Real Kyper & Bourne - Belief Level in Sergei Bobrovsky + Day One Recap with GM John Chayka

Episode Date: July 2, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back at day one of NHL Free Agency, including the Maple Leafs' moves, winger Nick Paul from the Tampa Bay Lightning for goaltender Dennis Hildeby, Florida Panthers choosing Jacob Markström in net via trade over re-signing new Leafs netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, and the risk factors for Toronto bringing in the 37-year-old. Then, Maple Leafs' General Manager John Chayka joins the guys (25:20) to discuss his focus during the first day of signing season, the centreman and goaltending market, his belief level in the aging Bobrovsky coming off his 2025-26 performance, where his expectations lie for scoring depth, how Jack Roslovic would fit in the lineup, dipping into the top defensemen market, and what's left ahead for his team's offseason.  The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, closing out the week. We'll get Friday. I get it. Thursday. We're good. Getting closer. This is our last week here on the Real Kipper Endborn show, but that won't keep us from a jam-packed show for the next two hours.

We are live on SportsSet 360, 590 The Fan in Toronto, streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. Nick Kippery, host, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandeo, Chris Gallagher. Are we good? We got a hesitant pause. My producer's not happy.

Nah, it's the last week, so I thought I should make a mistake on the lineup. It's Jimmy Willie up there. James Wilson with us today. All right, Jimmy Willey. Jimmy. Jimmy Willie. So no Jake to Snake today, and I screwed that up. And I saw him and I talked to him.

Are you correct when I tell people that we're going to have the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs join us in 30 minutes? Pretty sure that's correct. Cool. John Jake. I'm pretty sure that's correct. After a very busy Canada day for the Toronto Maple Leaf General Manager. Boy, say that again.

It did stuff. Jason Greger also at the top of the hour as well. And we'll get into Edmonton Oilers as well. But in the meantime, lots of talk about so many changes to Sammy's Toronto Maple Leafs. Overall, your thoughts. Do you ever play Scrabble? Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Like if you get your scrabble letters Horrible speller And I tend to put two words together And make them up But like if you get all your letters And you're like, I can't make anything of this One of the options is to dump them all into the bag Take all new letters and skip your turn

That's the leaves Is that the leaves? Jake, they just shook the bag Redraw some letters. Try again. There are a lot of Toronto Maple Leaf fans out there right now that say come on J.B. They did more than that. They're better than that. They're a better team. This is a playoff team. They're going back to the playoffs.

I'm in. Are you? I agree. I do. I do. I do. The outlist from last year for the Leafs here on that right-hand side, if you're on television. Wohl, Erson, Carlo, Benoit, Machelli, Robertson, Hildaby. You know, there's not a guy on the list where you're like, oh, no. You know, given the way last year went. And some of these guys on the other list coming in, Bobrovsky, Radish, Andre who knows Gavin McKenna, Sizzins I like, Roselvic, Blugher, Nick Paul, like maybe they're not elite, elite, whatever you think, top-end offensive guys,

but I like the in-list this year. How about you? I'm not convinced right now that this is a playoff team yet. That's fair. I think I'm okay with some of the character and they're bigger and they tend to probably have more of a playoff. type of feel.

Nick Paul, come on. I mean, who doesn't like Nick Paul? For sure, right? 6-4-2-30 or something goes to the net. I still see a few questions here. Like, who's going to score? And at the end of the day, and we'll get into this with the general manager too,

check the majority of the changes were to address your bottom six, which now my first thought is, wow, that's a different bottom six. Is it better? Absolutely is it better. But they went and spent $20 million on it. It's not a cheap bottom six. No.

No, it's not cheap, but it is, all those deals are two-year deals outside of, I think, Duhame. Yeah, but it's all about two years. Everything's about two years. Because if it's not, you know who's going by by. Right. But that's also with depth signing. Right?

That's the whole point. It's just the two years. Well, death signings in general, they get their two years. and if your team is no good, then you have the flexibility to take the 20 million you spent and trade them for picks, trade them, you know. And then you're in a total rebuild, which we know.

So they've maintained flexibility while getting better. You know, it's funny last year, we talked about offense and I was saying they're still going to get goals. They're still going to be a top, you know, half the league offense, whatever. I know you did. And they did until the end of the year. They fell off.

They still ended up just inside the top half. I don't, I have more question marks this year about that. Yes. However, I do think the ability to move the puck on the backhand should help them up front. So Nyes, Matthews, Rosovic, Nealander, Tavarez, McKenna, Paul, Cowan, like some of those guys, I think they should play on offense a lot more. God, this year, guys, they lived in their own end. We never played at the other end of the ring.

So that should help too. I forget what year it was. We did the trade deadline show. And the one where they traded for, you know, Shen. and they traded Engval, they traded Sandin, and they traded all these different guys. And I remember looking at you guys and being like,

who plays on the Leafs? Yeah. And, you know, I went to the Jay's game after the show yesterday, and I was kind of off my phone, and I got a text like, the Leafs traded for Nick Paul, and they signed a Branden Du Hay and all these different guys.

And yeah, like, it's definitely different, and it's definitely, I see people saying, like, it's for sure better. It'll be hard to be worse. First of all. It's for sure better.

