Real Kyper & Bourne - One GM, Two Teams with Doug Armstrong

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by President and GM of the St. Louis Blues Doug Armstrong (3:23) to chat about his team's trade deadline moves, the NHL's playoff format, and head coach Jim Montgomery's impact since taking the job. Then, Doug puts on his Hockey Canada GM hat to discuss the 4 Nations Face-Off's success, the future of international events with the NHL, and the decision to roll with Jordan Binnington. Afterward, Nick, Justin, and Sam McKee touch on the conversation coming out of GM meetings in Florida and what we can expect in future NHL All-Star Games.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. You guys were slacking in the first hour. Oh, were we? Well, not really. That's all right. But I'm motivating you. Good. Like many teams are trying to get their team over the finish line. Sometimes you need a kick.

Nick Kipriels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee with you for the next hour. We are live on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet 365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Darger Armstrong, Armstrong, president of Hockey Operations,

general manager of the St. Louis Blues. But in the meantime, I thank hundreds of you out in social media who just text Sammy, change the jersey! It's actually really kinda cute. It's cute that people are like, love Sammy and they know your dad is gonna yell at him if he doesn't do it.

They're like, Sammy, go do it. I can't help but again be like You're talking about them sending free trick. Can they just give us some money for some jerseys? Sweaters, it's so embarrassing We only get the bottom half of the jury in the frame. Oh my god boys medium. It's terrible. It's you know where that came from That's Ryan Fabro our bosses like kids Got my kids jerseys, all right, thanks All right before we get to a guess can we please address the Montreal Canadians and yesterday the Nick Suzuki thing?

Do you see me getting yeah, I called him a fourth liner yesterday, the Nick Suzuki thing. Do you see me getting killed over this? You called him a fourth liner. Yes, I'm with Twitter and Jackson, all the rest of JB. Here's what I take away from this. This is awesome. Way to go Montreal Canadians for spurring engagement with your team. They care again. They're, they're no longer just like, Oh, we're going to rebuild whatever. They're like, no, Nick Suzuki is not the 25th best center in the league. He's 12th or whatever you think he is.

I got a message saying, make Justin give me 24 centers. Oh, I get that. I've got that a hundred times today. And so I did say when we had the conversation, I said, he's like, whatever, 25th best. And it went over to Sammy and I was like, ah, that's too harsh, that's not right. Like immediately I know that that's not true. So today I did, I wrote it out and I've got him like, yeah, maybe he's top 15.

Every, you know, I'm off like 10. He did, he jumped 10. He jumped 10 because you got scared. There's like 10 guys you would definitely take. And then there's 10 guys who are like, do you want Sebastian Aho or Suzuki? It's like, I don't know. Depends what you're looking for.

So, top 15. There you go. Suzuki over Aho? Oh, I'll take Suzuki over Aho. Me too. And I will use. As a card carrying member of Nick Suzuki, my beloved Nick Suzuki from the Oneside Attack,

one of the best players in franchise history. I adore him. But it's almost pretty good. You know who you're not taking? Brady Shen, because he was unavailable at the trade deadline Let's welcome him in the man who led my trade board for three months and only to disappoint me to trade Nova's he he didn't trade half his team and Yeah, Doug Armstrong president president of hockey operations.

Army, how are you, man? Hey, are you still in Florida with Elliot? Not with LA, but I'm still in Florida. I can't lie. Good for you. Good for you. Um, and, uh, like anything else, a really nice paid vacation. Hey, yes.

Yeah. I can't lie down. That one either. Did anything come out of it that, you know, that is worth talking about or is everything just hunky-dory? Besides my sunburn or... Hey, you got some color done. You look like you were bobbing for french fries for three days.

Yeah, no, it was a constructive meeting. I think we spent a lot of time on goal interference, quite honestly, and looking at, I think, 60 calls and everyone had an opportunity to, you know, agree or disagree with the call. And it was surprising how much we supported the hockey operations. Just, you know, and there was no, you know, it was just our call and they were very similar. So I think, you know, what we talk about is when it's not your team, they seem to be a lot more, there's a lot more synergy to what you look at.

When it's your team, you don't seem to see the synergy if it's not going your way. Any talk about the delays or speeding the process up or again the focus has to be getting it right first I'm sorry fans if you need to wait seven minutes so be it. I think it getting it right we would all like to be done as quick as possible but what you want to do and what the league wants to is make sure they get every angle. Sometimes that takes a little while and get the call right. The last thing you can do is say,

let's say you put a clock on at 45 seconds, and then at 47 seconds, a new angle comes in and the call is wrong, you know, over two seconds or whatever it is. I think getting it right is the most important thing. Doug, maybe you can give us some insight, you go to the GM meetings, some insight into how the trade deadline played out for you. The Blues find themselves in a really competitive hunt here for that last spot. Did that affect some of your decision making at the deadline? Oh, for sure.

