Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Netminding in the New Year

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne catch up with MSG analyst Steve Valiquette (6:15), back for his regular appearance. The three discuss what's behind the Rangers' recent spiral, Thatcher Demko's mechanical change after his injury, Jakub Dobeš's near-flawless start in Montreal, the Capitals' 'Junior Hockey' culture and much more. Later, Nick and Justin regroup with Sam McKee to discuss parity in the Eastern Conference, the Blue Jackets' underrated progress and the World Junior gold-medal game ending in 3-on-3 OT.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 live on sports net six 50 in Vancouver and sports net nine 60 in Calgary. This hour of real Kipper and born is brought to you by bet three six five. Nick Kiprios welcoming him in Justin born Sammy McKee. and as always, Derek Brandeo and Jake Schultz. So, Steve Alliquette will join us for probably the first time in what? It's been like a month, Sammy? I think December 8th. I picture Flanders skiing in Aspen. We've got a ton to get into with him. Stupid, sexy Flanders.

Stupid, sexy Flanders. He's been doing stuff. He's been skiing. Including... What happened to the Rangers since we talked to him last? The New York Rangers, the Vancouver Canucks. Oh, I'm sorry. We're not going to lead with the Montreal Canadiens. They're the best team in the world.

Montreal Canadiens and their goaltender who's set a record for the first two games, given up what? one goal? Yes, that's correct first time ever in Canadians history Dobush Dobush Dobush Dobush the most important part of their streak they beat the last Five Stanley Cup champions in their last seven games or something thereabouts. They beat Tampa, Florida, Vegas, St. Louis, Colorado. I mean, is that good? St. Louis is like, you know, that's quite a lot.

Oh, we're talking about taking the most negative ass. That's quite a lot. That's like the Milwaukee Bucks coming up. We beat the Raptors who are the champions five in 2019. It's exactly the same thing. Did I ever tell you that story where we like in 1994, like the year that, yeah, I mean, Ottawa was in the league maybe one or two years, I don't know when they came in,

92, 93, and we were doing so well, but we went up and beat Ottawa, which was absolutely lousy. And then, you know, the bus takes us back to the parking lot after we land. And Mark Massie goes, Where are you going? I said, I'm going to go home. He goes, No, we're not. We just beat the 1927 Stanley Cup champion.

We're going out. You got to celebrate a night like that. So that's your point you're making, right? Yeah, I mean, okay. Does count St. Louis then? That's in Florida, Tampa, Vegas, Colorado. And I would say a month ago, we had the conversation of like this organization, what are they doing? Marty St. Louis, is he's a peewee hockey coach?

We were all over him. I think it's really good that they now with their young core and all the guys That they have there are gonna play some meaningful games, but they're not just playing in Totally crappy games at the bottom of the standings like they are now totally by points not points percentage But I think by points they're in a playoff spot right now So listen the rest of the year may not go their way, but they're playing a meaningful games here now and it's good I hate to say it. I'm going to it's better when the Habs are good.

Yeah. Unfortunately, you just don't want them to be irrelevant. They don't have to be great. It wasn't much more than a month ago. Like Marty Staley, we was getting killed. Oh yeah, by us. And yeah, yeah, we like to act like other people do it. Was he? We were doing it. And yeah, yeah, we like to act like other people do it

We were doing it you were yelling at sean mckenzie for running up and down the stairs with them you're all over tsn was all over Horrible and they they they do their regional games Shame on tsn. That was ruthless. Yeah that uh that it all started with the jogging interview up and down the stairs with Sean McKenzie. That's a turning point. Yeah, they've been red hot. Lane Hudson, straight up 30 points. Not too shabby. Patrick Lyonet is a big part of this turnaround.

So does every good American player have like a brother who's really good too? Like the Hudson's, the Hughes, like what's going on here? I don't know. There's like 20 NHL families in the US. His kid brother that was playing for the world juniors is unbelievable, too It's a jeez American brothers kind of ruin it like the Kachaks. They're ruining Canadian hockey JT Miller

Not a bad night at all Unfortunately, it came without the extra point for them losing 5-4 last night to Montreal and in overtime for them losing 5-4 last night to Montreal in overtime. Miller looked good. Would it have changed their minds on anything? They're like, we were going to trade him, but now he looks good. No, it wouldn't have changed their minds. It's so hard to move a guy like that right now. In what sense?

Like, you shouldn't trade good players. Well, I know. But if you, if you, we all believe that they're looking at all options I would tend to believe that JT Miller from at least my view has a much greater chance of being traded than Pettersson. What about this? If it sounds like it's a distraction in the room and people are unhappy with it, the coach is sick of hearing about it, the captain sick of hearing about it the captain sick of hearing about it

Which we thought was like last week, right? What if you went to those guys and said hey suck it up We're not trading good players. You can't get good players easily in this league You're just gonna have to live but you have to believe that like that's a solution I Think it's a better solution than trading good players What's the the name you gave me two weeks ago for Pettersen? Savannah Jad? That was the male there for Spitz.

