Real Kyper & Bourne - Which Canadian Team is Best Equipped for the Future?

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Sportsnet.ca writer and former pro scout Jason Bukala joins Nick and Justin to discuss a number of topics, including the potential for a rising salary cap, the potential for the NHL Draft to look like the NFL Draft in coming years, and to break down the prospect pool that each Canadian NHL franchise currently has (0:21). Can any of the Canadiens, Oilers, Canucks, or Leafs go out and make an impactful trade for a defenceman? Plus, could Logan Cooley push Connor Bedard for the Calder Trophy? Afterwards, Sam joins Nick and Justin to debate the contract given to Jack Hughes, what Matty Beniers is asking for, and if we might eventually see the end of the 'bridge deal'. 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 into the National Hour on the Real Kipper and Boren show. We are live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver, and always this hour of Real Kipper and Boren brought to you by Bet365. 12 games on tap tonight. Right now, let's welcome in Jason Bukala, the pro hockey group, and Cap, did I tell you I call it unfriendly? I can see that. If you're with Cap Friendly, can you just nudge the thing up

about five or seven million now, please? Just do it on the computer because some of those GMs are so dumb, they'll actually believe you when they see it. We should put a proposal in to call it Line of Credit. I love it. Just a little extra ten schmill in there. This is a good idea.

This country's in debt as it is. Don't borrow anymore. How are you? I'm great. That's great, guys. You guys look fantastic. You got a jersey for us? I was going to bring in a couple of my Panther jerseys, draft jerseys, a Barky, a little Sue Greyhound jersey from back in the day. I don't think we can run a Panthers jersey in here.

Not today, anyways. With Kyle, I think. Not today, yeah. Sorry about that. I didn't want to totally invade my space. Your space, I mean. Your space. So now that Conor Bedard's off and running,

now you're already searching for the next conor bedard and is he is he anywhere to be found by next june well the top rated guy macklin celebrini down at boston university he's a heck of a player guys i mean the youth coming through the system right now so let's just talk about the cap for a second let's let's think three years out five years out when there's going to be more money on the table this quality of players that are coming through because we've kind of lived through that bridge deal uh era and now these guys seem to be getting paid sooner than later it's going to be interesting to see um how it all pans out in the next few years but you know the bedard guy, he's obviously a fantastic player. Mackle Celebrini, though, at BU, outstanding.

Sorry about that. No, I just got told in the ear, get the mic closer. I didn't have my earphone. He also does our sound check. Yeah, I'm multifaceted. Sorry, carry on. Sorry to interrupt. Mackle Celebrini is at BU. Honestly, he was Team Canada's best player at the World Championships,

the U18s last year in Switzerland. He would have been a top 15 pick in last year's draft. So, rated first overall in this draft. Sammy came out with it yesterday on Sportsnet.ca. I ran a little piece on him today. But he's an electric player. Close to it, Kipper. Different. You know, like, he's

more sturdy. So, he's like 6'1", 90. So, he's got some fantilia in him, like off the rush, pace-wise, and a little bit more beef to him, you know, in the hard areas. Nobody has a Bedard release, but this kid back door in the power play rips pucks. I mean, OV-like rips pucks. It's something to watch.

All right. Well, that's nice to know that's out there for people. So when he gets drafted, is he going to be in an arena walking to the draft floor? Elliot's in here yesterday talking about changing the way the draft is done. As someone who's involved in that side of it, how do you feel about a potential draft from home NFL style?

I'm not for it at all. I mean, you know, you guys, we've all been around the game forever, right? And part of the cachet of what we do at the draft time especially is we're different than the other big sports. Like we have the kids in the venue. We have the families there. And, you know, I personally live for those moments. I think that it's something that separates us

from everybody else. It's really cool for the kids. From a hockey operations perspective, I can also tell you that we got a lot of work done. You know, like, you're meeting guys. I don't know how you guys feel, but I like to look somebody in the eye sometimes when I'm talking to them about when I'm talking to them about

whatever I'm talking to them about. From a hockey ops perspective, it's important. That is the business side and even the human side because you've got family and friends involved for sure, but these guys upstairs, I'm talking about the league office, they don't care.

They're looking for more sizzle. Sammy wants it at the Sphere in Vegas. He wants that, which is a pretty decent idea. Sammy, are you going to pay the million dollars a day fee? He said yes. Well, I heard it took you two like a month just to get those screens situated. Can you imagine player by player having to go up in the Sphere? It would be an awesome experience, but imagine it would be a heavy lift.

But I hope we don't lose it, guys. I hope that we keep it. I hope we keep that experience like that. It's ours. It's unique. Jason, let me ask you in terms of the Canadian talent group within each organization. There's seven

teams, obviously, in Canada here. Who's best equipped moving forward here to, if you're going to make a trade, you know, and have that nugget, everybody seems to be, Calgary's in a different situation, but Edmonton's looking for a D, Vancouver's looking for a D, the Leafs are looking for a D.

Who's got the prospects right now to move? And I know we talked the other day about Nick Robertson and his push already and maybe lighten it up a little bit in the American Hockey League. But what's out there? Well, it's interesting that we're already going down the D-man road, aren't we? Because it seems like as soon as the puck drops, somebody goes down or you're not getting enough out of somebody in your lineup. And immediately it starts to raise its eyebrow.

