Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: NHL's Top 5 Goalies

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee react to more contract movement around the league, with Niko Mikkola signing an 8-year, $40M extension to stay in Florida, and the Ducks locking in young defenceman Jackson LaCombe to an 8-year deal carrying an AAV of $9M. MSG analyst and CEO of Clear Sight Analytics Steve Valiquette (4:41) weighs in on the deals, the immense pressure on today's goalies, Anthony Stolarz's team-friendly extension, the top five netminders over the last three years, and much more. Then, Vally introduces a new game for his weekly appearances: Grill the Panel! Later, Nick, Justin and Sam discuss the NHL franchise value rankings ahead of the start of 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.

Inching, oh, so closer to the National Hockey League season opener. It's the Real Kipper and Bourne show Season 5. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake, Derek Brandale. Once again, we are live and in color on Sportsnet 590, The Fans, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, SportsNet Plus, and always post. on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube after our show, if you don't catch us live. Jam packed again.

Fastest hour in hockey. You wanted them. You've been asking for him. Steve Valliquette, analyst with the Rangers, MSG, CEO, ClearSight Analytics. We'll join us in a few minutes. I've always loved our conversation. Every conversation we've had with Valley last year

was like gold for me. You know, it's the one area where, you know, neither of us are goaltenders. You know, we're not specialists here. And Valley is so good and so thorough and insightful. It's really helpful to just get to pick his brain. Yeah. And he has time.

Over the years, I mean, you've, every once in a while, came up with the, you give me some numbers or some stats or some analytics and I'd go useful or useless. Yep. There's not many useless I get out of. Valley. No, I've got a lot. Valleys are primarily useful, which is great.

Signings, boys, keep coming in. Right off the back of our conversation yesterday, another one. Yeah. Sammy, what do we got? We got $40 million in Florida. Well, I was thinking more the Jackson-Lacomone one that was just signed. But yeah, Nico Mikola signed. You say it.

I want to start. Say Nico Mikhaila. Miko-Mikola. Miko-Makala. no kidding aside i want to start with the guys i know first yeah okay that's fair not the ones that if i ran them over with my car i i wouldn't know them yeah like you could pair me up at lake you with jackson lecombe and i wouldn't for four and a half hours i wouldn't know who you know but we've all talked about him you're aware of what he's doing so refresh our listeners

who this is and why he's getting nine million dollars a year now i mean am i the expert on Jackson McComb. Yeah, I'm up until 10.30 every night, pouring over the Ducks, Dave for this. He's younger. He knows. Jackson McComb is a 24-year-old defenseman who spent four years at the University of Minnesota and was very, very good there. Yeah, highly sought after guy, went to Anaheim,

and immediately in his first year was a top pair guy. Played big minutes, had over 40 points, became a very important piece for them. And now we're seeing this whole movement, the Luke Hughes thing, okay. We're, okay, just did a little bit on Jackson. Okay.

Action Jackson. He was drafted six years ago, if I'm not mistaken. Sounds right. We're not. 2019. Round two, 39th overall. 39th overall pick, not seventh overall or not,

like this doesn't happen this early for a guy like that who's 39th pick overall at the draft. And I know he had a pretty good year, right? Last year, 14 goals? Yeah, 14 goals. Okay.

On a bad team. Zero. It was not a minus. Is that still enough for Pat Verbeek to completely tell the world that this guy is just a stud and I got to do something no different than Jersey did with Luke Hughes? Yeah, I love this because it really feeds off our conversation yesterday. And I wrote an article on sportsnet.com, which should be out any minute, about this very thing, which is the salary cap is doing some crazy things now. And it could be in three years, $120 million.

And so teams are trying to get out ahead of getting stuck with Carilla Caprizov's contract. We're eating that massive number for someone who's important. You made a good point yesterday about these guys haven't done anything yet. You know, you don't know. These guys could take a step back and all of a sudden, who knows? We are now signing guys to tens of millions of dollars on. Promise. Projections.

Totally. Less games played than Luke Hughes has. And on the other hand, it's the way we've seen teams get the most value by far, not even close, is by going out and saying before this guy hits, I'm going to say we're going to give him the money. And Brandon Hagel makes $6.2 million for the next six years because Tampa did this. Okay, a guy that we were able to sign in the offseason to a maximum year deal without. Without.

Oh, boo. Jesus. The Yankees had day one. For those of you that cannot... For those of you that cannot see our beloved Steve Valaket on Zoom, he sport in a Yankee jersey on a sports net, Blue J network.

