Real Kyper & Bourne - Western Conference Check-In with Luke Gazdic

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

Justin Bourne and guest host Gord Stellick welcome in Sportsnet analyst Luke Gazdic (2:45) to discuss the Edmonton Oilers' slow start to the season, Leon Draisaitl's benching, why he's not worried about their defensive core, Elias Pettersson's scoring woes, how Calgary Flames' head coach Ryan Huska has connected with his young players and goaltending struggles in Colorado. Then, Justin, Gord and Sam McKee field listener's questions on the text line including the best nicknames in hockey. 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.

welcome in to real kipper and born the national hour live on sportsnet 650 in vancouver and sportsnet 960 in calgary this hour of kipper and born is brought to you by bet 365 thank you to them as always and thank you to gordon stelic for joining us today in kipper spot gordon well appreciate it kipper a well-deserved day off yeah we've been at it for two weeks so yeah and you guys had a long he's becoming a workaholic short break in the summer so just coming back of a couple of months well i mean listen back in the day kipper to get him in here most days he didn't work all the time back when he before he left like i remember there'd be lots of days that he wasn't on hockey central so i get him in here every day yeah pretty good

yeah pretty good we've we get lots of kipper time um yeah so we're gonna be fortunate to talk to luke gazdik today sports at hockey analyst and former oiler himself talk a little about this baby sweater behind me it's the funniest thing why do we not have an adult i don't know i just texted my boss about it but we'll hopefully get a few in here but it looks really funny if you're watching on tv or youtube if we did it by the amount of coverage the station gives per team um you know maybe the leafs one might be a little bigger but uh gordon the oilers off to a slow start but have won a couple of hockey games since um with panic in the early going was a little bit overstated, a little bit overcooked maybe?

Oh, big time. But the fans can do whatever they want and some of the media can and it's internally that you and they showed it last year. I mean, they made a coaching change but they kept their composure and kept the context and turned things around of a really deep hole, which the Leafs did a number

of years ago. They made the coaching change, but Sheldon Keefe took a team with a deep hole and helped get him in the playoffs that year. So the couple of wins they have, and I do want to talk to Luke about just that Couturier hit because that's the way Luke played, and I think that was the best thing Edmonton was looking for, Couturier hitting the goaltender and getting a bit of a spark.

So they've won twice. So the crisis goes to Colorado big time. Nashville, a bit of one as well. Even Detroit a little bit. Everyone's talking about Joel Quimble. Not everyone, but Joel Quimble going to Detroit. I mean, Steve Iserman has been very supportive of his coaches, doesn't make changes, but those are the kind of when –

but Joel Quimble's on the sideline now. Those are the kinds of rumors that come out pretty quick if you get off to a tough start. Absolutely. Before we get to Luke, after we talk to Luke, we're going to do texts. Ooh, I love texts. And we haven't done a lot of texts to start this year,

so please text us 590-590. Send in your thoughts on Leafs, other stuff, maybe more national because we're in the national hour here. So all your thoughts about the NHL and Leafs and stuff. So text us 590-590. We'll get those out to Luke. Awesome. Thank you very much.

And now welcome in Luke Gazdik, sports analyst and friend of the show. Gaz, how you doing, pal? Doing well, fellas. Thanks for having me. You're looking good. Nice outfit. Always looking proper. Yeah.

Thanks. This is the yuppie Vineyard Vines, U.S. collection. Love it. Love it. Gaz, I'm sorry that we have a little Oilers jersey to talk about your former team here today. It's kind of hilarious. But tell us what's going on with the Oilers. Are we not panicking anymore?

No, I think they're back on track. I mean, starting slow is status quo for this team, apparently. It drives pretty much everyone in hockey not watching them to be honest the first couple games were tough to watch it is incredible how much when connor and leon go the team just kind of follows the team just jumps on board i saw that a lot last night in nashville even just one shift here and there uh when connor's feet start going and he starts buzzing around the ozone you can see it just it's kind of this infectious energy that emulates all the way down the bench and throughout the locker room.

I felt like last night in Nashville, they really used that to their advantage. But Gordo's right as well. I think there was finally a little bit of life at home Tuesday versus Philly. I didn't like seeing their goaltender get run over in a couple scraps. There you go. That's kind of the in a couple scraps. And there you go. That's kind of the life they needed. So that's what you need. I think they're out of panic zone right now,

and it's good playing in that city. The more you go on losing or, you know, starting rocky like they did last year, the city can get on you, whether it's the fans, media every day, practice and games. And so it's good that they ripped a couple off and and hopefully at least get a point out of dallas on saturday before heading home yeah you know luke you played that style that's what i was just saying about in sean cotoria's case that it's a natural instinct but also when you got a one goal lead and you got

a team that's not an opponent not showing much the hesitancy to poke the bear and and and how much did that like i i think Chris Knobloch and everybody, Stan Bowman, everybody, oh, thank God. Thank God. And then, man, benching, like, the dry saddle thing, that took a lot of onions by Knobloch as well about, you know, talk about that, I guess, the respect to the coach and handling what could be a difficult thing with players,

but it seemed to go well that dry saddle understood why he missed a few shifts and the team appreciates that, hey, you know, there's no sacred cows. Yeah. First and foremost on the goalie stuff, I had so many goalies over the course of my career, whether it was in the minors or in the NHL, that absolutely just gave it to me in front of the net. How many times I was coming down to forecheck and I wanted to put the shoulder through one of them too. I don't know.

