Real Kyper & Bourne - International Hockey + Captain's Responsibility with Mark Messier

Episode Date: December 4, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in Hockey Hall of Famer Mark Messier in-studio to chat about the behind-the-scenes of the "Game 7" docu-series, what it was like to be named on a national team's roster for an international tournament, the league's return to the Olympics, the role of a 'Captain' and what's going on with the Rangers. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss if the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers would look into helping each other out with a trade to get back on track this season, Laine scoring in his Habs debut and an emotional night in Calgary between the Flames and Columbus New Jackets.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 kick it up live on the national program with a very special guest we are live on sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by beth 365 nick kiprios justin bourne, Sammy McKee, and Mark Messier in studio. Hall of Famer, six-time Stanley Cup champion, ESPN. Does it all right now and looking mighty fine, Moose. It's that time of year. Right? Festive.

Yeah. I can't tell you how excited these two guys are. I brought in a jersey that I lifted out of your stall when you weren't looking about. Wow, look at that. Look at that sweater behind me. Look at that thing. Is that the old TCM mascot?

It is. Crosby did all the jerseys. The perforated material. Yes. That's vintage there. It's vintage stuff. It is. How's your schedule?

I know between Prime and ESPN and some corporate gigs uh you're as busy as ever it's it's been busy but all good stuff uh espn has been amazing i didn't know what to expect going into it three years ago but it's been one of the best decisions i've made in a long time um get back involved with hockey talk about hockey amazon's been incredible uh well you know guys know 25 mondays here in in canada they're getting into sports in a big way um and then of course uh just little bits and pieces here and there and running some stuff and it's all good we're gonna get into the league stuff for sure and jb you jump in here at any time but just just a follow-up on on prime and your your decision to take something called Game 7

and turn it into documentaries for Amazon. Just how did this all start, Moose? And, you know, who are you involved with? Is it Danny DeVito, my buddy from Taxi in the 70s? Exactly, yeah. We have quite an investor group. But a friend of mine, we got in business with called Isaac Chura, commercial real estate family in New York City.

Two kids walked into his office and said they wanted to invest in their company. And he goes, what's your company? He goes, we own Game 7. And they had me on the cover of their brochure. And Isaac left the room and called me up. He goes, you know anything about this company called Game 7. And they had me on the cover of their brochure, and Isaac left the room and called me up. He goes, you know anything about this company called Game 7? I go, I don't know anything about it. He goes, well, you're on the cover, so you better know something.

He goes, what do they want? They want me to invest. He goes, well, don't invest. Let's buy it. If they have what they say they have, let's buy it, because I couldn't believe nobody had already owned it. So we took a little bit of time to buy it. Then it took us about two years to lock up the intellectual property

and branding around the world. And then we just said, now that we have that, what are we going to do? So in order to build a brand, you've got to build a community. But we had an amazing start to our brand by one of every two people know what Game 7 is. So we had a big head start on that but then we had to kind of galvanize that community and the best way to do that was we thought anyways was to create a docuseries about some of the greatest game seven

moments that have been played across all mlb nba and national hockey league and um connor shell who did 30 for 30 became involved uh and then all the guys that did Drive to Survive and Full Swing. Amazing team. We put the A team together to do the docuseries, and it's been amazing. Went to number one on Amazon. Yeah. And then, of course, the thesis behind the whole brand identity is that everybody in life can have a Game 7 moment.

You don't necessarily have to be a sporting person to have a a game seven moment you can have a game still a moment of life but and are you equipped when that happens to be able to perform under the most scrutinized pressurized moments in the world and as we say game seven are the two greatest words in sports and now we're trying to make it the the brand game seven the greatest brand in sports and it's a lot of work but a lot of fun at the same time. If you have the secrets on how to win those games, you could sell them to the Leafs and MLSC for a great deal of money. You're aware of that, are you?

Well, you know, I felt coming, that's interesting you say that. I do believe there is a recipe to winning, and I think that galvanizing a team, culture, strategy, commitment, all the things that we always talk about, it's the truth. And it's not easy, especially under these circumstances with salary caps and the windows closes. Your window of opportunity is much smaller than it used to be in the past. But there are certain things that have to be in place in order for a team

to be successful. Is it harder today with so many more distractions or, more importantly, that there's a ton more asks from either clubs or the leagues to sell the game to the players and good on them. They've done it. To watch Sidney Crosby go door-to-door to sell drop-off tickets to anything else that we've seen, is it harder today with the recipe that you speak of? Look, I think you can add in a hundred million excuses if you want to,

but nobody can tell me that the players and the teams are stressed because of the demands to sell the game. I saw Wayne Gretzky from 1979, the time he retired, and nobody in sports sold the game like he did. And tirelessly traveling after in-between games to come back to Toronto after we were just here on a road trip to do radio shows. And David, I mean, the list goes on and on and on about the demands on the players. So do I think the players are taxed now more than they probably were? No, I don't think so.

