Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Goalie Injuries and NHL Parity

Episode Date: December 9, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne start the second hour with a look at the jumbled-up standings before bringing in former NHL goaltender and CEO of Clear Sight Analytics Steve Valiquette (6:20). Vally shares his thoughts on NHL 'parity,' Andrei Vasilevskiy's injury, the Leafs' goaltending situation, the increase of goalie injuries around the league, the difficult environment for Thatcher Demko in Vancouver, the underlying numbers for why Auston Matthews' scoring is down, why Montreal should call up standout goalie prospect Jacob Fowler, and more. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam McKee to discuss Vince Dunn's massive hit on Mats Zuccarello, Bill Daly's update on the Olympic ice, and the Avalanche lining up to use Nordiques jerseys against the Habs in their January meeting.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.

Time to go national on the real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on SportsCat, SportsCat, 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. And streaming always on SportsDat Plus. can also find us on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube at your convenience, of course. This hour of Real Kipperman Bourne brought to you by Bet365. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, and Steve Aliquette will join us for his regularly scheduled Tuesday. Analyst with the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO ClearSite Analytics.

And Real Kippermborn goalie analyst, I would like to add to that title. I'm going to put that on the end. He's the director of goaltending. Yeah, director of goaltending. Right. I like that. He's going to tell us a lot of things in terms of who's hot and who's not. Okay.

A lot of quiet talk around the goaltending in Edmonton. So will he revisit that? Dude, the Leafs are, sorry, the oilers are fixed. They're fixed. They're fixed. They're back. You know what? They're going to play great.

Skinner's going to do better as a result. And they're going to go, hey, Skinner's back. This is the best he's ever looked. Maybe. You know what? Then they'll put up the numbers. And they'll say, well, he's doing just as good as the guy they're trading for. Just keep him.

And then they'll go to the conference finals and they'll play Dallas and go to the way oh, play Ottinger. Then they'll go to the finals and they'll have to pull him in game five and put in Pickard and losing game six. With the exception of Colorado and Dallas right now, like, who really impresses you in the league? I like Washington a lot. They've really come on. Five on five, they're good. The standings are... You just shut down Washington on you a little bit.

I think they're really good. The standings are a mess. They're a mess. A mess. I don't ever recall it ever being like this. As of yesterday, Detroit was out of the playoffs. They were 10th in the Eastern Conference. They won their game last night.

They're now first in the Atlantic. They jumped to everybody. Good night to go. Best team in the Atlantic. Vancouver Canuck fans seemed really pleased with the effort last night but the Canucks 4-0-0-0 lost. Boo's raining down. So I look at the lightning now,

which they drop with Red Wings win last night against Vancouver by a point. And so they get off to a horrible start, Tampa Bay. Horrible. One in six. Then they get hot. And I watched the game last night against the Leafs where I thought they looked horrible again.

Yeah. And this is, I think this is 95% of the league right now where you can go stretches where you're okay. And then you go through stretches where you're like, boys, you're no good. No. You know, if you, I sort of the divisions, I'm just looking at the Atlantic,

no team has more than six wins in their last 10 games. In the Metro, only one team has more than six wins in their last 10 games. Like, everybody's got four or five and six wins. Who is that? Who has more than six in the Metro? Oh, your capitals, red hot. Plus 28 goal differential.

They're a real team to me. Yeah, I think you're right. I like Leonard a lot. People love looking at that, those standings and saying love the parody. Do they? Right? Yeah, they do. They do.

The parody word, they, people love. Oh, this is like a Trump thing. No one said that. People keep coming up to me and saying, sir, sir, we love the parody. No, the commissioner likes it. I'm just, I, no, it's past. Yeah, I know. That's the key word.

Kippery, you're, I've never had one parody. a conversation really never who likes this like you want the mid hl i don't like no there's a there's a perception out there that every market's in well every market that's that's the hook yeah that's the good part that's the league's it's it's healthy for the league to have markets who all feel like they're in it the nchel is a tribal sport and people follow their own team more than the I'm not talking about the actual product. Right. Which I said, you know,

we're seeing a lot of low event games lately. Two nights ago, there was six or seven teams that started at 7 p.m. And after their first period, there was only like six goals in total. Yeah. Right? So, I mean, outside of sometimes the challenges of entertainment and, and intensity outside the challenges of entertainment yeah and intensity yeah like look at your look at

Sammy the Leafs aren't playing a highly entertaining brand of hockey but he doesn't care he just wants two points correct the uh there's there might be a lot of markets like that well throw up the west standings right now let let this fascinate you the Calgary flames right back in it three points out of a playoff spot Right back in it. And four from last in the conference. Yeah. Hey,

oh, look at the flames. They have played themselves seven, two, and one in the last 10 games. Yeah, they participated in a few low event games too. And this is what, yeah, this is what parody does. It's like, God, if they win a couple of games, they're right in there. And so it keeps your fans believing. That part, yeah, I buy into that. That's why Gary likes it.

