Real Kyper & Bourne - Oilers, Cats on Cup Collision Course?

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Oilers' Game 4 win over the Stars to take a 3-1 series lead and discuss how Zach Hyman's season-ending injury changes Edmonton's playoff outlook. Joining the conversation, Oilers analyst Jason Gregor (6:36) weighs in on who needs to step up in Hyman's absence, how Edmonton has been able to shut down the Stars' offence and Corey Perry's presence on and off the ice. Later, former NHLer and GM Brian Lawton (30:40) discusses his viral courtside moment in the late stages of the NBA's Western Conference Final Game 4 before sharing his takeaways from the NHL's Conference Finals.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.

Sportsnet 590, the fans Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and Sportsnet Sammy McKee, Derek Brandale, Jake the Snake, Schultz, and Charlie. Yes. How's it going? Good. Good. We are joined today by our friend. He's off camera. You can't see him, but my son is in the building.

Yeah, he is. I won't say anything, but it appears he's out with an upper body injury. He's not Austin Matthews. We can talk about it. Is he allowed to is he allowed to tell us why? The camera going back to Charlie over there. Charlie has suffered a Matthew Nye's like head bonk. There he is. He got a beast on your arm. I'm nervous. We got a studio audience of one today.

We do. He legitimately took a tumble down some friends' stairs, bonked his head. So this keeps him from being overactive. You know, an hour with us will make sure that he'll never get into television ever again. And he'll guarantee that he goes back to school because it'll be a lot more entertaining. He's gonna wish he didn't hit his head after this hour. Well, we hope the hour goes faster for you than it will for Charlie on our show. Lots to get into.

Of course, the Edmonton Oilers take a commanding three one series lead in game four. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger Show on Sportsnet 1440 in Edmonton. Of course, it comes with a price, and that is Zach Hyman out. And before we get started, just a reminder, Real Kipper and Born, brought to you by Bet365.

Good to go, Sammy. Great job, buddy. All right. You guys, by the way, we're just going to start the show and not mention that you guys are dressed identically. Did you not get the memo of Real Kipprenborn hoodie day? You know, I wore mine on the weekend, so it wasn't clean today. Otherwise, I definitely would.

It was just a little, didn't feel like doing a nice outfit today. So I put on the old hoodie. How dare you slander that shirt? I'm joking. When I saw him walk in, I was like, oh, here we go. Here we go. Outside of the Edmonton Oilers being one game away from returning to the Stanley Cup final. Yes lots of concern about Zach Hyman who

Left the game midway through the first period with a collision with Mason Marchman. Yeah It was deemed Not great at the end of the game but word came officially from the Edmonton Oilers head coach Nal Block that he will be out and heading to surgery today. Yeah, you know these two guys I believe were teammates of the Marlies back in the day know each other well so I don't think it's like a it's just a fluke unfortunate incident guy trying to throw a hard hit and Wrist kind of gets tangled up. He's had surgery

He will miss the remainder of the season feels like he he knew immediately. Clipped him. Just a clip. Yeah. Jammed him up probably when he was trying to get out of the way. Made the contact and pushed in on the hand a little bit. Yeah. Tough to know exactly, but that there without him is significant. This is their best overall power forward. Yeah, it is. I mean, a year ago, he scored 70 goals between regular season and playoffs. You know this year the stat I like the most Michael Amato writes for us here at Sportsnet tweeted that he has a hundred and eleven hits in playoffs. His career high in a full regular season is a hundred and seventeen. This guy has been laying it on the line for them and if you go up against

Florida like your most physical, consistently physical forward, that's a massive blow. Yeah, that does shift my ex. I think the Oilers are good enough to beat the... They got to get through Dallas first, but if they end up eating Florida in the final, I think they're good enough to beat them without Hyman. But I think that does change my thought on how it could go like that is a big-time blow for them It's a big-time blow for us, and I'm not

I'm not writing off Dallas or Carolina for that matter, but I was really Looking forward to best on best best on best power on power and Hyman was a big part of that to go face the Bennett's and the Kachucks of the world here and I Can't who's coming out of the bullpen. Yeah, Jeff Skinner Skinner Arfaxon yeah, yeah, Arfax Arfaxon was in last night Yeah, cuz that home couldn't go. But he's going to step up. His role will be elevated now and Skinner coming in.

You know, it's interesting. It's going to put quite the spotlight on the offseason work they did in choosing Arvidsson and Skinner as the guys to go out and get. You know, when they lost Holloway and McLeod and guys like that. So we'll see. See how that goes. The, you know, they can't be without Ekholm and Hyman. McLeod and guys like that. So we'll see see how that goes the You know, they can't be without Ekholm and Hyman

They got through last night. They look great beyond great But I did not think I could ever see the Edmonton Euler team as is without Ekholm I cannot write them off now just because Hyman's gone I know I was talking to Billy Duke upstairs big Oilers fan falls a close and he said that Oilers fans He's pretty close to the community there. Don't when echo comes back. They don't even want to break up the D pairs They want to go 11 and 7 that's how much they've liked, you know He called the stature the nurse whisperer, you know Like they love what's happening with these pairs and the guys that wallman's been great claim birds been very good You can't find a guy.

