Real Kyper & Bourne - Vegas Swap Head Coaches Before Playoffs

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee touch on the Vegas Golden Knights firing head coach Bruce Cassidy and hiring John Tortorella, before bringing in Sportsnet's David Amber (12:11) to weigh in on the coaching change, the Golden Knights' playoff outlook, and whether other teams will look within on their current head coaches. Then, DA shares his thoughts on Linus Ullmark requesting to rest for one game, whether Steve Yzerman is on the hot seat, whether a Maple Leaf will go after Radko Gudas in their first meeting since his knee-on-knee collision on Auston Matthews, and the Wild Card race in the East. Afterwards, Nick, Justin and Sam chat about Jim Rutherford's future with the Vancouver Canucks, why they're set for a strong rebuild through drafts, and the New Jersey Devils' outlook. 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.

All right, let's kick it up a notch here. Real Kippron Borne Show. It is the national hour edition of our program. We're live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary streaming, always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available Spotify, Apple Podcast and YouTube, where we give a big thumbs up to our returning. Sammy McKee. He's back.

With the back. Where's the trophy? You won a trophy with your dad on the weekend. Yeah. When do you get your day with it? I don't. Oh, no. We won it in 2016 with the ugly moose,

and then 10 years later, went back and won it again. You've got no etymology, no way to trace the name of this team? Ugly Moos? I actually don't know, no. Okay. Also on board, Nick Kipprejo's Justin Bourne, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo. This hour of real Kipper and Bourne brought to by Bet365 in a few minutes.

We'll welcome in David Amber, studio host, Hockey Night in Canada, NHL on SportsNet. always fun with DA. Yeah, absolutely. In the meantime, biggest news, Vegas. Say that again. Golden Knights have a new coach named John Tortorella. Ever heard of him?

I have heard of him. He's been in the league before. Shocker, shocker to say the least, where were you win? Is it really a shocker? It is a duner. This is an organization that has no problem saying goodbye. to Pete DeBoer and Jared Galant and putting him in a cab and sending them home and going next. Yeah.

No, listen, I have, I love the way Vegas operates. They try to win every year and they should. Everyone should do stuff like Vegas does stuff. I'm totally cool with that. I am shocked that they would fire him with eight or nine games to go and with torts being the guy in. Eight. Eight to go. So clearly.

But like, they should. They can't win a game. And have you seen, I think their next three is like Vancouver, Vancouver, Calgary. The real question is, like, how bad, how good or how bad are they? And if this really comes down to a goalie making a save, how is Tortorella going to change anything? Fresh start, baby. Fresh vibe. Fresh energy.

Fresh, just the vibes and energy. Yeah. I can go with that. I bought into that in the past. Sometimes it's just, it's just a change of energy. Well, it's just like. If you do one thing one way long enough and it doesn't work, it's like all I know is that way doesn't work.

We got to try something else. I don't know if this way works. I just know that way doesn't. And I guess they got to feeling like that, unless there was some internal incident that you're aware of that you're going to enlighten us all about? No. No.

I think there's probably a lot of internal that. The perks playing and being in Vegas and not Canada. He is a guy that is very hard on his players. And I don't think there's anybody shedding a real tear in that dressing room for Cassidy. No. The one thing I think for Torts as a hire is Stars tend to like him because he plays the heck out of him. Like Eichael, Marner, Stone,

like he's going to put those guys on the ice. I saw ice time after the first period, I think Vegas and Washington, and Nick Dowd played more than Mitch Marner in the first period. Yeah. Like I'm guessing some of this stems from, you know, frustrated players. Did you guys want to hear either from McCriman or Tortorella?

We have a few clips. Let's just, McCriman kind of did an overview of what happened with their struggles. But a minute long clip, bear with them here, but it's kind of an overview of it. So clip one, Kelly McCriman, please. Kelly McCriman, clip one, please. Of that, 25, 26 has been a challenging season for our team. Like a lot of teams, like all teams, very compressed schedule. We had eight Olympians.

would have been nine if William Carlson had have been able to go. It puts a lot of demands on the players. Bruce as well was part of the staff. I think somewhere along the way we lost our spirit and we lost our energy as a team. We went into the Olympic break in first place. We'd been in first place for 96 days. Since then, we're 5, 10, and 2. since a seven-game winning streak in January,

we're 8, 15, and 4. We've gone from first to second to third to fighting for a playoff spot. We waited as long as we could on this. We see lots of positive signs in spurts in our game, but we just felt that we needed to bring a different person in to lead our team. Yeah, he's right. It was quick.

This, this, again, we've got some good. We've got some great insiders in our game, including our very own Elliot Friedman. Nobody, nobody got wind of this because it happened so darn quick. But, you know, it's once you know, you know. If you're like, we just don't want to ride with this guy, you just got to do it. And Kelly's right. They went from first to second to, oh, my God, if we don't do this, we could miss the playoffs. That's what they were really worried about.

forget about a Stanley Cup right now. Yeah. They were worried that they could have, they could have ended up missing the playoffs. Totally random tangent. I'll just take this other direction. 2015, I was cutting clips for the Leafs. I would go to their dressing room

and I would just cut clips for their draft just by randomness. And Kelly McCriman interviewed to be, I saw him come in the room with the higher-ups for head coach of the Leafs. He had just won the Memorial Cup, I think. And he came in to coach the Leafs. Wow.