Gary's job is to keep the owners happy. The owners are happy when people think their teams are in it. No, no. When they make the team. the playoffs and that's their money well but also people keep coming to the games when they think you got a chance when they know in november that you're not making playoffs people stop going and i got to believe people don't like that it's tough to climb the standings unfortunately because every game's a three-point game right so the flames don't actually have a chance but

okay let's go to steve valacette analyst with the rangers msg CEO clear site analytics to to break the tie here in terms of, am I right, Valley, when I say that the catchphrase is parody and how great it is that a lot of teams are still in it in the standings, or did I make that up? Well, I think the owners love it. I don't know if we love it. No, I want good teams and I want bad teams.

You know, like there's not a lot of. storylines guys unless you like comebacks like look at the rangers they were out of it two weeks ago they had a great week last week they beat Dallas they beat Ottawa they lost an overtime to Colorado

lost an overtime to Vegas and I have to say those three teams Vegas Colorado Dallas those are three really good teams that I would take out of the parity conversation it was the first time we've seen Vegas fully healthy that's a

really impressive team guys. They came into MSG on Sunday, and you know what? They look pretty damn good. Like, that's a good team again. When they get Mark Stone going the way that he's going and everybody's, their third line was like, you're looking at it. I'm like, oh, my God, this is an NHL Stanley Cup winning third line. So they're deep, they're good.

Colorado was flying. Dallas is dynamic. Those are three really good teams out west, better than any team that I've seen out east. Valley, is this our first time being welcomed into your home? Or is that a fake background? No, no. I'm in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This is the hotel we stay at when we travel in the NHL. And am I paused right now? No, you're good, you're good. Okay. Yeah. And you know what it reminds me? Just in time based on the decor. Does it remind you of the children's show, the comfy couch?

No, you know what it? No, it reminds me of the hotel on Long Island that we used to stay at. Marriott in the parking lot? No, Grand, there's another one out, yeah, I can't remember the name of it. Anyways, it's like, yeah, it's like being in my grandmother's house.

But, yeah, I'm here for Scott Gomez's Hall of Fame. Oh, Fame induction. Is he around? Yeah. Get him on our show. Yeah, I was, I was going to drag him in here,

but I lost him at the bar. Okay. Weird. Listen, I know we're going to, we're going to go through our various goalies here. But, like, Buddy, what's going on with your union? You're dropping like flies.

What's happening here? Vasilevsky now, gone again. What do you see? So you know what? I've been talking to a lot of people about this. I know a few doctors around the league. Talk to some other trainers. You know what? It was interesting because I had this conversation yesterday with Matt Nicol.

I called him up out of blue and thankfully he answered and we talked about it for quite a while. And he gave me some really good insight. just the way it used to be because he did work with the Leafs 25 years ago and, you know, what he sees now, he's working with Ottawa. But I thought it was interesting talking to him

because I could bounce some ideas off of him because I remember being on the plane sitting beside Chris Drury and saying to him, you know what, we haven't had a day off in like 32 days. And I remember going to practice periodically during the year when we did have a day off. And I remember Henrik and I not doing his,

as well as sharp and our goalie coach saying don't be too hard on yourselves guys you had a day off yesterday and i remember saying to myself like what exactly does that mean because you know i had a day off i can't feel as finely tuned as i usually do and it is that and it's almost like your body the way that matt nickle and i had this conversation yesterday it has to tear to grow and whether you're in the gym working at max and then you know doing your recovery and everything like that afterwards. That's where your growth happens. Right now, what I believe is that recovery is almost more important than the exercise itself. We have such an emphasis on recovery in the NHL right now. We don't practice. And maybe some of the mediocre play is because the passing

isn't as efficient as it is. Or the goalies are getting hurt because they're not working to max every day. Like, guys, our goalie coach, he had a counter. in his pocket. The one that the bartender would have, or the bouncer, rather, when you're going into a nightclub. I used to go to the one in 427 airport road there, Palazzo's. I don't know if you guys heard of it. Really popular in the 90s. And they would just, you know, count us for the butterflies. And when we had reached 300 butterflies, they kind of tell you to, you know, slow it down or do a little less for the rest of practice and not stay out for an extra 20 minutes.

But in a game, 300? Oh, yeah, we'd be at 300 because, Borny, we'd be 30 minutes before everyone came on the ice. Back in those days, we'd go an hour for practice, hour 15. And then, you know, we'd stay for an extra 30 minutes after all. You do a little shoot around with the boys. And you don't leave until everybody's happy, right?

