Real Kyper & Bourne - Florida Fortifies Home Ice

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back over last night's Game 2 as the Panthers power to a 2-0 series lead over the Oilers. They get into the Panthers' resilience after a soft first goal from Edmonton, the Oilers' lack of production and Draisaitl's controversial hit on Barkov. Five-time Stanley Cup champ Charlie Huddy (11:57) discusses the physical aspect of Game 2, why the Oilers have struggled offensively, Paul Maurice's impact in the series and more. Finally, they regroup with Sam to review last night's postgame pressers, the Hurricanes announcing Eric Tulsky as GM and how much the cap increase changes team spending this offseason.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 don't blink for the next hour because we got a ton to get into on the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee in for derrick brandale austin mackie jake the snake schultz also up there wherever you're watching and listening sportsnet 590 the fans sportsnet 650 in vancouver sportsnet 960 in calgary watching on sportsnet 360 or sportsnet plus like i said don't blink and download us if you can't catch us live and remember our show is always brought to you by bet 365 it's a real kipper and born show show. Serious day for Oilers fans today. I bet they're feeling very serious. I can't imagine. This is almost

why I would never want the Leafs to make it because I can't imagine how sad I would be right now if I was an Oilers fan. Would sad be the emotion? Depressed. We are going to go to Charlie Huddy in about 5 or 10 minutes, but we'll dissect as much as we can before we get to Charlie Huddy. Of course, former NHL defenseman, five-time Stanley Cup champion,

member of the Edmonton Oiler Hall of Fame, and also a guy that knows Paul Maurice quite well, working close to ten years with him in Winnipeg. He's the perfect guest for today. He is going to be great because we got a lot of defensive questions. Why, thank you, Barney. To ask. But, like, where do we start do we start with the oilers being down to nothing do we do we talk about injuries do we talk about

potential uh supplementary discipline do we talk about bark up i don't know where to start let's start with what happened what happened last night the panthers they win 4-1 uh they come back for the seventh time to win a game in this postseason which ties the record for most comebacks in a postseason what did you make of the way that game shook out compared to what you expected to shake out last night well first of all i'm i'm watching the oilers go up one nothing which was a perfect remedy to get back into the series yeah and tie it at one one even a bit of a softy by bob standards i think a softy was even more of a sign that this was going to be a decent night for the Oilers. You get him. He's human. He let in a bad goal. Where can you snowball that into momentum?

Where can you finally feel good about yourself that, hey, he's not stealing this one. And it was a horrible goal. I can watch a very high five-hole shot. Unlike what we've seen in the last six, eight weeks out of Bobrovsky like I can watch it 10 times and I still don't know how it went through him it's actually the only time he's given up a five hole goal in the postseason so yep things were off to a good start bounced off his chest and through his five holes somehow it was awful but it wasn't the sign no it was not

the sign and pretty much the way the Florida Panthers have been disposing of teams, they stay consistent. Stick with it. They stick with it. They don't panic. They smother. And not much room yet again for Connor McDavid or Dreisaitl. No.

We talked in this playoffs how hard it is for the elite guys to create once the other team has targeted you circled you made you the guy florida probably better than any team in the nhl at taking away ice and space so yeah we got one point for mcdavid he got an assist on the uh at home goal and uh nothing from dry saddle yet that's a bit of a story that they can't score one goal in two games. What do you have here, Sammy? Mark, it's the first time the Oilers have scored one goal in a two-game span since February of 22.

So that's a big part of it is the defensive side of things. And from there, I don't think they're giving up anything more than usual on the other end of it. Just how do you score goals? From like a fan's perspective, i came out of that first game being like if i'm an oiler sam be like god we needed that one because the oilers played so great in the first two periods of that game i thought the the panthers shut it down a little bit in the third and they kind of tightened it up a bit but you just they gave up a goal three

minutes in but if you find a way in that first game to get a couple by brobroski you win that first one. Like this was always come this, what the Panthers did last night is the Florida Panthers. What they look like in the first two periods of that game, one were not like them. And it was like, you had a chance to get them at home on a home ice and he just didn't get it.

Yeah. And now it feels like, are you going to beat the Panthers four to five times here? The brights. Well, here's the bright spot. If you're trying to sell it to your friends and you're an oilers fan whatever barkov hurt is a big story and i know i'm not saying he's not gonna play i think maurice even said that you know if things keep progressing he he maybe will but barkov would be big if he's not

doing great ekblad's ankle not great i know oilers have their injuries but that would be big if he's not doing great. Ekblad's ankle looked not great. I know Oilers have their injuries, but that would be big. Absolutely huge. Okay, we're going to get to Charlie Huddy for sure. Call him in about five minutes or so. What are your overall thoughts? I was quite surprised, if not shocked, that there wasn't more talk post game about the hit and whether or not they even thought it was suspendable like it was not it was an afterthought everybody was like just it's a

nothing play yeah and i'm not here to debate that we can but what i'm here to tell you is that their best skater got hit in the head yeah and couldn't return that's a story that has to lead to where are you on the severity of the blow and would that warrant a look by the league and at least a conversation it's not gonna happen nobody wanted to even touch it maybe if it were warren fogel who also got ejected for the knee if he had thrown it maybe we'd be talking about or connor brown or someone else it's leon dry sidle you think they're gonna suspend leon dry sidle for the playoffs heading three in the finals let me tell you something if they announce tomorrow that barkov's out with a broken jaw and he's done for the rest of the series,

yeah, they are going to look at it. I do think you're right that it's injury dependent here. It's all injury dependent. They could do that? Like, doesn't it have to be announced? Like, there's no timeline? So if they say that he's... What if he's like...

