Real Kyper & Bourne - The Present & Future in Utah with UHC Owner Ryan Smith

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start the hour with a chat about Patrik Allvin's comments on Brock Boeser trade negotiations after the deadline. Utah Hockey Club owner Ryan Smith (5:41) joins the show ahead of his squad's matchup against the Leafs tonight to discuss the process of bringing the NHL to Utah, what he's learned from owning both UHC and the Jazz and how he'll approach team spending with the salary cap on the rise. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam revisit Brad Marchand's unceremonious exit from Boston, react live to Aaron Ekblad's 20-game suspension, and weigh in on Rod Brind'Amour's comments on Mikko Rantanen.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.

Oh, additional edition of our program. What's up, Sammy? Oh, your mic wasn't on. I got the green light, bud. I'm like shot out of a cannon. When he says go, I go. It looks like Brock Nelson at the start of that Saturday nights game. Live on Sportsat 650 in Vancouver and sports at 960 in Calgary this hour of real

Kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 He's Sammy McKee's Justin born. I'm Nick Kiprios Spent a good full hour on our leaf edition. I know it's a national show but still coming off that crazy Friday in which Lee fans thought maybe, ranting and maybe not only to find out that Marner may have been out there

and now we're in Vancouver and a lot of talk about Rock Besser being out there and thought for sure there'd be a trade and then the general manager Alveen comes out and basically says, you cannot believe the crap they offered me for this player. They offered us crap, we took his AOA, we're barely playing him,

but he should take a discount to play here. That's excellent negotiating. Okay, like, I'm not big on devaluing your own assets. You know, generally it's a bad strategy. I don't know why he would come out and say that. You don't have to lie, but you don't have to say that. I couldn't get a bucket of pucks for him.

But that's the implication, but don't you feel like, we talked about in the last hour, how in some cases general managers are protecting themselves against public perception. It feels like Alvin was like, I know I should have traded him and I didn't. No one. He's like saving his own bacon. Like I'd have traded him if I could have. Right. Like trying to say, hey, guys, there's nothing there. But of course, that doesn't end up looking very good for the player and the relationship with the player and all that.

There's a head scratch, a lot of head scratches going on out there. There was still the thought, and they did at one point this season, if reports are true, put $40 million on the table for him. What's that, like a? Five year deal. That's what one of the reports were that I saw

that at some point earlier this season, and I don't believe that they try to negotiate right up until the deadline. Right. But he was good enough for you to invest $40 million. So why not just say, we like the player, we're not giving them away for free, and there's still a thought that we'd like to resign.

And even if that's not entirely accurate, protect the player. Of course. He's still playing for you. Yeah. And you still may go to the playoffs. We actually talked, we didn't get to this in the first hour, but about Tree Living coming out

and saying the right things about, to be clear, we want Mitch Marner. They tried to get out in front of the thing and protect the player, protect the asset. Some damage control. Some damage control. Yeah. Sometimes you gotta do that.

I know, but see, for me, it's always protect the asset. Always, and the only thing I could say about Tree is when they lost in the first round to Boston and someone asked him about Mitch Marner, he's like, we're open to anything. And that was not really protecting an asset either. So. I think that was more about the core in general, right?

Well, I think also Sam, he's protecting himself there because if he says, we're running it back again, we'd have all been lying. Yeah, correct, yeah, correct. He's a pervert by the way. He couldn't, there's just ways that you could still kinda not hang out your player to feel like they don't like me anymore.

It sucks, you do have to be a politician. I feel bad for Brock. I think he's been around for a while now, They don't like me anymore. It sucks. And I feel bad for Brock. I Think he He's been around for a while now. He's still a top goal scorer. Come on. He's only 28 years old and people like I Am shocked when you go to his page. He had 40 goals last year. He's only had 30 goals He's never hit 30 goals again, like he's got 29 another year, but 40 is like kind of an anomaly. So if he's offered 40 Schmill, and he's on pace for 24 this year,

and if I'm signing him, I don't think it's gonna get much better than, you know, it's a pretty good contract for Besser. What's he think he's gonna get? Oh, I think he can get, he gets six years. Six times eight is a free agent or something. It's crazy.

It'd be wild. Even the extra year matters to him. Sure it should. Right, because he's not the fastest player Those wheels could disappear in four or five years. So you want to max out? He's not getting eight The most he'll get is seven and I think teams will be weary to pay him seven, but I think he can get six Yeah, he can shoot it in the net. Yes. Can I ask you? Do you believe him? Um that they got no offers?

