Real Kyper & Bourne - The Winnipeg Jets' Need for Speed

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Sportsnet's Sean Reynolds (4:51) to chat about some of the reasons why the Winnipeg Jets' offence has struggled outside of their top line, where he sees areas the team can improve, the Jets not being able to match the speed of other NHL teams, the decrease in minutes for Jonathan Toews, the difficulties of building around the team while committing to long-term deals with their core players, and why the Jets could be on the verge of losing out on a playoff spot in their games rounding out December. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee look at the 'next moves' from Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, the new owners of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and for Peter DeBoer.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, we go national. You know how we know that? Sammy just hung up the jersey. Just what a jersey that is, too. I got a lot of thoughts on it. What is it? That's our sports net. That was from the Lindross.

Easter Seals event. We're going to design one for next year. Oh, we don't. Listen, we don't have a jersey for everything. We don't have a Jets jersey. We don't have Habs. We don't have. What else don't we have?

Chevy, Mr. Chitman. Somebody send us on. We need a sweater for goodness sake. If you're listening to Montreal, send us a jersey. I won't hang it up. I mean, they're sold out, but send it. No, no, no. Force, listen to Montreal, Canadians.

Forced Sammy to hang up your jersey. They don't listen. I will make sure of it. Wherever you're watching, and listening. It's a national hour. Real Kipper and Bourne show. SportsNet.

Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. Sportsnet 960 in Calgary and always streaming on Sportsnet. Plus, also available, Spotify, Apple, podcast, and YouTube. This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Sean Reynolds. We haven't had him on in a while. But it almost feels like yesterday that we did have him on. and we were just drooling over the Winnipeg Jets.

Really? Really? As a top team? Yeah. I said that... Oh, I thought you meant like, oh, I got you. Now I felt like just yesterday. And yes.

Yes. Like last year. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Not last week. Okay. Not last month.

No. But like last year, we were talking about this is like, this is a team that looks like it's ready to really challenge for the Stanley Cop. Listen, going into this year, you looked at their roster and said, how different is it really? Like, yes, Eeler's gone, but brought in taves, like, you know, not that they're equitable, but the team's pretty much the same. Perfetti should take a step.

The D-Core's rock-solid prime age. They should be really good. They haven't been really good. And so I look forward to chatting with Sean about what's up. They're now 13 points back of the Minnesota wild. For third. For third. In the central division.

The central is wild, though. Is that right? 13? Did I get that right? Yeah, I did. Okay, good. That's good math. Well, math.

Thank you. Thank you. You're already playing for a wildcard spot. Yep. It's, they got, they got some catching up to do here. But if you look at who's, if you look at who's occupying the spots ahead of them,

like it's San Jose who's in the second playoff spot. I think they make playoffs. Who, San Jose? No, Winnipeg. Oh, Winnipeg? Yeah, I know. But, you know, I think they're built in a way for playoffs that it's like, with Connor Hellebuck,

are they that, they got no chance against those, all three of those central teams like they're underdogs for sure but they always got a chance I don't know man you got them they're so good they're off to pretty good starts it's really good people get hurt

yep you're right you're allowed to add players too by the way the one thing you know in our leaf edition hour that we've really not kind of talked about is that the Leafs are one of the oldest teams in the league and how much maybe that

factored in and I haven't gone through Winnipeg maybe Sean Reynolds can help us here when he joins us in a few minutes. But did Winnipeg get old quickly? I mean, it's possible. Adam Lowry down the middle, Shifley, Valardi. Going back to Jonathan Taves. Taves.

Who's... Like, their decor's so good. Morrissey, DeMello, Sandberg, Pionk. I guess Luke Shen's old. That's about all I got for you in the back end. So they just shouldn't be this bad. They were hurt a lot in the early going. I do expect better out of them.

There really is a ton of parents. between the Jets and Leaves. Yes. In terms of losing a high-powered offense, offensive player and Marner and the Eilers. Expectations. You know, have it coming off of a,

I guess, quote-unquote, good. They both won their division. Yeah. And they both on the division. They both won a round of the playoffs. I guess you should expect more if you're both those teams. But there really are a ton of parallels between the team.

Yeah. Ten games tonight, boys. Lots of Canadian teams in action. Sorry, I was going to say, Edmonton in Boston. Edmonton's about to win 100 games in a row Yeah, oilers are looking good

They're, you know, finally healthy, got other pieces Dea had Hyman on his team Canada yesterday Last night in the broadcast I love that, I love it, I love it Yeah, he had who, sorry? Zach Hyman in his group of 14, which is... Yeah, that's coming up quickly here. We'll talk to Sean Reynolds as well on Mark Schifley

Let's welcome him in. Sean Reynolds, ready to go. Sports Net reporter in Winnipeg and Hockey Night in Canada. Sean, how are you, my friend? Doing great. How are you guys? We're going to go Winnipeg Jets, big picture. Yeah, we'll save the Hockey Canada and Mark Schifley talk. But, you know, it wasn't that far off last season.

