Real Kyper & Bourne - Questions Across the East with Doug MacLean

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in former NHL President and general manager Doug MacLean (6:15) to chat about an emotionally checked out Vancouver Canucks performance against the Edmonton Oilers, the potential fallout of the J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson saga, how to make sense of the Eastern Conference Wild Card race, whether the Washington Capitals are a true Stanley Cup contender, and much more. Later on, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss Tony DeAngelo signing with the New York Islanders, if the Ottawa Senators are comfortable with Linus Ullmark playing in the 4 Nations Face-Off, and how long Gary Bettman could stay on as NHL commissioner.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, it's Friday, 5pm Eastern. It's the national show live on Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. This hour of real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, and of course, Jake Schulz pushing all the right buttons for us. All right boys, kind of built it up yesterday. Minus McDavid, minus Myers, but last night's game between the Vancouver Canucks and the Edmonton Oilers still gave us, I don't know, some sparks, I guess, some emotional sparks outside of a one-sided hockey game, obviously by the Edmonton Oilers.

Yeah, I would say it fell short of my hopes for that game. It just felt like as Edmonton put pucks in the net and took the game from Vancouver fairly handily that it just never got a chance to get to the level you kind of hoped it would get to Darnell nurse gave the business to Garland Perry gave the business to Hughes the Canucks kind of said hey don't and that was it I mean I can't help but respect what Corey Perry does as a hockey player it drives me insane I think that's what it's supposed to do but in that a scrum you're talking about where Garland gets grabbed by Nurse,

Perry comes in late, he grabs onto the back of De Harne, and he's like, no, no, no, that guy's not good enough. Grabs Pedersen, gives him a run, and then goes over and grabs Hughes and pile drives him into the ice. It's like he knows what he's doing out there. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Doug McClain from our NHL President GM and head coach on Friday

A lot of people's favorite segment. I don't know why but we'll wait for him From poolside to follow him on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it. I'm listening to you when I'm on No, they sure do. They sure do Just in talking about again treatment of superstars and Corey Perry saying that the league had to do something about it as he told Sportsnet. And he goes and doesn't do anything to help Quinn Hughes. In his defense, he knows that the league doesn't do anything about it. So grab the guy who might win the hard trophy and stuff your face in his fist in his face. Which gave me a problem with the reaction of the Vancouver Canucks. And the one that

stands out most to me is JT Miller and Corey Perry having a nice friendly discussion. And no, no, it's got to get uglier than that for me. Yeah. For the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah for for the Vancouver Canucks. Yeah, I mean but Teddy Blugart goes to him drops his gloves to respond to said face plant that he made and then He punches him in the face multiple times doesn't drop the gloves to me What do you saw do like get in a fight or nothing? Yeah, there has to be something in between More than what I just saw JT Miller quietly leave that scenario. Well, JT Miller has loudly left the Canucks. So he's checked out.

If that moment doesn't tell me that JT Miller's checked out, then nothing will. Yeah, I think he has. Frank Ceravalli reported today that he, Miller has told the Canucks that he's ready to go. You know, whenever they've made their move, he's ready. So. Okay, but like to where? Which by the way, if I'm the Canucks at this point,

I don't play Miller anymore. I just, he's not helping us on the ice. You might just, we don't need him hurt. Just put him in the press box till it's time. Time for it to happen. Do we have, do you want to play the rough thing now? I will save it for after. Okay.

It's a little longer. But you know, there's, there were some good sound out of Vancouver. Talk had also said that he was disappointed that the Canucks kind of brought a nothing effort, nothing game. Everything feels on hold in Vancouver. Nothing they cannot begin to grow anew until they, you until they prune back whatever's going on right now. And if I'm one of the teams that's in the mix of trading for JT Miller, that's great. Yeah.

Because the desperation is leveraged. The price keeps dropping. And that's another issue here that teams know that they're buying low on this guy. And whatever I thought had gone on for the last year and a half on this is a new JT Miller and the one that we heard prior in New York or Tampa about being this hot head and selfish guy that just thinks of himself is kind of gone now. He turned himself into a leader and now that's gone.

I see, for me, I'm not sure that it is. Because my vibe on this is that he was a big part of all those positive things you're saying last year. He's not getting from Pettersson what he wants in terms of matching his effort, his care, his whatever. And so he's taking it to this teammate of his, trying to hold him accountable for it, frustrated that it's not coming. And now that it's gotten to this point, it feels like they've chosen the other guy over him, the guy who did care. They've pushed him out and told him he's going to get traded. I don't

blame him for being like to hell with all y'all. I am done. So if you're the New York Rangers now and he's got an issue with Petey, well then I'm just going to bring him over here and he's going to have an issue with the Zabatajad. You want them to. The Rangers are dying for that. That's why they are getting rid of Truba. They're trying to change their culture.

