Real Kyper & Bourne - Vegas Hoists the Cup

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne open the show with their reactions to the Vegas Golden Knights winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, they weigh in on how team chemistry for both teams led them to the Cup Finals and if the Leafs’ are capable to follow in the same footsteps. Next up, former Golden Knights Defenseman Deryk Engelland joins the show to give his take on Vegas winning the cup and his biggest takeaways from the series. Up next, the guys react to the news of Jason Spezza becoming the new Assistant General Manager for the Pittsburgh Penguins and what the future has on hold for the Penguins. Finally, the guys wrap up the show with their predictions for next season's Stanley Cup Finals.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. 

This is real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. And then there was one. One standing. All you got to do is win your last game of the season. Simple. Not the regular season, but the Stanley Cup playoffs. And that is the Vegas Golden Knights, Stanley Cup champions of 2023. Just six.

I didn't stutter, did I? Six NHL seasons to close it out. JB, that's got to piss off canadian fans from coast to coast yeah yeah it should but i mean listen kip they didn't just like get handed that team i know people are upset about how they got some of their players they made a lot of changes from that initial year they were down now they missed playoffs last year this is a team that has a lot of players who've been through the ringer they rallied man impressive victory impressive playoff run some great stories jack eichel's a cool story marchesau and carlson and those

original misfits i thought you know a fitting champion to the 2023 season he's justin bourne i'm nick kiprios derrick brandeo jen rolnick producing today david sisboomba we've got sammy on assignment um what an assignment when you when you look at this outside of and we're going to get into the things that you just mentioned including a better conversation on uh on on a jack eichel and wow, what a turnaround of a career so quickly. But didn't get the series that we probably would have hoped in a five-game series in which Vegas not off to a great start last night. But I got to look twice.

I don't even know what the final score was. Was it 9-3? It's not often we see closing out games. It was over. Bull Bob did his best to hang in there till the end, but... 9-3. The sunset. What stands out outside of naming some individual? What stood out for you in the dominance of Vegas over Florida?

Their defense. that defense core you know in the end i think what stands out is you look at the con smith trophy voting and there's no guy right there's no guy where you're like ah he played 28 minutes on defense you know it's got to be him or this guy ran away with the scoring or the goaltender is unbelievable this was a real team effort they were 6d deep i think their bottom pair played 18 and a half minutes per game yeah so and if you looked at the minutes off of florida how many guys needed to to spend most nights playing over 20 minutes yeah maher is playing 12 a night because montour is playing 28 you know eckblad's playing in a ton of minutes and forsling a ton and some of their other guys

couldn't quite spread out the time. So to me, the D was the separator in the end. But I'm going to say something here. Like, look, no disrespect to that Florida team who had an unbelievable playoff run, dominant at times. But minus Kachuk, you looked at that forward group last night. Not great. You know, like, it looks so different.

It's such a testament to how great and important matthew kachuk was to that team a pretty average forward core led by this guy what a series and for him to play with a broken sternum couldn't even put his gear on yeah what a series for him couldn't raise his arms to get his jersey uh on couldn't tie his skates. Needed somebody else to tie his skates and stuck through it here. And that's the one thing. I can look at this and say, yes, five-game series and

Florida nowhere near the team Vegas was, but right to the bitter end, man, even in a 9-3 loss, like they left it all out there florida played they played their i don't know know what's appropriate these days they played hard nick yeah they did they did they did so and that's where i i think you know everybody talks about uh a copycat league

and it just seems whatever the Stanley Cup champion, the blueprint off of that, everyone follows. I wrote about this in an article today. Whether or not you're... You did a focus around the Leafs, of course, because that's where I'm kind of taking this conversation. But it's just pretty simple, though, that you can talk about size,

you can talk about style of play, but when we looked at these two finalists, deserving finalists, say what you will, there's a lot of people out there going, Florida, I knew it, and they sucked, and they sucked most of the season, and they sucked at the end of this series. And I'm like, no, no, you weren't paying attention. If, if you really don't understand what it was that we witnessed here. And I thought Paul Maurice said it best. And I, I know we've got a clip of Paul Maurice describing his experience with

the Florida Panthers. And we know when you're a Stanley Cup champion, it's just a given that these are the words spoken out of champions. But it's also true to form on Florida Panthers. So let's have a listen of Paul Maurice postgame. Coach, we've heard you talk so many times throughout this whole run about guys getting to keep certain things, games, moments, things like that.

