Real Kyper & Bourne - Goalie Roulette for Playoff Prep

Episode Date: March 29, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin with a look at how the Leafs should treat their final nine games of the season, the rest vs. rust debate, the Leafs' goalie situation and if Ilya Samsonov can clinch the starting spot tonight. They are joined by Tim Micallef (13:59), who discusses the end of Tim and Friends, Toronto sports media culture and how it's changed and the look of the Leafs heading into the postseason. Then, NHL on Sportsnet's Craig Simpson (41:05), who weighs in on where Ryan O'Reilly should slot in when he returns, if the Leafs can find a starting goalie in their remaining games and what's different for Tampa Bay this year. Later, Panthers' analyst Randy Moller tees up tonight's Leafs' game vs Florida, the Cats in must-win territory, what's changed this season under Paul Maurice and the odd strife between Aaron Ekblad and LIV golfer Brooks Koepka (1:05:56).The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

This is Real Kipper and Bourne on Sportsnet 590 The Van. Mike on. Hot start today. Woo! Not like yesterday. I was still like, I felt like I was still in Miami when I started the show yesterday. I can't blame you for that. Then you look at me and go, your mic's off.

Okay, let's start again. Nick Kiprio's just inborn. We are Real Kipper Inborn, season two, episode 117. How do I know that, Sammy? You wrote it down. Way to go, Sammy. Way to go, Sammy. For Sammy McKee's on board, Derek Brandeo,

David SissboBoombaugh. We've got game night. Hockey, hooray. All right, Toronto Maple Leafs face off tonight against the struggling and desperate Florida Panthers at Scotiabank Arena. We're going to get into that. We're going to get into Craig Simpson's going to join gonna join us what in about 45 minutes but between that we're gonna have tim mccallough sportsnet fame of tim and sid tim and friends what an amazing run

he's had on those particular shows i've been a bit of a staple for him on tuesday nights this year it's been a blast. We've got one more to go, but I thought it would be fun to bring him into studio and, and talk, talk leaps, talk league. And of course, talk about what's the next steps for Tim McAuliffe as he continues a

brilliant career. Also in the second hour, Randy Moller, panthers tv color analyst he's going to talk about uh his team and what's left to to go for here are they still in it are they not didn't we have nashville dead and buried and what do they do last night they beat boston in boston so no big deal maybe he'll give us us some hope that a big win tonight by Florida can keep his team in the mix. But in the meantime, what do we treat these nine games left

for the Toronto Maple Leafs like an extended exhibition schedule? Are we back to tryouts? Are we back to who plays well with who? And what do you do with the goalies? And starting tonight, what do you see? I think no. I don't think you do the whole training camp thing. I think we just did that post-deadline. Everyone got a look, right?

They did 7D. They've done lots of different line combinations. I think it's time to kind of figure what your playoff look is. Lock it down, eh, Sammy? Button it down. Yeah, I think a lot of it. You better playoff look is. Lock it down, eh, Sammy? Button it down. Yeah, I think a lot of it... I think you want to stay healthy.

Yes, that'd be nice. Where's that from? Wedding Crashers. I like it. I love that movie. I haven't seen it in a really long time. I'm interested to know if it still holds up. There was a time in my life where I absolutely loved that movie.

I have a feeling that one would hold up. As long as people continue to get married, it will hold up. Yeah, I did that last year, I think. So I think the number one priority is just health. How do you do anything? I guess rest some guys. Definitely. Like I would be resting.

I don't think I'm not going to rest M i i would be resting i don't think i'm i'm not gonna rest marner or matthews i don't think until maybe the last game of the year it's all done and dusted or you know i think last year was it that marner was chasing 100 and they sat him in the last i forget there was stuff like unless there's big personal milestones on the line i'm not resting anybody you know i'm resting people towards the last couple games but the older guys i think i'm sitting down a little bit. Like, you don't think Tavares should get a couple games off down the stretch here?

You don't think, I'm looking down to the... Nom, nom, nom for Tavares. Like, don't you think, you know, Geo a couple more games off before the end of the year? We do have a clip on that. I think at this point now, two would have been good if you had 15 or 18 games left. With eight after tonight, two's too many for these guys.

To sit out. Yes. Yeah, so give everyone maybe one night on the way home. All right, let's go to our first Kippers Clipper with Keith talking about Geo skipping morning skates. Yeah, well, we have been for quite some time. He hasn't necessarily listened because he's in his groove. morning skates? Yeah, well, we have been for quite some time. He hasn't necessarily listened because he's in his groove,

but we got him to take a game off, whatever that was, and the one back-to-back, and he responded positively to that. I think for some of these older guys that are in their routines and such, it is just a routine in a lot of cases, and it's a mental block that they feel like they have to be out there. So the moment they start to maybe miss some things and they actually maybe discover they do feel pretty good coming out of that, that, you know, maybe you start to change their mindset a little bit. But, you know, I don't imagine Gio will be taking too many reps off. Speaking of older guys, I mean, I don't know if Ryan O'Reilly is still out on the ice right now or not,

but I feel like he's been in his gear for almost three hours here this morning and uh and just keeps keeps working out some of these guys that get into their routines and they just love love being out there uh it's it's impressive to watch but at the same time yeah you've got to sometimes lead them to water a little bit could you get the sense that like it's a touchy subject with sheldon or kyle to go to these guys and almost like they they make it feel like it's pulling teeth to get them to do something or it's a huge challenge for us instead of just going in there and saying hey buddy you're off today done yeah give them this one right here right uh-uh off you guys are in charge yeah you're the general manager and the coach we got him to do this and i wasn't really

sure who's on the ice and i didn't want to look and it's like come on it is interesting that you know i think they aspire to be, you know, sort of newer. And I say they, because I lump Kyle in with this, but like a little bit more new age and that they're collaborative. Like, what are you feeling? What do you need? You know, get the feedback from the players and all that.

When you're 100% right, you know, if you feel like Gio needs more time, more rest, well, then you tell him he's resting, you know? Where were all these hugs when I played? Oh, yeah. None for me either can we get you something warm to drink i'm my junior coach i blocked a shot bring you anything cracked a bone in my foot he took my crutches away because he said it'll never heal if you uh not you know putting no pressure on it so that was my junior experience wow anyway um Anyway, it is interesting. I do think, I do agree with the idea that for these guys, it's a mindset.

You know, for a guy like Gio, it's like he typically does this, so he wants to continue to do it because they're creatures of habit. He may find that a little rest is good for him at his age. Like under no circumstances would you want to see like Marner Matthews upwards of 26 to 28 minutes a night? Like there should be no circumstance. None. What about killing penalties for Mitch Marner?

You want to see him out there killing as many penalties as he has in the past to try to win a hockey game? Do you back that off? That's a really good point like would you say we know mitch is a superb penalty killer and we know he's going to kill for us in the playoffs uh we're going to see who else can kill because we don't need mitch get in front of any pucks or playing the extra three minutes a night i think that's a great idea i don't know when would you want him back in and back you know working with his partner three games to go in the season get back killing penalties i like the idea of him not killing but not completely shutting

him down but just picking you get the matthews minutes now which means go out there take a face off go through a couple of uh waves and then get off right it's not you're not out there for a minute and a half i want you out there for 40 seconds i just keep them right off it just say hey when we were you know we've got enough guys who can pk we don't want you getting hurt hey i also think you take guys out of the rhythm of the game and for sure it just it's changing routines and weird things happen when you're trying to manage stuff it's just so true you sure it just it's changing routines and weird things happen when you're trying to manage stuff it's just so true you know it just yeah status quo to me it's just like just you know maybe take less penalties so he has to kill less i don't know i just it's such a stupid

anecdotal you know cursey kind of thing to me but like the second you start taking guys out of routines and playing them less here and doing stuff less there it just feels like you're setting yourself up for disaster. 100%. So just don't play them in games, period. Especially when you have a team that still thinks that they may be in it, which is the Florida Panthers tonight. So if you're going to try to match at least a little bit of their intensity, which we all think is coming tonight,

then the easiest way to do that is make sure you don't kind of let your guard down a little bit here. Yeah, you know, I see both sides of that. You know, it's crazy. This Panthers team, like Pittsburgh has left the door wide open for them. I don't know what they are in their last 10, but it ain't pretty. They lose again the other night, and Florida just cannot stop losing. They've lost four in a row. Senators, Leafs, Rangers, Flyers.

So big one tonight. After this, Kipper, they have Montreal, Columbus, Buffalo, Ottawa, four non-playoff teams, Washington, five non-playoff teams in a row. Well, just to reiterate your point, they've lost four straight games all in regulation. Panthers coming in tonight. So let's hear from Sheldon on how desperate will they be tonight?

I'd like to think regardless of the opponent that we should be finding ways to get our own game in order and keep building it. But certainly gets your attention when you know you have teams that are going to be playing desperate and division rivals and all these kind of things a lot of the divisional games rest of the way so lots of reasons to be engaged for sure last i heard it doesn't sound like bobrovsky will start tonight really so presumably they're doing their best to win this hockey game well i don't know if it has anything to do with uh maybe he's just not healthy or you know under the weather i

don't know but it's i'm not confirming it but there's a sense maybe he will not be the goalie for the philadelphia or for the florida panthers tonight and we haven't seen any changes for the leafs i don't think either uh going into tonight looks like a pretty comparable lineup but 11 and for the Florida Panthers tonight. And we haven't seen any changes for the Leafs, I don't think, either, going into tonight. Looks like a pretty comparable lineup, but 11-7 probably? Yeah, it's 11-7. 11-7, okay.

Because Achari's day-to-day, so they got 11-7 going tonight. Okay, we want to get into the Toronto Maple Leaf and their goaltending situation. We will see Samsonov tonight. The good news is when he's given up five goals in a previous game he shuts the door down so we confident that tonight that he's coming back from post baby uh having to i i love that

stat because to me like if you're in the playoffs and you give up like a stinker you lose a game or whatever and then you come back the next game and you just are lights out having the ability to back that's a that's what a starting goalie does right like that's what a stud starting goal like i wonder what um like i remember vasileski's numbers the day like after a loss in the playoffs that was the whole story all the way through playoffs last year. I forgot about that. He just never, ever, he gave up nothing after they lost every time. So I just, I love that stat from Samsonov, and that's something that you can look to in the playoffs, thinking like, he has a bad game one.

