Real Kyper & Bourne - Vally's View: Where the Cup Final Will Be Won

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

Ahead of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne, and Sam McKee start with some news around the league with the Canucks promoting Manny Malhotra to head coach, and Chris MacFarland leaving Colorado to be the Predators' GM. Then, MSG analyst and CEO of Clear Sight Analytics, Steve Valiquette, stops by (11:16) to help tee up Game 1 between Carolina and Vegas. Vally reflects on each team's path to the Final, who has the edge in net between Freddie Andersen and Carter Hart, whether the Hurricanes' top line can break through, and how K'Andre Miller and Taylor Hall have found their fit in Carolina. Later, they play a Cup Final-themed game of Grill Marks! Finally, Nick, Justin, and Sam wrap up with their series picks, Zach Werenski winning the Norris, and the Leafs-centric reporting around Mitch Marner. 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.

Well, we've been waiting for Stanley Cup final game one set tonight on Sportsnet. It all gets started at 8 p.m. It's a real Kipper and Bourne show. We are live on Sports at 590, The Fan, 960 in Calgary, 650 in Vancouver. Sportset 360, Sportsnet Plus, and a YouTube channel with a wonderful chat going, where we always appreciate a thumbs up. And wherever you get your pods, Apple, spot. I'm glad you're bored here for the next hour.

This hour of Real Kipper, by the way, brought to by Bet365. Nick Kippreel's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, and Derek Brandeow jam-packed hour. Oh, yeah. Okay, we're going to get into all of it. It's Tuesday. Steve Aliquette will join us in a few minutes. Lots of news and notes. News out of Vancouver.

News out of Nashville. Some Gary Bettman news that. isn't really news. News at a Columbus. I talked about it. Is there? Yeah. Brunsky won then.

Oh, yeah. And? And a book coming out. Yeah. Jamie, tell us about your wonderful new project with Daryl Sutter. Yeah, today's the day. We get to announce the pre-sales are available for the Code of the West. Daryl had a Code of the West that posted in the locker rooms when he coached.

It was 10 items that he believed represented the West. a man, a player, a teammate should live and work. And there is no one who has been formed more by his upbringing on the farm with his family and in hockey rings, 45 years in the NHL. Pretty impressive stuff. Lessons from the ranch to the rink. So if when I buy this book, can I learn how to milk a cow? You might.

You might get some tips. The first half of the book is on the ranch and all the different life lessons that he gleaned from there. It's one of the most anticipated autobiographies of 2026. It's on Indigo right now for one week only, it's 30% off. Fantastic. Check it out. I'm really excited about it. I worked hard with it. Daryl is the man and I just can't see enough great things

that what haven't worked with him and the chance to tell his story is pretty often. We are really looking forward to that. Can I ask, did you ask him about a waste of eight days, which is our favorite drop on the show? Yeah, and he has like no interest. He doesn't... He says funny things like that every day. It's true. That's his vernacular. Just

awesome saying. I got asked today. Someone said, will there be an audiobook? And I was like, I can't see Darrell getting in studio and reading it. I don't know. I don't think I can read it. So last I heard, yes, there will be, but we're going to hire it out here.

Not joking. Someone else to read it. As like, like, Daryl-like sounding. Daryl-esque? You have to sound like Daryl to read it. Before we get to Valley and touch on game one tonight in our Stanley Cup final.

Big news out of Vancouver. No real surprise. Mani Mahalter's name has been out there. They made it official. You want to get Ryan Johnson. Their new general managers sound on it, or you want a quick comment first? I'll start this down, I think.

Yeah, we'll play the Ryan Johnson clip and then we'll kind of go off that there. I keep a running book of coaches and people in the game that are interesting to me. As I look at a lot of times that coaches that are in the NHL as assistant coaches often, I think as they

yearn to be or desire to be head coaches, I think it is natural for them to have to take a step back into the American League and carve their teeth and learn that process and it gives them a whole new view on the NHL process. Manny was one of a few

that I had really been keeping an eye on. And when I knew I knew needed a head coach in in abbotsford i i was very vindicated that that he um could do a heck of a job there so you go you go ahead i actually think it's a fascinating idea to keep a list of people who are interested who are unique you know there's only so many of them and many many counts i think it's if you're a vancouver fan it's nice to have sort of like the progression like you know not everybody's John Cooper clearly,

but John Cooper came up with the, was it admirals, right? Milwaukee Admirals? Yeah. And then they worked up together and he came up to the system and like you kind of grow with one of them. You grow with the prospects and you come up through the system

and you know, he's got a relationship with the Siddins obviously and with Ryan Johns. I don't know, just if I'm a Canucks fan today, I'm starting to feel a little bit of positivity. Is that fair? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine with it.

Mani has got a great reputation and I'm fine with it. I think the hot button topic out in Vancouver is would they consider now drafting his son who is right in the wheelhouse at the third pick? And I'm not telling you it won't work. I mean, but I wouldn't go there. I wouldn't go there with a 10-foot pole.

