Real Kyper & Bourne - Screens & Windows with Steve Valiquette

Episode Date: April 9, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by MSG Network's Steve Valiquette, who weighs in on what type of goalie is needed to win a cup in the modern era and the importance of capitalizing on broken plays and net traffic in the playoffs. Then, he discusses Ilya Samsonov's playoff outlook, the emergence of Alex Nedeljkovic and Jake Oettinger heating up at the right time. Finally, they regroup with Sam McKee for news & notes - Jack Hughes ruled out for the season with shoulder surgery, Landon Dupont being granted exceptional status, the Canucks solidifying their position ahead of Edmonton and MVP picks.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.

real kipper and born show going national nick kip real is justin born sammy mckee for the next hour wherever you're watching listening sports net sports net 650 in vancouver sports net 960 in calgary welcome on in this Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. All right. Let's not waste any time because we love having this guy on the air. Steve Valiquette, analyst for the New York Rangers on MSG. Also does a great job

with his company. Currently the CEO of ClearSight Analytics. And we do love having those numbers come out when we talk about goaltenders because we are getting into crunch time valley, which means all the pressures on your guys

between the pipes. How are you, first of all? Thanks for doing this. Hey, guys. Great to see you. And yeah, I mean, it's going to get into that pressure cooker right away. And I was listening yesterday to what you guys were talking about, which is, Kipper, can you get through a playoff round with a goalie that's not allowing bad goals? Because that's what sinks the hockey club. And one thing that I've seen over the years and you guys have seen it and felt it.

It's not really the high danger saves that separate the best during a playoff series. It's what goalie doesn't allow the goal that everybody else is stopping. And it starts and ends there. You wouldn't believe how cool it is at the end of a series when you're getting into the numbers and stuff to see how even the high danger chances will be through the series from team to team. It'll be 14-14 like it was the year that Dallas played against Tampa in the final. And the goalies perform exactly the same, stopping two out of every three.

But the differentiator is the low danger goals and you know what it is fellas not everybody can recognize what the low danger goal is because unless you go through the exercise of watching every shot during a season and then seeing which ones the goalies are stopping 97 of the time or or even higher in some cases and then you see somebody allow it you're always asking yourself you know was that a good goal or a bad goal? But I think it bears out over the course of a season. So you can sort of look at it by saying, who is allowing this? And then you can start looking at the video and saying that it's the lower class goalies.

Yeah, well, I'd love to dig in on that a little bit more. Are there any goaltenders in particular who excel at not giving up the weak goal i know some guys are great with the high danger chances there anybody who's above and beyond just consistently making the saves they're supposed to make the upper tier guys this year are all doing that because what happens borny is when you're looking at expected save percentage or expected goal models you get absolutely hammered. If you give one up, it's almost like you've got to make a hundred extra saves to make up for that bad goal.

Yeah. And that's the way that I always look at it anyway, because this year's top of the list, it's believe it or not. Markstrom still near the top Bennington. Who's not going to make the playoffs. Shisterkin's near the top right now because he's pushed Hellebuck, of course, but those guys don't allow a lot of bad goals. But more importantly, what we're getting into

for the postseason is going to be the differentiator. And we'll talk about this during the playoffs and maybe we'll see each other at the playoff conversation as well. You never know. Love that. I want to talk to you and what your thoughts are on Vasilevsky in Tampa because it just seems like, oh, my gosh, we've forgotten about Tampa Bay. We think Vasilevsky won't completely come back off of a major back surgery. And then you look up and they have the best month in March. And you're like, oh, man, they're for real again. And it's because of who? Vasilevsky? and you're like, oh, man, they're for real again.

And it's because of who? Vasilevsky? You know, it's one thing that's been brought to my attention, and this is kind of going around the league as a conversation, is a goalie should never steal a series anymore because there's not just a book on them, but there is a smarts that I think this generation is allowed to play with that maybe ours wasn't, Kipper and Borny. Because when you think about it, guys are allowed to pass off of rebounds now.

And I felt like that never happened when I played. Guys are shooting kill shots from 20 feet away with like 75 percent power so that they die net front whereas we would always be in shoot to score mode or at least that's the way I approached it as a goalie I always felt like guy gets within 20 feet of me he's thinking one track mind he's shooting the score where now we're seeing it in the data there's a lot of pass off pads from really close close proximity pass off pads so those types of area games the small area along with broken plays because teams are looking for broken plays now last year in the playoffs that was the first year i ever saw there was more broken play goals scored than east to west goals scored and broken plays they can be you can create them

if you have a clear look now from the point at the goalie and you don't see anybody there watch how teams are hitting the end boards or aiming for the pile of players that are net front looking for ricochets there because the best teams, I have this written down in my notes tonight because I was looking at it for today's game. Since the all-star break, we've seen Pittsburgh play really well, haven't we? They've got 24 goals off broken plays. The Leafs have 23.

