Real Kyper & Bourne - NHL's Bottom Line with Brian Lawton

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the second hour with a chat about the quality of the Wild Card race in the East and Lukas Raymond's heroics for Detroit last night. They are joined by former player, agent and GM Brian Lawton (6:45), who shares his thoughts on the race, which of the contending teams could steal a round if they sneak in and if the NHL would or should consider a play-in format. Then, he weighs in on the Coyotes' move and why it never worked out in Arizona. Finally, they regroup with Sam for news & notes - McDavid hits the 100-assist mark, Hart Trophy picks and Bruins commentator Jack Edwards announces his retirement.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.

we're live on sports net sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary it's the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 in a few minutes welcome in brian lot, former NHL player, agent, general manager, broadcaster. Not much he hasn't done. Help us tee up what should be a very interesting night in the National Hockey League, particularly in the Eastern Conference. So, Kipper.

Yes, Sammy. Would you like to rescind all your comments? On? About how bad this race is? Well, because they've got the interpretation of bad for you well i think it's gone as good as they could possibly imagine a playoff race going like if gary betman could draw this up to have all these teams that are super relevant markets. Pittsburgh, you know, you have Pittsburgh. So you have Ovi and Sid chasing with Washington. You won't get an argument out of me.

Flyers, historic franchise. You get all of that. Red Wings. What I don't get is that there's some nights when it was just god-awful hockey to watch. I mean, I can't dispute that. I mean, they are racing to get to 89 or 90 points. I know.

You know, so it has been a race by definition. Yeah, and it's like three teams are going to kick themselves for giving it away. Yeah. That's the difference, Sammy. If you have a race where everybody's playing well and you've got, you know, one more win than the other team and you gave it everything you got. And you're like, but there are teams that are going to be looking at themselves in the mirror

going, how bad were we? We couldn't win an 89, 90 point playoff spot. It's the perfect golf analogy where you want to see someone birdie 18 to win a tournament, not bogey it, to give it away to the other guy. And we got a bunch of guys putting for double right now. Someone to roll it in the hole. But yeah, listen,

I, I'm joking though. It is cool that so many big teams are involved. The machinations of what could happen tonight are vast. I'm hoping to hand that off to lots and be like, what's happening? So I think to Sammy's point, and it's a good one, I watched Detroit-Montreal last night, right, with great interest. Two OT wins in a row for the way.

I also thought that Detroit was dead in the water last night. Down 4-2. Only to have Raymond, Lucas Raymond. This guy's a hell of a player, boys. Yeah. He's going to be very special. But that was exciting to watch Detroit win it in overtime. Pittsburgh must have been at home just blowing their brains.

Did you watch Larkin's 2-on-1 there? No. It's a beautiful pass. Saucer. Just beautiful area pass, but he had to make it at a precise time, and he just laid it in there for Raymond to walk right into it. Raymond, over the last five games, here are his point totals. Two, one, four, two, two.

Yeah, he's Crosby-ing them into contention. Yeah. So which one of you two? I know I'm kind of like sometimes looking like a host, but I want nothing to do with explaining the dynamics of tonight. I put it all in there. On who's in and who's out. You're under me, Sammy.

Barney, you're the scholar. Who's going first? You're the scholar. So the Washington Capitals, if they win their hockey game tonight, they win. They're in. They're in the playoffs. That's it. They are playing the.

Do we all understand that? They're playing Philadelphia. They beat Philadelphia. It's over. Capitals are in. All right. But. But.

The Detroit Red Wings. No, no, no, no, no. Stick with Philly here. Let's just focus on Washington and Philly tonight. And let's just kind of play out scenarios on this game. Okay. Okay. The Flyers are technically not out of this.

No. So what do they need to do? They need to win the game in regulation. If they win that game in regulation and then Detroit and Pittsburgh lose, they're in the playoffs. Oh, my God. So it's kind of ironic here that you're playing a team that is going to knock you out if they win,

but you can't go into the third period tied. And you're right. There's a possibility if Washington takes so much as a point, they'll get in. So you could have to pull your goalie in a tie game. Torrance said he will. Oh, he did?

He talked about it today. He said he would pull his goalie in a tie game. Yeah. I mean, you have to. You're trying to get into playoffs. Okay. And what's fascinating is the reason they would get in

if they were to tie this or beat Washington regulation is it would go to the fifth tiebreaker. They would actually end up with the same amount of points as Washington, but it would be tied in regulation wins, tied in regulation overtime wins. The head-to-head series, because they played three times,

you cut the first one off, they'd be tied. And then the fourth one is, I don't know, who's got the most left-handed players. The fifth one is goal differential. And so they would get in on goal differential. That's crazy. I know. But Detroit also plays tonight. Hold on, hold on, hold on.

What would you give yourself sufficient time to pull the goalie? It's tied 2-2. It's got to be a feel, right? Five minutes left. Five minutes to go. You've got to get the goal. You cannot go to overtime. You can't leave that to the last 90 seconds.

