Real Kyper & Bourne - The Final's Battle Between the Pipes

Episode Date: June 5, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the latest on the Mitch Marner saga as murmurs from his camp suggest he'd like to play out his contract in Toronto. Former NHL scout Jason Bukala (6:01) discusses how difficult it will be for the Leafs to find a partner in a Marner deal, Barkov's elite hockey IQ, how the Panthers can get under the Oilers' skin and what it means for Edmonton to be 'Cup or Bust.' Later, the Daily Faceoff's Carter Hutton (29:44) breaks down the goaltender matchup in the Cup Final - Bobrovsky's unique path back to the top of his game and Skinner's resilient postseason run.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, we got our Sammy back today. Welcome into the Real Kipper and Boren show. The Kipper Real's Justin Boren. Sammy McKee after a golf trip yesterday. Dropped straight out of a generic white guy golfer ad today in a sweater vest. What do you do? I'm going playing again tonight.

You are? Yeah, I'm going to play with Twilight with the boys after this. Might get wet, but that's okay. At least we get you for an hour. Yeah. That's kind of our life these days. No Derek Brandeo today. Yeah. We got Neil Oosten. Oosty in the house. Neil Oosten.

This guy is the guy. If you could pick like Roger's MVPs, like Roger's radio, Roger's engineering, he might be the most valuable employee. Why? Because he knows how to do tech stuff. There's not one thing he can't figure out. He has helped me through countless things without making me feel like an idiot, which is amazing.

He doesn't even embarrass him when Sammy loses his password. Neil Oosten is not a tech name. What kind of name is it? It's, it's, yes, it's,

he's three off the lead. Oosten's three off the lead going into Sunday. I mean, that makes a lot of sense, but I think it's just because of Oosten. But yeah. See,

we're more alike than people think. Yeah, I think you're right about that. And it's scary. I know. It's getting worse as the years go on. I don't like it at all. My wife shouldn't either. Wherever you're watching and listening,

Sportsnet 590, the fans. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. Sportsnet 960 in Calgary. Watching on Sportsnet 360. Sportsnet Plus. Thanks for joining us. This hour, Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. If you get a chance,

send us a text. Although, we won't read it. No, we don't have time. But I will say... So why am I asking with some time? There's a home run, Sam. A home run. I keep an eye on it. If someone says something good, I ignore it. That's why I say it. Poor Neil from Oshawa weighs in on it.

Poor Neil from Oshawa. One of these days. So I opened up my X feed today, and I was scrolling through it, and I saw one of those classic aggregation posts where somebody writes something, and then they'll pull it and put a tweet, and it gets a bunch of engagement. And sometimes you see the big hitters. You see Freedjge he's a insider you know you see cj sometimes kipper pierre lebrun all those kind of guys i'm like via jt born what did you say about murder i know i didn't say i didn't i got i got radioed

in a written article somehow all i said is the thing that we've heard Kipper say, we've heard Freed say, we've heard Draeger, LeBron, everyone kind of making noise that seems like Marner would like to stay. Right? Doesn't want to go anywhere. That's the narrative they want out there, boy. And if he gets to go UFA, stay and play and go UFA. That's what he wants to do. A lot

of the noise comes from I think people trying to I don't know if the right words, guess the narrative or get ahead of the narrative or say to the narrative first, but in all honesty, there's just no room for

anything to have gotten done between the time that the Leafs got knocked out of the game seven in the first round to today. There's nothing. There's's no discussions no one's talking to each other the names aren't being bantered about it's just super quiet out there and it will take a life of its own it's it's not not nothing and it's not guaranteed yeah you know he's going to finish the year there's something in between that will take a life of its own and and start the procedures of what's out there there's gonna they're gonna explore

what's out there for mitch marner yeah that we know for sure and what i did kip was i said it you know all i wanted to do was look at the individuals who are involved in making this decision. And that's Marner, Shanahan, Tree Living, Berube, and to some extent, maybe Keith Pelley. But just what are their individual motivations? What do they want to have happen for their own careers, for the Leafs, for all those things? And then try to piece together what makes the most sense. But there's nothing out there until a third party steps up.

And I wrote this last week. Send me ideas. I wrote this last week that if, you know, and again, the conversation is what if we made Marner available? Right. But there has to be a real aggressive team out there saying, we know he's going to UFA next year. We'd like to take a crack at him now.

Yeah. And you don't go back to Mitch M marner you don't go back to his agent because you're looking at another hockey club and saying okay let's not waste anybody's time here what would it look like before i go to my guy correct and if there's enough on the plate there that it can turn serious then the leafs may approach darren ferris uh marner's agent and say yeah are you guys interested i did say in my article that you could see you know let's say as a ufa marner wanted to go to florida for 12 million times seven i think if they came to mitch and said florida's a random example don't take anything there and said mitch uh would you accept a trade now to florida they'll extend you at 12 times seven that's the way it happens it has to be what he would do as a ufa anyway otherwise

what's he waving is no move for right so i'm just saying outside of that perfect scenario happening it just seems unlikely to me that it'll happen. Maybe it will in season, but I can't see it anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong because I would love to see some action, a big trade where they shake things up. I don't think it's likely. All right. Speaking of the Florida Panthers, who you hypothetically threw out there.

