Real Kyper & Bourne - Stanley Cup Final Set: Hurricanes vs. Golden Knights

Episode Date: June 1, 2026

The Stanley Cup Final is set! Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee reflect on the Montreal Canadiens' elimination as the Carolina Hurricanes advance and take on the Vegas Golden Knights. They discuss Kent Hughes' comments comparing the Habs' top line's struggles to Toronto's Core Four before former NHLer and father of Hurricanes forward Jackson Blake, Jason Blake, joins the show (10:40)! He discusses what's behind Jackson's playoff breakout, Rod Brind'Amour's impact, and how the Canes match up against the Knights. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam discuss Brendan Gallagher's future in Montreal after being scratched through the Eastern Conference Final, Canada's loss to Norway in the World Championship bronze-medal game, and the Leafs hiring Judd Bracket as assistant General Manager. 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.

Big week about to begin on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Stanley Cup final, baby. Summer weather can only mean one thing. Are you going to talk about hockey or? The season is slowly coming to an end. Yeah. But not before what we believe would should be a great Stanley Cup final. Nick Kipriot, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shills, Derek Brandale.

We are live on Sports at 590 the fan. Sportsnet 9th. in Calgary, 650 in Vancouver. Sports at 360, Sportsnet Plus, and YouTube, where we always appreciate the chats and a thumbs up. And if you can't catch your show, go find it on a podcast, Spotify, Apple, wherever you want to go at your convenience, of course. This hour of Real Kipprenborn brought to by Bet365.

As we said, Stanley Cup final set to begin tomorrow night. One more sleepover. or not a sleepover. You want to sleep over? You probably got a big enough house. You got to have rooms for all of us? Before we get into that, I want to put a bow on the Montreal Canadians

because we have not spoken since they have been eliminated. What I think people were hoping for was just a second push by the Canadians to make things interesting. It kind of played out the way we felt it was going to play out based on game two, game three, game four, game five. Sammy said going into that last game that it was either going to be two one

one in overtime or seven nothing. And it was darn close to seven nothing. Yeah. They just didn't look interested in doing it. Just right from the start. I don't think they could. I just, I think they kind of accepted their fate going into that game

and their fate was handed to them pretty early on. The standout quote to me was Lane Hudson post game, basically saying, you know, we were close, but we got a long way. way to go sort of thing. They don't feel like they were right there with Carolina. Like it wasn't like we're one guy away. Like they're still away from getting past a team like that.

Absolutely. We're going to talk to, who we talking to? Oh my God. We're talking to Jason Blake. Former hockey. Can you read the line? We were going to have somebody else. I thought of somebody else.

And it's like we didn't book them. And it's like, who do we have? Jason Blake, former National Hockey Ford. And his son now starring. star the Carolina Hurricanes. No, no, no, no, like a go-to guy and a star. 16 points and 15 games for them, they're in their run, so he's been unbelievable. Is that tops for the canes?

It's got to be up there. We'll get Jason Blake's thoughts on the Stanley Cup final and his son Jackson in a few minutes, but in the meantime, kind of finish off a conversation on the Montreal Canadiens because we had been talking at the end of the week, and we had Reno, LeVois, of course, and one of the questions that I kind of directed at him before the weekend was, like, if they go quietly,

does this kind of curtail or suck the air out of an incredible run? And I think the answer is yes. For sure. Right now. I mean, you look back at it and you go, well, the way that series went, they were non-factors, essentially. And then, you know, people talking about the game sevens

that kind of snuck by. That is not to take away from what the Canadians have built the direction they're going, what they're going to be, all those positive things. I think next year they're a 110 point team, but I think it is eye-opening of like when you get close, how much harder it gets to beat the best team. So you don't look at the last two series wins differently after what you saw against Carolina? I mean, no, no, I don't.

I do think that it does put Buffalo and Tampa Bay into a different light. Like, I do. I kind of, I'd like more answers. If I'm Kent Hughes and he met the media today, and we'll get to a couple of clips anyways, one clip that I found incredibly interesting. But I need more answers on why they look like they shut it down. And, oh, they want to go to the country concert.

I just, they wanted to be done at the time. Sammy. You cannot just buy. For me, you cannot just buy, and they're the youngest team left still. Should add lots of juice. They just run out of gas. They're just tired. Like, I just, it's not enough for me.

But I don't want to overreact either. Right. I don't want to overreact either. But I think it begs some questions on what happened. So the one thing that was unprovoked at all was, Kent Hughes, again, the general manager meeting today, and drawing up some parallels with the Toronto Maple Leafs on star players not showing up in the playoffs.

You got asked about the lack of production, I guess, for them. Play the Ken Hughes clip. Derek. Being here in Canada, it's going to be a little bit of the narrative going into the cup final that there was that belief that certain players in Toronto underperformed in the playoffs. And one season doesn't necessarily, that one playoff season wouldn't necessarily reflect another.

