Real Kyper & Bourne - D-Man Deadline Demands

Episode Date: February 23, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick it off with the Leafs' line combinations and the versatility that Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari allow, Jake Muzzin's off-ice role with the team and Kyper's new article on the importance of getting a Muzzin replacement - even if it costs another first-round pick. NHL on Sportsnet's David Amber discusses the pressure on Dubas approaching the deadline, if Matthew Knies should be available and the Canadian-team cup drought (21:01). Later, Mike Rupp of NHL Network shares his thoughts on the Leafs' jolt after the O'Reilly trade, the Patrick Kane-Rangers rumours and if Toronto has an immediate need to shake up the D-corps before the deadline (42:29). Finally, Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin talks about his team's mindset approaching the deadline, Matt Dumba's extension status and the final push for the playoffs and perhaps division title (1:05:15).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 Born on Sportsnet 590 The Van. We are jam-packed for the next two hours. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Derek Brandeo, Sammy McKee, and the new fresh young blood to the real Kipper and Boren show David Sisboom Ba If you missed a thrilling bit of research

on where Sisboom Ba comes from, listen to yesterday's show And screwed up the lineup again, Derek Bandaio was out sick today Our good friend Andrew Dutch Holland Dutchie Yes I screwed up the lineup I screwed up the lineup again sick today. Our good friend Andrew Dutch Holland is joining us today. Yes. I screwed up the lineup. I screwed up the lineup again.

Two days in a row. Hopefully, we've got three guests today and hopefully none of them challenge Brad May's record of three dropped calls, Sammy. That was Colby. Oh yeah, Colton, sorry. Colby. I've lost track colby armstrong

perico so david amber mike rup billy garren general manager of the minnesota wild he's going to be on board in the next hour to tee up the minnesota wild and the toronto maple leafs friday night matchup in the the meantime, practice as usual. And all the attention on the lines. The lines. Yes. Who's with who? I mean, nothing's any different, right?

I don't know. I don't know. I was hoping you would tell me. It looks exactly the same. They're going to go back with the same group they went with last game, which looked pretty good. Until it didn't. I was really excited.

Like I said yesterday, really anticipating one of the reporters, maybe David Alter's tweet with all the different line combinations. It was exactly the same. So nothing different. Yeah. But we've had a little bit from Sheldon Keefe on both sides that he wasn't going to change it day to day.

And then it was the feeling that he wasn't going to change it at all. And now Goldilocks is like right in the middle. So it's not a one-off, but at the same time, it's not forever. So it's a three-off or maybe a four-off on four tonight. We'll see how it goes.

We'll figure it out after that. All right. Do we have any Sheldon Keefe on the line, Sammy? We do. Keefe on how many line combos he's thought of. Second option. Yeah, lots. Especially now that we've been through it

and you see how John's really embraced being on the wing and how that's gone and then knowing that O'Reilly has the ability to play the wing as well and we've got various other guys that can move around in positions. Yeah, there's lots of options there for sure. So I'm very intrigued by the ability to move some things around. As I've told the guys from that line in particular, though, that I think it is important that while I do want to try different things,

I don't think it makes any sense to have it be switching things every game or every couple of games. We don't have that much schedule, but we do have enough schedule where we can give some things time to breathe a little bit before moving on to the next thing. And there will be a time, even if things are really rolling, that I do have to try some different things just to be certain that we have given some time to multiple looks

to be prepared for anything that the future might bring. I kind of feel bad for Sheldon Keefe a little bit moving forward because there's such a there was such a big build-up of the versatility and the options and this and that and I can do this and it's going to be his job from here on in yeah to nail what is perfect and when it's not perfect yeah how long do you sit on it and wait? And you know, the vultures will be out there to say you waited too long or you should have

done this and you could have done that. And like, there's a ton of pressure on Sheldon moving forward here to find that right mix the chemistry. And you only get 24 games to do it. And you don't want to be experimenting the last week before postseason like you want to have this finalized for the final five games don't you you know you want to know what your group is not still tinkering with five games to go in the season so call it

under 20 games to figure it out so yeah there's a lot of options and not a lot of runway to figure it out i'll tell you another thing too if you get a couple of more and that's all it's going to take guys a couple of more appearances maybe as early as friday maybe it's sunday against seattle maybe it's versus mcdavid or in calgary but if you get a couple of more looks of Ryan O'Reilly and Mitch Marner together, like you got in Buffalo, there's going to be a tremendous amount of pressure for Sheldon to keep that. You know, interesting, because I was hearing him talk there,

and it reminded me of my parenting a six-year-old and a three-year-old and that once you do thing one time they think it's okay to do every time and he has now put john tavarez on wing for a game and i heard him in there say you know after seeing john adapt there pretty well and whatever it's you know we've got a lot of options my thought is now he's put him on the wing and it was okay. Is he open now to doing that in different ways? Not just with Ryan O'Reilly, you know, could things change where Tavares plays wing on a different line now,

like maybe with Austin Matthews and Willie Nylander, or maybe, you know, that way you got Mitch and Ryan O'Reilly together, which they seem to have a nice dynamic. Could you create a third line where Tavares is a winger? You know, a charian Kampf can be your centers. Are there more options?

Isn't there a name for that in baseball? Versatility? I don't know. I'm dating myself, but I remember names like Garth Orge and Rance Mullenix where, oh, he's playing third. He's playing shortstop. They got him on left and left field. Utility guy. Right? Utility guy. He's playing shortstop. He got him on left and left field. Utility guy.

Right? Utility guy. He's BJ Bird one game. I don't know. He does it all. Blown away by a BJ Bird reference on the show. Is that even his name? I think.

I don't know. I like when guys, one of my big baseball takes is like, I like when guys just play their position. Yeah. Like when there's like, oh, this guy's a really good short shortstop i don't need him to play second or third or left field the jays can be a little obsessed with that versatility anyways i'm getting the second year cavin biggio and things aren't going great at any position that's why you're you're below average at all the film yeah anyways and there will be times when it doesn't feel great for John Tavares. You just hope that if it does come,

it comes naturally as a guy that maybe is just having a bad night, not a guy that is second-guessing the position that he's playing. Yeah. You know, it's interesting. I wonder if the way to deploy these lines now is to not, because you have so many options, is to basically have every game be a one-period tryout or a half-a-game tryout where you're saying, are we clicking, are we not?

Because you have so many things that you can go to, so many different looks. You mentioned the pressure on Keefe. That'll be one of them is in-game adjustments and going away from things that aren't working quickly. Well, at least he's got a practice under his belt with uh achari and ryan o'reilly let's have a listen to sheldon keith yeah i think it can only help obviously it's that uh the next piece of the puzzle you know

they've played home game they've played a couple games on the road now spent time with their teammates so getting that feel for the practice and being in this facility and seeing more new faces and all those kind of things, it just sort of completes that adjustment period for them, I think. And, you know, everything will start to feel like, feel a little more like normal, at least the new normal for them. And, you know, I think both guys have been adjusting very well. But talking to them today,

they just feel like today was a good day for them. And a look at five forwards, which we've seen before earlier in the year, but never with Ryan O'Reilly as five forwards on a power play. But only on the five-on- three. Right, that was a five on three. Which the Leafs have not had an opportunity five on three. This is my favorite Leafs stat of the season that I did not know.

No five on three. Only team in the NHL. Not one team in the NHL has committed an infraction on the Toronto Maple Leafs when they've been up a man. Perfect. Cleanest teams in the league play against the Leafs. Well, that's just a ton of respect for a very dangerous... Yeah, a ton of respect is one word.

A total joke is the other word. That's insane. Yeah. There's 25 games left. They have another five on three. Okay. That's mental. And then there's...

They're going to have four in the power are there are there 12 teams with one i don't know all i know is the leafs have zero that's the only number that matters to me bring me more information i'll look into this we'll get a useful or useless on that for you like if didn't they have a bunch in the playoffs against tampa last year by the way the leafs last year in the playoffs were on the power play a ton versus tampa both teams were way more than regular season both Both teams were. Yeah. There was like, yeah, you couldn't breathe on a guy without a penalty getting called. Setting the tone for the officials.

And then there wasn't a penalty called the rest of the playoffs after that. So we're assuming now that if we ever see five forwards again on a power play, it will only be five on three because we saw it a few times already this season. No. I think they'll go to it if it's not working i think that's option b yeah i think that's legitimately the first next thing they'll do it's bad english isn't it first next thing first next thing we'll see it seems like bad english not gonna lie well they've got a lot of next things they could do and it's the first next thing okay okay okay

and that context seems a little better all right it. It's Thursday. Wrote an article today for the Toronto Star focusing on the fact that Jake Muzzin's been out. And although we saw a very big trade lately, it didn't kind of revolve around finding a replacement for Jake Muzzin. Before we get into this conversation, let's just go to Sheldon Keefe on Jake Muzzin. Before we get into this conversation, let's just go to Sheldon Keefe on Jake Muzzin and his thoughts. Not necessarily new for us. You're always holding out hope that things might settle for him, but I knew that it was probably going to be a real long shot. All that said, he has been in this facility every day that we've been here. He's at every game.

He's made most of the road trips with us. It just speaks to, A, his character for wanting to continue to be a part of it, do all that he can to help the team while not playing, while also still pushing himself. You see him in the gym consistently and all those kind of things to do everything that he can in his control. Unfortunately, his body's just not going to allow him to play here this season. But, again, it speaks to this character to stay with it. Our players love having him around, enjoy his personality, his friendship, and then his leadership and his perspective on things.

Now it's a different perspective not being in uniform every day, yet he still has connections to our team. He knows how we play. He knows what the expectations are. He's got great bonds with our players. He's an integral piece of our leadership group, and that won't change. And I've said this before. There's two ways you can go about it.

You got the guy that's all in and still wants to be seen. I was that way when I broke my leg with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Always found a way to stay with the guys, watch it in the dressing room, wait for them. Even when I was at a cast in cr crutches two or three guys are going out for a bite to eat after the game i'd go with them you know it's it's interesting too because in my time with the leafs marley's organization they tended to keep injured players away from the group because you call someone else up and there's another body in there and then you got all these

people in the gym there's just too many people around and so they generally wanted to keep people away which is hard when you're injured and you're also excluded so that's great that muzzin is one of the guys and there's also that half run office there is that that uh you don't want to take anyone's time up that's playing yeah right so you got to schedule your therapy sessions that's the big part is getting your treatment before people come in. Really early, really late, you know, in the afternoons. But the only, you know, just being around the guys. And some guys can handle it and some guys can't. Sammy was saying he couldn't do it.

