Real Kyper & Bourne - Wrapping Up Round One with Doug MacLean

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Former NHL President, GM and head coach Doug MacLean (0:53) joins Justin Bourne and Sam McKee for Off-the-Rails Friday! Mac discusses Minnesota's depth in the Wild's series win over the Stars, Mats Sundin and John Chayka's fit in Toronto's front office, where the blame falls in Edmonton after their first-round exit, the Ducks' trajectory, and Rick Tocchet's impact in Philadelphia. Later, Justin and Sam tee up the three Game 6s on Friday night, with the Lightning, Bruins, and Mammoth all facing elimination. Finally, they discuss Connor McDavid's future in Edmonton, where Evgeni Malkin ranks among the greatest Russian players of all time, and whether the Oilers' window is still open. 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 to the national hour of Real Kipper and Born. I am Justin Born. Nick Kiprios, not with us today, but we got Sammy McKee. Sammy, hello. Hey, man. We are live on SportsNet. SportsNet 615 in Vancouver, Sportsnet 960 and Calgary and streaming always on SportsNet. Plus, if you miss our show live, you can always get it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube,

and YouTube. And as a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper & Born is brought to you by Bet365. A couple other things. Thumbs up. Tell you. Thumb up on YouTube, apparently. Text us. at 595, 90 back half of the hour.

McKee and I are going to answer some questions. We'll read them after we get to the man. And we'll also do some YouTube comments, which is scary. That is scary. So we'll do so if you, if you at me on there, at SportsCent on there, we'll read some comments on there as well. All right. That sounds fun, but also sounds fun as we are now joined by Doug McLean,

former NHL president, GM head coach, Man the Mythel Legend, Mac. How you doing today, pal? Terrific. What's with Caprioz? He's interviewing the GM job. Like, seriously, he gets a day off and I haven't had done in three years. I did suggest that maybe that would be a reasonable time to healthy scratch you for a night, Mac.

I mean, we get inside baseball here. I texted Mac last night. I said, hey, no Kipper. Like, we're willing. I would still love to have you if you're willing to come on without Kipper. And he said, up to you. And I said, well, we would love to have you. And he's like, okay.

So he seemed really thrilled to come on with us. So, Minnesota Wild. Okay. I listened to all the analysis about it, you know, so far all day long, I've listened to the analysis. But the one thing I haven't heard a lot of people talk about is their fourth line. Okay. Of Falino, Felino and McCarn. Law firm?

Have you seen a fourth line dominate the way they did territorial in a long time? And it kept Dallas off guard. I was shocked by that. I really was. I mean, that is a massive, strong, talented group. What an odd place to start the Minnesota Wild. This is just the fourth line of the wild. Seriously.

Well, he picked them to win the cop. But they were an impact group in that. And look, Quinn and Faber, I mean, look, they've been unbelievable. And, you know, Quinn obviously, yeah, he's changed their team. There's no denying that. What about the goaltender? What about the goaltender who, by the way, Detroit bypassed. So Detroit takes every Swede to the last 20 years and they take a kid from the Western League ahead of this guy.

And all of a sudden, he's been the star of the series. You know who else passed on that goalie? The Oilers. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So, you know, I mean, look, that happens in the draft. That's what the draft's all about. you know those things happen on a regular basis.

Okay, so, you know, Minnesota looked great. I think my team might, you know, as I said, Montreal, Minnesota, in the finals, I'm still hanging in there. Yeah, you're looking good. We'll see. I mean, you guys were poo-pooing me there last week, but, you know, it's looking okay, you know, so we'll see. They're both playing pretty good hockey.

Looking better than mine. I just want to say one thing about the leaves. I'm so sick of talking about this, whatever this has been, this search is one of the One of the most bizarre searches I've ever seen in my life. But anyway, I was talking to a human resource, a vice president of human resource for a major, a major company. Yeah. And we were talking about, you know, leadership. And his name is Mike Roberts, great friend of mine, a brilliant guy.

And he says, you know, players don't quit on teams. They don't quit on teams. players quit because of bad leadership. That's a big difference. Leadership in organizations, companies, leadership with hockey teams. Why do guys leave organizations and walk the way they can? And typically, it's because of poor leadership. So just a little tidbit for Keith Pelley as he works his way through this challenging process.

this was his biggest hire in his career yeah when he said it I thought the same way and today I'm a little nervous about the biggest hire in his career well if the if the and I'm I

Matt Sondine I think is a is a great move I really do really I think it's a good move because you know he's going to be an advisor or whatever he happens to be I hope it's going to be I hope for the leavesake, it's a full-time situation where he's actually here and not living in Sweden.

Yeah. So that's a difference maker for me if he's on site and around. So I think that's good. Chica, I'm not a fan, so that's fine. He gets the job. He gets the job. But I'm just caught up. I was thinking today, Shevoldeia, probably has done a, in my opinion, has done an amazing job in Winnipeg from a drafting perspective, from a trade.

perspective in a challenging market trying to get people to go there probably ready for a change did anybody ask for permission to talk to him? He's been one of the top five teams in the game lately. He's done a real good job. What about not asking Armstrong, Doug? They never

asked Doug Armstrong either. Why not? Armstrong never discussed. Caught me really after. Brisbane, I'd like to know if it's BS or not. I would like to know was that true or is this just a way to pass a you know, the people in the in the in the market.

