Real Kyper & Bourne - Retooling and Rebuilding in the NHL with Doug MacLean

Episode Date: January 30, 2026

Former NHL president, general manager and head coach Doug MacLean (1:18) returns to the show joining Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to chat about if it is viable to retool the current Maple Leafs roster, what a rebuild would look like, the difficulties of tanking in the NHL, the possibility of Leafs competing again in 2026-27, and best landing spots for Artemi Panarin. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee continue their discussions on the Buffalo Sabres hot streak, Alex Lyon winning his 10th straight in net, and wrap up with some calls and texts!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.

It's Friday. Off the rails. It's a national hour on the real Kippinburne show. Live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus.

We've got Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube where, man, we got some passionate people in our YouTube, Sammy, don't we? No. No, it's not working.

Oh, there we go. Mostly just hating on me. But yeah. Hating on you. Oh, yeah, just taking a beating every day. That's just every day. They get out the Billy Club and whack. That's all right.

That's what I'm here for. Well, they won't do that in a few minutes when we welcome in Doug McLean. Now, he was he, did we give him off last week? He was golfing with Jill last week. Oh, he was. Okay. It's coming out of his pay. He's got some pent up frustration.

I think he'll take out in the next 15, 20 minutes. As a reminder, this hour of real care. Brimborn brought to you by Bet365. Should we rag the puck a little bit or go straight to Doug? We got him, buddy. He is. Former NHL president, GM and head coach returning to drive our show straight into the ditch. Let's welcome him in.

Mack, how are you? Great. Hey, guys. I was busy last night. I watched the Australian Open, watch the tennis. Watch Jokevich. It's really good. Do you believe those guys played for five and a half straight hours?

It's preposterous. That's too much. And two sets, two sets or two different or four different guys. Five and a half consecutive hours. I mean, how long are you playing pickleball for, Doug? Can't be five and a half hours. And I know there's no body checking, but you can't get the Leafs to play for 20 minutes, a little long five and a half hours.

Here we go. And we're on. What was that? 30 seconds, 40 seconds. We're like, okay, so, I mean, are we going to spend 20 minutes talking about tennis? Have you stopped watching at all? Or did you keep an eye on,

okay, let's go there with the Leafs and what's happened in the last, what, 7 to 10 days? It came off an original road trip, Mack, to come home where a lot of people were feeling pretty good about their chances. Well, I was on with you guys. a week or so ago and you thought they were going to win the cup, you know, that they picked up 10 points and it looked like it was terrific.

I don't know what's gone wrong. I mean, they don't, it's frightening to watch some play right now. It really is. I mean, but, you know, again, I was thinking today, we think back to last year and how good Stolars was and how a lot of things worked out well for them. And this year, they don't, they don't look like the same team. and I was today trying to think,

what can, what do you do to fix this? Like, what are you, you guys talking Robert Thomas and fifth overall pick and all, I mean, foolishness. But anyway, I mean, look, it's, I don't know what you do to fix it. Okay, hold on.

You don't get to call us fools and then go, I don't know what to do. But I got nothing. I don't know what to do. Right? Well, I mean, you're drinking your orange juice. You know, I mean, you,

Sammy thinks it's like the islanders. They go from 11. to one and get Schaefer and all of a sudden they got a good team again, you know. It's really hard to win the lottery. It's hard to get those top five picks. You've been a president.

You've been a general manager. Take us into your going into a boardroom with the Toronto Maple Leafs presently and you tell them what. As a GM? Yes. Well, that's a very complicated question because what do you do to fix this team right now?

What do you do? Do you say we're going to retool? Like, you know, we're sitting here this time last year. None of us would have picked the Boston Bruins to make the playoffs this year. Not one of us would have picked them to make them. In my opinion, nobody was picking the Bruins to make the playoffs. And all of a sudden, Sturm comes in. To me, he's the coach of the year in the NHL. Is there somebody that's done a better job?

And look how well they're playing. And the team, I mean, they're playing like a team. And they're right there. They may slip, but it looks like they're going to get in. And then you say, okay, where do you go with the Leafs? You know, they've got McAvoy on the back end. They've got Pastor Nack. Lynn Holm back there, too, Hampus.

Lynn home, they got the geeky up front. I mean, they've got some real players there. So what do you say with the Leafs? And you got, okay, Nylander Matthews, okay? Tavares, I mean, I don't know what's happened to him in the last 10 games. I mean, it's frightening how he's dropped off. Nealander's been hurt. So what do you do?

How do you retool this team? I mean, I watched them play, and they're not a very good team. I mean, they are, and what do you do to fix it? The back end has to be totally rehauled. It has to be overhauled, the back end. I mean, you can't come back with that same back end that can't get the pocket of their own end to save their life. You can't come back with that.

It took me. And up front, you got your top line is Domi, Matthews, and who? Who got McMahon? McMahon. A few games. Nice. That was their top line. Matthews, Domi, McMahon.

