Real Kyper & Bourne - Grading the Leafs at the All-Star Break

Episode Date: February 3, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin the Friday edition show giving their grades on the Maple Leafs roster at the NHL All-Star break including their assessment of the top six, why they're leaning on Auston Matthews and William Nylander too much, why they're unimpressed with the bottom six, and how the defensive core has performed so far this season. Then, Leafs Nation's Gord Stellick (21:53) jumps on to chat about his weekend in Florida for the festivities, if there's a change in approach with talking to players during media day, and what he thinks about the league continuing with a 3-on-3 game to cap off the weekend. Doug Maclean stops by for his weekly chat (41:47) to share his experience coaching the All-Star game, his son Clark receiving a game-worn jersey from Wayne Gretzky, and why the weekend is important for the players and the league. Sportsnet's Chris Cuthbert joins the boys (1:06:28) to discuss if he feels any pressure to side with the Canadian teams during his broadcasts and his expectations on how the skills competition will play out. To wrap up, the guys answer listeners' questions! 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.

It's real Kipper and born on Sportsnet 590 the van with the National Hockey League shut right down Justin born Nick Kiprio Sammy McKee Derek Brandeo all on board for the next two hours we'll focus on I don't know what we're gonna focus on for the next two hours waiting with bated breath what do you what do you have well i mean there's no hockey did you see that china sent a balloon that's over the u.s right now let's start there kairi irving requested a trade okay how am How am I doing? Is it over yet? You got an hour and 58 minutes to go.

What else do you have? Weather talk. Weather talk. It's cold out. It is. It's really cold. And listen, there's probably people that are listening from Winnipeg and be like, oh, this is just Tuesday afternoon in Winnipeg.

It's actually really, really goddamn cold in Toronto today. I heard the Chinese balloon was coming here and then it got cold and they went to Montana. It headed south for the winter. It's going to be the all-star game now. Oh, my God. It is cold. I'm wearing my, you know, the thing,

the sort of blanket that's shaped like a shirt. You're a grandpa sweater? Yes, I am. So, any reports out of Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale? How's it going down there? Well, we are going to catch up with a very good, intrepid reporter who is boots on the ground in Fort Lauderdale. Our very own Gord Stelic is going to join us.

In about, what, 20 minutes? Yeah, in about 19 minutes, but who's counting? So, we'll get all the latest. Oh, yeah. Hey, on my way, and you're sorry to drive us off course. We've got all the time in the world, man. You're making fun of this, my old man sweater here. I go to a store today, and the guy,

you know, rings in my order. He takes my number, and he goes, okay, for Jason Bourne, right? And I was like, it's Justin Bourne, but I get it. Like, the movie's Jason Bourne. He's like, the movies? What are you talking about? I was like, Jason Bourne.ne, but I get it. Like the movies, Jason Bourne, he's like, the movies? What are you talking about? I was like, Jason Bourne, like the Bourne movies. He's like, I've been like looking for some classics to watch. I'll check that out.

Thanks for putting me on to the classics. Are the Bourne movies that old now? Are they classics? Well, what's the first one? The Bourne Identity? He's got five of them out there. What year do you think the born identity came out in? I want to say 2002.

Kipper, that is exactly right. 21 years ago. Yeah, 21 years ago. Let me tell you. And then the last one, 2014. What was it called? What was it called? No, not that long ago.

Born identity? I don't know. Born supremacy? Born legacy? Born supremacy was, no, no. Born supremacy was 2004, so that must have been the other one. I don't know any of themremacy, Born Legacy. Born Supremacy was, no, no, Born Supremacy was 2004, so that must have been the other one. I don't know any of them.

Born Identity is the first one. All I know is I was sitting in the movie theater watching the previews for the next movies coming out, and in full screen, the word just came on the screen, Born! And I was like, oh, God, I'm in, like, the Truman Show. Like, the wall's about to come down in here. You thought you were getting proposed to or something?

Yeah, I thought the lights were going to come on. They're good movies. They are. I'm glad that my name is tied to one and i did recommend to you you were down you mentioned elvis yesterday i said you're gonna love it i watched it last night i did love it i will say tom hanks didn't love the performance from tom hanks really no he was the colonel no i think maybe i don. He was just, I didn't quite believe him, but I thought Austin Butler's portrayal of Elvis was outstanding. I thought he really did a phenomenal job. So it's one of the best picture nominees. I've now seen four of them.

You said Banshee's really good. I'm going to check out Banshee. By the way, I just read a book called The Man Called Ove, and it's Tom Hanks is starring in a new movie called A Man Called Otto, like a remake of it. Yeah. It looks really good. It looks very Tom Hanks friendly. I don't movie called A Man Called Otto, like a remake of it. Yeah, it looks really good. It looks very Tom Hanks friendly. I don't know, while we're doing movie hour over here.

You haven't got a sense for off the rails Friday yet. You're getting a lot of this today. Well, we've gotten, I mean, I've put out a tweet with tons, like it's just an interesting thing that, you know, questions, whatever you want, you want them to hockey, non-hockey, we'll take any kind of questions. Yeah, and usually we leave that for the last 15 minutes on every Friday, but we're going to start now.

Well, no, it's not even that. It's just sort of an interesting point that we've talked about Gary. We talked about the lack of movement. We talked about what fans love. I've gotten probably 10 or 11 replies with questions, which we will get to later. We will. But all of them, most of them, are about who's getting traded for who. Like, who's available?

