Real Kyper & Bourne - Oilers Renewed Under Knoblauch

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne & Sam McKee start the second hour with Edmonton's win over the Islanders in Kris Knoblauch's Oilers debut and Leon Draisaitl picking up a max-fine for his low cross-check. They are joined by NHL Network's Mike Kelly (3:56), who shares why the Oilers are due for positive regression on offence, Knoblauch's strategic changes and looks at the state of the rest of the Canadian teams. Later, news and notes as they chat about arrests made in connection to Adam Johnson's passing and changes being discussed at GM meetings.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, we've got the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We go national live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. This hour, Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. The Oilers get a huge win for their new head coach, Chris Knobloch. Did you take in the game? Yes, I did.

Just like they got the same 4-1 win the night before, right? For their old head coach. It's almost like they're not that bad. You knew 40 seconds in the game that the Oilers had this thing, uh you know they did go down fairly early in the game so no 40 seconds but i did have uh oilers in regulation on my card yesterday so i saw it coming i actually had some gave us some good advice yesterday you did we'll get to that yeah 20 listen if you can't win that game at home against what are you gonna say about the islanders a non-playoff team oh geez that really cut to the core well what game can you win they are not the most explosive offensive team i will say that that was a fair criticism boy and their power play

like can somebody get it to the net? No. They make a point of not doing that. You're running now for the ILSPP. I don't know whose offense looked worse last night, the Bills or the Islanders. Dry saddle, four points. What are you supposed to do? Yeah.

I thought that was a statement for him, for sure. Engaged, took a fine, four points. I think McDavid had two points. Yeah. Who'd he take down? He got fined $5,000. I've never seen someone get cross-checked in the calf before. Interesting choice for where to deliver that blow.

And you were a little iffy on it? You know, like it's not a clean play, but I don't. It's not a clean play. I don't think, yeah. It looked probably worse than it was. Yeah. Not too fired up about it. If a guy ends up blowing a knee out. Yeah, maybe you care quite a bit about that.

Now you might be looking at a lengthy suspension. It's just an odd selection for a choice of vengeance. But he's got that edge. I know. And who doesn't love that? That's amazing. I love when stars have edges. See, I'm not that big of a, I think it's selective.

And I've now turned into a JT Miller fan. I like him. But there are times when I get what he's talking about with that passion. And it's just part of me. And this is what I do. And this is how I get myself fired up. But it has to, if you're a leader on the team, you have

to be strategic on it because you just can't let it fly. I don't think he has control of it yet, Kip. I think at this point he should focus on getting more control over it. Yeah. Deciding when to deploy. Yeah, but I think that's what makes those kind of guys great is that some, they just

can't control it. I have him and Kucherov in the same bucket in terms of just like, if they bad body language when it's bad. When their wires cross, they just cross. That's the whole point. You can't pick your spots. There are guys who choose to show that emotion and it's tactical, right?

Yeah, I prefer when it's genuine. I don't know. There are some guys that think that maybe they get to show their emotions better, that it shows how much they care. I'm not suggesting that's what Miller does or Leon does or all the rest of them. They are who they are. But I always think about, like, what if I had 20 of these guys? Can I have 20 guys banging their sticks and slamming doors?

Can I have 20 of them do that every game? No, because somewhere in every team, someone's having a bad night, you know? And so you don't want that every single night of your season. All right. We got Mike Kelly ready. He's ready to rock. Mike, where you been? I mean, I'm telling Sammy, get you on the show, get you on the show.

He's like, no, no, no, not yet. But this is it right now. This is like, this is your debut on the show, get you on the show. He's like, no, no, no, not yet. But this is it right now. This is like, this is your debut on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. TV now. Buddy, TV. And you've got Sportsnet in the background. Look at the backdrop. What a guy. Wow. That is awesome.

I know. I had to class it up. I knew that I knew I was going to be on. I had to get dressed and comb my hair and throw the background up. But you guys have a new show and it's been great listening so far. So I'll come on whenever you want. Oh, we really appreciate it. I charge nothing, so whenever you want me on. Well, the price is right here at Sportsnet.

That's for sure. Listen, you know, we just had Claude Julian on. I said it's so surprising that a team would feel pressure after a dozen games to get rid of their head coach. And they pulled the trigger on that. And, you know, you do the numbers. Did the numbers support that this needed to happen here and now? Is there any way you can quantify those numbers

with what you do into a firing? Yeah, look, I was a little surprised, and it seems obviously, given that they won their last road game against Seattle, they come home that this was predetermined already before that game, right? And who knows how far it goes back. But I was surprised, I guess, I think if you're going to make the argument to fire him, people wanted to see a little more accountability when guys made mistakes. Like Evan Bouchard had a pinch and a goal against and a back check and didn't get sat.

