Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs GM Candidates with Elliotte Friedman

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

Hockey Night in Canada and 32 Thoughts' Elliotte Friedman (8:05) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to recap MLSE President Keith Pelley's press conference since firing Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving, what could've triggered the change, what it means to be 'data-centric', the search process for the next general manager, if ex-Vancouver Canucks GM Mike Gillis could make a return to the NHL and run the Leafs, if Doug Armstrong could be available on the market, rumours surrounding Jim Rutherford staying with the Canucks, if the Vegas Golden Knights firing of Bruce Cassidy will trigger change behind the bench on other teams, and potential fallout if the Detroit Red Wings drop from the Stanley Cup Playoff picture. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee touch on Alexander Ovechkin reaching 30 goals in 20 seasons, Ottawa Senators losing a potential must-win against the defending Stanley Cup Champs, and goaltenders Igor Shesterkin and Jacob Markstrom engaging in a fight at MSG. 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. We're jumping over a hurdle here, right to the national hour. It is a hurdle. It's a real Kippron-Born show, 5 p.m. Eastern. Nick Kepreel, is Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, Frank the Tank, is here today. Baraska as well. He let me borrow his charger because I didn't bring mine,

and I thought the show was starting an hour earlier. I'm like, guys, it's 357. Called me at 357. Where are you? I'm in a panic going, what is going on here? Am I going to have to go solo? Am I going to pull a JD Bunkus and just talk all day? Do you think you could do it?

No, I was going to call J.D. to come and do it. That's a great idea. He's a natural ad. With me at the Jay's game, it's so funny. Like, the difference between when I would call somebody, when there's no sign of either host. 357 is hilarious. I looked at my phone.

I'm like, why is Kipper calling me? Like, I'm on my way in. I said I'm going to be up near four because whatever. And he's like, we're on at five. What time are we on? I'm like, we're on at five. Like the text message I sent this morning that said we're five to six p.m. You know what I did?

I took off my notifications. Good. Yeah. Put it back on. You never respond to a text. I know. I know. I know.

You are really tough to get all of them right now. I need. Like, it's like trying to get. to hold. I don't even know what it's trying to get in touch with. It's crazy. I'm going the other way, boys. I'm going the other way. We are live on SportsNet.

Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. Streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, available on Spotify, Apple, podcast, and YouTube. Where we love the thumbs up. This hour of Real Kippron Bourne brought to by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Frege. Elliot Friedman, Hockey Night in Canada. 32 thoughts. We'll get his thoughts

on the Toronto Maple Leaf. 32 of them? No, we just need one or two. Okay. But this ain't war in peace here. You want that? Go read his full article. All right?

Yeah. We'll get his thoughts on the Maple Leafs, Doug Armstrong, analytics, all of it. Yeah. In the meantime, you know,

lots has been made out of the press conference and where the Leafs go from here. Yeah. whether or not we feel a sense of urgency because of the firing that came on, let's face it, rather quickly in terms of Brad Tree living here. So do you expect to hear like a mad dash to name somebody? I mean, yeah, I do. You know, it depends what you mean by Mad Dash, like by like a month, like the end of this month?

Pelly said, I think, probably end of the month or May. So when's the prospect? The prospect, you know, the prospect combine in Buffalo. Not sure. Prospect, Combin, Buffalo. End of May. Yeah, it sounds about right. Nope, this didn't give me the answer I needed, sorry.

And I don't have my laptop because I was at the Chase game. Well, prepared, Sammy. I got here lots of time, printed the lineups for laughing. I left the Jay's game early for you boys. It sounded like a real thriller too. Oh my God. June 26, 27th. That's the draft.

Yeah, probably. Yep. Hey, good thing. Why do you want to know the answer to this question? Because it'll tell us, it'll tell us what's realistic for a window, a time frame. Yeah, but you know, to me, the sooner you get someone in place, the sooner you get someone in place, the sooner you can put together your big board and talk to your scouts

and come up with a plan. And I sometimes find that the, you have to find this middle balance. Some of the searches are theatrics. You know, oh, we're digging up. They interview people. They have no intention to hiring. May 31st to June 6th and Buffalo the key.

There we go. You know, all these alternative candidates and then they end up hiring the same people. But at the same time, you can't just go, that's the most famous guy, get that guy. So I think four to six weeks. That's a long time, but yeah.

It's a long time, but it's really not a long time. It depends on when they let Brendan Shannon go, they went and got Tree Live in like in five minutes. Yeah, there's no real. When they let Dubis go, you mean? Yes, Shannon. Yes, thank you.

Thank you. They didn't get anybody. Brendan Chanahan was still involved with the team, and I think there was a, a bit of a mad dash to bring somebody in. But I don't believe for one second that, you know, there was a big thrall investigation. No, we didn't. I can't name a second name that they was rumored to be involved at that time.