Let's welcome in Jason Buchel, a former NHL head scout with those Florida Panthers, and now doing a terrific job writing for us here at Sportsnet.ca and working hard still with his pro hockey group. Bucs, what's happening, bud? How are you? I'm doing fantastic. Just getting geared up to head over to Buffalo for the combine for a few days here.

And I read, I read Barney's article and I've been listening to you guys off, off set here. And I got a lot to say. So, okay. What's that? What'd you think? So, no, no, no. Okay.

Before you get to what we think of Jason or of JB's, Justin, Jason double JB. Tell me on a scale of 1 to 10 the difficulty of moving Mitch Marner before his contract expires. I'm going to put it at about an 8. I think it's really

difficult. Here's the reasons why and you know i'm just going to build it up behind the scenes so imagine that i'm on the other end i'm the guy that gets the call or we get the call okay saying that uh we're gonna we're exploring our options do you guys have interest the obvious answer is yes we have interest um let me let me kind of push that aside for a second let you guys guys know that already there's only so many teams that can be in play here because what are you looking at? You're looking at cap flexibility, you're looking at hopefully draft capital, or you're looking at a prospect pool that has some depth pieces that we can add if they don't have draft capital. For me personally, it has to be a situation where the whole salary is taken on because I need – I'm going to lose the trade.

The best player in the trade is Marner no matter what, no matter where he goes likely. So I already lose the trade at the NHL level, so I need to open up all that money to be able to spend on further assets. So already that only, that takes away, you know, nevermind where Mitch wants to go play. That takes away, I don't know, off the top of my head, off the league, maybe more, you know, like right off the top.

So really, really difficult. So it's going to, and I i'm gonna tell you something else i i'm always worried about when we get a phone call and i just don't like anything getting leaked out and i guess it depends on who's who's involved and whatever but we live in this world nowadays that if something goes sideways with any type of conversation there's always that squeaky wheel it seems in every every situation that we deal with in hockey somebody uh without permission to speak uh says something stupid to somebody and starts starts leaking out so that can really have an effect on your organization and then so kind of going through my article there and the the

motivations for the individuals involved, Bukes, where were you left at? What did I get wrong? That's what I want to know. Where do you think that I missed? Well, I don't think you got anything wrong, to be perfectly honest. I mean, this is, this is,

so Mitch Marner is kind of like, you know, a high octane sports car for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Think of it this way. He drives revenue at the gate. He drives revenue. People come to watch him play the game. So I know the building's full anyways, but you understand that there's that whole business side of it. You guys understand it better than anybody else.

So Toronto Maple Leafs are a machine. This isn't just hockey. This is a business conglomerate. So from the upper ownership perspective, you know, that's delicate for a short period of time. Because I'll tell you right now, Kipper, you know better than anybody. Like, if a popular Leaf gets traded out of town, even if the fan base is upset for a month or two, come October 1st when the puck drops, the place is jammed anyways. They're still drinking beer.

They're still having fun, right? So that's why you don't have the Keith Pelley thing getting wrong. The tree living thing. The Berube one is a little fascinating to me because this doesn't seem like a Berube type of – I don't know how to say it any other way. It doesn't seem like a Berube type of fit if we want to get to the next level. Like, you know what I mean? I don't know how else to say it.

So, you know, that one's a little bit delicate. The Shanahan thing, to me, I'm with you, Borny, when you said, like, is he or isn't he the right guy to make this decision? Because, you know, this feels like it's going to be even above his pay grade uh this type of uh transaction okay we got to kick it into the stanley cup final because i can hear the rest of the country going more leafs see sammy go golf again because we didn't talk about the leafs yesterday five minutes you talked about lane lambert didn't you briefly okay so books we we got the Florida Panthers for the second straight year in the final. Just, you know, excuse my ignorance.

How long were you in Florida? And what were your fingerprints on this hockey club? And what were you most proud of? Well, first of all, the fingerprints were not only myself. It was myself, Scott Luce, Aaron Janelle, both with the Las Vegas Golden Knights, and definitely Dale Tallon. I'm not that guy. I'm going to sit here and stand up on my soapbox. It's not going to happen.

But we were there. I was there from 2010 to 2011, I guess, so 2020 in there in a variety of roles. And the guys that we have our fingerprints on are you know obviously barkoff act blad uh we brought in bob robski and free agency which was um you know uh challenging at the time i guess is the best way to put it you know a lot of risk involved in that because there was always good bob bad bob at the beginning we've talked about it before now he's good bob and he's got the stanley cup two years in a row so this is the best version of himself i think what we're most proud of though kipper is that um like gms walk into organizations and you know the owner has a mandate to win i get it um especially in the smaller market florida is a big market when you're winning but generally speaking it's a smaller market

so um the the owner wants to win but when the gm walks in if he wants to build a team a certain way if we didn't leave him with any assets any draft capital anything's to maneuver his like The owner wants to win, but when the GM walks in, if he wants to build a team a certain way, if we didn't leave him with any assets, any draft capital, anything to maneuver, put his own fingerprints on it, he moved out Matheson, he moved out Montembeau, he moved out Tippett, we had Frankie Vetrano there, we had Vincent Trocek there. You start to go through all these names,

and they didn't fit the puzzle for what they wanted necessarily. But imagine if we didn't leave the cupboards flush with all those first-round picks, all the draft capital that we left them, and the asset management. So I think I'm most proud of the fact that we managed the organization, what I would call responsibly, and that falls on Dale 100%. But if you look at Toronto right now, like when Tree comes in, the coverts are bare. Like, you want to win, right? But you've got no draft capital. You've only got a couple of prospects.

