Real Kyper & Bourne - Hurricanes Pull Even + Oilers' Coach-Search Chaos Continues

Episode Date: June 10, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the latest on the Oilers and their reported pursuit of Mike Babcock as head coach, with the NHLPA requesting that the league open its investigation into his Columbus tenure. Then, they look back on Carolina's Game 4 win over the Golden Knights to knot up the Stanley Cup Final, Brandon Bussi's performance in net, and whether Vegas should consider turning to Adin Hill over Carter Hart. Later, Sports 1440's Jason Gregor (31:45) stops by to discuss the Oilers' chaotic coaching search, why he's not sold on Babcock, and the likelihood that Darnell Nurse is moved in the offseason. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, let's get her going. It's the real Kipper and Bourne show season five. Closing in on completing season five. We're glad you're aboard wherever you're watching and listening. Sportsnet 590, The Fan, 960 in Calgary, 650 in Vancouver. Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet Plus, YouTube for our lovely YouTube channel. where you can chat in, give us a thumbs up. This hour of Real Kippron Bourne brought you by Bet365.

Nick Kippreels, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Frank the Tank, Brasca, Derek Brandeo, and assistant producer Chris Gallagher. All in for the fastest hour in hockey. Plenty to get into, including the Vegas Golden Knights last night. their run towards a second Stanley Cup and franchise history stalled last night Jordan Stahl Oh boys

See if I was more of a professional kind of radio G slash host guy You would have got that right away But you're like Anticipating layers to anything you say Zero Absolutely zero

We're going to get we're going to dive right into this for sure. But a story that just continues to grow legs. And speaking of layers is this whole Mike Babcock to Edmonton Oilers storyline. Jason Greger is going to join us in what Sammy in about 30 minutes, 35 minutes. Does a terrific job covering the Edmonton Oilers out there for Sports 1440 in Edmonton. But in the meantime, the added layer now is the NHL Players Association wants to investigate. Right.

So the PA went to the NHL and said before this guy could be hired, he needs to be investigated. Is that right? I was hoping you guys would know. Yeah, that's my understanding of what's happening. That's what everybody's understanding is. outside of that. What we do know is when he got hired by

Columbus and then the stories came out about the phones, there was going to be an investigation into Mike Babcock. It never happened. Why didn't it ever happen? He resigned.

This is from the story on Sportset.com. Sportset, Elliot Freeman, reported on Tuesday at the NHLPA, ask the NHL they're doing it, the investigation. According to Friedman's sources at issue is the fact the league was never prepared to investigate what happened with the

Blue Jackets until Bobcock resigned in September of 2023. Once he stepped down, it never happened. The union's current position now is that it should happen and conclusions reached before he should be eligible. According to multiple sources, one of the more serious concerns was a meeting

that occurred away from the team facilities that included several minutes of looking through a phone, blah, blah, blah. Okay. I think I'm made it clear the other day on our show. Like, he does crappy things. But you're not keeping them out of the league

or coaching the Edminton Oilers over this phone issue. Yeah, my, and... You're not? So Frank Starvali has some tweet that implied something like, other than the phone thing, that there were some other, I don't know, allegations made that they need to investigate. What allegations?

Well, I don't know. That the players at the time, Let me pull up Frank's sweet. Sure, yeah, you can go ahead and read that. But my point with this is like, if Mike knew that those were very concerning or could damage his reputation further, maybe he wouldn't agree to take this job

knowing that that would come to light. He obviously doesn't think of them that, they're that bad if he agreed to coach. Here's what Frank said. Furthermore, sources indicate that asking players to see photos is not what ultimately resulted in Babcock's resignation. It was the subsequent unknown allegation reported below that could cause his,

Babcock's job in Columbus. So there's something else on top of the photos. But that's the photos. So maybe the phone is separate from that? So we're to believe that something else happened in Columbus that ultimately led to his resignation and not grabbing Fantilli's phone.

He was there for nine minutes. Fantilli. I didn't know that part. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, he couldn't, What happened? What happened in that month he got there? He came in guns ablazing, ready to change the culture and blazed some people with the guns, apparently. Yeah, I don't know. I just think this is, you just put, when you, listen, you can have your opinions on Mike Babcock, whatever.

Like, I think both of you guys are having, you know, differing opinions on what a lot of people think of Babcock and him making his return, okay? And I think it's fair to have that opinion. But, like, when you are potentially hiring. Mike Babcock, not only just for a job, but for one of the more higher profile jobs in the National Hockey League. Coaching Conner-McDavid, David, the Oilers, one of the marquee franchises

of the last 10 years, you're just putting yourself in harm's way with this stuff. It's just such a big story. You have to make sure the juice is worth to squeeze here, boys. I'm not sure it is. Maybe there's not much of a squeeze here. I mean, it feels like we're squeezing pretty hard already. I think the squeeze is happening

in Edmonton is happening for Connor McDavid whether or not Babcock's there or not. Okay, the squeeze is already happening, Sam. Okay. They're in the vice. What is the worst thing that can happen? He can get hired. He can screw up again

and they let him go. Okay. All right. I mean, where is they are, can we, and we'll get you know, Jason Greger, certainly to comment on this, but the general consensus is out there that this is

kind of a desperate move. They are desperate. Everybody knows it. Connor's got them on high alert. Like, you're there squeezing already, Sam. When Stauffer had some comments to the effect of that he interviewed with the Oilers Brass, like, or sorry, that Babcock did these interviews, and they held his feet to the fire and they grilled them.