Cuz I can't necessarily say I do I mean I feel he's going for a second round But he didn't get a someone didn't offer them a first round pick for Brock Besser pure rental would he have been he's he's up Yeah, I had I had a source from another team tell me Yeah, I had I had a source from another team tell me It wasn't it wasn't that bad Think said he got a decent offer or two for him. It wasn't that bad. Oh boy. So that's news of Vancouver like I mean I

Just have a find it hard to believe that somebody to offer a first-round pan Okay, as promised how many owners have we had on our show in four years? It's gotta be it. First one ever. I think. Let's welcome to the program our first ever NHL owner in real kipper and born history. Mr. Ryan Smith.

What's up, guys? Thanks for joining us. Really like your background. Is that a green screen? That is Utah fellas. Oh my God. That's what we get every day here. Talk amongst yourselves. I'm just going to stare at his background. You know, can't buy and Ryan, I played at the center there. Now I think it's the Maverick center. My dad coached there. I think is it what like the third sunniest city in the I think it's the Maverick Center. My dad coached there. I think is it what like the third? Sunniest city in the US. It's got sun all the time It's that light blue in our uniforms. It's there for a reason because that's what it feels like every day here

So ryan just take us back a little bit with you personally on when was the the seed planted for you personally? with nhL hockey? Yeah. I mean, look, I'm a tech guy. I grew up 20, 20 years running a tech company that I founded in my parents' basement. And, you know, when we, we sold that company, you know, I really wanted to get into sports. I'm a big NBA fan. We ended up somehow locking up the NBA Utah Jazz, which are here, which is the team that I grew up cheering for, which is pretty rare. I mean, people can get into sports very rarely do you get the team you grew up cheering

for. And, you know, we spent a little time in the summer up in Idaho and I'm surrounded by hockey guys. You know, Kelly Chase, Gratz, John Cooper, and we all spend time on the golf course. And Ray Whitney, Sheldon Suray, like, I was like, wait, there's something different about these guys. And we started talking hockey and everything kind of went from there. And one thing led to another, ended up meeting with Gary a couple of times. And we expressed our interest last, what was it, almost a year ago, January, saying, hey, we'd love to have an NHL team in Utah.

It makes sense. The Olympics are coming and you know, we get a call, uh, two months later going, Hey, could you play next fall? And I know that's not the typical way this works. We thought it was, we thought it was going to be three or four years that even the shot to get an expansion and even even those expansion conversations in any league are very hit and miss. And you know, we get the call saying, can you start next year? And I just learned with these things that you kind of, you kind of say yes,

and then go figure it out later. That sounds like a lot of figuring had to be done in a very short while. So on the ice, you're taking on a team that hadn't made playoffs in a lot of years, had a whole bunch of assets, but how you go from there to on ice success is a challenge. How has it gone on the ice for you guys in terms of where you thought you'd be to where you are right now? I mean, honestly, and I know it's weird to say there wasn't that much from an expectation standpoint coming in just because we were trying to see

what it was like to have, you know, February where we just kind of got out of 11 days of back to back NBA and NHL where we took the floor out every single night. We were trying to understand like what the fan you knew by and level was to this. I mean it was a bit of a bet. And you know is there a practice facility. And you know we knew we had some assets and some poor young young players and in, you know, what, what would happen if they kind of were given everything they needed to go. And I think we've seen definitely an uptick. But we've also had our moments where for whatever reason playing in front

of the home crowd got a little daunting for a period there. And I think we've turned that around. So hopefully we're making a big push right now. You're watching and listening to Ryan Smith, owner of the Utah hockey club. So Ryan, you went through your first trade deadline of, of any NHL season. How was that experience? I know you got Bill Armstrong there. John Ferguson is there to experience hockey guys, but how involved do you like to, to be, or how much are you around to, to maybe learn? And you know, it's typical, it's not that typical now for young owners now to be more inclined to, to take part in some way, shape or form. Yeah. I think with the, with the assets or the franchise values going up on these things, I think in

any sport, just from a business standpoint, you very rarely do something like this and then hand it over to someone and never look back. I think we bought the jazz from an organization that paid $22 million for the franchise. What we're seeing in sports across the way is like there's some level involvement. I think the trick is how to empower your people though. And you know, I think the one thing that I think Bill Armstrong and Chris Armstrong definitely will fail is, hey, I want to be involved enough so I know what's going on. And you know, hopefully they'll want my opinion

just from a logic, a strategy, a business standpoint. But at the same time, you hire great people and you get out of the way. And this trade deadline, I think was the first time that we'd gone through any part, whether it was a trade deadline or resigning players. And what became really clear is people want to be in Utah. And I think that whether it was Kerr Foad out, Ian Call,

Veggie coming back, like we're excited for where this goes. And I think we'll be active in the future. I think Bill's not being constrained a whole lot. And so I think we're in a good spot. Ryan, how thrilled were you when you buy an NHL franchise? And they say, by the way, the salary cap is going up from 88 to $113 million. Is that a positive or does that hurt? That feels like every day in the NBA.

