Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Special Teams with Adam Oates

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with some thoughts on the All-Star events this week, where Matthews might go with his first pick and what to expect from the skills competition. They are joined by Hockey Hall of Famer Adam Oates (10:49), who reminisces on his own All-Star experiences, the changes made to the skills competition and the art of the breakaway. Then, he delves into what makes a good power-play. Finally, Senators' analyst Jason York (34:25) discusses the Sens' goaltending issues, their plan for the deadline, the veteran presence of Giroux and Chychrun's future in Ottawa.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-star week here on the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo jen rolnick inching closer to thursday 6 p.m i think that's when everything officially gets started especially here on Sportsnet when we're covering you wall to wall. We got the draft that night, right? The draft. The draft. How do you feel about that format? I don't, like, first of all, hold on, hold on.

Let me just kind of set the whole thing up, JB. You're just eager beaver today, which I don't mind. You know? Are you sporting a new uh hoodie by the way you know it's not new but i don't wear a lot of hoodies on air i'm a hoodie guy yeah i think i'm becoming one of my i i wear a lot of hoodies dad days yeah yeah bro hoodie yeah okay so jam-packed sammy with guests today nice job today thank you thank you so in just in a couple of minutes we're gonna welcome in adam oats of course, we're going to welcome in Adam Oates.

Of course, we've had Adam over the last few years. One of my favorite guests because he just sees things so differently. And a guy that's been around a few all-stars. Five time all-star. Five time all-star. So we can't wait to talk to him as we get get uh moving along uh jason york's gonna pop by as well give us uh some thoughts and uh on ottawa's come from behind win last night then frank

saravelli is going to give us a few rumors to start off uh the next hour and then a guy that I've invited countless of times to only tell me, I don't know, one night he may be conditioning his hair. Another night, another reason why he's just too busy. But P.K. Subban is going to join us. P.K. So I can't get him. I've known him since he's like seven. Oh, really? And you, on the other hand, get him like that. Is it me's like seven oh really and you on the other hand get him like that

is it me no it's disco dan disco dan dan texted me this morning and said would you guys want pk suban today and i said disco dan let me check all right here we are okay so good job disco dan and uh terrible job me the last few years trying to to get him on our show yeah okay uh the draft so you so come to think of it i always i still thought of we're gonna see an atlantic a metro yeah no a pacific and we're not we're gonna see a matthews a mcdavid yes a mckinnon who draft their own team yeah so each of them have an alternate captain so those two players are locked into the team so for for team matthews which i believe is uh with the beebs yes so those three guys are locked in. Mm-hmm. And everybody else is like a free-for-all. Yeah.

And that's... Is the Biebs playing? Well, I don't know. Do we know if they're allowed... That's when it gets canceled, by the way. ...to drink at this draft? Are they back to that again? Well, the last draft...

The boys were pretty loose. It was... Did they only do it once? No, I think they did it twice. Because Phil got... Or Ovi got the car once because he wanted it, and Phil got it once because he's Phil. But, no, the one that was the famous one is Phil being last.

Yes. And having, like, the picture with the flip phone of him being last. But didn't Ovi win it? Because Ovi wanted to, like, give the car away to someone. I think he got it the next year as, like, a joke or something. I could be wrong i think it's not by accident that uh they're gonna have the players do this first at 6 p.m early it's really hard i think it's safe that way yeah you don't want to get it to 9 30 10 o'clock and it's still on. That's when it could get a little dicey for them. So they're smart because they've got, I think, the draft.

Then the 1967 NHL alumni will honor the Leaf championship team. And then the women will play their three-on-three. Nice. Beautiful. So there's your Thursday night. So just getting back to your point. So you got Team Matthews and Morgan's protected now with Austin. But there's two Leafs floating around.

I've wondered this. Nylander and Marner. Yeah. So Austin gets to pick. And who's he taking? I think you gotta go away from those guys entirely. Like, I think you can't pick one.

I think you gotta say, it's an all-star game. I'm going off the board. I'm taking West Coast guy. Are you creating some drama here? I just, no, I just.

No, no, Kipper, like, what happens if he doesn't? You're going to come in here with some narratives on Monday and be like, they don't like each other. He didn't get a schedule of the bonuses, and he didn't get picked. Like, clearly, clearly,

clearly they like Nylander better than Marner, or clearly they like Marner better than Willie. Here's the question. Who would he pick? If he, truth be told, no repercussions. I's the question. Who would he pick? If he, truth or no repercussions. I'm with you. He can't pick either. Because someone

will get their feelings hurt. Well, I think, you know, Neil Andrew has 11.5 million reasons for eight years. You might be able to hurt Mitch's feelings. You could only hurt Willie's feelings. Willie's just like in a hail of money.

The Woody Harrelson meme where he's like dabbing his eyes with money. He doesn't care. He couldn't care less. No way. You got to take Mitch. I bet she takes Mitch. Now that I think about it more. It does seem like the more likely choice.

