Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Leafs' Backup Goalie Battle + Bounce-Back Candidates

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne, and Sam McKee break down the latest NHL goalie moves — including the Ducks sending down Ville Husso and the Sabres waiving Alexandar Georgiev — before welcoming MSG analyst and Clear Sight Analytics CEO Steve Valiquette (5:45). Vally discusses what Cayden Primeau brings to the Maple Leafs, Toronto’s search for a reliable backup, the pressure on Dustin Wolf after signing his new long-term deal with the Flames, the Canadiens’ outlook with Sam Montembeault in net, and whether stars like Elias Pettersson, Auston Matthews, and Jeremy Swayman can rebound in the 2025-26 NHL season. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam get into the suspension fallout from the Lightning and Panthers' preseason battle, the Panthers' Cup rings, and Alex Pietrangelo being ruled out for the season.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.

We are kicking off the NHL season 25, 26. Yeah. Say go. It's the real Kipper and Bourne show season five. Nick Kiprio is Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo. We are live on Sports at 590, The Fan, SportsSports at 650 in Vancouver. 960 in Calgary, SportsDept Plus.

And you can always find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube after the show. This will be the final hour before we jump to two starting tomorrow. So we'll remind everybody this hour of Real Kipperman Bourne brought to by Bet365. I'm happy we're going to two. Do I want to work double? Not necessarily, but we've been caught a couple times going, we had so much more to talk about.

Yeah. And you know what? It's the return of Leafs Hour and Leafs fans have not loved that we haven't given them their hour. Yeah. And I think we've been pretty good boys when it comes to not overleafing the show.

But I am definitely, we need to stretch your legs. We need to have a real Toronto conversation. Did you like, drink tea and lemon last night for your voice? Do I sound better? No, no, not really, to be honest with you.

I don't sound better than I did yesterday? Not really. Not really. Really? Yeah. I mean, I couldn't get a sentence. Do you feel better? Yes.

Okay. Okay, well, I can just, listen, your guy's show, I can just shut up. No, no, no, no, no. We don't want that. We don't want that at all. So you think I sound the exact same. Yeah, he's still a little raspy.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I sound the same. same yeah yesterday i was i sounded like a preface boy i couldn't read you're not a yeller at the tv like you are down at the dome are you a tv yeller no no uh depends but no i'm just gonna be watching in my basement probably not okay so just can i just remind you to pace yourself starting at

and we're starting what 7 p.m for uh the coverage on sports net yankees yeah i mean it's all 8 p.m first pitch 808 it's all over everywhere you want to go in the meantime Steve Valakette will join us momentarily. He drops in now what we hope is a regular Tuesday hit. Obviously, at times it'll go on his schedules throughout the year, but we're lucky to have him back for another season here on the real Kipper and board show. And just so many goalie questions, not even remotely joking about that. Like right now, I can't imagine today I've had more goalie questions.

Here's the first question I'm going to ask you guys before we get to Valley. Okay. Okay. Does he dare wear his Yankee hat on this hit? So would he have worn that before the first game of the series? We didn't see, yeah, he would have. Thursday? Yeah.

No, there's no chance he wears it. The season opened Friday, Saturday for the two wins. That would be crazy town. He's an athlete. I think he needs to double down, triple down on a Yankee. You should wear it backwards. There's something, rally cap style up with the brim. Is that hat just stuck on your head for the rest of this playoffs?

One of them is. Okay. One of my 15. But I went for the white panel that's brought them so much success. They are doing the white panel, which to me is the best one by a good distance. I'm assuming they'll probably go blue, the royal blue ones tonight with the white pants against the pinstripes. Or maybe they go all baby blues with the old school. Look, I'm not sure what they're going to do.

But they'll be wearing the white panels, that's for sure. So I went with the white panel today. Schneider said it's the only one packed. Yeah. All right. What are you looking at? No, I'm good. I don't know.

I always look at you sometimes like you got three heads. So news of the day, a cup of waiver wire. Particularly the gold tending market, which opens up a pretty good conversation with Valley. Willie Huso, who once upon a time, was a real strong candidate for being a NHL starter. Yeah, he was red-hot.

Not too long ago coming out of St. Louis, Steve Eiserman picks him up via free agency, if I'm not mistaken, gives him a pretty good contract only to punt on a fourth down when he got a chance. And he's been scrambling ever since. You know, he played all of four games for Anaheim. Anaheim chose Peter Marazick as the backup over him, which is not a glowing review in my estimation. However, Huso has shown himself to have some really, he's had great years.

Yes. And he technically, I think, is generally more like. Gorgiev is also on waivers today. What's the one thing missing from really talented goalies, though, to be bona fide starters. Just consistency. Yeah. Right. Right.

But it's nice that the ceiling seems to be there. If he's maybe behind a better defensive team than, say, Detroit or Anaheim was, maybe someone likes them. Do they, does Toronto like him more than Caden Primo, who they just picked up? I'm looking at Huso had one really good year. The last year with the Blues. And then he got the-40 games, 9-19.

