Real Kyper & Bourne - Doug Armstrong on Building Team Canada + Chris Pronger!

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and guest producer Cristian Ceniti open the National Hour with thoughts on Team Canada's roster selection for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Doug Armstrong, General Manager of the St. Louis Blues and Team Canada, joins the show to take us behind the scenes of his decision-making process. Doug also touches on how the team will manage their injury reserves, Macklin Celebrini's rapid ascension, the players on the outside looking in, and Jordan Binnington on the world's stage. Later, two-time Gold Medalist Chris Pronger (23:03) discusses Sam Bennett's omission from Canada's Olympic roster, the choice to stick with the same defensive group from the 4 Nations Face-Off, and Cale Makar's opportunity to captain the blue line. Chris also details Anthony Cirelli's upside on the roster and highlights 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini's selection.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.

all right here we go all olympics all the time from here on end is that it that's good i'm down for that let's do an olympic show all right it's the real kipper and bourne show we are usually on sports net 360 sports that 650 in vancouver sports that 960 in calgary and streaming always on sportsnet Plus, or maybe we're not. I'm not sure where we are, where we're reaching, but we're glad you're aboard wherever you are. And always remember there's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Nick, J.B. Christian, here, as we dissect Team Canada,

the announcement today in a few minutes, we'll welcome in the general manager, Doug Armstrong, this hour of Real Kippron Bourne brought to by Bet365, J.B. your overall thoughts. A lot of the names that we anticipated are there but there are a few that I don't know for some may be head scratchers.

You know, so I did sort of a predictions article sort of thing on this maybe a month ago. And how close were you? Almost 100%. 100% goal is 100% D and I only had one wrong on forwards. I did not have Bo Horvatt in. I had Sam Bennett in. That was the only one I didn't have

So I did see a lot of this coming. I think it's Canada's best 12 forwards for sure from there. I guess you can quibble at the fringes if you like, but I really like who they picked. Bo Horvatt is a, you know, fast goal score who can kill penalties and he's versatile center wing. I like a lot about his game. I am a little hung up on no Sam Bennett

and not in a way that I'm like, I'm not passionate about it being wrong because the coaches know how they use them and how his season has been and all that. I'm just it is a real shocker for me considering the guy again I mentioned the last hour won the con smite trophy over two month playoffs just six months ago so yeah it's a shocker christian you're in for sammy your thoughts bow i'm curious about the bohorra one you know i've been a fan of his game since what playoff was it i think it was not it was not the bubble playoff the year after where they had a vancouver canucks had a great series against st louis and he absolutely took over in that series and i think since then i've been bought in bought in on him So I'm really curious to see how he is. But I think for me, my main takeaway is just the eight same defenseman from four nations. I'm a little caught off guard by that.

Thomas Harley, I think, was someone we were talking about yesterday as wishy-wash in terms of him making it. I think Jacob Chikrin, I'm curious how close he would have been. I think just a tiny bit more offense, I would have felt really good. I mean, it's impossible to complain about a team Canada roster, but those are the quibbles I have. It is very noteworthy. The sense was that perhaps Anthony Sorrelli was working. his way off of this team somehow, some way. Clearly, if you're John Cooper,

you're going to fight tooth and nail for your players. And, you know, we just had Craig Simpson on moments ago talk about the non-negotiable with my players. Is that what you saw? Because there is a sense that when it comes to penalty killing, it's going to be Sorrelli, it's going to be Hegel, two of the very best right now in the National Hockey League, and we're not breaking them up.

You know, it's not without precedent for a coach to say, we're trying to take the best guys and my guys aren't the best guys. You know, I think that's, we've seen that in history, right? We had Eizerman and Marty St. Louis had a bit of a falling out back in the day. You know, so I think Cooper must truly believe in his guys. And to me, Anthony Sorrelli, all he does is win. Every single level he's played, he's the guy who's played in the big moments and your coach trust you, he knows.

He has a very specific. utility that a lot of the other guys don't have. It makes a lot of sense to have a guy like that, a safety blanket guy. You're not a sold. No, I'm okay. I'm all right. I do have a little bit of an issue

on the Sam Bennett. Yeah. And again, earlier, we had Craig Simpson on and he had mentioned that he feels like it's Tom Wilson for Sam Bennett. Yeah. And I mean,

Yeah, I can see, I can see his logic there. Sure. But I just feel whether it's Team USA, and I think Doug Armstrong spoke of this earlier today, that you just, you don't build to beat the U.S. team. You're building to beat all the teams. Yeah. And with that in mind, I will say this,

that if I'm Team USA or any other team competing in this tournament, I'm happy I don't have to go against. Sam Bennett. Okay? I am. I am. He is. I don't agree with you.

