Real Kyper & Bourne - St. Louis's Sizzling Stretch

Episode Date: March 31, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in Andy Strickland (5:50) of the Cam & Strick Podcast to discuss the St. Louis Blues' scorching stretch as they hold the second Wild Card spot in the West. He gets into the massive impacts of offer-sheet acquisitions Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway, what's spurred the team's post-deadline turnaround, what to expect from College call-up Jimmy Snuggerud, and the Jim Montgomery effect. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam McKee to discuss the increase of behind-the-scenes access to GM decisions, Niko Mikkola's fine for unsportsmanlike conduct, and the Avs signing Cale Makar's brother, Taylor.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.

All right, let's take it up a notch on the national hour. We are live on sports at six fifty in Vancouver and sports at nine sixty in Calgary. This hour real Kipper and born brought to you by bet three six five Nick Kipriels Justin born Sammy McKee, who's right on the ball today with our Jersey changing hour. What do we got here? Turn your mic. Turn your mic. What do we got here, Kepp? Well, first of all, a big shout out to Aaron Downey, former Stanley or Stanley Cup champion,

former NHL player, who is well aware that we cry for jerseys on this show. We're desperate. We are desperate. And didn't have to be an NHL jersey, I told them. No. So this is what we've got. We have got... Honeywood Hurricanes!

The Honeywood Hurricanes. Love it. Which by the way, is involved in a fundraiser called Craft Hockeyville. Oh, nice. So, you can- Oh no, are we tipping the scales here? Well, I don't know if we're tipping the scales. Like, anybody can send us anything, right?

I am concerned about the precedent. Like, I wear anything, we put up anything, like, where does this stop? I don't really wear anything. We've got some standards. This is a very small town with a very big heart. Beautiful town. Up in your column. Right?

Yep. Given so many towns. This is some of the information that I've got. One of the coldest rinks out there with the best fries. No, that's not true. Showed it to Armstrong Beastie. There's no better cold rink. No better fries in the hay. Half their minor hockey registration is girls.

Okay. Cool, cool, cool. Yet the girls have to change in the storage closet. Not cool, cool. Not cool. So a big win in Hockeyville would get them bigger change rooms, washroom updates. This is like, I don't know if we can do this. This is insider trade.

I don't know if did it inside of trade We're just saying Just telling you the facts. I'm just giving you the facts. Yeah, and anyone else in hockeyville who's entered this contest? Feel free next season not telling you what he knows. He's just telling you what he's heard about send us a jersey next season We're happy to plug you. Uh Okay Just got a quibble with him. There's no chance that that rink has the best fries in the world. Where are you going? Best rink fries by far.

Best fries in the old best fries period. Not when you're losing in a series. What do you mean? Oh, come on. Oh, yeah. Oh, you mean the best team in the country versus the youngest team in the country? Yes. The attacker young, eh?'t have to have a winning hockey club They battled back there down for car battled back to make it for three at Sam to zip London

I don't want to get into it But I will went there had a blast Really had a good time so many people came up to me and love the show specifically kipper because kipper is affiliated with You know with Dale. Dale? He's like a friend of Dale. He was not even an older brother to some of us in Washington when they broke into the league.

He was like a dad. Yeah. So the fact that you know him, they're like, oh, he's tight with Dale. He loved Dale. Like, oh, enough about Dale. Oh my God. Anyways, unbelievable building, NHL atmosphere.

But they're fans, crying over every call, refuse, suck. Cut it out, Sam. Oh, you got eight first round picks? You're on the road building. Sorry, they're cheering for their team. You got eight first round picks on your team. You need the stripes to give you out against the worst team in the league? Like, give me a bunch of entitled fans. Oh my God. It's a warm-up when things go bad for the leaf practice. This is practice for him

Unbelievable the range right now wouldn't say I love Cowan's game. We can talk about that. Maybe tomorrow morning Oh, okay. All right, give us a your Sam Dickinson though Sam Dickinson Sharks fans if you're listening They're not Stud that's player on the ice any They're not. Stud. Best player on the ice. Any St. Louis Blues prospects? Because they're tearing it up.

They have every prospect. They're tearing it up right now. Andy Strickland, co-host of the Kam and Strick show, will join us in a few minutes to say, like, okay, what is going on in St. Louis? Could it possibly be another year like it was when they won the cup in 2019? They're not even with Pareko right now. Pareko was unbelievable and then was hurt, but they

should get him back here. It feels like 2019. It's eerily similar. You know what? I was like, yeah, but their roster's not. And then you go look at their dean and it's like, God, Pareko and Cam Fowler and Justin Falk's pretty good. You go through it and it's like, God, that's a pretty good team. Yeah. Not sure why. How many teams right now could have used a Cam Fowler?

