Real Kyper & Bourne - One More Sleep 'til Olympic Rosters + Marchment's Impact

Episode Date: December 30, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by The Athletic's Aaron Portzline to chat about Mason Marchment's immediate impact on the Blue Jackets, the Penguins acquiring Jackets' forward Yegor Chinakhov, if the team can continue to climb up the standings, why they struggle in regulation wins, and the rise of goaltender Jet Greaves. Then, former NHL defenseman, Canadian Olympian and current NHL Network analyst, Jason Demers (30:37) stops by to share his expectations on who will crack Team Canada's roster, why Macklin Celebrini is a generational talent, young players restarting an old hockey culture of being together as a team, why USA shouldn't leave Jason Robertson off the roster, and why Matthew Schaefer could be getting targeted more on the ice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, we go live here, the national edition of the real Kippur and Bourne show. Nick Kipriels, Justin Bourne. In for Sammy McKee, our very own Christian Jet. How do I pronounce this now? You got it right for a strike, Kip. Yeah, yesterday you got it right. I got to give you kudos for that because, yeah, some people have stumbled, man. They don't go to the chuh, right?

The chuh is silent. Cheneity. Cheneity. Bingo. It's not silent at all. You say it. Do you realize how needy I am, Chinati? He's learning, Kep.

He's learning. Hey, welcome aboard. You're in for our very own Sammy McKee. We also got Andrew Adams and Jake the Snake Schultz. It's our national edition. We are live on sports at 360. We are also live in Vancouver on 650, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on SportsDap Plus,

always available, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. All right, boys, in a few minutes, we'll welcome in Aaron Portsline. We'll go national on the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have made quietly a couple of moves here. Yeah. And it's almost as if, I don't know, it almost felt like a bit of a soft deadline going into the Christmas break.

A couple of teams wanting to clean up some things. We saw a couple of trades. I'm just wondering now, will we see it again? Do you expect another wave of trades just prior to the Olympic break? Well, I think it's kind of a crunch time of the season I mentioned in our first hour where this next month we have to fit in a ton of hockey because there is, multiple weeks off coming up before the trade deadline. So the Leafs, for example,

play 17 times between now and a month from now. It's a lot of hockey. So I think teams are going to see where they're at over the next few weeks and recognize, hey, if we don't get better, if we don't add now, it's pointless. So yeah. So the Columbus Blue Jackets had Mason Marchment,

which, again, was rather strange that the Seattle Cracken took him off of the Dallas Stars where he initially signed a pretty big contract. a one time Toronto Maple Leaf you thought maybe a few clubs would get involved including the Leafs if they wanted to take another crack at Marchment being available from Seattle

but Columbus ended up grabbing him and last night pretty comfortable win over the Ottawa Senators where Marchman's been standing out for Columbus. Yeah well he's that physical element and I'm not surprised that Don Waddell enjoys that But I think it's interesting to note

that they did the Chinikov deal where I think it was like they would have traded Chinikov for Marchman if they could, but they couldn't. So they traded for Marchment with picks and then traded Chinikov for picks and in a way they kind of feel like that was the deal they got, right?

And they get someone more useful to them. Still not sure. And it's of course with Pittsburgh Penguins. So that's Kyle Dubis giving up a couple of picks second and a fourth or what was it? Yeah. Um, I can find that here. Christian.

Very quick. Second and a third round pick for Tina. Second and a third. Not insignificant pieces. Those are very valuable come trade deadline. But I think Kyle sees something that Columbus didn't. Now we know also, and we'll get Aaron to verify this at a few minutes, but he asked to be traded a while ago. I mean, so what?

If a player is good and you still see upside in him, thanks for asking, but no thanks. Yeah. you know the the chinikov one for me is like what is that guy sealing is he really going to be a needle mover in the nchel um i like anyone's chances of moving the needle if they're playing with sid yeah i suppose i do i don't mind the bet from pittsburgh where it's like you know they're trying to grab guys who are not two years from now prospects but young guys who are looking to be good you know just about to find their stride ideally in the league so can't say i fault them for for going for it.

Olympic teams are going to be named coming up. Did you happen to see Macklin Celebrini last night? I did. Yeah. I did. Like he may not just be like, oh, is he on the team? He might be top six power play. I think

I think to your point, he could be anywhere. Yeah. And impact a game. He's that good. Yeah. No. His three-point game last night was wild.

I don't anticipate Burrard. I don't even anticipate Baderd, sorry. I don't anticipate Schaefer either. No? No. But. Do you hardly will make it? He's questionable for me.

Yeah, he's not had a great first half of the season for sure, and Dallas has still got some great success. All right, Aaron Portsline joins us now. Senior writer at the Athletic covering the Columbus Blue Jackets, Aaron, how are you, man? Thanks for joining us. Yeah, sure thing. Good, guys, how are you?