He's greasy. He's dirty. But that's not what the Olympics are. Listen. Yeah, it is. It is. Absolutely it is.

You're going to play a team once. It doesn't matter. I don't care if I'm playing. I'm not afraid to get body checked in two hockey games. It's not the body checking that you're at. It's that he is sneaky, dirty, J.B. Okay. Okay.

He is. Tom Wilson. I'm telling you right now. Everybody knows when Tom Wilson's coming. That's not the guy that you necessarily have to worry about is the guy that you know that's coming. You got to worry about the guy that's not, you don't know that's coming.

I'm worried about it. And that is Sam. All right, let's walk him in. The guy that made all the decisions possible today. Doug Armstrong, general manager of Team Canada. Army, how's your day going, pal? It's good until I heard that you're saying I made all the wrong decisions.

no good buddy good listen um i don't know if you got hit during your press conference i didn't hear it but listen you you mentioned it the the tough part of the job is telling guys that they're that they're not a part of this it sam bennett must have been the hardest one for you to to notify or let him know that you know we appreciated everything you did at the four nations but right now there's just not rooms on 25 that was a tough one Yeah, it was very difficult. What we did, guys, is we called the players that made the team this morning at 8 a.m. local time to where they're there at today. But I wanted to personally reach out to the players from the four nations that did not get that call this morning.

And Sam was very difficult. Not surprisingly, he handled like a true gentleman and a pro and wants to be part of the process if there is an injury. but it was very hard because he did he did a great job for us last year it just last you know this year's team we were looking to go a different direction with some some of the things that we learned some of the things that we wanted and positionally we we wanted a player like horvatt on the team that that can bring some ability to a top face off guy that can play he's played wing with with the top players at the world's just a different type of player and The hard part is exactly what you said, that it's leaving guys off. And I really do believe that no one played their way off this team. It's just the 25 that we decided to select. Doug, it was part of the process still shifting from an NHL feel of four nations, which included obviously that dramatic nine seconds to start into an international feel.

I mean, was that part of the equation, not only for Sam, but many, many players moving forward? Not really. I looked at the Four Nations tournament. If you take those two American games and take out the first 10 seconds, that's what I expect this tournament to look like, you know, from start to finish.

And first, certainly if we were to match up against the Americans, we'll start and stop right there. But you don't build a team just to play one team. The one thing I do know is if we're fortunate enough, or to play the Americans, it's going to be in a knockout game. And so the game changes when it's a winner-take-all, everyone go home. Just the style of play. The penalties go down.

The intensity goes up, but more from play to play, not after the whistle. So I think the style of this is going to be like the style of the Four Nations minus the nine to 11 seconds. And the other thing, too, is my understanding, and I'm 99.9% sure that if your game has more than 50% HL players, you're going to get NHL refs. And the reality is, a referee is going to ref the rules that he knows the best, and those are NHL rules. They might be able to call a foot in the crease or a guy skating through. But a body check is a body check. They're not going to be able to say, okay, that's a body check last week.

but next week, but not tonight. Their brains don't work that way. So I just think the game is going to be called like an NHL game. So given all those tough decisions, and by the way, thank you for joining us today because we have, this is like, we've been talking about this for a month. I'm thrilled to get to ask a couple questions about this.

What I'm most curious about is, so for the guys who you have as next up is really close, guys you guys you guys like to didn't quite make it, do you have a guy who is, all right, he's 15th, he's next in, or is it going to be based on if there's an injury, a situational need, you'll pick based on who gets hurt?

It's the latter. What we're going to do is we have a number of players that we've asked if they would like to stay on that reserve list and that comes with having to get tested and do other things. And yeah, but we're not going to replace an apple with an orange. The style of player that we lose likely would be dictated by the style of a player that we bring in. So if you lose an offensive defenseman that's going to run,

your power play, you're probably going to look for someone that can help out that has those assets. If you're going to lose a, you know, a top line center, you can either move one of those players up and find a different player or you can go out and find the best offensive centerman that's playing that's not on the team. So I think it's more of the latter. We're going to try and continue to build the team and not just the next player. Yeah, Doug, just a quick follow up on that. How many players are on that reserve list for Canada? We don't have an exact number, we're not giving an exact number, but we're keeping it comfortably, we're comfortable without being obnoxious and asking players to stay on a list when they have no chance. So we're trying to balance both, but what we don't want to do is get there and to February and have guys not available and have to say to them, well, we would have taken him, but we forgot to ask.

So we're asking these guys to stay available if they would. You're watching and listening to the general manager of Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics, Doug Armstrong. So just on that, Army, Dev Tave said he's not going anywhere until his baby arrives. And he was asked if he informed Team Canada, he didn't think it was necessary. I mean, is it necessary?

