Real Kyper & Bourne - Hellebuyck's Suspension + Three No. 1 Picks Face-Off in Toronto

Episode Date: October 19, 2026

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne begin their national hour touching on Connor Hellebuyck's suspension by the Winnipeg Jets and the teams in the mix for the goalie before bringing in Sportsnet's Sean Reynolds (5:04) to weigh in on if the Jets would welcome him back into the locker room after the suspension, Hellebuyck's legacy in Winnipeg, the future of the Jets goalie tandem and the asking price for Connor. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss Ottawa Senators extending head coach Travis Green's contract, before wrapping up the show with Monday Night Hockey's David Amber (27:15) to chat about Macklin Celebrini vs. the Maple Leafs in Toronto, John Chayka's trade options, Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens' start, why he's standing by his early pick for the Washington Capitals to win the 2027 Stanley Cup, Alexander Ovechkin focus in his last year, and the upcoming Senators vs. Florida Panthers game with the return of Brady Tkachuk at the nation's capital. 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Taking it up a notch on the Real Kipper and Born show. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590, the fan, streaming always on Sportsnet Plus and YouTube, where we always appreciate a thumbs up from our loyal followers and listeners. And if you miss our show, there's Spotify and Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your downloads. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, in a few minutes.

We'll welcome in Sean Reynolds. Does a great job. Sportsnet NHL reporter covering the Winnipeg Jets. all the talk around Hellebuck suspension expecting to lift this Friday. The question is, what do we think? Is he going to be there or is he not going to be there? I think he is going to be in a different jersey by the end of the week. I think they'll find a way.

Wow. I mean, you just, it's not good for anyone, and I know that that means that teams might have some leverage or whatever. Yeah. I fully expect him to be there and step on the ice. For the Winnipeg Jets. For the Winnipeg Jets. Wow.

Really? Yeah, I do. I do. You know, there's been some reports contrary to that. I know. I know. Yeah. But I believe that, first of all, I believe the best thing for everybody is he goes back to work.

And he's a part of the team and he gets himself prepared. Okay. It serves no purpose. What do they care about his preparation? Because they want to trade him. What if he gets lit? What if he plays well? First of all, it's not necessarily,

he needs two or three weeks to get ready. Yeah. Okay? He's not getting lit tomorrow or next week. But he needs to be with an NHL team. He needs to practice and he needs to get himself ready. So when a team trades for him, they think he's up to speed.

Okay. It serves him no purpose to be at home. it serves the Winnipeg Jets. No purpose to trade a guy sitting at home. He's more attractive. Whatever the case is, you want to send him down to get some starts in the H.L. But he needs to be on the ice around professional hockey every day.

That's what they're going to do. They're going to send a... Yes. Two weak conditions. Yes, you don't, first of all, you don't lift the suspension. And it's not Winnipeg's call here. He needs to... He lifts...

the suspension up himself by saying, I'm ready to report to work. So they have no choice. Well, they can't say, no, no, stay home and we're going to keep you suspended. Well, they can't pay him and tell him to stay home. That's the key. They can, they, the suspensions lift lifted the moment they pay him. Now, you can also pay him to stay home and say, you're no longer welcome in this room, which they have every right to.

But my original point is it serves no purpose in helping them trade him. He has to be back with the team and play. The purpose it would serve is that you're not disrupting your room by bringing in a guy who doesn't want to be a part of what you're doing. I believe they call that in some dressing rooms being a cancer. And distraction, cancer, whatever term you want to use, it will come. And it'll be uncomfortable. Dylan Larkin went through the uncomfortable part of being introduced

or having his name chanted in Montreal. It's okay. Deal with it. It'll come and go. The most important thing is you're doing whatever you feel is best to move this process forward. If there's a trade to be made, whether it's with Buffalo or it's with the Rangers or it's with the mammoth,

which seem to be the three teams that are circling around them, they are greatly incentivized to make that happen this week. To get this done and just have someone else pay them. If they want to do a two-week conditioning, it's great, you know, rumors about what the packages might look at. Whether it's Winnipeg or Buffalo, the guy needs two to three weeks. You cannot stick them in a game in 10 days.

He's playing in Michigan or practicing in Michigan right now. How much regret do you think there is around this? From who? From Helibuck. Like, I mean, do you... No, no, I don't think there's regret. I think he tried something to move the process forward by not showing up. It didn't work.

And the other factor is, I don't care who you are. I don't care how much money you made. I'm not giving up a million bucks just to sit at home. Well, right now it's $799. And we're going to tick over the 800 grandmark by the end of the show here. Hell of bucks? Yeah, hell of bucks. All right, this hour of real Kipprin-Boran brought to by Bet365.

welcome in Sean Reynolds. I don't know how much of our conversation you picked up. I've been listening intently, guys. Please pick it up from there, Sean, and tell us where you think this is headed come Friday. Well, it's interesting. I love being on this show because you get like media guys and you get former players.

So you get guys who kind of have this covered from all sides. I'm fascinated by the idea that you're talking about Nick of, you know, like figure it out, get them in the room, do, you know, use the asset, that kind of thing. And I'll be honest, the way that Scott Arniel was talking today, it sounds like that's how the Jets are approaching this. I think that there's a danger in this. I think that danger is mitigated by the fact you have great leaders in that room.

Adam Lowry is, you know, a great leader. If there's a room that can kind of absorb something like this, I think that they can do it. But to the point that you were bringing up about Connor Hellebuck in the process, like you're not going to leave a million dollars and these kind of things. The one thing that I think makes this dangerous is, like, look, you can call it business all you want. But at every single turn here, Connor Hellebuck has made decisions that fully benefit Conner Hellebuck or have the potential to benefit Connor Hellebuck.