Like I remember doing the, like they put up like a special on Bet365 when we did it. And I think like from the start, he was like minus 205. Yeah. Like he was a huge fave to get the job immediately. So we'll ask Elliot Friedman in a few minutes about the possibility of Doug Armstrong. But if there was a window right. now where Keith Pelley was granted permission to talk to Doug and Doug was interested and would you just bypass everything in terms of a search to get him?

No. Or would you do? What would you do? That's an interesting question. Well, I think you got to hear him out, you know, on what his plan is. They talked about wanting a retool. If you're Doug, he might not think that's the best idea. So if he's the guy that everyone says you're supposed to get

and he comes to the CEO of MLSE and says, retooling, I'll retool you. Says I want to rebuild. You know, they might be at a crossroads. Is this the guy we want to get if he doesn't suit their vision? Sammy, what are you and Leaf Nation think about? If Doug Armstrong was available to grab him right now, would you say yes? I think there's a bit of, I don't know, yeah.

I think say yes. You'd say yes, because you're hoping that he's coming in here as the president and a guy that's going to make the hockey decisions as opposed to Keith Pelly making the hockey decisions, right? Like that's kind of the hope. But is he leaving for another job? Like it just feels like it's St. Louis or the glitz and glamour of being the main guy that tried to fix the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It's not like, is he going to Nashville? Is he going to Vancouver? Like, are there other jobs that he's going to leave his post for? That's the question I would have. So excellent point by you. Thank you. And if that case is no, then you have some time. You have a ton of time to,

go through a process where you really listen to him and engage your decision on what he thinks is best for the organization. Yeah, I ask a important step. Most often than not, guys, when you want a job that you really want, you're going to say whatever you think that they want to hear. Like if you want me to do it that way, I'll try to do it that way. Yeah. The one thing I kind of retract from a few moments ago was that the four to six weeks seems long because I think in fairness you probably need to give these guys time to prepare.

Say, hey, we're going to do an interview in a week and we'd like sort of a thorough direction for what you think this franchise needs. And here's the other thing that I think the next person has to do. I think they got to do a lot of hiring. Like I think, you know, it sounds like, I don't know what you guys are hearing what I'm hearing, but it sounds like there could be some.

But you got to fire before you hire. Sure. Yeah. That's going to take, that'll take a little bit of a process to kind of clean it out too. Right. And then, you know, to find your guys and put in the people you want, that's a big part of the process. All right.

A guy that thought he was going to get a lot of free time after the trade deadline was really wrong. So welcome in Elliott Friedman, hockey night in Canada, 32 thoughts. Freed, how are you, man? I'm good. How are you guys doing? We're good. Yeah. We're good.

You know, I mean, outside of listening to you, put together your lists and your thoughts and ideas on where the Toronto Maple Leafs go. Let's just, first of all, talk about the press conference the other day, anything that you anticipated, anything that surprised you? Yeah, you know, I don't freak out about the press conference as much as a lot of people do. Like, you know what, guys, like we've all been around a long time. Corporate speak. I just tend to bypass it. You know, I think it's more important what someone does than what they say. So I'm not really that concerned about much of what we heard.

You know, the one thing I thought was interesting was I thought they really sent a message to Austin Matthews that this is not a tear down. Like when we sit down and we talk, we're not coming to you and saying it's going to be three to five years. we're going to look at this as we're going to try to get right back on the horse as quickly as we possibly can. And that is the one thing I thought was really interesting, was that, and I don't even think that that message was for the fans as much as it was for the captain of the team itself. I don't know how you guys felt. Yeah, no, I picked that up too, that they wanted to deliver that message. So one of the things, you know, in that press conference

was to talk about data-centric. I know that's become a bit of a talking point. I find it hard to believe that they would hire someone who's never been a GM before under Pelly, and that would be how they would go forward, you know, knowing that they need, there's some big decisions to be made here. I know there's a lot of talk about getting a hockey guy involved.

But then if you hire a hockey guy and he doesn't want the data-centric guy under him, I'm just curious about what this is going to look like for you, what you think the most likely sort of names or direction is. You know, I got to tell you, Justin, you work there, right? Yeah. Weren't they pretty data-centric? Well, that's the most baffling part is even our boy, CJ, said, you know, the only data-centric GMs, like, that was dovis' whole thing.

Dude, that was the sales bill. Here's the thing. This is actually one thing that I've, like, that part of the press conference, you know, I wrote yesterday, like, guys. Guys, we work for Rogers, right? They're a data-heavy company, right? You know, they, and every decision they make is backed by data. And, you know, they gave Guerrero, what, $450 million because they were given data that says,

this is why we think this can work. Yeah. And what it says to me, and, you know, Justin, like, they have a huge data program. that they have there. You know Daryl Metcalf. Yeah. You know, I had people reach out to me after this press conference and say, they've got one of the smartest data guys in the league in Daryl Metcalf.

To me, what that, it's not about, like, the more I think about this, Justin, the more I think it's not so much about the new GM being a data person. It's the new GM being willing to use the data. Like to me, that says that Pelly felt that they went away from that over the last couple of years. Well, you know. That's what that says to me. And everything I heard was Brad Tree Living worked with Daryl every day. They went through it.