We were talking about Winnipeg really pushing here and oh so close to maybe having what it takes to bring this thing home. And how far off are we today on that, Sean? Oh, miles, miles. Wow. And it's interesting because, you know, I've listened to some of the analysis on the Wednesday night game and listening to Borno and a lot of times what will happen is people will come in and they'll see the jets and they'll think, okay, they're right on the verge of turning things around. And there really has not been an indication.

of that right from the beginning of the year. And you can go and you can say at the beginning of the year, they started nine and three. But at that time, I've always said this. The Winnipeg Jets are always consistently a hot starting team. They start in third gear while the rest of the league is trying to figure out first gear. And I think we saw a little bit of that. But even at that time, what we didn't see from the Winnipeg Jets is what we saw from them last year,

this iron-clad kind of bulletproof system that was really their strength and created a lot of goals. by forcing other teams to make mistakes and just kind of cramming the game down the opposition's throat. And we haven't seen that this year. And we haven't, we've seen maybe patches of it. Borno did the game on Wednesday. Saw a little bit of it at the end of the first period and at the beginning of the second period. And then if you watch the rest of that game, for the most part, the St. Louis Blues speed is carrying play. You guys were talking a little bit about a guy like Eelers going, what makes Eelers great?

What makes them a great player? it's obvious, it's his speed. And I've been talking with people about this and what we've seen is, you know, there's other guys that left the Winnipeg Jeth that were a little bit unheralded. Mason Appleton left. And, you know, he missed an empty net

in that last game of the year of the playoffs last year against Dallas. And fans were so furious, they basically couldn't wait to show him the door. But they lost Brandon Tannav. And then they lost a guy who doesn't sound, you know, not a lot of people outside of this market. We'll know Rasmus Koppari,

but he was one of the fastest skaters in the league last year. guys depth guys like axel yonson fealbi who more people aren't going to know but what these guys all had in common is they were all burners and so there's five burners that got taken out of the winnipeg jets lineup and they basically got replaced with guys like Pearson and tase and older players who while you know they've been around the block they know how to play systems those guys are nowhere near as fast as the guys that they lost and the jets system last year was predicated on speed. It was getting it on the puck early, forcing decisions out of the opposition, capitalizing on those mistakes and getting your defense involved and pinching down because

you had the opposition on their heels. The Jets rarely, rarely have their opposition on their heels and they just don't look like they've got the speed to do it. And the thing about all those guys I talked about, Nikolai Eilers, fastest skater on their second line last year, Mason Appleton, fastest skater on their third line last year, Kapari, 10. or Axley-Onton-Fiolby, their fastest player on their fourth liner. They've lost all their fastest elements off of three lines. Those lines are struggling? The only line that's going, and man, are they going,

is that top line with Mark Shifley, but they didn't lose anybody. It's funny, like, in, it's almost like a pitcher. I always thought that lines worked really well that had one burner, like not three guys, but one where it's kind of like, you know, you don't, you can't back off because the other guys aren't going with them. There's that difference in speed on the lines. And as a defense, it's tough to get your gaps right when you have that. So that was my main takeaway watching the Jets last night.

I thought they looked slow. They don't move the puck particularly well. And I believe the stat was that Shifley, Valardi and Connor have 49% of their offense or so, you know, among their lines or something absolutely baffling. So where is it going to come from if there is a turnaround? Like I know Perfetti, they're waiting for him to find a stride. Is there anywhere else they can find it? Boy, if I had the answer to that question, I think I wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be fired by the Jets

because they've been trying to figure it out. I mean, they've been balancing the lines all over the place, trying guys up and down the lineup. They've tried Jonathan Tays with everybody in an effort to try and get him going. Gus Nyquist, the same thing. Cole Perfetti does not look like the same player without Nikolai Elers, to who, to your point,

I mean, the gaps that he used to, create, you know, defense like they do with a guy like Connor McDavid will back up and give them, you know, an eight foot birth or more because you don't want him just blowing right by you. And then guys like Cole Profetti were just so good at swimming in the wake and behind that. So, I mean, I've talked with people who are very aware of the system that the Winnipeg Jets play. I'm told, and Nick will know this from his playing days, you don't have to necessarily be fast of foot to play faster, right? To make decisions faster, to move to puck faster,

all those different kind of things. And I've been told, you know, the idea for the Winnipeg Jets was they were going to bring in these established guys that were going to, you know, established guys have been around the block. They know how to pick up new systems and play them. So I think there's an understanding or a belief, at least, in the Winnipeg Jets organization,

that they can play faster than what they've been playing if they kind of like get to it. And again, you saw. that. If you watch the Winnipeg Jets on Monday night, they had a nine-minute block against the Ottawa Senators where they absolutely owned them in the back half of the second period, but the rest of the game belonged to the Ottawa Senators. So what I'm seeing is a team that even when they do put it together, they can't sustain it for near long enough to pull off victories against teams that just eventually skate them out of the ring. And when things

aren't going well, you get what you saw. I don't know if you guys remember this or the your audience, but a couple Mondays back, the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets played, and it was said in the broadcast, like, the Winnipeg Jets cannot keep up with the Buffalo Sabres. And it was absolutely right. What you saw last night, Borno, was really, really common. The Winnipeg Jets usually are the slower of the two teams. And on a league that just seemed overnight, and it's probably guys like Celebrini and Bedard, to get younger and faster this year, it's really, really, really.

really exposing a slower Winnipeg Jets team. You're watching and listening is Sean Reynolds, SportsNet Reporter in Winnipeg, covering Huckin'N, Canada, SportsNet, of course, Net Kiprio, Sammy McKee, and Borno. Love that. Love that. Jonathan Taves.

