Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Best Goalies Heading Into the Playoffs

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

CEO of Clear Sight Analytics, New York Rangers analyst and former NHL goaltender Stephen Valiquette (4:08) joins Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne to chat about which goaltender has the most pressure heading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs including Linus Ullmark, why the Montreal Canadiens have the strongest goalie tandem, why Andrei Vasilevskiy struggles defending with traffic in front, who should the Pittsburgh Penguins start in net, which game had the biggest impact on the Detroit Red Wings missing the playoffs, and the trends between smaller vs. bigger goaltenders. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss the direction of the Vancouver Canucks' front office personnel and much more!  The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

Let's get her going from coast to coast. We are national on the real Kipper and Born show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. 960 in Calgary and streaming, always on Sportsnet Plus. If you miss our program, download us. Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube. Bless you, Sammy. Thanks, man.

I like people to know that Nick Kierbrius has never sneezed on the air in 25 years. Thank you. Is that right? Yeah. It's the vomit streak from Seinfeld. Technically, I wasn't on air until Kipper brought it up. I sneeze once a week. Do you?

Oh, yeah. Dusty in here. Dust everywhere. I know how you don't sneeze. Something tells me if it ever happens. Oh, it's going to be a big thing. You'll be the first to know about it. We need to have like confetti in here or something.

This hour of Real Kippenborn brought to you by Bet365. In a couple of minutes. We'll welcome in Steve Aliquette, analyst for the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO ClearSight Analytics and game host of Grillmarks. Yeah. I don't know.

What's our segment called? Yeah, I think that's kind of what it's become. Grill time. Grill something. He's promised us to stake dinner to the winner. Grill Marks leaderboard. He tweeted it out at 428. In first, Justin Bourne with 41 points.

And second, Nick Kippreos with 35 and Sam McKean, third, with 34 points. Oh, you're knocking. Yeah, right there. Before we get to Valley and we discuss a lot of teams around the league, let's just talk about last night because we know who's in and we know who's out. There's still some question marks on who plays where,

but for the most part, I am a little disappointed that game 82 couldn't be the difference between someone getting in and out. Philadelphia Flyers solidified their playoff spot last night in a shootout. I kind of watched that game more than Sammy's Leafs. How dare you. And Vladar is really good. Yeah, that's going to be a real. By the way, that I was doing my NHL award votes last night.

So I had the Leafs game on mute behind me. And every time I looked up, Dallas was scoring. It was just an incredible onslaught. 98 points could be the cutoff for playoffs in the East this year, which is pretty crazy. 96 affiliate loses their last game. and the West is going to be very different. 89, get you in.

What a weird year. Flyers for a second here. Just your overall thoughts on what Rick Tocco was able to do and the decision to leave Vancouver and go to Philadelphia where I don't think anybody expected him to be one of 16 teams this weekend. And even more than that, I think halfway through the year.

There was noise about the job he was doing. Mischkov's not playing enough. People were upset. And all of a sudden, he's like a Jack Adams candidate. I look at that roster, and I don't think it's that great. I give Tocke it a ton of credit. Everyone seems to have bought in. And again, they're not sneaking into playoffs with a low number of points.

I mean, this is it. They've won a lot of hockey games here. So, yeah, I give them a lot of credit for what they've built there. And also. Vladara a huge part of it. Vlodar a huge part of it. Goal tending does make a big difference. So one of the things I was talking about.

tempted to write about the eastern goal tending, and actually Valley coming up is perfect. I mean, how different it is. You got Vasilevsky and Boussi. You got Jeremy Swamen and Ukapegolucaninin. You know, like these guys who... Bousie was good too last night. Well, yeah, but they may not even play him. It could be Freddie.

It could be Kochiev. He's back now. Dobish is a rookie who's, you know, not really experienced at it. And there's just got a lot of guys with big names. Linus Allmark is one of Vezna. He'll be Ottawa's guy. Like, we're all over the map. All right, let's go to the host of Grillmarks, Steve Alicat.

We need merch. We need grill marks. You need one of those really, like, slender microphones when you do Grill Marks. Because I notice our boy, David Amber, they go into a game kind of host look. Yeah, I don't get why those exist, but they do. I like, yeah, exactly. What do they, what purpose do they? Are they heavy to hold a normal mic?

I don't understand. But anyway. Well, Borny, I just heard you say it's a weird year. How about this one, guys? I just came up with this one because I was looking at stuff all day long. The goalies that aren't in the playoffs this year. Shasturkin, Sorokin, Soros,

Bennington, Babroovsky, Thompson. Like, these are all the top guys. Yeah. What a weird year. This is like when the NFL decided that running backs don't matter. Like, is it like goalies? Whatever now?

