Real Kyper & Bourne - Regular Season Curtain Call on Broadway

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee open with a preview for the Leafs' final game of the regular season against the Rangers, Toronto's Frankenstein lineup, Matthew Knies playing in the top six and the milestone chase for William Nylander and Mitch Marner. They are joined by Adam Graves (25:42), who gives a season breakdown for the Rangers, where they are most vulnerable and the parity around the league. Penguins' analyst Phil Bourque shares his thoughts on the nightmare season conclusion for Pittsburgh, what comes next for the team, the end of the Johnathan Toews era in Chicago and where he may end up (40:53). Later, Islanders' analyst for Newsday.com, Andrew Gross, discusses the Isles' return to the playoffs, their powerplay struggles and the future for Lou Lamoriello on the island (1:06:37). Finally, the guys close with a chat about Kyper's article about Auston Matthews' future in Toronto.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.

This is Real Kipper and Born on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. You bet it is. Live and in color. Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Sportsnet's YouTube channel. Sportsnet Now. iTunes, Spotify. We've got you covered. Everywhere. You can find us anywhere. Yeah, mostly. Almost anywhere.

We're very available, which is good. He's Justin Bourne. I'm Nick Kiprios. Derek Brandeo. David Siss-Boombaugh, who's planning on bankrupting my Next Rewards app. Him and his family. And Sammy McKee. Next two hours, tee up the Toronto Maple Leafs, york rangers i'm going to welcome in a former

teammate of mine adam graves who is currently hockey and business operations with the new york rangers phil bork in about 44 minutes to talk about the pittsburgh penguins which I had mentioned one of the worst losses in their franchise history. Yeah. It's got to be up there. Nothing... How do I say this? Something's going to happen. Let's just put it that way. The Penguins aren't just going to be like,

we'll get them again next year. Something's going down in Pittsburgh. All right. And in the second hour, we're going to talk New York Islanders. Congratulations. Thank you. you thank you pretty happy about that i mean man it was a limp fest to get through montreal but they managed it they confirmed their spot last night against the montreal canadians uh andrew gross will be around yes sir we'll talk to him about what that means to not only the community, but maybe even Lou Lamarillo. Yeah.

All the people who are heavily invested in UBS Arena and its associated costs. Fresh off of an appearance at Rogers Center. Yes. Sammy McKee taking in the sights and sounds of what, $300 million gets you? Yeah, it gets you a lot down there. I mean, you're still shoulder to shoulder in the washrooms, but other than that, it's pretty good.

Yeah, good first impression of the new Reddows? I would say that I really was impressed with how different it is. I was kind of expecting it to be somewhat similar, but just the feel in there, it's a lot more open air, a lot more party-oriented, a lot more people around. Yes. I was really impressed. Saw Mark Shapiro on the concourse.

He didn't know my name, unfortunately. I said, hi, Mark. Should I buy him a beer? No, he was moving pretty quick. I don't think he wanted to be seen a whole lot. So are they only halfway through the renos? Next year they're doing the lower bowl. They're ripping out all the seats and they're facing them towards home plate as opposed to them being facing straight out more concert stuff so now they're

just kind of starting to the thing that i was blown away by and i've you know i've talked about how much i love the pitch clock um my cadence for watching a baseball game live was off you know unable to get your hot dog bites in you didn't leave a patio you didn't leave a bar no like i just i did i watched the entire game from my seat i went we got there about 6 15 and then you know checked them all out and then got to our seat for and i watched the entire game from my seat but like usually you know you're looking around you're socializing you're having a sip of beer you're grabbing a peanut they're not really necessarily locked in but this pitch clock boy like you got to be locked in i was looking away for a second the pitcher's already about to deliver to home plate there are going to be some people that miss some action this year my baseball

watching cadence is way off it's crazy you know that highlighted the two women talking or maybe it's two businessmen it doesn't matter but But if someone pulls a foul ball down the line and it goes right between their heads as they're talking, that's great that we can do away with the chit-chat. You've got to watch the game now. Yeah, well, guess what? Pitch coming, pitch coming, pitch coming. But there's mashup now, which is unbelievable.

There was no mashup before. It is truly staggering. They were just screaming line drives. Pulling foul balls. Like barreling up 100 miles an hour. So the one thing that I noticed when I went to the season opener is the bullpens. They look fantastic. They look fantastic.

But the fans are like right on top of the players. And judging by the amount of patios, someone's going to get beat up by who canning someone. I'm telling you right now, as if I was pitching, warming up and add a bunch of drunks, like within a, a reach couple of wild pitches coming.

Listen, there's alcohol fans that close to the players, I'm not sure it's a good thing. We went and checked out the bleachers. We stood behind them for a little bit. And I dubbed it the ejection section, which I thought was very good, if I do say so myself. Not bad.

There are going to be some people thrown out of there because that's like where the riffraff goes, right? Because if you pay 20 bucks, there's no assigned seating there. So the people who are there first, you know, you have to get there early to get into those bleachers. And they're right behind the opposing bullpen. You're on top of them. And you're there for a long time.

You're there early. You've got to get there like whenever the gates open, I think three or four or whatever, you've got to be there then to get in. So it's cool, man. They really changed the feel. I will give them full credits. It feels like a different park. In the year the government announces, what, two drinks per week?

That's what's healthy, yeah. They go open 50 new bars and patios in the stadium. I saw that, I think, like 20 grams of sugar per day or something my son had a cliff bar and i checked out there's like 25 grams like what world what world are they living in i don't know it's not reality i guess and i'm safe the quickly last thing the coup de gras of the rogers center the new thing that they added was called the tap and go which is a unbelievable edition of the rogers center where you scan your credit card to get into this exclusive club, a.k.a. the Tap and Go.

You go in. You take a beer out of the fridge. You take it. It senses you doing it, and you crack it, and you walk out. You're just helping yourself from then on. You're just, like, there's no lineup. You don't have to tip anybody. You're in.

You're out. You only take one. Yeah, I mean, you can take as many as you want. I think you can take two. Oh, it'll scan two then off your credit card. I say 10 out of 10 to that. They're selling bottles of wine in there. You can get wine.

You crack one of those. You can throw a bottle to your seat? Yes, sir. Oh, that's another disaster. Yes. There'll be cracks. What does the guy in center field threw a can at someone once or even throw in a wine bottle?

Skulls will be cracking by the seventh inning. I don't care how fast it takes you to get there. I tapped and went a couple times, but it was an enjoyable experience. And the Jays won. And it was an extra inning game and I was home in my bed by 10-20. That's not the way it used

to be. All right. Hockey. All right. Leafs 10, 20. That's not the way it used to be. All right. Hockey. All right. Leafs. Just playoffs, that's all. Are in the Big Apple. As Dale Hunter once told me, don't take a big bite out of the apple. It'll bite you back.

Seems fair. It's a big city. A lot going on. Two Leafs who really want to make a point tonight. Austin Matthews and Mitch Marner. I take umbrage at the idea that Matthews would care. Marner, for sure. 300th goal?

No, we already did this. I don't care. No? I know you do. You do think he cares. Yeah, the cookie monsters, they love this. Yeah, that's fair. No question about that, but they'll be back in the lineup.

If Mitch doesn't get 100 tonight, it's a travesty. I don't know. Rangers are pretty good. They're very good. So is Mitch. about that, but they'll be back in the lineup. If Mitch doesn't get 100 tonight, it's a travesty. I don't know. Rangers are pretty good. They're very good. So is Mitch. Correct. Will not see anything near the intensity that we saw the other night against Tampa Bay, Sammy?

Yeah, I think that's fair to say. Intensity is an exhibition game. Yeah, right. It's still hockey, though. It's hard to go through the motions in an nhl hockey game is it not yeah you know rangers one of the only teams in the postseason that this game doesn't matter for as well you know like tonight matters to like 12 of the 16 playoff teams roughly so i mean there's some interesting stuff at a practice at least though today um tavres won't play tonight.

He's come back to Toronto for personal reasons. Lafferty will not play tonight. Giordano bumps and bruises will not play tonight. So there's three guys out of the lineup for the Leafs. But they're still going back to the Leafs' latest power forward on the right wing on the fourth line. Connor Timmons drawing in again. Who, by the way, said that he's never played forward in his life? In his existence.

There's two hilarious clips. You guys want to hear them? I have them both. They're quick. Oh, awesome. Let's do it. A lot of panic to begin with, but I think as the game went on, I started to get a little more used to it and felt comfortable. Play the other one, too.

When was the last time you played forward? Tampa Bay. No, not the four. That was the first time ever. Ever? Yeah, ever. Even as a kid? Yeah, not even as a kid.

He felt panic and had literally never played the position. That is hilarious. It is hilarious. By the way, do you think Tavares and Lafferty coming home for personal reasons, they can't say it's like load management or rest because they have an emergency call-up goalie? Like, is it related to that? I don't know, and I don't care anymore. Okay, great.

I mean, at the end of the day, whatever they do, whatever they want to say, if they got the green light from the league, I don't care. I'm with you. I definitely think that that's why the language is the way it is, If they got the green light from the league, I don't care. I'm with you. I definitely think that that's why the language is the way it is. Not like Tavares' house is on fire or something. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, what's next? It's not personal. It's business. Impersonal reasons? No, business. They're going back for business reasons. That'll be the next one, and we won't care either. His GTHL team is up for sale. I don't know.

Let's go to Sheldon Keefe for our first Kippers Clipper on what he thinks about tonight's last game of the regular season. Really just approaching it. We want to play everybody and get everybody rolling out there. You're always going to coach and play to win, you know, but most important thing for us, and this one here in particular, is just obviously make sure we get out of it healthy and do all that we can to do that.