I mean, come on, guys. That's not, I mean, Matthews is a superstar. The other two guys are third, fourth liners. I mean, so where do you go to fix it? It's, to me, it's really, really a tough retool. You know, it took me 53 minutes to pin Kip down on this the other day, but we finally got to, you got to blow it up. We finally got them to get there.

Is that, I'm just cutting to the chase. So far you've offered nothing. So you're blowing it up? I'm not. Okay, hold on. That means the definitely? We, we, we had the definition of blowing it up, meaning one of Matthews, Nealander, Nyes, Easton Cowan.

One of those guys? Yeah, yeah, just trading one of them. Just trading one of them. Yeah. To me, it's Nealander and Matthews. Well, yeah. Okay. That's the real for sure.

You trade Easton Cowan on his own, but if you trade Matthews and Cowan and you bring in five pieces, six pieces. Yeah, typically when you go into a rebuild, you have assets. You have assets. And by assets, I mean picks, that you've built up a bank of picks,

which they have, you know, zero, basically. So how do they rebuild unless they're going to move top guys to bring in top assets? So think about it. What do you get for Austin Matthews? Do you want to even consider trading Austin Matthews? You get four, you get four grade A pieces. That's what you get.

Okay, let's say he goes to Vegas with Marner. So you get two players off Vegas. Hold on. You get their next two. You get hurt hurdle would be one of them because of the money. the money's got to be, and he's slow, which makes, he's just a little faster than Tavares right now, which makes me nervous. So you get two players off Vegas, two good players off Vegas. You get two prospects from Vegas, and you get two first round picks.

So, but how, but, but, but if you trade Matthews, you're going into a monstrosity of a rebuild, I guess. But that's the guy that brings you six assets. Nealander's not bringing you that. he's bringing the assets but he's not bringing you anything close to what matthews is bringing you and and then you're you know i said it last year this time last year i said it to you guys a hundred times be careful what you wish for with marner going out the door it's hard to find good players he's going to get the same amount of points by the end of the year he'll probably have equivalent to what he had last year in tronto what's he got 13 goals and 40 assists or something right now

I mean. He's a little over a point of game. Yeah. So he's 80, you know, 80 plus points. So when you move good players, it's hard, it's really hard to replace him. And, you know, we talked a little while ago, but they're back in. Guys, that back end's not even close to being a good enough back end to play. They got six four, number four guys.

Who's better than a number four on that back end? Tell me. Give me one name. TANF. TANF is the number four guy on every team. So this is a major rebuild if they're going to think they're going to go that direction. And what's the board going to say when you walk in and you say, Keith, what are you and Brad going to do here to fix this? This is a tough fix right now.

Let me tell you. This is a tough fix. I look at Ottawa. Ottawa, in their last 20 games, they've had. three games where they've had over a 900 saved percentage. Three games where they've had over a 900 saved percentage in the last 20 games. That's a lot easier fix than this is. A lot easier fix than this is.

And they're 11th in the league in scoring, Ottawa. I said at the first year, one of Ottawa or Toronto is going to make the playoffs. I thought one of the two would make it. Now I'm worried both they're going to miss. So do you think it's possible for the least last one on them before we move it around the country a little bit, for them to do some Sel McMahon, Oliver Ekman Larson, Scott Lotton,

turn those into whatever, a first here, a couple of seconds, and then flip those in the off season. Do you think you can go back with the guys you have? Because you're saying the board is probably not going to be on board with some sort of blow up. Is that, can they get, you know, last year,

next year, Tanev's healthy, Dakota Joshua plays. Can you find a way back into it next year? I think if you come back, you know, I mean, so the guys you're talking about trading, like what are you going to get for them, a second round pick? Yeah, I think it depends. I think, like, Morrison, get more. OEL, second and thirds for sure. And maybe conditional first, maybe for OEL, if there's a demand for them.

But we don't really know. But that's what we're thinking. But guys, I know they, I know if they're going to, if you're going to rebuild, you need picks. if you're going to compete, you need players. So what you're doing is you're trading guys out and with what you're going to get, you're going to get the same type of guys back. You're going to get the same mediocre, average, middle of the lineup

to bottom of the lineup return. I mean, everybody was all excited about the Carlo trade last year. Everybody was all excited about the Lawton trade. I mean, I mean, anyway, it's, it's a tough situation. Let me tell you.

It really is. And I, you know, you look at other teams around the league. I mean, I'm looking at San Jose right now. Celebrini may be the best player in the NHL right now. Schaefer just tied,

he passed Bobby Orr's record for most goals for a, for a first year player. What does he get? 14 goals, Bobby Orr, 13. He's going to pass Housley, who's got the record for 17 goals. Those are, I mean, where are any of those types of guys in the left? Those are true lottery winners. We had Bernardner Matthews and Nylander.

