Real Kyper & Bourne - Final Night Before the Break

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the goalies' reduced part in All-Star weekend and why the $100k reward for winning the shootout competition is not worth the risk of injury. Then, Emily Kaplan (3:16) of ESPN delves into why this year's All-Star weekend is more exciting than previous years, rumblings of expansion and how the NHL will handle the 2018 WJC situation. Later, she takes a look at the deadline and teams to keep an eye on. Finally, they regroup with Sam to go through The Athletic's player poll results.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.

I found it, Kip. I found it, Kip. I found the information on goalies in the All-Star game. All right. Why don't you introduce the hour? I forgot we had to do that. Did you jump the chip here? I'm waiting for Derek to say, hold, go, go, go. I didn't jump the cue. That's okay. Offside. Offside. Ball start. Ten-yard penalty. Repeat first down. Welcome into the real Kipper and Bourne show. It's the national edition as we get geared up for the nhl all-star weekend nick kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee derrick brandeo

jen rolnick with you for the next hour we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet three six five go jb gun hundred grand hundred grand for the goalies is the most that they can win meyer steve meyer says the winning goalie in the shootout competition will receive a hundred thousand dollars so 60 i can't think of anything more insulting in my life you can you can earn a tenth a tenth a tenth i mean you're the output is earn a tenth of what I'm saying. A tenth. I mean, the output is about a tenth as much. Most likely to pull a groin gets a tenth of everybody else.

That's so true. Highest injury risk. They got to be really, you know, because you get all your gear on. You're way out of your usual routine, right? And then you're sitting there. The best deekers in the world. Sitting there, ice cold. Like, how do you stay warm?

You're right. They should be getting more. The women should be getting two million. Cujo says he'd be cutting deals with whoever was shooting, you know, the chance to win a million bucks. I can see. I win 100 grand if I win this thing, or you pay me 200 and I let you score.

Yes, and he'd have good reason yeah right make money like if if the commissioner of the league ever called him in and wanted an inquiry on it he's like yeah i did it yeah like you you guys you treat us like crap yeah yeah yeah it was out there there putting myself at risk. I was getting that money. We're literally the most important position in the sports. If you don't have me, we're going to have that event without you. Go ahead. No, they are not.

Based on the fact that they can only take $100,000 home while everybody else gets $1 million, tells you everything you need to know what the league thinks of your position. They should feel aggrieved because of that. We are generating a problem. You're targets. You're nothing more than human targets.

The disrespect. Okay. You're a bullseye for the shooters. That's all. You're. And you know who should be mad? The fans of teams who sent a goalie. Canucks fan see Thatcher Demko going in there.

Putting himself on the line. Why don't they do like like, junior goalies? Nah, you can't do that. Emergency all-star backups. Get Airzy in there. These are terrible ideas. Get Airzy in there. What was the other guy, Jet Alexander?

Get those guys in there. Poor Jet. Don't put him in the same boat. Wow, yeah, Jet's a real goalie. All right. We're going to have Patrick Alveen in about 30 minutes the same boat wow yeah jets are real goalie yeah all right all right anyways uh we're gonna have patrick alveen uh in about 30 minutes to talk about his new extension as well so a lot of good things still continual continuing in vancouver but uh for now let's go to emily caplan espn hockey

reporter does a terrific job emily are you in tor? Are you on your way? Where are you? We're in the Uber. We are approaching the airport in Chicago. You guys might get me through that, and then I'll be flying to Toronto tonight. Well, listen, can't wait to have you here. Big weekend ahead of us. Just

your overall thoughts about going into the break and what you're going to experience in the next few days. Yeah, no, I'm super pumped to get to Toronto. It's one of my favorite cities. It reminds me a lot of Chicago. No, I don't need to make a friend. In fact, all that.

We've got better architecture. You guys have better Asian food. So, you know, I think just the juicer on the weekend, it's always there. It's one of the best weekends of the year just because it feels like a lot of the NHL descends in one place, and there's just an energy around that. And then I think that the all-star game might just have a little extra juice this year in years past. I know it's grown kind of stale, and we at ESPN the last two years broadcasting it didn't feel great about it, especially the skills competition, which straight away for me got a little bit gimmicky.

And it seems like Connor McDavid and some of the guys in the league kept the NHL in line, offered their ideas. So I think the fact that skills actually matters this year, it's pretty exciting. It seems talking to some of the guys, the fact that winner gets a million dollars, second place gets absolutely nothing. The stakes are real there. The winner gets a million dollars, but the

goalies can only win $100,000. We were just complaining about that. Do you think that's fair? No, I mean, I feel for goalies this year, right? Like, this is the year they're maligned on everything. The shooters get all the advantages, state percentages down, and now we disrespect them with this, so I'm with you. I honestly think they

should boycott. Boycott. They should actually form a picket line. I love it. Emily. Where's the goalie again? Yeah. Storylines coming into the All-Star weekend. Where do you have expansion as one of them?

Because we keep hearing more rumblings about Utah and the fact that maybe Gary Bettman and his owners are just running out of patience with Arizona. Yeah, you know, I've been to a million of these league events now, and there's always the Gary Bettman press conference the morning of or the day before. And it feels like every year it's the same version of these questions. And expansion always comes up, and the Arizona situation always comes up. But this year, I do feel like there's some imminent movement going on. And I think behind the scenes, there's clearly progression that the league has made with Utah.