I really would like to know if in fact it is true. So who knows? That's that's fine. But, you know, they weren't going to give him permission, obviously. But there's lots of GMs in league who would have, you know, a guy like Chevy could have really used a change of scenery for me. And I think he'd be a good man. But that's fine. That's just my own opinion.

Can I go back to the Sundin thing? And I mean, you mentioned that it just being like an advisor or whatever. But what's been kind of reported around here that it's more than that? Like if it were to be a president's role or something in that, a vice president of hockey operations or whatever, would you be confident in him doing that role? Well, he hasn't been a GM, but he's a, he's, I, my vibe on Sundeen that he's a smart guy.

And I think he's a guy that can read the room. He's a, he's a guy that can be around the team and give good advice. I think it's a good hire. I really do. I mean, Ty Domi, I heard a story the other day that Chica was around London. He was a physiotherapist or something there and ended up dealing with Max and all of a sudden, Ty helped get him the job in Phoenix and through a minority owner there.

I mean, like, this is all really bizarre to me. But who knows? I mean, you know, obviously they're friends. So we'll see where it all shakes out. But as I said, players don't quit on teams. They quit and leave because of poor leadership. Let's just remember that. Yeah.

Yeah. And so you want to have strong, confident leadership. I guess I want your thoughts on. Like I'm talking about Toronto and I'm talking about Edmonton. Okay. Exactly. We're going to go. I'll look at both those organizations today.

Yeah. Two of the Premier with two or four of the Premier players in hockey. One, three or two of them on the verge of unrestricted free agency within a couple of years. First, let me just do the Toronto part where, you know, Chica and Sundin would kind of come together. Like one of the things we said early on is like the first hired to be a president, the next to be hired by the president. You know, in your time in front offices, there's no, I'm sure there's not. always a perfect dynamic between two people who are in the decision-making roles. You know, can that work?

When Sundeen Chek is not Sundeen's guy, but he goes, okay, I know I've got to work with this guy. I mean, obviously you would prefer it to be, you know, a team from the onset. Not that you want to develop the team. But look, it happens. I mean, John Davidson went in, you know, he's the guy that brought Armstrong from Dallas. to St. Louis. You know, they had a strong working relationship together. So, you know, I think because of the Tai Domi relationship,

because he's such great friends with Sundin, obviously, Sundin must feel comfortable with what Ty is saying about Chica. And I don't even know if they've talked. But I just, it's just, it's a little bizarre that this is a monumental pair of hires, and one has been out of the game 20 years, or never really involved in management,

but a superstar player. And the other guy's been out of the league, I don't know, what, 10 years, eight years? Six or seven? Yeah, six or seven. So it's just, it's not normal, and that's fine if it's not normal. Sometimes that works out,

but it's just, it's really different. That's all. And it's been, it's been one of the strangest processes I've ever seen, led by a guy who's been a solid, executive in Keith Pelly his whole career. Yep. I don't understand it.

Can I ask you about the Oilers? You mentioned them there. How much of what just happened with the Oilers falls at the feet of management? Because it feels like they've made a lot of mistakes in the past couple years. Well, look, first of all, you've got McDavid and Drysiddle both injured coming into the playoffs. That doesn't help, you know, and we don't know the severity of it, but I guarantee you Dry Seisle of a series, and we know that McDavid's was, he was certainly bothered by.

There's no denying that. The moves that have been made have been really challenging. And you guys talked about how I had written down Holloway and Broberg. I mean, Broberg is one of the top young defensemen in the game. And Holloway, you know, the fact that they didn't match those offers is mind boggling to me that you let two guys. walk away. Cap situations or not. You've got to figure that out. But every move, they're a little bit like Toronto. Every move that was made this year looked like reasonable moves and not one of them really worked out. Not one really worked out. Then you look at Edmonton

and the moves that were made there, how many of them panned out? Frederick gets a, Frederick was a good fourth-line guy in Boston, a competitive battler. Eight-year deal? I know it's to keep the cab down, but give me a break and you lose McLeod. Was it Connor Brown that was there that got played well with matters? What happened to him? I just think the moves that were made by management or have a, you know, have a lot to be desired. I really believe. And the go to end, you can't go into the goal. How do you go in thinking you have a chance to win the Stanley Cup with the goaltending they have? I mean, it just can't happen. So there's so many things. And look, you're always

strapped in management, but it just hasn't worked out so many things. And Connor summed it up. We were average all year. How many times do we talk about? Are they ever going to get out of it? I thought it might come together in the playoffs, but obviously they're just aren't good enough.

Yeah, they look so good in game five. I was like, all right, here they come. It's finally time. And it just didn't happen. So I'll... But you know what? I watched Anaheim play the Leaks in Toronto there, what, a month ago? Yeah. And I remember coming away from that game saying, oh my God, this is the making of a heck of a hockey team.

Then they had a little downturn. But you're looking at the young players, the Cutter Gojay, talked about him last week on the show. The Senate is, you know, the young kid from Oshawa who's been a star already. Seneca, Lacone, the gold tendon has been good. I mean, I'm really, I mean, Patty Verbeek, Patty Burbitt may be the MVP GM of the year so far.

