Real Kyper & Bourne - The Hottest Team in Hockey

Episode Date: January 16, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by former NHLer and Oilers analyst Rob Brown (1:44) who discusses the origin of 'Down Goes Brown,' Paul Coffee's impact behind the Oilers bench, Evander Kane's diminishing role and Mattias Ekholm's leadership. Later, they regroup with Sam McKee for news and notes around the league - the Blackhawks give Dickinson a big, confusing extension, what kind of interest Merzļikins could command in the trade market and BriseBois declares that Stamkos will not be traded.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.

let's welcome everybody in to our national hour on the real kipper and born show we are live on sportsnet sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 how games do we have on tap tonight? Eight. Eight? Yes. Eight, including a few Canadian matchups. Colorado at Ottawa.

Arizona at Calgary. But we'll focus a little bit on the Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Edmonton Oilers out of the gate. You mentioned something to me in our last break about Eliias petterson what was that you were saying uh just that the gm there patrick alveen had mentioned that he finds it a little unusual that they aren't negotiating and don't want to talk till postseason that makes you a little nervous for all vancouver and petterson you think he i mean he an RFA, so they control his rights. I don't...

Yeah, I don't know if he needs more time to... The big thing was, can I win here? I mean, I don't know, 41 games enough to see where this program's heading. Winning more than any other team in the league seems good. Yep. All right, we'll talk about that. Your Islanders are at Winnipeg as well.

Struggles. A lot of games tonight, but we'll focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. Okay, let's bring in Rob Brown, former NHL forward. Currently works as an analyst with Ched Brownie. How are you, pal? I'm doing well, Kipper. It's been a long long time yeah it has buddy and uh i told these guys we're kind of cut from the same era if i recall uh the first time i

got to watch you was in calgary when the max tournament am i correct in saying that? Or did you lose the final? No, because I didn't play midge. I went right from Bantam. I guess it's you 15. Now went from there right to Kamloops. First time I've met you though, was that a Memorial cup?

Uh, I think it was an on Oshawa and we were both up for awards. So we met each other there. I think it was a plus minus award for you. And then we also played together. We played golf at an NHLPA meetings in Whistler. We came in second place, our team. The first team won trips anywhere in the world.

Second place won a Roots gym bag. Awesome. Yeah, I don't know why i had you in that max tournament but that was uh god that was such a long time ago uh but thanks for joining us and uh you know uh again here i am 57 years old and i'm learning something new every day and not to rehash this whole thing but i just found out today through jb this thing called Down Goes Brown is based on, I don't know, a fight that you had at Maple Leaf Gardens. I mean, I'm not asking you to go through the whole thing. I remember it well.

It was a Saturday night, Maple Leaf Gardens, hockey night in Canada. There was a big kerfuffle in front of the bench. And everyone was kind of grabbing people. And Pat Burns was the coach of the Leafs. And he kept screaming, grab Brown, grab Brown. And Savannah Fave called me out. And he skated kind of to center. And I'm like, okay, seriously, there's nobody out here my size.

So I fought him. And it was going well, it seemed like. I mean, he got 18 to 20 lucky shots in knocked me out then I had to go in the dressing room afterwards and while I'm in the dressing room I'm watching the little tv they used to have at Maple Leaf Gardens and I'm watching the fight over Michelle Goulet wasn't dressed that night I go Google it looks like he got me on the chin he goes well that's where the blood's coming from, so probably yes. And now you're what?

Down Goes Brown was a favorite catchphrase for a long, long time. All my buddies love that one. You're 5'11 against LeFabe, who's like 6'3 and weighs 50, 60 more pounds than you. Was this your mouth writing checks that your body can't cash uh yeah it finally caught up to me uh there's many many times that i was able to escape those but this one caught up to me and i paid a price so i laid out on the ice for a little bit my

father said i was down for half an hour they always exaggerate those dads well brownie i haven't seen you since the hockey greats fantasy camp in colona bc many years ago so happy to see your uh your face again thanks for joining us today and i i feel bad that we led with that story so i want to ask about scoring 49 goals and 115 points in the nhl and how a season like that comes to be is everything just fall in place for you we've been talking about Zach Hyman's year. It feels like one of those for you. Well, it did. Everything did fall into place, except the one problem that year is I tried being physical

and I threw a body check and hit Joe Neuendijk and he didn't move, but my shoulder did. So I separated his shoulder and missed about 12 games that year. So, oh, yeah, you only put 68 that year. Yeah, I needed two goals in the last game of the season. I scored a goal in the second period. I needed one. I hit a post in the third. Then the game went into overtime.

And the game, it was the last game of the year, meant nothing to Pittsburgh, who I was playing for. But the Philadelphia Flyers, if they won, they could move up. So the Flyers pulled their goalie in overtime in the offensive zone, and I was on the ice, and I'm thinking, well, I'm going to score 50. Mario's going to go through the whole team and give me an open net. And the coach, Gino Briaco, called me off the ice to put a different centerman on the ice.

