Real Kyper & Bourne - How Connor Bedard's Injury Impacts Team Canada

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by NHL on Sportsnet host David Amber in-studio (0:26) to chat about general manager Bill Guerin turning the Minnesota Wild into a destination for NHL players with the bold move of trading for Quinn Hughes. Then, they discuss if Connor McDavid can surpass Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux in points per game in the regular season, whether Connor Bedard's injury could impact his spot on Team Canada, who would round out the Olympic roster, and the state of the Canadian NHL teams before the holiday break. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee look at the St. Louis Blues roster and landing spots for some of their players, if Jordan Binnington can earn another big contract, and the Pittsburgh Penguins selling the franchise to the Hoffmann family. 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 take it up a notch on the national hour. It's a real Kipper and Bourne show. We're live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet, 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, if you don't catch us live, do what David Amber does. download us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. DA, welcome in, pal. I do it all at the same time.

I download them all together. I want to just more. I can't get enough of Real Kipper and Born. I think I was doing. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kippenborn brought to you by Bet 365. All right, DA. What do you got for us, buddy? There is a ton.

Since we've talked to you last, it's like... Quinn Hughes? The Quinn Hughes trade. It has to be the biggest. Were you expecting anything? Like there was a bit of a momentum shift in terms of, I think, Vancouver fans, really come into the conclusion like it's not looking like he'll resign. But did you expect something like a big trade to happen before Christmas?

I didn't know about the timeline, but it was more that it went to Minnesota. That was, all signs to me were pointing to New Jersey's going to figure it out because that's the destination of choice or Detroit because his home is off-season homes in Michigan and there's all those connections there. And I sort of said, and they've got the package. They have a bunch of young studs too that they could have packaged up.

So when it was Minnesota, I was like, man, that took me by surprise. And we got off the air. I was with DeMonte Smith Peli and Mike Fuda. And we got off the air at 7 on Hockey Central. And I go down to meet some buddies at a restaurant. By the time I get there, my phone's, bing, ding, ding. And I was like, oh, my God, I can't believe it. One thing I'll say, guys, we need more Bill Garens in hockey.

Yes, we do. And Jim Rutherford's. This guy is as bold as they come, right? Like, remember when he took the position, the first, one of the first things he did was he waived, Parisi, and Souter, which you're thinking, oh, my God, this is the face and the heart of the franchise, and you're going to do that, like, wow. Then the Caprizov signing, biggest contract in hockey, and now this, this is a bold GM. I love it.

I think it's fun. And I like his attitude. It's kind of like when you get a chance to get an elite, elite player like Quinn Hughes, you do everything your power to get that player. Yeah, particularly in Minnesota, where it's not like free agents are choosing there. So if you have the chance to get someone to go there, what did you think of the return? I love the idea from Bill Guerin's perspective. Let's say that only one or two of those three guys turns out, then you're laughing.

You know, like basically the only way that you'd say they ever lost that trade is if all of them become stars. Well, I mean, I guess you could say they lose the trade. if, I mean, consider the division they're in, right? There's a scenario where Minnesota plays Dallas in the first round and loses with Quinn Hughes. And next year, even if they hold on to Quinn Hughes and, you know, they don't win a Stanley Cup or they might not even win a round or two. That could happen just because of how good the division is. And then he goes and leaves to New Jersey, let's say. Then you lose that trade because you had two shots at it.

You didn't come up with anything and you gave up these great profits. What if they'd trade him if they got the sense that, you know, he wasn't going to resell. Well, I mean, what did Billy Garen say? He said sort of winning solves everything. And Kipper, you played in the league. Like, winning solves a lot, right? You know, if you want to be happy, winning is a big part of the puzzle. Quinn Hughes wants to win, especially with all the turmoil he just went through in Vancouver.

You have to create an environment that gets people excited. So, of course, the fans are into it because they get to see a world-class player. But the players now are in a position where... You are talking to people around the league, and it's like, yeah, I'd like to go there. And the Blue Jays did it here, where there's one thing to say you like Canada or, you know, you're interested in a new experience going to another country, but now all the players around the league are just going, I'm going there because I want to win. And they, I love hearing what they're saying.

And that's what Bill Garon's done in Minnesota. He's basically essentially turned it into a place of destination in a very short period of time. And they have, listen, and I put out the scenario that they lose in the first round. They have just as much a chance to win in the first round, right? Like between their goaltending and Boldy and Caprizov and Hughes, and they've got a great nucleus there.

And they have not won a playoff series since 2015. So it was like, we need to be bold. We can't just stay status quo and keep bowing out. You know, they've had 13 straight winning seasons in Minnesota. most regular season winning seasons in a row currently. And what do they have to show for it? Where's your binder? I was going to ask you.

You should have brought it on air. Have you seen his binder? I have. I have witnessed. And even if three of four pieces turn out for Vancouver? It can work for both teams here. This could be a win-win. I think it could be a real win-win here.

I think you've got to do what Garon did. I'm not saying you shouldn't have done that. And I think for Vancouver, they identified the pieces. They're all young. Ogrin, like, listen, he wasn't doing anything in Minnesota. He was, you know, he's a new fresh start from. He's 21, right? Yeah, this is my point.

He didn't have a single point in 18 games. He was barely playing, and now he gets to Vancouver, scores in his second game. They're giving him a bit more, a bit more leash to go out and see what he can do. Let's say he becomes a serviceable third line 15 goal guy. Yeah. Fantastic, you know. Booiam looks like he's going to be elite. Even if William, even if he's 65 or 7.

of what Quinn Hughes was. It's a win. It's a win with three other pieces, including a first rounder. He doesn't have to be Quinn Hughes. But we know he can get up and down the ice. We know eventually he could be a 22, 24-minute guy. It's, I'm okay.