Think of those names that you were saying. You can't find a guy that's struggling. You can't find a guy who does not stand out. They've all been stars in their own right. Look at Nugent Hopkins and what he has been able to do. Down the stretch here, he's as good as anybody. A play he makes to Perry last night. Did you see the stat I put in the lineup there?

Players with multiple points in four straight games to begin a conference? final Wayne Gretzky Wayne Gretzky cam Neely Craig, Janie Ryan Eugene Hopkins god. Yeah You know, yeah, so they got their best guys at their best. Yeah, the D are playing extremely Well, it just it's crazy watching this Dallas team Dallas finished third in the regular season in goals per game. Then they added Miko Rantanen with a month to go in the season and over three games against that Oilers D-Core minus Ekholm, they scored twice. Okay.

Let's bring in the expert. The guy that can follow up everything we just talked about and add to it better than most right now. Jason Gregor, he hosts his own show on 1440 in Edmonton. Thanks for joining joining us, Jason. Let's just start with, you know, twofold. You're loving the fact that the Oilers are a game away from a Stanley cup final, but how much of a damper and a concern is the Zach Hyman news on top of a commanding 3-1 lead? Yeah, it definitely put a little bit of a sour taste from the players in the victory

last night. They obviously knew it was serious last night after the game and comes out today. It's official. He's done for the playoffs. It's a huge blow. Zach Hyman might be one of the best. If he's not the best, he's definitely top three or four of four checkers in the NHL.

He does a lot of things to disrupt the opposition. He can score goals. The guy's been a hitting machine this year in the playoffs. 111 hits already. He kills penalties. He does everything. So it will be a big loss. But the Edmonton orders have eight forwards

with four more goals in the playoffs. They've got 18 skaters with a goal. They're getting depth production everywhere. And this just means, you know, Trent Frederick, Evander Kane, big physical guys who I think can fill the physical void. Casperi Kaepernick has played really well, good skater, very physical actually in the playoffs. He's had some huge hits.

So I think they have enough guys to do it then now the bringing jeff skinner who uh... you know what is being sitting there is only ever played one nhl playoff game and that was game one against the kings and the orders played like absolute garbage so he'll probably like all that wasn't very fun but i think it'll be better net and then you throw in matias echo who

i think there's a very good chance he'll play tomorrow in Dallas. He has been begging to play and I think they've been ultra cautious with him. And so, you know, you bring him back and bet where do they play him? Like, I don't know if you want to split up the Klingberg-Walman pair, and I guess you could split up Bouchard and Kulak, but I don't know if you want to play Ekholm all the minutes right away. And, you know, Darnell Nurse and Stetcher are being really good. Like the?

Orders team defense. It's crazy as much as there's a focus on their offense as it should be when you got McDavid and dry settle the orders have shut down Vegas and Dallas, the two best teams in the NHL off the rush this year in the regular season, Vegas had three goals in that series and Dallas has one like they've shut them right down five on five. So to what do you attribute that to? Because from the outside when you look at the Oilers decor going to playoffs, it's

like, okay, they got McDavid and dry saddle. We know that, you know, they've got these guys and they're going to be in any game. But boy, they're going to make some mistakes and you watch them in the regular season and they make some mistakes. How have they? Where do they have they gone? How is everyone so much more consistent right now? Well they were really good last year in the playoffs and I think as because it's funny Connor McDavid

averaged 1.68 points per game last year and everyone's like oh my god he was unreal. He's at 1.6 this year and no one's even talking about it. It's basically the same. It's just they have way more other guys producing, so that helps, so it doesn't look as much. Their power play doesn't get any power plays. It's still 29%, but they've only scored 11 goals because they're barely on the power play. So defensively, they were good last year.

Like, Evan Bouchard, three years in a row, has said, you know what? I'm not nonchalant. I'm not going to go back to puck slow. The guy is one of the best players under pressure with the puck on a stick in the NHL. Like his small little six foot passes that most guys would cringe making,

he makes it and you're kind of like, and he doesn't even look like he's free. He's a caberley, he has no pulse. Yeah, it's very weird, but he doesn't have Ekholm and everybody thought Bouchard would fall off. Bouchard's probably played better, which shows you he doesn't need Ekholm to play well. Brett Kulak's always been a playoff performer.

I think the biggest improvement's actually been Darnell Nurse. Darnell Nurse has been very consistent because Nurse doesn't play with Dry Settle McDavid. Right? So when you, some people when they look at just goal four share, they forget that well of course Bouchard's gonna have a good goal four share because his offensive numbers are great. Now he hasn't beat on the ice very much for goals against, but if you look at minutes away from McDavid and Dry Settle, which are important, in the Vegas and Dallas series Darnell nurses eight goals

four or five goals against and he's played a hundred and seventy seven minutes away from those two. Bouchard plays a lot of minutes but he plays more with McDavid and Drysaddle as he should because he's the best offensive defenseman they have. So I think Nurse's play has really been a big addition because he plays the most minutes guys, right? The guys who are on the ice the most have to play well. You're watching and listening to Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton. We are covering the Edmonton Oilers one game away from a Stanley Cup final, a return.

