Real Kyper & Bourne - Have the Oilers Found the Formula?

Episode Date: June 17, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on Game 4 in the Stanley Cup Final as the Oilers thump the Panthers 8-1 to stay alive, and how the blowout could shake the series. TVA Sports' Ren Lavoie (6:03) shares his thoughts on whether the Oilers have identified a path to bounce back in the series, pressure on the Panthers and if Bobrovsky's rough outing cost him the Conn Smythe. To close, the guys go around the league with news & notes - murmurs that the Rangers may buy out Trouba and conflicting reports on the Leafs' plans for Marner.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, let's welcome everybody in. The Real Kipper and Bourne Show on this June 17th. And it feels like we're just getting started in a Stanley Cup final. Crazy. At 3-1, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Jake the Snake Schultz. Still the fastest hour in hockey about to come up. Rene Lavoie will join us in a few minutes as well.

He's covering the Stanley Cup final. Plus, we'll get into some news and notes maybe a little early in this program because he's so good at that stuff. He is. He knows the league well. And there's some rumblings going out there. You're hearing rumblings and whisperings? Little tremors.

The rumblings are, can we just get this playoff over with already? It's the middle of June. Can we get hockey over with? It's late. That's the rumbling. So you were watching more golf this weekend than anything else? I watched so much golf this weekend. Yeah, I watched a lot.

Yeah, I watched soccer, watched golf, watched hockey, watched basketball. I've watched everything. Yeah, Bryson was amazing. Rory, not so much. Like for a guy that's just known for the long ball, like that's maybe the best short game under pressure that I've seen in a long, long time. And you know what?

He did it on, I i think number eight as well he hit one out of the woods back over the green tight line and hit an unbelievable shot huge celebration when he made that putt like his short game was different yeah he had a cracked driver face uh when he was on the range uh like literally 15 20 minutes before his tee time in the final round and he put a brand new driver head and he new driver head. And he couldn't hit a fairway. He couldn't hit a fairway. And he still manages to win with a brand new driver head. He's changed. He's grown up a little bit, boys. I'm all for

it. Happy for him. Enough golf. Okay. Sound like a final. Okay. You mentioned, Sammy, at the top June 17th. And it almost feels after Saturday night that something might be just getting started here. So where are you guys after an 8-1 shellacking?

Well, I'm going to be writing an article. First off, we're very zoomed in on our camera today, so you get to see more of us. I hope you enjoy it. You know, people have been requesting to see our pores, so we're doing our best to make that happen. Clearly something's broken here. But yes, I'll tell you where I am.

I'm working on an article about how this can happen. Because there is a way. You know, Barkov gets hit in the head. Maybe he's a little off. You got Bennett get hit in the ankle or knee. If those guys aren't great, Bobrovsky's starting to show some cracks. You've seen the numbers and the percentage. You are a numbers guy.

You're an analytics guy. You're an analytics guy. You have all of that. Yep. And you're not leaning towards the percentages of the Oilers coming back. You're going on hope right now. Well, I mean, they're not likely to do it, but there's a path.

And it's Bobrovsky becoming... Remember when Edmonton beat Calgary a couple years ago and they ruined Markstrom? Could they just get to Bobrovsky like that? could hyman and mcdavid start to find it here the power play get going there's reasons to feel like if they get it back to edmonton win one game one game and bring it back to edmonton that's a tough environment what are the odds of that tomorrow night sammy i i said panthers in five before the series starts i don't i don't feel for one second that i'm wavering from it.

It's not good. I think it was a one-off night where they got super hot. They have a ton of pride. They don't want to get swept. They got rolling early. One-off night, Sammy, is, I don't know, 4-2 with an empty netter or 5-2, but not 8-1. So you guys are thinking this is going to be longer.

You don't see shellackings in the Stanley Cup final. Not like that. I think we have a stat on that. How far do you want to go back? Yeah, this is the largest margin of victory by a team facing elimination in the Cup final going back to 1942. And then the next note is what happened that year?

Do you know what happened that year? Did they come all the way back? That's the year the Maple Leafs did it for the first time, came all the way back from the Detroit Red Wings. Oh, my God. I mean, it is saying that there's something more there than just a total freak night. I think the Panthers are still better.

Yeah, I agree. And I think that they're probably going to, you know, they're back home. I think it's going to happen tomorrow night. But I just think at this point, like an injury or two really changes things. I'll just say this. Cats can't let them get five because then it gets scary. Like if you're going back to Edmonton, then it's a real kind of spooky zone.

But I think they'll get it in five. That's as loud as I've heard a hockey crowd. Yeah, that was crazy. Full stop. And that may pale in comparison to a game six yeah if it gets there yeah but the floodgates opened up and the anticipation was that the edmonton oilers were losing by this much of a margin yep and they just needed a bounce and a break to nothing without McDavid or dry saddle role players. Right.

