Real Kyper & Bourne - Oilers Trade Stuart Skinner + Navigating Injuries with Paul Maurice

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

Former NHL head coach, GM and President Doug MacLean (2:22) returns with Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to weigh in on the Edmonton Oilers trading away Stuart Skinner to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Tristan Jarry in the main part of the deal, if the Oilers could've afforded to wait a bit longer and if one or both of Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid would've approved before the move. Then, Mac discusses why the Vancouver Canucks also can't afford to let their Quinn Hughes saga drag on through another season, and which teams in the West and East conferences he has written to make the playoffs. Later, Florida Panthers head coach Paul Maurice joins the guys (27:42) to chat about the difficulties of returning to the 'Cats' identity, how he's changed as a two-time Stanley Cup-winning coach, Brad Marchand's presence in the locker room stepping up with Aleksander Barkov out, navigating the Winter Olympic schedule, and the state of the Atlantic Division.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, let's kick it up a notch here on the Real Kipprin-Born show as we go national in the Kippreels, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. We're live on SportsSet, SportsSys, 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on SportsSet Plus. If you can't catch us live, give us a download whenever you get a chance on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, this hour of Real Kippron-Born, brought to you by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Doug McLean,

who's been off for various reasons. Oh, he's off already. We don't know why, but we will find out where he's been. But in the meantime, breaking news of the day, J.B, Tristan Jari, now officially an Edmonton Oiler. How about you kind of breaking that trade today? You had all the bits and pieces. of it.

I did, yeah. It was lucky enough to have someone give me a heads up on the deal and

there's some speculation whether Skinner would be a part of it but there's just no way you can bring in Tristan Jari and then think

that Skinner's going to be fine in a newfound role so it was just a it was just a conclusion of if not if but when the Oilers get a new goalie than Skinner's time's officially done.

I also just think it saves a little bit of awkwardness, you know, like that sort of tension of now who's the guy in the biggest moments. And so they got some clarity. This is the guy. Oh, we got McKee back in the building. By the way, I wanted to give credit to Sammy who was not in the room at the time the show started and text us about the jersey. Because he remembered from afar.

That's what I got to. I sent an alarm. I said, you did. Yeah, I'm just sick of it. But, you know, but last night he had about 16,000 people reminding him to change the jersey, too, right? A couple. Not many. He did.

All right. Plenty more to dive into this trade for the Edmonton Oilers and whether or not this needed to be done now. Could they have waited? Is Jari the right guy? For all of that, let's welcome him in fresh off the beach. Doug McLean who Listen, pal The last little while

We don't know where Stolars is We don't know where some guys have gone You went You disappeared on us The last little while Is there a chance you and like Stolars We're together somewhere You know what I've been down and out

It's been a battle for me You know as you get a little as you age gracefully You know you've got to you've got to be careful and you've got to look after yourself and I went a little too hard doing all these podcasts and shows and writing a book I've just I've burnt myself out but first of all I got a bone to pick with Sammy oh okay I'm not very happy oh I get a note today like a sort of a snotty note from them saying make sure I'm ready to be on at five because we have a special guest after you and we've got to bump you Oh, wow. And I'm just thinking, does Sammy know that the guy you have on replacing me broke a 29-year record that I held for most playoff wins in Florida Panther history? And this son of a gun broke, that's like a Gretzky record, and he broke it. And you're bumping me for Paul Maurice.

I would say I'm the opposite of bumping you, Doug. I'm starting you earlier. It's the opposite of a bump. You got moved up. moved up. You're lucky because I'm having dinner with Rick Bonus and his wife tonight. I have to bump you guys

earlier. I got to get the house cleaned up. Rick will be a lot. No, in all seriousness, we're glad you're feeling better you know, down and out with a virus or whatever you went through. We're glad. You look great by the way.

Just fantastic. Okay. Yeah, I did get a little beach time in today. I needed it. expertly bad and but okay here's here's i'm going to give you the playoffs as i see it today or do you want to talk to three first jari jari edmonton biggest story by far mac and like did the oilers have won three out of four uh hyman's back did they need to do this now and is jari the right guy and skinner get pittsburgh in the playoffs that's what i want to know i think he He's going to be better there.

And I don't know who's better. Skinner. I had a scout tell him today. They like Skinner better because he's bigger, you know? Younger. So, you know, that's going to be interesting. But look, Jerry, look, that's a tough deal when when you're putting extreme pressure on a guy like Jerry who, 12 months ago, guys, he was waived through the league and was in the minors.

