Real Kyper & Bourne - Rick Bowness Returns + Could Dougie Hamilton Play for a Canadian Team?

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Sportsnet's David Amber (4:43) to react to the news of the Columbus Blue Jackets firing head coach Dean Evason and hiring Rick Bowness, how the Ottawa Senators can navigate past the off-ice drama, before looking at the state of the Canadian NHL teams including the Winnipeg Jets on the outside looking in for a playoff spot, if Dougie Hamilton could return to his native land and play for one of the 7 Canadian teams, and if he's still concerned with the online reports on the progress with the Olympic ice rink and amenities. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee debate whether Carter Verhaeghe deserved a major for his hit-from-behind on Artem Zub. 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 the national hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Nick Kippreel is Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. If you miss our show, we got it on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube where we love getting thumbs up. This hour of Real Kippenborn brought to you by Bet365.

In a few minutes, we'll welcome in David Amber, studio host of Hockey Night in Canada NHL on Sportsnet He's not in studio Like I thought Yeah I mean you maybe got tricked by It says studio there on there

Yeah I think I got tricked Sometimes we haven't in studio Sometimes we don't so I think he's got tricked It's all good For those of you that just watch the show Just for the sole purpose Of seeing if Sammy Will change the jersey from a leaf hour

addition to another team He did with the Vancouver Canucks where if there's one show probably Canuck fans aren't feeling too great about seeing their jersey it might have been off a Saturday night Two things, Zaja Gabor

are lovely intern help hopefully future A guy who's here has changed Sammy's life Oh my God Like letting him know to change the jersey every show To be fair To be fair I'd love to give Jaja full credit But there's four texts in the text line my dad text me,

Jaja text me. Like, they don't want to see you publicly scolded it anymore. No one wants it anymore. Like, it's over. They all felt the tension. It's over. If it's forgotten again,

it's like, there's just no... Is that... Is that... When you have to actually do it on live television, is that like a walk of shame? Oh, yeah. Oh, man.

That's terrible. Yeah, it's not good. But we got a brand new Canucks jersey. So we're like, you know, becoming a real outfit here. Got a Canucks sweater. Just the time to talk about them. Just taking five years.

Just about... Billion dollars were the rights. Okay. So if I was to say that that's like the worst team in the league I've seen this year, would I be up to three teams or four teams now? That you've called the worst team in the league. You called the devil's very recently the worst team. Jets.

Vancouver. That'd be three in the last two weeks. Yeah. Like borderline American hockey league Saturday night. Jeez Louise Kemp. Oh, no, no, no. I'm telling you. That was awful.

Awful. No good. No good. I was texting with some people in Vancouver, people who follow the team closely. Everyone has just thrown up their hands and been like, this is awful. What happened to their team? It's time for them to be this.

Yes, it is. They were trying to be half pregnant for four years. This is. Go get him McKenna. Go suck for a year. This is now gone from whatever they think is hybrid retool or

no, no, no. This is blown up. Yes. No, we're talking. How do we start talking Knotch? We're talking

coyote roadrunner stuff. Okay. Acme. The Acme. T&T. Uh, but it's true. It's true. What's the point of fighting

to be slightly better than you currently are? They have 37 points. There's three, guys at the top of the draft it's Stenberg, it's McKenna, it's at Verhof. Any of them would be amazing for the Canucksian where they're at.

Just do it. I really, that Stenberg looks very good. Watch the world juniors. He looked unbelievable. Yes, very, he's probably the dude. Columbus. Before we do Columbus, Demko, Adam Foote was asked today, could he be shut down for the season?

And he said, that could happen. Oh, my. I don't blame him. If he's If he's been trying to keep this thing together at 60 or 70% and it's not happening. And you're watching where they are right now. Season over. Agreed. There's no reason to keep running him out there.

No. I mean, he also wasn't great himself on Saturday. But anyways, tough spot. Okay. Columbus. Columbus, yes. I have a new head coach. Dean Everson has been relieved of his duties as well as an assistant coach there.

in for the fired head coach dean evison Rick bonus let's bring in our next guest David Amber studio host hockey night in Canada and NHLs on sports net to dissect this scenario in Columbus where as Don Waddell said in his statement Dave this is a very very so far disappointing season that needed something

Yeah, some breaking news. I was a bit surprised, though. I guess I was surprised that they made the move, but I'm also equally surprised Rick Bonas, who I thought was retired, right? He left Winnipeg. How old's Rick now? And he's obviously still got that fire in his belly.

And he obviously did such a good job with the Jets, but I'm surprised to hear he's going to be behind the bench for Columbus. But maybe they're looking for that little coaching bump that we keep seeing because there's still mathematically right there, dead last in the east. are the blue jackets, but they're, you know, what, six, seven points out of a playoff spot. So every team still seemingly is alive. But that was a bit of a surprise to me.

If you asked me who the first coach to go this year was, even though the fact they're last in the east, I wouldn't have said Columbus. No, it's particularly strange. They're just so desperate to be competitive, I guess, but given last year and all the emotional baggage and stuff that comes with it, you know, I think it's fair to ask. Like when you look at that roster, do you think that that's a better team

than I understand their last, but they're 45 points and 45 games. That seems about like what they are to me, roster-wise, D-A. Yeah, I mean, you look around the league and there's certain teams that have completely underperformed based on the anticipation, the expectations.

