Real Kyper & Bourne - Why Don Waddell Moved David Jiříček

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne welcome in Columbus Blue Jackets' general manager Don Waddell (4:25) to chat about his most recent trade sending David Jiříček to the Minnesota Wild, where he sees the trajectory of his team moving forward, the haul on future draft picks in return, Elvis Merzlikins' maturity behind the net and in the locker room, and his focus at the trade deadline. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee look ahead to the landscape of the trade market, Jake DeBrusk's goalscoring since joining the Vancouver Canucks, and the outlook on the teams at the bottom of the Atlantic Division.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.

all right let's bring it in for our national edition of the real kipper and born show we are live on sports at 650 in vancouver and sports at 960 in calgary this hour of real kipper and born is brought to you by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in President of Hockey Operations, General Manager for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Don Waddell. He just completed a trade with his 2022 first round pick overall. This is nothing to sneeze at here this is a significant piece that may have well started the trade deadline market so we'll get his thoughts on that including

his hot team at six one and one uh in the meantime in their last eight games what was that sammy in their last eight games in their last eight games the blue jackets plus three goal differential 11 9 and 3 on the season like they're they're not far out of a playoff spot boys there's a lot of surprising teams at the bottom of the eastern conference standings like if you look at it you know like buffalo's floating around there the flyers are hot recently they're they're floating around there and then you know you scroll down a little further and you find the two canadian teams in the atlantic division but i don't think too much of that today in the meantime we'll hear officially this week the rosters for four teams participating in the Four Nations tournament that the league will

shut down in February for. We only care about one though. For three weeks. Now there's going to be a lot of speculation up until that. Players have been told. Have they all been told? They've been told. The alternates have been

told. They shouldn't have done that. alternates have been told you shouldn't have done that so it's been told yeah oh that's a tough one so hey it's gonna be really hard i know some of the networks want to keep it a secret and reveal it later on i i get it are you you mean our network and you are gonna expose the team members i don't think I'm on any show like that. I'm not, but it's just hard to believe that, you know, a guy like Mitch Marner wasn't told in Florida with Cooper right there. Reported first by me, Mitch Marner on Team Canada. But we also, the internet's going crazy because the Flyers got together at Center Ice with Tortorella,

and a few players seemed to be singled out. So good on them if they can keep it a secret here, but it's a few players I think. Think they know. Think they know. And the ones on the internet are Sanheim, which would be a bit of a surprise and connect me yeah that that would be a legitimate surprise but connect me is not connect me makes a lot of sense great season great year last well come on if uh we've

talked about role players and guys that don't necessarily fit into a top six, that would be a perfect guy. Sam Bennett would be a perfect guy. Those are the role players that you need. Has he been told? I don't know. I legitimately don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Okay, okay.

Take it easy, Sam. You want to get me in trouble with the guys upstairs? No, they're not listening, brother. You're fine. Just tell us the whole team. You know the team. Nobody pays attention to our show. You know, though.

Yeah, like, it's going to be a fascinating thing. Because we have a show tomorrow night. No, no, Wednesday night. Announcing the teams, I believe. Yeah. Revealing the team. Yeah. It's going to be really great.

It's not tomorrow? No, I think it's Wednesday. I think Sweden. Yeah, Sweden and Finland come out tomorrow. Sweden and Finland. So, like, you know, can Yeah, Sweden and Finland come out tomorrow. So, like, you know, can everyone hang on to this? Whoever knows, I don't know. For two days, we'll see.

I hope so. Well, we shall see. Yeah, all right. But there's some teams. Does Sanheim surprise you? Are you shocked? Are you? Okay, like. 6-4, 2-22?

First of all, okay, we'll get into that after because we got we got our special guest waiting for us don waddell whose uh team is hot as a firecracker right now don thanks for joining us uh it's just not that you're six one and one but you made a very significant trade to i don't know set the market market up for the remaining teams going into March. But, I mean, maybe I'm not phrasing this correctly. And if I'm not, please, I apologize to you now. But, you know, we don't often see top 10 picks moved two years later. So if this is not the right phrase, correct me. But how do you quit on a guy six overall two years later so if if this is not the right phrase correct me but how do you quit on a guy

six overall two years ago yeah that's a great question uh first of all i never ever disagree with anything you say but you know you you gotta look at you know, you know, the player, I think, is going to have some success. There's no doubt about it. He's got some skill in that. But with training camp, how it went and the games he went, you know, as a group, we got together and said, you know, we've got to put him down in the American League and, you know, let him play. And, you know, you never know how it's going to go.

We felt that the asset value may maintain if he plays well, but it could decrease also. So at some point, you have to make those tough decisions of saying, let's cut the sixth overall pick and let's get the assets that we can get. For us right now, we need assets. And these assets aren't so much even for drafting players, but it's for trying to make our team better. We don't want to trade our first pick, obviously. We think it could be pretty high eventually. But, you know, to have another first-round pick and other picks, that's how you get to the draft.

Everybody's always looking for draft picks. So we feel like having these kind of assets in the bank are going to help us make our team better today. So that's, you know, you have a long-term vision for the organization. You know, you guys are having quite a bit of success this year, Don. What sort of arc do you see for the Blue Jackets on your way to being the cup contenders you want to be? Well, we've got to keep building with our young players.

