Real Kyper & Bourne - Reigniting the Rivalry

Episode Date: February 12, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the second hour with more reflections from Super Bowl 58 before welcoming Sportsnet's Ian Mendes (2:29) to the show. He gets into Saturday's rendition of the Battle of Ontario and the controversial empty-net goal from Ridly Grieg, Ottawa redefining their identity and why the extra scrappiness is good for the game. They regroup with Sam for news and notes - what the Flames do with their expiring defencemen, more moves coming for the Habs, whether Walman's game-winning griddy crossed a line and Ovechkin starting to heat up.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.

We'll be right back. It's the national edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver and Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kipriel, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Alright, so where did you have like on your Super Sunday that the Oilers would be

losers of two of the last three games on your bingo card? Microphone? I can't say I thought about the Oilers yesterday. Watching Nick Taylor and Taylor Swift. Yeah, a lot of Taylors involved. Yes, heavy Taylor day.

Yeah, I really loved that Super Bowl last night. Great game. I mean, slow for a while. I mean, that's football. Sometimes it's not great for the whole thing, but how much better could you ask for? You get one of the best of all time, driving for a win in overtime,

one of the second time in history that a game's gone to overtime. I don't know what the record is in the U.S. for watching a Super Bowl, but I believe it's roughly around 120 million, 130 million. Population of 360 million. The number's going to be huge. I don't know how you... Half the country will have watched. And I will never understand how,

and I said it on the couch at the time, how Kyle Shanahan took the ball first when both teams get a chance in overtime. Yeah. It is a mind-numbing decision. Yeah. Because you always get to react. And so even worse that you heard players on San Fran

saying they didn't know the overtime rules or hadn't discussed it. Guys at the Chiefs are like, we talked about it like all the time yeah that's the difference right that's the kind of stuff that belichick would do that you always remember the little details and that comes down to that you want to hear you want to hear a crazy quick football stat that kyle in kyle shanahan's three super bowls as an offensive coordinator head coach his teams have been outscored 68 to 12 in the fourth quarter in overtime. Does that mean he gets lots of leads? 68-12?

Oh, my God. All right, have we got Ian Mendez? I think we do. All right, senior writer for The Athletic based in Ottawa. His article, Is There a Right Way to Score an Empty Net Goal? Question mark. Yes. But I do believe that he tells us there's a right way to score an empty net goal in his article. Is that true, Ian?

The question mark was for editorial purposes only. But really, you're telling everybody, I know how to score an empty net goal, and that was totally acceptable by Ridley Gregg. You know what? I should have entitled it, Is There a Wrong Way? Right? Because I think that's what we found out. You know what's funny is that halfway through the game,

neither team had been penalized. And I actually looked up online to see what's the least penalized game in the history of the Battle of Ontario. And it turned out it was six minutes total of PIMS. And I thought, wow, we're headed towards the least, you know, toxic Battle of Ontario, least abrasive. And then with five seconds left, all hell breaks loose. Honestly, I couldn't believe like what an explosion of opinion in the last 36 hours. This has been really really

fascinating so if if we look down the roster uh and we were gonna pick a guy to piss off the Leafs at the end of the game would would Ridley Gregg be at the top of your list because our boy Sammy here says he despises him now as a Leaf fan. I'll tell you, he is, you know, when Ottawa drafted him back in 2020, he was a late first round pick. The comparables by a lot of people, kind of a Brad Marchand type, you know, for a bit of an older fan, Mike Pekka was a name that was brought up with Ridley Gregg. And, you know, Ridley's got like a slight frame, right? He's not a huge guy.

He's a small guy. So the Mike Pekka comparable, I think, was apt for a lot of people. And if you remember the way Mike Pekka played the game, he was a pretty tenacious guy that sometimes created havoc around the ice. Brad Marchand does the same thing. And I think you're starting to see a little bit of a window in the Ridley Gregg. So, yeah, if you're asking me, you could pick one guy that was the disturber. I mean, Brady Kachuk would be on the list of potential agitators.

But knowing everything I know about Ridley Gregg, I think he really enjoys being in the middle of everything. So why don't you frame the article for us? I know you used the Patrick Stephon miss as sort of the jumping off point. Just give us a quick synopsis of your thoughts on what went down. Yeah, and look, and the reason why I bring up Patrick Stefan, and that was 17 years ago, which is crazy because it kind of feels like that was yesterday. But, you know,

for people that don't remember, Patrick Stefan of the Dallas Stars had a wide open empty net, not unlike Ridley Gregg, 10 seconds left in the game against Edmonton, and he just was kind of soft, cavalier on it. Huck skips over his stick. Oilers come back and score. And what we had heard in the last, you know, 15, 16 years, whatever, is, you know, you

better finish hard. Don't just take for granted when you have an empty net. Finish hard. You know, Ridley Gregg obviously went to the opposite extreme. And so people were looking at that. They're like, you know, that's not what we meant. Don't finish like that. There's a happy medium.

And I think this is what's interesting, guys. I think for the critics of Ridley Gregg, your feeling is, you know, he should have shown some restraint. He should have let his emotions be kept in a little bit. And he didn't have to go full Patrick Stephan. He didn't have to go full Ridley Gregg. There was a happy medium in between. He could have calmly and confidently put the puck in the net. We're not having this discussion.