I think it's, it all, it makes it instantly awkward for a rookie coach and a rookie player to come in and balance the father-son thing when they have no prior experience. It's funny because I'm trying to think of, you know, have we seen this before? Adam Lowry on the Jets played there while Dave Lowry was the assistant. That's a totally different. Totally. Plus Adam was like a season pro at that point.

like a rookie coach talking about a rookie I'll give you the I'll give you the one that stands out to me the most Colorado General Manager Pierre Lecois son Eric Lecois How'd that work?

Not good? Not good? No. Not good. Guys didn't love it? Well, I had heard a couple of situations where there was

team only meetings and Erica had to kind of step out of the room. Really? Yeah. They're like this is not Well it's just Yeah it's just

Like they're worried he's going to be like Tadlin on what they say to his dad? No no actually no It may be yes for some But for some no But it's just It puts other players In an awkward position

To get their feelings out Yeah well the sun in the room. Part of being on a team is like any group of employees don't always agree with their boss, and sometimes they say that, right? You're on the back of the bus and they're going, this guy, he's not playing me

or he's playing this too much or why didn't you switch this? And it's like, oh, sorry, I was your dad. It is natural to sit there and go, okay, does he deserve all this ice time? Does he deserve to be benched? Are you overcompensating the relationship? It's another wrinkle you don't need. You don't need it. Don't need it right now. Well, listen, there's tons of,

of great players available at that point in the draft. Yeah. You know, like it doesn't have to be him. And there's not like a, it's not like on everyone's list. Melhotra is three. But they do want a center, don't they?

Everybody could use a center. Yeah. I'm not saying it's impossible to work out. I just think it's, it's a wrinkle that you don't really need to lay on manny right out of the gate. I think that increases the odds of it being like Chase Reed to the Canucks or something like that, right? Yeah, I think that's actually, it's a very fascinating story.

Fascinating. Like, if they take on, I mean, I don't know. I think it's, I think there's, it's a real thing. Like, I don't think, I don't think you can not downplay how hard they would. They would, though. They would downplay the heck out of it. Oh, my God. All they would do is.

Everyone, all they would do is downplay it. Yeah. So, hockey game tonight? Game one. Oh, okay. Just a quick thought on Chris McFarlane, like, leaving Colorado. He was a top candidate. And I mean, we've seen, you know, the Leafs, was he ever mentioned for the Leafs?

Did they ever, I wonder if they went after him at all or they just, they just set against it. That's actually a very good question. But it sounds like the only reason he moved was for the chance to move up in title, right? He's got some president attached to his name now. With the Leafs have been willing to do that with maths involved? I'm guessing yes. You're just call someone whatever you want. You're going to be the king of cheese.

Whatever your name. Or maybe they just... He's the king. Maybe they just thought that maybe this is just like the worst kept secret and everybody knew that he was going to be like maybe they're asking around or whatever. And it's like he's already going to Nashville. But I guess it is possible to grant some. permission to talk to another team and let them go.

Vegas said it's not possible, but Alvalanche said it was possible, and away you went. So, I don't know. I would love this. Vegas would say abs are out and we're not. I do find it interesting. Joe Sackick goes right back to general manager.

Why do you find that interesting? Because he's just taking on more work. Just hire somebody then. Right. That was a paid position before. Why are you going to have less people? Right. So were you really kind of the general manager already?

Yeah. And you don't want anybody coming in and... Say, look, I'm already... I know how the job works. I'm already doing it, basically. So how much was really McFarlane pulling the strings or not? Interesting.

I mean, it's probably a collaborative effort. Yeah, for sure. But somebody's got to have the hammer, this is one of your fans, one of the things you're always on about is like the general manager does nothing and it's all the president. Like, you've been talking about this.

This is a new thing. I like it. six different teams. We've had this same conversation. The GM has been avoided as a position. Now it's president. All you have to do is just make a few phone calls and listen to a few people. And you get a sense of how things work on a few different hockey clubs.

Yeah. I mean, the Canucks were the starkest example where they were like, yeah, Alvin's not taking calls on that guy. Talk to Jiam, to Rutherford. I was completely pushed out. He had really nothing. Like, it was Jimmy the whole time, guys. the whole time.

Quinn Hughes. Quinn Hughes, right? Signing of Pedersen was all Jim. Do we have Valley? Did I hear that in my ears? Do we have Valley? Let's welcome him in. It's Tuesday. Steve Aliquette, everybody,

MSG analyst. Whole New York. For the New York Rangers, ClearSite Analytics, CEO. How are you, buddy? I'm good. Just listening to you guys, talk about what's going on in the world. of hockey and the Quinn Hughes, you know, Judd Brackett.