That's out there now. Lots of people listen to our show, I guess. But yeah, it was a couple of weeks ago you mentioned that. And it was up on, they put a big board up on Spittin' Chicklets thing. I think it was Josh Yeo from the athletic Pittsburgh guy mentioned it in one of his articles. So they're actually reporting that the trade was offered and Vancouver turned it down. And Vancouver turned it down. Yeah.

Great. Good. It's the right choice. It is. Yeah. It's the right choice. But it's not hard to look at the salary cap like a jigsaw puzzle and there's only a few pieces that can fit.

Like you can talk all you want about other trades or other pieces, but it has to fit. And right now, Savannah Jad and JT Miller's contracts mirror each other. Savannah bad. All right, let's welcome him in. Sorry. Don't talk like that on the team

that Steve Valakett covers on a daily basis. Come on, Barney. That's not a good start in the new year. How are you buddy? Very good. How are you fellas? We're good. We're good. So you've been a month off from our show. So we're just going to sit back and let you talk for the next 20 minutes. Is that the way it works? Where do you want to start? Well, you know what? I think it's interesting to go around the league and start to look at some of the guys that are emerging in net unless you guys want to start with the Rangers, of course. Well, no, we're sure we're trying to do. Are we linking Vancouver with the Rangers still because it won't go away? Okay. Well,

I did hear that a little over a month ago. It was actually when JT Miller was in the assistance program that it was a bandage ad for Miller and there was an offer there and I heard it was a no on Vancouver's side. But that's just what I heard. I'm not telling you it's true. I like that. No, it's I don't like to be a rumor machine. I don't know, especially in the new the new that to Doug McLean would you yeah? Well, I mean it is fascinating so you know we had heard Crichter's name you know the true but thing happened now is a bandaged name like our things calming down at all there Are we still expecting changes?

It's it's you know what it is. It's almost like can we rehab what we have instead of Moving on from everything that we have because that's how bad it's gone. If you look at the list of the players, whether it's Lafreniere, one goal in 20 games, or you can go right down the list. Cooley now who was hot for most of the years, one in 15. You can keep going down the list. What's really bizarre to me is that they are the list. What's really bizarre to me is that they are playing a brand of hockey that is so much fun. It encourages everybody to play fun hockey with them, which is trading chances off the rush and playing loose high event hockey. They give up the most scoring chances, but they also create about the most guys in the league and almost every single category. I just looked at this today preparing for the game tonight across the street with Dallas. Dallas is a very good

team off the rush. They just played on Friday night or Saturday, excuse me, Washington, very good team off the rush. They have the devils coming up and the Vegas golden Knights coming up. So four of their five games right now are against per se rushed strong teams. And one thing that I've seen the Rangers, which is wild, they've only won six games in their last 22. And that's dating back to November 21st against Calgary in Calgary. Now during that time, they've really dried up on offense, but it's not like they're not getting their chances. They are 32nd in goals four with 2.3 per game, but they're third in scoring chances, they're third in quality scoring chances,

but they're 32nd in execution. Wow. And yeah, and it's wild. I looked at even the last five games, they have nine high danger chances against Chicago, 13 against Washington, nine nine against Boston 12 against Florida Eight against Tampa Bay their last five games since Christmas. They have 14 east to west chances during those five games only score once and

I'm looking at these chances today fellas in Seven of these 14 backdoor chances. It's right in the goalie's breadbasket, it's right in the crest. And you can, I don't know, I mean, I wasn't a goal scorer, but you guys know what it's like when there's pressure in the room and you're losing and everybody gets tight, but nobody's hitting their spots right now. You know, I'm looking at a five-foot panel here

for Lafreniere to hit against Florida, and it goes right in the middle of the goaltender chest and it's just one of those where I don't know if anybody can see corners right now as glorious as the chances that they're getting so they're getting these great chances one way but they're also giving them up the other way and ending up more frequently in their own net. I just know it's crazy because you would think they would break out of that just by luck but their next four games are Dallas Stars, New Jersey Devils Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche. That's tough Yeah, they're hard part of the schedule Borny. It's it's now they they slumped during the easiest part of their schedule and

They played backup goalies and they played number threes. I believe it was five number threes during a losing streak and lost Valley as far as the Vancouver Canucks go I guess the good news on Demko's injury is it's not his knee as talk had told us yet. He Hasn't looked right to you Right from the get-go on returning. Yeah, you know what it is We're gonna talk about this today because I think it's really important when we're talking about young guys We're talking about health it is posture and Elevation in your stance when goalies get too wide they get spread out. They tend to go down early

Shots that are coming from the point that don't make it to the goaltender If you take a quick glance at the goalie and see if he goes down or he stays on his feet That's when you know, they're really feeling it. They've got their patience. They're in the rhythm of the game. Demko, he does use an elevated stance when the puck's at the point. So his, I'm about to make a save stance isn't the same as when it's on the perimeter or on the point or off the rush. But if you go to his,

I'm about to make a save stance from last year and compare it to this year, it's narrow. It's certainly more narrow, inches narrow, as much as eight inches narrow. We went into the video room last year when Shisurkin was having a slump and we went back to the previous year where he was a Vezna trophy candidate, not the year that he won,

but he was playing at that high quality of game. And we found that his, because we're able to measure with the measuring tool, that his goalie stance, his feet, were an extra foot outside of where they were a year ago when he was successful. Now, when you look at Demko, it really reminds me of, if you remember when Ed Balfour, excuse me, came to Toronto, didn't he look different in his stance than he did in his first six years with the Chicago Blackhawks? Do you remember how low and aggressive he used to play?