I think if you want to use an excuse, you can, but the whole thing about winning is eliminating all the excuses. And I think the league has done a great job. I think the players have an ownership in the league now. They have the responsibility to sell the game. They're doing a good job of it, and because of it, the game's healthy. But I don't think it's an excuse. How do you view the evolution of the game

you know now that you've been back doing analysis for three years um i don't know how long you stepped away from watching it closely but things are different now how do you feel about where the game is at these days i love watching the game i never did really step away i was watching where i wasn't working for espn or amazon at the, but I would sit at home and watch hockey all night long. I mean, I love to watch hockey. I love watching the trajectory of these young players come in the league as highly touted, okay, first-round picks that are,

and then, of course, the kid that was a six-round pick that, you know, nobody gave him a chance. But the trajectory is always the same. How could they get in the league, stay in the league, make a living in the league, and then try to figure out a way to win? And, you know, you look at Crosby, you look at Ovechkin, and you look at who have both won Stanley Cups now, then you look at McDavid, Austin Matthews, McKinnon has won a Stanley Cup.

I love watching that growth of them as not only as people but as players. And when they're put in positions like they are to be leaders of the team, that process takes a while to happen. And it's really interesting to me to watch it happen. And I think the game's amazing right now. The rule changes obviously have been for the betterment of the game, for the players themselves. And we've got a fast game.

The talent has never been better. There's never been more talent. It seems like every – how good is – how fun is it watching San Jose right now? I know. They're great. Will Smith's fun. Getting off to it. Celebrini's awesome.

Yeah, amazing. Like, they're so fun to watch. And the brand of hockey that the kids play and the talent and the carefree, they remind me a little bit of the Oilers back when you just get out there and play without fear. And we can never lose that fact. That's what makes our game so great. You're watching and listening to Hall of Famer Mark Messier, six-time Stanley Cup champion,

ESPN analyst, and a guy that's bought me a few free meals. Is that right? Yeah. That's great. I'm glad to hear that. Really good. In a little over an hour, we'll get the official announcement of rosters from Team Canada. Oh, that's exciting. And the USA going into a Four Nations tournament in February for the sole purpose of getting ready to go back to the Olympics. Just, you know, when you speak of maybe the excitement

that the players are starting to feel through all of your experiences through the Canada Cups and the World Cups, Mark, what are the players going through these past few days? Well, as they sit and wait to see if they're going to make the team, I can only tell you what I felt when I made Team Canada in 1984 for the first time. It was amazing. Who told you? How did you find out? it was a little bit different process back then but uh i can't remember exactly how but um you knew you were on it didn't leak on twitter that

year you're saying yeah i did exactly there but you know i grew up watching the great summit series in 72 i knew what it meant to play for Canada. I was 11, 12 years old. I can't remember how old, but I mean, and the pride that we felt when Henderson scored the goal and, you know, then to 76 and then, of course, 80. And here I am, you know, in 84, getting an opportunity to play for my country for the first time ever.

I mean, it's amazing. So these players that are sitting around waiting to see. And what an incredible, not only honor to play for your country, but what a amazing accomplishment to be one of the top 20, what is it? 25 guys are bringing whatever it is. And that is a pretty nice feather in these players caps for their career to be able to recognize as one of the best players of your country. So there's a lot going on.

There's a lot of pressure obviously on the teams and the countries to perform and win and for the players as well like to make it as as an incredible accomplishment they should be applauded if they do well one of the things we talked about in the first hour was someone uh mentioning to us like oh it's a made-up event this like four nations face off and i was saying it doesn't matter it could be on a pond somewhere if you took the best Canadians and Americans. So you think there's still stakes in an event like this? Oh, absolutely. I know that when you put the maple leaf on,

there's a big responsibility, a lot of pressure. And that has never waned from the time that I did in 84 back to the 72 series when back into the Olympics for whatever. I mean, you can go back as far as Canada's been playing international hockey. And I also will say that the international hockey that I did play in the Canada Cups was some of the best hockey that I've ever been involved with. You look back to the 87 Canada Cup with Gretzky and Lemieux playing together

and the magic that was created there and the intensity of those games and, of course, the Russian, you know, everybody was saying Makarov was better than Gretzky and there's all this chatter, everybody was saying Makarov was better than Gretzky and there's all this chatter. And he was great. Was he better than Gretzky? We didn't think so. But, you know, 6'5", 6'5", 6'5", and if they did beat us,

that could have been debated, right? Like, so there was always a lot at stake. You used the word intensity. I'll use vicious. Vicious. I think 90, was it 96? 96, Canada-US. I think that's the most vicious hockey I've ever played in.

Is that right? It was unbelievable. I urge people to go back and watch it and watch Lindros and Guerin. Just doing this. Adam Foote. Oh, my goodness. It was crazy. Crazy.

You must have broke a thousand sticks that series over each other. Not me. Mark, we've seen, you know, stops and starts the last little while with Olympic or international hockey for the players. Ultimately, going back to the Olympics, the right decision for the NHL? Yeah, look, I think the league examines that so carefully. I've had many conversations with Mr. Bettman and the team and the disruption, where the Olympics are, location, time.

It's never a seamless decision. It's never a decision that can be made so lightly because there's a lot at stake. Injuries, the owners have a huge investment in the players, and of course the players want to play because it's, you know, to get the opportunity to play in the Olympics. I never had the opportunity to play. I did have the opportunity.

