Real Kyper & Bourne - Gearing Up for Game One of the Final

Episode Date: June 7, 2024

After a long week of waiting, Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get set for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday. They discuss Connor McDavid's star factor before they are joined by former president, executive and head coach Doug MacLean (6:11) for Off-the-Rails Friday! Mac gets into his roots in Florida, how the Panthers defend McDavid, the keys to the series for each team, the coaching battle and more! Then, he discusses the dynamics of a Marner trade now that it's feeling more possible that he'll stay in Toronto for next season. Finally, they regroup with Sam for news & notes and to answer your questions on the text line!The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Let's pretend we are. What are you oomping about over there? I just couldn't hear Kipper's microphone. That was fun. I hear him. He sounds great. I don't know if I have him. No, I don't think he's there. I just couldn't hear Kipper's microphone. I hear him. He sounds great. I don't know if I have him. I don't think anything's working. Is anything working? I think it's working. Sammy, you're the producer.

Am I on or am I not on? Okay, it sounds like you're on now. This could be the earliest we've ever driven it into a ditch on a Friday off the rails. Is it October? Late October here? We're in playoff shows. I don't know

if my earpiece was malfunctioning or our fill-in technical director Andrew Adams was burying us, but I think it might have been me. So I will... I think. You're going to take the hit? I'll take the hit. You should take the hit. I'm like Conor McDavid doing the beer rum, boys.

I'll be the leader here. It was my fault. It was my fault. So we will not bury Double A. Oh, he just threw him under the bus. That's a passive bus throw right there. Andrew Adams, do not go anywhere for the next hour. We still need you. In for Derek Brandale.

David Sispubo is in the house. I'm Nick Kiprios. He's just born. He's Sammy McKee. And we are live on Sportsnet 590. The fans, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, 360, Sportsnet Plus.

Take your pick. We are here for the next hour. Doug McClain will join us in a few minutes. Of course, the first coach in Florida Panther history to stand behind a bench during a Stanley Cup final. We'll get his thoughts on Florida plans on flying him in. Presumably. Putting him up in a penthouse.

Right beside Kodak Black. He's now a legend now. Quick question. Why do we never have the same people working on our show are we a bad team here are we not are we team a and team b is not being included enough um i don't know where derrick is today but i know for a fact that we have jen rolnick who works before our show okay and she passes it off to Jake the Snake Schultz from Monday till Thursday. Okay. And then on Fridays, David Sisboomba takes over and does this when he's not producing

the Jeff Merrick show. But maybe he does both. So he does everything. All right. So that's our team. Or it could just be them all upstairs going, it's almost the middle of June. What the hell are we doing? A hockey show?

There's the hockey on? Come on. Knock it off. Can we talk about the Blue Jays? As we all sit here with our sunburns from golfing so much. I got a Stewart's Seek hat. June, what the hell are we doing a hockey show for? There's the hockey on? Come on, knock it off. Can we talk about the Blue Jays? As we all sit here with our sunburns from golfing so much. And we're lucky we have people upstairs right now. If it was Dallas and Florida right now, we'd have nobody up there.

I'd have to race up and down the stairs to push buttons. You'd have my son and my 7-year-old be pushing buttons up there. So with such a week off, can you imagine now us trying to push a Dallas-Florida final? Listen, we might have to next year. Let's not pretend it's going to be awful. That would be great, Kip. Two dynamic teams. I will say, for our Canadian audience at least,

there's no word big enough to describe how important it is that it's the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final as opposed to Dallas Stars. David, Leon Dreis evan bouchard thank god you asked an interesting question though about like because i talk about our canadian audience does connor matter to the american audience and that's one that i'm interested in well again you're hoping that you're reaching new viewers that will tune in in the u.S. for a Stanley Cup final. And although many of them may not even know where Edmonton is, I hope by the end of the final,

they'll certainly know who our best player on the planet is. If the NHL, if Americans don't know who Connor McDavid is, we are failing in marketing our game. But they don't. But Kip, you and I know who Joey Chestnut is. Like that's, you know, some obscure American whatever. Like surely they know Connor McDavid. Yeah. Come on.

No. I would be really interested though. Like, you know, in traditional hockey markets, you're going to know who he is. But I'm sure if you go to like Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and you're like, hey, he's like, oh, that guy, the punter for the. Somehow, somehow, some way.

Wayne Gretzky was marketed much better in the U.S. as an Edmonton Oiler than Conor McDavid has up until this point. I would say the divide in how we market teams and players has gotten more nationalistic. Like, you know, like Sportsnet, we work to push Canadian teams more probably than we used to, and the American team seemed to push the American players. Conor Bedard now is going to get more push than Conor McDavid based on where he plays.

