Real Kyper & Bourne - Avoiding the Cup Hangover with Paul Maurice

Episode Date: October 1, 2024

Nick Kypreos and Justin Bourne are joined by Stanley Cup champion and head coach of the Florida Panthers Paul Maurice (1:52) to look back at their Game 7 win over the Edmonton Oilers, his approach to the upcoming season, if he expects his team to have a slow start and how he'll fill the void on their blueline without Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Then, Nick, Justin and Sam McKee discuss Patrik Laine's knee injury and the standoff between the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman.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.

let's welcome everybody back in to the national hour the real kipper and born show we are live on sportsnet 650 in vancouver sportsnet 960 in calgary and of course, on Sportsnet as well. That Kip real is Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee. This hour of Real Kip and Bourne brought to you by Bet365. In a few minutes, we'll welcome in Stanley Cup winning coach Paul Maurice. What kind of summer did he have, boys? Probably an awesome one. Sammy loves talking to the coach of other teams

who are better than the Leafs in the division. I don't talk to them, so I don't have to say. Loves when we have Cooper on. Loves when we have Maurice on. Not that I love more. How bad are they going to be? I'm going to the first question. Who?

Florida. Bad? Buddy, they're still drunk. Yes. You think they're going to come out slow? Yes, it's going to be. think they're gonna come out yes it's gonna be i how can they not come out slow it's actually a pretty good point right i guess the the old stanley cup hangover is real but i mean that roster isn't it's changed but it's not too different they still have the key guys there they do including their goalie, which I can't really save right now for the Boston Bruins.

I know we're going to get Paul on momentarily, but that is a huge story. The standoff between the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman and his agent, Louis Gross, to get a contract signed. One year they do arbitration and you get your feelings hurt, and then you get a whole summer of hurt feelings, followed by this. There's some hurt feelings.

All right, let's welcome him in now. I tried to get him on the program after he won the Stanley Cup, and he said, I can't do a show right now. That's what I got when I tried to book you after you guys won the cup, but let's welcome in a very sober Paul Maurice. Well, I appreciate you giving me a couple months off. I really appreciate that.

Are you okay? I mean, does it feel like yesterday closing out game seven and has everything felt like whirlwind or, you know, have you got your feet underneath you to start next week? Yeah. I mean, it was a dream week, you know. I mean, we won it. We didn't have anything planned and that was wonderful

the guy stayed in the locker room the whole night and just celebrated and then they disappear as you know the players take off uh we had the parade free agency the next day that was a monday i believe and all the flights were booked so it was kind of over really quickly and and got to this wonderful peaceful summer. We had up to Lake of the Woods and we had about five or six weeks there that it was really, really quiet and it was needed and the rest was great. I think probably about the first week in August, I turned to my wife and said, all right, I'm ready to go back. Let's get her going.

So we ended up back at the end of August and everybody came back in and they found a way to train and work hard because they came back with better numbers than they had last year at this time, and now we're back at it. It was a short summer, certainly by duration, but plenty long enough because it was such a peaceful time. You get to that achievement, that goal. You truly get to relax and uh and enjoy the people

around you so paul you you accomplished your your life's goal you'd been in in the game for a while and you finally got to the top of the mountain heading into this season do you feel any different does it change your perspective heading into the season and i don't think so. I mean, I was still worried the week before camp. It was all the major concerns you have. How are you going to fill the holes of the players departed? How are you going to drive the team? But so you watch very closely the first handful of days, and we have a difficult camp, and then the players all know it.

So you're looking for the idea that we should do this maybe differently, that maybe it was a little bit hard, we shouldn't have to do that. The opposite was true. They worked hard. They've pushed hard at this camp, a very focused group. But we'll always kind of keep our eye on that, what's different, what's changed.

And I think, you know, we're looking for it in our adversity, and we're going to face it. We've got a difficult travel schedule. We always do. But that's what we're watching for. When things get really hard for us, how do we respond? Is this was last year enough? Where is your energy source? And sometimes having not one and there's a kind of almost a negative but very powerful source that drives you you're constantly trying to achieve that goal and then you do it seems to me there's just a completely different energy source it was so exciting you have a group of people that you now have a special bond with and i guess what we the way we've decided to view this everybody's got a job to do here the coaches have a job to do and that's to hold that standard and we've been lucky with the group of men we have we're not having to pull teeth to get them to work hard we're at that point in camp

we've pushed them hard now right from the start that we'll start backing off a little bit here because they've earned it we're talking to paul marie stanley cup winning coach the florida panthers so uh you've got a ton of experience we know that but what you don't have a ton of experience is defending a stanley cup championship so is there anything in particular that you think might lead to a slow start or a stanley cup hangover is there anything that you've tried to already look for signs or do you just fly by the seat of your pants when it comes to what kind of start you may get off? Well, that's the summer, right? Nick, that's what you think about. So you call an awful lot of people from GMs and coaches and players and trainers

and fitness guys that you know that have won and you collect as much information as you possibly can. The first place I'm looking for is how do they test? And I don't mean the results of the test, the how do they test. Because you know what it's like in an NHL room. You've got two or three guys, no matter what, are going to test as flat out as hard as they can because that's the way they're built.