And even Mario said to the bench, he's got 49. Coach says, nope, team game. So I sat on the bench and watched Mario go through the whole team and then score into an empty net. So that close, that close. You're a 50 goal scorer in my books, man.

I got you as 50. I introduced you as a 50 goal scorer. I'm sorry. But can you imagine now a year like that going into a contract situation in 2024 right now? Might have made you a few bucks. Well, it was my contract year, so I wouldn't have to be doing podcasts or working for a radio station. I would have my wife and I would be on vacation now. It would have been a little bit different. Well, when I signed my big contract, out of that year,

I signed for $450,000 a year. That was the contract I got after scoring 49 goals. Well, we appreciate your time today to talk a little bit about the Oilers. And before we maybe go into some details on the game tonight against the Leafs, just your overall assessment of what's transpired since the start, that horrific start to where they are today. Is it strictly a coaching change in your eyes? How do you assess this from the poorhouse to the penthouse?

I think that the Oilers themselves put too much pressure on themselves. It was cup or bust. And they talked about coming in early for captain skates. And this is the year for us. And everyone was excited. And then the first game they got stomped on 8-1 by the Vancouver Canucks. And I think it was just a kick to the stomach they weren't expecting. I think it took them a lot longer to recover from.

I think that they started reading their own headlines and feeling that they were that good. They were going to be able to run through the regular season. They finished 18-2 last year in regular season. And I think it cost the coaches two jobs. It cost Jack Campbell his job. But I think after that, the players, it didn't matter if it was the same coach or a new coach, I think the players at that point realized

how we were successful last year. And they've got back to playing that. Right now, they're playing as good as any team in the NHL. It'll be a tough test for the Toronto Maple Leafs today. So one of the things that has changed too is they started getting some saves from Stu Skinner. Is that just like a mindset, a confidence thing? It starts to go right and you start to feel better about it?

It's not like he could have made some major tactical change or anything, right? Well, I think the Oilers team was so bad in front of Skinner that every chance that the opposition was getting was a grade A scoring chance. It was breakaway, two on one, backdoor empty net. And all of a sudden the confidence starts to lag. The Oilers started playing better hockey. They stopped giving up the grade A chances. Players like Bouchard and Nurse simplified their games.

And now you're seeing them excel because they're playing a simple game, yet offense is still there so Skinner's gained confidence the team is very confident in front of them the others play with swagger now and you'll see that in tonight's game this is a team with swagger and their goaltending Stuart Skinner uh this is as good as I've seen him play um they don't give up a lot of odd man breaks and anytime they've needed a big save over the last 20-some games, Stuart Skinner's giving it to them. Brownie, is this Paul Coffey letting these guys know that it's okay to make a mistake, just limit your gambles or your chances that you're taking here?

Because it has been night and day for both Bouchard and Darnell Nurse. Yeah, I think they've got a defensive coach that plays like they play, that is an offensive guy who understood when to jump in and when not to. And I think when a Hall of Famer talks, it's very easy for those players to listen. And you're right. The nurse that you're right. The nurse that you're seeing now is the best nurse that's played in all the years. I've been here for, this is

my 18th season, so I've been here for all of nurse's seasons. Bouchard has just simplified his game. It was funny, when they made the coaching change, no one was really upset or questioned Knobloch coming in. There was a lot of chatter about Paul Coffey

going behind the bench here in Edmonton. A lot of questions. And every player interview they've talked, they've talked glowingly about the relationship they have with Paul Coffey. Yeah, I know. Obviously, he's been a big part in that turnaround. And I mentioned Skinner starting to play better.

I want to ask about conor mcdavid's season you know and i think he had 150 points last year or something right now he's 15 points behind the nhl's point leader um which is unusual for a guy that you know we all kind of universally agree is the best player on the planet has he is it was just a slow start is that why his numbers are kind of behind where we would expect for him? He was just as bad as the rest of the players. They were all bad. I mean, it was... There wasn't one player that could say, I'm doing my

job, the rest of you get better. Everybody was bad. I think at one point we had Connor at 196 in the National Hockey League in scoring. That's how far behind he was. He battled some injuries. They never really said what it was, but he didn't have the explosiveness. And when you looked at the body expressions and the facial expressions of these players

during the stretch at the beginning of the year, they all lacked confidence. They were all at a loss as Wyatt had gone sideways. You will see that tonight their body language is much better now. And Connor McDavid is playing as good as he's played. I think he's got, I don't know, he's averaging two points a game over the last 20-some games. And that's only because they've run into some hot goaltending. It could be a lot worse.

