Real Kyper & Bourne - Ken Holland on Kings' Additions, Top 25 NHL Players + True or False!

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with their reaction to Nikolaj Ehlers signing with the Carolina Hurricanes before welcoming in LA Kings GM Ken Holland to the show (5:13). He discusses his transition from Edmonton to Hollywood, the Kings' moves so far this offseason, the significance of Quinton Byfield's development, and how the team gets over the 'Oilers hurdle' next season. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam share their thoughts on the Sharks picking up Dmitry Orlov and the Blues' bargain deal for Pius Suter. Finally, they react to Sportsnet's Top 25 NHL players list and play a game of 'True or False.'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.

Here we go. After a busy free agent week, we are back down to one hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne show one very fast one hour. We are live on Sportsnet Sportsnet 590 the the fans for set 916 Calgary and Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and always Sportsnet plus this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 Nick Kiprios Justin born Sammy Mickey Jake the snake Schultz Derek Bran Dale In a few minutes, we'll welcome in the new president general general manager, vice president.

I guess we're, are we getting rid of presidents now? Well, around the league? Our good friend, Luke Robitaille is the president. So I know, but in general, you think we're going to start weeding them out? Well, MLSC sure is. So no more no more Shanahan or New Jiri. So just noticing your J's hat there. It's a classy ball hat Thank you. I have a lot

That will be then the vice president of the LA Kings Ken Holland will join us. Awesome. All right, so Breaking news we saw Kevin Weeks throwing something out there in our very own Elliott Friedman Do we have confirmation on a mr. Nick Ehlers yes the email release is permit the email release just hit my inbox as well so it is now officially out there all right signs with the Carolina Hurricanes boys six years 8.5 million per season 51 mil he becomes their second highest paid player Sebastian Ajo makes nine seven Yeah, I was saying to Sam before we came on they they still have ten million in cap space after this signing with a full roster So they're they got lots of I don't know if they have the top end guys some of the teams that we've seen have

Playoff success, but they got a lot of guys man a lot of good players Believe the money that Caroline is spending because we have talked in the past about Tom Dundon being a Guy that makes you work Extremely hard to get your money most notably his head coach Rod Brenda Moore who has been negotiating for like Probably four years before he finally settled in on his contract I don't think he's remotely close to being the highest paid coach in the league anyways,

but now we're watching him spend, I don't know, on two guys over a hundred million dollars in Nick Ehlers and of course, Keondra Miller. Well, and they gave another 50 million to Stankoven. So they committed. Wow. Yeah, they committed all that money over the next, you know, six, seven and eight years. So long-term plans. And the idea is that, you know, to be competitive in this league, those are going

to be value contracts. I wonder, I wonder in that dressing room where some guys have been told that you needed to take less. And I put Slaven right there. Like, Slaven had a very good reputation for being this up and coming great defenseman in the league. I don't know at the point where he was negotiating his long-term eight-year deal, what, a year ago, year and a half ago, that anybody would

say, well, this guy's going to win a Norris one day, but he blossomed in the four nations. And now he's locked in at a contract that today would have been worth 10 or 11 million bucks. And I think that's what Carolina wants to do. They want to see these guys and pay them before the breakout happens, before you have to go, oh, now he's a 10 or $11 million guy.

So that's what good GMs do, you get value. I get it, I get it. I just think that, you know, for a guy like Keondra Miller now to become the highest paid defenseman on the team, I hope he can act like the best defensemen on the team. Yeah.

Either paying him to be the 40th best D in the league, you know, by contract price or whatever it is. But yeah, certainly you have expectations when you sign a $60 million contract. There's not nothing. A lot of fabulous work to lose to the Florida Panthers in five games in the conference final well that's part of this too you know I think they they're better than they were sure they're trying to get closer but like if I'm gonna get through the Panthers I'm not gonna be like I'm signing Elers and Keandre Miller that's not the guy some go would you have

signed as you know I know I know I know I know to me it better but like those aren't the no type of players that I guess no one has success where does Nick Ehlers fall in now because he's paid like a top winger right now right and what was he was he was a question he was not there one of their top players in Winnipeg he fit in on the depth chart. Where was he on the depth chart in Winnipeg? Five, six or seven? Yeah, I don't know in terms of usage, yeah.

