Real Kyper & Bourne - Devils Hire, Canucks Fire, and Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions

Episode Date: April 17, 2026

Former NHL president, GM and head coach Doug MacLean (1:38) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to discuss why the Maple Leafs next front office hire needs to bring structure to the organization, the New Jersey Devils hiring Sunny Mehta as their next general manager, Vancouver Canucks firing their GM Patrik Allvin, his role as a former general manager between the end of a team's season and the NHL Draft, hiring someone to keep friendships alive versus someone who has a strong plan for a franchise, and his Stanley Cup Playoffs predictions. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee hear comments from Vancouver Canucks President Jim Rutherford on the team's season after letting Allvin go, before sharing their series predictions ahead of the playoffs.  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.

Let's get her going. It's Friday. National Hockey League. All done. We kick off the Stanley Cup playoffs on Sportsnet this weekend. It's the real Kippurn-Born show, the national edition of our program. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver,

960 in Calgary and streaming, always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available if you can't catch us live. It's Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. How about a big thumbs up for our next guess. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365. He's ready. Yeah, he's ready. I'm just told he's chomping. He's chomping at it. Like he doesn't even. Before we get to him, text, 59590. We'll do some texts today. We'll do picks and stuff, but we'll also mix in some

tax. So tax 59590 all over Canada, not just Toronto tax. Please. In our first hour, whoever the caller was, do you remember who the name of the caller that told you? Dr. Seuss? Change the jersey. It was. Jason from Tilsenberg. Jason. Thank you. Jason. Thank you. Jason. Don't forget to change the jersey. Tilsenberg. Was all over it. My back still hates him. Not sure how happy Sammy is to see Montreal Canadian jersey there, but like between

Montreal and Ottawa. Guys, I'm excited. What did I say during the break? Sam said, this is a beautiful sweater. I did say that. Okay. All right. So we're getting through to him, J.B.

Yeah, I think Sam's more reasonable than people suspect. I know. I know. For Nick Suzuki. I adore that. I adore Nixon. All right. from reasonable Sammy to unreasonable Doug.

Let's welcome him in, former NHL President, GM, and head coach, Doug McLean. Someone sent a text last week saying, are you in the witness protection program? Because we can barely see your face. Is that part of the spiel? I don't have a lighting director here. Mack, you think we do? Does my contract go through the plan?

or does it end in the regular season? No, no, no, no. Right through the playoffs. Oh, really? Yes. By the way, if I would, if I hope Keith was listening, Pelley, because if he, if that guy thinks he could do Matthews for Celebrity, Keith should hire him. He's smarter than Sonny.

Interesting times, Mac, around the national hockey league, uh, between ownership and, uh, CEOs and presidents hiring GMs, decisions to let people go like we saw in Vancouver here. You know, when you're retired and you got that great pension and you're sitting on your millions, you just must get a good chuckle out of like hearing these stories today. No, because when you lived it, you relive it, you know, how tough it was to get fired, number one. how awful it was. I remember driving home from Florida when I got fired with the Panthers. And I phoned Jill.

I've told you this story before, but I phone Jill. I said, honey, she said, how's the day going? I said, honey, you know that guy you have that cuts the grass and does the shrubbery around the house and does the pool? She said, yeah, I said, well, you can let him go. I'm going to be home. And I can do that job the next while. So, but you know what, it's a tough time of year for coaches and

GMs when they're fired, so it's tough. But I want to just talk for one minute. I listened to you guys talk about this Sundin stuff. And there's something that bothers me as much as I respect Matt Sundeen and a brilliant, I'm sure he's a brilliant hockey guy. I know he's a brilliant player. But there's two things, number one thing that bothers me that the entire press conference was about structure.

Okay. And you guys alluded to it and a touch of it about. Shouldn't the number one person that's going to be in charge of the hockey operation, isn't he the guy, according to structure, be the guy that makes us higher, unless Matt's is going to be doing ticket sales or marketing or some other aspect? I think that the structure has got to be there. And the second thing that bothers me, and it goes back to structure, is how are we hearing about all these things?

why are we hearing this that Matt Sundeen is coming in to interview for a high job? Well, there's some really good people like our Elliot Friedman who are very good at their job. You know what? I understand that,

but you can't have leaks in your organization that that stuff gets out. It's not fair to anybody. And I think it comes back to the structure of your organization has got to be tight that things like that don't get out. I mean, everybody that's been interviewed, their name is out there.

How is this stuff getting out? I know Elliot does a great job. I know you do a great job. I know Dregs does. But I don't like it. I think it's wrong that this stuff is out there. You know, and I go back to the structure. Hire the guy you want to run your organization,

whether it's one or two guys, and let them hire the people to work in the organization. That structure. Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of my plate. Now, the second thing I was excited about today, if Sundeen's coming in to help the Leafs, why wouldn't the Rangers with your Stanley Cup ring bring you in to the Rangers,

like they're bringing Sundeen in? Yeah. I don't get the sincerity out of that. But I'm not really serious either. How about me and you go back to Columbus? Yeah, exactly. Oh, my God. didn't even yell at the players like that like Bones did.