That's what he should have done. That's the critics of Ridley Gregg. But I think there's also the critics of Morgan Rielly who are saying, you know, you didn't have to do, you only didn't have two options either. This was sort of the crux of my article. You know, I think a lot of people thought, you know, Morgan Riley, he had two choices to make. One was to do nothing, or one was to cross-check Ridley in the head. And I think there was a middle ground for Morgan Riley, too.

So if you didn't like what Ridley Gregg did, I think Morgan Riley could have grabbed him. He could have, theoretically, could have dropped the gloves. There's a lot of things he could have done that probably wouldn't have warranted a call from the department of player safety. So I guess I was trying to see, is there a middle ground here for both players? But as you know, with this discourse, there's never a middle ground.

So what you're saying is that it warranted a reaction, just not the one that included a cross check to the head. Yeah, I guess what I'm saying, I understand it. Like, so I talked to some'm saying, Kippers, I understand it. I talked to some Ottawa guys. I think Josh Norris had the best quote

of anybody on Saturday night. Josh Norris said, I loved it. Talking about Ridley Gregg. I loved it. I love what Ridley did. However, if that happened to us, I'm not going to lie to you. We'd probably be pretty upset. We just thought the retaliation went a little bit too far.

I think if you ask most players, that's probably what they would say. They would say, nah, you know what? I didn't like that. Somebody should have said something to him, but it shouldn't have risen to the level of, you know, getting the attention of the Department of Player Safety. But I understand, I guess I'm saying, I don't have to agree with it, but I understand it. I understand why the Leafs are upset. Morgan Rielly is upset. I understand it. But I also understand why Ottawa fans are not upset because they're like,

all he did was shoot a puck into an empty net. It's one of the wildest controversies that I've seen in a long time. So, Ian, Norris says, I loved it. My reaction, if I was in the room,. So Ian, Norris says, I loved it. My reaction, if I was in the room, would have said, well, what did you love about it exactly? And I don't know where his follow-up was

or if there was a follow-up, but in your opinion, what did he love about it? You know what I think? I think if you pulled the Ottawa guys aside and you asked them about Saturday night, guys, I think there's a real anger from Ottawa players that when Toronto comes to town in particular, their own building gets taken over.

And I'm going to put the number at 70%. I'm going to say that that building was 70% Toronto fans. So I think Ridley Gregg, if that game, let me put it this way. If that game's in Toronto, I don't know that he does that. But I think in Ottawa, I think the feeling from the players is, this is really, really frustrating for us as players, that our arena gets taken over. And hey, listen, full credit to Toronto fans.

You come in, you buy up the tickets, you do. I'm not criticizing Toronto fans here, but I think Ottawa players get really frustrated when their own barn gets taken over. And I think in some ways, and by the way, we tried to speak to Ridley today. He declined to speak until after the Department of Player Safety hands out their ruling on Riley.

But I think if you pulled him aside and asked him, why'd you do that? Or even ask Norris and guys, why'd you like it? I think they get really frustrated when their own building gets taken over. And that was a little bit of a subtle, not so subtle shot at those Toronto fans in the building. Ian, what do you think of the idea that Riley will see

or get an in-person hearing, potentially six-plus game suspension for that play? You know, and this is where I'm going to understand where Toronto fans come from. Like, this thing is a wheel of justice, right? Like, they spin that thing, and the two of you who have been around this game a long time have no idea where that's going to land.

I don't know where it's going to land. And I think that's the frustrating thing is that you see other things that have happened and yeah it does at times and i can't believe this is going to come out of my mouth but at times there does seem to be disproportionate uh discipline handed out to some toronto guys i i do see i've seen the numbers i'm not this isn't an opinion this is actually looking at the data like, wow, Jason Spezza got that. And, you know, whatever. Go down the list. It appears to be some disproportionate responses sometimes from the Department of Player Safety.

So when it happened, I thought, you know, that should rise to the level of supplemental discipline. You could talk me into three games or four games whatever it is i mean i see some people saying that this is dale hunter pierre turgeon i think that's a bit much that my opinion uh but the fact that there's an in-person meeting and that they're going to new york means to me that toronto is really going to fight this and i think this is going to be really interesting i i wonder if it comes down to where David Perron was, which was six games, and I even think Toronto will be really upset if it gets up to that six-game mark.

Ian, did really Greg start something for the Ottawa Senators in terms of just now presenting as a team that can on occasion stick it to teams like the Leafs or other ones. I mean, there's some toughness there with Brady Kachuk. Kind of surprised that the last seven seconds went as quietly, to be honest with you, as they did. But is this Ottawa showing a side of them that says that

besides the talent on the team, that they've got a little bit of moxie or you know strut i don't know yeah look kipper maybe but you're sitting in 28th place right so the the amount of swagger has to be somewhat measured but this is a team it's a franchise that has really struggled to find their identity like if you ask ottawa fans what's this team's identity you'd have a hard time. Like, back, you know, 10, 12 years ago, they were the pesky Sens, right? Because they would always kind of punch above their weight and they hung around in games.