I mean, last year, year was out and out one of the worst, you know, watches you're going to have. So it's definitely better. I don't know. Like, I worry about scoring, like you said, Kip. I think the bottom six could be questioned a bit. But they know what they're doing down there. I actually really like. I think the top six can be questioned. Well, I mean, and so you're looking at Nyes, Matthews, Cowan, Nyes Matthews, Nielander, and McKenna Tavares, Nielander. You don't think those guys can score? I think they can score. I just, if we're going to compare them to competitive teams in the Atlantic, there's the two unknowns, there's two unknowns in the top six. Tell me where there's

two unknowns in Florida. Tell me where there's two unknowns in Tampa when it comes to the top six. The two unknowns are McKenna and Cowan. You've got them in your top six and they're unproven. So those are big question marks. I don't know. We don't know. Nobody. I've been around this game a long time. Some less.

We're still both guessing on what do we see out of McKenna? Is he closer to Celebrini or is he closer to Jack Hughes in his first two years? Yeah. No, I mean, those are fair points. I would say, you know, most teams have someone, like Tampa does have Gage Gonzalez in their top six right now. You're like, I'm not sure. Florida, I do think is the cream. the gold standard right now, right?

Like if you're trying to win a cup, Florida is it. But I think if you go around the league, you know, it's not a lock that you're going to find many top six is better. But I'll give you this. It all depends on Matthew. Well, and McKenna. And John Tavaris, too. Yeah.

Come on. John, again, he doesn't have three weeks now from an Olympic year. He's going to have to kind of sprint it over 82 games. Is he your second line centerman? No, that's, hey, listen, that is absolutely a major spot for this team. Question mark. For sure it is. There's no doubt.

But I really like the bottom six. For years, the puzzle pieces haven't fit. You've had all these guys in the bottom six. We talked about yesterday who were smaller guys who wanted to play in the top six, who felt miscast, who couldn't play their way up the lineup, or it was Thornton or it was Spezah or it was Machelli. These guys are, they know the roles. They go to the net.

And also, Nick Paul can score. Luger's head years where he's got goals, Sizzins that scored 15 a couple years ago. Like, they don't never score. So I like the bottom six. Nick Paul is stunning to me. You know, there's been a lot of names that have been bandied about for trades and all that stuff. But I can't think of a name that came way more at a left field to me than Nick Paul to the Leafs.

I was trying to make space, I don't. Is that one of those where you go, like, why does Temple want to get rid of him? Well, they needed cap space. I know they needed a cap space, but he was, like, he had a bit of an identity with him, didn't he? Yeah, he had a tough year last year. He had a high ankle sprain, which you remember Mitch's year with the high ankle sprain. It holds guys back.

He had wrist surgery, I think, at one point. He had a tough injury year, and then they just didn't use them much last year. He dropped down to 13 minutes of game for Tampa Bay last year. Yeah, so I think part of that, it's not a name that I would ever have considered. And quite frankly, as a fan, there aren't many guys in the league that I don't like more than Nick Paul in terms of just watching and he's been a Leaf killer over the years and him scoring those big goals in that game seven against the Leafs. Like that one for me and I don't know if any Leaf fans listening to feel the same way,

it's going to take some getting used to to see him playing for the Leafs and trying to kind to root for that guy. Like I, it's a tough one. I'm not going to lie to you. But if he's good, then you'll be like, okay, that's fine. But if he's no good, I'm going to be like, oh, yeah, that's, she'll left him in Tampa. Yeah. So we'll see.

But that was surprising. You think? Yeah. I gave up some picks. And Hildeby? Yeah. You think that's no risk? I've told you guys over and over, I am not a Hildobe believe.

I think it's... I said that in this show 10 times. I think there's some risk involved in that. You don't think the risk level on trading him to a division rival? Well, no, because it's Vasselowski's team. And they had a real concern. They had a real concern on the backup. That's why they went and got him.

I don't know whether they convinced Vasselowski to play less games and take more nice. lights off and start managing your, your season, and then this Hildebee come in with 30 games? Can he get 30 games in Tampa Bay? I'd be shocked if you get, like, a great 30 games at a Hildaby next year. I mean, he was their best goal this year for Toronto. That's not saying much, but. Well, how many games do you play?

And I mean, sincerely. Like 20? Yeah, you think he had 9-14, 20 games? Yeah. He was pretty good. I don't know. Yeah, no, he had a great year. No doubt he had a great year, and that's how you're able to get Nick Paul for it.

But he didn't play in the Marley's run. Maybe there's something there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, A really stole his, his spotlight, if I put it, on the season with his Memorial Calder Cup. Yeah. So I think it was a choice between two of them, maybe three or four months ago.

And then he was going to be the number four, right? Double A's run there with the Marley's just solidified, hey, you're the one that's going to get traded, not me. Yeah, you're the number three now, Actiamov. and you go from there. Okay. The splashiest name. Of course, yesterday was not Nick Paul. It was Babrofsky.