Yeah, and then he went to Detroit, and his first year in Detroit was 56 games. He had an 8-96 with the 3-11 goals against, and then he kind of really hasn't got it back on track since then. So he's had one really good season. Yeah. Okay, let's welcome him in. It's Tuesday, which means Steve Aliquette on the Real Kipper and Bourne show.

Analyst for the New York Rangers. He hung it up today. CEO, ClearSite Analytics. It's a better move. I knew your superstitious. I won the bet. You didn't dare wear the Yankee hat, but then you went bigger.

You went Jersey behind you. I can't go hat-head on TV. I've got to get out of here quickly after we get off. Oh, yeah. I don't even know if there's going to be enough room on the train, Sammy. I mean, the city's ready to erupt right now. Sammy, excited or what? erupt with, you know, tears

and yelling at their own team. I heard you chirping me the other day. At a tobical boy cheer for the Yankees. What the hell? By the way, by the way, I've lived in the United States for 28 years. I'm 48 years old. I'm allowed to cheer for the Yankees now.

Sure. Whatever helps you sleep at night, bud. Old green light by me, Valley. We're good. We're good. Okay, let's get this thing going here, Valley, just in terms of goaltending market. And most recently, pretty solid citizens, you know, serviceable guys in the National Hockey League

at the goaltending position in Gorgiev and Huso. Is there a chance one or two get picked up? And who's out there that could be looking? We just saw Caden Primo get picked up by the Leafs. Are they still looking by chance? See, that's, this is where I want to start because Caden Primo, guys, he's always been a top prospect. And I've been hearing about him since he was really young. He grew up just outside of New Jersey on the Pennsylvania and New Jersey line.

So he was somewhere close to the youth hockey kids that I was coaching. And everybody was always talking about him. And, you know, what went wrong in Montreal with Caden Primo was that he was on a yo-yo going up from the American League to the NHL, and they never let him just sit and settle. If you look back at all of the best true number ones over the last 20 years, There's a common thread. They played 200 games in the minor leagues or in Europe before coming over here. Like Henrik Lundquist played 236 games in Europe before he ever stepped on Madison Square Guard nice.

And that's one example of a list of about 15, including in that list, like five Hall of Famers. For whatever reason, since we had basically a wave of guys retiring over the last seven, eight years, I think a lot of goalies had to get rushed. Caden Primo is one of them. But if you look at his year-by-year stats guys from every level he's played at, he dominated in college and he was pretty much borderline dominating American League, but then brought up to the NHL has an 863 save percentage and then loses a lot of confidence. And I think that just goes hand in hand without the patience of the organization.

You lose guys. And that's where you look at his overall numbers, he had one issue over the last two years, and that was clear-sighted shots. It was the shots that he could see. And those exposed goalies when they are not quite ready for the NHL. I think that scares teams. I think it's scared Montreal. And to me, that's patience.

And it's also using your posture and your stance to make your save. It can be taught. And I think that last year, when he hit a high mark of. I think it was 927 in the minors, followed by a bit of a week post-season. I think that was probably the straw that broke the camel's back from Montreal's end, and they gave up on him.

But I was looking at really his numbers today as far as games played and consistency. And that's the other piece, right? Because every team wants a chance to win. Now, his games played over the last two years, 34 games played over the last two years for the Montreal Canadiens. But he has a 47% game percentage. So if you have a 47% game percentage, that means you're giving your team a positive performance only 47% of the time.

Now, the two goalies that you listed on waivers, in a moment ago, Kipper, Georgiev is 45% last year, positive game percentage. And Huso was 39%. you know so these guys end up on waivers because they're not fitting the consistency piece that all teams want at the end of the day guys everybody just wants a chance to win the hockey game and if the goalie isn't giving you that it's it's really a reason to punt on them early but to note on this the best goalie the best goalie last year in actually the last two years in positive game percentages stole ours 89% of the time that Stolars has played over the last two years, he's had a positive game. Jack Greaves, who I brought up last week about hopefully being the breakout guy that I anticipate him being in Columbus, 85% of the games that he's started over the last two years have been positive games. And funny to note on this one, Marilynne, 83%. He's the third best goalie in positive game percentage. So these things matter. Hildebee, if he was your office,

it's only 33% chance that he's going to have a strong game. So I think you're looking at consistency and then where you can help, Caden Primo, he can play for you. But, you know, you've got to make sure that he's being able to have confidence on the open shot. Yeah. I mean, the fairly highly touted guy, as you mentioned, and six foot three, still just 26 years old. There's clearly some upside there and probably no reason to punt on him

and grab Huso, to your point. So interesting to see what the last. leaves do there. What are your thoughts on the places that these guys left from? So, Gorgiev was in Buffalo, where they have Uka Pekalukinen, Alex Lion, Colton Ellis, Gorgiev was

there. You know, why would they give up on Gorgiev there? And also, was Huso not as good as Marazek? Because that's who they kept in Anaheim. Yeah, I know. You know what? Marazek, you know what? Marazek is a better NHL serviceable goalie today.

