Real Kyper & Bourne - Pre-Draft Prep with Sam Cosentino

Episode Date: May 7, 2026

Sportsnet analyst Sam Cosentino (4:16) joins Justin Bourne and Sam McKee to discuss the Maple Leafs' options with the first overall pick, the class of defencemen at the top of the draft, why the Canucks should be happy with the third overall selection, what NHL scouts look for from prospects from a character perspective, and much more. Later, Justin and Sam look back on the Buffalo Sabres' win over the Montreal Canadiens to open their second-round series, and the Ducks drawing even with the Golden Knights in the West. 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.

Welcome in to Real Kipper and Born, the national hour. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet. Plus, if you miss our show live, you can always get it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. This hour of Real Kipper and Born is brought to you by Bet365. And sitting beside me yet again today is my man, Sammy McKee. Hello. Sammy, what's going on, man?

Nothing, bud. I was just looking at my lineup that I type, marginal as always. But I put in here, and we're going to talk about the HABS, but I forgot about this. I put this in here. Dahlin, McCar, and Werensky, named the three finalists for the Norris Trophy. Right. Do you have any?

I mean, Evan Bouchard is a Norris finalist. I'm sorry. Which guy are you taken out there? I'm taking Dahlene out. I am. Yeah. We all, you know, it's not a points thing or whatever, but like, Carlson won it because he had 120 points.

What did Bouchard have this year? 95 points, almost 100 points. So many. I'm trying to pull up. I know Dahlene's amazing. Dalline's fantastic. But they always reward guys that have high point totals. And just because what's the reason Bouchard isn't a finalist?

Because he had a couple gaffes to start the year on the East Coast trip. I can't believe he's not a finalist. He's an elite defenseman. He had 95 points. He almost had 100 points. He's not even in a finalist? Do you have the D scoring in front of you? No.

was Dahlene at the end of the day. You know, I think a lot of people view it. They're making an effort to say this is not a... But it's always has been. Yeah, but that doesn't make it right, does it? Well, I mean, when there's just been something that you've done for a long time. Yeah. I don't know.

I just, I saw that. I'm not sure. I'm not trying to, you know, to pander to my, to my, my Edmontonian people. But I just, I just can't believe that he's on a finalist. I think it's a very valid. Concern. Evan Bruchard had 95.

He had 21 goals and 74 assists. He was a plus 25 on the season. Rasmus Stallion had 74 points. Fantastic season. Yeah. But, like, he was 20 points behind him. Yeah. And I know Edmonton, like, I understand it's a hard argument to make now that the Sabres are passed.

Like, they're playing now. And I know it's a regular season thing. I understand that this maybe comes off wrong now. But Evan Bouchard was unbelievable all season long and was one of the big reasons they won any games that they did. I'm stunned by it. I was kind of pulling my hair out over the celebrini stuff because people were like, you know, he's win the Hart Trophy.

He's 19 years old, which by the way is irrelevant. Yeah, the Hart Trophy. And they're going, yeah, but he's on the sharks and whatever. He was 25 points behind McDavid. He'd need to have a great half a season for most guys to get there. And listen, I love Zach Rowensky. I think he's deserving. I think Kail McCar is deserving. I think you can make a conversation

obviously for Quinn Hughes. But the leading scoring defenseman, in the league, not being nominated for the Norris, is insane to me. Yeah. It's always, like, we've had the conversation. How many times where you say, why don't you have the award for the best defensive defense because all it is for the Norris is the highest scoring guy every year? And a guy has 95 points.

He's 14 points ahead of Zacharensky. Yeah. And he plays all 82 games. And it's not nominated. It's funny how reputation. It's just tough to old. tough to overcome. People think that he's just like giant defensive liability or something,

which is just not the case. But like I forget who it had. I think it was Brownie that we had on that he talked about the first or no, who it was, it was Losey that we had on. And he was, and he had that start at the, at the start of the way of the East Coast road trip,

made that brutal turnover against, I think your islanders. Yeah. I just, I'm stunned by it. Yeah. That's shocker. Did you vote?

Did you vote? I can tell you, I'm not allowed to tell you, he is high on. my Norris ballot. Yes, as he should be. All right. We are now, we get someone else to weigh in on this.

We got Sports Nets, NHL analyst, Sam, Cozantino Cozzi, what's up? Hey, bud. Hey, guys, how you doing over there? Good, good. Did you have Evan Bouchard on your, did you have a ballot? Did you vote?

No, I don't make the cut for that. You don't make the cut. You'd have had Bouchard, I'm sure, near the top of the list. He'd be one of the three. How's he not one of the three? Like you can make the argument to me that he doesn't deserve to win, sure, whatever. But being 14 points ahead of the next closest defenseman leading the league

and not be nominated for the Norris, it's always a points thing, Sammy. Always. Yeah, I agree with you. Like, look at when Carlson, he was allergic to his goalie when he wanted to. Yeah, 100%. He was never in the defensive zone.

He hit the 100 mark, though, and everyone went 100. That's right. The people that I read talking about the draft are telling me that Chase Reed is Bushard, like, How do you feel about that sort of comparison for a guy on the come up? So it's really interesting when it comes to Bouchard because all we ever see are his defensive mistakes, right? And then, all right, well, sure, he's got 95 points,

playing the power play with McDavid and Drive Sidal. But if you ask those guys, I think they would tell you that he's a huge part of what they're able to do on the power play. So I think there are times when he does something well defensively, no one ever sits there and says, look at these three plays he made in this game. Okay? But I would say Chase Reed has that offensive acumen that Bouchard does.