That was going to be the core, and Tavares comes in. Oh, my God, a member of the day on the desk when Tavaris came in. Oh, my God, with these four guys, how many cups are we going to win? And Morgan Riley is our number one guy. How many cups are we going to win? It's going to be frightening. I mean, I thought I was going to be busy every year with a praise. You're watching and listening to Doug McLean,

former NHL President, GM, head coach, and ditch driver for our show. Mack, my astute co-host, Justin Bourne wrote an article on Sportsnet.ca, which talked about the Leafs possibly moving into a position of protecting their first-round pick and not handing it over to the Boston Bruins by finishing. 28th in the league. So what is it? Top 10 protected or top five? Top five. Top five. Okay, forget about for a second how realistic that is.

Just tell me about, is it a strategy that the Leafs should be looking at? And how do you do it? Don't ask a question with a question. Doug, you've got a lot of experience losing. I think you should be able to. I thought this is a national hour, boys. Let's talk about something else. No, no, just what does your general feel about tanking?

How tough it is. Columbus Blue Jackets, in 25 years in the league, have never won the lottery. In 25 years, they've never won the lottery, and hardly ever have they moved up in the lottery. 25 years. So, you know, you're going to, what are you going to do? You're not going to win any more games? What do you see? Your six, seven points up on guys now,

six eight points ahead of the bottom feeders. The last two years, 76 points was the cutoff. It was 28th. The Leafs would have to go basically nine and 20 to do that, which is a, yeah, I mean, it's tough. Yeah. And then you're going to protect, you're going to get one first round pick for doing that.

That would be a fun board meeting to walk into. Oh, we got a top five pick. Oh, okay. They got 10 home games left, Doug. What? You got 10 home games left of their 28. You know, the calls you guys were listening to a little while ago? Wait until you hear them this time.

Wait till you hear them later. All right. Where do you want to go, Mac? You want to talk about it? I just think it's you got to, it's really, my point is be careful when you, you know, the only way you can rebuild is to include. Matthews and Nylander in the rebuild, moving them out and starting with a real rebuild. If it's a retool, you're keeping Matthews, Nealander, all these guys, and then retooling,

the way Boston retooled. So that's going to be the choice. And I think it's going to be that they're going to retool. They're going to try to retool. And, you know, I was looking at, I mean, I'm watching the other night. And, I mean, I'm watching guys, I'm thinking, home. my God, Dakota Johnson, Roel. I mean, the number one thing is you can't asset management.

Marner walks out the door and you get, wah. Mac. Sam's dying, Mac. You're killing the key. That is a nightmare. So, you know what? It's, but I'll tell you what, it's going to be a major organizational decision. Not just for them, not just for them, but like,

Give us some thoughts on the Florida Panthers who had a devastating loss, I thought, to St. Louis with mere seconds to go here. Like, we didn't necessarily have them as winning a third consecutive Stanley Cup, but I don't think anybody of, after signing Brad Marchand and bringing Bennett back, pictured them out of the playoffs. No, and look, but it's so different because they've won, two in a row, you know, and, you know, it's, you've lost Barkoff and you lost Kuchuk for the

whole, basically the whole season. I hear today that Barkoff may be back now. It's starting to look like he may be back for the playoffs, which, I mean, you wouldn't want to play them. But the question is, he going to be back early enough to help them to get into the playoffs, which you're right. It was a, it was a tough loss. So, you know, I just think that I, I look at the Florida Panthers, and if they get Barkoff back, you wouldn't want to play them next year. They're still in the window where they could be a cup contender for the next few years, the next couple of years at least.

You know, that's a lot different than when you're looking at these teams. Like the Islanders, I mean, they've always been okay, just okay. And then they add Schaefer and all of a sudden, you know, Darcy's looking to win now. Darcy's looking to do some damage. and they make little additions that make them a better team in Pilat and Susie. I mean, it makes them a better team. But Toronto,

to me, they need 10 or 12 guys. These other teams don't need that many, but the Leaps really do, because they've got about 9 or 10 forwards that are interchangeable that can go out the door. Is he back on the Leaves?

Yeah, I am. Off, off. Off. I'm doing this for, I'm doing this, to ruin Sammy's wheat. Oh, my gosh. It's working, pal. You know who you can't ruin is a Buffalo Sabre fans.

But you know what? But Borny started it because he gave me the shot about losing. At least I lost with an expansion team. I didn't lose with a team that was 100 years old. I was taking it personally, Doug. I apologize. I was with them the first. And I look in Columbus, well, first six years,

they're still blaming me in Columbus. and I've been gone for 15 years. But, you know what, at least I was an expansion to you. I was feeling silly for being for my idea of the tank. I apologize. When you got fired from Columbus, you had no shot at winning coach of the year. Kevin Adams may have a shot at winning coach of the year. Go to GM, GM. Yeah, sorry.

And you know what the sad part is, is it's Kevin Adams team. He's the guy that, I mean, the five years, you go back and look at the five years, and he brought in the majority of those players. Kekalinans brought in Bergen, and the contract guy, Josh, from Columbus. That's their two acquisitions. And now it's Keck Alian's team. But Kevin, he's the guy that put all these guys in there, you know, and he loses out.