We've got some tremendous young players and supplement them with some great veterans. We signed Monahan, and Roransky's having an unbelievable season. So you've got to stick with your young guys that we signed Monahan and Wierenski's having an unbelievable season. So, you know, you've got to stick with your young guys that we have on our roster and, you know, surround them with the players. But, you know, this year has been interesting because we've got goal scoring from everybody.

We've scored a lot of goals. It's amazing. We played Chicago yesterday and we had six goals, six different players scored those goals. And I think as of today, our defense is leading the league in goals, which is something I didn't expect when we started the season. I thought goal scorer was going to be at a premium for us. And somehow we're finding ways every night to score a lot of goals.

Multiple picks, Don, in the trade coming back to you. You mentioned that you want to make it, these picks will help your team get better. Do you envision using them at the draft table can you flip them as early as this year and get get a rate of return back quicker for you is that a possibility 100 we actually uh we made the trade on saturday and i've talked to probably 17 since you know you know we have a couple things going for us we have a lot of assets and we got a lot of cap. And today's day cap is pretty important. And as we go into not only this season,

but next year, we're going to have, you know, $25, $27 million of cap space. So, you know, it's not always building a team through free agency. I think having the assets, you know, you get to the draft, people are looking for picks and there's always some RFAs that either teams can't afford anymore, don't want to go to arbitration.

So I think the possibilities are endless as you look at this. Don, two-part question here. Number one is how many teams did you have on your bidding? And number two, is there a sense that this will be a very healthy market with the potential of the cap going up quickly in the next few years yeah at first you know we probably had 13 14 teams reach out to us and we did our homework on all those teams and we looked at you know our first goal was to see if we could get a equal prospect that or a young player playing the nhl that we could put right in our lineup or put in our lineup a few years from now.

And that seemed to go by the side. We just couldn't get those guys. We asked about all of them. And so then we turned to picks, and certainly Minnesota stepped up at the end and really wanted the player. But, you know, as far as moving forward, was there more about the cap nick you're saying just yeah just that the the cap the revenue will push the cap up towards

100 million dollars in the next few years here and if that changes the attitude about uh going into this year's trade deadline yeah no and and I've been talking to teams right now that have cap problems that are trying to clear cap. I think for us, we've got strong ownership here in Columbus that will support whatever we want to do. We've got to be smart about it. We'll have, if you look at some of the players currently on our roster, the Adam Fantilles and Ken Johnsons and so forth,

you know, we're going to have to pay some money in the upcoming year. So we just got to make sure we plan it out correctly, not spend money that we might need in the future. But I think we're in a great shape from that end. And I think with some of the young players, as I said, I think being able to surround those players with some maybe veteran players or younger players for whatever however they become available we're going to be in a great situation to add them you know looking at

the multitude of reasons you guys have had success this year you got some new coaches in obviously you know Renske having a nice year you mentioned all the goals from your D what do you attribute the success for by and large well i think dean's got to get a lot of credit here dean's come in here with a great attitude you know both of us coming in here knew you know we both said we don't care what's happened in the past we got we're all we're looking at is the future and the future started the day training camp started so i think the atmosphere that uh we've created and the culture that uh is happening you know we had a tough situation and i really give a lot of credit to the monahans and boone jenners

and erica brunson and renski the team leaders of how they brought this group together because obviously when training camp started we didn't know which way this was going to go uh but the guys they love to be together. They love to be at the rink. And, you know, guys like Boone and Eric at the Brunson are traveling with our team out west here right now. They just want to be a part of it. So I think we've got a great environment going, and that's what we've got to build off of.

Watching your game the other night against Chicago and watching Zach Wierenski plus three, two assists, almost 26, 27 minutes, and I'm thinking that's a hell of a defenseman. That guy I don't think gets the credit he deserves. There's no doubt in my mind we're going to see him on Team USA in February, but there's another guy you could build around. A hundred percent, and he's such a a good guy and he just wants to win. And I think he's got, like you said, 26 points in 23 games.

And he's been our leader offensively. What amazes me is, you know, and you probably watched the game yesterday, Nick, you see him behind the offensive team net multiple times. And then as the rush comes back, he always seems to get back and catch up with the play. So he's such a great skater. And the way he thinks this game is incredible. But certainly, you know, we have him locked up for three or four more years. And he's going to be the catalyst for us on defense and continue to lead us for sure.

And you guys, as you head into the future here, believe that the goaltending you have is the goaltending you're going to be leaning on on your journey back journey back to that cup contender yeah you know there's been a lot of play about alvis uh you know i had came in the league has very good years and then you know last few years haven't gone as well and you know the message to alvis was you know he he'd gone a little sideways with some of his teammates and you, they got carried away at times. And my message to him, my first meeting in August with him is, I don't care if you stop a puck, just be a great teammate. If you're a great teammate, the rest will come easier. You know, teammates will want to play for you and all that.

And as his training camp went on and as we got into the season, he's been nothing but a great teammate. And to me, I think that's led to his success being able to stop the puck as far as the uh the rest of the young talent that's that's built around this team as well fantilli and kent johnson can you give us a bit of an update on where you see them now because kent johnson was kind of in that that that that that spot that your check may have found himself where he was up and down a little bit here. But overall, how have you seen their progress, Don?