Yep. And how do we feel about that 24 hours later? The same, better, worse, lots of talk about soon-to-be 38-year-old guy trying to come in here and get this team into the playoffs. You know, I want to have a radio take for you, but I don't know. know. I don't, I think it's really hard to know. Like, you know, we had Valiquette come on last year and say, don't believe in it. You know, you've seen the guy's career and you've had reason to believe in him over and over. He's elevated his game in the playoffs. He plays, he's healthy all the time. There's lots to like. I don't think the number is that huge. But yeah, I think he'll be league

average. Is that sexy? I'll give you a sports radio kind of take. Like, I love betting on the pedigree. I mean, I think that this guy plays 50 games every year. He was cut loose by the team that he won two Stanley Cup with, Stanley Cups with. They chose Jacob Markstrom over him, who is unquestionably a worse goalie than Sir Gabe Obrowski. I'm sorry. I've watched hockey for the last 10 years. I know which one. They did. Okay. They chose, they did. No, that's, that's kind of true. Hold on. True. It's kind of true, but it's not true. Okay. Seems pretty true. they wanted him back. They just didn't want him back on the contract Toronto gave him.

Marks. That's all. They wanted him back. They offered him two years at 12 million bucks. Okay. And he didn't want it. He wanted the third year and he wanted more money. Okay.

And he left Florida for more money. And that's it. Okay. That's all you need to know. They wanted him. I'm just saying... That's encouraging. That's good.

You want a good team like Florida to have wanted him. I just think that... I mean, to my point, they clearly chose to be like, no, we're not going to spend the extra money on our guy that's been one of our core players for... We're going to choose Jacob Marshroom, who is definitely worse.

I don't care what the numbers say. Like any hockey person says, who do you want a net to win a big game tomorrow? You're going to take Jacob Marsham or Sergey Horacek. You know who you're going to take. And I just, you know, he's going to have a chip on his shoulder after they cut him loose. Like you said, oh, they didn't let him go. They didn't choose the other guy over.

I understand that. They just needed. They're so pressed on the cap that they just were, it's the flexibility. Like we over, we went overboard with all these term contracts. Now the latest Goudis before that, Marchand, before that, Eckblad. And they just didn't want to lock in. One more year at like 7 million bucks or whatever he asked for. Maybe they offered him one million over 10 years per year.

Just see if the Gary, he'll let that one. And, you know, he's 38. And he had the worst season of his career. Yeah, you just look around though, Kip, and you got to pick, you got to bet on somebody. I know. So if we were going in, going wool and score, or you'd be going, are you comfortable with that?

You said you don't really have a radio take one way or the other. So it is safe to say that this. is by far Chica's riskiest move. Yeah. No question. Okay. No question.

Like of kind of epic proportion here. This is like it's going to be great or it is going to completely blow up. But it doesn't have to be. No, that's not true. I disagree with that. Okay. So it's just average. It could be fine.

Okay. It could totally be too fine. Fine doesn't get them in the playoffs. You know that, right? Well, I don't know. Lots of, lots of. No, no. This team needs good goal tending to get in.

I mean, lots of teams have average goaltending and get in. I think if they get average goaltending, they get in. That's what I think. I do think this decor. I still think there's work to be done. As we sit here today, going into September, I think you still need another D-Man. Is the Riley thing going to happen?

And then I would like to see another person who can shoot the puck in the net somewhere along the way. I don't know how you make that happen, but. I think it's very easy and obvious. Just be like, it's not going to. going to work with with braboski i think it's everyone that all of the fans are out there saying i i i get it i get it no no no no i'm like no no i'm like you're right maybe you're right i'm not i'm just playing kind of playing the other side a little bit too to just sit there and go i get the pedigree

and i get all of that and i'm on board too i like him he's a champion he takes care of himself um but it's risky i'm just i'm here to just warn people it's risky i think you'd be We all understand it's risky. I mean, you're going to have to say this. There's a big risk. This is riskier than others. I don't find it. But it's 7 mil, not 17.

You know, like it's a risk. There's no doubt it's a risk. I find it's also the time that you're putting in that you have to do this now. It's not like you can warm up to it. It's like if this bombs in six months, it's not going to get any better in the last two years. So if it's no good. Let me ask you this question. Six, eight months from now.

What's riskier? Giving him a little bit too much money per year or going into another season with Joseph Wall and Anthony Stollars. You don't know he's going to play 25 games. It's not. It's not one or the other for me. It is. No, it's not. It's not one or the other.

It's just, it would be just going in a different direction. That's all. But we all agree that we're not sure if this works or not. Yeah. Right? And so I saw a great tweet today where someone was like, this is like going to a wedding and reminding the group. You know, 50% of marriages result in a divorce. You know, like half the time is not going to work.

That's like, okay, but you're kind of... Yeah, but it's also like if you're marrying someone that's 40 years older and you're like, when your kid's 20, he's going to be dead. You know that, right? You know that, right? I will say this. I think it's very easy to take new trades and new signings after Free Agent Day and be cynical about them because 31 teams don't win the cup.

And it's so easy to go, oh, well, You know, Vegas, way to go get Rasmus Anderson. Fools, you know, that didn't pan out for the last year. Yeah, how was he in the playoffs? He's stung. You know, or look at, you know, you can look around the league and just pick random people, be like, yeah, you got John Carlson, you idiots. It didn't work.

31 teams don't win, but you got to get better and get closer. I would have to get in the playoffs. No, you got to get in the playoffs, J.B. This team has to make the playoffs next year. But if it doesn't make the playoffs, it's because Matthews is no good. So trade them anyway. You're blowing. blowing it up anyway.