And I think Mitch Mutter is sitting atop of the playoff scoring race, and it's not just what he's doing offensively. It's how he's contributing to their team being where they are. And if we look around at the three series that we had, or the three teams that we played against in the playoffs, it wasn't necessarily their top scores that were their top scores, including Carolina, right? I think it's been offensively driven more by Stankov and Blake and Hall,

and that wasn't necessarily the case in the regular season. So we just got to get better, period. I'm shocked. I am too, because how many times did you come in here and say, gosh, it's Bull Duke and it's New Hook and it's TechCIA and it's... First of all, you can critique your star players all you want. I am just shocked that he specifically went after, like, Marner and Toronto is the example.

Oh, why are you shot? You are? That's all anyone talks about every day, so I'm not surprised by it. You, maybe me, J.B., and anyone else, but not another general manager, to specifically call out another player and use the word underperformed in the playoffs. To me, it's like, why? You don't need to go there, Kent. You don't.

I'm sure he regretted it immediately. Honestly. I would hate it right now if I'm John Chica. Just like, and John wasn't even a part of the Mariner or anything else. But you don't need to go single out my organization. You don't. Don't talk to my ball. It's like this is not your domain.

Watch your bobbler? No. No. I just think that he's so afraid of this. What's coming? Like, listen, this is a wonderful run. And they, great job. They got to the conference finals.

That's something to be proud of. But nothing's guaranteed, Kip. Nothing's guaranteed. Everyone just assumes that they're going to go further. And I think that's what he's afraid of. And he's just laying the groundwork early that maybe these stars aren't built for these moments. You're feeding the beast.

Totally. And he brings up in Canada. So it's like, is this your guarded way of saying, I hope they don't go after Suzuki and Caulfield now? Like they went after Marner in Toronto. 100%. Say it then. Say it.

Well, did it. Isn't that what he's saying? No, we danced around it a little bit. He didn't say it. He said it without saying it. It's the old Barbara Streisand's house thing. I'm looking at their stats now because of that comment. Say it.

Yeah. When saying it, don't say it when you're not saying it. Yes. Thank you, Ogi Bera. This is Zach Ellupinakus meme right now. I just like, don't go there. I know there with anybody like and. Like Noah Dobbson, 13 games.

zero goals, one assist, minus seven. Apparently he couldn't close his hand on his stick. His hand was broken so bad. Okay, that's worth mentioning. Yeah, I'm sure he didn't. And it's a one-off for Suzuki and Cofield and Slavkosky and Dobson. It's a one-off. But, like, one, as the Toronto Maple Leafs fans know, can't turn to two, right?

Two can't turn to three. It turns into nine-offs pretty quick. Can't turn to five? Nine. Can't go there. It happens fast. It happens fast. But for them right now, they can be okay with this. They had their first real taste.

I know they got smoked by Washington last year. But these things stockpile quickly. So you hope you get over the hump faster. And that's it. If there's one critique on Ken Hughes and Jeff Gordon, it's like you didn't go and get a centerman. No. And that's where you got killed. It's glaring need.

Glaring. And now this time next year. they were this close or maybe they didn't. It's not that whether or not you think you're this close. It's more of like how wide open is it, right? Yeah. And come on, it was wide open. Weird year.

It was one of those strange ones where we could have four teams. How wide open was it though? From the east. All of them could easily be there. I don't think that's true. It depends how much you believe in Carolina. I think Carolina without Florida has been the best team in the east all year long. I'm not debating that.

through the Eastern Conference. I don't think it was the open at all. But I don't think they've been challenged yet. And that's where you think Vegas will have their biggest, toughest challenge. I'm excited to get to game time because I'm looking forward to finding out the odds on this. I do think, though, that. I do think there's a world we're sitting here in a week and a half being like,

and they ran through Vegas too. Like I do think, listen, I'm not going to pick them necessarily, but I do think there's a world where we're saying that they're just a buzzsaw right now. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. The one thing that stands out, to me is so you're down 3-1 in the series

you got nothing going on. Why not give Gallagher a crack? Why not? Anyway, we have our guess. Okay, let's welcome in former national hockey leaguer 871 games. Jason Blake, who's now the proud pop-up, one of the hottest scoring wingers

on the planet. Is that okay? Blakey? Yeah. Is that work? How are you guys? We're good. We're good. How's proud Papa there watching his son? eating up the competition. It's a thrill of a lifetime.

That's for sure. No, it's been fun. Obviously, watching and being part of the ride right now has been a dream come true for me and my family. And, no, it's to see where they're at now and to play for the cup, it's been awesome. You know, it's been a lot of traveling in a lot of hotels too. Are you following them around?

Oh, yeah, yeah. The only two games I didn't go to Montreal, but yeah, I mean, it's been a lot. I'm back in Carolina now. I flew in this morning with my Jackson's little brother, Brooks, and no, we're ready to go. That's awesome. I'm going to Vegas on Friday, so.

Nice. That's great that you're being a part of the whole thing. It's interesting. You have something you're going to throw in there. Go ahead. Is he picking up the tab on the tickets, or is it COD? That's too easy term and later. I'm just setting up play.

