Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Goalie Worries into 2026

Episode Date: January 6, 2026

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Steve Valiquette (3:53) to chat about Jacob Markström dip in the final year before his extension kicks in, how Dennis Hildeby can learn from Jacob Fowler's style of netminding, how he would fix the Ottawa Senators' goalie problem, if the New York Rangers would become sellers with Igor Shesterkin placed on the IR, Anthony Cirelli's addition to the Team Canada roster and why Sam Bennett was left off the team. Then, on Grill Marks, the guys guess which area of the crease has the highest percentage of goals getting in. Afterwards, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee shift towards the World Juniors, Zayne Parekh's record showing, comments on NHLers' personalities, and 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.

It's the national hour on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary. And streaming always on SportsNet Plus, always available on Spotify, Applepodcast and YouTube. This hour of Real Kippoor and Bourne brought to by Bet365. Nick Kippreel is, Justin Form, born, form. We're always got a forum here.

and our very own semi-McKee. So, like, we've talked about it a little bit on the show. We have a new guy on her show, Ethan, Jaja, Kaboor. Yes, right? And I have now given him his most important task. He is to text me every day at 4.45 p.m. Eastern Standard Time to change the jersey. One for one.

One for one. A nice clean change. I will never make you feel bad ever again. As long as we've been Definitely not about the jersey But other things You'll definitely make you feel bad Zaja is a life for now

In this show Yeah, he just has a full-time contract So there you go Real Kipper Jersey Awesome stuff We got Steve Valliquette Coming on Been a while

Been a while Yeah I think he was skiing I don't know He lives Our last guest has a hot tub And this guy lives a life too He's got a little Zaja life going on

I don't know what we're doing wrong We're just grinding over here He is analyst for the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO, ClearSite Analytics. The Rangers needed two points desperately lost, gained one, I guess, lost in overtime to Utah. We're going to get into that with Valley, but Schisturkin going down is,

there's no worse news for the New York Rangers than losing this guy. You know, there's a six-foot-six-six-goaltender who's had a 927 save percentage that's going to be back from IR pretty soon that could be available to them if they wanted Anthony Stollars. Could he fill the gap for them?

Wow. Now we're talking. Morgan Raleigh in there and because it's a bit of Jack coming back the other way. There you go. We fixed. We should be they both still suck.

Or would the Rangers and the least be looking at going Is this worth saving right now with something as big as what you're talking about? It's funny because the Rangers are one point. Well, I guess, yeah, there are three points out of a playoff spot right now. Everybody's that. So Morgan's got, I believe, four more years at seven and a half. Zabandajad has a ton of eight and a half.

Eight and a half. Like, there's no room. It would be almost impossible. to make the money work. Yeah, I was just joking. I know. But I like where he's going. You're joking, but we're just,

that's how these things start. You know, does that make sense? I'm joking on a national platform sometimes. How about a healthy stolars going home to New Jersey if you can get rid of Markstrom? Oh, they're trying to clear caps. Well, they are. I was going to say trying to find another hues somewhere.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but they just re-uped Markstrom, didn't they, at $6 million a year? Yeah. I can't believe they would do that. Yes, Markstrom has, but he only has, is a two-year contract. So this year, he's 4.125 with some retention, I believe. 6-6, the next two years. Can't believe.

Maybe we'll find some answers to the bottom of the valley. Maybe our next guest can answer this question. Let's welcome in Steve Aliquette. Ranger, analyst, CEO, clear site analytics, and clearly our second biggest Blue Jay fan. That's right. Valley, are you from Oakville or are you from somewhere around here, right? I was born in Otobico, but I was raised in Bolton, raised in Bolton. We don't have any hospitals there, Borny.

Okay, good to know, good to know. Valley, I'm definitely going to talk to you about Chesterkin. but before you came on, we just had this conversation on two teams that hurried to re-up their goalies. Stolar has still had another year before his new contract kicked in, yet they went four years on him

at I think 15.5 million, 16 million. And then New Jersey goes and re-ups Markstrom and his new contract doesn't kick until next year, albeit it's a two-year deal at 6 million. her. What is the hurry for these teams to do this a year out?

The hurry for Markstrom, that one's puzzling Kipper, because that's my region. They're on my local network. I watch New Jersey a lot. To be blunt, he looks closer to an alumni

goalie than an NHL goalie right now. Why would they go six and six if he's as if he looks as bad as you said. Well, I don't think that he looked that bad last year. This year he looks like a totally different goalie, totally different goalie. You know, Kipper, Lundquist and I were talking about this a few weeks ago.