This is a preferred ownership group. Ryan Smith, who's done a really good job with the Jazz as well as the MLS team, got some ties to hockey. He's got some ties to hockey. He's got some ties to the Devils ownership group. He's clearly built up a relationship with Gary Bettman to the point where another owner told me he clearly trusts him. And it feels like right now it's inevitable that Salt Lake, and really they're going to call it Utah because they don't know

if the arena is going to be in Salt Lake or not, is getting a team. And whether it's Arizona, whether it's an expansion team, I don't know. I asked Ryan Smith that. He says he doesn't care. Just get the NHL to Utah. So I expect some movement there over the next couple months because, look, the Arizona situation's got to come to a head, and it seems like Gary Bettman at least put a contingency plan in place.

But also, if they figure out Arizona, that's great. Everyone's happy. You get almost a billion dollars, if not more, with this new expansion fee. And I think the owners are going to have a hard time saying no to that. And they probably won't. My two cents is that it should be in Salt Lake City if they're going to do it, not somewhere else in Utah. But the question I have there is just...

It's clear there. Yeah, yeah. It's more so just it's now this expanding metropolis. It's one of the fastest-gr growing regions in the U.S. So if they build a new arena, which it sounds like they will, it just might be in one of the fancy suburbs closer to Park City. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fair enough.

It is a good hockey place, and I can see why they want it there. My question, though, is just you mentioned the ownership group, and Bettman sees it as a preferred ownership group. How much of where these teams go, expansion teams and whatever, is about the people it's going to versus the city it's going to? Yeah, I think it's hard to handicap which one is more important because I think they weigh pretty heavily for Gary Bettman. You know, in terms of markets, I think they look at Utah,

they look at the way that they've supported the Jazz, the fact that, as I mentioned, it's a really fast-growing market. It's an affluent market. There's a lot of tech there. Ryan Smith, being this preferred guy, he reminded me a couple times. He's in his early 40s. He's still very active in the tech world. So that market is good for those reasons.

And then also the ownership group is important. And it's the people Gary Bettman wants to go into business with. And Ryan Smith did pitch himself on, like, hey, my company is pretty successful and I have a day-to-day purview of what's going on in tech and innovations. And if you want your league to go forward and you really want it to grow, I can have an active voice there.

And I think Gary Bettman, who a lot of times does run an insular circle, does seem open to that idea, bringing in a person like that into the NHL realm. We're talking to Emily Kaplan from ESPN. Emily, in terms of the talk of Utah, where is Atlanta? I believe that, you know, there's a report from Kevin Weeks talking about a building coming in Atlanta today. But outside of that, is 34 the magic number

now for Gary Bettman to hit in the next few years? It's tough to say. I can't quite get a grasp of what's really going on in Arizona. I mean, Atlanta, rather. I know that there are some active NHL people involved in that project trying to get it there.

Anson Carter probably being the most forward facing. We know that it's a market that the NHL has tried and has left and has left again. So we'll see. I really can't get a sense. I do know, though, that it feels like once the NHL gets another team, Utah does seem next in line. But once they see the expansion fee for Utah,

which is going to be far more than Seattle, which was far more than Vegas, you'd think that everyone might get a little greedy here and want to expand more. What that does to the product on the ice, I can't say, but I do know that the union and players are probably happy at least about a couple more jobs. So this is a weekend that we typically celebrate hockey and all the positive and fun things,

the great players and all that, but Bettman is going to have to answer questions about the sort of hockey canada scandal the shouldn't say scandal the thing that's going on up here with the kids who have all been charged um you know how do you expect the nhl to handle these players it seems like it could be a couple years before this court case gets all the way through how do do you expect Gary to handle these players in the interim? Thank you. Sorry, I'm just getting to the airport. What beautiful timing.

First time you had to ask me a tough question. No, but I think this is going to be a really delicate one for the NHL to navigate. You know, I do believe that the teams will have ground if these players are charged to terminate contracts. I mean, there's standard clauses in every contract about behavioral and codes. And you look at what happened with Corey Perry. It was not a criminal matter, but Chicago had no problem terminating his contract.

Of course, he did have some grievances with it. But what I would expect is the NHL to take a lot of caution here. They have because they haven't wanted to ask the London Police Department at any point of this. They're trying to follow the precedent of what's going on with the law. So I'd expect them to put these players on some sort of commissioner's exempt list, whether they're paid or unpaid, that's unfair to me. And the truth is, all of these guys are not quite locked up to long-term deals with their teams. Most of them, if not all of them, I believe, do become free agents this summer. So I think it's going to be a situation where the league is going to try to let these teams involve um weather it out for the next couple months and then basically say hey look you don't resign them

our hands are washed they can't sue us for you know this or that and we'll take it from there but you know one other aspect that's just been kind of uncomfortable for a lot of these teams the five players on the four or three teams in the NHL, is that the players haven't been honest at all with their general managers or front offices of what's going on. That's been under the guidance of their lawyers. So I do know that a lot of these front offices feel like their hands are tied and they're kind of just coming to head with what the reality is now.