You go back to him game two, he's probably going to look pretty good because he's been bouncing back all year. Yeah. Man, I mean, the Leafs scored on Tampa Bay last year, that first round. I forgot. The scores, they scored 5-3, 5-3, 4-3, and then 1 in game 7. Yeah, they scored more goals than Tampa Bay did in the series. Okay, let's go to Sheldon.

Let's move on. Let's go to Sheldon on the splits from here on in with both his goaltenders. Yeah, it's certainly something for sure. There's two extremes there on both sides for both goalies. So something that we're looking at for sure. I don't know just how applicable it might be beyond the regular season. I think you get into playoffs and such, everything kind of equalizes in terms of schedule alone.

And both teams are going through the same thing and all of that. But it's certainly something that has my attention, and I think not a lot of games left here, but it's something where I'd like to make sure I'm getting both guys the ability to, you know, for Sammy, he does well and feels good at home, but we also need him to play on the road and get more reps in there and then Murray the other way. So I think you'll see some of that the rest of the season.

So we're all in agreement that Samsonov has earned the right to be the starting goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs game one in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Yeah, correct. starting goaltender for the toronto maple east game one in the stanley cup playoffs yeah correct and everybody would be feeling great except this stupid black cloud over his head right called his road record yeah yeah and it's not like it's abysmal it's just not you you know, it's... You're a top five team. Yeah. You're 500.

No, a game under 500. Yeah, is that what he is now? Yeah. That is close to, like, not good. Yeah. It's not good. Yeah, it's not awesome. Thank you, Brad May.

Hey, look who we got out there. Is Timmy in studio today? I didn't know. No, Timmy McAuliffe is in studio. Yeah, and he's just going in right now. Oh, okay. Here he comes. Beautiful.

Oh, perfect. Bring him iniffe is in studio. Yeah, and he's just calling right now. Oh, okay. Here he comes. Beautiful. Coming in. Perfect. Bring him in. There we go. Timmy! Yay! Tim McAuliffe. Oh, you're the opposite of late. How are you, buddy?

No, you're six minutes early, actually. Yeah, I thought I was early. How are you? I'm good. How are you, boys? I just figured, you know what um so kind of you to have me on your show on tuesdays i'm like all right let's bring him in god we went we had sid on i think that was the real epiphany it was like what have we done

oh i appreciate it because you boys have carried me in the past borny uh some playoff runs in the past where we had to do like three hour shows and he'd walk in and go thank god borny thank god and then kipper on tuesday so thanks for having me in studio and saying what you said off the top no problem i cannot come up with anything um as creative as uh smoke fire or shut your pie hole in the next two minutes with you. But, you know, we'll talk a little bit of hockey. We'll talk a little bit about you and the amazing run that you've had. And it's just, it's Tim and Sid,

and it's Tim and friends. So just, you know, your early thoughts here on the changes that are coming in your life right now and maybe a reflection. It's so funny coming into this studio because it's been so long since Sid and I were sitting in here and probably my favorite memories in the business were sitting in here. And these guys were doing Hockey Central at noon,

which changed the game because then everyone started a noon show after these guys did it. And they would have so much fun and then we would come in and then Bob McCowan would come on after us us but there was like a family feel to it and we would do the show and they'd be outside having like a post-show meeting when mclean didn't run out of the studio and down south to miami or wherever the hell he was going it was mercedes and someone would hear what we're saying and walk back in and just chirp us. And it was just so much fun being in the studio.

So a lot of like, you know, obviously Sid was a huge part of everything that I've done in this business. And, and the last two years have been remarkably different without him, but it is, it's been a journey, man. And it's been a lot of fun. How have you personally had to evolve? I, you know, I knew you the tiniest bit when we were back at the score and have seen your, you know, I'm going to call it a meteoric rise, but obviously it's been exceptional watching.

But you've had to play kind of a different role then when you don't have Sid and whatever. So how have you had to evolve over the length of the year? I stopped having to put out fires. That's nice. I stopped having to have a wet blanket on hand every time I felt like someone was going to get really pissed off. Nah, you know, I've always been,

when we were at the score back in the day, I always did a bunch of different things, and then I did Tim and Sid. Yeah. And so we just fell into Tim and Sid, and it was just two guys shooting a bleep and having a little bit of fun. You didn't know each other prior to that?

We did, and we worked together. We did some score-to-night stuff together, and it was easy chemistry. But I did, like, play-by-play and all that other stuff that I don't want to bore your hockey audience with. But I did a bunch of other stuff, and then when it came together, I was like, oh, this is fun. This is easy. This is the way it should be for sports and what you guys do every day where you just come in,

you talk with Sammy, you talk with the audience, and you talk with each other. And it just felt natural. So it worked. Yeah. But I didn't mind going on my own at the end of all of it. Yeah. Preference on any sport in particular that you took a little bit more personal.

Like I know you've done an amazing job of covering sports all these years on these shows. But, I mean, is it hockey? Is it your football background? How do I love you? Let me count the ways. I don't know. Which kid do you love the best in your family? I would say when he came in, I would always go, it sucks to have to know every sport.

He comes in here with a little note. It's just one sport. I'm like, I got to know all these bleeping sports. And then soccer because Canada's getting good. You know, like, so it's sometimes it can be difficult. And sometimes you have like blind spots. But like hockey, football were my family. Both of those.

My dad played some hockey growing up. And, you know, the whole family played football. So hockey, football. And then I really loved basketball. And when I got into this business, everyone thought they knew hockey. So I ran. Right. Like I didn't want to be one of those Canadian guys.

Hey, like I know hockey. I grew up around it. Like I played double A for the Toronto Arrows, right? So like put me in the hockey. I just said put me. I love sports. Put me in the hockey i just said put me i love sports put me in sports right and so but getting it back in the ranks with my son has kind of brought me back you know like i'm back in victoria

village locally in toronto or i'm back at herb carnegie you know north york centennial where i used to have my skates with my dad and his group and so those i kind of fell back in love with hockey once i had my son and once i was back in the ranks and all that stuff. So hockey's near and dear, football's near and dear, basketball's near and dear. And, you know, there's some other loves that I have, but those are probably the ones that I really like. And you guys have done a terrific job because, as we know, there is on occasion that we get accused of being too Torontonian focused. Which is hilarious given that it's a literal Leaf show. Even though it's not a show, the logo, but I don't care.

We don't care. Talk about other teams. But just in terms of over the years, talking every day to a Vancouver Canuck fan, right over to an Ottawa fan in Montreal, did you get a sense over the years that you could really distinguish between all fan bases? Like, are there more similarities or more, you know, differentials when it comes to each fan across the country?

I'll tell you what we do in Canada. We build them up to tear them down. Yeah. Like when they're bad, we talk about good things. And then once they get good, it's like flawed. Flawed.

Flawed. And players too, like just Luke Shen in Toronto. Yeah. Like think of how he came in. Oh, now that he's the underdog, he's beloved. Yeah.

How he went out and what he is now. Like it's, we do, we do defensemen dirty in this country, period, because we act like they're all going to be Nick Lidstrom. And number ones get danced all the time in the National Hockey League because they're really good, right? And I'm not saying, like, Morgan Riley is, like,

he's been much maligned or whatever. Like, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying we do defensemen dirty. That's the one similarity that I see. No matter where Darnell Nurse isn't good enough in Edmonton. Oh, you got him at home. He doesn't have to play those minutes. Maybe he's a little bit better.

We do that all the time. Thomas Cabriolet. Build him up. Chase him out of town, right? Like, how many different guys and how many – Justin Schultz in Edmonton. Like, how many times do we have to do it in this country to realize that?

And then there's, like, you know, the sensitive fan bases, the ones that want, like, Toronto, honestly, like, because it's 67, because it's been so long, because of, like, they have a perspective that I've never seen before.

There's calluses. I feel like, yeah, you know, like Sam doesn't have them, but whatever. He's still exposed nerves. Sam doesn't have them, but every,

but most other people have the calluses and have the perspective about like where they actually are. And it's kind of sort of more fun than it used to be. Say when we were doing hockey central at noon and coming on after like when the 18 wheeler backed up the greatest ratings that we ever got was the 18 wheeler backing off the cliff for the time and yeah and then we've noticed that too you know we see our numbers when things have gone terribly wrong this season things spike you know people are interested to know or to watch the car wreck on the side of the road i mean that is common um i don't get that i really don't get that it's not

it's people are afraid to earn i think people want to vent though i think that's what it is yeah like when things go bad people want to vent or hear people venting well this is actually interesting to where i wanted to go we didn't get the chance to talk off air, so I hope it's okay to ask just how you feel about what's next for you about the end of Tim and friends and, um, you know what, yeah,

what you see coming next here. So we're going to nights. We're going to do the overnight starting at 1am and be the morning loop. Yeah. And I say we, because there's a lot of our team that are kind of going to migrate over and we're going to take a little bit of the feel of uh tim and sid tim and friends to a highlight show which is kind of sort of full circle for me because back

in the day on the score i did score tonight uh with sid sixero and i really enjoyed doing the highlights as opposed to like i was never really a heavy opinion guy. I'll give my opinion, but I'm not going to manufacture the opinion every day. And whether you like this or not, as Tim and friends, we tried to be fair. We tried to zoom out, do that 30,000-foot view. So part of me is relieved that we don't have to come hard every day. We can react to what's happening have some fun with the highlights and do it that way so there's a little less burden

on two hours or 90 minutes as it were of tv every day you know at least in the playoffs it's impossible to not have a strong opinion yeah there's no this is fine it's okay it's either gonna be you know it's here here we're not already debating which goalie should be starting in game one. Oh, yeah. We did that before you came on today. I know. We've been doing it for months. So right into the Stanley Cup playoffs, there's not a better highlight time of the year.

