Real Kyper & Bourne - Getting to Know Brad Treliving

Episode Date: June 1, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee open with their reactions to Brad Treliving's introductory press conference, before they address his biggest takeaways, his to-do list and what is in store for the core four. The guys also give their reaction to the news of Kyle Dubas being name the President of Hockey Ops for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the suspicious and perhaps petty timing of it and if there is a possibility of Jason Spezza joining him. Finally, new Leafs’ GM, Brad Treliving joins the show to share his thoughts on coming to Toronto, urgency for an Auston Matthews extension, using the Matthew Tkachuk trade as a lesson and his team-building intentions for the Leafs (31:26). 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. Still two days away from the Stanley Cup Final and what a day in the National Hockey League. Off the ice. Brad Treeliving officially introduced as the GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Kyle Dubas introduced as the President of hockey operations for the Pittsburgh Penguins. How hot is that ticket next year between Pittsburgh and Toronto? Let's welcome in Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Jennifer Rolnick, and of course, sitting in for Derek Brandeo, Austin Mackey.

What do we do here, boys? Look for tickets now? Here's what I'll say. Mackey, what do we do here, boys? Look for tickets now? Here's what I'll say. You know, it'll be a pretty emotional return to Toronto for Justin Hall and Michael Bunting, I imagine. Long videos. Yeah, GMs, co-GMs, Pritam and Spezza will have a lot to say with the on-ice product. Yeah, they'll just have a montage of Justin Hall taking a beating behind his own net and getting the puck off the glass and out.

We're going to dive into both storylines in the next hour. Not sure if anyone's heard, but Brad Tree Living, the newest general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, will be joining us in about 30 minutes. That's really cool. That's awesome. First day on the job. He's coming on the show. One better than Dupas there, fellas. For sure sure i thought we had dupas on one time like in the first year or something maybe early we are live on our youtube channel and sportsnet now we will be coming up uh after the ball game

on sportsnet 590 the fan and of course continue to download us on iTunes and Spotify at your convenience. Thoughts, guys, overall thoughts on the presentation today between Brendan Shanahan and Brad Tree Living. Let's go to you, JB, first. Yeah, just, you know, taking it from the top of the CN Tower view. I thought it was a good introductory press conference, right? Said all the right things. You yesterday said you didn't want to hear him.

You know, how could he know yet without talking to people and assessing a little bit? And he mentioned similar things to that, right? That he didn't really commit in any direction. But that, you know, he mentioned a few things that he likes to see in a team. He likes that the team checks. He seemed to have a priority list in order of things that need to get done here, which is good. I thought it was a good way to start. He looked a little like me in that sort of scenario.

A little bit red and sweaty. You know, that's a big moment. But, hey, I can't blame the guy. I thought he did a great job. Sammy, you were always a little lukewarm with the talk of a potential tree living signing here. Feeling any differently after listening to him today? You know, I've heard him talk a lot over the past few years. You know, like he does a lot of radio stuff.

Like you see him in press conferences. He's really affable, good with the media. Cracked a few jokes that maybe the media laughed a little bit too hard at, I thought, maybe. But we'll go past that yeah yeah uh i just i kind of felt an instant i wouldn't say connections the right word but at least a trust in him like he just doesn't seem like he's gonna come in here and make sweeping big moves for the sake of it like he seems like a calculated guy he's's well-spoken. He seems well-connected within the industry.

Like, he said he had a relationship with Pridham, has a close relationship with Auston Matthews' agent. Like, just, he seems like a guy that a lot of people like and respect, which, to me, could be something a little bit new. Like, you know, the perception of Dubas around the league may be a little bit different than the perception of Treleving. living like i just felt trusting in him it was not a sexy press

conference by any stretch of the imagination felt like a little bit more of the same in a way but i was okay with it yeah and for obvious reasons too because like there isn't there isn't a chance that they're going to come out and make some bold statements, right? It's just about getting through the day. Right, right, right. And the one thing that I, the first feeling I got out of the press conference was watching actually Brendan Shanahan.

And I thought his energy was a little down. I did too. And I really think that. I noticed that. actually brendan shanahan yeah and i thought his energy was a little down i did too and i really think that i'm i i listen he's a hall of famer he's a stanley cup champion this guy's done it all internationally right yeah there's no questioning his resume i just found him for the first time a little bit i don't want to say the word down but i really think like the last week week and a half took a lot out of him yeah and i i found his body language a little bit down today based on the experience that he just went through with kyle dubas did you pick up on that at all yeah i did

you know and part of that you know the last two times the front office of the toronto maple leaves have gone up to speak it hasn't been great right like dubas said the things he said that maybe ended his tenure in toronto and then shanahan went up and did the blow by blow that felt a little bit yeah i don't even call it high school gossipy or something that wasn't well received so maybe this is is like, all right, let's go do this again. And it does feel like you're not up there in a triumphant thing. It's like we had to do something because plan A didn't work out. So maybe they didn't feel like, you know, announcing an accomplishment.

As much as I thought Tree Living is a great hire and whatever, it didn't feel like that. We're going to, I want to play a couple of clips, or at least one anyways, before we to uh brad tree living live which kind of feels a little weird because why are you going to a clip if you're going to talk to him in 30 seconds but i think i think the clip could help us maybe uh steer the questioning uh in the right direction but before i get to his clip i want to ask you guys because the first thing I thought of when I saw it on social media that Kyle Dubas was going to be, or they officially announced him on social media,

that he was the president of hockey operations was, you got that in before the Leaf press conference at 11, didn't you? You know, I sat down today at my desk and sam goes uh you know if i may could you just want to say what you said or just so petty very petty you know that's what he thought but i said i don't tell me a lot of tells me a lot honestly like you know the way that this last i don't agree with him the last the way the last three weeks have played out has really told me a lot about kyle dubas and the fact that he would do this today before that,

it was like, yeah, I'm feeling okay about him being gone. It got addressed in the media, right? They did ask him. I think it was one of the last questions they asked Brendan. And Brendan took the high road. Hey, they're just trying to, they're no different than us. They just want to get going. They got work to do.

