Real Kyper & Bourne - Unleash McKenna + Why Rebuilding Through the Draft Won't Work

Episode Date: October 9, 2026

Former NHL president, general manager and head coach Doug MacLean (2:53) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to chat about why the New York Rangers and Winnipeg Jets are the two most interesting teams to start the season, the Jets finding success without Connor Hellebuyck, Dylan Larkin playing through his trade request, why he sees a less dominant Auston Matthews, Gavin McKenna's usage, and why rebuilding through the draft will be difficult for franchises like Vancouver and Calgary. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee head to the text line to read listener's messages from across the country! 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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Okay, let's kick it up a notch here. It's a national hour of the Real Kipper and Born show, live on Sportsnet, 590 the fan in Toronto, streaming always on Sportsnet Plus, YouTube, love a thumbs up. And if you miss our show, you can catch it on any one of your favorite platforms, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc, etc. This hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. in a few minutes. We'll welcome in Doug McLean for his Friday hit. And Sammy, text 590-5-90.

Yes, please. 5-90, and like I always say at this time, all over the country. Yeah. I want them from Calgary. Coast to coast. Talk about Calgary. Stop talking about how great a year you're going to have. Vancouver.

I ran into someone today. What? I ran into Dr. Dr. Dr. Doctor. No way. Where did you see, Dr. Doctor, Doctor? Yeah, golf course. Oh, of course.

We can't have Dr. Doctor, Doctor, in the first hour. We can now have them in the second hour. With all these young kids you have, John Tavares just had a baby, and like you find time to golf. Yeah, squeeze her in, baby. And who does all the running around in the family?

Don't worry about it. Shout out to my lovely wife. There you go. All credit to her. There we go. Big shout out. But yeah, doctors are doing some work for the club boys for the lead.

Really? Can we still have them on? No. No. We got shut down? Maybe the national hour. You're just not talking about the stuff. Dr. Doctor, I want a doctor, doctor.

I want to ask him about like. Jason Smith, by the way. A favor with his, like, crack skull. All right. Like, what does that mean? Can he play again? Is he going to, is that heal? The words are pretty self-explanatory,

but I would like the details as well. There's this vulcanized rubber. And it went flying fast. And it hit him. the skull and it cracked. Yeah. And then, but what does that mean? I don't know.

So you're going to wear one of those NFL NFL football helmets? You're not allowed to laugh at that because those guys' brains are taken a leg. I know, but they look like they're bobble players. I know. I mean, like they should be in a giveaway.

They are. I guess the funny thing is like, if you went bigger, it would be safer. Like, how big can we go? I saw a take on it that all cornerbacks should wear them. guys that cover the wide receivers should wear them because it's just an extra inch that I can hit.

Well, and how about those Zorba ball things, you know, that people get in and fight? Can you just wear one on your head? They are preposterous. We are off the ramp, boy. Should we get Doug one of those helmets? Doug one of those helmets. Oh, yeah. Let's welcome in, Doug McLean.

For those of you that don't know, we do actually bubble wrap Mac. Yeah, hold on storage on Friday. Yeah, Monday through, you know, Friday to Friday, we bubble wrap them. just like you and Jack Hughes. Yeah. Happy birthday. Happy birthday, Sammy. Wow, that's sweet of you.

That's really nice, dog. I appreciate this. Co-host. Sammy, get a life, Sammy. At 38, I had two kids and I had already been fired three times. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

We haven't fired Sammy yet. No, I mean, Sammy, sincerely, happy birthday. And for the Minnesota minute, Quinn Hughes is leaving. How's that? Oh. Dagger. Just shib the poor guy. So, okay, we'll maybe touch on that a little later.

But, like, we're basically well into the season, a handful of games, Mac. Everybody thinks that it's sloppy for the most part. Sid hasn't exactly lit the league on fire with his slow start here, and he's hinted that it was, he would have liked the longer training camp here. But what do you take out of what you've seen so far? A couple of teams I'm pretty impressed with, and a couple of shocking teams, to be quite honest,

and one of them is the New York Rangers. I look at, I mean, Shisterca, just think about Shasturkin, He'd be leading Calgary Flames and scoring right now with a goal and an assist. And actually, that blue line went from the worst blue lines, one of the worst blue lines in the NHL to now one of the best blue lines, top five blue lines the way they're playing. It's four games. You know, Gabrikal. We just chill a little bit, four games. They've really, they've really looked good.

Schneider, Schmitz. They look good. And I think, do they have a chance to make the playoffs? I can't believe it. But right now they're playing pretty well. But the team I'm most excited about is Winnipeg. You know, I look at what Chevy's done there with the Hullabuck shadow over them. The kid has come in and played real well from Edmonton.

And, you know, the backup Stevenson has played well. I really like what's going on in Winnipeg. I really do. And who's this toughest guy in the league right now, Bauer? Tyrell Bauer? Chevy felt they needed to be tougher this year. They bring in Bauer. They need a goaltending.