That's true. That's true. I guess it's a different budget level on that team. Well, no, it's it's just different. It's different. There's a lot of similarities and I think we're learning from both. I think we're the, probably the first organization because it's one ownership group, we're truly like treating it as like one family.

We've got, our head coach, Will Hardy for the Jazz shows up to every home hockey game. Lowry Markkinen from Finland. He's the only Finnish player in the NBA. However, he is there with his kids on the ice. He is there. He is in it. I mean, they have like,

there's a little bond between the Finnish players and Lowry. They have some special sauna system. They all steam together. But it's pretty cool to watch it. If you think about it, the NBA team received the hockey team. They were like the big sibling that when a new kid showed up, they, they had it all because we didn't have all the infrastructure, they were working out in the same gym, the same chefs. And it's been the

one of the coolest experiences I've ever been a part of, where It's been one of the coolest experiences I've ever been a part of where Utah was kind of the the main like focus and mission and then everything else came second and it's been really cool to see and I think as we're building out our new practice facilities and everything else like it's going to be pretty cool because I think we're going to be able to do something that really hasn't been done where you benefit and learn from multiple sports. So the, the built a Utah hockey hasn't seen that frustrating at all with maybe the exception of, of naming a team. Um, how's that process been?

And, uh, whoever thought copyrights were like that important. Well, look, I mean, look, I brought it on myself, right? I mean, if there's any smoke, I should, I should get it all. But we truly did this for the community and you know, everyone's like, Hey, don't send it out. Don't run surveys with the community. I was like, no, that's exactly what we're going to do. Like we know exactly where our fans feel and how they think, and how they've kind of bobbed and weaved, and we're going to be super transparent with them

throughout this process. And we always knew we were going to have a team name and everything set up for next year, and we're in line for that. And so, it's cool. In the meantime, I think a lot of people like where we're at with Utah Hockey Club, and it's been a real rallying cry. And it was just truly one of the things that we couldn't tackle as we were trying to get ready.

I mean, I think people forget, I walked into, my wife and I walked into a conference room in the Marriott Hotel, April 18th. And I sat in front of 70 you know, 70 people and said, Hey, you've all been traded to Utah. And really not a lot of way to prep that. And what do you say? What do you do? Like, like it's, you know, I just went around and kind of dapped everyone up and told the told the boys, hey, let's go golf.

Right? That's the to cure everything. And then I think they came up here and they saw the arena pack. I think the greatest sporting event I've ever been to was that opening announcement of the team one even no sport was even played. It was just them coming in and introducing themselves. But the feeling of pride of Utah, the feeling that hey, look, the fans met us halfway. And then I think for all the all the fellas, like they knew, they knew for sure that like, okay, this is what it feels like. And

so and honestly, the barns been packed ever since. Yeah. That's great. It's looked awesome from a distance. You know, the one thing with all those fans is like that, I know that support in that community is very real for hockey. Do you feel like you guys will be a team that spends to that ceiling and tries to get a star in there

and tries to generate that sort of interest? Or what's the strategy there? Yeah, I think we have a lot of pieces. I think you look at, you know, obviously, you know, I don't want to name too many names, but you got Cooley and Gunnar and Kels. Like we, we have the pieces to do some, some pretty fun things. We still got all of our picks. Um, and you know, we want to bring a Stanley Cup to Utah. Now, how do you do that while you're also not irrational? And, you know, you're patient, but also

aggressive. And, you know, our divisions not hasn't gotten any easier. Right? Notice. But I think, I think, I think we're looking at this and say, hey, how do we go on a really long run? And I think our basketball team's in a similar spot. Maybe hockey's a little ahead of us, but we're excited. I think we'll definitely, if the right opportunities are there, we wanna be a part of every single conversation.

And I think the guys are absolutely gonna love Utah and it's clear this can be a massive destination for the NHL, which is something that we're excited to show off. Brian, can you golf there in the winter? You could golf right now. Yeah. I think you can ski and golf on the same day. Yeah, can you golf there in the winter? You could golf right now. Yeah. I think you can ski and golf on the same day.

Yeah, you can see the mountain where the ski resorts are right behind that. So you ski during the day or in the afternoon, you can golf in the morning. It's not, you know, we're about 4,000, 5,000 feet. And you know, the airport is literally right next to the arena and you can get anywhere in the world from there. Ryan, let me ask you about the summer. A lot of nice unrestricted free agent lists. How aggressive do you think you might be?

Are we just trying to ask who's going to sign Mitch Marner? Is that all we're doing here? I saw him skating around the oval the other day on the screen. He seems to love it. I saw that. That's a way to get better fast. Yeah. Look, I think we're in the game. That's what the message is. Good message. I mean, first of all, we needed to get our own guys locked up a little bit.