When they're in the offensive zone, they stay in the offensive zone until the goalie makes the saves and freezes it or until they score. The opposition cannot get the puck out. That line has been incredible. And Zach Hyman has benefited playing with Connor McDavid. There's no doubt about that. But Connor McDavid has benefited from playing with Zach Hyman. He's finishing.

He's keeping plays alive. They are a fun line to watch. So, yeah, so Connor McDavid is now playing like Connor McDavid was supposed to play all season long our producer sammy who's loved zach hyman as a leaf is now um in the feed in the fetal position in the corner of the studio that hurt to hear really really hurt um as well as they're going brownie there's no one that believes that this is going to be pretty much the the team that takes a run at the Stanley Cup here. So what is it they need?

Do they need a top six winger? Do they need more help on the bottom, another D? We certainly hope they're looking for a backup goalie. Yeah, I think all of the above. I think Calvin Pickard has played well. He has given them solid starts when he's in there. I think he's 5-2 on the season. That's pretty good for a third-string goaltender

that wasn't supposed to be here. I'm not sure that they are fully confident if Skinner goes down that Pickard can win them a Stanley Cup. So I think they will look for someone to help Skinner. On the back end, the Oilers have been incredibly lucky the last two years with health. Right now, Broberg is their guy in the minors, but after that, there's really no depth. So they need

some depth defensemen that are going to come in because we all know that in the playoffs, you go through defensemen and the Oilers right now have been very fortunate. So eventually the injury buck is going to hit. So they're going to need some depth defensemen and I think they would love some. Right now they got Warren Fogle playing in the top six.

And I love Warren Fogle. But if he can play on your third line, you are a much better hockey club. So I think they would love to find someone to fill a spot on the line with Leon Dreisettl. And they need to get Evander Kane going. He has not played very well for the last 15 to 18 games. He is a playoff-type performer. So they need to get him going in the right direction but this is not a finished product but it's a product right now that has

connor leon nugent hopkins hyman kane nurse bouchard at home it is a pretty good group yeah that i think they just need to put some you know fluff around the outside to to pretty them up for the playoffs well what are your thoughts i want to ask you about kane there because you know he's played i think the first two months of the year he averaged 18 and a half minutes then it was like 16 and a half in december he's at 15 20 in the month of january you know this guy's making a good amount of money he scored 30 goals in the league numerous times you know what's going on here with kane kind of seeing a diminished role as the team is having

success well one problem and this is a problem for players offensive players that come to Edmonton there's only one power play unit right they don't have a second unit and it used to be last year under Woodcroft that Hyman and Kane would flip flop depending on who was out there and then after a minute those two would change under Knobloch they don't do that Hyman and Kane would flip-flop, depending on who was out there, and then after a minute, those two would change. Under Knobloch, they don't do that. Hyman plays the entire time, so now Kane's getting no minutes as a power play guy, really, unless there's 30 seconds left in cleanup time. He doesn't kill penalties.

Under Woodcroft, he killed penalties. He doesn't do that anymore either. So there's two things that are taking away ice time. And then he struggled. He wasn't playing very well. So when he wasn't playing very well, sorry, my cat just knocked me. So when he wasn't

playing very well, he lost ice time that way too. So he's been moved to the third line now. He'll play second line tonight. And on the second line, he'll get more ice time with Leon. But they do need to go, tonight uh and on the second line he'll get more ice time with leon but they do need to go get him going the problem with evander is his interest in the games seem to have been based on his ice time and who he's played with ah so when he's when he's played with uh leon the excitement levels there theity's there, and there is swagger. When he's played on the third line,

that's when there's been comments after games about, you know, I did pretty good considering how much ice time I had. There was a game in New York where he scored a goal. There wasn't a celebration. So they need him engaged as a player because he was built and brought in for playoff hockey. So they need him playing better so that when they get into the playoffs, they know they got the Evander Kane that

they need. And that's being a bull on the ice. I expect him to have a big game tonight because he's playing with Leon. One guy that has fit in nicely from the moment he got traded was Ekholm. And I'm listening to an interview, I think, the other night where he's like first thing

out of his mouth is I don't like our game and it's like man that's a leader that is a guy that's taking charge and not afraid to say I think it's plus minus since he's been there something like ridiculous like 45 or not quite my plus minus Brownie that won me the award

but really really good and man he's just he's been so good for them well when they brought Hyman in they brought Hyman in because Hyman does all the little things proper way every game you there's no drop off in his game and that comes the same type of person same type of player he does all the little things right. He doesn't cut corners. He doesn't cheat. You don't see him giving up an odd man break against because he knows the proper way to play the game. And what I've loved about him, he's been a leader since he got here.