They want people who care, who hold each other accountable. It's exactly what they How do you know it's not going to turn into a Vancouver Canucks 2.0? They don't, but they know it's not working right now. They're loaded and they stink. They've gotten points. They've got points in the last six, seven games. Yeah, they've been to the conference final multiple times recently. They're fighting for a playoff spot. They stink. All right, let's go to an expert here who couldn't join us, so let's bring in Doug McLean.

Ha ha ha ha. Hey, you're not in the pool. Like, why do you do that, first of all? Like, you know, five minutes before we go on air and you take a picture preparing for the show. Like, what purpose? What does that do other than make the three of us feel bad?

I was, well, I look, I was actually visualizing being on the show and doing prep. You know, I don't have Deb Berman here to dress me. So I have to do other visualizations to prep to get on with you guys. And you know, it works. I mean, it seems to motivate me, you know prep to get on with you guys and that you know it works I mean it's it it it seems to motivate me you know to come on now I was

told that I'll tell you the real reason I did it a guy for his new meeting during covid signed on to a business meeting in the hot tub. And he got fired. And he got fired. So I'm hoping that may happen here. Bad news, you're doubly employed. Yes, and that guy was getting paid too. So what do you, when you're lying in the pool envisioning,

what do you envision Jimmy Rutherford's envisioning right now? Oh, I'm sick of talking about Jimmy. I've talked about Jimmy Rutherford's envisioning right now. Oh, I'm sick of talking about Jimmy. I've talked about Jimmy Rutherford for 30 years. Like he's won a couple of Stanley Cups. Just, you know, let it go. I don't feel sorry for them. Honest to God, I don't.

They've let it fester. They've let it fester for so long that, okay, you know, live with it, you know? I mean, don't tell me they can't trade them. Like you guys, I'm telling you this, I respect Bourne, although I did read his column this week about what the Leafs need, I was a little questionable on that. But anyway, look, if the Rangers get Miller with the way the Rangers are playing right now, the East is surprisingly disturbing to me right now as to who really wants to be the best team in the East. And right now, the Rangers in the last couple of weeks have been one of the better teams. If they get Miller, they could cause some damage along with Jersey and Washington and Toronto, could they could cause some damage along with Jersey and Washington and Toronto Panthers.

So I'd be careful on the Rangers right now. I know they've been pathetic. I know they've been awful. I know they've had their problems with playing pretty good hockey right now. So Rangers have got to make a decision really fast and make the right move here, whether it's Carolina, they can get a good price for them. Or if it's, you know, whoever the Rangers, I would think those are the two leaders. Mac, you've been around this game a very long time. We've all seen when it's just time to get a guy out of a room. But this has gone completely to another level, which we haven't really seen. Maybe you have. Share it with us, please. But what is the worst case scenario for Vancouver Canuck fans and Jimmy Rutherford?

Keeping them status quo or moving him what would appear as a bad trade or a trade that doesn't give you enough value back? What's worse? Yeah. Look, that's a fact. But look, it's not just this with Pedersen. The guy was gone on a leave of absence for what? Five weeks during the season? I mean, I don't know what happened, what the reasoning was. It certainly wasn't because PD was bothering them. I guarantee you that. So there's something else that we don't know about. But I guarantee you it wasn't PD that caused them to miss five weeks of the regular season. I love the

way Miller plays. I like him as a player. But there's time you've got to make a decision because they're going to lose their season. That's the scary part. They've already got the Demko problem in goal. Their defense isn't as good and big and strong as it was a year ago. They don't without Sadorov. They're not as good, in my opinion. This is hard on Quinn Hughes.

That's another reason why I'd get somebody out of there because he's the captain and a lot of it's, I guarantee it's affecting him. So they've Jimmy has been around long enough that he's not doesn't need my advice. This should have been done a few weeks ago and now it's lingered. And here's my tip of the day or not tip of the day. What is going to happen next season? You saw Philly lost six one last night. and next year. I'm not putting up with all this foolishness. I'm in Philly next year and get involved in the rebuild. He's been talking for a couple of years, he'd like to move up in management,

give him a management job and bring Taukeet in to rebuild this team. Look, Taukeet has done a good job, but can you believe Tauke is gonna wanna stay with the noise that's around this team and organization for the last, I mean, every time I see Tauke at in a press conference, I say, Tauke, stop talking, stop talking. Last night he said it four times. I gotta get this team playing better.

It's on me. No, it's not on you right now, Doc It's on management to clean up the situation and fix it and get it going Talk it has tried to fix it in my opinion Any coach would have tried to fix it and took it as far as a coach can take it It's management that have got to finish the job Have you ever tried to make any deals under duress like this when the other team is aware that you're trying

to get rid of a guy? Every trade I made was under duress. Every trade I was under duress. Trust me. But if you're Alveen right now, I got to believe you've talked to 30 other GMs, 31 other GMs. You know what you're off. If Alveen had my jobs in the NHL, he wouldn't be in the NHL right now.

Nor would he be on our show. I've heard him talk. Not as good as he is. In fairness, in fairness, expansion head coach, expansion GM. I see Crawford, I see Alveen, I see all these guys getting all these great jobs. I get an expansion head coach and an expansion GM job. Are you kidding me? And not even good expansion now where they give you a team.