So not a bad play. Sneaky, but Anaheim had really good goaltending last year. And they're trying to get closer this year. They're trying to replace Gibson with some positive starts, so I can see what they're doing there. Dostal, he's a number one. I think he's a true number one. He's being paid like, and I think he's going to be able to take the net, but with the right support. So you don't want to have somebody under him that's maybe too uneasy to get starts.

The problem with Georgiev, I think, is that he just pisses people off. you know and in a way that you can't show up your teammates and there's enough evidence there where when it's not going well you know you can't break your stick and show them up it works when you're a star you can get away with a little bit but as soon as your play slides or you drop below 90 and save percentage you know you're shown the door and that's that's a big piece i think like sam on our show you know if he gets out of hand a little bit and you got straighten them out straighten him out straighten him out Gorgia fought DeAngelo, right? That was the thing. Yeah, there was that in New York. Look, you know, I've covered him a long time. A deep will to win. And he believes in himself, you know, almost to a detriment where it's, you know, not based on reality.

But to a certain degree, I think that you've got to fit the role, too, when you're a backup, right, guys? You got to be early. You've got to stay late. And nobody wants any funny business. The worst thing you can be as a hockey player is a distraction. Valley, for Leaf fans, you know, another disappointing end last season, but there was a sense with Stolars and Joseph Wall. It wasn't a top, you didn't have to go look for goalies.

You just assume that, you know, those two guys would be back with a little bit more experience, that it was a solid feel. And then you had the prospects of Hilda B down there, Acmeov. Actimov. And there's a feeling like there's real good depth here. And, you know,

Joseph Wall's now gone. We saw James Reimer come in. This one kind of left me scratching my head because I don't think anybody thought James Reimer had anything left. But they spent a week, week and a half, investing an exhibition game in, which could have gone to anybody else.

and then now they went to Caden Primo they could be contemplating picking up who so but there's right now there's just there's nothing behind Stolars who last time I checked

has never played more than 34 games in the NHL in one season so how did it go from a ton of depth to I don't know a concern or something deeper well you know it kept her

Look, in a couple of weeks, if Walz back, what are we talking about, right? And look, there's not a lot out there. There's just not a lot out there, guys. Look, you look at Primo one more time, and one thing I forgot to add was that he had a bad start last year. He had a really bad October. But the year before, the year before, he was right there with Lankinen as maybe a breakthrough guy. Because Borny, again, we talked about this last year before the season began. And it looked like, you know, Lankinen was going to be a breakout guy, and he was.

Now, he really helped Vancouver stabilize everything in that. But he was right there with Caden Primo. If you were looking for a goalie at the time that Vancouver signed Lankanin, Kaden Primo was on your radar, and you probably called Montreal. They were right there. It was in the 23-24 season and adjusted safe percentage, Lankanin was 12th, and Caden Primo was 15th. So it's not like they were not in the same neighborhood.

To me, Caden Primo just didn't have the right path of development. He was rushed early, lost confidence, lost confidence last season. And now I don't know, you can get him back, but it would have been great to get him back with Wall here, rehab him up in the minors and then get him in when time comes. but, you know, I guess he wouldn't end up in Toronto if that was the case because you would be all set with Woll and Stolars anyway. Bally, I don't, you know, we didn't talk about this pre-show, so I don't know if you have anything in these guys. But going into this season, I'm super interested in two goalies in particular on rebuilding teams.

Spencer Knight is a guy that the Blackhawks have bet on to lead them. And then San Jose's got that Ascarov kid who is really highly touted, but seems kind of slow in development. What are your thoughts on those two organizations, And like maybe we have a number one? Okay. Ascarov, he has like big ceiling, but he has, you know, a massive floor. He can really ride highs.

And if you've followed him at all, he's a wild card. He's a free spirit. So, you know, it's not always easy to in the environment that he's going to be playing in in San Jose. It's hard sometimes to get a read on what comes next with some of these guys because they are playing in a very difficult environment. You know what, back to Primo for one split second. The one thing that happened to him last year, too, was he was in the fifth worst environment

at the time that he played his final start of the season, December 12th. You know, he was playing in a very difficult environment. So if you don't have everything going for you, plus you're playing in the most difficult place to play, we know how much east to west is an influence now in the NHL. There's a lot more screens. Teams are taking fewer point shots without screens.

means the environment's changed. That's why safe percentage continues to come down. The shock quality continues to rise. So, you know, for those reasons, I think that it's tough sometimes to get excited about somebody. You're watching and listening to Steve Aliquette, analysts for the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO, clear site analytics.

