Real Kyper & Bourne - Deadline or Dudline?

Episode Date: March 3, 2023

The deadline has come and gone, and Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee kick off deadline day by reacting to the Leafs win over the Calgary Flames last night, Luke Schenn's physical presence, the fit of the additions in an 11 forward/7 defensemen lineup and Mitch Marner's importance. Host of the Spittin' Chiclets podcast Paul Bissonnette joins in-studio to discuss his worries for the Leafs after the deadline, the toughness of the bottom six and Dubas' future (18:33). Doug MacLean joins the guys for off-the-rails Friday to share his thoughts on the Bedard sweepstakes, the biggest winners and losers from the deadline and how the Senators negotiate their defencemen group (41:56). Colby Armstrong stops by the studio to break down what he likes about the Leafs' moves, how they match up against Tampa in a likely first round playoff matchup and just how good the Bruins are (1:05:47). The guys close with in-depth looks at the Leafs' new aquisitions' first impressions (1:27:03).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 Van. Just like that. 3 p.m. Eastern and 20 seconds. Your 2023 trade deadline or dudline day. Pencils down, everyone. Pencils down. Is over. Pencils down, everyone. Pencils down. Is over. Now, in all my experience

doing many of these, it ain't over until it's through the queue, I think. That's what they say. Oh, yeah. So, even though no one from here on in can go to the league and push a trade through, there has

been a tendency in the past for trades to wait their turn as long as the paperwork has been done yeah to make it official and sometimes it's gone well past the hour of 3 p.m eastern to officially get a trade call through to the league yeah but judging by the lack of activity i would say that runway is pretty clear right now yeah there is one little thing that you just mentioned to me uh before we went on air and that uh had to do with uh ex-toronto maple leaf jvr yeah which okay you know whatever he he He may go to Detroit. They may flip him for picks. Someone else held Carolina. He's probably somewhere. I just can't believe the Leafs

first overall pick or first round pick for next year is still their pick. I'm really surprised. That's the one thing right now I thought that that was going to be spent on something. So I'm not disappointed. It's been an unbelievable deadline for the Leafss i do think

that how they looked against edmonton might have rattled them a little bit about like how much they have to figure out and sort out and chemistry maybe they're less eager to spend and change i think as rattle as maybe they were possibly around goaltending there's just no alternatives out there. There's just no answers to it. And even if they wanted to give up that first round that you just spoke of seconds ago, there's no place to put it. There's nowhere.

It's not going to add up. One plus one did not equal two in the salary cap era. The math didn't add up yeah i guess not um again it's a it's a very good deadline you're right if if you can have you know exactly exactly what it wants or what you want but if it's not available out there there's nothing you can do to get it um okay jvr wasn't traded at all is the update is that the biggest story of the day or do we need to break down you know got traded curtis lazar goes to new jersey for a fourth all those poor buddies of ours seven hours of curtis lazar and zach mckeown i assume they were breaking down

the other trades i was writing so I didn't get to see much. Jordan Greenway. It's exciting. Two goals in the year. Been traded to Buffalo. Jordan Greenway, yeah, it's a nice pick up. Buffalo's gigantic. What a huge team they are.

That is not stopping us from Off the Rails Friday. Boy, we are going to be off the rails. I don't even know if we're on the rails at all. In about 17 minutes, Doug McClain will start us off. And then we go to Paul Bissonnette, who's on the panel for Sportsnet. Trade deadline, seven hours. He'll join us in about 40 minutes. And then in the back hour, pizza delivery man, Colby Armstrong.

That's all I saw. Can you imagine you spend your whole career in the NHL and the best you can do on a day like today for Sportsnet is deliver pizzas to the desk? It's game time. Let's get hungry. Derek, that's so good.

Really good. What do we need him in here for if you've got that already? Maybe he's going to deliver more. They call me. I show up. I crush an energy drink and away we go. I, yeah. Maybe if he delivers another burgers priest, we'll love him even more.

We've said on this show many times, we can be bought. We can be bought. You look at burgers priest. What a sandwich they make. Really good. I got to be honest, boys. I'm fighting it still. Oh, yeah. Diesel at Burger's Priest? What a sandwich they make. Really good. I gotta be honest, boys. I'm fighting it still. It's hitting.

I got a brick in my stomach right now. It was delicious. I ate the cookie, too. Two or three bites. The last two or three bites I did not need. No, but I ate them anyway because they were delicious. It's good cold, too, by the way. Yeah, yeah. I just kept plowing through. We are glad everybody's aboard to wrap up

what has been uh an incredible week and let's face it uh deadline day was not about 3 p.m eastern today it was about the week deadline we're gonna spend the next uh close to two hours breaking it all down for you so wherever you you are, Sportsnet 590, the fan, our YouTube channel, Sportsnet Now, iTunes, Spotify, we're glad you're aboard and we're going to hopefully make sense of it all

in the very near future, including what we saw last night out of the Toronto Maple Leafs 24 hours later. Like makeup sex, I guess. Get another crack. And it worked out well for the toronto maple leafs last night like an enjoyable experience all around yeah you're a little guilty on a few things so the toronto maple working his bag off oh god it that already off the rails? Yeah. 2-1. Let's change the topic real quick here.

2-1 over a very desperate Calgary Flame team. I'm not sure we saw them really desperate last night. They played exceptionally well against the Boston Bruins earlier this week, only to get shut down. I didn't see the same intensity out of them last night but let's credit the toronto maple leaves for coming up with a real solid uh hockey game where joseph wall was able able to shut down the uh calgary yeah you know i i thought a lot of what sheldon keith thought and we're gonna get to his quotes in a little bit here, but that was a different looking Leafs team.

We've said it a couple times this season, but I don't know if it was 11-7, like having the lines in a blender the way that they were and the pairs in a blender or what, but they definitely looked like a different team in terms of speed. I don't think faster, but I do think they looked heavier

and defensively sound, and it was a bit different looking certainly different than edmonton but just different looking in general do you get that vibe at all i totally got a vibe of this is the way some or most playoff games will and should look like and you can protect a lead without shutting down or you know sitting back yeah and i thought it was a very business-like uh hockey game last night where again the characteristics of ryan o'reilly were there. The characteristics of a Luke Shen were there, albeit, you know, 10 or 11 minutes out of Luke. Yeah. But certainly felt his presence out there. I just thought it was something that I think Leaf fans can hope

get a similar look. Yeah. Albeit, you'll see much more intensity out of a game. Yeah. But that's the look of a playoff hockey game. You know, I said to Sammy before the show that, like, if there's any sort of truth to the way they've been trying to rebuild, you can see the team saying,

we're not going to lose with, you know, the Sandin-Angvall types anymore. You know, we're going to be a grittier-looking, heavier team. It's sure nice, even if it doesn't make them better it's nice to know that shen and mccabe and achari and lafferty and if there's something there will be a little grab a guy and like you know you're going to get a little bit of get away from our goalie and just some looks we haven't seen from the leafs how how about shen just absolutely burying huberdo in front of the net with 15 crosschecks for exactly no reason like he was he did he did nothing and he's just hammering him in the back with his stick and i was like okay guess shen's back but yeah i yeah i gotta say as

discouraged as i was about the performance on Wednesday, I was equally as encouraged about the Leafs, mostly in the third period last night. Because I forget who it was that texted me or tweeted me or somebody said that the Leafs did to the Flames what Tampa has done to the Leafs in big games, in game sixes and game sevens, what other teams have done to the Leafs. They just couldn't get the puck.

It was in deep. It was cycles. They didn't get the middle of the ice at all in the flames. It was an impressive performance. I didn't think they were that great throughout the first couple periods. No. But then the third period, they looked like a whole new team. It's like they found something and they were just relentless, I felt.

Yeah. Heavy. And, yeah, you're right, Sammy, because in the past, it was always about not being able to shut the door or have that killer instinct to put teams away or not let other teams get sniffs sheldon keith loved it absolutely loved it i i'm same way in the early going they weren't awesome or anything like that they didn't generate anything offensively in the first period and i was starting to get a bit worried that this team has been struggling to create but they found it in the third period which was a better look for them the one concern i had from last night is not a concern about their play but like did we learn

anything about who works best with who like did any line stay together or any pair stay together for any significant stretch of time no i saw there was one or two shifts where he had o'reilly centering achari and lafferty i was like oh that's this seems interesting achari lafferty it just like you're right though there was no real flow to who was playing with who but at this point of the season when you have this many guys i don't mind going 11 and 7 for this very reason to see what works before you get into the playoffs like it's a good way to try a bunch of different guys playing with different people so i don't usually love 11 and 7 but i thought it made sense for them last night okay before we get into 11 and 7 we'll follow up that thought sammy let's go to sheldon keef uh on his overview

of the win uh on our first kippersipper. We stuck around in the game. You know, there was early in the game for us, there was not a whole lot of offense available at all. And guys didn't get frustrated, stayed with it. And I just thought that our game and our process of how we were playing just improved through the second period, seemingly shift by shift. Ultimately, we score a goal in the second period off of a great shift in the offensive zone. With an offensive zone change, then Matthews and Marner come over the boards

and playing against tired people with a favorable matchup, and we tie the game. I just thought, you know, you can't really put your finger on why but arthur came out in the third period really focused and committed to me as our best best period of the season best third period of the season to go out get the goal to get the lead and then just how we defended, I thought, was exceptional. The other note there is he says, go out and get the goal to get the lead. And we just need to take a moment to acknowledge we were hard on the top six against Edmonton.

Last night, Marner and Matthews combined for 16 shots. Mitch Marner controlled the hockey game. Every time the puck came near him, everyone else's puck watching, Will. He just dictated the pace to everyone else. I think Sheldon made a mistake in Edmonton. He needed to put and Sportsnet needed to focus on the matchup of Marner versus McDavid.

You have Marner out on the ice with McDavid and you let them go head to head on who's controlling what you're talking about and that's it's going to be an interesting dynamic mitch marner's just off the charts guys like i i don't even want to begin to think about if this guy is out of the lineup or hurt on what the leafs would have looked like without him this year. And not nearly as... Numbers don't support it,

but his importance to the Leafs is pretty darn close to McDavid's without the crazy numbers offensively. Yeah, he was wonderful last night. Absolute difference maker. And that allows the rest of the team to just be big and heavy and do their thing. That's what I love most about that win is

having the balance between the two different types of games they can play with the bottom six heavy and then the breathtaking skill of the guys up top like that's the winning recipe that's what you see from the tampas that's what you see from the bostons that's what you see from teams that go deep is the difference in looks between your bottom six and top six, right? The Ritchie brothers got traded for each other, guys. Troy Stetcher and Nick Ritchie in exchange for Connor Mackey and Brett Ritchie. Are they brothers? Brett Ritchie and Nick Ritchie? I'm almost certain, yeah.