You have to do it early. What about if you get a power play with 10 minutes to go and you want to go six and four immediately with 10 minutes to go? Let's go. That's a lot of time. Oh, if you're Mr. Torrance, Mr. Best coach in the league, Mr. Make it about and four with 10 minutes to go. Let's go. That's a lot of time. Oh, if you're Mr. Torts, Mr. Best Coach in the league, Mr. Make it about me, it's time, baby. Let's go.

Get them out of there. So that's a good game. Really good game. The Detroit Red Wings play the Montreal Canadiens tonight. Oh, we got lots. Just finish your thoughts. Just finish your thoughts and we'll throw it to Brian Lawton. All right.

So they need to. Oh, boy. It gets Just finish your thoughts. Okay, just finish your thoughts, and we'll throw it to Brian Lawton. All right, so they need to... Oh, boy. It gets a little tricky with these ones. If, like, the Caps get a point, they need two, but then they'll have the tiebreaker. Just like everyone else, Detroit needs to win. Pittsburgh needs to win. They need other people to lose.

Those two teams need help. Obviously, Philly does, too, in a different way, but... All right, we'll get uh we'll get brian lotten into the mix here former nhl player agent general manager has done it all front of the show let's welcome in lots how are we doing kipper a lot of smoke coming out of these ears trying to figure out uh what what's going to end up happening in the Eastern Conference here. But is this fun for you watching these teams?

We did kind of mention lots that, you know, and JT kind of, JB hit it on the nail here saying that, you know, it's like watching someone trying to win a championship golf round with a bogey. But what do you make of all of this? There has been conversations about that. Who wants it? Who's going to rise up and take it?

You know, we can kind of say the Islanders did that. The Predators did it down the stretch in the West. But for this last spot, it doesn't seem like anybody's kind of reaching out and grabbing the bull by the horns that's for sure do you like any of the teams more than the others between philly detroit pittsburgh and washington is there one there you think could even contend to win a round probably the team you know that's on the outside looking in technically would be pittsburgh

you know i feel like they could get it going. I feel like they can get goaltending. Obviously, they have the star players that have been there. They've got some star guys on the back end that you think could raise their level of play. And they have played better as a team, shored up some of the weaknesses that really hurt them earlier in the year.

But, you know, Washington with their goals against and what's going on there, that's been a challenge. Obviously, Obie's playing a lot better. Philly, that one just seemed to run out of steam for me. Detroit has been a good story. I thought they had it locked down about three weeks ago, a month. That kind of slipped away. Now they're hoping for other events to happen for them to get

in besides what they can do so uh it's the one thing i will say it's been absolutely fascinating it's been interesting to watch um and for that i've enjoyed it just like in the west you know it's not necessarily the drama of this proportion but you know there's still positions to be decided in the west critical positions in terms of who plays who in the first round we're talking to brian lot and former nhl player agent general manager uh broadcaster uh lots you know watching last night uh we had our sports net monday night game featuring detroit and Montreal. And it was electric in there, much like how it's been lately in Pittsburgh, much like it's been in Washington here. The Islanders, the fans, are right into it.

So, you know, outside of the inconsistency of where these teams have arrived to this point, is there an argument now that some of these markets should not be cut off at the knees with, hey, thank you, your season's over, and the NHL eventually moves into a play-in situation where you're inviting four, five more teams into a scenario, a play teams into a scenario, a playoff type of scenario,

and we're just done with the old look? There's definitely an argument for it. I mean, let's be real. It generates more money. The NBA's having some success with it. I don't necessarily see it happening now, but I don't have any proprietary knowledge on that. I just think maybe, you know, we're obviously talking about the Coyotes moving.

But beyond that, if we get a couple expansion teams and all of a sudden there's 34 teams in the NHL, I think there might be some appetite to include more teams in the potential playoffs. And the way to do that obviously is to do it the way the NBA has done it. Have some play in games. Berkey didn't like that suggestion yesterday, the old playing games. They kept where he wasn't happy about it. I'm going to ask you totally. You've heard his take on that. Have you lots? I heard his take on that. I heard his take on salt Lake city.

I thought that was really interesting. You know, the NHL potentially vacating a market like Arizona to go to a much smaller market with a building that I think holds around 11,000. Yeah. Can we get your thoughts on the Arizona situation? And, you know, ultimately, gary betman's decision to do something that many people thought maybe could have happened 10 years ago yeah i mean you know there's been a lot of trials and tribulations i think that arizona's a great

market personally and um you know for any reasons that it didn't work out, it had more to do with wrong location, not the right lease agreement when they the markets in the NHL rely so heavily on the people that manage or own the clubs and are in charge of essentially managing them. We're not where Europe is, where, you know, over in Europe, particularly in football or soccer, as we call it, if you're not all in for your club the community will cancel you they obviously have relegation over there it's different but that's where pro sports is heading in my opinion you're a custodian of these franchises ownership is different over there i think that's the future of eventually what we'll have here and when i look at arizona i can't say with certainty that it had that type of commitment, you know, to ice the best team possible to drive the franchise as far forward as the fans, you know, want to see a commitment of in today's world.

