Real Kyper & Bourne - The Stock Market on the Habs

Episode Date: November 8, 2023

Former NHLer P.J. Stock joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne (5:53) to share his thoughts on media's coverage of their teams and players in the NHL, criticisms against Ryan Reaves, the start for the Montreal Canadiens' start to the season, why the Habs need to allocate bigger players for their roster, the difficulties of being a top prospect, Juraj Slafkovský's promotion to the top line, the forecast for Montreal's year ahead and if Edmonton should trade for another goalie. Then the guys discuss Jonathan Huberdeau's benching in Calgary, Maple Leafs holding the top spot as the most valuable team in the NHL, and much more! The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

let's welcome everybody in to the real kipper and born show this is the national hour and we are live on sportsnet and sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary and of course this hour of real kipper and born brought to you by bet 365 a lot of top stories in the national hockey league including the sharks winning a game that's the lead applause and they got kaylin addison there here come the sharks we've got uh some major storylines out of Calgary with their win against Nashville. It comes at a price. Jonathan Huberto benched all

third period. Is the price $84 million? It's quite expensive when you don't get that type of production. And we welcome in, in about five minutes or so, PJ Stock. Of course, we know PJ well around these neck of the woods. And he'll get us our latest storylines out of the Montreal Canadiens.

Yeah. Due to Chad Little Habs. But as far as Mike Greer, who addressed his Sharks team and made it abundantly clear that this is is not acceptable uh apparently it works it's great it's great to hear the dressing room you're like oh it's not did that work for you and like the general manager president came in i mean listen i didn't play in the nhl so one of those guys came down things are going seriously wrong but no it's i've always found those sort of scoldings a little strange you know like i'm

trying here man i can't you know i haven't been not trying so i don't know timing i guess is everything i think scolding a team when you literally put it together yeah to be historically bad is a tough look i think true living coming down to talk about them not doing anything with marchand's one thing that's a conversation that can be had but when you've actually put together the worst franchise team in the history of the league it's a hard conversation to have this team to lose but you're losing by too much hot dog meme we're all looking for the guy who did this back-to-back 10 spots yeah it's like

they're looking at him like, hey, Mike. It would be so bad that I would bet that there'd be a couple guys with that towel. You ever. The towel over the head? Well, just the towel over the head or, you know, sometimes it could be so tight, wound it in a room that you get the giggles. You can look at one of your guys and start getting the giggles. Well, that's when it's, yeah,

and you're like, don't make eye contact. Oh my God. This thing is so far gone. Sometimes it'd be like you'd be searching for the towel over your head and it's like you'd look at one of your teammates who probably makes you laugh more than any other and you're like, oh, please don't look at me, please. Well, because it's absurdist to be like a little bit harder effort on the forecheck is going to turn things around.

We're losing by a touchdown, Mike. So my first year. A two-point conversion. My first year was in Washington, and things were a little bleak that the owner, Abe Poland, I think I'm pronouncing his name. That's the biggest owner name I've ever heard of. Yeah, his name's Abe've ever heard of his name.

Abe shocked, uh, needed to address the team. And he walked in and, you know, it's a big heavy metal dress room door, Washington capitals, the cap center. And it's a big,

heavy weighted, like steel metal door. And it's got one of those hinges at the top. Well, doesn't it snap on him and come back and smack him in the head? Oh, come on. You guys must have been

dying. And there's 20 of us waiting to get ripped on. And, you know, I don't want to sound disrespectful, but I don't know if you remember the character like um uh the actor don knots vaguely yeah yeah he was like uh three's company company and uh oh my god i'm dating myself beyond belief but he kind of had that look a little bit and like i'm telling you it was i never going to play in this game ever again.

If someone sees me smile. If someone sees me right now. This is the end of my career. And I can't breathe and I'm turning red. And I look around and there's four other guys, the same thing, trying to hold their breath. And it's just like, please let this end. And then everybody races to him, gets a towel on his head,

puts an ice pack on. I've never seen maintenance guys fixing a door faster in my life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, maybe that was Mike Greer's situation. No, I don't think it got that bad for Mike Greer. The best case of the hockey giggles is Vignon. Who was it that made fun of BXA? Oh, it was Vern Fidler.

Vern Fidler made fun of BXA, and he can't help it. Alain Vignon. He is laughing so hard on the bench.ler made fun of bx and he is he can't help elaine vignal he is laughing so hard on the bench and then when you're seeing him laugh you can't stop either like he's trying he's holding the the card in front of his face yeah that's amazing all right we're getting this pj stock as he gets ready um if i ask him uh biggest storyline in canada it's probably not the montreal canadians right now because they're just kind of doing their thing but i know they've lost a few in a row here but yeah just prior to that they were kind of neck and neck with the leafs they were exactly neck and neck with the leafs yeah i mean we had two points back of the leafs right now

yeah so a great start for them i don't think a lot of us saw it coming and they've got montreal's got three goalies so we're gonna ask pj his thoughts on maybe if uh if the edmonton oilers might take a crack at stealing someone in montreal all right let's welcome in the stock exchange pj what's going where have you been i been waiting. I've been here waiting for you guys. I don't know. What have you guys been doing the last little while? Where have you been, like, recently? What are you up to? Where are you talking to kids last night?