Right when he first got traded here, my family can't wait to get here. We're going to live here in the summer. We can't wait to get to Evan. Right there, he endeared himself to the fans. Evan Bouchard was floundering when they made the trade. They put him with Ekholm. Ekholm calmed him down. And now all of a sudden, there was an anchor. Bouchard could play his

game because he knew he had this safety net of Ekholm behind him. And what I loved about Ekholm, what you just talked about with a game a little while ago, is they won that game. That was a game that they won. And after the game, it became, you know what, that effort was not good enough. We're not going to be good enough if we play good teams so uh at home came as advertised the uh big reason the others went on their run at the end of last year's they

got at home in their top four he took some of the hard minutes away from darnell nurse and he just he plays the game the proper way when your leaders play the game the proper way, it's really hard for anyone else in your lineup to not do that. So I think that's on the back end with Nurse and Ekholm, that's two solid defensemen on the left side that they're going to have on the ice for 45 minutes a night. So this step that Bouchard has taken, I understand a lot of it is with Ekholm.

Like, how elite is this guy guy he's got 40 points in 39 games 10 goals we're halfway through the season like we're talking about a you know a paul coffee s kind of point getter i understand coffee is next level but you know this guy is one of the nhl's best it looks like this season uh offensively yes okay there's still warts in his game defensively but they're getting better he plays smarter now when he's got the puck on his stick he makes good plays and you'll see when they play tonight he's on the ice all the time

with the McDavid line he moves the puck well his shot is so heavy and in all honesty a penalty killer there's a little hesitation when they come out because it's such a heavy shot. But what's amazing about Bouchard,

he's got a heavy shot that seems to find its way through all the time. It doesn't get blocked at the blue line. So he's got top-end offensive skill. There's still work to be done defensively, but it is getting better. But the thing with playing for Paul Coffey on the back end, Coffey's told him, play your game, make plays, jump up, do all the little things that way,

and that will let the rest of the stuff take care of itself. So Bouchard, again, is playing as good as he's been since he's been here. He's been a plus player. He had a 14 or 15- point scoring streak earlier this year uh the power play is it's more dangerous because of him because he's got the ability to score from the point even when the goalie sees it his shot is that heavy that he can beat goalies one-on-one from a shot from the point and the leafs are what 24th or 25th with Penley killing? Oh, yeah. I heard Brownie's talking about how they don't think. Is there a chance this could get ugly for the Leafs?

Just tell us now, please. Well, the thing that's a little scary right now for any team that plays against the Oilers, McDavid is playing fantastic right now, yet they haven't had a lot of puck luck. And he's due for a five- or six-point game. Now, I don't know if it's against Toronto or it's going to be against Seattle. He's going to have one. He's that good, and the things are going to find that back.

And then eventually, the Oilers are pumped for this game. There was a time that the Oilers were going to games, and I'd be sitting there, okay, who are they going to play against? Who are they going to play against Leon? There'd be some games you're like, okay, this one might be a toss-up. Every time the Oilers play now, I believe the Oilers only have to worry about themselves. They're playing that well right now.

There's not a team out there that I think, ooh, the Oilers aren't going to be able to beat them. So the Oilers are good. Although this is going to be a good test. It'll test their defense with Marner and Matthews and Nylander. I'm a huge, I love watching the highlights. I'm a huge Nylander fan. I think that kid is fantastic.

I think that's a great signing by the Toronto Maple Leafs. But the part that, I'm just listening to Toronto media, the part that has been the heart, the Achilles heel of the Maple Leafs has been their back end. Well, that's what the Edmonton Oilers take apart. They are incredible on the forecheck. They keep plays alive. The Toronto Maple Leafs back end is going to be tested tonight.

Looking forward to it. Sammy is having more tears. Hey, Brownie, this is great stuff. You know you and your cat are welcome on our show anytime. Thanks, Brownie. Sounds good, guys. Pleasure. Former National Hockey Leaguer. leaguer 50 goal score 50 goals are 68 games he scored 49 times he's playing with lemieux that year as close as you can get

that's a tough story that is tough yeah that hurts how about uh so he's talking about bouchard in his shot so nhl.com slash edge their data they have guys uh how many times per year that you've got your shot over 90 miles an hour um you know third in the league philip pronick 33 times headman's done it 38 times 90 plus miles an hour uh bouchard first in the nhl 66 times he's fired a bomb he's uh wow six that is such a six every game you watch it and it's like we had in my day al mckinnis like that was just sick to watch him shoot the puck i mean he's he's his closest to to that in the league right now yeah no he does i mean he just absolutely cooks it consistently so you know it's hard to shot

are we doing a hard to shot at the all-star game i assume yeah it's in there oh yeah uh brown was talking about how when that McDavid line gets going, he's like, the thing that's going to stop them on offense is the goalie's going to make a save and a whistle, or they score. And that, for the Leafs, they have had trouble ending, snuffing out offense. So, yeah. Work is cut out for them.