So I'm sitting there today and I'm thinking about Salt Lake City and Houston and Atlanta and Quebec City and Kansas City and Cincinnati and Durham. And I'm just, you know, like wherever they end up putting all these teams. And I had the thought that like, you know, in soccer, which you mentioned, there was a proposed Super League where the six highest earning clubs had conceived of an idea where they would separate and have their own sort of little league, right? If we get to that many teams, is that a far-fetched idea? Cause I'm worried about the quality of competition lots.

I don't think we have enough players to put together a 36 team league with good players, you know, and I can just see some teams saying, why are we doing this? Why are we funding these teams who can't do it themselves uh it's a possibility i don't think we're there yet obviously 36 is still a long way from 32 uh is it possible that we expand in the future everybody knows you know what the the dirty

secret is in that regard and that is that a a billion, really the only it's, it's the only revenue the players don't, you know, in a salary cap world, they don't touch. I've never heard players really complain about that, but it's kind of a Holy grail for, you know, the owners to divvy that money up. So, you know, do I think we'll go to 36 teams? I'm not sure my lifetime. Do I think we'll go to 36 teams? I'm not sure in my lifetime. Do I think we'll go to 34? It sure feels a lot more certain than I would have said three or four years ago.

Is it strictly because of money? No, the NHL announced record attendance this year, just today. It's got a record in their history. So there's a lot of numbers and data and data that supports this growth but when you have situations like this just i look at it and say okay how many is too many now you start absurd should we have 50 teams right and of course people say no we could never have 50 so everybody would agree in the argument there's definitely a number that's too many. I'm just not sure. I definitely don't think it's 34.

Could it be just beyond that? Yes. 36 sounds like a lot, partly because we have relevance to the other leagues who are all roughly around 32 like the NHL is now. Lots. Part of the announcement by the NHL with the attendance record is those outdoor games that you mentioned and it's been a while now uh they've been around a very long time but the appetite

has not gone down for these things and why wouldn't the nhl schedule more of them uh absolutely you know i've covered a lot of these outdoor games when I worked at NHL Network. I've probably done eight to ten of them. You know, they're exciting events. They feel different. They're a little bit of a one-off. They can be somewhat weather dependent. But fans love them.

It's just a novelty of it. You know, fans love their teams, and they love to do anything different. An outdoor game is an opportunity in a big way for the league to capitalize that on that and quite frankly it's been a really good business decision for them they've got it streamlined down where they can put a rink pretty much anywhere we could do one in saudi arabia i think at this point doesn't really matter weather-wise they're so buttoned up on it um so you know do i think it's going to go away anytime soon no i don't i think it's been a good way to continue to introduce new people that will come to a special specialty game every year and it's been a way for the nhl to hit attendance numbers that we never thought were

possible quite frankly so the nhl has had the heritage classic games in canada where we've had a couple of canadian teams go at it. There are four Canadian teams in playoffs this year, which I don't know when the last time we had four Canadian teams, let alone four that have a legitimate shot. I think none of them are wildcard teams. Am I right in saying that? I think none of them are wildcard teams.

So what would that mean for the NHL to have a Canadian team win a Stanley Cup? And I'm not saying, like, wouldn't it be awesome? Like, would they not want that because of viewership in the U.S.? It would be awesome. There's no doubt about it. I love Canada. I've always loved Canada as an American hockey player. But, you know, Canada is where the game started for kids,

certainly that were my age. I'm concerned about Canada now, though, to be honest with you. I'm concerned about canada now though to be honest with you i'm concerned about your dollar and how that affects the business of hockey and uh you know what are we at now 33 34 on the exchange as it goes away it certainly does complicate things i hear a lot of people people screaming about expansion, maybe Salt Lake getting that team. I can understand that. Salt Lake, as Berkey pointed out yesterday, isn't the biggest city. But somebody clearly wanted to pay enough for it.

I don't know anyone in Canada that was offering $1.3 billion for the Coyotes. Maybe someone was. I don't know, but ultimately I'm concerned. You know, when I look at Winnipeg and what's going on there, is it a wake up call? Is Arizona going to Salt Lake city, a wake up call for Winnipeg? I think it is. I think it is. It's not a money issue. Clearly issue clearly I mean David Thompson has all the

money in the world it's not that it's just nobody you know everybody wants to be relevant and the Winnipeg Jets had a fantastic year this year I hope that that has stabilized everything and put it in a great place but I think that's yet to be determined. I was surprised that we heard the turmoil to start with, because I feel like Winnipeg's been pretty well run over the years. Kevin Chevelday has done a nice job. Mark Chipman's been excellent and a steward of that business on the ground. But these are just the realities of professional sports. They're expensive. They're expensive for cities. When I look at the Canadian dollar and where it's at and what's going on, I'm a little nervous about it for Canada because I have such great feelings for the country of Canada

and what it means for hockey. Do you think that the league, the Players Association, they got to revisit the advantages that the states like Florida, Nevada, Arizona have on state taxes and the fact that a guy like Noah Hannafin can sign in Vegas for seven and a half that other teams like in big markets in Canada or New York would have to pay nine? Well, it definitely doesn't hurt the Rangers. So that to me weakens that argument. But yes, in Calgary's case, they could look at that and say,

but we offered more and we didn't get the player. You know, players have a freedom of choice when they do get to that coveted, unrestricted free agency period. Everybody seems to accept they've earned it by the time they get there. We did lighten those rules up significantly from the past. It's no longer 31 than it was when you and I played Kipper. So it's a tough argument. I don't see how you'd ever flatten that out, to be honest with you.