I wasn't chosen. But so when you get, you know, the Olympics is a big deal. And for me, I think the league carefully examines every opportunity when it comes up, and I think location has a lot to do with it. Time zone has a lot to do with it. What's at stake and what are the benefits for and against? And those are heavily weighed in one way or another, and obviously they felt this year was a good, or coming up year,

was a good time to do it. JB, we've got to pick his brain on what's going on in the National Hockey League. Yeah, okay. What do you got? You go. Well, hold on. I was going to ask a little bit about this, the letter, the C here that you're so associated with.

Leadership award. We debate, you know, Austin Matthews being named captain here in Toronto. And around the league, you know, often it goes to a young player who's a great player. You know, I guess the evolution of that responsibility to you and how much it really matters some people say put it on whatever sweater does it matter that much and i i would obviously you think that it does i i'm assuming i i i do i

think it's um i think it's probably one of the most in hockey anyways and i can't speak for baseball and some basketball some of the other sports that that have captains but in hockey it's a big responsibility there's a lot at stake um i'm always terrified when these young players get the captaincy because they don't know what they're getting into and they don't know the ramifications of failure they don't know the consequences of failure at this level. People get traded. Families are broken. The list goes on and on and on.

And when things aren't going well inside a professional team where you're paid to play and winning means everything, lots going on. And to put that pressure on those young players to kind of try to sort all that out. Of course they're great players and they can get out there and they can lead by example, but if it was only that, then I wouldn't be so, but maybe I know too much.

You know what I mean? So I'm a little bit leery of it. Some players have handled it very well. Others have struggled for good reason because, you know, it takes a long time. I mean, I'm so thankful I didn't become captain until later in my career. I would not have been able to. They wouldn't have made me captain.

So I wouldn't have to worry about it. But if I did, you know, I wouldn't have been equipped for it. So if we go across the country, we've got, you know, various superstars from Quinn Hughes in Vancouver, Connor, Adam Lowry, Backlund in Calgary, Matthews, as you mentioned, Suzuki, and the one that is interesting to me is Brady Kachuk. And you just said sometimes you're glad that it happened later on. When you watch not only the captains in Canada, but any captain in general,

when you watch a hockey the captains in Canada but any captain in general when you watch a hockey game can you not help but maybe look through the the lens of who the leader is and what he may be going through because I look at some of them I look at some of them and I'm like sometimes they look a little over their heads right now wearing that letter sure and I don't think there's anything that's happened in the game that I haven't seen or done or have been witness to through my 26 years of playing the game. So I'm really conscientious of the fact that there is a lot going on for the leader depending on whether they're winning or they're losing

or wherever they are in the whole lineage of the franchise. And, you know, trying to build a culture, you lean heavily on the leader. You know, the coach is a leader. The captain's a leader. That relationship has got to be symbiotic in order for it to work. The ownership has got to play a big part on it. But ultimately, the captain has to be able

to recognize what needs to be done, what needs to be said. It's just so much depth to it. And to your point, when you're watching the games and you're watching where teams, if they're struggling, and what's the body language? I'm big on body language, on the bench, watching players change when things are not going the way that you would expect them to go.

So I think there's, you know, you're always, from my perspective, when I was a captain, I was always monitoring my teammates' psyche, the confidence level. I mean, who was feeling what? Were they feeling pressure? What was going on at home? What was their relationship with the coach? And you're always trying to mend that. You're forever trying to stitch things together through 82 games.

So when you go into the playoffs there, everybody's kind of got this harmonious kind of feeling going together. But, you know, it's one thing to get out there and just play the game that you love it because you're good at it and lead by example. But there's a lot more going on behind the scenes. JB, great topic. Can I get one more on the captaincy? I know

if I was wearing a C maybe for the first time or early in my career, the first phone call I would make, whether I knew you or not, would be to you. Well, thank you, Kepra. I appreciate it. As the next teammate, I appreciate it.

You don't have to mention names but have young players reached out to you in in leadership uh nope nope um I shouldn't say no I think I have had some conversations uh with players um not a lot of players. And for good reason. The age gap. And I think any time that you reach out for help, I think there has to be some kind of relationship that's developed. You know what I mean? Because there's got to be a certain amount of trust between someone that you've asked for help and how I may be able to help them or what they need help in.

And so I think it's not as simple as just picking up a phone and asking somebody for advice. I think it's just so much deeper than that on a level there. And I mean, I obviously feel like I could help many players or many teams in that regard. But it just doesn't happen so quickly. It takes time to develop that. And part of the relationship of a captain,

you're sort of the liaison between the coach's office and the dressing room. How cognizant as a leader are you of what message the coach wants to deliver? And does it depend on the coach? Did you have different relationships with coaches of yours that affected how you dealt with the dressing room? Well, the relationship with the coach, and I mentioned earlier, is just critical. And you've got to be playing good cop, bad cop all the time.