The Cam Fowler thing seems like a sneaky pickup. Right? Yeah. Ryan Suter, Phillip Roberg, too. You were wondering at the time if this team's in this rebuild, what do they need Cam for well, you know, this is it. It's like they're still trying to remain competitive. He should be good for a couple years yet. Neighbors Thomas Buchnevich pretty good. Holloway is having a great year with Braden Shen, Jordan Kairou, Balduck is having a... And then they got Jimmy Snuggerud. Jimmy Snuggerud, not to mention who's coming in. 40 games, 51 points

for the University of Minnesota on fire for them world junior stud They have a bunch of guys. It's just Turns out the arms from might be pretty good. This guy's kind of doing a job Okay, and it's just It's like there's like three home runs. He's hit this year three Including a coach right? right an offseason signing Andy Strickland does he get credited for Andy being a big star now for the San Luis Blues? Let's welcome him in right now

hottest team in hockey right now Hottest broadcaster in hockey right now Andy Strickland. He had to come on the real Kippren-Boren show right now. Right? Prime Time 5pm national show. Tell us how great St. Louis is. Hey, I'll just shut up now. What do you want to know? You guys covered it. Okay, I want to ask you like, how big is Doug Armstrong's head right now? He should be walking around strutting around he should be very very confident, I mean Doing more interviews right now, too. So He's he's he's answered a lot of questions and he deserves all the accolades he's getting. I mean, just the Broberg and Holloway offer sheets alone. And I do hear a lot of people out there saying, hey, are we gonna see more offer sheets?

How can you not do offer sheets? I mean, listen, not every offer sheet's gonna work out the way this one has. I mean, I give Darren Ferris a lot of credit to the agent for Broberg who roped in Dylan Holloway when he was talking with Doug Armstrong because he looked around the league and he said, hey, who could use a left shot defenseman? Who's got cap space? He started having conversations with Doug Armstrong and he said, hey, listen,

I think we can get Dillon Holloway too. It just so happened to Holloway's agent was being mentored by Darren Ferris. He doesn't have very many clients. I think only Holloway to be honest with you. And they brought Holloway in and they got the old two for one special. But the Cam Fowler one, I agree with you, especially with Pareco out the last several games. I mean, to bring in a guy that's played 1,000 games, he's under contract next season.

You saw what he did in the winter classic. Look how experienced the Blues back end is with Falk, who's approaching 1,000. Ryan Suter, who's approaching a thousand Ryan suitor, who's played over 1500 games. Broberg went down early in the year. This guy played big time minutes for like 12 games when he was out of the lineup. So I don't know where they'd be without him.

Nick Lettie has played over a thousand games. So Parenko has played a ton of games. He's about to come back. I think he's been given the thumbs up to return. I don't know if he feels quite confident yet to get back in there, but he's going to be back at some point between now and, you know, the road trip coming up after this three-game homestand.

He's going to come back before the playoffs and get a couple of games in, which is going to be huge for this team. So, let me get this straight. What you're telling us is Doug Armstrong is writing the coattails of Darren Ferris' offer sheet. That's what you're telling us is Doug Armstrong is writing the coattails of Darren Ferris Offersheets that's what you're telling us. I will tell you that Darren Ferris He he may have approached

Teams including st. Louis about this idea that hey, I think you can get this done Doug Armstrong downplays the whole relationship with Kenny Holland because he's got a great relationship with Kenny Holland But you know Doug is smart too. I think they looked around the league and you're always scanning rosters to say hey, who could I? Pluck from X team, but the fact that we don't see that many offers She's I don't I don't I don't know I know Darren Ferris and Doug Armstrong had a number of conversations and Ferris was very aggressive at making this happen I think it worked out for everybody Is this not something though that you would think more agents would do with their RFAs? So not necessarily other GM I think they try eight. Oh, yeah go another team and say hey, my guy's pretty good. Can you give them a contract?

Agents do it. I think the agents are the ones that drive the bus when it comes to the offer sheets. I mean, not every general manager knows exactly what's going on with that particular team and that player. You know, I mean, in the case of Broberg, I think he was looking to get out of there,

to be honest with you. I mean, it's funny. I was talking to him in Holloway recently after Holloway assisted on Broberg's overtime winner against Vancouver. I mean, they would never see the ice in three on three hockey in Edmonton. Holloway wouldn't be a second line left winger in Edmonton right now. I doubt he'd be in their top six.

He's a top six player right now for St. Louis. He's got unreal chemistry. He's got north of 60 points. Great chemistry with Jordan Kairou. Braden Shen's been unbelievable with those two young guys. So, yeah, it's worked out for those guys for sure. But if I was a player, and Kipper, you're getting born, you guys can speak to this. If I had an agent, I'd want him working behind the scenes, trying to get me the most money and put me in the best situation where I'm gonna be able to play and have a significant role I mean he's done that these two guys are gonna be core players for this organization for several years and Kevin Lowe was talking

to him recently about this topic now he says he doesn't think it hurts Edmonton as much now and maybe into next year, but it's really gonna hurt them You know when they're 26 27 28 down there I think it hurts them now to they they could certainly use a Broberg and a and a Holloway in that roster You know compared to some of the moves that they made in the offseason But rarely does it always work this way where it's in your favor because I don't think teams truly know players as well as The their own organization, you know, usually, you know, your own players certainly better than a team on the outside would but we're talking about Two guys that were drafted higher on the first round in recent years

