Real Kyper & Bourne - State of Canadian Teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Episode Date: May 1, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Hockey Night in Canada and Sportsnet's David Amber (5:50) to chat about the state of the Canadian NHL teams in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They get into late hits across the league in Round 1, the Montreal Canadiens' bright future, and why Dallas Stars could become Stanley Cup favourites if they take down the Colorado Avalanche. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss Scott Arniel and Jim Montgomery's testy comments about Brayden Schenn's hit on Mark Scheifele, Jon Cooper's future behind the bench for the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Aquilini family considering selling their part of Canucks ownership.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, let's get going on our national hour of the Real Kipper and born show. We are live on sports at 650 in Vancouver sports at 960 in Calgary across the sports net platforms. This hour Real Kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 Nick Kipra is Justin, Sammy McKee. Game six tonight, Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators. I usually yell at you for changing the jerseys, but seeing how down you are, I'm like, let it go.

I'm going, I'm sticking with the Leaf Jersey for the national hour, Sammy, just for you. I blew right through the reminder Because you're nervous I'm terrified you're terrified I actually woke up feeling sick how nervous I am about this tonight It's an era defining game I said this to Sam but I have heard and I like this expression that the harder and sorry the farther you are But I have heard and I like this expression that the harder or sorry the farther you are from the puck The harder it is. So if you're a player you can do something you're in control or whatever if you're a coach It's hard, but you're able to like, you know manipulate a few things have a say if you're a GM pretty hard You can still call down fans. It's the worst. You have the worst feeling of anyone. No control

Your well- wellbeing is completely in the hands of something with a 50% chance of going right. 50? 51. In a couple of minutes, we'll get David Amber not in studio. Nope. Cause he's just too lazy on an off day to come in.

This guy's, he's got one day off. Why, he's coming in curls? What's he doing? I will not spare is the great name of David Amber Listen I'm in favor of disparaging his name, but I do think he's a great man for joining. He's awesome awesome and he is He is probably sports that in hockey night in Canada's version of Sammy over there Just yeah, but Sammy sticks to the Leafs and Dave has love for all Canadian all seven like no one cheerleads more for Canadian teams than David Amber he will root it in logic though like I think he can

bring it back to here's why I believe in this Canadian team cuz man it's just like he was born this way. Yes. Can we talk about the Oilers? Oilers got a chance tonight boys. How about the Jets doc? Habi's dying for the year. Big night for the Jets.

Yeah. Great night for the Jets with the exception of Mark Shieffley. He's now been ruled out in game six. Now this early out ruling has becoming a family What's the latest on that find out for us becoming a theme among teams who would like players suspended? Is it not what other reason would you have before so forthcoming on that information? Right. They are never he will not travel not even for game sex so You saw the hit.

Here we go. Oh, from Shen. Late. Late. Pot is on. Unsuspecting. Yeah, pretty vulnerable. Pretty high.

You can say jumped if you like. Oh. He did jump a little. He got him good. Here we go again. No, no, I'm not. I don't, I don't think it, I don't know if it's a suspension or not I do think that this is you know you fast because hit was very solid

But you know you get enough of those pretty calm sub concussive blows I do think they build on one another I know after the game and we're gonna get into this the coaches disagreed Yeah, Monty said the you know Likely head stuff was not due. That's a pretty good line by Scott Arneal. You said that exact thing to me multiple times. Is he not a doctor? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Not a doctor for me. Can you show me your degree? Yeah. In a nutshell, Monty said it wasn't the fact. Not a doctor. It was the Shen hit, because they want Shen suspended. I don't think he'll get suspended for that. We've got a dog on our show

We do doctor doctor doctor doctor Habs last night Now we're gonna make David sad. Oh, no because we lost a Canadian team We did lose a Canadian team that one that one played out Really like how it should. Not a top seed against a team that you weren't even sure they were gonna make the playoffs till the very end. They fought everything that they could throw at them and I don't know five probably is appropriate. Appropriate and like I read a couple articles that were

like they'll learn from this pain and I saw Suzuki say you know like it hurts you know a lot right now to me they're one of like three teams this year that gets to go out with their head held high it was a win I don't think any pain this was a successful season we had and they had a lead in the third period of game four though right after after Tom Wilson That would have been a past expectation That's what I mean So like they can you could always convince yourself if you're a player on that team

They're like if we had I got that one and then you know, like they wouldn't have won but there's things that they could convince themselves I mean, no, no, yeah I'm just trying to create some beginning of the year, especially in the Atlantic we had one of Montreal Ottawa and Detroit and Buffalo who's yeah Buffalo. Let's throw the yeah Buffalo in there Who's ready to knock on the door who's ready to step up here? Get to it's Pretty pretty darn. Yeah, five

And suddenly watching Montreal they got the goalie pulled and it's like five guys six guys out there They're like jeez that is a threatening group all right, just off his sets of 12 Let's bring in David Amber. Oh No, he's doing good things for the community and we're being mean to him sports net host David how are you my friend? Good guys. Very hurtful Kipper was sets of 15. I want to make that 15. All right. Can we all agree?