When I first heard that he was going to go to Winnipeg, I honestly thought of a guy like Craig McTavish when we won the Stanley Cup in 94 where he can come in provide tremendous leadership and and settle things down every once in a while with

everything but you know you kind of knew where he'd fit in I when I saw Jonathan Taves go there and then I start seeing the minutes of 19, 20 I just thought wow after being off so long to step in on a team a contending team in the Western Conference and just try to pick that up right away I was concerned about that. So we are now seeing him drop significantly, including his minutes, correct?

Is this the feel of Jonathan Taves, the rest of the way here for the Winnipeg Jets? Can he get back up to a top six and start playing 18, 19 minutes again? Yeah, I don't think anyone knows the answer to that question, including Jonathan Taze. But I can go by what we've seen so far. And so far, everything that we've seen tells us. that the answer is no. Like he started out, he had a fairly hot start and, well, not a hot start, but he got going. I think he had nine points in his first, I don't know, 15 games or something like that.

And then the well has just gone absolutely dry. And what I've seen from Jonathan Taze is a player that you see his smarts when he gets the puck, you see him in the face off, he's still an absolute beast when it comes to the face off. And when, you know, when it comes to decision making, you can see what made. him a great player. But again, this is just a player that I find quite often is behind the play, often. And I started noticing it at the beginning of the year. You weren't used to seeing it from the Winnipeg Jets getting socked into their own zone and not being able to get out of their own zone. What I started noticing more often was when it happened, it always struck me as

odd. And then I started noticing, well, when it happened, Jonathan Taze was on the ice. And the way I would kind of describe it as, you know, when you're a young player and you don't make the best decisions, and that's the life of young NHLers, they've got to learn on the fly. What happens is when they make those mistakes and they get behind the play, they're young and they're fast, and they can get that surge to kind of get back into the play, get in front of the wave, and then start riding the wave again. I would describe Jonathan Taves as a surfer who's getting passed by again and again by the wave and swimming like crazy trying to catch that wave and he just can't seem to get in front of it.

And I don't know about you, Nick, like your expectations of what you were seeing from him. I talked to a couple former players and I asked about the kind of leadership aspect of it of what he can do in the room. And I had a couple players caution me and say, listen, it's all fine to suggest, you know, you're going to get this legendary guy and they're great in the room and they know how to win and all those kind of things. But what usually has to happen is those players need to produce. No one wants to be taking lessons from the guy who is not scoring, not getting anything done

has got a big minus besides his name in the stat sheet and really isn't helping the team win, right? So I don't know how that works. I don't know how the Winnipeg Jets room works. That's what's been told to me by former players who have played. So I wonder at this stage if Jonathan Taze is maybe not just involved so much in just his own things. trying to get it to go. I don't know what the value is for the rest of the team

and the wise lessons that he could be imparting on them because one of the things I was thinking about the other day is this is Jonathan Taze here and everyone's thinking Jonathan Taze is going to come here and get this team back to the Blackhawks glory days

but we forget or it seemed like we forgot that the last years of Jonathan Taves with the Blackhawks were frustration just like this. So what we're seeing right now with Justin sorry, with with J.T. in the Jets lineup is kind of a continuation of where he left off with a struggling Blackhawks organization.

On the, yeah, I felt like that watching that last night, too. The posit is for the Jets. And I'm looking for some things last night that I like, I don't know that Connor Hellibucks ever looked better than he looked like. Last night, it's so crazy how deep he can play in his net. And then he has a sense for when to come out and challenge. He just seemed unfazed by that game last night. I made the comment at one point, not getting scored on tonight.

He ended up giving up one, but I mean, he's as good as he's ever been. Yeah, I was listening in on your analysis. You nailed it. Like, this is a guy who seems to weld himself to the goal line and then just make that goal line stand. Like, no goalie I've ever seen watching. Like, if there's a goal mouth scramble, you're not jamming the puck in on Connor Hellebuck. He's just so good deep in his net, like you said, because he's so big. But this is one of those things.