If he's... And I'm not suggesting that that's going to happen, but what I am here to tell you is that nothing's been decided by the league. Nothing's been said by the, by the Florida Panthers. If he's, if, if the damage is so severe and he can't play game three or game four, or he's lost for the rest of the series how does that make you feel differently about the blow to the head well it does make you feel

differently for sure right taking out the other team's captain and best player with a hit i tend to want to penalize intent more than result and to me that's not a vicious play. It wasn't even a penalty until he stayed down to your point. Do they just make it up as they go? Like, can you, like, all of a sudden, it's like, I thought a penalty's a penalty. There was no whistle. There was no penalty. There was no official arm up to your point of just looking like any other kind of finished check until he stayed down. And then the officials blew the whistle.

And to your point, once the whistle's gone, they can go revisit anything they want. High sticks. They can get together and say, hey, did I miss something here? And it's like, yeah, you missed he yeah he drove his elbow into his jaw i you know they're saying all the right things bar you know obviously dry saddle saying no malicious intent of course but martin maurice did say today that it's the good news is it's not worse today and so with if it progresses like they do yeah sitting here today i feel like barkov is going to play game three would you like to hear um paul maurice's initial thoughts on the leon hit on

barkov yes okay so clip three please uh austin paul i i do want to ask you about the evolution defensively this team since you've arrived but but just quickly, because I think you're holding back, how do you feel about the hit on Barkov? This isn't the Oprah Winfrey show. My feelings don't matter. It's a good quote. Oprah? Yeah, it's a good quote.

Does that make you hear LeBron Oprah? I don't know. But we have more from Maurice on this. And then today, with a little bit of the next day clarity, he was asked again. And this is from clip four, please, Austin. Well, I would view it without as much emotion. And then I don't...

It's done. The refs called a penalty on the ice. The league looks at just about every single hit. They'll make their decision. And then we aren't dealing with that anymore today. And part of that is just the discipline, mental discipline, to leave the game where it is regardless of the result. And I don't need to understand why you guys don't want to talk about it.

It's a story. I should use seven weeks of this stuff. So you guys have got to grind too. But I'd stay out of it. It's done for me. It's all done. See, here's the biggest problem with our game is that we

cannot see intent and we cannot see the physical effect of a hit. So the one thing that I always kind of knew I could do pretty well in my career was I could disguise stuff and I could make it look like it's a nothing burger and I could hurt you

and that stuff still goes on yes it does I think unless you've done it you don't know that I mean hey I was a pretty clean player yeah i was not but but even as a clean player though of course there are moments when you're like all right f that guy you know we're gonna get a little greasy here so the example to me now is the uh the fogel neon uh list list uh listeria listeria Lester Reinen. Lester Reinen. Lester Reinen. Yep. So this guy goes down like he's done. Okay? Like he's moments away from season-ending surgery. By that reaction, it was like, oh, boy. His something in the ACL is gone.

It changes the whole vibe of the call on the official. And, yes, did he lead with a knee? Yes. It's a kneeing penalty for sure. But if the guy gets up in a relatively decent amount of time, he's not out of the game. No. And then on the opposite side,

something like Barkov could look so innocent and that guy does not come back yeah and it's like what do we got to do do we have to pause for an hour while a guy gets x-rays so they can come back and say he's not hurt he's fine all right two minute minor yeah like what are we left with here and i thought i know we got charlie on the line, but I thought that the, the Bennett one on Bouchard behind the net, I thought that was maybe the most, the worst intent of all three hits where he threw the knee out on him, but Bouchard gets right up.

So they get the penalty and that's it. I agree with you on that. All right. We got him. Got him. Let's welcome in five times Stanley cup champion, Charlie Huddy. We're thrilled to have you on the show.

Charlie, how are you, my friend? I'm good. Thanks for having me. Thanks for joining us. So let me go back to your era. Who was really good at disguising hurting guys? And was it you?

Would number 11 come to mind? Yeah, he would come to mind, but I'm guessing sometimes he didn't disguise it very well. He would be one of the guys for sure. Another guy probably maybe lots of people wouldn't know, but like a Kevin McClellan or somebody like that would be, was our fourth line center back then, and a tough guy that would kind of get around the ice

and get that sneaky little elbow out or sneaky little forearm out. Yeah, it does happen out there. So, Charlie, we'll get your thoughts on how it's gone for the Oilers so far through two games of the Stanley Cup final. Been in a couple of games, obviously, but haven't got the result. Yeah, you know, I mean, I'm kind of like everybody. The first game, you know, they had some bad luck around the net. The goalie was obviously fantastic, which happens in playoff hockey.

