Real Kyper & Bourne - Battling Boston Before the Break

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

Justin Bourne and Sam McKee - once again filling in for Nick Kypreos - open with a look at tonight's Leafs game against the Boston Bruins and Brad Marchand getting the trash talk in early. Then, Sportsnet.ca's Luke Fox (19:58) discusses the trade market options for the Leafs after the Horvat trade, Marchand's antics and how they overshadow his skill, and if the Leafs catch the Bruins in the standings. Later, David Amber (42:06) from Florida gets us set for the All Star Weekend festivities, what's new and how the NHL is increasing player/fan engagement. Afterward, former NHL goalie and NESN studio analyst Andrew Raycroft (1:06:01) breaks down the Bruins' keys to success this season, where they are most vulnerable and David Pastrňák's future in Boston. Finally, Ben Ennis stops by the studio (1:36:36) to talk about his backyard rink project.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.

This is Real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. All right. Welcome back to Real McKee and Bourne. Joined by Sam McKee. Nick Kiprio still at home with laryngitis maybe? I don't know. Seems under the weather. Yeah.

Like I, you know, Kipper used to work two days a week. Back in the hockey central days. Right. But now he loves it. And like he loves coming in here and he loves chopping it up. And if he's missing two days in a row, the man is sick. He is. I'll promise you that.

What I will say that I do miss from the early days of doing this show with Kipper was we used to talk before doing the show. Oh, yeah. Now we're so afraid of having a good conversation that we can't take to air. But the problem is, is that there's planning that goes into a show and we'll legitimately be like, what would you like? Save it. Can't talk about anything with Kiffer now, but it's good.

It's going to be, it means you guys at home get all of our good stuff. None of it's off the air. You know, we got just a shout out here. We got Derek Brandeo and yeah. And Danielle today is joining us. No Jen R Brandeo. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And Danielle today. Yes, we do.

Is joining us. No Jen Rolnick. Hi, Danielle. Yeah. Hello, hello. Luke Fox is going to join us at 320. David Amber at 345. And Andrew Raycroft to help us tee up the biggest game of the season.

So far. To date. Yes. Nick Kiprios had an article, kipper himself in the toronto star about how no not today he's writing from the sick but he did have that article that was like the only things that he cares about the rest of this year tonight's games it's against boston tampa the ones that he cares about and here we go so yeah i i'd be lying if i you know it's big news in the world of sports this morning. That's Boston related. Oh.

Tom Brady retiring. Oh, did you see the video? I did. Yeah. I, you know, I am more of a Tom Brady guy. So I've always liked Tom Brady. You know, I appreciated his greatness. I didn't hate him as much as everybody else, as you may be a Jets fan would hate him.

And I thought he looked pretty sincere. Yeah, I did too. I thought he came across as like he actually was emotional and he meant what he said. And I think he's actually sincere. Yeah, I did too. I thought he came across as like he actually was emotional and he meant what he said. And I think he's actually done. For sure he is. As sincere as someone who no longer has a soul can be. I feel like he's like that sort of rich and famous level where.

It got me thinking though, man. Like guys that I have watched their entire careers. You don't think of Ovi who's never going to retire. He's going to be playing until he's 100. So he gets to however many goals. And Sid, it made't think of ovi who's never gonna retire he's gonna be playing until he's 100 so he gets to however many goals and sid made me think of sid more yeah it's like how many tops three years left of sid four years left of sid like it's we're getting there and i'm not like thinking of my own you know mortality here or whatever but it's just like guys that you've grown up with are starting to retire it's i know there's older people that are listening

that have gone through this but for me you, I'm in my mid-30s, and, you know, watching guys starting in my 20s, it's happening to me. I know. Maybe I'm just getting a little older, and that's what happens, but it's kind of a shocking thing. It is a trip, and I don't know if we've done this on the air or not before, but it is weird to be of an age, you know, I turned 40 in December,

you know, where you see the entirety of a career of a Hall of Fame player and have some real sense for the context of it. And yeah, it does make you feel old. Reminds me of that tweet. Who's like, you know, you know, I feel I'm 35 years old. I'm still young. Lots of life ahead. And it's like, oh, here comes the oldest athlete in the league.

32. What a miracle. Oh, my God. Unbelievable. He's still standing. Like, wait a second. He's my age. Anyways, quick Tom Brady thoughts. oh my god unbelievable he's still standing like wait a second he's my age anyways um

quick tom brady thoughts so tom brady i mean best quarterback in nfl history probably you know the best player in the history of the league arguably one of the best american athletes of all time cross sports yeah for sure probably probably number one with jordan yet not all that athletic so you know what i mean like it's an interesting thing to be the greatest athlete but not someone who i think could like you know execute an obstacle course with a bit of a bag of milk when he started i think it's probably like athlete versus accomplishments like i think if you're gonna be like who's a better athlete lebron or uh yeah or tom brady i think it's a pretty easy conversation but it's true it's

you know seven super bowls is i will say it right now and you know it's gonna be a long time till anyone can prove me wrong no one will ever come close to that yeah my home's losing the super bowl to brady was a big swing in his ability to catch him someone needs six more super bowls more than anyone has ever had they need that more to catch them yeah anyway so here is the question before and i know we're gonna talk about other stuff can you have success in the nhl not being athletic who is the most successful okay no but he's apparently very athletic well yeah but i mean they're all athletic in the nhl but like joe thornton at the end the last five years of his career you wouldn't say that's an

athlete bufflin sure i mean there's that famous picture have you seen that picture yeah of him i think it was brent seabrook's wedding and he's standing beside seabrook who is like a big nhl guy right and he looks like he's just an actual fridge in the Buffalo Nets. So probably, I think my vote for that would be Kessel. All right. Okay, so. I want to say Garth Snow, sorry. Garth Snow's a fair vote. It's just a giant goalie.

Goalies are a good vote in general. So tonight we got the Bruins coming to town. Some interviews today. Some microphones in the face of one Brad Marchand. Marchand? Marchand. Marchand. Marchand.

And boy. I mean, he Marchanded up marchanded up he kind of owned some toronto so would you like to start with dangle on twitter or would you like to start with the off he swung he swung at our boy dangle yeah did he ever yeah i i you know steve dangle great guy i've go a long time back with him now. We played in a road hockey tournament. We were both very young together when I was an intern here. I'm team Dangle. Spectacular guy. Team Dangle.

But boy, did he take a... That's a beating. Well, you don't have a chance to win against Marshawn because of who he is and his Twitter persona and his unwillingness to back down. Dangle basically called him out on being a jerk. Yeah, which is kind of being a jerk for sure, but that's Marswn i want to have it on the record i say nothing bad about you brad brad you're good in my books buddy but he was you know he marshawn rolled into town today

on the back of a horse with two machine guns and just started firing at bypass you know anyone in the vicinity so let's listen to which one you want to start with. Marshawn, let's just say on the Leafs trash talk. I really haven't had a whole lot of chatter with Bunting. There's not really many guys I'd like to get into it. Mitch is out there talking about video games and his dog and those terrible new skates that he's got out. But, yeah, other than that um it's not a

whole lot of guys like to get into it ah oh you know sam that clip you don't you don't like that there's not guys for him to engage with i i don't think you have to have guys to engage they're not it's not even the part that he said it's not even the part that he said. It's not even the engagement factor. It's him saying they don't like to get into it. Yeah. You know, like, you can not engage with him, but I would like you to get into it with him. You know, like, it's just... I know this is such a stupid thing

to get bent out of shape about. It's just him saying some off-color remarks to the media when he knows he's in the center of the media world. He obviously loves the sound of his own voice loves it like it's very clear that sports whoever's listening maybe start talking to him now probably got four or five years left in his career maybe he might want to do something afterwards because it seems like he is a natural at this yeah you got charles barkley and wait there really does feel like he's gonna be a really good tv guy after his career's done assuming he doesn't get himself canceled before then yeah i mean that the vegas odds and that are like plus 200 i wouldn't

say it's that far out of the realm of possibility right but like that to me sticks out like do you think if he got asked that about tampa bay be like hey you know who you don't think anyone wants to get into it yeah and all of a sudden bogosian punches you in the mouth? Well, no. If he's in Tampa Bay and they ask him this question, which they probably wouldn't. There isn't this kind of hyper-focused media in Tampa, but they're like, hey, who on Tampa likes to get into it with you? I can guarantee the list would be longer than no one. Yeah.

You know? He'd probably be like, oh, you know, these guys like to talk trash. Sorelli will kind of give it to you. Kucherov isn't the best guy to play against. There's guys. And for him to be like, yeah, no one really talks to me at all. That kind of rubs me the wrong way,

if I'm being honest. He also followed up on Mitch Marner. Talked to him a little bit here and there, and it's on the ice. I respect his game. I think he's an incredible player. That's usually what I tell him, just that he's my favorite player.

But I do. I think he's really, really good. We're not playing him. I enjoy watching him, and the things that he does is really impressive. Especially, he's not a big guy either, and he's not intimidated. He goes in front of the net. He goes in the corners. So I actually really respect his game.

So I don't get into it with him very often. Very often. Also, I love that he's like, I just tell him he's my favorite player. Like he wants us to know that he's like. I guarantee. So I had, I did a tweet about the first video about him talking about them chirping and the skates and all that. And I just said that was a tough watch. Yeah.

And multiple people sent me being like, well, see what else he he said about marner see how much he appraised marner and then you hear the way he said that clip and say he's praising marner then you have no idea what hockey chirping and what hockey is about you're the best bud he's like yeah you guarantee he lines up with something like mitchy you're my favorite player you're just my favorite player i love watching you you're so good like you know you're not afraid of anyone no No, he's like, you'll go into the corners with anyone, right, Mitch? I can't listen to that clip and have one ounce

of him praising him at all. There is no praise in that clip. Maybe like the respect him because he's smaller thing. They're both kind of smaller guys. Maybe that's what he's getting at. Yeah, he's just not intimidated out there. Listening to that clip is a guy that has like not a ton of respect, I wouldn't say. He's having fun.

He's having fun at the expense of the old league. He's having a ton of fun. And listen, if I'm Brad Marchand, and I'm the way I am, coming into Toronto is my absolute Super Bowl. This is such a thrill for him because he plays on a team

that historically has owned the leafs in the playoffs i know the least have been good against him in the regular season recently but who cares one and four against the leafs last five games i know they they really do play him well in the regular season but historically as everyone listening to the show knows anything happened we've struggled with the bruins in the playoffs yeah so for him to come into a market where he knows that his team kind of owns the team and he just gets to talk junk. And he did.

And he did. And then he went even further. I know. Let's play the last one on the Bruins salary structure. Do we have that? It's why, you know, the Bucleer team in the past has always uh been um you know guys have tried to take less to win because we know that it uh you know at least through the lineup if you can have

six guys and make lower salary other than three it's a lot harder to play against um you know that's why we've been good for so long i mean that's the a direct cut at the leafs the way the team is built basically so he went like surface level making fun of marner skates making fun of how they have a lack of chirping on the ice did we get to trip the skates yeah oh yeah i tripped the skates it was like the first thing I said yesterday on there. So he trips the skates, trips their, no chirping, gets on top of that. Then he talks about how great a player Mitch Marner

is. He's my favorite player. And then he goes like at their philosophy. He's like, I'll get you up top and then a low blow just coming in. Arguing with someone and they pull up something about your like parents from the past or something. And he's like, I'm going to tweet at the most popular fan and put him in a, you know, put him down too.