Looking at the whole group, obviously this feels much more like the beginning for a lot of these guys. What do you hope they keep from these last two months or so? What it can be like. And I don't mean in terms of winning the Stanley Cup, but what a room can be like. And I don't mean in terms of winning the Stanley Cup, but what a room can be like.

What a work environment can be like when you find that special, special group of guys. To describe the relationship, I would say that they just love each other. Like, truly just love each other, like truly care about each other and connect with each other and Lord knows play through things with each other. Remember the feeling. It's not the moments necessarily and the goals.

As a matter of fact, I don't think that's what it is at all with these guys. It was they just care about each other. They just loved each other, treat each other like so well, so respectfully well, have fun with it, work their butts off every day. But it was truly a special year. I don't think that I can describe it to you very well. You have to, and I'm more of an observer to all of it than a participant in it, to sit back and watch them.

It's been spectacular. It's, I don't know what the right words are for it, but kind of. All right, that's good enough for me. It's good enough for me because, as we said, it's a copycat league and there's general managers now and coaches saying, okay, let's copycat that. I would hope that there are 30 teams out there,

and if the majority never watched this series at all, just listen to Paul Maurice's words of what it could be like and then how he spoke of his players and the closeness and how they came together and what they would do for each other and then ask yourselves and yes i'm going back to the toronto maple leafs on this conversation it's a leaf's the Leafs show. Ask yourself. Not what? What your team can do for you? Is that us? Is that us?

Did you ever see the movie Jerry Maguire? Yes. Okay. Do you remember the scene where Kubrick Gooding Jr. and Jerry are like having this moment and then they go to that star quarterback with his agent and they're like awkward standing.

And it's like, shouldn't we be more like them? Yeah. And that's what I felt like thinking about the Toronto Maple Leafs and what Florida is and what Vegas is. And it's like, are you guys, are you guys, are you guys close like that?

I know. Do you care about each other like that? I think you're onto something, a really great thing. But I think that sports people and GMs have known the thing you're talking about that chemistry. Right. But I don't know that you can go get it.

You know what I mean? I don't know. I think you're wrong. I think you can go get it. Well, you just go in. Yeah. They ryan o'reilly one of those guys who's been credit for credited for being a at the core of rooms with great chemistry right that's part of his reputation i know in buffalo it wasn't per se not enough not enough not enough but when you go out and

seek out chemistry over talent on the ice you get in real trouble i've got a bunch of great guys we never win but i don't know it's not one or the other jb you can have it all you can it's very hard i don't think people don't know that chemistry is important here every gm be like culture of our team is no they got character people in there and you you by the way i heard a lot about winnipeg and that stuff from reese that's what i heard do yeah yeah good point he left winnipeg because he's like this team can't they won't listen i didn't even think of that angle you're 100 right then he goes to a group where he's like what it can be like this is what he was looking for like i said that's a message

to the 30 teams that are on the outside looking in yeah and you i went toronto you you went winnipeg but i think any any other team that just didn't make it to the stanley cup final it applies to all of them but jb like it's it's not one of those things like i looked at the leafs and they had this philosophy and then it's like one of those things. Like, I looked at the Leafs, and they had this philosophy, and then it's like going to a trade deadline. It's like, plan B. And it's like, I'm sorry, too late, too late. And Ryan O'Reilly ain't coming in and fixing your chemistry issue. Nor is Jason Spezza, nor is Marlowe's a great guy,

and Thornton's a great guy, and Simmonson's a great guy and Simmons is a great guy. Great guy, great guy, great guy. But like Mark Stone, like Kelly McCrimmon knew this guy from junior. Yeah. Like he knew his character. He knew high, high level of character. Forget about the talent. This is the sins of ottawa not the praise for

vegas for me ottawa get rid of a guy like that is sacrilege alec martinez i had some issues last year but to listen to him speak after with uh elliot and and uh david amber and it just they just drip of character and there's a lot of teams i'm not just talking about toronto there's a lot of teams. I'm not just talking about Toronto. There's a lot of teams that are missing that element. If you have the right people looking for it, then you have a better chance to have it all, talent and character. But you need character to judge character but you know what kip winning heals

everything right winning cures all whatever your phrase is winning winning winning the new england patriots would go out when they were winning all their super bowls they'd go out and get these ragtag guys who are trouble and they'd bring them into our culture and bring them into our culture and they would you know straighten arrow once they're with new england and all of a sudden they'd get through these great years out of them and to me it's easy to show character on good teams so jack eichel goes to vegas and they win all the time i'm not saying he's a bad character guy at all he might be the best guy in the world but it's easy in those situations when you're winning to have good character. And so I think that... Yeah, it's the chicken and the egg theory here.