And the people who pay the cost for that are the Winnipeg Jets, the Winnipeg Jets management group and the players. They wanted to keep this quiet. Connor Hellebuck wanted to make it loud. so he made it loud towards the end of the summer, and it got loud. Connor Hellebuck wanted to try and force a trade so he didn't show up to camp, right? That's Kyle Connor, Mark Schifley, Adam Lowry,

who has to answer those questions about a good friend of there, someone whose wives are friends, some of them their kids have played hockey together, and now they have to sit there and they have to answer these questions and be at the front of this all while they're trying to be a team that bounces back and becomes a playoff team. again. And then when that doesn't work, Connor Hellebeck says, well, I don't want to go without money.

So on the first day of the season, I'm going to declare myself eligible again, and that's going to limit my suspension. So now the suspension situation happens, and it's most beneficial to Connor Hellebuk, given the risk he tried to take by getting this to move forward by not showing up to camp. But he's not going to take any less money, so I'm going to make sure I get as much money and guess who's going to have to carry the cost of it?

The Winnipeg Jets players. the dressing room who again are answering questions about this right in the middle of, you know, things slowed down a little bit here. They've lost a couple, I think they've lost three of their last four. And now all of a sudden, this is falling into your lap right before the Heritage Classic. Like every move here that Connor Hellebuk made has been about Connor Hellebuck. Is that really what you want to take and find a way to fit back into the room? Like to me, there's a lot of danger in this.

And you're asking a lot of the Winnipeg because I think this is unprecedented. You're asking something that you've never really asked a hockey team to have to do before. The likely scenario is he comes back and they assign him to the minors for two weeks. And he stays away from the team, but he still gets his reps started up. And that's probably what we're going to see. Yeah. And sorry. No, no, please.

Just to close this out, I would think based on what I've understood about this conversations I've had in the past, Like this isn't what the Winnipeg Jets want, right? Like they want this deal done. They wanted it done a long time ago. This situation isn't the Winnipeg Jets holding and like, you know, well, you know, we'll get to it when we get to it. They have not got what they think is a fair deal and not really close to it, which is why this hasn't happened. So they want this done with. I would expect that they're not, they're going to try and find a way to keep them from the room.

But the Winnipeg Jets are also not a franchise that feels that they can. just sit there and pay a guy the kind of money they're paying them to sit at home and not use the goalie and not use the asset. Yeah, you're still spending money for goaltenders. So what is, what's the result legacy wise in Winnipeg? Is this Brady Kachuk? Is it Mitch Marner? Is it, you know, how is this guy going to be looked at, welcomed thought of by Jets fans? So I think I think Winnipeg's a really interesting market.

I don't know if I've said this before on your show, but I always think of these years. that Connor Hellebuck struggled in the playoffs. And I go back to that series against the St. Louis Blues that the Winnipeg Jets pull out in the Manitoba miracle in the end. The Winnipeg Jets players, their roster, dragged about and beaten Connor Hellebuck over the line in that series. They win that series strongly in spite of Connor Hellebuck. And as he's going on the road and getting completely lit up by the St. Louis Blues,

when he comes back to Winnipeg, I'm thinking to myself, If this was Philly, they would be giving them Bronx cheers or booze or whatever. Different markets would have handled this different. In Winnipeg, he returns and gets a resounding, ear-splitting MVP chant. Winnipeg Jets fans are usually completely behind their players. So the way I see this playing out, you know, legacy-wise, is Winnipeg Jets fans. There's a little bit of, you know, lost their team. I was in high school when the team was gone.

I know what it was like for years after that to be like, hey, I want to see an NHL hockey game. So me and my buddies would hop in a vehicle and drive 15 hours to Edmonton to go watch an NHL game, right? So there's a little bit of just happy to be here. Winnipeggers will not forget that. It's part of their DNA. So I do think there will be a muted anger at the player

in that people will be appreciative of the three, three Goaltender of the Year trophies, the three Vezna Trophies, the Hart Trophy, the Jennings trophies. He's always going to be one of the most impactful Winnipeg Jets that has ever, ever played. But boy, oh boy, this is like, Connor Hullabuck has never, wherever he ends up in his trade, I guarantee you this. He's not going to end up in another market that loved him as much as Winnipeg did. And I think at some point, a guy who I don't think is very self-reflective when it comes to this kind of stuff,

and I don't think has really reflected on this as much, he's going to at some point his life look and be like, man, I had something pretty good going there, and I kind of crumpled it up and threw it away because while people will always be like, hey, it's good to see you back Connor Hullabuck in the future, it's not going to be the love and the adoration that he came to enjoy here in Winnipeg.

You're watching and listening to Sean Reynolds, Sportsnet, NHL reporter. We've got a little Jets talk and the hottest story. which is getting hotter. Connor Hellebuck expected to come back to the Winnipeg Jets as early as Friday. One more kind of angle on this storyline, and that is off the ice. And I do hear that the family took some abuse over the whole USA and the State of the Union and Connor being much a part of that storyline.