No, no. It's tons of fun. And I think we're going to have, depending on timing, post games, out of whatever happens on Sportsnet. I know Ken and Ivanka will still be there. They'll be doing most of the post game stuff, but if there's later games like if two Alberta teams get into the post season

or Winnipeg team, but that's a bit of a different time zone and I'm getting lost in inside baseball stuff. But if there's late games, 1030 games or 10 o'clock Eastern games, I will jump on some of those post-game shows and have some fun. Did you feel like, you know, so now you mentioned that you're not going to be able to

or not going to have to give opinion as much. Like Sid did that, you know, and then you were- Enjoys doing it. Yeah, and enjoys doing that. That's like authentic. We all have friends off the air who says outlandish things. And you're like, is that a serious opinion? You know, it's almost nice to have that. Is it, was it harder for you to, you know,

I'm a, I'm a lot like you in that. I kind of am a sort of here to here guy rather than a extreme opinion guy. Was it hard though? You know what, but you're a beautiful foil for me because sometimes you take me somewhere where I'm like, I have to get mad about this thing, you you know and it's good for me to get pulled out of that range six zero used to do that to me all the time where i'm like i'm not mad about this i'm not mad yeah it was fun sometimes but i always wanted just to be authentic with it yeah

hate that word because it sounds like a buzzword sounds inauthentic yeah i just want to be real and when i got pissed off and i do get pissed off and there's a lot of folks in this local market that actually know me as a human being and i got a bit of a temper every once in a while and so when it came out when it comes out it comes out but i never tried to to manufacture it even if it wasn't there and i always there's one thing that i like it's really hard to be a professional athlete right and so having some mercy or sympathy i guess when things don't go perfectly yeah we don't do that here wrong show pal all right so your your first early weeks will just be of uh rolling the tape on connor mcdavid and then maybe going for coffee yeah yeah and we're gonna we're

gonna do like some extended highlights uh and we're gonna kind of like go a little bit deeper on stuff and so yeah we might roll a tape on jack michaels and connor mcdavid and just let the viewers see what they missed right like if they missed yeah and you've been doing tim and friends and tim and said a long time have you like, any comparables at all for you? What Connor McDavid has done for all of us? But the one thing that this year I feel is different, and you guys can weigh in on this because that's, I feel like he's doing it every damn game.

Yeah. And for me, that's the difference between, like, the great and the elite is every bleeping game and that's what makes sydney crosby so good is i've heard people say he's a fourth liner in star clothing right like he does all the little things that you need him to do on any line and then does it at the highest level possible but for me it's like every damn game and like my old man played with with uh at st mike's with a bunch of guys but one of them was davy keon and one of the things that davy keon said and i told you this yeah stuck in the back of my mind was in the playoffs it's every foot

you have to battle for every foot in the regular season you might have 10 feet you might have a little bit of room to roam but you gotta battle for and battle. And I feel like McDavid in the regular season has taken that this year and brought it to a level that I don't think we've seen in a generation. And I know we haven't because look at the numbers. And me watching last night, how can you not want to watch Conor McDavid against Las Vegas or Vegas Golden Knights last night? And then just the power play.

The power play, whatever's happening out there is cheating his ability to make plays on this thing and pass the puck as well as shoot it in the net 60 times yeah to me is remarkable and to your point it's just it's every night like if you don't watch him you're gonna miss something and look outside sorry not not every not every superstar can do that yeah you know it's funny it's like so you look at the last little while and you go okay so the oilers now have a shot at the pacific right like hey they could win the division here given the way they've played over the last little while and i don't know if you know this but i think it's six straight games where they've allowed four or more doesn't even matter all soupy's just cashing a check and wins that's all he's doing in alberta like that's not supposed to happen anymore not supposed to win hockey games

and give up four or more and yet they keep doing it it is extremely gretzky era oilers yeah no it's fascinating so with this team here in toronto then, you have seen failing iterations for many years in this job. Are you one of the people who this year thinks it is different with this group? So I walked in and there was an argument in the newsroom about whether the Leafs were better than the Tampa Bay Lightning. And all I said was, hey, McAuliffe, weigh in here. And I said, Vasilevsky's better than whoever you put in net right like that scares me and then someone said look at vasilevsky's numbers and i said that's

valid you could even go back to last year's seven game series look at campbell's numbers look at vasilevsky's numbers yeah and they're pretty similar but when the chips were down what happened you shut her down vasilevki was the better goalie, right? And that, like, every series, you could say that about the Edmonton Oilers too, right? Like, every series they go into, you always have that in the back of your mind. Yes, they look like,

the Tampa Bay Lightning look like they are tired. They also could have taken their foot off the gas for the last month in order to prepare for what they already know is a grind of a postseason that they can be successful it is terrifying still yeah terrifying it's a it's a scary team you'd almost wish they were like boston bruin like and just kept their foot on the pedal right but toronto will go in as the favorites here man for man skaters yeah at least better yeah no better yeah outside the crease i think so yeah you know

particularly i you know the tampa bay's d has some question marks and all that so you know do you think this city if toronto wins so everyone talks about you know they win and it's going to be planned the parade i don't hear that from everyone or anyone the least win and i hear pessimism from people being like you know when they loosen the noose yeah like that's all it is that's that sounds first round win against tampa is enough enough for what enough for sammy to feel good the rest of the summer or their jobs right that's what i think like it's enough to keep jobs is it enough to keep jobs it's enough to keep jobs keep the fan base happy keep jobs. Keep the fan base happy? Let's be honest here, Kipper.

You played in this market. You've been around this market. They celebrate conference championship finalists in this city because they've never seen anything. Yeah. Right? Like, the expectations for the marquee franchises across North America and beyond are not,

hey, this guy made a conference championship final. That's big news. Like, that's the fan base that you're working with here. And so I understand why Sammy says you win one round, I'm good, I'm going to have some great rounds of golf over the summer. But should they be looking for more? Of course they should be looking for more. This is a good team that on paper once they get

past that first round might get out of their own heads and might start figuring things out and could start winning um i don't know if that all happens in one year but that's how it usually works for good teams they get a taste of it and then they understand what it takes to win if they do lose and people start to lose jobs which presumably is what happens if they go out in the first round how do you think this market would handle the superstars here you mentioned build people up to bring them down i mean how's austin matthews going to be perceived as a seven-time first round loser who can't pull a team through mitch marner or neilander you know what people will be asking are they the every damn day that

we just talked about with sydney crosby and conor mcdavid because that's a legitimate question it is well matthew's year in particular has really elevated that that conversation and marner's played like a superstar most of the year another 10 game point streak going into tonight against the panthers by the way i'm gonna stick to him for Randy Moeller. Love him. Love his calls. That's going to be fun. So there are obvious talents on this team. If they go down, I guarantee you, you might need to open the phone lines or take tweets. We'll just have a whole day where we take calls and respond to people in here. Let people just vent.

It is. in here let people just vent it is it's been uh it's been oh it's been uh laid out for for leaf fans to crystal clear in my opinion that you don't offer kyle dubas an extension on his contract you make him play it out because you want to see the end results. The end results cannot be a first-round loss and keep your job. I mean, it brings up some really dramatic questions if they lose. Like, Matthews can be extended on July 1st if they lose again this year. And he doesn't want to extend. Well, that's what I'm saying. If he doesn't want to do it, you know you're trading austin matthews like lots of

dynamics here right a lot of dominoes and and we knew that at the start of the that's the that's the beauty of this year for the toronto my police is like every question you could have asked at the start of this year nothing has been answered so far yeah like the goaltending situation the future of dubis i don't know if you want to extend that to shanahan i feel like the culture is a little bit different around this team but you know the fan base will be screaming for everyone if they don't get out of the first round i am uh i'm really surprised after 73 games that uh we don't have a more definitive answer to the net yeah after after all these games. That is a big one for me, too.

Well, we have you for five more minutes. I did want to ask you about, you know, over your run with Tim and Sid, Tim and friends, if there's any one story that made you the most proud of the work you guys did or defined a certain period of time for you, something that you look back at and say, you know, here's where we did our best work. Wow.

And it's not Sid's jumpsuit. I say every damn day. Not the yellow jumpsuit. The yellow unitary. And then you put that one on too, didn't you? No, I never put that one on. Oh, you never put that one on. It would be X-rated.

It would be going here from YouTube, direct to him in a hurry. I just, you you know like honestly like doing radio you guys know this um and then doing tv the way we did it we become a part of people's like routine yeah and like i get some people are i was gonna swear there people are bleep holes. Yeah. And you go to Twitter and you see the cesspool of what people will write. And, you know, like I announced that I was moving on from the job and someone told me that I was embarrassing my entire family and I should take up bowling. Awesome.

But there are a bunch of other people who write these wonderful, wonderful notes. And I'll screenshot them and they're in my phone and they tell me that like sid and i used to make them laugh when they were in chemotherapy yeah or sid and i did this one thing and i just lost my friend or i just like and for the first time i laughed again and i was just watching sports to get away from blank especially like the whole bleeping pandemic when we were doing a show from our, literally from my closet in my room because I had two kids running around

trying to figure out the pandemic and sit in this kitchen and people would write in every day and say, hey, thanks for doing this show for three hours. Like, I know, and we had nothing. We were doing a show about sports with no sports that's a grind some days we come in here they're like they haven't played in three days this is work yeah so i guess just you know continuing and and sid carrying a lot of that load during that

time um just carrying it through the pandemic and having people like real life reach out and say like, hey, thanks for just shooting the bleep. And that's like so very cool amongst the cesspool that is every once in a while. And even over the last couple of days, just getting the response that we did when we made the announcement. So I don't know if you know this, but like when I finished my run with the Leafs, I jumped in on this new sports station called Headline Sports. And there was, it was, it was the equivalent to me, like going to SCTV and bumping into John Candy and, you know, Eugene Levy. I was an intern.

It felt that way. Yeah. Because there was. Yeah, Sony would have been there then too. Yeah, I remember all that. Least likely to end up a boss and hire and fire people, I would have said Greg Sansoni. But there he is as president now of Sportsnet.

You know, Tim has had a great career. You know, Sid, of course, myself. Gabby, Adnan, Burke, Martina, Dyer. It was a great... It was SCTV of sports back then for me. I always said it was a much better life. You had hair? Yeah, I had hair. I walked in on my first day as an intern,

and I had just gone from my dad's skate where my own brother caught me for five stitches underneath. Oh, no. Underneath the chin. And my first day as an intern at Headline Sports was me with a little zipper. Makes you authentic. Underneath the chin. You love the authenticity.