I think coming out of the Four Nations event, everybody sort of sets their table on what they're looking to do. And we were pretty honest with everyone that unless we get on a massive heater here before, you know, we had a game on the Wednesday night in LA, we were going to be sellers. And it could have gone from the top to the bottom of our roster. And then we ended up winning a lot of games and it just became the guys were doing their part. And I always say, and we always believe that, you know, the players tell you what to do with the deadline,

you don't tell the players what to do. And they kept winning and kept winning and they put themselves in a great spot. And so what we pretty well got to before our last game saying we weren't going to make any futures trades. If anything came up with us a hockey trade, we would look at it. And we ended up being content with the group that we had. And they've paid us off so far with really good play. And we have a massive game tonight. And I was laughing with a couple of guys at the last two GM meetings I'd been at. I've never looked at the scores once.

And then the other night I couldn't get my eyes off been at. I've never looked at the scores once. And then the other night I couldn't get my eyes off the scores. So it's nice to be back in the hunt and playing some meaningful games. As far as looking at your team and saying, okay, I'll move some bodies or I won't. Did the market or the price have a lot to do with it as well?

Typically, prices do drop, right? Friday, noon, one o'clock. Were you close on anything based on offers that you thought maybe at the time you couldn't refuse? No, just, and again, if we had lost, like we lost, we won a bunch of games and we lost to Dallas. And then, you know, we went, we beat LA and it was, the players dictated that we weren't in the futures market. We had set a high price for if we were going to get into the futures market, because we didn't have to move

anybody because we didn't have expiring contracts of our top players. And then, you know, a fourth or fifth or sixth round pick or whatever you could get for someone on an expiring deal, you know, didn't make sense for us where we're at. So we just kept our group moving forward. And I think if we had to go into the futures market, we could have made some good, some potentially good long-term deals. But what we want to do is build around that group in their early 20s.

Probably the oldest guys are Kairou and Thomas. And then we have a lot of guys with, you know, adding Groberg and Holloway this year to put them in with Hofer and neighbors. And then we have some of these young guys coming with three years ago, we added all those picks and we had three first round picks and those guys are turning pro and should start making an impact

over the next 12 to 24 months. We're trying to build around that group and we stayed consistent to that principle. One more in terms of this particular trade deadline for you, Armie, and that's kind of a unique situation where you've named a new general manager coming up in Alex Steen. How much of this trade deadline did you have to be conscientious of what kind of team you leave him? Did that ever come into play at all? I think it's been in play since last year when we brought him in.

And not that I'm trying to set the table up perfectly for him, but we have a plan and when he came in I told him what the plan was and we wanted to stay consistent to it. Now, if we were a team that, like Washington, I don't think anyone, I shouldn't say anyone probably they thought they're gonna have the year they are but if they had have been a different team you know you make different decisions we weren't that team so we'd had no reason to change our philosophy what would have changed our

philosophy was if we didn't win those games we would have gone in different direction. So I hate to skip around here, but I feel like I haven't asked you about the four nations. I mean, first off, congratulations. That was obviously a very exciting thing for our country. Did you feel it, the Canadian passion behind that, did it become something, I guess, greater than you expected it to be?

Yeah, it did. I thought it was going to be great hockey. I thought that I wasn't concerned when you heard it's just another all star game. There's too much pride on the line and because we haven't played best on best for so long. I knew it was going to be competitive and I also think with the Olympics right around the corner. It was you know a good stepping stone and then that Canada US game in Montreal was corner. It was, you know, a good stepping stone. And then that Canada-US

game in Montreal was fantastic. It was everything that hockey wanted and needed. And then the final game lived up to the billing. So it was a great event. It shows you how, you know, the Swedes were the only team not to lose a game in regulation. The competition is gonna be really good moving forward, and it sets up the Olympics very well, and sets up international hockey play very well. There's that whole next generation. It was their first time on the big stage, and I thought they did a great job.

So you speak of something that went from, we haven't seen it in 10 years to every other year now between a NHL international event and the Olympics every other year. And I'm just wondering, is that a big ask that which should fall on pretty much the same players for the next five or ten years Like the amount of energy and emotion that it took out of the players

To me blew me away army and I'm just wondering do we is anybody concerned that the ask might be too big every other year yeah, it's certainly on on the radar screen, but you you have to if the game wins, we all win. And, you know, there is going to be a small number of guys that are probably going to play in all of those events. But I think the pools are so deep, you're going to see other players pop in and injuries might keep a star player out. So I think the pool might be a little deeper than we think, probably for Canada and the US more than the other countries just because our selection process is a little bigger. But I think it's real. I think when you come out of that event and injuries happen and they can alter your playoff picture for sure. But it you know, there is a price to pay. And I think

the league and the union and have agreed that if this is a price to pay and I think that the league and the union and have agreed that if this is the price to pay, we're gonna do it. And the players are 100% on board with it. And if they're 100% on board, the rest of us just get in line. Hey Doug, when there were three fights at the start of that game,

did you wish you had Tom Wilson? Were you thinking about it? It crossed our minds. Yeah, it was, you know, it was, again, it was great for hockey. It's not something that we see very often. It's still part of our game. I thought the T'Chuck boys came and wanted to make a mark on hockey today and hockey moving forward.