Again, you know, you're listening to analysis from the outside of the market. And when the Jets lost Connor Hullabuck, a lot of people were saying, well, they're in trouble right now. Because, of course, they've lost their heart trophy guy. But the one thing I kept cautioning people was this slide that we saw from the Jets. They've been the worst team in the NHL since November 1st. That slide started well before Connor Hullabuck left. And there were a couple games, a couple that Comrie, I thought, stole points for the winner. pick jets. So it's actually, he made the jets look better than they were when Connor

Hellebeck was out, stole some points. And then I think, you know, a guy's not a starter. That load, you know, falls on his shoulders and he kind of started falling behind and the numbers got a little bit ugly. And everyone thought, you know, Connor Hellebuck was going to come back and he was going to write the ship. And what you're seeing is that there's a continuation of the team not doing a lot in front of him. And so Conner Hellebuk comes back and they win their first one. They lose the next one in overtime. They've lost. one now against the blues that was tough you know it's going to be they're in really tough against colorado so there's a very real chance that the winnipeg jets are going to start out

with connor helibuck back when he's not taking time to get back like you said borno he's he's there he's right there and you're you're staring down starting one two and one with him back so he's he's not a magic solution is he their best player yes is he the best goaltender in the world yes it still hasn't been enough for the Winnipeg Jets the way they've played this year. So Hella Buck last night may have been the only one on the jet side that probably impressed his Olympic country in the U.S. Mark Schifley, who his numbers are still great, but plays against the St. Louis Blues last night

against the general manager who's picking for Team Canada here. Did Mark Schifley miss an opportunity to impress Doug Armstrong? last night? Yes, and here's another thing. It is Robert Thomas going head to head against Mark Shifley was the better center last night. And I'm not saying that Robert Thomas is in the conversation for Team Canada. I don't think he is.

But this was a continuation of the first round series last year where Robert Thomas was the better of the two players in that series as well. And so I think it's a tricky one. So to your point, Nick, it's a missed opportunity because if there was that lingering feeling that you got out done by Robert Thomas in the playoffs last year, you know, let's go right the ship here in this moment with, you know, in the 11th hour to kind of maybe erase some of that or create some recency bias or something like that. But that didn't happen.

So, I mean, I think that's probably a little bit of a strike against Mark Schifley. In his corner, though, is the fact that he's like 6-2, 6-3, a big strong guy. He works the puck really great on the boards. His defensive game has been a lot better. He's one of the best small area passers in the game, in my estimation, which could help you out a lot in a tournament like that. There's one thing, though, that nags at me when it comes to Mark Schaifley. We were going to do a story in the show last night.

We never got around to it. But there's no two players, no two fords who played on the ice together more since 2017, since Kyle Conner came into the league, then Mark Schifley and Kyle Conner. The only other guys who are close are Kutjurav in point, right? And they're still a distance behind those guys. And it's one of the conversations we've been having lately. If you're Tom Wilson and Perloup de Bois is out of the lineup and you're moving and Dustin Sortive, who is the fourth line winger before that jumps up,

and you just keep going and you play with this guy and this guy and you play all over your lineup. And, you know, one thing that we know makes Sidney Crosby special is he's played with a thousand different wingers over his career and he's got it done over and over again. If you remember what happened to Kyle Conner at Four Nations last year, the Americans weren't overly happy with his play to the point that they sat him in the gold medal game. And I wonder, the idea of the amazing chemistry that you see between Mark Shifley and Kyle Connor, it has been so omnipresent. It's been there all the time that it may be

hard for you to take a look and understand truly what Mark Shifley is without Kyle Conner. And we saw that it didn't work out well for Kyle Connor last time. And I think the tricky part for Mark Schifley is the guys that he's going up against, the celebrinis of the world, like all the guys who were not on the Four Nations roster, who are trying to crack it. First, you've got to beat guys off that roster who were on it. Now you've got to get ahead of other guys. And that's one question that most of the guys he's going up against don't have to answer.

Those guys can say you put me with this guy, this guy, this guy, this guy I always produce. Mark Schifley and Kyle Connor have been in a motorcycle and a sidecar driving down the highway for years. And it's hard to understand what one is without the other. That is a really interesting observation. Yeah, they've been tied to the hip for sure. So looking at the moves that have happened in the division, my God, like, you know, even before the Quinn Hughes thing, Dallas just been loaded up, grabbed Ranton in Colorado, obviously got health. and Nchushkin and Landisg so tough, tough sledding.

What is, is there a world where the jets say, you know, we're not rebuilding, obviously, I'm not suggesting that for a second. So do we add? Like, are they going to try to get in this arms race and try to get into the mix of those teams? Okay. This is fascinating because one thing that was so interesting about that game last night is you go and you talk to Jim Montgomery. And the conversations around the blues are, are we trading?

guys we're not happy at all with how the season is going and these guys aren't doing enough and we need to reevaluate this guy and that guy like it's doomsday in st louis and they won last night and they've got more points than the winnipeg jets do where in winnipeg this is a team that talks about you know like if we're going to win the cup this year we got to kind of get things going it's like this power of positive thinking thing going on with the winnipeg jets where they don't realize their surrounding it's it's the dog in the burning building saying everything's fine, right? And it kind of has to be that way if you're the Winnipeg Jets, because they have doubled down, tripled down, quadrupled down on a core that stretches back

to 2011, starting with dropping Mark Shafley and Adam Lowry. They've re-uped both those players into, you know, long term. So you're talking about, you know, like a 20-year commitment that they've basically made to the major parts of their core and they're just getting started. Kyle Conner's new deal starts next year. Adam Lowry's new deal starts next year. Hellebuck and Shifley are just starting out or have just started out their new deal. So the Jets have pushed all their chips in on this core. So they kind of have no choice but to stick with this and say, well, it was working last year.