And if that's true that that sort of stuff off ice had a play in all of this, do you think Jets fans would be more sympathetic to the fact that, you know, the families lost a little bit of trust in being there? Yeah. So I saw a clip circulating online from a podcast that had a long conversation about how poorly he was treated when he got back to Winnipeg. And I was like, we're just creating made up news now. Like this didn't happen. The guy came back to Winnipeg and got roundly cheered. Like he always does. Like the Winnipeg Jets fans who stung by the Canadians losing to Connor Hullabuck who found

a performance in the gold medal game that he was never able to find for Winnipeg Jets fans, they said, good on you, you're one of us. That's what happened in the building. Now, what happened outside the building. You know, there's been rumors and innuendo of what happened. To me, my take on that, and that's the take, like, let me be very clear. I haven't gone through that before. Through this job, I've had people docks me and, you know, threaten me online and, you know, flash me my, hey, this is your address, blah, blah, blah.

That's an uncomfortable thing. Clearly, I know that. So him going through those kind of things, I think is tricky. and I don't want to get political on this, but let's be completely an obvious and factual in this. If Connor Hellebuck is upset because people were tweeting mean things to him online, he had just come from supporting the world's heavyweight champion of mean tweets and attacking people online.

So if he's like, he's like, you know, glad-handing with the president and being like, man, I love this guy and all the stuff that he does. And then he comes home and people are mean to him online. and that's the point where he's going to be like, well, geez, I better head out of town. People said mean things to me. How do we even know those people are in Winnipeg? But even if they are, how do you reconcile that you're supporting this on one hand

and then running out of town for the exact same thing? Just to me, it does not add up. I just think the guy wanted out of town. I think they're stretching other storylines and throwing them out there, not to muddy the waters, but to try and lessen, you know, the criticism that comes his way. This to me, I personally don't think that comes into play. I think this is a guy who looked at this team, didn't see the future he wanted here and wanted out. And every act we have seen from him since is an act of a guy who's thinking exactly that.

There's a great me-sewing, me-reeping tweet about there that has some squares in there that I'll let people look up. But it is, you know, you reap what you sell sort of thing. Last one for me is just the goaltending since him is, according to my check here, is 11th best in the NHL, just outside the top. top 10 with Stu Skinner kind of at the head of that. Does that help them at all? Does that take some of the sting out? Is this sustainable? Oh, I think it's sustainable.

And guys, I think you guys gave me the best platform I've ever had in the most time to kind of explain that my take on it when Connor Hullabuck was winning the Hart trophy. I said on your show, I didn't think he should have won the Heart trophy because he was bored that year. Like the Winnipeg Jets defense, the two years that he won back-to-back. Vesna Trophies and Jennings Trophies was unbelievable. They were great and he got to benefit from that. The idea that the Winnipeg Jets were a bad team that was propped up by a superstar

goaltender was true. It was true back in 2019, 2020. It hasn't been true for a long time. And I think one of the reasons you're not seeing, you know, teams act on this right now. And I'm still hearing that the offers, even up to now are very lukewarm on the player, is because I think the rest of the league recognizes that, right? And so for me, I just take a look at where the player is. And I think that right now, okay, just a, sorry, just to backtrack just a little bit.

The year Connor Hellebuck wins the heart trophy, Lauren Brouss, his backup, and his numbers are actually better. Like his save percentage, his goals against, are better than Connor Hellebucks. Eric Comrie, who we've seen away from Winnipeg, is not an NHL goal tend. does, has pretty darn good numbers in his time in Winnipeg. They've got one of the best goaltender coaches in the league in Wade Flaherty. We ran a story on one of the Saturday night broadcast a little while ago of all the goalies that roll through Winnipeg.

Their numbers are better than their career numbers when they're in Winnipeg. They get the best of their goaltender. So honestly, I think what this is showing is Winnipeg will be just fine with the goal tendending that they have. There's nothing about this that's unsustainable. The Jets play a really, sorry, cut it. Oh, no, no, I'm just saying, Sean, if what you're saying is fairly accurate, you know, then, then Winnipeg's got to lower their demands.

If the rest of the teams think like you and understand it, it's like then Winnipeg's got to make this work, Winnipeg's just got to come down. Their ask is too high. Okay, I can tell you this. I spoke with someone representing one of the teams that everyone is always talking. talking about in this situation. Their belief is that the ask is way too high,

and they're really not sure how much better their goaltending situation gets by adding Connor Hellebuck. And to me, that is consistent with everything that we have been hearing throughout this time that the offers aren't really that great. The Winnipeg Jets highly, highly value Connor Hellebuck. The crazy part about all of this is Connor Hellebuck wants out of the place that thinks the most about Connor Hellebuck. And that's the strange thing about this whole thing.

And I'm not really sure that Connor Hellebuk cares about that or is swayed by that. Clearly, he's not. He just wants to get to where he wants to go. And that's the tricky part of this situation. I think the Jets thought at some point they'd play this like this and that Connor hellabuck would look and they'd be like, Connor, the rest of the league doesn't think about you the way that we do. And that would maybe change his mind. It hasn't.

But Nick, I think you're right. And I do think that if Kevin Shevoldeoff has been in these situations before with Evander Cain, with Pierre-Luc Dubois, with Patrick Lainey, all of these players that people were thinking they're distressed assets because they want to trade. They're not going to get good value for them. And Kevin's Shevold-Dayoff slayed in all of those trades, I think that this is going to be the one that at some point you have to realize I just don't get to win every single time. But he took Jets talk to another level today. Elevated Jets talk. Good stuff, Sean.

Awesome. Nice. Thanks, Sean. You too. Hopefully next time it's a better conversation about more Jets. Sean Reynolds. See you, pal. That's a really kind of unique look at Connor McDavid or Conner, Hellebuck stuff, you know, off the ice.