Okay. I don't know. Are they not? Yeah. Yeah. So. All right. Well.

Rich was great. I guess I'll just give him his house, swap it out. We'll anticipate in the next hour if we hear about more fourth line trades yeah that's about all that we expect i haven't heard a word on the leafs i'm still kind of keeping my eye on the timeline as we're talking and it doesn't seem like anyone said they're done or which means perhaps they were sniffing or looking around and not seeing anything in the goaltending side of any upgrades. And this is what it's going to look like. I guess you, you hope and pray that Matt Murray can stay healthy.

We anticipate that he could even start as early as Saturday night. Boy, when you think about that, that has to be his start you're not putting him in versus new jersey next week are you who do they have saturday vancouver vancouver yeah jersey tuesday if i'm not mistaken what a road swing you know just go seattle alberta bc new jersey okay yeah that's a weird one. Don't, when they come, when teams go on that Western road trip, how often do they come

back East and go to another Eastern team? It's always, they go home. That's a strange. And at the end of the road trip, you throw them against one of the best teams in the league. It's a weird one. Yeah. So we're getting Beesonette earlier.

Beesonette, Beesonette is on his way over here now. Okay. He's going to come in for the first segment. I texted Doug. Doug said he's fine to join us at 3 345 so a little bit of movement on the fly here great so uh just letting you guys know that but yeah he's on his way over so joseph wall with the win last night gives up the early shorthanded goal two and a half minutes any oh sammy out of you at all during that um shorthanded goal you didn't really like i mean he's an a it feels like an ahl goalie against a good fast nhl or just beat him with a good deke but i thought

he was solid the rest of the night like i said my going into it last night my opinion does not change of him at all if you ask me mechanically i'll take jose Joseph Wall over Samsonov. He looks bigger to me, even bigger, and he looks calmer. And I don't see as much jerkiness or oversliding your post. I just saw a guy make the saves he was kind of supposed to make last night. And I got it. Calgary? Yeah. Come on. No game breakers there. make the saves he was kind of supposed to make last night and i got it calgary yeah come on no game breakers they're just a bunch of finish pluggers right now and a big reason why they're

on the outside looking in right now i get all of that yeah but just joseph wall was did what he was supposed to do last night yeah for sure and you know he's a capable goal he's had a ton of success in the american league when he's healthy a ton of success in the American League when he's healthy. He's looked good in the NHL so far this year. My contention has not been that Joseph Wall is not going to be a good goalie. Or it's not even that he's not a fine goalie now.

It's that you can't build this whole thing and trust it to a guy with seven games because you just don't know. He's never felt the pressure in the way that some guys who've been in the NHL for years have just doesn't have enough reps yet well if matt murray's hurt kyle doesn't agree with you because he's going to be on the bench i know he doesn't agree with me and i yeah that's i'm digging in on that one unfortunately and i again love to be wrong love to be wrong on that i just i personally don't trust it it makes me nervous no no uh

we should keep on him too. Do you want to do that? We got a Keith clip on Joe Wall? Yes. Let's do it. Yeah, exactly. Tight game. No margin for error. You know, has to face a breakaway early and they score, but didn't phase them the rest of the way. I thought he

was excellent. Poised. Relaxed. Got us through the tough times through that second period and i thought the guys took care of him in the third but uh he was excellent and he looked uh he looked extremely confident in there what was really it's good yeah the confident is what i would agree with i thought in the second period he had more than you know the rest of the game they took care of him pretty well i thought like he said i thought in the second period they were there was the most high danger chances and he made some pretty good saves he did get scored on a second time yeah which was

a that goal reeked that was like a wrister from the top of the circle that beat him and it's funny how we just pretend that didn't happen yeah scrub that one didn't register but yes it was a way off side so it should not in the space-time continuum, it should not have existed, but I saw it happen. Unfortunately, my eyes. Gustafsson as a seventh D under 10 minutes. Yeah. Horrible first play on the shorthanded goal.

Yeah, you know, the pass wasn't helpful, but yeah. No, you can't let that get by you. What's up, brother? How are you? Hey, how'd the juggling go for like nine hours today? Oh, no, no, you guys went on later than TSN. That's where TSN, Sportsnet's gotten really smart there. Yeah.

No, it's been an awesome day. The staff's incredible. It's much like TNT where they just take care of you, make the job easy, and you come on, you don't sound like an idiot. Well, maybe in my case, not that. So no real surprise today, the anticipation that so many big names have been gone.

You knew you were all scrambling to find out where Curtis Lazar was going. Yeah. No, that was probably the biggest name on the board today, and he went, and I'm happy for him. That's great. Well, hey, welcome aboard. the biggest name on the board today. And he went and I'm happy for him. That's great. Well, hey, welcome aboard. Nice to finally see you in person.

And the highlight of the day was being unbuttoned down to your belly button today. Or what's the highlight so far? Leslie and Francis were trying to match me on the buttons. I said, no way it's happening. And then I exposed my chain, which I'm part of the chain gang with the Leafs. I don't know if you guys caught that one on TNT. Because all these young guys for the Leafs, they walk in, they got three buttons down, they got 14 chains around their neck.

You'd think they'd be dropping a rap album at some point. So between you and Witt and your whole group down there, no secret how much you love the Leafs. Now, is this something that just came on the last few years? You've always been a diehard Leaf fan. Where did this real love fest start? So I was always a Leaf fan growing up. I had a Doug Gilmore jersey,

and actually I went to the Penn Center one time randomly, had no idea he had a signing going on. And I'd been, my parents gave me a leather Toronto Maple Leafs hat for Christmas, and I ended up sneaking up to the front of the line and he signed it. So I've been a pretty hardcore Leafs fan. I remember where I was in,

I think it was in Orangeville, actually, when the whole Gretzky high stick to Gilmore went down. So, yeah, have I been the biggest jock sniffer throughout all the years of playing pro hockey? Well, no, because you've got to represent the team that's paying your salary and your mortgage. But it's been happy to jump back on the bandwagon ever since they've gotten the Marner, the Matthews, and been rolling.

The boys are all over you though hey for the leafs fandom like it's not popular with wit with some of the guys to be rooting for the leaf i think it's easy to hate on the most uh the most valuable franchise in the nhl it's just it's like it's like i guess rooting for what liverpool who's like the big soccer team sure manchester city who's got the big payroll and the big budget. So I like them. I think that at this point, they have to be at a point where they're hungry, given all the disappointment they've had with this core group. So I'm excited.

I think that they made proper adjustments to battle against Tampa's physicality for that first series. I guess you could be a little bit worrisome at moving out Sandin, a good puck-moving defenseman. But I feel like he wasn't really getting his proper reps here anyway yeah so he gets to move on and go have success elsewhere and i mean i'm not saying luke shen's the answer but you know when you're when you're battling those bottom six for the tampa bay lightning i think it's a pretty good bottom ad we got biz in studio former nhler spitting chiclets podcast little tire pump for you i was down there i'm

off the piss right now but the little buddha oh nice they got the cans down there so congratulations you didn't try anything i'm i'm off the booze right now i'm gonna go from yeah we had a no more pink whitney this month or what i'm gonna go to the end of playoffs because we had a tough rip there all-star the winter classic and uh you know when you're hanging around with the tnt crew too you're all of a sudden you get chucking them back see that's impressive that you can turn it off i'm not able to do that and you're not getting any younger eh no i feel like my anxiety is lower my sleep's better my skin's more clear like all the all the benefits now let's i love to hit the sauce i love boozing with the

guys yeah i can't really shut it off it's not a hey let's have a couple it's let's have 25 drinks and then wake up with a with a tight dome on i'm watching like you're like what 18 months 24 months and it's like you're shot out of a can and you're here you're there you're in calgary riding a horse i mean the pace has been unbelievable for you. Yeah, I also feel that I did a lot of partying and not a lot, maybe as much hard work during my playing days as I would have liked to. So I just make it up for lost time. But it's been fun.

You stay moving. You stay busy. And hopefully at a certain point have the the liberty to choose to maybe not have to turn it on and work as much do you hey so do you have like a personal assistant do you just take pitches because it does feel like everywhere i went to golf town the other day there's a spit and chiclet section oh is it really okay well the boys are doing a good job then whoever we hired to do that um i have a buddy jeff jacobson who's out of vancouver who helps me with all my logistics and decision making.

Yeah, just, you know, it's obviously been a pretty crazy rip. But like I said, it's fun. Like we get to create our own brands. Like that to me was the biggest component because obviously when we joke around the podcast and we say certain things, it gets maybe not the most politically correct, I guess. And sometimes in today's environment, those things could soon be gone, like the podcast or whatever it is. So when you create your own brands and those dollars are coming in from something that you own, they really don't have a choice to stick around or not. They're kind of family and embedded in the business. I actually did want to say, though,

I think that like your guys' podcast has represented something that, I don't know, it's kind of been talked out of hockey. Like people love the hitting and the fighting and the partying and the stories and all that and everything got really politically correct. But you guys drew a huge audience by saying this is what people, most of the people are still into. Yeah. And I feel like the pendulum's kind of swung back

a little bit because of that. So maybe it's not going to be the end of the podcast. Yeah, no, I definitely felt that there was a time where it was swinging so far one way that you know those were concerns i feel like it's gotten to a pretty normal pace i don't know if the i don't know if the pandemic kind of created that because everybody was just so frustrated with life in general i just felt like that was an extremely sensitive time but uh no it's it's been fun you know we i we don't take ourselves very seriously. Like, we call ourselves the rumor boys. Like, we break trades that don't happen.

With players that don't even exist or aren't even playing in the league anymore. So, we just try to, like, bring some levity. And, you know, I can't really do what Elliot does and Merrick does. You know, they're constantly on the grind finding out who. And even you guys, right? Finding and digging deep. Not really. Used to. It's kind of a lane that we. It much fun yeah it's it's a grind man it's like an

insurance seminar sometimes yeah like you gotta you like to be serious about curtis lazar today like come on yeah yeah i mean i don't want to brag on the guy he's a great bottom but like but but yeah you're trying to create excitement around something like that sometimes it's better off just being like oh yeah they added another plug and joke around about how to chuckle and move on but but in all seriousness here uh you know there is such a thing as burnout too and that's what you got to play against yeah no i i yeah it's a great uh great question and topic uh that's why you just have to take you know personal time um i definitely have gotten back into fitness lack of alcohol consumption diet yeah um learning how to say no that's hard too right because like i got that's super i love snapping around with everybody you

know i went out with that with jd earlier today and i've been frequent on his show in the past and you know sometimes you just don't have the time or energy to hop on and then you have to worry about a little bit about over saturation and and just like i said getting your proper rest so personal sacrifice for this little stretch is something that's important but you know it's something that i want for now and and until i don't then you slow it down and then i hit the little buddhas oh, nice. A couple plugs for you there. Really great plugs. Only 90 calories. Maybe we could hit them. Maybe we could.