But there's a big block of guys that are on the team. They don't need to have a personal best on a Tuesday before camp even starts, especially after all the hockey we've played. So we're looking for that, and they tested hard. But they did the two years prior, so those are the things that we're looking at. Where are the places that we are looking to try to do this

thing easier? And it's always disguised as smarter, right? There's a smarter way to do this. It just turns out to be easier, too. So we're looking for that. And then, of course, the results of those tests tell us that they found their way into the gym. So our numbers are better this year than they were last year and the year before. So from a physical point of view, we are stronger right now than we have been in

the last three years. That tells you that they have, and it's not a physical hangover. The mental hangover that you'll watch for is almost a perspective of the heart. So I'll give you an example. We went to the last two years. We played a Western Conference team that's not in the playoffs in November, and they're on the road, and they beat us bad full-time. Well, we're playing them in November again this year,

and if we lose that game, it'll be the hangover. It won't be the exact same thing that happened the last two two years but there's the hangover there's proof so it's the perspective on the adversity that you face the reason for failure i mean we had lots of stretches last year that we weren't very good we had i think three blocks of four games four or five games where we played very very poorly and we found our way to write our game to the point that I think at the end of November we did that, or December rather, we went on a nine-game run. So our adversity last year was critical in that it taught us parts of our game we had to eliminate and parts of our game we had to get really good at.

When we face that adversity, everybody on the outside is going to say that it's the hangover, that they played more games than anybody else over the last two years. But if that was true, then our physical numbers would have been, we would have seen signs of that in our testing. Their bodies are fine. We have to manage how we handle adversity and not be afraid of it. So I think back to like the Tampa Bay Lightning, I think they had 130 points one year,

and then they get swept in the first round. And the idea that the regular season is crucial, you want to have success to play an easier opponent. You've finished at the top of the division and snuck into playoffs. How does it change when you face that adversity versus when you actually win it and have an easier opponent

heading into that first-round series? Because let's say you guys are great this year, Paul. You're not going to go throw some games so you can have adversity. No, it's coming. It comes to everybody in every season. I mean, it's a rarity. And maybe that was our advantage two years ago when you look at the incredible season the Boston Bruins had.

Maybe that's an example of a team that didn't face it. But, you know, even you look at Vegas last year, I think they won their first 11 games, and then they had to grind a long time. But after game two of the opening round against Dallas, they're feeling pretty good about their season. So the adversity that you face is necessary. It's coming for us. I think we have 14 sets of back-to-back games.

We're going to Finland. Our schedule is never easy. It's based on the travel in and out of Florida. So it's coming for us one way or the other. We start with Boston. We go into Ottawa, Buffalo, and then Boston again. So four big division rivals. Those games are all incredibly physical for us.

I like it because it's either going to be a great jumping-off point or it's going to bring the diversity right to our doorstep at the start. So we might as well get after it now paul very seldom even in a non-salary cap era that a stanley cup champion team comes back and looks exactly the same than that won it uh bigger challenges of course with the salary cap in today's world you lost some key players. You had some challenges getting players re-signed. As a coach, did you kind of get involved and said, I can't live without him, but get rid of this guy, get rid of this guy. That guy has to stay.

No, you don't get that kind of leeway. I'm bad. When I was walking out before we left July 2nd, all the Pro Scouts were in for a free agency, and I just said, no matter what, don't listen to me because the four guys we signed in the summer month in, I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with them. And then by the end of it, they were some of our best players in the final.

So I'm not a Pro Scout. I've got an idea of what we want. You know what an advantage maybe I have? When I started and we were in Carolina all those years, and this is pre-cap era, we would play teams that would be $30 and $40 million over us. You think of the Rangers in Toronto in those times. We didn't have any of those throwaway players.

We had to work with everybody that we had. We're at a point now, and this is a really good place to be. Our core has been very solid. There hasn't been that much movement in our core. But when you bring in guys like Stenland and Lomberg and Cousins and Lorenz, these guys have really big years for us. They're going to get paid somewhere else. And that's the attraction of coming to play for us right now,

that Barkov's in the middle, and you've got Bennett and you've got Lundell. So we're going to have a pretty powerful forward group. If you come here, you're going to have an opportunity to be seen and play well. So we know that that's the side we're in. Just one thought on Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsen. I mean, very important pieces last year. How do you fill the void of those guys gone? Over the course of the season, the first part is internally with what we have.