He's allowed. He's in New York. Disagree. That's all right. We still love you. From the... From the nose down. We still love you. Well,

I told you guys when I come on the Kippur and Bourne show, we're in year five now. Is that right, boys? I'm going to be throwing some cheese today. 101 up in the zone. All right. So before we get into specifics on a few, just your overall thoughts of the contracts that we've seen. And where's your comeback with all this money? Yeah, look, I think the Carill Capri Sov contract guys, it does represent what he brings

offensively to the team. It wasn't one that you could let walk. I understand Minnesota's position. I understand that by the same token, Connor is going to require to capture that kind of money as well. Look, I think that that's the way the league's going. It's hard for us to see.

I was listening to your show yesterday with Jason York, and these are dollars and cents that I didn't see coming five years ago from where we were in the cap to now. Coming out of that 0405 lockout guys, when the salary cap ceiling was like 44, million you know as my co-host at msg always says how we looking all right valet let's get her going for this season let's start with uh your position at best uh in net and i'm gonna i'm gonna

start a little bit wider and then i want you to bring it into the edmonton oilers and connor ingram and where are we in the national hockey league going in the 25 26 season on client demand in net and how we end up seeing a guy like Ingram now in Edmonton. All right. Well, Ingram, he's not a unknown. Although he was, you know, away from us in our viewpoint because Arizona and Utah aren't always on our radar. This is an interesting piece here, guys. For the last three years, it's gone Vamalka, Ingram Vamalka, as really their de facto number one, at least statistically and for long stretches of the season.

I don't know if a lot of people know this, but two years ago, as of February 1st, he was the fourth best goalie in the NHL. He was a plus 13 playing for Utah. He was really hot through the beginning of the season, and then by the time he got the January, February, started to gas out a little bit, but he was a number four-ranked goalie,

and he had stopped at that point in the season 13 more goals than he should have allowed. And that's a lot. And so he's performed at a high level. I can see him being a fit in some way. I just don't know about the mental side of the game. And this is affecting a lot of goalies at every level. And look, you guys, I was on the ice this summer.

Five hours a day, I had 16 goalies on a program that all wanted to skate three times a week. And I thought there was more of an urgency this summer because you can really reach your confidence in the summer that you can carry through a season. And I think a lot of goalies at every age level right now, and maybe this goes for the players as well. The more time that you sacrifice and the more discipline you put into it, the more confidence you feel you've earned

so when you get into your season, you can perform. But that also comes with an anxiety. I had another goalie this past week. He's on some medication to allow him to relax. And, you know, I go back to, when I first retired, I had guys coming over here. I had O HL goalies. Different scouts and agents would have goalies reach out to me for help,

and I'd have them stay at my home. And I'm telling you guys, I had goleys telling me about erectile dysfunction, you know, crapping blood, all kinds of stressful stuff that, I don't know. I don't know if I had exposure to it like that because we didn't have the social media and we didn't have the attention. and I think it's affecting, I don't even know if I'd want my son to be a goalie under the pressure right now that everybody's under, no matter at what level. Is it way worse today than it ever has been before?

I know we've added more teams, so does it seem like it's getting worse, but it really isn't? These problems are what goalies in particular have suffered for many years? You know, Kipper, I thought when I was at the highest level in New York, and, you know, my teammate was Henrik Lundquist, but again a lot of people don't know this but the first couple years he was in New York he was really grinding his teeth

he was giving himself migraines you know he had different points of pressure that were affecting his play come playoff time and Henrik got it under control but Hendrick was more I think it was probably more introspective for him he was always putting so much pressure on himself

to perform and it would affect his sleep now some athletes are really affected by the outward pressure. And, you know, it's a fine line, guys, because mental health, we have to take care of this here. You guys have known, I've lost two of my best friends. This past week, I had another funeral. It was a detective in New York City that commits suicide, 9-11, first responder, and he was going through mental health. And it's all walks of life, but you're trying to draw the line, too, because two years ago, in a game that uncovering in the NHL, a particular player misses two weeks because his girlfriend broke up with

them. So, you know, you're going through what's allowable, what can we stomach, but then also being sensitive to it. And I think this is really hard for a lot of us because, you know, I'm 48 years old. I remember what it used to be like. And now I'm trying to, with the new athlete, really lend myself to being able to be compassionate too. You guys, you know what I'm saying. It's not easy. Yeah. I saw a great line about. golf and I think goes for a lot of sports which is that it has to mean everything but it has to mean nothing at all you know like you just can't you know you need to kind of find this balance where it's not you know it's everything when you're in it but you need it's just a part of who you are

as a person that's a that's a big challenge to your point about you know I don't know if you'd want your kid to be a goalie I think that's what's happened here in Canada we're two decades now of parents saying I don't think I want you doing that and I think it's reflected at the highest level now, Valley. It's hard. No, a big time, Borny. Look, the United States had one goalie drafted into the NHL this year. One. Yeah. Right? And

every youth program at the beginning of the hockey season reaches out to me like I've got a basket full of goalies in my drawer. And teams don't have enough goalies. There's not enough goalies. There are more teams than goalies. You know, I can see the stressor on it.