And, you know, hopefully we're having a big summer here. But look, I'll let Bill and Chris handle that. Like, they're looking at that. We need to really be thoughtful on how we do it. We're not going to spend just to spend. We're not going to come in. I think the temptation is a new owner as you come in and want to really make thoughtful in how we do it. We're not gonna spend just to spend. We're not gonna come in. I think the temptation is a new owner as you come in and wanna really make a splash.

That's not what we're about. Like I've seen that a lot. And I'd rather that we get it right and add a piece or two that can really help us and push us over. And when we got a lot of young studs from inside as well. You know, Ryan, when I broke into the league in the early nineties, we had owners like Bill Wirtz

and Ed Snyder, and I might as well have been walking and passing by like Don Vito Cordellon, you know? And now there's Tom Dundin going into Board of Governor meetings with his knapsack, you know, wearing a knapsack. I see you on the glass with your cap backwards with Gary Bettman. Can you get Gary to wear a Utah cap backwards next game?

Well, so first of all, I didn't know that, I mean, pardon the ignorance here. I had no idea that the commissioner didn't know that, I mean, pardon the ignorance here, I had no idea that the commissioner didn't sit on the glass. Like he turned to me during that opening, he's like, you know, I don't sit down here all the time. Literally ever. Why?

You can sit anywhere. I would sit down there. He's like, no, we sit up. I was like, all right, I got it. But we're rocking down here today. So, and then like the booze he came up and pulled up right behind him. And it was like, all right, this is a different vibe. But it's been incredible. Who's come out. I mean, post Malone, Vincent Boone, all these artists are coming out to games. And you know what people don't know about you. Everyone comes through here. I mean, we've got, we've got 7 million people that come through skiing a year. Everyone

comes through here. You got the film festival and now it's like, okay, what's going on tonight in Utah? And it's like hockey and you can't go anywhere. And what I love about hockey is that when someone comes to a hockey game, they go home and tell like seven people, they're like spreading this message of hockey. And it's, it's, it's incredible because that's how I got into it. As I had a bunch of guys that I'd be playing golf with that are like, Oh, nothing's like hockey. How, how does every Olympic sport train in, in the U in Utah, but not hockey, like it would kill it there. And then I was like, well, actually that's super interesting. And then, you know,

what happened with four nations and it's kind of like, Hey, we'll see you guys. We'll see you guys in Italy. And knowing that it's going to to be we're going to see you in Salt Lake. And so to have our arena set up to where that is going to be where Olympic hockey is going to be. We've got a massive renovation going on. You can't make it up. I mean Gary like great foresight. We took a bet. but the people, I mean, we're in the fastest growing state with the youngest demographic here in Utah with the number one economy. And so, you know, that's normally a recipe. Like if this was a tech company, you would bet on it every day. And so that's a little bit of the recipe that we're working with.

And you know, we're just fortunate enough to kind of be the stewards over it all. Fantastic stuff, Ryan. And by the way, you got, you got three golfers on this show right now that, Let's go. We love it. We love it. All right. We'll keep that in mind for sure.

And we got to get a Utah hockey club jersey. We've had a few teams send us jerseys. Let's see that. Let's see. Well, no, this one's just our local radio station. Yeah. We're trying to, we're trying to collect right now But we got to find one of your jerseys

All right, we'll ship one up. Ah, you're a good man. Thanks for doing this ryan All right, fellas. Thanks so much ryan smith owner of the utah hockey club. That was fun. Yeah, I enjoyed that It's a great place. You know sales pitch, you know, it's hilarious. First of all, I'm there like you tell hockey club Meet a guy even at the ball Margot goes there wanted to yell about Margot anymore But let's go there and discover them. But what I'll say is What he talked about at the start of that interview is what? Makes hockey guys like there's just nobody like hockey game. I don't go to a bunch of hockey dudes and you're on a team But no, it's just you know, he's a he's worth 2.2 billion dollars that guy like he's clearly very rich

He has the ability to do that. I mean that's private. I mean it's on the internet Not that private but Hockey people and hockey guys you're around them. That's just, that's such a, that makes me laugh. That he could golf with like, how to force him. He's like, try to buy a team boys. Who the hell are these guys? And you know, I mean, it is true that like, when I played, there were owners that were like

in their sixties or older guys and they've worked their whole lives. And now you got these young kids coming out of tech worth billions in their My team. Yeah And I don't know. I don't know the good bad or otherwise But you think they would have more of a pulse on what a younger demographic would be interested in at the game I think it can hurt. Yeah, right. I tell you I Understand why Gary was?

Okay, and like he's got the energy to wanna do it. Interesting that he's involved somewhat, you know? Well, he said it best. It's my money, it's my investment. Why wouldn't I keep an eye on it? And I'll be honest, having not spoken to him on the show before, sometimes with people in his position, you have to be a little careful.