They did their job. I was really impressed with the Canadian players that fought. You know, they didn't, I don't think they went in, they thought it was gonna be a competitive game, but they were there to answer the bell and they did very well in the fights too. And after nine seconds, I thought it settled into just a great, great game.

You're watching and listening to Doug Armstrong, president of hockey ops and general manager of the St. Louis Blues. So Armie, just expand a little bit for me in terms of the big picture here because there's World Championships that you're looking after now. There's the Olympic team that you're looking after now. I know there's some players out there that did not participate in Four Nations that would dearly love to get in and represent Canada

as early as the Olympics next year. How do you now give the players that participated a thought of, hey, you were loyal to us, you came, that's going to give you an edge without telling the players that didn't participate, you have no shot at it. Like that, it's a good place to be, I'm sure, but there's the loyalty part for the guys that have been there, and then there's the carrot that still needs to be dangled to guys that say, you're not out of the mix here.

Just because you didn't play in the four nations doesn't mean that you can't be on the Olympic roster next February Yeah, well we did an exercise now I'll give you the results with our management group on how many different players we thought would be on that team prior to the event And you know, it was more than one I'll tell you that You know, it's it's just so so the way that we look at it guys is that that was a major event The lights were brightest. We saw who performed well It's just, so the way that we look at it guys is that that was a major event.

The lights were brightest, we saw who performed well. Now we go into the Stanley Cup playoffs. That's the next major lights. And if you're not in that event and you have the opportunity to go to the World Championships, that's another major event. People over there scouting that, they'll be watching that. And it's not if you don't go, you can't play in the Olympics. It is if someone goes there and plays very well,

their stock rises. That's just the reality of it. And if you want to, you know, go if you want to give yourself the best opportunity, you go and you play very well and you move up the pecking order. But I think we're going to have what we heard was probably till around January 1st or till after Christmas. So the window of getting

30 plus games in next year is going to be important too. So that's the way I look at it. Three major events coming up. You have the Stanley Cup playoffs, you have the World Championships, then you have the start of next season and someone that that that you know I think very highly of Robert Thomas got hurt at the start of the season and by the time he was up and running our team was picked so I think having that extra month is gonna allow whoever gets injured in the first week or the season or in training camp they're gonna have enough runway unless it's three or four months you know to get up and going.

Well, talking about your guys, I thought Colton Perreco was one of the best D-Man there. You talk about a guy who did a good job in a fight there, that was really cool. But one of the main decisions here is who's going to play goal, and I was very impressed. I think John Cooper and staff were kind of on the hook for a decision when they said, this is the guy and we're running with him, and they end up being right. Bennington is huge and overtime in the gold medal game. I'm not gonna ask if you were surprised, but how much input did you have in the decision

to go with Bennington? And I guess just how pleased were you with it all? Well, we won, so it was 100% my decision. Yeah, all you. That's well done. No, no, I think, you know, John and David Alexander, and all the coaches, you know, it was a tough call. All three goaltenders were good. I think then went with Bennington. And, you know, he like if you go back to that first game against the Swedes, he might have had one

he wanted back. But he made a couple in overtime that got us that extra point that we needed to get into the finals. You know, and then and then what he did against in the finals in the overtime was nothing short of spectacular. And so I'm probably happy for Benner for something a little bit different is that we won that event. He won that event for us a great part of it, and he can breathe all summer. Going back to Toronto, let's say a bad bull had a gone in. Then this is just the narrative that we have to deal with until next February, what's gonna happen with our goal

to have a guy that can win. Just by that job that he did in the overtime alone, let everybody breathe, allows him to breathe over the summer, go back home, go out for dinner, maybe even get a free beer from somebody because of that great play, but if not, not get harassed on what happened. And I think that our goaltending is in a good spot. Banner's there and you see Blackwood playing unreal in Colorado now,

Thompson and Washington. I think there's gonna be great competition and I'm just happy for Benner though just for the long-term approach of what that does for him right now psychologically but also how it affects this summer. In terms of the the playoff race, you know, lots of talk about changing things or, you know, who gets to play who in the first round army and eliminating good teams early in the first round as we anticipate maybe Colorado and Dallas. How do you see things moving forward here on the current system? I think that the league is happy with the format the way it is.

Divisional play is very important. We've been on that too in the 2000, maybe 12 to 16, somewhere in that. We were playing Chicago a lot. And we were usually two of the top five or six teams in the league. We just had to play in that first round. That's just the way it was.