Anyway. Mack, Sonny Mata named general manager. This is truly like this is like a new phase now. I don't know how, you know, this one's going to be watched very closely in the next little while, right? I mean, if Sonny has some traction,

if he's in a position now, this could really change the direction of, of other teams, I think, I think, I know there's other people out there and there's different structures in Carolina and other places, but this one to me has jumped out as, as truly something unique that we're seeing here. Yeah, I think it really is.

You know, like he worked for the devils before. I don't know what happened when he was there before, but he's not there. He wasn't there, you know, for the last few years. you know, I get a chuckle out of how he was a critical part of bringing in all these players in Florida, because I know the guys that work for that organization, and I'm not buying it. But still, if he's a brilliant guy and he comes in and runs it, like you guys talked about it. He's the number one guy and managing people and dealing with all aspects of the general manager job,

which is multi, multifaceted. You know, you hope he does a good job. I listened to your conversation about Tulski. I was told this winter, Dundon has to approve guys going to the Chicago Wolves to play in the minors, that that has to be approved by him. So, you know, you wonder how organizations work. Tommy Fitz in New Jersey, every Wednesday at noon,

he was on the phone with a conference call with the owners, with also the commanders general manager, with the other teams they own, 76ers, I believe. Those managers, they were all on the phone together and it was like an hour conference call and they would talk about what was going on in the organization.

They were, it's not micromanagement, it's good management. And that's what Tommy Fitz told me he thought it was. It was, you know, a great way to learn from the other people that work for these owners. So, you know, there's different ways of doing it. So, you know, I don't wish the guy any bad luck. I think it would have been a challenge in Toronto for him.

And we'll see who the Leafs hire. I mean, it's all over the map. I mean, we've read about everybody that's been interviewed or going to be interviewed. So we'll see what happens. Yeah, it's fascinating watching different management structures and how it all works. We had Alvin get fired today. A lot of people think that Jim Rutherford was the gun. with kind of his finger on the pulse of things at the time.

They even asked him about that and said that like, was he really the GM feels like you had your hand on the wheel? He said, no, Patrick was entitled, you know, free to make his own decisions. What are your thoughts of what they're left with here in Vancouver? Alvin might even stay with the organization, they said in that interview, kind of up to him if he wants to take on a different role there. Yeah, look, Jimmy felt strongly about him when he hired him. And I, you know, I remember hearing like Dale Town,

was going to get the job. Dale Tallon thought he had the job before Jimmy Rutherford got the job. Dale thought he had the job. And all of a sudden, Jimmy got it. So, you know, and then he hired Alvin who they had a history in Pittsburgh and the guy had done a good job in European scouting. He was with them five years as GM.

I don't know that he did a bad job. All I know is when they took that franchise over, it looked like they were on the verge of becoming a really good team. And it's just, it's been a disaster. with all their top players starting at Horvad and Quinn and on and on and on. We've talked about that numerous times. So, you know, Jimmy, Jimmy's a good hockey man. He won in Carolina.

He won in Pittsburgh. You know, this is going to be a big hire for Vancouver Canucks, a big, big hire for the Vancouver Canucks, and you go in there knowing that Jimmy's your boss, and that's fair. I actually sent a note to Aquilini when the job was open last time and recommended Chris McFarland for the job. And Francisco Gabatimin said that they were moving down the road in a different direction, but he appreciated the name because he had heard about Chris.

So, you know, hopefully they get a top guy, but it's, you know, it's a critical hire in every organization, the same as it is with the Leafs. Critical, critical hire. Because both the organizations are not that far apart. You're watching and listening to Doug McClure. and former NHL President, GM and head coach. So between Vancouver and Toronto, still some decisions probably to be made

in terms of the managerial positioning moving forward. You've been a GM, a president between a regular season and then the draft. Like, is it a lot of time? Is it not a lot of time? Would they know now in terms of what direction they feel like they're going? The Leafs obviously are still looking for a general manager, but where's the sense of urgency for some of these teams to really lock in and get a game plan on the draft?

And for the Leafs, if they happen to get a top five pick, keep it, flip it for two first rounders at a later time. You know, an interesting question because, you know, most people don't realize it, but the GM is not that involved in the picks if the truth is really known. So whoever comes in, if he's been with another organization, obviously he will know the list from the team he comes from, and he can compare it to the Leafs. But really, the GMs listen to their director of amateur scouting. They really do.

And they go out and watch players and they get pointed out. You go out for five days or 10 days or two days or three days. And you go to the World Junior and you go to the, you know, you'll drop into the Memorial Cup and you'll go to the prospects game. but really the staff make the selections. But big decisions like you just talked about, about trading it, that's a GM's call. That is a major GM call to flip a pick and, you know, for, you know, more, you know, assets.

So that would be the biggest part of the decision. The actual draft, I would suspect the Leafs have their list together already. And I know the new GM, the first thing I'll do is, okay, let me see your, let me see your 100-man list. and, you know, he can compare it to where he was before, which is a nice, you know, asset to have. But they don't make the picks guys. It's a myth. They get blamed for them.