Like, they had an identity. And even under Guy Boucher, they had an identity. Kind of lock it down, play tight defensive hockey and win. They haven't had an identity in a long time. And I think it's premature to say that what Ridley did on Saturday is is like this definitive start of the swagger era of the ottawa senators yeah i mean yeah you're right it's too strong for me to say but at the same time if ridley greg's gonna be this guy that every once in a while does call out a team or doesn't worry about repercussions like hey don't disappear ridley the next 25 games like you know bring it and and this

is the thing like there's no more Toronto Ottawa meetings this season right and that I think would have been a really interesting uh story to follow if these two teams met again look he's had a few things this year early in the year he hammered Alex to bring it in and with a clean hit that well at least a lot of people thought it was a clean hit it got penalized like like Ridley's going to be a guy if you go through and look at his career in the Western Hockey League guys he was suspended on multiple occasions um there's not very many players like that anymore right that the guys that play on the edge the almost the Matt Cook type of guys and I don't want to put him, Cook was in his own stratosphere there, but guys that play on the edge,

there's not many of them left in the game. He's a throwback. And I do think that he's the type of guy, and Marchand at times in his career has done that, although he is, Brad is just an elite player now, right? But Ridley Gregg is going to be one of those guys that if Ottawa ever gets into the playoffs, and that's a big if,

he's going to be one of those thorn in the side, I don't want to see this guy, and kind of a Claude Lemieux, Brad Marchand, that type of player. So how do you feel about a guy like, you know, everyone was asked about this, so, you know, Ryan Reeves is asked too, and he had his say and basically said,

you know, back when I came in the league in 2010, you know, Ryan Reeves is asked too, and he had his say and basically said, you know, back when I came in the league in 2010, you know, the guy probably would still be on the ice. He basically saying it used to be a more violent game. You know, Reeves is maybe not as relevant as he once was. Where do you think guys like that have a role in incidents like this and solving these sort of, I guess, problems between teams. Yeah, and Reeves went on the ice, did he not? Right?

For the last five seconds. He was hot there. So, you know, he's there. And that's the reason why Toronto signed him was to, you know, theoretically address these types of things. Again, I don't know. Like, look, this is more for the Toronto market. Like, if Riley doesn't do what he does, you guys are spending the day on 590 and on Sportsnet.

All you're doing is talking about there was no response from Toronto. This team is spineless, right? Like, that's probably what the discourse is going to be in Toronto. So Riley does it, and now people are saying maybe it should have been Ryan Reeves. Maybe it should have been somebody else so I I think that that type of that type of message sending seems a little bit outdated like it like I don't know like I guess I guess you could have sent Ryan Reeves out in the last five seconds to go after Ridley Gregg maybe I guess you could have done something like that but look I think this stuff is quite, sometimes as long as it's nobody's getting seriously hurt and there's not a ton of danger involved,

sometimes this stuff is, this type of hatred is good in the Battle of Ontario. Like, guys, this has been a dormant rivalry for the better part of the decade. I was thinking about this the other day when this all happened. I think in the cap era, it almost feels, I mean, Matthews had his four-goal game. When's the last time there was any spice between Ottawa and Toronto? Like, the time that Austin Matthews checked to see Scott

Sabourin's nameplate? Was that the most spicy thing that's happened in the cap era? So, sometimes it's okay to have Ryan Reeves say what he says, and for Ridley Gregg to do what he did, and for all these things to happen, happen because sometimes as long as it doesn't cross the line into this is reckless, dangerous behavior, this type of hate and this type of rivalry sometimes I think is good for the sport.

I agree. And all it took was to bring that goon coach back, Jacques Martin. Yes. Hey. Noted goon. So what's left for the Ottawa Senators in the last 30 here because there was some talk that they might be interested in Chris Tanev I'm like yeah but is Chris Tanev interested in the Ottawa Senators yeah like I mean I look at Tanev's situation I think if I'm Chrisanev, I'd want to go and have a playoff run with a Toronto,

with, you know, whoever needs a defenseman to boost up my value for the offseason. Then when Ottawa or a team like that wants to sign me, my value is a little bit more increased. So that's me if I'm Tanev. I want to go play some meaningful games. The interesting thing on Ottawa, guys, it'sesenko that's the name the watch that's the player to be paying attention to we chatted with vlad teresenko today you know he confirmed he switched agents he said

it was a family decision uh hasn't had any meaningful talks with ottawa about what's going to happen but i think we can read between the lines here he's going to likely get shipped off at some point between now and that March 8th trade deadline and what can Ottawa get for him like as I'm looking at biggest Ottawa stories the next three weeks four weeks it's Tarasenko um Montreal got a first round pick for Sean Monaghan I don't think Ottawa is getting a first for Tarasenko but I don't think it's out of the realm that they could maybe get a second-round pick, maybe a prospect, something of that nature. But that, to me,

of all the storyline, and this is Steve Stahels' first deadline as a general manager. He's fully in control of the car, two hands on the steering wheel. I'm really interested to see how he and Dave Poulin handle the next few weeks. Ian, great stuff, man.

Really appreciate you making time for us. The Battle of Ontario, it's back, baby. It's back. Tune in next October. It's back. Thanks, Ian. Ian Mendes, senior writer with The Athletic.