I think if you want to win the championship, you're going to have to go through good teams. I think it is compelling though, like coming out of the gate and having those series, it gets everybody's attention around one and then it just builds momentum. So I understand that the reality is 16 teams are going to be done. And then two weeks later, two weeks later, there's another eight joining them. And that's just the way it is. But I'm excited about those first round matchups. I'm hoping we have one to get excited about and then you go from there. But as far as those top teams having to play, about and then you go from there. But as far as those top teams having to play,

it's great for the game because it gets everyone's attention. There's gonna be teams that are very excited and I've been on the other side of the coin. You push all your chips in the middle and you're done in 12 days. There's a lot of soul searching going on on what you gave up to do that. But that's, if you think you have a chance to win,

I give those teams a ton of credit because they they they anted up. So you know the fact that your team has this chance to be in one of those playoff series, a lot of that comes at the the change of things when you get Jim Montgomery. And so what has changed for your team with his arrival? I would say the consistency of our top six players is totally different. When we were playing before, if you look at it, just look at our record, like the Holloway-Shen line, Kairu were playing great and then the Thomas line and Bucznaiewicz weren't playing as good. And then all of a sudden they got going and the Shen line cooled down a little bit. Over the last, and I never really felt,

and our group felt, didn't feel that we ever had any more than four, usually just three of our top six going. And I think if you wanna have success, you need, obviously when you get six going, that's unreal. But if you can get five going at any one time, because they're the difference makers. They touch every, they touch every part of your game. You know, they kill penalties, but more importantly on the power play, they drive your five on five play.

So I would say it's been the consistency of our top six players have been really good. And I think adding Fowler really stabilized our group. Him and Perenco, it's the closest that we've had since Bo Meester and Pranko with Fowler back there Naughty he's not a different than Bo is defending But if you look at his point total as they've been outstanding then let everybody go down another rung. I think we've got great You know, you just look at the just a total number of games played from our first five defense and they got to be near The top of the league so there's massive experience massive experience there and that's been a huge benefit. Hey speaking of Holloway, Armie you remember when Birky plotted to fight Kevin Lowe in a barn over the offer sheet of

Penner? Over the phone too. Yeah I mean has anyone this year challenged you at all from the Oilers Stan Bullman I know Kevin's a little old now, but like does anybody want to take a run at you? No, I don't think so I think we just understand that this is part of the business and and I think the difference from from our perspective At least is is that? We charted a path where we thought this was a possible solution was to get the players. I think it's, again, I don't want to speak for everybody, but NHL owners got deep pockets, you know. So if it's just about, well, he doesn't want to spend the money, they'll spend it, you

know, they don't let players walk just over money. It could be over the structure of what they have and what they have coming. And it was a perfect storm for us. The Oilers, I thought Jeff did a really good job. The 1st of July, he went out, he was extremely aggressive. He brought in veteran players, but that closed the amount of finances they had for something like this. And I think the opposite was if you look at what Boston did with Swamen or Kenny Holland did with his two young players. I think Boston left 10 million and Kenny or I'm sorry, Steve Iserman left

like 19 million for those players. So there was no real reason to think that an offer sheet there would work. They worked on this one because because of the amount of money we were willing to put into it, and then the great job they had done in bringing in other players. Do you think you've opened up something that other teams need to really visit, and do you expect more offer sheets coming in years to come here now? Yeah, I don't want to rain on the parade.

I think what it's probably done, Gipper, it's made everyone aware that if you have a good young restricted free agent, leave the room that you want to be able to match it. Now, if you're willing to take the compensation of three first round picks, then leave a dollar less than that to make them go to that level. There's a level that everyone is acceptable to move on. And I think it's just creating enough space for yourself. And again, the Oilers are a top team. I can't really second guess what they did.

They're Stanley Cup favorite after the Della and I think on the money line, they were everyone's favorite to win. So again, it was just that that made sense for us where we were in our growth pattern adding two young players to that age bracket also made sense. Armie I can't thank you enough for leaving the beach for us. A great interview. You know, and I don't know for those of you that can't see your your your beachwear it's fantastic. That shirt screams beach. Well I was at golf when I was in the beach all day. All right really appreciate it Armie have a great one bud good luck tonight. Always love coming on with

you guys you take care all the best Thank you. Thanks so much. I'm strong. He's a lot of fun He is is that I mean and he lets me like have fun with him That's the most amount of information you can get in one interview. That was attack. It was great. It was great. Um, I Think I think he he opened up something with the offer sheets see I think it's like when Vegas did the expansion draft and everyone and fleeced everyone. Yeah. And then Seattle came around next and everyone's like, not this time. No, no, no. It's like a not this time thing.

So what was the situation with Theodore, Shae Theodore in Vegas? Didn't they like pay a pick to protect something like another guy on there? They let him have a pick. They threw in Riley Smith to take Marches. Oh my god. Hi, Florida. Yeah. So the Toronto Maple Leafs have Matthew Nyes and people are worried about see to me it's not it's not a guy potentially to make seven or eight million bucks. His was more of a not a money decision but you have to make a decision on how good you think Holloway is. No one is gonna make a tough decision on Matthew Nyes

if he's good or not, or whether or not he's got a very solid career ahead of him. But between like a Dylan Holloway or even a Broberg, like that's a very hard decision to make very quickly on how good you think these guys really are. I just don't agree. I don't. I think Doug is doing a great job protecting the Oilers there by not being too hard on

it. Like those, you got to keep those guys. Oh my God. But if you, if you think Holloway could be a guy that's in the minors or back and forth. Why would you think that? Because they did. I know, but he was in their Stanley Cup, dressed in the Cup final for them.