Well, it also, you like Quinville there. Do you think he had an impact on that? It kind of reminds me to Chicago at the start of their upswing when he had Taves and Kane and those guys. Well, I said last week about Quenville, I said, he wants a track meet. He wants a track meat with the Oilers. And it was, we talked about it last week,

and it was a track meet. Yeah. Joel, Joel is the Wiley veteran. I mean, this guy is, he's got away with players where they really like playing for him. He's tough, he's tough, but he's a real good, and he's been a good coach. I remember him in the American League. I mean, you know, the Leif's had him in Newfoundland. He was one of the up-and-coming coaches years ago. He's always been a good coach.

There's no denying that. And yeah, him and Burbik have done a hell of a job there. So I just wanted to move to Ottawa quick with you, Doug. I don't know if you met, if you caught any Brady Kachukes 27 minutes yesterday. and sort of the narrative surrounding him. Was that on his podcast? No, he sat down by himself and faced the media in Ottawa for 27 minutes. What do you make everything around him in Ottawa right now?

Well, you know what? I love Brady Kachuk as a player. He was lost in the series, totally lost for whatever reason. There was a lot of times during the season he was lost and, you know, things weren't happening in the way. And then, you know, then down the stretch, I thought, okay, Brady's got it going here. He's going to have a great playoff.

I think that long-term, it's probably not going to work out. And I hope I'm wrong. I hope that he signs with Ottawa because I happen to like the group. I like Travis. I like the group there. I just think that there's a little bit of a little bit of bad vibe on both sides here. I think that management aren't overly thrilled, and he's not overly thrilled.

Probably that's what's going on. So more of a two-way street than it's... That's what I see. That's what I see right now. And I may be wrong in that. It's just my own opinion, you know? Yeah. As my mother used to say,

I'm just telling you what I heard. I don't know that it's true. Well, we were having a conversation before the show today. In its conversation, a lot of people are having out there it doesn't make fan bases happy, but there are some American captains in Canada and some fan bases

are worried, you know, who is most likely to lose it, whether it's Matthews, whether it's Brady, you got Connor Hellebuck is not a captain, but he kind of is the leader in Winnipeg. And of course, McDavid, you know, I know he's not American, but there's a lot of teams going, oh, a little worried right now. You know, I'll go back to my original comment,

bad leadership. I don't think it's anything to do with Canada. I really don't. I think that's, I think it's overplayed. You know, guys love being in Canada. Sure, they love being home. Sure they like being in Florida, I guess. But I think it's overplayed a little bit.

I think it more comes back to what kind of leadership do these organizations have. And we'll see. We'll see how it works out. So I got yelled at by both my co-host yesterday when I brought this up. But is John Cooper just going to coach forever in Tampa? Like is there, if they lost tonight, is there ever a world where that ends? I wouldn't be surprised that that Coupe would go somewhere else. I wouldn't surprise me.

I, you know, I think that everybody, look, it's two sides. Sometimes they're ready for a change too. That's not what I mean? As successful as Coupe has been and as good a job as he's done, I just think that sometimes a change of scenery, you know, It's tough to coach that long in one market. It really is. And it's not like coaching in Toronto or New York, I guess.

But it's not easy. I wouldn't be surprised that we'll see John Cooper somewhere else eventually. Toronto? Oh, my God. Will you let it go? Toronto's the only place. I guarantee you Toronto is the only place you'd want to go. Of course.

Oh, yeah, right. He wouldn't want to go to Detroit where he's, He lives from 30 minutes outside Detroit. No, he'd want to go. He'd want to go to your team, San. Detroit's close to Toronto. It's only a four-hour drive. No problem.

Yeah, no, I, you know, but, you know, there's coaches. It's been a heck of a run for him. It really has. I mean, Howard Dolgan's a great friend of mine, the owner of Syracuse, and we just had lunch a couple weeks ago. I mean, he had Coup and Syracuse, you know, right out of the U.S. HL. And, you know, it's, it's been a wonderful ride for him.

But, you know, would Coup like a change of scenery? I wouldn't be surprised down the road. But who knows? You know, I wouldn't know. You know, the coaching situation around the NHL is fascinating. Obviously, there's another series coming up. Rod Brindamore. He's been in Carolina for a long time.

His family has roots. But the guy on the other bench, Rick Talkett, brand new year one. You know, they get past the first round. First, kind of a two-parter. Because I wanted to... Just a minute. Just a minute. Did I pick Philly in that series?

I think I did. I'm guessing if I picked Pittsburgh, you picked Philly. 100%. So you had Ottawa then in the other one? I picked Ottawa. I was like Kelly on his prediction with Ottawa. I was a little often now. And I didn't go deep enough into the analytics like Kelly did.

Is that his name? Is that his name? Mike Kelly? Yeah. Yeah, he nailed that. So two thoughts on Talket. One, how much credit do you give him for their success this year? And also I kind of want you to weigh in on the Meachkov stuff.

Like sometimes the guy's just not ready, but the fans want them to be ready. And so the coach looks bad. I'd love to get your take on Talk at Meechkhov as well. I think talk has really become a really solid coach. You know, I watched him in Phoenix as a young coach, mix, you know, in a tough situation. Vancouver, I thought he was on the verge of doing a really good job. But, you know, obviously he wanted to go to Philly. I think he's done a heck of a job this year.

But I hate talking leadership. But I look at Keith Jones and Breyer and Talker. Could you tell me a group of leaders of an organization that would be on the same page like those three guys are? And I think it spills over. I think it's that critical and it's that important. I watch what the job they've done with Zegris, you know? Yeah. I mean, this kid, this kid, every shift I want to watch him in Philadelphia.

