Real Kyper & Bourne - The Call for Player's Safety Review + Garry Galley

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Former NHLer and current Sportsnet hockey analyst Garry Galley (5:19) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to discuss the increased amount of interest with international hockey competitions, Ottawa Senators' road to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Detroit Red Wings sliding out of the race, what's next for the Maple Leafs after not responding to Radko Gudas' knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews, and if the NHL should look into protecting their star players more. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee chat about whether changes are needed in the NHL Department of Player Safety, Connor McDavid's recent comments about reviewing the department's process following a hit towards his linemate Leon Draisaitl, and why the league must consider a return to a 1-8 seeded postseason format at the ongoing GM meetings.  The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, let's take your national on the Real Kipper and Boren show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. And streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube where we always appreciate a thumbs up. Great chat. Always can be found on YouTube. This hour of Real Kippren Boren brought to by Bet365. Nick Kippreels, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee.

In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Gary Galley, former National Hockey League. analysts with Sportsnet Hockey Night in Canada watching the senators get ever so closer to a playoff spot, Sammy. Good for them. Good for them. Good for Ontario, Sam. Oh, yeah, great.

Great. Right now the two wildcard spots are Boston and Detroit and right below it, Columbus and Ottawa and the NHL is going, oh, don't do that. Leave us Boston to Detroit, please. Oh, come on. Did you guys see the big announcement today the World Cup of Hockey?

Yes. Prague, Edmonton, and Calgary will host. Basically the same cities. What's the difference, really? That trophy is. Those jerseys, that trophy jersey combination where they beat Team North America in the final. Let's not do that again.

You don't like the trophy? Can we get excited about this? Well, I'm excited about Calgary and Edmonton. That's awesome. Are we still calming down from the Olympics? Lots to like, right? Like, it's going to be a better version of the four nations. Calgary and Edmonton will be great host cities.

Stanley Cup playoff over time, five on five. Lots to like. Prague is very strange to me because it's like... Why? So far away. Could they have picked a further place from Emmenton? Or a more different city.

It's like the most beautiful city on earth on the other side of the world. They got to grow the game. In Prague? Yeah. Europe. Oh, I think it's pretty popular in Prague. I'm not sure if that's the spot to pick if you're trying to grow the game.

Maybe you think about Germany or whatever. I know. But it is fascinating. I guess they're just, you need a third venue, and they'll have a couple teams over there and then meet in. I still think there's. Do we know the dates, same dates as the Olympics, February, where we're going to cram the schedule again like we did before?

McKee, you got an answer on that one? Sammy, what do you got for us? No date. 27, 28. He's got the year. February. It's February. It is February.

Okay. All right. So then, like, someone's going to fly from Prague for the finals in plain Alberta, presumably? That's tough. Yeah. Listen, it's... In February. I don't know how these guys are going to do this every other year.

I don't. I think it's too much. There's a trail of limbs falling off? I mean, it's usually going to be the same guys. It's going to be the same demand on a Connor McDavid. and Nate and these guys, if they're still in a position which we think will be competing for Stanley Cups,

I mean, we're talking about a lot of wear and tear on these guys. Yeah. But you want to grow the game, right? This is all about growing the game and growing revenues. It's not about growing the game. What is it about then? It's about competition at the highest level between nations and being proud about hockey.

Okay, but do we need to do that every other year? Yeah. You say that. like it's every other week. We do need to do that. I know we've gone from not having it at all for like, I don't know, 12, 14 years. But now it's like, now we're going to do like six and 12 years. People love it.

They love it. You know, I know, but they. You don't think that was a big deal in the States that they won? I think to get the emotions up to where we've seen it in the past had a lot to do with the fact that it disappeared for. such a long time. I'm not sure it can still hold that high every other year. It's kind of like the outdoor game guys where you still enjoy the outdoor game. You're just not paying attention to it as much as you used to.

I kick. He's not in. You're going to compare best on best hockey to an outdoor game? No, I'm going to compare that when you give anybody anything too much of, they can get a little tired of it. How about this? Sammy. Okay. How about the comparison of rider cups?

And then every other year they do a president's cup, right? Is that or, right? It's one-off. It's Bing, bang, at the end of every year. And at least in that scenario, every other year, there's one that people don't really care as much about. Hey, the president's cup features are great Canadians. That's great.

But like everyone's like, the president's cup, okay, whatever. But it's a rider cup. Hey, he'll be at the president's cup. Oh, Sazzy, my boy. Love you, Sussie. Yeah. Yellow Marajou, I believe. Out of boy.

But so my point is, will the World Cup or the Olympics, will either one of them hold less cachet? Can one of them be so secondary that guys go, look, I just need a break, I can't do it. But they would never miss the Olympics. Or maybe it's flipped. That's interesting. You know, where it's kind of not the same value. Let's ask our next guess. Gary Galilee's always, always great to bounce a few things off.