Yeah, I like this answer a lot on just the players sick and tired of watching a building being dominated by 70% of the opposition fan base. Well, every team cares most about the Leafs matchup. I don't think anyone is sitting here going, I don't know why Greg did it. You know, it's the Leafs. It was a close game. Bell, Ontario. Take why Greg did it. You know, like, it's the Leafs. It was a close game. Bell, Ontario. Yeah, take this.

Eat it. And then the Leafs said, don't say that to us in front of our friends and family. So since we're doing so much Leafs in Ottawa or whatever, do we want to listen to the Reeves clips from today? I think probably. Is it any good? All three of them are pretty good.

Okay, let's just play one and we'll make the call. Let's listen to Reeves clip one and then we'll go from there, okay? Okay. I mean, guy takes a clap and right now you're going to go play patty cake with him? Like, well, there's got to be a message sent. And I don't think a push is a message, to be honest with you. So I thought it was appropriate. I will say the one thing that I'm hearing from a lot of people is,

if you want to go up there and fight them or whatever, that's like the appropriate response. But you know how that goes. The guy doesn't want to fight you, so you go over there and drop your gloves. He doesn't want to fight, so you kind of grab him. No, you can still fight him. Just punch him. So is it better if you're just suckering a guy who's not fighting you?

One or two. Is that better than a stick? Yes. Yeah, it is better. Suckering a guy in the jaw is better than a lacrosse Is that better than a stick? Yes. Yeah, it is better. Suckering a guy in the jaw is better than a lacrosse champ. It's not a lacrosse champ. You don't have to sucker him. He's a little baby.

Like, you know, again, if Ridley doesn't know something's coming when he just showed up with a team. Ridley should know everything's coming. Okay? Yeah. Then I get one lick in for sure. One lick would get him. But if he drops him with a clean right in for sure. One lick would get him But if he drops

him with a clean right in that situation. You're an idiot Ridley for not paying attention. And I'd rather take my chance on that than a cross check to the head. I think what happens though in all honesty Kip is he goes over he drops his gloves Greg doesn't he wrestles him down and nothing's accomplished. To me it's

he wanted to get his pound of flesh and he didn't play pat again is this isn't Morgan Riley. This isn't the incident. I'm just throwing out a general comment. Sure. I'm not sure the players today know how to start a fight in the National Hockey League. Explain. You want to go?

You want to go? I just I think there's ways that you can Confront you could Go sometimes a guy into a fight Or at least a few of these So you know it's coming before my gloves come off You can embarrass a guy There's just there's an art to it

And I don't think the guys Think enough about it So sometimes they have these raw emotional bursts. Yeah. I think that's fair. And it can get them in trouble. There's an art to it, guys. Yeah.

That's the best I can explain it to you. No, no, that's great. In Reeves' clip three, he talks about that very thing, if we could listen to it, Kip. I know you love these. Yeah, no, let's do it. Let's do clip three, he talks about that very thing. If we could listen to it, Kip. I know you love these. Yeah, I know. Let's do it. Let's go clip three.

You would hope. You would hope. But, you know, these young kids these days, they're playing a different brand of hockey than I'm used to. The code's changed a little bit. The game's changed a lot. And it's unfortunate that, you know, a young kid like that can get away with something like that

and then one of our best players is going to get suspended for it. So, yeah, make hockey violent again and get that tattooed on me the worst part about it is like that's george peros's company yeah violent gentleman violent gentleman is the name of peros's company oh you can't have guys saying the thing this is ryan and i are kind of aligned on it's, yeah, it's just, it's a different, it's a different world right now for these kids on, on, I guess some of them, like, and, and I'll use the Leafs as an example. Like they're,

there's top stars are not confrontational people. No, they go out of their way to watch Austin Matthews again, go into that scrum at watch Austin Matthews again, go into that scrum at the end of the game Saturday night and play traffic cop and have, like, his pulse didn't change one iota. I know. It kills me. It does. I hate to admit how much it kills me, but it kills me.

There's a lot of good players. I think Sid would have reacted differently. Connor, I think Connor would have reacted differently. It's just not in his nature. So once he gets in a position of being uncomfortable, who knows what he's capable or not capable of doing but he chooses to stay comfortable in any situation outside of you know and i think his job that you know to the point of the game changing you know you go through the list of top scorers whether it's patterson or

panarin or ranton and neilander reinhardt you you know, Matthews being in there, McCarr, like Ajo, Robert Thomas, like Jesper Bratt, the top guys. Not a lot of these guys are gifted in the way or aggressive in the way that you would want them to be in those moments. Certainly there are the guys, and I agree with you, a guy like Nathan McKinnon threw a helmet at a guy's head, I think. Yeah. You know, there's guys who are. That's one of the funniest hockey clips ever.

Nate's like. Yeah. He would have out there. Short views. You don't win a Stanley Cup by accident. Wires cross guy. He's on the first team wire cross. He's a freak.