Something is off in the mix. Let's turn around and fix this mix. There's a problem with that. It's Winnipeg. So people usually don't come here willingly. they're not running. Hey, I was just shoveling the driveway before I came in here guys. I know the reasons people don't want

to come to Winnipeg. So you've got issues there and typically the way the Winnipeg Jets get players is through trades and because they've been adding over the last couple of years, they're not resource rich so they don't have the kind of deals to put together that we just saw, say, the Minnesota

Wild put together to go get Quinn Hughes. Typically what the Winnipeg Jets do is they identify players on other teams that aren't working out. They say we'll get that hidden value out of them and they take players off other team's hands that's always a risk one and then the other part of that is it typically takes time so over the years they added guys like needer writer and nemesnikov and shen and slowly you build that back together if i'm corrected my analysis which i've run by a lot of people who know the system

and that they lost a whole bunch of speed and they need to get that back that's like three four, five moves you need to make to get back to what you were last year. And that can take one, two, three years. So they're not close, but they're not in a position to be a team saying, hey, this doesn't work. Hey, who wants Connor Hellenbeck? Who wants Mark Shite? That will not happen.

So they're a team that's really kind of stuck in a strange limbo. It is a hard, hard Rubik's cube that has fallen in the lap of Kevin Shevel Day off. So, Sean, let's get a little reality check here for Winnipeg Jet fans. they've just did no we're going no no no no we're going one step further here okay they've won three out of their last 14 if i'm not mistaken okay and they've got coming up they've got coming up Colorado Utah Minnesota Edmonton and to round out new year's Eve Detroit yes they cannot make the playoffs in the next five games, but can

they lose a playoff spot in the next five games? Oh, for sure. And Nick, you're touching on something. That's the microcosm of this entire thing. The Winnipeg Jets schedule, it's another story we were going to do last night. If you go to degree of difficulty for schedule, for

remaining schedule, last night going into that game, it's probably gone up, but they had the fifth most difficult remaining schedule in the entire NHL. They this was their time to make, hey, October, November, early December. This is where the Winnipeg Jets were supposed to bank their points and kind of put yourself in that position to make the playoffs

and then just keep from falling out of it as things got more difficult. They've put themselves out of the race. They've allowed a whole bunch of teams to pass them. So now it's not just that thing where you just need to go on a heater. You need to go on a heater and then you need one, two, three, four teams to kind of fall flat on their face, right? So you're right, like coming up here and Utah is in there.

And the one thing about Utah, they're an up and down team, but Andre Torney seems to really, really know how to play the Winnipeg Jets. So Utah always, always gives the Jets a hard time. So you're right, this is tough. They are playing, it's a murderer's row around Christmas time where it's hard to get your focus

for a team that is trying, to find themselves and can't seem to do so. Like, they would need to snap, too, to just turn around and go on a little bit of a run here. The degree of difficulty is off the charts. They don't look anywhere near close to solving their issues. You're right. Like, by the time New Year's comes rolling around, they may be looking at this and saying, geez, if we are going to make the playoffs and do something,

we're going to have to be the 2026 version of the 2019 St. Louis Blues, who were dead last in the NHL. There's a few teams hoping that. There you go. Every year. Jets talk. Sean. Hold on.

I just wanted to say one thing before I go. I came on here last year and the year before and we talked Jets. And I remember like pumping them up because of how they were playing. Yeah. You guys looked like you just, you know, we're ready to run through a wall over the Winnipeg Jet. I'm a reality guy. I'm not here to sell. like you sees it.

Yes. Sorry, you're right. The Jets fans out there are probably, you know, like feel like I just kicked their dog. We make it authentic, pal. It's good stuff. We wouldn't have it any other way, my friend. Hey, great stuff, man.

Really appreciate it as always, Sean. Yeah, thanks for having you. Merry Christmas. Do you happy holidays to everybody. Yes. You as well. We'll talk to you soon. Sean Reynolds, Sportsnet.

Hockey Night in Canada. Does it all for us out in Winnipeg. Speed. What an interesting concept. Yeah, they're slow. Grim. They're slow. Leif's just slow, too. Yeah, you could have...

If you interchanged parts of what... Find a place in Microsoft Word. That very, very leased that conversation. And Eilers. Like... Zoom. Zoom. Zoom, Zoom, Zoom. But he hasn't been great.

No, I know that. But even when you're not producing... I think he's been better reason. You can always still look fast. Yeah. And they control the play. It's like the... the hurricanes are a handful.

They're just a handful. He's got, I mean, he's got eight goals in 33 games. He's up to 23 points. So he's gotten better. He's like a 60 point guy at best. Fast. And he plays like 16 minutes and he does it quickly. Yeah.

