Real Kyper & Bourne - ECF Gets Going at the Garden

Episode Date: May 22, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look ahead to the Conference Finals as the Panthers and Rangers get their series underway tonight. Three-time NHL All-Star Alexei Kovalev (6:52) shares how the NHL has gotten faster, but not necessarily more skilled. Then, he reminisces on his Cup run with the Rangers 30 years ago and shares his biggest concerns for them in their matchup with the Cats. Later, Leafs' reporter Luke Fox (30:36) - in New York covering the ECF - shares why special teams are key to the series, what to expect from the scrappy Panthers and the vibes in New York. Finally, he discusses Berube's introductory presser and the trade market for Mitch Marner.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 jam-packed don't blink it'll be over in the fastest hour nick kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee derek brandeo and jake the snake schultz have we met jake the snake i don't think so, but... Hi, Jake. I give everybody a nickname. You started Sis Boomba. Okay. Frank the Tank. Jake the Snake. So it's Jake the Snake.

I feel like those are the ones you get assigned. Like when your name is Smith, everyone calls you Smitty. Smitty. You just get assigned that nickname. Campbell, Soupy. He's not the first Jake the Snake. No. Wasn't there a wrestler?

Yes. Roberts? Yes. Yeah. There you go. We're live on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary,

Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet Plus. Like I said, we're down to an hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show, so we'll fasten your seatbelt because we're going fast here. Now, are we allowed to mention the Leafs in this hour, or is that over now? No more Leaf talk. Oh, no.

There's always going to be some. Listen, you just can't shut off the young and the restless or days of our lives. It goes forever. Yeah. I wrote an article today about the Leafs. I got to tell you, the fan base. No, not the Leafs fans, but other people being like, ah, you're writing about the Leafs.

You got to serve the audience. Really? If you're a 100-person restaurant and 50 people want steak, you got to serve some steak. Gotta. Gotta. That's so crazy. You're on a Leafs show. You wrote about the Leafs after they hired a brand new head coach and talked about a whole new way. Don't write about

that. Who wants that? But we don't have to. It's not Leafs first anymore. We can just fit them in anywhere we want in the show. No, no, no, no. Because in a few minutes, we're going to welcome a former teammate of mine. 30-year anniversary. New York Rangers. As they go into a conference final tonight against Florida,

Alex Kovalev will join us in a few minutes. Wow. That's a get right there for the show. This guy is... I'm going to see him because we're going to Zoom call him, right? So if you're watching on Sportsnet, you will see him. And I'm going to laugh him because we're going to Zoom call him, right? So if you're watching on Sportsnet, you will see him. And I'm going to laugh the moment I see him. Because I cannot look at him without laughing

and being reminded of all the goofy, dumb things he did when we played together. Seemed like he had a lot of fun over his career. Oh, no. He's all about the fun. He made a lot of defenders look goofy and dumb. Yes. He did.

He did. He did. So we'll welcome him in a few minutes. And then Luke Fox, who's covering the series for Sportsnet.ca, is in New York City. We'll get a feel for him going into game one. And probably talk some Leafs. And maybe talk a little bit of Leafs,

including JB feeling like Mitch Marner's not going anywhere. I'm not. Don't get into it now. Don't save it. Save it. I said those words. All right. So before we get to Alex, just your thoughts on the conference finals starting tonight.

Well, I have no idea how to bet it, which is the most important priority right now. I truly cannot make heads or tails of a florida team florida is the only team left in the playoffs who is better defensively than offensively in the regular season they're the best defensive team in the nhl this season 11th best offensively so they're different from the other three teams all of those three teams are better offensively than defensively so it's the playoffs maybe that means i should should think that Florida is going to be the team to beat. But boy, Shesterkin with the Rangers, a lot of skill over there. I don't know.

I can't pick them yet. Two best teams in the East for sure. I think this is a worthy, even we can go over to the other side. I think the four best teams in the league are left here. Which is great. Love it. Awesome. It should work.

I think we are in store for two excellent playoff series, and I really think this one is going to be a classic. I don't know. It just has to feel two gritty teams that can play hard, that can play the skill game, good goaltending. I mean, one good home crowd. The other one pretends to be a good home crowd. And Florida fans, you know how I feel about them.

But, yeah, I think it's going to be a really great series. And the goalie stuff is going to be a good home crowd and florida fans you know how i feel about them but yeah i think it's gonna be a really great series and the goalie stuff's gonna be fascinating right because it's the two russian guys it's the two like you know probably better goalies in the league going head to head maybe some low scoring exciting games it's gonna be awesome can't wait for me it's it's all about style of play where we know the Florida Panthers are going to come out and they're going to try to drag the Rangers into the alley. There's no

doubt in my mind. The question is, what do the Rangers do? Do they fight back with a guy like Rempe? That would be fascinating. Or do they or back with a guy like Rempe? That will be fascinating. Or do they, or they don't. So what would you do?