Emily, is that what happened with Calgary? Just a lack of information? Because there's a lot of people that are skeptical. Yeah. You know, that's my sense. And I know it feels really unsavory and uncomfortable

just to like at least say mental health and all the strides we've made about being transparent about mental health. And now to say, okay, can we trust anyone who's going to use that as an excuse? But I was told a couple different times

when I was, you know, making calls on the story that teams in these front offices really were left in the dark and the players were like, look, I can't say anything. I just need a leave of absence. So my sense is Dylan Joubet, under the guidance of his lawyers, decided mental health, the flames put it out there, and now we're looking a bit silly. Yeah.

Kip, are you good on that topic? Anyone else who wants to hear more on that we talked to katie straying a little bit about it in the first hour as well um emily wanted to to get your thoughts as we head towards trade deadline about potential names that uh could be involved we know you always have your ear to the streets up here in canada if you mention a name it makes a story what uh what's going on out there? Is there going to be some active Canadian teams? Yeah, I think there will be some active Canadian teams. You know, this year, like all the other years, every time I'm making my calls,

everyone's trying to temper expectations, the stagnant salary cap, it's going to be really boring. This year, the excuse everyone's fighting is all of these teams mucked in the middle fighting for playoff races, so you don't really know who the buyers or sellers is. But when I was making calls over the last several weeks, there was one team that kept coming up as the one team that feels like it's

going to go all in this year. And that's the Vancouver Canucks. I think that front office, you know, you'll talk to Patrick Galvin after me. So maybe you can ask him this directly, but it seems like they're really happy with what they have to begin with. You know, I think if a guy like Jake Gensel becomes available in Pittsburgh, he's probably number one on their target list. He does have a history with Jim Rutherford.

But I think the Canucks are going to go for it, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other Canadian teams add as well. It just feels like this year you have so many good options to break that streak. But we'll see how it all shakes out. Emily, I'll ask you one more, and we'll let you catch your flight, I promise. The Los Angeles and and the fall here uh some people are suggesting maybe they are going to take the all-star break to kind of reassess are you hearing anything out of la that uh would suggest that uh you know they might even

be thinking about uh a coaching change is that possible it's been so stunning. And from what I understand over the last several weeks, this really began to deteriorate. The front office has been pretty steadfast. We need to run our course. Teams go through slums. And they really believe in Todd McFellin. He's hunter along contract. They feel like he's the biggest reason why they were able

to take this jump, get out of the rebuild. They find him to be a genius and really brilliant and have a way with these players. But the longer this goes, good men lose their job all the time in this league. And it's fair or unfair. I mean, just look at Edmonton and Jay Woodcroft. So I wouldn't be surprised if that situation changes, if these losing piles up, because let's face it, this is embarrassing. You shouldn't be able to, you shouldn't have to unravel like this midseason, especially with the leadership group that they have. So we'll see how it shakes out.

I do know, though, that the front office really was preaching stability, saying, look, we're not going to go at the trade deadline, get a lot of players. We're getting Arvidsson back. That's going to be our trade deadline ad. We're in it with this group. We're in it with this coaching staff. But things can change pretty quickly when the loss is piled. Emily, safe travels, and we'll see you soon. We're in it with this coaching staff, but things can change pretty quickly when the loss is piled.

Emily, safe travels, and we'll see you soon. My pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thanks for bearing me through this transition, but I'm at the airport, so thank you. Thanks, Emily. Appreciate it. All right, safe travels.

Emily Kaplan, ESPN. Oh, no. Hockey reporter. She hung up on it. A dial tone. Is she on a house phone? A dial tone. Did she use a rotary phone? When's the last time you heard a dial tone. Is she on a house phone? A dial tone. Did she use a rotary phone? When's the last time you heard a dial tone?

It's been a while. Been a while. So, main takeaway? Main takeaway? LA is intriguing right now because the all-star representative is Talbot. Yeah. And he's been... Well, but he was great off the start,

and it got to the point where eyebrows were raised. It's like, this guy's just as good as he's ever been. But are they now looking for a goalie before they think about a coaching change? Well, I guess that's a place to start. Tough for everyone to find a goalie. Would they overpay for Markstrom to get him to lift? Certainly could be.

I mean, right now it just seems like every time you see a team take a big swing and commit to a goalie, I think a Corpus Allo, it's like it hasn't panned out. When's the last big goalie contract that's like yeah yeah that's that's really looking good so markstrom still has three years left that's that's the big at least two for sure if not three i'm just looking at uh cam talbot's last since january 7th basically the start of the new year 8 8 2 8 9 7 9-27, 8-15, 8-21, 8-65, 7-50. It's like, well, I mean, you can kind of, you know,

it makes you feel stupid talking about hockey. Because, like, God descends. God, they can't win a game. God, the Kings, they look awful. It's like, well, look at the goalie stats a lot of time. It kind of tells you a story. It's not all that. But the Kings were a pretty good defensive team.

That was kind of what their calling card was when they were playing well at the start of the year. Were they good defensively? Were they just getting way more? It all comes back to the goalies who are only getting 100,000 at the skills. Yes, correct. I would say the other takeaway from Emily to me

is the Gensel-Rutherford connection, which I hadn't put together. Because I know that Vancouver has been linked to Gensel at times as another offensive guy. But Rutherford did have him. Rutherford would have seen probably the best of him at times. To me, it's very unlike Kyle Dubas to trade Gensel.

Well, you have seen him on rental. He's more of a guy that would try to sign him. Or just not trade him and lose him. That was a Kyle Duvis. That, to me, is not an option. It's not an option for Kyle Duvis. Well, he's done it 10 times. JVR, Bozak, who else?