How much do they really know? Like, could they give you names off the roster? He's well versed in what's going on. I do believe that that's always a danger is that you got a guy that thinks he can learn the biz in about 12 months. I think we've kind of witnessed it a little bit with Tom Dundon because he is taking charge out there. It was his decision to go get a star in Rantanen. It was his decision to think that I can sign him. And unfortunately it didn't work out. Could it more experience, more knowledge of the culture of the game

or players in general could have served service him a little better. Possibly. Do you feel like we should listen to Brenda more soon? Well, are we ready to turn? I think we should. We'll do game time and then we'll, we'll hit a break. But yeah, I just finish up on Utah. Like don't they have a million picks in the next couple drafts?

They had every pick in the next three years plus additional seconds two seconds the other third another four two fifths they're not as stocked up as I as I remember them being with there they have all their normal stuff but like and they've also made a bunch that's it a bunch of picks that's that's a team on the rise so I was fun boys so something a little different absolutely all right it's game time is there by bet three six five visit the app latest odds and find out why is ever ordinary at bet three, six, five, must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly.

So I was looking at this on bet three, six, five today as I quickly pull it up, you can bet on which country will win the Stanley Cup. And I thought at first that that might be stupid. There's just jumping all over something here. But basically, do you want Edmonton or not? Unless you like the league. Our Jets. Oh, the Jets, geez, sorry, yeah.

Our Jets. You like the Jets and Oilers. So, USA is a minus 350 favorite, which is actually a pretty good bet. How many teams? You get 13, no, I don't know how many. Going to the playoffs, right? Which is actually a pretty good bet. How many teams? You get 13, no, I don't know how many. Going to the playoffs, right?

So how many US teams? Calgary and Vancouver can both get in. Yeah. It's possible, it's unlikely. It's likely one of them does and then you have Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton. So you're betting on Toronto, Winnipeg, Edmonton, or Ottawa, potentially.

Yeah, you're getting 10 or 11 teams if you're. So the number for Canada is plus 260 and the number for USA is minus 350 if There's some value at minus 350. It's obviously a lot of juice, but you're getting a lot of teams there It's a pretty good kick at the can no buddy. The Jets Jets are good oilers are good. I forgot them I know about them Bring up tonight, the Toronto May Police are visiting Ryan Smith's Utah Hockey Club. First ever trip to their arena there, I don't know what it's called, sorry.

Alex Kerfoot, lock of the century to score against the Leafs. But he's got five goals all year. Doesn't matter. New contract though. Plus, plus 600. Love that number for Alex Kerfoot against the Leafs. But he's got five goals all year. Doesn't matter. New contract though. Plus 600. Love that number for Alex Kerfoot against the Leafs tonight. That's got a great chance of happening as a long-time Leaf fan. Alex Kerfoot this year. Oh, he's got 7 and 10 for 17.

But there you go. And that was Game Time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the odds and find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19+. Ontario terror only please play responsibly Yeah, you does. I like I like I like what they're going where they're going I think a fun team to take over given the potential Mm-hmm some good young players like you feel like if they could add a couple of names just a couple of guys You go. Oh, okay. That Keller is really good I like small school is on the come up like they have some guys decores pretty good too they took a there a

Mitch Barner away from being really good they got a little bit of a Mitch Barner and that Dylan go che Gunther Gunther yeah he was they gave him seven million dollars after like playing 60 games and he is he's gonna be real good value in a very short period of time so he can shoot it in games and he is he's going to be real good value in a very short period of time. So he can shoot it in the net. I think he's got over 20 now. Doesn't he?

Sammy, he has 23 goals in 51 games so far this year. He's a plus five. He had 18 in his rookie year. He's going to close in on 30. Oh, no, sorry. Second year. He had 18. I want to say the but this is under 21.

He's like leading in goals or second and goals He's a he produces team team Canada future member for sure. Yeah, and he He's paint. We're painting Vancouver Canucks fans because his pick was I believe was part of the all of recman-larsen trade Is that right? Yeah, so goals at age 21 or younger Wyatt Johnston 24 again They're 23 Fentel II 21 celebrini 20 Mitch Goff 20 Three of those for those five guys from the good old, Canada. Oh we got yeah, I guess so is that fine Johnson is Johnson Canadian. Yes. Yeah, you like why it's a 42 million dollar deal Bob it for love it for both sides actually

Yeah for him he sold one season to ufa and then he gets to get paid. Yeah, and then he gets another crack at it Okay, let's take a quick break when we come back we'll get into Brad Marchand and Why I'm gonna tell you why? He only went for a second round to pick okay Okay, all right then. Okay. All right. When we return, more Real Kipper. It was Justin born Sammy McKee reminder of this hour of real Kipper and born brought to you by bet three, six, five. I got like four texts going. What a background on Ryan Smith's office. He knew what he was doing. Free ad For those of you that couldn't watch on TV or, like his background was like spectacular.