And all he's done is won. All he's done is one. NCAA, World Championships, world juniors, win, win, win. Apparently he hasn't lost ever. He did an interview. Was that you, J.B? Is that the most insane quote you've ever seen? I don't have it in front of me, unfortunately.

Yeah, it's like, I've never lost. Connor Garland was worried or something about the world championship. He's like, don't worry, I'm on your team. I don't lose. Yeah, I mean, and I think a lot of credit needs to be given to Jim Rutherford and Patrick Alvin because we've seen how difficult it is to move a player who, he didn't say trade me, but he said, effectively, I'm not going to resign here. So read between the lines, you have to move me.

And under those circumstances, with everything going on in such a pressure cooker that is Vancouver, I think they did incredibly well. So we'll wait and see. This is going to be one of those trades. We're not going to know who won the trade essentially maybe for five years or at least for two years, depending on what happens with Quinn Hughes. But at this point, I think both sides could feel very good about what they did. I also love that they did it quickly.

You know, don't let it make your whole season. Like now they're starting in a positive direction. Fresh start. I love that. Off that Quinn Hughes trade, we go to the one between the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh where we saw something that probably haven't seen in a long time and that's two goalies swapped for each other. playing within the days and i'm not sure between being there for a thousand point i'm not okay

before we get into that i'm not sure uh last night's game did a lot for penguins fans or edmonton fans to think oh we definitely won the trade but um you're your overall thoughts david on on the trade first of all and then we'll get into what skinner had to witness within like seven feet of him talk about his crease fire into the inferno hey like in that scenario like now he's got to go up against a red hot connor mac david who's playing out of this world by the way i mean you saw what he did last night but as far as stew skinner goes i think he hit it on the head did you hear his his pregame comments yesterday he just said he basically said we needed a fresh start

it wasn't it just wasn't working you know at a certain point you kind of go it's not working i need a fresh start uh tristan jari was i guess collateral damage in a way he'd spent his whole career in pittsburgh and had a pretty good run in pittsburgh i don't think it was it wasn't viewed in the same light as the critics were out for Stuart Skinner in Edmonton, different pressure cooker because one team hadn't made the playoffs in three straight years and one team that had been to the Stanley Cup final the last two years. But is it the solution for Edmonton? I'm not sure.

Yeah, like will they move Pickard now? Do you think they'll do a Colorado and go double goalie swap? Yeah, I mean, but for who, everyone keeps saying they got to get a different goalie. And the goalie mark, and I've listened to your guy's show. I mean, it wasn't like there was 20 Igor Shisterkins waiting around to be plucked, right? There was potential. I've heard Kipper bring up Jordan Binnington before. Who knows what the asking price would have been there?

You know, like give Kyle Davidson in Chicago some credit, right? Spencer Knight, he went out and he solidified that situation. He's been excellent. Now, he came with his own personal, you know, I don't want to say, use the word baggage, but he had his own personal issues that kept him from playing in Florida. But it's worked out perfectly. That's a trade where you can say both teams won, right? Seth Jones goes over there.

He's been much better. They went a cup and Spencer Knight has done everything they had wanted in in Chicago. But there's just not that many goalies around to just kind of pluck off the goalie tree and bring in. So I think that being the case, if the trade made sense,

will this ultimately be the guy who can lead Edmund to a Stanley Cup or lead Pittsburgh back to the playoffs? Time will tell. So last night also included Leon Drysettle getting 1,000 point. We had to come off the bench all the time now. I'm so over the off the bench.

You don't think of that? How many players do you think of that? a big deal. 103. Oh, yeah, we do. I think it's okay. I'm okay with it. 103 guys in NHL history

of that much. That's a big number. Once a year, we need you guys coming off the bench? Well, how many do you average a year? Well, I don't know. Well, it's funny.

We had Pashtenac had like 400 goals this year. No, that's clear. Devonte Spitheli said, played with OV, and he said when OV, he was there when OV scored his 600th and they didn't come off the bench. Maybe because it's OV and they're like,

he's got a few hundred more to go. That's a big number. That's a big number. A few on social media have asked me whether I thought it was disrespectful that they, that the, the celebration was that close to Spencer. I didn't even think about that. Do you think it was disrespectful? I don't think.

It's not about him. No, I didn't think they said, okay, let's all shovel really close and get into the picture with their ex-goly. I was waiting for him to go in. No, I mean, it just happened to be. the area that they were in I didn't I that's going to be a great like at a golf course uh you know post Skinner's career

it did bother some people though what do you mean bother them what are they supposed to do they've already decided I'm with you I'm with you this is the first I'm hearing of that I mean this was Zach Hyman kind of led the you know exuberance here and the excitement and I they loved Stuart Skinner

to a man you know they loved him he's such an affable guy such a likable guy there wasn't hard feelings there. I don't think they were trying to in his face at all. So they had to go into the net and actually say, excuse me, Stu, to get that pop. Like, that's so awkward.

You know, I know he gave up, what did he give up, five or six, whatever he gave up? He didn't play horribly. Yes, I know a couple of goals were not. God, that sounds like Oilers coverage. No, no, but I gave a five, but he wasn't that good. I watched that whole game. McDavid could have four goals.

Like, he made some good saves, trust me. He was under, you know, he was under ambush for a lot of that game. Yeah. I am just thinking how many times, like over the last few years as Skinner, like, seen these guys in practice and gone up against that type of, right? No, I know, I know, but you'd think. What do you do with McDavid barreling down on you 80 miles and hour?

But I know he's seen it a few times over the years in training camps and practice. And they still look like you've never seen that before in your life. But like that McDavid won, like that's just roll over. and show your belly territory. He's just like, how many guys in the league can do this? I say McKinnon and McDadey.

