Real Kyper & Bourne - What Gets Winnipeg Over the Hump?

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Sabres' first win of the season, an 8-4 victory over the Brady Tkachuk-less Ottawa Senators. They look at the Atlantic Division standings with the Red Wings in the top spot early before welcoming Sportsnet Jets reporter Sean Reynolds to the show (10:20). He gets into this season's goals for the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners, whether Jonathan Toews can put them over the top, why the Jets will go big-game hunting at the deadline, and if Kyle Connor's extension signals a culture shift on the management side in Winnipeg. Later, Nick, Justin and Sam react to Carter Hart joining the Golden Knights on a PTO.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.

Once again, it's time for the fastest two hours in hockey. It's the real Kippoor and Bourne show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo. We are live on Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, 960 in Calgary, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. And if you miss our show, give us a download on the Spotify, an Apple podcast, or a YouTube. All right, Sammy, dark basement, just you and the Jays. Is Allie not home? Yeah, she's home.

You just left you to watch that? They came through for you in flying colors. They did. Okay, so you mentioned the dark basement game. And, I mean, I was blown away by the response to this on Twitter. Yeah, there's more other, like, losers. But here's what, okay, I texted, and if you're watching on YouTube or Sportsnet Plus or Sports 360, I texted a picture of my setup to Jen so we could put it on so that everybody could see.

He tweeted this out. Is this grim, boys? It's pretty grim. Okay. Like, I got a lot of blowback on like how grim this is. It's a perfect, it's a great size TV for the wall. Tell them what else do I need? That is, like, like, mix in a plant.

I'm like a plant. What do it look like? Like, I need a milk crate and a TV. Tough to know the scenario of the... Where that little bit of light is coming from on the left is a lamp. Okay. There's a nice coffee table there. Yeah.

A nice, a lamp. Yeah. Not a plant. Tell them, isn't it bad enough? And it's a... My playoff teams die. Do I need the plant to die too? I'm sitting on the couch taking that photo with a nice coffee table.

I just don't know what else am I supposed to... Like a kuthramon, am I supposed to put it there? We have like a hutch underneath it with frames and shelving up the sides. Oh, yeah, yeah. Some sort of like... I like the simplistic way. It's just, you know. Quite frankly, I am the only person that ever watches anything on that TV.

So it's like, I don't need it. No frills. It's not that it's grim. It's everything out of frame makes it seem like in isolation. You live in like a sterile hospital room with like one thing on the wall. I'm sure there's picture frames on other walls. Maybe not. There's a couple on the other side.

As a reminder, this hour real Kipprenborn brought to you by Beth 365. So plenty to get into around the national hockey loo. league as we get ready for a Toronto Blue Jay game tonight, what, 833, first pitch? I admire baseball's precision. Later and later. Yeah. You're struggling. You know, I got to be honest with you, as much as I love the Jays, I was so comfortable

last night, I shut it down probably seventh eighth inning, right? What was it, 12-3 at that time? Yeah, 12-2. Yeah, 34 at the end of the eighth inning. The Kirkie three-run bomb probably sent a few people to pay. So that's all good In the meantime, in a few minutes We'll welcome in Sean Reynolds, SportsNet

Reporter for Winnipeg. We've seen them on Hockey Night in Canada, more importantly on this show, doing a terrific job, giving us a little Jets talk. Oh yeah, we're due. We haven't done it yet. It's bad. It's not bad, and we just got started here.

They've only played four games. No, no. They're going to be really interesting to watch. Like so many years, the focus has been, oh, Toronto, Edmonton final. It's destined. It'll be great for Canada. And then quietly, Winnipeg's become the best team in Canada.

I'm pretty sure if you go to the SportsNet predictions, I put them in the cup final this year. Really? Yeah. I did. Really? Yeah. Okay.

I feel like not just because of what they are or what happened last year, but I feel like they'll add this year. And I looked at that roster. I didn't lose many guys. No. And what's Taves by midseason? has he's become a contributor. Hellebuck has some playoff experience.

Maybe he'll figure it out. All those big games at the Olympics where he stars for the USA will help him out. Oh, boy, oh boy. You'd be careful with those jokes. It's coming up in a few months. I had him already before Four Nations and worked out great.

Okay, the Buffalo Ottawa game last night was going up against the Blue Jays. Full credit to our panel who hung in there did a terrific job. Tough job. Hard to go against the Blue Jays right now but they did it and also the buffalo sabers did it big time against a team with no brady kachuk yeah um you know the one concerning thing i'll i'll take from that is you know this ottawa senator's team has just not gotten goaltending and that's scary because almark is almark and

valley has said his piece on allmark several times mirro linens not great then boy that's a concern Kachuk's out. You know their penalty kill is minus eight. They've given eight goals up on the PK already this year in Ottawa. Would you like to guess how many goals they've given up

total in four games, the Ottawa Senators? It's got to be a high number. It is 22. Oh, man. 22 goals against in four games so far for the Ottawa Senators this season. So that's leaky, boys.