So last year when Montour and Ekblad were out for the first 16 to 20 games of their season, we had Josh Mahura, who's now moved on, and Uwe Spolinskas played, and we were a good hockey team. And Uwe Spolinskas is back, and his name doesn't get out there. We've added Nate Schmidt and Adam Bolquist. Those defensemen right there are the guys that are on that list to fill that void.

We have our younger players when you look at Lusteron and Lundell, possibly Mackie Samuskiewicz. Our younger players are going to be better players this than they were last. And I would like to thank you for third year in your program. You're farther along in the game that you play. We play an awful lot

of tight, hard games. And that was true in the playoffs. And I think that really hit home for me when you come back and you do the video the next year to prep for the number of games that were so close and so tight. And it was one play in the third period that broke the game loose. And that was true for two months. So our expectation then is not that we won the Stanley Cup and it's going to look any different.

We've got to get it right back to that grind, to that tight game and the 2-1 final game. That mentality is us. We believe we have the players to do it, even when we've had injuries. Historically, Barkov's been out for about a month. Bennett's been out for a month. We've lost a lot of these guys over the course of the year, but our structure's pretty solid. We've got a pretty darn good team, and when we need it to, our goaltenders have stopped the puck.

Paul, I know enough coaches to know that you're going to hate this question on the eve of the season, but I watched a clip this morning, and I saw Kyle Lopozo after you guys won the Cup. He said to you, this doesn't define you, but it adds to your legacy. And do you think about legacy at all in your career and your time in the game and the bigger picture? No. Like, God, no. Are you thinking about tomorrow?

Probably today. Yeah. Here's what I'm thinking about right now. And Nick knows this because he's experienced it. And I don't know that he can necessarily articulate it very well. Because of what you go through and to have that success,

like I owe these guys, right? For what I put them through for two years, it has been hard here. And they've done it and they've worked. And those are the guys that kind of created the moment for me to be able to hold the Stanley Cup over my head. It was them. So I come back to training camp, I don't want to be the weak link. I don't want to be the weak link i don't want

to be the guy that either comes off them too much or raises the bar to a point that you exceed realistic expectations and that's where you lose the advantage of adversity and advantage and adversity then crushes you i'm just i think i'm just coming into hopefully my prime hope i'm hell of a lot better this year than i was last year because I wasn't the reason we won the Stanley Cup. So I've got to get better in my game. That's on. When I walk off that bench the last day, when they finally drag me out of the rink and kick me out,

I'm hoping nobody ever talks about me again. I just can kind of slide out to nobody. I don't want to waste anybody's anymore than I already have. You know, last weekend, Mark Messier had us down. He had our 94 Cup team get together. And to your point, to walk in the room and know that these guys did this for me, you know, and it's like 30 years ago.

So, Paul, you're like, can you imagine your reunion 29 and a half years from now? Still coaching. I'll tell you a great story. We're in the room after, and it's probably somewhere between the game ending and sunrise. And Vladimir Tarasenko stops me in the room and he says, whenever I tell a story, I tell it with his accent, but I won't do it. He says, Paul, are you happy? And I probably some profanity.

I've never been happy in my life. And he slaps me in the chest and he says, wait, it gets better. And it says that to me, I'm thinking, how is that possible? Right? Yeah. The emotions change, but it does like every day. Yeah. And that's the summer experience when you cross paths with your mom and dad

or your brothers or any part of that family, everybody that you love is happy at the exact same time. And yeah, I mean, mean it's i can imagine i mean 30 years from now man that puts me yeah you know i'll be watching above or below but i don't know that i'll be in the room again paul you you it's and again i just experienced it with my 94 team it's it's it's that internal peace that you have with yourself that never leaves you. And, you know, I often tell people like, you know,

to watch a team win the Stanley Cup, it's great for 30 years to be whoever's beside you at that moment and go, I know exactly how that feels. And you can't articulate it. But you used that word peace, Nick. And that's what it was for me this summer. It was the most peaceful summer of my life. It wasn't actually euphoric and it wasn't a party at all.

We were in six weeks up there. We didn't have anybody visit us. It was absolutely peaceful. And somebody said, so it was more peaceful than any other summer. I said, yeah, no other summers were ever peaceful. There was never a peaceful summer. This was the first and it was beautiful. So, again, just being down there this weekend,

Mark Massey's got this Game 7 documentary coming out, which is just absolutely fabulous. He covers every major Game 7 story out there in sport. It's with Amazon. It's coming out soon. And, you know, I mentioned to Paul that Trevor Linden played a key part in the documentary because he actually, you know, voiced along the series

and he was fabulous. Really? Absolutely fabulous. But to get to that point that you're talking to, whether it's just the excitement of it all or the peacefulness, there has to be suffering on the other side. And I can't, I'll never forget the look of Trevor Linden's hands

as they crossed on the ice where he's covering his mouth and he's got Marie Craven beside him. And the pain that he showed me at that moment, and the only thing I thought of at that particular moment was, thank God that's not us. And I don't know, Paul, if you had a chance over the last little while to see that viral clip of the Edmonton Oiler dressing room. And while you guys were celebrating on the ice, what it must have felt like at that point for them.