Is that a good thing? No. No. I think it's good that Conor Bedard will get push. The thing is here in Canada, we're going to know that. Yes. Because we cover the league, so we're going to cover the best players. But this Stanley Cup final has a chance now to take Condavid to a complete another level in the u.s

like how about this i would think he'd have he'd have a much better chance after this stanley cup final of hosting saturday night live than he would prior to it he couldn't host a podcast did you watch wayne gretzky host that yes i did he also couldn't host a podcast could do it connor could do it good point good point how long you can do a skid on him taking beer to a trunk and they might connor mcdavid joins wayne gretzky and mario lemieux is the only players in nhl history to average at least 1.5 career points per game in both the regular season and playoffs there's no better stat offensively than that so let me ask you if he does not win the average yeah 1.5 in this series yeah i don't know 1.25 maybe even one can edmonton win oh i like that question does he need to hit that mark he needs i mean a point per game is bare minimum to have a chance bare minimum minimum. But probably needs more like 1.5.

And I think Oilers fans would agree with that. Even with 1.5, I think it's going to be tough, boys. Tough series. All right, let's bring him in. It's Friday. It's off the rails. It's Doug McClain. Oh, my goodness.

You're shadowing. SPF 60 or what? We've got you on our Zoom call, and you're, like, bright in, like, what? The middle of the sun? Well, I just, just a minute here. I'll put the blinds down. Is it a little too bright? It's fine for us.

You seem like you're staring into the surface of it. There you go. That's better. That's better. Way better. I'm trying to look like Bob McCowan. Oh, my goodness. So, better. That's better. Way better. I'm trying to look like Bob McCowan. Oh, my goodness. So, listen, what's your week like?

The demand for you in the state of Florida must be huge right now. As the first coach to have ever coached the Panthers. This must be big for your brand. Yeah, it's been big. I had to do a 20-second video today wishing the Panthers good luck. So I'm a little bit like Luke Gadzik. I'm hoping I'm not going to get a backlash from the Edmonton fans because I wish them good luck.

But I may have to have Elliot come on and say, you know, he coached there and, you know, we've got to be easy on him. So I may need Elliott for crowd control. So, Mac, have you had any sort of ties with, like, are you going to go back? I mean, you brought a team there. Are you taking a bag of rats to the game? You know what?

I really sort of haven't been to a game. I went to a Panther reunion there. And remember, I had criticized the Panthers on Hockey Central at noon about some signings they did. And their new owner, their minority owner there went after me, sort of gave me shots. So I went to a reunion there a number of years ago, and he come up to me and said, oh, I see you're here for a free meal. And I said to him, I said to him, I said, well, the last time I looked, you're a 5% owner, so I'm not eating much of your food so since then it deteriorated a little

but anyway i had a call is he still there you look the he well they shipped him back to new york they got him out of there so so i look i uh i haven't i didn't get to a game this year but i you know what it's fun as i said on the little I sent, I said it's so great to see the rats flying in South Florida this time of year. It's really big. The fan base there have been so loyal. Games I've gone to, it's shocking to me how many fans are still there after all these years that are great supporters of the panthers so this is you know to get to the finals two years in a row is just an amazing accomplishment and i'll tell you what they're a good looking team right now they

really are a good looking team so we were just talking about connor mcdavid and historically being up there with wayne gretzky and Lemieux for producing in the playoffs, Mac, and how much does he have to carry this series? Can they find a way if he doesn't hit that 1.5 career point per game pace he's been on? Look, it's not easy to play against this team at playoff time, especially when he's got a face, Barkov, and, you know, whoever they match, whether it's Forslund, Eckblad, whoever they match with him on the back end, it's going to be a tougher matchup for him.

But look, when I watched that first period against Dallas the other night, and watched the display he put on, you know, to put them up 2-0 after the first period, I don't know if I've seen a star like Connor come out and have such an amazing first period i i i don't know if i've seen a star like connor come out and have such an amazing first period to lead his team you know in a big game i mean uh he's going to be so look you can contain him maybe five on five but how do you ever contain this guy on the power play you know the way he freelances the way he beats people one-on-one, just the mobility and the skating skills. You know, the Panthers have got to be careful.

They can't take power plays against this team. And then, you know, the penalty killing of the oil has been so good. So I'm excited. I think it's going to be a heck of a series. I really do. And Connor and Dreisaitl, I mean, they're going to have to lead. There's no denying that. So, Doug, with all this time to prepare for the Cup Final,

you know, there's a lot of pre-scouting you can do. How much information can players or should players be presented with or at some point it gets to be overload? I think different teams feel differently about the amount of info to get to these guys. Well, you know what? I'll tell you what, really, this still grates on my nerves after, you know what i'll tell you what really if this still grates on my nerves after you know and i've told kippy about this we we won the eastern conference in seven games against pittsburgh on the road in pittsburgh and we won the game in seven to you

know to clinch to go to the stanley cup final the nhl put us on a plane that night and flew from Pittsburgh to Colorado to play game one two days later. Wow. And I, you know, I've never forgotten that. Like, we didn't get a chance to go back to Florida and, you know, take a bit of a break. I mean, it was a tough, hard-nosed series. And then to fly to Colorado and play right away.