The players have to know the captain's in there fighting for them at all times. You can never be mistaken for a guy that's selling any player no matter what is happening on the team under the bus. And so, you know, in trade talks, and everybody thinks I was on trade talks and all that kind of stuff, I didn't want any part of it because I wanted to make sure that the players knew that I had their best interest. Whatever was ever on the team was my responsibility

to get the best out of them. And then, you know, if they couldn't do it, then the management had to be able to recognize that. And what really is able to recognize a player that can't fit in is culture. If you don't have a good culture, anybody can kind of seem as you walk around. But if you've got a good culture, the player himself will dictate whether he can play on the team or not. You know, you guys know that.

So, yeah, look, it's just we could sit here for two days and talk about this stuff. I love it. It's so fascinating. I absolutely love it. But it's such a big part of winning there. And you've got to really, you know, just a quick, I don't know how much time we have, but just a quick story on that relationship.

I think Nicky is 94. and we had a terrible road trip. We come home, or we get off the bus, or get on the bus after the fifth game. We'd lost five in a row, whatever it is, and Keenan's just so pissed off, and he's looking at everybody in disgust on the bus. We get on the plane. He walks back there, and I think it's a Saturday night. We've been on the road for 10 days. And he, and he says, you know, in a, in a, just a derogatory, you guys are all no day off tomorrow. If we're going to get home, we're going to practice. And everybody's going, I haven't seen my kids. I haven't seen my wife. I mean, Sunday's

a day off and, and everybody's just going's just going oh now we got to travel back wherever we are and uh halfway through the trip home he says the trainer comes back and goes keenan wants to see up front so all the guys are up in front of the seats there to see what's going on so i go down and sit with mike and he goes sit down so mike's sitting there at his table nice first class seat he's got a bottle of red wine open up he goes, would you like a glass of red wine? So him and I start for the next kind of hour or more, and we're just talking about life. We're just talking about what's going on, how the kids and all that kind of stuff

and drinking a little red wine. And he goes, all right, well, it's great talking to you. And as I get up, he goes, and by the way, go tell the guys that there's no practice tomorrow. Made you the good guy. So I went back there, tell the guys that there's no practice tomorrow. Made you the good guy. So I went back there and I said, guys, no practice tomorrow. But he gave the power to the captain. He gave the power to me because he thought I was up there convincing Mike

that we shouldn't practice tomorrow night. So that's what I'm talking about, that relationship and that communication and how you're going to tackle every situation that's going on. And good for Mike to have that understanding. And just understanding what the guys need and don't need, right? And the other one I remember is, I think, another fairly unsuccessful road trip, but we managed to beat the Ottawa Senators

in that old, like, junior rink that they had. Corral Center? The Civic. No, it was the Civic. Yeah, it was like a fairgrounds. Yeah, and, you know fairgrounds. Yeah. And, you know, we're kind of getting off the bus in the plane. And we're a little down on the dumps. And I'm about to get on the bus.

He goes, where are you going? I said, home. He goes, no, no, you're not going home. We just beat the 1927 Stanley Cup champion Ottawa Senators. We're going out to celebrate and i'm like yeah baby perfect line oh yeah let's go have some fun well that's important too right i don't know if that happens as much today and maybe you know more than i do but i don't know if guys do they go out is it still like that used to be a bit of a way to like bring

a team together i I think they do. How can you not? Yeah. Well, because it's just so many games and so much, I don't know. I know you've got a corporate event just a couple minutes here. You mentioned being excited about watching the San Jose Sharks and their young talent. Well, they're only one team. Yeah, they're only one team.

And there's some good stories between them. And how do you fix the new york rangers out of this funk uh i'll let you take the the stage here yeah it's it's really interesting um it's so hard to stay at that high level now uh probably more so than maybe ever in the history of our league um you know, keeping the team together, keeping that real fine edge, that hunger. And you've got to really tip your hat to teams like Tampa that were able to, you know, interchange some players, keep the nucleus, but keep the hunger.

The coach reinvents himself every day. He keeps things fresh. And the Rangers seem to be in that real kind of spot right now where they've been kind of pushing for a few years now uh you know after their so-called rebuild they've been kind of had some success they've been pushing and for whatever reason they got off to a great start they look like they're going to really have another amazing season and now they're into a little funk and so so when you get into a funk, what is it that's causing the funk, and then how do you get out of the funk?

And it's not one guy. I went to the game the other night. It's not one guy that's not playing well. It's the team that's not playing well. Shuster and Quick have been pretty good for the most part. They are all underperforming at the same time. Yeah, and when that happens, nothing good is going to happen. Not good for the coach either.

One or two guys can save, like Shuster can held them in there a couple times when perhaps they shouldn't have won. But, you know, and this is where I'm talking about culture, leadership, coaching, management, ownership. That's when collectively you've got to really kind of be able to knuckle down and get back to, you know, what's really going on and identify what the problems are and then address the problems. And if there's something that's, you know, causing it,

that's not just strictly ability and it's something more in the head or whatever, then collectively you've got to figure that out. Yeah. Quick question. How did you not end up coaching? How are you not got to figure that out. Yeah. Quick question. How did you not end up coaching? How are you not coaching right now? Oh, goodness. I think I would have been a good coach.