Drove me crazy in Anaheim, I want to watch him every shift in Philadelphia. So, yeah, Talks done a good job, but I think it's a team there. And I think Jones is a solid. I was with Keith Jones in Washington when we drafted him there. And, you know, he's always been a solid, solid citizen. So it's not surprising that that management team, you know,

players, all former players, you know, that doesn't happen very often anymore. So I think they're a good job. With Meetska, but to me it's nothing because he's a kid. And it's a big stage and it's asking a lot. And I thought they played a well where they put him back. They didn't, they haven't discouraged them. They've given hope by getting them back in there.

So I think they've handled it really well. Well, you'll see some more leadership, you know, all former players when it's Sundeen, Domi, Roberts, Tucker, everyone else here. Hey, and you know what? They're all good guys. Absolutely. The little I know of them, you know, and I don't know them well, but I know Gary Roberts to say hello, and I know Matt's to say hello,

and they're all good people, you know. Ty and I have had some, you know, we've had a few little, you know, you know, some fun things go on, but I like Ty too. So, you know, hey, I don't wish them any bad luck. I just, I hope it works up. But like, you know, as Keith said, you got to trust Keith because he said, it's his biggest hire of his career. now he hired Kipriot and he hired I,

but I'm a little confused. He thinks this is bigger than those. No, he nailed those two hires, though. That is offensive. Yeah, he brought, no, actually he came after we were there, but then he bailed on us for whatever reason. He wanted to go to play golf. I don't know what to hell he disappeared to.

I couldn't figure out why we were bailed on you. The last thing before we let you go to just three teams play tonight who are down three, two. You got the lightning, the Bruins, and the mammoth. Anyone have a chance to come back in the, this series? Well, as I said, I picked the Bruins. I picked the Bruins to beat Buffalo although I'm hoping for Buffalo because of Lindy, obviously. It wouldn't surprise me the Bruins will go back for game seven. And if they do, I'd be real nervous. And then I, you know,

then I would win another series. Montreal, I think eliminates Tampa Bay. I think they will. What's the expected goals for tonight? Do I know that? 6.43 divided by pie. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. I didn't know what. But, you know, I enjoy listen to Kelly. But, you know, the interesting is slot chances and the rush chances.

You know, it's fun. Chances and rush chances are not fancy. Yeah. You probably had a guy writing those on a napkin for your game. Those are not fancy stats. Of all that, I would really look at one thing. The goaltender for Montreal and the goaltender from Tampa Bay.

Totally. The gold end from Tampa Bay has not been good enough for me. And he's a stud. So is he going to play, you know, the game that they need? And let's not forget this, boys. Montreal got a major break with

headman not around. Totally. A major break. Yeah. No, he's so... How many teams can lose their franchise defensemen? We talk about Quinn Hughes

and what he's done for, Minnesota. What does Edmund do for the Tampa Bay Lightning and not having him? This is a 28 minute, a game guy head to head against the other team's best players. This is a monumental loss for Coupe. It really is.

And in Carter Hart, going to be able to get Vegas across the line? And maybe they were uptight that Brisball was going to go to Toronto. Maybe that's throwing them off. You know, maybe that. I'm sure he was torn on that decision. Making them nervous. Who is that? You know, Carter

Hart's, been a good story and all the troubles and battling back. I'm a little concerned about Vegas. I really am. Utah's they're quick. But Carter Hart stood in there in battle.

He really has. So I think Vegas comes out of it, but we'll see. All right, Mack. We sure appreciate your time on a camperless day. That was fun. I got to and Jill's upset because there's a lady in our building who's leaving tomorrow, so we're going to have a little beach

cocktail, so I have to head over to the beach and just, you know, we're right, I don't have to go far. We're on the beach, so I just have to open the gate and go, you know, so it's not bad. You know, I'm just, and then we're going out to a great restaurant where I took the Kipriosus when they were down here. And where I bought. I was going to say,

did you pay? Well, Kip was going to, well, Kip was going to buy, and I fought him a little and he rolled over, he showed his belly. He gave it. He put the wall. But he did, as I have to admit, he brought me a Kippermborn baby blue hat. Oh, well, that's worth $500 at least. And he gave me an alumni hat that I'm sure he got free.

I can't complain. Mack, I'm not joking, not joking. My brother-in-law just bought a place in Delray Beach. I'm coming, brother. Yeah, did he? I'm coming. Awesome. That's great. It's funny, I was on the beach last year, and I look over,

and Mike Milbury's sitting on a long year. Oh, maybe I won't go. I don't know. Maybe they'd get together. All right, Mac. Well, thanks for your time. We appreciate it. See you, bye.

Thanks for having, thanks for having me on. It's a highlight of the week. It was a real honor for me to get to talk to you, Doug. It was. It was awesome. Real honor. That's Doug McLean, former NFL. Thanks, buddy.

NHL president, GM, and head coach. Good stuff. I'm surprised he, well, it's funny that when you offered him to come on or not come on, that he accepted. He likes to do it. You don't think he likes it? He's probably still listening. He's still there?

Well, certainly grateful for his time today. That's so funny. Okay. I don't know. I feel like the Mammah should have won that series already. I was just pulling up to some of the odds. And the fact that they haven't by now, to me, feels like they've blown their opportunity. They're going to get a.