You know who it's really hard on, Borny? It's hard on the parents. Right? Like, it's really hard on the parents. And sometimes I think that parents in hockey need to understand that when you go into the lobby after a game, don't give the parent of the goalie that just had a bad game a look. Like, it's not his fault. Right. And I see that and I hear that a lot. It's like the parents feel like they're wearing it after the loss.

And because I work with young goalies, my message to parents is this. Make it a fun experience. By the time they get to 14, they're going to have two hands on the wheel. It's up to them. make it a good experience until that time. If they love the sport deeply enough, they're going to take it from there because what I believe is that you just end up

outlasting a lot of different athletes as a goalie. You might not be better than them, but they just choose to quit before you. And that's why a lot of goalies go on because they're the last of the bohicans. Yeah. And that's really what it is. It's definitely a grind that way.

You are watching in color, albeit with the New York Yankee hat on Steve Aliquette, New York Rangers on MSG, CEO of ClearSite Analytics. Okay, just to follow up what you just said in terms of, you know, the challenges of being a goalie and managing expectations, you know, where is it in a goalie's mind on the demand? And we can include Caprisov, the pressure of living up to like being an $8 or $9 or $10 million goalie. And then again, managing expectations.

We just saw recently Stolars who had a great season for the Toronto Maple Leafs last year with great numbers, going to a contract where the numbers were a little underwhelming for me, Valley, at 3.75 when he's going to start as the clear cut starter for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And we have seen some athletes at the time bet on themselves to say, hey, listen, if I have another good year like I had last year and I added 10 more games, I can get myself to $5 or $6 or $7 million here. But he took the security of a four-year deal at 3.75, which good for him. He's comfortable with it.

The team's comfortable with it. It seems like a win-win for everybody. But where is it in a goalie's mind? How important is it to kind of know where you are and where you're, comfortable with. How big of a challenge is it for Stolars now to move forward here and have a career year after being

kind of the look of a backup for 10 years? Yeah, I'm with you, Kipper. Look, I think that I remember him. Okay, I was working at Quinnipiac in 2012 when he was playing in the NCAA before he went to the London Knights. And

at that time, he didn't even look like he could play. And I was surprised that he was a high pick by Philadelphia at the time. I'm like, geez, these guys really sure, but he has taken a long road to get to where he is, and I couldn't be more proud of his journey. I think the world of this guy, look, he's a big man at 240 pounds, and there's a lot of pounds of pressure coming down on his body. I don't know the long-term ramifications of that, but we have seen that a lot of other big goalies have a hard time staying healthy. And when I look by the numbers, over the last three years, I have Anthony Stewart's

dollar statistically, underlying numbers, adjusted save percentage, second best goalie in the NHL. Wow. So his numbers and his performance to my eye test would say, you know what, man, if I'm your agent, I'm betting on you all day here. You're a top goalie in the league. You're a top five goal in the league. Just say it enough so you believe it so you can go out there and execute it.

And I think he has all the skills. He has the resources. He has the mind necessary for it. And, you know, on the flip side, do understand that the strange thing and the pressure that goes with being a goalie is you can be on a hot streak and it can get taken from you because unlike the forwards and the defensemen, you don't lose your points. You don't lose your goals and assists when you have a bad performance. As a goalie, your safe percentage can drop after a couple of bad games and now you're in a different money bracket and not everybody wants to play for their stats all season long. and I can sympathize with that position. Did he want the sure thing?

I thought the sure thing, even if he had a bad year, I thought he'd get that number, Kipper. Even on a bad year. So I thought, you know, I thought jumping at that was a little too soon. One of the top goalies in the NHL, look, I'll just run into this right now because I was looking at top five guys over the last three years. When you look at a big enough sample size,

you see enough scoring chances. You can see who is really tops where and screens, deflections, broken plays, and all these things. But, you know, Borny, at the end of last year, you brought it up where you're saying, you know, Valley, you give me credit. I've been right a couple of times with the next breakout guy. I think that we've got a pretty undercover breakout guy this year, Jack Greaves, Columbus. Yeah.

And now, he's the best performing goalie over the last three years in adjusted safe percentage. Now, think of adjusted safe percentage as, you know what, guys, I came up with this idea. I'll tell you why. Because when I was playing against the St. John Flames in the HL, Jim Playfair was the coach. And they had a neutral zone play where everything was on net and then they'd forecheck from there. So you'd get like 10 or 12 extra shots a game. It was awesome for your safe percentage. Every night against the flames was like, you know, 40 shot night.

But it was really like a 25 shot night. So I like to just remove that noise from the safe percentage because the NHM. SHL safe percentage does have a lot of noise in it. And sometimes it's like a stuff on the strong side of the ice where they get like three rebounds against the pad and then it's five shots on goal, but it really wasn't. And at any rate, when you adjust those numbers and you just put the scoring chances in, that's your adjusted safe percentage. And Jack Greaves is number one of the last three years.

