Real Kyper & Bourne - The Jets' Jump with Kevin Cheveldayoff

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with some behind-the-scenes on media meals and who boasts the best spread. They are joined by Jets' GM Kevin Cheveldayoff (4:22), who shares how his squad has been able to stay competitive after a drama-filled end to last season, the rewarding returns of the Pierre-Luc Dubois trade and the next steps for in-season improvement. After, a chat about Ehlers' usage and the whole league's need for a right-shot defenceman. Finally, news and notes - rumours of Nolan Patrick's retirement, Don Granato's seat heating up, Devon Toews calls out his teammates and Fleury closes in on second place for all-time goalie wins.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.

welcome back into the second hour of the real kipper and born show we are live on sports net sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 that kip real isrios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. It's Wednesday night. Can only mean one thing. Always, like, just a handful of games. Not ever busy on Wednesday. Do you notice that?

Yeah, because we clear one out here on Sportsnet for us. So everyone watches us. Is that what it is? Wednesday night hockey, baby. Which Borny is on tonight. And I'm not jealous you're on TV tonight. No. I'm jealous

that you're going to get a nice meal before the show. Yes, we do. We get a lovely meal. It's steak and sweet potatoes last week. Complaining. Not that I'm complaining. But last week, we did a regional game.

Oh, here we go. And we work here from 4 to 6. We're racing over there to get ready for a pregame. Oh, my God. I was kind of hungry. And then. Let me ask you something. When are you not hungry?

Yeah, that's a good point, too. Thank you. That's a good point, too. Thank you. So I'm kind of looking around. Let's get hungry. And they've got this, like, amazing, like, cabinet. And I'm told there's, like, food in this thing.

I'm told. And it's locked. Kept rattling the doors like he's in prison. Locked. I don't like hammer food. Anybody got the key to this? There's cheese strings in the fridge. There is no key for a regional broadcast.

Which brings us to our conversation with Will Liu before the game, talking about the Raptors media meal. Do you know what the Raptors media meal is? I think it's the same as the Leafs do. Was it no media meal? No, I think you get like a voucher or something. The last year I went, you were getting like a voucher. Hell, when I was with the Marlies,

the Marlies media got like a nice spread, a nice buffet. But, you know, they're not making that much at MLSC. And Will's just saying that, you know, especially in the NBA. Will, for the record, wasn't complaining. We were asking. No, for sure., wasn't complaining. We were asking. No, for sure.

But we were asking and complaining for him. We were saying, that is unacceptable. But when the NBA, Will was saying, when teams like the L.A. Lakers come in, like everybody's dumbfounded because apparently the L.A. Lakers serve shrimp the size of Sammy's head, apparently. Well, when I used to go down to the games for a Least Nation postgame, they would put out, before the game, they'd put out an oven full of pizza. Yeah.

Pizza, pizza, and butt. Throw the kid a pie. You boys better see in the schlubs. The lineup for that, baby, was thick. And they'd put popcorn out for the minions and you would eat popcorn and they'd get, I don't know if they don't do that anymore, I guess. I don't know. They put ice cream in the cooler for the first intermission. They'd provide.

And for the record, MLSE does a fantastic job in the alumni room. I always thought it was that right. In general. So don't dump on the MLSE and ruin it for the alumni right now. The alumni box was really good food.

I'd like to go back there sometime. The alumni eating Pacific salmon imported from the West Coast. Meanwhile, the media is mucking the dry slices off. We're going to ask Kevin Chevelday off, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, in a few minutes. What the media mail? What they of the Winnipeg Jets, in a few minutes. With the media mail? What they serve in Winnipeg. Yeah.

Does anyone care? Maybe. It doesn't matter. We're entertaining ourselves. I'll tell you what. Hey, listen, I was a video coach in the AHL. We'd go play in Manitoba. They had a nice media spread out for us.

They do a great job there. Love it. Maybe, Will, if you said a few nice things about the Raptors. He does. Lately. He's pro Raptors. He loves Raptors. Maybe that it's his buddies. Well, what was the best media, the best media story was the Eakins taking away the donuts.

That is really great. When he put out the carrot sticks and stuff. With the Edmonton Oilers. Let's welcome in Kevin Shovel Dayoff, general manager of the Winnipeg Jets, where they sit very comfortably third in the central division. Now, Chevy, did you have to take food away from the media over the course of your career at all?

This is the NHL, the Never Hungry League. You can't take the food away. It's a funny story. A friend of mine once told me, they said that you can buy a media guy an order of chicken wings on the road sometime and you'll forever get some good stories. You're not wrong.