And they came out of that meeting saying, we want to do this. This, we want someone who's going to the push guy. What he probably didn't say is that like part of the lure of me is who I've been in the past. Do you guys understand that?

Totally. Totally. So you know, here's the difference between Babcock getting this job and in years other, in other years that he's gotten jobs. All that stuff was kind of hidden. Now it's totally surfaced.

We know who you are. We know how you operate, you pry on the week, right? And we're okay with that. That's why we're hiring you again, because we like, there's a lot of the old Mike Babcock we kind of like, and he knows it. Yeah. So he's going to.

Torz doesn't get hired because he's an X as an O's wizard. He gets hired because he holds people's feet to the fire. And that's, that's it in a nutshell with him. is that it's not a secret anymore. We know who you are. We know how you operate. Some people think you're scumbag. We're okay.

We're hiring you anyways. You sure do, huh? Listen, he's done some crappy stuff. But so is Mike Keenan. And so is Scotty Bowman. And so are the rest of them. It's okay. That's our historic culture is that you get to be a dick

and still win and go sit in the hockey hall of fame. Because it didn't, there was never that public perception out there. There was hidden stories that never got out. And you got to run with it. Now Babcock comes in and we know who you are. You don't get to hide around this Hall of Fame. I'm one of the best coaches in history and I know how to win. And yeah, that may all be true.

But we still know who you are right now. and if they want to hire you because parts of it, it's okay. You know, I think if you look at all professional sports kip, like it's not like if you went to the NBA and said, does everyone love Phil Jackson or Pat Riley, that there weren't guys that were like, no, he's terrible. But those guys had a certain way about him that convinced players to play. If you went to the NFL, you'd find the same thing.

I think you find it maybe the most in the NFL. And it is a competitive, get the most out of the game. guy's job. And as much as we want it to be one that is welcoming and everyone's positive and that the sport has moved that way and should move that way generally, it's tough to get that extra one or two percent out of guys. And if that's not the job, I don't know what it is. So you're going to get guys. So you're going to get guys. He's not in there for Connor. He's not in there for Leon. Probably not in there for Bouchard. But he's supposed to squeeze everything out of the rest of them to support. And we know what

third and fourth line lines mean this time of year. That's how you win. I don't know if Babs is the answer for them. I know they're desperate. I know they're looking for a certain type of guy and there aren't many guys like that. Yeah. I don't know if he's the answer.

I understand why people are opposed to it. I think it's an awful idea. I think it's a bad idea. I think it's just... I'm not there. Too much time is past. Yeah. I'm not there.

I get it. You're coming off one of the, like, the nicest guys you'll ever meet, press conference. It's super soft in knoblock. It's good cop, bad cop. There's other bad cops. There's tons of other bad cops.

Not like this. Not like this, Sam. You don't need the worst cop. No, no, this is the worst cop. No, no, they're getting the worst cop. No, they're getting the worst cop. Who's won before? I get it.

Okay, who's won before? Yeah, like. This is, again, to show you how desperate they are. If so, I think someone can drink that was born the last time you won the cup. Like, it's been a long time. I'm just saying. It's just, it's a huge, risk. They know what they want.

I'll give them this. I'll give them this from maybe the owner right down to Connor or that they know what they want. Do you think that all of these previous, whatever you want to call them, incidents with Babs, will make him more

aware of how the spotlight is on him. Make him put him in a spot where he's a little bit more careful a little bit more on his best behavior. Yeah, because it works so well in Columbus for him. Well, I don't think that was the same. He worked for Toronto. He got fired and that was his next job. No, no. There were the stories that had already been out there with Mitch Marner and he went to

courses and he cleaned up his act and then he went right back to where he was before. Yeah. He did. You can't tell me that what happened in Toronto is like what happened in Columbus. They're not remotely. One of them he had to resign without coaching a game. That was that the same. But if that Mitch Marner's story got out right at that time, they would have investigate him for mental cruelty. No, I'm telling you. That's the kids today. They got a hotline where they get to go and not drop their name

and tell them all these stories on him. That's not the same as going into someone's phone and looking through their pictures. Those are not the same things. To me, I don't care. I don't care. It's just who he is. Yeah.

It's just who he is. I do think, though, if you want to call them the same level of indiscretion, there's more indiscretions. The point is, I think he, He was told he needed to change, and he didn't really change when he went there. He just did his own thing. I think there he thought he had the curtain of no one's paying attention.