You watch him, he's fast. He's six, two or three or something, creates offense. I know it's hindsight's easy for me to sit here and say this. Yeah, I'm not disagreeing. I would have, I would have matched. He played 25 games to them last year in the playoffs. Had five goals, seven assists. This year through 69 games, he has 54 points, 22 goals,

32 assists, plus 13 on the year. And so they didn't leave the money is the point. Doug's point is about their cap space and that they didn't allocate the money to give these guys. It's crazy, no, they do. You just get rid of somebody, it's easy. But in, Doug put them in a spot, so you're. You just get rid of somebody. It's easy. But in, Doug put them in a spot.

So you're gonna have to get rid of somebody. And he said, we don't want to, we're just gonna get. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. And so to your point, the lease, they're losing Marner's money,

which they'll probably pay Marner if he'll stay. Tavares. Tavares is money, the cap's going up seven and a half million. Like you can't put the leafs in a bind of knives. It's not possible, so they're matching. You're matching all day long. I think to his point, like even if it's ever close like that. Now I don't know, the Cockanamie one's interesting

because that got personal. Remember the way that all shook out? And I'm not sure that he ended up being what people of Carolina thought he was gonna be. Not even close. Like I'm not sure Montreal was all that hurt by that one. Well the Habs did like. The Ajo offer?. Yeah, but that was like they'd like oh great. We'll pay him What was it 8 million? It was a horrible offer half or something that was just so

Easily matched but I mean I'm looking at proberg's number this year too boys Like he's playing 20 a night plus 13 21 points and 53 24 years old. I At the time I was thinking like, you gotta save this money for Dry Cytle, they gotta save the money for McDavid, they got Bouchard coming up. Like, you understood the thought process. At the time I said that, but looking back,

Captain Hindsight. It's tough that they're huge, really. And the guys they played, like, Skinner's been a lightning rod for them out there all year. They haven't loved Arvidsson. Like Emerson going in there, he's been a lightning rod that all year and the plants they haven't loved Arvindson Yeah, like Emerson going in there. He's been okay, but anyways it is Like it's genius that you were able to get those two guys

Really at the start of their careers He's the maybe the best GM in the league and I want to say what he said about Bennington is just And I want to say what he said about Bennington is just so so great It's just being like we're happy we won but this guy can go back to yeah happy he can exist go back No, no, it's really that much pressure that it gave one up Canada would have turned on him. It's fork in the road It is yeah life fork in the road. Are you forgetting how? Tense I'm asking it so you can give me this answer. I know the answer. That was the most insanely intense.

If they don't win or if he's okay, I'm not sure he's on the Olympic team next year. Or even just in the NHL, how people feel about you as the starter. Can we trust him to win us the big game? Do we need to get someone else if St. Louis starts to turn it around yeah you can trust him yeah you keep your job yeah you play your contract hey I've said it before I'll say it again the alternate universe where Brady Kachak shoots at the little higher that enters the net is truly my personal hell like I thinking about how life would have been different for this past

month and a half I guess it's a literal month ago today that the gold medal was played. What would the last month would have looked like for Canadians and hockey fans? Like, God, thank you for saving that. Another reason why you're sleeping well these days. Yeah, that would have been tough. You see Mark Carney was on the ice with the Oilers today? Was he wearing goalie skates? Yeah, he was a goalie for Harvard. I gotta tell you tell you like that's a tough. He had a tough get-up

But those skates look terrible. They look they look you look really dusty out there Just gonna say a lot of dust give him credit for going out there. Yeah But mr. Get that Albert and yeah, I like in true. You're wearing You're wearing cement boots out there. You know, I think it's great that he's not embarrassed to put himself in that. So check it out. He played hockey. Just hit the net with a raster. It's game time. Is that about three, six, five visit the app,

play the size and find out why it's never ordinary at bet three, six, five. Must be 19 plus on terror only. Please play responsibly. Lots of action on the ice tonight and big ones across the league. Yes, specifically the General manager of the st. Louis blues. We just saw that hat on I gotta tell you We're getting a lot of hate on the Vancouver text line Vancouver people can find anything The losers all the blue shirt anti-canada the anti-canucks are bias on this show is astounding. Bah bah bah

Anyways, we have like a Canucks guy on every week to praise and talk with us. Anyways, uh Send it all to Sammy by the way Bah bah bah. Anyways, we have like a Canucks guy on every week to praise and talk with the Canucks. Anyways. Send it all to Sammy, by the way. Yeah, well, I am. I don't participate in any of these decisions. Hey, hit up Brother Fur Fur Canucks sweater. We have one. We have a good one? Yeah, we do.