As we got to age 35, it felt like the bus got bigger and bigger that we got hit by when we woke up the next morning after a game. And if you don't work on your game during the offseason, lateral movement specifically, you can lose a step and you've seen it with defensemen losing a step to get back and recover a puck you've seen it with forwards with breakaway speed

the same thing happens to lateral movement with goalies when you lose a step oh my goodness you'll lose everything because now you don't even have faith on the open shot because you're trying to cheat all the time and when I watch Markstrom right now when I say he's moving like an alumni goalie it's like I've seen Hank play recently right

and I was teasing him because it didn't look like him and I saw Patrick Waugh a few years ago getting ready for an alumni game you swear he would have never played before sometimes when you see yourself on video years after the fact you can't even believe how awful you look and because I'm well-rounded now

and I'm an alumni myself there's times I feel like I'm moving pretty quickly out there Keper when I play with the Ranger guys and you see yourself on video and it's a totally different story that's great yeah it's uh you know time comes for us all I suppose Get your take on the Leafs goal-tending situation right now.

They've gone back tonight to Joseph Wohl. Dennis Hildaby had been playing well. Now, when we have talked previously, you haven't loved the way that Hildebe moves or held his glove, I believe. We weren't sure about him stylistically. Have you changed your thought on where he is or still it's just working for him,

but maybe he isn't a long-term promising thing? I think it's fair to say that he's getting away with a lot. Okay. You know, and he's not there for me yet, Borny. Yeah. You know, look, you know what? A good comparison would be how I feel about Jacob Fowler. Okay.

Okay, because I saw him come into Madison Square Garden a few weeks ago, and he was raw and unsteady. A week later, I was on the ice with a goalie that I coached that was back for Christmas, and he was back early, we were getting through the paces, and we were talking about Fowler, and he said to me, and this is a Division I current goalie, he said, best goalie I've ever seen. You know, and I was like, oh, geez, didn't get that impression of him

when I saw him at Madison Square Guard. He was going down on shots that weren't reaching the net. He looked really nervous, hyper nervous. And, you know, I've watched him twice since, Borny. This guy is so damn good. Really? Oh, like I'm watching him, and he's ahead of every play. His technique is perfect.

But he's not trying to stop the puck with technique alone. He's willing to come out of that and sacrifice. and scramble and be athletic. But his tracking is remarkable. And this is the difference between watching Fowler and watching Hilda Beast. It's the head positioning. And when you're watching Fowler,

he's just tracking his head towards the release on every shot. And every puck is certain. It's like hitting the middle of his blocker. It's catching the webbing. He's moving out of every save because he tracks the puck so well on first shot, he's able to be fluid and smooth to move out of it whereas Hilda B is getting by with a lot of action that's unnecessary

when he finds his game all the way he will move less he will move less distance he'll look more efficient he'll receive the puck more and I can't compare the two like I wouldn't get in an argument with anybody that would compare the two you're watching and listening to Steve Aliquette analyst for the Rangers on MSG CEO ClearSight Analytics the Ottawa Senators

is goal-tending, killing a potentially good season for them? Yes, and I think I have the solution. I'm not here to dump on them. I'm here for solutions. Steve Staeos was one of my favorite teammates. I'm here to give suggestions. All right.

Okay. And I think the first thing that you have to do if you're Ottawa is realize that you have an 874 safe percentage, which is worst in the NHL right now. And this is a very good team. This is a playoff team. It's a certain playoff team.

And if they don't make it, guys, it's because of one thing and one thing only. They didn't get a save. You know? And here's what I've come up with. Casey to Smith. Casey to Smith makes a million bucks. He makes a million bucks next year.

And if you were to put him, I did my goalie swap tool today with putting him with all of his skill sets from the down, ballast net into the Ottawa net. He would have saved. Now, keep in mind, Maryland and Allmark have combined for the worst goalie tandem in the league,

not just above the surface, but below the surface analytically, he would have saved the Ottawa Senators 22 more goals than that combo of Maryland and Allmark. 22 goals. And the reason why is because of where his strengths are and where the weaknesses of Allmark and Marilynne are. Now, when I look at overall safety,

percentage, team save percentage. I like to look at it in four different categories. Where are they net front defending, Ottawa? Well, they have the worst safe percentage net front. So every shot coming from the point where it's a screen, a deflection, a broken play, or a rebound, they're not getting saves there at all. That happens to be one of the strengths of Casey to Smith's game. Casey DeSmith this year has faced 36 screens. He's allowed one goal. Wow. He's had 38 broken plays off of net front, only six goals. Those are really good numbers. And he's really good on the open shot.