That's leaky. And it's not going to get any better with no Brady Kachuk. My understanding is he had surgery this morning. Oh. Oh, really? Yeah.

You heard it here first, folks. Oh, I don't know about that. Well, you heard it here, folks. I'm not telling you the truth. I'm not giving you Doug McLean. I'm just telling you what I'm hearing. Yeah. So he was in New York on his second opinion.

So chances are if the second opinion was like the first opinion, then he, in fact, had surgery in New York. So that could be eight weeks for Brady Kachuk. Yeah. They're going to need some saves at some point. Yeah, that's all of a sudden a month, probably more realistic, six weeks to eight weeks. Yeah. And, you know, this Ottawa senator's team had had a long run of bad octobers and then being like, spending the whole year trying to dig out of a hole. Last year was better.

They can't do it, man. The division is too good to be, if they even are 500 at the end of this and they're out of a playoff spot, they can be okay. but they can't afford to fall much below that line. Yeah, that's it. I mean, if you're thinking of one guy, if you're power ranking the guys, you can't lose if you're the Ottawa Senator's number one at Brady Kachuk. He's their whole thing.

You're captain, he sets the tone. Like, yeah, I just, that's a brutal loss to start the year. When you look at that east, I think we all said prior to that, that we do believe that it'll kind of be the same casting characters in terms of being at the top of the east with Florida, Tampa, Toronto, Carolina, Washington.

But then tons of question marks. Yeah. Way more question marks in the east than we feel like in the West. Yeah. Is that safe to say? I was like, boy, the Pacific Division is the worst division in hockey.

And then I looked at the Metro and I was like, ugh. Two pretty bad ones. Yeah, that's not pretty. Yeah. you look at who's leading the NHL right now if you sort the whole thing by points percentage. So Carolina's 3 and

O and then it's Detroit, Boston, Montreal. You know, those are teams that I don't know that we predicted to be there along with Washington. Right now, Detroit sits at the very top. The team that you said stunk. And a, I do

think I was a bit wrong. You know, because it would be easy to be like, give it time. They're still bad. Whatever. You bought it. You just at that particular day. I think you still think they stink? I'm still not ready to be like they're good. I still don't think they make playoffs.

I think they finish with like 93 points or something. But their D's better than I thought they were. Because in the past, they've been kind of old and sluggish. They got rid of some of that. These young kids, they're mobile now. And you think that's a big part today in the NHL. Mobility's more than ever. And you look at Sider, Edvinson, sending Polika, Yohansen, Bernard Dawker.

They move. it's just the one or two guy if you're lucky enough to have on the blue line that can kind of control pace of play and that Sandy and Pelicas can be a star I liked him in the two games against the leaves I thought he really was confident moves the puck and Edmondson at 6'7

is also mean and there hasn't been a mean six foot seven guy in the league since Chara unless you can't Rampi who to me is just I mean untethered yeah you know he's a little bit more wild but at Edvinson's good last night Detroit with their third win over the Florida Panthers.

Florida, of course, down probably worse than any other team, right? When you consider Barkov out. Kulikov was the latest guy to go down. Chuck. Kach. And I think they can get carried so far with their culture or their team play or Bobrovsky hanging in there. but it's going to be tough still.

I think last night was another example of kind of Florida can be in there, hang in there, but there's going to be some nights that just flat out lose because of injuries. They don't have the top end guys because they are so solid all the way through from Bennett Marchand to Verheagie and Ryan Hart of the next line, Lundell's line with Luster Rainin, like they're solid as they've ever been. They just don't have those top end guys that break games open in the same way.

So Buddy, the Atlantic is going to be. tight. If you were to say pick two teams who definitely will not win the Atlantic division this year, you know, whatever, it's kind of hard. You'd take Buffalo and then you go, I don't know, Boston could make playoffs, Detroit could make playoffs, Montreal certainly could, Ottawa can. Tampa has been underwhelming too. Yeah, they're deep speaking of not so mobile. Looking a little slower. All right. Mobility doesn't seem to be a problem with guys like Josh Morrissey and in Winnipeg. Let's welcome in Sean Reynolds. Sports Net Reporter, Hockey Night in Canada, does it all on our show when it comes to JetSalk.

Sean, how are you, pal? Doing great, guys. How are you doing? We are good. All right, so give us an overall feel and just take us back, you know, from last year and then the mindset going into this season where we saw a team emerge as one of the best in the regular season. They won the president's trophy. So we're beyond that now. They don't have to win the president's trophy because we're all believing that even if they did, it doesn't matter from April on.