I'm looking forward to this being over with. Like, I'm kind of sick at the hot. It just feels like it's high. Between him and Dylan Larkin, not good for the league. It's hanging over everything. It's just not good. I don't like it. I think the Larkin one, perception-wise, is worse than the Halebuck one for me.

Yeah? Like, wow. A guy, it's like he's an American from that part of America, playing in America for, like, one of the most classic teams. This isn't good enough. This isn't good enough. It's like, it's not far enough south. I can see Windsor from my house.

I don't want to be here. But the, I don't know, the Jets and Winnipeg one. I mean, I guess it makes a little bit more sense, but they both stink. They both stink. The one thing that changes a lot is that Winnipeg's had some success without them. Yeah. And Detroit's miserable. What's funny is Detroit's...

Head of the Leafs? What are they? 4, 4 and 2 or something? I know, but it's... It's a sad... It seems like they're the sad original 6th team right now. It does. Well, it just doesn't feel like they have a direction.

right like they don't have a bunch of great young players that they're about to be awesome or i don't know what they're up to they're just kind of this yeah man hey all right uh other news and stuff i guess before we break because we're going to get to uh d a who's coming at 530 but uh sends extended Travis green today five years five years i heard five oh my god i'm like that's so many in the nachel It's a huge number. No one plays their coaches for that many years. Did anybody, did you read five? I read four.

I saw that. I was told five. Well, maybe I'm wrong though. Five on five, it was pretty obvious. I said, I doubt you're wrong. I would go with you on that. He had this year, next year still on his contract, is what I saw. So it's five more years.

Yes. Yeah, you're probably right. In the middle. Whatever it is, it's. He's going to be the coach. It's really, really comfortable. My thoughts on Travis Green are great coach. Yeah.

Great coach to lock in. We had Mack on the show on Friday and he was... Yeah, he loves him. He loves him. And he said that he kind of changed his stripes on him in terms of him. He's impressed him and he's gotten a lot better than he thought. The only complaint I have with Travis is that he's like Steve Steos. They both just super grumps.

You know, like every interview clip I hear is... Grumpy can work. I know it can. For coach, it can work. We have a clip. Do you want to see how grumpy it is? We have positive? I don't know.

It's clip one green on why he resigned. Let's see how grumpy it is. We hit all the boxes, checks all the marks. But you also got to believe you can win, first and foremost. And every coach wants to win. And I truly believe that our team can succeed and win, win long term. And you've got to enjoy your team. You've got to enjoy coaching the players.

And that's a big one as well. said it many times. We have a group that wants to be coached. And we enjoy coaching them. Our staff thoroughly enjoys coaching these players. And obviously, you've got to like where you're at. You know, I've two years now. I love living here.

I love the city. I love the team. And I want to win. And for me, it was an easy decision. Dude. That sounds very happy to me. It's the best day of his life. He just signed a five-year contract extension as the head coach.

And he's just like... This human black clouds except of happiness sounds like. Oh, I just love that here so much. It's like, oh, my God. Do you think that? I don't know. I guess there's not a lot of really happy-go-lucky coaches

in the NHL, but like is Cooper? Oh, yeah, there's way more lightness from those guys, I feel like. What's better? It's not a criticism. It's just a personality. I think deep down, they all know, like, yeah, it's great today,

but tomorrow they could kick me to the curb. That's what it is. Yeah, but that's great. rate insurance. That's curve-kicking insurance. I'm there. I'm there. I'm there. I'm there. Really nice curve. Every time I come to this door, my pass card works. It's a good day. It's a good day. It's a miracle.

Anyway, that's great for the Sends. I think that that's nothing but good news. Congrats at Travis Green. Game time. Game time. It's game time. Presented by Bet365, home of the three-goal early payout and an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario and Alberta only. Please play responsibly

So there's four games on tap tonight. Anaheim in New York to take on the Rangers. Colorado in Philly to take on the Flyers who stank still. But they got to win. Tough. They got to win, though, didn't they? They got to win. So the happy days are here again.

And San Jose in Toronto to take on the lease, obviously. And Pittsburgh in Utah to take on the mammoth. Looking at the Leafs, of course, Leafs and sharks on Sportsnet Plus. night on Monday night hockey. Man, big one tonight for the happiness hedge for you're a leaf fan. If you want to bet right now on the fact that Stenberg is going to score a goal, I think that's a really good little happiness hedge for you because it feels like that's coming down the pike here, don't you?

Like, is that just... It does feel like a Stenberg goal. Yeah. Even if you want to do it as a, as the first goal. score here. Feels like you could do that anytime as well. I love a, I love a Stenberg goal tonight.

I can't figure out how to get the number here, but I love a Stemberg goal tonight. And I even like some, points for Stenberg. If you want to do like a couple, like two points for Stenberg, you can get that at seven to one. So they're pretty equal. They got a couple goals each.

They're minus five, minus six, and they play within a minute and a half of each other. Yeah. Yeah, they're both young men. playing in the old men's league. Who have a pile of talent. Yep. So give me a Stenberg two points at seven to one tonight.