90? No gluten-free, no sugar. Oh, my goodness. 90 calories. For all you people, even if you do want to hit the sauce while making some personal commitments, at least you're not doing the calorie consumption. And maybe Kip can get you a promo code here.

Grilled pineapple and rosemary? What flavors, too? Just a delish. Available at the LCBO. There you go. HelloBev.ca. We'll bring it right to your door. The company which.

And it goes great with pink wick. All right, all right. Okay, enough. Enough. Are you surprised at Kyle Dubas' week? Because here's a guy that's been skill, skill, skill. I'll take him at 5'9". I'll take him at 5'9". I'll take him at 5'11".

And then the finding religion moment of grit and toughness. So I guess I would be a little bit concerned about the amount of turnover and change in such a short period of time, especially maybe given the success of the season so far. I can understand the thinking to shift knowing that you're going to be going against tampa bay because i think the last thing goaltending is a different subject but the last thing that you would want to happen in that series is the leafs get bullied around and then that's the topic of conversation where he didn't address that um i i mean i guess i'll

throw it back to you guys it seems to be probably the topic of conversation right now and something that he's going to have to hang his hat on if, in fact, they don't advance past the first round. But I think overall he has done a solid job. I think that although you had to pay Marner and Matthews, I think the cap getting screwed up because of the pandemic really put a damper on what his plans were moving forward as it did to other teams teams but specifically when you're relying so much on that that top end talent

i don't know how often you guys discuss or how much value you put into the leadership that came over when they ended up signing taveras because they did sign him to a pretty heavy contract in which i mean he's making 11 million bucks is a second line center, right? Right. But I do feel that he provides those other intangibles and these other younger guys needed somebody to learn off of. So now the fact that they got O'Reilly in there, another guy who's been there, done that with that championship experience, I think that it will take not only pressure off JT,

but those other guys, maybe in those moments in the locker room in the midst of that first series where things do get a little tense where he's like hey we've been here before before boys we can we can figure this out and then lean on him yeah you know one thing we have talked about with that and i'd love to get your take on is just the core itself hasn't been able to move past in the playoffs and a lot of people have said it's toughness or they don't have that competitiveness can you bring that in around the core the core is still going to play 20 minutes 22 minutes a night can you tape it to

the outside of the core with achari and guys like that and have it be enough to drag those main guys through or do you have to have that toughness with your core you know within yeah i i mean those guys are going to have their work cut out for them i think they're fortunate in the sense that they're going against uh a core group that is probably a little bit tired. You know, Tampa's, I mean, it's been four years in a row they've been making runs here. And that just wear and tears your body.

Going back to Leafs core, yeah, every one of those guys is going to have to show up. But in those weak moments, where are those bottom six or other guys going to be able to step up in key moments i was actually talking to shanee and he he was crazy he's crazy about that holmberg guy you know he came over he won a championship i love him too he works and he's young and he's got those fresh legs and then achari like who is a guy who is a guy that game over game shift over shift throughout the course of a series who's going to help you wear down the other team and that's a guy where he's i call him a cigarette machine he's built like a brick house and he's 5 10 you know 210 215 where he can go around and he he can you know have that damage

yeah so um you know going going back to the the core group overall i i think that they're fine leading in i don't know i don't know what they feel pressure wise because i'm not inside their bodies i would say in the past maybe at some points it seems like it has gotten to marner but i hope that all that's in the past and they can get the thing done yeah yeah what do you say to leave fans when when they watch boston go get orlov uh then they go get a guy like hathaway who's can go shoulder to shoulder with anybody on a fourth line that's not enough they go get bertuzzi like but i also discouraging for leaf fans i think uh i think you're you're looking at mount everest if you do end up facing off against them but i

think that with the confidence if they move past the first round and that challenge hey it's not it's also not bad being the underdog at some points all expectations are going to be on boston um they they are in a place in their franchise with that core group where they had to push the chips in the middle though i think they have leveraged way more of the future um for this run more so than toronto um so i don't know how things are going to play out if if they do end up meeting boston but let's say let's not look past that first round if boston has to play the islanders yes i think boston's an absolute juggernaut and i'm taking them that's a grind of a series too so you got to hope that they can take a little bit of wind out of their sails so toronto can have at least uh at least some help there yeah best

case scenario, fingers crossed for people getting injured, not hurt. Just, you know, just, you're sorry, hurt,

not injured just to get through. You know, one of the guys they're counting on now is they have room to bring in Matthew Nyes and say, okay, you're going to be whatever it is. Top six, top nine. I don't know where you see him.

What do you think that's going to be like for a kid coming out of college, joining the Leafs playoff run, sort of the pressure on him. you think is that manageable i think sometimes being naive and being put in a situation like that is is beneficial where it's just you know throw them into the fire and who knows uh i think it would clearly help if they had this this guy come out of nowhere and end up helping the team offensively i've been hearing nothing but amazing things about this guy. Not only the fact that he can put the puck in the back and make plays,

but just his tenaciousness and the way he's able to strip guys and play a 200-foot game and do it that way. So, I mean, I don't know how much stock I would put into a young guy like that coming in and making a huge impact impact but an added bonus like that would would be massive i'm trying i was trying to like think of a time where a team has added a young guy like that um i guess chris grider came in right out of college and was pretty effective now if i'm not mistaken john leclaire went to the montreal canadians and and had a fairly good impact so nobody in in recent years yeah i mean it's just a long time since very uncommon. What are you calling me, old?

Not you, but it's been a long time since it's happened. I mean, I was going to say, can we get maybe a little bit more of a modern example? You're like, actually, you know, Gordie Howe actually stepped in when he was a kid. You know, you got to give Kyle Dubas a little bit of credit because he's answered at least as best as he could. Top six, bottom six, top four defensemen, arguably with McCabe,

and we'll see where that falls into place after 20 games. But the temptation to trade Nyes was there, and he held on to him. Yeah, yeah. Right? trade nize was there and he held on to him yeah yeah right so that that was like the one thing going on the deadline is is you know they lose first round would your guys expectation is that they do let him go i think most people i think 80 of leaf fans would would tend to say yes yeah in my personal opinion i would give him a one-year extension regardless wow to see to let him finish off the matthews and Marner's contract. Why not do that?

I think there's people who would say the opposite and say it hasn't worked with him yet. Let's see someone else try. I'm with you. I think he's scared of what would come next, but I don't know where you fall on that. I think that it's too many chances to get out of the first round, and someone's got to have to pay for that. The message is clear when you didn't give them an extension this year. I think it makes you look like you're wishy-washy.

You don't know. You didn't want to give them a contract extension, and then you lose in the first round, and then you give them a one-year extension. Like, I think they're going to stay consistent there. I think the message is really clear. Get us out of the first round. We'll talk.

It's also going to depend on how they compete against Tampa. If it's a situation like last year. They did. They did. So obviously you had to bring them back and give them one more kick in the can. It just so happens they get to go against that same team again. There you go. Going back to we did talk about it earlier.

Trading Sandin in the way that I feel that Toronto creates a lot of its offense is when they do get in the offensive zone and they establish possession, they do a great job of having that five-man cycle where you see Lindgren. Brother Fords up high. Yeah, and Lindgren and Sandin are good at understanding when to dip and when to go. Are there maybe issues on the defensive side of the puck that they have? But I guess I'm concerned about maybe that chain of chemistry

potentially being broken with all of a sudden you put a McCabe in there and a Luke Shannon there where I think we can all agree that they don't have the puck skills and the mindset offensively to do what those other guys do. You know, and I think this is fundamentally the, like, difference Dubas has had from a lot of people where he likes the Sandin and Lilligren types and watching McCabe, you know, had from a lot of people where he likes the sandina lilligran types and watching mccabe you know not make a couple miss a couple of passes and you know it's been

early right so not going to jump the gun on that but it is like a philosophical disagreement about how to do it have you got have you guys heard this one that uh one and this this is this could be part of the rumor boys this could be the part part of the rumor boys. This is the more spit and chickless part of our show right now. The contract stuff with Sandin in the summer and maybe the lack of reps that he was getting was becoming frustrating. And maybe there was a little bit of negativity coming from his side

and that they wanted to part ways with that before heading into a run. I think so for sure because he wasn't going to be a happy seventh man. I think Shen played 11 games for Tampa when when they won the cup he would play with headman then he'd be in the press box headman press box sandin wasn't going to do that happily it didn't help first of all but there was plenty of time to to to move past that the problem was between the contract and the other day, Lilligren passed him.

That's what happened on the depth chart. And they just didn't see enough improvement on him, and he's had ample opportunity to go to the next level. He didn't, and that's why he's no longer Toronto Maple Leaf. There you have it. There you go. It's information for me because you guys know more about the team, right? And I think that you would probably say they're comparable players.

Yeah, yeah. So you're saying Lilligren probably a little bit better defensively. Yes. And just more responsible overall structurally. Yep. Sandin just got kind of bullied here and there going back on pucks and stuff. So I was actually going to ask you about that. So like you guys on Spitting Chicklets would do, you know, lighter stuff, opinion stuff, whatever.

And then you go to TNT and like, you know, that's more i don't say real analysis switch but so how has that been for you kind of digging in more on the it's a lot of brain power because i i'm not a polished speaker i i talk locker room talk but people and vulgar yeah i'm yeah we're vulgar and that's just how that's how i would talk if i was hanging out with my buddies having beers and talking hockey. So throwing it through a double filter sometimes gets very difficult. And also having to, you know, on a national stage, don't want to be out there spewing maybe the wrong opinion. So it was difficult. But Liam and those guys are so professional.

I got Ace to lean on who's been doing it for years on the national side. Talk was great it was such a good mixture too of the panel where we had that coach's perspective as well there's great chemistry there and then but hank is hank show over show has been doing incredible yeah and now he's even starting to chirp chirp me and chirp ace and he's really starting to blossom so it's it's been a great mix and then he gives the goalie perspective as well and and with with his career he's gonna is he already a hall of famer uh no he will i mean he will be a hall of famer and just to add that uh what's the word i'm looking for what's the one you have cachet there you are who said that cachet said sammy and yeah and and the fact that

he's been there done that you don't have cachet but yeah hank oh geez i can't say that you guys got a button there for that yeah you know did you save me no geez all right well there's no we got to sell a lot more little buddha in order to pay for that third plug yeah no it is um so it's a different dynamic when you get into the the role so like getzlaff comes here today and he's a former player and he hasn't done media like you have what's that like for guys trying to sort of get into it? And you don't want to make people mad when you're a former player because, you know, like you've got buddies that play. Do you still feel like you have to walk the line with guys, you know, in terms of being critical of players? Yeah, I think it gets easier when you're talking about younger guys that you have no connection with.