Good. We're just talking about the action of the Columbus Blue Jackets with a couple of trades just before the Christmas break here and, you know, the feeling of maybe a soft deadline for certain teams. Maybe we'll see one in the Olympic break. But what has it done to Columbus, who so far, I think it's safe to say, is underachieved or not picked up where they did, you know, on the cusp of a playoff spot last season?

So what led to all of this? well i think that's very fair to say they've underachieved they themselves have said that this season is a failure if they don't make the playoffs so last place in the east is not getting it done um you know i i think if you go back zach wrenski made some comments after a recent loss and basically he kind of lit up the room without naming names and it um Columbus tends to be a quiet place in those in those ways and warrensky kind of to stepped out. He's not the captain and said some things that, I think, awakened some people, not just players either. Dean Evanson, the coach switched up his lines in a major way, the next game,

and GM Don Waddell, who had been trying to make a trade. I think there was a sense of urgency there as well. And it led to the Mason Marchment acquisition, who I don't pretend to know where this is going with Mason Marchman. It's been a really good fit so far. points in all four games. The other thing he's done a couple times already is he's brought, dragged this team into the fight. And I think they're built in a way now they've got bigger under Waddell. They stand up for themselves.

They respond, but they don't initiate a lot. And I feel like you've started to see that in a lot more of their play. I don't want to put that just on Marchment, but I do think their play. They won three in a row now, all in regulation. It feels like they're starting to dictate or try to a little bit rather than

just respond. He dragged Barzell into a fight and all that. Yeah. Yeah, well, sort of. You dragged him into a hell of a slash anyway. Yeah, that was high drama there. So is it as simple as saying that they couldn't get for Chinikov

a player they liked? So they did picks for Marchman, then picks back for Chinikov, so it kind of becomes a Chinikov for marchment type thing? I think once they did marchment, I don't think they did marchment with the idea of then being able to flip Jinnikov easier for picks. I think they did marchment because they felt they needed that. They wanted that player. And then once they did that with, they now have a lot of forwards up front.

I'm not saying they're good enough up front, but they've got enough bodies for sure. Then it changed the trade dynamic. I also think it had gone on long enough here. Well, like, you know, what are you going to do? with this player. You don't want to just give them away. You don't want to just take whatever is the best offer in front of you if you don't think it's worth the value. But they need to do something to change the dynamic. I don't like him being traded in the division because I think that's a player that's got, he's got a lot of skill that if it ever

gets unbottled and can be used consistently, I think he could, he could be a really effective top six winger, especially in Pittsburgh. But I think, That changed the dynamic because they felt like if they had moved Chinikov and then had an injury, they would be exposed with not having enough top six talent. And again, I don't know what Marchman is or where this is going. But they feel like he's a guy they can plug in different places in their top nine. Right now he's on the top line itself with Fantilli and Marchenko and playing pretty well. Do you like the chances of Pittsburgh and Kyle Dubus looking good on this ultimately?

if he catches fire with a guy like Sid Crosby? 100%. Yeah. Wow. I mean, I've been thinking about this, the last couple, just the last 24 hours or so. The Line A trade, when they moved, there were a lot of people that were thinking, boy, this is really going to come back and bite them. I did not have any sense of that one. I think Line A is a, we know who Patrick Line A is. It's been at every stop of his career that this sort of progression has happened.

Chinikov, I don't know about. Like, there are, there have been times, two spans more than a month where I think you could argue effectively that he has been the Blue Jackets best forward. It was early last season. If you remember, the Godreau tragedy followed by the Boone Jenner injury early in camp, Chinikov lands on the top line. He was their best player for the first month, maybe five weeks of the season. It's in there. He's got a burst of speed that is elite. he's got a wrist shot absolutely that is elite but he has been plagued by injuries he thinks he's

got the back fixed now i think he's a guy that there's so much potential there i completely understand this from pittsburgh's perspective yes so give us a sense then of what columbus should be you know like right now you mentioned they're kind of where the leafs are but this is a team that awfully close to a playoff spot last year you know they're you think they're better than their record so far um i well they've given away a lot of games i mean you you know they are that that's what they've earned all of that yeah but there have been so many games i think seven or eight where they've had the lead in the third period and lost and it it became throughout much of the month of november and december it became a real mental block they went 17 games in a row

giving up at least one goal in the third period they went i think in 16 of those games they had not they they had been outscored in the third period like it was a it was a huge mental hurdle again what's changed here the last three games is they've been the better period the better team in that third period they have not a lot of goal in three straight games down in the third period last night they pulled away the game before that against the islanders they pulled away uh so these are good signs Listen, the record is about the same as it was last year at this time. The difference is there was one team between them and eighth last year.