And he's probably so rich that he actually looked bored. Like I don't, it wasn't like, it was like he was looking around going, I gotta look busy. He must have everybody doing something for him right now. No, every day he's just trying to come up with names that he can get through legislature. You pass patents.

The mammoth, the outlaws. He's just trying every day. Arizona is a pretty good place to play, but yeah, like that can rival. Only tough thing, as I can tell you, is alcoholics who live there. Tough to drink. Bars close early. You order a double, you got to pour your own shot into your drink Really? Yeah, it's kind of strange. There's a way ways around that there certainly is I can tell you That's not enough of a reason no I want to be there I was gonna sign there

Yeah, but it's tough to drink. I don't think that's a problem. I think people figure it out Okay still more I don't think that's a problem. I think people figure it out. Okay. Fun stuff. Still more meat off the bone we can pick from Friday's trade deadline here. Well, before we went to break, you said something interesting about Rad Marshall. Yeah. Well, first of all, we do have the clip of him talking at his

press conference and him getting emotional. If you want to play a bit of that before Okay, let's wait. Yeah, just the mere thought and I had him on my trade board for sportsnet.ca. I came really close to taking him off this week I said no leave him on just leave him on because there's something really really strange going on here. Because 16 years on the Boston Bruins and your captain and all these question marks on him. And not once did the Boston Bruins or General Manager Don Sweeney or their president, Kam Neely, come out and squash anything. You don't leave a guy of that stature dangling like that.

Twisting in the wind. Twisting in the wind without something to it. Being willing to let the wind take him. So in saying that, where were you guys going into 3 p.m. deadline on whether he'd stay or go? Did you even give it that much thought? I'll be honest prior to like 1 1 30 p.m. I never thought about his name and then after some reports started coming out like I don't know maybe did you tweet something? No I didn't really touch it I

think Elliot was the real first thing we heard his name I was like it's happened was it maybe about 10 minutes to and it's like he could be heading to Florida. Yeah, it was closer than that. Yeah, maybe maybe I'm just quickly scrolling back here. I think it was like at the buzzer So tell us then you know the the one thing that blew me away and immediately The tweet from fridge when he said last-minute possibility hearing Brad March and could be traded to flora Was that 301 p.m.. Yeah? Okay, I thought the buzzer my first thought when I saw the return was Claude Giroud trade where he said yeah, you can trade me

But I'm only going there and then they know you have all the leverage and now you can't get anything for me Which is I don't think what happened But I'm looking forward to hearing more You out scooped me is that right? Yes That's so that's not a scoop. I was just throwing stuff at the wall and something finally stuck But you're right first time for everything buddy It makes total sense. Yeah

Right. Yeah, it makes total sense. Yeah. Right? Yeah. It makes total sense. He took everybody out of play and this is where I want to go now. Yeah. And you're Bill Zito and you say, oh, he wants to come here? So and only here? Off the top of my head, Sammy, is it a second rounder unless he wins two rounds and goes to a and plays half the games and plays half the games if it goes to a first yeah and first in like 2028 I

think just explain something to me yeah okay you still got Charlie McAvoy there yeah still got pastor yeah you still got Swain in there you got Lindholm there okay you could go out and get a free agent here totally why are you giving You still got Pasternak there. You still got Swain in there. You got Lindholm there. Okay, you could go out and get a free agent here. Totally. Why are you giving away this guy for a second rounder? That's one of those things where you go, well, you can't just take advantage of me.

I'm not giving away Brad Marchand for a second. I guess I'm not doing that. And like at the buzzer of the trade deadline, you trade away your heart and soul captain? Please explain it to me because, okay, he's 36 or 37, Sammy. 37, I believe he just turned. Okay, if he just turned 37. But he's still gonna be 60 point.

He's, no he's 36, my bad, May 11th. He's 36, going on 37 next year. He's still, if I'm not mistaken, your second leading score on the team to Pasternak, even though Pasternak's like got 30 gazillion more points. He's so good, by the way, Pasternak? Yeah, he's so good. So good. But why are you so adamant to get rid of this guy?

You're also three points out of a playoff spot. I know they don't think they can win this year, and I know that they're being honest with themselves, but I mean, if you can't get more than a second, hang on. So here's what kills me, Kip, sorry, unless, is we're gonna play the Marchand interview in a second where he says,

Sweenes is a great GM if not the best GM in the league I still that March and always has a ton of he's smart with how he talks about other people but he didn't let on that there's any acrimony between them but how could there not be how could there not be let's go to Brad March and it's a longer clip so if you're sick of hearing it I think it's like two something so if you're sick of hearing it just say it and we'll dump out of it but we can we can start it here. I want to kind of set the record straight like I don't have any ill will towards the management group towards Sweden's camera or Charlie.