It's like, oh my God, man. So. Simmons is playing tonight. For sure. And I think, you know, we talked about, we're going to have a clip here of Keefe talking about how they're going into the all-star break here and how it's an easy spot for you kind of to let your foot off the gas. If we're looking at Marchand, I think it's pretty clear that he's not going to be taking this game lightly. No, that is an interesting point too about this game and like the ability to stay focused and care about it. He clearly cares about it.

I actually think you have the advantage if you're on the road in this game. Absolutely. You're not already one foot on your vacation, just about to go home and pack your bags or whatever. Easier to stay focused. So let's listen to Sheldon Keefe on how he thinks they match up with the Bruins. Just that you've got to play 60 minutes, finish the job, all those kind of things.

But I also thought we showed that we can play and compete with them. And even when we're trailing in a game, that we can come back. Those are the kind of things. But when you're playing this team, you just look at them. They are who they are just because they've been thriving in all facets of the game. 5-on-5, power play, penalty killing, goaltending, face-offs. Like, they're top of the league in every facet. So there's no shifts off.

There's no plays off. It's actually funny because he spends the whole year being like, San Jose's power play is best in the league. You know, you got to look out for them. And then he plays a team who's tops in every category. And he's like, yeah, they're just really good. They're really good at every single thing they do they're excellent at so um their power plays actually hasn't been great recently saw that they ate goals in their last 52 attempts over their last 18 games so it's kind of been going the wrong way but their penalty kills still

unbelievable they've been the best over that time as well so yeah 86.2 in the year um i i just marveling at the least how less interesting that clip was than marshawn just throwing the whole leafs theme under the bus but it's true what he said in there the one point he said in there it's the leafs even through all the playoff losses and through all these games and the these cores versus these core these games are so close. They are. Always. And they just can't get over the hump at the biggest time. Yeah. You think of even the,

I think the last time they played the Bruins or two times ago when they went up in game seven, they scored five goals in a game seven in Boston and still lost. Like they found every possible way to lose to this team. And in the back of their mind, like Marshawn knows when it comes to lose to this team and in the back of their mind like marshawn knows when it comes to you know what cut in time they have the edge yeah right and that's

why he says all this stuff yeah but it is a fair point too about how you know it's not like they've gone up against them in the postseason and got swept every time it's not like in the regular season they're like they roll over as i mentioned the leafs had beat them for the last five times they played they beat them earlier this season and lost one they lost the last one in boston when matthew scored that unbelievable goal to tie it when he like hit the home run down to the other zone and then yes yes in tight up up top so you have a weird memory with hockey well i mean that like i can't remember my password, but I'll tell you about the Wellwood-Sundeen-Tucker power play all day if you'd like to hear about that. No, if I don't.

Sheldon Keefe talked about how this is a nice game for them to have as their last one. A game like this is a nice one to have as the last one of the break of this night. So I'm sure a lot of guys, whether it's them or their wives or girlfriends, have bags packed and all those types of things. They're ready to get going. With this one here, you cannot overlook. So that in itself, I think, has been a little bit easier in that sense. We've had two days to sort of build up to this.

Obviously, on Monday, we took a different type of approach where it was an optional skate, but just brought the guys in to just make sure we were focused and talk a little bit about this game that's ahead here to finish the the break appropriately you sure that they can't overlook this one oh yeah they can i i've watched this team a lot as you know yeah and sure they play up to their opponents and when it's a big game they they get up and they play good games against good teams yeah i could absolutely see a laying of an egg tonight you know it's the last one like you said you're on home ice you know you're flying out of pearson to cabo tomorrow morning you got zeus on a pj to cabo on an alligator on the skis yeah uh you are really thinking about the break there's no way it's human nature yeah i think keith can

say as much as he wants to and i think i love your point about being at home there's much more of a letdown factor for them because i mean boston's also gonna play and go back home figure things out and do their break i don't agree with him that you can't overlook this but i do i think you can overlook this one big time but i do agree that it's better that it's Boston and not, you know, Montreal or Columbus. They would lose the Montreal game regardless.

Yeah, fair. Yeah. But it's a game where you're like, for the rest of this season to matter, for us to have a chase, they're 11 points

behind the Bruins tonight. They lose tonight, they're cooked. 11 points. I know. Feels like the Leafs win every night. I know.

And if they're 13 points back and there's only 30 games left, they're probably out of it. If it's nine, you can at least talk yourself into it a little bit. And you're coming out of the break with two against Columbus. You got Chicago on the horizon. You got Montreal. Like, you have a chance to accumulate points coming out of the break.

A refresh. It's a new, quote-unquote, start of the season. You can convince yourself. But then 13 you ain't convincing yourself no i don't think so so you know there is incentive going into tonight to be like okay this is this matters for our season to matter absolutely do you have a thermos that says if you ain't crocking you ain't rocking on it for croc shoes? Why? Because I love crocs.

What are you talking about? If it was socially acceptable, I would wear crocs to work every single day. I wear crocs all the time. I wear crocs to hockey when it's snowing outside. I wear crocs all the time. Didn't know that about me? I don't know.

You've seen me. We've gulped together. I wear crocs to and from the course. I'm a croc guy. That's surprising. Everyone gets to see you the course. I'm a Croc guy. All right. That's surprising. Everyone gets to see you and discover that you're a Croc guy on the same show. This has been really good. Okay, before we get to Luke Fox, we got one more Sheldon Keefe quote.

He talked a little bit about Rasmus Sandin, him and Lilligren. Let's play it. Deep parts. Yeah, let's roll that first and we'll chat. Yeah, I think he's just learning to pick his spots really well, offensively and defensively. I think he's just learning to pick his spots really well um offensively and defensively i think that's a big part i think uh you know sometimes you know with the young defenseman and i think rasmus and timothy for that matter uh at times the game can be can be a

little higher event both ways in terms of what you're giving up in terms of what you're creating uh sometimes you can create a great play on one end, but you're being a little bit too aggressive in the wrong spots that can open up the game a little bit the other way. I think as things stabilize, you see a little less of that. I think that's what's happened with Rasmus. That's encouraging. Yeah, I like that he's talking him up.

Yeah. Well, I see that look in your eye why why do you like that i think if you really are thinking about an impact trade oh boy listen i don't want to do it i like rasmus sandin i think he's got a really good future in the league i think he's going to be a capable player for a long time. But, I mean, you've got to give to get. If there was one guy off the current roster that I was going to be including in a blockbuster, I would be looking at him. Like, it's crazy that he's now surpassed Lilligren. I mean, Lilligren's surpassed him.

Yeah. Why don't you ask our boy Luke Fox? Luke, are you with us? I am, yeah. What do you think of Sam's theory that Sandin is a potential if someone had to go type of guy? Oh, wow. You do you think of Sam's theory that Sandin is a potential, if someone had to go, type of guy? Oh, wow. You want to trade Sandin?

Okay, we were just discussing. The thought had crossed my mind this morning that, you know, if you were considering a big upgrade on the back end, potentially, I'd see you look down the right side of your decor, and you'd probably be pretty happy with what you have, because, you know, Brody plays on the right side, and Lilligren and Hall, you're pretty committed to those guys. If you're looking for a big upgrade, it might be on the left side.

And Sandin plays the left side, and he probably has some value around the league. I was just kicking around the idea, Luke. Hot take alert. Honestly, yeah, the hot take alert, but it depends what's coming back. And I honestly think this is the kind of year where you shouldn't be afraid to entertain something as bold as that because the window is very small.

And if you want to win this year or next, presumably Sandin's best years, his most developed years, are still ahead. It's not this year. Like there are some shifts. And I love the guy. Me too. Both as a reporter who gets to talk to him because he he does have a great personality but he also has like so many interesting raw skills in terms of his offensive capabilities his vision i love that he's not afraid of contact but there are some shifts where he looks kind of frightening from a defensive standpoint when he gets caught in his own zone

or he might put his team in a bad spot. And it seems to come particularly against the big type of rugged type teams that they're going to see in the playoffs. Like I'm thinking about some of the games against the Rangers or the Bruins or some of those real powers. Or Tampa Bay, perchance? Yeah, Tampa Bay. Like where, yeah i i just think

you might have to sacrifice something from the future to to get something for now i i like some people are saying they shouldn't put the first rounder in play and all this and i think they should i think they need to be bold yeah there's no doubt that it's kind of this is the time and you know just seeing what is in your own division you obviously have to get aggressive you know when you look at it do you feel like you know i've gone through a number of times where they need to add i know you have too um thinking about the leafs all the time is it forward for you like a lot of the consensus on the twitter sphere or do you feel like what sammy's talking about like if you can get a Jacob Chikrin, is that better than getting a Timo Meier?

Where is it best if you're going to make your big swing? Yeah, it's really fascinating, and I've kind of flip-flopped on it depending on how they're performing at the time or what I'm looking at. I really thought it was defense at the beginning, just with Jake Muzzin not being around, and they never really replaced Labushkin and I like the element that he brought uh at the end of last year so originally I was really thinking defense um and and then Austin Matthews goes out of lineup and you're like man you know they they do kind of need another forward. Like, what if an injury happens to one of the big guns,

and it's not that far-fetched if they go, you know, what they want to do is go on a deep run. It's not far-fetched to imagine an injury to a big guy for a little bit of time. And you think, like, Tampa Bay was able to go rounds without Braden Point, but could the Leafs go round after round if they lost to Matthews or Tavares for a few weeks? I'm not so sure. And then you look at the trade market and the names

available at forward are so much more enticing. Like even with Horvat off the board, you got Ryan O'Reilly, you got Jonathan Tabes and Patrick Kane and Timo Meier. There are a lot of names. It's hard to remember a recent trade deadline where there were so many forwards that you think could actually make an impact. And could this be a buyer's market? And then get someone who either plays second line left wing or get another center and just slot everyone down a little bit. Because the bottom six, and i'm sure sammy no i believe you said this before it needs a desperate upgrade yes so you either address that directly

and go get a barbershop or someone like that like you know kind of more of a cheaper depth player someone you don't presumably have to pay a first-round pick, or you spend on a top six player and bump everyone down a notch, and that's how your bottom six gets better because Yarncroft isn't in your top. Yeah. So you mentioned the buyer's market there, and if you're looking around the league and you're Kyle Dubas, you're probably pretty happy with the price that got paid for Bo Horvat, right?

Like that was not nearly as steep, I think, as maybe I thought it was going to be. Other people thought it was going to be maybe GMs around the league who probably know what the offers were out there. But that was a surprisingly low price for what I thought was the best guy available on the market. Yeah, I had him number one too in terms of forwards for sure. I don't think it was a horrible price just because that first rounder, like an Islanders first rounder isn't equivalent to a Leafs first rounder or a Bruins first rounder or a Tampa first rounder

or a Carolina first rounder, right? That becomes very late, almost a second rounder. The Islanders could be as high as 13 this year or, you know, even higher next year if it ends up getting into the lottery stage. So that could be a more impactful player. But absolutely. And the other factor, I think, is maybe Vancouver felt the need to get this done because it was becoming such a side story in that market. And then the longer they kept Horvat, the more they risked him getting injured. Like, you can't just healthy scratch a guy for a month.

So if you're playing your captain and for some reason he gets injured, all of a sudden that asset that brought back three pieces isn't available to you like that, that would be really frightening. For sure. I kind of understand why they, they settled that early and they made the trade with the Islanders. Like when you think it through, but I do think that there will be forwards available for reasonable prices.

