Real Kyper & Bourne - Digging for More From the Oilers with Jason Gregor

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee open the show with thoughts on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s momentous home run to help the Blue Jays tie up the World Series at 2-2. Jason Gregor, host of The Jason Gregor Show, dives into Edmonton's win last night over the Mammoth and the state of the team 11 games into the season. He zeroes in on the concerns surrounding Evan Bouchard, which netminder provides more confidence, and Paul Coffey's departure for the organization. After the break, the boys take a closer look at how to view Logan Cooley and Thomas Harley's long-term extensions in the NHL's changing contract landscape.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

We are live and in color. It's a real Kipper and Bourne show, season five. The Kepreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo. We are live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. If you miss our show, find us, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. This hour, Real Kipprenborn, brought to you by Bet365. In a few minutes, Jason Greger has done a nice job for us over the last few years. Sport 1440 in Edmonton is his station.

It's the Jason Greger show. Covers the Oilers as good as anybody. Yes. Big win. Didn't start off early well for them. but they are the Edmonton Oilers they do have the best player in the world and uh kind of surfaced last night yeah in Edmonton outside of that Sammy we are two two my friend two two work oh I missed it I was doing I was watching Leaves was doing Leaves Stockton

didn't see the game oh you didn't see anything at all did you did you hear that the blue jays won yes I heard I heard yeah uh I heard yeah um did you have I was saying you're probably doing leaf talk when Vladdy I was. I was. Did you react on air? Well, it's a long story. But our thing we were streaming and then it crashed halfway through for some reason

and then as we were sitting there figuring it out, I had my phone up and I watched him hit the home run live on my phone. So it was good. I know we've been doing too much J's people probably whining about the place. I don't care. But I really don't care. I don't want to hear it because it's big in Canada.

We're excited. But we're excited. But we're excited. We are. So how do you... That's what they told us right from the beginning when we first started this show. Be who you are.

Be you guys. I just... Oh, go ahead. Another man. I say, Vladigarro Jr.'s 26 hits are second most in MLB history for a post season. I'm just...

I mean, I'm in my feels about this team, man. To come off of that heartbreaking loss, 18 innings, everybody pitches, everybody plays. And to come back, less than 24 hours later and much less than 24 hours later and just put out a gritty effort where everybody contributes again the bottom of the order driving and runs these guys are just different man

I'm done doubting it's unbelievable this is why we have to talk about it because this isn't baseball it isn't hockey it's sport and it's human behavior so to sammy's point to go through all of that the way they did to have the heartbreak and then to come right back just not come back come back against the greatest baseball player in the history

of the game and Vladdy in particular to hit that home run I think that home run is going to go down right there with what George Springer did a week and a half ago and what Joe Carter did like it's in that

family of a home run that for me as memorable. You know, we're privileged in this role to get to deal with some people who've had a lot of pro sporting success and not to get too into it, but we got a nice message from Craig Simpson who's pulling for the J's. And, you know, he told us a story about how when they were, I believe it was in Boston, they had a triple overtime game in the cup final.

Clema. Really deep. Everywhere, you know, on their last legs, they get a win. And that win, to lose that way and have to go back and play the next day, Boston just you know, was cooked. The Oilers beat him 7-1 the next night. That was that, or was it Calgary? No, it was the Oilers, sorry.

Oilers. So the Oilers beat him 7-1 the next game. Like Boston just didn't have it in them. For the Jays to take that loss in 18 innings and come back the next day and... Against, again... Again, Otani. And they touched them up.

Four earned runs, like the top of the seventh inning, which, boy, boy, I'm loving the seventh inning. But, you know, Ernie Clement. again almost takes them out second and third nobody out. Gosh that. And, you know, they bring in Thai France. He gets a drip. Like, literally everybody is contributing to this.

And it's unlike anything. I saw Dan Shulman send out a tweet today with like some numbers about the Js. I think the six through nine in their order is hitting 272 with 35 runs driven in in the playoffs. Their bottom three crushing in the order are an all-star in the regular season essentially. It's unbelievable.

They are crushing. crushing the Dodgers when they go. It's so, it's just, I'm so regardless of what happens from here on out. Yeah. I am just, I feel blessed to watch this team. I'm going to remind you that when you hit low points in our chat room. Listen, that's who I am. I'm never going to not do that, boys.

So you can just mute me. That's fine. But like, this guy's like double wins, Jay's Leafs. It was the sixth inning. Seventh inning. I wasn't wrong. No, you weren't wrong. Obviously, it doesn't have an effect.

It was over. Simmer, too. I was like, boys, let's be easy on the curses. The energy off of them. Like, they just- Trying to get in the testing going, oh. But I was through my phone in the river. I was like, I got to go to the river and throw it in.

They won't be denied. They just refuse to be denied. Basset, man, like, you know. Now, I'm saying that, you really got to win tonight. You don't, that guy who's waiting in game six. Yeah. Yeah. That he could be a problem.