He's got a big booming shot. He skates like the wind. I'd say he's just, I don't know how to sit. I guess plays with a bit more energy than what you say with Bichard. Bouchard is like I think he's very calculated. You know what I'm saying? Yep. Sometimes to his detriment a little bit.

Yeah. Yeah. Right, because it looks like. And he did this in London too. And I talked to the hunters numerous times about this. But they're like, no, no, guys, he's just really smart. He knows when he can go. He knows when not.

And we're playing him 30 minutes a night. So every now and then he's got to kind of shut it down and know when to conserve. So when it comes to Chase Reed, like I love this guy what he brings to the table. Defensively, though, I don't think you're going to see those glaring, glaring mistakes. Maybe because he produces so much offense. So you're looking for a hole in his game. But yeah, the offense. is definitely something that's there.

He's going to be a power play one quarterback in the national hockey league. I'm convinced to that. So we've been obviously talking a lot about the draft here because the Leafs won. So that's what we've been doing. I don't know if you heard or not, Sammy, but we've been doing a lot on it. So what? Yeah, I know. Crazy.

So how many players do you think could go one in this draft? Is it just the two guys? Like, is there any way that they read? No, there's four guys. There's four you think. In my opinion, there's four guys. Okay. So, okay, so if we break down Stenberg, you hear Bookes talk about him all the time.

I love this guy. I think he's the best player. But I don't think there's a general manager in the National Hockey League that has the stones to sit there and not take McKenna. That's how I truly feel about it. So you have the two-winger's. But if you're looking at premium position-wise, okay, Mahhotra, that guy's unbelievable. What a year just had? 26 points in the plows, 15 games, 13 goals.

plays both sides of the puck, plays in every single situation, he's going to wear a letter, is going to play 20 pounds heavier than he is. Unbelievable. And Chase Reed, you know, we talked about these right-shot defensemen,

like they're part of the furniture when they go to an organization. Drew Dowdy. Yeah. You've been there 108 years. John Carlson was in Washington for 103 years. You know, Kale McCar is going to be in Colorado until they put a toe tag on them.

Like, these guys are foundational pieces that stay with their organizations for a long time because they're ridiculous. ridiculously hard to acquire and trade, and they're ridiculously expensive if you have to go and get them in the free agent market. So Verhoff is very similar to that. I think Reed is just more of a dynamic player than what Verhof is, but you'd be happy getting him as well to get back to the question. I think there's four guys who could go number one here. So the pocket of D, we're going to get more into the Leafs and specifics at the top,

but there's a group of D there with Reed, Verhoff, Carol's, Karell's, how much? am I saying that? Carl's. Carl's. And then is there another one as well in that pocket? There's some very good D. How do you rank the three or four of them? There's two other guys. There's Daxon Rudolph.

He had a monster year with Prince Albert. And you're going to get to see him playing in the dub final here. And then there's a guy by the name of Albert Smiths who was getting a lot of love, but I haven't heard a lot about him lately. But this guy at 18 played in the Olympics for Latvia. You're going to see him play at the Worlds. he was at the world juniors. It's crazy the international year he's had

because you go back to last April, he played at the world under 18s, then he goes to play at the world juniors, then he plays in the Olympics, and here in May he's going to play in the men's worlds. And oh, by the way, he played in Finland, both the under 20 league and in Liga, and then he went and played at the end of the year

in the DEL, Germany's first league. So this guy here is like, he's a beefy guy, he's got a ton of confidence. The offensive upside, I'm not, entirely sold on, but in terms of getting that steady guy that's going to play top four for sure for you and probably compliment a guy like Reed, you know, this is the guy and I believe he should be in that conversation. So we're on in 650, Sammy, and clearly it was a lot of, they were not pleased at the least

jumped up there and stole that pick. And I even, I know you don't probably not, neither of you believe me, but I did feel bad. I did feel bad a little bit about it. but they're clearly, the way you're talking here, there's still going to be a fantastic player available for them at three. Because if you're saying that there's guys there, four guys that could potentially go number one overall, if you're picking three,

you're still in a fantastic spot. I guess it's just more the optics of losing one, having such a horrible year. But if you're the Vancouver Canucks, who needs everything, what are you looking at at three? Who's your guy? I was just on 650, I think.

So I think this is sort of like a carryover. So they're going to be sick of me. But I'm saying if you're the Vancouver Canucks, you would be, I would be ecstatic to be sitting in the three all. Absolutely ecstatic, okay? And I actually had one team reach out to me, one non-playoff team reach out to me, and I just threw it out there. Like, where would you like to pick? And they're like, oh, we'd love to be picking three. So the idea is two teams are going to help make up your mind for you.

So if we believe it's going to go chalk, top-ranked winger, McKenna, top-ranked winger in Stenberg, Now you're going to get the top ranked player at a premium position in either Reed or Mahaltra at three. And if Mahaltra is there, you're saying, all right, this is Steve Nash's nephew of Vancouver guy. Oh, yeah, his dad, mani coaches in Abbotsford and may end up being the next coach there, who knows. And you're getting a two-way guy who's got NHL bloodlines. Like you'd be super pumped to be sitting there if Mahaltra was there. and whatever GM it is, you know, he's going to need labrum surgery with how quickly he'll pick up the phone to get that player. So I think the same thing about Reid, you're going to get a premium player at a premium position.