Yeah. Starting it off, get some goals. And then Tara Senkel scores to make it to one. And the feeling was this was going to be a tight game. Yeah. And Skinner makes a great save to keep it from going to two. It was on the two on one.

Go ahead. There's a moment before this even started where I think Florida might have been on the power play. They hit the crossbar and the puck comes out to Barkov and he banks it off the post. This is right before Edmonton goes down to score the first goal. And, Tim, I just had a moment where I was like, they just need a couple of bounces like that, Edmonton. You know, one more game, one more set of bounces. It's hockey. You never know.

All right. like that Edmonton you know one more game one more set of bounces it's hockey you never know all right well wherever you are watching and listening Sportsnet 590 the fans Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver Sportsnet 960 in Calgary Sportsnet 360 or Sportsnet plus we're glad you're with us for the next hour and remember this hour of real Kipper and Bourne is brought to you by bet 365 okay let's welcome in Rene Lavoie. He's been on the show before, hockey reporter for TVA Sports, NHL Network, does a tremendous job covering the final, also around the league. We'll get into all of that.

But let's first of all say a big hello. Rene, how are you, my friend? I'm pretty good. I don't have my Yankee jersey on. So I said to myself, I'm in Toronto and Canada. If I have a Yankee jersey on, probably you'll flush me quickly, right? Look at the view behind you. You're somewhere great. We are one game away from 500 baseball in this city, Sammy.

There's tons to be excited about. You're totally right. About time, I will say, though, because I went to be excited about. You're totally right. About time, I will say, though, because I went to see the Jays a couple of times during the first round, and it wasn't cute, let's put it this way. Okay, Rene, let's start right off of Saturday night and what a 3-1 feels to you moving forward.

There's a lot of people optimistic that this could be the start of something for the Oilers. Where are you on that? Like probably the majority of my colleagues that I talked to today, if it was at Panthers practice or even at the Oilers practice earlier this afternoon, it was if the Panthers don't win next game, they'll be a game seven. That's the expectation. So the Panthers need to approach next game like if next game is a game seven, which is not easy to do, especially when you're leading 3-1 in that playoff series.

But you see what happened last game. I believe that even if everyone is saying on the Panthers' side that they're acting cool with it, the reality is they're not that cool with it. If you look at Paul Maurice today at practice, he was probably a little more involved than he was a week ago or maybe three days ago reason why it's because something needs to change right they need to to go back to where they were before the start of this stanley final or i should say before the of Game 4. So that's the feeling right now. I talked to my colleagues earlier on NHL radio this morning.

They were talking about the possibility that the Oilers win the Stanley Cup. Listen, I'm 50 years old, and when you're losing 3-0 in a playoffs, in a Stanley Cup final, my dad never seen it. It was in 1942. It was in Toronto Maple Leafs. I don't expect my dad to see it and I don't expect to see him come back myself in my life. That's the reality of it.

It's too hard. But that being said, you have to give a lot of credit to to the owners with what they did in the last game has the way the series played out affected the pressure on the florida panthers because you know the year before they go to the cup final and they no pressure at all right it's all gravy this year they you know they were in battles but they never seemed under duress really all of a sudden up, nothing ever handed in the series. It was theirs. Take the Stanley cup.

No one gave anything a chance. All of a sudden you lose on eight one. Paul Maurice has spent a little bit more time on the ice. Everyone's worried about what it looks like in game six. Have things fundamentally changed for the Panthers? Right now? No. Yeah.

And I'm going to tell you why. Because I think early in last game, the Panthers players look at the game and say it's not our game, all right? At 2-1, there was a little bit more oxygen. And at 2-1, you were like, okay, something's coming. But what the Oilers do is they scored that third goal quickly, right? And at that time, really at that time, it was the end of the story. And I believe that somewhere early in the second period, if the Panthers players should have just thrown the white flag or a

white towel and said we're we're done with it they would have done it right and they played that way look at the third period i i said to myself okay you have sam bennett you have kachuk you have all these guys they're gonna be in orler's face in the third period. They're not going to finish that game. They're going to be thrown out. No, no, no, no, no. They just played their little preseason type of game, you know, here and there, nothing major, no hits.

I don't want to get injured. I don't want to injure you. I just want to lead this town. That's what happened, okay? I believe that's what happened in that game. And now it's for real, though. Now you expect, you know, the Panthers players to be dialed in tomorrow. And if they lose tomorrow, it's going to be a little more in their head

than it is, I think, right now. We are joined by Renaud Lavoie from TVA Sports, NHL Network. So, Renaud, if we're talking about a done deal Saturday night with a win for Bobrovsky and the Conn Smythe, does another loss jeopardize that for you? That's a great question. At TVA Sports, obviously, it's part of the debate.