Now there's the entire rest of the Eastern Conference ahead of them. So the odds are stacked further against them, but just these three wins pulls them back into a range where you say, okay, those teams are now catchable. It was starting to get a little gapy there with the regulation losses that you started to worry about where this thing was going to go. You're watching and listening to Aaron Portsline, who covers the Columbus Blue Jackets for the Athletic Senior Writer. Four win last night against Ottawa. Should this hockey club travel day of for the rest of the season?

Obviously, weather playing a part of it. But they look pretty comfortable. You mentioned Mason Marchment with Fantilli and Marchenko here. But, you know, not a bad look against a pretty desperate to Ottawa. our senators team that was the game right there the i think you point to and say okay the room is okay right the room is okay because i think what they did and i think it's wise and it's kind of an easy emotional attachment where there's a million excuses you could use and i think they all were they didn't get to the rink until like almost five o'clock like you know what that trip is like

from the airport out to canada oh god like if it's backed up you got issues and they They got there at five. They pushed face off to 7.30. So there were, like, Sean Monaghan couldn't play. He's injured. No one will say what it is. But he requires so much work to be able to play a game right now that it just wasn't possible last night in Ottawa.

But that team, they looked like the team from last season where, I think, emotionally, because of the tragedy just before training camp, I think you had a team last season where every player had two hands on the rope at all times. And I feel like last night they played like that again, obviously for a different reason. But it had that feeling about it where it became the motivation, not the excuse. Portie, correct me if I'm wrong here. But looking at the standings, it feels like all of the very good and very bad teams are in the West. like, you know, St. Louis, Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, San Jose, some of these teams, not great, all in the West.

The best team's probably what? Edmonton, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota. I'm asking because I'm looking at Columbus and the metro, the devils are the team ahead of them. Devils are also probably better than they've been. Like, there's not really a bad team in the metro anywhere. Right. And I think I may have been on this show. I never believed, I'm not saying Pittsburgh's a playoff team.

I never believe that they were a, you know, a number one overall pick team either, a lottery team. Not with those guys on the team. Like, it is, it is a tough conference. I remember when the Blue Jackets were in the West, it's almost hard to remember now, lamenting the fact that, oh, God, the East is just absolute, other than the top five teams is a joke. And the West was just completely loaded. Now it feels like it's turned the other way, the other direction. Yeah.

It's going to be fascinating to see this race play out the rest of the way. And, you know, again, the Blue Jackets lost six of seven in regulation, and you start to see a gap get there. Now, these last three wins have sort of gotten them back, I think, within sniffing distance. But that's a hole with all of those teams ahead of you and all of these three-point games. It's really hard to get traction. Regulation wins have been a real challenge for Columbus before these last three. games they were last in the league with only seven regulation wins so not only do you need to catch all those teams but you have to be ahead of them because you're not going to get the tiebreaker

in a lot of situations we saw marchenko ice the game last night with a with a shot that maybe only a few players can shoot a puck that well it's four goals i think in three games here if this guy catches any type of fire in the back half of the season uh Columbus could make some noise. I think he's a 40-goal guy, and that's not a crazy statement. He had 30 last year, 31. He was really ripping early this year, and her, I think, I don't want to, he's an upper body injury. I'm not sure if it's a back or not, but he really struggled for a while. I think the Christmas break was really good for Marchanko. They have really changed him around as a player. He, he's changed himself around as a player, I should say, much more competitive for pucks.

When he first got to the NHL, he could always shoot. But he would be the guy on the dot with the beaver tail up looking for the puck. And now he is battling for the puck and getting the puck back himself. He and Fantilli really have a sort of an offensive sense together. That rush that they scored off last night, excuse me, the 4-1 goal. Yeah. Like, listen, the Blue Jackets have not scored goals like that. historically.

I mean, even during the Rick Nash era, it was everybody clear out and let 61 do the work to have the talent, Marchman with a nice pass on that play. But they're able to score those goals now. And Marchenko is a big part of that, finisher. Last one for me, just want to hear a little bit about a guy

that I thought maybe had an outside distance chance at Team Canada because they got no goalies. Jack Reeves is kind of, you know, the only young Canadian goalie. that's been very good, a 909 saved percentage, and what is he, 24 years old? Tell us a bit about

this guy. Great story. Yeah. Great story. Came to them at their undrafted, came to the prospect's camp because they needed a body. These are all the great stories in the NHL start, aren't they? Yeah. And he was good. It came back

for another prospect. He went back to Barry, not drafted. They signed him as a free agent minor league contract. and they needed, I may not get this exactly correct, they needed a person that they could call up if they got desperate and needed to call up a goalie because of injuries. He ended up with a two-way contract.

