Real Kyper & Bourne - Weekend Double Dip

Episode Date: February 17, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin off-the-rails Friday by teeing up a pair of Leafs games this weekend against the Habs and Blackhawks. With Ilya Samsonov missing practice today, they discuss who will be between the pipes in each game and what the Leafs needs most at the deadline; a goalie, a top six forward, a defenceman, or to shore up the bottom six. Canadiens reporter for TVA Sports Renaud Lavoie discusses Montreal's plans for the deadline, the Martin St. Louis experience and the future for Cole Caufield (21:43). Then, Doug MacLean is in for his weekly visit (39:57) to discuss the tweet sent by Jonathan Huberdeau's agent, Darryl Sutter's response and what teams could sneak into the playoffs after the deadline. Finally, former NHL goalie and NHL Network's Devan Dubnyk (1:05:08) shares his thoughts on the Oilers' season, Jack Campbell starting to turn it around and his favourite goalies around the league right now.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This is Real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. And just like that, in the blink of an eye, it's Friday. Off the rails Friday. There's been a trade. What? Yeah. Justin Bourne at home for Sammy McKee on this desk. That's the trade.

Straight up. Getting near the deadline, Kipper. So are we on YouTube and Sammy's just the face today? Well, yes. I think they probably got, you know, how they put the voice of Sam McKee usually. They probably put the voice of Justin Bourne. We've just done a switch. We've done a body switch.

This is brilliantly done. I love it. JB, you're joining us today via satellite at home, taking care of business, or should I say family business? Just, you know, my son's only thrown up a half dozen times, guys. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. Don't worry about it.

I'm okay. Clean up in aisle three. JB, clean up. Yeah. So anyway, I'm taking care of business, as you mentioned, but happy to be joining two of my best buddies in the whole world. Someone on the YouTube feed just said that it's a Cooper all Friday, Kipper. I guess they saw your tweet.

Yeah, they did. From playing on the Centennials. That's right. God, that style. OHL history, I think, is the Twitter handle, if I'm not mistaken. They put out a picture of me and Cooper. That is a historical look, no doubt about it. They threw up my stats, and I'm like, whoa.

Kipper, I know you scored 60, but that looks pretty dusty. You better score a 60 looking like that. That is a lifetime ago. Oh, my God. Well, we're glad you're on the show, JB, albeit not with us physically. It doesn't matter. Thoughts and opinions, a few laughs are in store for the next two hours we're glad everybody's on board wherever you're watching and listening sportsnet 590 the fan sports that's youtube

channel sportsnet now itunes spotify everywhere everywhere every single place in which means off the rails friday which means we're finding doug mccain. I think he blew us off a couple of Fridays ago. I texted him this morning. As you said, we want to get me to start texting him too. And he sent me the response instantly. Okay. So I think he's really excited to be joining the show today.

All right. And it's going to be a good one. I love listening to you when I'm on. We're starting him already. Devin Dubnik as well is going to join us in the second hour. Former NHLer. Had a lot. 253 career wins for Devin Dubnik. And now he's doing some work with the NHL Network.

So we'll check in with him. We'll look forward to that in the next hour. And Rene Lavoie. Rene Lavoie. Will join us because we've got Toronto, Montreal. Saturday night. That'll be a lot of fun. And you know what, JB?

I came bearing gifts today and you're not here. Is that right? Oh, no. And I'm looking at Sammy's hat, and I don't like it. Uh-oh. What's wrong with my hat? I like this hat better. Is that Next Buckets or what?

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Wow. Real Kippernborn ball cap. Come on. No way. Sick. Oh, it'sborn ball cap. Come on. No way. Sick. Oh, it's too bad I'm not there.

Very good friend, Brian Green, Ares Group. He's been in the apparel business for a very long time. He says, I'm making you a few things. Oh, those look great. What do you think, Sammy? Oh, my God. Real Kipperenborn shirt. What a day.

Look at that. Eat your heart out, 32 Thoughts. I'mipper and Bourne shirt. What a day. Look at that. Eat your heart out, 32 Thoughts. I'm thrilled. That's right. Yeah. So, Sammy, you're good to go now, bud. I love it. I'll keep your stuff warm here, JB.

I love it. Thanks, Kipper. That's awesome. Good stuff, man. Tell your buddy thanks. Good thing you're not here because I did bring, also, Sammy, a Friday Little Buddha cocktail as well. Oh, my God.

That we're going to crack open after the show. Better than Christmas or in the studio. This is a new flavor that's going to be out in the LCBO for us. I love it. In April. It's a blackberry sour agave. Oh, the love. What do you think?

Oh, yeah. All organic, gluten-free, no sugar. All the good things, Sammy. Yeah, I never have any sugar in my diet, so just perfect. Enough of that. Enough of the apparel. It's Friday. You got some clips for us?

Where are we going here, Sammy? I'm kind of in cruise control. I do have some clips. Good thing I brought a lineup. So they had a practice today. Lines remained pretty much the same, but Samsonov was not present in practice today, not feeling well, and Keefe gave us a little update on that.

What's Ilya's status? He's out today with an illness, so we'll see where he's at throughout the day today and into tomorrow and make a decision from there. Would you lean toward Joe though going tomorrow night and show him at this point, or is that still to be determined?

It's to be determined. It's to be determined. It's to be determined. What does that mean, to be determined? I think he's probably pretty sick. If he is, then it's... I know you don't want to necessarily tip your hat off right away, JB, but

you're playing a non-playoff team, you're at home, you're supposed to be the contending team that has depth. Just say Joe Wall's gone. Do you really expect him to wake up and then you, do you want to thrust him in if he does feel better Saturday morning? I think if he's feeling well or if he's not feeling well, I think you could just go, you know, emergency call up Shalgrin.

You just go Joe Wall, Shal shalgren both games this weekend like you should be able to win these games with maybe even me and net like you know you'd like to maybe give your team a little test here bring up a guy from the marlies and go that way i i don't know if he's sick he's not feeling well don't play him yeah there's this weird resistance to ever admitting who's gonna play goal for your team in advance. Like, okay, yeah, he's not feeling great. Give him an extra day tomorrow. I'm with you.

But, yeah, this is fine because Joel Wold, they want to know what they have at him, right? Like, I'm not saying he needs to get, you know, 10 starts the rest of the way, but you're kind of looking for excuses to get him in. This feels like a nice, easy one. Saturday night, hockey night in Canada. See how the guy can handle it. I think it's another opportunity for Wall to come in and be a little bit of a disruptor here. And a good showing for him.

We'll plant the seed that this is now a three-headed monster. Well, let's be real. We're at the point here where they're trying to figure out all right if it's not wool who's the next goalie because you got to have someone else do we have we have the uh keith on uh matt murray do we or no but he was no he just skated today there was no real update on him but he's on the ice again he was on the ice before practice he was yeah doing it looked like he was doing goalie things i saw the clips of it he was going around the natty made a couple saves but they didn't give him any official update on his timeline so it's kind of status quo is just like not allowing

him to do the things you need to do 10 goal and he heard it by being in warm-up once i don't know he wasn't was it that he wasn't right going into that and they were kind of giving it a go in that warmup for some reason, as opposed to just like letting him get better and he said he couldn't go. So I don't know. It's a mystery. He could have tweaked it even more in warmup. You just don't know.

Boys, you need another goalie now. You need another goalie. It's just, it just baffles me. It really does we've gone from a D or two to a D or two top six

bottom six goalie mascot replace the coach Carlton is looking a little dated they could use a little upgrade on Carlton what do you think? What do you think it would take to get Gritty out of Florida?

Or Philly. Sorry, Philly. One for one? I don't think they're doing one for one with Carlton. Huge. We like Carlton, but he's no Gritty. You might have to throw in the Marlies mascot to make that trade a two for one trade. And cash.

You got to throw Steve Dangle in. No disrespect, Stevie. They could use a Dangle in Philly to keep interest. Yeah, yeah. He'd probably be even more pissed off if he was covered in Philly. All-tarts team in Philly? Good chance. There is... The issue here now is like Talbot.

Like who? There's nothing out there. There's this B kind of group. Well, you mentioned in one of your articles a little while ago. I mean, UC Soros playing on a bad team. That's a game changer. I guess if you're looking for options, they stink. And he's the only reason they're anywhere half good. So they're looking to maximize on him but i don't think they

trade him why would you trade him the only thing is is when you're talking about a top six or top four d you you've only got certain cards you can play which would we would assume a first-rounder in Matthew Nyes. Yeah. Pick your poison here. I'm thinking as much as I think that a blue liner is really important to the Toronto Maple Leafs, I would almost start thinking that if I had just one card to play here, I think I'd play it on Timo Meier over a defenseman. And I only say that because I'm still not sure if you do, JB, go out and use a first rounder, Matthew Nyes, that would you be more comfortable knowing what you're getting from Timo

Meier than you would be, say, Jacob Chikrin? Absolutely. Yeah. You know, it's funny, though. And I know this is not like I keep waffling back and forth on this, but looking at the D-court today, and I wrote a little bit about potential D and what they would do, so you imagine all these different guys in your lineup, and what adding Jacob Chikrin does or adding Gavrikov does or whatever sure makes it look a lot more like you go,

oh, okay, there's something there. Then the forward group, which is already pretty good, right? Like the back end is just not very physical or heavy, and Sandin and Lilligren and Hall, and you guys know the drill. I don't know. I'm torn on the Kipper, and I go back and forth day to day. Yeah, it's every day for me too. I was just watching Boston last night. I'm like, ah, it's all pointless anyway.

Boston? Like, I sent you guys a text. I'm watching halfway through Boston and Nashville. I went to bed after the second. I was like, there's no point in watching this. This isn't even a fair fight. It's not even playing the same sport. I put in the lineup.