He's real. He plays. Not that I'm ready to retire you or anything here because you got to. Yeah, please. I got another job. You got decades. I already feel like I've been fired a bunch of times. You got decades to go.

But when you look back at that run at Headline Sports, right through a pandemic to right now, does it feel like you've had like three lifetimes of broadcasting and how it's evolved right in front of your very eyes from to cell phones, to BlackBerrys, to social media? I mean, it's like three lifetimes. Yeah, without a doubt like the internet was just starting when we dial up uh yeah it feels like it's changed mightily and like you i mean just the idea of sitting on youtube and you know we were watching youtube when it first launched yeah at the score going is going to work? It's just cat videos for a while.

It's pretty good, actually. Some guy doing a Star Wars thing. Yeah. Now it's just like live beheadings. It's like, oh, this is not as good. It's very different now. That's the one thing I'm really proud of, too, is that, like, this will be the fifth time that I had a show turned off.

Yeah. Like, that's where we're at. Half in the business. And I'm still here. I'm still kicking. And I'll innovate something. That's a moving target, right? Yeah. business and i'm still here i'm still kicking and i'll it's a moving target right and same thing

with a lot of people in and around this business where it it changes so quickly that you either keep up with the time you either evolve or you die and every time we've been able to find something new so hopefully this is another one of those ones well you have because you're wonderful what you do and great admiration for you yeah appreciate you coming in today. We're grinding here every day. You don't even need an invitation. You just walk in and have a seat, and we'll pick up any conversation right with you in it. I've told Bourne this.

I know for a fact, since my 12-year-old was born, I've golfed maybe like 14 times in those 12 years. So give me about six months. I'm going to play. We'll catch you next year. I'm going to play some golf. According to social media, you're bowling now. Yeah, yeah.

Hey, Tim. So happy that you were able to come in, shoot the you-know-what with us for the last 20 minutes. Wish you the best of luck. Great teammate. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, I appreciate you bringing me in here, and I appreciate the words.

Thanks so much, Timmy. Tim and Calif from Tim and Friends, Tim and Sid, and who knows what's next? Can't wait. Headline sports alum. All right. You're watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born. After these messages, we are back. Discussing the biggest stories that matter to Toronto sports fans.

The Fan Morning Show with Eilish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert. discussing the biggest stories that matter to toronto sports fans the fan morning show with alish forfar and justin cuthbert subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts this is real kipper and born on sportsnet 590 The Van. All right, let's tee up tonight's game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Florida Panthers. Let's welcome in someone that's always been there for us, Greg Simpson, former NHLer, two-time Stanley Cup champion, Hockey Night in Canada analyst, and we'll make the call tonight on Sportsnet. Simmer, how's it going, pal?

Great, Nick. How are you doing? doing yeah we're good we're good listen um nine games to go here is yeah is there um is there a chance to over analyze or overthink these nine games i laugh as you say that is you guys do radio every day. Yeah, no kidding. We have to. Hey, Simmer, tell us we're dumb and we're just idiots. I try not to ever tell you that, Nick. But you know how it is. Yeah, you know how it is. I think there always is from a public perspective, from an analytical perspective. But I do think you know what it's like, Nick.

You're focused now you get into single digits your your blood starts pumping and you know you get geared up for playoffs you can you can smell it you can taste it now you're anxious for it and you know unless you're a team that's battling like florida is to try to stay alive and try to get there you know you can't help but have a little bit of a focus to you know how do i feel what do i need to do this next three weeks or two and a half weeks whatever is left and to be ready to to start when it really matters so yes you can overanalyze the nine games and uh you know pick apart each match. But the one thing I've really liked all season long

with the way this, not just the players themselves, but even the coaching staff has kind of slow and steady with a focus on the now because you have, what you do today gets you to the point, as I think Sheldon said today, you clinched a playoff spot with nine games to go. So the effort that you've had in the preparation you've put in to get to this point has allowed you to be in that position so there's one check you know box off but I think they've had a pretty

slow and steady of how we've got to be as a team and the things we have to do and you focus on it during the regular season you try not to have too many lows. You try to build off the highs and not, you know, fall off of them. But I think you just got to play a game at a time now. Don't let your habits get into a bad place. But there's no question, if I'm a player right now, Nick, I'm focusing on playing at a high level these last nine so that I feel good going into the playoffs. You know, there's obviously some, you know, Marner's looking to get 100 points.

Does that mean something? I think it does. You know, last year he didn't play the last game of the season to rest up, and he had 97 points. He might have got three and got to 100. But, you know, there's a few individual things that you keep focusing on, but I think just collectively you don't want your play to drop off so that you feel good both individually and collectively as a group

when you get to April 17th. Simmer, some of those Oilers teams you were a part of had tons of talent and there was tons of different ways to build the forward lines. The Leafs have an interesting situation when Ryan O'Reilly comes back. Sounds like maybe next week he'll join the team um how do you think is the best way for them to construct things to face tampa bay would you do you like the idea that they load up that six or would you prefer to see him on a third line for the leafs well that that is probably the most intriguing question which i think unfortunately you know kind of got disrupted with his injury, right? I think you probably would have seen by now a stretch of games

where he was the third-line center, and you try to say, well, what do we have? What do we potentially have in that unit that could be both, A, a really good checking line, but also a line that should be able to score? And let's face it, that's been a dark, you know, what they haven't had in, say, playoff years past is a sense that, oh, yeah, maybe our third line can not only check you and stop your top guys,

but they can score some goals. So I think, Jason, you're going to have to have a couple of games where you have them in that third line goal. I think they know enough of what a potential o'reilly um tavarez and neil anderline looks like i think they got enough looks they had some good moments they had obviously marner in there too i i think you start with marner and matthews together personally but uh i think they know what that looks like if he gets back for let's say the last

five games, I would say you'd probably see three of those at least where you go, what does the third line with Ryan O'Reilly look like? And I think it's worth taking a look because I think you'll probably adjust within the series. You know, it's the game within the game once you get into a playoff matchup against Tampa. And you don't know for sure exactly what Tampa is going to look like, what Tampa

may end up doing. They might tinker a little bit based on what they have or who's healthy there too. So I think there's no question though you've got to see what Ryan O'Reilly looks like as a third line center in some of these games down the stretch. We're talking to Craig Simpson who will call the game

tonight for Sportsnet. Simmer, if we go back to your words about just making sure that the guys start feeling good about their game going into the playoffs where does that leave samson off there's eight games remaining three at home five on the road his road record is of concern. We had Sheldon on earlier about the home road goalie splits. Where are you on how many road games does Samsonov need to feel good about his ability to win on the road? Yeah, I don't think you shelter him from playing on the road. I think that would be a mistake. I think you put him in and probably, you know, would you say five on the road i think that would be a mistake i think you put him in and probably you know it would you say five on the road i think if he's going to be your starter he's got to play three of those and give matt the other two and you know maybe they haven't decided that wholly but i think before he took his little break for you know the birth of his son

i think that would be the mindset of you start with Samsonoff and if things struggle or don't go well, then it's Murray to the rescue in that sense. So if that is the case, Nick, I think you got to play three of those five roads. And let's face it, sometimes the record isn't really indicated on how you feel about playing

or maybe even, you know, sometimes you lose a game on a tough bounce or a bad night for your offense. So you got to win on the road. You know that you do. And I think you got to have him in the mindset of, I'm not going to try to shelter you from playing there. You just got to go in and get your game on. And if there's nine games left and he's going to be your starter,

I think he's probably got to play at least five of those simmer they're going to be facing off against the florida panthers team tonight that's lost four in a row but boy the door has seemed open for them to sneak into a playoff spot pittsburgh is not running away with it by any means do you like this florida team what are your thoughts on their ability to find it here and actually sneak in after what looked like almost certainly being eliminated earlier in the season? Yeah, well, how about being thrown a few lifelines? No kidding. It's kind of mind-boggling that they haven't been able to get the traction when they needed it.

They went on that great run and went 6-0-1, beat Pittsburgh in one of those games, which, you know, closed that gap off. And then suddenly, though, they just can't keep the puck out of the net. And, you know, that to me, I'm sure, is what Paul Maurice is really most frustrated about. You know, they have been a team last year that they were the comeback kids. They had more comeback wins. They had 15 third-period comeback wins en route to the President's Trophy. But right now,

I just think they're a good example and we've talked about it with this Leaf team. The one thing that they've been able to do is stay aggressive and stay complementary offensively without giving up the defense, without sacrificing and taking chances.

When you're that close in the playoff race and you've given up six against the Flyers, six against the Leafs, four against the Rangers, five against Ottawa, it's almost like you don't deserve to get the chance. But sitting here now with eight teams left, I think you'll look at a team that maybe will be a little bit less wide open, less trade chances. If I'm Paul Maurice, it's the defensive side that's going to get you in the playoffs, and that's the one that seemingly is just falling apart in this last little stretch.