Hyman. Mid. Hyman. Mid. Hyman. Hyman. Mid then. Hyman's a 50 Hyman. Hyman. Mid then. Hyman's a 50-goal scorer.

Mid then. They thought they didn't know what they had. Yeah. He knows what he has with Gensel. You can't put him in the same category as those guys. This guy's a legitimate scoring star in the National Hockey League. Jake Gardner, too. He did that with mid.

But I don't know. Good players. He just made it up. I know he's. What did we say? hockey league jake gardner too he did that with me but i i don't know what players but he hey i know he's what did we say kyle had a six-year deal seven-year deal i don't care uh pressure's on him not to to screw up this there's no no there is no no no i disagree i don't think there's pressure necessarily you can't get it wrong. Let's put it that way. There's no contract pressure. There's like, yeah, people calling him a joker or whatever,

but he's not getting fired in two years. Yeah, there's no pressure from internal. I think in two or three years, he could get fired. Really? Babcock got fired in what year? Babcock got fired before he coached a game in Columbus, so maybe it could happen. I'm talking Toronto.

I'm talking Toronto. I'm talking Toronto. You're five of eight? Okay. I mean, yeah, he could get, he's going to stick around. I'm not suggesting that he's going to get fired because he made one bad trade. But what I'm saying is if it goes bad now and it has a domino effect on him,

you think this Fenway group gives a crap about his long-term deal i did prior to this conversation i i this is a this is a multi-billion dollar corporation that owns biggest teams in the world i don't think kyle's contract's gonna hold them up either way if they want to yeah they should just trade sid well that's not happening no no okay i mean unless sid wants it to happen right yeah i just i guess he he wants to be one team his whole career yeah but to me they're just never gonna win anything yeah it's like if you and maybe he's maybe he's satisfied he's had a wonderful first ballot hall of fame one of the

all-time great careers maybe he's just like it. I want to be a one team guy, but like to me, free him. Truly free him from that. Like, it's like, they're going the wrong way.

Listen, they're going to make the playoffs and they could win around. I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. Tell me who's going to make the playoffs. Cause I'm seeing teams that don't want to make the playoffs. So right now in the Atlantic, or sorry, in the Metro, if you do, so I'll just do wild card or whatever. Detroit is in the second wild card spot at 57 points.

Okay, they're going to be better than Detroit. They have three games in hand and six points behind Detroit. So they are, you know, they can get there if they win those games. Islanders are a point ahead of them too. They're better than the Islanders. Islanders are minus 23 goal differential. Yeah. They're going to be fine.

You're not telling me who's going to make the playoffs and they're not. I'm looking at this, Kipper, and I hate to admit this to you. First time ever. You might be right. I just, and even look at the third spot in the Metro. Is Philly going to stay there? Philly's. Yeah.

Right? That's probably a spot up for grabs. Even Philly doesn't think Philly's going to stay there. And no Carter Hart. Yeah, they're going to start selling off pieces. Carter Hart's gone. Gone. Right?

They're getting in. They're getting in. Give us game time. First time for me. We'll break and then prep for Patrick Alvin. Yeah, we'll do game time here. And then, oh, I did hear some news for Sportsnet 916 Calgary on, oh, you read this and I'll get to it.

What do you got? Oh, just some Hannafin talk that I heard. Anyways, go ahead. Okay. Just make sure to get back to that. Yeah, yeah. Remind me, would you? Yeah. I've had six, go ahead. Okay. Just make sure to get back to that. Yeah, yeah. Remind me, would you? Yeah.

I've had six concussions. Bold text. There's actually a couple good hockey games tonight for a change. Okay. After the last two nights. But tonight we have Ottawa in Detroit, which is a pretty good game. It's game time. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, thank you for that reminder. It's game time. I'm presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

I've only been doing this every day since October. I don't know why I would forget to read that. Pretty even money on Detroit and Ottawa tonight. Minus 115 for Detroit. Minus 105 for Ottawa. Bet365 has no idea what to do with this. They probably saw last night's results were like neither team's gonna be trying yeah it was so you know ottawa got a nice win comeback win

you could sell yourself on the momentum coming into this get another good win going into the break or you could sell that they're gonna completely pull the chute i don't really know which way i lean but i would lean sends in that game uh you know that and then the other one that's pretty good game is the Kings and Preds. Kings need something desperately. No, they have to win this game. They desperately need this one. Kind of like Toronto going into Winnipeg.

Those last two games were like, hey, you want to take the edge off this weekend? Go win a hockey game. So they're minus 120. I feel like Bet36 365 feels the exact same way about that nashville's plus 100 kings have looked really bad haven't been getting a lot of saves not bad value on the preds who don't suck as bad as i think they do i've watched a couple kings now you do yeah okay yeah too much at stake there. Okay. And Nashville didn't look great against Ottawa, blowing a 3-0 lead.