And then it'll feel like three Leafs against one Leaf. And then the Leafs get eliminated in the first round. Is that the joke? I didn't make it. Oh, my God. I know what's out there, though. Oh, my God. All right.

It'll be fun. It'll be fun. Either way, it'll be fun. All right. Anything else on? Yeah. Do you want to talk about the guys who are going to be in the skills contest? There's only 12 guys.

This is the first time that the skills will not include the whole league kind of being on the ice or wrapped. How do you guys feel about that? I like it. Just as I put Jesper Brad in there, it's Matt Barzell. Jesper Brad's replacing Hughes, but yeah. The names, if you don't know, it's David Pasternak, Nathan McKinnon, Kale McCarr, Leon Dreisaitl,

Connor McDavid, Matt Barzell, Nikita Kucherov, Austin Matthews, William Nylander, Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, and Quinn Hughes. The best of the best. I mean, unbelievable assembly of talent there. That's pretty unbelievable. I think Sarah Valli said said some joke like someone put

it to me that it's 11 of the best players in the world and jt miller something like that which is like you know i think that was a vote in a portion of it and the canadian votes are pretty heavy right so i t miller gets in i actually do think that for the first time and kipper you've talked uh about what it's looked like over the past few years when they're on surfboards and whatever the hell else they were doing yeah that you weren't a fan of that and i don't think anyone was but i do think that's an understatement i thought at times it really embarrassed the guys but this has a chance to be really good yeah with that collection of talent on the ice with a million bucks on the line which

this isn't the nba they don't you know they don't make 85 million dollars a year right they're all well-paid guys all those guys are but like a million bucks is a million bucks to me it actually has a chance to be pretty good so the format if you don't know is that every each of these 12 guys will pick four of this first six events and the six events are fastest skater harder shot stick handling one-timers passing a challenge and accuracy shooting the top point earners the top eight guys will go on to a shootout and then the top six guys will go to the final event which is an obstacle course combining all the six events and the points are doubled in the final round. I think the intrigue on how hard they're going to push themselves for the million bucks is enough to make everybody watch again.

Yes. I mean, that is. Wasn't it somebody on Colorado? I'm not sure who it was. Threw out that, yeah, we're real excited because Kael McCarr promised each of us $100,000 if he wins the million. Is that what he said? Really?

Matt doesn't add up on that. That cost him a lot of money. I think that was news to Kale. To Kale. Yeah. But it is like, it would be fascinating to know if there is some sort of, this is fun money, you know'll chip into the boys or something. That's a lot of money.

Yeah, you could definitely see somebody donating a bunch of it to charity or something if they win, or maybe someone just keeps it all. My wife said that, and I was like, that's too much money. That's nice to make a donation, but a million dollars. It's the only way to get people's attention. Yes, now you have their attention. I don't begrudge anyone playing hard for lots of money. I don't expect them to give it to the SPCA.

Great if they do, but, you know, how you get your money is not a different one. I don't know. So I don't know if this will go down as a trivia answer, but the last few years it's been this, and especially again this year does every team need to be represented at an nhl all-star game i have a strong opinion on that no no no no so do you know this year uh not every team will be represented who's not sending well i'm asking

you guys. Do you know? I do know. Who is it? The Blackhawks? I don't know. No, they got Dickinson on, right? Yeah.

And Boone Jenner from Columbus. Take a couple of guesses. Seattle. Nope. I have no idea. Just bad radio. Tell me. Stanley Cup champions. Vegas?

No rep this year. Come on. It was Jack. And he's hurt and they're not replacing him uh i under the impression they're not replacing him so they probably got denied right because brat was apparently uh like had a vacation booked to some tropical destination and now it was going to the all-star games like toronto february it's actually supposed to be nice this weekend though is it okay yeah it's actually supposed to be some sun all-star game minus 30 the one not to play amateur meteorologist but I think it's supposed to be pretty warm this weekend.

Some sun. So there you go. All right. Let's welcome in someone that knows a little bit about an NHL All-Star weekend. Former National Hockey League Hall of Famer, president of Oats Sports Group, Adam Oates. Oatesy, thanks for joining us, man. How are you? I'm good. I'm man. How are you?

I'm good. I'm good. How are you? So, correct me if I'm wrong, but five appearances at an NHL All-Star, and this was basically early 90s to 96, 97. Is there any comparable that, you know, stands out for you in terms of the level of intensity back then to what it's shaped up to today? Like how big of a feather was that, you know, to be a part of that group with the Messiers and the Gretzky's, the Lemieux's of the world? Well, you know what? My first game was in Chicago during Desert Storm, which was, you know,

obviously for the country, a big thing was at Chicago Stadium. And, you know, it was really, it was a fantastic game. I was, you know, you're a little nervous, my first time. And, you know, I was in the West Coast guys in St. Louis. And Gretz is there talking to the guys, you know, and talk about what a gracious guy. He brought a stick for every guy. Wow.