That is an issue. question. I mean, I think any Jay's fan listening to this would agree that going into tonight against Blake Snell, who they saw in game one, they've all seen Blake Snell a million times. They know what Blake Snell has to offer. Like, they have a chance to touch up Blake Snell, like they have every other pitcher that they've played against. But you need the lead tonight to go home to have the buffer of not having your season end with Yamamoto on the hill. So we'll see. I know that I am not immersed enough in baseball enough to answer this question. But watching Snell pitch that game,

watching Yamamoto pitch his game, it's crazy to me that Yamamoto was not the first guy out of the gates in game one. Like, I don't know if it was something with the timing or health or whatever. Because they swept the Dodgers. Everybody was on regular rest. And I know Snell was under a one ERA. I know all that,

but how do you not go to that Yamamoto first? Anyway. I'm really enjoying pretending to be a baseball game. Oh, it's been great. It's been so great. And then like Barker and Blair humiliated us. I know what it feels like to be on the other side. Well, here's what I'll say.

Like, I do baseball. You guys go away for four months. I do baseball all summer. Like, I'm in the fight of it the whole time. So I'm so excited. I really have a nervous excitement, energy about tonight. This is one of the biggest games in Toronto sports history tonight. It is.

I do wish it didn't fall on 16 hockey games last night. It would have been nice to surf a little bit more. Is that really bad for the next hour and 40 minutes of our show? I spent a lot of today. Oh, I did watch the Leafs, though. The Leafs are show that we cover the most, obviously, with the Leaf Hour edition. So I had to pay it to end.

It was at 6 p.m. Eastern, which helped. Did help. Do you know that there is one game in the National Hockey League tonight? And it is the Toronto Maple Leafs against the Columbus Blue Jackets? They should have just done a rain out. Move it to do a double header next. Do we know why? Do we know why?

Well, they had 16 yesterday and now they have one tonight. Couldn't you had 12 last night and a few more tonight? It's weird to have one game tonight. ESPN, like that frozen frenzy. Did you try to flip it all the past 8 o'clock? Yeah, I had the second screen going, bouncing around. But it's tough, certainly. You know, enough to see the major outcomes.

I saw the Pittsburgh-Philly chaos at the end of their game. That was while J.T. Miller's return to Vancouver. Yeah. You know, very business like him. Man, Garland now, out. Like, they are struggling with injuries. Like, that's a brutal. Awesome.

I know. He's up to a great story. Connor Bedard coming around, Kippie? He heard the Celebrini talk. Yeah. Oh, watch this. He looked electric last night, boys. He can fire the puck.

Yeah, he can fire the puck. No, no question. I don't think he's in a position like Celebrity to garner the attention of Team Canada yet. I'm not saying that that can't. can't happen as we continue to progress. And it's sneaking up too, like November, December. Well, and they had to file some sort of preliminary list a few weeks ago,

kind of letting the Olympic Committee know kind of who roughly may be coming, where I assume for insurance purposes. Security, I guess, passports. I don't know, background checks. Oh, drug testing, too. Drug testing. So they're thinking about it. This is not.

Yeah, and Connor Bardard tied for 28th in league scoring now, up to 12 points in 10 games tied with Mitch Marner. There you go. So pretty good. Good start for him. Jason Greger will join us momentarily. Could the Oilers have gotten through something last night to kind of free them up a little bit? You know, it's funny just watching the highlights of that game,

seeing McDavid gets his two goals. I did a little pre-show thing on Hockey Central about how he had one goal through 10 games, but lots of shots. And not as many as usual for him. Could you pinpoint anything in particular that led him to such a slow start putting the puck in the net?

No. I don't know. But like for me, a lot of the off-ice stuff seems to affect guys going into the year, right? Guys who have contract disputes. You know,

Connor didn't have a contract dispute, but he did have, I guess, some overhanging baggage. So hopefully he's through that part of the year. we'll ask our next guest the same question here jason gregor joins us uh you can catch a show on sports 1440 in edmonton it's the jason gregor show how are you pal fellas what's happening we're good we're good um you didn't have the lug we covering the leaps they gave us an early start uh i guess you didn't get the same

luxury right uh no 730 our time yeah yeah i i'll be honest i was uh i was watching the jays game a lot more in 10. It's a good Canadian boy. Okay, so. World Series, boys. Come on. We're right there with you, man. We are right there.

But as far as what we saw or heard of or watched on the highlights last night against a pretty strong team out of the gate in Utah, what's the general feeling like the floodgates opened up a little bit last night? Well, the owner's best player showed up. Like, you can have your depth guys, you know, help. you periodically and that's what you need to win. But ultimately, when your best players are your best players, you're going to have more chance of success. And that's what happened last night. You know, Ekholm and Bouchard had not been very good together at all. Like, Ekholm has been on

for 12 goals against five on five in the first 10 games, right? Bouchard was nine. Like, they weren't very good defensively. And, you know, offensively, you know, Connor McDavid, the reason why he's not scoring goals, guys, not shooting. He came into the game last night at 2.8 shots per game. That's the lowest total of his career, except his rookie season. And, you know, now, I know that his outlier year was when he averaged 4.29 shots per game and he had 64 shots. That's the outlier. Like I've talked to Connor about it. He knows he should shoot more, but he's like, man, it doesn't come natural to me. I'm a passer, and he's looking to pass. And I think that, you know, scoring that first goal with Nugent Hopkins where he had no choice, you have to

shoot it. I think him getting a goal, he's like, okay, I can't shoot the puck. And, you know, it helps when your big guns show up. You know, they got some depth scoring too. Howard scored, you know, Ty Emerson, who's not an offensive defensive by any stretch scores. And so that helps. But ultimately, it was Drys Edle McDavid, Bouchard, Eckholm, who got some offense going. And they scored five goals in the second period, all five on five. And I'll say this about Utah.