Yes, I was speaking at Concordia University last night, which was pretty fun. It's trying to tell them to stay in school. It was fun. I had an opportunity to, you know, it's uh trying to tell them to stay in school uh it was fun an opportunity to you know it's so funny i there's two things that kind of really used to throw me off you know when we had a big game and like you were playing breshear the next night or whether it was a peter warrell or uh you know ty domey or bob probert i couldn't sleep the night before. And the other thing is probably public speaking. It's just, I don't know what it is. You can get all prepared for the moment you're

about to start. You get all these jitters. So a little public speaking yesterday. I'm a sports marketer for a communications company. I do some events. I'm coming to town on a big Eric Lindros event this tomorrow night and for Easter Seals on Friday.

And I listen to you guys all the time. I'm excited that I'm on because I have to fix you people in Toronto. Okay? Not born. You're going to fix me and Sammy.

Well, I can't fix you either. So that's just yeah yeah before we get going because we'll talk about some other things listen i'm a huge hockey fan huge fourth line guy fan um big fan of what ryan reeves has been doing it throughout his entire career he's been absolutely amazing he's um when he when he was in st louis obviously but you know he comes to toronto and now it's like a new toy for some of the media and we put a microphone in front of his face and and and like he's just excited and saying some things that i wish some of you not not you fine gentlemen would challenge him on like he's toys you know he's

saying that arbor jack on his step he's a that Arbor Jack guy, he's a 20-year-old kid, stepping up for one of his teammates who got hit from behind. And here he goes, he jumps in and they wrestle and Reeves kind of falls over the net and post-game, all the media sticks a microphone in Ryan's face. And Ryan was like, well, I would have gone back or he pushed me over the net. I'll play them again.

And no, everyone wants a slide. No one challenges or anything. Fast forward, Corey Perry. Corey Perry is legend. Corey Perry is going to be the legend of Corey Perry. Hockey Hall of Fame, everything. He plays his style. Stanley Cups, everything.

And, you know, he's playing his role and gets a little, you know, they get out for each other. Post-game media puts a microphone in front of his face. And Ryan's like, yeah, you know, I think he's this. I think he's chicken. I think he's, Corey Perry is one of the guys that have played his role better than any player and he's still playing and he's an absolute pleasure to watch.

His career has been absolutely amazing. And everyone just lets it slide. And then just most recently, Brad Marshawn gets a a moment that i thought should have been penalized but that's nothing but ryan reeves says you know they had last change i couldn't get on and couldn't get even with them are you kidding me i never got a shift in the second or third period but if something like that happened to one of my teammates i'd say hey the next time that guy's on the ice i'm calling you off and i'm going on he's getting paid he's getting

paid to make sure that those things don't happen to his teammates. And if it does happen to his teammates, he's getting paid to make sure it doesn't happen again. And it's not. Right now he's getting paid to put quotes in the media and you guys aren't challenging on him. I'm saying, how can you say that? You had two more periods to get him.

Like, why didn't you challenge? Like, I'm defending Jack Guy. I'm defending Corey Perry. I'm defending Brad Guy. I'm defending Corey Perry. I'm defending Brad Marshall. I understand Ryan Reeves. I'm mad at the people who, if it was a Montreal Canadiens player that said it, if it was an Edmonton Oilers player that said it,

if it was a player for the Bruins that said it, it would be all over the news. We've got to get this. We've got to fix this. But we're letting this roll too much. I just had to vent. I feel better now no thank you for letting me know that you know what though that is something that we have wanted to talk to you about and so okay i've been sitting here in my basement you could have called me so not you know fine that you want people to challenge him but what about the actual performance from reeves and that i like the idea i have seen players on

my team say to other guys when he gets out there again you're not going i'm going on you know i want to crack at that guy or whatever are you fine with how he's played as a toronto maple leaf a couple of fights a lot of quotes is this is he delivering what he should be delivering? I don't blame him for the Colts. Okay. You know, I don't. Listen, Vegas, Pittsburgh, St. Louis. He likes to use the media. He's big on spinning. He's good at what? He's 36 years old doing this job.

You know, Kripper, how hard is it to do it night after night for year after year? But now he's in a place where he's kind of the new darling of the Maple Leafs media. And I just think that his play for the way he's in a place where he's kind of the new darling of the Maple Leafs media. And I just think that his play for the way he's talking is not owning up. You had two periods against Brad Marchand after he's already called out Arbor Jack guy and he's already called out Corey Perry. You know, if you're going to walk the walk, sorry, if you're going to talk the talk, you've got to walk the walk, or sorry, if you're going to talk the talk, you got to walk a little, my man.

And this is, again, I don't want it to go that way, but it's kind of going that way because I'm always blaming the people that have not challenged him on this. What do I think of his play? You know, you look at his last so many years, he hasn't had over 50 penalty minutes in, you know, about four or five years. He hasn't had over 50 penalty minutes in, you know, about four or five years. He hasn't had to, though, really. Well, you do.