I understand he went to the minors because of the five million. I get that. I know he's had a decent year with like. a 900, 908, say, percentage this year in 14 games played and you're bringing them in and you're hurting your back end a little bit with Kulak, who's a really good 5-6 guy, you know, that now you're replacing them with Stastin Regula as your 5-6. I know their top four is okay. I was not excited about the deal for Edmonton. I really was. And I think it's a, it's a little bit of an, I hope I'm wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I think it's a little bit of an act of

desperation. Would you, would you have waited? I guess, Mac, they must have looked at the goalie market and said, it ain't getting any better. It may not get better in February, may not get better in March. So let's just do this now. There's no doubt they did that. I mean, they would have been crazy not to do that. And, you know, you look around the league and you look but there's lots of injuries in goal. There's lots of teams that have got goaltenders who are struggling. I just, I don't, I would have waited. I would have tried to wait it out a little bit longer, you know,

and just see what else broke. But it's a tough, it's a really tough call. By the way, can somebody tell me why Sorokan can play every night, Vasaleski can play every night, and Bobrowski can play every night, and Bobrowski can play. play every night and we got all these other guys that oh my god load management you know we've got arrest them like seriously what is with that you know anyway so i i'm not impressed with the deal but isn't it just something different though they just had to do something different why didn't they

just have to do something different like i think a lot of people are going just it can't be skinner anymore i i understand that and i guess i guess when i saw jerry and skinner and skinner stain. I felt a little bit better about it, you know, because at least you've got some help there in case things go south. I mean, Pickard hasn't been able to, he's been struggling as well all year.

Skinner's been good the last eight or ten games when the Oilers have actually played better. He has been much better lately. I just, I don't like the deal, but, you know, they're desperate. They're desperate. And, you know, and they got, they got the

McDavid watch going on. and you know they've got how does mac david feel today well i'll tell you how he feels and you can answer this uh knowing then why you're telling me if i can answer it because i'm interested in your answer oh okay this wasn't just an edmonton pittsburgh trade it was uh a crosbian mac david trade you don't make this trade either side doesn't make this trade without going to talk to those guys. They must have blessed it. Oh, that's

interesting. I would say that Crosby blessed it. I'd be you know, McDavid, would he engage in that? I don't know. Would you have gone to McDavid and said I'm going to take, I know, I'm

taking a guy that helps you get to the Stanley Cup final, but I'm going to replace him with this. I would have gone to David, for sure, because I probably would have had them out buying them lunch today, you know, and, you know, spending as much quality time as I could with it. So look, it's a tough deal. You know, so going forward from here, like, they're not going to head into the playoffs.

Obviously, they're dead serious, Stanley Cup or bust. It's not going to be Regula and Stasney on their final pair, right? Like, they've got work to do now. And you don't mind their top four. You don't. You know, Bushard's going to be better. You know that. And you don't mind their top four.

I mean, you really don't. But that, you know, you know when you go into the playoffs that you need seven, eight guys to be able to carry you the distance they're going. And that would really make. And Kulag, look, he's a journeyman, but he's a battler. He's a little bit like a sketcher. You know what I'm saying? He's that type of guy for me.

You know? So I just think he's one of those bottom guys that gives you everything he's got, versatile. So to me, it's a really tough day for the Oilers. It really is. All right. Are you good on the Oilers? Yeah.

All right. I want to move it out west of Vancouver and this whole thing with Quinn Hughes. Why? Why? Because it is, it's the second hottest story today still. I had, I said last year they had one Canadian on their team and I got barbecued for it. I mean, how many Canadians have they got there now? Seriously.

Back, what does Jimmy do with this Quinn Hughes situation? Guys, I went through their lineup a couple of days ago, and I hardly recognized a name. I mean, seriously. But what has happened out there? I mean, what, you know, we had the entire year wasted with Pedersen and Miller, you know, and then we get this year it's all Quinn Hughes, I mean, distractions like, You can't believe in a franchise that's run by a veteran guy that's won Stanley Cups and is a solid citizen.

I just I just can't believe the distractions that have ruined that hockey team. You know, Jimmy was going there to take them over the top. That was the deal. I'm going there and we're going to turn this team into a winner. And it looked like they were trending that way, you know, 12, 14 months ago. and all of a sudden, it's pretty close to being really ugly. And you know, Quinn Hughes is leaving. That's not a, the minute it came out about New Jersey a year ago,

you knew that was never going to die. You knew it wasn't going to go away. So, Mack, how do you feel about my take on this yesterday, which is simply that they can't do another full season of dragging their fans through this, who's going, who's staying, toxicity? Like, they need, we all know what's happening. everyone in the league has a chance to get one of the best players in the league.

Should they not just try to make this happen now? Well, it's a really tough deal to make. Like this is a franchise breaker, maker type of deal. You've got to hit a home run with Quinn Hughes and you're in a bind. You're not in a position you want to be in when you're trying to move a franchise player. This is a tough deal.

And you've got a brother situation, in another team where you know, obviously, he'd like to go there. And you've got some teams that have got lots of cap space and lots of prospects that can make this happen. But it's, look, you're not going to, every trade is always about the best player, the best player you get. You know, I think about Horvatt. Horvatt was moved to the Islanders.