Like couldn't. You just, wouldn't it drive you nuts knowing how good of a player you are when you got hurt? Like it's not like he's 40 years old. He was still a really valuable contributor to this team and being around all the guys and seeing them practicing and you're just not able to contribute would kill me no in the you know red little bit watching someone else produce this show i couldn't do it yeah but they were talking about muzzin like watching the guys play a rebound after practice and i was just like man yeah it would be really hard, I think.

But good for him for wanting to stay involved. And we just heard Sheldon Keefe saying that they were always a little hopeful. But anyone that really knew, knew there's no chance he was coming back. There's no, although he skated on his own there was just nothing there to ever think that this guy had a chance to come back this year right in saying that yes he had plenty of time to watch talk and figure out who is gonna take place. And there is no one on the roster and there's no one in the organization that can do that. My article today in the Toronto Star centered around having to now go in the next seven days, a little over a week, find a replacement.

Find that guy when you went out and you got ryan o'reilly and you gave up what you gave up with no guarantees that he will be back next year a pure rental as of now in fact other people speculated he might go back to st. Louis. You showed your cards. You really did. And now the only thing left to do is push all your chips in the middle. And I think we spoke of this a little earlier. And it was like, I don't know, they're not going to give up Nyes.

And I wouldn't give up Nyes. And we mentioned Eckholm. And I'm like, well, you went out and got Ryan O'Reilly on a rental. they're not going to give up nyes and i wouldn't give up nyes and i we mentioned ek home and i'm like well you went out and got ryan o'reilly on a rental year you're showing everybody the time is now yep you cannot come out of next week's trade deadline with that same blue line good to see you guys have been listening to me great to have you both aboard welcome welcome this feels great it's the only way to go it is the only way to go and if it's a first rounder and another prospect if you can get away with not giving up nines good on you but if you have to you do it

at colm maybe then what if nashville eat a million bucks or something for it but then money'd have to go out i don't know how that would work you know what uh if if yeah if you can get them to eat 25 of it from here on end and and you need to pay for it then that's what you do yeah so in defense of potentially trading in uh Nyes. Yeah. I was doing some texting this morning, a buddy of mine, Nick Richard, who does a great job covering all the prospects, and I was asking him about when the Frozen Four is.

Frozen Four is April 6th to 8th. Okay, I'll start the 12th. Don't they, 14th? The Frozen Four is April 6th to 8th. Yeah, and the NHL playoffs start on the 17th. So here's what I'm getting. That late, 17th? Yeah, the Frozen Four is April 6th to 8th. Yeah. And the NHL playoffs start on 17th. So here's what I'm getting. That late? 17th? Yeah.

All right. Here's what I'm getting. He gets a few practices in. I think he, yeah. Sammy, go ahead. Don't you, so he plays, that's if they make the Frozen Four, but they're a prohibitive favorite to do it. They're the number one team in the nation.

They're a wagon. They're a very, very good team. Minnesota that he plays for if you're looking at it to me the turnaround time and getting him not only signed on the dotted line i guess convincing him because last year we all thought he was going to be coming to toronto and he didn't do it he didn't sign so it seems like there might be some convincing you were hot and still kind of hold it against him a little bit. They play on the, I guess it finishes the 8th, the Frozen Four. And then you have three hockey games that week. You go into Florida to play the Panthers.

Then the next night in Tampa. And then you come home and you play the Rangers. So you're telling me that you're going to sign Matthew Nyes, get him into practice, play him against three of the best teams in the league, and have him ready to play in the playoffs for your team first off i like that the games that he would play are against very good teams to be like here's the level we need you at but boy would that be overwhelming probably less pressure than the final games of a national championship though to be honest yeah i would say no no i disagree with that completely it's the nhl

you're playing for one of the best teams in the league yeah but there might be something to play for against tamp in that game who knows what the standings how they shake out true so i don't know i'm reading your article today kipper and i'm starting to think like yeah you know what just trade them trade them to get a real d-man because they need it all right um i by the way that yeah is in support of sammy being aggressive i like that um but you can't you want to talk more about your article no expand the jimmy vc example well yeah i did um and there was nobody more hype probably in in the last what 10 15 20 years than jimmy vc

coming out of college and how he declared himself a free agent. And the team's clamoring to sign him, including the Toronto Maple Leafs, including offering them to sign his brother if he signed. Well, didn't they hire his dad and sign his brother? The dad was involved as a scout. They were like, oh, he was a guinea. And sure enough, he's still in the league and he's a serviceable player, but he is never going to be that front-line star.

And I just, at that point, if it's not 100% guarantee, then you cannot make the Brian O'Reilly trade without... No half measures, Kipper. It doesn't make sense. You just can't. No. That's what I've been thinking about. In for a penny, in penny in for a pound it's like you know you you go halfway in you burn a big asset but you're still don't go far enough so you lose you might as well go in and win the damn series

or go down trying like i wrote this whole article watching the second and third period in buffalo that for me was the the convincer more please right need more like can you and we're talking about the forwards and all the versatility and uh you know all the great options and and there's no options on the blue line there's nothing no options so you go ekholm ekholm's left side guy right he? He's Muzzin. He's Muzzin. So Ekholm Hall, Riley Brody, Gio Lilligren. It's pretty good. It is, but I would think at some point a Nashville would have to probably eat maybe a Hall contract. They'd have to take something back probably to help alleviate it depending on how much money they take right off of nashville but

listen it's it's at home it's uh she got riley brody at Ekholm, maybe Hull, Giordano, Lilligren. Is it Provorov and Philly? It has to be a guy that is already playing 20 minutes a night. And it's not a taxing 20 minutes. That's what they do, these guys. Yeah. And Luke Shen's not it, right? No, he's not it.

You'd like to add him rather than not add him. Let's bring him in. Now a regular on the show, David Amber, host of Rogers Monday Night Hockey on Sportsnet. Wow. Is that good? You did it. Thank you, pal.

How are you? We'll take every viewer. How are you? We're good. I'm a regular now. I love it. Thank you. I've been elevated.

For sure. Because, you know, I didn't love your opinions a lot when we worked together, but they've improved. Well, I'm trying my best. Yeah, you did beat me down a few times. And I deservedly so a few times. I'll admit that. But my takes are less hot now. They're more lukewarm-ish. I'll take anything you have for us, DA.

So let's pick it up where we just left off in terms of, you know, the thought that Kyle Dubas would not go and spend significant draft picks on rentals, and sure enough, he did with ryan o'reilly and the pressure that he has now to to maybe just finish this roster off it just seems a little incomplete to me what are your thoughts yeah i mean i think there's i mean you guys you know i listen to the show all the time i mean there's substantial pressure not just on kyle dubas but on the players and all the way up the ladder at MLSC, right? Like no team has ever lost in seven straight years in the first round in NHL history. Think about that. This would be a historic failure. And it's hard to even say that only because

again, they're staring down the Tampa Bay lightning three time defending East champ. So yeah, there's still some tweaking to be done. The Jake Muzzin news, you know, they have to figure out what their cap situation is, but this isn't a time to be conservative. This isn't a time you want to be measured in your approach, but there's got to be a sense of urgency here. And if I'm running the team, if I'm finding, you know, if I'm having discussions, I'm trying to land that stud defenseman.

And I don't think it's an Eric Carlson situation with his whole cap hit and what he brings to the table. I think it's more of a Matthias Ekholm. With every Predators loss, I have to think that David Poyle is starting to think, you know, I'm a seller, I'm not a buyer. He's even said he's not a buyer. So, you know, a guy like, to me, Matthias Ekholm would be a perfect fit on this Leafs blue line. I think you have to try and find a way, and whether it's not Ekholm or whether it's, you know, more, you know, a Joel Edmondson or whatever,

there's a whole, you know, slew of guys that have been discussed as possible guys. That, to me, should be the next step. You've fortified your forward position. You've added depth. You've added versatility, whether O'Reilly's up the middle or whether Tabar is up the middle or whether 1-2-3 with Matthews, they're all up the middle. And Achari's a great fit. I think you've done what you need to do maybe up

front. Maybe you can have another forward to add. But bottom line is I think you have some versatility up front, and now it's about adding a solid defender that could really help lock things down. Because one thing we've noticed about this team is they're very good defensively, but they still do give up a number of odd man rushes.

I mean, we saw when they had the 5-0 lead on Buffalo how quickly things can change. And you're not going into the playoffs with Vasilevsky or even Olmark at this point. You're going in with Samsonov, Matt Murray. You're going in with guys who you're not 100% sure necessarily they're going to be able to carry the team in the playoffs. to me a defender makes all the sense in the world and how does this affect kyle dubas's legacy and reputation you know he came in as the calculated savvy analytical guy who's going to build the organization and like you get to a point like a lot of gms where you just got to kind of push your chips in and if if it doesn't work this year, you know, will he be looked at as a guy who made the moves he had to make

or a guy who burnt all the futures trying to protect his team? Or what are your thoughts on how it affects him? That's a great question, Justin, right? Like, I think you ask 10 different people, you might get 10 different answers. I mean, I think Kyle Dubas has had a lot of great successes. Unfortunately, the ultimate success, and that's playoff wins and losses and series wins and losses, have not been met in his favor.

Not dissimilar to Lou Lamarillo and Brian Burke, et cetera. I mean, we can go down the last chain of six or seven GMs that just haven't found playoff success with the Toronto Maple Leafs. So that whole narrative can change, guys. It's not going to be easy, but I think certainly if there's some level of legitimate playoff success this year, that could totally change the narrative. And I think a lot of people who've been maybe lukewarm on some of the moves he's made will feel a lot more comfortable with, like, this was a smart, measured approach,

and here are finally the results that we've been wanting and needing to see. So it's an incredible amount of pressure on Dubas, and you're right. Your legacy is remembered ultimately by the successes you have. Nick, more than anyone, can speak to that. Had the Rangers not won Game 7 versus Vancouver, we'd look at the whole Marc Messier era in New York differently. But you guys are Stanley cup champs. And that becomes the defining.