Probably it's part of the debate in SportsNet 2, on SportsNet 2, and I expect a debate everywhere around the league. The way I see it is Bobrovsky is the MVP. Another loss

can change a lot of things. But let's be honest. If it's not Bobrovsky, they're going to give it to Barkov. And Sasha Barkov, no matter what, deserved it too, right? But the reality is Barkov is minus two last game, played an okay game, not a good game. Like Bobrovsky played an okay game, not a good game. Like Bobrovsky played an okay game, not a good game. But when I talked to Pat Laleem about it, my colleague at TVA Sports,

he said, well, Bobrovsky lost some ground, but not Barkov. But I'm looking at the way Barkov played. I think it's equal. I think it's equal. Let's put it this way. You have another great Sergey Bobrovsky type of game tomorrow night. He's the crystal clear MVP. If it doesn't happen, obviously everyone's going to look around and try to find another reason not to put Bobrovsky as your MVP.

But as of right now, I don't see why it's not him. Game one, it was his game. And technically, look at it. It could easily, you can make a case of it, it could easily be right now the orders 3-1 in that playoff series. They could lead that Stanley Cup final 3-1 right now. But the reason it's not the case, it's because of Bobrovsky. Yeah, I think everyone's really eager to make it a close race on Florida's side.

But I don't think it particularly is, personally. So at the other end, Stu Skinner had himself a mighty fine hockey game. If you look back throughout this postseason, he was really good. Laid in a couple of series against L.A., against Vancouver. had himself a mighty fine hockey game. If you look back throughout this postseason, he was really good, laid in a couple of series against LA, against Vancouver, you know. Yeah. Can you see this guy finding his footing and that being something for Edmonton

to hang their hat on? Sure, Skinner is a really good goaltender. Yeah. And his demeanor is different. He doesn't have the same skill set of a Bobrovsky, but at the same time, Bobrovsky doesn't have the same skill set of a Bobrovsky, but at the same time, Bobrovsky doesn't have the same skill set. He's not huge in front of his net, right? Bobrovsky is more a skilled type of guy.

Skinner is an approachable person. I think he's learning a ton right now. I think he's learning how to be the number one goaltender and to face all the pressure he's not first of all it's he's not when he started the season he was not supposed to be the guy for the playoffs wasn't him it was campbell right all right and now he's there at 25 years old and i think he's learning so much it's kind of like it's i was going to say it's like going at the university. No, it's not the university here. It's the real world.

Right? And I think he's going through it probably like the majority of his teammates with the Oilers. And I have no doubt in my mind that we're going to see the Oilers again in the Stanley Cup final. I don't know if it's next year. I don't know

if it's in two years. I don't know if it's next year. I don't know if it's in two years. I don't know when. But that team is legit. Okay? And it's a little bit like the Panthers last year. The Panthers weren't ready to win that Stanley Cup. But I feel like the Oilers are not, quote, unquote, ready. That's probably why they're losing. But they'll learn a ton.

And I'm convinced with a guy like Connor McDavid and Stuart Skinner as a goalie, they're learning a lot. And I don't know when this final is going to end, but one thing for sure, this is probably the best thing that ever happens to all the Oilers players to go through the grind and saying, we were there, we were right there, we knock on that door, and we were good enough probably to win that Stanley Cup,

so we're right there. So I'm probably sure that at the end of that Stanley Cup final, they're going to beg for the season to start the next week. But we'll have to wait a little bit. Yeah. Renaud, you're as involved as any insider out there when it comes to trades and free agency so i ask you from here on in in the stanley cup final is it maybe less about bobrovsky versus skinner but more about a philosophy on a goaltender you need we've got at

least half a dozen teams out there that think that they can compete for a stanley cup but are missing a goalie are these guys playing right now for a philosophy moving forward on whether you need a 10 million dollar goalie or you need a two and a half million dollar goalie why not a six million dollar so i didn't have listen i think look at the look at the new york rangers okay and i i really like larry brooks reading larry brooks in the new york post for me is something that i appreciate uh every day. And he did an unbelievable, put an unbelievable story, was his way of seeing the season, last season,

and he was asking himself or probably the rest of the Rangers fans, was it a failure what just happened? When we look at that season, is it a successful season or it's a failure? You can't put arguments on both sides, right? It's a failure because they were supposed to be in the Stanley Cup final. But there's a reason why they're not here. Because you have Jacob Trouba, the captain, who really likes to play a dirty game. He enjoys it. He's always on the fence.

It's part of his DNA. But look at the forwards of the New York Rangers. Who are you scared of? Except Rempe, right? But he's playing four or five minutes a game. Who's the guy that you see coming at you and you're like, you have to brace yourself. Okay.