I'm out of work. What am I doing? So it comes up they do matter, by the way. Off the top of your Nick's hat. What does that say? Oh, boy. Like, it doesn't matter until it matters? Is it more environment than it is the product of what goalkeeper you have that saves your

ass? Like, I don't know. because not for anything. These guys didn't even have bad years. Most of them. I mean, Shosturkin had a really good year. Seroquen was almost a Vesna winner. Soros bounced back.

Thompson was the best goalie by the end of the season and expected goals, and he still didn't get it. So I'm going to have to put some more thought into this. This literally just dawned on me like 30 seconds before we came on air. So are we back to the cross-ice pass on top of the circles? because you've talked about that all season long. Yeah. You know, maybe it's just that, maybe that's just it.

Like a goalie can only do so much. And depending on who you're playing for, when you're playing for them, and all the things to factor into it, maybe we're getting to a point where the scoring is getting so strong and the shots on goal are so by design not to keep goalies in the game. and it's hard for goleys, good goalies to get hot because they're not getting touches and then they're feeling great A's.

So it's, again, the year's strange. Look at the safe percentage. It's last week it went to 895, it's 896, but a lot of really good goalies not being able to hit the mark. And, you know, I think it's a strange year for sure. Okay, so for the remaining goalies that are in, excluding, I guess, Vasilevsky, who has the most pressure out of the remaining ones.

Can we look at Ottawa potentially as a guy that's carrying a lot of weight right now? I would say definitely Ottawa, Kipper, just because of past performance. And anybody will tell you the only indicator of future performance is past performance. Allmark in the playoffs, guys, he's been in four years that he's played the playoffs in 860, 896, 8. 886 880 and his 633 safe percentage on high danger chances is the second worst when you look at those four years combined every year he's in a series that he's played in he's been less than three goals than expected which would mean he is less than an average goalie and I think that if you're going to allow more goals on high danger chances than the player that you are playing against that's 200 feet

away, you lose in the playoffs because the margins are way too thin. But, I mean, getting them in and what he's been able to accomplish over the last, I guess, six weeks where he's been playing his best hockey with the exception of the Florida game, you can maybe have some hope and maybe wonder, but I think that it could come crashing down at any moment. He only has played 37% positive game percentage in the playoff games he's played in his career. The likelihood of him playing really well are very low, very low probability. So, Valley, if I'm looking at the goaltenders in the east, to me, they're just so different in terms of reputation. Let me know if you think any of these guys give a team a massive disadvantage or advantage.

You got Allmark, Swayman, Vlodar, Skinner, Bussie, Dobish, Vasilevsky, Luken. I would focus on Montreal. Okay. They're fascinating to me. I've watched the last five starts of Dobish and the last five starts of Fowler. Dobish is playing out of his mind. And Fowler, did you watch the game that he played against the Islanders? Yeah.

How good did you think he looked? He looks very good. He looks very good. He looks like Kerry Price good. He's on his toes. He's over everything. No, I mean, he plays the part perfect technical. representation of modern goaltending.

Wow. And you know, the one thing I would say, guys, is that when you go back, even over the last 30-plus years, it's happened before where young goalies have won Stanley Cups. Patrick Wall was 20 when he won his first Stanley Cup. Dryden was 23. Matt Murray, when he won in 2016, was just 22. Cam Ward was 22 when he won with Carolina in 06. Bennington was 25, but he was a young 25.

Ivy just got called up in 2019. If you have the right insulation around top performing, confident goalies, you have a chance. Dobish guys, since the Olympics, 11-4-0, 9-20 safe percentage, a plus 11-11 expected, third-best in the NHL, Fowler, plus seven expected, both goalies in the top 10. There's a lot here, boys. Fowler 918 save percentage. These are both top 10 goalies since the Olympic break in every category. And you watch these guys play and they're playing with a lot of confidence. Fowler, to me, the reason why I say that he has that perfect representation is because his feet are always under him, always secure, never getting too wide and spread out, never getting stuck on the pass, always hovering over the puck.

and I feel like he's been good for Dobish because two months ago Dobish was in the tank and one of the goalies I coach here in Connecticut his favorite team is Montreal and I did at least a two-day review on Dobish just to show him what he needed to adjust and this was just a part of working with a goalie

that was playing wide in his stance because he watches Dobish a lot like this happens and what I've seen is he's brought his feet under him at least another foot they made a goaltending coaching change as the Islanders did. And it seemed to do something there as well.

And, you know, you don't know what it's like behind closed doors, but those two guys have a different look right now. They look elite to me. You're watching and listening to Steve Alicat analyst with the New York Rangers, CEO of Clear Sight Analytics. Our poor Sammy almost choked when you said that Montreal could win the Stanley Cup. Everything about Montreal is just going right and it just hurts. I know.