I mean, they're right there with Ottawa. They're the same amount of points as Ottawa. Everyone, you know, myself included, picked Ottawa as not a definitive, but a very strong candidate to be a playoff team, and they still might be. But they've underperformed. And there's a whole, you know, series, or five of their teams he could pick out before you would say Columbus is underperform.

Yeah, the roster is growing and maybe they just feel they needed a different voice. I don't know. I only know what you hear from players, right? Dean Aveson, you know, maybe grinds a little harder than some of the young guys wanted to be grinded or in a certain way that wasn't motivating them. And maybe that was something that Don Waddell recognized and thought a different voice and a different ten, you know, sort of tenor of that voice and maybe different messaging would go a bit further. as simple as that.

But if you just look at the app, you know, roster and break it down, you don't sort of say, well, Columbus has massively underperformed this year. You're watching and listening to David Amber, studio host to Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on Sportsnet. You mentioned the Ottawa Senators. And, you know, Elliot touched a bit about it on the weekend here. But, David, you've been around a long time as a broadcaster. I'm not sure this is the right term.

But have you ever seen anything so messy like this based on a, an internet tweet? I don't know. Is that what they call it still? An internet tweet, definitely what they call it. You know, I call social media. I call social media anti-social media for a reason.

And it's just there's so much negativity put out there. There's so much false narratives put out there. I have no idea what level of validity, if any, is there to this. And we can't speak to that. you know there was that whole debate did ottawa give the whole rumor oxygen by addressing it in the public way they did should they have just let it kind of go away and i'm sure in their heads are going yeah well that's what we thought last year we heard all the year before we heard all those crazy rumors with corey perry and all that oh just go away well it didn't go away just kept growing and growing and growing so they probably wanted to sort of stop it um you know in its tracks as best possible Yeah, it's it is messy

But you know what, Cures messiness is winning, you know, Nick, like you talk about teammates who struggle with each other, their personalities off the ice or blah, blah, blah, you know what, then they win and their best buddies. And I think this is one of those cases. A few wins in a row. They've lost four in a row.

If Ottawa could find a way to get some traction, move in the right direction. A lot of this will be forgotten, I would think. You know, we'll just have to wait to see how it all plays it out. But yeah, it's messy and it's unfortunate when, you know, things like this become sort of the talking point of the team as opposed to what they're doing on the ice or what they're trying to accomplish. So it's more just a sign of our times, right? It's really just, you know, we all have kids and, you know, your kids are caught up in social media and it just gets out of hand.

And we've seen that, you know, all of us have seen that. So it's unfortunate. But hopefully, you know, again, I think some wins will go a long way into just putting that into the back ground. I guess the question is though, and I'll let J.V. You answer this maybe after David. Are they correlated? Are they, do they have to do with each other, whether or not whatever's going on off is affecting the team or can they separate it here? That's the question, right?

100%. I mean, if there is some validity and there is some dissension within the dressing room and if there's some significant personality problems, then that that's a completely different narrative. We just don't know, you know, definitively what the truth is. But I would say, just like I put it the other way, when you're winning, you know, a lot of those problems go away. When you're not winning, a lot of those problems become much more heightened. So even if it was a small problem, all this losing and the consternation surrounding the team throughout the year, I mean, it's been a tough year for the Ottawa senators because they look like that team that was making the moves in the right direction. And they have this great

young nucleus. They have a very, you know, a coach who has a pretty good resume. and Travis Green and is known to really help motivate the players in a good way. And to date, they've underperformed. So maybe it is all hand in hand. And, you know, J.B., I'd love to get your take on it. But there's a lot more questions than answers. I'll put it that way. Well, as you say, there's two conflicting parts of this for me.

And one is that everyone on the senators to a man came out and had Lina's Allmark's back, right? This guy, great guy, this guy, you know, we're behind him all the way, yada yada. But then there's the element where he took a personal leave. but then he still came to the game and he still, you know, almost felt like he's not welcome down there or something. Like I just, we don't know the story, but it feels like there's some tension between what's really happening

and public story and whatever. So I don't know. It's impossible to guess how it's impacting the team, but you do get the sense, whatever it is, a thing happened within this group that is they're working through. And I think that can be a challenge, but it happens at any organization.

You work with 20-some people or whatever. chaos happens sometimes and you work your way through. And listen, at the national level, I mean, there's SportsNet, there's TSN, but underneath all of that, I don't know whether or not people can leave it alone or they're like, now we've got to dig, now we've got to find out, now we're going to TMZ this thing right up. You know, that's the danger of continually bringing it to the surface

or, you know, with that statement. I mean, that's, I think, that's where our world is at right now. now unfortunately. Yeah, and I think that was the criticism or the questioning that Steve Stales and the senators management received is like when you, when you address it, even if you're denying it, it puts it into the, you know, the lexicon. It becomes like, okay, well, it's fair game to talk about this now. And here we are, you know, on a national show, you know, speculating about something

none of us, at least the three of us don't really have any insights to. It's unfortunate because there's so many good story like hockey stuff. storylines to go around right now. And I'd like to think the big storylines surrounding the senators come April will be, hey, they had a great second half resurgence, and they made the playoffs, and they're going to be a very hard out. And you like to think a lot of these things will get straightened out. But as Justin just pointed out, we don't know that to be the case. And you're both implying that it runs potentially much deeper than any of us know. And maybe that is the case. I really, I really don't know. And I hate to speculate on stuff because I just don't feel