It's necessary. We have a chat soon. I don't know what the due date is. I did pick it up. It was February 2nd. Yeah. But yeah, I think out of respect to he and his family and also out of respect to John Cooper in our group,

we're going to have to find out because, you know, I certainly respect his wanting to be here for the birth of child. But this tournament's going on no matter what. Yeah. And I'm hoping that the tapes play and play nice and have that baby nice and early. Yeah, I got to check. a lot of that one. All right.

So 19-year-old tournaments are for World Junior. They're not for the Olympics. And Salabrini is a guy that I think was first introduced on your list. When was the wow factor for you that we weren't just talking about any 19-year-old teenager? Kipper, I would say it started with his play last year because it was just abnormal for a player. to do that. But I was skeptical because he was having great success on not a great team, you know. So if someone's going to score on any NHL team no matter what, but what got my attention

this year was he was scoring and they were getting better and they were getting better because of his play. They're a playoff team now right on the cusp. So it wasn't that he was just a point producing player on a low rung team. that someone was going to score on. He's doing this now with a team that's competitive for the playoffs. And at 19, he is circled by every team when you play them. And so that got our attention.

And I would say by mid-November, he became a lock in a lot of our minds. And then when we got to our early December meeting, what we did is every manager went from a ghost roster to a real roster. We put down 14, 8, and 3, and we put them on where would you put them if you were building your lines? And he was in everybody's top 12. There was no question. So we all were starting to see the same thing. And we did a lot of in-person scouting and then reports to each other on WhatsApp.

And every time he played, it was that, wow, this guy is real. This guy is real. This guy is real. And the reality is, he is real. He is real. So I guess this is an interesting way to look at it, but I wonder what your greatest fear is after having built this roster. Do you fear at all that Connor Bedard has 110 points this year?

And people go, how could you not? Or that Schaefer becomes the greatest defenseman of all time and he's left? Is there any fear after having built this roster or just confidence because you have so many good players? Yeah, I would say I'm just not wired to, it's like when you make a trade when you trade someone you I don't hope they go somewhere and fail

so I look good. I hope those guys have great great pushes from here on out and do have that part I'm excited about the group that we have I you know the fear would be that I didn't select

the right players not because these guys are playing well is because our team doesn't win and the reality is when you when you have the opportunity to work for hockey Canada there is an expectation of where you're to finish and we want to put our we want to put ourselves in that position to be competitive for that finishing spot

Army it's interesting when you talk about celebrini you reference going back to last season and no question for Connor Bedard that it's been a tremendous learning experience those first couple years in the national hockey league but is it safe to say that you cannot make this team with 30 plus games as a sample size and there has to be a longer stretch to be able to make this team well yes yeah i would agree

with that and uh i look at someone like uh like marshon and dowdy that made it you know they have 18 years experience and celebrating he's got 14 months but you know it's it's it's not just the most recent bias that this guy's had a good two or three weeks or a good three three months. But Bredard's a hell of a player. I don't want to take any way from him. But when I look at our roster and I look the way that our

wings, I would view him as a winger on this roster, are constructed, where he would excel in a tournament like this as a scoring player, who we have in scoring positions, we felt that we're excited about the guys that we

have on our team. So is that how the process worked when you guys are talking about this construction? Is all of you putting together sort of your own four lines, three pairs, imagining game situations. Are you in the room together? What is the process of how this came together? Yeah, there was probably five face-to-face meetings and then Zoom calls. And what I found most enjoyable with this group is the number of games they went to see.

And modern technology, the WhatsApp, guys would just get on there right after, tell me tell us all about the players how they played that night and but when we got together we started out doing our up until our last meeting when we put our mocks in they were six lines five deep air and four goalies just to make sure that we were encompassing and seeing where the synergy was in that group and then when we got to the last one it was just all right now you have to make your decision give us your 25 players based on 14 8 and 3 and you will yourself down What we tried to do was use October, November, to allow players. We went out to try to find some players, but in early November, we had our feeling of who was going to make this team or had a chance. And if you weren't on that list, you had to come find us. We were no longer going out searching. And as you started to do that, the window started to close on some players,

and that's how you you will have that group down. Army, just one more for me, and that's Jordan Bennington. Of course, you're also the president of hockey operations in St. Louis, and Jordan has not had a great year start to the season. Your team's still battling, of course. But, you know, throughout the process, did you communicate with Jordan Bennington in terms of, you know, his struggles to start the season and yet his ability to still make this team?