And that was never really Jay Woodcroft's thing. I think you can go down that road. But a lot of this to me, and I know a lot of people, Oilers fans, nobody likes to hear it, but at the start of the season especially, you get small sample issues where like this team isn't that bad and sure they have had a crisis of confidence and you can see it just by watching them um but offensively the dam is going to burst it was going to burst and it started to a little bit like they've had four goals in their last two games they're going to keep scoring um this was a team that was underachieving what it was creating offensively in terms of chances and shots and all these things,

more than anyone in the league. So this was going to correct itself to some degree. That has nothing to do with the coach. The coach's job is to get guys being able to create these great chances, and they should go in at an appropriate rate, and they weren't. Defensively, people talked a lot about you know the new system and and that's on the coach and i want to get your perspective on this because sure that is although we change from a man-to-man to his own defense if players can't grasp his own

defense what how much of that is on the players at the same time right this is something that most teams in the league do so um i i think what's predictable now and goaltending we can't forget about the goaltending it's been abysmal this season um in games where they've had if you just look at goal saved above expected games where it's been level or better so you've had good goaltending they've won four that's the only four that they've had the other 10 games it's been, and they've lost them all. So I've said it forever with the team. If you just get okay goaltending, like you guys were just talking about the Islanders, right?

The Islanders need great goaltending to be a competitive team. The Oilers don't. They need okay goaltending, and they haven't been getting it, and that's the first thing that's going to kill a coach, I think. Yeah, typically it goes hand in hand, right? The Jack Adams winners tend to have Vezina winners behind them. It's not a coincidence. You know, the one thing that does stand out for me with the Oilers, just to stay on them for a second, is like McDavid,

he had two points last night. I think that took him from like 148th in scoring in the league to 90th or something. You know, like what's going on there to you? Do you see anything with his game or has he been generating the same amount of chances or it just seemed like he's off to you too? Yeah, a little off. I mean, the injury happened and then he definitely didn't look like himself for a little bit. Maybe you could say, you know, still not quite. Although I think the last couple of games I've seen of him, he's had more jump.

And he's still producing a lot of good qualities. His passing statistics, which are going to set up assists, are still quite good. So, again, I think some of that is just bigger sample. This is going to start to correct itself. But he did, especially coming back from that injury, he did look to be, you know, not as involved as we're used to seeing, not as explosive.

Dryside will just look like a body language confidence kind of thing. Like you guys were talking about, man, he was a man possessed against the Islanders. So that's good to see. I don't think we should be that worried about Connor, but the fact that he's looked kind of more human than, you know, Circus McDavid just doing whatever he wants would be a bit concerning. One thing that stood out for me, last night was uh chris knobblock of course uh debuting as a head coach but finding a way to get a win and uh taking uh uh connor and

and leon's minutes down almost two minutes from their average again this is i think by design for sure for him last night to say i i need better numbers out of the rest of my lineup or this has no chance at all relying on two guys. Yeah, long-term, Kipper, I think you make a really good point there. That's probably the best recipe when you can get it. Like, what happens then when, I mean, if the Oilers get more power plays, they're going to be out there more. If the Oilers are close late in the game or they're trailing late in the game

and you've got to start throwing them over the boards, that's going to affect it to some degree. But, you know, I like the idea of putting them on separate lines. I like that idea in general. And put them together when you need to kind of thing. But I don't know. You guys would know this better than me. To play those kind of minutes, they've done it.

Like, they've done it and scored a lot of points. But you probably sacrifice a bit of that effort coming back and trying to be great defensively too when you're playing 22, 3, 4 minutes a night as a forward. Yeah. So the Oilers have been the team that has probably underachieved based on how they've played. The numbers have them as a better team.

The Canucks are a team that everyone is sick of hearing about how they're supposed to regress, how the hot start is not sustainable. I know everyone's yelling at me because I had the audacity to suggest such a thing, but still a pretty good team. Where do you have them pegged? What's their true talent level?

Where should they slot in? Yeah, I think I was wrong about them at the start of the year. I'll take an L on this one. I didn't think they were going to be a playoff team and i think given the start they've had i mean man just go play even the rest of the way you got a good shot so um i don't think that i know they're not a you know contend to win the pacific division team i don't think that and you talked about regression like this sucks all the fun out of sports like i'm aware of this as we're talking about it but it's if you want to just be right

in the end like i'd rather be right than entertaining so i think i have better chance of being right not can i say that the yeah we're the whole deal here yeah if the offense is going to come down which i think it will like shocker shocker. I did this thing, and I posted it on my Twitter account a few days ago. Like, they were scoring on 26% of their rush chances. Like, not even shots, chances. That is insane to do that for a month. And they have. And that's great.

Like, those goals don't come back. Those wins don't go away. You've got them. But if you think that they're going to score at that volume off the rush and they're going to score at that volume in general, I'll put, I'll put a bet down with you. So rip me an email. They're a good team. I think they're getting in. Demko's a rock star.

He could win the Vezina trophy this year. Quinn Hughes could win the Norris. He could win the heart. Pedersen's up there. Like they've got great players. They're a very good team. But I still think 1-2 in that division is going to end up being Vegas and L.A. Seems like any team, including the Vancouver Canucks or Toronto Maple Leafs,