And the last game before the All-Star break is the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks. Feels like the San Jose Sharks should, sorry, the Anaheim Ducks should probably not be minus 185 favorites over anyone. But the Sharks in the second half of a back-to-back, who knows? Hey, here's a, stay away, stay away. Sometimes. But the Sharks in the second ahead of a back-to-back, who knows? Hey, here's a,

stay away. Don't kill that one. Stay away. Sometimes that's the best advice. 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. On terror only. Please play responsibly. Yeah, that's a friends and family game. Yeah, that's,

for sure. There is not, that's a no-hitter. Yeah. Last game of the All-Star break. Two bad tees. We're going to go break? Yeah, that's a no-hitter yeah last game of the all-star break too bad yeah i got a t-diamond cabo all right uh yeah yeah okay we'll take a quick break and when we return patrick alveen will join us general manager of the vancouver canucks we'll talk about uh short-term maybe long-term goals of vancouver including what we can expect at the trade deadline. And as I said earlier, we'll discuss Hannafin and his situation, short-term, long-term with

the Calgary Flames. All righty. Plenty more. Real Kipper and Bourne. Don't go away. PDO cast with Dimitri Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee.

As we anticipate, Patrick Alvine will join us. God, these guys have, like, their timing couldn't have been better between Patrick and Jimmy Rutherford. Yeah. Team's doing okay. I think I need a new contract. I mean, that is strike when the iron's hot. It's a good lesson for us.

Yeah. Yeah. All right, just before we get to Patrick, just want to touch base a little bit still in Calgary. Yeah. Because Emily did talk about... Let's face it, Calgary Flames are taking a lot of heat over their press statement,

their original press release on Dylan Dubé that really centered around mental health and the attention that was towards that release and then ultimately finding out through his lawyers that he is one of five. But, you know, Emily did make a point that perhaps there's a lot of people here still in the dark on a lot of things and you know my first thought much like most of them is like oh

boy did calgary really screw up but i get they're not dumb people there you know they just wouldn't do that there's just nothing there's nothing there that will make me believe that at the time calgary didn't honestly believe this yeah well like i i would say that i was in the camp of i didn't pile on but you know you think like how could they actually do that and then you hear what emily said to us it's like well yeah they probably were instructed to not be truthful and like there's you know a lot to be in the there's a lot in the like there's a lot of gray area yeah the the press release said that dylan duba is taking a leave of absence for mental health reasons and i think if that's what the player tells you tells the organization that you can't say't say, well, we actually, you know, like you just, okay. Yeah.

You know, that's all. I'm not going to do a lot of digging on that. Right. So I don't know. Yeah, I think they probably took it for face value. Right. For sure. Could there have been a way that maybe protected themselves a little better?

Well, they were the only org who did that. So yes is the answer. While others just said personal leave. Right. Right. I mean, but I think the bigger point in this is just for me, is just the lack of information. And that includes like Hockey Canada, NHL, London Police, the NHLPA.

Like, I can honestly sit here and tell you that I don't believe that any of those groups are sharing a lot of information. It's like, you take care of yours, you take care of yours, you take care of yours, and we're going to do our investigation here. And when we have something to report, you're going to hear it like everybody else is going to hear it. Yeah. That's the way it's coming across to me. Yeah. Led by now the London police.

Gary, I'm not sure Gary knows any much more out of the London police than you or me or anybody in the media. Well, and it does sort of feel like this is how these sorts of things work, right? Someone is charged. They run through their due process. We'll find out the result at the end. You know, until then, it isn't a sporting event for us to sit here and speculate on or whatever. It's, you know, so.

Yeah. And we don't speculate. There's not a lot of opinion because we don't know anything. And there's a lot of people, like you said, just watch your own bobber. You know, don't worry about what's not a lot of opinion because we don't know anything. And there's a lot of people, like you said, just watch your own bobber. Don't worry about what's happening over there or there. You just keep your eyes straight ahead and do your own work. Was there something about Hannafin that you mentioned before?

Speaking of Calgary. Yeah, there's just a real sense that Hannafin's going to take the All-Star weekend break to think about a contract that is out there for him. They've made an offer. My understanding is, yeah, there's something there that if he's

comfortable enough, he could sign. Hmm. Wow. And there's a very good chance it's big. Oh, yeah? Well, how old did we say he is? He's one of those rare guys that hits UFA at 27. He's 26, maybe, turning 27?

Yeah, he just turned 27. Just turned 27. So, like, there's not a world, I think, that an agent wouldn't ask for eight years. And he should get eight. He should get eight. Yeah. And what eight?

So he'll be sipping a pina colada somewhere going. What would eight times say seven and a half be hypothetically? Quick math on that. It's like 60. Yeah. 60. Would that be a big number? Not a, no. No? No. I think that's a big number. that be a big number? Not a, no.

No? No. I think that's a big number. It's a big number. It's a big contract, $60 million, but. I don't know how he could refuse that. Yeah. If, and I'm saying if, Calgary has that on the table.

Right. Did you hear that, everybody? If. That's a, that's Morgan Riley's contract, right? Yes contract right yes the exact seven and a half is that two two million less per year than darnell nurse that you know and seth jones you know like it's d-men are tough to come by if i'm noah hannifin uh yes that's appealing it's a lot of money and you do it but i don't think he'd be i don't think it's wildly out of range. Okay. Yeah. All right. And for the Flames too, trying to keep good players and not do a full bottom out.

Yeah. I like it. And if he chooses to perhaps go to free agency and leave and Calgary doesn't get anything for him, the most he can sign is seven years, which makes it a lot harder to get to 60 million. Yes. Yeah, certainly. So that'd be good news if you're a Flames fan. I think that there are rumors out there that Noah Hannafin could be sticking around depending on his decision-making on the offer and all that.