Like if you go on NHL Edge and if you watch the games, Emmington, Colorado, Utah are the three fastest teams in the NHL and the numbers back it up. That game was really fast last night. Kooley can absolutely fly. And that team's young guys, but I'm telling you, they're going to compete for a playoff spot this year. And, you know, they're not a complete project yet, but they're a team to be reckoned with

because they can really move the puck. The first period, they were all over Eminton, although Eminton was like a pastry. They were turning over the puck at the offensive blue line all the time. So, but Utah, I'm impressed by them. I really like their speed. So I wrote an article today for Sportend.com. on why the, sorry, on the Bizarro Atlantic.

Like, the standings are kind of flipped from how they typically are in that division. So I wrote about what's real and what's not. Right now, the Oilers are in fourth in the Pacific, trailing Vegas, Seattle, and L.A. What are they really? I know that's probably not where we have them talent-wise. Yeah, well, Emmington, as Echom said, it's the best start they've ever had since he's been here. They're not a good starting team in October. And, you know, here they are.

they're five, four, and two, which is, it's not a great record, but they historically stub their toe in October, and, you know, we can discuss tell the cows come home, why, but I don't really know the answer. So part of it has to do with losing the cup. If you look at teams who lose the cup outside of Boston in 2020, they don't have great starts that next season. So that's part of it. You know, their best guys weren't their best guys, which is funny, because they were the ones basically since captain skates in early September talking about the need for a good start. And it just didn't happen. You know, it's one game. We'll see how they play against the Rangers.

It's going to be a much different game. New York is much more defense-oriented than Utah is. So we'll see if they can get by them and Schisturkin, who didn't play last night. But Emmington, like, Seattle's a mirage, guys. Like, I'm sorry. Seattle's not a team that's going to be better than Eminton at the end of the season. And, you know, it'll be Emmeton, L.A., Vegas, most likely. And, you know, unlike previous years, Vegas hasn't gotten off to, like, an unbelievable start

where they would be, like, 9-1 or anything. so emminton isn't that deep of a hole which actually helps them like there's years they actually had to gain 20 points they were 20 points behind Vegas at one point right there are only three now so that that helps him you're watching and listening to the host of the jason gregor show on sports 1440 in edmonton so as far as bouchard is concerned um earlier this season i think he had that giveaway in the island that if i'm not mistaken ray ferr was covering the game for yespa and and and maybe said it was one of the worst he's ever seen his whole life. And is it just part for the course with this guy, or are we hearing it a little bit more to start this season based on the fact that maybe he's got a richer contract? Or, again, is it just comes with the territory of having this guy? Well, hey, when you make $10.5 million, the expectations are higher.

There's no question. And, you know, Bouchard, you know, you. He doesn't want to give the puck way. Like, Bouchard would like to be considered for the Olympic team, but if he keeps having the giveaways, guys, it's just not going to happen, right? Now, the thing with Bouchard is it's, there's very few guys who can elevate their games significantly

in the playoffs year after year after year. And he's done that, right? And he did it last year without Mattias Echon, kind of the security blanket that people thought was the reason he was good. So that's gone. And so there's kind of like two sides to Bouchard. There's early season Bouchard, where some days you almost have to be like,

yeah, it's frustrating, but he's shown he doesn't do it when the games matter. And, you know, one of his best traits is he's pretty even keely, doesn't get too excited, you know, when, when the pressure's on, which I think is why he's good at it. But he also doesn't get excited sometimes, you know, if he makes a glaring error. So, um, I guess it's a good trait, but it has pros and cons at different times of the season. And obviously he's got to, he's got to turn down the giveaways. I will say this. Like, if you look and I think it was, um, Mike, Kelly or Kevin Woodley. They're talking about, you know, giveaways that led to a scoring chance within like three or four seconds at the

giveaway. And Bouchard was right there in the top five. But if you look at all the defense, but in the top five, it's guys who have the puck the most. So I think in Eminton, it gets focused on a lot because he's done it a lot. But other guys do it. He just, when he makes a giveaway guys, it's like, God, it's like a nine or a 10. It's like not a, he's like, hey, if I'm going to make it a giveaway, it might as well make it a good one, right? It's kind of like when you're teenage kids, like, you know, hey, if you're going to break curfew, you might as well make it worth it, right? Like, you don't show up at 1202. You might as well show up at 202 because breaking curfew is breaking curfew. So that seems to be his

MO. It's obviously frustrating for order fans. And I get why people get upset about it. And I'm sure, I think for Bouchard, where it's going to cost him is going to be on the Olympic team. If it really wants to be there, if he keeps having a giveaway, like the major ones, you're going to have giveaways, guys. But if he's going to have the major ones, he's just not going to be in consideration for that team. I also, I'm going to say the nerdiest thing. So nerdy, it might get me kicked off the station is just, I also think there's something with the giveaways

where it's like the priming effect in psychology, right? Like where we are primed for to watch this guy when he turns it over. You notice it every single time because it's like, all right, we're talking about it. So I think there's something with the way we watch Bouchard that's different to. As you mentioned, he has the puck all the time. Yeah, well, that's, it's very, I point that out all the time. Like the best advice I got from a scout early in my, in my career was he said,

said, when you start focusing on what a player doesn't do, you miss all the things they do do. And I think that's the case, like Bouchard's pass to dry settle the other game was unbelievable. And like there's very few guys who can make that pass quick turn in your own zone, fired on the tape in motion to dry settle at the far blue line scores on a breakaway. Like the list of guys who can do that's pretty small. And he will make a lot of good, really subtle plays in a game, but sometimes it gets a race because people in human nature seem to focus, oh, this one bad mistake. Oh, my God, that really bothers me.