He knew we all wanted a stick. And so he comes walking in with like 25 sticks. So talk about fantastic. And then during warm up, he stood at center ice. And basically every guy on both teams came over and took a picture with him. Right. Myself included. And, you know, fantastic experience. The tough part has always been trying to make it sort of a competitive game.

Right. And definitely it's a hard thing. You look at the NFL, they play flag football, basically, in their All-Star game. And it's just tough because no one wants to hurt anybody. You want to sort of try but you don't want to over try so you know you got to just try and enjoy the moment and if you're a fan you got to try and enjoy seeing the guys out there you know it's not going to be quite the same as a hockey game so uh curious to get your thoughts on the new format then this year there's six events to start um and you the players get to choose four of them i actually i'm curious to know which ones you would choose if you were in

the all-star game today it's the fastest skater hardest shot stick handling one timers passing challenge accuracy shooting which ones do you want otc well not the fastest skater, that's for sure. I would probably do stick handling, passing, and accuracy. There you go. The guys that are going to be in it is a pretty impressive list of guys. Do you have some of your clients going to the All-Star game? Yeah, I got about 15 going. Oh, is that good? That seems good.

That's a good list. That's a good list. Do you think, you you know within the confines of what we're going to see that pretty much is is enough to get the skill to where it's at an entertainment level somehow

some way if I was to put together a committee to come up with different looks or ideas to the different skill, I would put you in charge because I think you've got the mind to come up with something that no one's thought of that would really show up off skill. But does anything come to mind to you in terms of other angles that you could

kind of attack this skills competition? It's, you know, it's something that i would have to think about um and one of the things that when you think about our game you know you think about overtime okay so overtime only has six guys on the ice and and every guy i talked to what's the number one rule of overtime don't shoot don't shoot the puck from too far away because you're not scoring and now you're going to get caught out there tired. Right? So that is on every guy's mind is when you're going down on a two-on-two,

you're trying to create some sort of defensive mistake that you can capitalize on without giving the puck away. So, like, for me, I'm always a guy that appreciates the fact that the guys are thinking about that, right? They think the game, right? And the best players think the game. So, you know, I would say that if you gave me some time, I could come up with some ways to make it more attractive, like maybe just plays in one zone. Because if you think about two on two in zone, three three in zone that's what we do in the summer right small games right because the best players in our game are really good in tight areas right so i would force them to be in a tight area why because they're gonna

they're gonna get the puck more they're gonna be able to react more make quick plays more you know that would be something off the top of my head oh my god imagine they go width of the ice in overtime it would be absolute mayhem i love this idea um you know the you think about all the sports they all practice small area games sure yeah no it makes a ton of sense and given the things these guys could do i think they would pull out some pretty unbelievable highlights it'd be non-stop action too which is kind of what the league is looking for so you know heading towards this all-star game um you know the i think they've changed it enough to be like real hockey like they've gotten away from all the gimmicky sort of events um is there a type of player that thrives

in skills contests when you isolate their skills? Like a lot of guys struggle putting it into game action. Is there players that really would benefit from playing in a skills contest where you just isolate certain skills? Yeah, I would say, yeah, for sure. The tough part about the game is, so you go walking in this locker room and there's sort of all the stars on every team, right? And it's like, hey, boys, how's it going? Good. And then you're going out there and you're trying to sort of all the stars on every team right and it's like hey boys how's it going good and then you're going out there and you're trying to sort of try but you don't want to be that guy that looks like he's trying too hard yeah because then the other guys might be like okay take it easy right and we all live through that little imaginary line of trying to look good yet not trying to

try too hard and that's what makes it very difficult because and there's also no contact right which is also a huge part of our game that's now missing in this particular game. So the guys are trying best they can to kind of come up with something and not look like they're trying too hard, which is obviously very difficult. Adam, where do you put overthinking in the equation on hitting a target or just doing something when you some as we know athletes sometimes don't think meat right just go out there and do it and let let your subconscious sometimes take over and i don't know if we can even equate this to a a field goal kicker in buffalo uh that usually looks like he's money. But the more you think about it,

the more the weight gets on your shoulder. Do you talk to your clients about just, you know, different ways to not overthink something, including a simple skills competition, maybe Friday night? Yeah, you know what? I actually have talked to a couple guys when it's their first game and kind of just try to say, don't let it weigh you down. And it's sort of like the first time guys are doing shootouts because the game's over. And now it's not quite the same as during the game. It's not like a penalty shot during the game. Right. But now, but still, when you haven't done it in a while the magnitude of the

fans staring at you while you're going down the ice some guys handle that better than others that's a fact so you want to try and take that in and try and take the moment in and not like you said weigh yourself down with trying to hit a target right and and you know what i would say some guys handle that better than others for sure oh see how would you teach shootout skills you know what i mean like the there's points on the line for this. It feels like an under-discussed part of hockey where you go, ah, it's the skills contest. And teams miss playoffs by a point every year.