All right, rebuilding and goalies. We've got to talk about Calgary's Dustin Wolf and coming off a great season, but usually it doesn't know. amount to a 50 million dollar contract right away he's got it now what are the challenges for dustin now playing with expectations and a 52.5 million dollar contract you know over his head all right so he gave up the most goals over his glove last year and that's sometimes a concern because your second lap around the league gets more challenging and with that said this guy is at the highest level of ability and talent and

And although he's not big, he finds ways to manage his size and still show up very big because of his speed east to west. One of the predictors that you're looking for in playoffs is to have your backup goalie support the starter with 25 points in the standings. And the other predictor you're looking for is to have your goalies overall to be in a positive frame for expected goals against. Last year, Calgary was second in the NHL with their goalie tandem at a plus 13.5, and they missed the playoffs. That makes me nervous because that number is going to be very tough to get to a second year in a row. And I, you know, I remember this conversation guys with Dennis Wyman, coincidentally, a Calgary flame at the time. We were driving to a summer camp, and I asked him about his prospect. with Calgary next year to make playoffs.

And he said, you know, it's going to be tough. We had at least five or six guys that had career years last year. And there's usually a dip in year two. At that time, it wasn't really something that I was thinking about. It wasn't really on my radar. But I paid attention to what he said

and Calgary missed the playoffs that next season. And it's like the Washington Capitals. They have four of their top five leading scores had career years last year, including their top defensemen and their goalie. What does that do to the Washington Capitals? For Calgary and for Dustin Wolf,

I'm more concerned with, can you do it again, right? Because this is a pretty neat little stat because I came up with this week. Last week I was working on playoff markers and what teams can look to and track over the first 10 to 15 games. And we talked about the slot line differential,

the differential on east to west and how that can help be a predictor to playoffs or not. Well, this week I was looking at goalies and their impact to playoffs, all right? 11 of the 16 playoff teams, so nearly 70% of playoff teams last season had positive goaltending value in our model. So it's proof that elite goaltending remains a big part of the predictor of playoff success, at least making the playoffs. And the two teams that were outliers that had great goaltending that didn't make it

were the Calgary Flames and the New York Rangers. The New York Rangers were right behind Calgary. They were a plus 11.9. The Toronto Maple Leafs were plus 11.5.9. That was fifth best. But it's a predictor because you're looking at, you know, what tandums are going to be able to withstand what is a long grind of an 82 game season.

And I think this is interesting as well. Edmonton was fifth worst last year. Only four teams had a worse goaltending differential. and those teams were Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, and San Jose. So there's a massive divide between the teams that make the playoffs, how solid they are in net, and then what happens after that, which is really outliers in a crapshoot.

So it's obviously so important for these teams to get this solid goaltending, and I'm looking at a team that's kind of fringy, and that's the Montreal Canadiens. Now, I really like Sam Montembo, and I don't know goaltending. He just kind of reminds me of my buddy Barry Brust, who was a fantastic goaltender growing up with him. Because he was chubby? Well, he's got a bull built, that's all.

Turk, brodish. Sure, you know. And I like Montembow. Am I wrong in my assessment that this guy's a legitimate number one? Okay, I have a bit of an issue with Montembow right now that I can't figure out, but I'll just tell you what I'm working through. Two years ago, he was the best goalie in the NHL. He had the best save percentage on screens.

last year he had the worst safe percentage on screens how is that possible right personnel change that's why you're on the show you have to tell us so I'm watching the video and it looks to me like they are doing something different in front of their net and as they're trying to front pucks instead of box out he's uh he's maybe looking through an extra layer but it's a guy that has the skill to be able to look over screens he's big

and he's got very big posture he's not he's not a big goalie to small by any means. But in today's game with net front where it is, you need a goalie that has a top five save percentage with net front chances if you're going to have a long run. And to get to look back to last year with the playoff predictor for the goalies, Montreal wasn't that hot. Where were they? Yeah, they were in the bottom of the bottom third last year, fellas.

So they were a minus 10. So based on their goaltending and their slot line differential, the first two markers I looked at this season. I'm going to continue to do this every week because it actually takes quite a bit of time. It doesn't just land in my lap. But they're all interesting conversations. It's like we're trying to figure out hockey and what matters because the game's

changing and these trends are changing all the time. I think that screens matter, net front matters. And if he doesn't pick his safe percentage up, I think that could hurt the Montreal Canadians. Valley, I'm going to switch gears or at least switch positions here and go to

center ice in Vancouver. and in Toronto, no two players. Pedersen and Matthews have more pressure to come back and look like the guys that can lead with the salaries that they're commanding right now.

So what are the odds that both of them come back and PD ends up with a 90-100-point season and Matthews can look like he's scoring 50 or 60 goals again? You know what, boys? I have a hard time Just looking at the volatility of goal scores because oftentimes we hear that goalies are very streaky. I think scorers are just as streaky. And I think that we're also trying to figure out that when's the best time to pay a scorer?