Like three hours, like you want to get ahead of the work in three hours you couldn't wait like even to announce it at any time after 11 but i found it petty too sam i don't think so i know listen this is all happening on a tight timeline and they do have work to do and And I think the second you go, well, we can't announce our news because the Toronto Maple Leafs has a press conference. What are you doing? Just stay in your own lane here. If it's time to announce the news, it's time to announce the news. Don't worry about that. Tell Gary Bettman that during the Stanley Cup final.

What does that mean? Well, it means that you're not supposed to do that. You're not supposed to suck energy away from certain storylines that are on a big stage. And I'm not saying that the Toronto Maple Leafs own any stage, but you don't have to hog it if you don't have to. So is this a comment about the Leafs or about Dubas? About Pittsburgh Penguins.

Because the Leafs are doing the same thing. They announced a massive hire on the same day but they announced that they had an 11 o'clock press conference yesterday Pittsburgh didn't announce anything until an hour before the Leafs 11am that you knew that was coming half an hour

this tells me something about you two and the way you two think and operate more than it does we're plenty too there might be something to that pal okay i just i didn't like it no all right i didn't like it i was i'll allow it i got off the ice this morning i looked at my phone and i i actually said really yeah i did yeah really that's what my that was my in my initial reaction okay there you go lots of talk today about priorities with Bradtree Living,

who, once again, I'll remind everybody in about 12 minutes. Or no, I'm sorry. 2.30. Yeah. My apologies. My apology. 12.30 Eastern time here. But let's go to where he has a wish list, I guess,

right now on things he needs to focus. Number one, I've got to get out and see Austin. Number two is I've got to – number one, A, is the other contractual issues. We've got a coach that we've got to get some clarity and meet with. So, you know, I don't – by saying one's more important than the other, you're downgrading everything, but there's a lot to do. And the clock is ticking, as they say. Clock is ticking, but he could not get out fast enough.

Austin Matthews. And as a Leaf fan, exactly what I want to hear. And someone in here wrote about that today. I did. My article today for the Toronto Star was focusing on Austin Matthews. And I wrote an article last week that I said, listen, for me, I try to focus on

the oldest out of the core four and Tavares' contract. Is there any way I could find a way to lose $11 million next year? But right from the get-go and i think uh bright tree living kind of put the stamp on it here the mandate is simple either from brendan

shanahan or the board is that we need to know what is going on with austin matthews yeah and that you know you you wrote about that as the priority and i agree that it is i think that's pretty clear here as july 1st comes up that this is something that they need to have answers on because of kachuk and goudreau and tavarez and how it can affect your franchise losing guys for nothing so i yeah they they need to know he is aware of that that stood out to you for some reason though like in a way or just noteworthy that he is aware of that. That stood out to you for some reason, though, like in a way, or just noteworthy that he is aware of? I think they're really nervous. Oh.

Do you? Yeah, I do. I do. I think there's some people. I would imagine that their conversations behind closed doors aren't any different than ours. One guy's going, oh oh he's not going anywhere and there'll be another one that says i'm really nervous he's leaving

hold on now so you're talking about like were matthews to conceivably leave you're saying there'd be like another player on the team what are you saying sorry i'm saying from uh a managerial positioning either brendan brad someone at the board this is their utmost number one priority because they're nervous yeah about the possibility of austin not resigning and possibly staring down Brad tree livings second time in under 12 months of having to trade a superstar. Yeah, sure. I mean,

and that's, but that hasn't changed from yesterday or the day before or the day before that, you know, that has been the concern, right? Like in taking this job, he knew that was the concern

and so it is as you mentioned priority number one he actually the fact that he said getting out to see austin isn't calling austin you know like that to me sounds like a guy who's going to get on a plane and fly to the southwest he's pulling the babs no no 100 a hundred percent and i'm surprised that he actually made it here first. I thought he would have just gone straight to Arizona. Quicker flight from Calgary, that's for sure. Yeah.

So, you know, that's yep, that is a priority obviously. So we are now June 1st. Mm-hmm. How much time does he have, guys, to figure figure it out how much time do you need to trade you know one of the biggest trade ships you know bill simmons for years did the trade value i forget what the list was called it's just like a trade value list yeah and like who in the nhl like

obviously connor uh number one trade value guy great contract all you know best player in the world matthews is a top five guy in the league in terms of trade value i think i think he would be lower down because of the contract in this like you know he he out earns it by a good distance but the fact that you need to resign one year left on it and like if you're a certain type of team like if you're columbus and you trade for him you're probably not going to get him on an eight-year term right right it would be incredibly complex yes so in saying that brad would need as much time as possible yeah i was going to that he needs a week i wrote 10 days i wrote uh he didn't really uh get the answer out of mat Kachuk until mid-July last year.

Mid-July, and it was supposed to be done. Well, there was no deadline for that to be done, though, right? There was no deadline to be done. There was no no-move clause kicking in. So this one's much differently, that he is up against the clock. If, if he values that, that's an incredible chip that Judd Austin's agent and, and Austin can use in dictating a potential trade. If he doesn't want to resign.