And then I look at these guys getting a week off, like seriously. And, you know, I said, I was saying this to Jill the other night. And you know what she said to me? Let it go. Can we just move? Can we just let it go? And me whining about having to get on a plane and fly to play in the finals, you know?

And I said, Jill, the altitude difference and all those elements, it was really tough. And she said, Doug, let it go. We're done with hockey, aren't we? I said, no, I got to do Kipper's show and Bourne's show, you know? So I can't let it go. So when that happened, did she slash you in the thumb? Or what happened to this bandage you're waving in the screen at us?

What did you do to yourself? Put your thumb up. Oh, it's the pickleball injury I had. Remember I had the black nail? Well, now the nail is falling off. Oh, my gosh. So every time I put my hand in the pocket, it pulls the nail. So I have to bandage it.

It looks good. So that's where I am. Yeah, it looks great. Is this a day-to-day thing or can we expect you to be out for weeks? No, it's day-to-day. I haven't played a lot of pickleball lately. It doesn't affect my golf swing.

I'm okay there. But, you know, it's an injury. There's no denying that. So with those, just to follow up on Justin's point there, with just two days off to now face the Colorado Avalanche, what could you have possibly told them or prepared for against them going into game one? Watch out for Joe Sackett.

Well, let me tell you this, what happened. So we go on the ice for warm-up in game one of the Stanley Cup finals. Okay. And after the warmup, I, I, I go walk into the room and John Van Beesbrook is in there. They made John Van Beesbrook leave the, the, the, the pregame or the warmup for the game one of the Stanley Cup finals. I made him leave the ice and change his stick because he had a little piece of red tape on the top of his knob. And the NHL supervisor saw this red tape on his knob and made him go in and change his stick.

And I walk in and Beezer, who got us where we were, is a basket case because they're making him change his stick in the warm-up. You know, the league... Like, seriously. What are they thinking about? The league wouldn't have picked up on that. It would have been somebody in Colorado that was complaining to the league. Yeah, because of a little piece of red tape.

Because in case the puck was on the goal line, that red tape might have interfered with the, you know, dissecting whether the puck was in or not. At least he didn't want the Panthers to win. It was rigged. That's why you lost. Oh, well, as Jill said, let it go. You guys have got to say the same thing.

Just let it go. But, you know, Mac, is there a chance that Florida just runs Edmonton out of a building here? I mean, they were out hit against Vancouver, Edmonton out of a building here? I mean, they were out hit against Vancouver, Edmonton, but that didn't stop them from winning a series. How much of a factor will this be? Oh, look, I can't recall a team that plays as hard as Florida play.

And that's been since game one, boys. I mean, I watched them a lot this year. They have played hard every night with their four checking is unbelievable. But you know what? I will say right now, there is no way they will physically run Edmonton out of the building. There's no chance they will, in my opinion. And look, they dominated the Rangers, they dominated Tampa, and they dominated them physically. they dominated tampa and they dominated them physically but i don't think i don't think they'll physically run edmonton out i really don't i think it's going to be power play penalty killing uh but my biggest issue is you know can can skinner match for bros right that's the only thing. Does he have to? I think Edmund Ness power play is going to be good.

I think their penalty killing is going to be good. I think they've got enough grit right now, the Oilers. I don't think they'll get run out. But I hope Skinner can play as well as he played in the last three games of that series against Dallas. Do you think if he's just a tad underneath, I'm not saying that he has to be toe-to-toe with him, but if he can just date within

a certain range. Yeah, I think that's a great point that if he's as good as Bob, they're probably give him a probably maybe their favorites 51% chance. It changes. If he is and my problem is Bob is playing out of his mind right now, guys. Yeah.

This guy is playing great goaltending. I mean, in every series, he's made saves, and he looks so focused. It's a chance for him to finally get over the hump and win. Look, I just think it's going to be – I think goaltending is going to be the number one issue in this series. I really do. What about refereeing, Doug? Don't you think a lot of it's in the ref's hands?

If they're going to call a lot of penalties, Florida's got to back off the physicality. Oilers get to go on the power play. Well, I hope that's the case because they take penalties. There's no denying they take penalties. But their penalty killing and their power play, the Panthers both have been reasonably, well, both have been good. So, yeah, for me, the Oil have got to outnumber them on power plays for sure.

Their penalty killing has to stay as good. And their blue line has got to play as well as they did in the last three games of that series. We saw Nurse bounce back. That's really important that he continues to play the way he did in the last few games. But it's got the makings of a tremendous series. But look, I think it's going to be a war. I really do.