And it's not, you you know really what we're talking about is taxes maybe a little bit of weather do guys want to play in florida i know as general manager of the tampa bay lightning wasn't a hard sell to try to convince free agents to come down there and play hockey great tax situation um great weather you know those are nice communities it's just part of the deal at the end of the day i don't know how to flatten it out i just i i get nervous on a macro standpoint economically when you see you know some of those major changes and how it affects all the teams across canada so looking at the western conference we've talked quite a bit about the east in the early portion of the show uh there is still lots to be unpacked about the west the the canucks can lock up the pacific division the oilers may not catch them um you know what are

your thoughts on on favorites in the west and just how you see sort of the final days of things playing out there uh well watching the last 10 days in the west it's obvious you know people always ask well our team the teams want to play a certain team are they trying to guide their way there it would have been impossible if you had that thought as uh the vegas golden knights or the edmonton oilers or, you know, certainly LA or Nashville. Gee, where would you like to finish? Who would you like to? We don't know.

Yeah. Like, it's crazy. I mean, Edmonton can still win the division. There's enough points available with two games left for them to pass Vancouver. They need Vancouver not to get any more points, essentially. So it just, it is what it is, but it's made it really fascinating i'm certain that uh you know a team like the la kings i think vegas is going to win their last two games

and now they're going to pass them so now la is going to be matched up with nashville and i believe they lose the tiebreaker so you know when look at that, and you'll have to forgive me because I've looked at these things so many times, if that's accurate or not. Looks right. Do you want to play the Dallas Stars? Do you want to play Vancouver? Would you rather play the Edmonton Oilers?

It's been really interesting this year and really fun, quite frankly, to watch. Yeah, and Vegas would have to falter here, but a scenario of Dallas and Vegas playing in the first round going into these last few games is like when we go back to the trade deadline and what both these teams were able to do to stock up here, it's crazy the thought that one of those teams for sure is going home unhappy if they face each other in the first round yeah we never would have thought that was possible especially after the start vegas had now they had a bunch of injuries and looks like players are getting healthy now at the right time

they've got some new players in the door so you know vegas looks to be rounding out right at the right time here they could still be a hundred point team when we thought that would be a lock and then we thought like they might not get there they might miss the playoffs they still could end up there and it could work out favorable for them it just in my opinion isn't very favorable if they end up playing a team like dallas that would be a really tough draw in my opinion for them how do you feel about the winnipeg colorado matchup um you know the nate mckinnon kale mccarr factor everyone looks at the superstars but maybe not as deep as winnipeg maybe you don't like the goaltending as much how what do you see going on in that series yeah i mean that's an interesting one if you ask me off the cuff three months ago even though

winnipeg was playing well i'd say well i still don't think there'd be any match for colorado colorado shifted out some toughness i saw a couple of their games down the stretch here live um that they've lost just a little bit of that element that they all that they always had and uh they're not a big team they've got some big time players that are incredibly exciting they've got some really dominant players that we know can do it in the regular season but when it gets just a little bit heavier a little bit tougher I have after the last game I saw in person for them which was against the wild a game which won easily i i left that game thinking i'm not as high on colorado as i you know lots you know it's funny you mentioned that because i had a conversation with a nhl executive today and uh we were both baffled at casey middlestad for byram and And Casey doesn't come across as a big, strong, heavy,

second-line guy behind Nate McKinnon. Like, he doesn't have cadre-like tendencies here. That one is a little perplexing. No doubt about it. I mean, Bo and Byram went and started great with Buffalo. He slowed down a little bit after that. I know Casey well. I've known him since he was a kid here.

You know, he's a guy that is a very good NHL player now, but he's still really figuring it out what it means to be an elite NHL player. So there is a lot riding on him. Obviously, they were able to shore up with Sean Walker on the back end, and they felt good about that, at least from some of the folks I talked to in Colorado. Even though they know Bowen Byram has this tremendous upside, they want to win now, and they felt like that was a positive, but it all hinges on Casey, like you're saying, in my opinion, Kipper. And, you know, for a guy who got there in the first real words we heard out of his mouth,

as men, they practice really hard here. They'd be a little nervous. Well, maybe that's a little bit of a shot to the Buffalo Sabres and the fact that they fired head coach Don Granato. Just lots, I mean, Kevin Adams couldn't wait to the weekend when the whole season's over. He had to do this today. It seems strange to me.

