two teams Vancouver could never beat was Winnipeg and Vegas. But I think the mystique around both those teams has gone a little bit now

with this version of the Canucks. So, yeah, listen, on a personal level, I get to go to either L.A. Or Nashville, yeah. Yeah, so I don't care. Do you think, though, that miraculously, if everyone's healthy for game one against Vegas, that there's not going to be this psychological effect on O.O.? Yeah, of course I think there's going to be a bit of an uh-oh you mean look at

vancouver's roster there's not a lot of guys that have been there in the playoffs i mean aside from the bubble a slight bubble run there with petterson and hughes and some indemco right i mean they haven't had a home playoff game since 2015 right like that alex burrows was doing a stop adjuster as a coach for Montreal. And I was thinking, man, the last time they had a home playoff game, he was playing for the Vancouver Canucks. Because the bubble, of course, is in Edmonton. So I think these players, the coaching staff,

are going to have to do a good job of getting prepared for this. But, of course, if Vegas is fully healthy, they're going to go, oh, my God, look at this lineup. But you could also say, look at the goaltending um for the last half the season hasn't been great so i i i get a sense there's a little more mental fortitude with this group that hasn't been there in the past maybe that's just the product of winning a lot of games this year you know whatever comes of this season for the canucks i know it would be selling it short to say whatever happens is a success because it's not i understand expectations have changed from the start of the year,

but it's a success in that where they were going to where they are now is you've charted a totally different course. So looking past this season, how are they positioned to continue to be this team and not revert back to the one they were? Like, are they going to re-sign Elias Lindholm? How do you think it looks in the future going forward here well they've got a lot of ufas um like and most notably we're talking about verona you also have dakota joshua i mean look at teddy bluger there are some players you

know casey dismissed some players they'd probably like to have back that they won't be able to get i think they're set up still fine uh for the mere fact that now Pedersen is locked up long term. You've got Quinn Hughes at a ridiculous number for a few more years. You've got Denko for one more year after this one. So the core pieces are still there. And I would say that this management group has identified the right players. And that's something the last management group couldn't do. Like they rarely hit on a trade or an acquisition or free agent signing, rarely. And this one really hasn't missed, I don't think. So I think that they're set up because their core is signed. They've got a functioning NHL defense, which they hadn't had in years. And Susie is coming back

next year. She's got two years left. And I think this management group has proven itself of able to find the next guy instead of signing the old guy that was just doing it. So, you know, I think those are the reasons why fans should be, you know, optimistic for next year. Maybe not challenging for a president's trophy, but, you know, I don't think anybody thought they'd be doing that this year either.

About that decor, are you surprised to see OEL having so much success in Florida? You know what? Maybe a little bit. But here's the thing. And I say this about Chris Tanev. When Chris Tanev left here, everybody was like, oh, he might be washed. And I was like, I don't know if he's washed. But for the last six years, he's been so beat up because he's defended every game.

And he doesn't care about taking a hit to make a play. He was retrieving every puck. He was taking every forecheck. He was broken down. They never had the puck for a decade. This team never had the puck. Then he went to Calgary and it was a good team. And look at him.

And now he's back to being the Chris Tanoff. So I think that OEL was dogged a bit. He was not always healthy. And then just the trade that brought him here. He was always going to be on his back foot with a fan base. So I'm happy he's having that success because he wasn't really set up for success in this market.

Just one more on the list of UFAs and Lindholm in particular. Is his long-term future as a Canuck completely hinge on the success of the playoffs for him and the team? Yeah, I would say yes.