And I think Kenny Holland, we've always talked about the lack of depth on Edmonton. Well, the lack of depth came through for them in that series against Dallas boys. It was a difference maker for them. The way their bottom six come in and play. Whether it was Corey Perry or McLeod or the different guys that they've used there. We'll see. Just before you came on air, we were talking about maybe a great stage now for the first time for a player like Connor McDavid,

Connor McDavid in the States, but like, could, could a guy like Paul Maurice end up with a talk show after the Stanley Cup final? Could he knock Fallon out? I'm hoping, I'm hoping Maurice wins and he retires and he takes over this spot on this show me too i also hope that happens he's

the only one out there that i think could could hold his own on off the rails friday i i you know what we'll see when he retires if he's as funny as he is right now we'll see if he gets behind in a series if he's as funny yeah you know well that's really the test yeah how is your light-hearted post-game humor when you're down three to one yeah i found it's tough to be light-hearted when you're losing i i just found that wasn't the way it was so we'll see he's been he's been good but look uh he's got them playing hard. And I think the leadership on that team from Kachuk to, you know, Reinhardt. I mean, they've all been, Barkov to me. I remember talking to a guy saying Barkov will never be successful in the playoffs

unless he picks up his pace again. You know, and it's taken him a couple of years to get there. In the last two years Barkov to me has gone to another level not only shutting down some of the greatest players like look what he did against the Rangers look what he did against Caroline look what he's doing what you know or you know against the teams they played look what he's done so can he handle mcdavid no you can't handle mcdavid you can't really handle dry sidle but he's going to be a challenge for both of them how good he is as an all-around player yeah i was just going to say like put them in anywhere from ottawa to vancouver and the attention that this guy would

get up here in Canada, I think, would be off the charts. So, Doug, with this... Go ahead. Well, I'm just saying, the difference in this series is it's one thing to shut Panarin down in the playoffs, and it's one thing to shut Sabanaja down and Kreider down.

This, to me, is going to be a different challenge when Hyman's game is where it is. And, you know, dry sidles games where it is, and it'll be tougher to shut those guys down. And again, it's,

it may, it may be a power play series too. So Mac, this final game of the series of a one seven would be June 24th, which bit, but also the draft is then what the 27th, 28th and then free agencies two days after that. Do you have any sympathy for these front offices that are in the Stanley

cup final, but also got to be planning for days later. As Jill says, get over it. You're in the Stanley cup finals. Like seriously, you know, the feeling I'll never forget the feeling

skating on the ice and nicks nicks lived this skating on the morning skate knowing that you're coaching in the stanley cup finals it's just an unbelievable you know for a nobody from pei and and for me it was a thrill of a lifetime to even be on the bench and there. And, you know, so, yeah, they could care less about free agency right now. They could care less about the draft. They're focused right now on and Bill Zito. I mean, he's got three draft picks on this hockey team. You know, we talk about you need 10 draft picks to, you know, to win a Stanley Cup. They've got three. But what they've got, as I mentioned to Nick earlier,

they've got about four guys that were picked in the top four on their team. In Barkov, Reinhardt, Ekblad. I mean, you know, it's a pretty amazing talented group there. Kachuk. I think there's 19 first- picks in the stanley cup final this year so so the the key is when i look at the panthers with kachuk and bennett and the number of first overall first picks that are high maybe the lesson is don't trade your first round pick maybe that's the lesson interesting especially when they're picked that high you know

your your stanley cup final in florida do you remember remotely being as charming or charismatic as paul maurice like did you go through uh a feeling that week that you know what i'm saying sounds in a little more important than it would say in November? Well, I had the experience of also being the All-Star coach both my last two years in Florida, so I got to do a little... So much success all at once. I could joke around. I was more jokable during the All-Star weekend than I was during the Stanley Cup finals.

I can only imagine. But I'll never forget the last game. We lost one, nothing in triple overtime and Beezer and Patrick. Wow. There was 70 plus shots against Patrick. Wow. And 70 some shots again,

Beezer. We lost one, nothing with, with a, a goal in triple overtime. And I'll never forget going off after each overtime about how hungry I was. So they had to bring me in chicken wings because I was starving. You're eating rats.

Barbecue rat. Yeah. So does it change like off the ice, the media demands and everything? Would that be a factor for these players and coaches to have to deal with uh my biggest aggravation was uh the stanley cup finals was mr hockey night in canada john shannon want me to do all these goofy things like sending a camera crew to pei oh having people walk around with face masks on hi i'm doug mclean like Shani took it to a whole other level. Shani has told me many times since that I was pretty grumpy

in the Stanley Cup Finals for really a nobody. All right. Should we go away from the Cup Final? Are you just done with him entirely? No. the cup final or are you just done with him entirely no it just just if we're gonna if we're gonna uh do a transition from be careful on trading your first rounders like you just mentioned would would the leafs and marner be in that position yeah i've been thinking a lot about the marner thing you know and uh i i i've said it it's going

to be an unbelievably challenging deal for the Leafs. I mean, not only he holds all the cards, but what do you get? What do you get in return for a player that's a 100-point guy? And everybody's down on Marner. Yeah, he doesn't play at playoff time. He doesn't do this. But I've heard that about a lot of players. I heard that, as I've told you guys many times.