And you know what? Celebrini, he's coming to Toronto. It doesn't come to Toronto very often. Three points plays six to one. I think they got a bunch of Toronto guys. Three points is really hard. Yeah, Misa. Listen, it's a huge reason that the Leafs lose these kind of games at home.

where it's a Western Conference team that's like really not that relevant to the Leafs or whatever. They don't have a rivalry with them. But it's the only chance for all these guys to come home, play the Leafs, play the team they grow up. They get to go up in the stands after and yuck it up with their whole family. Like a big reason for my whole life

why they've been losing these stupid games to teams they shouldn't lose to. And tonight is a prime example of that. Getting a motivated group. Yep. Anyways, that was game time presented by Bet365, home of the three-goal early payout, an official partner of the NHL,

almost 19 plus, Ontario and Alberta only. Please play responsibly. Okay, we take a quick break when we return David Amber in studio. It's Monday night hockey here at Sportsnet. We'll get into that more when we return to Real Kippur and Bourne. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL, the J.D. Bunk is podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio. A reminder this hour of Real Kipperman Borne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kiprios, Justin Mooran. Let's welcome in the freshest, newest face of streaming, David Amber. Monday night, sharp. We are.

We got Leafs and San Jose. Big one tonight. So I'm told that as far as the attraction for star players coming to Toronto, Celebrini could be even bigger than McGregor. David and McKinnon when it comes to... Like it's a hot ticket. It's a hot ticket. Yes.

Well, I have a friend who's a ticket broker. And he said, he actually told me tonight's ticket was the hottest ticket. Because it's also tiered differently than Montreal on a Saturday night. So he said the celebrating factor maybe was under the radar for some of the ticket sales. Yeah. It's just been through the roof. They got so much young talent there in San Jose. McDavid's old now, right, for some of these kids.

Yeah, he's playing horribly. No, no, no. No, no. Forget how he's playing. He's just old compared to, like, Celebrini with a connection to the kids. Sharks have to be one of the top, two, three, musty TV teams. And it's not just him. And Me's I know has gotten off to a slow start, but I watched this kid in the GTHL. Second overall pick.

Yeah, he's going to be fantastic. You got kind of get lost in that, right? Stenberg. I mean, we've got great storylines here. McKenna, number one pick, obviously. Matthew's number one pick, Celebrini number one pick, and then you have the one and two. I heard Sam talking about that in the last hour.

By the way, I want to dig in on the philosophical debate you had about what the Leafs should do, because I know they've had this roller coaster ride through nine games. And I'm going to side with Kipper here. I think you have to just start stockpiling futures, right? And this notion of getting Zadarov, and I love Zadarv as a player, there should be an embargo you cannot trade with Boston. Every time you trade with Boston, something catastrophic happens. You know that, right? I mean.

It hasn't gone great. It has no doubt about that. They're just like, don't even consider them trading partners. If Zadarov's on another team, then you make the call maybe. Yeah, you know, not having picks the next couple of years doesn't scare you. Listen, you guys are just old men and I'm trying to learn as the young fuck for my elders here. But these are mature, thoughtful plans you're talking about. It hasn't helped D.A. just in terms of that, I think, Lee fans or Chiker or Matt's,

just you haven't really seen at least enough out of nine games to really make a fair assumption right now. You can't have a measured approach. You can't take a knee-jerk reaction. They changed up half their team, right? Which is unheard of, right? They literally switched out 10 players, a head coach, a GM, Matt Sundin's role. It's a completely different look and feel to this team.

We're nine games in. Tanev's out, Tavares is out, and Nielander missed the morning skate. We'll see if he skates tonight. But I think you have to take a slow measured approach. And you don't have a ton of futures to trade. It's one thing to trade nyes for Marchenko, right? You're trading an established player to some degree for an established player to some degree.

It's very different to trade futures. And as, you know, Nick astutely said, I think when you're drafting and developing guys, you have to give that the time it deserves. And at a certain point, you might just have to take your medicine. And I understand what you're saying. You certainly don't want to finish in the bottom five this year or anything like that.

And I don't think the Leafs are on a trajectory to do that. I think they're going to be better. Yeah. You know, I think Stan made a good point about, you know, they have great aspects of a good team. But it just hasn't come together yet. You know, if you're talking about this slow measured approach, that would mean that you don't do anything active this year.

you don't get a first pick, first overall pick next year. Sorry, first round pick next year. Colorado, you'll pick 31 or whatever. You don't get a first round pick the next year. So this whole time you're developing Ben Danford. And that's going to fix it three years from now? Well, I didn't say don't do anything. I said don't go and trade Colorado's.

Don't trade your first round pick. Don't trade Bed Danford. I think you need to keep the few assets you have, the Easton Cowan's, etc. You have to build around those guys. You have to have some young guys. And to answer your question in a few years? you got McKenna two years older,

you got Cowan two years older, and whatever the changes that you make between now and two years brings you. Yeah, okay. And does it include Matthews? Matthews, Knight-Nilander. Like, you don't, if you may... There's a lot of unknowns.

If you get to the point where you just, after 12 years, J.B., you got to flip them, then you got to flip them. And just call it a flip. Flip. Flip. Just flip. I don't think you call a Matthews trade a flip.

That's a big deal. Wow, that would be a massive deal. And there's a lot to happen between now and then where you don't want to get, you know, things too far. But I disagree with philosophy. You got to keep some of those small parts. Okay, so if the Leafs necessarily don't go after a D, how about the Edmonton Oilers,

I just said moments ago, I'm starting to believe in the Edmonton Oilers, but I do believe that they're the ones that maybe could use a D. But outside of that, what have you liked about the Oilers? What have you, besides the obvious. I mean, they look great. And what makes their start all the more impressive is at one point, they were missing three of their top six forwards, right?

Savoy and R&H who are still out, and they just got Zach Hyman back. They're missing one of their top defensemen and Jake Wallman. They're missing their number one goalie and Freddie Anderson. And yet they're playing pretty poised, discipline hockey. What was the number one question going into the season for the Oilers? Yeah. Goaltending. And Babcock.