That happens, you know. Not often. Not that often. But that's, you know, when GMs leave the team, like I think there's people, and not to do the Toronto stuff again, who are worried that like a GM on the way out is going to flip all the assets,

you know, to try to save their job. But the team you leave is your resume, right? Yeah, I guess, yeah, that's what my problem was. You see my resume? The team I laugh. I'm not saying anything else. Hey, what's your buddy, Jeff Rimmer, saying about Panarin? You got any inside scoop?

Jeff can't focus because all he's focused on is his new book. And he has one dream. He has one dream. Our books are going to come out at the same time. My new one and Jeff's is coming out. And his dream is to sell one more book than I. self. And so he's been so focused on that.

It's unbelievable. So I'm trying to set him up. I don't know that it's going to be a bestseller. He's convinced it will be. Squirrel, squirrel, Sparral, Panarin, Panarin. Panarin, where's he going? I don't know where he's going. I mean, I need him.

Who needs him? I watch jury's act there and I just, I just shake my head with it. now they're, you know, he's holding them out. He's not going to play him until he can trade them. I don't get it. I really don't get it. It's a mess. They got some work to do.

No question. They got some work to do. They've got some major work to do. I mean, Miller comes in. Now he, then he fakes him the captain. I'm thinking, are you, you know, it's been a disaster this year. I mean, Sullivan goes in there and he, and the teams is the worst in the league. This is supposed to be the best coach in hockey.

you know, sad. So, Mac, these teams, it feels like at the deadline, there's all these teams who want to add, but I think trade protection really, like Carolina, we know they tried to get ranting in and they had them for a sec, but every big name that comes up, they want to get them. Toronto wants to get names.

Other Canadian cities want to get names. But I just feel like people don't realize how much these trade lists are affecting teams' ability to get guys. Or to get rid of guys. like i mean you think about what Toronto has to do to get rid of some of these guys I mean even carlo has got trade protection what I mean they've all got trade protection

I couldn't believe when I looked at the list the other day so you know that's the problem both sides you know you got the trade protection is unbelievable and how what teams they can go to have to give approval I mean it you know you're right see I was lucky I called Todd Mershan in

and I said Todd I'm I've traded you to an eye and he told me he wasn't going. I said, you're not going. I'm trading you to an eye and you're not going. No. So then I put him on waivers. Yeah. And Bertie picked him up.

You know, because nobody else was going to take it. But there was no such thing as a no move back then. No, that's where the no move rule came in. Yes. Because the league investigated, Berkey and I, and all of a sudden the PA were going squirrely and no movement came in that summer. Hey, that's... Sorry, before.

this goes over to you. I don't want to let Matt go without asking him about the Brockville Hall of Fame. It just, it just came up in my mind. Yes. We had Mark Vorviyatsky on our show last week in your spot, and he said his family, the auto center's national predators defenseman,

Mark Borviatty, Borough, Borough, if you will. Yeah. They listened to you, thought you were great on the Friday show, and they went into the Brockville, I don't know, restaurant and saw your mind. Tim Horne. Memorial Center. I think it was a Tim Horton's.

I think it was. It's actually the proxia. There it is. Which is the rink that I built. The house that Doug McLean built. What do you mean? You delivered bricks there? No, because I was so damn good playing there that, you know, I went into the Hall of Fame, you know, seriously.

Oh. Anyone else we know that's in it? 2010, I was inducted, right? Is there a ceremony? Oh, there's a ton of guys that are in the Hall of Fame there that are legends. All right. Okay, we believe you. How the hell did you find that?

Borough! Our guy, Borough. He did. Oh, yeah, we got a crack investigation team here. Sorry. Well, my landlady is the one that voted me in. She was the one that recommended me. So, you know, her husband was one of the owners of the team.

And Polly was, she was responsible. for getting me in. So it was, you know, who was there? I'll tell you, who was there at my ceremony, who was also a Brockville Hall of Famer, is a guy by the name of the name of Leo Boyvan. Do you remember that name? Yeah, I do, yeah.

Yeah. He's from Prescott, Ontario, and he's in the Brockville Sports Hall of Fame. So there's some amazing legends in there. So, Mac, as far as Canada's concerned, I mean, we're down to Montreal and Edmonton, right? Yeah, like, you know, again, I, I watched, did you guys watch Bouchard the other night?

Oh, how can you not watch him? What? How can you not watch him? How can you not watch any game Edmonton's in in the last minute and a half? High event, the player. It's just those odd giveaways, but man, he's been good. Man, he's been good. Anyway.

You get to live with that, though, as a coach, right? You kind of accept him for what he is and go. Yeah, you love it. You love it. You know, you're going to have the odd bet. I mean, I coached Paul Coffey for five years. I mean, he gave the odd one away, but, man. but man, was he something else to be around to watch how he went

when winning became a factor how good he was. Cough watches this show. You better be careful. Oh, and I'll cough's one of my all-time favorites, all-time favorites. I told you what Mrs. Illich phoned me. I get a call from Mrs. Illich. She said, Doug, I was assistant GM of them. Doug, can you explain to me why Steve Eisenman wears two pair of skates in a season and Paul Coffey needs 22 pairs.