Gals, how are you, my friend? I'm doing great, guys. How are you? Okay, so we went from never having any international hockey and Connor missing out on the Olympics and he wants it really badly to now we've got a World Cup to look forward to as early as 2028. Just is it just we're never going to get enough of this now moving forward or are we pushing the envelope with keeping people engaged at that high level that we've been accustomed to the last couple of times between four nations and the Olympics? that's kind of like the outdoor game right you know you start off with one and that's everyone loves it and then two three and now you got you know series going on and two or three a year and uh you know but you know they're always sold out and everyone seems to love watching them so i guess at the end of the day you know i go back to you know to my youth watching hockey and international play and you remember 72 you remember 76 remember the canada cups you know that came along and they were glued to your seat events and you and you didn't You very seldom seen best on best like that, especially back in the early parts of the 70s

when the Russian players weren't over here playing and a lot of the European players weren't here. Now we're here. We get to see them all the time on a regular basis on their own teams, similar to the baseball classic where every player knows everybody and they're out there trying to win for their country, but they're also teammates with these guys as well.

You know, it makes it a little more difficult. But yeah, I think the four nations face off just really was like a shot of adrenaline. I think that opening face off of Canada, US, just ignited a whole new interest and maybe a whole new generation of different people watching it because just the adrenaline junkies of it all and excitement of it all.

The Olympics did not disappoint, exciting, seeing the best on best, and seeing the talent level and playing at a speed, that's the thing that blows everybody away, especially even veteran players who played in the game a long time, commented on how fast. the game was it how good these players are at very high breakneck speeds.

And so, yeah, they're going to continue to cash in on that. I think that that's something that they can do. The league is always looking to get, you know, revenue. The cap keeps going up. So, you know, life is good in the National Hockey League. And the players aren't complaining. They seem to like to be in these type of events. So, yeah, I mean, the condensed schedule, guys, I mean, it is going to be a bear come playoff time.

I'm interested to see how the players hang on through the third and fourth round of the playoffs, especially the guys who played in the Olympics and didn't get the break. Yeah, gals, before I ask my question, you have one of the most impressive hat collections of any of the people we have on frequently. What are we sporting today? Today is the St. Patty's hat. It's, of course, tomorrow. This is your pre-Ginnis drinking hat? Yeah, you know what?

I had to wear the green jacket last game on Saturday because I don't do a game until Wednesday. So it's not really, you can't really bring the green out after. Yeah. So it's got to come out before. So I had to drag it out the game on Saturday. So, you know, unfortunately, tomorrow I'll be flying to Washington, wearing my green hat and green shirt and et cetera. And, you know, so, yeah, I have to hold off on the Guinness till post game on Wednesday.

But, but, you don't have to. Well, tomorrow night, you know, when I get in, when I land, most likely, a few Guinness is on tap. But yeah, I mean, I'm Irish, and I'm married to Callahan, so you can imagine. Yeah, we're an Irish crew for sure. Right on. You're watching and listening to Gary Galley,

former National Hockey League, Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada, analysts. So we've got ourselves a playoff race here, particularly in the East. You've studied and done many Ottawa Senators games. I'm happy for them. I'm happy that they're in it. I'm happy that they look like a good hockey club,

which they have all year long, and I'm happy that Allmark is maybe settling in now. So where do you have them as a potential playoff team? Well, I think everybody has this, this is a must-win thing, right? Unless you're playing in game 82 and you have to win, you know, or the numbers mathematically just don't add up if you don't win, it's not a must-win. And so everybody went into the Ottawa Montreal game and felt for Ottawa it was a must win.

I didn't quite feel that way. If I looked at them and I say, well, you got 17 games left and you're going to have to go maybe 12, 4 and 1 to get in. So that doesn't make that game a must win. It means that you have to go 12, 4 and 1. And that's what you're going to have to do to get in. That's the number you're going to have to add up to have a chance to get in, you think. And maybe it will be, maybe it won't. But so they lose that game.

And I think a couple of people were upset with Allmark in that game. They felt like, you know, at least one of those goals you should have had, if not two. And they kind of felt like the goalie at the other end, the young kids stole the show, especially at the end. So again, this veteran goalie didn't answer the bell. But, you know, I didn't think it was as bad as everyone was making it. And, you know, I didn't think he was that bad in the game. Yeah, it wasn't a really good rebound on the Demidoff goal. But, you know, two of your most solid players, defensive players, Pinto and Zube, let him walk right through.

and get the rebound. So you've got to start to look at, not just the goaltender, but overall the breakdowns. Like you look at last night, like Lane Hudson had no business going into the corner and stepping in front of the Anaheim player so that if the puck came loose, the Anaheim player was first to his net.

In a tie game, I think that's where Lane has to be a little more selective and say, okay, look, we're tied, we're playing a Western Conference team, we get to overtime, we guarantee a point. We're not going to sell a farm, here and take a risk that's unnecessary. And I think that's the thing that a lot of coaches with, especially when they give the green light to their defensemen all the time,

you also have to work with them. And I know these guys work on it. And you can see how upstate Hudson was after the goal went in. He was so mad at himself. You know, you just can't bite on that. So you've got to look at other factors, how you defend. It's going to be really important. But it's going to be an exciting finish.