Pain. Where are you on Vasilevsky really? having to bounce back kind of spring? Yeah, you know what, Kipper, for Vasselowski, I think that he knows that he has to be better

through traffic coming in from the point. The scouting report on him for the last three years is going to be get traffic on him. And what teams are trying to accomplish as they slide the blue line is to break the midpoint of the blue line and then send

the puck back across the grain through a screen. And against a big goalie like Vasilevsky, he still tends to have his head a little bit high, meaning his chin high. So the puck comes underneath his point of vision. And what happens is he comes down to the ice with all of his force. And it's like coming down like a ton of bricks. And then his knees get apart and then he's swimming a little bit. And if the puck hits the end boards or if it hits the pile of traffic on the weak side post, it's hard for him to make second and third saves. So I think that if he understands where his strengths lie and how to play those advantages or

disadvantages that the opposition is trying to create in front of him, he'll be okay. But it'll be interesting to see how he manages his net front traffic. Be curious to get your thought on some. Who should they start? We can start with Pittsburgh. Svilov. Svilov? or Skinner, who you like there?

Shvilovs. Yeah, she loves. The thing about pick guys, is they've always been really bad defensively off the rush. The last five years, they are always the worst team, and I've talked to you guys

many times about the challenges for goaltenders off the rush. Now, since the Olympic break, they have the fifth-breast defense overall and fourth-best rush defense. So they've really tightened it up since the Olympic break. But the goalies haven't been any better.

Skinner, I went back to February 1st. He has four wins. He has 10 losses. He has a safe percentage of 854 in February, in March 885, 885 in April. And the funny thing is, though, is she lobs. He's winning games, but he's winning when the team scores. five or more goals. In every one of his wins,

they are averaging right now 5.8 goals per game that he has started since February 1st. His last nine wins, Pittsburgh scored 53 goals. Wow. And on his losses, he's getting hammered,

5-1, 6-2, 6-3. So as good as Pittsburgh has been, they haven't had the goaltending yet, but they have the environment taken care of. So I'm expecting one of those two guys to step up. They've protected Stu Skinner against the rush. And that's all Edmonton ever had to do with him. And Pittsburgh's doing it.

They're making the environment easy. The goalies haven't responded yet. One of those two guys has to step up. Or maybe they can go to Murasheb, who's a very good goalie that's played for them at parts of the season, as well as in Wilkesbury Scranton. Let me ask you in terms of now, if you think that you may have a number one starter

but the 1B is starting to play pretty darn good here and I'll use Minnesota as an example, the Wild where Walsstead has actually been pretty good down the stretch but you got Gustafson and just how important is it for a head coach Valley to pick the right one, not necessarily who's playing the best, but if it's not, if it's not,

Gustafson, who's the highest paid guy there and a guy who's got a long-term contract, is it a bad message to send that you're not my guy in game one, like, and you're kind of have doubts on me already? Is that a bad seed to plant? See, my theory is the other way. It's don't play the guy that everybody expects you to play because of pedigree and tenure. Think about Gru Bauer starting over Holpey when Washington won. It pisses Holti off.

He's a competitor. If you know Braden Holti, the guy wants to be in the net. And if you have a guy like that that wants the net, it's okay to piss him off for a couple games. Because guess what? If Grubauer that year gets off to a hot star for two, three games, it just prolongs the inevitable. We're going to go to you, Holti, but it's going to be a little bit here.

And you saw it with Pittsburgh during the years where it was Mark Andre Fleury and Murray. there's enough runway there for, I think, you to actually start the guy that everybody thinks that you shouldn't, because when he fails, the other guy that should have possibly started comes in with a cape on. But obviously, it's got to be, you know, something that you're seriously thinking through, because in Holpe's case in 2018, he really needed a little bit more time to prepare for the playoffs. He got an extra week and a half of reps. When he went in, he took off. But that can work for you and to your advantage if you have the right approach.

And you communicate it to the guy. But if you have a goalie that gets really pissed off and plays better pissed off, I think you always have to use that lever. So what about a team that's going to win the Eastern Conference, like Bussie, Anderson, or Kochetkov is getting healthy in practicing right now, apparently? You know, I'd be really worried if I was Carolina right now. The two teams that I thought from the outside of the season that didn't defend well enough off the rush that was ultimately going to break down their goalies was Anaheim and Carolina. Both teams just give up way too much off the rush and both teams have to a certain degree taken a lot of the confidence out of their goaltending.

It's, guys, it's really difficult math every night. and it's really difficult with the trust systems that you have with your defensemen to know what's taken away. The goalie is reading off of the positioning of his teammates, not what the offense is going to do. And in both cases, the floodgates have opened now, and I thought that we were going to see it sooner in the season, but it's really been since post-Olympic break. And both teams, I think, are in trouble. And Bussie, he's the worst performing goalie since the Olympics. Frederick Anderson, I think, the last time I looked

was fifth or sixth worst performing goalies since the Olympics. But Carolina's got a great team. They've got a lot of puck possession in their favor. They can have a lot of offensive zone time while their goalies aren't facing a lot and then have the threat of an odd man rush. Those are the toughest saves in hockey.

