Real Kyper & Bourne - Waiting On Sundin + What's at Stake for the Oilers?

Episode Date: April 28, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start by remembering legendary Sportsnet broadcaster John Garrett. They check in on the Maple Leafs' GM search, which appears to have hit an impasse as they await a decision from Mats Sundin. Later, Stanley Cup champion Brad May stops by (19:08) to discuss the importance of culture in the Leafs' GM search, Sundin's potential fit in the front office, and the vibe in Buffalo with the Sabres a game away from the second round. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam discuss Connor McDavid's uncertain status ahead of Game 5, what's at stake for Edmonton if they lose, and the Oilers' decision to go back to Connor Ingram in an elimination stage. 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.

We are live in studio at Kiprios, Justin Borns. Sammy McKee, the real Kipper and Boren show. Sammy, you with us, buddy? What did you just do? No, I think Sammy's headphones weren't plugged in or something. No, it's all good. Oh, good. We were sorted. All right.

Well, wherever you are watching and listening, we're glad you were aboard. Sportsnet 360, 590, the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Availability on Spotify, Apple, podcast and YouTube. Plenty to get into. Brad May will join us in about 15 minutes. Also, Steve Aliquette for his regularly scheduled Tuesday, 5 p.m.

On our national hour. Plenty to dive into around the National Hockey League, but first and foremost, sad news to the SportsNet family to hockey in general. Colleague of ours, one that I've known for well over 20 years. Working with him, John Garrett passed away suddenly yesterday. And quite the shock to all of us here at SportsCent and around the hockey world.

Cheech, as he's known to us, was beloved in so many different ways. Had a chance to work with him early in my career. and one of those guys where you really enjoyed coming to work knowing that he was there because number one is Cheech was a little older than me. So I do recall being a kid, a teenager, watching John in the NHL and be this terrific goaltender,

ultimately known in Vancouver, watching him playing the All-Star game. And if I'm not mistaken, maybe it was in even the island, J.B., where he got someone, I think because there was an injury to a goalie played and actually was going to end up the MVP of the All-Star game. But Gretzky, I think, scored three or four goals

and stole it from him. How dare he. And of course, the rest is history. But, yeah, really sad day for me personally because I got a chance to work with him and enjoy him like so many out there have. as a teammate, as a colleague in broadcasting, a father, a grandfather, a husband, a friend. Yeah.

Yeah, well said. I mean, he, there's not anyone you talk to in Vancouver who didn't love listening to him. A guy was in the broadcast booth after his career in 1986. It's 2026. So 40 years of doing a great job and just being the perfect mix of serious. insightful and humor for me one of the all-time greats

and just a great man by all accounts. Yeah, I think your goal in life is to have people talk about you the way that they're seemingly talking about John Garrett here. I mean, I've never heard one bad thing about him ever, like everyone who ever crossed paths of them, I've never crossed paths of them, but everyone always

said just massive beauty, you know, always laugh and so it's a tough one. It was a shocker. Totally. And we thought it would be nice to play. So he retired, well, he had done a tour of, he was done in 2003. He wasn't done. But

we thought he might be done at that time. And John Shorthouse put together a nice package. Just some thoughts. Yeah, it was like a, just a little, you know, one minute long sort of soliloquy on his, on his partner, John Garrett. I thought it's pretty nice. So we want to

roll that now. It would be great. His days with the Canucks date back 40 years. But for the last 20, my friend and broadcast partner, John Garrett, has been the voice in the brain who brings insight amid chaos, who strikes a perfect balance of seriousness and fun, and whose passion for the game is rivaled only by his respect for those who play it. His ability to communicate and to educate is nothing short of brilliant, and his team first attitude is second to none, whether applied to the Canoxi covers or the broadcast team he captains.

Cheech greets every situation with a smile and always has time for an autograph, a selfie, a joke, or a story. He's the every man who eats what a man. He's a every man who eats what he likes and nothing else. He doesn't have time for a bad mood, and he never puts himself above anyone at any moment. In his distinguished career, Cheech has worked with 40 different play-by-play broadcasters,

and I feel so fortunate and proud to have spent the last 15 years partner with my great friend Dan Murphy and the guy we like to call our other dad. Thank you, Cheech, from all of us. It won't be the same without you. That's really well done.

Yeah, nice job, Shorty. All right. The Toronto Maple Leafs, you got any updates for us, J.B.? Yeah. They hired a guy. No. You know, like turning over rocks asking the mailman. Kip, I don't know.

You got anything new? Yeah, I'll probably just kind of stick and reiterate what we said the other day that this has gone to another level for Mats. I'm not sure when he came in to discuss. thoughts and ideas about being involved that it would escalate to maybe what it is right now and the assumption is is that he may have a head of hockey operations on the table.

