Real Kyper & Bourne - Stanley Cup Stage is Set

Episode Date: June 3, 2024

The stage for the Stanley Cup Final is set and Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get into the Oilers breaking their Cup Final drought, the bizarre scheduling and share brief takeaways from the weekend's elimination games. Oilers GM Ken Holland (5:36) reflects on his team's path to the Stanley Cup Final, the Knoblauch decision, how it changed the team and what they'll need to beat the Panthers. Then, they debate whether Edmonton is 'Canada's Team.' Oilers' analyst Jason Gregor (30:00) previews the Finals matchup, series X factors to watch and looks back over what went wrong for the Stars and Rangers in the Conference Finals.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, here we go. You guys chatting away. We got a Stanley Cup final to get ready. I know. Including a Canadian city. Let's talk. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. It's the real Kipper and Bourne show.

Fastest hour in hockey coming right up. We are live on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 in calgary and watching on sports net 360 and sport net sports net plus good weekend for the hockey for the hockey yes good weekend for bobby mcintyre forget about Edmonton for a second. Sports net. That's the first thing I thought of. Oh, yeah. Sports net.

And then we're watching David Amber and Elliot scene setting for us. They look like they gave birth last night. They were so happy. So happy. DA. DA. The Canadian squad. We got to get him on this week.

He'll be fired up. It's Edmonton's first Stanley Cup final in 18 years. That's right. But it's not Sportsnet's first Stanley Cup final with the Canadian team because the Montreal Canadiens went a few years ago. But that one kind of was through a pandemic. I don't even remember. Panic reading the information on Wikipedia.

Did they let people in? 3,500 people were permitted when the health officials denied the request to go to 10,500. So they had a few thousand at the games. And if I may remind you, they played an Eastern Conference team in the final. Things were weird.

Yeah. They played the Lightning in the final. So I don't want to cheapen that Stanley Cup final for the Montreal Canadiens. It's an asterisk for both teams. It's goofy. Both those teams, asterisk, asterisk. This is the first real normal Stanley Cup final for Sportsnet. Yes.

Way to go. Way to go, Sportsnet. And guess what? They got to wait two years for it to start. I know. Oh, my God. How are they not playing Wednesday or Thursday? They're playing Saturday? Four letters. E-S-P-N I know. Oh my God. How are they not playing Wednesday or Thursday? They're playing

Saturday? Four letters. ESPN? Yes. Oh. What does ESPN want at the start of the week from now? Because they've got... NBA starts Thursday. I think they've got a chess tournament they want to cover. They've got bowling. They've got programming.

Watching the Lumberjacks. Jack, that lumber is... Whoa! They cover spelling bees, don't they? They do. I mean, they got to get fired

a few more Caitlin Clark takes, so they really, they got a busy week. How are we going to talk about for five nights? Caitlin Clark, I don't know.

I don't know, man. I don't know. They're pretty rough on all Caitlin. Before we get into Ken Holland, who's joining us here, the general manager of the Stanley Cup finalists, Edmonton Oilers, is joining us here momentarily.

I just wanted to say to everybody at the RBC Canadian Open this weekend that stopped me to tell them that they loved our show. It was unbelievable, boys. Really? Awesome. I bet you I got stopped 50 times. I love the show. That kipper's

an idiot hold on hold on justin's so handsome one guy stopped sammy and yelled zero effing iq which if you listen to friday's show you know what that means people are still listening i was blown away by how many people stopped me it was amazing so i just wanted i wanted to tell you guys that people do like our show and we're popular. And Rory's turning into a Leaf fan. Did you hear that? I did see that, yeah. I love it. He's trying to fix the Leafs' problems.

He's talking to higher-ups at MLS. He wants to go to a game he's never been. I'm not sure if this was on the broadcast at all, because I was there, and during a very tense moment for McKenzie, he was in the front nine. The rink hole was adjacent to where we were, and there was a rousing chant of Rory's single.

Come on. Yeah, so I don't know if that came across on CBS. I don't know if anyone said anything like that, but they were, the 13 people were greased up. It was raining. They had to enjoy themselves, but there was a rousing chant. That's a little rough, isn't it?

Yeah. Rory was very forthcoming with, there'll be changes to the Leafs. Yeah. He was pushing for them. We gotta get him on the show. So who do you think he talked to? Probably Keith, right? Has to be Keith Belly. For sure. I mean, there's

the connection to the Euro Tour stuff that he did. Oh, yeah. I would imagine it's probably Keith. He ran the DP World Tour, didn't he? Can't see Brad Tree Living or Brendan Shanahan breaking bread with him on the weekend. I mean, they would love to, I'm sure.

All right, as Sammy said, the general manager of the Edmonton Oilers will be joining us in a few minutes, Ken Holland, as Derek Brandeo works on that. Also, Jake the Snake Schultz. And, of course, this hour of real kipper brought to you by bet three six five so uh where do you want to start just in terms of the edmonton oilers needing six games to put away the dallas stars 10 shots and win a game a game where i think connor mcdavid probably summed it best in his post-game comments

with kyle saying if i'm not mistaken not our best effort buddy it doesn't matter at this time of year right you know what i mean like they got the goals yes yeah park the bus as they say in soccer in front of that and cross your fingers and they got her done so they played a couple great games against the canucks that they didn't end up winning. Like that's how hockey goes. Like you, sometimes you get the bounces you do.