That's the difference. You do. Playing for the Maple Leafs is a team that I know, if I go against them in the second half of the year, I watch Tampa play. By the way, the Leafs are bipolar when you watch them. That game against Tampa Bay, I thought they were going to run away if the game was over, and then Toronto comes back,

and that's going to be the Leafs all season. But you see the way some of the stars on Tampa have that spit and vinegar to their game. I don't see that enough. That's why you keep having to add these guys to the top couple lines to help the players on the team that don't really have that. And now you won't go and get a big guy because there's, you know, again, there's Arbor Jack guy now, there's Delorier,

there's a couple guys in the East Coast, in the East, it's a little tougher. And you don't want players taking runs at your best players. So that's why you get a Ryan Reeves. Like I played with Joe Thornton. Joe Thornton was 6'4", 220 pounds, and Joe never needed anyone in the world to protect him. Joe would actually get mad if someone went on this, but I was paid. So if someone takes a run at Joe,

I'm going to go up to that guy between a whistle. Next time I have a chance and say, hey, you touch him again, I'm going after you. And if the guy's like laughs at me, I'll just tell someone else on their team. I'll go to their best player and I'll just start every time that guy skates by the bench on a whistle I'll go on. I'll call a winger

off and I'll go after their other best player. And not only that, PJ, I'm going to tell them that it's Marshan's fault that I'm coming after you. Exactly. I'm trying to be polite with the words I'm saying. Go blame that it's Marchand's fault that I'm coming after you. Exactly. I'm trying to be polite with the words I'm saying. Go blame him.

Yeah, totally. I don't want to kick your – what's the rules with swearing on this? I don't know what that's new. That's very acceptable on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Thank you. Yeah, hey, you come hear my player again, I won't kick your ass. You're fine. But, you know, go tell Pasternak, you know know or you go down their bench and you tell their best players because you need to

get a ryan reeves because of mitch marner and and matthews and they don't want to be involved in that they don't want to have to deal with that but what do you do you you turn it on them because he's not doing their job i'm sorry i don't know what's going on here. But that's exactly why you go and get a guy like that. And he's not doing it right now. He's not getting points. He's not being a physical force out there that's intimidating the other players because they're actually challenging him. They're not even – that's almost disrespectful.

A 20-year-old goes after him. It pushes him over an egg. Yes, we've all been there. It happens. But Arbor doesn't come out in the media after and say anything. But we put the microphone in Ryan's face, and the media just runs with it. How do we let that slide about Corey Perry? Corey Perry's been a rat and a blessing to the National Hockey League.

A rat and a blessing. He has, though, right? By that logic, yeah. Marsha went from everyone hates him. You know who doesn't hate him? Everyone in the Bruins organization. Boston fans. We're talking to him.

I want to swing this a little bit throughout the league here. Keep the theme going. I got no problem with your theme right now but I want to kind of slide it towards the montreal canadians because once upon a time i remember the likes of a george larocque um some really tough guys over the years chris knuckles nyland uh george mcfee man there's been some over the years and now i look at uh who's gonna make Suzuki and Cole Caulfield feel a few inches taller on the Montreal Canadiens.

Well, interesting, because they need someone to play with. They do need a bigger body. Arbor Jack has been spectacular for the Montreal Canadiens. He's really brought an element. Wasn't supposed to make the team, but you watch the league play today, and I think there's so many players that are kind of the same style. And, you know, when I speak to some of the younger guys and you go to a training camp or you're in a game, be memorable.

You know, just go out there and get noticed. And if everyone's doing the same thing, it's hard to really tell people apart. Arbor Jack, I brought something last year to the Montreal Canadiens that they've been looking for for a long time, and that's that element of physicality. As mentioned, Ryan Reeves does it for Toronto. But Arbor has done it on an amazing level. He's on the back end.

I think you always need someone up front as well that you can mix up and down in the lineup. Michael Pezet has kind of been that guy. He's not a real big body, but, you know, he reminds me a lot of Tom Kostopoulos from years and years ago. He's in on every one. You just don't know how they're going to end up. But the effort's there.

But at least you have those guys keeping the other team looking around. But those two guys are not going to play on the first line with Cole Caulfield and Nick Suzuki. And I think that's been one of the problems with the Montreal Canadiens, trying to find that winger to play with them. And, you know, you have a couple guys that they try and squeeze in there, but, you know, they're both five, you know, Caulfield's what, 5'7", 170, Nick's 5'10", you know.

They need a bigger body to play with, and it's hard to find someone that will fit their star. Kirby Dock was a guy that they had there, but they need him at center. He's going to be a fantastic hockey player if he can stay healthy. So right now they put a young kid, Slavkovski, on their wing, which is, you know,

it's poor kids drafted first overall and not a strong draft, and everyone's expecting Sidney Crosby or McDavid out of him, and he's just not that player. But, you know, it's kind of, it's a great chance for him now to play with these two smaller players, and at the same time it's putting them right in the spotlight.

So long answer to the question. They have tough guys, but they need bigger guys that play more of a physicality role in their top nine, and hopefully the first pick, Slavkovsky, is going to grow into that. Yeah, he's an interesting topic of discussion. You know, is he, should he have gone down last year?