Simmer, when it comes to teams pushing in this stretch run, so much inconsistency. We saw calgary with a huge win last night against la so maybe markstrom's ready to to to take them uh over the the goal line here but pittsburgh florida winnipeg buffalo you're not sure what you're getting every night and i know rick bonus is certainly questioning I think some of his players on their push here how do you equate that well it's that it's amazing what stands out with really good teams when you see that and you just explain the inconsistency and the ups and downs and you know I think you're always going to find a little stretch

where maybe your top guys are snake fit, they can't score, but they're playing hard. Like we've seen it even with Matthews there, okay, maybe not scoring at the pace you like, but his overall game didn't really suffer. And I think that's what will drive coaches crazy, and that's what Rick Bonas is dealing with is like, hey, guys, you know, this is the most important time,

and you're not all in, and you're not buying that. You got to give everything you can. And if you're not scoring, you better darn well be doing other things and changing the game. And that's probably when you mentioned Calgary going in and beating Los Angeles like that, a 2-1 game like that for Daryl Sutter will be like okay guys that's that's what we got to have but that's even what i look at tonight if you see florida early in this game and it's a wide open game and we're trading chances and there's two on one at one end two on one of the other i think

paul maurice will be you know having fits because you go that's when when you're a team desperate and you're trying to make a playoff push you're not going to do it by opening up and playing run and gun. You have to find a way to play well offensively. But let's face it, if you can't keep the puck out of your net, you've got no chance. I mean, the only team that's kind of bucking that trend right now and thanks to their power play is Edmonton. Look at their goals against and their save percentage

in the last six games that they've won. It's mind boggling, but you can't expect and you don't have a McDavid and a Dreisaitl to do it. Come playoff time, it's a common theme. You just have to be collectively

a good, solid defensive team and not have those cracks that give what Nick's talking about the inconsistency when you win a 5-4 game one night and then you just think and you get beat three nothing in a game that you have to win against one of the worst teams in hockey and you know winnipeg can't be feeling good after losing three nothing to a team like san jose in a must-win scenario no rick bonus did not seem very happy in his post game comments um you know and we've seen coaches have moments like this when their teams are

struggling john cooper did it with tampa bay you know he benched a couple of guys there and and you know didn't seem very pleased we're kind of trying to get everyone on record about the first round opponent for the leafs here and their thoughts of on tampa bay you know they handled carolina last night and looked like world beaters, but they lost a bunch before that. What do you think about what this Tampa Bay Lightning is compared to previous seasons? Well, I don't think they're as deep

and I don't think they're as strong. Part of that, you know, you can argue, are they as hungry? I don't, like the one thing that you hear, guys, and I think you see it with uh Nathan McKinnon this year and then Makar and that like the hunger is oh my god I've been waiting my whole life for this that was the most amazing year last year I want to do it again like it's it's it's not easy to accomplish but the notion of saying oh resting on you finally won, and they're not nearly as motivated, I think is baloney. The top guys, Tampa showed it by going back-to-back, and then getting there

last year. I don't think they're as deep, guys, and I think we would all agree on that, but they got a mix of guys that are still fresh and that didn't win last year, but know what it's like. I think Nick Paul's a better player than he was last year. Brendan Hagel didn't win last year but know what it's like i think nick paul's a better player than he was last year brendan hagel didn't do all that much at the key times last year in his first go-around but now you realize oh my gosh how hard that is but how important it is and i still think they're going to be a really tough out and and on top of it you're seeing Vasilevsky look human at times but does he really care you know Nick you'd probably say no doesn't but it doesn't mean that he's going to be as good as he was the last three years either so there is no given but I don't think that this is a team

that's sort of you know on the and the end of it You go even to the New York Islanders. By the time the Oilers finally beat them, you know, after their four wins in a row, that fourth year that they won, they were hanging on, and they won with will. They won with the way that they played. They won with determination. They were trying to, you know, chase history, win four in a row. But by that next year, the flip went where the Oilers were the ones that had learned.

The Oilers were hungrier. They understood it better, and they were able to push them off. And New York just didn't quite have enough. Maybe Tampa's in that mode where this is the year that you get them. I know for Toronto, having them again is like it should be a great motivator. You know them so well. You were so close last year. You had the chance to bury them, and you weren't motivator. You know them so well. You were so close last year. You had the chance to bury them, and you weren't able to.

You lose a game seven. I think, you know, as much as people are looking at trying to pick your opponent, I think it's the perfect opponent because you've got guys now that are in their seventh year in the key guys with Nylander, Matthews, and Marner. You've got Riley who's been through it before. You've got Tavares hopefully, you know, continuing to play a big role. You've got O'Reilly in a position who's won before. It just changes it a little bit.

And if nothing else, it's that hunger. It's that emotion. It's that energy. You look at McKinnon after losing the year before, the determination to not let it happen again. You'd hope anyways you'd have that with the core guys here in Toronto. And I like the fact that you go right back up

against Tampa again, and this time you try to finish the job. You do, and you get through to Vasilevsky eventually, right? That's the hope. But one more before I let you go, Simmers. I'm looking around at so many playoff teams here, but the one question mark, and we have it right here in Toronto, is just where the goaltending is.

Can you recall so many teams going into the playoffs with question marks on what kind of goaltending that they're going to have and it's unproven or, you know, don't have as much experience. Like, when was the last time this happened? It's unique in the sense that I think part of the cap era, too, is, you know, it's hard to have just one established guy who's a superstar. And you've got a few sprinkled in the East. You've got to put Vasilevsky there.

You know, you could say how good shisterkin's been or sorokin and that but they they haven't won anything either so you know i i go back to to just timing and opportunity and i guess using my own experience again of of bill ranford coming in in 1990 for us and billy had played two playoff games for boston before in sort of mop-up duty before he got traded to us in 88 watch grant fear have an unreal playoff as we won in 88 battled in in 89 and then in 90 got his opportunity and you know what he had a tough first game we got beat seven to four by winnipeg in game one and he wasn't all that great and he stood up and said guys i'll be better don't worry and the rest was history and

you know in in the stanley cup final he was just dynamite and you look and say you could have had that same discussion well the oilers without grand fury he's injured brand you know bill ranford i don't know he's never done it So I think that's what's the special thing about a playoff run, is it opens up the opportunity for guys like that. Like, I honestly, guys, didn't think Colorado could win with their goaltending tandem last year. And, you know, Kemper did his job, but when Kemper went down, Fransos goes in.

You would never have picked that as a script or written it as a movie, but that's what happens. The guys do their job, and the players respond around them, and I think that is the unique thing about this year. There's an opportunity for, what, five or six teams that might have, you know, is one of those guys going to be the Bill Ranford of 1990 and just show, I don't care about experience. This is my chance, and I'm going to take it.

Or the Kemper of last season. Hey is my chance, and I'm going to take it. We're the Kemper of last season. Hey, Simmer, great stuff, man. Have a great call tonight. All right, thanks for having me on, guys. Thanks, Simmer, appreciate it. Greg Simpson will call the game tonight for Sportsnet Toronto and Florida. Okay, we've got a few more minutes here, right? So let's play out the next eight games.

For the Leafers? Yeah, starting goalies. Okay. So we know Samsonov's in tonight. Wool, wool, wool, wool. So no. Oh. Well, no, maybe, maybe.

Ottawa, you come right back with Matt Murray, correct? Florida, Sam. Well, it's a back-to-back. So he's going to play one of those two games. Do you care about the Ottawa thing anymore? Are we over that? Yeah, I think so. Okay.

Or do you want to get Samsonov on the road? That's what it is. That's what it is. It's Samsonov on the road. He said in that clip at the start of the show, did he not, that they want to see them in these tougher? I'm playing the guy who's bad on the road at all at road on the road yes the guy that's bad at home okay so we're going samsonov day off samsonov and then murray at home versus

detroit yeah and then murray at home in detroit okay i'm okay with that yeah samsonov samsonov murray do you want to uh sneak in samsonov against columbus or Do you want to sneak in Samsonov against Columbus, or do you want to go back to Murray and then leave Samsonov for Boston? That's the one you want. You want Samsonov in Boston. Samsonov, Samsonov, Murray, Murray, Samsonov in Boston. Here are the five on the road. Ottawa, Boston, Florida, Tampa Bay, and New York Rangers.

The last three games of the year games good teams all on the road craig's point you want samsonov in two possibly three of those games so if we're going to give him ottawa this saturday i think his next start should come against boston i gotta get him in one yep agreed i i also think this may be a little bit um you know overthinking it but you play that tuesday against tampa bay and you play and then you go with the 13th april 11th against tampa bay hey you might be seeing joe wall yeah you know 100 that's that's that's wall start tampa bay i do not tip my hand to Tampa Bay. Agreed. With either goalie. I actually would love to have this conversation with you.

Murray or they don't get to see them. The third, the second last game of the season. Do you think it makes a difference to a team, which goalies in net in terms of how they prepare or they think about the series significantly? Listen, I always had a preference in knowing teams that i've played against so i'd rather see yeah you know for me what it is as a coach so i personally don't think

it make it like as a player i'm a right winger if they start this guy or this guy other than trying to score you know like it doesn't affect how i think i don't think but it really affects the coaching staff on the other side and their decision-making with different things. I think everything they don't know about your team is one more thing they have to think about. And that takes away from other things that they can be thinking of. And I like the idea of just making their life harder.

So you don't get to know what we're thinking. You never really sized up anybody you were on the ice against? You know, keep in mind, I played in the min minors so i didn't necessarily know like this guy the stats tell us he's got a weak blocker side or something like how about like history from minor hockey to junior hockey is there anyone that you just guys i like to play and guys i hated to play for sure for sure but it didn't really change my now i'm gonna look at a guy and go okay there's one guy i can intimidate there's one guy i could smash into the board there was one guy used to go get into his ear a little bit every time i saw there's not gonna be any repercussions at all i can own that guy okay so there was guys for you

then that affected all the time actually that makes way more sense so it's it's not just pure shooters or anything it's the whole team's preparation about i who could i rattle more around the net who could i remember so prone to injury you can't tell me that the guys aren't like and this does happen even though you're not allowed to admit it like the guys aren't like hey you know you're digging in the crease and you get bumped don't be afraid to fall on murray like don't be afraid to you know whoopsie a little bit here and there for sure yeah i mean i even i did that sort of stuff don't look at me i was gonna make a joke but i decided not to all right keeping it clean that's good um you're not gonna tell us your joke yeah i mean you want me to just don't just treat him like kipper treat

treated fear oh see that's just not a joke that's just mean so we were going through this and figuring out starts so that we have samsonov samsonov murray murray samsonov um we all want joseph wool in tampa bay so then the last three games are at florida at tampa at new york rangers do you want samsonov to play the final game of the year sort of four days before the series starts i would rather them just not play at all that after florida like i know it's such a long time off but like if you're get wool in twice and let if everything's if everything's settled like it's a really hard it's still hockey and you can't you know put in the it's not like football where you can just put in the

backups like you still have to play some guys i understand it's just what you can it's gameplay sammy that's what i mean i know like you know you don't want guys i understand it's just for me it's gameplay sammy that's what i mean i know like you know you don't want to want to feel the puck a little bit yeah i get it let's just say this is let's just say that samsonov has had two really good road starts before that do you want to push the last one on them too no not at all that's a great great point maybe he's a dog on the road you give him another chance maybe or and it's his call maybe it's just his call i want one more i just need one more to feel good and you got to listen to him but i don't think kyle or or brendan or or sheldon can sit here and definitively say this is the way it's going to start.