And Guy Boucher, and I think that was around the time Shelton would have got hired? No, Babbs then. Babs, yeah. Those guys came in pre-Babs. Do you know, Guy Boucher got the job, thought he had the job.

And then. Babs called up and said he doesn't have the job anymore. And then Shadhan had the plane in. Stayed with it. And then Babs, had old Babs, played Buffalo Sabers off of the Leafs. Poor old Mike Harrington and got 50 plus million bucks. Oh my gosh.

So I was in this little room they had where we were just cutting some of these video clips. And Guy Boucher was in there talking about Renauds. He was like, we're going to take down this wall, the coach's office. I want to put a window in so I can communicate with the players. He was redoing the room. Oh, my God. He was that much the coach. That's fascinating.

While they were making calls to Babcock, he was downstairs doing that. Yeah. And they're upstairs. Oh, my God. The infidelity. Whoa. Poor, gee. Let's do the second McCriman clip on why Tortorella.

In John Tortorella, when we're at our best, we play hard, we play fast, we get on teams early. I think that lines up with John's philosophy as a coach. Defensively, we're very much aligned with how his teams play. We're eight games remaining in the regular season. There's not time to come in and implement new systems. across the board, there'll be tweaks. And I think the other thing that we're expecting is that within the system that we play, we have guys that do it a little bit better than we have been doing it.

I think that John has great passion, great energy. He's a great communicator. He's very respected in the industry, experienced, comfortable in his own skin. I think he's going to give her a team a spark. I mean, tough to argue with that short-term logic. He's got an eight-game contract. Both of those things that he said, totally reasonable and fair. Yeah.

Like I just, I hate Vegas a lot of times because of some of the stuff that they've done and me whining about the over the cap stuff and them. Yeah, that's fair. I complain about that. But they just, they care a ton about winning all the time. He's going to have to motivate some underachievers there. Totally. And I don't know what happened to turtle.

But like this guy was considered a big power guy. You have 25 goals. But the other night he couldn't play him much more than 12 minutes. 6.3, 220, 32 years old. He's got 54 points in 74 games. Dash 18. Oh, my God, really? So look at the dashes.

That's a huge number. Look at the different dashes. Because you still have Marner, I think, and Eichel. They're plus players. Yeah, they're plus 12, 13, 14. That's Stone Eichol, Marner. Think about that for a second. That's a huge difference.

How do you have one or two lines? at plus 12 or 14 and then you got a line at minus 14. They're getting killed by their third line. Before we get to DA, did you want to hear one from Torts? He says on taking over with only eight games left is the best of the two. So let's play that one before we get to the DA. Clip two. In this business here, whether you're a player or a coach,

I think you need to have the ability to accept the challenge, right? And, you know, I got bombed out of Philly with nine games left last year. Now I come here with eight games left in a new job. It's a couple of crazy situations I've never been involved before. But that's the league. That's pro sports. And I think as coaches and players, when you get to this level, the highest level of the game, you need to be prepared to handle that stuff.

and I'm, guys, I'm very fortunate to get the opportunity. I don't know Kelly as well as George, Mr. Foley also. I talked to him on the phone. I'm very fortunate to get the opportunity to work with this manager's group and players because the organization is so well respected. This is awesome for the league. I'm sorry. Torts taking over with eight left before the playoffs is fantastic.

I'm not sure that's pro-spoken. but it's his pro sports. Like, what do you mean? I mean, he plays this beautifully. He gets fired. He goes on TV.

He talks about how brilliant he is and an owner fires him. But they do that in every sport. Not as many times as this guy does it. Torz's longevity. No, no, torts is the, like he,

it's like he invented this. I think that's true, but like that is a thing that coaches do across all sports. Like Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin's going to be on Fox this year. Like Sean Payton did Fox, you know, Baroubae did TNT. Guys do it every time.

Listen, I worked with Keenan, Paul Maurice. Yeah. I get it. He forgot Maurice did the TV. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he was good. Yeah, he loved it until we had beer bottles thrown at us in Calgary during the playoffs. Why?

Because they were all drunk and I think Calgary lost that game. And we were outside and our backs were to the crowd coming out. And it got so bad that. They killed us in the middle of our hit and shut the lights off because a beer bottle almost took out Paul Maurice. That's funny. Wow. The one thing I'm sure with Torz is like,

I know there's college coaches who know systems better than, you know, the ins and outs of complicated whatever. Like I think Toritz is a great motivator and that's what he is. He knows the basic. I know he knows all this stuff, but I just don't think he thinks about, he thinks the game is complicated. Very simple.

Brooks, if I want to explain it to, I would. He gets the motivational. I don't know how good they are. I'm like, are they, can they be a top team? Can they, I watched him against Edmonton the other night. And I, I, I didn't think they could do it. Come on.

Chase Theodore and Rasmus Anderson, Harbyshire, Hurdle, Dorfay of Stone, Margaret Eichol. We have the A. We do. Mid. Oh, we do. All right, let's welcome him in. We pumped them up all week. Good day, good day.