I've had an incredible run in that organization, and I'm extremely proud. Just how things went there. Sorry. So yeah, it was very disappointing that things didn't get done just because obviously I loved the organization, I wanted to stay there. But at the end of the day, I also know that business is business and every player is a shelf life. And regardless if that's when we want it to be or not, sometimes there's things out of our control that dictate situations. If we were in the playoffs at the point in time, we'd probably be having a much different conversation and I know that.

Something we had talked about previously, but we weren't and at that point, very tough decisions have to be made and the one thing that I always respect, I told Cam Sweens this is they have a job to do and they have to make the best decisions for the team. And I completely understand where the decisions need to be made. Yeah, sometimes they work against you, But that's why, you know, I believe swings is one of if not the best general managers in the league. I watched him for a very long

time. Accelerate his job. And for those who are in the organization. Jesus. And no one. We're good. Eric? Yeah. Okay. I can only watch Brad Marchand choke up so much. Yeah, it's emotional. But he's, he's, first of all, he's a smart guy, as you mentioned.

He's a sharp guy and he can read a room. And I just like the fact that once you kind of get over the emotional aspect of it, that it's business. It's just business. We'll decide maybe today, tomorrow or six months or six years from now, whether it was good business or bad business, but it's still just business. And he's smart enough to acknowledge it.

Where people get in trouble, I truly believe, is if they just can't look at it in no other light except their own, right? They can only see it from their view and they don't look at different Dynamics of it. It's an honor talk. No, it's me talk 2019 leaving sports net. Okay, I Mean could I was emotional at the time, but you cannot look at it in only your eyes You got to look at their decisions on why it's business. You know,

am I going to badmouth Sportsnet? Is Marchand going to badmouth the Boston Bruins? Is he going to say I felt ripped off? They don't know what like, no, no, it's just business. And that depends, right, Kip? So that's always the right thing to do. I believe, you know, what you're talking with there, what Marshand is doing there. But we do see teams and people who want to get their narrative out in front of it. And I actually am thinking about when Shanahan and Dubas had their public falling out, you felt both guys being like, you know, chipping away at each other and taking shots and trying to establish position.

So that is really impressive from Marshaan because I don't think there's any way he's not pissed off. How could you not be pissed off? I think yes. Unless he's genuinely went to them and said, I want the heck out of here. You can go through your stages and you've done it through your life

that you go through different stages and there's anger, there's disappointment, there's you name it and you can go through all of that but you don't have to do it publicly. And I think he's genuinely excited about playing in Florida right now. How could you not? Yeah, I mean, chance on a cup. What he's able to do too, is not necessarily,

I don't know how he could do it. It would take maybe a very strong guy, but he hasn't closed the door on returning to the Boston Bruins July 1st. That just never happens. And you're probably right. And I would love to see it happen. Yeah. Yeah.

The hurt feelings seemed like they override some of the, you know, they obviously didn't offer him a very great deal, but what do you make of the deal? People offer them from three million a year or something? No, bad information. Yeah, three million a year. Guys will score six or seven points. He's on Team Canada. That was just really bad reporting. Yeah. Okay. I'll tell you. Elliott talked about this on hockey night in Canada during the second intermission that Brad tried everything to get a deal done including meeting with them and saying That's nuts That with them and still couldn't get it done. You know what the difference was?

Maybe half a million dollars a year What no way to me you owe Brad that Brad's been underpaid for a decade Maybe half a million dollars a year. What? No way. To me, you owe Brad that. Brad's been underpaid for a decade. Yes. Yeah, there's a lot of reasons why you can look through Brad's situation and go, guys, I gave you a heck of a deal for... You've been making six and a half hard trophy votes.

My whole career. My whole career. But they walked. gave you a heck of a deal for making six and a half hard trophy votes like my whole career my whole career and but they walked it she walked a conditional second round pick for a conditional second round pick they walked on something that was as little as half a million dollars a year in history will write whether that was a tremendous show of stones or Sheer idiocy, you know one of the other but we will see also shows how entrenched he is that he mentioned Charlie I had to Google who that is Charlie Jacobs is Jeremy Jacobs, I assume so family the family that owns the team of the alternate governor

But he's talking to like they still have purse. They still have a right to move on and make a business decision. One dollar, half a million, 10 million, it doesn't matter. It's your decision, you're in a position to make it. You did it, move on. Two things. First thing, if I'm a Boston Bruins fan and I'm watching Brad Marshand at the podium

wearing Panthers colors, almost cry. That is the most disgusting video you could ever watch. Like that is just horrifying if you're a brilliant fan. Oh my God, like how, I would turn that off immediately. Secondly, some breaking news from NHL public relations. Aaron Echblad suspended 20 games for, Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Echblad

has been suspended for 20 games without pay for violating the terms of the NHL and NHLPA performance enhancing substance program Under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement the suspension is accompanied by a mandatory referral to the NHL and NHLPA program for substance abuse and behavioral health for Evaluation and possible treatment the National Hockey League will have no further comment at this time That is huge news.