You've got to see the build here for the next nine games. It's true because the way we're laying it out you're putting Samsonov in some tough spots, right? Okay, go play in Boston on the road. Go play in Florida on the road. If it goes poorly you know, change things. I can't see Bergeron and all their

stars playing that Boston game anyways. They've been sitting out guys for two weeks now top four defensemen are constantly rotating in and out here so i don't know how much stock you want to put in to that game either way islanders just pound the he's gonna be florida pittsburgh though okay we're gonna take a quick break uh randy moeller on the other side he covers covers the Florida Panthers. He'll get us prepped on their chances from here on in. You are watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born.

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. This is Real Kipper and Born on Sportsnet 590 The Van. Okay, let's welcome in Randy Moeller, who does the play-by-play for the Florida Panthers. I know you're off and running.

You got a big call tonight, Randy. Thanks for joining us. How are you? Well, good to hear from you guys and great to be on the show. I wish I was doing the play-by-play, but I'll just do the color. I'll let Steve Goldie Goldstein do the play-by-play on Valley Sports. Okay, just for the record, Randy, my producer, Sammy, totally hung me out to dry.

So, can I explain quickly? Yeah, quickly. Dan Brandale hung me out to dry. So can I explain quickly? Yeah, quickly. Dan Brandeo hung me out to dry because he was playing play-by-play calls of him for me. So I got hung out to dry. You know, Randy, that's called passing the buck, eh? That's it. That's it. That's the way you do it.

Never take the blame. Never take the blame. Anyway. Give us a feel going in tonight. Is this one of those scenarios where you're like, every time you think they're out, they pull me back in. Where are we with Florida? We're watching Nashville.

We think they're out. They have a huge win. They're back in it. Where's the feeling going in tonight for the Panthers? Well, it's got to be a must win. And, you know, on and up against a strong Toronto team. This team has struggled. The Panthers, you know, they've lost four straight.

Their special teams have struggled. And Panthers, you know, they've lost four straight. Their special teams have struggled, and that's been a big factor. The other thing, too, is it just seems like when they have dropped a game over the last three or four weeks, it's been goaltending, and it's not been Panther goaltending. It's been up against some

amazing goaltending from the opposition, and the Panthers, most of the time, they lead in shots. They lead in scoring chances. They lead in odd man rushes for Matt. Yet, a lot of times, they just can't put the puck in the net. This is a team that scored more goals last year since the 92-93 Mario Lemieux-Pittsburgh Penguins. And this year, they're having a tough time scoring consistently.

And it's cost them. And then the other thing, too, when the special teams break down and you're not getting that big power play goal at critical times during the game to get you back, to tie the game, or to get within one, it's very noticeable. And then the Panthers, they've had some defensive zone breakdowns, and there's just no way around it. And there's a lot of games.

They have spurts where they're aggressive and they've got the chances and they're, and their chances off the rush and the defense are jumping in. And then all of a sudden they'll go on a wall in the, in the middle of the second period after a strong first. And it's just not there. The consistency, they've had a tough time guys putting together 60 minutes and that's why

they've lost four straight. Well, and it's tough you you mentioned they still got a lot of good players and coming off last year you know i i hear the goaltending and i see all the offense they create like crazy one thing we don't talk about as much around here anyway is the paul maurice factor uh you know his first year there is anything attributable there or just, you know, what sort of, what does that change done to, or for the team? Well,

well, you know, Paul Maurice had come in and everybody knows it's a high flying, high octane, octane offense. And, and that, but that doesn't,

that doesn't win in the, in the playoffs. And the Panthers proved that last year, they barely got by the Washington Capitals in the first round. They got swept and scored three goals in four games by the San Bay lightning. And the secondthers proved that last year. They barely got by the Washington Capitals in the first round. They got swept and scored three goals in four games by the San Jose Lightning. And the second, it doesn't equate because then you're building everything on the offense. And you've got to play strong defensively. And, you know, there's so many components of the game.

So, Walmarise has come in and he has tried to establish a more balanced, hey, guys, we don't have to win 8-6, but don't be afraid to win 2-1 or 3-2 with some strong defensive play. Well, that has not been consistent this year. It is ebb and flow and ebb and flow. But the other thing, too, while the Panthers here trying to crawl back over the last month into this playoff race so many games guys they have fallen behind early in games they're down one nothing they're down

two nothing and they've had to chase the game that's not that's not a that's not a recipe for success you got to play with the lead and build on the lead those are the characteristics that the guy that the panthers did last year where they were up 2-0, 2-1, and all of a sudden they just blow teams out in the third period by getting four, five, six goals. That's been missing from their game. And when we were talking about it this morning, I've said it so many times this year I'm sick of me hearing myself say it. The NHL right now, it's all about special teams and goal-cutting.

If you're special teams, if you're scoring on the power play, ask the Toronto Maple Leafs. If you're scoring on the power play and your play killing is half decent in games and you get the odd save in the hockey game, guess what? You're winning 95% of the games. Well, that has been missing for the Florida Panthers this year. You take a look at their special teams. You take a look at the opposition's goaltender, and it's been a broken record all season long.

If you would have told me, Randy, that Matthew Kachuk would be in top five scoring at this point, I would have said, no question, Florida's contending for a Stanley Cup, man. He's done everything possible, and yet, how much has it moved the needle for them? Well, that's just it. And a lot of times, Kipper, there's only been a handful of games, only a small handful of games

where Matthew Kachuk has been kept off the score sheet this year or not been a factor in a game. And I can't say enough about it. He is so much fun to watch and for us to cover the games and broadcast the games and he's great with us. But a lot of games though,

it's just not enough. There's not enough guys coming with him. And you know, he gets his points, he gets his big goals and that. But then when the game is on the line late in the third period and he already has a goal and assist where somebody else needs to step up and maybe you get a late power play and all of a sudden it's just not there and and that's been kind of the theme of the season but no doubt uh matthew kachuk has been

just he's been a phenomenal for the florida panthers this year their mvp by by a country mile a couple other guys had pretty good seasons too um you know obviously it's uh not not where you want to be in the standings but carter verhage he's got about 36 goals and brandon montour is uh you know darn near norris contention this season what a pleasant surprise those guys have been they have too yes yeah no doubt no disrespect to them uh with matthew kachuk the season he's had but bragey has scored a lot of goals and a lot of even strength goals as well yeah he just started playing the power play on the first unit here just in the last little bit brandon montour is just is something that nobody probably first

foresaw but here's a guy that was given an opportunity and they put him in a position to succeed and it's up to the player kipper knows all about that you put a player in a position to succeed and it's up to the player. Kipper knows all about that. You put a player in a position to hopefully succeed and away he goes. It's up to the player and he has grasped it and done phenomenally well. Remember this team last year had 13 players on the team that had career offensive years. This year we have three. So that's a big difference as well. If you're going to play a high-octane team, then everybody's got to go. That consistency, the secondary scoring has been an issue for the Panthers this season, unfortunately.

How are you for time? You got one more question? Yep, I'm good. Hold on. Hold on, he's coming back. Hey, what's the deal with that Brooks Koepka and Eric Ekblad and the pylon here? I thought there might have been buds, but they're not. You know what?

I have no idea. That came out on social media. I don't know Brooks Koepka. I know that he's a big fan, a hockey fan. He comes to a few of the games, that post or whatever, and I know they were asking, I think, Aaron this morning. I saw it on social media as well. I don't know the back story.

I don't know what the story is and that. So I wish I had more insight, but I just don't. No problem. We'll figure it out here,, but I just don't. No problem. We'll figure it out here, Randy. No question about that on this show. Hey, hey, thanks for doing this, man. Really appreciate it. Have a great call tonight.

Okay. Thanks, guys. I'll enjoy it. Thank you. Thanks, Randy. All right. And for the record here, two seconds ago, I just look at the corner of my eye. I see a pile on.

This was not a prop. I did not. That is in studioylon this was not a prop i did not glad is in studio what are the odds bring this in why is there a pylon in our studio sammy ah i don't know i have no idea why was there a pylon in his suite ah boy yeah so if you we talked about it yesterday for a sec i think did we Did we not? That Brooks Koepka is at the last Panthers game. He's in a box, shirtless, in an Adidas tracksuit, holding a pylon, holding up the number five for Ekblad, pointing at it, saying, this is you, this is you.

And then the audio kicks in. He goes, Ekblad, you suck. Like genuine chirping. And so we hypothesized yesterday, they got to be boys. Like they both live in florida they're both well off they're probably yeah they're probably like the same country club type of thing no no that's not the case our intrepid reporter sammy did luke ask him so luke listened to our show yesterday and when i was on my way in here today i got a text from luke fox saying

hey i asked him and he sent me his tweet and he said aaron eckblad biting his lip which means he seemed pissed off says he doesn't know brooks kepka we're not buddies never be buddies not happy and from i've talked to luke about this so we talked on the phone about it he was visibly pissed off as he should be it's a joke the fact that they're not buddies is a true joke like i my dream now is for ekblad if they get eliminated from the playoffs is to go to a live tour event and just eviscerate them every day that's if i was ekblad i'd be that petty i'd be chasing around with i don't know a bag of blood money or something. I don't know what I would be chasing around with. He plays the one sport where he should have the most respect for that, for people to do that.

Like, you can't, you know, can you imagine screaming out, you suck. MMA just being like, losers. Like, in a backswing or dirt in the middle of his putting oh i see what you mean okay why why would you why would you so why would you disrespect another professional athlete when you you want the courtesy of not being heckled yeah when you're you know most vulnerable what is the expression for a certain level of wealth? Is it F off money or like F you money? F you money.

Kepka got F you money now from Liv and he's acting like it. Like he's just like, I don't care. He went, he went me hating him to another level. Kepka? Yes. Oh, it's Godless. It's Godless. I'm surprised that you both care that much.

I kind of think it's playful. It bothers me. No, I agree. It bothers me. Really? Yeah, it bothers me. By the way, how big do you think Kepka is? You seen him in shirtless in the magazine? Yeah, he's built.