Just one more thing on nurse is, is it less is more here without those minutes with dry sidle and, and McDavid, there's a less tendency to try to convince people you're worth over $9 million a year. Yeah, the biggest thing for Darnell is that when he because he's such a good athlete and he's a really good skater, like there's not many defensemen that can. If you look like you've got a step on him wide his length and speed, he's able to recover. But where it gets into trouble sometimes is in the D zone. He's rushing it guys, and he's not And he's not doing that right now. He's letting the play come to him and very few guys can beat him off the rush just because he's such a mobile defenseman and he's so

long. So you're right, Nick. He is letting the play come to him. And of course he'll make mistakes sometimes, but he's making way more good plays than wrong. And when Stetcher came in, they played very well in the regular season and Stetcher's an, I call an overachiever. That guy gives you everything he has. He's a smaller defenseman. He bucks the trend of what should be successful in today's NHL playoffs because he's a small defenseman who doesn't bring a lot of offense. It's almost unheard of. Like if you look at all the small defensemen, they're usually dynamos offensively. Quinn Hughes, you know, Kale McCarr, others, like those guys are elite because they're offensive. There's very few small guys who play in the playoffs who don't bring you offense, but

that's what Stetcher has done and he's done a great job since taking over for Emberson and him and Nurse just, they have good chemistry, but Nurse plays a lot with Kulak and Paul Coffey rotates his guys around a lot. Like they played basically five D- demon for the first seven, eight games of the playoffs, and then they put Stetcher in for Emberson and they made more consistent pairs. But for Nurse, it's all about stay within your game

and let your athleticism show and be strong and physical. And he's been a lot better in front of the net as well. So Jason, where are we at on Stu Skinner? You know, one of the things, I was looking at some numbers today, one of the things the Oilers have done really well is, you know, everyone's talking about Dallas missing the net a lot. Over the course of this series, 59% of their attempts have either been blocked or missed the net, which to me means they're packing the middle and making it tough to get pucks through. I don't know if that contributes to Skinner's success or what do you make of it? Is this always who you kind of thought he was?

Well, Stu Skinner, he's a great example of when you have a bad game in a small sample, it really skews the overall numbers. Like Stu Skinner last year and this year had five games where he allowed a total of 25 goals against. He had a 798 save percentage in those games, right? And a lot of people get focused on that, And it's bad, don't get me wrong. But in his other 27 playoff games the last two years,

he's got a 2.09 goals against and a 918 save percentage. Like, pretty good. Like, you look at his conference finals in two years, he's like top three all time. He's got a 929 and a 185 goals against the Dallas Stars, who are a really good team. So Skinner, what happened to Skinner?

Every goal he has a weakness, Kevin Woodley tells me. And Skinner's weakness is off the rush. So what have the orders done? They don't give up chances off the rush. Now Dallas in the second period of game three and the first period of game four were all over the orders and Skinner was the best player on the ice and he kept him in the game now in the second and 3rd period last night.

And it didn't give up any chances skinner just had to be a regular goalie and make decent stage so skinner's capable of it but and it's in this I don't believe was ever built for Stu skinner to be the Savior he makes 2.6 million he's not paid to be the savior. He just has to be solid and he's being solid in more games than he hasn't but when he's had a bad game, it's being so bad that it skews his overall numbers and that's what people look at sometimes rather than digging deeper and going on a

game by game basis. Jason in terms of what you saw out of the Dallas Stars the last two games, no question that coming into the series for good reason, the talk was about ranting and what he was able to do coming into the series, but outside of that I look at that roster and it's a good roster and there's some really good hockey players, but I'm not looking for the players, but I'm not. I'm searching for the

natural game breaker out of the Dallas Stars. But what have you seen out of the other out of the two specific games in Edmonton from them? Well, when I look at Dallas in this series, they've been the exact team that we saw in the first

two rounds. The only difference is their power plays and saving them. If you I watched that Colorado series and five on five, they got crushed, but they didn't score, Colorado didn't score, Autinger was pretty good in a few games, and then their power play saved them. Like their power play was what, 36% I think in that series. Against Winnipeg, they only had eight goals five on five. So it's funny because they were a good scoring team in the regular season, but in the playoffs, Jamie Benz done nothing five on five, Matt Duchesne done nothing. They don't have a goal, right?