They pick up Stevenson on waivers from played in Hershey was a winner in Hershey. Skinner has been real good. Kyle Conner is a superstar. That line was Shifeley and Perfetti has been real good. And as I mentioned, I love the fact that, Bjork comes in on the second line, a high pick of theirs, and all of a sudden they've got Lowry in his perfect spot at three. Decent blue line.

Right now they look like a playoff team. Kyle Connor, I mean, I shake my head how good this kid is. Every shift, he does something that's really special. Yeah, no, he's fantastic, and they're playing the ducks tonight on our network should be a good one. You know, looking at just Canadian teams, Montreal's off to a slow start. Oh, do you want to...

Yeah, just... Just hella buck. Okay, every week we're going to just, we got to figure this thing out here, Mac. And I've got a box.com. Yeah. The latest is every second he's losing, what, 45 bucks or something? I don't know. There's a running tally on.

There's a running tally. You've seen it, right? 110 grand right now, I think. Mack. What he's losing is equivalent to us losing $45 a week to him, you know. So he's fine. Money's not the issue. But I'll tell you what.

Chevy's, I told you this a couple of weeks ago, Chevy's not going to bail out on this one. He's going to, he's going to go. He feels his team right now is in a really good position. Yeah, I know they could drop off. But look, right now, the coaltending is as good as it has been. And I understand they're not Hellebar. But he is not Chevy, Chevy, in my opinion, and I've said it before in this show, he's one of the top five GMs in the business with what he's accomplished.

what he's been able to put together in Winnipeg in an unbelievably tough situation. So he's going to let Helibuck sit there till he finds the right deal for the Winnipeg Jets. And if it's at Christmas, it'll be at Christmas. And if it's in March, it'll be in March. So if I'm Hallibuck and I'm up against Chevy, I'd be a little nervous. You know, these situations are weird. I'm going to change course a little bit because I want to ask you about Larkin and what's going on there. He worked his way back into their lineup and played well.

seems like the right thing to do. How would you feel if you were running a team and he had a situation like Dylan Larkin in your dressing room? I don't know. I mean, look, as bad as we were in Columbus, I never had one guy asked to be traded. Not one.

And I'm blown away about what's going on in Detroit. And I've said it to you guys many times. How that ever got to that point is beyond me. I know there was battle between him and Stevie a couple of years ago. something that was said, but that couldn't have caused all this. The five years left on his contract, the given three teams that you can, you'll go to, I mean, give me a break.

I mean, that is almost putting the GM in an impossible situation when you can't trade them for equal value. I like, I like Larkin. I just don't have them as a franchise sentiment. I just don't. And I like him a lot. and he's a real good player. And he's been a good...

But this is his hometown, and he's a captain of the Detroit Red Wings, and this is going on? This makes no sense to me. And now you've got the other situation going on in Sweden, where you've got Nick Lindstrom, who works for the team. You've got Zetterberg, a former superstar. You've got Fronson over there.

Can nobody figure this out and get these two guys back? back on the ice and give them a chance to make the playoffs. Like seriously, guys. It makes no sense to me. If you were running a hockey club, as you did for many years, what would your preference have been? Dylan Larkin, in your lineup or Hala Buck sitting at home? It depends who my backup was.

It looks like if Skinner, I mean, let's, Skinner's gone to two Stanley Cup. finals, you know. How many goaltenders playing in the NHL now have gone to the Stanley Cup finals in the last five years? One of them's in Toronto. Who else has gone twice to the Stanley Cup finals? I mean, so look, I know Hallibuck. Hala Buc is a great goaltender. He won the gold medal. He was terrific. But this guy has stumbled big time in almost every point. playoff. They beat St. Louis with three seconds left a year ago to save them. And now everybody's talking like he's the greatest superstar in the league. This guy has not been very good at

playoff time. Let's not kid ourselves. He's been as big a problem in Winnipeg at playoff time as anybody. So, you know, I think that sometimes when you've got three and four and five years left in your contracts, you should do a little more soul searching before you decide you're going to put the team behind the eight ball. I don't like it. Yeah, I get that.

So, you know, these guys that are not playing right now can swing the balance of power if they go to really good teams. Do you got something to add? I just want to say one thing about Hellebuk. And I get the whole U.S., Canada battle. And I understand how it can be, like, I deal.

with it when I go to P.E.I. Everybody says, Trump, Trump, Trump. I never hear about Trump here. All I hear about, the only place I hear about it is when I go to PEI in the summer. When I go around here, I never hear his name mentioned. So, you know, I think if your family's in the middle of that, that's challenging for the Hellebuck family. If there was a lot of abuse going on, whatever that was. So I got to give him a little caveat there. You know what I'm saying? All right. Well, so you soften the blow for him a little. little bit. How about... I softened the blow a little bit. How about Flynn Hughes?