I think Ottawa is still in it. I think there's going to be some real teams that are going to be on the end of it. and out of it at the end that thought they were going to get in, possibly, and it's going to be an ugly finish for some teams. So, but exciting for the fans and exciting for us. I mean, it's been an awesome, since the comeback from the Olympics. It's going to be a great run. You know, it kind of feels like a year of, I don't know,

halves and have notts. You got the three teams in the central there that are so legit. And I'm not sure that there's many other teams that anyone would really commit to and say they're super teams. I want to ask you about our Canadian teams because Montreal is now, is a couple of losses. There's three points above being outside of the playoff pitcher. Edmonton's five points from being outside the playoff pitcher.

We also could get the Jets in and have four Canadian teams. Where are we going to end up? I know every guy's rolling their eyes at me about the Jets, but we could have as have as many as four Canadian teams could have zero. You're correct. You're correct. And the Oilers have two games up on Cracken. The Cracken have two games in hand.

So technically, if the Cracken were to win their two games in hand, they would be tied with them. Right. So, I mean, it's a lot tighter there than, you know, the position and the points look. I don't think you can count San Joseo yet. You know, I think, you know, the Kings making a few deals in losing Fiala.

I think I find maybe they're going to have a hard time to find their way in. But I think the sharks, they're a young team. I watched them in Montreal the other night. I was blown away with the speed. And, you know, they're learning how to defend better. They're starting to understand the 200-foot game. They're starting to understand how to play

in their end. You could see it's not a perfect science right now, but they're getting better. And I think they did a great job against Montreal, but, you know, kind of fell off a bit against Ottawa. They got a little bit sloppy in Ottawa, but I thought in Montreal they looked really good. So I wouldn't count them out yet. And yeah, I mean, I really think Montreal, when push comes to shove, will, will continue to put Ws up on the board and get themselves in. You know, jets are outside looking in for sure. Ottawa is going to be, you know, a real incredible finish for them. And the Oilers, you know, you'd like to think that they would be able to insert themselves

and just really push the pedal down and just get themselves in and leave everyone behind. But they haven't done it yet, and that worries me. And it's helping Montreal, maybe a few other teams, particularly in the Atlantic and in the East, when it comes to maybe a team like Columbus and Ottawa, that the Detroit Red Wings, man, what looked like a very comfortable position, all of a sudden. sudden is probably putting some worry into Stevie Eisenman here. Tonight, a handful of games, including a very important one with Calgary Flames tonight, but did you see Detroit slipping out of this thing ever since Christmas?

Any team that has not been in this position for a long time, I had a feeling was going to fight to hang on to it. because, you know, it's one thing getting to that spot. It's another thing hanging on to it when the pressure starts to mount up and teams start pushing and you have a couple of losses where in the middle of the season you had a couple losses, but, you know, hey, it's no big deal. You strung three or four wins together and it's all good. Now a couple of losses are like, wow, we've got teams getting closer and closer.

Injuries are a factor. So you start adding the injuries that Detroit are sustaining and that's affecting their club. So every team has injuries. Every team has to get through it. Gibson was as good as it gets during the regular season. I think everything is just coming down to a little more normal than we're used to seeing with Detroit, and that's why they're falling into the mix.

I still think they're in a good spot to be able to control their own destiny. I think that's going to be the biggest part of it. And the proof in the pudding is that they've done it for a lengthy period of time. You know, the one team I kept thinking, and I know it's bad to say that, but I kept thinking that Buffalo was going to eventually slide their way back into the pack fighting for a spot and they have not.

They have just, I was really curious. That was the one team I was watching coming out of the Olympic break because they were on such an incredible run to get to the Olympic break. I thought that break maybe just maybe the balloon breaks a little bit when they come back, but boy, they came back

and they had stepped on it again and man oh man, they are they're leading that division and they may go ahead and win that division, which would be something. It would be, but I think there's an interesting point to be made about having not been there before. And so teams like,

the team like Buffalo, let's just hang on and see how this goes down the stretch. Could be interesting yet. You know, watching the Toronto Maple Leafs here, we were kind of rooting for them to tank it to the bottom five for a little while in our Leafs hour. Well,

I was. Kipp's not on board with that. I know. But then they, you know, they win a couple of hockey teams recently, but this all kind of comes in the shadow of the Matthews event, and the lack of reaction.

And then the following reaction that came the period after that. Wanted to get your thoughts on the play, the reaction and sort of the fallout here. Did you see knoblocked comments after the game last night? No, I didn't. So they hit on dry siddle. Yeah, saw that.

So it was a hit on dry siddle and there was a reaction, you know, and the reaction wasn't just instantaneously. It went on the rest of the game pretty much. It was like a guys were taking penalties. They were going after the player over and over again. And after the game, he said that he had to take those penalties.

As a coach, even though they're in a tough spot, they got to win games, because that's the fabric of what you want your team to be. You want them to be able to stick up for one another. If they don't do that, then you've got a real problem. So you have to, as a coach, you don't want a guy jumping a guy and taking a two or four minute penalty just because he's proving a point. You don't hit our star player. But if you don't do that, I think the repercussions are worse. So he understood that and he accepted that. I think what happened in Toronto, obviously was a lapse in judgment by four guys.