And it's really hard to make trades off your NHL roster. So I think what I'm most proud about is the continuity we developed to run the organization. When you drafted Barkov, did you foresee him becoming this? We actually did, yeah. And a lot of this goes out to a quick story for you. So Jari Kekkalainen, who's Jarmo's brother, there's three Kekkalainens, Jani's with Nashville.

I had a chance to work with Jani and Jari here in Florida. Jari was also working for the pro team in Finland that Barkov was coming through. So he saw him, like, you know, as a youth coming all the way through. So we felt really good about it. His interview in New Jersey that year blew us away. Well, we were in New York. Draft was in New Jersey.

There's no disrespect, but, you know, you want to stay in New York instead. But anyways, his interview blew us away. So we had like Seth Jones in, Drew in, and McKinnon wasn't coming to us because Patrick Watt had taken over the avalanche at the time. So you know that was going to go there. He was just coming out of the queue. But he blew those other guys out of the water in terms of his put-togetherness, I guess is the best way to put it.

He was a pro. I will say this. Of all my times up on stage, I don't even know if they knew who Barkoff was, but there was actually booze in the stands when we drafted Barkoff. We're walking up there, and there's some boos, and I'm looking around going, really? You must have no clue what you're talking about. And fast forward to today, I'd say that was pretty accurate.

So we often describe Dwayne Gretzky as being two or three moves ahead when it came to putting the puck in the net. Can the same thing be said for barkoff defensively i would say barkoff in all three zones he's the most elite player and the most elite thinker in all three zones in the game hands down there's no question about me there are about it six four two hundred and twenty four pounds uh silky smooth hands makes plays in tight for a big body you know how big bodies have to extend bucks you know they're but he makes them in tight um i'll tell you right now

if he played in the market up here like call it toronto for example uh people would be salivating over this guy like he's he's i know he's he's getting more recognition now but this is by far um i've scouted probably, I don't know, 3,500 players in my career, something like that. And this is the smartest hockey player I think I've ever scouted. So just to add on that, if now we're talking about the offense of McDavid

versus the defense of Barkov, have we seen a matchup that is so intriguing as this in terms of two elite guys coming from different sides of the game? Well, that's a great question off the top of my head. I feel like it's been a long time. Barky's one of those guys that, like, when Jersey was really good, even if they came up against a juggernaut opponent, like, they had the guys in the middle of the ice

that would be able to shut down opponents. Obviously, they had a team concept there. But I can't recall the last time that anything this, you know, the Yang versus the Yang. Like, I haven't seen anything like this. Nothing comes to my mind at all. No. So elite on different spectrums of the game.

It's really special for the fan base to be able to watch this. Did Tikkanen and Gretzky ever have a, like, when they were on different teams? Because they would have, did they ever have sort of, was he not the preeminent defensive shutdown guy for a while, Tikkanen? Do I have that wrong? I don't think it really came to that because Tikkanen also followed Gretzky to St.

Louis, if I'm not mistaken, after leaving the Rangers. Okay. So they wouldn't have had a ton of head to head time to, I don't. Yeah. I,

I, it'd be interesting to go back in history and, and find a, a shutdown guy of whether it's Garbino, somebody. But yeah, yeah, that's a great name. Like the Garbino's. That's actually when you say that, like that's kind of like Barkey's mindset from his defensive red line down, like a Garbino type of a guy. But then as soon as the puck gets turned over he's exploding up ice and he's going to do damage well and i i referred last night on on sports at uh central that uh game four in boston with his great individual effort to remember that goal coming back from ridiculous

they were down to nothing he scores the third goal busting through the middle of the ice going backhand forehand top shelf so this guy's got the ability to create a great individual goal offensively as well. When he busts through the middle seam like that, he's like Mario Lemieux back in the day going right down the middle. He's silky smooth like that. Wilkinson. Wasn't it Neil Wilkinson?

Neil Easton? Who are you talking about oh is it the defense mario went through over uh minnesota north stars i gotta ask you about barkov though he takes no penalty minutes he's not physical like he's sadine like when guys are in his face he doesn't ever seem to be involved in anything ever but at the same time he doesn't shy away with his play right like you can't can you intimidate this guy to get him to shut down no too big it's impossible he's robotic i'm telling you but he doesn't have that any edge he's robotic he's the ultimate pro like you know how they how

we talk about guys living in opponents heads at this time of year you know that kind of stuff not a chance he's just not it's not happening that way. This guy comes from a Russian dad who came to Finland to play pro hockey, married a Finnish lady, so he was born in Finland and that stuff. So he's got the kind of, he's got that mix in his DNA, that cerebral mix that works so perfectly for him. Nothing, I've never seen him raise his voice. I think someone in Boston tried to fight him off a draw, cerebral mix that works so perfectly for him. Nothing. I've never seen him raise his voice. Like, it's been it.