Right. Like I know Dylan Larkin and I was doing this shtick where I was joking around about what they should pay him and how I was talking to Stevie Y behind the scenes and helping him through this, negotiate this contract. So yeah, I mean, we always try to be fair unless we're being completely silly and ridiculous where I think most people pick it up about what we're saying about guys. But we don't want to be, I mean,

I was kind of giving it to Kapanen a little bit in the last couple of podcasts, basically the one who wasittsburgh he was here for a bit wasn't yeah he was and you know he he'll score you two or three goals have the best night of his life and then all of a sudden he's on the milk he's on the milk carton for eight games correct so just you know maybe a little critical those guys sometimes just one more before we let you go we got to go to break but it just seems yeah we are oh nice on TV? Yeah, we are. Oh, nice. At least I look good today. Yeah, you look fantastic. I got the spray tan.

Just the little bit added pressure of just not being a hockey broadcaster anymore. You watch the things that you guys have done over the years. It's more. You got to act. You got to sing now. You and Hank did this act. TSN, I'm watching James Duthie, and he's put some, like, it's just not hockey anymore. You guys got to be entertainers.

Are you doing all of this yourself, or is that, again, your buddy coming back to you and saying, let's get creative here? It's a collective effort. The TNT staff, being an American broadcast, they like to try to attract as many. Spice it up. Yeah, you got to spice it up to attract as many viewers as possible. And sometimes during the doldrums of the season, you need something to be able to laugh at while watching a broadcast.

And some things work and some things just absolutely bomb. Like there's only so many times I could say, oh, yeah, great top six guy. Great bottom six guy. Great top six guy. Great ball goaltending. Backup goaltending. Oh, he's good on the four check and he's built like a cigarette machine. So, yeah, it's been fun.

And it's also in my personality, too. Like, I don't mind messing around. There you go. I think that, yeah, I think it's fun. I think hockey's headed in an incredible direction. TNT, you guys have done a great job. Yeah, thank you. That's fun to watch.

When we can watch you, it's must-see TV. Well, you guys, too, man. I mean, this whole Sportsnet staff is incredible. It's okay. You got paid already. You don't have to say that. No, you guys too, man. I mean, this whole Sportsnet staff is incredible, and we appreciate you guys. It's okay. You got paid already. You don't have to say that. No, I was telling people down there,

it's like TNT. There's two helpers for every actually talent member here, so it's great. You want a water, it's in your hand in two seconds. All right. Thanks for doing this, Biz. Boys, thank you so much. Thanks.

He is Paul Bizonette, former NHLer and the star of Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Witt's the star. All right, we're going to come back with Doug McClain. Plenty more on Real Kipper and Bourne. Get smarter when you listen to Hockey Talk, the Hockey PDO cast with Dimitri Filipovich. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. I have no idea how we're going to segue from Biz Nasty to Biz McClain.

But we're going to try. Different energies, but both valuable and wonderful. Hey. From spitting jiglets to spitting mad,, but both valuable and wonderful. Hey. From spitting jiglets to spitting mad. Let's bring in Doug McClain. Hey. How are you? The only time I use an F-bomb is I go four.

That's the only time I use that. Anyway. Hey, boy, oh, boy. You just must sit in your $2 million condo in 80-degree weather, really missing. I had a terrible challenge yesterday on the golf course because I'm playing in my first-ever golf tournament on Monday at Broken Sound Golf Course in Boca,

and I've never played golf in my life without using preferred lies. And they told me in this tournament I can't use preferred lies. So I went yesterday to Delray Dunes and played with my buddy, and I said, remind me, I can't move and tee up the ball. I've got to play it where it lies. Hold on, and tee up? Are you usually and tee up the ball. I've got to play it where it lies. Hold on. And tee up? Are you usually teeing up a ball? Well, usually I just

puff it up a little bit. No puffing up allowed. I know. So I won't be puffing anymore. And I got this damn tournament and I'm nervous about it. But anyway, I'll be ready. I'll be ready. Now listen, it must be tough today sitting in your $2 million condo

in the 80-degree weather, just dreaming about being on a trade deadline show, especially on a day like today with so much action. Yeah, I really miss it. Hey, it was one of the greatest days. And I was a lot like a lot of teams. I would go into trade deadline day trying to dump people and dump salaries. Very sensitive of you.

Yeah, so that's what I watched mostly happen here in the last week is just the dumping of, I mean, this Arizona thing has got me so, and a little bit of Columbus, it's got me so wound up. I just, I don't get this. Mac, I don't know the exact number, but out of Arizona Coyotes payroll, they must have $30 million of dead money. $31 million of dead money. It's humiliating.

And I look now, they got Keller, they got Schmutz, they got the goaltender, the young goaltender, they got three A players on their team. Three A players. I mean, what is going, how long is this going to go on for? I mean, it's hard on the head. Do you think the league wants Bedard there or no? Oh, they are not putting Bedard in a 4,600-seat arena.

Are you kidding me? Now, would they love to see him in Chicago? Yes. Would they like to see him in Chicago? Yes. Would they like to see him in Montreal? Yes. But, you know, this is going to be one of the greatest, the greatest pinball drafts of all time. I mean, this is going to be unbelievable to watch because, as Scotty Bowman said,

you know, somebody said, columbus have a 25 chance of getting them and scotty said they also have a 75 chance of not getting nothing gets by him oh nothing gets by scotty so you know what it's going to be it's going to be one of the like if columbus with where they are in arizona where they if they, you know, Anaheim, what they've done to that group. I mean, I've watched the guys they've gotten rid of, and I'm thinking, like, guys, it's hard to find players. It's hard to find good players. So now, I mean, if they don't get Bedard a couple of the, you know,

whoever gets them is going to be thrilled. But, like, what happens if you don't get Bidart, whoever gets him is going to be thrilled. But, like, what happens if you don't get him? Anyway, I'm just – I'm blown away watching this. You know, 25% goes to Minnesota for a fourth-round pick. And, you know, I'm telling you guys, if you don't – history has shown this. And I've told you this before. If you don't have 10 of your own draft picks on your team you don't win a Stanley Cup and that's going back to 1995 10 draft picks and they're giving draft picks away like

it's candy it's unbelievable watching it it really is and I know I've read this thing well only two percent play after pick 24 but you go back and look since 1995, especially every multiple Stanley cup winner have had at least 10 draft picks on their team. And they just, it's unbelievable when I watch it. Well, sorry,

Kip, are you going to say something? You want to follow that up? I was just going to follow up on what the Leafs have done. I want to yell for so bad, but I can't. Okay. I want to pick up up i was just going to follow up on what the leafs have done like i want to yell four so bad right now but i can't okay i want to pick up with uh what jb just said uh in saying that mac uh over the past week two weeks uh who's the biggest winner that stands out for you because we did see teams commit to uh significant uh dollars or draft picks to the likes of Boston, Toronto, Islanders with Horvat, Chikrin in Ottawa.

Now, who's the biggest winner this past couple of weeks? Well, look, I look at Jersey with Timo Meier. To me, he's the best pickup, you know, a playoff-style guy, a heavy player. New Jersey are going to go against the New York Rangers in the first round. One of those two teams are going to be out of the playoffs 10 days into the playoffs. Like, seriously, how bad is that? One of Toronto or Tampa are going to be out 10 days into the playoffs. That, to me, it makes my stomach curl when I think of that.

We're losing those good teams. So I love what they did. The Bertuzzi pickup, to me, was a real good pickup by Boston. It shows how serious they are. They get Pasternak signed, which takes that off their plate from an issue. Toronto have tried to improve their team. But, I mean, I look at Toronto, and they pick up McCabe, and they pick up Shin, and they pick up mccabe and they pick up shin and they pick up

gustafson and i'm thinking okay are those not three very very average defensemen who do not move the puck well out of their own end and toronto need a need puck movers to get it to their great forwards. And I look at those guys. Yeah, they're NHL regulars. That's what they are. They're not a four-plus or a five. They're a four. They're an NHL regular at best.

A cherry. I love a cherry. But he's going to go against Belmar in the first round. That's who he's going to be matched up against, who's a beast right now. So, you know what? I love what the big teams did. I do. The Rangers bring in Kane and Tarasenko.

I would have brought in one of the two, but not both of them. That makes me a little nervous about their chemistry and their whole situation. The Leafs, I'm a little worried about their chemistry and culture. But I know what Kyle tried to do. He tried to improve his team. So here's the bottom line for me, guys. And I know how you love to talk Toronto because you're a Toronto-centric show. So I know we have to talk the Leafs.

But here's the one thing the Leafs have going for them right now going into the playoffs. Vasilevsky is really struggling. If this guy doesn't find his game, the Leafs have a real good chance to beat them in the first round. And Vasilevsky has not been very good. You guys have seen him the same as I've seen him. Pucks are not hitting this guy. Like a great goaltender makes six big saves a game and 20 pucks hit him in a game.

Vasilevsky was the best goal in our league at pucks hitting him. They're not hitting him now. They're squeaking through him. So I'd be worried about Vasilevsky. He's got to, and I love this guy. You know how good he's been. But he's got to find his game, guys, real fast. Yeah. And, you know, if he doesn't. But he's got to find his game, guys, real fast. Yeah.

And, you know, if he doesn't, the Leafs have a chance. Now, there's a good chance he will find his game. But I'm telling you, I don't like what I'm seeing right now, guys. I think Puck's going through him with 20 games to go is, unfortunately, the perfect time for him. I mean, I would not bet against him. That's the only problem, Mac. I know.

I wouldn't either. But I tell you what, when I watched Vegas put four by him in the first period the other night. Now, hey, I know. Here's what I said. He was in Vegas for two days before that game. So I think, okay, that's got to have something to do with it. He was busy, you know, doing something. And, you know, so maybe that had something to do but

when i watched him put four by him i made oh my god this guy's got to find his game so anyway we'll see uh you know they added a little more heaviness to their game campus you know with the nashville pickup so i mean i i you know it's going to be fun to watch guys it's going to be fun to watch but we're going to lose good teams early and i I don't like it. So the Leafs were aggressive, and a lot of people had concerns about doing too much. But at the same time, they sat on that first-round pick from Boston. You know, we on this show haven't loved the goal or trusted the goaltending situation not to stop pucks,

but to be healthy. Do you think they should have flipped that and done another thing? Are you okay with the goaltending? So, you know, you look at Chikrin, and we've talked Chikrin forever. I'm looking at the three defensemen, whatever they brought in, and I'm thinking, okay, could they have not

taken those assets and brought in Chikrin? Because he's a real defenseman. He moves the pocket of his own end effectively. He's got a bullet of a shot. He's a big, strong guy, and he's young. He's a future guy for a franchise, and they don't get him. That disappointed me that they didn't make a move. And I know the money is a problem, but why can't everybody else put 25% here and 50% there and 75% here and, you know, and make that happen.