Well, and I know the thing that can't happen. I said this yesterday is brad tree living cannot take this job not get austin signed on july 1st then just lose him you can't you can't that can't be the first thing that happens when you're here you're talking about you know we can and we will that uh dubas said about the other guys he can't do that or it's just kind of the end of his tenure before it begins so he needs to get that commitment from matthews that they want it to happen and to your point about how that does give judd and austin some leverage i hope we're at the point in austin's career the guy just made 55 million dollars at 25 years old or whatever over

his last deal where it's not just about i know i see the smile how do i get every dollar conceivable but how do i put my team in a position while putting myself in a good position too and to me it's that 12.6 number it's give me mckinnon plus you know maybe it's 13 whatever but if he's if he wants 14 I think you let him go. You can't. I know. I don't think so. No. You. No. Disagree. I mean, you pay him 14.

You pay him 20% of the salary. I do. I do. You can't. He's not. He's not perfect. I understand his flaws. But like, and you're talking from a probably a different perspective than I am.

But Leaf fans have waited their entire life for a guy like this for a guy that's just like you can't let him walk over like if he doesn't want to be here yeah fine you got you do you trade him he doesn't want to sign long term here i get that but if it's like heart like you know you're driving a hard bargain on austin matthews no but here's the problem sam if he's a guy that would do that to the Leafs, you have to consider if you want them in the way that it's like, you know, Matthews or McDavid didn't get every nickel he could,

but he sure could have. And McKinnon probably could have done that too. You know, when you have to assess if this is a guy who's prioritizing that. And I don't think he will. Cause I think he would know that would come with, you know, a lot of pressure and booing and yada yada i just from my observation i would tend to think that uh the the true decision makers here the board of mlsc would be leaning towards Sammy's philosophy that even if we have to overpay a little bit,

we need this guy to move forward. He is an attraction. He's an MVP. He has the ability to score 60 goals. We're not losing him. We want to continue to charge $300 a ticket. We're not doing it without Austin Matthews. Well, then it can be 13 if you like or 13 and a half,

but you can't go to the absolute. Listen, I agree from a hockey perspective that you are right. And this is what's going to make this thing so fascinating. Yeah. Because if there is a sense that you think you've got MLSC over a barrel here and you suck too many dollars out, you've already experienced that a little bit. You have. And Austin didn't take the beating that Mitch Marner took over the years.

We know that. Not at all. Okay. Mitch was the whipping boy for overpayment at 10-9. And even on his record-setting point production in Leaf history, there's still a lot of people saying he ain't worth 10-9 today. So if Matthews comes in and takes too much and it affects the team and they're not off to a great start he is going to get hammered

one way or the other and i think his agent would know that you know like i think he would know that and so if the money is most important to him this is a bad place to ask for every nickel if you want to go somewhere else and go get every penny of someone's salary cap i think you're a lot better off doing it somewhere else i don't think he'll do that to himself but if he does you're right it's it's a possibility it's like just because you can will you is a conversation he'll have to have with him so here's what i think will happen if he doesn't take the max dollar amount he's going to want other things and those other things are going to include shorter term. He's going to want another chance to get paid, maybe in three years. Which I think at this point,

Brad or MLSC would just... We've got a window here. If it's three years, it's three years. If it's two years, it's two years. At least we get... Two? Hey, two years or... Two years, Des, but... Or he doesn't sign and we lose him for nothing, Sam.

Yeah, I know. You do too. Two it is. You do too, sir. You do too. Too good, sir. He's got you by the short ones. But it can't be two and 14.6 or whatever 20% of the cap is going to be.

It can't be both. You know, last time everyone got everything. It can't be everything. You can't give 20% and, you know, have risk losing the guy again. So, but I mean, if you ask yourself how many teams around the league, if they had the ability to give Austin Matthews, the max contract would do it. Oh yeah.

That's a great, it's a good question. And I get your point that pretty much everyone would Columbus. No. If they had the cap space in a vacuum, if these teams were like, we are able to sign Austin Matthews, I bet you there's 32 teams that would give him the max contract. He's a top five player.

If he's just a UFA, he gets 14-something times seven. I would have said after his MVP year, yes. After this year, I'm not so sure. Yeah. I'm not. I think this year. He had a – I'm not not gonna say he had a horrible year you don't score 40 goals and say you had a horrible year but he he dropped this year yeah he did and

significantly from the point of view where two years ago we were talking about him being so special in the connor mcdavid yeah zone it's like the same thing of like vladdy guerrero jr in toronto people are going maybe he's not aaron judge maybe he's the 15th best hitter you know like sometimes you have to have a fair assessment of what someone is i don't think we know with matthews i also don't think we should use the whole show on on matthews one more for me and i mean well i mean the general manager said in the press conference today is the number one priority it is it's the whole thing it's the whole thing because this is where you know it's the whole thing because you cannot talk about marner you can't talk about signing nylander until you know what is going on with your core one. Yeah.

Okay, so what did you make of the person who makes the decisions on the bench, his comments on Sheldon Keefe, assuming you're good to turn the page on that to Keefe? Yeah, sure. One more on Austin. Okay. And I'm going to ask. No, let's have it.

I'll ask Brad, too, when we get to him in about 10 minutes is, um, what is ample time for Brad to figure out if, if, um, Austin wants to, um, what's the term?

Poop or get off the pot. Well, I said earlier in this show, like 10 minutes ago, I think it's like 10 days. You need 10 days. It just sounds like I'm just a child. Poop. It sounds way. I got two kids. I think it's hilarious at days. You need 10 days. I'm just a child. It sounds way funnier. I got two kids that think it's hilarious

at home. I don't need it here, too. I got people in the back office saying, as long as you didn't use the other word, we're fine. How long does Austin get to say, yes, this is workable and we

can get through this. Yeah, you need time to make 31 phone calls that are 20 minutes apiece. No, no, no, no, no, no 31 phone calls. This is Brad and Austin looking each other in the eye. I know. Becoming completely honest. How much time does Austin have to give Brad to call it fair? How much time is fair to give the GM?