The Islanders have 22. The Rangers have 21. Those are your leaders, and those are all teams that have played really well since the all-star break it's actually funny oh sorry go ahead valley oh no that's just what i it's just what i see every night borny right but then it's nice to get it backed up on the numbers and then you start watching the video of the goals and man like you know last thing on this benoit allaire uh 20 years ago when he was my goalie coach one of the things that he would have uh in a meeting before the postseason with henrik and i was on the bulletin board it

would be screens deflections broken plays rebounds will account for 70 of all the goals scored during the postseason and you know you start to get a little wise to it when you're playing. And I've always been thinking about that statistically since I've retired. It's such a rally killer when a guy from distance, like 60 feet, just shoots it on an unscreened goalie. Like it's an absolute, you might as well shoot it, try to bank it off a leg or something else in front.

It makes a lot of sense. I wanted to ask you about... One second, I want to tell you something. Yeah, what do you got? No, because I looked at that. I wanted to ask you about. One second. I want to tell you something. What do you got? No, because I looked at that. I looked at that today and it was the Rangers have had 726 of those, the ones that you just described. Yeah.

And we scored seven goals all year. That's not awesome. So it's like a pointless shot. You don't do it anymore. That's why you don't like the whole genesis of our company, guys. It's if you give the goalie half of a second to lock on the shot before the shot comes, he has a 97% chance to make a save. And the hardest thing to get through to coaches, it even rings true when you get to the slot area and you think it's a high danger chance, but it's not unless there's a pass option like a two on one with a puck carrier shoots.

It's a big difference because now the goalie is not mentally all the way locked in on shot he's thinking about pass so one of the best goalies in the league uh over the past couple years islanders have had sorokin sorokin i've really liked his game at times this year's been a weird year for him kind of up and down you know they're at 85 points and and you know favored to get in the playoffs now tell me a little bit about his year because i can't make sense islanders fans some think he's been terrible and some have really liked his season you know it was just before i came on i was looking at uh who's been performing really well since the all-star break i keep using that as a cut line because that's actually when

shuster could started playing well you know we could do that the home homeboys, yep. Exactly. So, but Sorokin, I was surprised. He was in the bottom third. And he's always been in the upper third. So, Varlamov, he's playing again tonight against the Rangers. He's getting the start. I can't really figure it. I mean, I love Sorokin's game. But, hey, I saw Shusterkin go through it so bad in January

that I thought the rangers might even miss the playoffs he couldn't stop a beach ball and you wonder what's going through with goalies they're still hard to figure for me boys i think there's still a lot of the mental game we can't really get to the bottom too we're talking to see valicat analyst for the new york rangers on msg also clear sight analytics the ceo so i think you mentioned rally killing you know for the New York Rangers on MSG. Also, Clear Sight Analytics, the CEO. So I think you mentioned rally killing. You know, one of the things that I, I don't know if it's average or more,

but giving up the first goal on the first shot, for some reason, I think I've seen more of that this year than in the past. I know how it affects me and my teammates on the bench because the first question is where were you last night but what about what about the goaltender here and and you know are there numbers out there that you know they're they're they're different when they when they let the first goal in you know do they go into a shell is there a psychological disadvantage for the rest of the night if you give up a first goal on a first shot?

That's really the data that I like the most, Kipper, is because it brings those biases that we have from playing that we remember and we can find truth to them, right? And, no, it's always fun because I don't have the answer for you right now, but I promise you I'll text you later and give it to you, and I'll tell you who's given up the most. But I do like looking at those, and it's always fun to see, hey, look, I was watching the Pittsburgh-Toronto game last night, all right?

And I was just waiting to see if Pittsburgh could just muster one high-danger chance after Sammy led in the second one. And they didn't. They didn't. And the reason why is because that's what I'm looking for with Samsonov. Can you come up with a save after you've allowed your second goal or your third goal and just get a stop right there? The same thing happened in Montreal in his previous start.

He didn't face a high danger chance in the third period. He didn't face one. And I was just waiting. So if I'm you guys and as closely as you cover the leafs you need to wait for a little bit of evidence in these next couple of games is samsonov gonna make a big save to hold a lead because we just haven't seen enough of it because of uh how bad his start was i can't buy into him being the guy that carries them to the stanley cup and of course i look at everything. You know, I look at body language.

You know, which one I don't like about him is when the puck goes in, he's always giving her like one of these, you know, don't try and sell me on. And I, I yell at my goalies about this all the time. Don't sell me on the fact that you're shocked. You got beat, you know don't try and sell me on and i i yell at my goalies about this all the time don't sell me on the fact that you're shocked you got beat you know or you became a spectator of that circumstance that you were in right there uh if you look at pitt's uh second goal last night he's just sitting in his butterfly he doesn't even go for it i'm like man roll over find the puck what are you doing you know and there's an element of that in his game and i think like it's funny because every goalie in the league has a different something where

you can imagine we always have eyes on us so we're always trying to take goals off the ledger it's like when the coach comes up to me after a game right and he says hey valley were you screened on the second one and what about the fourth was it deflected i was like yeah he's like okay so now my four just went to two. You know, that's the way I'm thinking about it, right? You're appealing to avoid those goals. I like that. Oh, always, always. We're salesmen. Yeah.

So, you know, that's the funny part with him, I think. I think that he's got to knock it off with the salesmanship and just play the game and get into it because he can make a few more of those broken play saves that are going to be critical. And he's got to stop building screens on himself. Goalies can do that too, okay? You can fight.