And what Stu Skinner was great. What did, what did you see or not see out of Dallas? Oh, no, it doesn't matter. We have someone more important. Let's welcome him in general manager,

the Edmonton Oilers, Western conference champions. Now all set for the Stanley Cup Final. Ken Holland. Ken, first of all, congratulations on getting there and just waking up and feeling how today? Hi, Nick. Yeah, certainly thrilled to be in the Stanley Cup Final,

but no, there's a big challenge ahead here. Feel real fortunate to get by Dallas. They were a tremendous hockey team, and obviously my good friend Jim Nill was the general manager and built them. It was a tough conversation after the game when I had a short chat with Jimmy. I've been in those shoes before when you lose uh you lose tough series so certainly feel feel real fortunate that we've uh got to the stanley cup finals and excited for the opportunity ken yeah congratulations just echo that sentiment it's pretty awesome um we're excited to have a canadian team in the final no one gets through three rounds of playoff hockey without a lot of things going well. What has gone right specifically for you guys this playoff season to see you win three playoff rounds?

Well, first off, I think the beauty of the Stanley Cup tournament is it's a team tournament. And ultimately, you need a team. Certainly, we're led by Connor and Leon. But Stu Skinner, obviously, last night, it was massive in us winning a closeout game. You know, I think back to pick Steppen in, game four against Vancouver and winning game four and giving Dustin Schwartz and Stu Skinner

four or five days to kind of regroup and work on a few things, and Stu's bounce back and the penalty killing, which has been a big key for us. You know, I think about the series, getting a goal from Broberg and a goal from Brown and a goal from Henrique and a goal from McLeod. You know, you need depth scoring. So you can't win one way if you're going to get to the finals and go through three rounds.

And ultimately, the team that wins four rounds, you need contributions from 20 and maybe 25 people. And great job by Chris Knobloch moving people in and out. He's made some massive decisions throughout these playoffs that have really positively impacted our team. We're talking to Ken Holland, general manager of the Edmonton Oilers. So, Ken, as you're watching the final seconds tick off the clock,

the first thing that pops into your mind or the first people that you thought of, I know you just mentioned Connor and you mentioned Leon. Are those two guys that you think of first, maybe, through a lot of trials and tribulations towards getting to this point? Yeah, absolutely.

Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Darnell Nurse, obviously the guys that have been here the longest. Certainly any time you win, how exciting it is for your fan base and the city. I mean, lots of things go through. Now, I would say, Tia, what was going through my head the last, I think they had two great A's the last minute. Robertson walking down Main Street with about 30 seconds to go,

and then there was a one-timer with five or six seconds to go. I was in the corner there with about eight, nine seconds. I was kind of, and all of a sudden, it's in the slot, and somebody let another one-timer go that just missed it. So it went right down to the wire. Obviously, it's so hard. I've been at this a lot it's so hard to make this stanley it's hard to get to the final four it's hard to get to the finals i'm just uh i'm thrilled for first and foremost obviously connor leon the players who have worked so hard to get to this far the sacrifices they make the disappointment that we went through last year

when we lost to Vegas. And, you know, I think the year before when we lost in the Final Four to Colorado, you know, they'd been at it two, three years longer. I think we kind of felt somewhat disappointed but somewhat satisfied that we'd got to the Final Four. Last year I know that it was a massive disappointment when we lost to Vegas and I think

that was a lot of fuel for us being able to win the West and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals and so the players ultimately who are out there on the on the ice and they're given they're all day in and day out uh starting in july and august and all the sacrifices that

that need to be made to get to this point well ken it is the players and all that but um you know you had you have a role in putting this team together and obviously there's a lot of things that have gone right as we mentioned when you look at this team what what decisions or acquisitions are you most proud of obviously hyman and ekholm are great contracts the decisions to take on perry and kane have worked out skinner's played well what do you feel uh you've done best to help your team get you know patience um you know it just how hard it is you just gotta it's i think that's what we learned in detroit all those years in detroit it's like you you know trial and error and you know you you got to keep banging away and banging away and you know that's what we've you know i felt that you know it's my fifth year here year one we needed to kind of be in a playoff hunt in March,

and we were a little bit better than that. You need to be in the big games. You need to be in the big moments. And the manager needs to learn from those moments, and the coach needs to learn, and the players need to learn. And then you make some tweaks, and you keep banging away. And sometimes you're close, but, you know, the bounces don't go your way. And sometimes you're not quite good enough, and you've got to make some tweaks.

I think about the job Peter Chiarelli did before I got here and the drafting of Bouchard and the drafting of Skinner and the drafting of McLeod. You're down to minute margins. That's why I get back to it's 2025. Certainly there's, you know, there's your key people, but you just need so many contributions,

maybe under the radar contributions from so many different people on the ice and off the ice to be able to make the playoffs and then be able to advance. And now we're obviously down to two teams, Florida and Austin. They're doing the same thing on their side that we've been able to do on our side. And two weeks from now, someone's going to be high, high, high, and someone's going to be low, low, low. And both teams are battle-tested,

so it really shapes up to be a tremendous playoff series, a tremendous Stanley Cup final. Ken, can you just talk, and again, I don't know if you can kind of underestimate what a tough decision it is for any general manager to change a coach mid-season, and just the Knobloch impact and Paul Coffey coming in. Is there one thing that stands out above all on what that impact had on this hockey club?