David Amber. I'm going on Canada. Sportsnet. How are you guys doing? We're good. We're good. Okay. So usually when we see a coach is firing and it's a bit of a hard ass like a Bruce

Cassidy, they go to a nicer, softer guy, right? Good cop, bad cop. But we're kind of getting bad cop, bad cop here, aren't we? D.A. What kind of topsy, turvy world are we living in when when John Tortorella is being brought in as the sympathetic figure, the soft. voice to ease them into this time where they're obviously struggling. I know I thought that was pretty interesting as well.

And, you know, I mean, I think Kelly McCriman, I was just listening to the clips you guys played. And, I mean, he laid it out pretty simply why he went with Tortorella, that instant spark, didn't have to adjust too many things, just has to sort of tweak a few things. And as Justin just pointed out, right, like he'll have the attention of the room. And I think that's all really important. However, if I'm a Vegas night's fan, I'm probably, you know, this isn't lightning in a bottle, chances are, right? Like John Torturella has Stanley Cup 20 some odd years ago, and he's had a lot of success with different teams.

But his recent history, granted with different teams, you know, he's made it past the first round once in the last decade, right? In his last 10 years as a coach, he's won one playoff series. So, you know, I'm not sure it's just going to be snap the fingers and everything's going to be honky, Dory. But, you know, I think you guys touched on it all. You know, Cassidy, he, there's a shelf life. I mean, there's a shelf life for John Tortorella, too.

and for those types of really tough coaches who demand a lot. And for some players, as we've seen, it works wonderfully. And a lot of players, especially even from that Olympic run that the U.S. just went on, said, they couldn't speak glowingly enough for how well John Tortorella helped lead that team and motivate that team. And for some players, you know, it doesn't work. So it'll be really interesting. One thing I'm going to say, guys, is everyone's better buy into blocking shots because, you know, there's no bailing out on anything on Torterlla.

He sees everything. out everything. He makes everyone very accountable. But you're right, Nick. I would have thought, you know, good cop, bad cop to a Boudreau or something like Golan or whatever. I'm not going to Boudoir or Golan in this specific case, but that type of kinder, gentler voice. But I guess they sort of know one way and one way only, right? DeBore, Cassidy and now Tordorella.

So do we still think of Vegas as, you know, like a West Cup threat where, you know, them in Edmonton still chasing down the ducks? But like, I just before you came on there, I'm sure you heard, like, they got nine guys. that are legitimate, well, I shouldn't say stars, but very, very good players. Well, let me ask you question. Can John Tortarella play goal? Yeah.

Unless he can. A newly motivated goaltending crew. We talk about the Ottawa senators. And if only they had average goaltending, they'd be fighting for first in the east. Well, if Vegas had average goaltending, they'd be fighting for first in the West. They'd be right probably just behind Colorado or right with Dallas. You know, they've had league worse, say, percentage, untimely goals. it's been a mess.

And if they were in a Canadian market, we would be shining a much brighter light on that. But, you know, I think one thing about John Tortorella is, and I think Elliot pointed this out on a show earlier today, is that he does have a relationship with Carter Hart, and maybe they've, you know, he's played Carter Hearts, played some of his better hockey under John Tortorella. And if Hart's coming back,

maybe there will solve some of that mystery as far as where the goaltending's gone for Vegas. But I don't know. I mean, I still, you know, the average person still saying Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, and the central is where it's at. I still, I still am going to hold some hope for Edmonton simply because I think they might have an easier path to the conference final. And, you know, we all know attrition plays such a big role. The healthier the team, the better the chance you have to advance and win the Stanley Cup.

So I'm not going to rule out Edmonton at all. You're watching and listening to David Amber, studio host, Hockey Night in Canada, NHL on Sports. But do you think a firing like this, and it's right out of the page of Lou Lamarillo, who did it, I think a couple of times in the early 2000s, would force other teams, playoff or non-playoff teams to kind of look in the mirror? You know, I don't expect anything out of Edmonton,

but there's some people that think that, you know, the Oilers should maybe think about it. But, I mean, Does it make others put their focus on looking in the mirror? You know, I mean, it's a copycat league, right? We remember, like, listen, we remember, didn't Daryl Sutter take over that King's team midstream? We all know Craig Barube took over the Blues midstream. We've seen this a number of times where guys come in midstream and led them to the

promised land. We saw that what was Larry Robinson over Futorek. I think that's what you're referencing with Lou Lambello. So, you know, the word I would use to describe Vegas is ruthless. And that kind of has a negative connotation, but quite frankly, you know, they're doing everything in their power. They read a situation and then they address a situation. And, you know, they're trying to win, which for every fan base should be the ultimate goal. And if they think this is it, no loyalty to anyone, that's not the nicest way to do business.

But at the same time, they're going about their business to try and win. So would this open up other team's eyes? I don't know. Vegas seems to just operate in a completely different vacuum than the large majority of teams. There's no real humanity there at all. It served them well so far, but, you know, I'm not sure that's the blueprint for every management group. And we'll see if this works out because this, you know, again, and I was saying before, I'm just not sure this is going to be snapped the fingers and solve all the issues because Vegas, as McCrimman pointed out,

have been pretty subpar for about two months now. Sometimes you get that coaching bump and sometimes it's a little too little too late and we're just going to have to wait and see. I think other teams, listen, if Vegas wins a cup, Nick, will other teams go, you know, damn, we need it to be a bit more bold. We have those opportunities and we were too chicken to do that.