It's got to be 10 days two weeks okay i'd probably say yeah i think you're in the ballpark two weeks so two weeks i need an answer i need figures i need i need a eight year ask yeah i need a seven year ask a six and go all the way down to one year yeah give me your wish list and then let's see where we go yeah but if i give if i get it to you then we got the basis for a done deal yes and you think two weeks is enough after that if you don't get a definitive uh key uh uh matthew kachuk answer that I'm going somewhere else, then all bets are off. You have to assume that other parties need to make parts move to

accommodate Austin Matthews. So if he gives you five days and you say, Hey, Yarmulke random team, you know, whatever, like this guy's available. Are you interested?

These guys need time to go yeah but i gotta move i need time too it's it's not 31 other teams no you gotta understand that uh like austin but it comes a lot more when it's austin brad and say hey listen you can go talk to columbus all you want we ain't resigning there and if columbus wants him that badly they're gonna get him for free in 12 months. They're not giving up a boatload here. Yeah. Okay.

Right. So how many teams are out there that Austin would say, I resign there. That's now you're only talking about a handful. So you think that any potential trade partner would have to be a, you know, he's resigning trade partner. I'm not even entering the conversation.

If I'm Columbus, if he tells me he's not resigning. So, yeah, you have to know it's not open. It's not, it's just a five team list at that point. You think there might be even three.

I think a lot of teams make, make room. Okay. You know, fair enough. Matthews. Yeah, for sure.

I'll, I'll give you that. And to that point, they need ample time. But this is where Austin is completely in the driver's seat. Yeah. And so to me, this is quite a reflection of his priorities coming up. All right. In six minutes,

Bradtree Living will sort this all out for us and tell us we're full of crap. Yeah. Lots of places, I'm sure. All right. So Sheldon Keefe. Yes. Yeah. Interesting to me when asked about his priorities that the coach came up a couple of times in similar vein behind Matthews, but still was the next thing on the list.

And I think a lot of us had been like, who's he going to trade from the big four? That didn't seem to be something he was even thinking about compared to sorting out what to do with the coach and i thought he left it fairly open-ended that you know he was impressed with sheldon the team checks uh they don't know each other they're going to have conversations and see if they work together what did you take away from his thoughts on keith yeah my my feeling is that uh you know and i think elliot talked about this the other day, that there is a sense that it's leaning towards Sheldon coming back. And if we went back a year ago, we're talking about off the top of my head,

Bruce Cassidy being available, Pete DeBoer being available, Paul Maurice being made available. If you look it down the list right now i mean laviolette for sure is out there with the experience and we had a great conversation people are not signing with other teams like laviolette and the rangers till they get a chance to talk but to toronto but uh i think that if they don't feel like it's really in our direction moving forward, then you keep Sheldon. And it's not because you've loved Sheldon so much. It's because you're not ready to make a commitment somewhere else just yet. And what happens with others still under contract?

Maybe you revisit it atmas if you need to yeah but you so they would have to re-sign him 100 and i wrote this uh today in my article as well that if you bring sheldon back this is not a kyle dubas playing out your option no no but would sheldon keith even sign a one-year deal? Yes. Yeah, you would for sure. Yes. You're right. Absolutely.

You're not turning down another offer at $2 million a year. Two? Three, two and a half. Yeah, I don't know. Whatever. Whatever. No salary cap. Right?

You're not turning down another year of security. Yeah. And if he gets to a conference final final he's doubling his salary on a four-year deal this time next year right yeah and he mentioned the hartley comparison that when he came to calgary bob hartley was the coach didn't know him hartley won coach of the year that first season he then extended hartley at that point like he has a history of coming in and kind of waiting to see how that plays out the one thing that I really took away from what he said about Keefe, what he said about the players and like that,

he's a pretty personal guy in terms of like getting to know people. Shoulder to shoulder. He said a couple of times mentioned that he's, you know, a lot of people may be up in the office. I'm more down managing the people. Like I think personal relationships and knowing people and trusting people are pretty important to him so like he probably hasn't had a lot of chance to talk to keith but i also wouldn't say what he said was a glowing endorsement well i wouldn't how can it be he doesn't know him i think he admitted in his press conference that

they've crossed paths but they don't they've never really they don't really know each other one of the phrases that makes sammy point more salient, I think, as he said, we'll have our conversations, then we'll come to a conclusion. Yeah. Which is like, we don't know. 50-50 on this. We'll see.

We're all big boys here, as we said. Yeah. So. That one is still very much in the balance. I did come away from it and i hate to you know you know he's coming on in a minute but i did come away from the presser feeling like he wasn't going to trade anyone outside of the matthews thing i don't again i don't even think that you can trade it like when you talk about trading what are we talking about marner willie then

you're only talking about core four trade yes i am there's no one else in the team kip they got 10 ufas exactly five guys in our contract but you can't again that's a lie you you only think about trading or signing willie if you know what's up with austin right you need to answer that question first that is the first domino. So even if Austin says to him, hey, looking forward to getting to know you better, see how this works out, we'll check our dynamic as we head into the season. If you're Bradtree Living, you got to go.

Not good enough. You know, love ya. It's June 20th. That's just, we can't do that. We can't do that for you. If I need to go go 14 million a year i gotta say goodbye to willie yeah if you want to go 12 5 you gotta tell austin that too if you go 12 5 maybe there's a chance yeah but i can't go another million and a half two million dollars

on you on a long-term deal when I got a flat cap. I can tell you what else though. If I'm Austin, I'm not doing 12 and a half times eight or something. Connor signed that four years ago. The cap is about to jump up 4 million. It's supposed to go up a lot over the next few years. So if you want me on that number, you can have me on that number for a few years. And that's where it just gets so tricky. right i got the contract it's three years 40

million you get 13.3333 yeah three years i don't know yeah and again um it only depends on like it's all math now right it's all analytical kind of stuff where you're like, okay, Austin, here's the chart. Here's the pie chart. Yeah. Okay. Here's your slice and look at your wingers and look. Oh, here's a little, you see that sliver there? It's an eight point font that, yeah.