Wyatt Johnson has two. Jason Robertson has one. In this series alone, they've scored three goals 5 on 5. Sagan has two and Robertson has one. That's it. They're on melt cartons across the state of Texas right now offensively. And they're not as quick as Edmonton and the thin line with Rupay hints grandland and and ranted and that was really

carrying them guys in the first 2 rounds I actually did a line by line breakdown before the series because a lot of people said Dallas had more depth and Mike or more depth in the regular season but not in the playoffs and I care about recent not what happened in October November for me when I do my analysis And I thought Edmonton's depth would be better and it's proven to be better and Dallas just they can't score right like even Rantinen Rantinen Has 17 points in five games guys

The rest of the playoffs like he's done very little in the last seven games. He has no goals and three assists That is pretty lopsided to say the least He has no goals and three assists. That is pretty lopsided to say the least. You know, you don't get to where the Oilers are, which frankly making it look easy no matter who they play. Their three opponents that they've played have been very good defensive teams, had lots of reasons that they could have been shut down, but they're talking about that depth like R&H looks like, you know, the best version of himself at times. Corey Perry is a consistent threat. Like they just have had some really great performances

from guys beyond the guys we usually talk about. Well, Corey Perry might be older than all of us. Um, you know, he just turned 40. He tied the record for most goals by a player who was 39 or older when the playoffs started. He's got 6. He had 19. Like, he's got 25 goals in his 39 year old year. Like that's pretty damn impressive. Nugent Hopkins, Stu Skinner I thought said it

great. He goes, I think Nugent Hopkins in this series, the best hockey's ever played. Right? Like I heard you guys talking about at the start, you know, his stats and what he's done, four multi-goal games to start a conference final, like hasn't happened in 37 years. Like not even, not even McDavid or Dry Cytl who have been out of this world in their playoffs have done that. So like Nugent Hopkins play on the Corey Perry goal last night was sublime.

That was like Corey Perry just had to stand there like, I might not have gotten the position as quick as Perry, but I can put my stick on the ice. I might've been able to redirect that one in. Like it was an unreal play by Nugent Hopkins. And he's played very well. He's a smart player. He's not an elite player, right? Like, he's very smart.

He can play penalty kill. He can play the power play. He's never been a great 5-on-5 player, but he's incredibly smart, and he'll sacrifice points in the regular season to be better defensively, and I think that's a good thing on this team, but right now he's playing great and like dry settles having an unreal playoffs and so is McDavid but Nugent Hopkins is kind of overshadowing him lately and that's really kind of being the story of the orders

You know Nugent Hopkins will be elite and then Stuart Skinner will have three shutouts in five games And then Evan Bouchard will will continue on a pace that only Bobby Orr has produced more. So that's how you win in the playoffs. Nick knows like when the Rangers won, how many guys had unreal playoffs? As great as McDavid and Dry Settle are and they're having great playoffs. You need five or six guys to do it if you want to win. Noonan and Matto, right?

Yeah, Stephane Matto was unreal against the Devils. Yeah, absolutely. Just one thing on Corey Perry here. No one will ever tell you differently that it isn't Leon and Connor's dressing room, but is there a sense the last year and going into these playoffs again, how much Corey Perry has leaned on inside of that room,

even by the big boys? Oh, well, Corey Perry, I think, is the one who will have the uncomfortable conversations. Right? Like, you can't play his style on the ice and not be afraid of conflict off of the ice. Right? Like, he just, he's okay. And some, and you would know in a room, guys, like, sometimes there has to be conflict. Like, somebody has to call somebody out. I think the orders, they're a climb towards where they're at now where they're a legit cup contender for the second year. And they weren't really happy for four years, I think.

Started when they brought in Duncan Keith. And McDavid and Dry Settle said, just learning from Duncan Keith and how he spoke to the team and how they could remain calm. As hard as it is in the playoffs to remain calm after a huge win or a devastating loss and it started there and Perry's come in and I think Perry's a little bit more vocal you know he was one I know last year that there were some scenarios where you know he got into it with Kane that I think just calmed down things and so you're right I think he helps he plays limited minutes but Leon Drysidle said Corey Perry's maybe the smartest player in

knowing how to react in a game when to be a dick, when to be smart, when to get in a scrum, when to lay a hit, when to fight. And yeah, exactly. Like he knows how and Drysidle, like Drysidle, I call him the grumpy German, right? He's a little grumpy at times I think he really gravitates to how Perry's gamesmanship is something that it it's probably underrated I think in the NHL now like people look the games a little bit, you know there's not as much fighting or whatever but intimidation and Trying to get guys off their game is still there. And I think they've learned from Perry on,

sometimes even Perry, like he took a stupid penalty in Dallas, right? Like unnecessary penalty. And he talked about, he's like, I can't take that penalty. Even a guy who's played that many games, you'll still lose your cool sometimes. But the fact that he owns it, I think they move on. Jason, great stuff, man.

We really appreciate your time enjoying game five. Hey boys, let's hope there's a rematch, man. We don't see it very often. Florida and Edmonton be great. Yeah, dozy. I'm already looking forward to it. Thanks, pal. Anytime, fellas.