It is a hockey game. You can only control so many things, but, you know, for the most part, try to manage everybody's minutes and look to get out of here unscathed. All right. Manage minutes, get out unsc to get out his energy's down a little bit he wants his thing over with he mentioned injuries like way too many times that clip it wasn't even a regular season game don't even bring it up it's like oh we're gonna you go out there and we're gonna try to win the game and play well and get good motion going into the playoffs they'll be like we're not trying not to get hurt we're not hurt unscathed don't get hurt god don't put it in the lexicon man you knew anything about the hockey god that's all everyone's

thinking i you know it would be interesting to see both teams truly commit to tonight being a no hitter uh we don't know rangers lineup we Graves in about nine minutes if we can expect a semi-decent lineup out of the Rangers. Like, you ran out of bodies too, right? Filling spots is an issue sometimes. Yeah, I imagine that was a complication for the Leafs. It is, you know, interesting. In the best case scenario, you would just dress your American League team.

There's nothing to be gained. I know you don't want to go too long without playing, but I'm not of the mind that, oh, you want to go in on a good note, go in hot, whatever. You need to exist. You just need to get through tonight. I'm not excited for tonight's game.

Rangers-Leafs should be thrilling. Not excited. Yeah, maybe a second screen game with the Jays on the big screen tonight we'll be watching Matthew Nives pretty closely you know why? two games under his belt the first one probably a little more hair on fire

with the scheduling of getting him from Florida to Minnesota, back to Florida, settled in pretty nicely against Tampa Bay. Is this a game tonight where you continue to watch him and you just hope that you see another game where it looks like it's progressing towards game one? Can he play himself in or out of a lineup

with this game tonight it's a great question i think that is maybe the last thing up for grabs here he goes out and scores and he's a player tonight there's no doubt it'd be too much right it'd be too much he's done too many goals would go a long way to locking in game one. So this is from Skate this morning. Power play one tonight consists of Morgan Riley, Ryan O'Reilly, Matthews, Marner, and Matthew Nice. So he's going to play Tavares' spot. He's playing in Tavares' spot. He's playing on the second line with Nylander and O'Reilly. I like that line.

This is putting it on a platter for him. I really get the feeling that lots of people within the organization really want this to happen, and they're putting him in the spot for it to happen. Yeah. Right? It is leaning towards that. He's playing on the top power play unit over

william nylander even when tavaris is gone yeah it's a statement like i know it's a meaningless game i know we don't know that neither of these teams care you want to get a good look at him but that is a big time statement to me to put him in there even when tavaris is it is it is a big time statement and don't't think Willie doesn't want to bring up the conversation of Cookie Monsters again. One away from 40. There's a milestone. I don't get first looks on the power play. Yeah.

That's a milestone and a half for him. It is interesting, but I do think the points about how the organization went out of their way here have really struggled fitting it in to get knives knives here you're making me do it now knives instead of knives knives yeah you say knives i don't know what i'm saying knives matthew spies and eyes eyes without the V. Yes. But yeah, a lot of people are heavily invested and they've shown that they'll bend over backwards to make this happen, to get him some games in the NHL before playoffs.

You know, I think he's going to be in game one, boys. Wow. I do. And for the record, do we want to say who's out? I'll take Aston Reese. You will, eh? Yeah. You love Lafferty, right? You love you love him yeah i like lafferty i don't envision uh him not being in game one yeah and i've i've not been

a huge aston reese fan but he has come on you got to give him credit uh yeah he's played well for a while now he played a lot better when the roster around him got stronger yeah maybe he got a little braver to to go out there and do things feeling like he doesn't have to do them alone now but i think he's earned game one too crazy because he hasn't been a healthy in what months i'm'm staying strong. He doesn't get in game one. It's not a ridiculous take to suggest he won't. I just think early in the series, if he's not going to play, it has to be game one if he's not going to play. Right?

Yeah. I see what you're saying. Yeah. He's either in, in, in, in, in. It's the easiest way not to put him in the lineup is to at least sit him out in the first game. Yeah, have a look at the pace. You just think about all the time and effort

that Keefe has put into developing what this bottom six looks like in terms of the defensive work and the responsibility and all the additions they made to make it better. Achari, Lafferty, they brought in Aston Reese in the offseason. To me, it's just too quick. It's too quick to completely pivot

from what you were thinking about. But they are quick. They did pivot in so many different ways. He's playing PP1 tonight, so I think you guys are probably closer to being right. Yeah, listen, you could put Kerfoot there. You could put Nylander there. You got a lot of options here.

The Leafs don't score a ton. They're not an offensive juggernaut. There's value in having a guy that can create. David Alter asked Sheldon Keefe this morning about four players that have played all the games in the season and what that means for them. And Sheldon Keefe didn't know who the four players

were. Do you know who the four players are? Do you know? Well, I guess it's not is it Willie is one? Willie's one. God, has Tavares played every game? Nope. Kampf? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Oh oh you know who else um

plug the the boat hole what do we call them yeah and then is there a demon not geo not hall not brody not riley not lilligran not brody oh gosh it's not mitch it's not austin it's not bunting bunting bunting bunting yeah remember him he's on the team yeah i forgot about it so the old bun cake it's like yeah so they uh willie michael bunting alex kerfoot and They, Willie, Michael Bunting, Alex Kerfoot, and David Campbell played in all 82 games. I like that. That's a distinct honor. And Mitch deserves that credit, too,

because he's played 80 with two rest games. One year in Washington, I was healthy scratched game one and then played 79 straight after that. And I didn't get 80 because they didn't start me in the home opener oh it's tough i am the badger coach an 80 game season is like uh you know it's a it's a badge of honor i'm the games play get hurt yeah i'm i'm the games played record holder at my university i played every game for four years and i got healthied as a senior in one game wow so i played 149 games instead of 150 kicking the nuts with a speed skate you know if you play poorly long enough they don't play you i deserved it i really did i was terrible okay well there you go anyway hey yeah all right you can't healthy scratch someone who pays 650 bucks to play

hockey every year we uh we got some comments on matthew nize yeah we got a couple comments we'll play the first one before we get to uh all right yeah you know for him it's just uh another game to play you know i think with each each game each day is a new experience to help him uh with his adjustment we're just going to continue to watch him. But to me, in the two games he's played so far, he's done very well. And, you know, the not easy games that he's played in, it's really not easy circumstances that he's been through. An off day yesterday or, you know,

hopefully a chance for him to sort of settle in a little bit. But he's shown us that the moment or the adjustment isn't all that big for him. He's really stepped right in and done a good job and played with confidence. There's going to be mistakes and adjustments still to be made, but he's been impressive. He tried really hard there to downplay how much they love him. It's just another game. No, Madison Square Garden, New York Rangers, the Big Apple. Deciding if he's in playoff lineup or not.

Put him on the power play. Game 82 or not. You're dressing a kid from... Just not quite just another game. Yeah. It's kind of cool. It's a big game for that guy. Playing against Patrick Kane.

He's an American playing against Patrick Kane in New York. The size of manhole covers his eyes tonight. What a series of games for him to walk into. You know, Florida, who's fighting for their playoff lives. Tampa, the first round playoff opponent new york madison square garden you know and then first round of playoffs like he's not these aren't game 86 a year sorry he's 56 against columbus games he's coming in hot so that's good yeah and he's so far making the most out of an opportunity here. He has not looked out of place. He can battle along the walls.

He can make plays. He can get pucks to net. I wonder if his energy can stay up like this. You know, Frozen Four, Quinnipiac, OT loss, Leafs, Road, you know, all this. Like, can you sustain? I think, yeah, you know all this Can you sustain I think once you're Just come into the rink Put your skates on Things come naturally to you

There's a Subconscious here too where you just Just react It's still The best league in the world and they're faster and stronger Than you've ever seen before but it is still The the same game that you played since you were really young. Yeah, but what stands out to me is his energy out there right now. Yeah, it's good.

And if he loses that, is he able to fall into a more, you know, positional game, reliable game, or it will be a detriment. The thing after watching him a couple of games too is you wonder if he did not, if he foregoed the last year and he played this season, where would he might be today? You know what? I also had the thought if they had him in playoffs last year where he was available and they lost by one goal in game seven,

it might have helped. He's a year younger. No, no. But to get to get yeah their fourth line last year was shambles yeah right how old is he 23 20 is he 23 yet or is he 22 he is 20 20 oh he's just 20 20 turning 21 in october wow okay then then Okay, then you know what? I got to say I'm embarrassed. I apologize. He's still, he's so young. Yeah.

He's just, I thought he was a little older than that. God, he's still going to fill out. He's going to be a big kid. Yeah, he's still going to, the next two years, he's going to fill out and get stronger. He's playing a 210 now. He's going to play a 215 at least. I can't track down Gravesy, buddy.

No? Not right now. Okay, we'll find him. Did you guys see the thing I retweeted from Graves today? No, I didn't. I think I sent it to our group chat. But yeah, him chanting 1940 after you guys won the cup. He seems like a fun guy.

We'll get into that with him. All right, let's go to Justin Hall. What did Sheldon have to say about Justin Hall? Luke Fox asked about him, about how he's kind of flying under the radar here. Not a lot of conversation about him, and he just spoke glowingly about him. So I thought it would be interesting for us to have a conversation

about Hall heading into the playoffs. I would say he's just been very consistent. I think he's done a really nice job for us defensively and just quietly going about his business. I don't think he's had, you know, major peaks or valleys or anything like that. It's been pretty steady. So we've been really happy with him that way. There was a conversation at one point in this season, you know,

would he be in the playoff lineup, right? And that's not even a question at this point in this season, would he be in the playoff lineup, right? Mm-hmm. And that's not even a question at this point. He plays 20-plus minutes a night. Yeah. Yeah. I know, as he has in the past. Yeah. And I just, you're not 100% sure

what you're going to get game to game. There's still areas for me in his game sometimes you can watch him behind the net he'll just make some poor decisions but he has been really good and really steady the last little while and if you don't notice him and he's quietly going about his business. That is music to everyone's ears. I wrote him off like a bozo. Is that McKee on who? That was Bunkin. I mean, there were times you couldn't give him away. Justin Holl.