Yeah, I couldn't get one job with a friggin, you know, regular team that had been in the league even six years. I don't like their chances of ending up on a show like ours though. Yeah, no, no, no, no, not a chance they can take this spot. I mean, but the hot tub isn't getting me fired. I thought for sure it would. All right. You good on Vancouver?

Yeah, good enough. Nothing else. I'm done on Vancouver. Okay. Well then. Did you watch Demko last night? Yeah. Rough night.

Rough night for everybody. Pickard is 11 and 4 for Edmonton and Demko is 3, 4 and 3 or something like that. It's crazy how this kid has got to get his game back. He's got to get it back. Okay. I'm excited about the Leafs because I've done a scouting report. I sent one of my top Florida scouts to scout the Panthers for me and he came back with a pretty good report, Jeff Rimmer.

Then I read his report and I thought I'm going to watch them to make sure he has a clue what he's talking about. So first of all, I'm concerned about the Panthers. Goalie Bob hasn't been as good. He's been good, but he hasn't been stand on his head good. Bennett is not signed, got one goal in the last 20 games. What's going to happen with him? Montour, OEL are big losses on the back end. ECPLAD hasn't been as good. I really think the Leafs have closed the gap. So all of a sudden, the Leafs have a little better chance. Although somebody said to me last night that,

when you guys were talking about Leafs fans being happy, he said, you have to choose to be happy when you're a Leafs fan. You have to choose to be happy. Like he said, coming back three nothing from the Habs the other night and winning was his Stanley Cup for this year. That was his Stanley Cup. So you got to just be, you know, take it in small doses. So I think, you know, all of a sudden you look at the West and you say Jersey, Washington, Carolina, Toronto, Toronto's right there. It might finally be

the year that they're close and have a chance. If Tree Living does a couple of small things, you know, small, I say you guys, you guys, I know, but they look, you know how important third and fourth lines are, you know, and I know, Borny did a thing on, you know, finding that, whatever you call bottom six, middle six, whatever he uses terminology, I've never heard of. But anyway, he does. He's young, he's young, he's literate. He's white. We're not young. By the way, you dictated a damn book. Anyway, so look, it's right there for the Leafs if they can do a couple of things, you know? I'm going to give you a name.

I'm going to give you a name. Sean Corrali, Columbus Blue Jackets. Like that name. Sean Corrali, he's in his last year at two and a half million. He can go head to head with the other team's best players. He went head to head with Tavares. He's gone head to head with Taves in his last year at two and a half million. He can go head to head with the other team's best players. He went head to head with Taveras. He's gone head to head with Taves in his career. He's gone head to head with all the best players.

And he's hurt the Leafs in the past. Sure did. He's hurt the Leafs in the past. He's got speed. He's a great penalty killer. He's a checker. He's quality. I've known him since he was eight years of age.

Forget about all the big names. Have a look at a guy like Sean Coralli and where he would fit with this group, with a Bobby McMahon and a couple of guys. I mean, I think he can be a third line guy, fourth line guy. How important was he to the Boston Bruins? And he's just a quality kid, six foot three, centerman.

Anyway, just a man. There's about 10 teams that could use that, including the Winnipeg Jets. Exactly, exactly. There is, there's a lot of guys that could use it. And I mean, obviously I'm prejudiced cause I love this kid and I've known him since he was eight years of age and he's got Island Connect.

So his mother's, you know, from PEI. So what more can I say? Anyway, and, and okay, go ahead. I just wanted to follow up with the fact that we're going to Saturday night, Battle of Ontario, Ottawa can't score a couple of losses now. And where's Ottawa going in this race for a spot that includes Columbus right now, who I don't think is ready to trade anybody yet. I'm ticked off at Ottawa right now. Okay.

I'm ticked off. I keep breaking them up. I say they're going to be a tough team to play in the playoffs and then they go in another tailspin. I mean, you need to talk to Gary. Talk to Bruce. Kachuk who I absolutely love hasn't scored nine games. Is he got a point in the last night?

No, he's struggling Where's Omar? Omar he I Said was he in the hot tub with me today? Where's he been? He's gonna come back soon. He's coming They he's not ready to play and they take him on a road trip to Boston so he can hang out with his buddy Swades, I mean, come on. What come Come on. Get serious here. This guy has got to be he's been out for what 3040 days. Yeah, it's been a while. I mean, this guy's got

to get back. I mean, how serious is this back, but they've got to get them in there. I mean, okay. If he's not ready to play, don't bring him to hang out with his buddy in Boston, leave him in Ottawa and put him in the hot tub where I was today. Get him ready. So anyway, I'm disappointed with the way I keep thinking they're ready to take off and then boom, the bottom drops out of them again. And with the way the Rangers are coming on, the way Columbus is playing, anyway. So Doug, I'll throw you a bit of a curve ball here.