Jason Greger's show on sports 1440 in Edmonton. It's great stuff. Yeah. Perry is fascinating. I saw a video of Perry today. I think it was Missing Curfew's social media account put it out, it's like his first playoff goal in 2007. I'm like, this guy's been scoring big goals

in standard definition. Like, this looks like 100 years ago. I think he hit on something important there that is key for dressing rooms, is having someone willing to have these hard conversations. Because you look at McKinnon, we McKinnon you know the jokes about the chickpea pasta like immediately guys were like God he's challenging everyone you know McDavid we saw the dig in clip you know he's not afraid to give it to

the guys a little if he expects more Perry will too Mark Stone is a guy for Vegas I think who's notorious for his competitiveness I think neat rooms need that oh you got to say I'm talking about the leaves here so much of it. You gotta Everybody has to hold each other some way shape or form accountable. Yeah, even if it's Address code whatever that means what whatever it is. You cannot take your Your guard down in a dressing room full of 20 guys every day that you're with them, sometimes more than your family,

right, and you gotta stay on your toes, and some days it can be tough on some guys because they get leaned on a little bit more than others, but it is absolutely imperative in a dressing room. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me. Do you think, I know we're gonna do it. Yeah, we're gonna let her in. You think a guy like Brad Marchand looks at Corey Perry

and goes, thank you, you're 40, I'm a spring chicken at 37. I still need to prove everybody. I am very worthy of being a good player, an important player. If he's doing it for Edmonton at 40, I'm going into unrestricted free agency here. Sure.

You know, yeah, I think Perry is the outlier, but if you're Marchand, you're Pedigree, you can make the claim that you'll be able to do that too. Also, I don't think Perry's game was ever built on being fast. And that's part of the reason he's able to be effective as he gets older. I don't think Marchand's game was ever built on being fast either. So, competitiveness, and yeah, competitiveness, smarts, intelligence, but intimidation. Yeah.

I mean, there's without being fighters, and intimidation. Yeah. I mean, there's- Without being fighters. You have to, yeah, Perry, I would say, has fought more in his career than- He will fight, for sure. Then Marshand has, generally. But you have to want to do it still. That's a big part of it. A lot of these older guys,

like when Ryan Reeves came here to Toronto, I don't get the impression he still wanted to fight like Arbor Jackup. But like, he's 40, and it's like, you know, these games are so hard. Getting to training camp, going through the whole thing. wanting to do it. So half the battle it is so Max Petruetti who I've got a lot of time for for for what it whatever, you know, yep hanging on giving his con His career another chance right to come in and do what he did, he gave everything he had.

But he can't go to where Corey Perry and Brad Marchand are. And that's, turn yourself into a complete prick. He can hit hard, but he does not have the it factor to be truly like Perry or Marchand at the end of their careers but I think you can make the case he was as good as those guys in playoffs this year what do you have five goals he maxed out for me yeah but if he had excuse the pun I know you're a, so you had to make a dash. He squeezed everything he could, but he didn't leave himself in a position where if you're

Edmonton or Florida, now with their two respective guys, it's what do we do without them? How do we replace them? Max didn't do that for the Leafs? He's gonna he's gonna either retire or go try out PTO somewhere else, but he doesn't want to do this anymore But that's my point is that those guys and Sam's point of course is that those guys will go to the end of the earth to be those type of players whereas Max had to kind of reinvent himself under short period of time He difference between max patch ready with Brad Marchand and Cory Perry Cory like Marchand and Perry started their careers As complete jerks. Yeah. Yeah, like and then like patch ready was kind of known as like not soft

But he was a sniper like not really that type of guy at all. You're after it if they're like you merely adopted You're after any they're like you merely adopted. Yes Anyways game time game time It's game time presented by bet three six five visit the outflatest odds and find out why several ordinary bet three six five Mr. 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly somebody at softball They're not asked me if I do like any like gambling stuff on our show and I'm like, yeah I do the I do a segment every day is it can eat? What's the read like is it what do you have to say and then I Had to do it off by heart now. I can do it off by heart. Yeah

So cuz the guy told me what I and I went back in my memory and I remembered it now So there you go. It's only been game time learning three years three and a half three and a half years You know, it's only been three and a half years. So anyways, the Eastern Conference final gets back underway tonight and the Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes pretty actually pretty even Surprisingly the Carolina Hurricanes are minus 105 Tampa the Florida Panthers are minus 115 so pretty close both ways there Any lean on tonight feeling that it ends tonight or that feel like it all went right for Carolina last game

Yeah, like doesn't it feel like it has to go perfect for them to win yeah, I I would think that it probably ends tonight and Looking ahead to tomorrow night for the Oilers and Stars again Edmonton right now if you want to get them at plus money They are plus 100 tomorrow night So I would imagine that that line would probably change heading into tomorrow money probably come in on the oilers But Dallas would even the series I did I know I did I actually I hit my Oilers minus going half. I thought that was just a they're too good. They're just really good

You know like Knobloch deserves some credit He does when your team plays that structured and you know they were up going into the third period Dallas got four shot Alice could not get any second or third waves on a four check. It was like the old one and done. Get it in, it's out. Get it in, it's coming back out. Gregor was talking about it.