You know, these are the people who can actually change the fortunes of a contending team. Minnesota has been a contending team with him there. Is he going to be there this year at playoff time? Oh, that is a really tough one. I mean, I think I have a ton of, I don't know Billy Garin other than I coached against him and managed against him, but I have a lot of respect for him as a GM. Yeah. I think he's one of the, best most solid GMs in the league who who works to get things done and accomplishes things. I will, I will be, I'm 50-50 on it.

I really am that, you know, they're going to have to pay them $20 million to stay. And, you know, the whole machine that happens with the Pat Brisson, use family. And, I mean, I just don't know how, how bad. he wants to play with his brothers. Most do. Most brothers like to play together. I mean, so you can't blame a kid for that.

They traded for him from Vancouver. Vancouver knew this was going to happen, obviously. So I'll be surprised if he's in Minnesota, I guess is what I'm saying. You're watching and listening to Doug McLean, former NFL president, GM, head coach. So, Mack, if the Ranger, are quite a surprise to you. Where do we go around Canada in terms of now?

The Leafs manage a point out of Vegas. Montreal loses to a team that no one expected them to lose last night to Nashville. The Ottawa Senators going quite nicely without Brady Kachuk. Where do you stand on the Atlantic Division in particular? I'm not worried about Montreal. I think Montreal will find way. I think they're a really good team. I think that they'll continue to try and improve

up front. They'll probably make another deal. I love their blue line most nights. Yeah, they've been in and out. Gold Tendon's been a little iffy at times with them. I still like Montreal a lot. I think they're going to be there. I think they're definitely a playoff team. There's no concern there for me. Ottawa, if I'm Toronto, I'm really concerned about Ottawa. I really am in the Atlantic because I think Travis Green is a really good coach and he's matured into, he's on the verge of becoming a very good coach and he's really growing in the job. I like their team. I mean, I felt when they played Toronto last week in their first game of the year,

I didn't feel during that game at all that they weren't in control. And I thought they handled the situation really well. If Allmark stays on his game, as good as he's been the first three or so games, If Allmark's there and he's the real Allmark, not the guy that was there last year, they have a chance to do some damage. And I think they're going to be a really tough team. And I got them as a playoff team. And Toronto, to me, can Toronto and Ottawa get in?

I don't know if two are going to get in. And right now, I'm more into Ottawa ahead of Toronto. So the Eastern Conference is tight. Like the Atlantic was supposed to be stacked and probably is. The Metro looks better than I thought it was going to be going into the year. The Flyers, the lone team in the East with zero wins so far. They only played four games. So maybe I'm being dramatic.

But five games played in zero wins? Philly are a lot better team than what they played right now. Yeah, I guess what's going on. But the problem, the Metropolitan, as I said before to you guys, a lousy team is going to get in in the Metropolitan in the number three holes. It's going to be a team that's not as good as lots of other playoff teams because you're going to have Caroline and Washington, one, two, and who's going to be three? Is it going to be Jersey? Is it going to be Philly?

Is it going to be Pitt? Is it going to be Columbus? You know, who's it going to be to be the three hole there? Because the wild cards are going to be too good. You know, I don't see the metropolitan heaven any more than three in the playoffs. and the third one is not going to be as good as a lot of other wild cards. So that bothers me a little bit. So, I mean, we saw it last year.

Columbus were right there. All they did was win one game in their last 10, and they were in the playoffs in the Metropolitan almost, you know. So it's going to be a dog fight there. But so, you know, with Vancouver's major growing pains, I know they're all excited about their character and the way it was going for two games. And now, oh, Calgary are scary to me right now.

They're frightening to watch. And, you know, Edmonton, well, you know, you've got a genius coaching you. So, you know, things should be fine there. And you've got McDavid and Drysidl and the superstar on the back end, Boucher. I mean, how good has he been? What's he got? 13 points or something in three games. So we'll see.

I still don't like their goaltender in Emmetton. And so everybody's got some flaws here, you know. Toronto, do we have to talk about Toronto? Can we go back to talk of Minnesota a minute? I, like, I'm, I heard you say you really like their forward group, and I'm thinking, what am I missing here? What am I missing with this, this, I mean, did they, how many forwards were dressed in that, in that second and third period last night?

I'm confused on how good they're forward. Who don't you like then? Just start there. I, what I would, number one thing, and I said it last week, is Matthews. Who's been better, Mac? He's looked better. He's in better shape. Yes, he has been better. He has been better. What is he? 70% of what he was two years ago? 70%. Well, I mean, he was a, this guy was a hound on the puck. This guy was in. This guy was into it. This guy was on top of the game. You don't see it? I don't see

it. I don't see it. I don't see it. And I know the injuries, maybe the last two years of effect to me, I hope he regains where he was. Because I love watching them every shift

a couple of years ago. And I haven't seen it. I look at Ikel. To me, they're comparable. Back when Iko was a kid, and when Matthews is a kid. And everybody was saying, where's Eichel?