I think one way or another we'll get some sort of feel. I mean, there's a lot of smart people out there that can find out in a week or less if he's going to start getting pushed as a trade deadline guy. I do wonder, though, Kip, if like, you know, he is 27 and hasn't won a Stanley Cup or anything like that. If you look at the flames in their direction,

they traded Zdorov, they're probably going to trade tanev like they're they're doing stuff right to go the other direction you're playing in let's just say it one of the worst buildings in the nhl to be a player in at this point and i know they have a new building coming but it's 2024 and i think that's ready in 2027 which he will be less than halfway through his contract yeah he'll get a big piece of the other building for sure but i'm just saying i if i were in his shoes i would have just a little pause about the direction of the team for the next three years yeah or you'll be like give me all the

money right now before i don't deserve all that money yes give me it all that's the smart thing to do i would like all that money can you always ask for a trade can you see the calgary flames uh being in a situation where they're looking at vancouver and going geez if they can do it so can we yeah well vancouver has probably sunk 10 franchises single-handedly here by not bottoming out and turning it around to being the president's trophy favorite. You have a lot of teams going, hey, we don't have to get bad to do that. And it's tough to do without elite talent. The real

trick that Vancouver pulled was being as bad as they were with elite talent. That was really the exceptional thing. Still waiting on Alvin. Maybe he got pulled into an Elias Patterson. He's got a meeting with his bank manager. That would keep me from coming on Alvin. Maybe he got pulled into an Elias Patterson. He's got a meeting with his bank manager. That would keep me from coming on my show.

Our show. I can imagine. A show. Kipper, did you see the athletic? They do a great one every year. I hate to give them too much, but they did the anonymous NHL player poll. I did see it briefly.

Connor's on every list, is he not? Did you go through it? Not of most punchable faces. Did you go through it or can I quiz you? Yes, you can quiz me because I do know what most exciting. No, the list is who's the best player. I mean, yeah. Who's the best goalie?

Who are the most underrated and overrated players? Who's the player you'd most like to punch? Best and worst refs, favorite jersey, and favorite and least favorite road cities. So you start with the first one. It's very obvious. Best player in the league, McDavid, at about 70%. 69.6%.

Oh, 6%, yeah. And where's McKinnon? 16. Second. Second. But like how far back? 60%. Okay.

As opposed to 70. Not bad. So third is interesting who do you think the players have as the third best player in the nhl uh leon or kale mccarr cooch nikita kucherov seven percent yeah i feel like all these you love kuch i think all these players just went and looked at the stats. They're like, oh, there they are.

Oh, that's like the writers voting on the trophies. Yeah, I can't... I can't argue with that, but... Sid comes in fourth, then Kel McCarr, then Kaprizov. Matthew's got 1.1% of the vote. Who's the best goalie in the league? Still Vasilevsky. Yeah, 44%.

Yeah. Hellebuck second, Demko third, Sorokin fourth. I guess the other players didn't watch the first round of the playoffs last year. Yeah, it wasn't his finest showing. Vasilevsky, but he, short summer. Back.

Sorry, he had a long summer, had surgery, missed two months of the season, he's back, he's humming again. You're so scared of him. No, I don't want to talk about that. How about Marc-Andre Fleury still getting 2.73% of the vote? That's insane. That's just, that's a legacy vote. Like, Carey Price was the best goalie in the league, like, last year.

In all the goals. Yeah. Now, is he going to want to get traded now? Who? Fleury, unless he's got some assurances that he's going to get a chance to be a number one goalie. You think that's what he wants? He wants to go somewhere and play? He does not want to go and be a cheerleader.

Doesn't that smell like L.A. to you? A place you could actually be the starter? L.A.? Carolina? Is there news on Freddie? Anderson, back on the ice. Yeah. Heerson back on the ice yeah he's back on the ice doing hockey things again frederick um i hear carolina colorado and it has to be la well yeah colorado georgiev plays literally every game they need to like i think he's way

in ahead for stars this year so um there's a couple one other ones i wanted to go with you kipper i hate the underrated player in the league you know it's actually the least interesting of these but no but kipper you know who the most underrated player is going to be the same guy every year uh same guy every year well park off he's not underrated i don't know he's making 10 million dollars yeah Yeah. He gets the trophy votes. He's a captain. He's a captain of one of the best teams in the league. So why does everyone always say that? Where's Hyman now at $5 million?

$5.5 million. Hyman has got 3.5% of the vote. But I do think that people... So he's up there. He's up there. Okay. That makes sense to me now. What is interesting,

I think the most overrated player in the league is a statement that the players made here. More flash and dash than substance. Barkov's just not a numbers guy, that's all. No. What about overrated? For overrated guy, more flash and dash than substance. Overrated, so I don't know.

You've said it before, Zegers. Oh, really? Yeah, first in the most vote with 12.8 his name out there a lot more now yeah why like who's gonna pay that like what's he making no no he's on a short term montreal today he's on a bridge deal at i know it's a lot of money but he signed like anaheim did not commit to him he didn't get the eight years no so see him as a part of the solution it doesn't seem yeah he signed a three-year 5.75 million dollar contract yeah i mean to me the other teams have pro scouts like right i why would you be trading anything for that contract because he has three goals he's young and he has 120 points in 160 games.

If I have faith that this guy's grown up and matured a little bit, I would grab him in a heartbeat. Buy low. Buy low on a talent. You are buying low. Yeah. But the other overrated players, Matthew Kachuk is third on that list. It's 6.9%.