181 shots he's had this year where he's had clear sight on the puck, whether it's in the slot on a two-on-one, all included, only allowed six goals. So he would have, and this even includes two-on-one, yeah, two-on-one's time and space, the whole shebang. Last night, guys, Detroit had six high-danger chances in the game, just six. They scored on five. jeez you can't win with goaltending like that and this is going to bring me to our segment and grill marks later on at the end of the segment because marilyn got beat on the first shot

of the game under the glove yeah that was horrible it was horrible and the one thing you can see when you're looking at goalies that aren't tracking the puck well this is the giveaway for anybody where was his knee when the puck was released and coming through him it was off the ice so he's tracking back and there's a big hole under his glove if he's playing it right if he's playing it right and sound both knees come down to the ice

and he's making his save down and over his pads just not an NHL goalie and I don't even blame him he's just up there too soon with too much on his plate because Almark pulled the shoe and hold on in 23 years of age he's a puppy right it's too much too soon

Kipper it always goes back to if you haven't dominated at the American Hockey League level, stay there. You know, I've not seen goalies. And this is a thing from minor hockey all the way. I see this mistake. Every year, I deal with these kids. Everybody's in a hurry to go to the next spot. And if you aren't dominating at the level that you're playing at,

stay there for additional time. It's never going to hurt you. This game is a marathon. It's not a sprint. And for them, management-wise, they rushed it a little bit with him, but they can save their ass if they get, Casey DeSmith or somebody like that. It is crazy when you see parents that are like,

get my kid on that team, that higher team. And it's like, no, get your kid handling the puck on the other team. Well, Borny, we have prep school hockey here in Connecticut that is popular. It's a really good step before junior. My biggest pet peeve is when the kids that I work with haven't dominated prep school hockey and they want to go to the OHL or they want to go to USHL. I'm like, you're not a 905. You're a 905.

When you're 940, come talk to me. Yeah, yeah. That's great. Just wanted to follow up on Allmark, who I guess was seen at the arena. Obviously, no information from the Ottawa senators officially on Allmark in his leave of absence other than we support him. But, you know, if there isn't a real sense here on injury or even any wellness situations here, there seems to be a level of frustration coming out of Ottawa a little bit on this story. Well, the frustration would be what's worse than having,

and I'm sure you've had a friend or a relationship with somebody where it's always something. It's always something. You know, they don't make it to the dinner on time. It's always something. There's always something going on in their life. There's always an excuse. There's always something. I've cut those people out of my life.

I'm 48 now. My circle's pretty tight. And I've gotten rid of those always something people. Well, with Allmark, it's always something. It's just always going to be something. It was always something in Buffalo. It was always something in Boston. And, you know, I don't want to pile on this guy

because I don't know what he's going through, but I'm just telling you it's always something. Yep, I think that's well said. I wanted to ask you about a situation close to your heart there, the New York Rangers. Igor Shasturkin, going on IR, I believe. This guy has been very good yet again for them. year in 9-13. Jonathan, quick, behind him, a 9-19 and 11 starts. What's the plan? Where, what's

the update? What's going on in New York? The only goalie that's been more consistent than Shisterkin is Sorokin. That's it in the NHL. Yeah. So Shosturkin has been really consistent. He hasn't been great. He hasn't stolen any games. And that's my hyperbole. He has not stolen any games, but he's been very consistent. And here's the danger here. If it's long term. As great as Jonathan Quick has been, and he's been great. They have combined for like Vesna level goal tending together as a tandem. But again, back to the hit by the bus the morning after a game conversation, Quicks turning 40 in a couple months. And he has had six or more days rest between all of his starts. And when you're starting, you don't have that luxury

any longer. So I don't know what that's going to go like, Borny. Now, here's what happened last night. And I get warned all the time not to speculate, so I'm not going to do that. But what I can tell you is what an injury looks like. And as far as a player's behavior,

any sport, the camera inside the net picked up heavy screaming. Like, screaming. Okay? And then when he came off the ice, he was carried by three trainers because he comes right by our fifth floor studio. and he was no weight on his leg.

His left leg had zero weight on it. And a lot of pain was there. Now, my biggest injury I ever had, guys, I got stepped on by a skate when I was in bare feet in the locker room. Oh, my God. It was the worst, Borny. So I find out the day before I'm getting called up. I'm playing in Springfield.

I think Robert Schnabel was a minus five that night. And I come out of the, shower and I was giddy because I knew I was getting called up and I'm drying my hair I hear a fight's happening in the locker room one of our players Craig Mills is fighting with Anders Mirvald and you know

the feeling I'm sure you remember a Kipper where you're getting called up you know you're up and you're just giddy and I was my surroundings I wasn't paying attention I was pretty oblivious to what was happening around me one of my teammates Jean Gideh is filling up Gatorade and I step out of the shower with a towel

over my head and the fight moves on to him, he doesn't see me and he steps back, he's still wearing his skates and it's just bang. And I slide back into the shower. I know I'm done for it. Wow. I look at my foot and my toes just drop and the only thing that was keeping my toes

from not completely falling off was the bottom of my foot. That layer of skin didn't get cut all the way through it. Hell, it's the grossest story that was ever told. We got to put a warning on this podcast. Oh, man. Let me tell you, the pain I was in, but I didn't even scream like shasturkin last night that's my point you know like I went in I just looked I was like