Not the right sheet. Eichel game, a Marner game. Game time. All right. It's game time. Presented by Bet 365. An official partner of the NHL must be 19 plus. Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. So we were going to do the cons my son's, cons my thoughts, we're heading towards the second round. Just as an aside, I hate that they start the second round before the first round's over. Yeah, not cool. I hate that.

Saturday night. Yeah, for game one. I'm like, let's slow this down. Carolina Philly. Like, let's just space this out. Like, we don't need to start the second round. Like, that's just... I want it done.

You know, I don't love that it goes into late June or whatever. Yeah. I don't know that this even speeds it up. I guess the idea is just let these guys have rest in this series rather than all the rest before the series. So I brought up the cons my thoughts, and the favorite is? Nathan McKinnon.

Correct. Five to one. Which is still, if you're listening to this right now. Not a bad number. Pretty good number. You could do worse than that. The next... Conceivably, they get by the wild,

they're going to get Vegas or something. And he's going to be a crucial part of that. The number I do love is Kail McCar 12 to 1. That's a nice number as well. I was just rolling down to try to find our boy, Lecombe? Well, they don't think Anaheim's going to sniff it. He's 70 to 1.

Yeah. So he's not going to get close, I guess, right? That's the reason that he's so far down the list. It's team-based at some point. Like, I bet you there's better odds for Brock Nelson than there is Jackson. Frederick Anderson's 10 to 1. He's his second favorite. Then underneath Kiel McCart goes, Logan Stankhoven.

Stanky. Scott Wedgwood, Sebastian Aho, Jack Eichel, Caprizov, Quinn Hughes, Hugh's 30 to 1. Ooh. And Caprizov was what? Caprizov was 25 to 1. So if you're going to bet on the Kahn-Smythe winner, pick your team first. Yep.

Just pick who you like, pick the best guy or two. I don't hate Quinn Hughes at 30 to 1. I also wouldn't do McKinnon, even though 5 to 1 is not terrible, I would do McCarfer. Just 12 to 1. Better value.

Yeah. And just looking at the games for tonight. Three series. Tampa in Montreal, favored tonight. Favored. Minus 120 in the money line. You get the Habs at plus money.

Plus 100. Haven't we been banging a bet Montreal? They've been plus money a lot of these games. Plus money there. You could definitely do a home team. I'm stunned that Tampa's a favorite. Which makes me feel like Tampa's going to win. I don't know.

That's one that's surprising. What do they know? Not what they know, but they usually get these things, right? The Buffalo Sabres are minus 120 in Boston tonight, Boston plus 100. What is happening? The home teams are plus money. Parlay those.

And the Vegas Golden Knights minus 115, Utah, minus 105. So that's pretty close on both sides. Can you get the number if you parlay the two home teams, Montreal and Boston? Let me just quickly log in here and I can do that. Oh, by the way, Montreal, Boston for a potential round two. I know Buffalo's up three, two, the favorite. I want to get two inside baseball, but Sportsnet could use that one.

Sportsnet could use that one. I don't think dogs. The oilers, no scope shot to the dome they just took was no good. If you parlay the two home dogs tonight, you get. plus 300. Plus 300 for two home teams that are pretty good. So anyways, that was game time presented by Bet365. An official partner of the NHL,

almost 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. And a reminder, this hour of Real Kipper and Born is brought to you by Bet365. Excellent work is always, Sammy. When we come back, we're going to take your text. 590, 590.

Send them in right now, right now. We're all over the country. We'll spend our Friday afternoon chatting with you guys, getting back to your thoughts when we get to, back from this break. Dive deep into Toronto sports and the NFL. The J.D. Bunk is podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to Real Kipper and Bourne. I am Justin Bourne, and I will now throw it over to Sam. Time now for the Accura Performance Matchup, the 26 Accura MDX, precisely, premium.

Now, Bruins, Sabers. Game 6. tonight in Boston. Atlantic teams that wear blue historically have great success what can possibly go wrong. Although they just absolutely

smashed them last time there. So maybe they'll look back on that. So the Bruins who finished the regular season tied with the hurricanes for the most home wins, 29, among all teams, or an all-time record of 34, 35 and 1 in potential elimination games at home. Really?

And they're four and three, and they have a four-and-three record. dating back to 2018 postseason. So these games haven't particularly gone great for the Boston Bruins in. I bet you all four of those wins are against the Leafs. They've struggled with these. And I just found out interesting. You know, I spent some time today.

Also, one of my hockey musings was, boy, that JJ Petrca trade sure worked out for the Sabres, didn't it? It really did. Like Peturca has zeros in five games. You played less than 10 minutes last game. And Don't is a useful guy. Kessel Ring, Will. will be, yeah, things have gone Buffalo's way this year, man.

So listen to this. Lindy Rough has been a part of 14 of the 21 series clinching wins in franchise history. Wow. Including 10 as a head coach. Their most recent was in 2007 conference semifinals against the Rangers and four as a player during the 1980s. Lindy. Is that not insane?

He's Mr. Sabre. He is. Oh, he is. And Lindy winning a cup as a Buffalo Sabre in 2026 would be among the all-time. greatest hockey stories. I agreed. He's on zero, right? No cups?