All right, we'll pick up this conversation. In the meantime, let's welcome in Ken Holland, General Manager, Vice President of the LA Kings. Ken, thanks for joining us, man. I imagine, you know, the last couple of days, pretty interesting for you and your new hockey club. Yeah, it really was probably a couple of weeks in advance leading up to July 1st, doing all the preparation

and meeting with the people and going through our cap and what things we wanted to accomplish. Lots of talks with other general managers about trades. Ultimately did something with Steve Staus in Ottawa and we're pleased with where we're at and looking forward to getting to training camp. I'll work the phones a little bit over the summer to see if somebody slips through the cracks,

but we feel good where we're at. I wanna get into a few names for sure, you know, and the decisions to add depth to your blue line. But just first of all, Ken, just take us back a little bit and where you were when you left Edmonton and the thought of, you know, what's next for Ken Holland. I gotta tell you, buddy, if I had your Stanley Cups

and your success under my belt, and most importantly, your money, Ken, if I really had your money, I wouldn't have touched another job like this with a 10-foot pole. So why? Why another crack at running a hockey club now? You know, we got into February and March, you know,

actually my wife asked me how I was thinking, Cindy and I said that I kinda had the itch and if the phone rang with the right opportunity, I'd be interested. LA was a perfect fit for a whole lot of reasons, personally, professionally, you know, professionally, I had a relationship with Luke Robitaille. It's a it's a good hockey team, great ownership. Lots of really good players here, Rob Blake and his

people have done a real good job and rebuilding the team. Personally, it's out west and we're western people. It's you know when I'm on a road trip, it'll be easy for my wife to jump on a plane and fly to Calgary to see our daughters and grandchildren or go to our place in British Columbia and we expect to have lots of company down here. So you know, I wanted to make sure that that the move was good not only for me but for my wife and so I'm excited to have

this opportunity and see if I can make a little bit of a difference here. Ken I'm a western guy myself it's been fun following your career remember you used to be around the rink when I was at the Vernon Vipers back in the day and seeing all the success you've had so you know with you staying out west how quick is this how easy is the transition from Edmonton to LA been you probably knew the the Kings roster and players as well as you did any other team in the league. Yeah, obviously, we have played the three series against them

the pre three previous years. So you know what I watched a ton of hockey this year, and I watched, you know, I'd say six to eight teams closer than the others, LA was one of them because of Warren Fogel and former oiler. And it's out west and I could kind of finish my night scouting with a game from the west coast. So between our series and then watching them a lot this year, I had a real good feel for the team. watching them a lot this year. I had a real good feel for the team. They had a tremendous year. Obviously they just haven't been able to get by Edmonton, but out of the four series they've played, three have been real close. And so, you know, we made some moves here over the last few days that we hope make us a little bit bigger, deeper and better. It's going to be hard to make the playoffs. A lot of teams in the West got better, so it's going to

be a real grind to try to get into the playoffs. But we feel, again, we feel good about where we're at right now. You're watching and listening to Ken Holland, General Manager, Vice President of the LA Kings. Okay, let's talk about some of those additions, including Joel Armia, Corey Perry and the one that many people are kind of wondering is the decision to go with Cody Cece and Brian Dumalin and not resign Gavrikov. So essentially you're adding two players for the price of one. So tell us the reason behind that. Well Gavrikov was a very important player on the team. We tried to resign him before I got here Rob Blake and tried to Made an offer and tried to resign him. I I went beyond Rob Blake's offer

I Guess ultimately didn't really get any Any any counter offer so I really wasn't really get any counteroffer. So I really wasn't sure if he wanted to be here or didn't want to be here. And then the last couple of days it heated up. Ultimately, he made a decision to go to New York Rangers. He was really important in the top four last year, but especially important in the penalty kill. Cody Ceici kills penalties, Dumalin kills penalties. The team was good in the penalty kill last year, so we had to make sure that we continue to be good in the penalty kill. So brought in a couple of defensemen that have penalty killed in other situations. So that was on defense and up front. The team struggled on the power play probably till Kuzmenko got here at the trade deadline.

So made a decision to resign Kuzmenko on a one-year deal and then Corey Perry can help the power play. Both guys shoot right because everybody else shoots left. In talking to Jim Hiller, it was important to find one righty, maybe two righties that can go in the power play. Corey Perry's a net front presence. Kuzmenko will play off on the side and can distribute the puck. And then Armia also is a good penalty killer.

I think he was one of the top forwards in the National Hockey League in time on ice last year in the penalty kill. So you need to be good on the special teams. I guess we look at the team that up until the trade deadline when they added Kuzmenko, we've kept Kuzmenko, we've brought in Armia and Perry and then Dumoulin, CC on the back end and Forsberg is a backup. So believe we're better, believe we're deeper. But you know what? You got to get to September and October. It's got to happen on the ice.

So the staple of the Kings for so long has been Anjay Kopitar being such a rock for that organization for years. And it feels like now is kind of the time for some guys to, I don't want to say pass him, but be more important to the team. Where do you see Quinton Bifield's development and how he's going to be used and how much you guys need him to take a step next year? Well, Quinton's incredibly important to the team. And like you said, Kopi's 37 years of age. He's going into the last year of his contract and make a decision at the end of the year,

I guess. You know, I talked to his agent, Pat Bresson, and we said we would talk, you know, let's get through the year and see where he's at. Hopefully we have a good year and he wants to come back. But in the meantime, Quentin Byfield is, you know, he's a six foot four. He's a big, big center man. He can skate. He's competitive. You know, he's coming to the age now where his role and his importance, his time on ice, his matchups are going to be even more difficult than they've been in the past. And, you know, that's, that's, you know, for any team to take a step, part of it is internal

growth and Quentin Bifield is really important. Leferrier, Brandt-Clark on the back end, you know, Tur Turcotte who was kind of used, I'm gonna say like a Swiss army knife was used all over, with bringing in Perry and Armia. We think that one of the options for the coach is to put Turcotte between those two veteran guys and they played together in Montreal's run to the Stanley Cup finals a few years, Perry and Armia.