I think someone in Boston tried to fight him off a draw, and he was just like, what are we doing here? Yeah, that's true. He just was like, no. Yeah. So, Books, where does that leave Sam Bennett and Kachuk to get under the skin of the Edmonton Oilers? And is it has to be Evander Kane who's going to be the guy that comes back at them?

And is he smart enough to handle that? Yeah, that's, well, smart enough to handle it, but still smart enough to give you the minutes, like drive to the paint, work it off the wall, do all those other things that you need to do without being distracted. I don't know. Like, it's to be determined. The Oilers have their hands full here because literally,

I know that we say that certain teams come at you in waves, but that is the Florida Panthers. Like, you know, how do you want to play the game? You know, and I would actually, I guess, counter that by saying that, you know, with the Chucks history at the Battle of Alberta and all that kind of stuff, let's see if he can reel it in a bit when he's playing games in Edmonton because, you know, that fan base will be all over him like a rash but uh i i don't know i just i i feel

like i feel like the the way the panthers like the this the way that they play the game as a group if they want to play heavy hard we'll stick up for each other that's fine you want to run and gun well we'll we'll pump 60 shots on goal. How do you want to do this? The Oilers will be exposed. They'll have a hard time with the CCs and the Kulaks maybe. I don't know what happens with De'Arne. Certainly Skinner's going to have his eyes full if you get my drift. There's going to be

lots of action in the paint area. I can't see a world, and Kip, I don't know, maybe you think this is the way I face, but I can't see a world where Florida wants to get in the Oilers' face and intimidate them and do what they always do, but then the Oilers just keep burning them on the power play. Like, could it force them to be like, God, do we want to keep doing this? And getting more frustrated on Florida's end

and kind of forgetting about their own game. Like, is there a world for either of you guys where Edmonton actually handles this well? I don't know if we really saw many examples of that, even during the regular season i don't think i've ever seen it but edmonton has the power play to do it yeah they do i i just think that let me i guess my answer would be if this was florida's first rodeo like last year i do believe they take something from that you know yeah they got their rear ends handed to them and but they're fighting injury but they're going to take there's a takeaway right so um like knowing some of the guys that i know in that organization behind the scenes as well i think you're going to see a lot

of pots pumped into ekholm's corner and we're going to wear him down as much as we possibly can early in the series um because cc's an easier guy on that side of the ice to expose the other thing is here uh keep an eye on this. This is something that Barkley does exceptionally well. If there's nothing available off the rush, even on power play zone entries, they'll chip it to an area where Skinner's not going to be able to make a play on the puck.

So it'll be on his backhand side, for example. So, you know, like he's going to get on that side of the quadrant and there's going to be no play to be made and they'll jump on them on that side of the ice. And to me, that's the weaker side of the quadrant and there's going to be no play to be made um and they'll they'll jump on them on that side of the ice and to me that's the weaker side of the ice too like if bouchard wants to take half a second off like he sometimes does he's going to be wearing a florida panther down low in the zone in a hurry the uh did you guys see the the knob block quote where he said talked about uh experience in the final, and he said, yeah, ask the Buffalo Bills about that experience?

Like, that's a little incendiary to me. I like it. I like its confidence. Do you have any thoughts on that quote? I was more curious about the quote where he interviewed for Paul, or what Paul Maurice would be on his staff once upon a time. He didn't get the job. So that was.

Oh, really? Yeah, that was another one um yeah you know what i mean hey listen knob block has been thrust into a situation that he's handled it's really interesting every coach that's kind of gone through everything recently like he um uh dave tippett a few years ago he's that kind of uh grainy kind of you know what i mean old school kind of guy and then and then you in, sorry, what's his name? Woodcroft. Woodcroft, Jay Woodcroft.

And he's kind of got a little bit of the howdy-doody, happy-go-lucky kind of look to him. And now you've got Knobloch, who's like so cerebral. So, yeah, I don't know. Like, I really do feel this about the coaching that's going on behind the scenes in this series. I think that the Edmonton Oilers, with Mark Stewart running the penalty kill and with Paul Coffey there and just everything that's going on

behind the scenes, I really feel like that's a team effort where Maurice is definitely the alpha dog on the Panthers bench. Can I give you the best quote and my favorite that's been out now for a while now but probably is hitting home the most stanley cup or bust books what is what does bust mean to you uh oh boy oh boy um if you lay an egg in four or five games, that's bust for sure. You know, you get all the way to this point. You know, guys, I hate to say it. I just don't – no, I don't hate to say it.

I think the Oilers are built differently than the Panthers. I think the Panthers are built more for this type of grind at this time of year, at the end of the year. I really do. But, I mean, I'm a Canadian. I want a Canadian team worse than anybody else to win the Stanley Cup. I really do. But if you go out with a flicker here, and I don't think it's going to be like that.

I think it's going to be a seven-game series. I really do. But, yeah, or bust. It's always hard when you get this far you know how hard it is to get to this point so Stanley Cup or bust seems a little bit over the edge what do you think what does it mean to you what are you

driving at I'm driving at that first of all I absolutely love it because there's no it's not a wishy-washy thing it's like we're big or we're going home. And going home for me means that there could be major change. This team could look drastically different in a year or a year and a half.