Wasn't he involved with him, Sammy? Didn't he draft him? I think you guys got a pretty good, pretty good player in the big game. I hear he's got a real keen eye. Yeah, that's what I'm hearing too, guys. You guys definitely got a big fish on. And don't forget,

the trade that was made for Quinn Hughes, the reason why Fitsy got fired in New Jersey was because he drafted the three players before the players were drafted by Minnesota that Vancouver wanted. So when it all falls down, you look and it always settles with the head of scouting and amateur scouting is going to build the team back up, Sammy, so you're in good hands.

Well, we're glad you're aboard here. Thanks, Valley. Appreciate it, brother. Valley, let's get right into it. Game one tonight, Carolina and Vegas. And we can talk about like the big picture of the Stanley Cup playoffs and how first rounds great and then it kind of just fizzles into what was certainly a disappointing conference final on both sides when it comes to, you know, excitement of a flip a coin. But we do have the two best teams,

the most deserving. And it really does shape up for a very competitive Stanley Cup final. agree? Yeah, it does. I think that I'm going to walk you guys through a few things because it's been my homework for the last month since the season ended. And it's helping the client teams that I do have and hopefully future clients to understand what matters or what's actually happening in the NHL. And we're going to arrive at Vegas, Carolina.

But before we go there, to make the Stanley Cup playoffs, the first thing we have to arrive at is scoring more than 250 goals. And if you score more than 250 goals during the regular season, you have an 89% chance to make the playoffs. If you have, there's also an 86% chance if you score fewer than 250 that you don't make the playoffs. So what I've been looking into, and this really gets us into the playoffs, is what matters more, offense or defense? Well, to make the playoffs in the first place, offense overrides defense, because as we oftentimes, talked about it's the hardest part about this game is scoring goals and then when you get into the playoffs it's really about advancing to the Eastern Conference or the Western Conference

final and becoming the final four teams because injuries and who's hot really carries maybe the team that isn't always most deserving but in this case to me both teams are most deserving in Carolina and Vegas so making the conference final when you look at the differential it's 45% of the energy should go into scoring goals and 55 into preventing, and that helps teams most likely get through. Stanley Cup final, it actually drops to 40% of the weight is on scoring goals, and 60% is preventing it. And there are a lot of good examples of this in recent years

when we've seen Stanley Cup champions like Florida and Vegas in 23, Colorado 22, Tampa Bay. All of these teams were great. offensive teams before they learned how to play defensive hockey. So back to our final. And when we look at Carolina, their rush defense would be their biggest handicap. In the regular season, they were 30th.

They're still giving up at around the same rate that they gave up during the regular season and the playoffs. So if there's one area, they're a little deficient, it's because they're always heading north and they're always trying to outnumber you, outman you and lean in, and they can be susceptible to giving up breakaways. They gave up the most breakaways this year in the NHL. They give up a lot of odd man rushes, and Vegas is a very good counterpunch team.

That would be their strength in the series. It would be one of their greatest strengths in the regular season was odd man rushes. So odd man rushes and breakaways should be favored on a counterpunch to Vegas because they're so good at suppressing it and then going the other way with it. Vegas defensively this year, guys, this is where their strength was as a team. And I think that's where Cassidy left them for Tortorella. Third at five on five, high danger chances against, third best, eighth off the rush, eighth in their D zone, and then third in the PK.

So when you look at what matters in hockey, this is the way I would break it down for anybody. You need to have a rush offense at 5V5. It actually accounts for 30% of all your goals that you're going to score of the 250 that I had already mentioned during the regular season. 25% of all the goals that you score happen in offensive zone play at five on five. Mostly net front, but a lot of east to west as well as dots down passes from below the goal line to slot. The power play at five on four accounts for about 20% of your total goals in the regular season. and then unsettled offense is 15%. And the remaining is just the miscellaneous goals

that get scored at three on three, extra attacker. In the NHL ledger, they even count the game-winning goal in the shootout. But all in with what I just said, it looks to me like there's a weighted advantage to Vegas with how well they defend. And I think that as well as Carolina's playing,

I like Vegas's chances, a little bit better. Yeah, okay, that's fascinating. Sam's already full of dread. It's a lot of information. I know, I know, I know. It's a lot of information. And so I had looked at some of this stuff.

I actually wrote about this today on Vegas throughout the year, too. Like, when they switch coaches there, they were, I think, second best in the league and expected goals against at five on five. I think they finished the year best by Sport Logic's numbers. Sound like maybe you had them third or something like that. But either way, they're in that pocket of best teams. They had six worst worst.

goal tending during the regular season. They have the second best goaltending so far in terms of state percentage in the playoffs. So is Carter Hart the regular season guy or the playoff guy as we head into this series? So, Borny, I have a theory that the teams that know how to defend don't always choose to defend

when they already know how to defend and how important it is in the playoffs during the regular season. So getting even Vegas's best all regular season. We know for a long stretch, they didn't like their coach so much that they actually didn't try all the way. I mean,

how you can debate that? I think that a lot of us would land on they didn't play their best for Bruce Cassidy, even though their DNA was a defense-oriented, sound, understanding, detailed team. So what does that do to the goaltender? Guys, it's funny how fast I always always around. on how important the middle of the ice is, but with the context that the puck has to cross the imaginary line

that separates the ice into and it stops at the top of the circles, I refer to it as the slot line. It's a line that goes through the slot. When you protect your goalie on that in the postseason because you're all in on winning a Stanley Cup, your goalie gets to perform at a higher level than his ceiling. Stay with me here. How about this one?