Montreal is the best equipped guys. I mean, they've got incredible depth. Even on the back end, they've got incredible depth coming through. You know, Mayu's coming through. Ryan Bakker went back home, suffered a knee injury last week. Hopefully he's okay playing there in Cloton. You know, they got Harris up. I mean, they're locked and loaded on the back end for a long time. Gouley, that's going to

be interesting, isn't it? I love this kid. I think he's got top pairing D written all over him. Similar to Timmons here in Toronto, who's had some bad luck with injury, Gouley seems to be getting nicked up a little bit early in his career. Now, having said that, we went through that with Eckblad in Florida too, where he got nicked up a lot early, and then he's kind of planed out and was healthy up until now again. But yeah, I hear you, Kipper. People are going to be shopping in those waters. Timing isn't right right now.

There's nothing out there. The wish list is there. You got cap issues. You just started. You don't know where you are in LT. There's so many moving parts right now. Look in calgary vladar like dustin wilson vladar like you know i think there's a spot in the league for vladar if the and he's only in a two million dollar deal make it fit somewhere he can play games right dustin wolf what else can this kid

do in the american league right you know so he was doing best goalie in the league two years in a row best goalie in the league before that best goal in or something? Best goalie in the league. Before that, best goalie in the WHL. MVP of the American League. Yeah. MVP. Not just the best goalie. Not just the best goalie. Yeah.

So, you know, we've been talking about Dean not able to trade for one, no prospects to move. Any of these guys that the Leafs have, can Benoit play in the league? Is Kokanen possible? Like, who's the next guy to take shifts for them if these six aren't good? I was hoping for more out of nimala uh coming out of uh traverse city and then uh and then through training camp coconut had a great camp he he surpassed my expectation for sure especially for a guy that kind of spent some time in the east coast league last year right so he he's not nhl ready though

you know i'm i wish i could just sit here and tell you yeah there's a guy this is going to be like a guy that can come in he's going to play 15 or 16 minutes uh you know match up even strength against the the three s at home but you know might not be able to handle a hard match up on the road i don't see a guy like i don't not right now you got to run it out and i'm concerned a little bit because um you know giordano uh you talk about load management and stuff like that i think that we're looking at a load management candidate if that exists in the nhl with with a mark giordano all right we're talking to jason bucola from sportsnet.ca who does a terrific job with uh anything that has to do with uh top

prospects and uh a good one what we thought was in Edmonton the last few years in Philip Broberg. And at times, correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't he in higher regards of even Bouchard? And is there a fit? Is there a feeling that Edmonton may move this guy? And what's missing here from him being a regular NHLer? Well, first of all, I know that upper management loves the kids still.

So, I mean, that's, you know, I don't know where they're at in terms of that. You know, when I work with Dale Tallent in Florida, he always told me that it takes about 250 games as a pro for a defenseman. Really, I don't care what level you're at. Like, you know, bleed out a season or two in the American League and then, you know, work your way in. It's going to take time. With Brobert Kipper um he's undefined for me right now and that's a problem for me so big body skates very well uh when he came over from sweden i thought he was going to

be a two-way transitional type guy maybe man your second unit power play um lean distributor more than shooter but at the same time you know I just thought he could provide some secondary offense. He's had a slow start, you know, but, you know, he's still young enough that he can figure it out. I think there's a market for him. I will say that right now. I think somebody else would grab hold of that and nurture that a little bit differently.

So time will tell, but he hasn't hit it. He hasn't hit his mark quite yet. Okay. So we've been talking about all the large debates here. One of them, Conor Bedard, obviously super exciting. The three of us went to a game. We watched Conor play here in Toronto. Everyone has handed him the Calder Trophy.

I think the odds of him winning it, I forget exactly what they were, but just exceedingly high. Is there a threat that you see? Is there a guy that could catch him? Absolutely. My boy, Logan Cooley. You love Cooley. I love Logan Cooley.

Cooley for Calder. I mean, people are going to get a chuckle out of that. But listen, Logan Cooley, who I had first on my draft list two years ago in Montreal, he's hit the ground running in Arizona there. The difference, though, guys, is that Arizona, around him in Arizona right now, I feel like the support, like the crew around him in Arizona is

better equipped to help him out than what Chicago is. He's good, eh? He's a puck hitter. Oh yeah, Mateusz Pichella, yeah. I'm not going to say I was wrong on him, but I'll say that I underestimated him a great deal. He's a good player. They got a lot of really good young things going on there in Arizona.

That's going to be interesting, isn't it? As that planes out, there's only 50 contracts. There's only so much room for everybody. You're going to have to move some guys out. But Cooley, he's like Bedard. He's playing 20 minutes a night. The difference is that he's playing in all situations. So secondary penalty kill, setting up guys all over the place on the power play.

He's a great player. All right, if we're going to talk young D here, we've got to talk about the Ottawa Senators because we watched last night, and I don't know if you had a good look at that blue line again, but a guy like Jake Sanderson, why is it he's able to come in and look like he can dominate a game this early? Well, you remember his dad and how great he skated. My roommate.

Yeah, okay. Hartford? Hartford. Like, he was a burner, eh, back in the day. And imagine him today, Kipper, if there was no red line. Yeah. You know, like the game for him would have been. Or boards.