Conceivably, yeah, if they win a cup, I'm sure there'll be some people who think that way. It's funny, like looking at the standings in the east, it's like everyone is just trying to get the little bump they can. It's so tight. And you're looking at Detroit and Philly, have like switched spots in terms of more likely to make playoffs Philly slight better chance. Meanwhile, Ottawa loses a game this weekend.

Massive stakes in these games. They got an $8.5 million goal. He's not available to play. And the coach says, you know, we would like to play them every night, you know, something to that effect and they don't have Allmark. What do you make of the way, I guess the way the team seems to feel about it? Because it feels like we can't say something negative, but we feel pretty bad about this. Well, first of all, the two games ago that they loved,

I thought played really well. Have you remember that save he had in the last few seconds? Pittsburgh one? Yeah, decided to push it into Odie. And then Kindle unfortunately beat him with the little five-hole trick kind of cheeky shot in the shootout. But I thought, I thought Omar played really well in that game.

I was a bit surprised that they went with Rimer and that's no knock on Rimer, but it's like, again, you have a Vesno winning $8 million goalie. You brought them in specifically for these moments. So I'm not sure, I'm not sure what happened there. Are we, sorry, Dave. Are we under, I think we're under the impression that Allmark did not want to play. Rest, he needed a rest.

He either approached the team or strongly suggested or just said, no, I need to rest this game. That's tough, man. That's tough. This isn't a load management league. We know this is, especially this time of year. And quite frankly, you know, he had, he needed the mental health break earlier. And I'm glad he had that. but you'd like to think everyone's available.

They say that what the best ability is availability and you'd like to think your goalie would be available. Yeah, listen, that's a tough situation. I'm sure there's guys playing through all sorts of injuries on every team right now. So that's not a great look. Again, not being privy to that information. I'm not going to be over-judgmental.

But I'd like to think if they have to run, they have nine games left, guys. If they have to run Allmark out there for all nine games, they're going to do it. And you've heard Winnipeg who's also fighting for their playoff lives. You've heard them say, if we have to run Hellebuck out there for the last dozen games, we're going to run Hellebuck out there for the last dozen games, even if he's on fumes.

So I'd like to think they're going to take the same approach in Ottawa. Well, this is the thing. It's like we know that statistically goalies aren't great on back-to-backs by some percentage. But like you still will take you less than 100%. Most guys are playing less than 100% most of the time this time of year. So I think it's particularly frustrating. And that'll lead me to another team. going for it there in Detroit.

Now Detroit has fallen off a little bit. And for the first time, are they going to have an uncomfortable Stevie Eisenman conversation? If this doesn't... Kippie, you wrote something about this in your article today. What do you think is going on there and you can toss it to DA from there?

Yeah, just the pressure, obviously, for Detroit, who looked rather comfortable, you know, weeks ago. Now all of a sudden, in a fight for their playoff lives here. And I'm not here to suggest that Stevie Eisenman's jobs on the line, but there's a lot of pressure in Detroit

for this team to get in. And there's that relationship with the illich family. Of course, Chris runs the team right now, but it was his parents who drafted him in 1983, I think, that certainly has a stronger bond or as strong as a bond as you'll ever see between ownership and player. Yeah, and I agree.

and I think that complicates things. I think it's hard to detach. Steve Eisenman led Detroit to three or four cups. I can't remember how many he was there for. I think four cups. You know, he's one of the greatest Red Wings ever and one of the most storied franchises ever in a place that really loves their hockey.

And it hasn't been a great run as an executive. I don't think by any, you know, by any metric, he would say it's been a success. The team or the fan base would say it's been a success. I would think it'd be not crazy. I just can't see a scenario where they just cut ties with Steve Eisenman. And do they kick them up the ladder as opposed to down the ladder? Do they make them some sort of president of hockey ops and have someone else doing the day-to-day managerial work?

I'm not sure how that would all look or feel or if that's something Eisenman or the Red Wings would be interested in. But maybe that would be the more natural move here if there was going to be any move. There's a lot of pressure there. We always talk about the pressure in the Canadian markets. Detroit is feeling the pressure. I'm not sure a team needs to make the playoffs more than the Detroit Red Wings are feeling. feeling. Remember, they opened up that beautiful new building. Have you guys been in a little Caesar Arena? It's really nice. My son played a game down there back when he was in the GTHL,

and it's a beautiful facility. That's never seen a playoff game at NHL playoff game. That's never seen a play. Dylan Larkin, for as good as Dylan Larkin's been, and we used to talk about this with guys like Ron Hainsey and Jeff Skinner. Dylan Larkins played five playoff games, this whole life guys. You know, and I think he's 30 years old now or 29 years old. It's been a long, long run. It's a long run. So there is pressure there. I don't know how Detroit feels, but it's a it's not going to be the Vegas school of, you know, one game left in the

regular season. Let's get rid of Steve Eisenman. I think they're going to do whatever they do, they're going to do it in a much more measured approach and take the time to sort things out. But there's a lot of pressure there in Motown. David, as I look in our monitor and see your arms busting through your t-shirt with your, like, must have been

an upper body day today for sure. brings me to Toronto and Anaheim. Will we see a muscle game out of Toronto as they go after Goudis tonight? This is one of those nights, Nick, where I wish the hockey was back in your era. What would you have done? Like, Nick, let's say Austin Matthews was your teammate.