And I fell into a lot of video for him. And that's one piece that I like about the analytics is it just gets me to the video. And I'm watching this guy. and this guy has had 56 East to West plays over the last three years, okay? I'm going to double check the number. It was six goals against, only six. So, again, I'm showing the young goalies

that are sort of around his height because he's a lot like a Dustin Wolf. He moves like a magician out there, but he's got that height, and he's listed at six, but to me, it looks more like 5, 10, 5, 11. But his feet are under him. And everything east to west, he's arriving on his feet. He's an elite skater just like Dustin.

Dustin Wolf. He's the same age as Dustin Wolf. He doesn't have the same pedigree, but he's had some high-end stuff. And I like to use him this summer as an example because he has posture. And at this stage in coaching, what I believe is more important than angle, depth, and squareness is having the right posture. It's standing in athletic position. It's coming down with the puck. And he does that. So he looks really big. And sometimes you can move the puck east to west in a league that now has 42 more east to west chances over the course of the year since you guys started the podcast over the last five years that's what we're looking at you need to be able to move and some of the big guys they're going to come across on their knees now would you

rather have jet greaves coming across on his feet as a six footer or a ben bishop sized guy coming across on his knees i'll take the guy on his feet so i see a lot in this guy's game now Number three, okay? Number three, we said Stollors is two. Number three is Sammy's boy. Boy, did Sammy go hard on Ottawa yesterday? Oh, my goodness. Was it on Olmer?

Oh, yeah, just on the team in general. I was actually going to ask you about Olmark and his lack of seeming confidence. That's every day, buddy. That can't be good for the ratings. I don't care. Doesn't help. I don't, who cares? Okay, Linus Omar.

I do. You know what, boys? I had some notes on him from last season that we didn't get to after the series. after the series against Ottawa. So do you guys remember the first goal in game six? It was on the ice, Austin Matthew shot from about the tops of the circles. Matthew Nyes was in front screening and it was on the ice. It was on the ice far post.

Yeah, I do. And I wrote down the first goal of this game was an offensive screen and he built it on himself. And the reason why an offensive screen, it's not a big scoring chance in the NHL, it's not that hard to defend when you're a goalie. And I'm going to explain this because I bring this up to my shooters all the time when we're in practice in the summer. Now, when you are in the net and there's a left-handed defenseman dragging the puck from the boards to the middle of the ice, you're always looking over the right shoulder of the screen in front. But this is a really important for young defenseman to know.

If you can break the midpoint of the ice, so just get it past midpoint, the goalie will transition from right shoulder to left shoulder, and that's when you should release the puck. Adam Fox, when he's at his best, when Kreider was in front over the last three years, they had the most success being able to bring it across the body, but during that switch. So it's that transition that everybody should know about. Very easy in practice.

If you're a coach, just draw a line with your marker in the middle of the ice, on the blue line, and tell your defenseman, when you're sliding the blue, don't just get to the middle, cross the middle. Keep your head up and deliver it across the screen body. then you have a really good opportunity to score a goal. You have the best chance to score on a screen deflection or get a broken play. Now, on the one that Austin Matthews shoots,

Allmark is looking over the right shoulder, nice, and then he switches for no reason because Matthews did not cross and then built a screen on himself, and I've got the picture right here. He actually closes his eyes. You can see this right here. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. So this is just something I didn't use that next show we did,

But I went back, I was like doing it. Right. And, you know, I don't know how they're going to handle this this year. And I don't see this going well. I've been watching and hearing and listening. And you look at his record over the last 10 years. He's 5 and 13 in the playoffs with an 800 and 860, 896, 886, 880. You know, again, John Gino would say it all the time.

How are we looking? So I don't know how you, I think there's going to be issue with that this year. and as much as I like Ottawa and how well they defend, I don't believe in this guy. And I think it's going to be really hard. I hope you like Miralinen then, the backup. I do.

I do, but, you know, it's only a year two of a four-year deal for 33 million. I don't know. How are we looking? Next one is Connor Hellebock. So he is number four. Now, the only thing about Connor is he had the easiest environment in the NHL

for the last three years. So the Hart Trophy, the Vezna and all that, I do take that with a caveat because it's still the easiest place to play goalie. And Igor Shosturkin is number five. And his adjusted safe percentage really reflect how hard his environment was. I could segue into the next thing I want to talk about,

but the environment in New York was just dreadful and I don't know what they're going to do to fix that. Just on top goalies here, a lot of people still have Tampa Bay Lightning, challenging Florida and Toronto in the east and in the Atlantic. Vasilevsky's still there. Protected somewhat this training camp.

They just claimed Phoenix Copley. Is that a sign that maybe something, you know, they're concerned about something with Vasilevsky? You know what? With him, Kipper, just play less. You know, once again, I don't think the big guys should be getting into the 60 game mark. It's been, I want to say, it's once in the last 20 years.

