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Real Kyper & Bourne

Vally's View: Best Goalies Heading Into the Playoffs

14 Apr 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: Which goaltender has the most pressure heading into the playoffs?

7.709 - 31.084 Sam McKee

Let's get her going from coast to coast. We are national on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. We are live on Sportsnet. Sportsnet 650 in Vancouver. 960 in Calgary and streaming always on Sportsnet+. If you miss our program, download us. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. Bless you, Sammy.

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31.503 - 36.473 Justin Bourne

Thanks, man. I'd like people to know that Nick Kipper has never sneezed on the air in 25 years.

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36.874 - 37.234 Sam McKee

Thank you.

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37.435 - 50.22 Justin Bourne

Is that right? Yeah. It's the vomit streak from Seinfeld. Technically, I wasn't on air until Kipper brought it up. I sneeze once a week. Do you? Oh, yeah. Dusty in here. Dust everywhere. I don't know how you don't sneeze.

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50.487 - 55.854 Sam McKee

Something tells me if it ever happens. Oh, it's going to be a big thing. You'll be the first to know about it.

55.874 - 58.797 Justin Bourne

We need to have, like, confetti in here or something.

58.898 - 72.174 Sam McKee

This hour of Real Kipper and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. In a couple of minutes, we'll welcome in Steve Valliquette, analyst for the New York Rangers on MSG, CEO of Clearsight Analytics, and game host of Girlmarks.

72.915 - 73.195 Justin Bourne

Yeah.

73.235 - 74.537 Sam McKee

I don't know. What's our segment called?

Chapter 2: Why does the Montreal Canadiens have the strongest goalie tandem?

299.686 - 303.373 Stephen Valiquette

These are all the top guys. Yeah. What a weird year.

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303.734 - 310.204 Justin Bourne

Is this like when the NFL decided that running backs don't matter? Like, is it like goalies? Ah, whatever now.

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311.646 - 312.287 Stephen Valiquette

I'm out of work.

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312.587 - 315.852 Justin Bourne

What am I doing?

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315.913 - 320.119 Sam McKee

So off the top of your Knicks hat, what does that say?

321.787 - 345.769 Stephen Valiquette

Oh, boy. Like, it doesn't matter until it matters? Is it more environment than it is the product of what goalkeeper you have that saves your ass? Like, I don't know, because not for anything, these guys didn't even have bad years. Most of them. I mean, Shosturkin had a really good year. Sorokin was almost a Vezina winner. Soros bounced back.

345.749 - 359.404 Stephen Valiquette

If Thompson was the best goalie by the end of the season and expected goals and he still didn't get it. So I'm going to have to put some more thought into this. Okay. This literally just dawned on me like 30 seconds before we came on air.

359.564 - 367.773 Sam McKee

So are we back to the cross ice pass on top of the circles? Because you've talked about that all season long.

368.434 - 394.085 Stephen Valiquette

Yeah. um you know i i maybe it's just that maybe that's just it like a goalie can only do so much and depending on who you're playing for when you're playing for them and all the things that factor into it maybe Maybe we're getting to a point where the scoring's getting so strong and the shots on goal are so by design not to keep goalies in the game.

Chapter 3: What challenges does Andrei Vasilevskiy face with traffic in front?

723.59 - 739.801 Stephen Valiquette

The scouting report on him for the last three years is going to be get traffic on him. teams are trying to accomplish as they slide the blue line is to break the midpoint of the blue line and then send the puck back across the grain through a screen.

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740.463 - 761.057 Stephen Valiquette

And against a big goalie like Vasilevsky, he still tends to have his head a little bit high, meaning his chin high, so the puck comes underneath his point of vision. And what happens is he comes down to the ice with all of his force and it's like coming down like a ton of bricks. And then his knees get apart and then he's swimming a little bit.

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761.077 - 776.318 Stephen Valiquette

And if the puck hits the end boards or if it hits the pile of traffic on the weak side post, it's hard for him to make second and third saves. So I think that if he understands where his strengths lie and how to play those

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776.298 - 796.146 Justin Bourne

advantages or disadvantages uh that the opposition is trying to create in front of him he'll be okay but it'll be interesting to see how he manages his net front traffic be curious to get your thought on some who should they start uh we can start with pittsburgh uh svilov svilov or skinner who you like there svilovs

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796.126 - 820.79 Stephen Valiquette

Yeah, she loves the thing about pick guys. They've always been really bad defensively off the rush. The last five years, they are always the worst team. And I've talked to you guys many times about the challenges for goaltenders off the rush. Now, since the Olympic break, they have the fifth best defense overall and fourth best rush defense.

821.21 - 853.663 Stephen Valiquette

So they've really tightened it up since the Olympic break. But the goalies haven't been any better. Skinner, I went back to February 1st. He has four wins. He has 10 losses. He has a safe percentage of 854 in February, in March, 885, 885 in April. And... The funny thing is, though, is Shelob's, he's winning games, but he's winning when the team scores five or more goals.