you know yeah and I so anyhow that was a brutal injury it took three months to even get a skate on it was two surgeries the first surgery my tendons are so tight that I can't like really kick a soccer ball that well anymore or swim but my first my first surgery my toes were up like pinned up and I went and had a second surgery in New York long story short I was able to keep playing but there was time where they thought that I wasn't going to be able to get in a skate again. Jeez, man. Just to talk about

like for the Rangers especially here and we just moments ago talked about how the standings are so cramped together here. I mean, I'm looking at their roster and all their key guys are like 32, 34 years old. I mean at

will we see this Ranger team without Chesterkin most likely be sellers very quickly here. Kipper, this is the strangest season that I've seen, right? So how about this? As a player, when you see the standings, you know, right now there's still hope

because you look at the standings and if you're on the Rangers team, you're saying, well, we're only three points out of a playoff spot. But the reality is your 16th in points percentage. You've got to hop over everybody that's collecting points every night. So we know that that's really not the likelihood of what can happen. They've been shut out eight times this year already,

shut out eight times. They have five. wins in 19 games at home. But they're 15, 8, and 2 on the road. What is that? You can't figure this team. Oh, it's wild. And Borny losses last month

against Chicago, Anaheim, Vancouver, and Nashville, all Western Conference teams that you'd expect to beat. And again, lost a point last night to Utah. All of these teams are not quite playoff teams yet either. So

you've passed off points. But they've beaten a lot of the big boys. They've had a lot of big boy games. So I don't know what they're going to do because I don't think they know what they are yet. And they've defended better than they've defended in the previous 10 years when they were contenders at times. So that piece was there.

But now the Shasturkin thing might just change everything. But, you know, it's really hard. Yeah. They say nothing sums up the season better than the team that's 16th in Eastern Conference points percentage, not knowing what they are yet. You know, like... Totally, yes.

Halfway through the year, it's completely bizarre. Yeah, yeah, you know, I've looked at this team, but like you said they've been shut out eight times. Like the Leafs had a 250 game streak without getting shut out, got shut out, and then they went 70-some games. How does a team with Panerans, Banergett, Lafranier, all that talent, Fox, how do they go eight games?

You know, you know what it's been? So I think this would be frustrating, if I was a coach. Let's just say you're putting together a great game plan. You're defending really well, as I said. You're getting plenty of scoring chances, but you can't finish. And when I watch the players, Borny, you know what I see? They're really bad on first touch.

When they receive the puck, they're not ready to shoot it. They corral it. They have their head down. They drop their jaw. They dust it once or twice. They pick their head back up. They miss the net. Or they shoot the puck on the ice on great A's.

And you've got to elevate the ball. puck on grade A scoring chances or they're not really great A like they just don't go in they hit the goalie's pad every goalie's going to go down into a butterfly 10 times out of 10 on a shot so their accuracy on their shooting whether they're missing the net or they're hitting

the goalie in the chest or on the ice that's been the real difference here and Lafranier he's a minus six unexpected goals Trochecks minus five like you can't have guys in your top six that are minus six minus five like that's the key number I've brought up

few times on the bet three six five where we had some fun with that right and that's what i see i just i'm shocked with how they haven't been able to finish on scoring chances and that's been the difference and i don't know if it's because they get tight at home like if that's really a thing i've never thought that was a thing and it seems like it's it's closer to that because i did one research study a few weeks ago and it was like 50% of their scoring chances that are grade a chances hit corners on the road and hit chest and on the ice at home like what is that i don't know you know not sure if you caught kevin shovel day off press conference in winnipeg the other day but essentially i believe he believes that there's still hope for a buffalo saber kind of run here to get themselves

back in it interesting most recently we saw the seattle cracking go like one for a left and now they're on a seven and one run. And lo and behold, they're back in in wild card territory here. And also, lo and behold, Gru Bauer now is like the flavor of the week again. So that's the problem with our league is everybody's hoping on this great three-week run. Yeah, so interesting. When I heard you guys talking about Jersey a couple shows ago after they played the Leafs and you thought they were the worst team at hockey.

I thought that was funny. So I took a word. They were that night. They were that night. No, but I thought that was funny because, again, I watched them a lot. And I just wasn't sure Kipper. Like I was like, okay, maybe Kipper's right. I'll take a look.

Well, I really believe in this one thing that I have going here, which is if you're bottom five and eight of these key categories that I look at, you don't make the playoffs. But if you are two or more bottom fives out of those eight, it's a certainty and then it gets worse for you so the new jersey devils are bottom five and four out of the eight categories like they're one of the worst teams in the league like that's a fact the Boston Bruins are actually five out of the eight in the bottom five so they are officially the worst as of this morning and chicago's four the anaheim ducks are three