We're in an era now and the game has certainly moved to a place where the goaltenders have a lot of respect in and around the crease and there's not much you can do with them. I'm glad that a guy like Stetch went and took care of business. It's always something different. Fighting is

one thing in the NHL these days it's it's it's essentially it you know it's it's just not as much as it was in the past but when you see a guy that rarely does it to begin with like stetch i think that always kind of breathes some life into your uh into your team as well and on the dry subtle benching i think that's the first coach i've ever seen sit him down, even since he was a young kid. I was with Leon when he was a rookie, when he came into the league at 18. And man, I think I've talked to you about this before, Borny, but he really struggled off the gate. Like he was playing second line center on a very much a team that was in a rebuild on the young side roster wise. And here he is in the western conference

stacking up against dustin brown and anzi kopitar and ryan getzlaff every single night and whether it was in the face-off circle like he had some tough times early in his career but coaches pretty for the for the most part pretty much worked with him uh and i think last night was or sorry tuesday was the the first time where i've seen a coach in a third period in a big high pressure game not stack the lines and play him every other shift uh shift basically just said take a seat kid and i don't know i think if you're on the team or on the bench you're kind of looking around going that's accountability at at at the highest right that's that's your top guy uh setting an example so i i'm sure that's you know had something to do with them coming back and leon didn't definitely didn't seem happy after the game but hey being a coach like you're seeing

here with chief in toronto you have to make some unpopular decisions that time i hated getting scratched or benched and then going out and scoring or doing something great and the coach just giving themselves a pat on the back for it's like rewarding them for treating you poorly it's like although it doesn't do you any good to go and be terrible either so you're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place there as a player um yeah 100 and gordo i was thinking about that too what you were saying you know the role i played like late in games especially in couturier spot you had to have such good sense for that type of thing especially in my role on the fourth line not going to play much to start, not a ton of special teams.

I very much valued the ice time that I got, took it for granted. I had to earn every shift. And especially as the game got hotter, if I'm still finishing checks in the O zone, like I used to have some coaches pull me aside or whisper in the ear in the third period, Hey, just relax here, big boy, like settle down a little bit. We don't want to put the team down there. They're kind of sleeping right now. So was always something you you had to juggle

i wanted to bring energy to every shift and sometimes you just kind of have to read the game and and know when a team is down and out yeah so you know we when they hadn't won any games uh people are starting to look for things that were different about the team and frankly they're looking for things that were worse about the team um are you concerned about the decor and again i know they've won a couple of hockey games i know they still have most of their good players but you know you're talking about getting better at the margins to win a cup this year where where are they on that decor and can they find it from within it's a great question and i don't want to say i'm too concerned the only reason is because we're so early into the season i

think they'll end up figuring this thing out, but they've juggled the pairs around a lot, and I think this is where they've landed on now. I think they're going to play Stetcher with Nursey and then have Kulak and Emerson as their third pair. First pair, obviously, you're not touching. Ekholm's played some great hockey. Boosh, yeah, people still scream at

their TVs every once in a while with a play he makes here and there, but the way he produces offensively, you're cheering for him most of the time. I thought Josh Brown was going to make a bigger impact at training camp, designed a three-year, $3 million deal. He's down in Bakersfield right now. He brings a really tough physical element, and I just don't know if that's a situation when you talk about from within

where training camp can be hard to show what you have. If you're a meat and potatoes 5'6 you have. If you're a meat potatoes, five, 60 men, or you're a depth forward, sometimes training camp can be hard to kind of show the scope of what you're going to bring to a team and to a locker room. You kind of,

uh, that, that role gets a little more fitting as you go and you have more games and more reps. So a guy like that I'm looking at in Bayco, but I think this team is just primed to make a move at some point. Right-handed shot defenseman. Every team needs one, like which team doesn't,

but three, four right-handed shot D man is something this team is probably going to go out there and pick up at some point in the future here. So Luke, I'm going a little further West. You know, there's, there's, there's certain things that defy logic. I mean mean you know years ago scott goma is what he didn't score for a calendar year or something you know and then last year the the pittsburgh penguin power play which has been fine now but what it was something like 70 minutes they couldn't score power play goal they played a man advantage for like a complete game whatever so what i don't get now is elias petterson not just the stat i guess what is it one one regular one regular strength goal in his last 25 games or something like that he doesn't look like Elias Pettersson

like it like it like it's a strange one and I know it's a repetitive question but I want to get perspectives I want to get perspectives from an ex-player like you like why never mind the stats what why does he look so different it's a good question and i really like him as a hockey player i have since he's come into the league from from day one but that version of the player that i loved was the guy that was reverse hitting guys in the corner while having puck possession and putting that you know puck on one stick and leaning it and being a driver you'll always hear coaches use the term driver and i thought that he was the guy that could drive a line. I just think we've seen maybe a little less in terms of the energy he's bringing.

And I don't know, he looks heavy to me. And that's what I see when I watch Vancouver games. But I also do think that he takes a lot of the brunt of the fault of everything that is Canucks hockey. Like if they lose, if they go through a bad stretch, if he goes through a bad stretch personally, he takes it pretty hard. But I still haven't seen flashes of that same younger player that call it three, four years ago, just played with a little more edge than you see now yeah and you know he's such a big part of what the Canucks hope to be this season last year they won the Pacific Division they had a year that went great um a little bit of a slow start this year as well um what are your thoughts on you know we're going to kind of bounce around

Canada a little bit but the Canucks were in one of the three teams I would say with Vancouver and Edmonton that people had high hopes for. What are your thoughts on them out of the gates so far? Yeah, I think the thing that had to be driving talk nuts was not playing full 60s. You didn't really see them play a full game until Florida last night, until their overtime win in Florida, basically. I think in Tampa, that was a perfect example of it,

where times you look and they're flying and they're playing good connected hockey. And then at times it's just poor execution. And we're talking just general passing skills and, you know, point shots hitting the net. I'm watching how many deer missing point shots from the top of the key. And I'm sure it had to be driving talk nuts.

But last night was was um you know you know a little more positive moving forward i thought they did great job on face-offs um the depth started working for them late in the game quinn hughes looked really good this this kid's gonna not gonna be obviously he's an absolute stud but my goodness every time i watch the canucks i'm reminded of how uh phenomenal he is ripping up and down the ice. And I think last night was the first time that they saw a full, complete game. They play fast. When they're going, like, that's a fast hockey team.