We've had a Stanley Cup winning goalie play over 60 games, and it was Mark Andre Fleury. So get over that. I think that it's a real big deal here for the bigger guys to just co-goly and then have the legs when the time comes to be able to play out the stretch in the post season. He's always proven it. I've always loved him as a goalie, and he's still one of the top guys for me. But I don't think you need to stretch him out. Same thing goes for Hellebuck. Hellabuck played too much again last year.

You know, these, to me, are shooting yourself in the foot moments for these NHL teams. So, you know, we're about to start our Leafs hour in the next couple weeks here. I don't know exactly when, I guess slightly Blue Jay dependent. But they have to make a decision who's going to play the other 41 games or whatever Stollars doesn't play here. They're not sure about Joseph Wool. Don't know if you know anything there, but it's Rimer or Hildeby, I guess. That's going to be playing minutes here. like real minutes you know who i think's going to be available borne is uh nobody's really talking

about is villi huso oh yeah is that yeah yeah they've got morazic and do stahl and somebody's going to have to go through um and he interests you really so played really well at the end of last season and you know what borne one thing that you and i have talked about is uh horses for courses and there are other people in the n hl that think differently than us on that topic um they think about where is somebody had a high level of play, had a dip, and where can we rehabilitate him? Because it's in him. There's a goalie in this guy. Played very well in the minors last year. He had four really good starts for Anaheim, and at one time he was one of the top five goalies in the NHL when he was in St. Louis. He didn't play well at all in Detroit. Maybe

the expectations got to him. I heard that he's a carrot and a stick guy. You've got to stay on this guy. If you're going to bring him in, you have to ride him hard. Every day, make him accountable. And if you'd have somebody like that in your organization, you know, he could really show big for you. So that's one I wouldn't sleep on, Vili Huso. So, Valley, how important is it that Brad Tree Living gets this right? Because if he doesn't get the career year of games played out of Stolars, like can James Reimer put together 30 plus games because he's on a PTO? He's not starting tonight. Stolars is expected to get the whole game, so I don't know

if they brought in Rimer, but does that say you're on display Saturday night for the final exhibition game, and if you play well, you get a contract if you don't see ya. Yeah, Rimer's an interesting case, guys, because he's never really bottomed out. You know, he's always

kept himself in the game. I give that guy a lot of credit. Guys, I remember, you know, it took me a long time to play my first NHL season. I was 29 years old. You know, so I went to eight training camps where they're like, hey, man, you're not good enough, you know? And by the time I finally made it, I don't know if you're familiar with Jack Valacette. It's my father's cousin.

He was a first round pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs. I see Jack all the time. Okay, there you go. So Kipper, we're at a summer barbecue, and Jack says to be a go, Stevie, you thought it was hard to make the league. It's harder to stay in the league. I was like, I got it, Jack. And, you know, I think about that a lot. So give Rimer so much pressure, or excuse me, so much credit because he's had pressure from each side all these years.

Guys getting drafted, people coming in, and you know what, he's always found a way. He's a gamer, and I give him a ton of credit for being able to pursue that. Could he find a way this year, Bally? Well, I mean, you know, I don't know. Did he have a good summer or not? I mean, there was one summer I worked on my house. I barely worked out. Didn't have a great year.

Like, I don't know what he did. Just hammering nails all summer. That'll do it. Didn't have any money. I was doing all my own construction, you know? I don't know. It's such a crapshoot, you know, and a lot of it has to go with environment, guys.

I mean, there was actually one thing I wanted to bring up because, you know, one thing I'm doing right now for our NHL client teams is looking for markers for them to gauge during the season, you know, do they fit into the NHL according to, at the end of the year, do we lay here well enough to take a run, be a contender, make the playoffs? Now, one of the things we've talked about in hockey for so many years is the middle of the ice.

We've got to get to the middle of the ice. Last year in the NHL, 80% of the goals were scored from the slot, right? But they're not all shots from the slot. Some are breakaways, some are two-on-ones, and all that. So that's why we have to go through all of the shots and see which ones fall where. Now, the one thing I'd like to bring up is that the slot line, the line that I talk about that goes to the middle of the ice, it stops at the top of the circles, it's been a very good differentiator for playoff success. Now, when you think of it from a goalie's perspective, when you cross that

imaginary line, it's the first time you have to open up your legs. If the play stays on one side of the ice, you physically don't have to move much. Therefore, it's an easier save. So last year, of course, covering the Rangers, I'm watching the puck go from one side of the ice to the other repeatedly over and over again. And the Rangers by season's end had allowed 243 passes across the ice for one-timers. That was the worst in the NHL.