Be right in Lake Ontario. Okay. Rico Fata, same guy. Rico Fadas. There you go. That's a good call. Just sit here and name names. I'm going to get the, I don't want nobody in Sault Ste.

Marie or Rico to come down on me. I'm just making an observation. But this kid, so I broke down some tape today of the Washington game. And when people go out to defend him, let's say you're getting a rub as a, as a winger going out to jump on him on a loss or one face off,

like Ottawa wins a draw, you're Ovi going out to defend him or whatever. He's so slippery and he's so quick to space. This kid is got great feet, awesome spatial awareness. I mean, this is a, this is a top pairing D foring D for, gosh, forever.

Look at that. So, Chikrin, Shabbat. Shabbat, also top-pairing guy. Yeah. They got three number one. They have three number one Ds. That's nice. What's that like?

That sounds fun. That's the reality of it. That's the reality of it. And Sanderson's going to be one of those guys that I think can be like a 26-minute guy. You know, like when they're good and Ottawa's in the playoffs and you look down at the stat sheet the next day and you're like, that kid played 27 and a half minutes last night. You know what I mean? He's going to be one of those guys.

So for those type of guys, what did you make of the Dulling and Power contract? Sorry to throw you a curveball there, but like those guys, I know they're not prospects necessarily, but super young, big money, big commitments from their teams. Yeah. I think it makes sense for Buffalo. I'm a little bit torn because I do think that young guys,

there's a little bit too much too soon, and I'd like to see them. I'm not suggesting that they're not motivated. They're all motivated, but Buffalo hasn't done anything yet, right? We're still waiting for it to happen. I'd like to see guys get paid when the team goes to another level. But having said that, with the cap going where it's going and whatever's going on in Buffalo with their cap situation moving forward budget-wise, what a great fit.

I mean, you know, it's going to age well. I talked to somebody that's watched Buffalo very closely, and Owen Power we know is a great talent, but he hasn't gotten off to a great start by any means. But where is his window here? Is this the next headman in Tampa Bay? I think that that's a fair comparable. I really do think that's fair.

I'm also thinking, help me out here for a sec, guys. Got traded from Anaheim to Boston last year. Lindbergh. Lindholm. Lindholm okay like i'm thinking something along those lines there so um it's all there the thing with a guy like that is when he's not scoring or producing offense per se all the rest of it is in place right rangy heavy smart you know so he can kill plays and match up against top three forwards on an opponent on the road obviously we all know how hard that is to do so i like that about him he doesn't have to just score

to be productive for the group yeah we've been uh kind of going around canada so we do our national hour and skipping around teams and thinking of some of the best young players here we talked about coronado uh in calgary as a guy who could be a legitimate difference maker. You know, how much is he able to move the needle for a team that could use help offensively? Well, first thing I noticed in Calgary is that they look like they're playing with more enthusiasm.

And I think that that tone was set in training camp and guys like Coronado were part of that process. Like the young guys getting a chance and the older guys have kind of gravitated to their enthusiasm. So I think, I was talking to some people in Calgary yesterday, and I think that he's a 15 goal guy this year. And I actually think he can get to 20. I really do believe it.

The thing with him though, guys, is he needs to be in motion to be effective. So like when he stops and starts, his first three out of the blocks are, especially at his stature, aren't as fast as some other people. So he's got to be fully engaged in motion in all three zones. But when he catches a puck in the offensive zone, he,

like he doesn't need a lot of shots on goal to score. Just in terms of your scouting background, I mean, it's kind of like you're handing your kid off. If you've watched somebody over the years and you give them to the parent club here, you are watching someone that's near and dear to you. Do the emotions kind of let go after that first year and they're off and running or is there still that development of the first and second year because there is the the seems like

there sometimes is a sophomore jinx more i think maybe in hockey than other places and i'll give you an example this season uh maddie benears rookie of the year and a great talent. But now I don't know if Seattle's off to the best start, and he doesn't appear to be as engaged as he was his rookie year. Just part of the development, I guess, after the first year. Really? Yeah, I will get to that later. But just in terms of that development, even past your rookie year, how important is it that you don't give these kids too much too soon or they find a way to second-guess themselves in their second year

or it hurts their development moving forward? So I would suggest to you that Seattle obviously set a standard last year. They achieved the standard. They exceeded the standard, I would say. They had a great year. And so he's insulated to a degree by the team's success and the structure, and everybody's towing the rope in the same direction. When you get off to a pedestrian start as a team,

everything in the room just feels a little off. You guys know that. You're in the room, everything's just a little off. You know, it's not tape to tape or it's a key turnover. I don't get to see, whatever the case may be. And I think that to your point in terms of insulating, when you're in the second year and things are kind of not as structured or not as compact as they were last year, now you're exposed a bit.

And you have to figure it out. And that takes time, Kipper. So he's not ready when it really gets into those when chaos ensues he's not quite there yet yeah were you surprised the about face that the chicago blackhawks had with bedard and he was really on a tear off the ice in terms of pushing the narrative of this young great player for the league for the blackhawks comes to toronto they just shut him right down yeah you know what so i see it from both perspectives the first one being that you know one is too much too much for a young person but this is the next

wave right like i don't recall when connor mcdavid came into the league that this discussion happened that you know like i don't remember. I'd have to look back. But when he came to Toronto, I'm pretty sure he probably did media, for example. I'm imagining. Okay, so the thing of it is this. When you bring a potential superstar in the league and the league sets the schedule the way they set it,

there should be an expectation that he's going to be meeting and greeting with everybody on that road trip before he gets home. That's my take on it. For the good of the game, let's get in front of it. I know that it's not ideal, but that's part of the process, and it is what it is.