Vancouver's three I mean all these teams that I'm talking about to us I think if we're having a beer at a bar probably non-playoff Valley give us a couple of the categories so the best team in the NHL that wins every year is top five in defending

against grade A chances off the rush so that's one of them another one is offense in your D zone offensive zone five on five D zone five on five power play penalty to kill five on four and off the rush offense at five on five so you just take those

four categories and then what i like to do is look at them as subcategories so if i'm saying that at five on five you're not a really good team well tell me where i'm not a really good team so then we'll look at net front let's look at de zone coverage dots down let's look at the east to west passes in your d zone and at least i can get a round answer to nailing down for the these teams why they're so bad in that specific area like for instance the anaheim ducks they have the worst defensive team at five on five in the nchel but they're also really bad uh net front odd man rushes so you can really nail it down too and watch the video as it really correlates to what those categories are that's interesting those teams right there i think that like yeah i've got

anaheim right at defending in front of their net 30 second in the league at defending off the cycle dots down, 19th east to west, and then 28th in the NHL at defending odd man rushes. And buddy, like, I remember, and I think I told you this for my money guy is Gerard Verbeek and Pat Verbeek's brother. And I've told him a number time, I was like, hey, man, could you just send this message over to Pat? Like, let him know that this doesn't look good for him defensively as good as they were a few weeks ago, you know? And I knew this was coming for them, but maybe they did two. You know, maybe they did two. You know, maybe they did. You got a better chance of Brad Marchand saying no comment

than Pat Verbeek listening to you. I'll tell you that right now. That's the best part. That's the best part. Valley, before we get to Grillmarks, I, you know, I was talking off air with McKee about Canada, team building, who's on the roster, who's not on the roster. One of the things he was a little skeptical about,

and I was saying I think some of the other numbers are good is Anthony Sorrelli. So I think a lot of Canadian hockey fans aren't sure what to make of Sorrelli as a choice. Is there any validation for him and the numbers outside of Coop likes them? This was really interesting. Sammy did tip me off that you may ask me this. So I spent a good 45 minutes on it.

Oh, sorry. That's why we had to make sure we get it in. No, but I think this is interesting because when I played for John Tortorella, what he did was he would take the scoring chances that you were on the ice for at five on five. and he would give you a plus if you were the primary contributor and he would give you a minus if you were the primary offender.

I remember once where Gomez, as I told you guys, he's one of my best friends. I was like, Gomer, man, is Torts Matt at you? Like, you were minus three last night. He was like, no, no, no. I was like a plus one in his system, right? So Torts was keeping his own analytics, but it was fascinating to me listening to that

where I'm like, oh my God. So like, if let's just say Henner gives up a goal off the wing, it's a bad goal, but it's not really a, scoring chance he doesn't hang a minus on scott gomez for that right so it's got context one of the first things i got into borne when i got the stats company going was i have to do a plus minus like a true plus minus for scoring chances at five on five so what i did was i took all of our scoring chances at five on five qualified them right way i eliminated the low danger stuff because it doesn't make sense to give somebody a plus if he scores a bad goal or if he's on the ice and his goalie

allows a bad goal. I don't want him to take a minus for that. So anyways, I use the John Tortorilla system, but Torts had it for our team, Bernie, but I did it for the whole league. Okay. Okay. So center iceman in the NHL, the top center iceman in the NHL, less minus at five on five with a plus 25. Now, I didn't do scoring chances. I made it even better. I did it on expected goals, so it's even more apples to apples. Plus 25 expected is Nathan McKinnon, top center iceman in the league. Makes sense. Second best. Second best. Anthony Sorrelli

plus 14. Yeah. And third best, Jack Eichel. So do you think maybe his coach isn't crazy and this is a really good hockey player? And I'm telling, are you in agreement with me? Is this, were you for it? I'm pro Cerelli. I am pro Cerelli. Oh, you're pro Cerelli.

Got it. Okay, so this is neat, right? So then I go through it a little bit deeper and I find out where he is dots down defensively. how strong his stick is on East West. He's really good at shutting down the East West. He net front for and against. You know how important that is for a centerman.

He's got to be in front of the net. The screen, he's got to be net front and cleaning up defensively. He's great in both of those areas. So you're looking at the style of play. He's also one of top guys on retrievals in his own zone defensively as well as offensively to keep play going. Then, of course, I'm looking at where Tampa is. Well, they're a good hockey team.

He's been there nine years. They've got a top five net front D zone team. and they're one of the best at shutting down the east-west. He's a big contributor to that. They've had a lot of success. So, look, I've got to say that everything I found supported it, I don't watch Tampa Bay as closely as I watch the Rangers, but with his production and then his underlying numbers.

Okay, I know we got to keep moving, but I cannot allow you to leave without talking about Sorrelli and then not at least trying to attempt to get an answer from you on what kept Sam Bennett off the top 25. You know what? Look, I went there myself mentally, and I'm like, okay, Sirelli's in, but why is Bennett out?