Is it after his career year or is his career year maybe inflated by some of the scoring chances that he received or the luck that he received? So Patterson, when he had 102 points, I thought this was very interesting. he had 23 breakaways that year 23 and he scored 8 so he was a 35% shooter on breakaways it's a good inflator but can you explain to me how last season he only had two breakaways two how do you go from 23 to 2 and you saw the way that the season went for him last year and his broken play goals the year that he had 102 it's pretty typical when somebody has a big goal scoring jump to have luck on their side and again my broken play would be a shot from the point that goes off a d's shin pad just kicks to the back door and it's a slam dunk goal

that would be an example of a broken play well he had eight of those during his big season and typically when you get to double digits it's always a career year i'm going to give you a few examples um sam reinhart he's played in the n hl 10 years he's never had a 40 goal season but had 57 goals. But that year that he had 57, he had 10 broken play goals. Andramanji Apani is another good example. Seven NHL years. He's never had a 20 goal season, but he had a 35 goal season in the 21, 22 season, 10 broken play

goals. And Austin Matthews, when he had his 69 goals, sent you guys that, he had 13 broken play goals the year that he had 69. And I watched them. Some of them were luck. Like, I mean, he threw him from the corner of the goal. going off skates, like, you know, like, and it goes your way. So I think that front offices have to really watch the goals and how they're going in before

you're paying for those goals because everybody that I've seen in the last 10 years that have career years, out of the norm career years, that's 69. I don't think we ever see from Austin again. And for a multitude of reasons, but it's the broken plays that can really overinflate and then maybe you overpay for. And I do, not maybe, you do overpay for it if you're not paying attention. Just to follow up on Matthews, Marner, do you have anything on, like, he's going to be able to score without him, but how many?

Well, I've got a lot on Matthews, and, you know, I sent you guys those reports because I sort of wanted you guys to see that just like what my process looks like. Like, this doesn't land at my lap, right, boys? Hard worker. No, there's a lot of hard work here. So with Austin Matthews and his 69 goal season, what I see right now is that, and this is interesting because even the very best scores don't just walk into the slot by themselves unimpeded and beat a goalie clean, right?

So Austin Matthews, when he has his 69 goals, 30 times he walked into the slot, but he only scored four goals when he stayed on one side of the ice or the other. And the reason why this is important, and this is even with chances with time and space, and the reason why this is important is because he is an elite first touch shooter that needs to receive a pass to move the goalie to then have success. Again, he's not going to do it by himself. He's not going to make the goalie move and influence in a way that he's going to open up a side. He's just going to head it every time. So the year that Austin Massey, well, we went over this last week, that he had 20 goals, he had 69 scoring chances that came across the slot. Now, his overall production in pass, passes received when he went from 20 goals across the slot to just seven, that's a 53% decrease in scoring chances.

The one-timers, this is a big one-timers from the same side of the ice, it's the soft spot, it's achievable. You can get there, and scores can break away from their check and get those opportunities. But his goal output went from 13 to 3, 69 goals versus his 33 goals last year. That's a 41% drop. So you couple these things up, and then I'm looking at the Austin Matthews and Mitch Martin connection. And last year, the total passes received from Austin Matthews from Mitch were down 20%. from 111 to 89.

And even worse is the high danger chances were down almost 40%. So that's what this game is all down. But murder ended up with 100 points. I know. But not a big influencer on Matthews. Not. I also think that a lot of that stuff

is an influence by Matthews. Because to me, it's like when coaches say, this guy needs to shoot more, what they really mean is you need to get in shooting spots more. They don't want you just heave in pucks from wherever. And like Matthews, if he's not getting as many passes from Marner, part of that is not getting to spots. You've got to be moving in a way that gets open,

that gets separation, or you never see the puck. So if a player is down, it's not just like the passer didn't get it to him. I think a lot of time is maybe he's not getting to the spots as well. And I think that's where it is, Borny. And, you know, you take the information that is out there and you've got to take it to the player

because these guys are working in tandem. And as I went through a lot of different, you know, make-belief combinations, Nealander's numbers are actually pretty close as a playmaker to Marner and you know it'll be interesting to see if he can elevate enough to maybe help Matthews

so that's another thing to look at all right just goalies that can rebound this year for you off the top of your head at swayman such a tough start the contract last year behind the eight ball from the get-go

never caught up are we going to see an $8.5 million goalie out of the gate here did you see see his interview the other day where he was referring to himself in the third person? No. Oh, no. Is he that guy? Dangerous. This is

not the Jeremy Swayman. Jeremy Swamon's going to do this. I'm like, oh, boy. The JR thing. That's not J.R. Hockey, J.R. Yeah, I don't know. I saw that when I was like, oh, so somebody's going to

have to reel him in. I mean, he was so bad last year. It's hard to make a safe assumption. to say he's going to be so much better this year. The only goalie that performed worse than Swayman last year was Georgiev in our expected goals model. So he's got a long way to go.

I don't think Boston's a playoff team again, Kipper. And I don't think that Swainman's going to have a good year if I'm going to put money on it. That would be my bet. All right. It kicks off all tonight, triple header. Your Ranger's going to make the playoffs. Team, you cover.