You're going to submit an invoice at the end? Yeah, I got it written down on a napkin right now. Awesome. That's great. You know, it's been fascinating watching Carolina's success. We heard another GM or I forget who was just talking about it, that it's not necessarily the stars on Carolina that have been, or the top line that have been producing.

It's been your son's line. What is it about that line that has? the, not to say he's not a star, but they are, they're buzzing. What is it about his line that works so well? I think just one of the things is they've been playing together pretty much the whole year. And, you know, and I think the biggest thing was, you know, obviously Stanky playing the center this year, which he's done a fantastic job as first year playing in the NHL. And they've been playing all year.

Their chemistry is just growing, you know, throughout the year. And it's been fun to watch. And, you know, all three of them are so competitive. And, you know, they all got good speed. And I don't know. They just, for some reason, the chemistry has really gotten good. And it continues that way. And what they're doing in the playoffs, I mean, it's obviously fun to watch and fun to watch them win.

But, I mean, their line just seems to be clicking every single night. And that's obviously great for the hurricanes. And, you know, I don't really camp on my finger on. particular thing other than that. They played together the whole year. And they're super close off the ice. So that's, I mean, him and Stanky are really good buddies. So I would credit a lot of that.

I'll credit their success, a lot of that, just playing the whole year together. Because as most of us know in the NHL, line shift from game to game, if not within the game. So they've been doing a good job. You're watching and listening to former National Hockey League, Jason Blake, now watching his son. in the Stanley Cup final, Carolina and Vegas set to do battle tomorrow night on Sportsnet.

For maybe some parents that are listening or watching right now, Jason, give us a bit of a development timeframe on Jackson because, you know, he played in the USHL a couple years in college. Wasn't a highly touted prospect, I believe the fourth round, correct? he was drafted. And just how his development went from maybe a few years ago to at this point today, is it something that you saw? I mean, you had the inside track because you're a former National Hockey League player.

You could maybe forecast a few things. But where did you see Jackson a few years ago and how he ended up right now today? Well, I mean, I think the biggest thing, he kind of grew into his body a little bit. you know, he was a smaller kid as I was, but I mean, he was smaller growing up, you know, in Peewees and Bannams in high school. And, you know, he always had that dedicated work ethic. And I know he always wanted it. I mean, he did so many things in the sport court in the out season.

But I think when he trusted himself to start working out and be consistent about it, I think that's kind of where it took off. And, you know, obviously, you know, playing in Chicago was a big stepping stone, and obviously going to North Dakota and then getting in North Dakota and having a good year there, his first year, and then, you know, he put on about 10 pounds between his first and second year. So, and he worked out every single day, and he was very committed. And, you know, as most people in the hockey world would say,

no one really thought he'd make it out of camp last year. And I just think his work ethic, his desire, his compete level has always been there. it just kind of showed at the right time. And yeah, it's been a fun ride. I'm obviously, get emotional and very proud of them. And, you know, for me that I played and, you know, I had some success in the NHL and to watch your kid grow up.

I mean, you always want your kids to do better than you in life. And, I mean, he's proven it. Hey, you scored 40 goals. He's got some work to do to get where you were yet. So there's no doubt he can get there if his past. tells us anything about them. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about your perspective of the Cain's organization. You're with them, you know, almost every game they've just, you know, they swept a couple

of rounds and kind of did waste to the Montreal Canadians. What is it that's working so well there? Well, I think the number one thing that I've seen is obviously the head coach. Yeah. I mean, I think he'd probably be one of the easiest coaches to play for. You know, I've talked to him a few times this year, but just, I mean, obviously I played against them. and I hated playing against them because I, you know, I'm sure a lot of guys did.

But, you know, he built this culture around this organization. The organization, first and foremost, is just a superclass act. And, you know, I think it starts through the top and then with Rod. And he built this culture. And, you know, with the guys that they have in that room, you have a mixture of younger or older and younger guys. And I think that one of the big guys in that room, if not the biggest, is obviously, Jordan Stahl. You know, he's like the godfather of the team, and he's done a great job.

And, you know, it's easy to be motivated and easy to play for your coach when obviously he's been there. He's won a Stanley Cup. And he's so devoted to the North – or to the Carolina Hurricanes that, you know, it doesn't take much for them. And it's a close-knit group. They are a true family. And it's fun to see.

It's fun to be a part of, a small part, but it's still fun. fun to be a part of and to watch, you know, how the guys interact. Even, you know, when they go on the road or whatever, they're always together. They're always eating out together. But I think it starts to the top. I mean, I, you know, I don't think anyone predicted that they'd sweep 4-0-4-0, but it's just a testament to their leadership group, obviously run by Jordan Stahl. So, I mean, it's a special group, I can say.

that. Seeing how you've watched them this closely, I'll ask you to put your professional hockey analyst cap on. Where is Vegas

going to have fits with this hockey club? I don't know. To be honest with you, I don't, you know, I think obviously

they're a heck of hockey team to beat Colorado in the fashion that they did. You know, I don't know. I mean, I think, you know,

some of our D are penalty killing is exceptional. So we got obviously stay out of the box because they have a lethal power play. And obviously with Mitchie going over to Vegas, you know, it's just a different team. And they're super fast.