And you've kept your powder drive for two years after. And then what do you do with Bobroski for next year and the year after? You just play him. You play him. And the cap's $150 million and you just play him. It's not going up to $150. It's not going up $12 million every year, Sammy. Okay, Kipper.

Okay. You're right. You just play him. You're right. He stinks. He's no good. Come on. The Matthews, you can't live in fear of this Matthews thing.

Every deal. If it doesn't work out, we're going to lose Matthews. If he's good, you're going to. be good. And if he's not, bye-bye. Yeah. But the bye then is the mistake was spending two years to find that out now.

Well, I think they're hedging for this. They have no picks anyway. And they just got the first overall draft pick who's 18 years old. Yes, with two more that aren't followed. I'm just... They're hedging behind. You're trying to paint this picture of the Toronto Maple Leafs. No, I'm just... You're painting a match. I'm... I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know if it's going to work. Okay, that's it. I like it. It's fresh. It's new. It's giving everybody optimism. I like that part. I do.

And once you're in, you're all in on Chica right now to make all these moves. Okay, we're all in on, hey, can you skip the part where most often it's about and then the rebuild? They cheated that. They've come in. They've made a lot of noise on bottom six. They have question marks on scoring. they have question marks in the top six. They have no number one defenseman.

And everybody was so excited about the chase for Werenski. And now he goes and he takes his net and he goes back to Columbus. And today you have no number one defenseman. But the part of what you're missing in all this. Yeah. The part of what you're missing in all this is that they see this coming to and they are planning. You can see a second wave, right? Like, do they, you don't think that they have a two-year plan from now?

That's why they had, they've just drafted 10 kids and all these contracts are two years long. And Willie and Austin still have term. Like, they're aware that this is probably not it either. Do you think they think they're Stanley Cup favorites right now? No, no. I think they're just trying to buy time and they're trying to do their best. And at the end, it may still not be enough. Agreed.

And I think they, you can see that it's like, Let's be as good as we can. Well, not blowing up this next. If they go and they trade, you know, Cowan and some firsts and all of a sudden that like second wave of whatever coming is blown up, I'll be like, wow, they really went all in. You can't convince me this is an all-in team here. As soon as you're dipping into anything past two years from now,

I'm apprehensive. But where they're at right now. Trading Nyes or Cowan would do that. Yeah, but they didn't do that. They didn't because the other team. couldn't pull it off, not because they didn't try. Well, but they, for Werensky or whatever, or whatever it was there trying to get the top 10 pick or whatever,

that's looking ahead to the future too. Like, I don't think. Wrenski's got eight good years left. Werenski is the only one that I'm willing to dip into that post two-year window for. Should we ask Chike about that? Pardon? Are we going to ask Chico about that? Well, we can.

You know what I want to ask him about, and I will when we get there, is the Nick Paul thing came about, like, three or four hours after noon, right? And so did they know that that was going to be a part of the day? And if not, would that have, like, changed who they signed? Like, did they, would they have got Paul and then been like, oh, well, now we don't need Sisons? I wonder how much of their plan for the day was executed versus Paul fell into their lap after they made a bunch of signings or.

I think they probably knew for a while, Tampa Bay, that that was one contract. and I believe Nick Paul's at what, three and a half? I think less. Three two. Yeah. That they just... 3.15. That they just needed to unload that particular contract.

I bet you Nick Paul's name was mentioned as far back is the exchange between Radish and a fifth round pick. Oh, you think so? That's my guess. So they went ahead. I don't know. To me, to me, Tampa Bay, giving up Radish's rights for a fifth pick is. like I may need a favor from you down the road. That kind of happens sometimes.

Right. So we may need to unload a contract here. Would you be willing to take Nick Paul's contract? Right. I think teams do operate in that capacity. Yeah. You think that there's more of a cap dump? Is that what you're getting at here?

Nick Paul? Yeah. Yes. They needed that money to go and get help. Carlson too, who they just signed for two years. It's funny. They literally just took the Rattish exact contract two years and said, you be Rattish for our next two years and we'll figure it out after that.

So it's good work on Tampa's part. Yeah, but he's getting there. He's getting long in the tooth too. Yeah. Right, 36. Man, the division is, you know, we're talking about you've got to get back in playoffs and you look at this division. It's good.

You know, like Montreal. Montreal, Ottawa, all these teams. Still quiet, eh, Montreal? I know they signed Demadov to, like, an incredible contract. Yeah. As far as I'm concerned, getting that kid for the next seven years. Is it seven? Eight.

Eight times nine. Eight before midnight? Yeah. Eight times nine. They're talking about mantha, too, for Montreal, I'm not mistaken. Okay. There's not much left in free agency. I don't know.

Do you think Leafs are done doing stuff? I as we mentioned earlier in the show there's still some question marks with maybe some depth scoring I just don't see who else like they're they got so many guys under contract we're gonna have Jake on here five minutes we should break but they're like hey that's a great run Toronto Marleys we're really proud of you none of you get to be on the team one of you guys have earned a spot

God you're like you're done you're just like we're just like we We have. Thanks for helping Easton. There's no room. No, that's what I mean, though. But it's like they, like, Beau, gruelsey, I hope you enjoyed it. Like, they got to trade Lawrence, right? Like, or something.