Oh yeah. Mark Messier. He brought the cup to New York after 54 years. That's the narrative period. And we're sort of waiting now for that last chapter to be written for the Toronto Maple Leafs with Kyle Dubas. And, and look, the pieces are in place,

whether they're a good enough team to get past Tampa in the first round is yet to be seen. And it's really unfortunate if they were in the, if they were in any of the other three divisions, like I really would love the Leafs chances. And it's more of a 50, 50, you know, situation and scenario going up against a very good Tampa team. But I do, I do like, I think having this conversation guys in 10 days after the trade deadline will have a much better sense.

Like, I just think there's still pieces to be put in place, not just for the Leafs, but for Tampa, for Boston, and for a lot of the other contending teams. We're talking to David Amber, host of Rogers Monday Night Hockey on Sportsnet. Is Matthew Knives to you a non-starter? Is he the one piece

that Kyle has to maybe protect his legacy as someone that even if he did lose his job, he didn't selfishly do it. You know, that's such a tough one, Kipra. And I'm not going to pretend to know Matthew knives inside and out.

I see the, the highlights that we're seeing go out on Twitter. We know the scouting report. It's funny. My producer on Monday nights is Dave Azuma, and we're having a Matthew Nyes conversation. And, you know, he said the best comparable he can see for Matthew Nyes is Chris Kreider. And if you go and you look back, another NCAA player,

and stature-wise and skill set-wise, skating-wise, there's a lot of similarities. And if you actually go back and look at their NCAA careers, he's kind of on that trajectory. Imagine if the Leafs go and they trade Matthew Nyes for a rental or to get that, that marquee blue liner. And then we've got to watch 10 years of Matthew Nyes scoring 30 plus goals in the NHL. That's a, that's a bitter pill to swallow. However,

on the other side of the equation is what if Matthew Nyes gets you that defender and the Leafs go to a Stanley Cup final or whatever the case may be. There's great value in that. I could see that being the blue chip they don't want to give away. Maybe one of the most difficult things that's happened in the least this year, guys, is Nick Robertson not developing,

showcasing himself to be that bona fide scorer in the NHL and then getting hurt again. That might have been the blue, that might have been the chip, the blue chip you could play to get that stud defenseman forward, whatever the case may be. And I guess, obviously, Nick Robertson, that's not going to garner what Matthew Nye's would garner at this point.

So, you know, I'm not really answering your question. I think you have to take a measured approach. You have to sort of see what's offered. But to me, if you can somehow fix the lineup, get it to where you need it to be and hold Matthew Knight, that's obviously would be priority number one. Yeah. It's so true that the Robertson thing is such a forgotten asset.

That was the thing. No one's ever been more right than Trey Cousin's trade on the day after he scored two in the newspaper. Looking at the wild card spot in the East DA, it's, I mean, it's rammed right now. The Islanders in Florida, in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Washington, Buffalo, Ottawa, if you like. What are your thoughts and what's going to shake out there

and really do any of those teams have a chance anyway? Oh my God. Well, it's so fun. First of all, it's really exciting because the six, the three top teams in the Metro, the three top teams in the Atlantic, they're locked and loaded. The matchups are almost seemingly pretty close to being locked and loaded as well. So there's not a lot of drama there.

But this chase for the last two spots, you might even throw the Senators in there if they end up using the Zaitsev cap space. And they'd have to go crazy and go like 19-7 or something stupid like that to have a shot. But they're not out of that conversation yet. It's funny though. Like every time I start getting hot for a team, I was working with you Tuesday, Justin, and I was like, yeah, this Buffalo team, I really liked the makeup, you know, blah, blah. And then, you know, within two minutes they're down five, nothing, right? Like they're just, they're not consistent enough, but there's flaws on every single team. I don't know who's in the driver's seat. You know,

you listen to Elliot Friedman and I'll say, well, the math isn't good for this team or the math isn't good for that team because of games played. True. But you have to also like the team, you know, like, you know, Florida, the math isn't good, but at their best, Florida might be the best of that group at their best. And they're about to get, you know, do Claire back and Sam Bennett and, you know, they're trending in the right direction. You know, I'll never bet against Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh because we've been fooled before. Oh, they're over the hill.

You know, we talk about the pressure in Toronto. There's pressure in Pittsburgh too. Like, yes, they've won the cup this group collectively a few times, but you know, it's a new ownership group and they went all in resigning Rustin, Malkin and everyone else, and they ran back the band, and now here they are, teetering on a playoff position.

So you could talk about pressure being in a number of different markets. So it's wide open. It's fruitless for me to even say, here are the two teams I think are going to make it, because it changes on a day-to-day basis. If it's going to come down to goaltendings, the one thing I'll say is the Islanders advantage Islanders. I think Sorokin is clearly the best

goaltender in that group of teams seeking out a wildcard spot. But again, the math isn't great for the Islanders. They play the most games. So what's fun, guys, is every game's important. Every game is meaningful now for those seven teams. So it makes it for a really exciting final six-week stretch of the season.

Listen, I've worked with you long enough to know that you just cheer for whoever will bring you the highest ratings. You know me well, Kipper. That is true. So is there

ever a good thing if we start in April and there's no Sid or no Ovi in game ones? If we finish in June with a Connor and an Austin, we're okay. Listen, Crosby's a sell, just like McKinnon's a sell, certainly out east, and Ovi, he's a sell as well. But at the end of the day, Kipper, it's's been 30 years and who would have thought after the run of the montreal canadians the edmonton oilers the calgary flames and and all of those cups in the in the

late 70s 80s and into the 90 1993 that we'd be sitting here three decades later saying oh my god the cup hasn't been in canada in 30 years you know i never assumed this drought would go on this long and i know you guys all laughed at me you know you know i gave you guys a lot of uh good material as i'd be kind of on the edge of my seat with every every canadian team game but it's true like i am kind of ready now for the cup to be back in canada i know that sounds so whatever cheerleader but it's the fact of the matter i think it'd be really cool i don't care if it's the winnipeg jets at this point you know like just it'd be pretty cool to see a Canadian team, a fan base that is passionate and cares so much

and has an insatiable appetite for hockey, be able to sort of hoist the Stanley Cup and that fan base celebrate. And I think it would be really cool. I don't know if that's going to happen. It'd be great if it could happen in the next few years while we still have the NHL national, right? But I think it would be great if it could happen in the next few years while we still have the NHL national right you know but I think it would be phenomenal and imagine

if we got somehow an Edmonton Toronto final like that story writes itself it would just be sensational so I'm still cheerleading Kipper as you know and it's good for all of us it really is well yeah and on that Canadian front like who do you like best do you like the Albertan teams Edmonton and Calgary

you think they've got a good shot i don't know i mean calgary calgary has not won more than three games in a row all season right good teams good teams find a way to rattle off five six seven wins in a row like i don't know what to make a calgary um the volume of shots like we saw again last night 50 plus shots that's great But do they have finishers? Like, they've really missed Matthew Kachuk more than I thought they would. You know, and Jonathan Huberto, it seems like he's maybe turning the corner, but he hasn't been that 115-point guy from a year ago, clearly. And the bottom line there is they haven't gotten Vesna quality goaltending.

So it's hard for me to be sitting here and saying, yeah, Calgary, Calgary, Calgary. No, Edmonton, just like Toronto, I think there's a fair amount of pressure on Ken Holland and that management group to add something. And just like the Leafs, you know, you could have asked me the question off the top, what do you think you always need to do? And I give you the same spiel.

I'm a TSAC home, you know, like a stud defenseman, a lockdown type guy, or maybe in their case, an Eric Carlson, whatever. They need some help on the blue line, some depth on the blue line. And I think if they go out and somehow find a way to make that happen, I really like Edmonton's chances and maybe even more so than the Leafs chances. Not that I think Edmonton's a better team, but I think the path to the Stanley Cup is far, far easier through the Pacific Division potentially

than it is through the Atlantic division. DA, I want you to know that if it ends up being Carolina versus Seattle in the final, I'm watching you. I'll still watch you. You're going to watch me that I don't do anything crazy is what you mean.

Yeah, it's fine. That wouldn't be ideal, Kipper. I don't want you to hear that you're cheering for that it's fine. That wouldn't be ideal, Kipper. I don't want you to hear that you're cheering for that. I would be so Kipper to be cheering for that, my demise. No, listen, there's great storylines. There's great players on every team. There is, yes. I said it earlier.

I just think it would be cool, even if we just get a Canadian team to the final. It just ramps up the overall interest in our country, and I think it would be a really cool storyline to see play out. I'm with you, pal. All right, listen, we're going to let you go. Great stuff today. Always appreciate it.

Thanks for joining us, Dave. Yeah, guys, anytime. Thanks for having me on, and enjoy the games tonight, fellas. Nice to meet you. Appreciate it. David Amber, host of Rogers Monday Night Hockey on Sportsnet. What a guy um yeah it's interesting to talk about kyle dubas get david's thoughts on uh on where he goes from here but i mean i don't think we should

put all of it on kyle dubas here when you're making a decision, and it's, come on, it's got to be right up to Brendan Shanahan, and depending on his relationship with the board, but there's just no way Kyle Dubas does anything without the support of Brendan Shanahan or the stamp of approval to go get an Ekholm or a Gabrikov or anything else out there that could legitimately be a top four to give up another first rounder or a potential Matthew Knight that has to fall on Brendan Shanahan here as well and it's funny because we tend to think of other teams and trust

that their presidents are involved I think that um you know Jeff Gorton's got a lot to say in what happens in Montreal and I think that Brendan Burke has a hand in there sorry uh brian burke has a hand in things in pittsburgh and go on and on in vegas and rutherford and vancouver like these guys are involved so to think that shanahan is just sitting there and being like what are we going to do kyle i think it's pretty unlikely um i could not disagree more with amber about wanting to see a team win the Stanley Cup Canadian team. Would you rather see Winnipeg win it or Vancouver win it than... No.