Like, those are crucial moments in this All-Star game. There's going to be a shootout. You know, is there a way to teach guys to be good at this, or is it something that just you're a scorer or you're not a scorer? Oh, no. No, there's ways. Like, we work on that in the summer in the summer we do yeah we work on ways to come in on a goalie and change for example change speeds and be able to have your hands in a spot that you can

shoot it or deco depending what you want so we have we have things we go to absolutely are you the guy who's teaching kuznets off to go two miles per hour? I mean, like, he's been doing that for a long time. He is. And, like, you know, and obviously a guy like T.J. Oshie, like, very comfortable doing that, right? Yeah. How many did he get in the Olympics? Six or something?

Three in a row at least. Yeah, I don't know what the total was, but yeah. Were you a guy, Otsie, on any particular breakaway where you just try to keep your mind as clear as possible did you have a thought process that shoot or pass won't be decided until i'm six feet away from the goalie 10 feet away from the goalie you know what yeah honestly kipper i played against mario a lot and i'm not gonna lie to you i probably watched him have over my career, 25 breakaways. And I don't think he ever missed.

He was magical. And he would always just cruise in, have the puck in a spot. And he'd either sort of like, you could tell he had a few options being a taller guy. He was like as a right-handed guy over the glove or he bluffed it and deked the goalie. And he had the poise to deke the goalie, right? So I would practice that i would try i would practice coming in and being ready kind of like five feet in front of the goalie to either shoot it or be ready to deke for sure

doesn't it all start with off that high glove shot like i'm a righty as well and it's kind of assumed i think that's the basic starting point you're going to come in you're going to shoot high glove guys will drop it and go to the back end. You can kind of build off that and pull it from there. But it all kind of starts from, so it was a right shot coming down the left side, getting your stick to the middle, and that's like the building block one, right? You just kind of run through your list like a quarterback going through reads, don't you?

And by the way, I think it's always been a huge advantage for right-handed shots. I'm sorry. To go up against goalies with the left handed glove. Yeah, but listen, the whole thing, it's a huge advantage for lefties who have low blocker. That's the cheat code. Well, okay, so that's that's Cousy shot, right? Low blocker. Oh, yeah.

Cousy comes in an angle and when he finally gets to sort of like the hash marks, if you look, his stick is in a position now that he's kind of his stick is square to the goalie. Just like you're talking about a righty. You come in at last second, you're in a position where the goalie has to respect

over your glove. And then you've got five hole or you got a deep, right? A little different for the lefties. But when you watch Kuzi, he's in there. So at the last moment, he's sort of tried. You could tell he's trying to make the goalie kind of like misstep and he's got low blocker in mind first for sure yeah see i i think i'd rather deal with first off are you a right or left shot i'm a left-handed shot yeah you're the yeah whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa you didn't know that you know no you're you're

like one of those savant guys who like knows people's handedness and tape color. I can't remember names. I can tell you which way they shot. I don't get these people. I have nothing. I've watched the Leafs for like 10 straight years. The other day, I had to remember what hand Austin Matthews shot. I was like, I guess he hits it from that side.

Oh, my gosh. It just doesn't stick with me. I bet you if you ask Gratz, he could probably almost remember every point he got. Yeah. Yeah. Just switching gears off of All-Star, I want to talk to you a little bit about power plays

and just what are you seeing how they've evolved? Because there's sometimes you look at the Toronto Maple Leafs here, we cover them daily here, and it looks good on paper, top 10 10 but there's some days i look at them and it looks like they're they're moving the puck in cement and i'm just wondering how you've seen it evolve and we watch tampa bay and even though that they've struggled in terms of being consistent this year that power play the way they move the puck to me is as good as i've ever seen in the history of the game it is phenomenal kucherov and point and stamp coast what is their

secret is it just them and their talent or is something being coached into them i mean i'm a big believer in coaching i am the power play is obviously a very sensitive subject for me. And when I watch you, like you said something earlier about making reads, right? So when you watch Tampa, for example, which, by the way, I think they're number one right now. Yes. It goes through Cooch, right? So Cooch gets the puck. So Cooch gets the puck. So the other four guys know it's going to go to Cooch, right? So Cooch gets the puck. So Cooch gets the puck.

So the other four guys know it's going to go to Cooch, unless there's some sort of crazy breakdown. So he's getting it, and you see right away that Stamkos and Point are in their positions instantly. And they've had to change the goal line guy. They've had a bunch of goal line guys, and they're still number one. So they know it's Nick Paul right now, and he's doing a great job so and they just go through their reads they really do and obviously they got a guy in stammer that can hammer it which is fantastic but everybody

has a guy that can one-time it toronto's got austin matthews he's a pretty good shooter right and when you look at tampa victor headman's left-handed So their power play is number one, and it's still not optimal. If he was right-handed, they'd be even better. But they still, there are five guys that go out there. They know what they're doing. And, you know, the best example is when you think about a good quarterback in football, every single play, there's four choices. It's up to him to make the right choice. And they make the read.