They have 80, was it? They have 87 of a possible 108 points so far this year the boston bros 87 of 108 on the other hand what's the narrator guy from the grinch say he's like nashville stink stank stunk absolutely true they are that's it yeah they're done they're dogs yeah and that's that's enough see even if tim Timo Mayer was to be traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs, how do you feel any better knowing that there is a huge advantage for, say, Tampa Bay from the net on out? Like, you can still feel you can feel a lot better

about your first two lines for the Toronto Maple Leafs with Timo Meier. Timo Meier comes in with, say, John Tavares and Marner. Yeah, that's... And then you have Matthews, Nylander, and Bunting. All-world top six. Okay, top six. All-world.

But let's bring in Ken Hitchcock, who we had on last week. Last week or a couple weeks ago, yes. A couple weeks ago. And he said, generally, when those top lines kind of cancel each other out, then you're left to the bottom six, the blue line, and your goaltender. Is there any scenario that you would give the Leafs any advantage making a few changes on the blue line, and your goaltender. Is there any scenario that you would give the Leafs any advantage making a few changes on the blue line?

Even if they got Jeff Chikrin, would you not give the advantage to Tampa Bay from the net on out still? Right, but you're just so far behind right now. At least it wouldn't be as devastatingly different. Yes, I agree with that. I agree with that. But we also, like Hitchcock said, devastatingly different. I agree with that. But, you know, we also, like Hitchcock said,

the top two lines cancel out. I don't know if you have Timo Meier, if anyone can cancel out what the Leafs would be rolling out for their top six. You definitely get some leg up, even on Tampa, I would think, at that point. Yeah, and if you got Timo Meier, you could maybe you don't have to even do the top six thing.

You'd have enough talent where you could kind of make your bottom six look different. But if in fact, if in fact, they do find a way, if one line or a couple of lines have a 5% or 10% advantage, 15% advantage, where are you on the bottom six of the Toronto Maple Leafs to go up against the bottom six of Tampa or bottom six of Boston? That's why, to me, my point from yesterday is one that I still, like, I really am starting to believe in,

that you make little changes here and there, but you don't throw away your finest meats and cheeses because it may not get you close enough. JB, the Leafs have got a third line right now that are in the ballpark of 12, 14 minutes, 15 minutes a night. They can't score. That is, that's a concern.

The Leafs third line to me, Engvall, Kampf, and Jarnkrok who are skating together at practice today, that's a fourth line to me if you're a really, really good team. Like, it is. I like that third line. I do too. I like it when it's those guys. I like it, too, but I don't think it's a line

that's going to be able to contribute offensively nearly enough for you to be able to win. Can they get to the middle of the ice, and can they contribute? Can they find a way to put the puck in the net when guys are canceling each other out a little bit on the top two lines? You know, the one thing that that group does and should do is control the play.

You're right, though. It's a good question about getting to the inside and actually putting pucks in the net. You know, I am curious to see if one of these years, if controlling the play pans out for the Leafs, where a couple of pucks go through a guy Vasilevsky's not perfect whatever it may be I don't I mean I like that third line for the Leafs if you do add one more guy maybe it makes it that much deeper you could push someone else down and but yeah I don't know yeah okay and then and then there's a fourth line and And where are you, Belmer, Corey Perry, Pat Maroon versus Aston Reese, Holmberg, and Anderson right now?

To me, this is a point that Barney's made in the past. And to me, it's like, I don't want to worry too much about the eight to ten minutes that that line's on the ice. I know they're probably going to win those minutes. I think you could use an upgrade, but it's the top three lines that have to, you know, like, I don't think how many goals in the seven game series are the, is the fourth line on the,

on the bolts going to contribute. I think it's more about them just sort of leaning on you and physically imposing their will and trying to survive those minutes without taking stupid penalties or whatever. But I don't want to spend too much time worrying about their fourth line, right? Pointing like that's not necessarily the biggest issue for me. Yeah, when you look at that playoff series against the Leafs last year,

I think they averaged eight or nine minutes. You know, I'm also, those guys were, the concern would be last year that they're older and slower. I don't think that they got faster or anything to that effect. So I don't know how effective that line is going to be. But you're right, Kip. Like, they are names who have been there done that experience they know how to handle those moments does joey anderson make you feel better in that spot no to me i think three if you could

add two bodies to this bottom six and then you just kind of take your chances with the rest like i really i know we talked about this yesterday and I know it's the same point, but unless you're getting Timo Meier, I'm not spending the top assets that I need to spend to get, you know, a middling guy. Like, if you can add two guys in the bottom six, maybe get Aston Reese out of there,

maybe get Anderson or Holmberg or whatever position you add at, I don't think, unless it's Meier, you're going to have that much of a difference of a chance. Barbashev, I'd feel a lot better on the third line. Yeah, maybe. I don't think unless it's meyer you're gonna have that much of a difference of a chance barbachev i'd feel a lot better on the third line yeah maybe i i don't really like i know he's a heavy guy and he you know he maybe not the best defensively but he can score it would be an

upgrade for sure no doubt he'd be an upgrade absolutely so that's a guy that i like the thought of and i like the thought of ryan o'reilly too i really do like i know you know he's had a down year much like kane he's been hurt a lot He's kind of been in and out of the lineup for them. But I think what he would bring in terms of just that sort of steely defensive, you know, guy who's won a cup who can chip in a big goal. I think what he would bring would be huge for these two. So those are the kind of guys. But like, what's the price going to be on him?

On a Ryan O'Reilly? Like, is it going to be in the nines range or is it going to be closer to like. Absolutely not. So? Is it going to be in the Nyes range? Or is it going to be closer to like a... No, absolutely not. So what is it going to be? Like first round pick, second round pick? What is it going to be? I would think that they'd hold out for first and a mid-range prospect.

That's the rental rate. Okay. And would you pay that for Ryan O'Reilly on the lease? Yes. If my choice is nothing at all, 100%. That's taking the bat off your shoulder, which they need to do. But this is the point I've been making,

is they do need to take the bat off their shoulder. And O'Reilly significantly changes. You're like, okay, now the third line, Ryan O'Reilly is the center of and whoever you put there sammy you mentioned not liking our yarn crock kerfoot engvall it looks totally different if it's o'reilly kerfoot yarn crock and yeah and then you can have camp as your four line fourth line center who's not playing as much still yeah who's not playing as much five on five and a guy that still is going to be killing penalties for you and playing that role. I, I like camp and I liked him a lot last year.

He was good in the playoffs last year, but he's really in terms of him kind of falling off a cliff offensively. Like he was decent offensively last year. He's just been nothing this year. Offensively. Are we absolutely clear now that you, under no circumstances, can you go on the left side to start game one in the playoffs,

Bunting, Kerfoot, and Engvall. Please, please. If you get O'Reilly or someone. You know what I'm saying? You have to bring somebody in. Yeah. You can't, as is, it just does not work. Yarn Croc on the left side in the top six.

Kerfoot, no. Go ahead, Borny. I'm just coordinating the show here. Sorry, I am producing too. The one thing that I do want to mention is like, I understand that we look at Boston and Tampa Bay and go, holy hell, those are really solid, deep teams. But like, every team in the salary cap era is missing a little

something. And I know Boston makes it feel like they're not, maybe they're the exception to all this. And maybe you never see Boston at all, but like teams are flawed, flawed teams, win the Stanley cup, those penguins team that won it in seven to 16 and 17 flawed, you know, the St. Louis blues were not a perfect team.

You kind of got to get lucky on the way you got to put yourself in the possessed best position possible. And to me, that involves taking a couple of big cuts here in the next couple of weeks. All right, the Toronto Maple Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens at home tomorrow night. Let's go to Sheldon Keefe. Is this our first Kipper Clipper?

I've lost track. Second, I think. Second? Second, just our second on the Habs. Oh, yeah, we went Samsonov on the update. Let's go hear his thoughts on what he sees out of Montreal tomorrow night. I think

first of all, Marty does a good job of keeping them engaged and you know, the young players they have play with lots of speed and spirit and energy and I think some of the older guys are, I'm sure, feeding off of that. That's at least the vibe that I get.

I watch too much outside of the games that we've played against them, but you certainly feel it in those moments and in those games that they've just got good spirit and energy about them, and they just continue to make it hard on you every night, and if you're not at your best, they're going to beat you. I mean, it's not just us. They've given it to some other teams here of late, and they hang around in games and make it tough.

Third subpar team the Leafs will face this week, and we've seen the tale of two of them, where Columbus ended up playing them harder than Chicago. Where's Montreal going to fit into this? I don't think there's any world where the Montreal Canadiens coached by Marty St. Louis don't play hard as hell tomorrow night. It's because it's in Toronto tomorrow night, right? It's at the Scotiabank Arena?

It is. Yeah, listen, there's a lot of dog games for them too in terms of just kind of playing out the season here. But Montreal-Toronto on a Saturday night, that's one of the ones that they'll get up for and play hard. They've still got pros on their team. That'll be a hard play game. It's not going to look like Chicago

on Wednesday, that's for sure. No, you're getting the best of the Montreal Canadiens once again, as you always do. It's just a matter of convincing the players to bring the best of the Maple Leafs. Absolutely. Alright, let's go to a man that knows the Montreal Canadiens

better than anyone. Renaud Lavoie joins us now from TVA Sports, the NHL network correspondent. Does a terrific job. We're awfully lucky when we get him on this show. So let's take full advantage of it with, what, two weeks, less than two weeks to go to

an NHL trade deadline. First and foremost, Renaud, how are you and how busy are you these days working the phones? Yeah. Hi, Nick. You know what? It's a little less busier than in the last few years for many reasons. First of all, if you look at the Montreal Canadiens, there's a lot of injured players right now. Second of all, if you look around the league, you see that the, you know, that flat cap is really hitting everyone, that it's tough for teams to make trades. So we'll see. But, you know, I've heard Julian Breeze walk a couple of weeks ago saying it's really quiet. I checked again what the Lightning wants to do.