Because I would be nervous about trying to match that Florida Panther, I don't know, toughness, whatever you want to call it, you know, goonery. I don't care. Whatever it is, do you want to go it you know goonery i don't care whatever it is do you want to go head to head against that i don't i think if you put rampay in immediately you're trying to play florida's game right you're trying to do it their way and you're not going to outdo them at it so if you feel like you're a better team without rampay then the other thing to your point, is that, like, what does that style do to Zibanejad, Panarin, Fox? Do they want to get dragged in that?

Because I say no, they don't. They want skill. And the Rangers, we know that they have no problem maybe opening it up. Like where we saw 10 chances, 10 grade A chances against Carolina in a first period. Other series were like, it's like watching paint dry to try to find a puck that gets to the net.

Rangers have no problem going and exchanging chances and then they know that their goalie will bail them out. Yeah. They have to be careful, too, Florida, though, because they like to play offended, as I like to say, and they like to hit guys,

but Rangers power play is lethal, right? I think it's second best for me. It is, Sammy. Best penalty kill, too. But what happens notoriously is from the second coming from the second round to the third round there is a major drop so what are we talking about two three power plays yeah now it stays a lot more five on five and that's where shisterkin has to be that guy they rangers they always think every night we got a better goalie.

Yeah. The Rangers are hoping for some ticky-tack ones to set the tone. Well, the first game or two of the series they might, but it always dries up by the end. All right, here we go. Three-time NHL All-Star. Over 1,300 games in the National Hockey League. Over 1,000 points.

You should memorize that. That's welcome, man. You can't read from the computer. Come on, you should memorize. Prepare yourself. Buddy, I am not a professional host, okay? I don't know why they put me in this chair. Alex Kovalev.

You still remember how my lips exploded at the saxophone. Yes. I've told the guys this story many times. One morning in practice, he comes in with swollen lips, and I'm like, oh my God, he got into a fight. He got hit in the bar last night, and look at it, he's got swollen lips, and he's like,

no, no, I just bought a saxophone, and I was playing it all night. Are you in a band? What's going on now? What happened with all the lessons? No, it's gone. Gone.

Gone. It's been over a long time ago. So where are you these days? Are you coaching? Are you back home? Are you in New York? Tell us what you've been up to. I've been coaching Chinese team up at KHL the last five years. But this past year, I've been assistant coach with Alex Zhamnov.

For Alex Zhamnov, Spartak team and Super League and KHL. Well, that's awesome. We really appreciate you coming on the show today. Kipper has told us plenty of stories. Tell us about playing keep away with Kiprios and the boys after practice. Sounds like they're pretty easy to keep the puck away from.

Well, you know, the main thing is you just have to pick the right people for it. So you look good and they look embarrassing. I couldn't even trip him. I tried. Just haul him down, yeah. Yeah, but we had Dick Todd too.

He didn't notice that I didn't pick anybody else that much better than him. I picked him because he's going to look bad. So Alex. It was always fun because it's something that, you know, you come from Europe, you come from, you know, whatever country you come from, Russia, you know, other European countries. You know, it's kind of a thing that we always do after practices,

which is, you know, we always introduce to whatever team you go to after practices, you know, get in the middle of the ice or, you know, grab somebody, somebody, you know, to play against, like, you know, in the middle of the ice or you know grab somebody uh somebody you know to to play against uh like you know keep away hockey sometimes you see more and more actually uh uh happen you see guys get in the middle circle and uh they're trying to uh do the same keep away but you can knock uh other players park soon as soon as puck leaves the circle then you out so you know they play in that game more often you can see that uh but yeah i mean it's it's a good it's a good training and you know hand our candy nation like whatever you name it uh there's a lot of a lot of good things

involved in that little drill and you know we trying to bring that we introduced in you know khl and you can probably see if you watch any team's practices, guys start doing that more and more often. I mean, it's a good game. Because doing the drills, it's one thing, but you never really have a chance to really kind of play short areas, which is, I mean, you've been using a lot in the games,

in the corners, behind the net, whatever it is, when the time is limited. And these little drills, you know, sometimes help to, you know, to be quick and, you know, improve your reaction in the small areas. And that's, you know, we've been doing that since I was a little kid. And here we are in 2024, the skill level that we see today, Alex, a lot of kids look a lot more like you or datsuk than they ever would of me and mike hudson let's put it that way but uh are you are you surprised at the amount of skill and the things that the players can do now in a game including what we all know is what the michigan like if you you know, if you went back 25, 30 years from now, how many,

how many highlight reels would you have had on Instagram? Listen, I mean, you know yourself, how many times would be able to do a shooter under your leg and not get killed after that? I mean, if you do something like that, I mean, somebody is going to punch you in the face for that. I mean, back in the old days, if you do something like that, I mean, somebody's going to punch you in the face for that. I mean, nowadays, all of those things, whatever you have in your mind, like you want to use during a game, you're allowed to use it.