What would your response have been tonight? To not finish the game with my teammates. That would be my responsibility tonight. And you probably wouldn't be going at Goudis either. I mean, you might go at Goudis, but everyone would be in line. Yeah. No one trusts Kip. He shoot a puck into the bench.

I'd do my best to make it a three-hour game tonight. Yeah. Listen, I can't wait to watch you guys on the telecast tonight. What am I anticipating? There's going to be some pushback. I mean, it's funny, if the Leafs don't end up in the bottom five, the thing that woke that team up was the Austin Matthews injury. They were asleep.

They were kind of just playing out the stretch. Then they got called to the carpet. They got embarrassed and shame. a little bit, whether it's by the media, whether it's by their management, whether it's by the fans. But collectively, I think the players all looked in the mirror and said, we need to be better. And I think we've seen them both better as a team and certainly defending one another. Easton Cowan looks like a modern day Tom Wilson. He's running at everything that moves.

There's going to be some answering of the bell. What exactly that looks like? I don't know, because today's NHL is very different than when you played Nick. And there will be some payback. And listen, I think we should give Gouda some level of props here. It was a horrific hit. It was a bad hit. But here's a guy who's playing through injury.

He's going to come back specifically to answer the bell tonight. And I think in a way he's trying to protect Leo Carlson, Beckett Seneca, Tudor Goce. You know, he's trying to protect all their young players because he's saying, if I'm not there, there's going to be blood or there's going to be someone's going to have to answer the bell. And it might as well be me. So I think there's some good accountability there on his behalf. But I do think there'll be an answering of the bell tonight from the Maple Leafs for sure. The absolute zig of all zigzags came at the start of our Leafs Hour when Kipps said the thing that bothered him most was the Goudas apologizing.

It's a little over the top for me. Just a tad. Kipps wants him to embrace it like a wrestling heel and be like, I've done it. So what? No, Nick, I mean, you took, you took a, you had some. I did. You never, never sent a note. like this fact that neither wasn't texting,

but did you ever call a guy? Like carrier pigeon, an apology to the opposing steam liner? We're in the world now where there's no secrets, man. You can't even make a call, personal call and apologize to anybody without it getting out. So, you know, I, no, there's, there's,

listen, I don't want to be a guy that doesn't see value in Gouda's wanting to step up and play, okay? It's either now or next year, but it's coming for sure. I just feel like, you know, at a certain time, whether you're Brad Marchand or Corey Perry or whatever, this is who I am. This is the way I play.

Sometimes people get hurt. But, you know, to be so over the top apologetic to me is not serving Goudis well, in my opinion. Are you upset that he actually apologized? Are you upset that he told the media he reached out in apology? No, no, no, no. I'm okay with any of that. I just, I just, I don't want to keep hearing I made a mistake and I must pay for it, right?

Then just sit there in a chair and let them all throw rocks at you. I don't know. It's going to be interesting. I mean, the Leafs don't have that personnel really. I mean, it doesn't mean they don't have guys who are brave, but it's more just, you know, there's not that, they don't have Ryan Reeves. They don't have, they have a couple of guys who can, can Dakota Josh. They have a few guys who are willing combatants. but, you know, I'm not sure their heaviest heavyweight is going to handle, you know,

Russ Johnston on the other side there or Anaheim's heaviest heavyweight. So it's going to be very interesting. And it'll be sort of the final chapter. We can kind of wash our hands of it and move forward. Isn't it crazy how, like, was it always that expectations kind of change the opinion? I guess I'm looking, okay, I'm looking at the NHL standings. And you're looking at the Philadelphia Flyers who went into this year, I think, with hopes of being better.

Then they were bad and everyone wanted to talk at fired and they're mad at them with the Meachkhov stuff, whatever. Now they're back in the playoff hunt and I saw Flyers fan saying like, oh, inject the post game right into my veins. Like I love, you know, fan bases swing on teams. Like they never have before from week to week, it feels like. Social media.

Is that what it is? Just the amplifier of everything? Yeah, and it's funny. It's a loud minority. I mean, do you ever go on to social media after your show? and, you know, some goofballs telling you you mispronounce this or you have the... We're scared, too, David. Yeah. I call it on, you know, I call it anti-social.

Honestly, it's... And listen, 99% of it is positive, you know, depending on your situation or whatever. 99%? You're living good, DA. They're scared of you. You get what I'm saying. I just think it's that.

It's the guy in the basement. and angry because this happened and that happened and, you know, I'm letting everyone know anonymously how I feel. You really can't take it to heart. And, you know, Brian Burke used to say, the day I start listening to the fans, you know, I'm going to be looking for a job because you have to manage

your teams accordingly. If you're a player, you have to, how many times we hear the expression of Toronto? I just got to forget about the white noise, the white noise, the white noise. Like, it's, it's a thing, right? And in Philadelphia, I'm sure that was a thing for Rick Tockett to not buy into all this. I think he knows how to handle players better than, you know,

on his keyboard. You know, who's... Fortimer Tone time for him. You know, even the flyers getting into this thing, they're still on the outside with Detroit and Ottawa. How do these clubs feel when they watch Columbus and Boston take three points on the weekend?