If we had a poll with 100 goalies right now and said, what's the biggest challenge about playing in the NHL? They would say not getting any shots and then facing a two-on-one. that's tough. And I feel like it's just taking a little bit of time, but that was ultimately going to happen.

Valley, I want to touch on a few markets that didn't make it, miss the playoffs, and whether or not they're behind the scenes, pointing fingers at their goaltending situation. And I'd love for you to start in Detroit on the disappointment of the Red Wings leading the division, I think, in the third week in January

and then missing out. and what ultimately does that mean for a guy like Gibson? This one, I think Detroit has to be very careful that they don't overthink it, overanalyze it, or place blame in the wrong places. Because that could happen here. Since the Olympic break, the goalie that has allowed the most goals

when his team has been up by a goal is John Gibson. Now, there were four key losses during the time that Detroit could have solidified their position. in the postseason. It was a loss on March 10th versus Florida. They led twice in that game, and then two goals came back against Gibson, ones that I thought he should have had. I paid a lot of attention to the game March 21st. It was a game on ESPN. I watched it at home here against Boston. Same thing happened. They led twice in the game, and he gave up bad goals, leads to a loss. Same thing happened April 7th against Columbus, where the team led twice,

and then three times April 11th against the New Jersey Devils. I watched all of these goals, guys. There was a common theme. He was on his ass. He was lifting up his one pad as he's coming across on his knees when he could have came across on his feet. It was through screens. There wasn't a lot of battle there.

If I was on the bench, I would have said, we need a save there. We're up. The worst part about this is that his save percentage should have been 909. He had the easiest environment when his team was up by a goal and he had the worst safe percentage.

833. Now, what that tells you is that there's a guy here that's had a lot of history. Go back to Anaheim. There were years there where I always wondered, why isn't he leaving Anaheim?

They're not winning. They're not in a winning cycle. His age doesn't fit where they are. And he stayed. And I wonder if the pressure when the team is up is too much for him. And I think that if Detroit takes a very educated look at this, you change the goalie and you change a few things around the edges,

but it's not as bad as people may seem. That's an interesting one for Eisenman too, right? He made that call. That's a big decision that they went with this year. So curious to watch that. Now, looking at the West, part of me is like, okay, one of these specific teams is going to make it add to the conference final. Vegas has been hot since Torts has been there.

It really comes down to can they get the saves? Can they? Vladar can, Borny, but the one thing that, oh, sorry, Vegas. Yeah, Vegas, yeah, yeah. Vegas, well, right now we're seeing Carter Hart play really well. We're seeing Carter Hart play really well. Is that Tortorella? Just Tortorella comes in and they have that history?

There was a history of, yes, of course, when he was in Philadelphia. he played probably his best hockey when torts was behind the bench. Torts makes you want to play for him. And that's a, that's always a positive, especially when you're a goalie. Does Torts want to be liked and respected? No, he doesn't,

but he wants to be respected. And I think as a player, you get a lot of value off of getting respect from him. And he can make you play hard for him. And in short bursts, before he offends you, you have a lot of time for him. So, you know, I can see it going really well for him.

I can. He's a highly talented goalie. There was a time that people thought that he was the next carry price. And he had the pedigree. Now, he's had a lot of things going on in his life. But to where he is right now, if he's able to get his mental and mind space in the right frame of mind, he could be an effective goal. Yes. Just one more for me when it comes to, again, the mindset of putting weight on.

a maybe a guy that hasn't experienced it as much as others. Columbus, they're all crushed. All those fans are absolutely crushed. Jet Grieves had an amazing season, 54 games, but did the weight get a little too heavy for him to close this thing out? You know, the one thing that we've seen here, Kipper, is that there's no small goalies in the playoffs this year. Is that right?

Everybody's got a big guy in next. all the undersized goalies are out this year. And I think from what I've seen in our data, Borny, that really hurts the smaller guys is screens and broken plays at netfront. Defensemen are smarter than ever to not shoot from the point if they have a clear lane to the net. They're shooting off net more. And when you shoot off net, you're getting all that crap off the pile of players.

and it's really difficult when a goalie doesn't have length, meaning wingspan, to be able to make up for and get an extra couple of inches when they need it on a stretch save. And trying to get across the crease is an extra challenge, especially when you don't see it clean all the way in because the bodies are in front of you. And I feel like now players are more willing to stand net front for a couple of reasons. They're not getting whack the way they used to. And defensemen now are almost never taking slap shots. It's safer because the trust is there between net front and the defensemen.

And we're seeing scoring rates go up and save percentage drop because net front's going in more frequently. From the Olympic break to the end of the season, Jetgreaves gave up 11 goals through screens. You know, that ranks him near the bottom in the NHL. He got killed through screens. Smaller guy. I love his game. He plays an amazing game, but there are limitations to size. Columbus could not have played better defensive hockey from the time that bonus took over to now.