They're just trying so hard. Like it just comes down to the concept. I know, but just the back checks and the, they are just trying. But there's also a freedom to their game where it doesn't feel like they're afraid to play Yeah, you know they still try to when they have the puck they still make plays. They still you know Oh, they get good looks they do they get decent looks, you know And to me that is a comfort being in these games being in the playoffs going deep before

they must just feel jinxed or something because there's a Playoffs going deep before they're they must just feel jinxed or something because there's a There's like a force field that the puck just won't cross the gold line You're looking at ranting and like you do it Anyways, that was game time for some about bet three six five visit the app for the solids and find out why it's ever ordinary I bet three six five must 19 plus on terror only please play responsibly Okay, let's take a quick break when we return. We gonna welcome in Brian Lotton former NHL player agent general manager Broadcaster the guys done it all influencing the NHL

After the break, we're gonna tell you how he influences now The Western Conference final in the NBA. Yeah, I said it. The NBA. Brian Lawton. What are you doing? We'll find out when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Everything you need to know about the Blue Jays. Blair and Barker.

Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the real Kipper and born show as a reminder of this hour. Real Kipper and born brought to you by bet three, six, five, Nick Kipper, Justin born, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandale, Jake, the snake Schultz, Charlie, and now Brian Lawton joins us. Lots. How are you? My friend doing fantastic.. Lots, how are you my friend? Doing fantastic Kipper. How are you?

You've been a busy guy in the sports world because I mean, we're heavily into the NHL conference final, but they're also heavily involved in the conference final in the NBA where you participated in An actual game lots you didn't put on a uniform But you ended up playing a key role in the game the other night in Minnesota where Oklahoma City was up 128 to 126 There's only a few seconds on the clock our Canadian hero SGA MVP throws the ball out of bounds and a few seconds on the clock, our Canadian hero, SGA, MVP, throws the ball out of bounds.

And who catches the ball with seconds on the clock, Lotz? That was you. That was me. And as my wife said, another ding-dong thing I did in public. I couldn't help myself. But you turned yourself into, into an international story. So, so hold on for a second. So the idea was he's

throwing the ball out of bounds to kill the clock. Did you cross the line on the court to actually catch the ball? You know what? The answer the question. No, I absolutely did not. The whole thing was in slow motion. It was so bizarre. Um, you know, it was, it was an incredible basketball game.

I have to say that first. Okay. See was amazing. The Timberwolves didn't have their best stuff, but their bench was crazy. But it was so physical that I'm sitting on the court. I'm sitting in dead center on the court, essentially next to the two announcers. Yeah, it's not a, you know, they're great seats. A friend of mine had invited me last minute. Of course I went. I'm watching this unfold. It's very frustrating. It's a super physical game.

It looks like a hockey game. And it comes down to the last play. And SGA, who is amazing, drops 40, dominates the game after being not so good the game before. He somehow comes up with the final rebound to prevent the Timberwolves from having a chance to tie or win the game. And he falls down, he heaves the ball as far as he can while he's laying down. And as soon as he threw it, it was coming right at him.

It's just like, oh my gosh, I'm at, he's laying at the baseline and I'm at just slightly over half court, think four or five feet past the center of the basketball court. And I can see Hartnestein, Hartnestein, or wherever you say his name, humongous guy, seven foot two, I believe, running as hard as he can to try to catch him. And I jumped up from my seat. I never crossed the line. I looked at it was in such slow motion. I remember thinking I have my phone in my right hand. This ball is coming right at me.

What should I do? So of course I do the stupidest thing I can. I start to move closer to it because I want to touch the ball. The game doesn't end. They were pissed at you. Oh my gosh. They were so upset. Nobody really knew what happened. I swear to everyone. I looked down at my feet before, or as this is all happening, I can see the ball coming. I can see the clock right behind it. I could see it ticking down in slow motion.

And I know for a fact, it was at like 0.6 or seven. As I catch this ball, essentially with one hand, cause I have my phone in my other hand. So I touch it hits me right in the chest and I close it with the phone. Right. And I'm like, Oh my God, what do I do now? This guy's running at me. I thought he was going to hit me. And I'm literally like getting ready to brace for getting hit by this guy. He runs by the horn never goes off. And everybody goes crazy because nobody really knows what happened except I know that when I'm looking at the clock and said 0.6.

So I hold the ball the ref comes over now I think I'm in trouble. I don't know why I always thought you know the ball comes out of bounds of course you can catch it as soon as the ref comes over he wants the ball back now. I say hey hey man sorry. I think it was going to hit my wife in the face. I had to catch it. I totally moved forward to catch it. I knew none of that was true. The guy looked at me and he kind of laughed. He goes, don't worry about it. I saw the whole thing. You were out of bounds, the ball, you know, now they're,

I don't know the rules of the NBA like we do in the NHL. They go by plane. Hilarious. And the guy literally said, no problem. SGA comes over and he's clapping his hands and he's pointing at me. And I'm like, oh, you know what? Coming over here to ber braid me or what?