Not good. I mean, this is what makes it so difficult. I do wonder if they're ever going to revamp. You know, I think Elliot's talked about this at the board of governors that they're thinking about this. three for a regulation win, you know, two for an overtime win, maybe none for a overtime loss. Like there's a way to kind of differentiate, you know, like it's funny. Almost every team seemingly has an above 500 record because of the regulation slash shootout

or overtime slash shootout wins being added. So it gives this skewed sense of how good teams are these three point games. And this year, I think we've seen an inordinate amount of three point games. So it's been incredibly tough to climb. I remember Winnipeg went on like a nine, two and two run. And they gained like two points in the overall standings because some of the teams in front of them, you know, did equally as well at the time. So it has been a bit of a stales chase at times in the Western Conference. But in the East, you know, I think you're now at nine games left for Ottawa.

You know, what's going to work? Seven, one in one. Jeez. You know, I can't imagine if they have three regulation losses, I can't imagine Ottawa will make the playoffs. If they go six and three, which is very reasonable, winning two thirds your games, I'm not just. sure they have enough to get past everyone with these three-point games. So whether you're Detroit, Philadelphia, Ottawa, you know, you need the wins. You need the regulation wins.

And you're watching the scoreboard and praying when it's those other teams in contention that they're not picking up the loser point, which has been such a big storyline this year. All right, buddy. Really appreciate your time. Thanks for doing this, buddy. I can't wait for tonight. It'll be fun. Have a great show.

You're going to stay up that late. DA? Hell yeah. I'm there. He loves hockey. Yeah. You love hockey. All right, pal, thanks again.

David Amber, everybody. See you, buddy. Sammy, you want to do game time? Or we're going to do it after the break? No, I'm going to do game time now, and then we'll go to break. It's game time, presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL, most of 19 plus. Ontario only, please play responsibly. My beloved Toronto Blue Jays back at it tonight, huge favorites in the game tonight, minus

290 against the Colorado Rockies. They were historically bad last year. They got swept by the. Mighty Miami Marlins to start the season. Our boy Owen Casey walk off bomb in the last game of that series. So he's looking good. What I was going to give tonight, just looking at some of the hitter props for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Give me an Addison Barger home run tonight. Love the way he's looked at the dish. So yeah, give me an Addison Barger home run tonight at plus 450. So there you go. You like our boy, Jesus Sanchez up there? I would say that the only person in the building that didn't like that swing was Nathan Lucas. Because he overrised that.

Yeah, that was. Sanchez is wearing 12? 12, yeah. I kind of have a problem with that. Why? It's my number. Alamar. Oh, yeah, but I know, I know. I know there's history with Alamara. Anyway, that was game time. I bet

365. An official partner of the NHM 19 plus, Ontario only, please play responsibly. Okay, we'll take a quick break. Catch our breath and we will return. We'll talk about the Philadelphia Flyers. Could an NCAA freshmen come in and help them right away. And also the Pittsburgh Penguins.

A lot of whining and complaining out of the Pittsburgh penguins. From a Dubus team? No way. Oh, we'll get into that more when we return to Real Kippenborn. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL, the J.D. Bunkus podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a reminder, this hour of Real Kipperman,

brought to by Bet365. Nick Kippers, Justin Born, Sammy McKee. Okay, so today you wrote an article. It's up on sporesnet.com. I highly recommend people read it, talking about front offices, what could happen this off season.

Not a lot of not telling you what I know, just telling you what I hear. Yeah, that's perfect. Nailed it. And we talked about the leaf stuff in the leaf shower. So I wanted to ask you about a couple of the other cities that you mentioned.

Yeah. You know, Detroit was mentioned, Toronto was mentioned, but Vancouver. Yes. Was featured prominently. No real sense right now in terms of, we've heard Jimmy Rutherford all season long

pretty much talk about a rebuild and kind of took a while for him to get there, right? Yeah. But they sure committed. And where is he? They weren't going to do that going. No. No.

Dolly Wal comes on our show and says, they're trying to win this year. Yeah. Every time. So they were forced. So in saying that, just in terms of Jimmy Rutherford, you know, where is he on this, on a short or long-term deal if he's interested in going through the process of it? Aquilini family, obviously the owners, Francesco, is the face of it. No real sense, too, in terms of huge commitment out of him yet, much like the Leafs, everybody's waiting.

Patrick Alvin, I think, has told a few people closer. around him that he does not expect to be back. So does that mean Jimmy stays on? And does Jimmy even move to a role where it's less day-to-day? And then they bring someone else in. Nobody really has a sense just yet what direction Vancouver is going in. But once again, that's a market where people ultimately expect changes to what degree. We don't know yet for sure.

It's funny. Like it almost doesn't feel like Alvin was, I don't know how empowered he was. Like you just heard stuff that like, you got to talk to Jim about that at times when they were talking about bigger trades. But yeah, at some point you got to win. They got 50 points right now. 31st in the NHL has 67. 50.

Buddy, there's 17 back of 31st. That's crazy. Like there's bad and then there's whatever that is. Yeah. You know, that's not quick turnaround territory. So I am curious to know, you know, Rutherford, what does he want to do? Yeah.

Like, is he wanted to leave's job? He's 77 years old. So. 77? Yeah. He's getting up there. And I think Alvin, it was always the thought that Alvin would be groomed to eventually maybe take over even as a president type of scenario if Jimmy wanted to shut it all down.

