Real Kyper & Bourne - Breaking Trends and Taking Care of Business

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick it off with the Leafs win over the Chicago Blackhawks last night, touching on the return of Auston Matthews, a lacklustre audition from Patrick Kane and Kyper's newest column about Kyle Dubas' future in Toronto. Maple Leafs radio colour analyst Jim Ralph discusses the Leafs' trend of playing down, his level of trust in the team's netminding corps and what additions are necessary to improve offensive depth (43:22). Then, Luke Fox joins the show to discuss the pressure on Dubas, Morgan Rielly slowly coming around and his give-and-take relationship with Sheldon Keefe (1:09:34). The guys close with a conversation about the best players available at the deadline and what they would cost.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 Born on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. Wherever we find you, Sportsnet 590 The Fan, our YouTube channel, Sportsnet Now, iTunes, Spotify. On the 401, Don Valley Parkway. Anywhere. Do people still listen in their cars? I don't. Yes, of course theyway. Anywhere. Do people still listen in their cars? I don't. Yes, of course they do. I hope so.

I guess that's important. I feel like podcast is like the go-to method. Just close your eyes right now and envision someone stuck in construction traffic right now, cursing and going, thank God I got real Kipper and Born. We got you. We got you. We got you. We got tons to talk about today. So sit back and relax.

Stick it in park. You're not going anywhere. I'm actually the worst when it comes to when I'm stuck in traffic. I just get so pissed off that I just turn everything off in rage sometimes. I'm just like, no sound, no music, just stew. I hate traffic so much. I am the worst. My same way i what are you gonna do you just sit there and i'm like if if there's an open pile on i'll go through it like if it's knocked over i'm like oh that i didn't see that i'm not allowed in this lane for me it's like i feel like i'm so busy it's like an excuse to just

sit there for a bit i mean that's it's depressing thing to say but it's like I feel like I'm so busy. It's like an excuse to just sit there for a bit. I mean, that's... It's a depressing thing to say, but it's like a moment of like, I'm just going to listen to music. Can I say something to you? That one of the great pleasures in my life is the 20 minutes I'm underground on my way here on the subway every day. No cell service. No cell service. I'll read a book, listen to a podcast. I just...

No one can get me. You're almost Ben Affleck. The best 10 minutes of my day are when I park my car before I get to your door. Isn't that a line from Good Will Hunting? I think it is. It's a great movie. Yeah, it is. I do like the subway, though.

Yeah? Probably 80% of the time, I take it to the Scotiabank Arena. Turn the brain off? Get mobbed by fans? Well, mobbed is a different word now on the TTC, unfortunately. Yeah, fair enough. We've gone through a little bit of a bad stretch. My wife's like, you're not taking the TTC.

Oh, jeez. Someone's going to push you. My wife's like, definitely take the TTC. We left people on there now i guess the kipper is staying on hey if if anyone's doing pushing it's me i'm like don't worry about that no but uh we are uh glad everybody's listening wherever you are uh and and arriving safely and uh all in one piece quick one before we get into hockey all right tiger woods about to play his first competitive golf round of the year today at um

his course at his tournament genesis at riviera yeah i'm setting the over under at 74 and a half for a round today are you guys taking the over the under and just imagine not being a tiger believer like he said he made some comment, like I wouldn't play in this tournament like as a ceremonial golfer. Yeah, but he says that all the time. It's his tournament. There is a sense that, come on,

I'm going to help my own tournament. I got, I got. He owns it, doesn't he? I don't know what that means. I actually don't know what it means. He's the host. He's the host, but he's got stake in one or two. And one of the main reasons why you would never get Rory or Tiger on the live side is

because they have ownership stake in the PGA. Yeah, but I mean, they mentioned in the new documentary that he got offered $700 million to go to live. Tiger did? Yeah. $700 million. Anyways. That's Tiger did? Yeah. $700 million. Anyways. Just before you hit one off the first team.

Under for me. Yeah. Kip? You said under? Yeah. I'm a Tiger fan. He won't. Would 76 embarrass him today?

I think that's what I'm going to say too. 76 for me. Okay. Okay. I to say too. 76 for me. Okay. Okay. I'll say 76. I would say that of all sport things, the team or whatever that I have rooted for the most in my life is Tiger Woods. I know he's not an awesome guy.

I'm aware of his history. I know he's a weird dude, whatever. I was just like of the age when I was golfing. I was like 16 when he was coming up. Hit me at the perfect time. Right. So I just have been a Tiger. I would say he is my favorite athlete of all time.

Yeah, I would say he is mine too. And again, I'm aware of what Tiger. Listen, they're all bad. There is no Mother Teresa on the court out there. All right. We will mention your book today because it's four years that you're uh sober which is uh a great anniversary for you congratulations on that congratulations on down and back which is off to a great start number one in sports on amazon that is so cool because my name's on the back of

the book i think somewhere that's a help and that's why it's it's moving without a doubt so we'll touch base on that uh a little later on in the show. Let's just go to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Chicago Blackhawks. Yes. That's the way it's supposed to kind of work out when you're considered one of the better teams in the National Hockey League against one of the worst teams in the National Hockey League. That's being a pro last night.

Sammy said 9-1, and there was a moment in the first period i think when the goal got disallowed to make it 4-1 or something where i was like it might get there like it just looked like an absolute lopsided affair it did not get there it actually was fairly close to my 5-1 prediction 5-2 in the end but yeah not not much of a hockey in there i'll be honest i said to you kipper, there's not much more to say after that game than there was no game. I mean, we're going to try. We got two hours here, but like... We can't do it justice

last night, that hockey game. Let's let Sheldon Keefe tell us exactly what he thought of last night's game. Frankly speaking, it's a game we're not going to evaluate too much in terms of anything good, anything bad. We're going to watch it and move on.

Enjoy a day off tomorrow and get ready for Montreal. To me, that's one of his best Kippers Clipper of the year. Way to go, Sheldon. Because he ain't fooling anyone. That game last night from the Chicago Blackhawks side was embarrassing. No pushback for me. It was a joke, quite frankly. It was embarrassing.

Would you have wanted that? That is not a product there. It's not a good look for the league to come bring that team into toronto and you're asking people to pay 300 bucks and i'm watching peter marazic behind the net looking like a scene out of the three stooges where they're boink boink like the only thing missing are the the sound bites from the three stooges. When you try to. Brought to you by slide whistles. It's like, that's not an NHL team last night. That was, what is it? Rockport?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Their American League team? Yeah. Rockport or? Rockford? Rockford. Ice hogs. Rockford.

Ice hogs, right? Yes. The Rockford Ice Ports? Yeah. Those are shoes, aren't they? Aren't those Sammy's? They are, yeah. Sammy's wearing on his feet right now rockport with the rockports but come on that's not and he's and sheldon's completely right you think i'm gonna tell you

how hard our team worked or you're gonna tell me how structurally sound we were at least sheldon smart enough to go all right let's move on yeah no the credit for acknowledging it for what it was and as you mentioned they took care of business but it just there was no pushback in the physical sense in the defensive sense like it was just i thought you know they've played some bad teams this year right like we've come in here and talked about how bad, you know, Columbus has looked at times in the Anaheim game where they won set. Was it 7-0 they beat Anaheim? And there's teams that they've played against.

But I can't remember one that looked so shockingly with lack of effort, lack of pushback, lack of anything. You know, at least Columbusumbus was trying like they were they were skating hard and they were big and they were leaning on guys it's like chicago just had no element of anything that was a legit uh uh effort and a legit win against a leaf that the leaf team that on that particularly on that particular saturday, they were outmatched physically. Like that was legit. Yeah.

I mean, and I don't know, would you like to see Chicago be, you know, fight or, you know what I mean? Like just some sort of like, you know,

some pushback. What are the expectations on that team? Everyone knows the losing is okay. It's such a bizarre way to go through the rest of the year. Just going through the motions the way they did last night. Yeah. Alright, we'll get into Chicago a little bit more

too because I want to revisit some Pat Kane conversation with you guys. Let's go to Sheldon Keefe on what he saw out of his players. We've been talking to our guys a lot about taking charge. A lot of these guys have been playing together for a long time now.

They have a sense of what the structure is, and they know what they can do, and they get the information on face-offs. But they have a lot of flexibility to call the plays and get organized themselves, and that's what you want. You want the players out there taking charge. You know, they have a sense.

They have a feel. Obviously, that's the start of the game, but when you're in the game, you have a sense of your opponents. You have a sense of the timing. You know, they have a feel for things that coaches just can't – we can't replicate that, and you need to be able to take charge out there. I think you watch any experience and championship caliber team, you know, their people are taking charge of different situations. And that's what you'll love to see those guys take that initiative and execute.

Right out of the gates, Blackhawks. Hey, way to go, fellas. But it was a great play, you you know great awareness on the leafs part but shouldn't happen oh well what the nine seconds in right well the guy that everybody was linking to the leafs just blows a shoe immediately like fell down wide open lane for willie uh here's my chance to prove myself to the leafs how many times did McCabe fall down last night? I wouldn't say it was a good audition for him at all. No, absolutely not. Okay, we'll pick up on the players taking charge with Sheldon Keefe

on his star attraction returning last night, Austin Matthews. Yeah, I thought he was good, especially early in the game, you know, like when we had to really gain control. I thought our top two, both of the two lines, I thought when they were on the ice, I thought it was, there was a pretty big gap. The ice was tilted for sure. And Austin in particular, I thought,

had some real good jump earlier, you know, loved the goal. I thought he had some other good plays too. You know, I thought as the emotion of the game sort of dipped in the second half of the game, I thought everybody was just okay from there, but you're just trying to get out of the game. Willie Nylander, nine seconds in, scores his goal, the fourth fastest goal to start a game in Leaf history. I think he credited after the game Austin a little bit for maybe a set play.