So I think the philosophy right now of a hockey team should be, okay, skills, skill sets are really important. And the Rangers, they have tons of skill set. But you need a couple of guys that you're gonna hate playing against them um i i i believe alexis lafreniere is that type of guy why i'm saying it is because after every playoff round i have players on other teams it was like that guy gonna kill like you know what i mean they're upset with him because he's capable of hitting you hard and making you pay.

But they need – Alex, he cannot score goals and be that guy by himself. He needs help. And they need to surround the skill set that they have with players that are skilled, but that they can play on that fence. And they love to play on that fence like Sam Bennett is doing and Matthew Kachuk. Can it be Brady Kachuk? The Rangers fans are begging for it.

The Rangers fans are begging for it, and rightly so. Where are the Rangers? Are they going, okay, say what you will about anything that skates in front of me. We can't win with Shusterkin. They're going to have to pay him. How much are they willing to pay him? And if he was at the top of his game and still couldn't get them in a Stanley Cup final, is it a mistake to pay him $12 million on a new contract?

Listen. to pay him $12 million on a new contract? Listen, that's way too much money, I believe. I know the cap is going up, okay? It's a different story if you look at the Bobrovsky's contract compared to what's going to happen with the cap in a few years. When Bobrovsky signed that contract, that seven-year at $70 million, the cap was probably at 80 million in three years the cap is going to be at 100 million so there's 20 million more right so it's 12 millions too much i believe so okay but if you look at the big picture in

five years maybe it's not it's not that big. But I think that what's going to happen is this. I think that Igor is going to look at the big picture and say, you know what, I need to be there for my teammates too. And probably he's going to take a little less. And I hope for his sake and the sake of the Rangers, that's exactly what he's going to do. That way it's going to help the Rangers to do what they really need to do with their team.

But you know what? You look at what the management said in New York. They know that they need to change things. And that's what the Panthers, what they did was obviously something that they need to learn from. And the beauty of it, Nick, the beauty of it is it's a little windy here. The beauty of it is it's the league is going back a little bit. When in your playing days, you know, it was it wasn't fun to be on the ice every shift, especially when you were on the ice, Nick.

Thank you. Now, well, for sure, I saw a lot of you playing, and I couldn't believe what it was for, you know, the other team. But anyway, the game is game. I'm not saying that we're going to have four fights every night. It's not about fighting. It's about toughness. It's about the grind.

And we're going back there. You need to be really, really tough. And I had a conversation with some people in the media in Montreal earlier this year at training camp, and they were saying to me that, you know, the 80s guys were way tougher than the players. And then I was like, what are you talking about? When Matthew Kachok is playing with a broken sternum, what are you talking about? These guys are for real.

But probably that the percentage, there's way more skills today than in the 80s, right? So percentage is obviously higher, but there's still some really tough guys that you need to play again. And if I'm a kid today, I'm 13, 14, 15 years old and I have skills, I need to learn to be, I need to look at Sam Bennett and say, you know what, I need to look at Matt Zucachuk. I need to look at these two guys and say,

I need to play like these guys. Last one for me, Ren. The Cup Final is going to end at some point before fall, I think. And then the draft is going to come. And there's a lot of big names rumored to be moved, or at least

in conversations. What are you expecting for activity at the draft this year i expect the montreal canadiens trade we have a trade to announce in the first round yeah okay that's that's the it's been like this since the last two years with kent use yeah uh because he had a couple of first round picks every year so probably he's gonna draft with this first pick i said probably i'm not 100% certain right now. Why? Because there's a lot of balls up in the air,

so we'll see how things are going to evolve between now and, you know, the 27 or the 28, wherever it is, whenever it is. But that's my expectations. I expect a lot of movement. I see a lot of movement. I expect, I see a lot, the number of coach that's, that were fired in the last year, it's mind boggling. So it,

it tells you that there's a lot of people that are not happy right now. And they're trying everything to, to make moves and, and to make their team better. And they look at the Stanley Cup final and they see skills, they see toughness. And they're probably the majority of them are like, what? We can't play against these guys.

So we have a lot of work to do here. So I expect, with the cap going up, movements. That's for sure. Red, thanks so much for your time, man. Really appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the series, okay? Always fun to talk to you guys. Enjoy the rest of the day. Thanks, Red. Appreciate it. Enjoy the rest of the series, okay? Always fun to talk to you guys. Enjoy the rest of the day.

Renaud Lavoie. Thanks, man. Appreciate it, man. TVA Sports, one of the good ones out there. Absolutely. I got a ton of respect for this man. Yeah, absolutely. Lots of names.

I just want to follow up a little bit more on the goaltending thing because I do believe that this is still about a philosophy on whether you need a high-end goalie who looks the part, is paid the part, than trying to piecemeal it on a 1 or a 1A or a split of two $3 million goalies. Yeah. Where are you on it?