Or the Stanley Cup final. Yes. Is it different depending on how the final goes? No, I think, I really believe that if the Oilers do not win the cup, then those two guys have to revisit where they want to be in the next five, eight years. And that's the bust part for me. What does it mean to Leon?

Not to pile pressure on or anything there, Ken. What does it mean to Leon Dreisaitl? Does he resign as early as july 1st with a with a loss um does he need to know what mcdavid's going to be making a year later does he need to know how much they're going to spend on bouchard in in two years where's the money going is this the best chance that i had to win a Stanley Cup now even from two years from now that's the bust part for me but what I would say to that and I I I like that actually that whole approach um if if my one takeaway as a competitor would be that if we work so hard to get this far and and and I look

around the room at the end of the day and you're not injured and I don't feel like you gave the best version of yourself for whatever the reason was. You didn't fight through a check a little harder. You know, you didn't, you just didn't, you know what I mean? Like just that extra, that extra 10%, let's call it. If I look around the room and I see that we don't have it out of certain guys, that's where the bus part would come for me. I'd be like, Jesus, like we came this far and, and I can't get 10 more points, 10% or more percent out of that guy. That would really bother me. I'd be like, Jesus, we came this far and I can't get 10 more points, 10% or more out of that guy. That would really bother me.

You good? No, I think we got to go. Okay. All right, Books. Excellent stuff. I'm noticing a nice new background on your Zoom call here. The only thing missing is a few

real Kipper and Bourne labels. Maybe we'll get you a hat or something. I've been bugging. I've been bugging Sammy for like, like sweatshirt stuff, whatever. But you know, Sammy,

he's busy at like blue, blue J Jersey launch party. Here we go. Come to the alpha dog. Don't mess with the guy with sway around here. All right. Great job, buddy. As always. Thanks always thanks enjoy game one Saturday night

see ya boys talk to you soon thanks Boox I just think that like any other team because of this stupid salary cap things could look much differently and you know a year and a half from now, like, look at Bouchard right now.

He's going to be a restricted free agent, and then he's two years away from signing a big deal. I'm not going to do that. Oh, I'm just saying. For them right now. I'm just saying. I'll do it dry silent. That's the best part for me.

That's the best part for me,'s the best part for me is like what will this team look like if they don't win their their cup and where does it go from here so that that's that's a challenge for any team at any time florida is walking 12 guys or something to ufa reinhardt's a ufa montour's a ufa they're just black yeah they're gonna want eight plus million i don't think florida's gonna give them eight million yeah like it matters you don't get many chances in the salary cap area because you can't keep all your good players you know and in many ways you could probably say this this is florida's year or bust as well i think so for florida for sure right they're they're gonna lose pieces I mean, there's no pressure on them.

Well, because it's Florida. Yeah. No one cares. There's no stakes for them. No stakes? Well, I mean, for their team, they want the call. No external pressure? Zero external pressure.

What does that have? Osprey Valley. Oh, nice. Yeah. When I was playing yesterday. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. Who do you want to do game time? Let's take a break.

And then we'll do Carter, talk about the goalies, and we'll do game time after that. You heard man he's back sammy mckee more real kipper and born after these words get smarter when you listen to hockey talk the hockey pdo cast with dimitri filipovich subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Sammy McKee. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Carter Hutton, former NHL goaltender.

Doing some work now with dailyfaceoff.com. Helping us tee up the Stanley Cup final, including the matchup. Goalies. Skinner versus Bobrovsky. Maybe the more lopsided matchup on paper. Who's Skinner gone up against in the playoffs so far? Talbot in round one aiden hill

no no who do they get uh vancouver so they had uh oh she loves she loves she loves ottinger okay so talbot she loves ottinger now he gets bobrovsky he's been as good or better than most six and two his last eight yeah i gotta tell you i hate the cherry picked stats you know the like over the random well he's been he's been good since he was pulled 10 well since he came back since he since he since the reset okay it's not that arbitrary because there is a clear divider there all right i'll give you that yeah and i've i picked dallas of course looking like an idiot right now such a dummy but it was a final four about yeah but it was based on ottinger being like that ottinger we saw versus calgary once upon a time and he's just hit and miss is the hope now that bobrovsky can go into a cold spell i mean he can but he's really

found his game in the playoffs i mean he was pulled two years ago in the playoffs for alex lyon or lion actually lion started the playoffs do you remember the year the least played florida yeah and then bob kind of came in and found his game much like skinner has here he's awesome someone that knows the position a heck of a lot better than the three of us let's welcome him in carter hutton how are you pal i'm doing well thanks for having me and well i'll see if i know the position we'll see what my predictions are like all right so um yeah let's just start first and foremost with the blueprint of edmonton leaning towards that Vegas that we can win the Stanley cup with an Aiden Hill type of guy.

And then you got Florida that well, that goes all in on their $10 million star goaltender here. So which one's more in line with 2024 to win a Stanley cup? You know, right now it's tricky to say, right. I think he gets protected a lot with Skinner, you know, with having the guys they have and the offense they can create.