It'll go a long way well i think uh i think the media in in the jets should be eating very well because uh certainly it's been a a good start can we consider it a still a start at roughly 30 games um just just the overall view, while many, including me, may be surprised, Chevy, where is it sitting with you overall with your team? Well, obviously, we've made lots of changes to the group here over the course of time and over the course of the summer. And we've had lots of different goings-on, I think, like any NHL team. But this summer, obviously, at the draft, we made a trade that I think, you know,

signaled what direction we wanted to try to keep pointing this franchise. And we're very excited about, you know, the prospects of getting a Gabe Velarde and Alex Ayafalo and Erasmus Kupari to give us that, you know, a little bit more depth and dimension, I guess, to, you know, to our group. And we were able to sign, you know, Helly and Shife, you know,

at the beginning of the year, right before training camp. You know, we had an opportunity to extend Nino Niederreiter here just shortly. So, you know, it's a good group of guys. Obviously, we've had, you know had some tough times here as well. We went through a period of time there where Rick Bonas was away from the team. I think it just really helped to show how much all these guys care about each other and care about the coaching staff and the job that Scott Arneal and Brad Lauer and Marty Johnson did to pick up what Bonas was talking about, you know, what Bowman's was talking about.

I think it speaks volumes to, you know, how close this group really is. Chevy, when I look at your team, I believe you guys have won 20 straight games, giving up three or fewer goals. I don't know if in the past you would have considered yourself defensive stalwarts or whatever, but right now your team just does not give up a pile of goals. To what do you attribute to that too is that a team structure thing goaltending d where do you lay the uh the credit for that well you know certainly again you you have to start with the goaltending there's no

question about it that uh a player like connor hellebuck um you know has uh has really established himself as one of the upper echelon goalies but But, you know, it is a mindset of Bones. You know, it is a mindset that we tried to instill when Bones came into the organization, you know, last year. And it takes time. But, you know, it's something that, you know, again, guys take pride in, I think. And, you know, if you look at our leadership core, you know, Adam Lowry being our captain, you know josh morrissey mark scheifele they've all really you know established you know uh an identity with how

we want to play and the way bones wants us to play we're talking to kevin shovel day off general manager of the winnipeg jets uh i want to talk to you a little bit about Gabe Velarde in terms of an incredible performance on his return back to L.A. And just the overall sense, Chevy, in terms of the appreciation for the trade that you made with Pierre-Luc Dubois and how hard it is when everybody knows that this player doesn't want to return and you're up against the clock and you're able to make a trade, a significant one without feeling like you're, you're,

you're not delivering the goods. I mean, it's, it's an, it's not a great position to be in and it's, it's worked out incredibly well. Well, it's not a great position to be in, and it's worked out incredibly well. Well, it's, you know, again, there's lots of different things and different circumstances that come into play in the National Hockey League.

And, you know, sometimes opportunities present themselves. And here, this was a good opportunity for us, you know, to kind of reshape, you know, how our forward group looks. And a guy like Gabe, you know, it was awesome. It was so awesome to see because he went through so much already this year with, you know, having a knee injury that kept him out for the better part of six or seven weeks. And, you know, for him to come back and go into L.A. and have the game that he did, you know, those are the type of things that are special, you know, for him to come back and go into LA and have the game that he did, you know, those are the type of things that are special, you know,

and the guys really, you know, really felt for him, you know, and it's just awesome to, you know, when a player like that can get rewarded. Again, it just helps the, you know, the team become even that much closer. Can I ask, during that process, was there other options for you at the time? Was this crystal clear the, the, the, the Avenue for you just in terms of,

again, how do you, how do you pick at the end of it? Was it close with other teams? Yeah. And I don't want to let up too many secrets. Let's just say I watched, you know, I watched draft day a couple of times. Now, you know, again, you do your due diligence and, you know, you try to do the best that you can.

Obviously, you know, L.A. was very aggressive and very, you know, up front in wanting to make it happen. And, you know, fortunately, it worked out for both sides. You know, I can't help but think about, you know, the path this team has taken. You know, the end of last year, you know, Bones said some things about the team being disappointed that there wasn't more pushback. He was frustrated.

Over the years, we've seen Line A a little frustrated and wanted out. You know, Wheeler, I don't know if he's frustrated at all years they've seen uh line a little frustrated and wanted out you know wheeler i don't know if he's frustrated at all but dubois was maybe frustrated i want to talk about character in the room and how much you believe that maybe just having guys who want to be there attributes you know is part of the reason for success or what do you think character how much it matters in team success well i think it matters a lot and i think you know going back to last year you know at the end of the season um you know you're emotional there's very there's lots of emotions coaches are emotional too and and you know you just you know obviously uh you know lost and you're

done you're out of the playoffs um when you sink that much heart uh and and energy and emotion into um the season and know that it's come to an end. There is a lot of hard emotion. But I was thankful for that because, you know, that led to, obviously, lots of hard and poignant and honest conversations with lots of the players. And that's, you know, what it was all about. And I really don't think, you know, that we get to that point of being able to sign