Which is great when it works. I'm not a huge fan of, shall I say, the stretch look, which I saw quite a bit of last night out of Willie Nylander. And he's good, and I get all of that. And very instrumental sometimes on a four check. I get all of that. I get the career year. I'm still not 100% comfortable with the amount of times

I see him trying to get behind d and i'll use the term that i've used since i've heard it since i was seven years old cherry pick yeah i guess there's two ways to look at you know that sort of stretch play because i don't entirely disagree with you that you know i think it's against the good teams. How often are you going to get behind, you know, Hedman and whoever and get a breakaway? So excellent point, JB. Can you imagine now starting game one and Austin saying,

hey, let's try that set play where you get behind Hedman, not McCabe, and you get behind Hedman. And I'm like, that's not those type of scenarios are are should not be in your equation but they view it against those top teams it's not going to happen like that but i think the team views it as stretching them out forcing that those deep Those deep haired back. The problem is, is when it doesn't get completed, you are actually like in traffic. You're out of the play. You are the last man back. If there is any turnover, it's guaranteed to be an odd man rush because you got caught on the wrong side.

Yeah. And I don't know. I don't have the stats on who leads the league and breakaways but my guess once we did it in season he was tops willie kneel and scudrow than him would be right at the top yeah this guy is constantly looking for it which again uh when it's completed and when you can go in nine seconds to start a game, you look fantastic. It's when it's not completed that I'm worried about in the first round. Yeah.

I think the idea that I just mentioned can work in the sense that, okay, you don't want to let Willie fly behind you if you're the opposing team, right? So someone has to honor that. You can't just let him be back there. So if you're able to make plays underneath that the opposing team right so someone has to honor that you can't just let him be back there so if you're able to make plays underneath that and work your way up the ice and give yourself a little bit more room that's fine but when you're actually trying to complete the pass to him and it's not

going to work most of the time it's tough you know you saw sheldon talk about when he plays wing versus center they like when he's on wing because he can kind of do this and stretch them out rather than be yeah when he's gone he's gone right oh when he was going yeah but like how many times have we seen mitch marner come close to having a breakaway like and how many times does he try to sneak in behind like that yeah they're just totally different players. But it's not in his equation, right? Because Mitch doesn't, it's a gamble. Let's say what it is. For Willie to go out and try to get behind D is what you hope in the best circumstances,

a calculated gamble. You watch the discipline of Mitchitch marner play the game you'll you'll you'll hardly ever see him cheat anywhere anywhere yeah and that's fine but i do feel like where it's like an apples to oranges comparison because like neil andrew is just a different thing he's a different entity in the way he creates and produces and what he does to his team and the opposing team. You're a head coach. Sheldon can kind of curtail that, though.

If he wants to. If he wants to. But do you think that you want to stop Willie Nylander from breakaway hunting? We're talking about getting the second most in the league in breakaways is a negative thing. At times, I would like to see it curtailed. Maybe it's situational. it's uh being up one

goal and trying to protect the lead yeah and no don't want to see it yeah i wholeheartedly agree with that like hey you know that's a good question about whether willie has that sense or whether the coach has to go to him they're up a goal and say hey can you just stop doing that i think it all doesn't also have a lot to do with who he's playing with. Like in terms of if he's playing with Tavares, I think he's got to be way more conscious in terms of coming back in the zone.

But when you're playing with Austin Matthews, a guy that's one of the best defensive centers in the league, like we've talked about all his stats. Like I want him cheating a little bit. Like he's got support. Matthews is down low. Like he's pretty smart at getting on the puck.

They tried it last night with, like, the breakaway pass. And they had the set play. Like, I have enough trust in Austin's defense that I want a guy who's elite speed and scoring. I think it's a great question. It's a great question. Do you want this guy to be playing that way? Yes. I do.

I mean, I do. Yeah. I do. I mean, I do, yeah. So if you think I'm the only one who might talk about Willie cherry-picking a little bit too much, let's listen to one of his teammates describe Willie Nylander. Yeah, I mean, it feels like he's very hungry out there. He's working hard. He's back-checking, finally, sometimes. No, but he's very hungry out there. He's working hard. He's back checking, finally, sometimes. No, but he's great.

That was Rasmus Sandin on Willie Nylander. That's a guy who goes for cocktails in Mexico with his buddy, just getting a barb in, right? Back checking, finally. Yeah, he's just being playful. Finally. No, no. Oh, 100%.

No, but he's great. That's me and a buddy, me being like, you know, Sammy over here. I don't back check. Oh, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry. Hey, hey, tongue in cheek. You think that's a criticism? Yes.

Oh, come on. You have friends? No, but it's great. You know friends work? Hey, he comes across tongue in cheek. Yeah. He didn't say it because he's just picking anybody. He doesn't think he backchecks enough.

I mean, I thought he was just being a goofball. Oh, no, no, no, no. That's a message. That's a little truth serum. Well, behind most jokes, there is a little bit of something. So he's just picking. Backchecking, finally. Well, no, we know that Willie has historically,

that has not been a strength of his, but. Maybe it should be. That's very true. Maybe it should be a little bit more. We're trying to get out of a first round. Yeah. No one's saying that you've got to lead us in back checking, but finally.

Yeah. And he even threw in, I think, a qualifier after that. He's finally there back checking finally sometimes he's great anyways good on raspimus he went up a couple of notches for me yeah with that comment it's great um nice to see matthew's back though if we imagine we kind of didn't we call him shooting it through Mrazek yesterday? Yeah. Man, I was going to talk about, man, Mrazek's bad. Holy hell, he was bad last night. Willie didn't even get a shot on net on the goal he scored, I don't think.

He was behind the goal line and pushed it into him. He's the perfect guy for them. He really is. But, man, that is a perplexing contract that he was handed. It is now, for sure. It was arguably the worst of Dubas' time here. The Peter Mrazik deal for UFA. I don't think arguably.

I mean, who else would it be? Well, we haven't seen the end story to Matt Murray yet. Rich was great. Yeah, but that's two years i guess it's i guess it would rich well yeah that's a good one yeah richie was not great but i guess the matt murray one would be ending at the same time and it's more money so maybe you're right just we'll see how a few things play out quite the suggestion what about tavaris too you could talk about that one oh come on before we dive a little deeper into that uh just thoughts again the name that uh we've

bannered about the last little while life right out of this guy i saw nothing out of patrick kane yeah that suggests to me that uh teams would be clamoring right now to go get him i'm gonna open up your column here right now because you said many things in this column, and I think we'll mention it many times today. Excellent column by Kipper. The Leafs played hardball with Kyle Dubas. Now the clock is ticking. You did mention Patrick Kane at one point. You mentioned that not a lot of people are beating down Kyle Davidson's door.

For the concerns for people are salaries, health, performance, motivation. Like it's a long list. It's a long list. And you can see why everyone would go. I think I can find what I'm looking for without shopping at farm boy. I'm just going to go to, you know, no frills.

I, I'm not suggesting that teams will not want to trade for him yet. I think there's still time. But I saw no life out of him last night. I didn't either. And I think there's a combination of a lot of things, including first and foremost, how healthy is he with his hip but the other one is is like what is what is what have the chicago blackhawks done to this guy that he like he looks down and out and beaten up yeah i don't know i you're it's tough to know

kipper at this point in the guy's career what is just like natural decline typically elite elite players like hall of fame guys like kane they don't score 92 points and then become bums you know so you're right that maybe there's some sort of he's defeated or he's a little injured or whatever it is he knows he's not coming back he envisioned himself being a chicago Blackhawk the rest of his uh his career and reality set in they don't want me anymore they won't resign me I have to get out now do I get out now do I wait he just looked like a guy that had a ton on his mind and and playing last night at a at a level that he's been accustomed to was not in the equation. So a fellow producer here, Mike Gentile, sent me these stats with Patrick Kane this year.

And last year he had 92 points. He had 66 assists and 26 goals in 78 games. He had 0.33 goals per game. This year he has 9 goals in 50 games for 0.18 goals per game. This year he has nine goals in 50 games for a.18 goals per game. And he's at a.7 point per game. And he was at 1.17 last year. So, like, there's just been a significant drop-off. And I think the most obvious thing is to say, you know,

it's playing on a crappy team. But to me, that drop-off, there's got to be. He's fighting something, boys. Like, it's like on a crappy team but to me that drop off there's gotta be he's fighting something boys like it's like that there's smoke there's father time man no i no i don't think at his age i agree you're not gonna have that big before yeah yeah like but he's 34 14 years and playoff runs and there were years i remember remember reading something about miles on a guy. There was an NBA thing about how many games and playoff games and whatever. Like it's, he's had hard miles on his machine. But that could be why it's breaking down.

And you're right. That's what's holding him back from being the player. And you can't forget about the other things that I mentioned was you're trying to fit in. Ten and a half. 10.5 million dollars so even if you double retain now you got to pay more assets because you got to pay another team like you know why are you breaking your back to make it happen for a guy you're not sure fits it doesn't work here and how many teams can do that now the Rangers are out Would the Leafs be in the mix? You know, Leaf alumni Carlo Coliacavo mentioned Rangers and the Leafs were high on his priority list.