And I think if you look firsthand, I know you talked about you had Dallas, and I think beforehand, everybody talked about the lopsided matchup, right? You had Ottinger versus Skinner and how Ottinger was so much better and the goalie matchup went to Dallas, and Skinner ended up pulling through there. And I think that reset helped. And for Bobrowski, he's been great, right? Like, I heard Bourne talk about before he jumped on there about how Alex

Lyon was the guy and and that year we talked about how bad that contract was and how you can't pay a guy 10 million dollars and how it's horrible and now everybody's sitting here going Shusterkin's going to get paid that kind of money right now we need that guy so I think for me it'll be interesting to match up in the sense of Bobri last year was steamrolling into the playoffs, right? Into the finals, he had a 935 save percentage. And he kind of laid an egg in the finals against Vegas, right? I don't know if he ran out of gas or what it was, but it was 21 goals in five games. And granted, the last game was a blowout.

But in a sense, he was definitely not the Conn Smythe favorite headed in. And he kind of failed to produce in the finals. Do you ever ever like when you were playing would you i guess you're always competing against yourself but would you ever put yourself up against the guy across the rink from you and say okay i need to be better here in toronto it was always oh freddie anderson never outplayed his guy would you think about it as a competition like that i did honestly when i was younger more like when i was a kid i would be like when i first broke in i was so consumed with like who i was playing against like that i did honestly when i was younger for like when i was a kid i would be like

when i first broke in i was so consumed with like who i was playing against like if i had a big matchup i remember my first time playing against like henrik lungquist at msg and i was like i'm playing against hank this is crazy and then all of a sudden you get a little more mature and you start to understand like i can't control what he's gonna do i can't control if i'm gonna get 10 shots i can't control if i'm gonna get 40 or which i can can't control if i'm going to get 40 or which way the game's going to go so i think when you start to compartmentalize that side of the game you become more effective and bob definitely has that in his favor i think to just be like he's going to go out and worry about himself where skinner's got to go out and you know and he's got to play well there's been so much pressure on him but also in skinner's defense i think this reset

and the way the season started he has that to to draw upon, right? We talked about that reset where he finds his game. And so there's definitely the, I think, the green aspect of Skinner going into this final. But then I also think Bob has a little bit of demons dealing with last year's Stanley Cup final. You know, Bob, Bobrovsky's 35 years of age. And no one saw, I think, two Stanley Cup finals and maybe one of them turning into a Stanley Cup,

what, three years ago? No. What for you has been the major difference for him? Because, you know, everybody I talk to says this guy is an absolute specimen. There's no real wear and tear. This guy takes care of himself. He's impeccable when it comes to details in his game.

Yet he was never able to put it together, Carter, until the last few years. What has been the major change? And what are the odds of somebody doing this at age 33 and 34 to get to this point? You know, I think it's a great example of adapting to survive too for bob right it wasn't ever lack of effort it was effort in the right direction because a goalie coach of mine mitch corn famous guy i dealt with a lot in nashville used to always talk about how bobroski was so ripped and he olympic lift and he did all these things then

he had some groin trouble he struggled with groin issues they put a mesh in he had dealt with that then i think you have to adapt your game too, whereas the games change as well. We've seen that, right? Third, fourth lines, when I first broke into the NHL, was all big defensive guys responsible. Then all of a sudden, the signing bonus changed, and you could have all these younger guys come in

who were less defensive. So for him, there's more chances. I think as he matured and he developed his game off the rink, with that worth work ethic but in the right direction being able to play within himself and not chase the game as much you watch him now he's much more controlled kind of like you know we talk about Carey Price being at times boring where he's super athletic but he knows how to play within himself where I feel like Bob's game has adapted in that sense right he plays within his post a lot more and

even just his mental being in the net where you'll see him i don't know if you can ever see it on tv if it doesn't show but playing against him i always notice that if he got scored on or we scored he kind of had a reset he would go through right he'd like stand on the goal line click his pads back together and refocus where when he was younger similar to myself i think this helped me not that i want to put myself in the category of bobroski but i was more emotional right if we scored i'd get excited if i got scored on i'd get fired up where I want to put myself in the category of Bobrowski, but I was more emotional, right? If we scored, I'd get excited. If I got scored on, I'd get fired up. Where I learned to deal with like the sports psych side of it

and just being focused in the moment. Then I'd go to the bench, TV timeout, I'd relax, have fun, and then dial back in. So I think Bob has adapted his games to the times. And also I think just that mental experience of what he's dealt with throughout his NHL career. One thing I've noticed through this playoffs, and I wrote about this last round,

is I think there's been six or seven goal challenges in the postseason for goal interference, and Florida's been in all of them. Half of them have been Bobrovsky drawing contact. When you're a goaltender, how aware are you of people being in that blue paint and around you? Would you ever push into it intentionally? Because it's at the point with bob where i'm like god it feels like he almost invites the contact and wants to lean into that a bit dropping the stick on occasion at the right

time oh no they touched me yeah well i think it's a little bit of gamesmanship in that sense right but also i think it's the fact that bob plays on the top of his crease and relies on you know his lateral movement to get across the net east west where you look at some of the other goalies he's faced where Shusterkin is you know similar in that sense but Skinner stays deeper Ottinger stays deeper in the net so that contact isn't it doesn't happen as much in the blue paint but I also think there's an element of his game where he doesn't want to get pucks deflected on him right and the best way to close on that is to close that gap between the tip instead of giving them space where you know we've talked about a lot this week Joe Pavelski being done now.