But he's doing it now like twice a week. We saw it in Toronto, seeing it in Pittsburgh. You guys remember the first four weeks of the season? What's wrong with McDavid? He's not shooting. He's not scoring. What's the deal with this guy?

And now it's like he might score. That was my Sam McKee. And now he might score 50. Yeah, it's just video game stuff. Yeah. You know, I know we've said this at multiple points in his career, but I don't know if anyone has ever played hockey better than McDavid has played it the past two weeks

on Earth in the history of the planet. Not sure. Really? Dude, it's... Yeah, it's at the... It's... It's the peak of the best player. He's unstoppable. Like, who was that defending him?

Chris Le Tang? Carlson and Le Tang is there. Now, mind you, I could probably get through those two guys. Some of these defensive efforts lately. However, they are... He's sensational. He's just... So, we talked about this last night on the show.

Third highest points per game in NHL history behind only Gretzky and Lemieux. And you think he will finish as the second highest point getter in the history of the game ahead of Crosby? Yes, yeah, I do. I do.

I mean, yeah, I mean... What does he need to do to get there? Well, he's what? I don't have it from him. He's what at 1100 points or something. He's 20, I think, 8 years old. I mean, he needs another, to play another decade,

which is very doable. And to have, you know, four or five of those 120 points seasons, four or five of those 90 points seasons. And he's there. And he's there. And I don't see a scenario why he wouldn't be. Now, you guys are going to poo-poo it.

No, no, no, no, I did the OV. I'm mathing, how high could he get? Let's say he's got another five years of 120 points in him or something. Well, there's 600 points right there. Right. So, you know, now we're at 1,700. What's, what's, what's, you're bringing Gretzky? I think Gretzzi's at 20.

How old is he going to be going to play until? He's a freak. I'm definitely not saying Gretzky, because that's a whole other tier. but I see him getting 2,000 plus points and being the second guy. Sid's closing in on Mario Lemieux's all-time points. One point. What was this? Hold on.

Can I interrupt you? Was this serendipity last night between Lemieux and Crosby? You'll like this if you didn't know this, Nick. 20 years ago yesterday was Mario Lemieux's very last NHL game. Got an assist. They lost the Buffalo. It was 0.1723. 20 years ago to the day.

Crosby, you know, had he done it last night, could have tied Mario on the 20th anniversary. 20th anniversary which is pretty cool yeah he's one point behind and as justin pointed out on our show last night he played i think 500 four games louis did but you know yeah like mario did it in five and a half seasons like less yeah well eight he did it in eight or 900 gay 800 and something yeah i mean he is mario's it's crazy the numbers that they put up were just goofy yeah absolutely goofy you are watching and listening to David Amber, studio host of Hockey Night in Canada and NHL Sportsnet on tonight, Wednesday night, Scotia Bank hockey, featuring our very

own Justin Bourne tonight, Central Division matchup, Winnipeg and St. Louis. Fifth seed against the seventh seed. Yeah, you could have in theory had both Hellebuck and Bittington, but we're not going to have that. No, Bennington's not playing tonight. Joel Hoffer, who's from Winnipeg, is going to play. tonight. But the way we're billing it, we're not billing at 5th versus 7. Hey, last time these two teams played, game 7, Cole Perfetti 1.6 seconds, Adam Larry, double overtime. Like, it was

incredible theater. And two teams that are desperate for points. And as Scott Arneal point out, and I know it's been a tough start for Winnipeg, they're finally healthy. They finally have, this is their actual team, right? Think about all the guys that have been injured, including Hellebuck in the last few weeks. Coming off a big win against Washington, too, right? Yeah. Then they blew it again. No, then they have that tough loss for us. But for Hellebuck, too, go, he's going to be almost like a Toronto Maple Leaf goalie where if they're not the first or second star, they don't win. That's kind of how they're built, right?

Like, and teams are allowed to have superstars. That's where their superstar plays, but you're right. That has to be a part of the way that they get with. It's a huge part of it. You know, that top line's been sensational. Shifley, Connor, Valardi have accounted for 50% of the team's goals. You can go, wow, that's great. And you can kind of go, oh, that's not great.

You don't want that kind of disparity between your second, third, and fourth line and the top line. So they're looking for some secondary score and we're going to touch on that. We're also going to do, it's two weeks today, the Canadian Olympic team will be revealed. We are going to do our picks.

So we're going to sort of reveal who we think should be there as far as the forwards, goalies, you know, who should be the starting goalie. So we're going to have some good conversation about that. Did you get to pick a team? I did. You did?

I did. And Dave Azumar, our producer said, wow, you have the most exciting team. And I said, what do you mean by exciting? He goes, well, you've really gone off the board. I'm like, oh, shoot. I look forward to you having like, you know, Adam Lowry is at the first line center.