They had the data. They had everything. And to Keith's point, too, it's now what do you take? How much do you absorb? How much do you cut it off? and then go with your hockey gut or your experience or your instincts. And if there was an issue, who really knew about it? But I didn't get the impression that Brad Tree Living was taking all this information from Ed Calf

and lining the bird cage with it. I don't know that I don't know that I would say he was lining the bird cage with it. But it's, you know, Nick, it's just like we've all been around, enough to kind of understand you have to cut through stuff and you know I went I was at the press conference yesterday and I went back and I watched some more of it last night because I'm a masochist but you know I really wanted to go through it and and I'm just convinced guys the message I got from that press conference yesterday was that when Keith Pelley was in the room whether it was last year's free agency or this year's trade deadline

he didn't like what he saw. That's what it says to me. Like, I mean, do you guys think I'm wrong about this? No. The more I think about it, the more I think that's exactly what, because there was at least one conversation over the Olympics where an extension was discussed. And then a month later, or five weeks later, or six weeks later,

whatever it is, we've gone completely the other way. he saw something he didn't like and he said we can't continue like this. So the thing that I keep coming back to is you can pick that press conference apart word for word and many people have. But at the end of the day, his job is to make one to two big hires. That's what we're looking. You know, he's going to bring in the guy who's going to construct a vision. He's going to conduct this search. And that's all this is.

So what are you hearing about potential options? for this team. Who you got, Fridge? Justin, I'm telling you, they could do 25,000 interviews if they wanted to do 25,000 interviews. Funny, eh? It's the worst market in the world. Don't want to come there.

And everyone's like, oh, I get a chance to go there. Yeah. You know, like, number, like, there's a few things. Number one, this is a business of alphas, okay? And how many of those people do you think

wants, first of all, the chances are you're going to be paid pretty well. That's not the first thing, but it's a thing. Oh, it's a thing. But how many people out there do you think there are who are like, I can be the guy who does this? Well, that's why everyone used to say about Vegas that like, oh, they treat these guys, they get rid of them.

No one's ever going to want to sign there. No one thinks it's going to happen to them because they're awesome. But I think, like, I think there's a ton of interest in this job. Like I said yesterday, there will be and now there is. I think they are getting, I think the people are coming just out of the woodwork.

And I think it's some of the obvious ones. I think it's some of the non-obvious ones. You know, there's, I believe they've already talked to Mike Gillis. There was a report today that they've talked to, John Chicaa. But I think like, and those guys are data-driven guys.

Gillis, of course, was a first-round pitch. you know, I think like someone, I didn't even ask Mike Futa about this because I want to keep Futa far away from it as possible. But I've heard that there's interest in, like in terms of like me getting information, not that Futa does it. But I've heard Dean Lombardi's got interest in this job or at least some role in this job. And I think you're going to find like there's people all around the NHL who are going, who have current jobs who are going to be saying, I would like to at least throw my name in and be interviewed for that. Like all the people who are in on Nashville are going to be interested in this job now. And if any other one opens up or anyone who thinks they're going to be out of a job,

even people who think they have jobs for next year are going to be after this. We are barely scratching the surface of where we are going to go here. And I think we're going to hear a lot of interesting and crazy names over the next couple. the weeks. You're watching and listening to Hockey Night in Canada, 32 thoughts, Elliot Friedman. Friege, before we jump on, maybe a Doug Armstrong conversation here, Mike Gillis does intrigue me. He hasn't worked since 2014, if I'm not mistaken. That's a long time to be out. We covered him in his heydays where there was some success in Vancouver, but had the reputation of being a little arrogant, standoffish, at times, had trouble connecting with the fans.

base. Is that the way you remembered covering him back then? You know, I'll say this. So, you know, Mike has interviewed for positions here and there since then. Nashville, in the search, he was contacted for it. In New Jersey, I think, if I remember correctly, when I hired Tom Fitzgerald, he was in the mix for that. He also, I believe, tried to buy the Arizona Coyotes at one point and made a pitch to do that. So he's kind of, been around. Like, I'll say this. Like, when his name came up yesterday, Nick, you can see there's a segment of fans

who really like him. And I think the Canucks fans, now with 2020 hindsight, they really think fondly of his tenure there. They won the president's trophy twice. They went to game seven of the Stanley Cup final. He made good decision. He did a lot of different things. Like, the data-centric thing, like, that is Mike Gillis.

No question about it. the sleep doctors, like him going to the league to talk about schedule. He was, you know, he was ahead of the curve on a lot of things. You know, the one thing that I remember at the end with, like, yes, I would say that Mike does have quite the confidence, but there's no shortage of that in the National Hockey League. And I think if you're going to walk into a market like Toronto or Vancouver, you better be confident. I think the thing that happened with Mike, at the end there was when it turned and things started going poorly, he didn't have a lot of patience for, like, critical media and stuff like that, like some of us could be.