it's my place to. But I imagine time will tell when this thing will get all sorted out. Just my last thought on all of this. If someone's out there spreading lies and bad rumors about me or my family, the first thing that's coming out is a call to the lawyer, and I want to know what my options are. And if that's the case for Allmark or Cichuk or any number of those players or the Ottawa senators,

like call a lawyer, call Saul. Kip, I said I would stop or cease and desist, man, lay off. I won't say anything like that. Counter, baby. Counter. Yeah, I mean, listen, it's a litigious time, right? I mean, people don't want to be slandered or libeled and put in a spot where they're, you know, be defamed

and their reputation is at risk. And you have legal course of action you can take. and I'm sure that's something that maybe is being considered. Again, I don't know and I hate to kind of go from A to B to C to D because we just don't know. But you're right, that would be my instincts too if someone put me in a situation that was completely unfounded and was hurting my reputation.

I would certainly look at all different courses of action. I'll just say, you know, from, you know, they're a public hockey team that people pay to follow and are interested and it has hockey implications. You know, this guy won a Vezna trophy for them. They're dead last and safe percentage this year. If they're getting moderately okay goal-tending, they're in the playoffs. So, like, people want to know, hey, wait, is our whole season turf because of this?

And so to me, that justifies this as a conversation. They put a statement out. So just one of my two cents on why we're talking about it. Okay. Listen, it makes all the sense in the world. And, yeah, you know, and break your chucking on as far as to say, critique us for what's going on the ice. Don't, you know, sit there and try and investigate our personal lives, which I think he's completely right.

but if there is some link between the two and the performance on the ice, then that might come to light as well. But, you know, I just think it's on, I think at the end of the day, guys, it's just unfortunate. Again, I'm always, I'm pretty optimistic person. I like there's so many good storylines to dig into, and this has become sort of a bit of a talking point surrounding the senators, and it's tough situation.

Keep in mind on our show particularly, Dave, if we can't go from A to B to C to D, we're done. We're done. We're done. It's over. Cancel. Hold on. Cancel our show. It's a fun thing to take optimism and really challenge it. So, DA, our Canadian teams, brother, this has been your thing, right?

I mean, we just talked about the Canucks. We're talking about Ottawa. Calgary's struggling. Winnipeg struggling. Like, are there bright futures coming here? Did you see this sort of a falloff happening this season? I mean, those are a bunch of different teams, right? The Jets is unforeseeable.

So I dug this up. The last time a team went from first in the NHL standings in the regular season to the next year, dead last was 1942, 43. That was it's not happening. That was a three-team league, wasn't it? Exactly. It was the Rangers. It was your old team, Kipper, but long before you were there. And again, it was pre, it was six teams at the time.

Yeah. Pretty easy to fall from first to six. The fall from first to 32nd. And the Jets aren't in 32nd. And I don't think they're going to finish at 30 second. But the fact they were even sitting there half. way through the season was shocking. So they've won two in a row.

Maybe they got their mojo right. I was on your show before. We talked about the margins, right? During that 11 game losing streak, nine of those losses were by one goal. They were blowing leads. They had no mojo. They were playing not to lose as opposed to win. I don't know what happened. But now they're getting a bit more complimentary scoring.

They seem to have righted the wrongs. And they're still there. They have a long way to go. They're going to have to pull a 2019 St. Louis Blues, right, and go from worst, you know, to the playoffs and then see where, what that can get them. But they still have a fighting shot. And if they're the Winnipeg Jets, the way that we consider them to be the Jets, they have a ton of work to do. I think they have to go like 26 and 12 or something to get to sort of 90 points, 91 points.

Like it's a massive road they have in front of them, but it's not inconceivable. They're good enough to do that. When you look at a team like Calgary, it's different. You know, people weren't sure what to expect from Calgary. Last year, the 96 points almost making it to the playoffs. Some people felt that was a bit of a mirage, great goaltending from Dustin Wolf, and they had sort of everything fall into place. They became sort of that gritty team. And this year, you know, maybe they come down to earth a little bit with their roster being as it is.

But what's interesting to me, guys, is we're less than two months from the trade deadline. What's going to happen with Rasmus Anderson? What's going to happen potentially like with a Blake Coleman or a Nazim Khadry? They have some chips to play. And what are they going to do with those chips? And that to me is the really big storyline. Craig Conroy and that ownership group have a lot of decisions ahead of them. Yeah, I think right now in Calgary, everything's pointed to the direction that they're willing to sit and wait until they get the offer that they're comfortable with.

Of course, the pressure point is a deadline that can come and go and you can end up holding on to a few of your pieces as well. So interesting times. Yeah, absolutely. Where do you want to go? I want to ask what the Toronto Maple East. we got a red hot team here. On the positive side, let's start painting with a more positive brush.

Obviously, 7-0 and 2 in their last 9, they've got on a little bit of a run. Do you believe that this team is, is this more like what they actually are? Do we have a potential playoff team or is this a mirage? No, I definitely wouldn't say it's a mirage. And I think, I mean, again,

if we go back to our preseason expectations, that I have the Leafs as a playoff team. I understood they lost Marner and everything else. You know, think about, They've had this rotating, you know, four goalies they've used this year. It's been ups and downs to say the least, and they've somehow managed to survive that. I think it's been great that some of these guys, you know, when you had Nylander out and you had Matthews not performing, and then Matthews was out for a bit.