Game time. Game time. It's game time. Instead of by Bet 365. Visit the app for latest odds and see why it's ever ordinary at Bet 365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. 10 games on the ice tonight, boys. Some good ones, some great, I know you'll love the skipper, but a couple great jersey matchups tonight, including Edmonton in Boston taking on the Bruins and Chicago in Montreal taking on the haves. Did you see the article that the NHL is encouraging teams to look for games where they can go color on color this year?

I do not see that. I love that, and I at least play the Detroit Red Wings and the second half of back to back after the Christmas break. I bet you it's color on color. Try it. Give me blue and red in that one. That's a classic. That looked good. Look at Kipper. He's so hard. No, I remember like looking at pictures in the 50s

and the 60s when they did that. It's awesome. It's really cool. It's great. So they should do that. Anyways, speaking of the Oilers. Should also turn on 10 lights in the arena like they used to in those old photos and have everyone Why was every picture? The coolest thing ever. There's always shadows on the ice. Yeah, it really was crazy.

Going into the corner was literally like dark. Don't go in the corner. It's in there? Is anybody there? Is anybody watching this game? Not only have to go into the corner with Gordy Howe, but it's also dark. Yeah. The Edmonton Oilers in Boston to take on the Bruins tonight.

Oilers are minus 135 in that game. Started to pick up some steam. Bruins plus 115 on the other side of the money line. I do if you like the Oilers are going to go on a rip here. So give me the Oilers tonight as a minus 135 dog and it would help the Leafs in the Atlantic Division. Leafs are in Washington tonight. We were talking about it a little bit in an

leaf sour but carberry said that maybe he's going to be some ill guys tonight for the caps maybe going to be missing a couple guys some game time division uh leaves plus 130 in that game yeah so a road dog maybe a chance that with a little value on the leafies tonight little value yeah minus 155 for the caps i'm uh no i'm just still hearing that they should be able to dress 12 and 6 yeah i'm just saying that they might not be feeling great so it's a chance with a little bit of value play on like a barf bag hopefully a couple of suit ofeds and a night Cool. Hopefully a couple of guys got barf bags. Like Nick Eilers out there.

And speaking of great jersey matchups to finish off the conversation, Rangers in St. Louis to take on the Blues, minus 140 for the Rangers. St. Louis Blues plus 120 on the money line. Now is game time presented by Bet365, visit the athlete of and see why it's ever ordinary a bet 365.

It must be a team plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Please. All right. We're going to take a quick break when we return. A couple of things we want to get into around the National Hockey League, including this bizarre story with the Seattle Cracken restricting a post-game press conference with their head coach

Lane Lambert. State media only. And also a brand new segment that I can't. Oh my God. You're not going to want to miss this. I've done no prep for it. Well, you don't have. Well, that's the whole point. Right. It's called next move. A brand new segment. It took Sammy four and a half years. first piece of original content. It's not true. With a new segment for our program.

I got true or false. I got Leafs line. I got the mail bag. I got this. Boys. You're not going to want to miss this, folks. I'm giving Fab's leaf slime. Oh, that's, fuck.

That's garbage. After these words. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning. We got you covered on all things, Leafs, Rafters, and Blue Jays every weekday morning, 6 to 9. It's the fan morning show.

Sportsnet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcast. A reminder, this hour of real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippreels, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. So Tuesday night, Seattle Cracken play Colorado. They lose like everybody else so far this season. That doesn't seem to be that issue forever. Head coach of Seattle, Lane Lambert, has a press conference. in which

an official from the Seattle Cracken like the guy team PR guy No the team writer writer for their website for their website Bob Condor I think Bob Condor is the guy saying yeah

It would be like if Ryan Leslie asked the only questions is the only one that was permitted to ask Lane Lambert questions after the game no one else was allowed to ask any questions so how they they were it was presented to the others as they had to give their questions to bob so he would ask their questions at the press and then he just asked well why wouldn't i just stay at home and text you if i were bob i'd be like no but so i mean they're they're they're trying to do damage control why it's hard to do it's very stupid and

this is an awful story but like coach is probably pissed off told the PR guy hey I'm not taking no no no no no I don't think it was a coach I believe that Lane Lambert did not know that that was happening okay well then I have no explanation for it did you see that they made an apology for this I did yes

I did yeah and they're they're owning it yeah the one thing that you know they can say that they can own it and you know we're rectifying and it won't happen again but you still need more. You need to know who

whose decision was that and who authorized that. Who thought that was a good idea? In today's world where we don't know what's real and what's not real on the internet and fake news is just a common thing now, we need more of an explanation out of you, Seattle, crackin, on who authorized this ridiculous,

ridiculous decision and to me that is a fireable offense. Wow, you really hate this, eh? Oh, my God. Are you nuts? Are you crazy to go in and tell members of the media who are supposed to be your, the vehicle to the fans that you're not allowed to ask a question? Weird. It is an entertainment product, right? Like the fans are what makes the whole thing tick.