Yeah, with Kent, you know, he came to training camp. You know, I talked to all the players during the summer, and he was determined. You know, he had a tough season last year with some injuries and up and down, and he was determined to come to camp and prove that he's an NHL player. And he had a tremendous camp uh came in great condition started off played the first three or four games was our leading scorer and got hurt unfortunately then since he's been back uh he I can't say enough good things about him but you know the one thing about him and Adam too is you

know these guys just love to be on the ice they're on the ice early for practice or out there late you know playing around puck shooting pucks and to me they're pure hockey players they love to be on the ice. They're on the ice early for practice or out there late, playing around, shooting pucks. To me, they're pure hockey players. They want to be hockey players, and they work at it to be hockey players. Adam's a little frustrated initially. Didn't have a lot of line mates with Kent being out, us losing Boone Jenner to his shoulder.

He's been so good in every aspect of the game and just recently here is starting to put some pucks in a net and i would say he's been one of our more effective forwards maybe not just always on the scoreboard but shutting down other teams he plays against the other team's best lines each and every night so don for people who don't watch the blue jackets you know like when i tune in and watch sometimes i you know i'm shocked at how fast chinikov is i'm shocked at how effective ronkov is at I'm shocked at how effective Vrankov is at that size. Who do you think is maybe the more unsung yet effective Blue Jackets player that people don't talk about much?

Yeah, two names you mentioned. Chinnikov's got the hardest shot on the team and can skate. And Vrankov is hurt off at the beginning of the year, but he's come back with that frame that he's got, you know, 6'4", 6'5", and you can't move him. And he's got some meanness to him, too. But, you know, Marchi has been really good for us. I think he's hurt early in the score. I think, you know, people don't talk about him at all.

But, you know, each and every night, when he gets a chance, he can score goals. And, you know, and then you look back, you know, even a little further on the blue line with, you know, a guy like Christensen, who nobody knew about playing American League the last couple of years, got this opportunity this year. And, you know, he's played big minutes for us. And, you know, the other guy we picked up, Fabbro, from Nashville on waivers. He's got three goals plus 14 since he's been here. He's been a steady influence for us on the right side playing with Zach. And depending, UFA, if I'm not mistaking, Don, and you've got a few of them I can see, including, you know, Sean Crawley, who's had tremendous success in Boston come playoff time.

Provorov is another one. And just your thoughts going into the trade deadline and ultimately whether you're going to keep some of these guys or not moving forward. Olivier, one of my favorites right now. Big goal scorer. Tough guy. Does it all.

You got to sign him, Don. Yeah, that'll come out of my paycheck to get his contract done for sure. You know, he's got seven goals. His career high is five. But he's getting the goals because he's a trusted player. Dean really trusts him, playing him on the third line, playing a lot more minutes than he's ever played. In the past, he's played that fourth line,

expected to go out and tangle every time he gets on the ice. He can play, and that's been fun. He's an unbelievable character guy, a guy that stands up in a room and talks to the players, and certainly an important piece of how we've gotten this far. And 100% we'll get him signed eventually. Provoff, he's played really good for us. I get a lot of calls on him, and we're not in a position

where we're going to be moving UFAs. Every one of our UFAs at some point will have conversations with their agents just to see where they're at, if they want to stay, or if they want to potentially move on. But I've told everybody this call, let's's circle back and early part of next year and we'll see where we're at that point we can talk about it but olivier i guarantee it is not going anywhere don uh great job getting the the trade market going for us you know what it's like up here i i know i follow it pretty closely.

I had a few phone calls today, so stay tuned. Maybe we'll make something happen. I love it. All right. I hope you guys can see that. Don, thanks for making time for us. We really appreciate it. Always a pleasure to be with you guys.

Have a great day. Thank you. Thanks, Don. That is Don Waddell, president of Hockey Operations, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jackets. That's some good stuff he gave us. I love it. Really good. Really, you know, it really feels like there's a plan coming together in Columbus.

And I don't know that it's felt like that. Again, talking to Doug McClain, which we often on Fridays, he just cannot speak highly enough of that market. And the passion that people have. And of course, you know, we know what, we know what football means there,

but they had a bad day on Saturday. Yeah. Oh my God. Yeah, they sure did. Oh boy. Their Columbus blue jackets are hot as a firecracker right now. yeah,

you named a couple of guys that are really good for them. Like Wierenski is having an unbelievable year. One of the best d in the league he's so good and he just he's an afterthought yeah and then if you go back a few years ago it was like seth jones's team and he was kind of like the second yeah banana there yeah and now he's like no questions asked seth is hurt now for chicago and we'll see where if he ends up staying and anchoring the chicago blackhawks or could they potentially move him but wierenski pretty good decision to keep him yeah i just need him to stay healthy like i said and he's he's been super effective he had a gordy how the other night beat up brandon gallagher um you know fully fully entertaining player right now a lot of points this veron coffee talked about

6 5 230 uh he's got 10 points in his last eight games got a bit of a mean streak 24 years old like this is a hockey player yeah like i i like a lot of their young guys. I like Kent Johnson a lot. I mean, Finn Tilly, they're good world junior players. They're good junior players. And Kent Johnson, he's, I think, six goals in nine games so far this year. He's really starting to come on. This team is sixth in the NHL in goals four per game. I was just playing around with goals four.