I think Jake signing Jake DeBrusque helped with that. Danton Hine and Kiefer Sherwood, that adds a lot of speed that they already had. They just got to get someone to save the pucks. Last night, that was Lankanen. And see if him and she loves can do it while dem goes out well we always add it's early but a lot of people don't care that it's early they they start making decisions but you look at the central division like so polarizing that dallas has expected what a great start winnipeg may be a bit of a surprise

utah was okay you know whatever so all of a sudden if you're nashville and colorado you got some ground to make up right like a little more than you would think after three, four or five games. So Nashville, you know, it's, it's one thing there. They got a lot of new players there,

Colorado. I mean, you talk about abysmal, nevermind. It's again about losing, but how you're losing the goal differential. We know they got some big holes due to, you know,

being in the player assistance program injuries and what have you, but what, what, and what have you but what what and what's gonna something could have to give there they're gonna be able to work it out do they need to trade for a goaltender now like i mean what do you need to do that this is a hole that could come really could become really deep in a hell of a hurry yeah and they're playing with two strikes already they are thin and they're not getting saves like in the league today if you're not going to get consistent saves from your goaltender and an above average performance every night,

you're probably not going to get a win. And that's just the honest truth. Freed was talking about the possibility of maybe a John Gibson, if he can stay healthy. I'm sure Lucas Dostal is ready to take over the show in Anaheim with a young team there. They're probably looking at get rid of a guy like that. But it just, to me, I hate scapegoating goalies.

I hate it. I don't want to come on here and tell you. But it's just time and time again when Georgiev's got, I think he got pulled two nights in a row, let in three or four on his next one. Like, it's been a gong show in the crease. So at some point, that's got to give. And the guy, like, Nate's's not gonna sit around for too long

if this continues because this isn't a new thing right like in between the pipes for them has been kind of a mess for the last couple years and so that's where i kind of would see them heading in that direction picking maybe a starter like gibson up um you know you've played enough hockey to have been a part of good teams and bad teams and I want to ask you about the flames and that do you believe that early season momentum it can be translated throughout the calendar or is it something that inevitably your talent level catches up like I've always kind of felt like how things go sets a lot of the tone and the mood and the the culture for the team and it can really-term. Do you think that it can make a difference or it just snaps back to reality at some point?

Well, there is 100% there's going to be some sort of coming down period. But what I will say about Calgary and the Flames is I had the chance to play a full year for Ryan Huska in the minors. Oh, yeah. What's happening there is no joke. He is one of the best communicators and development of players and people that I got to play for and spend some time with. It was a full year with the Stockton Heat and the Miners. So it was only a matter of time before this team was bound to have success.

Just because I played for a lot of coaches over the years. And he was certainly one of my favorites. And just the way he approaches the day-to-day. The respect he shows for the leadership group on the team um just even logistically how how he runs his club i i really i really enjoyed my year playing for him so i i do think that there's a huge element to that the team's younger they come flying in i did do a one year of training camp in calgary that is not an easy training camp. The fitness testing, there's a couple things there

that the guys have to be really geared up for. So I think that's a huge thing is their conditioning is unbelievable. After a while here in the Western Conference, especially in their division, I think you'll start to see them settle down just a little bit as we move on here, whether it's injuries, whether it's just figuring out the longevity of the league and playing against some of these guys

who have been in the league doing it for years. But it's certainly a positive and fun, exciting story. Like, listen, hockey is better for us and everybody else when Canadian teams are doing good. So it's good for the Battle of Alberta. It's good for hockey. It's good for everything. So, Luke, you know, unlike a lot of people, when they set up, they're promoting everything in the background, right?

They got their books and everything. So you got kind of a Spartan set up there, which I respect. So don't take it the wrong way. I just want to confirm, we did not interrupt you getting interrogated at a police station, correct? Can we confirm that? Okay. I have no idea what's going on with this Zoom lighting. I'm just going to blame Sam McKee. He's like the producer, but I'm over there. Good job. I only have two photos in here. One is a laser of Toronto, and the other is Kawhi hitting the famous shots. This is like super Toronto room.

There's a couple books here, but I don't know. I'm figuring this thing out as we go, doing hits. I don't know. I've changed locations a couple times. No, I'm not being interrogated. Okay, good, good. I'm just out of trouble. thing out as we go doing hits and i i don't know i've changed locations a couple times so no i'm not being interrogated okay good good out of trouble so then um about trouble in the atlantic division since uh buffalo ottawa detroit same question still no answer still still unclear like what's five six games into this season like about if one team's going to knock on the door which one

or do you think one two two, or possibly all three could and which has the best chance of kicking it down? Because right now it's the same story with the last five years. Yeah, my heart says Buffalo. I'm a Sabres guy. Soft spot for them in my heart in the city of Buffalo. It's just time and time again, you're watching this team trip over itself. The most intriguing one for me is the sense we're

covering that tomorrow me and jen botterill and david amber will be in the opening intermissions for you doing that um i was listening to the val cat interview the other day borny when you and kipper were talking when you went deep in the valley yeah that was one of the most fascinating conversations i've ever heard and the stuff he said about Allmark was news to me. And I really haven't been able to think the same since then. I'm pumping your show. Like, if you guys haven't listened to it, go back and check it out. Yeah, thanks.