No. And how wide he was? No. I mean, Kipper, you remember, right? Do you do or not? Buddy, I can't remember what I had for breakfast. Okay, okay. And Borny, you would have been young.

You were a fan, right? Yeah, no, I was a fan for sure. My technical goalie expertise that that time maybe not where it should have been. Well, it's a quick Google search When he was when he was no seriously when he was in Chicago versus Toronto. It's like a different goalie He brought his feet under him, but he had back problems right Kipper. He was going Yeah, a little bit this in the early. I do remember that right Kipper he was going yeah a little bit early I do remember that right so look at Demko last season versus this season And and to me it just reminds me that so he's overcompensating the body's overcompensating Absolutely, and he's probably knowing this Kipper and trying to figure out a way to play Under these new conditions. I mean we all have to guys

I haven't told you this story about me But man, I was coming out of the shower in Springfield My teammates were having a fight in the locker room One guy is getting Gatorade and he stomps on my foot and I slide back into the shower and my toes what they went down I mean it was just the skin on the back of my foot that was holding my toes on. I completely severed all five of my tendons in my toes. Oh my God. Oh yeah, it was the worst injury. Three months I was out.

And after my second surgery, the first surgery, they told me I'd never play again. Second surgery, I was able to get it so my toes were no longer inverted up, but I could get it in the boot. But the point is, is I had to learn how to get the proper flexion in my stance that I was still comfortable stopping

a puck because I lost so many degrees in range of motion in my right ankle. I didn't hear anything you said after the toes thing. Oh yeah. But my point is, is that as you guys know, you have certain injuries during a long enough career and you need to adjust your playing style. In this case, it's a stance, but he's given up.

He gave up, I think it was seven bad goals so far this year. And in that short time, he only gave up like 10 in all of last season. So you start looking at, I mean, he's trying to stop the puck with a new stance. You know, good luck with that. And that's throwing them off. It throws off everything. It throws off your biomechanics. It throws off your head and how you're looking at it through the release. So I think it's going to be a long road for him. And I think it's a really tough spot that Vancouver's in. Clearly not as bad as the Panthers, but. Is the tendency at his age or what he's gone through just to eventually get used to this new way

or can he build himself up back to where he was before? You know, that's, look, I'm hearing new things all the time about technology and rehabbing and god damn doesn't Stollers have a dimple or is it a pebble? Pebble. Pebble. What are we talking about? It's a body.

So you know, I'm wondering if he can and I'm sure he's wondering the same thing. It's got to be a challenge because he was a top five goalie for the last five years. So you know, the Canadian goaltending pitcher in general is fascinating. Obviously Vancouver's going through that. Wolfe in Calgary is a Calder potential guy. Obviously here in Toronto, Hellbuck's a Vezna guy. But the one right now that people are talking about

is this Dobish in Montreal. He's only played a couple games. I don't know if you've had enough viewings of him to have an opinion on him yet, but what are your thoughts? Could this guy be the real deal for them? Yeah, I received a call from his agent to give me a heads up on how well he was doing, and I went into it for a couple hours.

Just because you hear these new guys, and some of them, like it's Dostal and Anaheim, we've talked about Wolff a lot this year. Asgarov right now has been playing a very impressive game in San Jose. One thing that I have consistently noticed with these young guys is they have a strong elevation in their butterfly stance. And what that means is, if you go back to the early

90s, the mid 90s, when we're really learning the butterfly style, the stacking butterfly pads that we have, the knee stacks is what we call them. And they're about an inch and a half thick, will they allow you to go down harder in your butterfly and not smack your knee on the ice? Early 90s guys, we didn't even have those. I was playing in the OHL for Sudbury. We didn't even have that knee stack that we were dropping down on you just pull the leather really tight on your strap

and you'd really butterfly on the inside of your pad and try and get enough of it so you weren't hitting the ice on every up and down. Now, these young guys, to me, it's like the second generation being able to really master the butterfly. And what I see is that in the 90s, even up until about the early 2000s,

a butterfly was a block. And you would really butterfly and go straight up and down and try and be as big as possible. It was, I was about 18 years old when I learned that technique from Francois Allaire, who coached Patrick Waugh. Stayed at his house for three days with Zach Burke, and we really learned the butterfly style

for the first time. Funny enough, Zach and I went back to the Jim Park goalie school and got fired for teaching that style because we were teaching the skate save instead, so it wasn't a part of the curriculum. So we were a little early on it. But what I'm seeing right now after all these years of goalie coaching is that if we call,

and this is what I do with the 14 and 15 year olds when I start working with them, if we call a butterfly block, like you're up at a one, but you're really far away from the puck if there's a rebound, so it may look good and you may look big, but you're not really big because when you get closer with your shoulders to the crossbar, there's actually a vertical angle for the puck to get

over your shoulders. Playing at a two is when you really pitch yourself forward and you hang over the puck. It's the way Lundquist would look on a breakaway. And when you play at a two, to get there in a butterfly, you have to drive through the ice, you need to go hard to the ice, so it actually pitches you forward. And now you're playing at a two when goalies in the NHL are unsuccessful,

they are playing at a three most cases where there's traffic and they sit back in their butterfly. They sit almost on their skates. And really sitting back hurts you because when the rebound escapes net front, you're able to only roll over because you can't really get back to a two to move again. What I'm seeing with these young guys, Dostal, Askarov, Wolf, Dobish, these guys are playing hard at a two. I'm actually inspired because I think this next wave is gonna make up for the wave that we just lost.