But I know we're talking a lot of leaves here, but I have to say, Ryan Reid's getting killed. He obviously doesn't play a ton. He is what he is at this point in his career. But I will say, it's really refreshing to hear clips from a guy coming out and not just saying the same old crap that we've heard,

the cliches and just like, oh, we're fine. To have a guy that's coming out and saying that stuff to me, it's nice to hear. And he's defending his teammate. He's saying he shouldn't be suspended. That guy, it's just... Yeah, we played a lot of the Sen stuff where his teammates were less inclined to be like i just love what i'm hearing from reeves i know people probably hate it because he doesn't play a lot but like it's nice to hear i will admit so anyways you

want to see some game time here boys yeah let's go to game time and then we'll take a quick break and we'll get into the calgary flames and wiegers first career hat trick he has the most goals going back a year now for among d uh it's game time presented by bet 365 visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly now you mentioned mckenzie weger there um hold on sorry to interrupt you how did your super bowl bets go i lost everything yeah lost it all guys i i told you in the group chat i that i made three bucks i need to walk it back and be honest i want a buck uh 40 wow yeah i i will say i made an offline bet

little money line bet with uh old ron on the couch yeah made 30 on that one okay so not bad not bad all right my online bets didn't go so hot i will say i was an isaiah pacheco touchdown away from a lot of and when they got it down, because they got it down to the five-yard line. Yeah, and he carried it a couple times down there. And there was a couple guys

in the room that had the same action, and it would have been a lot happier drive home. Let's just say that. Let me tell you something. If Blackjack became 22, all right,

I would have made a lot of money. Anyways, it was setting up for an electric moment for him to walk it off and win it for the Chiefs. But anyways, that's fine. But why I mentioned Uyghur, the Calgary Flames play in New York tonight.

And if you'll remember last year, this fixture, this game, was one of the more explosive games of the year where Trouba smoked Kadri. Remember, that was a massive hit. And there was a bunch of scraps and it was one of the best games of the year not saying that's going to happen again but it's a always it's a great jersey matchup those flames white versus the blue of the rangers love that good aesthetic matchup

uh the flames are plus 135 they've been hot actually so if you want a little bit of a value on the ranger on the flames going into new york you can have a look at that one. And the New Jersey Devils are kind of looking at me at a minus 150. They've been playing better recently. They've been getting a little bit better goal tending. They're on the outside looking in. They really need these kind of points against teams like the Kraken. So give me the New Jersey Devils minus 150 tonight on the money line as well. So those are my two looks for tonight.

And that was game time. Preserve at Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly okay let's take a quick break here and we'll come back and we'll talk in deeper detail about the calgary flames and where do they go because there's just wind and uh i don't know the more they they trade players, the more they win. They should just trade everyone. You mentioned the New Jersey Devils.

They need a goalie bad. Elliott Friedman reporting that there were some talks about Markstrom. We'll get into that and more when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. 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.

Four games on top in the national hockey league including calgary at new york we're discussing the calgary flames off a big win kenzie wieger has been a really good pickup and i don't know is he a bit of an afterthought on the trade with Florida? Yeah, you know, I mean, he's definitely the smaller piece, right? But compared to Huberto, but they gave him a huge contract. Yeah, they did. Well, he's a minute muncher too. Yeah. I mean, I don't know where they would be without him.

So he is first or tied for first in the NHL in goals by D, which is no small feat, especially covering the Toronto Maple Leafs where no D ever scored. No, he is leading the league at 15 goals, two ahead of Thomas Harley. Oh, wow. So, yeah, he's been great. He was the guy that the Leafs kicked tires on at one point,

I remember, a week or so. But, no, he's got an edge, too. Like, I really like that guy. As we spoke of earlier on this show noah hannifin doesn't seem in a hurry to sign 60 million dollars with the calgary flames is that what you think there's that much out there for him and he hasn't signed that nope which means okay yeah gotta move them good rule of thumb. If you offer anyone $60 million to do something, they don't immediately say yes. They're probably just time to let them go.

Pack those bags, bud. He can't get the extra year on a deal. So the assumption is that he'd be fine at 50, playing somewhere else and signing a seven-year deal. Right? Yeah. uh 50 playing somewhere else and signing a seven-year deal right seven or 55 million if he matches or close to 55 million if he matches the ballpark of 7.5 on an aav i gotta tell you i would leap to sign him to that contract yeah you know given his age and his ability skill set where he is in his career, where the cap is going.

I mean, somewhere around a Morgan Riley number, even a little bit more would not bother me one bit. There's also a sense out there that Chris Tanev could be traded within a week to 10 days. Yeah. We're getting to that time of year. Don't tell the trade deadline producers that. He's kind of getting antsy, I think.

He's got a young family he wants to get this yeah if i'm gonna go somewhere let's go get set up and do it now not not interested march 8th of course he can't control this but i think out of respect for him calgary's gonna try to get a deal done sooner than later well and there's just so many reasons why they should. Obviously, there are eager parties. Tampa Bay, we mentioned, though, Sergachev, probably heavily interested. Also, you know, the value you get from adding a Tanev,

you get more value now than you will later on. And it makes sense. So I can see that happening. I'm not on the pulse of Flames Nation. I know that may surprise you here but i just i guess they're pretty far out of a wild they're not that far i guess they're kind of like are you sure you want to trade off everybody like you don't want you just i guess you're not going anywhere but this team has shown that they're not the worst team like how far back of a playoff spot are they i think three points back a flames team could look

at you know trying to be vancouver just like so many teams will but where even this year if you had to add someone who you had some term you know start trying to get better here thinking of next year uh the asset collection off of tan of and hannifin could be maybe markstrom maybe markstrom and maybe markstrom. Maybe Markstrom. And maybe Markstrom. Yeah, that is it. And the beauty... They should do that, by the way. The beauty of that is that you take those assets