You know, we covered the toronto maple leafs been covering them for a lot of years one of six teams yeah legitimately that think that they can contend for a stanley cup that are looking for a goalie right and they've been like this you know they're dead serious but when they cup the the phrase all in comes up and it's one year it's going to be the end of freddie anderson's contract and it's going to be the end of jack care jack campbell's contract then it's samsonov's cheap deal maybe it's wool like there it's always seems very piecemeal to me matt murray is going to be the guy where i think a lot of people just like to know they have a goalie they can they can give them league average to better and have that consistency and a number one guy so i i feel

like uh this year has been redeeming for number one guys. And I do think that I would pay Shesterkin. Not 12. 12? 12. But you got to move off of, like, there's new money coming in, which means new numbers. Yeah.

People have to start wrapping their heads around it. Renaud's right. If he wants to give them uh a team-friendly discount he's at 11 and a half but 12 is the ask for shisterkin okay so his contract's gonna more than double on his next contract because he makes five six now yeah and like can we get you at a lower numbers but a shorter term so you get to do this again in a few years? No, no. Only Matthew says that.

You're an idiot. The agent's an idiot if he's just going to give up money because of why. Well, if he's going to go up 12, it's a different bargaining position. Shusterkin is Carey Price when Carey Price signed his $10.5 million contract. How long ago? Five years ago? Carey Price is down a lot. Yeah, Carey Price, when Carey Price signed his $10.5 million contract. How long ago? Five years ago? Carey Price is down a lot. Yeah, Carey Price.

How long ago did Carey, when Carey signed his 10 and a half? He's the Carey Price of today. He signed that in what, 2018? Summer of 2018? Yeah. Sound right? So five, six years ago. 2018, 2019.

Yeah, it's the first year, but he signed it in 2017. Do you know what Carey Price's percentage of the cap was? No. 14%. 14%. Shusterkin asked for 14% on a cap today or one that will look like $100 million, like Renaud just said. Yeah.

Yeah, that number is 12. You know, i'm less like in talking about this chewing it around a little bit less like you can't pay a guy that much and i think you can pay shisterkin that or around that but it's it's the same percentage that's what they do now yeah yeah they do percentage they do percentage of the cap which is very and if it was good enough for carryy Price, it's good enough for Shusurkin. Sure. I think that's fair.

Although, then you have to say, did we think the Carey Price contract was good? You know, like you may be, just because the contract signed may not be one that worked. That's a different conversation though. Right. Right?

I don't, you know. Everybody said it was fine when they went to a Stanley Cup bubble finals. Was it the bubble? Weird contract. No, no, no. They traveled. They traveled that year.

No fans. I don't think there's a – because I think you're always looking for the solution, the solution, and like, you can win with Aiden Hill, but now Goyes – I think it's who gets hot and who gets a few bounces over two months in the spring, and that too wins the cup. I think the Aiden Hill thing made people go too far in the direction. For sure. It doesn't even matter.

For sure. It matters, but I don't think there are the trends with goaltending and with who wins as much as people want them to. I think it's way more year-by-year, case-by-case type of teams that win as opposed to being like a bunch of shreds it was it was a yeah bobrofsky closes it out saturday night and everybody's going

come on get a goalie get a real goal but i've been i've wanted that forever like i you know i've always thought that i've been talking about sorrows for the deadline for two straight years it's like get a real goalie yeah reno also said that, you know, he thinks that they're somewhere in the middle between a Shusterkin at $12 million and your cheap end goalie. You know who's in the middle? Markstrom. Markstrom.

Samson. Samson. He's at the bottom. Yeah. Markstrom has this year. I got to think there'd be a huge bidding war for Markstrom. His good year is going to help Calgary out quite a bit. Just two years left at a little over $6 million.

Six even. Okay, six even. And he's what, 34? I'm in. That's completely in six teams' wheelhouse, including the Toronto Maple maple leaps and they know that he wants out right everybody dealing with the flames know that he is not happy with the situation so they're like there's some big names talking about being traded we're talking

about markstrom we're talking about we've talked about mitch marner on this show line a has been thrown out there line a yeah anyone else that were yeah no i mean No. Those are three huge names. But anyways. But with two years left, you're not forced to offer him a new contract. With Marner, you are. So that plays a whole new layer into does he get traded, to where, for how much? I mean, that's not the deal with Markstrom.

It's like, you know, you're getting two years for the Leafs. Would it buy time to make a decision on Joseph Wall? Yes. So that's an easier decision. Marner want to live in Alberta? They'll have water by winter. All right, you want to do game time or what are we going to do when we come back? We'll hit a break and then we'll come back.

Maybe talk a little more Marner and do game time. We'll do Marner. We'll do Patrick Laine, who obviously wants out of Columbus and what that means. Plenty more. More Ranger talk. Yeah.