They don't have any cap space. They said that last year they made a few good trades. So you never know what's going to happen next. But, you know, if you look at their history, they would have probably pulled the trigger already. So we'll see how things are going to turn out. Two weeks, it's pretty long. But if you look at it, it's quieter now than it was last year. Ren, we had Mark Lazarus covering the Blackhawks on yesterday,

and he described the Blackhawks as an everything-must-go fire sale. What are the pieces up for auction out of the Montreal Canadiens' store right now? Well, that's a great question. You know, you look at you have two assets that probably if they were LT, they would have been probably traded. I'm not going to say already, but I'm sure that a lot of teams would have been calling. Sean Monaghan is skating right now by himself,

but I don't think he's ready to play yet. Hopefully he's going to play before the trading deadline. So the team is playing in Toronto tomorrow. After that, they're going to fly home for practice on Monday. They're going to play Tuesday in Newark, New Jersey. After that, in Philly on Friday, Ottawa at home on Saturday. And they're going to leave before the trading deadline to the western part of the USA, so California. So, I mean, you hope that he's going to play at least three or four games. The other defenseman available was Joel Edmondson.

I think there was some pretty big interest in him around Christmas time. But, you know, we all know that he has a back injury. It's lingering over since now a few years. So he's skating in Montreal by himself, but there's still a lot of question marks. There's another year left in his contract for Joel, so it's not the end of the world if he's not traded before the deadline. And after that, well, you have your usual suspects right

what's going to happen with uh evgeny dadanov jonathan guay players like that but there's a good chance that these two players are going to stay in montreal so strangely maybe we're going to see some action but don't hold your breath right now because the pieces that were supposed to be traded probably won't. So that's the reality right now. Reneau, such a demand on defense, and we've seen it over the last few years, and some of them may be even overpriced. David Savard comes to mind in terms of two years ago being this real sought-after guy. Tampa Bay ends up getting him and then slots him in a five or six position on their hockey club.

Joel Edmondson's a guy that we hear often linked to, say, Edmonton or somebody that needs a shutdown guy. I know you mentioned the bad back, but I get the sense he really doesn't want to go anywhere. You mean he doesn't want to leave Montreal? Yes. Yeah. Well, you know what, Nick? For sure, one thing about Joel Edmondson, he's a real pro. You know, even when he was not playing last year and there was no captain

for the Montreal Canadiens, Nick Suzuki wasn't named yet, he was the captain of that team. He was the one making sure that everyone was happy, organizing events, team events, stuff like that. So he was really, really involved with the team. It's someone that I think it's really easy to like. I talked to a few of his ex-players, ex-teammates in St. Louis. They were always saying the same thing. That guy's got a special personality.

He's a unique human being. And it's easy to spend some time with him and to be close to him. So I feel like, you know, for him to leave again another franchise after leaving St. Louis, Carolina, now Montreal, I'm pretty sure it's not something that he's taking lightly. But we'll see, Nick. I mean, first of all, you need to know, is he going to play another game this year? We don't know that.

Hopefully the answer to that question is yes. But he needs to play more than 30 games. And so we'll see how things are going to evolve. If you look at the Montreal Canadiens, there's a lot of young defensemen coming in. Some are here, but some will be there next year. And that's going to push some veteran defensemen aside. So that's why I wonder if there's a future for him.

But one thing for sure, if you're asking him, do you want to leave Montreal, I'm pretty sure that the answer is no. Ren, when Marty St. Louis got hired, a lot of people were talking about how he was the right guy to sort of grow alongside this young team and given where they were in their arc towards getting better. I guess I'd just like to check in on that and how it's going. Has it been any different than expected with St.is along the way well you know what uh no things uh are really coming along in a way uh you see that the team is playing better than the regular problem for martin and the rest of the of the players is really you know night after night they're not playing with the same lineup that's

that's the reality of that team and it's going to change again for tomorrow's game in Toronto with Justin Barron being injured. So again, they need to change the lineup. It's not easy for the players coming in, but one thing that I noticed is the players are playing better together. And if you look at last night's game in Carolina, the team played well. After 40 minutes, it started going down the hill a little bit. And Martin St. Louis, even if he was playing the Carolina Hurricanes,

you felt like he was playing the Carolina Hurricanes, you felt like he was hurting, that things were not going in the right direction, and he called a timeout, and he was not happy. If you look at it, it's a way to say to the players, you know what, I can easily say we're playing the Hurricanes. It's obvious that we're not going to win tonight. But now it's about how you work, not only the effort, but how you work inside the system. And I think Martin was pretty upset last night, and he sent the message that it's not because we're playing

one of the best teams in the league that we're going to accept what's going on right now. And I was happy to see that. I feel like this team is turning the corner, and I feel like they're going to be way better next season, hopefully, if they're healthy. We're talking to Renaud Lavoie from TVA Sports, NHL Network, one of the best out there, especially this time of year.

The name Josh Anderson, and Kent Hughes has brought him up on occasion network one of the best out there uh especially this time of year uh the name josh anderson and kent hughes has brought him up on occasion and really gives giving everybody the sense that uh he's not going anywhere but he kind of leaves a little bit of a window almost like somebody make me an offer i can't refuse is is there the thought that that could actually happen because you know renny this guy's a talent beyond belief they don't grow on trees these josh anderson's tom wilson's but there is a little bit of an inconsistency in his game that maybe montreal may find frustrating at times but man he'd be a an interesting guy to to think about trading for right now no doubts and you look at you know probably the calgary planes who are dreaming

of him uh rightly so um the problem and nick you look at his contract there's another four years left at 5.5 million per. I mean, you need to be really creative to make that deal work. And not only work for the Flames, but it needs to work for the Montreal Canadiens. The player that they're going to get in return needs to fit under what they believe is the future of this franchise. So, you know, can it be another team than Calgary? Probably. But the flat cap is really hurting a lot of teams.

That being said, if you look at the Montreal Canes right now, he's a leader. He's a guy that the kids like to be around. He's a really good teammate. Why would you trade a guy like him right now? I know it's not Jeff Gorton or Kent Hughes that signed him two years ago, but that being said, that's the type of player that you're dreaming of having not only because of his skills, more his size he's so fast he can take care of himself and can he can help teammates

trading a guy like him it's it's not going to be for first pick that's it that's all right needs to be way more than that and I'm not sure that teams are ready to give a lot of pieces for him. Not because they don't like him. It's just a question of how is he going to fit under the cap? And that's the biggest problem right now. So I'll be shocked if he's traded. It could happen, but I'll be shocked if it happens. Well, and the one thing, we know that Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield

aren't the biggest guys out there. And there might be a little bit of a concern if you lose him. You know, maybe makes them more attractive to go run. And, you know, is there a little concern with Cole Caulfield

all of a sudden done for the season with a shoulder injury? And how many teams would take a run at this guy knowing that he's not the biggest guy in the world? That's a great question. And that's, Nick, one of the reasons he was shut down. Not because he was hurting. It was really if something else happens on the ice, what's next for him? What kind of surgery he's going to have?

And that's why I think they really made the right decision just to shut him down to make sure, to be 100% sure that he's going to be ready for next season. And I crossed that with Cole a couple of times this week, and believe me, he looks like a happy camper. So that means that things are trending in the right direction for him. He looked like himself, probably wasn't feeling that way before the surgery, was pretty upset that he had to go through this.

But I think that there's no doubt that he's going to come back healthy next season. And you mentioned really something important here when you were talking about Josh Henderson and his size versus the rest of the group. I think it's so important. For how many years we said that the Montreal Canadiens were too small, right? And you look at one player that's really having success right now, Raphael Harvey-Pinard, that you're going to see tomorrow on the first line.

He's not the biggest body out there either. So if you get rid of Josh Henderson, is there another 6'3", 215 pounds coming in? The answer to that is no. So before making a move, you need to be really careful thinking. Or is that player available, you know, on July 1st? I don't think so. So there's no reason. I got to use your expertise insider kind of feel right now. So I'm combining what you might think you may know, but your feel now.

I'm watching a struggling Jonathan Huberto in Calgary. Yeah. And I think that if it's not a good marriage there, there's only one place this French star could go. Kipper! Whoa! Let's talk Pibido in Montreal, my friend. Now you're back in action. I'm looking at you in the Ranger uniform right now and looking at me in the eye and say, do you want to go?

Let's go. My answer, Kipper, is no, I'm not doing anything with you. I'm not going to mess with you. But one thing for sure, you know, I think that it's a great question, but is it too early to talk about that? Let's finish this season and let's see what's out there because you have Pierre-Luc Dubois who's playing for the Jets, and I know he's having a really good season,

and it's fun to watch the Winnipeg Jets. Because of that, is he going to stay there or is there – probably before the start of this season, there was zero chances that he was staying. Now, where are we? Les, is there anything – can you go further down than zero? Okay. But so what's – if you're the Montreal Canadiens –

How much room do you have? Well, you have Pierre-Luc Dubois or Jonathan Umberto, who I think signed the biggest contract ever in the NHL for a player that's over 30 in the NHL. So that contract is going to kick in next season, right? So that's a lot of money for Jonathan. And you have Pierre-Luc Dubois, who probably is going to make less. And I'm not saying that he's as good.

He's probably not as good as Jonathan, but he can do a lot of different things on the ice too. So my answer, Nick, right now is a big no, but I'm not closing the door. If there's a possibility this summer, we'll see. I'll be shocked, though, because if you look at the way that the Flames are working right now and the way things are going, it's not trending in the right direction, right?

And I listened to what the coach said last night there. It's everyone's fault except his fault. So you have to wonder what's next. Brenny, we really appreciate your time as always, and it goes by so quick. Thanks for doing this, pal. Anytime. Thanks for having me. All right.

Thank you. One of the good ones in the business. So the Flames signed Wieger and Huberto to monster deals and now they're gonna trade both of them can you imagine that would be an electrifying story that our show has placed huberto and dubois in montreal and traded wieger to ottawa in the last two days this unbelievable pre-deadline talk uh it's ugly in calgary boys oh yeah really ugly really see the walsh tweet yeah we're gonna get into that later on in the show we're gonna take a quick break now there's no time maybe we'll bring it up with doug mcclain he'll take it off the rails for us they're not fun to watch don't

understand this i watched a bit of the game last night there's just no identity no i'm the coach boys yeah it's he's coach yeah he is definitely one of those guys right like the guy that comes in and he's a torts ass guy that comes in gets every kicked in the you know where everyone's falling in line and then after a couple years we're still doing this we're doing this again eh get out of here this is what i'm saying brooksie okay we'll take a quick break doug mcclain i guess that's what i'm then. That's what I'm saying, Brooksy. Okay, we'll take a quick break. Doug McClain. I guess that's what I'm saying, Brooksy. That's what I'm saying.