So their scouting staff had scouted both these guys heavily. They knew them You're watching and listening to Andy Strickland co-host of Strik, ringside reporter for a fan dual sports network covering the St. Louis Blues. So, Andy, let me ask you in terms of the, I don't know, the magic moment, whatever you want to call it, when did the St. Louis Blues and it wasn't the offer sheet because they got off to a poor start and they were on the outside looking in with those two guys. So where was that moment? They went from, let's kind of not blow this thing up,

but let's rebuild to Stanley Cup contender. Was it Binnington after Four Nations? Was it not trading their captain, Braden Shen? Like, where did you see this switch? Well, after the Four Nations, for sure. I mean, let's go to Jim Montgomery because he didn't have a training camp with this team. It's been a whirlwind for him too,

being fired one day by Boston and essentially hired by St. Louis the next. I think the Four Nations break allowed him to truly sit back and evaluate who he has, who he wants to play with, who, get his coaching staff all on the same page, and then come back and have a couple of hard practices, who he has, who he wants to play with, who, get his coaching staff all on the same page, and then come back and have a couple hard practices, which turned into kind of a mini

training camp. And you combine that with Jordan Vinniton going to the Four Nations and coming back with the most confidence that he's had in quite some time. And he could be a real dangerous player when he's playing with an elite level of confidence, just based on how he's wired. You had Dylan Holloway primarily playing on the third line. They moved him up to the second line. That was Steve Ott's recommendation because he saw Holloway and Carvew

spending a lot of time together in the weight room. Both these guys are working on different things. After every single practice, they get together and they work on a number of different skills, edge work, one timers, shooting off at different angles. I mean they're both students of the game and they they started to develop really good chemistry away from the games and I think putting them together has been huge for this team. I think getting Broberg healthy and getting him play like the way that he did in the first five or six games of the season.

This guy's averaging more than two minutes, I think, per game since Perenko went down with his injury. So he's now getting those matchups against the other team's best players and he's excelled and he's back to playing at a real high level. So I think when you combine all those things along with the goaltending, I got to talk about Joel Hofer too, because, you know, he's a, you know, you look at his path to getting to the national hockey league and winning a gold medal with team Canada and the world juniors and what this,

this guy as a young professional took Springfield to the American league final. And he was out playing, you know, Charlie Lindgren, who was his goaltending partner in Springfield at the time. So he's got a bright future. They think he truly has number one goaltending potential in the very near future. And let me just say this real quick, too.

Getting their top two lines playing well at the same time. There were stints during the season where Robert Thomas' line was playing at a high level, but maybe Shenn's line wasn't. Now you have both lines scoring a ton. Robert Thomas is playing some of the best hockey, if not the best hockey he's ever played. This guy will be a lock in my opinion for Team Canada and the Olympics. All you Canadians out there throwing that out there right now.

I said it about Pereko before people didn't believe me. Robert Thomas should be on that team and I think there's a good chance that he will be. They've got a fourth line with Radik Foxa, who came over from Dallas, along with Nathan Walker, who's among the league leaders and hits. He brings that physicality. Torokchenko is a big body. This Zachary Bolduc, who was a first round pick

a few years back, played for Patrick Wadh in the Quebec league, a former 50 goal scorer, won a Memorial Cup. He had no goals on the season, zero, when Jim Alcarmich took over. Now he's got 16. I think he leads all rookies in goal scoring and plus minus since the Four Nations. So he's been on fire. That's why the Blues have won as many games as they have since the Four Nations. Yeah, that's a great explanation. It's funny, we had Armion when he was fresh off the surface of the sun and he was telling us

that Robert Thomas was basically a lock for Team Canada. He didn't say it with the word lock, but he certainly implied that too. Adding to that mix now, Jimmy Snuggerud, coming from Minnesota. I saw a couple quotes from him today. One of them, they asked him why he chose what number and he basically said, doesn't matter,

I'm here for the front of the jersey, not the back. And asked them, you know, why, you know, why he wanted to play in the NHL. And he was like, to win, I wanna be a part of winning and they're winning. So tell us about this edition and what the expectations for him are. Yeah, you know, and sorry, my phone just went down,

but you know, I had a chance to sit down with them. It'll be on our pregame show tomorrow and you know, interviewed them a couple to sit down with them. It'll be on our on our pregame show tomorrow and you know, interviewed him a couple of times over the course of the last getting the frame here over the course of the last few years since he came into the organization. And you know, he's a guy who just brings probably the the best one timer for a right shot since David Perron. And, you know, kind of reminds me a little bit of Mike Hoffman, who was a left shot, who played here the year after the COVID

season. And just in terms of his ability to one-time the puck and score from the outside. I mean, if you watch this guy shoot the puck and watch him in the World Juniors, he brings that to the table. But he's going to play tomorrow night. And he's going to get a nice opportunity

to be on the power play, too, which they've got two units, and they've got them separated. You can't really identify who's the number one unit. I guess it depends who's on the power play too, which they've got two units and they've got them separated. You can't really identify who's the number one unit. I guess it depends who's on the ice when the penalty is called, who's tired, who's fresh, and that's how they make the decision. But he's gonna be in the bumper, which is a little unusual for him. Normally he's lined up as a one-timer guy. So he'll eventually get there.

But it's interesting about the number, he wore number 81 in all the development camps. He wore 81 in the World Juniors. He wore 81 for Minnesota. And guess who took 81 when he got here? But Dillon Holloway, that's who took 81. Oh, yeah. That's Dillon Holloway's number now. So they gave him a bunch of options and he went with 21.

But you know, he's got some real ability. You know, Dallavor Dvorsky, who was a 10th overall pick a year later in 2023, he's up with the big club right now. He played a game last week or four or five games ago, whatever it was, and we'll see when he gets back in the lineup and we'll see what the future is for Snuggerud from here moving forward. You know, they got a good thing going.