How good does Shisterkin have to be this year? Well, that's a little bit of nerve-wracking business right there. You know, it's like everyone's asking me, am I excited for this season? I'm curious. Covering the Leafs. That's an interesting word. You know, so we'll leave it there before I get myself in trouble. But let's not forget, we've got grilled the panel.

Oh, my God. All right. All right, we'll do it quick. I know you guys are probably out of time, Judge. That's okay. Go ahead. We forgot about this. So the standings from last week, Kipper, three, Sammy won.

Borny, you lost the baseball game, so you got a zero there. All right. All right. Quickly for the baseball game tonight, Yanks or Toronto. How do you come on here and say, you know what? I think the Yankees are going to make it interesting. I don't, I see a tough environment tonight for the Jays. I see a tough environment tonight for the Yankees when they start booing them after they booed the ball around four times.

I'm saying Jay's tonight. Sammy's taking the sweep. I think I'm going to go with Kipper here. I just feel like it's going to be tough to sweep a good team. Okay. I'm with you guys. Yanks all the way. Yeah.

All right. Last season, which NHL players set up his teammates, since we're talking about passing and playmaking a lot today, for the most scoring chances, meaning he was the primary passer leading directly to those chances. I'm going to give you four options. Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Nikita Kuturov, Mitch Marner. Ah, cooch for me.

I'll go, Marner. I'll take McDavid. It was Nathan McKinnon. $3.11. Zero's, really, yeah. Ouch. Nathan McKinnon. That's great.

Interesting name here, though, too. Lane Hudson was tops among all defensemen. Wow. 19. Yeah. And they didn't want to pay them, huh? All right. No, they'll get there, I think.

Okay. Third question. Now, the best player at delivering high danger scoring chances to his teammate off the pass. So the best playmaker at giving the high dangers to his teammate, we've got Connor McDavid, Nathan McKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, Mitch Marner, or David Pasternak. Same guys. The fact that he has passed it in there feels a little suspicious. I'm going to go, Connor. I'm going to double down with McDavid, yeah.

I'll double down with Marner. Okay, McDavid, and it's actually by a pretty long margin, 125. The next closest was McKinnon with 112. Like, 125 is crazy. You're right back in it. You know, McDavid had 71 East to West passes to his teammates for slam dunks last year. Well, the dry saddle.

Dry siddles. Yeah. Eaton. To Leon. Yeah. Yeah, so all right, fellas. Good work, Valley. Thanks, pal.

You're the best. Okay, Valley, great job as always. Looking forward to you next week. Enjoy the start of the season, pal. Thanks for doing this. Let's go. Let's go. See, Valley.

Game time. Let's sit at the break. We'll do it after. You heard the man. Game time when we return it. Also, a lot of fines in Florida. A lot of fines. A lot of fines.

Tampa, not Florida. the state of Florida. Yeah, that's good. In Florida. Not the beloved Panthers. Tampa Bay, Florida Panthers. We'll tell you who has to pay what and who's missing the start of the season.

All when we return to Real 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.

Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. A reminder of this hour of real Kippenborn, brought you by Bet, 365. Three games on tap tonight. The first three games of the National Hockey League season, 5 p.m. Eastern, Florida, and Chicago. 8 p.m. Eastern Rangers Penguins, followed up at 10.30 Eastern aves versus the Kings. Awesome first day. Let me ask you a question. We got to do game time.

Oh, okay. Okay, go ahead. You can ask and then. We would just talk about it. I'm getting game time. I got it. It's not important. You're the producer.

What am I? I'm nothing. I was like, well, when we come back, we're definitely doing it. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at Pet 365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please pay responsibly.

Thought I'd bring up some NHL futures since it's getting underway tonight. The favorite four. for the Heart Memorial Trophy. This is a big time surprise. The top three favorites. I'd be really surprised by these. David, McKinnon, and... Macar.

Nikita Kutrov. So it's McDavid. It's 2 to 1. McKinnon is plus 475. Kuthorov plus 850. Caprizov 10 to 1. Drysidal 10 to 1. Matthews, 18 to 1.

And Patchanack at 20 to 1. Where's Quinn Hughes? Quinn Hughes is down the list here. Maybe it's not that far down the list. I'm not... Oh, yeah, he's 40 to 1. 40 to 1. He's going to get 90 to points and lead the Kinnat.

Hell of a season. The Vesna Trophy favorite, as you would imagine, is... Shasturkin. No. Hellebaugh. Yep. Helibu. Plus 325.

Shisterkin's the next plus 650. Vasilevsky plus 850, Otenger 15 to 1. If you wanted to have been on Stolars, he's not that long of a... 25 to 1. No. Don't want that. Don't want that. I didn't hate that Austin Matthews 18 to 1-1.

