Real Kyper & Bourne - Oilers Ready For a Run

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start with Louie Debrusk to discuss the Oilers' play as of late, how much of their slow start can be blamed on McDavid's and Ekholm's injuries, the plan for Jack Campbell, Kris Knoblauch's stabilization efforts and Philip Broberg trade rumours. Then, Sam McKee rejoins the show to chat about Broberg, his value and whether the Oilers must trade him to be better in the short term. Finally, news and notes - Rod Brind'Amour's frustrated bench interview, who's to blame for the Pens' PP struggles and Matt Duchene playing his 1000th game.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.

it usually turns my mic on derrick brandale oh boy oh he's a busy guy up there getting thrown under the bus on national do not bother Derek Brandale. Because a man won't press his button. Someone press it for me. Press my button. Come on. You guys are starting to push my buttons right now. All right, all right. The Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee on the national edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. As always, you can find us on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver

and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. As sands through the hourglass, so are the Otani days of our lives. Wow. Yeah.

Were you on that show? No. You were on a different sitcom. Do you know what soap opera that's from? Soap opera, right. No, I don't. It's Young and the Restless. No. What did I say? Young and the Restless. that show no you're in a different sitcom you know what soap opera that's from soap opera right no i don't it's uh yeah no what did i say young the restless no i thought it was days of our lives kretzky was on one of them oh yeah i don't know yeah he was on uh kretzky where am i kretzky was

on young and the restless and i was on guiding light before i think i got them canceled after 40 years after my episode we've seen enough they've really scraped the bottom are there still are there still soap operas yeah that's still a thing yes you follow the leafs or what all right all right that was really good very well done all right uh let's kick it off with louis de brusque of course great analyst uh on sportsnet hockey night canada does a terrific job following the Edmonton Oilers. Louie, how are you, my friend? Okay.

Do we have Louie? Hey, how you doing, Kipper? We're good, buddy. How are you? Good, Louie. Good. We were just discussing soap operas. Louie, were you one of those guys that came home from practice? I heard that you know it's amazing i don't get a phone call all day long when i get one when i go on a zoom call

um you know what it's funny when you said that to get those shows canceled you must do something really wrong i mean they never die i remember growing up and my mom and my sister used to watch y&r young and the restlessless, Days of Our Lives. You still see it on TV now. It's the same actors, for crying out loud. They've been on it for 40 plus, 50 plus years. So pretty incredible. And how's the soap opera in Edmonton been lately?

Certainly a feel-good soap opera the last five games. Yeah, you know what? It's been a difference for sure. And you look at when Chris Knobloch first took over, they won a couple of games and they went on the road and they lost three in a row. And you're thinking, OK, here we go again. But I have to give the team a lot of credit. They really buckled down after the loss in Carolina. That seemed to be the stimulus for them really changing their ways and digging in and understanding that it was another coaching change and they had to dig in and they've uh reeled off five straight wins since that point in time and they beat some really good teams and i like the way they're winning hockey games yes the top guys are going but they're getting more from their depth i think that that's one of the

the first things that knob block did when he came on board was start to distribute that ice time a little bit more take a little bit away from the top guys give a little bit more to the bottom six and the bottom defenseman in the sixth rotation and as a result i think everybody's feeling a little bit more a part of it and they're playing the right way um you can't say enough about kind of what they went through at the start of the year that was some adversity early in a season but i think the league league right now is on notice that this team is back and playing the way that i think everybody expected to play at the start of the year so how much do we attribute the early season stuff to like mcdavid wasn't quite healthy at home maybe not quite healthy and the goaltending just wasn't great like is anything drastically different beyond those things

not really i don't think so justin i think that that those are big things, though, especially Connor McDavid. I mean, you look at what he's doing now, and he looks like he's healthy. You just watch him play. And I mean, for me, listen, even at 60%, 70%, 80%, whatever he was, he's still a fantastic hockey player, and he's still one of the best players in the league. But he just didn't have that extra gear. I also think the frustration. I think the expectation that was piled on this team from within two,

internally, they have a lot of expectations of themselves, but then you go into the season, they came in two weeks early, they were saying all the right things, they were prepared to come into the season and really go after it, and it didn't go the way you expected it to go. And these things started to pile up. The injury to McDavid, I know he hasn't talked about it, doesn't want to use as an excuse and i and i really love that about the kid he never does but but at the same time you could tell there was a difference guys are dealing with

things all the time but when you start to have that snowball effect where your top guys aren't producing your bottom guys aren't producing you're not getting a timely save when you need it you're not getting that game-breaking goal at a crucial time in a game or the big penalty kill i mean all that stuff was going together against this team and they just really couldn't you know climb their way out of it and sometimes it takes hitting that rock bottom rock bottom being another coaching change this organization since i've been with this organization in some capacity in the last 16 years that's 11 coaches that have come in and been playing that match. For Ryan Nugent Hopkins, it's nine. Nine coaches for him in his tenure in Edmonton. So I think it was a real look in the mirror situation for the players,

and I give them a lot of credit for that. It's tough, and you could tell by their body language, by their demeanor, the way they were talking to the media, you could tell it really affected them seeing Jay Woodcroft being let go and another coach coming on board. But then I think you take a breath you internalize you say okay it's time for us to go out there and do what we can do and they've done that as of late they're back to playing the way that we all expect them to play the way they have played in the last four years and why everybody thought they were a contender for the Stanley Cup because when they do play that way they're a very very hard team to

play against and they can put anybody on their heels when their a game is kicked in there's nobody better than the league we're talking to louis de bros hockey analyst with sports at hockey night in canada is always this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 part of the streak here includes a very consistent goaltender in skinner but louis how long can they run this guy and lots of of talk about maybe Jack Campbell coming up or maybe not coming back up if he, you know, had a hiccup again, but you know, whether it's Campbell back up or not, like the focus still has to be in a getting some help between the pipes. Is it not?