Shaif and Heli without having all those things transpire. Because now if you look at how our team is built, the very first, actually the second guy I guess that we drafted in our very first year is now the captain of our team. He's gone through our development process. You know, he's grown up, you know, as a Winnipeg Jet, and now he's the captain. Our very first player that we drafted, Mark Scheifele, you know,

just now signed on for eight more years and, you know, again, has grown up through our process. And you can keep on going, Josh Morrissey, you know, all these players, Kyle Connor, Nick Ehlers, players that we drafted, players that we developed, players that grew up here. And when I was sitting down with Mark and Connor at the beginning of the year and we're talking about the extensions, even before I got into negotiations, you know, with their agents really on the final stretches of anything,

is it was very clear two things. These two players are very driven to want to win the Stanley Cup. And the second thing that was ultimately very clear is they want to do it with this group of guys. And then they really care about each other. Kevin, you talked about Josh Morrissey just moments ago. There's no question that he is now constantly in conversations amongst the best defensemen in the league but we do know that

there's a few teams out there that need help on the blue line I mean can we think that the Winnipeg Jets and and you would in particular would be looking to revamp that, not revamp, but build off of that blue line or like, where are you on, on, on the backend? Well, I think, you know, again, if, if, you know, obviously, um, you're always looking to see what's available maybe to improve your team. If, if you're so lucky to be in that, um, in, in that space of, of, of wanting to, um, you know, fill some holes, uh, and, to, you know, fill some holes. And, you know, your team is certainly something that warrants it.

But, you know, again, we'll take a look at how things go over a period of time here. And, you know, really haven't identified any areas, you know, yet. We've obviously lost Kyle Connor here for you know six to eight weeks and and uh just got Gabe Velarde back uh Rasmus Kupari is now starting to skate um you know young player like Vili Hainola who had a great camp you know is just starting to skate again so there's you know there's there's lots of ebbs and flows that that, you know, throughout. But again, I think a lot of things, a lot of our success isn't about an individual, outside of maybe a Connor Hellebuck, you know, who obviously plays a very important position. It's about a team and it's about a structure and it's about playing a certain way.

So it's not necessarily about going and finding that unicorn, you know, to kind of, you know, put you over the proverbial top. It's about finding things that fit, you know, your team structure. What are your thoughts on the, so the division right now, you guys are second in points percentage. You're just a, you're a hair behind Dallas. You're right there with the top teams in the division. What are your thoughts on the West and your division this year?

I don't want to say that it's weaker necessarily, but it doesn't seem like there's a juggernaut, like a team that's running away with it all. Does that make you feel more confident, more bold about doing something to get yourself in a position to really try to win that division? Well, I think that it, obviously what it says to me is that any team on any given night,

because there is such a closeness in our division, you know, or a conference even, you know, can, can win. So, you know, it's one of those things where you truly, you know, start looking at the, you know, at the races, you know, early on, because you know, you want to have consistency. You want to, you know, play with a level of structure, and you have to play a certain way. That's really what drives us on a regular basis.

It's not necessarily about, okay, well, we're going to be the top of the division. That's exciting, obviously, for every reason. For us, it's one of focusing on structure and consistency. Chevy, really appreciate your time, man. Thanks for doing this. Hey, by the way, hold on for a second. We know the NHL draft is going to stay traditional

for one more year in Vegas. Were you one of the guys that wanted to get rid of it? Is it better for you or a team like winnipeg to do it remotely actually we i think we're one of the very few teams that voted to keep it traditional um you know we we for several reasons uh you know one i think you know just the you know the fact of doing things you know differently as you know as far as the league but um you know at one point in time we were hopeful to host a draft here you know with in winnipeg and stuff like that so that was kind of our driving force but you know again there's

lots of pros and cons to both sides of it and and um there's certainly something to be said to you know to have your you know all your staff together and and hey like i said i've been watching draft day quite a bit so you know we know we know all about it you know now there's a book uh doug mclean wrote on the draft you you realize that right yeah he's steering so everyone's heard yeah exactly hey chevy really appreciate your time man all the best okay awesome i hope everyone has a great holiday season and uh thanks for having me on today thanks chevy appreciate it chevil day off general manager of the winnipeg jets and uh doing a terrific job because they are in the mix in the west yeah they're one point out of first

ahead of colorado by win percentage now best goal differential in the division pretty good team you nailed it there though for me me, about how any team that's good in the West, it's like, we got a real chance to go to the final. Well, that to me is like, that should be the impetus to be like, we should add here. I know we were talking about earlier in our show about what Max Domi with the Leafs, Yarncroft, is it Robertson?

Is it somebody else? And then you got their third line technically is Lowry, Mason Appleton, and Nita Ryder. That's a third line. That's heavy. Well, they're a defensive juggernaut too. They play against other teams' best lines. Like that's –

Like when you're not – if you're not you know if you want to take shifley off a best on best throwing lowry down there to shut down top centerman yeah great option super effective you know what the strangest thing is and i thought about asking chevy about it but i know how the answer would go but just like that nick eelers eelers is such an interesting player to me you know he's dynamic he shoots he's fast he's you know he gets him a couple scraps a year he plays 16 minutes a night every year feisty too but he barely plays and it's not like one coach has made that call this whole career they obviously know so i don't know he's the guy i just can't make you know there's sometimes there's some guys at 23 points already this year playing 1607 at night

that's strange i i really believe that that the coaches have this kind of filing cabinet that says this guy i'm gonna squeeze the most out of him between 14 and 16 minutes if i go 17 or 18 he's no good yeah i lose him he there's something there's a major drop off that was willie for a long time well that's what made me think of it and why so we're talking about the jets and wednesday night hockey tonight and i'll talk about eelers a little bit. And so I've been, that's exactly it for me. It's Willie was the guy who played 16, 17, and it was always like, ah, he should get more. And all of a sudden he found this next year and he's playing 19, 20. And Ehlers hasn't been given that longer leash.