I reached out to Tony today by chance. I'm very good friends with Donnie and Tony. And our thoughts and prayers continue to be with Tony. He's traveling for some of his challenges in life. But, you know, it seemed odd. It just seemed odd. Like you said, generally, you know, we have Black Monday and football.

We don't really have that in the NHL, but we have black at the end of the season as in it's over. So, you know, that's generally when these types of things have happened. It's personal when they do it that quick. Yes, it does. And it's not necessary in this business. There's one thing I've learned throughout my experience, you know, just in business, and mostly with the NHL and different circumstances. But, you know, you want to remove the emotionalism from it.

I know it's been a rough go for Buffalo. It's been a very, very long time. It's starting to sound like a fable to our children since they were in the playoffs. But the reality is that Buffalo made huge strides this year. They're making good progress. They're going to get there. It's just really competitive now, and there's a lot more teams. It's not the 21 team we played in, except for when we were younger.

That's all. Sometimes I wish it was. Well, it was a very happy time because 16 out of 21 teams made the playoffs that's right great stuff man really appreciate your time thanks for doing this we'll see you in the playoffs thanks Lott appreciate it

that was Brian Lott yeah the Granada thing was interesting interesting like I get it a lot of pain there in terms of you know how many consecutive years is that now 13 The Tornado thing was interesting. Interesting. Like, I get it. If you're going to do it, just do it. There's a lot of pain there in terms of, you know, how many consecutive years is that now? 13.

13. God, that's a long time. That's a long time. At least fans are like, yeah, we can't get another first round. Well, you just did, and you've made playoffs these three years. You just mentioned something there about when you were playing, lots of playing, 21 teams. Can you imagine what the league would look like now if there was 21 teams?

The talent. Be an all-star show. Can you imagine? Yeah. I'm not to discredit the time when you played. Oh, no. Like, the development over the course of the 25 years in terms of what these guys are able to do now.

It's all sports, right? The bottom end is better. The equipment, all of it. It's just, to your point, yeah, the selection of guys that will play on the third or fourth line that are first liners right now on non-contending teams, it'd be a scary league. I know we're going to talk about David getting to 100 assists

after the break or whatever, but that Sharks team, can we just chop them off? I've said before that you can tear it down, but you shouldn't do what they've done. Can we just chop them off? So bad last night watching that. Embarrassing. They don't want to be there.

People paid money to do it. Just feel the punt at the points. No wonder David wanted to come back. He's like, yeah, I'll pay them. Yeah, I'm ready. He's like, whatever, I'm, at least feel the pump at the points. No wonder Matt, or David wanted to come back. He's like, yeah, yeah, I'll play that. Yeah, yeah, I'm ready. Yeah, he's like, oh, whatever. I'm starting to feel a little better. Maybe I'll get my 100 assists against them.

Automatic cookie night. Yeah. Let's do a break, and then we'll come back and do game time after the break. How's that sound? All right. All right. And, of course, we've got your game time, as you just mentioned, plus the conversation on Connor McDavid reaching 100.

And where do we go from here in the last few games? Before we go to break, I just don't recall an MVP having this much to talk about between three or four guys. I think it's great. Yeah. But man, oh man, is it putting some pressure on a lot of guys voting right now and the fact that you guys expose who you pick right now has made it uh rather fascinating can you would you do your picks on the show yeah for sure but i don't think i can reveal i can say definitively like elliot puts out an article and it's like here are the

guys i'm choosing among yes among these three guys or whatever so i out an article and it's like, here are the guys I'm choosing among. I'm considering. Yes, among these three guys or whatever. So I don't know until it's revealed if I can. I'll look into that for you. Like the voting police will come and get you? Yeah, they'll take my vote, pal. I value this.

Can I reveal my heart ballot? Let's have it. No, after the break. Okay. See that? It's a tease. It's a tease where we might not remember. We're probably the worst at teases. We're really good at peeing okay we're back with that more when we return to real care for inborn

get smarter when you listen to hockey talk the hockey pdo cast with dimitri filipovich subscribe and download the show on apple Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.'ll do game time. Oh, we'll go to break. Okay, and then we'll follow up our conversation. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds to find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365. Must be 19+.

Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, we're going to test the theory tonight. The Boston Bruins are minus 220 on home ice against the Ottawa Senators. Oh, boy. The Ottawa Senators. The hungry Ottawa Senators. Oh, boy. The Ottawa Senators. The hungry Ottawa Senators.

Oh, they're hungry. Looking to prove that they're going to be great next year. They weren't hungry the other night, were they? Florida? No, they're not hungry. No, they're 6-0? I'm hungry, actually. Plus 180.

This is testing the theory that the Boston Bru bruins are desperate to face the toronto maple east and avoid the tampa bay light i actually think the tampa bay part of this is bigger than the leaf part of it i think nobody wants tampa yeah and i think they're like well if we're picking the lesser of two evils here we'll pick the team that has the famous you know playoff woes and all that stuff and avoid the avoid the, you know, annual stud guys who are great at every year in the playoffs. So that's more of it to me, but I'm going to take the Ottawa Senators tonight,

plus 180 over the Boston Bruins and test the theory. Both on back-to-backs, Boston could conceivably be arresting some people, thinking they're okay, and don't care if they lose. Yep. And to go even further. Actually, I like it.