They're very good up front. They're very good on the back end. And obviously, you know, Hart's been playing unbelievable for them. And with a new coach. Yeah. So, you know, I think it's going to be a great matchup. I don't know if there's any holes or flaws in any of,

both teams. But, I mean, you know, I think the one thing, if you look back, we played them earlier this year. We lost both games, but, you know, we didn't have Slavin. And I think Slavin's, you know, obviously a huge, if not the biggest part of our defensive core, if not one of the best in the league defensively. So, you know, I guess we'll have to see. I mean, it's going to be a great matchup. I'm excited. and, you know, I'm sure that both teams are excited to get this going.

And I think it's going to be a long series, and I think it's going to be awesome. And you get to go to Vegas, just pretty awesome. So I'll turn this a little bit. One of the things that's been interesting watching other teams in their postseason run, we cover the Leafs pretty regularly here. They're getting brought up all the time right now. Like you can't hear enough about how it was for Mariner before. compared to now and how it was for Montreal stars compared to the Leaf stars.

The Leafs feel like they come up all the time. Tell us a little bit about your experience coming here from somewhere else and the difference in the media market and what effect it might have on a player. Well, I mean, my first year there, I mean, I was looking forward to being there and going there and playing there. I mean, it's probably one of the greatest hockey cities to play in. I obviously with a little health scare, my first year, it was kind of a down. year. That was obviously a big down year for me, but, you know, there's obviously a lot of pressure. And, you know, with the media there, you pressure every single game to perform.

And I always found that, and it didn't bother me that much, but you win three games. It was like, we're going to win the Stanley Cup. If you lose three games, it's like, okay, you got to get rid of five players. Like, just that fast. And, you know, it's such a great organization. from, I mean, for me, from top to bottom back when I played, which is a long time ago. But, you know, I just think sometimes you go there and you might feel that pressure. And every athlete or hockey player is different than how they handle it. And, you know, I don't think that, you know, as far as Mitch goes, playing in Toronto, he was exceptional for Toronto. I just, you know, in the playoffs, you know, you got to have everything.

thing go right for you in the playoffs. I don't care what team you are. You got to have good goaltending. You got to be good on the power play. You got to be good on the penalty kill. And if it wasn't working, then in Toronto, for instance, there's a lot of pressure. And, you know, some, a lot of players need fresh starts. And he got one in Vegas. And, and he, you know, he deserved it. And he's deserved everything he's got. And he's obviously an elite player in this league and but I think in any and he's excelled in Vegas and he's got really good players to play around him and um he did in Toronto too so I mean it's just a different market and sometimes you don't you don't have to be the guy you can just be the you know a piece of the puzzle that

fits perfectly and you can be a little bit more successful in that in that way so there's not as much pressure on you I guess well that pressure Blakey, that pressure went to another level when we decided to put Sammy McKee on the air about five years ago. You know, are you really glad that a show like ours wasn't around when you played? No, it could be, you would have crucified me.

No, no, no, not at all, buddy, not at all. Us left winger's got to stick together. Blakey, thanks for doing this. Good luck to you and your family, and soak it all in, my friend. Thank you so much, you guys. Yeah, thank you. Thanks for joining us.

appreciate it. That is Jason Blake, watching Jackson now in his first Stanley Cup final at the tender age of 22. Crazy. So, like, Jackson can expect this every year. Yeah, this will happen all the time. I just, it's so funny. I was so excited when they signed Jason Blake to Leafs because he came off that great. I was 40 goals.

And I was just, and the start of his Leafs career, like he was obviously going through health issues. He played through that stuff. there has never been anyone more snake-bitten than Jason Blake was at the start of his leave's career. I think he was tied for the league lead in shots with like Ovechkin. And he just couldn't put one in. And it just never went. I think he ended up scoring 25 goals a second year here.

Like he was, it kind of built up a little bit before I think he went to Anaheim, right? But just I've never seen anyone more snake bit the first 10, 50 games. All over it. I had 63 points. Yeah, no, yeah. I, six shootout goal too. He did a nice spinnererama.

Love Jason Blake. That's fun. Good stuff, boys. You know, it's funny. You know, listening to, like, a dad talk about getting emotional, talking about his son. But, like, you know, when they're younger and you travel around and follow them to all these different arenas, it's cool that he's doing it now except to Montreal

and to, you know, much cooler cities. Yeah, I mean, you're just doing the same thing. Yeah. You're just going to... Vegas now. Did you want to wrap up the... Because we went to Gallagher before we got to Jason. Did you want to finish that conversation?