It's just about, it was more so like, what's going on with this guy? Like, here he goes, signs a four-year deal. They put all their eggs in one basket. And we haven't even got to see him play hockey yet. So, really really the only problem for me in Ottawa is stopping pucks their power play is absolutely buzzing right now that first unit with uh Batherson and Norris Sanderson Kachuk Stutzeli I think they're 38 percent right now um so fun to watch they just got to have someone to get some saves back there the blue line's coming

along and man I mentioned Battle of alberta i would love to see some more you know competitive hockey with toronto montreal and ottawa here going toe-to-toe for for the majority of this year and um i think ottawa has the potential to do that joined with uh luke azik just one one more for you for me luke i don't know if gordon's got another not but i have one more and you uh would have been a player who played around the goaltender's blue paint, and there's a lot of goalie interference calls right now, a lot of confusion about it. Do you feel like goaltenders are just soft

and just need to really just be hockey players a little bit, or do you like all the way the calls are going? Well, it's like we've put all these rules in the game to increase offense, increase the speed of it, regulations on goalies equipment. Like we want to see more goals. We want to see more scoring. So who wants to see a game stop, you know, two, three times a game and do a five to ten minute review to find out if a goal that you have to go chop frame by frame to see, you know, if something breathes by there is a goal. I just think of it that close we should be

leaning towards goal side like we shouldn't be leaning towards calling so many of these things back and uh yeah i think goalies get way too much respect i'm sure yeah some people out there would probably wouldn't love i'm sure kelly rudy won't love this but like i just i think especially with a couple in edmonton a couple of the recent ones in edmonton cory perry's one that's just it's like what are we doing here don't we want to see guys score should we really be breaking these things down at micro micro zoom to try to call it back in some way so i don't know i'll probably get in more trouble if i keep going but yeah i think you can imagine how i feel watching games. No, it's great. I'm anti-goalie and I fight people online about it all the time.

Just, just, they're too soft. Anyway. Exactly. Thanks for joining us, Gaz. Appreciate it. You're on TV tomorrow night, Hockey Night in Canada? No, just the day. So I'm, no, we have a crew doing the Tampa Bay Ottawa one.

And then we have a regional and national with me and David Edmonton Dallas and then the A team will take over. Awesome. Well, you're doing great work. We appreciate your time on our show. Thanks for joining us, pal. Thanks, fellas. Have a great weekend. You too. Luke Gazdik, Sportsnet hockey analyst, former NHL. So taking on goaltenders, there's such a

disproportionate number of catchers and goaltenders that are broadcasters, analysts. And someone said that they see the game differently, that when they have to look behind, it's bad. So a catcher in baseball, if he's looking back, that's bad. A goalie, we know that's bad.

But there are so many goaltenders and analysts. So when you take on the goaltending fraternity, it's not just Kelly Rudy. There's a whack of them that are going to come at you whole hog. Oh, I know. It's fantastic. I've really No. There's a whack of them that are going to come at you whole hog. Oh, I know. It's fantastic. I've really enjoyed having this waging the war. But it is, you know, unique the way that you see the game from a different perspective as a goaltender. And so I get why there is a volume of them. I mean, I'll go back to my take the other day.

I mean, they have the most equipment on. Like they should be out there playing the game of hockey. Yeah. If a guy just taps them on the way by or they're in the vicinity i don't i agree with guys like that cory perry one was absurd like that's the one that keeps sticking in my mind and i know kipper said it's because it's because it's cory perry but i just i i hate them calling these back and the review the review like it's such a momentum game. It's so fast and it's so great. And it's just like there's so little breaks in the action. When you're sitting there and you're excited to watch a game

and they're reviewing, you know, like a touch for three and a half minutes. That's the NFL for me now. Every reception, I'm like, does that count? Does that stand? It's such a great parallel. What a catch is in the NFL and what a goaltender interference is. It's great. But it's funny.

So one is we have the technology, so about getting it right. And, again, there's a a great parallel. What a catch is in the NFL and what a goaltender interference is. It's great. But it's funny. So one is we have the technology, so about getting it right. And again, there's a whole other discussion. One of the things I think is if you don't see it in the first two minutes, then forget it. Don't take six minutes. Okay, whatever. But the other one about goaltenders and quarterbacks, I mean, it's predicated on a good thing that,

particularly with the money making now, don't want to get them injured, right? Needless injury. So, you know, and it wasn't just guys like Luke Gadsick. a good thing that particularly with the money making now don't want to get them injured, right? Need, needless injury. So, you know, cause like, and it wasn't just guys like Luke Gadsick,

Craig Simpson, also a analyst, man, he was great at crashing the net back then. It was like, you know, whatever you can make a look and you know, they were kind of fair game. So they changed all that.

And I agree with that. But the other part, and Brian Burke always has a great line, like, cause he loves the physicality. Yes, he does. He loves the physicality,

but he also, and, but certain games, as he said, becomes flag football. And that's where the, you don't, you don't want that tipping point, right? You don't ever want to be flag football. So again, the Corey Perry, that's not really a flag football comparable, but that was one of those. You're kind of going and they come up with an explanation.

They're good at explanations. I got to say, it's almost like they're all lawyers yeah their explanations are excellent yeah can you can you talk to lisa why i don't clean up and why why i don't do your lawn work and stuff because it really sounds good coming from you i don't i don't sound too good when i bail on it but that's funny yeah that that's that's a it's going to be an ongoing topic right it is it absolutely is. Do you want to go to break first? Yeah, we'll go to break, and then we'll come back, do game time, and then I got a bunch of texts.

And a reminder, yeah, just text 59590 some texts scored. Me and Sam are going to chew those up. Already got a bunch, but keep texting them in because we've got lots of time. So keep texting. Well, thanks, Lou Gazdik, and we will be right back after this. The best Blue Jays show out there, period. Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Real Kipper and Born. Did I not hold for TV? Was I supposed to hold for TV? We're back on TV. That's good. Hi, TV. Real Kipper and Born.

This hour of Kipper and Born is brought to you by Bet365, even though it's Gord Stelik and Born today. We're on TV? Yeah. Why? I know. Fancy, right? I mean, you didn't put on that jacket for no reason.

Yeah, no, no. I knew we were on TV. Yeah. The worst is when you get caught the other way. I've had that once or twice. I look like I get caught every reason. Yeah, no, no. I knew it. Yeah. The worst is when you get caught the other way. I've had that once or twice. I look like I get caught every day. Yeah, that's true. I still haven't worked up the courage to wear a hat on here.

You wear hats all the time. Once a week. I usually try to keep it once a week. But yeah, you got some business to take care of. All right. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app, play the saw, to find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365.