Is that the general feeling moving forward here in Winnipeg? Yeah, I think so. The team itself, they don't get ahead of themselves. They're not trying to solve that playoff problem in October. They know that they need to get there in order to solve that problem. So while you'll see some teams will go out and they'll have a good year like that and then they won't quite get to where they wanted to get in the playoffs, you know,

they'll come back a little unmotivated as maybe not the right word. But, you know, it can be hard when the problem you're trying to solve is a problem you don't get to try solving until April. And it can be hard to get motivated for October. And the one thing that you find with the Winnipeg Jets is there's just, they're so stuck to their system and so good at playing it and that system's the one that carried to you know the president's trophy last year you just know with this team that they weren't going to come out and they weren't going to lose three straight games to start

the year and they weren't going to look like themselves like they just have picked up right where they left off and the thing about the jets and the system that they play and why they're so good in the regular season is the system comes first and so as long as you stay true to the system and play that system, you may not be playing the best hockey of your career, but if you're focused on that, you don't need to play above that for the team to win. If you play the system, the Jets are going to win more often than they lose. If you play the system and then play above it, like Mark Shifley goes out and goes off like he does the other night, you're going to win games and you're going to be a really, really tough team to beat. So what I'm seeing right out the gate from the

Winnipeg Jets is just that you can expect they're going to. to be a really, really tough team in the West, just like they were last year, you can expect that when teams come rolling into Winnipeg or Winnipeg goes rolling into your barn, that team's in for a tough night of grinded out hockey, where every time you have the puck, you have not one, but two Winnipeg Jets players pressuring you. They're not fun to play against. They take away time and space as good as any of the teams in the league. So you're going to have this team playing that. And it is to the point of what you were bringing up. before. I don't have any questions about the Winnipeg Jets. They're going to be a good team.

They're going to be a top team in the West. The question becomes what happens to them in the playoffs and can they find a way to get above that? Just one of those questions that we won't be able to tackle that until April. Yeah, it's crazy. And even looking at their schedule, they have eight games left in the month of October. One is against a playoff team. And it's the Minnesota Wilds who are maybe 15th or 16th last year. So by all means, we should expect them to be like last year where I think they started the year 306 and 0 or I forget exactly what it started last year. But like, so what puts them over the top is Taves? It looked like someone who can be a difference maker once they get to the games they care about. I mean, that's what

they're hoping for, you know, and he's a really tricky one to figure out. Nave said this. He's said it. Their general manager has said it. Like he's not going to be answering any of these questions until the end of the year. Like I take a look at Jonathan Taze right now and you see him. He's a very solid NHL player. And, but am I seeing those signs of that superstar that drag teams and put them over the top? If I'm being honest, I'm not seeing that yet. You're seeing a guy who's got a really high IQ.

That's obvious. I'm seeing a guy who in the second game of the year, he started looking a little bit tired. So that's what you can expect from a guy who hasn't played for two years. And the league has only got faster. But it, it's still a question. and he'll be the first one to say it. It's a question of whether he's going to be able to get to where he wants to go

or be the player that he wants to be. But in the meantime, he doesn't need to be because it's like I said, he's just playing the system and he's doing a good job of playing that system and the Jets are going to win games. So the beauty of the Jets as it stands when they bring in new players is as long as everyone plays that system first, that's enough to win games. It buys time for players to work on becoming the version of themselves that is going to help. the Winnipeg Jets the most.

So it's a good situation for Jonathan Tays because the Jets are going to win a lot of games this year from their system. He doesn't need to be a star. He's trying to get his feet back underneath him. He's got the whole year to do it. And he's not going to be put in a situation whereby game 10,

it's like, you know, JT, we need more out of you because we're starting to fall behind the curve here. They're going to be fine. He's going to have time to find his game. Whether he does, that's the question that we won't. He won't have answered until later. during the year. You're watching and listening to Sean Reynolds, Sportsnet Reporter in Winnipeg for Hockey Night in Canada as well covering the Winnipeg Jets. Just to touch on that,

you know, the other night watching the game and Taves played almost 20 minutes. I think he had a minute and a half more than Shifley that game. Now, are those good, legitimate minutes that he's earned? Are they kind of given to him a little bit? I know Adam Lowry's out. How much is that factored in? But to your point, if 10 or 15 games from now you're going to ask him to give more, it's like I gave blood already in the first five games. Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, the Lowry thing for sure has a lot to do with it. Lowry is really, really the culture carrier on this team. And what you'd see a lot of times, the importance of him as a player was when the team, because the Jets, the system I keep talking about that makes the, so good. It's taxing. You've got to put a lot into it. I talked to Gus Nyquist about the system and the new guys come in here and they're like, wow, they're asking a lot from you. So you have to throw a lot of effort into that system to make it work. And a lot of times what Adam Lowry's role is is when the team's overall effort level and details are sliding.

He goes out mid-game and establishes this shift where it's like, guys, this is the blueprint. This is what we need to do. I'm going to show it to you on the ice here. I'm going to pin the other team down in their zone and just grind them out, grind them out. And then I'm going to get off the ice and I'll have shown you this is what we need to do. So he's extremely important in that. But I mean, what you're seeing from, it's too early for Jonathan Taze to have earned that ice time, I think. So although you could say that he earned it in the preseason and he earned it, you know, in training camp. So he probably earned it here. But there's a little bit of he's earned it by being Jonathan Tays walking in here.