And Babcock. And Babcock. And I think those two things have simmered down. We're not talking about the goal tenning. You know, the first two games we were talking about, what did what have Babcock say after the first game? That was unbelievable. Or that was atrocious.

I can't remember his exact quote, but it was not pleasant in the 9-7 win. That was ridiculous. That was ridiculous. I think that narrative settled down. They have the best player in the world who could be on his way to a 200-point season. I heard Elliot earlier today debating with Matt Marquesi and Mike Feudah about would it be a 200-point season. The fact we're even having that conversation is pretty amazing.

Okay. My two cents is, that's not going to help Edmonton win the Stanley Cup, him chasing 200 points. 100%. Right? But the fact that we're... Maybe a few years ago, it would have been a nice,

but that's not, that can't be his focus here. He starts focusing around that. It hurts the ball club. Fair enough, but I don't, I will never be, it'll never be Connor McDavid's focus. His focus is uni on winning. He's won everything there is to win. But my point is, he's playing so well.

that's not an unreasonable expectation right now. The team's playing fantastic. Mike Babcock has calm things down, I think. The goaltending is elevated. And I do want to see them start playing Minnesota, Colorado, Florida, Carolina. Listen, Utah is no joke, and they just made pretty short work of them the other night. Well, they went one-in-one against them. Yeah.

The second night was 6-2 or whatever. Yeah, they did a number of them on Saturday. They got McDavid on Saturday. Plus 19, Connor McDavid. The Oilers have Bouchard at plus 17, Echolm, plus 16, dry settle plus 15. So those guys,

pretty good goal differential so far this year. Keep it going around Canada, Montreal. What have you made a their start so far? Some good, some bad. There's still so much to like. Some people anticipate it

it be a little bit of a letdown, right? Even though they didn't get to the Stanley Cup final, just having that run a little bit. And, you know, the emotions involved with that. And I was there, you know, for the second and third round against Buffalo and Carolina. And there was a lot of emotions,

a lot of excitement. So maybe that's not shocking. You know, Kent Hughes, Jeff Gordon, they've tried to hit that home run as far as the Dylan Larkins of the world, which is the one maybe glaring thing they need. And he hasn't been able to, sadly, yet. Do they look small to you? I think Buffalo.

I look at Washington. I look at Vegas. Those are big teams, man. The only argument you could put there is Carolina's small. And look at them. I mean, Carolina is small. I think that was a myth. Carolina is not small.

They have a couple of small guys. Well, okay, stall is huge. Yeah, Martin Nooks big and Jankeowski's big. Slavins large. Jarvis. Candre Miller is large. Chatfield's big. Oh, they're blue lines big.

They're blue lines big, yeah. I just, I'm not sure that's everything. And I don't think it inhibits Lane Hudson from being or Cole Cawfield. No, no. I'm not talking about their, I'm just the build around them. Yeah, like your core guys are not. You know, and Josh Anderson's had a heck of a start. Oh, boy.

They're going to have to sign him. You don't let a guy like that go, even though he's a little older. They're going to have to buck up on him. Do you think they are? Yeah, I do. I do. I don't even want to think about that team going into playoffs without Josh Anderson. Yeah.

Yeah, he does a lot for them. And they've gotten bigger. Like, remember, they addressed it, Slavkovsky, Kirby Doc, if he can stay healthy. Like, they did address some of the size issues up front. They have a bit more to do. I like Gully with Jack Eye. Like those are a couple of big guys at the back end that'll make you pay. Yeah, 100%.

I love that team. I think they're a fantastic team, incredibly skilled. And unlike, you know, the Leafs or even Edmonton, for that matter, they have a ton of prospects and a ton of draft capital they could use. If they want to go out and make a real pitch at whether it's Dylan Larkin or someone else, they have the assets to do that. And they're also on the trajectory to do that, I think. So what we're seeing right now, I don't think come trade deadline in March is going to be the same Montreal team.

I think there's going to be a significant addition between now and that. We got David Amber in studio. It's Monday night hockey Sportsnet Plus. If we look around the league, David, is there a team out there right now that you say, I've seen enough, don't sleep on them. Mine would be the Washington Capitals right now. Yeah, I picked them to win the Cup. Did you?

Yeah, I picked them to beat Edmonton in the final. I say that now. I'll be denying those picks and three months when watching it. And the focus, watch. Well, first of all, I think, despite the, I mean, not just the size. The size up front is, they look like an NFL team. They're goal-taining. I think Logan Thompson is a world-class goalie.

I don't think people talk about them enough. It is strange how, like, consistently good he's been for a few years, and people are just, like, kind of. No one mentions them when you talk about the top goalies. I think they have top goaltending. I love their coach. You know, if there was ever maybe a guy who got away from the Leafs organization, where you're going to go, hmm, Spencer Carberry, from what I can tell,

he's got that John Cooper's ability to deal with the players. that great EQ, the way he deals with everyone, I think he gets the most out of his players. I picked Cole Hudson to win the Calder for rookie of the year. I think he's got all the same attributes as Lane. He's a little bit bigger. He won't maybe put up the points because he got Chickren, who has that bomb on the point.

So he's not going to be on the power play, but I really love the makeup of that Washington team. And, you know, they've had some middling start to the season, but they're going to be there when it all is done. Ovechkin, we're not used to seeing him with one goal, I think, this year. And 13 minutes on average. But is it the right place? Is it the right situation there for you?