Did you have to kind of remind him that, you can separate the two or did you just leave him alone up until maybe this morning? Yeah, I actually just left him alone. You know, with his age and his experience, he didn't have to be talked to about what was at stake. He was at the summer camp. He was at the Four Nations. You know, when I did that deep dive into the goaltending, though, the one thing that really put comfort in me is that you probably are hard.

on your own players when you're with the other managers because you don't want to look like a homer and you're pushing your own guys and whether it was the October meeting which everybody had been or there and then our team didn't play well and it wasn't a productive team every meeting we had everyone still had Bennington on that roster all the way up until December and that and I wasn't pushing that that was them actually starting to push me and I have that inside knowledge of what a great competitor is and given that that the opportunity he can take this ball and run with it. But you're right. We played in Tampa. I felt so bad for him. Our last game before Christmas was in Tampa. He's got to play in front of John Cooper. They get three goals on

tips from the slot on maybe 10 shots. So it looks like he's having an awful night. You know, those goals are tip-ins. They're not his fault. But the numbers don't show that. They show the same percentage. And he's had a few nights like that, which are difficult. But

You know, his job is to stop the ones he's not supposed to stop, too. So I'm comfortable with Benner. I know what he can do. I think if John decides to give him that opportunity, he won't be disappointed. But ultimately, Jordan's going to have to earn that between now and then. I remember the save against Brady Kachuk in overtime, man, lying on the ice with the glove out.

That's what stands out for me. Hey, Army, go get some rest, man. All right? You did it. They look exhausted. Yeah, I'm going to go. I'm going to go cheer on Canada tonight first. But, hey, guys, I always appreciate you having me on.

I love listening to you. And all the best in 2026. Same. Thanks so much. We're rooting for you guys. Appreciate it. I'm strong, everybody. Thank you.

Thanks, fellas. Did he say he listens to our show? Oh, my goodness. So that's your listening. I've got to be on my best behavior now. That was great. Yeah. That was great.

In a few minutes. Hopefully we can track down Chris Bronger, too. Yeah. Who knows a thing or two about winning gold? How long could we have done? that interview with Doug for I got 38 more questions yeah for sure I loved his answer when I so thought I was going to get the opposite response on what on Bennington and throughout the season of course he's got access to him every day right in terms of Jordan

don't worry or you know you're you're still good and you know you're still in the because everybody was sitting there going hey you can't play for team Canada now yeah I think You were in that mix for a little while. No, no, I'm, listen, I, he's been bad, but you got to take it. You got to take them. We don't have anyone, and he wins. I think there's a ton of, like, Canadian fans that probably didn't have Bennington into their final three here until maybe they thought it was a foregone conclusion.

But I'm trying to think, has there ever been a team in the Olympics that had to go to their third goalie and done anything, right? Like, it doesn't happen. So even if you're not comfortable with Bennington, I can't imagine the leash there is crazy long. I don't think he's going to be their third. Okay. But he's the two. Like, I think he gets the start. I think he gets the first game.

If it goes well, awesome. If it doesn't, I think it's Logan Thompson. If it goes beyond that, it's probably not good. I think a lot is in the momentum that you're carrying to in the last two weeks, 10 days. If it looks like you've, I mean, it's going to be hard. If he's going in there, losers of four in a row, I mean, it's, to me, It's, I'll go with, if Logan Thompson's looking good going into the tournament, I leave it open in terms of who's, who looks the best right now.

Logan Thompson, the last two years, like 720 days, far and away has been their best goalie as a country. But, you know, Bennington's Bennington. All right. No better guy to go to right now than Chris Bronger. Two-time gold medalists. but more importantly now entrepreneur and international speaker on anything.

That's not more important. That's not why we have them on right now. You want to be a winner, man. You want to be a winner. You listen to this guy. Prongs, how are you, buddy? I'm awesome. How are you guys doing?

How's the circuit today? Everybody's grabbing you. Yeah, it's been, you know what? You guys came first, so. Ah, you're a good man. CBC earlier, but you guys are always top my list. You know that, Kipper. Thanks, pal.

And by the way, I don't know if you see what's right over here. What do you got? That's a Hartford Way. Oh, look that. That's a thing of beauty. I don't know if many people know. We were teammates for a very short time. We were for sure.

The Navy. I know. I didn't get to ride any of your coattails, unfortunately, long enough. Prongs, just in terms of, you know, a day like today and what the players go through. And I don't think, you know, you ever had any issues on. debating on where you would be but it's got to be a tough day for a guy like sam bennett today who gave his heart and soul to a four nations and to be on the outside looking in we know there's a list a short list of guys that you can go to in case of emergency break glass we assume sam's in there

but you know what kind of a day day would have sam had you know today yeah i think i think pretty tough. You know, you look at his last three years, three Stanley Cup finals, two Stanley Cups, a four nation championship, a new contract, on and on and on. And the run he's been on in that Florida Panthers team and the meteoric rise of his career once he got to Florida, you know, it's pretty neat to see. A lot of people had written him off in his career and kind of resurrected himself there in Florida. But I think tough, you know, as you said, he gave a lot of himself.