I think you're onto something there, Sam. We were saying earlier today, it's just crazy that, you know, they could have traded JT Millerer last year for you know probably something not too dissimilar for what they got for horvat and yeesh not not a thing now um i would love to get your take on what it was like being around brad barchand oh my god so without even asking any questions, what happened down there today? What a beauty. Honestly. No, honestly, he has such a sense of the moment and the theater that goes around this.

He knows exactly what building he's in. And it was really quite a scene because there were so many Bruins were available, like Bergeron, Pasternak, Taylor Hall. I had a good chat with Lindholm. And all these guys were just around and available. And it took forever for Marchand to finish his optional morning skate. Like, I think he was out there picking up the pucks or something. He wanted you guys to himself.

That's what he was doing. He was like, make them wait. So there was this, you know, a good cluster of cameras and reporters waiting and kind of like, you know, you wouldn't do that for everyone, right? You will for Marshawn because you know he's going to say something. And he's already been on record saying some pretty interesting stuff about the Leafs actually in Boston when they were there last. So, you know, the conversation started about chirping

and then got into Leafs chirpers. And, you know, the fact that he's so savvy to what's going on around the league, what's going on social media, that he, you know, starts ripping Marner's skates. And that just came out yesterday. So he's very in tune with where he is and what he's saying. And he's slick with it, right? He's like, oh, yeah, he's a great player, great player. I tell him.

That's what I tell him. I tell him he's my favorite player. He's like a master at this. And he knows it'll rile up the people down the hall. And it'll get guys like me excited because he's a player who actually says something. And I wish, honestly, love him or hate him. Some of the stuff he does probably crosses the line. But I think the league needs more of it because it creates conversation.

It shows some personality. And, yeah, I mean, I don't mind it one bit. No, and every single guy who chirps him about, you know, they don't like him, their favorite team, if he was playing for them, every single one of them is their favorite player. Like, if he was a Toronto Maple Leaf fluke, he would be the most popular player in the history of the team. There's no doubt.

It's one thing to talk, but he backs it up. He's an amazing hockey player. And two way. Like, he kills penalties and he's been on my self-keep, but not number one penalties and he's been on my self-keep but not number one but he's been on my self-keep out a number of times because i don't think he gets enough credit for his defensive play and all his antics kind of distract from how good of a hockey player is and you know he trains with like imagine you trained with sydney crosby and we're trying to

maintain that level every summer like that's who he trains with. And McKinnon. Yeah, that's the scheme. I'm just looking at the 21 NHL awards voting and Hart Trophy votes. The top five is McDavid, Matthews, McKinnon, Crosby, and Marchand. Yeah. There you go. A bunch of them train together.

It makes sense, right? If that's who you're around on a daily basis in the summer, when you could be off slacking off, you know, having a little bit of fun. But if you're trying to keep pace with Sidney Crosby, like it sets you up for success. So he can talk that way because he can back it up. Yeah, the Nova Scotia line is pretty good. Put those two guys together at the next Olympics.

You got a pretty good line. Well, you fill in behind it with pretty much anyone, and you're going to win a couple of games, I think. It's not too shabby so you know obviously a a big game tonight in terms of the standings and the potential for chasing down the bruins like there's still 30 games to go you win tonight it's nine points you know you feel like if you add another guy or two is there any hope here luke what are your thoughts and where they sit in the standings and something to play for? Well, it's sports, so you like to think anything can happen,

but an 11-point lead in a league that hands out loser points like candy, it just seems too far-fetched. I mean, you try to create some intrigue, but anything beyond a Tampa-Toronto round one just seems kind of beyond the imagination right now.

There will be a battle for home ice. I just don't know how much it matters. I think if the Leafs are going to do this, finally slay the Dragon, it kind of doesn't matter at this point because they've had chances on home ice. They just have to do it no matter who it's against or where it is. What are your thoughts? Yeah, I don't know. I'm just thinking they won game three there.

They won. Yeah, they won. They lost game six. I'm trying to think if they've won in Tampa, Tampa wins in Toronto. You're right. And as far as a home ice advantage, I wouldn't say Tampa Bay. Like, don't get me wrong, they've got a good barn,

they've been there, they've got some people that care. It isn't exactly the TD Garden, you know, like, it's not like it's that big of a difference when it comes to playing and having a home ice advantage. No, TD Garden, honestly,

I don't know if you've ever taken in a game there. I will never step foot in that game. I haven't. No, I would never go there. It is something else. It is something else, especially when they get rolling, like, like they get one goal they get two goals and there's a sense that they're they're mounting something yeah like like it has to you know you like Babcock always said that the fans aren't part of the game the players play the game doesn't matter but

come on how could it not affect a player? You can feel it. Chicago, when they were playing Chelsea Dagger, I mean, when they were good, Luongo still wakes up in a cold sweat hearing that song. You're on the other side of that, and you're just like, oh, I know what you mean. The building feels like it's going to collapse on you. Just looking at a couple guys who they still, that are having good years and aren't signed,

in Samsonov and Bunting, you know, camp is another guy. Are they going to be able to hang on to some of these guys that have become nice pieces that, you know, they're probably due for a raise? Yeah. You'd like to think some, probably not all. I think there will be certainly a desire on both sides to get the Bunting one done. Like Michael Bunting, you know, in, in talking to him, he's, there will be certainly a desire on both sides to get the bunting one done like michael bunting you know and talk to him he's really tried to he tries to play his cards close to the vest like you know we'll just see how it goes but he can't help himself like he loves wearing that

sweater scarborough guy like already took less on his first contract but then you step back and you realize his age even though he was a rookie last year uh this is his one chance to finally make some some money like relatively speaking he hasn't made any money right in the nhl so you wouldn't blame him if he ended up walking but i would also like to think kyle davas learned a little bit from how things went with Zach Hyman. Local guy, excellent role player, excellent chemistry with your superstars that you want to build around, your core guys. They're not always easy to replace. And he found one in Michael Bunting. I'm not saying he does everything Hyman does.

But, I mean, in terms of a guy that fits, that can produce, he draws penalties, he does other things, he's emotionally engaged. There's a lot of reasons to keep him, and I think if there is a path to get him, it's giving him more term in exchange for maybe a slightly lower cap, maybe overpaying in terms of years. What did Tanev sign for that one time? Was that like six years times three million per? it maybe overpaying in terms of years. But, yeah, I think there should be a divide.

What did Tanev sign for that one time? Was that like six years times three million per? Was that what it was that he signed for that long one? Brandon Tanev? Brandon Tanev. Yeah, I think that's right. Yeah, around there. That would be something that would interest me.

But I guess you could say this, a similar conversation with Hyman when he left. But if I'm bunting, Luke, I'm looking around. I'm like, where the hell else am I going to get this? Like, what am I going to get to play with, you know, either Marner and Tavares or Matthews and Nylander.

So you and me are different. Cause I'm thinking, where am I going to get all the money I can? Yeah, I know. But like playing, he doesn't come, he doesn't come from wealth.

Right. And I'm not saying that that's going to, he's never, you don't get the sense saying that that's going to – he's never – you don't get the sense that that matters to him. But you have to wonder about that a little bit, right? Like, you know, I'm not trying to pit them against you, but the Nylander family is different than the Bunting family. No, it's 100% fair.

That's not like a controversial thing to say. But then, you know, you'd be like, oh, it's great playing with Matthews and Marner. You're making all this less money. It's like, you know what? Playing with Johnny Gaudreau for $6 million a year would probably be fine, too. It's like, it's not. Maybe it's just me projecting him, me wanting him to stay for less. I guess that's what it is.

And the David Kemp one is interesting. I wonder if the Maple Leafs think Holmberg is a cheaper alternative. I mean, they love David Camp. Like, he absolutely loves him. And I think there's a path for him to stay. But there just seems to be a line that they won't cross on role players. The same thing with Labouche.

And they loved him. But it was like, oh, well, Buffalo wants to give you more. I guess it's not going to work. Yeah. And I wonder if they're getting to that stage with David Camp. We'll see. And David Camp probably gets way more shine in this market

just like Mikheyev did than he would have in another market. And I wonder if that helps his negotiating power. And then the Leafs just say, well, Holmberg is under club control and he's a little bit cheaper and we think he could do all the things Camp did for us. Yeah, what's Camp?

27, he's a UFA, he's going to make $4 million. Someone will give him $4 million to play third line center. But he doesn't score. No, he doesn't at all. He does not score. Like, the most you could see him getting up to is like 2, 2.5. No one's given David Camp 4. Like, Kipper probably would say that they would, but there's just...

I bet you he gets 3.5 from someone else no okay no way he's good all right luke well we appreciate you uh starting a fight with us and um yeah enjoy the game tonight looking forward to hearing it and we'll have to get you back after the all-star break break yep sounds good should be a good game tonight yeah looking forward looking forward to it. Thanks, Luke. Okay. No chance. Okay, let me... What do we got for age on camp? So, first off, Brandon Tanev's deal was six times three and a half million. Which is a lot.

It's a long time. David Camp's 28. Yeah. He's not... And how many points does he have? Oh, nothing. Nothing. But I was looking through some stats, and you and I are going to, he has 16 points.

You and I are going to do useful or useless later. And he's involved in stuff. He is. I saw recently. He's their sixth most used forward. Yeah. They love him in the defensive zone. He is the absolute, they just, they abuse him.

They put him out there like exclusively. D-zone bad line mates against the best players. It's like, it's a joke on my beer league team. If you get put out in the defensive zone, it's like, oh, well, I guess you're at camp tonight. You can't get out. So I understand his value. But like, to me, if you're going to get paid that, it can't be in a market that pays attention. Yeah, that's a really good point.

Like it has to be like somewhere that values. You can't make that here. No. Like it has to be, I'm trying to think of a good team that's in an irrelevant market i don't know give me one off the top of my head no are they relevant like i don't think they would really dive into the defensive metrics and stuff maybe they're newer mark but if you're signing in dallas perfect that is a perfect place dallas they're a good team he would help them a lot their bottom six and then maybe they give them two and a half million bucks old johnny bucko and dallas is like yeah i do not care yeah like this does not matter to me at all funny the guy like him because like

2.6 you're like love him 2.7 you're like oh but like i love him at what's he make now 1.6 yeah i like him at that but anything above that like i'm sure he's useful but you this is where you're very useful this is where your pro scouts come into this is where they make their dough yeah you say kyle talked to whoever the head of pro scouting is for the toronto maple east and be like hey man i need you to fly around the country and find me my next david camp because i ain't paying my now david camp over2 million because he doesn't score nearly enough. If he scored five or six more goals per year, maybe you talk about it. He's great defensively, takes all the draws, takes the beatings.