Can we all agree? This is the best time of the year for hockey fans. Oh yeah. This is wonderful. Three games a night last night is the best. It's funny, I'm actually gonna go watch the game with some buddies and it's hilarious how in one week the whole dynamic of the Leafs series has gone completely sideways. I have a buddy in Ottawa who a week ago wanted to wave all Mark, trade Stutzla, fire green, blow everything up, this is the worst series loss

I can remember and then guys in Toronto are all like, ooh, do we get Florida or do we get Tampa? How's it going to be? This is our year. And now I'm going to meet up with some very nervous Leaf fans and my buddy in Ottawa was like, oh, I think we can handle Florida. It's going to be an easy second round. And I'm like, well, we haven't been here.

It's funny how things go so dramatically. Game two is it. Can you separate job to have it can you separate job? To have it hanging out with your buds because I can't I can't I can't do that I can't focus on the game watch the game as closely if I'm hanging out with a bunch of yahoos like Sammy Well you watch the game through a much more sophisticated lens than I do I'm just gonna have some fun tonight You know what? I it's it's hard when you're in the business

You you kind of lose a little bit of your fandom as you know, but I still say Sports is the best reality TV there is I'm gonna try to enjoy myself This takes a bit of the pressure off, you know, I root really hard for all seven Canadian. I mentioned that Yeah, so listen, Canada versus Canada, we know a Canadian team will be advancing. I grew up in Toronto, I grew up a Leaf fan. Having said that, you know, I have a great appreciation for all the franchises. And I just think it's been a long, long overdue time since the Stanley Cup has been won by a Canadian franchise and whatever fan base that is,

to be able to have a chance to celebrate, I'm pretty excited for. And you know what, look at the scenes. Edmonton's playing on the road in LA and there's like 20,000 fans outside Roger's place. Winnipeg's playing in St. Louis and there's a bunch of fans out on Donald Street. You know, the Leafs are on the road and there's fans that, you know, out in Toronto and vice versa with Ottawa. Like, it's, it's such a, there's such a huge passionate fan base in all the different Canadian markets that I just, I'm ready for one of them to celebrate and just be able to say, hey, the Cubs back in Canada. And really cool, just that like directionally for some of these Canadian franchises, like Montreal, you leave that series going, okay, next year's going to be interesting. You leave here. If it is Ottawa going, okay, like there is a there's some reason to believe that you're going to have some teams in the postseason for the

years ahead. DA Calgary to probably get their way back. Yeah, listen, there's teams on an upward trajectory. Having said that, you know, seven, eight years ago, everyone was really excited about Edmonton and Toronto, etc. And it hasn't resulted in a Stanley Cup championship yet. The margins are so small. Brian Burke had said it the best. He's like, if winning the Stanley Cup was easy, everyone would do it. And it's true. There's 32 teams. It doesn't necessarily going to be your time. That's why you have to pounce when you have superstar players or when you're just on that precipice of right there for a championship you have to go for it and that's why I like what you know we look at the teams that are still vying for a Stanley Cup and I

like the fact Dallas went out and got Miko Ranton in I like the fact you know Brad Trey Livian identified some of the needs on this Toronto team and said we need to you know have a much more deeper better blue line and defensive minded players and a better tandem in net and he addressed some of those needs. I think that's great when the GMs go out there and really give teams that are right there fighting tooth and nail to get a Stanley Cup, put them in the best position to have success. You're watching and listening to David Amber, studio host for Hockey Night in Canada and

the NHL on sports. So DA, you mentioned Toronto and Edmonton, both having a chance to close out their series, both of them arriving to game six under very different circumstances. Which one surprises you more? I mean, Edmonton, right? I get that they're playing LA, but I didn't think there was going to be a Hollywood a script attached to this series.

I mean, they were, I wouldn't say they were dead, but they were in a lot of trouble, right? They were down to nothing. So many question marks surrounding their goal, tanning and their defense and what's going on. Everything was falling apart and they're trailing in the third period. What was it four to three? You know, Kane scores that big goal to tide it forward. And there's a very questionable coaching challenge from Jim Hillier that is unsuccessful.

Edmonton scores three more goals and maybe the strangest play that I can remember in some time obviously took place in game four where Quinton Byfield, who's a good up-and- coming, you know, star player, this is someone who could be representing Canada at the next Olympics. He's a very good player. You know, had a very tough play, made a very bad decision trying to carry the puck out of his end. And he could have essentially safely gotten the puck out and probably secure to win for Edmonton or for Los Angeles and be a 3-1 series in a very different complexion. So it's shocking to me. It's not shocking to me that Edmonton can close out

this series, but again the fashion with which you know LA was in complete control of the series for some time and to have that completely come unglued with a couple of tough plays and decisions is a bit mind-boggling. The Leafs series I I think, you know, yeah, they won the first three games. They were close. The second and third game were overtime winners and the fourth game was an overtime loss. So the margins have been much less in the Leafs series, and I don't think anyone's surprised by that. Ottawa played the Leafs very well this year. Ottawa, you knew was going to fight tooth and nail.