I said, Mrs. L.H., all I can tell you is Paul Coffey is maybe the best skater in the game, in the history of the game. And yes, he likes 22 pairs of skates. They would come in in the box and he would take them into Mark Brennan, our equipment manager,

and he would have them stitch the new skates because he wanted them so, stiff, it was unbelievable. And then he'd put them on and play. 22 pairs of skates. Really loose, right? Wasn't that a thing? No, small.

In St. Louis, they wanted to, St. Louis, they phoned me. Want to know why we bought eight pairs of skates for Charlie Buzwa. I said, I can't explain that one. I guess it's different. Any love for the Montreal Canadians? We hung their jersey up. Suzuki's taking it to another level. Yeah, they're a fun team to watch.

I mean, the goaltending is such a defense looks like it's got the foundation of being a good blue line as they progress as a franchise. But you know what? I got to tell you, Jeff Gorton, you know, the Rangers, he was good in Boston, the Rangers fire him, and he's done a hell of a job there. I mean, him and Ken Hughes have done a really good job. They're an exciting team to watch. I really like how Montreal and Ottawa position. Ottawa need a goaltender. That's without a doubt.

I mean, imagine Travis Green right now with Rimer as his go-to guy heading down the stretch. And the other guy dressed as a backup, but he can't play yet. Rimer's actually, he's done a great job just holding the fort there. Rimer's done an unbelievable job just holding the fort, and so is Travis Green. and what's the guy? Why is Elmark on the bench if he can't play? Seriously. Interesting question.

He's on the bench. Why can't he start? Tell me that. All right, we'll leave it on that. Before I let you go. You don't want me talking on that? You'll get a lawsuit. All right.

What is this I'm hearing? Like every week you tell us how great your golf game is, and then I hear the other day that you got beat by a fifth grader. Oh, my God. So we go to the park. Jill and I go to the park. West Palm yesterday. So we tee off and one guy

I look at me carrying his bag. He looks really good. I said, you know, you from around here? And he said, oh, I'm a pro at a course in New Jersey. I said, oh, you're a pro. And then the next guy that slides up to play with it was a father's son. And I said to the little

guy or Jill said to the little guy, what, you know, what's your bag? He said, I'm in grade five. So I have a pro from New Jersey. playing with Jill and I and a kid in grade five. So the little guy hits his drive

probably about if it wasn't 200 yards it was awful close. I dropped mine out there at about a 158 from the senior T's so I played with a kid in grade 5

and a pro and Jill and I and I can't I we only played nine holes I had a 44 I thought it was pretty good bad not bad but but the front the front not the first hole to God I couldn't hit it I had a six on the first hole because I was so

nervous of playing with a kid in grade five well listen keep your head keep your head down work on your game and we'll get you No, no, you don't want me to work on my game. You don't want me to work on my game.

You want me working on getting you a nice course to play when you're down here next. Oh, yeah. All right. All right. And then we'll advance you to beat somebody in junior high. And then when you're down here, you can go back and talk about the course you're going to play. All right. Sounds good to me.

Guys, thanks. Thanks a lot. Did Sammy go home? Or is he in the battle? No, he's here. He quit. He's here. I wish.

Guys, thanks for having me on again. It is the one, the only, Doug McLean. All right. Wow. I'm jealous if anyone gets to golf. Yeah, golf seals a long way away here. Got golf shoes, though. Nice.

You got new golf shoes? I did. Where's you going? I got some. They're Jordans, actually. Jordan? But they're not like, they don't, they're not like high dogs. I'll show you.

They're all white. You know what? Since, I mean, you guys did the Leafs in the National Hour for 20 minutes. I got to ask both of you. About, sorry? About the lease. I'm going to ask you a question with the lease.

Because he's brought, you brought Marner up 14 times in 20 minutes. Do you think this team with Marner makes the playoffs this year? Is Willie healthy in this hypothetical scenario? No, the exact same thing, right as right now. Same injury luck, same. They're not 10 points out. So, I don't know if they're two.

How many win players is he? Definitely better. Yeah, they're better. Six win player? I don't know. Yeah, there's a lot. One guy made a difference. Okay.

Yeah, one guy made a difference for them for sure. But, you know, if that takes them to 96 points or something. There's 30 second in every metric. Like would he be, would he make them 28 every metric? Defensively, defensively, they would have changed for sure. They would have had a different look. He also plays so much. All right, right.

He's on the ice a lot. Okay. All right. You're barred now for the rest of the hour. You just can't replace him with no win players. Yeah, that's true. Zero wins. It's game time.