Nobody's going to say anything. But, I mean, I actually, I would say I see less skill than I used to see, you know, when we played. Maybe because the hockey opened up the rules and everything. And, you know, they go on such high speeds these days. And, I mean, you see some players, you know, like Mark David type, who can, you know, adjust himself to his speed and be able to use his hands as fast as his feet.

But some guys, you know, they go 100 miles an hour, but they can't really keep up with the hands. And usually what you see most of the time is, you know, you pick up the puck from a defensive zone, go through two zones, and before the blue line, you dump it in, and then you go to the corner. So it's pretty much now it's a race. You know, one guy goes to the net, or two guys go to the net, and the other guy go to the corner. So it's pretty much now it's a race. One guy goes to the net or two guys go to the net

and the other guy go in the corner. And who gets there first and who can deliver the puck first in front of the net. That's pretty much what hockey looks like right now. I mean, you don't see that much now anymore. I mean, you remember when we played, because all the hooking and grabbing and everything else, the game was much slower. And you actually were relying on some really like kind of you design and you play, you know, how you're going to crisscross. Or like, you know, you go behind me or you go ahead, you go against the grain, we call it, which is I'm going one direction, somebody else going the other direction.

I mean, there's a lot of different things. Creativity was back all days. But now, I mean, I go to a hockey game and, you know, one shift, I literally, you know, for 40 seconds, I saw Pac touch the ice maybe 15 seconds. The rest of it was up in the air. I mean, what kind of hockey is that? I mean, Pac always up in the air. I mean, what kind of hockey is that? I mean, puck always stays in the air. I mean, we teach the guys because everybody likes to, you know,

since you're watching the little kids, they like to do all these pretty sauces and show how flat they can land, blah, blah, blah. But we actually, you know, teaching when, you know, with Alex Amnov and Spartak team, we're actually teaching guys, eliminate that, because the fastest the puck gets to the next player, the more time he has, which is, you know, you can use, you know,

make the pass under the stick or make the pass early, like time yourself so you can make that pass early so you not get intercepted or, you know, opponent wouldn't put the stick on the way. But, you know, trying to get close to the player and and you know provoke him to do some movement so you can use his movement for something else and make a pass or make your your own moves or whatever it is but the puck always stays on the ice as long as it stays on the ice it delivers the next person quicker the play will happen happen quicker and eliminates the time for opponent

to react what the place is going to be. So, and that's what, you know, everything has to come down, go back to, but not like all this open hockey and who can outskate who. I mean, this is like, I mean, we're not doing the speed skating here. Otherwise, like i always say you know open the zamboni door maybe the guys will leave the building so alex it sounds like you have a pretty different way of viewing hockey and the way it's played and now it is sort of a go go go straight line but also it's such a copycat league, right? Like 32 teams in the NHL are doing the drop on the power play.

32 teams are doing the 1-3-1 in the offensive zone on the power play. You know, so do you see the game differently? Have you always maybe, and maybe it was misunderstood before? Well, I mean, it can't really match, you know, the style we played before. Again, you know, I mentioned, the ruling changed, everything changed. You cannot play the same style we used to play. Because like I said, when you pick up all that speed and somebody grabs you with the arm

or they push you against the boards, they can do a lot of different things to you and slow you down and eventually you have to come up with something else to avoid that. But now you can't even touch anybody. I mean, you pick up 100 miles an hour, the guy, you're doing a drop pass and a power play,

you know, as long as he's not, if he's not losing puck himself, then he's pretty much got the chance, so he's in the zone. But like I said, I understand why it's kind of go to that play, the drop play, just because you can't touch anybody these days. I mean, all day is trying to do a drop.

It's not going to work. Right. We're talking to Alex Kovalev, three know, it's not going to work. Right. We're talking to Alex Kovalev, three-time NHL All-Star teammate of mine. 30 years ago as the Rangers go to end the 30-year drought. I can't believe it's been 30 years. Yeah, 30 years, buddy. So tell me something, just most vivid memories of going at least into a scenario where there's only four teams left in the season

and then doing it in New York City. And by the way, just to note, no Russians had ever won the Stanley Cup up to our year. And then Alex and a few of our teammates were the first ones ever. Did you feel that type of pressure or is that internal back then? Because it was noted that no Russians had ever won up until that point. Well, I mean, it was definitely unique. We, you know, go into a different country and win another trophy

because for us winning, you know, always been everything. It doesn't matter if it's the exhibition game and World Championship, European Championship back everything. It doesn't matter if it's an exhibition game, a world championship, an European championship back then. It doesn't exist anymore. But any championships that you play, we always go for a win. We can't accept even silver medal. For us, if we don't win the gold, that's it. We lost the tournament.