I like this pick. To go even further, the lose off. The Toronto Maple Leafs are, you get a very rare opportunity to get the Toronto Maple Leafs as a big time underdog. So if you parlay the Toronto Maple Leafs to win, and it's going to quickly log in. Okay. Why would anyone think Toronto's going to win tonight?

Well, because if Florida, they want to lose too. No, Florida needs to. Oh, I see, I see, I see, I see. So they're going to try to lose. And the Bruins are going to try to lose. To keep the Leafs. Yes. That's what's happening here?

That parlay is plus 5.58. You're like a mad scientist right now. I'm cooking, boys. I'm cooking. Ottawa Senators and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Plus 5.58. Back to the future. Alright, if we come in here tomorrow

and this is completely wrong, you guys can make fun of me and you probably will. Hold on. You're not about to end game time, are you? No. Okay, good. Why? Well, because there's some big hockey games tonight. Okay. So hold on for a second.

I can't remember the pinhole hat. Boston's absolutely petrified of Victor Hedman and Darren Radish as the number one pair. Nick Purbix. Nick Purbix. I think they're more afraid of the big, scary, tall guy that wears 88. Who's playing the best he's played all year and looks like he's back. I think they're more afraid of that than they are.

The goalie. Oh. Vasilevski. I was like, Kuch is 86. Ah. Yeah. Yeah. The guy that has the crazy eyes.

Heard of him. Yeah. So. He's been, okay, okay. You know? Maybe something to it. I mean, what would you rather go up against? Samsonov and Wall-ish?

Or Vasilevsky? Come on. His point is not without merit. The last one. It's incredibly valid. The last one resonated. So, Samsonov. The last comment about Vasilevsky versus...

My try to lose parlay. It's not a great name, but it's plus 558 for the Sens and the Leafs tonight. So, there you go. Red Wings obviously need it tonight, big time. They're minus 200, not a ton of value on them. If you're looking at that Flyers-Caps game, the Flyers are actually pretty big favorites. They're minus 130.

Yeah. Caps plus 110 on the road. And the last, oh yeah, the Penguins don't play tonight so they just have to watch potentially watch their season down without being able to control it so those are the one here's one for you what's the over under in philly washington i think you're gonna get playoff oh one nothing defense yeah like i think it'll be a really low scoring if you want to pick the under in that game the total is five and a half it's plus 100 it's pretty low five and a half five and a half so they're on there they're kind of sniffing out what you're sniffing as well.

It's like they've watched hockey before. Yep. So that was my game time. And that's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds. Find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Last night, the Oilers, as we mentioned, just ran over a supposedly NHL team called the San Jose Sharks. Yeah. Relegate. Before you do this, do you want his MVP ballot? Well, we're going to mention McDavid's 100 assists last night. And very comparable to Austin hitting 70 or even, in fact, greater, the same. Where do you have 100 assists compared to 70 goals? Because it kind of leads us into an MVP.

You know, they've happened. Like, the amount of seasons of 100 assists and seasons of 70 goals are pretty comparable, all told. The fact that there's another guy with 100 assists this year maybe puts it a little bit secondary to 70, where he's 15 goals ahead of the next guy. But it's obviously, I'm not trying to take away from, it's insane.

Like, no one has done it in forever. Gretzky did it 11 times, and then basically no one else. 11. Think about that for a second. I think there's been 13 total seasons, Like, no one has done it in forever. Gretzky did it 11 times and then basically no one else. 11. Lemieux and Orr. Think about that for a second. Yeah. I think there's been 13 total seasons, 11 are Gretzky's. Think about that.

11 times. 11. Yeah. Is obscene. Who did he most prop up? Gretz? Yeah. Like, what player is like...

Curry. Yeah. You think statistically Curry is half the numbers playing with you instead of gretzky yeah i'm sure he was probably was a great finisher though of course yeah yeah finisher finisher but i listen hundred assists i to me that's just a golf lap i mean that's but like come back against the sharks to get it it. Yeah. And why wouldn't you? Ever got to play the Sharks three times this year. He should be no different.

You know who I wish the Leafs were playing tonight? The Sharks. Yeah. Would have really liked that. That would be nice. Not the best defensive team in the league for your boy. Yeah. I mean, you guys, did you watch any of the games that he didn't play in?

Yeah. Yeah. So why isn't he MVP? Do you just think they look that much different to you yeah and i think i think they want they won with him a couple times just to me that's like not a you know it's an above 500 squad yeah but they're they're in the fight for a playoff spot without him and i know it's a very easy thing to say like he's the best guy in the world yeah take the best guy in the world off whatever team he's on it's they're worse but to me i think we can say that for five guys i think he's mvp yeah in tampa

bay they missed the playoffs without him do they not oh yeah i mean they're in playoffs by a handful of points yeah this was a team that was teetering on missing too like we kind of wrote them off yeah december yeah there was a point there where we had punted. We're like, no. Maybe I didn't. I think you guys did. No, I think a lot of us were there. Did we all?