Whatever I say next. The only way I want the Cup back in Canada is down Yonge Street, baby. Yes. This is why you're going to have a cult following after the show. Misery loves company. Let's all be miserable. You can't have one happy no because nhl in canada no because as a leaf fan kipper you have to understand that i'm speaking from your perspective

no yeah from all those fans of all those other teams they would probably enjoy getting to throw it in leaf fans face more than they would actually enjoy winning the cup like that's like part like that's like as big a part of winning the cup is to throw it in front of it's a saturday night uh toronto in vancouver like any win any canadian win against the leafs yeah people people in toronto loved when mark shifley said nothing better than beating the leafs on air because they just confirmed what they already knew well only that was a big thing for leaf fans but it's just, I usually will root for the biggest Canadian starter that's left. Other side, I guess, Connor McDavid.

But I always root for Sid. Whenever he was taking his runs, I'd always, you know, I'd vote, sorry, root for the Blackhawks with Taves. Like, I always was kind of... Maintain your Canadian status. I root for whoever had consumed the most maple syrup per capita on that team.

I hate when they're like, oh, you got a cure for a Canadian team because they're from Canada. I actually think that's a straw man. DA is the only person I've ever heard say that. I think they're serious. I don't think anyone believes you should actually root for another Canadian team. I think there are. I think it's a certain faction of fans.

Like my mom. Oh, good. I'm just happy to see someone get it. I can guarantee she was cheering for the Habs when attention. Like my mom. Oh, good. I'm just happy to see someone get it. Yeah, I can guarantee she was cheering for the Habs when they went to the final. Oh, gross. You know, it's like that kind of level of fandom. Do you believe that we're at the point now, though, that let's say Winnipeg goes on a run here

and gets to a final, that the rest of the country would rally around that? Who, Winnipeg? Yeah, say Winnipeg yeah say winnipeg no chance no chance well i think winnipeg jets fans are very mad at me and i would just like to say that i think they're fine they're okay yeah what does that mean well like everyone they think i'm hard on them and say they're terrible and whatever because i think that they're fine they're gonna make the playoffs and then lose let's look at it this way can guys picture... Are they in jeopardy of missing the playoffs?

No. The Jets? I don't know. They're solidly in the playoff picture. Where? 72nd in the Central, I think. I mean, we watched them lose to the Islanders and they're on a bit of a tailspin here, are they not? Four and six in the last ten. They have 71 points. Minnesota in the wildcard is 67.

And, you know, Calgary's there at 65 i mean we're talking about six points they're not in and jets are making the between in and out i think they're making the playoffs but it's not it's not a given no it's not a slam dunk it is not between their spot and a team that's out is what five points yes six points yeah but let me answer four points ahead of the wild okay so i mean there's there's some hockey to be played and if we look at the western conference guys i mean okay all season long we're like boston boston boston and then tampa looks really good we can and toronto's looking really good but like who's jumping out of you in the western conference right now as wow like they're no deep

i'm waiting on the oilers i'm waiting on the oilers i know there's really nobody vegas had been first in that division not great the best they're the best team in the west was 73 points there's one two three four five six teams in the eastern conference is more than dallas let's chicago come in last night and take their lunch money their pocket they've got two wins in the last 10 they're in first all right before before we before we go to break let me just put this to you okay picture the leafs go on a deep run this year yeah is the rest of the country be like let's rally around the leafs there is zero percent chance of that happening no but what we do know whether they're rallying or not they're watching they will watch the numbers would

be off the charts hate watch love watch we're like game four five six would be like five six million people which is a huge number like hockey night in canada i think averages maybe a million 1.2 on average every saturday night yeah like that's four or five times in a first round for the leafs like nobody moves the needle like that and that's why probably they get the attention that they get they might even keep us on the air if they want on a run that's that's i don't know if it's about cheering or not cheering, but Sammy, they'll be watching. Oh, yeah. And please, God, let it happen.

Please win. Please win. Anyways. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. Mike Rupp, NHL Network Analyst. He's always great when we welcome him on board here. He's coming up after the break. Wherever you are watching or listening,

we are also glad you are on board. Give us a rating and review. Hit the like button, all that good stuff. We'll take a a quick break and we're back with the rupper breaking down the top stories in the nhl every day the jeff merrick show subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts all right let's get right into it mike rup nhl network analyst former nhler stanley cup champion does it all thanks for coming back on our show there rupper what's up fellas glad to be back thanks for having me a few things have changed the leafs with a very big trade and all of a sudden there's a jolt in this city that has people believing that they just got a lot

closer to tampa and boston and uh we're just wondering earlier on in the show is it enough rupper and uh your thoughts first of all of the trade and what it does and uh and then we'll get into what's left. Yeah, I love the trade. I think that that was a very astute trade by Kyle Dubas.

I think you get flexibility in your roster because of it. Ryan O'Reilly he's obviously a special player. We've seen him come aboard here and fit in nicely with Tavares and Marner. And that game the other night was incredible. I mean, even his empty net goal was pretty incredible, to be honest with you.

He's provided offense. But I think the bigger thing with Ryan O'Reilly is that he's one of those players, I think we're getting few and few of them in the league where they can influence games in other ways. It doesn't have to be the points. It's great if it is, but he's the guy that I'm assuming at some point we're going to see him play at third-line center to see how that is, see how that works. They're going to need to use him in different roles, and he can contribute. I mean, he doesn't have to make the score sheet

to be a difference maker in the game. So Nolachari, I think some of the same things, obviously on a little bit of a different level. He has experience. He's kind of a specialty player as far as the bottom six. Those are what the Leafs needed. They went out and they got it so is it enough I mean that lineup's pretty darn scary right now um you'd like to add some depth

pieces if you're able to as far as I don't know maybe on the back end maybe another depth forward uh but it and again if you're talking about starting the playoffs right now with this group I mean this team's got a great chance. So, Rupert, they've got a lot of talent and a lot of options, right? Like when you sit there and just look at the names, you're like, oh, you can mix this up in a bunch of different ways. How much do you think, if at all, ego plays into their decision-making? Like would Tavares have hurt feelings about the wing

or would it bother Ryan O'Reilly to play third-line center? How much accounting for those sort of things on a team do you have to do when building an optimal lineup i think that's huge with any team that you look into that i i i would have to assume and from what i've heard over the years playing against a guy like john tavars he's not an ego-driven guy like he's gonna do whatever's needed. That's what I just said about Ryan O'Reilly, too. If O'Reilly goes in there, he's got to play wing. If he has to play right wing, left wing, whatever the

position is, he's down. So is Tavares, I think. I don't feel like that's an issue. One thing with this team that I think has been pretty incredible is that the big guys, the star players, even if you look at the last couple of years,

Austin Matthews, five-on-five game, competing for pucks, stripping the guys at pucks, being more difficult to play against on the other side of the puck. Mitch Marner, he's great in those kind of positions too and blocking shots and put himself on the line. I mean, that's one thing that this group has done a really good job of is their stars don't seem like they're – they just – they want to do whatever they need to do, right? And I don't think every team's built like that.

I've been on teams, not just even the desire and the want to do something different or the willingness to do something different, the ability to do it. It's a unique kind of blend. You've got to look at all those things, and I think that Kyle Dubas did that. We're talking to Mike Rupp, NHL Network analyst and Stanley Cup champion. And you go back to your Stanley Cup championship or others that we've seen, it was always somebody on the blue line, big, strong, kind of shut down guy. The Leafs lost Jake Muzzin mid-October.

There doesn't appear to be that type of guy on that blue line. How important is it that they find someone in the next week? Or is this group good enough to do it collectively? It's going to have to look a little untraditional i think if you're going to do it with the group it is now but i mean you collectively can do it i think it's just important to come playoff time we used to always joke around about it in different levels i'm sure you did duke epper where like there'd be playoff heroes and it used to be back in the day where i felt like guys during the regular season um maybe let's just say for an example guy never dropped the gloves in the regular season

and all of a sudden the postseason he's running his mouth he's yapping he's in your face and it's like you know you could turn into a playoff hero right and uh uh not not to that degree but the degree where we see we have seen defensemen who are average defensemen that in the playoffs all of a sudden look incredible. It's hard to get to the middle of the ice. I know Jacob Truba has taken some beatings as far as by different fan bases. The last couple seasons saying he's overpaid. I'll tell you what, you watched the Rangers in the playoffs last year. That guy was not giving up the middle of the ice.

And he was an absolute force. He was worth every bit of whatever the $9 million or $8 million, whatever it is he makes. So, you know, it's about just having that willingness to get in guys' way in the middle of the ice and secure that, make teams play on the perimeter. And I think anybody can do that. It certainly helps when you're a bigger body, but I've also seen players that are really tough to play against

that are smaller size. You just got to play a little differently come playoff time. Well, one guy who's played a lot during the playoffs is Patrick Kane. You mentioned the New York Rangers a second ago. Larry Brooks had an article pairing them up again that that dream is not dead. Is he the right answer for them? Does he help them a whole bunch? What do you think about the potential for him to go to the Rangers?

I mean, clearly he helps every team. And the way he's playing right now, I mean, Patty Kane seems to be a little PO'd about different things right now i mean maddie kane seems to be uh seems to be a little po'd about different things right now showing everybody that he can play right now no matter what situation his hips in no matter where or whatever you think how his season is gone i mean he's been an absolute force lately and uh the way yeah i mean he'd help every team. The Rangers, though, the Rangers are pretty well set. I love the moves they made. I'm actually a big fan of the Tyler Mott move that they made.