That's why when you come to a different country and win the Stanley Cup, plus, for me, it was important to win that early age. You know, I still got all that career in front of me and maybe down the road have a chance to win another one. But, I mean, being where I was, like, 21 years old, I mean, winning, winning plus the past two, before that past three years

has been really amazing for me because I came to training camp the year before when I started playing for the Rangers. I was at the training camp. I was, you know, doing like a training camp, whatever that was. And they asked me to, you know know to stay but i i promised the coach in uh in russia that i'll be you know back for another season and then i'm probably gonna

leave because you know that year we had a lot of tournaments coming up it was a junior world championship olympics championship russian championship so it's like a lot of a lot of different tournaments that i want to really play and while i'm still young i want to see if i can achieve and you know win all of them which is that was what exactly happened i had a chance to win you know gold medal world championship with junior um been olympic championship gold medal uh russian championship uh we won uh so and then coming to rangers a year later so spending one year in the rangers and then coming to Rangers a year later, so I spent one year in the Rangers and then following year win the Cup. So it's pretty much in three years, you know,

get all these trophies. I mean, that's something amazing, you know, achieve that in early age. So, I mean, the one thing that was missing for me was the professional world championship. I won the junior, but not professional. Otherwise, I will get one of the players, another player having the crown. Yeah, triple.

Triple crown. But, I mean, I'm still happy with what I achieved. And this is a team sport. And what we had, you know, the team that we had, I mean, it's not easy to assemble, first of all, and it's not going to happen too often when you have a family like that. Alex, are you very connected to the Rangers still and what's going on with them these days?

Not much. I mean, they invite me to some of the games if I'm interested to come, but now it's impossible to get a ticket. Can you afford them? It just gets ridiculous. I mean, but anyway, I mean, they, it's, you know, they do what they need to do.

So, but, you know, probably better watch on TV, you know, he's got all the pizza and all the food, then you don't have to go anywhere. It's comfortable and I'm good at home. But I did a couple of games this year ago, I think, for alumni. We went to Dallas to play against Alumni Dallas, play against Islanders Alumni.

So I did a little bit. They do camp. I think they've done it a few times at Brewster. They asked me to come and skate with the kids. So I came and part of that skating session with the kids. It was

good. It was nice, but not really like doing much for them. Just something that they asked to do. I'll do it if I'm around. So you're also an alumnus of the Florida Panthers. So like, you know, more Rangers here. I didn't want to go that far,

but thank you. Who do you like in the series from knowing, you know knowing the rosters? Well, being truthful, I still don't like. And a lot of people, when I go to the club, they ask me, what do you think, blah, blah, blah. I still don't like that they didn't change much of our defense this year,

same as last year, because, you know, this has been the weakest point spot for the Rangers this past year, this year, and you can't rely just on scoring off goals and rely on Shuster can save everything. I mean, Nick knows how, you know, when we play against New Jersey and Bradu was making the 25 saves and Mike Richter was 35, 40 saves. I mean, you know, you get to the point

it might cost you. It might, you know, it might survive and make all those saves that he needs to save to win the cup, but it might go the other way. So you need to have a defense. You need to have defense like, you defense like we had back all day. We had Jay Wells, Jeff Bukibum, Garpovtsev. We got Kevin Lowe who really stand up defense

and they stood in front of the net. They were not putting everything in front of the net. Doug Lidster came in in relief. Doug Lidster, sorry. Yeah. I mean, you need those guys, not just offensive guys. We had only two offensive guys, you know, Leachie and Zuby, that couldn't go on offense.

But the rest of the group, they have to do the dirty work. And that's what combination should be. But right now, it seems like the Rangers, everybody goes on offense. Everybody wants to score. They rely, okay, she's talking, it's going to make safe. You're going to pass it to the far blue line and then they just go and score i mean it works sometimes but not going to work all the time plus you know you're not in the regular season you're in the playoff right now so one more story before i let you go and um this one has a little bit to do with

my good buddy here justin bourne and alex if you don't know justin's the son of bobby bourne who was a long time new york islander won all the stanley cups the dynasty so so justin grew up in long island okay so alex and i in the mid 90s are doing commercials for espn yeah and they get Alex to do one that tees up rivalry night between the Rangers and the New York Islanders. So they get Alex to sit in the middle of the ice. And with his strong Russian accent, he says this. Friday night, we play Islanders. There is one thing I can't stand. It's Long Island accent.

That's so good. Money. That's so good. Money. You hit it today like you hit it way back then, Alex. Awesome stuff, buddy. Thanks for doing this. No problem. Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it. Thanks for doing this. No problem.