854.264 - 884.904 Stephen Valiquette

In every one of his wins, they are averaging right now 5.8 goals per game that he has started since February 1st. His last nine wins, Pittsburgh scored 53 goals. Wow. And on his losses, he's getting hammered. 5-1, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3. So as good as Pittsburgh has been, they haven't had the goaltending yet. But they have the environment taken care of. So I'm expecting one of those two guys to step up.

885.165 - 905.547 Stephen Valiquette

They've protected Stu Skinner against the rush. And that's all Edmonton ever had to do with him. And Pittsburgh's doing it. They're making the environment easy. The goalies haven't responded yet. One of those two guys has to step up. Or maybe they can go to Murashev, who's a very good goalie that's played for them at parts of the season as well as in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton.

907.636 - 935.061 Sam McKee

Let me ask you in terms of now, if you think that you may have a number one starter, but the 1B is starting to play pretty darn good here, and I'll use Minnesota as an example, the Wild, where Wallstead has actually been pretty good down the stretch, but you've got Gustafson. And just how important is it for a head coach, Valley, to –

Chapter 4: Who should the Pittsburgh Penguins start in net for the playoffs?

1274.459 - 1288.33 Stephen Valiquette

There were years there where I always wondered, why isn't he leaving Anaheim? They're not winning. They're not in a winning cycle. His age doesn't fit where they are. And he stayed. And I wonder if the pressure when the team is up is too much for him.

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1289.372 - 1301.316 Stephen Valiquette

And I think that if Detroit takes a very educated look at this, you change the goalie and you change a few things around the edges, but it's not as bad as people may seem.

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1301.549 - 1322.96 Justin Bourne

That's an interesting one for Eisenman too, right? He made that call. That's a big decision that they went with this year. So curious to watch that. Now, looking at the West, part of me is like, okay, one of these specific teams is going to make it to the conference final. Vegas has been hot since Torts has been there. It really comes down to can they get the saves? Can they?

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1324.702 - 1336.942 Stephen Valiquette

Vladar can, Borny, but the one thing that, oh, sorry, Vegas. Yeah, Vegas, yeah, yeah. Vegas. Vegas, well, right now we're seeing Carter Hart play really well. We're seeing Carter Hart play really well.

1337.063 - 1340.989 Sam McKee

Is that Tortorella? Just Tortorella comes in and they have that history?

1341.948 - 1361.699 Stephen Valiquette

There was a history of, yes, of course, when he was in Philadelphia, he played probably his best hockey when torts was behind the bench. Torts makes you want to play for him. And that's always a positive, especially when you're a goalie. Does torts want to be liked and respected? No. No, he doesn't. But he wants to be respected.

1361.719 - 1386.116 Stephen Valiquette

And I think as a player, you get a lot of value off of getting respect from him. And he can make you play hard for him. And in short bursts, before he offends you, you have a lot of time for him. So, you know, I can see it going really well for him. I can. He's a highly talented goalie. There was a time that people thought that he was the next Carey Price, and he had the pedigree.

1386.617 - 1397.638 Stephen Valiquette

Now, he's had a lot of things going on in his life, but to where he is right now, if he's able to get his mental and mind space in the right frame of mind, he could be an effective goalie, yes.

Chapter 5: What were the key games that impacted the Detroit Red Wings' playoff chances?

1671.451 - 1675.48 Justin Bourne

Sam has hated this segment. Just hated it.

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1675.5 - 1678.928 Nick Kypreos

It's just the most correct thing anyone's ever said on a podcast with Bennington and Florida.

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1678.948 - 1697.266 Stephen Valiquette

Anyways. Yeah. So, look, I think that what you do next, though, Borny, is, yes, you look at the analytics. What do the analytics tell you? Well, they tell you that Florida's a team that defends really well off the rush, okay? When they won their two Stanley Cups, they didn't give up a lick off the rush.

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1698.046 - 1717.85 Stephen Valiquette

Bennington, he's really good when he gets to play the shooter and he gets to over-challenge and just play his one-on-one hockey. He gets hurt on backside when he over-challenges. Florida can protect him there. He has the pedigree. He has, you know, the ability to go in and play big game hockey. I think it's a no brainer for Florida. Wow.

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1720.115 - 1735.38 Sam McKee

Are you good? That was like, that's some good stuff. Hey, listen. Try to be better prepared next time you're on our set. I mean, maybe you got one date wrong. March 17th was really March 16th, something.

1735.66 - 1743.53 Stephen Valiquette

I did mess up the John Tartarella with Vladar because I was looking for notes, and I wish you guys could just see how many notes I have here. It's a little confusing sometimes.

1743.55 - 1744.892 Sam McKee

Oh, no, we can tell.

1744.872 - 1774.609 Stephen Valiquette

we can tell but uh hey fellas one question is is this our last show no i mean i hope not no no no no you don't know this season yes it is regular season regular season we don't have we don't have leaps going in the playoffs so you guys are doing shows for the entire playoffs okay we are around pal we are right so what are we doing with grill marks is this it well no there's the regular season and you know somebody can take home a president's trophy i'm okay with that

1774.589 - 1807.459 Stephen Valiquette

See if I have the grit to carry on through the postseason. No, you're right there, Kipper. I just posted it on Twitter. You're right there. This is for the President's Trophy. Okay, fellas. Here we go. Goals when the score is tied. I like to think that this is a game-breaker in the NHL. The guy that scores when the score is tied. We've got three options. Kaprizov, Caulfield or Dylan Gunther?