For sure. And I think that is probably the game plan moving forward is to allow Jack to continue to play down in Bakersfield. When he finds that game, they have a schedule right now. This will be the second of six straight at home with a day in between every game. So the schedule's set up pretty well to keep going with Stuart Skinner right now.

And then they go on a three-game road trip into New York where they play three and five days. So that'll be a situation where there's a back-to-back and you're like, okay, we need to get somebody else in there. Calvin Pickard has played one game. He came in relief to Stuart Skinner in Carolina on November 22nd, too, after giving up four goals early. Three in which, I'm sorry, I'm not putting on Stuart Skinner at all because I thought there was bad coverage around the net. But, you know, that's neither here nor there. But I would tell you that Stuart Skinner is the type of goaltender

that he's said it many times. He's never going to send him. He wants to play every game. He's in a groove right now, and when you have a starting goaltender that's playing the way he's playing and settling into the role, I think the schedule lines up for at least the near future to allow him to continue to do that. But there's no question, Kipper, they're going to have to figure this out.

Either give Jack Campbell another opportunity, which I think is going to be the play, get him back up here, get him in some games, start to find that confidence again. Because when he is playing at a high level, he's a really, really solid goaltender. So it's just a matter of finding that confidence once again. And he just didn't have it at the start of the year. It looked like he was coming in

in great shape he was ready to go his exhibition was fantastic but then as did everybody else and I really do think that Jack was a little bit of the scapegoat in the whole situation that's just my belief but his high-end game I thought was probably the better of the two goaltenders at the start of the season but unfortunately he's the one with the contract he gets sent down to the minors they wanted to shake things up and it seems to have worked for right now but i think this is a band-aid that's going to eventually have to be fixed and we'll see what they do in the future to do that yeah you know um you know a moment ago you're talking about how noblet is given some of their depth guys and i'm not sure that you would lump zach hyman in as a depth guy i don't know that that qualifies

he's a core guy i think it's safe to say. But we opened our show up in the Leafs hour with Sam yelling about how Dubas didn't sign him and how, you know, he's in Edmonton now. Has he been as advertised, better than expected? We got him at 27 goals, then 36 on pace for 55. How's that contract working out in Edmonton, Louis? I think it's working out fantastic. I really do.

And I think, you know, listen, that's probably one of the reasons why he signed here, though. When I look at it, it was a smart decision by Zach Hyman, too. When you look at the Edmonton Oilers and you look at down the middle, you've got Connor McDavid, Leon Vryseidel, you've got Ryan Eugene Hopkins,

if you want to throw him at the center position, he plays both center and wing, and you've got Ryan McCloud, a young centerman as well, that can play in third or fourth fold, depending on how you want to allocate those other three centermen. If you want to use one of them on the wing, then he's the third line centerman. If they're all three there, he's now your fourth line centerman, which really strengthens that spine down the middle. But for Zach, you know what? I've said it many times this year. He's been the most consistent oiler, even through the low part of this season at the start of the year.

His work ethic, his attention to detail, the effort he gives every single night, and the way he plays the game in a north and south way, it just really is criticism proof. It's incredible. Yeah, sometimes he doesn't finish a play. Sometimes he misses the net. Every player does that. But he continually creates those chances th a regular basis because o that energy that he bring

seem to have found a real Nugent Hopkins with Mcdae I mean they were snapping and they're just gaining more and more as as they And that's the other thin lines. And I know you men but for knob block coming

able to keep lines consist tweaking with the lines not as much shuffling and I think that that's gone a long way to just stabilizing the the forward group lines and yeah you have to make changes from time to time Hyman missed a game because he was ill one game and Janmark went up on that top line did a real nice job and you shuffle a couple down in the bottom six. Adam Ernie goes in, Sam Gagne injects back in and scored a big goal in that game versus Vegas. So, you know, they're getting production from a lot of different people right now, but I think, you know, coming on board for Paul Coffey and for Chris Knobloch, it was they knew this team was fragile.

They knew this team was fragile at that time when they took it over. They knew the confidence wasn't very high, so you slowly and methodically go about building up that confidence again and just implementing little things at that time when they took it over. They knew the confidence wasn't very high, so you slowly and methodically go about building up that confidence again and just implementing little things at a time that I think have really allowed this team to stabilize and start to take off. Boy, if you had trouble as an Edmonton Oiler fan last night finding a parking spot, you may have missed one of the best power forward moves I've seen all year long in Zach Hyman's third goal of the game.