And I want to ask you about the New York Islanders and what their plans would be. They're one of the teams in the fight. Oh my God. You have to ask out when they got DuClair and now DeAngelo. Are you kidding? You have to ask me about the Islanders?

I am asking you about them. What's the plan? I love Lou Lamarello. I also am a big Lou fan. Do you like his move adding DeAngelo? I guess because the kid gets hurt in the back end. Dobson, yeah. Dobson goes down and I guess they're desperate there for some power play help and obviously he's going to be out

for a little while. So it's a desperation move. You know, D'Angelo, you can take them in small doses and for a short period of time, I don't mind the move, but I don't get why they're so bad. And I watched them the other night, win a big game over and played played well, you know, but they just can't get any consistency so They're the only team I've got right now. Well, they're at them and Buffalo look like they're gone. I don't know who's first lure Gary Betteman Well, Gary Betteman is not gonna retire

Tilly by the way, Craig Leopold. Oh my God, Craig Leopold drops out one out there. Craig and Gary are tight. There's a lot of respect for each other. I love Craig Leopold as a guy. And he drops out one on Russo's lap that he's going to retire. If people don't know, yeah, he said Gary, there's an exit strategy for Gary. What kind of call would Leopold had from Gary Bettman today? It might have been like the call I got when he called me and told me when I pushed the

lines when I was getting fined $10,000. That's when $10,000 was a lot of money. Now we can't change your tires on your porch. But look, Gary is not going to retire until he passes Clarence Campbell in years. That's Gary's goal right now. I have to pass Clarence Campbell. What is that? How many years?

30? He's over 30 now, is he not? Gary came in in what, the 92nd? Probably around 92, Gary. Is he there for a year first the first cup he presented was us in 94. There you go. Okay. Okay. So I'm out of here. Sorry. But yeah, Clarence Campbell, he's got to pass that. You know, that's like you saying you want to be at Sportsnet as long as Don Cherry was. as Don Cherry was. When I saw that I chuckled. I said, oh, poor Craig's in trouble. And of course, Russo, when Russo started in the league, didn't know what an offside was. He was my writer in Florida. I had to show him what an offside was on the chalkboard and now he is the greatest hockey

writer in the history of the game. So it's funny how it goes. Devils. Everybody had them as a legit contender this year. Markstrom's out, will not participate in the Four Nations tournament here. Were they overrated for you or can they get back in this thing? Is their blue line too young? I really liked their team and it starts with use. I mean, he's just such a, such a great player and you know, use upfront and use on the back end. But I really liked the devils a lot. It Markstrom, depending on the injury, if they don't have him, they have no chance whatsoever.

A little bit young in spots, but I still really like the Devils. I don't know if they can match Carolina. Carolina, the same problem. Where's their goal-tendent gonna be? It's like every team. Anyway, speaking of the goal-tendent, is there any chance that one of these three

Canadian goaltenders can stub their toe so they can put Logan Thompson on this team? What's going on there, Doug? I mean, seriously. Why wasn't he on the team in the first place? I know. I mean, have you seen, look at his record. Have we talked about that a couple of weeks

in this show, boys? This guy is unbelievable. And these three guys ahead of him, I don't get it. I'm missing something there and I'm worried about Canada because of that. So we'll see. Anyway, no, Jersey are good. Jersey are a good team. The Caps are a good team, but I still, I've got Toronto right there guys if they can, you know, with the way they played most guy. I know Columbus dominated. That was embarrassing the other night, the gold tending, but they weren't very good. And the Russian line was terrific. So, you know, we'll see.

You know, we didn't ask Doug about what he thought of the McDavid crosscheck. We didn't get you to weigh in on the week's biggest issue. It's kind of like throwing gum at a referee. By the way, I watched the fight the other night, the Riley fight and Olivier, I mean. Oh no, Reeves, Reeves, Reeves. Reeves, sorry, Reeves and Reeves, yeah, exactly. It reminded me so much of Probert and Cox in Detroit

about 30 years ago. Do you remember that fight? I've seen it many times. but I think the Probi Cox, there were more landed punches. Oh, oh my God. It was an unbelievable fight, but I kind of enjoyed the fight. Yeah. I liked it. So there's still room for that for you.

There's still room. It's, it's, they're far and few, but right. People still talk about it. Paul Laws had in our Stanley Cup year run, Paul Laws fought 50 times. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I got a headache kicking about. Where is he?

In an 80 game season, Laws fought 50 times. How would you check on that man? And I'd tell him on the bench, you're not allowed to fight. And he'd get mad at me. You're not fighting tonight. He'd get mad at me. I mean, and that was fighting Chase, Tony Twist. I mean, he was so tough, Paul Laws, and a great, great kid. Did you love it, love having that on your bench?