It's like when you're winning, it's easy to say, hey, we're in this together. When you're losing, guys start to go, oh, it's this idiot. He doesn't get it out enough. In about eight minutes, we're going to welcome in Derek Englund, one of the founding members of Vegas Golden Knights

on their first cup run. We're going to get his thoughts on five years later. So I'm looking forward to that as well. But I want to pick up this conversation on Jack Eichel coming to a team like Vegas. And it's real simple for me, JB. Real simple is that, you know you you can have any attitude you want outside of you know for jack and buffalo but when you are now thrusted into a dressing room with five or six quality guys like there there's like you want to bring whatever you uh whatever luggage you had in Buffalo into that room.

Yeah. With the likes of Alex Petrangelo and Mark Stone and Riley Smith and John Marcheseau and even William Carrier, you are going to get eaten up. You are going to get swallowed. They won't allow it for you to come in and be the guy that you thought you were in Buffalo. And Jack, to his credit, was smart enough to say, like, this is like a breath of fresh air here. I don't have to be the guy. I don't have to feel like i'm

carrying the franchise on my shoulder i don't have to feel like um i have to be the guy at 10 million dollars every night that helps right all i gotta do is just go out and play yeah and you listen to jack eichel david do we have jack eichel at all let? Let's just have a listen because I don't get... Everybody, have a listen to Jack Eichel because I don't get a snippet of the guy he used to be in Buffalo in this, but you all be the judge. What a journey. Put it into words.

It's hard to now. It's tough. It's hard to come up with something. I mean, it's the best feeling in the world. You know, we had a pretty good run there. I just love those guys in that room. I'm so happy to be here. You know, we battled through the playoffs.

I mean, I just give everyone so much credit. Management, ownership, the whole organization. It's a really special organization, and I just feel blessed to be a part of it. Jack, what about your personal journey? I mean, there was probably doubt sometimes that crept in. You would maybe never get this opportunity. It's here. You've done it. What does this mean to you? What gave you the strength?

Yeah, I mean, a lot of adversity. But, you know, coming here and being with these guys every day, it really changed my outlook on a lot of things. And I started to, you know, really enjoy coming to the rink again. And, you know, obviously got my health back. And I can't give the Knights, the entire organization, enough credit for allowing me to come in here, you know, get a surgery and get back out.

And we just have an unbelievable group of guys in that room that really, really care about each other. All right, that's good. When you're going on a run like that. Four times did he always went back to i love these guys and everything's about his teammates and how they they they changed him he just said it they changed his outlook yeah i i think that this is a guy who, like a lot of young, talented players in the league on bad teams, you wear this giant burden of fixing it, of being the savior for your franchise. And these guys alleviated him of that burden, right? He now looks like a winner.

He's a guy who has done it. Frankly, Eichel, he almost won the consmith, you know, depending on who you ask. I don't think he was that great in playoffs. Six goals or something he's good he's good but you know he didn't have to be great here and that's to your point if he's making 10 million dollars on a bad team and he's okay yeah it looks a lot different than it looks when his team wins yeah i thought he was great you did but but not like it didn't have to be like my numbers are supporting greatness but you watch him play this game to his credit for sure there there wasn't anyone that could touch that skill level yeah on florida and we knew you know led by matthew kachuk they're

going to find different ways to put the puck in the net and usually it's a hard four check but that that skill level is is special and just to be able to focus on that not worry about anything else and you know i again it just he for him to acknowledge that you know i i thought a certain way and then i i meet up with these guys in this room yeah and now i can change a little bit of my outlook i think he's going to be a much better player the next five years than any other pointless career it's you know he's been freed been freed to me and now he can just play but he you got to give him credit for at least looking at the opportunity and not wasting it and then showing so much maturity like well and that's i would have to take advantage guy in the early part of his really immature guy that is you know

everyone who listen you want to give a kid an inch he's going to take a mile yeah they gave him too much too soon and that is is that eichel's fault is that buffalo's fault or is that just the way the system is set up we know it and i'm not going to get into this cba thing but it's set up for for guys to come in and think that this is the way the world works and it's a lesson for teams in dealing with young guys first pay me first and then i'll win right instead of my era hey show me you can win and then we will pay you yeah it's tough because sometimes you're not in a circumstance to win but i understand your point and i and i do think that it is a lesson about a lot of young guys you know in the league who come in and just get handed 23 minutes a night

and yeah he's not great but you know we sure want him out there and you know sometimes it's okay for your young players to get a scolding healthy scratch the game you know play on the third fourth line here and there it's not you're not ruining a young guy you know it's progress towards a career you know and being the best player these guys can be so credit to him for doing the work to get where he needed to be to catch a couple of uh instagram posts of the celebration i don't i don't know what what club they went to but it was awfully vegas looking yeah yeah i was actually wondering like i wonder if denver some den Denver players showed up there the next day. So. All right. Let's welcome in Derek England, original member of the golden Knights, lucky enough to experience a great success with the Stanley cup final. And then

five years later, they bring the trophy home. I was telling Derek, JB, there's a lot of ticked off fan bases right now going, okay, what gives? Six years. How are you? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on the show. Now, where are you exactly?