They made 10 really nice plays. Yeah, but they don't seem to excite me as much. It's an odd thing for sports. But I think if we looked at it from a deep psychology standpoint, I think you're right. Yeah, there's definitely an element there of that for me. So looking at the Oilers this year, and I don't want to talk about the rookies, but I do want to hear about their new players, Montjapani, Ross Levick, I don't know if you count Fred and Frederick, but Tomasek as well,

how have the new additions fared so far through 10 games? Well, they've added speed to the lineup. There's no question. Jack Roslovich, you got to remember, he didn't, or Roslovick, excuse me. He didn't have a training camp, didn't have preseason. His first few games looked like a guy trying to play catch up. His last three games has been really good. I don't know if you guys saw the movie, he hit the goalpost,

but he danced around some defenders. And I was like, was that 97 or he's 28? So he can really skate. I knew he was a good skater. I didn't know he was this good of a skater. so he's added a lot of speed. He's really good with the puck. Like, he makes a lot of good play.

So I think playing him with dry saddle and Pod Colson, there's a good mix there. Pod Colson's a relentless worker who will get the puck to those two guys, and I think it's going to work. Mangiopani doesn't shoot very much at all, which doesn't help the orders. Like, I'm not sure how long you can keep Mon McDavid's line if he never shoots.

But he, you know, he works hard. He's a depth guy. You know, when I look at Eminton's roster come playoff time, I'm not sure the one we see today is what you're going to see in the play. I don't think you can win in the postseason with Savoy. I'm Mangiopani and Roslovich and Nugent Hopkins and Howard, who are all different style, but none of them are overly aggressive, right? They're not overly big.

I think you can have a few of them. I just don't know if you can have five of them. So that's something to watch for. Tomasik is, you know, he's an older guy. He's good net front presence. He's like he's not afraid to shoot the puck. Not the quickest guy. I think he's probably better as a winger than he is as a center iceman.

and he's he's probably a guy who can maybe help you on your net front presence on the power play, at least until Hyman comes back. And then it's probably more of a fourth line guy, but he's good defensively. So if he's on your fourth line and he's a big, heavy body, I think he gives you another dimension. So I don't mind him. Frederick's first seven games guys were not good. His last few games, he's kind of woken up. He's starting to play physically, he's skating.

He looks a lot better. So, you know, that's helped. He's not doing a ton offensively, and he admitted it's kind of impacted him confidence-wise. Overall, I'd say it's being pretty good if you consider the five guys who left. They didn't have much production early on last season. So we're getting production there. And Ike Howard's got two goals. Matt Savoy, you know, has played well.

Now, when Hyman comes back, I'm curious, you know, what's going to happen with the lineup. So because everybody bumps down. And, you know, if Ike Howard's only playing eight to ten minutes a night, at some point, you're going to send them to the American League. But I think it's great opportunity. And it's a great paycheck to be in the NHL for a month, learn the game, see what you've got to on and then go down in the American League and really work on it playing 20 minutes a night. And then hopefully they recall him later on in the year and then he doesn't go back.

Jason, just to follow up on that, how far are we away from a Zach Heimann sighting? And who out of the guys that you just mentioned could be affected by it the most? Well, it's good question. They only dressed 11 Ford's last lane for the first time. I think they just wanted to get Troy Stetcher some playing time. He hasn't played a lot. So Hyman and Regula, Big Alex Regula is coming back too. And I think when he comes back, Troy Stetcher is probably going to go on waivers. And then the forward, I would think it's like Howard. Like you have Curtis Lizarre here.

He can be your 13th Ford, right? He's a veteran guy. He doesn't play a lot. It doesn't make sense to have Howard as your 13th Ford. So my initial guess is it's probably going to be Howard. It doesn't mean it's going to be long term, but he doesn't require waivers. And he's a young player who needs to play more than 10 minutes at night. So that would be the guy, I think.

I've liked his game. It's not, it's just he's not getting enough opportunity yet. And when Hyman comes in, that's like, that's a legit top nine forward, was top six Ford. So he comes in and everybody bumps down a bit, right? So I would think if Hyman comes back, you might see Nugent Hopkins go back to third line center where he's being really good. He's actually being their best forward to the start of this season.

And then it kind of moves other guys around. And that means, you know, Henrique or Phil, maybe Henrique moves to the wing, which means like Howard probably goes down. seeing the team early in the season without Jake Wallman, then seeing them with Jake Wallman, makes you think this guy's pretty important, huh? Well, their top five defense is pretty good.