Is he ever going to get close to McDavid? Well, he's won a cup. Pretty good team, but he's won a cup. He's gone to the finals. He's a pretty good looking player. He's on a mission right now. He was on a mission last night. Matthews has got to get become a little,

and Eichel took lots of heat, guys. Lots of heat. Matthews has got. deserved. Yeah, dessert. Matthews has got to move in the Eichel direction and become the guy again. The most whitewashed thing in history is the two of you claiming that a few years ago you liked to watch him. All we did in our show was he should be a 40-goal guy who competes and wins Selkees.

There was never a moment the two of you were into this guy. No, that's not true. That's not true. What are you on, Borny? Like seriously. We've all, we like Matthews, but we want them to grab the team. That's what I want him to do is grab the team. John Tavares is not going to do it.

Great player, great player. Neelander's not going to do it. The captain is supposed to be the guy. And I look, I'm not questioning his talent, his skill. I think he's probably a great kid. I just would like him to become more of the guy. and if he does, it's going to be a major difference for the league.

Five games in. Five games in, yeah. There's time. So other than that, the forwards you're not sold. I mean, they're blue line. I mean, Radish is fine. He's not a quarterback, in my opinion. He's a good two, three guy.

That's what he is. I don't think he should be your go-to back-ender. I don't have him as a top one-two guy, but he's fine. if he gets the shot through. Everything went in for him last year. I think he's going to have some struggles. I don't like their blue line near enough to be a playoff team at this point.

Maybe they'll improve it. But Braski, to me, is, I talk to people in Columbus, I talk to people in Philly. This guy will do whatever it takes to win, whatever it takes to win. And I love that about him. And I think my only concern there is he's 38. That's my only concern. And how many of those games, like last night, where he stands on his head and will the team to win in every area,

I hope he can keep it up, you know. Well, goaltending the last few years, you know, albeit if you set the injuries aside, hasn't been their most pressing need. And it doesn't appear to be one this year. So that's. Yeah. Oh, no.

They're in good shape right now. They're in good shape there, as long as they stay healthy. Yeah. So the, I just, the McKenna thing, you just can't make this up. This is the, you just can't make it up category. Uh-oh. The kid is the first overall pick. He scores the biggest goal maybe in his life.

He gets an assist on the play, and he gets the demotion to the third line. And I listen to you guys, say, oh, you guys say, oh, we're going to. going to protect. They're trying to protect them. Well, that's me. He's protecting the guys they put them with. Like, are you guys serious? This guy is the real deal. Put him up in the top six.

Today he's the real deal. Like you guys are like, this isn't the 60s. This isn't the 70s. This isn't when Bob Bourne came and went through the aisle. and they had to nuke this is a kid that is ready for prime time okay how many times did marner get two points his first and second and they demoted him to the third line how many times did that happen all year and his rookie year they put them up to the first line what i'm saying is i said it last week on the show and i'm saying it again put them with matthews and whoever

and give him a chance and let's see what he can do man with the puts but a say it on the show. Jimmy, Jimmy, don't lose him on the bench in overtime. Don't lose him. He's there. You know, get a beast. Somebody put a beacon on his head or something.

So we'd get him out there. I didn't have MacKeth. He didn't have Spatzel. This has a chance to be. Because they need him that badly. Roslovick, he might get 10 goals the first 10. And then he'll get 10 the next 20. you'll get 10 in the last 40.

So be careful. You're missing some games. Just checking the ledger. What I'm saying, and I, it's not a knock on Roslavik. We're talking about a potentially a young superstar who I think can make plays

that will help Matthews. That's what I think. All right. Didn't see it coming. Speaking of goal-tending Mac, I know you sit there and say maybe Chevy keeps him there all season long. Who knows? Christmas.

Oh, I knew this was going to get you going. I knew that. But tell me something. Where are the other teams on watching Chevy just potentially bury him all season long, particularly a few teams now that I think could use him, number one on my list, New Jersey, tons of pressure on Sheldon Keefe. I think there's pressure on Sunny. That's a team that needs this guy bad.

I'm looking at Edmonton, who I don't think have any chance of winning the Stanley Cup, which is Stanley Cup robust with their go-tent. And I hope I'm wrong, because I'd like to see a Canadian team win the Cup. New Jersey, New Jersey have an amazing group of forwards there, talented forwards. And they've got a good blue line.

There's no reason they can't put a package together good enough to get Hellabuck. And I'm with you on that 100%. Carolina, another team that's got enough talent, especially with the defenseman that's a holdout right now or whatever he is, that they can't make a deal here to get Hellebuck. I'm hoping Chevy can move him and improve the Winnipeg Jets. That's what I'm hoping.

And that's what Chevy's going to do. He's going to move Hellebuck. to one of the teams you're talking about, Nick, if he can improve his team enough to be a good team in the playoffs. And right now, they're trending like they're a pretty good team. Mack, the, you know, the teams that aren't great right now, you mentioned earlier in this, I'd call it a conversation, but we'll just call it a rant about the Calgary in Vancouver.