That's why you win Stanley Cups. You get a hot goaltender. And, you know, they just couldn't get anything in. And then they come out last night, and then, you know what? Florida tightened up again, I thought. And I know Paul Brees, he's in that room getting those guys to lock down that slot area and getting it shut down so there's no slot shots and stuff like that. I know that we talked a lot about it, and I'm sure he's doing that right now.

I think it showed last night in the Ozone. The Oiler Fords had a hard time penetrating into that area. Then you get around that outside. Ford was keeping to the outside, but then you get around that outside, you hold on to it too long, then you try to force a pass, and then you know what happens. It gets going the other way. And nothing ever gets to the net, but I mean, I guess the coaching image still, I looked at the stats this morning, and I mean the forwards of the Oilers had six shots on that.

You know, McDavid, Dreisaitl, and Hyman, and then the rest of the guys, you know, Fogle was out, but the rest of the guys had no shots on that, and it's tough to win a hockey game when only three forwards get shots on that. We're talking to Charlie Huddy, hall of famer with the edmonton oilers and now watching a very tough climb by the edmonton oilers to get back in this series uh charlie safe to say that connor uh in terms of the space that's allowed for him uh he hasn't seen anything like this at at least in the first three rounds here. What's the key to closing up a gap here?

And why is Florida a lot more successful than Edmonton so far in the first two games? Yeah, there's no doubt. I don't think he's seen anything like the way Florida's handling. I mean, Florida's got some D that can move, like, you know, Forsling and Ekblad, they can move. And it's just, it's all about the gap. I think that the initial rush by the Oilers, I mean, Florida's tracking back really hard.

I mean, I watched the game last night, and there were some times where two forwards were coming in on four Florida guys or even three Oiler forwards coming in on four Florida guys. So they're or other forwards coming in on on four Florida guys so they're getting back there and they they've done a great job on McDavid of of not of switch of having switch offs and having closed the gap and taking away time and space and and the other the other thing is is when that puck gets along the wall Florida's got a second quick in there really quick before I think before Edmonton gets their second quick in there. So they're able to get, you know, McDavid or Dreisaitl

or whoever it may be up against the wall. And then the second Florida guy comes in there and gets the puck and then they're on the move going the other way. But I think it's just, it's not over. I always told RD, you got to give yourself a buffer on guys that got a lot of speed. If you get, those guys want you to get up tight on them, like McDavid and Dreissel. They want you to get up tight on them so that they can cut back and spin off you.

And then as a defenseman, you've got no chance. So I used to say give yourself a one- or two-foot buffer. And at the end of the day, you know what? He's got to go through you to get to the net. So give yourself that extra room. And I think Florida's done a real good job of doing that. Charlie, you were an assistant coach with Paul Maurice for a lot of years and would have some unique insight to the things that he likes to do.

Is there anything that comes to mind when it comes to the way that he likes to coach and things he likes his teams to do that you're seeing play out so far in this series? You know what? I think just getting the, we always say, pushing the right buttons on the right guys and making the right line change at the right time. He always seemed to do that in Winnipeg. You know, he'd move one guy in, move one guy out, and I think he's done that a little bit, especially with Rodriguez. But, I mean, he gets gets in that room before the game and he you know he'll he'd keep coming that coach's

office and he'd say go we you know kind of bug him because we knew how he operated you know what he got for them and he goes you know what I'm not sure uh it'll come to me though and then he started walking down the hallway towards the dressing room. And then all of a sudden he'd be, he turned back and he'd kind of like look at us and then he'd walk in that room and he'd go in there and it would be an unreal pregame speech to get the guys fired up and get the guys going. And not overkill, but just enough to get,

to hit the right button and get you going. And you don't need that right now in the Stanley Cup Finals. I think he said that. You just go in there and give him a few pointers or whatever, just a few reminders on what we need to do to win the hockey game. I think he was great at that. And the way he handles the bench, he's got those guys dialed in. I know that year that we lost to Vegas in the conference,

our whole game was about forecheck. Get in on the forecheck, cause some turnovers, and then we'll go from there. And I think he's got that built into Florida right now where those guys are getting pucks in the right spot so they can go back in and get the pucks or the hard rims, hard for the oiler defense to handle it. So he's got them in the right spot and they're getting

there is there anything else charlie that you can see from afar on on paul maurice that's that's maybe giving him a leg up from his days in winnipeg like the difference between getting florida maybe over a hump with two more wins compared to what he couldn't do in Winnipeg? Is that just strictly players, talent, character in the players? Yeah, you know, I really want to go there. But, you know what, it'd be all of the above. I mean, I think he just felt that he didn't have – I mean, I was the most shocked guy in the world when he called me at 4.30 just after we had practiced and I went home and he said,

you know, I'm done. I'm like, what? Done? Nobody does that. But you know what? He just feels the game and he knows his players and he just knew that there was nothing left that he could do to get him over the hump for whatever reason.