If that's the case, that's a big challenge now to try to make his 10.5 fit for the Toronto Maple Leafs even on the day of uh march 3rd yeah so if it's not toronto like i don't think he's gonna go play for carolina or something like i he seems to want to be in a big city in a big market with a real chance is it carolina doesn't have a real chance he's not chasing his first stanley cup either he's not in there before desperation his name's on it three times the best is not chasing a cup like other players would be at his age and the best thing he could do is say i am going to get healthy i'm going to become a free agent this summer play wherever i choose to play with no restrictions i'm going to get healthy

i'm not going to be a part of this blackhawks circus from February or March 3rd to whatever. And just sit it out. You mentioned that in your article as a suggestion. That's the most likely case is what you saw for Patrick Kane is just sit it out and get healthy. Okay. Don't talk about playoffs. As we mentioned at the top of the show, terrific job on your book, number one on Amazon, but you aren't the only writer here.

No. Johnny Journalist. Johnny Journalist. I was at it again for the Toronto Star. If you get a chance, my article's out. You can find it on my Twitter, Real Kipper. Talked about Kyle Dubas and the clock ticking on his situation. I touched on the fact that I thought it could have helped

maybe the scenario for him and maybe the team in general if they would have just added one more year to his contract, something that's been historically standard for coaches general managers they didn't want to do that and uh i'm just wondering right now from your perspective not only on the article but uh where's this heading for kyle dubas with two weeks to go how much pressure is on this guy right now yeah uh i thought the article is maybe your best one yet i thought if i'll take the maybe out of that okay that's one yet yeah you're getting better getting hot oh yeah listen just you know just uh i got this guy

uh stinky peter's uh stinky sneaky pete on twitter he texts me he goes uh tell the truth who's your ghost writer no way you're putting this together on your own. You know, did you tell them that they're an answer? You know, because there's some really good writers out there. They're clamoring to help me out right now, right? I mean, they don't have anything better to do. I'm evolving. But anyways, thanks, man. I appreciate the compliment.

But it's also a zag for you when, you you know most people would have expected a zig here because i don't know that this season you were of the mind that he should have been extended yeah and i think as the seasons progressed and again we are talking about 32 teams and he's put the Leafs in another year where they are a top five team. They're contending. There's a lot of people that have, there's a lot of good hockey people that believe that they can be dangerous

or they can win. And we're one of them. When you have world-class talent out there with Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Tavares still contributing at a very high level. Like there's something to be said about that. And it's not that if they lose again, I don't believe that he should be fired.

What I'm saying is that at least it could have come with that that easy cushion of not kind of completely hanging him out there and i used in my article the comparison to bruce budro without the circus atmosphere yeah with the the comments and the follow of that whole soap opera, like that's been gladly avoided here. But the messaging is the same. It's like we don't trust you anymore to move on past this year. So prove us wrong. The other thing that I thought was a good point amongst many in the article

is like the idea that when you get fired as a general manager, let's say they lose in the playoffs, you know, that takes you to may they fire you in may, you know, you're not exactly set up to then become the manager of the Bruins or, you know, whatever,

how many GM jobs are there per year? Like one, two, three, not many open up. So that one year sort of grace is usually like, okay, you know, if we decide to fire you you're

going to be able to look for work while you're you know unemployed because it's tough to be like yeah we're going to play out your contract by the time you go into summer and you find out you need work there's no work well i gotta i there's a you follow sometimes you read some of the comments that follow once you tweet out. And one of the ones that stood out to me is that that old scenario is this is the real world. People are in positions at work all the time. They don't get, you know, an extra added year to protect their families. And yes, I get that and I understand that. But we aren't talking about an everyday guy

in an everyday job. No, it's not real world. This is the real... It's the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In a corporate billion dollar industry, executives in billion dollar corporations have severance packages they are not to say any of the golden parachute stuff is right or fair but that is the real common in there it's it's common

because you are one of 32 in the world that can hold this position yeah and with that comes certain leverage or uh certain uh expectations that if things don't work out you are uh rather well protected yeah and and maybe maybe this this uh the standard that teams have had over the years maybe it's changing today maybe the owners are sitting there going okay that's the way it was back then yeah that's not the way it's going to be now you're maybe we will treat you like we we treat other employees and to your point once you're they don't they'll fire you when they want to fire you yeah right it's not like a uh if i'm gone let me know in june so i can go find another job right like we've been in positions where...

They may go through the draft and decide they don't like the move you made there and say that's enough. They could wait as long as, you know, they want. Yeah. Up until his contract expires July 30th, of course. Yeah. One thing that stood out, too, though, is you were saying, you know, you don't necessarily think it's Brendan making that call. It could be the board. You know, I don't necessarily think it's brendan making that call

it could be the board you know i don't know but maybe some speculation that is the idea wow well i mean anything above you right has a hand in some way shape or form so i'll throw it to you guys sammy let's go to you first and leaf nation who is sending k Kyle Dubas the message that you're not getting an extension uh until we get out of the first round who do you think set that Brendan or or maybe a board of directors as you laid out in your piece I have a hard time thinking it's Brendan because he's gone this deep with him I would imagine doesn't Brendan have one year on his contract after this? Haven't you mentioned that? No, Brendan got an extension. This year?

No, I cannot confirm when it was. But it's beyond this year. But he's got multi-years left. So Brendan would have gotten an extension and would not have, Kyle wouldn't have been along with the ride for an extension. So then do you think that, wouldn't have been along with the ride for an extension so then do you think that wouldn't you think isn't it pretty simple that they'd want to be together for as long as here's here have you ever put time and effort into letting someone think your idea is their idea

like i'm sure brandon sat sat at the table with the board and they said i i think we should let do with let's just play out this contract not do do anything. And Brendan went, yeah, that's what I was going to say. Well, they said they didn't. There could be a... Whatever you guys think I think. Where's my extension? There could be a, yeah. I don't know.

Like, we don't know. So there could be a number of scenarios. How about the fact that maybe it is Brendan's call? Maybe it was like, hey, I believed in you. You've had four chances uh team's not as tough as i'd like and sometimes i do see the saturday nights uh against columbus where they look soft and maybe it maybe it is brendan who doesn't want to give it to him maybe maybe brendan's lost faith in him until he proves otherwise again in the first or second round. I mean, that's a scenario too. But I went with the thought that, like Sammy said, that I stuck my neck out for you six years ago, right?

Over six years ago when I brought you in first as an assistant general manager out of the Sioux with zero pro experience. And eyebrows were raised all across the board and I had to turn around and say this is a different kid it's a different vision I'm moving on I'm evolving I'm doing all of this yeah no it's you're you're right it he feels like one of the first people he wanted to be at the forefront of a wave of like young intelligent way of looking at the game and he's waiting to for his you know he bought the penny stock and he's waiting for the big payout here and it may not come so if you were but it might so if this contract goes out and he does not renew what would be the danger spots that you're looking at for places to go because for me

ottawa sticks out oh dubious to go be the gm of ottawa yeah oh is the suit closer to ottawa or toronto i don't know geography in ontario definitely closer to toronto is it okay for sure but you know like new ownership sexy young guy who was running the the bitter rival for a long time pierre dorian who hasn't you know that's to me the the danger spot this is my nightmare i'm just kind of living this out on the radio with you guys right now but it's just something like there are going to be teams that would be extremely interested in Kyle Dubas. Right? Listen, there

are many great qualities that Kyle has shown us already and one of them is finding undervalued assets. That's a bit of a gift that he has. Yeah, he's done well at that okay for sure so

where is the overall picture there i mentioned in my article that there's some trades he'd love to have back there's you mentioned bunting mckeah of camp labushkin timmons like guys that he kind of found that ended up being nhlersers. Yeah. Legit. And then there's some. Kampf. Ones he didn't want over again. Yeah. Mason Marchman.

I don't know if you saw this the other night, but. I forgot about that one. Maligan talked for the Avalanche. So I think. Did he really? Yeah. His first one since he got there. But he scored. He scored on Vasilevsky.

No blocker. The other point, and I only have like 700 words. I can't go on forever. Sometimes I start writing and I'm like, I can't stop. Well, I'm going to get in the keeper's corner and there's lots. The other thing too is, to Sammy's point, there are only 32 teams. A lot of them are locked in, committed. It's not a given that he will be working next September or October

in a real influential position like being a general manager. And two names that stick out to me as young up-and-comers, new way of thinking, and where are they now? What is Jason Botterill, who at one time was considered one of the top 40, under 40 from the hockey news, and great future, goes to Buffalo. Then he gets fired, doesn't get any legit looks as the next general manager. He's now in Minnesota helping out Ron Francis

as an assistant general manager, but it's not a given he'll ever be a general manager again. And the other one for me is Chayka. Brilliant hockey, my young. Think the game differently. Right. Can't get back in. Does he want back in?

What happened there? Like, isn't there, aren't we owed some more explanation about how that unfolded? What a strange. Well, that had to do with the testing of players before the eligibility of the combat. The combine. The combine, sorry. It should have been combat. That would have been easy.

Wow. Really bad with my words today. Well, I mean, they gave, not to, you know, give a, didn't think it was going to be praising John Chayka on the air today, but he gave Bill Armstrong one of the best assets in the league with Jacob Chikrin on that long-term contract they signed because they were kind of the first ones that were doing those early gambles, right? You think of Keller, he signed to that long contract.

Chikrin, I think he did the OLE one, which not as good as those other two. What did I say? Oliver Lechman Arsene. Nice job. You're listening to me put your words today. That's why. Lawson Kraus, I think he gave the extension too. Like, there's, you know, he was one of the first guys to do that.