Yeah. It's an interesting thing. It changes for you over time. I mean, I got to a Stanley Cup final in 2002, so that's about seven years into my career. And that was such a team, right? They had, I think, 11 Hall of Famers on that team. So you gave everything that you possibly had.

But as you age and get older and you start to understand how rare that opportunity is the pain of it when well i'll explain to you this way somebody asked me what do you think it would have been like if you had lost and in truth i can't even allow myself to think about it now. Like the idea of walking that cliff to look over what my life I mean, I won't even allow myself to think about it because it terrifies me, that idea

to get to a game seven especially because it's true. Like when you look at Reinhardt's goal right, 30, 15 seconds before Dmitry Kulikov gets buried into his own net clear in a puck that was six inches off the post and that's it after all your life's work that's the difference comes down to just that and then that defines you and somebody wins and has a night like we

had and somebody loses and i've been on the other side of that twice, but it wasn't in a game seven, right? We, we got beat, you know, Detroit beat us in five. We lost in triple overtime in game three. And that was, that's what put them up to one, but that's what broke us last year. By the time we got there, we had nothing left, but to get to a game seven, certainly. I'll only think about the one side of it. Cause I just can't possibly. Mo absolutely fantastic stuff.

And we wouldn't expect anything less out of you on the real Kipper and Bourne show. Well, thanks for having me guys. I appreciate it. I appreciate the summer off and all joking aside, Nick reached out and reached out and said, Hey,

I don't expect you to do this, but if you want to come on. And I took two months off of everything, and I really appreciated that. But it's good chatting with you guys again. So thanks for having me. We appreciate it. Well-deserved, my friend. Well-deserved.

And good luck to start the season, man. Thanks, guys. Thanks so much. That is Stanley Cup champion, Paul Maurice. I mean, that was a really great conversation about the like setting the stakes for the season how it affects the lives of people who who get it done time are you okay with that listen for our first show i i you know there's i've accused maurice of certain things over the years but you could hear it in his voice, the genuine horror of them losing that game.

It's almost like imagining losing a loved one or something. You can't even think about it. I just don't want to think about what it would have been like if we had lost. The first blow in that. They were up 3-0. Yeah. In game six, the Edmonton Oilers starved them.

It was a beatdown. I can't remember the score, but it was like six or seven. It was not even close. And everybody thought that the Oilers were doing it, myself included. And they played great in Game 7. Panthers, they win. But I thought that stuck out to me, how much the genuine terror in his voice when talking about that.

Can't even allow myself to go there. Can't even go there. So I mentioned to Paul briefly about the clip that went viral about the Oilers in the dressing room. Oh. Okay. And I do have an appreciation for the thirst to see behind the scenes stuff. And again, Amazon's going to be front and center with all of it soon.

I understand it, but there's a part of me that just hates it. Hates it. I just think that that scene in the dress room between Connor, his teammates, Zach Hyman should just be between them. Interesting. I don't like that, you know,

this is a place where their sanctuary is the room, just them. Let them have their peace. Let them just be them. Why do we always have to have an audience for everything i hate it i'm torn on this one i'm torn on this one kip because not there's no intimacy anymore just for the players everything has to be a show it is literally a show it is an entertainment product to make money for businessmen. Well, that just sucks. It does suck. It totally sucks. I don't like it. Just leave them alone.

Where is some privacy? You didn't earn the right to be in that room. How's that, Amazon fans? You didn't earn the right. Listen, I agree with you. I actually agree with you. I think having that clip from a fan's perspective is a once in a lifetime thing and the chilling just a picture of them hearing him announced as the

consmith winner in the background and the looks on their faces like that's something that we should not be privy to i completely agree no i think this is a great take there is something like intimate about it where i don't even feel like I can look directly at it. No, I could barely watch it. This clearly isn't for me. I could barely watch it. You know, but this is reality TV. Sports are just that now.

It's, you know, people want this stuff. You know, F1, PGA, they want to be in your kitchen, your literal kitchen. The problem is it gets to the point where it's now manufactured and now you question, is this for you? Is it for the show? Is it to show how great of a leader you are? You're setting yourself up to leave some question marks. But think about the layers this adds for the fans.

The layers of understanding and uh i guess engagement right like you get to see and know how much it means people enjoy their fandom more having been privy to a moment like that they can understand better and so there's value in bringing that to them. Buy a t-shirt. Okay. Keep Pelly. Sell another jersey. What a disrespectful line that is. I will say watching that clip that we were talking about, I have never, I've had a lot of bad takes in my life. Like tons.

Every day, really. Loads. But I think my take of saying that Connor McDavid should have come out to get the cons might after watching that is my least favorite take of all time. It was never a good take. No, it was awful. It was horrible.