He gives a lot of himself when he plays the game with how hard he played and competes, plays the physical edge, plays tough. But he scores big goals and he shows up. I mean, look at the Four Nations gold medal game. You know, what a great pass to Marner and then back for that goal. It, you know, pretty cool to see.

and then, you know, just the fight with Brady Kachuk and on and on. I mean, we could just speak of his character and the way he plays the game. You know, he's the type of player that the opposition and the opposing fan base love to hate. But when he's on your team, he's one of those guys that you love playing with. Would you have found a spot for him in this 25? You know, Bo Horvats been added on, you know, Sorrelli's back again. Would Chris Pronger have taken Sam Bennett? I think you look at his ability to find a way to win and elevate, it's not only find a way to win, but elevate your play in those big games, those big moments, those championship moments, is when he plays his best, game sevens.

You know, so, you know, are they missing out? Probably. But you look at their roster, for the most part, it's identical on the blue line. up front four different faces and we you know I think we don't know the conversations that were had with respect to the types of players they were looking to add I think the continuity and the chemistry and the familiarity of this group from the four nations was important and the fact that they won a championship and they wanted to bring the bulk of them back but I mean he's you know he's going to be a big loss just from a competitive standpoint and the way that he plays the game and you know plays with his heart on his sleeve and leaves it all out there each and every game you know i think you don't know the the toll that the last three years have taken

on him so i think that might be the biggest question mark and you know he's gotten off to a slow start but you know they obviously went to three finals in a row and won two of them so there was a lot of partying going on yeah you know prongs you mentioned the decor like no changes to the decor. And I want to get your thoughts on the idea of prioritizing defending versus just taking this most skilled guys you can. You look at a Canadian Dman in the NHL. Bushard is second in points. Chikrin is third in points. Schaefer is seventh in points. You got guys like, you know, you're taking Pareko who's 42nd with 11th and Devon Tez has 12 points. And so what are your thoughts here? How have we made the right decisions as a country to keep some guys on it who

prioritize the defending side versus just the most skilled guys. Yeah, I think at the end of the day, when you look at the back end, the decor, I think it boils down to trust. Are they ability to be trusted in the defensive zone?

Are they able to protect the one goal lead? Are they able to shut it down? Are they able to do the things that are necessary to win games at the highest level on the biggest stage? A lot of these players have won Stanley Cups, they've won four nations, they've, they've done it all. And that's not to say the guys that haven't been passed over have not accomplished much.

I think, you know, you look at a Matthew Schaefer and what he's been able to do early in his career as an 18-year-old is pretty special. But that's a lot of pressure on an 18-year-old going into an Olympics. This is good. just just with the roster selection and nomination process you can see the pressure and the temperature already escalating and come olympics if things don't get off to a good start you know we'll see and even if they do get off to a good start it's going to be well wait till they play yeah sweden wait till they play finland wait till they play the u.s wait there's always going to be a wait till until they get to that gold medal game and and it's for everything uh but i think as you look at the familiarity of the decor what they were able to prove last year in the four nations with all the injuries that they accumulated you know whether from a injury perspective or health with respect to being sick and whatnot a lot of guys were called in his service Thomas Harley not having the best of years but I think they're what they saw

from him last year in the four nations and then in the playoffs and on and on on I'm sure played a part in that in how he plays the game and frankly they're probably looking at the players up front going okay these guys need to put the puck in the net we don't yes we need to get offense from our back end and there are going to be the Shea Theodores the Keoma cars the Josh Morrissey's of the world and then we need an offensive guy with a defensive guy and we need that ying and the yang and uh you know we'll see if it's a right decision. I understand the thought process. But, you know, to your point, Jacob Chikrin, he's having a fantastic year. Evan Bouchard, the last couple of months, has been

lights out, has been much improved and as has the fortune of the Oilers in tow. So, you know, he certainly deserved, and I'm sure got a really hard look based on his performance in the playoffs and then his play as of late. You're watching and listening to two-time gold medalist Chris Pronger joining us on Real Kippur and Bourne. So you just mentioned the Shea Theodores

of the world and Morrissey. I'm just looking at this defensive core here, Prongs, and it just seems to me like okay, there's Kail McCar and he is arguably one of the he's the best defenseman in the world.

And then after that, I'm not sure if any one of them ever will come close to winning a Norris trophy, you know, in their careers. And it seemed when I remember you on a blue line, it was a more depth in terms of impactful, great defensemen, you know, whether it was, I don't know, early Ray Bork, Scott Niedemeyer, you know, Al McGinnis. I mean, is there going to be a ton of pressure on kale McCar here to really lead this drive? Yeah, you know, and I think when you look at, you know, to your point, you look at 2010, you had Scott Niedemeyer, Shea Weber, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Chris Pronger with Dan Boyle and Brent Seabrook. Wow. Everyone win a Norris trophy there? It felt like it.