We knew they went out and got Linus Almark specifically for this type of moment, and he's risen to the occasion. Nick, I've heard you say on the show a number of times when Linus Allmark gets hot he can get hot for 8, 12, 15 games and it could be a very dangerous guy to go up against. We've seen that earlier in the year back in December. He was maybe the best goalie in the league and right now he's feeling it. So I'm not overly surprised that we're in a sixth game with Toronto and Ottawa and it's going to make for great theatre tonight in both these series. So talking about the Winnipeg series and St. Louis a little bit before you came on, we were showed the Shen hit on Mark Shifely. It is interesting in this postseason, and you can weigh in on that one if you like,

but I am interested in the theme of these hits the late late hit from Hagel on Barkov late hit on from Kachuk on Gensel and I believe there's one more there's a whole bunch so kind of what is happening here DA is this something that is like a new way for there's no fights in the first round I not a single one but we've got a bunch of these, not a single fight. Not a major. I know this is... And Wilson. Well, yeah, but Wilson didn't get a fighting major, but like, yeah, there's like other ways the guys are being physical and trying to hurt each other. It's just different this

year. Well, I mean, listen, you're sitting beside Nick Kiprios. I'm not sure I'm the one to ask that to, you know, he would know better than I would. But having said that, you know, I don't necessarily look at the Brayden and Shen hit in the same light as Brandon Hagel's hit on Barkov, which I thought deserved was suspension worthy. The Matthew Kachak hit on Hagel. The Aaron Echblad hit wasn't a hockey play, in my opinion, when you're just leading with your forearm right into a guy's face. Brayden and Shen's hit was on

that precipice, in my opinion. It certainly was a guy's face. Brayden Shenn's hit was on that precipice in my opinion. It certainly was a big tough hit. He left his feet, which I thought could have certainly merited a major, but you can debate that. I didn't think it was necessarily a suspension-worthy hit as much as it was a questionable major hit. So yeah, I don't know. I mean, you know, I'd love to hear Nick's take on it. I think I was expecting maybe to see a fight in that Montreal Washington series with all the bad blood that took place. I was in studio for that incredible game three and they're spilling off onto the bench and we saw everything but a fight and there certainly was the bad blood. I think part of the equation is there's just so few guys in the league who that is their role.

How many guys in the league are there now, like you look at an Arbor Jack guy, but McElrath wasn't even in the lineup for Washington, so who's even gonna take that fight? Tom Wilson is too smart in a sense, like he's too valuable to be on the ice to maybe be taking five-minute fighting majors versus the sixth defenseman on Montreal.

So the dynamics changed in that sense. But the guys, I'm sure just like in Nick's day, it was crazier in Nick's day. But having said that, the guys still want it as badly as they want it back. Yeah, no, you're so right. And, you know, the one thing that's remained consistent, I think this time of year from era to era, generation to generation, is that we truly target this time of year. And there is no real incentive during the regular season to target someone unless you have a personal vendetta, or either something going behind the scenes

that you don't really know about, whether or not you fell, you got cheap-shotted. There is nothing that compares to this time of year. And the incentive to hurt somebody when you hit them is that they don't get to play the rest of the series that the team is weakened for it. And that is the drive of every game, the moment the puck drops in the playoffs.

And that's it in a nutshell. And if you target the right guys, then you run the risk reward thing. Okay, I get a game. All right, but if he's out for two games, three games, is my team better or worse for it? Like, I mean, Hegel tried it with Barkov. And then-

Remember bunting on Schoenach worked for theenach worked and then Eklund does it to a hagel and you know it cost him two games but did it help them close out last night? Maybe risk reward. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But the worst thing you can do this time of year, whether you're a star player or a fourth line guy who plays three minutes is when you're out there and you do nothing and you have to decipher that in your head in a split second on do I lunge? Do I not lunge? Do I hit? Do I get a piece? Do I miss? Do I get suspended? Do I play? And that's the beauty of this time of year and that's a constant from game to game Yeah, and listen I I've been in studio for everyone all five of the Winnipeg st. Louis games

They have been targeting mark Shieffley. Oh, yeah from game one And when you heard Scott Arneal in the postgame podium, it wasn't about Braden Shentzen even made it clear This has been since the first shift of the first game. I mean, Justin, you were in studio with me. They were head hunting's a bit strong, but they certainly were hitting to hurt. And I don't say that, but I'm not even trying to vilify them because as Nick just said, that's sort of how this time of year goes.

And he has set a target on his chest, literally this entire series. Yep, no doubt about it. That Faxa one is, you know, he's going to hit Faxa. He's totally eligible there and it's tough, but it is, I think, cumulative at some point when you get to there. So the Montreal Canadiens are eliminated. Well, just a quick little note on their series, if you could.

I know, you know, their fans were really excited about the way things went there. Are you a believer that this is a now a team that can start to move up into contender status? Yeah, 100%. I mean, Kent Hughes and his management group have done a great job, right? Like, look at the young talent on this team between Demidoff, Slavkovsky, Caulfield, Suzuki. Suzuki's, you know, a burgeoning superstar, in my opinion, he's a great two, Suzuki. Suzuki's, you know, a burgeoning superstar in my opinion. He's a great two-way player. He's, what'd you call him JB? One of the top 40 centers in the league? Top 53 I said, just inside top 53. I mean he's like, and I say that tongue in cheek, he is, he's a really, he's a young superstar in this league in my opinion. They have all the earmarks of a franchise on the incline.