Just in... Well, we heard from Gallagher. want to hear the clip yeah he talked about his future it's a little emotional be honest with you boys so uh we'll play clip one uh brendan galliger please derrick you know first and foremost so so thankful and so fortunate uh to have to spend as much time as i have here um you know the fans right from day one uh it's been it's been truly a privilege to play in front of them um you know it's it's an opportunity that not a lot of players get in the sea league i've got it to do it for 14 years now and it's not lost on me you know how special it was to to call the

Bell Center home you know the very very first time I stepped foot in this organization you know management coaches teammates a battle along the years I can't there's been ups and downs but I don't have a single regret so that's pretty clear I'll be kind of moving on here but you know incredibly incredibly sorry I'm just very fortunate. Boy. 14 years. Yeah, that's a long time for anybody now.

It's really. He's been, like, you listen to his emotion. I mean, there's not many guys as a Lee fan that I can't stand more on the ice. Like, he's been an ultimate warrior on the ice. But that's, he's always been an emotional guy on the ice and just cares, go through a brick wall. And you hear him talk like that. God, that's got to be heartbreaking. Just try to play them in games.

I don't know what he wants to do. Get him out there. Try to play again next year or, you know, can he turn himself into a Cory Perry and just be that guy that can provide so much off the ice but still find a way to be a dog in front of the net? He's got six and a half. One more year at six and a half. Really?

One more? I thought he was done. Would they buy him out? What would happen if they bought that out? One year. here at 6-5. Vancouver. There's a taker there.

Vancouver. Well, he mentioned Vancouver today. That's where he's from. You got to go through every salary cap out there and find out who needs to get to the floor. Like, I don't think he's that guy. I don't think he's what's that. Well, you're talking about him like

he's, you know, he's just a dead contract that's of no value. But you can't also take on six and a half if it's to a contending team necessarily. No, you're right. Yeah. So I'm just, I'm looking for value on both sides of a contending team or a team that's young and can just use some guidance.

Cap going up helps them a lot. I think there's like if he were, you know, no asset cost at all, who wants Gallagher at six and a half? Yeah, I don't. You know, maybe they have to retain a million, two million. It all depends on what Montreal does in the off season, who they trade for. We had heard that they were kicking tires on,

on Thomas, on Cadry, on Vincent Trocheck. I heard that from, from, Montreal that they're kicking tires and Connor McDavid too. Whatever the case is, your first choice and obligation as an organization is to lose the six and a half completely. Yes, of course. Get that off the book.

Right? Get it off the books. So way more pressure now on Montreal and their management team to go not leave that void at center ice next season. Now they're all under the gun. Yeah, they're an interesting spot with guys, right? Josh Anderson has one year left as well at five

and a half. So between him and Gallagher, you're looking at $12 million in guys that they are right now choices on you know the the McDavid thing like I don't know who it was but it was a Montreal reporter or a blogger or whatever was kind of kicking up steam on that McDavid thing and I I hate to admit this to you but there's no better team for him to go to in terms of the way they're set up it's a perfect bit it really is they're in desperate need of a number one center new market boy going to do it though I mean I don't know he wants to win like they have the most picks they have a great young, you know, core.

Are you talking McDavid in Montreal? This summer? No, I mean, not this summer, but two years for now. Maybe when he becomes a free agent or if they want to trade him next year when they have a bad, I don't know, whatever it is. It wouldn't be a free agent. It would have to be next summer or at the deadline this year. I actually just think that I hate to say it, but they are set up the best.

Don't you think? You don't think they want Ben Bantford in a second? This is my nightmare. There's no question that we look at them and we see so many reasons why they're going to be competitive and they should be competitive, but this game owes nothing to anyone. And there's just no guarantees. That's how I feel. You get that close and you're like, oh my God, we're here and then it may

never happen again. The one thing that happens a lot is people go, this guy's a good player, that guy's a good player, this guy's a good player, we're good. And then the problem is other teams have good players. And are your good players better than their good players? And you're talking, if your best guy is Nick Suzuki, there are teams with better best guys. So they went out and got Dobson, which he's very talented, and he's shown signs that he can be a very good player. But the one thing that kind of was questionable on Dobson

is like, you know, when the going gets tough, how gritty and how much of a pushback is there in his game when things get tough? He struggled. He did. He struggled. Apparently very banged up. The injury, I don't know how much that had an effect, but.

Okay. I'll grant him that, but it's... I'm telling him this is... Do they have a lot of the right guys still? Right? I saw a picture came across my feet after Finland beat Switzerland and the world championship. Helenas scores a goal. They win one-nothing.

But it's just like, this guy's a winner. And it's a picture number 16, Barkoff. holding up the cup and a picture number 16, him holding up the World Championship Trophy with Champaign. Like, he's coming back. Yeah. Like, oh, yeah, they're not going to be bad again, are they? Like, they are going to get a top 10 pick

that they'll probably change for somebody great, and they'll get another goalie. It's like, oh, crap, they're going to be good again. Barkoff comes back and just guys finel into a world change. The division's a eight, murderers, row. Just while we're on the subject, what happened to your, our Canada B team is still amazing and can beat anybody.

buddy. They lost to Norway. Norway. I had to double check to see if Norway had a team. So Norway put out 25 guys from their country. We put out 25 guys from our country. Unfortunately, we did not find a way to beat the 25

guys from Norway, which is tough. It was even more embarrassing. They had to wear skis during the whole game. Canada had to tie it late. Claibor. Claibot, remember the, it was the Norwegian guy that ran up the hills. Was he involved?