The flames here. Did Sammy leave and go to his birthday party? He's wearing one of those hats with the chin strap as we speak. Can you tear a team down too much? Like for me, the flames, if you're trying to develop Zane Perreck and Simon Nemich, you know, like don't you have to play with some bodies? Like, give them something. I think you talked about, Bedard.

Like, it's just so hard for anyone to get better when you're always in your own end. The problem is the days of a rebuild, rebuilds are really tough. It's now should be a retool. A rebuild is unbelievable. tough because number one, the lousy teams never win the lottery.

Have you noticed that? It's always the lottery has hurt teams that are in rebuilds. The islanders, how did the islanders build their dynasty when your dad was there? They built it through the draft because they were in last place every year and they got

the first or second overall pick for what, three, four, five years in a row. And they build a day, today you cannot rebuilds through the draft. It's a fallacy. You rebuild now with the odd picks. Stanley Cup winners now

have three or four of their own draft picks on the team and it's all free agency and it's trades. And that's how you rebuild. And this idea of tearing it down and thinking you're going to rebuild through the draft and through your firm system,

I'm with you, Bernie. I think it's next to impossible. I really do. All right. All right. good job again guys thanks i like i feel so honored to come on when at sammy's 38th i thought he was 28th the way that are you coming up here justify a lot more wouldn't are you coming up to Toronto next week yeah for your book i'm coming up to toronto for two nights and i've got uh i'm on book tour we're releasing uh game day the um uncensored life of an hl GM in two weeks time.

So yeah, I'm excited. And I mean, it's, I was looking at the schedule of interviews. It's filling up guys. I know they said they contacted Sammy. I didn't know. I wish I would have known it was birthday. I wouldn't have got them to contact them today. But about, you know, so I've got a ton of stuff going on.

So I'm really hoping we're having a big. So there's a woman booking here. At Dunes up on Bluer where we had draft day and we're going to have a nice. evening there, so hope you guys will drop by. If you haven't got your invitations, you'll definitely get one. But no, I'll be up there for a few days, and I'm really

hoping it's going to be a good seller. So the woman who's booking you all these gigs here is like telling Sammy all about you. And it's like, I don't think she knows who the hell you are. You know what?

I don't pretend to be a... We have. We have. I have him on every Friday. He was a coach in the National Hockey League. She sent me the whole spiel on you, Matt. Trying to convince us to have you on. We're like, we know him. He's good to come on the show.

You don't have to tell us anything about him. My only concern is how do I get in the Rogers building? You got to wear that Bobby Valentine, fake nose and mustache glasses. And you know what? The only reason I want to go is because I want Hillary to do my makeup. A hill showed out. Because I used to finish, I used to finish my show, you know, late. And I go in and I say, Hillary, I'm going over to the Ritz for a beer.

Can you touch me up a little before I go over? So, you know, just look good, you know. And then I go over there and sit with Berkey, and I really didn't need the makeup to look good compared to him. So anyway. I'll get a car with a big trunk. And we'll sneak you in underneath. Get you in the building. Just like in the movie Goodfellas.

Anyway, guys, I really appreciate you having me on and really appreciate you, you know, pushing the book. And as Nick said, I'm hoping, you know, every month I'm going to buy you a meal back. And Jill piped in and said, does he know I don't like McDonald's? Maybe a little step up then. All right, Matt.

Thanks for doing this, man. Okay, we'll see you next week. I do want to tack on a promo as well because Max's book's coming out the next day. I think the day before my book is coming out. I don't think we've mentioned that on the show, The Code of the West. Daryl Sutter's story.

There you go. Available October 13th pre-sale is available too. So we're not doing a whole hullabaloo, I don't think, but we'll get Daryl on the show here soon. Did we try to get him on this week? He's blown us off two or three times. I legit text Daryl. I was like, hey, you want to come on

to promote the book and whatever? He said, can't harvest. He's like, what? He's like, yeah, we got 80 acres, another five days of canola. He ain't telling blocks that way. No. Waste to eight days?

He is legitimately on the combine harvesting canola, so we'll join us after that. Shout out, Daryl. God, that's badass. I mean, he lives it, he talks and he walks. He's the man. I couldn't love that more. This fires me up.

All right, game time, boys? Game time. All right. It's game time, presented by Bet365, home of the three-goal early payout and an official partner of the NHL. Must be 19 plus, Ontario and Alberta only. Please play responsibly. Four games on tap tonight, boys, including Anaheim and Winnipeg,

which will be on our TVs and our beautiful Justin Bourne on the panel with David Andrew and Devonte Smith-Pelly. Yeah. There we go. Is that stream? I don't know what it's on. TV. He's on TV.

It's on sports. Nationally broadcast on Sportsnet and Sportsnet 1. So we'll have a look at that game for tonight. Great start to the year for the Jets. It's got to be awesome to be a Jets fan right now and just have like the Us versus Hellebuck. Genders top 10 and goal saved above expected so far. Jets, as you would imagine, favorites on home ice hosting the Ducks.