So they're in a perfect spot. And let's say, oh, we're going to pass on Stenberg. Well, Stenberg is going to walk into a situation with, what, five or six Swedes on the roster already? And how comfortable are you going to feel walking into that situation to be able to maximize what this guy is going to bring to the 10? table to you. You got the 19 Patterson's that they got going on there. You got Holglander. You got V lander. So it would be a very

good position for him to roll into there if for whatever reason San Jose or Toronto didn't take Stenberg. So they're sitting in the they got the catbird seat if you ask me. That's interesting. So Sam you got the Leafs taking McKenna, right? Yeah. Yeah. So you're

going to be at the draft combine next month, I believe, right? And you'll meet a lot of these kids. You know, what are these conversations like? What are you trying to find out about them? How does this go? Okay. I'm glad you asked this, Bernie.

So here's how it goes. Bookes and I are in there. Aylish is in, will be in there as well. Sammy, I'm coming too, buddy. I'm coming. He's going to. Let's go. Let's go.

Sammy, come on, I'm actually asking because I'm curious. What do I need to know? My only question to have, Gavin, will be like, do you like blue and white? Because he's going to be wearing it for 15 years, brother. you're hired. He's already got it on with Penn State. Yeah, you're right, you're right.

It's a little darker. I'm going to tell you how it works. Bookes prepares a lot of the hockey stuff. So he'll literally have his laptop there and he'll have some clips and he'll be like, hey, dude, take a look at this clip. What are you thinking here? Or he'll have a hockey question because he knows people all over the world. And I'll be like, yeah, I talked to Joe Blow in Finland and here's some of the things

that I had heard about you. What can you say about this? or I saw you in a situation at the under 18s where you duck down the runway and two seconds later you ran back. And so Bookes has sort of like the hockey side sorted out. For me, it starts for me the second they walk into the room. How are they dressed? What's their hair like? What kind of clothes are they wearing?

Do they shake your hand or do they give you a dead fish? Are they engaged with eye contact? Are they engaged with all the people in the room? Are they sitting there saying, oh, I'm here because I have to be? are genuinely excited to be there. And then you sit them down and you ask them questions. Well, I heard in this situation, I didn't like how you responded to something. Or who's maybe the, who do you hang out with?

What do your parents do? What any more athletic bloodlines in the family? And so you do some of that research going in, but you want to hear from the kid. Like, is there any discord? What's your, what's the biggest adversity you've ever faced? How did you overcome that adversity? Or based on the reaction and the answer, I don't want to talk about that. Or I prefer to keep that personal.

So for me, I try and gauge all these things about the character and the personality of the player. And I feel that's such a huge important piece. Like let's say you're going to go and draft a, you know, it gets to the spot and you're going to draft a power forward. And one of the kids in this draft, you know, 6, 7, 6, 5, whatever is there's a bunch of big kids. And they walk in there and they did fish you on a handshake. like can you play a power forward position if you walk in and you dead fish me i just don't i don't see how to work i love that well i was i was going to ask you what the connection between eye contact and being a good player is but i do see the point about someone who is mature and

aware of their situation and trying to represent themselves well probably translates to something totally well it doesn't mean that they're going to be a good player borney but like part of what that is is okay so if you're walking with your shoulder slumped and your head down and I'm the Toronto Maple Leafs and I and you're just meeting with like 10 12 scouts in a room and a GM like how are you going to respond when 18,000 people and 3 million people are turning on the fan and watching your shows all the time how is that guy going to respond just based on bad body language walking into a room with 15 people so you know I do think there are important elements to that and I think based on how you handle whatever it is that controversy's been in your life yeah

how are you going to handle when fans are booing you or when stuff's being written about you or there's social media post making memes about a bad play you made that stuff's important to me especially you know in a market like Toronto for using Toronto specifically but it's not a whole lot different in Vancouver yeah Montreal whatever it is these are these are pressure park pressure pack places to play so it's only part of the pug old warning but for me you know I don't have the books experience where I ran a draft so I allow him to look at that hockey side and we come together at the end and we put all the puzzle pieces together not as extensively as what an NHL team would be but I think when you add in

Aish some of her questions and what she has to ask you get a pretty good picture in about 15 minutes of what that player is like kind of on and off the ice aside from what you've already seen when they're playing so just a sorry to hammer on this because I'm very fascinated in the process if Bookes is showing a player video clips is he's showing him clips of like an NHL play, a different play and saying, what do you think should happen here to see if he understands the game? Or is it a clip of that player and be like,

what were you seeing here specifically? Yeah, it's a clip of the player. The player themselves. Yeah, because his video, like his video vault at the pro hockey group is like, it's insane, right? So he has all kinds of stuff and he's drawing lines and shadows and all kinds of stuff on there, right? And it's meaningful.

And you see how it could react even to what he's, being asked there. And Boox's like, he knows a lot of people. So he's asking questions. And some guys are shocked by, what do you mean? What are he asking me this question for? Like, how did you know about that? Right? So again, when you put the three of us in the room and whoever else it is that comes down there and is asking questions, I think you get a pretty good sense when someone walks out. Like, I can honestly say that there's been players that have walked out of the room and I've said, there is not a chance in hell I would ever touch that guy. That's funny.

Yeah. What do you? You talked to a ton of NHL people and like with Bookes. Like what is the weirdest question you've heard of some, an NHL team asking a player? You got one off the top of your head? So we ask that question sometimes in, in our interviews. Like that's the craziest question you got so far.