Like, Louis, that's, like, we followed Zach to start his pro career here. You just would have never envisioned him being able to do that, you know, early in his career in Toronto. And it's just, I just tip my hat off to a guy that's worked so hard on his game to, to get it to that level, you know?

Yeah. Really. He's, he's a good, he's a good kid too. Right. Just a quality guy. Yeah.

So, and you can tell right away, great to talk to. He's the kind of guy you root for, right? Yes. He's the kind of guy you look at and you say, he does the right things.

He says the right things. He prepares himself. He he comes to the rink he's a great example for anybody in the locker room on how to approach the game and how to get yourself ready for it and i think it's really rubbed off a lot of guys i've heard multiple players over the last couple of years um talk about the way he plays the game the way he handles the puck on the wall the way he spins off and that was probably the goal you're talking about, right? The spin out of the corner and walked out and jammed it at home. You know, he's so strong on that puck and he protects it so well that it's not only effective in the defensive zone, trying to get out of the zone, which he uses a lot in that situation,

but now he's starting to find that confidence. And I really do think that's what it is with him. I think the light's gone on for him and he understands that if he continues to do those things, the puck will go in the net for him. And now he leads the Evans and Oilers in goals and is having a fantastic season. 36 goals last year. No stretch of the imagination that he's going to at least duplicate that again, especially with the line that he's playing on and where he is in the lineup column.

But I also think it's him. I think it's just a guy that's found his stride and it shows with his body language even more now he doesn't cheat the game ever and as a result the game is rewarding him you know i actually like that as a segue to talk about evan bouchard because it is a confidence thing and a finding yourself thing and it feels like he's getting there i know when i sort all my fancy stats that kip teases me about he's pretty high up there and a lot of them you know course he is in you know shot attempt stuff he's he controls a lot of the play when he's out there and i know he's been effective for them in the power play too is he kind of you know showing some showing that he's the guy they thought he could be

absolutely you know and i think you know you go back to last year, Matias Ekholm comes on board and they pair Matias with Evan Bouchard. And I just think it was, it was the perfect fit. It was a veteran grizzled vet defenseman and Matias Ekholm was a real leader. And I mean, I mean, you can't speak enough about what he brings to the table. I think I've liked him his entire career, but now watching him on a nightly basis, just the little things in the details of his game, the physicality. He's a born leader.

He's just one of those guys that's in the trenches of the game. And I think that putting him with Bouchard was the perfect move. It allowed Bouchard to be stabilized by a defenseman that talks a lot, that communicates with him both on and off the ice, on the bench, and just allows him to do what he needs to do what he successful as a player. A with the offense just. An when you look at offensive they judge their game. Th

I mean right from his ear where he was lighting up defenseman and he was mak he logged a lot of ice ti to have that puck on thei expect to make plays and up points. And when that's not going that way, you start to struggle and you start to fight the game a little bit. Because if that's not going, it usually means that the other side isn't going

as well. For Evan Bouchard, when he starts to play free, which is the toe drags you see on a nightly basis, the shot that he's been using, leads all defensemen in shots or did up until the last couple of games, and I haven't checked that stat. But there's a confidence there with him releasing the puck, with him getting that puck and knowing that he has that caliber of a shot, that it's the right play to shoot the puck instead of passing it off. And I think earlier in his career, he would get that puck and he'd look and go, okay, well, there's Dreissel, there's David, there's Nugent Hopkins, there's Hyman or whoever it is in front of the net that's a pretty darn good player too,

and should I shoot that puck or should I pass it? There's noman or whoever it is in front of the net that's a pretty darn good player too. And should I shoot that puck or should I pass it? There's no hesitation. When he knows he's in a good spot to shoot it and it's time to shoot it, he's owned that. And as a result, he's standing a little taller and he has that confidence offensively. But now, if you watch him defensively, and I don't think he gets enough credit, great players, and I talk about offensive players, typically understand how to get the puck back that's the one thing they're really good at is they want that they have a desire to have it on their stick and if you want it bad enough you know how to get it back and he's learned to use his feet

to check a little bit he's learned to use his stick when he gets in trouble is when he's not skating when he's not moving when he's not anticipating when he starts to think a little bit too much and I think you could probably say the entire oilers team was doing that a little bit too much early in the season um i've noticed him a lot lately justin on defensive plays in the neutral zone he made a real nice one on uh the one goal last night where he made the the defensive play in the neutral zone a one-handed slash on the puck to bounce it back to mcdavid it was tic-tac-toe in the back of the net and you know for me that's just a real kind of microcosm of the difference from this team now than it was at the start of the year that probably would have been a broken play in the neutral zone you had three forwards

that were high a defense that it was aggressive it would have been an outnumbered rush against which uh you know we all know they led the league and outnumbered russians against an outnumbered goals against early in the season and they've really cleaned that up. But the big part of it is the confidence in the defense core playing the right way and playing with a little more assertiveness and free. Lou, I got to ask you on the topic of defense, young players, first-round picks, Philip Broberg, I know there's some mixed signals on whether or not his agents allowed to find another team out there or not. But this was a high pick.