Everything they've put before him, he has not only been sufficient, he has excelled. He's grabbed it, he's devoured it, he's gone on to the next thing. And just keep telling him he's too short. Just keep telling him he's too short because that's the best, the issue that everybody has I he's just look how this team plays with him in net

versus Elvis Merslickinson net right there's a sense of calm back there that there just isn't when Elvis plays it's his his body is his the way that he handles himself carries himself

and all of these last three games really all this season in each of his games you see a moment where it gets a little bit hairy gets a little bit crazy in the blue jacket zone and you can't help but think if the other guy's in here what is this becoming because it would almost certainly end up in a goal

the chaos maybe a highlight save then followed by a goal but Jet Greaves has a great glove for one thing but just his demeanor and his calm nature I wrote a piece the other day check it out if you want he met John Davidson a couple years ago and it wasn't just a nice to meet you.

It was, can I ask you a few questions? And Jet Greaves is a student of this game, loves the history of the game, loves to talk to former goalies about players they've faced, about other goaltenders. He is an inquisitive, curious mind and about as down to earth as any goalie I've ever covered. Talks on game day, it's hilarious. He'll break up from a scrum with media members and say, thanks guys for your questions right you just don't hear that anymore and it's genuine it's not an act

from him uh he's beloved in the dressing room and he has ascended to the blue jackets number one job here and i have to be honest with you i've not thought about team canada because i haven't looked at it from that perspective but it's probably not far away if he keeps going well keep an eye on columbus aaron uh really appreciate uh the latest from you on them as they carry a three game winning streak in tomorrow night against New Jersey. Thanks for doing this, pal. Yeah, anytime, guys. Thank you.

Aaron Porcelain, senior writer for the athletic covering the blue jackets. So I just want to pick this up in terms of, you know, Jet Ed, you know, your mention of Team Canada. And, yeah, there seems to be a window open there for a third. Who's it going to be? People have their opinions. We'll welcome in Christian as well, doing a terrific job filling in for Sammy. this is what i think people just need to understand a little bit including the thought of jet

is that i believe it's really tough to make this team on three months three months you've been great three months wonderful but it's just one year it's it's it's just it's not enough no it's like sorry we have a track record of darcy kemper being good for a decade We know he's good at this level. That's where you are, in my opinion, when it comes to Connor Bedard, when it comes to even Schaefer. Badard, yeah, those guys are different, though. No, they're not different.

But they're different than Jack Reeves. Jets had a good three months. Yeah, those guys have had a good life. No, Connor Bard has not been responsible in early in his career. No, he's not. He's showed flashes of being brilliant offensively. You've been playing on an American League team in the NHL as a teenager. His game has not been mature.

That's the word of the day for me, for Team Canada, with the exception of Celebrini, who is light years ahead of any curve when you break into the league. Okay, that guy plays a mature game. Yeah. Well, you look at his goal last night. It starts off a back check, good stick, angling, takeaway, mid-lane drive. It does it all.

Yeah. And you can see him being thrown in on a top six if someone gets hurt. You can see him on the bottom six. You can see him play a mature, responsible role in some capacity. I think they're absolutely nuts if they don't name them. When is it tomorrow? They might name him a captain. Just to be clear, we are airing Team Canada.

The Olympic News coverage tomorrow at noon will be live on the fan hockey show. And we'll also be live on 360 SportsNet Plus and, of course, right across the Sportsnet Radio Networks. So I expect Celebrini to be there, but I don't expect any 18, 20-year-old added other than Celebrini. Do you think if this was a traditional Olympics in terms of playing out a WAHF-sized rink? Like we have the smaller than NHL ring this time around. But if there was the bigger ice surface and you had a healthy baddard, Is that an alternate world where you could have seen it? Or do you think?

No, that's just a crapshoot. Yeah. I also think that sometimes that stuff works opposite of how people think it works. Like more room for him might be more room to get exposed positionally. And also one thing I learned, I play college hockey where six of our 10 ranks or seven of our 10 were Olympic-sized ice. Yeah. If you don't keep it to the dots, if you're not defensively responsible and you start chasing a little bit more, oh, you're dead. You're dead.

So anyone who struggles defensively really gets exposed. So it's almost more important on that big guys. The Spangler Cup, which is going on. For sure it is. I knew that. Yeah, okay. And the Canadian team is out already, isn't it? Yes.

Do we know anything about the roster? Am I reaching here? No, listen. I'm really looking to Christian right now to bail me out of this conversation. We got four Leafs games. Yeah. You know, in the next seven days, I'm kind of focused. My whole point of bringing this up is that's your rank.

That's the Olympic rink, isn't it? At Davos? Yeah. They play on the big rink. For sure. So my question to you is, are all the Canadian guys brought over from smaller rinks to play into this rink? Yeah. You take a look at it.

Like, it's a lot of former NHL guys. Like, Kailen Addison, he's a younger guy, right? So it's like, I don't know what experience he would have on the bigger rink. I wouldn't say it's a lot of former NHL guys. This is my guess. Sprinkled it. This is my guess. is that every year we pull players for that Spangler Cup

off of players that they don't really experience the big rink. Yeah. And then they go over there and suck at it. Get smoked. That's the point I'm trying to make. I could be totally wrong, by the way. John Luke Foodie, Tanner Fritz, the Islander for a... So how many...