They've beat a lot of good teams. Like, I forget, you rattled off the teams that they've beaten. They killed me in my survivor pool they went through tampa bay carolina boston but in terms of goals for in the nhl they're sixth the bottom five teams in the league nashville dead last boston bruins st louis blues blackhawks and the flames meanwhile columbus is sixth in goals 3.6 goals a game wild so yeah and you know you can't overstate what a horrific tragedy started for them at the start like at the start of the year like and you know that's we barely mentioned that which is crazy you know like you mean like what is there

to to say about it like yeah you know it's not a question you really want to ask but for them he's the thing he said was that stuck out to me is that it could have gone either way. Where, like, you either are totally just in the tank and it's totally understandable. Or guys kind of come together and good leadership and good coaching. And it kind of brings everybody. Everybody's coming together and playing well together. Like, I'm rooting for them. I love it. I love that they're good.

Same. Just, what, two points behind a wild card spot now? Emotional night coming up in Calgary tomorrow night. They're there, so it'll be an emotional night for them. Yeah, his dad, Goodrow's dad, is on the ice with the Flames today, which is a nice touch, so that'll be a must-watch. Where do we have the Rangers? Because they've made a lot of noise this past week,

and Columbus would be chasing, I think, them and obviously the Flyers who hold the wild card spot. But do the Rangers really need to fall off the face of the earth here to allow teams like Buffalo, the Islanders, and Columbus to pass them? It is wild that we just did what we did about Columbus praise praise praise praise praise the Rangers are ahead of them um you know in every you know statistical measure here or whatever and they are just ripe for a blow up like the worst part about the Rangers Kip is like the future is not that bright

considering some of the arc of the age of the guys and they're gonna have to pay shisterkin like i just don't know how you could start discussing trading chris kreider without without usually usually when you when when you hear someone, their name out there, it's because there's a lot of smoke coming out underneath. So you almost instantly, one insider, somebody with some credibility will automatically link somebody of that stature with another team, but there just doesn't seem to be any of that.

And it's not that I think that the Rangers are full of crap here and they're just throwing his name out for the sake of throwing it out. I believe that they'd like to move him right now. They would. I think they're legitimate on that. They want to change their core. They want to change their makeup but it doesn't sound like they have anything going if if you're gonna throw his name out there usually there's other teams linked to a player and that's

not the case like we just had don waddell moments ago saying he had legitimately had 13 teams, 14 teams making inquiries on your check. Oh, he got such good. And we knew. I can't believe the return they got. We knew Minnesota was in it for sure. We knew Pittsburgh. We knew a few other teams.

But, like, there's nothing like that with Chris Kreider or even Trouba, to be honest with you.'ve not heard anything i think it was in elliott's 32 thoughts excuse me if i'm wrong on that but i thought it was mentioned somewhere that like drury had sent out the email you know the email to the other gms yes a couple of guys might be available here he said that i think he said that on maybe headlines on saturday night maybe he said that it was like the ping you open your gmail and you're like, oh. GMs. Interesting.

Like that's getting out every time. GMs have a mass email they share with each other. And I don't know how often names get thrown out there. But when you're throwing them out there, it's usually it's going to get out. We may trade Chris K. Oh, that's so obvious. It's a C. Crider. Yeah.

You know, you mentioned that the Rangers are just, like, in a dogfight with a bad team every night. Like, that game against the Habs. Like, they barely squeak by the Habs. They lose to the Flyers. Maybe not that bad, but they lose 5-2 to the Blues, 6-2 to the Oilers. They're 13-9. Yeah, but it doesn't look good.

It doesn't look good ever. It doesn't look good. Like, Shesterkin covers up so much. He is so good. And it's just every night he's bailing them out. You think that changes anything with Shisterkin signing moving forward? Well, I think it makes your team less appealing if it doesn't look like you're going to be committed

to be successful in the short term. How much of a factor is that? I just feel like you either love New York City, and you should, or you don't. And if you're the starting goalie for the New York Rangers, you've got to stay the starting goalie for the New York Rangers and hope they figure it out. Sam.

Just drinking New York as a Golden Knight. It's too tough to pick who's going to be good in the league. You don't know. Golden Knights might stink next. I think you're underestimating winning a championship. But I just think you don't know who's going to be good. We do it every year. But you try your best to forecast. Yeah, that's fine.

And if you talk to the Joe Thorntons of the world or the Henrik Lundqvist of the world. Joe tried to forecast and he came to Toronto. how'd that go but it was too late it's too late but i'm just saying that didn't check the radar on that forecast that hindsight's of course 2020 but it but it hurts it hurts them knowing that they don't know what it's like to win a stanley cup of course and i recognize it's monster and to me it's the most important thing it's like to win a Stanley Cup. Of course, and I recognize it's monster, and to me it's the most important thing. It's just when you're a good team and you're in a good spot.