At least five Norris players. And then 2014, you had Dowdy, Patrangelo. drawing a blank on some of the other one. Duncan Keith again, like they had again. Remember again? A very similar type of roster. You know, you go back to 98. We had Scott Stevens, Ray Bork, myself, Al, Rob

Blake. Oh my gosh. Eric Desjardin, Adam Foote. You know, so you had, you know, you might look at, okay, well, you had Adam foot on in 98, 2002, and 06. You know, he would be looked at as a Devon Taves

or a Colton Preco or somebody of that. nature to pair with an offensive guy. Yeah. But he's getting your point. These guys are all five. There's not a lot of guys that are up for the Norris. Everybody behind Kail McCarrow is a five, six or seven on your teams. Yeah.

If that. But this day, listen, I don't, I just, I just want to put it in perspective, you know, a little bit. Just in terms of kale, it comes back to Kale and the magic he's going to have to create next month. Well, I think a lot of pressure is going to be on that. I think they're looking at Theodore running one of the power plays. They'll look at McCar to run a power play. They'll have Josh Morrissey, maybe with Theodore or, you know, they'll mix and match. I really think the emphasis was on stopping the other team and playing defense and being very diligent in the defensive zone.

I don't think they're looking for the high octane from the back end because with that, comes risk, high risk, high reward. And I don't think they want to subject their goaltenders to that. And frankly, if we look at that's the Achilles heel, when you look at the roster, is, I think, going to be their goaltending. Are they going to be able to hold up? Ken Binnington find himself again, because he hasn't yet. Can, if he falters, can Darcy Kemper or Logan Thompson take the net and run with it,

like we've seen in 2010 when Roberto Longo came in for Marty Breder and O2 when Marty Breder came in for Cujo and on and on like there there needs to be a 1A 1B situation and until they prove that they can do it you just never know how do you feel about some of the the additions actually you know what I want to get your thought on this how do you feel about John Cooper making sure he has his guys there like Anthony Sorrelli is very important to him. Brandon Hagel, point maybe not having the year you expect, but it seems like he

knows, you talked about trust on the back end. That's important up front too, isn't it? Well, I heard Doug Armstrong talking, and I think it was John Cooper as well, talking about their partnership and selecting this roster in making sure that he was comfortable and could trust

players in their specific or certain roles. And I think when you look at Anthony Sorrelli, I mean, you're looking at him going, how was he on this team? based on the players that are not. Sam Bennett has won. But he's won two cups with him. He understands he's one of four nations with him.

You know, you look at the role he's going to put him in. He's going to be out there probably trying to protect a one goal lead late in a game, taking faceoffs, blocking shots, kill him penalties. He's not going to be looked at to score goals, certainly. And you could argue if you watch the four nations diligently, you know, we probably looked out of place a few times. just with the pace of that, those games at certain points. But, you know, he's a gamer and certainly John Cooper has absolute faith and trust in him.

So I think when you look at the roster, Brandon Hagel's another one that he's had, you know, he's got intimate knowledge of in A, the type of player, coachability, style of play, use case in how he can position him and put him in a role. that'll allow the team to succeed and allow Brandon Hagel to fit in on a line and find chemistry, et cetera. So I think it's somewhat of a partnership with Doug Armstrong and John Cooper

and how they selected this roster and then obviously the management team and guiding what they see and who they think is going to be a good fit. I'm sure they were very spirited. Anthony Sorrelli is a winter jacket. It's like you don't want to have to bring it with you, But if you go out and you don't have it,

you find yourself without it, you're like, God, this is miserable. I brought their own coat. Yeah, there's situations where you need your winter jacket. So, Prongs, I want to take you back to that Hartford Whaler jersey again, okay? So a lot of talk about who's not on the team. And, you know, Matthew Schaefer has come in as a prospect, no different than yourself. We knew how great you were going to be one day.