You've had McCabe and 10 about prolonged stretches of time. You've had other guys who've had to be supporting there, who've had to sort of elevate their game. And if there is a silver lining to when it leaves one of that massive lull is that some of these other guys have finally found some footing and Nick Robertson and Easton Cowan and Mitchellie, they've now maybe found a little more comfort. Max Domi is playing much better hockey than he was a month ago. So maybe now the guys are finding themselves a little bit, they have their confidence back. And the goal tending situation, we haven't talked about Anthony Stolars in a while, right? And that hasn't been the big talking point between Hilda B and Wall, it's been okay. So this is a much better version of the Maple Leafs

and maybe it's the version that's going to help, you know, get them back into a playoff spot and have them with some momentum heading towards the front towards the spring. David, in our leaf hour edition, we talked about Dougie Hamilton, but I'm going to broaden that. And you tell me now that the news is out, we heard from L.A. Freedman on Saturday night,

on hockey night in Canada, talk about Dougie Hamilton. What Canadian team could use Dougie Hamilton if Jersey decides to move him? Oh, man. I mean, that's a tough question, Kipp, only, because he comes, it's not as simple as Dougie Hamilton. Is he making, is it nine?

Nine this year plus two more. Yeah. I mean, that's the big, listen, all seven Canadian teams could use it Dougie Hamilton. I still think he's a very serviceable, right-handed shot defenseman, right? I mean. Yeah. Providing you can make the money work at New Jersey to eat some of it, you know, it wouldn't be that expensive if they want to just unload them. So.

What about Edmonton? What about Edmonton? What about the Oilers? he's like riskier bouchard i don't know i don't know i don't look at him in the same vein he doesn't have that that type of you know they don't need him to man the power play the oilers power play right now is at a historic level if they finish at the rate they're at now on their power play it'll be the greatest power play

ever so i don't think they necessarily need dougie hamilton there to quarterback their power play however um i still think he brings a lot to the table It's really the money that's the biggest sort of... Yeah, no question. You know, that's the problem. I wouldn't say the Montreal Canadians are desperate for that. I think Montreal's bigger concerns are up the middle. And you guys have talked about that on your show repeatedly,

whether it's an awesome cadre or someone else coming in there. Yeah. But having said that, if you look at Montreal with Doc, New Hook, Line A, goolies just coming back. Like, they've had a series of serious injuries to serious players. And maybe if you're their manager group, you're Kent Hughes and Jeff Gordon, you're saying, well, let's, we're going to add guys

even without having to get rid of prospects and draft picks, etc. So, Dobson took care of that for them. Say that again? Dobson, yeah. With Dobson there, Hamilton makes no sense. You want it to be the league? Yeah, yeah. They don't need Hamilton. They need some help up front

potentially, but they also might just be waiting for the guys to get healthy again. So we'll see. Well, yeah, this is going to be crazy, this stretch of hockey here. I know the Leafs play 11 times in the next 20 days. I can't imagine a more condensed. to NHL schedule than we've got right now. I've got nine games on a Monday night.

The A, like, I don't know if you're noticing it, affect the play at all, but there's some nights where teams just seem to be rolling over. Like the Rangers lose 10-2 the other night. Canucks 5-0-0. We had a 9-0 the other night. Like, there's just some weird hockey right now. It's weird.

And I, talking to the players, there's no practice anymore. Hold on, who you got, who you got? Oh, the dog, yeah, she's making a lot of noise. Bella. I'm going to be here. Yes. Hello. Yeah, she, I'm holding her because I'm worried she's going to pee on the floor.

So, anyhow, yeah, the games have been where, but you talk to the players, there's no practices. There's no time to sort of address issues. And you talk about special teams. If your special teams are rolling, it's great. But quite frankly, this is the time of year when you want to see some adjustments. If you're the Calgary Flames and you have the worst power play in the league, you want to see some adjustments, right? Yeah. And now would be the time to be the time to be.

be able to try to make those adjustments. And there's just not a lot of practice times. It's game, rest, fly out, game, rest, fly out, rinse and repeat. And some days, some teams just the tank is empty. And if you meet up on the wrong night, like we saw that with Boston and the Rangers on Saturday as watching that game, I couldn't believe it. And it could have been more than 10 goals, right? And we saw that with the Islanders and Devils a week ago, nine nothing, like you said,

it makes for very strange nights. It makes for hard. If you're trying to bet on these games, too, it makes it very unpredictable what's going to happen. So it's an interesting time. I look forward to a season, and I think it's next year, where they're going to start a week earlier in September. The games will be spread out. It's a non-Olympic year. It's a non-world cup year.

And it'll feel more like the traditional NHL calendar. And quite frankly, I look forward to that because this year with the Olympics, last year with four nations, et cetera, we've had these compressed schedules. and sometimes the hockey leaves a little to be desired simply because of the fatigue mentally and physically that the players are feeling, which is understandable. So our Sammy watches pictures from the Olympic rink being built like people watch the fireplace at Christmas, the fireplace channel.