So how do you go from the year before when they won the president's trophy, they had only allowed 186 against? So from 186 to 243, the difference between their offense, which does account for the most goals scored in the NHL, the low east to west. The offense last year for the Rangers at 218, their defense 243, they're a minus 25.

They don't make the playoffs because of their slot line differential, okay? The year they won the president's trophy, they were a plus 75. What's really interesting is that last year in the NHL, of the 16 teams that make the postseason, 12 of them have the best differential of not allowing that play. across the ice versus the ones that they get offensively. And the year before it was 14 out of 16, the year before that 13 out of 16, the year before that

12 at a 16, it matters. But it's not just getting to the middle of the ice and shooting. It is crossing the middle of the ice. And this sets up in the first three weeks of the season. If you're watching the leaves and you're seeing them give up that seam over and over again,

that's not a good sign going forward because you've already broken the goalie's trust. Now he's going to back up in his crease, and then he'll get beat on the clear-sided shot because he's giving up too much net. So that's a good indicator for anybody watching their team in the first few weeks, see where that trust goes. Valley, one quick one before we let you go, man. This has just been fantastic so far. Carter Hart with all this time off, a lot of speculation about him signing, perhaps even with Vegas.

How realistic is it that he can kind of pick up where he left off? You know what, Keper, I think, at his age. A year and a half ago. Yeah, it's not as bad as you think. It's not as bad as you think. I'm going to name drop here. Peter Forsberg. I ran into him when I was visiting Marcus Nasland in Sweden the year after I retired.

A double name drop, to be clear. Double name drop. Oh, Nazzie's one of a favorite teammates of all time, the best, the best. Keanu Reeves told me never to name drop. So he said to me, said, Valley, when you've done this as long as we have, it's two weeks. He always said two weeks, two weeks.

Remember all the times he came back from all the foot injuries and everything like that? So I honestly think, Kipper, and I did it. I went one year and I came back and played. I missed a year and I came back and played. And after a couple weeks, I felt money. Like, I felt good. I was fine. But guys, before you let me go, I came up with a new session.

for this year. Oh, well, then. Wow. I hear it. And it's got a title. It's called Grill the Panel. You get three questions every week. This won't take long.

And the winning player gets a steak dinner on me at the end of the season for he and his wife, all right? So I want you guys going to, listen, we have to take it to another level this year, guys, all right? Hey, you're one up on Sammy for bringing us segments. Well, this one's even going to be sponsored. Wait, do you see this? Sponsored. see this oh yeah i sent an email today i still got to talk to the boss and see if it's okay but i think

we're going to get a sponsored segment here so sammy's coming in as well i tipped him off that we're going to do this so grill the panel now there's going to be three questions each week the first question is just one point pretty simple question second question two points third question is worth three points so we've got six points at stake i'll keep i'll be the referee all right i'll keep track. Now, the first question, and this is really more of a bet, this is who's going to win the baseball game tonight, Yankees or Red Sox? It's worth a point. All right. I'm going to go in first and I'm going to say Boston. Sorry, Phil. Oh, come on, Borny. All right. I got the New York Yankees, you know. Once upon a time, I did throw out a first pitch there. I'm going the Yankees

in the longest baseball game ever played, 38 innings. They're very, pitching people from the stands to get through it, but the Yankees will win tonight. That's Sammy's hope. Yeah. All right. I thought this was a cool bit of research, so I'm going to share this with you, and this is going to be the next trivia question. It's going to be worth two points. All right.

Every year, I look at the top 20 finishers in the NHL, and I try and see who can be on the list year over year. Who's a bankable finisher? And I'm going to list the top 20 finishers last year in the NHL. That's based on their scoring chances, how quickly. and how easily do they stay above expected? Now, these are the top 20, okay? I'll say this quickly here.

It's Tage Thompson, dry-sidal, Ovechkin, Reinhardt, Geeky, Fantilli Robertson, Pointe, DeBrusk, Strom, Dillenstrom, Nazam-Codry, Alexei, Prodes, Ryan Donato, Patrick Line, William Neelander, Marchenko, Tom Wilson, Matt Dushane, Kent Johnson, Adam, Gaudet. So of those 20, one of those players that I listed has been on the list every year for the top for the top 20 in the last five years

so he is the most bankable finisher in the NHL over the last five years which one of those players that I named is the best finisher of the last five years consistently in the top 20 do we need to hear it one more time I don't know no no no okay we don't have that much time somebody's got me on the clock here that's that's a really good pick um I'm going to go with I think a somewhat surprising pick from that group I'll say tage thompson he did lead last year he led the league last year i think he's leading us because it's a leave show

i'm going to say william neelander kipper i said dry saddle but i wanted to say ryanhart too no you said dry sidel so you just got two points yeah good good first pick great observation

great observation thank you all right that's a good one we got the last question here this one's worth three points oh my god The top player in the NHL last year that screened the goalie the most times in the NHL, he had 67 screens, 67 times he screened the goalie when the puck made it to the net. Now, which of these players led the league with 67 screens? Zach Hyman, Voronkov from Columbus, Matthew Nyes, Andrews Lee, Brady Kachuk, Arturi Leckenon, Chris Kreider.