Tavares, same thing. Like, take a look. Great at 19, don't want him at 21. 17 and 19, you'll never see Sheldon go 21, 22 with him. Some guys, and I'll say I was this kind of player, if you're playing a ton, will conserve energy, right? Like you'll save, you'll go for a shift, and you'll wait for an opportunity to go on an offensive opportunity.

Otherwise, they just don't keep the pedal down. And some guys, you just kind of need to say, you're going to play 16, 17 minutes, go pedal down every shift, and we'll get more out of you than having you're gonna play 16 17 minutes go pedal down every shift and we'll get more out of you than having you kind of coast around like born did in the coast i asked kevin shovel day off about the back end and like morrissey pionk but not not big not heavy line. That's a lot of man. Dylan's fine, but it's not enough to think you're going to go three or four rounds. He's got to shop that blue line.

Nate Schmidt would be wonderful. Oh, I love Nate Schmidt. I do. Never been a huge fan. He would be wonderful if he wasn't making six million a year so let this be a lesson to parents out there listen to every team what they need every single team needs d right d you for right shot d who will run into a couple guys even if you don't just be a good right shot right shot d justin hall's making nine schmill it's the

most coveted position in like all of hockey that's three sheets all day long sheets a year just to bank it off the glass and keep guys away from the net for a bit yeah you know there's value huge value there to teams never in searching for can i get chris tannev can you can you give me sean walker what else you got? You know. Jacob Middleton. He's left. It's so far removed, but like Dustin Bufflin. Oh, my God. My favorite hockey player of all time. Oh, God. Was he fun to watch?

You know, guy's career highlight pack, like if you can pull a minute together. His mixtape is. As good as it gets. As good as anyone's hard defenseman. Bufflin back on that blue line. Was it Bufflin? Where is Bufflin? Oh, he's. Yeah, he's's word, defenseman. Put Bufflin back on that blue line. Was it Bufflin? Where is Bufflin? Fishing. Yeah, he's ice fishing in northern Minnesota.

He's living in semi-seclusion in northern Quebec. What a man. That's from Slapshot. Thank you. I think it's Andre the Poodle Lessard. He's been living in semi-seclusion in northern Quebec. I wonder. I've got to watch that over the holidays. You know, this is just me speculating now.

But the turmoil that that room had, I don't think can ever be overstated. Oh, yeah. A few years ago. I think so. And my bet is that it played into Bufflin shutting it down. Just not wanting to do it? It was contentious there for a few years. It was the no fun league for him.

Are we going to get some post-career 30 for 30? Is it Wheeler? Are we talking about Wheeler? Are we talking about Shifley? Bufflin would be one of the more faceted guys to me. No, I don't think there's... Listen, I don't think there's any huge story for a documentary on the Winnipeg Jets.

It was guys kind of fighting for their space. Kind of guys sucking oxygen out of the room. And I told you, I love an alpha dog, but I'm not sure they knew who their alpha dog was a few years ago. Yeah.

And, you know, just going back to Bufflin Mixtape, there's a hit that he... Another one. Is it Mark Stone? Mark Stone. That may be the hardest hit in NHL history. It's literally like a crash test dummy running into a brick wall. He's a hit. Is it Mark Stone? That may be the hardest hit in NHL history. It's literally like a crash test dummy running

into a brick wall. He's skating fast and then his movement is... And who were the two guys that he was fighting at the same time? The best part is he did it twice in his career. I think it was against Vegas. He pulled two guys out of the net just like you two meatheads. That was like

a scene out of The Three Stooges. Yeah. Where he just clanks them together. Yeah. I'm a big fan of Bufflin. And he was so good offensively. Really good. Such a good player.

But wasn't he a forward when he started? Yes. With the Blackhawks, right? Dude, he was Brent Burns. Yeah, he was. Yeah, he played forward. Whatever you want. To me, he was a hockey player.

You need me to pitch? You need me to hit? What do you need? Yeah. What do you need me to pitch? You need me to hit? What do you need? What do you want me to do? We've gone a week and a half without mentioning that guy's name. Really appreciate it. To be able to play two separate positions in the NHL,

you're just an unbelievable hockey player. At one point, he was one of the 10 best E in the NHL. He was amazing. His career high is high. Yeah, he was amazing. His career high is high. Yeah. He was the man. Wish he still played. And now he loves life, probably.