Anyway, that's disappointing. Goal tending is still a major issue for me with the Leafs. And I know Sam Sonoff's been good. And, you know, I'm still nervous about that. And I'm a little nervous, a little disappointed they didn't try to shore up that position a little more. I agree with you. Matt, I want to get into a little bit just about maybe the philosophy

of the Leafs, this trade deadline, or going into this week. And, you know, if you asked me if this roster today would be something Kyle Dubas, a team of Kyle Dubas would look like today when you knew him early in his run here as a general manager, I would have said you're nuts. What skill meant to him, analytics meant to him. And then we see a little bit of an about face here with some grit and determination and a little bit more sandpaper here.

Is that just a natural progression of a young general manager coming into his own is there humility there is it all of a sudden hey maybe i'm not the smartest guy in the room anymore here and that's okay you know what i look how many times have we talked about on this show the formation of their third and fourth line how many times have we talked about it and i thought okay we get uh ryan o'reilly that gives them a solid third line and now they've got him playing on the second line with taveras which might be the slowest line in the nhl that might be the slowest line in the nhL. So I'm thinking, okay, yeah, but he did. You know what it's

called, Nick? It's losing six years in a row in the first round with a real talented group, and you're worried about your job. And you've got to do whatever you can to make your team tougher to play against. And yet philosophies change. Yeah. You just maybe push the analytics aside

for a week or two and say, okay, I know. I believe in it. I love it. I absolutely love it. But I'm just maybe push the analytics aside for a week or two and say, okay, I know I believe in it. I love it. I absolutely love it, but I'm going to just push it aside for a while here and just see if we can get a little bit bigger and stronger and a little more gritty and grittier. And they, I, you know, I've got to give them credit, but I just, I just wish they would have went a little more high end than they did. That's all. And look, I like McCabe. I like Shan. But I'm sorry. I think they're just average, all of them.

I really do. And average, I guess, helps. A certain type of player helps. But I thought they could have did better. The other team here in Ontario also added a D-man, Jacob Chikrin. That's kind of a big deal there. What are your thoughts on Ottawa going big and trying to make a playoff push? And did Arizona get what they wanted?

No, they didn't. No, because they couldn't get their GM to make a decision. This went on for 10 days where teams thought they were going to get this guy, and all of a sudden it fell through. I mean, come on. Everybody knows that. He sat him out, what was it, seven games? So they couldn't make a decision.

And people finally, the price dropped and Ottawa lucked out. Now, what about this, guys? Is Shabbat now their number three left shot defenseman on their team? Maybe, yeah. You've got Chikrin and you've got Sanderson. Now they're number three left shot defenseman on their team. Maybe. Yeah. You've got chicken and you've got Sanderson. Where does she bought? So I was thinking today,

I think they've got a polar red Kelly here, Ottawa. They've got a polar red Kelly. And what happened with red Kelly? Come on me. Come on. You're going back to black and white TV for us here. Come on.

They moved Red Kelly to forward, and they won like umpteen Stanley Cups. Ottawa, all they have to do is move Shabbat up where he should play. Why don't we remember that? My bad, Doug. That's where Shabbat wants to play. Put him up front. Make him a forward. He might be their best.

Well, he'd be their well, this is to Chuck. I mean, what about to Chuck? What about what he did against Detroit? Okay, Detroit season down. That's what he did. You want to believe it. And how, and I'm, I kept, all I kept thinking today at the, sitting at the

pool, Coke and the Emmy, and I've been in the same boat because I've been ripped for graphics, but Coke and the Emmy over this guy. Oh, my God. Imagine Montreal had this guy. This guy wants to win. This guy is a horse. This guy is a winner.

And Ottawa are so lucky to have him. And, you know, so, yeah, he shut them down. And did you ever see anybody so determined for a young kid going into a two-game series the way that kid played? It was impressive, guys. So the Red Kelly syndrome, you guys couldn't catch on to that. I'm shocked by that. But anyway, is Shabbat not their third left shot guy now?

Seriously. With the way he's played this year. So maybe this will be good. I like their team right now. Chikrin's staying healthy because he is a horse, Mac. You're right. And he can play 22, 24 minutes all day long, this guy. That's right.

And as long as he stays, you're right, the health is always a concern. But this guy, he wants to be in Ottawa. Family history in Ottawa. I mean, Dorian, I mean, I love to give Pierre the odd little shot, but it was a good effort. It was a good move, a good move by the Sens. And right now, would you want to play the Sens in the first round? And I'll tell you another guy, Stutzel.

Who was it a couple of years ago, Rip Stutzel, Marchand for laying on the ice? Do you ever see him laying on the ice now when he's got to chook with him on the wing? I mean, does he ever lay on the ice? All he does is make plays. This guy's a hell of a player. And who went ahead? I got to give credit.

Imagine this break. Talk about the draft. L.A. take byfield. Stutzel goes to Ottawa. Big difference. Oh, big difference. And I got to give your hockey eye some credit here. Derek Broussard, 1,000 games.

And the Cajonas to send a message to his general manager, get us some help. We deserve it. And that, and hey, poof, Chikrin. Yeah, you know what? Everybody, when they talk about my driver, all I ever want to talk to is Yerdev and Brule and Kopitar. They never mentioned Brassardi.

Kid, I'm so proud of him. He is such a quality kid. He's such a good kid. He's a thoughtful kid, and his teammates love him. That's a good move, bringing him back home this year to Ottawa. And look, I'm just proud of him. I'm just thrilled. A thousand games played and he's played hard most nights

and he's a team first guy. So I was thrilled to see that. Good on Derek Broussard. Doug, there's questions today about the Vancouver Canucks. Having options to trade T.T Miller, but not wanting picks. They want players. Having the option to trade Brock Besser, but not wanting picks.

You know, could trade Garland, but they want a player back. They trade for Hronik from Detroit, you know, with draft picks. What are your thoughts on what the Canucks are doing? Did you hear the silence? Yes. Did I just answer your question i think so yes i don't i don't get it i don't get it i mean they sign miller and lose horvat and and then they then his name's out there i mean besser the kid that can score. I don't know Brock very well.

You know, I know him just a little bit as a player, but he's still a pretty good player. But, you know, when you see the – and I'm right with you. You know, how do you do that trade with Detroit and then not try to get picks? They've got to rebuild. They know that, don't they? They've got to rebuild.

And this number one thing to rebuild is with draft picks. Give Pierre Dorian credit, guys. He brought in a ton of draft picks. Now what's he able to do because of all the extra picks he's had? He's been able to fire...

That's right. I mean, you know what? So it's a combination of acquiring picks, using picks to build your franchise for your top players, and also dealing them at the right time to bring in extra additional pieces. It goes back 100 years. It goes back to Sam Pollock, how you build a team. I'm sorry.

It hasn't changed that much. Except for the salary cap. Anyway. All right. You were really good today. I mean, for a guy that had to follow up Paul Bizanette, Biz Nasty, man, you brought your A game today.

I was disappointed I wasn't following up Gretzky, because that's the guy I listened to on that panel. Not Biz? Well, I like Biz. You're not into, like, you know, Biz stories and, you know, groupies and all that? No, I like Biz. And, you know, I like what he said to David Poyle,

how he got those guys hammered when he was in the playoff series. But that really went over well with David. But anyway, he said he was a guy that sent over a bottle of wine for, for Kostitsyn. And who was he? Radulov. Wasn't it?

Well, he's off the booze. If that helps now. Anyway, four. All right, Matt, thanks for doing this as always off the rails would not be the same

without you man in fact i think i named it uh after you somebody somebody told me it might be the best 20 minutes of radio in north america somebody said that just ask you said that who said that my biggest fan steve valicat this guy knows rate valley's awesome see you later guys all right doug mcclain former president gm head coach and headliner of the real kipper and born show on fridays all right don't talk about the leafs lineup yes i do so game one of the playoffs here's what i'm seeing on twitter what do you think bunting matthews marner yarn crock tavarez kneelander nize o'reilly lafferty camp achari kerfoot

it's just sammy didn't like that mccabe brody giordano lilligrant i'm just spitballing here riley shen i'm not i'm not focused as much on the lines as i am just in terms of who's leading the charge right now and ryan o'reilly to me is the glue right now i I know Marner is the machine and the engine that drives it. I get all of that with his skill, his genius IQ. But for playoff hockey, for settling that room down, Ryan O'Reilly is the key for me. And if, you know, just focus on the minutes for a second forget about the lines and if he's on the second or third line just focus on the minutes yeah and the depth of your forwards go of course

marner matthews then it's going to be ryan o'reilly yeah willie kneelander and probably taveras fifth yeah like look at last night playoff type of style tight checking what were the boys last night 21 22 minutes your your top two guys marner and matthews 22 minutes and then ryan o'reilly right behind him uh taveras probably played five minutes less yeah than the boys. Which is interesting too, because they only had 11 forward. So you're a lot of juggling as you go. And that's, that's how it's going to play out in the playoffs.

He was 1555 last night. O'Reilly was 1930. Yeah. Ryan O'Reilly is playing three, four minutes more than Tavares. That tells you everything you need to know on, on, on the importance of where Sheldon keep will have ryan o'reilly you know

it's fascinating there too is uh right you know tavaris played three and a half minutes of pp time almost o'reilly paid 30 seconds of power play in a minute i don't like their power play either no it stinks they went you know stagnant give up the shorthanded goal i what are the two chances i know it's just two chances but that's's playoff hockey. You get two chances. Yeah, I agree. Let's go to break. Okay, quick break. And then our pizza delivery guy, Colby Armstrong's here.

Watched him for nine hours delivering pizzas to the panel. He was awesome. I'm hoping he's got a big za for us as well. Colby Armstrong after the break. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, real Kipper and Bourne. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Marich Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify,

or wherever you get your podcasts. What a two hours today. We go from biz nasty to biz miserable and Doug McClain. And now we got a little bit of in between with the arm dog, Colby Armstrong in studio, just did 12 hours of the Jerry Lewis telethon on Sportsnet called trade deadline day. Hey, not much action, but you were there entertaining doing your thing

yeah i was uh i was uh i was doing it all guys i was doing it all what do you need what do you want what do you need uh serving pizza as i was showing everyone where it is i'm like ryan gets left supposed to be working here i haven't seen him once today on tv but he's hanging out in the background did he pull into the studio today in the lamborghini or something no i don't think so did he i don't know that's hilarious no tires on it i don't know that's crazy i don't think that happened but it was it's kind of cool i've never he's from regina saskatchewan so i played junior one year against him when he was in calgary i was in red deer but uh obviously the career he's had uh it's been pretty cool.