So, anyways. Yeah, but I'm just saying, it's not, it's hard. It's hard. And you don't know. You don't know when you're going to get back in. But I think Dubas is it's not, it's hard. It's hard. And you don't know. You don't know when you're going to get back in. But I think Dubas is more accomplished than those two guys. But I still think there's a point to be made about, like the young guys here,

like you'd ideally like your guy to go through his learning curve, not with you, you know, like certainly now, wherever he goes next, he is armed with information on what has worked, what hasn't, how to build the staff how to you know this has been great for him well he's well positioned but the team this is the perfect you know they trusted maybe the most important stretch of toronto maple leafs hockey in the last you know three decades to a rookie general manager yeah and fired eric well you know, three decades to a rookie general manager. Yeah. And fired, well, you know, I guess, you know,

put him up higher in the front office with Lou Lamorello, one of the most accomplished. Lou didn't want any part of it. And he was gone immediately. So, like, it was a risk when it happened. I will say, though, you know, all this, and I've been talking about it pretty flippantly, like, I still really believe that Dubas is a thoughtful,

smart hockey guy. Agreed. And I'm terrified of life without him. Right. I honestly am. What comes next when they hire whoever it may be? I'll tell you. Changes.

Because everybody, anyone that gets hired, it's on the concept of what you guys have been doing wrong. Correct. And what I'm going to do to correct it. Your team's out of shape. You're doing army crawls? Yeah. In the front office.

Pridham's up there just. When does a guy ever get hired and look around the room and go, I nailed it. Oh, listen. Everything looks great. I'm not touching it at all. You guys just got unlucky in some playoff games. I'm not changing anything.

Well, don't you think like it's, I'm so caught in the middle of fascinating with a new fresh set eyes in this roster versus the great unknown without Kyle Dubas. It's one that I don't know which side I'm on, but it's really going to be a fascinating thing to watch down the stretch here. One more before we go to break. No, good.

The next two weeks for Kyle Dubasas will it decide his fate yes or will the players that are here now decide his fate they need help kip they're so close i think if there's one thing that's going to be deciding his fate it's the goaltending yeah if i was going to be ben and shanahan or mlse board not the blue line. Not the forwards. Goal time. Power play. Yeah. I think that you're putting way too much pressure on Samson. No, he's not doing it. No, I agree with Sam.

If you look back at Dubas' runs here, it's like you gave it to Jack Campbell and Ilya Samson. I think Samson could be everything that you ask for, but the blue line will still hurt the Leafs. The blue line was fine last year in the playoffs, and Jack Campbell was no good. Sorry. I didn't think he was that bad.

No, he was fine. Oh, yeah, he was good. 8.95. I know. He can only hold up a couple of goals he didn't love. And, you know, Peter Mrazik was signed by, like, his goaltending bets have been bad, and goaltending is very important in hockey.

Heard that. Jim Ralph, who was a goaltender. Ooh important in hockey heard that jim ralph who was a goaltender oh bear may not join us next segue i think he will there you go he better because we haven't had him on in a while that's jim ralph the voice of the toronto maple leafs radio can color analyst will join us after the break you're watching listening giving us a thumbs up on youtube real kipper and born Breaking down the biggest trends in hockey. The Hockey PDO Cast with Dimitri Filipovich. Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. That's almost the place I got caught coming on air. And the three of us, about, what, three minutes to air before the show, we're all at our desks going, oh, my God, what time is it? That's so bizarre. Usually, like, waiting out here five minutes prior. It was 2.57. I looked at my phone like, we should do the show.

Radio show. And Kipper and I were just watching Good Will Hunting. We're like, we're coming back on air. Oh, my God. What was your favorite line again? The best part of my day is the 10 seconds when I get out of my car, hoping you're not there. All right.

That's kind of like us. Just 10 seconds before Jimmy Ralph comes on our show. Ralphie, how are you, pal? Good. Watching some golf. How's Tiger doing? One under after two. Let's go.

He's winning. Wouldn't that be the greatest sport to broadcast? Yeah. Just fall asleep and no one notices for three holes. Can't they fix it where he wins it? Most of it's on tape delay, so you know what's coming up. I'd say it'd be know sit there in the nice weather and you know talk about golf go down to dotty pepper uh jim i think he's gonna hit a good one here oh he did he stiffed it let's go quickly now to nick caprios

from toronto ontario there you go. College standout of North Bay University. Close enough on the pronunciation for sure. Ralphie, did the Leafs get the job done last night against a bad team? Isn't this the way it should look

last Saturday against Columbus? Yeah, I think so. I mean, Chicago wasn't very good, and they got them on the second of back-to-backs, and, you know, Murphy puts one into his own net off his stick through Mrazek. Mrazek gets caught out in another one, and you go, well, okay, you take those two away.

Not that Chicago had a lot, generated a lot offensively, but, you know, you take those two goals away and all of a sudden it's, you know, it's a close game. But, yeah, they got it done. I thought they responded after what we saw Saturday against Columbus. It's rare to hear a coach say what Sheldon Keefe said after the game where he was like, you know, the old line when you get beat 8-0,

he was like, we're going to flush that one and just move on. Like, he just acknowledged that the Blackhawks were basically not an NHL team last night. Did you get that sense watching the game that the Blackhawks are kind of playing it out in a half-hearted way? It was kind of depressing. Yeah, and I would have said the same thing about Columbus

halfway through the first period. Really? Saturday night. Yeah. So, I mean, so I think that's the thing that the Leafs seem to battle against the bottom eight teams is giving them a reason to get excited about a game.

Unfortunately, last night when Chicago started to push back, the Leafs then hit them with a knockout punch. You can see Chicago say, okay, let's move on. Let's go to Winnipeg or wherever they are next and get through this. So I think that's always been the Leafs.

And I think the thing they've battled with the most is they give teams, you know, I think Columbus, Anaheim, Chicago are the lowest scoring teams in the league, yet the Leafs have blown two goal leads to both Anaheim and Columbus this year. So I think that's been their problem is not having that kill mentality when you've got the opportunity. And last night, at least,

they seemed to execute that a lot better. We're talking to Jimmy Ralph, Newmarket Saint, great. And Toronto Maple Leaf radio color analyst. And the closest I've ever came. I'm only great from my two years in New Market. Yeah, I was a junior standout in Ottawa. And my only legitimate chance of scoring a professional contract

or a hat trick in the American Hockey League came on, Ralphie. I know. I can't believe they wouldn't have pulled me after you got one. Speaking of goaltenders, 27 games to go for the Toronto Maple Leafs in this regular

season. How many does Samsonov have to play to be ready for game one? I mean, I think there's a lot of factors coming in, and obviously the health of Matt Burry is one. I mean, I think

technically when you look at contract length and everything else, he's the guy you want to have ready, but man, it would be pretty hard to trust his health, wouldn't it, down the stretch. I mean, I think you could go with Samson off two-thirds, whether it's Wall, whether it's

Shelgren, whether it's Matt Murray comes back, but I'd say two out of three would probably have him ready to go. The question I have as we enter the deadline here about this team is like, do you think something will happen with the Leafs in adding a insurance policy in net?

Like, can you see them going out and saying, hey, just in case we want to add someone, you know, given, we don't really know what they got in net. Yeah, you know what, the tough part, Borny, would be making in that. Yeah, you know what? The tough part, Borny, would be making the list. Right. Who is it? I mean, it's a James Reimer type that you might try to go after for a little bit of depth.

I'd want to see the list of guys available that you can get without giving up too much before I'd say that, yeah, you know, you go ahead and pull the trigger on that. But, yeah, right now, the bottom line is, anybody that plays camp in the first round, and obviously we can make a pretty good guess right here in February as to who it might be.

Right. You're still going to be the second-best goaltender in the series. And I think that's where, you know where you're just hoping you can get a performance like what Jack Campbell did last year, where he doesn't cost you any games. Because you know eventually Vasilevsky's going to steal a few. So, yeah, I think that that's the big concern you have. And really, through the first six games last year in that series against Tampa,

Vasilevsky wasn't the factor, you know, until game seven when you can only get one pass. Hey, Ralphie, did you hear Rasmus Sandin's comment on Willie Nylander, tongue-in-cheek, about back-checking by chance? Oh, no, no, I haven't. Sammy, can you... Oh, Sammy's waving me off here.

What happened to our trusted Derek? Oh, he's staring at it. Sammy's looking. We don't know what you're going to get. You could get a traffic report right now, Ralphie. Okay, here it is. Here it is. Yeah, I mean, it feels like he's very hungry out there.

He's working hard. He's back-checking, finally, sometimes. No, but he's great. He's back-checking, finally. Rasmus Sandin. I like Rasmus. He must be a fun guy to be in the room. But listen, JB and I went back and forth on this.

Is there a little bit of truth to what Rasmus said? Yeah, but I think Nylander's been better since Sandin's been in the league. You know, with all due respect to the experience of the Swedish blue liner. But there is definitely, we're seeing things with Emilian that we've never seen in his career before, which includes his willingness to engage in battles and win battles. And, you know, he looks like a dominant player. And I always thought, you know, and I was one of the ones that, you know,

maybe even a couple of years ago said, trade him now because his value will never be higher. And his value is higher, and I wouldn't trade him, you know, for any kind of deal. Because I think, you know, he's really established himself as not just being the fourth of the top four that he could drive a team. And, you know, we've been seeing it on a pretty regular basis at both ends of the ice.

We're winning battles in corners and everything else. You tip your hat to him. Maybe as Resmaa Sandin says, you tip your hat to him finally. We're seeing a lot of good things out of him. Ralphie, with those guys being

solidified, they're not going anywhere. That's been the plan from day one for Kyle Dubas. Do you have a wish list for the Leafs? What you're hoping to see that you feel like can get them past or gives them the best chance to get past a Tampa Bay Lightning? Yeah, I mean, I don't know.