So, part of this is to try to bring in some veteran guys, veteran players. Brent Clark's gonna play with a veteran player on whether it's Dumalin or Edmondson or Mikey Anderson. Not sure how the coach wants to play the three different pairs but have some veteran players to play with the young players and help them grow into more important players on the team. And Quentin Beifield is probably the most important of all those because he's a center iceman and has the potential to be a number one or a number two at worst in this league.

There's no question that, as you just mentioned, the succession plan for Kopitar, you watch in the playoffs, you still rely on them heavily here but the mention of centerman's in general and the shortage there's a lot of free agents still out there Kent Holland but every team seems to be looking for center iceman and where are you long-term well past Kopitar on the search for for number ones and twos?

Well, most of those guys are gotta be drafted and developed. You know, like, I guess if the odd guy hits the unrestricted market, they don't last very long. That's why Quentin Bifield is really important. That's why we need to develop Turcotte, see if he can kind of develop into going up the ladder. The coaching staff feels here that Leferrier, who's been a right winger all his career, was really good defensively. That they might some nights give him an opportunity to play

center and see how he looks. But ultimately, those guys like Kopitar, they're drafted in the top five. They seem to spend their whole career with one team and maybe later in their career move. We'll see. I'm kind of focused on this year, but certainly long term. That's going to be Dinos 33, Kopitar 37, and center-rights positions are really important on the team. For now, we're in a good spot, but we'll see what we can do going forward. Ken, how does the success of the Florida Panthers change how you feel? Has your philosophy on team building changed over the years? I know a lot of teams now are looking at the Panthers and being like,

oh, wow, they're heavy and they they hit Do we need to be like that? Does this Florida success in the playoffs change anything for you or have you changed the way you like teams built over the years at all? Well, I've always liked big heavy teams, you know I think if you look the moves when I made in Edmonton bringing in Hyman and Cain and Perry and at home You know big big great big guys that can play the game. So, you know, we've got a young player here, Liam Green Tree, that's six foot three, six foot three and a half, 215 pounds. I just met with him this morning, he's gonna go back to, you know,

spend all summer we'll give he's not getting he's got another year as a junior to go in the OHL. They've done a good job here in drafting. There's Woolley who was a late round pick, six foot four defenceman that plays in London of the OHL, helped them win the Memorial Cup. I think ideally you'd like to have your team, your theme big and heavy,

and that allows some, you know, undersized players or smaller players to really have more room to be successful. So certainly the Florida Panthers have the blueprint right now. Great job by Bill Zito and his staff. They're big, they're heavy, they're hard. They go to the net hard. They're the team to beat. And I think most teams are trying to

when teams win championships and now they've won two in a row they become the role model. Ken before I think any team in the west can think about beating the Florida Panthers in particular the LA Kings. I have to figure out a way to get through the Edmonton Oilers. So I assume you have all the secrets now moving forward the next time that they meet yes You basically took one away from them in Corey Perry, but besides besides Connor McDavid here What are some of the things that could get them over the hump the next time they perhaps meet again?

Well first off, you know, we're gonna have to have a good year and make the playoffs. I'm always nervous about making the playoffs. That's not a given. So number one, you got to make the playoffs. And then like I said, as I look at our team, part of this is, Dumalin's a big guy, Perry's a big guy, goes to the blue paint, Armia's a bigger guy, Cody Cece, we've tried to sign some people that are big people, need some growth from our younger people, the guys that I've mentioned, and then if everything goes good, when you get to the trade deadline,

then you got to maybe try to make a move to add to it. But, you know, if you're going to be the last team standing, you got to be able to beat anybody, not just one team. But certainly Edmonton has gone to the finals two years in a row in the West. And they're showing that they're the best team in the West. And the West goes through Edmonton. But that's a long, long way away. We're talking eight nine months away. Can you get a bother going back to the Okanagan now that you signed with LA and just

hang out Manhattan Beach? What's the Okanagan got on that? Well it's Manhattan Beach you know what as a visiting manager we come in we land we bus downtown and we stay downtown the JW Merritt goes across the street and fly home the next day. There's a whole world out here that's never seen before Manhattan Beach and Dondo and Hermosa Beach and you know it's 15 minutes you know from our practice facility to where everybody lives and there's no real traffic so it's unbelievable and I'm excited to be here and looking forward to getting going in September. Pull out the roller skates.

