Real Kyper & Bourne - End-Of-Season Storylines with Garry Galley

Episode Date: April 12, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a look at the Western Conference playoff picture as Edmonton has a chance to steal the Pacific Division lead from Vancouver and Mark Stone returns to practice for Vegas. They are joined by Garry Galley (7:55), who shares his thoughts on Stone's return, if McDavid's maintenance days are a concern going into the postseason, the tight MVP race and playoff dark horses. Finally, they regroup with Sam to answer your questions on the text line!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 we go national on the real kipper and born show we are live on sports net and sports at 650 in vancouver sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, who was on assignment two days ago covering the Masters for the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Yeah. Yeah. I was not covering anything other than, never mind. A bucket?

Yeah. The old gentle phrasing. The old prone. Hey, get your texts in 590 590 if you're anywhere you're listening in the country get your texts in i want to get them all organized for the second half of our show so we've got them all ready to rock 590 590 text us text us text us your thoughts anything fans let's go anything your master's predictions all that kind of stuff text us definitely master's thoughts thank you in a couple minutes we're going to be joined by gary galley former nhler who's always a great

guest uh no one covers the the league better than him and craig simpson and uh we're lucky for it here at sportsnet hockey night in canada uh plenty guys going on and yeah we've made fun of the league a little bit for this turtle race of a a turtle race to the stanley cup playoff spots okay a lot hammering it but it's a dumb league thank you torts but there is a tremendous amount of intrigue on like who's playing, who who's getting in, who's playing, who, if that's one thing that the league wanted,

they they've got it. I don't think there's a set series yet in the playoffs. And we are, you know, a week from it starting, which is pretty crazy. Pretty cool. I think the most likely playoff series are now winnipeg

colorado that's pretty much set and leafs panthers home ice is not set in that yet though because they're both tied at 104 points through 79 games played yeah oh buddies that could be a hockey series oh yeah so we've got like some real big matchups here this weekend. If we want to start in the East, first of all, where do the Rangers end up? Where does Carolina end up? Tonight, Carolina versus St. Louis. Carolina, as we've labeled, is kind of one of those,

I don't know if they're sneaky or not sneaky. Do we put them up with the very best in terms of the expectations? Yeah, definitely. Definitely do. And they have St. Louis, who are a non-playoff team this year, Chicago, Columbus to finish. They're three points behind the Rangers, who only have two games left. So, you know, it's going to be tight there.

The Rangers have the Islanders next. Islanders, Ottawa. So the Islanders have the chance to cost them potentially a president's trophy if they were to get a win there. Rangers and the Islanders tomorrow. Which, by the way, how about that series? At 1230. So while we all want to start talking

about load management these two teams are coming off a week where they they want each other hurt really bad yeah i mean you look at uh trocek not happy about the noah dobson hit zabana jed got you know ran into by pellick or whichever you want to say that. So they're hot. Islanders, humming, man. They have kind of emerged from this pack of teams. They have 89 points. Right now you have the Penguins with 86. The Capitals, 85. Detroit, 85.

Philly, 85. Coming down to us. The Islanders are probably going to get in. They probably need two points in the next three games. Any love for Patrick Waugh, the coach that I would have hired if my group bought the Ottawa Senators. Your Senators almost got. They're crushing it with their minus 20 goal differential.

And they were minus 600 before Washington. It's not his fault. Six in a row, though, again. Like, they've had such a weird run. They're the weirdest team in the league. What did they win? Six? Loss?

Was it seven? Yeah, they're always winning. Up and down. Up and down they go saturday night the boston bruins and pittsburgh now that that for the boston bruins now they're in a position that if they they could still end up the top team in the eastern conference i mean it's a weird which... Which means they've got a chance to maybe avoid Tampa Bay Lightning.

Oh, yeah. You think that's something to play for? Would you want to play Tampa if you're the Boston Bruins? No. Absolutely not. That's the number one team I'm trying to avoid.

Yeah, you are competing to get whichever team limps into the wildcard. That's right. Yeah, so this is now Rangers versus Bruins. So if Boston catches the Rangers, they can go get Pittsburgh, they can get Detroit.

Much different feel than Vasilevsky, Cooper, Stamkos, Point, Sorelli, Kucherov, Hedman. How is that team in seventh? Yeah, I don't know. But so much at stake here. Yeah, we're at a great window for the NHL.

These games are certainly big. And boy, the Pacific Division right now, got the Oilers four points behind the Canucks. They're going to play Vancouver on hockey night in Canada. Presumably, Edmonton will mop up Arizona tonight. I'm just going ahead and calling that one. I know Arizona's been pretty good lately, but the Oilers are great. They could be two points behind the Canucks with a game in hand

going into a game against the Canucks, which, you know, you get yourself out of that 2-3 game, which could see Vegas in it, and that would be big in itself. All right, have we got Gary or are we waiting on Gary? out of that 2-3 game, which could see Vegas in it, and that would be big in itself. All right, have we got Gary or are we waiting on Gary? Okay, a couple minutes. It's hard to mention the Western Conference without talking about, oh, by the way, Mark Stone cleared to practice in Vegas.