We're in Columbus. Maybe. Well, that's a dumb move on his part. Certainly. Just on my part, an important distinction is I think he should be eligible to coach again. Like,

I'm not saying like he can't ever coach again. Yeah. I just don't think the admission oilers should choose to make him. So let me ask you something. Okay. We're all in agreement on that. Yeah. Yeah.

So what's the investigation for? Really, think about it for a second. What is the investigation for? I don't know. I don't know. Should they say that? Should they have to tell us what it's for? You can't not hire a guy because of meanness to guys.

No. So there has to be something else. We're going to pull every coach out of the Hall of Fame over meanness. Gone. So if there is something else, then strike everything I've said here. And they should be more forceful. PA should come out and say, we have evidence to believe that he should not coach in the NHL. Right.

That's what they really should say. Because they're going to waste everybody's time if they don't feel that way. But could it be just window dressing to say for the players, look, we made sure there was an event. We have your backs. We made sure it was. Really? Window dressing? Oh, we're not past window dressing.

Oh, gosh. They're going to waste everybody's time. They're going to pull, they're going to pull two or three players in. They're going to ask them, okay. Until he's taking another call. Are you kidding me? Come on. Either you investigate them to keep them out of your players

or you just move on here. Is there another smoking gun out there besides checking on players' phones? If there is, surely Mike wouldn't agree to take this job. If he knows that he did something that's bad, surely he's not like, let's drag myself back into the spotlight here. Surely, he's smarter than that. He's a smart man. I don't know.

Well, okay. I guess there was a Stanley Cup final game last night. What a match. Are we good? We'll get into a more. Jason Gregor will join us in about 15, 20 minutes, and we'll take it all up again.

By the way, window dressing, like, does that mean the saying is from like dressing up a window so something looks good as opposed to not? Sure. Okay. Yeah. It's a weird saying. It's odd. Yeah, it's odd.

Window dress. Curb appeal, boys. Curb appeal. Yeah. What did you think of the hockey game last night? Hockey. As entertaining as entertaining as anything we've seen throughout the final. You can't make heads or tail out of both sides.

I would have told you I felt a certain way about Vegas over Carolina. Now with the resilient group of Carolina led by Jordan Stahl. I think Vegas is continually fighting. excuses to kind of give this thing away. It's crazy. This is the first cup final that all four games have featured a team blowing a multi-goal lead at some point. Unbelievable. The swings, almost every goal, like team goes up a bunch and then the games are just never over.

You know, I feel watching this that the Eichel line and the Svetkov line are just kind of nullifying one another and it's kind of come down to everyone else. I'm surprised they haven't matched up the Marner line versus Spetchnikov to try to shut down the Marner line more. But yeah, what I say yesterday, I said it won't be Svetnikov, aha, whatever. I said it'll be Eilers and Stankov and Stahl and whatever. And that's the way it shook out yesterday. That line, boys, is unbelievable.

Dogs on a bone. Hall, Stankovit and Jackson Blake, they're the key to the game last night. I just, I love watching those guys play. They all look exactly the same, by the way. They're just skating fast in circles, little guys. the pucked the point. But boy, it's effective.

It's effective. Busy, Bussy. Bussy. I think Brindamore may have saved the cup for them in the series, putting him in. And he's, yeah, you can look at three goals on 11 shots and go, that's no good. Yeah, I usually would. Most of the time. But now we're into that, just make the right save at the right time.

And you can be a poor. man's grand fear this time of year. What'd you think of Anderson not even dressing? I said that. I told you guys. But they didn't even list him as hurt. They just said, whatever. It doesn't really matter.

Yeah, we can listen to, you want to listen to Brindamore? It's peak Freddy. He's played the rest of the games for them. Of course that matter. Let's listen to. He's been their guy. Let's listen to clip three, Brindamore, please, Derek, on the decision to start by that. It's about a minute conversation with our goalie coach, and so Freddie needs a little break.

Okay. So we went with the other guy and if you're going to give him a break You need to give him a break so to me him dressing and going through all that and Just that's not really giving him a night off so it's just that's it We all watched all or nothing The Leafs yeah we sure did right? Remember Freddy in it? Yeah Is he out there? I remember is he out there? Is he dressed? Is he What's going on? That's all you need to know.

Go watch that. And you'll understand the patterns of Freddie Anderson. So now that we're on the conversation of goalies, at the other end of the ice. Hold on, hold on. I'm ready to move on from Anderson. What do you want to say? I think the fact that their goalie coach

went to the head coach and said he needs a break. A mental break. It's fascinating. If anything, when you say he needs a break, what does that mean? Right? He's just. Well, that's what I wonder.

What does it mean? Like, did Freddie say to the goalie coach? This is just a lot right now. No, no, no. You don't need that. You needed to watch him the last few games. And just. It needs to be unplugged and re-plugged.

Yes. We've squeezed all we could have out of him up until this point. And we need to not put him in a position where we're going to break him. Let him bend. Let's not break him. So does that mean then that, they're going to plug him back in? No.

He's had his day break. He's played every game in the playoffs. We got to watch game five. Bussie goes south and you're going to put the heat right back on Freddie. That's that's pro hockey. I feel like their best chance to win the cup is now it's Bussie. Oh, Freddie's dodgy here.