Well, certainly that was a key point in time of turning around. And certainly Jeff Jackson deserves a lot of the credit, most of the credit in that decision. I had interviewed Chris Knobloch four or five years ago for the Grand Rapids job. Ryan Martin had got down to that. We were looking for a for the Grand Rapids job. But Ryan Martin had got down to that. We were looking for a coach in Grand Rapids. And actually, it's funny. We got down two of the three finalists. One was Mike Sullivan and one was Chris Knobloch.

So I've sort of followed his career. And, you know, as we got out of the gate, and I don't know, we were 2-6-1 and 2-7-1 and 2-8-1. And, you know, Jeff and I were talking a lot. And, you know, you want to be patient. You patient you want to be patient and certainly believe the team would turn around and ultimately a decision had to be made and and uh jeff knew with you know connor had played you know he knew he knew a lot about chris knobloch because he had you know had players that had played for him in erie um And ultimately, it eventually came to the decision that we needed to make a coaching change.

And when Chris came in, the team responded to him. We had a good team. We had 108 points the year before. We'd funded the second round. We were just in a bad place. And certainly, Chris Knoblo knoblock and paul coffee came in and we got it i think we had what the best winning percentage in the league from the time that chris chris came in with paul coffee and um team responded um and certainly those two those two

people um along with the you know i think of of the job Mark Stewart's done with the penalty killing, you know, Gully with the power play, Dustin Schwartz with, you know, you've got to have a good coaching staff, and certainly Chris Knobloch and Paul Coffey. The turnaround really began at that point in time, and our coaching staff have had a major impact in us being able to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. So when you look ahead to those finals, every matchup is different, different strengths for different teams, and so teams tend to play differently.

When you look ahead to Florida, is there any alterations you guys plan to make to your lineup or the way you play to handle the Panthers? Well, I think what usually happens is you know you're going to game one and then you play the game and when the game's over that's when the adjustments start even obviously there's going to be video we're doing video they're doing video you're going to have a game plan but you don't really know until you get on the same ice surface and you play a game and then you know you kind of get an idea on how things uh things look obviously again like they're battle-tested.

They went to the Stanley Cup finals last year. They're disappointed. They're motivated. You know, we're disappointed we lost to Vegas last year. You know, but we went to the Final Four. Both teams are battle-tested. You know, so I think it's got the makings of a tremendous series, a long series, a long series,

a tough series. Certainly they're, they're big, they're physical, uh, they're hard, they're heavy. They got great goaltending. They're deep. Um, when you go to the finals two years in a row, you got to have all those things, but you can't fluke it in this league. It, it, it, it's, it's, it's well built. Bill Zito has done a tremendous job.

They're well coached by Paul Maurice. So, um, we know that we're, we know that we're facing a tremendous hockey team. We believe that we're a tremendous hockey team. We're excited for the opportunity. You know, I've been fortunate to be in this situation a few times, four times on the winning side, two times on the losing side in the Stanley Cup Finals. You know, you've got two great teams going

at it and it has the makings of a hell of a series and who knows? Like I said, I think the adjustments start after game one. You go into the game one here and we're both going to play and then from then on you start having adjustments

and matchups and and different things so uh excited for this week to prepare excited to get down to floor and get going on saturday ken one more before i let you go are you guys cursing espn as much as we are for the the delay till saturday or are you okay with that well i think the nba plays thursday Thursday, so you can't play Thursday. They kind of got set. TV decides all that, obviously. So you know what?

It's the same. I think they won the night before. We won last night. So they won Saturday. We won Sunday. So both teams are going to have a good break. Both teams are going to be fresh, healthy, rested. One team has one day is not a big difference.

So, you know, we're excited. We're back to get it today off. A couple of days fly down there on Thursday. And, you know, Friday's always a busy day. The day before, there'll be hundreds of media down there and get everything out of the way. And then let's play Saturday. Get excited to get going. Well, we're excited

for you. We can't wait. Thanks for doing this. By chance, you win a cup and you want to stop by at Rosedale Golf Course again, I'm happy to entertain you again if you bring the cup. If you bring the cup, he says. Is that the last time I saw you? Yeah, I think so. Thanks, Ken. That's funny.

Okay, thanks, guys. Thanks, Ken. Appreciate it. Good luck. I don't know who was in our foursome. It was me. I invited Ken Holland, Doug Armstrong, and... Rafa Nadal.

No, no, no. Nadal was... That's the weirdest player I've ever called. Someone else really important, but I can't remember who it was. And who else? That was a foursome. You were just greasing the wheels, eh? Getting all those scoops?

They love the... No scoops. That's Elliot. Elliot followed us in the wheels hey getting all those scoops they love the no scoops that's elliot elliot followed us in the bushes trying to get scoops one of those uh yeah microphones he's holding up that's great well um i mean exciting times ken seems pretty pretty practical about what it's going to take that florida panthers team is a good team i think the one good thing i think for for edmonton is connor and and leon kind of drew that line in the sand a while ago when they said stanley cupper bust and there's there's just there's no room to be complacent to get to a final no them well and that's how you end up firing a coach so early is that it just can't keep going on like this you know because those are the expectations but i saw a clip so early, is that it just can't keep going on like this, you know,

because those are the expectations. But I saw a clip, I think Sportsnet played it, of McDavid last year when they lose saying, you know, you kind of look at the history of hockey, and sometimes you got to lose to win, right? You got to go through some of this sort of stuff. And, you know, they've been there. Unfortunately, the team they're going to play has also lost to win.