Timo Meier is still thinking if he could come here and fit in on the top six, that would be pretty lethal. Wouldn't it? That would be the one guy. But, I mean, you know, and this is a discussion we always have sitting around saying when was the last impact trade that led to a championship? You know, people always, you know,

obviously want to use the Butch Goring comparison, but Butch really wasn't an impact player until he got to the Islanders. And, you know, they win the four cups and he wins a Collins-Mike trophy and everything. Ray Bork going to Colorado, they didn't win until the following year. And we remember Rick Nash and the Armour Jagger and all these deadlines that you thought would be the deciding factor. But it always seems to be more like a Nick Paul trade than for a big name. It's almost as if the mystique of a trade deadline is, I don't know, overblown or overhyped.

But to your point, how many are there that are impactful, which means the next two weeks for Kyle Dubas may be more about what he still has than what he potentially could get in the next 14 days. Yeah, I think, you know, and everybody seems to have the same wish list. And it usually involves the word depth, you know, a depth defenseman or a depth forward um you know i i think you might you know and then this is where i think you go back to a ryan o'reilly

possibility um character you know the you know even though he's had a tough years with injuries plus minus and and everything else i mean he was gone was a conspired trophy winner. And I remember when he was in Buffalo, Joe and I were saying on the air, wouldn't he be a guy that you'd love to have in the playoffs? But he looks like he's just made for that grind. And, you know, it might be more if you're trying to get character as opposed to skill. So it would be pretty interesting to see the way it plays out. And then, of course, you know,

a big part of that is what do you have to give up? How much of a future do you have to mortgage for? So, you know, you're trying to fill in around the team and Dubas has said himself that he's not sure that it'll be the biggest names. It may be, you know,

just teams, the players that help them all over the lineup. Who of the guys that have been called up to play with the Leafs, the Holmberg and anderson and mcmahon and who do you like aston reese who who gets those bottom spots in your mind even if they make an ad or two yeah i mean i'd like bobby mcmahon when he's been up i thought he might have a little longer look than he did um but but i don't know if there's there's anybody you looked at i mean i'm i look more at the uh when Kemp, Kerr, Foote, and Engvall together.

I thought it was a very solid third line. And then, you know, with injuries or different call-ups, you see different combinations. Holmberg, I'd be very comfortable with going into the playoffs with him as your number four center, for sure. But I still think there's that. You know, Aston Reese I like because I think he embraces the role. You know, you remember when Mikheyev was here,

it was always about he wanted more ice time. He wanted better responsibility and options to put up better numbers. I think it's so important for your bottom six guys to embrace the role, to say, if I'm going to get eight minutes a game, and I think Aston Reese is one of those guys that give me my eight minutes and I'll deliver something for you because, you know, you show up without a contract and training camp, you make the team, you know, he's just thrilled to be here.

So I think that's what you're kind of looking at from your bottom six is the guys that are very comfortable in saying, okay, we don't have the most glorious roles, but we take a lot of pride in being able to do our jobs. Ralph, we had a pretty healthy conversation yesterday on the vision of even a Pat Kane coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs and where he would fit in. And is it with Tavares?

Is it with Nylander? Is it with Marner? But that was based on an assumption that you were going to get a good Pat Kane. You called the game last night. You saw him. Is there anything that could get you excited to say all this guy needs is a fresh coat of paint on a new team, or was last night one of those games where you said, maybe he's best if he shuts it down? Yeah, there was nothing last night that said, boy, that's the cup right there.

If he can swing that deal, it's in the bank. I think one of the things you worry about as well is, you know he doesn't really want to leave. You know, he talked about disappointment and the trade Tarasenko going to the Rangers. But you wonder how much his heart

would be in it. I think that would be my concern. I think you can even look at Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary last year. I think he knew he was on his way out. So how invested was he in the playoffs? You know, I think you can even look at Johnny Gaudreau in Calgary last year. I think he knew he was on his way out, so how invested was he in the playoffs? I think those things do come into play. He's already won his Cups and his NHL awards, Patrick Kane has. And it's not a knock on him and his abilities right now as a player,

but you just wonder if that intangible is there, if he'd be able to bring that to win another championship with a different team. I think that's a pretty valid concern. Ralphie, I know we have you on talk about the Leafs all the time, but you mentioned Eric Carlson earlier. I wanted to know your thoughts on the Oilers and what's going on there. I know they lost last night,

but does that look like Canada's best hope this year? Maybe you're a Jets guy, Flames guy, but boy, the Oilers sure look pretty good to me. Yeah, but again, it's kind of what the Leafs are going through with the opening. Jack Campbell's been better of late, but you still wonder, is defense and goaltending going to be the downfall for them? You know, certainly they've got the, hard to argue,

they've got two of the best players in the world. But, and, you know, I think Evander Kane has certainly given them a different element as Zach Hyman. But I think I'd still give the Leafs a, oh, no, I shouldn't say this either. You guys are going to tape this and stick it on Twitter or something. I'm going to get crucified later for it.

I don't know if I'd say Edmonton is a clear-cut favorite. I think the Leafs are up there, but Edmonton may get a little more favorable first-round opponent, that's for sure. You know, you touched on zach hyman and you've been calling the leafs games for a long time you we all watched him get uh i think it was lou lamarillo at the time that traded for his rights out of florida he comes to the leafs he works himself into a scenario where he's on the number one line,

albeit some people question this guy being on a line with Matthews or Marner. And Babcock just said, no, this is the guy that could drive lanes open for the star players. And then the Leafs lose him. Ralphie ends up in Edmonton. And on pace, if I I last checked was for about 96 points you saw this coming right

from the get go didn't you oh yeah as soon as they got him from Florida I hope they win the cup while he's here because they're not going to be able to hold on to him no but I mean there's you give him a lot of credit.

He's worked. I mean, I don't think you've, out of all the players you've ever seen, he's one guy you never question his work ethic or his desire. But, you know, pretty charmed life, too, to end up in Toronto at the same time Matthews and Marner and Tavares, and then you decide you're going to cash in on your free agency to play with McDavid and Dreisaitl. I mean, that's pretty much a dream career already, isn't it? And he's delivered.

I mean, it's not as if he's not a big part of that success either, but a little different than, say, starting in Arizona or Chicago and, you know, trying to find your way in the NHL. So he's been a great fit, and whether you give Lou or Mike Babcock credit for seeing that in a player. Let's face it, there's skill that has to be there as well. Look at how long it took for the Leafs last year to find Michael Bunting to play with Matthews and Marner.

You always think it's an easy thing to play with skilled players, but you've got to bring a certain element to it, and Zach Hyman's been able to do that. Hey, who was your Matthews and Marner in Newmarket when you played? Oh, let's see. Marty Dahlman. I don't know if you remember Marty Dahlman. I do remember Marty, yes.

He's a 50-goal guy there. Yeah. I'll go Darrell Evans because Evie had the goal in overtime in the miracle in Manchester. Yeah. And what I loved about Evie, and he does color for the Kings radio broadcast, we used to stay out after practice.

Grant Fear was a goalie when he scored off the faceoff. And we used to try to replicate that goal. And anyone sweeping the stands or whatever was in danger, because I don't know how heavy he scored in overtime. It would be off the glass or the scoreboard everywhere, trying to find that top corner off the draw again. But, I mean, he could hammer it. Like one of his nicknames was Boyd Reggie,

because the guys compared him to reggie jackson yeah how hard he could hammer it but uh yeah that's that's all i got at the end that's good enough for us ralphie always good enough for us thanks for joining us pal uh sorry i hope it was good enough thanks ralph kim ralph radio color analyst for the Toronto Maple Leafs. You've seen that, right? The miracle on Manchester with Evans scoring the big goal? No, I don't think I have. Outside of obviously their Stanley Cups, man.

That was an incredible moment beating the Edmonton Oilers. The great Edmonton Oilers, the great Edmonton Oilers. Yeah. They're too young. I got some highlight searching to do here. All right, anywhere else you want to go? Yeah, I got a question for you guys. There's a theory that I don't know if one of you brought it up to me

or I heard it somewhere, but it's something I've been thinking about a lot with this trade deadline coming up and the Tampa Bay Lightning looming, and I watched a lot of the Tampa Bay Lightning looming, and I watched a lot of the Tampa Bay Lightning again. They lost last night 1-0, but they kicked the absolute crap out of Phoenix. Tenney just played unbelievable.

Connor Ingram had the game of his life. They lost to Phoenix last night? Yeah, 1-0. Happens, man. Happens. I mean, they still got a stinking point that doesn't help Leaf fans. Right. We can kick this theory around with Luke, too, after the break, and we can do it even after Luke, but

is there any part of you that just is like, maybe you just don't do anything at the deadline? For the Leafs? Even if you're going to spend your first-round pick, your Matthew Nyes, your Fraser Mitten, you look down the road, whatever your assets you think you have, your Topis, your Ronis,

like, are they going to, like, Tampa is really good. Like a concession. Like, we don't think we can beat that team. I think the Leafs, as presently constituted, can give them a run. But if you get, you know, Ryan O'illy and jake mccabe are you that much closer like is it that much of a difference like you just roll with knives and keep your picks and maybe you hope that you can beat them like is that crazy you take the point you're making and tweak it a bit and say okay we're gonna add you know a a depth guy or two and maybe a 70 and

take a kick. Like, they're obviously going to do something. It's just a matter of do you want to spend the things you're talking about? Well, I know we're going to go to break here soon, but I think Sam brings up the point that if you're watching Boston carefully and you really, really believe that it'll take something huge to knock them off you know or if you want to lump in tampa like you guys love boston too much how i like tampa more than boston how aggressive uh do you let kyle be and who above kyle will go

we still got to protect a little bit of the next three, four, five years. If he can't be aggressive, they shouldn't keep him employed. If you don't trust him to make trades, then fire him. But you can in the next two weeks hurt what the team potentially could look like in the next five or seven years. For sure he can. And that somebody above Kyle needs to be wary of that. Well, that somebody then should have either employed him for longer or employed him for less time.