We talked about a lot of right-handed D that might be available. We'll throw out one more name. Give you a hint. Rene mentioned him earlier in the show. I won't give it away until we come back. All right. More real Kipper and Bourne. Fastest earlier in the show. I won't give it away until we come back. All right. More real Kipper and Bourne.

Fastest Hour in Hockey after we return. Teeing up the biggest games of the night, it's the Fan Pre-Game with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Caprio, Justin Barnes, Sammy McKee. Usually we get Paul Maurice, Kippers, Clippers, and we're going to get into some of them.

But first, game time. Game time, baby. Thank you, sir. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the Athletic's odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly now i'm going for the very rare off the ice uh gambling pick today i'm going to the diamond heading down to the rogers

center the toronto blue jays tonight have a chance to get it back to 500. For the third time. They are 35 and 36 at the moment. They have a chance to get back to, like I said, 36 and 36. What a moment that would be. They've called up all the Buffalo boys. They're a different looking squad now. Pluckier. Bobby McMahon's in. Pontus Holberg's in.

Easier to root for, except that George Springer still gets regular at-bats. But I, tonight, am taking the Toronto Blue Jays as a minus-130 favorite with Yusei Kikuchi on the hill to get back to.500. Give me the Toronto Blue Jays tonight to beat the Boston Red Sox. .500, Kip. What do you think? Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I know. I hope they do but you would you think it's a hard number they got this psyche going they're they're they're a very tough watch where are they payroll in the mlb high like a top 10 payroll i think i think they're maybe even like like 220 or something 240 maybe even 250 like they're high could get you to five i. Like 220 or something? Yeah. 240? Maybe even 250. They're high. Could get you to five. I'm not a baseball expert. It's not summer yet, so I haven't really read up on my baseball stuff.

So I'm not exactly an expert at this point. The one quick thing I wanted to do before we go away from game time, you mentioned the Conn Smythe with Ren. When we did it on Friday, we looked at it, and was it that Barkov was plus 300 and Bobrovsky was minus 300, I think, at that point, and Conor McDavid was 12 to 1. It's gone now to Bobrovsky minus 110, Barkov is plus 125,

and Conor McDavid has snuck down to plus 750. Sneaky, sneaky. They think there's a chance for him to have a couple more moments here coming down the stretch. It's the Brodsky's to lose. It is. But I don't think we're talking enough about Connor McDavid having more assists than anyone in the history of the NHL

in a single playoff season. Wayne Gretzky was on some pretty good offensive teams. We, in fact, didn't mention it until this very moment, Morty. 32 assists in this year's playoffs. Hold on. Is that more than Matthews had on regular season? Oh, definitely. Not a joke.

It's got to be close, right? Yeah, I probably had like 37 or 38. I don't know. Anyway. Wild. Austin Matthews had 38 assists. 38 assists. There's no one who knows more about Matthews' assists.

He counts them. It's no one who knows more about Matthews' assists. He counts them. It's a peep of mine. Everyone's centers should have more than 35 assists. Boys, he could catch them. Anyways, let me get out of game time. Let me finish up the read, and then we'll go on from there. That was game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. When I think about the last 20 years, especially coming out of that stupid lockout. Yeah. Right?

The big one. Yeah. Where you lost a year. And everything's been skewed towards opening up the offense. They've changed countless rules. Yeah, you can't water ski behind guys can't get a face off in the offensive zone can't change on icings put the puck over the glass stupid penalty rules when i think about all of that built up over the last 20 years i'm surprised we don't have more of gretzky's records broken yeah especially interesting especially when you

consider how talented mcdavid is so i get the fact that records some of his numbers are so absurd that they're just untouchable i think if the scoring was just a bit higher in that era even though there was more rules and more ways to defend it was It was still harder for, I think, a guy like Gretzky than it is for McDavid to pull offense. Well, I mean... I do. That's interesting. Gretzky's single season stops will never even be sniffed ever. Like, what is this, he had 212 in one season?

McDavid hit 150, right? Yeah. I think his record is 215 or 212. 212? Yeah. Like, that's never going to get touched. Ovi clearly is coming in on his goal record, but his assist stuff,

his numbers are just so absurd, Kipper, that they're just untouchable. He's just so much different. The problem is now you can't build more offense. If McDavid had one more $10 million player or equivalent to that of Gretzky in the era, McDavid could drive his offense up to the 170, 180, 190 point. He cannot add anymore.

He's getting fourth liners. Some of them don't belong in the league, but get granted a position because they're the cheapest guy out there. Gretzky's era never had that issue. You could go out and add another great player. You can go get Luke Robitaille and Brett Hall for the Detroit Red Wings to close out a Stanley Cup. No issues there.