So this bit, boy, this is going to be a series yeah i got some heat for saying this is the best stanley cup final that the nhl could produce on twitter it is the best florida is i would say universally the best you know everyone agrees that this season florida was the best team in the nhl i know the rangers won the president's trophy but florida was the best team so were they not we were raving on florida all season long all season long this show our show yeah we had put florida as a complete team that could almost play it anyway in any era at any time like they they looked old school they looked new school they they had everything you would want.

That is awesome. As he mentioned, the Oilers, the best team since the coaching hire in the whole league. They got the best player in the world. Dry Saddle's right there in the top handful. No, it's set up. This is as good as we could do as a league. I think, you know, one of the things we kind of talked about with the Stars

is that the guy's in their primey prime, right? Super prime. Well, no, you think about, I guess it's Hintz that would be like in his super prime, but Robertson's still pretty young. All their guys are young. They have older guys. Totally.

They missed it. Yeah. I'm a big believer in great age guys at your core. Oilers have Dreisaitl and McDavid in their prime of primes. And on the other side, you have Kachuk and Barkov in their prime of primes. Yeah, but those they have those two. To me, it's set up to be unbelievable.

Dallas's veterans just couldn't get the job done. They're just a little bit too far gone. You know, Sagan, Ben, Pavelski, they couldn't get it done. They're young players. And then you're looking at the young guys to do it. That's hard. But they're not ripe. They're still green.

Yeah. So they got caught. For sure. And they were great. They had a great year. They put in that Maverick Bork last night too, which is a bit of a desperation move. But I thought he actually had a couple moments

where he's noticeable, number 22. I was like, okay. But that's the point they were at with even trying even more young guys but can i ask you a question before we get to game time this is a hot debate amongst you know the the internet about the oilers and being canada's team and people throwing themselves but where do you guys stay i mean it's more of a fan question maybe you guys don't care but like no it's a worthwhile question. How do you think people outside of Edmonton should feel about this? Because I'm feeling that it's not Canada's team.

How about no? No, it's not. I don't know what the ratings are, but I do know that Toronto andoston game seven in the first round i don't know what that number was but it was up near four or five million yeah i don't think we've had a stanley cup final anywhere near that in the last few years and i don't know what edmonton will bring but it's hard to get to that number without the support of the province of ontario and more specifically the toronto maple leaf audience i will say this that number is huge and if they're not on board it's hard and and zach hyman did you hear him after the game what

did he say about canada's team i don don't know if Toronto feels that same way. Yeah. Like, that's what decides if it's Canada's team or not. But you know what? I watched that Amanda Bellionis, is it, from the Golf Channel? She held up a Matthews sweater at the rink hole and a McDavid sweater, and that McDavid sweater blew the place up. They were chanting, go Oilers, go.

Listen, I hope they watch. I mean, here in Ontario. Oh, yeah. I didn't see that when the bride was there. A massive pop for the Oilers jersey. Oh. I hope they watch. Okay?

I hope they watch. Yes. I hope Ontario watches, and they get behind the Edmonton Oilers. Whether they support them or not, I think they're way more interested than they would be in Dallas or wherever else. That number should climb to five, seven, 10 million. No, it should. It would be automatic for the Leafs. If the Leafs got to a Stanley Cup final, that number could be over 10.

That's all that is. But my point is that if they're fans, they're watching still. I think, yeah. I think McDavid alone is enough to generate national attention you mentioned that you are more in support of the oilers and maybe another canadian team because you want to see mcdavid get his that's i think that's what it comes down to like i think there's two separate conversations between one where sure more people may be watching because it's a canadian team and mcdavid and dry sidle and Bouchard and like the whole story.

But I don't think more people would be rooting for them. But I think it's watching them and rooting. Watching and rooting are two completely different things. If you didn't do this show, would you be watching? Oilers? Yeah. Yes. I'd watch this.

Ask me Dallas. I would watch the second. But your first instinct is you want the toronto maple leafs to win the stanley cup first you don't want edmonton to win it correct yeah there's nothing i would say i would say there's probably 75 of sammy's out there in ontario yeah now the quite they don't have a show so you know they don't necessarily have to watch but it's relevant for leafs fans because you're gonna have to hear about this this is you know like you're it's gonna get your attention because it might come up do you want to hear my honest opinion that might get the Oilers fans here we go I think there's a much better

chance for Connor McDavid to play for the Leafs if he wins the cup so what are we doing? I do. I mean, if you want the least perspective. Friday is off the rails to take our show. Not on a Monday. You accomplish with the team you're drafted by. I formally apologize to our audience. You accomplish that, right? Where you're like, I've accomplished this. We've won the cup.

Yeah. And now I can go home and conquer the next thing at home. Holy mackerel! Whether you're right or wrong, I don't want to have that call. Yeah, I'm not touching it either. You're on your own on that one. That's not for today. Good drop, good drop.

But anyways, I hope the country does rally around it, and I hope people here in Ontario rally around it because they're the numbers that really drive it for Sportsnet. 30 years since Canada's had a cup. Can we get one? But Connor deserves it. I had to plug my nose and say, you know, Oilers fans, you can have it. But at the end of the day, he needs to get a cup. He deserves a cup.

He's one of the best players in the history of the game. He deserves it. How about last night? They needed a performance out of him and he comes in. I cannot believe that goal. That's something. That's like a Thursday night. Thursday night.