No. Some people want to, it's like breaking news or like, no, you didn't see this coming, breaking news? You know what, I'm not annoyed at anyone now being like, hey, wait a second. I am annoyed retroactively at the people who when it happened were like it's a real thing this spleen thing yeah okay but we know what's happened here we've always known why did we pretend then i mean we didn't but people certainly did the i just i think it's got lucky i yeah do you i do i think that my favorite thing in this whole thing is the most unprovable injury of all time is spleen.

How can you say his spleen's not hurting? I can't explain it. All right. All right. Boo. But it's like, it's the most unchallengeable thing I've ever heard of. Spleen. A spleen thing.

Oh, a spleen. Like, if you were going to come up with something ever heard of. Spleen. A Spleen thing. Oh, it's Spleen. If you were going to come up with something that's fake. Spleen. Probably on the top list would be Spleen. He's having glandular issues. Like, what is good? Spleen. I'm never going to forget Spleen for the rest of my life.

And I do not blame Vegas. No. I don't. They're competing to win the cup. I tell't. They're competing to win the cup. I tell you who. You play to win the games. I'm an Oiler fan, boys. Ooh, I am pissed.

Hot. All right, let's welcome him in. He's got his camera, I believe, all set up. Let's welcome in Gary Gally, Sportsnet Hockey in Canada. Oh, you look great, buddy. There he is. You look great. My spleen was bothering me. You look great, buddy. You look great.

My spleen was bothering me. Well, it got healed just in time. I want to get your thoughts right out of the gate just to pick up our conversation on the news that Mark Stone has been cleared for practice. And lo and behold, yes, I think there's some still challenges for Vegas. It's not a, you've been around the game long enough

where you know that anything can look great on paper, but to come together in a quick manner, I think Vegas still needs to do that. Just your overall thoughts on Vegas lying in the weeds right now with a huge impactful player like Stone on the cusp of coming back?

You know, it's like it's really difficult at any time to question a player's injury. I mean, I think hockey players in general are, you know, when they're hurt, they're hurt. Most of them will play through, you know, minor injuries, and some of them, as we saw in the playoffs last year, some of the guys will play with significant injuries. so um you don't want to question the injury uh maybe a question more you know the timing of when it's going to be healed and you know you could plan it around that

uh given mark stone and all the bounces and bruises and and dents that he has on that body it would be okay to give him a bit of a rest heading into the playoffs, knowing he has shown you in the past he's able to step it up to playoff year and get going and lead this hockey club. So an emotional guy. I don't expect to see anything different. Vegas has been, you know, I think, trying to weave through the quagmire of winning a Stanley Cup

and then trying to repeat it, keeping guys fresh, guys that are, you know, played a lot of hockey, trying to get them to, you know, lock back in and play that playoff-type brand as you're coming down the stretch. They haven't been able to do it. They've added a few pieces. Those take time to gel. But, yes, it can happen um but uh i i do think there are other teams that i would put ahead of them going into the playoffs right now so how much do you think a team's playoff seed like going into the postseason matters i'm asking about vegas but i'm also asking about tampa bay who's gonna

into the postseason as a wildcard team. Is it really indicative of the type of teams that they are, or is it just sometimes teams have tough circumstances along the way, and these are still Stanley Cup contenders? It's really hard.

I've been to the Stanley Cup finals, and I haven't won a cup, but Nick has, and he's been through the grind of it all. And he knows what it's like to kind of reload back in the summer and get going again. And remember, Vegas got off to that great run and got going like crazy. And everyone thought, oh, man, they're just hit the ground running. But you know you're going to hit a bump somewhere.

You know you're going to hit some bumps. The key is, can you time it so that you're hitting the playoffs on an upswing and you're feeling confident? Even though they've won a cup, it's about feeling confident going into this thing. You look at the Nashville Predators. Two weeks ago, who would have wanted to play them in the first round? Now, they've shown a little bit of, you know, some guys are getting a little bit beat up as they're making this hard run. Saros has looked a bit off, you know, probably getting a bit tired.

They need to start resting him as they've got the playoff spot. I think, you know, you look at a team like Tampa Bay, who's kind of took a while to get going, but now they've got it going. They've got the potential Hart Trophy winner there, and the guys who know how to win in the playoffs, and Braden Point, you know, but it's

just really hard to know. There's like a half a dozen teams out there that I think if they can stay healthy uh through the playoffs or generally stay healthy they have enough depth to get it done and it could be any one of those six in my mind i don't think there's a clear favorite and that's what makes these that's what's made this year kind of crazy and we're still going through some of the craziness down the last three or four games of the season for positioning and everything but to hit the playoffs playing your best hockey, like put it this way,

if you're the Winnipeg Jets, you had that incredible downturn where it looked like, oh, my Lord, everything's falling apart. And now they've caught it back together again, and they've beaten Colorado. They've beaten Dallas. They're showing that they're a good four-line team that's got some good forecheck and can really rattle and hum. They've still got some areas that are question marks for me but i think every team does there's no perfect team out there right now

we're joined by gary galley former nhl or color analyst with sportsnet and hockey night in canada gals we saw vancouver see its lead over edmonton shrink to just four points here. Connor McDavid, not questioning what's nagging him, but I sure do get a sense that it's more load management than anything else. Your thoughts on the big game this weekend and where Edmonton truly stands here, rest versus rust going into the playoffs. I think Connor McDavid,