Oh, I would never leave. I never left. But even Lundquist, he was so bad that, like, Like, man, I wouldn't even play the night before. I'd be hanging out by the bench having some water watching them take breakaway after breakaway. And here I'm saying to myself, like, when is this guy ever going to get off? Like, I'm done. And I didn't even play last night.

But I just feel like we went to exhaustion more. And I wonder right now in the NHL, if you're not pushing yourself and going through the wall enough, then maybe you're not necessarily doing the right thing with over recovering. and maybe your body isn't in shape for gameplay because you're not going into splits often enough the way you would in practice. Something's missing. It's almost like between recovery and being able to stay out longer than you should with an injury, it's just perplexing.

Like, Borny, I remember 99, 2000 around that time, our Islander teams weren't that good. And one of the sayings we had around the team was, it's easier to be injured for the Islanders than play for the islanders, you know. And so guys would be hanging out longer with their injuries. And I think you couple it with what I just talked about with being okay to be injured. I don't know. I'm off about this. Yeah.

Maybe you could give us an assessment of the Toronto Maple Leaf School attending situation. Stolars out right now with an injury, kind of vague, wool out right now with an injury could be back in a week or so. Hildaby gets the team's first shut out last night. you know kind of trying to figure out how much that guy can play actimo of is on the the bench right now so what do you think of where they're headed with these guys where they're headed uh kipper you know i like your comment about building up hildeby i think you said that on friday show build them up and then maybe move him but maybe it's another guy you know maybe it's wool no no i suggested that i just said get them all together get him healthy you have you have you have values

value in all of these guys, figure it out, but somebody's got to go. Okay. So it could be anybody and I agree with you because that would reveal itself over the next few months. Hildeby, he's close. The team defended really well last night. And what did he have? He had five high danger chances.

You know, it was one of those games guys where sometimes a goalie, let's just say that, well, he's got a great save percentage, but let's just say he's not a true number one, obviously. but you can play into his game if you play tight to the net because he's so long and a lot of their great A's last night were tight to the net and on the ice

and that's how you feed into a really long goalie the difficult saves for him are 20 feet to 25 feet because that's the mid range where he has to be reactive and he tends to get himself a little small if you look at the shots that he faced last night you can see him in a crouch a couple times

just getting hit by it And I think that the book on him would reveal itself in the next couple of weeks, probably his next three or four starts, where teams wise up to how to get to him. So what I'm saying is, you don't really know what you have in him yet, but it's a good start. And I think that with Wohl, I mean, you just can't leave this often. You can't leave this frequently. You're not reliable. To be a real NHL starter, a true number one, you need to be available for 15. starts. You have to play consistently and you need to be healthy. Those are the three things

that you're required to do. And I know it and you know it. Stolars hasn't showed that. Neither has wool. And you're hoping you can just get one of these three guys into a position where you get value for them. Okay. So just to kind of pick up on that, Stolars, who's never played more than, I believe, 34 games gets the bulk of the starts to begin the season. then he leaves then walt comes in no training camp basically shot out of a cannon to start his season with a good stretch of what four games seven of eight okay now you're over two and now you got hill to be in who to our knowledge has never really experienced much in in the injury front other two guys.

And yet, you know, where is that line now for the Leafs moving forward with a guy like Hildebee between the science, the data, and let's just go with a hot hand? Like 20 years ago, I think the data was let's go with a hot hand. But what does the science now tell us about overextending Hildeby in this situation? You know what I think it is, Kipper, it's overextending these guys while missing practice. that's that's the key here we didn't get injured like this okay do you know why i never played hendrick never got hurt in four years not once you know and this guy pushed himself to the limit pedal to the medal all week long in practice took every shot you could take and i'm telling you

the guy was so good on breakaways because he never got off the ice after practice and took 20 extra minutes of breakaways i'm seeing goalies around the league breakaway safe percentages down this year why because guys aren't practicing but i think it's leading to injure You can't just run somebody six, seven games and then never practice. It's like stretching a dry elastic band. That's what it is. You're not working somebody enough to adjust exhaustion to then bring them all the way back and have them have growth. So that's the issue.

Why are these guys getting hurt? They've never had support. You had to run somebody. First, it was Solars. Then he got hurt. Then you ran wool. What's going to happen with Hildaby? We'll see.

He's younger and he doesn't have an injury history. But, you know, I think that's the key here. Get these guys back on the ice for practice. So you're not going in there so cold. There's no time anymore. It just seems like there's no time to practice. So how do you manufacture that? How do you recreate for it?

I'm telling you the day off thing once a week, pretty overrated when if you've got a travel day, that counts for a day off, but it doesn't count on the player's piggy bank. and then you get a second one because you haven't had a full day off because your previous one was a travel. So that's two days off. And then you play with an optional pregame ski. And we used to get in the gym for a good 25 minutes after games and just get enough of a lift in so that you had something there with just keeping your muscles moving.