This year I've heard he's playing much better, you know, from what I've seen. Yeah. Okay. Still a wishy-washy for you. Yeah. So again,

please. I do TV in French. So the, the expectations, cause he's a first round pick. Okay. No, no. He's a first-round pick. No, no, he's a first-overall pick. That's face-to-the-franchise pick. Well, it is, but how many first-round picks, first-overall picks of, you know,

sorry, I'm forgetting the name of the year, first-overall to Edmonton, and ten first-overall picks. Yakupov. Yakupov, Yakupov. It just wasn't a strong year. Slavkovsky, you know, everyone was talking about right to go number one right still in the not in the league yet so he's physically capable of playing you know look at tage thompson buffalo took him five years to get going kirby doc same size yeah he played three years slavkovsky ever become a goal scorer in this league? Are we just talking about a top nine heavy checker?

Yes. Because his stats, his stats in Finland, in Finland, he didn't play in the KHL or the AHL. And the year he was drafted number one, he had five goals in 31 games. He blew up by two tournaments. I worked the Olympics and he had, he reminded me a lot of Ovechkin in 31 games. He blew up by two tournaments. I worked the Olympics, and he had he reminded me a lot of Ovechkin in that tournament.

Take away the physicality. Just the part of... Playing against two, though. Hey, Ovechkin stands there half the game sometimes, and a puck comes near him, and it's in the net. That was Slavkovsky in that tournament. I don't think he was spectacular.

I think he was very opportunistic. Playing against college kids. Okay. Still, he's the best of his peers, though. That's what you do. You're basing the draft. He's actually playing Finland against men. But you're basing the draft on he's playing the best of the people that he's playing against.

And he dominated. So if you have to pick, who are you picking? Physically, he's there, and now you're hoping that he played on a bigger ice surface. When he comes to North America, he'll be able to adapt. It takes a lot longer, I think, for a bigger body, because his biggest thing is it's the speed and understanding where space is. And what he doesn't understand in my opinion is that he has to be a uh what is it a expression i don't want to come out with whatever he's just got to just be running over people

like he's got to create he has to be eric lindrott john leclerc he has to be not the scoring part but you're big enough to get the spaces where people can't. So he has to drive through the throw an elbow. This creates space. It never has to be pretty because he's never going to be pretty. But I think because he was picked first overall, he thinks he has to be pretty. And that's the young adaptation and process that he's going to have to learn. So it's one thing. I want him to get into a fight.

He's too nice. He's too nice. He's too nice. He's too. But that's what's great about him because Montreal is a tough market, as we all know, with the media. And so is Toronto.

Canada is hard. But he has to, if he's going to be successful and if we want to say live up to a top billing pick, he's got to... What got him to the National Hockey League is one thing. What's going to make him have a successful NHL career is completely different.

He has to learn that. Tackle him in the parking lot. It's got to start somewhere. You can do that. I'm good in my basement. I'm good in my basement. Anyone that's 6'4", people watching, go check him out, his YouTube video.

We do a Wingate test, where it's a bike test at every training camp, where they pretty much ask you to get to your full speed. And then they clamp the wheel, and you see how long you can maintain your constant power. It's power wattage per step. And, you know, normally we go, know normally we go like for like five six seconds and then it just goes like this and we're like holding on to the bike and falling off and he just kills the machine he's he's a specimen physically uh and he has to understand that he has to understand that he's been given the gift of size he's been given the gift of gift of intimidation he doesn't have to intimidate like he doesn't know that he's been given the gift of gift of intimidation he doesn't have to intimidate like

he doesn't know that he's intimidating other people and he doesn't really have to but he has to understand that just because he's so big he intimidates people and it's a gift it's it's a curse though too for some people whether you're nick bustad or you're you know if you don't have it and people expect it from you yes it's tough to fake that you know and have people accept you're just a player. I just wanted to get an overview on the Canadian season for you because they were at one point tied with the Leafs at like five, two, and one. They came out of the gates great.

If we had talked to you nine days ago, they were on top of the world. Four losses since, even though they picked up, I think, a couple of points over that stretch. You know, are they a better team than last year? Are they about where you thought they were? What do you forecast for this season for this Canadian team? I like, they have depth up front. They really do have a lot of depth up front.

It's not, the problem is it's not comparable to a Matthews. The touch, I don't know how many, is it four hat-tricks, three hat-tricks this year? The moment it touches his puck anywhere in the offensive zone, he's a threat, and he's big, and Mars' creativity. They're a little bit more established, so that is something that is pretty special about, you know, every team has a few of those guys. I think the Canadiens have a lot of depth of a lot of good hockey players. I don't think their top players are, you know,

the shooter of the Montreal Canadiens, again, is 5-7 um you know 170 and he's a so much fun to watch but cole caulfield is hard to get the puck on a forecheck he's hard to break things up so he's almost a complementary player and so you need players to play with them and then it's nick suzuki is your number one center yep you know most successful teams he'd probably be a two uh you know their kirby doc is is going to be a stud if he can stay healthy um what they're doing is they're building a culture they're building something that's going to take time but i really like a lot of the moves that kent has made by he's gotten rid of older players on bad contracts and brought in other players that are first or second round picks that just didn't fit

in other organizations for whatever the reason. Kirby Dock's a great example. Didn't fit in Chicago, but you gave up him on three years, and he's going to be the Montreal Canadiens' number one center in time. So the Canadians are a team that is the second youngest team in the league, don't have any real top-end talent, and are in the process of learning how to lose the right way, if that makes sense to you guys.