Thanks, Alex. Appreciate it. He's awesome. That's great. ESPN's had some unbelievable hockey commercials over the years, but that's a great line. That's a great line. Man, Long Island commercials,

the local commercials with the accents on some of those, just atrocious. They are bad. Give me Alex's all day. Open the Zamboni doors and I'll go flying. Skate right out the ring. What did you think about his, like, in all honesty, like knowing how skilled he was back then

and the things that he did would rival anything anyone's doing today. And he's doing it with a wooden hockey stick. But he's telling people, keep the puck on the ice. Yeah. Don't put it up in the air. Well, I think it's, I like that. It's a different way of thinking, and it's probably promoting more ultimate Frisbee style,

more short, quick passes on the ice. So guys, you know, the puck moves faster than your feet. But I also, I've heard this from, maybe not from the scenes, but Sedin's, but about the Sedin's, that when it was slower, more clutch and grab, guys kind of had to do, be more evasive, more fakes, more deception, rather than just Miles Wood, who skates 1,000 miles an hour down the wing and tries to cut to the net.

So I can see the point that it's differently skilled. I don't know about less, but certainly it's very different. A thought that would never cross my mind in a million years watching hockey. But guys like that think different. Of course. That's what i'm getting to here it's like i would never think about how much the puck's in the air but the puck's in the air all the time like it spends so much time like people flipping the puck out flipping the puck in like the passes saucer passes like max domey he's cold blood oh my god he's just like all it does is saucer passes so it's interesting it's something i'd never even thought of well that's right when it's on the ice. He's just like, oh, it does his saucer passes. So it's interesting.

It's something I'd never even thought of. Well, that's why we had him on the show. That's right. That's right. It's great. Let's take a break. Then we'll come back. All right. Then we got game time.

And also Luke Fox will join us from New York. As we tee up game one, Florida, New York Rangers. More real Kipper and Bourne after this break teeing up the biggest games of the night it's the fan pregame with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert weekdays at 6pm on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts

welcome back into the real Kipper and Bourne show where this hour of real Kipper and Bourne show, where this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne is brought to you by Bet365. Sammy, it's game time. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So game one tonight, obviously. And the, it's a pretty even uh split here minus 115 florida panthers minus 105 for the new york rangers on the money line uh none of the ton of value either way vegas seems to be as stumped as we are when it comes to who the hell is going to win this game or this series at the moment um so if you want to go for a little bit more value i like maybe just somebody to score in this game chris crider coming off an unbelievable uh game six against

carolina where he scores a hat trick coming in hot give me chris crider to score the first goal of this series first goal of the game at plus 800 for a nice little long shot or at any time at plus 180 he's been one of their their studs been a superstar for them so give me a chris crider goal tonight hold on i uh what did you think of kovalev talking about the rangers d you know and not thinking that their d are maybe up to snuff the one thing that stands out to me fan i'm like really alex well but looking at their third pair like eric gustafson's playing. You know, we called him high event both ways when he was here. You got Lindgren, Fox, Keandre Miller, Trouba, Gustafson, Schneider.

If I'm Florida right now, I go right to the heart there on Fox. I think they're going to go after him. Going to be leaning on him a little bit? Yep. And I'm not sure how healthy they all are. I think even Trouba looks to me sometimes like he's nursing. But to me, I'm not. Does Florida almost waste a game going after them?

Interesting idea because you're right. Game one would be the one to do it. For sure, this be the one to do it yeah for sure this is the one isn't it interesting that each of the teams that's uh deep in the playoffs this year has a number one d the way like adam fox for the rangers heiskanen evan bouchard yeah um even the last ones out colorado had mccarver vancouver had hughes like he was having those number one guys it's important it's important i guess you can call Ekblad or Montour sort of like that, but not quite.

And just listening to Alex, like, we had two number ones in Zuboff and Leach. Yeah, no wonder you only got one. And it was like... Did anyone else have the puck when those two guys were on the ice? Just a blessing. Yeah. Right?

I wrote about this today. Points from D in the playoffs. Leach were 16th out of 16 playoff teams. Yeah. Right? I wrote about this today. Points from D in the playoffs, at least for 16th out of 16 playoff teams. Yeah. The teams that have a lot of points in the back end, they win.

They move on. Okay. Quinn, let me wrap this up. Yeah, go ahead. Yep. That's Game Time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app, play as odds, and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. And even for Vancouver,

like watching Quinn Hughes, he just couldn't, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. And even for Vancouver, like watching Quinn Hughes, he just couldn't get it done for them. Yeah. In the production manner that you've been accustomed to. I saw Ryan Whitney getting killed for his take about him being a little bit too small for like a number one defenseman. And to me in that series, that kind of came around and it just felt like he was, by the end of it,

there were people were taking chunks out of him. He was to get hurt he wasn't himself like it looked like they were they took him out of the game pretty well with just like the physicality on him i don't know well you look at a guy like makar who's had success he's maybe a little bit more physical and able to handle that sort of thing oh night and day yeah night and day but makar is special in every for sure way that you can imagine. Curious to see with Bouchard, like would they target a guy like Bouchard in Edmonton where you track him down and put the body on him

the way that Hughes is kind of minimized? Don't ask me. Let's ask Luke Fox. Sportsnet.ca. Lovely Manhattan. Look out your windows. Anybody getting mugged? I right i am right in times square so there's like a guy in a gorilla costume but a buzz light year get a water for elmo

people who are just seeing break dancing for the very first time in their lives it's uh it's a scene out there that's awesome stuff Well, we know that you're covering the series down there for Sportsnet.ca. And just your initial thoughts, we just talked about whether or not Florida will target the New York Rangers as early as tonight. And would Fox be one of those guys, knowing that as the Rangers go,