I remember earlier in the season talking to you guys about all the big names that have retired over the last seven years and how there's just not enough good goalies coming up and underneath to fill in. Well, not the case right now. Like, Dobish, you watch his game and who's he beat? He beats two Stanley Cup champions over the last three years in Florida and Colorado, but he's able to move on these rebounds because he's always at a two. This guy is pitched like he is he is hammered forward. And it's like, it's it frees up his edges. So he's able to really move quickly and explode through the crease. So am I expecting more success from him? Man, so far so good. I'm impressed. Let me just ask you one more on this topic. And that's just in general, when these goalies come up with zero expectations and they get to play with house money and what a difference that is to go out there and perform early at a high level and I only say this as I

you know read that Dylan Ferguson is signed with the Minnesota Wild who was one of like 20 goalies that once upon a time Vegas Golden Knights had to go through when they ran into a cluster of injuries Well, I Think that I think that everybody's understanding that there's only so much of a run you're gonna get out of a goalie right now Because it's that hard to play goal in the NHL right now kipper and it's everywhere I mean, yeah, we'll talk about the league-wide save percentage at 90 right now, which is the lowest in like 30 years, but It's the east-west chances. It's the grind. It's teams not taking the easy shots

You know, and I think it's just never been harder and the stakes have never been higher So I think that we're gonna continue to see these short bursts. You're gonna get five, six, seven games out of a guy. And then it's time for the next one. Let that guy get two weeks of work with the goalie coach. One issue that I've had with the NHL schedule this year, it's gonna be the same next year, is you're missing a lot of practice time.

So this is a way to afford your goalie to get back in there with a goalie coach and build yourself back up So you can go on another run my first game in the NHL I Hear you what you're saying about how much energy you can come up with and play with that emotion and play with enthusiasm But I remember getting the call from butch gore in saying a value you're gonna play tonight and I'm playing my first game and I'm trying to just walk over the bags in the locker room to make myself over on my way over

to my stall and I can barely feel my legs like pick them up they were so heavy because of the nerves you know and and in game two I went into Ottawa and this was this was the 2000 season. Ottawa, this was a big game actually for the Leafs because it was playoff ice implications. And we got out shot 48 to 13 and we won two to one. I was just playing on pure adrenaline. I wasn't thinking, I just went blank. And it's a good reminder because the more you think, the more you hurt yourself.

But I do know that that only lasts so long. There's only a short run of that desperation, that motivation that you can really play on. And then you settle in and you are who you are. Yeah, absolutely. Which is relevant to what I wanted to ask you about Colorado's goaltending situation. They get Blackwood and they sign them to a contract like immediately, you know, are they gonna like that contract? Do they need to sign a five-year deal there? Yeah, I wondered about that one Borny, I thought it was early but you know it's like I think everybody understands the prices and going down with these guys that are if

you identify them early like a message to Pat Burbeek, he's got to sign that doestol to his extension. His price is going up. It's not going down. And I can say that to Pat, even though we've never met, his brother's my financial advisor. But you know, seriously, get them signed because the good ones when you identify them, you know, there's a lot of good data to back up Blackwood. There's a lot. I know he hasn't had the playoff success, but he's a big guy. That's really kind of over his years figured his game out. I do like his game a lot. I can see why Colorado goes there. But a little early, maybe they

didn't want to see him go on a run because Colorado knows they're one of the top defensive teams in the league. And if you put that guy in your net, maybe his numbers get inflated. Let's get to this early. I'm sure they had a thought process like that when they get it done. Valley, interesting storylines when it comes to the nets

here in Ontario. Let's start first with the Ottawa Senators because I know at times we rolled our eyes a little bit to all mark but it's it's really too bad that this this happened at the worst time when the Ottawa Senators were rolling that they've lost them now week to week. Do you know what it hurts and I'm looking at this chart here of scoring chances against?

It hurts the morale of the team. It hurts the spirit of the team. What's Travis Green's job is to get the spirit of this group high enough to go out there and compete together family loyalty and battle and defensively Ottawa is the sixth best team in scoring chances against this year. They're legit. They should be in comfortably. All mark was great.