Chapter 6: What trends exist between smaller and bigger goaltenders in the playoffs?

1972.677 - 1973.699 Justin Bourne

Glenn Hall's back.

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1973.719 - 1976.465 Stephen Valiquette

The Glenn Hall Award. The best back-to-back goalie.

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1976.485 - 1977.707 Justin Bourne

We're going to name it. Yeah.

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1978.869 - 1979.13 Stephen Valiquette

All right.

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1979.17 - 1984.961 Justin Bourne

All right, fellas. Thanks, Valley. Valley, great stuff, man. President's trophy. President's trophy winning. Steve Aliquette, everybody.

1985.162 - 1985.663 Nick Kypreos

Way to go.

1985.723 - 1986.244 Justin Bourne

Way to go.

1986.264 - 1992.115 Sam McKee

And we know how many people watch this show, so, like, yeah, it's done. We just ended back-to-backs.

1992.175 - 2013.427 Nick Kypreos

That was... An elite radio hit. It's game time. Presented by Bet365, an official partner of the NHL. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. I'm going to go to the major leagues of baseball where the Toronto Blue Jays kick off a three-game set tonight in Milwaukee. Here's what I like tonight, okay?

Chapter 7: What direction is the Vancouver Canucks' front office taking?

2223.257 - 2257.234 Sam McKee

Just for Vasilevsky, you got to go back to... The injuries and post, including surgery, right? He's a big man. Yeah, he's a lot of dude. He's a lot of dude, a lot of up and down, a lot of wear and tear. You just wonder, can he capture the magic of... Six weeks, seven weeks, eight weeks, like he had in the past with the body. Yeah. A lot of hockey. It's a lot of hockey and a lot of wear and tear.

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2257.454 - 2279.738 Nick Kypreos

Last two things quickly I'll mention here. Kucherov, 49 points in 42 games in his career against the Habs. Cole Caulfield, only five goals in 16 career games against the Lightning. So one of his lower total against a team that he's had a lot of games. So there we go. And that was Acura Performance Matchup, the 2026 Acura MDX Precisely Premium. Beautiful. Precise.

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2280.699 - 2307.232 Sam McKee

Premium. You want to go through a little bit of my article that got released today on Sportsnet.ca because we did talk a little bit about the Vancouver Canucks and the situation at least up top in terms of what direction ultimately ownership will go. Right. including Francesco Aquilini, who's in charge in all of this.

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2307.392 - 2315.101 Sam McKee

And right now there's just nothing on in terms of a definitive, this is how we're moving forward yet.

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2315.381 - 2318.745 Justin Bourne

So Rutherford and Alvin are both kind of waiting until it ends. In limbo right now.

2319.286 - 2319.726 Sam McKee

In limbo.

2320.027 - 2323.29 Justin Bourne

And do you think that shortly after that we should get some answers?

2323.31 - 2347.138 Sam McKee

He could come. I would believe that something could break in another week. week, 10 days. I think that's kind of the feeling that he's got to come back and let the guys prepare if, in fact, they're going to keep moving forward with Rutherford. I said the options are he can get rid of both Alvin and Rutherford, bring somebody else new in. He could keep Rutherford.

2347.198 - 2374.448 Sam McKee

He can move their assistant general manager, Ryan, uh johnson in and and go there he could decide there's nothing better out there and keep them both but that seems a little high it seems unlikely right now yeah given the year they had i think it probably is you even mentioned that they're playing better though i mean they're they're fighting

Chapter 8: What are the implications of the current NHL playoff picture?

2548.156 - 2552.305 Justin Bourne

Anywhere else in there, you can win the lottery. But if you're going to be one of the worst three teams, you're out of the lottery.

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2552.586 - 2553.307 Sam McKee

How do they get better?

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2553.949 - 2565.675 Justin Bourne

You just don't get to win the lottery. So whoever wins it passes you and bumps you to third or fourth or whatever. But you just can't win it. So there's incentive to not be the worst team in the league. Don't you want to incentivize those teams?

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2566.01 - 2568.793 Sam McKee

Well, if you really do, just send them to the American Hockey League for a year.

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2569.214 - 2578.225 Justin Bourne

Oh, relegation. Well, relegation is the answer. Unequivocally the best system is relegation, but owners in pro sports who spend $2 billion on their franchise. So who's coming?

2578.305 - 2583.051 Nick Kypreos

Is it Utica tonight? I was going to say the Milwaukee Admirals are coming up. Yeah. Is that how it would work?

2583.071 - 2586.195 Justin Bourne

Buddy, I love the whole relegation thing.

2586.175 - 2591.226 Nick Kypreos

Oh, yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm sure you guys aren't up on the table overseas.

2591.426 - 2593.029 Sam McKee

How much money would you lose?

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