There's losing where you're just kind of terrible hockey, and they're competing. They're in every game, and that's what's fun to watch as a Habs fan. It's not like it was a couple years ago it was it was just not fun to watch so it's going to take time it's going to take a lot of time they're they're goaltending situation you have three goalies and are they all ones are they all twos you know on defense you know they got you know Mike Matheson was probably he's been playing 27 minutes a night but he was probably a 3-4 where he was, and now he's expected to play 27 minutes before.

Gooley's a young side, and he's going to be great, but how do you surround him? Again, these are all part of the process, part of the process, and they're building it, but it's going to take time. Every point that they get this year, I think, is going to add to the confidence and the structure moving forward. Would you move a goalie or at least call Edmonton right now and sell high? Yeah, so that's the one thing. Edmonton's going to give you what? Jake Allen is spectacular for this team because they're going to lose.

We all know they're going to lose because of all the comparables. Compare the goalies to every other team. Compare the defense to every other team. That's all what we do. I because all the comparables, compare the goalies to every other team, compare the defense to every other team, compare the, you know, and just, that's all what we do. I'm not being, I'm just doing comparables. And the goaltending for, they have three right now, and they're stuck with, you know, Keith Primo's son, and they don't know what to do with them because if they put them in the minors,

are, you know, someone has to go through waivers. Everyone thinks it's fourth year he's probably he's on that you know as i mentioned forwards six foot four six foot five forwards how long it takes them as i mentioned you know some cost can make thompson um some guys take a little more more time what about in nets and is this guy a guy that's going to be a stud in time jake allen is someone sam motomombo is kind of the number two guy, if I were to do that. He finished the year stronger than Jake last year, but Jake's just a great veteran to have around while you're losing. I know that sounds crazy, but you need the right people, you know, breaking up the message and spitting out different ways to keep

people encouraged and keep moving forward, even though you keep losing. It's hard to be part of a process where you're losing a lot and understand where it's going, but he's been nothing great. So I don't know if they want to give up something for him, but you have three goalies. You can't keep doing this. Jake Allen, I'd move. If you feel as a team, you have the right people and leaders in that locker room to help that process moving forward and what you're getting back is going to be part again of that

structure he's he's exactly what edmonton need jake allen might not look like the best goal in but he battles every night mind you they said that about campbell too and everyone loved him too hey let me ask you uh before we let you go let me ask you about all this losing that you're mentioning in in montreal because we just had brent wallace uh in our first hour uh talking about the impatience of the ottawa senator fans here we're talking about the proudest organization on the planet when it comes to hockey and how how is this sitting yet again with the Montreal fans I think everyone's finally been in I think everyone understands I think what Kent Hughes has done this year and the management is but they're open they're speaking to everyone there's

no more hey you only get a meeting with me once every six months and I'll give you what's going on Kent's been out there he's been vocal Marty speaks after every game like a lot of teams do but they're explaining the process they're explaining the process. They're explaining the process. And they're losing the right way. And they're going to lose because they got rid of a lot of pieces to create spaces for their new structure and foundation. Everyone's in. The city's in. They understand it.

But the fans need the moments of Cole Caulfield scoring. They need the moments of an Arbor Jack I fight. They need the moments of a comeback from behind. That Toronto game versus Tampa the other night is exactly what can carry a fan base for a few weeks. Maybe not Toronto's because the expectation is there all the time. Montreal's isn't. So it's for the first time in a long time I can see that the city

is understanding. This is, I know it's a lot longer process. It's going to be, but I think they're willing to give the gift to, to the organization, the staff and the young players for a couple of years. If they continue to lose,

but lose the right way. All right, peach. Don't be such a stranger around here. You got my basement phone number. You don't want to find me. Love having you on man. All right, guys. Hey, you got my basement phone number. You don't want to find me. Love having you on, man. All right, guys.

BJ Stock. Here's a nice one. Thanks, BJ. Does a terrific job. Did you guys catch Marty St. Louis' kind of outlook on Slavkoski's development? No. He compared it to Waze.

The app. The driving app. Sometimes inadvertently takes you through 13 back roads. Yes, exactly. You're going through a McDonald's parking lot all of a sudden. What do you do? You just quit and go home or you reroute? That's what he said with him.

We're recalculating. Easy for me to say. That's great. I like that. But then I wanted to tell him, you know, sometimes I just shut it off and I go to maps. I get rid of it. Sometimes I make my own decisions. That's funny. That's actually a really good comparison.

All right. Sammy, what do you got for us? We're going to game time. We're going to do some game time? Let's let her rip. It's game time. Visit our Bet365. Visit the app, the latest odds, and find out why it's never ordinary. At Bet365, must be 19 plus, Ontario only. Please play responsibly.

The first one is the over-under on how long it's going to take for my phone to start up because it still hasn't started up. You changed the other one because it wouldn't start up. And now it's still, hello, still waiting. So maybe it's an hour and a half, setting the over-under at an hour and a half. Okay. I was just looking at the Leafs and Sens.