You're not watching this on a daily basis too, are you? I assume they're going to get it done, But, you know, anyone who's had a house for Reno knows how these things go. This is the big house. I mean, Kippa, you've built some palatial estates in your time. And they tell you a year and X amount, you can guarantee it's going to be plus, plus, plus, both on the financial side and on the time-wise side. We don't care about the financial side.

That's the, you know, IOC's problem. But we'd like to have that ring ready by the time the Olympics start. I'm of the mind. It's going to be what it is. Every team will be at the exact same disadvantage. From what I understand, we're making a lot about the ice. it's not going to be the ice that's the biggest problem. I had someone tell me that it's going to be the amenities for the players that people are going to,

you know, these are guys who are used to the four seasons, you know, private flights, all the amenities in the world, all the great practice facilities in the world, and they might get to Milan and it's going to be a bit of an eye opener when, you know, they're in these cramped corridors, these little dressing rooms, etc. That might be the bigger sort of, oh my God, for the NHL players that end up in Milan, not so much the ice surface itself. Is Connor Bredard going to be there? He's your boy.

You're asking the wrong guy. I mean, I think he should have been named there. I think Matthew Schaefer should have been named as well. I would have loved to have seen them on Team Canada, and I think they would have done incredibly well. Will he be there? I mean, what you heard Doug Armstrong say on December 31st is it's all based on who is out.

If there are injury substitutions, if Tom Wilson gets injured, you know Sam Bennett's in there. if if you know someone else get you know Celebrity want to put yeah I just don't want to put out names because then it feels like you're Oh you jinx in them?

Did I just put bad juju on Celebrini? 100% I hope not I hope not and I don't even know if it'd be Celebrini would get would get would get badd there but I mean yeah if a center goes down and they feel they have a like minded center

who could fill that role and be that person then they're going to do that where on the pecking order he falls what do they say that there's like 12 guys on this reserve list right Like it's quite a few guys. There's Shifley and Bennett and I'm forgetting a bunch, obviously.

Badaar, it's one of them. There's a lot of guys, Wyatt Johnston. So I'm not sure he's first man up or second man up. Would I like to see him there and do? I think he deserved it. Yeah, when he got injured, he was fourth in the league in points. He's improved immeasurably in every, you know, facet of his game. He was, he still, he missed 12 games, guys, and he's still leading Chicago in points by double digits.

What does that say? Yeah. You know, he really carried that team much in the same vein that Celebrity has carried the sharks, and I would have had no problem at all with Connor Bader being on the Olympic team. Okay, last one for me here. And I want to take you back to what six years ago, maybe even longer. I think I was beside you when you claimed that OV was going to challenge Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record. How long ago?

Did we lose him? He's there, but he's on mute, maybe. You on mute? Did Bella? The Bella hit you? The dog hit the. Oh, there is. Mute button.

No. We got you now. We got you. Yeah, we got you now. Okay, so what was it? What was it? 2016. 2016.

Oh, okay, almost. Yeah, 10. So 10 years ago, I was there and I pooped it like Bella's doing right now in your kitchen. Right? And I look bad. I admit that. Now we're seeing Connor McDavid on what, an 18 game point streak. Maybe we've never seen them better.

he certainly had a Gretzky pace, right, lately. So what year will he break his total point record? That's what I want to know from you. Wait, break Gretzky's point record? Yeah, yeah. What year? What year? No, no. No, you did it once.

You can do it again for a show. I've said for a couple of years, I've said for a couple years, and this isn't some crazy take or anything or some, you know, like impressive take. But I've said for a couple of years, I fully expect Connor McI, David when he retires to have the second most points of any NHLer.

The way Crosby is going, it's, Crosby might be the next guy to 2,000 points, but I fully believe Connor McDavid will join Gretzky is the only 2,000 point players to maybe Crosby, if Crosby keeps playing at the level he's playing at now. But when Connor McDavid retires, he'll be the second highest scoring player in NHL history. It's, what is Brett Katsky at? Sammy would know. Isn't it 2, 2,800 and something? 2900, I thought.

It's in the 2,800 range. Yeah. It's asking a lot. I mean, McDavid's amazing. I'm glad that you're even bringing that up, though, Kipper, because he deserves, you know, just like when we were watching Gretzky play,

you know, I just remember going, man, this guy's so good, but you had a greater appreciation for him after he left the game. I just hope people watching McDavid now are having the level of appreciation for, you know,

who he is, what he is. He, to me, I'm not saying he's the best player ever because, you know, Gretzky and Lemieux and Cross, but he's the most skilled player I think we've ever seen.

Certainly in my lifetime. It's just, it's amazing what we're seeing. And yeah, you know, and he should be in the MVP conversation. I know Celebrini and McKinnon are the two front runners, but Connor McDavid is just he's in a league of his own. Someone from outer space. It's unbelievable.

Hey, our thanks to you and Bella. There, get her on. Thanks for having us. There she is. All right. That is David Amber, studio host, Hockey Night in Canada, NHL on Sportsnet. Always fun with DA.

I don't want to admit this to you, Kipper, because I hate telling you you you're right, but I love the best on best stuff, and I'm so excited about the best on best stuff, but they're playing too much damn hockey. I tell you, I love it. There's too many damn hockey games. It's who's going to be, like,

I'm about to sound like here, what's going to be left of them after this? But these next, you say 11 games in 20 days to the least. And it's just every, like having nine games on a Monday, it just, it feels like they're just ramming it in there to get it before the Olympics. What was Commissioner Gary Bettman's quote recently about like the Olympics and the rink? And he said something. No, he said something specific.