So for me personally, I think they skated Sunday, right? Yeah. So that's fine, but somewhere in there they could have made time to get in front of the media, but I think it's important. So we were asking you about all these players, and I'm skipping around CapFriendly, kind of looking at different numbers as we're talking. The pro hockey group, your company, is doing some work with CapFriendly this year?

Yeah, so I'm excited about it. We partnered. It was a long process, but last year, towards the end of the season and then through the draft in Nashville, we were able to put this something together. So what happens now at Cap Friendly when you go and you're, you want to know what's going on, Topi Nimela gets recalled from the Leafs and you're looking at their cap and

how it all fits, but how has he been playing? How has he been performing? Well, the scouting reports are in the database now. So when a player, when you see transactions happen, you can click on a player and see what the player has been up to and what he's all about, not just a dollar figure. Just one thing on the salary cap.

I'd like to get your perspective on it because you obviously follow it very closely here, but there's this perception out there that the cap's going to go up $3, $4, $5 million in a couple of years, and then all the fans go, oh, now we can get better. But isn't it really going to just one or two guys in particular and everything underneath them, those headaches will still be there? It feels that way. Yeah, it does.

It feels like depending who you are, like we talked about Buffalo, right? So the power contract, that can age well. So it's not like all in his piggy bank, if you will. But there are some other teams. I'm with you. The way that it's been going, well, right here in Toronto. I mean, we see it, right? We're living it.

And so now you've got those interchangeable pieces at the bottom on the Noah Greggers of the world who are coming in, you know, on a baseline type of salary. It's going to be interesting to me because I think that the hits and misses in the middle of your lineup, I'm talking about like the $3 million guys. If you don't hit on those guys in relation to the big picture, they're almost going to drag the whole organization down more than potentially the money being spent on your stars. Let's just say it went to Domi, K yarn crock hypothetically and it didn't go great

for those guys it would be a problem but max is off to a tough start we you know but they can figure it out i know but it can yeah for those guys i'm joking around they're they're going to be fine i mean it's i mean i hope they're going to be fine the way that i look at it just for clarity is that we're three games in. Like three games is like a spike one way or the other. People get excited or not. We're jumping off of bridges. But 10 games is when I start to look at it.

I profile something out in 10 games. Now I can pinpoint some more truths to what's going on with the player. So we'll give it time. But I agree with you, Kipper. I mean, like what's McDavid's contract going to look like next time around, right? You know? Yeah.

Dry sidle. Outside of sure things in the top five in the draft, a couple of second rounders still hanging around in Toronto and Boston. Fraser Minton and... Poitras. Poitras. Poitras, yeah.

Who many ways people think maybe has a more physical presence in terms of maybe more dynamic edges and able to keep up maybe with Brad Marchand a little bit more. But what do you make out of their stints so far? Minton's just not going away for me. Like, he's been really good. So, like, what you get out of Minton and Travers, you know, he scored, right? Then he played five exhibition games with the big club, I believe,

and, you know, his point production fell off a little bit. A lot of subtle developments going on with Minton's game. If you watch him really closely, especially on his strong side, pardon me, his weak side, and the defense was only taking face-offs on his forehand, he was getting blown up in the circle. It's hard for young guys anyways, right? But watch him. Watch him closely. They've made adjustments in their zone.

He's actually winning draws to the middle. He chipped one to Riley the other night in the middle of the ice off a defensive zone draw backhand on his weak side. So he's making some adjustments. He's above it defensively. He's got some bump to his game. Let's see if the offense comes. And if it doesn't, and he goes back to junior after

10. He's on the clock though. He's on the clock. He needs two weeks. Another two weeks, and then you make the decision. Would you keep him? If he hasn't got on the score sheet yet, I would lean towards not keeping him. But I will say this. One goal, does he need two? What does he need to pass the Bukala test?

No, I would say he's got to be on the plus side of the ledger defensively, chip in on the secondary penalty kill, 50% of his draws, and if he has three points after 10 games, I'm entertaining keeping him. And I'm going to tell you the reason why. It's a pretty good answer. Other people. An exact answer, actually. It's pretty good.

Other people ahead of him in the lineup who are making significantly more money and are veterans in this league, they're doing nothing right now so careful what you ask for you wonder if you could play on the fourth line like camp get some more responsibility in the third line have them play fourth line minutes and whatever or if it's better to be in junior and handling the puck and rounding out that part of his game well listen don't misunderstand like uh Fraser Minton's a two and a half Kip Redlink you and I talked about this recently he's a two and a half he's not a top six he's not a bottom six he's a two-and-a-half. Kip, I think you and I talked about this recently. He's a two-and-a-half. He's not a top six. He's not a bottom six.

He's a two-and-a-half. He's always going to be a mid-range scorer, a secondary guy for you. So, again, the rest of the details, people say you can't teach offense. I believe that, okay? But you also sometimes can't teach commitment and hockey sense on the defensive side of the ledger. And he's got that in spades. And the Leafs need it in spades.