The Montreal Canadiens this postseason, they allowed the slot line pass, the pass across for Dobish, 63 times, okay? 63 times. That was most in the playoffs up until this point through the final four. Hart only 27 chances against. Anderson only 22. Now, can you tell me how much of a different game that is for Anderson at 22 chances, East to West, across the slot line, versus Dobish, 63.

It's not even the same game, Borni, because if you know your backside's cover, you can step out and set your feet, not worry about drift back to your crease and giving net back as a goalie. You're a one-way thinker. And he's like a call me my favorite valley, and his environment's been the easiest of all. Correct, correct. But you know what? That's always going to get missed unless you're, you know, deep in the valley.

I'm looking on my little computer. You're not going to know. You're just not going to know. You're going to run the raw save percentage number that looks great, but you can't compare the two. Carter Hart, though, look, he only had five. This is crazy, too. He only had five of those slot-line chances against

in the entire series against Colorado. But Colorado runs an offense that goes east-west enough during the regular season to only get five and four games. It's not good. But when you watch the video, Carter Hart, one thing you'll see that's changed from his previous stint of like high level play when he was in Philadelphia. He used to open his feet up a lot more and get across with an open toe. And now he's getting across in a double shuffle. And a double shuffle guys, it's really

effective for goalies because you maintain squareness through the push. And it's really effective coming downhill. Anything that's coming downhill across the seam. Because the first push, it's short. and then the second push, if your head stays over the puck, it'll bring your head over your leading knee, and your second push is long. And if there's a broken play, and it goes the other direction, you still have your feet square so you can get back. There's a lot of advantages to this.

In fact, this goes back to a little bit of science, Borny. I know you like when I get into this sometimes, where I'm counting frames per second on my computer, and it's 33.3 milliseconds per frame. 15 frames is half a second. half a second is the difference between a 97 safe percentage in 85. So when you're talking about a pass that goes east-west across the seam,

if you open up your foot, Borny, on a T-push as a goalie, on a pass going dot-to-dot, you lose 15 frames or half of a second if you can't double shuffle. The double shuffle saves you all of that time. It allows the goalie to capture that time. When I'm coaching every morning, guys, which I'm in the heat. of it right now. I'm teaching everybody had a double shuffle east to west

as well as downhill. Downhill's easier. East to west a little harder for the more advanced goalies. We are deep in the valley with Steve Aliquette, analysts with the Rangers, MSG, and CEO ClearSite Analytics. So when you watch Vegas, or I'm sorry,

when you watch Carolina, sometimes Valley, I've got to look twice to find out which is the first line and the fourth line between Jankowski, and Aho and that's a really good thing for the depth of Carolina but I'm not sure it's really great when we think about

Sebastian Ajo being that number one centerman now to try to win a Stanley Cup and on the other side you go Eichel Marner and Hurdle who's a natural centerman but those are those are pretty talented guys

and a lot of strength there as well so is it possible that Carolina can still beat Vegas like they beat Montreal with their 12 man run here? Or is Sebastian Ahio and Seth Jarvis and Svesh, Sveshnikov got to really have a hell of a series here? That's it right there, Kipper. The one thing that I was looking at earlier today was Suzuki,

Caulfield, Jarvis, Ajo. And what the common thread is here that I pulled on is that they're not getting to the middle of the ice. That's step one. That's the first and easiest one that we always talk about. But step two is really either receiving a pass or taking it yourself to cause the goalie to have latency. Latency meaning not allow them to set their feet.

So the one issue that the Carolina hurricanes have is that they had 38 high danger chances in the slot where they've. cross the middle of the ice and haven't elevated the puck. Now, their biggest issue is when they get into those great A's where they've caused latency, they've gotten to the middle of the ice for their chance, they still have to finish it off with an elevated shot. In total, 63% of their grade A's from the Montreal series

where things start to get tighter, Final 4, Stanley Cup final is going to be even tighter. But 63% of those great chances, guys, they don't elevate the puck. They're shooting it on the ice or the rate in the goalie's chest. And it really reminds me of the beginning of my season covering the Rangers this year.