Are you in Vegas? Yeah, yeah. I'm actually at the practice ring right now. What? Working on your game or what? Did they open up a nightclub there? Oh, no, no, no. I actually went home early somewhat last night. My boys had sports at 8 this morning,

so I kind of took the responsible route last night, but I'm sure Saturday with the parade, I think it's Saturday night, so I'm sure that'll be a late one. Well, can you just share as a guy that was there at the very beginning and what you went through and also factor in this was a community that bonded together through one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. And all of that and the fan base and to get to the point where six years later to win the Stanley Cups. What kind of flow of emotion does that put you at?

Yeah, it's amazing. You know, you wish you were out there still at that moment when the buzzer goes, but just to be part of it five years later, still with the organization and just seeing how this city has – it's a hockey city now. It's – guys want to come play here and stuff because of what they've done here with the organization, what Bill Foley's done, George and Krim. But the fan base, it was insane last night at the rink, outside the rink. You know, it's just been tremendous to see from day one.

And like you said, the tragedy of 1 October and how this city has really become a community now uh something to rally around uh their own their own sports team you know it is something watching the community outside what people think of as vegas and the strip there i know i played some echl hockey against the wranglers back in the day and it is a different environment there you've had the chance to live there to be a part of that outside of the glitz and glamour part of vegas life um and i imagine that some of the guys who were there with you in vegas launched have kind of settled in nicely there too when you saw the air quotes misfits get handed the stanley cup second third fourth there were there any names in particular

that stood out to you as uh you know like you know that feeling special for those particular players yeah all those guys all the guys that went through that first year uh you know it was i thought it was really cool that bruce uh started those guys uh five of the six of them uh you know i was hoping to carry it maybe get the starting goalie or something for a few seconds but i thought that was pretty cool to start the game off there. You know, it's a tough couple shifts to start, but to still start that line, and it's not like the building needs to be any louder, but starting those guys, it definitely added a little more juice

to the already insane environment there. And, you know, to see, you know, Mark win, he was my choice for Conn Smythe. I wasn't sure if they were going to go eichel or him but uh you know i was happy to see him win that he was phenomenal throughout the whole playoffs and you know all those guys lifting that uh you know just brings you back to that first year that you know not quite finishing what we started but to see it five years later is amazing to see. We're talking to Derek Englund, former Vegas Golden Knights alternate captain

in the inaugural year for the Golden Knights. If you look back at, you know, your Stanley Cup final and falling short and what you saw out of the Vegas Golden Knights last night to win it. What is one or two things that just stood out for you as true different makers? Oh, I think that first year we worked as a team. You know, we didn't have any high-end talent that the team has now,

you know, with Iko and Stone and Petrangelo adding to the already deep organization. We didn't have those top, top, top guys. But the depth this year was all four lines contributed throughout the playoffs. You watch them play Edmonton and, you know, those two lines. But we had three, you know, top lines. And our fourth line is phenomenal, too. So the depth and then the goalie carousel from the all-star break on, five goalies. Breslau comes in, gets a starting nod, and then he'll, you know, he gets hurt and he'll comes in.

And, you know, I thought last night he was, he kept the game 0-0 for a while there. He made some huge stops to kind of nullify their push at the beginning. And then in the second, the team just took over the depth and all the skill that the team has. So what is the plan in the city? Are they going to cruise down the Strip with the Stanley Cup, or what's happening? Again?

Yeah. Like they did last night? Did they? I'm sure. Yeah, they were all over last night. And, yeah, I think the Strip, it's going to be Saturday night, the parade. I'm not sure the exact route or anything, but it'll be going down the Strip, and I think probably end up at T-Mobile at the plaza there.