What's left of that deal? You know, think what's left? Ratu, Atu, Ratu. you're right and that's the guy that's leading the islanders by the way i hope he's not hurt because i got the islanders in the playoffs but i'm more unless he's really hurt bad but he's okay he's okay oh good great news one to three weeks great news so it's a tough situation for jimmy and patrick and company yeah okay if we're under the um the presumption here that he wants to go play with his brothers but it's still a year and a half away would you as a general

manager of another team be scared of that to trade for him? Or would you think that you could give up key assets, take him for this year, have him for next year as well, and take the chance that he can fall in love with your team and your community and stay longer? That is a monumental gamble because the price point that you're going to have to pay is not for a two-year player unless you're lucky enough to win the cup. If you win the cup, it's no problem. But if you don't, it's a big price to pay for a guy that's only going to be there two years. So look, every which way you look at this, it is not a pleasant situation to be in for the Vancouver Canucks.

And I empathize with them because I really, Nick, you know this a couple of years ago. I was saying this team has got a chance to really take a major step. today oh it's scary so what should they prioritize then given where they're at should they you know be looking for picks prospects are i think there's some worry among vancouver canucks knowers that this organization always wants to compete and always wants to turn it around and try to get players now try to compete again soon they've got to be competitive in that market I mean, how many times can you say, you know, we're going to retool, we're going to rebuild, we're going to, you know, how many times can you do that? And you've got Pedersen going, you know, getting older.

You've got, you know, the other kid from Minnesota, the score, you know, getting older. I mean, it's time is really ticking on this franchise. It really is all of a sudden. And you've got a goaltender, Demko, who's in and out, injured. Like, it's a tough, tough scenario right now. And I just think that they're up against it. I mean, you look, I saw I was going through Washington's roster. I was going through Detroit's roster.

You've got Chicago's. They've got some good prospects there, some good young players. But how do you do that? Washington, at least have got some young guys that are on their team and playing and playing pretty well for them. But, you know, if somebody, if Washington or Jersey or these teams get Quinn, they're an automatic Stanley Cup contender. They are.

You're watching and listening fresh off the IR, Doug McLean, former NHL President, GM coach, and off the rails star on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. So if we look across the country, Mack, how many teams in the playoffs are we going to see coming out of Canada here because I thought Ottawa would have been a lock, but are we sure or not sure? I'm going to give you the way.

first. Okay. Okay. Colorado, Dallas, Minnie, Anahein, Vegas, LA, Edmonton. I have Utah, should be in, but they're really ticking me off. They're good enough to be the other team there. And right now, I've got them there, but I don't like the way they're playing right now. And they should be better than what they are. But that's what I've got for the West. The East is unbelievable. In what way? I'm going Washington, Carolina, New Jersey, with U's back, and I've got the Islanders in. Ooh.

With the way Horvatt and Sorokin and Company and Schaefer, the way they're playing, and I think they'll get better in the second half. So I've got those four in. I've got Tampa in, that's five. Okay. Okay. The team that I'm going to say next is going to shock. but I've got Boston there because of Swayman, McAvoy, Pasternak, Geeky, Stern.

I've got Boston getting in. Okay. So that leaves one of four teams. I've got one. Actually, I've got the Panthers getting in. I've got the Panthers getting in. Oh, God. So now you got Detroit, Toronto, Auto, on Montreal in a battle.

Yep. I've got one of those getting in and it's for me it's going to be between Toronto and Ottawa getting in one of those two teams so Fowler's not getting it done for you in Montreal

you know we had Pierre McGuire and what do you think I'm clearly By the way what was that all about are you trying to bump me with McGuire or what? Hey all I know is you used to come on this show and influence general managers he mentions Fowler and the next thing he's called up

I was listen I was a general manager and he was a 12-time finalist for a GM job the big difference what do we what do we think of the call up in Montreal

those teams let me just tell you of those teams who's got the best goal tending of Detroit Toronto Montreal and Ottawa Ottawa who's got the best goal tend Detroit Montreal and Ottawa Detroit's been the best. Right, but Allmark is supposed to be the best, isn't he?

Allmark is supposed to be good. My opinion, Allmark has dropped off again, and that was a big win last night. But Montreal, if Pierre's magic works, you know, maybe this kid comes, he's the next Patrick Gua, maybe or Carrie Price, I don't know. But you look at the gold tenet and you'd say, geez, Toronto's gold tenon has been really, really good, but they can't stay healthy. Ottawa's gold end and Allmark has been okay. Montreal Fowler. No, Montreal. In my opinion, the other two can't get it done.

Gibson Talbot, can they get it done? And Bob with the Panthers is going to find a way to get it done. I, you know, to me, you know, it's going to, that's what it's going to come down to who is the best gold end or who has the best defense. Yeah. So. And you got, look at the top two defense. Give me a team. What?

Get up the fence and give me a team. Okay. I'm going to give a chair right now. Boston, Ottawa, Panthers, Tampa. Get in. All right. I'm going to take this off the rails a little bit, as you just said, Toronto's going to miss playoffs. And Sammy's in a pile of tears over there. Did I say that? You know who else you didn't have in the playoffs? I think Toronto's going to sneak in. The ninth spot. You also didn't have the Buffalo Sabres in.