And the very next play, he gets the ball again. So I'm not a fan of it not going through one guy. I like it going through one guy all the time. So I know like in sports, everything is kind of, we've taken the uniqueness out of the game and that everything gets optimized to this crazy degree. We're at a point where everyone uses a 1-3-1. Is it just simply the most efficient way to go about it,

or is it a lack of creativity around the league? Well, I mean, it depends who you talk to, but once again, it's coaching. Yeah. Right? Everybody has good players on their team. They do. Sometimes the sticks don't match. That's a tough subject.

But the 1-3-1, to me, you need the guy in the middle, on their team. They do. Sometimes the sticks don't match. That's a tough subject. But the 1-3-1, to me, you need the guy in the middle, which is Braden Point, where he's the cheese, right? And he's very good there. And they can find him when the penalty killers fall asleep. And if they're on top of Braden Point, that

allows Hedman and Stamkos to be a little closer to the goalie, right? So the guy in the middle, to me, is vital. You know, and some teams don't keep a guy there, which I think is a mistake, personally. Kucherov, for me, is one of the best I've ever seen. You can't read him. There's some guys that look like billboards.

And then there's this guy where you don't know whether or not he's going to shoot or pass. And to me, that's the number one reason why I think it's so successful is to your point. Not only does it go through him, but it goes through him with the best poker face out there. Yeah, and when you think about it, when it's going through one guy, so he's the quarterback, he gets to practice his reads every single day. Right. So there's going to be a night,

maybe you're a little off, but if tomorrow night you get four power plays and you're getting the puck over there, 30, 40 times, you're going to make some good decisions too. Right. And he's a guy that practices it. And I honestly,

he's, I think he's actually taken a step up this year. I think he's playing better hockey this year. You know, I get to watch him a lot. So he's been fantastic. Yeah, fantastic. So are we going to see you around the All-Star weekend? Or are you basking in 80-degree weather right now?

It's not quite 80, but it's pretty close. I was actually just home in Toronto. Went to a couple junior games. Went through Boston and Toronto. and I just got back here actually so I'm not coming to the game but I'll be watching for sure we really appreciate you making time for us today Otzi always a pleasure having you

thanks so much my pleasure guys always that's Adam Oates Hall of Famer and one of the best passers in the history of the game. 15 clients? He would eat up that passing skills competition this weekend. You know, it's funny.

I asked him, you're the guy who teach Kuznetsov that move or whatever, and he goes, he's been doing it for a long time, hasn't he? And he left it hanging. I quick Googled Oates kuznetsov and he obviously coached him yeah the start of his career and it it's a lot of like oats trying not to get too excited about kuznetsov's development like clearly this man has been kuznetsov's here i uh ozzy coach is my least favorite thing ever what's that well you guys are talking about the shootouts yeah like the slow and the methodical and he's he's obviously coached yeah i've heard go out just shoot it in rip it that's where key coaching fast you can't rip it

just shoot it i with the hand in this thing yeah i've played with the same six guys for 10 years couldn't tell you i'm actually shocked you seem like a guy who would know everyone's yeah i got nothing couldn't tell my line mates of mine I wouldn't have known for a week. Buddy Ward-Lobby, he shoots right because he plays in the right wing. I play in the left wing. That's it. That's all I know. If you brought up a name to me, the first pictures in my head is them holding a hockey stick.

Yeah, like I guess me too, but I don't know which way. I'm like dyslexic about this. You've got them all doing the Ken Dryden lean. Right in the middle. They're all just using Bobby Orr's stick. But he said, like, oh, I bet Gretz remembers every point he ever had. I remember every point I ever had, and I know I had a tenth of Gretzky's points.

But, like, I remember that stuff. But handedness and tape color to me. But I don't even know what I had for breakfast today, but I can remember a guy shooting a certain way. Hey, Jay's made a big signing today. Justin Turner. Justin Turner. It's good.

He's gritty a little bit. He's gritty. He's 40. Here's the thing. But it was baseball. Everybody's down on. 40 is like 30. Jay's fans. 40 is like 40, pal. There's no way around it. baseball everybody's down on 40s like 30 jay's fans like 40 pal

there's no way around he's a late bloomer he started getting good in his 30s he bounced around before so in five years he's gonna be great no but he's he's been really good nlcs mvp like he's really good player is everybody excited about this no blue jayland people are pissed listen the otani thing really scorned people i saw my boy stoughton said something about like three straight years of decline he made some sort of joke yeah it's like doesn't sound like turner's been getting better but here's the thing the most notable thing to me is i looked at his splits today and with two outs and runners in scoring position he had an over a thousand ops and the jays have been horrific in 60 plate appearances

he mashes lefties bo bichette called him out by name to blair and barker last year's last week saying that he was the guy that they'd like to sign turner and jd martinez martinez and he can only get a one-year deal yeah that's kind of how baseball is going these days like unless you're like one of the super duper stars the olds man you can't get the i'm going on the record right now that people that are hating on Justin Turner, he is going to be a fan favorite by July. He's going to be hitting third in the order. He's going to be one of the most important guys.