And now I watch that, I'm like, of course he wasn't going to come out. He couldn't lose his legs. Like, he couldn't stand up. So, anyways, that's, I can't wait for the documentary. But, man, it's going to be good. Oh, yeah. Through my fingers. Will we have as much content out of that as we did out of that first one?

We stretched the least one for three years. Okay, do we want to take a break? Because we've got... Well, we should do a game time, and then we'll hit a break. Swayman News. We've got Patrick Laine News. We'll do a quick game time here. Okay.

And, of course, this hour of Real Kipper and Born brought to you by Bet365. What do you got for us, Sammy? Well, it's game time presented by Bet365. Visit five visit the app latest odds and find out why it's never ordinary at bet three six five must be 19 plus ontario only please play responsibly now i just brought this up because you know it's our first show so i thought i should look at who's going to win the cup in a bunch of months so the favorites i put them on the lineup so i don't get to ask you who i don't who you think the favorite is but the favorite is the Edmonton Oilers at plus 800, 8-1. The next one that is stunning to me

and is terrifying for every single Leaf fan listening to this, Bet365 thinks the second favorite to win the Stanley Cup is Sheldon Keefe's New Jersey Devils at 9-1. Is that surprising to you? They got a goalie, right? Two goalies. Well, they got goalies. That's big.

But the biggest thing is no Dougie Hamilton last year, no Jack Hughes. So you get those two guys back, and then they added Brett Pesci on the back end, Brendan Dillon on the back end, Markstrom. Like, they're way better. And the Metro's pretty weak. So, yeah, I think they're the faves there. Pressure on Sheldon. Don't blow it. Absolutely can't wait for them

to win the East and the Leafs to be the eighth seed and play Sheldon Keefe in the first round. It's going to be really fun as a Leaf fan. The next ones here are Panthers 10-1, Stars 10-1, Avalanche 11-1, Rangers 13-1, and your Toronto Maple Leafs coming in at 14 to one same as the canucks same as the canucks and the gold knights of the next one up

that's the first time in a while that the leafs have not been right up there i think the last couple years they've been in this range i think so i do yeah i think they oh i think they've been in top five you think yeah the last few years i think think they've had top five ratings the last few years. This is the first time I've heard them, at least I remember them, this low. I'm not going to tell you what to do with your money, but I would not bet on the Toronto Maple Leafs to win the cup at 14-1.

That would be my advice. But anyways, that was Game Time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the Asad. Find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19-plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Happy to have Bet365. Yeah, thanks for coming back. Bet365. Visit the app for the Asad. Find out why it's never ordinary at Bet365. Must be 19 plus. Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Happy to have Bet365. Yeah, thanks for coming back. Bet365. Okay, let's take a quick break and when we return

we'll get into the Swayman news and how ugly this is and where do we see it going. That and Patrick Laine. More when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Introducing Seeker. Canada's new app for discovering or rediscovering music. Dive into captivating podcasts, stay up to date with the latest news,

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All right, as promised on The Real Kipper and Bourne Show, Sammy, what are you hearing on Patrick Lainey? No surgery, right? Yeah, I wouldn't say I'm hearing that. I'm saying I'm reading that from the Montreal Canadiens' ex-account. Yes. He has a sprain to his left knee, and that will not require surgery. His rehabilitation period is expected to be from two to three months.

Ugh. Better than I was looking. We're definitely going to get into the swimming conversation, but give me your early or later thoughts of the incident and the hit and what happened after that. Sammy, would you like to lead this one off? Would you like me to? Sure.

I think that, is it Pair? The guy that, the Leafs guy? Probably Paré. Paré or Pair? The guy that did it? The Leafs guy? Pair. Hadn't really heard of him much before that game. I thought it was an unfortunate play. I think he did have his knee out. I don't think he stuck it out.

I think his knee was out. It made contact knee to knee. Regardless of how that happens usually in the NHL, it's looked upon as dirty. I think there's been lots of bang bang plays that have been looked upon as dirty. I thought he probably should have fought Jack Guy even though that's a scary thing.

And I think Jack Guy probably should have got suspended for a game. How's that sound? Okay. Is that a fair sign? Put a bow on that. Yeah, yeah. If we go back to Morgan Riley taking issues on the empty net in Ottawa last year, Jack Eye's pummeling of the kid was just as bad or worse, wasn't it?

Oh, definitely worse. Definitely worse. So how do you kind of, what's the difference? You wanted someone to go Morgan Riley, Jack Eye? No, I'm asking you in terms of the punishment fitting the crime. Yeah. No, I think that is a brutal play. Chasing around an unwilling participant and beating him mercilessly.

For the most part, like, you just took out their $9 million player. Like, what do you expect? And I don't think Jack Guy's unjustified in seeking retribution there. That's what I would agree. I didn't think the hit was that bad. I thought the kid was planted and trying to get a piece of him. You know, I didn't think it was that bad. But you know the way those work.