Yeah, he's doing great. Fishing. Lots of money. Oh, yeah. Hunting fish, living in Minnesota. Got a cup. Yeah. Got the respect of us.

Yeah. What else do you need? That's all that matters. What else do you need? All right. Game time, boys. Yes. Let her rip. All right.

It's game time. It's game time. Whoa. Was there just a drop there? Yeah. Okay. It really caught me off guard because I said it the exact same time as me. Like stereo.

I spook like a horse. I need blinders. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. On tarot only. Please play responsibly. And not a ton of games tonight, as you know.

We were talking about earlier. Looking at the game that you're doing tonight. Red Wings, me talking about how they might be good. Maybe they might not be good. Starting to trend to not Goodsville for me. But, you know, I don't mind them as a plus 130 underdog they do have some skill i know the jets just lost alan home ice they lost just lost on home ice to the haves right so they're probably not thrilled about that i would imagine they're a really good team and imagine they wouldn't have

two back-to-back bad ones at home so all those reasons the more is probably why the red wings are plus 130 but i don't think the red wings suck bad, so I like the shot at plus 130. Boys, like, who's their goalie? So, Huso hurt himself on Monday. Lyon hurt himself on Sunday. So, they have James Reimer backed up by Michael Hutchinson tonight. Hutch is back. Hutch is in the lead. Oh, my God.

Every year he gets his cup of coffee. He always comes back. Yeah, that's hard to keep yourself in the mix. Yeah, it's impressive. When you're down to that. Oh, I know what you mean, yeah. And sorry, let's go back to the other one. The other thing is, do the LA Kings and Seattle Kraken play every night?

It just feels like every time I look at the schedule, it's like those teams play every night. Love the Kings, hate the Squids. So this is a pure love one team, hate the other team. Give me the Kings

by a goal and a half on home ice at plus 145 tonight because I think they're a way better team. I think they're probably running up on the Squids. Don't have a lean

in Caps, Isles. To me, that is a completely unpredictable event. Anything could happen in that game, but your aisles are starting to get hot so maybe we'll talk about that a little bit in news and notes yes and that's what I have

today so that was game time presented by bet 365 visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly beautifully done we're going to get into news and notes you want to get one in before break,

or you want to save them all for after the break? Save them. Save them. Save them. It's unanimous. That's a later problem. Did I ever give you my New York Ranger unanimous story? No, but might as well fit it in here.

Yeah, we got time. Yeah, we got time. So Keenan always kind of, when he had a question on who he was going to start net, he'd go to Coley Campbell and Dick Todd to get their feedback. But, you know, they also were scared to say which one went first because it would influence the third guy. It's like if you guys went, you know, two on Richter,

I'm not going Healy and look like an idiot. So Keenan had them write down the names. Right? And then throw them in the middle of the table and then we all open them up and we'll see who we wrote down. Okay. So first one went Healy. The second

one went Healy and the third one went Healy. Richter. And Keenan goes, it's unanimous. We're going with Richter. I like that thanks thanks for your two cents that's for your two cents yeah so there you go on news and notes after the break on real kipper and born breaking down the top stories in hockey and elliot friedman every day the jeff merrick show subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get breaking down the top stories in hockey and Elliott Friedman every day. The Jeff Merrick Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, it's news and notes from the real Kipper and Bourne Show. Kipper, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. and born shown yeah kiprios justin born sammy mckee can we straighten out this nolan patrick retiring not retiring story sammy we thought he retired but he didn't what's going on i i don't know first i pick overall i had to be honest with you i saw it on twitter and everybody was commenting on it and i was like oh you retired so you just take that at face value which you absolutely should not do unfortunately been a real tough run for him since being picked first overall in the national hockey league by the philadelphia flyers i could not feel for him anymore um you know some concussions some

other injury issues, and it's just, you don't get the chance to develop, you don't get a fair shot. It's brutal, man. It's a tough game, and it does worse by some people than others, and yeah, a lot of sympathy for us. And Frege reached out to him. He tweeted that he reached out to Patrick today.

He politely declined to talk, but he did text to say he is not officially retired. It's clear he prefers to stay under the radar so yeah i think you know i think it would probably be pretty tough to see that everyone just like would assume that you would retire and then everyone just goes with it that's probably pretty tough this isn't he's not patrick patrice bergeron sorry he's nolan patrick at age 25 there's no reason for him to announce or officially announce it's true why would he even there's like you don't do that there could be contract implications insurance implications and who knows if he wants to try it again. Like I said, he's 25 years old. In a year and a half, two years, who knows?

Yeah. The only thing is, like, let's say he decided that, like, he just values his, he doesn't want to put himself at risk anymore and he's sick of answering questions. And he's just ready to move on. In that case, you might say, hey, I'm out. Leave me alone. But he's not made that statement, so we will give him his space and distance

until he's ready to make some decisions. You just hope you sign a PTO somewhere, you catch on, turn it into another contract. I hope he becomes a coach or a manager or whatever it is he wants to do. But not retired.