James Reimer. All right, so James, how many big rinks have you played in lately? Yeah, not a whole ton I would imagine. So it has to go to NHL rinks. and I'm glad that they've done that since. And actually interesting to note that when there's two teams like North American heavy teams like Canada, USA, NHL refs will actually be calling the games by I-I-H-F rules,

but... Which means if you get bonked in the head, you're supposed to be out of the game. But did you see the one bonk in the World Juniors? The guy, like, just through kind of a generic body check and it was five in a game and that's everyone's going, Tom Wilson's going to get, you know, become a war.

criminal by the end of this event. No, it's a bit of a crap shoot. Yeah, he might. But it's just really hard to not hit someone's head when you get their body. My feeling is if it's predominantly NHL players from both sides, they're going to go to the W.HF. Like, you know, hey, we're going to have a hockey game here tonight. Cool it with your little tiki-tack rules, okay?

Fire me if you want after this tournament. I don't really give a crap. Yeah, if you guys don't mind the adults are going to go play a hockey game, face the other way here for a night. I can, yeah, not that's the way it should be. Where are we going here? Just before we go to break here, let's do some game time. It's game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for the latest thods and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play it responsibly. A couple of things we were mentioning in the Leafsour. We'll bring it here national. You were bringing up the shots. Yes. And the Devil's Leafs game.

So I've got like walls over for saves. Okay. set at 26 and a half. So is that... Smash it over. What's the number? Minus 120. Yeah, it's like minus 110.

Okay. Yeah. So that's the wall line there. And so we'll do that one. But the other one I was looking at and we talked about the Garland McCann fight in the Leafsour. And yeah, I'm just a big fan of Garland.

And tonight is the return of Rick Tocket to Vancouver. And Vancouver is very slight underdogs plus 110 at home. I like them to get that win there. They played very recently. in Philly. Philly took that one, five, two. Give me Vancouver to win

and target's return. All right, I like that one. The, yeah, Garland is my, my low key. If I was a team GM,

I'd be like, well, what does it take to get that guy? Right-handed shot. Competitive, scrappy, smart, just a high IQ guy

that people hate to play. You like anyone that people hate to play. Of course, a warm reception for talk in Vancouver. I think so, right? Is there some people going...

I don't really love how you left. Yeah. you know we're not good enough for you the problem with that is if you're talking you can gesture generally to what's happening with the Canucks organization and go can you blame me do you blame me have a look around yeah so yeah

I think he's excused he's got no blame and yeah just clarify there the the line for wall saves 26 and a half minus 105 but you're smashing that literally that's the the most I would bet a bet we've had on game time this year Fair enough. Over for Wall, 26 and a half stage.

I didn't get to ask you about DeBrusk's healthy scratch. Yes. And he had some good words in terms of the disappointment for sure. But he stressed the embarrassment part. Yeah. There's a sense of humiliation. It's $5.5 million until 2031. That's the way it's supposed to work.

Yes. Right? Yeah. Like it's like, I don't want that to happen ever again. isn't that that's the motivation that comes with the healthy scratch yeah so you are cool with the scratching come on do you pick a number of teams that are scraping the bottom of the barrel yes of course like at the end of the day there just needs to be some accountability to somebody a coach a manager an owner a season ticket holder but there's got to be some messages that

if it's not good enough, then we'll move on or we'll find other people that can get the job done until it gets done. I give DeBrusk all the credit in the world because not only did he say the embarrassing part, he said that he's a little pissed off,

but he said all the right things after that about being held accountable and how he understands it and he hasn't been playing well and he needs to do better. Like I don't think you could have a better post-scratch interview. Likeable kid, good player. I don't think you'll see that happen again to him. de brusk is expected to be in the lineup tonight and just to wrap up there that was game time presented by bet 365 visit the app for the latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly okay we'll catch our breath and when we return jason demiers former national hockey league d man does a great job on the nchel network he'll join us after these words hey it's bad anis and i'm brentka We got you covered on all things, Leifes, 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 podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Capriose, Justin Born, Christian Cheneady. In for Sammy McKee, who's on, who's taking maintenance. Maintenance day. Yeah, I think that's what we would call it.

Mandatory, a leave of absence? He's day to day. I think we told him to go and get some rest. It's a big half of season coming up and you need rest. Liver primed. I don't know what his organ issue is, but. Hopefully it's a lot better. Yeah, he should be better by, I think he's your Friday.

Dakota Joshua, who unfortunately, all kidding aside, with a kidney injury Sunday night. It's funny because the Leafs are very non-specific with their injuries, so to specify the organ is fascinating. Yes, I hope he's okay. All right, a few minutes.