There's a report right now on the athletic that Buffalo is having internal talk. about removing Kevin Adams as the general manager in Buffalo. How long have we heard that? They're on a road trip. They're home in a couple of games. Nothing's going to happen before them. But they're having internal talks about the possibility of making a change there. What are your thoughts about that, Doug?

Who are the internal talks with, Pagula and who? It doesn't specify who the humans are having those conversations. Yeah, I don't know. You know, I know with Yarmo there, Kekela, who's got, you know, good experience. And in my opinion, did a pretty good job in Columbus. I know Lindy probably is going to be this will be his last year. You know, I think Lindy only wants to probably coach the rest of this year.

I hope he changes his mind, but I wouldn't be surprised. Right. I don't know. I mean, look, Kevin, I had him as a player. I traded him. I like him. I like him. So I don't, you know what?

I don't like hearing that. I'll tell you what happened to me the week before I get fired in Columbus, my executive assistant come in and she said, Doug, I have an envelope here for you. And I said, what is it? She said, it's a guy that's applying for your job. And I opened it up. And it was a general manager who had been in the league for a long time,

who was a friend of mine who have had beer with. And he was actually applying for my job before I got fired. Come on, like, in resume form or what? Oh, full resume form. Full resume. Give us a name. Give us a name. I said, and he's got a pretty good resume.

But anyway, you know, I ended up getting fired a couple of weeks after. So I'm not going to really. Who was it? Who was it? What? Who was it? I can't tell you. Oh, stop it.

It's Friday. Did he get your job or not? Did he end up getting your job? It's Friday. People have. started to drink. They won't remember. He didn't get the job and he's never gotten one since.

Okay. Better not mention his name. He did win a Stanley Top. All right. We're to start narrowing this down in the background. Sammy, get on that. Do you have any Dennis Malgans I've had in my career? What do you think I'm not working anymore? I got it. Can I say

it? No, I won't. No. All right. Move on. Move on. What do you got? I don't know you mentioned Olmark is, but like they're supposed to be right at the top right now competing. What's happened

with them? And they got Brady back. You know, they lost Shabbat and they lost Pinto. In fairness, Kachuk hasn't got his wheels going yet. So give them a little bit of time. And I still think Omar's got to be better. He's got to be better. So I still, you know, I say,

And I really believe this. It'll probably come down to Toronto or Ottawa getting in. One or the other is going to get in. And it is going to be a dog fight between those two teams. And I think I might have said that the first show this year, that I had them neck and neck. And I think that that's what it's going to come down to. And Toronto's got the goaltending right now that's been terrific.

I'm still worried about Matthews. He doesn't, I watched him close last night. He doesn't look like the same guy to me. kneelander is they've got to figure it out they've got to get those two guys going the way and i know you know neelander's getting his points and matthew's getting his goals but he's not the same neither one of them are the same right now for me and they're so important all right speaking of getting going we we got to say goodbye to you because sammy's telling me we got to get to our star guest next you know i tell you this this really pisses me off but that's a

okay, do not, do not let it bother you. Do not let it bother. Deep breaths. I feel pretty good because I have a picture of Paul Maurice in my office with Gretzky, Lemieux, and Messier, and Paul and I, when he was my assistant coach with the NH at the NHL All-Star game. So wish him well and tell them that I picked them to get in the playoffs. So tell them to let the horses out of the burn when they get help. All right. All right. You still got a picture of you on the beach. today with a beer that tells you that tells you something as well thanks for doing this mac for having me on in such a tight schedule thanks mac i appreciate your time oh man you're you're going to feel it you're probably going to feel it for the next two months with him i mean i could

have just got rid of him totally but we fitted in uh he's probably listening it's game time visit by bet 365 visit the app for the sod at c why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly light night on the ice tonight uh two games in fact Chicago at st louis in Seattle at Utah uh the battle of the another not expansion teams they moved I was going to say the battle of the yeah the battle of newish although there is a battle right now about the histories of all these teams you see following this yeah Winnipeg wants its history back I think that's good that's their history yes Dale Howard chuck yeah that's the boys I totally agree I totally agree uh so we'll focus in on

Blackhawks visiting the Blues. Thrashers. History. Yeah, Thrasher's history. I don't know. I have no horse racing in this thing. Anyways, Connor Bedard continuing his pursuit of trying to make the Olympic team.

He's hot. Blues are not. He's facing one of the worst goleys in the league in Jordan Bennington. It's tough to say that loud. What about a Klingberg goal? His future teammate. Plainburg goal. How about a break?

And Reeves scored and they took it off the boat. Did he score that? No. It just hit Benoit Street. Okay. My dick. Mom was touching me. Straight in.