They are minus 123 in the money line plus 103 for the ducks on the other side of it. And you know what, boys, been hot with the anytime goal scores. You have been. Let's just stay hot and let's just go right back to the Kyle Connor goal. He's smoking hot. Pucks landing on his stick in the right spot. Give me a Kyle Connor goal again tonight, plus 140. And by the way, guys, a little bone to pick with you.

Laugh me out of the room yesterday. A little value on the, on the, on the National Predators yesterday. Oh, the national worst team. I'm guilty. I'm going to wear that one. Worst team in the league. Leaves beat the worst team in the league. They go in the bell center, starch the amazing halves.

The only defense we have is that they do. No, they're good. That was a big win for the Leafs. Yeah, the only thing more embarrassing were the Dallas Cowboys. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. For the boys fans.

Another good matchup tonight. Washington and New York, Washington on a whole ice, big favorites, minus 144. I think they pound the Rangers tonight. How big is that team? The biggest team. Giant.

Giants. But listen, Rangers have had a great start. Like I said, some value. Plus 122 in the money line. They've had a really good start to the season, but you're right. Feels like a spot where a big team just kind of leans in another team, but that should be a good one.

The other two games on the dock tonight, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Columbus slight favorites in that one. Give me a Sid. And Red Wings cracking tonight, which. Sid, get a point? We'll be lighten up the... Yeah, I would bet on that. Okay, let me do that.

Let me do that for you. Sidney Crosby, to get a point is minus 235. How about two points? Plus 205 for two points from Sid tonight. Against the Columbus Blue Jackets. And that was game time, presented by Bet 365. home of the three goal, early payout,

and an official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only, I don't know, I'll be... It's Friday, it's Friday. Worst reader at Sportsnet, boys. Ontario and Alberta only, please play responsibly. Campbell, we didn't pick a nise goal, two points, something, nothing?

No, Sam will not two X-leafs. No, I will. Too painful. I just, listen, I'd be on, this is who I am, I'm worried about Nyes. He's going to be a 90-point guy for a goal. No, I just think he's going to be hard. and soul and tough, and they lit a fire under him by trading them, which is what I worry.

Okay, let's take a quick break. When we return as promised, text 590, 590. We'll read them. So many already. After the break. You're watching and listening to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Aylish Forafar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert.

Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan pregame. 6 p.m. weekdays on Sportsnet, Sportsnet, the fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. All right, bringing it at home. End of the week. We've got texts 59590, Sammy. Lots of texts.

Was there anything you wanted to get to before that? Eklund out long-term, Nizarreased, Horvatt. You see that hit? Marchand six weeks. More, is he dated anything like? That sounds like Florida dodged two bullets between Barkov and Marchand. Stun, Mershan's not. Getting back.

That looks real ugly. Stunned by that. And Barkov back in this calendar year, we think? No. 2026, no, not by December. I don't, I think it's a long shot for Barkov to come back. You think it'll be before Christmas? At the end?

Probably. Why rush? Yeah. Why? I guess it depends where they're at. Like, are they humming along and it's no big deal or are they desperate by them? They kind of look like they're humming along. They're humming pretty good.

This hour of real Kipperman Borne. brought to by Bet365. We'll get that in before we get to text, Sammy. Did you see Eklund? The big side. I didn't see the play. I saw that he's out with the ankle. That stinks.

Ancles. We did a little thing yesterday pre-show, Bukala did with Mike Kelly and Eklund's like chance number, shot numbers, everything was like the best on Ottawa. So for me. A really good start.

Yeah. Big blow for them. And you didn't see the hit from Boeh, I did see that. That was like, not good. That's it. That should be two to three. Yeah, you can't do that.

It was greasy. All right, text. Text time. All right. Happy birthday, Sammy. Oh, thanks. Canucks fan here, but loves seeing the huge madness in Minnesota. I've seen some rumors that Jack isn't happy in New Jersey.

Could you see the wild trading Faber and Moore in a package that ends up landing Jack and maybe even Luke? I also have seen the Internet doing stuff. I can't stand these guys, man. I love what someone just says it out. Can they not just be like you're making H. Schmill, playing the H. out. Like, it's just like, we got to play together. It's like, you don't have FaceTime, boys?

God. It is a little strange. It drives me crazy. It might be a lot, like, it might be out there, but like, maybe they all end up together on a team that we had no idea. Is there a team out there who's just loading up? So Jack's got two years left on his deal? Three.

Is it three? I think it's three boys. I'm going to find out real quick. Let me double check here. Real quick. God, how far down the... He wouldn't dare force a trade. Yeah?

Now and then. I'm not putting anything past him. I think he would be the... If I were to power rate the guys, I would think, he'd be next. He'd be the next. He'd be the next guy. He says this year plus three.

Oh, plus three. Oh, he's got a long way. 2030 is his last... He's got a long way to go. What a horrible contract he signed. Yeah, that's a stinker. You can go through a laundry list right now of... Bad dees.

regrettable contracts. Yeah, they got to go to the devils. Quinn to the Devils. Because Luke Hughes is up a contract there until 2033. That late. Yeah. There's just no way. It's got to be Quinn to the Devils.