You got roller skates? And a surfboard. Doing curls on the beach. Roller blade down to the beach and I take the surfboard for a tour. Most important, where's your new golf membership? Well, the good news is I've had some people reach out to me, so I'm going to be America's guest when I go You owe me around

We did a home but I haven't got his home yet He's been home and home. So I still owe you a home game. Thank you ken Really appreciate your time. Wish you the best of luck moving forward here. And in no time, we'll be back in training camp. All the best, Ken. Thanks, guys. Yeah, good luck. Thanks a lot. Kenny Holland, one of the good ones, the National Hockey League. Riviera. LACC.

Let's be honest, if that job opportunity comes up with that same team in that same division, but it's in a different city, he's not there I think that's her everybody keeps telling me that They would have They would have had the highest price for Mitch Marner Yes, really? Yeah, I mean, you should probably ask me who's right there I know it's right there literally one second ago. You can ask gonna say say wow We can't comment on another team's player, but we had an offer out there God, you know Every time when I was of course in my prime single

This the schedule would come out It'd be when are we in LA? Yeah, when are we in LA? And how long have we got is it one night or two nights? Ideally, you'd like to have two games with a day off in between. It was like the NHL's Disneyland. What year was it that the Leafs had a really good team and they went to the California trip with a good group and Matthews, Marner, Nylander, those guys were just awful. They got skunked on the trip and it's like,

that makes sense, that checks out. That was early. Yeah, that was early. That was early. The Leafs first year or something? No, because it was, I remember they lost the Ducks in overtime and the Ducks were horrendous and we came back and we were firing pretty hard

and being pretty mad about that one. There was this one story in the 90s when the Leafs were on an extended road trip in California and they rented a car and went through a drive-through and got held up while they were waiting for their hamburgers oh yeah a few of them were at gunpoint really oh yeah my favorite white castle I think my favorite is when the the phil kessel sunburn florida trips are always my favorite Whenever like they'd have a day off and they'd show them on the bench and he's just Beat i'm like, oh we got no chance

We got no chance tonight the worst i've ever seen is adam graves who just You know is mr. Like Perfect. He just never, like, he just never screws up. But this one day he came in and I'm like, were you bobbing for french fries? His face was like, be red. It's actually funny because I see it more

in the interview. Who was it that we had on that was like, you were hammering him for being sunburned? Oh, it was Doug Armstrong. Oh yeah, Doug. They were just at the NHL's general manager's meetings. He had to sum up about everything you said. Did you?

Was it? So before we move on, go to the game time, anything else you wanted to say about Ehlers before we keep going? No, no, just, I mean, to me, he's a great depth guy. Yeah. But does now a guy that is known as a second or third line type of guy turn into a top end guy?

Does he go to 18, 20 minutes a night? Is he that guy? That's a nasty guy. Was he held back in Winnipeg because of the depth. It's a good question I think his role I mean I think it's a very different system there than it is anywhere else and guys tend to either really fit in or really Not fit in right like I mean you think about Miko rant and went there and he's like uh-uh bye bye

Yeah, he's a skater and they skate there is last season. Healer has he was a 63 points in 69 games You know a couple seasons with with bigger numbers It depends how you use them for sure, but at 8.5. You're not paying them like Marner's 12 You're not paying them to be Ikel's 10. You're not paying them to be that just paying them to be very good Go get us 70 points skate make play make plays. So we would put- He's immediately on the top line with Ajo. We will put Nick Ehlers right there with Brock Besser in Vancouver, right?

Seven and a half. Can I take him ahead of you? Seven, seven, five to eight and a half means that you aren't our superstar, you aren't our premier one and two, but you can fall in right behind those guys. It is a question of can you win the Stanley Cup without having the top guys?

Could you just have enough of the guys down below? And Florida kind of makes the case, they've done it physically, which is different, and Reinhardt is a top guy. And Berkov is a premier number one. So this is the question, do you have to have that to win a cup? And I think it's been proven you do. You do, and how do you get that?

I think that's really hard. I think that's why they traded for Rantan in the first place. It's hard to get those guys. They're the only team to win a cup was at 06 and they didn't have those guys then. You know? I think they'll be extremely good again. Yeah, I think they're definitely the those guys then. Yeah. I think they'll be extremely good again. Yeah, I think they're definitely the Metro faves.

Definitely. Game time? Game time. All right. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Muster 19+, Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Yes, Kipper? Bet365, Jay's our favorite tonight. They are not. Oh. Underdogs for the four straight game in a series where they have the chance to sweep. Sam's cashing in on this series. I'm hot.

Yeah, the judge homer and the Jays win. And the before I had Scherzer over, strikeouts and win. I've been hot. I did miss on the Ernie home run on Canada Day, but that's okay. It was a bit of a long shot. Kind of a fun game last night. Uh, yeah.