Yeah. Anyways, so give me a Connor Bedard goal, anytime goal tonight at plus 1.25 against the St. Louis Blues. And now his game time is that I bet three, six, five is that the athlete is thought. And see why it's ever ordinary. At bet three six five must be 19 plus. I'm there only. Please play responsibly.

Let's go. Okay. We'll take a quick break when we return. Stanley Cup champion, Paul Maurice. The Florida Panthers will join us next. That is awesome. Don't go away. Hey, it's Ben Ennis.

And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things, Leafs, Rafters, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the fan morning show. Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcast. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipperman Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippreels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Paul Maurice will join us momentarily.

We scheduled him and then he got bumped to or what happened? Is that, I don't know, you were coming back from somewhere and you're like, ah, I'm just landing. And then, like, five minutes later, you're at the station. Yeah. That was a strange day. And I'm like, just have him on the show. You don't need me.

Yeah, we do. Come on. You know him. That's the whole thing. Your name's in the show. You're the guy supposed to interview Paul Marie. All right, all right. How do you think he's doing?

We're going to find out in a few seconds. But before he comes on, how do you think he's really doing and handling this? He loses his captain. and they're, they're struggling to get back into the race. Ah, they just beat Utah, they beat the Islanders, they beat the Blue Jackets. Yeah, they took it on the chin to Colorado. Yeah, you know who's taken on the chin from Colorado? Yeah, everybody.

Yeah, everybody. All right. Okay, let's welcome him in, the star of Off the Rails Friday, because I think Doug McLean's still listening. You know, we bumped them early and he's pissed to get you in, Paul Maurice. Appreciate that. Thanks very much. He says he's mad because you broke his record. 29-year record as the most wins in Florida Panthers coaching history, I think.

He actually compared it to Ovechkin chasing Gretzky. Yeah, I think it was like 11 straight wins or something. That's the number. It was just after exhibition the first. It was not a long list, that's for sure. Okay, we're coming up to the Christmas break. January will be halfway through the C. and how things going overall, the bar and the standard you guys set the last couple of years,

three years, and obviously it's been a little difficult coming out of the gate here. So where do you see everything right now for your team? We're trying to match maybe an identity that we've had to the players that we have now. And that's really where the challenge is. We've had a style of play that we like to play. I think that it's a bit of a challenge when you have the pieces missing that we do. But that doesn't matter, right? This is our team.

So we're in kind of an adjustment phase of what we can pull off and what we can, some things that we've needed. The two big guys out of front are about point of game guys. So scoring was a bit more of a challenge for us. And we spent some time working on that. We lost a little of our defensive structure, I think, in doing so. But it was a necessary adjustment. I don't think we have a chance to make the playoffs. We couldn't figure out a way to score a little bit more.

but we haven't been as good as defensively as we've been for the previous. I'm not even all three. It took us six months the first year to kind of figure out who we were. And we're trying to reinvent ourselves a little bit right now. Now, I know for a fact that a head coach would never say that there are anything other than, you know, absolutely focused and dialed. But I do want to ask if being a two-time Stanley Cup champion now affected how you go into the year personally, how you feel. Are you lighter? Do you feel less pressure with the law?

Do you feel any different at all since you won a Stanley Cup? I know it's been some time since your first one, but do you feel any different over the years now that you've had that you've reached the mountaintop? I think you hate losing more. It's the opposite of what people would think. I had Darrell Sutter tell me the same thing. You know, like once you get the taste of it,

the idea that you should lose a game just offend you greatly. And if you don't play to a standard that you've seen for us, we've been a pretty good team of the playoffs. That's almost six months of playoffs. We have a certain way of playing, and when you don't see it, it really drives you. I felt, and I think our team did, we felt better rested coming back this year than we did the year before. We felt stronger, and then we just hit a barely strange run of injuries that I think has set us back a little bit. But I think anybody that runs late into the playoffs, you don't have the advantage at the start of the season.

You don't have that juice kind of advantage where you're wired in and you've got a hell of the climb and you're excited about. about it. I think if you've gone long runs in the playoffs, you get into that start of the year and you're stacking another 60 games before, especially if you think you're a good hockey team, a playoff team. You just don't have the same source, the energy source. You've got to find a new one. I think we probably year two here. We'd lost the cup to Vegas in year one. And in year two, we had that energy. We had that juice. And then we had to find it last year. It was a real challenge for us. But we did. I think we have that going on. and missing some guys

and that's where we're at but we're you know what we're doing right now is dread and water and we're not trying to find our A game we're trying to find a game that we can replicate and hopefully at some point you get reinforcements back but you can't count on that either because the guy will come in and another guy will go out

you're watching and listening to two-time Stanley Cup champion Paul Maurice head coach of the Florida Panthers so I think Bobrowski once described Barkov as a guy that once he steps on the ice everybody else falls in place and obviously disappointing that he got hurt I don't know a week into training camp

you don't have him there's 20 minutes into the first drill 20 minutes into the first drill the hope is you get them back I think before the season's over we don't know but what has Brad Marchand done to fill in that void

because we saw Brad come in the whole idea was a guy that maybe in the latter part of his career that'll fit in nicely in the top six to nine at times and he's acting every bit of a superstar that we saw in Boston. Yeah, I mean, we've got two guys through point production has been really strong in Brad Marchand and Sam Reinhardt. You know, he came in and the start of the playoffs last year was in the three-hole with Lundell and Luster on it.