Oh, wow. You know, if you want to talk about somebody that, I don't even know if the proper term's putting your neck out on the line here, but, you know, Bill Foley, and I think you've got a relationship with him. Is it a working relationship at all? And what you can tell us about him and you know turning a a quote of three years to make the playoff six to win the stanley cup and actually make it true what's this say about this guy yeah you know i think

you you look at everything he's done with with every venture he does he doesn't go in half in he goes all in uh and it shows with the team, with the moves they've had to make. There's been some difficult trades and all that stuff throughout the first six years, but he, at the end of the day, is all in. To get a guy like Petro here, Eichel, Stone, he's all in.

It doesn't matter what it's going to take. He wants to win, and, you know, it's being on the other side, not the player's side. You get to see it a lot more and hear all the ventures he does. He's all in for everything, and, you know, it seems like everything he does, he does it the right way, and it all takes off so it's been amazing to see and be a part of part of that on that side and you know I'm just excited to see you know

it just ended last night but excited to see what what happens here in the near future and last one for me Derek just want to get your take on Bruce Cassidy and the impact he's had this season as a, you know, first year with the team here, it takes them all the way to, to winning a Stanley cup. What's a,

what has he done differently there just in a unique way that has helped the team have success? Well, I think first off, right at the beginning of the season, just the way he practices, you know, I think the previous years,

we might've lacked that grit in front of the net. The Dallas series that we lost and Montreal. The willingness to go to the net might not have been as much as with Bruce.

You just watch him practice and everything gets to the net. Rick have it on the other goalies. Because if you're making a deep run, you're going to run into hot goalies, and Bobrovsky was no different. He was phenomenal, but they made it hard on him, and that's what I think his biggest thing. And then, you know, one thing that sticks out is taking Jack Eichel.

He's known for his offensive abilities. He's up there with those generational talents, but his two-way game under Bruce has taken off. He's a 200-foot player now, and I think a lot

has to do with how Bruce coaches and how he's developed him into that full player. Hey, Derek, if Wayne Newton doesn't have a stanley cup party for the boys i'm going to be really disappointed oh i know i should text him i we actually uh met up uh having dinner one night and we actually share a birthday so we text uh every year on our birthdays uh happy birthday. Did you call him Newt's? Winner? Yeah, you never know.

It's freaking... Never know. Possibilities are endless here. Well, listen, really appreciate your time. I'm sure you're going to catch up to the guys at some point and celebrate. Thanks so much for joining us, man. Yeah, thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Derek Eng, man. Yeah, thanks for having me on.

Appreciate it. Thanks so much. Derek Englund, one of the original misfits. Yeah, good for him. Still involved with the org. Now, he played in the same league, right? In Vegas, the ECHL? Yes, he played for the Wranglers. Did you play against him? I actually just looked it up before we went on air.

Did you cross paths? I don't think so. did you run him spear him oh god pretty tough pretty tough he played in 06 i would have played against them in the playoffs in 06 07 missed him by a year yeah that's thank good thank goodness let me ask you about uh aiden hill we did play against him when he was in wilkes-barre oh you did anyway okay yeah uh Aiden Hill yeah did is it just me or did he just get better and better and better yeah you know I think it's one of those things again and not when your team is winning and you have that momentum and that confidence and you feel like you know you're a part of this machine I just think it's incredible for guys what you're saying is he played way over his head and he's going to come down to earth that's what you're telling me a little bit i know and i

can hear it in your voice what was he in playoffs like a 926 936 i think okay well he's not that i think it's the one of the best in history okay well that's good that's very good he's probably over 15 games yeah he was excellent for So, but he's 27 years old. Like that's, that's upside. If you put a lot of goalies behind Petrangelo, Theodore McNabb, hag white cloud.

I don't know who I missed there, but it's pretty good. So he's a UFA. Yeah. Like if Jack can go five times five and not get out of the first round like where is this guy gotta be nervous anytime a goalie has like a one-off good season but he's you know from talking to goalie people a little bit he sounds like a more technically sound big they like eden hill the numbers like him that that game last night did not start out like it was going to end up 9-3.

He made some stops. He made huge stops. I can't remember. Was it Barkov who tried to cut to his left side, Hill's left side, and he just stuck out the longest leg in the league. He must be, what, six? He's almost 6'6". Yeah, he's a lot of person.

I was actually just looking for that. Yeah. Yeah, I think he's listed at 6'5", but they tell me he could almost come in as 6'6". He's listed as 6'6", on the elite prospects. Okay, so maybe 6'7". Yeah. The point is, he's a giant.

He's a giant. Yeah. And how would you not be attracted to that if you're saying what i think you're saying well if you're undecided about the leaf net would you revisit that five for aiden hill yes oh yeah i would final answer lock it in yeah and And Ottawa should go five times five. You want to know my answer? Yeah. I would too.