I loved having him on my bench, and I loved him as a player. He was a great kid. He just lives outside Beamsville, I believe somewhere just outside Toronto. And he's just a spectacular guy, but what a tough and what a team guy he was. Oh man. And played regular in the Stanley Cup finals. He was a regular player and played and had 50 fights. So yeah, there's room for it at times, but the game's changed. I know. Just going back to Washington Like are we ever gonna take them seriously like you're is just people going yeah, but not not really

I Look, I don't have them as a Stanley Cup contender Wow I I don't and they've been really good the kid kid has done a great job coaching. Great job coaching. Brian McCollum, Patrick have done, Dick's son has done a nice job with the additions. But it's really- But Dubois and there's protests and Wilson, come on. That's a, who's stopping that line in the playoffs

with no calls. We all of a sudden believe in this protest. We think he's- I don't know. The job that the coach has done with Dubois alone, alone, We all of a sudden believe in this protest. We think he's... I don't know. The job that the coach has done with Dubois alone, alone, the job he's done with that kid, getting him to play the way he's playing is a major accomplishment. Ovi...

Another empty netter. Ovi's got to get 20 more empty net goals to pass Gretzky. I mean seriously. The great chase everyone. If I see him score another empty net goal, I'm giving up. We're giving up empty netters like it's Halloween every night. That is just candy every night now. Two goals, empty nets, three. There's no way in without them.

Nobody cares, Mac. Do you remember the old days where you pulled the goalie under a minute and if you got scored on, then you just, you take your lumps and you go to the dressing room, but you're not giving up another empty net goal. Now they pull them with six, the analytics people, the geniuses like Borny tell them to pull the goalie with six minutes left in the game. Meanwhile, you guys took your losses to your car with pride. You cranked that pickup truck up.

Look, I couldn't coach today with the way they pulled the goalies. I couldn't come up with enough plays on the bench to send them out. Just send them out with those plays. You need a lot of face-off options out there. So anyway, no, you're right, Nick, that Washington, you've got to, you've got to put them in the mix with that, with that group of four or five teams. And, you know, as well as Edmonton on the other side. I mean, I like I've got Edmonton on the other side. Vegas. I meant to say Florida remind me a little of Vegas after they won the Cup. You play as hard as Vegas

played when they won the Cup and you play the style that Vegas plays. You play the style Florida play when they won the Cup and they play hard every night. It's hard. It's hard to keep it going. It really is. It really is hard to come back and do it season after season. So I think we're gonna have a new Stanley Cup winner this year and we'll see who it is. It's- You gotta give Jacob Chickren a lot of credit here too, because coming out of Arizona and then for whatever reason,

it just never clicked in Ottawa and everybody's like, he's not that good and he was overrated. And now I don't know, is he an eight million dollar defenseman? I gotta take that with a grain of salt. Cause I know you've been on Chickrens bandwagon because of his father. I know the connection and Marner.

I know all the connections. What did Marner have to do with this? Well, because you talk about him all the time. You know, I know Chick is one of your favorite guys in the league. Well, he's no Jeff Rimmer to me. And he's been, oh, don't bring that up. Don't ruin my day. But anyway, look, Chickron has been really good and he's gonna, he's gonna hit a home run. He's gonna hit a home run. He's gonna get paid well. And it's been an unbelievably fit. And I wonder if it's the atmosphere that's created by the coach. I

I mean, I didn't know. I looked the coach up. I looked up where did this guy come from? I knew he'd been with the Leafs. He went to a college that I've never heard of. Oh, beat it. Played at a college. Beat it. Never heard of it. I mean, some place in Long Island or something, he went to college. At Division III, then he plays in the East Coast. And then now he's, he's, he's Toe Blake, for God's sake.

It's the University of Alaska Anchorage alumni. He was a Seawolf. Yeah, it's a heck of a story. Yeah, it's a heck. No, it wasn't. It, look where he played. Look where he played. It wasn't University of Alaska. It certainly no, it wasn't. Look where he played. Look where he played. It wasn't University of Alaska. It certainly was. Yes. Maybe he played somewhere. The man would know. Yeah. He was

Alaska like Justin Bourne. Okay. Well, it must have been where he coached then. It was a college, some Division III college, I think was his first coaching job. Maybe that's where I saw it. Anyway, he's done a really good job and they're a contender along with Carolina and Jersey but we'll see so the Leafs are right there just to kind of circle back Carolina we hear their name linked to JT Miller you really think Tom Dundon would can pull something off here is he ready to to spend some money I think he you know I think with the situation there they've got a win they've got a win you know they've got a window here and I've got to believe that Dundon would let them make a move I've got to believe that and there's there's too

many rumors out there that they're talking that there's not something going on so I've got to believe that you know there's a they see out there that they're talking that there's not something going on. So I've got to believe that, you know, they see it as a window to win here and they should go for it. Because right now, the way the teams are up and down in the East, good, bad average, you know, it's been a long time since Boston

haven't been really a contender. I don't have Tampa as a contender, although they could still surprise. I know Florida's really good, but have dropped off. Jersey, like you said, is young. The window's right there for Carolina, boys. It really is. Carolina, Jersey, Toronto, it's right there.