It was a great game. I mean, it was, that's baseball, eh was a bit of a long shot kind of a fun game last night. Uh Yeah, I mean great game. I mean it was that's baseball a seven eight runs. No problem Yeah, like nine innings to get them all back two things I was lying on my couch and I was like settling in got everything, you know made dinner You know do all the things I need to do before so sit down. I'm like, ah, it's seven nothing This is kind of not this is kind of boring. Yeah, like of boring. Like I was kind of hoping for, I was like, oh crap. But good for, sorry not to go full J's here, but good for John Schneider that they ended up winning that game because one of the more,

and you'll hear more of this on Blair and Barker coming up at four o'clock, but one of the most mind numbing decisions in the history of baseball, did not just put Aaron Judge on. By the way, wasn't it bad by Judge though? Oh my God, he hit that to space, but like they've walked him in every big spot

for the whole series and it's like immediately on. Four, immediately. Anyways, go ahead. I mean, he just looks like a cartoon character at the dish. Oh my gosh. He's such a large animal. It's crazy. And when he extends those arms, it's like.

He's a stud. Stud. Absolute stud. All right, so I'm going to the game again tonight. I know. You're leaving now? I know. That's good, I'll take it.

I'll take it. I like the Jays again. I don't know why I wouldn't like the Jays. Plus 110, good price on them. And you know, George Springer's having a brilliant season and I like him to go yard again tonight. So give me a George Springer home run plus 390 and that was Jay's talk aka Game time is that about about 365 is the athlete of stars and find out why it's ever ordinary at bat

365 must maintain plus material only please play responsibly Okay, let's take a break because we still have plenty to get into including a couple of more signings. We'd like to get into Including after the break is sports nets top 25 players. Oh I know I do remember I did look at it. I voted in this you voted in this idea. Yeah, okay They emailed me I don't want it in this you voted in this idea. Yeah, okay the email behind God to do it Clearly we only had we were like one of 40 people maybe to participate in this so

It's gonna be a few names that we won't agree with On this list and one of my favorite segments that we don't do enough that I have invented It's a really high tech segments called true or false It's good and I have a few true or false questions for you too. So lots to get into, boys. Okay. Top 25 when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Covering the Blue Jays from an analytical perspective.

Jays Talk Plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jays Talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee giggling over there. I had no I don't have any hockey thoughts. Hockey thoughts are in my brain. The show rudely interrupted our conversation on our golf scheduling for the month of July.

I've got so many games of golf lined up. You do? Yeah. Okay, can we be included in some of them? I'm going to Alberta, you wanna come with me? Going to my beloved LaTou. Yeah, I'm gonna play with my beloved Lacombe. Got a lot of golf scheduled for that.

Gonna play Lakeview a couple times. You wanna drive across the city, play Lakeview with me, Kipper, they'd love to see you in there, they love you there. They're always like, Sam, where's Kipper? Can't bring Kipper, they don't have to put you, Borny, but. Okay, all right, I'll get you in. 720 Monday Monday you there

55 Okay, all right, so All right. Where do you want to go here? You want to go straight to our top 25? You want to talk about a few more signings that caught my eye caught your eye Can I read these ones off to you and you can stop me if you care? Sharks to sharks or love two years six and a half years six and a half million per That caught my eye caught your eye. Can I read these ones off to you and you can stop me if you care Sharks to sharks or love two years six and a half years six and a half million per yeah I like that just two years is interesting that gives them the flexibility What I like about what they're doing versus what Chicago's doing is they're taking hockey seriously like you can't just be bad Yeah, no, it's good. They claim let it

Need someone to break the puck out get in their hands so they can play hockey. They claimed Letty. They need a skilled guy. Yeah, and they claimed Letty as well, which is good. Nice fader for Dung Dong. Suter signs a two-year deal with the Blues. Who did sorry? Suter.

Suter from Vancouver. So what happened there? No one did more than that? I don't think they wanted to go as high as what? Four and a half, four, what did he get? The Canucks didn't want to go that high, yeah. Four and a half. I don't think they wanted to get that high. I think it's eight and a half, I'm not mistaken.

So it's four and then four and a half or something like that for each. Four to five, I don't know what the AAV is. It's just like, I'm shocked by that contract. Like, everyone was like, he was one of the best available centers. I thought some teams, frankly, you know know like I thought a team like the Leafs would like that let alone the Canucks so can I throw a name out there one more

for the Leafs for Sammy's Leafs that kind of Brent Burns yeah no over I think well I think you can still play but not what the Leafs need in my opinion a little bit more offense a little bit more power play guy, maybe. I wouldn't have needed it. I mean, but the abs took him. What number did he get? I didn't know. A million? A million? No, it's got to be more than that.