And you know what he felt it was time to move on and now he's gone into a into a fresh start i listened to those guys talk about him chuck talks about him a lot he's the best coach he's ever had he's great and he you know he just it's just it's the right environment for him he got in there at the right time and um he's he had a game plan going in there and those guys have followed he's got a great lineup a lot of depth from from the first line to the fourth line and he's got defense that are playing in the game for him so looking at the Oilers D so it sounds like you spent a lot of time coaching up defense you know they maybe don't have the Oilers don't have pure

defenders necessarily uh Eckholm can do it very well but you know there maybe don't have the others don't have pure defenders necessarily uh at home can do it very well but you know there are some challenges nurse cc even bouchard at times you know how would you coach up a group like that from here where they're not getting the offense not giving up a ton but they don't necessarily have i don't know they don't have the d that florida does personnel wise yeah you know you know what i think when you have that kind of the d that they have i mean other i mean ekman's echoing the score and bouchard obviously but the other guys it's just that you want them to defend first and that's the most important thing like you that you get into trouble when you when you start to try to do too much you

know you think you can maybe make that extra extra move or whatever it may be or the extra play on the offensive blue line to get you know to get to get pucks through or whatever the case may be but well I mean I get those days you just got to play within yourself and you don't want to do too much I mean that's that's the that's when you really start to get into trouble and and things happen yeah you're going to get some breaks. I mean, I think Kulak had, I don't know, four or five or six shots on that last night. So, I mean, it's, you know, you've got to play within yourself. And I'd get them to, you know, you're going to go through stretches where you have some rough shifts

or you have some rough games, but you've got to cut it off. And especially this time of year, obviously, you can't have a string of a bunch of bad games but you got to be able to cut it off and get back out there and um be ready for the next game or be ready for the next shift to to do what you have to do we're talking to five-time stanley cup champion charlie huddy member of the edmonton oilers hall of fame so char, is there anything, any comparable to maybe what Bouchard's feeling like Paul Coffey felt all those years in terms of being the point producer

and having to come up with big numbers for the team to have success? Could he be feeling that? Bouchard? Yeah, you know what? I would think so. I mean, I can't speak for him, but you would think that that's – especially when you're not scoring goals.

I mean, if they were scoring a bunch of goals and everything was going good, then probably that's the last thing on your mind is doing that. I've got to defend now and keep the puck out of our net. But when it's not, you're the – I mean, you know what it's like. The media is going to go in there and say, well, you're not producing off the offensive blue line. You're not getting the power play going the way it should be going and stuff like that. So, I mean, it's the Stanley Cup playoffs.

It's hard to get points in this league. You know that. And it just doesn't come. And if it doesn't, you can't manufacture them. They're going to come. They're going to happen. And you just got to wait on it. I mean, it's just not there.

So I'm sure he's feeling it, and it's the same old story. You try to do too much, and then bad things happen, right? So you've just got to stick with the game plan that got you all those points. I mean, shooting the puck like I thought on the power play. It's not going right now. I mean, what the puck like I thought on the power play. It's not going right now. I mean, what do you tell every – I never ran a power play, but luckily I got on it two or three times when I was in Edmonton with all those other guys.

But it's like anything, right? It's like if it's not going, just get the puck to the net. You know Hyman's going to be standing in front of the net and something's going to go in off somebody's leg or whatever the case may be. But you pass it around, pass it around, hoping that something's going to open up. And Florida's done an unreal job.

They're not. I mean, Barkoff's such a smart player in taking away that seam pass. And, you know, they get one to Leon, but he's right on the goal line. And Bob knows it's coming and he's already over on it. I mean, it's getting pucks to the over on it I mean it's so it's it's getting getting getting pucks in the net and then things will open up right once you start shooting the

puck then the seams will open up and everything happens after that but you need a starting point and hopefully that they'll they can get that thing back on track because it's we all know it's one of a lot of hockey games and they're going to need it to, to win games now. Last one for me, Charlie, just looking at the struggles for McDavid and dry settled and getting points. What are some things that defenses do against elite players? Like what are some things when you're circling a guy and saying,

we got to shut this down? Obviously, you know, you want to put body on them where you can. Is there anything else that's making it that much harder for these guys to do what they usually do? Yeah. I mean mean obviously first thing first thing's the body but uh easier said than done i mean it's tough to get those guys i think just going going back to what i said about like i i when we played them in winnipeg and um and but and, but he, he had dry side limit David together a lot.

So I had gone through a whole bunch of tape and put about five or six minutes of those two guys playing together, um, and showed our defense, you know, just the tendencies that those guys, how they work off of each other, how they cut back,

how they're looking for each other. He knows that, you know, puck behind a back pass or backhand, whatever, whatever it may be. But, I mean, just going back to what I said earlier, I think the biggest thing is just not getting too tight on those guys.