Talk it alluded to the fact he's battling through something right now and injury. Not sure what he said. It wasn't serious. So maybe that's why his offensive numbers haven't been that great since the trade. I don't know. Like again,

I don't know. Can they afford him? Can you afford to have JT at $8 million, Pedersen at $11 million, and then another center making $8 million? I don't know. I just don't know if he's going to be a fit financially. That's just my thought right now. But, heck, if they go on a long run and, you know,

they make it to the third round or the playoffs or conference finals and he's a big part of it then maybe they make a push to do it i just think it's going to be really tough to fit him in financially dan great stuff man really appreciate it enjoy the game tonight and uh go grizzlies go go lawrence moten thanks murph appreciate it all right dan murphy go tee it up at shaughnessy canucks hockey on sportsnet hockey night in canada he was fun he's a good guy he is and also very good golfer he's probably golfing it's probably nice in bc right is it not cold here today boy it is feels like sucks today there's some dead tulips in my front garden i can tell

you that it actually feels the coldest it's been all winter in March. It's a mindset thing, though. You're not ready for it. We had a great winter here. It wasn't that bad. That was awesome. And then it just kind of got cold at the worst possible time. Not great.

They don't have to win the Stanley Cup. I don't think they even have to get to a conference final. Not only that, but you you got to have enough experience that the the group can learn and and they what's the term grow thicker skin you know through it so you're battle tested the next time yeah you come around again but they you know they probably should win a round and have a very good second round to have people believe that uh they're heading in the right direction with this group it is funny like you know having seen the the leaf struggle to break through for so long they went around and

everyone's talking about growth and now they get deeper in the playoffs and then they get turfed in the next round and it almost like voided it right stunted the growth yeah it was like there was no you can't just get into that next round and lay down. And this is a team that's going to win their division, unlike where the Leafs were. So expectations will be. You need not a round. Yeah, you need weeks of hockey.

You need a month. We need to be talking about, you know, the late May. We need to be talking about the Leafs hockey or Canucks hockey in late May. But the Canucks in particular, if they do draw a Nashville or a Los Angeles, they would be heavy favorites. And that's one responsibility there.

But then after that, you're looking at the Oilers or Vegas. And then after that, it's Colorado or Winnipeg. So, you know, it gets real hard real quick out west. I'm not so sure that Nashville team is a real prize to win the division. But, I mean, by standards of NHL playoffs, you never really get a dog. There's not too many bad teams. Unless the first overall,

except the first overall team in the East this year. Yes. They're going to get a dog. Here's the Caps or the Isles of the West. And I know it's a bit of a snail's pace in the East right now, but you got to have an overall good season to make the playoffs. Yeah.

Like half the league makes it. Yeah. It's hard. The Islanders are probably the worst. If you had to draw Detroit, Washington, or the Islanders, Islanders got to be the worst draw because Sorokin is the best goalie of the bunch there. You know, they got a bunch of veterans, some good D,

Barzal, Horvat, like they could push a team. Any team that sneaks in as the Panthers proved last year can be dangerous. We'll have a shot. They would have had pockets of good hockey during the regular season

that they can resort to. They can also remember the Wings are 2-8-0 in their last 10. Not to make it about the Leafs and the National Honor, we're just talking about the Predators, and we're talking about how the Leafs are having a tough time with centers. Ryan O'Reilly would have been a good fit. Ryan O'Reilly, yeah, we had Paul Maurice on yesterday. If you didn't listen to Paul Maurice on the show yesterday,

go listen to that interview. But that is one of the things he talks about. His match-ups and line-ups and trying to... And benching Rod Brindamore. Yes. Who's still mad at him. Yes. And he didn't bench Rod Brindamore two games in a row, did he?

Oh! Like Sean Couturier? Let's do game time. We'll geturier uh let's do game time we can talk let's do game time uh let me get my sheets ready here it's game time presented by bet365 visit the app latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary bet365 must be 19 plus on tarot only please play responsibly now i'm sure bet365 is a very busy place today, as today is the first day of March Madness. The NCAA men's basketball tournament got underway today, which, to me, it's not a great product.

It's a really romantic time of the year. Everyone gets really excited about it. There's nonstop basketball. It's not a Sportsnet property, is it? No. Yeah, it's unwatchable. It's just, I can't tell you how much worse it is than the pros. These guys can't make a shot.