I think is the type of player that I believe would have wanted to play, play it out, go into the playoffs, feeling like he's, you know, there's no rust on anything. He just, he's, he's running and gunning. He's firing on all cylinders. Don't change a thing. Just go right into the playoffs that way. There has to be something going on with him that maybe just isn't settling itself down and i think when he started to make the run and kucherov just kept loading up the points it was kind of like you know do we really feel it's important to keep running this guy and because it's important you know he wants to win

the scoring race and that's it's an individual thing but you know it's his legacy and all this stuff or is it more important to make sure that these these little things that are bothering him are settled so that when we hit the playoffs winning the stanley cup is the only thing that matters and i think connor mcdavid is going to win our ross trophies moving forward in his career i think he's going to win heart trophies uh but the one trophy that is a timing thing and where the timing is of the Edmonton Oilers is that they're playing some of their best hockey of the season.

They look like a team that's figured it out. They've got some guys who are having great seasons. If they can transition those seasons and segue them into the playoffs, they're going to be a dangerous team. Of course, goaltending, which is for a lot of playoff teams, a question mark,

you know, can they get it done in that area? And can they defend when the games get into game five, six, and seven to win a series? Can they defend well enough to win? You know they can score. But I do believe that there is some things bothering Connor McDavid. I don't think they're serious.

But I think they're enough for the Edmonton Oilers to say, why not just let him get rid of these things and hit the ground, feeling a hundred percent when the playoffs start, because having a Stanley cup in the end of June is a lot more impressive than having the Art Ross trophy. Gary, less than a week before the end of the season. I don't know if there's ever been an MVP race that is less decided.

Connor, obviously a part of that conversation, but depending who you talk to, I mean, you can get four to five different answers. Kucherov is going to have 100 assists. McKinnon, the front runner. Matthew's going to score 70. McDavid's kind of the consensus best player in the game.

Quinn Hughes, go through Panarin. What are your thoughts on how this is all going to shake out? You know, the definition of the award really seems to be what everyone seems to be caught up in. You know, who is the most valuable to his team? If you took this player off this team, what would this team be like without him? I think it's too hard to just, it's really hard to go that way about it. If you took those players off, they would drop for sure. So I just think we're talking about a real special year.

And we're going to get a couple of players that are going to have 100 helpers. We're going to have some 50 goal scores, possibly, like you said, a 70 goal score, which hasn't been done in quite some time. And you've got an aging veteran, you know, superstar, first ballot Hall of Famer, top probably five players in the history of ever playing the game, who's carrying a team on his back and has kind of willed them with his play at his age into the playoffs. How important is that?

You know, like there's so many things you can look at, but at the end of the day, it comes down to me. It comes down to the three players that everyone's been talking about. It's McKinnon, it's Kucharov, it's McDavid. I think it's going to come down to those three guys. And there'll be a lot of people that are going to say, you know, McKinnon, you know, has done a lot of wonderful things and everything. He deserves this. No one deserves it it you earn it and and you don't just get it because you haven't got it before you get it because you deserve it and i do believe that when it all comes down to it i do think it will fall between mckinnon and kucherov like it has been kind of presented all season long um and one of those guys will will take it home okay you just can't throw you just can't push Connor McDavid aside and go to that without giving us your winner. Well, I think if I'm going to pick the winner,

in my opinion, I think it's Kucherov. Wow. Kip too. But everyone tried to climb back in his back pocket. He put the Heisman up and he was like, I don't think so, boys. Back off. Like, he is really dialed in um i think yes

you have to look at this is a team that has some great players that he's that he's playing around but he is the straw that stirs the drink there and when he is going he drags a lot of people along with him and he makes a this is a guy who takes on a lot of attention right a lot of he takes up a lot of oxygen there and that leaves a lot of other space for guys like braden point and paul and all these guys to go around about their business uh and kucherov with the tight check and still finds a way to put up three four or five points a night and mcdavid and mckinnon were turning the screws on him man he turned around and said i don't think so boys so unless there's a crazy resurgence by one of them that overtook him and just had this crazy finish, I would say that I'm leaning towards Kucherov. You got a dark horse in these playoffs once they start.

I don't even know if you can call anybody. It's so unpredictable in terms of a real long shot here. Nashville has been a team that I can't figure out at all. Like, yeah, I get it. Yossi, Saros, Philip Forsberg, like great, great talents. But we never saw that coming out of Nashville. Yeah, I don't think, I don't, I think I had Nashville as potentially a team that could make the playoffs and they shocked me when they were playing as bad as they were.

I think that we have to give some credit because we give credit a lot of times to the players. And you mentioned three wonderful players there. I think you've got to mention Ryan O'Reilly, who brings that on his sleeve type attitude and wins faceoffs. Won a Stanley Cup. I think he's been a real great addition to the Nashville Predators. Evangelista. They've got some other guys in there that have really had solid years. Forsberg, of course, the game-breaker. They got the Norse Trophy defenseman, and they got the Vezina goalies.