Jason Robertson, Ovechkin's in there. Hubert Oza in there. Wow. So is Mitch Marner. it's 6.9 percent jason robertson ovechkin's in there huberdoza in there wow so is mitch marner kind of remarkable got 2.97 percent yeah i don't get that like marner's a top five score the last four or five years in the league because he's in toronto yeah in toronto he has a he has a bad week and people hate him. Yeah, he's on the list. No other Leafs on that list. So Tavares got one vote there. Player in the league whose face you most want to punch

went to Nick Cousins over Brad Marchand. That's an easy one this year. Very recency bias sort of thing, eh? 28.5% of the vote for nick cousins it's pretty impressive i brad marshand kachuk bunting garland hathaway i can't help the other kachuk can't help but go through this list the brothers are there right yeah how was there being zero leafs no leaf got a vote not even one vote yeah that's you know you'd like you'd like one guy on there i don't know maybe domey doesn't he have a punchable face doesn't he get after guys a Not even one vote. You'd like one guy on there.

I don't know. Maybe Domi? Doesn't he have a punchable face? Doesn't he get after guys a little bit? He got one overrated vote. Maybe he would sneak in. My punchable face when I played the New Jersey Devils as a Ranger was Billy Garen's. Really? I knew he was bigger and tougher than me and heavier and probably could beat me up.

I still wanted to punch him in the face though. He had that sort of arrogant, in a good way, you know, the confidence. I know, and then you meet him and he's funny and he's just like the best guy to hang out with. What was the guy in practice that he would have? Yeah, Draney. Yeah, yeah, maybe don't ask his opinion.

I don't care. How about best ref in the game and worst ref in the game were nearly voted the same guy. Wes McCauley, number one as best ref in the game and worst ref in the game were nearly voted the same guy. Wes McCauley, number one as best ref in the game, 53%. He also was in the top three for worst ref in the game. That's all Leaf fans. Yeah, that ain't him.

Who think that. Sheldon Keefe voted for him. Surely he did. The number one referee that screws the Leafs. McCauley. Yes. Yeah, they've had terrible luck with him. Can I make it admit, I've really graduated from ref stuff.

It used to be like my number one hobby horse, and I really used to be on the side of the people who were like, oh, it's against the Leafs, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. But McCauley, I don't know. He fired it out a little bit. Does he still ham up the fights? Fighting.

I've never seen that before. When they call the fighting, they actually bring their hands up and they shake them a little bit. Just call the trip, Wes. No, have you not seen this? What is that? It's an entertainment product. Just call the trip.

Call the trip. Two minutes trip. We don't need the fighting. The ref show. Yeah, who was the worst ref i didn't even get to that one um justin saint pierre i don't know all their names now oh that's a lot of the players if you read the article a lot of the players said i know their faces but they don't know the names um favorite road city to play in um this is not new york city new york city's number

two now number two vegas yes of, Vegas. Yes, of course. I said to Sam, how would New York not be one? How is there not more of everything in New York City? Having just been in Las Vegas. Yeah. Being a young rich hot guy in Las Vegas would be pretty fun. Yeah. So when I played with the Washington Capitals going into New York City for the first time

and Ike Corvo at the time, teammate of mine, likes to go out and have a good time back then. Yep. He's like, I'm going straight to my room. And I'm like, well, okay, then meet me later for dinner or we'll meet at a bar. No, I don't leave my room in New York City. And I'm like, what do you mean you don't leave my room In New York City And I'm like What do you mean You don't leave your room

In New York City He goes yeah First time I was here Got mugged Ripped my overcoat Right off me And that was it for him And that was it

Never went out Greatest city in the world Never going back out again Anecdotal stuff Like that kills me Like did you just assume Every time you left the like no one in new york city walks around without getting mugged we'll go six of us yeah you got alan may

who probably led the league in penalty minutes back then you'll be fine nope room service uh least sorry but least favorite city to play in. Least favorite road city. Buddy, I played in Hartford, Connecticut, the insurance capital of the world, and I could have fun there. Yeah, well, that's the thing. So Winnipeg got the nod here. A lot.

Yeah, pretty runaway. But, you know, the complaint from a lot of people, the players in reading it is just you're looking for stuff to do and ottawa was second because you're in kanata and there's just nothing ottawa downtown is great there's nothing around the rink around that area um isn't it like a tempe phoenix is fifth which is insane but then you think of mullet arena well i mean have they ever been to the old town well there's no shortage of things to do in the city it's just carolina the rings the ring the the carolina's rings

carolina's fourth yeah yeah right behind buffalo i could see that third yeah but yeah calgary's right there behind uh phoenix and i'm sure that's right as well how are we gonna feel about uh salt lake city buddy i think they're gonna love it they're gonna love it well yeah the dads are gonna love it isn't it like there's no what's the aren't there like strict rules there's sunshine and you can golf and ski in the same day in the winter it's gonna be a great place to be a player i don't know about visitor you're right because it is strict for social life but yeah in the winter man you can't find a cocktail. It is certainly more challenging to find a cocktail. But you can.

You can. You just got to look in the right spot. You got to be a member. Back in the day, you dug one up. You were able to find a couple. And the last one is, what's the best jersey in the league? There's a lot of good ones right now. I don't know.