A lot of discussion around Chicago and Bedard is with him out of the lineup. It'll be easier for them to keep them off the team. Do you buy into any of that or where are you with Connor Bedard and how his injury may play into or not? I'm, I mean, I'm not a doctor, but I would say. You can play one on TV. Yeah, but I would say I think he should be on the team. When he got injured, he was tied.

for fourth in points but it's not just always getting points you guys are watching he's driving to the net he's going to the tough areas he's not an oversized guy but he's so fast he's so smart he has that dog in him you guys watched the leaves play chicago last night i you did you describe them as a horrible team one of you guys yeah so you're saying they're a bad team and that's conor baddard was going to be an MVP type candidate right he had 18 more points than the next highest guy he was leading that team to a above 500 record and flirting with the playoffs and there's not a lot around him. I think he's done everything in his power to be on that team. And you also want to look towards the future. Like Brad Marchand, Sidney Crosby, you know, Shea Theodore, I can keep

going on. These guys aren't 24 anymore. You do want to have that next group, Celebrini, Bedard, Schaefer, ready to take the mantle in two years with the World Cup. So I, I mean, you guys, you agree, Nick? You would put him on the team, wouldn't you? Not Connor, but why not? because I don't envision him being a depth kind of guy unless an offensive star goes down, right? Couldn't he play in your top six? And what I mean by that is he's a one-shot score. I think Sellebrini and maybe that 360-degree turn last night

against Calgary would be a nice reminder. But I don't, I'm not taking Sellebrini and Connor Baudard. But why not? Because I'm more comfortable, I think, on depth players still providing that for me. And I don't envision six, five scores. It'll be like four nations to me, three, two in overtime or two one late in the second period. And I need a goal and a guy who can shoot the goal like him. But I also need a guy to battle along the walls, especially a physical team.

You know, a lot of it for me, and we're going to talk about it on our show tonight, obviously. but just it's not so much why wouldn't that guy be on the team it's there's other guys that have reasons you want them on the team where you're like you know you can't leave off Tom Wilson there's not a soul I've talked to

he's on my team he's on everyone's team and I like Mark Shifley too yeah you like I have Shifley on my team as well I'm kind of doing a spoiler okay so do you have anyone on your team who's there just give me one guy you left off that might be a surprise connect me yeah I don't have them there either I don't have them within five guys

Yeah, and it's not a knock on him. But when you look at the first half of these seasons and the overall resumes of Mark Schifley, of Tom Wilson, I have Zach Hyman on the team. And he's kind of been forgotten. I've been watching the Oilers the last two weeks. He has eight goals in the last nine games. He has chemistry with Connor McDavid,

who arguably will be your most important forward conceivably at the Olympics. Those are not... I have chemistry with everyone who plays with me. I'm unbelievable. Those are tangible things. And to Nick's point about getting into those places, you need to get into, I don't think anyone's more comfortable than Simon getting there

and finishing. Timon is a really good vote and I actually feel a little dumb. I've published my article on them. I wouldn't have them on my team, but I didn't even mention him in like the next up list. He definitely is in my next up list. But yeah, it's, so you've got a bunch of guys off from Four Nations. So I look forward to the grand reveal tonight. I don't want to, you can't be a slave to, well, they won in Four Nations.

So we run it back. They were one shot away from Not winning. They were, you know, if, if, Sweden beat Finland in overtime, there was a scenario where they wouldn't have even been in the final. Like, there's all sorts of things that happened there. And I'm not saying they didn't deserve to win. No, I love it. I love it.

The margins were like this. I don't think you just run it back because, you know, Anthony Sorrelli and Travis Keneckney and Seth Jarvis were there and were serviceable. Like, look at the first half some of these players have put up. And it's hard to ignore that. Yeah. You're okay with Kemper? I know he got hurt the other night, but who's your third? Actually, Kemper is his favorite goal in the league.

Is you not? No, no. You're thinking of Talbot. I'm a big Camelman. I have a Wedgwood as my third goal. And again, I think, and it's a small tournament, small window. Two of the defensemen, Taves and McCar, he has, you know, synergy, some synergy with. We even brought that up about Montembow being the third.

You know, some of the games were in Montreal, the familiarity. And I know that sounds like, you don't just put a guy in because he's familiar with the arena. But I think having a certain amount of familiarity and comfort and Wedgewood's playing on a very good team. with very high expectations as a 9-20 save percentage. And if it gets to the third goalie, that's going to be a problem anyhow. You also want a guy who's just going to be there and be a good teammate. And from all accounts, he's a good teammate. So I think he checks every box for me.

Yeah, I think there's a chance that you could build this team 20 different ways and still win and those same teams could lose. It's, you know, a single elimination event. Here's a fun exercise you guys should do once they reveal the team. Give us your second Canadian team. Oh, no, we buried you for that last year. Do you remember? McKeet is specifically

What happened? What happened? Well, you had your all snubs list, I believe, on the TV that night. And John Tavares wasn't on it And McKee wasn't happy about that. Oh, gosh. Do I have that right? Well, Tavares would be on the second team for sure for me this year.

This is one of the first years that the Americans could do it to. They could put in a B team that would be very competitive. Yep. You know, there's, you know, there's, from the distance, Matthews would be on it. There's a lot of talented players now. Canada could certainly field a second team that would vie for a medal, in my opinion. But anyways, that's a good eye.

So I did it with Colby last week, and, you know, there's a lot of really good players. Think about all the snobs and think about the Wyatt Johnstons and think about the Robert Thomas's. Think about the Quinton Byfields. Gabe Valardi's, like, you could have a pretty substantial team. Yeah, no, you have. Mark Stone. I have them on the team. You do.

I do. I also have Mark Stone on the team. Okay. Yeah, I do. Yeah, I do. Kipper, I want to see your, are you going to reveal a list? of some sort? Sure.

Are you or no? I mean, I'm just, nobody's asked. It is fun. I will say, I've had friends text me their own scrap piece of paper that's like, what do you think of this? It's like people love to build Team Canada. I feel really honored. Do you guys have Matthew Schaefer on me?

Truly, I do. Remember, you're carrying eight defense, but not seven. You don't have Schaefer. I feel like we're going to steal a fun debate for tonight. Do you have Thomas Harley on the team? I do, yeah. Do you have Sanheim on the team? I could be talked out of him.

And then who would replace Sanheim? I don't know. He hasn't done the exercise deal. I got it all laid out here for me. Okay, are we good on the Olympic stop? Yeah, we are. Let's talk about Canada, individual teams here. You're our Canada correspondent.