I never, he played out west the whole time. I played out east the whole time. But even being from like kind of the same area, I never really hung out with him or met him. Yeah. You know, other than in passing. But like great guy to work with. Yeah.

And a hockey guy and probably finds this fairly easy just because he's like, you know, it's a hockey guy. Charming guy. He knows what he's talking about yeah so over the years we've had a couple of cracks me and you a trade deadline days worst one by far in in 20 years 22 years in terms of big names still available not that we should

be surprised on a date like today where there's a little bit of cleaning up on maybe rosters caps yeah but fourth lines fourth line players have moved uh half a dozen of them i don't even know what the number is but the the major pieces moved prior to day didn't didn't really leave much on the bone today and we shouldn't have been too surprised yeah no yeah like you're picking carcass the carcass right now right at the end today i was like oh what's left like it's like that vulture you know there's like nothing it's just like pecking a bone no disrespect to curtis could you put that on the top of the pizza today carcass scraps enjoy no it was uh it was kind of expected because everything was just you know

hammering off like for the last two weeks so yeah you know what's left but you can look at it a couple ways right which teams are going for it and got their guys and identified what they want and got their guys you know and even tampa for example like the tanner you know they wanted them right they didn't care first a second a third a fourth a fifth cal foot who cares go we got our guy yeah um you know to to the leafs identifying you know certain things that they wanted as well boston going and getting a good d-man and some good depth and then injuries and then they go get uh bertuzzi so it's uh and then you can look at a different way right like nashville like what nashville has done also in poil as he's heading out the door he just you know makes up barry trotz well yeah i

mean he gets rid of some guys gets rid of some contracts get gets rid of um and make some room and and kind of you know was on the other side of it of of the one team that looked like they really they really did it and there were some teams were expecting to do that too like yeah i think philly you know in the last few days nothing yeah like they like what did. And there were some teams who were expecting to do that too. Like, I think Philly, you know, in the last few days. Philly did nothing. Yeah, like, what did they do? They got, like, you know, they got, like, Isaac Radcliffe for future considerations. Is that true?

Is that a real name? Yeah, yeah. He was the first-round pick a number of years ago. What is Sid Crosby thinking today? I don't know. I haven't talked to him about it. So they got Granlin, Bonino, and Kulikov. Yeah.

Is that enough? Like, the pressure on Ron Hextall and what they were printing about him Talk to him about it. So they got Granlin, Bonino, and Kulikov. Yeah. Is that enough? The pressure on Ron Hextall and what they were printing about him and all of that. Well, I think there's pressure there. I don't know what the plan was going into it, of course. I don't know. But Ron wants to keep his first-round picks. And forever it's been in there, right?

He drafted in the first round last year. Took a D-man from Swift Current. round picks and forever it's been in there right he drafted the first round last year uh took a d man from swift current uh but it's like he i think he just really wants to keep his first round picks and you know he's left in a situation where he did re-sign letang and malkin when maybe everyone was thinking that may not happen which is why you have the jeff carter contract just in case possibly and it's a 35 plus contract right so it's like what can you do with the cap regardless is it next year too yeah yeah yeah and then capping and trying to have his cake and eat it too yeah so it's I think yet he was I think

saving a kind of space just in case things didn't work out and then had contracts. And then now the third line was just brutal, like no production, zero identity, didn't know what it was. And he's really, I guess you could say like, that's what he's gone and identified and, and,

and completely flipped around. Right. With Bonino Grandland. And, you know, you got some, you got some guys now that can play in that role. I think that they feel a little bit more that they're,

it makes them stronger. Right. Yeah. Is there any feel though? Like that, if they sneak into the playoffs, like they're going to be, role, I think, that they feel a little bit more that it makes them stronger, right? Yeah. Is there any feel, though, like if they sneak into the playoffs, like they're going to be, you know, they have elite players. Could those guys hang with Boston or whoever is on the other side? I think that's pretty tough, right? For sure.

Just looking at it. Maybe don't overcommit because of that. Yeah, you never know. And you know what? Jari was out for an extended period of time, and that's, you know, they were bad. They was out for an extended period of time and that's you know they were bad they went through a good chunk of time before he got hurt where they were one of the best teams in the league so that could possibly have put hexi's brain in a pretzel in

pittsburgh going geez you know if we were healthy and oh man it wasn't this bad and you know what's going on because our power play was brutal and then all of a sudden it was the best in the league for a month uh our penalty kill was brutal also and it was it was the best in the league for a month uh our penalty kill was brutal all of a sudden it was one of the best in the league for a month like what are we right and i think you know in the last week or so they found out what they were and he's going okay you know what we have to fix this we have to fix there's there was tons of pressure in pittsburgh fan base um you know on on hexie a lot of articles you know putting pressure on him to get something done so i think with where they were like you look at look at their cap i mean it's it's it's kind of crazy that he actually made this many moves with what he had and you know someone claimed capping in st louis that helped yeah that helped a lot and and then obviously being able to get rid of

you know mcginn even though they sent him to the minors you're still stuck with that money on the cap hit a certain amount and uh you know they cleared a little even though they sent him to the minors, you're still stuck with that money on the cap hit a certain amount. And, you know, they cleared a little bit of room to get some guys to kind of revamp that, which is, I think, hard to do in the last, what, four days? Right. Like five days, maybe, maybe longer. I don't know how long they've been looking at it, but I think they wanted to give it time in Pittsburgh to breathe,

get Jari back, be healthy, get Letang, get Ruda, get the decor back. Like, what are you for real and i think that the main thing was a third line it was just a massive a massive hole there yeah surprised at the moves that the leafs made in terms of going uh and addressing top six bottom six d versatility uh heavy the finally yeah the look the feel I think all character guys, too, that can come into a room. Like, you know, like Ryan O'Reilly is the guy, right? I just said that.

He's the Zen master beauty. He's the man. Like, he's the man. Everyone wants to hang out with him. He's ready to work. You know, he does it in a good way. He's still a little bit old school, too. Like, you know, I like that no visor guy, you know?

I was actually thinking, is he the last guy? I think he is. He he might be one of the last so he must have come in as a rookie there's a few guys that still don't have it like jordy ben and jamie ben don't have visors oh yeah yeah jamie there's a couple other ones i'm trying to think of jordy ben still the least 43rd defenseman is he still in the system well here are we talking yeah yeah that they even had that option two yeah when was that five i don't know it feels like a long time ago when did it come in 11 no 12 yeah after the last lockout right whatever year that was but um i like i like what they did my only concern is and i've said this before is is style of play leave style of play well we saw a little bit last night against calgary albeit there's no game breakerbreaker like McDavid or Dreisaitl in Calgary's lineup right now.

But they shut it down, and there was a level of playoff style of play I think I saw last night, albeit small samples. Kipper, I've been on with you forever, and this is through the years, obviously the last few years. Yeah. It's been different, but it's kind of been the same. We've been like, oh, my God, what are they doing?

Get the puck in, live to fight another day, figure it out it's like hang on to the puck like engvall you and i've talked about him like constantly turning it back and just like you know and they play this ticky tacky 10 foot game all over the ice where it's like you know you get into a hard series you're north south you gotta bully your way a little bit or hang on or fight like is that gonna be able to get done and and and then saying that too i think they got guys that can do that but like can can they like adjust to you know that kind of brand a little bit that that's my stylistic question with the team because i think the guys they got like i i this the i feel the best about like what dubas did this year with the people, the personnel, the fit

the style the character of those guys and how important they are individually in certain situational stuff too, like Achari he's a pest out there I was between the benches in Pittsburgh he was going after Sid, barking back and forth

he's got no teeth he's around it, he's a guy that can do hard things for you that they brought in players without teeth that's yeah yeah that's yeah yeah that's good and at least they got 20 games to to work on it the style of play yeah sort that out as they go um a little bit so they're gonna draw tampa bay in the first round if everything goes beautifully boston will matter do you see any weaknesses is there any way through like tampa bay i you know i look at their decor and i'm not sure if bogosian perbix and you know they got is there anywhere that you see that this is going to be a weak spot in any of those teams i don't know like the only thing i look at where it's like oh

boy is vasilevsky can just like steal you right he can steal it like and and the leafs don't know like the only thing i look at where it's like oh boy is vasilevsky can just like steal you right he can steal it like and and the leafs don't have that on the other side like no you know like it's not close were you surprised that uh they didn't identify that at least a little bit right a little bit i was especially knowing that matt murray is unreliable yeah and i think you know i was watching the game the other day i don't know tell me if i'm wrong like four minutes left the euler game mcdavid come down the wall like sniped one far missed short side uh and and look seem to be the goalie seemed to have like like get up a little slow i was like oh no well that's that is joel's team yeah you know yeah yeah so it's it's it's an area did you see that part you know i saw it i was like oh oh is that something we'll see and then he finished a game and like nothing but um yeah it's

a it's an area that's you know it's just like oh well it's gonna be really frustrating if they have a good team and we have to watch a couple of muffins yeah here and there you never know right you never know but vassie's just like such an x-factor difference maker comparatively to like anyone any valaket came on our show and said that kemper was the statistically the worst goalie in playoffs last year you know like is it possible to win with that you know are you good Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I like the trades. I like what Dubas did. And you know he, the pressure's on, man. And everyone's going, well, no, it's the pressure on the players.