Because you wrote about it and how he's in this position where you've left him in a spot where he has to make it. He has to go big. But I would think that more than ever brendan shanahan would have to be uh the eyes and ears for leaf ownership bell and and rogers to say that i'm not gonna let this guy have a green light and maybe sink us for five or seven years and if you're gonna get if you're gonna give up matthew nize like somebody's got to be going okay if we if we move matthew knives nize

who's it for and where is the rate of return in three or five years if nize is somewhere else helping someone how about this well then the spotlight to me goes like this i mean brendan if you if if matt nyes comes in and plays well and you know they god forbid get past the first round or something it's a much easier trade to make in the first in the summer than it is at the deadline like there's way more guys available in the summer if you're looking to like really improve but i i just no i just, I don't think there's enough. Are you saying trade Matthew Nyes in the summer? Maybe. He plays well.

Like, I don't think there's anybody outside of Timo Meyers, which is a flying pig thing to me. Like, when pigs fly, I don't think that's going to happen. I don't think there's anyone I'm looking at that's anywhere close to worth Matthew Nyes to trade at this point. Like, I guess Chikrin, that doesn't seem like it's going to happen either. Like, there's other I'm looking at that's anywhere close to worth Matthew Nyes to trade at this point. Like, I guess Chikrin. That doesn't seem like it's going to happen either.

Like, there's other teams that are hot to trot. Like, I am really starting to – I've been watching Tampa a lot recently. They're really rounding into form. They look excellent, better, in fact, than last year. I just don't know of all the names that are available, anyone's going to get you that much closer. I really don't. I really don't. Yeah, I think – I think that's a legitimate point yeah see i you know to me it's quitter talk it's like it is it's like what are we talking about here like it's not you took him to game

seven within a goal last game and this year going boy they sure went into a bunch of games i don't know if we want to try hard but they're But they're better than they were last year. Sammy's point is. By what metric? Your opinion of the last few games? Hagel's better. Colton's better. Okay.

Perry's worse. Maroon's worse. And Belmar's worse. Braden Point was hurt the whole playoffs series last year. Like, Sergachev's better. This is nonsense, Todd. Okay. Anyways, I'm just saying.

It's a thought that's possible. I'm with Sammy on this one. I think there's legit. and it's not me quitting. It's just you have to be realistic here. They're not going to do nothing. Right? Don't trade your first round pick in Matthew Nights for this year. You know, we see sexy names being mentioned every day by insiders just to keep the interest going. sure how reality sets in that you're going to get someone that

could definitively be a game changer to beat Tampa in Boston. If Timo Meier doesn't qualify as a definitive game changer, then you're asking them to get McDavid. You may not get him. You may not get him.

If they trade Matthew Nyes for Timo Meier at this deadline, okay. Yeah. you lump it in there yeah i would i guess i don't know i don't want to see i don't want to see how many assets i don't think you have enough assets to go get chicken and timo meyer i don't one of them is going to cost you matthew nyes right and then after that you are now running the risk of, like, turning a team into a Chicago Blackhawks in five or seven years. Well, that's fine with me. Then if it's not a guy like that, then I don't want to see him go either.

But, you know, then it's someone else and it's not nice. Then it's, okay, you want to do Barbashev and Gavrikov? You know, the Gavrikov-Askins, it's ridiculous right now, but maybe it ends up being a first and a fourth and a fifth or something okay we gotta go let's go okay we'll come back did you tf luke fox for me already i did we said we're gonna talk to luke but he's a good guy to run this by too so we'll keep this conversation going quick break listen to what we have to tell you uh until we back. Real Kipper and Bourne.

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. All right, Tammy, is he ready to go? All right, from a galaxy far, far away, let's welcome in Luke. Are you my father? Did you get that when you were a kid in school at all?

That's all I got. I got Luke Skywalker and Luke Duke from Dukes of Hazzard. You do look like Luke Skywalker. You could pass for maybe Yoda or... I don't know. I forget my character. Can't be as bad as Jason Bourne in terms of frequency, so I have no sympathy.

Congratulations on the book. Thanks, fella. And even more so what it took to get to the point to write it. Seriously, that's an amazing accomplishment. I can't wait to read it. Thanks, buddy. That means a lot to me. Number one right now on Amazon. Oh, yeah? Making us proud.

Off to a good start. I'm going to have to spring for an Amazon Prime free trial and get this done. I know I do that every so often, too. Treat myself to a free trial yeah i gotta take the attention off his book for one second uh i wrote an article for the toronto star uh today uh luke and it kind of plays around kyle dubas and the next two weeks um really uh your opinion right now on maybe the the pressure he may feel or not feel,

or where do you think his headspace is right now, Luke? Oh, I think he's under pressure. Absolutely. But I also think that he's smart and patient and realizes that the decisions he makes in the next two weeks aren't just for the Maple Leafs, they're also for his resume, for what his next job may be after this,

if they don't get out of the first round. So I would be very surprised if he did something reckless. I take him at his word when he says that he's not going to trade his first-round pick or Matthew Nye as his top prospect, who isn't signed, for a rental. I do think if he were to go that big, we're talking, you know, Timo Meier,

something like that. I think he's going to be very cautious when it comes to rentals, and that's why you hear names like Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty and Barbashev and these guys that might not move the needle, but are the safe play. I mean, you know, we had a little bit of a chit-chat

before the break here, and to me, the, you know, do-nothing sort of play for the future's sake is walks you into a loss, and then you're up, you got contracts up on matthews and neil and you're never guaranteed to be back in this position you know it is going to be fascinating to see if dubas feels the same desperation i'm talking about to sort of you know you got to push chips in here a little bit what are your thoughts on what tampa bay is and the gap between the perceived gap between them and toronto who i'll remind people in their show are currently ahead of them in the

standings. Yeah. Well, by a point, well, just pointing that out. There's three main things to me that where Tampa has the edge in there. Three really important things.

One is the goaltender. Ilya Samsonov has one playoff game win all right I didn't know he had any Vasilevsky and he's lost six playoff games that's that's his record that's his experience oh my god and he's already shown admitted to us bouts of nervousness like going up against his old team, throwing it in, you know, and I don't blame him for it, but the game where he was thrown in suddenly, impromptu, when Matt Murray went down with his ankle. And just, you compare that to the, you know,

nerves of steel that Vasilevsky has and the resume Vasilevsky has that concerns me if i'm a fan the second thing is the bottom six you know tampa has stars toronto has stars we all know that toronto's big four stars have to perform in the playoffs they have to carry this team but you just look at tampa's third line right now and it's's Colton, Paul, Nemesnikoff. You look at their fourth line, has experience in nastiness in Maroon, Galmar, Perry,

and the Leafs are running this, trotting out Marlies and bringing in new Marlies every other week and just still having tryouts. There is no identity to the bottom six, and that's all due respect. I think Camp's a good player. I think Engvall has his moments, all these things.

But just there's a consistency and an experience in that bottom six that would frighten the life out of me. And I think Kyle's going to address it. I just don't know if he's going to address it directly by seeking out a couple cheap bottom six guys or by getting someone in for a second line that bumps people down but that has to be addressed and the other thing is mental this is a team that knows what it takes the other team thinks that it has what it takes and hopes that it can figure it out the

other the the confidence hanging around a tampa dressing room same with Boston, it'll blow your mind. You know, the one thing that we all agreed on pretty much at the start of the show, that it was a bit of a throwaway game. And Luke, you didn't have to go far from Sheldon Keefe to understand that he put zero stock in last night's game for reading or evaluating much of anything. But the one thing that I did get out of last night's game for reading or evaluating much of anything. But the one thing that I did get out of last night was that when it came to the offense, it's still last night against Chicago,

who looked like an American Hockey League team. You had to go to Nylander, Tavares, and Matthews to score, and you didn't get anything out of a third line. No Engvild to be found, no camp, no fourth line contributions at all. If they don't score, if the big boys don't score and carry it, and last night was another example of it, outside of two goals from Timmons and Zandine, they don't win.

And what if one of them's hurt, right? Like, even in that five-game stretch without Matthews, they looked like a completely different team. They went two and three. You know, they had a couple nice moments, a couple good games. But over a seven-game series against a legitimate team? Forget about it.

I mean, we saw it with Tavares in the Montreal series. So this all goes down to roster design, in my mind. It's not basketball, it's hockey, and you put all your eggs in four baskets, and those guys better be healthy, they better perform or else you have nothing there you have nothing there to pick you up during those lulls and and i think it's a serious concern and also on the concern list while we're addressing those is uh morgan riley this season has not seemed to have found a level that we know he can play at, the level he showed in the postseason last year.

If you're not getting that version of Morgan, it doesn't feel like you have a number one D. Have you seen it? Is it coming around? What are your thoughts on Morgan Riley's play so far? It's starting to. I mean, he's got two goals now. It's funny. I mean, he's a defenseman, but he does like to contribute offensively like

that's his identity and i think the the point where it seemed to come around and it's no coincidence is is when tj brody got healthy he has he absolutely has to be uh paired with a safe defenseman. So, and by using Brody there, then you can't use Brody with Hall. And then Giordano, who's 39 years old, has to move up. And, you know, maybe on a contender, he's a third pair guy. I think he's been fantastic this season. He's actually the only Maple Leafs blue liner to have played every game now. And he's kind of, you know, making father time look silly. He's played phenomenal,

but I wonder on a real true Stanley cup champion, if Gio's more like a four or five guy and not, you know, a number three. So as for Riley, I think he, I think he's fine. I think he knows what he is they know what he is but he has to have the right partner or else things get shaky quick we're joined by luke fox writer for sportsnet.ca uh luke what are you hearing on matt murray in terms of his progress to get back in the lineup and And when he does, is there enough time to have Matt Murray challenge for Samsonov yet again for a number one spot?