And now, Matt's, it's your move. Yes, no, maybe so. Is that work for you? Does it not work for you? Where's your wife and your kids on this? I think it's safe to say that any type of scenario outside of ambassador would call for him to move here full time. I had heard whispers that he had started looking for a house, that there's realtors involved.

Maybe that's a good sign that he will commit in some capacity. But as far as the actual job description, it still may be up for debate between him and Keith Pally. My two thoughts hearing you talk about that are one. I wonder if they came in just to have a conversation about what you would want to do, what we would want to do, and those conversations led to, hey, maybe there's something more. We're very impressed with you.

He actually wanted to do more than they expected. Maybe this is if it built to something else. And then my next thought is, would he, if he took that job, then be able to hire people beneath him, or would they impose on him, this comes with that. Yeah, that's an excellent question because we do hear John Chica's name out there.

Is that someone that Keith Pelly and Neil Glassberg, who's head of the firm, I guess, that's running this thing, would have said, hey, how about the two of you guys get together? What do you think? Go have a coffee. That's what's happening. Maybe they're speed day right now.

Speed dating. They're like each other. Or is it ultimately Matt's decision as a president or head of hockey ops, right? Let me tell you that Toronto Maple Leafs fans have already AI generated pitchers of Matt Sundeen sitting there smiling as Connor McDavid signs a contract in a Leafs, Jersey. People are way. They're out over their skis. It's made it to my group. chat's for sure it's trickled in it's like whoa this thing is left containment yeah you know and

the other part of it is as well is you know without mats and we know off and on the last few years he has been around he's gone on some trips he's watched games he's had conversations with some of the current players but to go from that to what we're talking about and to understand the full dynamic, and I think we've all had these conversations in the past, that this ain't your Columbus Blue Jackets or Carolina Hurricanes or Tampa Bay Lightning, this is the Toronto Maple Leafs. It is a dynamic, complicated at times operation. And to fully understand what's underneath that and to pull the layers back a little bit,

is something that he has to truly understand and absorb, I think, before you make a huge commitment like that. Yeah, you know, like, I think he can get the breadth of the whole thing, right? I don't know that there'd be many people who would better understand what it means to be a Maple Leaf than Matt's. I think it helps that, you know, he's spent so much time here. And there's my Toronto Maple Leafs, Maple Leaf Gardens, right? Hey, Henry, can I park here?

to what Matt's experienced after 1999 when they moved to at that time Air Canada Center and it went from still a smaller run machine to what they are today. So he had that

in the early 2000s. But now it's still gone to another level as well. Can I ask you something? here and I hope this is not putting you on the spot, but just in some of the people I've talked to, Ty Domi's name has come up here and there. I don't know. I don't know if that's something that you have, have you heard that? Yes, I've heard that. Listen, Ty, Ty knows the Maple Leafs, who knows everybody in there. He's had, you know, he knows Keith Pelly well.

I don't know if you know this, but when Ty retired, Keith Pelley signed him right. right away to a contract with TSN as an analyst. So there's a relationship there's a relationship there. Yeah, of course they are. We know what they've meant to each other on the ice. And it's been well documented off the ice as well. So it does seem to be, and I fully support this, that Keith Pelly reaches out to ex-players that have lived it

in this town and that would include Ty Domi and we heard the name Gary Roberts out there Hey Curtis Joseph's around We've had him as a guest on our show And we love him. Yeah. And there's times when it's like Tell us more and he's like

Well, you know I can't Basically because It's funny he's still involved with the team In various capacities and totally respect that And Wendell's around and Darcy Tucker? Darcy Tucker's around.

Yes. Yeah. And if Keith is leaning on some of these guys, good. No, I don't disagree that it's good. If you're asking me, do I think Ty's going to end up with a job out of this? Right. I probably would tell you that Neil Glassberg, who's head of the firm, has a better shot at getting a job with the Leafs after this than probably Ty.

But I don't even know how to tell you. take that because that could mean just that Neil has a good job or, you know, like, that might still leave a good chance. The tendency is when when companies hire firms, someone's looking for a job after it. Yeah. Okay. Some connection is there. My fear in all of this and all these names that you're bringing up and everything

is just that it just all feels really like they're like, who does Leaf fans love the most? Well, yes. And it's not a hockey mind decision. Who's going to make the best decisions? It's not who's the best hockey thinker, who's the best hockey decider? It's who's going to make our disgruntled fan base the happiest. That's what I see.

That lasts for about five minutes. I know, which is worrisome. And then you got to go to work, right? Like getting a puppy for Christmas or something. I could be, I could be wrong. That morning rocks. I could be wrong, but I don't, think Ty's looking for a job.