I don't know. All I know is my boy, Tinas, was firing him in the ad all tourney. Goldblar. Is he Norwegian? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He led the tourney.

What a winner. That's my boy. Colby. Anyways. I got to ask. Gipper, just because I've been taking a beating on the internet for the last 24 hours, I got to ask about that. Any problem with them getting hammered at Luke Combs concert today after getting eliminated?

Yeah, Habs? Should have waited a week or no? What are they supposed to do? It's over and they should be reviewing film? In that case? I haven't got mad at Matthew Nyes for chugging a beer on the Jumbo Trond a week after. That's true. That's true.

They didn't miss the playoffs. Yeah, but they got embarrassed. They're celebrating like they won the cop. That's got to be one of your worst all-time takes. I'll still weigh in. There's heavily weighed in is the Tampa and Buffalo series, okay? And I don't know what happened against Carolina with them. But I got a bigger problem with guys checking beers, you know, days after you get knocked out of the playoffs.

I got a bigger problem with your coach playing blackjack the night before your team gets eliminated from the playoffs. Why can't everybody be as perfect as us? Well, um, once it's over, do whatever. Shout on my boy Graham, who texts me this message. Thank God that they had beers because they certainly couldn't get any shots. Hey!

Hey! Hey! All right, quick break. Oh, no, I got to do game time. All right, let's do game time. It's game time. It's been by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL. Must be 19 plus.

Please play responsibly. Let's look at the series line like Justin Bourne wants me to do. What do you think it's going to be? I think it is Vegas is minus 120 faves. You are incorrect. No, Carolina.

Carolina is a favorite. They are minus 150 in the series. Whoa. Plus 125. I don't get that. You don't get that? Vegas just won a cup and has the same guys and more. I think, man, I just still think we're kind of under rating,

we're underrating Carolina a little bit. I think they're really good. Yeah, and I'm not making any bones about the fact that I would prefer Carolina to win and, you know, Martin. No, I mean, what's to like about Vegas? Okay. You know?

Don't love torts. Don't love Marner. Don't love Carter Hart. Don't love the whole thing. Don't love McCrimand. Don't love their jerseys. Don't love their jerseys. Don't really love anything.

There's not a whole lot of. of people rooting for them. Yeah. So I guess maybe the fact that once you go there, everything's supposed to stay there. Yeah. Does that help at all? I think a few people have come back from there and can confirm that's not the truth. So just looking at the favorites for the Kahn Smyth, since we're about to start the final,

Kipper's boy, Mitch Marner is the leader at plus 175. Oh, Frederick Anderson plus 225. Taylor Hall, 6 to 1, stankovin, plus 850, Carter Hart plus 1,400. and Jason's boy Jackson plus 1,500. So new friend of the show, Jason, bet on his son. If he has a hot series, maybe he could be the Consmite winner. It'll be interesting if Carter Hart really takes this series by storm, they won't vote for him. He's going to have to.

The writers will not. They won't give it to them. No, I agree. They won't give it to him. I totally agree. Anything else to learn about the series? Are we good? Keondre Miller, Consmite, plus 7,500.

Ooh, you could do worse than that, yeah. He has another big series. Yeah, he needs another big series. He should be higher than that, though. He should. What you would call value in gambling terms. Anyways, that was game time, presented by Bet365,

an official partner of the NHL, must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. And a reminder, this hour of Real Kipperman Born is brought to you by Bet365. Okay, quick break,

and when we return, we'll maybe do a little leaf chat for our boy Sammy. A couple of hirings there. Yeah. But not the hiring that everybody may have thought as a head coach. So we've got plenty more on Sammy's Maple Leafs

when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Matt Markeese. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world, weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in the studio.

Nick Kippreel's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, one more sleep to our Stanley Cup final. Sammy. Time now for the Accura performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Gets underway tomorrow night on SportsC and CBC, 8 p.m. puck drop. Yeah, lots of good stuff heading into this series. Two really good teams. Golden Knights, six games played, and the Hurricanes, four games played,

marked the sixth daily cup final to feature both teams entering on a four-game winning streak. So following 2022, which was Tampa and Colorado. 92, which was Chicago and Pittsburgh. 84, which was Edmonton and New York Islanders. 73, Chicago and Montreal. And 72, Boston and the Rangers. So two teams that are playing really well coming in hot to match up against each other. The thing that stands out for me, and I'm writing a little bit on it right now, is this is probably coming down to goal tending.

You know, like, both teams very good, varied levels of experience in the way they're built. But, like, Freddie Anderson has been known for giving up softer goals. and bigger games. So you know how you defend that? You just don't let them shoot. And you average four shots a period. Are you telling me Vegas is going to get four shots a period? No, they're not.