Or is he realistically in a battle right now with Joseph Wall to back up? Oh, no. I think he's still ahead of Wall when he's healthy. But we don't know when that is. They're being purposely vague, in my mind, about his timeline. Last we heard, it was a couple weeks, and we did see him on the ice Thursday, a week ago today, but he wasn't a full participant in practice at all.

He wasn't taking shots from the regulars. He was off on his own pad doing some very light work. Then, you know, he hasn't been, they haven't had like a proper team practice that he's participated in yet. So he needs to get a couple of those under his belt for sure. Now, they're off today. So maybe, you know, that'll be one of the things

myself and other reporters watch for tomorrow to see if he's participating and and that would be a huge step but the runway is shrinking here and samsonoff's played excellent you know i think he i think he's been great and i think it's he has the number one job it's his to run with in my mind um unless he hits the skids but we're running out of games here i think think, to pass the torch. I think he's gained the trust of not only the coaching staff because his ability to stay healthy and his performance is strong, but also the skaters in front of him.

There was a really telling moment, that game that Murray backed out of with the sore ankle and Samsoff was kind of thrust into action, where Morgan Raleigh said, he's our guy in relation to Samsoff. And until that point, the kind of company line from all the players was, we don't care who's in that, we have faith in both guys. And maybe it was just something that slipped out, but the fact that he said, Sammy's our guy, that spoke a lot to me.

Yeah, that's a good pickup for sure. Yeah, that is a shift in a mindset. Yeah. Talking about mindsets, I'm curious. We hear you, we play a lot of clips on our show, and you always ask great questions for Sheldon Keefe, often challenging ones. Yeah, what are you doing?

It's a partnership. Don't ask them tough questions. Do you get any sort of pushback? It's a partnership. You don't ask them tough questions. Do you get any sort of pushback? How's your relationship with Kiefer after pushing him sometimes? I like to think that we're good. I might need two hands to count the number of times I've irked him with a question. I know you guys play that it's getting redundant clip. That came from one of my questions.

But you know what? I really like him as a guy. He doesn't, he'll answer everything. And I also liked the fact that he's honest. Like you guys were talking about last night, the fact that he said, I'm not reading into this game because that was barely an NHL team. I'm paraphrasing. But that's what he said.

And I love that. I love that he didn't try to sugarcoat it. I think there's moments where he wants to say even more and bites his tongue because he realizes what writers like me, shows like your guys show. You know, Sammy's waiting there with a clip button.

Oh, no, no. He's saved. I think we would have got canceled by now if Sheldon didn't save our show with his honest clips. His kippers clippers. Can't confirm. No, no. He's been great.

Yeah. I don't think he should be fired if you're asking me that. Yeah, that's good. Just to the ad, though, I mean, we do believe if one goes, the other goes. Is there any scenario, Luke, you see that they make a general manager's change and keep Sheldon? No. No.

They're tied at the hip. Yeah. Okay. And I just wonder, I mean, I know Brendan's on good relations with the board and everything. I wonder if it's an embarrassing first round loss, if it even goes deeper. And that's not any knowledge I have. I just wonder if they're just kind of sick of it. Brendan Shanahan deeper?

Yeah. Do you think that's a positive? Like what if they got swept or what if they lost in five and they took a step back? The one thing that you can always not completely count on is any, any city's reaction, right? So as, if you're a, if you're one of the board of directors and you think that, you know, if the changes can only come at one person's expense or maybe two,

and you don't know the hour of the fire, right? And I don't know, you're right. Could it go deeper at this point with the level of frustration from Leaf fans and Leaf Nation? I wouldn't put it past anything to happen. Just win, baby. Right? Yeah, I just.

I think it's a long shot, Luke, that it would cost Brendan Shanahan his job this summer, a first-round loss. That, to me, is highly unlikely. Okay. Yeah. I'm not calling for his head. I just wonder, like, Shanahan has kind of hitched his wagon to Dubas so firmly and been very loyal to him, and Dubas has been so loyal to Keith.

I just wonder, you know, at what point do you make the cut? Yeah. All right. You're not calling for his head on our show, but you're saving it for a live press conference. All right. Keep up the good work, Keefe. We appreciate it.

Way to go, Luke. Hey, listen. I hate this guy. If you need any equipment on your next press conference, I got a garage full for you. I don't know what that means. Well, it means like... Physical equipment.

Yeah, physical equipment. Shoulder pads, a helmet, a cage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? If you need to go in there armed a little bit, I'll hook you up. Elbows up. We'll kill that penalty for you.

All right. Luke Fox. All right luke thanks buddy yeah he does stand out in those press conferences does well you know and it's supposed to be it's toronto there's all this media but if everyone asks gentle questions then it's not really that you know tough media city gentle show no we don't want a gentle show help us up bud the next coach hopefully is long-winded too i mean for next year did you did you do we even play the clip where sheldon started to say that you expect better than that in the nhl and then he's he's gonna say in an nhl game or from an nhl team oh we haven't played that yet today this isn't it well we got a tired team in here and a back-to-back.

It's a team that's... I don't think the game had much life to it. So it's not what you come to expect in terms of... He's trying. I'm in the NHL and I'm in a lot of motion. He's trying.

He's like, oh, don't kill Chicago. We're happy to get through with two points. Oh, my. That's a save. We got to save that one. He was doing his best not to put down Chicago, but he couldn't. Yeah, it's really not what you pay $200 to see expect from an nhl um you're a diehard leaf and you leave that game last night you're still pissed like i just watched yeah sure

you got to see matthew shooter under the bar willie kneelator scored a goal but like you're like holy crap no one wants a good game they that's what they want they want to win i don't know to be honest compare that game to the one a few mondays ago with calgary and the rangers oh my god like different sport like no different planet yes it takes two to tango you know like the leafs brought the energy and played well they just they were dancing by themselves i mean they knew pretty exactly nine seconds into the match they knew yeah willie scores but blackhawks yeah all right take a look around the league what stood out last night dylan larkin yeah he hadn't he's got nine points in five games since the all-star break and no new contract i had it proposed to me today

if you could get larkin on the bo horvat contract what What do you think? And I have an easy answer. It depends what year this is, Kip. I think it'll end up there. That number? Yes, sir. Right around that ballpark. I mean, I love that. I would happily give that to Dylan Larkin. I think the way the salary cap is going over the next eight years,

if you can have a number two centerman making eight and a half who is a legitimate point per game needle mover hard nose guy i love that very happy with that so i don't know what he's asking detroit for maybe nine i had i'd heard the uh the barzell contract okay and what do we have barzell at nine is he nine five barzell i don't think he's that high nine two five ballpark yes i'm uh moments away from providing this answer but it's taking longer than i had hoped where the hell are the islanders nine point one five nine point one five yeah so i don't want to give him quite that but which starts next season by the way it it's apparent that uh steve eiserman doesn't want to give him that yeah i mean the idea that guys should

sign a deal that are immediately bargains is not reality i think or not necessarily like tage thompson's deal you know you're like you know where was your agent on that one should he maybe hold on pump the brakes a bit yeah that's a disaster well now you're taking in now you're brad marchand you know you're making six and a half when you're a heart trophy guy for the next god knows how long what's thompson's deal for seven years you just like you're a 12 million dollar immediately, but you pissed away 15 maybe at, right. What do you mean? You're saying like,

I'm just saying just with his extension, he's, he's not a seven, five, seven, five, seven, one,

whatever. If it's around there over seven years, what was it? Sammy? What was, uh, come on. I think fingers here.

I think it was seven years, seven years and like seven years, was it sammy what was uh come on i think fingers here i think it was seven years seven years and like seven years but how much 7.1 7.49.99 when like that's like right now he's he's lost 20 million dollars because he's not a seven he's a nine i you know nine is even i don't know like nine and a half he's third or fourth was he fourth in the nhl in scoring he's 25 he's six seven just just to backtrack a little bit on on dylan lurkin like this has guys the the steven stamp coast eiserman tampa Bay negotiation all over again. Absolutely. This is a complete blanket where you got a guy that really wants to stay and he wants to get paid.

And maybe to Stevie Iserman's credit, he's like, the part where you really want to stay, I'm going to challenge you for it and maybe save the team. Half a million. $750,000 a year. And I'd like to have that. I'm not going to pretend that doesn't matter. That matters. So here's the question.

Dylan Larkin. Michigan guy. I don't think he's ever been here's the question. Dylan Larkin. Michigan guy. I don't think he's ever been out of the state. I don't think he's ever played a hockey game. No, he only plays within the borders of Michigan. Yes. So will Dylan Larkin now leave Michigan for the first time in his life to go play hockey because he wants an extra 500,000 or 700,000 a year seems unlikely doesn't it I mean unlikely probably not I mean he said the

best thing he ever did was play with Mitch Marner so Stevie Iserman is going to try to save that 500 to 750 a year. You don't think there's any chance Detroit falls out of it enough by March 3rd? That they say, what's Dylan Larkin worth at half a 6.3 million as a rental? A lot. Like a couple of firsts. They won four in a row now, though. They're within sniffing distance. They really are within sniffing distance.