I know they want to get him in the lineup or taking Matthew Joseph out, who has played his best hockey since coming to St. Louis as of late. So this, this is a one game situation. If he plays well and earns another game that he's going to play, but I'm not so sure what the plan is in terms of how much action he'll see down the stretch here. You know, two of our markets, Vancouver and Calgary are not doing not very happy right now the st. Louis blues here and just in terms of how high their ceiling is and where is Minnesota in your opinion and all of this now well Edmonton's not

happy so half of Canada okay they're not happy either evidence in cow Edmonton Vancouver Cal, nobody's happy with St. Louis. I hope you're happy, Toronto. Montreal is not happy. They just got pummeled 6-1 here in St. Louis a couple of games ago. But I think just based on the trends of how both teams are playing, there's a decent chance St. Louis passes Minnesota and ends up playing Vegas in the first round. I'm not so sure Winnipeg wants to see St. Louis anyway. I know they're a confident team, but you know, Bennington has kind of had his way with Hellebuck in, you know, when they faced each other going back to 2019 in the first round and the four

nations championship game. So maybe he's in Hellebuck's head a little bit right now. Minnesota's gonna be a little bit of a different story when they get a couple of their big dogs back with Kaprizov, you know, being down and being hurt, you know, that can really impact a team, especially like Minnesota. They're not super deep offensively. He's such a big part of the team. He truly drives that team in terms of the pace they play with how much, you, this is his ability to possess the puck and hang on to it, create plays, produce offense. I mean, he had missed like 20 games. He was still like leading their team in scoring, you know, a few weeks ago, you know, and he's missed a good amount of time. So they want to get him back and hopefully catch up.

They've got that Z. William kid who plays for Denver University. He's now coming to the frozen Four here in St. Louis. He could have a similar impact to Brock Faber, the impact that he had when he joined that roster too. So they got some good players coming, but I think St. Louis, just based on the confidence they're playing with,

I don't think it'll surprise anybody to see them pass Minnesota and see Minnesota end up playing Winnipeg in the first round. So the the Jim Montgomery effect here, what is it that's really changed? Is it systems? Is it just mentality? Is it player usage? What's what's changing? Well they look quicker from a structure standpoint. They hardly give up anything defensively. They're among the league leaders in shots again since the Four Nations. They lead the NHL in rush chances against over the course of the last several games. You know I saw a stat last night Mike Kelly had a stat out and

said something about that so we'll trust his analytics. Yes of course. Okay nobody's double-checking but we're all gonna believe it you know but it looks like you look at the Blues in terms of you know the games that they play they hardly give up anything in terms of odd man rushes. Rarely do they give up a breakaway. They gave up one to McKinnon the other day against Colorado. He hit the post and didn't score. But I think just making some of those moves where, you know, moving Holloway up, separating Kairu from Thomas, giving them a little more balance,

really having each line play with an identity and having a role on the team. This third line has a role, and now they're scoring two with Bolduc being as hot as he's been. I just think that their penalty kill has improved drastically. Their power play since the Four Nations has been hovering around the top five. I think they're sixth or seventh in the league right now since the Four Nations.

So special teams wise, they've been playing at a real high level and they're getting great goaltending. I mean, elite level goaltending. Look at the way that, look at Bennington's numbers and Hoper's numbers since the Four Nations. They've been unbelievable. If you get great goaltending, obviously you're going to have a chance. One more for me, Andy, and that's just in terms of the Ovechkin watch against Gretzky.

A one-time St. Louis blue. I mean, maybe eight or nine goals of that number belongs as a blue, but, you know, the attention that it's getting down there or you know the talk of it They've seen their share of great goal scoring out of Brett Hall, but what's what's the vibe down there over it? I? Think people are excited. I think they'll be locked in you know especially now that he's gotten as close as as he is people Want to see history. I think whenever a Great talent a generational talent, a generational talent, has a chance to make history, I think you get locked in.

You know, St. Louis sports fans went through that several years ago with Mark McGuire chasing Roger Maris for the home run chase. And we saw how that captivated the country and how everyone got so into it, you know, even though a few years later, I mean, everyone's talking about the steroids and how everyone got so into it, you know, even though a few years later, I mean, everyone's talking about the steroids and all that, but still at the time, that's a moment that you'll never forget.

So I hope they're enjoying that in a similar fashion in Washington, and I'm pretty sure that they are. But if you're a hockey fan, how can you not enjoy it? I think this is absolutely incredible to see what he's doing and what he continues to do at an advanced age, how he's doing it, the level that he's still you know able to play at is incredible. I know he's 40 years of age and I know he's not in his prime but what is he in? It's not his prime, he's scoring 40 goals. Who's not in your prime when you score 40? I understand that his prime was 50 and 60, but it's not like he's totally dropped off. This guy's scoring 40 goals in

the NHL at close to 40 years of age. So when would the drop off be? I mean, if he comes back and plays next year, say he doesn't break the record and comes back, or does break the record and decides to come back, what's he going to score next year? I mean, what's the ceiling for this guy? This guy can play as long as he wants. And as long as he can shoot the puck and get open and they get him the puck, he's gonna continue to score. But the fans are getting into it. And real quick before I get out of here guys,

because you're in Toronto and we all know everything goes through Toronto. So whatever you say, you know, obviously creates all the headlines. But I'm curious if you think that Jim Montgomery belongs to be in the Jack Adams conversation. If in fact they get into the headlines, but I'm curious if you think that Jim Montgomery belongs to be in the Jack Adams Conversation if in fact they get into the playoffs should he be in the Jack Adams conversation. I get into playoffs I don't think he can take it away from Carberry. But yes in the conversation. Yes