Yeah. You know, he's a guy you don't think about, don't have to think about very often. You know, he, you know, I'd give away or not. He's a pretty reliable guy for them. So, you know, happy it's'd give away or not he's a pretty reliable guy for them so you know happy it's worked out uh in terms of post seattle kraken expansion draft and all that he's been worthwhile at his salary so glad keith feels the same way i think we got your boy here

all right all right place in a quick call game 82 they went pretty fast for you or like relatively speaking well yeah actually you i mean by yeah no no this one was super fast yeah even though we've known where we've been headed for a long time it uh yeah to wake wake up here today and have it be the last game of the season our second year year together, real Kipper and born. All right, let's welcome him in. Adam Graves, former NHLer, over 1,100 games, now doing a terrific job with the New York Rangers and the hockey and business operations.

Gravy, how are you, pal? Very good. More importantly, childhood buddy of Kipper's. We've been in the club since we were young. We do. We used to run hockey schools together for Seneca College. How old were you then?

We were much more than 16, 15, 16, 17. You're just punching kids in the face? Yeah. Kipper and I didn't teach the kids how to stick animals. Let's put it that way. Push the puck. There will be times when we're on the ice Anyway, Kipper and I didn't teach the kids how to stick ammo. Let's put it that way. Hey, Kipper.

Push the puck. Push the puck. So there'll be times when we're like on the ice and we're like, oh, my God, we've exhausted everything like we do on our show. What are we going to talk about? And was it you, Gravy, or Brian Wilkes that came up with, let's teach him the backhanded slap shot? That was Wilkes being spotted. Surprise, surprise. Oh, okay.

We're like, okay, we're going to spend 20 minutes on the back end. All right. So, Gravy, just sum up the season for the New York Rangers for us, just in terms of, you know, recent playoff success and then trying to get to the next level and where it all ended up after 82 games after tonight. Well, certainly for anyone that watches the nhl on a consistent basis you see how many great teams are across the entire league let alone the easter conference led by boston of course but i think when you you think about the the rangers and hockey is a game of of experience in a lot of ways. And you see the maturation of teams that have won it,

whether it's Tampa in their last four or five years, what they've been able to do, or Colorado, the experience. And the Rangers are a young team and certainly have a mixture of young and old. And after last year's run where they came back from 3-1 against Pittsburgh, having a Besna trophy winner in Shusterkin, expectations really high coming in this year. And I think the first 25 games they're playing about 500. And then things started to turn,

and they've been one of the top teams in the league for the last three quarters of the season. And certainly their goaltender, Shusterkin, who is one of the elite goaltenders in the entire world, is back into form over the last five, six weeks. So this is a team that has a lot of weapons now, as you know, with Kane, and certainly some of the trades that Tarasenko, who plays a real heavy game, skill game, and then the power play and the players that are already here, whether it's Panarin or, you know, Kreider and Sabanajad. I mean, they've got a lot of weapons and the young kids are developing.

So it's an exciting time, but there's a lot of excellent teams, as you know, in both conferences, but especially the Eastern Conference. Adam, when you look at this Toronto Maple Leafs team, you know, I think if you told people or said about the Leafs, like they have experience now. This is no longer a young team. They have experience. Some people may chuckle because they have experience losing.

Do you think that there's still value in the type of experience the Leafs have had, or do you need to go deeper into these battles to get a sense for what it takes? Well, without speaking specifically to to toronto obviously uh being an old girl guy get to see the leafs uh they have an excellent hockey club and obviously some some great players up and down their their lineup but um you just don't know when when that switch is going to turn or when you're going to turn that corner and a perfect example of that is Colorado last year. You know, they've had a really good team for a long time

and then everything came together for them last year. And same with Tampa Bay, you know, three years ago. The year before, I think they set a record that was just beat this year by Boston and lost in the first round to Columbus. But they stayed the course and great experience. And then they win the cup the next, next two years or in the finals last year. So you just don't know when that, you know,

when that formula is right or exact, but the Toronto Maple Leafs are an excellent hockey club. And one of, I obviously think that one of the, you know, top five or six teams expected to, that could win. I mean, that's the best part with, you know, the parity, but there's also parity in the top seven or eight teams that you wouldn't be surprised if any of those teams won. It's not like it was back in the 80s and 90s where, you know,

you had that top team, whether it was the Oilers or in the 70s with Montreal, and you just thought, well, wow, they're going to win it. You just don't know who's going to win. No one would surprise you right now who has that opportunity. You just don't know whose year it is. We're talking to two-time Stanley Cup champion Adam Graves, including one with the New York Rangers in which you scored 52 goals, Gravy. And another player, Chris Kreider did the

same thing last year if we talk about goal scores and then coming back the following year and maybe not hitting the numbers that they would have liked and let's throw in Austin Matthews going from 60 to 40 this year just talk about some of the challenges that you had back there to, to come back after a 50 goal season. And maybe what Chris Crider has gone through this year. And he's sitting at 36, I think, which is nothing to sneeze at,

but mentally, is there a little bit of a, a down feeling knowing the number that you had the previous year? Well, I would say there's a few things and certainly uh cried his small game play in around the net his ability to get a stick on pucks he's a he's a very uh he's an incredible uh athlete like he's six three 230 pounds and he might be one of the fastest guys in the league um His maturation, like I said, in the small area, right around the net,

and his ability on the power play with Mika on the one side, whether it's a tip or just finding holes in around the net, he's had some great opportunities. He could easily have 40 goals, but at times two teams are keying on him, but he's still he's had an outstanding year i mean uh you you score uh 36 40 goals in the national hockey league uh that that that's amazing not too many players he'd be in the top 12 or 15 he's not two or three in the league but he's he's in the top 15 and goals scored so he he's he's having an excellent year, but there's also, you know, there's balance too. When you talk about a lineup that has Tarasenko, has a Kane,

has a Sabanajad, has all these different weapons, you know, there's only one puck on the ice, and it has to be distributed amongst all. But Kreider's a guy that he's an interesting guy because he's a threat on the rush as well because of his speed he can shoot in stride and on the power play in the front of the net he's a big-bodied guy and on top of it all he's a great teammate so um yes it's not the 50 he had last year but he's also the all-time uh leading goal scorer in playoffs he's a guy that's a big game player won NCAA NCAA a couple times in university,

and he seems to save some of the best hockey for the playoffs. So I expect him to be a big part of this playoff run. Yesterday, I made the bold statement here that it doesn't matter who the Rangers draw in round one, the Devils or the Hurricanes, they're going to win that first round series. I just think they're built strong at every position they've got some size the whole deal is there anywhere with that team that you see a weak spot

because to me you know as much as with boston with tampa whoever it may be i feel like they're they're pretty solidified all up and down the lineup well for for being part of the organization now for close to three decades i've got to be careful because I don't have to back up any predictions that I make. And I've watched, and I've watched the devils and, and they play so fast and they turn over four lines and they don't give you any room. And, and, uh, their transition game is as good as I've seen in a long, long time. And Caroline, as you know, I mean,

it's from their coach all the way through the detail in their game, it's a reflection of their coach. And Kipper and I, we had the opportunity, obviously, to play against him. He didn't take a shift off. He didn't take 10 seconds off. And their team follows that MO. And they're a difficult team to play against. They're so strong in all areas of the ice. But as far as

the Rangers are concerned, for me, they just have to focus on rolling over four lines. As far as I'm concerned with the maturation of Kako and Hedl and Lafreniere

and then having that fourth line that's been dynamite. They're as good a fourth line as there is in the league. And certainly Miller on the back end, Lindgren being healthy after being out for close to 20 games. They've got a strong back end. But again, you look at all the other teams, and you look at Boston, look at the depth they have. As much as you want to get excited and yet nothing is easy.

And it's a game of inches is going to be the team that makes the least amount of mistakes. So it's, it's going to be exciting. And as you know, the best for me, the best round in hockey, that first round,

it's just so exciting and incredible. And I'm looking forward to it because I watch every game. Like you're shot out of a cannon that first round. How are New Yorkers taking to Pat Kane? Oh, how can you not? He's a champ. The guy's a champion. And, and, you know, Kip watching him, I remember when they were playing against LA and they were down three games to one, he had like 11 points in three games. He's one of those players that he's not obviously in stature. He's not a big guy, but he plays a big game and the bigger the game. I can remember watching him playing for London.

We were up in Owen Sound one night and it was with Gordie Clark. He went down the ice with the puck on his stick. You know how he kind of rockers back and forth on his edges? He literally went straight in on a defenseman with the kind of rockers back and forth on his edges. He literally went straight in on a defenseman with the puck, rockered back and forth on his edges. The defenseman thought he was going wide, moved wide, and Kane just skated right in the same line he was in, went right in on the net and put him in the net.