I think if he's happy and he's okay with it, and he's just along a little bit for the ride, it's not a bad thing. My buddy just called it a sideshow. But I don't get a sense it's a side show. He's a field goal kicker on a ball. What are your thoughts? I want you to do, you know,

they have that metric about how much a guy skates during a game? Yeah. I want to see where an OB is like, hey, skate in. 28 feet. Yeah, exactly. What is your sense? I mean, listen, he's built up the equity to call his shot. I mean, that's just what it is.

Yeah, they insulate him very well, the offensive zone draws. You always harp on the two minutes on the power play. And that's been a big part of it. I think he recognizes where he's at physically. I think he had someone who was just at their game and said he weighs way more than 250. Don't let him tell you weighs 250. That's so big.

So I think he's, you know, I think he's a big guy. He's earned the right to go out how he wants to go out. You're saying it's a massive detriment to the team. No, I don't think you earn that right to if it's not helping the team to go on the ice. You know, I think if you're kneecapping your teammates and you're not. holding up your end of the bargain, then I don't think you get to go out on the ice because of what you've done in the past. I'm just not sure where his focus was to come back. Was it to add to the goals? Or was it to win another Stanley Cup? Because it's really heading only towards a cup.

I mean, at the... Isn't not the best reason to come back, though, to try and run out? That's a great reason to come back. But is it? Or did he think he... What's he need? Fifteen goals to be to catch? You might know that. To catch Gretsky's totally... I think it was 11 to start. He's going to catch Gretzky's all-time goals. I mean, barring, well, yeah.

Is he? I think he's going to. Might be eight empty netters, but he's going to catch him. Yeah, I want to say he's now 10 behind Gretzky for the all-time goals, playoffs plus thing, whether that's part of the motivation. I think he loves playing the game, guys. I don't think it's that complicated. I think he loves playing.

This is what he's done for the last 20, whatever years. You know, people don't want to just give up their spot. I guess. He'll just want to walk away when they love. He's got 11 shots in eight games for Alex Olvesch. He has 11-shot games. That's shocking. Now that you say that, that is shocking.

And also no training cap. Who knows what he was doing this summer? It might take a little time for him to get his legs under him. All right. We'll give him a little bit of, cut him some slack. A little grace. Ottawa senators resign Travis Green to a nice long contract. They got Brady coming to town Wednesday.

Game of the week. Game of the week for you? It's going to be predicting a bloodbath. Oh, you think it'll get physical? Oh, yeah. Who's going to fight for me? I don't know. I don't know.

But, like, he's pissed. He's still pissed. And what's the atmosphere? What's the atmosphere going to be? Just, you know, he's not happy with the Ottawa senators. Still not happy. In what? I don't.

Just, I'm just real interested to watch this game. But to me, that's an interesting comment. Because he basically said, I want to be moved. And he also said, I'd like to play with my brother. And they did all of that. And quite frankly, they didn't have to do. They could have pulled a Kevin Shevel day off and said, Okay, well, you can sit.

You're suspended. They get it on a number of things. And I like the fact they nipped it in the butt and moved along and too bad Acklin's hurt. But the teams got off to a great start. And we said this at the beginning of the year. I came on your show three weeks ago. And I said, if they get decent goaltending, look out for the Ottawa senators. And so far, almost.

There's something that the Ottawa senators did where you could chuck your kachuk jersey or something of that. Oh, yeah? That didn't really. Can you check your jersey? Something in that. aspect that creative fans are doing the yachts. What were they supposed to do? Listen, I'm not saying one way or the other.

Good for you, Ottawa. There you go. There you go. Creative fans are doing the Yakum chuck. Yeah. There's been a few letters out. There's been a few creative jerseys out there. Listen, that's going to be hostile.

It's going to be fun. Brady will be up for it. Yeah. There'll be a certain amount of money on the board, probably on both sides. Nick Cousins, Ridley, Greg. All right. I'm looking. Boys, I'm looking.

Maybe some blood with a stick over someone's Are you expecting something crazy, huh? Well, no, I know. No, I'm not predicting. But Brady's not going to just go play 20 quiet minutes and, you know, throw two body checks out of the goal. And it's, it may be the teammates around Brady that could rally for him. Rally or drag him, drag the whole thing into the. Oh, they're going to be up for it.

Right. They're going to know what this means. They could drag it in the alley. Yeah, I can see that happening. That's the game of the week for sure. all eyes on that. And it's funny, San Jose plays Ottawa the next day. We're in this survivor pool, right?

I think San Jose on Thursday because I'm like, the emotions for Ottawa are going to be like this, and then it's going to be like that. And I think San Jose is going to catch him on a sleeper. Yeah, Sharks over. Sharks over Ottawa. Yeah, yeah. Sharks over Ottawa, yeah. Not sure if you caught our show earlier in the hour.

We had Sean Reynolds, heavily on the Hullabuck situation. What's he saying? What we could expect Friday? upon his return and how this thing plays out. Sean believes that the price still may be very high for Hellebuck, which is causing

a few teams to not pull the trigger just yet. Shouldn't it be high though? I totally understand. He's a three-time Vesna winner, a heart winner. He has the most team-friendly deal with the 8.5 million for the next five years, which let's face facts. 12 million is the new 8 million.

Eight million is the new 4 million. Like, it really is. But playoffs are still the playoffs, and he doesn't have a great reputation there. Okay, but the last time we saw him in a meaningful game, you made 41 saves against Canada. Like, I'm not necessarily going to hold that entire narrative. You're not allowed to say that, right, on our show?

You're not allowed to mention that game. I'd like to forget it, too. But, I mean, Kipper, listen, playoffs, you've been underwhelming. I fully understand that narrative. But, man, the one biggest game of his life, he was pretty darn good. Yeah. He was pretty darn good, no doubt about it.