And I would say that if there's one thing that he is going to have to change, if he wants to come into Toronto and he wants this job, and this is bad for us, he's going to have to care less what we think. Like, one of the reasons I think Doug Armstrong is a really interesting person, potentially, for this job, Nick, and you know him as well as anybody, he's going to walk in, if he gets the job, he's going to walk into Toronto, and he's not going to care what anybody thinks. Oh, he cares what you think every once in a while, I heard. Only once in a while, maybe once every six months or so.

But generally, he's going to walk in and he's going to say, I'm the boss, I'm in charge here, I'm making the decisions, and you know what, I think you need that. Yeah, well, that was Brian Burke. Very interesting. That was Brian Burke too. That was Brian Burke too. Burkey cared a lot what people thought, a lot more than he let on. Like, he did.

Like, you really have to not care. Or at least put up a thick skin and decide what is going to get under your skin. And I think Armstrong's pretty good at that. Sorry, sorry to interrupt you. This is why the hire of potentially a data-centric person is interesting. like, you know, Eric Tulski's my guy. Like, I think he's fantastic. He wouldn't last five minutes in this market.

Well, I don't know about that. Not in this market. No. I disagree with you. Yeah. But there's people like Eric who I think would struggle with it. As long as you're in first place, as long as you got 100 points a year, that guy will be fine.

That guy's sitting where the Leafs are sitting right now. They're going to chew him up and spit him out. He's no shrinking violent. But there are people like him who. I'm with Justin. I think he's got a harder edge to him than he lets on. He yelled at the commissioner boys. Sure he did.

Sure he did. I heard he fought Gary Benman. He had Jersey Batman. He hit him with a blunt stick. It's a tire iron. I think Coley Campbell's got a different version of that episode, Elliot. I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as it was made out to be. I think it was, I actually think that,

You know, Betman did what Batman does, and Tulski, to his credit, just stood up and said, yeah, I disagree. They're going to fight on the White House lawn in the next UFC event. Elliot, I wrote in my last article on Sportsnet.competting reports on whether or not Doug Armstrong has got an out, will want an out, whether or not the owner would let him out. He's already commented, I think last year or a little while ago that he's committed to us. He made one comment on it. We haven't heard anything since.

But what's the latest here? I'm sure you're making some calls here. What are you hearing on if he's truly available or not? You know what, Nick, I've asked. I've asked directly, I haven't gotten a straight answer. And, you know, I'll say this. Like, I remember when Shanahan hired Tree Living the last time around, I was told directly by one of the ownership parties

in MLSC that they at least wanted to talk to Armstrong and they weren't allowed to do it. And Tom Stilman was, and the one thing, like, I've dealt with Tom Stilman. I actually really liked dealing with Tom Stilman, but I think there are some things he prefers to, I would say, quietly let some of the reporters in St. Louis know what he's thinking.

And like I saw Jeremy Rutherford's article today that this doesn't make sense for the Blues. and Jeremy's a really good reporter. I don't think he writes that unless he has good reason to believe that. So to me, maybe the door isn't 100% closed, but Nick, it doesn't look too wide open right now. And Tom Stulman's point last time was,

Doug Armstrong signed a contract with us. And so I always find that the surest predictor of future behavior is past behavior, so unless someone can tell me that Stilman has changed his mind, I'm going right now that it seems unlikely. But I've asked and I haven't gotten a straight answer. All right. Let's take it across the country to the West Coast, Vancouver Canucks.

What's happening? So, you know, Nick, you had a pretty interesting note the other day about Alvin. At this point in time, I'll just say, I don't know. There were rumors earlier in the year that maybe this was it. for Rutherford that maybe he wasn't going to stay past this year. That is certainly, whenever I've spoken to him this season, that is certainly not the impression that he has left me with. He does not talk like a person who is ready to sail into the sunset and go elsewhere.

So unless ownership is coming up with something here that is out of left field that I don't see right now, I'm under the impression that Rutherford's going to be back next year. So, you know, we'll see. I think, you know, it's been a really hard year. But I think one of the things they generally feel is that they've gotten rid of most of what was ailing them inside their room. And now they have to start building it back up again. Do you think the moves in Vegas and now most recently in Toronto are forcing other teams? to look in their mirror and go, okay, what are we doing here?

You know, I do. Like, you know, Nick, the other team you wrote about the other day was Jersey. You know, like, what are they doing? All of a sudden there's lots of rumors. And, you know, Emily Kaplan reported it. You reported, too, that are they going to split up Tom Fitzgerald's job? Like, the other thing I was wondering, too, is that Nashville's got an opening right now. And I think they're starting to get pretty serious about their interviews.

and Tom Fitzgerald was the first captain of the National Predators. Like, it seems to me that if he wouldn't be the guy in New Jersey anymore, I think that would be the kind of guy that the predators would at least want to interview, right? So I'm kind of surprised that the devils haven't either indicated what they're doing. I mean, we know they're out. They've had a nice little run here at the end, but they're not going to make it. I have to say I'm a little surprised we haven't gotten more clarity on what they're. what they're thinking and where they are going.