I think it's two. I don't know. With games, play bonuses. Yes, it is bonus laid. I know that for sure. Everybody wants to throw in that. Just give me the AAV at the end of the day So it's a one million dollar deal My million and I there are bonuses. I don't know what can get him to three. Okay could get him to three Value of yeah for total it says got his AVS there were times last year

You're like how old is he and how many consecutive games has he played? Like he is a bit of a freaking nature here. You can still snap it you can shoot it And you can still log some minutes but Anyways, I saw I didn't mind it for the abs not to go full lease here But I read your article today in the Toronto Star cap. Yeah, you were connecting the Leafs and Besser Yeah, Besser was I it's my understanding the choice for Brock Besser? Yeah, Besser was, to my understanding, the choice for Brock Besser was either to go back

to Vancouver or play for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Wow. Yeah. No wonder he chose Vancouver. It's a tough environment to walk into as Marner Leaf. So then, I read that it was a little more AAV shorter term. My understanding is he did not get the length So then, I read that it was a little more AAV shorter term.

My understanding is he did not get the length of the contract or the security out of the leafs that he got out of Vancouver and I don't know how quickly that thing turned around and maybe it was the threat of maybe for Vancouver to see him in Toronto. I don't know what made them go long term, but he snapped it up as quickly as they probably offered it to him. That was part of our interview with Brad Tree living yesterday that I did notice as he said, talked about guys choosing not to play for Toronto, right? Like he wasn't saying like

a whole whack of people, but he said, do you make your offers, you pick your guys and they get picked. Manju Pani is a Toronto kid. And the last I heard was maybe a little concerned about playing in this market as a, maybe as a local. And then we have- I don't like that mentality. And then we have Pizzetta. Pizzetta.etta. Yeah, who is like giggling right now. I mean, it's a little different expectations Right when you sign for you know for Monge upon it

You don't think like he's coming in at three and three and a half million like we're 12 or 13 goals last year It's like, you know, it's not like it's a huge He's not a massive sniper that's gonna come in here like but that's why I think Expectations would have been low and those guys become the beloved guys God do well when people have low expectations Love in North York. That's for sure. Yeah, we don't know that Toronto or really outside of anywhere in Ontario West it's not for everybody playing in a Canadian market isn't for everybody.

Brock Besser, one of the reasons why I think people in Vancouver are drawn to him is because he's got a little bit of knee lander where it's like, nothing really bothers me, I'm just gonna go out there and shoot it in the net. If it doesn't go in the net, I get to try again tomorrow and they're not phased. Yeah, that is certainly a part of it.

It's not for everybody. But I think it's much harder than the guys who are supposed to score. Because when nothing happens, you're bad. By perception, people think you're bad. When you're, whatever, it's Lorentz or whatever, and then you shoot one in playoffs, people are like

Yeah, it's just a perception thing. So you brought up this top 25 player thing. Yes. Yeah. Okay and There's I don't know I'm interested to see what was sticking in your craw about it Because I actually think it's a pretty good list you do I I do Can we I think I think Jake maybe oh look at that. Nicely done Jake the snake on fire television Yeah, dude top five is kind of what you'd expect I think McDavid McKinnon McCarr dry settle Kuturov and then Quinn Hughes and Austin Matthews Chasing the top five. Yeah, I'm gonna roll it from the back I can go from the top from 25 down if you want is that too long. I don't know to each

Go for yeah, okay, but David all day long. Well, let's me just start with 25 and go down. Okay, uh Zach Rwanski at 25 Marner 24 Hagel 23. Okay. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. I like Zach for sure Yeah, I got a problem still and I know know his plays kind of dropped off a little bit here but I do believe that Victor Hedman deserved to be on this top 25. So Wurenski ahead of Hedman for you. I just think I just like Hedman somewhere on this list and I get Zach Wurenski and he's good man he's good there's no question. He's a third place for the Norris Is there a norse please please you know?

But this is some meaningful games currently in it. This isn't like who's had a better career kipper This is the best players currently in the NHL. You know of D man on the list. There's were in ski Heiskin in slave and all right. Let me go through it again. Before I got so rudely interrupted by Kipper. 22, Bobrovsky, 21, Vasilevsky. 22, Bobrovsky seems low. Can you just slow down? What? I'm never gonna get through it.

24, if we're just talking about the best players and not who's had the best careers or the playoffs, you're telling me Mitch Marner is 24? He's not, I don't know, 12, 14, 24? Yeah, 24 I would say. This guy is top five in points the last five years. How is he 24? I would agree.