Mike, are clamoring for defense. We know Calgary has an abundance there, depending on when they want to start selling off. But Chris Tannev still, his analytical numbers are basically off the charts still throughout his career. We always know him as a good shutdown guy, but there's a lot of teams looking at Calgary as a solution for them. And where do you have that back end in terms of the ability to bring some assets back for Calgary as a solution for them. And where do you have that back end in terms of the ability to bring some

assets back for Calgary when and if they eventually sell off? Yeah, I think that's going to be the thing to watch going into this, you know, closer to the trade deadline, right up to the trade deadline. That's going to be big because you're talking about Zdorov who wants out. Hannafin, we continue to wait and see, but of course people would love to have him. Nikita Zdorov is such a big physical guy. Tanev, like you mentioned,

when he was with Quinn Hughes in Vancouver, he was the perfect compliment. Well, maybe Heronic's the perfect compliment, but Tanev was right up there. And so if you're a team that's got like a puck-moving offensive guy uh in your first pair Tanev would be a brilliant person to have with them uh Zdorov's a shutdown guy that can you know play big minutes penalty kill physical all that good stuff um and Hannafin's you've got some offensive ability to him and depending on

what you're looking for you kind of touch a lot of different areas when you talk about those three guys especially so calgary let's say they're kind of out of it at the deadline which wouldn't be unrealistic um i think if you want to kind of start flipping things over and making a bigger overhaul you're in a great position to do that with three guys that that just about any contending team would like to have yeah you know those are interesting names uh you mentioned demko earlier is an interesting names of just kind of like going around canada and want to focus on some of the more unique players right now the canucks who you had just been talking about prior have demko they have a couple guys who are up for major awards if you stop the season today you know what are your thoughts on the on the season? Quinn Hughes, Patterson are having mostly Quinn Hughes, because I know as someone who looks into the numbers a bit like yourself,

like this guy's doing other worldly things in terms of his contributions to the Canucks success. Yeah, look, I think he's a slam dunk for the Norris, and I really consider him for the heart. I think he's been that good. Like, you look at the hardest thing to do, I imagine, on the ice, and you guys, again, can speak to this, is to have the puck. I mean, there's 10 guys out there.

Everyone's trying to get it. And you have to be talented to, number one, have it, but number two, to keep it. And his puck possession numbers are through the roof. Like, this would be a little bit dated because i posted this three four days ago um but he was at about 40 minutes of puck on stick possession and the next highest player in the league was around 31 minutes the next highest player in the league had played 40 more minutes than quinn hughes so to have that kind of gap

is incredible. Well, let's go to the next part. What if you got the puck a bunch and make a bunch of dumb plays with it? That's not good for anybody, right? Lowest turnover rate of any defenseman in the league. So per possession, how often do you turn it over?

Nobody less than Quinn Hughes to have that kind of volume with the puck and responsibility with the puck, let alone, we know he's not just smacking D-to-D passes all day and changing. He's making dynamic, creative plays. It is a massive driver for Vancouver offensively and everything that they've been doing, and

keeping the puck out of their own end, which helps you defensively. So, I can start to build up a case on Quinn Hughes pretty quick. Mike, Kale McCarr can't close those gaps in the next 65 games? Sure. Yeah, possible. But Quinn Hughes, just in terms of puck And Kale McCarr can't close those gaps in the next 65 games. Sure. Yeah, possible. But like Quinn Hughes, just in terms of puck possession,

which again doesn't make you the best player in the world necessarily or the best defenseman, he's been the guy that's led it the last number of years. So that's kind of his thing is just you watch how much he has the puck in a game. And he doesn't play the huge minutes that some other guys play. So that's – Kale McCart can close other gaps for sure create you know scoring goals definitely um points for sure um defensive contributions you know it's closer than i think people think like quinn hughes um to me i have a rating for defensive impact that coming into the season and

a player model that I built. I have him in an 86th percentile defensively before the season started. So, yeah, I'm never going to say Kael McCarr can't do anything. I mean, there's years where I think he can win a Hart Trophy. Yeah, it's baffling watching just how far above and beyond those guys are. You know, while we're kind of skipping around Canada a bit, I wanted to get your take on the Winnipeg Jets, a team we haven't talked a whole lot about,

and maybe you don't know as much about, but we wanted to give them some due, you know, have had some success. Mark Shifley, good start. Kyle Connor is a great goal scorer. Is that a playoff team for you in the Central? They are every year, man man and they disappoint me sometimes like i i always look at that team i'm like absolutely they should be they should be top three in the division like they're a good team and of course the colorado and dallas or b some

minnesota is always around but um i do think that they are and and scheifele like you said has been on a run lately so is kyle con'Connor. He's starting to fill the net. Where I think they've had really great contributions this year is from Adam Lowry's line. Nita Ryder and Appleton, they've been really good when they've been on the ice, not only keeping it out of the net, but producing offense as well. And then Hellebuck, like, we still haven't seen peak Connor Hellebuck this year for stretches. He had a slow start for sure. Put some good games together. He's been kind of up and down a little bit.

And when he gets going, which I'm sure he will, like that's again a top five goalie in the world. So I think they're in. As far as some teams that have been notorious this time of year to be a bottom feeder, Anaheim, Arizona, numbers that you like that are trending up. Could they actually be in a playoff hunt March? Yeah, I wouldn't have seen it with either one, to be honest.

I know some people were a little bit high on Arizona coming into the year, and I didn't think they were quite there, but they are hard to play against for sure. I think that comes from the coaching staff, even going into last season, they were, and they're just a little bit better this year. They got some more NHL players on their team. Anaheim, they've surprised me because they were, they were so bad last year. And one of the most defensively deficient teams we've seen in a long time.