I'll tell you one little insight about a goalie too. When I was playing my best, and any goalie, any former goalie will admit to this, when you're playing your best and you're screened and you fight for just a split second longer just to see the first couple of feet of the puck coming off the shooter's stick, you're going to get a piece of it. Now, when you're not going well, you can allow that screen to build and just hide behind it. And Samsonov has the lowest save percentage on screened shots

of all the goalies that will be going into the playoffs. And we all know it's going to get denser in the post season. And I'm going to be watching him closely because you guys know I root for Leafs after Rangers, Rangers and Leafs. Those are my rooting interests, right? And I want to see the Leafs win,

but I'll be fired up if that guy's building screens on himself. Interesting that you're, you're leading me to this next question to you, because last night, just quiet night outside of the Leafs in Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Vegas, I don't know if you caught Brock Besser's 40th goal, but Petey's in front of the net. He's in the blue paint, and I thought for sure that they were going to challenge it and it would be disallowed.

They didn't challenge it. But Logan Thompson's in there, but he's not fighting to look around. He doesn't make it obvious. And play went on and he got his goal uncontested. But you know that traffic's coming now. And what do the goalies need to do? And I believe, and I hate to say this, but if Logan Thompson over-exaggerated Petey in front of him,

I have no doubt in my mind that that goal would have been disallowed. But he chose not to and the goal was allowed a couple things the first goal last night if you watch it again a good example of samsonov building a screen on himself is what he did uh when the screen first arrived you'll see him shove his face right up against the uh the ass of the player that was in front of him. And you do the opposite. You know, he was actually, you'll just trust me on that one. You'll see it. Now, I didn't see that one last night, Vegas, Vancouver,

but we had one last week where Kreider was pushed into the goalie. And this is something that we're seeing a lot of. And it's really twofold. It was Letang. It was the game against Pittsburgh. and this is something that we're seeing a lot of and it's it's really twofold it was letang it was the game against pittsburgh and letang backs up and crider is between letang and tristan jari and he just like shoves him back like this it pushes crider in crider had he was not going in at that point he was a good foot outside in the white ice. But Letang knows it, backs him in.

The goalie plays it up a little bit, and it was a disallowed goal. But I know, and this is getting talked about, I know that if you're going into the postseason and you're playing against Kreider, who the Rangers have great net front. They've got Wenberg, who loves – he's a top five, by the way, in the league. One of the stats we keep is um how many time your team is credited with one of your players in front of the goalie and then we credit that player with a screen so where's the list i got a list here anyhow i was going to go over it tonight because andres

lee is one of them as well i'd love to hear it so yeah top five guys boys i got stats on so much information. No, I just thought this was interesting because when you're looking at a pre-scout, here you go. Let's talk about Eastern Conference. Top guys at screening the goalie in the Eastern Conference. Again, I'm going this way because I'm looking at potential matchups for the Rangers. So Kreider, 70 screens. He had 15 goals the Rangers scored when he was screening the goalie this year.

Anders Lee, 62 screens. He's second. Alex Wenberg is third in the Eastern Conference. Yes, sneaky, 51 screens. And Nick Paul is fourth. Sam Reinhardt is fifth. That's the top five guys that's screening the goalie in the Eastern Conference. Oh, he's always there.

Really? Always. Hey, boys, you know what it's like. If you're going to pre-scout and you got a guy like Kreider or Lee or Wenberger, Paul, whatever it is, you know that you can back that guy in, and you're going to get the call if your goalie's cooperating with one of those moves, you know,

where he's just giving her one of these and failing. And look, I've cheated every single way you can imagine and tried to get goals disallowed my entire life. And I know it. And for whatever reason, now it kind of pisses me off when I see guys doing it. I'm like, I did the same thing, you know? You know, the other one, if you're not cheating, you're not trying,

is the accidentally on purpose knocking the net off. Well, aren't they making a rule about this, though? That's coming, is it not, in the playoffs? I've heard. I don't know if that's going to be a fact or not. But do you remember when Murray was doing it maybe a year ago? And he did it three or four times within a week. Two things about that quickly.

The one that really works, I always thought, was you just drive the spine of your pants into the post and you can knock it off, just make it look like you stumbled. But when you see the net come off once in a game, if the guys, the maintenance crew, don't come out with a drill to make the hole bigger and get the snow out, then it's going to come off a second time easier. And I think that's really important

because not every rink has the same maintenance protocols. Yeah. Well, we watched that Leafs uh least penguins game last night and it feels like uh nadelkovich is the guy there for pittsburgh is he legit where do you have him in terms of starters around the league starters yeah interesting thing on him is um do you remember when he got that big contract after that big year in carolina a few years ago Detroit and and it was Detroit yeah and um here's the way I look at Nadalkovich this guy works his butt off and he's a gamer and um I'm rooting for him he's undersized he's an elite puck handler but the one thing I

wonder with him is can he play when he's a favorite? He's an awesome underdog. And I think that players have the same problem with this. I mean, I heard this about Alex DeBrinckit after he had his big year and got his big contract for the first time. I was talking to somebody in the front office there, and they were like, yeah, this guy's been an underdog his whole life. Now he's getting paid like a favorite, and he's not living up to it because it's a new mindset.