You're a director of Canadian hockey. Cheerleader, please. We currently have, I think, two teams inside the cut line, but, you know, it's thin, it's lean, it's going to be tight this year. Yeah. Where do we stand as a country with teams getting in the player? Are you nervous?

I am nervous. Yeah, I'm nervous. We're in almost halfway through the season. And there's a lot of time. teams trending either down or just haven't picked up the speed. Who are you nervous the most for? Say it?

There's a few teams, to be honest with you. I mean, well, the Leafs, obviously, because I think we had all pre-season probably penciled them in as a playoff team. Right? At least I had. I was like, this is a Bonafide playoff team. Winnipeg, because of how great that division's become, I'm not as nervous about them, but they've got some work to do.

Edmonton, I'm not worried about it all. Now, here's the thing. If you're Craig Conroy in Calgary, what's the ideal situation to come within a whisper of a whisker of making the playoffs like last year? No, he needs to do what Jimmy Rutherford did. Make some deals. Yes.

And maybe get Gavin McKenna or Veerhoff. Like, yeah, and Vancouver could be in the same boat, right? Like I've been fearful for if a Canadian team, Calgary or Vancouver makes it into the eighth, you know, the second wildcard, the first wild card and you get a date with Colorado or Vegas at what's the cost of that picking 15th as opposed to picking wasted eight days second or third who's who dubbed that Darryl Sutter right right maybe one of the best lines ever and and it happened Nashville drew Colorado that year and lost in eight days yes the Western Conference is so top

heavy as you guys know you could argue the top five Stanley Cup contenders are in the I would argue this the top three teams right now in the central Minnesota if you sort league standings top three teams are all central yeah and then and then you take very Vegas and I would put Edmonton. I would say those to me are the top five Stanley Cup contenders as we sit right now. I know you had Spencer Carberry on in Washington could work their way maybe into that conversation. But for me right now, so the West is so heavy. Do you want to be the eighth seed there?

Would you rather, you know, Vancouver's dead lasting than HL right now? You want to be competitive in games. But imagine if Pedersen comes back to being what Pedersen was. I don't know if he's going to be or not. But let's say Pedersen comes back to what he was, a hundred point guy, all-star, da-da-da-da-da. And you get Gavin McKenna. And now you've also added Booium. and you've added Ogrin and you've added Rossi.

This rebuild and you have Demko and if Demko can stay healthy. This just happened with the Islanders. It was like, what are they going to do? They have no one. All of a sudden it's like, oh, they win Schaefer. They get two firsts and all of a sudden things are fixed. Got to ask you before you leave,

just Austin Matthews, lots of talk about him again in terms of where's his game. There was a signature game Saturday night between Connor McDavid and Austin. He didn't fare out well. Last night wasn't looking for any, looking good for anybody including Austin until the last few minutes here

what do you see what don't you see and how does he regain it back is it up to leaf management to go get him somebody who can get him a puck like Willie got him last night that's a great question and it's one of the great mysteries and you know

he's showing some flashes of being the old Austin I listen to your guy's show I watch the regional games I see the coverage and you go oh there he is there's that one timer you know like the scored two weeks ago and I heard you say Nick that's the kind of goal we need to see from Austin Matthews the goal we saw last night goal there hasn't been enough of that it has been more nights where you're kind of going where is he he's not that guy yeah two years ago the narrative was

Connor Austin we're not in that conversation anymore um there's no shame in being a 40 goal guy which is what he's staring down right now that's guys would you know give the right arm to be a totally goal guy but when you set a bar at you know 69 goals three-time rock at MVP yeah and you're making 13 point, whatever, the expectations are a little different. So I don't have the, I'm not answering your question, Nick. I'm as disillusioned at times as you and Justin and Sam are. You know, like it is a big question. Monday through Fridays for two hours.

Disillusion Monday through Friday for two hours. Yeah, I mean, listen, I do, I don't know if it's a health thing. You don't know if it's just what's around him thing. I mean, they miss, he misses Mitch, Marner, obviously. Like, that's an obvious thing. I think it's a compilation of all these things. You know? It's probably exactly a confluence of all these different circumstances.

But there's still a lot of hockey to be played. But, yeah, I think what Leaf Management and what Leaf fans would like to see is just a more consistent Austin Matthews dominant player. We got to let him go. All right. Listen, really appreciate you coming in. It's a big night tonight on the network with St. Louis in Winnipeg where you guys will be featured. Looking forward to it. D.A. I love you, pal.

Thanks for going to come in. Thanks so much, fellas. Appreciate it. We'll see you to bet. All right. Let's go to break and when we return one for one trade, David Amber for Sammy McKee. We're in a rebuild.

Back after this. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk, the Hockey PDO cast with Dmitri Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365. In now for David Amber. No visa issues or anything.

Ready to jump right into the lineup, Sammy McKee. Right against my former team. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the athlete of odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. It's a 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Borny's doing the game tonight. Jets. And blues. I would say that them tying it with whatever seconds left was one of the more stunning moments of the NHL season. That's how he's version of a Hail Mary. I mean, that game was over. It's thrown into the slot off the half wall, deflection.

I can't believe that way. We've had a few buzzer beaders this year already. Yeah, but not like that. That was a whole playoff series. That was a buzzer beater series, though. That doesn't go when they're done. I'm not saying this one was bigger. I'm just saying it's really cool way to finish.

We had one night this year where three goals were scored with less than 12 seconds. Adam Lowry scored in Watt for them to win? I will say this too. Like if the NHL, the clock, I don't know when it went to 1 tenth of a second, it needs to go to 1-100. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So you can go below, you can go below 0.1.