Not a ton of action on the ice tonight. Only three games. Austin Matthews owns the Sens. Absolutely owns the Sens. What was it, 23 in 29 games? That's a lot of goals and not many games for uh for austin matthews if you want to bet him to score two goals tonight and the and the leaves to win it's plus 350 which is crazy yeah that just shows how incredibly good austin matthews is at scoring goals the nhl that that

is at plus 350 let me ask you a question what is the ottawa number just to win i will look that up for you right now sir because i bet you get a good number they are uh pretty heavy underdog plus 145 heading into tonight so a little bit of value on them uh no question you know don't hate that the least d is dicey and the stands can score they got a decent corpus allo game you never know so here's a a future one for you because you know I like looking ahead. Which conference do you think is a pretty heavy favorite to win the Stanley Cup? I'm going to say the West given Colorado, Dallas, Vegas, Vancouver. It has to be something including Vegas or it's Metro.

The West is a plus 105. So they're plus money, the Western Conference, and the East is minus 135 so i was thinking what is the thought process behind that so you have to it's a pretty heavy favorite the east is it just because the west have to go through so many good teams is that what they're beat up by the time i get there rangers carolina new jersey carolina new jersey austin tampa toronto you know i watched r Rangers last night, boys. They are really good. Yeah, they're good.

Really good. Yeah, they're big. I don't like saying it. And they're good. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. But that Keiondre Miller is a stud. I love watching them play.

And they're just a heavy squad. So, yeah. I think they could be maybe the favorite out of the East. But, yeah, to me, it's surprising to see the East be the favorite for the Cup. And how many goals does Ovi have? Is he still stuck on two? Yeah, two and ten. They're playing the Panthers tonight.

He historically has lit up the Panthers. He had liked up everybody, but I think the Panthers in his division for a long time. Give me Ovi to score the first goal of the hockey game tonight at plus 700. Plus 700? Yeah, for the first goal of the game. Is this his worst start oh god it has to in his career yeah one of those two is an empty netter by the way well listen backstrom's not there to feed him anymore they're not playing in the offensive zone a lot

of what he did was just catch and shoot right he'd get a touch in the ozone or whip it by someone it's gonna get exponentially harder for him as he slows down the caps are bad the pressure of this record weighs on him buddy your call at the start of the year i might have been high it's looking ridiculously 27 27 yeah he's gonna have to get hot to get to 27 i know is that two so one 27 or 25 or 27 basically you now need three years. At that pace? At that pace to break Gretzky's record instead of the two. And that's assuming he stays healthy and yada yada.

He's going to be playing. They'll bring the chair out there for him. Just like a field goal kick. It's a power play. Get Obi over the boards. Four minutes a night. I'm sure they'd love to deliver another Stanley Cup in the next few years but the focus is on ovi here do you think that's the whole franchise any way they would ever

trade him to a contender and just say oh my god on a good team no chance for some goal some some team has a power play that's struggling that has a chance. Still Ted Leone's a son. It's like a son to Ted. Yeah, no way. No way. That guy's retiring. He would never let him go. Capital.

What if OV says, I don't want to sit here and lose and have no one pass to me for my whole career? Yeah. Then what? It's the Crosby. I think you trade him into Pittsburgh. Oh, my God. This is not off the rails Friday. He gets the record in a Penns jersey.

Off of Crosby. Oh, my God. Ovi and Crosby are retiring where they are right now. Yeah. You think? Yes. 100% on Sid? Not a chance.

I'm trying to think of guys you had locked in that didn't, and maybe Corey Perry or Joe Thornton. He's Mario. I'm trying to think of. He's locked in that didn't, and maybe Corey Perry or Joe Thornton. He's Mario. I'm trying to think of. He's running it the same way Mario ran it. I thought it would be too competitive to stick it out on a losing Chicago team. Yeah, Kane, I would have seen Chicago as well. If he wants it, he can have a piece of the ownership group,

and he can come in. No, Sid. I was going to say, it seems politically fraught in Washington. Sid. I don't know about Ovi. Ovi may go back home. I don't know. Oh, he's gone.

The second he's done, he might go play six more years like Yager. He might go play for Kladno with Yarmir. He might be playing for CSKA over there for a while. All right. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. At Bet365 365 must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly all right when we come back we go a little calgary

what's going on with jonathan uh the coaching change was supposed to look after everything for jonathan and that is not the case as he was benched last night by his head coach ryan huska we'll get uh we'll get some sound off of that plus the ross colton fine and not suspension we'll get sammy's thought on whether that was the right call or not that more on real kipper and born after these words. Big win by the Calgary Flames last night, coming back from a 2-0 deficit against the Nashville Predators. But essentially, they did it with Naz Kadri, who I thought was terrific last night.

Yep. But Jonathan Huberto does not see the light of day in the third period. Not a second. That's crazy. That's a gutsy move. Well, first, you know, 12 games in. Rookie coach. For Huska, yeah. yeah you know year two of this

contract well year one of the contract i guess for uberdo but i mean i like the idea that just because daryl sutter's not here doesn't mean there's not you know there's no accountability here all of a sudden like there is still people are going to have their feet held to the fire and he hasn't been good you know sometimes you do these sort of things for the player's own sake. Like, step away from it, take a look, watch a game, whatever. It's just something needs to change. We talked about that earlier in the show.