Yeah, top three. Yeah, I would agree with that Carberry Percent deserves it and he's earned it. I'm strong obviously 100% deserves it. And he's earned it. Doug Armstrong obviously belongs, you know, in the conversation for executive of the year. Who's had a better year than him. There's been some other GMs that have had great, Darren Ferris, apparently it, hey, that was all army coming together. I'm not taking it away from army. Are you kidding me? No, no, no, we can't do that. No, it is funny though, like two weeks ago, it was like if St. Louis gets in, then maybe Montgomery could be in that conversation. And now it's like, yeah,

okay, they're in and they could finish in, you know, not just in the last wild card spot. So yeah, that would definitely change conversation for Montgomery. Andy, great stuff as always, man. Thanks for making time for us. Always welcome on this show great stuff Always you guys are the best appreciate you man. Thanks so much trickling co-host of Cameron Strick does a great job Great job covering the st. Louis Blues for FanDuel Sports Network. Yes, sir. I I got to tell you I'm really I love the st. Louis Blues roster

I love just what. Louis Blues roster. I love just what they represent. But I hate that it came at a cost of our Canucks and the Flames. Yeah, it's not ideal. It's not how I wanted it to go. Bill Guerin, don't listen to him. I'd have been nice if Minnesota just backflipped on their relationship. You gotta keep up the relationship with Bill Guerin.

I truly wonder how close... Not my guy. Doug Armstrong was to like moving a couple of his key pieces including. Braden Shen. Shen and the Leafs apparently were all over him until they said no. But I mean hindsight's 20-20 but like who would have, who would have known that they were gonna be able

to turn this thing around? And now, you know, Winpeg's been the best team that probably won the president's trophy. You hope that St. Louis gets up into the top wild card spot and you get Minnesota, you deserve that, but you don't deserve a red hot St. Louis who's, you know, with a goalie who's in your goalie's kitchen, so. shen's been pretty good over the last little bit here like I think he's got maybe yeah yeah four points his last five games plays you know around

19 17 17 18 that like he's plays yes he's a board they're doing no doubt wouldn't hurt no he would have helped actually wouldn't hurt game time game time all right It's game time presented by bet three six five visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at bet Three six five must be 19 plus on terror only please play responsibly I know you guys watched the NCAA basketball tournament over the weekend, but we have a chalky chalky final the all four one seeds make it to the final for Florida Auburn Houston and Duke and if you go to the the favorite I think is

Those are quickly pull this up here The favorite to win it all now is Duke at plus 100 my Florida Gators plus 280 Houston plus 450 and Auburn plus 500 You know you you talk about how you want Cinderella's but you get to this point It's all the one seeds and you're in for a pretty good rest of the tournament should be pretty so it's gonna be pretty exciting For that so we've been updating you throughout the tournament on that stuff tonight a little bit of a lighter night on the ice I wouldn't say a ton of huge playoff implications in a lot of the games tonight Colorado hosting the flames flames are still fighting for their lives

I guess it's it's it's big for them, but the Blues really really put a hurt on their chances. They're big underdogs dogs Going blue Their underdogs in Colorado tonight as you would imagine Colorado's minus 280 on the money line Calgary plus 230 if you're looking at your schedule and you're going we need we need a couple of tough games here to go Right. We need to beat Colorado Yeah, and then you get some there there's they have Anaheim twice and San Jose twice in their final ten And I'm sure we'll talk about it after the break we get into our news and notes

But I've just been so impressed with Nazem Kharadjee over this past stretch He's been brilliant for them him and Hubert oh both been excellent The Devils they're hosting the Minnesota Wild tonight big favorites on home ice minus 155 don't mind a little look at the Minnesota doubt a Minnesota Wild on that plus 130 on the other side of that the other two games Flyers and Preds bit of a bowl there and the Seattle Kraken are taking on the Dallas Stars later on and that was game time presented by bet 365 is it the outfled as dogs and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 is my team plus and Tara only please play responsibly Okay, we'll take a quick break when we when we return a little bit more of Ovi coming within five goals

of Gretzky's record Plus I want to talk to you guys a little bit about The access no, no. The access behind the scenes, particularly with general managers. Yeah, I want to have this conversation too. Because like the stuff that's being put out right now, I don't know. I mean, I don't get it. But maybe you can explain it to me after the break We'll talk we'll talk. Yeah, cuz I don't like what I'm saying. Also Sid's it'll so awesome I don't want said Sammy. Well, I don't like we're doing all this all we talk

Heroes punching guys in the face scoring OT winners You know want to remember how great he is to still more on the bone on the Real Kipper and Vaughn show. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk, the hockey PDO cast with Dmitri Filipovic. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kipraos, Justin born. I forgot your last name. You know, it's funny and is every time we do our show at the, he, he doesn't know my name. When he introduces everyone, it's always a, it it's always, it's Elliot, it's Nick.

Jason. Yeah, it's this other guy over here. When I do the panel with like, cause and that. It's been four years now, and people still refer to you sometimes as Jason. I get Jason a lot. And I look at you and you have that, I'll never get rid of it.