And I can hear the ref, they're only like six or eight feet away from me, they're arguing, he touched the ball, he can't do that, you know, but they were making it sound like I ran on the court. I did not run on the court. All right, well, they'll forgive you. They'll forgive you. Well, anyhow, the punchline was SGA is like kind of chirping me. And then he listened to the ref and then he looks at me and he starts pointing at his head. We saw that and

I can hear him yelling smart play. Like right there, he's looking at me and he's yelling smart, smart play. And I was like, Oh, I try man for the home team. And that was all I said. That was the whole thing. Just so epic. If the Timberwolves just right out of curiosity. I think you got invited. You mentioned you got invited, but like if you didn't, how much is a playoff ticket on the floor in the NBA? I do usually go to at least one game every round. I think maybe I'd been to three or four games prior to that one.

I always sit on the floor. I generally sit right next to the Timberwolves bench because I have a friend that owns four tickets there and him and I are buddies. If we go to the game and I buy the tickets and they have progressively moved to a very, very expensive amount. So much that this round I went to the game before that and paid for it, my buddies said, I'll just make up numbers. But he said, oh, it's like 4,500.

And I was like, oh, I'll do that, sure. I'll go for 4,500. We go to the game and I always tease them every Every time I go, I go, Hey man, do you mind if I resell these and don't actually go? I say it every time and he gets mad. Says, no, I've told you, you could never sell. I'm like, okay, go to the game. Okay. Well, you know, I'll send you a check. How much like nine thousand I was like what he's like nine thousand I told you they were forty five hundred for the fair wow so I was resolved not

to go to the next game and a friend of mine calls me and says hey I can't make it you know he's got you come be my guest it was very of him. I did not pay for that ticket. And I appreciate it. It was an amazing basketball game. I was super happy to be there. Super impressed with OKC. Minnesota didn't play well, but this, it just reminded me

of what I thought we would see last night, quite frankly. And we saw some of it, but not as much between Dallas and Edmonton as we'll get your viewers back onto talking about what you guys do every day. You had this massive desperation by these teams in the NBA. Well, we'll turn the page. Yeah. We'll turn the page and, and turn it to the hockey because it is, it is happening right now. There's a very real chance of a rematch between Florida and Edmonton.

Do you see any way that we don't end up with last year's final? Well, of course there's a way, but it's not looking promising. I was just kind of looking at, you know, how these teams are doing in records. I think Edmonton is 11 and four in these playoffs, which would be a great run at any time during the regular season, nevermind the playoffs. And Florida, on the other hand, is like 11 and five. Dallas is practically 500 now.

They had that incredibly challenging series against Colorado, which I'm sure they felt very fortunate to win. Um, so, you know, the best two teams in my opinion, the so far it's clearly Edmonton and Florida. And if they do play, it feels like it would be apropos. The thing that fans have to understand is that the playoffs are not always linear. You know, Toronto gave Florida all they could Just you know flat out almost beat him and yet Carolina comes along and it's looked like it's been a challenge It could be the most difficult thing to wrap your head around

Because you're always trying to evaluate your team and see where they're really at But it's been a it's been a bit of a strange playoff in my opinion. I thought Vegas would give Edmonton a better series. I thought LA started off strong against Edmonton and gave them a better series, but faded. But a lot of information to digest from these playoffs so far. Lots, I'm the first one to say I was just dead wrong

that the Oilers couldn't advance without Mathias at home. And so far they've proven me and I think a lot of people wrong here, but can they do it twice now without Zach Hyman the rest of the way? Certainly gets a lot challenging. Sounds like Zach had wrist surgery, which was very bizarre because I was watching that play and I really couldn't quite figure out what happened in the moment kind of makes sense when you know the final outcome but can they advance without him boy I'm with you Kipper I would not have guessed with how their blue line played in regular season that

Without Matias at home. They'd be able to be this dominant It's a lot of credit in my opinion to obviously all the players their decor in particular But to their coaching staff to it's really been a tale of two seasons for Edmonton the way that they have played Defensively offensively they are what they are, nobody ever questions that. But their ability to come together as a team at the right time, Garnel Nurse kind of staying within the lines, Evan Bouchard doing exactly what he's done the previous two years. Wallman has certainly been good. Brett Kulak has been out of this world. And then I think John Klingberg kind of jumping back in

after not really being physically prepared enough, not by any doing of his own, just by virtue of the injury he was coming off, where he really couldn't compete in a regular season and just needed more time. So the resurgence of him coming in and playing the way he has has been a massive, massive game changer for Edmonton. Yeah, yeah, it's a it's been crazy as you watch these teams get towards the final, you know, Edmonton waiting for Ekholm kind of getting stronger, right?