The answer to your question, though, Nick is yes. You know, Nashville did it early. Toronto wasn't planning on doing it early, but now did it early. And I do think some teams are sitting here saying, we better get on it too. Like the other thing I've wondered is, like, do you guys think there's any chance that somebody hired Bruce Cassidy right now?

As in gets rid of their coach just to make sure they get them. Yeah. I think that the conversation, maybe even amongst a fan base, particularly in Edmonton, would have been a lot stronger if they haven't shown some teeth in the last week and a half, two weeks, especially without Leon.

But I'm not sure where other markets stand, but I think we can put that kind of thought to rest for now. Are we in other markets? Other markets? You're talking about Toronto? I sure am. No, there's no reason to race for that here now. Unless you think you're going to lose them.

Again, if he's really interested in this job, I think he'd be willing to wait a little bit. Yeah. And Pete DeBore's out there. Any thoughts on a good fit for Pete DeBore? I mean, this guy all he does is go to conference finals. I think Utah thought about it this year. I do.

Really? Didn't do it, but I think they thought about it. You know what's crazy is how many of these situations come down to a few wins or a few losses? Like you're talking about maybe Edmonton was going to do it, but then they won a few in a row. You know, and it's like you either kind of feel like you need a change or you don't. It feels like, and I'm sure it's the same with Utah. Maybe if they had lost three more games, it would be different.

These are tense times for these guys. I just don't understand how you make in Edmonton you just gave this guy a three year extension Chris Knoblock How do you like is it Is it serious or is it just our speculation Like I just It's like it's like it's like people talking about firing

Adam foot after a season I think it's crazy Like it's if you do stuff like that It just makes you look horrible as an organization Right Elliot one more for me and that's Detroit They're still trying to crawl themselves into the playoffs here

But if they miss it'll be what 10 or 11 right 10 10 playoff 2015 i think was the last okay so um not that you're thinking that steve eisenman could be fired but you know there's also the possibility that he could step down what what are you hearing out of detroit you know one of the first of all i you mentioned dug before guys who uh get that izerman that's the one okay okay no comment just say no comment. I don't want to get you in trouble with Stevie Y. It's okay. It's all good. I get a good laugh out of it. You know what, Nick? I've kind of wondered and do you think there's any chance that he would kick himself upstairs and let Draper or Harcoff be the GM? I think, again,

when you feel the pressure of a fan base for, you know, some accountability to change it up or give them a different look, yes, I do think everything's on the table, Elliot. Like don't, like, think those guys are ready to show that whether, like, you're still going to, if you do that, you still have Eisman is your number one guy. And he, and, but, you know, number one, he can take a little, like, is you know, the one thing I've always respected about Eisman is he grinds. Like, that guy works hard. Uh, maybe take a little bit of a step back. You let like a horkoff or a draper take a bigger wall, have a bit more of a say, slightly different perspective. And, and maybe that's the change you made.

Like, I've kind of wondered if, like, I've bounced it off from people. You know, I think both those guys have been interviewed for jobs before. Eventually, they're probably ready. Why not let it happen there? They're your guys. You've developed them. You've invested them. Great stuff.

Great stuff, Fridge. Yeah, appreciate it, Friege. Thanks. No worries, guys. Have a great night. Okay. Elliot Friedman, Hockey Night, Canada. 32 thoughts.

What do you think? It feels like the last year, like there was very few coach firings this season to me compared to some other seasons. Like was there two, maybe three. You know, for a while there it felt like there was eight and nine. Oh, they went through a stretch, I think, in the last 18 months where it was like bonkers. Bonkers. The average coach tenure now is 2.8 years over the last like decade. You know, like, and so for there to only be a couple firings this year felt like not much happened.

But it feels to me like off the ice. a lot of these big roles, manager, president, whatever, there is a changing wind happening here where I think you're going to see some guys get fired, find new jobs, move teams, start over. It was three. But that just includes one last week. Hiller got fired in L.A.,

and then it was Eveson and Columbus, and then last week was Cassidy. Yeah. See, those fires, they cost the owners a lot of money, but it's just money, right? when you're locked into a player, it's much different. You just can't buy yourself out of a situation.

You're locked into that guy. But you can write a wrong by just simply firing a general manager or coach and getting a new one. It's just money. Yeah. And if you feel like you can get any kind of bump, then great.

It is crazy looking at the standings. Like what a little bump will do for teams. The Jets are almost in the playoffs. Guys, the Jets are one points out of the point out of the playoffs. Not even plural. I had to drop the S. Wish it was back in the old days for the least from the West. They'd be right there, boys.

It would be right there. Right there. They're literally, they're tied with Nashville who's in the last playoff spot in the West. That's the worst thing I've ever heard in my life. That's insane. They haven't. They've been bad. Think about how awful the Toronto Bay beliefs have been.