I'm saying it right now. Wow. All right. There you go. That's great. Hey, you know what? Dig in. I'm not usually positive about this kind of stuff, and I am extremely excited about it.

There we go. Good. Let's get to the order. Okay. Positive news. Yeah. Are you going to do game time or are we going to go to break? We'll go to break.

We'll do game time in the second hour. All right. Plenty more on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Do not go away. That is an order. Teeing up the biggest games of the night. It's the Fan Pre Game with Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. Weekdays at 6 p.m. on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcasts. podcast welcome back into the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin bourne sammy

mckee what are you working on sammy talk to me producing uh just uh sometimes i do forget that i do produce it so i'm just uh we're figuring some things out here, but we're going to get Yorkie here shortly having some zoom issues. All right. Hold tight. Turn it. Microphone. Your microphone is off.

You didn't hear any. None of that was hard. Okay. Try this again. I can't believe we didn't mention Sam's beautiful haircut today. Thank you. Uh, shout out my girl, Anna. Great job.

Love her. Wouldn't trade her for the world. Kipper doesn't like it. does that part-time oh that's a really good line you know what's her real job but she actually oh you're funny you're pretty funny oh boy just one game on tap last night i did not catch the first portion of the game the going down three nothing-0 for the Ottawa Senators against Nashville. I had bet on it. I caught the rest of the game, and it looked good from the Ottawa side. Dude, Ottawa was a powerhouse for two periods,

the second and third period. They dominated, eh? Yes. Wow. I was watching Saros like, this guy's good. Yeah, you know, Saros did everything he could to make this thing close. Wow. I was watching Soros like, this guy's good. Yeah. You know, Soros did everything he could to make this thing close. Yeah. I'm of the mind that Ottawa is going to win a lot of games between now and mid-April.

Yeah. I can't quit them. I can't quit them. It won't be enough to take them anywhere. It'll just take them out of a good draft spot is what it's going to do. The damage has been done. And it's going to make people go, boy, should we keep Martin? Oh, boy. Because they are true

talent. That to me bothers me because we've seen over the course of the last 10 or 15 years where once the season's over and the pressure's off, they all start having a great February and early march and i'm calling that it's gonna happen i'm gonna bet them all the way home maybe it's already

started well i think it possibly could they're still in last actually they're tied for second last in the eastern conference at this point but yeah at this point you're kind of playing for next year but you know they had a tough start with there's a baseball thing where it's like september yeah there's been a lot of fans who have been tricked by september's yes where it's like they're out of it they have some september call-ups but like everything went wrong to start the year right like right out of the gates you had the shane pinto situation like the ann lauer start everyone got all excited pinto situation happens you can't get a save for two months to start things off just seemed so long to to close out the sale it just seemed like it was just it just didn't get

off to a great start you know the coaching higher fire thing was like is it gonna happen if and larry didn't want to go in and make waves right away obviously you can't blame a new owner for that but like probably if you're gonna do do it, it should happen sooner. It just was a clumsy start, but there's still a lot of talent on that roster. They would have hoped that Pierre Dorian could have held on as long as he could, right? The idea wasn't they were going to get rid of Pierre Dorian. They would have done it right away. They did not want to do that this year.

At least that's my opinion. I don't know that as inside information or fact. Maybe Jason York does. Let's bring him in now. One thing about Pierre Dorian. Pierre Dorian is very loyal. I've been dropping a while. I love it. Co-host of Coming In Hot Descends podcast.

How are you, Yorkie? I'm good, Kipper. By the way, I did not name that podcast Coming In Hot. I like the name. I don't mind it at all. did not name that podcast Coming In Hot. I like the name. I don't mind it at all. I like saying it. Coming In Hot.

Hey. That's Bobby Ryan's. When Bobby came into Ottawa, I believe he said he was coming in hot when they announced he was coming into town. So that's Bob's catchphrase. So we'll get into, I don't know where to start here. Do we start just on what we just said, or do we go into the nuts and bolts of last night?

I'll let you pick, Yorkie. What did you see last night? Because it kind of felt like, oh, just another one of those Ottawa games where they're just, they have no interest to look like a hockey team. And then, then they show all this new hope that they can be a good hockey club. You know, I was listening to you guys talk there and the one thing that Thales and Anlauer

wanted to bring to this team was some calmness, some stability, and some quiet. You guys kind of went through the checklist of what's happened with this team since basically Michael Adler has bought it. Like, I don't know what else can go wrong. You get one of your best young players to get the gambling, 41 games. You lose the first round pick.

You guys went, but it's just, it's been chaos. So I just, to me, that's the big reason why Jacques Martin was an obvious guy to come in. He's a calm guy. He's, and I think the players are starting to buy into what Jacques is selling. And that's just, you don't always have to outscore teams. You don't always have to try and outskill teams. Sometimes you just got to stick with it.