It's not nearly as good, but it's a fun time for everybody. It is. I'm sure there's a ton of people visiting Bet365. Yeah, hey, I lit 40 bucks on fire. I'm in two different pools, so I'm ready to rock. Oh, yeah. One of them, you could win a lot of money, but I won't. Anyways, just thought I'd mention that for my degenerates out there

that are hammering on the March Madness. As far as the NHL slate goes tonight, there's a few good games tonight. I mean, the Red Wings and Islanders is a big game. But I don't think it's a good game. It's a big game, but they're both minus 110. They have no idea. There's the rest of the games. Different sheets.

Yes, I said seven, and there's like 11, and you're like, I don't know how many there are. You printed it. Yeah, but I was... For now on, print them all on one page. Okay. Because I'm a little messy over here. I'm not a professional host. Behind the scenes.

Real Kipper and Bourne. You're not a professional. You're extremely professional. But yeah, there's 11 games. And I even wrote that in the lineup. I think that there's 11 games. Yeah, 11 games. But the Islanders, Red Wings, I don't know who the hell is going to win this game.

I literally have no lean whatsoever. What do the experts say red wings are at home whose favorite it's both minus 110 minus 110 even even money tonight either way they have no idea so i got the aisles what a stunning team that's all i'm not uh you think they're better i do larkin is coming back after what missing eight games yeah he's coming back tonight maybe he'll help yeah for sure uh i mean yeah he's coming back tonight, maybe. He'll help. Yeah, for sure. I mean, yeah, he's a good player. Palm palms out.

The other game I have my eye on is the Rangers and Bruins tonight, which is a great game. Good original six matchup. Awesome jersey battle. The Boston Bruins are very heavy favorites. Minus 155 on home ice. The Rangers plus 130. As you know, I like to get good teams as big underdogs.

Give me the Rangers. Good pick. Against the Boston Bruins. Bruins are fraudulent. Another good one. A few good games tonight, boys. The Nashville Predators, the red-hot Nashville Predators that Borny doesn't believe in,

are in Florida to take on the Panthers. Panthers, huge favorites, as you would imagine. But the Predators have been hot. They've won three in a row. They're 8-0-2 in their last 10. They're plus 150. Give me the Predators to upset the Florida Panthers. Colby Sissons, Tommy Novak, Mark Junkhead, Ken Kelski.

Who doesn't believe in the hottest team in the NHL. Give me the Predators. Meow? What kind of sound do they make? I don't know in the hottest team in the NHL. Give me the Predators. Meow? What kind of sound do they make? I don't know. I'll give Brunette credit. They play an organized, fast brand of hockey. Yes.

Yeah. Okay, and? They don't have much talent. They have a great goalie. They don't have much talent. They have a great goalie. Sure. And so when you can print the shirts of the Nashville Predators Stanley Cup Championship,

they can print a shirt that has the sphere on it. They can show the DVD at the sphere. Yes. And all as well. They'll all go to the sphere when they win the Stanley Cup. I like it. Okay. That was Game Time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. All right. So I'm not a huge NCAA basketball guy. I don't really follow it. I entered one pool.

Through darts blind or what? No, it was a sports net pool we did, I think, I don't know, 2006, 2007. Okay. And I have no idea. So my wife's from Gainesville, Florida, home of the Gators. She's a Gator girl. I've been there.

I pick the Gators to win the championship. Cash that check. Cha-ching. Love it. Yes, and everybody's like, how did you know? You're like, oh, you didn't know. I love the way they rotate.

Oh, my God. I love their spacing on the offensive side. I mean, not to... Are they tough under the basket? Not to discredit you, but that's literally one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time. It was like, it was Keen Noah. What was the other guy on that team? Guy played Al Horford. Like, they were an absolute stud.

Who doesn't remember the 06 Gators lineup? Okay. Anyways, my cousin went to Florida University. I've been to the Swamp. Oh, yeah. I love it down there. It's a great town. He's taking ownership of the Gators. I do. I went to Florida University. I've been to the Swamp. Oh, yeah. I love it down there. It's a great town. He's taking ownership of the Gators.

I do. I root for the Gators because of that. So go Gators. There you go. Go Iowa. All right, when we come back, we'll discuss one of 11 games on tap, including the Flyers at Carolina.