It's a defibrillator. It's just, we need to start this thing over again. Do we have Ryan, Head Coach Ryan, comments on the benching of Jonathan? About 35 seconds exchange with some reporters. So, yeah, we have the clip. All right, let's hear it. I thought Hubie had an off night,

and when we went into the third period, we wanted to try to get a little bit more flow, and we went with the guys we felt were going, and that's pretty much all it came down to. How did he take that? He's fine. It's not anything anybody wants to go through ever, but hey, at times it's going to happen.

You're not going to have your A-plus game every night. And as I said, we were trying to find a little bit of a rhythm and flow to our game, and at that point we went with the guys we thought were going the best. Was it an effort thing at all, or was it just not being able to act? Yes, off night. It happens. That's good political speak right there.

You should be a politician. Off night. The best you could possibly, benching a guy that's making 84 mil, you could handle it with him. Off nights don't lend to $10 million players being benched in the league, but it did last night. Do you think effort related to it? I don't think you get benched without it being yeah effort uh he didn't he didn't address it uh off night can mean a lot of things including i don't like your effort

i don't think he's ever been known as uh the best or hardest back checker no and i think florida found him to be uh what's the word that you hate to hear your coach say soft well listen uh yeah you can win with a couple of guys who aren't all full of piss and vinegar i mean he's coming off one career year. Look at his numbers overall. Right now? His numbers? Well, just in his career overall. In his career, he has 674 points in 762 years.

But he had a 115 the year that he signed. 85 assists and 30 goals. Which is, we knew he was never going to touch that ever again. That is just a one-off. And right now he has six points in 12 games. Last four years, you'd have him, you know, 15, 20 in scoring amongst all the stars, which is okay, but it's not 10.5 million good. it might be 10 and a half million good just not

times eight no it's never 10 and a half it was never 10 and a half he just found the perfect storm in calgary to hit that like i can only imagine the uh walsh uh his agent well shealshy, Alan Walsh, threw out that number and they said, okay. And he's like, whoa. Right? Okay, we'll take it. Yeah.

Immediately. Immediately. You know, I think there's a better future ahead for Huberto and the Flames. I do. He's not a centerpiece that you build around. No, but you've talked a lot about having distributors and the importance.

Talk about Marner all the time in this show and what he can do for people. If he's playing with a guy like Lindholm who can shoot it in the net 40 times in a year and he gets some confidence going, get things going in the right direction, it's not like he needs to be a liability for them. There's a difference between what he's been,

which is really almost bad, you know. Not almost. Yeah, just getting to a level where you're contributing a little bit, even if it's not $10.5 million worth, being a net positive player. It's hard for wingers to be the highest paid guy. You know how I feel about centermen and the pivot, the all-important pivot guy yeah and yeah no look at the contract's not good but for the flames they just need him to be better than he's been

they may wait a while here because i don't think he'll ever hit no the expectations here well we talked about recalibrating expectations today this This may be what has to happen with him. I don't think it can happen in Canada for some of these guys to have their bar lowered. Yeah, if he's playing at Mullet Arena, it's a different story. Ugh, all day long. Meanwhile, Ryan O'Reilly's watching SportsCenter going, ha, ha, ha, ha.

You know, like. Lighting it up in Nashville. Having a great time on the spotlight. Listening to the music. Talking to his one reporter after every game. Yeah, just personally. Yeah. Yeah.

Playing his little guitar. Yeah. Loving life. Uberdose driving an F-150 going, what have I done? Yeah. Anyway, you know, he's going to find it. The Flames won a couple of hockey games here. You know, sometimes.

The last man in Canada that believes. The last man. Two wins in a row. Moving in the right direction. Love their decor. Yeah. I want them to stink. So they trade all their good defense into the Leafs.

Yeah. You poach the door off. Yeah. All right. We had a couple other things to talk about. Ross Colton. What did you think of the hit? That was rotten.

Thought the hit alone was suspendable. Hughes. It's in such a dangerous spot. Hughes knows he's going to be hit. I didn't like Brad Marchand on Timothy Lilligren a lot more than I didn't like that hit. He makes an effort to get around Hughes' front side a little bit, I thought. It's a dangerous hit.

It's a boarding call. It may even be an ejection of a five. I'm fine with the penalty, but probably not as substantial. The penalty was the cross-check. Did he get five for the cross-check? He got the five for the cross-check. Nothing for the... He got nothing for the hit-check? Yeah, he got five for the cross-check. Nothing for the...

To Meyer. Yeah, nothing for the hit. Sammy and I were watching this before the show today, and the consensus for Leafs fans was just, we have one of those guys who does the borderline stuff. I would love Ross Colton to run someone in the boards and then cross-check them in the face. That would be great.

I would really like that. Yeah, I mean, if he got a suspension for that, it would not ruffle my feathers. I get it. It's a pretty dirty, dangerous play, but it's not. Didn't seem as intentionally bad as some other ones. All right. McAvoy's suspension upheld too, by the way.