If you can get them in there, get on the body right away, yes. But they just invite that thing. They're like the Sedins. The Sedins, remember, they just wanted you to come in and get on the body, and then they'd spin off you, and one of them would find the other one, and then it'd be gone, and the net and the puck would be there but it's it's that buffer that you need to have to be able to you know keep you know one hand on your stick be able to knock some pucks down and then use your hand to be able to kind of to guide them a little bit but I mean that's what

they're looking for so I think that again Florida's done a great job of that and you know what the forwards have helped out a lot I mean they get they get, you know, McDavid and Drysdale to get climbing up on the top of those circles. And the Florida forwards are there being able to cut them off and getting a stick on it. So, I mean, you know, you got to give the Florida forwards credit too for their coverage in the D zone. Charlie, we really appreciate you making time for us today, man.

Thanks for doing this. Yeah, no problem anytime thanks Charlie appreciate it Edmonton Oilers great Charlie Huddy we have just to follow up to me the focus on McDavid is to make sure that he doesn't have

the access to the net as far as him handling the puck. You know how many times he's turned away and gone to the outside or back to the perimeter to handle the puck? They're okay with that. They're not chasing him up there.

They're like, go and handle the puck all you want up there. He had it a ton last night, but he just wasn't getting to the sweet spot. You know, these guys in these situations who start to have problems in playoffs, the holes aren't there that are usually there. They don't see it. You know, beyond the

first guy that they have to beat, there might be another layer so they don't even try to get in. I feel like you still have to try to get in, and that might be the quest for McDavid. He has tried on occasion, and then it looks like he's trying too hard because he he's lost the puck a couple of times uh it's into traffic and it's like they're a great defensive team they really are it's hard i thought eckblad in particular

last night was just so good yeah like so huge same but he was excellent but their their ability to tighten up and close the gap is night and day from the edmonton oilers like what like another goal like it's it's not the hard four check that's creating offense for florida it's breaking the puck out of their own zone. They're scoring 180 feet. And Mikula's a perfect example. Go back and watch it. It's literally four seconds that the puck is in Florida's own zone.

Evander Kane goes behind the net when there's no reason to. McLeod is a second four checker who has a horrible, chooses a horrible path to squeeze off the boards. Connor Brown is weak on the board side. And then they give up the middle of the ice and they're gone. And who scores the goal evander kane's man micola because evander decides to go behind the net and cover nobody they're at the point with kane where they may have to have a conversation of like if he can't if he's not healthy enough to play like well should he play they're they're not

giving up those goals florida are not giving up that type of goal. Yeah. And that's the difference in the game. He only played 10 minutes last night. Is that right? Yeah. You may have to think about him not playing game three. But hey, they're obviously hurt.

Yeah. Right? They're hurting. But like Ekblad hurt. Barkov hurt. You know, Lusterain and hurt like it's part of i was surprised how quickly ekblad came back from that one because the way his leg got caught his history is not good for sure it looked bad for his ankle just to my earlier point like florida they're not giving up the blue line yeah okay and they're

they're not scared to challenge and they're so aggressive their blue line all of them are so aggressive in the neutral zone and if they are there's a forward to back them up i'm going to simplify this for all of us the oilers need to win the special teams battle we said that going into this series everyone said that because florida's so physical they need to do on the special teams. Florida gets a power play goal. The Oilers are 0 for 7 on the power play. This could easily, in game three, be like the Oilers, the players are all talking about they hit three posts. We could be talking about it differently.

They could put a couple in on the power play, tighten up on the PK, and all of a sudden this is a different series. You're so right. You're so right. Just that special team is key. The margin of error, including specialty teams, it's not much. The Edmonton Oilers are not far off from winning a hockey game here. Oh, of course.

But if it's not going, you cannot lose some individual battles. And again, you're 2-1. Rodriguez's redirect, go watch Bouchard along the wall. Get eaten up. Like a hot knife through butter. That's not happening on the Florida blue line. I know we got to do some other stuff. I want to hear the clip on Evan Rodriguez that Paul Maurice has there.

Maybe it's not interesting, but he's worth a conversation. Is he not? No, absolutely. All right, clip two, please, from Maurice. Not deferring to stars because early in his first tour with the Barkov line, I felt he did. And it's understandable. You're a new player coming to an organization that is skilled.

It can make plays. The analytics on that line were always exceptionally good. But if there was a critique that I thought at times he deferred and didn't need to do that. So what he's done is he went on a world tour of our lineup and played with just about everyone. And found his game, and maybe these are questions more for Evan than anybody else, but the confidence to be specific about who you are

as a player and then confident in that. Not a lot more, but he's become... I mean, at this point now in the playoffs alone, he's played all three positions. Like, that's the type of guy

when you have a successful season, you're like, that guy matters. They're all in the lineup. Not tendered by Kyle Davis. Right. Lundell is... Lundell's another one. Oh, good too.