Their fourth line has been kind of nonexistent as far as contributing on a nightly basis in some facets. So now you've got that fourth line that's shaken out a little bit more. But I think if you're going to look at one player that's been very versatile all season long, Jimmy Vesey, he's been really good. He's been really good in playing multiple different roles for this team. But, I mean, if you can swing a Patty Kane and remove kind of Vesey from the top six and put Patty Kane up there,

it might be Barkley Goodrow centering, which has slotted him appropriately. He was in the top six before they went and got Tarasenko, and line B, Barkley, Goodrow, Centering, which has slotted him appropriately. He was in the top six before they went and got Tarasenko, which this is a much more comfortable spot, I think, for Goodrow. And then you've got Tyler Mott and Jimmy Vesey for fourth line. All of a sudden, I mean, you've got a loaded four line. So, yeah, it would certainly help just like it would every other team. But even right now, pat i think the rangers got a good chance in the east hey rupper is is uh pat canes play the last couple of weeks

uh enough for you to convince be convinced that he he is going somewhere he wants to play he doesn't care where i mean is is that what we're seeing out of him? Or is there a part of you that still says, I don't know, maybe he could shut it down like his buddy Taves just did? No, I mean, I think that he, I guess it depends what that asking price is. You know what I mean? What is the asking price? Because that's been, I think, a lot of teams have been a little hesitant

not knowing if Pat Kane was going to be able to go through the gauntlets of the playoffs. Like, you know, he's playing great right now. It doesn't necessarily answer that question. It's more what the asking price is. You know, I wonder with his kind of comments after the Tereschenko trade, I wonder if he went to the Hawks and said, I'll go to New York. And the asking price was too high with some of those question marks, and that didn't get done.

And just for me, you know there's a ton of interest, but I feel like Dallas has been rumored a number of times, but I feel like if that was the destination for Patrick Kane, I feel like that would have been done already. right? Like, I wonder if he's, if it was, if he wanted to go to the Rangers and, you know, maybe he's, listen, no insider information. I'm just trying to read between the lines. It's like, maybe, maybe he's sitting there and trying to answer those questions right now. You know, it's, it's, it's weird. And then I don't know from the Hawks standpoint

where this comes into play, but if you're Patty Kane, you're holding all the cards, obviously, but how about if you just went and said, this is the team I want to go to. Make it happen, or I'm not going anywhere, and you're not going to get anything for me. It's interesting how this is playing out. I think there's a lot of things that are happening behind

closed doors that we're not all privy to, and maybe someday we will be. You know, before I let you back in, JB happening behind closed doors that we're not all privy to and maybe someday we will be you know before i let you back in jb just just that thought that you're you know that those words kind of resonated with me that yeah you may not get anything at all are the black hawks and maybe to a lesser extent kyle davison going to take some heat here that that this organization has been circling the drain the past, what, four or five years. Like, everybody saw this coming, and yet you left your two prized possessions out there

in a position where you could get squat for them. Yeah, and I think the unfortunate situation with Jonathan Taves hasn't helped us through Patrick Kane, and the unfortunate situation with how management handled Alex Deabrinkit doesn't help this situation. They didn't get the return they should get for a 23, 24-year-old two-time 40-goal scorer when that trade went to Ottawa. It didn't seem like the return was an extreme priority for them at that time. And now all of a sudden if you're patrick kane and you wanted to go somewhere now they're asking the world which again this is just

me filling in the blanks i might be dead wrong here but it just it just if i'm patrick kane i'm like you know and then publicly the part that gets me publicly is how it's well this is all in pat's control what he wants to do we'll facilitate what he wants to do this it's, well, this is all in Pat's control. What he wants to do. We'll facilitate what he wants to do. It's frustrating to me because I feel like, not that they're trying to villainize Kane and Tate through this, but they're not taking any responsibility of it. And that's not a cool spot to put these guys. These guys are going to have statues.

These guys are going to have their jerseys up in the rafters in Chicago. And I don't know. I wonder if we'll ever know what happened here, but I feel like it's a mismanaged situation. Yeah, no, I totally agree. Hey, we've been talking about the East race a little bit. I know you spend a lot of time watching the Eastern Conference. What are your thoughts on, right now, Florida, Pittsburgh, and Washington?

Two of those teams probably missed playoffs with some real superstars in the mix. What are your thoughts on those three teams? Washington, I'm really concerned about, obviously, for the circumstances, not having OB. I mean, just from the hockey standpoint, yeah, one of the best goal scorers in the world right now, and they're without him. So they've been in a little bit of a funk.

So having him back, we'll see if that can give them a jolt. They look, their decourse misses John Carlson immensely. I don't see the caps. If there's one of those three teams that I feel most secure to say they're not going to get in. It's probably them. It's interesting to see how Brian McClellan is going to handle this. Like, how do we – because remember, this is – he came out and said, as long as we've got Obie and he's chasing down Wayne's record,

like, we're going to do everything we can. I don't know – I wonder if this is a time where you – maybe they turn into sellers in the next few days here, and then they try to recoup and reevaluate and go into next season and try to change things up. The other two teams, I've been impressed with Florida for the most part after the all-star break. I think Matthew Kachuk kind of set that tone in game one

after the all-star break. They're interesting. Bob's playing really good, and we've been waiting on that for a little while now. Pittsburgh's in trouble. Pittsburgh is not the big guys. The big guys are doing it. The big guys are playing well. The big guys are getting it done.

And I don't know. It irks me because I was a career bottom six guy, fourth line guy, and I take pride in, like, the little things of the game and what your role is. I'm not sure the bottom six in Pittsburgh know what their role is. And they're not really, the big guys aren't getting any help. And that doesn't mean scoring goals even. That means like, hey, let's go out and get on the four check.

Let's four check hard. Let's finish our hits. Let's block shots. That to me forecheck. Let's forecheck hard. Let's finish our hits. Let's block shots. That, to me, right now is in complete disarray. And Ron Hextall's got a lot of question marks, and everyone's waiting. He's got to shake this group up. But they're very limited in what they can do. They don't really have expiring contracts.

They don't really have – they don't want to sell off their future. So, I mean, this is a team that's pot committed right now to win now, but they don't really have many assets to make a move. So it'll be very interesting to see how they handle the deadline. Next few games could tell a lot with the Washington Capitals. Would you go after a guy like Orlov if you're, say, Kyle Dubas? I'd love to meet you, Orlov. Yeah, I think that that guy, I mean, Dubas? I'd love to meet your love. Yeah. I think that that guy, I mean,

he would be he's a guy that could do a little bit of everything and he's got that squirreliness where every once in a while he'll just come across and throw a hip check in the other. He'll keep you on it. We love squirrely up here. I love squirrely too. i love squirrely too i love to meet your alarm that actually would be incredible if he was able to get to this route well that's the uh the

fantasy here um you know the the other ones that we kind of kick around are like matthias ekholm uh you know carson susie just searching for someone how integral do you think it is the leafs are going to try right now with the decor that doesn't have that physical edge last year they had muzzin and labushkin it's kind of a debate around toronto because their goals against is pretty good but is it that different in playoffs or could they still have success without it i think they could still have success um but you know a lot of that's due to them playing a pretty dominant style where they have to block a lot, you know, so it kind of takes away from defending.

But, you know, heaven forbid they get into a game or a period or series where they've got to find ways to get the puck back and make parts of the ice more difficult. That's where I think it will be challenging. So it never hurts to have a guy that, you know, it's almost equivalent to how we start on the four check. You, from game one of a series, you finish every hit on their defensive because by game four, not necessarily, yes,

they could be tired and wear them down. But if they know, they're rushing plays. Now they're not putting the puck on the tape of their winger, right? And now you're forced to turn over. Same thing with the middle of the ice. If you just keep getting in the way, you don't have to take anybody's head off. Just get in their way in the middle of the ice. Get in the way of the middle of the ice.

Next thing you know, maybe guys aren't cutting in the middle of the ice. They're staying on the outside. And that's why I think you almost get like a deterrent as far as a physical player that'll protect that on the blue line. All right, Ruppert, we really appreciate your time, man. Thanks for doing this. Anytime, fellas. Take care.

Thanks so much. Mike Rupp, NHL Network. We'll get him back on when everything's locked. Yeah. Hey, it might be interesting. I think there's a lot of, I think the market's a little inflated right now. Prices need to come down. They usually do.

So hard, though, when you've like mentally committed, okay, we need a D-man. Let's say the Dubas right now is like, we're going to get a D-man. We're going to pay this price. And then you head towards deadline week and you got your eye on Orlov and uh ekholm and whoever else you're not guaranteed they're going to be there someone else bids before you get the chance to do it like early do you want to right how early right because everyone's like yeah prices may come down closer to the deadline but there may not be the items you want i gotta think that had a lot to do with getting ryan o'reilly i agree you know you you you would rather overpay for a thing you need

than get a good deal on something you don't need. Lose. Lose out. Yeah. Let that be a lesson to your shopping, too. All right. We finished touching on the blue line. You mentioned Lou.

The contract that he signed just had a second time it got traded with assets to get rid of it. Bad Zaitsev deal. Oof. Yeah. That one won't go on his Hall of Fame plaque, that contract. got traded with assets to get rid of it so that's zaitsev deal yeah that one won't go on his hall of fame plaque that contract they paid a ton to get rid of it there's only one more year in zaitsev what was it this year this year this year and next at 4.5 they paid a second for it but they paid a second to get rid of it i thought something else i thought it was two picks was it a fourth i think it was a second and a fourth i think oh my lord yeah get rid of it to get one year of now there's a there's a there's a buzz out there that okay why why did they need

to do this now and what's coming well that's what the fans think is like now are they going to spend it on jacob jikrin Someone mentioned would they go after Pareko in St. Louis? But I don't... I think he's in year one of eight, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, he might be in year zero. The contract's still 2030, so

wherever it is. Six and a half million. I think it might be even a no trade, probably. Yeah, maybe. Maybe this is why it's open right now. I think it might be even a no trade probably. Yeah. There would be a major. Maybe this is why it's in. It's open right now. You think it's open right now?

I think maybe the contract starts and kicks in on July 1st and that's why his name is coming up. Something like that. I can look this up. Yeah. Look it up. We can be accurate. Yes. And he's a.

Where's he from? He's from Alberta. Is he not? He was born in St. Albert, Alberta. Ooh, Edmonton might... He is in the first year of a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8-year contract at 6.5 per. Signed on September 1st, 2021. Which does have no trade protection.

Starting... Oh, the no trade clause starts on July 1st, 2028. There you go. That's an Armstrong thing. He doesn't do many no trade deals. I don't need a signing bonuses either. And I think that had a big thing to do with Petrangelo going away. That he wanted those guys like upfront money.