They have a lot of draft capital still. They've done a fantastic job. It's been a quick turnaround. It's funny. They went from Stanley Cup final in that crazy COVID year to dead last in the NHL and now they're, that was three years ago and here they are. They've drafted well. They're, you know're putting their assets together. They have work to do because think about how tough that Atlantic division is and Florida's not going anywhere, Tampa's not going anywhere, I don't think Toronto's going anywhere.

And you have to assume some other teams like Ottawa are getting better as well. It's not gonna be easy, but they're certainly on the right path. I think they have to look at the season as a great season of growth. They were 31st in the standings in December and they make it to the playoffs on a couple of incredible runs and they have a lot of great young talent to be excited about and

that fan base is re-energized and it was great to see. They're getting better but they're not getting bigger unless they get bigger. And how important is that, especially seeing it compared to the Washington Capitals? 100%. And that was the thing when I was talking to people before that series, I said, I really think Washington's going to grind down their opponents in series, especially a team like Montreal,

or if they were to play New Jersey. I thought that was gonna be a complete mismatch with knowing how undersized New Jersey is up front. If you look at Washington guys, I think they have one forward, I think it's Mongey-Uponies, they're only forward, maybe less than 190 pounds or something like every guy's over 200 pounds. Every guy's over six feet tall. They're big, they're strong, and they grind you down. It's not just Tom Wilson. Protus was back in the lineup last night.

I think the X or Elliott said he's 235 pounds or something. I mean, my God, these guys are are huge. So it's gonna be a really interesting series Washington versus Carolina because Carolina I think can handle themselves for the most part physically They're still a little bit undersized up front though. I do think Carolina, but you're right Montreal has to get bigger and they thought they'd address that remember the draft three years ago They drafts Lovkovsky big kid they trade for Doc big guy Unfortunately, Doc's been injured pretty much every year with Montreal. Lina is a big guy. They need to kind of get him where they need him. So they do have pieces, but they certainly, you're right. A lot of their star players, Hudson clearly and Caulfield, and it's funny, I didn't even mention Hudson earlier when I was talking about all their great young talent, are undersized players. So yeah, they're gonna have to insulate

those guys, but you can do that. Yeah. Yeah, you definitely can. You know, just move it around the series a little bit here, because tonight's a big night for the Colorado Avalanche who went all in, right? Rebuilt the goal tending, rebuilt their centers entirely, got Landiskoog back and now backs against the wall in round one.

I don't know if it's Dallas getting Heiskenen back or not tonight, but soon it's coming. What do you make of this series here, which I think has been electric hockey? This is why I said this is the best time of year. As much as I love the Stanley Cup final or even the conference finals, the quality of hockey right now I think is actually better because the guys by and large are as healthy as they're going to be. In three, you know, in three series from now, the guys are fighting it as we saw last year and we see every year.

This is amazing. This was what makes it exciting, right? Tampa, Florida to me could have been a conference final. No one would have batted an eye. Colorado, Dallas could have been a conference final. No one would have batted an eye. And that is to see Nathan McKinnon and McCarr. And McCarr has been a little quiet,

at least offensively in this series. I think he only has a couple of assists. I'm looking for him maybe to have a breakout tonight and really be up on the rush and probably play 30 plus minutes. Yeah, there's some pressure there. You know, again, when you have Nathan McKinnon in his MVP caliber years, there's obviously a lot of expectation to have deep playoff runs. And that hasn't been the case. Really since they won the cup, it's been a bit of a struggle. They lost in the first round the year after they won the cup,

they lost in the second round last year and now here they are possibly going out in the first round again. So a lot on the line tonight and I'm really interested to see this. I did pick Dallas to win this series. So this doesn't shock me despite the fact there's no Robertson or Hayskinen

because I just think Dallas is so good and so deep and I think if they do finish off Colorado tonight we might have to you know have to readjust who you're picking and readjust who the favorites are. If Dallas can win tonight you might have to look at them as the Stanley Cup favorites moving forward just simply because they're such a deep and balanced team that they're doing this without their number one defenseman they're doing this without their leading goal scorer during the regular season so kudos to them but it's not going to be easy in Colorado against you know some of those superstars it's going to be a really really big and interesting game tonight. DA I know you and my good buddy here JB had the Tampa Bay Lightning to

sweep the Florida Panthers and on the Sportsnet.ca predictions, it didn't turn out that way. Regardless if it's Toronto or Ottawa, is that a waste of eight days coming up against the Florida Panthers? Yeah, I mean, listen, I, and it wasn't, it wasn't a knock on Florida. I just thought there was more question marks around in Florida and I was wrong, right? I said, well, Kachuk, what's he, how good Kachak can it be? He hasn't played in seven weeks. You know, Marchand, what's he going to have left? I just had a lot of question marks really, no act glad for the first two games.