And guess who's a healthy scratch again? This is the story that just keeps on giving. Is it Cam Atkinson? Bobby Brink out of the lineup? You'll have to wait until after the break. More real Kipper and Bourne after these words. Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Kibrios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Sammy, how far are we away from Blue Jays opening pitch here? A week. A week? Today. A week today.

We will not be here a week today. We have the day off. We're getting bumped for Major League Baseball? I mean, I ain't complaining nerve and you know they talk about the dog days in baseball it's the dog days in hockey i'll take one off that's it three weeks till playoffs so you know gotta watch the jay start of the season i know we touched on this a little uh earlier today but uh tom wilson in person hearing yeah this one kind of was doofus usually with in-person hearings there is this massive wave of social media emotion no it's just the Leafs aren't involved in it so this one just

it's not that much well they're involved this one slid right by because again this one caught everybody out of left field most violent malice free play i've ever seen like he's just whips his hockey stick at a guy's face and seems indifferent he's just like oh whoops my bad if a leaf player did this uh everybody from every other fan base throw him in jail kick him off the tour doug there'd be no suspended there'd be no that's all it's your reference but no it's i mean i don't know what you thought kip we mentioned a little bit in the first hour but like bad play dumb play it's either reckless or as violent or some but it's not every once in a while you're like malicious you kind of throw your stick off like you're trying to swat a fly

he just cracked that man's teeth off. That was a pretty hard swat of a fly. Sorry, Tom Wilson doesn't deserve the benefit of the doubt. No, and he's also recently suspended in 21, I think. I love the guy. I love him. One of my favorite players I would kill for him in blue and white. Did that on purpose.

He slashed him in the mouth. He brought his stick around and hammered him in the mouth. I think he tried to whack him. Tried to swat him away, and it went miserable on him. Just because he's out of North Toronto Arena. He slashed him in the mouth. It was on purpose. He looked at his head, brought his stick around,

and slashed him in the mouth. On purpose. It's like after you break a glass in your kitchen or something, and you're like, oh, the second you let go of it, you're like, oh, that was bad. I know what I did. As soon as he hit him, he's like, I'm getting sped up for that. Oh, my wife's going to kill me.

He just instantly knew he had messed up. All right. Five games. Raise your hand if you're really surprised that Tortorella's scratching Sean Couturier again. I suggested it yesterday, did I not? I thought for sure someone would have gone to him and say, we just named him captain a month ago,

so let's not really embarrass ourselves even more that we picked the wrong guy as a captain. Yeah, I got two thoughts on this. One is that it's you don't change a winning lineup, which is the dumbest policy in sports. It is superstitious. It's like horoscopes. It's like, it's either that, it's superstition, it won,

so we're going to stick with it, or it's that you don't think he's one of your best 13 guys. If you think he's one of your best 13 guys, or 12 guys, put him back in. Otherwise, it's that you don't think he's one of your best 13 guys. If you think he's one of your best 13 guys or 12 guys, put him back in. Otherwise, it's superstition. I don't know if there's ever been a team that has bought into that superstition when it comes to their captain

or highest paid player on the team. Is he not? An $8 million player? Yeah, until 2030. So, like... Oh, my God. I don don't know find me an example of that can't i can't and and a coach who won't defend the action or even discuss the action this to me is a guy double triple down whatever you want to call it who's just being stubborn

he is picking a fight with hockey because they... He remains the story, right? Well, you think he likes that? I think he loves it. Loves it. And it's easy to faux defend and say, well, we won last game. We won last game. I'm going to come in with the faux defense.

If you're going to scratch your captain against the Toronto Maple Leafs and your team's going to come out there and beat them, a team they hadn't beat in three years, right? Was it nine games in a row the Leafs had beat or eight games in a row? And they beat them. They didn't, wasn't pretty for a lot of it, but they get by them and you're still in a playoff spot. It would

be inconsistent to me to bring them back. Like to me, it's if you're preaching accountability or whatever, you got what you wanted out of your team. You got the win. You sent your message. You got the response.