And the bench, you know, could answer at their time and their discretion. But those four guys on the ice don't get that. They don't get that opportunity. They have to react within a split millisecond. And the reaction has to be one without thought. You know, a thought of self, thought of anything else, you have to just go. And they didn't. And I think to their own admission, they recognized that it certainly wasn't a good thing.

look and all you can do from here on forward is grow from it. I mean, you can't change the event that happened on the ice. As an organization, you have to look at these players and go, okay, are these players the type of players that we want on our team? Do we think they will be those type of players? No matter how long they've been there, it doesn't really matter, you know, and then move forward with the organization, how you feel like and the players that you want on your team. So, you know, it was a real tough thing to watch for a lot of people, but I'm sure the players, you know, that were on the ice and that were involved in that, you could tell after the game that they, you know, they knew they had dropped the ball. And so, hey, we'll see

how things move forward there, but it certainly wasn't a good look. I didn't like the suspension of five games. I thought five, well, I said five to 15 in my head because I thought, you know, they could give them five because that's what they could give them. But I'm thinking more like, you know, 10 to 15 was probably more where I was thinking because of just the person. and the amount of times he's done it and he is a predatory player. You know, the league has a half, maybe a half dozen of those types of guys that the league has to keep control of. You like how hard they play, but sometimes they cross lines and they seriously hurt people. And that was a serious injury, but it could have been a heck of a lot worse.

I mean, driving that leg into his knee like that, I mean, I think that there should have been more there. But, you know, again, I'm not in the office with George and going through all the parameters and what they're looking at. the amount of time between suspensions and all that stuff. So, gals, what are the ripple effects of the Austin Matthews, Goudis, is the storyline now goes kind of national in terms of, are we protecting our stars good enough, right? Is it warranted that it does get revisited? We heard from Connor McDavid, of course, the agent,

he lashed out at the league. In your opinion, does it need to be revisited now? Well, you know, I know guys have heard this before. Who puts bums in the seats, right? Star players put bums in the seats. And every player knows that. So if your star players are getting hurt and they're not in the lineup and fans aren't getting a chance to see them,

that's not a good look for your league for sure. I do think you have to protect them. You know what? It's crazy because you think, like I remember back in the day, I got ran on an icing one time. I think it was McKenzie and Hartford, ran me on an icing. I mean, just knock me silly.

I was knocked out for a couple seconds. You know, I woke up. The trainer was there. And I was laying on the ice, Stewie, the referee, Paul Stewart, skates over to me. And he kneels down to me. And he says, hey, gals, don't worry about it. I'm just going to give them a two. I'm going to keep me in the game.

We're going to get them. You have to understand. You have to understand. Like, I'm dazed. I really don't know where I am. And the trainer's asking me all kinds of questions. And here's Stewie in my ear. telling me, don't worry.

I'm not going to throw them out. I'm going to leave them. We'll get them. We're going to get them. And, of course, that was the thought process of a guy who played the game and played the game at a real tough level and realized that this something has to be, just has to be taken care of right away. We're not going to let this faster. This guy's going to answer the bell for what happened here.

And I guess he did. I don't remember. I was in the locker. I didn't go back and play after. But I thought it was kind of comical. And, you know, the league, when they do this suspension, you think they would have made it six game suspension at least, so the two teams didn't have to hit each other right back again with Goetis back in the lineup, which is like, why don't you just pull a pin in a grenade and

throw it. But that could be Peros doing the Stewart thing. Peros could be going, hey, boys, don't worry, we're going to get them back in there for you. You're going to be dressing the whole Marley lineup. It's going to be like, I'm going to be. I mean, does this make teams go look for guys that can police each other more? Are they out there? Can you develop them?

Can you find them? Well, do you remember what happened to Panaron? He got ragdolled. Yeah, yeah. He went in to jump in for someone. He got ragdolled. And then what happened after that? They brought in, was it McDermott?

They started bringing in guys. They're like, when an event happens to your player on your team, that's what, go back to Ed Schneider and the Philadelphia flyer. An event happens and everything changes. And I'm not saying it always stays that way. You know, the leaves, the Leafs picked up Reeves because they had a number of star players that didn't want people taking liberties on them. You look at the senators picked up a couple tougher guys because they, you know,

they got Stutzla and Bath and they got guys. They don't want guys. They don't want to Chuck doing it. They want him playing. So teams are doing it. They are doing it, but you're right. The guys that can play the game and are tough, the garons, the guys that were like, you know, that you could throw in a lineup, the nice drums, they go back in time.

And, you know, that, you know, Wilson, these guys can play at a high level. and they also are mean and they can settle scores and they can jump in and they could keep, you know, they could be a deterrent to other players. That's something that is hard to find.

Anybody could find a player that can maybe get by on your fourth line. You can hide them a little bit, but when you need him, you know, he's going to be there. But, you know, the players that want a player and the teams that want to go with four lines and run them and get those lines running,

it's hard to find a player like that. One thing I've been wondering watching a lot of the Canadian team. So like there's a lot of potential top picks to come to Canada here. Vancouver and Calgary are in the bottom. Toronto could be Winnipeg could be, you know, these guys could come. How do the players on those teams feel about the idea of hey, we get to draft high? Like we, I got to believe it's not great when you're thinking we're going to draft a guy who might take my job. Like the players we know, when teams are tanking, these guys are not incentivized to lose that are actually in the jerseys. Yeah. When you say tanking, I don't.