These guys are full of testosterone. They're all in their 20s. They've got plenty of energy. Hey, look, I cover enough of these games. There's nights where 20 minutes of ice time. and I don't even know if they got any cardio and they have to go on the bike afterwards. Yeah, that's crazy.

You know, we'll stay on some of the guys around the league because there's lots of injuries, but great Canadian goalies, Hellebuck out. Demko. Demko rumored to be returning soon. Teams may be calling on him. What's your thoughts on where Demko's at? Well, I think it's where, where's Vancouver right now?

You know, where's Vancouver and where are they with their rebuild, re-thread, I don't know what you want to call it. I think for them, they have to figure out defensively what they're doing so that they can actually have a product where you can have a goaltender in the net that matters. Did you guys see the Andrew Cop goal last night? Yes. Backdoor, wide open. Okay, Vancouver's given up that scene more than anybody in the NHL, Borny.

And it doesn't matter who's in your net. That's a positionless goal. There's no goalie there. It's a slam dunk. Right? Yeah. So I did a bunch of work on this today. The low east to west is going in more than any other goal, the Andrew Cop goal. And I think that, you know, I'll stay on Vancouver here for a moment. I think if you're Vancouver, you want to know where wins come from. And where wins come from is getting more scoring chances than your opponent. In expected goals, it's two more expected goals than your opponent. You win 77% of the time. So that's question number one. But question number two is, where do those scoring chances come from and which ones matter the most?

Well, it's the low east to west, and it's also net front. Shots from the point. You've got Quinn Hughes sliding up and down the blue line delivering pucks. If they had that type of offense, then you're talking about a team that has a chance to climb the standings. But they're ranked low there. They're ranked low on the east to west, defensively, offensively. when they were seven wins, eight losses, after 15 games,

they were one of the worst teams in the NHL, but maybe a little bit blind to it because their record wasn't so bad. And now they're one of the worst teams in the NHL, but I think they must know that they needed to be the first to know to be able to make next steps. When I was looking at this today, I took a look at teams that had plus two,

If you're plus two, meaning you have two more of those low east to west, those Andrew Cop goals, two more chances like that per game than your opponent, you win 73% of the time. But it's almost worse when you look at it the other way, where if you get beat by two in that particular game, you win 27% of the time. So you're looking at it both ways. And what I did here was I looked at all the goals that have been scored this year in the NHL. We're at 2,629 goals have been scored this year. And 20% of them, 510 goals, have been scored low east to west. And then the net front, 441 goals. So that's 17% of the goals are being scored that way.

And we know that number goes up in the playoffs. But those are the two ways that most teams have to fix their scoring chance problem to give themselves the best chance to have an advantage at the end of the night to win. no matter who your goal he is. Vancouver, 50 low east to west chances against this year. That's worse than the NHL. Wow. So if you put Demko in there, who's had few injuries, a lower body,

at what point does he get overextended, especially if he hasn't had that practice time? One of the things that I don't think we talk about enough is that the goalie's growing can pull two different ways. It can pull for a stretch going for that east to west. chance or it's just pulling on its way in because when you recover up to your feet after you make a butterfly save you're always sucking in one of your legs you get up with one and the second leg is pulled in and i bet that joseph wall was probably feeling a little bit of that because you'd missed so much time and now you're going through practice even though it's limited but you're getting into games and every time you recover back up to your feet you're sucking your leg back in

That groin injury usually hurts or injures at the beginning of a goalie season. You're watching and listening to Steve Alicat analyst for the Rangers on MSG and CEO ClearSight Analytics. These ever-moving trends for scoring goals, can it affect a shooter? Like I'm looking at two in particular, Pedersen in Vancouver and Austin Matthews in Toronto. And if you're not picking up the vibe on these different trends on where scoring chances, is it affecting them? Is that possible that at one time 100 point guys have turned themselves into 50 and 60 until they pick up the rhythm again?

You know, Kippa, there's a couple of things that I would pay attention to if I was Austin. And we touched on at the beginning of season where he's not getting enough of those passes across the ice that he had gotten two years ago when he scored 69 goals. And this year, Austin has had four chances, the low east-to-west chance, back to the Andrew Cop goal, and he scored three of them. So he's still the finisher. I'll run you through these goals, too. The three that he scored, it was a two-on-one versus Nashville, pass from Nyes,

slam dunk goal. I think it was his first of the year. And then a two-on-one goal pass across from Nylander against the Rangers. and a two-on-one goal against Carolina. This was last week. Domi passed it to him, right? So those are the three goals that he scored, but that's only on four passes, Kipper.