Yes. No cups because he lost. Cup final. With the sable with the foot in the crease. Yeah. So. Like it would be unbelievable. I'm blown away by that stat.

And I don't know. I saw that video of when the mic cut out and all their fans are singing, Oh Canada. Shout out Buffalo. Here's what I'll say. If you're listening from Buffalo, this diehard leave fan,

you would never in a. million years here for us and that's fine you would never like they would never subject themselves to that no but i will tell you i'm rooting for them yeah i'm fully rooting for them i i hope that they have a long run if they're playing the habs in the next round i will be paint my face blue and yellow or black and red and white whatever colors you wear i'm just i think they're an awesome team to watch they're an awesome story you know why i found that a profoundly uniting moment is because everything we went through with, you know, Trump talking about annexing Canada and making it at the 51st state

and how mad Canadians were, how proud Canadians were. You know, we booed their anthem at games. And for... I was at multiple events. I went to a TFC game, loud booze. Jay's game, there was loud booze. And so they continue to sing the Canadian anthem at those games between two American teams.

And their fans, you know, sung oh, Canada's as I might cut out. And it almost felt like, you know, the olive branch. And it was like, okay. Like, yeah, we're still mad about that guy and those things. There's a ton of Canadians that go to those games. Yeah, but I don't know.

That just felt, if you're doing a draft, you and me right now, it's a draft American cities that are Canadian. That would fit well with the ideals of being Canadian. I think Buffalo high, Minnesota high in that list. Totally. Probably the first two picks up to board. First thing that came to mind too. It was maybe Minneapolis, St. Paul.

I said Minnesota. That's not a city. Nailed it. Whatever. I'm an idiot. Anyways, that was The Accurate Performance Matchup, the 226 Accura MDX

Precisely. Premium. All right. So we're starting to get some texts. So that's good. Starting to. Yeah, yeah, I mean, they're pouring it. But I just wanted to give you this one. All right.

Because there's a few that have sort of the same tone. Yep. And I'm sorry to do this, but the Emmett don't knowers that just got eliminated last night. Yeah. What will the McDavid contract with the Leafs be in 2028? Come on.

I don't think it's as... I don't think it's as... I don't think he's going to be necessarily playing here. But I do think there's a potential of him and Matthews teaming up somewhere. So you think Matthews McDavid as kings or something? I don't know if it's here. Like, I don't think it's a 0% chance that it's here. If you were to list the biggest betrayals to Edmonton, where he could,

could play next. Calgary's number one. Oh my God, not even close. Toronto's number two. You think? Maybe Vancouver. Vancouver, but I don't think he's going to go. I think they're safe on that one.

Yeah, the Kings are high. They play them in the playoffs all the time. But like, Vegas. But like, they don't have to deal with the fandom. No. Because if Connor McDavid somehow ever signed in Toronto and potentially won,

you would be insuffer. The Oilers fans would never leave the city. They would never. risk running into a leaf fan because it would be horrible. Yeah. I think... I wrote about this today, by the way. You did?

I wrote five thoughts on the Oilers at the end of it. And I wrote about McDavid and what comes next. Bonkus' idea is the lightning. The lightning? To me, he is like the number one guy. We talked about Matthews and Brady Kach and Connor Hallibuck, who he is going to play his contract. And if he decides it's time to go,

like he plays next year, the oilers are no good, he'll tell you. Yeah. He'll say, yeah, I just don't, you know, I got to go somewhere we can win. I don't see our chances being better next year. Like, let's say they just stink outright, he might say it. But if they're good and they have a chance, if they're among the eight teams that have a chance to win a Stanley Cup next year,

he's playing out his contract. Yep. So for me, it's like they, all the pressure in the world is on Jackson and Bowman. I just, I don't know if they're, I don't know about, you know, Jeff Jais, he's the president or whatever. I know he works close to it. But Bowman's track record in terms of what happened to that core in Chicago, Blackhawks fans,

like he was not popular. I mean, we don't even need to talk about the other stuff, but he was not popular before any of that. Right. Thought he really screwed up the end of that. And it's kind of feeling like he did the same thing there. Like he can't be a popular figure in Edmonton today.

Like in Toronto, Bradtree living getting a hard time, some of the deals people go and he did this, this and this and it didn't work out. Yeah. The Bowman list in Edmonton is bad. Pretty long. Hi guys. Love the show. You're doing a great job, Sammy.

And you know what? Not wrong. That's how you get read. Question for you both. If this is it for Gino, if he retires at the end of the year, where do you put him in the top of all Russian players? Oh, wow.

Is he top three? I mean, I need to Google it, Google it, top Russian players. Google it. Top scoring Russian players of all time. Do you remember when they did the top 100 NHL players of all time? And he wasn't in it. And he was like 100.

and first there was like some like honorable mentions or something news he alone who scored 40 back for the new york knickerbockers so he's the second highest scoring russian of all time ovi is number one obviously i need i need an all time i got it here so the top five scores the top five scores obviously ovi was 1687 points the next closest is of genie malcon with 14707 just crazy i mean i didn't know he was that high the gap between him and the next one and then it's Federov at 11779. Over 200 fewer points. 230 fewer points.

And then it's Nikita Kuturov above Alexander McGilney. Like this list, I mean, obviously some pretty great players here. The tough one is Datsuk is down at 8 and he only played 953 games. That's a games played thing. If I was going to, of my lifetime, I think it's, you have to give it to Ovi number one. Yeah, obvious. You have to go Malkin and you have to go Fedorov. It's the top three.