And as the playoffs went up, they kind of moved up because Lundell and Lusren are so good defensively, on the road anyway. We could run them against the other team's best. And then he ends up playing in the one hole. And that's a lot of big minutes for him. He's been fantastic. His production's been great.

His game's been great. And we're not where we want to be. We've got a long way to go to make the playoffs. But we'd be in real trouble without him. He and Sam Ryan had been the two consistent producers that we've had from the start of the season. So then I guess I'll ask about another one, Sam Bennett,

for Team Canada or represented them at the Four Nations faceoff. He feels like maybe a slow start for him this year, anything different that you've noticed, but he's come on of late. Just look at his numbers kind of bouncing back a bit. Yeah, I think he had two points in his first 11 games, and then he's been a pointed game guy ever since. And the coach is responsible for some of that too,

because when we lost those guys, we felt we just needed to balance three lines if we could. And I played them with two younger players. He's just not going to produce the numbers that he, is. Now he's with Verhege, who got off to a little bit of a slow start as well. He's with Verhege and Marshawn and his play has been fantastic. I'm going to not qualify everything I say here today that none of it relates to our game last night.

But Sam then has been fantastic for us and physical and fast and the hands have been there. And we've tried it a bunch of different ways, right? So really Anton Lundell right now at 24 is in the one hole. He sees the first guy off the bench at home. He plays against the other team's best. and then it's Sam Bennett and we spent a couple of weeks trying to figure a way

that we could spread this over three lines because we were just getting torn up on the bottom half of the rotation so he came back up and since he's come back up it started actually with Carter Verhege and A.J. Greer, they went together and scored a goal

a game for about eight straight games and he's continued on. Paul, is there times behind the bench that you look at a Sam Bennett or some of the other guys that have been there in the trenches and they've played so hard for so long that if there's a night that, you know, Sam doesn't accidentally bump into a goalie's head,

it's okay? You guys are still hanging on that. No. You're still living. Listen, I'm just being a bit of a smart ass here. But if he's not, if he's not as physically engaged as you'd like. So that would be true. Is it a reminder that these guys have played so hard for so long?

Sometimes it's hard to get, you know, some blood out of a step. that's the great question in our coaches offices when are you pushing for more on certain things and nobody plays playoff hockey during the regular season I mean even even some of the great teams in Colorado we saw it full four I don't even think they were planning they were at about 50% last night and put six up on us you see a lot of teams will come out really hot for stretches Winnipeg did it last year so difficult to maintain over the course of the year and then we do play a physical game of hockey. We learned this last year.

Last year at around this time, I was a little bit beside myself because we weren't anywhere near as physical as we could be. And some of that is just what you remember from the playoffs and the way you want the team to play, but they just can't do it for the number of games that we play. This year's a little bit different, so we don't really have the size in our lineup to play that style. And so I'm a little bit more careful with the words I use

and the intensity they use about the physicality in our game. We can't get there as heavy, but we can get there as quick. And that's kind of what we're pushing our team to do right now. So is there, you know, you must be learning about more of the depth that you have available to you. Guys are in spots that maybe they wouldn't normally be in. Is there some value in this? Or is it like, hey, we're panicking about playoffs because, you know, everything's tight right now? Yeah, there's great value in this.

And when you low, but the thing that's been consistent here in the last three years, is that any part of our adversity that we've gone through, we learned something that we kept and used in the playoffs, maybe a different line combination and area of focus that we got, you know, when you lose a bunch of games in a row last year, we lost six to seven at the end of November and really learned to tighten our game. And the same thing happened right at Christmas.

We got to be bad at home. Montreal came in and beat us. We changed the way we focus on our games, just aspects of our game. And as soon as we did that, we came out of it, right? So you do. I mean, AJ Greer would be a prime example of that. He's the fourth guy who's played who's in the lineup up until last year.

He came into the lineup again in the playoffs. And then he's moved up at times into our top six. And he's been great for us, big, fast. He can shoot the puck a lot, but he's been really responsible. So you'll get us some guys that are going to get some opportunities. And then you're going to have players that you're going to find what their level is. Those are a certain place they just can't play, whether the minutes wear them down, whatever it is, that you know what you can on back-to-back.

They push certain lines as hard. Well, you're going to lose a few guys to the Olympic break here. Is that in the back of your mind on the way you've thought about off days, practices? No, we went through it. We went through it with the World Cup. I'm sorry, the Four Nations. No, we're not really focused on anybody else but ourselves. I know that's a standard line.