So I think it's great. I know the PHWA, the professional hockey writers in the past have been. When this sort of stuff happens, they tend to rally around each other and be like, we can't start this. I was pretty loud about it in the bubble. Remember they were like, we can't have two reporters in here in the bubble or whatever it was. It was like, wait a second. Yeah.

Didn't I like it at all? No. No. I mean, like the core of what professional sports is is having them play the sport and then having the people who represent the fans be able to sit there and be like, what happened in the sport? And they're like, well, here's what happened in the sport.

And then they write it on their sheet of paper and they show the fans what they thought. At the core of it, when you start to control that, it becomes more of a different thing. That is not a professional outfit. That is a clown show. But they did the right thing by walking it back. Not going to happen again.

But why do they do it in the first? I'll tell you why. I'm going to read their last run. of games here. Loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, loss. That's the last 10 games. That makes it even worse. Because it's just a, that's when it becomes fake now.

You're trying to fake your way through something. But I don't know. It's just a weird one. By the way. Good one. Panthers. Ah, the Panthers are panthering. They're so panthering.

And they're going to get Chuck back in like nine seconds. I think you see, weeks. Do you see the video? they're back to being greasy, like, you know, they're doing, throwing elbows and knees last night, Greer's punching Kempay and the head was on the ice. They're just back. They're back.

Leaves could use Greer, huh? Like Greer. Like any of the... I mean, but here's the thing about the Panthers. And this is not going to be me crying, okay? I promise. Kippers look at me like I'm about... No, no, I'm good. You put A.J. Greer, you take him out of Panther Red, and you put him in Leaf Blue, he's not the same guy.

You're right. It's just not the same thing. It is. that sort of... Mark, Donk, and Buzz Flibert playing with Crosby and Malkin. Just these random guys show up and they're awesome. In that culture, in the Panthers culture,

they become grease bags. It just doesn't work like that. And they got Bavrovsky. Yeah, that helps. You know, Barbowski told somebody about four weeks ago. If he dies, he dies? No.

No. Close. It's too early to be good. Come on. Yeah. That's so good. That's probably the most horrified. saying sentence you said to me on this because it's so true it's like

why would they care they've played their biggest stakes games by the way they're 1813 and two not being good but they I mean what are they won six or the last seven yeah but I'm saying 1813 and two no good chuck no bark off oh yeah oh I knew what you mean like this is just this is the B effort

like imagine you're the Detroit Red Wings right now who are first in the Atlantic and you win the Atlantic and they're like hello Here you go. Here's your bark-off. The first ever 8V-1 Waste of 8 days series. Sweep.

First ever sweep in the first round in the 8th first one. All right, boys. Are you excited for my segment? Yes. Super excited. I know you can. So.

It's called next move. Okay. And that means that I will ask you about a certain individual and what their next move is going to be. Get it? Yes. It's a very simple concept,

which is all good segments are. So I will start with the first one. What is your next move if you're Bill Garan? Give it Quinn Hughes, like whatever the Kewan and Dine version in Minneapolis is to make sure you keep that hockey player a massage. I don't think, you know, whatever a house. I saw a certain account on Twitter that he may be already heading into that direction.

Okay, good. Okay, good. getting comfortable in town he's getting comfortable good no his next move now is to look for a centerman okay keep going keep going in you're saying oh listen uh your pot committed you might as well push him in erics enck i like a lot i do thank you more underrated guys and also then it sinks like a stone so you gave up rossi who's a good like hartman second line centerman but even with Quinn Hughes, you ain't beaten Colorado and Dallas

with that center position. Yeah, no, you're right. That is the next step that you're off kid is 21. You know, he's not going to be the answer as your 2C for sure. Is it, is there any names out there that you would think that they'd be going hard? Is it NAS?

I would think that they'd be in an, I don't know if they have the assets anymore. they just drained it. Like Vancouver, Vancouver took a lot off a garen. Yeah, there's a piece of skin coming back. And I don't know whether he has the assets to go in on a cadre, but Dallas does.

Yeah. That division is just brutal. Malkin? Place center. I'd be shocked if Malkin leaves. You need someone that's a little pace, you know, watching these teams talking. about slow how do you keep up Colorado is the fastest team in the history

they're just bombing around natius and mckenon are like whenever I watch them I'm like this is a different sport than the least like sled dogs that uh okay next one what's your next move if you're the Hoffman group who just bought the penguins my next make sure my check doesn't bounce I think it's it's be a little less sentimental with these superstars like I think he whether it be Malkin or whatever give you know you're going to build the next phase of this thing here although you don't want to burn bridges with Crosby you have to be careful there but like Latang Carlson Malkin get ready for a bumpy ride you guys are going to lose some money in the next few years and you better be prepared financially because it's it's going to be hard

attendance they'll drop there well it's a fickle fam they almost left before Listen, it's going to be a bumpy ride here. I'll still try your seat belts. It's, there's a lot of work to do and you need a real strong, long-term plan when Sid's gone, Malkin's gone, Lantang's still got a few years. It's going to be a tricky one too. And yeah, Sammy, they're going to have to, you're going to have to eat some tough decisions here in the next little while and build this thing back up.