Okay. That's what we're saying on the Real Kipper and Boren Show. Okay, plenty still to go. We're going to take a quick break, listen to these words, and we're back with Doug McClain. Breaking down the biggest trends in hockey. The Hockey PDO cast with Dimitri Filipovich. Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We've got so much to get into with our next guest, Doug McClain. We don't care about golf scores. We don't care about pickleball. We don't care about pickleball. We don't care about walks on the beach. We're just going to get right into it. What's going on? Uh-oh. Uh-oh.

Making sure Doug sounds ideal because I know you get pissed off. I really do. Yes. Adjusting the bunny ears there on the connection. JB, you know where I'm going. You know where I'm going with Mac. I was just telling everybody, Mac, I hope you're on right now and not sounding like you're on Pluto or anything that we're getting right into it.

Don't care about golf scores or, you know, your long walks on the beach. Don't care. We're going hardcore today. Whatever you want. I'm here to please. All right. So one of the bigger stories right now is...

Are we on the air? Are we on the air? Oh, my God. I thought you were just prepping me. I thought you were just prepping me. I thought you were just prepping me for this show. Is this thing on? Is it on? Yes, we are.

We're live. We're good. Oh, I thought you were prepping me like you used to do at Sportsnet. No. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Go ahead.

Ask me anything you want. Biggest story right now. Alan Walsh, Jonathan Hberto the calgary flames alan uh is doing alan walsh things and sending really strong messages we know the one that's uh infamous uh uh in terms of vegas uh mark andre flurry but now the focus is on Jonathan Huberto, one of the biggest stars from last season, 115 points on pace for 55, and Alan Walsh basically called out Daryl Sutter. Is that the way you saw it?

That's the way I saw it, and I guess the only thing Alan forgot to mention in his call-out, first of all, somebody said that, you know, I'm sure Allen would have checked with Huberto before he put this out, like he checked with Fleury and like he checked with whoever else he's called out. But Huberto's saying he didn't know anything about it, which caught me a little off guard, okay? The only thing alan forgot to

mention in there is this guy's on pace for 50 points or something 55 56 and and getting moving on from a 5.9 to a 10.5 million dollar eight-year deal and he's one of the reasons so maybe daryl sutter's made some mistakes there as a coach. He's only won two or three Stanley Cups. But I guess he's probably made some mistakes along the way because he's too hard on the guys. And he's not making it fun for them. Imagine not having any fun.

They're not in the playoffs. And he's not making it any fun for them. Oh, my God. So mention, if you're going to mention daryl and throw daryl under the bus mention that your guy hasn't actually performed up to his potential or what they're paying him for or what they brought him in there to do and you know there's two sides to every story so i'd like to know if you were don't really know. And then I get a kick out of what the players' response was. We don't care what those guys on the outside say.

We're just worried about in the dressing room. And you know that yourself from being in a dressing room. That's all you care about is the guy sitting next to you. If Huberto initiated it, that would bother me, and I'd get to the bottom of it. Well, you know, I was wondering how you thought the front office would handle that if you know your star players agent tweets something like that your star player is obviously unhappier as you know talking crap behind the scenes would you call the guy in and be like what's going on you got a problem your star player who who's the star player well whatever

you want to call the guy who was third in our trophy voting last year. The guy that's supposed to be a star player. There it is. You're right. You're right. The guy that's supposed to be a star player. Yeah, you would definitely talk to him. Darryl wouldn't talk to him. Darryl could care less.

But I would think Tree Living would talk to him and say, hey, you know, really, what's going on? You know, is there something bigger going on here? But this happened with Iserman and Drouin. This happened with Lurie. And I love the players' response. Come on, we got enough issues. We got to win some hockey games. We can't worry about a distraction like Alan Walsh.

Like, seriously. So, and you know what? Most players, like if Alan didn't talk to Ubedo, like Ubedo's saying, then, you know, U Most players, like if Allen didn't talk to Ubert O, like Ubert O's saying, then, you know, Ubert O should be, you know, most players would be insulted if their agent come out against the coach when you're in the dressing room and a member of the team. That's how I would think they would feel, you know? I really think that's how they would feel.

I don't think Huberto would feel great looking at his teammates today. Now, I know Daryl's not a pleasant guy to be around. I know he's a tough, hard-nosed coach. I get all that. But this team's fighting for their playoff lives, and they don't need this distraction from a guy who's underperformed dramatically this year. And I happen to like alan i have to like alan i mean you know i know he was a star in the in the oj simpson trial i don't know

what he did but he tells me he was a star in the trial i didn't see him on tv and any of the he sure as hell hasn't been in any of the movies I've watched since. But he told me he was there. So anyway. You must have had a couple of run-ins with Alan Walsh over the years, right? Oh, I got a kick out of him. I was sitting in a restaurant one night with my staff, and I saw him across with three or four of his players, and I just sent him a note. Or I phoned him, and he didn't take the call.

That's what it was. I phoned him because I was going to tell him I was in the same restaurant. And I see him showing the phone around to all the players who it was that he rejected the call from. And they were laughing, having a great time. I'm looking at this clown. I'm looking at the clown. And then I sent him, hey, I see you're passing your phone around laughing about rejecting my call. I'm just at this clown. I'm looking at the clown. And then I sent him out, hey, I see your passenger phone around laughing about

reflecting my call. I'm just right across here. And he looked over and I waved to him. But you know what? We've always had a good relationship. Then there was one night I was on the desk and I must have criticized one of his players and he snapped on me and sent me this wild text when i was on the set and i sent back shut your mouth or i will bury you for the rest of the year every night

so that's our relationship but see and he blamed me for ruining marty stracca they traded stracca stracca helped helped us win in the playoffs and then they traded him after i left florida and i guess he blamed me for that. I don't know. I think it was him, or maybe it was Rich Winter. I don't know. They're all the same, you know. Anyway. I was just expecting you to say, yeah, I've had a couple of dealings with him,

and then moving on. But excellent. And I like Allen. I like him. Look, he was a great trial lawyer for OJ, obviously. He did a hell of a job. What is with this O.J. thing? What are you talking about?

Have I ever told you my O.J. story? He was a prosecutor in L.A. It was actually you? No. One of them told me he was one of the lawyers on the O.J. Simpson trial. Really? Oh, I didn't know that. Okay.

Oh. So I'm in the Bahamas, and we're in a restaurant waiting for a table, and Jill and I are there, and Jill's over to the side. She's talking to these two little kids over in the bar while we're waiting for the table, and this guy comes up to me. He said, hey, and his name was Tim Roby. His father owned the Miami Dolphins at the time. He comes up, and he said, hey, coach, how you doing? I was. He comes up and he said, hey, coach, how you doing?

I was coaching the Panthers. He said, hey, coach, how you doing? And he said, hey, you know, everything's great. Love going to the games. And I said, oh, yeah. And he said, let me introduce you to my friend. I turned and he introduced me to O.J. Simpson. This was a week after he got off the trial.

I almost fainted. No. I almost fainted. O.J. is looking me right in the eye. And I wanted to just oh are you kidding there's nobody i hate it more in my life and i'm face to face and then i look over and jill's playing with it just talking to his two little kids and i'm thinking oh my god get me out of here please anyway that's just another story anyway i don't even know where to go right now with you.

Talk about off the rails. No, no, no. One more, one more, Mac. And this is going to kind of lean towards your president, you know, general manager kind of experience here. But, you know, Red Tree Living makes this trade and at the time it was like a really tough situation because

Matthew Kachuk had already publicly stated he's not coming back Jonathan Goudreau two star players knowing that you're not getting back and he goes out there and he finds this trade and the hockey world is calling him executive of the year.

And this is going to be something that could help Calgary now get to a Stanley Cup final. But is there any thought that maybe there should have been more thought into Jonathan Huberto and the type of player he is and where he's coming from with his 150 15 points in florida where they played this at times harlem globetrotter look east west dropping passes blowing the zone early like they had this real good thing going that worked all season long and then you you put them in a daryl sutter environment where it's just east and west sorry i don't do east and west i do north and south and was it doomed from the get-go is my question to you yeah you know what i guess the the one thing is first of all you're losing matthew kuchaku you know what he's going to bring to the table wherever he plays

and how important a guy he is on your team. And then you go to and you bring in a guy. And look, I thought he recovered nicely tree living from the trade because he was in a horrible situation. But look, the situation was Barkov is an unbelievable power centerman who unfortunately doesn't pick up his pace at playoff time. Let's hope he does this year if they happen to get in, pick up his pace and play at that pace you need.

But in the regular season, he's one of the best two-way centermen in the league, and he and Huberto were unbelievable magic together. I don't think they have a centerman in Calgary that's close to him. And I don't have Huberto as a guy that carries a team. I have him as a secondary type of guy, almost similar to what a Kessel is. Scores, makes plays, playmaker, great passer, but he's not a driver. He's more of a guy that is a secondary type of guy who's a hell of a player and a good kid, apparently, a good kid. So it's really two different type of players.

And when you're not a driver and you don't have that big power centerman to play with him, it makes for a tough situation. It's tough for Huberto. He's not getting the same opportunities. He's not making anywhere close to the same place, and he hasn't been nearly as good. But when you look prior to that, you know, his points were good, not great. He had the big one big, big year, what, 115 points, I believe it was.

By the way, I have to correct myself. Alan Walsh was not on OJ's team. He was in the prosecutor's office with Marcia, I believe, with Marcia Clark. I'm glad you corrected me. Now, who was listening?

I didn't see him in the movie with Marcia Clark either. Anyway. Okay, first of all, I just want to get my facts straight. Who tweeted that to you listening? That's what I want to know. A good friend of mine just sent me a note. It's like the Trump fact checkers.