But like you imagine the heel turn and I am David Camp guy like me and Bunk say he's our favorite leaf. It's like one of our favorite jokes. I love him. But it's because he can't pay him. Imagine there's a dubious heel turn and he just started to flip assets and he said camp one and a half million he's played 16 minutes a night what could you get for david camp on the market is holmberg enough no to return assets i saw holmberg's debut in the top six the other night i think they should maybe just pump the brakes let him have an off season of expecting

to be in the nhl getting a little better well we were talking about marchand i just pulled up his uh hockey reference page because it has uh votes for awards yep his last five his last season uh six seasons he has both heart and selkie trophy votes yeah he's a stud he has 10 years where he's received selkie trophy votes 10 years where he's been a guy two years ago in 2021 he was a late bloomer though like he was his his first all-star nods in his seventh season and then he makes the all-star team five straight years well four because there wasn't one in 16 17 i don't think um but yeah so i mean no one needs to hear from me that marshawn's a good player but the numbers are staggering he has a hundred point season like yeah he's really good yeah and i love him because he plays really well on the backhand got a great backhand i always have a

soft spot for backhand guys he's a backhand guy he's really that move he made when he literally broke samson's ankles or whatever he did to him broke his knee yeah without contact on a penalty shot backhand top corner just i love that move and And he's really good at it. I got to change this love in. Sorry, guys. How much money has he left on the board with his friendly deals and contracts? Yeah, but that's why everyone loves him to death because he's not measured against his contract. But it is. Well, they love him to death because he is measured against it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. JB, you would know. Is there like something like do the players get on each other? Because I know baseball players, you know, you got to make the most money to lift everybody else up so it's kind of weird that hockey players don't have that same attitude you know the thing with marchand is he's you know kind of posturing as he's done this great thing as like bruins culture whatever and maybe part of it was that bergeron was earning whatever, but like he took that contract in 2016 right before he made

all these all-star teams and Hart Trophy votes and whatever. Yeah, he's probably a little sour. Yeah, and it's like McKinnon. And he's had tweets in the past about escrow and like all this stuff, like it pisses him off. For sure, but like he didn't do it out of like being a noble person, like that's what he got what he could get then. He took a long contract because he thought

this is what he was and then he got really good. He took a long contract because he thought this is what he was, and then he got really good. Turns out he's worth 10. Yeah. Okay, we got to go to break. So we'll go to our next guest. We'll be back right after this. Smart takes on the biggest stories in sports. The Fan Drive Time with Ben Ennis.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. podcasts welcome back to real born and mckee real mckee and born i don't know the radio program with the word the program we're missing kipper but uh enjoyed nice chat with luke fox we are now joined by david and i preempted we're not yet joined by David Ambrose. I worked with DA last night. DA pulled a classic move. Are you with us, DA? Yeah, can you hear me? I can, I can.

How's sunny Florida, man? It is sunny. It was a 180-degree turn here, right? It was, what, minus 20 in Toronto when I was leaving this morning, and then it's like plus 29 here. So it's a little different. Do you have the sticks down there?

Are you going to play golf? No. This is a work trip, Justin. Come on. You know me. I'm a consummate professional. You've got a 7 a.m. tea time. You've done lots of time, do you know?

I've been working, working on my tan at this point, but I am working. That's great. How are you guys doing? Good. We appreciate you joining us. I'm sure you've got plenty to do down there. It's an interesting time. Tell us about your week down at All-Star, what your role is going to be

and what it's typically been like because I've seen you doing some of these like walk-in talks around the dressing room, and you do a great job. It would scare the hell out of me, though, because there seems to be a lot of, you know, it's, I don't know, there's no script. It would scare the hell out of me though. Cause there seems to be a lot of, you know, it's, I don't know. There's no script. You're just talking to people as you go.

It's like doing our show, right? Yes. Yeah. Tomorrow should be fun. There's something called, you know, the NHL tries to do these things that make them more cater,

you know, curated to the location they're in and make them special, unique to that, to that hockey market. So what does Fort Lauderdale bring to mind? Of course, the beach, et cetera, surfing. So I'm going to actually be, I guess we call it beachside tomorrow, interviewing the competitors in the Splash Shot event. We're going to tape that tomorrow,

and it's going to run during Friday's Skills event. And essentially, it's like a dunk tank situation. It'll be a lot of fun where guys are shooting at targets and if they hit the targets, there's going to be people dunked in tanks of water. I don't know all the specifics, but I think it's going to be the Kachuk brothers and Crosby and McKinnon are

competing and Makar and Ranton and a whole group. So it should be a lot of fun. That'll be tomorrow. And then Friday's the skills competition. And Kevin Bieksa and I will be, you know, essentially on the benches and on the ice and sort of getting reaction from the different players who compete. And, you know,

it's supposed to be just the showcase of the players and a fun time to show off. These guys aren't just robots, you know, 110%, God willing, things will work out. These are guys who have personalities, who have opinion, not opinions, but just, you know, they can have fun. And I think that's our job is to just objectively go out there and have fun with these guys

and let them sort of exhale a little bit because they're under incredible pressure during the season. And this is supposed to be a time to just embrace, you know, how well they've played and that they're one of the top players in the league and have some fun with it. So that's our goal, and hopefully it'll all work out really well,

and I'm looking forward to it. So you said you don't have a lot of details, but it would be my job to ask, are they dunking each other or is it like celebrities? Do you know that part of it? Is Sidney Crosby going to dunk? Are you going to be shirtless is all I want to know. I can answer

the second part definitively no. Come on. Full clothes on. You know what I actually I'm not even trying to play coyote I actually don't know a lot of the details and maybe they're still being hashed out. I have a hard time seeing you know Sid the Kid getting dunked

in. Great that's what I asked. It's drop Sid in an alligator tank. I don't know what exactly is happening, but I know there's going to be, it's just going to be some fun. They're just trying to put a unique little spin on it like they did last year in Vegas at the Bellagio with the fountains and everything else. And that'll be, you know, P.K. Subban and Kevin Weeks are going to be sort of doing the play-by-play of it, and I'll be doing sort of the on-site interviewing, you know, as the event's taking place.

So that'll be interesting. And, you know, there is an added wrinkle here. And I think it's generally pretty light time and everyone's here to have a good time. But there is this sort of, I won't say dark cloud, but there's this interesting perspective of Bo Horvat now. He'll play his final, his actual final game with Pedersen tomorrow, or on Friday or Saturday, as they'll be teammates in the Pacific Division. And I'm wondering, let's say the Pacific Division and the Metropolitan Division end up in the final of the All-Star game, and you have Brock Nelson lined up against uh against um bull horvat and

there seem to be teammates i wonder if you know bull might kind of give up a give a few giveaways to him so it's trying to turn here you go friend you know peel off the sweater and score on his own net is there like a million dollars at stake or something is there oh my god that would be one that would be an interesting twist, but I'm sure there'll be a lot of questions about that. Dylan Larkin's going to be here because of what's happened with Beau Horvat. I wonder if there's going to be some questions asked to Dylan Larkin

about where he stands, and if he's concerned at all maybe about being moved before March 3rd. David Pasternak. There are some other guys in the same circumstance. I don't think it's got anywhere close to the level we saw with Bo Horvat, where the writing's been on the wall for six weeks, but there are some other sort of new stories probably circulating here. But by and large, it's a fun

light time. It's meant to be a decompressing time for the players, for the media, and certainly for the fans. And that's what this is about. It's a showcase for the fans. I know hockey traditionalists have nothing to do with this game or this spectacle, and I get that. There's no hitting. There's no intensity. There's no blocking shots. It's not real hockey.

Having said that, it's just a chance for us to sort of sit back and just enjoy how good these guys are, and they can showcase some of their skills. Let me be the first to say, I love the skills comp. I think the skills comp is enjoyable. I think it's really fun to see these guys do what they do. I'm assuming they still do an accuracy and all that stuff still plays. The only complaint I have is I just wish they would play a game of hockey.

I wish the three-on-three, and I understand when they brought it in, it was sort of promoting the new thing they do in overtime or whatever. But I would just like to see the all-star guys in hockey play a hockey game. That's my only complaint about the all-star weekend. Can you fix that, D.A.? I'll work on it. Thank you. I will give a memo to Gary and Bill and see what they have to say.

You know, a lot of people feel that way, but I don't really think this is any, you know, the hockey all-star, you know, situations any different than the other sports. I mean, I don't know if this is any, you know, the hockey all-star, you know, situations any different than the other sports. I mean, I don't know if you guys are NBA fans. I mean, there's no defense played. It's basically just the shooting competition. You know, they've scrapped the Pro Bowl in football because it's just,

it's very hard when you're talking about a physical sport. And they're not there. Like, imagine if guys did play a real hockey game and someone got injured, someone blocked a shot or whatever. Like, they just don't want to run that risk. And quite frankly, you know, these guys are out having fun and they're getting after it. And they're out with their families and friends.

And a lot of them bring a whole entourage down to sort of have that weekend of decompression. And they're not in a great state, especially Saturday afternoon and afternoon to be playing. And I didn't really, you know, as a young reporter, I covered the game. I think it was 2000 in Toronto. I think it was the first year of the then Air Canada Center, now Scotiabank Arena. And I'm telling you, I got like, I think I got drunk interviewing the guys because they

were breathing, blaming alcohol on me the next, you know, the day before the game or the day of the game. I couldn't, I'm not naming names, but it was, it was a real eye-opener for me. And I was a pretty young reporter at the time. And I was like, oh, wow, these guys seem pretty hungover. Guys should have to do a, the favorite contest for me would be the blood alcohol test day of at Morning Skate. See, and the winner of this year's contest that's still drunk is Alex Ovechkin. There's guys playing guilty for sure.

So I think that's part of it. And it's not that they're not trying, but it's just I think they see it for what it is. And they did, you know what, they did stir in the million dollars. And these are very wealthy guys who don't need the money. But they did stir in some way to try and incentivize the guys to give it their all. And, you know, it's funny. I think they kind of, I won't say half-assed, but I think they're leisurely about it. But when you get to the final, and I've been on the bench a few times for this,

you know, the guys are like, all right, we're here. We might as well win. Right. You know, like, we might as well win this thing where we've spent, we've dedicated the time. So the hockey will get a little tighter come, you know, the last period of the final. You're going to see guys actually play, you know, backjack, play a little tighter come you know the last period of the final you're going to see guys actually play

you know backjack play a little defense and guys will be on the bench a little bit like changing quicker etc so uh that's the level of intensity we're going to get it's never going to you know replicate playoff hockey where the stanley cup's on the line well you mentioned the nba and they changed the whole format of the game they went to the target score oh yeah instead of the timed game which is an interesting idea and i think that could actually create something in that hot like in the three on three be like ah it's first to six goals first to five goals or whatever and it just creates a little bit more urgency when it gets tight i don't know it it works in the nba because once they get close to that score at the end of the game, they start getting a lot more intense.

Yeah, well, you know how it is. You can't go play pond hockey with your buddies if it's close and, you know, you got to wrap it up. So, sorry, Diaz, you're down at the All-Star game and I'm coming up with ideas how to change the All-Star game. But I love the target score idea too. Anyways, continue. You know, you mentioned that, you know, this is a time for everyone to show personality and have fun. And, you know, you've been around it since 2000 now i showed sam a video of when my dad was with the islanders and these guys it's like 82 and they had like a random talent contest john tinelli's

wearing an elvis suit you know clark gillies is singing the gambler and you know like you know they talk about personality and showcasing it how have you seen that element of it evolve over the years with players being comfortable displaying who they are? Yeah, it's been hit and miss, right? I mean, some guys are so guarded and, you know, it really might have to do with the market they play in and who they are. And it's maybe a little bit more difficult for them to just embrace, hey, this is all about having fun, you know,

and they probably just feel this internal pressure all the time. You know, a guy like Connor McDavid, you know, he just, he wants to win so badly. And I think he has fun during the All-Star weekend, but he's still probably focused on, okay, my next game's Tuesday versus this team. And, you know, what are we going to do? I just think he wants to win.