Miro Heiskanen was in an absolute blender. Like, I mean, that's the equivalent of getting dunked on in the NBA. I don't know if you saw Anthony Petrelli put out a tweet about this, where Chris Tanev was in the box, and he's on the right side, and it's just like the fine margins. Anthony and I were texting about this, because I was like, that's not handedness. That's just a guy getting cooked. Anthony and I were texting about this because I was like, that's not handedness. That's just a guy getting cooked.

But, I mean, there's something to it. Sure. I mean, Tanev probably would have got walked too on that turn drag. Let's go to Leon Dreisaddle on the Connor goal. Yeah, Leon, you've seen Connor do a lot of moves before. Have you ever seen that one? And, Connor, can you just, after Leon's done, just take us through the goal

and what was going through your mind there? Yeah, it was nice. Seen it before, but nice. What do you want? Have you been watching? You scored 64 times last year. That's nice. That's just such a TV.

Yeah, it's nice. I play with Connor McDavid, dude. I see a lot of nice ones. Good on Zyze for a TV. Yeah, it was nice. I played with Connor McDavid, dude. I see a lot of nice ones. Good on Zyze for asking it. Typical. We should get in game time so we have a guest. Yeah, I'll get game time going here. Game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app, play this dodge and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Now, I have to go way ahead here to look at what's happening with the Stanley Cup final. As I'm trying to pull this up here, and it's not coming up. Maybe because it's too far in the future.

But, oh, no, here we go. Who do you think is the favorite? And what do you think the line is? Borny, I'll start with you. I think it's the Panthers are favored and the like minus 120. You are very close to correct. It is the Florida Panthers are favored. They are minus 130

and the Edmonton Oilers are plus 110 to win the Stanley Cup. The Kahn-Smythe that we have got to this point, the Kahn-Smythe favorite, I think it's pretty easy to guess who that would be. Coley Bob? Nope. Connor McDavid's the favorite oh yeah plus 210 barkov next at plus 400 sergey bobroski as well at plus 400 kachuk dry sidle evan bouchard for haggie and then it goes

all the way up after that so uh if you want zach hyman hyman you can still get him at 81 matthew kachuk is plus 600 so that's where we're at heading into the finals this weekend. Did you say he's 8-1? Plus 600. For Hyman, though. Hyman is 80-1. Wow. What's he need, like five goals to set a new record?

I mean, there's a world, but like I said to you guys last week. He needs two OT winners. 19, Reggie Leach. I don't know. At least you already got 12 or something like that. How about the shot he made last night? I mean, the McDavid fake drop that makes the spaces nasty, but Hyman, ding.

That's the reason Hyman will never win it. Because McDavid is going to be bouncing them off of him for him to get there, and it's just going to be McDavid. I've only coached Chippy as a great video of Hyman's goals of the year. I met Coach Chippy at the party on, at the Jays party.

Nice. He said, how you flowing, boys? That's how he introduced himself. That's fantastic. There you go. That's Coach Chippy. I wouldn't expect anything different.

Anyways, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app, play the stars, and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. All right, let's take a quick break. Jason Greger, host of the Jasonason gregor show on sportsnet 1440 in edmonton will join us we'll get a vibe out of him and if the oilers have a chance or not oh they got a chance oh that's all just give me a chance just give me a chance give me a chance that more when we return the real kipper and born breaking down the top stories in the nhl every day the jeff maris show subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get

your podcasts jason gregor uh who's just sobering up. I wish. How are you? Hey, I'm good. I'm good. Yeah, there's a few people that are probably hungover. Yeah, I think so. And apparently there's plenty of time to dry out between now and Saturday. So any chance that between last night and Saturday night, there's complacency falling into place here for a Stanley Cup final,

or do we go back to Connor and Leon saying Stanley Cup or bust? No, I think it's, you know, both teams have basically the same time, right? The one day extra for the Panthers. So, no, I think you got two teams. Many players have waited their whole career for this. You want to get to a Stanley Cup final. The Panthers went there lost last year. The orders have been building for this for a few seasons.

I don't expect complacency at all. Will the first period be maybe a little bit rusty? Possibly. But once this series gets going, guys, I think it's going to be a hell of a series, honestly. Florida offers a much different challenge that emminson's face but emminson offers a challenge that florida hasn't faced because uh they haven't faced mcdavid or dry saddle we'll dig more into the edmonton florida series in a minute here i know there's certainly two teams that the fancy numbers really

like uh but just want you to reflect for a second on the Edmonton-Dallas series. And what to you were the main stories from that Western Conference victory? Well, special teams was crucial, right? You don't give up a power play goal the entire series. Dallas is 0 for 14. And not just 0 for 14, guys. There were power plays where they could barely get the puck in the zone. And last night, they almost tried overpassing. They looked a little hesitant. And I thought thought leon dry settle said it very well

about his penalty killers he goes they did something that's hard to do they control the rhythm of the power play and i dallas just never looked really in sync in this series at all on the man advantage um i thought uh stewart skinner uh you know the last three games like the orders after going down to nothing in the first five minutes of game four in the last 175 minutes they outscored dallas 10 to 2 like they didn't they didn't fall their way into this series that they really dominated um and edmonton you know chris knoblock he pushed a lot of buttons he made lots of changes to his roster and they all worked. He brings in Broberg, scores a goal, sits out McLeod, then brings it back in.