It's a new space for a new mindset it's a new space for him and i think goalies have the same problem which is why it's so hard when we pay goalies that have had really big uh surges on other teams and you can you can go through the list of guys that have done this and then when they're paid it's like harder for them to live up to those expectations but at that moment you don't realize you're just getting paid not for what you've done or we want you to do more. We just want you to be consistent and give us a save in there. And, you know, of course, Jack Campbell comes to mind there, too. Two goalies.

I'll name you two. Hella Buck and Jake Ottinger in Dallas. What do you got on those guys? Because they're going to be huge here moving forward. Ottinger is surging right now at the right time. I've been wondering about him all year. There were a lot of top goalies that got off to really slow starts this year. Sorrows.

And some guys never came out of it, like Gustafson. Philip Gustafson was one of the top goalies in the NHL last year, and he's right near the bottom this year, which is shocking to me. I think he's a really good goalie. Hellebuck, he's all the way up near the top, and he has been again this year. I don't know if Winnipeg's going to do it. I don't know how you guys feel.

I wonder about Winnipeg. Smaller defense, and I really like their third line, and I wonder about how they're going to work out in the playoffs i don't know about them but um ottinger i think dallas could be the favorite i think you guys did you guys watch that colorado dallas game the other night yeah look like a different league yeah good hockey you know they're just playing so fast and when you watch the east it just seems so much slower, but they're, they're playing fast and I wasn't just playing really well.

He's a top guy and he's been a top guy for a long time. And I think it's a Kipper's pick before the, yeah, it was, it was, Hey, you're a top guy for us. Absolutely.

Appreciate your time, man. Hey boys, have a good one. Have a great one, pal. Thanks for doing this. Your Island is bring it tonight too.

Me too, buddy. Look at all the sheets you got. This is hilarious. Have a good broadcast. All. Thanks for doing this. I hope your islanders bring it tonight, too. Me, too, buddy. Look at all the sheets you got. This is hilarious. Have a good broadcast. All right. See you, fellas. Thanks, Valley.

My favorite when it comes to... He's got so much information. The information. Yeah. The analytics. Chris Kreider scored 50 on the backs of that screens he's talking about. Just park there. Yeah.

Tip it in. Yeah, tip it in the other night. The goalies get ready because it's the first thing you talk about. That's literally the thing for the series. You're like, we're going to be in the paint. In your face. We're coming after you. Who can handle it?

Who can't? Did you write it down? What's that? What Samsonov is in the league on screenshots? No, I didn't write down that. Okay. I saw you writing something over there. Well, did you not?

Was it the worst? Was it the last? Yeah. Don't like that. That's not a good place to be. Don't like that at all. You prefer to be second last. I prefer to be top.

It's like, well, you know, no one on the, so what he gave us there, which was just a wealth of information. If you're catching up now go back to our podcast go to youtube watch it again but he told us that the top five screener guys in the league sam hart sam reinhardt's one of them the least we'll be playing the cats in the first round so sam reinhardt is going to be screening the goal. He was the worst at saving screenshots.

Should be fine. I don't like that matchup. And you woke up feeling so positive. Yeah, Valley drove it in the ditch. I love him to death, but that hurt. That hurt. I don't know. Reality check.

Question for you. I saw Paul Bissonette tweet this the other day. It was a question. And I thought it was an interesting one. And I wanted to bring it up with you because there's guys on the precipice of both of these. The 100 assists versus 70 goals. And which is more impressive? I've heard this question quite a bit this year.

Yeah. And the answer is pretty simple. It's 100 assists. Nobody ever gets 100 assists. It's like Gretzky and one other guy ever gretzky did it 11 times he did it 11 times and one other guy did it once i think they're like chocolate or vanilla i don't there's no right or wrong it's just a preference and you know 70 goals is 70 yeah like it Yeah. Like it's a big number.

You're shooting it in almost every night. And, you know, there's different ways you can also look at 100 assists. Do we have any idea how many are primary assists? That's a great point. Like you tell me. How many are power play? That 70 out of 100 came directly off his pass for you to shoot it in the net that drives my level of the

100 much higher. I actually think your answer is the right one, which is like there's no there's no, no, there's nothing there's nothing. It's just they're both phenomenal milestones that stand on their own. It's clearly goals.

Oh, really? Yes. You know, Kipper mentioned the secondary thing. Is there secondary goals? Well, there's empty net goals. Yeah, but Matthews only has two of those, which is incredible. To me, you're doing the ultimate thing

that is the point of the game is to shoot it in the net. And you need some teammate help, which is clear with the 100 assists. Yeah, yeah. Can you not find that in your little computer? What do you mean? How many primary assists out of 100? But I mean, will you have the context of,

is that good if I tell you it's 63? Are you going to go, ugh? I'm just curious. Yeah. You tell me that. Let me come back. You tell me. No, no, hold on.

We have to do game time. 90 are secondary assists. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. The leader in the league for primary assists is Connor McDavid. With 60. See, that's a pretty good number. I believe five on five primary assists, Max Domi's fifth in the league or something.

Buddy, I'm on a website that is terrifying me. So is IC data a thing? I don't know. It says, I'm looking at it here. It's a big number. don't know. It says, I'm looking at it here. It's a big number. Yeah. Okay.