Carter Verhage could not check his hat like at the door three or four years ago. Okay. Now he's a frigging star. That guy competes. He battles hard. I assure you, Sammy, you're Leaf fans.

That wasn't remotely the guy that they saw years ago. When he goes to two separate places, it's hard to be. Whenever he goes, we're all good. They're loaded with those type of guys. Jamie, their whole lineup.

I know. Their whole lineup. Rodriguez. Rodriguez was a great example. Was he a leaf for like five seconds? Rodriguez was in Rochester and Dubas would have seen him a ton. Same with Verhage.

He was in Syracuse. For a Pittsburgh trade. For Kapanen. For Kapanen. Yeah. Throw in. Yeah. Just to throw in.

But they all compete they all play hard i do think there's something to you're going to a place where the important players are structured like barkov and chuck and there's a culture and ekblad's been there it's easier to step into lineups like that and have success it's just and like that's how you win a cup leaders that's alpha dog he's got 11 points got six goals in this run that's how you win a cup. That's leaders. That's alpha dogs. He's got 11 points. He's got six goals in this run. That's how you win a cup. With a guy that's under, that just lights it up.

Right. Right? Yeah. So, like, do you, how worried here? Like, do you think the Oilers can get back in this? I do. It ain't over. You go back home, you get a couple of special teams goals

I said cats in five and I still feel that way do you have any McDavid clips today I do let's take a break and then we'll come back

with the McDavid I have things to say I want the McDavid clip perfect alright we'll do game time we come back in that clip you heard the man

more real Kipper and Bourne after these words teeing up the biggest games of the night it's the fan pregame with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Big Kipper, that was Justin Bourne.

Rhymey McKee. All right, it's game time. All right, before game time. Got a contest for us. Rogers has announced an exciting new national contest, Bring Stanley Home, to send a Rogers customer and hockey fans from across Canada to the Stanley Cup Final in Edmonton. Rogers customers have the chance to win 10 VIP trips for two to attend game four in

edmonton saturday june 15th this prize also includes travel and accommodations plus premium viewing at a game day concert featuring shania twain wow man i feel like a woman okay and outside rogers place visit rogers.com stan Stanley Cup to enter for your chance to win. For more details. God, they've got to win game three. Shania Twain. We just mutually winced at the game four part. Yeah.

No, no, no. I winced at his reading. Oh, yeah. I was bumbling. That was a horrible reading up until you got to Shania. I'm fumbling. Then you went big and large. Then you got professional.

Hey, listen. I'm still bumbling through the 365. We do it every day. I didn't get here because I'm a good reader, boys. This is the worst non-professional show out there. I stock. Terrible. Or the best.

One of the two. I hope it's that. It is truly remarkable that I'm here. I don't know how I made it here, but I'm here. No one's here for literacy. We have a coffee every day. Say the same thing hope it's that it is truly remarkable that I'm here I don't know how I made it here but I'm here no one's here for literacy we have a coffee every day say the same thing yeah

it's true I love you boys alright now it's game time presented by Bet365 visit the app for the latest odds and find out why

it's never ordinary at Bet365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly now I know it's

another game another couple days until game three so i'm just gonna quickly sneak in a couple golf picks because the u.s opens this weekend uh one of the best golf tournaments of the year father's day always a great time uh love it hopefully a competitive game for where the rogers customer gets to see shania twain play uh and a hockey game i guess But it's crazy the odds for this now because Scotty Scheffler was 4.5 to 1 for the Masters.

He was 4.5 to 1 for the PGA Championship. He is down to 3 to 1 to win. You can't bet that. But why? You can't bet that. I think you can. This is not... Whatever the opposite of value is, all the golf, I'm sure the betting people are like,

you can't bet one golfer versus the field at three to one. But he's probably going to win. But he isn't prime tiger. I think it's a real. You got me in a pool now and I went in it again. Yeah, I did too. I'm hooked. What is it?

Shout out Brandon Miller in Kelowna, BC there. It's our Miller's majors. 25 bucks. You pick I did too. I'm hooked. What is it? Shout out Brandon Miller in Kelowna, BC there. It's our Miller's Majors. 25 bucks. You pick like 14 guys. You count eight. Yeah. I hate this. Because now I'm in it and I check the thing every like five seconds.

Yeah, yeah. It's like assuming my life on weekends. How'd you do last event? I think I finished like 45 out of like 200 so anyways i think he took uh uh sheffler out nobody can pick nobody can pick him wow i actually love that move because who wouldn't right it's the whole it takes the whole top tier out of play everyone would pick them so i think there's a way that you can bet without sheffler too yeah that's a good way to bet anyways It's like winner minus Scheffler.

Outside of that, I don't mind Colin Morikawa at 14-1. Been really good recently. Xander Shoffley got over the hump at the PGA Championship. Don't mind him at 11-1. And a little bit of a longer shot. No, I was going to give out Ludwig Auerberg, but his putting hasn't been great. You got anything Canadian for us?