He was great at getting a higher tip, which causes a lot more trouble for a goalie when you can't close that gap. But I agree, there's a little bit of gamesmanship involved, but in the same sense, I think it's because Bob is overactive at times trying to close that gap. Do you like Skinner's chances of getting a split? I don't mind. I think starting on the road in Florida

is the best thing for this Edmonton Oilers team, right? I think at home right now, like, I don't know if you guys, I'm sure you guys saw the video, Connor McDavid trying to load a case of beer in his truck and he's getting assaulted by a few people where, you know, it's just, it's going to be nuts at Edmonton. And I think for Skinner with everything that's gone on,

it's, you don't want to really decompress by any means, right? You're still right in it. But I think starting on the road, getting away from all the hustle and bustle of Edmonton and all the noise is going to be the best thing for a young goalie going into a situation like this. We had Valaket on last week, and he talked a bit about how learning to read off your defensemen

and so then being able to play, okay, I know this guy takes away the pass well in two pass well in two on one or whatever for the Oilers D it feels like their team D has gotten better throughout the year. How much does that make a difference for a goaltender when you can kind of trust certain things are going to happen with some consistency? It means everything. And I think for me, like drawing on my experiences, I think when I dealt, I was in St. Louis that year, I led the league and save percentage and goals against and, and not to put it on me by any means it was so predictable

right we had colton perenco joel edmondson jay bowmeister petrangelo robert bertuzzo all these big defensemen that made my game a lot easier so i think for stewart's gonna they've done a great job of doing that and making adjustments throughout the year and even during this playoff run the penalty kill has been great but i also see that they like to keep the puck on one side of the rink more often right where now for skinner a bigger guy not like brobroski his east west game isn't as strong right where he's stationary when he when he's within the post he's very hard to beat and there's not a lot of net there so i think the fact of the way they play really complements skinner especially when he's seeing the puck and feeling it. Do you see at all

the difference in this series coming down to these two goaltenders, or is there a better chance that they could, especially from Skinner's part, maybe cancel each other out? Where do you see this series going, Carter? Honestly, I hate

to say this because I feel like I do believe in Bob and I love his game, but I don't think he's going to get challenged like he has against these guys, right? I think the Oilers are going to put up a lot more offense and it's going to be good, but the Florida Panthers sure look good in their depth-wise, but I think Skinner is peaking at the right time, right? We talked about Dallas being such a complete team, top to bottom, having four lines, they can beat you every which way.

So for Skinner going into this series, it's not necessarily about about their personnel i think it's about him just playing the right game but i feel like this game as long as florida can stay out of the penalty box i think that's where the this game will be won if it's if it goes to special teams in this series yeah good awesome stuff carter carter thanks so much for your time man like when you go on vacation do you just turn around and just point at some place on your map on your on your map well you know what you know i'm a little new to this right so i'd be lying if i i don't want to lie to you guys i'm sitting in my kids room right now so this is this is i love it this is this is a map from we had in buffalo my wife got somewhere i i don't know some sort of store so. So it's in his room now back in Thunder Bay.

So this is my office. Until I get something a little better, this is it. Buddy, it's super cool. I love it. Yeah, me too. Although I can't say that when he's talking, I'm not kind of evaluating the different parts of the world. But thank you very much, Carter.

Appreciate it. Carter, excellent stuff. Thanks for having me on, guys. All right. Carter Hutton. Man, those goalies. There's a reason why they all end up kind of analysts. You know what I think it is?

I think you actually have to think about the game. You actually have to process why things are happening. You see the whole thing. It's like catchers, right? It's like where catchers often become analysts and often become managers because you're sitting behind the plate or watching the whole game develop. It's very similar to hockey. And then I think you put the mic in a winger's face and they're like, I don't know.

Go to the sideboards. I try to get it on my end and shoot it in the other end. It's like that map in this kid's room. They see the whole world. Right? If I would have been there, I would have saw just maybe one country. Yeah. A state. Did you guys talk about the video he brought up yesterday?

What video? Of him with the beers? We didn't talk about it, no. Can I say that? You see it? I did not see it. What? So it's McDavid just putting two suitcases of Coors Light in the trunk of his car,

and there's three people taking videos with him, but they're on him. Like, they're trying to hug him. Can I say that I've never respected him more as a leader than I did in that moment? I'm like, that guy is truly the captain. You're Connor McDavid in Edmonton after you won to go to the Stanley Cup final.

Send the equipment guy. Send anyone. Send Matthias Janmark. Like, what are you... He goes out in his suit to do the beer run for the guys? You think that's for the guys? Absolutely. Who else is it for? I don't know. It's not enough beer for the guys? You think that's for the guys? Absolutely. Who else is it for?

I don't know. It's not enough beer for the guys is my point. I bet you there's a few more in Detroit. The other trips were done in the dark. There's also a chance that he was being a really good captain and hadn't anything to drink and everybody else had had a lot. There's also a part of it as well. I love

that video and I just think it's hilarious that in Edmonton connor mcdavid is doing the beer run that is funny legends roll for that one alpha dog alpha dog he's like i'll do it i'll go yeah that's enough dog move all right you got game time for us oh yeah i gotta do game time look at i'm glad you know i'm glad you're one day off and i forget uh let me pick It's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365.