Yeah. You know. Like Freddie, like with all due respect, like even Bussie comes in, rookie. Like. I didn't like the goals on him. No, you don't, by the way, but like. A couple that went through his hat, pants. But there's something about him.

He's aggressive. He's energized. He's energized. His body language says, I'm good. And Freddie's like a vanilla cone. I hope a bad thing doesn't happen. Bussie, you know, he did that post-game interview in tears with his parents there. But our own Valley yesterday talked about the things he's bad at.

And Sammy highlighted the second goal. Third goal. Howden, pulling it to the middle on a rush, and he gets wide and frozen, ding under the bar. And then the other one is a same side one-timer coming from below the goal line. It's exactly what Valley saw. Hey, listen, like I said, it's a coin toss right now because I didn't like Carter Hart. No, you want to do you.

So can I ask you the question of Carter Hart here? First time in NHL history that a goalie has let four more in the first four games of the series. four goals in four straight game. First time in the history of the final. And nobody seems to be asking the question. Should Aidan Hill go in? Why is that not a question? He's been particularly not good.

I think it's a legitimate question. I just don't think it's worthy of going deep deep. I think it would just be, I don't know if Torts has got the stones right now to make that call. I'd be thinking about pulling the lever. No, I'm telling you. You don't see Torres has the stones? No, I don't.

And I would, like, if I was the coach of Vegas, I'm not sure I would have the stones to make that switch. Considering all year you've been desperate for goaltending, you finally got some in heart throughout the playoffs. And it's like, are you going to turn around? It might be too deep right now. And it could be Carolina advantage. If you're down to one to Carolina,

maybe worst case scenario, you put them in. I don't know, but not at 2-2. with one game. It might be too late. You just go down with the ship at this point. And he did make some saves to kind of hold the fort for a little while. He did until. Shay Theodore threw up a pizza up the middle of the ice.

And Jarvis is sitting there going, oh, what do I do now? Like I'm shocked. I got the puck and no one's around me. You know that feeling, eh, where you're like, what? I wasn't supposed to have this here. I have the puck and the slot? What's that?

brain like I have 500 options. Happened to Eichol in the last minute of the game. But Carter, they find a way to get to overtime and win the game. We're talking about Carter holding the fort, right? Yeah. But I mean, I hated the first goal.

Misses the poke check comes right out in front, through his arm, and that just set the tone. I don't know. I don't think it looks good. But I'm not telling you if Freddy's done. He's not done until we're in a position where we have to contemplate it.

Right now, they're not. No. So I don't know if they back them up. I don't expect them to back up. You don't think they can back up? It all depends. I don't know. How much point does he need?

Is he in a dark room right now? I don't know where he is. He did get absolutely bonked in the game before by Barbashev coming across. Then he should leave the game if you're not. Totally. No, where are the spotters? How do they not? We all saw it.

You want to talk about having the stones. No stones to say. But Carter, Hart's taken a couple. massive hits too. Rod Rindamore would kill you, little spotter. Get out of the rain. The spotter's,

the spotter's tiny little shriveled up raisins. That's what they had in the stands. Shriveled up raisins. Forget about stones. I was too with torts and Brindamore. That's too funny. I'm not pulling anyone to that game.

Let's do game time. Game time. We'll hit the break and get to Gregor. It's game time. Presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly now we didn't mention it in our little preamble there we got into Babcock a little too long but how about Jordan stallboys another two goal performance out now five goals in the final uh through the four games they've played

again just my first look at the cons my he has to be rocketing up the list he's still plus buddy let me tell you something Carolina wins this he's getting cons smithe that's so if you're Who else would he give it to that team? You're totally right. Dankovin has been unbelievable. It's not even close. 37 years old and 272 days. And that guy is all of what Carolina is.

I said before the series, it was, Brendan Moore was the face of the team. Jordan Stahl became the face of Carolina this final. McKee was saying his career stats were. He's played 1,400 games. I think 179 playoff games. 179 playoff games.

179 playoff games. games. But he's still plus 550 for the Kahn's Mike. So there's still some value there with him. And then after that it falls down to Jackson. Because the goal is out for Carolina. You can't give it to Freddie who misses one and a half. Two games.

And the series now has shifted back to Carolina. The odds on this is fascinating. Carolina now big faiths minus 150 in the series. Vegas is at plus 125. So this has gone back and forth with every game. Big one tomorrow night. They must use some like underlying data in that stuff. Yeah.

Because the number's been Carolina. It's just been so close. The whole thing. Anyways, that was game time. Present by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

And as a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Born is brought to you by Bet 365. Okay. We'll take a quick break. Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger show on Spreeger. Sports 1440 and Edmonton will join us next. Of course, lots of talk still on Mike Babcock in Edmonton and what this could mean for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they watch it closely.

There could be a real domino effect. Sammy, you're just going to have to wait for the commercial break and we'll get back to it. He's been cleared. They hired them. And I will enlighten you. Oh, thank you. When we return to Real Kipper and Bourne.