We both looked at each other and we went, wow, because it was just head fakes and change of weight and and he didn't even actually change out of the lane that he was in but the defenseman thought he was changing lanes and moved out of the way and just walked right through in the same lane it was it was ridiculous but that's the type of player he is he can he can take you right out of your seat he makes those plays he knows where the puck's going before it's on his stick you can see his head on the swivel and for me he's just starting to get comfortable now because it does take, certainly,

especially being in Chicago for 14, 15 years, three Stanley Cups, 1,200, whatever it is, points. It's not going to happen overnight, and he's just settling here. Last one for me. I'd love to get a sense for you. You grew up with Kipper. What was it like being teammates

on the new york rangers after growing up together in toronto thanks gravy we're out of time no no it's all good because as i told you kipper kipper and i are more like brothers than we are teammates and one thing i will tell you and kipper would agree there wasn't a day that every guy in that locker room didn't want to get to the rink and spend time with their teammates because I haven't laughed as hard as I laughed that entire season. I remember sitting beside Leachie, and we were wiping the tears off our cheeks because how engaged everyone was. And it wasn't just one person speaking.

Everyone was weighing in. We had one fight between Kip and Heels and Ricky. I mean, the list goes on and on. It was an incredible opportunity. We obviously played a few years together, but certainly spend a lot of time in the community and do other things. But for me, it's family, and that's what it's all about. All right, you're a good man, Gravy, and today's no different.

Thanks for helping us out today, and thanks for joining us. It's got to be exciting, though, down there. The last thing I want to say to you is that, do you ever recall as a Ranger that the Devils, the Islanders, and the Rangers were all in together in the playoffs? It's interesting because they said it's the first time in a long time, and you just assume because you don't think about think about sometimes you don't think about that detail, but I will say that the market,

the tri-state areas, well, the fastest growing hockey markets in, in North America is in certainly in the United States. And when all three teams are successful and competitive and one of the three of the top teams, it just bodes well for hockey and the excitement. So, yeah, it's fantastic.

As you know, it's springtime. Have a great time this Stanley Cup spring, pal, and maybe we'll see you soon down the road. Love to catch up along the way. Thanks, guys. That is the great Adam Graves. Man, just class act, this guy. Yeah, he's awesome. to follow up your point there it

marks the fourth time in the tri-state area's history that all three teams have made the postseason so this year 2007 1994 and 1990 oh wow that is That is crazy. You know what saved us? Two and 94. The Islanders didn't make it for a decade themselves. First couple of rounds, you took a bus, and we took the Amtrak to Washington. Did you? It was so much fun just getting on this train.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's great. Well, they'd have our own booths they they close it off for us but it was still really cool to to travel that way and not feel like you're exhausted yeah right yeah that's a different uh definitely a leg up on some other teams the rangers are in pittsburgh's out to talk about that after the break. We welcome in Phil Bork. You are watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born.

Big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the Leafs, Jays, Raptors, and the NFL. The J.D. Bunkins Podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Real Kipper and Born on Sportsnet 590 The Van. The Kipper is Justin Bourne.

Last night, Pittsburgh Penguins officially eliminated from Stanley Cup. Only happened once in the last, what, 17 with Sidney Crosby? Yep. Going back to his rookie year. Let's welcome in Phil Bork, Pittsburgh Penguin radio analyst and two-time Stanley Cup champion. And Borky, if I asked you if the city of Pittsburgh, or at least the hockey fans there, woke up today a little stunned,

would that be an understatement? Not this morning. That was probably yesterday morning, stunned, after losing to the Blackhawks. And good to be on with you, Kipper and Justin. Yeah, I'll be honest with you. I'm actually driving. I have some family stuff to take care of.

I'm driving to Columbus right now, so I've had some time to marinate and think about what happened. So it's like a bad dream. It's like, no, that didn't really happen. I think we're going to lose to the Blackhawks and actually squander their chance to get into the postseason for the seventh straight season. The fans are angry, man.

They're angry, and you don't blame them, you know, because as much as this team has flaws and warts, Nicky, they still were a team that were good enough after getting gift after gift after gift, Christmas and April, to beat the Chicago Blackhawks, to give yourself a chance tonight to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, to get to the postseason. And I think that's why there's a bunch of reasons why they're angry, but that's probably the one that's fresh on their heart. Just hearing you talk about that, is it a mike sullivan thing is that where some of the

frustration is that's part of it yeah and you can't i don't think you can just take your index finger and go that's it's sully's fault just like you can't point your finger and just say oh it's heck he's fault but they i mean they're probably taking the the biggest bite of the sandwich right um because they're the they're the generals right they're they taking the biggest bite of the sandwich, right? Because they're the generals, right? They're the ice generals. They're the ones that are, you know, it goes hand in hand. Whether you're talking about a highly paid player or a highly paid coach or a well-competitive general manager,

there's a responsibility that goes along with that. And so, yeah, I didn't think Sully had a great season. I do find it interesting that, you know, down on the benches, between the benches a couple times recently, guys, and, you know, I remember Mike Sullivan just being this fiery Irishman, man. There's times when win or lose, he'd get to the podium after talking to the press, and you'd think he was gargling with rocks or something like that. I mean, he was so passionate behind the bench,

and I don't think he's given up. I mean, that's too bold of a statement. But I see a much more cerebral, almost a passive Mike Sullivan, and I just think it's such uncharted waters for him that I think he's also in disbelief as to what's happened here. So, yeah, as much as you want to point the finger at Mike Sullivan, and he does probably deserve some of it, it's not all on him. Borky, would there be a part of him that looks down the roster

and just says, not good enough? And I know injuries play a huge part, but is there a part where you say, we left this in the hands of Tristan Jari and Casey DeSmith and that just wasn't good enough or the defense wasn't good enough or we were, we were too small or we weren't tough enough. Fair question. Very fair question. And you're right. I mean, put yourself behind that bench and you look at the name plates as you go from

left to right, you, you play the card that you're dealt, right? And you hope you're, you have a good enough relationship and open line of conversation with your general manager that your GM says, what do you need, man? What do I need to get you? And if that line of conversation is not a two-way street and you're not getting the players that you want, then, yeah, you feel almost like you've got handcuffs on.

But yeah, the bottom six for this team, man, it's just, it's not even close. It's not, it's just not good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup. Obviously not to get to the playoffs. Probably the most disappointing part when you talk about the overall team and the skaters are the goaltenders. They have just underachieved. And I feel like such a fraud because when the Penguins came out of the gate 4-0-1, you know, my job is to analyze.

And when I come on shows like yours, Nicky and Justin, you want some expert analysis, right? I went on about, I think Tristan Jariy smith are two of the best two goalies in a great tandem and all this and there was just an injury and then a bad goal and it just seemed to be one thing after another thing where you just feel like you can't trust these guys and i felt that was a strength of the penguins and ended up being more of a weakness. So, you know, first off, we're all, you know, you're forgiven on that. You know, that is a it was a very unpredictable turn for Pittsburgh that obviously had a large impact on their season. There's but there's been there's been a lot of jobs lost over particularly coaching jobs lost over goaltenders who didn't perform well.

What changes do you think are coming then for pittsburgh this offseason there's no way they just run it back next season with the same group and say try again you know just just before you add to that borky to justin's point this is the fenway group that are now the owners uh when you talk about justin's uh question and then answer it, give us a feel of the Fenway group and where they fit in all of this and how much they've really paid attention and who are they really? Well, that's something I'm hearing a lot from Penguin fans is they don't know. They don't know who they are because there really hasn't been a face to the

organization. And, you know, you guys have been to Pittsburgh enough times to know that we're a big city, but we're a small city, you know, and we're just blue collar, man. And we like relationships and we consider our athletes and the owners of our sports team family. I mean, you look at the Rooney family with the Pittsburgh Steelers. I mean, there's a bond and a connection there that's always going to be there. And, you know, even though Ron Burkle, who was, you know, the principal owner with Mario Lemieux before the Fenway Group,

wasn't really seen much, Mario was. And so he took the place of Ron. Everybody kind of understood that Ron was more the money guy and Mario was more the hockey guy. And it worked for everybody because you still had the big boy there. And now with the Fenway group, a lot of people are like, who are they? We don't know who owns the Penguins.

Maybe that'll change now that, you know, what's going to hit the fan here, I think, a little bit. But kind of to not ramble on here and get to your question, Justin, the number one thing for me is they need more size. They need more jam. They need more grit. I'll be honest with you.

That's the biggest, the hardest thing for me to watch all year, guys, is to watch Chris Letang and even if Kenny Malkin. Guys just running the snot out of them. And you look around, you're like, well, somebody, well, somebody please do something. And I know they're looking over their shoulders. And nobody, Nicky, nobody does a thing. I've never seen anything like it before. And so what do those guys do?

They're not shrinking violence. They go and stick up for themselves. And you know as well as I do and i'm justin you understand this especially nicky who played that role right if you saw mark messier get drilled from behind and you're on the ice for the love of all that's holy you didn't care if you got punched in the face 15 times you went and stuck up for that guy because number one your teammates respected you. But just as much, the opponent respected you for doing it because it's the right thing to do. And I was taught as a peewee.

And I remember the coach. His name was Beaver Robinson. And he was a spitter. He was a yeller and a spitter. He grabbed me by the jersey. Right? He grabbed me by the jersey and all that spit flying in my face. And he's like, he's like, nobody,

nobody ever touches your captain and nobody touches your goalie. And I never forgot that. And I got punched in the face a lot. My captain and my goalie. And I just don't see it on this Pittsburgh Penguins team. So, Borky, where's Sid in all of this to say this?