Like, there's, they've got too many of these guys. Yeah. Now, don't they? Yes. Yeah. Got a lot of guys. Just too many bodies. A lot of men.

Okay. Let's take a quick break, Sammy. Let's do it. And when we return, the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, plenty more. Unreal Kipper and Boren, don't go away. Hey, it's Matt Markezy. And I'm. Mike Futa. We're discussing the top stories

of the day across the NHL and the hockey world. Weekdays at noon. It's the fan on SportsNet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio. Nick Kiprios, Justin Borns. Sammy McKee, it's the Real Kipper and Born show. Let's welcome in John Chica, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs and maybe a guy that's

a little tired after yesterday. Welcome, John. How are you? Yeah, thanks for having me, guys. Just getting going, so we're all good. Yeah, just tell us about yesterday. and the general plan, did it come together exactly as you thought? Or is this a day where you just don't know for sure on some of your targets and whether or not anything can come to fruition or not?

It's a matter of domino effect with other teams. Just tell us a little bit about yesterday. Yeah, it's a good question. I'd say there's probably some principles that we have in terms of roster construction and some of the things you're trying to get done. Credit to the staff, I think they did a great job. throughout the season, kind of scenario planning, you know, writing their game reports, making sure that we had the best data possible to then go make decisions.

And then, you know, my job is trying to, you know, put that stuff in action. So to answer your question, it wasn't as we drew it up. I'm sure there was one scenario of the thousand that maybe hit. But for us, the principle of, you know, building through the middle of the ice from the net out, our ability to attract, you know, the top free agent, goaltender, the top defensemen. in the market, you know, feels like a pretty good, you know, omen for the group and the organization, the player group. And like I said, ownership and management. So, you know, we're pretty excited about that. John, I was curious just that the way the sort of day shook out. We saw you guys announce some

signings. Then Nick Paul was announced maybe four hours afternoon or whatever it was. Was that something going into the day that you had anticipated being able to get Paul? or did that sort of become available after you had made some other signings? You know, we had spent a lot of time on the center market, and it's a hard market. I think 20 teams were also spent a lot of time on it. Julie and I had a lot of discussions about the goaltenders. You know, Julian's smart manager, and I think he's always looking for option ABC as well. And that one came together.

You know, it wasn't a guy that we thought in that center group that we'd spent a lot of time on, that, you know, he could be available. and when it became possible. You know, certainly we paid a fair price. But, you know, hopefully it's one of those hockey trades where each side gets what they're after for us. You know, character guy, champion, you know, big centerman, you know, some high upside and a lot of stability

through the middle of the ice. It was something that we thought was pretty attractive. You're watching and listening to John Chank, a general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. John, speaking of goal tending, if it's one thing that screams, We want to win now. We have to win now.

It's the signing of Bobrovsky. And at soon to be age 838, if I'm not mistaken, it's clear that Florida didn't want to go any further than maybe giving him a contract or two years. You stepped it up, gave him the third year. At his age coming off, you know, a subpar year for him at that age, what is it that makes you still believe that he can hit a very high level? level coming to Toronto, coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs,

when others say, you know, this is just what happens at this age, you know, guys fall off. Yeah. I'd say, you know, thinking about the entire goaltending group, that's what gives us a lot of confidence in the bet. You know, we think that Anthony Stollars

is still a top goal in the league, and he's done that now for a few years. But, you know, availability and some injury, you know, call it unluckiness, I guess. has occurred. So to have the tandem there, we think it's really powerful. And certainly, Sergey, leading that with his durability, his availability, the type of person he is, how he looks after his body, that gave us a lot of comfort.

You know, obviously we understand the risk involved as well. But we felt like when we looked at the kind of portfolio that we'd have with double A down below as well, high ceiling guy, he's probably on the other side of that curve, you know, where's he going to go in his development? and we felt really good about, you know, the change we made, right? I think we had a good goaltending pipeline when I came into this. The problem we had was it was a little bit all the same. Good goalies, some, you know, good performances.

What we're going to get night to night, we weren't sure. And so now this kind of mixture of, you know, high upside veteran ability, you know, a guy that's done it but has some durability issues. And then this young player coming up behind him, we really like that mix. And we think about risk. We think about the whole portfolio. We actually think it's a bit de-risk, actually. John, one of the things that you had talked about was flexibility.

And it's pretty clear that some of these guys you got have clear roles, right? Some guys are going to kill penalties for you and take draws in the D zone and maybe free up your forwards a bit. I am curious a little bit of what you think of just about depth scoring. And we've been covering this team for a lot of years and often that's been a struggle. Do you see that coming more from the back end with Radish involved in Andre? or do you just, do you feel like this is a better group that way? Or is that still something you want to shore up?

You know, I think it's one of those things where, again, you look at the mix. And I think we got about six centers, you know, guys that have played up the middle or can play up the middle. And again, I think what I was, you know, really hammering our group on is we always put up these lineups in June and look at them one way. And then, you know, training camp one guy goes down and, you know, October, November, three guys go down. And what does that look like? And so we do feel like we have much better depth. You look, on the scoring front, I would say, you know, everyone's got to contribute. It's a national hockey league.