That's what he cares about so, so, so, so, so much. Other guys we've seen, right? Trevor Zekris will go out there and have fun. Alejandro Ovechkin's ready to go and have some fun. There's guys that we've seen. Patrick Kane in the past. P.K. Subban. Evgeny Malkin.

We've seen guys do silly things, you know, try and have fun in the shootout competition. We've seen goalies kind of act a little wild and crazy. So I hope to see some of that. And certainly it's encouraged. And I think, you know, I'm going to blame a little wild and crazy. So I hope to see some of that. And certainly it's encouraged. And I think, you know, and we're to blame a little bit, the media, right? Because as soon as guys do step out and wear different suits and...

Marble skates suck. Sorry, I don't know how to say that in the air. We had the whole debate yesterday, right? And it wasn't, you know, it wasn't... I don't think anyone was putting it down. It just wasn't your style. Right, correct, correct. Those are awful wheels.

But I appreciate his... He's allowed to do it, you know? Yes. I think we're moving in that direction. Young guys, I mean, these guys, the Marners, the Matthews, these guys have big personalities. They listen to a lot of different music. They watch a lot of different TV shows. They consume a lot of different media.

You know, they're a lot more like your average 22, 23-year-old than a lot of us would know because we see them almost as robots. And again, why I say the media is partly to blame is because we do kind of make them conform. We do put them into this box. I say that collectively. I think all of us would like to see, you know, some more personality. And we embrace the fact that a lot of players in the NFL and NBA

seem very comfortable doing that. And I think that's something we have to move towards a lot of players in the NFL and NBA seem very comfortable doing that. And I think that's something we have to move towards. At the end of the day, this is entertainment. And I can tell you, you know, as someone who has two teenagers, they're much more inclined to relate to the players, you know, when they're talking about pop culture things, when they're embracing sort of their own individualism.

So I think that's really important as far as moving the game forward. And I hope we do see some of that this weekend. All right, DA. Well, we'll let you go to enjoy the Florida sunshine. Enjoy yourself, buddy. Appreciate you coming on. Tee it high and let it fly, DA, okay? Thanks, guys, for having me on.

Where's Kipper? Is he sick again? Yeah, he's sick. You know what? I swear I just saw him on the beach. He heard you were coming on. I swear I just saw him on the beach about five minutes ago. Yeah, right.

There's a Kipper lookalike down here, I can tell you. I love it. That's great. Well, thanks for coming on, DA. Appreciate it, buddy. Hey, fellas. Be well. I'll talk to you soon.

All right. Sounds good. All right, Sammy. We had a couple of, first off, the All-Star game. I appreciate you going to bat for the All-Star game. I like the skills comp. I like the skills comp. I will watch the skills comp.

I will watch it. But often there are times where I have to stop watching it. And so I hate that like cringe has become a thing, right? But like I do get that feeling of like secondhand embarrassment, which I've heard called fontrum before. I know it's an urban dictionary word for fontrum where you're like, why does that person not know to be embarrassed okay yeah that's why i can never go to uh a stand-up comedy

night like i could never go to like so an amateur like if i they're like hey let's go to yuck yucks nightmare really if i go there and someone's bombing i'll like sink into the wall like it's not for me hey it's continued um yes i understand that. But I do when I watch it because we encourage them to show personality. We also kind of force it on them a little bit. And it's like, yeah, you got Patrick Kane doing the Superman thing right after Dwight Howard did it. And it's like, we're not that. I don't know. I feel like, ugh.

Last year was legitimately unbelievable what Zegers did. When he put the blindfold on it was but it also wasn't a shootout i don't know what it was anymore like it's not a shootout contest now we're putting in these goalies that aren't trying to stop the puck so i agree with not putting in nhl goalies because if you're a gm and you're like this guy's doing what tricks and he's gonna try to stop it like that's to me a nightmare as a gentleman but get the local college goalie in there or whatever you know what's got to be ebugs the best ebug from the year gets in get gary on the whole of all the ideas we got one that should take your 15 minutes maybe starting back up again

yeah good news matt berlin you're in again from the edmonton oilers don't get 10 points to me for remembering his name by the way that is incredible I covered the game that night I love the all-star skills because to me it's still a chance to watch the guys show their skills and they don't necessarily get like you said the Zegers thing was holy hell

unbelievable but him wearing an outfit that's not going to appeal to people it's not for us. I know. I literally wrote that article for Sportsnet this year. Was that the All-Star game? It's not for us? Yeah, it's enjoyable for other people. It is. Not

the people, the people who listen to, who are on YouTube right now watching Real Kipper and Born at 4 o'clock on a Wednesday. It's not for you. Probably not for you. It's probably for the guys who check in once every week and oh yeah, yeah, the Leafs are playing. I guess I'll watch it. It's for part-timers.

This, by the way, people that are on the YouTube, I'm just looking through the comments, they're just arguing about who's a bigger market. They're in the league yelling about Winnipeg and Vancouver and all this stuff. It's like, wait, they're not even listening. Not Winnipeg is the answer to whatever the conversation is. Anything but Winnipeg. Yes, I was trying to think. God, I had like nine things I want to whatever the conversation is. Anything but what it is. Yes, I was trying to think. God, I had like nine things I want to talk about.

Okay. The surprising, disappointing team. Oh, yes. Should we go through some of that stuff? Yeah, we got a little chance here. Let's do it. Okay. So, we're at the All-Star break.

This is the only pause. By the way, is it the All-Star break and the Leafs bye? That's why we have? Nine days. Nine days. So, there's no hockey after tonight, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And then the NHL starts back up next Monday. Okay.

And the Leafs aren't back till Friday. The Leafs aren't back till Friday when we get to tee up a home and home with the worst team in the league. Sick. Columbus Blue Jackets. So it's a real lull here. And the meaningful game lull, it goes for a while. Like they play, if I'm just pulling up the league schedule here. Good time to have your superstar leader, Matthews, have a tweak.

It really is. I'm just pulling up their schedule. Yeah, I just want to make sure I have it right, even though like I almost have it memorized here. Yeah, so they come into the break with double blue jackets, blackhawks. Double blue jackets. Double blue jackets, blackhawks, Habs, blackhawks double blue jackets double blue jackets blackhawks habs blackhawks come on that's that's what they come out of the break with so here's the thing

you beat boston tonight you're winning four of those five aren't you i would hope i would hope i mean let's just schedule the l to the canadians on home ice on february 18th that's just that's probably a lock on set and then their first columbus to take them to ot once so then their first big game is the 21st coming back against the sabers who have been hot and are flirt with the playoff spot and that's in buffalo that's always a popular game they're big ones so that's that's a real game yeah but yeah like it's it's a real it's a quote-unquote real long break here for the leafs they don't have a lot of meaningful games coming up until i guess they play, and they play the Oilers in the first of March. Okay, so time for reflection.

It is time for reflection on the NHL season so far. Leafs have played 51 games. This will be 52 with 30 to go after this. Right now, give me a surprise team from the NHL. My number one surprising team? Yeah. Winnipeg. Ooh.

Yeah. Mostly because- Just didn't expect they'd be good? No. I mean, we we week into the season we buried them we talked about blake wheeler being done and trading shifley and blowing it up and hellebuck and all this stuff and they're really good two votes here for me uh new jersey devils didn't think they'd be this good but the biggest one the kraken yeah i guess the squids

are pretty surprising squids are first in the pacific right now they were god awful last year they added burakovsky and bjork strand and now they're to me that's on a knife's edge i agree with that statement i look at that division and i think edmonton edmonton my i'm like moving passionately towards the edmonton oilers maybe potentially being the cup favorite out of that side they if i'm looking at the west the team that would scare me the most would be the oilers yeah because i don't think anybody's any good what a gross like really like i mean layout of a who are you really who are you really afraid of i guess colorado gets healthy and you go okay they're still colorado

they're still colorado but they're not what they were last year no you know like their goaltending is not as good as it was last year they don't have cadre like i know they still have excellent they have they're very very good they have kyle mccarr and nathan mckinnon and rant and all those guys still play for them right yeah they're probably going to be okay but i think if second best player in the league kyle mccarr if they were to play in a series, I think it's a different series. You're not playing Mike Smith. You have the option of Jack Campbell. Say what you will about him.

He's been better recently. And then you have Stu Skinner, too. Like, you have a different. NHL All-Star Stu Skinner. Yeah. You have a different. He's got an All-Star mustache, too. So, I would say that they are probably.

I'm looking at them as a favorite. And having said that, you talk about the Squids being. They have 63 points. I understand that they're in there, but that's tight. They go on a three or four game losing streak and then everybody starts getting hot. Nothing is settled in the West. No, and I also think that when you're a team

that doesn't have elite players, I think their top score for Seattle is like 75th in the league. I think it's Wenberg or Bjorkstrand or one of those names. I think it's, no, it's the guy, isn't it Burakovsky? Isn't it the guy that got the offseason? Isn't that Bjorkstrand as well? I don't know. This is exactly who we're talking about.

It seems like all the same guy. Yeah, they're all a bunch of those guys. So my point is that when games get tight and you need a game breaker and you don't have any game breakers, I think they're going to be in tough. They're in first in the Pacific, but they are six points up on a playoff spot. And the last playoff spot is being fought between Colorado and Calgary. So it's like they are not,

nothing is settled for them. No. Like even close. Not even close. So I think they're surprising. I would say that they're a really good story, but that goaltending situation, like to me, there is a recipe for it to go sour for them.

Yeah. You had Yarkovsky, by the way, leading the team, 48 games played. How many points? I'm going to say 38. 39. Okay. Eberle is 38. Veneers is 36.

Dunn is 36. McCann is 35. Gord is 32. Balanced. Yeah. Really deep. McCann. McCann.

He's got 23 snipes. Most disappointing team for you this year? I just want to throw dirt on them, so Sens. Disappointing. Yeah. I did a show in the summer after they were doing their summer appear. Oh, they won the summer, didn't they?

And I went on the show, and I'm like, me and Gunning did our Atlantic Division Power Rankings, and I'm like, they're going to be second last. And I went on the, I'm like, they are not, I, we did me and Gunning did our Atlantic Division power rankings. I'm like, they're going to be second last. They're like, their deep core is no good. Their goaltending is no good. And you should have seen the text line. Oh, really? Oh, buried. People were tweeting me being like, yeah, they're going to be

better than the Leafs. And I was like, listen, say what you will about the Leafs. I'm like, they're stank. Like, they are no good on the back end. And guess what? They are disappointing. they have not been good their second they're four straight wins though yeah now i'm still i'm buying it's not gonna matter they're shout out to my boy chris jetty listen they are so yeah they're having said all this no no, no. Okay. Still out on them. Yeah. My most disappointing team is the Columbus Blue Jackets. You know why? They weren't trying to be bad.

No, they weren't. Chicago was trying to be bad. Actively like moving pieces. Montreal's trying to be bad. Chicago signed Johnny Goodrow. Columbus signed Johnny Goodrow. They gave line a that deal like that the plan was not to stink what's his name warrenski got a contract like they are trying to be competitive and they

are the opposite of competitive they you know the philadelphia philadelphia flyers are kind of junk minus 20 goal differential yeah they're 15 points better than the blue jackets in the in the metro yeah they're dead last in the league tied to Chicago. And you look at that. And they weren't trying to be. Absolutely not. And that is an interesting landing spot for Bedard for me. Columbus?