And, you know, again, they've gotten better. Leo Carlson's a stud when he's in the lineup. New coaching staff, i think has helped and mctavish's line like with vitrano especially like those guys are absolutely cooking right now so um they're i'd expect them to be in the hunt like i don't know if they get in but um yeah you watch them play like they're i was just looking at this earlier today like the lines with the best goal differentials in the league, the Barkov line's number one. That McTavish line's number two.

Jeez. Yeah, they got some talent there now. Pat Verbeek. Doing big things. Yep. All right, Mike. Really appreciate your stuff, man. Sport logic.

Thanks for doing this, pal. Anytime. Good chatting with you guys alright hold on hold on hold on hold on for those of you that can't watch the show I've got Mike Kelly on zoom and I do believe I see a hockey night in Canada towel

on your shelf and I don't ever recall Scott Oat interviewing you at all I'll give you a quick story on that one I earned it I earned that don't ever recall Scott Oat interviewing you at all. I'll give you the quick story on that one. I can't remember. I earned that. A couple years ago, it was actually right before COVID hit,

the work that I do with you guys and everything. Shorali, our good buddy Shorali, producer at the time, decided he thought it'd be a good idea to put me on the saturday night broadcasters as kind of eye in the sky with some analytical numbers jump into the game whenever anything stands out and did a couple hits with kyle that way throughout the game and uh after

the game i'm talking with him in the tunnel down below and and uh he said you know thanks a lot thought it went really well and here's a little souvenir for you and gave me the towel so actually earned it yeah but when you're a kid like you watch the interviews and everything i was never gonna play but um it's an iconic thing like i can't tell you what that meant to me so it's yeah oh no for sure pride having that towel another that's awesome man another excellent uh move by shirely to get out of paying somebody a salary good stuff hey mike thanks for doing this as always man great stuff all right see you guys all right he did earn it yeah you know uh like 12 years ago when i was just out of hockey i

talked to shirali back in the day and was gonna fly up here and and take a talk about you know the idea of potentially getting on camera i would not have been ready looking back then yeah but he you guys had something going at the time. And they love the towels, eh? Yeah. Those are gold. I have a picture with my son with one around his neck, but he wasn't allowed to keep it.

But we don't have one in our house. So when I covered the Washington Capitals and Las Vegas, am I allowed to say Las Vegas or is it just Vegas? People get upset if you say Las Vegas. It's too many words. Yeah, too many. Las Vegas, Nevada. Do you remember that famous shot of Ovechkin getting the towel, Hockey Night in Canada towel I think he had around his neck

when he got the Stanley Cup? Anyways. Okay. I vaguely do. So I hang around the rink, and it's by the bench, and it's, like, been run over a thousand times

now, that towel. So, I just grabbed it. You have it? I do have it. No, you don't. Are you serious? I do have that, yeah. And it smells like champagne, and it's got tire marks all over it, and it smells like champagne, and it's got tire marks all over it. And nobody, it just sat there, and everybody pretty much left the ice,

and I'm like, I guess nobody wants this Hockey Night in Canada towel. That may be more valuable than your home. No, no. I know right now it doesn't seem like it, but, you know, people, so we had that jersey up here of my dad's the other day. Yeah, yeah. Now that's value. Yeah, and we joked about the value of what it might be.

Someone reached out to me and was basically like, the font on the back didn't match the side, so it probably wasn't game worn. If you have something with a puck mark on it, or, you know, you can represent that it was from that moment. If you can picture match it somehow, that's where the value is. If you can picture match that thing, boo, buddy. Yeah, I'm just looking at the picture

here. Stop working with me. It has it around the neck. Yeah, I don't know. At the very least, if I can't picture match it, it'll be good for a car wash or something. Oh, God, if you use that for washing your car, you've messed up. Wow, that's crazy, Kev. That's a cool story. All right, so Chris Knobloch gets his

first win of his career, and he got emotional. But it wasn't after the game, Kepper. It was before the game. Oh, it was even before the game. Yes, man. Yes. He was made available before the game?

And Speck. And Speck. I mean, we have, I think I put the clip in there, Derek. I thought it was after the game. No, I did put the clip in there. Speck's had a week. Speck, yeah. Let's hear it. Yeah, you want to play the clip there, Derek. I thought it was after the game. No, I did put the clip in there. Speck's had a week. Speck, yeah, do you want to hear it? Yeah, you want to play the clip there, Derek?

Thanks. The people that put you here today, who are the coaches, the players, the people in your life that have you standing up here today? That's tough. First, it's my wife. Aw. tough um first it's my wife um oh sorry that's just a little emotional uh leaving my family to get here and being here

more like wow you weren't kidding rider you wereider. You weren't kidding on spec, eh? First he gets a coach fired, then he makes one cry. That's a really nice clip. Guy made it to the NHL at any age and any moment. That's cool. He had a moment. That's great. I love that. Wow, it just goes to show you that he is an emotional guy.

He's invested. I don't know if he'll ever come across with that typical emotion of a coach. It's not going to be through anger. It's not going to be through body language. He seems like a calm, collected guy. Until he has to talk to Speck. Well, he's

made a void Speck. It's a nice clip, though. That's really cool. And then he goes out and gets a W. That's pretty cool. Promise Mess wouldn't do this. It's an Ed clip, though. That's really cool. And then he goes out and gets a W. That's pretty cool. Promise mess wouldn't do this. It's an Edmonton team. Promise mess I wouldn't do this. Ryan Smith, bringing the cup back to Edmonton.