We've had this argument. I'm glad I came to the dance late here. We ran out of time, lucky you. Wow, that's a fast 25 minutes with you, bud. Really appreciate you stopping in. Thanks for having me, guys. Great to see you. Great stuff out of you, Jason. And welcome back here anytime.

I appreciate it. Thank you. Okay, let's take a quick break. And when we come back, we'll welcome in Sammy because it's game time after the break on the Real Kipper and Boren Show. All right, let's welcome back in Sammy McKee, who was a terrific studio audience when we had Jason Bukala in studio.

I like the in-studio guests because I literally just, I get to put my feet up and watch. So we have two just chairs off the set here. And the only thing missing is an applause or laugh sign for you. All right. Speaking of applause, here we go now. It's game time presented by Bet365. Applause or laugh sign for you. All right. Speaking of applause, here we go now. It's game time presented by Bet365.

Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. At Bet365, must be 19 plus, Ontario only, play responsibly. Now, I was given an assignment by both of you guys in the first hour. Yeah. Borny, you were interested in a Matthew Nye's goal tonight. Mm-hmm. And why would that be? Okay, so he's played up at the lineup.

First time all year. He's getting a chance with some scorers. And he scored his first playoff goal. Was that against Florida? It was against Florida. It was a doozy, too. Was that like crazy behind or through the legs goal? Yeah. I think that was in game two.

Maybe. I can't remember. Anyways, so he is plus 425 to score a goal tonight. Yeah, I like that was in game two. Maybe. I can't remember. Anyways, so he is plus 425 to score a goal tonight. Yeah, I like that number. Yeah, four and a quarter to one. I think he can have some fun, especially with the way Willie Nylander is going right now. Oh, yeah.

Willie will take it to the house, and Nyes can just stand around that blue paint. He'll smack one in. He's, even from what I've been able to watch from the second round of the playoffs to where he is, and I was in Yorkville, what, three days ago maybe, and I'm just leaving Harry Rosen's, and he's... Harry Rosen in Yorkville, by the way. We show up at different places.

Nice break. I was leaving winners at the stockyards and, and he was walking in and he's a big man. A lot of person who nice. Oh yeah. He's a big man. Yeah. I'm like,

looks good in a suit. I'm not what I used to be for sure, but I'm not exactly a slouch. And this guy just looked like he could take one bite and like, eat me. Yeah, no, he's going to he's going to fill out into a large individual in the NHL. Curious to see if he ever has some sort of edge

to his game as he gets older and hotter and have to an Austin Matthews assist pays minus 125 tonight. So the favor so a parlay of those two things would be plus you can't go four games without an assist. So if you think both those things are happening tonight, there you go. That's like favor. So a parlay of those two things would be plus 750. You can't go four games without an assist. So if you think both those things are happening tonight,

there you go. I like that one. Going back to the well tonight with the Oilers studs, playing another crappy team in Philly on Sportsnet 1 tonight. Give me a first period goal for McDavid or Leon, whoever you want, plus 375 for both of those guys. And the last one I have for you is the Selke Award because we were talking about the Selke.

Oh, yeah. Who do you think the favorite for the Selke is? Patrice Bergeron. He's on play. He'll still win it. Oh, this is his award emeritus. He'll win it. It's just so automatic.

No, it's not. Couturier, Ryan O'Reilly. Nico Heischer is the favorite. Did you see Couturier's penalty shot? Loved it. Loved that move. That's a ballsy move going backwards, skating to your forehand.

I'm not allowed to complain about penalty shots anymore. You're pissed at us. Oh, my God. How about penalty shots anymore. The internet told me. You're pissed. Oh my God. How many penalty shots have we seen? I've seen half a dozen for sure. There seems to be like a mandate to call them more, which is good. Instinctually, when you turn your back like that,

the goalie thinks that you're probably going to go backhand. So if you cut it back to the forehand quick, it's a good move. I got to tell you. I like it. If anybody would have tried that in my era. Wouldn't have gone well. You wouldn't have been able to make it back to your own bench

without getting a stick across the throat. Even if Couturier didn't score, he'd be taking heat on that move. Absolutely. I think. But finishing it, no questions asked. There was someone on a penalty shot who did the, I know Phil Bork did it, the toe down,

whatever. You know who it was? Ottawa, Casper's dog events. Did it toe down, spit around that Phil Bork, who does a penguins color commentary for the Pittsburgh penguins. I think he tried it somewhere.

He did for sure. He definitely did on a penalty shot. And I think did not score. I don't think it somewhere. He did for sure. He definitely did on a penalty shot and I think did not score. I don't think it's ever worked, but like it's a stupid thing to do. But if why just take the shot out of the question. I'm definitely you just put it on the part of the stick where you can shoot the pocket

and your boy Matthews is 20 to 1 for the Selkie. Kippy. I would love Mitch Marner's 10 to 1. He's the second favorite. Kippy. I would love. Mitch Marner's 10 to one. He's the second favorite. I would love him to win it. I think it would give a complete different feel and look to the whole team if he won it.