I think so, too. Some would say good players can't be good coaches because they would expect them to be able to do it. But I never looked at them. My dad was an amazing coach. He obviously knew the game very well. But he had, in the end, the coach, I always say, you know, John Wooden of UCLA always said, you know,

the secret to great coaching is being able to give constructive criticism without resentment. And so how do you actually coach? How are you able to actually coach players without them thinking that and feeling resentment around you? And the way you do that is through relationships. So it's not about coaching. actually coached how are you able to actually coach players without them thinking that uh and feeling resentment around you and the way you do that is through relationships so it's not about coaching it's about relationships right and you have so much experience and then if you know the game and then if you know the game then you can establish relationships and then you can help

because i've experienced and i've played with the best players in the world i understand i understand the psyche of the best player and what he needs to keep that psyche and the hunger that he have to score goals i understand the fourth line player because i was the fourth line guy that was fighting i played the third line the sentiment and all i played the position that that you would have to in order to address but it's a it's a big commitment to do it you know what i mean but i think coaching good coaching is the most underrated thing in sports to be honest with you i told these guys about silo ridge oh yeah i saw a video of silo ridge i would like to visit their golfer sammy and jb are go i may have to bring them down yeah how about all the cabot court yes let's keep playing let's keep playing hey i i can't gotta get south we gotta go south now we do it's too cold i can't thank you enough. We got to go south now. We do. It's too cold.

I can't thank you enough for coming in. It's awesome being here. You know, always there for me. Walk together forever, buddy. That's what they say when you win a Stanley Cup. And I'm just here reaping the rewards. Walk together a lifetime. Thank you, my friend.

You're welcome. Thanks so much. That's Mark Messier, Hall of Famer and one of the greats. And when we come back, Sammy McKee. We'll take Mess's chair. Good luck, Sam. More after the break. Hey, it's Matt Marchese.

And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the Fan Hockey Show on Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Our last block here on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne,

and in for Mark Messier, Sammy McKee. So now I have to follow literally the best conversation Gabriel's Justin Bourne and in for Mark Messier. Great. Sammy McKee. So now I have to follow literally the best conversation we've ever had on this show. That was so good. That was unbelievable. I mean, the hockey Canada stuff to me was really,

and the only thing is it's like, you didn't follow up on him talking about how he didn't get picked for the Olympics. That jumped out to me. I, if I had been in here, I would have been like, so what happened? I didn't really, was he like close? jumped out to me. If I had been in here, I would have been like, so what happened?

I didn't really, was he like close? Was it, I guess, 98? I think, yeah, I think it was, now he's in Vancouver, right? Yeah. They're struggling. Yeah. And that's it.

That's it in a nutshell. You know, Sam, we had him for like 25 minutes. I know, I know, I know. And I wanted to ask him, I think he played in the Canada Cup with my dad and would have played against those. The Islanders hated. No, no.

Your dad was definitely there because I watched a game on which I. Prime, Amazon Prime. You know, you're in the bathroom. You got nothing else to do. You pull up a Canada Cup 84 game. But it was, you know, as an Islanders guy, like the Rangers and Islanders were the teams you hated. But you had to respect Mark Messier and would have loved to

I was saying to Kip, we could have just done a clean hour Oh my gosh He has enough to do The one thing that I always tell people like anything around the game, there's always a method to the madness

if that's a phrase that you can use there's always kind of never the sake of there's just never the sake of doing something just for the sake of it it's always because it leads to something else good teams i agree i think there's some teams going i don't know why we're doing this other people did it but i i you know mess knew what he was doing with a lot of that stuff obviously fantastic story about Keenan. Yeah.

About like... Like good cop, bad cop. It's just something you'd never... And having him go up there and be like, go back there and tell him. And it's like, that's... That's fantastic, boys. Fantastic.

Yeah. And it empowers him and then it empowers us. Yeah. Game time? Game time. All right, it's game time. Presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary At Bet365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly So I wouldn't say A little bit of a light night On the ice tonight four games The Two big ones I guess is the Boston Bruins

Are in Chicago it's not a big one but those two jerseys It's just it feels like it should Be big but it's not necessarily Big but the boston bruins are visiting chicago uh the boston ruins are minus 155 favorites in that game on the money line uh i would like some goals in that game tonight uh i think the the bruins are due for uh due for a little bit of a breakout they scored six was it on your aisles they scored six yeah yeah the we watched that chicago team on monday night they're not very good uh give me the over in that game the total is five and a half minus 105 on that number love it yeah uh the toronto maple leafs are minus 150 favorites against the nashville predators plus 125 on the side for the Preds. I do like a revenge goal, as you know,

and you could talk me into a Ryan O'Reilly goal, and you could also talk me into a, if I'm looking for Ryan O'Reilly here, a Stephen Stamkos. It's plus 350 for Ryan O'Reilly. Stephen Stamkos has lit up the Leafs his entire career. I think I put it in the lineup, but I think it was on the page that Kipper stole for me,

but I think he's got 66 points in his games against the Leafs in his career. In 52 games against the Leafs, he has 23 and 43 for 66 points. Lights up the Leafs back in his hometown. Probably, you know, looking to make an impact. I could see him hammering one home on the power play. So give me a Stephen Stamkos

anytime goal tonight at plus 210. And that was Game Time, presented by Bet365. Visit the app, latest odds, and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. It's been 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Ryan O'Reilly scoring. Oh yeah. Alright, I was joking. No, I'm not joking

but wanted to see if Mark had any thoughts on the Rangers in their funk. You mentioned the Bruins tonight. Still where are you guys on the Bruins? Before I answer that, can we talk about that sweater behind us for another second? Sure. Do you know how, what that, like, on the market?