Yeah. I can't say I blame him. He doesn't like money. But you were saying, you know, like, are the Sens able to add a big name? Listen, they're trying to sell a team at a hard number. When you bring in $30, $40 million contracts, it changes the price. The assets and liabilities, it's a thing you owe. I would hope that whoever's trying to buy this team

could say can you just like you know keep it to pencils and paper clips right now buy the stuff you need not the stuff you want until we get the team I understand that particularly being maybe Dorian's not the guy

for the next regime but if it's a good contract that becomes an asset if it's a good contract, that becomes an asset. If it's Chikrin, you feel pretty good about it. They have $4.9 million in cap space now. Who's that, Ottawa? Yep. Can I also just say that anyone who's buying a franchise should be buying it with the assumption

they're going to be spending to the cap. $82.5 million. You can't compete in the NHL with such a low cap that's been flat for years. Assume you're spending the full salary cap. Listen, these are now billion-dollar assets. Moving forward, the number is a buh. So you need many buh to play,

and you should not be scared of an $80 million, $90 million, $100 million in, what, four years, five years, 110? What do you care? No, I agree. And that's why adding a contract to me is not like, oh, it's just liability. It's like, it's all $82.5 million, any way you look at it. I like what Chicago is doing, though, buying picks. Sure. That's kind of what the Leafs were doing that in their rebuild.

They now, for the 2023 draft, before they've traded Patrick Kane, they have two first-rounders, three second-rounders, two third-rounders. So that's a lot of draft capital to take some shots. How about the St. Louis Blues? Three first-round picks this year and two third-round picks. Next year, they got a first two seconds two fourths like they have picks brother all right we're gonna get to billy garren after the break

yes general manager of the minnesota wild he'll join us and and we'll tee up uh the minnesota wild and their push to make the playoffs and a lot of people thought they'd be on the outside looking in by now, but he's got them right there in the race. Billy Guerin, after the break, you're watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born. The best Blue Jays show out there, period. Blair and Barker.

Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, let's just jump right into it. Billy Guerin, former NHLer, Stanley Cup champion, general manager of the Minnesota Wild. Join us now. Hey, where are you finding time right now to talk to us? Hey, you know, I just like you guys.

That's it. Always have. Well, you're excited because you got a fourth-round pick from... Kip Wright didn't always like you, actually. We had a few run-ins. You really pissed me off in Jersey if you want to talk. Not when you were taking runs at me. I was just a little guy, too. You were the big stud. Not when you were taking runs at me. I didn't like it. I was just a little guy, too.

You were the big stud. We really appreciate your time, man, because we know it is really busy. And, you know, any time you're on the phone, if it ends up being a blockbuster or a fourth-round pick, which you guys ended up doing, picking up a little bit of Ryan O'Reilly's contract, a fourth-rounder, and i think in year 2025 billy have you got in mind who that is right now are you excited about the pick i have no clue who that's gonna be but you know what i mean hey listen we just try to you know just like everybody else in league, you try to have good asset management. And, you know, sometimes, you know, you have to pay a little or, you know, go a roundabout way of, you know, gaining assets.

And that was, you know, one way to do it. And, you know, we've seen teams do it in the past. And, you know, we feel like we just had enough cap space where we could do something like that. And, you know, it wouldn't prevent us from doing anything else. And, you know, we have great ownership. And our owner, Craig Leopold, is willing to, you know, let us spend some of his money to do that. No question that the challenges are still there in a flat cap. Are we going to see a lot more of that in the next week?

I think you could. You know, there are quite a few teams out there with space. And, you know, I think it all, you know, in the end, it all comes down to, you know, I guess the willingness of ownership to do that. And, you know, like I said, our, our owner has been extremely generous and, um, you know, we're, we're fortunate to be able to do that, but, uh, I think it's a smart play by some teams and, um, you know, draft picks are very valuable these days and it's a way a lot of teams are,

are building their future. So I do, I think you could see it even more. I don't, um, I want to say through my mathematics, and I'm not sure if you want to say or not, but maybe $100,000 of real cash for a fourth rounder. Am I in the ballpark? That was about 70. 70. Okay, I'm in the ballpark then.

Not bad. Yeah, you are. Not bad. Not bad. You know, we've been talking a little bit about the the central division today and the western conference and looking at it like you guys have won three games in a row here the teams you're chasing in the central dallas and winnipeg are kind of yes not not faring wonderfully these days how much does your current position inspire you going into the

next week or so to say okay we've got a chance to you know not just make playoffs there's there's a chance of the division still yeah i mean you know what we we just have to keep focusing on you know the kind of a day-by-day mentality i mean you know we all see the the standings um it's such a strong division. Anything can happen. Two weeks ago, we were not doing well, and now we've won three in a row. You just look at other teams, and it's just so up and down that you have to, no matter what happens in a game, you have to brush it off and move on to the next one. It's almost like a really long playoff series. You just play, take the result, and move on, whether it's a win or a loss, because you can't sit there and worry about it.

Do you anticipate in the next week of being active or doing something significant? You know what? Active, yes. Significant. I mean, think anytime you're you make a trade it's it's significant just because you're trying to improve your team one way or another um you know how active will be i i couldn't really tell you i think it depends on the market and you know the what teams are asking for for certain players. And, you know, you don't want to just do things to do things to say, you know, you're active on deadline day. You want to make sure that you're really helping your team. And, you know, that's kind of the way that we've approached things.

I was trying to be polite because you did beat me up on occasion. But, like, Matt Dumba Dumba, Matt Dumba significant. Like, are you willing to hold onto him and let this thing play through knowing that there's, there's a expiring contract? Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, Matt's a big part of this team and this organization. He has been for a number of years and you know you know, and he's – I'm actually – lately he's been playing some of his best hockey.

So, I mean, look, my job as a general manager is not to make our team weaker. It's to make it better. And I've always just been completely honest with, you know, any media I talk to, any fans that I talk to, you know, if I have an opportunity to make our team better, I will. But the last thing I want to do, especially right now, is make our team worse. So what is that process like for you right now?

Obviously, it's, I think, we're eight days away from the deadline here. Is it a daily thing where you're in conversation with other GMs and saying, okay, if this is available on this date, what's your workload like on the telephone these days? It's been pretty busy lately, but I think a lot of the time it really leads up to the day. And it's a lot of information gathering. I don't mind getting deals done earlier but you know if you're if you're acquiring you kind of have to just yeah you got to deal with the team who has a player and you know I like I said it could it could I could say you know it's pretty slow and we hang up the phone and it gets

really busy so you got to take everything I say with a grain of salt because, you know, it comes over the line. I'll, I'll, you know, I'll, I'll do it. In terms of Mark Andre Fleury right now,

you know, where do you see his game as it shapes up to the critical games down the, down the line here? You know, I think flowers fine. I mean, this is like, honestly,

he had a car, he had an off night against Colorado last week. But, you know, I mean, I know this guy really well. I think the whole hockey world does. And, you know, one or two games off, you know he's going to be back. You know, and he's going to get one of our two games this week on the road. And, you know, I think him and Phillip Gustafson have played some really good hockey for us lately.

Like I said, outside of that Colorado game from Flower, he's been real solid for us. Yeah, you know what? We were talking before you were on, too, about some of the moves that have happened in the division there for you guys. One of them being Ryan O'Reilly. The St. Louis Blues have kind of taken a little bit of a step back.

You guys are playing the Maple Leafs coming up here in a couple days. What are your thoughts on what a guy like that does at this point of his career coming to an organization like the Maple Leafs? Well, I think from the outside looking in, he wants to win. Right. And, you know, if you're, listen, he's had great success in St. Louis, you know, and I'm sure everything there was great, but there's whenever you have an opportunity, you know, to win and be on a really good team, championship caliber team,

in my mind, you do it. And, you know what, I think Ryan O'Reilly is a really good team, championship-caliber team, in my mind, you do it. And you know what? I think Ryan O'Reilly's a winner at heart, and I think Kyle made a great move and brought a guy who's, I mean, not just a Stanley Cup winner, but a Conn Smythe winner too. Like, this guy's the real deal. So I thought it was a really strong move by Kyle. You know, we just spoke a little while ago about a flat cap

and, you know, the pressure that it puts on you and other general managers. There is some talk, Billy, about maybe the Players Association and Gary Bettman and the league getting together and maybe knocking it up $3 or $4 million as opposed to the one one uh expected next year how important is that for you what would that mean to to your situation in the minnesota wild if it was able to go up uh how big of a difference would that be huge huge i mean it's big for

everybody but you know the situation that we're in with kind of these empty cap hits with the buyouts that we made, it would be really big. But, you know, we're prepared for anything. Either way it goes, we'll be okay. And, you know, we just don't use it as an excuse. We just keep moving on. Well, one more for me before we let you go, Bill. I just want to get your thoughts on uh on your team

right now what can the the leafs expect from the wild the type of game you guys are playing these days you've won a few in a row uh that's a good start yeah yeah it's a good start you know what i think we've we've been better structurally lately i think when um you know when when we weren't doing as well we we were turning pucks over. We were a little bit out of position and just not really as sharp as we needed to be. So, you know, hopefully we can continue to play well. And, hey, look, we know we're coming into the Lions then,

and Toronto's playing really well. They're flying high because of the big trade. And, you know, it could be a good game. Last one for me is Ryan Reeves. You know, when you pick them up, there's a lot of things going on with him in New York and sometimes not playing probably as much as he would have liked. But what's he meant to you, the Wild, on and off the ice?

Oh, you know what? He's been fantastic. Ever since he walked, you know what? He's been fantastic. Ever since he walked in the door, he's been just such a positive influence on everybody. You know what? On the ice, we all know what he provides. Rebo's played real well, too, and he's playing with two young guys

that they've got some good chemistry together. And in the dressing room, in the community and stuff like that, he's just, he's all positive. He's all energy. And he's had a big impact on our team. We're looking forward to tomorrow night, Billy. Good luck the rest of the way, man.

Always welcomed on our show. Thanks for doing this. Well, thanks for having me on, guys. I appreciate it. We'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for your time. Billy Garrett, general manager of the Minnesota Wild.