Now, you know, Bouchard and Nurse will have a few giveaways that, you know, make you pull your hair out to, not in my case, but in the pace of a lot of other people. And, uh, but their five defense are really good. Their top five. And Alex, I'll tell this about Regula, like they got him on waivers from Boston last year. And that could look like a real fine. He's big body.

moves the puck very was very poised with the puck now he doesn't use his size a lot when you see a big guy you'd like in the lean on somebody but you know like could he be could he become meiko micola right i think they'd be they'd be very happy if he could become that type of player long rangey moves the puck well you know doesn't isn't overly physical but also isn't a shrinking violet and so yeah their d with walman definitely really rounds it out and kind of calms maybe nurses game down a little bit they seem to play quite well together so their their defense is fine i still think they're going to need another shooter on the wing guys at the before the deadline and you know they'll probably you know at bare minimum i think they'll be looking to upgrade their backup goaltending we'll

see you know a lot of teams and i've talked about uh the Toronto Maple Leafs in this case if if they are looking for that guy that you just mentioned uh the Leafs might have a tougher time because the cupboards are so bare in terms of what they have to offer for someone maybe in their prime like where is Edmonton now on adding pieces and and what they could potentially give up to get that piece that can finally put them over the top yeah well they're definitely like their first round pick next year is in play again like I think that's you know for for the next three trade deadlines with mac david here minimum time like that's going to be in play every year and they got some other young forwards like you know it might be a savoy or a howard I know some people now

it's only those guys if the guy you get is on term I don't see them trading away players that you know could help you that for somebody who's just a rental like if you look at the order is like they got Walman, sign him an extension. They got Ekholm. He had multiple years left. They signed him to an extension. They haven't just made their big splashes at the deadline on rentals. They acquired Trent Frederick, signed him to a long-term deal. So I think they have a plan here that we want guys who could not just help us for one run, who can help us for multiple runs. And so then if you do that, then they're more willing to want to give up a young high-end prospect. Now, they don't have a ton, guys. Let's be honest here. You know, you've got Savoy, you've got I

Howard. Not a lot after that, if I'm being bluntly honest, of guys who I think are NHL ready. There's some other prospects, but none of them that I would think are necessarily a-level prospects. You know, our weekly check-in, or however often we get to talk to you, which we always appreciate, on the goaltending in Edmonton, where are things at as of right now? To me, it's kind of the same. You know, they went out, they got Ingram for basically nothing. He can play in the minors, doesn't count against the cap. He didn't have a training camp. We all know he would, you know, he got out of the, the NHL, NHLPA program in September. And so he's played three games down in the American League. His first game was really good. The other two

have, you know, hit or miss. Last night, he made a great save. And then he led in a few goals from a guy who hasn't played lots. So he's going to need a lot of time. Guys, I don't, I don't think there's going to be any real big change in the goaltending until they get close to the deadline. You know, Calvin Pickard's numbers this year aren't as good as last year. Now, he played in a very good environment last year. And this year, he's not, he's been playing in actually pretty bad environment. The orders have been a lot leak here early on. So they'll tighten that up when he's in net, so that'll help him. But they're always on the lookout there. You know, I think Stuart Skinner's another guy where he'll play well. And then he, like, you look at last night, the third

goal. Now, it bounced over a stick. Yeah, it's unlucky. But the team had just scored two goals, right? So you're like, hey, get behind the net, get your body behind it, not just your stick, like whatever. So those, those type of plays seem to happen. Every, every few games. And he's just got to reduce it. He's, he's not a top five goalie, right? I don't think he's, he was a top 10 goalie, actually, in 2024 on her knob block. If you look at all his numbers. So does he have potential in the right system? I just think he needs to be more consistent. And if he eliminates the big error, then you're fine. But if you're looking for Stewart Skinner to steal you games, he can ask Dallas fans in the

playoffs. He's done it multiple times against them. You know, he had multiple shutouts against Vegas. So he's capable of it in small samples. But he's not Schisturkin, right? He's not a guy that you're going to look to Vasilevsky like every night to be that guy. He doesn't get paid to be that guy. I don't think he has a bill. And that's okay. Like there's very few guys like that, right?

Like the goaltending position, you look at it, look at guys, say percentage, I think the league average is 896 right now, if I'm not mistaken. We have to kind of adjust what's considered good in the NHL now because there's fewer shots on goal. teams don't weigh shots as much so a goalie their goals against average isn't much much worse than we've seen in the past just their say percentages down because there's fewer shots on goal in the game 895 one more for me jason and that is the departure of paul coffee i i did find it strange that he was not involved in any way shape or form ends up going back there we know the history and we know how emotionally attached he is um

And it seemed to be working out. I mean, they go to the Stanley Cup finals a couple of times here. And he's not there now. And I'm just wondering, that probably surprises me more, Jason, that he's not there, especially with unfinished business that you think is less than 12 months away of trying to go to the third Stanley Cup final and finally win it. In your opinion, why is he not there anymore? Well, I think there's a few.

I think it's multiple factors. I know Paul's back was bugging him a bit. I think that's a part factor. I also think there is, Paul's a real old school coach in his delivering approach. And, and Chris Knoblock isn't. And so I think at times there was a little bit of,

they weren't necessarily on the same page in how they approach the communication. And also, Paul was like, he really did no video work, right? He was old school. He was more of like, I talk to players, I communicate with them, I pump them up,

I criticize them. equally, right? Like the players, in the game, he was very, you know, like, hey, you're good. Just play your game, right? And the players appreciated that. But there wasn't a ton of video work. So I think it's a little bit more of probably stylistic. And I do know for a fact that his back was bugging him. And that became a factor at times. You're standing up on the bench all the time. So I think it was a little bit of a combination of both, as my understanding. Great stuff as always when you come on our show, Jason. Thanks for doing this, man. Anytime, boys. Who's winning today?