It's the top three scores. Those are the three best. in my life. Yeah, who are you going to bump to Kuch? That's two. And then Kuturov's probably five and it's just because of the respect factor.

Fedorov is more revered. Selky trophy, you know, commercials, Anna Kornikova. Just the coolest hockey player of all the time. Kulis do never. Nike skates. Like just number one.

So like maybe you'd want to put Kuturov ahead of him for reason. Because Kutrov played about 400 less games than Federov and is like 50 points behind him. So he's going to be points per game. Going to crush him. But yeah, Federov's. I'm with you.

I'll put him three behind Federov. Federov's too cool. So you're going Federov, too. Two. Yeah. I'm going Malcolm too. Yeah. Fedorav's that dude, man.

I know he was, but Malcolm... It's a youthful part of me, too. He has a... This is a question. Does Fedrov have a cons mith? I don't think he does. And Malcolm does have that cons mous. I don't know.

I just think of Guany Malkin without Sid, like I think he would be taught... I don't think he's talked about enough as, like, one of the all-time great players. I will have a conversation. He's underrated. One of my, you know,

everyone's got the meme with all the swords, like, you know, one opinion, that whatever. Peak Malkin, better than Pico Vecke. Agreed. Really? Totally.

I think that there's just, he was the closest to Merri Lemieux that there's ever been. When he's on, he's just undeniable. Mean, bad. Like, I know OV is a wrecking ball or whatever, but Malkin was unstoppable at his best.

We might get paid for that one. I don't really care. I used to. Hello, Jason from New Brunswick here. Hi, Jason. Love the show. Love Tuesdays with Valacette. So do we.

What about Chris Draper as the least new GM? He's been learning under Eisenman for many years now. He could be the next Pat for Beak. Someone is going to scoop him up soon. This felt like the type of guy whose name would come up. This is, I mean, how is it not come up right now? Until right now. I don't know.

He'd be perfect. He'd be perfect. From the area, unbelievable player. Totally gets it. Been with front office for a long time. one of the best scouting organizations in the history of the league, hard worker, played for Team Canada.

How is he not the next Canada? Didn't even come up. Didn't even come up until right now. Jason from New Brunswick. Neil should have called you, brother? Who had it locked down? You know what, though? Hey, what did you think of Mack being like,

can't believe they didn't reach out to Shevel Day Off? I actually think Shevel Day Off gets a hard time because people don't know all the guys he can't get because of no trade clauses. I think he's done a great job working his way around that. That's interesting. I think it is interesting that he brought it up. Yeah, I don't think it means nothing.

I never know with him. But, like, I mean, the fact that he didn't yell at me about Cooper, I was interested, too. You led the witness. Oh, yeah. Do you guys think the Oilers getting to a cup final again is a 50-50 proposition considering the age and contracts of Connor and Drysidal? Not a chance.

You don't think they get back. John Cooper just said it's an 8% chance for the best team at the start of the year, by the way, I think it's 11. Do you think they will get to the final again? Because I don't. No. I mean, what? They just...

I think Anaheim's getting worse? Do you think, I guess. I don't know. No, no, that's what I'm saying. I don't. And I think, I think San Jose is going to be on the rise. Oh, yeah. I just, they don't, their guys are old.

It's his old. It's why he hates his wife. I hate to say it. But like, are we having window talk here? We're doing like a little bit of sports talk radio stuff. We're doing a window talk. Well, the couple things is like, okay, Zach Hyman had some injuries this year.

He was banged up. He wasn't the same. Hey, he's going to have a lot because he plays hard and he's getting older. Ryan Nugent Hopkins, not close to the same guy. Yeah. Echholm was getting turned around every nurse's waking too much. He's getting old. Like, it just feels that there's just 31?

The year, I mean, the last two years are the years, man. And I just, they could get back. They have McDavid. They have to have a shrewd off season. but I saw what did I send you that they're paying jari and the combined cap hit of the the jack Campbell buy it's like eight million bucks that's to start and if you're gonna do with that and you left millions on the table for them to work with and they're spending it on a goalie they can't use for your waiver claim yeah and a guy who's doing like Instagram story dumps right now like he's just like he's not

even is he yeah no i just saw him on instagram he's like you know coffee like he's just like he's not involved with the hockey. God, we should have him on the show. I don't know. Remember, I actually, one of the worst takes I ever had is that he's new Kudjo and they should give him like $6 million a year for seven years. I remember us doing six by six for him. I was saying he's new Kudjo.

That's a take I wish you could have back. No, and remember it until he just brought it up. Whatever, that's called accountability, buddy. The UFAs for Edmonton Oilers next year, Adam Henrique, Jason Dickinson, Jack Rossovic, Kasperi Kappan, Max Jones, Curtis Lizar, Connor Murphy At like eight UFAs

All UFAs Then RFAs Colton Dock and Spencer Stasn Wow So they got They got a They have the chance To change the body of their team

But that Dickinson was really good for them Now we're just getting McDavid Now we're just getting McDavid destinations This is from a 514 Area Code aka Quebec What about Montreal

Montreal From Toronto If he went to Montreal all dead to me. There's few things that would make me more, I would take back all the nice things I've said about them. Which are a ton of call him a grump a lot, but I would be very disgusting with that.