What is his, okay, last, a member of Vegas. What's his contract situation? Does he have just this year left on his deal? I'm looking right now. No. So that's. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Last year was the last year I can see here he has no contract this year

okay alright yeah nobody really officially retires anymore only just like the greats yeah eventually you just stop getting contract. That's kind of it.

But yeah, I mean, he played 25 games last year, two goals and seven assists with Vegas. That is the last he's played. All right, last night, the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders, and just when we were ready to write off the New York Islanders, JB, like me, okay, but you. How could you?

How could you have bailed on them? Did I bail? Yeah, I bailed. You bailed. Oh, you bailed. I mean. It was looking good for the Edmonton Oilers. They get that early goal in a minute and 23 seconds from dry sidle,

and they had ample opportunity to make it 2-0, but you let a team hang around here's why i bailed i mean the isles have been built on defensive structure playing d getting great goaltending just mucking it up and hanging around games and their d is no good i did not foresee the islanders becoming an absolute offensive juggernaut and they now pour a ton of pucks in the net the past 20 games they're one of the top scoring teams in the nhl i mean horvat and barzal are suddenly as hot a duo as you can find in the league simon holstrom has five shorthanded goals talking about five for tuesday this year we're saying oh yeah and the leafs hour like yeah he's only got five goals this kid has five shorties this year for the Leafs.

So they have a lot going for them on the offensive side of things that I didn't see coming. Noah Dobson, 32 points. Horvath's playing really well. There's a guy that tweets us every week or so. My guy. Who is it? He's always pissed.

He's like, oh, yeah, maybe Noah Dobson should have been over Gino Malkin in the top one. We're like, okay, buddy, we get it. We get it. He's right. He's right. He's right. He's right. Dobson should have been over Geno Malkin in the top one. We're like, okay, buddy, we get it. We get it. He's right. He's right. He's right. Dobson's so good.

Coming off eight wins in a row, the Edmonton Oilers have now lost three in a row. Is it three or two? Three? I don't know. They've had four streaks this year. They lost a bunch, won a few, lost a bunch. Is there not three?

Sorry. Sammy? What's that? So they've lost three in a few, lost a bunch. Is there not three? Sorry. Sammy? What's that? So they've lost three in a row. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yeah, my bad.

Sorry. Yeah. Sorry. So here you are coming off of an incredible run, and does three in a row kind of give a lot of it back? But this is the thing with starting as badly as they did is that their margin for error was just so slim. So, yeah, you lose a few games and suddenly you look

and it's like, oh, they're 13-15-1 with a minus two goal differential. But the West is so bad, Kip. Like 13-15-1, they're four points or less out of a wildcard spot with games in hand. Like, here's what I will say. They're not that good. You know, like they're here's what I will say they're not that good you know like they're going to make

playoffs they're going to be they have great players but they're goaltending I can't recall covering an initial season when we've looked at a dozen teams and go yeah they're good

and then go oh no they're no good change my go, oh, no, they're no good. Change my mind. Your whole column every week, change my mind, should just be a new team that we flipped on. Are they good? I don't know. No, they're no good. They're good.

They're no good. Tampa. Edmonton. The Flames selling the farm two weeks ago. They're ahead of the Oilers. Well, I mean, we do talk every day. It's kind of our job to react to what's happening in those few days. Yeah.

That's the thing. If every show were a zoom out big picture, it'd be a boring program. But no, you're right with the Oilers, though. The hole was massive. And if they lose to four or five in a row here, it gets scary. So they got to get streaking again. Yeah. Another team that we've gone from good to no good.

Okay. Ottawa Senators. No, they were always bad. They blow a three-goal lead. But, Sam, once upon a time, not only did a lot of people have this team making the playoffs, they had them maybe getting to a Final Four. My prediction for them this year was they were going to make the eight seed

and the Leafs were going to make the one seed and they were going to play them in the first round of the playoffs. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. I mean, I defended the Oilers when they were on their skid and I've been going to bat for Ottawa. Ottawa is getting much harder to continue to go to bat for. They're up 3-0 in Arizona last night and losing regulation. Their goaltending's not helping them out.

You know, Kachuk fights again. We can break a Kachuk fight every night. Like, they need saves. Everybody needs saves. Yeah, you know where they're atrocious? Their penalty kill, their goal, their save percentage on the penalty kill is worst in the NHL. So, like, they just can't get a save when they're shorthanded overall their

their goaltendings really let them down but i think part of that is their d's where's their stars though stutzla uh norris batherson was supposed to have a career year yeah you're waiting for these guys to take that step right it? It's all a lot of hope and promise. Brady Kachuk now is just fighting now? He's just a... Guess how many goals Jimmy Stu has, Tim Stutzla, on the season? He has 30 points in 27 games. How many are goals?