And I looked at Tampa as this well-oiled machine and quite frankly, it's funny. All the heat that's been put on Connor Hellebuck, put, uh, Andre Vasilevsky a little bit under the microscope guys. Tampa played really well in that first game and they had no goaltending. They gave up I think 16 shots in that game one. Vasilevsky gave up five goals on the first 11 shots in game one. That was a horrible way to start the series on home ice. And then quite frankly, Florida got its momentum and its wheels going and they showed why they're the defending champs. They're such a good shutdown team. I don't think it's going to be a waste of eight days for Toronto or Ottawa against

Florida. I really, I think it's going to be a hard fought tooth and nail series. I think it's, you know, if you're the Leafs though, you were staring down having, you know, five, six days rest to recover and everything else. If you'd swept Ottawa in that overtime game four. And now you're staring out if you lose tonight, even if you win game seven, you know, Florida is gonna have four days extra rest on you. So that that is kind of tilted the scale a little bit with maybe how I feel about it. But I do think if Toronto wins tonight, um, and again, if

Ottawa is the momentum of reverse sweeping the Leafs, they're not gonna roll over in the Kachuk versus Kachuk bowl. So I think whatever Canadian team comes out of this series, Leafs in Ottawa, is going to have a hard fought series versus Florida. Florida will probably go in as the favorite versus either of them just because they're the defending champs, et cetera, Bobrovsky and everything else. But I think those are going to be, it's going to be a fantastic series to keep an eye on. DA have a fantastic night with your buds were the three of us were not invited to Like you would have gone anyway camp that's not the point that's not the point the point is he didn't think of us

Come on you try to make me feel bad now Sam I might see him out Come on, you're trying to make me feel bad now. Sam, I might see him out. Is Sam in the fetal position? Is Sam like, how is he? What's he doing? Yes, he is. He is. He is.

So whatever's worse than the fetal position? He's drooling right now. I'm bad. I'm bad. He's not good. He's blowing bubbles right now. All right. This is why it's the best time of year, guys.

This is what fandom's all about and it's exciting. I have to say this though. The city of Toronto, like we live here, it's so much more fun, whether it's the Jays, the Raptors, the Leafs, it's so much more fun when the teams are doing well and when the, you know, it's just the city is dead after, after, you know, the sports teams get knocked out. So I really, you know, it'll be nice for here. I'll be nice for Ottawa too, for that matter, because just every city it's way more alive this time. Nervous city tonight. Well said, my friend. Let's keep that energy from coast to coast.

Always a pleasure, my friend. Thank you for doing this. Hey guys, I love the show. Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. David Amber. All right, you guys didn't pick the lightning to sweep. We all had them at either six or seven games.

But you had Florida. I had Florida. And Rory, sportsnet.ca. Rory Boylan, Rory Boylan, yeah. We were the only two. Yeah, Rory is also the only legitimate Florida Panthers fan I know. That's not a pure insight.

He's a Panthers fan. He's a fan, okay. I mean, no disrespect to my man. How do we do, I think you and I have nailed all the, you guys picked, Did you guys pick? the Devils Yes, we did. Oh, I'm I'm a three-for-three voice We were going like Sheldon we thought Sheldon. I thought they'd have defensemen. They had no defensemen

Killed we're gonna ignore that one. I'm trying to think what I did. I don't remember Okay, Tampa Bay and Florida. You wanna do a game time and then we'll get into it? Okay, then we'll do that. Okay, go. Oh no, go ahead. No, no, no. No, no, no, go do your game time.

Oh, ah, ah, ah. It was analysis, save the analysis. Okay, okay, perfect. All right, it's game time presented by bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 was 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly.

Checking in, on the cons my thoughts Some long numbers here. Who do you think is the favorite the con smith? Favorite is Connor McDavid, correct 11 to 1 Which is a very tasty number. I mean that one was like that that was in the last tasty number I mean that one was like that that was in the last yeah this change in four days four days for sure the next the second favorite is interesting not McKinley on nope neither of those two goalie they are in the second round it is Sebastian oh yeah plus 1400 right now everybody folks so

then it goes down to Leon is next 1600 Jake Ottinger 1800 Bobrowski 1800 Arkov could shock I go OV at 25 to 1 I'm just going down to look for some leaves here. It's a little bit further down 33 to 1 for Martin Matthews right now. So there you go That's the you could do worse than McDavid as a cons might winner 11 to 1 right now Because if they get hot here, you're never gonna see it that high again So it's a decent hedge against them going on a deep run to get it right now The we did Leon at 2,500 to 1 right midseason We pointed that out to people. Yes, and I didn't touch it and I and he's a finalist

He ended up being yeah, I don't think he'll win it. He I didn't touch it and he's a finalist. I wonder if he ended up being, yeah if I don't think he'll win it he might win it. Yeah he's a finalist. It was him Kuturov and Hellebuck got named today I think or yesterday they got named the finalist for the- No McKinnon? No Kuturov, I think I saw that or I dreamt it. Those guys are like McDavid they're just two games away from like- Oh yeah. Right? Yes. That's a good point. You know you can get an avalanche guy at a good number they win two games away from like oh, yeah, right. Yes That's a good point. You know you can get a good number They were games and the favorites for these go ahead abs come back right she liked the McKinnon bet I like that a lot. What's his number sir? It'll be because of McKinnon and

McCar and they'll be right there in the second round. Yeah, Nathan McKinnon is 22 to 1 right now. You can do worse than that. I was just going to say quickly before we go to break here, the favorite to win Lord Stanley's Cup, Florida Panthers, plus 375, the favorites. The next closest is the Carolina Hurricanes, plus 475, the Oilers, third favorite, plus 550, their garden heart against them right now And the dallas stars plus 750 the toronto may police plus 850