I think you could comfortably say that to his face. You'd like, yeah, I'm frustrated I'm trying to win. Yeah, there's a few people saying now that, on this text line being like Montreal, Montreal, someone texts in said, what about the ducks? Oh, wow. Yeah. I think that's easier to stomach than,

LA just they haven't had that sort of scar tissue with them. We do have a bunch of Edmonton stuff to get to but I'm kind of if you got more text I'm more into the text but whatever I'm talking about Edmonton.

Okay. I was listening to all the after the game audio. Yeah. And this dry saddle clip that he said like I really love dry sidle and I just think he's such a gamer and he gets it and like he's just he's a real dude. He's a cool dude. And he got asked after the game. Actually, let's say.

just play the clip about it. The dry side of the game. The last five years. Is that the grind kind of that you cut up? I don't know. I mean, you strap your skates on

for every playoff game and you try and go out and play your best and try to win it. Obviously, fell short. And yeah, I think there's just as much as it hurts. I think they're just a better team.

They're just a better team. I love. that where he's just like yeah we put on our skates a guy to go out there and win and he literally stopped himself from saying they're the better he's like they're the as much as it pains you to say it they're a better team yeah he's a competitive guy but they were they were i i heard someone else in the organization say either not if not exactly that's something very similar to that and i thought that was so much better ownership even if it's not true in toronto we had people got frustrated over like oh they showed us a lot of respect of the

the handshake line. People got frustrated. Rod Brindamore when he said, yeah, we got swept, but it was closer than that. People got frustrated. Ottawa said the same thing. Sometimes the best thing to do is go,

good team. They're good. They're better. Dreye Saddle, tough playoffs. Six games, three goals, seven assists, 10 points.

He had 10 points. Yeah, it's all. Just 10. He's the only guy. Like, it's just him and McDavid, they just carry him through. It's crazy. That's right.

No, maybe that's not. That can't be right. Did he have 10 points again? Oh, my God. Yeah, he did. He's 10 points, leading playoffs and points. Sick. God.

He's such a beast. He's such a beast. All right. Let's look ahead to tonight. All right. Three big ones, obviously. Tampa Montreal. Coverage gets started on sports at CBC 630.

What do you feel about this? Tampa Montreal. You know, interesting Mac had it as Montreal. You're in Montreal tonight. A lot of these series feel like if you don't win while you're at home, it could be trouble. There's two of them, right? Is it, uh, no, sorry, it's actually in Utah and Boston.

It's, it's in Utah and it's in Boston. But tonight, I don't know. I would like to say that Montreal needs to get it tonight, but they've already won twice there. I don't think Tampa is the most intimidating building to go into, like, for God takes a lease would in there and won multiple big games. So Montreal has two cracks at this. I think Montreal gets it done tonight.

I think it's crazy that like there's no cracks in the Dobish armor. Like Dover's Fowler, are they going to be? I don't think so. It's good for the Marley's that they're still playing because it means Fowler's not playing for LaVal. Maybe the Marley's actually have a chance. But yeah, they don't want to have him go back down there. But they got two solid goalies.

This is the whole experience at Tampa Bay. Can they find a way? Braden Point has no points at five on five. Nikita Kuturov has two points at five on five in the series. He looks pissed the entire game. Yeah. I need him to stop worrying about all that. Mike Kelly came on in our first hour,

And he was like, would you be surprised if Vasaleski shut it down? And I almost thought to him and like, yeah, yeah, I would be kind of surprised. But these games, he's been. Well, not recently. No. He's been bad for quite a while. I don't know. We'll see.

Corey Perry, here I'll give you some stats. So potential series clinching games, the guy in Montreal has played the most. Brandon Gallagher's plays nine. He's seven and two over that time. Jacob Dobish at home is record, 14 and 3 with a 9-13 save percentage. Pretty good. And then the other thing. Oh, yeah, Corey Perry, 36 elimination.

games he's 19 and 17 um great no that's a coin toss that's a lot of games that's so many most career wins facing elimination in any or among active players ryan mcdona has 20 wins when facing elimination cori perry is 19 wow okay yeah yeah all right and then what are you about the other two boston or buffalo buffalo if i mean honest i don't think buffalo's going to win tonight okay i am trying to I want Buffalo to win. That's going to be a sneaky. You know what, if they go back to

Buffalo for a game seven. Yeah. Like, because it feels like it's in their hand. The fan base is ready to explode. Feels like after this series, anything could happen. I hope they win tonight. Just get it over with.

Don't screw it out of the game seven. I think Vegas wins by four or five tonight. Utah had it in their clutches. Yeah, I do think that if someone like Petraca was going a bit more, Michael Amato wrote a good article today. for sportsman. That includes that as a detail.

They're just not using them. He can't get involved. They got Yamamoto playing ahead of him. How many primary points for Mitch Marger in this series so far? He is currently at, is it six, seven? No, it's zero. Oh, okay. A couple shorthanded points, so unfortunately,

and won that kind of led. Hey, who scored that game? I'm not sure he touched it. That was an insane assist. But I'm not counting. Hardly checked the stats every day to see how he's doing. That's fun, bud. Have a good weekend.

Thank you very much for joining us. We will be back next week. Kipp will be back on Monday. And, yeah, enjoy the weekend. We'll see you guys then.