I have no idea. Would be worth? I think you should, what Borny's trying to tell you is, get a safe to walk that out of here. Game worn, athletic knit, autographed. Do you know when he would have worn that? But I was there from, like, 90. In 1994. athletic knit autographed. Do you know when he would have worn that? But I was there from like in 1994. 3 to 96.

Yeah. Somewhere in that range. Yeah, it's worth something. There's definitely a couple bucks. I don't know. I don't know. It's a nice sweater is all I'm saying. I actually don't know and I'm not just saying this. No, I'm scared.

I don't know if the autograph devalues it, and I know that sounds silly. I don't know. It's not for sale. No, I'm aware of that. You're trying to buy it. It's not for sale. Okay, I was just talking about Rangers and Boston. Now, Boston's still struggling to score goals.

Rangers are in a funk. I say we go back to the mid-70s and these two teams get together like they did once upon a time for a guy named Phil Esposito. And they make a trade. Hmm. You know, it's one of the underrated things in the NHL is how a different scenario can just find a guy, give him new life. And I think sometimes there's value in that. So, and it would be... If you traded Gorgiev... No, it'd be Kreider would be the guy for me

that would be interested enough to want to go to Boston. God, Boston would be huge. He's a huge guy, right? Like I'm saying, they got Zdorov, they got Trent Frederick, they, Coyle's Big. They got large animals. So who would go the other way? But the problem is that if they both feel like they can compete,

then you've got to go money in, money out. And I don't know how that fits. The problem with Boston is center ice. Yeah. So then you'd have to include Zibanejad. Oh, you're going to go Kreider and Zibanejad. Yes. Hey, Phyllis Bozzito, Brad Park was an All-Star Hall of Fame kind of guy.

Jean Rattel, I think, was in that. Names mean nothing to you, I bet. Yeah, he's talking. My dad can forget. My dad's like, yeah. We're talking big. I mean, I think, was in that. Names mean nothing to you, I bet. Yeah, he's tired. My dad can forget. My dad's like, yeah. We're talking big blockbuster. But Boston needs help at center. But then what do the Rangers get back that make Ranger fans feel like

we can still win? Brad Marchand. What stinks in all this stuff is these guys have no job security, and you make one of those player-for-player trades, and it doesn't work out. Your career's in trouble for a long time. It would be a sign in trade because Brad Marchand, if it's not going to work out,

if they're not going to commit a contract to him, I think he'd be very interested in moving on if the contract's that much of a priority and not ending your career in Boston. Right. Keep an eye. Keep an eye on those situations. I'm just spitballing here.

Yeah, we're throwing stuff at the wall here. But I really feel like it's not actually going to happen. Nothing's going to happen because it's hard to trade. Yeah. It's hard to trade. It's just in-season trades that we just spoke of are next to impossible. But I do feel like they're possible. But if you are a general manager in the NHL and you take no risks

and you get fired, you'll get another job. If you take risks and get it wrong and get fired it's a lot harder and i just feel like everyone is so conservative in the nhl there's not a lot of guys taking big swings i just i just feel like you always err on the side of boring unfortunately linea yeah linea patrick linea we said it last night or yesterday's show. We want this guy to score and have a great night, and that's exactly what happened. He ripped that one. Ripped it off.

A little kiss at the post. I will say he is one of those guys where when it goes off the post and in, it's got a deeper sound. Yeah, he's one of three in the NHL. They go back and stay in. Kosen him, maybe. Yeah, and, you know of, he's one of three in the NHL. I think Ovechkin's damn close in him, maybe. Yeah, and, you know, Matthews can rip it pretty good, too. But I think it's a heavier, that wrist or that, when he gets it off in the sweet spot, it sounds really, really good.

Ohtani hitting the ball. Yeah. The problem with Laine is that he never evolved other ways of shooting it in the net. But he obviously can do that, which is really special. And, you know, it was a big deal for him to come back from this injury he had been we have two clips on it so continue no no yeah he had just had some struggles mentally getting a good place so let's look of his therapist too yeah well there's he i got two clips the first like i was just going to find that one with the therapist but the first one on his reception is just as good.

So, Derek, if you could play the first clip on the reception you got from the fans in Montreal. Yeah, oh, yeah, that was the most outrageous thing I've ever heard in my entire life. I don't deserve this. Not at all. But, no, it'll be something for sure I'll remember forever. That was the coolest thing I've ever seen. Just getting that welcome even early on when I came here from the fans and from the studio overall.