Every knee on knee that we ever talk about is dirty. You're on the hook. It's tough to... That was really unfortunate, and I hate it for Lionel, who I was really rooting for this year. Me too. Coming back from some challenges, and this is tough. So you think you should have got suspended then?

No, I... Listen, I think the league looks at it and says, no, you just took out their major player. He's gone for three months, and him wanting retribution is justified and they backed off a harsh message that's what i think happened the department of player safety the actual message like their mission statement one of them is preserving the physical emotional nature of the game so they didn't like the morgan riley empty

net but they like the hey you took out their but they liked the, hey, you took out their top player and you should be ready. You should be ready. Here's what I'll say. Like, if the situation was reversed and it was, Jack guy was on the Leafs, he would have been kicked out of the league. Oh my god. Listen, I don't buy into any Leaf conspiracy

theory crap. I really don't. There's so much crap out there about Leafs conspiracy theories, but Peros hates the Leafs. There's no question. Like i i don't know what else to tell you like it's just i'll say it you guys don't have to say it he does not he does not like he traded created uh spezza like he was a 10-year enforcer that had been suspended four times for kneeing somebody in the head like six games for cross-checking a guy for slapping a shot in the neck this guy literally chased around another guy and beat him in the head with no gloves on should have fought him no question should have fought him should have just stood in there and take your beating but he mercilessly like you said beat a man on the ice he should have been suspended for

a couple games and peros when he looks at the leafs he looks at it differently i'll say it you don't have to hates the least love there you go sorry national audience they had to deal with that but it's the truth so i like to have that side representative of the day that's good i hate neon like as a player nothing worse i i valued my knees like i valued my eyes yeah like if someone goes after my knees i i go squirrely it's agree it's a it's a career ender yeah right potential career ender so do you think he extended a leg to to get a piece of him i kind of thought he was planted he was standing still you're a defenseman you're standing still at the blue line. You really shouldn't be just standing there. No, it's not great. It's not great.

Of course, your thought is Craig Berube wants hard hockey. I've got to get a piece of this guy who's cut inside. I'm going to get a knee. He already had his leg out, so he's going to lean down. In a perfect world, which we're not in, I'd be as hard on knee on knee as I would head shots. Like, let's get knee on knee out of the game. But guess what?

You can't. You can't. It's impossible. Yeah. So there's going to be that gray area where you question, was it dirty? Was it not dirty? And we're just going to have to move on with life with it. And in this case, Paros was in a situation where they gave him the benefit of the doubt.

But I get the reaction for sure, you know. But, you know, it's exhibition, which really bothers a lot of people. Like, you got F1 cars out there, and then you got, like, you know, Don Valley Parkway drivers out there too. Like, you know, it's not perfect. No. No, it's not. And you end up with stuff like this, and that's unfortunate.

I think what Jack Guy was mad at, he's very justified in being mad. And I think that, you know, Paré probably should have just stood in there for his licking. But I don't think you get to do what Jack Guy did. No, I agree. is licking but you don't i don't think you get to do what jack i did i all know i agree but i also think for a guy like jack i you're seeking moments to show what you can do and what you can bring to the team and that's a moment where it's like oh this is me this is where they need me to do this and so i have no problem with him doing it but yeah probably a game or two wouldn't hurt there okay story everyone's talking about right now. Boston Bruins.

Goaltending situation. Where they made a key decision to move on from Allmark. They traded their leverage because they had to. And now they're in a situation where they can't get their number one goaltending, Jeremy Swayman, signed. Which led to a press conference. Where Cam Neely. Do we have the soundbite?

We do have the soundbite. All right, let's go to it. Since you say you were surprised, Cam, can you share any other specifics here, be it what his ask is in terms of dollars or term? Well, I don't want to get into the weeds with what his ask is, but I know that I have 64 million reasons why I'd be playing right now. Ooh.

Okay. First thoughts, JB, you go first. My first thoughts are that's a conscious decision to put out there what is on the table and to put the pressure, the public pressure on the goaltender so people go, wait, he's not signing eight by eight? Who does he think he is? This is a conscious decision, not a spur

of the moment thing. Surprised that he said that. I am too. People don't love it. I wouldn't. I mean, if I'm... And I also think Swayman's been through arbitration and now he's kind of been publicly embarrassed here and I think that that's probably not great for their relationship and that might cost Boston some more money.

If I'm Louis Gross, I am beside myself mad. Yeah, my first thought is don't negotiate through the media. That's my first thought, which I was really surprised that they wanted to throw that out there, which he did. Very frustrating. News is filtering, I'm sure, from the Swayman side. And Lewis Gross has gone on record. It's not $64 million, which means that $62.5 million, right?