It's one of those guys. You know what? I'm going to say Chris Kreider. I'm going to, I'll say Zach Hyman. How many games did he play? Brady could chuck, final answer. Okay, nobody got it. All right.

It was our Terry Lacken in with 67 screen. Really? Would never have gotten. Oh, well. That's why it's a three-pointer, boys. That's all the marbles. Well, you're the best. That's great.

Did they get zonked? Did the two guys get zonked now? The Red Sox win tonight. Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens in the baseball game, right? Yeah. Bally, awesome stuff, as always, man. Welcome aboard for another year.

All right. Thanks for having me, fellas. Be good. Thanks, Val. I appreciate your pal. Let's go, Yanks. Dave Vallekat. Always a great job here on the real Kipper and Bourne show. ClearSight Analytics is his company and does great work for the MSG. First guest to ever bring a segment and he said he got it sponsored. I love Kipper, Charming me about segments. I'm like, I've come up and be like, hey, you want to do this?

And Kippers like, what are we going to talk about today? I'm about to do it. It's like, I don't even try anymore. Oh, no. I love you. Okay, let's take a quick break here. Valley did talk a little bit about Carter Hart. Of course, he's one of five still now eligible to sign a contract in the NHL.

There was a strong link between Michael McLeod and Carolina. Doesn't look like it's going to happen. Really? We'll get into that after the break. You're watching and listening to Real Kipper and Bourne. The best Blue Js show out there, period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Back in studio, Nickyprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. So the five players are eligible to sign. The most noise right now seems to have been, Carter Hart linked to Vegas and Michael McLeod with Carolina but there is now a sense

that in Carolina anyways the backlash from season ticket holders was substantial and it does not appear like he will be offered a contract you know it's not a market where you can afford if your season ticket holders tell you they're upset

I think you got to listen you know and make some decisions so i don't know how that played out i actually know nothing about that um but it is i did hear that as well can i can i ask you a question that may come off as somewhat in you know like what did they what did they expect if that's out there like did they expect people just to be like kumbaya it's fine like when you're going into someone of these guys right you're probably going to have to expect some blowback from some parts of whatever community that you're going to have, which is fair on the blowback, whatever, however you want to look at it,

but to kind of be towing into this and then pulling out because of, you know, feeling like this blow, I don't know. I just don't know what you expect. That's what I'm saying. So. I don't think there's any definitive answer to that. I think it's no different than, you know, Pat Verbeek signing the kid to a nine million a year dollar contract or what.

You're just, you're, your head. on what you think might happen in days, a week, a year, and you take your chances. And the one thing about this scenario is, I mean, at some point, weeks ago, there was some, I don't know if it was a leaked story or just rumors, but there was enough people in Carolina that matter, like season ticket holders,

to get the information that if you are thinking about signing this, guy, I will no longer be a season ticket holder. And if you get enough of those, then it matters. Yeah. And then you make your decision accordingly. So Stan Bowman and Joel Quenville from Chicago, once upon a time, are back in the league. Both Edmonton and I'm sure Anaheim went through the same process.

What kind of backlash is there going to be? Is it going to be minimal? Do we have to take a few punches early? Will it subside? Will people forget? Like, the one thing that we've always heard is that, oh, these kids will have a better chance of signing in the States.

No one knows about the story. It wasn't covered down there like it was in Canada. There'll be a better chance for people not even knowing any details like everybody in Canada did. Yeah, Carolina's top of that list. And Carolina would have been one of those markets that said, okay, I mean, how many people truly know or follow? it and can we slide it by for a week, take a couple of hits, and then we move on.

Yeah, but I mean, you're right. Of all the markets that you would guess would have been like that, it would have been Carolina. So I don't know. So I guess that's the only thing that changes my mind on this. Because I was totally with you where it's like, you know, to do this, you're going to take a barrage of blows and then you hope you come out of it and then everyone kind of. The internet moves fast.

It's not like it's coming up in Stan Bowman's face every day in Edmonton. And like, okay, so a few people probably didn't like it. They brought in Perry. They brought in guys and they just kind of held their nose. And then all of a sudden they're like, Corey, Perry's an Oilers legend. And the Oilers move on and everybody moves on. Yeah. So clearly, Carolina is not comfortable enough.