I don't think the teams are tanking. I think the teams just are losing because they're not good enough to win. Okay. So you can call it tanking, but tanking to me means that the players are deliberately losing on purpose. I think it's the GMs being like, I'm taking out the good players. The GM could,

you're right. The GM could set it up for failure, for sure. Yeah. But the players who dress and put on the sweater do not go on the ice to fail. They go on the ice to succeed as personally. They go on the ice to succeed as a team. and although it doesn't look like it, I can remember at times being on teams

where we were rebuilding and things were really tough. And I'd be after the game answering questions in the media all the time. And I'd say, like, sometimes the way they were asking the question, like, guys, you don't think we're trying that. You don't think we're actually, you know, you know how hard it is to go out there and lose, you know, three out of every four games and you're trying to win

and you just can't win. It's very frustrating. It's not like you just leave it at the rank and you go home. And hey, to your wife and kids and they're happy, go lucky. and, you know, you're miserable. You're absolutely miserable. So, you know, I don't believe that the players do it, so I think they are out there battling.

And so I don't even think they, I know for me, I never thought of a draft pick coming or any of that stuff. I never worried about any of the things that were out of my control. You know, I just worried about trying not to be a minus player. Try to put up a couple of points to, like, get a better contract, try to, you know, just try to survive.

Gals, great stuff, as always, man. Really appreciate you coming on the show. Thanks for doing this. All right, you guys. Take care. Enjoy the finish. Yeah, you two, safe travels. Happy St. Pat's Day for you this week, too.

Are they going to be in the jerseys? Tomorrow night? Yeah. Tonight? Tomorrow night. Nice jerseys. Yeah, really nice. But they've...

Against the Iilders, too. They've gen Zed them up. Have they? Yeah. They've done like, it's like a little... They've done like a take on it. How do you know this stuff? Is it out on the internet?

Because they've done a take? They've done a take. Like, it's... how do I know this? You're a jersey guy. I know you're a jersey guy, but I mean like, you got inside information here? I got, no, it's the same one they wore

as the last couple of years. It's too bright a green. Yeah. It's way too vibrant of a green. The ones that Matt's and Dean, like when I was a kid, they used to wear them every year, they're like that really deep forest green.

Yeah, Kelly Green like the Eagles wear. Yeah. Maybe a little darker than that even. And they wore the brown pants and the brown bucket, and they really like leaned into the old school vibe, which I love. But now I just think they've kind of gen Z.

Lepreconned it up a little bit. Gen Z, you know. But now I feel like an old guy for talking about the generation before me. Yeah, that's officially one of the starts. Yeah. That's how you feel about me?

I don't even know what order Gen Z. Is there in a Gen Alpha? I don't even know what's what anymore. So did you guys, you know, you just finished off that conversation with gals about, with the suspension stuff. I know we played the clip in our first hour.

Did you guys want to play the Connor clip here? and have a conversation on the back of it? Yeah. Okay. So Connor was asked about the suspension of Matthews, and this was the answer that he gave, Derek. Connor. Yeah, you know, I think the player safety has done their best.

It's not an easy thing to do. You know, with that being said, I think that there is reason to take a look at how the whole person process works, you know, if every time there's a suspension, everybody complains about it. Well, why don't we, why don't we take a look at the process and, and figure it off there's a better way to make sure that both parties are happy because, you know, it seems like there's a lot of frustration there.

So I am in the complete, complete raging minority. But everyone that got to fix, Department of Player Safety. once in a while they get the auto and wrong. I think they do a pretty good job. Suspensions are down, way down over years. Headshots are pretty much out of the game. They've sanitized it. The game is safer than it's ever been.

Cleaner and safer. If you made me the head of the Department of Player Safety and Sam and you, and we all watch the exact same play, we would very often come up with a different suspension, right? We would disagree on it and we'd be like, I don't think so I don't see it. That way we would come up with a different number. Kibber would be like that.

That's fine. That's fine. Yeah, you're fine. So my point is that whoever you get, people are going to disagree with the suspensions because they see it differently and they want different things. And, you know, you often hear the point like the NHLPA is also defending the player

who threw the hit. They don't want long suspensions for guys who they don't want to take money out of their pocket. They represent them too. So what does overhaul it mean? Have someone else make the call? Okay, fine. Someone new. Sure.

He's been doing the job for a long time. I'm not trying to. I think. I think, which there's a lot of CEO jobs where the companies just say, you know, every five or seven years we're getting a new CEO, no matter what. Yes. Right? It's just, it needs fresh.

Like, say, the president of the country. Whatever the case is. Thank God. I'm not calling for George to get fired here. But I think that's, that is a position where it could use a fresh coat of paint. It could use a new face, a new angle. Sure. And the process.