Like, again, I don't think Austin's got 35 assists. This guy's got 60 primary assists. That's crazy. 60 primary assists is nuts. It's nuts. He's historically one of the greatest to ever do this. You know what kind of vision you have to have? Like, that's Wayne Gretzky type of vision. He's got 99 right now.

That's this. Sitting on 99. I thought it would have been really fitting if Matthews had scored goals 66 against the Penguins last night. Thought that would have been very fitting for the Lemieux number. How do you think of this stuff? I don't know. Oh, you mean one of the most famous guys in the history of the league

that wears number 66 and Matthews has 66 goals? I mean, how could I ever put that together? You're the only one that would go that deep. What do you mean? Did it cross your mind? Not at all. That is surface level, boys. That can go deeper than that.

The hamster's really going. It's funny. Like, the icy data thing scared you because there was columns. Oh, yeah. But there's percentage points. I don't know. Hold on. I got to pull up my, I forgot my lineup upstairs.

So I'm going to do some game time here. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, like you've said, we are off tomorrow.

So we've been getting some disappointed texts to the text line, but we'll be back on Thursday. So we'll be here for you there. I don't know how you'll survive with us without breaking down the electric devil's game tonight. I don't know how you'll survive your life without that. There's good games tonight. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, sorry.

They care more about. So we're not going to get to talk before the Masters start. Oh. It is Masters week. Yeah. I host the golf show podcast on sportsnet it's actually called the golf guys yeah it's called the golf show but it's hosted by the golf guys yes the golf guys yes uh so download that there's a master's preview up there so shameless plug by your boy

but i was looking at the value for some of these guys and you know scotty scheffler is 4-1 now. So he started at 375, you know, plus 375. No point in betting that. There's no point? There's no point in betting that. I mean, if you have a more amount of units that you're willing to bet, depends on your pocketbook, if you want to bet more, you're going to be in the fight. Scotty Scheffler is going to be in the... Yeah, you know what?

There's no value on Gucci shoes, but it's nice to have them. My brain can't do that cross comparison. I'm like, how do you pull that one out? Sam's going to have a weird brain day. It's not that weird. Anyways, the value longer shots that I like, I think that Patrick Cantlay is severely undervalued

at 33-1. He's a guy that always plays well at Augusta and a guy that is, you know, has a slower start to the season but always elevates and a guy that I don't love

watching play at all so it's a little bit of a happiness hedge. Also, is that Cantlay? No, I hate watching him play. He grinds. He's a human rain delay. Give me a little Brian Harmon

at 50-1 down the list. Is that the guy that just moves a thousand times? It's horrible. And he's a lefty, right? He's a lefty. He could screw up me all summer. If I watch him longer than five minutes, I hit left. You have two lefties here, by the way.

He could mess me up for the whole summer. He could ruin my summer if I watch him longer. He's like the eclipse. I need glasses. But here's the thing. Lefties love Augusta. Lefties win at Augusta. He's a lefty. He's an excellent putter. Weir

Mickelson. He's an excellent putter. 50-1 for a guy who won the last major last year. There's good value there, so give me a 50-1 on him. As far as hockey goes. No, hold on. Any Canadians? Give me a Canadian. I got Connors top 5 plus 1,200. He loves the Masters, doesn't he?

He's always kind of there. Yeah, he's good at the Masters. Yeah. I wanted to see where Nick Taylor was here. He's down. You know, top Canadian, Connors is, I think, just over plus 125 or something and Taylor's plus 250

maybe? I love our beloved Bet365. I think just over plus like 125 or something. And Taylor's plus 250 maybe. I love our beloved bet. Three, six, five. And I think they're a wonderful sponsor, but I am downright offended by the number that Nick Taylor has. He is 160 to one to win the masters.

Buddy drop 10. He is behind, you know, he's behind tiger woods. That can't be right. It's right. I'm going to bet that. Tiger Woods.

Tiger Woods hasn't played four rounds of golf in a year. Tiger Woods might not be able to operate his body for 72 holes. So I think if you're a good Canadian, it's worth a little sprinkle on Nick Taylor, who's won this year, has been in the conversation at majors before. 72-foot putt to win our national championship. Absolutely. So a little bit of golf content for you. Game time. As far as

hockey goes for tonight, a couple good ones. I like Carolina and Boston tonight. Wash. Wash, Detroit. Come on. Oh, yeah. I haven't finished. I haven't finished, Kipper. Who do you like?

Oh, gosh. I'm pushing Wash. Yeah, you think they're going to get Charlie Lindgren, your boy? Washington is a huge underdog. Plus 130 in Detroit. Detroit is minus 155. They do, aren't they? I would really recommend not betting Detroit Red Wings is a minus 155 favorite.

Yeah, I don't like the number, but I do think you're going to win. So, okay. So there you go. And I do like that Carolina-Boston game tonight. Good flick back option for the Leafs. Give me Carolina in Boston. The best team in the East, according to Borny. So they're going to win that. They have a perfect power play since March. Sorry, a perfect penalty kill since March

27th. Very impressive. So, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

Okay, let's take a quick break. When we come back, we got some news and notes before we end the show. And take tomorrow off because everybody will be focused on game 12 of 162 of these things. The Jays, they could lose

the season if they don't string some wins together here. Keep fans in the building. All right. Plenty to get into. As we mentioned earlier, Connor McDavid sideline day to day. Scottsdale Mayor blast the Coyotes. Blast them to another state. Let's put on our surprise

faces. And some Leafs lineup news too. All right. All after the break when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Diving deep into Leafs, Raptors, Jays, and NFL. The JD Bunkins Podcast. Subscribe and download the show on

Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. This segment of Real Kipper and Born is brought to you by Hyundai. What do you guys got planned on your day off? Are you golfing? I'm golfing, yep. Today was spectacular. Is that because we had an eclipse yesterday?