I would. Yeah. Five, five. Let's go. Inhale. And I'll tell you another thing that I absolutely loved, and I think it was Kachuk that crashed him earlier in the series, and he's got attitude.

He'll come back, you know. He threw a couple blockers. And a major slash. Not a major slash. I don't mean major as five-minute and thrown out of a game, but he gave him a couple blockers. And a major slash. Not a major slash. I don't mean major as five-minute and thrown out of a game. But he gave him a very good whack. He is like, this is my area. You want to come in?

That's the anti-Jack Campbell who's giving guys. He slashed you guys, but it's his own teammates. Love you. Love you. Yeah, yeah. And I love that about him. I think he could come in and give major attitude to a hockey club love that um march so one's gone smith way to go um or can i ask you about ottawa now yeah sure are we done

on yeah we're good congrats to the vegas golden knights michael and lyre and lyre gets the team he has and uh i said it i think maybe a week and a half ago, two weeks ago. They're going to end up with a great owner, whether it was my group or someone else's. And sure enough, they are. He's a quality guy, Michael Ann Lauer. And that's for 90% of the team. The girls retain 10%, is my understanding? Yeah, he'll take 90%.

And in terms of majority ownership, we obviously know michael has it but uh there could be probably 30 or 40 minority owners involved in his his group as well a lot of other money in there as well yeah lots of i mean i was actually thinking of this he owns 10 of the leafs or sorry the habs that he's gonna sell yes habs. If Ottawa's worth a billion, the Habs got to be worth three. Yeah, you got to be careful with that too because it's not what it's worth. Okay. It's what it's worth to you. Yeah.

Okay? Yeah. So, you know, the one thing that, you know, I was able to see is where the dollars are and where they're spent. And, you know, it's a great opportunity, but it's challenging. It's a big number. And it will be very challenging to create additional revenue in what is considered one of the smaller markets in the National Hockey League with Ottawa but I'm curious what his 10 percent of the Canadians is worth like probably 250 million dollars yeah I listen I I wouldn't even guess but if you think it's worth

two billion yeah Montreal is that what you're kind of... Yeah, 2.5. I'm just going off Ottawa's sale price and what they would probably be worth. That's a pretty big piece of... It is a pretty big piece, but you also have to find the right buyer who's willing to give you $250 million... To be a 10% owner. No, no, no, no. To be a glamorous season ticket holder.

Yeah, like you don't have a ton of input at that percentage. What do you think it gets you? A text of a vote? Maybe. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it doesn't get you a vote. Yeah. I mean, if you want to negotiate that, maybe it gets you a vote.

But maybe it doesn't. Maybe you're just a silent partner. I think in Canada. And all you do is you just come to the games and you get to walk around the building and say that I'm a minority owner. And like I said, what's that get you? Some says, sir, you can't be in this area. A visit in the suite, right? And the only way you hope that the franchise appreciates and then one day you maybe cash out or you pass it on to your kids,

I don't know, but it's going to take... You're less excited about that than I thought you would be. It's going to take a while for Ottawa to turn this thing around and make money yeah there has to be a new building sooner than later come in i am curious like how involved how much this will affect next season because the understanding that i have is that you know and laura didn't land this bid and now he's the guy like there's a transition period. There's financing that has to be in place.

There's a board of governors vote. You know, you've heard people say, Oh, Steve Steyos is going to be the GM or, you know, the coach Patrick was going to be the coach, whatever people are saying.

Can it happen? Can it happen in time for the season? It can happen. Yeah. I, it all depends on when Ann Lauer is allowed to, agreed

to get the keys. Do those decisions now, you know, he could have negotiated that once I sign off on this and we've got everything locked in, I take over right away. I think he could have negotiated that if he wanted to. I hope he did, just because you don't want Ottawa just stuck spinning their wheels here, waiting to close on the house that if he wanted to is it he did just because you

don't want the auto just stuck spinning their wheels here waiting to close on the house does he have to wait till september but there there's some key decisions obviously to brink it is is a key decision yeah and you're not going to anna and olivia which i believe are the girls names and saying hey do you guys want to brink it you know like they're not going to be the majority owner it shouldn't be their decision so i i don't know anything about the process i'm just hopeful for ottawa center's fans sake that they're able to move on i would imagine expediency it's whatever he negotiated when he signed on the dotted line and sounds like there's lots of negotiations lots of dotted lines gave a check how do you train do you transfer that? Do you accept tap?