Oh, we know. All right. That was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary. Bet365 must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly

all right nick kiprios wrote an article with some interesting tidbits on the bottom that i want to interview well just uh we had talked with jason at great length with uh rookies and sophomores and maddie bernier's coming off of uh there we go a great rookie season, rookie of the year, and I think probably in light of maybe a few signings in Buffalo, but there's a sense that he would love a long-term deal, which he's eligible to sign July 1st in the vicinity of 65, 70 million bucks. Which I saw this, and I think you used, he wants more than the Jack Hughes I heard north of of Jack Hughes and Tim Stutzel let let me ask you something is Matty Beneers out of his mind

out of his ever-loving mind but every guy is getting the money all these guys who are on I mean what was his numbers last year? Really good. 65 points or something? 60. I'm looking right now. He was the best rookie last year. Yeah. Yeah. But it's not the same as Jack Hughes being a number one overall pick who has put up these

gigantic numbers. No, no, no. 57 points. 57 points. In 80 games. And 24 goals. Everybody told New Jersey that they were out of their minds for giving Jack Hughes 64 million bucks. No, they were. They were like. No, I think it was. No, no.

As soon as that one signed, I liked that contract from the second it was signed. Do you know why? Because I'm smart. Yeah. But the other reason why everybody said that they're nuts is he was coming off 31 points. Yeah. It wasn't like he scored Buneer's 55, 60 points. He was coming off 31.

And there was a sense that in the first year he was kind of light. He was getting bounced off pucks and he wasn't ready to be a star and then the switch hits 100 points now everybody's sitting there going oh that's the next uh that's the next uh nate mckinnon contract where we're looking at him going nate why did you sign that man you should be making double man just looking at Jack Hughes' production after he signed that contract, he signed it after the 31-point year. Then he goes 56 points in 49 games the next year, and then 99 in 78 the next year.

Bang, bang. It's like, whoops. Fire your agent. Can you imagine what would Jack Hughes be worth right now if he was looking at Matthew's money? Double his contract. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. So to that point, that's a steal. That's a steal for New Jersey. Older when, you know, he's 20 years old now. Right. Yeah. And, you know, 57 points on a Seattle team so far through four games. He's got goose eggs and he's minus five.

I mean, four games. I'm not going to pretend that that matters. It just seems like a massive commitment to me. I'm just less sure of him than I was Owen Power. I could be wrong here. Would you? You wouldn't put him in the Trevor Zgris. Let's go.

Bridge him. That's what you want? I would want to bridge for Veneers, yeah. Yeah, I think I get the sense Seattle feels the same way. Yeah. And so, yeah, because an eight-year deal for him, if you're talking $8 million a year or something. Do it again.

One more time? You know, that was Book's point, right? Why wouldn't the agent and the player be they see every young guy who's played 30 games in the nhl who's has a little bit of pedigree immediately getting eight years eight million sanderson gets the big ticket i know i know i know i know d-man i guess you're right and if you're yeah he's a little older yeah i guess you're right the defensive part of it but still like i i get the ask and He's a little older. I guess you're right, the defensive part of it. But still, I get the ask, and he's a good young player.

He's a really high pick. I would be asking for the exact same contract. If Beneers gets eight years, this is the end of the bridge contract. And also, we're going to have an NHL littered with, not littered with, but we're going to start to see some bad deals. If everyone's getting eight years to these young guys. There's going to be some misses. Yeah, there's going to be some real misses. But how many guys are left that can pull

the ask of eight times eight? Who's left? Conor Bedard. Wow. Yeah, he might make a couple bucks along the way. Logan Cooley. Which again, they're entitled to the money

if they all feel like Kevin Adams felt their teams. Like they're great. We know they're going to be great. Let's hedge right now and take the discount in four or five or six years that whatever we think we're overpaying today will be undervalued halfway through. That's the gamble.

That's the baby needs a new pair of shoes. Roll it, baby. Roll that dice. Just don't come up with snake eyes. Yeah, well, and you very well can. But I get the idea why he'd think he's within his rights to ask for that. But yeah, it seems

like a bit of a risky one. Do you boys want to talk about Patrick Laine or do you have something else? I mean, there's lots, so let's get to it all. We got lots of them. Go ahead, Laine. What do you got? Freed was in here yesterday. He was.

Talking about how worried he was about the Blue Jackets and the Babcock thing off the top, which I don't think we ever even talked about, really. It's a mess. And you see what Laine said about his game? No. Pretty awful so far. Laine said, per team reporter, Jeff Svoboda,

can't hit the net if my life depends on it. Can't make any plays. Can't win a face-off. Just basically can't do anything right now. Sounds like me after a beer league game. Sounds like me after a golf round. It's really bad. Like, and this guy, remember the conversations after his

rookie year? Like, I specifically remember, like, oh, he's in trouble. And not even that, like, the old Matthews and him, it's the same sort of level of player. Look at his three or four years. He was unbelievable. What happened? He was on a historic pace. He was

unbelievable in those first couple years. What did he score? He scored 41 here at least, right? He started his career. His numbers were off the charts. 36, 44, 30, and then 28, and it's gone down since then. 10, 26, 22, 1 this year. And how old is this guy?

This is insane that he's having this going. He's 25. Yeah. What is happening? His next goal will be his 200th in his career. I don't know. An unbelievable score. He has played, you know, on teams that have not been very good. I don't know.