Instead of I bet 365, the athlete of Stodd, and see why it's ever ordinary. At least 365, must be 18 plus. Ontario only. Please play it responsibly. How many games in the ice tonight, boys? I think we had 15 last night, so I'm going to say one. Uno.

One game tonight. It is the Chicago Blackhawks and the Columbus Blue Jackets. Watchable. Watchable. Chicago hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets, minus 155. for Columbus, Blackhawks plus 130 on home ice. Do you see Bedard

put one under the bar last night? Just going to say that was one of the nicest goals I've seen all year, just stop up, look a goalie in the eye and just beat them clean. And it's the complete joke about who was it like hits a big three to pull within 42? Yes. Crystal. Yeah. It's like

you know, like they're down sticks one at the time. I know, okay. But man, you know, that goalie, who was it? It was the stew skinner? She loves a net. That guy has been the best goalie in every league that he gets up to play in the NHL and Connor Bard stares him in the eyes and just wrists it past him. The Wiley Coyote sign.

Uh-oh. Yeah. So, you know what? Why not? Give me another, uh, give me another Connor McDard goal tonight. He's hot.

He wants to prove that he should have been on the Olympic team. Pittsburgh five straight wins, man. They don't lose. Buzz and. God, they wonder if they had a GM, then it would help at least. Plus 160 for Connor Bedard to score a goal tonight against the Columbus blue jackets.

Blue jackets have been hot, though, under bones. That was game time. Presided by Bet365. Visit the affidatedst odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus and Terry only. Please play it responsibly. Okay, we'll catch our breath and we return.

Text, 59590. We got some texts. Non-leaf text. We've got a couple calls too that were not least related that we'll play after here too. That we're both good. Pat Kane passing. Mike Medano, yet again, most points.

Plenty to get into still on a real Kipper and Bourne show. Hey, it's Aelish Forafar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan, 3-game. 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, SportsSat 590, the fan, and wherever you get your podcasts.

As a reminder, this hour, Real Kippre & Boren brought you by Bette 365. Nickyapril's Justin Boren, our very own Sammy McKee. Hold on. You're going to play that clip. Don't do it yet. Okay. We're going to get some texts to finish off the day, but just got to give some love to the Buffalo Sabres here

because they keep rolling, saw Alex Lyon set a record for his 10th straight win, which... Crazy, man. Great on him, congratulations. But the first thing I thought was 10, that's it, 10, right? With Dominic Khashik, 10? That is surprising.

You know what else is a surprising stat for me? Alex Lyons playing really good? Yes, that. But he's played well in the past, though. I mean, yeah. He's no, no, no, no. There's no way this falls out. Is he a Panther?

He did, and he went on a run there that got them in the playoffs, I think. Yeah. Saved their season of the first time I think they went to the final. But no, my most shocking stat of the day, the Evanston Oilers win last night's, first time they've won three games in a row this year. The Oilers. Yeah. Back-to-back cup champion.

Or finals. So the year you're talking about Kipper, he played 15 games for the Panthers and he had a 9-14, say, percentage. That'll do it. That was really good back then. Yep. It's really good.

Now it'd be like Hall of Fame. Alex is in the Hall of Fame if he does that. Last year in Detroit, he was in 8, 96 and 30 games. I mean, he's fine. I think this is above expected for me. Alex Tuck ain't slowing down. He wants his money. Do you want to listen to him, talk about how

great the Sabres are. I do. How awesome they are. Yes. This really sucks for you. I just, it sucks. Every team just passed at least.

Talk, clip. I just put it in shows there, Derek, it's at the top of the, if you want to play. Alex, what's it like this team

for so long has hoped to become good, hope to become competitive. What's it like now expecting to win every night you come out? Yeah, stopped hoping.

It's good. You know what? We're coming in with a lot of confidence. Everybody's coming in, trying to prove themselves, and we're trying to, to prove as a team that we're legit. We're not just going to go for the playoffs.

We're going to go for the cup. And that's our goal to get better each and every day. That's it. That's the end goal, honestly. We're not in here just a squeak in. We're in here to try to keep winning. We're chasing a couple of really good teams in Detroit and Tampa right now. And we know each game's going to be a playoff like hockey.

And it's a huge two points tonight to get. And now we have Montreal chasing us. So they're going to come to play on Saturday. We got to bring our A game. We're going to be ready to win. Okay. You are allowed to say that games are big and that you want to win and that you're going to go far and that you care.

Not allowed to be said. Probably in the last couple of six weeks, maybe eight weeks, you're like telling me there's a real path for the Buffalo Bills to get to the Super Bowl. I'm telling you right now that there's a real path. for the Buffalo Sabres to get to a Stanley Cup final. Just Stanley Cup final? Yeah. No chance.

That the Tampa Bay Lightning's bus breaks down. Is that? Maybe they lose to Tampa Bay. But no Leafs right now, no Panthers. No Florida Panthers. What do you got? You got Montreal. You got Detroit and you got Tampa Bay.