Welcome back, Mark Giordano. All the stuff he talked about, it's like when there's a football team that everyone, you know, it's like, well, they got a great passing game, and the other team's cornerbacks are no good. Yeah. It's like, it just feels like it's a bad matchup tonight, Philly. You know, the Oilers could come in as they are, as a 10-game winning streak,

or they could come in with losing three in a row and they'd look exactly the same because it's that Toronto Maple Leaf it's like we're playing the Toronto Maple Leafs if there's no better time now to spread the word or one up on that market the writers everybody's paying more attention because of the attention that the Leafs get. I've played out west as a Toronto Maple Leaf, right? And there's a ton of support in the stands. You're

going to get a lot of Leaf fans, but as far as the opposition on the ice, they dig down so deep to beat the Leafs. And right now, despite a 10, it doesn't matter, they want to beat the Leafs tonight And right now, despite a 10, it doesn't matter, they want to beat the Leafs tonight. It's not just any game.

The Leafs need this one too. There you go. I was just going to reference that clip. Derek grabbed my mind, but it was... I don't know what year it was when the Jets beat the Leafs. Is there anything better than beating the Leafs? Like, sorry everybody. Leafs matter the most. People care the most about the Leafs.

It's true. They hate us because they hate us. What other team in the NHL would have guys going into a locker room and saying, is there anything better than beating the Leafs? Nothing. It's because of volume. Idiots like us. It's just the volume. Most fans, most popular team, it's just what it is.

Jam it down your throat moment for them. It is what it is. Take your, you know, all that media attention. Take your millions of dollars you make more than any other team and just shove it. Luke asked...

No one says, is there nothing better than beating the Canucks? No one says that. It's the Leafs. Luke asked McDavid about during the bubble when the Leafs went to the...

or played Edmonton three games in a row, and they kept McDavid off the score sheet entirely in three games. And I think they scored once in three games. Justin Hall, top pairing. Him and Mizen shut him down. Yeah. That ain't happening.

That was a moment for Leaf fans, too. Well, that was the moment you were like, this team could win the cup. And then they're like, uh, no. Montreal beat us. Yeah, that was tough. Poor John Tavares. Game time? Game time!

It'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+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. So, as is tradition,

if you're watching the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers tonight, and you don't bet on a Zach Hyman goal, you're not doing it right. Zach Hyman to score a goal any time against the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight is plus 115. Minus 4,000. Welcome for the free money. I'm looking at some other games in the NHL tonight. This one, to me, is interesting, and I'm not sure why it is.

I guess Colorado, maybe it's the last game of this trip, but they're only slight, slight favorites against the Ottawa Senators. You know, I saw that you won this. Minus 120. Against Ottawa. They give up three, they dig a huge hole Saturday night and then they lose the next game to the Habs.

Second half of back-to-back, I guess. Go ahead. Yeah, they're limping a little bit and the news that they lost a top player in nakushkin to uh to a substance abuse program isn't helping now so yeah i see it to me though from a gambling perspective, you're not going to get Colorado against a pretty inferior opponent at minus 120. That's pretty good value. So, you know, it's a tough one for them.

And the other ones I was looking at here, Toilet Bowl tonight, San Jose Sharks visiting Chicago. I saw that. Who'd you even bet? I mean, should the Chicago Blackhawks be minus 150 against any hockey team on earth? No, they shouldn't. Should we talk about Dickinson's contract?

We can talk about that after the break, but plus 125 for the Sharks tonight. I won betting on the Sharks against the Habs the other night. Give me the Sharks tonight. Plus 125, hold my nose. Nobody, no Chicago Blackhawks team should be favored by that. Nope. And the last thing, just looking at the Leafs and Oilers just as a game,

Oilers are huge favorites, as they probably should be. Plus 140 for the Leafs. You never get that kind of value on the Leafs. You think they're going to galvanize for their head coach and win a big one? It's not bad value. What can I get for Oilers in regulation? Don't know how to look that up. Okay.

That would be something I will be pursuing. So minus a goal and a half for the Oilers, though, is plus 145. All right. So there you go. I'm interested to watch Nugent Hopkins tonight because he's not on that huge pace that he had last year at over 100 points, probably around 75, 80 points this year. But when this guy looks like he's really engaged in

the game that to me is a measuring stick because you know what connor's gonna do you know zach's gonna be the exact same player but when this guy's going man it just shoots the oilers i feel like he's a really underrated player i know he had a huge i love this game me too and he's got 38 points he's on pace for a more normal Ryan Newton Hopkins year. That's right. Last year was nuts. What, did he have 50 power play points last year? Yeah.

Like it was crazy. 100 plus points. It was wild. All right. That was 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 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. All right. Time to pay some bills. And when we come back, we'll get into some news and notes. You guys just mentioned Blackhawks signing Jason Dickinson to a big contract as well. Money, money, money, money. We'll tell you why he got such big money.

We will. Yes, we will. We will. And Elvis is still making noise in the building of the Columbus Blue Jackets as he had a big shootout win against Vancouver. And we'll have some fun with some of his clips. More Kippers Clippers on the national edition of the Real Kipper Inborn Show. Back after these words.