Okay, there was 40 lies on the Doug McClain interview today. There was 31 of, well, not quite factual. Anyway. Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story with Doug McClain. But it was a true story with Tim Robey introducing me to OJ. How bizarre is that? But anyway.

Hey, by the way, before you came on, we traded Huberto to Montreal. We said that's the only thing left right now to do. Yeah, we did. Yeah, and I don't know who's going to go the other way. Kirby Dock? Yeah. We didn't get that far, Doug. Caulfield?

Who's going the other way? I don't think they're going to take Harris, the young defenseman, or Justin Barron. I don't think they're going to take harris the young defenseman or justin barron i don't think they're gonna take any of those guys i think i think you know that's going to be a tough deal to make maybe shibakoski yeah you nailed it uh doug we've been talking on this show about you know are the leafs too far behind tampa and boston to justify making a big swing. Your boy Kipper, Sammy, are hesitant to want to trade the first and nines, given it's probably not enough to be on those teams' level.

Where are you in what the Leafs should do in terms of aggressiveness heading towards the deadline? Well, they've got to be real aggressive because it's not about catching Tampa or Boston. It's not about catching tampa or boston it's about it's not about catching them it's about playing them in the playoffs and playing with them in the playoffs so you've got it you and you can't lose for a seventh year in a row in the first year if those facts are correct i think it's six they've missed it so i think i'm right on that you got it you got a swing for it but but what do you if you're going to give up a first and nice what are you going to do is patrick

kane the type of guy you want i mean i love patrick kane i love patrick kane but is he the guy that's going to beat tampa where is he going to play is he going to play in the third line is he going to play in the first line second line you know how is this how healthy is he you know ryan o'reilly i mean if he can win and play in the third line and and be able to go head to head with paul and the big boys in tampa that's great but who are you going to get that's going to help you beat those teams because they got to beat tampa in the first round and i think it's going to be a heck of a series i've said said this for two months. I think this series, people are going to be surprised how well

the Leafs play. If they get the goaltending, and if their third line can compete with the Paul line and whoever else is on the third line. Okay, here's your choice. A first in Knives for Timo

Meyer or two solid top four or five defense? Well, see, I think they have enough skill. I think they have enough skill to beat Tampa. I think they have enough in their top six to beat Tampa. I'm really worried. I'm really worried about their bottom six and I have been for three years I've told you guys in this show for three years I'm hoping it's going to be better this year because analytically they have not they've turned every

stone over analytically the last three years to bring in these super midgets to play super midget, a nice midget style players that skate. They need grinders. They need hard-nosed guys to play in the trenches. And they haven't. I still don't think they have them. So if they add a piece there or a couple pieces there and add one defenseman i think they got a chance i think they got a hell of a chance if samsonov stands on his head and matches vasileski they have a chance doug who do you think um in the east is is likely to find their way into the playoffs i'll give you the handful of teams around the bubble right now you got pittsburgh and washington in the wild card spots with give you the handful of teams that are on the bubble right now. You've got Pittsburgh and Washington in the wildcard spots

with Florida, the Islanders, the Red Wings, and Buffalo all chasing them. Who do you like in that chase? Seriously, it's unbelievable. It really is unbelievable. And I mean, I love Buffalo some nights, and then I watch them

in the biggest game of the year come out just, they were outshot 20-4 in the first period against Calgary last week. I mean, I couldn't believe what I was watching. Look, Florida's good enough to get in there. They're really good enough to get in there.

The Islanders have blown it with some terrible giveaways late in Montreal and these games where they've just totally given up points. Washington with Ovi out becomes a real question mark for me to get in. And how do you go against it? I think Pittsburgh get in, and I think Washington has their hands full getting in. And, you know, Florida, to me, should be the best team, most experienced team to get in.

I think they should be the team to get in. We're talking to former nhl president general manager and head coach doug mclean mac uh wrote an article again this week been doing it uh for a little while now this one was on kyle dubas we mentioned brad tree living uh moments ago there's another one that's playing out his option uh my my my column focused on the fact that in the past it was generally a standard that coaches and general managers would get an extra year to maybe take a little bit of the edge off is this where the nhl is going now with ownership groups saying no those days are over i i don't i don't think it's it really is ownership saying that. I really think it's the president of the team that's probably saying that.

I mean, if an ownership is really kicked off and really fed up, in my opinion, versus doing that, they should fire the guy, you know, instead of putting a GM in that situation. So, to me, it's probably the president that's making that call unless an ownership is really, really upset. I don't think the ownership is really upset with Dubas. I think they're saying, hey, he's a young enough guy. He can prove himself.

But it caught me off guard. Your article caught – I mean, your article didn't catch me off guard because we've been talking about it. But I don't like it. I don't like why they would do that versus giving the guy an extra year. You don't see it very often, but you got to put tree living the same way, I guess, which also bothers me. So hold on for a second. Let me get this straight from, from afar.

You would probably hedge that there's some friction between Brendan Shanahan and Kyle Dubas more so than an ownership group. I just, I don't know if there's friction between those two, but I would think it would be the president that would be making that call. I mean, ownership might, but I can't believe, I can't believe that the Maple Leaf sports and entertainment, the guys that are on that board, would make that call. Because to me, if they make that call, that's showing Brendan doesn't have the power we all think he has. Because Brendan, in my opinion, if the board said that to him,

I would think Brendan would challenge them on that decision. That's my opinion. And I think that board has got enough other things to worry about, especially at TSN and Sportsnet and other teams, that I can't imagine they're that focused on the Leafs. I can't imagine that that's their priority right now. So I'm a little surprised by it. All right we're gonna let you go we're running out of time really hardcore stuff i learned so much about uh the oj trial i guess

john shannon sort of indicated damien cox is guest writer. That can't be true, is it? See you later. Oh, my God. He just gave it to me on his way out. Thanks, Doug. I love this show. I'm clipping that one because I want to get rid of the one that says you don't listen to us when you're not on it. He's like, I'm already gone.

He's already at the beach. Did you guys find it interesting that he thinks it's Brendan Shanahan's call on Kyle not getting any type of extension? Yeah. I mean, I think it's an interesting conversation. I am curious to know how it all played out. It's funny because, like, on a – just in a vacuum, it's not crazy to be like, guy hasn't had a ton of success. He's under contract. Why do we have to do anything?

But you're right. It just flies in the face of historical norms. So it is – it's a unique situation. You know, someone brought it to my attention that – I don't know how early this season or even last season but kyle and brendan were always in one of the the suites at uh at uh scotia bank arena and like lately and i don't know how far back it is but now he's up in the press box and then yeah and they're not together.

Yeah. I don't know. I mean, I'm just throwing it out there that it's been noticed by some. I would say that's not nothing. I think there's something to that. Everything's great. Listen, if you're reading into things, that's something. No? Yes, it could be something and nothing,

or it could be something and something. I don't know. Well, Borny, what do you think? You know, my gut is nothing. I'm not saying it's not worth bringing up and it's not worth talking about, but I'm saying my gut is that, you know, these guys, if they had a problem with one another, one guy can fire the other guy if he's not, you know.

What if all of us came in the show and we just sat in completely different spots and didn't talk before the show and then, oh, that's kind of like what we do. We just fire you, Sam. But that's what we do now. We don't talk about the show. I was just joking. But no, it's just to me, like, we're trying to find any sort of breadcrumbs. That's

at least a breadcrumb to me. Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, that's fascinating. Sammy, our show, our whole show, the premise is on breadcrumbs. Yes. It should be called Real Breadcrumbs and Bored. But you know what? If you can't talk about that stuff on talk radio, what's it for? This isn't an article.

It's a two-hour show. Listen, we're sniffing around here, all right? I love it. Hey, we only got like, what, 26 games to go after the weekend here. Buddy, we got two deadlines. We got the actual trade deadline and then the end of season. So we're getting close to one here. Well, this week is another Sahara of things because they play one game.

March is a landslide. They play Buffalo on Tuesday, which will be interesting. And then they don't play again until Friday. They play Friday, Sunday this week, which is weird, next week. And then the following week, it's the Oilers on Wednesday night, the trade deadline, the Flames, the Canucks. It's like we're flying into some Canadian themes. So it's getting a little bit more exciting coming up here.

Okay. Meaning that we're going to take a break then. Catch our breath. Devin Dubnik, former NHL goalie, 253 career wins, is now doing some analysis with the NHL Network, and he will join us after the break. You're watching and listening and hopefully giving us a rating and review.

The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Breaking down the top stories in hockey and Elliot Friedman every day. The Jeff Merrick Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right. Kipper, what are you eating? Oh, I had some pasta. Can you tell? All right. Kipper, what are you eating?

Oh, I had some pasta. Can you tell? I just moped down some pasta and some sausage. You're always just mocking a garlic loaf between the pits? I'm horrible. Every once in a while, we find food in the lobby. On the floor. Yeah, I'll eat it. I'll eat it.

I'm like, I don't even know where to get it. Thank you very much. It was delicious, too, I'll eat it. I'll eat it. I'm like, I don't even know where it came from. Thank you very much. It was delicious, too. It was delicious. Alright, as promised before the break, Devin Dubnik now joining us, former NHL goalie, doing some analysis for the NHL Network, and is it official,

Dev, that you're on the dark side of the media? It's official, yeah. Yeah, we've been doing it once a month, so it's fun. Oh, yeah, it's official yeah yeah we've been doing it once a month so it's fun oh yeah it's fun until twitter gets a hold of you no i'm work i'm doing my best i don't i'm not on twitter i'm doing my best to not say anything well that means you're off to a good start yeah yeah well we really appreciate you joining us.

And first off, you can't, yeah, it's good that you don't know what's on Twitter. It's just the only way to go. It's a hell hole. Anyway, I thought we'd get you on and ask you a few questions about a couple of former teams. One in particular catches my eye right now, the Edmonton Oilers. Looking like, I don't know, favorites in their division,

maybe favorites in the West. What are your thoughts on the Oilers, where they're at, and their chances at something bigger than just making playoffs this year? Yeah, well, I think they took a really big step last year with how far they got winning two rounds. And then I think it was probably a lesson as well. They're playing great. It was huge.