We are in a race, and it's on now. We do need to stay as close as we can to that bar until we get to. But we've got kind of two phases, I think, in the next two to three weeks, maybe we'll get Matthew and a couple of guys back. And then we'll get two or three guys back right in early March. So after the break, and then hopefully Sash is available to play. If we are fortunate enough to make the playoffs here this year, we'll get those guys back. So we're trying to win games right now. We're trying to get on a run.

It's very difficult to do. And our schedule is not going to make it easy. When you look at the back half of the season, we play two. 27 of our last 34 games on the road. So that's a big number on the road. The upside for us is we're at times and certainly later in the year we look to be better on the road than we are at home.

So we're not holding anybody back. Our off days and our recovery days, we work hard at that and we have for two or three years here. We don't practice very much. And part of it is all of these condensed schedules. We just don't put our players on the ice very much. Ah, your guys know where to stand. You don't need to practice.

The, looking at the Atlantic Division this year, things have changed right like uh i guess i don't say balance of power but what are your thoughts on looking at the division it almost works in your favor that it doesn't seem like anyone's as dominant as maybe in past years where you've had 130 point teams in the division everyone's kind of murky middle yeah i i would agree with that but i don't agree and not with your statement but the general idea that it's an average because there's no top heavy team it's just more of a sign there isn't any bottom heavy teams. The year, and I get this

more from, you know, when I came in, they had won the President's trophy the year before. The playoffs were over at Christmas. I mean, they dominated the bottom half of that team. The bottom eight teams in the east were so far off. Now they just aren't. So it's going to be much harder to go on a run. Detroit's got

the best schedule in the league. They've got a good hockey team. So they're for real now Montreal. All of these teams have paid their dues. And that's what happens. You draft wall. You develop. You've some painful years and then you become a team that can get on roles and get on runs. So all of the teams that on our side, the two probably favorite teams coming into this year are both pretty beat up and they're going to need to get healthy to get to get to.

But this thing will be over like April 15th. That's when we're going to know. Just in terms of Bobrovsky still at his age and what he's able to do and how much you can lean on them and while we see other teams worried about managing their goalies and starts and how many guys are hurt now, like, what's with this guy? Is it the water he drinks is different than ours? Well, probably. There's a chance that might be real.

Like, he's got an entire program of recovery, fitness, and he is so detailed in the things that he does, and it consumes his whole day. So I talked to Sergey about a week ago. about all that how he was feeling. He says he feels better than he did when he was 24 or 25 because he has a routine to back it up. We do travel differently and practice differently.

And Robbie Talas, who's our goalie coach, and he's just, you look at some of the guys that have come through here and, you know, go back to Alex Lyon, who's become a really good player and made himself a career player and Anthony Stollors and Spencer Knight and these guys. He does the schedule at the start of the year for the goal is what he thinks it's going to be. And in the last two years up until, today. I mean, we've probably had two or three aberrations where we've made a change.

And it was Sergei's wife was having a baby, so he missed the game. It was some illness. But we don't come very far off, but he's got a pretty good number. It's going to be in that mid-50s range. Sergei needs a certain amount of rhythm. All these number one guys, the idea of playing the less doesn't necessarily make them better. But we've been pretty consistent with his game numbers, so he feels good. Paul, last one for me. Just want to know if you're a regular listener to the wingman,

podcast and how you feel about what's going on there. Have you been a guest yet? No, I've not been a guest. I would imagine it's awesome. Here's how I feel a little bit about this, and this may not be good on the podcast. I'm not socially active in I don't have any accounts. I don't follow anything.

I've never, I don't know what do they call them, Instagram, Snapchat. Oh, boy. My space. How far back is that? Hoggers, influencers. I don't follow anything. any of that stuff. And so you guys know Addie and she's the best.

And that's kind of her job. She'll fire out if Matthew's going to say something that's going to, it's going to be a problem, right? And that's okay. Like he is a wonderful personality. I've met his brother a couple of times too. I think it's awesome for the game. I hope they're telling stories and having fun.

And it's great for everybody. Cheer them on, but I won't be a subscriber. Fair enough. Don't worry. It'll come back to you one way or the end. other you'll hear anything good at i'm good to hear that's for sure i'm for sure i know well listen the florida panthers have been real good to our game uh the last few years and uh wish you nothing but the best paul thanks for joining us care thank you very much appreciate it you know your time

paul maurice yeah yeah good job thank somehow some way like the oilers they'll just find a way i think still uh how can you bet against them you would be a crazy person to be like i don't see it like they're going to get chukka chuck back you know what's interesting still rocks all the brawks can't be better what's really interesting is like he he just basically admitted that like they they don't have necessarily that team to play that way to play that way anymore we saw that in the game they played toronto was like geez they didn't have that same sort of and that you know i was just like i told him i was being a bit of a smart ass with my you know bumping the goal you but no way okay not on a friday i don't need that

at the very end of the friday show But he's like, we don't have that team now. Yeah. And we saw it against the Leafs. I'm like, you know, where's Bennett to kind of piss somebody off? And it's like, hey, it's November. Yeah. It's November.