I don't have the answer for that because I, the reason why I wanted Florida to win last year is because I still wanted to be right about hockey. Yeah. I believed in Sam Bennett. I believed in Marchand. Totally. I needed to, I was more invested in that Stanley Cup final last year,

and I'm talking about actually the whole playoff. Like, I wanted to see them have success because I want hockey to still be hockey. love that all right pal awesome stuff as always all right hey grill marks don't shut me down born 23 points leading the way you had a big week the last time we were on mckeen 19 points kippers and third 18 points all right so i'm watching the ottawa game last night and i'm looking at merlin and get beat under the gloves so i'm trying to focus in on this assignment for where are goals being scored right now on the net when they're beatings

goalies, and we're going to focus on when a goalie has a straight line of sight. We're not talking about screens or broken plays, but when a goalie is able to dial in on the shooter, the first one is going to be on a two-on-one. Puck carrier shoots the puck. Okay, you've got five different places you could score. High glove, high blocker, low blocker, low glove, or five-hole. All right, so for all three of these questions we're going to go through, just name one of those areas, and you've got to select the right one that has the highest shooting percentage. Okay. And you want to go?

I'll go first. Who's going to go? I'll go first. I'll take low glove, the new hotness. Yeah. I think low glove, too. I can't go three in a row. I got to just pick something else.

I'll go high glove. It is under the glove. Low glove right now, guys. I'm getting killed. 27% shooting percentage when you shoot low glove on a two-on-one. Yeah. you know vali when i when i played no one shot low glove no one shot glove the goalies held their glove down on their pad and you shot it over it if you could so boring i wanted to go low glove by the way

but i just couldn't oh i never thought about i have a theory i have a theory and because that that bothered me and i didn't know the answer that and by the way we've seen that number climb that shooting percentage climb over the last five years so marilyn i'm going to stay on him quickly we're safe percent differential low glove in the league and he stops just 73% of low glove shots but here was where I got connected to this

a little bit more 15 of the bottom 20 low glove safe percentage goalies in the NHL are Europeans really and is that a correlation to not playing baseball because a lot cheap

with their glove I mean right let's talk baseball Sammy yeah a lot big oak No short-stop. No short-stops. So anyhow, I thought that was interesting. Now, when a player steps into the slot and has time and space, a lot of room, they could pick their spot, no pressure.

So clear-sight time and space, which one of those five spots has the highest shooting percentage? Five-hole. Low blocker. I like five-hole, too. well it is under the glove but you wouldn't believe how close it is 17.9% low glove under the blocker 17.8% so it's so do I get half a point semantics nobody got it all right now the last one I did a combined search of clear-sighted shots from the slot the odd man rush chance as well as clear-sighted shots with time in space. So everything from the slot, all conditions, and of those five spots, what's the

highest shooting percentage? Low blocker. It's tempting to go three, Pete, but I just feel like the good old-fashioned high glove here, just rip it under the bar. Give me high glove. Give me a low glove to come back. High glove, Barney. That's a sniper right there. I haven't got a point in a month. I was going to say, I was going through it on my job. dry a race, but I'm like, oh, no, Kimber's getting beat up of this thing. Beat up. Valley, awesome stuff, man. Really appreciate it. As always on your

Tuesday, one of a must-listen, must-watch segment on our program. Thanks, pal. Thanks, bro. All right, boys. Have a good one. Go, Jay's go. Thanks, Val. I appreciate it. Can you believe we're like barely into the new year and we're getting go, Jay's, go, Sammy? What is that?

I mean, pitchers and catchers report in like a month, but it's almost here. Jays are providing a lot of off-season excitement compared to... And they're still not done, apparently. Those srelly stats, quite good. It's game time, presented by Bet365, visit the athlete of sods and see why it's every ordinary at Bet365, let's my team plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly.

Looking at one game tonight and one game only, and that is the Toronto Maple Leafs hosted to Florida Panthers, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, pretty close on the money line, minus 115 for the Florida Panthers, minus 105 for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I'm going to keep it pretty simple tonight. Give me Brad Marchand anytime goal plus 155 after his comments today about how us big meanies drove Mitch Martin out of town. And you could even convince me he's going to score the first goal tonight at 10 to 1. Keeping it simple, Brad Marchand definitely going to have a contribution to this game tonight

and he's probably going to score a goal. So one of those two, either the first or anytime, whatever which one you want to go with, both a pretty good number. And that was game time presented by Bet365. visit the app for the latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus Ontario only please play responsibly good stuff okay we'll take a quick break and when we return we'll get into a few news and notes around the national hockey league including zane preck who is Canada junior hockey's sensation there they won the bronze good on them for showing up for that

one but did he ruffle a few feathers in calgary with his latest comments. We'll get into that and more when we return to Real Kipper and Born. 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 podcast. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to by Bet365. Kiparos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. So Sammy,

Zane Perak took back his comments that he talked about. What a talent. I like watching. Oh, yeah. Listen. Terrific player. He's going to be such a good one. When did he talk about

like NHL players being like robots with no personality? I think January 1st on New Year's Day, I think he said this. And then yesterday I had to appalled. We have both the clips. Do you want to hear both the clips? Yeah, I think so because I didn't really catch the original ones.