And that's why it comes down to Freddie too. And then Carter Hart, this regular season was an 891 save percentage. He is, let's see, 924 right now in the postseason. Which one of these guys are they both, like Freddy's at 931? Are they both unbelievable or is one of them going to break? Oh, God. Stand by. I mean, I've seen one of it.

I've seen it happen to one of them multiple times. We'll see. Taylor Hall heads into his first Stanley Cup final as Carolina's leading score this postseason. His 16 seasons would be the most by a first overall pick prior to hosting his first Stanley Cup. Currently, the top three are Eric Johnson, 14 seasons in. Alex Ovechkin, 13 seasons in. And Stephen Slamcoast did it 12 seasons in. So I find that pretty interesting.

16 years after being picked first overall. How has it been 16 seasons since? Taylor Hall's first overall pick. I know. That makes me feel a lifetime. Really old. And how many years, 10, since he won the MVP? 10?

Probably around there, right? Right? Yeah. So it's been so long, it's been so long that if someone were born the day he was drafts first overall, it could almost get its boating license by that point. Great.

Great news. Are you, are you, like, surprised at Taylor Hall right now in the contributions that he's made? Uh-huh. I think interesting to watch someone fall into a team.

team system and structure who's such a dynamic talent. That's pretty cool. And that's what Perry asked to me. That's what kept him from being a star all these years, just not finding the right structure. You don't think he's been a star all these years? What do you mean? You're talking about the last

Yeah, I'm talking about the last five, seven years where he's kind of been like first of all he's making in the wind a little bit. He's making three million bucks because he's not a star. Right. But he's found a nice fit and he's He's looked like a power star in the league in the last few weeks?

And yeah, I would say the ability to play on a team that gets the pocket out of their own end and plays in the offensive zone when you're an offensive guy. Yeah, that's a big part of it. I just wonder like between what Arizona, Buffalo, he's had some stops where it's just like, is he done? And now he's like amazing.

Yeah. What do you think it is? I feel like you're getting at something. No, I'm not getting at anything. I'm just saying, it's very seldom you've ever seen a guy first overall hit the high point of being the MVP of the league and then needing five or seven years to get his game back. It's a weird career. It's a weird career.

He also shouldn't have been MVP. That was McKinnon, right? Should have been McKinney yet. That was the Accura performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX precisely premium. Before we get to release, I just wanted to give huge shout out to the Kitchener Rangers. I'm sure there's lots of people listening in Kitchener for winning the Memorial Cup yesterday. Pritam's boy.

They beat the Everett. Yeah, he's on Kitchener, right? Who? Jack Pridham? No, he just got traded today. Oh, jeez. Really? Yeah, he got traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning today. Okay.

So, yeah, shout out to them. Another Midwest Division team, Best Division in junior hockey, my beloved attack in that division, and they won the Memorial Cup. So good for the Kitchener Rangers. Shout out to them. Please.

Ready to go. All right. Sammy, a couple of hirings. Yeah. Judd Brackett at the top of my list going into this. So I'm joking at it. I didn't have no idea. It's amazing, eh? AGM.

Been around this game a long, long time, and no one would have ever known an assistant GM. Nobody talked about it, assistant GM. Well, he wasn't an assistant GM. No, I'm just saying in general, nobody talked about it. Even when teams hired, there was no. press release. There was no build up of how great this assistant general manager

is going to be where he graduated school. What his favorite book is? I don't know. I thought you're going to go with color. We used to tie an onion to our belt too. Now it's like they're all built up to be these stars.

Yeah, well. Are we that bored? I hope he's a star. I hope he's a star. I hear great things. Me too. I do. I do. Yes. Absolutely. I do. I hear he's got an eye. I also think it's just really encouraging that it's a guy who has ran scouting departments for multiple NHL organizations. He's 49 years old. He's experienced. It sounds like he's in these arenas and putting in the work. So the question is if that's his specialty in scouting, then why not just have him scout? I think he is going to be involved in that. Of course he is. Why else would you hire him? Because you get to have assistant general man.

manager as a title. I think that's the, if you want to manage a team generally one day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that, you know, you got to climb the resume ladder. And I do think that he's someone who's interested in that sort of thing. And I'm sure he got a nice,

healthy raise to leave. Yeah, so I think it's great for the league. One of the things that really jumped out to me as a fan, just like one of the worries with Chica boys is that, oh, he doesn't know anybody in the league, everybody hates them. You know, he's this guy that no one's going to talk to. People have the jobs,

No, I know. Any work and any jobs. I understand that, Kipper. But the fact that he was able to go out and get a guy that's just an established scouting director in the league and name of his. Like, that's on paper, a normal hockey team move with a normal general manager that they would do that. Like, that was my biggest worry with Chica going into this is like his perception around the league. How do you know that?

It's not holding back David Carl, though. Oh, I mean, I don't know. Maybe it is. Maybe he isn't. He's just the world's most comfortable man in Denver. is like I'm so comfortable here. My couch is great. He just stepped on your tail while you were wagging it.

Honestly, like I really, I don't want this to come across his, you know, sour grips because we had this conversation before it was even, I'm not sure that it's, that's the right move. Like even that they're going to get maybe safe from themselves here. That's a little too much too soon for him. That's how I feel. Yeah. I've stated that already.