We'll welcome in Jason Demers, who does a great work on the NHL Network, has been on the show before, and yes, we have him live and in color. Jason, how are you, my friend? How we doing, boys? Happy holidays and almost a happy New Year. Yeah, you too.

We're almost there, means that we're almost there on on Team Canada. We'll get into the NHL stuff, but your thoughts on the announcements coming as early as tomorrow. Not to go through

one by one here, but you know, in terms of just the names that we didn't see at the four nations that you think will show up, let's start there for Team Canada. Yeah, you know, there's two names that have kind of been on my mind, the

the whole year so far. And it's number one's Tom Wilson. I think he's earned the right to be on this team. And I think people having fears of him potentially crossing the line with penalties. And I just think he's earned a spot on this team. And he can play top six role. He can play bottom six. He's a great peak air.

Can play power play net front. So I just think there's a lot of options. And I like having these role players like himself to be at these kind of tournaments. I just think he's going to start. strike fear, but he also can score. So he's number one for me. And then the other one that obviously everybody's talking about is Macklin Celebrini.

I just think it's a no-brainer that he should be on this team. And I think he's going to be playing top six minutes for sure. He is proving to be a generational talent. And I've been kind of fighting to use that word. But it's just amazing what he's done this season. And I think putting him with either a McKinnon or a McDavid, or Crosby we're just going to see fireworks for this team Canada team so he's got 60 points in the second highest point getter on the sharks has 29 goal last night back check you know

mid lane drive take away the whole offhand one timer the the whole kitten caboodle there like he you can build a whole a shark's team around him just the way that you know some other teams can I know you say generational like do we are we talking crosbie level like we're into that sort of tier i know that's almost as good as it gets here but you see that potential hey i i i you know i kind of laughed or last year you know watching him and calling the games i was like you know what he's a mini sid you know i can see him kind of at his best you know getting close but not being but what he's done and in the gap and the disparity between him and the second you know will smith on the team who's been injured but what he's done to elevate this team and i think that goal that you just

talked about highlights exactly what he's He gets on the forecheck. He's hard on sticks, is able to see, see the play as it's developing. And then to get that one-timer off the way he did is just not many guys can do that in the NHL. And then even his play to William Eklund, that pass was just incredible off the forecheck, gets behind the net and has eyes in the back of his head to make that pass. So what we're seeing the evolution and how quickly he's doing it is and how dominant he's

being against guys, you know, five, 10 years older than him is very impressive. And I just can't wait to see him at the Olympics and see him with the Crosby's and with the McDavid's and playing with these guys that can keep up with them and think as quickly as he does. And I just think it's going to, it's going to be just fascinating, incredible to watch. You know, the one thing that absolutely stands out for me in all this magic on the ice with Celebrini was the fact that he defended Will Smith when he got smashed into the boards. and a real natural reaction for a guy that young to go defend a teammate.

And, you know, Jason, it's kind of been far and few for me in a league with 32 teams to seize that type of thing. We also saw Barzell do it for a young superstar in Schaefer as well with a baseball bat swing, albeit. But are we starting to see more of this? you think it's it's coming in terms of the young kids once again picking up the vibe of if we want to win together as a team we got to stick together as a team I think so and I think it's creating a culture which I think you see in a lot of these teams that have been struggling over the past few years and you watch I think everybody's watching the Florida Panthers and understanding that it's a one for all for one mentality and I think you're starting to see these guys adopt it but But, you know, Macklin coming into the league last year, you know, watching him kind of command the room and want the room and want that responsibility that early is really something that it's rare to see.

And I think he pushes people to be better. But also you look at Matthew Barzell. He seems like he's been on a mission this year. And it's fun to see these guys that are, you know, we think of them as just point producing, you know, high end offensive talents. But I think that goes a long way and almost goes further than when you see the guys that are kind of more in that role of being the guy, the defender and the enforcer. When you see your top guy and your best player go out there and defend his teammates and not even worry about getting a suspension or taking a bad penalty, but just doing it because he sees something that wasn't right and wants to protect and stand behind his teammates. I think it goes such a long way. So, you know, that was a great.

I agreed with that wholeheartedly by Matthew Barzell. Listen, if you're understandingly, he gets fined and you're not having, you hope that Mason Marchman wasn't injured in that. But at the end of the day, he takes a shot at their best defenseman and, you know, a little bit of retribution, a little bit of old school hockey. So I was very happy with it and enjoyed to see it. I'm sure everybody in that locker room loved that Matthew Barzell did that. Yeah, it's very funny to try to explain to people in other sports.

be like, yeah, everyone supports the guy who swung his stick at that other man. That was really enjoyable. Tomahawk. Wanted to get your thought. So obviously picking these international teams, it's not like who gets the most points gets to be on the team. That's not how it works. It's not an all-star contest.