Like I said, a real. Carolina, no Carolina for you? Real. Real path to get to a Stanley Cup final. Come on. It's final. You think they, you think you're just not,

did you say Carolina in your preamble there? No, but I'll include them too. Okay. I just, I'm just saying. It's a nice story, but I'm not going crazy. Okay.

All right. I bought in. I bought in. That blue line. Alex Lion going to carry to the cup final? That blue line. Oka Pekekalukenden? Buddy.

Colton Ellis. Boosie. Yeah. Carolina. They're just, Montembourg, Montreal. Basilecki and Tanay? Okay, I'll give you that.

I'll give you that, but that's one team. It's one team. There's like one team, and if you have injury or you're, you just told me about Josh Allen going to a Super Bowl. I'm just saying the path was there, though. Yeah, sure. We're talking about paths. Yeah, but the path got bumpy and it didn't happen.

I just think there's absolutely no chance. You can play this Buffalo and when you go to the final and you can all be happy, but zero chance for me. The Sabers. underlying stuff is a little questionable defensively, but they still have... They're good players. They're coming.

They're coming. And I like Tuck's attitude. But yeah, I'm not as bullish as you. All right. They play hard. They do. They got a lot going for them. We have a couple calls on the lease line that were more national hour adjacent.

You guys want to play them? Of course. I love this stuff. Derek. They're in there. Let's go to Cat from New Brunswick. Cat from New Brunswick. Question for all three of you.

As a player, if you could only have one, would you rather win a Stanley Cup championship or a gold medal at the Olympics? Love the three of you together. We watch every show. Bye. Not even close. Stanley Cup.

Yeah. I never. Like, my era, you just didn't dream about winning a tournament unless you're like eight years old. Yeah. Right? You know, the idea of formed with a group of guys you haven't paid the dues with and it's single elimination and you win six games and you win. You know, it's not the same as like the whole grind of the year and the two month of playoffs. And, you know, just and same as you.

I also grew up with that. It's like the thing. Yeah. I'm sure there's a generation who watched, you know, Crosby and. co-do their thing, but... I do think that in the moment of the Olympics, within those two, three weeks, there is something magical and unquantifiable

about how everyone comes together and it's such a huge moment. It's national, right? It's not just a city. Actually having that happen, but, like, we don't look back on, be like, Danny Heatley, what a gold medalist. Like, you don't think, like, you don't think about it as a winner

like you do if somebody wins a Stanley Cup. So in that way, you think more about, you know, I just think the long-term, the longevity of the honor of winning a cup maybe is longer than a gold medal. But in the moment, I think a gold medal is pretty incredible. I mean, it's, yes. But there's people that think, like, you know, having a silver or bronze is really good, too.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't accept. And I'm like, no. Not in hockey. Not hockey. Everything else is good. In general, in general. Yeah, but if a friend of mine was the second best pole vaulter in the world once silver, I'd be like, oh, my God.

that's incredible. If we win... We don't go. He went to the finals. Oh, my God. That's incredible. We don't do that. If a skier wins a silver medal in the downhill for Canada,

like, yeah, dude. Way to go. There's six good countries on the planet. There's more than six good sprinters in the world, you know? I love the Olympics. I get ready for Johnny Olympics over here. Oh, no.

See, it bothers me. What? Yeah, because it bothers me. But you've got to be a fan of the sport, not the fan of just winning. That's what the great part of the Olympics is. I could sell you on a turtle race if I painted a Canadian flag on a shell.

Did we raise? Is that supposed to be an insult? Because yeah. But it is funny how you watch an event for, I don't know, four minutes. And then like four and a half minutes later, you're like, oh, poor execution. I'm like, holy crap.

That one knee came up on those moguls too much. No good. You got to hit the third shot in the biathlon before the sprint. Johnny Olympics coming right up. And the other call, I think there was one other call. Yeah, right, this one. Let's go to Alicia in Vancouver. Alicia in Vancouver.

This isn't Leafs-related, but I do watch your show every day. And the other day you guys were talking about Rick DiPietro and his contract. Don't you guys know that July 1st is actually not Canada Day? It's Rick DiPietro Day because that's when he gets paid out, his $1.5 million. all the way until 2029. So, yeah, July 1st, Rick Tietro Day. 2029, just grabs a check. Thanks for making me laugh.

It's going to be like a cousin or like, how would she know that? I'm sure it's on. I mean, you could probably... Huckpedia or... Chat, Gpti, maybe give you the wrong. She must be getting a cut of it. But here's what...

I gave that guy so much credit. He gets paid with $1.5 million every year. Yeah. He still gets up, does morning radio in the grind. I'm like, what a guy. You know, you just rot, though. What an owner. What an owner, he says.

Yeah. Every July 1st. Oh, well, yeah. He's the one that came up with the idea, I guess, of a 15-year deal. Yeah, but I give him better for still getting up. Like, I mean, you could do an afternoon show. Yeah, you're totally right. He doesn't need the show to be successful.