Come on, you'll touch up, Blake's now. We got this. Yeah, yeah, we're closing. We're closing out game six. It must be a fun city right now. Enjoy it. Appreciate it, man. It's been fun.

Maybe game seven. But we will not be denied. That is Jason Greger. Sports 1440 in Edmonton. I'm going to go back a decade and give you the save percentage for goaltenders. League average save percentage. 915, 913, 910, 910, 908, 907, 904, 903, 900, 895 this year. Yeah, nobody cares about goalies.

Valley, you're listening. I know you are. What are the biggest factors in that? I think if I'm going to guess number one, I think, I mean, obviously, players are better, shoot harder, shoot faster. I just don't think anybody wants to be a goalie anymore. Wow, that's interesting. I just don't think it's the sexy to be a goal as it was.

First the referee. They're not just a shoot. Honestly, like, yeah, for sure. You know, guys are hanging out of the puck a lot more. Guys, you know, the shooters caught up to the goalies. There's a while there where goalies owned us. Yeah. And it's like, okay, we need to figure out some things here.

You can't also deny the fact that the league has pushed so hard for offense. Totally. They want offense in the game. We all do. Defense doesn't sell. It was boring. Open it. Whatever, whatever rule we could change was to go against the goaltender.

That's like the NFL. The NFL was like, hey, 47 to 42 is better than 1613. Yeah, let's let's stop. Quarterbacks. Yeah, let's just stop the car crashes on our quarterbacks every game. How about we protect the guys who do the cool thing? Yeah, yeah. Interesting idea for our game.

Yeah. Protect the guys who do the cool thing. Hey, so yesterday I got a DM from a buddy of mine. Shout out, shout out Garin. And he said that we were talking about the goaltending with Valley yesterday. And he said, I thought we promised after the Four Nations faceoff, regardless of what's happening, with Jordan Bennington's numbers during the regular season, whatever is happening, that we just said that he was the goalie.

And I said it after the game when they won that against USA. He's just the goalie. Doug Armstrong's running this thing. He's just the starting goalie. End of story. That was a thing where it was like heart of a champion. Yeah, like it's just we had all these,

we've completely forgotten about all these conversations. I forgot about it. You guys, he's just the goalie. He wouldn't even be in the conversation if I forgot about it. He's going to be there. He's going to be the goal. Starting game one is Jordan Biddington. How much thing will you have in him going into it?

A hundred times. Duns. He's the only reason that we beat the States. He is. A couple others, but okay. I mean, Brady could chuck on the doorstep, shooting in a wide open net. He was excellent.

If there's somebody that has played better than him over a long stretch going into February, he probably won't start. It's like, who could that even be? I asked Valley yesterday, and he was like, not sure he's like thumbing through in the American League goalies. It'll be on a short leash.

Can we get Joey DeCord through customs? Didn't we go through this in 2002 with Marty? Marty. Sorry? We went through a year ago. No, I'm just saying, though. Didn't we not go through with this in the early 2000s between Curtis Joseph and Lombe Roder?

Kujo started against Sweden, and they lit us up, and then they made the switch, and they went to Bredor, and they ended up winning. That's all that's going to be played out. They put the good goalie in. And Barrington will be there. The question is... By the way, no disrespect to Cujo.

Martin Berder is just... Yeah, I know what you're saying. But, like, I just... And Patrick Wall wouldn't go. Because he wasn't in the starter. People don't forget. Oh, yeah. Who's the third?

I didn't. Who's the third? It wasn't Eddie the Eagle? A long ago? No, it was Eddie the Eagle, right? Yeah, you're right. Yeah. But yeah, I just...

I think the same coaching staff, the same managing staff, Jordan Binnington is starting game one. The funny thing is going into this year, it was like Binnington would have to post like an 870 and be terrible to not be on the team. And he's like posting an 870. Don't let me with a good time.

Although I need to check. I'm talking out of it. It's a horrible start for the Blues. Boy, they got spanked last night too. I don't get it. That's not remotely the same team I saw against Winnipeg last year. No.

In the first round. And not having neighbors, not having Robert Thomas. Those are significant loss. Oh, sorry, Bennington is not an 870. He's in 863. Game one. Game one in turn. I was going to say in turn.

It's not Turin. It's Milan. Game one in Milan. Do we need to do the slash Cortina thing? We're calling it Milan. I didn't even know about the Cortina thing. So. Well, anyways.

Okay, let's take a quick break. Sure. When we come back, a couple of big signings. Oh, yeah. Huge signings. We'll get into who and where and how much when we return to Kipper and Boren.

The best Blue J. show out there, period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kippreel's Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. Just mentioning before we went to break, some big contracts coming out

some new money surfacing guys are putting the RFA and payday huh? Like what's this is all over the place now? The Utah Mammoth signing Logan Cooley who scored last night

to a $80 million contract and he maxes that out at the eight years which will not be available soon can I stop you right there does this not feel like this contract feel like a turning point for you?

Like, Logan Cooley got $80 million. Yeah. You know, like, that is, he deserves it. He's flashy. It's a good contract. I like it. It's not too much. All that.