Your daily dose of everything NFL. It's the Fan Checkdown with Matt Marchese and Donovan Bennett. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back into the studio. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Just going to break. We talked about the Chicago Blackhawks dishing out the cash yet again jason dickinson now is he the rep for the all-star weekend for chicago i know that is

that possibly guards out good player sorry i just watched the fave brown i had to watch the fight yeah he hangs in there until he doesn't. Yeah, I know the feeling. Yeah, well, hey. I ended my career on one of those feelings. Well, I was too cowardly to be in them, so credit to you. Jason Dickinson. Do we have him as an all-star Sammy?

Where are you on this? Yeah, I'm looking at it here. I think he's an all-star. Well, he's kind of paid like one a little bit. He just signed a two-year deal at $8.5 million. What is that? What? What is it?

Like great numbers? What? Like I'm honestly having trouble computing it. So it's like a salary floor thing? Yes and no. I think first of all, no one's dishing $1, let alone eight and a half if you don't like the player or you don't see

a lot of upside. Kip, didn't the Canucks have to attach an asset to him to get rid of him? Yeah. And now Dickinson's the second rounder.

Right? Yeah. So, what changed here here what was his last contract off of right that's just a salary dump so what what was his salary prior to agreeing to this one his salary has been making 2.65 okay that's

that's it. So now he goes to 4.25. His career high is 30 points. This year he's got 21 and 43 games, which is good. It seems really strange to me unless there's something I'm not understanding. Okay, so let's dive deeper. Let's go to his age this is 28 28 so now he's in his prime and yeah every 28 year old even if you don't play like willie kneelander you want term you security. You can get hurt tomorrow. Your game could go south. You want term.

Chicago doesn't give them term. So they give them two years. So to get a 28-year-old who's a serviceable player in the National Hockey League, you got to overpay him to just sign a two-year deal. And I think that's where you come up to 4.25 i gotta tell you it makes a ton of sense it's like we're chicago and we know we're not a desirable place to play the next two years because we're going to lose so you're in your prime you're giving up you can't get these guys to come in uh the free agent market because they're all looking for anything north of three or four or five nobody gets seven

anymore but you a 28 year old soon to be 29 can get four years and also if you're chicago he's not getting it no you want you plan on paying other players in two years to be with bedard i'm talking about whether it's Pettersson, you know, I'm just saying, or whether it's Willie Neyland or how, you know, I know that's a sale,

but that type of guy, like you're thinking we got to bring in the big UFAs, whatever. So, all right, you're going to give Nick Foligno huge money, two years. We're going to give Dickinson the big money,

two years. We're okay with it because we're not a cap team and we're not going there it's just money for chicago for the leafs for the bigger markets that can they're not spending to the cap 25 beer yeah they don't care so give them four and a half but we get to what a coup for dickinson and felino where was this i had 17 goals and 300 penalty minutes. Where was a Chicago Blackhawks to say, hey, come on over? Meanwhile, yeah, they give you an Applebee's discount or something? Yeah, a ton of money. A ton of money.

And an overpayment to sign a short-term deal. That's how I see it. So we're talking about him for the All-Star game. How do you feel that would play with the players, the league forcing every team to have a representative? I can't imagine Blackhawk fans are like, I wasn't going to tune in, but now that old Dickie's in, I'm in. Can we not get another elite player uh in the game instead where what's

the league's objective here because once upon a time when you were an all-star you were an all-star it mattered when i was a kid it but it meant it was in contract like if I make an all-star team, I earn. Yeah. It was supposed to be the best of the best that year in a fairly competitive environment. Like think about, too, all these guys that played in this game and had to win a car. Some of these guys were making like 60 grand, 70 grand. You give them a car. It was a big deal back then.

And here we are in 2024 and these guys are making tens of millions of dollars. And now it's not a car. It's a million dollars. Every sport, in fairness, is having trouble motivating their players to try. Like the Pro Bowl, travesty. NBA All-Star Game is the worst one to watch. They don't even do the Pro Bowl anymore. It's like a flag football game.

Yeah. And NBA All-Star Game, 190 to 180 with a new scoring system. The last 10 minutes of an NBA All-Star Game are always excellent. Turn it up. I think players like to now consider themselves like an all-star right my first all-star like they want to still sell it that way but they really should drop all-star like that that's dead and buried it really should be the nhl's showcase weekend. Player showcase. You want to throw in a Jason Dickinson on the weekend. Well, you're showcasing here.

Okay. What's he thinking? It's not. You don't want to change it to the NHL's some star game? The true sense of all-star kind of gets lost when you have to have every representation. We define it now, I think, an all-star, as the voting that happens at the end of the year. Did you make an all-star team? You know, Mitch Marner's the best right winger in the NHL.