You know Sid, though. Sid doesn't color outside the lines. You know, Sid, he stays on his lane because, you know, too many people give him heat if he says what's really on his heart. That's just the reality of being a star in a sport, that if you really voice your opinion there's so much that comes back you're like why did i bother i'll just give them what they want to hear that's tough tough uh to figure out the way to make this better you know

like with the contracts they have it just feels like they're a little bit stuck right now you know we're a new gm to come in there is there even any room to do much given the contracts they have oh you're gonna have to get super creative yeah i mean jeff carter has really struggled and that's that's been a huge disappointment because i'm a huge jeff carter fan and i thought maybe he was just kind of meandering through the regular season and was going to really turn it on the last, you know, 20 or even dozen games. It just wasn't there. And I feel for him because, you know, as hockey players,

we all hit that point, you know, where you know. You just know you don't have it anymore. And I think Jeff Carter is kind of there. But, you know, Jeff Petrie was a major disappointment this year. Besides Sid, he's got the second biggest cap hit on the team. What do you do with that contract? You know, this Mikael Granlund deal. If you're the new GM coming in on that, two more years at $5 million,

I don't even know if he can play anymore. I mean, I thought he was a fast player when he was in Minnesota, but he's lost not a step. He's lost three steps. I just can't believe the drop-off in this game. And he had one goal in, I think, 18 games as a Penguin. Maybe it's even 20 games. And it was the fifth goal in a 5-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

I don't know. If you're the new guy coming in, I don't know where you start because there's a lot of leaks in the dam and there's not enough fingers to fill them all in the one month time. I got to think with

the new contracts issued out last year of Tomalkin and Letang and Sid still up around 90, a hundred points who, whether or not Hextall and Brian Burke stay, or they get somebody else in there, you have to come in and win.

Now that's not an option. When you have those guys, the money that's being paid and the, and the levels that they can still hit. Correct. Borky. No, you're right.

Those guys have had arguably his best year ever. And because it's not just that I have the pleasure of watching him every single game and all the little things that don't make the stats and the highlights that you guys watch. As far as yeah, Geno gets his cookies, but he's been better at those low-percentage, high-risk plays. And Chris Letang, these guys, you look at all he's been through. The second stroke, the passing of his father,

overall he's been really, really good. You know, I heard Paul Coffey say something, so I don't want to take ownership of this, but I thought it was so interesting and it's so bang on. But, you know, Paul Coffey was a star, star player. He said, you know, there's three kind of players on a team. There's the muckers, the grinders, and the slugs, you know? And when they see a coach walking their way, they go the other way, right?

Because they're like, oh, geez, you know, what did I do wrong now, right? Then you have the really other way, right? Because they're like, oh, geez, you know, what did I do wrong now, right? Then you have the really good players, right? And they're up the coach's ass all the time because, you know what? They want to be elite players, and they want to get to the next level, and they want to have the power play time. And so they're the coach's best friend, right? Then you have the Sidney Crosby's and the Evgeny Malkins. You have the real elite players.

And all they want, guys, do they need more money? No. Do they need another Lambo in the driveway? No. Do they need another Rolex? No. They want another ring. So all they're asking their general manager and their coach is to surround them with a good enough supporting cast to at least get them in the playoffs,

at least get them another kick at the can. That's all these guys want, because they don't need any more money. They don't need friends. They don't need anything else material-wise. They just need a good enough supporting cast to get to the dance and maybe take another run at the Stanley Cup,

and I feel like management really let them down in that way. How many runs do you think Sid would have left in him here? I mean, 90 points is here. He's certainly not going away anytime soon but not going to play forever. No. I don't know. I don't have a crystal ball.

I don't think anybody can answer that question. It's a fair question to ask but the way this guy trains and the way he continues to look at deficiencies in his games and always making little tweaks and adjustments to get better, I don't see him slowing down. I just think as long as he's playing, he's going to play at Sidney Crosby level or he's going to say goodbye.

I'm not going to drop off and be a second or a third line center. I'm going to be the number one guy. I'm going to wear the C, and I'm going to lead by example. And once he's not able to do that, whether that's at 38, 40, 42, 45, who knows? I think as long as he's in the lineup, I think his team will always have a chance. You know? Is that a 5% chance?

Is it a 50% chance? Again, it's all about the supporting cast. Porky, you know, with the year that the Penguins had and where Sid is in his career, a lot of people are going to think that this might be the perfect opportunity for Sid to go somewhere else. People fantasizing about him and maybe Nate McKinnon playing in Colorado together.

Let me ask you this. Do you ever envision him wearing another NHL uniform besides the Pittsburgh Penguins? I've been asked that question probably, I'd say, within the last week. I bet you I've been asked that question probably, I'd say, within the last week. I bet you I've been asked that question 10 to 12 times. I'll give you the same answer I gave the other 12 people. No flipping way. There you go. Because Sidney Crosby wears the same pair of shoes that Mario Lemieux wore.

Okay? He wears the same skates. And he will walk down that road just the way Mario did. There is something to be said. Listen, the Montreal Canadiens would have given you the whole city, would have given you every single dollar, every player on the roster, would have given you the form to get Mario to play there. And he said, no, I'm a Pittsburgh Penguin.

And that's the songbook that sings out of. It's the same book that Mario did. And Sid will continue to walk down that path and continue to be a Pittsburgh Penguin as long as he's in the national hockey league. Isn't it crazy watching Kane and Taves leave Chicago? And who knows what's going to come next for those guys but it's so hard to have an amicable end where the player is happy the team is happy the organization

is happy it just is so uncommon and it's tough to see with competitors unless the Penguins are good so I guess that's it for Sid hey just as long as the penguins are good if they're bad it would be fascinating to see what would become of him just from an outsider's perspective no that's that's yeah really well said uh and it is tough to watch you know just watching chicago and jonathan taves i do hear kind of through the uh undercurrent that Jonathan Tate still wants to play. And I heard he would not or he would be tickled to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins and maybe be a 3C behind Sid and Gino. Who knows? You know, his health is a major issue, obviously.

But, yeah, it's tough to watch. I'm still not used to Patrick Kane wearing the New York Rangers jersey. I mean, he's just, he's a Blackhawk, right? And, you know, it's very rare throughout our game, even going back in the day. I mean, how many teams did Wayne play for? Four? Four different teams? It's tough to watch. It was tough to see Bobby Orr wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jersey, right? I mean, you really think about how many guys wore one jersey. Great players that wore one jersey. You know, Steve Eisenman comes to mind.

I mean, those are such special moments, special players. And Sid is such a historian. He loves the history not only of Canada and the United States, he studies that also, but the history of the game. He knows it, he embraces it, he respects it, and he honors it. Porky, that was awesome, man. Your breakdown of the Pittsburgh Penguins missing the playoffs, I can't think of anybody better to have brought on our show today to cover this, man.

Your passion, I love it. I got to play with you as a Ranger, and you are every bit as passionate as you were when you played, man. Appreciate it. Well, thanks, pal. I don't know. It physically, I have like a pit in my stomach. We hear it.

Bad happened to the family, you know, and hopefully they can pull their bootstraps up and fix what's wrong here because it's still a special team with Sid here. So hopefully they can fix things. I enjoyed coming on your show, guys. And this was. All right, listen, safe travels, okay, on the road.

And we'll catch up to you soon. Phil Bork. Thanks so much. Wow. He was really good. He was really good. And you can sense the disappointment. And, you know, listen, we've had guests come on the show who are, you know, follow the team, travel with the team.

Sometimes it's not easy to come on and be so candid or show that much passion or frustration. So he's been there a long time. He won cups there too. So he understands the passion of that town. And I think he said it best. Those are big little towns it's it's really a a community there so they are they're really disappointed there today

yeah and i i thought that's a really relevant point about feeling disconnected from ownership in a way you know like without having the guy to point to and say it's burkle it's lemieux it's whoever it's we don't know i don't know it's just a corporate corporate behemoth that's challenging because you don't know who to be mad at sometimes and how to get results you know can you appeal to a corporation that can be challenging so what'd you think of borg It's going to be what I sound like when the least suits the lightning. Yeah. Oh, God. Oh, God. Yeah. No, he was awesome.

Speaks from the heart. We ask people to come on this show all the time, and all we ask for is passion, honesty. Those are the two best things that make a good radio hit, and he had that in spades. So he's right. Like, it stinks that sid missed the playoffs it really sucks yeah the the one thing was the the decision to sign those guys and take another

crack at it and it was just the wrong decision but you know what kip maybe it's not the wrong decision. But you know what, Kip? Maybe it's not so bad if they fill in around them okay. Like, Granlin, no. Petrie, no. Like, Raquel and Zucker making 10 schmil. You know, like, they didn't do a good job of giving those guys a chance. So I'm with you that I don't know that they could have got through, do whatever,

but they just didn't do a good job filling in around them. Yeah. Who do you think of when you think of guys that have played for one organization? Like, the people that come to mind are the all-time legends. Like, I mean, I know Gretzky didn't do it, but you think of, like, Iserman, you think of, you know, Lindstrom, Sackick. Lemieux, obviously. Listen, Lemieux.

Wayne Gretzky's our best player in history and i gotta remind myself that you know he played on four teams i'm like i know oilers and i know kings and then it's like oh yeah st louis and the rangers at the end how did he never play for the Leafs? You know what? How the hell did that not happen? No salary cap at the time? No, I know. I'll tell you exactly what happened.

You know? Yeah. Oh, I'm really thrilled to ask you this then. It was all set. He was going to be a Toronto Maple Leaf. And then they went through this ownership thing with Steve Stavro. And he got into a cash crunch and banks were calling in uh loans and debt and he could not bring on gretzky as an asset oh my god you know what it paid a lot of

bills this is bringing in gretzky if there's anyone out there that knows the story better and maybe i didn't do it justice or maybe maybe I'm off, please let me know. But that's the way I remember it. Right. That there was something really crazy going on at the time. God. Really would have loved it. And that was the shift.