Like, he is either not getting himself open frequently enough or doesn't have the players to pass it to him and find him, or he's not getting it off his stick quick enough. And I think oftentimes this year it's been number three. Do you remember the scoring chance he had last night? it was Morgan Riley in the first period passed it to him across the ice and he caught it

and he stick handled it twice and then he shot it Kipper Kipper that used to be off his tape in one sweep either he was one timing it or he would just catch and in one motion shoot it and Johansson was on the other side of the net

when it touched his tape he dropped his jaw collected it dusted it off by the time he looked up goalies in the middle of the net it was an easy save but that's so that's one that's on him and I don't know again I listen to your show maybe he's got a bad back and he doesn't feel good getting around on pucks like that but part of that's on him when he when he scored 69 goals guys he scored 17 goals more than the quality of chances that he had best finishing player in the NHL over four years and this year what do I have him as minus two

you know like how does this guy drop it's crazy so here we're saying he's not getting the chances he's not getting himself open for the chances maybe it's because he's not getting the passes and he's not getting it off his stick the right way now when i look at the offensive teams that are dominating guys over the last two years Columbus Washington Colorado those three teams have scored the most in the NHL at five on five and those three teams have one thing in common they have the most chances in grade A spots that they choose to pass instead of shoot. Okay, we started keeping this stat this year, and we went back and retrofit it for last year. And it's pretty friggin fascinating when you look at a team that should shoot because they're in a grade A position

or they're about to attempt a grade A and they choose to pass it. So goalies that are having difficulty at five on five against those three teams are getting passed around. more. And that's why they're having a lot of success. And again, these big shooters, Pedersen, Austin, I don't think they're getting the same touch that these other guys are getting. It's funny. Just looking

at the expected goals per game, Spor Logic has him at second in the NHL. He's getting, looks like last night he hits Johansson's knob. But at the Kipp's point, he seems to get close to these areas, but doesn't have that little bit of separation or whatever the difference was last year, to your point, getting it off his stick quickly.

It just doesn't look the same. He's getting tons of chances. You know what? Hey, Borny, I'll just interrupt you for one moment because sports logic would be looking at it and including ones where he misses the net. Yeah. And I'm just talking about when he hits it. So, but that's also a part

of the narrative. Just what you said. And he's not hitting the net enough. Right. You know, his chances are spraying. That's, that's really interesting. And that's something yeah, I am curious about that myself. Valley, for, uh, go ahead. You okay on that? Yeah, yeah. We had Pierre McGuire on earlier

this week talking about Jacob Fowler who I want Montreal Canadian fans to hear your thoughts on what's being described as perhaps the next Kerry Price in Montreal no pressure

made a few calls on it over the last couple days I love the interview again one of these days we might have to go over my listening history because I think I might be the all-time leader for the show so no yeah of course I'm always driving it's perfect and I'm in the locker

with you guys. And I really liked what Pierre said there. It's funny because it's almost like revisiting history. Patrick Waugh won a Calder Cup and then won a Stanley Cup and back-to-back years. Really amazing right from junior hockey. Carrie Price won a Calder Cup with the Hamilton Bulldogs and then went on to be a stud goalie for the Montreal Canaanese. Well, Fowler, I am hearing that Laval's got a really good defensive system. So that boosts his number a little bit. And If, and this is sort of what it looks like here, Montenbo is having some difficulty, not just on screens. Like, I could pull apart the technical game, but he's also having difficulty when the team gets up by a goal. He has the worst save percentage when the Montreal Canadiens get up by a goal.

And that, to me, guys, that's mental, you know, because you're giving back leads now and that becomes a habit too. And the score of the game impacts the overall feeling and the mental state of every goalie. Every goalie's felt this. I'm telling you guys, it's not the same to stop a breakaway when your team is up by a goal versus down by four or up by four. So he might be going through something there as well. We talked last week about Dobish. It wouldn't be a bad idea to bring him in and just give him a game or two. And maybe you can get one of the other two guys to agree.

to a stint. And guess where you're going to LaValle in the American League that's got a good defensive system? It's not a bad idea. It's not a bad idea. Montembo is the second worst performing goalie in the NHL right now.

The worst is Bennington still. But Montembow is the second worst. Oh, Canada. So, yeah. Last one real quick. We're starting to pick Olympic teams. This, Jasper Wollstead in Minnesota, is still atop the NHL, 936, save percentage.

This kid, the real deal? Yeah, oh, that's where I am right now. I'm in St. Paul. Is he the wall of St. Paul? It saw the wall of St. Paul. So this was interesting because we had Ottawa this past week, Thursday, and I was preparing for Allmark to start the game, so spent a lot of time on Allmark,

and then they played Mariline. But as I was going through some discovery on Allmark, I kept this note for the show. He only stops 70% of the screens that he faces. He's allowed 17 goals on screens this year more than any other goalie. So I went to watch all of his screens that he's faced. And the common thread with Allmark is that when he's in his stance and the screen shows up, wherever that shot's going right or left of him, he slides into it.