It's a 19-plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. A game i was looking up for tonight i think there's only three games on the schedule but carolina is in pittsburgh to take on the pittsburgh penguins who had a pretty good start to the year here they've been a little bit up and down but they just had that exciting win over the sabers uh six five i think it was in overtime they are a plus 145 underdog on home ice uh Carolina's a minus 170 favorite. You know what? I'm buying what the Pittsburgh Penguins are selling.

I'm getting excited about watching Sid and Evgeny Malkin. So give me as an underdog shot the Pittsburgh Penguins at plus 145. And here's what I'll say. Love this next one. The Colorado Avalanche are in Anaheim, I think. Yeah, they're in Anaheim tonight to take on the Anaheim Ducks. Nathan McKinnon, three points tonight is plus 185. I don't think that he's going to let them lose to the Ducks.

And if they do lose, he's going to score a lot, and Gorgiev's going to let a lot in. 0-4-0 Avalanche. McKinnon going into a soft team is going to be hungry. So I would give me the Nathan McKinnon going into a soft team is going to be hungry. So I would give me the Nathan McKinnon three points plus 185, and I will not be picking the Mets today on game time. They've let me down.

They're playing right now. I think it's 0-0 still. They're playing right now. I will not be picking the Mets because the last two nights they've let me down. But, oh, my God, did you guys watch that baseball game last night? No, but I saw a guy baseball going over the far wall right at the right time. Oh, it was quite a... There was a lot of baseballs flying over the wall

at the right time. Big Christmas. Jin Kenzie Noel, one of the best names. Jin Kenzie. His name's Jin Kenzie Noel. Big Christmas is the nickname. It was one of the best baseball... That is amazing.

It's one of the best baseball games I've watched ever. So it was amazing. And that was Game Time Desire by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's ever ordinary at bet 365 it's been 19 plus on terra only please play responsibly uh what's the best nickname of a hockey player you're aware of there gordon oh well i i don't think he embraced but red light rosico i did i did i mean yeah you know i like the ones like Tiger for Tiger. Like, they're real nicknames.

Yeah. You know, Clark Gillies Jethro was pretty good. That's a good one, yeah. Like, I just hate Schmully and Sam Zs and Justin Zs. Justin Zs? How many Smittys is there in the world? Oh, my God. I just like, well, back Mad Dog Kelly and Battleship Kelly.

Two Bob Kellys. That's how you go. Dave the Hammer Schultz. I mean, when did we lose thought about what's a good nickname? You know? We've lost thought in general, Gord. Yeah. Yeah.

That's why guys like me are here. It's just no thought anymore. So it's true. Like, what's the best nickname in hockey right now? Sid the Kid. That's no. No. It was a great nickname for a long time, Sid the Kid.

You don't think so? I mean, it's fine. It rhymes with Sid. But he was referred to that forever. Come on. Come up with a handle. But now I'm trying to think of one. Ovi is a great nickname.

It's the same thing. Ovi. It's good. Shorting his name. Yeah, but no, it's not. thing. Ovi. It's good. It's shortening his name. Yeah, but no, it's not. Ovechkin. Oh, man. You're terrible at this game. Ovi and Sid the Kids are two of the icons. I mean, the great one's pretty good.

Yeah. Here's my nickname for you. You suck at this game. Felix the Cat. Felix the Cat. The Cat was good. I mean, it was an obvious one for Felix. I just called him Cat.

It was kind of a cool handle, a cool moniker. Derek just buzzed out of my ears. Like, I can't even take credit for that. That was Derek Brandeis. All right, well, text in some of your great nicknames. But now, are we ready for some texts? I love texts. Texts is a great part of the show.

But then Sam was pleading for more. Yeah, yeah. Like, it made sound like, you know, we have content to fill. Like, please, like a telethon. Please send us more texts. I love the texts. I like texts, too. There is a current nickname, Justin Kirkland in telethon. Please send us more texts. I love the text. I like texts, too. There is a current nickname, Justin Kirkland in the NHL.

Oh. And this comes from somebody in Calgary. They just said Calgary. His nickname is Costco. Kirkland. It is absolutely phenomenal. There we go. I know there's other ones.

Wi-Fi. Oh, Wi-Fi. There we go. Actually, that's the best nickname in the NHL. Now, this is exactly what we wanted. And if you don't know, Arbor Jack guy's last name is just an amalgamation of random letters on its face. It's tough to see, and so it looks like a Wi-Fi password, which is why that's his. Okay, this one's from Alex Whitby, and I don't know, Gordo, if you're going to allow this one.

You might get mad about this one, but Pasta for Pasternak? Is it just shortening the name? I'll give it a 60. Like my final calculus mark. But I took it a second time. There's a lot coming in here now. We need Ken Reed on this because those boys out in the East Coast, they're all teapotting the boys. Shout out to Weasel, who I spent some time with on The Rock when I was there.

The last two, I will say before, we're getting a million on these. But Breadman for our Teni panera very good that's good very good yep and what about mcjesus yeah it's pretty good that's a 60 that's 60 i get the bread man a 90 bread man's very good uh he should have a sponsorship moose for messier is pretty good too like that 70 give it a 70 moose is good all right uh This is for Borny. Not for you, Gordo. Sorry. Okay. Coming to you from Nelson, B.C. Oh, what's up?

Home of the junior A, Nelson Lease. Borny, I'm curious if you've ever played in the KIJHL or the BCHL. Love listening to you guys every day here in B.C. Yeah. Go Leafs go. Yeah. I led the KIJHL in scoring or my conference. I think I was second in the league to Andrew Ebbett, who went on to have a great career.

So I played for the Soyuz Heat. And then, yeah, Vernon Vipers, BCHL champs, no big deal. Wow. Yeah, no, all my hockey was in BC until it wasn't. So, yeah, no great leagues. I still talk to the, like, marketing guy of the KIJHL. Really? Kootenai International Junior Hockey League.