You don't get any better than that. The best team defending off the rush, the best team at five on five, defensive zone structure top 10. This was a team that was built to get in, but they couldn't protect around the front of their net in a way that almost they would have to initiate more block shots at the point and be more aggressive. to not let those sifters through. Ellie, last one for me is just about general managers this summer. And when they're looking at goaltenders to bring in, you'll hear people and see that on Twitter, and it kind of makes me a little crazy because it can't possibly be true.

But they say goaltending is voodoo, right? We don't know who's any good. Just sign someone because we got no idea who's a good goaltender. How much, how valuable would someone like yourself be or someone? Surely there's more to it than voodoo in figuring out who's going to be decent. And don't call them Shirley. Fair.

You know, I think a big piece of this, Borny, is finding out where the goalies have played this past season that have had a down year, because those are the easiest ones to attract to your team. It's not going to be easy for somebody to get, let's just say, Devin Cooley away from Calgary because they also have Wolf. But if you could, that's where you'd go. If you want to go for a top guy that's capable of handling more of a load, and he's a big guy. and he moves like a small guy. I have a lot of time for Devin Cooley. Noted. Now, on the flip side of that,

there are goalies that have won before that are having down years. Okay, Jordan Bennington, right? Do you know where I think Jordan Bennington's going to land next year? Florida. Oh, my God. I think he's going to. So where's Bobrovsky?

I think that Bob is 38 to start next season, and he gave up 22 more goals than he, He should have, and he was an 87-safe percentage for Florida this year. And I think that they're going to make a critical decision, much like the way we've seen Vegas do it in the past. And if I'm them, I'm looking at Bittington. Bennington had a really big upswing since the Olympics, and Hofer is ready to take over in St. Louis.

And I think that with the window that Florida has, I see a really good fit there for Binnington being that he is the guy that can handle that pressure and that weight. Sam has hated this segment. Just hated it. It's just the most correct thing anyone's ever said on a podcast with Binnington and Florida. Anyways. Yeah.

So look, I think that what you do next though, Borny is, yes, you look at the analytics. What do the analytics tell you? Well, they tell you that Florida is a team that defends really well off the rush. Okay. When they won their two Stanley Cups, they didn't give up a lick off the rush. Binnington, he's really good when he's. gets to play the shooter and he gets to over challenge and just play his one-on-one hockey. He gets hurt on backside when he over-challenges.

Florida can protect him there. He has the pedigree. He has, you know, the ability to go in and play big game hockey. I think it's a no-brainer for Florida. Wow. Are you good? That was like, that's some good stuff. Hey, listen, try to be better prepared next time you're on our side.

I mean, maybe you got one date. wrong March 17th was really March 16th something. I was I didn't have be so perfect. John Taradella with Vladar because I was looking for notes and I wish you guys should just see how many notes I have here. It's a little confusing. Oh no, we can tell.

We can tell. But hey fellas, one question is this our last show? No. I mean, I hope not. No, no, no, no. No, you don't know this. Regular season. Yes, it is. Regular season. Regular season. We don't have, we don't have leaps going in the playoffs. So,

you guys are doing shows for the entire playoffs. Okay. We are. We are around, pal. We are. So what are we doing with grill marks? Is this it? Well, no, there's the regular season and, you know, somebody can take home a president's

trophy. I'm okay with that. See, if I have the grip to carry on to the post season. Right? You can tell. No, you're right there, Kipper. I just posted it on Twitter. You're right there.

This is for the president's trophy. Okay. Okay, fellas. So here we go. goals when the score is tied. I like to think that this is a game breaker in the NHL. The guy that scores when the score is tied. All right, we've got three options, Caprisov,

Caulfield, or Dylan Gunther? Give me goal Caulfield. I like Gunther. I like Coffield. Cawfield, 29 goals. Gunther second with 19. With the score tied. That's a big gap.

I know, I know. Big time. All right. Next one, fellas. When the score is within one, whether it's tied, up by a goal, or down by a goal, so it's tight conditions. Who has scored the most goals in the league this year? Caulfield, Celebrini, McKinnon.

I don't think you would do this, but I'm going to say Caulfield. I'm going to say Celebrini. I'll say McKinnon. I did it. I was trying to trick you guys. Oh, that's 30. Yeah, he is technically the smartest out of all of us. All right.

The last one here now, guys. I call this one the biggest cookie monster. Okay, copy. So it's the guy that has scored the most goals in the non-competitive situations of a hockey game when your team is either up by two, down by two, up by three, down by three, down by three. or up by four, down by four. Nick Robertson. Ultimate cookie monster.

Ultimate. And it includes empty netters. Oh, boy. Okay. And it includes empty netters, the ultimate cookie monster. The names are Zabanajad, Kuturav, or Wyatt Johnson. I want it to be Kuturav. So I'll say Kuturov.