And that's kind of how they won that game last night. They didn't actually have a bad start. Tough first goal off a partition bouncing from the net. But I like what they did after that. They didn't really get rattled. They didn't go away from what they need to do to be successful. And that's just to play smart defensively. And to me, it's a good sign.

It's a good sign of something for a team where there hasn't been a lot of good signs this year. They've been very inconsistent. But to me, Kipper and Barney, show me a good team and I'll show you a good goalie. Their goaltending has been so inconsistent this year. Korpisalo came in last night after getting pulled the game before. I think he led him 4-4 the game before. So if he can find a way to somehow get back to playing like the goalie that people thought that he was going to be when he came to

town then i think you're going to see the auto center is playing a lot better but they number one they have to get better goaltending or you're going to continue to see this team struggle well and part of the challenge now is you know it seems like this is not going to be a playoff year i don't think i'm out on a limb making that statement Is assessing why they got to the point that they're at now. And if it is all these sort of convoluted weird things that happened at the start of the year, like, is there still a good team here? And if that's the case,

someone had mentioned like Chris Tanev to Ottawa. Like, what is Ottawa's plan going into next season? Is it that we need to blow this up? Or is it maybe that this team was okay and needs adding? Yeah. You know what I think, Marty? I think people just over valued of where Ottawa is at their growing process.

If you look at their center ace position and you look at games played and experience in the league, I'll start with Tim Stutzla. He just turned 22. Then I'll go with Tim Stutzla. He just turned 22. Then I'll go to Josh Norris, who's played not even two full seasons in his career because of injuries. Then you get down to Ridley Gregg, who are both, like, they're super green. So if you look at good

teams, usually there's some veteran presence down the middle, some guys that understand how to play a 200-foot game. I just don't think Ottawa's there yet. And that's part of the reason a guy like Jacques Martin, he's going to hopefully come in and teach these guys how to play on top of the puck, how to have better sticks, how to get in shooting lanes, how to block shots. Because before, Ottawa was just a team that kind of cheated offensively. They were really exciting, lots of good pieces, but they didn't play properly. And, you know, Kip, where you play in the NHL, like, look at really good teams.

Really good teams obviously have good goaltending, good D, but they have experience down the middle. And you just – for me, I'm guilty of it too, fellas. I just – I forgot how young this team was down the middle. And I don't know, there's no thing you can do to get experience besides playing games. And I just think Ottawa has to go through some growing pains. And I just think a lot of people were just early on where they thought

the Senators were going to be this year. And listen, the goalies have been atrocious too. That doesn't help. But, you know, I just think they're a little bit away from where people thought they actually were. So, York, where is the link between Chris Tanev and a team destined to miss the playoffs this year? You got three left-handed defensemen

that can't play on the right side. Uh-oh. You've got Shabbat, you've got Chickard, and you've got Sanderson. In a perfect world last year, Pierre Dorian, what a brawl. And I like Jake Chickard as a player. I think he's really good. He's got lots of talent. But you've got three guys that are pretty similar in styles of play,

puck-moving, skiing-type defensemen. And their only really solid right shot defenseman back there is Artem Zub. After Zub, there's really, like, Dockers, a rookie, Hamannik, who knows what's going to happen with him. They really need a right shot D back there.

And, yeah, get in line. Don't all teams NHL, but Ottawa in particular because they're overstacked on the left side. And I'm a big believer in righty-lefty guys. I don't know about youL, but Ottawa in particular because they're overstacked on the left side. And I'm a big believer in righty-lefty guys. I don't know about you guys, but that's something that they need desperately, and it's because you've got a bunch of guys that are left-handed that

struggle playing on the right side. Where are they up front with Brady Kachuk? You know, he is watching that game last night, like, willing this team to offense and seems to you know be involved in everything they do on that side of the puck you know is he at the point where he's a legit superstar in this league or is he still got steps to go to help make this team a you know

legit playoff contender you know he's i i think he's a legit i'm not he legit – he's not like a guy like a McDavid or a Dreyfus or a Matthews. He's a throwback. He's basically his dad. He plays just like Kip Reynolds. He plays just like Keith. Was Keith this reckless? Oh, Keith was a truck.

Brady's just all over the map. No, Keith was a truck. Brady's just all over the map. No, Keith was a power truck. Yeah, like Keith. But Keith played in an era where you had Twister, you had Kelly Chase, you had Proby running around. Those guys don't exist anymore. So that's why Brady just really stands out in today's era because now he's one of the toughest guys too.

But Keith was really tough too. It's just back when little Kipper. Kipper had to fight all those guys he'll tell you there was that was a different era back then and now brady just kind of stands out because he's big he's strong and he's basically his dad playing in 2024 that's what he is and he's a really good player that's hard to play against and like good luck moving him in front of the and he's a really good player that's hard to play against. And, like, good luck moving him in front of the net. He's – but he's not a – he's not a – he has skill, but it's a different kind of skill. It's, like, in tough areas, being hard on your stick, finishing hits.