He's a busy guy. He goes, he's in New York. A lot of these names you mentioned I feel the same about. Like, I don't feel like whoever, like Tucker's going to want to give up, you know, his happy life he's got. Isn't that how you both before the last weeks would have felt about Matt Sundeen? Yeah. But if he's changed his mind wants to get involved, I will say, even if you're a wealthy, happy, family person, whatever, at some point, you want to have purpose as your kids get old.

you want to do something. Yeah, I get it. You know, like if he decides, okay, I'm ready to. It could be at a stage. Hell of a something. Matt could be at a stage. It's the biggest something ever. He could be at that stage where I'm not saying he's bored,

but I'm too young to not be challenged. Yeah. Oh, for sure. That's definitely thing. You know, there's people like that. I see Kevin BX on our panel all the time. It's only a matter of time until one day his kids are out of the house. and he goes, okay, I'm going to be a GM now

or whatever, AGM, whatever he wants to do. But like there are guys who are just kind of waiting till it's the right time for them to be involved and maybe Matt has made that call. So I guess that's where that's at. The only pitfall that may be is would he be pressed against the clock to come in, make some real tough decisions early

and be pressed to get them to compete right away out of the gate and get them in the playoff spot. That to me, it worries me for him. But if you hire him, you can't have him be the face of trades and signs. You need a GM. You need someone who's coming in and saying, hey, here's what we're doing. And have him oversee it, be the figurehead, fine.

But he's not going to come in and say, we're making the tough calls. Neelander's got to go. Well, what would he base it on? though, right? From what he's watched over in Sweden or what he's learned since he's been in town. I would like him to base it on the decision of a guy who's been tightly enmeshed in all this, who's been watching. But I don't think that's him right now.

No, I don't think he's equipped to come in today and say, yeah, we're going to trade a big guy or we're going to flip this first we ended up getting and move back four spots. the draft for an additional asset. You know, like, I don't think that's what I want him to come in and do just because I'm not sure that he's been boots on the ground. Yeah, I think that's fair. This is... I'm a little older than you guys.

I'm not giving you a newsflash here, but I can't think of another scenario like this that I've done since I've been broadcasting when I can look at someone that is coming in and... I kind of have one. Give me a name. Marty St. Louis. He wasn't... No NHL ties coached of Pee-Wie hockey.

Boom. Head coached the Canadian. It's not a bad one. I get the comparison for sure, but it's not like coaching where it's not... You know the game and where to stand. You know the game. You know what you want out of players.

that to me is way easier to go behind a bench and ask a guy to do something for the first time and then form a relationship and see what you like or what you don't like instantly. I couldn't agree more. My own point is not great. To now come in and, you know, I thought it was a good, I thought it was a good idea.

Well, you know, in terms of someone parachuting in, you're going, who? Don't beat yourself up too much there, buddy. You're not far off. Yeah. But I mean, it is challenging. GM world, it's super uncommon. Like, sack kick, where'd he come from?

And it was against the odds, but for Marty to come in. But Marty didn't have to get them in the playoffs, and he didn't have to turn anything around quickly. He could learn to coach while his player, they drafted and got older, and now he's year four or five. And he's like, oh, I'm a more well-rounded coach. Yeah. But.

Matt's will not have four or five years to become a more well-rounded head of hockey operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs, valuation for billion dollars so i honestly it does feel like it does feel like it does feel like it's in a holding pattern here and if you're asking me as a spectator watching far away i'm leaning towards him taking the job right now but he could have second thoughts at the last second and say it's a little bit too much for me and and and back off maybe I think they've sent, he's going to spend one weekend, it's like a sort of a cabin in the woods with Scott White and one with Chaka,

and who do you like better? Whoa. Yeah. How are you going to get to know everyone, Sam? So Mayday is going to hop on after 430. So if we want to do talk about the Oilers tonight, or do you want to talk about, oh, we're setting them up. Never mind.

We're setting them up now. All right. We've miscommunication. Roger, checking. And he's another guy where. he's been a guest many times, Brad May, on our show. And I could sit here and talk for hours and just about the game in general. And his insights into the game, within the game, what he likes, what he, like, I could sit and talk to Mayday for hours.

Totally. And he'd be another guy, if I'm Keith Pelly, where I'm going, hey, May Day, you got an hour for for me. Just want to get your thoughts on a few things. Yeah. We got to get them. We got to get them to talk savers too. And we're going to talk savers, of course.

All right, Mayday. Let's go. Former national hockey league or Stanley Cup champion and a guy, if I was Keith Pelly, I would be calling right now and go on. Mayday, give me your thoughts, buddy. Give me your thoughts. That's actually really cool that you say that, Nick. I really appreciate that.