He scores a goal. Corey Perry set out five games, comes in, gets an assist on that goal. So lots of the decisions the coach made worked. So what do we think here that Edmonton can turn this into another power play special team situation? We know Dallas couldn't get it going we know Edmonton couldn't uh couldn't do anything wrong here is there a chance that uh you know Edmonton can use that momentum in this Stanley Cup final against the Panthers well I would think so what's interesting is Edmonton didn't have there was

no power play goals in the first four games right Edmonton didn't score then they went four for five in games five and six and that was the difference and they ended up being 36 percent in the series dallas was very disciplined they didn't take many penalties guys like six penalties to the first four games like and you know and i think a few of those were puck over the glass and and uh too many men on the ice penalty so not a lot of actual infractions that they did now florida is a different beast they're physical they take penalties just because that's how they play. So I'm curious, if you go back and look at the Stanley Cup last year,

what did they lose on? Vegas scored six power play goals. Florida had one. So I don't think they want to get into a game where we'll go power play for power play because Edmonton ultimately is better. They've had the best power play for five years in the league. I'd be stunned.

Look at the last series. We thought, oh, four games, Dallas is doing pretty good. And then game five and six, they're 80% on the power play, and that wins in both games. So I really think that Florida is going to play disciplined, but you can't change, Nick. You wouldn't know this. You get to the Stanley Cup final, it's not like, well, geez, guys,

we've been physical the whole way, but now we can't. I don't see how they can't. They're just going to have to play physical within the rules. Fun fact, Dallas was the least penalized team in the NHL this year, Florida the most, almost double the Dallas Stars. There's going to be a different type of energy, I'm going to guess, in those games. So you should play into the Oilers' hands.

One of the things that has to go well when you kill penalties is your goaltender being good. Skinner misses a couple games in the playoffs, back and he's been excellent since how much of it do you say Stu Skinner's been excellent or how much is that this defense has protected him a little better and given him a chance to have success well I think well last game they sure didn't uh you know Stewart's game was unreal he stole in that game no question just like he did in round one against LA when they got out shot 33 13 and he shut out the kings won nothing um stuart skinner you know what he's real big into mental coaching he works a lot on the mental game uh he wasn't playing up to his standards in that vancouver series they sit him out for two games he comes

back and he's six and two since he's got like like a 1-8-1 goals against and a safe percentage, I think, of 9-20 or 9-19. And he's just looked really calm. Edmonton is a good defensive team, make no mistake about it. Here's all the stats in the regular season. Because I think when everybody thinks Edmonton, they still think McDavid and Drysdale, as they should. But these are the categories where the orders were top five defensively in the regular season.

They were third in high-danger chances chances against they were second and expected goals they were first in in slot shots against fourth and inner slot shots fourth and rush chances uh uh fifth and chances off the cycle like they were good and they've been that way in the playoffs but when they did falter against dallas especially the last three games which wasn't a a lot, but when they did, Skinner stood up and he played well. So I'll say it's a combination of Skinner has played his game very well, but also the orders are continuing to be a pretty solid defensive team.

Jason, I'm sure everybody's on the outsides thinking that the focus is to shut down Connor or Leon, but Evan Bouchard is now the fastest defenseman in history outside of Bobby Orr and a teammate of mine, Brian Leach, to 50 points here. Maybe the focus should be on shutting this guy down.

Well, Bouchard has really elevated his play, I think, in this playoffs. I think ever since, like, he had the benefit a few years ago of getting to play with Duncan Keith. Now, since they acquired Matthias Ekholm, because Bouchard's only his third year in the league guys like playing defense is hard and you know what mostly offensive guys they're going to struggle a little bit at times but I really feel Bouchard as good as his offensive numbers have been his overall defensive game has really been to me the biggest improvement he's always been a good offensive player at 80 points in the regular season um you know what he's a really good facilitator on their power play he knows when to dish it and he knows when to unleash his shot and

he's got a really good shot um his his best asset is moving the puck quickly out of the zone and so this is going to be a real test for him because dallas wasn't physical and vancouver's biggest physical came more from their defense whereas florida's physicality comes from their winger so i look at bennett kuk, you know, those guys. I think they're going to – if you're Florida, you have to try to pinpoint Bouchard. The problem is he's very good under pressure. So you're right. He has to be a focal point because he's the guy who moves the puck up

and then gets it on the stick of dry, subtle McDavid, and then they're ultra-dangerous. But, you know, and they kind of – you know, they play McDavid with with bouchard a lot and why shouldn't you he's your best offensive defenseman playing with your best offensive player it makes sense so you know when the oilers have fallen short in the past people had talked about obviously defensive goaltending all the things that come up every time you fall short but they've also talked talked about depth scoring which it feels like they've gotten a little bit more of tell us a bit bit about, everyone's talking about McDavid and Dreisaitl and Skinner. Tell us about the depth of the Oilers' forwards group and how they've done.