Can you get it 82 times? I don't know. I just never. I feel like if you put them right back in, it's even weirder to me. I don't know. I'm kind of confused by it. It's the same message. Either you're a better team with him or without him. They got all the licks in that lineup.

If they believe that they've got the best chance to win tonight with him out of the lineup, something's seriously wrong with your team. Well, it's almost accusatory to your general manager and to the management of this guy's under contract for this long. You're almost saying, I can't even use this guy you just gave this money to. I understand that this particular group did not give him the money, if I'm not mistaken, but it's just, it's really embarrassing a guy saying, I can't even use him.

He's not better than this young kid. Even worse than making him a healthy scratch for the second day in a row is doubling down on his refusal to even speak about him do we do you have an updated version of the media asking him about him i don't have it but it was really easy i'm not talking about sean i just did the clip. I'm not talking about Sean. Just stick with your decision, okay? At the end of the day, you're the coach. I get that.

But just talk about your captain, who's still a very big part of your team. To just swat him like Tom Wilson did Gregor with the stick. Yeah. It's just wrong. And then the next game or down the stretch as they're in this playoff push, you want your captain to stand up in the room and direct the boys, tell everyone, here's what we got to do tonight.

And everyone's going, the coach doesn't even think this guy's good enough to play. You know, like, what am I? Yeah, you're fine. It's like i loved andrew ference remember he was captain for edmonton he was the seventh d at times it's really hard to lead from a position of not being in the lineup and i think ference would say the same thing i'm sure couturier would tell you the same thing it diminishes your ability to lead and they're like we've sat here over many years now saying that you like torts

and you like parts of him. Yeah, he's great entertainment value. Great entertainment value and loves pets, loves his dogs. But you can't treat the dogs better than your players, can you? He's Babcock with better PR. That's what he is. Like, treat them the same. Yeah.

He seems to know. He doesn't go through guys' phones. Yeah. But he scratches guys and, you know, like you think back to the Roberto Luongo situation. We had Scott Hartman. Oh, yeah. Where he scratched him in the outdoor game.

Outdoor game. He had Luongo on the bench. Drove. Outdoor game. He had a long bench. Drove him out of there. You think about him scratching. He had the seams on the PK. I remember that. And who was it that was going after him today? Dubinsky?

Yeah, Brandon Dubinsky. What did he say? No love lost there. I just basically. Did he write you a handwritten note? Dubinsky said, Torts, your tactics are getting old. Instead of scratching and embarrassing your captain and one of your best players,

how about you try and tell him I'm giving you 20 minutes tomorrow night no matter what with PP and PK and go play free and have fun and effing get it done. You know, that's the idea of it's like you're going to play your way through this because we trust and believe in the player you are. So TJ Brody from the Toronto Maple Leafs is not the captain,

and Sheldon Keefe called his healthy scratch last night a mental break. Is that the term that he used? Yep. At least he addressed it though, right? A little gentler. He said mental break, but he also said he's had a tough season for us, and he's trying to find it, and we think he could use a little rest and that all checks out.

That all checks out. Sheldon didn't turn around and go, I'm not talking about TJ Brody. No. It's not that big a deal to discuss why you scratch a guy, frankly. Does he not know tomorrow the media is going to come back to him and ask the same question yeah like eventually you gotta come up with a new answer yeah he's trying to be as mean as possible to deter them from coming back like he's trying to make it seem as little of a deal

as it is so that they'll stop asking these questions but it's not scratching a guy at the bottom of the line is he acting like a guy that was thrilled that Sean Couturier was going to be his captain? No. But he is acting like a guy who's thrilled that they won and he got to look right the other night. And boy, they shouldn't have won. No. They did not play great. Alright. Sammy,

what else you got for us? Blue Jackets, could they attempt to trade Johnny Hockey? We're now doing Blue Jays talk now. Oh, yeah. For us. Welcome to Blue Jays talk. We did talk briefly about the Blue Jays.