Do you want to weigh in on the insider off that's happening out there about Carl's in, he's out, he's coming into Toronto, he's not going to Toronto. Everything, everything that I hear is it's not a great fit for him right now. Okay. And I don't know whether tomorrow he wakes up and they bump him up another mill, two million.

Starts to fit a little better? I've also stated right from the get-go, I hope it's just not the money. Yeah. I just hope it's like it's not a good fit until I you hit the magic number yeah that never works and it's a it's not it just may be it's not the right fit right now there's too many question marks still on

austin and willie and am i going to win with them are they leaving where where is the true mark of when they can compete again like it's very open-ended right now Yeah, yeah, fair enough. I mean, those are all reasonable reasons to not want to join a team. So if it's not Jay Woodcroft, if it's not David Carl, who is it, do you think? They can still be someone that we don't know about. I get the impression they want to do that more than hire like Lavie. No, no, I think they really wanted to hire, Carl.

Oh, no, I just think they want it to hire, Carl. They want someone shiny is what I mean. They want a name that people like, right? And Carl was kind of that name this off season. So I don't think they want to just say, here's Peter Lavulette's eighth theme, which I like Lavulet as a coach. But I don't think that that's what they want to do.

That's my impression is they want a shiny name. Someone kind of cool and different. Lots of guys about the Kitchen Rangers coach that just won be a big jump. But you see, I don't want to see a learning curve. It's not a learning curve stop. And whether it's college or junior, you're going into a monster jump. Monster jump.

Freddie Hamilton? Yeah. So, Chief of what? Chief of staff. Chief of staff. Suzy Wild. Star of the 2012 World Junior team, Freddie Hamilton. Yes.

She was nasty for them. Listen, I said it's kind of a relatively new term. I don't think we've ever heard it before. I've heard it in hospitals and at the White House. Yeah, I think NFL teams have it. I like the idea, right? basically have someone who can execute your ideas for you. You know,

hey, we'd like to, you know, take these different groups out to dinner or whatever. Can you coordinate that? Hey, we'd like to get these injury reports. Making dinner reservations?

No, I think you're trying to say, okay, we need all our staff and the parents and everyone on page of the injury. You're having someone coordinate the staff. He's the hub of a wheel. Right.

But I do think it's strange to be like, a guy who hasn't worked in a front office and is 34 and was a player and worked in private equity, is the guy. to manage a staff is an interesting choice. Well, it kind of sits a little bit with what you're talking about for junior college kids to come in and not have that experience.

This is a big staff, right? It's a big staff to be chief of. Are they going to go in the, what was Jimmy Visi's dad's name? They go in that route to get Dougie Hamilton, get his brother in here, and maybe that's why they're doing it? Yeah, I don't think if they want a Dougie Hamilton, and they need a sweetener. Oh, my gosh.

You don't need to hire a brother to go get Dougie Hamilton. Oh, my gosh. They got him in front of the house of their free son. I'm just joking. Is this a fun show or not? Like, he was rumored to be a leave target,

and now they hire his brother. There's a joke in there somewhere. I guess I didn't kind of miss. Tough crowd. Tough crowd. Do you think this is just the start of the way teams are going to be run with,

a chief of staff? I do. I do think chief of staff is a thing. But that said, I do think that we need to be a little careful

about some of the way that this is. You'll never see a chief of staff with Carolina or Vegas. I think you might. Yeah. Not the way Dundan

runs his team where like there's three people, four people at the most running the team. That's it. Maybe it's different if you don't have a huge staff. Well,

if you win some money with the cop, you get some money for money in the cop, maybe they'll hire chief of staff. But he just knocked off. knocked off 70 people on his NBA team. That's true. That guy's not spending more money. It's true.

Yeah, I mean, I do think that is, you know, as these teams get bigger and bigger with different departments and 11 AGMs. It kind of worries me a little bit because you're telling me like it's going to feel less like a hockey club and more like a corporation. Yes. Yes. Or verticals will be horizontal. I think that is exactly the worry.

That scares me. Get good players. Let's talk about hockey. You know, I just think, I wish the Leafs would polish this up in a way that you're speaking of the people a little bit, right? I don't think anyone's impressed by the buzzword stuff, but. There's a lot of buzzwords today. Yeah.

A little buzz buzz buzz for sure. Yeah. You know, it sounds good. It just helps us win more games. But I usually have to understand it to decide whether it sounds good or not good. That's literally, I made a little quip online today because I was like, what is that? What are you talking about? What does he do? Come again?

Anyway. Our thanks to a very proud Papa, Jason Blake, who gets to watch his son Jackson in his first Stanley Cup final. All right. Valley tomorrow. Valley on a Tuesday. You text me on Saturday.

I'm really interested to hear his thoughts about this Stanley Cup final. He's like, you've got to send me the picture of the dog mullet. I know. I know the conference final took some heat But this final is going to be good Final should be good Thanks for watching