Are they any good? The Devils? Yeah. Listen, I don't think you want the answer to that. But does it matter if they're good? Like, do they care about good? Or do they just want to go to the U.S. Open together? Do you?

Do you want that, though, if you're the New Jersey Devils? That's a great question. Three brothers, three brothers. Like, why don't you just make the dad, the general manager? That could be the next thing. I am curious to see if, you know, Sunny is like, yeah, he's a great player, of course, of course he wants him, or if it's like, A, the cost it's going to, you know, to get him, then you got to give him the extension.

Then am I sure that that's the Stanley Cup core? You know, like, I don't know if it makes sense. They haven't exactly lit the playoffs on fire when they've been there. You know, like Hughes breaks down in the playoffs every year. They never make it past the second round. I don't know. I don't know. He's not convinced.

He's good at 3-on-3. Actually, I Google him and the first picture that came up with him, smile, no tooth. That's stupid. It's an unfortunately great picture. It is an unfortunately

patriotic, awesome American pitch. How do we let that happen? I know. If you're American, you really like that picture, Sammy. How do we like that happen? Yeah. How, boys?

McKinnon was sick. Yeah. We didn't take Schaefer and Bouchard. Okay, how about this? I know Sammy loves Sandstock. What do you think the ceiling for Yakum Chuck is? Yeah.

Shabbat is the first star in Ottawa last night. Could the Sends have the best decort in the league in a couple of years? Yeah, they definitely could if they don't now. Yeah, I think that kid's going to be a star. You do, yeah, yeah. I think he's crazy talented. I think he's going to be really good. It's for me, it's just like, can you have three really good offensive D-Man, right?

If you have Sanderson, Shabbat, and Yakim Chuck. I'm not sold on Sanderson being there long. long term. Oh, man. I didn't like those words. Please stop talking about us. Why? Why did you say those words?

You just said, can you have three? Yeah. You just said it. Okay. And if this kid comes up and you got Shabbat is your captain, maybe Sanderson's the guy that you flip to get you over the top. I guess it depends where. With another power forward.

Shabbat is 29 and Sanderson's 20. You know, and Sanderson's contracts a joke. $8 million till 2030. I'm not saying it's today or tomorrow or next year or the year after, but I'm saying if these guys developed and you've got two studs and who knows what the next contract could look like for this kid, I just think that maybe there's one chip that you could use. It's Yakum Chuck.

I don't know. Maybe it's him, maybe it's not. You're not treating. Sanderson is their best point. I think your point is where there's a surplus. I'm just saying you can't be overly, he can't be heavy there either. And you still,

you still got to replace Brady Kuchuk. Ottawa fans, sorry. But you don't get to lose that type of physical presence and not replace it. And they're going to have to go find something. Matthew Nyes. Yeah, Yaccham Chuk plays right D. Sanderson and Shabobos both lifted his let.

listed as left. So, you know, there is some way that you can make it work. But I also think he's great. Yakum check, by the way, still has, he's on his ELC. He's got this year and two more, you know, so he's got three years of control cheap. Good problem to have. If he's heading to where we think he's heading, you're going to sign him the year before. He's going to be like, hey, do you see Tristan Leno's contract?

You're going to, it all depends again what numbers he can come up with. But these guys, and I don't know what the kid in Detroit's asking for, but if it's 12 or $14 million? I could see it. So I think if you're a Sends fan, the solace you can take in this conversation is you're not cutting this person. You would exchange it for strength

at a different place in your team. So it's a good problem to have whatever you end up doing with said surplus. Hey guys. This is from Kim in Edmonton. If you could introduce a new rule in the NHL, what would it be? And happy birthday, Sam.

Thanks, Kimmy. All right. This conversation bothers me. Okay. It's, it just, it comes up all the time. And it's like, I think they do a pretty good job. You want it to shock clock in overtime. I'll take the over and back in overtime.

Once you cross the red, you can't bring it back on your own accord. You got to have a face off, I guess. Maybe it's a, how about this one? This is an off-the-ice one. How about officials press conferences? Good one. Sure. How about it?

I don't want to hear from them. I do. Seriously. You just shut your mouth and stay in your room. Excuse me, stripes. What did you see yesterday when all of Reckman-Larsen got his face slammed into the ice? And whatever the answer is, you're going to go BS. B-S.

And it's just going to be worse. I mean, that's called accountability. No, but there's two things. He either saw it and didn't think it was a penalty or he didn't see it. If he says he didn't think it was a penalty, you're going to go, blah. And if you didn't see it, you're going to go, ah. Yeah, but we all just want to go, bah. Yeah.