They get blamed for them. But it's a myth. They don't make them. That's funny. Mac, how much? And anybody tells you they make them, they're lying. How much of these jobs that, how often are jobs hired for friendships and relationships versus

genuinely interviewing people, hearing different plans and saying, you know, never worked this guy before, but I liked his plan. I would say it's, you know, maybe it's a 50-50. The thing is, when you're high, when you're a GM or you're interviewing for a GM, first of all, the owner, you know, prayed you're around to his top executives in his company or in the hockey organization. he may parade you around with that group to get a bit of a feel. You have to, you meet his family.

You have to, you know, I met Mr. McConnell's son who was the same age as me, and it was one of the reasons he thought that would be good. We could work together for a long time. So that didn't work out so well. But anyway, you know, I think it's, there's a lot goes into it, but a lot of it is with these owners, it's feel. It's the feel of a guy that you think you can work with, as long as the guys got the qualifications,

as long as you got the qualifications to do the job. And the qualifications are changing as we speak. And when you see Sonny get the job there, the qualifications are moving around a little bit. But I think typically it's a pretty thorough search. There's no doubt that the league are involved in making recommendations because owners ask them. We've talked about that before.

and there's no doubt in my mind that Gary Bettman and Bill Daley are involved in their contact by owners for their advice. And I understand why that happened. So there's a lot goes into making this hire. And I suspect Keith will be really thorough in both hires if he's involved in the GM after he hires his president or whatever he hires first, you know. Have you filled up? I just don't get all this information getting out. I'm sorry.

That goes back to what Keith talked about in his press conference. How does Lou Lamarillo keep it so tight all the time? He scared people. Yeah. Yeah. You couldn't get a golf shirt from his organization unless Lou, he's a little bit like Dundon. He signed off on golf shirts, the same as Dundon signs off and everything.

So, no, you know what, it's Lou, look, it's really interesting. I told you this story, I'm sure, before. I was making a tray with Pierre La Cua. And it was before the expansion draft and before the amateur draft. And Pierre and I made a deal, a second round pick for Mark Deney. And Mark Deney at that time was a highly thought of prospect, first round pick. And Pierre said to me in the phone, if this trade gets talk gets out, because we were two weeks before the draft and before, you know, the expansion draft. And Pierre said to me, if this gets out in the media, the trade is canceled.

and I will know for a fact it came from your organization because I can guarantee it would never come from mine. And it was a great lesson for me as a GM that nothing gets out unless we want it out. And there's our organizations that are loose and there's a lot that are really tight. And right now Toronto's loose. There's too much getting out.

Maybe he just set you up if he wanted to get out of the trade later on. You ever thought of that? He also told me to hire Joel Quenville and I didn't listen to him. I should have. Oh, really? Really. Hey, Stanley Cup playoffs, have you filled out your playoff bracket with other senior citizens in your building? I looked at Mr. Bourne's list.

I call him Mr. Bourne because I always get confused whether there's Justin or Jason. I'll take it, Matt. Yeah, yeah, we'll take that. I looked at his list of picks. and I thought, I'm not watching enough hockey, because we were 100% opposite on our pitch. If it makes you feel better, I hate all of my picks. Well, you know what?

The guys at SportsNet used to really piss me off because they were whims. I'm not putting pick. Elliot would never make a pick. Okay, first of all... You've got to force these guys to make picks. They chirp all year. Make them make pick.

John Garrett picked Vancouver every year, and that was even when they missed the playoffs. And you pick Carolina. And you pick Carolina. So here's, I just want to give you a little note here. Ottawa finished the season 16, 5, and 4 in their last 25 games. Red hot. This team right now, they're, Travis has got them focus, man.

They're, they're looking at this of game 83 of going to 100 plus games. And it's before they were excited to get in the playoffs, now they feel they've got to do. they want to do some serious damage. Them and Carolina are a good matchup, I think. I think, in my opinion, Ottawa is a heavier team, a heavier team, and they're a very similar team

because they both forechecked like crazy. I just, I like Ottawa's blue line. They gave put up over, both teams put up over 150 points from the back end, which is really important because they create. It's going to, I just,

if Allmark gets his head, head out of wherever it is and gives them the goaltending, he gave them in the late in the season, they've got a chance to win this series on goaltending being maybe a difference making. How many games? I picked Ottawa to beat, I picked Ottawa to beat Carolina, and I know

that's a little goofy, but that's one thing. It's not, no, that's, I think that's actually more common than not. How many years? I don't go by, I don't go by games. Didn't you just talk about the cowards who wouldn't put a number on it? We just do that? No, no, they wouldn't put a name, little alone a number. We're just going to tell everybody that you got Ottawa to sweep in four games.