So to a degree it is given to him a bit here. But he's earning it in the way that you talk about all those minutes he played. He doesn't look out of place playing those minutes. So he's going and he's earning it. It's one of the things that he's made sure he wants to do here. He's not trying to draw the focus in and be like, hey, JT's here. This is JT's team now. He's very much said, this is a great team.

Sheifley is the guy. Conner's the guy. Lowry's the guy. Morrissey's the guy. Helibuck's the guy. I'm just one of the guys. He's doing a real good job of riding that line, but not disappearing into the shadows, like staying out in front enough to be like, this is what Jonathan Taze can give you.

But in the meantime, he's going to earn his spot. So at every stage of his time with the Winnipeg Jets, he's a player to me that is earning the opportunities that he's been given. So how do you assess this Winnipeg Jets decor, you know, Josh Morrissey and Demello, you know, Sandberg is hurt right now, but Pionk is there. I am curious, kind of beneath those guys, how you see them filling it out. You know, we've seen these teams that win Stanley Cups are pretty solid in all three pairs. Are the Jets able to do that? Yeah, I mean, nothing has really changed with them other than the fact that they come into this year with Shen in their lineup, which makes them a little bit deeper.

The Jets do a really good job of, I mean, they've got Kail Kleg playing for the Manitoba Moose right now, who had a great camp. And, you know, they do a really good job of identifying that sixth defenseman and then carrying like five of them, right? Like you've got Colin Miller, you've got Flurry, you've got Logan Stanley. So you've got different options of guys who are that bottom pairing guy who, hey, if it's going to be a rugged night, maybe we put Logan Stanley. And hey, if it's a team that we need to get more shots from the point in, hey, we can put in Colin Miller. Fleury is a guy who started as like the seventh or eighth defenseman last year and has really worked his way up to the point that when Sandberg went down, he was the guy getting the opportunities on the second pairing. So the Jets handled this by committee. The six defensemen is four or five different guys.

That's how they've done this. You touched on Samberg. I'd said it last year when he got injured. He to me is a real linchpin, a hidden guy that the league doesn't. talk about enough how good he is defensively when he's out. I'd said it last year. I thought, and Kyle Connor had been injured at some point, some really big players had been injured.

I thought Dylan Sandberg last year being injured was going to be the most challenging injury for the Jets to face. And when he was gone, they had like a 0.55 points percentage with him in the lineup last year. It was like 0.8, right? He's a big body who snuffs out a lot of dangerous plays and is always used in in the situations where they need defense most. So he's a tough guy to get beyond.

But, I mean, I haven't even started talking about Josh Morrissey, who's a top five defenseman in the league and what he can do for you. The jets are very capable on the back end. And the depth that I was talking about at the beginning just adds to that. Sean, is there an update on the injuries, particularly you mentioned earlier, Lowry and skating? Is there a chance we could see him back? early November, mid-November, he's skating, I imagine.

Yeah, yeah, he's been skating since the beginning. Like he hasn't been in camp, but he's been out skating on his own. Sounds like they're very happy with his progress. I think Samberg, I believe Samberg is skating, but not with a stick. He's just kind of getting out there, Cole Perfetti on the ice as well. So I think these guys are all going to kind of come together right around the same time, you know, early November. kind of window is what I'm looking at. And then all of a sudden, you're going to get all three of these guys in the lineup.

And when you get Lowry and you instantaneously, in my mind, get one of the toughest to play against third lines in the league. Right now, the Jets, although last game, their depth woke up, depth scoring. One thing that you're looking with Gus Nyquist and Jonathan Tays on that second line, you're trying to see if they can be a legitimate scoring second line. That took a real hit when Cole Perfetti went out of the lineup. So when he gets back, you're going to see, well, maybe just maybe the Jets are going to be able to get some secondary scoring that they could really use. And again, like I said, Sandberg is just going to shore up your defense and make you that much harder to play against.

So, you know, if you're the central division, I'm doing hockey night in Canada on Saturday, the Nashville Predators, who are trying to turn things around and getting a much better start to this season, then the 0 and 5 start that they had last year, you've got to be taking these points off the Jets at this point. Because come November, when all those guys come back, that really, really solidifies their lineup. So now's the time to make hay against the Jets if you need to. So it doesn't seem like the Jets are, and I think you even said this last year on the deadline, a team that's like, we're going to add something later on. Earlier in the show, I mentioned I could see the Jets doing that.

But now that I think about it, like they probably aren't eager to add a whole lot, right? They're their team chemistry, their team unity. They don't really need the hired gun. Well, I mean, That's a philosophical thing. That's a philosophical thing because last year, you know, the Jets went in and they prioritized like not rocking the boat, right? Like let's keep our chemistry.

Our chemistry is what got us here. And I've said this before. I mentioned it a bunch of times. The Jets system is what makes them so ferocious to play against. But I think you've got to be careful being a system team, system first team, when you go to the playoffs because now you've got. coaches in a series trying to crack that system. And they've got upwards of seven games to do it.