Well, I actually argued at the start of the series because everybody was talking about Dallas' depth. And I'm like, okay, depth sometimes can be a polite way of saying we don't have top-end talent. And the Oilers have top-end talent. And so your top-end talent needs to be good which the orders are but they're depth guys matthias yanmark huge shorthanded goal on a play from connor brown uh ryan mcleod comes out of the press box scores philip broberg and you know scored in his second playoff game this year a huge goal in dallas to

now is the third goal in the game but that just gives you a lot more breathing room where they hadn't been able to get that three goal lead um adam henrik a guy who who missed most of the vancouver series but this is like a seven time 20 goal scorer guy scored 24 goals this year and he like the more i watch henrik every game because i haven't seen him a ton god he really impresses me he's very good in face-offs and he is ultra smart like he's not the fastest guy, but his brain allows him to take the right angles to plays. And so, yeah, their depth is, like, Warren Fogle scored 21 goals this season, guys. He didn't even get in the lineup the last three games.

Right? Like, Sam Carrick, when he comes in, like, I'll be curious. Chris Knobloch has been able to push the right buttons and he looks for matchups on who he wants in at certain times. And I look at Sam Carrick and i won't be surprised if we see him over derrick ryan at times in the series because of you know trying to match that physicality of florida and you got to wear him down and that karrick's better at that ryan has better assets and you know moving the puck and creating offense you know and winning some face-offs but you know sam karrick brings you

a different element so their depth guys have all shown up without question and not with huge amount of goals, but just with some timely goals. We're talking to Jason Greger, host of the Jason Greger Show on Sports 1440 in Edmonton. So Jason, we know what we're going to get out of Bennett and Kachuk and their ability to go out there and just grind your gears.

So where does that put the emphasis on other players on edmonton not to go chasing anything but where does evander kane come into play here oh i think i think it's huge like in 2022 when the orders beat the flames kane kind of neutered kachuk in that series, if you go back and watch it, right? Dave Tippett at the time, basically, it was one of those rare, you know, winger-on-winger matchups, and he switched Kane's line and put Kane out against him more, and Kachuk, after game one, did very little in that series. Now, Kane's banged up. I'm not sure if you guys noticed last night. He basically was on the bench but didn't play.

You know, he played two minutes in the first period and took a few shifts in the second, but he kind of looked like he wrecked his ankle when he went to hit Petrovic in that first period. But I think Kane's a huge part of this game. Not necessarily going to score a ton of points for you. Obviously, it would be nice. But they're going to need him and Dylan Holloway to try to match some of the physicality of Florida.

And then stay within composure and not not take penalties you don't want to run around on them because you know like Kachuk is unbelievable at pissing people off like it's an art it's an art and he's very skilled of course but it's an art of how he can just suddenly like he gets David freaking Pasternak to agree before he goes to the bench we're gonna fight next time Pasternak comes off the bench I'm, what the hell is going on here? Like, I loved it, don't get me wrong, but that's how much he can really get under guys' skin. So the order is, you know what, like, he's smart.

He's not going to fight Evander Kane. But, you know what, he will try to get the other guys, Nugent, Hopkins, Drysaddle, McDavid. You know he's going to stick him at every time. Bouchard, I think, for sure. He's going to try to scrum up Bouchard as much as he can. And so, yeah, the order is they're going to have to stay composed. And that's what, I'm going to love the gamesmanship of this series

because I think we're going to see a lot of them. Chuck is like Hannibal Lecter getting someone to swallow their own tongue. Just complete words alone make them completely lose their mind. That's an interesting way to look at it. Thank you. That's who he is to me, is Hannibal Lecter. They should wheel him out in that gurney thing to start the games. On a less psychotic note, give us a vibe check in Edmonton.

Where are fans at, the team? Just watching the images last night, got to be a pretty good feeling these days. You know, it's been a while. Obviously, this would be my second Stanley Cup covering for a team that you're in in the city. It was way back 18 years ago, and it's funny how while like i i've obviously this would be my second stanley cup covering it you know for a team that you're into the city and you know it was way back 18 years ago and it's funny how much has changed like there's really no social media back then right so now you see everything but i i like the orders when they won a series lot in 2006 they went to like the bar on white ave and

and you know had had a party last night the orders had to, you know, they had a private function at a player's house because it's just a different time now. Like, you can't really go out, and it's kind of too bad because I think, you know, just for fans to get to, you know, hey, congratulations, you know, it's kind of good, but you can't really do that now because people go overboard and you've got to video everything. So, you know, they don't want that.

But the city itself, it's obviously a hockey-mad market, like it would be in any Canadian city for sure. Edmonton's pretty blue-collar. You've got everybody painted up. People are flags all over their cars. And now it's the Stanley Cup Finals. You've got a week to plan for it. How I always say this in the playoffs is you have your diehard fans,

and this is the reward for being diehards. They watch every game in December and January and whatever. But now you have kind of like the B and C level fans who maybe watch 10 games and some who never watch any, but all of a sudden it's the playoffs. And now they're planning parties. You know, you've got neighborhood watch parties. What are we having for food? And it's just everywhere.