Yeah, it was a great league. All the small towns in B.C. What was the Verne Vipers' biggest rival? The Penticton. Well, now they're the Vs. They're the Penticton Panthers when I was playing there. But Verne and Penticton is a pretty good Okanagan. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. What is it to be mad about in that part of the world? Although I will say, we played the Chilliwack Chiefs back-to-back years in the final. And Chilliwack's arena, for those people who have been to that part of the world, was boards up to normal board height, and then boards, and then glass. What? It was the concussion dome, and it was not regulation size. Terrifying arena to play in.

So, yeah, that would qualify as a rival, but that's probably the most afraid I've ever been to play Austin. So, you know, the year Austin Matthews got picked first overall, the draft was in Buffalo. And, you know, it was a rock concert when he got picked. But then following the rest of the draft, what struck me that year? How many BCHL players were picked? Yeah.

I don't know if it's been commensurate since then, but that really got my awareness. Like, wow, there was quantity and there was quality. You know, they were a whack of them. A really great league. And I actually think there's been some, they've joined forces with the AJHL, some of the A teams.

For whatever reason, I think it's related to ages and scholarships. There's nothing that really I love. Like intricacies, which is a hard word to say, of like different junior hockey barns. Yeah. Oh, it's the best. It always kills me. Like Peterborough where the Pete's play, it's almost like a square.

Like the corners are squared off. Remember Savvy used to tell us about the games he would go in there and play Mark Savard who's now the power play coach for the Toronto Maple Leafs. My assistant coach. Yeah. We did the Leafs Nation post game with him for many years. And he said that because he was very good junior player he's very good hockey player he would just throw it off the corners and then beat the defenseman he named the two guys that he just used to beat like a drum he

said you throw it in the corner and go around them because it was bounced right out into the middle of the slot i'm gonna tack on a quick junior hockey story uh so we played chilliwack two years in a row in the final the first year so, uh, they had a mascot, which is not appropriate anymore. Old chief want to win is gone. Um, but he used to play the big drum during timeouts, just bong,

bong, you know, this big thing right behind the bench. He got tickets behind our bench in Vernon for playoffs. So no, he's not wearing the big head anymore. He's just got the big drum. Like the guy came.

And so our coach, uh, goes down the bench says something to our trainer whatever calls a timeout we're losing and it's 2-2 in the finals like it's game five calls timeout we all come in and he starts at the drum and our trainer reaches over the glass and gets a piece of then chief wanna win and climbs the glass and i mean old chief wanna win had a tough night and I mean police had our trainer out of there so we're listening to our

coach like it's the finals like this is a big moment and there's a whole slap shot scene happening right behind him while he's got the whiteboard Junior Hockey was that's incredible what was the name of the the oh my god Harvey the Hound Junior hockey was... That's incredible. What was the name of the... Oh, my God.

Harvey the Hound? Yes. Oh, yeah. Thank you for saving me. Where he pulled the tongue out of the mascot's mouth when it was coming down over the thing. Craig McTavish grabbed it and pulled it off. It was incredible.

And I think someone signed it at some point. It ended up as a gift. Did I see it at Daryl Sutter's place? I don't know. Anyway, it's somewhere. Okay. The Calgary Flames are off to a great start. All four lines are firing on all cylinders.

Their defense are big, and the goalies are playing great. Can they continue at this level? Mike from Calgary. And in our lineup here, Frank Ceravelli is reporting that the Flames are looking to add a middle six center that fits their age group and preferably shoots right-handed. So very specific. Right. But they're actually looking to add. So some Calgary Flames talk here. It's nice to see them start.

I forgot who talked about it. The assumption they're having another fire sale on top of the fire sale, and then Craig Conroy said, no, you only have one fire sale, okay? And we had it last year, and we had to switch gears in the early part of the season. So that was a transition that you did something different than you didn't think you were going to do at the start of the season. So now you're able to look at you, you're able to say,

hey, Anthony Mantha, let's see how you fit here. Let's do all these things. We're going to try a kid in goal. So far, so good. So to answer your question, I'll say yes, in that every year, to me, there's one team in each conference that surprises, right? Or at least one. And they had the foundation of a certain good thing,

and then when Daryl Sutter went, you know, changed, and they had to make the changes with, God rest his soul, Johnny Goodrell leaving and the Kachuk trade and all these. So I think they're back to a good place. It's not a total teardown. Mackenzie Wieger saying, I want to be here. You love hearing that. And if you get Huberto going, that's a love hearing that and if you get hubert going that's a big gift but if you know all these kinds of things justin and i so i i don't know what the upside is yeah but i i've been bullish on the

calgary flames yeah and you know i think when you think of teams that do these sort of rebuilds and it's like you look at buffalo for 11 years now or whatever it's been and Detroit and Chicago and they strip it all the way down. You look at this Calgary Flames team. Blake Coleman, great veteran in the league who's won a cup. Mikael Backlund, Jonathan Huberdeau,

Nazem Khadri, Mackenzie Wieger, who you mentioned, you know, Barry Zarasmus Anderson. There's a lot of guys who played a lot of hockey in the league.

That is not your typical rebuild team. They're not going to make the playoffs. No? No. I think I saw a stat saw i'm not writing them off and also 80 percent of teams that start four no i think i saw make the playoffs thing i think that's the number i saw they're gonna be in the 20 i know people are 20 i actually i had someone thanks buddy i had someone write me your recent article titled which fast starters are for real this season is disrespectful to the flames player staff and organization. Cause I said,

I don't think they're going to make the playoff. Okay. And I, and I hold strong on that. It's a, they're off to a great start and that's lovely, but four games here. Let's let's.

I don't know the person's tongue in cheek there, but I, you never say stop being disrespectful. That's a part. No, people take it. No, no.

I mean, that's part of why I don't like doing predictions. Yeah. I don't like them. Cause you hear, oh yeah, well, I had to do a prediction. Right. Okay, I want to watch the game. I like the game. Let the game play out.