And I think someone who interviewed with the Montreal Canadiens last year, they asked the question. You just got back to the whole, you, you woke up and you saw an, Nick Suzuki stumbling down the hallway at 3 a.m. missing curfew. Do you go to the coach and report it or not? Wow. That's a tough question. No, it isn't.

Well, you say no, you don't. But then you're like, well, then are you not going to tell on, if you won't tell on the first line guy, we're telling a fourth line guy? No, I'm a good team guy. Okay. Beat it. You know, but you can understand how that would be construed as like, oh, yeah, you're not going to be a truth. But it's sitting in front of you asking you that question point blank.

Yes. You might feel a little bit different. Do you appease him and say what you think he wants to hear? Do you throw Nick Suzuki under the bus, right? So again, please please understand that that's a hypothetical. Of course. Nick Suzuki, you know, wasn't drunk walking down a hallway. But that is one question that was asked in the Montreal interview last year

from what we were told from the players that we talked to. That's fantastic. So the other market that we're playing live in right now is Calgary. They got this sixth overall pick, which I'm bothered that they have sixth, but it's not a bad draft to be sixth, I suppose. Any insight into what direction they may go, what they may like to do at that spot? So there's going to be a defenseman, a premium defenseman available there. So that's definitely, that's going to be open to them. If they want to jump and be a little aggressive, there's the two centers, right? Everyone wants centers. So Mahalcho will be

off the board by then. You're looking at Vigal Bjork, but he's 5-9, 177 pounds. Are you okay with that projecting him at the center? You already got that on DEM? Preck, don't you? I know Preck's not small, but he's light and shifty. Five, nine. But do you want that at the center position?

And is this guy going to be Braden Point? Oh, I don't want to pass on Braden Point. Or do you go with a Tyne and Lawrence who has had a really fascinating year in that started great at the Halenka, was the 16-year-old MVP of the USHL playoffs last year, had a freak accident, played in fits and spurts, while the USHL Muskegan got him back to health. And then he says, okay, I want to go play in college because I want to be compared to McKenna.

And I want to be compared to Verhof. So I think I should go over there and see if I can play at a level and make it an apples-to-apples comparison. Well, it didn't work out perfectly for him, but I do believe he's got enough credit and currency from what he's done in the past as a 6-1 guy who's a worker bee who goes to all areas, are they I assume should be able to produce for you.

So, you know, the defenseman for sure is going to be there. But do you jump on a center like Bjork or Tyne and Lawrence there? So you mentioned the trade up situation. And it feels like it's often talked about, but it doesn't happen at a ton. Like, do you think that's, there's a potential for that this year? Like you said with the centers or one of these D-Man that a team really loves, like it would be exciting to see a big, like to trade up into the top three

or, you know, God forbid the least do something with the first. Like, it just, it feels like it's been so long since. that's happened. Yes. It was 2003 where the first overall was traded. Mark and Dr. Flurry, right? For Pittsburgh. Yeah.

If I'm Toronto and I'm looking at, I have to give up a first in each of my next two, even though I've replaced one with Nicola de Waugh and that's probably going to be a, you know, a 27 to 32 pick, let's be honest here. I would be wide open to taking offers on that first overall pick to acquire additional assets. Yeah. But guys, like the first thing.

that has to happen in all of this is the Austin Matthews situation has to get figured out. And is it a situation you darn right it is because it's not at the end of this year. It is this year. What happened when the Toronto Maple Leafs waited until the end of Mitch Martyr's year, he just walked himself into free agency. They got lucky by being able to get a little something out of Vegas for that deal. But you can have that happen to Austin Matthews. So the first order of business, in my opinion, is getting him back to health and telling him

here's what we plan to do. And if you feel iffy about whether he wants to be part of this thing moving forward, then I'm saying that first round pick is in play all day long. And I'd slide back to maybe 6, 7, 8, acquire a defenseman, acquire an additional first rounder so I can start building the cover, it's quickly here. But if you're really excited about what Matthew says in your meeting, and you fully expect him to come back and re-sign him, and maybe this is part of why Chaper was hired,

because apparently he's got great relationships with the family and with Judd Maldaver the agent, now you're saying, all right, let's bring McKenna because he's got some marner-like qualities to him and get him up to speed as quickly as possible so that Matthews will feel really confident

about playing with this guy and be a Marner-light type of replacement for him. Yeah, the stone, like, you know, Chike has been in his past in Phoenix. He was, you know, willing to make some trades and trade up or trade it. Boy, trading the first pick with the perception of him coming in here,

like, I know he's got stones, but that would take some serious. You have to be stonehenge to do that. That's a different level of confidence. But guys, but think about this for a sec. If you feel strong that Austin Matthews isn't going to be with you beyond that two-year window. Yeah. What's the point?

You're going to have to start rebuilding that. You're not going to be left with an option. Take McKenna and build around him, I guess. And that's fair. And that's, that's entire. If you believe that strongly in what mechanic brings to the table and you think you can build around, you're right. That's entirely fair. So, Gauzy, let me just turn to, well, we got you for another couple of minutes here.