It's an Edmonton thing. Everybody cries. They're invested. They love it. They're invested. That's what you want in this sport. Their fans are crying after the first 10, too. Got to be a Kleenex endorsement somewhere.

Oh, this is coming. It was Toronto. I mean, McKay was sponsored by a soup company nine minutes after he said he'd like soup. Achari's stupid nickname

was Cookie and Tim Hortons gave him a million dollars. I was like, here you go, man. Cookie got it cool. Yeah. All right.

All right, what do you got? Game time? Want to do some game time? Mm-hmm. All right. It is game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary.

At Bet365, must be 19 plus, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So I had a couple things going, but you were talking to Mike Kelly, who gave a glowing endorsement of my boy, Quinn Hughes. Mm-hmm. Your boy. He's my boy. Is that what it is?

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is. Is that what it is? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Is it a recent addition to your? Yes. Oh. Well, I talked about it when I was telling. Well, you were like.

You're like Biz, who's, I mean. I don't know him. Sucks up to the Leafs. No. And now he's Vancouver. Well, we're on in Vancouver, so I got a panda, obviously. No, I just, I love watching him play. I think he's taken a step to another level this year.

Oh, okay, we don't. Well, no. I was saying at the start of the year that he should be the favorite for the Norris. You guys are like, oh, pump the brakes, pump the brakes. Never happened. And he's literally the favorite. He only played a period at that point. No, he's amazing.

Okay. And I love watching him. Anyways, he is 40-1 for the Hart Trophy. Queen of Youth? Yes. Oh, that is jump on that. So if you think he is available to win the MVP of the NHL, the Hart, he's at 40-1 right now.

I am a trophy voter. I'm ineligible to bet on that. Oh, good. How many defensemen have won that? None have won it since Pronger. So Bobby Orr? But it's all near to base And this is the start of it It's hard for a defenseman to win this thing

Yeah because if they win that Then they have to win They literally have a trophy For the best defenseman So should the heart Just be called the best forward Because goalies rarely win it It's been one or two like i think price

won it and who else won it real weird one theodore jose theodore won it yeah which is so random that that happened but he was amazing but yeah there's it doesn't happen for effort it's usually a forward so maybe i'm okay with separating mvp to best defenseman okay yep all right uh you can win both i can see both. Yeah. All right, I got a couple other things for you tonight. The Calgary Flames are pretty heavy favorites in Montreal tonight, and I don't think that should be the case. I bet on the Calgarians.

Did you? I did. Well, I was just saying that I like Montreal in regulation. They're never going to get Zdorov to Toronto if they win. They need to start losing. I think he's going to throw in games. And to win in regulation, they're plus 210. I think the Calgary Flames are very good.

And to be favored heavily going into anywhere, it shouldn't. I don't think there's that big a difference between the Habs and Flames. Let's just say that. Are they going to play the Wolfdog tonight? Is Dustin Wolf going to get in? If we can figure that out, because he may be a motivated individual. He is not a big goalie. He's not

large. And you wouldn't even either of Soros. Why do you hate Mike Vernon? You wouldn't have thought because they're all so big now, he looks small. Well, Jack Campbell to me is a small goalie. Every time I see him, I feel like he's two. I know. How big is Dustin Wolfe?

I think he's under six feet. I think you're right. Probably six, if I had to guess. Let's see. Dustin Wolfe, using the Googles. He is apparently six feet tall. Six foot 166. Hockey DB has him at.

Yeah, that's giving him this. That's not much goalie. Did you ever play? I played with a guy in college who would tape a five-pound weight to the inside of his thigh, right? You had to keep your shorts on for the weigh-in. Tape, like, the two-and-a-halfs, one on each leg.

Drink a gallon of milk or not milk, water on the way. What do you think his real number was? Like, 110? Just because you want to look like you're heavier? Yeah, you want to clock in. On weigh-in day, scouts are looking at your profile in college. You want to be a heavier guy. You want to be a taller guy you're always

giving it the extra and they're going heels down one year they actually had me in the program at six three i am not six three and i had to call and be like look that i'm six two in the program yeah i'm like six one and a half but i'm in the program at 6'2 6'3 the one year apparently I was just looking at some other games tonight the Penguins who are pretty hot at the moment to be honest with you don't necessarily love that

as you know I'm now cheering against them for my boy Dubas Sidney Crosby absolutely owns the Columbus Blue Jackets I think he has like 53 points in 30-something games against him. Just kills him. Same game parlay. Three and a half shots. Him to score and the Penguins to win.

I think it's plus 375. So there's a little something, something. And these are all heat checks for me because I won both my backfights. Columbus is cooled off. Have they not? Did you say bad? Yeah. Well, not bad.

Just cooled. Cooled off? Were they ever hot? I don't know. What are they not? Did you say bad? Yeah. Well, not bad. Just cooled. Cooled off? Were they ever hot? I don't know. What are they? Have they got six wins? I'm just looking at their... They suck.