No, I mean, a lot of narratives for him. As a bet goes. And this one's interesting to me. Jack Adams Award winner, the favorite. Everyone's picking, what's his name in Utah, Turney, Ternier. Yeah, that is the favorite. The favorite for the... Plus, you asked us how to pronounce it in commercial break.

That also had it on my mind. That kind of tip. But there's another one that I saw. Crap. Everywhere. Crap! Joel Quenville is the next favorite. across like you knew that

no no but I saw Daily Faceoff did a 10 person vote and eight of them had You never acted in your life I know that now and Joel Quinnville's the next at plus 850 Martin Saylorouet at 10 to 1 Eveson 11 to 1 so basically all the teams they expect to kind of go past expectations right so there you go Norris is who you'd expect

McCar Quinn Hughes and Orensky. Talk to me about Lane Hudson Oh, Lane Hudson is not that far down the list. 22 to 1. You like the bad? Well, you know, you're not looking to get a 4-to-1 guy when you put your money in and it sits there for eight months. You'd like to hit on something a little longer.

And I do like to, you know, just a quick one here. But I can't actually. Quick Jays. Yeah. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in his career on Carlos Rodin, the pitcher for the New York Yankees tonight, is 10 for 17 in his career OPS of 1650

He loves hitting there And he loves hitting off this guy And he's smoking hot Give me a Vladdy home run today At plus 425 Yeah I'll take that Okay And that was game time

Presented by Bet 365 Visit the app Playtust odds And see why it's never ordinary At Bet 365 must be 19 plus And Terry only Please play responsibly Okay we did touch on this

A little bit I think yesterday But I don't know it deserves more of a conversation and this is this whole Tampa Bay Lightning versus Florida Panthers suspensions off the exhibition game

the NHL has suspended Scott Sabrin four games and defenseman J.J. Moiser for two games in that preseason game and we had Commissioner Bettman on yesterday and we did

speak of it. If you missed that interview, go check it. Yeah, you can download it. You guys grinded him to the asshole. Yeah. But he, the first thing he said.

He just wanted to promote his league, guys. Holy. When we brought it up is that's not what we're a, or that's not what we're trying to be. It's not what we're just about. Which, you know, I think he, he hates the perception of it. He loves everything

about how tough we are. He likes that people like it. Our game, how tough our game. how tough our game is, but he's got to play the part on that. Of course he does. Come on, a lot of people are sitting there. I'll tell you what my first thought is

that teams are now going to sit there and look at Florida and say, we've had enough of your crap, serving the crap sandwich. I ain't eating it anymore. That's what I got out of Tampa Bay this weekend, is that they came right back at them and said exhibition game, no exhibition game, outdoor game,

pond hockey, road hockey, I don't care. We're not eating your crap sandwich anymore. That's what I got out of it. Well, can I tell you, this relates to the thing I was going to say before game time. I was going to ask if you had seen the Panther Stanley Cup rings. Yeah. You guys saw them. Nice.

They are. They're very nice. On the inside, the inscription is, No apologies. We apologize to no one. To no one. Great. It has Toronto crossed out and whoever else

that they're eating the playoffs, I don't even know. So, hey, Toronto got their name on us on the copper ring, boys. We apologize to no one, which is, by the way, you grab on to Connor McGregor. That's a real, the name you want to do this. Is that what it's the thing about? Is that what it's awful? You know, I'd like to apologize to absolutely know.

That's all it is. I love it, too. I love that part, too. I'm not looking for any apologies. I'm looking for hard hockey. You're right. People are going to say. Okay, well, if that's the way we're doing it, that's the way we're doing it.

Yeah, I mean. How many can play like that, though? But, I mean, it's easy for them to play like that when they get away with everything. And they've gotten away with murder from multiple seasons. No, they have. Stop it. No, no. Keeper, listen here for a second.

Listen to me, man. You're making apology, Sam. The only thing, the only thing that they got punished for was a fine for A.J. Greer, injuring Brandon Hagel in a preseason game. and then what you're supposed to do is send out what you and the lightning got suspensions fines the team got suspended a hundred thousand dollars and you know john cooper gets suspended i love you but you're just you're just a cry baby okay totally i completely agree with that you're the kid that runs to the principal's office and tells on everyone they've gotten nobody's got time for that sammy preferential treatment from oh we don't apologize to anyone because we can run around and punch people on the head and elbow goleys and do whatever the hell we want and we don't get suspended so we don't get suspended go go cry to somebody then i cry every day on national tv and nobody what else am i supposed to do and nobody cares well it's yeah well everyone cares except people like you who seem like you don't want to care and like the panthers who are like

oh we don't apologize to nobody because the league doesn't punish them the same way they punish other people that's just the way i don't bad man i don't believe that it's true that i don't believe it's preference i don't i do why why would you give why if you can pick any market to build up hockey? Why would they want the Panthers? Because why do they get? We have the commissioner on here. And, I mean, he's like, that's one of the places he put hockey and they want to keep

hockey popular there. Listen, I'm not saying it's fixed. I'm just saying they get away with murder. Sam Bennett, he threw a flying rabbit punch on Brad Marshand in the product. The murder is fixed. They do. They do. I'm not thinking it's fixed.