It's so great and we're all so excited we're doing it. I'll find it during the break. Give us the gist. The gist is. like all of this will get revisited. Something of that nature. I'm not happy with how it's good. He didn't come across happy at all.

Did I hear something? Maybe I'm crazy. Are they going to start the season sooner? Everyone in Canada is like, everyone goes back to school to start of September. Hockey starts for all our kids at the start of September. The leaves change in September. Could we start hockey in September?

We need to start mid-October? And then it would be done a month. I don't know. I just, I propose this to Borny, but it probably never happened. But could they, if you're going to have these World Cup years, are going to have these Olympic years, although I don't think they'll go back to the Olympics. Something tells me after the way this is gone in Milan, they're going to be not rushing back. Could you shrink the game, the season by 10 games during an Olympic year?

They won't give the money back. That's the thing. Sammy. I know, but it's just, it's just so many games. You know, they're almost as a point, though, Sam, where it's like they've invested in these players as assets, and maybe it would save them money by preserving their assets rather than driving their rolls Royce into a poll,

let these players have some rest. Maybe your asset will be more valuable in the end. So there's something to it. Okay, you want to take a quick break? Let's do game time first. All right. Gidea. Let me find it here.

Where's my sheet? It's game time. Visit by Bet, 365. Visit the Appletus thoughts and see why it's ever ordinary. At bat, 365. must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly. Lots of good action in the ice tonight. Like I said, nine games on tap.

But the final game of the first weekend of the NFL playoffs is on tonight. Gave it a winning parlay over the weekend. My Bill's Bears parlay hit. So happy to everybody who actually bet it because I didn't, bumbo. The Pittsburgh Steelers pretty big, sizable underdogs at home tonight. Plus 135 on the money line. Houston Texans minus 160 on the road. is one that I don't have a great feel for, but it's pretty good value with the home,

with the home Steelers there. The Toronto Maple Leafs heading into Colorado tonight. Let me guess the number. A really tough place to play. What do you think the number is? Plus 220. It is plus 200. The Leafs are plus 200 heading into Colorado minus 245 for the Colorado avalanche on the other side

of the money line. That is a... Can I get a goal with the Leaf? What's plus a goal and a half for the Leafs? Plus a goal and a half. I have minus a goal and a half. Plus goal and a half is minus 125. Now we're talking.

Minus 125? You had a goal and a half? At least they're playing well. They look like an NHL hockey team again, so they're going in there. And the other game that I wanted to quickly bring up, Edmonton Oilers in Chicago to take on the Blackhawks. The Connors will be going up against each other.

Give me a Connor-Badard goal tonight at plus 165. if he'll want to show off in front of his fellow Connor. That was game time presented by Bet365. Visit the affidatedest odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Bet365 must be a team plus. Ontario only. Please play it responsibly.

Okay, let's take a quick break. Catch our breath. Plenty to get into as we go around the National Hockey League on NHL News and Notes, including a check from behind. No. I do believe we already had that conversation. But let's revisit.

All right. When we returned to Real Kipper, And Boren. Hey, it's Matt Marquesie. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts.

As a reminder of this hour, Real Kipperman, brought to by Bet365. Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. So I think Gary Bettman's quote was he'll remember this. That's so ominous. And you know him, boys. Yeah. He'll remember. He seems like you let's go of Grudges easily.

We should get him on again. It's always fun having him on. Yeah. We should get him on again. For sure. Anytime he's on. It's clear. For him anyways, it's, it's,

forget about the economics on whether or not he could just do the whole thing himself and they can just make more money, right? They don't need the Olympics. But, like, it's not worth the payoff. Well, I mean, if the ice were, What they're going through, the hoops that they're jumping through, is not worth it. Like the hoops that the schedule is more compressed?

All of it. All of it. Yes. All included. How many boxes do you want to check off of the schedules to compress? Guys getting hurt. You know, they don't have answers to how families will get treated over there. Go on and on and on.

The rink, is it safe? Will there be a big hole in it by day three? Well, you sent the, in our group chat over the weekend from Tardee, for me, the setup for the sport itself, I'm not worried. The hospitality suite, the area for the journalist is not finished, but my job is ice hockey. Yeah. Like I've said on the show, they're going to put on hockey matches and they're going to be great.

For us at home, watching TV, probably pretty great. Everything else could be. The guys just can't have a shower after, but other than that, it's fine. A guy sprays water on you. out of his mouth. Yeah. Got to shower at the hotel after the game, but that's fine.

I got those long-nosed water things there. Take your head out there. Oh, man. Anyway. Okay. Verhaggy? Yeah. Sammy's upset about this.

Cardi, Gerhagi. I don't want to cry anymore. I told you they just, they'll go a major for boarding. They'll do a lot of things. Even they'll call it checking from behind us. not a major, but you got to, nobody gets hurt. And if they think there's ample space between you and the boards,

they're not, they don't call this thing. Yeah, well, I mean, depends on you mean by they don't call it. Well, they called it. Was that checking from behind? We all saw checking from behind, didn't we? Yeah. Okay. I mean, well, they call it board.