I don't know, man. But he is all over himself mentally. This Columbus team, one of the things Freed did say yesterday is he was like, I'm a little worried about Columbus. He started that way with the Babcock thing, get off to a poor start. You know, it's now Lainez kicking the crap out of himself. I tell you what.

Jarmo should maybe be concerned. He cannot. If it goes ugly for a long period of time, he will not last. Yeah. No. And don't get fooled that this feeling of, you know, the Babcock effect isn't still rippling through that organization.

It was bad. It was bad. And Jarmo might have been, you know, spared temporarily, but it could still come back and haunt him if they don't pick it up. Yeah, it's remarkable to me that he survived that. Yeah, it almost feels like,

let's just see if they get off to a good start here, and it does feel like there's a real, as hot seats go, it can't be much hotter than his seat that whole franchise i don't want to bring up never good you know we we never got a chance because our show started so late bringing this up and i never had a chance to even and i don't want to just rehash the same stuff i don't but i just want to ask you one question i want to just ask you guys one question based off of that. Yeah.

Okay? Okay. Why does he, out of all of that, why does he get to resign? Why can't? Money, money, money. Money. What money? What money?

Well, presumably there was some sort of negotiated settlement there why why why is there a negotiated columbus just say beat it why like it's a clear violation the nhlpa called him on that you're right and he's in the wrong why in the league and i'll even like trickle it back to the chic. How about Bill Peters resigned too? When does everybody get to resign? Why can't anybody be fired with cause? Love it, Kip. Bang on.

Totally agree. And it's something I never even really thought of, but it's true. It's insane he didn't get fired. So what we're saying is, yeah, nobody really did anything officially wrong. Right. Kind of wrong.

I'd say it's kind of cowardly, actually. Kind of wrong. That's just my only question out of like every time. Why can't we just say, you were wrong. Scram beat it. Thank you. Scram beat it. You're not getting paid. Who's the football coach that just

lost 80 million bucks in college? Yeah. Like he had 80 million dollars coming. Oh, yeah. Got fired with cause. Yeah. Like he had $80 million coming. Oh, yeah. Got fired with cause. Yeah. And he didn't even get in the dime. I know.

I forget the guy's name. Anyways, it's just like, that's the only thing. I don't want to. No, it's fine. That's a good point. That's just my point. No, it's a good one. Did you guys want to talk about LeBanc?

San Jose? Although we got a lot of topics in 10 minutes. Okay. So we got LeBanc, Ormanton, Pinto. Yeah. So. Who do we want? Let's just touch a little bit topics in 10 minutes. So we got Bank, Formington, Pinto. Yeah. So who do we want? Let's just touch a little bit on Ottawa, okay? Because Alex Formington is this really good hockey player

that's on the outside looking in. He never got a contract back. Part of that 2018 World Junior Team Canada is still being investigated. And there's just... Which which is insane that's still going on but anyway status quo was what i heard as the latest but there are teams right now tomorrow that want to sign formington that will trade for formington and sign them they will knowing what's coming they don't know what's coming and actually they would sign him if they just have reassurances that he uh will come in play and then still fall

under the umbrella of everyone else because there's other people being investigated currently in the national hockey league we're on that team who I think a lot of people are aware were involved. Right. And as long as I think teams feel like he'll be treated no differently than all the rest of them that are still being investigated, then let's sign him.

But is it not a thing where okay, so you sign this guy, you bring him in, and then isn't this league report going to come out at some point? And it's presumed that there was some involvement. And I don't know if that's been alleged or what, but that seems to be, he's an NHL player. So I am presuming that's why he is not in the league.

He's, yeah, he's a really good player. No one has any sense where this thing's going to go. Yeah. Nobody knows whether it's the London police or Hockey Canada or the NHL need to go first on making some type of announcement. Yeah. Otherwise, he can play until someone, until the report's out. Yeah. Otherwise he can play until someone until the reports out. Exactly. Okay. So it's that one is it's brewing somewhere

you know with this kid and again he's got he signed I think in the Swiss League if I'm not mistaken but he's got an out at any point if someone wants to pull the trigger on a trade for him. Okay. So Ottawa could he is playing in Switzerland, yeah. Could conceivably trade him.

Who knows what they could recoup there. The other interesting one today was Ottawa putting their tough guy on waivers. Zach McEwen. Zach McEwen's on waivers. Three-year deal. Which means they're kind of shuffling. Opening up a roster spot for somebody. Opening up maybe.

And there's a suggestion that they could be really close on a deal with Pinto. And it's just a matter of moving money out. I have not been able to verify that or confirm that. But if they're shuffling a little bit here, I got to think that it's not that hard to get Pinto on a deal, guys. It's not. It's just a matter of getting money out. It's not like he's asking for astronomical numbers here. It is crazy to me they haven't made this happen yet.

Crazy. And also, we've talked about it, the later it goes with the prorated cap hit, the worse it is for their salary cap. So they have incentive to do this. I don't think they have to spend much more than 2.2 million on them. On a short term deal. I don't know. Just get them playing.

Get them in the arena. Just get them playing. They give them 4.4 over two years and let everything shake out from there. I think everyone's happy. I don't, I mean, I can't speak for Mr. Pinto,

but no, the old Pinto bean. I won't speak. Is that what they call them? No, I just made that up right now. All right. LeBanc?