We'll just touch on the Stanley Cup playoffs that are actually happening. God, we've talked so little about it in the last two days. I know. Montreal Buffalo got started and just a series. I was super pumped to watch Montreal starts off falling behind the eight ball. But your thoughts on those two teams and where that series is at after one? Yeah, really, really interesting. And it's cool for me because these guys have essentially built through the draft

and some pretty shrewd acquisitions, right? So I'm really, I'm into that. I'm absolutely fascinated to watch this Montreal thing because it's not going away anytime soon and it's only going to get better when Reimbacker comes and Jaroski comes and so on and so forth. So I love the fact that these two teams have finally made it over the hump. You know, I thought it was a disaster like everyone else did

through November for Buffalo. But man, it's great to see. see the Quinn's like Benson. I love that guy. He's such a little grease bag. He's just love the way. He's awesome, man. Like what an awesome player,

huge fan of his. And seeing the Tage Thompson's of the world. And Peyton Krebs, you know, who blew out as Achilles before his draft year in 2019, be an effective guy now, see the home guy and now to talk to his thing. But it's great to watch Montreal too. They come with a ton to the table.

You like to see Coughfield get going here. And I think that's going to be essential for the series. but these two teams they're going to give us a good long six or seven gamer I believe yeah and it's great laundry you know I watched that game last night those two teams and then you put on Vegas

and the docks I'm like this feels like an ECHL game these two jerseys versus the I it's so the least aesthetically pleasing series I think has ever happened it's horrible that orange and that weird like puke gold

that Vegas wears it's horrible combination Sammy I know you probably don't care about that, but drives me insane. Yeah. No, I get it. You're like traditionalists, so I can go with that. It's like Buffalo, Montreal, the two nicest jerseys in the league, followed by Yeah, I know. You're right.

HL in 2008. I like watching Anaheim, because again, they've built through the draft, right? Martin Madden, the guy's been absolutely genius there. Padford Beek, Leo Carlson, like, who doesn't want to watch Leo Carlson play? You see what Lecombs turned into? Everyone's wondering why you got nine

sheets at the start of the year. I think you're starting to understand. why that is. You're seeing Juanville two old coaches with like 100 years worth of experience between them. That's a really neat dynamic to this whole series. So it's good. Colorado guys, I mean, I don't know. Them and Carolina seem pretty tough for Minnesota.

To the final. Is Carolina, sorry, is Colorado going to lose more than three times on their way to look? It just feels like they're going to run up. Is Carolina? No, Colorado, I meant, like both of them. I feel like both of them are going to lose twice before they face the finals. They're both unbelievable. And that might be pretty cool

because if they're both relatively fresh from whatever playoff fresh looks like that would be and the series would be about 6,000 miles per hour You'll get five neck brace on this to watch this is the first time in 27 years and the fifth time in Stanley Cup playoff history two teams have started 6 and 0 or better

Yeah there you go Wow nice forney Cozy who put that in the lineup holy double duty Cause thanks so much for your time for Did you apply for the GM job? Yeah, submitted a resume, a chat GPT generated resume. Nice.

No, I did not. All right, thanks, Kauz. You appreciate your time. Talk soon. Okay, guys. Take care. All right, thanks, pal. Good stuff.

The draft stuff's fascinating. I just, I'm not good at a lot of things, okay, in this life. Yeah. But I feel like one thing that I could bring to the table of a front office is a judge of character. Okay. And I feel like if, like Sam said, my chair is rolling around. I got to get something.

You got to chair at a wheel. God, I'm rolling. I really feel one of the passions I would have if I work for an NHL team. Would it be that? Yeah. Having these young guys come in and sitting there. And like, I get what Sammy's saying. They're hanging their head.

They're not, the handshake isn't. They're not making eye contact. They don't seem confident. Like McKenna, if, for example, he goes here or he ends up in Vancouver somehow or Stenberg ends up in Vancouver. Like, you got to be super confident in your ability and you're sort of just being as a person. Can I tell you what muddles it?

And this is really disappointing for people to hear. Some crappy people are really good players. Oh, I get that. You know? No, I totally get that. But I do think that I think McKenick carries himself in a way that when he goes into these pre-draft meetings that you're potentially going to be at and like when they're doing up with the least. He is going to crush it.

Yeah. He's good because he like, like you brought up with bunk that he has been the center of the hockey world since he was a young kid coming up, top prospect, consensus number one. Like his junior coach is on with the boys in the fan morning show today saying like he's built for the spotlight. He's going to love it. So he's going to crush that. I mean, crush it on the ice is important too.

But eye contact, firm handshakes. The dead fish is the worst. It is funny though. Like I think you have to find a way to separate. I like that person from that person is confident enough to excel or whatever because I think often it's like

didn't like that guy he's not going to be good and that's not how it works and you know what the sport that you get tricked with this the most is the NFL because you talk about it all the time that these quarterbacks come in and they've been

quarterbacks at a high level school and they just are so confident and they know everything and they seem so ready and so great. And then he'd get out there, it's like, oh, pick, pick six. It's like, oh, my God, he was so confident in our meeting. Yeah. He looked great and shorts.

What happened? You know, it's just, it's an exact science. Like, having a great drafting record, to me, is one of the most impressive things you can do. Like, I mean, the guy that's in charge of the Leafs, I don't know, like, his drafts with the stars are sick. So we'll see. But that's a great chat with Sammy. It was. It's game time.

Presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL, most of 19 plus. Ontario only please play responsibly get into some NHL stuff here but on my TV upstairs before we got down here I was watching the Yankees play baseball and I don't know if you've watched them recently but they're very good at baseball Yeah they're hitting the baseball hard and a lot and they're pitching it and they're throwing it past the Like we just beat them in a best of seven.