Ballpark. They get to say it was never offered when they know they could get there. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. Do you want me to read the statement? Yeah, for sure. From Lewis Gross gross who represents jeremy swayman normally i do not realize release statements or discuss

negotiations through the media however in this case i feel i need to defend my client at today's press conference 64 million was referenced this was the first time that number was discussed in negotiations like you said it was probably 62 uh This was the first time those were discussed in our negotiations. Prior to the press conference, no offer was made reaching that level. We are extremely disappointed. This was not fair to Jeremy. We will take a few days to discuss where we go from here. Boy, I couldn't love this more.

Allmark has a no trade that was going to kick in before he got dealt they had to move him while they could ottawa was on his list i think and they moved him before his new trade kicked in so they had no leverage with swayman at that point and swayman was one of the best goaltenders in the league for what two years in a row now statistically you got to pay the guy hasn't been the number one guy on his own though hasn't shown that he can play 55 and do it i don't think he played that much last year the biggest issue i think is that that he's so young and relatively uh inexperienced when it comes to to a contract of that magnitude. Yeah. Right? They're scared that he's 25 and he hasn't proven a lot

over a longer stretch of time. So they're not sure still. Goaltenders do just suddenly, it turns. They go bad. And then they find it again. Bobrovsky's contract in Florida has been great, awful, great, awful

several times over. Honestly, mostly awful until the last years. The Carey Price big deal wasn't great. There's some big money goalie deals that have not gone great. Yeah, and they got to guard against that for sure. But I got to be honest with you. I think the pressure is on the Boston Bruins right now and not this kid. Yeah.

Do you think, would you be shocked if you heard tomorrow, all right, 8 by 8, 8.5. We had to give him 68 million. Good math. I think. Is that right? But here's the other thing, too, that I think, again, what Cam Neely started right now

is he's thrown it to also public perception and then there's egos involved as well here so to your point if he signs tomorrow at 8 times 8

does Cam Neely look like a genius because he smoked out the deal through the media and does lewis gross and his client look a little weak like i don't think that price is the price anymore you know that's the drop i think cam cost himself money there because i don't think the goalie would want to be embarrassed now and come out and say... If he came out and signed eight times eight, it looks like it worked. Like he bent the knee. Right. Yeah.

And I now think that that's the floor. So I think it just makes both sides dig in that much deeper. Yeah. And Cam doesn't want to turn around and have to sign him to 8.5 or 8.7 because then, you know, it looked like it didn't work. And then you caved. And also, you talked earlier in our leafs hour about top guys on the team kind of setting the bar or whatever you know

like brad marchand's on year seven of making six million dollars like there might be some bruins upset with swayman if he's looking for a big number isn't playing they're starting to lose games because corpus allos cor Corpozalo-ing. It's going to be interesting here. And also, Sweeney has mentioned December 1st several times as a date, kind of the final cutoff date. So it feels like it's at least going there.

And if you're getting deeper into the season, maybe it's... Maybe it gets traded. Can I ask you if this has done irreparable damage to the beautiful boston bruins culture the unfallible culture that's just the best i'm just not sure like if they can just find a way to meet in the middle here in a perfect world as a negotiator you want to create a win-win yeah and i'm not sure it's out there now eight for the boston bruns and

swayman everyone happy you're 66 million so you do think that this caused some pretty big damage what they just did i think it has a chance to like they wouldn't actually trade him would they yesterday's price is not today's price. I think it would be really, really difficult to do it now. So you have to start the season without him, which you will, even if he signs tomorrow. He can't be ready in a week and a half, two weeks. So you're going to start with a new goalie. Who's not very good.

Corpus Allo. Or maybe he'll be all right. Now, if the Boston Bruins get off to a good start, does the pressure go back to Swayman and Lewis Gross? If they get off to a horrible start, then is he in a better position? So much like the Marner conversation we had in the first hour, you got to see the way this thing plays out before you revisit. You know, Corpus Allo has a chance to play behind McAvoy,

Hampus Lindholm, Zdorov, Carlo, that lower eye, which they like, and Andrew Peek. That's a good group. That's a very good decor. So I think it could end up looking great for Corpus Allo. We expect the Rangers to sign Shusterkin before the season starts. Very good decor. So I think it could end up looking great for Corposalo. We expect the Rangers to sign Shusterkin before the season starts. Do we?

I do. That's nice to know. I do. Okay. And I think they'd be pretty lucky to get it under $12 million. $12 million? $11.25, $11 11.5, 11.75. That's the ballpark that Shester is looking at.

That would be the biggest goal of contract in NHL history. Yeah. But it's going to be the new. But it's going to be like the quarterback thing. Every guy that signs is going to be the. Yes. For sure. They're not wrong.

They're not wrong. Like you cannot look at previous markets and compare apples to apples. It's impossible. There's new money coming in. The bar has raised. Cap's going way up. It's going way up. She's 28. You want a Vesna, right?