You could see the emotion and the excitement of them getting to the conference final. And then, but then you run into Colorado and you see, you know, what you have to be in order to take that next step to the Stanley Cup final. That's that depth and that, you know, I mean, There was just no holes in Colorado. They showed it throughout the entire playoffs. Tampa's kind of similar. I think that's a good thing for them to see.

Last year, they took a big step, but they saw what it takes to get there and to have a chance to win. When you've got the firepower and the weapons they have, the power play they have, you're always going to have a chance. And, you know, they're

constantly trying to add that piece. I know there's been lots of rumors, lots of talk about Carlson or Chikrin or adding something. And I'm sure Kenny Holland's going to be searching until the bitter end to add a piece that's going to take them over the edge. But even in saying that, I just,

I think when you got McDavid and Dreisaitl and Nuge and these weapons, you're just, you're always there and you're always going to have a chance. It's just getting over that next level of, you know, they got over the first level and the second level last year, it's that next level to get all the way to the end. But when you've got those guys, it's always a possibility. Devin, I think you're the perfect guy to talk about Jack Campbell. Maybe some similarities where you were both first-round picks,

didn't hit it off right away in your career, had to work your way up, and then get to the point where you're both $5 million goalies. And just your overall assessment of what you've seen out of Jack Campbell so far, carrying a big contract, managing it, and ultimately where do you see his story going for the rest of the year? Well, it's so good to see him go on the run that he has. Obviously, they lost last night, you know, but I think he'd won eight in a row before that.

And it just felt good. You know, I felt good for him going in there. I thought it was a good chance for him. And coming from Toronto, you know, obviously the pressure shouldn't be anything new for him, but there is a change of pressure. It is different when, you know, it's not like he's playing with house money in Toronto,

but you kind of, you sign this big contract in Edmonton and now everyone's expecting that out of you. And it doesn't always go perfectly smooth at the start. Obviously, the start of the season was, you know, I had everybody talking, how could we sign this guy? But, I mean, he's still a great goalie, and so it's nice to see him have that turnaround. And then they also have a great second goalie in Skinner as well.

And I think that's going to be an important thing for them in the playoffs, you know, whoever's hat, whoever they can play. But, you know, I like Jack Campbell, and I think that he's starting to show now why they gave him that contract and same thing what he did in Toronto and he's a big time goalie and he can do it but if it slips up or bounces go the wrong way

or something's not going right I mean Stuart Skinner's been phenomenal this year as well so I think that's a good thing for Edmonton. And also, you know, talking about Skinner, the fact that I think that helped. I mean, I'm sure Campbell was feeling a lot of pressure and feeling not very good about how things were going. And fortunately, you had Skinner step in and win games and keep them afloat so that the season wasn't a write-off

and everyone could blame Jack Campbell for his start. He was able to kind of find his way and get comfortable, and now he's starting to play better, a lot better, and they're right in the mix. And like you said, favorites to win that division because they've got two goalies now. Devin, what do you make of goaltending in the NHL today and it kind of being hard to tell year to year who is going to be an elite guy?

Like there's a handful of guys who stay at or near the top, but we see these random names kind of explode. They play 30 games and have wonderful numbers, and then some great goaltenders, it really turns for them. Like how much of a knife's edge is goaltending, and maybe it's a mindset thing where good goaltenders, it really turns for them. Like how much of a knife's edge is goaltending? And maybe it's a mindset thing where good goaltenders can have amazing years and then the next year really struggle. Yeah, there's just so many different variables as well as different pressures

in being a goaltender. Like I just mentioned with Jack Campbell, you look at like a Jacob Markstrom. I mean, this guy talent-wise is through the roof. He's got everything you'd ever want out of a goalie, and he is the goalie that he was last year. But there's different pressures. You know, he's this guy. He's one of the best goalies in the league.

He's a Vesna nominee. You know, if there wasn't certain guys there, he would have been at the top. And then, you know, he would have been at the top. Then he struggles a little bit in playoffs and in the second round, and everyone's got all these questions all of a sudden. Then you come into the next year, and everyone's expecting that same Vesna performance out of you,

but you've got a different team now. They're not playing as tight defensively. All of a sudden, you start thinking about it. Things start to pile up, especially in a high-pressure market like Calgary. And, you know, that's just one example of a situation. I mean, there's other situations where guys will come in, you know, maybe a young guy gets the guy in front of him struggling. He comes in again. He's kind of playing with house money.

No pressure. Goes in there, plays great. But all of a sudden, when it becomes expected of you, it's easy. I shouldn't say it's easy, but it's easier when it's unexpected and you're just everything's great. No one expected you to do this, but all of a sudden when it switches to, okay, now everyone expects you to do that, then when it starts to go sideways,

it's not like, oh, okay, well, that was nice, but we didn't really expect that. It's like, oh, what's happening now? There's all these different pressures, and things change and evolve, and that's why the guys that play for a long time, they have to learn to adapt to that stuff. Devin, outside of Vasilevsky, we'll exclude him from this question here. It's no fun to have goalie conversations because everything is just like, who's the best?

Well, obviously. Well, who do you like out there outside of Vasilevsky right now and you wouldn't have, you don't see them wavering at all between now and what we'll see in the playoffs? Well, I got

probably five guys, including Vasilevsky, where I would say I think if they get to the playoffs, I think Ilya Sorokin is ridiculously good. And he's definitely up there. Shosturkin is obviously another. You got the Russian trio there. These guys are freaks. They're incredible.

You got Linus Olmark is... I mean, I think he's Vesna right now. I mean, he's got like a 930 age or something ridiculous. And obviously his record. He's been incredible this year.

And this isn't a fluke either. I mean, this is a guy when Buffalo has lost 17 games in a row because he was hurt. He was the only guy that could come in there and actually give them a half a chance of winning a game. And that's saying a lot for how they were playing. So this isn't a flash in the pan by any means. This guy's been good for a while.

He just happened to be on a bad team. And then my other one's Jake Ottinger. I think, you know, I've been talking about him a lot this year, and I think that, you know, that show that he put on in playoffs was no fluke at all. And, you know, I've been saying that through the summer and into the start of the season, throughout the season. I mean, this guy's the real deal, and he's going to be good for a very long time. He's always in control, and he's shown it every single game.

Would you feel comfortable, ah, that's not the right way to phrase it, what are your thoughts on Samsonov and Murray as the Leafs' goalie tandem going into playoffs? This is an all-or-nothing year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, two goalies who have been good at various parts of their careers. What are your thoughts on what the Leafs have in that? I like it.

That was another thing that I talked about. I think Samsonov, this is the first time I've said his name right, because first I said Samsonov I talked about. I think Samsonov, that's the first time I said his name right, because first I said Samsonov, and then I got hooked on Samsonov, and now it's back to Samsonov. Welcome to the media. Yeah, I mispronounce this guy's name a lot,

but I was saying he's a guy that I don't think gets talked about enough. I think he's been phenomenal this year for Toronto, and, you know, in Toronto, it's always Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Taveras, these big guys which obviously deserve to be talked about. But Samsonov's been phenomenal this year for them, and you don't really hear about it. So I think that he's a really good fit there.

He's had a great year when there's been a lot of questions about that. Were those the guys to do it? I think Samsonov's shown that, at the very least, that you should be comfortable giving him a chance to go on a run. He's been great this year. Did Colorado winning a cup with Darcy Kemper devalue how important goaltending is? Because very seldom did you ever see a starting goaltender

win a Stanley Cup and then just be kind of like, yeah, no problem, we'll get rid of him and replace him. I mean, that never really happened before. No, I mean, I don't think so. That's a tough one because, again, last year in playoffs, I got to have him go to bat for Darcy all the time, which didn't really make sense to me. I mean, this is a guy that was one of the best goalies in the league in Arizona

on not a very good hockey team. And then he came to Colorado, and everyone's like, wow, I don't know, is this guy the answer? I'm like, well, I don't know, why wouldn't he be? He's been one of the best goalies in the league on a bad team. And then he has a great regular season. They go into playoffs, and they're like, is this going to be okay with Darcy Kemper in playoffs?

And then all he does is go win the Stanley Cup. And they're like, well, I don't know. The team was really good. The guys can't. He got brought in there. They won a Stanley Cup. It's like, I don't know. But I just think that was a scenario where they couldn't afford to have him.

I think if you take away salary cap or situation, if they could afford to bring Kemp's back, I'm sure they would have brought him back, but this was just a scenario. They didn't really have a choice, and they had an opportunity. I'm sure they talked to him, and it wasn't going to line up, and Darcy earned his money that he needs to make in Washington, and they were able to get a guy in Georgiev who's who's a great goalie that they you know they were able to save a little

little cap space um I just think it was more of a of a business thing than a you know we don't need you anymore see you later but just just to touch on it if I'm not mistaken he they won a Stanley Cup I think he had a save percentage of, what, 902 or something. That's not a typical, hey, you need 912, 915, 920. You know, you went through a large stretch where, Dev, that you were up around 920, 930. Your numbers during a certain stretch were off the charts too. Yeah, for sure.

And I think, I mean, in that, I would say it's just what he's called upon to do because, I mean, Colorado was just so dominant last year. And if you, yes, if you have a team that is as dominant as Colorado was last year and as dominant as they were through the playoffs, sure, you know, you can, you just find a goalie that's slightly above average

or good, and you can get it done. For other teams, I don't think that's the case. I think for the most part, we don't see that very often. For teams that are winning the Stanley Cup, you've got guys that are needing to go pretty crazy in the playoffs. So I think that maybe makes Colorado feel a little more comfortable making that switch. But I think for most teams, feel a little more comfortable making that switch.

But I think for most teams, you know, you're going to need those numbers in order to get to the end. Hey, Devin, really appreciate your time coming on the show. We really enjoyed it. We're going to call on you again real soon here. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, sounds good. Good chatting with you guys.