There is enough people to make enough noise where it could affect the bottom line. And at the end of the day, this is a business. Yes. They're all business. I think, I think. The only one I hear that will probably end up signing this season could be just Carter Hart. Really? And that probably has more to do with the fact that his position is so highly in demand

that people might be willing to take a few more letters from season ticket holders. You know, not to get too into it, though, I also think McLeod feels like a different level of making people uncomfortable. If you followed that story closely, he kind of feels like the one who would shoulder the biggest blame and, you know, however you want to discuss the situation. I'm not clear for sure on Michael McLeod's upside and how good he can be. And how much different is he then? And the only one that could be a real difference maker between winning and losing, perhaps even a Stanley Cup in this group, is Carter Hart.

And that's leverage in itself. Right. Yeah. Well, there you have it. Still no word, though, if that's official or... Yeah. The Carter Heart thing waiting on that. All right, Sammy, what else you got on is for us on this lovely list?

You'd be surprised to know that the Toronto Maple Leafs are once again the most... They're worth the most. $4.25 billion. dollars and you have it in front of you but do you know what the next five are if you looked or the next four are sorry in the top five Rangers Canadians Bruins Blackhawks no Edmonton no Kings Kings are the fifth uh on this list I just Where's the Oilers? I can look for you I just had those five on my list so I'll look for you Okay I bet to the Oilers are they're high pretty high they're they're seventh or eighth

I did look at the list you looked at it uh yeah so tonight. Okay. Go ahead. I get I get like this list is a great list, right? It's a great list for the league owners.

Columbus over a billion. Right? But I just wonder if this great world that we're now in the NHL and we're seeing it with contracts go up for certain players. Oilers are sixth. Wow.

Yeah. if all teams are really excited about this list. Like the owners, the bottom feeders on that list, if I'm not wrong, are Winnipeg and Ottawa, correct? Winnipeg, Ottawa, Columbus. Okay. And they're, two Canadian markets. They're about what, 1.3, 1.4 billion?

Yep. You nailed it. Okay. So that may excite them. But what may not excite them is that the revenues that we do from a data Today operation doesn't really match the value or where salaries may be heading. That's the worry.

If I'm, and not just those, maybe eight, 10 more teams is that it's great that you think you can sell your house for X amount. But if you don't want to sell it today, just make sure that you can keep up with a 200,000 and you need a year for the gardener and the pool guy and, you know, the tennis coach. So last year, the, you have more demands than I do. Last year, every team in the NHL had more revenue than certainly salary costs. Like I think every team in the league brought in between 174 and 185 million in revenue or something like that last year. Every team was in the black for the first time.

Oh, I don't believe that for a second. Oh, no? Oh, no. You think some teams lost real money? Oh, in the league? Yeah. Oh, I think there's a handful of teams that have lost money last year. I'm going off an athletic article I read today.

Yeah. I don't believe that for one second. Well, that would be different then. So you think that teams in the league are in trouble? I don't know about, well. Because there's new salary or, sorry, revenue sharing in the next. Gary Betman not last year or the year before go visit Winnipeg and put people on alert in that community with corporate that you guys got to get behind this team. You got to like was that not a bit of a sign or a casual warning to their community that there needs to be more additional revenue coming in from this community for the Winnipeg Jets?

He doesn't do that if they're making money. No, so the line in this article, I think it's a Myrtle article, says even the NHL's weakest revenue drivers are pulling in more than required to meet player payroll aside from last place, Columbus, the nexus six lowest revenue generating clubs, Buffalo, Utah, Ottawa, San Jose, and I'm in Winnipeg, still made between $174 million and $183 million last season. So, you know, like, I don't think they're getting killed.

Now, the Leafs on the other head made $380 million. Oh, this is. They're in another world. They're another world. So they're funding these teams in summer. And if they're, even if you think that they're... Awesome. Breaking even at best or making a little bit, it's...

We know what the projections are in three years, but if they go at that rate for six or seven years, and now you're looking at a... You're still making 174, but all of a sudden the cap is 150. But you're making 174 Canadian and the cap's 130 U.S. Right. Yeah, before any other costs. It's great.

Like, as an owner, you know, the real demand on these numbers aren't the business of it. It's how badly do you want a team? That's the hook for any new owner coming in. There's only 32 of these membership cards. Do you want one? How badly do you want one? It's not, oh, can I see the revenue? Can I see the books?

Yeah. And it's just, you want to say you own the team. It's just, I just hope that, and with talk of expansion, that it's legitimately good for everybody. Yeah, $2 billion they're asking for franchise. Ooh, you guys on the TV tonight, Leifes, Red Wings, full lineup. Elliot. Easton Cowan on the fourth line, like he's going to make the team.

Let's go. Tammy, you want to come on the show? No, I'll stay home. I'm going to, uh, going to put my feet up. It's happening. And watch some baseball. Of course, you guys. All right, thanks for the debut of Steve Aliquette on The Real Kipper Endborn Show.

What do we have tomorrow, Sammy? It's Friday, so I'll text Mac, and you'll say either yes or no, and then we'll go from there. Off the rails with Mac. Enjoy your night, everybody.