Oh, let's put our surprise faces on. I'm really stunned by that. Where was that going? I know. It makes no sense to me. The league says, here's put our surprise faces on. I'm really stunned by that. Where was that going? I know. It makes no sense to me. The league says here's what it is. It still is that, and then you appeal to the league. Anyway, yeah.

You got some business to report on evaluations, Sammy? We're number one. We're number one. Who's we? This is from Sportico. Yeah, they're the most valuable team in the NHL. At 2.65 billion, the Toronto Maple Leafs come in number one to the New York Rangers. Yeah, they pass the Rangers.

That's a great sign for the league that the Rangers aren't number one. Right? New York Rangers. And coming in at dead last is the Coyotes at 675 million. Isn't that generous too? I was just like, how would they be worth that? They don't own the rink. They're renting a college bar.

I think they're renting their jerseys. Have you watched any of them this year? Yeah, they're decent. Yeah, the team itself is fine. But it's embarrassing. I love Cooley. Every time you see him go up the ice, you're like, I'm not changing the channel. Yeah, he's a hockey player.

I should have picked him first overall in Montreal. But yeah, no, this hurt my feelings today looking at them being worth that much money. Because? Because they should be able to spend way more money on their hockey club. The NBA having the ability to do that makes it more frustrating to see how doable it is. So I put out this snarky tweet today about how we're having all these conversations about paying Willie Nylander $10 million and it's crazy that it

hampers their cap situation. And all these other fans of other teams are like, you just want to make it better for the Leafs. I'm like, well, no. All the rich teams could spend more. The Rangers could be even better than they already are. The Canucks, like all the teams that aren't rich can keep their good players like Tampa Bay and get rich.

Yes. It's like, I don't know, you know, this was a popular conversation in a lot of my group chats today. One of my buddies said that they should keep, that guys that don't get drafted, that get drafted to your team should not account against your cap. So like if you drafted and develop a guy, if he's drafted by your team, you should get a break on him. I guess it's Bergreis.

Shout out my boy, Fiorano, who didn't come up with that, but he talked about it today. I also like the franchise tag. One guy, his cap doesn't count. They don't care about anything other than... They don't care. Don't care. Yeah, it makes me sad. And by the way, the reason... They're just happy they know what

their costs are, and it's not more than 50%. And that's part of the reason the franchises have such high valuations is because of the salary cap if you look at owning one you know what your costs are right there's value to an owner and knowing that they can't spend more than this part of the valuation the owners the last 20 years are watching salaries the same salaries as players in oh yonder was Oh, Yonder was making $11 million 20 years ago. 2000. Dennis Schroeder makes more for his hit on the Raptors show

than Austin Matthews does every year. I know. Wasn't it Precious who was like a sixth man? Why do you think Austin Matthews is now pushing that prime drink? Oh. Yeah, it just. That's a tough add. Like, as a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs,

and I know everybody listens, like, the Leafs, the Rangers, all these teams that are super rich to have, they should be Real Madrid. They should be Barcelona. They should... It's like, oh, yeah, they make more. They're more popular.

They're the classic teams. Those teams get to be better. That's the way it goes. No, the worst is, like, you know, there's still, you know, somewhat team revenue sharing. So, like, there's the rich give to, like, Arizona. Oh, yeah, you're cutting them a big check.

You're cutting them checks here under this system. And if you offer the luxury tax to all the rich teams and you go over the cap by a certain amount and you have to pay that like it is in the NBA, then you just give that over the cap money to the rich teams, and you go over the cap by a certain amount, and you have to pay that like it is in the NBA, then you just give that over the cap money to the other teams. God, you have it all figured out. I know.

Give me on the phone with Gary. A producer on this show. I know. Call Gary. Your talents are being wasted. MLSC being valued at $8 billion with the purchase. What did Larry Tannenbaum... He sold 5% of MLSC, which is 208 billion with the purchase. What did Larry Tannenbaum... He sold 5% of MLSC, which is 20% of Kilmer Holdings

or Kilmer whatever. So $400 million. Easy five, half a billion. Yeah. Not bad. It's a good day at the office and then, yeah. I think he'll put that back into sports one way or another. After taxes, it's no good.

So $10 after tax or something? What are you going to do with 250 million tax-free? Me? Or after-tax dollars? You still come here to work with us. I was going to say me. I will never see you either again. I'll be living in a villa in Spain, playing golf at Valderrama, baby. Hanging jerseys up at the

last second of your podcast that you'll still be hosting. It's going to be a Chelsea podcast. All right. Three games on tap, guys. Give me some scores here ottawa and toronto just high eight seven no stop it it's gonna be do you think you think there's a ton of goals six five toronto oh wow again yeah they can't they can't keep the puck out they both got a ton of firepower. No goalies. The total over six and a half goals is a big favorite. So they think it's going to be. Florida, Washington.

Caps win and Ovechkin scores first. Two. Two for Ovi. No. This is a good one here tonight, guys. Just the three quiet games, but LA and Vegas. Yeah. I'll give Vegas a 2-1.

Heaviness. Overtime win. That's my prediction Alright that's it for us Once again our thanks to PJ Stock This hour And Brent Wallace also in the first hour Just three on tap

Tonight but I know you'll enjoy them all And we're going to be right back here tomorrow To discuss those games. Stay safe everybody. Have a great night.