They didn't score for the first three home games. But if you look at how tight these guys were, at home, they had the same numbers, 65, 68% of their chances every night in the goalie's chest or not off the ice. If you see tonight any great scoring chance where a goalie makes a pad save, I know the color commentator, whoever's doing the game,

and whoever's calling the game play by play, you're required to say, great save Anderson. But I'm telling you guys, it's not a great save, Harder Anderson, if those chances don't get off the ice because every goalie in the world at this stage of the game is going into a butterfly and it's going to go off their pad. So you really have to lessen the value that you think you're seeing with those scoring chances.

if there's one issue I have with Carolina's offense, Kipper, just to answer your question, I don't think they have the jam to get inside, get across, and elevate. Jam and skill. Okay. Not at the way that Vegas does, in my opinion. So, like, I'm leaning towards Vegas in this series Valley

because I cannot believe the pounding they gave Colorado. And Montreal could not do that against Carolina. but I have a feeling that that was the Seth Jarvis's the Blakes, the Stancovin, they're going to feel a much heavier team here than what they saw against Montreal. Well, you know, Kipper,

I've talked to quite a few NHL coaches in the last couple weeks as I was preparing that project that I shared with you guys off the top because I want to know what's really important to coaches And what's really good for me personally being able to talk to these guys that I've known for years now, we started ClearSight in 2014. So I've built up relationship with guys that started the American League or started even in junior hockey that have now gone in and auditioned and presented a number of times and held jobs.

And the one thing that they all say when I ask them this is that the smaller skilly D, which we haven't seen win a cup as a number one guy. and I don't really consider McCar in that group. They just get targeted to such a degree during a series by the big guys that are assessed the right way when the roster is put together to play on third and fourth line to run deep in a playoff series because they know these guys are valuable

to target a guy like, you know, Quinn Hughes got targeted. You guys saw the numbers on the heat that Lane Hudson felt in the last round. Every time I saw him take contact, I felt like I saw his shoulder, touch. I felt bad for the kid. But the smaller, skilly guys, they're so important to the regular season

where you need to score goals to get in, but we're still seeing the big, not so skilled on that level, D that are going to run their teams through. And it's a big group in Vegas. You know that. And I don't know if anybody's going to target those guys because the pounding

is going to be received equally as hard for Carolina if they go after those big D. Well, it's actually a perfect sort of segue to ask you about Kandre Miller, who you saw play for the Rangers for years. You know, you got Gretzky on the TNT panel talking about this guy

being a cons, my favorite, like, people are talking about him. Can he hold this level? Well, and what's changed from the level you saw him at for years? So, same questions. I asked the guys, like, you know, Borny, I know where my limits are

too, you know, like where my lane is most of the time when it comes to this stuff. And I'm like, How is it? Kandre struggled so badly with us? Like he really did, guys. He really had a hard time. There was some off ice.

I know that that plays a role. But the on ice, there was a lot of decision making in the Rangers D zone coverage. You know, when you're playing a zone man on man that's hybrid, and it depends on face-off losses, or it depends on score of game. And there were quite a few, I would say, difficult read. in the Rangers system where Tulski's been very smart as he knows that Rod's system is direct and it's not think.

It's not hockey IQ, it's go. And if your skill set is long and you're a great skater and you're talented and maybe hockey IQ is not your number one. And I think that's to a certain degree, Taylor Hall. Like, Taylor Hall right now fits the system. He's a direct player. He's got great speed.

And even at his age, you're seeing his best hockey in seven years. I think Kiannoyler, so just to back up what Wayne is seeing, what everybody's telling me on the coaches side that played against him, he's the best fit for what they do. He doesn't work in a system that's going to be complicated. And guys, his numbers back it up. He is a plus 40 in high danger chances when he's on the ice. he is a 18 against, a 44 and 18 against is the best in the NHL right now.

For him to be getting MVP talk, it's not unwarranted. Wow. Awesome stuff. Do I dare ask you a number of games for a Vegas Stanley Cup according to you? No, after the last time I'm done with that. I mean... Okay, buddy, I won't put that pressure on you. I'm not coming on here and writing...

I'm not doing another apology note. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One of a year. One of year. All right. We got some grill time or are we? My goodness. Yes.

We got one more. Sammy, are we good? Oh, yeah, bud. We're good. All right. We're good, we're good. Born, you are ahead by, you're hanging on by the skinny your teeth right now. You have 57 points.

Kippers on your heels with 55 points. And Sammy's coming up the rear with 49. Oh. We're all in it. We're all in it. Yeah. They're all at it. We might only have a couple more here, fellas.

We're going to talk about screens first because those to me, you know, those are a differentiator, what team is willing to eat a couple in the Stanley Cup final? You need to have those guys on your team. In this case, the leaderboard of the top three who have screened the goalies the most in the postseason, there are no players from Carolina, none from Vegas. The most screens are one of these three players. Ericson, Tuck,

or Landiscag? Ericksonac. Tuck. What's left? Landiscag. I'll go Landiscag. Yeah, Landiscag.