Thanks for your time, man. Appreciate it. Former NHL goalie. Man, he had a good stretch, didn't he, JB, in his career? You know, I don't mean this at all to be disrespectful. I just was shocked looking at his career numbers, how great he was for a run of years there. You know, when he leaves

Arizona and goes to Minnesota, it's 916, 936, 918, 923, 918. Like, played a ton 936, 918, 923, 918. Played a ton of games, 550 nearly, and has a 914 for his career. Unbelievable career, Kevin Dubnyk. Yeah. And something tells me that Samsonov wouldn't get away with a 902 save percentage in the playoffs like Darcy Kemper did.

Yeah. No, that's probably not going to cut it. There's going to be a bit bigger ask here in Toronto this year, I think. Just a hunch. All right. We're going down the stretch on our off the rails Friday. I'm back. Which means.

Apparently, I tried to duck out of the camera and I failed miserably. So, everybody watching on YouTube probably saw me. Oh, there you are. I just saw it. I completely blocked you. You're going to read some tweets. You you're gonna get some questions off of youtube on our friday but first and foremost like what's going on with tiger woods here because you called him out you said he was going to shoot a 93 in his first round and uh he was pretty darn good so yesterday he was excellent he was in the late wave he shot 69

very nice i think it was two under it's a part of 71 at riviera he was better than your 74 and a half by five and a half shots today he shot 74 he grinded towards the end i think he's at plus one which is on the cut number so i think he might make the cut for the weekend which is an incredible accomplishment yeah like for a guy that hasn't played, bionic leg, bionic back, sword, everything. It's just a testament to how incredible he is. The only thing you want him to make the cut for is

to get the reps before Augusta. For those of us to be invested in Tiger and Augusta, you need a four-round tournament. I will say that there is part of me that wishes he just wasn't there on the weekend. Four-round tournament. And I will say that there is part of me that, you know, wishes he just kind of wasn't there on the weekend.

Like, you know, because they spend a lot of time. I love Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods is my favorite athlete of all time. But golf right now is in such an incredible place, and you just worry about the amount of airtime that he sucks up with, you know, taking away from guys that are killing it right now. So that's part of it. But I'm happy to see him playing well

heading towards major season here. Just one note. When did Tiger Woods pass to... Oh, I don't know. Justin Thomas. No comment. Felice. Is he in trouble?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, let's... We've got some questions here. We've got some questions here. I got some questions here. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. I found myself like Sheldon Keefe trying to talk about the Blackhawks there.

I was like, I don't think there's any way to approach this that people like. Okay. I got this DM yesterday, and I thought this was a very interesting question. This is from YCN, and he DM'd me this. He said, first time long time i love the show helps me get through work i could listen to you guys chop it up all day so that helps good start wondering if you could expand on canes and kane and tarasenko playing on their off wing why do players do this and what's the point of a player being a left shot

playing on the right side and vice versa thanks pal just it opens you up you're you playing on the right side and vice versa. Thanks, pal. It opens you up. You're on the side where the majority of the play is going to lean towards. It's just some guys can shoot the puck better off their off wing. Mark Messier was famous for his shot off the wing far corner. I remember his 500th goal in that capacity. But you were a winger. I was a winger. Borny, you were a winger center?

Winger. So you play, what wing do you play? I was on the left side. When you shoot left. At times I could play the right side. And you play, and you shoot left. And I shoot left. And Borny, you were right and you shoot right or the other way?

Yeah, no, right and shoot right. It blows my mind that anyone can do the off-wing. Well, here's the thing. Steve Larmer was one of the best I've ever seen. Yeah, so like in the, think about being a right shot coming down the left side, you stick to the middle of the ice. I mean, it's better, right? It's better for passing options, shooting angle.

One-timers. One-timers. It's better in a number of ways, but what happens is often you fly out of your own D zone crossing the middle. Like as a right winger with a right shot, I would come across and find myself in that spot. Offensively, that's fine. So I didn't feel like it affected me there.

It's on breakouts. If I'm a right shot and I'm on the left wing and I'm getting a pass from my D man, I don't want to have to take the puck on my backhand, make a move to my forehand to make a play with it. It's a lot harder on breakouts to play your offside. You're essentially, if you want to have your stick along the boards, you're essentially turning your back on your defender,

which is not great. Patrick Kane's backhand is good enough. Not many people's are. And some guys like to have their ass against the wall and would take it off of their inside skate usually and kick it right up. And then Steve Larmer was great at actually

on a ring around taking it on his forehand with his back towards the defender taking one step back and then button hook either skating it up or hitting a centerman. That's the tough part is getting off the wall like that, right? Like getting it into the middle of the ice like Larmer would have done.

Some guys are just not comfortable. Yeah. Interesting. I stunk. I stunk on the wall, period. So I couldn't then try to do it on my back. There can't be many harder things in all the sports than trying to corral a puck off the wall that's rimmed around. Maybe the most underappreciated ability in NHL hockey is guys picking pucks up with spin.

The puck's spinning and you're picking it up. With Kipper breathing down your neck. That's like repetition, repetition. That's a hundred of those things after practice. Every day. Constantly. You worked on that, Kip? Oh, repetition. That's a hundred of those things after practice. Every day. Constantly. You worked on that, Kip? Oh, constantly. Yeah.

I should have done that. If you cannot come out of your zone, you can't play. You cannot play. Legitimately, when I talked, I got sent down at Islanders Camp and sent down to Bridgeport. and I was just like, yeah, what do I need to work on? They're like, get off the wall once. Breakouts when the puck

comes around, you've got to find a way to get it to the middle. I feel like Mitch Marner is maybe one of the best the Leafs have at one touch and it's somewhere good. It's in the middle. It's on someone else's stick. As a center, that just must be a dream having a guy that digs it off the wall like that

and hits you in stride. Like that's just what you'd love, right? Anyways, Jake McIsaac on YouTube said is there a world where the Leafs try to get Travis Konechny? He's kind of like what Tampa did by getting Hagel except he makes $4 million more. But aside from that,

I like him. I think he competes. And he's not your typical kind of look on the Leaf roster right now. Yeah. A little meaner. A little ruder. Let me just be the guy to remind everyone that they actually had the pick to pick Konechny and traded it for picks that became Dermott and Bracco.

So I just thought I'd throw that out there. Oopsie. Right? That's an oopsie. Really no different than Seth Jarvis. Yeah. Did he not score a hat trick the other day? I don't know.

I just tried not to. I tried to pretend he doesn't exist. That's for the Marlowe pick, right? Yes. They traded. Oh, God. So Konechny's five and a half schmil through 2025. Yeah, it's a pretty good deal.

The cost would just be you're talking about our boy there, Nyes, if you will. You think? Oh, for Konechny? You think? Let's see, prime age on a good deal? Yeah, I would probably say that's what I would try if I was Chuck Fletcher. You'd ask. Yeah.

But who's not asking for Nyes? I think that comes down to Dubas kind of negotiating, right? Konechny's got 26 goals in 50 games this year. Oh, yeah. He's on fire. The one thing you've got to keep realizing here is that teams like Philly or even Carlson, I know Carlson's, it's a long shot that he moves, but you've still got to sell tickets. You've still got gotta sell advertising yeah

you still gotta get people excited yeah can't just throw away good players like connect me i mean yeah he's he must be he's got to be a draw for some season ticket holder to say hey i like the way that guy plays hard and he gives it everything he has, and I want to pay to see him. Next year, I don't want to come to the rink and see a first-round prospect in your pool waiting for it two years from now, three years from now. I want to be entertained now. No, that's fair. I mean, listen, you're still charged $150 for tickets. You've got to have somebody in your lineup that plays with some jam.

How about this one? This is from our text line from Jeff in Sarnia. It said, hey, Kipper and Bourne, my buddy and I were talking about it the other day. If the Leafs traded for Kane, we were trying to figure out what number he would wear since Neil Andrew wears 88. If he would change for Kane, or would Willie keep 88? Oh, he'd change for Patrick Kane all day long. No change. Willie stays 88. Agree.

Are you kidding me? Willie Nylander's been multiple numbers on the Leafs. He doesn't care. So then he's going to make Pontus change from 29 to go back? If Willie was in year two or three, yes. Agree. Willie's an established player right now. Easily could have been an all-star.

Having a career year. The last thing Pat Kane wants to come and do is mess up Willie Nylander. I agree that Pat Kane wouldn't want to come in and do it. But if I'm Willie, I say, oh, he's a Hall of Fame three-time Stanley Cup champ here. I'll offer it to the guy. And he's made $80 million in his career, so maybe a Rolex? Maybe a Rolex, Patty? What do you want me to change?

That ship would have sailed here. Do you have a number change story, anybody that you played with that had to change a number? Uh, no. Because you always hear those stories about guys buying stuff for them. It feels like an NBA thing. I don't think it was big.

Too many NHL rivalry stories. Adam Graves went from 11 to 9 when Messier came in. Two great numbers. Yeah. But just to kind of finish off

this conversation about Kane and Nylander. Listen, if by chance on a long shot, Kane ends up in Toronto, he's coming in for 20 games. Yeah, that's true, too. He's not coming in, stealing his number, and then resigning somewhere else. That's my line if I'm Patty Kane or if I'm Nylander. I'm like, you can have it when I see the extension. If you're going to be here, then you can have it.

But yeah, you don't just get to rent it while you're here. Willie is now one of the stars in the National Hockey League, and he's an all-star for most people. Yeah, I think he would be selling more jerseys. You don't come in and take his number. No, agreed. Okay, there we go. That's a good question.

I like that one. This is from a nameless text from the text line. Hate that. But guys, I love the show That's a good question. I like that one. This is from a nameless text from the text line. Hate that. But guys, I love the show. Good way to start. Should we be concerned at the least going to the playoffs with Kerfoot still on the team? I think his value is overhyped by Toronto media.

I would say the opposite. He's not big or strong to help the bottom six and just doesn't contribute enough in the top six. The 3.5 million cap hit needs to go. End of text. Care to discuss? I think he's a serviceable player. I just don't know how hard he can play in the playoffs.

I would have moved that contract a long time ago. They seem to really like him a lot. I wonder if part of it is just the Caudry thing. Still not wanting to let go of the fact that you have nothing to show for Caudry. You think that would play into it? I don't know. I think that ship sailed. We know it's a bad trade.