That's what we want to do. And they screw it up every night So we get to have our chunk of flesh How about a dress coat? Guys should have to wear suits and ties That is a great idea, grapes You got one Kipp or no? I still got, I want some rules out

The trapezoid Yeah, please, enough Yeah Bring back the two-line pass That's crazy, that was a rule. Nuts. Either we get rid of the puck over the glass or we make puck over the glass over the whole arena.

Okay. You don't care for the... It doesn't matter what you're... So if you hammer one... In the neutral zone or... Okay. It is weird where they're like, where did that go out? It's...

I don't like a puck over glass all that much. To me, if in the midst of NHL pressure and stress, you can flip it out over the glass, it's the same as an icing. You just draw on your zone. I'm not saying I have all the answers, but scrap three-on-three hockey, please. or start a new league.

I think there is one of the two. They called like three ice or something? No, in the NHL. What would you just rather? Just grab five on five then. We just keep three on three on three. Would you rather do four on four in a tie or what? What do you want?

Or we all just go home after 60? Tie sock. Or then change it to three points, two points, one point. Yeah. There's the best one. That's always the winning answer. Okay. Let's get to this one.

Ken Murphy from Calgary. Hello, boys. I give it his full coffee. Sorry, Ken. I'm just wondering how long you think is too long before the flames fire Huska. And also, how can Calgary even have a chance when Wolf tends to give up a goal

on the first shot over and over? The easy answer is, they can go 0 and 84 and no one is going to care out there. They are married to the fact that they've got this rebuild and it's the rink. They're going to sell the goodbye this year, and they're going to sell the hello next year.

Next year are they in there next year? I think it's next year. It might be one more. I hope it's next year. Okay. This is the last year. This is the last year. This is the goodbye this year.

It's the hello next year. And then we'll pay attention. New building. I was out there for the stampede looks unreal. Oh, yeah. It looks amazing from the outside. I'm sure it's going to be great. You know, they do.

It's going to be really expensively great. Yeah, well, that's kind of how it's. go someone has to pay for that. They got it, they got it generate, man. It's hard generating. They got Carl and Wittenbach and they got all these guys that are coming. They're 04 and 0 with a dash 17 through four games. Hey, that's why I'd say you're going to fire Huska.

Who's going to come in there and fix it? Hey guys, really love the show. Please start, stop complaining about the late starts for the Leafs. Game start at 1130 here in Newfoundland. You've got to be a real trooper man. Oh, my God. Right? You've got to be into the kiddie-vitties.

I would have been, I would have catching the highlight. That's a pre-game meal and a nap to get ready for that. That's basically what I, that's the puck drop for the zig-zag sometimes. But let's be real. It would be better for you, too, if they had some earlier puck drops. It is strange that they do it in Vancouver, the 4 p.m. 4 p.m. Well, it's usually the Saturday nights. Saturday nights.

They do it in Colorado. I think they hate that. Good. Oh, they do hate that. Yeah. They hate that. Yeah. The Exa has said so much on...

This one comes in from Garrick. I heard that the Golden Knights have been the least penalized team each of the past five seasons. They're so well-behaved. If that's true, that's not even statistically possible without a thumb on the scale. Hmm, Garrick. Hmm. Why would the league want Vegas? Because they're Gary's darling and they want them to be great every year?

I thought Florida was Gary's darling. Come on. They're all Gary's darling. If they're south of a certain area, that's where he loves the most. Gary Batman. The higher the thermometer, the more he likes them. Hotter the better, maybe. He wants them all.

Do you think if the Leafs finally win the cup, you'll ditch the, woe is me? You know, it's funny. Roger Lijois has the best joke about this. He said that, you know, the Leafs could win the cup, and he'd be in here the next morning,

and he'd be, you know, doing the calls or whatever, and the first call will be, but they've got to fix that fourth line for next year. You know, I think you would always find a little bit of stuff to complain about, but yeah. Part of your identity is, fan is i i think i would probably be pretty content if they won for quite some time our show would be

terrible yeah like whatever they won last year don't care cup dance okay he was in a jacket i think if they win the cup we get canceled it's a great chance cash in on the ratings boost on the way in uh i guess we don't have a ton of charlie and trano love the show you guys are awesome do you think the leas have any chance of getting vince done do they have the assets for that do you think that Vince Dunn is a solution in a meaningful way for the Leafs. It's better than what they have. Yeah. I like him. I like him too.

I like him. But he's going to cost you $11 million a year too, right? Everything costs them. Yeah, I know. Vince Dunn's getting 11? Yeah, he's going to get 10 or 11 on the open market. Well, then quick complaining about Marchenko getting 12. Yeah. You sure about that? All right. Good week, boys.

Just like that. Another week gone. What are you guys? A turkey? Cooking turkey? Yeah, well, I don't. Canadian Thanksgiving? Are we working Monday? We are working Monday.

Okay. Yeah. Note that. Yep, we'll be here Monday. Our thanks to all the callers. Doug McLean, of course, for his Friday hit. Four games on tap. Pick yours.

Enjoy the weekend, everybody. Stay safe. And we are back. Thanksgiving Monday. Have a great one.