I haven't paid too close of attention, but they are dead last in the Metropolitan Division. They have won four times, lost seven times. They've lost a lot of times. Yeah. Yeah. They've won four times, lost seven for an OT. A lot of people still talk about that whole Babcock fiasco.

Hey, you're almost got to go. I'm sure he's a great guy. I think there's a watch on him, to be honest with you, that he didn't get a free pass off of that, but we're not ready to make any changes here. But four and eight tonight becomes four and nine i if if there's any signs of this going south on columbus early i i think i think there'll be a watch on there's nowhere more south for it to go than the bottom of their

division they're to mention the southern most point they're in they're in the florida keys right now points the uh you know you mentioned, I think you should leave me, and we're all looking for the guy who did this. Yarmul's been there for how many years? And they're not showing signs of going the other way. They have stunk forever. Yeah. Since the Doug McLean days.

Yeah. All right. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Okay, we're going to take a quick break. Sammy? Yeah, let's after the break. I got a funny text here. That I've heard some bad takes on this show, but Sammy saying jet lag isn't real has got to be the worst one yet. I just got back from Japan and I am so tired.

Mind you, I did a 12-day, 2,600-kilometer bike race while I was there. I guess Sammy's golf trips to P.E.I. aren't as strenuous. Great show, boys. Listen every day. There you go. Love someone who knows you in and out. Jet lag is not real as the birds aren't real of take. I feel quite bad about it after I saw Sheldon's face.

Completely defeated life energy. There's not much moving around today. No, not a lot of moving around. Walking around. Yeah, not great. Okay, the general managers met today. So a lot of interesting stuff coming out of that, including what to do with three-on-three overtime.

I had a thought on it a while ago. You think they'd listen to our show? I think they'd listen to our show. We'll tell you all about it after the break. Real Kipper and Bourne and a jet lag Sammy. Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. The Kipper Heels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, back on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Look at that sweater. It's a nice jersey. It's a jersey. Nice.

Earned Vipers, baby. BCHL champs. What's up, Patch? 0-2-0-3. I think that was the year. It's our game. Something on our game. Probably.

It says that. Nice. I can't look around. Okay, listen. I want to get into the GM meetings and some of the things that were discussed. But pretty hot story right now uh it's making um getting a lot of attention worldwide is that today they uh there was a report that a man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of hockey player adam johnson who was obviously cut in the throat during a match. And, you know, this has led to a lot of people,

a lot of discussion on, you know, intent and where it goes here. And you sent me a text earlier from someone who kind of just kind of laid the law of the land a little bit on procedure here moving forward. Can you share a little bit for us? Yeah. The tweet is by Dr. Victoria Silverwood or a researcher and writer criminology lecture ice

guardians contributor. She says, um, here's a thread. I'm a criminologist with 16 years experience researching violence and sport, especially in ice hockey. I understand the confusion that a lot of hockey players and fans are experiencing at the moment.

While it's not necessary, it is common practice that a person whose actions led to an unexpected death may be arrested in order for information to be gathered about an event and potentially for restrictions to be put in place, including residing in the country, while investigations are carried out. As with all unexpected death, this matter has been passed to the coroner who will fully investigate the case and pass judgment on evidence this process can take months um even a you know an arrest does not equal guilt even a criminal charge does not equal guilt let the legal system run its course yeah and i just think it's a it's a smart intelligent uh message for everybody just to calm down a little bit.

Yeah, this is not like they've said, this guy's guilty, he's going to jail. We know how crazy it can get on the internet. People having someone guilty. It's there. I know it's there. It's there. I know it's there. But the process has to start somewhere.

And there's a family that's hurting right now that would like answers. They deserve answers. Hopefully this investigation or process can give as much clarity to what may have happened, how it happened, why it happened. But let the process start let it i just just don't like people jumping all over these conclusions right away and thinking they have all the answers when yeah it's just we we need to do this it is really easy uh to get caught up in reckless speculation on it like i don't know. I have watched the video now,

and so I don't even think there's value in that necessarily so much as they're just doing what they got to do in the case of a death here. Is there a new video that I haven't seen? I've only seen the one that you showed me maybe a week ago. Is there other evidence? There's people digging up stuff from Junior, from him. He's coming across the center and he tripped a guy

and they're trying to draw conclusions and people are trying to play. It's just like, can we let this play out in the court? Sorry, I just think it's impossible that they would come to a conclusion where you can say, I don't know, let's just, it's in the works there. There is a family, as you mentioned, that's going through a tough time here,

and they do deserve answers. Okay, the NHL general managers met today discussing various things, including improvements. Your ideas. Specific areas. This is the Kipper Summit, they called it. The three-on-three overtime, where it's kind of been noted that the look that we discussed a week ago

in overtime is not the kind of look we're going for when it comes to a brand of hockey we're trying to sell, and that's the regroup yeah colin campbell says we don't like they don't mind ot we don't mind the format the one thing we don't like the one thing that teams have done on their own players have done is uh decided possession is key you get the the kickbacks all the time sometimes overtimes get going but until then sometimes they don't want to give the puck up from the opening face off he says what's the answer the problem is they don't want more whistles either so you don't want

to say oh like you know you can't leave the offensive zone with the puck or we'll blow the whistle it's like reverse offside or something it's really complicating matters so what do you do shot clock shot clock you got to make an attempt on the net within guys are just gonna be banking it off the end boards to themselves and maintaining we're just making it even more not hockey yeah oh yeah that's a great point no no you add another element we're completely changing the game yeah it's just we are now going down a rabbit hole and i i don't know where it ends to make it more like like hockey, you could put more guys on the game. I refer to it as basketball with the regroup and then the pass around and then go back.