Do you see that slight sliver of pie that you would never look at and say in a restaurant that's acceptable for a dessert? That's your goalie. Right. So less for you, bigger piece for your goalie. Yeah. And what happens there is he gets better, the fatter the piece. Yeah. And realistically, you get better right if that piece

is fatter and you guys win more it's better for you you'll make more money becoming a legend in toronto you know actually winning something than making an extra million he's been six he's been here six years brad's been here for five minutes if br Brad needs to explain that to him, there's an issue here. You're right. Okay, let's welcome in the newest general manager, the 18th in Leaf history, Brad Treeliving. Tre, first of all, thanks for joining us. We really appreciate it, and congratulations.

And have you had a chance to catch your breath? Well, first of all, thanks, Kipper. Thanks for having me on. Justin, it's been uh we've been on the treadmill pretty good here today so that's that's that's to be expected but uh it's exciting um it's exciting day i know you hear it a lot you guys are in the market a lot but um this is i think it's a it's a special job it's a special team it's a special spot so uh yeah it's it's been exciting but we're we're ready to go

all right listen i i'm gonna apologize for whatever we say in the next year because uh this show will probably be one of your worst nightmares no no no no no no but i'm already starting to twitch it sounded in the press conference today that you know exactly what you're getting yourself into. You know what, Kipper? I think you're working. I'll put it this way. I remember going to working in Arizona. And when I interviewed in Calgary, you know, we're all young and dumb and we're still dumb.

But he's a little older now. But, you know, you think you have all the answers. I know what I'm in for. You know, I've never worked in Canada, but I know what it's all about. But it's like anything else. Until you put the shoes on and you lived it, you don't know. So, listen, I enjoyed the time in Calgary. I know, you know, it's Canada.

It's the spotlight. And this is no disrespect anywhere, but this is different. It's bigger, it's brighter, it's more eyes, and I get it. You know, I always think until you've done it, you haven't done it. I have an anticipation and expectation that I think I know what it's about. But, you know, until you've done it, you haven't. But I'm going in with my eyes wide open. Well, congratulations from me as well, Brad.

It's, you know, exciting day for you and your family for sure and appreciate you joining us. I just wanted to get your thoughts on, you know, as an outsider coming into the Leafs now, you know, do you see the Leafs as cup contenders? Where have you seen them, you know, as someone on the outside about to take over the role, making the decisions? Well, in the last couple of years, for sure.

I'm going into the playoffs this year. I thought, you know, they're in that group of teams. You know, the way the league is right now, if you really break down the teams, and Kipper, you go back to when you played. I know that we're dating ourselves here and that's a long time ago, but, you know, you go into the playoffs and there's probably back in those days,

there's everybody gives it the company line that we got a chance and, you know, we're going to this, that, and the other. I mean, at the end of the day, there's four or five teams probably are going to win, you know, are going to win it, you know, to this year, when you go into, you know, just see when the 16 teams started to play, you can make a case that anybody could win the Cup. Now, you don't build your team just to say, I want a chance to be one of the 16

and if the moon and the stars align, we have a chance. But there is some randomness, there is some luck, there is some of those things in our game. But at the end of the day, going into the last couple of years, I put the leafs into us into a you know whatever that group is call it five call it six call it seven teams that in my mind were were legitimate legitimate cup teams now

there's that doesn't mean they're perfect teams that doesn't mean they don't have holes that doesn't mean you know you go through the 82 82-game marathon. You need a whole bunch of stuff, luck and health and, you know, top players to beat top players and surprises and all those types of things and goaltending. But I look at that. It's a long way of answering, Justin. Yeah, they're an elite team. Now, as we sit here today on whatever day it is, June closing,

if not June 1, but close to it. You know, there's some question marks in terms of UFAs, you know, people that are contracted or not contracted for next year or so. But that group of players, that core group of players and where this team finished off, it's a really good team, but there's areas that we got to address.

Today, you talked about being on the clock. There's no question that Leaf Nation will not rest until Austin Matthews has a new contract. You mentioned today getting out and seeing Austin. Is that ticket booked for tonight? We're working on it. That's going to be under the – we're working on it. Listen, he's a – there's a lot – I hate when I say, you know,

this is a priority, that's a priority, because it makes other things or other people think that they're not, and that's not the case. But let's just be frank. You know, Austin's at the top of the list here. You know, we've got to go out, and there's a process that you have to go through. It's not walking in and, you know jumping into a you know a negotiation it's it's to me you have to get to know people we've gone through a change here in terms of the manager position um you know a player is going to have questions um but more than anything i'll say they want to know they want to know who they're

working with they want to know who you know what the thought is, what kind of person they are. As much as it's me getting to know Austin, it's Austin getting to know and getting comfortable with myself. We know what the clock is. We're not going to sit here and say, we're going tomorrow and we need an answer by Tuesday.

This is a process. At the end of the day, he's contracted for next year. We understand fully in terms of how that contract works and trade protection and all those marvelous things and when they kick in. But we're going to chew on the elephant one bite at a time here. And number one is to go out there, visit with them, spend some time and get to know each other we're talking to brad tree living toronto maple leaf's newest general manager uh brad it was 11 months ago you went through two

scenarios with johnny goudreau and matthew kachuk one you cut, you could read the tea leaves where Johnny Goudreau's situation might have been heading, and then Matthews Kachuk really comes out out of left field for a lot of people that saw the process sped up here. Can you draw from those two experiences to help you manage Austin Matthews' situation this time now? 100%. And what I mean by that kipper is you know i said it today and maybe maybe wasn't you know i thought about it after maybe it wasn't too clear anything that we go through you guys in your job there any anything you go through is an experience and you learn from it right and and you may do the same thing next time you may do something different but you've been through it right and and it's like a team going

through we hear it all the team the teams teams learning lessons they're getting experience well there's only it's only an experience i always say if you learn something from it and apply it now that is not and i repeat that is not to say that um you know, because something happened with those players there that we've got to do something completely different here, right? So the analogy is, you know, I trade, you know, we traded for this player and it didn't work out, so we'll never trade for another player again. We learned our experience. No, no, no, no.