And you should start. still, there would be still enough time to see white or no white on a goal line. I like that we expand it out. So you start with, you know, point one at about a minute left and then you go to, you just break it down. What about, they need to do that? What about football rules where if the, if you shoot it or basketball, continuation. Yeah, if you've, if the puck is off your stick by the time the clock goes in and it still enters the net, it counts. Oh, I mean.

How many bounces do you get, Sammy? Doesn't matter. Three shin pads? If it's off your stick and goes in the net before. It counts. Like if it bounces off a guy's hands and catches it for a touchdown and a Hail Mary still counts.

Until it stops moving, it's alive. Yeah, then there's some gray area, actually. Now that you're bringing that. Not a big fan. Anyways, okay. Tough crowd. Bad sweater and bad idea. Oh, rude.

It's rude. Gabriel Valardi goal tonight, plus 3.30. So you guys can talk about it. That's really random. Well, didn't he score it? Who's, oh, Perfetti scored it. Crapetti.

You know, I thought it was going to take a step this year and we're waiting. Give me a cool. A perfetti goal then. That's what I was hoping for. That makes sense. Plus 625. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. There you go. There you go. Not, I got my guys mixed up there. So, there you go. A perfetti, not Volardi. Two guys that are the names and a high. Give me a perfetti anytime goal at plus 625.

That was game time presented by, yeah, they go over there and build the rink. That was game time presented by Bet 365. Visit the athlete of Todd and see why it's ever ordinary at bet 365. It's 20 plus. And Terry only, please play responsibly. I would like to see a. follow-up video of the rink yeah take the packaging off the seats let's see where you're at like dregs tweeted out that video i don't know how long it goes out like everything blends got a week

ago i would like to see one like now if they had a camera on it 24 hours a day you'd watch it like people are watching the fire the fire the uh fire for christmas fire the you'll watch his channel like all day yeah oh boy you'd watch it more than that the contractor in Ontario, like, oh, that's a brutal move. What is that move? The fireplace channel. What is wrong with our world when we consider that, like, entertaining? There's three different, very, there's a sunset channel now, too.

I would say that one of the ultimate placebo effect things is the fireplace channel. Like, if you get close to the fireplace channel on your TV, you're like, God, it feels warm in here. Yeah. It's a placebo effect thing. I like the fireplace channel. If it's on and you don't want to have, yeah, it's something nice. I'm mad at it. I mean, I don't have a fireplace.

I don't have, like, multiple grand fireplaces like Kipper does to burn his wood. Kip Scott. There's a cold, fine, cords away from the back. Stoke the fire, Jeeves. Get it. Blow on it. We ditched the real one long time ago. Do you use a tool?

Blow on it. Nice thought and idea, but, like, I ain't clean in that thing. I love the real fireplace. If I were a wealthy individual, it would be real for sure. I look like I should have one with this sweater. Yeah, you should throw the sweater in there, too. All right. Moving on.

What are we got for news? Well, you guys were talking about Skinner with with D.A. Yeah. And how you thought it was disrespectful? No, I didn't say it was disrespectful. I think I've got a couple messages saying couldn't they have just moved the party a little further into the corner? Did you guys show...

Did you guys show video of it while you were talking about it? Yep. Okay. Can we show it again? Because if I'm the brooder filming this... Yeah. watch McDavid when this is happening. If we're going to show it, maybe we're not going to show. I put Jake on the spot, sorry up there.

Yeah, he comes out of the pile a little bit, doesn't he? Well, doesn't he go get the puck, though? No, but he, after just the goal goes in, God, the passing, I mean, I've never seen the least power play pass like that once. But after, oh, when they all pour, I'm looking for when they all pour onto the, the, uh, onto the ice. McDavid keeps looking back at Skinner, like he's almost conscious of it, like, moving it away from the crease.

Like, I thought it was the- He probably wants him to come into the park. No, I thought it was honestly the opposite. Like, see, he's looking back, I thought it was the opposite of disrespectful, where it's like, this is going to happen, and he's on the outside kind of captaining, pushing them all away a little bit. I thought a classy move from McDavid. I actually hate to give him credit for that.

Very generous review. But I thought he was, I thought he was kind of shooting it away a little bit. There was too many times where Skinner in any post game got it wrong, right? No. And good man. Good man and good temperament. I think you mentioned, I wish it wasn't on me, but it's a big deal. That's cool.

And also... It doesn't poo-poo like you do for coming off the bench. Boyne is right. It's absurd. I hate it. What's that? Them coming off the eye. It wasn't a thing.

One day, I make a belief will do that, and you'll like it. I mean, John Tavares scored his 500th goal and sunk his head down and skated to the bench. They lost 12-0. So? So? It's a huge milestone. They should have piled out the bench. They say they would have done it.

Yeah. The trainer and golf shoes should have been out there just read the room. Good read of the room. Anyways. Literally forget what I was going to say. Did you see, I saw a story on our website that was quoting a story from the athletic Jeremy Rutherford writing about the blues. And let me, I got to read the quote from this if I can quickly find it here.

I can't stop people from calling and we're not doing our due diligence if we're not listening. Well, it says Doug Armstrong. It's the paragraph above. He says, The way the league operates when we were a highly functioning you would call teams that weren't highly functioning and say, what are you going to do? Yeah.

And that probably happens. And I'm not sure if you'd notice, you guys stink. Can I have your players? Yeah. So I think there's a lot of players in that team that, you know, as a whole, obviously, they're having an awful season. But if you're a contender, there's multiple guys in that roster that you'd be really looking to trade for, no?