And he was but the Ferrari it can't go to the garage every two weeks and be out of commission for two and three weeks at a time because you know what? You lose a little bit of that team spirit. And come on guys, we've all been in a locker room. Unless I see a guy with a sling on and crutches get out on the ice, right? Like you're always questioning it, I'm sorry. It hurts guys like us when we get married because our wives are never hurt or ever sick

and nobody understands why we are the way we are. My wife comes back from tennis last week. She's lippin. It's like, I think I have a tear in my quad. I'm like, no, you don't. You're fine. You didn't tell her to suck it up. Did you? You know what I mean? Yeah. You're walking fine. I mean, you're not even limping. Oh, get a good lawyer. Yeah. That's the way it goes. I mean, we we lost that sensitivity chip I think a long time ago and I mean in junior hockey and you know, it's funny I was talking to somebody in Washington. I bought or listened to your show Kipper

I know you were you were there but one of the coaches said when was the most fun you ever had playing hockey? You know, I didn't have to think long about that It was when I was playing for the Sudbury Wolves when I was playing for the Erie Otters And he's like, yeah, that's what it's like playing for the Sudbury Wolves, when I was playing for the Erie Otters. And he was like, yeah, that's what it's like playing for the Washington Capitals right now. We're playing junior hockey. Guys don't wanna leave the rink.

We love being here. Everybody's blocking shots for each other. Everything's celebrated when you come to the bench. Nobody ever wants to leave the rink. Well, guess what? Across the street, it's the opposite. Opposite. And guess what?

It's a job across the street and that's why they're struggling And that's why one team is doing that well and one team is doing that poorly The spirit was lost this year here and it was gained in washington that team last year kipper The rangers went through them hot knife threw butter in the first round They were they were a joke really and I thought they were done and then they retooled and figured it out and for all intentions and purposes man they're legit contender right now. It's funny how success and failure feed on itself. You start to have some success, you start to believe in each other and the opposite is true. It's just the rosters are not that

different like one's terrible and one's. But there is a belief thing makes a big difference. Well, how do you explain how the Rangers can go that dry offensively? You know, everybody's tight. And, and then you start kind of getting through it just in little groups, a couple guys here and there talking to each other after a couple beers, they're the two best players in the world. But we've lost what I said they've won six of 22. But you know, and there's that

and then there's also the one where there's not enough accountability, right? Because the nicest team I ever played for was the Springfield Falcons in the American hockey league. And that was the least successful season that I had ever played on. And you know, I think that's dangerous as well. You to find a route you have to strike the balance between Calling each other, you know eye to eye out on stuff and holding that accountability strong just one more The Leafs by far the best team in the league who have earned points solely from their goaltenders Well, I think it's interesting because I spent a lot of time last couple days on wall, as

well as how you say it, Kepper Hillbilly. Yes. No, the Hill the Beast the other night. Yeah. Yeah. Barney, last week I told Kepper I was driving and my coffee came out of my nose when you said that. It came out directly out of my nose.

I'm glad I can do that for you my nose when you said that. Like, directly out of my nose. I'm glad I can do that for ya. I owe you a coffee. Yeah, well we're talking about the importance of, again, like elevation in your stance, being able to come down strong, posture. I think when you back it up, if that's lost during a save, if it's lost,

something happened incorrectly, positionally, before you lost your posture, your elevation. And when I watched Hilda B in his latest game, you'll see it in the first period. There are three or four rushes that come down the right side, and he's off angle. I know it sounds like, come on, he's an NHL goalie. Well, it happens. And sometimes when this happens, it really throws off your tracking because now even when you're off, think about the hockey puck, it's only three inches. So when you're off three or four inches,

I can tell on television, I can take my computer system that I have in the software and I can take lines and take it right to the release of the puck and see where the goalie is and whether and I calculate if he's in the middle of his net or not. Some goalies will argue they are screened on specific shots, but they're not in the middle of their net. So you could build a screen on yourself if you're off center

and you could say well, I experienced a screen. I was screened. Well, yeah, you were screened. But do you understand that you weren't in the middle of your net? So you're not shouldn't have been screened. Now the same holds true for somebody coming down the wing. And what I see with Hildeby, which is going to be something that he's going to have to just correct right now, is that he can't lose himself

in the middle of his net, because it also throws off his squareness. Now if you've missed angle and squareness, you will surely have a tracking problem. With Wohl, what I saw with him recently is the blocker. His right knee is not coming down on the ice when he's making a blocker save. That's why he's giving up so many blocker goals. That's why everybody's shooting blocker on him. Now high glove over the glove. He's only been beat three times this year. Joseph wall over the blocker 11 times low blocker, six times.

So excuse me. Everything is blocker side right now on him. And pay attention to when you're watching the next game when he's in there, where everybody's shooting. They're going to shoot blocker side because they're recognizing that he's getting a little ahead and you can oftentimes do this, especially on a lefty because you start lining up to the body a little bit too much and lefties love low blocker. Lefties love low blocker. Lefties love low blocker and now you're trying to come down on the puck but you're off a little bit and the knee is not

getting down on the ice which means you're not pitching forward, you're not able to cut it off. And that's something I'll be watching with him. Any goal he's gonna tell you fellas, it gets harder and harder to play in this league after every lap because the book gets a little bit thicker and that's one thing for him I think he's just got to pay attention to. We'll be watching for that as early as tonight.

We're on Sportsnet Ontario. It's Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers. Hey, Valley, as always great stuff, man. Thanks for doing this. So much good stuff. Thanks, buddy. My pleasure, fellas. Enjoy the game. Strain out those Rangers, would you?