It's not like we're going to just load up two lines. At the same time, when you do have a few special players, we do think we have those, not just good players, but guys that are elite offensively, I'd say you want to put them in positions to have success. I don't think it makes sense, always start them in the D-Zone, or put them up against every team's top line all the time. They can do it. They love doing it.

their competitors. But when we're trying to get the most of our offense, I'd say it's important. If you look at it historically, it's really hard to produce in some of those situations. So I think it's more about like an optimization problem. And, you know, how could we put guys? And again, in the chairs that they have had success in.

And, you know, some of the guys we signed, you know, they might have not scored 20 goals. But you put them in a D zone. You put them up against top competition. And they're going to make it a hard night for the other team. They're going to do a good job of exiting the zone. getting the puck transitioned to the other zone and getting off. And there's a value to that.

John, I won't mention specific names because they're under contract with another team right now. But your fan base was awfully excited the last 24 hours about a certain defenseman who could have been a Toronto Maple Leaf. That didn't happen. In saying that, the pursuit to maybe get a bona fide number one defenseman, am I safe to say that you don't have one? Do you need one? Do you need to still be on the market for one moving forward?

Or is this collective group on the blue line good enough to satisfy J.B. with some added offense? Yeah, look, I think we made a pretty good bet on Darren Radish. You know, 70-point defenseman played against tough competition. certainly brings an element on the top power play. So, you know, we think he checks a lot of boxes. But like you said, I think, you know, it's going to be a group approach. I'd say conceptually and purely philosophically,

I think general manager's job is to start on first and foremost. And, you know, this game can be changed by, you know, a few players, top players making a big impact on a franchise. So, you know, the depth piece matters, you know, how you fill up a roster, how you manage the cap, that's all, you know, kind of necessary, but not maybe sufficient. I think about, you know, the role of the general manager and their ability to go out and big game on, and I think that's kind of priority number one.

Looking at some of the acquisitions, how do you see Jack Roslavik, like where in your lineup do you see him starting out? Yeah, you know, he's a guy that at his age, we've seen some growth, we've seen some maturity, we've seen some of the deficiencies, you know, become neutral. And when you combine that with the fact that he's got speed, skill, playmaking, one of the better puck transporters, you know, we think there's a few fits. Certainly could play the wing and play with some of our centermen who could score. You know, John and Austin are obviously great scorers. So a guy that can transport the puck and make plays helps.

Again, if there's injuries, if, you know, there's a dip, if we're looking for some, you know, easier offense, he's a guy that can slide in the middle. and give us some skating through the middle of the ice and try to push the pace a bit. So we like it because of the versatility. You know, and Jim and I were working through it today even. You know, how does some of these pieces fit? And, you know, obviously we did that prior to making the acquisitions as well.

But the reality is, is that, again, we all have these plans. Then the gun goes off and things change. So we just want to make sure we have, you know, I always say to our staff, like if you only, we were getting a player and he only fits in one spot. We're really tying the hands of the coach. It's really hard. And if that doesn't work, then what, right? And so guys like Jack, who's down the flip side,

he said, where does he fit? Well, he fits in a few places. And I think that's a good thing. John, your American Hockey League team, the Toronto Marley's, of course, called your Cup champions. Like I was in 1998. The three of you weren't born back then.

So, you know, I thought I'd throw that in. But, John, prior to yesterday, there was a few players on those teams that would look at the parent club and go, yeah, there's a spot open for me. I'm going to go into training camp, and I just won the championship, and there's not a better time now to show everybody I'm ready for the NHL, and yet you guys went to spend almost $20, $25 million yesterday,

filling up a lot of those spots. What do you say to those kids today? Yeah, I think it's open competition. I don't think there's any more meritocratic system than professional sports. So, you know, I understood what the contracts look like, and I don't think ownership's ever been afraid of, you know, having money in the minors. So if there's a player that's ready,

you know, our directive to Jim and his staff is ice the best lineup that gives us the best chance to win games. And I agree, there's players down the Marley's that have that ability. And we spoke about a lot of them and they were considered and they're in different iterations of the roster come training camp where it's open competition.

So I think competition makes us all better. I think it's, you know, opportunity for all these players to come in and win jobs. And, yeah, there's always food on the table kind of, opportunities and I don't think we box anybody out from anything. John, can I ask you just a two-parter? It's wondering where things sit with Morgan Riley and that kind of blends into if you

think you're going to be more active, any more moves this summer, you know, what the next couple months look like for you? Yeah, I think we're going to continue to explore some things that we, you know, discussed the draft or, you know, we had some discussions around free agency, but, you know, these things are hard, too. So it's hard to forecast exactly what could fall. Certainly, you know, we think we've got some good stability through our lineup now. If we can add difference makers, I think we should always be trying to do that. And it does feel like there might be some more liquidity in the market in these July, August months than maybe passed.

So, yeah, we'll keep at it. I think with regards to Morgan, like we're talking about a really good defenseman. So, you know, for us where we're at where we're trying to go, you know, he's been a leader. He's the longest tenure leave. nothing but total respect for him. And again, as we look to improve the group, we'll always consider everything. But I would say at this juncture,

you know, Morgan's a big part of this. Last one for me, John. And just maybe an update on Max Domi, where a lot of the moves yesterday with the anticipation that he may not be available to you guys to start the season or perhaps the whole season. What can you tell us?