This is an eighth overall pick, Louie. And there's a real sense that his time's out in Edmonton and he's just going to move on. Is there anything that could save this and he could still be the defenseman that they once thought. I think there's always a chance. You know what I had? I had a son that went through the same thing. It was not happy in a situation, but found a way to kind of come back into the lineup and have a big impact

in that lineup and play the way he wanted to play. I think for Phillip, you know, when I look at his game and listen, he was a player coming into the season that I felt we wanted to see another step from. But unfortunately for him, he never really got the opportunity to really dig into the season. With the way the season started, with the negativity around this team, and just with the way things were going, he kind of found himself on the outside looking in again. And it was a real difficult situation. And I will say this. They kept putting

him on the right side and I'm going to tell you right now any young defenseman that's trying to find your way in the National Hockey League has to play on his natural side that's just my opinion you can agree with it or disagree with it but I think he needs to play on the left and that's where they are stronger they're stronger on the left side and there just wasn't room to put him into the lineup on a regular basis and see the minutes that he needed to see to find his game and feel successful at this level i think there's a player i really do um i know we haven't seen that big jump that everybody was expecting but he's put on some size he looks bigger he's skating well the best place for him right now is down the american hockey league to play a ton of minutes and then go from there. Go down to the American Hockey League at Bakersfield. He was put down there yesterday.

Go down, play a role, play the way you can play, and then when you get your next opportunity, whenever that does come, whether it be with the Edmonton Oilers or somewhere else, you're ready for that opportunity to step in and have an impact. I don't think they want to trade him, guys. I really don't. I think he's a player in their depth in their system that they know they're going to need to rely on. When you look at what they have down in Bakersfield, he's probably the first call up every single time. So I think they want to try and get him some time and minutes in the NHL if

they can. But obviously if it's, if it's the end of the road for him, then maybe the move is the right call and see what you can get for him. His stock isn't very high right now. And that's unfortunate being an eighth overall pick i mean from a from a club's perspective they're looking at this like okay well we need to we need to obviously get something back for philip broberg we're not just going to give an asset like him away and we've seen it many times throughout the years guys where a young prospect who didn't pan out on one team goes somewhere else and really flourishes in the role that you expected him to be as a player.

So I think they're a little bit leery of that, and they want to give it a little more time to make sure that they maybe can still get him to buy in and want to be part of this team. Louis, last one from me. Before we had you on, we had Yorkie talking about Ottawa, and we had him handicap the Atlantic Division a little bit. I want to talk about the teams around Edmonton and where their place is in that

division. You know, right now they're still chasing Calgary, Vancouver, you know, LA Vegas. Are they as good as these teams? Are they in that tier? You know, I'm trying to figure out where this team is going to end up by the time it's all said and done. Yeah. Good question. And I think everybody's trying to figure out that. And, you know, I'll give you two answers. My first answer is I think the next game is the most important game right now get into the playoffs that was the mentality i think when chris knoblock took over and rightfully so this is a team that expects to be in the top eight expects to be in the top three

of the division and expects to go on a run so for them right now by putting into smaller sample sizes and saying listen let's take this one game at a time. Let's make sure we're focusing on the things that we can control and just start to climb that ladder as they have done. I do think as another answer to you, I think they are as good as those teams. I truly do. And I think those other teams know that's the thing. I think those other teams look right now and say, Oh, Edmonton's found their game. And now they're playing the way they can play and they're on their heels and they feel that. Now, there's teams that have created huge buffers. The Vegas Golden Knights came out to a great start.

The Los Angeles Kings on a tear right now, playing well. I mean, great hockey teams, but I would still tell you that in this division, they are one of the top three teams in the division. I know the record doesn't say it right now, but I'll stand by that. They're as good as any team in this division on any night, and that's the way they have to play. but i'll go back to my previous answer and say i think the focus has to be small right now because they're trying to dig themselves out of that hole that they dug for themselves early in the season louis always great stuff thanks for

doing this yeah great job on the zoom guys appreciate it louis thanks louis de brusque i can ain't canada sportsnet does it all it's funny you know we're you know we just had a chat about the oilers they're back there's a back they're 10 and 12 but they they lose two in a row and they're not back well they put themselves in a tough spot but they're humming i'm happy they're back yeah I'm happy they're back. There's a rivalry between Leafs fans and Oilers fans. But you want them to be good. You don't want Conor McDavid wallowing away there and having them not be relevant. He's the biggest star in the league.

You want them to be relevant for the general hockey ecosystem. It's just better when they're good. So you want it. They are caught between a rock and a hard place right now with philip roberg their first round pick well it does feel like okay we're not getting what we want out of this guy what there's nothing to be gained by trading him except losing the potential upside if he finds it that's the dilemma here and they can't just sit around and wait either no they don't have that luxury they could okay but do you think for one second as is that team's good enough to go to a stanley

cup final not even close not even close like the leafs can say all you want yeah they're not not getting it done yeah both teams are probably three players from you know beating the best team in the division so or sorry the best team in the so you have this first pick eighth overall what year 2018 2018 so i looked at the draft oh no and it's not really what did they pass on not like nothing really that bad i will say who's behind him so uh it was ze Zegers was the next pick. So, I mean, everybody's. Yeah, but he's such a previous Oiler pick. Yeah.