I heard that about Stevie Eisenman for four years. Stevie Eisenman was in his 14th year in the NHL when he won his first Stanley Cup. 32. It takes time. It takes time to learn how to play this time of year, whether you're a superstar or not. So you need a great supporting cast.

And Stevie Eisenman became one of the greatest captains in the history of the game because he got a great supporting cast with him. And nobody can tell me the Leafs have been good enough to win with the supporting cast they've had for the last number of years. And whether they can build one because of their payroll, I don't know,

you know, but Kenny's been able to do it. Kenny's taken a lot of heat in Edmonton, a lot of heat. Yeah. And he's been able to build a supporting cast to get to the finals. Yeah. It doesn't work until it does.

Right. And that's sort of the idea. What you want to believe it. What sort of changes do you think the Leafs will be making off the ice? Like, Berube is going to come in and he's a new coach and going to have different demands on his staff and whatever. Do you think it'd be a matter of maybe shrinking the organization? Like, I think they got pretty big over the last five years or so

in terms of total staff. Well, sometimes you can get a little bit of information overload you know like as i said in draft day a lot of coaches take all those i mean i know you're a great analytics guy but sometimes the coaches get overloaded with it and just use the garbage can for a lot of it you know yes so i i think that it would be a good practice to maybe shrink shrink the staff a little bit for ruby ruby is a good coach he's got to put a great staff together but it's all it's all about for me what are they going to do with their back end yeah what are they going to do to fix their back end and i don't mean bringing in number five guys they've got to to bring in, they've got to redo,

retool their blue line. Vancouver did it very well this year. You know, Atlanta and Rutherford did a nice job rebuilding. They've got to go, they've got to scrutinize their free agent list and they've got to sell people

on coming to Toronto because if the blue line doesn't improve dramatically, their goaltending's got to be better. You know, it's tougher to find those defensemen guys than it is forwards. It really is. No denying that.

Any chance next week we could get Jill on the show? Yeah. We'll give you a break. Jill stopped doing shows with me when we were in the RV. Remember, she came to the door when we were doing the show. That was her one appearance. And it was actually the ratings were the best, Jill said. She tried to get in the screen door to get on the air.

But you guys pushed her away. You shouldn't be scared of Maurice replacingice replacing you on fridays off off the rails it's chill yeah look paul paul uh you know it'd be nice i mean he's got 30 years in as he said today he'd like to win the cup he's 30 years in the league i just talked to rick bonus the other day uh you know rick obviously he's retired i get he retired i didn't ask him to be retired if he got fired I suspect he retired but I just I hope that Paul

will have great media opportunities there's no denying that because he has been very good he's been very good just like you look what I did for you I hope Knoblogg has got to survive a few more years because he will never be able to take my job.

But Paul, I'm concerned about. I think that's a fair assessment. You're safe. In terms of doing the matchup pros and cons, I don't think Knoblogg's catching Maurice in that department. And Knoblogg can go on with Elliot and those guys, and he'd get along fine, but he wouldn't be able to take my place on this show.

Not a chance. Well, we're happy for that. Hey, thanks for doing this. Enjoy your game one of your Stanley Cup final, and hopefully we get another crack at you next Friday. Good luck in the hyperbaric chamber with that thumb. I hope it gets better soon. Take care of that thumb.

So when does this show end? When the playoffs end? Are you guys off and gone or what? We'll let you know when it's time to publicly retire. Yes. Tell Sammy I don't need him asking for pictures of my cottage anymore. I sent it to him

and never even got a response back. I know. We talked about it on the show. I said it was beautiful thanks guys for having me on i really appreciate yes thanks mac appreciate it love the show when you're on i can help with dinner now honey i'm finished all right good luck to you former nhl president gm head coach the first head coach of florida panther history behind a stanley cup final it's funny seeing those pics of doug coaching that team he had those big glasses he must be wearing like i guess he's

oh they're like like 65 inch television screens that's what he was wearing on his head a couple of thick thick coke bottle glasses there it never ends for early fans it just never ends okay so today at media day there's all the questions they're being asked and of course someone i don't know who it was it's a good angle because it's got a good clip and everybody's talking about it but uh zach hyman on leaving the uh leaving to sign in edmonton as a free agent july 2021 it's easy when it's not really your decision. Yeah. At least told him to go kick rocks. Yeah. So is that now turning into a...

We know the majority of the media down there is from Toronto, so they're jumping all over that? I just saw a tweet. Chris Johnson tweeted it out. Got lots of interaction. Guys, I spent some time with the Marlies. There's Sam Carrick, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Calvin Pickard was there.

There's lots of Toronto reasons. Jack Campbell's in wherever. It just drives me crazy. I just can never escape it. Cody Ceci was here. Quickly do game time. It's game time.

Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So a couple things I was looking at here. When will the series finish? Okay.

Game four is plus 550. Game five is plus 260. Game six is plus 200. And game seven is plus 200. So Bet bet 365 thinks it's going to go the distance i mean this is as good a time as any to tell me your pick and when it's going to end so six you can get it for either team winning you can just pick the game pick the game six of plus 250 is pretty good uh 200 yeah plus 200 for game six and game seven, which are both still great numbers.

I still think I would do it. Game six. I've got seven, and I've got Edmonton winning tomorrow night. Tomorrow night? That's pretty specific. I just think it's a good time to just jump all over Florida. Yeah.

I think that how we, all the previews for the series, once you see it start to play out, I feel like we'll get a better sense that someone has some advantage we haven't thought of or didn't see or some matchup is lopsided. Maybe Skinner's no good.

Maybe he's awesome. I think six games is reasonable. I am going to take Florida. I think Doug made a good point earlier that... Based on the goalies. You know, when it comes to Florida shutting down, we know how good Barkoff is. If you look at the first three series,

there's been nothing close to a challenge like 97. Yeah. So I said six from the gambling perspective. I do think seven is just as likely. My reasoning onida is strictly the goaltending that skinner is gonna have guys falling all over them they make you move you know i i think that's the one area that i could see playing out but on the other hand if edmonton's power play is good it's connor mcdavid i'm not convinced of my own oiler seven is that what you're saying

no i got florida to win this yes my My head says Florida's going to win this series. In seven. Yeah. Borny? Yeah, I think Florida in seven is my pick. Oh, crap. You going to pick the oil? No.

Yeah. Florida in five for me. Whoa. Yeah. I think they're the best team by far. There's not a lot of people that don't think that they are a deeper team that can play heavy. Everyone I talk to says, my brain says Florida, my gut says Edmonton, not a lot of people that don't think that they are a deeper team that can play heavy everyone i

talked to says my brain says florida my gut says edmonton because everyone sees the mcdavid dry sidle effect and what they are in playoffs and goes god the only thing you can see those guys the only thing i won't trust is that they'll get a lot of power play opportunities you don't trust that the refs will i i'll put them in the position they deserve to be historically that you know you get to a game six or game seven we'll be lucky if we see three power play i think a lot of this pre-series narrative helps edmonton that the refs are aware that everyone is hyper fixated and are you going to call penalties on florida because we know what they plan to do to me it's just the two key matchups are going

to be Barkov versus McDavid and Skinner versus Bobrovsky. Those are two very obvious ones. But if Barkov can kind of contain McDavid a bit, I love what Florida has underneath more than what Edmonton does. So to me, that's why I think it could be a bit of a mismatch.

But I do want Edmonton to win. Yeah. But I think if I'm gambling, I'm going Cats. Okay. There you go. And that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus.

Ontario only. Please play it responsibly. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. And when we return, we'll get to your texts. So send them. Text us at 590-590. And we've got the second half segment to discuss whatever you throw at us. You betcha.

More when we return to Real Kipper Unborn. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Merrick Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sammy McKee. Just a reminder, as always, this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. Get to some techs.

Just before we do, a little breathing room. Before we do, I was watching my favorite show the other day. New season of Shorzy is out. And the first two seasons were really good. But the crew has

truly outdone themselves. And this newest season is one of the funniest seasons of television of ever. Shout out to the casting crew of Shorzy. It is an incredible show. I truly can't say enough good things about it. I just I think about it all the time. Nonsense Slapshot. Has there been such a great hockey? It just is. Yeah, I've not

got, I've breezed by it, but I have not watched it. It's set land. It's easy. Well, I mean, sports is about to be over, so we're going to have lots of time to consume TV and stuff. I'm going to start. It's a good summertime. Season one. It's quick. Well, I mean, sports is about to be over, so we're going to have lots of time to consume TV and stuff. I'm going to start. It's a good summertime, season one. It's quick, 20-minute episodes, six episodes. It's unbelievable.

Love it. I love it. I love it, I love it, I love it. I can't get enough of it. Okay. How about this one? We got an American tweet from somebody that sent it in to me. This is from Barn Hockey Bar in Chicago.

Sam, we love the show here in Chicago. Sounds like the Gensel to the Blackhawk talks is heating up. Is that true? I don't know if that's true or not, but he seems to think it is. Maybe it's heating up at the bar. How early are you guys in favor of putting the C on a player like Pedard? Obviously it worked with Paves, Krazy, McDavid, etc.

Any merit to waiting? Great question. I love that question. Where are we going first? We're going to Gensel to Chicago or are we going to go to the captaincy first? The captaincy is're going to cancel to chicago you want to go captaincy first captaincy is the real question here okay you want to start no okay i'll start yeah okay not a snowball's chance that you throw a captaincy on them this early no no but to the point of the question it has been been done for McDavid and for Taves. Yeah.