Whether there's an all-star game that year or not. That's an all-star. That's an all-star. You know, like that's how you. All-star selection. Correct. So this is now, yeah. They do that in the NBA.

The all-NBA team at the end of the year. It's like all-NBA one, all-NBA two, all-NBA three. Like the threes. And we barely talk about it in hockey. It's a bigger deal. This gets lumped in with that. I know. And it shouldn't.

I know. It doesn't feel quite right. And again, no disrespect to Boone Jenner and Jason Dickinson, who are good hockey players. But that's just not, you're not one of the 30 best in the league and I thought that's what we were trying to do here. That's all. Okay, we teed up before the break

Elvis. Elvis. In Columbus who's making a ton of noise. Really. He's all shook up isn't he? He's all aww. Sorry. Pretty good Marn pretty good great drop in monte pretty good pretty good he's also making a lot of money yeah he gets paid 5.5 for how long for many more okay uh before we go

to this clip you kind of threw it out there would teams be be interested in Elvis? And I'm curious to know. At that price, he's not Saros, as Sammy has mentioned a lot. A million times. But to get Merzlikens is the same kind of commitment to a Saros. It's like, what's the price and who can afford it well sorrows is this year and next on the contract merzlikans is this year and then three more seasons at 5.4 so i think it's a different level level of commitment i'd roll the dice on this guy so his last four seasons are he's a 923 and 33 games at 9 916, a 907. He had a bad year last year, and he's back to a 906 this year,

which is above league average. You know, he's been good. He's 29. He's 6'3". He makes 5.4. God, that sounds like a pretty, you know, tempting dice roll if you're a team that is a goalie away from a cup. And he's competitive.

Listen to these clips. He's a maniac. He's competitive. You know, I don't. Squirrely? Maybe another term for it. I get he's a maniac he's competitive you know i don't squirrely i get i get he's a handful that's what i get so let's go what do you have for sammy we got the clip there uh derrick brian uh elvis there's been a lot of talk in the in the days leading up to this game how good did it feel to go out there and let your your play speak for itself well it definitely

was an easy game for me uh i didn't play it a while and you know i like like when i was talking back there i said like when i'm gonna have my chance i have to i'm not gonna have time i have to get right away in in the moment in the game and uh and i try doing that i did not like my third goal in pk uh but take it because, again, I didn't play a while. In the start of the game, I did not feel well. The puck, each period was better and better and better. Third period was awesome. Overtime and then penalty shots, I'm really happy about it.

Yeah, I mean, as the game rolled out, that's the perfect scenario for you because you were feeling at your best when you needed to be, right? I'm just mad, I'm going to tell you honestly. I'm mad and I'm pulling out the monster out of me now how did it feel in that overtime when not only were you perfect in the overtime but the shootout you handled brilliant sorry the shootout you handled brilliantly uh there was no other choice as a win i needed this win i needed this win and i got it and now'm laughing. Now you can go celebrate a little bit. A lot.

Thanks for the time, Elvis. Thank you. I'm laughing? That guy is an animal. I can't speak. I'm losing my voice. You're saying now I'm laughing? Now I'm laughing.

Yeah. I think I just did a French accent, actually. I mean, he's pissed. He doesn't want to be the third string goalie. Those comments would scare me to trade for him I think goalies are nuts in general I think Tuukka Rask was a completely

unhinged individual at times I think some of these competitive maniacs are like put him in the net man this guy and he's been on Columbus his stats are what they are and he's on Columbus bring me the angry weird goalie. Tuca.

And I'm pulling out the monster. I don't mean to. The monster. Buddy, this is a guy that could suck a lot of oxygen out of your room. Or he could infuse it with victories because he's angry and now he's laughing.

That's a great clip. That's one of the best sound clips of the year that's right up there with brad may yeah he listen this guy means fight my mom i mean what i think he would fight his mom alvis would oh yeah what is yarmo gonna do like this guy's angry he doesn't want to be there they're they're uh so in columbus if you don't know the background is they're developing this daniel tarasov yes and they're trying to figure out if tarasov is a starter or not so they're giving him games because they don't care if they win or lose so now they made their starter elvis watch games and elvis is not happy he didn't even he doesn't even want to be the backup i'm not a backup you got that quote yeah yeah i won't be a backup. You got that quote? Yeah. I won't be a backup. I believe in myself.

You call me arrogant. I'm not arrogant. I'm just confident. And later on that quote, he says, I'm going to quote Zlatan Ibrahimović here. Really? And he says, I'm not arrogant. I am confident. Oh, my. He says, I am not number two or three.

I won't be it. Elvis. Elvis. I should have said to Mike, I won't be a fourth liner. I won't be a fourth liner. You're a fifth liner then. Good luck. You're a sixth liner.