Yeah, but if the Rangers are going to go through the next three or four years and they decide to move on off of all these players and it may take them a little while, they've already done that a couple times already. Well, it's not helping their leverage in negotiations with him because if he can suddenly say, you know, I'm not so sure about this organization anymore price just went up again big one tonight devils at msg you know big time rival going in there the devils hang a few on them you know the crowd starts getting restless people start getting mad you know i watched them play the I mean, I watched them play the Flyers on

the Friday, on Black Friday. It's like, the Flyers look like, you know, the devils. The way they were flying up and down the ice. You see that fast team? I don't know. Like a scary one. It's like, is Kreider also is he the guy that you want to get rid of? Like, you know, a big, strong, fast guy?

Like, what the hell is Zibanejad doing for you? So, yeah, but he's, I mean, who's taking that play? Play Chris Drury of like you know a big strong fast guy like what the hell is the bandage doing for you so yeah but he's i mean who's taking that play play chris drury for me for a second here jb and you're gonna call what team to see if they're interested in chris crider and if i'm not mistaking he's at what 6.2 million for this year and next year, which isn't horrible. It's not like eight or nine. It's not like he's sitting on the bench. Doesn't he have nine goals this year?

He's not a loser. I got a couple teams for you. How about Dallas? You still want him? Dallas. Good pick. Thank you. Dallas would be a team I would call.

Okay. Nine goals in 20 games. Or the Jets. Those are two teams I would call. After a 40-goal season. Who wouldn't take them? What are we talking about? What we're talking about is what are you getting back for that?

What are you willing to? Yeah. Because it's a player of that stature is usually, hey, our season's over. We're just going to take the assets and we're going to fight another day. You want a hockey player. But we've got the Rangers in the playoffs today. hey, our season's over. We're just going to take the assets, and we're going to fight another day. But we've got the Rangers in the playoffs today, and therefore I want a $6 million guy back. I don't want a $6 million back.

What am I selling to the Ranger fans while I'm still in the playoffs today? No, you're right. That's a tough sell. Really tough if you don't get a player back. You know, what I think can happen is you can get back high picks and trade the picks everyone wants picks you know it's like its own currency in a way and i think that's what waddell who we just had on was talking about doing with eurocheck couldn't get back an equal prospect can you get back the picks

that someone else will like for a deadline player so does it make sense to flip Nick Ehlers for Kreider? Wow, that's a great suggestion. I think the dollars are pretty comparable. Yeah, but he... Damn, that's a good one, Gibby. You're locked in. I wouldn't do it if I was Winnipeg. But you're locked in for another year.

You guaranteed that Kreider's going to be 6.2 next year. But Ehlers is going to another level off of ufa yeah so you get another year of an effective player while you're kind of in a run here for winnipeg can the rangers squeeze that in what's ehlers out of six million flat six flat so yes they can is the answer so is that does that do it for you does that do it for both teams i mean yeah oh so ehlers yeah ehlers is six even he's 28 years old so uh chris crider's what 30 i'm losing five years losing five years but do you feel like you're losing ehlers ehlers has been playing nine minutes a night it's a joke joke, but like, you know, 15 minutes a night for years as one of the highest points per 60

guys. I think he might be frustrated with his opportunity. I think that's a reasonable suggestion. But, did that give you a better chance to win a cup this year? I mean, it might. He's a different type of player. I like Ehlers a lot. Ehlers is good.

Different type of player. Anyways, game time a lot. Ehlers is good. Different type of player. Anyways. Game time? There is a limited trade list on it. I got to think as an American player, Chris Kreider probably has multiple Canadian teams. I was going to say. Rangers to the Jets is something Jacob Trubis experienced. Sorry, boys.

Not to be this guy, but usually the no-move clause, the first team on there is either Ottawa or Winnipeg, unfortunately. You've got to be honest about who you are in the league. Yeah, sorry. I love my friends in Winnipeg. It's no different. They're on their Canadian team. All right, Sammy. All right, it's game time. Presented by Bet365. Visit the app

for latest odds and find out why it's ever-ordinary at Bet365. It must be 19+. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Like I mentioned to you there, the New Jersey Devils are at Madison Square Garden tonight to take on the Rangers. Huge one.

It is. The Rangers need this tonight. It's plus 105. The Rangers are underdog at home. Minus 125 for the Rangers. Sorry, for the Devils. If you wanted to, I was thinking about betting on a chris crider

to score the first goal of the game tonight with all the rumors surrounding him give me chris crider as the first goal scorer tonight at madison square garden at plus 1400 the chicago blackhawks coming into toronto are a plus 350 under The Leafs are minus 450 on home ice tonight. The Leafs have lost this game for the last four years. I've got to tell you, the three of us sat in the alumni box and ate beautiful pork chops and smoked salmon. And, you know, drank wonderful beers. I drank wonderful beers.

You didn't. Come on. We're a little classier than that. All right, Kippy. Whatever. We watched them lose this game. This literal game. We sat in the boardroom upstairs and watched them lose to Chicago again last year.

So, you know, maybe worth a sprinkle. Although the second half of back-to-back. No, they should lose. Chicago should lose. And I was thinking about a revenge goal for Tyler Bertuzzi tonight. Like I mentioned, that is a plus 425 number for Tyler Bertuzzi to score against his former team, which feels almost inevitable, which a former Leaf always scores.