But. Yeah. Really tough to even know how to evaluate Alvin, you know, knowing Rutherfordford. It's really hard. for these markets and we'll include New Jersey as well when expectations were a lot higher there's still a sense that there has to be some accountability to the fans that's it's some it's just not good enough to bring everybody back again and say we're going to get them next year so yeah i wonder if something greater is in the works there for assistant GMs and the

whole i don't know what your guy's philosophy on it is but wouldn't if you were a incoming general manager, at least, like, unlike the Leafs job, where there is just murkiness in terms of what direction you're trying to go and, like, what the ownership will want from the team and all the different... I think it's pretty clear that they are in a full-blown rebuild.

And if you go in there, like, you're going to get to put your real fingerprints on it pretty much immediately in terms of, like, it's a Canadian market. They have... A million picks. They have two first round picks here, two second round picks, three third round picks this year. Like it's, I think there's probably some attractiveness to that.

I think so, too. Oh, gosh. You end up with a couple of fresh faces, a top picks this round. First pick overall. They get Gavin McKenna. It's a game changer. It is.

And just emotionally, it's a game changer for the franchise. You change out a front office person or two, and they can turn around the vibes at the very least. You look at Calgary. A couple bad contracts. That Patterson and Besser are both. But if you want to walk it all back to get rid of Horvatt or like whatever.

Bessor's had atrocious season. I don't know. It's his worst season, isn't it? It's got to be. I don't know what he has. Does he have 16 goals, 17 goals? They bungled all the things to do with the stars. But there's no doubt that's why they're there.

There's ways. He has 17 goals in 65 games, boys he's a dash 3-7. Green Jack. He can. That's got to be. There's still, and he's, I don't know if he's 20. yet. He is 29 years old. Okay.

February 25th, just turned 29. Just turned 29. He's a goal score. He's going to be attractive to another team. What you think? Well, you may have to eat some of that. Who's got the green jacket right now?

Artem Levchenov. You may have to eat some of the money, but he's movable. And so is Patterson, too. Pederson, I saw someone tweet and like, God, we do this often. I apologize. I don't remember who. But I want to say last year, after 64 games, he had 15 goals and 30 assists for 45 points.

Exact stat line this year. You know, like he's, it's not like he's finding it. Like, this might be who he is. Did you guys see the Flyers parade their top pick? Porter. They had all the Philly media taken Zeprooter-style images, grainy, like zoomed in on this kid. Like, he's in the building.

Kate. I get that they feel like he could be their celebrini or, you know, someone to really... He's a real deal, front-line prospect. He is, for sure. But... He's got perfect in Philly, by the way. The team's down there playing, trying to save their season here. I didn't understand the timing of in front of the media and bring him all out there at that particular time.

I think they're going to use them, right? like these he's here now. I'm just saying that there's a hockey game going on. It's not like you're bringing him in to meet him behind a boardroom here. You're doing it in front of your 18,000 fans and the players are watching this too go on. There's someone in that lineup going, Welp. He's playing instead of me. Excuse me. I know you guys want to get to know each other. We have a clip of getting asked by Philly. Can we just play the game? Do you want to hear the clip? Who's that? You've got to ask by the ringside.

Yeah, if we can play that clip there, Derek, be great. I know you are very much a leader on this team and a crucial point of the season, but all of a sudden you're seeing this youth movement here with this team. Guys on the ice, Porter Martona is watching this game currently in a flyer suite. What's that like from your perspective seeing this youth movement? Yeah, I mean, it's great. You know, it's awesome the time of year that we're in trying to push to get into the playoffs. And, you know, you're trying to get these guys into the lineup and speaks volumes to the players that they are.

you know, their pros are ready, they're ready to get in and make a difference in our lineup. So it's great seeing those guys. And, you know, we'll focus on the third period here and then we'll worry about Marty after. TK, have a great thing. There you go. Well, we're in a playoff race.

He's like, I'm currently in the battle of an NHL game. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We miss playoffs. So I'll be right back. I love it. I love him too for that. That's the one that chaps me. The Leafs taking Dermott instead of trading out of the first round

to take Dermott instead of Kine. That one chaps me forever. Don't look good. I hate that one. It doesn't look good. Okay, you also wrote about New Jersey. Yeah, New Jersey. Where?

Now, have they played their way back? It's going to be tough to... It's going to be tough for them to bring back Tom Fitzgerald unless they kind of change a little bit of the feel there with another president of hockey ops. Any feel of my boy, Sheldon? Whether it's Sheldon, Craig Brew, be, you know, Adam Foote, you got to really see what's above them, right?

What's above them and who's coming in and how much of a window do they have to completely do whatever they want? Or, you know, money's a big deal for some clubs where you just don't want to pay someone to stay home. Well, and, you know, it truly feels like this team was as injured as you can be for a long chunk of this season. Now, Jack Hughes, you know, he's been better when he's healthy and that team has more to get. give. Curious to see, they hire someone new, give him another year, you know, what the devils could look like. Because people predicted them for a playoff team, if not a division contender, I think,

this year, obviously below expectations. If I'm not mistaken, when we were doing game time early in the season, they may have been close to favorites for the cup. Really? Like, they were really highly thought of. And they got up to a crazy good start, too, didn't they? Didn't they get, I mean, it's so long ago. It's a lifetime ago.