So if you look at a team like Tampa, you look at a team like Nashville, they kind of fill the spaces with some really good players in every position, so it makes them a dangerous team. But I give a lot of credit to Andrew Burnett. I think he really pulled this thing back together, whether it was the concert they canceled in Vegas, the U2 concert, or whatever it was. He lassoed this group and got them back on track.

I give him a lot of credit, and for me, I think there's a guy who could be up for Coach of the Year, or he should be in the nomination for it anyway. But, you know, I just, you look at the East, and you tend to think that the one and two seeds are going to have an easier time in the East because they're going to play Washington or Philadelphia or, you know, or maybe it's going to be Pittsburgh.

So in your mind, you think that's going to be an easy out but guys we've seen columbus take down tampa we've seen things in the past happen that are unexplainable but you would think that the rangers and the boston bruins who i believe will eventually finish in first in that but if not florida i don't think they're going to have a tough time with the remnants of who came in in the bottom two wild card spots um you know i know tampa you know certainly might provide a challenge more so than the than the eight seed but i i don't think those teams are going to have a problem there where if you shift it over to the west i think i think man one through eight two through seven you pick whatever poison you. You better be ready to go on the puck drops

or you could find yourself on the outside looking in real fast. One organization that crossed paths with you was the Philadelphia Flyers. Just the fall of this organization that looked so promising for a Stanley Cup berth and now on the outside looking in. Just your overall thoughts on Philly and more important, Tortorella.

Did he lose something here? Did he open up something? Or is this just a team not ready? Yep, opened up a can of whoop. You know what? You know what? That, you know, Torch is – I played for Torch in Buffalo. He was an assistant coach when I was there, I played for Torch in Buffalo.

He was an assistant coach when I was there. I have nothing but respect for John. I consider John a friend. And there are times when John's emotion gets the better of him, and it's hard to be in his corner sometimes when you see some things. But this is a team, and I know this is like everyone thinks they're falling down, but I do believe this is the beginning of them getting up. I think the hiring of Breer and Jones and all this changing in the front office,

sports, putting his fingerprints on this team like Tuckett did in Vancouver. There is a particular way you have to play if you're going to be a Philadelphia Flyer. There's a particular way you're going to have to play if you're going to play for John Tortorella and if you don't play that way you don't play this is they're looking to have uh you know that that atmosphere and that they have around their team that when you're when you come into play as a flyer that's the way you have to play and yes they've had a fall here out of the out of the playoffs but man Washington lost how many games in a row you look at New Jersey was coming they lost Washington lost how many games in a row? You look at New Jersey was coming. They lost a whole bunch of games in a row. Like a lot of teams, Detroit,

like a lot of teams that were hanging on there, they just don't have the ability to know how to win in this stage of their development as, as, as a team that's rebuilding. And so when the games and the expectations start to get closer and a lot tougher, you know, that stuff starts to creep into your head, how you think, how you play, your head's thinking, your feet aren't moving, mistakes are magnified, coaches are more intense. Everything changes, you know.

When a team is playing, not even making the playoffs, you know, you look at Ottawa cruising along, winning games and whatever, there's no anxiety, no pressure, no expectation. So it is harder to win like that. I do think the Flyers, at the end of the day, if they don't make it, they will be disappointed. But I do think they will look back on what they gained fighting to get into the playoff picture, battling for a playoff spot.

That's all valuable games and valuable lessons they'll learn moving along. I know we're hearing things, you know, Torch is going to move up to management. He most certainly could. This is a guy who's been around the game and knows the game as well as anybody, and he could help in a lot of different areas within an organization. But I do believe his

love is coaching, and I do believe that he wants to see this through and get this Philadelphia team back to where it believes it can get in the next year or two and be a strong contender. And that's kind of my opinion of where I think it's going to go. You know, the Canadian teams have some really strong candidates

in general talking about coaching for the Jack Adams. You know, Rick Talkett in Vancouver, great job. Rick Bonas done an awesome job with Winnipeg. Knobloch taking over Edmonton, great job. Like, they have some of the frontrunners. Is there any of the Canadian teams to you that seems to be in the best shape, playing in a really good game, that has a chance to go? You look every year, some team, Florida surprises,

Montreal goes to the cup final. Any of these teams could have a shot. Is there one of them that you think is playing well? Well, I think Edmonton has had a great season after that terrible start. I think they're in that when you have the best player in the world and Dreisaitl is not too far behind them, you've got Hyman, you've got all these wonderful offensive players. Always been the question is, are they going to get the ability? Are they going to get a good goaltend?