I'm going to say it's Wyatt. I'll go Kuturov. Kuturov. Yes. A big one for the boys. He doesn't do. reserve that MVP's cookie time. So he had

seven empty netters this year. Seven empty netters, yeah. Jeez. They shouldn't count in the scoring race. Well, they don't within my analytics company when I'm on my little computer tipper. Wow. All right, you guys.

Hey, Valley. Hey, one thing I want to. Do I have time, Sammy? I want to drop one more thing here before I get off. Go, go, buddy. Okay. I did some research on playing goalies back to back. This year in the NHL, if you play the first game of a back-to-back, 905, safe percentage, second game, 904.

It's just about negligible. Yes. And I went back eight years, Borny, and it is. It's negligible. This is a lazy narrative. Don't fall for it. Next year, no more load management for the goalies. Yes, Val.

Glenn Hall. Glenn Hall's back. The Glenn Hall Award. The best back-to-back goaling. We're going to name it. All right. Thanks, Valley. Valley, great stuff, man.

President's trophy winning. Steve Aliquette, everybody. Way to go. And we know how many people watch this show. So, like, yeah, it's done. We just ended back-to-backs. That was an elite radio hit. It's game time.

It's been by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. I'm going to go to the major leagues of baseball where the Toronto Blue Jays kick off a three-game set tonight in Milwaukee. Here's what I like tonight, okay? They're going up against James Mizorowski,

who is a left-handed mutant that throws smoke. Smoke. So what I like tonight, he's going up against Kevin Gosman, who is also extremely nasty. They are both in the top 10 in strikeouts in the major leagues of baseball. I like a same game parlay of Kevin Gosman seven strikeouts and Jacob Mizorowski seven strikeouts with both depleted lineups and both lineups

not looking particularly great at this moment that pays plus 280. You know, I think that's one of your better game times. Thank you. I fully support that. Thank you. So, yeah, Jay's needed W. I'm not going anywhere near the money line.

They're an underdog tonight with that Mizorowski on the mound. Was it? Sorry, was it, Gosman's last start where you got the Bocall and Schneider got ejected? Yes. Electric. really good Johnboy breakdown of that.

So anyways, that was game time instead of by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL, must be 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. And I may remind you, Kipper, this hour of real Kipper I'm Born

is brought to you by Bet365. Yes, it is. Nice job, Sammy. Thank you, sir. All right. We'll take a quick break. We'll go around the National Hockey League. Jonathan Quick shuts it down.

Yeah. What a career. Wow. How do we not ask? value about that. I don't know what we're doing. We're not. Honestly, God, we jam so much in that segment.

He's a goalie guy with the Ranger. He was just on the Ranger. Oh, my God. All right, let's take a quick question. Take a good look around the National Hockey League when we return to the Real Kipper and Born show. Hey, it's Blake Murphy.

And I'm Matt Bonner. Join us weekday mornings at 11 as we break down all things Toronto Raptors. It's the Raptor show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan. And wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nickyprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. All right, boys, it's time for a new segment.

Time now for the Accura Performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. So one of the confirmed playoff matchups that we have for the playoffs this year is the Montreal Canadiens and the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. And do you know when the last time they met in the playoffs was? Was it the 2021 Stanley Cup final? It was the 2021 Stanley Cup final, which is so weird. to think about.

Is that not insane? They're both Eastern Conference teams. Right. So. That was weird. That was weird. That was the year that the Leafs were up 3-1. Tavares got Tavares.

And probably the least best chance to make a deep run because they went up against the Jets the next year, the next round. And then it was, think the Vegas Golden Knights is who they beat. That was a weird year. Anyways, so they have met four times, I think I have it here somewhere in front of me here. Oh, yeah, I got some of my sheet here. They have met four times in the playoffs. Tampa's won three of the four. Canadians won the season series going two, one and one.

The thing I'm looking at here, Andre Vasselisky, against the Habs in his career, has been unbelievable. He has a 16, 5, and 2 record against them with a 208 goals against and a 929, say, percentage. The crease actually, that's crazy. That's a domination. The series to me because it's the epitome of,

I don't know if Tampa's on the way down, but it's a bunch of veterans. It's Vasilevsky and Headman and Point and those guys. and then you got the Canadians with two rookies in net and it's the kind of meeting in their dissent and assent, I would say. Oh, I was just for Vasilevsky, you got to go back to the injuries. And post, including surgery, right? I don't know.

He's a big man. Yeah. He's a lot of dude. A lot of up and down, a lot of wear and tear. you just wonder can he capture like the magic of six weeks, seven weeks, eight weeks, like he had in the past with the body now of a lot of hockey. It's a lot of hockey and a lot of wear and tear. Last two things quickly I'll mention here.