But, like, we didn't used to just say, yeah, yeah, a guy who's the, you know, 30th best player in the league with the chance to be, or whatever he is, 40th, 50th, with the chance to be top 20 gets 80 million. It's different. Just to finish it off. and then Dallas is number one defenseman, Harley, also gets an eight-year deal,

which closes out, I think, close to $84.5 million. But just to get back to Cooley for a second, the first thing I thought about was the Jack Hughes contract, where we kind of went the same way. Like, what is he? Are we sure? Is this good? Tons of money? Are they nuts?

Let's find out more about them. And sure enough, now everybody's sitting there going. He's playing for free. Really good deal for New Jersey. And he's regretting it because he's better or flashier or has much more star appeal. He's a $15 million player. Yeah. Exactly.

He could literally go into free agency today and ask for $14 or $15 million. Okay. apparently coolies to Utah what Jack Hughes was to the Devils. So he's a talented guy. He can fly. But how good is he on a championship team? Is he the number one guy? You know, I think he has potential to be, yeah, to be a top guy.

I do. I also think that there's a factor of your Utah. And you look at the Carolina Hurricanes, who are like so good and falling all over themselves for a top guy. You know, just to have a really elite guy

who stays at the organization. And for them to lock up coolly not knowing exactly what his upside is, pretty good bet, isn't it? The only thing is like RFA means nothing now, right? It doesn't seem... I know it's not nothing, but it doesn't...

Guys didn't get paid as RFA's. Everyone got bridge deals five years ago. Yeah. But they don't want to bridge, Cooley into a $15 million contract. That was the P.K. Suban thing, was that? Well, I mean, just for this perspective, like with the cap spiking, if they can get in on this now. They're hedging.

Exactly. They're just, the bridge and hedging into that in four or five years, we are stealing this guy at $8 million. And, like, let's say he doesn't become. I'm sorry, $10 million. Let's say he doesn't become what they hoped he'll be. $10 million is probably, if he gets them 75 points and he's effective player, like 10 million's not crippling.

Yes. Huberto's making 10 million on Calgary right now. 10 and a half. Who signed that contract? Oh, I see. Calgary. Oh, yeah. Well.

More specifically. Anyways. I see. Yeah. Yeah. The one thing that, again, I know we've discussed this on the show before is like, which I think was a mistake on the league's part is to just go and forecast the next. three years of what the salary cap will be.

It's interesting you can use a mistake. And that's all it did was just get all these agents out there to go, I want that new money. I'm negotiating on that third year, not on the first year. And it's changed everything. And I just don't understand again why the need to have, for the first time in the salary cap, world and this brief history we've had of it, that you needed to go and tell everybody that

the business is so great. Because they're excited, because it was flat for a hundred years. But I put on your tinfoil here. But you could, you could still say that it's moving and you're comfortable and everything's, but it's just when it's on paper, when you can physically see a number, it's changed everything. Tinfoil? Hit my tin foil is that, put it on here. This is the NHL being like trying, this is Betman trying to help out the owners and saying here's the cap's going to go up to 104 and then 113 and all these guys are going to, you know,

try for that new money and off that cap. And then the cap's going to be way higher than this. And these guys are going to be, you know, they got in at the wrong cap. It's actually going to be 107, not 104. It's actually going to be 120, not 113. And I don't know that. But I think it's very possible that they see this massive spike coming

and they're trying to cut the owner some slack here. That's interesting. He's also... That's really interesting. It's just the news of the expansion coming. Apparently everybody wants a team and Gary's... He's so good on our show. He's like, well, we're not pursuing it.

They're pursuing us. But I'll tell you what we're pursuing is a $2 billion price tag. Yeah. So maybe to your point that a nice healthy salary cap for the next three years, will show everybody that it's worth the $2 billion business that we believe it is now. Yeah. I mean, and also just those guys love cost certainty, right? Like you know immediately what your operating expenses are and player costs.

The one thing that I will say is that there isn't, there shouldn't be or there is a perception now that because the salary is going up, everybody's percentages just have to go up with it. And it's like, no, even though the cap's going up, you don't have to automatically bump everybody up the percentage. You can still tell a guy, this cap could go to $200 million, but you're not a $6 million player. And you say, look around you, guys who have your stats make this. Just because the cap's going up doesn't mean you're suddenly worth more.

You're with what they're getting. But it doesn't feel that way. It just feels like everybody's sitting there going new money. I'm going to get my new money too. Yeah, I do think it'll be interesting, particularly with those lower end guys. You don't want to be the team who gives a one and a half million dollar player, three million bucks because of the cap. You can still get those guys for a million and a half.

I do worry about the haves and the have-nots coming back into play again. And who can afford the $115 or $120 million payroll and who can't? What you're telling me is the popular teams that make a lot of money will be able to spend more and be better and then the more people will watch because that sounds like capitalism it's like oh it's like number one payroll and number four payroll in the major leagues of baseball are playing in the world series what a concept and it's record viewership i know but that's i prefer that's why that's why that's why they shut down the game and canceled the stanley cup for the first time in history is because they wanted to avoid that and now they wanted because they want

coming back they want parity They want, oh, I don't know, call it whatever you want, but they just wanted a business model that didn't bury the have-nots. And it just, I don't know, is it coming back? I want, yeah, like, fold them. The only way to truly make money right now is you have to make the playoffs. Yeah. You don't make the playoffs, you lose money.