Like you see it. I coach my son's ball hockey team. They're 10 years of age. So none of them were around in 2006. And, you know, we had a game on Saturday and all they're talking about in the game is like, what do you think the orders game is going to be like? They're 10 years old. They're right at that age where you can really kind of, you know,

kind of chew on the bone of being a fan and have memories of and remember it for years later. So, you know, 18 years ago, like think about it. You would have had people 18 years ago, guys, that were probably if they're 20 to 30 they're out partying and boozing you know they're hung over the next day now they're parents and maybe they're watching their kids do it and now they're at home and you know enjoying it with their family so it's completely different for some fans and that's what makes it fun like you know you don't because you never know when it's going to be again like let's be honest here there's no guarantee a team gets to a stanley cup final and never mind win obviously the orders haven't won since 90 and panthers have never won You know, because you never know when it's going to be again. Like, let's be honest here. There's no guarantee a team gets to a Stanley Cup final,

and never mind win. Obviously, the Oilers haven't won since 90, and Panthers have never won. So, you know, there's going to be a lot of nervousness, but the city itself is everywhere you go. It's, you know, everybody's talking about it. The football and the baseball team have games scheduled Saturday late. They've changed them so their start times are 1 o'clock

because you just can't compete. You can't compete with the NHL team at 6. Just a bunch of parents with Fernando Pisani tattoos just rooting on their teams. part-times or 1 o'clock because you just can't compete. You can't compete with the NHL team at 6. Just a bunch of parents with Fernando Pisani tattoos. Just rooting on their teeth. There was quite a few of those for sure. Maybe some ill-advised Chris Pronger ones they might have gotten taken off. Yeah, right.

I think I wore the same T-shirt in 2006. Thanks, Jason. Really appreciate your time, man. Have fun covering this Stanley Cup final. Anytime, guys. Have a great day. You too. Thanks, man. Great stuff. Jason Greger. You know, it's such a good point. 18 long years for the Leafs.

I mean, for the Oilers to make it. The last time the Leafs made it, my dad was 12. It does, though, speak to a generation. They say, I think, the age that, like, somewhere between 8 and 12, if you're a fan of a team at that time and they have success and you're in, like, you're hooked for life, there are generations here where that hasn't happened.

So good for the Oilers to have another crop of kids hooked. Yeah. Few generations. Few generations. You know, what it comes down to, and I hate to admit this, and I shouldn't even say this for my Leaf fans, it's just jealousy. I'm just jealous as hell what they have.

Like, I see, and it's not Toronto. It's a smaller city. It's just their only show in town is the Oilers. Like, they have the Elks. They have like the baseball team that he's talking about, the minor league team. They have stuff, but it's the only show in town. I'm jealous of them. Yeah, it's good. It's good. You should be jealous show in town. I'm jealous of them. Yeah, it's good. It's good.

You should be jealous. I wish. I got a neighbor here. What a good. Can you imagine what we would be doing right now if we won a game six to go to the Stanley Cup final? Not a one-hour show. Did you hear Tyler say again who won, by the way, the Stanley Cup? When he was an embryo?

Yes. Yeah. And it's last night. I think, you know know to paraphrase him uh it's hard hockey's hard hockey's hard it is hard playoffs are and it's so hard and the stars have to like line up you know you talk about it being like a smaller sample size in the regular season but just think of how long this oilers thing's gone on right like they their

starting goalie was lost and in the wilderness and everybody threw him aside and he came back and he's been great it's just you know potential it's one playoffs where it's not a small sample size anymore right like it's just it's such a grind how many games of hockey you have to play 25 playoff games or whatever to win a cup it It's a lot of hockey. So I think last night Sportsnet tweeted that it's the longest distance between two cities now in the Stanley Cup. Ever? Yeah. Boston-Vancouver was the previous distance. And how far is that?

Quite far. It's a little bit less. A little bit less. Yeah, like it's still, it was over 4,000, but it's just a little bit less. What happens if like the pilot takes a little bit less like it's it's still it was over 4 000 but it's it's just a little bit less as if like the pilot takes a little wider turn it's to rack it up but it is by latitude longitude latitude the biggest difference all right david suzuki this isn't a geography show wow they're far apart guys What else do you want to know?

Latitude and longitude. Well, I'm trying to negate your fruitless argument about a long route. Okay, well, it's far. We know it's far. It's quite far. All right, let's listen to some clips, shall we? Yeah, which one do you want to listen to? Do you want to listen to McDavid talk to Kyle? Yes. It's about a minute

and a half, or a little less than a minute and a half. It's a great interview. Chris, thank you. Connor, you are headed to the Stanley Cup Final. How would you describe that reality? Yeah, it feels like a dream, honestly. It was a crazy one tonight. Not our best effort, but

we hung in there. Found a way to get a win. Still was great. Everybody played great. Just hung in there. Well, how did you hang on in the third? I'm not sure. It wasn't pretty, but we got it out.

This building, I mean, what, four minutes left? We're on their feet? What do you think of all this? When the horn went off, that's the loudest I've ever heard it. Special place to play, honestly. So much history. These fans. It was great to hear their sport. First period, you were shot out of a cannon. How would you describe

your determination to end this series tonight? We wanted to get it done, obviously. You know, great opportunity here on home ice. I thought our first was good. Wish we played a little bit better the rest of the 40, but like I said, we hung in there. We got it done. Everybody deserves it.

What do you think about Stuart Skinner and the performance he put forth? I can't say enough good things. You know, a lot of people doubt him. A lot of people say things about him, but he's done nothing but stand in there for us and stand tall. So happy for him. Connor, congratulations. Thanks a lot.

So there was, like, this is now, you're the number one player in the world, basically. He knows they got away with something a little bit here. He's like, yeah, we were the best. They never played great. Can they beat Florida with not their best effort? No. Yeah. So, he knows there's some work to do now

moving forward. They play like they did in game five. They can win. All right. We're going to get more into that as the week progresses. Stick with us.

A lot of time to break it down, boys. A lot of time on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. We're not going away all week. We'll get you ready. We'll see you tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.