I hate to say that I agree, but I do agree. It's been as you go through the list and it's like, it's tough to compare goalies to you know skilled wingers and Hagels ahead of Mitch Marner. I mean even oh even Ovi last year He is ten points behind him with way more goals and even all the way more physical Competitive is Ovi even on this list if if anyone saw that picture on the internet the other day That's a peak male performance boys. He boys but he's using a whole cook ham he puts on another 10 pounds he's good for 40 goals next year multiple guys in my beer league teams with

better bonds and i am dying for to see ov one year post retirement oh my god it's immediate okay so we are at 21 with vasileski okay i'm gonna get to 20 here okay miro heiskenen jacob slavin Okay, Miro Heiskenen Jacob Slaven Brad Marsh and Little hi way too high Igor Shosturkin Matthew Kachuk at 16 15 Ovechkin 14 Rantan anything. Can I keep going kipper anything you want to say? Yeah, you're fine. Okay Jack I go at 13 Capri's of 12 Pastranak 11 hella buck 10

Barkov 9. I know he won the MVP, but I still. I've got Barkov ahead of Matthews. Got Barkov ahead of Crosby. Yeah, I think both of those are fair. So Barkov's nine, Crosby's eight, Matthews seven, Hughes, Quinn Hughes six, Kuturov five, and then Dryecidal, McCarr, McKinnon, and McDavid.

Yeah, it's hard, it's hard to like. Can't quibble with that. No, no, there's literally no quibbles. I do think in terms of who helps you win games, you look at this, who helps your team win games? Ovechkin to 15, being the 15th, that's a name pick for me. Totally agree, totally agree. There's no chance to me, he's.

He did score 40, but he also moves around like few short years ago We were talking about Matthews behind David yeah, he's seven now and I'm not sure he should be in the top ten He's who'd you you put Matthews has sunk like a stone here in a very short period of time I if I was gonna do anything here. I would just flip Barkov and Matthews and put Matthews 8, Barkov 9, Crosby 8, Barkov 9. I can't talk. You guys talk. The goaltenders right now, so it's Hellebuck is the best rated goalie, then Shostarkin, then Vasilevsky, then Bob. So Vasilevsky is there because

of his reputation not because he's been a top goalie the last few years. That was really good this past year. Siv in the playoffs. Really good though. Sivy. Right? Quite bad. So I've had been on this list for the same reason Vasilevsky still on it. Okay that's all. Okay. Anyways, anything else? I do love that the top three players wig Can that Jen from Canada, baby? Um True or false. I have a few true or false. All right, it's time Let's get Patty right out of the way true or false

The Toronto Maple Leafs will go further in the Stanley Cup playoffs in the Vegas Golden Knights Toronto will go farther than Vegas. True or false? It feels like they're both destined to lose in the second round. So maybe it comes down to games. Hold on, hold on. Let's... I like Mitch Marner, what he brings to Vegas.

No guarantees on playoffs success. And it's not because Mitch doesn't show up in them. I got issues with Petrangelo shutting it down. Aiden Hill. And Aiden Hill, like, is he gonna rebound here? Do they have a goalie issue here? But you, take old petrangelo boys. That's a big hole right now for vegas

Yeah, that's that he eats a lot of it's gonna fix that missing piece You know shay theodore Um braden mcnapp noah hannifin zach white cloud lozano and they said that I mean You look at their forwards song on there They really do have a stacked for work act. It's a good-looking core forward Marner. I just Florida's No Dora Fey of I call Marner barbachev hurdle stone sod Carlson Riley Smith howden Sizzins coles are yeah They're loaded. That's a lot of guys loaded

But then you look at the D the decor and you know The bottom pair is gonna leave a little bit to be decided But then they'll just cheat the cap and get a good guy for the bot for the the bottle They are looking to get Anderson right Rasmus Anderson. Yeah, he'll go there coming up. They'll go there for no pull a rabbit So true or false the least Leafs will go further than the Leafs. I'll say false. Okay. Until I see something different in the Leafs lineup, I don't know what's gonna happen.

Yeah, I'll say false too with my buddy. Okay. True or false? Connor McDavid will sign a new contract in Edmonton before puck drop next season. True. False. Oh! I just think he...

That's exactly why I put this one in here, Kip. I think there's something that might, might just be questionable for him moving forward, that he might need longer than puck drop to have answered. So one of the things we do best on this Mongey Pawney is not going to get it done. One of the things we do best in this show, speculate decoder ring. We're really good at this.

We've done it for coaches for years. What Kip just said was McDavid is not not gonna resign until he sees that they get a goal tender, a legitimate starting goal tender. And the Oilers aren't sure that they can get a starting goal tender in the summer. So until he sees that it happens, he won't sign a contract. So he's waiting on that. That's what I just did. Love it.

That is as legitimate of a reason I can think of. There could be others, but let's start there. Yeah, I saw Oilers fans being like looking at Sirocco And first they're like, oh now that they're blowing it up. Maybe though. I was like, give me a Trade on the best boys. How old is he 28? Yeah, give me a break. Um Yeah, it's fascinating though talking to Jason Greger yesterday. I was genuinely surprised hearing him be like, hey Skinner like talking up Skinner good goalie still 27 you know among guys his age no one like playoff experience like every stat from the Skinner in the playoffs past three

years is like bad he's been bad according to everybody that followed on the trail on on X or Trader oh they were like scram beat it get Valakette back everything Gregor said was true like he's better like you know Samson off like they've been to two finals and there's reason to believe that he can get better and be better he's got the experience and size and blah blah blah value tells he can't move laterally. And that's a perception thing, I think for the captain. And it's almost like the Marner thing in a way where it's like, even if he is the best option, people just are done with it. Like it's just for their sake, it needs, they need a fresh.