I mean, he's a big part of that offense. No, absolutely. And I wouldn't expect the Florida Panthers to not play a physical game, right? Like, that's their identity. But what I find interesting is it looks like Matt Rempe is not in the lineup. So that suggests to me that the Rangers

want to lean this towards skill. They don't want to be in the gutter. To me, this series basically comes down to one major thing. The more the game is played five-on-five, even strength, the more it favors the Florida Panthers. They're absolutely crushing their opposition when the game's played at five-on-five. The more whistles there are, the more this becomes about special teams.

It absolutely bends in the Rangers' favor. Their penalty kill is over 89%. Their power play is the best in the East at over 31%. They are special teams monsters. And both teams are talking a lot about how to take away the eyes of the goalie getting the crease uh you know igor shisterkin is you know if the rangers go all the way he's going to be in the consummate conversation he's that good and paul maurice kind of downplayed it yesterday he's like hey we've already been through basilevsky we just got through swayman he pointed

out at one point in that series sway Swayman was a 9.55. He's like, we know how to deal with good goalies. So you run into really strong goaltending. What I love most is that there's no Cinderella's here. Both these teams are legit. They were good last year. They're even better this year. We're getting like a real heavyweight tilt.

No one has fluked their way into this Eastern Conference final. And both generally healthy, if I'm not mistaken, too, which kind of adds to that. So the more I listen to you talk about that, the more it feels like we know that refs don't want to interfere in games and series. So if the Rangers' big advantage is special teams, that probably plays in Florida's favor a little bit.

Florida's been through the good goalies. So it kind of feels like I'm leaning towards picking Florida in this series. And yourself? Yeah, I put a prediction out there. I got Panthers in seven. You do? I got a Dallas-Florida final. Sportsnet stream.

Which won't be good for Sportsnet. Probably not good for the American broadcast partners. They probably want New York. But that's my bet. But, hey, let's see it play out. I really think this is something controversial is going to happen with these two teams. I guarantee it. Yeah.

And the overall vibe in New York City, there's like, I know we're coming up on our 30th anniversary from our last Stanley Cup but but people have really done a pretty in-depth job or research on how somehow some way our team from 1994 is linked towards this one and some people think it's inevitable that the Rangers are gonna win the whole thing. Yeah, there's great buzz. And even from the Panthers, like Anton Lindell was telling a great story. You know, he was born in small town Finland. And one of his family's first big family vacations was coming to New York City just to see the sights.

And his family took him to Madison Square Garden just for a tour. And at that point, it sunk in what a special place it was. And he's like, now I get to play, you know, a semifinal series in this building. Matthew Kachuk was saying how the MSG is his favorite barn in the whole league. So definitely the fact that it's in New York, Nick, where I know you have fond memories, has added an element to this. And I think the fact that the Knicks went out in heartbreaking style in the second round has put that much more of a spotlight on the Rangers as,

as the only game in town playoff wise. So Luke, before you were on earlier, we, we talked a little bit about the Toronto Maple Leafs or we mentioned them and I hope you forgive us. So even though you're on the Rangers beat now for talking a little bit about the Leafs, you saw brube's press conference uh did anything from the his

introductory day uh change how you feel about the leafs or make you feel that they're going to be different in some way yeah i think he's going to have him playing a different style of game i thought that maybe was the most interesting thing. I mean, nothing really surprised me in terms of him wanting to hold guys accountable or, you know, him wanting to communicate with guys right away.

But I think the style of play might be different than it was under Sheldon. You know, there was a lot of let's drop it back. Let's regroup. Let's work East West. Berube made no bones about it. He's like, I want our team playing north, I want our team heavy on pucks,

finishing checks, and I want our team to play fast. And the other interesting thing, I think, was him stressing team. And, of course, it sounds very obvious. Yeah, you want your team to play as a team, but the Maple Leafs, and I'm sure you've discussed it on your show, it seemed to be a bit of a tier system, right? You had the big guys that were never going to get taken off the power play, that were never going to get dropped out of the top six in terms of ice time.