Are they going to have the ability to defend in Stanley Cup playoffs when everything changes and you're winning games 2-1 or 3-2? Can you switch over to that and be comfortable in your skin playing that way? That's the thing to be the question there. I think you look at the Vancouver Canucks. Kock has done a crazy good job there realigning the way a Vancouver Canucks, Toc has done a crazy good job there, you know, realigning the way a Vancouver Canuck thinks

how he's playing and is he really playing hard as he can play? I mean, you know, oftentimes you can't see the forest from the trees. I think Rick Toc had opened the players' eyes in Vancouver

that you may think you're playing good hockey, but you're not playing good enough. And he found a new level for them. Now, yes, they took off. They had a little bit of a downturn now kind of coming back up again uh you know i i think this is a team that has a lot of weapons that could do some damage in the playoffs as well so you know winnipeg man i thought

they could have finished they could have won the president's trophy and then all of a sudden everything kind of fell apart i think rick had a bit you know had to have that surgery uh he left the team for a little bit. I think they were dealing with a bit of, I think they had some really good runs. I think they were dealing with a bit of fatigue, maybe some scheduling stuff that caught up to them. And this team just had a bit of a tip off.

But man, they got it back going again. I think that if you're in the hockey world and you have been in the hockey world for a long period of time, is there anybody more deserving than Rick Bonas to win a Stanley Cup? Right. Has put his whole life into hockey as a player, as an assistant coach, as a coach. His whole family is in the game. You know, like in one of the nicest families you'll ever

meet and it's been great for the game of hockey so i mean they don't hand stanley cups out because you're a nice person i understand that but i'm just saying what a story that would be and the team in winnipeg after they had that incredible letdown last year against vegas where i'm not saying they should have beat vegas but i think they didn't play the way they could have in that series where it could have been a 6-7 game series. They just kind of lied down, and that wasn't palatable to Rick Bonas or the Jets' management. So they have something to prove here, you know,

and I think it's going to be – and they added Toffoli and Monaghan. Are these guys, you know, going to score a whack of goals in the playoffs, game breakers? No, but they don't hurt you. They won't hurt you. These are guys that can play responsible hockey. They got four good lines there. They got a world-class goaltender.

On defense, that's where it's going to be, where I thought things kind of fell apart last year. On the back end, they started to run out of gas. They had some injuries to Morrissey and that, and it really hurt them. But I really think that, you know, if Winnipeg gets off to a good start in the first round, I think they get their legs underneath them. They could be a dangerous Canadian team. And it starts a week tomorrow. Let's go. Giddy up.

Gals, great stuff, man. As always on our show, we so appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, sorry about the sp on our show, we so appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, sorry about the spleen injury. I took a bit of time. It's all right, buddy. Appreciate it. You're good to go.

We're load managing him, right? That's why we usually go 22 minutes with him. We went 18. Yeah, we're preserving him for the playoffs. Exactly. Love Gals. Always the best. The man.

Breslau in Winnipeg. playoffs exactly well if gals oh he's the best the man uh bruce in winter peg like look at what he's done behind hella buck hella buck's gotten so much attention rightfully so but i don't know the last three weeks four weeks this guy's been like money shutouts yeah i gotta tell you you know home ice advantage in this series is massive because playing in colorado at elevation is this it's a significant disadvantage you're playing at home in winnipeg is a big advantage and you know this is a jets team to me that can win they have goaltending they are deep i think they colorado's them i mean they're not perfect and nobody's talking about winnipeg no not like that that's great for them right it's perfect don't mention that gorgiev maybe a sieve you know or that there might be some questions down the lineup go ahead and talk

up colorado and let winnipeg just go in you know thinking playing playoff hockey with their elite goaltending laurie never know bris is a very, very good backup goalie. Oh, I mean, he's probably a starter. Well, no, I mean, he has 139 career starts. He's got a 9-11 save percentage. Yeah, it's for his career. And his totals are like 14, 21, 19, 14, 24, 11, 22. So he's just like a guy, like the perfect guy

that plays the perfect amount of time that gives you exactly what you need. Like that's, you know, having a good backup goalie when you have an elite guy is massive. Think about all those back-to-back sleeves used to blow in the head like, I forget the guy they signed. I forget all the goalies they had.

But they just had so many bad guys. It's just, it's so valuable still. Yep, absolutely. Anyways. Little game time? Absolutely. It's game time. Absolutely. If I have my lineup open, it's just it's it's so valuable so yep anyways uh little game time uh absolutely it's game time uh absolutely if i have my lineup open it's game time presented by bet 365 visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly oh he memorized it all right that was amazing impressive i had no idea

if i was gonna be able to do that I left my lineup upstairs for the second straight show, so I didn't have it in front of me. Welcome back, Sammy. Yeah, I know. My brain's not firing at all cylinders here. Checking in on the Masters odds, because as the leaderboard stands, I'm just pulling up the leaderboard here, as my phone is, first of all, the Masters app is out of control.

Good. Quality app. The leaderboard is as follows. Bryson DeChambeau and Scotty Scheffler are tied at the top at minus one. Max Homa is the next closest at minus six. Hoygard, Davis, Morikawa, Aubergine, down it goes. Yeah. DeChambeau's minus seven, right?

Yeah. According to Bet365, there's really three guys that are going to win this golf tournament. Scotty Scheffler is plus 105 live right now to win. Ugh. I love having him at four to one all of a sudden feel great about that yeah when i was plugging my nose earlier yeah bryson dechambeau dechambeau is plus 375 max homa plus 600 live i got him at plus 1200 after round one love that and going up to plus 2200 it's the next guy. It's Colin Morikawa. There you go.