Let me register my official stance on this. I like it. I like three-on-three overtime. I love watching it. Something always happens. Goals get scored. There's ends in a rush. Yeah, I don't like seeing the two-minute

wind up either. But I don't like the drop pass and the power play, but it works. Can we... Is there a way we can value the original sell of the ticket? And that's real hockey, five-on-five.

Is there any way to go back to that? Or no, that horse is out of the barn. Go back to what? Five on five hockey in overtime. Five minutes in a tie. No, can't sell that? I think it's harder to sell in a tie.

Well, I think it's harder to sell now once you've given everybody the three on three. Like if you just stuck with it. By the way, three on three back when the Vernon Vipers were playing. We played that back then too. Just throwing it out there. Could you ever go back to a situation where it's five on five hockey?

There's no offense, right? It's so hard to create offense. You want to incentivize chances. There's higher goal rate. It's just, you know, we might just have to live with it. How about that? Is that boring? Make it longer. That I'm down with, but the PA probably isn't. Can we give three points for a regulation win? Yes.

How about this? Can only use a player once in overtime. You want them out there? Go have your 90 seconds. If you've been used, by the end of three on three, we're at our third line. See, now you're talking because my original thought on three on three hockey is I hate it

because they would have never thrown me out there. Make it like seven minutes long. Boy, you thought Matthews shifts were long now. Holy crap. Talk about injuries. The best player on five.

Fourth minute of their shift. You know that starting pitcher that gets pulled in five and a half innings and is watching down the street at the bar the eighth and ninth inning after a shower and a shave. That's right.

You get off after your 90 second shift and head right to the shower. Let me know how it goes, boys. My work here is done. What about what about like a penalty shot? I think someone threw out today that you get to pick any player on the team on a penalty shot. Yeah, someone threw out today that you get to pick any player on the team on a penalty shot.

Yeah, I like that. That's fine. Sure. That would piss me off. Yeah, you haul down Ryan Reeves and they throw Willie Nylander out there for the shot. No, just if you've made a great play and you earned your breakaway, it's like, okay,

have a seat. I don't like it because you took the chance away you want your shot it's like okay have a seat but also you know what i don't like it because you know you took the chance away from that guy that quality of player maybe i wouldn't have pulled the guy down if it was connor mcdavid yeah to me that just goes right against the spirit of the game yeah that's like a core just trying to capture the spirit well no it's like a core rule like you get hauled down you get to shoot it that's the whole point i like you can't change that you should get an assist for that if that's the case i like that we're actually so far we have changed nothing

nothing yeah i don't know i think you just stick with three on three the way it is if you put a shot clock in we've lost a lot it's a different sport in overtime you're not wrong right like so maybe you're being stubbornball puts in a shot clock and it helps. Shot clock, pitch clock. So it would literally be if you shot or would it be like you have to the clock is going, starts 30 seconds to get over the red line and you get all

these chances within 30 seconds and you have to give it up. How would they even do it? What would it look like? Like a horn? Like a little like a bong and then you dump it in below the goal line of retreat? Anything that sounds less like hockey than what we're talking about. I couldn't agree more. It was an orange ball that was round,

and we put the hoops up. Never mind. I'm telling you, if we valued the 60 minutes for three points, we may not even need that. If you incentivize, God, watching Calgary and Toronto play for overtime in the last two minutes is painful. Same with the Preds.

You're cruising in. There was like 75 seconds left, and Hannafin was like, I'm just going to park this behind our net, or bring it back in our end and regroup here. Let's get our point, and then we'll play for the next one. We'll give half a point for overtime. Half. Not a full point.

Half. That's all you deserve. You're only playing for five minutes of and it's half a game of hockey of of skills pond hockey fair enough all right we got other stuff to or anything else offside reviews i don't want to talk about that one get rid of it i don't be done with it no you have to now that's another one that uh you can't go back. Yes, you can. You either are on side or off side. You can't go back to gray. But the grayness is you're on side

if you have possession of the puck. What's possession? If I kick the puck from my skate to my stick and the puck is in the middle of that gap as I'm crossing the blue line, am I on side? Do I have possession? What is possession?

You got to change the rule of off side. To make it, you need to be touching the puck with your stick or something? Just change the rule. I don't know. I think that they should just completely get rid of the review. Or have one. Give me a real-time review. One look at it in full speed.

And if you can tell, it's offside. So when your Leafies lose a game seven because someone's offside buddy you're i like the idea that the ref okay west mccauley goes to the center ice they hold up a an ipad they say here it is again have another look for the official he watches them go across the blue line in real time if he can't tell then it's close enough yeah it's all time review one look at it it's a bonus look to me it's very similar to the double play in baseball where they made it where, like, the neighborhood play. It used to be bang, bang, drag your foot in front of the bag.