So Swayman is 25. Boston's asking him to give up eight years. So from 25 to 33, which are prime, prime years, you're asking him to lock in right now at 7.8. It's like he's not giving up UFA years three years from now to stay at 7.8 when in two years if he goes to free agency and if he does what everyone thinks he can do, the guy's at 10, 10-1⁄2.

That's the new market. But he's an RFA, Kip. They can say go ahead and sit home. You're buying UFA years on a 25-year-old that is in his prime. So you're not getting seven eight you're not that's old money it's under an old salary cap there's new fresh money in in two or three years he'll look like an idiot at seven eight if he's leading the b Bruins. I'll say this, Cam Neely's job is tied to this. Like, if you trade Allmark and can't sign

Swayman and you're goaltending submarines, your team, and this was publicly handled like this, that's not good. It's a great point. I cannot disagree that, like, you needed to give, you needed to get Swayman under numbers before you gave away

Allmark. And somehow, someway, you let it kind of lapse and you're in a pickle right now. Swayman probably saw Allmark get traded and went, oh. Yeah, they traded. That's a million bucks per year in my pocket. They traded away their leverage. Yeah. They had to, though, or Allmark couldn't or wouldn't have gone there, I think.

Well, they also had to because they had to assure that they had enough room to go get Zdorov and Lindholm. Which meant they should have signed Swayman at that time. So, like, so don't, how about the pressure of the Boston Bruins right now with those two signings to go to the next level, but you don't have a goalie. Yeah. This is Sammy's.

Oh, no. This is like the Abbey Road, the Beatles right now. This is music to my ears, boys. Oh, my God. Could the castle be crumbling finally? Please? Please. I don't know how this is going to turn out for Swayman,

but give the kid credit, man. He's standing up to one of the toughest negotiating teams in the history of the NHL. This is he ain't in Carolina or Columbus, man. This guy is taking on Jeremy Jacobs and the Boston Bruins on a contract. It just feels like they're knocking a cave. Just those guys, those personalities.

Can't see Cam Neely being like, sorry. I'm loving the makeup of this guy that much more. That he's rolling the dice. He's Alaskan. He's Alaskan. Confident guy. Tough-minded boy. At the watch.

There's a lot of guys that would cave. But I don't get the sense that this guy is one of them. I had a crumbled like a dry sandcastle but yeah oh yeah for him seven eight sounds great sounds great sir yeah we'll see i mean like you know the boston ruins corpus owl put on that jersey and turn into prime hasik or something anyway so that's what they wait like and you know they're gonna put uh lindholm's gonna turn into david kreitch his prime, and Zdorov's going to be Chara. So that's just how this will work out for them because it always does.

Good to see nothing's changed. No, listen, I'm not bitter about it at all. No. I'm thrilled. So are you done on that? Yeah. Where else? We only got two minutes.

We got Demko. We got Reinbacher. We got Crosby. We got Demko. Demko's scary. And Archer, she loves guys? guy she loves it's been okay at training camp i think he's he's coming off like uh an unbelievable run last april he should come in with some confidence so waiting to see what's going on with his knee still from game one of the Western Conference first round against Nashville. That's a little concerning.

Are we going to talk to a doctor about this? Yeah. I want to find a good doctor because apparently there's some muscle that's not reacting very well. We're going to learn about this. We're going to have a group education. We are. We are. I think on Thursday.

Oh. Yeah. I haven't told you yet. Thanks for producing. I appreciate it. Did you ever see the movie Spies Like Us? Nope. It means nothing to me.

Was it from 1984? Yeah, it's definitely from the 50s. And Dan Aykroyd. And there's this scene where there's just a million doctors in the room and they just start introducing each other. Doctor. Oh yeah, I've seen that clip. where there's just like a million doctors in the room and they just start introducing each other. Doctor, doctor. Oh, yeah, I've seen that.

I've seen that clip. I've seen that clip. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to get them on the air. Before we go, fellas, if you'll just allow me one minute, it is my second wedding anniversary today with my lovely wife, Allison. Why are you here? She's going to a concert tonight anyway.

It's all good. We're doing a big dinner tomorrow night, but she's a lovely woman. I owe her everything, so happy anniversary, Allie. I love you. There you go. We're going to have to sap up our show at the end. I'm a very loving guy. I just am. Big wife guy over here.

Clearly, you're in the doghouse. You've golfed too much. You've golfed too much. I have golfed 50 times this summer, so. And I heard you were at Toronto golfing. Oh, yeah, with Elvis. Yeah. In flip-flops and yellow toenails.

That's the report I got on Sammy. Hey, that's what they say about me, buddy. Flip-flops and yellow toenails. I put that on my tombstone, fella. All right. Pretty good warm-up. Good show. I don't know about that

What? It's training camp Like most shows, we've solved nothing Hey, you know what? Get better every day I don't think the show sucked as bad as I thought it would Alright, we're just warming up here on the Real Kipper Endborn show

Stick around till July 2nd We'll keep it real for you have a great night everybody