So you know what? There's no question. I'm passionate about the game and I definitely can articulate it. And I have a lot of thoughts on the Toronto Maple Leafs and every other team that's playing right now and how they built their teams. I think culture is a massive, such an important thing. And what is culture, I guess, is the first question,

you know, that you'd be asked or I'd ask, you know, Keith Pelly. Like, what's the culture that you believe is missing? in Toronto and how do you develop how would you develop culture and I think the idea of delegating responsibility but asking those right questions and the listening to the answers the ability the whole idea of building culture is the ability to you know respect the talent that you have that's obviously in your workforce and and everybody that's going to be together day to day and giving them the rope or the room to make their own decisions. So delegating responsibly and getting out of their way.

So if you're a president of a hockey team, hire your general manager and get out of his way. You have a lot to do from 40,000 feet, the GM at 20,000 feet, and then the coaching staff and then down to the players. And I say there's a different word to use, but crap runs downhill. And it gets to the lowest denominators. And in hockey or a professional sports team, it would be your players. And at the end of the day, those guys have to be unencumbered and inspired to use their skill set. The greatest assets that a player has are their anticipation to read the game, to actually make those plays that were innate and that they've developed those skills and in the timing of that.

And when you're overcoached and you're not allowed to be an individual or you as an individual in a team format, so many players become lesser than because they're overcoached. And I think that goes down through every level of an organization. I don't want to get too deep. I don't have a thesis prepared today. But I'd love to have that conversation because at the end of the day, the one thing I do know is I know how to make a team or a group of guys, in this case, a locker room. I know how to build it and I know how to keep it together and I know how to identify where the problems are and I know you do too Nick

we've been on losing teams we've been on winning teams being on winning team you learn so much but it's very possible on those bad teams you learn exactly who not to be and that's a big thing too maybe of course this past week Matt Sundeen's name's been out there in terms of where

where it truly lies in terms of what his role potentially could be here from head of hockey ops, you know, right down to probably coming in and slowly getting his feet wet. We know Matt's, as far as the culture part of the game, would be well covered in passing that along. But where do you see pitfalls for him if he was to come in and maybe not have the luxury of,

Brendan Chanahan of developing for the next three or four years? Great, great question. The first pitfall would be that success here in Toronto, I mean, everybody, all their fan base and certainly all their sponsors and season ticket holders, they don't want to show up possibly, possibly, unless the message is conveyed clearly that, listen, we're going to be growing. There's going to be some tougher nights, but you're going to see more character from our group, because that's what we're doing.

We're going to build character with our young players. And these young players are going to become, you know, bona fide NHLers and, you know, older, older players. I think the hardest part would be a player like Matt's who's so revered to come in and his team that he takes over isn't ready to take that next step. If, in fact, that happens, very possible that, you know, you look at the Buffalo Sabres. And I just want to give the Toronto fan, maybe. some hope. Now the question is, will it happen? I don't know. But Buffalo was the worst team in the league five months ago. And they were the worst team in the league many years over the last 14 years not making the playoffs. They didn't change personnel. They changed the general manager.

And that general manager had a message. The difference is whatever the message was being sent wasn't being heard. And somehow maybe they redeveloped a new message. But it's the same coach. They played for that same coach. He was the worst coach in the league for the worst team in the league. And four months later, the Buffalo Sabres are a wagon. They look like, I don't know what's going to happen tonight, but they look like they've been amazing. They've been the best team or one of them in the last four months.

And what happened? A belief system between their ears. An accountability system. When Tage Thompson stands up in the middle of the locker room and talks to his teammates, the teammates respond in kind. that's what a winning culture starts and begins. And by the way, they went from the basement to the pet house in the last four months. I mean, that's not to say that it couldn't happen in Toronto.

Couldn't happen in other cities as well. It's the message and the willingness of 25 players to actually hear it and then execute it. So then I guess with this Toronto Maple Leafs team, I am curious your thoughts on how much of their struggles this past year were sort of, the message wasn't received, there was no buy-in, there was whatever, versus just the roster's not good enough. Which step is a bigger priority, sort of correcting direction and message versus adding more talent?

Well, for a Matt Sundeen or whoever the lucky, you know, fortunate person that's going to take the reins and lead this team going forward, they had injuries at the wrong time early. They didn't play, you know, there's so many, so many stats. that we could see it didn't look at excuses. The bottom line, it was a different type of year, the Olympics, condensed schedule, injuries, trying to, you know,

was it the best time to introduce Easton Cowan early in the season? Should he have had some marinating in the minors? But he's there now and he's actually making a difference in their Color Cup pursuit, which is actually cool. By the way, Toronto Mapleese fans, I'm here to tell you, 90% of NHL players play in the American Hockey League. And I think that number is pretty darn close.