And they had success. Okay, Conor's in his first Stanley Cup final. Where's the success other than looking good yourself? Trophies. He's won them all. He hasn't underperformed, I think. But I don't find it that necessary in in Chicago's instance and I just look at a team now not ready to win not ready to win anytime soon and that may tie into

our Gensel conversation about him going to Chicago but what is the rush on another season where he barely got by because of a broken jaw yeah i think it's a really good point that what is the advantage of giving it to him now like what ever knows he's going to be the face of the franchise he's currently the face of the franchise do we need to pile on this level of leadership to his responsibilities he's still learning to play in the defensive zone and to handle the media. Didn't they just give, what's his name, or Foligno, that extension there, right? Yeah. Just make him for the captain for a year or two. Sure, it's like a transitional.

Let him kind of teach him the ropes. He goes down as one of the nicer guys in the league. Everyone loves him. Let him kind of teach him to be a captain, and then when they're ready to be good, you slap it on. I agree with Kip. Too early. Under contract next year.

It's like Foligno, Athanasio, Dickinson, Kurashev, Donato, Nazar, like to your point, they may be better next year with a bunch of signings like Gensel,

but it's not going to matter. They're not winning the cup. I do like Gensel as a signing for them though. American guy, no big market. He's a great player. Play with Bedard. I love Gensel.

Not from that side, yes. From Gensel's side? No, he wants to win. He's not going to go. Why would you sign here? Money? Lots of it? Okay, so how much do they have to overspend here?

Probably a bit. You're right. But don't you think there's lots of players who look at Bedard and look at, I'm sure they're drafting, what are they, second overall this year or something like that probably bedard cannot save this lineup in the next two to three years look at all the first picks for years eichel couldn't save buffalo right away and mcdavid couldn't save the oilers right away the no different than taylor hall

couldn't or nail yakupov couldn't or if genel signs in Chicago, it's because they've grossly overpaid, and that is not a good start. I do think that people like to play with the best, like the Hall of Famers, you know, to tie their names to someone like that, but I agree with you. He doesn't need to do that here. So, Gensel, if you think that he wants to win now, will go somewhere that perhaps might be a million and a half less

than what Chicago's offering. Right. But at that point, what's the difference for you between $65 and $72 million? And you'll make a lot more money over the course of your life winning another cup and going to all these events and speaking. The thing with Gensel for me, like unbelievable player, he's not a dynamic player, right?

He's not fast. He's not strong. So I do worry about how he ages. Someone's going to give him seven years, and if he's a bit slower and the league gets a bit faster, and I just, he's a great player. I just, I worry about how he's going to age. And I don't know where Carolina was on legitimately trying to resign him. I'm told that it never got much higher than 6.5,

which I don't know what world they're living in. 6.5? Sorry, 6.5? Seems on brand. I was distracted. 6.5 times 7 or 8, on brand i was distracted 5 times 7 or 8 right why even offer that to someone who you know is not signing for less than nine or whatever he's gonna get really good question you know like just to say so you this is like the hyman thing hyman saying well

they made the decision i didn't even get an offer they want they didn't want to do that they want to say well we made him an offer so this is where hyman should probably talk to genzel and say listen to you're making it you're making the choice for me and i don't think that genzel to your point i don't think genzel should get up to nine million dollars no i think if carolina was smart they would have probably come in seven seven seven eight and had a chance at him. Had a chance. At least give him something to really think about. And for me, if someone's going to overpay

Gensel, it's above 8. To your point, too. Like, I look at a guy like Rantanen who's eligible for a contract this summer. RFA. Yeah. No, he's UFA after next year yeah i don't think he needs a a contract now but to me that's the guy that is going to be

double digits and yeah you're right he's two he's 215 225 genzel silken wets maybe a buck 80 yeah and i i'm with you i i worry about that genzel at a buck 80 and i'm gonna go spend eight and a half million dollars on this guy yeah randon is uh making 9.25 million and then ufa after this season only 27 years old so 28 when he's when he's up 6 4 215 but this guy's the real deal he scored 50 like that's the guy that you you legitimately think about okay is it 11 is it 12 he's got a big number coming um from jay in st thomas hey fellas what do you think a fair and realistic trade for my habs to get marty netches would be i want to talk about him well, I wrote, I did my notes yesterday in the Toronto Star, and I said, well, do you not remember the history of this?

The back and forth with Sebastian Ajo, Offersheet, Paul Levecoq, and the Emmy. They hate each other. I completely forgot about that. No, no, I'm sorry. Carolina hates Montreal probably a little bit more now. So in Carolina, do you remember this? When Carolina offer sheeted

Kakeniemi to get him, they made the signing bonus 20 bucks to reference Sebastian Aho's number that Montreal had offer sheeted. So it was like a direct. So now what do you think the odds are? But isn't it different management now? I don't think it matters. It was so... It's Dundon, though. Dundon's still the owner. Yeah, Dundon, but

Montreal, I think it's... That Ajo offer sheet was the worst one in history. The worst offer sheet I've ever seen. Like, hey, here's an unbelievable value. They offered like $8 million or something on a guy who was easily worth that at the time. You have to grossly overpay to scare people off. You do, and that was the idea.