Is that why we got great weather? One hour after the eclipse, it was blue as you'll ever see the sky. It was so clear. It's a giant blue sky. Do we have these more often? Yeah, I'll see what I can do. I'll talk to some people. If it leads to great weather.

It's supposed to be even better tomorrow, boys. So, I'm teeing it. Can't wait. Cleaned the clubs up today. Got a couple boxes of fresh. Sitting there sadly scrubbing your clubs at home. Fresh Kirkland pearls. Ready to rock, baby.

Kirkland balls, I love. Oh, yeah. They're great. Before break, you mentioned uh what toronto's got some healthy scratches also a uh major announcement from the new jersey devils uh based on a tweet we just saw from uh our elliot friedman yeah jack hughes having shoulder surgery he will miss the rest of the year and the devils say he will be ready to go by the start of 2024-25 season. But big news that, you know, one of the league's premier scorers is having serious surgery.

Is that what he... He missed some time. Was it shoulder that he missed the time with? So maybe he was playing hurt, and then now they're like, we're out of it. Time to get it. Listen, he's the first pick overall, but he had a very, very tough first year.

He did. Okay. overall but he had a very very tough first year yeah he did he was okay yeah and just probably the body you know wasn't where it needed to be at 18 to play in the nhl to be quite honest with you yeah and you know i don't know i hope this doesn't have anything to do with those that first year where you know in my opinion he probably took a little bit of a beating. They were playing him 15 minutes a night. He scored, I think, 21 points in 61 games, like seven goals. So why do that? He didn't come in as a stud at 18, right? He was an Austin who, by the way,

played the World Cup at 235 before playing one game for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh, yeah. 235. A lot of person. He's a big man with a big frame. Yeah, we saw a look into the future playing with Connor McDavid on the same line there

and that tournament was great. Which brings me... Wait a sec. Which brings me to the news out of the Western Hockey League where they've got a 14-year-old DuPont defenseman. He's got exceptional status.

He's 14 years old. Yeah. And hey, i've caught a few clips okay yeah it's gonna be great it's gonna be great it's gonna be a star yeah he's bedard maybe on defense but what are we doing here 14 that's That's crazy. 14 years old. Hey, come into a league where guys are five years older than you. Yeah. Like, I don't know. Are we smart here? Are we just forcing things?

Are we pushing it too hard? Like, if he doesn't play in the dub, what does he do? I don't know. Where does he play? He just dominates somewhere else, I guess. So here's the list of exceptional players. So it's been John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, Connor McDavid, Sean Day. That's the OHL.

Yeah. Joe Valano was in the queue. Shane Wright, Bedard, Michael Mesa, and now DuPont. Yeah. That's the list of exceptional status. Pretty successful. Yeah. But how many ended up household names?

Four, five. Tavares. Not all. Eckblad. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah.

Connor McDavid. Yes. I'd say he's a household name. Yep. Shane Wright, Bedard, and Michael Mesa is still playing, say he's the youngest. Yep. Shane Wright. Bedard. And Michael Mies is still playing, so he's young. But anyways. It's not a guarantee.

No. No, it's not. I didn't expect exceptional status takes today. I love this, Kipper. I'll do this all day. And I think it's a good conversation to have, but I really don't feel informed on the development of these kids because I imagine they're such individualized cases, right?

Sean Day was giant and skated like the wind. I think he did recently play his first NHL games, if I'm not mistaken. Maybe not. Does it come into play last year? He's playing for Syracuse this

year. Played two games last year. I don't know what the right and wrong answer is. All I know is 14 is really young and 15 is really young. Yeah. That's all. Oh, I agree. And, you know, it's also quite the environment. Like a junior hockey locker room, just throw a 14, 15-year-old.

Yeah, he's going to probably be 15 by the time it starts. People do bad words quite a bit. Yeah, a lot of bad words. About a whole range of topics. I've never heard that in a locker room. Some Leafs lineup notes. Connor Timmons coming in for Ilya Labushkin tonight. Nick Robertson and Noah Greger drawing into the lineup

for Connor Dewar and Ryan Reeves. Joseph Wall in the net with martin jones backing up so there you go boys no threat of sammy being in this one ever i don't really want it i mean okay every team can pull those third and fourth liners out just tell me is connor though is connor mcdavid taking a night off are they going to start resting him are you going to rest austin matthews here that's i think that's what I find interesting. I think they're going to let Austin see if he scores a hat trick in the next game or two, and then they'll make decisions.