Padulcan from Vancouver. Yeah, thanks, I nailed that one. Soderstrom, Arizona. Boldy, Spencer Knight, Cam York, Cole Caulfield. Cole Caulfield, yeah. New Hook, Krebs. It's not like you passed on, Boldy, Spencer Knight, Cam York, Cole Caulfield, Newhook, Krebs. It's not like you passed on, you know, it's not like the Bruins when they took those three guys in front of Barzell. Right.

Oh, that's an all-timer. It's just, yeah, that was 20, sorry, I had to draft, 2019 was the year. So it was reported last week, I guess, that his agent, Darren Farris, had permission to go shop a deal for him. Yeah. And then Ken Holland the other day says, no, I didn't give permission. That actually also just happened with Tyson Berry in Nashville, where he was given permission to talk to teams, and Barry Trotz was like is like hey like two people

knew about that so your agent can go kick rocks basically okay and let's just say it for what it is okay every agent is out there making calls trying to get their word trying to get deals done. It happens all the time. So players who play for teams have their agents call other teams and say, hey, my player would be interested. They just do it on their own. If they sit there and they're not liking their client's situation, they will call other teams and say, do you like my guy? Would you trade for him?

So old Milstein just lost his head and had seen enough on Zdorov and was like, I'm going public. And then. Going rogue. And then the agent goes to another. Then the agent goes to the team that has his disgruntled client. Yeah. It says, hey, maybe you want to call Montreal.

Or maybe you want to call. Maybe. And this is how many deals get put together. Agents start them. Agents. Agents. We should have more agents on our show. Okay, so I didn't give him permission.

He's doing it anyways. You know he's doing it anyways. It's just, it's, what happened was know he's doing it anyways it's just it's what happened was it's embarrassing for ken holland i didn't hear yeah i didn't give the permission to be public when when insiders go on and say the agents you know going out there has permission like i said to you the joke is it's like you like, you know, that's the team or the general manager saying, I got nothing here. I can't find anything.

I am out of ideas. And it's not a great look. It's like me when I'm looking for something at home and my wife says, fine, I'll come look. And I'm like, oh, she's going to find it. But every agent,

that's what they do. Yeah. They make calls. They're trying to find fits for their client. Yeah. And that's just the way it is. I'm a good singer. You are.

You nailed that. Like one agent trying to get a client $600 million. But to me, Broberg is a type of guy that, like Louie alluded to there, haunts you. That he's young enough, he's got enough pedigree, you trade him away, he goes to the right situation. He's a bust. Exactly. And that's where the guys make millions of dollars to be general managers

in the NHL to weigh those kind of decisions. But you put him in the right situation with somebody, and I don't know. But how much, like, how long can the Edmonton Oilers wait or sit on Broberg when they have to win right now? Well, the implication you're making is that they could get someone who could help them win right now for a guy who can't play in the league. Okay, hold on. Time out, time out, time out. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

Like, can Broberg get you someone that can help you win right now? That's the question at the root of this. That's the question. Like, what's his value out there? What do you think you can get for him? Another struggling player? If I'm a non-playoff team, he can have one of my current NHL players and I'll bet on the upside, right?

Like, if I'm the Blackhawks, I'll say, would you like the McKenzie Entwistle? Jason Dickinson? You may haveenzie Entwistle? Jason Dickinson? You may have one Entwistle. Yeah. And we'll take the potential upside of a Broberg. I don't know. My perspective is I don't really – I know he hasn't been good,

but he's 6'4", he's 22 years old, and he's – I know he's not been great, but it just feels a little risky to give up. You can't also give up an $800,000 salary and then go get a $4 million defenseman. That makes no sense either on the salary cap. My theory on guys like Broberg, in my limited time in the American Hockey League as a player and coach,

is that the teams know. They know if they think Broberg is going to be it or not. And so that's what this comes down to. If they don't think he's going to be it or not like if they and so that's what this comes down to if they don't think he's going to be they're not clamoring for broberg teams are not but his team knows yeah i talked to two other teams that said if edmonton's serious about changing the makeup of their blue line they're gonna have to get creative and include their first round draft pick which yeah i guess if you're looking for a significant piece if they want to try to win the stanley cup they've they've got to make it

attractive around broberg if you're trading a first rounder though you're getting a guy whose salary is well that's the creative part of moving money in and moving money out yeah they've done well the whole like they have their first, and this year, fifth and sixth. And next year, they have first, third. They've got some pieces to play with. They still have all their first-round picks the next three years. Meanwhile, Tree Living's on our show yesterday going, what do you want me to trade?