And last year against St. Louis, who was essentially the 16th seed, the last team in the playoffs against the Jets who were the number one team. And the Jets needed miracles, like gifts from the hockey gods to get past the St. Louis Blues, because when he dug into them, Monty cracked that jet system, right? So what, how do you get beyond that where we've got a great system? Well, you add really good players who can jump up in key moments and win you games. And I don't think the Jets had enough of those guys last year. And that's why they barely make it out of the first round and don't make it out of the second round.

So it's my opinion. And listen, Kevin Shevledayoff does a great job. Maybe he wouldn't agree with me in this. But I'll say this. Last year, they decided to just stay with what they had and what they had clearly wasn't enough. So to me, there's an argument to be had there. Did they need to be more active at the trade deadline? Did they need to get more wow-type players who can take over games?

If they had had them last year, I think there was a good chance they would have got past the Dallas Stars. Just remember we had this conversation, October 16th for the first time. Yeah. When it comes up at Mark. Another guy that cracked the Jets system is Kyle Connor. And I say that, Sean, because there was always this belief in certain markets, including Winnipeg. And I'm not saying that Shifley and Hellebuck's contracts weren't, you know, maybe comparable or fair market at the time.

But there was a sense always that, okay, we just do this, this way in Winnipeg. And you got to remember it's Winnipeg, you know, like other markets can say at times. And then this guy came along and said, hey, here's the number, 12 million. And you can do, say whatever you want about bonuses. but this is what I want in a signing bonus. And he kind of just threw everything that they've kind of structured in the past to say, yeah, we want you, we don't want to lose you, and we're willing to do whatever it takes to keep you.

And he got an incredible market value with Marner and Rantanin. And my question to you is, is that the start of a different philosophy now for the Winnipeg Jets moving forward, that they'll just do whatever it takes right now to try to win and whatever was said in the past about certain structures and philosophies, we know we're up against a challenge here

to get players here. When a guy like Kyle wants to stay, we're just going to make it happen. Well, it's crazy that we frame it that way because I take a look at Kyle Connor and I think he got market value. And we're talking about this like, oh my God, it's a change in philosophy

for the Jets that they're going to lock There are players down to market value. No Winnipeg tax, no Canada tax. We're just going to pay these guys what the market dictates rather than getting them for millions less. Like Josh Morrissey is playing on like a discount contract for where he is. 6.1. Is that what Morrissey is? 6.1? Yeah, but I mean, like you're talking about a top five defense in the league.

Now I know he signed that a long time ago, but Mark Schifley, I didn't think that was market value at the time. I couldn't believe he signed for what he did. Connor Hellebuck, I mean, he signs a deal and immediately afterwards, all these teams start locking down their number one goaltender to the exact same deal that the eventual heart trophy winner had, the guy who is probably the best goalie in the game and everyone's just signing that deal because it's such a sweetheart deal. Other teams think for the Jets that we can match those guys with that. Like this to me, if this is a change in philosophy for the Jets, it's that we're actually paying market value rather than taking millions. billions of dollars off these guys. But he got a bonus structure that nobody else could get in the past.

That's a change in philosophy. But we would look at that bonus structure in every other market and think that's just normal. That's like what happened here is the Jets signed a normal contract that other teams sign all the time. And yes, I know Ranton and Marner were signed them. But to me, the market shifted strongly since the summer. when those guys signed their deals to now. I think you're going to look at, based on where the market's going, you're going to look at Kyle Conner's deal.

I've said this. By next year, you're going to look at his deal and think the Jets did great on that deal. I don't know how, well, I do know how they do it because I've talked to Connor Hella book about it. I've talked to Mark Schifley. I've talked to Kyle Connor about it. They say it all starts with the owner, Mark Chipman. The culture that he's managed to set there, those players buy a.

into it. They buy into what they're doing there. They feel that as long as they're in Winnipeg, they've got an ownership group that is going to give them everything they need to try and compete. And the other part about is they've said to those guys, you're our core, you're our guys, right? Like, think about all of these, you know, all the stuff that happened in Toronto and the kind of up and down with Marner, these great players who everyone knows great, but there's always these little fires around these guys and there's always these controversies. That doesn't happen in Winnipeg. Winnipeg walks in and says, Scheif, you're our guy. The rest of the league talk about this and say this and you're not going to make you know team canada and whatever but

you're our guy connor helibuck we've got time you're going to be our guy and all those guys just ride that and become the best version of the player that they could possibly become they understand that they like that culture they feel they're the players they are because of that culture and that's why they're willing to lock down long term in that culture even if it means leaving a little bit of money on the table yeah that's good stuff john hey uh i wanted to ask you a question about a quote I saw today that you may have seen is from Billy Heinola who for years

was kind of the next D-Man for the Jets and I know a lot of the analytics community liked him a lot more than some of the guys they've kept around Heinola asked him about being placed on waivers for the first time he said to be honest I kind of wish someone would have picked me up but that didn't happen and I'm here happy to play. Yeah yeah

I mean to play on that yeah I mean Nick honest is that not what every single person in that situation would have been thinking like is this what's the alternative a player yeah i don't know but you're still in your organization you're like i kind of wish i was anywhere else but you know is that yeah i i mean the writing's been on the wall i think for villi hainel like i was asked early in camp and i said i fully expected him to to be placed on waivers like i said

that at the very beginning this to me is just people speaking reality like villi hana knows that the path to a job in the NHL, kind of doesn't exist here. And he wants to play in the NHL. And I will say this. I do think there's been a little bit of a shift in philosophy. And I believe it's Scott Arneill who's made it happen. When Nick Eilers went to unrestricted free agency last year, you didn't hear Scott Arneill saying, you know, oh, well, he should have done this. He should have done that.