It really is. But I feel like they got up to a really hot start. I wrote about Gary Batman maybe, future. Did you guys catch that? Well, no, because you told us nine seconds for the show that you wrote. I didn't have a chance to pour through it while we're talking on it. Injected into my head like Neo in the Matrix. I did write that I don't think anybody thinks he's going anywhere for the next couple of years.

But after that, there's a sense that there might be a transition. period going on now. You know what I never understood? For Bill Daly. For Bill Daly? Yeah, for Gold Daly. Yeah, nothing's, nothing's, for my understanding, nothing's been set in stone. But he is the odds-on favorite for taking over for Gary Bettman.

I mean, he's been the next guy forever. Yeah. And essentially it would be the same as just continuing the term of Batman. It would be. I also heard. Oh, boy. I also heard a possible scenario. George Peros?

No, no, no. We're much like this, what Doug McLean calls the fake GM job is the president of hockey off's job. If Gary does step away from his day-to-day operations as a commissioner, that he can move into a chairman of the board type of role. Keep getting a check roll. That's awesome. Right. You're still a big part of it.

His influence, he knows where all the bodies are buried. Exactly. Exactly. He knows where the holes are. And I'm like, for sure. Buddy, you pull that off. Like, I tip my hat. That's a, that's a nice game.

Here's my. Chairman of the board of the National Hockey League. That's cool. Here's the thing I don't. I always come back to a stuff like this. Doesn't he have a hobby? I think he's golfing in Florida. Like, doesn't he want to do that then?

Like, I understand. How much money does he make? Like, it's a cool job and it pays well. It's some point. email him, he'll answer that. Catch a fish. I don't know. We could have him on the show again.

I love having them on. Get a yeast starter pack and make a sourdough. Like just buying something else. I wouldn't bet against him being the highest paid in the NHL. Well, he should be. He's the dude. What do you mean? In the league office or like in the league period?

In the league period. He makes him over McDavid? If he caprice off money? I wouldn't doubt it for a second. I'm not telling you I know. I'm just telling you how I feel. Are we talking more than Matthews is going to make on his next one? Wouldn't surprise me at all.

You know, he runs a multi-billion dollar business and he's turned it into the growth of the league. What about the values of the teams now that are $2 billion? It's like, that's a tough job. It's a big job. He's done it for a lot of years and I know people have their quibbles. Probably an understatement. Oh, yeah.

I've quibbled. I think he does a great job. Pro Betman. All right. How many minutes in before someone goes after Goudis tonight? I don't think you're five seconds. For a shift. I think he starts.

I think Posetta starts. They fight. Yeah. And then like I feel like it may be a normal game, which I don't want it to be, where the least just get, like Kipper said, the crud kicked out of them for three periods. The funny thing is like in these revenge scenarios, sometimes the people doing the avenging lose the fight. Yeah.

You know, it's like, ha ha. You heard our player. Now you must punch me in the face. Penance. Poseid is going to go poorly. Loved Cowan going after. the door off in Boston. But if Zadorov turns around

and sees him coming. Yeah. Look how and smart. He knew he didn't see him coming. That's it. You got to get in there and get a couple of rabid punches and then get the clamps on him.

At a certain point, you run out of just being smart. I am. Yeah. You can't keep pounding on just being smart. You got to be a little tough too. I've watched Max Domi pick his spots here. He's got the little tough part down path.

Big one for your aisles tonight. Who they got? Penguins. Okay. So Pittsburgh, hey, like Pittsburgh's 0 for nine, guys. Oh, for nine. Oh, for nine on challenges. They got a higher,

and Sam Kim. Holy smokes. I don't care how much you're getting jobs. There was an article in the athletic today on, and obviously someone's whining about it, so they put out the article. But like, listen, and they got a beef with the league. Yeah.

Why don't you just go walk down the hallway, go into your video coaches, office and go 0 for 9. How about being a little better? Totally. That's a great. You're going to point you're pointing the finger at the league first.

How about your guys? You know what's worse or worse as I saw the article, which, you know, it's a thorough encapsulation of what they're complaining about and what they're upset. Joshio wrote it and he is just covering what they're upset about. So this is not about the article. But the wine, the complaints about it are like, it's happening because they have no owner.

It's happening because they don't have a CEO. It's happening because... Josh also wrote that it may be happening because the league office is in Toronto and they didn't like the way Kyle Dubas departed here in Toronto. And Muses the first year coach. As about as lame of an excuse as I bet.

Imagine deciding over a goal of interference call and being like, yeah, it is, but let's just say it is. Come on. Come on. Before we go, boys, big, big shout out to my hometown attack. Big game three tonight in the O HL first round. The first two games in Flint didn't go so great.

I believe we lost 8-1 and 11-1 in the first two games of the series. So a big bounce-back game for my bears tonight. I've become an attack booster, but you can't lose 192 and get to play a third game. They gotta shut the series. The Bay Shore will be rocking tonight. Sammy, don't let us get one. You may have to go back there. In a mascot scene.

Yes. Let's go, boys. Dig deep. Go attack. Our thanks to David Amber. Top of the show. All right, boys. Hey, we're just getting to work here.

Oh, yeah. Have fun. Late one, Sportsnet, Ontario, Toronto, and Anaheim. We'll be there. Yours truly. Leif's talk after, too. Leif's talk with Sammy and who? Anthony Petrelli.

Leaf is for the week. All right. Enjoy your games tonight, and we're back to more to do it all over again on the Real Kipperman Blin Show.