I'm not. You are. I got some thoughts. What did we already do? Who's the guy's name? Isaiah Kiner-Falefa? Yeah, he's not great. Hey, Dalton Varshow having a great spring.

Vladdy. as my... I like that Vogelbach comes up to the plate to milkshake. And he's a big unit out there. I like him too. I just saw this from the Boston Globe. Don't know how much validity to it there is, but just in alluding to the fact that could a new front office come in there and potentially want to

try to trade that contract is that a immovable contract i don't i don't buy into completely unmovable contracts no i think they're over 32 teams there's someone that's gonna say i'll trade you my headache for your headache. And if it happens to be different positional players, they may, obviously it's money in, money out. But once you're past that, I think there's opportunities to say, okay, this guy, I got to get him out of my room or he needs a break. Columbus tried to do that, right? They tried to trade Laine for Dubois for it was that headache for headache or maybe it went the other way whatever it was and that didn't work but yes you're right it is it is possible but I imagine if a new management comes in it's tough to get

elite talent to Columbus I imagine the first thing you would do is like let's see if a summer off and a fresh start can give this guy you know if we can get a 85 point johnny goodrow back again probably the best step to having success where your expectations are next year again but you got to have nhl players i know when you have to entertain and you're asking these people yeah for season ticket money and they're not gonna want to go there and see a slug yeah he's having a putrid season well you know what i'll let me say i feel like he kind of deserves one you know he he chose columbus in the most arbitrary non-competitive matter it was like not even close to his family which is the original thing it was not to a team that had a chance to contend it was almost to just go play out his days anywhere but yeah sending your old

dog to a family farm to run around for his final days for an eight-year final day contract yeah he is a uh got a lot of dash dash 33 last year dash 22 this year uh the other one too is uh is lining you just mentioned and of course he's out now and won't return but he's still got a hefty contract here if i'm not mistaken two more years i would at eight got a big nut that's a big nut i i was gonna say i'd buy low on that guy yeah but can you get them to retain yeah well that's what it would have to kind of take a little bit but we'll see if the rick nash when he comes back from world championship he's got a big job to do there rick nash got a big one to do that's a lot of cleaning up hey oh go ahead is it buffalo sabers not out of it, out of it? They got the Oilers tonight. Oh, no?

We're not buying that? No. They're out of it. They're done. All right. If that's where we're at about reaching it, I think that's as far down as we'll go in the Eastern Conference. But to me, it doesn't seem like they're still in it.

Does not seem viable. No, absolutely. Although I like that trade for Middlest uh bone you liked it yeah for them in terms of taking a step like they've played well the last little bit here but no a little too little too late unfortunately they're just playing themselves out of a good draft position last year they missed playoffs by one point as well i just think they make a coaching change. Have you seen the Casey Middlestat quotes about how hard Colorado practices and how fast and how he actually sweats at morning skate? Yeah. He's got two separate quotes over the last,

since he's been in Colorado, that the things he's most impressed about are they pace they play, but the pace they practice. And he goes, I was actually sweating after morning skate, which to me is like the harshest indictment of your former team i was actually sweating like i get sweaty putting on my shoulder pads how do you not sweat well i've heard that buffalo is a little bit easy going and if you miss the playoffs by a point and you got the country club reputation. When I got traded to the Leafs, I flew to Dallas for my first game and Pat Burns had the guys out there for like 40 minutes

and I'm like, this is crazy. Like this is not, this is a practice. This is not a warmup morning skate. Yeah. Like I don't know how often Sheldon Keefe would go out for morning skate these days but i bet it's not often like i think it's mostly the guys go out there the assistants have a few drills if you want to do them and this point of the year the puck yeah fire a couple in

yeah loosen up and see how your injury nagging injury everyone has feels and hey did you like morning like did you do the skates i like to get out there before anyone else fresh bucket of pucks and goof around a bit yeah i don't know they'd never get rid of them no i think you would have to offer them people trying new gear and like sometimes you got to get on the ice to test your ankle or whatever it is you got to have them 1200 points for angie kopitar what a career 1200 points selkie trophies stanley cups are they comfortable oh yeah they're they're in yeah they are comfortable they're not super comfortable i mean you would need minnesota took a big loss last night right like it's la it's minnesota who could have caught la and la

handed them a touchdown loss last night unconvertedverted. They're missing like $14 million on their salary cap. That stinks. It's amazing. Does it get better next year? No, I think it's this year and next year that are the big holes for the Parise suit or buyout. To me, it's pretty remarkable that they've been this competitive for multiple seasons.