We know it was bad. We know Barry didn't work out. It's just, it's so over right now. I think the jury's not out on that trade. I think we all know there's been a verdict. I will say this. The other night, watching maybe one of the best drags into the middle, backhand pass to Kerfoot.

Oh, my God. That, Kerfoot's offside really bothered me. Really bothered me. I mean, it wasn't even close. And you took away maybe the dish of the year. I agree. I was so sad that didn't go in because you don't get to see the highlights. He shot it in the net.

That's true. Stay on side. That's true. Stay on side. Let's just start there. Yeah, I agree. Or just, I mean, you could also look at the lining and be like, hey, buddy, call an extremely obvious offside. You know, you could put your arm up and blow the whistle.

It was pretty clear that was offside. It is a shame that we need to keep that highlighted rotation and strip it of its context because it is a nasty dish. Oh, my Lord. It was so nice. Kerfoot is a guy who, yes, he can fill in and he's a Band-Aid player and he doesn't hurt you in all these different places. But we've talked about the lack of guys who do something impactful, whether it's physical or offensive or defensive. He just kind of does everything okay. Yeah.

And that may not be enough on a team here. Lou Lambrose's line is, you know, the team's an orchestra. Everyone's got to play an instrument. You don't need a guy who can play every instrument a little bit. Like, just specialize in something. Yeah, every team, like, I like the butcher, too. You need a butcher, and it's like, yeah, he's not that. Anyways.

No. So this is from, this is a weird question, but let's get weird on a Friday. Warrior Womp on YouTube, who always sends in great stuff for us. Big supporter. Yeah. If you could sign one of these players tomorrow to a seven-year contract, not eight, the max you can do, seven, who would it be? Would it be Michael Bunting, David Kampf, or Pontus Holmberg?

Well, can I get Pontus for seven years at like a million and a half? Which way do you want to go? Yeah. What's the age difference? Is Bunting and Kemp pretty comparable? I think they're all pretty. How old's Pontus? Pontus is kind of sneaky old too, isn't he?

25, I think. He's not a spring chicken. I just feel like David Kemp. No, he is. He's 23. Okay, so yeah. So Pontus. Not bad.

Pontus is my answer. But again, JB, before you jump in, what is the AAV? Right. That's it. What are you asking Kemp to be? If he's just a defensive shutdown guy and he's making one and a half like he does now, I'll take him for seven. Let's go.

But if he's, you know, bunting scoring 60 points right now, that's a big ask. I'm not confident he'll score 60 points for seven straight years. So he's more likely to disappoint at the end of that deal, I guess. For me, camp, camp, it's Friday. It's Friday, 445. We're almost there, Bubba. Camp is falling a little bit.

Yeah, absolutely. Oh, is never scoring bad? Come on. Kick one in off your ass. Something. But it is bizarre that he had, what was it, a year, a shortened season where he scored zero then he comes in he gets like 11 and 40 games he's on pace for a 20 goal season and this year he looks like another zero goal guy i know he has four but like four is not enough four is not

enough i and you might mention michael bunting there i I go through waves of approving of his game and disapproving of his game. We're in a downward right now. The extracurricular stuff, I know he quieted it down a little bit, but it's been in the wrong direction recently. Let me ask you a question because Bunting doesn't feel like the guy for me, but the Leafs are tied in game seven, and someone random comes up with a huge goal. Who can you see it

being out of the guys who aren't the big four? Love that question. It's almost like a text question that you just came up with off the top of your head. That's kind of how that worked. There's no reason to believe anybody. No one?

The most depressing answer. No one. There's no one. believe anybody. No one? The most depressing answer. No one. There's no one. We are just now guessing and hoping. It's Engvall for me because he's got that random burst of speed, the random hard shot. He could just randomly fire one through. So it can't be anyone outside of the big four?

Big four is the only no-nos. All right, I'm going to go Mark Giordano. Okay. Somebody finds his way through and fires the puck a lot. No, hard shot comes off the pad, lands on a stick around the top of the circle, he fires the top corner. I just imagined that one there. You like that?

Timmons! Oh my god, I wanted to bring this up. 13 points. Does he not have in like 21 games? I wanted to bring this up with you. It's not bad. So we didn't play the clip earlier because Justin Hall is back in the lineup tomorrow night.

Okay. And Timmons is back and we didn't play the clip, but I want to read this. Well, play it. Well, I mean, whatever. He's safe. Let's do it. Okay. Do you want to play the clip?

Sure. Let's play the clip. I didn't intend on having Justin out for too long, first of all. I think he's, like I said the other day, to me his game had slept a little bit, but he's played a lot of really good hockey. He and Giordano, if I'm not mistaken, are the only two that have played every game to that point. Those guys have taken on a lot and have been very consistent for us and given us a chance to be that foundation, at least the two of them, and the constant in our lineup and helped us through some very tough times.

He is, on his worst day, he's a top penalty killer for us. So all those kind of things, you want to get him back in, but at the same time you want to be able to let him know that we're not happy that his game had slipped, and you want to give opportunity to someone like Timmons. But the reality is that these are our six top defensemen. You want to get Halsey back in. So one of the guys I follow on Twitter for the Desleaf stuff

is Kevin Papetti, and he put out this tweet saying with a poll who do you think is a better player justin hall or connor timmons 71 of the people on over 20 over 2 000 votes would feel better voted connor timmons yeah listen in a hockey game in the playoffs listen that is, that's asinine to me. It's actually depressing. That really hurts my feelings. Like, which way do you go on that? Which way would you have voted, Kipper?

There is just no way. I've been around the game a long time. There's just no way I could sit there and definitively tell you how Connor Timmons would handle from game one to a game seven against tampa bay i know and i'm that's i'm on your side too it's just i can't like i listen i don't love justin hall but i think the slander of justin hall is crazy like you know he i know i'm preaching to the choir with the guy at home here borny like i'm preaching to the choir with you but like we've seen good samples of Justin

Hall. Yes. And he does a thing. I just talked about the orchestra. I'm not saying he's the lead guitarist, but he does something pretty clear and important for the Leafs. Game five against Tampa Bay in a 2-2 series and you've got to kill a big penalty? You're going to send Connor Timmons over the board?

Pucks in the back of your net in a second. Anyways, I had to bring that up because I thought that was insane. What's it, what do they call it? Like a prospect porn or whatever. Timmons still feels like that, where it's like, you know,

people are in love with what he could be, but he isn't that yet. He may be something. He isn't it yet. And now, unfortunately with most of these guys outside of geo uh brody and and morgan is that you're gonna ask a lot and still unproven yeah lilligren sandin timmons unproven yeah so we got a million texts about who would score the big goal and a lot of Pierre, just so you know,

Borny. A lot of Pierre. I mean, he's the random guy who has a random skill set where you'd be like, oh, he turned it on for a sec there. This quick one, last one before we head out. Carter from London. Would love to hear more talk on Kraus to the Leafs. To me, Dubas should be focused on building this

year and beyond in case they aren't going to win this year to keep his job. Kraus is under team control and plays a physical game, can score as well. Again, Kraus under team control. I think it's 4.3 for another, what, long time. Yeah, a while. Four more years. Just start with Matthew Nyes, and that's it in a nutshell.

You may be getting – Matthew Nise may be Kraus in two or three years, or do you hope that it could come as early as April? But that's a significant ask from Arizona that would be very, very expensive. Yeah, he's making 4.3 until 26, 27. Is there a bit of... And he would be perfect, by the way. Nick Ritchie. But does he have any... Like, I know he's large, but is that like a Nick Ritchie thing

where he doesn't actually engage with the opposition? Or is there any bite to Kraus? We're talking about players on arizona i know who knows yeah they're not engaged who's really hey they've been hot i know i know but nobody really truly pays attention to these guys and unfortunately you you you think that kraus has every reason to be one of those solid top six guy. Could he ever be a top three? I don't think so.

But top six, this guy should be a stud moving forward. Kraus hasn't fought since March 5th of 2022. No, that's not his game. I don't think that he's got that in his bag to turn around and scare people. But he's just a heavy guy that can lean on your opponent. And you're just in so many games that don't matter. Like, you're down three goals. Like, you know, it's easy in Arizona to sleepwalk through games.

I even feel the same about his stats, though. Like, he's got 20 goals. He's got to be out there in every situation with the best players. Like, what does he do in toronto i don't think it looks all right what do we uh what do we see saturday night against montreal we see a convincing win or one of those uh undecided in the last five seven minutes montreal they always play them i i think it's a different situation in toronto than it is in montreal i think they've had enough bad memories

in that building in montreal in the last few years that it's kind of a greasy one when they always go in there but i think they roll i think they roll on saturday and then it's a little closer than it should be on sunday would be my prediction all right well terrific week guys yeah nice to be in here with you kipper doug mclean devon dubnik all uh great great guests today. Can I just mention Jennifer Rolnik, our last day with her. She's gone. She's around. She's just going home a little earlier these days. I don't blame her at all.

I don't blame her at all. David Sis taking over. Dave, what's his last name? Sis. You know when I'll finally learn his last name is when he probably gets replaced here. I guess what? I'll finally learn his last name Is when he probably gets replaced here I guess what I'll try my best though And he works for my hometown

A man of many hats Big thank you for Derek Brandeo Always great on the sound bites And he played my Next Rewards app Yesterday I'm rich buddy I can't give away. Don't cash anything

yet. Okay. We had a huge day yesterday. How many points did you end up yesterday with? I gained over a thousand points. A thousand. Oh my God. Did you stay for every late game to bet too? I didn't go to bed till 1230 so I just kept on hitting no.

Don't spend it yet. Keep building it. I'm going for that gas card, Kipper. No. You're not going after the $50 gas card, are you? Oh, yes, I am. Now I'm broke. You're dying. All right.

Thanks, everybody, for watching, listening, sending us a rating and review. We'd love to hear from you and what you think about the real Kipper and Bourne show. Have a safe weekend, and we're back Monday.