It would have been nice for Kyle when he got there. Those superstars were like, we're ready to move on. Trade us to playoff teams. I want a chance to win. But they're all just like, we're fine, kind of losing. We'll just be here. We like it and we think we're good still. Yeah.

I mean, that's a hard, imagine that's a hard thing. They've missed play out three straight years now, these guys. I can't believe Sid is continuing to be like, it's fine. Everything changes after the Olympics. For Sid. For a lot of things. A lot of teams. So on the other day and we were talking about.

He dropped the Sidney Crosby as a potential center for the wild. Shattuck St. Mary's, right? Buddy. Isn't that? A lot. A lot's going to change. A lot's going to change in terms of Shattuck St. Mary's in Minnesota.

Yes. Okay. Sounds right. That's where he went to school. Sounds right. Okay. Where everything stands and how you feel and how much energy he's going to have after, how much of an appetite would he have to revisit moving? That, that's, all come into play he's got to do it um go to a team i'm just quickly googling where

shattickson mark andre flurrie's it's in it's in miss what's okay good uh what's your next move or maybe first move what's your next move if you're yarmo kekalinen i think you need to make a coaching decision okay you need to tell lindy it's either not happening or tell everyone lindy's going to be my guy because i think if you as a player when you're like you feel like you have a substitute teacher until they tell you something. And you got Yarmu up there going, we can make playoffs this year. And it's like, well, you can't if we don't know who are guys. I totally agree with

J.B. You got half a season to go. You just don't need to think that you're going to ride Lindy into the sunset here. If you believe that Peter DeBore is the best coach out there, you cannot take a chance of another team taking him before you do.

So our decisions right now for the owner. Kesselring back skating for Buffalo. That Buffalo Decor is very good. Very good. Very good. On paper. Yeah, not on ice.

But if you, I mean, what do we got here? I don't know if they're healthy or not, but Dahlene, Samuelson, Byram, power, Castle Ring. Power, though, is. I'm stuck on resigning Alex Tucker not just at his age and whether there will be upside on that. No, though he loves Buffalo. Buffalo guy. Does that matter to you in Buffalo in that market?

Fans have someone to connect with. I mean, when you're really good... If you're a really good team... I'm sorry, when you're going to be a really good team is what I'm trying to say here, if you're the Buffalo Sabres. Is Alex Talk going to be a part of it? Well, I don't know.

How old is Alex talk? How old is Alex talk? Early 30s? One? Yeah, I'm saying one of those numbers sounds right. 30, I think 29 or 30. Oh, maybe. I'm going to get you that answer.

It is 29 in May he'll turn 30, 6. but for 220 pounds. I don't know. Can they win in three years? Can they challenge in three years? I would hope it's been 14. Where are all the players that they've been drafted

with all these bad years? That's the crazy part. Where are they? You've stunk for 14. Well, not stunk, but stunk for the last 10. Stunk's fine. Yeah, you can say stunk. Yeah, yeah.

All right. I got another one for you. All right, last one. Yeah. Kipp and Iyer. What's your next move if you're Pete DeBore? to wait how long like the reason

I bring that up is because the Buffalo thing it's like are you sure that that's going to be the best job and like there's always a surprising team that at some point maybe not during this season I'd be curious to know his personal priorities like if I had a cup in my pocket I like Buffalo I don't know I like the vibes

I like the fan base like the wings you know chance to turn it around. They haven't done it. But, you know, if you're like, I've done everything but win a cup, you might want to hold out for something in the summer. Yeah.

I don't think anyone's going to hire you during this season that has a real chance to win a cup. But if so, it kind of has to happen now. Okay. Imagine being Peter DeBore right now and just every day I bring his name up. Looking around the league and going, okay, who's close to getting fired?

Yeah. But that's what they do. right yeah i don't know that they would ever say it in any context but you're like no they're saying it like with their inside voice yeah and they envision if that's a good organization for you in the next three or five years that's weird how these things happen to like the president or whoever's making the GM decision will like reach out to other GMs while they have a GM and be like so what do you think of our team what do you think what would you do hypothetically And Doug McLean on a Friday selling us, someone sent their resume in to take his job while he had a job.

While he still had it? Yeah. We got to sniff that out on it, on who it was. I know, like when Darrell Sutter got hired, one of the times the, you know, the ownership, whatever. Like he was talking to people while they had people in the job just to see if he'd be available. What's next? We're leaving. What do you mean?

We're going to go. Oh, you guys are going to do the Maplers. All right. to Sean Reynolds and our very own Sammy McKeep for coming up with a great segment fantastic segment. 10 games on tap including ours, J.B. Toronto

and the Washington Capitals on SportsNet, Ontario. 630 pregame. Carolyn Cameron, myself, you and Elliot. The Fridge. The Fridge. Get it going, boys. You're going to get a suit on. We're off and running. But no excuses to not have on.

sports net tonight. Have a great night, everybody.