And then you had the other guys picking up the scraps. And I think that's something Trey Living has really made a point to bust down. I think it started by giving extensions to guys like Benoit and McMahon. Hey, you're not just here for a little bit of time. You're going to be part of the team. We like you as a role player. I think that went a long way. And I think having Berube, a coach who sees the game the same way as him in terms of full

team, all four lines, all three D pairs, I think that's going to go a long way. And if you look at the Blues team that he won a cup with, that's how they rolled. They didn't have super high-end guys. They used all their D. They used all their lines. That fourth line of

the St. Louis Blues that won in 19, they were fantastic. So I think he's seen firsthand success balancing out the ice time a little bit more. So if we go to the top of the pecking order with this cultural change that starts with a new head coach, what's next? And I think I teed up JB a little bit on your thoughts of maybe Marner not being an easy yeah movable asset

and your thoughts are my thoughts Kip are just that you know whoever trades for Mitch Marner is going to have to have a his next deal negotiated with him you've talked about him wanting 12 and a half or whatever the raise yeah raise you know or whatever the money is and it's like i can't see a team wanting to pay a guy who struggled so much in the playoffs that much money plus give enough assets to the leafs all at the same time it just feels like it feels like he'll be it'll be tough and also he's not going to want to go to like columbus or something i don't think is he like it just feels tough to me that they're going to make a Marner deal, Luke. Would he want to go to Chicago and set up a dart? It's an interesting one.

I wouldn't know as well as Nick. Listen, I would think. I'm just thinking of a team with caps. Go anywhere that wants you, wants to pay you, and makes you feel like you get the attention that you think you deserve. That's all. I mean, I would think that if it's not the Leafs willing to pay, then you've got to find out who wants to pay.

That's usually the way it works in free agency. Yeah. Well, just talents of his caliber still firmly in your prime. How often do they come around? Plus, how motivated is he going to be if Toronto indeed says, hey, we're not going to extend you, we're not going to give you William Nylander's money?

Plus, how motivated is he going to be on his next team to go out and prove the world wrong, prove all the Toronto haters wrong? Talents of his caliber just don't become available that often. You look at the free agent market, yeah his caliber just don't become available that often. Yeah. You look at free agent market.

Yeah. It just doesn't happen. So I think there would be a team willing to give him the bag. The other way you can culturally change things that do not need a no movement clause lifted is to take the captaincy away from John Tavares in his last year of his deal. Is that something you anticipate, Luke?

I wouldn't go that far. I wouldn't say I anticipate it. I'm sure that's a discussion worth having behind closed doors. That is, that would be a tough one, right? He chose Toronto. He chose to come home. Yeah, he's not worth $11 million annually anymore, but he's given everything to this team.

His production has fallen off, but only gradually, only with time. You know, the whole pitch on Tavares was they were supposed to win a cup in the first half of the contract so that these other years wouldn't matter. It would be a bit of a slap in the face, I think. And I also don't think it matters. It would almost be like window dressing.

Tavares, when you talk to him, he'll happily concede that this is Austin Matthews' team. That he's the number one center. He's the driver of the bus. Start the new culture then with Matthews with the C in October. You could. But it's a bit of a slap in the face to a guy, I think.

You've already ridden this out this far. What's one more year? Does it really matter who actually wears it at this point? Again, if you want to have the perception that whatever has happened in the past hasn't been good enough, then my answer to you is, yeah, maybe. My worry, Luke, is I wrote an article about this today

that they come in here, Bruby comes in, they talk about heaviness and meat and potatoes and whatever. They couldn't score any goals in the playoffs. You're talking about trading Mitch Marner. Like, is there a risk here of giving up the thing that makes the Leafs the Leafs and 100-plus point team and has a chance every year trying to get too heavy

in lieu of offense? Oh, 100%. There's always risk if you're talking about trading a guy capable of getting 100 points. For sure there's risk but i just think you could take that salary cap money and spend part of it on the defense you need some more offense driven by your defense the leafs got no points i think ilia labushkin had the most points for them amongst defensemen in the in the boston series like and you look about look at the teams that have gone

deep you're talking about adam fox nick or you look at an evan bouchard like a lot of these teams that have made it to the final four their defense is a big part of their offense morgan riley didn't have a good series jake mccabe got one goal but really they don't have drivers back there and i think that's something trey living. He tried to address it with Klingberg. Obviously, that didn't work out. But I think that's something that will be readdressed this offseason. Yeah, they might go get a stay-at-home guy

like Explore on Pesci, Explore on Kristanov. But I think they also want to see if they could get a mentor, get someone that can drive offense from the back end. And that can make up with first goals, some goals that way. All right.

Well, enjoy your time with the covering the Rangers Panthers tonight. We appreciate you coming on from Manhattan. Yeah, my favorite rink in the whole league. So it's going to be a blast. All right, Luke. Thanks for doing this, pal. Enjoy. Matt Kachuk is going to be a weapon of mass destruction in this series.

Yeah. It just feels like against the Rangers, under the spotlight. It's just like him with the media. I saw him on Pat McAfee's show yesterday yucking it up. Oh, yeah. He's a stud. Like, he is exactly what the NHL needs, that type of guy, who's willing to say funny stuff, great player, plays kind of an old-school style.