He said, listen, he's a player. He earned the right to be a UFA. I wish him all the best. Why is he thinking about? Scott Arneal was a player for a number of years. He knows what it's like to be the player. And I do think in the past, the Jets have done things that may have been somewhat detrimental to some of their guys coming up. Remember Sammy Niku, remember Nick Patan, all guys who were in the exact same situation that everyone thought they were going to blow up as NHLers.

And then they never really got that opportunity. They ended up sitting in the press box for a long time. It was detrimental to their development. And the Jets would hold on to those guys because they didn't want to put them on waivers and lose them for nothing. I think there's been a shift here. And maybe it's as simple as the Jets now have so much organizational depth that they don't need to worry about losing guys like that. But I honestly think that this is a Scott R. Neal thing saying let's put these guys on waivers and give them their opportunity to chase their dreams elsewhere in the league if they do get claimed. David Gustafin's another guy. I'm surprised he didn't get claimed.

Like don't tell me that guy who's a super, super solid serviceable fourth liner couldn't have helped the team like, you know, the Chicago Blackhawks or. go around the league. There's not a team that I don't think couldn't plug David Gustafson in and him be a very serviceable fourth liner. I think that the philosophy is shifted where the Winnipeg Jets now are saying to players, you know what, you're not necessarily in our plans. So we're hoping for you to go out and chase your dreams somewhere else. It just didn't happen in both these cases. I just think this is everyone's being honest with each other and Billy Hanele is being honest. I don't think the Manitoba Moose or the Winnipeg Jets take that as an insult. Logan Stanley, if you remember just a couple years ago,

was in the same situation not liking where he was and he basically was asking for a trade. They found a way to figure that out. I think like a healthy family in Winnipeg, the family members don't have issues with putting their issues on the table. That way they get talked about. I think it's a good thing. I don't see it as a bad thing.

Sean, just one more for me. A lot of distance now between the last time Gary Bentman went into Winnipeg and basically wanted to talk to either the fan base or the corporate world in Winnipeg. Since then, I think things have gotten better, right? Attendance is probably way up. The team's winning, of course, which helps and is the ultimate reason why anyone's doing anything is to get them in a position to compete for the Stanley Cup.

But it did work, didn't it? Yeah, and listen, I was on this show, I think from the outside when the fans aren't showing up. It's easy to point the finger at the fans, and I kind of feel like that happened. The organization said to the fans, like, you got to show up or this isn't going to work. Talking with the fans, like, I think the fans in Winnipeg are unimpeachable. They got a team in 2011 and sold out that building for over a decade. It didn't matter if the team was good or bad, stunker were brilliant. They showed up and they showed up in full force.

And Mark Chipman finally said it the second time he kind of went national with this story was that the Jets had been like not a service organization. They just sold the tickets and they never kind of provided people with service. They never had to because when those people stopped buying tickets, there was a lineup thousands deep of people to get into that building. And I think what happened is it created a culture where people were just buying the tickets and not really getting service back for it. And it started fraying some edges and pissing some people off.

And those people started voting with their wallets, right? They started saying we're upset. We're not showing up. So to me, this wasn't a, we need a good hockey team to win to sell tickets here. It was some fans felt like their feelings were hurt. I think that the organization didn't acknowledge that right away. way and they slowly did. And if you remember when Betman came in, he had a little bit of a sit down.

It felt to me like a parent taking the two kids and working it out. And that was between the Jets organization and their fans. And what I remember him saying, the way I perceived it, was he said, like, both sides need to come to the table and figure this out. And I think they did. I think the Jets since then have treated their fans. You know, they've elevated the experience for them. They've turned their focus to providing for those fans and showing those fans.

and showing those fans how thankful they are for them showing up. So this, to me, isn't quite simply the Jets started winning and the fans came back. In my opinion, the fans never left because there were losses or things piling up. They didn't like how they were being treated and how they spent their money. The organization started treating their fans better and now the fans are back. That's how it should be. Great stuff. Yeah, great, great insight on that, Sean.

Really appreciate it. And like everybody else, we want Winnipeg hockey for many. many moons. Eat that Jets talk. Appreciate it. Winnipeg Jets and the Philadelphia Flyers tonight as they try to get two points on the road. Thanks for doing this, Sean.