I'm looking down here. How's your boy Hadwin? Give me a sec. Got to go down. Got to go down the list here. He was good last week, right? Hadwin? Yeah, I think he was. Yeah, he was second. If you want to bet Adam Hadwin, he is 125 to 1

to win the United States. And you were saying that Hadwin is now one of our two Canadians in the lead to go to the Olympics. Yeah. So he needs another good finish here to get ahead of Connors and beat Nick Taylor. Yeah. There you go. Alright. And that was Game Time 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. No hockey bets? Like literally zero? There's no hockey games for two days. Oh, I think the Oilers are going to win. They've got days.

We'll do that Thursday. I know we got a clip of Connor McDavid coming up. We do. I want to give a shout out to him because I think, first of all, he's got a ton of patience for the media in this Stanley Cup final. Maybe that's just, you know, I'm here. I might as well soak in a little bit of it. Very accommodating.

Doesn't mail in his answers i don't think no um but uh you know that i've been around a few guys were like shortest answers get me back in the shower for that no no no no no it's it's his call yeah if he's comfortable with it then i think for us it's awesome it's good it's great it's great for the game it's great for the media media. It's all good. But yeah, they hold him there, and he's not in any rush to leave, and he thinks about his answers, and I think we have one of them right now. Yep. Connor McDavid clip one there, Austin, for us. Yeah, it's exciting. It's exciting. It's another opportunity for our group to come together and dig our way out.

It's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be hard. It's supposed to be difficult. And I'm excited to see what our group's made of. I'm excited to see our group come together. I'm excited to see us fight through adversity. I'm looking forward to people doubting us again. You know, we're good with the backs against the wall i loved it i loved it i loved uh it's supposed to be hard yeah right it's a reminder that you

know if it was easy we'd all be doing it and that stands on anything in life yeah it's so funny how the the context for a quote is so important which is why people often complain about being taken out of context because the quote itself i'm looking forward to people doubting us again sounds defiant stubborn and unflexible that's not what that was that is a clip that's like okay we recognize we need to mount up here if i'm if i'm one of the guys in his team i'm like that's our leader we got to go behind him we got to fight for that guy. Like that's a galvanizing quote. The one that I found most interesting in that was I'm excited to see what our group is made of. He left it open-ended.

It's not a statement. We'll show you what we're made of. That was after. No, no, but I agree with you that he's like we're finding out ourselves and it's a challenge yes room yeah which again you you find a way to tie the series to one or you go down three nothing it's revealing to him he's he's like everybody else watching and waiting to see so i thought that was interesting yeah like there's there's still a question mark for him on on what they might be made of it's funny i read you know some articles obviously uh about this and how mcdavid

has to get going and all that like i don't know we talked about this a little bit but like mcdavid had the puck a lot he looks to me like himself he's lying yeah he looks dangerous you know it's very hard and this is in these games is when it's not matthew kachuk and barkov scoring all the goals it was evan rodriguez you know or it's nicole you know it is these guys will take all the attention and all the gravity. You need people behind you. But nobody will remember who had territorial advantage, who had the puck more, who looked really close to scoring but didn't. History will not be kind to Connor McDavid if he goes quietly in four games.

For sure. I agree. In that series, you know, you can't say, ah, this guy doesn't show up in playoffs. His numbers reveal that he very much shows up in playoffs. But you're right. For the Cup Final Series. Yeah.

And that's the challenge for these type of players. And I think in game one, I might have used that I thought Barkov outplayed. Maybe outplayed was the wrong word. Maybe the word should have been Barkov outproduced McDavid at the end of the day. Plus two, minus two, two assists, no points. And that's what will go down in the history books.

Yeah. Yeah, you'll go back and look at the game sheet. All the fans won't forget. Tons of pressure on Connor and Leon to go home. Last change. Like you said, get the power play going. Find a way to put two, three, four points up and turn the momentum around.

Yeah. And, you know, you talk about the pressure. I mean, he just put, he goes out there in front of the media yesterday and just puts even more pressure on himself. Yeah. Right? In a positive way. In a positive way positive way like he's not afraid of it and i would expect a rather large game three from the the oiler stars it's going back in game four where i would worry that's another thing but anyways for sure ready to move on sure uh the carolina hurricanes make

eric tulsky the next general manager. Tulsky of the blogging internet fame. He was more influential than Waddell was in Carolina. In the last few years. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah? From everything I gathered, it was the owner, Dundon.

Let the record show, he's the first guy to go from internet blogger to... And McDavid. So he was a blogger. Sorry. Well, I mean, he's the first guy to go from internet blogger to... And McDavid. So he was a blogger. All right, sorry. Well, I mean, he was a full-on... They were influential. Right. He was a full-on chemist, I think.