The one thing I am convinced is that that him and Leon Drysidle as close as they are, the friendship, training together, all of it, they're just not a package deal. They're not just- Because that's what it was at first. Everyone said as soon as- I don't think so. I don't buy it. I don't buy it.

That I have to stick around because Leon stuck around. I don't buy it for a I have to stick around because Leon stuck around. I don't buy it for a minute. Next true or false? The Habs will make the playoffs for the second straight season. True or false? You know, if they hadn't made the moves they made this off season, I'd have said false. But I'm going to say true. Like they went and got Noah Dobbs and they went and got Zach Bolduc.

People like that Bolduc a lot, eh? Yeah. Wait till they get Sid Crosby after the Olympics. I'm sorry Wow, she were full hey true or false Hold on Sydney cross who will play a team a game for a team other than the Penguins next season I'm I'm liking the odds a little better. I'm liking the odds a little better than I did maybe a few weeks ago. Oh my So you'd have But something's going on in pit Things are going on things are going on. You know what's not going on a lot of winning right now Anthony man

They're not gonna convince said to say he Crosrosby, Doc. New hook down the middle, no Evans. Wow, okay. I mean, everything's great. So Habs will make the playoffs. Yes. With Sid at center. Now hold on. I was talking odds before.

Let's get back to bed three, six, five because I'm just talking odds here. So then true or false, Sidney Crosby will play a game for a team other than the Penguins before next season. I'm going to say false. I can't, I got to say true now. Yeah. Love this segment.

I love this segment. Yeah, that's big. You know, Pittsburgh, give them credit, seem to be acknowledging that they need to tear it down. Yes. He's, I want to go back to Sid. Yeah. He's too good right now

Yeah to just have 90 points last year Babysitter for the next three years this guy can play peak Yeah on his on daily faceoff with the do the lines his left-winger is currently Rutger majority if if we as a league Rutger majority if if we as a league It will be such a disservice to the history of our game if we watch him Stay in Pittsburgh the next three or four years if I have to live in the world I never get to see him play another Stanley Cup playoff game. That's a sad dark world I don't want to live in a true or false a team other than the Florida Panthers will represent the Eastern Conference in Stanley Cup

finals next year How could you possibly say true to that? I'll say it true You're just hoping Carolina just hoping Just what I said this Picture yourself now behind the net with your eyes closed No, thanks, and that's filming And throwing the puck up the middle. Okay, cause that's all you're doing right now is you are throwing the ultimate hope pass.

A grenade, a grenade. It's a Riley pass up the boards. I said off the air, the best bet for teams to beat Florida is injury. Injury. It's that Sam Bennett does get injured sometimes. Aaron Echblad does get injured sometimes. Like they have guys that pull the spark plugs out of their cars, like do whatever you have to do.

You know, like, you know, set up roadblocks. Don't let them get to the final for four straight years. There's some wear and tear on those bodies. Stop it. Stop it. I cannot end the last week. You cannot end the last week being a hope passer like my buddy Sammy here and saying, well, they're going to finally be tired. Well, I will be. I just gone to four cup finals in a row since in 40 years. It's not like your dad.

Yeah, I can't because he can't get off the couch because he's broken. His knees don't work. They actually went to five straight and he couldn't play in the fifth one because his knees didn't work. They actually went to five straight and he couldn't play in the fifth one because his knees didn't work. Okay, but they still got there. I don't know. I don't know. I think at some point, you know, someone else wins. They're all in their prime.

Logically, logically they're the runaway champions. Outside of Marchand who's got wear and tear and years behind him, they're all in their wheelhouse. The ultimate luxury they have is nobody, them included, cares what spot they finish to get in playoffs. Like, no pressure to win the division, second, home ice advantage.

They can win anywhere, anytime. Like, when the Kings won their cups. Like, just get in and good luck beating us. Quick thing before we go, I got a DM on Instagram from Sean while we were talking. Where's Brayden Point in the top 25 players in the week? Oh, wow. That's a great call.

I think I had him sixth on my list. And no one else in Sportsnet picked him. Knock someone out and put him in. Pick your guy right now. I'm taking out Ovi or Marshan? Hagel. I'm taking out Hagel. Mitch has got to go. Get him out of here.

Send him to Vegas out of the top 25. Have you ordered your 93 Vegas jersey, SM? I gotta tell you, it looks pretty good. It's a good looking jersey. Great looking jersey. It is. Okay, our thanks to Ken Holland, general manager, vice president of the LA Kings. We are back tomorrow for our final, final show of the season.

Happens to be a Friday. Can't wait. Doug McLean? I'll text him. All right. Have a great night, everybody!