Six. I was going to say five because five seems to be the magic number. Six. Six goals. You know, that's not – 30 points is good. You're happy to see that. And there's some nights early in the season when you watch him dancing around and whacking pucks out of the air where you're like –

I love watching him. He's so close to being a star. One of the elite of the league. Yeah, I love watching him. And so I was – I went back and watched I was going to say Jacques Lemaire, but not Jacques Lemaire. Jacques Martin.

I went and watched him. It's just... Why did you do this? I listened to him talk. He's like, it's not going to happen overnight. It's supposed to. The reason you fire a coach with this kind of team is so it does happen overnight like it's supposed to this is the whole the reason you fire a coach with this kind of team is so it does happen overnight that's the whole point yeah you

don't start a rebuild again here no everyone's trying to move forward i just can't beat this drum enough i hate when you're ready to even close to start winning it just needs to be the mindset right away like competing and trying to win every night the buffalo sabers are guilty of this of being a team that oh well the rebuild takes time and process process process they draft all these good players can you trade for a few guys and try to win tomorrow night yeah can we have some veterans that yeah like help these kids out like maybe let's try to get competitive tonight buffalo sabers losers last night. 9-4 to Columbus

Blue Jackets. He told us Columbus could score. They can score. Their head coach is Granado there and you're watching teams fire their coach. I mean, he's got to

feel a little nervous. Would you think that that's the difference maker for them now he's got to feel a little nervous. Would you think that that's the difference maker for them now to get them back in a... Have the Pagoulas given up on their, just a Bills ownership base now? Have they given up on the Sabres? They want to spend money on a new coach there? Bills is the hottest team in the AFL.

I mean, I know what games they're watching. It kind of feels like, I don't know how much attention that you've gotten from the Pagoulas. Doesn't seem like as much. I think Granado probably wants to keep it that way. God, the Sabres are spinning their wheels, man. Attendance isn't great in Buffalo.

You know, when you don't win forever, that tends to happen. Great fan base. I love Buffalo fans. I want the Sabres to be good, but they're spinning their wheels here, and I would like to see them do some stuff, not just... I like

watching Alex Tuck. I like so many players on that team. And we know we've nicknamed... Darlene's amazing. Tage Super Mario with his ability to have the wingspan of like 20 feet like cousins isn't scoring he but he's a pretty good all-around player i just don't power has not defended great

but he's a good player too like rasmus it just feels like they're all so young and they all have to take this like collective step together yes and it didn't happen yet right this is like if you're not if you're a Sabres fan, has it been three straight years of like, this is the year you take the step and it's like, no,

you're still stepping in the crap. You're waiting for the goaltending to come around. you know, he's a kid. Leafs play tomorrow night. Tomorrow night

in Buffalo. We'll be covering that game regionally, which means I'll get the, I won't find the key to the cupboard with all the snack locker. People listening to the show, you're going to get in trouble for this. He's going to bring a skill saw to the lock. You're going to get in trouble. Your phone's going to be blowing up after the fall.

It's just one of the energy bars. That's all. It's just an energy bar. That's all. It's just an energy bar. The Buffalo Sabres give up the third most high danger chances in the NHL this year. The Leafs create about the most high danger chances. They get a lot. I expect old Devin Levi or whoever's in that to be busy.

What you're saying is for all the Leaf fans that are heading down there tomorrow night that are in for a fun one. Because it's going to be 80% Leaf fans. Right before the holidays, you know, heading down to Buffalo, maybe get some last-minute shopping, head to Lenovo for some wings. It's a great time to go to a Leaf stadium. I wish I was going. But if you're Leaf fans, you wish that they wouldn't have lost nine to four you're right the night before there is going to be some attention to detail

because they have the national spotlight but i don't think it's an easy uh but they have talent they're talented it's one of those games where like sammy would you leafs lose tomorrow night to Buffalo you're really ticked off I don't get really that ticked off about any regular season thing anymore but yeah I mean I think the Leafs lay the eggs way more on home ice against bad teams than they do

on the road I know this team I got a masters in this team give me the goal differential who's got a worse goal differential than Buffalo in the Eastern Conference? There's 16 teams. Who would be below them? Columbus.

Wrong. There's no one. I'll save your time. Last. They have the worst goal differential in the Eastern Conference. Ouch. Wow. Again, I get they're really excited about Levi, Devin.

Levi. Yeah. about uh levi devon levi yeah but sticking him in and thinking that he can grasp this to to make the buffalo sabers a potential playoff team now was just not the right ask you think you should have brought him along a little more slowly? It's too hard. It's just too hard to get. When's the last time a rookie goalie really contributed? I understand Joseph Walsh playing very well. I don't know.

Too small of a sample size, too. That's what I mean. In our very city? I don't mean for a game. I mean, where's the last rookie goalie, Aiden Hill? Does that count as a young guy who went on a run? It just doesn't. Carter Hart. But Aiden Hill was like 27 count as a young guy who went on a run? It just doesn't. Carter Hart.