Don't hate that. No, I don't hate it either. He's a guy that can go nuclear. You know, you get Fitzpatrick, who's minus two, minus one today. As long as these guys stay close, anyone can still climb up. Big Saturday. But it's all under the understanding that Scotty Scheffler could go out there on Saturday and just ruin this whole golf tournament for everyone.

He needs to miss the shorties to keep everyone hanging. Do your odds drop if you're just wearing, like, the goofiest outfit? Is that Jason Day? Well, Sergio should have been kicked off the tour for his outfit yesterday. I didn't see Sergio's. What? Yeah. It looked like the throw-up emoji.

Look at it. Look at it right now while I'm searching at the hockey odds. There was green and yellow. It's one of the worst outfits in the history of the sport. He should have been kicked off the tour. Oh, no. Yay, she looks like an SOS pad. Not a ton of great games tonight on the ice.

I'm going to be honest with you, fellas. A lot of big favorites. There's not a ton of value. I guess you can look at some teams that, you know, I don't think the Calgary Flames should be minus 140 favorites over anyone at this point of the season. They're in Anaheim, plus 120.

Maybe take a shot with a dog like that with a team that's checked out in cobble mode. But outside of that, not a ton of value on the ice. And that's why I went with the Masters. And that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus.

Ontario only. Please play 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Well done. Thank you. Okay, let's take a quick break. Catch our breath while we tee up the text messages. Got a bunch of good ones already, boy. You do.

595.90. If you want to try to sneak one in, we'll get into some news and notes, including a new general manager in the four nations tournament. We'll tell you who that is for Canada. Rod Brindamore, some news on him. What's that? Tons more. Don't go away.

It's real Kipper and Bourne. teeing up the biggest games of the night it's the fan pre-game with alish forfar and justin cuthbert weekdays at 6 p.m on sportsnet sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcast this segment of real kiprinne is brought to you by Hyundai. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee bringing it home on this Friday. Usually, it's off the rails, including Doug McClain. That was my first text question. It was? Yeah.

What do you got? It says, nice to have Sammy back. Thanks to Sammy's wife for sending that in. But where is Mac on Off the Rails Friday? Two in a row, I think, boys. Oh, we didn't have a show last week, so. It's Mac's birthday. Oh.

Isn't it a big one today? And it's a milestone. What would Mac do? Turn 100? Well, if Austin scores two, it'll match Doug McClain's age. No. Really? No way.

Like 10 years ago, I remember doing Hockey Central at noon and bringing him like a muffin with a candle in it. And I almost set the sprinklers into the studio. You got him a muffin? Listen, it was special. A special muffin? It was a muffin. It was a laced?

And that felt like yesterday. Yeah. And he turned 60. Well, at least he's living right. I don't know, every time I... No, he's at a member guest right now. A two-day member guest at some posh resort. I think that's the coolest thing.

He's playing Indian Creek creek golf club a country club in uh florida apparently it's apparently one of the top 100 courses in america i'm guessing it's you know free golf big prizes great course doug's living right i'm telling you wow no wonder he blew us off he sent out a great picture if you go to his twitter account he looks extremely happy way more happy than he would have been talking to us. And we also, you know, don't pay him. So he's free to kind of do what he wants. Well, we got him a job as a scholar.

As much. We sell him books. He got a job as a scholar because of us. How many copies do you think we sold of that book? Do you really think anybody would have bought his book without us on the show telling people? You get kickbacks on that? You get a piece or what? I got nothing. Nothing.

Nothing. Feathers. That's what I got. Okay. Got a really nice text here, boys. I'm going to read. Self-serving one for us. Uh-oh. What can I say? The three of you are the highlight of my day. What a team. You the best. I'm a 70-year-old great-grandmother. Grew up in Newfoundland and I am the biggest Maple Leaf fan.

I now live in Salmon Arm, B.C., and during every game, my childhood friend and I, who still lives back home, text back and forth. I cannot lie. We do lots of swearing, but lots of big fun for sure. Yes. Thanks for allowing your audience to enjoy all of your hockey knowledge. I love your guests.

Have you ever had Joe Bone on your show? Yes, we have. He's my fave. P.S., Sammy, you're the best Leaf fan ever. From Mary Elizabeth. I love Mary Elizabeth. Mary! We love you, Mary Elizabeth.

Yeah, Salmon Arm, what a beautiful place. There you go, boys. That's great. All right. Appreciate that. Thank you very much. They're all downhill after Mary. Yeah.

Another great question here, boys. Hello. Back in the day, they were dynasties. Thinking of JB's father's Islanders four in a row, before them, the Flying Frenchman Habs won four in a row, the Oilers won five of seven. Will this ever happen again in today's NHL? Cheers from Kelowna.