I don't think unless he runs up a number here in the next game or two, they'll play him all the way through. I mean, he owns everybody with the scoring, but I think he's gold. He's over.9 goals per game against the Devils. Yeah, he owns the Devils. Scores against them all the time. It's certainly sounding like they're setting up Conor McDavid to take a night off here. Is that you think well it's day to day so

you think he's yeah he's day to day they play vegas tomorrow day to day with so don't play him against vegas yeah yeah you're right right why push it they still have six games left god that's a lot of hockey to fit in the next nine days for them. Yeah. It is. Not optimal way to finish. Big win for the Canucks last night. Yes. Canucks have all but pulled away from the Oilers.

I mean, I know the Oilers can still get all those games to go, but seems like that kind of ices the Pacific. And they will get the first wild card. The Oilers? Oilers will finish second in the first wild card. The Oilers? Oilers will finish second in the division with L.A., yeah, for the 2-3 series. Looks like L.A.'s, well, they're one point ahead of Vegas. I have to say, Quinn Hughes is a delight to watch.

He had the puck the whole night. He is so good. And he's going to win the Norris. He's a huge favorite on rightfully so. I don't see anyone else. There's not many guys in the league that control the pace of a game like him. He is just a delight to watch.

Unbelievable. A lot of the underlying numbers, if you look at staff leads and stuff, in terms of touches per game, ozone touches, possession time, he has the puck more than anyone else. He more plays than anyone in the league how about how about brock besser 40 goals where after his contract situation i'm not even being facetious there i forget did he he still needs one does he not for i think he's got one more year at six something maybe and maybe he could be wrong he he had a he did a three-year deal. Did he? What am I missing here? Yeah, three-year deal.

Okay. He did a three-year deal. And this is the first year of it? One sec. I'm going to give you that answer. So, no, he's got six this year and he has next year. Yeah, he's in the second year. Last year was his first year.

Yeah. 40 goals. And they couldn't give him away. So he'll be going into the last year of that. They couldn't give him away. At the deadline. Or just throughout the year they try, I think. Last year, the...

I don't know if it really started at the deadline last year, but during the summer, him and Garland, it was like, we got to get rid of these contracts. I love Garland in the way that I hate Garland. You know, like, it's like, I just like, I can see why he makes people mad. I can see why sometimes he frustrates fans and coaches. I just love him.

In your face. Yeah, he's like bunting, but like angrier. Yeah. Bunting is more like, I'm having a good time with this whole thing. Garland is dead serious. He's like, I hate you. Yeah.

Right around the net, right? Yeah. Everything's right around the net. Stick your nose. He scored his 100th career goal last night. Yeah. Okay, the mayor ofottsdale is not happy oh with the potential of an arena just off uh what north phoenix can one organization step on more rakes like they're the absolute sideshow bob from the

simpsons can you please read the quote? Yes. Okay. In their latest hitch, Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega opposed the Coyotes' plans. Here's what he had to say in a piece he wrote, an opinion piece. The prospect of a rookie developer attempting to buy Arizona State Trust land

with absolutely no infrastructure on the Phoenix side of Loop 101 on Scottsdale Road intersection at loop 101 on scottsdale road intersection at the doorstep of scottsdale is not feasible or welcome or tag a rope okay tell me how you really feel davey i admire this sport arizona community coyotes community involvement the phenomenal youth hockey clubs at scottsdale ice den but i along with the city of scottsdale staff will continue to monitor any actions that occur and negative repercussions for Scottsdale as it stands today, the fantasy hockey

project must move west, away from Scottsdale. Mayor of Scottsdale. Can someone tell the mayor that the NHL we don't take hints. No. Absolutely oblivious to subtlety.

Not that that was subtle. yeah i don't know that's a hint that's a subtle punch no no no after what 20 years of this that's a hint ah my god the only parcel of land they can find in the giant state of arizona and the people who live there like we don't we don't and the crazy part about, like, this thing's supposed to go to auction in June. Yeah. So it starts at $68 million. And they've made it clear that they won't lose. The Arizona Coyotes, the owner's Alex.

Marulo. Marulo. He wants it. Jason Marulo, I believe. Right? So, like, I don't know. Doesn't sound like you're very good at poker, right? Right, yeah. I really want it. I really want this. Right. So like, I don't know. It doesn't sound like you're very good at poker, right?

Right. Yeah. I really want it. I really want this. Okay. Like, why don't you just show your cards to everybody in the world? Can I get it for 68?

It's like, you could until you said that. For me at golf town, I'm like, just take it. Like this thing is going to. Take my card. How much can fit on that?

It'll go for $100. I mean, they'll just put some guy in the room who's not serious about it until they get to $100. Okay, you take over from here. To own a parcel of land where the mayor doesn't want you. I'll tell you where it's going. Salt Lake? Utah.

Yeah. And I saw today that they were taking submissions for team names. Yeah, Ryan Smith put that out there. Yeah, some good ones. Did you know it was the Beehive State? No. I didn't either. Salt Lake Stingers.

Got interested in that? Too Bush League. It's just not known as like anything bee related. I don't know if this is helping like salt. Yeah, I don't think it's helping. Like bringing the people in. If you know anything about Commissioner Gary Batman, i don't think it's helping like you bringing the people know anything about commissioner gary batman i don't think he likes this stuff what was the blackberry guy we haven't given you a team yet you're going out and soliciting names now yeah

not cool and also when you involve the public like didn't they vote on some ship and they the public vote on the name Boaty McBoatface? You're not going to end up with a great name. I saw Utah Yetis. I saw some that I can't say on here. Really? The Utah Gila Monsters.