But like, you know, looking at this through, of course, blue and white lenses here, you have Joe Wall, right? The nicest kid on earth. Like, you think he's going to be your starter? He makes no money. Like this, if you're trading for this guy, it's a meat, like, so Edmonton's another example of a team that needs a goalie. Stu Skinner, this guy's not going to be the backup.

He's the starter. Damn right. He's the starter. He is the starter. Like, it's a big statement. Yes statement to get that guy on your team. You're trading for a statement. A statement. Have you even considered what it would do for our show?

I have not considered that, and it's a great idea. It would really go miles for us if we had a daily clip from that guy. Now I'm laughing. Now he's laughing. Okay, we'll see how much he's laughing. What do you think Columbus would want for him based on what you think he might be

and what the numbers tell us? A handshake. They want to get this guy the hell out of there. You think? I mean, they're Columbus the rebuilding. I imagine it would be a first. A first. Oh my gosh. That's such a gamble for me. I don't know if it would be a first one lower like a second or a third what's their leverage well i guess the point is they're

trying to unload so much money they got this terrace off and he's in the media pissed it's like what i don't know i think you could get him for a second rounder maybe a third rounder and trade some contracts out i think there's a chance he's going to be right there by the end of the year. In Columbus. Yep. I mean, it's the most likely thing. It's just a hard contract to move. So maybe that makes it a third round or a fourth round.

I don't know if the contract's that bad. It's 5.4. What do you think a starting goalie costs? Do you see Edmonton trading for this guy? Because I don't. Do you see Toronto trading for this guy? No. Because I don't. Do you see edmonton trading for this guy because i don't do you see toronto trading for this guy because i don't do you see la yeah trading for him i could for sure just having seen them go corpus allo and then talbot you know they're searching how's ottawa doing with

corpus allo right now they want another inconsistent columbus goalie in there all right um also making news in tampa bay julian brisebois who wanted to make it clear that stamkos will not be traded at the deadline you surprised by this i'm not surprised he said it yeah i don't think he you need to believe him oh i thought we had a clip no there's no no there's no clip okay there's no audio he did it a writer's only, there's no clip. Oh, okay. There's no audio. You did it at a writers-only meeting. There you go. You know, Stephen Stamkos spoke out before the season that he was not happy that he had not been offered an extension. I think they need to keep him happy, and I think they consider themselves still Tampa Bay, right?

Like, they want to be competitive this year, and anyone can win. I was surprised that he would tip his hand right now on this. But doesn't it just like drive up the price? For me, it's the right thing to do because he's Stephen Stamkos and he's a legend in your organization and he will stand as the greatest Tampa Bay Lightning. But my question is where does it lead then going into the summer to sign him? Is this a way of setting up an offer that he can and will refuse

and make it look like it's his decision? We're loyal to him. He didn't want our deal. We couldn't go any higher than this. Are you setting him up to walk away from a deal that he didn't want our deal we couldn't go any higher than this are you setting him up to walk away from a deal that he won't like or are you going to get a deal done in the summer yeah that's a good point i mean it would be really hard to commit long term to stamkos who is not presumably going to get better over the coming years and has had some injury issues here and there i don't know i i i get tampa's hesitation you don't want to look like the bad guys and you know this guy has been integral to the franchise and won cups and been a great ambassador

and all that by the way 41 points in 41 games so far this year for stamkos a minus 20 what yeah minus 20 how about everybody else that's a lot they Okay, how about everybody else? That's a lot. They're all minuses. Yeah. I know. That's a big number. Which suggests that there is a better chance than they've had in a very long time of missing the playoffs. They're one point behind the Leafs. So do you think we're in the era where people are so,

I don't want to say progressive, but people analyzing so closely where they would understand trading Stamkos as a Lightning fan. If you say we don't think playoffs are a sure thing, we're going to recoup some assets for this guy rather than lose him. Well, if we heard Stamkos making noise at training camp, I would imagine he'd probably make a little bit noise about leaving. And I don't think that would be healthy for your organization.

I would imagine it's a sensitive organization that has had championships now and watching a goat leave wouldn't sit well with them. So I think it's a good organizational move to to wipe out all that noise yeah but again does that mean now you're setting them up for a retirement contract i remember i forget what book i read this in but like tampa bay is one of the few really progressive analytics organizations like they have been ruthless in the past with some of their decision-making. I'm curious, really curious to see what happens with Stan goes in the light.

It's a different kind of fan base there, right? Like it's not, you know, here, here, there. It's like,

you traded who? Yeah. They're not, they're not like pouring over as advanced. They only have 20,000 fans that happened to go to the game. Yeah. Yeah. Right.

And they're like, you traded the captain? Kyle Connor returns tonight for the Winnipeg Jets like they need help. Yeah. A lot. They did really well. Eight or nine.

A few tomato cans. Enjoy your game tonight. We're right back here tomorrow on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Thanks for joining us, everybody. Our thanks once again to Rob Brown. We'll see you next time.