Yeah, it's not the worst. I'll take it over Arizona. Yes. I'll take it over Montreal. Montreal. Well, that's just for our Toronto show. For me. Don't need them.

For my heart. Because I love the kids. Last place for me don't need for my heart because i love the kid last place for me is probably anaheim i can't well arizona or anaheim but like i'm not watching the ducks at 10 30 play bad games against the sharks and i think columbus is in a really relevant division where they're playing against relevant teams that are like in the time zone like they're playing against the rangers They're playing against the, the pens, the caps, the Islanders are playing against relevant teams.

So for me, that actually is probably the ideal scenario. I would take black Hawks though. I would take Arizona over Montreal. Wow. Connor bold. We have a lot more of those to get to. We're going to talk about surprising player,

disappointing team cup faves. We've got a whole bunch of other stuff to go on. After this, we're going to be joined surprising player disappointing team cup faves we got a whole bunch of other stuff uh to go on after this we're going to be joined by andrew ray croft retired nhl goaltender uh co-host of morning brew with jaffee and razor we will talk to him in just a moment big opinions and in-depth conversations covering the leafs jays raptors and the nfl the jd bunkin podcast Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. All right, welcome back to Real Kipper and Born. Today, Sammy McKee filling in for Mr. Kiprios.

We are now joined by Andrew Raycroft, retired NHL goaltender, Nessun studio analyst, co-host of Morning Brew with Jaffe and Razor. How you doing today, Mr. Raycroft, retired NHL goaltender, Nessun studio analyst, co-host of Morning Brew with Jaffe and Razor. How you doing today, Mr. Ray Croft? Good afternoon. I'm wonderful. How are you guys making out? We're great.

Yeah, today's a, I mean, a big day here in Toronto. We get to play the Boston Bruins. This is the, you know, basically everything everyone's waiting for here. Basically saying no other opponent matters, but the Bruins as a measuring stick. Tell us about what's been going on with that Bruins team right now. Basically saying no other opponent matters but the Bruins as a measuring stick. Tell us about what's been going on with that Bruins team right now.

Where are they at? Obviously slumping a little bit with a few losses in a row, but I mean, incredible season so far. It has been an incredible season and they've had a tough stretch. They were in Montreal, then they went three and four

in Tampa Bay, Florida, Carolina. They blew a lead with 40 seconds left against Florida, which really puts a chink in the road trip because that Sunday afternoon game was a real difficult game to play back-to-back while Carolina was licking their chops for them, and they just didn't play a very good game against a team that is really good. So, yeah, a little bit of... I heard the word adversity

being used, but I don't see it as adversity. I don't think a team that has only six losses on the year can have adversity yet. But again, another tough matchup going into Toronto tonight. So I don't know if you're keeping up on Twitter today, Andrew, but Brad Marchand rode

on his steed into town and had his sword drawn, talking all this stuff to the media. He was going after Steve Dangle on Twitter. What a delight this guy is to cover on a day-to-day basis. No, he's the best. And honestly, he's a great person, a really good guy.

When it comes to media, he is there and will understand the game, understands that he has to do his part, and he's a big leader. So for us that are asking him for interviews or asking him to do stuff, he always says yes and gets it done. I think he enjoys going into Canada. I think he enjoys Montreal and Toronto especially, where he can

kind of crank things up a little bit. Tonight's game, it doesn't have the same feel as it did a couple weeks ago when Toronto came into the building here. The Saturday night, hockey night in Canada, in Boston. This one's kind of like, alright, let's get the break. Let's go.

Let's get on our planes and get to Bahamas as soon as possible. I'm sure once it gets dropped, they're going to go pretty good. No Austin Matthews as well. So you're, you're losing a little bit of that vibe. So I feel like Brad's just doing his part to get everybody excited. And he recognizes he wants to get his guys going after losing three games and having the break and maybe just get everybody attention a little bit. And, and there's no one better. There's no one better at chirping. three games and having the break and maybe just get everybody attention a little bit.

And, and there's no one better. There's no one better at chirping. And I wouldn't want to be a Mr. Dangle, I guess. One of those things that once you take one bullet, you probably don't want to fire back because you're just going to catch more. No, not really a fun battle. No, you're not going to be the last one to shoot in that battle. You know that.

100%. It's just going to keep coming. You know, we've been, you know, trying to prepare for what it is that the bruins have done so well this season that's made them the bruins and you know where how they stack up against the leafs one of the areas they seem better than the leafs is in the bottom six tell us a little bit about that group and how the bruins use them um give them such success, such depth throughout the lineup. Yeah, and it has been a big success. And that's part of the issue, which is kind of sneaky right now.

Thomas Nosek's out of the lineup, their fourth-line center. He's been out the last five or six games. Jake DeBrusque out since the entire month. And then Trent Frederick left the game on Saturday. So you take three forwards out of your lineup, that depth piece that you've had such an advantage on has kind of gone out the window, and I think that is one of the issues the last week for this group as well,

is that depth has gone away because of a few of the injuries. So what they've done so well on the bottom six is play with pace. They've all picked up their games from last season to Trent Frederick, Nick Foligno. They're all getting their spot quicker. They're getting on the forecheck. And what they've also done is been able to play left wing or play right wing or move guys around in different situations with the centers in place,

the Charlie Coyle, the Thomas Nosek, and build around those guys on the wing. So up until the last 10 days, they had a real big advantage that has gone out the door a little bit with the Nosek injury. So, Andrew, I got to ask you for some advice here because Boston's dealing with this Pasternak conversation here now where he's a free agent, he's having a career year.

And to be honest, I'm looking into the future here in Toronto because next year, Austin Matthews is after next as a free agent, Willie Nylander, both of them eligible to sign extensions this summer. I understand that. But what is the conversation? How are you guys handling this conversation? Because there's no way that you don't have to kind of look through this lens at all times. It's got to be a hard thing to handle.

Yeah, certainly the start, the way they've played has allowed the eyeballs to go elsewhere a little bit on that. But like you said, it's always the second question. And just like this interview, it's like a few questions. Okay, what about David? What are you hearing? Or what's going on? Have you been asked for advice before? Uh,

not new. And listen, when I, when usually when someone asks you for advice, they recognize pretty quickly, they shouldn't have asked for advice, especially when it comes to hockey. But,

um, I, I think no news is good news. I think it's been very quiet. Anytime the last month Don's been asked or he's come out with a Zach assigning, they did ask about passing. He shot it down really quickly and not a lot of talk.

So it seems as though, listen, the Boston Bruins are doing absolutely everything they can to get it worked out. What I think, and I can see this happening in Toronto in the next 12 months, is these deals are now really big. And the salary cap makes things so much more difficult in how much they go back and forth on upfront money, back-end money, bonuses,

when the money's going to really kick in. All these things over an eight-year deal that is going to be north of $10 million, I think we can all assume now the way David's playing, just makes it really difficult. And all the I's need to be dotted and the T's need to be crossed, and it just makes it difficult to get the deal done. It takes a while. So that's the way I see it.

The other thing I see with the same will be with Austin Matthews and Willie Nylander, free agency isn't real free agency. There's only a small amount of teams that these guys can end up going to if they really want to win. Because the teams that are winning are backed into salary cap issues. You can't – David Pasternak's not going to be able to go and sign with the New York Rangers or the Toronto Maple Leafs. So it has, it changes the way these deals get done.

And I think it just changes the negotiation in that you don't really have to force it because at the end of the day, there's only a couple teams that David can go to. And does he really want to go to Arizona and play in front of 3 000 people i don't think so so and another conversation marshall alluded to this today was them talking about sort of their internal culture where it's always been guys have kind of taken less and i guess you can kind of buck that trend when uh charlie mcavoy signed his contract but i wonder how much of the contract negotiation is part of that with don sweet when he's going and talking to him. He's like, let's see, you got Brad making this.

You know, Patrice took this. I'm sure that's a part of the conversation as well. And even amongst the guys, they probably talk about that. Yeah. And listen, I was part of that. I've been with this Bruins organization before and doing contract negotiations. And I know it's still the Ray Bork salary cap was in place back then. Now it's the Patrice Bergeron and Charlie broke through that ceiling.

But there's no question these guys have set a culture. And this is all David knows. And he's been on record of saying that even the deal he's on right now, it doesn't bother him. He doesn't have that kind of an ego, and he doesn't come from a place where that was important to him. But we all know it is deep down on certain levels. You want to get what you're worth, and you look around the league,

and you say, I'm worth this compared to this guy. But there is an underlying current of that culture here in Boston. When Patrice is still here, and you're having lunch with Patrice and Brad, it's tough to start complaining about a million dollars here and there. So it'll be interesting. That is a thing. But again, at the end of the day, I think we also know that because of the McEvoy feeling being changed,

that it isn't quite the same old, well, Ray Bork's getting paid this and no one's getting more than that. And that's the deal. Right. So like, you know, the, you look at the Bruins and their number one PK in the league, their power plays six, they, they score, they defend their goaltending is great. You know, give us some hope here, Razor. Like, are there any cracks in the armory?

So let's say they lose. Are you speaking for me? Thank you. I appreciate it. Let's say they lose in round one. What didn't go right for them? Where are some places that this Bruins team needs to shore up? Well, you always go to injury.

Listen, how good is the Eastern Conference, right? It's going to be so hard to get out of the first round. And everybody that's played, everyone that's watched for a long time, you know how hard the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is. And this will be even harder in the Eastern Conference. But the Bruins are going to need more debt. They're going to have to stay healthy. And then as great as Linus has been,

he doesn't have a consummate trophy like Andre Vasilevsky. He doesn't have any Stanley Cup rings. So is he going to be the one to carry the mail the whole series? Is Jeremy Swayman going to jump in there? So as great as the goaltending is, you still have a little unsurety come playoff time with those guys. And then, again, I think you just go back to depth and injuries. And just how hard the Eastern Conference is.

Toronto, listen, we've seen both games that these two teams have played. They have a bunch of game breakers on both sides of the ice. Even the series prior to COVID, when the Leafs had a lead in Game 6 at home early in the first period to close them out. So it's close. And I think that, at the end of the day, these guys, the Bruins know that. The players know that brad said it today he said it yesterday like we know we haven't done

anything and we know it's all about april no matter how good we are right now and and i think that's that's the mindset that that all of these eastern conference teams have to have because it's just going to be absolutely bananas on april 15th. Yeah, I think speaking as a lifelong Leaf fan, the heartbreaking part with the Boston Bruins is that it hasn't been blowouts in terms of the playoff series. I mean, we can talk about what happened in 2013, but that's a different lifetime ago versus this core.

But it's just always been such a tight thing. The Leafs have had success in the regular season. That's what makes us so agonizing for Leaf fans versus Boston. That's what you're kind of alluding to, Razor. It's a very, very tight season and playoff series. It's always close. It is. And that's, you know, so it comes down to an injury.

I think that is the one thing the Bruins have is, is the leadership will not give an inch. They are as competitive as any group. So you're not going to win that. You can match the competitive. You're not going to be, you're not going to outwork them despite being up in a series on them. And you're not going to out-compete them no matter what the series is. And I think they know that and and that's where their confidence comes from

because they know they're not going to be outmatched. They might be matched, but they're not going to be outmatched in those two areas. For sure. All right, well, we'll let you go, Andrew. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much for joining us today, man. Thanks, man.