I was just looking at this. They're four points out of a playoff spot two points last night many games in hand in fact if you go by by points percentage here they they are way up there they're they're tied with the sabers they're in games played and everything so they're right there he does have an nt for this year, though. Does he? Is it no move? Yeah, the only year on the... Yeah. Have a chit-chat with him about that.

No, he's not going. I'm not going to trade him. No, I know. But... He's trading him, renting him out, and then... Bringing him back? Yeah, bringing him back. I'm waiting for someone to do that.

Someone who's like, I love the Red Wings. I want to be a Red Wing for life. I'm going to let them turn me into two firsts, and I'm going back. I won't be two firsts. For a retained Dylan Larkin, you don't think? Talking about Gavrikov being worth a first, a third, and a fourth, or whatever they're asking. Rentals are a first and a prospect.

Okay. If I'm him, then. I love the Red Wings. And if you know he's not staying. Yeah. I'll go on a cup run with uh whoever send me away i'm coming back in the summer if you agree if you agree that in my next deal that 500 or 700 we were talking about i'm getting that you know what i mean like we were at between eight and a half to nine you give me the nine i'll let you trade how do you think who was the guy the sharks that like said they were like we promise we'll give you all this money and then

he stunk and they gave him a million the bank the bank how would that make you feel if you just you absolutely knew a guy was coming in for just 30 games and he was gonna just leave yeah well i mean you would say that and i'm sure you'd like to win a Stanley Cup wherever he goes. He'd give you an effort. Right? Going to run for the Leafs, take him to the second round, the promised land. The promised land. And then head back to Detroit.

Yeah. Yeah. All right, Sammy, you got oil or possible trades. What are you thinking of? Borny had something that he was. Yeah. I had a guy send me. Ooh, a Yeah. I had a guy send me a. Oh, a guy.

I had a guy. Just a. Had a guy. Who knew a guy. Oh, yeah. You know how this stuff goes. Talk to a guy. Yeah.

This is now we're to the guy who's the gardener for whatever. All right. But the suggestion was just what would be enough to get Ekman Larson? He had. Not Ekman Larson. Carlson. Oh, sorry. Carlson out of San Jose.

Oh, that's the guy that is in the cafeteria. Yeah. He asked me the same question. Okay. So the, the, the thought was a first, a first,

a second, Yamo and Barry, and you get Carlson at 7 million. A first, a first, a second, a second, Yamamoto and Barry,

and you get a $ million dollar carlson so they're retaining four yeah so you're looking at 40 or whatever that is retained on carlson if you're the oilers do you do you make a move that significant uh yes yeah i'm the oilers yes carl i don't know it's seven million what if i'm the owner seven times four right yeah what if i'm the owner of the san jose sharks and i'm saying you're giving me two firsts and a second and i get this this guy off my books you know i'm only paying four now we're 16 i gotta eat 16 million and eat 16 million to buy yourself two firsts in a second

Barry and Yammo whatever I'd want a better process I'd rather not Yamamoto see first of all I need a body back can I interest you in one slightly used Yessie Puglia Jarvie

I need youth can I give you a Bouch. I need youth, right? I need youth. Okay. Can I give you a Bouchard or... I think it's going to take a Bouchard or a Broberg. Yeah. Yeah, I need a... Yeah, someone who's closer to being able to play. A blue chip. Yeah.

But... But, like, Carlson... I think seven's a really good number. Oh, Eric Carlson, the seven million is delightful. Like, think about now. But I'd be shopping that around. Envision now that Carlson ends up winning the Norris on a bad San Jose team, and he's UFA.

How many teams would run to sign him at seven million times four? Every single team in the league. All right. So that's all you need to know is that the Oilers would love Carlson and willing to take a chance at 7 times four for him. Oh, my God, yes. And listen, this is after physicals. This is after, once again, checking under the hood,

making sure the foot and the ankle is okay okay you've also made the best point though that he has a no trade in edmonton no disrespect to edmonton itself but not it's not san jose wow there's a wife involved family members you don't just trade yourself they have large impacts on decisions they have a few i don't know if you've uh and leaned on by you know i'm not sure they partner they want to start their car with a with a block heater you don't know if you've been leaned on by your partner. They want to start their car with a block heater. You don't want to have a heated driveway, kid? Didn't Connor take a lot of heat for his heated driveway?

Which is the most ridiculous thing ever. Rich guy gets a heated driveway in Edmonton. If I was rich, I'd just have a flamethrower. That's what I would do. Torching off the driveway. Alright, part of my article today, I did Game thrower. That's what I would do. Torching off the driveway. All right. Part of my article today, I did talk to somebody who, you know. Cafeteria?

Yeah, outside the cafeteria. Okay, okay, okay. Timo Meier and the Winnipeg Jets. Hmm. And the fact that there's going to be tremendous turnover moving forward. And where do they want to go with Shifley? We know Wheeler's done after next year. So is Shifley.

Pierre-Luc Dubois would like in a perfect world not to sign his qualifying offer next year and preferably be moved this summer he'll be gone this so 100% right Timo Meyer may be one of those guys where if you can trade for him and bring him in it gives you a better chance to to get him long term if you hit his number then it would be bidding oh yeah uh with other teams as a ufa our team's gonna be allowed to discuss anything with meyer in his camp before a trade that would be whether whether it's allowed or not allowed is irrelevant okay it will happen of course is that does that answer your question it does i can tell you timo meyer's agent whoever it is he's he's fielding decks and calls about yeah that's like if winnipeg says you know we're not no one's choosing winnipeg necessarily not many people are if we tell his agent we'll do eight times he is eligible to sign right now is he not

yeah he's got his contract runs out yeah at the end of the year you is eligible to sign right now is he not yeah he's got his contract runs out yeah at the end of the year you're allowed to sign 12 months out of your uh contract uh expiring whether you are rfa or ufa they they i would imagine that conversation has to happen and an agreement for you to go get Timo Meier. You don't give him up to watch him walk out the door again. You're right. Watching where Winnipeg is at, you're about to be without

Wheeler for sure, Dubois for sure, like Scheifele maybe, maybe not. There's probably a few debating whether or not Timo Meier would fall into the Bo Horvat, Dylan Larkin, eight and a half. I have him above that, but yeah. You have him above that? Okay. Yeah, but not significantly so.

Even if Winnipeg has to overpay half a million or $750,000 and take them to nine and a half or even 10 yeah you may have to because you're winnipeg edmonton they're challenged to get go ufa's canada it is it's hard yeah outside of toronto and maybe vancouver there there are challenges to to attract ufas and i think people can i hopefully take that without it being a slight the taxes are higher and it's colder and there's pressure and there's pressure it's not you know listen you asked me like hey you want to go play in san jose where flops the rink every day and no one care well that sounds pretty good i'll do my best the reason why matthew kachuk is no longer a calgary flame yeah i did not want to be in Canada.

Fair enough. You want to be in Florida where it's warm. Let's just say it. Sure. Yes. Do you remember when we had his dad on? Yes. And he mentioned that customs.

That's the way. Is that your best Keith impression? Chuck, Chuck. By the way, Timo Meyers' agent, Claude Lemieux. There you go. Yeah. So, but it's reality. Yeah.

And they don't want to lose their luggage. Also that. You know, it's an interesting mindset, though. You talk about, like, the lack of pressure. Like, some people believe, you know, they are superstars, and they want that pressure. It'll make them celebrities they like the attention there are certain people drawn to that finding those people can be hard but

i kind of feel like austin matthews is that and that should be encouraging for leafs fans that i think he likes this right i don't think he wants to be somewhere no one's paying attention to you all right i'm here all day i guess don't get me in trouble here the show's end i asked a simple question all marks uh sorrows tonight yeah what do you think i'm i just like watching the bruins and tampa just scouting just you know i'm pouring over the tape did you uh play my app next rewards Rewards, yesterday? Yes, I did. I played it nonstop. I am rich. I'm running your pockets, buddy. Okay.

He's living in your jeans. We went from the NFL, which was, you know, like once a week you can play it, to like NHL hockey, which every night you can play up to four games. Guess what? Guess what I'm doing tonight? Grinding on Next. Four games at once is too many. It's just like well now i'm doing the math and i i could

give away like a free cup of coffee every night every night to every player yeah don't all download it at once please uh yeah so i would say boston nashville is the best i guess florida washington they're kind of some it's a bit of a poopoo platter of games tonight a ton of great ones i wouldn't say detroit calgary both two teams fighting for playoff position good jersey match up there a lot of red i'm uh i'm on the telly tonight oh nice he's featuring david pasternak uh we'll have a bit on him he is leading the nhl in one-timers this year uh and just just out of first and one-time goals so we're a little package on pass or not taking one tease. UC Saros, best goalie in the NHL by goal saved above expected.

All-mark number two. So the best goalies going head-to-head in the league tonight. Is Nashville out of it? Yeah, Nashville's actually not just out of it. They're bad. What do you do with Saros? That's a good carcass to pick at that's a sexy one yeah there's there's meat yeah oh my goodness to pick from that one a couple of if you're talking the

leafs fans hyenas well i mean if we're talking about a guy i would trade knives for ekholm is at the top yesterday he's like hey lumbers around a little i was like amazing to me bring him here we need a lumber lumber jack he's got a beard i want him all right just like that good show today boys we're out of here yeah thank you to jim ralph thank you to luke, sportsnet.ca. How about tonight? You got the double header. You got to stay until 1 a.m. Are you good for just an early game?

Aki Sancho and gone, my man. Good for you. See you later. All right. Thanks to all of you for watching, listening, iTunes, Spotify, YouTube channel, Sportsnet Now. We love bringing it to you every day, weekly, on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show.

We're back tomorrow. Give us a rating and review if you can. Thumbs up on YouTube. See you tomorrow.