Yeah, I mean, he's progressing, which is the best news for everyone. You know, he's really been doing a great job. and as you guess with him, you know, surpassing everyone's expectations. So those are all good things. Like I said, he'll come to camp. We'll get kind of more of a firm medical view at that point right now. The most important part is that he's getting better and feeling good and making progress

and he's doing all those things. So, you know, I think Max is going to be a big part of this. When that occurs is just a guess. So I'll save myself from guessing to just say that, you know, we're excited about the progress he's made. Does that create any cap challenge for you trying to figure? out what you have available to spend? No, no, I think we're in a pretty good place. And, you know, there's some things we can do if we need to make space.

So we're really comfortable with where we're at in that regard. And, yeah, I feel like we've got lots of flexibility. All right, John, we really appreciate your time. I know it's a busy one. And once again, really thankful for that you found time for us today. Thanks for doing this. Appreciate it, thanks so much. John Chike, I think the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

All right. Let's recap. What do you think? The thing, a lot there. The thing I absolutely love, and you guys will probably be able to guess what I love, is the big game hunting mentality. Yeah. Like, you need stars.

You need top guys to win in any league. I think other league, maybe, you know, basketball is the most important. NHL is a very team. I understand that. But the top dogs matter, and I love that. He said that. To me, out of everything, that makes me feel good. The mentality, I think, of ownership, too, because.

I mean, Quai Leonard is like, that's a big one right there. It's funny. You can feel the swing in Toronto. Like the Raptors were kind of the cool team for a minute there, right? You know, when Kauai was there and they were competitive

and all of a sudden when there's not a star, it definitely takes some of the shine off. So you can see the appeal. Yeah. You know, Leifes fortunately have a couple of stars, but obviously could use a, it's been a long time waiting for number one D. Another part of that jumped out to me.

The bottom six and the, defensive zone stuff. You know, I wonder how much, like, they obviously went and had a meeting with Matthews and talked about what Matthews wants to do and what his outlook is. He's like, can I not start in the D zone every game? And do I not have to be the first guy over the boards on every penalty kill? Like, I think that probably was playing into a lot of this because now they are. Did it cost him 10, 15 goals, 20 goals?

Did he? I don't know. Maybe. I don't know, but it's not like he looked awesome. No, he was no, he looked quite bad. It's not like it was all Brubay's fault. I hate what the end of the day. I don't care.

I don't care where you start on a face off. You're allowed to go that way. But you're also allowed to show some jam too. Yeah. Right? Yeah, last year. It was tough. It was tough.

It was tough. I didn't mind his answer on the Marley's. And I know, listen, I only asked it because I was one of those guys. And I've been with guys on the team where it's like, okay, we just want to call their cup. Who's going to make the flyers now? who's going to, who's going where? And it's like, we've earned this right.

We've worked hard to get noticed. Good job, Pizzetta. Here's Zach McEwen. And it's like, oh, no, no, not so fast. We're going to pay you to be in the minors. And if that's the case, and if we call you up, and if someone gets hurt and we pay to play and we'll decide where it's going to be if you're under contract and that's it.

I love that Leafs mentality where it's like, all right, we had the opportunity to give Cowan and Danford these. awesome experiences where we're going to surround these guys with real players. So they're like, we got Cole McWord today. You know, he's played 10 NHL games and played 60 in the American League last year. He's going to make 900K for the Marley's. You know, like that's just if you need them, handle some minutes. It's good.

The other thing is clear that they know that it's the time's up for Morgan Riley. They're just not going to give them away. Yeah, that's the impression you got from that. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they're very respectful. And once again, they acknowledge.

knowledge, you know, his longevity. More liquidity in the market. And anyway. We just saw, we saw Darnel go to San Jose. And of course, he didn't want to go three weeks ago when he could have gone. And then he changes his mind and he goes, which is fine. And is there a scenario? You don't think they do Nurse and Riley.

No. I mean, that deep- San Jose? Yeah. I don't believe so. No. They spent, they committed nine to a nurse. They just committed 8.25 to.

Truba. They're not picking up seven and a half of Morgan. No. No. So they're just going to wait it out. I think Morgan would go play for his beloved Vancouver Canucks or somewhere where it's not competitive. Tough to see. You kind of need them. Whatever your thoughts were, you got to expand it a little bit. And how quickly do you want a fresh change Morgan, right?

You know, it's brutal because I get the point that like, yeah, he might be okay on your second pair, third pair. He might be okay. But it just feels like one of those things that, like, you can't truly turn things over to be a new team until it happened. Feels like he's kind of on the top pair right now. Right. I, you know.

It could be Riley Radish day one. They didn't sign a D-Man yesterday. I think it was all four. No, it's just Andre and Tanniv. Like, you have three new guys with Radish, Tanov, and Andre, essentially. I mean, you have a lot of forwards here. It's definitely. There's liquidity in the market, so.

Lee fans still wait for a number one type of guy. Right? That's like alluded to them since Boria saw me. Okay. So this is, I mean, you're going to hate this conversation, but this is a relevant one that leave fans are having right now. The 72 conversation is happening right now. McKenna wearing 72.

Yeah. Yeah. And they asked McKenna about it today. And he said he's a two times sound like I'm champion. I'd obviously give it to him. That's the right answer. Okay. And like we're on the same page then.