Are they not, at least not back in it for a top five pick now? No, I mean, what do you think? It's conceivable if they, went one and six. Which they just lost eight games in a row nine minutes ago, so. Yeah, they might get the... Winnebago, I guess.

No thoughts on that whatsoever. Maybe this is a conversation for tomorrow. Leafs hour when we do more leave stuff, but everybody's throwing all these names. I mean, that name Chica, that kind of said shivers up and down my spine. I think he owns like 50 Wendy's. I'm not even like...

Really? Yeah, like, he went into the Wendy's business. He's into like, well, it's money stuff, you know? It's not winning. these stuff. But what about Kevin Adams? He's a very successful businessman is my point. He doesn't need this for money.

What about Kevin Adams? You've been to watch the Sabres lately? Yes. That's his squad. Yeah, you know how that squad's built? They'd suck forever, drafted first forever. Now all their number one overall picks are It bothers me to hear people like say the Sabres are a surprise.

It's just, it was no matter what, when you continually draft as high as you can, can eventually it's going to hit. They had Dahlene Power Samuelson. Their decor is like, 14 years, 14 years. Oh, they snuck up. They've been building for 14 years.

Where is the sneaking up part? Justice for Kevin. Justice for Kevin. I need to like, I need an audit of what Kevin did to build this current group and the important pieces. The one thing I will say, Josh, don't trade, two thumbs up. But I'm hearing like, I mean,

some of the names you were saying, like, oh my God. Well, Gillis hasn't worked since 2014. What was the other one that he said? Chica. No, there was another name that he said that I can't take off the top of my head. Lombardi? Dean Lombardi.

Oh, my gosh. Love Dean Lombardy. Ask Futes next time about Dean's reputation for sleeping in the office. Hey, all Dean did was win, win, win. Just ask him. They won. All they've done is win. In 2012.

And 2014. He's been with a lot of good teams. Anyways, game time. Bring back Daryl, too. It's game time. It's right bet 365. An official partner of the NHL, Mr. 19 plus.

Ontario only, please play responsibly. Three games on tap tonight, fellas. Vancouver is in Colorado tonight. They are plus 350 on the money line. The Vancouver Canucks, as you would imagine, minus 450 for the Vancouver Canucks. That is a,

that's a heavy favorite. Minus. For the Colorado out of lunch. 4.50. That's got to be the most lopsided of the year. That's a heavy, heavy favor. That's one V32. Later on, the Anaheim Ducks.

are in San Jose to take on the San Jose Sharks. And the other game tonight, the St. Louis Blues and the LA Kings, both still fighting for a playoff spot somehow. Unbelievable. The blues are plus 120 on the money line. LA Kings minus 140 on the other side of money. Lees fans, you got to tune into where the Kings are at. That lot and third becomes a second if the Kings make the playoffs.

One point out now. Every team sucks down there. Like who's going to make it? Like herculean levels of suck. Anyways, that was game time. I bet 365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Okay. Got your breath. When we return, we go a little Ottawa news and Oh, Mark. What happened? Was he too rested? Last night? Oh, my God.

That's the most sarcastic thing anyone's ever said on our program. And fight night at MSG. Ali Fraser and now Shisterkin. Chastie's my boy. All that when we return to Real Kippinburne. Everything you need to know about the Raptors and the biggest stories around the NBA. Smith and Jones.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kippenborn, brought to by Beth 365, Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren. Sammy. Mickey. I got to take a moment here, Kip, unless you have something very...

No, I didn't even count. In five years I've ever... I got something, too. I wonder that. I think the most insane Alex Ovechkin's stat 20, 30 goal seasons. Yes. Like, more than the total of the goals,

20... If you find out that one guy, if you and I are walking the street, like, that guy scored 30 goals in the NHL. You're like, that guy is a stud. Did he... How much... He must be a millionaire?

This guy did it 20 straight times. Unbelievable. It's not straight. It's not straight. It's 20 times. There's one time he didn't do it. And it was in the COVID. No, it was COVID season.

No. That doesn't count. He scored 24 and 55. Yeah, okay. So 30. He did it. So 30. So every.

Doesn't count. 20-30 goal season. It's amazing. Oh my God. Is he going to retire, Kip? I find it really strange that you've kind of gone this far and there's just not like one word on it. So he's coming back.

So he wants to all time. I will say this that when Gretzky retired, there was rumblings. There was a bit of a wave that was coming. And now there's nothing on Ovi. Nothing. What are we going to do with our nutritional advice when this guy eats Cheetos and subway and he plays 22 seasons. I don't care.

Like if he retires or plays next year, he needs to like constantly give us a picture of him in August like we've had the last few years. I can't look at another summer OV pick each time. No, no, no. We need an annual OV summer pick. Oh, he's playing volleyball or something. She's a lead anvil of a man. I'm looking at their schedule.

Their last home game of the season. against the pens. Oh my God, it's poetry. Last game. He has to announce it like before the games. It's at home. Their last game of the year is the 14th of April at the Blue Jackets. So.