So why wouldn't he try to? What a year. Doug's got the Leafs in the mix. This is new to our show. You're going to scare us a little bit here. I'm worried about them beating Columbus. So, and somebody told me today with these two Russian kids, Merchenko and Veronikov, if they would have drafted Demetov third, the kid that, or the kid,

they took Lindstrom a pick before Demetov went to Montreal. They said if they would have picked Demetov, that may be the best Russian line since Detroit's Russian five. That's a Buchla said the same thing, do you not? Yeah, he's J. Don Demetov. Yeah. Who's Buchla? Jason Buchla, our number one draft guy. Is he the guy that could take my job maybe?

Oh yeah, no question. No question. Does he got any sense of humor or is he like a typical? We'd like you to take him under your wing for about a week and a half in Florida. Hey, what's going on? Is there tons of snow there or what? Not I'm South Florida, Jacksonville, which Jacksonville I consider Canada. No, I'm South Florida. Like, oh, you're in the cool section or the warm section, but with cool kids. Right. Jill and I, Jill says, Jill said before I come on here, how long are you on for?

Because we're going to drive, we're going to walk over to the Colony, La Colonial, which is a great restaurant. We're going to sit at the bar, have a cocktail and a little couple appetizers. Just try to, just try to unwind after a tough day. I've been talking to you. We're not the jealous type, but every once in a while on my phone, you're popping up on new podcasts, and I don't really like it, man.

It kind of feels like you're cheating on us. This show is killing me. This show is killing me, because my popularity has gone through the roof. I get more requests to do free shows than you could ever imagine. Just tell everybody we're paying. And they gave me a hundred dollar gift certificate to this place in Pompano and by the time I pay for gas to get there and parking, I'll be out money.

So I said to him, I said, just keep it, keep it and give it to Rimmer next time he's on. But no, they're good guys They're they're the the cats and bolts podcast down in Boca Raton. So they're good people So you're on your best behavior with them. You're not ripping them Okay, we gotta go. We gotta go. I'm told we gotta go guys. Thanks a lot for having me on go back to the pool Don't complain everybody. Thanks Mac. Appreciate it bud. Alright, I'm sorry. It's too long. It's like a goodbye. Every week we push it longer. I hate long goodbyes. I hate long goodbyes. I'm like a, I'm the Irish exit guy. Yes. Without saying anything to anyone. Yeah. A couple quick housekeeping notes from that. Clintus Campbell was the president from 46 to 77

So when he so is 31 years and Gary's already passed Gary took over on February 1st of 1993 Yeah, so he's already passed. Yeah, he has passed the Paul Louse thing, right? Yeah He didn't have 50 but he had 39 which is still the record Yeah, I'm not sure but that's still the record most fights in a single season and I was just looking at his hockey DB And yeah, he had years of 236 313 293 218 in a row and in his one year with the Cleveland Lumberjacks the IHL he had 427 penalty minutes in 76 games. He's an animal.

That's a lie. 400, I mean he chipped in. At 400 they should put you in jail. He chipped in with 26 points, 26 points! Anyways, let's hit the break, we'll do game time on the other side. He had hands like my feet. Yeah, well he had hands like Granite apparently. Okay, we'll take a quick break when we return, we'll get into a little game time with Sammy

and then I'll tell you why I don't think Gary's going anywhere for a while. That and more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Hey, it's Ailish Forofar. And I'm Justin Cutford. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the Fan Pre Game, 6 p.m. weekdays weekdays on sports net sports at 590 the fan and wherever you

get your podcasts. That Kipper has Justin Bourne Sammy McKee. As a reminder this hour of real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by bet 365 we get into a little news and notes, but before that, a little game time. JB? Breaking news. The Utah Yeti refused by trademark office as NHL team name. It's over. They can't get Yeti. The Yeti Cooler Company has that one. They got to start all over again.

Utah Yeti's rocks too. rocks to its good name. Yes Now they're gonna do the hockey club thing I bet one of the blizzards or the mountain about nears all right the mountain ears. Yeah, I don't hate the mountain Yeah, it's just a mouthful. Yeah, it is Game time all right It's game time presented by bet three six five visit the app latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet three six five It's 19 plus on terror only please rate play responsibly Game time presented by Bet 365. Visit the app, Play the Stods, and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet 365. Mr. 19+, Ontario Only, please play responsibly. It is championship weekend in the NFL,

the National Football League. Two wonderful games on Sunday. The first game is the Washington Commanders at the Philadelphia Eagles. The surprising commanders with Jaden Daniels at the helm. They are plus 235 on the money line. They are six point dogs heading to Philly. Gotta tell ya, really, really, really love the commanders.

That's like Mountaineers, the commanders. They went for a change. They haven't won a championship since like I was there in 91. Is that correct? Yeah. Washington. Then they were the R words forever. Yeah. Mark Rippon. Yeah. It's been a long time. I had so much fun. 92 in Georgetown when they won the Superbowl. That was really good. Oh my god. I'm out on the street. My feet aren't touching like the ground. Mark Rippon's like a five cap. I can play.