So there you go Uh, the ottawa senators are plus 6 000. So There's no chance for that Anyways, that was game time for set up about 365 visit the app for latest odds and find out what's ever ordinary bet 365 must be 19 plus ont Ontario only please play responsibly Okay, we'll take a quick break and when we return we'll get into more details on the Florida Panthers and what we saw and what we Expected or didn't expect in that first round. We got to play the clips from JetBlue's too We got Jets and Blues clips and also maybe we'll touch on the Vancouver Canucks. Apparently I said something

I don't know. But we'll talk about that. Canucks Twitter's pretty hot about things and you set it on fire. They run hot. We also talked, I talked a little bit about ownership, Vancouver Canuck ownership. We'll get into that after the break as well

for all of those of you listening at 6.50 in Vancouver. All right, more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Gunning. We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors and Blue Jays every weekday morning, six to nine. It's the fan morning show Sportsnet five nine to the program. Nick Kipriels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. What do you want to talk about? Do we have sound out of Winnipeg? Yeah.

That's kind of interesting between the two coaches. We have, okay, so I guess the stage we talked a little bit with with DA but the crux of the matter is Braden Shen hammering hammering Mark Shifely and then who is the other guy that got him? Radek Faxa. Thank you Faxa gets him and the point of contention I believe between them is that Scott Arneal thinks it was the borderline hit that injured Mark Shifely as opposed to the clean one that Radik Faxa gave him and now the facts a hit came several minutes of gameplay right first and later So we'll play let's play

Let's play Jim Montgomery's clip first Eric and then we'll react off that and then go into Scott Arneal Let's play Jim Montgomery Jim. There's a long discussion with both coaches and their referees before the second period. Can you shed any light? Well, I believe, well, it happens every game. If the ref wants to talk to the ref, if the one coach wants to talk to the ref before the period starts, he needs to come over and tell the other ref what the complaint was about. Was it about the Shen hit or? It was that, yes, it was about the Shen hit. And let's make it clear. 55 got hurt from the Faxa hit.

He played six minutes after the Shen hit. He didn't come back after he got rocked by Faxa. If the glove don't fit, what a passionate defense. That's awesome. Do you think it's smart of him to like be proactive on that or should he just have avoided it? I think he should have avoided it. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't think there's anything.

Couldn't agree more with both. It's stupid. It's just like. Now, we love it here. Of course, it's amazing. But I don't think there's anything Couldn't agree more with both right? It's stupid. It's just like now. We love it here Let Let the media do it right and then let the league you can always go Clay state your claim to the league behind the scenes and you can get ahead of that I just I didn't think Montgomery needed to go on such a hot and heavy topic, like moments after a game at the podium. He's trying to lead the media's stories,

which he is correct in saying that Shifely stayed in the game. Shifely played several more minutes of hockey. You could also do that like 12 hours later Now do you guys off day you want to hear Scott Arneal's response? Yes, Arneal was great all night So let's play this once Scott you had a long discussion with the referee before the second. What were your thoughts on the shin hit? Well, I didn't know Monty. He's got his medical degree. I'm trying to say how our player got hurt He's way off base should not make that comment There's some things that have been going on in this series

and that was a repeat of what we've seen before a player leaving his feet and then hitting a player in a very Unprotected spot like hitting them in the sense. I'm almost blindsiding them I'm almost blindsiding them. Not happy how the call was made. Two minute minor. Not even looking at it is what I was upset about. And it is something that we have talked to the league about for five games.

Now, can you get your medical degree, like homeschooling and stuff like that? University of Phoenix. Through the mail? Shack a doctor or something. Could you do it like, you know, on weekends, on your own time? Like homeschooling and stuff like that. University of Phoenix. Through the mail. Shack a doctor or something? Doctor? Doctor? Could you do it like, you know, on weekends, on your own time?

I don't think he did it. No? No, okay. I'm just checking. I don't think Monty did that. I love that Arneal's, like, he shouldn't make that comment. Because he shouldn't make that comment. Don't tell us, tell our doctor, don't assume to know what's happened over here, even if

it's what you think. So I think Arneal's in the right for sticking up for his guy. I'd like to say this guy, Arneal is the most Canadian sounding man, I think in the NHL. He's got a good old school tone to him. That was great. He's also bringing up the fact that they have hunted Shifely. If you've been following this series, they're seeking him out to make his life hard. Yeah. Uh, got to ask you about Hellebuck and the rebound and, Hey, you got the win. And hold on, hold on, hold on.

All right. What do you think about the Shen hit? Should he be suspended? Should it? I don't know. I'm so sick and tired of these because they're, they're really like 50, 50 kind of calls. They're close. Like we are talking about a split second here.

It's a predatory is all. You're trying. Yeah, I know, but so is every other hit. You're allowed to hurt people. I would have liked a penalty at the very least. Yeah. I think that's- Wait, did he get it?

He got two minutes? He didn't get two minutes? He got two minutes? He got a penalty. I'm talking about a major. Like, you know, it could have been a five charge mm-hmm Interesting to see how that plays out. I just it sucks for the Jets who you know it's way top-end talent What do you think of it in comparison to the haggle play? Okay, so it's not as bad as haggle on Barkov, okay?