And in doing that, you don't get to pick up the release because you're in motion. Your eyes are in motion rather than staying on your edges and then getting into the frame with a big body and receiving it to what a goalie would tell you is. their biggest receiving surface, their upper body. So he's really struggling there. And I think it's a piece of technical, but it's also a piece of battle and compete. And you have to fight for sight lines when you're looking through screens.

Now, conversely, Walsad, 41 screens face so far this year, one goal against. He gave up his first goal. Yeah, exactly. So, again, another great game from Gustafin the other night. I think you're taking those two goalies. If I'm for Team Sweden, I'm taking Gustafin, and I'm taking the wall of St. Paul. Love it.

Love it. All right. Are we ready for grill marks? Is he, does he have it on the road here? I don't know. Are you road prepared? Are you ready for grill marks? Does a one leg of duck swim tight circles?

All right. Yes. Do I get one point? So, you know what? I gave you that point from last week. Generous. I went over the tape. I went over the tape.

I rushed you. I didn't get a chance to get in. I gave it to you. So the standings are Kiprios 18, born 15, McKeith 15. Oh, it's tight. It's getting tight, getting tight. A glove pass, you get in a point. Like a tiger.

What a drop. All right. This is all about playmaking and passing this week. All right. We're going to first discuss primary assist. All right. Now, primary assist, what we do within our company is we, narrow it down to just scoring chances.

So, like, imagine Borny, if I gave you a pass and you went down the wing and you shot it from the blue line and it went in, I don't get a credit for that primary pass because it wasn't even a scoring chance. We're looking at scoring chances here. Love this. Okay. Yep. So primary assists on scoring chances. Bedard with 15.

Oh, fuck. Wow, you just got it. Bedard! No, no, no, no, no, I didn't give it away. I didn't get it away. Okay, all right, right. You got to get it out of that room. I do I do I should have went out with Gomer before this.

All right. McDavid. All right. Okay. So it's either Bedard, McDavid, or Celebrini. All right. I'll go first and I'll take Celebrini. Bedard.

Um, I'll say Bedard. Stellabrini. Oh, all right. Single point here. Celebrity was 17. Wow. 17.

Badard was second, though, with 15, which you already heard. All right. We sure did. Best playmaker. Best playmaker. So this is the player that sends their teammates in on high danger, scoring chances most free. So we're just isolating the great A's.

Is it Kucharov, Barzell, or McKinnon? I'll take, well, I went first last time. I'll go, Barzell. McKinnon. I'll take Kuch. McKinnon. God, you're hot. Oh, you're hot.

Yeah. Thanks. All right. Last one is the unluckiest passer. So this is the player that sets his teammates up the most, but they don't finish. Matias Machelli. Quinn Hughes, Kucherov, J.T. Miller.

I say Quinn Hughes. He just sets up so many guys, doesn't he? And they stink. I'll take Kucherov, though, because they got some guys that are underachieving too. I'm taking Miller because these two guys didn't. Borny, you did your homework. Kuturov should have six more primary assists

based on his teammates not finishing for him. Wow. That's right. Hardy leads. Yeah, yeah. I got one more thing before you guys cut me off. A couple weeks ago, I told you guys for Sammy's bet 365. Jason Robertson.

Wild. And he went hot after that. But you know what? I'm kicking myself because the next guy on the list, once they usually get to minus five, minus five and a half, that's when it's a good bet. It was Carter Verhege. And then he went off last week. So I'm kicking myself that I forgot this last week.

This week, it is. is a yesber bratt anytime goal new jersey at ottawa and he is almost at minus six goals against his expectations which means he's due wow this is the good stuff right like a library book way overdue he's a little brady with his earlier comments in this show vali get back to gomer will you yeah yeah all right boy oh boy twin city stuff today out of you you know you know um Boys, have a good one. Thank you very much. And I'll see you next week. Oh, you know what the last thing? You never noticed the hack. Go J's all black. We can't see it. Oh, Jay's logo. Oh, yeah. What is it? The Jay's a Jay's. All right. All right. Little too dark on the screen.

Pictures were signing too. I love that we're a wee now, Valley. We're one of us. One of us. All right. Stay safe out there and warm. Yeah, it's free. It's snowing here. It's brutal. Brutal. See ya. Steve Aliquette, man, he brought it today. We just abused him. That was a long segment. He needs a shower after our segment.

First potential F-bomb in a long time. No, he didn't swear. I know. No, he's a good guy. Come on, I would never say that. It's game time instead of my bet three, six, five. This is the lap app. Try again.