The best Blue Jays show out there. period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee in a few minutes. We'll be joined by Jason Greger.

Hot story outside the Stanley Cup final. Of course, Mike Babcock, potentially to Edmonton, a very, very sensitive. Yeah. Topic. Before we get to that. Yeah, you got to do things. Yep.

Time now for the Accura Performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Stanley Cup final, game five tomorrow, Vegas in rally to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. 2-2 here, massive swing game, clearly. A few stats, you know, I love the stats.

Kippur, you're really excited about this. Jordan Stahl became the third oldest player to record a multi-goal game in the Stanley Cup final. Following Mark Recki and Igor Larianna. Mark Recki scored a goal. goal at 43 years, 125 days of game three of the 2011 final when he was with the Bruins. 43. 43.

What? Do you remember him at the end? He was just like a 40. Yeah. He had that very distinct shape. Just a bowling ball out there. 43, crazy. I think you've said this one in our first block, but Howden scored to tie the game

3. It marks the first time the Stanley Cup final history that four games have featured a team rally from a multi-goal deficit to at least tie the game. Brent House 13 goals plus 13. He has been... And how many more years at two and a half? Unbelievable. How many more years at two and a half?

That's the power. But it's still, between him and Marner, it still may not be enough. Like... Carlson is not amazing. Jack Campbell or Jack Campbell. Oh my God, Jack Eichol. Yeah. Like, shoot it in the net.

He almost ruined the crossbar last night. He hit it so hard. I know, but you know, he should be a dominating player still. He is arguably the most talented guy out. there. But he cannot get to the lanes and get a clear look. I know he rattled one off the crossbar

on a power play which was a one-timer standing in the spot. But outside of that, he cannot get to the net. And, oh, sorry, go ahead. What pair, I mean, I think that Chatfield-Slaven pair has to be the toughest pair. You know, no, granted, your point stands because all through playoffs, he hasn't got it going. But that pair is

tough. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. Do a fave, too? Yeah, he's, no, it hasn't. And hurdle, right? They need two out of three of those guys to step up here. Brandon Bussey became the third goaltender in NHL history to make his first career playoff start in a Stanley Cup final

and pick up a win in the game. The others are Hank Bassin in game two of the 1961 Detroit with Detroit and Alfie Moore in 1938 with Chicago. Kippreel, you'll remember those. guys, right? Yeah, you had an Elfeymore, Jersey, I think. Alfie Moore?

Borsi? Maybe a teammate. If I can remember. Yeah. And yeah, this is, oh yeah, the last one. This marks the third straight year that the Stanley Cup final

will need at least six games and sixth of the last eight to need at least six games. So it's some good finals over the last 10 years or so. Anyways, that was the Accura performance matchup to 2026 Accura MDX precisely premium.

What was your little tease there before we went to break? Just the domino effect of this coaching situation, the way I see it, is that Edmonton, you know, we got Jason Greger coming up so he can follow

this up. The way I see it is it was Cassidy, Cassidy, Cassidy. Can't get Cassidy. Don't want to wait for Cassidy. Babcock. Now, investigation. How long is the investigation?

This takes you to... Cassidy's available. Right. And now you got Edmonton sitting on, do the Leafs wait now and slide in on Cassidy? Because as we know, Vegas has got an issue with going to a direct competitor in our division with the likes of L.A. and Edmonton. But they'll be okay for the Leafs to take them. You think they would? Oh, yeah.

Oh, really? Yep. Vegas is okay with the United. to leave you're telling me is the trade is actually Mitch Marner and Nick Woff. There, Sammy, whatever you need. For Cassidy, too. Whatever you need.

Whatever you need to endure as a cons smite. Whatever makes you feel good, Sammy, go with it. But my understanding is you can't keep the guy out of the league. You can argue all day long. Yeah, you can argue all day long that you don't want a direct competitor. And it's within your rights, but you want to talk. talk about somebody in a different conference, you know, 5,000 miles away. Shoo, go, go.

Come on. You're not going to have a problem with him. You pay him instead of us. Do you know any indication on Cassidy, Toronto? Sammy, I could tell you that, but I'd have to kill you. Fair enough. I got to believe if you're the Maple Leafs, at this point, you're like, okay, Cassidy. That's due Bruce Cassidy.

I mean, that to me, he's an established guy. Again, like, we haven't had a real strong indication. on whether the Leafs are still we need NHL experience. Like, that's the only thing we really have. Well, they tried to hire LaViolette, though. So it's consistent then with Cassidy to LaViolette to Cassidy. But what isn't consistent is.