The Rangers is always nice. Blackhawks is number one. 21% of them. And it's the original six in order. The only noteworthy thing to me is that original six, Seattle, Arizona were next. Arizona. Oh, probably the Kachina.

Yeah. The Wilsons are nice. People like that. For sure. And then the Sharks are really nice. I actually agree wholeheartedly with this list until you get to Colorado. Vegas.

I don't like Colorado. Vegas is nice. My gold knight. Vile sweaters, Vegas. My gold knight. Maybe the worst. Are they going to hand out sunglasses for the All-Star jerseys? Oh, my gosh.

Yeah. You know, I forget who tweeted out today, what year All-Star game were those that you were showing me? Oh, they're beautiful. The 1988 or whatever they are. The orange Wales and Campbell Conference stuff. And this year you got that bubblegum Carl's Jr. ass logo. To me, this would have been such an easy year to be like,

we're in Toronto, the Mecca of hockey. Let's honor. Let's do like a classic. Classic and old time. It doesn't have to be totally, but like inspired by it. Not inspired by Drew House. Like, I love Bieber. I love the Biebs.

I know you do. I go to his concert. I love him. Biebs ain't going traditional, pal. But like, does it all have to be Bieber? Bad for his image. But what direction are they good? Are they even like throwback, fun, 90s good?

Like, there's not even a direction they're good in. So, Bieber, are you going to the Bieber concert? Is there some sort of Bieber? No. Bieber? No. No. You could get in there.

Maybe. If there was one member of Toronto media that's getting into the Bieber concert, it's definitely Kip. I'd be the oldest guy there. Yeah, that's okay. Maybe the Biebs listens. It's not out of the question. He's a Leafs fan.

I don't know. I think it's out of the question.'s a Leafs fan I don't know I think it's out of the question is he going to be wearing his puffy jacket yeah you love the puffy jacket he's got style he'll be sweating like bullets if he's wearing that during the concert well I am curious to see who we round up when we head to the fanfare it's not going to be Justin Bieber

but we will be down there and asking questions of Whomever alumni is around Some of your friends I believe We still have a full day to go until we get there A full day of nothings What do you guys want to talk about tomorrow? We got the draft

I did want to read We're not reacting to the draft The draft is happening tomorrow Okay your mission tomorrow For tomorrow's show is to book 12. I do. I want to shout out Ali Kareem, who

listens to the show, and he won tickets to the All-Star game, was really excited about it, reached out and sent a nice note. He won from who? Us. Through our show, yeah. Did we give tickets away? He did it every day for like a month. Buddy, I don't pay attention when you read.

I was literally reading a giveaway. We did the thing where it said the 1967. That's what you've been doing this whole time, giving away tickets? Anyway, he wrote the show. I would have entered if I knew you were giving away tickets. Anyways, Marnie. So Ali wrote the show, and he says, Growing up a diehard Leafs fan with Ugandan refugee parents working two to three jobs at a time.

We never got the opportunity to even get close to the game in real life. I've worked hard to turn that around and I've now been able to get to a handful of games. But this opportunity to go to the All-Star game is going to be cemented in my memories and will be something I tell my children about. Thank you truly for this opportunity and for applying. He's so excited to get close to the game and the players that's who needs to get the tickets yeah emotional reading that that was really nice so we appreciate the message stop by and see us if you can on friday and i think he's

gonna so we will uh we'll take a picture i mean the the lineup for maybe long maybe lots of people wanted to see you guys and tell me to shut up good well i think you're gonna have a lot of the love because you represent the leafs fan base here you're the red meat for the leafs and bring us something to eat too sammy okay yeah i'll bring like i gotta do leaf regional games i gotta break into a cabinet for an energy bar i'll bring a little carcucci board for the boys down there how's that what now a carcucci a charcuterie it's a How's that sound? A what now? A caracucci. A charcuterie. It's a joke. What am I?

It's a very niche joke. Only one other person gets it. I said it on national television. Should I get the Danforth to bring us some souvlaki or what? Well, I was thinking you might. You got some. Call in the favors, bud. It's All-Star weekend. Let's go.

Yeah, that's right. We need a good souvlaki. Get a Greek fest in there. Extra tzatziki. I love it. Get my cousin George Kalinikos on it. Oh, yeah? He'll bring us all of Danforth if we want.

Whoop-ah! Kalinikos, that is Greek. Whoop-ah! And that's just what we need. Right before we do a two-hour show, cards. Did you ask me if Kalinikos is Greek? It ain't Irish. It's my nephew, Achilles Capitanakis,

also a little bit Greek. Sorry about Alvin. Apparently he was in his office and then he went MIA. Maybe he just fell asleep. I don't know. Maybe he's too rich. He's too tired right now. You turn that franchise around that quickly, it's got to be exhausting.

Push that wheelbarrow full of money to the bank. Jen Rolnick says that we should do karaoke tomorrow. That's the worst idea of all time. Love you, Jen. Buddy, you don't want your ears bleeding. None of that. Couldn't carry a note in a bucket. Well, stay tuned for 15 guests in two hours tomorrow.

I am looking forward to that. Thank you. All right. Katie Strang, thank you very much for your contribution today along with emily caplan curtis joseph and patrick alveen don't worry about it we'll get you on the rebound my friend thanks for watching thanks for listening if you get a chance give us a rating and review we'd love to hear from you and send those texts tomorrow 5 590-590. Have a great night, everybody.