Like Frederick and Kane kind of got better, like the Oilers have gained power as it's gone on. And it feels like for the first time here, losing Hyman could go in the opposite direction. Florida's kind of the same way on the other side, right? Like, you know, as playoffs have gone on, they got Ekblad back and they kind of found their way back into this thing. You know, when you look at Florida,

do you see any reason to think that they, I don't want to say that they're worse, but they that they aren't the favorite? Do you think that Edmonton would in fact be a favorite if they went in against them? Probably not. I don't think Edmonton would be the favorite by virtue of Florida is the champs. They haven't done anything to change that. They had a very tough series, as you guys know, against Toronto. And yet when the really critical moments came up, they made it look almost kind of pedestrian, rudimentary, elementary, however you want to say it. I was expecting this explosion and we never really got it. Whenever they got really challenged, I felt like they had another gear to respond. So I don't know how you could say that Florida wouldn't be the favorites.

Hey, lots. It's not too late to get a ticket along the glass tonight in Carolina, and maybe you can influence that game as well. I mean, it's a bigger challenge with the glass being tall and all of that, but you're on a roll. This basketball is I've always been a basketball fan and I love glass seats. We've all been the games on the glass, but there's something bizarre about if we could just literally step out of the stands onto the ice. It's a very bizarre feeling when you go to a basketball game. If anybody can do it now, it's you, you my friend. Hey this was awesome. Thanks for joining us Lots. My pleasure guys thanks for having me on. Thanks a lot

appreciate it. That is Brian Lawton former first pick overall agent general manager executive with the Tampa Bay Lightning the man has done it all. Front row on on the court, NBA playoff, conference file tickets. Yeah. That's a tough seat. My dream is a courtside ticket. I've never. Just one time.

Just one time. One time, baby. I just love to sit courtside. I don't know, I just, it just feels like the number one in the game experience for a sporting event. So at Madison Square Garden, when we were Rangers, like we'd just show up and the ushers or the security guys would just literally fold a chair out for us on the floor.

And I went to Michael Jordan's, I went to Michael Jordan's comeback game at Madison Square Garden The double nickel yeah wearing the old shoes that made his feet bleed yeah Come on. Yeah, there's about five of us and we were right beside Phil Jackson and it's the bulls I think it's the most Michael Jordan thing in the world that he was able to just like just you Guys, yeah, just to put you back on notice Let me and it is like the ultimate coolness being on the floor. Yeah, I've been second row I can't say I've ever sat court. That's really close. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Did you touch the ball?

No one threw it at me, you know our boy Josiah Bosch does a bunch of stuff for sports that texted me a screenshot of lots He is behind the line He's totally exonerated by that was that NBA Investigation over yeah, but the thing is it can be it's not like the NHL with off sides, you know, it's the plane It's the plane. You gotta have the hands inbound. Let me get this in because tomorrow we will be back on the air from two to four as we

will come in for a Leaf Hour edition because General Manager Brad Treeliving will address the media tomorrow at 10, so we will be on the air at two Eastern tomorrow. That was early. That's a routine changer. Jimmy, quickly, what do you expect out of Brad Tree Living tomorrow? I just got to get this off my chest a little bit that I have the utmost respect for Brad Tree Living. I think he does a great job. Love all this. It's ridiculous. He hasn't talked yet. Totally agree. The team sent out everyone to take the slings and arrows the bullets

Stand out there and the when the emotions are high and everyone's calling for change and boom boom boom everyone Human body shield. I mean how long I know he had a thing in Calgary or whatever, but it's been 11 days It's been a while. This is it's been a while your that ticks you off, too Yeah, he should have been there with you should have 100 percent been there. It doesn't make me mad. It's just does it not? Am I out of line? No. Like, is this not ridiculous? Let the emotions cool down a little.

The whole everyone's stop paying attention now. Bingo. I know. But to me, that's like, OK, all the human shields are dead. Let me run out there. Yeah, it's I don't know. I don't I don't I think it's there. So in other words, there's nothing he's gonna say tomorrow Well, that's just did I think yeah, there's not much No, we can't I know he's gonna say they're gonna do their best to get Mitch signed if if he has interest I'm sure yeah

We're gonna talk to him and his his people are gonna talk to our people and we'll see if there's something there, but you know that's up to him at the end. He's a free agent What do you think the fatal flaw of this team is how are you gonna change the accountability in this organization? There's seems to be lacking like there's questions I want to hear him answer, but he's great at saying a lot and saying nothing He's one of the best in the world and you down there to ask some questions. I don't think they'll Be nervous if you went. Should I go? I'll go. No.

Can they give me like, if Least PR is listening. But only if you get a press hat, like a Derby. When they're escorting you out the building. Like, I would love to go. So if Least PR is listening, hit me up with a pass. I'll go down and ask a couple of questions. There you go. I mean, I'm glad I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say. And there is still questions that need answering, but I just think it's been way too long.

All right. Well, we'll hear from Brad Tree Living tomorrow morning and we will have it covered for you on the Real Kipper and born show starting 2 p.m. Eastern Quick a quick hour here. You know how Charlie do you think he still like me? He only dropped his fidget spinner once There's the real star the real Kipper and board show right there. Charlie, our thanks to Jason Gregor and Brian Lawton, Florida Panthers, Carolina hurricanes game five tonight. Don't change the channel.