You got it, gang. Enjoy the night and stay warm if the weather's coming in. All right, buddy. Appreciate it. Have a good one. Andrew Raycroft, former Bruins goaltender. I was going to admit the bad things I said about him when I was younger, but I decided not to.

You know, I think that's the right call. He has become a wonderful guest on our show and really depressing for me that it's like, where are some weaknesses on this team? And he's like, they could get hurt. Like maybe somebody gets hurt. Maybe their Vesna goalie turns to a pumpkin. If they roll a collective ankle, they might be beatable.

He nailed it in his last answer there, talking about the leadership of that team, just not giving an inch. Yeah. And also knowing that you're never outgunned. You just got to. It's not, I'm not going to say that thened you just gotta you can it's not i'm not gonna say that the least don't care that's not what i'm saying no but you can't care more than

patrice bergeron like it's i don't know how to quantify it but like he just care and him and marshall it's just they are so he nailed it competitive the difference so competitive the difference with a guy like bergeron is he cares about doing the exact right thing that you're supposed to do. Bingo. Versus being, you know, some of the Leafs' amazing players, they're more, they're artists. Yeah. You know, they're painting these beautiful pictures and whatever, and Bergeron's just

like in your face, like stick, position, stick. Yes. Making it hard. Mr. Perfect. Goal. Pass. Defense. Everything. Everything know everything yeah it's so true man god i was going through actually this is a nice little segue he's a dream killer he's a bit of a dream killer i know that listen we talk about this core with such you know we think about them as such so accomplished they won one cop like 12 years ago

yeah right well so this is my account yeah you're right they they won a cup and i would give anything for one and many one before i go many playoff runs absolutely they've had they've gone to the final they lost in agonizing fashion no to the oh to the blues too and the blackhawks the blackhawks was even worse dave Boland scored a goal. Like they were up, I think they were up 2-1 with like a minute left. And they scored two goals really quick. And they lost in game six. And see, I remember this stupid stuff.

Anyways. You remember everything Boland did because of what came next. Yeah, they came to the Leafs. And I'm not going to go down this road, but I still think he would have had a way better Leaf career if he didn't get his leg cut in Vancouver. Anyways. But I was going to make that point because I knew coming onto the show we were going to have a bunch of bruins praise because they have been very good but you

know last year they lose in game seven to the carolina hurricanes and the year before that they lose to the new york islanders and the year before that you know mind you in the second round was that the first round no so first round last year but then second round islanders second or third round depending what you call it during the pandemic year they lose to tampa bay Mind you, in the second round. Was that the first round? No. So first round last year, but then second round Islanders. Second or third round, depending what you call it during the pandemic year. They lose to Tampa Bay. They lose to the Blues the year before that. So they've lost the fourth round, third round, second round, first round.

They're beatable is my point. Absolutely, they're beatable. They're beatable because they've won one Stanley Cup and they beat the Vancouver Canucks, which if I'm being honest with something, I cheered for the Bruins in that final. Wow. The only way I want the Cup... It's a weird Toronto-Vancouver thing. The only way I want the Cup coming back to Canada is down Yonge Street, baby.

I don't want Edmonton or any of those other teams. Ottawa's not going to do it for you. Oh, you're going to cheer for another Canadian team when they get in the... It is the dumbest thing. You know what, though? It's also a straw man because no one really thinks that other Canadians team when they get in the... It is the dumbest thing. You know what though? It's also a straw man because

no one really thinks that other Canadians want other Canadian cities to win it and then you'll get like the Prime Minister will be like, we're just here to support Canada and everyone's like, shut up! No we're not! He does not speak for us. That's not the case at all. But yeah, so

I wanted to give you some of my useful or useless. Is it a good time for you? Let's do it. Oh, I have a special treat in the last five minutes of the show. Oh, yes. I've asked my very good friend Ben Ennis of Fan Drive Time fame, who is doing an old school radio thing, a little crossover.

We're going to do a talk, outdoor rinks. He's making an outdoor rink, and I'm just dying to know the progress. So I'm going to have him in the talk. I love that. I love that. It's totally random. Okay. I'm going to give you some stats that I found on SportLogic and you react to them.

Okay. Austin Matthews is first in the NHL in cycle chances. So basically cycle chances are just anytime you have established ozone possession, your team has it, finding a way to create a chance against a set defense. Does that surprise you that he's first in the NHL? No, I think that has a lot to do with his line mates. I love that take. Right?

Because Bunting digs out pucks. Willie, Willie flying around the zone. Matthews himself below the dots. Like he loves to be on the boards, coming out in front. To me, he pulls pucks away from people well. He loves that wraparound move where he's down below the dots. He loves to be on the boards, coming out in front. He pulls pucks away from people well. Loves that wraparound move where he's down below the goal line. I always picture him as sort of a box-to-box midfielder in soccer.

And I love soccer. I'm a big soccer fan. And the way that he starts. You're just a sports guy. You're a sports fan. Go sports. Except tennis. Except tennis, of course.

Really? Yeah. You've seen one match, you've seen them all. What? It's true. If the ball's going back and forth, nothing's going to change. Anyways, he starts it, finishes it. There's not many guys in the world that do it at the level that Austin Matthews does

in both ends. And that cycle chance to me is just one that, you know, a lot of the skills that he uses in the defensive zone, lifting sticks, stripping pucks that you know a lot of the skills that he uses in the defensive zone lifting sticks stripping pucks you know being below the dots he does the exact same thing in the offensive zone interesting you mentioned it in the net so i'm just gonna skip around my article because you're referencing some things that are interesting so um you know there's 32 teams times 12 forwards big number of forwards in the nhl is the point um willie kneelander or sorry i'll say austin matthews is 12th in the nhl in rush chances so you're talking about bringing it box to box one end to the other kneelander is 12 no no uh matthews

is 12 yes where do you think willie is higher he's right there he's 14 he's 14th. He's 14th? Yeah. Okay. Well, that's just they help each other out to me. Yeah. When they play together, like I really picture them early in their careers. Yeah. Because they've had a time where they haven't played together a lot. Like Matthews and Marner has been a thing. But when they're at their best,

it's Matthews digging it out in the middle of the ice in the defensive zone, hitting Willie on the half wall. Matthews head down, full head of steam, Willie off the side boards to him streaking. So I want to give you some of the names that are involved in some of these stats, and I didn't do it with the first one, but I'll get to that. But the top five in some of these categories I think is always fascinating.

So the top five in cycle chances, I'll just jump back to that. Patrice Bergeron. Kyle Connors. Mr. Perfect Shock. I think is always fascinating. So the top five in cycle chances, I'll just jump back to that. Um, Patrice Bergeron. Yeah. Kyle Connors, perfect shock. Steven Stamkos. Kyle Connors surprises me.

Me too. And David Pasternak. So cycle chance. Those are all. Pasternak is top 15. Everything in the NHL. Patrice Bergeron, number one.

Connor, uh, no, Matthews is one. And then it's Bergeron, Connor, Stamkos, Pasternak. Hmm.

So a lot of those are, I think Kyle Connor would be a benefactor of other guys. Of his line mates, 100%. Where Patrice Bergeron would be the one creating that. I would think so too. That makes a lot of sense to me. What about Pasternak? I guess he'd kind of be a combo of that. Pasternak's in every single pack of stats as a top guy.

He is having an unbelievably dominant year. What a great time for that, for his pocketbook. I know. No kidding. So first in the NHL, sorry, about the rush chances. First in the NHL is McDavid by double digits. Yeah. He's got 80 rush chances.

The next best is Jack Hughes with like 68 or something. 80 total? Yeah. Well, 80 like clean chances off a rush at even strength. I don't know. How many games? It seems way light. For sure.

I mean, I think he's probably had three rushes a game. But to actually generate a chance off it? Yeah, I guess. I have a question about that. To me, some of these stats, and I love this stuff, is a lot of it is in the eye of the beholder. You also got to consider if he passes on a two-on-one, not a rush chance for him.

Yeah, it is. Is that the case? Well, of course it is. For me, it is. Yes. He's created a chance. I think we're talking about something different there. So for that, it would be him trying to score off the rush.

Right. And I think at his core, he's more of a playmaker than he is a scorer, even though he's going to score 60 goals, which, I mean, maybe that just talks about how ridiculously good he is. So dominant. But it feels like there's a lot of times where he's passed off. Like, I think of them on the power play, and he's, you know,

Mick Powerplay, I think he leads the world since he's come into the league in power play points. But he really does pass the fur a lot on the power play. So, anyways, I like that. All right. So you talked about Matthews. We did cycle chances. He's out there in rush chances.

I'm getting all the Matthews ones out of the way. First. I've talked about this on the show before defensive plays. Yeah. Where touches or place defensive plays. So it's a combination of shot blocks, pass blocks, stick checks,

like all these like physical ways, loose puck recoveries, stuff like that. Second in the NHL is Patrice Bergeron, once again. Third is Philip Deneau, the guy who shut down Matthews years ago. Matthews is first in the NHL in defensive plays. So Bergeron's total is 230. Matthews is 300. He's 70 better than Bergeron in terms of defensive plays.

He is far and away the most active defensive plays among forwards in the NHL. That is valuable. 15th in the NHL, David Kampf. Really? Yeah. So, what's the top five? So, I only, I didn't have the top five

here, but Bergeron and Deneau were two and three. But it's like Kopitar, Barka, it's exactly who you think it is so that to me i really hope matthew's agent isn't listening oh yeah because good lord interesting to have a conversation about selkie guys like if he's that involved defensively but he's not a pk guy does he have a great defense but no but like does he have votes for the selkie great question i honestly feel like it's never like people have had that conversation i voted for him i gave him a fifth place vote last year now that i think about it boston matthews hockey reference let's to me

even strength defense as a center and as a 60 goal score is far more impressive than being a decent penalty killer i agree with that because i think penalty killing is more of an effort thing and you know grunt thing where being that good defensively is a skill yeah like to make 300 defensive plays to this point of the season through 50 games that's six times a night he's that's obviously that's obviously hard work yeah but it's also a skill like that is a that is an elite skill so here is uh maybe my favorite ones to share what order do i want to share these in okay john tavarez i'll share them together okay john tavarez is third in the nhl in four check chances so stopping the other team's breakout and turning it quickly into a chance for his team third in the

nhl because get this really john taveras is first in the nhl in successful loose puck recoveries doesn't dog on a bone so when you get in a 50 50 puck battle taveras is more likely to win it than anyone in the league that's that's a big boy stat that's a big boy stat and i almost said another big stat honestly that is i would be you know who's who else is in the top five matthews yes bergeron yep kopitar kopitar it's just all these guys god kopitar's had an underrated career and actually so uh also right there in terms of uh of that is actually sean monaghan from montreal he's in the mix really yeah he wins for a lot of his puck battle well how many times do you watch is that even strength or is that all strength even strength interesting i was gonna say

if you included power play on that to bars would probably be higher yeah because there's so many times in front of the net where he wins it and he puts one in the net or along the sideboards where he wins a battle, gets it back to the point. He really does have that. He comes away with it a lot. I'm not going to compare him to Sidney Crosby, but he does have that superstar grinder mentality. It's a rare, you're right. They have a low center of gravity

and they're heavy sticks. It just feels like anybody in that stat proves it. If go into a puck battle with them you likely lose he's strong low center of gravity big arms and he likes offense he doesn't want to go play defense no he's cookie guy yeah so he wants to get that puck so he gets to play that way yep which is fine that's a really great i know send that one to his agent. TJ Brody is the seventh best defenseman in the NHL at D zone denial. Yes. So if someone's coming down his side, trying to enter the zone with puck possession,

he makes them get rid of it. Whether he turns it over, forces a dump, whatever he. Do you have who's best at that? I can find it fairly quickly, but I didn't. No.