There we go now. Sammy McKee. Let's dial it up. Two. All right. It's game time. present of my bet three six five visit the athlete of odds and see why it's ever ordinary at bet three six five

must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly so I had this whole plan about game time today because the Northern Star Award was awarded today which is the formerly Lou Marsh Award which is the top Canadian athlete for the year and Shay Gilgis Alexander

of the Oklahoma City Thunder won it are you aware what their record is right now I know last I checked they had one loss and maybe 21 wins In 24 games this year they've played, they've lost one of them. Their record is 23 and 1. And early in December, they are plus 1 35 to win the NBA championship. Oh my goodness. And I just, I thought that, you know, I was talking about this a little bit with some of my buddies today.

I feel like this is under talked about in Canada. Like if this was 15 years ago, all we'd ever talk about is that the potential MVP of the league again is a Canadian guy. So I thought that was cool. I thought I'd bring it up. But now I have to find what Jester Bratt's number is because he nailed that Robert. so i'm going to quickly pull this up give me a any time and any time uh jesper bratt goal tonight at plus 260 so here's what you need to know if you bet that you know three games in a row or something like that you're you're gonna break even if you bet it every day for the

next two weeks he'll probably do pretty good he's on fire with that stuff so anyways that was game time is it by bet 365 visit the athlete's odds and see why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus Ontario only, please play responsibly. 23 and 1. 23 and 1. That's absurd. This is the all time with the bill's loss or sorry. Balls, I think it's 73 maybe or 73.

Maybe if they got to 70, yeah, they're on pace. Well, yeah, they're on pace to lose three and a half games. It's crazy. Okay, let's take a quick break. And when we return, a little Olympic talk, Bill Daly spoke on that today before everybody broke off of the Board of Governor meetings. A big hit last night. The Zookster, Zookarillo, went down hard.

Yeah. We'll get your thoughts on the hit. And of course, the Buffalo Sabres, taking it on the chin last night to Calgary. What do they do moving forward? That and more when we returned, Daryl Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Matt Marquesie.

And I'm Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey. show on SportsNet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. A reminder of this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365, Nick Kiprios, Justin Borns, Sammy McKee, just before break, we mentioned a big open-ice hit last night.

Zuccarello and Vince Dunn. people he did last night very out of character like this was a hit that attracted the attention that you would think a hit like that does because in real time players don't necessarily know if it was a headshot or not we get to have the luxury of playing it back oh i framed by framed it three times yeah there you go here's that i don't get is like zuccarello who is a long time tenured nchel player small knows his way around these areas he's looking right at him he sees him coming and he kind of cut into a shoulder that he wore equally so body head hip your conclusion was though that it was a clean hit and no initial contact on the head well it was a body check going through the body and

whether the head is the first thing hit or not going into the body they're pretty low zuccarello's low. He had to be on his knees to not touch his head. I-IHF, that's a suspension, but not in the NHL. Is it? Oh yeah, you can't touch the head. And even if you hit other stuff first. But we just said we're not even sure if that happened. He definitely hit his head. Raised his head. No, he smoked his head. But he hit his body at the same time. He smoked his head. I thought the majority of the impact was on the body first. I think it's all simultaneous. You do? Okay. All right. Maybe you watched it 10 more times than I did. Well, I don't know. You didn't think it hit head. I thought

it was a wonderful body check. Yeah. I concluded the same thing. I don't think, I think, like you said, it's weird that he would put himself in that position, but he was made himself incredibly eligible to be hit, and he got hit. Yeah. And then there was a fracas. Like you get fracas.

Then it went. Then it went side. I am kind of drawn. Did you say hoot and Annie? No, I didn't. Okay. I'm kind of drawn between I get the reaction and I also get people saying why does that have to happen after? You shouldn't have to fight when you throw a clean hit. But I also come from the school of

I don't want you to clean check my best player. Yeah, I don't care if you're clean or not. Don't hurt my guy. Don't hurt my guy and I'm coming after you. Regardless of clean or not, the intent is a little extra than knock him off the puck. The intent is to hurt my guy. Yeah, so don't try to hurt my guy.

Punish my guy. And also, to your point, you don't always know exactly what unfolded. And it's like, if you go too far and fight a guy and it was a clean hit, people just go, wow, he didn't know. Like, it's okay to err on that side in hockey. Can I just say the repercussions of being known as a guy or a team that does nothing? Yeah, we've been talking about one for five years, but.

Is way worse sometimes than even getting suspended. Yeah. Like, it's sometimes you just got to chalk up. the cost of doing business didn't you have a teammate who said it's good to once in a while go squirley cross-line? That would be one of the best junior coaches in the history of the game, Dale Hunter.

Yeah. Who just said every once in a while get suspended, it keeps them guessing. Ever saw, yeah, just finish your checks. It's like on Pierrejean. Jeez. Aw. What was they going to say?

He can't hear you his Memorial Cup rings or clog in his ears. I'm not going to stuck in my ear. Plug in my ear. Yes. I'm not going there. Jerseys or Bill Daly? Jersey talk way more fun than Biddley.