I mean, it's small, it's like in between this one and normal size. Oh, it's not one I can hang from my rear view mirror, is it? No, it's not the only other one. So anyways, in St. Louis tonight, Canucks visiting them. The Blues are big favorites tonight, minus 140 on the money line. Really good matchup.

As good as you can hope for at this time of year, plus 120. The Montreal Canadiens, another huge game here tonight. Give me Nick Suzuki nine goals tonight. After the break, we're going to... They do not dare to suck up now. After the break, we're going to not dare to suck up now after the break. After this, we're going to go through all the centers and we're going to say who you'd rather have. Uh, no, no. Okay.

Anyways, uh, the Montreal Canadians are plus 120 in New York taking on the Islanders who are minus 140 on the money line. That's got to be, that's a, that's a really good game with lots of playoff stakes. I'm looking through some of the Calgary Flames continue their East Coast road trip, taking on the Devils. They're plus 145 in New Jersey. New Jersey's big faith, they're minus 170. And I'm just looking at the other ones across the league.

A really, really good one in Edmonton tonight. Two of the premier teams in the NHL. Winnipeg visiting, our Jets visiting the Oilers. The Jets are minus, visiting the Oilers. The jets are minus 105 on the Moneyline, Oilers minus 115, pretty much a pick them there. That'll be an excellent matchup between two of the best teams, which are both Canadian. Yeah, just dry saddle out that swings. Yeah, so dry saddle not playing, which sucks, but McDavid's still playing so that'll be

fun. Anyways, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app, Play the Stars and find out why it's ever ordinary. Beth365 must be 19 plus, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Okay, we'll take a quick break and when we return, we're gonna put our heads together and we're gonna figure out what the heck you do with the NHL All-Star game. Cancel it.

Oh, I said that before the break. Can we go to break first, Sammy? Yeah, sure, sorry. Cancel it. Oh, can we go to break first, Sammy? Yeah, sure. Sorry. Cancel it. Okay, go ahead. More Sammy when we return after these words. Hey, it's Ailish for afar and I'm Justin Cutford. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame 6pm weekdays on sports net sports at 590.

The fan in wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of real Kipper and born brought to you by bet three, six, five, Nick Kipper, Justin born, Sammy McKee. Before we get into NHL news and notes. Well, this includes it, but before we get into the All-Star conversation here, what's the latest on expansion? So ESPN has reported and confirmed by our Elliott Friedman that Dan Friedkin has emerged a strong candidate to bring expansion team to Houston. Which, you know, as Phoenix also would like to get a team back

there at some point. Phoenix and Houston sound good to take us to 34. Well, wasn't the governor of Louisiana on record saying that he's had lots of nice calls with the NHL as well? Louisiana? New Orleans. Is Weezy F Baby going to get a team? Is that what are we doing here? I don't know you got a pair of skates come on out try out for new or you know what the New Orleans would be a Awesome addition to the league better than Houston. I Mean it's Houston's a good sports town. Isn't it? hockey though football Houston's a good sports town, isn't it? Hockey though? Football.

Yeah, I mean with the Rockets and the Texans. It's one of those things, I think it's the fifth biggest city in the US. So I think if you're the NHL, we're like, we need to be there. We just need to be there based on demographics. And they wanted for Dallas. Who's the baseball team? Oh my God. Yeah, have a rival.

Oh yeah. Oh, Astros. Yeah. So like they have three, they have the three and the four, yeah. Oh Astros. Yeah, so like they have three they have those like the three or the four So they want the fourth. Yes so Houston Dan Friedkin Just move it to hey, we get a name the yeti Vaughn billionaire here and I get one in Toronto the Vaughn billionaires

We had Doug Armstrong on earlier if you're just catching catching our program right now, download it because he was fantastic. That was awesome. One of the questions that I asked him was the overall stress that it may put on players now to perform at this level every other year. That will lead to a, what do we do with the NHL All-Star game conversation, but I just I Really believe that We we got to find a way

Maybe in those international years to Cut games down Not less regular season games less well now the NHL is out on international when you're in a position where you could sell a four nations tournament and hit those high marks of interest and TV money and sponsors if the rest of the players a break take a little bit off of

82 games how How many? Go, the year of an Olympic event. Oh, oh. Go to 78 games or go to 76 games. We are gonna run these guys straight into the ground. I asked him about the stress of the players. You know what he said? What's best for the game?

He put the game ahead of the players and it's the chicken and the egg thing, right? Who's part of the game? It's the players. If you're beating these guys up, and I will tell you that what I've seen this year based on the Four Nations and the amount of games that we've squeezed into this season, there's some nights the product has really suffered, okay?

And some nights it's not great. And it could be just the fact that there's some nights the players just don't have it. Yeah, but I mean, there's a lot of nights over a lot of seasons where it's not great. Yeah, it just happens. I mean, there's just bad teams playing each other. Just going to 78 make a tangible difference.