LeBanc. What happened to LeBanc? Let's take this one to LeBanc. LeBanc is open. Yes. So remember LeBanc had that year in San Jose. He was really good. Where he went to LeBanc?

He went... Well, no. He was really good. He was driving to... And was owed money. And the Sharks were up against the cap, and they had all these great players. And so it was never really expressly said,

but it seemed like he was given a one-year, $1 million contract at the time. I was on the show with Merrick once upon a time and the conversation was always that they had a contract in the drawer for him once the cap went up and so-and-so's contract expired. He ended up getting some money from them, over $4 million, and hasn't been awesome he's been

healthy scratched the first three games of the year and then today sarah valley reported that they're going to waive the guy and then david quinn was asked the head coach of the sharks and he said what like i hadn't heard anything about this so maybe mike greer was going to put him on waivers and didn't talk to the coach? No, that would never happen. Okay. Because Quinn's Mike Greer's guy. Right. And now they're saying he's not going to waivers at all.

For Greer to do that without letting Quinn know, I don't think would ever happen. Right. He wants to. And Quinn's smart about this. He didn't say, ever happen. Right. He wants to, and Quinn's smart about this. He didn't say, oh, not true.

He says, I haven't heard about it, which is a lot different than that's not going to happen. And that's a bad report. And this, right. So I think, I think Quinn and Greer are good.

And, you know, for whatever reason, maybe it happens to any good, and, you know, for whatever reason, maybe it happens to any one of us where you maybe just get a bad scoop. I don't know. Yeah, so Cervelli then reporting that it is being, it's not happening. And he's playing tonight. He's playing tonight, making his debut.

Making his season debut. If he's been healthy, it does seem like he'll be available at half price at the deadline. And that was Shark's Corner. And the last time we'll talk about the Sharks this year. I was attending San Jose this year. Really? Oh, God.

Before we get to predictions. They play at 1030 and they rot. I will tell you right now, I love hockey. I watch hockey every night. I will not watch, except when the Leafs play them. I find it really weird that I'm just used to forever the Sharks being a contending team in the Western Conference. Remember that California road trip?

Anytime you're talking about the West. It all used to be murderers. And the Sharks. And the Sharks. And the Sharks. Now it's a road to be murdered. It would be, we should have like a tally board in here and every night, whoever you watch at least 10 minutes of, you get to put a tally in there and just see who really gets ignored

all this this year. Because it's going to be hard to watch Columbus this year columbus leafs columbus i'm in yep pass that gonna be hard san jose hard team to watch there's just some teams um who's your non leafs team that you like watching the most colorado i'm ed i'm edmonton as much as i hate to admit it i just love they're good i love con Connor and Leon. I agree with you, by the way. In your article, you also mentioned Change My Mind, Jets' viability in Winnipeg. It was just a passing comment, but they had 11,000 and change.

And it's the worst attendance since they came back from Atlanta. Meanwhile, Bouchgras is tweeting Atlanta's coming back. It's like, what is happening right now? I think it's a big story. It is a big story. I think it's a big story. I was just trying to wave it off. I know.

Do you think it is a big story? I think it's big. How can it not be? It's one of the seven Canadian markets. This is game two off of you just signed Connor Hellebuck and Mark Shifley. Yeah. And I mean, it's a competitive team for years. Yeah, but come on, guys. I mean, it's a competitive team for years. Yeah, but come on, guys.

I mean, it's tough out there for a lot of people. And I don't think it's a reflection of necessarily just. The passion there. The passion is there. Right? But tickets are expensive. Interest rates are up. Groceries.

Gone grocery shopping lately. Like, am i seeing this correctly is it double i know in a short period of time like cold cuts we're paying bills for two bags of doritos your kids right we're we're jets tickets you know in that equation i just gotta say i love winnipeg and i really enjoyed the jets as a franchise and. And so, yeah, let's, I love to hate the Jets, which is a, which is a compliment. I can't stand them.

I can't stand them. I can't stand that whole, which is why you want them around. Of course. Yeah. You know, it's a sneaky good rivalry. Let's get out there.

We talked about Austin having great moments, four goals in his opening career game. And then the back-to-back hat tricks, but memorable Patrickrick liney versus austin matthews on a saturday night games are yeah i think it was a hockey night in canada it wasn't a saturday night i've told this story before but it was when it was the same night the jays lost to the then cleveland indians in the alcs That's how we all remember it, Sam. And I went home that night and I was like,

oh, at least the Leafs aren't going to let me down. And they blew a 4-0 lead. And I scored in overtime and I smashed my remote that night. That's when I really cared. When Sam gets really mad, he hacks a dart in the backyard. No, I would never hack a dart. My mom watches the show, Mornie. I would never hack a dart. Yeah, we don't endorse that on the real Kipper and Bourne show.

All right. Just like that. Two hours. Just gone like that. That show again. 12 games on tap. So make sure you got your Sportsnet Plus going. Leafs, no goals against.

I didn't want to say the word tonight for you, Kip. Is that your prediction? Shut up. Oh, he said it. My Lord. I'm allowed to say anything I want. That's true. Not on the team.

Leafs, 3-1 win. All right. There you go. All right. All 12 games, they'll go. And so stay busy tonight, and we'll catch you on tomorrow's show to check out what happened. Break it down. Enjoy your night, everybody.