You know, typically it's called boarding when you get that. But it's, I, listen, we can't, we can't have an argument about no argument from behind a penalty because it is. Yes. It's not like, is it or isn't it? They just don't call it. Okay. They don't call it as often every time or whatever you want to say.

Yeah. There's certain ones you should call. Well, I feel, you know, watching. Everybody went crazy over this one, though. Well, watching this for Hagey one. Especially you guys. Kippen, you know, you got no problem with the guy getting from behind, arm extended, three feet from before.

We're going to have a guy paralyzed or dead. Oh, gosh. Yeah. And then the league's going to go. And then we'll suspend him. Well, yeah. We'll suspend him. But that's the thing.

This is why a lot of people and myself have been a little bit, I don't know, defensive about these ones. I get it. The potential outcome is so bad that we should err on the side of suspending these guys. But that's not the league. It never has been the league. It hasn't been, you know, there was a long time. So does that make it okay?

It makes it they're okay. That's what it makes it. There was a while where we were fracking down on this. Kippy League office. You don't get a, league office. I got news for you. Here it is. You don't get a vote in this.

Me? Well, I don't know. If the fans have enough, if fans are upset enough about it, I feel like eventually they're going to have to do something. You know, there's a simple solution to all of this. The players turn around. Don't go get the pocket.

No, no, no, no. No, no. The players, they're the one that they go back to their association and the association goes back to Gary or the league and say, we've had enough of this. But so, like, I don't think the one on Scott Lawton was a suspension. I, you know, there's not enough force.

He's very aware of the contact. And this one, he is aware of the contact. But the guy extending his arms on another guy who is that distance and that vulnerable from the boards to me. So what is, what penalties should that be? Cross checking. What did you want? I want checking from behind.

No, no, no, no. Checking from behind, I told you, is not a penalty if, if there's no boards and the guy has the puck. They won't call it. Well, then boarding, Kip. If you want the wording, do you know the boarding's a penalty? If he hits the boards. Okay.

And did he? Bates first. Yes. Right there. Did Zoom hit the board? I'll give you two minutes for boarding there. Two minutes. How do you?

Okay. So. He's not hurt, Sammy. He's not hurt. That time. Mm-hmm. That time he's not. When he's hurt?

It just, to me, this is one where it's like the potential negative outcomes are so severe. And I don't understand why we let so many other things go. And that one, we're going to make. make okay. So I've watched a lot of these ones recently this year. You guys know I didn't think, I didn't like the rantanin on Romanov one. I thought that he's playing recklessly and putting another guy in a dangerous spot. God, I'm getting annoyed how much you like that this is happening. You're like reveling in the fact that it's not getting called because it's a dangerous play and

has been. Sam and I pulled my minor hockey jersey out today, which happened to be sitting behind my desk from the west side grizzlies. There's a literal stop sign. sewn between the numbers as there were for all players growing up. I saw it. No. No. It was like brand new jersey. Yeah.

But the point is we grew up. You don't hit from behind. They literally sewed stop signs there. It was so illegal. So, yeah, I didn't like that one. I thought it was a suspension and I think the league is going to get itself a problem. I want to proceed with caution sign. A yield?

A yield. I don't want a stop sign. I don't want to yield. Yellow light. Here's what I'll say. If he's wearing any other jersey, it's a suspension. It's only a matter of time. Only a matter of time.

Scott Lotton does that to whoever that is. That's a two gamer. No problem. Yeah. I guess Mr. League office isn't going to entertain it. I get it, but it's... I don't... They've done an unbelievable job of cleaning up the game.

You guys have nothing to complain about it. Not a thing. Not a thing. They have done an unbelievable job cleaning up the game. There is way, way fewer... Beyond belief. Sometimes too clean. Guys, totally.

Guys used to get the blindsized headshots. Boring. More blindside headshots, please. There's a term that kids love called rage baiting. Yeah. He's getting me.

Yeah. He's in my kitchen slamming my coverage right now. He's got me. He's got me. You're in my head, brother. You're marshaning me right now. I am so glad marshaning you. You got me.

You got me. And I don't know how to proceed. really. Yeah, I don't know. For Hage, you should have got a 5K. Just, I don't know how you watched, at least leave it a major. How do you watch that happen and then go and be like, nah, let's take that down? Your initial reaction is a two.

It's a, all right, if your initial reaction is a five, leave it. The two conversations I think people are having are that Florida gets breaks there, which I see all in my mentions. Which is 100% accurate. Which I don't believe. Okay. And then the other one is that, does the league like, just more competitive play,

more reasons for teams to go at one another and have histories and all that. So, you know, there is one other case to be made here that one thing you could do. Brian Burke for years has been an advocate for the bear hunt. Like when a guy going into the boards with his numbers showing head down

where you're at least allowed to wrap him up a little bit, keep him from snap at his neck. I got time for that. Anyway, there's just a butt there, which the part I don't like is that, you have to now, as a referee, quickly make a decision. Is that guy saving that guy,

or is he just keeping him from going to the net? Yeah, all penalties are subjective, though. Right? Yeah, you got to make those calls. Including from behind. All right. Not a penalty. What else you got for us?

It's so bad. It's a penalty. I don't call. We got to Keith Quibby, you want to fight it. Sheldon Keeve. Oh, my God. I'm so infuriated.