Windsor last home game. The 12th against the Penguins. If they're going to miss playoffs, he should say before the Penguins game, this is it. Can you imagine last ticket? Actually, you know what? My own sis would like a chance to sell that ticket.

First, not going to surprise people. Versus Sid. That'd be all-time stuff. I hope he retires because then we can still say that Gretz. A day or two when he officially made his announcement in Ottawa. And if he retires this year, we can still say Gretz has the most goals in the history of the league. He's not there yet, eh? No, he's got 16 more to go to break the all-time playoff and regular season total.

Still not the greatest goal score of all time. He's coming back. He's coming back so far. Allmark? Allmark. Oh, my God. Yeah. So last night, he gives up the first goal in eight seconds, which set a Florida Panther record.

Sammy Sandus three texts. It was like one and one, two and two, three and three. I was like, I'm really blowing these guys up. If that record wasn't good enough, then he set another one for the fastest two goals ever scored for the Panthers in a game, 66 seconds. What is coming to light? It's a team sport, guys. It's just not him. But did you watch the game? Yeah.

I mean, there was some brutal defensive. Like, there's two on ones. It was ugly, but you got to mix in a safe. So this is. Yeah, this was a game that he needed to come up large on because it came off of a Florida or a Tampa Bay game where they lost and he pulled himself out of the lineup, which is kind of unheard of.

Yeah. At this point where the team pushing on must-wing games to get into the playoffs. It's, I've never heard of it before, to be quite honest. It just feels to me like this is the end of his time in Ottawa. Yeah. You know, like he, it feels like he let people down enough that he's going to need a fresh start.

They must be livid. He's in 886 on the year. They're going to miss by like two points. If he's in 890, he probably making it. I think there's still room, though, because last night, it was like nobody, Columbus didn't want it. Detroit didn't want it. There's still room here.

They're fine. They're fine moving forward. But they're going to win. And you got to win. They're not leaving the state of Florida with a ton of confidence right now. Him. It feels like you don't, I don't know who they'll start next game. Has to be him.

Well, I guess. Is this James Rimer? Right into. The fact that we have to talk about it's not good. It's right into the wheelhouse. And we've done this on many occasions on Leaf Edition. We know you're a good goalie, right? Yeah.

Stolar's, whoa. O-Mark, we all know you're talented. We all know you're great. We all know you're going to win a game on your own. What we don't know is, will you be there? Will you be there for us? Yep. When we need you the most.

So they don't have to send you a chance of into game seven in Boston. Will you be there enough to help us get there? You know, it's been a question mark. Regular seasons as well. But, I mean, to answer your question, they have to start homework in the next one. Yeah, well, it's one of those things where you're, you know. Go beggar, go home. Well, the expression is bad, but it's like, you know, give a guy a rope sort of thing.

So they've got a home stand. Sammy, I usually type out our Damien Etchevera games list stuff. I've never seen you look at it. I know. And the day I wanted to look at it, you don't print it. Because I didn't have my laptop. Also, Kip said that name correctly, which was the odds were plus. 3,000.

It's just amazing. He remembered the name. And he buried me on air. I printed it every day for three weeks, and he's never even known I gave it to him. And the one thing. I just found out this week, it's Radco. Would you think it was? Radic?

Radice. I don't know. What are you talking about? That was the best. Did you want to talk about the goalie fight? Oh, do you want to? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

So. We have Travis Green on the goalie. It was not the goalie. Oh, okay. He didn't get out. Did he rip the team? He's pretty pissed. Oh, let's hear it.

I like to hear him pissed. Yeah, Travis Green. Disappointing. We talked about the importance of a start in this building, and that was the opposite. We take three penalties in the first five or six minutes. Give up two power play goals. It's three nothing, five minutes into the game and five nothing, 14 minutes in the game. How do you maybe explain that start and what kind of went wrong out of the gate here?

We just look flat. To be honest, I thought we looked flat. Didn't have a lot of energy. Yeah, that's about the best way I can put it. Didn't want to go back to the goalie well, eh? They didn't ask. Yeah. There's a scrump.

I mean, to be fair, there was two mics. Yeah. So he purposely, like, if you're not getting asked, I'm not going down that path. Because then you're forced to say something that you may. I know. That's the first question. What'd you think it's been the biggest story in the league for a week anyways. Yeah, with you on that.

So there's been three goalie fights this year. And they're all smiling after it. Hold on, smiling. That's what I'm glad you brought that up. Allmark, if I'm a fan of the senators, and I know people react differently to different things, but Allmark's smiling after the fifth goal goes in behind his mask, if I'm a sense fan, that's TV through the remote.

That's as mad, sorry, remote through the TV. That's as mad as you can be. seeing guys smile in situations like that, like drive me crazy. Anyways. Fair enough. Spot on. I was driving nuts.

Three goalie fights this year, and I think you can make the case that five of the six goalies involved are among the ten best goalies of the last decade. Vasilevsky, Swamen, Schisturkin, he fought Markstrom, and then the other fight was who?