Is that when he went to the Blues or went to New York? New York. That's a good question i think it was uh new york off of st louis that would have been 95 90 96 maybe you know you know what eight-year-old sam mckee would have hated wayne Gretzky on the Toronto Maple Leafs. That would have stunk. How many 99 jerseys? Oh, my God. Number one. I see, I mean, like, I, yeah, I see a lot of horrible jerseys every time I go to, out to a Leaf event or see Leaf, like, there would be a million. I'm not saying Gretzky's bad.

I'm just saying, like, the amount of ones that are out there. Yes, there are currently Leafs, Gretzky's jerseys made. I bet you that, for sure all right a few of my sources are telling me you were you are bang on nick on on why gretzky didn't end up at toronto maple leaf it's crazy now to think that the leafs couldn't afford wayne gretzky because what what would they do now it was just money to get mcdavid now i was gonna say now they would sign way when gretzky to a veteran minimum 750k having blocking shots you gotta make 750 yeah just yeah he's playing on the fourth line with thorton and mark giordano you gotta and spezza we're gonna have you on the line together three

you guys when i was asking phil about you know the way it ends for superstars and teams like the only way it seems to end well in the salary cap era is when guys say, I'll play for nothing. I'll come be Spezza for minimum. George Armstrong played 1188 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs, won four cups. He was one of the ones that played

only for the Leafs. I'm still looking back on people that won. I'm not sure why we're talking about that. Now it makes sense. Thank you. Okay. From the woes of Pittsburgh to the yays of the New York Islanders.

The yays. In the playoffs. Yes, yes, yes. You knew this all along, didn't you? Yes, yes, yes. We're going to welcome in after the break Andrew Gross covering the aisles for Newsday.com. He's going to tell us how jacked they are in Long Island. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, back after these words.

Breaking down the biggest trends in hockey. The Hockey PDO cast with Dmitry Filipovich. Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts this is real kipper and born on sportsnet 590 the van all right let's talk a little aisles justin bourne pretty happy right now so is everyone else in long island let's welcome in andrew gross hey uh andrew thanks for joining us how are you hey guys thanks for having me so much uh all's good here how are you guys yeah so uh everybody just still happy you made the uh the the idols made the, or is it now focused on who we play in? I'm sure that's the focus right now,

whether it's going to be the Bruins or the Hurricanes and the Ajita over how tough a matchup either one of those will be. But last night was fun at UBS Arena because, in essence, it was the first, you know, the first real playoff game in that building's history. You know, it was an elimination game for the Islanders. And it was fun to be there. The crowd was really good.

They chanted. They sang. They booed the power play when appropriate. You know, everything you wanted to hit. And, you know, I think there was just a giant sense of relief that this team, it took 82 games, but that this team is back in the playoffs after a one-season absence. Andrew, is there any chance that they'll get healthier?

Is Barzal going to play? Are they going to have Romanov at at all or is it just going to be that the team we saw last night is what they're going to go into playoffs with no i think there's a belief within the organization that one or both of those guys will play at some point in the postseason they uh uh romanov just started skating again. What's today? Well, today's Thursday. He was on the ice before the morning skate yesterday, and Lane Lambert said he had actually resumed skating on his own on Tuesday.

Matthew Barzell has been skating on his own for about two and a half weeks now. The next step, obviously, is getting them into a team practice. I think once they get into a team practice, it'll be pretty quick before they're back in the lineup. And, you know, the team's on the ice tomorrow at 1030. We'll know who they're playing by then, and we'll have a little bit clearer picture of both Romanov and Barzel tomorrow, I would think.

We're talking to Andrew Gross, who covers the aisles for the Newsday.com, also hosts Island Ice podcast. Andrew, when it comes to this roster, anyone that's playing the Islanders, is it just only one guy can beat us, and that is Shusterkin? Is that the feeling going in? You know, I did. There's a confidence in that room, and I don't know that they've, you know, specified who could beat them, who they could, you know,

who might not beat them. They go in thinking that, you know, they probably have one of the two best goalies, perhaps, in the Eastern Conference. I think Sorokin has had a better season than his buddy Igor Shosturkin, although they were both All-Stars. Obviously, Linus Olmark with the Bruins is, you know, the presumptive Vezina winner here, but I think Sorokin is going to get a lot of support for that award as well. So they go in with that kind of confidence. It's a matter of, I think the thing they're really afraid of is

if they don't get this power play move, and then it could be a quick playoff run because you've got to score on the power play in the playoffs. And before Anders Lee got a late one, the insurance goal really wrapped it up at 4-2 late in the third period yesterday. They had been on an 0-for-18 skid on the power play, and really they've been dreadful on the power play ever since Matthew Barzell went out.

So, you know, Barzell's return is critical for their playoff help. Yeah, the Islanders, only one team in the NHL was worse on the power play this season. God, if they could get that halfway ironed out, it would go a long way for them for sure. How did their additions work out at the deadline? Bo Horvat, Pierre Engvall for a team that, you know, needed some bodies down the stretch. How to have those guys fit in. Yeah. Well,

they both fit in really well. Bo Horvat, of course, his scoring and his production dropped off considerably. Once Matthew Barzell went out and I guess that's a double-edged sword because the one thing that was really impressive to me was how quickly Bo Horvat and Matthew Barzell developed chemistry. And that has not been a given with the Islanders and with Matthew Barzell.

He's proven very hard to define complimentary players with on his line, guys who can really get into his brain and understand what he's trying to do out there with his skating. And Bo Horvat took to that really quickly. And of course, Barzell moved over to right wing to accommodate Bo Horvat centering that top line. But without Barzell to kind of skate the puck around and to facilitate Bo Horvath's really strong two-way play and getting in between the circles and deflecting some pucks and getting chances,

the production dipped for him. So that's one thing certainly to watch out for in the playoffs. And he's been a little bit snake bit, yes, you know, for sure. You know, he keeps saying the chances are there. Yesterday, he doinked a backhander off the right post. So, you know, earlier in the season, that one goes in for sure for him. The other guy, Pierre Ingvall, has proven to be a really sneaky good pickup by Lou Lamorello, who knew him from their Toronto days.

And it took Pierre, you know, maybe two, three, four games to really get to his style of play and figure out what the Islanders were asking him to do. You know, certainly a much less explosive offensive attack than what you have in Toronto. So, you know, Pierre Engvall stopped kind of looking for those home run passes and just started, you know, getting into the Islanders' more, you know, methodical north-south attempt at getting up by shorter passes. But once he figured that out, his speed really came to the forefront. And, you know, for a big guy, he skates really, really well.

And, you know, I think that was one of the revelations because, you know, you don't necessarily see him every day when he's with another team. And he skated really well. And his addition to Brock Nelson's line with Kyle Palmieri really cemented that trio. Kyle Palmieri had a heck of an end of the season. Brock Nelson got to 36 goals with two last night. And that's been their most dynamic line. And Pierre Engvall is a big reason why.

Andrew, you mentioned Lou Lamorello. This time of year when you deal with underachieving teams, it's almost naturally to start questioning whether or not there might be some changes to organizations, i.e. coach, i.e. general manager. When it comes to Lou Lamorello and the Islanders today, was he ever in a situation where making the playoffs were real important to him with the ownership group? Was there any true rumblings about Lou's future if, in fact, the Islanders would have missed the playoffs? Well, I mean, you've been around Lou, so no, there weren't many rumblings. And the last time we talked to him, one of the other reporters did ask him,

you know, something about, you know, the belief is that this is the last season of his contract. And Lou kind of jumped down that media person's throat saying, you guys, you know, you're all just speculating. You have no idea. You're guessing whether I'm in the last year, you know, that type of thing. He was in attack mode. But that being said, you know, the belief is, as the question was raised,

that, you know, Lou might be coming to the end of that initial contract with the Islanders. And I do think it was incredibly important to ownership to get back into the playoffs. If for no other reason, I mean, the revenue is nice, but you have to start establishing UBS Arena

as, you know, you got this brand new arena, you want to show it off in the playoffs, and last season was such a, you know, just such a disjointed bad season that you knew the Islanders were out of it early. There was no chance of the playoffs and, you know, now they can, they can start establishing some of that playoff atmosphere that,

that Nassau Coliseum was so well known for. And, you know, making the playoffs is always important to the bottom line. So, yeah, I think a playoff miss this season would have adversely, you know, impacted whether or not Lou Lamarillo is, you know, here for much longer or not. And that being said, you know, if Lou's not here and it's not his son Chris Lamarillo who is the next boss of this team, then you have to worry about, you know, wonder about Lane Lambert. You know, a new GM oftentimes wants to bring in his own guy,

which might have been unfair to Lane because I think Lane did a pretty good job of righting the ship in January when it looked like this team was absolutely out of it and didn't have a chance of making the playoffs. And so, yeah, no, I think last night was very important for Lou Lamorello and for ownership and for Elaine Lambert. And that being said, you know, if they get swept in four here in the first round, you're probably, you know, right back to what I said

at the beginning of this long diatribe um you know going into this series here whether it's boston or carolina makes a huge difference if it is carolina if florida manages to lose a hockey game tonight do you feel like uh the islanders have a chance to make some noise here i feel like a couple of unsung guys andersley uh you know 30 goals this year and brock nelson's 36 goals and 75 points like they got some veteran big body guys do you feel like this could be a team built to have playoff success well that's certainly their belief that you know that they're this is their time of the season and then they and they proved that you know in 2020 and 2021 getting to the NHL Final Four.

And, look, in their minds, and, you know, I'm just being the reporter here, in their minds, they're still that same team with that same potential, regardless of how much of a, you know, intense, you know, nail-biter the season was. They still believe they can play back to that level, if not better, because obviously their goal is the Stanley Cup, not just to lose in the third round. But, look, I'm not going to overthink this.