It's people picking the teams. In both cases of Canada and the U.S., you've got a guy on the fringes. Jason Robertson, 10th in the NHL scoring with 45 points, 23 of them. Goals. Mark Sheifley tied with him with 45 points as well. Both guys on the fringes sounds like Robertson might even be on the outs. What are your thoughts on leaving offensive producers that good off these teams? I mean, if Jason Robertson is not on Team USA, I'm rioting and I'm in the streets.

And I just, I know we can talk about his playoff performance. I think he was a little bit injured about that. But what I've seen from him this year, especially on the power play, I just think you can't leave a game breaker like that off. a guy that shoots volume that can play very well defensively more than people think. And I just think he's, to be left off this team, I just don't see it. I can't, I can't understand why they would do that. I understand that you need kind of your lines built and coaches have to have the trust in the players that are before them.

But he is just, he can play in your top six, he can play in your bottom six. And he is just a game breaker. And I think the USA need a lot of those guys if they're going to be Canada. and the other teams that are that are going to be very good at this tournament, the Sweden's and the Finland's. They need a game breaker and he is that game breaker. So for me, it's, it's, he's one that I just can't see that. I read that today that he's on the bubble and might not even be there.

And I'm, I just, I'm shaking my head at, and I think it's a huge mistake by Team Eose to not bring him on that team. Mark Chafley, you mentioned him. I look at the Winnipeg Jets and I see, six wins in the last 25 games and it's shocking what's going on there and you just wonder can can that affect mark shifley with a potential add on to this olympic team or can you separate what's going on here well they would have they'd have zero wins in that span if it wasn't for that first line with shifley and all them like they they're really a one line hockey team you know it's tough because

you know, you look at that center position on Canada and where does he fall. You might have to kick out a Nick Suzuki, which I think deserves to be there. You know, you're looking at Sam Bennett as well, who's possibly played himself back onto the team. I know the start he had wasn't great, but I think him on a fourth line with Tom Wilson is just a chef's kiss in terms of what they could do role-wise. But I think Shifley deserves to be there as an extra and kind of see where he fits. I mean, he's a great player, and, you know, I've used the word two-way, but, you know, he's a guy that can kind of very have a lot of versatility, can complement, can go up and down the lineup. So I think you can never have enough of those guys, especially for Team Canada, because they got the game breakers. They got the McKinnons, McDavid's.

You don't need really, you just need to fill around those guys and have roll lines in your third and fourth line because you're going to get the offense out of those guys. So I think he's somebody that I would have on definitely as a. extra. I don't know where they're going to fit him. I know John Cooper likes to have a lot of his Tampa Bay guys there that kind of he understands and he kind of sprinkles them throughout the lineup. So where if he ends up making it onto the opening night roster, I don't know, but I think he deserves to be an extra because without him in that first line of Winnipeg, I mean, this team's, you know, a lottery pick for sure. Yeah. Yeah, they've been really good. So I was at the fortunate enough to be at an Islander's game recently

And I was watching Matthew Schaefer This guy is on the fringes of the team Canada conversation himself One thing that stood out to me I went home kind of looked at some numbers Third or fourth in the NHL And hits taken at the time I checked And second and drawn penalties For some reason this guy has quickly become a target

Everyone seems to like him No one seems to like playing against them Is there any sort of element For these other players Where it's just like who do you think you are you know the confidence why is this guy taking so much abuse early i think it should be for him you know it's a it should be a point of pride because i know every time a team's playing the new york islanders on you know we have our scouting reports for each player when you're in the room

so you see each player and their tendencies and it'll kind of have a little you know note underneath and i'm sure every single coach has hit him stay on the defensive side every single shift make him work for those 23 minutes because he's a young kid kid. And he's, you know, probably hasn't played this much hockey in a while. I know he had that injury. So, you know, even looking ahead to the Olympics, I don't know if this is the year to bring him. I think he's, I think it'll be way too much hockey for him. And I think the Islanders would probably be fine with him not going. Obviously, it would be a great achievement. But I just don't, I think it's a little bit too much hockey from this young, as good as he's played. I think

they need a little bit more veterans on that back end for the Olympics. But for the Islanders, I think it should be a point of pride for him teams are queuing in on him he's such a good player so elusive so they're like we got to slow him down and find a way so we have to hit him every single shift and that sucks for him if you're matthew shaffer but i think you know it's it just goes to show you how teams are scheming against him and making sure they're slowing him down because he's such a you know a foundational piece of that decor and that team jason switching gears to the national hockey league uh buffalo's turned themselves into a story and all it took was a firing i guess like weird what do you make out of their nine games and uh you know justin's been talking about

to make to make moves you got to go on a run and here's nine nine wins in a row and yet you know it's still not safe in terms of another bad week and they're sitting at the bottom here but what do you make out of Buffalo so far? Well, a healthy Josh Norris is number one. I think he just adds so much depth to them and he is so underrated. I think we forget about him with his injuries and again, you've got to stay healthy and the best, you know, being available is the best option for NHL players and he just hasn't been so we haven't seen enough of them.