So I like Ottawa, and I'm happy for Ottawa because I was sort of a, as you guys know this year, I've been tooting their horn all year, you know, so we'll see. And the other series that really bothers me is Buffalo and Boston, because I talked to Lindy the other day to congratulate them. And I really want Lindy to win, but I'm picking the Bruins to beat them. I'm pick. And the Bruins have played really good hockey and swayman. They're tough. He gets on a roll.

And I don't feel good about that pick, but I'm taking Boston over Buffalo. I don't think you can feel good about this pick either way. Like I, you know, I honestly, the Buffalo pick that I made, I'm not that convinced, you know, I'm doing my little analysis of it. And it's like Boston is big and heavy. Well, you were, you were wishy-washy in your comments. I'm currently. Yes, she washing. I don't know.

This is the thing is these are close series. I think if anyone comes out and says one team's trash, they're not watching. Okay. Here's the series right here. Montreal, Tampa. You want to believe it. Montreal Tampa. They're going to kill each other. We're going to come pander again, just like you did with Ottawa, all the Canadian fans.

And I'm, I have not, like, I know Tampa had a good year. I know they did. I know they're a great team. Headman. I'm not sure what's going on with him. him, I'm picking Montreal to beat Tampa. I really love a lot of things. And right now, their goal-tending has been really good.

I mean, the guy from last year can't get in the net. I mean, I really, Dobson is a bit of a loss. I'm not, you know, Dobson, regular season, I love Dobson playoffs. It just makes me a little nervous, but I still love the kid. PEI boy. So I'm picking, I'm picking Tampa Bay to win that, or I shouldn't say Montreal to win that series. Yeah, Montreal. Yeah.

Are we revealing our picks? No, we'll go after. So just know if you're listening, I picked the tears that done. I've read on it. I already told you, I was doing my homework. I was reading your picks and studying them, you know. Penguins Flyers. This one is a really tough.

Yeah, yeah. Defend this side of your flip of me. Go ahead. I want Pittsburgh to win because of Sid. But I'm telling you, Philadelphia are on a mission right now. Their goaltender has been lights out. Ladar. Their team is playing great.

And I'm taking Philly to win this series. Yeah. What did you make of my thought that, you know, their main guys are too young. It's Michkoff, it's Martone, it's Zegris, it's Drysdale. It's, they're not ready. I'm taking that as being a positive for the playoffs because they're loose and they're excited. And I don't think they're going to feel the same. amount of pressure as the veteran guys were.

I always say in the PJ two are some guys who are too dumb to feel the pressure. It's like being young as an advantage sometimes. Sometimes it is. And I look, like I'm, I'd love to see Pittsburgh win because of Sid, but I'm picking Philly and I watched them three times in the last week because they were battling with Columbus

for that last, for the third in the Metropolitan and I watch them, I'm thinking they're making me nervous the way they're playing. They played really well. Seagris has become a stud there. I mean, I watched him make that play in front of that where he held the puck and went through five hole on a huge play in the

slot. I don't know if you saw that the other night made great play. So I'm picking them. Is there anybody else in that division? Have I got everybody? That's it. That's it. Now, just... Here's something I want to do too. I want to compliment the league here. You could not... And everybody

whines about the two-three. Two-three having to play in the first round. I looking at the matchups the last couple of days. You couldn't have dreamt of better matchups in the first round in the East, in my opinion.

They're a dream matchup. And so maybe give the credit, you know, I know if you're the GM of Minnesota and you're going to play Dallas in the first round, you're, you know, you're not happy about it. But I just think it's a dream matchup, this Eastern Conference. I really...

You don't have to suck up to the league. You're not working again. You know what? Rule it out. I don't, as you know, I don't suck up to the league and it's probably, I mean, Gary still speaks to me, but not for a long time. Waste of eight days, Colorado and L.A., to quote our very famous Daryl Sutter, soon to release a book with Justin Bourne. That's the only series I picked, and as, you know, Kenny Holland's a friend too, and I'd love to see Kenny do well. I see Mac. I work with him for 10, 11 years. I've got Colorado, that's the one I picked, 4 Zip.

Yep, I really tough to argue that one. The other one I have is pretty lopsided is Edmonton, no? Edmonton and Anine, I've got Edmonton winning, yeah. Edmonton wins that one. Yeah. Here, okay, so, but I'm going to give you this and remember I said this and write it down. My Stanley Cup final, my Stanley Cup final, Minnesota Wild and the Montreal Canadians. Oh, clip it.

Okay, so clearly don't use it as much as you use the one that I only, you know, I like this show when I'm on. Otherwise, it's at all time. That's in the hall of clips. What don't you like about the Dallas stars against many in the first round? I just, I got to tell you, Quinn has, Quinn has, Quinn used has changed the wild. There's no denying that. Plus they got a lot of good young players. Their goal tenet has been good.

Caprisoff is the new Kuturov. He is the new Kuturov, Capri Sov, the way he's played. And he makes their power play deadly. They've got some other good young players on there. They've got their mean. They play a mean game. They play a fast game. I just think the way they're playing right now.