Okay. Okay. Do you guys want to do some texts? Yeah, definitely do. All right. Hi, boys. if you had to pick a Canadian team today that you could go and play for,

who would it be? Follow up, if you had a son that could play on any Canadian team today, who would it be? Thanks, David from Montreal. He's leading the witness with Montreal. We're just talking about Canadian franchises. I guess that's it.

I live in Toronto. Like, you know, it would be cool if my son played here. I grew up in BC. That'd be cool. I'll go to Montreal. Yeah. You, that's what, if you had to pick one, right now,

22 when you got a chance Yeah. You'd play for Montreal. Yeah. Yeah. That's like, come on. It's like being in the, the sound here is people burning chips.

Jersey. New York, Yankee, Dallas Cowboy. Come on. We're talking about. Yeah. Right? Sure. I just the leaf thing,

so I'm just saying. Yeah. I'd love to experience the Montreal Canadian thing. Buddy, I, any of them sound good. Okay. I've covered enough Montreal games over the years for SportsNet that there is no better

pre-game. to puck drop vibe on the planet than in Montreal. How have they evaded the business factor permeating the lower bowl that happens in Toronto? How have they pulled that off? The tickets are cheap there. So it doesn't, it's loud. It just has to be loud here because tickets are expensive. Is that what it is?

No, they're not cheap. They just care more and they're allowed to be like, you can go in the lower bowl there and stand up without somebody being like, oh, you're bumping my shishimi. You're what? You know what shashimi is? He's his dog. Oh, oh.

My merlo! You almost spilled my Merlo! Oh, my gosh. Are those things allowed in? They need a ticket? You have been to a million nice dinners. You don't know what Shishimi is? Sashimi.

What I say? Shishimi. Yeah, that's why you don't even pronounce it correctly. What am I saying? Shashimi. Is this shishimi? No, it's sashimi. No, it's sashimi.

Idiot again. The own sound comes through. Idiot again. I had sashimi last night. Literally last night. Those are chicken fingers, pal. No, it does it. I love sushi.

Maybe. Sashimi. Oh, gosh. Oh, I don't know where we go from there. No, I don't either. Oh, here we go. Can anyone tell us what's going on with the Canadian Olympic team roster? Point, is he still going?

Haven't they found a spot for Bennett yet? It was such a huge topic of. few weeks ago and now we have cricket. Kathy from Riverview. Yeah, you know, still no real word on point, Thompson, Marchand. Yeah, Marchand got banged up last night. Yeah, still some uncertainty.

I'll be honest. I'm like kind of not rooting for it, but like waiting for a de-opening. Like Schaefer and Bouchard have been unbelievable since these teams have been picked. Schaefer's ridiculous. Yeah. I made a mistake.

I'm starting to have a little bit more of a acceptance for Bouchard. Yeah. Right? I mean, he just hires it in the net every night. Every time it goes back, there's not another guy in the league that I look at and go, okay, this has got a chance of actually ending up in the net. And what you would do with him is you just wouldn't play him unless McCar was out or Morrissey,

you know, to take a spot as a power play. You can win a Stanley Cup with Bouchard, but you have to, he's one of those guys where you just have to have the right people around him. And obviously, at Colmson, very good form of the years. Is there, like, a four-man band right now?

And I don't know whether or not that one mistake that Bouchard ends up making and we know it's coming will be the one that keeps them from winning a Stanley Cup. Are we still talking about Canada, though? Yeah, no, but I'm just saying,

so I'm much more comfortable with Team Canada that he's surrounded by enough guys that. On the top power play unit. We'll be able to cover up that. one mistake. It just feels crazy sitting here today that we're like sending Thomas Harley over him. Yeah,

it does feel dumb. Sanheimer Dowdy right now. You just may need that offense, that one guy that can just, when you're down a goal and the goal he's pulled, that's the guy I want on the blue line. Totally. Right? So I kind of keep waiting like, I'm someone going to roll an ankle here at some point. And Hyman probably should be there too.

Yeah. Well, for Connor. Heimann's a good. Isn't he lead to league in goals since a certain, like he's, since he came back? He had like 17 goals in his last 20 games last time I saw. He's on. That's razor mit numbers. What is it going on with Colorado now?

Oh, it's mid-January. They've lost eight regulation games here. Still love them. Well, yeah, don't you once in a while, mid-season these teams are going to have a little stumble. I tell you some, I kill for their problem. Took you like 40, 40 games to lose four times and now it's taking you a week and a half. A couple injuries, too. Do they not have a couple banged up guys?

Sorry, that's not very much help. Okay. Time for some Shoshini, boys. Our thanks to Doug McLean. Shee-shiny out the door. See you later. On Off the rails Friday. One game on tap tonight.

Chicago and Columbus. All right, boys. What are you doing this weekend? Curling. Hockey. My parents are coming down. More shoveling. I go for some dinner.

I don't know. Our thanks to everybody out there, whatever platform you chose to watch us. We appreciate the support. Give us a thumbs up on YouTube. Give us a rating and review if you can.