Oh, my God, boys. I talked about it. I screamed it from the rooftops. I said, they're done. They're done. They're not coming back. I also said the Oilers were done. Yeah.

Yeah, so not a lot of great takes coming from me. So who is your MVP? I think it should be McDavid. He's the best player in the league. I it should be McDavid. He's the best player in the league. I love that argument. Great. He's the best player. That's a fine vote. He's the best player in the league. He's got 100 assists in 75

games he's played. 32 goals to match up. Best player in the league. The team kind of stinks without him. He's just really great. And I think if I, like I said, if I had a vote, I'd vote him every year. I think Matthews deserves to be in the conversation. i see a lot of people saying that like he's not on the having a season as impressive as all these guys because he doesn't have these massive point totals i think he's right there like i i truly believe that but if i really had to put it out there i

just i would vote for mcdavid every year because he's just that good i don't go ahead cap no you go i don't know if you saw my Twitter, my tweet today. I did not. I had a, I don't know, thousand word tweet, single tweet today on, you know, how I vote for the Hart Trophy. And whatever people choose, however they choose to define it, I'm okay. We have 200 plus voters because we all look at it differently. We accumulate the votes and we'll get it right between 200 people. So I'm fine with

that vote i think it's so close it's really gonna come down to what's your favorite uniform no i'm serious i'm serious you you can sit there and you can analyze all your not crunch whatever numbers you want no one's gonna crap all over you because you went McDavid and you went Kucherov and you went Nate. No, you can make a case for any of the four guys. Exactly. So what is it? What's the best narrative award?

I'm telling you, Kucherov's going to lose it because maybe his all-star appearance. It just maybe rubbed somebody the wrong way. That's it. Have you met some of these voters? No. I'm going to be very careful. I've met a lot of them.

Yes, they're all very nice people, and I love them all. I voted with them for many years before. Yeah. Come on. The comments of Nick Kipriel should not reflect Justin Borden and Sam McKean. Do you really think they're breaking this? His pin pad doesn't work on the door anymore. Do you really think they're breaking this? His pin pad doesn't, his coat doesn't work on the door anymore. Do you really think they're breaking it down to a science here?

I do, yeah. Again, I put my all into this. Borden is an incredibly detailed oriented guy. I know, and at the end of the day, it may come down to his favorite uniform too. No, that's so wrong. I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I try to pick who's had the best season. And you don't know who has the best season. i don't know it doesn't matter to me i try to pick who's had the best season

and you don't know who has the best season you don't you're clueless on that i try to have as much information as possible you try to look as important as the implication where we go it's too close it's too close it's close enough that you make a case for a bunch of guys the reason i would vote mcdavid is because everyone would be like oh what was your rationale like well i just think he's the best player and i think he means the most to his team i think he's the best player he's the best player now with 20 30 points less yeah but he's where is where are we talking about sid crosby here why is no one mentioning sid crosby people are mentioning him no but he's dead not Not like the other ones.

And it's going to be fifth place for him. You don't want him. You don't want Matthews to have it because he's 30 points behind. Crosby's 50 points behind. That's why he's not coming up as much anyway. I mean, he's in the conversation. We're mesmerized by numbers, man. We want the highest numbers.

We don't give anybody any attention because we are in a number-driven world right now. You like the eye test? You like the eye test. Well, that's exactly what you're talking about. You like a jersey better. You go, I don't know. Like his style better, whatever it is. I don't even, what do you want,

what are you going for? Like, you're right. I'm saying it really doesn't, I'm with that goalie there that said we're all going to be dead. We're all going to be dead. It doesn't really matter. It doesn't really matter. That I can live with.

That's what I'm down to. Yes. And 10 years from now, when we all tell people who we voted for, and Sam McKee says, I voted for Connor McDavid. Everyone will go, of course he did. He's the best player of the time. He's in his prime. It would work.

I also have a proposal to make MVP and stats a lot more meaningful. Get rid of secondary assists. I think it should be the first assist. Yeah, that does your boy Matthews a big favor. Well, I'm looking at the leaders in secondary assists. My boy McDavid is second in the league. McKinnon is third in the league. And Kucherov is fourth in the league.

Matthews is 1,000th. I mean, he doesn't have that many assists anyway. I mean, how many secondary goals does Matthews have? Oh, wait, he shoots them all in the night. Wait, what? Let's have artificial intelligence pick it. I love that idea. Let's not even play the games.

Let's just run computer simulations of the games. Oh, my God. Now we're talking. Having said all that, I think the actual order will probably go McKinnon, Kucherov, McDavid, Matthews, Crosby. I'm not saying I like that ballot, but I like that ballot. I think that's probably how it will go. No one will argue one way or the other.