You know, you made a really hard decision there when you had to buy out Zach Parisi and Ryan Suter. And a lot of people are saying it's not a great move and they still have

something to offer. And, you know, whatever, wherever you sat on that, man, you got to respect the guy that just says, I believe this is a, like he said,

this is going to help us. Yeah. And, you know, he does it. You know, we had someone on, uh,

it was Kevin Adams a couple of days ago talking about how they really didn't want to add someone who would block the development of their young guys like Dylan Cousins. And I think that's an element of why Garen would do what he did with the Wild is new locker room, new culture, new leadership. You give something else a chance to take root. You give opportunities to other people. Maybe your team's not better because of it now, but you hope that it's better when you need it to be down the road. I think you nailed it right there for sure, that they had such a strong stranglehold of the room

or sometimes the decisions maybe somewhere, somehow, in terms of maybe even on or off the ice, play, dictate. Sometimes those loud voices, you know, could sometimes paralyze a dressing room. And I don't know if that is particularly the case with Parise and Suter there. But, you know, there were rumblings for sure. Yeah, and even with that, just like someone who could be a potential leader might just be inclined to defer to the guys who've been here

and not want to make any decisions or anything. So I'm okay with the idea of trying to get, just trying to be different than you've been. Well, you mentioned Matt Dumba there. You asked him pretty directly. It's a name that I had completely stopped thinking about for the Leafs. I guess they probably wouldn't trade him with the position they're in, like he mentioned, but that's a tantalizing one.

He shoots right, doesn't he? Oh, yeah. He's a right D. Yeah. I've been liking the Wild, though, lately. We talked about how soft that division is. Depends when you're in it. You call it a hard division.

But looking at it, like Winnipeg, Dallas, those teams are scuffling. Colorado's still probably going to end up on top, but I like the wild to end up in one of those one two three spots i do and i think this is a good one for the least because this is a much different type of game than they've been playing like you think the wild as a much heavier group than you would i thought the least really did did well there. Their last game in Minnesota. The Wild also played tonight. The Leafs won, if I'm not mistaken, right? I think the Leafs beat the Wild. I think so, too.

I can't remember. But the Wild played tonight. Oh, do they? So they're tonight in Columbus, then traveling here on a back-to-back. So, you know, not that the Wild aren't good, but I don't think you'll see the best version of the Wild, which is good. Sounds like Sam't think you'll see the best version of the Wilds, which is good.

Sounds like Samsonov will probably get the work on the weekend. I don't think Matt Murray. Did anybody ask the Leafs today about Matt Murray? I thought we could maybe depend on our intrepid reporter, Leo Kippenborn's own Luke Fox. Yeah, he was sleeping today. He didn't ask about Matt Murray. He didn't spin that one right on.

Oh, I love Luke. He's my boy. That didn't ask about Matt Murray. Pin that one right on there. I love Luke. That's the first question I would ask. There's no way that you don't even mention him or the Leafs don't mention him. Sheldon doesn't mention him. They just got Ryan O'Reilly. They're playing five forwards on a five and three power play. There's other

questions. Highly unlikely he shows up on the weekend. I would think that now he's in a position to... Next Wednesday against Edmonton. You want to put him against Connor McDavid? I want him to play hockey. I don't care who it's against. I want him to play hockey and show that he can still do the hockey. That's what I would like.

I'm not sure that playing hockey will guarantee that he shows you the things you want to see do we have a it's a little dark do we have an update on sandin from sheldon we do have that would you like to hear it yes okay let's play it in lieu of practice was important for him uh to get through um and then we'll see how he is through the rest of the day at this point it's probably looking more like uh another day or two could really benefit him i think at this point it's probably looking more like another day or two could really benefit him i think he's not far away and they were thinking he was really close today but we may take a little more of a cautious approach with him but we'll see because at the

point now he's he's improving dramatically every day and strength is not quite where they need it to be but if if that improves significantly and takes a big turn tomorrow i feel like he could be a possibility but all that's to say that he's very close one way or the other do we know did we remember seeing him get hurt no is my answer to that question i remember seeing him doubled over kind of holding i but i don't know what happened maybe it was he got hit probably was that he got hit well because he's not the you know we've had the conversation before about him which makes you again if you're kyle and brendan i need i need i need help so i wrote it the a week ago week ago, and they're getting someone else.

And I'm not saying it's going to be a great player, but they're getting someone else. Like Timmons is not the sixth going into playoffs or even the seventh. The only thing I can say is if they even get a player, and I wrote Luke Shen today in my article, that it just won't or could not be enough I won't say won't because there's always the hope and a prayer out there but it will be a shame if this team has left the blue line in a position where there's just

nobody and even Sandin Sandin's got the capabilities of playing like 20 minutes a night but is he going to do it consistently or is he even going to be there Sandin to me is starting to turn into a Matt Murray where it's like you can't count on him well the concern I forget if we did this on the show or off, but the Travis Dermott thing is the concern.

You know, you have a third pair sheltered guy who's kind of, you know, you're not, you're waiting for him to take that step and be that guy. And it just doesn't come long enough. And eventually you worry that, boy, it ain't going to come. And injuries are part of Sandin's story at this point. This season, not as much, but. All right. I'm sorry. You'd have to think that they're going to get somebody.

They're getting somebody. They're getting somebody. For sure? Promise? I do. I'm promising. Thank you. Thanks for the promise.

I am promising. I mean, it might be. There's just no way that they're going to leave it as is. You know, turd Ferguson or something on the fourth pair, but they're getting someone else all right uh pat kane three points last night max domey guys is playing the best hockey i've ever seen him play in the national hockey league so 100 agree can i zag on patrick kane here can i just zag again i think this

reflects poorly on him that he's got seven goals in four games the second it's become important for him to show that he can still play in the league what have you been doing the rest of the time the whole year he's just been kicking rocks and who cares and now all of a sudden is that like that's not great i can't i. Listen, I love this guy. Me too. Love watching him play. I'm a big Pat Kane fan, but I can't necessarily argue the optics of that. But I will say that when you're talking about a Pat Kane

and everything that he's been through in the organization and constantly looking around, I don't even know what kind of year it's been with him and the relationship with Kyle Davidson or the organization. How much are they keeping him in the loop? How much is he out of the loop? So there's a lot of factors here. And he's Pat Kane, one of the best players in the history of the game.

So, I mean, yeah, it doesn't look great optically but it is crazy that he can just be like well and not still here if it's crazy for you imagine thinking about trading for him yeah so oh they must love it in chicago though really no different of a scenario than we saw last season with Claude Giroux. With one major difference. That nobody questioned whether or not Claude Giroux wanted to get traded or play. Yeah. Right now, nobody knows. Even as great as he's playing and if you want to use the body language as the tell by all means go ahead but have we heard from him saying i want to play and i'm ready to go try to win a stanley cup they must have made some agreement did i read

somewhere that today today or tomorrow is like the agreed upon date for him to go to kyle davidson and say here's the one place i would like to go okay there are teams out there that don't know where his head's at well did you see today the uh kevin weeks tweet no ke Kevin Weeks tweeted propaganda from Pat Brisson today saying that he has permission to tweet from Brisson that his client, he's not one team interested. He's a unicorn.

He's a unicorn. There's not one team interested. There's a whole ton of teams who want him. Yada, yada, yada. Well, yeah. I mean, there could be a ton of teams and some of them may wait to the summer to assign them yeah no fair so he might not be wrong that there is a ton of teams it's just how many realistically could be in a position to take his 10.5, and it's workable.

There's no question. I'm not even sure if the Rangers are tight guys. Even there'd be more teams that could fit in a third team picking up 25%. I'm not even sure if the Rangers are in a position to do that. You look at the way the Leafs have manipulated their salary cap and you know sending guys up and down and up and down and um uh curing room all these i don't think the rangers ever had any thought of doing that all year and it might be the difference between them getting pat kane or not really yeah that's interesting yeah i mean right if you double retain and he's down to 2.6 something and yeah you know there's

only a portion of the year left and yeah like you know you don't have to have a ton of room but it is interesting that uh and will he come to canada edmonton toronto will he he's got a young family he's not chasing cops you know we've discussed that too And will he come to Canada, Edmonton, Toronto? Will he? He's got a young family. He's not chasing cops, you know. We've discussed that too. It's an element of it. The Rangers top six would be really fun with him in it, though.

I can tell you that. Well, he really left it open that he will go to New York. He did. Oh, yeah. You don't say that without having a little bit of a message yeah in it i mean i sure hope it happens it'd be fun to see right good for the league to see him go somewhere crying out loud he'd be there for six weeks in the playoff i would i would want though pat kane and max domey to come as a package right now. Max Domi. They're on fire.

I texted you guys the other night that he was humming against the Leafs. That's his... Remember that World Junior in Toronto where he just owned it? Yeah. He's kind of moving around like that. He made some really nice plays last night. I imagine he's available. I imagine Sam Lafferty's available.

He's got 46 points in 47 games this year on a crummy team it's hard to get points on a bad team he has to be leading their team in points yeah he is yeah he's one of three people leading his team in points and pims along with brady kachuk and sydney crosby oh so he's still me too wow yeah yeah so oh you want him on the Leafs or what? I don't know. The Leafs didn't want him. Will he wear number 28 on the Leafs?

I don't think the Leafs have any interest in him. They had ample opportunities to get him, and they weren't interested. Do you think they're still interested in Patrick Kane or no? There's just no way. If the Leafs added another big forward you two would just bury them where would he fit we had this conversation a while ago

left wing left wing well yeah and then you can bump Tavares down to the third line and then you have O'Reilly you got an 11 million dollar third liner you're gonna anyway right yeah third liner. You're going to anyway. Yeah. Right? Yeah.

Sid versus McDavid tonight? I mean, this McDavid fella, guys, I just feel like it's redundant to talk about him, but did you see the spin he made against the Flyers up by the blue line where he put it through his own feet? Yeah. Do that again. What the hell is that?

It's a thought that not a lot of humans have had. No. Let's just say that. I just, you know, he's human, and you just think that there's going to be a stretch where you just don't notice him. Just go cold or don't feel great. You don't notice him. Yeah. Just or don't feel great. You don't notice them. Yeah.