Thanks for having me. Love being here, guys. Thanks, Sean Reynolds. Sportsnet, Hockey Night in Canada. Good as it gets. Hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

I think I was really happy to see that it wasn't a drawn-out affair for Kyle Connor. And yes, I know it's market value. but Kyle still, it just seemed it was a lot easier for a lot of people to believe that either, you know, Ranting or Marner at 12 million,

but Conner's one of those guys where if Winnipeg wanted to make it tough for him to get his money, they could have, and they chose not to. Well, I think, you know, to what you're speaking about, at some point, you have, you got to keep your guys. and that's great that you can make up these arbitrary rules. Our organization doesn't do that.

And the player goes, okay, then I'll be a different organization that does. And you go, okay. Damn. And then, you know, if you're Kevin Shevleday off or Mark Chipman and everybody's, it's like, okay,

how do we replace them? Right. And you can't. And wait five years who's going to score 40 times. There's no Kyle Connor out there. There's not. So you keep Kyle Connor in a year you have a chance to win a cup,

keep everyone happy. It's called. Leverage. Leverage, business. I think the most famous sort of tea, you can't make more, whatever was the Bruins, remember forever?

Was it Bergeron or was it Charon? Bergeron. And even, was it Colorado for a bit with McKinnon maybe. Yeah, Bergeron was the guy. You can't make more than Bergeron. Yeah.

And then Charlie McAvoy was like, how about I do? Yeah. And they're like, oh, okay, $9 million, we'll do it, I guess. If that keeps you on the team, you know?

But just because Connor, sorry, Connor McDavid, and Ranton and Marner are all under market value. He doesn't mean Kyle, like, he's right. Kyle Conner is market value, right? That's a guy that scores however many goals in the league.

He's an elite player. Like, that's, but just all those other guys make these guys look bad, right? Like, it's just when Caprizo, I mean, is Caprizo, market value? I think Conner's very much in that class. I don't have them any different. Like, Caprizov is a lot. It's a crazy amount of money. But, like, in a year and a half, we'll be like, yep.

There's guys making. That's market value. Yeah, and if Caprizo's in the Hart trophy, race for multiple years it's a lot but it's not all right quick break it's a break all right plenty still on the real kipper and bourn show including a rookie that's leading his team in minutes played a good thing or not i want to get into it better not be connor badard all over again i'm i'm ready to get into it with my buddy, J.B. When we return to Real Kippen-Born.

Everything you need to know about the Blue Jays, Blair and Barker. Be sure to subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. Nick Kippreos, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. Before we get into your New York. islanders breaking news was today Carter Hart

Vancouver or Vegas I knew it started with a V somewhere Wind Vex's two V's taped together Can't hear you pal Carter Hart has now officially joined

the Vegas Golden Knights and nothing official on any contract, but it will start out as we know them as the PTOs. Your thoughts? So he'll go play for Henderson.

Is that right in the American League on a PTO? I don't know how it works, to be quite honest with you, in terms of he's not eligible with the National Hockey League to play until December 1st. So I don't know whether or not that means that he'd be able to play in the American Hockey League but he is not officially on a registered contract with the NHL so I don't know

I don't I can't see it I'll say this I'll say A it's crummy that Vegas threw Mark Lazarus out of the building for asking questions about the hockey Canada 5 just a few weeks ago because he was inquiring about this so that's crummy to start you know I think

what Carter Hart did something, you know, whatever he did, you know, people have various opinions on. And for Vegas, they've decided that people make mistakes and can learn from it and get better. They're going to give him an opportunity. He has been cleared by the legal system to work. And if NHL teams see a guy who can work and help them, they're within the rights to do that. But they're also within the rights of getting what's coming to them. And some fans are not going to be happy about the decision they've made. Well, and that, I mean, that's perfectly said. I just find this such a hard topic to talk about because if there's two sides of it,

like you said, court of law, you know, they, they had their day in court and eligible to work again, but there's a lot of people that this is a really hard conversation to have and like gives them, you know, some pause, which is fair. I really don't, it just is a really hard one for me to talk about. I don't know if he's good. I mean, yeah, who knows? Is it worth the risk? well that's i think the ultimate question like you could say no he doesn't deserve to be in the league other people can say yes they deserve they can make their i don't care about that to me it's just about now uh whether or not they can get him to the point where he's actually playing a game because mcclough went through something similar with carolina and they pulled the rug

out from underneath him on what was expected to be you know, a partnership or a merger or contract from a cloud only because of the backlash. Is that part of the reason why you put a guy on a PTO because you feel the room out? You understand that you have season ticket holders. Do you give them a chance to vent or be to the point where, you know, they have to make a hard decision as well? Is that how you see this thing falling out in the next? 10 days.