Off chance, did you happen to hear Devin Cooley's interview yesterday? Did you see it, Kep? I don't understand it, but I saw it. He was talking about how he needs to be. He's better as an unconscious goalie. His subconscious is better than his conscious. He's the most goalie, I think I've ever. No one has ever golied like he goalie in that interview.

No one has come across like a goalie than this guy. If he didn't see it, he basically said if he laughs, it makes him conscious of where he is and more present, and that makes him a worse goalie. So he stays serious. So he is a subconscious goalie, which is good when he's subconscious. Yeah, anyway, pretty fantastic.

Good for the flames to get a win. He is a fantastic interview. The flames are looking for bright spots this year, DA. What is he expectation for this season there? I was watching the game last night with Justin Williams. We'll do Monday night hockey after this with Luke and Justin. And Justin does some consulting work with Carolina. And that's how he's, you know, pretty vested and interested in it.

And I said, if the Flames win tonight, it's kind of like their Stanley Cup, and I almost feel that way. Like, you know, they're looking for small windows, small victories. And last night was, they played great. They really hung in there. It was a big win, and that's what it's going to be like. The best thing that could happen for the Flames or maybe Vancouver, in my opinion, at this point, and we've sort of seen is to, you know,

they're going to rack up some losses. They just don't have the personnel to compete, but to do it in a competitive way and win the draft lottery, something I don't think either team's ever done. I know Vancouver hasn't, and you get Landon, and you have that shiny new toy. If you're the flames, you're going into your new arena next year, and you can do it with the number one overall pick. There's a lot of positivity.

It just seems that it never works out for the teams that kind of feel that way or need it. And someone sneaks in, a team will bounce in with their 4% chance. No team has been hurt like the Red Wings. The Red Wings have moved back in the draft in the past 10 years, like seven times or something with bad luck. Well, Buffalo missed out on McDavid, right? And Eichol's a great player. We know that I didn't work out on Buffalo, but there's a massive drop-off.

When you don't get McDavid, that's crippling, right? And they didn't get McDavid. In fact, I think the draft lottery, don't quote me on this. I think it's only worked out twice in the last 10 years. One was Austin Matthews. Leifs had the worst record, 2016, and I believe once was Uri Slavkovsky, Montreal,

in 2022 or whatever it was. Every other time, Islanders come out of nowhere. Leif's come out of nowhere, right? Like, as you said, 6%, 4%, 8%, percent and Vancouver's been screwed over a few times now so we'll see it's a 730 puck drop on monday night hockey david amber hosting uh justin williams lucasic uh big focus as you said earlier mckenna versus stenberg what are you looking for in in how you kind of compare them tonight well you know what kibber to me i wouldn't have thought if i didn't work with jason bucala

and he's on your guy's show i mean he he said stenberg was the player he would have taken right up on the draft floor that day. More ready for NHL. Yeah, and listen, and I understood that, you know, he'd come off the world juniors. I think they won a championship. He'd come off the world championships. He'd playing, he had the most points of any player as a teenager in this,

any draft eligible player in the Swedish elite league since the Sedeans. That's pretty good, right? So I think that was his point and it's been well taken. I think these two might be bound together for their entire careers. Oh, they will. You know, we've seen that. It's funny. I guys heard you talking in the last hour about the line named Matthews.

And that narrative, obviously, he has splinter. Heard off. Matthews is a prolific goal score in line eight right now, is looking for a team. But for the next few years, I think that narrative's really going to carry itself. Stenberg's a great player. He's really good. I don't much you watch. I watch the sharks all the time because I love watching. Yeah, they're like, I think Bill Simmons, you call it a league pass team.

Like when you're skimming around the league, you stop to catch the sharks games right now. Six points already. That's a massive storyline, right? Six points. And by the way, they had an overtime a few days ago. And he made a pass to Celebrini through a guy's skates, right to Celebrity. you never see in Celebrini actually missed the net on it. So he could have had more points.

They don't have a regulation win yet, the Sharks. That's bizarre. Is that true? That's very true. All their wins, overtime are shootout, which is kind of crazy. But it's not great. That's definitely a storyline, though. McKenna versus Stenberg, and that'll be something that goes on for years.

And then the Celebrini story. I mean, this kid, is there a better young player in the game? I mean, he's as good as a guess. He's like the next superstar in the league. The success. dominant. At the Olympics, absolutely blew me away. Well, it was clear by about the second game of the Olympics that he needed to be with McDavid as a part of a number one line. And there's a lot of debate about taking him in the

first place. And I forget, we had someone on from hockey Canada or someone who said that like they were fourth line or, you know, ease him in slowly. What caught my eye during the Olympics, he was on a line with Nick David. He's calling for the puck. I would be, if I was on the ice who made, I would be like, just don't even pass it back to me. It reminded me of when Kobe Bryant was in the All-Star game. He was calling off Michael Jordan, like, give me the ball type thing. And Michael Jordan's like, who is this kid, you know?

And it takes a bit of bravado. And anyways, celebrate me must-see TV. We're on tonight, 7 o'clock. We're coming up in an hour. Looking forward to it. Thank you so much for stopping by. We really love having you. Always a pleasure, man.

Love the show. All right. David Amber, everybody. And it's Monday Night Hockey on SportsNet Plus. We got Valley tomorrow. Valley tomorrow. I want to ask him about Cooley. Oh, yes.

We're talking Cooley. the interview. Thanks for joining us. Have a great night, everybody.