No, Bill Daly. What did he say about everything? Okay, dial in for the electricity. Let's play some of this Bill Daly on the Olympics. Yeah, Bill Daly. I updated kind of venue status, which, again, they're making progress. They're moving toward their goal. It doesn't seem to be anything insurmountable in getting to complete.

I talked a little bit about ice status and dimensions and some of the things we dealt with last week and we're still dealing with to a certain extent. Obviously the ice dimensions are going to be what they are. There's nothing they can do about that. But there are things associated with that, which we have to clarify with the double IHF. And then I talked a little bit about the House of Hockey, which is kind of the hospitality venue that the double I chef is traditionally organized

and appears this year they're not going to organize Bueller So we talked about what that meant to the people who are going to be attending. Hey I'm going to kill it we're good Hey we send people to cover that

We do Yes You jump on a plane and you pay for like an Uber to get to the hotel that you're also paying for It's Colorado Springs To get that in Information. Good stuff.

You know, well, we have the information. We used it. We used the information. Yeah, everything's great. Thanks,

Kyle. So far, cold ice is on the agenda. They're going to play. They'll get it sorted out. If they're this close, they're three days ahead of schedule. But will the ice be frozen?

Hoping so. They're just there blowing on it to cool it off. Bring your swim trunks, boys. Okay, Sammy, we've saved the best for last, um, Yeah, your favorite, sports fashion.

You love this stuff. I like this one, though. This is a good one. You set it up, please. Yeah, League approved on January 29, the blue Nordiques jerseys versus the red habs jerseys at the Bell Center. So, of course, not actually the Nordieks. Oh, my God.

It's the Colorado Avalanche who stole away the Quebec Nordiques are returning to the province to play Montreal. Can I tell you? Blue-un-red. How, if you're from Quebec City, can we just say, They're probably not getting a team. Like ever. There's big cities in the U.S.

That the commissioner would... I saw some stuff about Ottawa asking for some money. The commissioner would rather put a team in London, England, than Quebec City. He would. I think it's tough right now to be talking legitimate Canadian market. I would love for it to happen. My opinion is it's probably not going to happen. So if you're a Quebec city, you're a Nordic fan,

would you not maybe consider cheering for California? I don't know. Zero shot. Zero shot. Like, that's the last team you chair for. They're going to wear your jerseys in Montreal against the Canadians. That's going to kick up some real sentiment. There has to be a absolute brawl.

There has to be an extra. It's the only way we would recognize those two jerseys together as if there was a bench clearing brawl. What do you mean? Those games used to be. Legendary brawls. What are you the only way we would recognize them? What does that mean?

To honor the tradition. To honor the tradition. Sammy knows what I'm talking about. Yeah. Those days go crazy. I don't want five lining across the neutral zone going, you know, Red Rover, Red Rover, we call you over. Like, don't play that hockey, please.

Particularly if, you know, Colorado is as good as they are. And they go in there in your sweaters and maybe it's long enough that the sting is out of it. And they come in, they plow the habs and you just go, God, that looked good. Yeah, man. That's actually a good point. Like, maybe you're like one time more time for old time's sake. Let's go here If I in to the

I actually have Some former Nord's fans in my life One of my buddies' dads Jacquess is a former Jacques So maybe I'll ask his thoughts We used to When I played

They played neutral site games Neutral site games I mean we played a I played an NHL game I scored an NHL goal in Saskatoon Come on Oh yeah I guess

Shout out Saskatoon Really Against the Winnipeg Jets That's cool And they should have one in Quebec City If they wouldn't welcome that So that's an awesome idea They can play one there every year

I bet you if you told Ann Lauer You can get the gate and revenue and whatever You play one game a year in Quebec City He's like boy I like it here Well he'd like getting one sold out barn a year For free, you know guaranteed sell out No it's not going Well I've been seeing some stuff about them asking for money

From the province You're asking for money Because they're panhandling To build a giant development Okay funding not because he'd not a great start you'd like you'd like it just be locked and loaded and construction starting single people i thought he was a billionaire don't they just yeah they're building a whole thing not just an arena they're looking for well there's already

one in quebec city cabbat oh my god it sends has be so mad at me but there's a videotron there's not that far also i wrote that the sends were the only team inside a playoff spot like a week ago oh yeah edmonton is the only team in now bonk They're heading south. Head and south. We need five. Five. Yeah, five in.

You need a lot to go right. Okay. Get two in and then work it up to five. Our thanks to Steve Alicat always for his contributions on a Tuesday. If you missed it, give us a download on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube to our YouTube fans. Thanks for the support. Give us a thumbs up. Rating and review would be nice too.

Tell us how much you love Sammy and despise J.B. and me. Cool, cool, cool, cool. Okay, how many games on tap tonight, Sammy? Ten. Ten.