Yeah, best to know best of five best a five Yeah three to five yeah beat them three to five um so it got me thinking about baseball kind of got me with thinking where the jays were at so I was just checking to see the MLB futures and what the J's adjusted win total is on Bet365, the scary number. Yeah. They are minus 110 on both sides of this over and under at 80 and a half.

Jeez, boy. They've given up on the laser beams. Like that is a eerily low number where if you're below, if you're below 80, I mean, you're not doing it. Like you have to get into the 87 to 88 range of wins to get into that wild card conversation. You might even have to get the 90 wins. So the fact that they're projecting,

but that is a little bit spooky. Like, they need to get hot here born. They're getting old barger bombs back. He's coming back. Yeah, but he was like, come back at some point. It was kind of a big surprise last year like this. Just that's, not to do too much Jays,

but the whole thing last year was like, God, it was a lot of guys had really good years. Yeah, they did. On the ice tonight, sorry to bring everybody down if you're a Jays fan. On the ice night, one game, it is the Carolina Hurricanes visiting Philly for the first time in that series. Carolina, massive favorites.

I think they are minus 165 on the money line. And that's in Philly. That's in Philly. The flyers are plus 140. I don't think the flyers are going to get swept. I don't. You don't think the last game, blowing that two-goal lead,

getting it to O-T, having some chances in O-T, it just felt like that was a... That was your chance to make it a series? I don't know. I don't know. That Carolina team seems like ultimate wagon status and seems kind of like unstoppable. You're getting on Freddie now. Well, I mean, they haven't really been.

I guess he was tested a bit in the SEND series. But it just hasn't seemed like it's been. Anyways, that was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. And a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper Born is brought to you by Bet365. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

Still got plenty to come in the back half of the show. Talk about some of the trophy finalists, some of the Dallas Stars injuries. Got some playoff hockey to discuss. We will do that after this break. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL. The J.D. Bunk is podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Real Kipper and Born. Over to you, Sam McKee. Time now for the Act. Accura Performance Matchup, the 26 Accura MDX, precisely premium. So I'm just looking at the game tonight, Carolina at Philly, Game 3, 730 on Sportsnet and CBC.

Yeah. Carolina can match 2006, seven games for their longest playoff winning streak in franchise history. The Hurricanes went on to win their first and only Stanley Cup that year. Was it on our show yesterday that I complained? about how everyone talks about Carolina. They're like, yeah, it's Carolina though. They just win.

Like, it's like not so hard to do. Yeah, no, no. Like, listen, they always are around this spot. And the joke that as I have myself love to make is that they get past these first two rounds in their division. And then they play a real team from the Atlantic and they get the doors blown off them. This year, the Florida Panthers aren't lurking. Yeah. Like, if they're, if they don't get there this year.

Yeah. And I don't know if they'll win. I think that series against Colorado would be one of the highest flying, fantastic series you could possibly imagine. It'll be a pretty huge. You know, yeah. It's just so funny that like the Ottawa senators where no one wants to face Ottawa

and then Carolina just humbled them. And so everyone's like, oh, but it's, you know, Carolina, it's easy. It's like what? They can't get credit for doing that anyway. No, you're right. You're right. And if they, I mean, back to back,

they go up again tonight. I mean, they have a chance for back-to-back sweep that doesn't happen a whole lot. Taylor Hall can become the third oldest player to begin a postseason on a seven-game point streak behind Jerome Gimla and Gordie Howe. Oh, my gosh. Yes, the only players who achieve defeat 34 or older based on the age at the end of the streak are Larry Murphy, Pascal DePuy, and Steve Iserman.

You know, Pascal de Pui would you? Love that. Would not have expected that name, would you? That's an on curveball. Yeah, I love it. You know, the... Taylor Hall is a great ad for them. The more I follow this, yeah, by the way, your Leafs took nymphs took nymphs.

Nick Falino over Taylor Hall for that player. And I'll still defend that to the day. That's what they needed. Yeah, okay. What was I even going to complain about? It was about Taylor Hall. I mentioned Taylor Hall and you were going to say something. I am really accepting of the fact that these pedigree players have the longevity.

Totally. You know? It's like first overall pick, weird. He's still good. And it's like, oh, Matt Duchesne is still really good. You look at the guys who are still good at 38. And these guys were just unbelievably elite their whole lives. And Taylor Hall, like, would you?

I don't know if we can have a Taylor Hall debate here, but, like, how would you grade his career? His, I mean, fantastic career, right? He hasn't won a cup, but he's done. He's won an MVP. Yeah. The only thing is, like, he's played on seven teams, I think, but he's, he's been awesome.

The one thing he'll give him credit for, he's evolved his game. Totally. Not just, like, a power play merchant point getter. Like, he's a worker bee now. He's had, and he had a really good year this year, 48 points and 80 games for an older player. He's had nine points so far in six games.

Like, he's had an interesting career, like, Yeah. Really hot prospect, won back-to-back Memorial Cup championship, which is insane to win back-to-back Memorial Cups. And then... That's crazy. Top prospect, MVP,

and then kind of just, like, bounced around. It's a very weird career. One of the funniest things that was observed in the hiring of John Chica in Toronto's there saying that... That trade he made for him. Yeah, well, everyone who traded for Taylor Hall got noticeably better for having had him,

except in one instance. It was in Arizona. Just nothing worked in Arizona. It was poison. Yeah, it was not a great spot for a while there. Anyways, that was the Accura performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Thank you very much for that.