That there's over 200 first and second round draft picks that play every year in the American Hockey League. So just because we're NHL watchers and we think that the minor leagues aren't as good, they're the actual springboard and the lifeline for the National Hockey League. And if a team like the Toronto Marley's have an extensive run, if in fact it can pull a out, there's going to be a lot of development here in the next six weeks for that group of players. Now, the question is, I would imagine three, four, five of them, if they do have a run like that, will become day-to-day and enchellers. Maybe that's going to be on the Toronto roster. Maybe it's going to be somewhere else. But don't underestimate the minors in the

development process and the experience you get when you play in the playoffs, whether it's in the NHL, Major Junior, or the American Hockey League. You're watching and listening to Brad May former national hockey leader, Stanley Cup champion. You know what I love best about the Buffalo Sabres playoff run now? Is getting the tsunami a video of you and May Day, May Day, May Day, May Day. Nick, I feel like a pompous ass. I do because I literally, like, I catch myself watching those videos. And I actually, I'm the one that's hearting, like, hearting, liking.

those videos. I just, I retweet them. That is so cool. You should, the pump in front of the net. And it will live forever. Listen, it's a moment in time that hasn't died. I'm so grateful for it. By the way, it was the 33rd anniversary

a couple days ago, April 24th. It was a moment in time that, you know, still lives. And it's given me a lot of, you know, I say credibility. but I certainly an icebreaker when I'm in a room full of hockey fans or hockey players or, you know, I'm recognized from that moment 33 years later and it's pretty cool. And Rick Jennerette, when I hear his voice, it takes me back. We all love Rick, but he's one of the best.

Toronto just had their radio broadcaster retired this year, Joe Bowen. Their voice is what kind of brought us in, you know, whether we're in the car or at home. we became fans listening to the game and those men, they helped us become hockey fans. And they're the first line of connection to the fan base. And then, of course, the TV guys, which you guys do a fantastic job.

I was on that panel or a channel like you guys with Nick years ago. We have a big responsibility to have fun, tell great stories, be respectful, but also, lend our experience. And by the way, it's okay, calling someone out for a bad play, a misread, because that is what our job is supposed to be. We shouldn't be apologetic for that. We got to be careful calling out people's character because you don't know what somebody's

going through. You don't know what he's been told. And very often we're going to be wrong if you indict somebody's character. But there's moments in the game of hockey. We need people that are strong and stronger and stand up for just principle. And there's moments in this past season. We had one in particular in Toronto, one moment that could derail a franchise for years. We saw that happen in Buffalo years ago.

And our job is to call it for what it is. No, I think you're bang on then. So seeing Buffalo turn that corner and rally must be really cool for you. You know, we got the blade gang is banging the drum tonight in Buffalo, which is going to be really cool. It's just the energy in Buffalo is awesome and everyone wants to see it going. How do you like their odds here? They're up 3-1.

Are we going to get a good few more weeks of this, another month or two of this? What are you projecting for the Sabres? You know what? I'm not going to make any predictions. I don't want to be that guy. I do, I want to say I want to see them win. I want to see them go deeper in the playoffs.

I want to get down there. I've actually had an opportunity, just have been too busy to actually go down and bang that drum over to what. I don't want to say tonight, but I had an opportunity, the first game and two, game two as well. I just haven't been able to get there. And it hurts me that I'm not there with that city and that fan base. Again, no matter what we say, there's no jinxing.

There's none of that stuff. Oh, my God. Like, you know, cross your fingers or don't say the word shut out. Oh, my God, you're going to jinx the goaltender. None of that makes any sense. We got nothing to do with the game and what's happening other than sit back and joy and watch it. We can say whatever we want.

For the fans of Buffalo, they've been hurt so often that they've got, they've got a little scar tissue there, and they just want to celebrate. And I hope tonight's the night. And if it is the night, watch out Buffalo. They're going to be respectful, I'm sure.

But it's like popping the balloon. Let the air out. They deserve it. They've been chairing on the bill's heartaches year after year. the Buffalo Sabres year after year, and they keep coming back and supporting their team. Wonderful fan base.

Outside of Buffalo, before we let you go, any other series that's caught your eye, Tampa Bay and Montreal, we saw a huge hit on Slavkovsky when Crozier hit him. Man, that's some good hockey there in that series as well, May Day. Yeah, so speaking of that hit, I loved it. It was it.

I believe it was clean, right? There was nothing. Good by me. Yeah. Yeah, it was good. The hit Claven in Ottawa when he stepped down the boards and hit Nikishkin. I thought that series is the best in round one, although it was only four games. Ottawa was spectacular.