And, you know, that's with all due respect. I say somebody's going to be, that doesn't mean Dallas isn't a really, really good team. And Jimmy Nills done a great job. I just have a weird feeling that Minnie is going to do some serious damage. What do we got left, Vegas, the Vegas, Utah, Utah. I've got Vegas winning that. You know, Torrance has gone in there and for whatever reason. They're playing fast.

They're playing a lot. They were playing desperately slow. Myrner got his 80 points, which makes. Nick's year. He, Irony got his 80. And, you know,

I think that Minnesota beat Utah. So, is there anybody else I missed? I think, no, Vegas,

yeah, Vegas, yeah. Yeah. The, not a ton of, we're waiting on ours. Is that correct? Yeah, we are.

We're going to do it after the break. So, uh, Minnie versus Montreal in your Stanley Cup final. Who wins? Oh, do I have to say everything?

Same Montreal. Do I have to do everything? All right, we'll save it. If it, if it, if it gets, if it gets,

gets to, let's say if it gets to there, we'll talk about it again, and I'll give it before it happens. But, you know, okay. Do you take any calls these days on these jobs? We all is going to get there, but don't, don't sleep on Ottawa either. Don't sleep on Ottawa getting, you know, doing

some serious damage. So, I just think we're going to see some unbelievable series. J.B. just asked you a question. Do you take any calls in any of these jobs right now? I haven't, no, the phone. Jill called me yesterday. It was the only call I got. Jill's up at a rodeo in Knoxville, Tennessee.

And that's the only call I got yesterday. But you know what? When I see some of the lists, seriously, I'm shaking my head. I'm seriously shaking my head. I know. I really am. Yes. But anyway.

It's tough. It's tough sled out there. Mack, great job, buddy. You know what? Very thorough. Borny, don't get down in the dumps because I really appreciated your research when I was making my picks. I just, you know, we just see things a little bit differently. That's all.

That's where, you know what? Peeby and Jam, bud. And you know what? I may come on this show next time and you will say, hey, you were wrong. And I'll accept it because I know how much work you do and research you do. We do not agree. I appreciate that, Mac. Thank you.

I look forward to the outcomes. Man, I don't want to be on the other end of this now. All right. The great Doug McLean on off the rails Friday. Thanks, pal. Hey, guys. Thanks a million for having me on. I had a couple of calls today asked me if I was going to be on.

And I said, well, Nick scared to death. I'm going to say something that's going to hurt his career. And they said, Doug, you got to go on because, you know, you got to go on because that's why we're listening. So far, my past card works. So I appreciate that. I do. I, honest to God, the most common piece of whatever I get is, like, I love Fridays with Mac. And I'm like, that's great.

I do too. I say nothing. It's amazing. I wish I liked it as much as they did. All right, go away now. I love listening to you when I'm on. Sammy, get on the phone and get celebrini done. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Oh, that's eight times five. Oh, he's still there. Go, go, go away. Now he's just a voice. Go away. Oh, my God. All right, Sammy.

I hope that guy. I hope he's still listening. We got to get a tea time lined up with Mac. Um, oh, he says he's down to a 12 handicap. Every time we talk to him, he's down another number. Game time? Game time. It's game time presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL, plus 19 plus

Ontario only, please play responsibly. Do you guys want to do some, well, no, we're going to talk about the series after. So I can give you some numbers on the series of the future for the teams. Edmonton Oilers, pretty big favorites in their series, as you would imagine, minus 240. Sabres, minus 1.1. Uh, stars are minus 120 over the Minnesota wild. Some decent value there with the wild if you're looking to do that. Lightning, pretty big faves minus 245 in their series.

Uh, uh, the Carolina hurricanes minus 170. Penguins are faves minus 155. Utah, big underdogs, as you'd imagine, plus 155, Vegas minus 185. And the Colorado avalanche minus 500 in their series against the LA, against the LA Kings. and to win the big cup outright, plus 300, the Colorado Avalanche right now. The Big Cup, as we all call it. Tampa Bay plus 425, Carolina plus 475.

And then who do you think the next team is? I mean, this was a terrifying one for me. Tampa Bay, Carolina. Montreal. Vegas. Vegas. Vegas, 10 to 1. Dallas Stars plus 1100.

Love the Oilers at 12 to 1. Anyways, that was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL, plus 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly and as a reminder this hour of real kipper and born is brought to you by bet 365 nice job sammy okay let's take a break we just heard from doug mclean on his stanley cup predictions we'll take a quick break when you return you will hear ours it's nick kippreos justin born and sammy mackie it's the real kipper and born show everything you need to know about the raptors and the biggest stories around the nba smith and jones

and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. We are clear. That's according to Derek Brandale. Perfect. I was just running the Tankthon simulator, Winnipeg Jets first overall. I run this simulator so many times. And the Panthers win every time, I swear, I run it. They're going up high.