You learn through that process of how it went. I think, you know, it's certainly in Matthew's case, it was a little unique. I'm very, you know, I'm very close to the player. I said all along, I said at the time, I repeated it again today. I didn't want to trade Matthew Kachuk. I know, you know, we're watching in Florida. Jesus, you know, what, who's the genius that decided that they wanted to all of a sudden make a 25-year-old player expendable? That's not the case.

Matthew made a decision. We had to react on the decision. We looked and made an organizational decision internally that, you know, where our team was at. And in that case, quite frankly, and this is not to make excuses, I felt like I was holding a two and a three at the card table playing against everybody with pocket kings here. There was a select number of teams involved. They knew the process.

They knew the situation. We felt we wanted to look at an opportunity that keeps our team in the competitive window. And what I would say is I love Matthew. I think he's a phenomenal player. But this story, that's chapter one of it. The players that came from Florida to Calgary are good players. We'll see how this thing all plays itself out.

But you certainly learn from the experience. It's not to say you're going to do something completely different the next time, but you're more equipped your second time around. Brad, when you look at this leafs roster and i know it's only natural for people to look at a team and say god if they just had a little bit of this or a little bit of that it might make all the difference for them is there a direction you'd like to give the the leafs a a bump in uh in terms of stylistic play you know what justin we're going to look at that i think it's a little early i i've always said you know there's an outside lens and an inside lens um i certainly have i certainly have some

views now so so you look at those views and you say listen we've got we've got a tremendous amount of skill and and as much as we can get frustrated and say, well, you know, gosh, darn, it didn't work. Getting top players is the hardest thing to do in this game, right? You can, you can, you know, so, so we can all sit here and say, well, geez, something's got to change. Something's got to change. You always look at it and, and, and, and you're trying to make yourself better, but, but, but be very, very careful to say, you know, we're going to take, we're going to take good players and just,

and move them out of town because it's going to be different. You know, different isn't necessarily better. So I look at our team, you know, as we sit here today, we've got lots of skill. I think there's lots of talent. You know, how do we, you know, can we look at our depth? Can we look at, you know, is there things to augment our team to how we look at it?

How do we approach different situations? Can we have a team that can handle anything that's thrown at us? I feel in the playoffs, you've got to be able to play in a number of different ways and be able to engage and not just accept, but, but, but, you know, be proactive and putting your game against an opponent and be able to handle different styles of play. And, you know, can, you know, do we look, do we look at our defense?

Is there ways that we can augment that? So I think we've got to get behind the curtain a little bit, get to know the individuals, get to know, you know, what our staff thinks here. But what excites me is in a lot of ways, just look where these players were picked. It's hard to get good players. It's hard to get top talent.

And now you have to find a way to to to support it um while while while looking at the entire roster and say okay here's where we are what how can we how can we push this thing forward the one thing uh over the last few years brad and i know we gotta let you go here soon but you know have you watched enough of the leafs from afar to say guys you're just not tough enough in the playoffs? Look at the two finalists here in Vegas and Florida, and they pound teams. They're physical.

And it just seems that one element has not been there over the last few years. And regardless of what happens with your salary cap, can you just find more people that kind of play like a Kachuk and a Bennett or some of the heavier players on Vegas? It's easier said than done, but can you feel like you've got to turn this thing into a playoff-looking team? Well, as I said earlier, Kipper,

there's different styles in the playoffs, right? Like sometimes you need certain things to get you to the playoffs and get you through the regular season, and then there might be things that you need to get through the playoffs. You know, those two players there, and I know them real well, you know, we drafted Sam fourth overall, and we drafted Matthew sixth overall. You know, you guys are familiar with our teams in Calgary.

We felt that we could not just respond but initiate physical challenge, and that's not – people sometimes take that and say, oh, we're going back. What that is is – and to me, you know, playing a heavier game and competing heavier, that's puck battles. That's winning space at the front of the net. That's, to me, as much as our game changes and there's different – and speed and skill are paramount in our game, you know, at this time of the year, I feel the two most important areas,

and it has been for a long time, is at the front of both nets. And, you know, at the end of the day, you're trying to get to mine. How am I going to keep you from it? I'm trying to get to yours. How can you keep me from it? So those are things that, you know, we got to find and we got to look for ways that we can, we can augment our team. And sometimes that's,

that's not necessarily just all of a sudden airlifting people in it's getting people to adjust how they play, you know, getting, getting people to make sure that we're getting inside, making sure that, you know, our puck battles is a, is a, is an area that is of highest priority is how do we, how do we check? We don't defend. We check where, you know, to me battles is an area that is of highest priority. It's how do we check? We don't defend, we check. You know, to me, there's a difference.

You're on your toes, you're aggressive. But certainly at this time of year, you know, we know what it's like in the regular season. A guy may finish his check every, you know, you're playing 82 games, you're in back-to-backs, you're three and four. There's no flybys in the playoffs. There's no let-ups. And we've got to make sure that we've got a roster that can handle

whatever the game may present. Could you tell us how many years you signed for? And I'm only asking you because I want to keep Elliot Friedman from going through your garbage later tonight. Yeah, I was going to. That's the closest I've been to Elliot in a while. Jesus, it's frightening. No, I'm going to keep that.