Kutjurov 49 points in 42 games in his career against the Habs. Cole Coffield, only five goals in 16 career games against the Lightning. So one of his lower total against a team that he said a lot of games. So there we go. And that was Accura Performance Matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium. Beautiful. Precise. Premium.

You want to go through a little bit of my article that got released today on Sportsnet.com. Because we did talk a little bit about the Vancouver Canucks and the situation, at least up top, in terms of what direction. ultimately ownership will go, including Francesco Aquilini, who's in charge in all of this. And right now there's just, there's nothing on in terms of a definitive, this is how we're moving forward yet. So Rutherford and Alvin are both kind of.

In limbo right now. In limbo. And do you think that shortly after that, we should get some answers? He could come. I would believe that something could break in another week, days. I think that's kind of the feeling that he's got to come back and let the guys prepare if in fact they're going to keep moving forward with Rutherford. I said the options are you can get rid of both Alvin and Rutherford bring somebody else new in. He could keep Rutherford. He can

move their assistant general manager or Ryan Johnson in and go there. He could decide there's nothing better out there and keep them both. But that seems a little high, it seems unlikely right now. Yeah, given the year they had, I think it probably is. You even mentioned that. They're playing better though. I mean, they're fighting. Yeah, I mean, once you're so far and last, you might as well.

Lock it in, you might as well go. Yeah, go for it. Once you've locked in the first overall pick, is that what you're saying? The gold plants theory there. So you're saying there's interest in Alvin. Were he to be somewhere? Well, I just referenced the history that he's had with Billy Garon. And, you know, Billy's, I don't know if a nice playoff run would solidify his status in Minnesota.

He could also be one of those guys that can move up, bring a guy like Alvin in for more day-to-day, making phone calls, kind of operation. but between the gold medal trading for Quinn and what he hopes is a long playoff run, Billy Garen's in a pretty nice spot in Minnesota. You're talking about them moving around people in Vancouver. I can't look at that and say it's not an attractive job for somebody from the outside if they're going to go that way too. Like potentially first overall pick and whatever it is.

have all your picks, you know, a couple bad contracts that you're going to have to deal with there. The Pedersen one, the best one. But outside of that, like, it's perfect expectations are super low, great place to live. Yeah. They turn on you quick out there. They've got assets. They've got picks. They've got assets.

You can play with them. You could move them. You could trade for experienced guys. There's cap room coming. Would you rather be. It's attractive. Would you rather take over the Canucks? Leafs or jets.

I mean, me personally, I always say leaves. The Knicks. I think the Canucks with a first pick overall. Just their long-term upside. Flames, interesting, too. Flames, by the way, have won way too much of late. I think they're fourth or something. There's a chance that if they get three points in the next two games,

they could pass the least. They can't do that. They're playing the Colorado Avalanche and the L.A. Kings, who I think still have a chance to play for a division potentially in their last game, if things break right for them. But anyways. Flame's got to be real careful. Yeah.

To not win. Don't get three points. Well, don't do the whole year where you bought them out and then all of a sudden get hot and finish fifth last. Yeah, that's not what you want to do. It matters. Kippert just hates tanking so much. It should hate.

It just really. It stinks. It's so bad to talk about teams trying to lose on purpose. It's just, ugh. You hear, I talk to... It's getting worse. I talk to Matt Bonner. It's just getting worse.

Raptors guy, right? He does the NBA broadcast. And NBA is trying to work on their tanking. And he said, what are their suggestions? This is his suggestion. You can't win the lottery if you're bottom three. Anywhere else in there, you can win the lottery. But if you're going to be one of the worst three teams, you're out of the lottery. How do they get better?

You just don't get to be, don't get to win the lottery. So whoever wins it passes you and bumps you at a third or fourth or whatever. But you just can't win it. So there's incentive to not be the worst team in the league. Don't you want to incentivize those teams? Well, if you really do, just send them to the American Hockey League for a year. Well, relegation is the answer. There's unequivocally the best system is relegation,

but owners in pro sports who spend $2 billion on their franchise. So who's coming, so then like... Is we at Utica tonight? I was going to say the Milwaukee admirals are coming up? Yeah. Is that how it would work? Buddy, I love the whole relegation thing. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure you guys aren't up on the table overseas. How much money would you lose? Yeah, you'd have to win, win, win. You put you out of business. You know what you'd be doing. You can't have a $100 million payroll and then play Utica devils. You'd be shopping in the K and be like,

we're going to spend so much money to get out of the American League. I don't know if you guys big EPL guys, but for example, Tottenham Hotspur, who are one of the big, they are in the third last, they are like on the verge of getting relegated. Sunderland was like, there's a documentary about their plummet. But Tottenham was like in the Champions League final within the last five. years. Like, they are a real team that's

They're in the third league. They're about to go, no, they're in the third spot in the table. So they can go down to the next league. Meanwhile, Rexum's on the way up from the fifth division. Google their stadium. They just built a trillion dollar stadium that's

going to have like the Shrewsberry coming in the net. Yeah. Big net. What's the problem here? The net's huge. Just haul it in there. Word on the sabers. They won their the Atlantic.