Look at a lot of these teams with their scheduling. I think the scary thing is to your point kipper is that what we've seen from some of the big stars that took part in that where Matthew season took a big dip McDavid season took a big dip injuries injuries Kachucks not playing is there a chance this is a few games like that's you can pull back the schedule on an Olympic or no it's just about the money no No, I'm fine with that. Seven, seven, it's fine.

You're asking each owner to give up two gates. They probably make it back in the four nations year, you know, when you do some extra event like that. But yeah, I think they'd be hard pressed to do it. They probably want that money. But yeah, I think it would be the right thing to do. Now what do you do with the All-Star game? And I think that's an interesting conversation because people are the point here is that

really tough to play a game where the players expressly do not care. They do not care who wins and loses and how much did they win if they won the whole thing in the past, maybe 50 grand or something. Not the 50 grand is nothing to the rest of us, but to those guys, if you're at NHL, you're making 10 million. Wasn't it for the skills comp in Toronto wasn't it a million bucks million bucks won the skills comp sorry or no those the winning team for three there was a million bucks involved in three on three

t okay and there's maybe only six so maybe there's a lot more yes I can't remember what I was I remember the team winning a million but I have no idea how many guys are on each team it doesn't seem like that's enough to motivate them no so guys are on each team. It doesn't seem like that's enough to motivate them. No. So... Can we kill the three on three though? You wanna go back to five on five? Even if it wasn't an Olympic year next year, like based on the level of competition and how hard you saw the guys go, how could you ever go back to that you might have to Do like a comic-con but for hockey players like a like a fan Expo where it's just like you know a

Convention floor and the players set a play in a game. You got to go mingle with the fans You got to sign autographs down behind the rope. Yeah, don't feed the animals. It's got to be a thing Yeah, the people you're not gonna play a game. We're gonna go celebrate the game for the weekend. Yeah You took a I think you still gonna have some sort of a good idea. What's your idea? I just said like a petting zoo You gotta have an on ice element of some kind Yeah, and then I skills contest still sure people love that But if you want to do like a three-on-three, I think I mean maybe don't want to take ideas from the NBA but

Then they had the worst experience sure it was a disaster Well, is it already dead? But even in years past when it's been good or like good ish They've had the rookies versus the sophomore game Where they've had the young stars in the game kind of play each against each other and with a ton of the guys who? Are gonna be flying to Milan the next day from this all-star competition Maybe you have some of the young stars in the game who aren't quite ready to go to the Olympics They take part in some not quite all-star game Everyone who does not good enough to play in the Olympics if you need to have some events slash a HL

Yeah, if you need to have some event, that's something I guess, but like, why have anything? No one likes it. Is it just for the corporate build out? Is that why you're doing it? Is it for kids? I guess, you know, part of it is that there's not a whole lot of moments where it's just like no pressure for wins and losses. Let's get to know the personalities of the players. Let's see their faces. But they had no personality. That's limiting. We tried to put capes on them,

we tried to dress them like Miami Vice, like disaster. It was. The shooting the surfboards on the beach was like, this is pretty dark. This is. Can we just mic them up and put him in a bar? So that is, that's how you grow the game.

That's how you grow the game. Go pros at the club. Key to the VIP over here. I can't recall the exact date that they announced the New York Islanders would be hosting next season's All-Star Weekend. But what happened between then? The Four Nations is your answer the Four Nations Four Nations Four Nations so they were surprised it was so good

Crushed the All-Star Games the same people. Yeah, we're so surprised that their event was good really that now It's a bad idea I don't know if you've ever written a piece of content where you're like, whatever, publish, send it and people just like, it just blows up and people love it and you're like that? You like that? I need to do more. That's what the Four Nations was. The NHL created another event.

They've created a million events and then people loved it and they're like, that, that, like, that's the signal. We need to be more like that. Okay. I can read you what the commissioner said. We're re-evaluating how we want to do things because I think we've raised the bar about as high as you can for an all-star game in any sport.

And so we want to make sure whatever we do is up to the standards we've created. Impossible. I think there's part of you. Actually, it would suck to try to live up to it. You can't, that moment has passed. That's why it's like- They're gonna have to play this three on three.

I see no other alternative. You don't like the petting zoo? Oh my gosh. No, I don't want a petting zoo. Okay. Right? Don't. And I don't even think the players... They're... They're not gonna just want to be paraded out there.

Fan draft. So the players pick fans out of the crowd who? Play the game. No, oh, we're talking Pick mark Carney Someone suggested to me that it ESPN really wanted it or The American Network really pushed for an all-star and now they're like, yeah I think that's that may have been a factor to where the networks where the pressure was from maybe

corporate Partners you can see people who don't know hockey who don't have their finger on the pulse of the game Being like do that again do another, you know, like four nations type thing. It's like we cannot, we cannot recreate. That's the point that I want to hammer home is that that was such an unbelievable lightning in a bottle, two week situation where it's like the political stride, the absence of previous international play. There's no ever way you could ever live up to that.