They played so well, Freddie Anderson. Gosh, wouldn't we love to have today's Freddie Anderson eight years ago in Toronto, right? He was amazing. I like the Carolina Hurricanes. I believe the Hurricanes will play the avalanche in the Stanley Cup final. that's my prediction. But outside of that, I want these teams just to do what they do. Entertain us.

You know, let me sit back and jump out of my seat seven or eight times a night and get excited. And that's what I've been doing. How about the series with Minnesota and Dallas has been pretty good as well. I'm excited. My last one, sorry, I'm jumping all over the place. But my only wish for the National Hockey League and for one player in particular, and I don't mean to reduce it down to this, but Connor McDavid,

I want to see him hoist the Stanley Cup. I hope somehow they can find a way to get back in it. I don't know if it's possible. But one day, as we're fans of hockey, I want to see McDavid hoist a cup. That's the only thing I really care about. Well, we'll see if he's in the lineup tonight or not. As he is now in a game time decision.

Mayday, I always love having you on our show, pal. We both do. Well, you know what? that makes me feel really good. And I'm actually standing right now in the old Maple Leaf Gardens, anatomy center right now. I played hockey this afternoon with a few teams. Doug Gilmore's with me, PJ Stock and Brian Scrundtland.

I really appreciate you guys inviting me on. I don't take it for granted. And again, I just want to say, you guys do a great job as just, you know, the other crews. We have a responsibility to be. But we're better than, Oh, dog. Just say it. We're better than O'Don's show.

Say it, May Day. You tell me that all the time. Okay, but here's the thing. I love you guys. I'm a sports neck guy, too. And you know what? If there's a team to cheer for, I'm on the sports net guys. But you guys, but at the end of the day, Sammy McKee is amazing, too, guys. He's got to get more air time. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.

Some Kenny love right there. Kenny Mae. My dad loves you, Sammy. Mayday, say out of the boys for us. I appreciate it. By the way, keep it real. Okay. You got a responsibility. May Day, May Day, May Day.

I appreciate you. Good stuff. Yeah. And he's right. There's other crews that do a decent job. Yeah, okay. They're decent. Fine, fine.

Right. Noodles and the boys. They're okay. Good stuff there on the culture of the Leafs. And I loved what he said about the miners. And I feel like that's kind of been, when the lease were kind of coming up there with Matthews, they used the A, the Marley's really well, right? Like Hyman.

Totally everyone got around, knee land. All those guys came up through that system. I wish everybody could just go down there for a little while. I love what Cowan's doing right now. He's got, you know, just played three playoff games. Understand why he didn't do more of it? Yeah, didn't do more of it. Because they sucked and they needed to play them on the top line.

Yeah, that's part of it. They thought they were trying to win hockey games. But during the Olympics, he didn't go. He skated with London night. This was the exact thing that I had the problem with the previous management is a lack of foresight to say, oh, well, he's played X amount of games. over the last three weeks so we can't. It's like, well, could we have seen that coming?

Look ahead at the old calendar? I don't know. Anyway. Okay. We'll hit a break. We'll come back. Maybe talk Oilers tonight. Got a couple clips to play.

Plenty more, including Steve Valliquette, CEO of ClearSight Analytics. MSG does a great job on Tuesdays. You're not going to want to miss that as well. Plenty more on the real Kipperman Borne show. Do not touch that dial. Hey, it's Matt Marquesie. And I'm Mike Feuda.

We're discussing the third. top stories of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan hockey show on SportsNet 590 The Fan and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back in studio. Nick Kipreels, Justin Bourne,

Sammy McKee. Huge one here for the Edmonton Oilers, backs against the wall. Yeah. What do we think? A couple things. Concerned about the McDavid status. Yeah.

Because yesterday I boldly proclaimed that the Oilers would still win the series and then I hear he's a game time decision and I don't feel so good. I forgot Kibber stole my sheet. Here. No, I'll pull it off on my computer. Let's just play knoblock.

Played under 20 minutes last game, which is unheard of. Yeah. Right? For a playoff game for him. Yeah. There's a lot of times we talk about things in this show and something that you've been harping on

for the last year. And it's disgusted me because I like best on best. hockey and the Olympics and Four Nations face off and you've just been saying, you know, oh, it's going to catch up to him at some point, it's going to catch up to him at some point. Feels like it's catching up to him. Like, I know it's a freak injury. I know it's just, it's just a lot to ask of a guy. I don't even think about the Olympics as much as I think of playing the last 14, 15 games

without Leon Dreisdol. Just a lot of. With a team that was out to get into playoffs. Had to get into the playoffs. Yeah, they used them like it was. Playoff. Yeah. I just, he's Superman to me.