Yeah, I just let it go. I respond to it now. It's like my alter ego. Jason or Justin, whatever you name it. To be fair though, Jason Bourne is like an incredibly It's a name. It's a famous name. International superstar name.

Yes, so the first time the Bourne movies came out, I was sitting in a theater and it was a preview for another movie. And the first thing you see in the preview is black screen, white print, full size, just born. And I was like, oh my God. It's not the same. It's an intervention.

You know, I thought I was on like the Truman show or something, like what has happened right now? It would have been like, Gabo is coming. If this is really popular, this isn't good for me. Yeah, I wasn't sure how to feel about it, but yeah, it's people know how to spell my name now. That's nice. Just quickly before we move on to some news and notes, I gotta tell you I offended the city of London. Oh, are they upset?

Let me just read one. I got real hockey fan. About ten texts, but I'll just read the best one. Do you, here we go. Do your tears salt the French cries after own sound gets demolished French cry. Yeah, it's pretty good Well, listen, I was talking about good the fries pretty good text really good text I mean the rest are just way ruder and I can't read them. So I think at some point It's a little tight right now on scheduling. Yeah next season Yeah, three of us are gonna go out to a Londonites game and you're gonna wear their jersey

Not for a million dollars. See I call Bullcrap, it would be fun to have the slider on how what the number would be It's pretty low to get him. Can I tell you that I would he would go for ten grand I would say for sure I would sit on the glass at a Montreal Canadians game wearing a Habs Jersey bang on the, before I would wear a London Nights jersey. No question. Really?

No question. What? The London Nights are an integral part of my like, hatred in my life. Like I, I don't even, I've never liked Mitch Barger, who's got 90 points every year for the Leafs because he scored an overtime winner against the Attack once and did this big celebration to the crowd.

I wanted to throw a battery at him. What? No way. It did this big celebration to the crowd. I wanted to throw a battery at him. Like, what? No way. It is the deepest seeded hate. And if you remember Bill Simmons, sports hate is not hate. Sports hate is real, it's important, but it's different. No, it's the deepest seeded,

it's the deepest seeded hatred for any team I have in my life is the London Knights. There you go. Sammy, you need help. Yes. You do, you need somebody to come and talk to. You're the guy I talk to. Oh, that's depressing.

I don't want that. That guy's your emotional outlet? No. My poor wife, Ali. There you go, Ali. All right. Ovi, anything else you want to add on Ovi? No, I want to talk about GMs that put out videos. Just a reminder though, this Hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365,

that part of the business is taken care of. Yes sir. So, now as we know in this world, nobody does anything without clipping it and putting it out there on social media. Everything's content. But there seems to be a bigger push these days for general managers, I think,

because there's one in particular out there with Kevin Adams, which I don't really understand why there's a sense of putting stuff out there in pressure-pack packed situations for them. And Don Sweeney also, the Boston Bruins, put one out there during the trade for Brad Marchand. Yeah. And when I think of all the entertaining

and funny things out there on Instagram, these two things that I saw weren't even close. It's dark, right? It's like, well, so... Okay, so explain, explain. First off, the Sweeney one in the clip. Oh my God. He comes into the room and goes, like, it's no big deal.

He's like, Kate, we traded Marchie, and one of the guys at the table just goes, Jesus. You know, like... Whoa, I kinda like that one. What have we done? You know, he's like, it's a conditional second. You can just, you know, feel the air sucked out of the room. And it's like, why would Boston put that out?

Like who is that anyway? And then the other one is Kevin Adams from Buffalo. When they're talking about trading cousins and they're just like, yeah, the doctor said he looked at his reports. He's not worried about his injury history. And everyone's like, okay. Like no one speaks up.

This is Norris coming back, right? This is Norris. Sorry, yeah, coming back for cousins. And it's like, that's great that the doctor said he's not worried about his injury history, but he has a new injury every three weeks. And not one person was like, are we sure that this is good? And maybe it happened in real life. But the way the video is edited, you never have a sense that anyone's like, I don't know about Norris like We don't get to see that side of it because they want to big up the guy who's coming in

But it doesn't make me feel very confident that no one in management is like guys. Hold on Are we sure we want to trade cuts? Well, I mean this the figure the famous one is the one that came out from hard knocks last year from the NFL when the Giants let Saquon Barkley go to the Eagles and Forget the owner's name. It's gonna bother me Mara. Maybe the Mara family. I think it's Mara. Yeah for the Giants He's talking to Joe. I'm really test my NFL not Joe Chee and I think is the general manager of the of the of the Knights John Mara, yeah of the general manager of the Giants and he's like, you know If he goes to the giant and it goes to the the Eagles, I'm gonna be really upset I'm really that's not gonna like he's just really

And then he goes to the Eagles and wins the Super Bowl 2,000 yards had a chance to set the all-time record jumped a guy backwards and he was Maybe the most impactful free agent signing in the history of NFL. And now you have this clip out there of them being like, you shouldn't do that in an Eclipse world that just lives in it. I don't understand these behind the scenes things at all. I'm totally with you guys. I don't get it.

To be clear, I love them though. I get it, is that the point? I do get it, but like in a sick way. They're uncomfortable. Yes, totally. Well, also like they're training people's lives. Is that part of the entertainment is that you feel as uncomfortable as they probably

feel having it out there the rest of their lives? I get, you know, everything's reality TV, right? Like, that's what... It doesn't have to be. No, but it sells. People watch it. We need a little mystique. I don't think people think we do.