You know, I don't even know. How long did Shanney do it? No one does it for very long because you've heard Brian Burke say himself. Like it's not a job. Eventually the one, the miss is pile of up. I've had it the longest maybe, right? Because I don't know,

but between Brian Burke and Shanny, it's one of those jobs where it's like, it's highly visible. It can buy you time if you want to get back into it. If you want to be a GM or a, it's a nice thing to have a feather in your cap when you get hired. George Peros was hired by the NHL Department of Player Safety

on September 7th, 2016. Oh, wait. Yeah, 10 years. 10 years. 10 years. 10 years. Or just buy it. He initially joined his director in the department

before being promoted to senior vice president of player safety in September 2017, taking over the head of the department. Wow. To sit here and tell you how exactly it works, I don't think anybody can do that, including all the insiders, right? Ultimately,

George Peros is the face and the guy that gets to announce it, therefore he wears it the most, right? But who else is in the office? How much influence do they have? I'd like to see it less in the hands of one guy. I'd like to see it go to a committee, a panel. preferably guys have done it, been in that situation,

have a better feel for exactly what could be going through someone's mind and not. I do believe that that is when you've experienced it, when you've lived it, you might have a better idea of the different things that might have been going into thought process and all of that. And then whether we're talking about four guys, five guys, six guys, hey, take a secret ballot, put a number in, and come out with a medium. Love that idea. This is not a hockey boy.

And I also don't think you have to have been a heavyweight, you know, to weigh in on, you know, but a player. Someone who's been in. I need a guy who is soft as baby doo-doo. Perfect. Because there are guys in the league that are like that. I want to know what they're thinking. Get five of those people.

So, yeah. I'm on that idea. Yeah. I need all angles. Like five guys. I need star players. I need tough guns. I need penalty killers.

I need everybody that had different views. Different views. But I think for the first time and a long time, I mean, fans can't stand, Paris. Every single decision that's made, they think that he's bad at his job, especially Lee fans take him to task all the time, myself included. Yes.

But you're the leader. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Okay. I'll take that on the nose. But. Do you think that the league thinks he's doing a good job? Like, isn't that all that matters?

Been there's 10 years. Isn't that all that matters? That's all you need to know if they're doing a good job. If Connor McDavid... Time. When he was asked about it, he didn't like unprompted call a press conference to say it. He was asked. He gave his opinion or whatever.

Does that change the outlook for him when the league's number one star is saying that and the league, the agent for two of the biggest players in the league is putting out strongly worded letters towards the league? That has to matter. This is Judd Moldaver as Rich Paul to me, using his influence to influence the league. Totally. But it's okay. That's okay.

Because he does have influence because he's got two of the biggest stars in the league. Yep. And if it... He's pulling levers at his control. If it gets somebody to look in the mirror and reassess, it's not the worst thing in the world. No. And again, I'm fine with it being someone else. I like your idea of a committee of people and multiple how many games they think it should

become of the consensus, like those ideas. I just, it hasn't been, it's one man's opinion, people are always going to disagree. Whoever the one man is. The committee would be so much easier to sell to fans that it was 10 people that came up with a number. Sure. And it's just so much easier to sell.

Surely they couldn't all get it wrong. It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the Afflatest odds. Must be 19 plus Ontario only. Please play it responsibly. How many games tonight? Five games on the ice tonight.

including a big one for the, well, they're all big for the Red Wings who are absolutely leaking oil here. They are taking on the Calgary Flames at home. Huge favorites, as you would imagine, that game. Minus 185 on the money line there. The Calgary Flames are plus 155. Good one later tonight.

Maybe the return of Sid in Colorado tonight. I saw on the NHL.com's website. They're, they're kind of, of holding on for deer life as well. So the one thing going for them in the Metro is the fourth best team in the Metro stinks. I think it's Philly. Philly's like, I don't know, six points back at least seven points back. So them in the Islanders probably okay.

So they are in Colorado. They're big underdogs, as you would imagine, plus 180 in the money line. Colorado Avalanche minus 220. And I guess a big one for the least tank, if that's still a thing. Devils hosting the Bruins, minus 125 on the money line. The Devils. Yeah. Anyways, we should probably go here.

That was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please pay responsibly. Okay, let's catch our breath with a commercial break. And when we return, we'll go a little deeper into the Edmonton Oilers, including who's their number one goalie. And maybe an update on Leon Drysidal. Okay.

If you got one, I'm listening. That more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. Hey, it's Matt Markezy. And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the program.

Nick Kippre is Justin Born. Sammy McKee. It's the Real Kipper and Born show, National Edition. This hour of Real Kippering Born brought to by Bet, 365. The Edmonton Oilers, making some news. Yeah. They may have a starting goalie that they believe in now.

Okay. Connor Ingram. Do you want to hear the clip from the coach? Sure. Yeah. Derek, the Knobach clip. Right now we are going to be playing the best goalie and the who's given us the best chance of winning each night. We don't have, we've got, I believe, one back to back later in April.

So it's not. that our goaltender can't be playing all these games. I think it's a heavy workload to be giving Connor all those games. But yeah, right now, Connor is our starting goalie. He will get in the majority of the starts as of now until something changes. I like this. Instead of just kind of just leaving it out there, just build them up, get them ready. Mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually, whatever the case is.

you're our guy. I love it. Listen, I'm on board. It's the best of some dicey feeling options. Does the story of Connor McDavid finally gets his Stanley Cup happen in front of Connor Ingram? I don't know. Oh, it's a long shot.

I mean, it almost happened in front of Calvin Pickard, boys. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you're right, it is. It's. But it's... The odds are against, but you don't have any other choice. but to take whatever odds you have with him. And I will say if it falls apart based on him,

that's going to reflect on the people who made the decision for it to be him, right? Yeah, that decision, the jari trade probably keeps stamboleming up at night right now. If you think about the amount of pressure that's on that position in that market and just bringing in a new guy after the Skinner, which was such a flashpoint thing there with Skinner, and then you trade him away for a guy. that's been way worse than Skinner ever was. Yeah. It's just a really tough.