Time now for the Accura Performance Matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Now here's what I'll say. We've been doing all the matchups for the playoffs. This is one now that's confirmed. The Edmonton Oilers taken on the Ducks, and I'm sure we're all going to make the same pick. But some interesting stuff that these two teams matching up. The first time Connor McDavid played in the playoffs,

these two teams faced off in the second round. The Oilers beat, I think the sharks in the first round that year. And then the second round, they went up against like the Cory Perry, Ryan Getslap Ducks. And I don't know if you'd remember. remember this? I went down memory lane doing this today because I was looking at the matchup. The Oilers in game five of that series, series is tied two-two.

The Oilers go up three-zip in the second period of that game. They are up three-nothing with three minutes and 32 seconds left and they blow it. And they lose in double O.T on a Corey Perry goal. And the thing I had completely forgotten about, Ryan Kessler, who was in front of the net, was lying on top of Cam Talbot. The most egregious, I think I could ever see, goaltender interference. Like, he was lying there.

The puck goes through him. They challenge it and they don't overturn it. They end up going to WOTE and win. So that's the last time that these two teams played. Woo. Yeah. Ducks had 26 comeback wins this season, which is tied for the most. They had 17-1-goal ones and nine, two-goal comebacks.

So, and 12 third-period comebacks. So they're not at any game. No. They score. Yeah, they've also, they're behind a lot. Yeah. But, I mean, they can score. Yeah.

McDavid won his sixth Art Ross trophy with 138 points, 48 goals, 90 assists, and 82 games. Factored in on 48.9% of Edmonton Oilers' goals. There's also the bonkers stat that they won 41 games this year and he had a point in every single one. That's why he should be MVP. He didn't get a point. They were like 212 and some. MVP. Yeah.

Anyways, that was the Accura performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely. premium. Before we get into our matchups, hold on, I've got to put the clips in there. Give me a second. All right. Lots of news coming out of Vancouver. I'm sure SportsNet 650 listeners are wondering

where the next step is in terms of the Vancouver Canucks. Just your initial thoughts on Patrick Alvin no longer the general manager. You know, I really enjoyed a lot of, I like Jim Rutherford's candor. And I thought today he said, you know, thank the fans first and foremost.

He recognized that, you know, they weren't really a 58-point team or whatever they ended up with. Like, at one point, they decided to try to get to bottom-out. Basically said that Canucks fans deserve a top pick. Like, they need a top dog there. So they recognized some of that. It was thanked him for being respectful for still coming to the rank, which is nice. They saw the plan. But the flashy sort of news item that came out of this.

Derek, just played a clip, and Kipper hasn't heard this, so he's reacting off this for the first day. So clip two, please, on Quinn Hughes from Rutherford. We got to the point of the Quinn Hughes decision. I've known for some time that Quinn was not staying in Vancouver. And I've known before this season started, for that matter. It's one of the reasons why we signed the guys, the garlands, the Bessers, the Demcos that had relationships. with him, hoping for a little bit of a chance right down to the end that he would decide to stay here. But I don't think that was ever in the carts. And so then knowing what he was

thinking and what he was going to do, instead of waiting until this off-season and probably getting a first-round pick from the New Jersey Devils, we accelerated it where the Canucks had the leverage. And so now there were a few teams involved. And we got the leverage to the point where we could make the best deal we could. That's crazy for a Devils fan to hear. Crazy for a Canucks fan to hear too.

Well, crazy for Besser to hear. And Demko. Yeah, we signed you to keep him. Right. Like, we didn't really want you, but we just thought that you could help us keep the guy that we really wanted. Have you heard of a comfort goat before?

It's like in like the like, like skitchy horses, they'll keep just a goat in them. There's a certain goat they call it like a comfort goat and it like calms the horse down. They signed three comfort goats for a skitchy Quinn Hughes. You're not wrong. You're not wrong. I've never heard that before, but it's fantastic. Did Daryl tell you about that one?

Don't keep it in the book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no. But that, yeah, to your point, that's quite that. No, I think it's just a terrible message to send. But like, I think. You didn't need to say that. No, no. And, you know, I get he's honest and I get people appreciate the honesty.

But you know me, guys, and I've been pretty clear on this for a very long time. There's just some stuff that needs to stay in your inside voice. Yeah. Totally. You know, I guess from their perspective, everyone would say, you got to try to keep this guy. And if he thinks that those guys legitimately would help them in the years ahead, they weren't bottoming out at that time. you know, you could see them talking themselves into it. I don't necessarily know that it's as terrible as it's going to be painted.

Quinn Hughes a lot of credit here because he could have just kept his cards close and not tip his hand and do what you need to do. I'll do what I need to do. But he told him. He told him. Just like Matthew Kachuk without going public. And he's in a way better situation going to the wild than he would have been with the devil. It's like the wins when a wild could win the cup.