Like, it's always on the players. You got to perform. You got to get it done. Like, of course. But to put their team in a valuable position as far as lineup is concerned. Like, I'm pumped Luke Shen's back here just because, like, I wanted him to come to Pittsburghittsburgh personally just because he he has that you know old school style shot block human eraser style like he's a beauty he told out 10 unnecessary crosshairs last night that made sam

happy oh yeah i did yeah yeah i love that too but you remember in tampa bay i think they were in the bubble they played the islanders in like the second round luke didn't play the first round he came in for the islander series strictly and he what did he do he went out there every time sezikis martin clutterbuck ron shenner came out and what happened martin ran someone shenner came over and just like boom i think he fought him three times in the in that series really yeah like it's just like lefty bombs like martin's a tough guy but it's like neutralized you know it's done don't mess around is that maroon is that perry you know i'm scared to tatter you know the ox from oxbow saskatchewan like yeah come on does it matter that he played like those are all his buddies he won cups with tampa bay

yeah yeah is it different when you say no credit cards yeah you don't think so so i think your mother brad may yeah okay i think shenner's here on a mission like i think he wants to come in and win with this team you know because he's drafted here and you know i played with him here and he grew up a block from my house growing up too so i'm older than him by a mile but yeah you know his career was like over he was in the minors and like what's gonna happen and he's kind of you know he's he's got it done like he's served a massive purpose and a role and you know in the depths of winning teams and it's valuable yeah do you see any anyone the leafs, anyone else stopping the Boston Bruins? Are they their own enemy in terms of they're only going to beat themselves

from here on in either through injuries or just lack of confidence or just shutting down at the worst possible time? Who's stopping the Boston Bruins? I don't know. I can't think of one thing that would it's like they're on the biggest mission ever like their core guys are just dialed their depth production dialed or love bobby or love i liked i liked him in washington yeah yeah but he was kind of a loose can and a little bit as much yeah john carlson and like he's kind of a loose cannon with his play a little bit i think he's um you know grown to be better about that with his play

like just more um dependable because he's he's he's he's a skilled guy kind of you know he can get going yeah he can make things happen and um yeah i think you know the guys they added to like hathaway you know like they've they've identified things they need and then all of a sudden oh you got some guys banged up oh ho hum here's bertuzzi yeah no big deal which a guy that i really like if there's a guy you look like oh the bruins need a guy they got him i'm like oh yeah he's got like long hair no teeth like you can play on the line with marshawn too yeah seriously they're like they're like mini me's i wonder if part of the conversation to bring patrice bergeron back was let me tell you what we're gonna do at the trade deadline let me tell

you how we're gonna do this because i think it was on them though right so beyond anything i ever expected out of the boston bruins when we were talking i had them missing playoffs this year i thought they were old yeah cray cheese gone he comes back like okay he's older though right yeah i could see that like what kind of stuff and then like they came in just like they were on a mission i know like what's going on in there right now who are they playing for everything's going right is it for bergeron is this like a hit like is this it's the like the last run and and this is everything's on it for them and they love him that much that he's like corralled these guys because it is uh it's

something else to to watch what they're doing and i'll say anyone can stop them i'm not gonna okay the east whatever like i colorado for me i watch him like mccarr gone landis cog hurt like doesn't matter like you see the pace they play with, how fast they are. Yeah. Like, it's funny. When you win and you realize how good you are, too, how, like, different you play. Like, there's, like, a new identified level that you can get to. And they're, like, they're on fire.

Yeah. If they get healthy for playoffs, it's. Yeah, it's scary. Beginning of the week, too, we called Lars Eller to Colorado. Did you? Yeah. Wow. He is...

We're really good at what we do. Yeah, we're really good. He is, like, sneaky tough, too. Yeah, well, I played with him in Montreal. He's my centerman for a bit. Just, like, good 200-foot guy. Yeah. Heavy, too.

Heavy, yeah. Like, he got swagger. Like, he's quiet, but he's got swagger like he knows his job big like he's like a new age kind of power forward he's really strong can can blow through gaps like guys on him he loves to shoot too so he's he's he's got that confidence that he can score with a shot from distance or but he's not afraid to get inside and do hard things and and you know play winning hockey it's a great teammate because like that division just looks like oh it's going to be dallas and winnipeg are the other two teams in the top three like for colorado it's not a free pass

by any means but it's you think they're going to be there in the western conference final which probably brings you to edmonton the oilers have they added bustad they added ekholm what have you thought of their makeup and their additions? I love it. I think Ekholm's just like, I call him the king of the cross check. He'll give him a crowbar. He might as well have a crowbar. He just beats on people's backs.

He's mean. He's a nasty, rock steady guy. Rangey, can move pucks up. Good all-around big defender that's just tough to play against. You know when you're out there and you're like, oh, this guy's going to cross-check the heck out of me again. You could just draw straws out of the Western Conference, though, when you look and when you try to handicap anything.

For the longest time, Kippy, I loved Winnipeg. I was like, who's going to beat Winnipeg? Every guy is 6'5". I had them done in September. Really? Yeah, I did. They came into Pittsburgh, like, what, what a month ago and they just destroyed them, destroyed them after they played in Columbus the night before,

weren't happy with their game, came in and just like, I was like, Oh my, cause I was between the benches. I came to, I was like, Oh my God.

Like that's the biggest team I've ever seen. They're physical. They're like right up on you. There's no time and space. Like they can move pucks their d any d never mind morrissey who everyone was talking about every d was active and like confident i was like but they're not a big d they're not they're not like they're all up front forwards the lowry's yeah perfetti is like their smallest guy everyone else is 6'4". And then 5'11", the Morrisseys.

Stenland, Lowry, Wheeler, Logan Sturgeley. I mean, Dillon's big on the back end. But yeah, they're big. And then they have Hellebuck. Right. He's okay, too. So what's this league? I kind of look at it. I'm like, what's this league?

It's like special teams, goaltending. Yeah. And like, where else are we going to go with this? Well, the Leafs have good players. Star factor. And seed fillers. Yeah. Star factor. And seed fillers. Yeah. Star factor.

And then those rolls. Yes. And then goaltending. It's like a major. You have a chance if you have those goalies. Yeah. And the Leafs in playoffs have not gotten through. And their power play has really struggled.

And they haven't out-goaltended the other team. Yeah. You know, the power play is interesting for the Leafs. We talked about it. You didn't like it last night. No. I haven't liked it for a bit. It's kind stagnant you know what are you doing let them down the last three or four years this time of year yeah you got matthews on one side marner on another like you got to let those guys have the puck and do their thing but

like i don't know i guess do you prefer to have a power play setup where it's you know some tight system here's what we want you to play or do you would you rather say you're great players go be yeah do your thing i i'd rather like the the yeah unpredictable gong show that is when connor mcdonald's connor mcdavid but like when you know when he gets it on his side and then he's he gets on his horse he goes around the loop and he starts swirling and then and usually it's a stagnant stand still shoot some gap passes through seams and touch it around for you know a little shot tip pass around like like i like when it's like so unpredictable it's like boom boom boom boom boom i think that's like just wild and as a

killer really tough to defend because you don't know you know they're throwing seven different kinds of smoke at you and you're just trying to survive but um yeah i think i think when you're when you're standing still like that, it becomes predictable. As a killer, you know the kind of pressures of what they're looking for, you know, these three options possibly when it's set up in this situation. But maybe they can have that look a little bit. It's either shooting down the flank.

What do they do? That's all they do. Coming downhill on the flank or, like, shot passes to the guy in the slot for a little tip. It's just a flank shot. Yeah. We got to get you out of here? Yeah, I got to get back.

Colby's got to go. Well, Colby Armstrong. They need me. I guess everyone needs pizza. Listen. Of course, you got your podcast down there. Chicklets, game notes. You're going to go on the panel on TNT, buddy.

You're going for your hockey expertise. You're not going there to deliver pizzas like they waste your time here. Right? Yeah, it'll be fun. It'll be really cool to be on TNT with Anson and Biz and Liam down there. I worked with them at NBC before previously, so it'll be comfortable, I think. Yeah, yeah. I'll get down there, get in in the game start dialing in hockey

chatter just get it going right get the hot stove going easy yeah I love it just like I did here today it was good talking hockey with you boys today thanks for having me in man Colby Armstrong former NHLer I'll be driving home to Buffalo in the snow and then seriously be careful I will

thanks guys enjoyed it alright Sammy we're gonna take some uh are we gonna go to break no we we have no more breaks remaining so all right we just gotta let's go out of there right into i have some questions i haven't asked for one or i don't think i have one question so youtube and okay pal good seeing you colby armstrong everybody all right do you want to what up we can finish our show in quotes if we'd like? We got Keefe on Shin's impact, the keys to win. You want to go back into the quotes?

All right. And if there are questions out there, we can squeeze them in between now and the end of the show. That'd be perfect. All right. So let's start with... I was just going to say that Dubas did speak today. Okay.

Oh, good. And one of the quotes that was sent by him, I don't know what the context of it. I'm very confident in our goaltenders. That's what Dubas said? Yes. I'm very confident in our goaltenders. One of them hasn't played since January

because in warmup, he rolled an ankle. Right. What would he expect him to say? I tried. I looked. I'm sorry. No no you're right there was nothing out there this is the best we got we got to just keep our fingers crossed if he said anything other than that i would kill him exactly i would bury him we would bury him so don't roll

your eyes when you hear that yeah that's that's all you can say give him credit um he also said that he's open to trading uh b Boston's first round pick at the draft. So that's, I guess, somewhat newsworthy. I am very surprised. Did he say if I got a new contract? I guess that's true. That's a great point. Did he say if I'm still around?

No, he didn't say that. I'm open to trading for Boston's draft pick when i'm somewhere else um when dubas made the rash very confident and oh oh what's that we had a half dubas quote i thought it was the live one but i don't think so i'm very confident in in uh in our goaltenders nice all right that one's going in the library oh Oh, my God. Yeah, that's... When Dubas made the Rassus Sandin trade with Washington for a first rounder, he had the choice of another draft pick or Eric Gustafson, and he chose the depth at the power play quarterback. But I watched him last night on that shorthanded goal.

I played with enough guys that already are in their mind, have got the puck, and they're thinking about the play oh yeah or the shot they're going to get off except they forget a part about the part of getting the puck yeah you got to catch the catch the ball for the touchdown doesn't count you know power play yes i get it movement could have a different look on the Leafs power play. I get all that part. I don't like him defensively at all. Listen, I will think it's a pretty tough first impression for Leaf fans, but that was a grenade that Yarncroft fired at him, a hard pass along the dasher board.

Stop it. With Coleman. Stop it. Coleman was breathing down his neck. I will say, it's got a good point. Your first priority is to make sure that puck is managed. I agree. Bad play.

Keep it in play. Yeah. But Yarncroft doesn't. Do him any favors. No. No. And also, new guy, new team. First time in the P.P.

Like, a little bit nervous. Grenade launcher. Hard-ass pass. That's that first impression. I'm going to pretend it never happened. If I see that in game one through game seven he had 60 points and no one wants the guy at times there's 40 40 points this year is 40 60 point season though he has a 17 goal 60 point season wow that's impressive and he makes a

million bucks yeah i mean if you're half decent defensively and score 60 you make 10 yeah yeah how bad defensively are you that you can put up those numbers and can't cap more than a million bucks? And I'm not saying he's not good at what he does. That could be your best point of the season right there. He's a 7 and if the D is terrible, if the power play is not scoring,

he's going to get in. Kyle Dubas on Austin Matthews. As everyone knows, he's played through in um kyle dubas on austin matthews as everyone knows he's played through some injuries and things that have hampered him do we know do we know that things no i didn't know if this is a down season for him offensively that's a really good sign in terms of how great of a player he really is what's he been through how's he gonna get through four rounds if he can't if you're bringing up injuries right now? Well, here's my question. If he's got anything nagging, can we put him on the schneid for a bit?