You make the playoffs, you make money. It's that simple. Think about how much the Jay's is. Love that. Inspires people to compete. Yeah. It's good. You should be trying to win.

Try to win. Like that. Okay. I get it. Yeah. Harley? Harley. Team Candice's best defenseman at the Four Nations faceoff, you mean?

Charles. He's not playing great right now. I'll be honest. I've watched like two Dallas games. No, he's not. But he, to me, this is a safe contract for Dallas. Yeah. Because he is their best skater, you know, there's.

Oh, Heisken is on the team. I mean, yeah, him and. Mero or 1-2. Okay, he's a great skater. He's a minute muncher and like he's just, he's going to be your guy that on most nice can play 23 minutes a night. Dallas will have Thomas Harley, Miro Heiskenen, and Esa Lindell as their top three guys locked up for the next, you know, four years. It's really good. Nice.

It's really good. Really nice. Harley is 24 and Heiskenen is only 26. Really? Yeah. That really surprises me That guy can hockey, man Yeah, they're really good

That Leon Bachel's interesting too He's 21, he's a big boy Checking in Turco See what's going on Yeah, he's a Turco check in one of these days They got the 1-0-0-0-0-0 last night Over Thrilling

One zip I think everybody was wanting to watch the World Series To get this thing over with Time to toggle and check it over Speaking of the World Series A tweet today from Irvin Magic Johnson The actual one Yes

have it. With the world series being 2-2, game 5 is very important. Thanks. Whichever team wins takes control of the series. He's actually a legendary tweeter. He is the most defined voice outside Donald Trump. You can tell he's done television before. Great, great observation.

And you can tell why he doesn't do television anymore. But this is like a thing. His Twitter account is absurd. It's like, who is that for? Him. No, but like, who's reading that? Like, oh, big game. You don't say.

Large match coming up. There's a few people on Twitter X, whatever. Like, they like stating the obvious. Yeah. There's many people in our hockey world where I'm like, who is that tweet for? Right? You just, you must be like,

you need to get something out there. Yeah. I actually feel like that happens most frequently at like morning skate where they want people to know that they're putting in, they're punching the clock. I do the the nightmare is like the first day of training camp when it's like this person skate together like no Jason Robertson first guy on the ace for Dallas today oh all right let me call my friends see what they think there's they're just hearing about this Robinson

there Robertson thing but I'll take that over over people taking pictures of themselves and putting it posting it on Instagram what you mean a selfie what Instagram but like why Like, why? Just a picture of yourself. Can I tell you what I don't like? To put it out there. Like, what I mean? We're off topic entirely.

But when people post stuff on there, I don't get it. For other people, like, say, to their wife. So Sam will do that. And it's like, you live with her. Tell her happy anniversary. I do it every single day. I tell her how much I love her. Yeah, I know.

It's nice to do something out there in the public, Barney. That one's even worse to me. Happy birthday to my one-year-old. I'd rather find out who's on the ice. I'd rather find out who's on the ice first than see someone just take a selfie of themselves that has no meaning other than look at me, look at me, look at me.

What about one with a big fat dart in their mouth after they win the ALCS? Is that allowed? Is that allowed? No, it is. It's of course it's allowed. It's of course it's allowed. Listen, Kipper, not all of us played in the NHL and was on hockey in Canada for 20 years, okay?

I'm caught between generations because I get roped into this stuff sometimes. All right. Keep branding yourself with a dart in your mouth. Listen. Simmer is texting us about. The dark guy can get to your own radio show. Buddy, listen, Simmer was texting us last day. He's like, go smoke a dart, Sammy.

I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, my, not a two-two. Your NGD, you're a new dark guy. No, no. By the way, respect to him. I will, I will definitely not be smoking a dart until game seven. If they'd go that far. Anyways.

Game seven. So I wrote that article today. But what's real and what isn't in the Atlantic Division. And there's some fascinating standings right now, right? We're through 10 games of the season for pretty much every team, save for one or two. Some things to stand out around the league that are curious to me. St. Louis Blues dead last in the Central. That's not real, right?

I think they're better. Better than that. Yeah. The problem is Utah, Colorado, Winnipeg, Dallas, Chicago's better. Minnesota's good. Just national. No, there's more points closing the gap.

And that's what's happened in the Atlantic right now. Yeah. If you truly believe that Detroit and Montreal or Ottawa or the same castes that have missed the playoffs the last few years are going to miss them, if they do, they're going to miss them by a whisker.

And it's going to be maybe in the last week again. And they're going to take their points off of the other big boys. Cole Coughfield, another overtime winner. Montreal as a 727 points percentage. Yeah, it's a 3-on-3, though. Like, he should be the best player in the world, three-on-three. He's so skilled, but, like, it's five-on-five

that a few guys have had trouble with. And that's playoff hockey five-on-five. There's no such thing as three-on-three in playoffs. Right. Got to get your points, though. Get yourself a good playoff seed. Yeah, for sure. Cofield now up to nine goals on the season. Our thanks to Jason Greger.

When we continue, President of Hockey Operations, Don Waddell. Oh, boy, are we talking about the jersey? I think he knows about it. Okay. Do we have him since then, no? Of course.

It's out on the bus. All right. One lone hockey game tonight. We'll get into that in our Leaf Hour edition. Don't go away. Thank you.