Tuck. Sammy, you're in the next. Let's go, baby. That's worth 11 a year, isn't it? Right, so notes. Isn't it standing there? 11 a year for standing there? He was only Dash 9 with

No points. Getting hit in the cup. Okay, boys. All right. This one, this one's valuable to me. It's the player that screens their own goalie the most. Okay, we've got two players on the list from Vegas on this one. We've got the most screens on your own goalie.

This is a negative. McNabb, Theodore, or Matheson from Montreal. McNabb. I'll go Matheson because he blocked a ton. Boy, I also want McNabb. I'm nervous. It's Mickley. What do you got?

Matheson. Oh, they win there. I never saw him not standing in front. Just eating a puck, eh? Good call. So there you go, Kip. He had 19. McNabb and Theodore both have 11,

where they've screened their goalie. All right. So most goals, I wanted to bring. you guys into this one because of that earlier project. Most goals over the last five regular seasons. This is a hard one for three points. What team scored the most goals, regular season goals, over the last five years? Is it the Tampa Bay Lightning from the 24-25 season,

Florida Panthers from the 21-22 season, or the Edmonton Oilers from the 22-23 season? Oil for me. I'm going to take Tampa Bay. What's left? Florida. Hold on. Florida.

I'll take the Panthers. Florida Panthers. Oh, no. Geez, Kempi takes over first place. That's a big one. It kept me just took first place. Florida Panthers in that 21, 22 year guys, they had 337 goals during the regular season.

I don't ever remember them feeling like an office of dynamo. That's a lot of goals. 337. Yeah, crazy. That year they won the President's trophy. But the neat thing about that was they went from the best rush team in the NHL.

And you remember they got swept in the second round by Tampa. And then they flipped it. And now they're the worst rush team in the NHL with the best rush defense. And they won two cups. And from the coaches I've been talking to recently guys, everybody thinks Florida's going to be

back. So Valley, if we don't... And then, yes, Andrew Burnett. If we don't invite you... If we don't invite you on the show next week, I win the grills. grilled mark the grill cop the grill cop or hey kipper we could work out a deal and i might be sick you understand do you know do you understand what just happened i was down two goals and i pulled the

goalie i should have called time out i won the game come on yeah i'm proud of you kepper that was and you went to it too you went to brainpower you were thinking about montreal yes And great, great day for you. The last one was, who is left again? Process of elimination always works too. Valley. Great stuff is always, my friend. Great stuff.

All right. Love you guys. Thanks, Valley. Appreciate a pal. You too. Bye. What a guy. Did he change your mind at all?

Did he make you think a little bit about the series? Oh, I know what's happening in the series. Vegas. Vegas. Game time. It's game time. going to win the consummite. Yeah, because you're going to go home in shame.

Listen, there's just nothing that out-of-market writers and national writers want more than Mitch Martin to write. But every article is about Mitch Martin in Toronto. It's insane. I've never seen anything like it. I did a hockey central. I know you have to do this. I got a hockey central the week before playoff.

And we all had to come up with what would be the most wild playoff storyline. We all went around. It was me, David Amber, Gazzick, whatever. And mine was, and I'll find the clip, Mitch Marner. wins the Kahn Smyth as Vegas wins. So it's your fault? No, I did not anticipate it could be a battle between Mitch Marner and Carter Hart

for the Kahn Smyth Trophy, which is a whole different bunch of insane. Yeah, like they won't vote for Carter Hart. They'll vote for him. They'll vote for him. The way Carolina plays, Valley says, makes goalies look great. It's going to be...

Yeah, they won't vote for him, so it's going to be Mitch. It's game time, presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL, must be 19 plus, Ontario only. please play responsibly. Now, I know Kipper, there's a big game tonight in Carolina, but there's also a huge game tonight at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Marley's.

The Marley Minute. Are they down or they lost? They lost last night, 5'3. They're up 2-1. They're up 2-1 in the series. And they go, they're going tonight. The Wilkes Bear Scranton penguins. Big faves tonight against our Toronto Marley's minus 140 on the money line.

The Toronto Marley's plus 110. Maybe some value for the Toronto Marley's to go up three-one. I think he's playing tonight. Upper body, yeah. So I said that they're going this deep, right, Kipper? Any other thoughts? Great. Villeneuve?

It's great. Boliv? Any other thoughts? Okay. And the Toronto Blue Jays open a series tonight against the major league leading Atlanta Braves,

Alex Anthopoulos is Braves. The Jays open as, I would imagine, big underdogs, not big underdogs, underdogs, though, plus 100 on the money line. Kevin Gosman gets to start for the Jays.

boy after those last two Saturday, Sunday, they could really use a W tonight. So yeah, that was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus, Ontario only please play responsibly. And as a reminder, this hour of Real Kipperman Borne is brought to you by Bet365. We haven't done official picks yet.