Like, he had a full, like, a serious job that he went to university for. Did this casually to start, probably 20 years ago. I don't know when it would have been. Casually, yeah. Yeah, it's not casual anymore. Wow. So that's interesting. don waddell has has moved on and tolsky will have the job people obviously know that he's into the numbers we'll

see if that affects the type of players they go after but to your point if he's already had his fingerprints on everything yeah it's funny nothing's really changed it's gonna change this this search hits different right now but but I'm doing Carolina Hurricanes cap friendly. One of my last looks probably here. No, it goes to July, I think. I got a big off season here for Carolina. Like it's a big one. Pesci, Chatfield, Natchez.

Martinuk. Martinuk. Tara Vinen, Gensel. Tara Vinen. Yeah. Gensel. Yeah. Pesci, Shea.

Tough one to start. Yeah, it's like that's a huge off season to come into and be like you're like the main guy yeah so uh in other news jim nill named general manager of the year award like sneaking these in during the final is is that a good thing but i think they want to do it to make sure we're aware of it rather than doing it when's the right time it certainly seems it seems like it's totally buried like i'm i sat here and i said do we even want to mention this could it not have been done it's just to me it's buried yeah and it's not like that guy's celebrating it today the guy got knocked out like last week that's the problem problem with doing it in playoffs. Does he really care? Like your team lost.

To me. Between the end of game 82 and game one of the playoffs is when they should announce that award. You know what the real general manager of the award is? When the Stanley Cup wins the Cup. The Stanley Cup is the GM of the year award. Maybe name it after like the regular season and the playoffs. Like what? Then the GM of the year award some

combo i will say though if you're hybrid if you're kind of looking at a team that's set up beautifully for the future and like built like a great farm system and built like a team that's really competitive and he made some great trades you got pan of in there that was great for them until they lost like you get why he would be it but it's such it does fall on deaf ears at this point where it's like this guy is a gentleman bill zito's like he is yeah it's like are you sure it's not me right you know who i think it is probably me but like it's also such a weird thing because teams are different parts of their development like i don't know, did San Jose or Chicago maybe have a better year for moving towards their

goals? You know, like what their trend would be? I don't know. These guys don't have the same goal. And if the goal is to win, then you're right. It's the Stanley Cup. He iced the worst team since the 92-93 expansion. So good for him. Sammy, you excited about the cap going up to

$88 million? the question i wanted to ask you two about this and the reason i put it in there because we kind of mentioned it at the end of the show yesterday but i wanted to revisit it how much more money does this mean guys are going to get on july 1 like or like four and a half million isn't that huge of a spike for a 5% raise your toronto maple leaves between willie nylander and matthews it's all gone it's all gone it's like every time i get my paycheck it's already spent this is what we were warned when i played that the difference between the haves and the have-nots every time the cap goes up it's going to go to the the top guys you're not going to participate much in it at all no it's

it's a stark divide in the NHL for sure. Yeah. Is there other leagues like that? I guess it probably is across all leagues. Like the NBA with the bottom guys versus like Giannis making $60 million a year. Yeah. I'm sure it's the same football kind of, but... It's funny because...

Our league needs the bottom guys more than their bottom guys. That's a great point. You don't need the 12th bench guy in the NBA as much as you need. That's actually an excellent point. Evan Rodriguez or whoever. I got a few of them over the years. Oh, no. You're even sitting there for a reason.

Dozens and dozens of points. Great points. Yeah. The Leafs, it's going to be interesting, you know, because fans often can't tell the value of a player who's $2 million. Like people like, ah, get rid of Alex Kerfoot. he makes three or get rid of uh yarn croc or whatever these guys at that much money pretty good pretty effective players and you do need those guys so people would really have turned on yarn croc how'd he turn on yarn croc fan base doesn't love him well he's he's a good regular

season player he's fine you came around on him this year i did you really started like him yeah well more so yeah yeah yeah i found him a little spunkier last year yes okay last debate let's talk about these uh the big hits from last game that everyone's discussing just which one to you is the most egregious the who's the oilers player through the the knee i thought the worst one was bennett oh warren that's what i meant that's what i meant i thought bennett the knee? I thought the worst one was Bennett. That's what I meant. I thought Bennett on Bouchard was the worst. Fogle and Dreisaitl. Any of them really terrible?

No, I just move on. I thought it was awful. You know what's interesting though? If Bouchard stays down, he's maybe suspended. You made the point if it was Connor Brown, it's a different story with the hits. But star on star, it puts the league in a very tough predicament.

And I'm not sure this story's over. If Florida decides to take Barkov out of game three. I think Leon could watch. I'm just saying it would put more pressure on the league. Yeah, it would. I'm not saying he would get suspended. Leon had this with Petrangelo too, right? He likes to get into it. All I'll say is keep your head up with the nail gun

on the ice. Bennett took out like Marchand, right? In these playoffs. Marchand was like, yeah, good for him. I do dumb stuff all the time too. Like Marchand saw stars for three days. We gotta go. We gotta go. Our thanks to Charlie Huddy. We're back tomorrow.

Oh, no, we're not back. Blue Jays tomorrow. Thursday. Thursday.