And then he went on after hours and he revealed. right? He did tip his hand on Quinn Hughes. Who did? Jimmy Rutherford. Oh, yeah, that he said that he wants to play with his brothers, right? Yes. Yeah, that was way in. That was like a year ago. I don't know, you want to do analytics. I don't know the percentage of dropping value in being able to call teams up and bluffing them a little bit,

but you lost hand. You tipped your hand to the league going, you've got a, you got the greatest. asset right now on the blue line and you're going to lose them. So whatever deal that you think you made and at the time we thought, yeah, it's still a good deal and they got some pieces back. It wasn't, but what you didn't get was the rest of the league going into this true bidding war and how high the price could have been. If you would have just bluffed them a little bit, listen, I'm not interested in moving

them, but if I did, that's the conversation you needed to send out. the message. I think you're bang on. I can't really quibble with anything you said there. It's just, it was a bad thing to say. Just. He's just lost leverage. That's all.

You know, that's all trades are leverage. But part of this is also bracing your fan base, you know, that it wasn't one day they woke up and Quinn Hughes got traded. Like,

there was some. People believed in his philosophy of just build a better team and he'll stay. And it wasn't true. He was not. staying no matter what you did. Yeah, and he even, there's another clip. He even referenced Matthew could Chuck at one point.

Like, he just, he was leaving. So, anyways, we got some scary parallels there that maybe we'll avoid for their Toronto listeners. Okay. Abbs and Kings. Anybody see a sweep? Okay, so we're starting right into this. Yeah, we are.

Anyone see not a sweep. I'll give the Kings one at home. Five? I'll give the Kings one at home. Go ahead. Kings and, sorry, abs in five? Yeah, I have sweep. You have a sweep.

Okay. So we're at five. We give them a game. You give them a sweep. Hey, mark these down. Okay. I don't have a... Because I had six concussions.

Kipper, I'll mark me down. Hold on, hold on. Give me one second. I'll get my sheet going here. And then Mac had abs too. We're going to keep them. I got Max. You got Max?

Yeah. Kipper, you say, avs in five? He, Mac wouldn't give us games, though, so I'm not sure. We're doing games. Stars and Wild. I have Dallas. In seven. I have Minnie in seven.

I need to look at what I wrote online. I might have said six. It's okay. I should probably keep that consistent. Six, Dallas and six. You have Minnie? Yeah. Do you like Dallas?

Why? I like, I just, we talked about Minnesota down the gut. You know, their top line centers, Ryan Hartman, Erickson Eck, Yurov is a rookie in McCarran. And they traded for it. I just, I don't love them down the middle. And I think after the big names, Dallas kind of has more big names. I need hints to play for this to hold.

He is the key. He is. If you're, if you're, I don't trust them. Wyatt Johnson, hints, Robertson, Rantan, in Harley Heiskinan, like you're good, but you need hints. What's the, so Kipper, what did you say wild and what? Wild and seven, I think this one will go the distance. You have Dallas in six.

Six. I'm going Dallas seven. Okay, so I'm on an island. I'm with Mac. It's a good pick. I mean, Wilder, very. Golden Knights and Utah. Can there be an upset here? Absolutely not.

I think people are picking upsets with some of the number stuff, but I think Vegas is founded. I have Vegas early. Vegas and... I don't like the fact that Andrew McBain, or Andrew, his dad. Jake.

Jake. Jack. Jack. Jack. Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack, McBain is out. And he's, I honest, that guy's so

game seven type of guy and that that hurts a lot the other thing I hear is Sammy your boy Jersey out oh boy really yeah no good yeah I got Vegas in

six and if anything I might go I would lean the other and Jersey's he it's not good so Vegas in six Kipper yeah I got Vegas

and six I'm going Vegas in five Vegas, Anaheim, Dallas, Colorado, to the east. No, we haven't done,

we haven't done, we haven't done, we haven't done oilers yet. Okay, I'm oilers and ducks. And I hear Leon Drysidal

clean hill, clean bill of health. Clean hill of bell. Yeah. Clean hill of spill. But he's good to go. He's ready.

Hack Ziman played the other day too, so they're kind of loaded up again. Yeah. Okay. So we'll give Anaheim a game. Yeah. They can score.

and Dust doll is very good. I'm going to give the Ducks two games. Division rivals. They've played a tonne against each other. So I'll go Edmonton and six. And, you know, they did make that addition on the back end of Carlson. Yep. Look home.

Okay. All right. East. East. You want to start Sabres and Bruins? This one is super hard. I did Buffalo in seven. Buffalo and seven for Borny.

What do you got, Kip? I'll take the Bruins in seven. The last month You've been hammering me About being hard on Buffalo I know And then you bailed on them No you're right

It's true But I don't know I think Boston's just Meat and potatoes Man Full meat and potatoes And I like Swayman

Jeremy Swamen has had a hell of a year He's a Vesna finalist And for that reason I'm going Bruins and Sass And for that reason I'm out Yeah wow I don't know I just think

Their goaltending is Like the Sabers goal-tending has been really excellent and kind of above expectations all year long. You get into these playoffs series. A couple go in early. Swayman's been excellent in the playoffs in the past.

I think it's going to be a goalie series. I think it's going to be maybe the most physical series. Okay, so then what's next there, boys? Montreal, Tampa Bay. Okay, first of all, I'm actually very curious. That fourth line, too, you know, just on Boston,

their fourth line, they're miserable to play against. Miserable. Custolic, Castelic, yeah. Castellic. Okay, so where are we now? Montreal. Montreal.