That is a playoff implications. They have 18 games left. He just got suspended for 20. Will he miss any playoff games? Yeah, that's that counts. All the same suspensions just trickle in. Or does it get tacked on to the regular season? But he's a free agent.

What happens if he retires? So it must count for playoffs. He must be out the first two games of playoffs. Wow. And you know, there without Matthew Kachak too, I will say they have... How big is that Seth Jones pick up? No kidding. Wow.

So that's a fairly massive story. The amount just came down. Just literally while we were talking about four minutes ago. They test like a fairly massive story. I mean, there's not a whole- The amount just came down. Just literally while we were talking about, four minutes ago. They test like eight guys a year. I know that's not true, but like, it's shocking. Yeah. For sure.

It's a fairly regularly injured guy. You can see him trying different things and who knows. Do you guys wanna quickly play the Bryndamore audio? Yeah, I think that's a really good piece of audio. Okay, so can we- Backstory. Backstory. Yeah, backstory is just that Rob Bryndamore audio? Yeah, I think that's a really good piece of audio. Okay, so can we- Backstory. Backstory. Yeah, backstory is just that Rod Bryndamore

did the interview on Ranting and Leaving where he makes the point that it wasn't like he came to Carolina and said, looked around and said, I don't like this, but had made some decision and I'll let him explain the rest. Rod Bryndamore clip, please, Derek. There's not been one guy that has left here because they didn't like it here. That was Sepamico and he did not like it.

When he showed up he said there's four teams I'll go play for, you're not one of them. So there's 28 other teams he wasn't going to. And the better question is should we have known that before we signed him or attempted to sign him. You know, Denzel was a totally opposite thing. We had offered him the contract, we offered him a den, he's here. But we didn't for whatever reason.

That's a different conversation. And all the other guys that walked out of here, our phrase is because they got paid a lot more money than we were offering, they all wanted to stay. So Mika was the only one that I've been associated with that said, I don't want want to this is not for me And I think there's other circumstances on that it's not because of the hockey is because I think his family it wasn't for him So good, and I appreciate that he'd let us know that we probably should have known that before we made the deal

Maybe that changes how we go about things Yeah, I think I think it's a it's a it's a given and their general manager Tulski mentioned I think that it was a risk and yeah you lost. You lost. You lost the risk. And so do you think that's Dundon related? Do you think he wanted to get a superstar in there? But he's running the show. Yeah, he runs the show. Is that right? It's just I hear I hear a very competitive man who is frustrated at not being able his team got worse for this season.

Like yeah, maybe long term we'll look back and it'll shake out fine. But this season's team is worse. And he says we should have known that about Rantanen or maybe we should have known that Gensel if we had offered him the money he would have stayed and everyone else we didn't offer him enough money That's like to me If you're the owner You know that feels like the beginning of the end for brindlemore and dundin's like that's those are some real shots to me Yeah

Yeah If you're brindlemore you're like so I had marty natus on my team this year and mico ranting on this On my team this year and now i'm going towards a playoffs with neither on my team this year and Miko Rantan on my team this year. And now I'm going towards a playoffs with neither on my team, the most important part of the year. I can't put a first on the power play. You had Nacius next year at six and a half too. That was another crack.

Boy, that Nacius is pretty good on Saturday night. Keeping a player at a low cost while you improve in other areas. So, it's a big gamble. And unfortunately they lost. Stankoven is a decent player but not a game changer by any stretch. He's young. He obviously has more experience and what the Leafs were gonna offer with Minton and Cowan. Sounds like they tried to make another deal. Carolina did at the deadline to improve like along with Stankoven

But ran out of time and I think that clip that we had considered playing was them saying that they just spent too much time I do have that clip but it's it's a Okay, but you said the gist of it. He they wanted to make more moves, but they ran out of time. It's like guys they put The trade deadline in your calendar in the summer. It's not like it's snuck up on you.

It sounds like things unfolded in the last couple days the way they didn't anticipate. As an owner, if someone said to me, we wanted to make more trades, but we spent too much time on ranting in, I'm telling you, I'd go ballistic. But if you're the one in the room making the decisions, you don't have the right to do that

because you're a part of it. Ryan Smith. You always have to make a decent point. Ryan Smith would never. Ryan Smith would never do that. Our boy Ryan Smith. Our golf partner. Our favorite owner in the league.

Our new best friend, Ryan Smith, owner of Utah Hockey Club. Thank you very much for joining us at the top of the hour and the invitation. That was fun today. It's fun. All right. And if you're not sick of us already, 9 30 sports night, regional leaves in Utah, Justin born. Here's truly Elliot Friedman and David Amber. Have a blast guys. It'll be fun. Alright, we're back tomorrow.