He hits it a mile. Really? Oh yeah. Excellent golfer. And I say five, he's probably lower than that for a while. Yeah. And Briggins was the running back. Oh yeah?

I can't claim to know more than Mark Rippon. So it's really, but the coup de grace, the main event of the weekend is the Buffalo Bills. We can hardly tell whether you're hot. Well, you know, I pretend to be a Bills fan for everybody to like me. So the Bills in Kansas City to take on the Chiefs. The Bills are two point underdogs plus one 10 on the money line. And I just I don't know what awaits them at Arrowhead. I just don't.

It feels like their time. But that meme you sent us of the what awaits them thing, very stark and ominous. It would be as crushing as Lion fans felt losing that playoff game. Way worse. Way worse. For sure.

No, no, no, that was bad too. I think there's two different types of losers, Kipper. Ones that have never really, like, the Lions have just been awful forever, and they haven't experienced the highs of like getting to somewhere and losing to the same guy over and over and over. This would be 0-4 against Mahomes in the playoffs if they lose this game. Like that is that's uncharted. The Bills have never failed four straight times in the postseason. And last year was a wide right kick that that they didn't

anyways. Okay it's their time that's what we we're saying It's the time. I think it should be I think it should be I saw a tweet today I forget who but I got to read it off here I won't do the total Jim Nance voice But we'll just say intercepted by Taron Johnson and for the first time in 31 years the Buffalo Bills are going to this Oh, Jim, we got a late flag Jim The Tony Romo interjection I could just yeah the heartbreak's coming you got to play my homes and you got to play the zebras yeah it's gonna be a tough weekend the most important thing

is is they're protecting their stars oh yeah yeah with the flags yeah anyways I like commies I like bills enjoy your NFL weekend that was game time presented by bet 365 visit the app flintest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary A bet three six five was 19 plus on terror only please play responsibly Okay, just one thought on Tony D'Angelo Kind of surprised, but I'm not surprised with obviously the injury On But I like the fact that Tony D'Angelo

is a player that okay yeah there's questionable you know things going on with him over his career but the one thing that I like best about bringing him into the New York Islanders, and we've lived this in various levels for sure, is that when you see a new guy coming in, it just makes everybody uncomfortable. Right? Especially him. No, no, no. But I'm just talking about like, they... I'm really biting the old tongue here you can you can still have your ice time you can still have your D partner but once you

see a guy coming in late like this whether it's a trade a call-up it makes it kind of uncomfortable and that's what they need they need they need more bodies to go in there and say I don't just gonna take your job he's gonna take your ice time they need something You can make a practical case for the hockey player for sure. Offensive defensemen there without Dobson who runs some power play for them. But wait, don't you like that? It's well, attitude. He's got a history of racial slurs that have got him suspended and fighting a teammate and he's online, you know, COVID denier. He's a, you know, all these things that's like, people haven't loved being around him.

So I don't know that he's an awesome guy. But nobody's going to call that out now. Well I think if he were not those things, he'd probably be in the NHL. I think people don't love being around him. And he's by all accounts, you know, a good player and I'm sure he's gonna be in the NHL. I think people don't love being around him. And he's, by all accounts, a good player, and I'm sure he's gonna be on his best behavior under Lou. You know what the New York Islanders need? A scorched earth rebuild.

That's what they need. They don't need Tony D'Angelo, baby. It's just adding a lot of fuel to a really unnecessary fire. Like, it's like, what do you, so what's that? Oh, you lost Dobbrons. If I'm honest, I think nothing's gonna happen here, though, Sam.

Like I think he's gonna go in, he'll be okay. They're not that great to begin with. They'll win some, they'll lose some. But they just need. They'll miss playoffs. They just need a. That'll be his. They just need anybody that badly?

Like do you not have somebody from the Miners you can bring up? Listen, you still got 35 games to go here. And you know what? They're a three game winning streak from being right in the thick of it and Lou doesn't roll over He chips in some points sure I'd be happy to be you know I shouldn't even say that I'm not saying it's not gonna work on the ice it might work on the ice it can work out just fine I just think you know is the juice worth the squeeze yes my thoughts exactly there are they're all desperate and

Is the juice worth the squeeze? Yes my thoughts exactly there are they're all desperate and There's nothing to point in the direction that Lou will be back in any capacity that Revolves around the day-to-day operations So as long as he's got the green light from the ownership to go and yeah plug a few holes And that's what Lou's gonna do until he's told otherwise You know who could have used a defenseman of his exact skill set Who's that the local side the Toronto? Police yeah, that would have been a big gamble right yeah, and I know yeah I'm just saying like for there, but like here. Let's just say his name is Johnny Smith from a Tobacco

Yeah, it's good fit on the lease anyways, and I will say I just said about the Angelo fits pretty nice in Long Island. So a lot of people are going to love Tony DeAngelo. I just want to pick up a little bit on Doug McLean at the top of the hour talking about Al Mark and everything's pointing in the direction that he may play as early as next week. And we had had a conversation... Had a chat with Dr. Sisonoff? Yeah. But we had a conversation like three weeks ago on Austin Matthews, should he play in the Four Nations or shouldn't he?