But can you take me back to your early, days in Hartford and can you tell me what an 18 or 19 year old Chris Pronger would have done in the Olympics? It would not have been good. I can tell you that. No? Knowing, well, knowing what, I mean, it was very inconsistent. I mean, Matthew Schaefer is way more consistent and way more ready to play at this level night in, night out, just with the skating ability, Obviously, the game is much different than 1993. A lot has evolved and changed over the years. But I think I was, there would be some games where I could play to that level

and then other games where I just was not. And I was very inconsistent. I was on that roller coaster and my emotions would follow that roller coaster. And the lowest of lows, the highest of highs, I couldn't find how to keep it very slow rolling, if you will, the ups and the downs and I would beat myself up a lot in the on the bad games and you know you're high on life and riding the surfing the high rollers when when you're feeling good and you know I think you look at Matthew Schaefer I mean just what a breath of fresh air for the New York

Islanders and that organization to be able to have a player like that and in on the roster and the back end and he's completely changed the dynamic of their team and you know you can see how that could really lure you into taking him, but I really worry about him and his development throwing too much at him too soon. As we just talked about, there is going to be a massive amount of pressure on this team. I mean, it's enormous. I liken this one to 1998 when we had Gretzky and the NHL players were first going over to Nagano and I mean

we were the I mean plus a thousand going to win the gold medal I mean it was ridiculous the odds of us winning the gold medal and you know from what I remember just we played not to lose we played scared

to a certain extent and I felt like in how we played we didn't play to win we didn't throw caution of the wind we didn't just like lay it all out there, we were very robotic in a sense. And, you know, I think the lack of picking Gretzky for the shootout, you know, and I brought it up to somebody yesterday, you know, they were asking me about the shootout. And, you know, not only did we not take Gretzky, but you also got to remember,

Joe Sackick was hurt for that game. He would have been number one in that shootout. He was unreal on breakaways. Yeah. So he would have been picked. And I guarantee you he would have scored. you know and just i think i think going into that shootout i think we were caught a little off guard in in selecting the players i mean why are we taking ray bork because he won a target contest

in an all-star game that's like saying you're going to pick me because i scored a a penalty shot goal in a Stanley cup final game there's 20 other players you're going to take over me listen i i'm getting screamed to go to break man we could go an hour with you on this but So appreciate your insight, especially on a big day like today. Love to have you on again real soon, okay, pal? You bet. All right. Thanks, I appreciate it.

Peterborough, Pete's over here, too. Hey, Dick Todd, baby, Dick Todd. Let's go. Let's go. Thanks so much. That is hockey Hall of Fame are one of the best to ever play the game on the blue line, Chris Pronger. Pronger calls 26 Canadian Olympic teams 98 Nagano.

Listen, this is Christian's second day and he's already screaming. I know, we have to go to break. All right, more real Kipper and Bourne after these words. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things, Leifes, Rafters, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, six to nine. It's the fan morning show, Sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kippenborn born brought you by Bet365. Christian, you're ready? Let's go. Yeah, it's been an awesome Olympic. Gower, let's keep it Olympic themed

with game time. Presented by Bet365, visit the app for the latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365 must be 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. A couple Olympic things here. We talked about this yesterday. Sabers at Stars.

Sabers are going for 10 in a row. I'm going to take the flip side though. I'm looking at the Stars. I'm looking at Jason Robertson Rumblings that he's still on the outside of that U.S. roster. We don't get that officially until Friday. Give me Jason Robinson anytime goal in a pre-revenge game on the as far as the US is concerned plus 130 there other game I'm looking at Doug Armstrong st. Louis blues they're in pretty

tough tonight Colorado avalanche Jordan Bennington versus McKenzie Blackwood a guy not involved with team Canada obviously just a reminder on the stats there Bennington seven wins nine he's got let's do 15 losses 870 safe percentage right now McKenzie Blackwood 12 1 and 1 923 he just can He's 12.1.1. It's the Colorado Avalanche. It says more about them. But give me Jordan Bittington. We need Jordan Binnington to look like Four Nations Bittington. Give me the St. Louis Blues to very much upset the Colorado Avalanche plus 275 St. Louis Blues. I like an aggressive bet. What did you say Blackwood had some quotes or something?

Or was that you before a show talking about Blackwood? Yeah. But they hadn't even called them. He hasn't been contacted. No. That's scary. Doug said the reserve list. We don't know how far it goes. but got to think maybe a reserve if that's the situation that arises.

I don't know. I mean, his name was in the mix, but he's no different than probably 150 guys out there. You can't call them all. No, but it does feel like it was, are you doing Kemper or Blackwood? I know.

I know. But to his point, if it was that close and he didn't get a call, maybe it's Kemper and someone else. Yeah, I actually do think that there are names that the public, thinks were right in it to the end that weren't so right in it you know butard was never really in it i'm not sure how shyly how in it he was even with all his points i i just yeah you know

and that's just going off the way they've treated him you know it doesn't seem like a guy who's ever been my guy on that front would be wyatt johnston i feel like he at least deserved to be in a conversation maybe he wasn't it's so funny he couldn't even like every conversation people had this guy has unbelievable numbers never was like yeah we're not doing that you know like yeah That's a good one. Is that it? You got to wrap it up. That is game time.