I'm going to keep you guessing on that one. I'm going to keep you guessing on that one, Tipper. All right. We've been looked after. Brad, wish you all the best. Thank you for joining us. I appreciate it, guys. Good talking to you.

Thanks so much, Brad. 18th general manager in Toronto Maple Leaf history right there, Brad Tree Living. That was fun. That was fun. He generous at this time there. He told us 12, he gave us 15. He's savvy.

Yeah. But he said stuff in there. If I had to compare him to Kyle Dubas, I'd say that guy's street smart and Kyle's book smart. Sure. I'll give you that. Yeah. Yeah.

He, there was a lot of, yeah, being careful, but intelligent ways of going about it and some pretty well-reasoned points. Anything stand out to you? Yeah. You know, and I asked him about, you know, where the team needs work or playing style priorities. He talked about being proactive and putting your game to your opponent right not being responsive but actually taking it to your opponent i think that was a good one and he did mention defense

is there some different things we can do with defense and then he also mentioned getting people to adjust their games so not just bringing in people who take the game to the opponent and saying you know willie can you do this all the time or squeeze more can you austin can you squeeze more yeah and i think that's where i think honestly i think sheldon has a chance at least without kyle here now to revisit a few things and you know better clock management better control of your d so we don't see uh the lily pad jumping up on a three on two and your season to end your season what are you doing still okay let's not go back there i'm still mad about let's not go back there all right you're right by the way that's what

adjustments i did want to note the tree living at the end when he asked him about years said but we've been looked after that means he's didn't sign a three-year deal. He's easier for four or. Listen, there's no guarantees about anything. Yeah. And you can't tell me for one second that Brad tree living wouldn't have thought if,

if I come in with Brendan Shanahan and this time next year, maybe they want to change Brendan, Brendan Shanahan. Yeah. What does that mean for me? All I'm saying is ain't three right because of what you're talking about for sure yeah so he's gonna be here for a bit how he it's funny because he's great but we've often had sheldon keith on this show uh last year not this year of course and but this year we year, we had living on. I think they do teach it within Leafs PR. For sure.

Filibuster. They want to get the fewest amount of questions. We give you a block of minutes. You give me four questions. I'm talking for three each. That's a lot of stuff. And even with Tavares, when we had him on this year, remember? I wanted to know about his draft involvement, what that can look like. Yeah, that one, that to me is one that I'm glad you brought that up

because I had forgotten until right now. Him not being able to be at the table. You know, in 2023, like we all have phones that can be connected. But don't you think it's still pretty impactful to have the general manager I think it's just optics. That's all general manager? I think it's just optics. That's all. 100% optics. It's just because he's going to tell them they're going to talk about playing style.

And he's going to say to the staff, here's what I'm prioritizing. Here's what I'm looking for. So they've done their boards and they may have to do a little reorganization based on the new set of priorities given to them. Sure. Text messages, don't they? Kyle's in a similar situation in pit yeah but like i've never been to the draft you guys have covered draft skip or you've been like yeah aren't there guys kind of walking around constantly making deals constantly and i don't think he's yeah

so he would not be allowed on the floor yeah but he has a phone guys if someone was run into a guy and make a blockbuster i wasn wasn't going to train him. It's like, well, you know, the way that he smiled at me, maybe I will train back. You know, I don't, I feel like it is somewhat. Listen, he's gonna, if there's anything it's, if he's sitting in the stands or a suite, they're going to be texting each other, but at least you don't have to optically be there staring at,

at Calgary or Toronto, in Kyle's case, right at their face. Pritam's going to be wearing a Bluetooth speaker in his lanyard hooked up to Tree Living and be like, just talk to my chest. Do you have a clip speaker from a – Let's talk, Abby. We've got a few minutes here before we kind of wrap things up, but I want to follow up a little bit on on kyle dubas and uh and uh his his new position

with pittsburgh and kipper did you finish succession i did yeah i know what happened for what it's worth the penguins tweeted out a picture of photoshop of tom wamskans was that from the penguins? Yes. I saw it come across my feet. I didn't realize it was them. Of Tom Wamsgans. Yeah. Putting the sticker on Kyle Dubas' forehead.

And if you watch the show at all, Greg the Egg is not somebody who you want to be. And they're kind of like comparing Dubas to Greg the Egg, who is like by far one of the most loathable characters. When did they send this out? Today! I missed it. During our show, 2-18. I missed it. So that's someone that doesn't really follow succession then.

To understand that cousin Greg is like the laughing stock of the series. One of the final scenes in the show. Are you going to do this to people? The Swedish guy. Are you going to do this? No, no, no.

The Swedish guy calls him Judas in one of the scenes. Like, hey, we got Judas over there. Like, he is a laughingstock of the show, and the Pittsburgh Penguins just compared their brand new president of hockey ops to him. It's a really weird thing to do. Anyways, there's no spoilers. So just to follow up on this,

this whole thing between the Leafs and Pittsburgh, I don't think anything's been put to bed moving forward here. I think there's going to still be a, a ripple effect in terms. So I see it happening in terms of who's coming with me. Well, do itas on the way out that's right f you f you f you you're cool and now you're a penguin you know a hundred

percent yeah that they're behind the scenes right now and i think kyle today in his press conference said uh no decision on his general manager and that sounds like he's made. He'll, he'll take it down the road. Yeah. And whose contract expires in June 30th of the Leafs. No, I don't even think that's not the way it always works. No. And I get it.

Like right now I'm thinking, okay, who is a, a Kyle Dubas general manager type now? Because he's, he's driving, right? He's got that big steering wheel right now.