Do you want to hear my Leafs Who Doesn't Do It Trade with the Blues? Is it involves the 2028? first round pick no okay brandon carlo for justin falk retained so you get half of falk's salary so he's making sixth and change now you get him for three and a half or three point two or whatever and they get carlo here's why it makes sense on both sides falk is a good puck mover skater he's he's a guy who does stuff leaves he's a right shot guy who can hit a slap shot move the puck do those things carlo hasn't been good for the leaps the blues get a younger guy who defends and instead of having an off year, you're buying low.

He just, honestly, it's really good, and he just strikes me as a blue. Brandon Carlo totally seems like a St. Louisville. Long Lake Paraco and Beaumester and all those guys. So Falk is in year six of seven of a six and a half million dollar contract. So if you get them to, get them to, but then you're going to have to sweeten the pot for them to do that. You don't think Brandon Carlo does it?

No, no. Carlo makes one point five. No, but like, if their contracts were lined up perfectly, for sure, but you're going to have to incentivize them to be able. to take on three and a half million for the rest of this year and next year, no? Yeah, you're right. I think Carlo, though, is much higher upside.

They just traded a first and whatever else to get the guy and Fraser Minn. Like, he's a valuable guy who had two, a month and a half of not great play here. I still think he carries a lot of value. I don't hate it. I don't hate it. I don't hate it.

But who else you want off the blues? Kairu's having a down year. You'll get Shen. Shen. Braden Shend. You'll get Braiding. Because there's teams and we spoke to Spencer, Carbury earlier, there's a team that needs the centerman.

Beliefs. Oh, sorry, Washington. Oh, Braden Shandah, Washington. Like, there's teams out there that need help in the middle of the ice. If I'm Washington or New Jersey, I'm looking around the east being like, oh, my God, we got to do something. This is our year. The path is clear.

Carolina also. The path is clear until the boogeyman gets into the eight spot and goes to Stanley Cup final again. Florida gets healthy and Barkov puts his helmet on. They don't, I don't know if you've checked in recently. They've kind of stopped sucking. Like they just beat Dallas on the road and like they're starting to win games again. They just beat the bolts.

It's like, yeah, they may not suck anymore. The thing you got to be careful of is that. Red Wings make it for the first time. They're like, yay. As wide open as you think it is, it's really, for me, it's looking like three teams in the Atlantic and five in the Metro. So I came up with my favorite tag, I don't think Kipper likes it, but I like it because it gives us a thing to jump off with.

But I did a few true or false questions. Yep. The first one I had was true or false Jordan Bennington will play for another year. Play for another team after the deadline. Because there's another guy in that. Yeah. Because he's a UFA, right? No.

He's got one more? He's got one more year. He's got one more or so maybe no. I thought he's good. No, but it still makes sense because he wants to play after, and he's eligible to sign a contract right away. So why not go somewhere, prove that you can still be a top-notch goalie, take a team, win around, and then get your $7, $7.5 million a year contract.

Whoa, you're in T. Biddington's pocket, vice versa. He's got a 422 save percentage on the year. What is it, an 869? The guy has won, and he may win a gold medal. He may win a gold medal. You don't know. I don't know if he'll start, but he comes. could end up cleaning up and they could win.

And he has shown more than three quarters of the other goalies. So he's had a bad two months, but so is the whole team. Yep. No, I think the upside's still there for Bennington. What's the team? You've written them off, eh? No, you just said seven million. That would make them like the eighth highest paid goalie in the league.

But the cap's going up. It's going up. Seven for a starting legit goalie is nothing. I know he's a starting legit goalie. I think that's the pushback from Borny here is that like... Okay, so six, six and a half. All right. What's he making now?

No raise. He's making six right now. Okay, so if he gets a long-term deal, give him six and a half. You know, here's the one thing in your defense. Well, you have several things to your defense. His career is very defensive. He's a winner. His career is very defensive.

He's 32. He's competitive. Goleys are often, good goalies are often good for a long time. They can go 35, 36. But like, where's the fit? Like what team in a playoff spot is, is it the king? This is February, March. You don't know who's hurt.

You don't know who's. You're right. You're right. Some goalie tears is growing. Yeah, you're right. I look at Edmonton, and I get it. Everybody needed a change mid-December, but kind of would have waited a little longer. I would have.

Jari's not your guy? He could strike lightning, and he could be great. but the odds are against it for me. You know, he's another guy with a good career save percentage. He hasn't done it, but it's certainly better than Bennington's career. Is he one around? Save percentage? No.

And how old is he 30? Well, but what are we doing there? You know, like that depends what teams you're on too, right? Pittsburgh. Sidney Crosby. Well, I understand the teams he's been on, but he hasn't been healthy while they're good. Oh, okay, for 10 years. I don't know.

He's got 10 years of Penguin. Okay. Sure. Let's look up his playoff stats. Let's quickly look at it. Yeah, let's just quickly look that up because I don't know. Six. He's played, most he's played his six games in a playoff series.

He's played eight games in his career. You're right. In 2020, 2020, 2021, he made six starts, lost. It's a little crazy to call it a 10-year career failure because he's had eight playoff starts. I agree. I think that, but he also has a three, eight, nine, one. the save percentage. Hasn't gone well.

Which is very similar. I mean, what's Stuart Skinner's save percentage in the playoffs in his career? Probably very similar to that. Clearing waivers and stints in the miners lately. Listen, I think there's plenty of... It's a gamble.

It's a gamble. What do you think Stuart Skinner's save percentage in the playoffs is? Much bigger sample size. I will grant you that, obviously. $8.95? How many games? In 50 games.