Like, I just can't bet against him. I bet you he plays. I bet you he has two points and I bet you they win. If he, in this game, at this point of his Oilers career, is talking about being a game time decision, he is banged up. Yeah, but I also think the Oilers are like, I don't know, we got to throw everything we can at them.

Maybe they'll, you know, have to game plan for him being out. Maybe this is something for the duck sake. Oh, you think that? Well, I don't believe it. But I think it doesn't hurt to at least call into confusion what their lineup is going to look like. What do you think of that? Like, do you think that this gamesmanship from them? Absolutely not.

I think, again, I looked at under 20 minutes, which is there's no gamesmanship there. There's just a guy that's hurting. Yeah. I just, those two clips of him barreling wide past guys and getting to the net, like, he's still moving pretty good. I don't know. Let's get head coach Knoblock's thoughts on McDavid and Dickinson as well. What can you tell us about Connor McDavid and Jason Dickinson's availability for tonight's game? They're both game time decisions.

There you go. Dickinson, by the way. A lot of meat on that bone. It was more of a scene setter clip before we talked about all that stuff and then you went and blabbed. So it was more of a scene setter clip. I don't know if I've said this on air yet, but I don't think people recognize how. hard it is for the best players to keep their points per game pace that they have in the regular season and playoffs suddenly it's all the best teams and their game plan for it whatever but

that just means you need this next layer of guys dickinson as well as casparry capon capon has been awesome for them brett howden last night in Vegas like you get these guys that are not getting circled before the series that have a little bit more room they're not getting matched all the sudden they can be heroes and i mean dickinson has mattered for the oilers She's been very good. Very good. Captain, by the way, interested in this, UFA this summer. Four goals and four games.

Yeah, he's a guy that has been a challenge to a lot of teams over the years. Yeah. I wonder if he's grown up. At times, immaturity, too, decision-making off the ice. That hasn't been great. No. But I'm listening to him in his post-game comments, and he sounds like a guy that's kind of starting to get it a little bit.

That's kind of how I feel. Like, you know, I. Valuable guy. He'll get money. Well, that's what I, I'm very curious. He hasn't been paid very much. He hasn't been very effective. This season he was on pace for 16 goals or something.

You know, but he's fast and he's physical and he's got big game. Good playoff players. You know, like someone's going to give him three by three or something. Don't hate that for the Maplers. Before we get to, I agree. Before we get to the Ingram conversation, like just. how much is at stake tonight with this hockey game? Like what is going to happen if the Edmethon Oilers lose tonight?

The Ingram thing is fascinating, but your question is more fascinating. Like, I don't think. Bowman, gnaw block? Noblock. Noblock. Yes. Yes. Yes.

There'll be changes and there'll be, yeah, the first one would probably be coaching. Okay. For me? Yep. Outside of that, I don't think Stan Bowman's in jeopardy. You don't think if Ingrams... I could be wrong. I'm just saying on the goalie thing alone, it's a tough look.

Like if they lose in five and Ingram's not good tonight and they traded Stu Skinner for a guy they couldn't even put in the net. And Jari's making 5.4 until 2028. You know, this is... That would be... That'd be bad. This roster, a lot of the decisions that have been made, the big key decisions over the past two years

have not been great. Well, the one that has absolutely crushed them is Broberg. And Holloway. Holloway I can almost live with because it's easier to find than Broberg. Yeah. A young top 4D that's turned into a top 2D. You can't,

or whatever was. It's too hard. That one you don't recover from. I mean, Holloway, back-to-back seasons, 26, 77, 27, 22, and 59. But, Sam, plus 13 on the crappy blues.

Less impactful than a 20-plus defenseman. He's a top pair of deep. Right? Rovers is a top pair. Those guys control pace of play a lot more than a Holloway. Yeah. And that's what was, that's been missing.

And the other one was the injury to, the defenseman. Oh gosh. See what happens. He hasn't played in a year and a half, two years. The shoulder. God, it's going to be embarrassed here when I...

Oh, God, I can't remember. Anyways, another D-Man that's alluded me by name. Oh, I know who you're talking about. Oh, my God. I can't think of it either. See, because he hasn't played two years and we've got a million names

in our heads. Hold on. But that, those are game-changing situations. He, that's separated his shoulder. I'm going to get it. Sammy. I'm going to get it. I'm going to get it.

Give me a second. Give me a second. Talk amongst yourself. That's. Oscar Clefbaum. Thank you. Yeah. Clefbaum.