So Pritam would be that. That's my first thought, Pritam. And now he's under contract. I'm sure the Leafs don't want to let him go, but usually, and I'm not privileged to know what his contract is, or I can just speak generally, when there is an opportunity to advance a position outside that there's sometimes clauses that says if I get a general manager's job offer, I get to explore it.

Didn't you find it interesting in Tree's presser today how glowingly he spoke of Critter? It's like, oh my. Which is great, but. He used to be on the payroll basically for the Coyotes. I'm out, I talk to him. But if Kyle has a $1.5 million general manager job waiting for him, can the Leafs hold him back? Good question.

And there's no growth for Pridham, right? It's the exact same role. There's no. What do you mean? He's's the exact same role there's no there's no there's no what do you mean he's not if he does go or if he doesn't know i'm saying in toronto yeah there's no growth to go oh yeah he would take it in a heartbeat and he would say to brendan how can i not go that's right brendan would be like because you know why and because we need you that's that's one we know of how i'm telling you that to me is like letting them courteously do the draft because shanahan has said west clark and who's also a major dubious guy major dubious guy

west clark that guy's doing the draft yeah and he is a major pittsburgh major uh dubious guy yeah to the point where you know this i think this is the second time west cars come back to the point where, you know, this is, I think this is the second time West cars come back to the Leafs. Well, it's the, he was with the Leafs when Dubas got hired or something, then Lamarillo fired him. He went away and then Dubas got the GM job and he brought him back and made him the head guy. Yeah.

Yeah. Because Lou didn't like West Clark at all. He, he told him not to go into the dressing room. Said that's offside. Yeah. He goes in. Which by the way, director of scouting probably is don't need to be in there. Don't need be in there no and he told him that he went in there anyways and lou's like okay you're fired

ouch but anyway so yeah there's that and then there's potentially pritam who shanahan has said those are the two guys running the leafs draft but shanahan did mention i thought this was interesting that he was like uh we have like a first a fifth and a sixth so there might be there might be 10 people 12 people that are like really kyle dubas guy still in that office now brad goes in there and he's like um uh, everybody, I'm the new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I just quitting. Get in. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Here, let me pass out the Jonas Siegel article in The Athletic.

I read last week where you guys are. Some of you guys are in mourning. For those of you who are in mourning on Kyle Dubas is a departure. Can you raise your hand, please? No, no. Okay. All the Kleenex boxes. Let's see which ones are empty here.

All right. Let me see. Oh, you got, you got no Kleenex in that box. Yeah. You're fired and you're fired and you're fired. Like I want you out of here anybody mourning still get lost thing is scram beat it well done agree the thing is you talk about priorities that you know getting to those people is like an august thing or like july there's so

many big things tree living's job this summer is massive. Oh, and good luck buying a house in Toronto. But the amount of things he has to do to get to the people you're talking about. It's time. He's going to live upstairs at one of the Boston pizzas. He'll be fine. Oh, God. We're doing that? What? He's a respected

hog. It's just a Boston pizza joke. I love, I mean, I don't think we should say, I love Boston pizza. I also like it a lot. If we see, in two or three weeks, if we see Austin Matthews on a Boston pizza commercial, it's a good sign. Would that be tampering? It's a really good sign.

They're like, yeah, Austin signed for 6.5, but he's got a $90 million BP sponsorship deal. We gave him six BP franchises. Are you kidding me? He's eating pizza for life. He's slinging drafts out in Orangeville, Ontario at BP's. All right, Tammy, you got any playoff picks for us? Yeah, I got some playoff picks.

We're still awaiting hockey to be played. So I went to Bet365 to check if they had the coaching stuff up, but the coaching stuff wasn't up yet. So they're probably waiting to see Treliving, and then they're going to put it there. So they didn't have any odds on the coaching stuff up but the coaching stuff wasn't up yet so they're probably waiting to see true living and then they're gonna put it there so they didn't have any odds on the on the uh coaching stuff but i thought this was interesting because i have no idea which way to go here uh the betting total for goals in the stanley cup final so total goals throughout the whole thing they're over and under is the same number at 32 and a half minus 115 so 32 and a half goals how many goals do you think will be scored in the sailing cup final have you ever thought about

six goals times six games is 36 so let's say they play five you're betting the under saying they're gonna play five games roughly i got uh i'll take the under 40, 40. You think Aiden Hills and the not going to shine against the Panthers. And I think, you think both goal is going to take a crap. Uh, yeah, I think I, I,

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,

I, I, I, I, I, 10 days off. Yeah. Like goalie.

Bob was just Bob might give up 32 in game one. I don't know. Cinderella, you know, midnight maybe, but I, I don't see his play dropping significantly but i see maybe a few more goals that's like one of the viable scenarios to me is bobrovsky's just like not you know got off his line at the foul mark and he's he's just

going to give up a bunch of three one night six two don't know. I think the first game, there's like a four-goal difference. 5-1, 6-2, I just don't know which way yet. Anything else? Yeah, I got when will the series end numbers on that. Game 4, plus 475. Game 5, 260. Game 6, plus 190. And game 7, plus 205.

I don't hate betting game four. I have no idea what's going to happen, but it's possible that Vegas just rolls them to me. Okay. So those are my two playoff picks presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest odds, fellas. And in the Sportsnet chat here on YouTube, the Sportsnet admin said they could do the marketing campaign,

call it Austin Pizza. They did that. There's a billboard that says Austin Pizza going into round two. Oh. Yeah, it's done. Oh, okay. Well, there you go. Way ahead of the game. All right, fellas. Okay, thanks for joining us, everybody, on our

YouTube channel, and if you get a chance, download us constantly when you can on iTunes and Spotify. We're back tomorrow. Regularly scheduled program. No baseball stopping us. Stay safe, everybody.

Talk to you tomorrow. Real Kipper and Bourne.