I'm not an idiot. But they definitely get preferential treatment. I'm sorry. It's flat out. It's flat out true. People are saying, you know, not to be Trump, but people are saying, that is true. People are saying that.

That's the thing they're saying. Hey, get bigger, get tougher, and fight back. And they did. They just did. And then they got the book thrown at them and the Panthers got nothing. Carter Verheaggie barbecues a guy from behind in a preseason game and a malicious factor.

Nothing. But stabber in four games. Moser four games. $100,000 fine to the lightning. 25K for Coop. It's like, this is a penalty. This is a suspension. No question.

A lot of illegal. But you know what? It doesn't happen. This, if they suspend A.J. Greer for going after Hagle. This doesn't happen. They sent them out there to do this because of what happened before. You know hockey better than anybody, Kipper. Like, you can't put your head in the sand with this stuff.

Obviously, this was in response to something else. Good. Good. Respond then. But then they get punished. The little precious Panthers are like, oh, we do. did nothing wrong as usual. Back to my Stanley Cup ring question.

Anyways. So they have two cups. They're good enough. They don't need the treatment. There's two cups on the Stanley Cup ring. I don't know how I feel about that. Like a guy like Marchand gets his ring and there's two cups on it. He won one cup.

He was not all the players won the two cup. How do you feel about the two cups? I don't know. To me, like Islanders did four. The Islanders had diamonds, one diamond for one, two diamonds for two, three diamonds. I think, I don't know if it's an Edmonton Oiler ring or the Islander ring, but I do recall seeing consecutive cups on it to represent the organization's two cups.

I think I'm okay with it. I think you are the organization. Yeah, I've never thought of it that way before you're the first person to bring it up. And I saw the two cups and I said that's really cool. But if someone wasn't part of the first one, it's not your two cups. It's the team's first two cups. So I don't know. Nate Schmitz, like I have two now?

I thought it was very tasteful. I mean, they're cool. I, yeah, they got the rat on the inscription as well. Very tasteful. We apologize to know it. We apologize to nobody. Tasteful. That's what I say with the Panthers, always tasteful.

Barry Zito. Just trade them all. Trade them all. I'm Barry Zito. I don't care. The rules don't apply to us. We don't need the rules. For Florida.

A tissue couldn't absorb those tears. We need, like, we need the sponge. We need a big, like, we need the shammy. There's a lot of people being like. Sham, wow. The sham wow. For your tears, we need the sham, wow. I'm here for a reason.

A Kleenex wouldn't do it. I'm here for a reason, boys, and it's the crime. Oh, my God. He's given voice to the people. Not the people, just his super leaf fans. Well, guess what? Guess who's the most listeners on our show? My beloved Leaf Nation.

And I'll always fight for you. Good hustle today, Sam. Thanks, bud. All right. Alex Petrangelo, placed on long-term IR for the season and playoffs. Yeah, but we'd send his career is over. No, I don't know.

People were going. There was a thing in the preseason being like he might play this. I know. I know he put that out. He talked about it. But, like, everything was pointed to this guy. I thought he'd be in playoffs. Not coming back.

That was part of the Vegas thing. So, yeah, that's a. significant I mean, that hurts. They were totally prepared for this guy to never play again. Well, that's how they, or why they paid murder.

I would like to retroactively take back some of the things I said about the Four Nations face off. And I mean that sincerely. Like I was hard on Petro Angelo for not going. Everyone went. And then he played after the Four Nations.

It was like, if you can play, why can't you play? I get him being like, we got a chance of the Stanley Cup. I got to just see if I can get healthier. I get it. I apologize to nobody. I apologize to absolutely nobody.

Yeah, I don't think it'll be your last apology this year. I can just not apologize, but I am. People say I'm tasteful. That's what they say. Wait, do you get hammered on that? No. No, but it does bother me. We did get hammered about McDavid yesterday, for sure.

A lot of tears, like all Toronto tears. Why? Because we were mad about it. No, we're not. That's so not true. It's not true. They'll just, people want to take it where the all-time greats always take less and he did that. Connor, Connor is, can take whatever he wants.

At the end of the day, he's going to make $200 million. So what? He left what, how much on the table? Nobody cares. Nobody cares at the end of the day. Bowman cares. You know, I just don't like the optics of it that Caprisoff, who's done squat, is making five more million dollars than the best player on the planet who took his Stanley. Cup. Same amount of rings.

Team to the finals. Same amount of rings. Three times. Right? You guys want to apologize to you on before we go? One's a little more proven, Sammy. I apologize to Carlos Rodon for the beating he's going to take tonight. Go Jays!

All right. It all kicks up tonight. Don't forget those three NHL games between Sammy's James. Oh, yeah. Enjoy your night, everybody.