It's not even a question mark. Good. It's not even a question mark. If McKenna takes 72 over Bobrowski, I don't like them. I don't like them. I hate to agree, but I don't know. I don't like them. The only thing is here, did you ever play with anyone who doesn't care what number they

wear? No, everybody cares. No, that's not true at all. That's a stupid thing to say it. Some people are just like, give me whatever, I don't actually care. Bob wore 35 in Columbus. No, he wore 72 in Columbus 35 and Bill. Listen.

Okay, but he's like, I don't care. Give me nine. I don't care. Even if he doesn't care, you tell Bob, that's not the way it worked. The way it works is you're the future Hall of Famer. This kid who's done nothing yet doesn't come in and dictate. He literally said today the exact correct thing. You don't get entitlement at 18 on a number.

It's going to be a long year with McKenna. I can feel it already. You don't get entitlement on your number. So put that conversation to bed. I'm just saying there's a chance of Bob's like, I just don't care. Give me whatever. No, and then it looks like that the kid kind of gets his way. It's kind of a no win for Gavin where he's like.

No, there is a win. You do what he just did, which I love him now. Even more. The obvious thing in everyone's saying it is he's got to wear 12. The lottery ball was 12. It looks like 72. It's a great number. Rock 1-2.

Great number. It's my number. Yeah, I love it. I'm not at 12. What? What's you're 19? I, buddy, I was everything. He didn't care what he wore.

He was one of those guys that wore five numbers in the NHL. When I saw like, so I go to training camp, the year I was supposed to make the flyers. Like, you know, in training camp back then, it wasn't cool to wear like 56 or, no, no, no. It was like, you're in no plans, okay? That's, we give number, high numbers to guys that have no chance to make the team in training camps. And then I go into my one year in training camp and there's 21. Yeah. Oh, okay.

That's a good number. And I think Dave Brown just left that year. They gave me his number. And I'm like, yes. I got a real number. A real NHL number. Yeah, I think I wore something in the 50s or 60s at Islanders camp. It wasn't good.

I mean, outside of like the most famous ones, you know, the Yager, Lumue, Gretzky, all these, like, famous. Yeah. What do you think the best hockey number is? Nine. Nine. Nine. Nine and 19 have a good history.

Nine is the most historic. And, you know, and. NHL number in history. 40 have. Nothing. More else. Richard Hall. Clark Gillies.

Nine. I think the Mount Rushmore of hockey numbers. This is a great conversation. 9.19. I love 16. How do you? And then I love, you know, a 20s number. 21.

You could give me 24, 29. Oh, I like 20. 24. Ended the combo 24. 24. 29. I like 24. But I was a big Brian Glennie fan, but.

You know, I like those. 24. And then I guess you can do 97 or whatever you want, 91. To me, anything sub 20 is pretty decent. Except for the single digit even number of ground. So it is a big thing then, eh, for 72? Yeah, but I think there's a Gavin can't, even if they go into the locker room and Broowski says to Gavin,

I literally don't care. I'll wear 30. Do you have it? He insists that Gavin has it. Real Kipper next year, that's entitled. He's a no-win situation. McKenna would be better off just leaving it in the closet.

Okay? If you don't want it, that's fine. You don't have to have it. I'm still not taking it. I'm still not taking it. Okay. It's just out of respect. Okay.

Right? The rookie veteran thing has to be in play here. Or else, we've learned nothing over our lifetime in a dressing room. Back in up. Tens a good number, too. So next year, if the least, are playing the Florida Panthers, and it's going to be

violence on the ice. Who do they play Zach McEwen at that point? Duhane. I don't know. I mean, you just... Peseta. Or do you play hockey? You call up a guy just to fight? Scott Sabrin's making a living off in Tampa Bay.

I don't know. But he played, too, in key games, didn't he? I don't know. Playoffs? He's not. He's not a guy. He's not a capital. I don't know. I mean, I'm a little torn on that. I'd like...

like Duhayem just to be that guy why don't you just do what a guy that gets called up is supposed to do yeah no and I think he certainly can what did they give him two and a half yeah okay bud

like you know you're not coming in here to be a player you're here to be big and mean and run people over and fight yeah you know we we talked with this before the show I don't know how much he'll fight, but more than Steve Lorenz will. I think he had five fights last four.

He fought somebody named W. Lockwood. Oh, no, that's 2020. It's the four. 2026. Washington. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Carberry. All right.

Oh, eight fights last year? Yeah. They let him go in Washington because Carberry couldn't find a role for him. I guess they're going to be the worst team of L.A. Kipp. I don't know what to tell you. No, no.

Just know your role. No, you. your role. That's my point. So I say that and you think I think they're going to stink. Well, we just spent an hour with me saying, I actually don't think they're that bad. I got to, you know what? I don't want to sit here for an hour with you guys with pom-poms

on, all right, leading the parade. Like, it's reasonable to say they're going to be okay. Be realistic here. They'll be fine. I agree with all of that. Sammy's just sucked you right in, J.B. I'm a positive guy, Kip. I can't have it. I got to balance it out a little bit here. By throwing the crap.

on the scale. No, not at all. What are we going to say about the Edmonton Oilers then? Oh, boy. Jason Greger next, when we return.