God, you're just not fans of the Sabres. No, I'm not a fan of the Sabres. I am. Not a believer. Like, I just think if they got Ottawa in round one, is there the Sabres huge favorites? I don't think this is the year where we go huge favorites anywhere.

Yeah. Is there a Daryl Sutter, a waste of eight days anywhere? Yeah, Colorado versus L.A. or whatever ends up happening. I don't know west is the first eight days. All these planes are pretty good hockey. It's a great clip.

I just, do you see any of the social stuff that Sabres did today? Yeah, what did you think? Do you see it? No, I did not. They were posting receipts of everyone who doubted them. Yeah. I'm sorry you say that again? They're posting people's tweets.

They're freezing cold takes. Okay. I was Derek's saying something. They're posting other people's tweets that were betting against them, calling them failure. So they actually They put a billboard up of Ryan Whitney saying they had zero percent chance to make the playoffs. Like they really...

Ryan Whitney got a billboard. I just, you know... Sam, Sam doesn't like it. Oh, how dare we think that the Buffalo Sabers could miss the playoffs potentially? It's been a decade and a half. They fired their GM because they thought they were going to miss the playoffs again.

If your own team that's against you. They stuck so bad until January. You just let them have a little fun, please. Act like you've been there before. But they haven't been there before. It's embarrassing. They were a once proud franchise. You can't act like you've been there before when you haven't been there in like 15 years.

They were the premier hockey franchise of my youth. They beat the brakes off everyone. They had so many great runs. They're a proud hockey with great history. And they're going to go post on Twitter about like people saying that they're not going to make the play. It was their own thing. They're dunking on their own fans. It's embarrassing.

It's embarrassing. I grow up. I am happy that they get to be on this side of it. it, you know, it's been for the fan base. Anyway, I'm sure the fan, the Buffalo fans are enjoying it. Well, not if they got dunked on by their own team. That's true. So, we don't know who they're playing.

No, they will play. So they won the Atlantic. Boston or Ottawa, right? Boston or Ottawa. That's who they'll get. They'll be Boston for sure. It'll be good. That's going to be a great series. I think either series goes at least six. Seven. Yeah.

Some good laundry there, too. Boston's sneaky tough boys. sneaky tough fantastic goaltending they're gritty good goaltending pasta maccoy that's not the three guys that you're minton sammy minton is one goal since the olympic break i'm shaking in my boodies he did that good thing the leaps gave him away well i don't everyone crowned them like immediately it's like we're not allowed to say the other side of it now yeah like it's maybe not the biggest not the worst mistake the leif's made no trading nasm cadbury no when it becomes sixth overall and Chase Reed.

That is the biggest mistake. Yeah. Also in your column, do we do Seattle yet? No, we haven't. But Ronnie Francis is out there now. There's a feeling that he certainly would welcome getting back involved at an executive level again. I don't know what that does for the thoughts of Vancouver or Toronto or anyone else contemplating changes.

New Jersey. That's an interesting sort of implications in the article. just about the last couple years for Ron that maybe he wasn't the decision. Yeah, Elliot also in 32 thoughts, mentioned that it really stemmed a few years ago on a coaching change where Bilesma came in and wasn't really Ron Francis's guy,

but it was leaning towards Bauderil and the ownership group going into that direction. And I think that was kind of the story. start of it in terms of Ron Francis was the president, you know, my title for sure, but it didn't fall into that, didn't fall

into the slots that we've been accustomed to when it comes to hierarchy and president, GM, assistant GM, coach. Yeah, and I imagine name like him, respected guy, there would be interest out there, so. Yeah, we'll see how it kind of plays out here.

Interesting, though, that I thought you noted that Seattle is having trouble getting players to waive no trade clauses to go to Seattle. To me, Seattle, I know they haven't won, but that's a great city and a great part of the world. It's just kind of an irrelevant team. Right, but like they could, it'd be a cool place to be good. Sure.

But they're just not yet. Yeah. And they don't really, I don't know, there's no real star. We've talked about it forever that they've just kind of been blah since the time they came to. Tried, tried to win a defense and goaltending. As a reminder, this hour of real Kipperman Bourne brought to by Bet365. All right, boys.

How many games on tap tonight? It's like exhibition games, right? 10 exhibition games. 10 exhibition games. I think the ducks have some meaning, and I think there's a couple that have a couple. Not much. Our thanks to Steve Aliquette on our Tuesday,

regularly scheduled Valley. And Sammy's true and false. Big success, Sammy. Oh, thank you, man. All right. Enjoy your games tonight. And we're back tomorrow. Do it all over again on The Real Kipper.

Born show. Have a great night, everybody.