Yeah, that one was like worse. No puck no puck. Yeah to me. It's worse than Kachuk on Gensel and It's not as bad as Echblad on So close here Hagel so carry the two yeah I think it's close. I get you could talk me into it either way if he's got no history No, I think he had I think he's suspended that job sucks a that's not Job worst job in the world.

And like everyone used to just fight each other and now it's like, all right, we're taking out one another and like, hit. I'm not trying to get the man fired by no stretch, but like that's one job that needs kind of to be refreshed with a new set of eyes every four or five years. Like the president. That's a great point. I never even thought of that, but it's like new set of eyes every four or five years. It should be like the president, US president. That's such a great point. I never even thought of that. It's like a fresh set of eyes.

Yes. If we can kick out presidents after four years, you can kind of move and just to refresh a new perspective and no real time to build up a hatred. Can I ask you? I don't know if you would would know that the nice ease to just that over the years like he's probably somewhat a rip aware of his reputation amongst fans of all teams and like Wouldn't that play into your resentment when you're making these decisions? That's human nature and let me just add to that, you know, as someone in media

who has written and said things, you know, we joke about the Suzuki thing I said years ago, I said that I hope Connor McDavid leaves. This isn't like, you know, I don't know, 10 years ago and, you know, like different fan bases at different times attack and it sits in you. And it sits in you and It doesn't go away like you know, yes I make a conscious effort to never say negative things that aren't justified or I can't back up There's no doubt that the peros isn't sitting there being like oh my god that fan base is the worst Whatever fan has a very good idea now. I'm sure. A.K.A. Toronto.

More for you. More for you. Whatever it is. More for you. It definitely, just to purify the biases at some point. Turn them over. Okay. The Florida Panthers.

No one saw five games. No, no one. Well, did Rory, what did Rory what did Rory say Rory Boylan? I Think I think we both said in seven. Yeah Yeah, I think the most surprising part is like Tampa Bay at the end of the season particularly post trade deadline was pretty clearly One of the best teams in the league their underlying numbers loved them. Then they added Bjork Strand and Gord Committing to go going all in Vasilevski was back to Vesna Vasilevski You know you felt like they were back, baby

every Leaf fan would have hoped that somehow some way the least would have matched up with Tampa Bay in the second round. Yeah, they've got great success against Tampa. Great success. Sure enough, Florida fans, I don't know, did they see the same thing because Vasilevsky kind of looked like the goalie. Distance shots on him with the tip. That the Leaf fans were hoping to get.

I think DA nailed it in our last segment. Like that game one totally set the tone for that series where they just score five, was it five on 16? It's like the power play goals, that bad challenge from Cooper on the goalie interference. It just kind of felt like they planted the seeded doubt pretty quickly and it just kind of snowballed on them. And now you're a Leafs fan. Look at the Tampa Bay deadline, they traded a 2026 first round pick,

2027 first round pick, 2025 second round pick. They moved on some really good picks for the years ahead and you know, what they're gonna one more year of Bjork Strand and Gord for it. Speaking of John Cooper, Larry Brooks first started with the thought of a one year extension on his contract

and whether or not and this was prior to them getting knocked out if there could be a world where John Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning part ways Getting that vibe at all getting that vibe at all? I think it's like, you know, the great players in the game, the way that they are treated and handled differently, like there's a conversation that they'll have and if he wants to and it's mutual, I could see that. I could see them getting there.

Like you talked about turnover with like certain jobs. I understand he's comfortable there and it's gone well, but maybe he just wants to try something else. What's it like in New York City? What are we up to? Eight teams? I understand he's comfortable there and it's gone well, but maybe he just wants to try something else What's it like in New York City? What are we up to eight teams? Available at least available head coaching jobs, but lots. Yeah Why I saw this on Twitter from on BR open ice wild stat in Nikita Kuturov's three Art Ross seasons

He hasn't scored a goal in the playoffs 15 In 20 told me 15 playoff games. He doesn't have a goal in 20. Yeah crazy in 2019 He in the win this sweep he had zero goals to assist 2024 lost to Florida they had seven assists no goals and this one he had four says no goals. I'm weird. Yeah Weird one. It was It's hard on the best players at this time of year. It is. Guys Keanu you watched the way Florida played that great Tampa Bay power play it was unbelievable. Kutrow touched the puck and it was moths to a flame. I mean they were all over him so yeah. Okay for

Vancouver Canuck fans I did write today in my article for the Toronto Star that a lot of questions around that organization, one of them that was brought to me from someone that has a little bit of a feel of behind the scenes on whether or not maybe the Aquilini family is contemplating a situation where they possibly sell part of the team, the majority of the team, maybe sell the team and keep the building, but there's a lot of reevaluating going on around the Vancouver Canucks and this may be one of those scenarios when the family is reevaluating. Well, I mean, franchise values have skyrocketed

in the last few years. Tough to turn down some of that cash. Yeah, and it is a family that owns the Vancouver Canucks. Francesco is the eldest son. There's three brothers, but he is the one that obviously is the face of the organization. The other two brothers, Roberto and Paolo, I think, have nothing to do with the organization

other than the family commitment financially. And you know, a lot's been going on around that organization. It's just in such a tough year, man. Really tough year, which makes a lot of people kind of reflect. Take stock. Take stock. What are we doing with our time and our money? That'll be interesting to keep an eye on.