back at the draft in the summer. Turn them into players. And turn them into media players. Not potential. Like, you can flip them for 24, 25, 26-year-olds. I'm with you, and i love that to me that's not done enough by teams where you say hey you know we're teams are either tanking or they're going the other way to me a team like the flames can add all these assets and and immediately trade

them their next year guys their 2024 draft two first rounders a second a third two fourth rounders a fifth a sixth like they have real assets who's the first rounder from uh vancouver hmm was that the koozie oh yeah right yeah because that's the one that just happened yeah and at markstrom's age it just makes no sense to hold them does not make any sense what do you you don't think you're gonna win a cup in the next couple years then get him while he's still hot. Yeah, and while you can get assets. I sent you guys a message the other day about Josh Anderson.

That was a guy who had real value to Montreal. What would he have been worth last year at the deadline at first? And now... Oh, keep going. Yeah. Yeah, keep going. And now what do you get for Josh Anderson in this contract. No.

Oh, I'm telling you. You're out of your mind. How many is he doing? One goal? Two goals? I don't care. That guy is, what, 6'3"? And he skates nowhere, apparently.

And he flies. What do you think you're getting? What do you think you're getting what do you think you're getting a fourth round pick he makes a hundred million dollars and he doesn't score goals he's 5.5 million this and three more seasons oh my god three more yeah listen i don't know i i don't know if uh you need montreal to eat some of that i would think that you do see now we're talking okay give me josh anderson at three five yeah i think you'd be really lucky to get him at four yeah okay and you'll get your first yeah josh and okay yeah listen i'm watching the toronto maple leafs every day uh he's immediately

playing 15 minutes and i know that's not a great sign on the team 15 minutes on a third line with you know domi and yard he's just pass it to him and it would bounce off the skates off the end josh anderson's a little reluctant to bring it as much as a tom wilson but that is the physical presence guys for sure of josh anderson. Well, if Montreal could do that, the only thing is he has a modified no trade. I don't know what that would look like, but. I undersold him. He's got seven goals this year. Sorry.

I said two. So that was a little rude by me. Seven goals. Yes, very rude. Minus 19. I watched the Habs game, because that's a couple of guys who are Habs fans, watched the Sunday afternoon game against St. Louis.

Boy, Habs are heading south, south, south, south in the standings. I know they're trading off. They're trying to rebuild. I understand it. But for one of the classic franchises in the NHL, they are a tough watch, boys. Slavkovsky is looking like a decent player now. He just won't be a first overall franchise type of player what about a mike matheson yeah deadline not like but you're talking about like their their best defenseman yeah he's really good yeah but if you're them well you know what good

he's not young 30 30. No, sorry. He turns 30 at the end of the month. Yeah. And what's he got left on his deal? So this and then two more years at 4.8. Well, you get a haul for him. Yes. He probably plays 25 minutes a night.

Yes. He's a really good player. And he's a beautiful skater. Up and down the ice. He has got to be in the conversation with one of the best skaters in the league. David Savard could get you a first. A first. Well, I mean, you see the names that get thrown out there.

Everybody's just like, yeah, they have skates on, and they can skate a little bit, and they're getting a first. It's so funny watching the NBA when they're like, yeah, four firsts or whatever. What did Tampa Bay give Columbus for David Savard and turned him into like a fifth defenseman? Yeah, I think it was two seconds. Two seconds or a first? Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. Or one first. He's a shut down guy. He's big. He's strong. He gets in people's way. So, yeah, Montreal. This is the Edmonton Oilers they really gotta they gotta nail this one yeah because they i think they have a couple

more that they could try oilers would be interested in savar tan of that's what they need yeah they'll get someone i would presume you know i don't think the canucks are done in terms of adding d i know winnipeg wants to like canada is just starving for d if you have them like montreal does there's uh i told you that all all all canadian teams in the playoffs right now very aggressive so oh go ahead i was gonna ask what's the door of okay well i was gonna say similar to vanc to Vancouver. There is a, on my Canucks Twitter feed that I have lots of people involved in that, there is a very hot debate about the gritty the guy did. Oh, yeah.

Jake Wallman. Yeah. Did the celebration, like the gritty, the Mitch Marner move where he, you know, I don't know, have you ever seen the gritty? Yes, I know the gritty. Okay. Can you do the gritty? The question is why would I want to? Yeah. know have you ever seen the gritty yes i know the gritty okay can you do the gritty um the question

is why would i want to yeah but it's a hot debate because they play again soon i think they play again this week they're asking for retribution they're mad they are they're mad it's a it's a hot button debate in vancouver right now so we're on in vancouver'd you think? So I think it's like, it just sucks is all. Like, it's like it was culturally relevant 18 months ago or something like that. It was a rather clean, gritty, as the kids would say. Yeah, yeah, sure. Okay. But it doesn't.