And it's like, yeah, it's the spirit. That did get ridiculous, though. So what do you like now? You like it better now? No. I liked it when it was just like in the ballpark, in the neighborhood. You drag the foot, it's around there. Like, you're in the same area.

I do hate the bag tag where a guy comes up off the bag. I don't think you're going back to around there, around offside, around touching the bag. Too much money at stake. You cannot go there, Sammy. Gambling is involved. You've got to get the calls right. People have already been said it is or it isn't.

Which one is it? I don't know. I just hate that it's like we're sitting there for a minute and a half and they're looking at it. It's a centimeter. It's like, oh, my God. god if it's gonna take that long and just don't overturn it took in the hockey hall of fame yesterday oh you did yeah i did how'd it go um listen it it's it's a beautiful thing to be inducted and and tell stories but so cool this thing was way too long yeah way too long you know I've been invited to that a couple times.

I did, there was. Yeah, and I just know better. I don't know. We've all been talking about the NHL draft and how they're going to change this. I'm just not sure anymore, and I've gone to many of these, and it's wonderful, but there has to be a different way. The players deserve that moment, though, right to be a different way to celebrate.

Oh no, for sure. But there has to be a different way to celebrate them. I don't know if... I'm not well-versed on NFL or Major League Baseball. They all do really long speeches. No, I know that, but

it's around a festival, isn't it? It's a weekend. I that, but it's around a festival, isn't it? It's a weekend. I don't think it's on the same night that they're playing football or basketball. We had two games last night. People are like, what's going on in Edmonton? You're going up against what? Right? You're going up against your own product.

It should be maybe, I don't know, throw it during All-Star weekend or something. Yeah, I don't know, throw it during All-Star Weekend or something. Yeah, I like that idea. Just celebrate it in a different manner than dragging people out, you know, and putting them through seven speeches, which are all great stories, but it needs to be celebrated a little bit differently, I think, because I'm not sure if we're in that new era of like let's selling the game or grabbing a new audience i don't know what last night did to to do that that's that's the point i'm trying to make all-star week every player being inducted gets a day monday it's ken hitchcock's day and everyone celebrates him he does a speech so you see a thing it's a 30 minute part of the

event that day the next day is someone's day. There's definitely maybe a hipper way of telling these great stories. Yeah, because they are great. Yeah. For sure. Speaking of Hitch. Oh, yeah. Hey, tomorrow, we have a show tomorrow.

Yeah. A couple Hall of Famers, including a certain Swedish one. A Swedish hockey player coming on. Yeah, Mike. You tracked down Matt Sundin. I did not, but the station did. They did. He's coming on our tracked down Matt Sundin. I did not. But the station did. They did.

And he's coming on our show if he wants to talk to you. Matt Sundin via Zoom. Yes. My hero. Matt and I will talk about... Vancouver Canucks legend. So did I ever tell you

Rogers sent me to... You... Rogers sent me... Sportsnet sent me to Stockholm to interview Matt. I love the idea of you as like a mic-carrying reporter. Oh, yeah.

Why didn't they send us for the series? No. And then at the end of it, I jumped in the Baltic Sea for... Did you? Yeah. It must have been like 40 degrees. It was ridiculously cold. Were you there just to interview?

How was your jet lag situation? Yes. And let me tell you, those Swedes, they know how to have fun. You had a good time? Oh. Oh. So how are the Leaf. You had a good time? Oh. Oh. So how are the Leafs going to play this week? Having a good time over there?

Yeah. That'll be interesting. That does sound fun. Yeah. Pretty excited to have them on the show. Willie's probably looking after everybody there. And I'll tell you something, Matt's looked after me that week. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it sounds wonderful. I'm sure, yeah, we mentioned Willie's going to be out a couple of shekels, but I think he'll make some money back on the other side. Make sure you're tuned in tomorrow for Matt Sundin and Ken Hitchcock. Yeah, both of them. Yeah. There you go.

Just Hall of Famers, both of them. No big deal. All right, just like that. I don't think we're done yet. We're not done? What else you got? Well, we got to talk about the Golden Knights going to the White House. Oh, I didn't really watch that.

So it's cool now to go to the White House again. Right? It's safer. Yeah. Yeah, I think you're allowed to do it. It's culturally more accepted in Canada anyway. Yeah, I think you're allowed to do it now. Yeah, I enjoyed my visit there with the Rangers.

You went with the Rangers? Oh, yeah. Who was president at the time? Clinton. Clinton was. Yeah, early. I was going to say, was it Abraham Lincoln? Hey.

Hey, Sam. I can easily stick you back up with Derek Brandeo, okay? Yeah, I know. It's not the real Kipper and Born and Sammy show just yet. Brandeo's like what I do. Yeah, Derek Brandeo's don't. I don't want Sammy up here. We'll swap him out.

I love it. Take Brandeo down here. Now, Sammy, can I end the show? You're ready to rock. You hear the music now. Now I hear the music. Buffalo, Pittsburgh, CBJ tonight. All right.

Our thanks to Clyde Julian, 15th winningest coach. And, hey, the way things are going, he may end up before the year's over somewhere. Chance to win a few more. Yeah. Mike Kelly also in this hour. We got a great show for you tomorrow night, including both Hall of Famers, as we said,

Ken Hitchcock and Matt Sundin. So we will all see you tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.