Like, he is, if you're putting together an NHL trade value list of guys, he's high on that trade value. What do the Rangers have up front? They didn't get much back. No, but now. Trochick plays a gritty game. He's not big. No, he's not big. But you don't want to.

No, up front they only have Goudreau is physical, Cooley. Yes, Goudreau. Ah. But they're going to. Well, you know, Lafreniere plays the type of physical offense that I like. It's McKinnon. It's McKinnon light. That's sort of like big, powerful guy who thinks about offense.

Yeah, but this will be like another level emotionally for them that they've never really gone or experienced, and now you've got to check those emotions sometimes at the door if you get punched in the head or you want to retaliate. to retaliate but how do you retaliate on the power play or do you answer back with uh an eye for an eye i think no no player in this series will be under more pressure than shisterkin you know like it just feels like if he's not a 920 or 925 it feels like florida's got more to offer gee i i would think Bobrovsky's got to look across and go, I got to answer that guy.

Oh, yeah? I don't know. I mean, it can go either way. For if you're a, this is goalie porn, if you're a goalie person. Yeah. Like these two guys going up, like Valaket is just probably fired up about talking about these two attendees. Yeah.

Steve Valaket, by the way, will join you guys tomorrow on Real Kipper. I'm born to talk. We do have Valley tomorrow. Oh, I can't wait. But it's going to be very interesting to see these two guys and just them going head-to-head. It's going to be like a one-up situation for sure, those two guys. Yeah.

Countryman? Yeah, certainly. So, you know, on the other side of things with Kachuk, I am curious to see Barkov's influence in this because you love him and he hasn't been a playoff performer in the past, but he's had a very good playoff so far this year. His presence is just... This is how you solidify yourself. So far in two rounds, right?

I feel like Florida's going to win the Stanley Cup this year. That's my... That's kind of... I just... They have all those pieces where they were there last year. They won a President's Trophy last year. Teams have commonly won the Cup the year after being President's Trophy winners. I got to think right now.

They won it when they were not this team. Going to the Stanley Cup Final last year is something that they can so draw on going into this series. Yeah. They're not, and listen, I got a chance to experience a conference final early in my career with the Washington Capitals. And there's something about going there for the first time when you look around and there's only four teams left and you're like, oh my God, we're so close.

And you're really not. So far. You're really not. You're really not. Still so far. You're really not. Yeah. You're just halfway. Yeah. And another eight wins are three times as tough as your first eight wins. So funny. 16 teams and you're down to four, but it's like, yeah, you're only halfway. And you got to beat the two best teams you've played all year.

And then you blink and you're like, now we're one of like 19 teams out. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And they're like, nobody cares. Nobody remembers. It wasn't like, now we're one of like 19 teams out. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And they're like, nobody cares. Nobody remembers. It wasn't like, hey, and let's welcome conference finalist. Conference final runner-up.

1989-90 conference finalist Nick Kiprios to the show. I do remember. Nobody says that. No, you're right. It's a, you do have to get it done from there and having the experience of having been there before. We'll go a long way. Uh, tomorrow night, Dallas and Edmonton underway.

Uh, have you got any sort of vibe on that one? Yeah. Um, I, I, listen, I, I picked Dallas to win the Stanley cupley cup so i'm not i'm not leaving that one but for me ottinger is like okay which ottinger shows up and i i cannot see edmonton's goaltending yeah you know matching up dallas just handled a series with two elite guys in mckinnon mccarr like maybe the best guys outside of mcdavid and dry settle but the guys that dallas has up top behind their top guys you're talking about hints and robertson and wyatt johnston and they just have so and sagan and ben and pavelski and all these sort of secondary guys.

They can handle. They can at least slow down McDavid and Dreisaitl, and then it's a lot of pressure on, A, the goaltender, but B, can you get scoring from your secondary guys in Edmonton? Plug your ears if you're an Edmonton fan. I think this could be a short one. No. No.

I have Edmonton. I don't think it's going to be short. Okay, first of all... Do you buy anything like McDavid might not be like, you know, he's playing at 50 or 60 percent? Every time a star player gets slowed down for a minute, everyone's like, I'm sure he's hurt.

I know. It's hard. But who isn't banged up? Yeah. It's just... It's semifinals in the NHL playoffs. So whatever it is, McDavid and Dreisaitl will not allow this series to be short. I think Dallas is just way better.

Tomorrow night I got a grand opening at Queensway for Mercedes Benz. Are you guys going? So excited. I will definitely be there. I'll do my best to make it. Apparently they got a car coming there from Germany that's worth $90 million. And is that what they give you to promote?

And Sammy, if he's coming, he has to watch it the whole time he's there. I'm excited to see it. Apparently, the whole facility is pretty spectacular. Someone told me that if I went, I got to keep the $90 million. That's awesome. All right. Thanks for joining us, everybody, on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Our thanks to Alex Kovalev and Luke Fox.

We're back tomorrow. Enjoy the game tonight. Game one, New York City.