Pavelski. Carle. Even Dallas, maybe Dallas Eakins, who interviewed, but like he's got some NHL experience, but certainly not in that class. No, those are different levels of coach. Okay, as promised, let's welcome in Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger's show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton

and a guy that, you know, no beating around the bush on how you feel about Mike Babcock, my friend, from everything I've gathered in the last few days. And not to rehash it because I'm sure a lot of people understand that you think it's a horrible idea. But let me just start, Jason on where in your opinion did this horrible idea really stem from? Where's the driving force behind getting Mike Babcock behind an Edmonton

Euler bench? It's a really good question, Kipper. Like if you look at the whole process here from the end of the season for the Oilers has just been, it's looked completely discombobulated at times from, you know, at leaking out that they're looking at. to try to get a hold of Casti before they let their head coach go. And I know that wouldn't necessarily be the first time, but it got out and then it just looks bad, right? So then you got to wait and then you got to fire your coach.

And then, oh, by the way, you can't speak to Bruce Cassidy. And so, you know, obviously they've interviewed, you know, Hiller and Barouet, who's now in L.A., and, you know, there might be some other ones that I can't confirm. And I don't know, like, I understand when you have a coaching hire, you should, you should look at every possibility. I get it. But to me, this one just reeks of desperation for me personally. Like, and I outlined it in, you know, I wrote an article. I talked about it to my show a lot.

Like, when you look back and, you know, the stories from Mike Commodore to the early days of the ducks, like that story in the athletic article in 2024, Kipper, you were a veteran player. Imagine a rookie coach coming in and telling three veterans that you can't even skate with the team. You've got to practice on your own away from everybody. Like, why? Why do you have to treat people like they're basically lower than dung just to be powerful? Like no one debates he's a good tactician and he understands the game of hockey. That's not even up for debate.

If you were hiring that, great. It's the other stuff that you can't overlook. And I'm like, why would you bring it in? So to me, it's just desperation. To where it came from, I think it came from a fact that they're looking at everything. And I don't know, I guess maybe they didn't like the other candidates. So they're like, well, this guy's got to be the magic, you know, mix elixir for our team. And I'm just not sold that that's what they need.

It's not like this team. Because if you look at what happened when they hired Chris Knoblock. They got off to a terrible start. They were, what, 3-9-1. Knoblock coaches 69 games. They have the best record in the NHL for 69 games, top five and goals for, top five and goals against. And they go all the way to game seven the Stanley Cup final and lose by one goal. He was a rookie head coach.

So, like this adage that you need some. guy with boatloads of experience who won a Stanley Cup. I'm just, I'm not really sure you do. I don't really believe in that. I think there's lots of coaches that are good coaches who haven't won a cup. Jamie, I'll get you in one second. I just want to follow up one more thing on, on, I get, I get the questions. But all those stories that you just shared and many, many more, they're out there now.

They're surfaced ex-players. Everybody knows what they're getting with Mike Babcock, including Congress. Leon and Zach Hyman. They know. They know the stories, and yet they still want him. I mean...

Because, well, Nick Kipper, he doesn't go after the star players. When you're a bully, you go after the guys that you know you can bully. You go after the rookies or the depth guy. Or look at Mike Medano. It was in his last year in the NHL. He's 40.

Tell me in any real world. You're in first place. Everybody knows you're four games away from 1,500 games. You have four regular season games left. And for no reason, you decide to healthy scratch him in the fourth final game and then play him in three more so he gets to 1499. You're only doing it because you have to exert your power. And in order to do that, to me, that wreaks of insecurity at the end of the day.

It's like, I've got to show that I'm the boss all the time. And it creates more chaos and uncertainty for me because, and then the other thing is, let's say let's just pretend and ignore all the all the transgressions from joan franson to madano to all these guys might you know let's just ignore them he hasn't coached an hl game since 2019 he hasn't won a playoff series since 2013 why is winning one cup in 2008 trump everything you know i i don't want to you know be the babcock defender in some of this stuff but i'm not sure which of those teams he had was supposed to have won. And I think part of his time away is by choice as well after the Toronto stuff.

I, you know, I understand a lot of the points that people have about Mike and their concerns with it. You talk about them being desperate, aren't they? Like, aren't they? Like, I don't know who else you're going to get. Who's the next guy then, Gregor, for you, that's going to help them win a cup over Babs? Well, and that's a great point. Well, first of all, I don't know if it's his choice he was away.

Well, it was his choice. but remember, they tried to hire him in Columbus, and how did that go? He didn't even last before the season started. But when I look at Emmington, I wrote the article two days after the season. The number one thing the organization can't do is panic. There's so much focus on wanting to win the cup, which is great. They are a cup contender. I said it before the playoffs.

Whoever wins out of Emmington or Vegas was going to beat the Central Division, because I believe those have been the two best team. The regular season, not that it doesn't matter, but for some teams, it doesn't matter, right? you can set your foundation and your basis of how you play and then carried over. But like Emmington went to two cup final, I believe, and the players, their star guys admitted it. They didn't take the regular season serious enough. They never got in any sort of consistent rhythm on how to win all the time, right? Like what do we got to do A, B, and C to win every night?

And that carried over all year long. Then, of course, you have all four centers injured in the playoffs. I don't know any team in the NHL that's going to win a series when all four of your centers are hurt. So that was a factor for sure. But I don't think they needed like some coach who's going to come in here and magically get their players to commit. Because they did it under Knoblock for the first year. They did everything he said. He changed their penalty kill.