Must be 19+. Today only. Please play responsibly. As I pull up some different stuff for the NHL, if I had a recommendation, regardless of what the line is for the Toronto Blue Jays tonight, bet against them because they're playing a different sport than the Baltimore Orioles are currently. So the Baltimore Orioles are, they're an underdog tonight at the Rogers Center, plus 100.

If you could, you're going to get the Orioles at plus 100 against the Toronto Blue Jays, I would take that. Yeah. Okay. What's going on? They're bad. They're bad. Barker and Blair came in yesterday

and said they're just facing the best pitcher in the American League, and I checked the final score, and they had one run. I was like, yeah, that adds up. That adds up. They're bad. It's a bad year.

They got to reload. They got to figure it out and kind of start looking at 25. It's over. Okay. Most good cup holders, though. Yeah. Great cup holders.

Excellent. Amazing ballpark. Great sight lines. Excellent. Amazing ballpark. Great sight lines. Most goals in the series. Who do you think the favorite is? We did a little of this yesterday, and I believe it's Zach Hyman. It is. Plus 350.

Plus 350. I was saying the good odds of the guys who fall on the goalie, that being like Bennett and Kane. I'm sorry I didn't listen to the show. It's all right. When was the last time you had 250 goal scores in a Stanley Cup final? On opposite sides. Maybe your dad's era, maybe with Bossy.

But, I mean, think about how many guys in the series have scored 50 because also McDavid, also Dreisaitl. So you got 450. But in the same season. Yeah, have you gone head-to-head? Last year we had a Stamkos and Matthews, but Stamkos didn't in the same season. Yeah, have you gone head-to-head? Last year we had a Stamkos and Matthews, but oh yeah, Stamkos didn't in the same year. Yeah, I don't know how often they've had

two guys with 55 plus like this. And by the way, just to quickly answer your question before we go here, about the head-to-head, somebody tweeted us and said that Datsuk versus Crosby in those finals. That's interesting.

That's really good. That's a great example. One of the best takeaways. And Datsouk's a good example for Barkov because he's also good offensively the way Barkov is. I think that's... Different defensive styles. Yeah, that was very anticipated. But Datsouk was a pickpocket.

He was the artful dodger, you know, like compared to Barkov, who's a little more like a big man. Flasher offensively too than Barkov is. Those some of his goals, like his highlight reel, he might have the best mixtape of all time Datsuk. So anyways, that's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary

at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. You asked me yesterday about Joe Pavelski. I struggled with that name. Yeah. Plans to retire. Yeah, I think it's a good call. I really do.

I think that just watching Dallas lose and in the manner that they lost and how they were close but at the end their their veteran players just ran out of gas yeah and one of the reasons why is because you get old and yeah the game goes on you the game gets two percent faster every year and so if you're not making three percent gains to get better you know you're you're starting to fall behind a little bit and it's hard when you're 30 whatever to keep i hate watching percent better once upon a time great players just hang on here's the quotes from pavelski i don't want to say this is official

but you know the plan is not to be coming back there'll be more to come on that everything's still raw like nothing official there'll be more words and I'm going to need a little bit of time to really put it together and figure it out that way doesn't it sound like he's coming back like in December of some year or something I can't go I can't do another season but I might still want to win a cup we had Gary Galley on yesterday and Giles the man he's a man yeah and he just talked about being one of those guys that played for a very long time and then having that sourness of watching a team lift to stanley cup and knowing that that sucks for pavel you know and it does suck it does that good that long and have teams that were close, many of them in San Jose.

God, Thornton, Marleau, Pavelski, Kachur, Boyle. So close. And, yeah, it's got to suck watching every year. Hope he wins as a coach. Inevitable question is the Hall of Fame question. For Pavelski? Oh, all day long for me. He was a difference maker.

You know, he has, I mean, his numbers are pretty astounding. He played 1,332 long for me. He was a difference maker. You know, he has, his numbers are pretty astounding. He played 1,332 games. Wow. Regular season. 476 goals, 592 assists for 1,068 points. Played 201 playoff games. Yeah. 74 playoff goals, 69 assists, 143 playoff points in 201 games.

There's a group of guys like that, and I'll include John Tavares in that. We've had this conversation earlier in the year. He doesn't have close the amount of playoff games. Not even close. Not even close. No, if I'm not mistaken, maybe Tavares is at 60, 65, and never saw the light of day.

62. Okay, 62. Can't even compare that to Pavelski. It's not even close. It's not. I would say the fundamental difference is for me. The difference makers. For sure. Whether you should get in or not. But I will say

part of what the Hall of Fame is to me is was this person at any point one of the best players in the world? Like a guy you went, that is one of the most famous people in the league because he's exceptional. Tavares missed out. Why though?

Why? Like where? Where was he one of the best? Well, when he won, Tavares was a point off the Art Ross one year. You know, like Pavelski was never a top few point guy. You know, I know who you'd rather have in your team. I get it. But I'm just saying, I don't know.

He never felt like a top five guy in the league, let alone top ten to me. To me, a Hall of Fame player now is, were you a difference maker when, you know, your team needed to win? But, I'm not voting. We're off tomorrow. Back Friday.

Blue Jays afternoon game. Good luck. Oh, good luck. Carter Hutton and Jason Bukala. See you on Friday.