You know, Stu Skitter's kind of having a Kevin Adams year. It's a great way. Where retroactively we're looking back at his work and going pretty good. That's worse. You know. Sure would help. They get in the playoffs, though. Yeah.

You mean Edmonton or Pitt. Pitt. Yeah. I just mean looking back at his time in Edmonton going, maybe it was tough to goal 10 there like really tough i mean he's stew skinner though like he's just having like he's got an 892 he had an 891 last year he had an 896 the year before he's just being stew skinner yeah he's not great he's not great but they would kill for 892 from their backup goalie right now yeah so uh i think 15 or 14 games left for the edmonton oilers um i hear

perhaps many of them may be without leon dry siddle is that right took a hit uh sunday night Ozzy Westblatt Weisblatt? Weisblatt? Is it wise? Wise? I don't know. I'm not wise.

So it could be wheeze. Another star, you know, with a hit. I don't know. I've only seen the hit once or twice. I think it looked okay. Oh, yes. But you take a run at our star player. As gals told us earlier on the top of the hour,

that Edmondion tried their best to get to them, you know, and still finding a way to win the game, good on them. But perhaps, you know, a suspected knee injury here. Was knee, was it? Which may fall into that kind of category with Sid Crosby and maybe week to week here. If he finds a way to get a few games in at the end of the season, I think it would be a good thing. Yeah. But we'll see how it goes.

but what I'm told is week to week right now for Leon. Okay. That's, uh, go ahead. They got to make the playoffs. Yeah. You know, they are not, here you go, if you're watching. Yeah, it's awkward into the boards. Shaking it out a little bit.

But they are five points up on the last playoff spot. Playoffs. Out of way, Cappy, giving them a full charge. I don't know what this does for, for Connor, too, right? Paulson's awesome. Vancouver let him go. Yeah, they did. Yeah, he's really stepped up this year.

You know, he's just become a pretty good all-around guy for them. You look up and down this lineup for the Oilers, though. It's nothing new, guys, but a lot of Savoy and Dickens and Samansky Pod Coles and Max Jones. Savoy's come in and mid. These are fine. He's fine, you know, he could end up with 15 goals, 17 goals this year. You've watched Machelli. Matias Machieli is going to end up with that.

number two. There's a lot more to hockey than that. They just put their big acquisition of the deadline, Colton Dock, on LTIR. So he's going to be out for however many games that means. Murphy does defend. That's good. So we'll keep an eye on the Oilers. What is that? Schedule here coming up?

I can tell you. Just take a quick look for me. Yes, they can. All right. So they got the Sharkey's tomorrow night. Homestand? I think it's a homestand. Yeah, followed by the Florida Panthers who aren't doing great.

and then the Tampa Bay Lightning. After that, Utah Mammoth, Vegas Golden Knights, Anaheim Ducks. Yish, those are all pretty good teams. They got to, okay, what do we, did we have Tampa Bay as the best team maybe in the league two weeks ago? Yeah, yeah, now you're not so sure, huh? I don't know, take a good look at the standings, and you tell me how safe even Tampa Bay should feel right now.

So they get 84 points in 65 games, and the cutoff for playoffs is 80 at Detroit Red Wings, with Columbus is 79, Ottawa at 77. We're talking about a bad week. Yeah. They have a couple games in hand, so they could keep. But you don't want to lose like three in a row. Well, you know, I remember going through this, you know, over the last nine years of the Leafs, where you go through the, you lose a few games, you go, God, we're not that far from right out of it.

And that's how I feel about Montreal. Montreal two, three points out of the playoffs, or, you know, from being out of the playoffs, they've got some soft schedule coming up. Like, they're fine. But, you know, if you lose a goalie at a bad time or a good player, all of a sudden, it's like, it's all so perilous.

It's all so close, the margins. I think it happened. I am a little worried about the Oilers without Drysiddle. I mean, he's... Drysiddle is arguably one of the biggest individual losses you can have. He's one of the best players in the league. And your team is built on you guys. He plays 23 minutes a night for them.

Like, well, probably not that much. But he is, and his passing is incredible. He has such a weird sense. Like, even the other night he scores that one against Nashville where he just kind of zips it on the ice. He just kind of knows where it puts the goalie in an awkward spot. He just has such a good sense for offense. So this is the perfect spot because they're 75 points.

This is the perfect spot to bring this up. Come on, Gary. If you're doing stuff with the GM meetings, it's time to change the playoffs stuff. Like it's it's one versus eight the two division winners get the top two seeds Let's just do that for the rest of time Why like that division? Anaheim ducks are we even sure we want the division winners to get the job too

You still have some incentive Minnesota now is really turned into your Toronto Tampa nightmare Totally yeah Minnesota's got no chance of finishing anywhere but there and did you guys watch that They're fast asleep they're not they're just why does this matter? I think that had a lot to do with it too. They're going, okay, what are we going to kill ourselves here for? Right. They're like, yeah, Utah would have to win every game the rest of the year. Are they fourth overall right now?