The only other thing I wrote is that Justin Hall is involved in that. He's like 18th or something. He's pretty good too. Wow. So, Oh, Jacob Slavin. First name.

Yeah. He's, but isn't he like Mr. Underrated? Oh yeah. Everyone's like, he's most underrated guy. He's Barkov,

but D essentially. He's Mr. Underrated. That's TJ Brody is the least most important defense man. And I know Kipper talks about how they need to have morgan riley feeling good and he probably is going to play the most minutes or whatever but you ain't going anywhere in the playoffs if tj brody's been hurt like he has been like he to them isn't like that's huge makes mitch marner yeah well sorry he makes morgan riley better and gets in the puck and then

he's on the right side yeah even though he's a lefty, that's incredibly important to this team. So valuable. That's crazy. The least shocking stat probably that I'm going to give you. Mitch Marner is what in slot passes and passing the puck to the slot. First. Yes. He's the best player in the NHL. The players

behind him, maybe you've heard of these names. Bergeron? No. McDavid? Yes. Connor McDavid's two. Kucherov is three panarin is four i don't know why i didn't put five but mcdavid kucherov panarin so it's you know the best dishers in hockey to me and then mcdavid yeah but one thing that did surprise me is no leafs players are in the top 15 in average ozone possession time per game. The top names there are McDavid, Barzal, Barzal struggling today, Panarin, McKinnon, and Dreisaitl.

So all of those, those are all even strength too for the pass to the slot. Yeah. Because they love that play with Marner passing it to the slot on the power play too. So I'm sure that would even drive it even higher. Also, you know, with marner being first in slot passes and taveras has all these chance numbers there's a correlation i would say you know there's a correlation i'm sure if kepper would hear he would note that a lot of taveras's uh numbers are aided there that's so god that's such an important thing yeah to have a guy that puts it in the right spot

well and just like guys get open for a split second yeah and marner has to see it before other people do and get to that spot and he does he does there's so many times you're watching a game you're like how did that thought even cross your mind i know like that thought should not have crossed your mind the uh so i mentioned four chances and these this isn't about the leafs i just want to mention the top five and four project chances devars is third tage thompson zach hyman jack hughes and nathan mckinnon are the other ones in four check chances zach hyman like pasternak in a lot of these categories um both players tavarez and matthews are near the top in slot shots they're fifth and sixth in the league

um can you name some of the players who would be involved in slot shots? In the league. In the league. David. Number one, yeah. No shock there. Yeah. Matthews.

Yeah. He's fifth. He's fifth. Yeah. I'm trying to think who else. Jason Robertson. That's a good guess. No, but it's our boy, Zach Hyman.

Oh, my God, Zach. It's Braden Point. You know, very good. So these guys, they're going to play, is my point. And, my God, Zach. It's Braden Point. Oh. You know, very good. So these guys, they're going to play is my point. So you're telling me that... They're going to either hurt them or going to play them. It's McDavid, Matthews, Hyman, Point. Yeah.

Yes, I am. And then the last one. Okay. The last one is both Tavares and Matthews are in the top 15 in rebound chances, which, you know, a little surprising, but I guess they're involved in a lot of action. I wanted to give you the top five. There's the most predictable other names.

Matthew Kachuk, Anders Lee, Brady Kachuk, Zach Hyman. That's interesting. So it's like a completely different group. Those are the guys that are standing in front of the net, hoping to bang it in. There were some other stats that I had. Kerfoot is 35th in controlled exits, you know, so he brings the puck up the ice.

Michael Bunting is 7th in the NHL in inner slot shots under pressure. Wow. He's behind Point. Who tracks that? He's ahead of Point and Connor. Sorry, he's just behind Braden Point and Kyle Connor and just ahead of Ovechkin.

Okay. So all that sounds very fascinating to me. Thank you. Okay, I'm done. Can we just, I know I do this a lot, but can we just talk about the improvement of Zach Hyman and the credit you have to give him? Yeah.

He has never stopped improving. He was a fan favorite here when he first started because of vintagely fan love. A hardworking guy. Yeah. Understated, you know, played with good players, could bang a puck in honest effort every night and people love that yeah and i don't think he even had like at the

end of his lease career he was a good player but the conversation you couldn't pay him five million was because of you know they thought you can develop another kind of he has turned himself into he's a 10 million he's a borderline elite guy i know and it's crazy like and everyone made fun of last year. Like, Oh yeah. It's like Zach Hyman on team Canada. If you're talking about all these advanced stats,

he, it might actually be a thing. It's almost a no brainer for me. So my two Zach Hyman stories that I'll make quick, come on in Ben, get in here. My two quick Zach Hyman stories, which I've told several times are that when I was with the Marley's,

whether he played good, played bad, whatever, he wanted to watch himself play on the bus. Most players only want to watch themselves when they're scored, but he would go through all his shifts when he sucked. And the very first day I was ever with the

Marlies, they do a drill at the very end last puck where the goalie just stops the puck and the whole team's there until someone puts it in the net. Zach Hyman wrapped the puck around the net into the goalie's pad and he stuffed it into the pad and he stuffed it into the pad, and he stuffed it into the pad, and then he stuffed it into the pad, and I looked over at Dubas, and he was like,

yeah, we're working on it. He had not a well-rounded offensive game, and now he's elite. Hi, Ben. We're joined by Ben Ennis of Fan Drive Time Show. Thanks for joining us, pal. Yeah, thanks for having me in here.

Yeah, I'm not all dressed up, and I didn't shave this morning. Wait, am I? Do you usually? Well, I trim the beard, and it definitely needs a trim. I would say I look a little more disheveled than I'd like to look in a visual medium. Good news. No one watched. All right.

Yeah. Well, I brought you in here because you are doing an incredible Canadian thing. Yeah. And I'm proud of you for this, Ben. So how is the outdoor rink going? Oh, horrible. What are we talking about dimensions? Like really big.

Really? Way too big. So is it in a park? Yes, it is. So, yeah, we just moved to a house in Burlington. I used to live in a semi-detached house in oakville yeah and i built an outdoor rink in the backyard there that was tiny yes and that was i it was more difficult than i realized but yeah um you amplify that by like a factor of

three and it's yeah the the difficulties uh also get multiplied so, yeah, no, our house backs onto a park. Yes. So I, you know, trying to be the good neighbor, volunteered to do this. And they frame out the rink. Yeah. The city does. Oh, yeah?

They did it for you. They framed it out. They put the wood down. Wow. Which is, okay, you guys are acting like that's a big deal. And I suppose it is. It's not the biggest deal. The biggest deal is putting the water in the stupid thing, right?

Absolutely. Do you use like a fire hydrant? What happens here? I use a garden hose. Coming out of my house. And not out of the side of my house, right? Because it's too cold to run your normal spigot where you get water in the summer. You're just hooked up from your kitchen sink?

Well, from my laundry sink, yeah, which is in the basement, which means that I have to keep the door like somewhat open and it's like minus 10 degrees outside. And my family's trying to live and my wife works from home. Oh, my God. My wife would kill me. So this whole process started on Sunday, right? And the neighbors were super helpful on sunday because there was snow and i i had heard that you want to keep the snow below

the liner but it was too lumpy so i got a snow blower when my neighbors has one and we we scooped all that out and laid the liner down now the liner wasn't big enough to cover the whole thing, so we cut some of it off and, like, place it on top, which is, like, in hindsight, was a mistake. And today, I had to go to Home Depot and pick up. You guys have all seen that commercial where, I don't know who the guy is, the spokesman guy, like, slaps the tape on the thing with the water. Right. I got that tape today, which is also very expensive. Flex tape? Flex tape, that's it.

It's actually, like, a popular meme. like a popular meal like it's like fixing something it might be the generic equivalent to that but anyways so that's um i started filling this thing on sunday things were looking good yeah it's cold it was it it was cold is cold getting colder freezing cold except that i i noticed like the last couple of days filling this thing like i'm not seeing as much progress as i did the the first couple of days and that's because i think the water is now it's it's running out the side of of of the rink where there's there's some rink builders listening being like what are you no it's a nightmare no i'm horrible and so now i have to tonight when i get home at eight o'clock after i you know eat dinner for five minutes go out in the cold and the dark

and and dig up like the ice where the the tarps meet or overlapped and tape it tape it up with some some heavy duty tape that i'm told like the guy at Home Depot was like, don't touch that with your fingers because it's, like, super glue. Like, it's really intense. So fingers crossed still. I was realistic when I told my kids when to expect this thing. Which was next winter. Still hoping for the weekend. But, yeah, it's been a mission.

Do you have regrets taking this on? Well, sure. For the record, I've seen people do it without the tarp underneath. Is it a necessity? I've heard that too. And one of my neighbors who used to do this like generations ago, 15 years ago, said that's what they did. They just dug out a hole and poured water in it, which makes no sense to me. Or dug a hole out of the snow, right?

But it makes no sense to me because my water that is moving, like when water is, it doesn't matter how cold it is. When water is moving, it doesn't freeze. Yeah, it's got to be still. Okay. So this, and this leak is very slow, but still it is moving water and it is penetrating through the snow, through the ice. There's probably a buildup of ice. Oh, yeah.

Oh, buddy, is there ever? Yeah, the hose is not running now. When I get home tonight at 8 o'clock, oh, yeah, it's going to be a nice little rink outside the rink, which is also fun to maneuver. Again, in the dark. You're 100 100 coming in here in a sling tomorrow covered in super glue it's very possible i really will say though ben i'm and i'm being honest here this is a very admirable thing you've done no no like like i'm true and i know bunkus had you on a show i was making fun of you for being a cheapo or whatever, but I'm not here to do that. Thanks.

Because there's, in the park by my place, it's a neighborhood thing, and they do it in the baseball diamond, and it's a group of people from the neighborhood that do it, and it's this beautiful thing in the community. In my experience, the city does it. Well, I mean, in Toronto. Like, actually makes it a functional. Yeah, they do it. But in Toronto, there's a bunch of just, like,

sick outdoor hockey rinks and places to skate that are, like, city run, so maybe they don't have that in Burlington as much no and if you don't pull this off yeah you are gonna be uh hey you're working hard on it so you're gonna be a neighborhood hero i will say so where i live there is a like a group of dads with a facebook page and you know they're called the ice masters it's actually it's been around so long, the road is called Ice Masters Lane. Seriously? Yes, and there's two races, a rink with boards, and there's a same rink that you're talking about

with just the like two by fours. But there's a fire hydrant and like a fire hose, I think, and they just like... How do they do that? That seems illegal. Probably is. I probably just ruined a bunch of people's day. I don't know.

To be honest, I'm supposed to get involved. Well, thank you for coming in and sharing that story with us. I am rooting for you wholeheartedly, and I appreciate the guys. Yes. And your kids will, too, one day. Yes, absolutely. If I get it figured out, you guys got to come by for a twirl. I absolutely will do that.

That would be awesome. All right, buddy boy. Love you, bud. Thank you to everyone. We will be back tomorrow. We'll see if Kipper's here. No one knows. See you tomorrow.

See you tomorrow. We'll see you next time.