But Aiden Hill was like 27. Carter Hart didn't light the world on fire, and he was considered the next Patrick or Carey Price. It just doesn't happen. It's very uncommon for a guy to come in, be named a starter as a rookie, 21, 2, whatever, and be the guy for the year. All right, Taves, you're telling me he called out his team. Devin.

Yeah, we have a clip, I think. What? Devon Taves? Devin Taves. Devon Taves, you're telling me he called out his team. Devin. Yeah, we have a clip, I think. What? Devon Taves? Devin Taves. Devon Taves? Devon. Devon? Devon.

White. Probably a lock for Team Canada next time best on best, I would imagine. He has become a great player. Yeah. Derek, if we could play the clip of him. It's self-awareness. We need guys that know how to play in our system, how to play our game, and know what it takes.

We have guys in here, I think we've got some guys that think they're playing well, and I think they're kidding themselves at this point. It's frustrating to play with, you know, play out there when you've got guys that think they're playing well and they're doing things that, you know, you have no idea what play they're going to make or where they're going to be on the ice. It's tough to play in this league

when you don't know where your teammates are going to be. So, you know, that's where a lot of the frustration stems from. Ugh. Whoa. Yeah, that was pretty strong. That's maybe as strong a criticism you've heard from an NHL player of his own players in the dressing room. Okay, I'm drawing a blank. Who called out a

teammate's dad? Lekanen. Lekanen's dad. So, I don't know. Another abs, inter-room. A little trouble in paradise? What's going on? I like Taves a lot. He is a Stanley Cup champion and

he is one of the leaders there. His team is 19-11-2. I think if he can look them in the eye and the only thing I would hope is he's already had this conversation behind closed doors and he's not scared to double down by sending it out through the media.

You're right. If he has not had this conversation in person with his teammates, then it's a little bit of a, what are you doing, man? Like, let's have this chat here amongst us. And if he's very frustrated because it hasn't been happening, you don't want to speculate on who. Well, I do want to, to be honest. But we shouldn't.

No. But, like, you look around that room, he's talking about guys not being where they're supposed to be. If they think they're playing well, they're kidding themselves. Like, that's some competitive stuff. Don't know who it would be, but I imagine they know who they are. And he has one of the most intense leaders in the league in Nate McKinnckinnon sounds like taves matches that competitive i'm telling you nate doesn't let that team sleep yeah relaxed there they got to be thinking

sleeping and breathing winning that's that's nate yeah that's the nate dog and i'm and they're 19 for their 40 points they're tied for first in the central and they're still leaning on each other this much i would be curious to know how things are in that room and you talk about alpha dogs and grabbing by guys by the collar this is a big sign of that seems like it's happening colorado where they're saying we don't like where some of you are going i'm curious to know if joe sakic or who's the gm there now even though it's joe sakic running the team another guy farland sure sounds right um you know if these leaders on the team can't get these guys to to be where they're supposed to be i'm curious to see if a winning team like colorado makes changes at some point and says, yeah, we made a couple trades

because we couldn't get the guys on our page. You know what just crushed them? Landeskog. Oh, yeah. Losing him. Crush anyone. He's a stud. Really, like, winner, score, fight,

do whatever you need him to do. Playoff built type of guy. Yeah. That one hurt for sure all right what else you got sammy mark uh mark andre flurry yeah uh 549th win it's too shy of tying patrick waugh for second most all-time in the history nhl that's pretty surprising that's like a really big number. Martin Brodeur, number one, and Fleury is going to end up number two, very likely, shortly.

Sorry, that matches up? Yeah. Couple of good French-Canadian goalers. No, but like, you know, he's got an awesome career. You put Patrick Waugh ahead of Fleury on the Mount Rushmore. Well, of course. But Marc-Andre Fleury isn't on the mountain beside Mount Rushmore for me.

No? No. Mount Rushmore. It comes. It's old wounds. But, you know, the junior hockey stuff back for the World Juniors where he shot it in off his own guy, off of Patrick O'Sullivan. He also hunted away a couple of playoff series for Pittsburgh.

He had moments where he was very bad. So, Sammy, you asked me at the beginning of the show why I'm a little dressed up. Oh, yeah. My father, George Kiprios, is turning 90 today. Wow. Oh, my God. They named him the assistant coach of the Senators?

Yes. Oh, there he is. Look at that. There he is right there he is look at that there he is right there this was almost 30 years ago guys they're on the float with me uh at the stanley cup parade and he still talks about this as if it happened yesterday love that happy birthday dad happy birthday going for dinner oh we're going for a nice steak. Atta boy. Yeah, nice steak in Markham.

Well, enjoy. Hope it's a wonderful birthday. Look, you got Jason Spezza over there with you in that picture. That guy does look like Jason Spezza. Look at my mom's glasses. She looks like she's... She looks like a cop. Nice video. Nice video camera.

She should be in Chicago, Hope. I'd like to see that, whatever whatever video is on that camera PD. That's the one I'm talking about. I don't know. All right. Happy birthday, dad. We'll see you soon.

Thanks for joining us on the real Kipper and born show. We're back tomorrow. We'll see you next time.