Yeah. I think. But I don't know. He's six feet. I'd go him. Oh, yeah. You'd handle him. I'd prime you.

No, he probably, he's got like 25 years on me. But he's your size. He's six foot 205. I mean, he's. I'd have to get in shape. But I'd like to punch him. I would. I'd like to punch him.

Ekblad would beat the absolute breaks off of Koepka. Well, that's kind of where I was going with this, is that Koepka's kind of a ripped guy, but yeah, I think Ekblad would eat his lunch. Just inside baseball with what happened in the scrum the sportsnet scrum was there they were talking to ekblad they had the camera on i mean i was looking through our internal system in terms of you know to get this clip so we could play it and it cut off and the camera left so it was just luke fox and the him talking to him there and he tweeted out

the clip from it but sportsnet i love you you've employed me for 10 years you left that scrum a little too early you missed out on a big time viral clip of him throwing him under the bus and looking pissed off and it sounds like there may have been more to it that didn't make it into i think there's some other stuff maybe that was said. I'm not 100%, but I really respect the fact that Eckblad is pissed off about it because if I'm a professional hockey player and not a guy that's up and down from the AHL, I'm a stud, top-pairing guy, borderline Team Canada guy. I'm sure he's had Norris votes in his career. And I got some bum who's up in the thing.

No, no, no, no. He's not a bum. He's an international superstar. He's a four-time major winner. He's an international star. When you stand up and you belittle another professional athlete for fans in the building. I'm shocked at the tone of this. Shocked.

The 15,000 people in the building. I don't at the tone of this. Shocked. The 15,000 people in the building. I don't know what was in that night. Whatever. And you know that there's a very good chance that it will go viral. Why do you want to belittle another professional athlete? You know, I think, so all his buddies are in the same, like, Adidas trackie. Like, it's got to be a bachelor party or something where they're just, like, blackout. Which, again, that's not an excuse

but it has to be a thing where he's not just this dumb or maybe he's this dumb i don't know but like because you're right cameras are on you he's not afraid of a feud we've seen him and de chambeau go at it he's had a couple of cocktails you know you wake up when you you wake up the next day and you see this thing going viral my god maybe just the Florida Panthers or Eric a call and say, hey, pal, listen, I had a couple cocktails. I laid down a bet. I was, you know, whatever. Yeah, yeah.

Listen, I hope you didn't take it personally. That's just me messing. Of all guys to pick, Eckblad? Right? Eckblad of all guys to pick. Yeah, it's just, come on. You're one of the best golfers in the world. You don't think people will pay.

Not anymore. He's not. He can be if he applies himself again. He's done applying himself. He took that 100 mil, bud. Well, we talked about it yesterday. Yeah, it just bothers me. It really bothers me.

Did you see the report that I sent to the group chat today about the Liv guys? I did read that, yeah. No, I did not. So if they want to break out of Liv, they have to potentially, according to reports, you have to pay two to four times their signing bonus. And so Brooks Koepka received $100 million as reported. To get out of it, that could mean up to to 400 million dollar penalty if he wanted to leave live yeah try to collect so you're you're here for a lot i wouldn't want to you know the guys that are running his contract till 2025 so i mean they could start using babies for golf balls and

kepka's playing on the on that tour until it's over like yeah there's not they're not getting out anyways i think it's a bush league move by him so glad we settled that good chat good chat boys ekblad gil for you all right um when i first saw it i'm like that's not really him oh yeah i didn't think it was really him how about the panthers game get that's bush kepka heckling ekblad and last year kodak black with a date in the suite who is admitting people to this suite kipper you should have gone to that game maybe that was the game that was that against the leafs you would have been there how long ago was that now fighting kepka i don't know that might have been the leaf game buddy how that would have been

an all-time moment for our show if kippers is out the game seriously i would add words with them i'm like come on grow up you'd be sure to listen to adidas tracky by the end of the game pro all right talk hockey again yeah by the end of the game kippers kippers doing the running man like jason sudeikis in that track suit from snl oh my god that's funny boys oh yeah where are we going here well i want to talk with the jets jets are stinky let's get that quick okay okay so so hold on okay okay okay we called them to miss the playoffs and we apologized to them i never apologized i did now they're gonna miss again well here's the situation they get 85 points and seven games remaining the flames have 83 points and seven games remaining they do play each other once

the national predators have 82 points in nine games remaining now nashville which i've made clear is awful that is a bad club but they by all accounts, they got a chance at it here. They are by points percentage in that eighth spot. Not by points, but points percentage. What's Nashville have? What's their schedule look like? Oh, it's awful. Pittsburgh, Dallas, Vegas, Carolina, Winnipeg, Calgary,

Minnesota, Colorado. Oh, boy. Oh, it's awful. Awful. They're going to lose seven of those games. But we can pretend that right now they're in a good spot. You would have had eight games lost before the Boston game. Yes, they beat the Boston Bruins.

Anything can happen. Maybe they're going to rally around trading Ekholm, Grandland, Janot. They punted on the season yeah i think if you probably gave the true serum to uh david poyle and barry troth they probably wouldn't they would have preferred maybe going in the other direction i think that was the idea here you know trading away everything for picks and getting an even higher pick this year and hoping you get a really good player but but so the winnipeg jets are struggling um eelers is kind of getting

punted down the lineup for his inconsistencies got some you know five years ago kneel under qualities bonus has questioned his group's ability to bring it which is his strength right we had the clip let's let's listen to rick talking about Well, I would say we created enough scoring chances that we... The offense gave us a chance to win the game. We just didn't score. And then we... The inconsistencies of some of our players is hurting us. You know, some of these guys think they're giving us everything in their tank.

They're dreaming. So we've got a lot of guys in there giving us everything they can, and we just need a few more guys to jump on board. It's not over. We're still in eighth spot, and we're going to find out what we're still in eighth spot and uh we're gonna find out what we're made of over the next little while i'm gonna tell you the people in that dressing room who aren't you know quotes here giving it everything they have any of the guys he says

are dreaming know who he's talking about and two like if it's shifley if it's ehlers he knows they know who bonus is talking about that's as direct and really harsh a message as i can remember a coach coming out and giving in the media without naming names without naming names if these guys think they're giving us everything they got they're dreaming yeah it's not just follow the money right blake wheeler oh oh yeah yeah yeah any any any with exception of josh morrissey how about that hellebuck is you know a vesna contender this year morris or sorry morrissey has become a norris contender and they are dropping through the standings they're dreaming they've lost to the blues the kings and the sharks yesterday all in the last week in the last unfortunate part too though is that the writing's on the wall that this team

will blow up the roster will blow up in 12 to 18 months. You're not, who's coming back? We've been talking about Pierre-Luc Dubois leaving for months now. And I thought it was going to be a distraction right from the get-go. Yeah, so next season, they still have a lot of these guys under contract.

Like Wheeler's got one more year. But Scheifele's only got one more year. Kneedrider, one more year. Decisions have to be made this summer on those. Yeah. Right? Both guys have no trades. There's no indication that...

It's not like a Matthews Leafs where they're going to do everything they can to resign him. No, they may be talking to him and say, would you like to live somewhere else sooner? I don't think they ask him. They just go out there and cut a deal and then they present it. There's no trades. Oh, I see what you're saying. And then they present it. Hey, here's what we've arranged for you.

We have an opportunity here to move you. You're not, you know, we're not going to resign you. Or we know that you don't want to resign here. So here's your scenario here. One year away from UFA. That's the way it's probably going to work out. Yeah, you get to go be a king for a year. We're going to pay some of your salary.

If Sheveldayoff has not had any conversations with a number of his star players, including Scheifele with other teams, I'd be so surprised. Well, the thing is, they've been talking themselves into this year, I think. Like, they really had some vibes this year. I know, but you still have to cover yourself. You can be all excited,

but you'd be still have to cover yourself you can be all excited but you'd be crazy not to cover yourself knowing that you know these hard decisions are right around the corner yeah crazy too like just bonus being new and like captain kindness right like everything out of his mouth is just so like measured that they seem very frustrated i really thought i thought timo meyer would have been a good guy to trade for uh because when you get opportunities to to get good players like that you gotta you gotta you gotta strike it's hard let's face it ufas don't have winnipeg or edmonton high on their list well that's part of why maybe they've been hesitant to move guys or like move those guys is like how do you get people there

it has to be through trade or draft mostly because no one not many players choose there that's just the reality oh sorry i got my mic sorry mic on for a cough didn't realize my mic was on my bad alright but no it's just a common denominator with that core right like Maurice was like ah it's me I'm looking for something new it's me

he knew he knew things were rotten there he literally left he's like it's a show out there he's like I don't like coaching anymore. I just, I'm done. I don't know. The whole thing was very. He knew Florida was going to be available.

Very unique, right? Unique New York. Just leaving and, you know, I need a change or they need a change for me. I'm the issue here. I think that's the most under-investigated oddity of our time in NHL media. Paul Maurice just left. He was the head coach. He was like, I'm good.

And then he went and did nothing for a bit. And then they gave him the head coaching job in Florida. And everyone's like, that's fine. I'm sure nothing happened there. Yeah. I don't know if I want to coach again. I want to coach again i want to coach yeah okay i'm ready just not just not in winnipeg with these squids yeah i want to go somewhere warm

he probably had a moment in in his office where he was just like i can't deal with these guys they're just not good enough was the last night's 2-1 win over la enough for you to say okay now calgary is they've got their um they got their act together no no no but it does give me hope because there's you know i just read off that nashville schedule yeah let me give you calgary's vancouver anaheim chicago good winnipeg good vancouver nashville san jose oh they're sitting pretty they are sitting pretty boy They are sitting pretty, boy. That Winnipeg game could be meaningful. Large.

Large match. When is that? That is April 5th, so we're looking at about a week. A week from today. Masters Thursday, I believe. Ooh, is it? Masters is here. The Jets schedule, while we're doing doing schedules here's who they face they got

detroit new jersey calgary nashville san jose but they finish with at minnesota at colorado the best thing for them is if the abs lock up the Right now, they're currently not even in the division lead, but have somehow by then locked up the division and don't dress everyone. But the two last games of the year for them, significantly harder. Minnesota, Colorado, while Calgary is Nashville, San Jose.