Just to sleep through a game or two. Yeah. And Austin has shown that he's human in that capacity. Yes. Yes, yes. Right? Yeah. He beat out McDavid for the Hart Trophy last year,

and he has had not a whole lot of games this year where you go, whoa. So, yeah. It's really, you know, as a guy who said last year that he has had not a whole lot of games this year where you go whoa so yeah it's really you know as a guy who said last year that austin matthews is better than conor mcdavid and one of my most regretful takes i've ever had and i've had a lot of bad ones boys um it does hurt the fandom of austin matthews that conor mcdavid is just going to go out there and score 60 this year the year after austin matthews did it did it. If Austin Matthews got 40 points tonight, he would be behind Matthews by eight points. What?

Say that again. If Austin Matthews scored 40 points tonight. Tomorrow night. Tomorrow night. Yes. He would be behind McDavid by, actually by like, I don't know what it is, eight or nine points this year. I get it. Again, this week where you watched Austin and just there's nothing that really stood out against Buffalo on a night where Ryan O'Reilly and Marner and Tavares completely owned it.

Yeah. But he's still going to come close to scoring 40 goals. Who, Matthews? Yes. Oh, yeah. I mean, okay. It well because he okay it's not 60 and it's not 50 yeah but it's still it's gonna end up he's gonna end up with 40 i don't know what the exact pace is right now is it 37 yeah 38 but 220-pound center. He's going to score 40 goals, and we're all like, I don't know.

But he's okay. I'm not convinced he's going to score 40. No. No. He's got two multi-goal games all year. He has 26 goals with 24 games left. So he needs 14 goals in 24 games. Good chance.

I'd say highly likely. Both of you guys just laughed at me on our prediction show at the start of the year when I said he wasn't going to score 50 goals this year. I just got roasted for that. Oh, my God. Can we go to the tape, please? I don't recall that at all. I would re-roast you for that. Even if it's right, it's a dumb take.

I said he was going to score 48 goals this year. All right. Because it's just impossible to live up to last year. No, it's not. Yes, it is. McDavid keeps doing it. He's showing us it's possible to keep doing it over and over and over. Ovi did it over those years.

Did Ovi score 60 goals two years in a row? No. Well, no one's done that, but the goal scoring pace is higher now than it's been in a long time. I mean, I don't know what Ovi's peak years were, but they're good. They're good. The year after Ovi scored 60 he scored 56 what what austin can't do is on some nights sleepwalk yeah yeah well you can't sleepwalk in the playoffs no no no and that's really that's all like we we or the leaf nation everybody cares about yeah if he scores no points from here to the playoffs.

No, he's not going to do that. But if he did score no points from here to the playoffs and then scored 15 points in the first round, no one would care. No one would ever speak of it again. He would be forgiven for a slump. That's when the pressure starts. Yeah. But I just think that that's why O'Reilly is really important to the Leafs

because he's just one extra guy that can put the puck in the net and has done it sure and has done it and it's like you get down to those games where like we've talked about and hitch talked about canceling out the top two lines and you need a big goal from someone else outside of the big four you now have two guys that you traded for that can score that big goal right yeah o'reilly chari could chip one in could picture that those are my two picks for outside of the big four to score big four goal for the least now o'reilly and love chari better than angvel oh which was our previous pick oh yeah yeah uh ovi's back can he save washington should he save was save Washington is the better question. Like, okay, so they squeak in to get drubbed by Boston.

Is that better for them long-term for next season? You know what would make them really good is trading Dimitri Orlov to the Toronto Maples. Nothing. I think the owner, Ted Leons, has said it, that as long as Ovi's on and he's marching down Gretzky's record, they want to compete, man. It's not a draft pick, and they're not going to get Conor Bedard. Right.

So. Yeah. Why would they sell? Why would they sell? Yeah. Five straight losses. And they have no defense signed other than i think carlson x here i think about that for a second you want to compete with ov and you want to keep pushing d under contract

sign some defense i'm really happy you brought up conor bedard because i wanted to do a conor bedard check in here okay uh it's from sports net stats which is an excellent follow on twitter regina's uh pat star connor bedard has recorded six points tonight in a 6-3 win over the medicine hat tigers bedard has as many six point games a season as zero point games a season with two so what you're saying is inconsistent yes it's exactly what i'm saying and in his career in the whl he has two six point games seven five point games 17 four point games 38 three point games and 35 two point games holy 17 four point game this kid might just make it i really really think that he is going to be quite good in the nhl i'm predicting what did i see today it's uh pat lafontaine's birthday today happy birthday happy birthday to pat yep and

the year 82 83 how many points did he have with With the Verdun Juniors of the QMJHL in 70 games, he had 104 goals and 130 assists for 234 pips. Eat your heart out, Connor. Wow, the QMJHL didn't used to have goalies. That's a little unknown fact. Everyone's stat line is like 234. 8283 in the Q. Well, there's a bit of open ice.

There's some room to get around out there. And in 15 playoff games, you have 35 points. Kipper scored 60 North Bay. He had a 600. I couldn't even think of a city in Quebec. That was pathetic. My third year, I think we were OHL versus the Quebec League in a two out of three. And I'd never seen that queue before really other than that.

And I think they had Luke Robitaille and Sylvain Cote and Jimmy Carson. And it was like the flying, like the Vs. Flying alphabet, all the different letters. I don't think they skated. They just flew, you know. And they're twisting and turning. And I'm like, oh, my God. Yeah.

Get me out of here. I have no business being out here. Wild stats from those years. Look at Luke Robitaille. We had Corson. Yeah. Karkner. We had a Chikrin.

Punching people in the mouth. We had like six foot five guys. I can't even catch these guys. I'm looking at the 82-83 QMJHL season now. And the Verdun Juniors were in second place to Laval. And on Laval was Mario Lemieux. And he scored 84 goals and 100 assists for 184 points in 66 games so he did not have nearly as good a year imagine those games pat lafontaine versus mary lemieux and junior

pretty exciting should be able to sell our sales team at sports net should be able to sell the real kipper and born show looks at things on google well i know i'm not i'm on hockey db right now which is my favorite website we always have a portion at the end of the show where we're like, is that right? Let's look that up. Oh, I love looking at HockeyDB. That's one of my favorite activities. It is good.

So the New York Islanders, they beat the Winnipeg Jets last night. No big deal. 6-2-2 in their last 10. They're hurt. They're AHL-laden. But they got Sorokin and Horvat, boys. They are like popsicle sticks right now they are coming apart at the seams no no they're they're winning the elmer's glue is still holding up there

horvat has been the most essential addition to a team like without i don't know where they'd be he plays i don't know how many minutes 22 minutes a night he's on every special teams every important shift. The guy's out there yesterday. He had a PK shift where he ragged the puck and got a standing. Oh, this guy's been an awesome ad for the Islanders. Do they make it? They make it.

Yeah. They stay. Yeah. They're going to make it. And who's out pits out. Washington's out. Florida's out pitt's out washington's out florida's out yeah i see the neck the other wild card team

could it be detroit guys detroit's got a real good chance here they're four games in hand on florida and two points behind them for the last wildcard spot. Go, Wings, go. Do you see Stevie Iserman adding anything right now? Just added seven new players in the offseason. The two teams for me that I don't see adding anything really of significance and just want to keep. Why would you not see Detroit adding? Because of significance. Yeah.

Right? I just think that they have a vision of their build, and they're not going to speed dial it. Okay. And Seattle's the other one. Seattle's the other one. I don't see them getting all hot and heavy over their season so far and go, okay, we're maybe one player away from a conference can i just can i be the first

person to say since that team has joined the league to hell with seattle to hell with them you like them no i don't i don't i didn't i didn't like how the squids how could you say i didn't like how passive they were not exciting you at all no i didn't like how passive they were with their uh entry draft they didn't treat themselves at all didn't treat themselves to anything fun no or anything nice they're doing defense and goaltending they're in a weak division they're okay they got a bunch of depth guys who their general manager is it's ron francis yeah i mean he's just this kind of kind of quiet yeah okay you know nothing too exciting about ron francis and he's like a nice. I don't know him all that well, but he's not a real

exciting guy. Well, I'm not real excited by CM. So that makes sense. They put Chris Drieger on waivers today, the Squads did. Okay. When did they end up paying him? Three years, three and a half million they paid him. Yeah.

Three and a half million. Three and a half per year? Yeah, maybe the Leafs could take a chance on Drieger all right yeah i mean i'd rather they get carson was that signing is fine was that signing after grubauer or before grubauer that's a great question one that i don't know if i was the one they announced like up on stage with Mark Giordano. So he presumably was there. Oh yeah. Handsome man. Looking great. Okay.

But yeah. So anyway, my hope and I'll just go, go, I'm going to go ahead and lay it out there. I would like to see Seattle fall out in the Pacific, get Edmonton and Calgary in there. Let's just do that.

Vegas and the Albertan teams. What is going to happen? They can have a wild card spot if they want. Calgary went over Arizona last night, which is good on them, but they're not looking like a team that, even if they got in, can stretch anything out. Do you think so, though? To me, they're tender.

They're just not the app, but actual small pieces of wood. Like, they are just, they're ready at any time to go to catch fire. No. The flames, if you will. I don't see it. You don't, eh? No, I don't see it,

and I don't know what it is. It's just, is it a chemistry thing? They've been so up and down. Are they just, are they just a little too slow collectively? Not a fast team. Definitely not a fast team. I'm going to give you their fancies here while we're...

Oh, quickly. Philip Grubauer was signed on July 28th, 2021. And Chris Drieger was signed on July 21st, 2021. Drieger went first. Drieger was seven days before Grubauer was signed. Just to me, that's shocking. Calgary you would go and spend that type of money on that guy and then

a week later go and get your big horse. To start your organization. Now you're waving them. A year and a half later. Calgary is the fourth best defensive team by expected goals in the NHL. But that's not on the back of Dork. Markstrom. Right? I do have glasses. That's not off the back of Markstrom.

If Markstrom starts to play well, they trade for one more guy who shoots in the net, flames win the... You got a lot of, if my aunt had, you know, she'd be my uncle. I know the expression. There's a lake up my... We'd all be fishing.

Alright, thanks to Billy Guerin. Who else do we have on the show? Mike Rupp and Dave Amber. We're back tomorrow, everybody. Have a great night.