If you want him... Not fair market value. No, exactly, because then the team's like, okay. You just negotiated for us. We'll lock up our great player for, yeah. So you think no chance, then? That was's like, okay. You just negotiated for us. So you think no chance. That was Mark Bergevin. Yep.

So no chance? I have it at slim to none and slim left pound. Okay. But you guys really like Natchez, specifically you. I do. I think he's fast. You know, people that I've talked to, some have suggested that he can be lazy at times or that, you know, he can drive coaches nuts sometimes.

He's toolsy. He's toolsy. He can do things. He drove Roddy nuts at times. Yeah. He's one of those guys I would rather have a guy that has the ability to do crazy things and I got to figure it out

than someone who doesn't have the abilities. But, yeah, he makes people mad. Okay. We can't go through the full without a Marner question. This is from Pappy for life. 34, 34. Why do people do those? Unbiased name.

Would you do a Marner for Keller deal? And what would that look like? What's Keller's contract? Well, first of all, like if i'm utah and i know that let's talk names after we have no real aspirations to win a stanley cup next year why wouldn't i just try to wait to buy him yeah at ufa and keep keller keller has an contract. Why 7.1 for the next four years? Why would I trade him now for a guy that I can get next year? You just have to believe that he's not going to be available.

And I'd like Keller and Marner to play together. You just have to believe he's not going to be available. So what you're saying is it wouldn't look like anything because it would never happen. And this speaks to what Doug said. Everybody's talking about trading Marner. What's it look like for the Leafs? What's it look like for the Leafs?

They're going to be happy to get anything back of value at all. I mean, are they not? You have to repay Marner, the next team. Did you sign a couple of defensemen? Did you get a decent goalie here? Okay, so keep Marner and rent them. Okay. One more Marner question, quickly.

Why are you looking at me like that? Hold on. This is from PK Bruban. We have recently heard unofficial rumors that Jake Gensel and Marty Natchez is asking prices. What is Mitch Marner's asking price today? June 7th, 2024. And on another note, who wins in a golf match between

you three today on June 7th, 2024? It's pouring out. JB, because I'd stay dry in the clubhouse and he'd be soaking wet. We actually are very like, you know, our average rounds are close. Borny's got the highest upside.

He's got upside. He can go out there and shoot a 75. He shot 76 yesterday. There you go. 76 would be one of the highlights of my golf career. But I shot 84 the day before, so it's up and down. But me and you, we're kind very stuck at like a 79 to 82. Yeah, it's very, yeah.

I shot 87 yesterday, but it's usually 81, 82. So anyways, what does Marner want? How much money? Okay, first of all, we don't envision him taking a pay cut anywhere. Do you, 10.9? Marner, say that. You know how much that would do here if he did? If he did take a pay cut?

The perception of him for a guy who cares so much about his perception? You're a loser. Who, me? I am a loser. Mitch would be a loser. Why? That's the perception. For him?

Because he's one of the top producing players in the league. People don't like him. They don't take pay cuts. Here's the thing, though. We just talked about Mikko Rantanen. players in the league people don't like don't take pay cuts here's the thing though we just talked about miko ranton and he's the size of him and whatever and all his value and you said he could get up towards 11 he could be a double-digit sky you put ranton and martin out there who are teams picking they're picking ranton and we talk about martin like he's an auto 12 but other teams

still need other players who can produce for For sure. For sure the value. There's 32 teams scrambling right now to find scoring. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Look at Dallas right now. They lost because they couldn't score because their veterans were too old, their young kids were too young, and they had no players in their prime. Dallas is actually a very interesting landing spot for Marner. And the Leafs have one.

You want to walk him to UFA and let him go. Rantanen. Dallas could be looking at a Rantanen trade if Rantanen finds out that Colorado doesn't want to pay any more than McKinnon.

McKinnon's on old money. He is on old money. Branton has to hit the new money. Tomorrow's Stanley Cup final. Florida. Edmonton. I got the Oilers winning game one. You got game one to the Edmonton Oilers?

Yeah, I do. Sammy? Steal game one. I think it goes cats, cats, Oilers, cats, cats. Oh, he's got it dialed in, this guy. If that happens too bad i mean sorry connor impressive on your part that's how i just i'm saying how i feel it's not even like out of jealousy it's not even i like kip's call that on the road get the chance no pressure on

them compared to florida florida's supposed to engage all right that's it for the real kipper and born this week Thanks for joining us. Still remaining loyal, even though we're now the fastest one hour in hockey. It is fast. Our thanks to Doug McLean today on Off the Rails. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. Love to hear from you. Enjoy your weekend.

Enjoy your game one. We're back Monday to dissect.