I don't know. I was just going to say, Oilers now have their sights on winning the division. Think so yeah did you watch pretty closely last night uh in vegas uh no is the answer to that they beat the crap out of them they did yeah it was a shaky start for the goaltending and then they took the game to them that's a shaky start every night for them but was it was it five goals on 13 total shots between the two? Yeah.

The rose is falling off the old balloon for Johnny Quick pretty quick. They just... Did you see Darnell's short side goal? Yeah. Not pretty. Horrible. I mean, I did see the highlights. Horrible.

Yeah. It's all quickie having a tough goal. I'm not... Quick ain't'm not a quick answer here's a little statistical secret uh since the deadline vegas is last in the league and expected goals against they're giving up the most chances in hockey yeah that's not sustainable with jonathan quick as their goalie and as you continue to watch in amazement uh connor mcdavid and leon dry sidled did you see that backhand pass to uh evander kane yeah did you see that one yes i did and then you've got that's why he gets named the best passer in the league every year oh my it's like

you never think of him as like this elite just like the players every player pass he made in the ot winner mcdavid's ot winner like a week ago it's a laser backhand he's playing with a boat or i know on the end of his stick and he can just fire it everywhere yes the biggest stick in hockey history i don't know how anyone plays with it but you know what was abundantly clear to me is how far jack eichel is to doing for Vegas what those two guys do for Edmonton every night. It was not even close. Jack Eichel was out of his league last night

going up against Dreisaitl and McDavid. And it shouldn't be that way. He's really good, Jack jack eichel and very talented and he needed to step up a lot more he had uh rick bonus itis yeah where it's like you think you're trying you think you're giving it at all uh-uh well you know this has been the thing with eichel by the way is only 26 years old it feels like he's been in the league for 100 years he's only 26 years old but it's almost like all the people who've tried to grab him and be like hey that's not real effort that's not real defense and he gets offended and whatever have been right you know like it took it takes a real hard-nosed coach sometimes to convince

you to play a certain way and i i just haven't seen this year he's not even a point per game guys on a division leading team he's played 61 games got 59 points this year not good underwhelming you know they gave up they they moved heaven and earth to bring him in and he's just been a good center he's a good center 59 points is i don't know probably outside the top 50 and points in the league uh the thing that sticks out to me about the oilers is nugent hopkins production this year it's insane is he what does he have he's over 90 points yeah so just looking at by the way 59 points is 73rd in the league with him is he ahead of marner good Good question. Would he lead the Leafs in points? Marner's got to be right there.

I think Marner's maybe at that. Marner's at, what, 93? Marner is at 94. 94, and RNH is 96. What? Yeah, that's off the charts. Those numbers are off the charts. What's our boy Hyman settling at?

He's 78 points, 33 and 45 for 78 points. Jack Eichel needs 20 points to catch Zach Hyman. It's crazy. I'm just looking at what Nugent Hopkins' career high was before this year. It was 69 points. Nice. But to be at 96, you just look at that power play. God, he's got 50 power play points this year.

McDavid does. No. Oh. Ryan Nugent Hopkins. He's got 50? He's got 50 power play points this year. But we are talking. 14 power play goals.

We're talking about the best power play in the history of the game right now. They're still ahead of Montreal. They are fractions ahead of the Canadians for the all-time greatest power play. Three for three helped out a lot, I think. Oh, they were three for three last night? Then they're probably ahead of them by a better out a lot oh they were three for three last night then they're probably i don't know i know they they started three for three i don't know what it ended up yeah they just so i did a video a year or two ago about the two-timer i was calling it which is mcdavid passes it in to dry settles backhand which he then shoots yeah he just

presents the backhand then it's like i can't believe more teams don't do it it's such a brilliant play but it's like these guys just have i don't know what a connection it's got to be like you know curry and gretzky or you know oats and hall whatever you think the greatest combo is and evan bouchard seems to have a good feel for it now you you move barry out you put bouchard in there yeah and uh they haven't really missed uh old barry there i think this the their tears dry up pretty quick when all that comb rolled into town yeah we really like tyson oh that guy's physical that guy do give up goals though oh yeah but that's their goalies kipper but they're gonna have those goalies in playoffs but like what's their analytical like do you have in front of you like expected and

whatever like it just feels a pet peeve of mine is you got a game in control and you give up a goal still in the last minute yeah right and it went from 7-3 to 7-4 yeah it's like that that that would leave a sour taste on closing out the night so the farther right on this graph the better teams are offensively Oilers are right there with like New Jersey and whatever and farther up you are the better you are defensively the Oilers are a very good hockey team very good like in the group of the good teams here um but they just don't have the. They just really can't get any saves. Fascinating, isn't it? That comb's really taken that group to another level.

The Leafs, by the way, have gotten much better offensively as the year has gone on, according to the numbers. So the 77-78 Canadians were at 31.9, and the Oilers right now are at 32.7 wow tight down to the wire for the greatest power play ever they have 95 points the edmonton oilers they are now three behind vegas for the division lead and one behind la for home tells me that the the bad teams in montreal's era were way worse than the bad teams. Can you imagine what some of those clubs looked like?

Oh, boy. Who were the Canadians playing in 79? The goalie had like a dart. He had a dart sticking through his mask when he was in there. Kansas City scouts and the California Golden. They're like, Guy Lafleur?

Who's that? What is one of those? We don't have TVs. We can't scout anyone. Right behind the Edmonton Oilers in second place in the league for the power play is your Toronto Maple Leafs. I know, it's crazy. 25.7. Pittsburgh Penguins also doing a Winnipeg Jets.

Just a little bit of a comparison of Edmonton's power play to Toronto's. What stands out for you more that you would go? Complete unpredictability of what Edmonton is doing. It is, McDavid skates with it at times. Like there's just a lot of confusion. Yeah, that's about it to me. You know, I don't think the Leafs have, the Leafs are best when they work the puck low.

Like, you know, Marner gets it below the goal line. Tavares gets it low. I don't know. What do you see? I just see an Edmonton power play that just passed the puck way better than the Leafs passed the puck on their power play. They move it around. Yes.

I never see the Leafs zipping it. They're better passers. Well, they have two of the best passers literally on the planet so that helps and who's the passer on the leaf power play marner one guy one guy compared to two guys who and marner is in terms of passing in that class with those two guys like absolutely he's an elite elite playmaker there's no doubt but having them two guys but they have in connor score too yeah yeah connor scores now connor's just now the best scorer

on the planet too. It's very seldom where they're not handling the puck though constantly. It's in their hands. It's in their hands. It's one of two.

And Bouchard has an absolute bomb from the top. So that's a threat. Riley shot a couple last game. Yeah, but Bouchard is much more of a

bomb threat than Riley than than uh and tavaris is a down low guy elite tips pucks he's fabulous around the net he's having one of his best careers he's chris crider light right yeah in front of the net and austin's the shooter but like they have three flank guys to me like willie mitch and austin all play the flank on that power play they kind of do replaceable whatever which is good because it's unpredictable but whoever it is is still where they're going to be it's stagnant in that sense you know even if it's not with personnel in toronto we said second in the league and we're hard on them but i mean you listening right now know how the power play has fallen apart in the league and we're hard on them but i mean you listening right now know how the power play has fallen apart in the postseason the last many years yeah nothing seems overly different

about it although they sign one thing that's sinking like a stone right now it's been successful in the lead up to the postseason which it hasn't been in previous april i was just gonna say that like it's dried up the worst possible time every year now it's getting hotter at the at the right time yeah it's gonna come listen uh was it similar gonna need a couple was it who said it today i'm trying to uh that they should just call it goaltending was that today galley yes yeah galley they should just call hockey goaltending well you can add special teams and goaltending to that in the playoffs i'd like to say that a love gary galley and appreciate his insight i hate that line line. But it's true. Yeah, goalies are important.

And sort of special teams. In the playoffs, think about how many times it's killed the league. No one pays to go see a goalie. No one. Remember that. Only weirdos do. Tickets aren't jacked up because they want to go see a goalie. No, I know. And it's just, I don't know.

It's Connor. Yes. Austin. It's Mitch. so much goes into a game that yes you need good goaltending it is a huge element of it but yeah um so pittsburgh penguins uh really quick here they lose to the detroit red wings last night seven to four detroit rots detroit is been bad for a long time yeah and they pivoted on their season to tanking and having great success at doing that you know pittsburgh loses a couple days ago to dallas they lost to ottawa you know nine days ago they got shut out six nothing by the rangers like they're they're struggling boys florida's got an open door here what's gonna happen in pittsburgh if this team

doesn't get in i don't know yeah wholesale wholesale changes i don't know like hextal hasn't had a whole lot of time there but it's not long it's been three years a long time that's standard isn't it it's a long time for a coach, but a GM is supposed to have time to draft and develop and build this team. And no. Not when you. I feel like you hire a GM minimum for five years. That's true. But you don't double down then on.

It's kind of like golf. You should, you know, you can't win it all right away, but you can lose it. Like, you know, early in your time, if you signed a bunch of dumb guys, you can probably lose your job earlier. When resign they're dumb guys malkin and and uh latang it's to continue to try to win now for sid yeah let the record show if i get ever hired if i ever get hired as a gm i'm letting everyone know it's going to be a long process first thing i do 10-year program this roster is a disaster it's gonna take we a long process. First thing I do. It's a 10-year program.

This roster's a disaster. It's going to take six. We've got a lot of work to do here. No one expect results. Check in on me in six years. We have a shovel day off. Just check in on me after a decade. What did Babs say at the first press conference? It's going to be pain.

It's going to be pain. It's going to be pain. He's a good player. He's going to be pain. He's a good player. Of course, Babs has been on the radio since he's been done a lot of stuff Babs said ended up being super true I found some old quotes

like I'm playing Leo Komarov over Andreas Janssen and everyone was like idiot he was probably right about that give me a score tonight easy 6-2 5-1 4-2 Leafs win

first game back from a long road trip our thanks to Tim McAuliffe, Craig Simpson Randy Moeller we're back tomorrow, see ya everybody