And now, obviously, coming back to playing, it was pretty humbling, like I said, on the ice, and just grateful and just thankful to be here. So that's the first one which is you know what i mean like that's genuine you see i mean i watched the video i saw the way he was talking i did the humility is incredible like he's just like really grateful to be a part of what's happening and then derek if you play the second clip from line as well please clip two i talked with my therapist about this and i was a little nervous yesterday and just decided that you know putting this jersey on today it's an achievement after after everything and um everything that

comes after that is a plus um um doesn't matter how it goes I'm not gonna have a bad game because uh you know I've worked too hard to get back to playing and put this jersey on. So, yeah, it was better than I expected, but there's still some work to do. He's been through a ton. Yeah. And I think he's genuine when he says that I don't deserve it. And sometimes there's a fine line between underselling yourself and not giving yourself enough credit.

And I hope he finds the sweet spot. Totally. Well said. You know, you have to have some confidence and self-belief and self-worth that you feel like you're deserving of some of what's going on there. Let me tell you something. It was legit. Him and Austin early, that Toronto-Winnipeg was legit.

He's legit that good when he's on and feeling like he is the player that everybody thought he was early in his career. I don't know if he can ever get to that place ever again, but he is a damn good hockey player. But it does, you know, it speaks to the conversation we talked about young players as captains. Young players as

superstars and the pressure that they're under to perform from the fans, the weight of the draft pick, the fans, the money, the attention. He's the goal scorer, right? He has to, there's only a way to really judge these type of guys. Self-worth that putting the puck in the net yeah and when you don't doesn't matter how good you you look or how many times you say hey i'm getting the chances it's the end result for these guys as goal scorers which is cruel because sometimes the

sport doesn't cooperate right like the puck does he gets bad bounces for a month in a row and it happens. I really rooting for that guy. Got to say. Yeah. And for the Canadians that just have something. Something in December where you're like, that's cool. A good Canadian story. I don't know if we want to go too deep on this one.

There's another kind of emotional thing from us. And I don't know if you guys saw the Calgary Columbus stuff. How can you not have seen it? How can you pick up your phone and not have felt that emotion in Calgary? Yeah. I don't know how the players did it. Oh, you see Monaghan at the center ice. He's literally in tears before the –

I forget who took the draw for Columbus – or for Calgary-Backland. Yeah. Two of them hugging, crying, dads in tears. All right, go play an nhl hockey game like yeah it's remarkable that they you know they get the columbus gets shut out it's a three nothing way like that's a pretty predictable result for those guys trying to go through that but it's just holy i i was very very very moved by that just the in general and everybody had the the camera lights, and it was just quite a scene.

Janet, Johnny Hockey, at the start of the game, even with the time winding down, the crowds involved, you know, a great night for the Goodros, just still feels impossible. Yeah, it still doesn't seem real, and I can only imagine what they, like, actually, I can't imagine, but, like, you just think. It's incredible to be present

for that. And yeah, and not a whole lot else to say, but credit to organizations for doing the right things, doing such a good job

supporting the families. Yeah. Uh, Sagan, Tyler Sagan, um, Dallas has been humming along Sagan

off to a pretty good start. Uh, hip. Yeah. this didn't sneak up didn't sneak up he's yeah he's been at it for a while trying to do before yeah he uh six time all-star missed all but three games of 2021 following a similar surgery on his right hip uh he also went under underwent arthroscope oh my god arthroscope thank you i can't do it okay knee surgery during that absence so like he's had a lot of yeah stuff

done but four to six months you know that's how much is that off their cap he was uh he's in a 10 or 11 9 5 9 oh okay i made that up no no he's right yeah uh ben might be a little bit more but they're they ran neck and neck when it came to their last contract signing yeah yeah you're right ben is uh or sorry segan is 9.85 yeah that's a big deal that's a big nine five so then i mean you talk about crider teams i mentioned d Dallas yesterday just as a team that oh wow and it's like now that they have that money and I mean I don't know what they and honestly four to six months four months from now playoffs yeah like they could conceivably get him back Nikita Sagan right coming up big time or like you know six the six month number is a little bit more daunting for

that but you know they are a really good team with a ton of great players a lot of them going to the four nations too on that team but i think that is a team where now that they have that 9-8 to play with they're gonna be a big time addition team jim nail's aggressive they got good young play point and they got good young players that like other teams might want or i don't know but the rangers in a position to want good young players? If I'm Shusterkin and I'm ready to go to Vegas, sign a big contract, is that of interest to me? Well, that's why it's never going to happen. Because there's not going to make a trade like no contender is going to trade.

Do you want Matt Duchesne and Dadanov for Crider? No, I don't. Matt Duchesne is pretty good good but i don't know that makes the money work let's start with uh logan stink uh stankoven oh my god no that's what i would ask for for sure i just yeah i need i need something back that can play today that might be a little younger yeah that's that's chris drury yeah that's what he'd be asking for. 21 years old, he's at 15 points in 22 games. Sam Steele? Yep.