There's one other... Adelkevich? Yeah, but who do he fight? That's right. It was... Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky. Yes.

So Bob. Vasaleski, Shisterkin, Marks, Swamen. It's all the best goalies. That's shocking to me. Where's Hellebott? Hall of Famers. Yeah, Helibus too.

Get in there. Hall of Famers. That's so bizarre to me. Usually you think these guys would be like, oh, I'm a master of my craft. They're hockey players. That to me validates what it takes to be greater in the position. And Shisterken like chucked them.

That was a real fight. And Markstrom's coming in and Schistrugan's trying to get himself set up. And it's like, but he didn't panic into the He did look nervous. I know you're coming. I'm just going to get ready. We're going to be ready.

We got the video. So just watch Shisterkin. He's not like in a full panic to get rid of his gloves. Like even Markson was like, we're doing this. We're doing this. We're doing this. And Shisterkin's like, hang on. Yeah, yeah.

So here he starts his move here. He's still taking his glove off and his mask off. Like, okay. All right. Marksum got impatient, went over the top. And then Shisterkin with the left jabs too. He's really impressed with the left jabs. You know what this reminds me a little bit of?

Huge too. Not to... I think Markstrom didn't expect him to be that good of fight. It's much like the Hextel versus Felix Potvin thing when he totally caught him off guard. That's kind of what we're like... He's throwing the same arm jabs and like the over the top. I'm the big guy.

It's just Durkan had like tactical boxing experience. I loved it. Good job, Markstrom. Way to go. Way to go. So... I can't imagine being in the building. We did the...

We did a 25th anniversary celebration in New York and part of it was to go through. the dressing room. This is like, I don't know, four years ago, I guess. Not a little less than that. And I'm talking to this kid, and this whole time, you know,

it's kind of broken English, but he's very personable. And I think I'm talking to an intern, and it's Shisterkin. Really? Yes. Yeah. Yes.

You know, I did that. But he just doesn't look, like he just looks. Oh, buddy, you could float in a test tube. Really? So tiny and so, like, frail. And I'm like, now he's one of the best goalies in the league. That's hilarious.

So I went to one NHL camp and I go to the New York Islanders locker room and I'm carrying my bag and I get in there and there's a person in there. And I'm like, where's the locker room? And then he's like, this is it. Like, he was old NASA, I'll call him. Oh, yeah. This is brutal, whatever. I was like, so we just take, you know, kind of get in directions from whoever this is.

And it's kind of like a balding, smaller, fairly hairy individual. and like found out later, it was Wade Dubluitz, who was the team's goaltender. I had no idea, you know. Goys were not always built like. He broke my little heart, Wade Dubluitz. Polk check, baby. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Okay, listen, I'm tired of you guys not giving them much all Canadians some love on the show. Oh, my God. I'm really tired of it, Sammy. These guys just win every night now. They're just the best team of the league. They're the best. They're the best players. They're fun to walk.

They might be the best team in the east. They took care of Tampa Bay last night. Oh. Are they a contender? Oh, yeah. This is my nightmare. They could, they'll scare anybody. Oh, my God.

Yeah, they're right there. Particularly now that if they can get up and win the division and get themselves a little softer round one. They still need some seasoning when it comes to how to win through a seven game series. Yep. They've had a lot of comebacks. Like you don't want to fall behind a lot in playoffs. and goal-tending still question mark at times.

Very impressive. Yeah, they're never out of game. And Pittsburgh, too. A couple of big wins. I'm so happy that we could get Sid in the playoffs again. I really want that. It pains me to cheer for a dubus-led team, but I'm praying for Sid back in the playoffs.

They've got a long way to go still, but. Eric Carlson was named the second star of the month. He's kind of reborn. Maybe you guys are right. At least should have traded for him when you guys talked about it back then. Boy, sure changed the look at the, least D, wouldn't it? Someone could move the puck.

Went down to the dome today for the afternoon game. 37,000? Maybe the most boring baseball game, and that's saying something that I've been to in my life. I was yawning. There just nothing was happening. It was brutal. One p.m. start. Yeah, it was just, it was dreary down there.

Nobody was too fired up. I will say, in the, like, the concourse, they installed all these new beautiful things with, like, the trote with the two World Series trophies that should have been three. And all like the, like, just. memorabilia from all the team's past. It's unbelievable the job they've done. It looks awesome.

Unreal. So go down there because it's sick. And the games will generally be better. They need to get the bats going a little bit here. But the six games in. So we'll survive. Our thanks to Elliot Friedman in our condensed one-hour

Real Kipper and Born show. Preach. We're back tomorrow, 4 to 6. And then we're off for Good Friday. Off on Good Friday. Yep. All right. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review.

make sure you subscribe to Sportsnet on our YouTube channel. Give us a thumbs up. Love, love our audience. Yes. All right. Enjoy, quiet night, but you know where to find us tomorrow. It's a real kidber and born show.