I think Boston is every bit as good as they showed in the regular season, and they are very, very much a prohibitive favorite to win the Eastern Conference. So, yeah, I like the Islanders' chances way better against the Hurricanes. And, you know, without Svechnikov, I'm not exactly sure, you know, where he stands and, you know, and the health of the Hurricanes. But the Islanders, the Hurricanes obviously being a speed team, one of their strengths being speed. They're not just based on that. But the Islanders, with these heavy guys that you mentioned,

and you saw this more against the Devils this season, but they really could physically wear down a team and kind of offset another team's speed advantage with their physical play, getting in on the forecheck and just wearing them down over the course of 60 minutes. And I certainly see that as a path to having a very competitive series against the Carolina Hurricanes, if that's the way it does wind up. It's going to be a lot of fun watching this thing play out.

Andrew, so thankful for your time, man. Thanks for making room for us today. Anytime, guys. And yeah, definitely the best time of the year. It's going to be a lot of fun hockey coming up, and I can't wait. Andrew Gross, covering the Isles

for Newsday.com and hosting Island Ice podcast. You've been in that building, eh? You know what? I haven't. Oh, you have not. No, you know what? I was twice. I've been supposed to go. We had an ice storm one time. I haven't been yet. My wife has been.

It does come off on television like a really great atmosphere. Yeah, by all accounts, you know, big league looking setup but you know what they really made an effort to replicate the acoustics of the coliseum like i think it's one bowl right like they they wanted that feel of the old coliseum as in a newer set yeah there are some games in that old one was like god mayhem may it's so loud i can only imagine i can only imagine what it was like

when your dad's teams were in there just like yeah teams going in there and like oh we gotta play this team and listen to these hooligans you know whoever they play um andrew was right they they you're gonna have some bumps and bruises here after this series against the islanders like you know mayfield and tzatzikas and clutterbucks back martin and they just even like a lot of their consistent guys like i mentioned nelson and lee and they're big and parisi they're in the right spots there you got to go through them all the time and heavy finish every chat yeah like under-talented. They have trouble scoring.

Their power play this year, 15.8%. That is dreadful. Only the Flyers are worse. So if they could operate. Well, it's not good. Truly. They could be halfway decent. You would think that one of these guys,

Nelson in front of the net, Barzal, they could put something together. Horvat, nope, nothing. I think it's pretty clear to me. Because, you know, whenever the bracket's finally set and everybody's doing their picks for who's going to get through in the first round that no one ever cares about. But Islanders are going to be a very sexy one if they play Carolina. Carolina's reeling, the aisles are what they are there's a lot of people that'll be that'll be convincing themselves that the islanders can sneak by sorokin versus uh old freddie anderson well i mean listen

you don't need to ask my thoughts on freddie anderson in the playoffs but i uh yeah i really hope for their sake because then we can just get rid of Florida. Who cares about Florida? No, not me. I can tell you that. No, just get rid of them. Let them get out of there and then get like a, you know, this is a big market thing, but like it does matter with laundry to me in terms of you're watching these series.

Yeah. And you get, you know, Boston versus whoever you want it to be. They're like, get Florida out of here. Get Carolina. Get the Devils in there, Rangers. Like, I prefer the big. Classic squads. Yeah, better jerseys.

Anyways. Well, I got to think that, you know, the league's looking around and I'm not sure how happy ESPN is that there's no Pitt, Philly, Washington. Those are typically good Sunday afternoon draws. Big time. They did pretty well by, you know, Boston, Toronto, New Jersey, New York, New York. But does Toronto sell in the States?

Fair enough. I don't know. No, no, I don't think it does. I don't know what that does for the ratings. Well, you lose a market anyways. The West is kind of. Home market you cheer for in the States. Yeah.

Market-wise, the West is a bit of a dog's breakfast. Yeah, it's not. Great. L.A. did sneak in. You got L.A. But yeah, the East has some quality cities in there. Big cities, big markets. So will everything be set after tonight?

Or is there still stuff to play for tomorrow? There's one game tomorrow. The Colorado Avalanche will play Nashville. And right now, Colorado is a point behind the Dallas Stars for first and central. So that could matter still. But otherwise, I believe every team in the league is in action tonight. And only one playoff series is set. Yeah, and it's been that way for a while.

Yeah. Okay. We got to talk Jonathan Taves because Kyle Davison came out with a statement, which I'm not even sure. I don't know. I mean, I hated it. I hated the statement yeah just uh talking about how you don't want him back that's all i got out of the statement completely agree it's such a

such a weird day listen um you know we had a difficult conversation i'm paraphrasing of course we had a difficult conversation and we told them we're not bringing him back. But come on out and cheer him on before we kick him to the curb. Do you want me to read the statement? Yeah, please. Here it is. I've had a number of conversations with Jonathan

throughout the season about his future with the Blackhawks, and recently we had the difficult conversation that we won't be resigning him this offseason. Tonight will be his final game as a Blackhawk, and it was very important to us to be able to provide the proper send-off for Jonathan and our fans. He has done so much for this organization,

and no matter where he plays next, we're excited our fans get the chance to show Jonathan exactly how much he means to them. There's no one-game send-off. There's no proper send-off. If you put someone on a raft and push them into the ocean? Yes.

There's your send-off. A proper send-off is if he turns around. Like if they somehow came to this conclusion together and presented it together. I'm not saying that the decision's wrong and that you should bring him back i'm not saying that what i'm saying is you couldn't come up with a better plan to end his career in chicago other than it's difficult and i told them that we're not bringing him back like to do it proper he has to engage he has to be part of it

not this awkward thing where it's proper for you but he feels like a yeah he feels awful because he knows it's it's the last one can i i don't know can i play devil's advocate a little bit yeah please i don't like i agree that it's not you don't need to say you're not re-signing them to me like i it's like it makes it look like we're like yeah this guy stinks he has long cold and we don't want him around anymore like it really feels but at the same time it is a huge thing for blackhawks fans who didn't really get a proper send-off for the other legend that played for their team well And they didn't know if he was going to get traded. They hummed and hawed.

He got held out for trade-related reasons. They didn't know. He was crying about it in the media. This, at least they know, is a definitive chance for them to go buy a ticket, go down to the arena, standing ovation the whole night. Listen, you've got to be an idiot not to know that it was most likely his last game.

No, you're right. You're right. That's true. It's like, yeah, guess what? He's already signing here. He likely his last game no you're right no that's you're right that's true it's like yeah guess what he's already signing here he's done no you're right anyone going to the game would have known it's his last game no no you're right i don't think we can have this conversation properly if you don't acknowledge the elephant in the room that was the kyle beach scandal and do the Blackhawks. Just want to. Wash their hands. Of everyone.

Who came within 100 yards of that thing. Do they just want to not. No. You don't think it's related at all. No I don't. I don't. No. It's a good question. I think it's.

The amount of stuff that's happened. You kind of. You know. They pinned it on Joel Quinville. They pinned it on Stan Bowman. That's enough. You didn't have to go and kick your two best players in franchise history to the curb.

I just know it comes up in my timeline as a related sort of thing, you know, my Twitter timeline. This has been amateur hour at its finest, if you ask me, about Taves and Kane. Yes. I totally agree that the worst conceivable way for this to go was to wait till the last game of the year and be like, oh, he's out of here, bye.

You should do the right thing and cheer for him. And then just like, I don't know, either support the guy or you don't support the guy. This is so wishy-washy. Can you explain to me what is proper send-off tonight? Are they doing videos? You're bringing out your wife, your family. I actually don't know about that.

What is proper? I'm fascinated to see now that we're talking about it. Are they going to do it proper? Video tribute, standing O's, all that stuff. If he retires this summer or he goes and plays somewhere else for a year like Pittsburgh, they come back into the building and then you do it proper, right? There's time to do proper.

Proper to me now is you're racing in to do something so you can wash your hands and then move on well it's almost like when san jose made logan couture the captain from joe thornton they're like we just want someone else and then minnesota buys out parisi and and suitor and they're like we just don't want the old leaders around anymore we We want a fresh start. Yeah, but this is... I think there's a bit of a difference. This is your top 100 in history. It's not Parise.

It's not Suter. Yeah, he's not even... No, I know. He doesn't have any cups, only three. I know. But I don't know. I just think it's like this guy deserves way better than just... If they're going to do anything with

them tonight it might be as awkward of a scenario for me than i've seen in a long time well and worse let's say they do it like what an honor for taves to be surrounded by you know anders bjork boris kachuk austin wagner ian mitch, Reese Johnson. You know, like, oh, here we go. Not one guy had one meaningful game within his entire life is there. Buddy Robinson. Buddy, that's not it. Okay, no, hold on. Those aren't real names.

All of them are real. No, I don't believe those. Those last two, I don't believe. Buddy Robinson. You made a few up. Buddy Robinson and Wyatt Kaiser. That legitimately sounds like when you're in season 25 of a be a pro and now those are your line mates.

Are you handing him a mic to address the fans tonight? That to me sounds proper. Man, I don't know. He's that good. Kipper, you've really talked me onto your side completely. It is weird.

It's horrible. It's weird. Yeah, like he doesn't seem to know his ability to play with this long covid and you can't tell me if they get connor bedard you wouldn't benefit from having jonathan taves there to pass the torch playing 13 minutes a night making do the old cross be torch pass pending that you're thinking about all your options in the month of June? He officially becomes a free agent July 1st. Why can't you even pretend like, hey, there's a lot of benefits if we bring him back. We're going to think about it.

Or John decided he wants to go to Pittsburgh where he has a chance to win, and we didn't kick him out. We're going to talk to John. We're going to talk to his family, his agent, and we're going to do what's right for us and John together. Something like that. That's what the man deserves. Sure does. Well, yeah.