Which is surprising to me for a team that's been going after it so long here with McDavid. Them to have all their first-round picks is somewhat surprising. Game time? Let's do it. All right. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary

at Bet365. Must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Just the check-in on the Otani odds, same as they were yesterday. So plus 150 Blue Jays, minus 175 for the Dodgers. Hasn't been a ton of movement there. So they don't nothing's changed because they have no idea um please report that a uk outlet called male sport uh has oh no don't even blue jays is the front runner so a uk outlet that i've

never heard of you know this moment as a lifelong blue jays fan my go-to source for Blue Jays stuff is that article. It's like a tabloid from Britain. I love that. Unconnected. I love that they're just getting in on it. Everybody's like, oh yeah. We do like the traffic on our articles. I think if Otani ends up in Los Angeles with the Dodgers,

he would have picked the second best contract offer. Oh yeah, financially. I got to think the Blue Jays are offering him a package that is so beyond just X amount for your salary. This has got global implications for the Blue Jays with the offer. You'll have a whole country. He has been offered through Rogers a guest spot on Kipper and Bourne

every week. He's allowed to come on our show. So that may put him over the edge. I don't know where we're going to fit him in. We would even allow him to come on here and announce it if he wants. He can produce if he wants. Absolutely. I'll go work at the beer store, boys uh it's a lot of games tonight but i wouldn't say a ton of really

excellent matchups and there's a few that are pretty big on pretty big favorites and to me i'm going to put together a four-team super favorite parlay which always works in the nhl but i want to i want to lay this out for you. Bruins over Sabres, Kings over Habs, Red Wings over Sharks, and Devils over Squids pays plus $338. Who's the team that screws me? Buffalo.

Buffalo? Yeah, Buffalo. In Boston, they're screwing me? Buffalo's desperate. Okay. They need it bad. But I like the Cowards parlay. Thank you.

That is a debunkish throwback. Yeah, yeah. Devils. Theyils uh screw you over the squids in in seattle you know which one i like uh tonight you give me odds on maybe it's not immediately available the islanders are playing columbus the islanders just blew a lead and i think they're gonna tighten it up defensively they don't score what is the over underunder on the game? Is it a six-and-a-half game? It is a six total. Yeah, I like an under.

I like the low-scoring game. The under pays plus 105. Oh, yeah. And one other one I have for tonight to just look at, it's Ducks and Blackhawks. So Leo Carlson versus Conor Bedard, the first and second picks. The old meaningless bowl.

Yeah, but one versus two, you know, that's kind of cool. Both of them to score a goal pays plus 600. So there you go. A little super rookie parlay for you. And that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest audits and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus, Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll kind of extend that Edmonton Oilers story to Rod Brendamore last night. Oh, yeah. Who his team took a kick in, but he gave one epic bench interview

to Darren Pang. And it's my favorite so far. I've ever seen best. And we're going to play it after the break on Real Kipper and Bourne. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk, the Hockey PDO cast with Dmitry Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Yesterday we talked a little bit about Carolina having a decent record. I think they were 14-9-1 going into Edmonton. And I'm like, I just don't like them right now. And then they got their lunch fed to them. 5-4-1 in the last 10. Two straight losses. A very good team.

They're an even goal differential team. It was thedavid made to set up hyman for the hat trick the toe drag into the middle no look on the tape oh he's back they should probably hire chris burman just to go whoop every time he does the only thing he does for the head coach of carolina rod brindamore many of us give him the nod as being arguably one of the best coaches in the league he's also looking for a new contract, by the way. And winning American Ninja Warrior, definitely. He would definitely be my top pick. So in my era, a bench interview would never have happened in a gazillion years.

But it still doesn't happen in Canada. I got to think. We're not doing them? We don't do them. We never do them. No. I've never seen one. I don't think we're allowed. Is that byada i gotta think we're not doing them we don't never do them no i've never seen one i don't think we're allowed i think we ask no i think it's like in the tnt or espn deal like that this is one are you kidding me yeah i don't think we're able to do it wow i didn't know that i'm totally over my skis here i could be wrong but i'm pretty sure i would imagine we would be doing them if we were really to. Really? Wouldn't you think? Because I think

they're just god awful. Yeah, they're mostly a cause. I'm sure that's why our people are like, yeah, we don't. Okay, whatever. They're doing them because they're probably strongly recommended to do them. That's why I thought they did them. Yeah. And they're usually nothing.

Unless you're Rod Brendamore last night. And Darren Pang, he's down five nothing. I felt for Panger. And where is it? I think the second it just started or end of the first. Yeah. And I just felt for Panger.

It was in the second. He's getting like, okay, go ask him a question. And Panger's like, oh, that might have been the hardest uh job he's ever had yeah last night going to talk to rod brunner more well let's let's do it this is the question and this was the answer well right obviously a disappointing start to this game anything you're seeing out here that that uh that you can build on we're on our way to losing 50 nothing right now i've never seen a team play this brutal so At this point, you know, I'm lost for words, to be quite honest. We weren't ready to start, which that was clear.

And now we're just kind of doing things not the way we do it. And this is the way you get. So at this point, we're probably turning the page. What a guy for giving an answer, though. Well, he does seem like a beauty he didn't like no chuckles either hey say well peg i think he 50 nothing i think he honestly believed that it could be 50 nothing i think people mishear it i think he's actually doing the math and he says 15 i think he says we're on our way to losing 15 nothing 50 no 15

nothing it's all one word, 15-0. What? Let's have it again. Give me the clip again. Let's hear it one more time. I heard 50. We're on our way to losing 50-0 right now. 50.

Nice try. I think it's 15-0. Really nice try. So what is the worst in the NHL, Sammy? Ever? Ever. Oh, I don't know. Someone told me

15. Okay, I'll look it up right now. Nothing? And it wasn't like in 1940 or something. That was like Newsy Lalonde had 13 goals. Kind of modern. Better than Gino. I think it was 15. 15-0. Aristolini was minus 7 in that game.