Because all we're going to do is draw the curtains and see some short guy pulling strings like in Wizard of Oz. Yeah, well, that's kind of what this is. It's like, you know, I heard Adams it's like a six-minute video clip and it's not new it's been out for weeks. Yeah, but It just felt like at no point was anyone like disagree everyone was like, yep I think we should do cousins for Norris. I think we should I think that I'm not even sure I think there's so many things going on in their lives I'm not even sure they know that there's some piece of content out there

some intern or guy a year out of university Putting this stuff out there. I don't They don't know they just don't know whoever's monitoring or watching it doesn't even have the experience to say This might not age well. Mm-hmm If I'm a general manager right now and I see that stuff out there, what are you doing? I'm taking a sharp pencil and stabbing somebody in the heart I'm telling you like What's with the stabbings recently?

We've had a murderous show the last couple weeks. I just don't, like you think back to the one last year, the Amazon one, where the McDavid thing where he's sobbing. I'm like, I didn't need to see that. Like you know, there's a lot of people like the perverts and the freaks and the sickos out there that want to see that stuff. And I don't see the need to see the greatest generation. Well, I didn't need to see that.

But how about this? One that has people quite upset is Nylander in that Amazon show. Yes. You know, he missed playoff games with migraines and they got a camera crew in there and he's eating Krispy Kreme. It's not a good look.

No. You know, everyone you talk to has had like real bad migraines are like, oh, shades drawn. I couldn't get out of bed Whatever we stand watch they go wait. We had a discussion last night We're we're not even sure if the Leafs knew that the crew was in with Nylander yeah, the team may not have known that they had that level of access. How does that happen? Playoffs Playoffs

Do you remember the dubious one with Kekalyan about the the flino thing where he like went back behind the scenes and he like had a conversation with him and then he Upped the price and you get seen being kind of fleece like I just don't know who it's for We're talking about it because it's it's entertaining and that's what this sport is an entertainment product Maybe it's not for me, but like I This sport is an entertainment product. Maybe it's not for me, but like I Could not get through the Amazon series I like I watched the first one because we wanted to talk about it. It's not for me and it may be Entertaining in the moment, but if the long-term effect is

You know you guys aren't as bright as I thought you were. Like, you guys are kind of dumb. Like, you based it off of vibes, huh? You're supposed to be like one of the top managers or coaches or owners or whatever. There's only 30 teams in the world. You should have to be really good at your jobs. And now the behind the scenes kind of looking at me going You guys are about as dumb as I am. Well a couple thoughts on that It takes away the thought that you're like really supposed to be good at this

But one hit this level like a player you almost have to be shown You have to perform or you're on the hook for it Which I don't know that that's so terrible that people are held accountable for their performance. I think that's a pretty good thing. The other thing is that the person who's putting out the content, the social media manager, whoever it is who's doing that work, may not have enough understanding of hockey to understand what they're putting out. And that's a crucial component.

They need to know. There's so many people, so many departments, so many, who can keep track in some of these organizations. Cause like having one doctor approve the Norris injury history and he's injured nine seconds after he's there and I know it's a freak thing, but he has a lot of freak things. But it may have not even been the true process

Right, but could have been ten doctors. There could have been ten They could have cut the last one that made me looks like it's only one and it's like just get it out We don't see him talking to the analytics department about this that with that presentation that 30 seconds It might not even be close to like the truth of what really happened Yeah, but we don't know that as a viewer. The other part is when they decide to trade cousins, they're talking about, okay, we're trying to trade and change the culture. You know, we're trying to this is what Norris is culture guy.

We're trying to change the culture. And it's like, what? So what is it saying about cousins? Like are we now saying that so cousins a bad culture guy? That's the point you're making about a player. Yeah, you know, it does kind of like peel back a curtain with it. The other one was the I don't know HBO, Amazon, I don't know who did it but the leaf one where Kyle Duvus is in the

office and they're kind of scared to look at the progress of the ice and it's like, you know, is he on the ice? I don't know. Is he wearing his equipment? Is he not wearing his equipment? And I'm like, what is happening here? What is going on? Yeah. You guys are the managers, you're the coaches.

Like, how do you not know? Yeah. No, it's, I don't know. So far we've been entertained. Maybe that's the point of it all. Okay. But I actually think, not to give the least too much credit here, but I actually think they're a little, the leaf they do, they put out like a little Instagram video,

which is state controlled media, like propaganda 100%. But it's a minute. It's like a quick quote from Borube. They do two quick quotes from a player that was involved in the game, a highlight. And then it's like the guy's going, yeah, boys, yeah, boys. Like that's good. That's good access. But long drawn out things of guys that aren't supposed to be like in the eye. I feel like I'm talking to myself, I'm on the other side of it now, like,

because I do, I now hear myself say that I do like having this information. I don't know if you can go back. We do not agree. Right, like. Maya, I kind of got my start writing the very first 24 sevens that they did I would pause my Those were so good though.