How much you make doesn't matter. Come on board. Yeah, we need you. Yeah. Give you a lot of fun for the Leafs if that was the case. Like I've always said, banish the Catboys. They never had to worry. Would have been nice to have not had it while you had a good core.

Yeah. You know. All right. Lots of talk out of New York with the Rangers. And Larry Brooks is all over this, too. And the Athletic as well about, you know, the thought that the Rangers kind of look like the Leafs a little bit. Good talent, but just need more.

Some guys with heavy contracts. Now it just seems like a lot of talk about Jacob Truba either being bought out or traded to alleviate $8 million on his contract. I guess that's what I'm saying. This is internet stuff. I know, I know. I'm hearing it too.

He makes $8 million and he makes that until 26. So that's, you know, not that long. Two more seasons. This season and next. Where are you on Trouba? I love the way he can change the temperature of a game, right? The hits are a big deal. He's not a huge offensive force.

Only had 22 points last year. Minus four in the Rangers this year is not great. I think he's probably not worth that money anymore. But I think if they were willing to eat a couple, maybe two million bucks. I think at six, six and a half, I'd jump all over him. I think the league would be falling all over itself to get Trouba for six, six and a half, which makes him an interesting trade candidate.

8 is high. Like, considering, like, the bit of a decline that he's had. He plays hard. Like, you know, I think that would be a bit of a tough sell, but at 6.5, 6 million. Talk me into that one. Is that the start of your Marner trade? No.

Big right shot D? No. Experience? No. Young. Extra six to spend? Young. So there's a lot of different insiders out there

talking about either marner getting pushed hard in the next three weeks to move out because he ain't getting a contract either now or or at the end of the season uh my old buddy drager mentioned that the thought is maybe even uh Living offers him a contract extension. Sounds like they're either going to sign him or push him out or do neither or keep him. Sounds like no one has any damn clue. That's what it sounds like. If I'm going to have a guess here that this is a very hot

button issue and everybody wants to have the right take on it and no one knows. Forget about inside information. Just where do you really think the Leafs are on Marley? I think the Leafs are, let's hear what other teams think. Let's just, before we can even know what to even consider, is there interest and what does the interest tangibly look like?

About like, what's the framework of a real deal? And that may not be out there. Knowing that you have to extend them at whatever the number may be i'm guessing 12 11 and a half something like that i'm with borny i think they probably and maybe we mentioned this on the show before we've talked about this a million times but that they're gonna go out there maybe without the blessing of mitch find some potential ones and come back to him and be like hey any of these kind of because you can't just approach him before you have anything to give to him, right? Like, I don't know.

If there's no trade package out there, you wouldn't want to convince – tell him you want him to leave. And then not have anything. And then not find something. That's what – I mean, you would know better than both of us, Kipper. What do you think? I can't disagree with either one of you in terms of where it kind of sits right now and i think behind the scenes there's a ton going on in terms of conversations and usually with teams that are out of the playoffs at this

point they kind of prep themselves to go to the draft and that's when things can really happen and and the draft isn't the start of a conversation it's for many teams it's the hope that it ends conversations consummate consummate the deal like deals so i think it's it's happening behind the scenes quietly and where that pushes the a potential finish line either the uh the draft mid-july training camp christmas trade dread trade uh trade deadline next march is is anyone's guess i want you to rank these three things in terms of likelihood of happening. He gets traded. He stays and walks at the end of his deal, or he signs an extension. I do believe that the Leafs will take an attempt to trade him.

Yeah. And I think it's depending on how aggressive they want to get. Where do you think the Leafs are in terms of wanting to trade them or potentially offering them an extension, like 50-50, 60-40? I was stunned to hear that. That's the first person I've heard. Like, Drager was saying that was like extension caught me off guard. Do you not think at this point with the Leaf fans out there

and the failed attempts to get out of the first round like five or six times and once out of the second round once that they go we're just not doing this again. Yeah but it could set your franchise back a decade losing a guy like Mitch Marner for nothing.

Like if you, I would rather they extended him than just let him walk at the end personally. Like he's just such a valuable player in the league that you can't just go. But you're also. When you put it like that. But you're also, but you're running out of time because there's a, to your point that there's value to come back, but next July 1st, there's zero value. So where is your cut line on a first rounder,

first rounder, a prospect, two first rounders, a player that can play now, a player that can, where do you go yes and no on? Yeah, no, they're over a barrel bud you know like the time was last summer not this and it feels it's a hard conversation to be like there seem like two very different outcomes here where you're like we'll extend you we'll trade you you can't have both of these conversations at the same time you can't break up with or get married to your girlfriend i mean it's like buying a dog or something to try and fix it here like i don't know what the hell you're gonna do but i just i don't know i don't know you can't have those two conversations simultaneously so it feels like it has to be one or the other

and that's a great point extension to me seems so far-fetched i i don't know anything i think you can have that conversation and still the trade one after the other the other aspect is the other aspect is is that you start and you see what kind of start you have you see the chemistry you see a style of play he's got a new coach does he get off to a good start does he not get off to a good start if you can't do this i'm just saying that you can You can't do that. I think if you're Bradtree living, that's also an option, is when you are nervous, scared, use whatever word you want to use, but the tendency is to do nothing if you're not 100% all in. Yeah, you need to do something because you're right.