But when he is healthy, he's great and he's so good offensively and he kind of takes a little bit of pressure off, off Tage and tuck and these other guys that have had. to carry the mail offensively. But this is a team that, you know, maybe that noise from the management position moving on, they were like, okay, there's a little bit of confidence in us. And we have to prove that, you know, after the GM gets fired, typically goes coach players get moved. So there might have been a conversation in the locker.

And hey, guys, like, let's play our game. Let's play the right way. Because when you look at this roster on paper, fully healthy, I mean, they got all the talent and makings of a team that should be in the playoffs. They got good goal-tending. They got a very deep decor. And they got a great four lines that they can roll out there at any point, any night with all defined roles. And you got game breakers.

So to me, I'm like, that's why it's so frustrating because I think we all look at this every year. And we're like, how the hell are these guys not in the playoffs? Yeah. What is wrong mentally? It needs, something needs to click in. They need to get this dog on a bone mentality and the Florida Panthers style of all defending each other and fighting and getting upset and angry that you're getting. laughed at by the whole league and all the media. So I feel like they've finally kind of taken it upon themselves and are starting to kind

of mature a little bit. Now, I think we're all holding our breath to see when the other shoe drops and if they actually can hang on to this, they're going to lose a game eventually. But once they lose that game, not going on a three, four game skid like they've done in years past. But I think something's different. And Norris can stay healthy. I kind of said it three, four weeks ago.

If Norris stays healthy, this team makes the playoffs. And I just think he's such a big. piece to this team and there's a reason they went out and got him they're just hoping he can stay healthy and you know wrap him and bubble wrap when he leaves the rink and make sure he's getting his eight hours every night and drinking tons of milk uh Jason before we let you uh you go I think my most important question of the interview is is are you okay are you somewhere where you need to be rescued from are you in a cave are you at the bottom of a well where are you you need a candle light a candle they say when you're in a ditch

light a candle keep you warm yeah my my wife before said you look like a floating head right now she goes keep she goes keep it mysterious uh no i just have a backdrop i'm in i'm in my place my apartment and uh our our kind of little podcast studios getting stuff done to it i don't know what so i just i didn't know what light to put on yeah you're good no you're good yeah i went more warm i go a little bit lighter for everybody you know oh some good options I'll have a little rave over there Awesome stuff Yeah awesome

Well listen regardless of what background you have Great job on our show today pal Thanks for doing this I appreciate you guys and a happy new year Yeah you as well Jason Demir's And it's your network Uh yeah I think main take

We send him a shelf or something Well I think they're working on the podcast part of the house or something He's got to We can't send him a jersey We don't have enough No we can't we definitely can't do that So the Buffalo Sabers Norris is a really good point

Tomorrow night Play the Dallas Stars Will we get a truer sense Of where they truly are Tomorrow night Like What do you think they truly are? I'm not taking away anything

From winning nine in a row That is hard Yeah Okay Really hard Only comes around like Every five years Waiting on this giant butt

You're about to But I think six of the nine were non-playoff teams. Yeah. And as you know, you're still got to beat who you play. Dallas. Yep. Better sense of how confident they are and how much their game has maybe changed or gone to another level.

I inexplicably, I really like Buffalo. I like the city, the people, the hockey culture there. The wings. The wings. I want them to be a good team. Yes. And we cheer for the bills. I don't know that I believe that this Buffalo team is there yet.

I think their back end is really good. I like you can build around the whole Dahlene Power, Byram, missing one of their big four back there. But anyway. Samuelson. Yeah, okay. No, he's played well. They're good back there.

Like they have a good decor and then their forwards are okay. But they give up amongst the worst in the league. Like they're expected goals against are still, it's them. San Jose, Chicago, they still give up way too much. I'll ask you and Christian for Alex Tuck, does this nine-game winning streak change your feelings about signing their long-term? Totally depends.

Are they going to be good for the next three weeks? Like, it matters. The next three weeks are a month. If they're going to be a playoff team, they can sign them. You want them signed? If you're putting the contract in front of Alex Tuck today, I don't think he touches it. I really don't.

Buffalo has done this before. I think it was 2019. They had a 10-game win streak. Is that right? That's a great little nugget. I didn't know that. All right. Just like that, show's over.

Our thanks to Aaron Portsline, Jason DeMier's, Brad May sent me a note. He said, I started snow plowing. And sorry, I forgot. Life happens. Well, he lives between Highway 7 and Barry, so it's a long driveway. Our thanks to everybody. Enjoy the games tonight. We're back tomorrow.