I'm not bailing on the Canadians. MTL in? 7. 7. 7. But you know, I don't know what's going to be left in Montreal after this because Tampa, if they're going to lose, man, they're going to go down. I took Tampa and 7. It's hard to go against Kutrov in the experience. That's all I picked on.

Like my little paragraph on it on Sportsnet.ca is mostly just that I think this is a very even series, but one team's been through it a lot. Last 10 years, I've been to four conference finals, three cup finals. Like, they've just,

they've been there. Pam, in six. Yeah. I'm surprised. Headman. Oh, really? Yeah.

Headman losing headman at the end of the season. Yeah. No, that matters. It matters in a big way. There's no doubt about it. That's, that's,

I think. Tampa's just, it's Cooper, it's the, it's the foundation. I don't know. Sirelli and Point and Cooch and Hegel and Gensel and Paul and like, we've just seen it so many years. It's like, how do you bet against it? Listen, Montreal's great. It's going to be a fantastic series. Awesome.

The fastest series, definitely. Hurricanes and Sends. That might be the fastest series. Maybe it was too quick. So like, I don't, I have been on Team Ottawa. Yeah. All year long. And I still think that they're fantastic.

At the end of the day, I made the tiebreaker to pick Carolina. I just can't pick Lena's Allmark. That's fair. I just can't do it. And he's the only one that stops you from saying Ottawa and 6th.

Carolina's goal tent is not great either, but I'm going to hold on Allmark. Yeah. Will not lose this series. Yeah. He lost it against the Leafs last year, but he won't lose it in this one.

Carolina in? Seven. Ottawa in how many? I do think home ice advantage will help for Carolina and Tampa Bay. I'm going Ottawa in seven games. Boy, that's in Carolina. Game seven.

Oh, no, they're going to do a storm surge. Do they still do that? Anyway, that's probably, who knows. So is that everything? No, penguins, flyers. Oh, my favorite theories. Hockey in Canada. This is Saturday, 8 p.m.

That's unbelievable. I cannot wait. I truly cannot wait. What do you guys got? I did pit. I did pit in six. I'm just going to confirm that. Pit in six.

This would be an upset, Philly winning. Yeah. Like, smell an upset? Like who, Vlidar is definitely. Just meat and potatoes. This Flyers team is meat and potatoes. And Zegris is a talented guy, but. It's a lot of potatoes.

It's a lot of potatoes. Tip it. They're just, it's talk it, though. It's also talk it. I know. What are you doing? What are doing? Tip and talk it? What are you doing over there? By the way, Terry, I'll go flyers in seven.

Flyers and seven. Yeah, flyers and seven. Plug your ears, Philly. I'm going pit in five. Whoa. He goes full disrespect. First line center, Trevor Zegger. It's Sid, baby. I want Sid. Are they just, are those young kids dumb enough to, like, not feel the pressure? So do we have to do, can we do a final pick now? You know who's, by the way, hold on.

You know who's sneaky underrated is Cam York? Defenseman for the Flyers. I like him. He skates. He competes. They got a mobile decor. Him, Sandheim, Drysdale, they can all fly up. Yeah.

Finals pick. I have, you guys are going to hate it. I have Colorado, Carolina. Kipper? You go, Sammy. I have. I'm going to make mine up like right now. I have Edmonton beating the Ottawa Senators in six games.

Whoa. That's something. Ottawa guy. Edmonton beating Ottawa. hate Gary Bettman? No, but like Ottawa's, they're primed. They've been hot. Like, they can go on a run here.

To be clear, I am not denying that. Did Matt go mini? Montreal. Montreal? We got two. So you've picked two Canadian teams. Max got a Canadian team? Yeah, I'm going to go with Mini Ottawa.

Ottawa, two cup final picks. Yeah, I'll go Mini Ottawa. All the Toronto media is never nice to the centers. What about a cons might? Winner. Connor McDavid. Yeah. I think I picked McKinnon.

McCar was a close one, but I picked McKinnon. Tim Stutzler. Oh my God, Ottawa with the win. Tim Stutzler. Wow. I couldn't love Timmy Stew anymore. He might be my favorite for him. He went up a notch.

Yeah. Like a hundred notches. And then he went down a notch a hundred times onto the ice as he dove. He's like, oh, I'm down again. He competes that. guy. Oh yeah. Don't get me wrong.

He's a player. Fantastic. Elite. And you said Colorado. Colorado. Carolina. That is bad. Is it?

I don't want to watch that. It's bad laundry. Who wins? It is. That's really bad laundry. All right, there it is. Our predictions on the real Kipperingbornborn show from Doug McLean. J.B., Sammy.

Yours truly. They're locked in. They're well documented. Yes. And they will probably make us look silly. What do you think? So what? We just won't mention them when it does.

No, no, no, no, no. Absolutely. All right. Congratulations on another regular season. Let's go. What a weekend. Let's go. Let's go, Sammy.

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