If you just freeze and go, maybe this will work itself out all of a sudden it's december and the guy goes well i'm not doing anything but you've but you're you're judging in october and november before it's december is he on a pace for 100 points again 120 points we can do that the thing it's like you know we can do that there is nothing at the start of next year that's gonna stun me about m. He's going to probably be really good like he always is. I knew he could do that. He's really good. And that's the part of this that's so scary.

Okay, stop it. We've solved nothing. Guy Boucher? That wasn't like the biggest no-brainer. Why was he still around while everyone else was let go? Why were they like like maybe the guy who did the power play that struggled i don't know the most no this assistant coach trended you know natural uh nationally every single time now i don't know how much people know if this is

just common knowledge but he was about this close to being the head coach of the toronto maple leafs before Babcock. Yeah, yeah. And the story that I had heard was that he was actually in, was it the Air Canada Centre at the time? Listen, I think, maybe I told you, I can vouch for that. I saw him in there. I was working for them cutting video. He came in and he was talking about cutting a hole in the wall so he could talk to the players better.

He was talking renos when he was in there. What? Yeah and then like a day later oh no no no no oh my god so i i guess again the story is that the leafs were talking to they were giving them the hold on hold on while they were on the phone with babcock or cutting a deal with babcock and then they have to go back to gui boucher and say um you know, sorry, bud. Yeah, sorry, bud. Yeah. Ouch. So now envision Guy Boucher going through that and then years later coming back and saying, okay, I'll be an associate coach for you. But you can't tell me that Guy Boucher wouldn't have had a conversation

with Brendan Shanahan or whoever else in MLSC and saying, hey, listen, my fault. If things don't work out with shel then please tell me that i would get heavy consideration for the job the only reason i would be i'm not in full agreement is that he hasn't coached the last few years right yeah no he wasn't he wasn't no but he had some good runs yeah oh absolutely he just absolutely. He just, you know, for whatever reason, so his last year as a head coach was 2019. Yeah, with Ottawa.

So that's a pretty big gap to then hand it over to the guy and say, but yeah, so you think he's pretty frustrated at how it shook out here? I mean, again, when you consider the way things failed, not coming out of the first round, plus the power play, which he had a big hand on yeah i just saw absolutely zero chance for him to be a head coach for the toronto maple leaf yeah and obviously they felt the same way so the staff is now for for toronto lane lambert lane lambert and mike okay listen uh i want to talk a little bit uh Patrick Laine here. Yeah. Okay, it's clear he wants out.

Columbus wants to lower the payroll. Oh, no. Oh, yeah. Oh, that's the start of a death spiral, man. No, no, this is... I don't know if he's still in substance abuse program or he's just coming out now, so I don't know whether that's playing a factor.

I do know there is interest for him. The program he was in doesn't necessarily mean substance abuse it could be mental health it could yes correct anyway correct so yeah maybe i didn't use the wrong uh term and i apologize for that but uh he's he's in a pa program yeah and i don't know if teams want to make sure that he comes out out of it if he hasn't already come out of it and check on that there there is interest i don't think that a team would take him on his full salary columbus would have to eat some of it i would believe i mean do we need to be worried about columbus like once you're gonna like you have to spend

the cap in this league to compete i understand that they don't have the players and you're gonna spend the money for nothing but the second second you're saying, we just finished, well, they finished 30th in the league and we're going to cut payroll. He makes 8.7 this year. 8.7. I thought it was lower than that. Let me ask you something. 4.5?

Would Winnipeg take him back? Oh, my God. No, what? Why are you saying them? Didn't he have a famously brutal breakup with all those guys? Yeah, but like one of those guys is long gone. Yeah, Wheeler. Yeah.

Affleck and J-Lo back together. If you can get him for six, six and a half, he's shown great success there in the past. He was happy. Can we get him to just like a... Maybe him and Marner will light it up in the same line in Utah. Go hockey club. You like those jerseys, Kent? Think about club. You like those jerseys, Ken?

Think about it. You like those jerseys? No. Okay. Thank you. I loved them. He's the only guy who learned us. 20 minutes on Friday.

Renaud Labois, thank you very much for joining us. Like I said, fastest hour in hockey. We're back tomorrow. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. June 17th. We still want to hear from you. See you tomorrow.

Don't go golfing or the beach just yet. We'll be right back.