Detroit was involved with it. I'm just looking through these. I'm just on a website here. I don't know if any of these are true. Website.com. I'm putting you to work, Sammy, as a producer. I'm digging here. I see a 14-4 that the Leafs were involved with.

Which side? Sabres beat them 14-4. Yeah. All right. I just got 82-0. Huh? Yeah. I got 82-0 in international hockey.

Oh, is it a women's game? Yeah, women's game. Yeah, I vaguely remember this. Slovakia versus Bulgaria. Pretty lopsided affair. Don't think the Bulgarians had a lot of attempts. 82- nothing. Like, what do you say in the last...

Trolling your first power play unit out there in the third period? Maybe just... The Red Wings won 15-0 in 1944 against the New York Rangers. All right. Okay, I have March 3rd, 1920. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Quebec Bulldogs 16-3. What do you say, like, in the last two minutes, let's finish strong?

Set the tone. Set the tone for next game. Hey, ladies, take your foot off the gas a little bit. Hey, we've noticed you have 20 goals and 40 assists. Ladies, take your foot off the gas a little bit. We've noticed you have 20 goals and 40 assists. Could you maybe dial it in next shift? I'm going to go to a 0-0-5-4 check here. That's aggressive.

Is everybody going straight home? Anybody want to go out after the game? Everyone wants to go straight out after that game. Penguins power play. Itplast. It's bad. It's really bad. They are 0 for their last 34. You're taking Kyle Dubas' enjoyment out of this? No.

Really? But I think bafflement. I told you my thoughts on this. I do not cheer against the Penguins because I love Sidney Crosby too much. I love Sidney Crosby way more than I dislike Kyle Dubas. So I cheer for Sid. But like 0 for 34 is, by my math, 68 minutes of gameplay in which you've had four Hall of Famers on the ice.

Yeah, this isn't the... If you played even strength in 68 minutes with those guys on the ice, you would expect to score seven goals. This isn't the 1920 Quebec Bulldogs here. This is not the Quebec Bulldogs. It's insanity that this team cannot no in fact anders lee may think it's really bad too i'm gonna blame full-on blame carlson how's that sound okay i'm just gonna blame him like i just think that this just throws it off

like i think there's not enough pucks it's the classic like not enough ball who's gonna have the ball situation and it's just there's no rhythm i know one's gotta bounce in eventually off someone's butt it's crazy to go that long but like it's obviously was it good last year i don't even know but like from it being this bad what's the difference here they brought in a guy that needs the puck all the time they should put letang out there just so it's different just well they they had them both out there yeah i know which is crazy to me it's also not great 2d man in this area is it doesn't it never happens you just wonder what how that whole thing kind of played out between the negotiation between kyle dubas and pittsburgh penguin and the mandate to you think he said you come here you'll run the power play

you come here you got to help syney Crosby win right now. And then it was like, okay, what's the best way? Go get the defenseman that just scored 100 points. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you're saying, Eric Carlson, we need you to help Sidney Crosby win, you've done your math backwards. Last year, Pittsburgh Penguins... That's an excellent point by you.

Had the 14th best power play. Okay play in the NHL at 21.7%. So the definition of mid. Yeah, they were intensely mid, and now they're intensely bad. We expect Pat Kane to pick up where he left off before this hip issue. Shakira, Shakira. See the hips tonight. Plays tonight. Yeah.

The Brinkett and him got some magic coming. I think it's a pretty good spot to start. San Jose Sharks coming to town. They've been on a long roadie. Yeah. I would imagine, you know, that building's going to be rocking. He's in there. He's playing with the Brinkett.

It's a pretty soft landing, I would say. The Sharks have been playing well. Don't get me wrong. But they are still bad. So, I would say. The Sharks have been playing well. Don't get me wrong, but they are still bad. So I would expect that tonight they look pretty good and he looks good and we get a little bit excited about it, but I'm not overly moved by it,

if I'm being honest. I am excited to see it, though. Like, you know, he is one of the games. It's red. I think the color makes a difference. Similar to the Blackhawks. The Red Wings and Blackhawks were blood rivals for a long time during his career. Like, it's very weird for him.

It's 09, 10, 13. Yeah, like, I think about, there was a couple of playoff series where it was like the Datsuk-era Red Wings, like kind of at the end of their thing with the Blackhawks coming up, and they had some wars. So it's weird for me.

It's a weird one. I'm just excited. You know, he is such a unique player. Like borderline Bobby Orr on the Blackhawks. Like, it's very weird for me yeah it's a weird one i'm just excited you know he is such a borderline player bobby bobby or on the blackhawks like it's very weird but the thing about that is that never happened well yeah i mean it did yeah i guess in theory yeah no it did didn't it no it did happen i just like have oh yeah not allowed myself to believe that continues like detroit's one of those teams where we're still not sure of right right? They're that mid-team that, like, are they going to hang in there? Are they going to hold their spot at number three in the Atlantic

if Pat Kane comes in and is feeling really, really good? This may help them hold for a while. Yeah, I think it's one of those things where when you have a really good start, it's what the Canucks have done, where you say, we don't believe we're as good as our record. We're still going to add to that and try to shore it up. I think he can help them and, you know, obviously put some pucks in the net. I'm looking at remaining strength of schedules and all that

because it feels like, I don't know, Detroit's, no, they're just kind of mid-mid. When you think of player going to new place across sports what's the weirdest one that the first one that comes to mind that's like weird to you can you think of one i'll say elijah one and the raptors was really weird that happened yeah it did yeah about brett farve with the vikings yeah or jets even too yeah but i guess vikings had been somewhere else prior so it kind of took some of the... Gretzky and St. Louis. Never worked.