It was gritty here during an all-star week. It's an OT. It's a celebration. You're winning. You've won the game like a walk-off, bat flip sort of thing. I got no problem with a big celebration for a surprise moment where a good thing happens what's more offensive a slap shot into an empty net or a grid the game's over the the sins have won the game yes this is not a oh my god we did it like jubilation moment to me i'm not that bothered by the gritty did gritty not

you're not to have fun did he not jump the shark like Fallon? Who, Gritty? Yeah. We're talking about two different things here. No, I'm just saying his popularity is it's still. That Gritty, the Philly Gritty? I will say because we were down at the fanfare a couple Fridays ago, and they brought out all the mascots at one point. And I was legitimately excited to see Gritty.

Gritty's the guy. He's a superstar. That's what I'm telling you. He's still there, though. It's still there. He's a superstar. That's what I'm telling you. It's still there, though. It's still there. He's the Conor McDavid of mascots. He is the cream of the crop. I will say, I just want to separate the difference

between the Ridley Gregg thing and the Wallman thing is one is like joy and jubilation, and one is a clean FU. Yes. One is involving your team in celebrating. One is aimed at the other team. That's the separation for me. I will say, though, if I was a Meathead Canucks fan, like i'm a meathead leafs fan i would probably would like someone to

speak to him in the next game had done the gritty you probably would be like kill him so yeah oh my greg the gritty i wouldn't i would have passed away i wouldn't have made it here i would not be around uh spoilers losers of two of three oh this news sucks big news okay what were the odds though saturday night that they would get shut out by la i don't think that they had been shut out since the woodcroft days but of course they've only won since then so been a while but yeah pretty unlikely um what do you think just maybe a little bit of a letdown after the streak ends and you just. It's just hard to keep that foot on the pedal. Yeah.

For that long. And LA has a new coach and they're all on their best behavior. LA is going through what Edmonton went through, right? We're getting that new coach. Here we go now. Yeah. So they're in the first wildcard spot and they are three points behind the Oilers. And we got the standings up here again.

And so then it's Vegas next with 68 points. How are the Oilers, and I know how, I don't need help on this. They won a lot in a row. But it's just like, how are they not farther ahead, but they're four games fewer games played, and the start of the season happened. We are barreling towards Oilers, Golden Knights, in the first round here. Wow. farther ahead but they're four games fewer games played and the start of the season happened we are

barreling towards oilers golden knights in the first round here wow yeah it's really looking like that's it's a possibility like you know you talk about how great you talk about how great the the canadian teams the years are having and it's like jets get avalanche first round oilers golden knights we could be out two canadian teams a week. It's scary. The Golden Knights healthy will be scary. Oh, yeah, man. That blue line is just big.

We also just watched Kansas City do that thing where teams who have won are comfortable in those sort of tight moments and, you know, coming off a cup win, you got to beat the best. And they know they can beat them in a series they had it last year they got that little bit of they just ended their streak they don't like each other they got i just that's must watch tv oh my god that's i mean i hope for

oilers sake it doesn't happen i actually think the oilers have a chance to get above them by the end of the year but we don't really know anything about uh eichel do we jack in terms of how how hurt is he or yeah that when he's coming back i remember being six weeks deal i remember being six weeks the injury when it when it first happened but i haven't heard much on that so article january 18th says we'll miss at least four weeks so that should take us to roughly now yeah so i'm not sure what his status is but um i expect to see him back this month yeah yeah i go back shea theodore they've been playing without like they are yeah if i'm an oilers fan that's my that's my panthers if i'm an oilers fan that's not the team i want to see in terms of guys who could be added for a playoff run what do you guys think of phil kessel sitting

at home right now hasn't played all year, wants to play. Rick Tockett recently made comments that he still thinks Phil has something left in the tank, which Vancouver. Listen, no one knows him better than Tock. I mean, he had him. Yeah, but don't you think you fall in love with the guys that you have won with before? Should have won the Conn Smythe one year.

How old is he now? Like, I don't know. What's he been doing all this time? That's a true question. VO2 max every day. Boys, I don't want to stereotype here, but I'm just making sure. 36. We want to make sure Phil's been on the ice a lot.

Phil's saying he's ready. He's ready to go. I believe him. I think it would be an awesome story if the Canucks or another Canadian team or a contender signed Phil Kessel. I don't think he's going to give you a lot, but it's just good to have him in the league. If he's sitting in your press box

and he's got to come out as your 13th forward and put him in one day, there's a good chance he shoots one in the net. Yeah, he could come flying down off the left wing and rip it under the bar, shoot a little blocker, for sure. But do you think it could happen, Kipper? That he'd go somewhere? Yeah, I mean, I'd have to hear more.

No one can make moves right now, Kip. I bet you someone picks him up. I'd have to hear more about, like, yes. Is he coming in, like, looking like an NHL player or a bowling ball, right? Is he in shape is the first question. I bet he is. I bet he is. I'm a Kessel believer.

Where are you guys on Ovi being back? Five goals in the last five games. This show is such an Ovi hater show. Everyone that goes in, I cringe. Although, I shot it through the Panthers goalie the other day. I was like, ah, you got to have that. Yeah, everyone that goes in, I'm like, oh God. I don't know how the Washington Capitals,

they have to be the slowest team in the league. They stink. You know, I forget who I was tweeting about this with the other day, but like they have names, but names that are expired, not like. they have no names.

No, but like, okay. Ovi. Ovi's a name. Oshi. Oshi's a name. Oshi.