So I'm not saying don't even try, but be careful with your expectations what it's going to look like again. Like it's like they're making Happy Gilmore 2. It's like, do we really need this? But you like Happy Gilmore 2, you have to go into it knowing it's not going to be Happy Gilmore. Yes. It cannot be as good.

My favorite movie? They're going to absolutely butcher? No, they're not. But so you have to appreciate the nostalgic moments and the fun, you know, the callbacks. And that's what you're creating with the NHL in some way with the All-Star game. I obviously don't have an answer, but you can't play a competitive event. You think Islander fans definitely want something or if they cannot cancel it, right? They can't outright say,

I'll take the weekend off. Well, part of building a new rink is like, it comes with, you know, the league's like, all right, we'll throw you a bone, make you a little money back, give you an event. Every city, every community, like, clamors for it. No matter what we think of it, it is, it attracts, it makes money, It books hotels.

It brings hockey people together. There was a legit buzz here. The one here in Toronto is great. I took my son to the skills contest. You know, it's awesome. You're down to that fan Expo. All the people that went through there, the petting zoo, if you know, we were the animals.

Yeah, we were we had group around us. I told him, hey out of that lady's hand do not do not feed Sammy He will follow you home Kipper you made some guy drive across the city with a Colleen he costs yeah, I'm believable Unbelieveable, it was so good. I brought a box of wine Anyway, oh that was a good time. So what about the draft? Yeah.

So it sounds like Betman doesn't like it. So Gary really hates this idea. The decentralized draft. He doesn't like it. And you know why? Because it stinks. Well not to go full like we're all looking for the guy who did this meme, but it's like you're the commissioner.

You're the commissioner. Yeah. I don't know where it would stem from it's certainly not player or NHLPA driven because they have nothing really to do with the draft until the second someone gets drafted and then There's a little bit of you know where he stands on how close he becomes a member of the PA. So this is all Gary's office and his respective clubs going. It's not working for us anymore. If you know, the one thing that bothers me is you hear teams saying, well, you know,

we lose money on it because we bring everyone. It's so expensive for clubs. I wish we had more time with Army. I would have said. But that's the cost of doing business. Like they're like, oh, we get to have our war room with 40 people all in the same room back if we don't go to the draft. It's like, okay. You know, like no one cares. No one cares that you save a million dollars. It's a cool event for the fans and for the drafted players. And it's a signature event for the league. It's better

than the awards ceremony. I think they were happy with the sphere. I think it was cool I think that's why Gary's like we do that we did a couple things twice in there Well, and they're like, what have we done? I think it's too expensive. Yeah, probably isn't cheap, right? Can't imagine the other thing saw a movie there and it was too expensive for who the NHL? Yes, what does it cost for the sphere for a night? Three mil? I don't know. Yeah, maybe. You know, they're about to do a TV rights package for like 10 billion. I don't know. I have no idea. You're probably right. If Amazon's leading the way, you're probably right. Do you care about this event at all? And if you do, and you should, okay, that's the cost. That's there's just something's cost. Tell that to

the accountant. Well, but that that's the thing to me Kip Okay, so you need to make this much more like the other thing too is they're used to Taking over a building for a weekend and That didn't happen at the sphere like yeah, you're in and out your no I didn't know you don't even get access to this facility till like 4 a.m. Oh really? Oh, yeah, rush everything in they got a rush everything behind the seat I know they actually did a very good job as far as what we could tell on TV and how it looked it looked amazing But behind the curtains it was a cluster, you know, right, but if you can pull it off once

Yeah, you can pull it off twice. Hmm duck. You have the legs in the water. What's the expression? Yeah, you can pull it off twice. Hmm duck. You got the legs in the water. What's the expression? So is it is it like do the kids miss out we've we've seen kids not being drafted We've seen them crushed a lot of them Would you not rather just see the sure things you but I mean you get that like incredible moment that The kid walking up on stage and everybody holding the jersey hands that the people is going to be working with and it's part of the league. It's part of the draft. It's like those Colvin ones.

Remember where it was like those ones suck. They're like in like with their NFL one or they're with the same. That's nice and all. But anyways quickly shout out to my hometown attack. We're in the hat today. Three games left in their schedule. They were awful

to start the year. They've turned it around. They just need a few points this weekend to potentially make the playoffs and they were out of it. Dead worst team in the league and they've gotten hot starting tonight and Barry beware the bear. Go attack. Look at me. You're not getting free tickets. I don't buy free tickets. I'm going to coach next year. Wouldn't even hire you to be the nutritionist. That'd be the last job to give them. Busy night in the national hockey league.

Enjoy your game as we head on to Sportsnet Ontario for the Leafs and the Rangers. Yours truly, Justin Bourne, David Amber, Elliot Friedman. It's going to be a fun night. Join us tomorrow off the rails Friday. We'll track down your friend and ours, Mr. Doug McLean. Have a fun night. Join us tomorrow off the rails Friday. We'll track down your friend and ours, Mr. Doug McLean. Have a great night everybody. And hi Jeff.