That's one of many questions moving forward for that franchise. The Canucks fans are probably just hoping for a Wrexham style purchase from Van. Ryan Reynolds is from there, right? Yeah. He's Vancouver guy. Wrexham get promoted again. I think maybe I think they're like, he's back in the news. Yeah, they're doing stuff. They're playing real soccer now. Good for them. Yeah, pretty cool. Yeah. I mean, that's not to get to in the weeds of things but the promotion system in in European soccer. Yeah, it's very cool Extremely cool. But uh, yeah, I mean that'd be a cool guy. They got promoted. I just was told in my ear. There you go

Yeah, cuz like we'll make another self-serving documentary about I would be fine and I'll watch the heck out of it They I think the NHL and the HL should swap two teams a year. Just can you imagine? Give us your best to you'd have the Marlies. Marlies are pretty good. Admiral's just playing every year. Coming out. Didn't we just get rid of a horrific building in Arizona? You want to go back to one?

I forgot about that whole element. Rexam's not exactly a palace that they're playing in there. All right. Three games on tap. All of them have elimination. There's four games. Is it four? Oh, yeah. The Kings. The Kings Oilers stars in the Avs. Three, two, three, two, three, two, three. And Vegas. That's the one I forgot here. So who closes out and who extends? The Leafs close out, Knights cold close out.

Colorado wins and extends. Oilers close out. Three series over tonight. I think three series over tonight, but I'm going to go with the wild to extend it to game seven. They've been really good in that series. They've been good on home ice. That's going to be a rockin building. I could see them. I could see them extending it. You think Dallas beats Colorado then I do Corril the thrill has a big night tonight. Yeah, I think so that team man

They're they're giving Vegas all they can handle Capri's off. Akboldi Hartman. They think they catch doing Not great Bob Not great. Who could have seen that one coming like, you know Not great Bob Not great who could have seen that one coming like, you know Rancor has got huge numbers, but at the end of the day is his teams You know Right there. Mm-hmm. This is kind of Why the Hurricanes were willing to part ways with Martin H. Oh, this is why he's been brutal in the playoffs

He was brutal in the playoffs for Carolina and this is why people taking the victory lap on The oh how could you know Carolina did a great job of getting like, you know I'm sorry the other way around Colorado doing a great job of getting a guy point-of-game player Wait to the playoffs. He's a half a point-of-game player in the playoffs over 64 playoffs. Yes, so It'll be interesting to see the intensity out of Nate McKinnon tonight this is like this guy I fear he for the stars when he's on the ice there's a lot of guys that hate losing but there isn't a guy that hates losing more no than Nate McKinnon no I

gotta kill for some of that you guys. Okay, did they announce the awards? Heart buddy. This is the strangest thing the league is doing it is like they're just like releasing it on random days to it I I vote on them. I don't know where I haven't heard Are they is it going under the radar? It's not I live on Twitter and I do this for a living I yes, I think they've announced a few things there is four Stanley Cup playoff elimination games this evening. Maybe save the announcement for Sunday or Saturday when there's not four elimination games. It's the MVP of the league. It should get more attention. Okay, so

it's Dreissel, Halabuk Kucherov, No Nate McKinnon. I think I voted for we have a two-hour show and we We squeeze it in in the last two minutes of our show. Yeah, and that's only because I remembered well There's just so much going on for goodness sake I think All hell about might win You might I guess all the votes are already in though, right? So it's not like the the playoff stuff can I thought of your leafs last night watching Hellebuck play?

Not great, but his team picking him up. Did you you can win in other ways the snuggerude goal? This the goal that made it to to it Roses, maybe the worst goal I've seen letting all on the ice short side I just just didn't get a chat over just slid in Sorry, you know when sure he did he had a He had an unbelievable post to post save yet. Oh, yeah one really good. So it was off the charts but a stinky goal a game

Scares people that eliminates your team you give up one bad goal a game your team does not get to be in playoffs for very Long but credit to the Jets they buzz they were on fire last night They played so well and that Kyle Connor the pass he makes And the Mestikov the triangle like that backhand sauce against the grain turn domestic coffee scored his first goal in a hundred years Goes crazy. I like the Mestikov. He can play him anywhere. Yeah. Yeah. But I know what you're saying. Yeah. Like is he still Mark Shifley? Is he a $12 million player? Kyle Conner. Probably. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. All right. Just like that. 11 two hours up is a reminder. This hour. Real Kiprin born was brought to you by bet three six five four games on tap enjoy them all have a good night Sammy who's

taking you home what do you mean who's taking you home subway okay stand far back from the ledge okay we find we find everything fine breathe baby breathe We'll be fine. We'll be fine? We'll be fine. Everything's fine. Breathe, baby, breathe. Keep your composure. All right, and tomorrow, it's Friday. What do we have, Sammy, on Friday? Doug McLean, usually. And the Leafs line. Oh, call the Leafs line.

Call the Leafs line. 416-413-4141. Enjoy your games, everybody, and we're back tomorrow on the Real Kipram Bourne Show. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you.