They decided to focus on being a decent defensive team. You don't have to be great. Look at this year, Stanley Cup fellas. You can give up four goals every night and be two and two. So I don't know if there's one coach who was going to come in here and boom. Like 20s, this last year wasn't a great year for Emmington. And now they're panicking. And I don't really understand it.

I really don't. Like they've got some areas to improve, no question. But it wasn't like, oh my God, we're so far away from winning. Look at Vegas. Vegas is two wins away from the Stanley Cup final. And most people thought they had no chance at the beginning of April. Jason, we covered Babcock when he was a head coach here with the Toronto Maple Leafs. And it was clear that, you know, we're talking about a guy that's a control freak.

at times and certainly not scared to show you that he's the smartest guy in the room. But a lot of it had because he had a $50 million contract, which almost made him bulletproof. Any idea what a contract would look like for him? Because I would tell him that you are going to be, I don't even know if there's a league minimum for head coach, but you'd be close to it, my friend. And I'll tell you another thing, it would be the shortest leash I'd ever have on a coach.

And if someone needs to hold his feet to the fire, is Stan Bowman the guy that could do it? That's a really good question. Well, it would be hard because, you know, we talk about some things like, you know, Bowman isn't in Emmetton full time. He is in the season most of the time, but not full time, but most of it. I guess he could. honestly, Nick, I think you'd have to make sure you, and the head coach is supposed to pick his assistant coaches, but I would hope if he's the head coach, you pick us some assistant

coaches who at least have the intestinal fortitude to say, hey, wait a sec, we can be hard on guys. Lots of coaches are hard on guys. And some guys really flourish with coaches who are hard on you, but you can be hard and respectful at the same time. You don't have to be hard and demeaning and bullying. So maybe he needs someone to just say, oh, Mike's, the old Mike Babcock's coming around and have an assistant coach you can say hey pull the brakes leave the room figured out i don't know if that's possible and and here's the other thing like we saw the reports today we don't even know if Mike Babcock will be cleared to be hired by the m-tunars and that's the like there's just another element that makes you go really is this the guy like he's got to get

approval after an investigation to see if he can coach now in the NHL which is mind-blowing to me i can't recall ever hearing that. Are we good on, Mike? You guys have anything else? You want to drive home with Babs? Okay, I wanted to ask you about Darnell Nurse. Darnell Nurse's name is in the news

as a potential trade candidate. What could a return look like? How likely is it? What are your thoughts on the nurse situation right now? Well, they have to avoid repeating what they did with Stuart Skinner. Right. Stewart Skinner became a guy that everyone was like,

oh my God, Stuart Skinner's the problem, get rid of them. and look what they took on Tristan Jari, who makes twice as much and has two more years. They gave away Brett Kulak and a second rounder in that trade. What an awful trade. I said it the day it happened

because a lot of people in Empton, oh great, we got rid of Skinner, because they had convinced themselves. Like in Eminton, coaches and goalies seem to be the main blaming point. Well, Darnell Nurse and maybe at times Evan Bouchard probably third and fourth, and the Bouchard one makes me laugh.

But, you know, Darnel Nurse has limitations in his game, guys. I think his processing of the game in key moments, that can be a concern. But there are elements of his game that are very good and hard to replace. Number one, the guy doesn't miss any games. He is healthy. And so if you're going to trade Darnell Nurse, well, now you got Jake Walman, who, Jake Wallman missed 29 games this past season, guys.

Darnell Nurse in the last nine years has missed 18 games. He is always playing. And in that time, he has played the second most minutes of any defense. defenseman in the NHL. Like this guy's on the ice a lot. Yes, there are plays he makes that frustrate you, but you can't only evaluate a player on what he doesn't do and then ignore the things he does. So if Ammiton's going to trade him, I have no problem if they trade him, but they sure as hell can't afford to take a step back and as a team that's close and look like, I know that this year they didn't go anywhere in the playoffs. But who played the most minutes five on five in the orders?

Darnell Nurse. He was seven goals four, three goals against that five. on five. Connor McDavid was three goals, four, seven goals against. Bouchard, like, their top guys got murdered. Nerson and Murphy were their best defense pair in the playoffs and really down the stretch once they paired him up together. So I look at Darnel Nerson, I see the frustration. I don't like how he reads the play in front of the net guys for a six foot four, 220 pound guy.

I'm kind of like, how the hell is this guy not a menace in front of the net? I don't understand it. He'll make some quick decisions. And he's been in the league 10 and 11 years. That's not going to change. So you have to accept that that's part of his game. So if you trade him, you better down well be certain that you're not taking a step back. Because I hear this, well, you're going to free up cap space.