I'm sure he'll be bonk in people's heads in April again. I mean, head bonk and aside, it's just you can't play play playoff hockey all the time. I do think one thing that could happen is if you get into mid-January, late January, and they're still out of a playoff spot or farther out of a playoff spot, you can see them go, God, we're going to have to do the playoff thing now. You know, like you don't want to have to step on the pedal that hard early knowing you're trying to win another cup, but they're not just going to be bad and then the season ends.

You know, it's real interesting now is the fact that they sped this whole thing up to change the salary cap. And there is no question in my mind if it would have been another year like before, then we would have linked NASDAQ, him cadry to Florida, a lot more with Barkoff coming back after the playoffs started. Last thing on that interview, and, you know, grateful for him to give us the time. You know my thoughts on Paul Maurice. I don't believe that he doesn't follow anything.

Don't believe it for a second. Oh, I believe him 100%. The Instagrams and the thing. Like, are you trying to be Belichick? Like, he doesn't, come on. No, but he's got an eye. He's got an eye. I think people come to him and say, hey.

As they should. Yeah. That's their job. Here's what people are saying. Well, you think Paul Marisse is on Instagram being like, ooh, Kipper and Bourne said we don't forecheck on this year. Not a chance he's scrolling. No scroll.

No scroll. I don't quite believe it. That's all I'll say. I don't believe it. But you don't believe anything if it's not a Toronto. Everybody scrolls. Everybody scrolls. Come on.

Who doesn't scroll? The second I'm done with this job, I'm not scrolling anything. You scroll. If I had. Kipper missed a game. A goal after the game he was scrolling. Everybody scrolls. If I had his two rings, plug in my ears.

Oh, yeah. Right? You wouldn't have to scroll. If you tried to scroll with Stanley Cup rings on? Clumsy, inefficient. Damages your screen. He's going to go down in history as one of the best NHL coaches now. Yeah.

I mean, it's two things now. You don't need to scroll. Quickly, two things before we go. First thing. First footage of the rink in Milan, Cortina. I don't know if it's supposed to be bad or good. Everybody seems that it's bad. Borny seems that's like maybe they're just doing,

they got covers on the city. Did they have no roof? There's a roof. There's a roof. Oh, there's a roof. Okay. I wasn't sure. Like the seats were in and just covered.

It looked like there's the rink shape. Would they have 50 plus days to go here? Like 70. Oh, they're fine. 70. When did they award this? 15 years ago? The Italian.

And secondly. A little paint. Roll a carpet. Yeah. You're fine. They need to, you know, get a hose and blow on the ice and make it cold. It would be fine. And for the third year in a row,

Bordie was going to try to say it wasn't his birthday. Yes. Brutal. I don't know why we got to do that. And you know what? I have a lifelong friend here. Yeah. Elvis.

Elvis, Jim Mandela. And he brought his brother here. I know. Mikey, come here, buddy. Oh, yeah. Come here. Elvis. Also, it's both your birthday today?

Yes. What the hell? Yes. Come here, Mikey. He can't hear officially, but. Oh, yeah. This is Mikey. Mikey say hello to the hockey world.

buddy hello and this is Elvis and happy birthday thank you very happy birthday Mikey oh look at that on the TV with the crack staff upstairs there you go the staff upstairs like Mikey up there

hey bigger than bigger Lee fan than you Sammy I don't know about that I mean I was standing and cheering last night at the game were you yes that's great they just finished the happy birthday

song for. So we hope it's a great one for you, Mikey. Thanks for coming by, pal. Oh, you're birthday, bud. Appreciate that. Thanks to Doug McLean, Paul Maurice. Big game tomorrow night for the release. A showcase game. I love the Oilers coming to town. Always a big game. So what did we hear about Jari? Will he be ready? Oh, I don't know. Oh, he's playing. Is he playing? He's got to play. What a, what an intro. Oh, look at we got. Oh, hey. You got that pitcher me day one, I think. Yeah. The, uh. What was that like your, your, you're, high school grade seven picture

had a hairline back then they pull that one out how about your first game is in edmonton oil they're going to be in Toronto on hockey night in Canada love it no pressure bud he going to get the scott oak interview post game or what pressure jars jars will be fine does he have any idea what he's in for no

I don't know man he's got the place in edmonton you nailed it the the Bennington thing he could go in there with some cachet and they know him and they won with him at the world at the the I hope he wins this first few games.

Yeah. Just get momentum going the right way. I hope it doesn't win tomorrow night. Marky game, Oilers and the Leafs, Saturday night, hockey night in Canada. For us, we get the weekend off, and we will see everybody Monday. If you got a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Give us a thumbs up on YouTube.

Have a great weekend, everybody. Happy birthday, Marnie and Mikey. And Mikey, thanks. Thank you.