Todd. Kelowna. There you go. Where do you put Tampa Bay's two or Pittsburgh's two? Chicago's three. Chicago's three. I mean, those are many salary cap dynasties yeah

that to me is the thing is the salary cap those are dynasties because of teams now it's been talked about a little bit

but it's gonna it's gonna grow here yeah and I'm talking about the distance between some teams

that can offer less taxes than other teams. And we just saw another prime example when Noah Hannafin signed for 7.35 in Vegas. I'm telling you, for him to have been a Toronto Maple Leaf or a New York Ranger, they would have had to offer nine and a half. That's a big deal. That's a concerning deal.

And I don't know what the answer is. I'm not here to tell you the answer, but I am telling you when the salary cap continues to grow, so does that advantage for those teams. Yep. advantage for those teams yep and you're still the Rangers the LA Kings the Toronto Maple Leafs Vancouver you are amongst the highest grossing franchises carrying a lot of freight for a $6 billion industry, you are at such a disadvantage. I wonder if that changes eventually. Competitive disadvantage.

You are pushing the money down to the lesser markets, and they are taking full advantage of signing players for less on the salary cap than you. So your point is that those teams will have an advantage could have dynasties eventually they could hang on they could hang on yeah so with that i think that with the salary cap rising good teams now like let's say you're getting good now you should be able to hang on to your players like no team took it harder than the tampa bay lightning who've had to move on from what is essentially a stanley cup team of you know gourd i know you know whatever world's smallest violin yanni gourd cologne tyler johnson when he was good um you know go through the list of guys palat yeah eventually they're gonna have

to pay the fiddler though, right? Because they've given up a lot of assets to go get some fresh blood. But they've had to do that because of the cap. So they've had to get Brandon Hagel on his minimal contract and they've paid assets for that. If they didn't have to worry about the cap so much, they wouldn't have to pay assets as much.

So getting good now, you'll be able to separate yourself. And I also wonder, let's say the cap goes up a lot over the next five years. Are all owners right now, 90% of owners spend to the cap. It's been flat for years. Will they all be willing to go that high? I don't think so. So taxes, higher cap, owner spending differences,

you may see teams separate and stay at the top for longer. So yes. We just got a text that said, the answer is the cap figures needs to be before the tax. The cap figure pre-tax money. Yeah. That sounds pretty reasonable to me. Kipper?

Let's try it. Okay. Love it. Let me get it. This is the 17th attempt at getting on the show. Okay. 17th time's the charm. They say.

Between Kipper, Bourne, and Sammy, with possibly Philly and Washington crapping the bed for a playoff spot, what are your three predictions and hopes as to who will take, A, the last wildcard spot, and take the last Metro spot? What will their playoff chances be in round one? Well, I can answer that part for you first.

Not great. Not great chances. For the team that gets in. The only team that has a chance if they get in is pittsburgh because they have elite players who can black out so are you really doing this they're the florida thing like because i think i've seen that narrative a lot where people are like this year's florida i'm like i don't know might be are we sure that the one seeds are that much better than the penguins you love the bruinsins? What have they been since January 1st?

Oh, just over 500? Yeah. I'm starting to handicap teams from the net right to the end of the blue paint. And I don't know who's in front of that after is a second conversation. But I am putting a lot of stock into whose goalie shows up early here has a chance yeah and just an example of of the leafs here when samsonov's first second or third star the leafs win if he is giving up six goals on 20 shots like any other team that plays you got no shot 70 goal score 100 point assist guys no shot unless your goaltender is one of three stars that night you

know among teams that have two goalies i wonder if like you learn from boston last year and just have a quicker hook you know like if samsonov comes out in the first period of the game one and gives up a couple of stinkers, maybe just go, we're just going to do it right away. Joseph Wohl's going in game one. You know, same myths. Backup goalies, Brassois. And I'm not saying that Hellebuck made a hiccup.

Right, but if he has a bad night, you trust him. You know, the other guy that has been really impressive is that Stolarz. Stolarz is my favorite backup outside of Brassois. He's got. You know, the other guy that has been really impressive is that Stolarz. Stolarz is my favorite backup outside of Bristol. Right? He's got a great setup, too. His gear looks great. Does he?

Yeah, he looks really good. He's got great numbers, I can tell you that. Bobrovsky was fantastic last year and still probably the main reason why the Leafs got lost in five. But don't forget, he didn't start playoffs for them.

Lyon did. Yeah. He came out of the pen and got hot. So your backup can do that for you. Yep. All right. Good answer, boys. I pulled up my wrong page here.

Hey, guys, just texting from Calgary. I would like to hear what your opinions are on Calgary's big moves this offseason. The noteworthy of noteworthy. Ray. Thanks, Ray. You know, I think the Calgary Flames could have talked themselves into

we got a playoff team, you know, and we're going to hang on to these guys. They're probably better than the Blues. Like, if they would have kept their team together, like, they would have been probably better than them. They'd be humming around a playoff spot whatever but they had to be honest with themselves you know they're gonna get a new arena in what 2027 they're gonna move in you want to be ready for them i i like what they did just tell me where markstrom is in september

oh sure new jersey okay and then um we're looking. Yep. As the number one goalie. Wolf Lodar. Wolf Lodar for another year at 2 mil, don't you? I don't know. I mean, Buffalo thought they were going to make Devin Levi. Yeah, that's a great point. A number one goalie. Good parallel, actually.