Sammy, deep breath, buddy. Deep breath. Do you think the Columbus firing today puts a little bit more heat on some of the teams in their market? I actually had that thought, that boy, this team is saying we are running out of racetrack here. Winnipeg, New Jersey. Yes. Who else would you put in that category of feeling the pressure of watching another team make a bold decision.

The biggest thing that we know is that it's results versus expectations. So who had high expectations going into the year and aren't doing well? You look at the bottom five teams in the east. It's, you know, well, actually Florida's there. But New Jersey, Ottawa, New York, Columbus. I think Marie's probably safe. Marie's probably okay. Not too worried about him.

On the other side, you got Calgary, St. Louis, Winnipeg, Vancouver. I don't know. Yeah, Sullivan in New York. He's not going anywhere. No. Right? No, he's not going anywhere. Travis Green's done a good job with Ottawa.

You know, I think. I've seen, like, I mean, because of the whole, Um, Allmark stuff and all that saga, my 4-U page on, on, uh, X was dominated by Sten's stuff. It's amazing how quickly the algorithm takes over on there now. Yeah.

But I would say that their, their fans are a little bit, you know, looking for some accountability. Mm-hmm. Because, I mean, you think about, the expectations heading into this season. They came off a great step last year, finally made the playoffs,

finally got 90 points, finally lost the least in the playoffs. Good for them. And it's a step forward. They're a core that's kind of on the way up. And I mean, this year has just been an unmitigated disaster, on and off the ice,

can't get a save. They signed Rimer. We didn't even mention that. Yeah. He signed James Rimer. He had a conditioning game in Belleville, gave up six on 28, and he's going to play either...

Good for 850. Either tomorrow or Wednesday. You should expect to see Rimer play for the Ottawa Senators. I do think that there probably are some conversations there, I don't know, I don't know. I mean, how long has Travis Green been there now?

This is years ago. Yeah, that one would really surprise me. Where on the, you tweeted out that, the tenured coaches thing there, Borny. Yeah, wasn't that crazy? This is a playoff team with goaltending.

Oh, for sure it is. So I have my little quadrant Travis Green can't go in there and put pads on. No, they are. in terms of expected goals for and against, they're one of like the six best teams in the league. They're right there with, you know, the good teams. There's Colorado separate from that.

But they're in that pack with Tampa and Carolina and Detroit and some of those teams. So, yeah, no, I don't put that on the coach. You need some saves. It's crazy, though. You look at that list that you tweeted out there of the tenured coaches. And Baroube is in the top half of the league, is he? Like, he's right near the middle. Among the longer tenured guys?

It's crazy. Cooper and Bednar and Rod Brindamore have been along around for quite a while. The fourth longest tenured coach is Andre Turney in Utah and the fifth as Marty St. Louis. Like it feels like both those guys just got hired. Turnovers very quick. OV notches 20 goals for the 21st time in a season. Best to ever do it. They lost to the Prads.

Preds are the capitals. The Capitol's lost a playoff spot last night, didn't they? If you get a wild card sorting, they are. They still barely in it? By points percentage, they're out. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the playoffs right now. Yeah, and the caps are out. Caps are up below Toronto and Pittsburgh.

Where do you have the Washington Capitals in or out when this is all said and done? I think they're good. I'm surprised. I think they're in. I think they get in the end of the day. But boy, Detroit and Montreal, two teams, I think a lot of us thought would start to peter out a little bit, 7, 2 and 1 and 6, 2 and 2 in their last 10 games,

respectively, they're buzzing. Oh, did you, uh, do you guys see the brawl? The kid brawl? The kid brawl. Yes. I was... I'm calling setup.

I'm calling fixed. You know, some people send AI. We got actually going to it. Um, you know, so this is the intermission of a Hershey game. I saw Ken Campbell and the hockey news wrote a piece about how we should not celebrate this and how this is. This is the only part I don't like.

There's like skates around. Not one. Not one adult. Well, this is my takeaway. Where is someone? Like, I'm sorry, but there has to be a dad or somebody going out there and saying, knock it off. There's not one dad on skates going, hey, it's embarrassing.

Nothing. Nothing. There's a wreath. This kid's got his gloves off. That's dangerous. I think these kids got set up. I think they... What do you mean?

I think... Someone got to the game. No, somebody told them to go out there and have fun and do this. No way. Where is everybody, Sam? Explain to me, where is everybody? We actually need answers. Parents are watching this and they're going, ha ha ha ha.

I actually don't think I would be if my kid was in that. I'd be like, okay. Like, that's dangerous. I'm walking on the ice and I'm grabbing my kid. And his coach. And I'm going, get. off now. I've been to a lot of hockey games,

a lot of minor hockey games where it's the thing they do it in the intermission. They play it. There's always four to five adults, like, around. They're sitting on the bench. They have to be sitting on the bench. Sometimes we're getting the puck back into play. They're always out there.

And that's the first one I've ever seen. Maybe mixing an official, but a lot of people should be in a lot of trouble. Polarize it. Not the kids. Polarizing event. People loved and hated that. right? I felt both those emotions. That is a wonderful example of

don't believe anything you see on the internet anymore. Our thanks to David Amber. Nine games on tap. Find yours and we're back tomorrow to do it all over again. Nick Kiprio's Justin Moore and Sammy McKee.

Have a great night, everybody.