It's also sort of the hot dog man meme that we're all looking for the guy who did this. It's literally the general manager who put himself in this situation. But the fact that they're playing $14 million, that is three good players. Next year, they also do Kip eat a $14.7 million hit. And then the following year drops down drops down to $1.6. They hated those guys.

Well, sometimes I think culturally, you just have to prune the hedges and let some other guys rise up and take control. They made a mistake with buying out Suter. Yeah, Suter they could have hung on to. Hung on to. You could have fished somebody in to take them and eat $ million three million

the fence are hard still it's crazy they couldn't find anyone to take suitor's money given that he went on to have four or more good seasons at four and a half million dollars right for dallas yeah he's still playing 70 games he just wanted him out of the room that badly. Yeah. And that happens, right? I think that was part of San Jose when they moved on from Thornton and Marleau. It's not that the guys are necessarily bad guys. It's that they just need a fresh start. No, I think they thought he was a bad guy. Suter?

Yes. Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, I do. Okay, then. I do. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that's very possible, too. Sometimes you're like, all right, this guy's just kind of suffocating all the, what do we call it, energy vacuum? Yes. Sucking all the fun out of the room. That does happen. Ryan Suter is so rich. Didn't he sign one of those crazy before the-

He was very mean to me in university, so I don't like him. They had the same contracts, did they not? Yeah, they both made- 113? 13-year, $98 million contract that he signed. 13 years, not 130. Her cousins laughed at their career earnings. And then, yeah, it's true.

But he signed another one right after that with the Stars, right? Where he got a lot of money too. Four million years. Plus he gets the buyout money on top of it. I think I've told you guys this story before but it was i was at islanders training camp and i played golf with bill garren after the round we're sitting around he's telling me my daughter's in horseback riding my son's in you know elite hockey he's got four kids and all these things i was like that's got to be expensive he's like

well not to be a dick but i'm rich he was talking about at the time he was getting paid by three teams he was getting paid by saint louis san was getting paid by St. Louis, San Jose. He was on the Islanders. Like from bios, you're just collecting checks from every direction. This bio thing is not so bad if you can get another deal. Wow. What a great answer. I know.

We all aspire to be able to answer that question. Yeah. Sorry, man, but here's reality for me. It's not happening today or tomorrow for us. By the way, Ryan Suter, $111 million made in his career. Not bad. Not bad. Pretty good.

All right. Tampa Bay at San Jose. Is that a cookie night for Kucherov? Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Point. Tampa can catch Toronto. It is not done.

Quickly, before we go, I'm heading out to Guelph right after the show to watch my beloved own sound attack go for their 30th victory, which would be their 13th straight year having that. Only the London Knights in the history of the CHL have done that. Heading out to Guelph to see him do it tonight. Go attack, go baby.

And all of that has nothing to do with you. What do you mean? He's like an honorary guy. Oh, buddy, I adore this team. I love them. I always love them. So you've cheered them on to this. Oh, yes.

I've been there for 13 of the seasons. That's fair. Yeah. I love them. I always love them. So you've cheered them on to this. Oh, yes. I've been there for 13 of the seasons. That's fair. Yeah. I'm an honorary coach. Our thanks to Craig Simpson for joining us at the top of the hour. And who did we have in the first hour? Craig Simmer. We had Craig Simpson. We had Dan Murphy

in the second hour. Oh, Dan Murphy. Lost my train of thought. Very unprofessional of me. Enjoy your night, everybody. We're back tomorrow on Off the Rails Friday with Doug McClain.