You're welcome. Buffalo, Montreal last night. Sabres get off to a hot start. Did they ever? And that tough after that. I would say that this is not an on-the-ice critique, but I would say the music selections in Buffalo are, fantastic.

Okay. They come on the ice to Dyer Strait's. These are not Kipp or takes. No. I mean, I'm sitting in the chair. I'm not giving his take. They come out to Dyer Strait's money for nothing,

which is just unbelievable. And their goal song is Kickstart Your Heart. Yeah. Like that's just, if you want to get the building going. It's still 1988 and they used to have it where they had the customized goal songs. Yeah. Where I ate it.

Yeah. Olsen scored an overtime when I was there once and they did. His was Abba. Gimme, give me, give me. And it was got the people going. It was great. Yeah.

But two great songs involved in the Buffalo Sabres. And that's not hardcore analysis, but great. While we're doing non-hardcore analysis, because dad's not here. Yes. The opening montage that we did on Sportsnet was to Bruce Springs. Oh, so good. It was so good.

I don't know the song, but it was so good. I don't know the name of the song, but it's just, it was really, really well done. So shout out to our team there. On the ice. On the ice, Marty St. Louis. Let's go to him. Sure.

We'll get his overview of the game. Yeah, we'll go to Marty St. St. Louis. You know, Buffalo has a really good rush game. You really have to manage the puck to the neutral zone, which I thought for the most part we did. But I feel like they, you know, you have to manage a puck in the ozone too. And, you know, a lot of 50-50 battles. You got to be on the right side of it because if you lose those, it's a three-on-two, four-on-three.

You know, there are these come, you know. So we have to do better there. What I liked, a total different kind of feel of a game. than, you know, against Tampa. I fell our top guys got more touches in space and stuff. And that's what I liked, you know. And, you know, I liked that we battled, you know. It wasn't the start that we wanted in the game in the series,

but we're going to keep going. I think if you're a Tampa Bay Lightning fan watching that, watching Dolbish's glove of a hole in it for a couple times, you'd be like, oh, sick. Oh, come on. Where was that? Two days ago. Yeah.

I thought that they kind of not, it's an emotional letdown. Yeah. It's game one. I understand it's still the playoffs. But coming off that win against Tampa, I thought the first period, they weren't asleep, but they just weren't ready. They weren't the Canadians. They weren't into that.

I thought for the second and third period, there was long stretches where they kind of started to take over and kind of started to get their game going. And it was early in the third. when it was 4-2, they had a couple chances that if they had fired it in it, it was like, okay, they were in right back in it, I think this is going to be a long,

great series. Same here. When it was 4-2, I forgot how much time was left, 12 minutes or something. I thought this one's not over. Like, Montreal just has the ability to do that. I thought some of the fancy stuff was fascinating.

So, like, at 5-on-5, Montreal carries the shots by a wide margin, but expected goals were still pretty heavily in Buffalo's favor. So just speaks to getting better chances, not a ton of them, but getting good chances, which I think is tougher to goaltend for the goalie. So,

Cause mentioned it. I love that, Benson, man. I didn't know that he was like this. I wasn't familiar with his game. I just was thinking when Cause was talking about that. This has become such a valued attribute.

Yes. Like, you see Porter Martone come in the league, and it's immediately like, oh, he's greasy. I love that. Yep. Connectney's peak value is because it comes with grease.

Yep. And Benson is not a big guy, but he's a... He's the opposite of a... big guy back he's noticed of I would use off air but yeah he's a real jerk weasel easy good one weasel that's very

let's listen to Lindy rough talk about Zach Benson clip one please I would think so if it was on the other side I wouldn't want be coaching against them I thought his effort was tremendous you know I know he made a great play

in that opening goal and you know he was in on drawing that first opportunity that on the power play so he had a heck of series and I you know I think when you look at first playoff series I think he was very good I think he got off to a great start in this series now in game one and that line gave us a great night I thought you know his effort on a lot of different plays made a difference in the game yeah uh there's a

clip that's what you want your coach to say effort effort effort talking about effort when he's like you have great effort yeah you can't ask for more than that there is there's a tage Thompson clip talking about Zach Benson where he says something like he's probably one of the dumbest human beings I've ever met Thompson says he's on chicklets He's talking about Benson He goes he's just one of the dumbest guys I've ever met

That's his words not mine But like there's a great Then like today I saw a press conference clip Where they're asking him a question And it ends and he like looks at the I think it's Greenway or something Greenway is like Over to you and he's like oh I thought it was for you I was listening

Like so to me it's not like this calculated pest game that he's got. It just comes natural. I just, you know the guy. Yeah, totally know the guy. He's in your friend group. You know the guy.

He's like, oh, what? Were you saying something to me? Yeah, totally. And he's just spearing guys behind the play and all that. And, yeah, Maccoy doesn't like him. Did he get suspended? Did he miss that? Maybe they haven't done it yet.

Yeah, but that was greasy. He's definitely, you can't baseball swing at anyone. Listen, I've been chika and McKenna. Like, I saw Ridley Greg got suspended. I was like, oh, that's cool. Yeah, it's a thing. Did that happen? I know.

We have an Alex Lion, too. What's up with the... This is fantastic. Okay. So, Journey Mongols are often incredibly interesting guys. I'm going to say right now that Alex Lion fits into that. Let's play his clip. This is from today.

They're doing media. His clip on being the oldest guy in the team. Clip one. What's it like being one of the oldest guy in this locker room? I think actually my American League experience, I think, trained me pretty good for that. I was the oldest guy in the room for a couple years. Like my year in Chicago, I was the oldest guy in the locker room at age like 30. So it's not really that form of an experience for me.