Around the league, Kip, while we're doing that. Okay. Shocking. Jason Spezza, assistant general manager. Have you ever heard of an AGM getting hired before a GM is even hired and is going to be hired in the same year? Unless you know who the GM is going to be. You the same year unless you know who the gm is going to be you think another maple leaf how is it not brandon pridham okay west clark who else can follow fast enough right kyle but what do the leafs do like you heard shanahan be like yeah

the draft's gonna be run by pridham and clark like presumably pridham would have a contract that they're waiting to expire or through the draft as a courtesy to the Leafs. Again, I don't know what that would entail. Usually, if you have a chance to advance, teams don't hold you back. Right. And so if I'm Shanahan and I go to Pridham and I say, are you going to Pittsburgh? Because we don't want you running our draft if you are. And he goes, well, they haven't talked to me yet.

It all depends on what's in his current deal now. Because there are some teams that overpay an assistant general manager to say, you don't get the clause, that you're locked in. I paid a premium. Almost a GM. Almost like a GM for you not to go and get a GM job. I wouldn't know what arrangement he has. But I think it's fair to say they know who it's going to be.

Because you don't hire an AGM. If you're going to hire a GM, they get to bring their guys. They know who it is already. His name's Kyle Dubas. Well, thank you. Okay. A hundred percent. This is his show.

Dubas is Gordon. He's Rutherford. If you want to go get a Patrick Alveen to do paperwork. And say, I need another body who's on the same page as me. Make phone calls. You're the GM. It'll further your resume. You want to make some calls, come back to me.

Propose the deals. You got a deal worked out? I don't like that one. Call him back. That's all that's going to happen there. This is new in the NHL. Like the last few GMs hired, it feels like intend to run their team. The president intends to run the team.

Yeah. And listen, Spezza now is the new Sheldon Keefe for Kyle. What does that mean? His guy. His guy. His guy. The relationship. Yeah.

Right? It's good to have a guy relationship yeah right it's good to have a guy yeah it's good to have a guy but sometimes you want to show that i can stand on my own two feet i don't need a guy it's nice to get your resume out first it's nice to have people believe in you but you don't want to just be known as someone's guy for sure you don't no it's not good if you're no one's guy you never get to be anyone. I'll tell you, just talking from a few, you know, behind the scenes,

there's... Don't like that look. There's a lot of people that thought, you know, Jason would run and share, you know, information to Kyle. Oh, you mean within the Leafs?

Yeah, within the Leafs. Yeah. Right? Well, that's his job. No, I know, but there's some people that, in my experience, and oh you mean within the leafs yeah within the leafs yeah right well that's his job no i know but there's some people that in my experience there was always that thought that uh if anything said or done in the you know in the dressing room there'd always be whether it would be a trainer or a security person at the door or someone's going to go and rat you out.

Yeah. You know, and I'm not saying, and I'm not insinuating that Jason was a rat. Yeah. I'm just saying that sometimes when you're so close to somebody that if you feel like you're talking to them, you know, it's just going to go exactly, it's going to go straight to the other person. Yep. And my point in all of this is you don't necessarily want to be close to anybody to the point where you don't think that, you know, your relationship with a player or your ability to have trust

with somebody doesn't go any further than looking someone in the eye. Coaches seek that out, right? Like on every team everywhere, they call the equipment manager and they say, hey, I heard that these two guys are fighting in the dressing coaches seek that out right like on every team everywhere they call the equipment manager and they say hey i heard that these two guys are fighting exactly are they fighting in the room what's going on pipeline yeah right pipeline like i heard so and so is having problems with whatever every dressing room since junior yes the coach wants to know what's going on in the room players would know like, if information's getting out on things. Yeah, can't talk near the trainer or whatever. You get a feel for who's a pipeline and who's not.

When you're so joined at the hip, and that's what the challenge is for, you know, ex-players that, that environment. I think of Jack Nicholson and, uh, you know, the departed and the cheese eating rats. It's really good.

You don't want to be the cheese eating rat. You know, it's not a good label. All right. We're going to go to break. All right. God, that was a fast 43 minutes here.

We can do a couple today, but yeah, we didn't even need Sammy. No need Sam. Nobody's golfing. Cabot. No big deal. All right. We're going to take a quick break and we're going to come back. minutes here we could do a couple today but yeah we didn't even need sammy no who needs sam nobody needs golfing cabot no big deal all right we're gonna take a quick break and we're gonna come back uh jb's gonna give us uh what are you gonna give us some playoff picks yep all right more real kipper and born after these words dive deep into toronto sports and the nfl the jd bunkus podcast subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts

this is real kipper and born on sportsnet 590, the fan. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne. It's time for Playoff Picks. Yes, it is. And I'm going to do the whole formal introduction for that. It's time for Playoff Picks. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds. Be honest.