I'd like to hear the way he phrased it or, you know, his tone. Derek, play the first correct clip, please. I think it's more watching NHL guys be robots and not having any personality. So, you know, I think you need some personality and it's kind of the best way to grow the game. and, you know, I don't want to come in here and be a robot. I mean, you know, when I'm in Calgary, I definitely have a lot of guys that are telling me to give really simple answers, but, you know, here I could kind of do what I want.

You know. I didn't find it bad at all. Yeah. I didn't. It wasn't. I didn't find anything offensive at all. And I think these guys are all pro-gras. Just say cliches.

That's kind of a thing everyone says and knows. They are robots. They don't want to have to answer follow-up questions. It has been a theme for probably 20 years. Yeah. Right. Right. And so I think he's just kind of...

To the point where we've done some really outrageous things that we would have liked to have over again. But players are more willing to throw themselves out there and trying different things, even if it kind of fails on them now. in my era we'd be like not a chance i'm doing that yeah and apparently weger i mean this is all from jaja gabur so if it's wrong you got to blame him but he said apparently a weger uh talked to him about it and so we've spoken already a little bit about on on text apparently feels bad about it so that you know it's okay i don't know he's whatever kid that's getting talked to it to i don't

let's hear the apology yeah i do yeah okay let's play the apology second clip there i think some things got spun out of proportion and um You know, my words probably worded things wrongly, but obviously it wasn't my intent and the words I said. And, you know, I sincerely apologize to, you know, the Flames organization and my teammates, you know, at the end of the day, that's, you know, not acceptable and that can't happen. Oh, I wish he didn't do that. No, I'm glad he did. It's fine that he did. It's fine.

Even though he didn't even have to and he could have left it alone, I think it's fine. because at the end of the day it did come across like you're coached to just give simple answers and just give a standard answer that no one will remember and that's not what the Calgary Flames

wanted to tell him or or imply at the same time any organization just not the Calgary Flames have a responsibility to coach these kids and help them understand that you're not in junior hockey

anymore. This is real-life media that goes across the hockey planet. We're talking about it. And you can get yourself in trouble. And the best way to avoid trouble is to sometimes simplify things. I think he's just been caught in the middle

of when to show off a little personality and when to be safe. And it's a learning experience for this kid. That's all it was. It's just a real learning experience because people pay attention now. It's not You're not in your small little town anymore where what you say only stays within a certain area.

Now it goes out everywhere and you got to hold your own here. Yeah, you know, I'm torn on it because like, you know, you know, Willie Nealander in the press box and a tank top and a toque. He ain't Willie. But he ain't Willie. No, he ain't Willie. Okay. He's not Willie. I know, but he didn't act like Willie.

He just said, you know, I don't want to be a robot. No, he kind of acted like Willie. No, he did. Well, now you're changing your tone. No, I'm just saying, though he came across like he's like, you know, he's holding court a little bit. I'm going to tell you the way it is. You guys are all robots and I'm going to come in here and I'm going to fix it. You know, I don't think he said anything.

I think he said anything wrong at all. But that's how some people took it. Yeah. And it's just not true, but it can come across like that. I can see why some people were maybe a little bit taken back. I think and I'm okay with him saying you got an NHL team that should be rebuilding that won't trade players because they're trying to put butts in the seats you got the most electric defenseman not in the NHL take it easy take it easy on electric you're a rookie just set the record for points by a demon in the world juniors this is exactly what I'm talking about you can't have a guy coming out of junior hockey telling you how to sell the game I'm sorry but Not your place. No, he kind of did.

He's saying he wants to just not be a robot. He kind of did say, you guys are robots. I got to sell the game. I'm going to do it this way. So what? So what? Not your place, bud. Not your place.

Not yet. Not yet. I love what this started with him. It's all good. Now you guys are yelling at each other. That's what makes the show great. I'm okay with him apologizing. I'm okay with it.

And I'm okay saying he's 19. He's learning. I'm okay with all that. I'm not okay with any 19-year-old now to come out of junior hockey and tell the NHL how to sell the game. Yeah, hey, listen. I'm not. I think it's a great thing for the flames if they got a kid who has an interest

and putting himself in the limelight. Not a lot of times you can say a guy in this day and age has a unique release because everybody looks so similar. He has a unique release. I like watching them play a lot. I like the kid. I'm curious to see if it can work. if he can be defensively sound enough to get to be that guy in the NHL

because there's a wave of defensemen like him who are having Bouchard in him but he does with a little bit hopefully but there's this wave of guys conscience for defense like Schaefer he's put a hundred points just a little bit more he's going to be a hundred point D man

a little bit more Trent Frederick and Andrew Majiopani both scratched for the weather tonight any of those were just bad contracts Let's just say what it was. Those are just misses on money. Mark Specter had a tweet that was basically like,

I don't know if you can survive back to back July 1st like the Oilers have had. Like that, you know, Arvidson, Skinner, Frederick, Mongeyapone, like they're so close to winning a cup and they're just tying their own shoelaces together with some of this stuff. And the McLeod, right, the McLeod trade. Well, the Holloway and Broberg thing. Yeah, that's what I mean. like those are all

been a litany of like they're this close even with all that if any of it or a goalie that happened sooner well they did get one and then he

immediately got hurt pushing across the crates yeah I Frederick has eight seasons at 3.85 minutes just continues to put

tremendous pressure on 97 and 29 that's all and now they're starting to feel really good like they were exhausted that I'm sure to start in October.