Yeah, like if he's. Give him a couple of weeks off. I would agree. Like if he's hurting. Show me Bobby McMahon. In all honesty, I mean, good on him. Trying to protect him. But that sounds to me like he's just trying to alleviate the the pressure

off of him a little bit and use the the injury as a bit of a this is this is this explains everything i do think that we will hear whether it's a post year or a post a post career thing where matthew says yeah at that time i was going I don't know, shingles and a tough breakup. You know, like whatever it is. Shingles or a bad breakup. I said and a bad breakup simultaneously. You know what I mean? Like I just feel like.

But he had time to make that commercial. Which one? There's a bank commercial. He keeps killing them for this commercial. I thought it was kind of funny. Boys, these guys love money. Marner's in every commercial. He's playing a... Boys, these guys love money. Marner's in every commercial. He's in Skip the Dishes,

gambling, everything. Matthew's gambling. They love money. Good luck playing in Arizona and getting that commercial. Bingo. Like, listen, they just love commercials.

And guess what? I said on air literally today that I am for sale, so I'm not going to lie. I cannot tell you enough how much we're for sale. I will, you know, you offer me a few hundred bucks i'll say a lot of things what do you say you offer me 200 bucks i'll say a lot of things a hamburger you would do anything

for i was telling sammy that i asked sportsnet if i could tweet out for this company that was gonna sell me some like you know give me some underwear whatever and they were like well just make sure you're getting enough value to justify the tweet. And I was like, oh, burger, buddy. I'm for sale. Burger. A baguette. Tasty baguette.

You're scaring me right now. Oh, yeah. And I'm for sale for golf clubs, too. Just not for sale. Golf clubs. Yeah. Whatever you want to send me. Except for Sammy and JB.

Oh, yeah. Tea times, Sammy and JB. Oh, yeah. Tea times, your green fees. Oh, baby. Anything else he said exciting today? No, not a whole lot. I was just picking through some of the quotes I'm seeing on Twitter. But I guess, I mean, that's, I am surprised we're sitting here after the deadline that he still has the Boston first round pick.

Me too. Like, you know, if you're, I guess, I'm sure. There's nowhere to put it. No, you're right. But I'm sure when he acquired that for Sandin, which was, was that Tuesday? When was that? On Wednesday that that happened?

Or Tuesday that that happened? I bet you if you had a truth serum. His goal was to flip it for 100%. XYZ. First rounders gets you $4 million player back. He's a, he's a 30 second pick it's a little different like you can't bring me vijmelka and half a loss in crouse or i don't know no no you cannot can we can i get lost in crouse can i get no you cannot fit those in

yeah can't fit them in yeah well you can have and i don't know someone else do this by the way alex kerfoot who we kill all the time in the show people kill him i thought he skated like conor mcdavid last night you know why lying because there's there's more reinforcement around him there's more muscle around him and those those type of players get to look better electric when others are going out there and doing some grunt work yeah okay like the worst look on Kerfoot for me since he's been here is in the playoffs when he tries to body check Hedman and then takes a penalty

because he doesn't really know how to do it because he didn't really... By the way, that's very relatable for me because I was not a banger. And in the playoffs, I definitely was like, okay, we're doing this thing. And it's like, it's not who I am. I've never really done it before. i look really awkward taking myself out of position

doesn't have to do that yeah he won't god if you had one percent more finishing ability win with guys like kerfoot if they're if they're not leading that charge yeah um yeah i'm also interested to see what kerfoot and hall are gonna to look like in their next game because now that they didn't get traded yeah like don't you think there's part of like hall played the hardest i've ever seen him play for three straight games here yeah and like he played i thought he was great again last night if you read the tea leaves on kerfoot he was never going anywhere okay so but hall for sure was sheldon keith i actually was thinking that would be a major thing to pull out of the dressing room he has been here for four years popular guy in the room

fantasy football commissioner boys it's a lot yeah it does actually yeah the other thing too there's just that little slice of i think uh sheldon saying that you you know, if I would have got rid of him, it would have just been ample proof that I really screwed up the cadre trade. Yeah, I could be part of it. And I think like to the chemistry point of it, you have to like you changed out 30% of this team. You have to have some holdover and consistency. You know, I was actually thinking that this season, one of the great advantages the Leafs had that other teams didn't have is continuity like they kept their team

together they changed mckeah and whatever for you know the same guys like they had the same team in the same direction and i think that helped them get a lot of wins while teams sort out their whatever and now they're the team that's been massively disrupted and it's going to take a little bit of time but you're right i'm sure they wondering, do we want to do two or three? Do we want to do more bodies? It's a lot. I did want to do a first impression of Sam Lafferty. Any thoughts on him so far?

We haven't talked about him at all. I think he is exactly what we thought he would be, an energy guy that gets his nose dirty, can get in on a four check. I don't know. And listen, I've kind of got a little bit of experience of having success on a very bad team. I scored 17 goals in Hartford. I got more ice time.

I go to the Rangers, less ice time, numbers down. But, you know, this is Lafferty now on a on a deep team this is not the chicago blackhawks here yeah yeah i wouldn't expect any offense i just i did want to say that i really like the look of him as like a skater four checker yeah you know a lot of good things i think he has panic hands like when you said yeah last night after the play i'm like yeah there's already been a couple moments where he's too quick like calm with it for you know to calm down a little bit but you know that could be new guy too but yeah just my first impression um mccabe better hands you're calling he said he's got some mad hands mccabe better last night

uh yes really liked mccabe last night yeah i gotta say watching him play last night versus the first night where i like we talked about he was trying to kill everyone right juiced up last night was an encouraging night for me he does he is aggressive in the neutral zone guys he's more up ice than i expected he every chance he gets to step up early he does and he is way more offensively inclined than i thought he was gonna well he had that great shorthanded chance that uh markstrom got a piece of and then kerfoot shot into the 23rd row i i'll be it was tipped he feel oh my god he feels like a guy that's gonna have a monster momentum swinging hit at some point in a

big game like he just he almost that poor pelchie last night when pelchie was coming into the zone and he had tavaris on his hip and he saw mccabe at the last second and he pulled the shoot but it was close like he's gonna get somebody yeah yeah that's good encouraging on that decent numbers ever anywhere uh mccabe yeah it's a good question. Like offensively? Yeah, offensively. I think he's probably had 100 points in his career over, what, 500 games? But is he?

I'm pulling it up right now. He has had 119 points in 485 games, 24 goals. His biggest year was in Buffalo. No, it was in Chicago in 2021, 2022 when he had 33 points and he was a minus 27 minuses don't count 22 points sorry my bad probably stepped up a little bit too many times yeah i would say so but yeah he you know pretty he's got a couple of years with 20 assists there 18 assists i know i just to me they didn't get any faster let's put it that way outside of lafferty lafferty skates well

they didn't get faster no definitely not obviously o'reilly's not lightning fast and um shannon yeah shannon's not fleet of foot i i am worried about the o'reilly pace a little bit yeah there's moments where he looks really slow i think it's a style thing i can't tell if it's if he's actually slower if it's stylistically just ugly who's that right o'reilly but yeah but yeah i don't think it's not a slow team but it's certainly not a fast team you know like lafferty was important in terms of the four check and having another guy that can get in there. Kerfoot skates well. Just to touch on Kyle Dubas

and when he first broke in, how important was how fast they were, the transition, the puck possession. And man, they, yeah, they're not considered, I think, a fast team today. No. And I think, a fast team today. No. And I think he probably would hold by a lot of those convictions, but he would be like, I found the things that other people wanted,

but also in guys I wanted. But there's definitely he's made some concessions about what he thinks is going to win. A couple housekeeping notes before we go away here. We've got a contest next week. It's the, remember we had it last year, the rivalry train, Molson Canadian? Yeah. So they want to give you and a friend a chance to take the Molson Canadian

rivalry train to see the Leafs take on the Sens in Ottawa on April 1st. That'd be a good, maybe a big game for the Sens now. It includes food, beverage, an overnight stay in Ottawa, and you have to tune into our show next week for all the details. And obviously you've got to be 19 years old so you can drink the beer that they're going to give you.

But, yeah, so a big contest for us next week. Wow. Are we eligible to win? No, but I would love to win. I really would. And that, I mean. We can put a fake name in for you. Or, you know, you could just maybe buy me some ticket skippers or something.

Here's a set in Ottawa. What do tickets in Ottawa cost? I wouldn't even know. Probably not a whole lot probably a lot more now this week than two weeks ago well yeah and that's the thing that game now for ottawa that's probably gonna be a huge game for them that's a massive night and and the leafs are gonna be battling with tampa to keep ahead of them for home ice advantage so it's gonna be really uh it's gonna be really exciting that's a good contest so stay tuned next week and another

housekeeping thing just wanted to apologize to our listeners for Biz and his swear. Oh, did you? He just wanted to make sure I apologized to our listeners. Can you imagine if he was on every week, how many times you would have to apologize? But he was on TV literally all day and then he comes in here and drops an F. You just make people feel too comfortable, boys. Well, it's our show.

I know. You forget you're on the air. I know. Last year, I afraid he dropped the hardest F in sports radio history. But usually people get three quarters of the way through the word and catch it. And he was just like 100%. Hammer all the way down. Hard K. So those are my two.

Derek, do you suppose to have us on a delay or something? Yeah, we're good. We're in studio. It doesn't matter for YouTube. Oh, yeah. Can't protect the YouTubers. Derek cashed in uh and his next rewards for 25 oh my god so i was actually thinking of doing those crappy uh commercials

for like uh the pay apps you know like start doing my hat one way like i don't pay for gas anymore since i downloaded this app no way man you're real? Serious. David Siss-Boombaugh is like $10 in. I'm not paying you two guys, by the way. Not yet. You guys get... Unpaid promos. And Matt Murray on the ice. Kyle said today the goaltender is close to returning.

Close to returning. He's been close for six weeks. How about we see him play a hockey game tomorrow evening? Would that be acceptable? That would be... That's close. Yep. And congrats to all

the Vancouver fans who get to enjoy a four o'clock hockey game tomorrow. I know they love that. It really warms your heart to know they're pissed off about a 4 p.m.

local time. If I was a Vancouver Canucks fan and I saw that thing that they could have traded JT Miller for picks and didn't, I would drive to the rink and kick down Alvin's door. I can't thing that they could have traded JT Miller for picks and didn't, I would drive to the rink and kick down Al Bean's door.

I can't believe that. Anyways. All right, just like that, two hours flew right by. Yes, sir. All right, our thanks to Paul Bizonette, former NHL, our co-host of Spittin' Chicklets, Colby Armstrong, Doug McClain, always stellar on Off the Rails Friday. Everybody have a great week.

We're back Monday.