We'll leave this, though right that's it uh kipper did you want to talk about uh uh austin matthews leaving oh my my article yeah today in the toronto start i didn't you got you got you got the internet fired up bud no a little fired up yeah i read that i read the headline i was like you son of a i didn't i don't write headlines right when nobody writes headlines you write your headlines no sir yeah exactly so i was what was the headline in in my article today uh something austin matthews is guaranteed leaving according to real kipper all you're doing right now is pissing me off right now because you've convinced probably a hundred people see the show. That's true. No, it says NHL playoffs could impact Austin Matthews' long-term future with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Do you believe that to be true or false? I believe that to be a true statement, Your Honor.

Thank you. Was it overall, was I, what do they say, clicking for bait, baiting for clicks? You're looking for clickbait. Was that an article that I was baiting for clicks? Or was there some legitimacy to that? Headline was, article, very fair and very well thought out,

I thought. The article is totally fair. I think what you did in that article was lay out what's at stake for the Leafs in this postseason. And typically, we've said this about Connor McDavid for years. If the Oilers sucked and sucked and sucked, he was going to go play somewhere else eventually. And by the way, that was Sammy leading that conversation.

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. How about how he's guaranteed going to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs? Oh yeah, that's a lot. So to set the stage, if Matthews, he can resign July 1st, if the Leafs lose in the first round again does it affect his belief that this team can get over the hump and would it affect his decision

it could and i think that's all you said it could yeah and i also kind of mentioned the fact that what a first round loss would mean to kyle dubas and would even would k Kyle be even in a situation to negotiate that contract? And if he isn't, who is? And where's the vision? Where are the changes coming up? It gets very complicated. Yeah. You know, I'll admit, when I saw the column,

the headline, just like Sam, I was like, you know, the Leafs are three days away from a really exciting playoff run here with a great team and it's very exciting why are we talking about austin matthews contract when he has another like what are we doing here and then i read it and it does set the table it sets the table for the stakes here which are huge huge implications not just you know winning a round winning a cup whatever but what comes after this if it's a what if and the and it really is tied to the first round we believe that even if

and you know maybe i'm buying into sammy a little bit here that there is pressure that is alleviated beating tampa bay even if you lose to b. There is that wiggle room where it's like for two weeks, you felt great. You got out of the first round. Maybe it's not good enough to beat Boston. You lost to one of the best regular season teams in franchise history or in NHL history if it's Boston. Kyle gets another contract.

Matthew sees growth. You know what my two cents on what Matthew isew is gonna do next he's gonna sign a three or four year contract with the leafs and that will position him to make a crap ton of money in his career right because he'll still be amazing over those years he'll have the ability the flexibility it's nba style yeah and for the record in my article i did mention that i believe that believe that this is the year that they're going to get by Tampa and that a short-term deal would probably be best

to hit that market that you're talking about. The part that terrifies me about this, and I know, God, everyone calls me a doomer, but guess what? I'm a Leaf fan. I got scars, baby. I've only seen the worst with this core. That the pressure, like reading that article and i'm like you know the uncertainty

with dubis and the contracts that are due to two of their best players and willie and obviously austin matthews ahead of them just all the pressure in the world they're big favorites now against tampa and the tampa bay is a pedigree team with no pressure there is exactly zero pressure on the Tampa Bay Lightning heading into this first round series do you agree you're looking at me like I'm wrong yeah no no uh based on based on where the Leafs finished based on Tampa's struggles you're not wrong and I think I I like they the last time I looked the Leafs were pretty heavy favorites in the first round here and how could they not I mean the books you're not wrong. And I think, like, the last time I looked, the Leafs were pretty heavy favorites in the first round here. And how could they not?

I mean, the books, you're looking at it. I haven't seen a line, to be honest. I think they were, like, plus 220. What? No. That's mayhem. That's the part that scares me. Yes, that's what I mean.

That's the part that scares me, is that the wounded animal pedigree factor versus a team with all the pressure in the world with no certainty going forward. The other thing I wanted to kind of reiterate. I don't want to be negative, because I am excited, and I think the Leafs do have a great chance to beat Tampa. Yeah, and the other thing, too, is, like,

regardless of what happens here, you're very close to July 1st, where I think cards get shown July 1st. And Matthew Kachuk changed the whole scope of UFA for stars. He changed everything last year. You don't think Tavares changed everything? No, Tavares was old way. Old way? Yeah.

Tell everybody that you love it here and then back the truck up at midnight. And Johnny Goudreau did the same thing. And Matthew said, no. I'm going to tell you to your face that you can get assets

for me right now, but don't make the mistake of having me walk out the door and get nothing. And if there's a hint of austin wanting to leave i think he has no choice but to go the matthew kachuk route i will say i don't think any of that's happening okay that's fine i mean but it's it's austin matthews there is an opportunity for it to happen of course and anything can happen but you know he's been nothing but content being the you know face of the biggest franchise in the nhl and um you know won a heart trophy here they just need a little bit of success i uh i'm not overly concerned about that you know

you just said hey if he leaves i'm ripping him. Let the record show. What more do you want? He's just got to get a big one in one of these games. So I got this segment in my article too. It's Kipper's Corner. Did you read one of them? I read it all. Kopitar.

Kopitar's contract is up. After next year, which would open up a yes you know 10 million dollars off the uh la kings yeah you know that oh i knew that that's been a conversation we've talked about this before on this show about how la is the biggest threat to the austin matthews toronto maple leaf's future to me ah yeah but there's a sense that Kopitar will shut it down after next year, that he won't resign at all. Will he, like, he won't play anywhere? He may not play. It might be a scenario with, like, a Krejci situation

where he just maybe goes home or. Oh, so is this you trying to like... I'm just saying. Oh, this is pathetic. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. I'm just... There's a nice little slot there in LA.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like some things. Yeah, definitely. Just kept a refreshing... Am I trending yet? Am I trending yet? Did mention also that... Phil Bork, we just had him in Pittsburghittsburgh that uh there are you talk to

people in in pittsburgh and kyle dubas's names brought up there as a possible replacement if pitt makes major changes yeah that's a reality too right sure yeah if if toronto loses and he is available i imagine people will look at his track record here and go it's better than what we've been doing so big time yeah anyways not uh not shocked to hear that let's live in the now boys here we are living in the now and and justin born voted uh his nhl award so share some with us sure can you are you gonna do that well i don't know you know i'm not i'm not allowed to say I don't think, like, who I specifically voted for.

Elliot always has a column before it comes out, and he has, like, here's a group of names that I had. I love Kipper's, like, sure you can, Bubba. Go for it. The one thing I'll say is there's a defenseman with 100 points. I don't. You didn't vote for Carlson. I don't know.

That's gutsy. That's a little gutsy yeah so who's uh i mean second would be in points would that be morrissey uh i don't know who's second is take a look at the scoring leaders in on defense on it yeah i'm not sure how much i can actually say all right exactly but oh are they gonna revoke your card your maybe yeah it's a huge honor exactly what they would be a huge honor to have it oh i didn't get to vote the one year at least half the guys voting don't even watch west coast games we know that josh morrissey is indeed in second place with 76 points. Quinn Hughes in third with 73. Miro Heiskanen, Brandon Montour, Dougie Hamilton, Rasmus Dallin, Adam Fox, Kale McCart, and Vince Dunn. Hey, I know you voted for Morrissey because he's in the playoffs.

Oh, that's you who votes like that. You're the big playoff guy. I like the playoffs as part of it. It depends. I mean, I hear that a lot for the Hart Trophy as being a relevant factor. But do you think it's relevant for the other ones too, like Norris and stuff? I like it. I think it's worth some points for it.

I will say it influenced my opinion of Hampus Lindholm, that he was the largest influencer of a great team in the nhl uh i it influenced my opinion with kale mccarr in colorado who was a injury riddled team all year and drove the play as much as anyone in the nhl adam fox was on a great team for the new york rangers l Lindholm had a awesome year. Unbelievable season. And that's just... 53 points. He's been in Anaheim. Like, come on.

Who's watching him there? Well, not just who's watching. They suck. Yeah. You know, like... But we never knew how good he was. That was an excellent trade. Excellent.

Yeah. What did they get? What was the trade? Probably a couple of seconds, and I don't even remember. It wasn't. Yeah, I'm looking right now. Oh, it was a first and I think one other pick.

It was traded with Cody Curran to the Boston Bruins for John Moore. Vakanikinakadon? No. Round one pick Nathan Goucher And a round two pick Oh three So that's a lot

They paid a lot Two seconds of first And a guy with a crazy name And the ability to kind of Not spend nine million dollars Like Edmonton did on Darnell Nurse Yeah that's part of what you're buying And you're getting a number one guy.

Six and a half, I think, was the number. Yeah. Which is a steal. Like he makes a million less than Morgan Riley. Yeah. Oh, he's been a huge influence for that Bruins team. When you look, you know, they have 63 wins. You need to, when you're voting for awards,

say some of these guys had a monumental impact on the success of their teams all right anything else big night in the nhl um does mitch marner get to 100 points yes oh yeah in the first period and if he does on the first play much in the rest of the game i don't know but i'm gonna bet it for sure. Okay. First goal, Mitch Marner probably pays like 10 to 1. Our thanks to Adam Graves, Phil Bork, and Andrew Gross, who covers the

Islanders. Enjoy the game tonight, Sammy. Give me a score. 5-1. Everyone stays healthy and nobody cares. Matthew Nye scores for his NHL goal today. There it is. Yes, I'm in on that. A Nye's goal and a 3-2 win. All right. Enjoy the game, everybody.

We're back tomorrow to wrap up the week. Real Kipper and Bourne.