So, come on. Some of these guys, they need six years to come into a mindset and they're all talented they're all coached the same way that's why sometimes you can barely recognize them they all look the same but what's the difference saturday and sunday at the masters what's between the ears? Are you ready for that? Yeah. Wolf ready to be a number one goalie in Canada? Askarov in Nashville. Yeah, I guess that's different in Canada.

Especially in Canada. So that to me, you got to just start the conversation in Calgary with, you going to keep Markstrom around for the next couple of years? Do you hear his interview? If you want to knock on the door, if you think you can tweak this thing in Calgary and get them back in, you can't get rid of Markstrom.

Quickly, speaking of Calgary, I went on Calgary radio today with my boy, George Rusick, and just to quickly talk about the Masters, went on for 10 minutes or so, completely sidetracked me and went, hey, Mike Vernon's in the studio. Welcome. Want to say hi to Mike Vernon, Hall of Famer?

I was like, sure. Hi, Bernie. How are you? And he said, who are you? He interviewed me for 10 minutes about the Masters. He asked me like four questions about the Masters. Hall of Famer is asking you questions. Yeah, he's like, what do you think of that Hoygard?

This is where the, this is, this is where. It's a stupid business. This is where it questions. Yeah, he's like, what do you think of that, Hoigard? This is where... It's a stupid business. This is where it's a real... Can we have a Tortorella, please? It's a dumb league. I couldn't believe it. We had some great conversations. Me and Bernie were best buds by the end of the interview. Couldn't believe it.

Am I going to have to download this? If you want. It's a dumb league. Rostick would really appreciate it if you did. Quickly, before we go, can you name 108 different players have scored a goal on Sidney Crosby's assists? You got to 1,000. Can you name the top five?

The most goals off Sidney's assists. Number one. He's number four. Kunitz? Number three. Gensel? Number two. good number five and number five number five is this one tricky still on the team still on pittsburgh still on the team uh who else is good on that you protect this your car against this in the winter yeah brian rust yeah there you go oh okay we were good there for a while. If you go to Sportsnet Stats, they retweeted it from the Penguins PR.

It's an awesome list. Like, Mario Lemieux has one goal off a Sidney Crosby assist. That's great. Looking at this, like, Andre Waugh has one with a Sid assist. It's amazing. Lemieux and Andre Waugh. It's a really cool list to look through. I did mention Rod Brindamore.

I hear he's really close to signing a new contract. Really? Yeah. He is the hurricane and it won't be it won't be a contract that'll make him the highest paid in the league but it won't put him in the bottom which he's been at for the last little while jack adams one of the delays and this is so rod brindamore one of the delays in in this is he wants to make sure there's people around him that are looked after and and getting new contracts as well i thought you meant his spotters at the gym he doesn't envision himself coaching anywhere else but carolina i mean he has a family there

right i think he even coaches his son's peewee team when he can. So, yeah, he seems like he's embedded there. Not a guy who so much desires to be an NHL head coach as the coach of the Carolina Hurricanes. So, very cool. They have an identity. They have success. It only makes sense.

Oh, sorry. Just going to say that this segment of Real Kipper and Born was brought to you by Hyundai. The 2024 Santa Fe Hybrid NHL Edition is made for those who drive hockey. Only 500 available, fellas, so order yours today. Hockey car. Hockey car. Nice job, Sammy.

I want to give out, and I want to do this every Friday, but I forget because, you know, I've had concussions. Nicholas Blackmore here at Sportsnet always puts together a best of real Kipper and Bourne. Yeah, it's awesome. Saturday mornings. Yeah. So I just wanted to give him a shout out. Yeah, it's very jarring. Sometimes I'm in the car at that time.

I just turn on the radio. I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, God, it's me. That's me. It's horrible. Well, it gives you a break from Googling yourself. Oh, yeah. That's my favorite thing to do

as you know as you know masters weekend nhl final weekend this is we're into the sports sweet spot of the calendar uh a couple things monday matthews does he have 70 when we sit down on Monday. No, no, and it's going to be drama. Okay, we did a Leaf edition about a month and a half ago, and we were asked what number he ends up with, and it was over under 70. Was it? Yeah, and I said 69. Great. Thanks.

How about you? Do you remember your answer? I think I might have been right there. I mean, I don't think I said, I definitely wouldn't have said over 70 because I never saw it. And it was based off of like, make sure that it doesn't become like this obsession for two weeks. Boys, we're sitting here on Monday talking about how he's the first guy

since Solani and McGill need to do it. Wow. Bold proclamation. And both those guys, Detroit needs this game, they're. Wow. Bold proclamation. And both those guys... And both those guys that year got knocked out in the first round. Really? Is that true? Oh, you're such... That's the last thing you're going to say to me

on a Friday? Enjoy your weekend. Homework for you. Luck it out. You don't even know if it's true. Oh, I do believe. I do believe it's true. All right. Derek Brandeo, we're all good, buddy. Sammy got her in.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Enjoy your games as the picture gets clearer to the National Hockey League Stanley Cup playoffs. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. Download us, and we're back Monday on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show.