For who? Who the hell are you signing on the free agent market that is going to replace the minutes guys? Like, you guys have looked at the free agent pool. This might be the most shallow pool we've ever had in the NHL in the salary cap era when it comes to free agents. One more, Jason, before I let you go. And I don't want to pour gasoline on oil or fans. here but Sam O'Reilly. People talking about maybe, I don't know,

did we trade the right prospect here? Because leading Kitchener to a Memorial Cup MVP, I mean, coming out of London, pretty good hockey player here. I mean, your thoughts on Sam O'Reilly? You know what? It's interesting. I look and say, hey, the guy that got traded for him scored the most goals per game of any rookie in the American League

against men. Isaac Howard was traded for because he's a better shooter. Whereas O'Reilly, when he gets to the NHL, a lot of people think third line center, maybe a second line center, right? And I really don't think much has changed guys. O'Reilly had a great year in junior

and Howard had a really good year as a first year pro. Yeah. Because he didn't dominate in the NHL, trust me. You put Sam O'Reilly in the NHL last year. He wasn't dominating. neither. Like you guys know the NHL from the AHL is a big gap, never mind junior to the NHL.

So I look at Ike Howard and I think he comes into camp next season with every opportunity to be a shooter on one of your top two lines. Now he's not going to bring the defensive awareness of O'Reilly, but he's a shooter. And Eminton really doesn't have a shooter outside of dry saddle and he's more of a center.

So like Zach Hyman's a round the net goal score, but he's not a shooter. New Jersey is and Hopkins isn't a shooter. They don't have that guy. So I still think, to be honest, guys, it's too early to tell. It was a great year for O'Reilly, unbelievable year. But we'll see what he does in pro. I've learned the hard way. I don't overrate junior players anymore.

Because I've seen a lot of guys, 90-point guys, 100-point guys. They get to the NHL and they're third-line players because it's freaking hard to be a regular score in the NHL. Great feedback. Jason. Really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this. Anytime, fellas.

Thanks, Jason. Appreciate it. Jason Greger, 1440 in Edmonton. Good stuff. Listen, you signed Babcock to next to nothing. If it screws up, you're done anyways in November, December. If you need to fire. Whatever.

Just not. Sorry, the days of the $5 or $6 million are so over. You got your money. Keep you on a short leave. Worst case scenario, get rid of the guy. Yeah. No worries. I'm curious to see, like, if he brings back,

he had DJ Smith and Jim Hiller here. Like, does he add to the staff, change the staff in that way? Bring the band back together? Bring the band back. You mentioned that Sam O'Reilly thing, and, you know, that was kind of, it wasn't a quiet trade, but it was a trade that was made.

I really wish Tampa didn't get Sam Riley. You know, that's just a guy that's going to be awesome for them for 15 years. Yeah. In the division. You know, he's going to be like a, like he said, second, third line guy kills penalties, heart and soul, defensive, scores big goals.

He had a massive playoffs. He had 28 points and 18 games for the Kitchen Rangers in the way to the M. Cup. So, yeah, wish that didn't happen. Yeah, fair enough. Wish that didn't happen. Kip, I don't know what you got for a trade board in the future.

If you're going to be doing that pre-draft, I don't know. I don't want you to tell me what. But there's a lot of talk this year, more than I can ever remember. Well, just look at the question marks on superstars that are in the American group chat from the Olympics. Well, Connor's in it. Connor Hellebite is in it. Connor Hellebuck. You got to specify which one.

Connor's going on. Two Conners out west. Yeah. Right? Brady. Austin. Dylan Larkin just played his card. Right?

Nico He's sure. When you're removed from UFA and New Jersey. Quinn Hughes is out there. And Minnie's trying real hard right now. Really? Yep. So, yeah. I never, I cannot recall.

call. Massive. Grade, grade A plus names out there with what's the future hold for these guys? Someone needs to treat it like it's the NBA. NBA, they're like four first rounders. We want them. The NHL, we're a lot more cautious than, again, it can be Paul George.

I'm very careful with that treat them NBA stuff, right? Oh, by the way, is working terribly for Jesus. We used to kind of laugh at NBA players with their behavior. I'm kind of swinging towards everybody wants to go to the Warriors They want to go to they want to go to They send me to Florida Hey, wait to Florida

Dylan Larkin Steve Eizerman's under the gun here He cannot make a bad trade Yeah no I agree You know this stuff with everyone Wanting to go play in Florida Or Vegas or whatever I have two thoughts on this

One of them is That's nice if you're Vegas In Florida That's nice that good players want to go there But these teams are not just going to be littered with superstars. There is a salary cap. You only have so many assets to acquire all of these guys that want to come play there. Like, it's not like, I think people think, oh, we've got to fix this problem.

It's like it's going to sort itself out. It can only take so many guys. And then other guys got to go somewhere else. The cap's kind of going up. The cap will help for sure. But you only have so many assets to acquire these guys. Yeah, but if they're like, I'm only going to Florida and they have full no moves. I'm telling me it's not going to be Superstar Road.

I'm just panic. Yeah. What's the NBA? Tonight. Game four tonight. Oh, thank goodness. Game for tonight. Game four tonight. Our thanks to Jason Greger.

We watch carefully on the coaching situation right across the country. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Love a thumbs up on YouTube. Have a great night, everybody.