And here, Almark is scheduled to play in it. And it's like, what are Ottawa fans thinking right now that this is like less than two weeks from shutting down? Massive stakes in every game right now. He's been gone for how long and now he's going to play a game and then go into this tournament. And it's like, what do you like? What do you think? You know, that's a really tough one.

Like Markstrom being out means he's going to be probably the guy. So yeah, I got, if we were an Ottawa Senator show, I gotta believe we'd be sitting here saying you can't go. You can't go where this is. We're gonna play off hunt for the first time in years. We just paid 8 million. You can't go. Brady Kachuk, I can always not scoring at all.

But if he was on IR and just came back now, Austin Matthews on IR just come back now. Meanwhile, it might be Brady Kachuck who runs them in the silver medal game or the gold medal game. There's no such thing as the other thing. I wonder between now and shutting down the league, how many guys are nursing injuries or could use two weeks off. Two weeks off for these guys, eh? Like they need a cardio camp to get back into it.

Like I get your buildup, Sammy, on Canada, US, but still you got 40 plus games of wear and tear on you. You know what stinks? If you're the Tampa Bay Lightning, they've played 46 games so far this season. Like you're going to come up to this break a few games from now, two weeks off, all of a sudden it's almost March and you still got to play like, you know, 38 games or whatever. Math isn't bad at that.

36 games. That's a ton of hockey for them. So potential injuries down the stretch for some teams of the condensed schedule. That stinks. Yeah. Somebody just sent me a text saying that, uh, no, no, it's just, we're talking about Lou and someone said, uh, Lou's older than Joe Biden. Is that right? Is that true? I don't, I don't feel like that's true. No, I don't know.

It's all Google. No, that's right Biden's 81 I think I think Lou's 82 That checks out You don't blue my mind the other day made me giggle How about Trump being older than Bill Clinton? Below your mind. No, nobody. Yeah Okay, there's all old white guys to me. All right, fair enough. They're all at the same age. Who's older by a month, Jake? Lemerello's older by a month. By a month.

Yeah. By a month. By a month. I will say, I talked to Lou over Christmas when I was in New York. Lou and Joe are not on the same mental plane. Oh, Lou's sharp as a tack. Lou is buzzing

Lou's got Energy. Yeah to do this Mmm, he is Four years intimidating presence Now just getting back to the Gary Batman like there's so much for him still on his plate here I'll be shocked if he's not the commissioner Still in four or five years. I could see don't you think Betman's get the next deal done? He's got CBA Yeah, he's got a major television contract TV contract CBA and then an extension year to an asking and expansion

Expansion they're not expanding thatking. And expansion. Expansion. They're not expanding that soon, are they? Oh, buddy, that's coming. That's coming and it's coming on Gary's watch. Well before he shuts it down, we will have two more scenes. He's talking about shutting it down in two years. No, that's not happening.

He's not doing all of that in two years. You're telling me we're gonna have the Houston hockey club? I don't think he's going anywhere. The Houston Hockeyers? I think he's still got another three or four years for sure in him. Craig Leopold was showing him the door. Pushed him into the revolving door

and spun the other side. Gary just wants his legacy to be another team in Atlanta. He's like, God, I just want, I can't wait. Gary. Atlanta and Phoenix, Atlanta and Phoenix, you gotta leave till it's done. Right now he is like, he set himself up, like unbelievably, he's got his place in Florida. Gary.

Yeah, doesn't have. Well, he's been making 10 sheets a year for 30 years. Keep going, keep going. Oh, is he making more than that? North, north, north. You know, you're not in the office all the time, you got your private plane. Comes on Kipper and Bourne.

Comes on Kipper and Bourne. We take him to another level. Oh, we've really elevated his star. Thank you guys for the coverage of the league. You're welcome Mr. Commissioner. Why would you give that up now? Why, why? Well, don't you want to just go golf a little bit or go fish? Nice, come on.

Go pursue... Go see the world, brother. He's... I mean, you've been to Chile. There's great food all over this place. He's in the zone right now. That's crazy. This is what you kind of built it up to be.

People like different things. I think if I gave you 30 mil, I don't think we'd see you again. I wouldn't be going. They wouldn't be kicking me out the door. This guy be a cab at Citrus Farms every day. Every day. Every day. All right, just like that.

Two hours up on Off the Rails Friday. Our thanks to Doug McLean. We didn't have anybody in the first hour, did we? Except our wonderful callers. Nice job picking out callers again today, Sammy. Thanks. Last thing before we go. Ngo Bills. I got an alumni game in Oshawa.

It's against the Bruins. Ray Borks bringing a team in. Buddy, you better sharpen your skates. Oshawa, Saturday night. Here we go.