They've got a few picks. I don't think it's going to be TJ Brody, but maybe if you think that's going to happen. Plus 4 million. I think it's plus 1,800 to score tonight. So if you want that to happen, bet on it. And that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the start to find

out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. That's 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. I do remember that night well in the alumni box because I think you stepped on Jack Vallecat's wife's foot. That was the first year where I didn't get invited. Oh, I was just you and me.

Yes. Yeah. Before you trusted me in public settings, Kipper, that was the only invite. Busting her bones. I just apologized, sweating all over her for the next two periods. Oh, God. Oh, my God.

It was not good. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. When we return, Don Waddell wasn't the only one trading the other day. We'll tell you which backup goalies got swapped when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Dive deep

into Toronto sports and the NFL. The JD Bunkers podcast. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Kipper, it's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. A reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Bourne is brought to you by Bet365. Vancouver Canucks making some noise, eh, on the weekend?

Yeah. Some good efforts. Jake DeBrusque, hat trick, OT winner. He couldn't get out of the way and not score a goal. Like, that's, every spot he was in was just perfect. Sammy called him kind of finding it there a little bit, and he has. He looks like what they thought they were buying

in sort of support scoring for them. So, awesome, awesome news there. Yeah, he's just been on fire. I mean, I would say the overtime goal, Huso. Ping. Oh, that's a good shot. Lean in a little. Like, I mean, it was a great shot, but I don't know.

Like, he was following him into the corner. Like, it was a great shot, but. Second career hat trick, 16th multi-goal game. Tied for the league lead in road goals with 10. Yeah, they had some crazy stats in that game. Lankan is the first goalie ever to start a season with 10 straight road wins.

10-0-0 on the road. And Quinn Hughes sets the franchise record for assists. All in one game. He sees it pretty good, eh? He's a real pleasure to watch. He is. He's one of the guys in the league that you buy a ticket because he's in the game. He sees it pretty good, eh? God, he's... He's a real pleasure to watch. He is. He's one of the guys in the league

that you buy a ticket because he's in the game. Just controls it. He just has it. How do you like a top pair of him and Charlie McAvoy for USA?

McAvoy's a bum. What did he score? Twice yesterday? He's very good, too. I'm watching Primo on his... Did you watch the wraparound goal

he scored? Yeah. Yeah. Not pretty. Like, Primo's his, did you watch the wraparound goal he scored? Yeah. Primo's like covering half of his body's covering no net on the short side. I mean, once

McAvoy saw how far he was off his post, it was like a done deal to wrap it around an empty net. What is going on in Montreal? Well, I was just going to say, it was like a done deal to wrap it around an empty net. It's funny. What is going on in Montreal? Well, I was just going to say, we had Columbus on who everyone thought was kind of going to bottom out,

but there's a lot of optimism there in young players that are coming and a plan. San Jose is better than I thought they were going to be by a great margin. Will Smith is good and Celebrini. Before we move on, I know that you're really going to care about this. Same with you, Kipper. Forward-wearing number two. Thoughts?

Don't like it. Will Smith wearing number two? Very weird. Good for him for doing it. Jarring. But, you know, looking at some of these other teams that are kind of having success from the basement, what is Montreal, how do they feel about where they're at?

It's harder to see their plan for me, Kip. And there are going to be any changes or repercussions or anything. They're just kind of going ahead as in... They reek. Yeah. I'd be furious right now if I was a Montreal Canadian fan

watching Columbus right now going they're better than us? Really? La histoire du hockey. Right? No, you're right. I remember talking to a scout when Kirby Doc went there. And I know there's times when there's flashes of really good Kirby,

but he said nothing more than a third-line guy. Yeah. That's it. Which, you know, if Doc was supposed to be an AHL-er or a fourth-line guy, that's pretty darn good, but I think expectations were out of line with his reality maybe. One goal. One goal in 24 games.

Wow. That's... Slavkov sees two goals in 24 games, if I'm not mistaken. Alex Newhook, no goals in 24 games if I'm not mistaken Alex Newhook no assists in 24 games no assists no assists in 24 games

five goals five points they got that going for him how many goals he got this year he's got lots of assists David I hope we can turn around a little bit. Me too.

This is going to be another high pick. Yeah, I just don't think you can, like, fly the plane into the ground from the start of the season. Like, you're so bad, you need to start trying to get good players now to win more games to just kind of make the landing a little softer i don't know no it's ugly uh yesterday came off their montreal's loss came off the heels of the 100 centennial uh anniversary of the boston bruins yeah do you see that drone video i saw saw the drone video. Buddy, how cool was that?

Yeah, it was really cool. I'd suggest anybody gets a chance to find it on their laptop or phone. They flew the drone into the building. Or someone really fast on a camera. Yeah, and flew it by Bobby Orr looking at the Bobby Orr statue. Willie O'Ree looking at the Willie, you know, Johnny Busick's in the video. They got the mascot going. Just so cool.

It's amazing. It's an amazing video. It's not always awful. Not to throw praise on the Boston Bruins, but I thought it was an awesome touch by Pasta to go out in the old Cooper bucket for a warm-up. I got to tell you, I really did love that. I'm not one to toss compliments the way of the old Boston Bruins, but that was a good look. That old bucket's hilarious.