Pacioretty's a name. Don Carlson. But it's. But those are not effective players anymore. Not anymore. have no name no but like okay ovi is a name oh she's a name oh she's a ready carlson but but it's but those are not effective players anymore not anymore and the rest of the group is just i didn't throw the fact that there are kids there about 500 is baffling yeah maybe like i think in all honesty though like well what it is they've been actually pretty good defensively have they not lindgren's been very good in net so he keeps them in games yeah and the one thing that's killing ovi is they've got one of the worst power plays in the league well that's because they pass it to the guy who hammers it into the wall they stand he stands in one spot for two full minutes and goes off the ice and everybody's a 9 15 and 23 games for them yeah that's good yeah and everybody's playing the diamond right so ovi is not getting his

one timer anymore he's just waiting just waiting with his stick scraping and i don't i don't know where he is on on shots but it was on automatic throughout his career that he just took the most shots yes right and he's got a i don't think he's close this year that's been the biggest drop off i think for him is that he just doesn't shoot the puck to the net anymore no he has been like the league leader by miles in his prime and then even not in his prime um looking quickly he is not in the top 10 not in the top 10 and where is the top 10 so Ovechkin is 26th in the league in shots on goal top guy is 260 he's got 160

who's top guy top guy is can't let me guess Pasternak McKinnon Matthews 4th there's a guy between them there. Where does he play?

Tampa. Oh. It's Damkos. No. Damkos? No. Oh, I don't know. It's Cooch.

Oh, yeah, duh. Connor McDavid. Where's McDavid? He's not that high up there. Willie Nylander is sixth. Tavares is twelfth. Wow. McDavid, is he in the league?

Yes, he's 30th. 15 that's really shocking too i'm gonna go back and look last year oh boy this is always bad radio everyone sit with me while i can just i can just hear the wheels turning in kipper's head right now about how little mcdavid shoots ob was 12th last year in shots last year last year mcdavid was. He's 30th this year. Okay, so if my math is correct, OV needs how many goals to pass or tie Gretzky? 60? I don't know. I think it's less than that. He's got 835.

What's 892 the record or something like that? 892? Yeah. He's going to get there, guys. He's creeping. Yeah. He's going to get there, guys. He's creeping. Okay. He's going to get there. When?

No, not when. But what does it look like for the Washington Capitals? Is this just now? Is this team going to suck? Yes. And this is just about Ovi getting the record? Yeah, their power play is at 14%, but they leave him out there for two full minutes,

just like get there already. Is that going to be a fun record to follow? I'm not having fun. No. I hate every minute of it. I don't want to have it. I would say if we should establish as a Canadian show, we're kind of rooting for Gretz to hold on to it a little bit.

Of course. If he's still a fairly dominant guy putting the puck in the net, then you can sell it. But if he's getting 18 a year. Is the league and sponsors going to ride this thing and we're watching a guy well past his date? Yes. Yeah.

The guy with Putin in his Instagram picture scoring 18 goals a year they're going to have confetti falling from the ceiling when he gets there. It's going to be an awkward celebration. It's going to be awkward. 20 games, they're 20 points out of the playoffs by then. It's going to be awkward for teammates

and a coaching staff. No, it isn't. They'll just give him his way to goes. No, but... Way to go. No, no, no isn't. They'll just give him his way to go. No. Way to go. No, no, no, no. Way to go. No, listen. Guys want to win. Guys want to...

Frustrated watching this? Well, yes. You know what? I guarantee, you know, just thinking about this, I guarantee there's guys on the team going like, hey, we got to do something else in the power play. It does not work just trying to tee up that automatic shooting machine. That's going to be the challenge here. It's a potato gun for the top of the circle. That's going to be the challenge here.

It's a potato gun for the top of the circle. It's going to be a challenge for the Washington Capitals on how they handle this and how much is too much time and when do we give someone else a chance. What if they took him off the power play? Oh, my God. They're like, it's not working. I just wish Gratz would come out and be like,

I don't want him to get it. But he's just too classy. He's just too classy. That's not happening. All the old guys did it about the Oilers record. Just let Grants come home and be like, no. It's like 890 and he's like, I'm going to say it. I've seen enough.

Get them, boys. Kick them off the tour. He decides they've seen enough. Yeah. We're not happy. But in the meantime, they're in the hunt for a playoff spot. They're in the hunt for nothing. They're in the hunt for nothing. They're in the hunt for nothing. Well, hopefully the Flames and Rangers is as explosive tonight as it was last year.

Trouba. Trouba hit. What's Calgary in for with the New York Rangers here? Because the Rangers were off to one of those starts where they made everybody believers. And now it's like, not sure they're ready for prime time yet. They're on a decent run now. I think it's a pretty good-looking Ranger team. I don't think they're...

It's tough looking at teams this year. I don't think anyone is that great, and the Rangers are a flawed team, but they've won four in a row, starting to win again, trying to fend off the surging Carolina Hurricanes. Two hot teams right now, the Rangers and Flames. Like any team now in the National Hockey League.

Shusterkin goes on a run. And they're good again. Simple sport. Calgary and the Rangers tonight. One of four games. No hard empty netters, you guys. We'll be watching. That's right.

Respect. Lots of respect. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Our't do it. Respect. Lots of respect. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Our thanks to Ian Mendez. We are back again tomorrow on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show.