895. 50? Yeah. 9-0-2. 893. So they traded a guy 891 for 893 The playoffs

That's what everyone's saying The jokes are the before and after The guy with the Alex Jones With the spray tan pitcher Yeah Speaking of the Pittsburgh Penguins Oh yeah I was gonna ask you another I was gonna ask you another tour of falls

It might be more interesting but go ahead No just Did you care about the ownership thing Does that affect you? 1.7 bill Sounds right I think Elliot reported 175 And they bought the

It was 900 million four years ago in 21, five years ago, I guess. Good profit. No bad. Just double your 900 spell. Yeah, in four years. And they've stunk. Red Sox fans are cheering, I guess,

because now that owner, they got more money to play with. He's going to play the Liverpool. He's going to what? Yeah, so, I mean, the Red Sox... He's going to go get an NBA team in Vegas. Oh, is that what's going on. Okay, now we're talking,

but Red Sox fans can't stand John Henry because he also owns Liverpool FC, which he cares apparently way more about, and he spends hundreds of millions, of dollars on that franchise and then like nickels and dimes one of the most famous teams that's been one of the biggest spenders ever so they're not a big fan of that so I don't think they'll be thrilled regardless with John Henry extra money there you know it'll be interesting new ownership going in there and

what do we what do we do with Sid what do we do with Malkin what do we do with this change things a new ownership group being like yeah we're not as tied to this well you know do I want to Kyle Dubus Right? Sounds like... I like paying six million dollars for this guy. Sounds like they've asked if Mario Lemieux would spend more time around the team that he could be back in the mix there a little bit more.

Is Mario want to do that right now? I think so. He's a lifer, man. He's a penguin. No, for sure, but like, you know, back and working again, he's a congillionaire, you know? Video coach. No, no. Tough job.

Not, not. A lot of hours. Mary will be great And Sid one day We'll be running that team It'll be fine President of Hockey Operations Whatever he wants

Yeah Whatever he wants Pittsburgh that's all I've heard it's a lovely state He'll be sitting in Cole Harbor In his mansion Great hockey town Pittsburgh

Yeah Oh that's for sure Played a Cole Harbor place multiple times True or Falls Pete DeBore on an NHL bench Before the end of the season Yeah true true true Yeah I like it

Yeah sure Well, he's just the next guy up, and I don't believe no one's getting fired. Are they going to... If you're Buffalo, would you hire him right now? Yeah. Yeah. Tomorrow.

Not today? It's getting a little late in the day. You're right. It's 5.50. Yeah. Everybody's having dinner pretty soon. There are, like, rumors or whatever that this would be Lindy's last year. Like, he just may not want to.

He's got to be getting here 70 years old. I think it's the end of his deal, too. Yeah. So if it's going to be the end of it and you ever knows it's coming, you might as well just get the new voice, the new direction, everything started. You also got to consider that... If...

Sorry, we'll call. If we think Peter DeBore is the best that's out there, why am I waiting for another team to grab them? Well, that's kind of it. If another team does grab them, then you're like, well, now who? Much like Rutherford did with Jim Montgomery, when...

No, Armstrong. Oh, what did I say? I meant to say... Yes. Yeah, I meant to say what he did. Yeah, I got you. Who did he fire and hire Jim Montgomery mid-season?

Not yo. Was it a Ruby? No, it wasn't Ruby. There was somebody in between. Maybe it was yo. Someone fast, too. Yeah, I can't think of that. I can't think of it.

Don't look at me like that. I can't remember. That's bad. We only host a hockey show. Let me look at. Dizzy looking at your sweater. That's funny. All right, true false us, Tammy.

Got another one for us? Yeah, I do. There will be more than, true or false. There will be more than three Canadian teams. True. Drew Bannister, right. More than three Canadian teams in the playoffs? I just, I can't.

More than is the part that kills me. Three I can see. Four is really tough. Okay, three or more. Yeah, I'm in. I'm in three or more. I don't know what to make a Winnipeg, then you, if you say three or more, yes, then Winnipeg's in, right?

Ottawa's in. Behind the least. Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg? I think. Who am I missing there? I think. Calgary, no, Vancouver, no. Oh, Edmonton.

If I would. Yeah, definitely. three or more. If I had to guess. No, no. Ottawa's good. No, there's. Three or four, then, for you. You have to.

You think Ottawa's good. Four. I think, you know, I looked at Ottawa's roster today. They've been heard a lot this year. That's a good hockey team. Their defense, when Sanderson and Shabbat are both healthy with Cleven and Mott and Paulo and Zubb and Jensen. They can't kill Poundley. Good, good, good.

Can't get a safe. Can't get a save. Can't get a save. Bendington for Allmark. He's not a fan. Binnington for Allmark. Who says no? Everyone?

That's a good question. Which one? Bennington for Allmark. They're not taking Allmark at 8 and a half. St. Louis says no. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That's one of the worst contracts in the league.

Right now, it's not looking great. What's his numbers? Who's the longest running, we need a goalie franchise? Edmonton, Ottawa, Philly. Philly. Philly. Number one. Carter Hart was almost there.

It's always been, it's always been Philly. I mean, think about the T. Robert Ash, William, Chickmanic. They went to the final with late. And we're going into 90s now. Michael Layton. Yeah, like they've always, uh, was Tuesday Chuck Manick. Yeah, Chick Manick.

Yeah, Ash had great pads. Really good design. Linus Allmarked Summers is here. Three, uh, in 24 games played in 8, 7, 9. Yikes. Yikes. Hard to win games. All right.

All right. The TV. Stay on the network. Good luck, buddy. Five games on tap. But the one you care about is the one my buddy's working on tonight. Winnipeg and St. Louis on the network tonight. Our thanks to the host of the show tonight, David Amber,

came in studio, Spencer Carberry as well, head coach of the Washington Capitals, joined us in our Leaf Edition Hour. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Have a great night, everybody. You know,