No, we haven't. We're going to do those right after the break. We'll get your thoughts on who wins the Stanley Cup, who's the MVP, how many games, tons more. still on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Do not go away. Everything you need to know about the Blue Jays, Blair and Barker.

Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, just what we heard moments ago on that wonderful, accurate voiceover by Justin Bourne for getting you from A to B to Z on the Real Kipper and Born show. Oh, that's nice. Time now for the accurate performance matchup to 2026 Accura, MDX, precisely, premium.

All right, well, I guess you should probably talk about the hockey game tonight. Yeah. Vegas Gold Nights at Carolina Hurricanes, Stanley Cup final. Game 1 at 8 p.m. on Sportsette and CBC. Pregame gets started at 7.30. Love this stat. I was looking at the NHL media site. Maurice Richard holds the NHL record for most goals in game one of a Stanley Cup final.

With four in 1957. Only four active players have scored multiple in that scenario. Sam Bennett had two. in 2025 in the first game. Drysidl had two in that same game. Kucherov 2 in 2021 and Thomas Noc in 2018. So there you go.

I'm worried that no one's going to score in this series. Vegas defends extremely well. Carolina spends most of the game in the other end. I think it'll play into Carolina's hands. If that's the case. Yeah, absolutely. They got to open it up, Vegas. They got to get a dozen shots on goal.

in a period. Right. Not four. Frederick Anderson, who is 12 and 1, will become the first Danish goaltender to play in the Stanley Cup final. I wouldn't say that's exactly surprising. Can become the first goalie in Stanley Cup playoff history to court 13 wins in his first 14 games of opposing.

Wow. Yeah, I mean, this is sort of, you know, Leafs fans have been saying Freddy's lets in the soft one in a big moment. There's still plenty of time for that to happen. Oh, yeah. Carter Hart had his, you know, 891 in the regular season. There's still time for that to happen. They ain't both going to do it.

And, oh yeah, here we go. Last one. Logan Stankovin has scored in game one of the first and second round this postseason. His six career goals in game ones are the second most by an active player at age 23 younger, only behind Evgeny Malkin, who has eight game one goals that time. Wow, there you go. There you go. That was accurate performance matchup, the 2026 Accura MDX, precisely premium.

Okay, let's get into it. who's going to win? Oh, you want to pick? Yeah, let's go. And why, of course. Yeah. Jimmy, you want to lead us off? Yeah, I think I'm going to be the lone Carolina pick on the panel.

I just believe in the way that they play. You know, they have the puck all the time, and they are relentless, and they'll get a ton of pucks to the net. They're well-rested. You know, I just feel like they're just a tough team to snuff out right now, and they've got a good mojo going. Vegas is nothing about them, I doubt. in particular, though Carter Hart hasn't necessarily

proven himself entirely yet. He's had a good playoff run so far, but otherwise they're a darn good team should be close. I'll say it's a six. Six. Six to Carolina. And tonight, Carolina wins. You say that too? No, no.

Oh. No. I'm just repeating. Yeah. Yeah. Carolina should get off to a one-nothing. Two one or three-two close game. Yeah. Sammy. I think Vegas in six.

They'll win at home in game six. Okay. That's how I think you're going to go. Extreme heartbreak. I just think it's kind of destined at this point. They're playing great. They have better stars. I think they play well defensively.

They definitely have the four best players in the series. They got the game breakers who have experience with Iko and Mark Stone and just the decor. Hearts playing really well. I think it's going to be a good series, but I'm going Vegas and six will be my official pick. Yeah, I'll just kind of piggyback off your experience. And I don't know what the official count is.

How many guys are still on the team that won the Stanley Cup a few years ago? I think the most important guys, right? 10, 11? Yeah, lots. Like they've got lots. And that experience for me, yeah, I think it'll play in the hands. Getting it across the line is the hardest part and they've done it. And just on the opposite side, I know Jordan's.

stall, won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh, but outside of that, I can't recall anyone else. Maybe Carrier on the fourth line. Was he in Vegas? He won the cup with Vegas. But outside of that, I think

I think it's going to be challenging and Valley talked a little bit about this. There's so much pressure on Stancovin's line right now, Taylor Hall and Jackson to pick up where they left off. It's going to be a chance. I don't see pressure for those guys, though. To produce.

I think there's pressure on Aho, Svetnikov, that line to produce. You know, I don't think you go into it going, hey, we need goals from Taylor Hall. I don't think that's the game plan, but they have given them good shifts, obviously. And the one thing that I don't like for Carolina going into the final tonight is that lame t-shirt that Sam put up behind you. Hey, buddy. What about with that? I'd like to apologize We can't get a

We put up a T-shirt from Costco from Walmart Please That's a low point of my season so far Is that T-shirt? We've never done a T-shirt We've always found a hockey jersey I've got to tell you boys I went looking

I went looking today And this is what I came up with The best we had to if you zoom up Or how that works Oh yeah nice zoom up There you go you did it Great job. And we had to go with, we put a cap too.