Are they going to be okay this year, you think? Now they're in third place in the Atlantic. I think they're minus 100 gold. They're going to start coming around here? Yeah, probably. Well, they're better than the bad teams. They're definitely better than the bad teams. They're probably better increment coming around here? Yeah, probably. Well, they're better than the bad teams. They're definitely better than the bad teams. They're probably better incrementally than the medium teams.

So they're going to get their wins. The Atlantic Division is once again separated with the Canadians, Senators, Red Wings, and Bruins on the bottom right now. Sorry, and Sabres on the bottom. Oh, there we go. There's a look. You know, you feel like the Sabres have a chance to make some noise. I'm going to say it now.

I hate to do this. Seven and eight looking pretty familiar there. I have given up on the Senators this year. Of course. I'm out. They're not going to make the playoffs. God, they pushed so hard last night to get an extra point against Anaheim, but lost it in the shootout.

And there's a real, there's a feel of being desperate right now I think they they know it's uh like another bad week could bury them to the point where they cannot dig themselves out of it no and you just need to be good enough that you can talk yourself into it make some trades at the deadline like, but you can't climb over six teams as the season starts to get away from you. Certain teams have gotten off to a start that they can go 500, the Jets or whoever, just coast in. And now the Sens again, it's like they ought to climb a ladder,

and they're not good enough to do that. They're good enough to compete, but... Their record since the leafs lost they beat the leafs that game is two five and two i i saw you see the play last night and this is a obscure part of the game maybe but uh gudas hits i believe pinto hit him hard and then uh pinto someone else random cousins rad good goodness pinto ends up with a puck off of this and like a three-on-one rush. And it was like, oh, they're going to get it.

And he just like backhanded it into traffic and Anaheim went the other way. And I was like, it's bad hockey. That's just really bad. They're just not great. Pinto, I'm not sure about. Did I get fooled this year? Did I say they're going to be in the playoffs before?

I don't think I did. I don't think I did. Elliot put his whole reputation on it. His? I don't think I did. I don't think I did. Elliot put his whole reputation on it. His whole reputation. Yeah, he did. He'll never recover. I'm ruined. How will our boy Freedj ever

recover from making a preseason prediction? Next to Mark Messier's guarantee game six, this is really close. Elliot's Ottawa. It's not over. Yeah, it is. Oh, Elliot's Ottawa. It's not over. Yeah, it is. Oh,

but it happens. They're going to get a line. A back tomorrow night. Apparently they sent that. They sent down, uh, that's good. Sent down some walk in and they're going to put them in there.

He'll help. I guess. I, at least fans will be more interested. Patrick line. I would love to see him go score a bunch of goals, open up room for people. Also, uh, I've seen on the ice is Ovechkin skating.

He went for a little twirl. Did he go to Moscow? I think since he's been out, they've won like four games in a row. Washington. They haven't lost. I don't know if they've lost. I think they're first in the NHL. One sec.

What is happening here? Tied're first in the NHL. One sec. What is happening here? Tied for first in the NHL, the Minnesota Wild and the Washington Capitals. Right behind them is the Winnipeg Jets. They scored six goals the other night without Ovi. 17-6-1. Plus 32 goal differential. 19 goals in their last four games. That's confounding.

Yeah, I didn't see it coming, boys. I know Kipper likes Strome more than I had in the past, and maybe I got that one wrong. Yeah, I know. I like him. I like him. He's just one of those guys where it's not overly pretty, but he gets the job done.

Yeah. It's like almost old school-ish. A lot's happening right at the right time. Like that protest and Connor McMichael are kind of coming into their own. Duhame and Mangiapane are good deaf guys. Matt Roy came back. Yeah, that helps. Chikrin's got eight goals.

Chikrin has eight goals? Eight. Jeez Louise. Sorry about the language. I'm impressed. Oh, that was very, very rude. Rasmus Sandin, I think, is second in the NHL in plus minus i i someone text me that today i could be wrong um look it up just quickly because a couple minutes here and you know i love to talk about team canada in the league we

kind of were we mentioned the travis sanheim travis connect me the double travis thing before we got by but the travi before we got to well. I just wanted to revisit it here before we go. How many true, like, Sandheim, did anybody have Sandheim? Like, was there any one projected team? Has anyone really watched Philadelphia the last three years? I've known him to be... Right?

I've known him to be a good... Like, I've known him to be a good prospect, a good player, but, like, Team Canada? Like, they're, you know, they're going to be a good like i've known him to be a good prospect a good player but like team canada really like they're you know they're gonna be way more surprises like that one cut well out of left field uh what do you have on our our uh our lineup here in that oh joey de cord yeah joey de cord what's the elliot had a report on this didn't't he, Saturday night too? Yeah, so it was that he is a Canadian citizen, but he doesn't physically have a Canadian passport.

So if he gets a Canadian passport by a certain time, then maybe he can, like, listen. We're not jumping through hooves for Joey Decor. We're Canada. Yeah, we're not jumping through hooves for Joey Decor. This isn't a Joel Embiid situation here. Elliot, if you're listening to this show. Well, not another Elliot Stray.