I definitely think what Vegas is doing right now is with PR management in mind. They put out a statement, never a good sign when you sign a player. If you need a PR statement, but they put out a statement about, you know, kind of what's going on. They did the PTO thing rather than committing multiple years. They did it, you know, six weeks before there's a potential game. I think Vegas is hoping that they kind of throw these things up in the air and everyone takes all shots at them and shoots all their bullets. and then by time it's December, they're like,

all right, now we're going to do the thing we wanted to do. There's definitely a lot of strategy on Vegas as part about how to manage the public backlash. Definitely. They're going to try to hide this for a while. And then when he comes up, they'll deal with whatever they had to deal with then, and then they'll try to,

they'll just hope that it goes away. And I'm not sure it will. Like, I really don't know, I mean, time heals all wounds. Like there's a million things that happen every day in the internet and in the news world, it just everything moves quickly, and maybe they think that it's going to move past. I don't know what the reaction will be afterwards.

Like a week later, a month later. I don't know. Or their own fans boo the guy. I don't know. I have no idea. But I don't think anybody does, Sam. Anybody. You could be around the game for a very long time.

You just, you don't know. I will say this. There is a difference in every major social, political issue between real life and online. That to me, I experience a divide in how online, I do get some things. retweeted into my feed. Some people think you shouldn't be able to play. This is bad from Vegas's. In person, I am running into very few people. This is just honest truth. I'm running into very few people who think he shouldn't have an opportunity to go ahead. So I think that seems to be the sentiment I encounter most is like maybe not a great guy.

There's that part of it. Great guys in the league. There's that part of it. And then there's one more important. Season ticket holders. How does that affect my bottom line? Yeah. And And that ultimately is what every owner has to deal with. I could live with, I could live with some bad tweets. Yeah. You know, rip them all day long. Is it costing me money now? And Carolina said yes.

We, we, clouds in Russia now playing because that owner said, yes, that affects my bottom line. Every team in the NHL said that, not just Carolina. Every team said, that's pretty good hockey player. What he did was too egregious for me to have them on our team. Do you think that Vegas would have gone through a similar process with their season ticket holders and trying to figure out where this is going to be at? Like, I'm sure they've had to have, right? It's a good question.

Or is this PTO sort of like, we'll do this and then we'll see what happens with our people. And then we can go from that. Yeah, I don't know whether, yeah. would would getting ahead of it be a good thing or not i have no idea i mean they're going to have to face all of this right they're going to have to answer the questions heart's going to have starting today officially yeah with their release their statement yeah so you know well i i guess we'll get a better sense for it i think he'll play for them in six weeks so do i and i don't know i don't necessarily feel awesome about it but it is what it is yeah i'm with you yeah please please

to play and he can help a team he'll play yeah goalies are having a tough time these days in the n hl and and teams are desperate i think that's pretty clear with because he's the only guy that anyone's been willing to even take a bit of the hit on the chin with because of him right because he's a goalie and there's that's a great point and we should note too sam that there are reports that he is committed to a two-year 1.8 million per year deal yeah yeah this is the pto but like they That's how we eager they are to get a goalie. Like they've, there's a contract. It's in the drawer, but it's, unless it's signed, sealed and delivered,

it's, it doesn't mean that it's a foregone conclusion. I think there's still, they got to get through a bit of a period here. And then if they feel like it's, it's not hurt the ball club in every which way, including a distraction, including season ticket holders, the bottom line then that two-year deal will come out and uh you know they don't have to you know the other thing too is you don't you don't announce it or sign it now because you want to take it the cap hit oh yeah yeah down the road right that's what this is that's what this is yeah of course it is it's don't put it on the cap until you have on the cap until you know a day

before yeah he's eligible yeah okay okay okay And then how much money does Aden Hill make? I have such answers. I need to click some buttons first. Because you know what I'm thinking about right now? Aden Hill makes $6.25 million per season until 2031. Well, you got your first playoff loophole guy right there. Okay.

Oh, yeah. All right. Yeah, he's on the cap, but he's in the press box. It's not on your playoff cap. Bingo. Anyway. I probably should have mentioned that to you guys right on. We're talking about earlier there, big guy.

Wanted to get your thoughts on a few other things. Okay, speaking of a desperate league in the goaltending department. Okay, what's with your New York Islander is asking a kid to play 25 minutes some nights? You put your best players on the ice. That's it. He's their best player. Immediately. His last two games, ice time, 2604.

2635. Oh my God. 18 years old. Just turned 18. 26 is wild. He turned 18 in September. This guy is going to be a star. There's no question about that.

He's good now. No question about that. When I see those minutes, it doesn't tell me how great he is. It tells me how desperate the New York Islanders are. But you know what the worst part about that, Kip? Their D are good.

They've got Pelick and Pollock and Mayfield and Romano. and DeAngelo's on P-B-1. Like, it's not a bad decor. I just think it's not right. It's just not right. Develop the kid. Bring them along.

And here's the worst part. You haven't even won a game yet. Starting. You're playing against McDavid tonight. Four Islanders. 26 minutes again against McDavid? Yeah, they may retroactively earn the first overall pick here. Our thanks to Sean Reynolds.

Covering the Winnipeg Jets. Still plenty more as we kick it into the Leaf Hour edition on The Hill Kipper Endborn Show, where we'll welcome in Dave Maloney, MSG Network, hockey analysts. We tee up the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs next when we return to Real Kipper Endborn.