But basically, yeah, go back and watch some videos of Keith Kachuk. That's Brady Kachuk. The other thing, too, is, again, to your point about how young these guys are, and I got no problem with Brady being a captain, but it's a learning curve for him.

And there is, he's just going to have to continue to mature into that role is the best way I can describe it, Yorkie. Yeah. Yeah, no. And You know what's been a really big help for him, guys, is Claude Giroux.

Giroux has been, I would say, Ottawa's best player this year. He's been that good. Oh, my God. You should watch Giroux. When they have to win an important draw in the PK, Giroux's out there taking that draw.

Leighton Games protecting the league, you need a goal. For a guy that's on the back nine of his career, I've been so impressed. He's the guy that's going to help Brady with the leadership. He's quiet, but that guy doesn't cheat the game. He doesn't cheat the game.

He's untradeable. You can't... That's something that that's something they just don't have a lot of guys um like i saw i watched the game last night and justin williams uh did a really nice segment on claude geroux and he basically said they don't have enough players like that and that's kind of where they are where they're at older guys that understand what it takes to be in the league to be successful game in and game out don't cheat good pros ottawa

needs more of those guys so yeah sure come trade deadline fellas you get a boatload for him but you can't trade him because i just think he's so important for the culture that you're trying to create the one thing i will say or you or get your thoughts on, Yorkie, is that he does have $6.5 million left on a contract for next year. So that in itself might be a challenge if you want to move him. But did he pick Ottawa? Did he come home to retire? And with it may come the thought that he will never win a Stanley Cup. Like, where is that in the equation?

So, I am led to believe that this team is going to restock here over the offseason. That they're not going to go into rebuild mode. They feel that if they make a few changes, they can get into the playoffs. To me, that's going to be bringing in probably a veteran center, bringing in a right shot D. I don't know what they're going to do with the goal to hopefully Corpus Callum plays better the rest of the year.

But I don't know. I don't see Claude wanting see clone wanting to leave maybe i'm wrong um he just seems like i get what you're saying kipper because you're gonna get to that age right especially guys that have a burning inside they want to win yeah um not being inside his head i don't know the answer to that. But I do know that Ottawa is going to try and retool on the run here and try and make at least a run to make the playoffs next year.

Just one more for me before we let you go and just kind of swing it back to Jacob Chikrin. He got traded out of Arizona and it was supposed to put the end to the question on where you're going to get traded every day in Arizona. And really, he's right back to where he was in Arizona,

having to deal with us on a daily basis here. And you get the sense of frustration from him for sure. Where is this going to end for him? On another team? Or is he in Ottawa to stay? It's a great question, Kipper. And like I said, there's a little bit of an issue with the righty-lefty situation going on. And you have a lot of the same thing.

Like even Zub. Zub's a similar player to those three guys. None of them were bangers. None of them were really defensive specialists. They're puck-moving, smart defensemen. They need a younger Chris Tanna. That's what they need, a guy that's got a few less miles on the odometer. So with Shepard, I don't know.

To me, it's tough. You're going to move out a guy that's a top 4D? Well, you better get one in return because then all of a sudden, you're looking for another top 4D. So if they're going to do that, Kipper, you've got to have someone coming back. And I don't know. When's the last time you thought you'd give a defense when you get one in return? It's so tough to do.

But he played really well last night. He had a really good game. I would be hesitant to trade him. I really would. Yorkie, great stuff, man. Enjoy the All-Star weekend, okay? Yeah, I'll be coming down, guys. We've got the podcast setting up for a couple days.

Come find me. Let's hook up for an old-fashioned. Come find us. Sounds good, Yorkie. Thanks, man. See you, fellas. Jason York, co-host of, man. See you, fellas. Jason York, co-host of Coming in Hot, The Sense Podcast.

Yeah. Just a quick word here. The NHL's transformation of Toronto for the 2024 NHL All-Star Game this year includes the NHL Fan Fair, which we'll be at.

A four-day family-friendly event from February 1st to 4th with interactive hockey games, special appearances by NHL players and much more. Visit Rogers and Sportsnet at the fan fair to win awesome hockey prizes. Have your photo taken at their Sportsnet broadcast desk. Test the speed of your slap shot with the Rogers hardest shot skills competition.

And if you haven't already, be sure to secure your tickets at NHL.com slash fan fair while supplies last. And the downside of that is you have to see us have uh that'll be great have you ever taken a shot on the on the radar gun no it would be really eye-opening for a lot of beer league players my my my backhand would be faster than my forehand no question jacob question. Jacob Chikrin hit, I think, 107 in Ottawa. In the skills contest? Yeah.

Yeah. 107. I'm telling you, if you do it, your shot's going to be like 70, 65. It was impressive. I think, yeah. I was going to say, that's high for me. I don't know. Anyways, I guess we got to go. All right.

Plenty more still to come on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. We welcome in Frank Cervalli, who will give us the latest of what's out there. Our thanks to, again, Jason York and Hall of Famer Adam Oates. Plenty more to come on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Do not go away. We'll see you next time.