And I played in a playoff series against them. Really? Yeah, Toronto and St. Louis in 96. Oh, yeah. What happened to that one? It was still weird to remember him as a St. Louis Blue. Brett Hall as an Arizona Coyote. Yeah, and he was the one that, you know, the famous Iserman goal,

the bar down slap shot. He was the one who coughed it up to Iserman. Oh, that's right, too. Yeah. And then he comes over. And that was, by the way, that game was 0-0 in double overtime. That's a butcher fact. A slapper from, that's an unbelievable way to end it, too.

Yeah. Matt Duchesne playing in the 1,000 NHL game, which is still a great number. What a milestone. 1,000 games. That, which is still a great number. What a milestone. 1,000 games. That's a lot of games. I couldn't even get like half. I was at half, barely half.

Yeah, I played less than that. So still a lot of respect for your career there, Kip. The expectations for Matt Duchesne when he came in, do you think he's lived up to them 736 career points in a thousand games? How do you look at your top four or five picks? Do you think everybody should be close to getting a franchise type of player? Or is it reserved for the top three? Or is it just reserved for the first pick

overall because there are expectations on the first five picks so matt duchesne came into the league 2008 maybe he was drafted in 2009 2009 tavaris third pick overall Behind those two guys. So that year, probably, if I tell you, the only sure Hall of Famer bet is Victor Hedman in that whole group. Yeah, I'm just looking. Anyone else? Tavares on the doorstep by the time it's all said and done. John Tavares, it would go a long way with the success of the Toronto Maple Leafs to get him into the Hall of Fame.

Are you just talking about first-rounders or that whole draft? I don't know. O'Reilly's a second-round pick. How far do you want to go down? O'Reilly's a second-round pick. Ryan O'Reilly, he's played 1,000 games. I don't know if he's a Hall of Famer. But I think if you're getting a top-five pick,

I think if you're an owner or if you're a fan, you're expecting to have a guy that's going to make your team be in the conversation. I think third overall, 1,000 games, 700 points. That's about what you're getting. Top five NHL draft choices. Yeah. You should have pretty good odds to be really close to the Hall of Fame. So John Tavares is in the conversation.

Brian O'Reilly, I guess, with the Conn Smythe and the Stanley Cup could get himself in the mix with maybe some more success. But usually the odds are pretty good. If we went down the draft the last 25, 30 years, we find a lot of Hall of Famers in those first five picks. It's funny, the top seven in that draft all have good careers. Tavares, Hedman, Duchesne, Evander Kane, Braden Shen. find a lot of hall of famers in that those first five picks funny the top seven in that draft or

have how all had good careers devaris headman duchesne evander kane braden uh braden shen all of recman larson nazem cadre all over 800 games and then scott glenny played one game in the nhl matt duchesne is not in a hall of fame conversation no no and will not be not duchesne i would say the only disappointing part probably if you're him is that he hasn't played in the playoffs much he's been the second round once and the first round maybe four times and we're talking about a 15-year career 14-year career what's that like it used to be an automatic you score a thousand points yeah playing a thousand games you're gonna get in in the hall Fame. Like, those days are over now.

It's like impact now. Yeah, no, I'm just saying he hasn't played in the playoffs. No, I know that. That's my whole point, that it's just, it's not about games played and scoring points. It's were you an impactful player, especially in the playoffs. That goes, that carries a lot of cred

right now for for voters how much though kipper is like you talk about getting in being a thousand points thousand games or whatever like guys just it was harder game earlier like when you were playing or even into like the mid 2000s or whatever the games changed so much to allow you to play longer if i was saying to sam today like pierre engvall i don't think he's missed a game in his into like the mid-2000s or whatever, the games change so much to allow you to play longer. It's actually funny. I was saying to Sam today, like Pierre Engvall, I don't think he's missed a game in his career. He's in Long Island. He plays every game.

Like, we could be sitting here in five years and I don't know, eight years, and he'll beat a thousand games. Yeah, I think the number one criteria is, were you a game changer? Did you seriously affect a series or a championship? You know, if it is regular seasons, were you dragging your team? Did your team, were you the most important guy, you know,

for some period of time? Yes. But Hedman's first ballot. Yes, yes. In the Broadcasting Hall of Fame. You? Are you in the Broadcasting Hall of Fame? Justin.

Did Justin Bourne move the needle on the Will Kipman-Bourne show? I got time here. We're just getting through the week, boys. All right, thanks to Jason York and Louis DeBrusque. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for joining us. Enjoy your many games tonight.

We're back tomorrow to discuss it all on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. We'll be right back.