Were you just snoozing and I caught you off guard a little bit? Did I sound like I just woke up? So, you know, season's over over nothing else to bet on this year but that doesn't mean that next year's stanley cup odds aren't out okay how quickly like did that to be honest they were up like weeks ago and have they not changed they've changed yeah they have they've moved a little bit so now we have our final look at uh you know at the end of the season next year's stanley cup odds the stanley cup favorites going into next year are the colorado avalanche plus 850 now landis kog's done right do they know that i don't know i wouldn't bet on that knowing that myself well you know for sure he's out all season

yeah so no landis cog that's a big one second and third or tied for second uh the maple leafs and the oilers the next shortest odds to win the stanley cup so looking at the odds you want to find value you want to find a team that you think is going to see their number get smaller as it gets closer to the season so i took a look at teams that made the playoffs that you know that don't have or that have really long odds the two longest odds for playoff teams is from this past year are seattle and the islanders the islanders are plus 5 000 you think it's let's say drop a hunt on that you know never know but here's what i think a hunt on that. You know, never know. But here's what I think is a better bet than that. So Seattle, pretty good, plus 3,500.

You know, they went to the second round this year. No reason to think they're going to be worse next year. Two teams that stand out, the Buffalo Sabres were plus 3,300. Sabres missed playoffs by a point. Is it finally time for them to push some chips in? Like, they think they have a goalie now in Devin Levi. Could you see them? They have a huge amount of cap space.

Could they be a team that decides? Remember Detroit the year before signed seven players, a UFA time decided to get good. We see it one. Then the Kings did it too. Like teams flip the switch. I could see Buffalo doing that and their odds getting shorter. The other team, the Kings at plus 1800.

They're involved in every rumor. Every available player is rumored to be going to the Kings. It's Matthews. It's Marner here in Toronto. It's anyone who's any good. So the Kings are going to be actively trying to get better. So that's a number I like a little bit too. Where are the Stanley Cup finalists in Florida Panthers?

The Florida Panthers are plus 1800 as well. See, they're right there with LA. Yeah. Likethers are plus 1,800 as well. See? They're right there with L.A. Yeah. Like, you'd think it'd be a lot higher. Well, they're returning everyone on the D-Corp, which is the reason they won. Are you getting Bobrovsky picking up where he kind of left off?

Sorry, I was thinking about Vegas there. Yeah, you're right about Florida. No, Florida. Florida. Yeah, Florida's not going to lose much, doesn't look like. But they're not. So you said they're with la yeah so that they have the like 10th 11th longest odds should not be a lot higher they went to the stanley cup final yeah that's probably a good bet to dallas stars right there two plus 1700 who are in the conference final they're right

there with florida so those are the teams if you're gonna pace place one of those long shot bets that's where you do it. So that has been Playoff Picks presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds. Alright. Just one note on Mark Stone.

No better celebrator in sports. He's now my favorite player. Favorite player? Yeah, my favorite player. He is maybe one of the best meat and potato superstar ever for me. All right. Do you want to set the internet on fire? Should I not do it?

No, do it. Do it. We got a couple minutes. Stanley Cup playoffs, you can have Matthews or Stone. Yeah. Yeah. Game seven, Stone all day long, pal. God, how do you do that? that yeah how do you have a leaf

show yeah and pick mark stone over austin matthews really all day long yeah all day long one guy gets it one horse is back there one guy still hasn't figured it out i you know what that's i i wouldn't i don't have a quick answer myself i take matthews there it is i gave it a second i would take matthews but i know a lot of people i i was talking to uh bunkus and mckee they're talking i was saying uh vegas doesn't have a player inside the top 30 in the league i think i said or top 20 in the league, I think I said, or top 20 in the league, and Stone came up. Stone is infectious. That means something towards chemistry. I agree with that.

He puts himself out there. Again, and Austin won't put himself out there. Not yet. He'll stay in his lane and get everything he can out of his skill or his terrific shot but mark stone is like a few years earlier out of his comfort zone to to get whatever he can out of his talent i'm glad he got a cup austin needs to figure that out. Their observation. Okay. Just like that. It's over. Derek Englund.

Thanks for joining us. Jays tomorrow. Jays tomorrow. We're back on Friday. Real Kipper and Boren. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. Give us a rating and review.

If you get a chance, we'd love to hear from you. Have a great night, everybody.