Oh my goodness. Good luck. That is Steve Valakett, analyst with the New York Rangers those Rangers would you oh my goodness good luck at a Valacat analysts with the New York Rangers on MSG and clear site analytics CEO What do you think a little weaker on the why do you like give me the big like? What's up? You gave me the big glare when I said the Leafs probably I mean the best team in the league when it came They've had good goaltending with their defensive metrics have improved massively. Like they're not like they're you know they give up a few more shots here and there but it's not the quality that they used to give up. How many times have we

said they would have lost that game if it wasn't for their goalies? So you're just completely discrediting, you're crediting the defensive improvements. That's where you're like, analytic crap not Crap oh, I have the gym is the best shutdown pair that we do not agree. Give me a good goalie You got a good coach Sly shots and all the stuff if this is all gone way to anyways The one thing they're way better at is high danger chance. Yeah, give a fewer of those but the goaltending it is Good the second they don't get that goaltending. We're like, oh, but it's allowed to be good They said he plays on the team. He's part of the team. It's like always a goal He always is close to like 20 teams going you're allowed to be good, but you're not a question for you

He said that left he's loved to shoot low blocker I've never actually asked you guys well like both of your when you scored 60 in the oh and your was your go-to move. I Like five liked five hole. Five hole? Honestly, I don't know if I score a five hole goal in my career. I get the sense we were very different players. You come down on a breakaway, you're fired up.

No, yeah, but you gotta toe drag, you gotta go. Backhand five hole? You gotta sleeper, forehand, backhand, through the legs. Yeah, wow. I had a lot of deeks and deception. Okay. A lot of fakes, leaning backhand. But you go backhand forehand? Yeah, backhand forehand legs. Yeah I'm a lot of Deeks and deception. Okay, but you go back and forth I wish I would have tried when I was younger the Kuturov were the sweep and you don't pick up the puck You know slide the no touch. That is so beautiful. I would I don't know how they does that to have had the Imagination to have tried that once or twice. I might have had the imagination. I didn't have the colonist

to have tried that once or twice. I might have had the imagination. I didn't have the cojones to try that. There's no way. Imagine you go to your coach, he's like, sorry, so you chose to not shoot it? My thought process would never, I would never have had that range to go get that creative. I think, but the two most effective moves,

I think everybody would be lefty, full speed, low blocker, wrister, and if you're a lefty, and then fake fake blocker side cut to the back end or the two most effective moves Yeah, so I like to cut that one back though. So back back to the forehand off the oh, yeah Everyone goes back in yeah. Yeah, but they're so big now You got it to to Valley's point you got to get them out of the middle of the net You got to get them leaning one way or the other you got to get them out of the middle of the net you got to get them leaning one way or the other You got to get them to lose their net or else. There's nothing to shoot at yeah

Oh, yeah, that's if you if you put your average Put Sam out there with an NHL goalie square to him and say where do you want to shoot? There's no there's nowhere. There's not an off Bible you physically only chance hammer one Low as hard as you can need to make the move Game time game time. All right It's game time because of a bet three six five visit the app latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at bed Three six five. That's been 19 plus. Tara only please play responsibly Was looking at the Leafs game for tonight and I do think the Toronto White Police are gonna win tonight

That's rare that I feel like that but I do think that they're streaking yeah I mean they'll probably lose but cooked up a little bit of a same-game parlay here for that game I think William Nylander gets off the Schneid tonight got Bob and man on the other wing bit of a wake-up call for Let me flying up and down the ice He shoots one in tonight and the least to win and Willie to score is plus 260 so I like that one for the least tonight The other games are going big one in Detroit tonight The red hot red wings are going up against the Ottawa Senators who need a win big time The Ottawa Senators are minus 115 on the money line. The Detroit Red Wings are minus 105 pretty close there

The Bruins are hosting the Edmonton Oilers really good night of hockey tonight The Oilers are big faves in Boston minus minus 150. Bruins are plus 125 on the money line. And what else have I got here for you? Carolina in Tampa to take on the Lightning. Really good one there too. Tampa's just plus money, plus 100 on the money line. Carolina is minus 120. I'll comment on the Detroit-Ottawa game tonight.

This Red Wings team, since McClellan has taken over They've now won four straight games. Yes, and they got smoked by the Leafs that Saturday night They've won four straight since now now they're two points behind Ottawa. Yes. He was dead and yeah I understand Ottawa's played one more game But it's like wait. I was sure the Red Wings were cooked and Montreal so Sounds kind of blowing here. All right with that we'll pick it up. Hold on That was game time presented by bet 365 Visit the app Flays Dodds and find out why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 must be 19 plus on terry only please play responsibly

Okay, there you go. Nice close Sammy. All right off that we'll pick up the the conversation on where Pittsburgh and Columbus lie in the Eastern Conference and Where they go from there? Pittsburgh back in this thing. I mean they are and I will discuss after the break Oh, I don't get to do it now. I see you miss one day and you just cannot pick up my Mike You know See you miss one day and you just cannot pick up my, you know. Nope, that's on me. All right.