And they didn't have the board covered up. So I would pause the TV, take a picture of like what Babs had written because it was Detroit Toronto. Yep. And I wrote a couple articles of like, here's what these abbreviation means. Here's what they're trying to do. And those did very well. And then now they're a lot more careful about showing that the whiteboards good one Randy

But I don't know if it's they're not getting the attention that they first Got yes, there's so many of them now And there's like people are just taking passes on it. Yeah, right I bet there's a lot of people listening to this being like you guys are idiots. I love that access. Hmm. Yes, I do believe that there's still a market there for sure. Yeah. Did you guys I wanted to mention this Mikala Habs $5,000 fine for unsportsmanly But you saw the play huh? Yeah, I saw if you didn't see it at home

Over there they lose for two he takes a full ice length slap shot Which like even if you score then it's four three So you're just being a jerk and he almost hits one of the D on the other team He went full Daniel Elferton. He just didn't hit anybody this definitely. Oh, we got the video. Yeah this Nikola He's behind his net four seconds games over. Let's have some fun here. I Mean listen still time of the clock over let's have some fun here I mean listen still time of the clock so far I gotta tell you I think that's an absurd once your captain to get out there and say something or I guess you guys stay Gallagher's great and Gallagher's

great there right how do you find a guy $5,000 that how do you not find him there's time left in the hockey game he slapped shot of the hockey puck with time left in the hockey game I think think you Common sense it went 180 feet. It's not like it was like 10 feet in front of him I think that like if I'm him I'm rich So whatever five grand but like it's unsportsmanlike conduct and I think his conduct was pretty unsportsmanlike I guess but like he shot the hockey puck in the hockey game Honestly everything buck in the hockey game. You're a logically you're around to shoot the honestly everything.

Always looking at it. The NHL is not great for my argument. NHL they're better off finding them 5000 than not taking the criticism that they didn't do anything at all. So I think they're covered. I think NHL is covered. I think quietly they're happy that they're playing Tuesday. When are they playing?

Oh yeah, they play... They play again. Yeah, they play tomorrow. Play tomorrow. Leafs get them on the second half of back to back. That two seconds of shooting a puck 180 feet will make all of us start, watch the start of that game. Absolutely. That's actually a very, that's a pivotal hockey game for the East

standings. So and Montreal totally reacted the way they should have. Florida gets to say that we're sore losers. And it's all good. Now, we can talk about losers. Yeah, the East. Yeah, who can lose the most hockey games? The Islanders, the Red Wings, Columbus, the Rangers? Montreal got a big win yesterday.

But boy, pretty bleak race. Real poo poo platter down there. It is. Lean. Islanders have been given every opportunity. I don't think it's happening. Colorado Avalanche signed a McCarr. They did. A Taylor McCarr, younger brother of Colorado star. Congratulations, Brett Kretzky. To a one year deal. That's mean.

Famous guy's brother. He was a seventh round pick in 2021, but kind of tough, eh? Pretty good year, university. I mean, he's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy.

He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy.

He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a great guy. He's a seventh round pick in 2021, but kind of tough, eh? Pretty good year at University of Maine. Never be as close to your brother. But he doesn't need to be. If he can be an NHL player. For sure. Like you got to give him the opportunity here.

I saw Brad Gretzky play hockey for the Asheville smoke in the UHL when I played a game Those words up. No, I didn't Asheville smoke. Look it up. Oh, yeah I think he scored over a hundred points with Windsor Spitfighters one year. He was the best centerman. Oh, I Shack I know your game. I'm not being more familiar with that's okay your game How do you maybe it's Sensitive conversation, but how do you think Taylor McCarth? I guess he's happy to get an NHL contract Yeah, like you're going to the team or your brother's like the best player in the world Well, I think it depends if you're super close family probably means the world to them

And maybe maybe they'll give him a little extra like I had opportunities out of college and I chose Islander camp in hopes that I could leverage my name for an extra day at camp before they cut me If he thinks it can help them great So blue Jays cut into our week a little bit, right? So yeah, maybe we should let people know about our weird week. But yeah, we have a show today Yeah show tomorrow show tomorrow is oh, yeah, so Kipper You being the kid. How do you tell him? Yeah? I'm bailing on you guys. I've like hey, I've hit my wall perfect time. I've hit my wall. I'm going south

I'm gonna go hit a golf ball. Yeah, I will say that and this is the perfect week to do it Oh, you mean the biggest game of the year? And this is the perfect week to do it. Oh, you mean the biggest game of the year? That's fine. You'll be fine. Yeah, when I'm gone. But I will say, Kipper, your attendance this year has been exemplary.

Exemplary? It works for me. I don't care if you screwed up the word. I get what you're saying. You've been here a ton. I think all of our... We had pretty good attendance. I took a week for Disney. You've earned it. So you're gonna- I appreciate that.

You've got big plans. Nice to get his permission, eh? Just warm. Yeah. Yeah, we'll start the plane heading south and be worried. I'll send you a postcard. Have you been at the digital range?

The old- I have. Yeah, how's the swing feeling? Swing in it? Yeah, just to make sure that I don't pull a muscle. So yeah, so just to fill everybody in, we are here tomorrow. Yes.

Off Wednesday. Off Wednesday. Back Thursday, off Friday. So three shows this week. Unless they get rained out in New York on Friday. In which case you might have another show. Yeah, and it's gonna be me and Borny. Yay.

All right, thanks to Andy Strickland, co-host of Cam and Strick. All right, guys, enjoy the rest of your week. I know you will. I may not come back. I'm not sure. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening.

If you had a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you. Have a great night, everybody.