Gila. Okay. I'm an idiot. So there you go. The Utah Elks. State mammal. I liked your silver tips. I did too. Salt Lake silver tips. Yeah, works great. I think Salt Lake Seniors runs well too.

It's gone. It's taken. Well, that's never stopped anyone before. Oh, yeah. I mean, well. Pulliam. What about the Kitchener Rangers, bud? That was, I don't know who went first.

I bet you. Someone went second is all I know. There might have been an affiliation maybe. Probably. Yeah, I don't know. I'm going to say probably yeah I don't know there's tons of leagues that Vegas couldn't go Knights they had to go Golden Knights because of the London Knights yeah I don't know if I'm making that up

or not don't let facts get in the way of a great take I think I read it somewhere was it on Facebook was it your weird uncle if you never qualified it I would have never questioned it. Yeah, same. Help me out Twitter. Don't offend

the Everett Silver Tips here, but I think the London Knights have a little more cachet. Is that fair? Reasonable suggestion, yes. I think it's time here. When the mayor of the town is coming out, dunking all over you, you're trying to...

It's an ego thing. Build the thing when you get it built. Gary's got to go in there and be like, it's over. Yeah. You know, you're coming with me. And the crazy part about it is, from everyone I talked to, this is a fantastic location. It is perfect. Okay.

Except the mayor ain't giving you any water. You can get sewer. You can get it all figured out once you agree. No, he's saying no. There's none of that. Well, there's no infrastructure. That's what he's talking about. Yeah. We're not giving you fresh water. I think that's reasonably common. And we're out of it in the state of Arizona, by the way.

Reasonably common with the state of Arizona. They have these big undeveloped pieces of land. Buddy, put it upstairs at Blondie's. I'll get a season ticket holder. Sure, man. There's people who would love it, for sure. Scottsdale is very good. It is.

All right. Arbor Jack guy is going to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery as well. Big challenge to say that a whole bunch of times. Oshie. Coming back tonight. Coming back to say that a whole bunch of times. Oshie. Coming back tonight. Coming back. Okay. That'll help.

Yeah. I saw Sergeyev skating around in the non-contact jersey. Does that scare you? No. Any chance he comes back in round two or three? He snapped his fibula. How is he on the ice still? John Cooper says no.

Okay. And Dave Anderchuk said no. Okay. He's never told those guys. Those guys have never fit. Kucherov, he's never told us i know okay he's never told those guys have never fit kucherov's not he's he's not healthy honest dave cooper that's what they call him he's not healthy where he's not healthy boys so all right midnight we still got to decide on an mvp in the last handful of games here and changing for you you lately? I don't know. Isn't it already decided? You're voting, right?

I am. You've made up your mind already. I mean, if the season stopped today, I got a guy. Oh, stop it. What are you like? You want to know? You've made up your decision. Oh, I'll ask you maybe later on in the week.

I won't do that to you now. Our boy we had on yesterday, Jason Greger. I'm not going to read out this whole long tweet because it's a lot of information, but he had an excellent tweet regarding the on-off stats for the guys and talking about their contributions. And who's more valuable to their team. Kucherov has factored in on 50.2% of Tampa Bay's goals this year. Is that the highest of the...

McDavid's 48, McKinnon 46, Panarin at 42, and Matthews and Crosby on 36.6 but goals Austin is at what 25 and a guy like Kucherov would be at 15 what are you talking about contributions goals contributions

to your team percentage wise yeah and also I don't love the whole, we're going to penalize Connor McDavid because, like, Dreisaitl's good or because they have more scoring than Tampa. Yeah, I think, you know, I vote for, I would just be the guy that votes for Connor McDavid every year.

So that's probably, I'll never have a vote, but I would vote for Connor McDavid every year. There's plenty of guys that vote just like you. There are? Well, just the best guy in the league with the most points every year i think i think he's the mvp or in your case the right passport you just got accused of something very serious at the end of your career if you show your voting record and you voted for the best player in the league every year i don't think you're getting a bunch of criticism that's true everyone's gonna go, at least you were on the right track there.

I didn't overthink it too much. And this segment of Real Kipper Unborn was brought to you by Hyundai. The 2024 Santa Fe Hybrid NHL Edition is made for those who drive hockey. Only $500 available. Order yours today, boys. They're legit like NHL. Yeah. Like NHL Hyundai.

There you go. Love it. Cool. I'm see you off tomorrow. 11.10 a. it. There you go. Love it. Cool. I'm see you off tomorrow. 11.10 a.m. Foursome? Maybe. You looking for a spot? I don't know. You want to drive up to Mississauga? You can come.

It's going to be packed. Yeah. We're looking at a five and a half hour round. I can't do that. What are you talking about? We're not playing. Mississauga City courses. It's good. Good pace, I promise. All right.

You want to come? Is your game in good shape already? I played once. I shot 83. All right. Islanders-Rangers tonight. Islanders need this one. All right.

13 games. Pick your game, and we'll be back Thursday as we take tomorrow off. Enjoy it. Have a good one, everybody.