Not for me. Something we didn't mention yesterday that came out during our show and then we forgot to talk about it. Hronik, eight weeks for Vancouver. Yeah, that's a big deal for the Canucks. And the release was that he got surgery on the lower but didn't on the upper what happened yeah double banger whole body he's in a body cast just ran into a moose somewhere eight weeks for their top pairing defense and that's a that's a tough yeah hole to cover up so we'll see how it goes but injuries are kind of the theme of this because the the

minnesota wild who are in first place in the nhl i'll remind you jonas brodine week to week joel eric and erickson eck week to week jacob lauco day-to-day zuccarello week to week all happened in the last day that's how that's how they're in sweden right there buddy costco disappeared in calgary brutal brutal for acland. Brutal. Brutal. He's out for ACL. Brutal. He's done for the year, essentially, right? I had that. It's just horrible. Yeah.

And, you know, it's tough, too, because he's 28. He's finally made the league, got a chance to establish himself, make a couple bucks. Was he doing a new contract, too? Was he UFA? I don't even want to know. Is that 27? He's 27, if he is. 28?

I'm going to get you that answer quickly. It's not fun. Calgary Flames, probably not spending all their money, so they're down there. Kirkland is a UFA. No. He's not a 75. He's a UFA.

Not Olivier in Columbus, but, you know. He goes to market. Someone's going to give him 1.5 times 2. Who's that? Kirkland? Yeah, that's going to give him 1.5 times 2. Who's that? Kirkland? Yeah. Get the McMahon deal, right? Well, McMahon didn't.

Not much more than 1.1, 1.2. I think it was 1.5 times 2. Was it that high? Good for him if he got 1.5. Well, you wanted to give him 7 million when he was lighting it up. I would have signed him. I would have signed him like 1.35 i would have signed him like holloway yeah 1.35 times yeah holloway what's the difference between him and holloway that holloway having a great year by the way oilers fans and so was broberg before he got

hurt against elise was marner that goon that got him in the knee there but yeah that's not looking so hot and the jeff skinner thing is where they're obviously comparing right the same amount of money and yeah holloway has uh eight goals 15 points in 26 games and yeah you're spending your money on skinner who's not giving you that so some frustration there to say the least all right boys we're uh we're moments away here well not moments but like 30 minutes away from the team can being released. Just a reminder to stay right here on all Sportsnet platforms in about 30 minutes, as just Sammy had mentioned. We get to hear just a little after 6.30, and then about 10 minutes later, Canada will go after the U.S.

U.S. first. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken, you're going to hear the U.S. team from David Amber at 6.02, and I think you'll hear the Canadian team at like 6.S. U.S. first. Yeah. If I'm not mistaken, you're going to hear the U.S. team from David Amber at 6.02. And I think you'll hear the Canadian team at like 6.09, 6.07, 6.09. Okay. Then you've got different information. 6.32 and 6.39. 6.32, 6.39.

I think coming out at 6 o'clock, they'll recap Team Sweden and Team Finland. Yeah. Yeah. That must be it. We nailed it. Don't try this at home. I'm a professional. I still don't believe you.

Listen, it's going to be on this station. It's going to be here. So just keep an eye. You're going to get Don Sweeney. You're going to get John Cooper. You're going to get Connor McDavid tonight. He said the voice of God. Jake said Kipper's right.

Yeah, there we go. So a lot happening tonight on the network, as well as some really good hockey. Yeah. And you're not on tonight. No, because it's good hockey. I got that feeling when you said they're going with the B team tonight. I would love to have been a part of this. But no, I am excited to hear what they have to say.

One leak that we had heard that caught my eye on the internet last night, Tage Thompson maybe not on the American team. Tage Lemieux. Tage Lemieux. And he's humming again. Yeah. And you, but you're okay with,

if they, they leave some of the young guns off, like obviously Conor Bedard's the, the, the big one, but Celebrini made some noise. It's not time yet. He can't drive play yet.

One of your phone calls that you talked about in our first hour i'm sure that they spoke with celebrini in terms of you know keep playing well keep staying ready there's injuries like i'm sure he was they've called him right kipper's looking away no i totally agree yeah i mean that's like one of those one of those moments when you you know, Mario Lemieux's, I'm playing Pittsburgh, and Mario Lemieux's chirping at me, and I go back to the bench, and I go,

did you hear that, guys? He knows my name. Did you catch that? Celebrini will do the same thing with any call from Team Canada. Tage Thompson, like, I didn't realize how much he was ripping it up this year. He had 13 and 20 this year. 13 goals, 20 games. Like, if that's true, that's a pretty surprising omission.

Although, two of those only count as one because they were on Gorgiev. You actually get half a goal for scoring on him. Oh, my God, the sob raise last night. So, first off, the goal he scores on the backhand can make it, I think, 2-0, 3-0. Gorgiev should be relegated to the American League. But then they blew the game, the Sabres. Not good goalie-ing by Gorgiev in that first period. Sabres, man. Alright.

We're done, but there's still a tremendous amount of hockey coming your way across the entire platform here at Sportsnet, so stick around, all of you. I can't wait to talk about Team Canada tomorrow. Our thanks to Robbie Stanley in the first hour

and the legend, Marc Messier, in studio. If you get a chance, you didn't catch it, download it, go on YouTube. It's fantastic, the conversation that we had. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Have a great night, everybody.