Quinn Hughes should be in the conversation instead of Sid, too. Where's Panarin, guys? He's having a hell of a year. Roman Yossi. Hunter Hellebuck. I got 100 guys sixth. I like the Ranger uniform.

They are beautiful uniforms, buddy. Jack Edwards is going to retire after this season. He has announced that he's going to be able to last year at the Bruins. Polarizing figure. Some people hate him. Apparently people in Boston love him. Listen, he's a paid employee at the Boston Bruins. He's on two and a half hours.

He's did his job. yes he upset people but that's not who he was talking to every night it was the diehard boston i've got a lot of time for jack everett didn't agree with everything he said yeah most of them but i think he was good for the game good for the boston bruins i have a lot of respect for his career you know i my i got my brother-in-law in boston angelo capitanakis hello oh okay and he's yes sir um you know and i know him and all his boys they love jack right like he's he speaks to them he's a Boston Bruin. And I will say that he is designed in a lab to piss me off. I am the guy he pisses off. Toronto Maple Leafs fan.

Yeah. And I have him in his prime was the most electrifying play-by-play guy in the league. Like as far as, as far as regional guys go, I love Bones. I love like every guy that's done it. But him ramping it up, that building's going, it's just like him, you know, he was amazing for a long time. He narrates your nightmares. Absolutely.

For them, it's a two-and-a-half-hour infomercial to promote the team. It's a product. And that's okay. That's what it's about. I think you're tired because what's his name on the team now? Pat Mar product. And that's okay. That's what it's about. I think you're retired because, what's his name on the team now? Pat Maroon. Oh yeah. That's why you're retired. There are Canadian fans who

would like their broadcasters to be more like Jack, right? To be more biased, to root for the home team. I personally think that our Sportsnet guys are the best in the world. They are the best. Yeah. CC, love ya. Love ya. People don't think. Yeah. CC, love you. Love you. No, people don't think they do, though.

It's unbelievable. And we get it, too. Obviously, our second hour goes national. But, like, I am so split on people that think I absolutely kiss the ass of the Toronto Maple Leafs or want them to lose. Yeah, I don't have that. You're playing it right then, I think. I don't get that part. 50-50, which is, I think, the best way to lose. Yeah. I don't have that. You're playing it right then, I think.

I don't get that part. 50-50, which is, I think, the best way to go about it. Buddy, I think you're nailing it. You know what? You know, we do sometimes hear, like, maybe dial it back a little bit on the poor Leafs. Big, big, big for the Canucks tonight. Demko back between the pipes against the Flames. How quickly does he need to feel good again? How many games?

16? It was a long time. It was a long time. 14, 16? Somewhere around there. He's going to decide how serious the Vancouver Canucks get. 14 games. All the talent the Canucks have, Demko back,

talk at coaching. My hopes are up. So what I'll say is I think like Kippy, when we were talking about this yesterday, I think when people start putting out their little brackets, Nashville is going to be like a popular upset pick. I think the Canucks are going to wipe the floor with them. I do too. It'll be like a five game series type of thing.

I am curious to see this Vegas, like Vegas has Chicago Anaheim and they can pass LA. Like that changes Edmonton's odds to me. Big time. You know, I still think, I still think I like the Oilers there, but it's tight.

Okay, so we know Sammy thinks Ottawa is going to beat Boston tonight. I do. Do you have Detroit taking care of Montreal? I do. To at least control their part? I hope all these teams win. And all the teams on the cusp win.

Obviously Washington and Philadelphia. Obviously Washington and Philly can't. But I don't want to see all of them lose and someone just trickle into the postseason. Yeah. We don't want someone to lose their way in here. Let's have a winner. Detroit in overtime.

Get it done. All right. And Washington. Do they get it done? They've been that team that just has not gone away. Let's get a little chaos. Let's have the Flyers beat them in reg tonight. Last second.

I still, I most would like to see Pittsburgh get in. Just see Sid get in there. And, you know, the Penguins have the elite guys that could get hot and make it weird. So hard for me. Dubas will celebrate. So hard for me. Leafs fans will love that. There's one team I could have picked for him to not go to.

It's the other one I root for in the East. Yeah. Sid. And he goes there and I'm like, ugh. Maybe Sid will be in the avalanche next year. I want Sid to get 10 points. Sid's not going to make the playoffs. He's going to go out scratching and crawling.

That's for sure. Yep. Okay. Our thanks to Brian Lawton. Hey, quickly tomorrow, 11 a.m. for Jays.

We're actually on tomorrow, 11 a.m. You're not here. Me and Borny will be on the air after Matthew scores his 70th tonight. We're going to no guests. Just McKee and I for an hour. 11 a.m. If you an hour. 11 a.m. If you're listening.

11 a.m. He's thrown us a curveball again. But at least they're winning now. At least they're hitting it right now. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. They scored two of the runs on a walk. Here they come.

Enjoy your game tonight in the National Hockey League. There's eight of them. And if you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Tell us what a great job I'm doing and tell us what's wrong with the other two on the show. Have a great night, everybody.