More when we return to Real Kipper and Board. hockey show on Sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. The Kipper is Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee as a reminder of this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by bet three, six, five Sammy. Why y'all giggles over there? We'll talk about it off there. I was zoned out. Although you can't do that to our listening audience. We'll talk about that That dirty gosh is stupid. Oh, okay. It's not it's not worth the time of our water

But it's stupid enough to amuse you. I'm an idiot. So it's very easy to amuse. Okay. Yeah As we look particularly in the Eastern Conference, yes, the Rangers did invite everybody back to the party, but it really is like maybe one of the weakest that we've seen in quite some time for a possible birth in the Stanley Cup playoffs. but this should be really hard we're talking about like 83 84 points right now to make the playoffs. That's like unheard of this is Batman's dream right now in the Eastern Conference What that everybody's crap olas and everybody just throws a dart on the Buffalo Sabres wall lost 13 in a row

Recently and they are where they six points are the last playoff spot I was actually gonna say there's 15 teams with a chance to make the playoffs in the East and you just pointed out Buffalo and it's like they're not out Okay, so no one's out of class. That's I mean, that's great. Is that good? No, well, I don't think so, But you'd like a few teams to not be. So it's just. But the top's no good. But it's not fooling everybody.

We just had in our first hour, if you haven't listened to it, go back and download the podcast or watch it on YouTube. Daniel Breyer say they have no ill-conceived notion that they will make the playoffs and they are not playoff contenders. Look at their 39 points. The numbers 41.

They're two points out. They're two points out. We're done. We're done. So what are we trying to sell here? Well I think, no this is, you're trying to sell that fans don't see the big picture and that they believe their teams are in it and they keep going to the games and buying tickets. Okay. That's what Betman wants. All right. Haves and have nots, baby. This is the Premier League. This is the Champions League. Like,

we've talked about this for three years. There's just a lot of really mid themes. I did have a thought driving in here today thinking about the National Hockey League, as I always do. Oh, yes. I feel like a team like the Winnipeg Jets could win the Stanley Cup this year. It's like they're in that division with Minnesota who they're better than and they're in there with Colorado who we know their top end is really good but like Connor Hellebuyck is about to win, well he's won two Veznas now and he could win a third. MVP candidate here. MVP candidate going to win a third Vezna and I and he could win a third. He's like by the way. MVP candidate here. MVP candidate gonna win a third Vezna.

And I was thinking about his inevitable Hall of Fame induction speech, because he's a Hall of Fame goalie. Every one of those guys has a year. Has a playoff year, has a run where it's like, and Hellebuck just dragged him. Can't you see them? Like even the guys that didn't win,

like think about Lunkfist when they went to the finals. Think about Price when they went to the finals and they beat the Habs. Even Thornton Marlowe, they didn't win the cup, but theyunkfist when they went to the finals, think about Price when they went to the finals and they beat the Habs. They even thought Marlowe, they never won the cup, but they had years where they just like were great in the playoffs, like great players. I can see Hellebuck having a year like that. You're right, he just needs the one year. Maybe it's just enough of the first round to just shut the door. Just shut the door in the first round. Feed up on like the flames who sneak into playoffs. The Blues or somebody, it's like you get rolling

and then you're good. But I just, I'm still not sure if they're big enough back there. I just wonder how the Jets fans would make it about the Leafs if they won the cup. If what? I wonder how the Jets fans make it about the Leafs if they won the cup.

So they like to talk about. They parade the cup down the streets of Owen Sound just to drive it home to you Right. Yeah, like Logan Stanley's huge He's probably not gonna play for them in playoffs Like I I'm curious to see how aggressive they get cuz Morrissey de Melo de Melo are very good. You're right, though It's not they're a huge Pionk Stanley high Nola Coughlin right now is there there's a couple injuries at least

And tonight will go a long way again in that Eastern Conference between Pittsburgh and Columbus. It's nice to see Columbus not really, like they're like Montreal right now. They've drawn their fan engagement back to respectability where you feel like, okay, at least we're not scraping the bottom of the barrel anymore.

And they made a coaching change this offseason if I'm not mistaken Right, Everson and the Everson. Yeah, Everson's got them playing. Well You know, they obviously done a nice job We really has considering the tragedy the start of the season trying to get that group going The way they played to McClellan first, I think is that right? Yeah, and didn't wash shell out not the bucks So are we to assume that Detroit spent a couple of extra bucks? Well, he was at five, right? So you have to negotiate I think he still had term on his contracts yet to part of the delay I think was Negotiating with the LA Kings. It's really goofy for the coaches. You gotta

You can't you can't double dip. You can't make, why can't you, you should be able to double dip. You don't want me, you still owe me that money. We agreed to it. Someone else wants me, I can now go work for them. What are you saying? I'm saying that it's, you're not a player.

You cannot get bought out or be owed money from another team and still play for another team. Like if the Kings owe him his five million bucks and this team wants to pay him five million that just takes the Kings off the hook. So he doesn't get any additional money. So if he signs a new contract and it's for six million then they get to use two million off of the LA Kings and you pay up the rest, right? It's a split, it's always a split.