Let me find out. I don't want to do a prediction. You know, whatever. You got to write these columns, you know. You look like a jerk as an analyst if you say everyone's wonderful all the time, and then sometimes teams aren't wonderful. Yeah. So there's some good players there, and they'll be competitive,

but the Canucks are a very good team still. The oilers are a very good team still vegas is still very good it's a tough division the kings are very good and i've not written them off because that would be disrespectful but if you get to the but if you get to the and you get to the deadline and they're still competing and people are offering them tons for their guys it's like wow they're probably going to be listening hard they're not going to win the stanley cup so they're more likely to be sellers and buyers incidentally that's that's why I picked Pittsburgh to make the playoffs, not because I think they're better than the Flames today, per se, but because when they get there in March,

they're far more likely to be buyers. You know, you've got to win while you have Sid and while you have Malkin and Carlson and all those guys. Big Blackhawks fan here. I'm very excited from what I've seen for the first five games of the season. Do you think they have a chance to at least make it interesting for a playoff push if the team can stay healthy? No.

Why are some of you so disrespectful? No, but he gave you a word, interesting. Yeah. That's a different word, right? That's a word you can play with a little bit. I agree, no. I agree, no. I think, you know, you look back last year.

What were we talking about this very day? Conor Bedard. First three weeks. And so much so, the veteran Blackhawk player said, we got to pull this kid in. Too much stuff. And they kind of go, will you chill? Because it's going to get to where it is now.

You know, that all of a sudden we're talking about a million other things and Conor Bedard looks like, you know, whatever the real deal is, he's going to get to where it is now. You know, that all of a sudden we're talking about a million other things and Conor Bedard looks like, you know, whatever the real deal is, he's going to be that. But, yeah, I would – you got to grow, right, though, Sam? They got to play better. What a horrible year they had last year. They played a lot of horrible – they got to play more. They got to play more better hockey.

I know that's not perfect English, but that's how you start moving forward. This is a very weird team. It is a weird team. It's the strangest team. They're like the fifth oldest in the league because of these weird names. Yeah. But this reminds me of the conversation where someone says, oh, Artemi Panera, top 10 guy in the league.

You know, he's a top 10 guy or whatever. And then you get out a pen and paper and you start writing the top 10 guys. And you're like, oh, he's the 24th best player in the league. Like, he's not even close. You know, and so for me, it's, okay, is Chicago going to be in the playoff hunt? Okay, Dallas is in, hard in, right? You like Utah this year?

Utah is probably better. I do like Utah. That's a bad injury, Sean Dursey. He didn't circuit share. We're playing almost 30 minutes a game. But I do like Utah. Okay, so Dallas is in, Utah is in maybe. The Winnipeg Jets had 110 points last year and are off to a 3-0 start.

So the Jets are probably in. Wild, they in while they're 20 and two they're pretty good nashville predators made a bunch of moves to get better they're pretty good i've mentioned the colorado avalanche i know they had a slow start but you know who do you think is going to finish higher colorado or chicago you know like there's just other teams yeah it's a good division you can't write off st louis no and then you mentioned st louis you're, so for me, it's not is Chicago bad or whatever. It's everyone else is good. And this next question is, why do you always admit the Jets when talking about other Canadian teams?

I guess we always admit the Jets, boys. I don't know if we do that or not. I picked them. Omit the Jets? Yeah, that's what I said, right? Oh, I thought you said admit. No, omit. Oh, did I?

Maybe I did. Omit the Jets. Why don't you talk about the Jets? I picked them when the Stanley Cup a couple years ago. I've always picked them to go deeper than they actually did, including beating Colorado last year, which they didn't. So, yeah.

And you know what, Justin? You think about the guys that have committed to the Jets, like when Hellebuck and Shifley did it. Because that was always since Bufflin, since other things, Trouba, like, oh, who wants to leave? Pierre-Luc Dubois. And that's a negative, right, that you always –

and all of a sudden these guys committed. And then they played that hockey where they didn't give up more than two goals for a phenomenal number of games. And then they bleeped the bed in the playoffs. Yeah. You know, so, yeah, I don't – I don't – if you retreat, so you think they're going to make the playoffs. I do.

I used to say they were going to, so I've got them certainly one of those being considered to make the playoffs. I don't have them as retreat. So you think they're going to make the playoffs. I think there's certain, I used to say they were going to, so I've got them. Certainly one of those being considered to make the playoffs. I don't have as a lead pipe cinch. Yep. No, I'm with you. I preseason,

I had them as a sort of fringe playoff team, but you know, what concerned me was last year, they had 110 points, but they were so good defensively, right? They, uh,

gave up the playoffs. Yeah. 199 goals was, I think tied for first of florida or maybe one behind florida for best in the nhl i wasn't sure they were going to be able to replicate that without monahan and without toffoli and i can't even remember but i feel like they lost a handful of guys and they have been they've given up two goals in three games their goaltender has been fantastic and if team defense is still there you know know, Perfetti can take a step. Connor scores.

Ehlers can score. You know, Shifley's obviously still there. Velarde, they have enough guys that they can score. So I'm pro-Winnipeg now. Yeah, that's nice to hear. There you go. You don't omit them anymore. A bit of positivity after being mean to Calgary and Chicago.

That's good. This is very good. I want to make sure this qualifies as national question, not Leaf-centric. Now that the Toronto Maple Leafs have established their ultimate superiority by finally adding the pieces they needed through defense and coaching, do you think the rest of the nation quakes in their boots at the thought of playing them,

or are they more in awe of the talent and consider it an honor to share the ice with them? That's from Ryan, the parade planner. That's the best text we've ever got. Yes, that's good. Like, set it up and then just deliver the hammer, right? Ryan, the parade planner. It's an incredible sign-off on that.

Where, I mean, are they the best team in Canada this year? Is it? Well, all I can tell you is when I worked for them, you know, they weren't among the better teams most years. And going across Canada,

it gave everyone great joy. First of all, phenomenal relief fans, unparalleled. Even back then. Now people travel everywhere. It's not a novelty. But back then,

there'd be more relief fans everywhere else, which then pissed the hometown fans off even more. So they took incredible joy. Even if it was a weak Leaf team and the Oilers and Flames were really strong then, they still took incredibly joy kicking the crap out of them if they could.