Elliot, what are your sources saying on a driver's license? Would that help Joey Decord? Elliot, Elliot, what about a library card? No comment. Would that help Joey Decord? I know we're desperate. We're looking for whatever we can get. Piece of mail

with his name on it. Not enough, Kip. Not enough? Not going to have it in time. He cannot be selected. Okay, we'll wait for Elliot to report on library cards next week. But, you know, we had thrown out the idea last week on our, like, in our somebody texted and asked us at our last segment on Friday about the potential of Joey Decord.

I just don't like the thought of Canada having to jump through hoops to get any player to play for us. It's like that's a point of pride that we have enough good players. We don't have to worry about that. And certainly, like, God love Joy to Court. Having a great year, been a good player. Certainly not for Joy to Court.

The Joel Embiid point is a great one, right? Like he's Cameroon from birth but grew up in the U.S. And is French too somehow. So he could have played for any three of the U.S. And is French, too, somehow. So he could have played for any three of the teams. Chose USA. Yeah, chose USA. Which you jumped through hoops for Joel Embiid. Yeah, I guess.

I don't think Joey's sitting there going, okay, what time does the passport office open up? Yeah. Take a... You better get in line like 4 a.m. tomorrow. Or he's like, or I can go to Cabo for two weeks. Yeah. I wonder what he's like, or I can go to Cabo for two weeks. Yeah. I wonder what she's going to pick.

There was a backup goalie trade in the league. Oh, yeah, yeah. Mackenzie Blackwood. No. No, no. No, it's a big difference. There's wood involved. Yes, I teed that up.

I teed that up, and I can't even tell you who the other guy is. I butchered his name. Was it not Eustace Ananin? It was. It was. I was desperate for a hook to get them to hang on between the commercial break and come back to our show. I threw out the backup goalie trade.

Yeah. If you're Colorado, just have a trade for a good one. No, you just need something else to figure it out. You just got to try someone else. The league is full of Joey Decord and Wedgewood. Is it like maybe they'll be good this year? I don't know. Colorado has to win now,

and we don't know what they're going to do with Ranton. You know what's interesting to me is we had Don Waddell on, and he said with Merzlikens, Elvis as he calls him, really interesting note about personality and how he said, I told him this year, year be a good teammate and he's being a better teammate and that's whatever his numbers are not good but he's being so he's been a we tell sammy that every day just be a good teammate just be but i'm not a good teammate boys i got nothing you mentioned gorgiev like being difficult at times um in his history right he got into it with Tony D'Angelo that was part of his existence in the Rangers.

So him and Elvis, it's if you're a backup goalie trying to be a starter or trying to stay somewhere, I don't know. Be decent to people. Yeah, he does. Gorgiev has a bit of a reputation of being a little bit

of a finger pointer. Like, hey, you screen me. Your fault. Getting the shoe, hey, you know, screen me. Your fault. Getting the shooting. Not my fault. Yep. Your fault.

Mm-hmm. Ooh. That's tough in an NHL locker room. Oh, boy, is it ever. Especially with guys like Nathan McKinnon on that team. Yeah. They're probably not going to love that. Hey, you mentioned the Waddell thing.

It was a pretty newsy interview now that I look back on it. Yeah, he said a lot of things. If you want to listen, go back. He said a lot of things. If you like trade talk. Yeah. They're doing stuff in your office. Although Olivier a lot of things. If you want to listen, go back. If you like trade talk, they're doing stuff. Although Olivier, not for sale. I did hear him trade Proveroff, though.

He didn't say that expressly, but I heard him say circle back in the new year. Put a pin in it until after the holidays, maybe. You know how many teams would trade for Olivier right now? Many. There'd be a lineup. Yeah. He'll punch a size of your face for free but seven goals before christmas uh to go i'd like to be his agent well i think it helps as an agent when the gm says

uh he's not going anywhere he's having a year like i had when i had like 325 penalty minutes and scored 17 goals yeah that's fun that's fun you get it. How was there enough ice time for that? Did you cash in on that one? I don't know. Yeah, I think I may have come... I think I tripled my salary, I think. Yeah, that helps. I'd like to triple mine. That's an absurd season, Kipper. Yeah, it was crazy.

I just don't know how you're on the ice enough for that to happen. There's only like... I don't know if there's 10 guys in the history of the league that scored 20 goals and had 300 penalty minutes. Do you think of some posts?

Do you remember some? Oh, yeah. Could have been in that year? I pulled my abdominal muscles or that sports hernia thing that cut off like seven or eight games I had. Yeah. Oh!

Yeah, 78 games. You know who's agent I'd like to be? Josh Allen's agent. Nice hat today, eh? He's my favorite player. He's maybe one of my favorite athletes. By the way. I love watching him play.

36 feet of snow in Buffalo. It's an hour and a half from here. We got nothing. They just don't care. They're just like, yeah, we're going. It's just sitting in snow for three hours. They don't care. It was fun, though.

It's fun TV watching it last night. Yeah, curled up beside it with your little Swiss Chalet blanket on. For sure. Okay. I'm off to the alumni box. Oh, boy. For the pork chops? You think I'd wear a nice blazer for you guys?

No, I don't. Enjoy your Monday night, Amazon night. Download. Enjoy your game. And we're back tomorrow on The Real Kipper and Boren Show.