It was just, it just weren't ready. And now it's back on their shoulders. In the Grinch movie, when he's pulling that sled up the hill, that's when it's fully loaded to the top of Mount Crumpet or whatever it is, that's 97 and 29. I watched the Jim Carrey version like I usually do on Christmas Day. It is one of the best.

One of the best acted movies. He's so damn good in that movie. No, he's good in everything he's ever done. Listen, you're a preacher to the choir on Jim Carrey, okay? I grew up in. Canada in the 90s. Okay, like Jim Carrey, big Jim Carrey guy. But that is maybe his back.

One of the most talented people we've ever produced. He said he needed like Navy SEAL training because he needed eight hours of makeup a day to put the Grinch thing on. He just, like, he wanted to quit and give the money back. We need Jim Carrey on this show. I don't know why we're on. They've thrown him so, they try to throw him so much money to do multiple

sequels and he's always said no because of the torture. Is that right? Yes. Yeah, I don't blame him. Yeah. I couldn't handle that. Hockey. Grinch Stock.

Justin Sordeefe has been someone. Remember we, I'm like, I brought his name up when the Leafs played Washington and I couldn't get any action on, like, focusing on him. I don't know enough about Justin's sort of who in the planet was like, oh, yes. But they quietly spent a second rounder on him. Yeah. And he's loudly starting to make some noise. I don't remember. Florida?

No. No, not Florida? I'll tell you. Somewhere like Anaheim or I don't know. Yeah, I know. believe you guys you don't he was a capital a Washington Capitol they got a 20 26 second rounder and a 2027

6th rounder no hold on no no he's a capital now Panthers Panthers yeah panthers how good are the Panthers that they can give this kid up five points they wish they didn't Patrick five points see even good teams make

the ducks are quiet now eh did you ever think they were I don't know a lot of people thought they might be ready to push they were the new hotness for a little while Yeah, they were hot for a little while. But they are showing that offensive flair that happens at the start of something good. And then you learn how to play defense and build around it. They've got the hard part to get now.

Ovechkin, two goals, gave him his 349th career home game with a goal. Do you see a shot? Do you see? I actually didn't. Overtaking Gordy Howell for the most in NHL history. And his winner was 151, including playoffs, Ty Yarmriyager for the most in league history. So he's just going to have every goal thing now. Good.

He can still fire the pill like nobody else. Yeah. he gets deployed like a field goal kicker they put him on and only when it's time to shoot it in the net and empty netters he had tyler loop is he coming back next year i need to watch the goal ovi ovi yeah for c sa moscow or whatever the team is oh yeah he did just oh my god that shot uh didn't even move no he just about broke the net excellent matchup tonight across from your game well it starts at seven there's no other games on tonight oh sorry Colorado and Tampa play tonight.

Oh, do that. Yeah, in Tampa. That could be cup final. Rematch. That was a cup final, wasn't it? That's who the Colorado Ovalanche beat for their cup. How long? Cadreys scored the overtime winner where everyone didn't know that it went in.

That was definitely the Kassali Cup final. This team went with a like month and a half, two months, no headman, no. McKenna. And no. McKenna. McDonough. McDonough. McHenna.

See, I'm on junior. Yeah, I'm on junior talk. McDonagh. And Chernack. Yep. They won seven or no. If they get healthy come playoffs, they're the East favorite by a good margin.

If there's one team that could say, okay, well, we're hurt back here. We got an American Hockey League defense. Right. It was Tampa. Yeah, but then their American Hockey League defense come up in our NHL defense.

Like that radish is unbelievable. J.J. Moser now is like turned into a guy. They just signed him. long term. So Breezeball has never won GM of the year. Twice he's been a final. I would say that... It might be due for one.

The Cup is the GM of the year. Although in Colorado, they're like, what? Yeah, that's true. All right. Good show tonight, boys. Thank you. Ten games on tap tonight. Our thanks to Steve Aliquette for joining us on our national hour.

If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. Love to hear from you. What do you got, J.B? Shout out to my cousin who won the Parogi Cup and our family fans. Fantasy football champ. Needed to get that in, Kip, I said I would. Wow. What a jersey that is.

Wow. Did, uh, did, uh, did Josha Gabor remind you? Like you remind Sammy? That's right. Have a great night, everybody.