No team, if they're paying you to stay home, then they don't want you to, I guess, pay you to compete against me. So it's up to the other. You fired me, I'll do what I want. It's up to the other team. It's goofy, I agree. It's one of the goofiest things I think I've ever heard. Who's up to the other team. It's goofy. I agree. Yeah, it's one of the goofiest things

I think I've ever heard who's the coaches have a Please being Stop doing that like no part of the auto club Maybe they'll come and start your car if you're lucky the auto club. Maybe they'll come and start your car if you're lucky. All right. So not binding is what you're saying. So that's but then throwing it off topic here, but it's nice Columbus. Columbus would be a great story under the circumstances with what they've got. I think that's who you'd root for to get it. You know, here's my vote for most underrated player in the NHL this year. Karyl Marchenko. Yeah. Marchenko is on pace for, well, let me just pull up the numbers here.

But I think he's got to be big. He's so he has 40 games played. He has 1726 for 43 points. So he's got he's on pace for 34 goals and 86 points. He is 63 200 24 years old. Wow. I mean, this guy's a hockey player. Now that's an underrated guy. That's legitimately an underrated guy this year. Yeah, absolutely. Plus 22 on the Columbus Blue Jackets, by the way, not too shabby playing almost. Yeah, Lord, I know minus 23 the the year prior so and they're a minus eight is a goal as a team So it's like he's really making a massive difference for them. Yeah, so yesterday you missed our show Never got to ask you about The world junior championship. Oh, yeah ending on three on three for like a regular

on three on three for like a regular overtime. Why can't they just keep playing hockey to get a winner? Not even for five minutes or, you know, but like the whole time. Do they have a game the next day that they needed to stay fresh for? That's, if it's the semis or it's like, it's the quarters and I would understand three on three for 10 during that because you got to play the next day.

It's back to back. Don't want to bag Not the guys before the it's the gold medal game We're trying to determine the hockey winner play on the hockey just play five on five That's a good amount of guys out there. We figured it out I didn't do that. I didn't know the rule until they said it and I'm like, yeah, you can't be it Can't go through all of this playing real hockey to decide a gold medal in a pond hockey game. And a hard fought game. And it's such a different sport three on three. And you know, sometimes like,

it's the longest five minutes in the NHL watching everybody like regroup and take it out and back and then clear the zone again. And that overtime I'm like, I can't watch it anymore. I can't. No action. The good news is that voids the Americans gold medal. Yes, Asterix.

Yeah. Didn't know if you guys knew that, but that doesn't actually count. I'm all for that. Yeah. Did you see, did you see that there's like a fan fan video a really good fan video of that stretch pass? Was it Stiga that scored the overtime? Oh my free bird absolutely Why are they so much cooler than us man like I can't accept this I know my voice fourth years be hammered

I'm crying again about it, but I'm like God But they did have the song queued up to like the most perfect part of free bird that really did haul ass I'll be honest. You poor thing, Sammy. I just hate, they're so much cooler. So much better. Actually no, I saw that whole chant they did in the dressing room after that.

Not cool. You don't think that's cool? No, not at all. Oh, that's so cool. Lame. I didn't watch it. Oh, they did like a cool chant. They do a call and answer sort of thing

that I didn't do. So you're gonna be okay if the USA win like the Four Nations? Are you gonna be okay? No, no, no No, I get you a wrong. I'm telling you right now. It's gonna be like I hope we're not doing shows Matthews is looking great. We come back and it's like what happened? No, no No comment. He just won't be here Yeah, just crying tears my eyes, but my My favorite was the year the Leafs lost.

A few years ago in playoffs and then and asked Sammy what he did. Boston or Tampa, pick one. Which one? And he said he went outside. Sammy doesn't smoke by the way. He said he went out and he just smoked cigarettes in the backyard.

Had like three darts. Just laid on a chaise lounge and smoked. I did do that, I did do that. I smoked a couple tarts I like I like a cheeky dart here. What can I say? But yeah, I yeah, listen I don't I'm a fan and I care I take the stuff hard and it's At Boston tonight like it's not getting easier for the Bruins here Bruins are rotten So one of the things we're gonna talk talk about tonight on our broadcast, the Leafs Regional is like teams that may sneak into the final playoff spot in the East. I don't

think the Bruins are going to make it. I think there's two teams sneaking out. I think the Bruins might, might miss. How do they, I'm telling you, just go right back to the, the handling of Swainman for me, for the Boston Bruins. Didn't need to be like this. Not even close, not even close. What do you, like, it's, who's at fault, Swamen? No, it's the Bruins for not identifying

that he needed 8.25 million and just get it done. Just get him in training camp, pay them, get it done. Agreed. $8.91 save percentage this year, $2.91 goals. Bruins have the worst combined save percentage in the NHL. Want to get this in real quick. First words of this article, Arizona is looking to bring the NHL back to the desert. Maricopa County is trying to make it happen.

Of course they are. Stay tuned. I got the ownership group. You do? Oh yeah. You Got your guy? Oh yeah. I want in. All right. This is gonna be playing golf every day. I got 80 bucks to throw at it. Consultant in Arizona. Our thanks to Daniel Brier in the first hour as we get teed up for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers. Also Steve Aliquette. Thank you very much. Enjoy your 10 games tonight. We're back tomorrow.