In the league? Yeah. I think so, right? Well, they're tight, no, they'll be tied with, uh, okay. They're tied with Buffalo for fourth. Yeah. Okay. 88 points.

Yeah. And they're going to start without home ice advantage. Without home ice advantage against the Dallas starts. Yes. Thanks. Awesome. A top three team. And so say what you want about creating division rivalries.

If I own the Minnesota Wild, I'm like, hey, Gary, what are we doing? Yeah. Like, I spent a billion dollars getting this caprizov kid and trading for this guy. I'm going to get two home games? Yeah, thanks, man. Two playoffs. I can't argue, man.

It's a bad look. Yeah, it's not awesome. And it's just, I don't know, it's happened for a long time here. Every year, it's a different division that it feels like it happens. And it happened in the Atlantic forever. You know what's funny? It's happened in this division forever. I forget who wrote it today.

I do love one, Pete, that's now that it's another division, people are allowed to complain about it, but when leave fans are upset about it, it's like, oh, shut up. It's the way it is. Over the nine years of the Matthews-Marner core, they had like 890 points. Like they were just under 100 points per season on average. And that was the third most over that span behind Boston and Tampa Bay. Two teams in their division the whole time were just a few points better over that span. Just like everything they could have gone wrong for that group went wrong.

You just had to play the same, the two best teams in the league every year. We did show years where in November. we were like, well, they're playing Tampa in April. Do you think you get any indication from people you talk to or anything that they'll ever change? They got the jam meetings right now. That has to be a priority. I'm sure it's being, I don't know if it's on the agenda or they even would admit to it. Once you officially put something on the agenda, then everybody knows you're officially worrying about it or questioning it.

But you want to float stuff not on the agenda? But you want, I'm sure behind the scenes, they're talking about it for sure. Sure. You know? So you went to those GM meetings. Yeah. And how? Okay, first of all.

Yeah. He's about to crap. You're, you're, you're just coming out of like a trade deadline. They're exhausted. It's been a long season. They're down there for some umbrella drinks. I don't know what they're down there for. Boys are mixing in a margarita for sure.

This isn't at the table of an umbrella in your drink. GMs are dying right now, right? They're either like chasing a playoff sponsor. Everything's about like all they're going into those meeting is is with with whatever they've experienced in the last 60 or 70 games and how it's affected them personally. That's not how you want a meeting. No, you want everyone zoomed out looking at the green. Like in July. I'm sorry if it pulls you from your cottages, but have it July and August when you have a bit of a more of an open mind on stuff.

Yeah. You know, that's my opinion of it. So you don't get to as media at that. You're not in the meetings, obviously. But after the meetings. They've been actually really good. They've pulled us in after meetings and done Q&As and left a couple of general managers.

It's always a good time to kind of, you know, for Elliott to suck up to a few people. Yeah, that's good. Right. You know, talking to Daryl Sutter, he used to go to those with the flames and he was talking about how, you know, in that time, so that's early 2000s.

A lot of it was like a few owners who are very vocal who are very wealthy. It's Jeremy Jacobs and the Boston Bruins And it's a few of these guys who kind of run the league And have run it for a lot of years Saying here's what we should do And some of the new guys being like Actually, I just spent $2 billion.

I got some input now. So on a couple of general manager meetings, I've been lucky enough to have one owner go, how are you getting home? I said, I don't know, I got a commercial flight tomorrow. I'm leaving right now if you want to come with me. Just hop on a plane. Oh, yeah.

Private jet. Do you care to discuss which owners did that for you? That's cool. Yeah. And then so when you're on there, are you asking questions that you're? Oh, yeah. It's just, it's awesome. Yes, and yes.

The truth serum. Yeah. Medium rare, please. Yeah. I know people don't care about golf that much, but. Shout out to Siddarsian Yelamara Jue yesterday at the players. Yes. Is he top five?

Finish top five? Top five is first. Maybe one of the best story. I've ever heard. Double his career earnings in one weekend. One of the best sports stories I've ever heard. Crazy. It's crazy.

He's a Mississauga boy. No lessons. Never had a lesson. Watch YouTube. Watch YouTube. Just watch YouTube. I'm watching YouTube and I stink still. It's not helping any of us.

This guy's out there hanging with the big boys. Like as the day, Canadian lefty, by the way. As the day went on, they started to show him more and more. And by the time you got to 17, he was the feature of the broadcast. They were talking about his background and his story and all this stuff. You don't hear Mississauga very often on the players' broadcast. That was pretty cool.

What's out there? Have you golfed out there in Mississauga? I've played Mississippi. It's nice. It's nice. It's nice. It's nice. My beloved Lakeview is in Mississauga. It's, so Toronto, obviously.

Toronto, golf comes also. He's a hockey fan, too. Get him on our show. Is he really? Yes. Sudzy. And it's, apparently, he's also called Darsh by his, other guys coach Derek Ingram, but it's definitely

Sudzy. Sudzy. Come on our show. Come on on. You're our new hero. Sudzy. All right. From Sudzy to Gally,

our thanks, Gary Galley. Five games on top. Pick one. And then how about you guys all meet us again tomorrow? Yeah. On the real Kippenborn show.

All right, boys. Thanks. Have a great night, everybody.