Yeah. Because the t-shirt just wasn't enough. I, uh, so yeah. That's the best of God. I'm going to be wearing my Carolina. If we had that glitter bomb of a golden night's jersey behind me enough days this year, thank you very much. At least you can wear it on the ice. Yeah, you shouldn't wear that thing anywhere.

Whatever it is, whatever it is, you can wear it on the ice. Um, all right. So what you're going with? Oh, I'm going to go with, I'm going to go, I'm going to go, I'm going to go Vegas and seven. Vegas and Saturday. They'll win it in Carolina. Yeah. I like, I think they're a little heavier.

I think they can they can bounce around a few of the Carolina hurricanes, including, you know, Eilers, not the biggest guy. Seth Jarvis, not the biggest guy. They're D's long, though, right? Slaven's long, Miller's long, Chadfield's long, Nekeesh. Heck of a series, right? They're going to have to win it for them.

For sure. Shea Theodore's been very good for Vegas. One of the better evolutions in a game I've seen where he's become the sort of defensive stalwart now to go with the offensive side of things. Any surprise, Roewinsky taking the Norris? Nope. He had a great year. I voted for him.

Tell you that. What do you think about the way they're presenting these, these sort of random... I don't know. Did you watch the video at all? Beats the hell to the award show. The award show was like super... I agree that the award show didn't work.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's fine. You can... You could also announce these... like post Stanley Cup, right, between the end of the Stanley Cup and the draft. We still got the fans' attention right now. What about at the draft?

How much attention is it? We just mentioned it like two minutes before our show's over. Oh, would we ever give it more attention than that? Yeah, I mean, if Morgan Riley won it, we probably talked about a little earlier, but I don't think we'll have to worry about that. Is Gary Bettman now news a little bit? Well, you tell us, you've got a... Well, I wrote about two months ago that they were laying the foundation down for a security.

successor. I had it probably at two years. I had the U.S. TV deal being important and maybe an expansion team or two by the time he shuts it down. I also wrote about a possible chairman of the board position. Chief of staff? Chief of staff. No, chairman. Chairman of the board where it's kind of like for Gary. For Gary. And then you slide in maybe Bill Daly. Okay. And those are the things that It's kind of the thing everyone has thought was going to happen for 100 years now, that eventually Bill would take over. Yeah, I think Bill, but like, does it have to be Bill? No.

No. I mean, they've been, this is kind of like the assistant coach, head coach thing, where they've been in the same room for. If you're Gary Bettman, like, you've got to. No, I know. You got to try hard for your guy. I get it. I get it, but just, you know.

I don't know. Do you, if you believe in the direction of the NHL and you want continuity, you'd go with, you know. they believe. I mean, they're record ratings. And it's, you know, they've never grown the sport in the states like they have. We did that for them by losing to them in the gold medal game. The final is Carolina versus Vegas. Gary Bettman, that is his swan song.

It's a real test of their, of the fans they've built down there. Yeah, it's a test of like how much momentum. Like, no question between four nations last year and the Olympics. There was momentum. We saw the bump in the ratings now. it's a true test because Carolina is not a huge American market that people naturally go to. You got to search for it. But it does happen in every sport, right?

Like there are years where your smallest market has success and that's... I think you will see a lot of interest from this part of the world. For Mitch Marner? Yeah, I think it'll be interesting to see if Lee fans kind of go to it now. Oh, God, yeah. I mean, this is, yeah, just out of the curiosity. Twitter feed has had some things to say of late. They're paying attention.

Can anybody find another angle on the final? You don't have to be Marner in Toronto. So, Marner sat down with the ESPN. Of course. Like down there, it was media day yesterday. The first three questions were Toronto. Yeah, I mean, we send guys down there. Like, ESPN.

If they win, he's going to tell us about his dark days. Look forward to that. It's just, I mean, I saw. Nobody can let go. I saw my boy bunk is talking about this. It's true. It's just without the Leafs, there'd be nothing to talk about. They just drive the conversation.

They're the number one thing. You think the league would fold without the Leafs, Sammy? Yeah. They're the most important team by far. My degree was psychology in university, and we had to do these, like, you know, the rat presses the lever and gets food. Sort of, we did these experiments.

You had rats to do it with me every day on our show. This is watching the league hammer the lever, the Leafs lever to get fed is hilarious. It's every, Are his teammates like, hey, yeah, we played here too. We're on the team, too. Just hammer the Leafs lever. Get fed.

More leaves. Our thanks to Steve Aliquette. Another great segment. If you're just joining us now, give it a download. Always insightful. Game one tonight, Stanley Cup final, Vegas Golden Knights, Carolina Hurricanes. It all gets started on sports at 8 p.m. Enjoy game.

one. We're back tomorrow to discuss. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. If you get a chance, give us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you.