So they still take that kind of joy. There's more bite to that than in a lot of other markets. But I don't know if they're quaking in their boots. But the thing is, the Leafs aren't far from being what Chicago was when they would come to town, but they were winning cups. But when they came to your town, and out west they're only coming once, like Chicago only came once here. But it was really neat to see because you said, wow, wow.

This is a whole different level, right? And you want to be that team. And maybe Florida's that team now. Edmonton can be that team, but Toronto can be that team and maybe florida's that team now i don't know edmonton can be that team but toronto can be that team but you got in regular season wise but you gotta have to play a text from brad in calgary says i'm turning the radio off after that text so ryan the parade planner he got inside that guy's uh a few more nicknames boys uh. Stumpy Thomas. That's not bad. I like Stevie, yeah.

The Russian Rocket. Yeah. It's okay, yeah. Just okay. Oh, it's good, okay. I'll give this a good one, yeah. Dave the Hammer Schultz. Yeah, I just mentioned that.

All those flyers. Like, Dave, like, what are they called? What was Don Selesky called? He had a nickname I can't remember. But they all, like I said, Battleship Kelly, Mad Dog Kelly. Derek Brandeo in my ear did volunteer a good one. Vlasic was Pickles. Yeah.

That was good. But that's like anybody whose last name is Campbell is Soupy. Yeah. Right? That's a classic one. There's a lot of Campbells in the phone book. There's not many Vlasics. Showtime for Patrick Kane.

Yeah, Showtime's great. Showtime is a little bit, for me, like, and this is touchy now, but like Black Mamba was for Kobe. Yeah. Where it's like, no one called him that. No, no. You know, like kind of gave it to himself, you know, and was like, I'm the Black Mamba.

I was like, no one, not really, you know. Like, I don't know anyone until like i'm the black mom but i was like no and not really you know like i don't know anyone until like almost late career kane that was referring to kane as showtime and like he'd score a goal and he'd be like showtime yeah yeah like he kind of was like kind of gave it to himself so that maybe i don't think ken linsman liked being called the rat but you know that was the rat for kenny we did get We did get that as a submission. How about Mr. Game 7 for Justin Williams? Yeah.

That one, though, you earn, you don't get during your career. It's like career's got to be almost over before you get it. It's kind of a statement. I can't. Or the nickname. I honestly can't imagine having a better nickname than Mr. Game 7. His numbers in Game 7 are sick. Yeah, it's amazing. Someone should just call themselves Mr. Game 3

and let people go figure it out. Go check my Game 3s. Okay, I don't know. Mr. Game 3, that's right. That's too bad. We got any other? Austin Matthews, do they call him Cactus at all? Pappy. I like Cactus

better. Pappy's not bad. Pappy or Cactus or whatever. Pappy's good, but something C cactus related would be great but it's it's kind of just got to happen i don't think we get to pick it yeah this is self-serving one but uh hey sammy it's your bantam house league coach here fred whip uh keep up the great work man and say hi to your dad for me my thursday beer league winger fred whip wonderful guy and his son mark whip i played hockey not much of a coach, though. No. Oh, yeah. He came of you.

Just check out my live barn highlights. You'll see Fred Whipp's work. So did you get to know your dad when he called to complain about your race time? No, no, no. They're buddies. They're buddies. It's a small town thing, but love you, Freddy. Thanks for texting.

There you go. That's great. Not a ton else, really, here on the text line. I guess if you're gun to your head who you're starting the power play with in game seven for the Toronto Maple Leafs? Morgan, Riley, or Oliver Ekman-Larsen? Great question. I do feel like we need to see some hockey first. I was going to say, tell me how the six games went.

Yeah. Game seven. Tell me. Give me a narrative of the six games. Did Ekman-Larsen have 50 power play points in the season? Maybe neither. Maybe you reacquired Labushkin and you put him out there. I don't know. Maybe it's Lilligren at that point. Oh, gosh. Maybe he's got it figured out by then.

I don't know. All right. Well, we got, do we have any more before we... Yeah, a couple more. Willie Styles? Let's jam him in. Willie Styles? Yeah. Is that one? Yeah, I think so. A little bit of one for Neylander, yeah. Is that like a Will Smith reference from back in the day? I don't really know what it refers to.

Because wasn't he like doing the whole Big Willie Styles thing? And this is one that there weren't many guys I was more excited about as a prospect for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Jonas Gustafsson's nickname, The Monster. I was just thinking that. Oh, actually, Hilda Beast is unbelievable. Hilda Beast is very good. That's good.

Yeah. I really like the Hilda Beast. And they've shortened it now to The Beast. And the way Berubei says it like he doesn't even bother it's just beast uh yvonne cornway the roadrunner yeah well i mean you had the rocket and the pocket rocket there too like you had all those great nicknames yeah ryan smith captain canada that one was always tough that was kind of an earned one too well yeah And give him a lot of credit. I mean, he was the captain of like the world championship over here.

Oh yeah. Right. Like it was the world. He showed up all the time. Every time. Yeah. Which is, it was greatly appreciated.

And I think this is a perfect way to end the best, probably the best one ever. It's Gordie Howe, Mr. Hockey, Mr. Hockey, Mr.

Hockey is very good. Yeah. So there you go. All right. Well, we got a ton of games this weekend. Uh, Toronto Maple Leaf leaves playing the

new york rangers edmonton oilers have a big match on saturday night too we got we got all the canadian teams in action so gordon thanks for joining us today pleasure leave it's over it actually flew by i had to double check anyway yeah kippy stay away if you want whatever you know we'll land the no we're welcoming back monday thanks justin thanks sammy good catching up good talking hockey yeah love having you in here. Thanks, everyone. We'll be back next week. Have a good weekend.

We'll see you on Monday. There you go, boys. I'm going to bolt.