Every team is different. Every organization is different and it presents a different set of challenges. And so really, as a guy who's been with a bunch of different teams, kind of like an amorphous blob to a degree where I can fit it. in different situations and adapt to the circumstances. And that's what I try to do. And I think that's where my value lies. My value is that I'm an amorphous blob.

That's not usually hockey speak, is it? A bard. It's fantastic. But I just, it feels like every so often a team goes on a run with like a journeyman guy. Yeah. You know, it just, it always, it's so unpredictable. Like even, I know Tim Thomas had great years, but like, he kind of came out of nowhere. You think of the Flyers going to the final with Layton?

Roman Checkmanic. The other guy, wasn't it? It was anti-Niemi was a goalie for Chicago when they played Layton? Like, it just feels every so often you get a guy that's just, then it's Brobrovsky and Vaselowski for four straight years, but it just. But I think going into this playoff year, we knew that there were going to be a couple teams in the conference final where it was like, yeah, it had to be someone kind of strange. You're right. most chalk we could have is

Vegas, Colorado, and then what's the other side? It would do like Montreal more chalk than Buffalo? I guess Buffalo is Buffalo won the division. Right. So it would be Buffalo and Carolina. That's the chalkiest you could have.

And like it doesn't feel super chalky. It doesn't. It doesn't. So it's just a weird year that way. Like I just, do you think next year? Okay, so this is a question about the Atlantic Division and those teams that are excelling in them

are two teams that we, didn't think necessarily, like I said yesterday, a bit ahead of schedule. Yeah. Do you think next year it's going to be the Panthers are back to being the Panthers? Do you think the lightning are going to be back to being the lightning? Leaves, like. Let me tell you, these two teams, Buffalo and Montreal, are going nowhere.

Next year? No, I mean, they are from their standings positions. You think they'll be at the top again? They are not frauds. No, they're not. The Buffalo Sabers decor is unbelievable. Truly. The Montreal Canadiens best players are young and getting

better. And even they got more guys on the way. Yeah. They got that Michael Hage, who's still not there, is that, do they? I saw one of their prospects won the W.HL MVP. Yeah. I'm like, what did they got this guy too? I know.

Jacob Fowler might be the best goalie prospect in the league. He's a backup. I thought there's only seven rounds. Like, how many drafts are they making? You know, and Buffalo, a lot of these guys are just getting better too. And, you know, Zach Benson among them. So they're not going anywhere. So I think there's a lot of talk out there that, like, you wait, Florida's going to get

healthy and come back. and all of a sudden, Brad Marchand still old and Ryan Hart and Kachuk and Barkov and all these guys are 30 plus. No, you're right. Jones, not a young team, Babrovsky. By the way, that's Bryce Pickford. There you go.

Who won the MVP in the award in the W. Congratulations to Pick Bryceford. Pick Bryceford. Third round pick of the Canadians and points are. Come on. Come on. Just trade a couple of these guys. God.

It's sickening. To your club. So the ducks get one. Yeah. Ducks get one. 3-1 victory in Vegas. Series doesn't start until team loses at home. Did you check the box score?

Oh, what? Did you check the boss score? I'm just asking. I mean, no. Okay. I did. I'd look. Of course we'll have a look. Let's hear it. Minus three and a 3-1 loss for Mitch Marner. God, we needed that. What a week for a lease.

Like, if there's not a ton of, of bad stuff looming. If Vegas goes out and the halves go out. You can enjoy a playoff? The only thing left is Freddy and Freddy's You can happen.

You like them. I don't like him at all. In fact, I hold a ton of I resent his time here, totally. Never mind. But I can live with him being the goalie for an absolute wagon that goes to the final. I can live with that.

But before we tap out, why don't we play towards this clip? He's talked a little bit about the duck speed here and they have a lot of it. one. Yeah, well, they're a fast team, and we know that going in. I think a little bit, I think we need to get back quicker to the puck to give us an opportunity to look up the ice. Sometimes you can, sometimes you can't because of the forechecking. But, you know, I have to, I have to look at the game. Again, I like some of the things. We're going to have to get some big

place, you know, we're, uh, there were some almost and we just didn't complete the next play. Uh, they split here. We got to go in and try to get a game out of there. And, uh, we're going to keep our composure and get about our business. As I've said, this team has always, uh, been really good in these type of situations. So I have full confidence we're going to try to fight our way. This feels like to me kind of Western Habs lightning. Yeah.

Where like they're the team that's been. around. They've done it a lot. I just watched the ducks fly, man. They're fly together. What the hell is that? I'm going to go ahead and wear one thing. I said that I didn't care for the Carlson edition for the ducks. To me, it was like they weren't good enough for it to matter.

So why make that deal? And all of a sudden, it's like he's this anchor back there, gives them the chance to get the puck up to the speed of their forwards. Makes so much sense. It has a bright orange bower 4,500. I don't know where the heck he got that one, but. I got to tell you, that's tough. I mean, the Bauer 4,900, full points.

But the fact that you're... Bright orange. Got to be a traffic going out there. All right. Well, thank you very much to J.D. Bunkas, who joined us in the first hour. Sam Cozantino, a lot of fun. We will be back tomorrow. I think I'm going to have Carolyn Cameron joining me.

Love this. Sounds like a lot of fun. Checking with us tomorrow. We will see you then.