There you go. It's connected by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365 must be 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Beautiful. If you just happen to join us, it's been a really good show here. Like, I don't want to pat ourselves on it. You know, I mean, Sammy missed a doozy, you know.

You know, Army was really good. I was floored by. my prong's willingness to be like, I can't believe we didn't pick Gratsky in the shootout. If we had a sack, he'd just scored and we'd have won. He was pretty direct about that. I think there's enough time that's past that you can

you can really say what you feel now. I guess we're coming up on 30 years. You know what? My favorite part was to crawl in his head a little bit, to think about a Matthew Schaefer at the Olympics at age 18 and where he would have been at 1920. And yeah, like there's still the development thing going on with Schaefer and you'd hate you'd hate to to see the kid go there maybe cough

one up and like be scarred for life over it you know my minimal experience of this with really young prodigy type players is watching the Toronto Maple Leafs for the last decade and seeing great players in Connor Bedard maybe to some extent where you get handed a lot right away and go it's your team now you're the man and it's like god there's still so many steps to go and maybe Schaefer could use a little bit more sanding of the edges to refine the game. The other thing that really stood out is how good his era was with defensemen. You know, it's interesting as he was talking, though, that I was thinking, all the best D in the league were at that point Canadian.

The league was so much more heavily Canadian. You look around who are the best D in the league. The Americans have Hughes and Werencki, and, well, Fox didn't even make their team. He won a Norris trophy three years ago. Yeah. You know, and you just look around the league. He's really slipped. And you go to the Swedes and okay, well,

Victor Hedman's been there and he's one of their elite guys. And you just kind of go around. It's not just Canadian D anymore. Slaven was really good at the four nations. Really, he's really good every time he's on the ice. So yeah, maybe we left off some of our better offensive Canadian D man. But I think that's, I do think the point about our goal tending as a country is our weak spot.

So maybe we need more guys who don't give up high danger opportunities, don't take risks, aren't allowing odd man rushes against. Oh, no. Prongs talked about this. They're going there to win 2-1 or 3-2 in overtime. Yeah. So Celebrini, Crosby, McKinnon, McDavid, Marner. One of the major reasons why they didn't have to roll the dice with a guy like Connor

Boudard is because they're not going there to open it up. they want guys that can play a 2-1 game. Is it going to be Coop Babcock out there? We're going to beat Lafey at 2-1. That's the goal. Sick. That's always a thrill to watch. It is.

Well, it's just you leave it up to chance. Those close games, you leave it up to chance. You might as well just go. How about the job Christian's done the last two days? Hey, thanks, pal. Guys, guys, guys, I told you. We got to calm it down. I'm back on the Leaf Star crew with Sammy on Saturday.

No, no, listen. Sammy's not listening. Sammy is an Owen sound right now. with his family enjoying like Owens sound stuff you know but in the event that he gets run over by a snowmobile or something like what's your availability the rest of the year uh you know as long as the leafs aren't on during a real kibber and born which i don't think is usually the case that uh yeah i'm probably around to probably somewhere we got to you know jb and i we got to keep our options open we yeah you know you're just flirting right now just you know just seeing

what's out there you know so are you guys uh like Happy New Year guys are you like you know I know you don't drink anymore but no and I have two kids I don't know a goofball no I've it's Wednesday today pal happy Wednesday you you going out buddy 930 man yeah barely keep my eyes open you're still young and doing we got we got a house party going on with friends you know there'll be a lot of hockey on yeah a lot of hockey on it'll be on the background so it'll be a good time The Real Kippenborn show will take New Year's Day off. And then we're back on Off the Rails Friday with...

We'll also be Thursday night. We're Thursday night. That's right. We're doing Leafs and Winnipeg on SportsNet, Ontario. So we are working. We're just not... Our show will not be on. All the Leaves Talk will be moved to pre-show.

Yeah. Yeah. And then back here. And Sammy, I think... He's right back. He's scheduled back. Why is he coming back for one day? I need to tell...

What's the point of that? Take the whole week, have the weekend. There's really never a good point. You know, when it comes to Sammy. Nah, fair enough. All right. Well, I'm going to be watching the Winnipeg Jets so I can prepare for our Leafs Jets game tomorrow.

Are they done? Are they cooked? No. Grill marks? They're not cooked. No? No. The grill's getting hot.

They need the grill to get turned down here real soon. It is. Well, listen, if we wanted to end 20, 25 with a bang, we did it on a day that should lead Canadian fans. right into Italy. And don't forget to wish people, happy new year, not the S.

Leave the S off. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Yes. Unless you're wishing just for, they have a good New Year's Eve, but you want the whole year to be happy. Stay safe, everybody.

We sure appreciate the support over the year 2025. Looking forward to it. Moving forward.