Yeah. Like that one. He was good. Like, legit forgot about him. Like two blue liners. Game changing for the Edmonton Oilers. Yeah, six foot three, 216 pound defenseman who was, you know, scoring 30, 28, 34, 38, 21 points in the season.

and like you play. McLeod for Savoy. It's just worst case scenario. People like Savoy, but I watch the Sabres and he's fast and I don't know. It's a tough one for me. Worst case scenario, they lose tonight and where does that leave?

And you know how it works here in this country. Okay? Yes, I do. And Ottawa's going through it with Brady right now. And they're very frustrated with having to go through it. And you know that conversation will start and they will be on the clock. for two more years.

And where do you go with that conversation? If everyone stays intact here, including Jackson and Bowman, how's that exit meeting with Connor? Bad. You're not looking forward to it. You aren't, but what do you say? We can still fix this.

We're going to come back next year. This is what we're, We can do. Yeah. I don't know. Well, you have to. You have to, you have to. You have to have a plan.

You can't go into it and go, what do you think we should do? You know, you got to be like, look, this is how much caps this is where we think we're lacking. The goaltending thing didn't work out. We're going to try to do that, fix that by getting Anthony Stollars. We think he's going to be our solution here. Yeah. In the meantime. I love it.

Good idea. So, Connor's got to watch tonight. wonder where the goaltending is and ultimately you hope that Connor goes hey good decision to put Ingram back in that's what you can hope I think Jari was pretty good last game you want to hear the justification from the governor from noblock let's play the clip on Connor Ingram going back in tonight clip two nothing against Jari I thought he had a solid game the other night but going down this last few weeks or months um ingram's been our starter he's been our guy and um um um Now that our season's on the line, we felt that we would go with our guy.

Could we just get a comment on? No, you can try it. Okay, he can't say our guy more. Our guy. Our guy. You're not our guy. That's all he said to Jari. You're not our guy.

I don't know what they're doing with Jari this summer, but it's impossible to imagine him playing for the Oilers next year. Well, that contract, I don't think it's that impossible. Maybe Bakersfield. Jack Campbell, pal. Baker's Field might have a new starter. Oh, yeah, you're bearing nothing. I just, you can't call the other guy, our guy, repeatedly,

after giving him the hook for one game where... It was pretty good. Well, he's pretty good, and they kind of got outplayed, like... Except I feel like that Valley's going to come out to break and be like he wasn't that guy. You saw his tweet, feasing his appearance. I think we're going to get... Correct me if I'm wrong here, because the memory does get tricky at times. But he is one of many goalies this year who kind of kind of...

called out his team. Jari? Oh, when he first got there, yeah. He's like, this is a tough team to make saves behind, basically. That's, boys, that's when Noblock and company said, that's not our guy. You know. That's the moment. You really, you, he lost.

You put yourself on a softball tea. The moment you say something like that, you're like, have at her, like, you know, you have to be perfect. the second you do that. You do. And so for a goalie, and I'll admit, I'm coming around on who gets to call out their team

and who not, only because for a goalie, you just don't know how it's going to go, and you have to be perfect if you're going to do it. Like a player, you can hide a bit,

you can, it's a bit more gray. We had Mark Messier on yesterday, and he talked about using the media in ways to get messages across and for those of you that didn't watch

please download it and listen to Mark Messier talk about the dangers of doing exactly that and what message ultimately it tells your opponents that you are there's a crack in the armor there's weakness

we've got you right where we want you. That's what you want to ultimately avoid. My junior coach had a big thing about never let him see a sweat and so he didn't want to slam and gates, throwing water bottles. Like we just, you know, even if you're frustrated, it's just you don't want the other team to know that you're getting frustrated.

And yeah, that is a big part of this. The other thing Mess said that was interesting, and I asked him, can you call out a goalie? You know, because it's a different position. They're almost on their own little island and it's, they're a little more touchy, right? But how about goalies who have openly had mental health concerns throughout the year? You have Linus Allmark was one.

Connor Ingram was one. you can make the case that there are others around the league that may have needed breaks because of that. Spencer Knight went through that. Right. You know, how hard is it to say, like, can you ever go to Connor Ingram? Mix in a save. Mix one in for us.

We need you. You know, like, it's a touchy ground. I can't speak on today's player and the sensitivity around that today in a dressing room. But it was just non-existent in my day. It's like either you're with us or against us. If you can't hang in there, I'm sorry, but let's go have beers, but do not try to help me win a Stanley Cup.

And that's it. Either you're strong or you're weak at the end of the day. And I don't know if it's that much different, but clearly you've got to be more sensitive around it, but we've got to win. Got to help you win in the room or you're not pulling your weight. They're winning business. Okay.

Valley. Valley deep in the valleys. Devalakette, when we go national next. Stick around.