What would you trade for? What's your ideal scenario for the Leafs in trading? And it's like, Gary has really, with the hard cap, sucked out a lot of the fun when it comes to player movement. And fans love player movement it's an incredibly like twitter is on fire because kyrie irving demanded a trade everybody's speculating about him going to the lakers all these guys move how many times has he done that i think it's weekly to be honest i it's hard to keep up with how many times he's done that but it's just it's fans love the player movement and there's just so little of it. Yeah.

I think there's a good case to be made that in the CBA, max length contract should be five years. You know, it'd be good for the players who, you know, have a little more, the contracts would come up more often. They could get more paydays. A guy like Marchand would have got, you know, would have got paid, and McKinnon would have got paid sooner, and we'd see more player movement.

Yeah, I don't know if uh you don't like the shorter well i well am i an owner or am i a player right well player right player sometimes you think you fooled them long enough to get something you're gonna squeeze every last dollar out yeah and we've seen guys careers not match up to their salaries and i think they're thankful that they were able to maybe get an extra year or two even if they're bought out or god louis erickson he was getting money for a long time wasn't he what about rick di pietro so he's still getting paid oh yeah i i would think that the players would be apprehensive to cut down a max eight or seven if you're a UFA going to another team. Yeah, I'd be entertained. That's all I got to say. The more the better.

So off the rails Friday means Doug McClain. Okay. Also from Florida. Yeah. Did he find his ticket last time he was on? He was looking for a single ticket. Yeah. Oh, yeah. You missed last Friday. Yeah. Did he find his ticket last time he was on? He was looking for a single ticket. Yeah. Oh, yeah, you missed last Friday.

Yeah. Last Friday got wild. For the All-Star game. He's going? Well, he wasn't going. Oh, he's trying to get a ticket for somebody. A single ticket for a buddy he plays golf with? What kind of loser friend wants to go buy himself?

And if you do, don't tell anyone. Go buy a ticket. I assume it's not so heavily sold out you can't get in the building. Oh, I think it was sold out. Well, they'd sell this out. Yeah, they would sell it out for sure. They'd sell it out. They'd give tickets to sponsors.

I don't think it's that hard of a sell in any market. If you've got an NHL team there, you're going to be able to sell out any All-Star weekend. Yeah, they struggle. Florida struggles attendance-wise when they're not good. Yeah, but i don't think it would have been a a hard issue um i don't it would never get the attention of an nba kind of all-star weekend but i i think i think for the most part players it's kind kind of a spot where it's much like Vegas. Right.

Friends and family want to go down to Miami for three or four days. Absolutely. Yeah, it's true. It's not exactly a tough sell. All-star in Minnesota? No, I'll pass on this one. We had the all-star game here, what, four years ago or something for the NBA? Oh, yeah.

And it was freezing cold that weekend. Everyone's like, never again. It was legitimately the coldest weekend on record. Like, it was so cold. And then the following weekend, it was legitimately like 15 degrees and sunny. So they missed the wrong weekend. So we've been trying to figure out what the hell we're going to talk about. So I thought this was a natural kind of look back.

What do you want to do? I just want to say that Chris Cutbert, let's not forget CeCe. Yeah. Second hour. Our number one promoter. CeCe. Love, love, love. He'll be calling the NHL All-Star.

Yep. Festivities. Festivities for Sportsnet. So all three of our guests are in Florida while we're freezing their asses off here in Toronto. Yeah. That's just not right. It's not right.

The bad part is they have to work. It's true. I'm just looking at the Florida Panthers average attendance. Yeah. This year, is this from this season? It is 15,000. That seems high. It's from 2022.

So, yeah, I mean, it seems high. Anyways, let's continue. That's coming off a president's trophy. Yeah. So, since we have nothing to talk about today, and it's a natural look back point, you're at the halfway point, quote unquote, over the halfway point, but when it's the all-star game,

you kind of look back at the start of the first half of the season. So we thought we'd do some letter grades, some burning questions, if you will, Kipper. Are they like David Amber burning questions, or are these ones good? No, David Amber is the man. i will say nothing bad about david amber but on the other night on tv you guys did sort of grading out the least bottom six the least top six the goaltending the penalty kill the power play so we're gonna go through all those and give each of those a grade to start the season okay so at the all-star break what letter grade would you guys

give the leafs top six camper you got a y'all one for me um i'm okay with the top six yeah i i mean again everything's unfortunately everything's up against the boston bruins but if you just take away that boston was the hottest team in history to, or the fastest team to get 80 points. If you could just like, forget about that. I think it's an a I'm, I'm much harder than,

than you on that. I got a B minus. I had a C plus originally, but I've talked myself into a B minus because they all stayed healthy. I mean, Matthews is way off his pace. He won the heart trophy last year i know you know the tsn just had their top 25 nhl or mid-season poll or something like that and they

got him 23rd in the league this year you know as a guy and i think marner's a little below his scoring pace from last year neilander's a little above tavarez is kind of same old i don't know i just expect a lot the only thing as, as far as Austin is concerned, is I have on occasion told you I'm okay with him dropping 15, 20 goals if it means a better 200-foot. Or you spread it out a little bit more. Find a way to get to. I think Nylander's rise kind of balances out Austin dropping.

Maybe I'm a little hard here. Austin still has a pretty good 200-foot game. He's still very good at takeaways. He still plays pretty hard in his own zone. He's blocking more shots, is he not? Oh, yeah. Yeah. That side of the game has been a lot

better from him the the only thing that is concerning is that uh they the leafs lean on them way too much if if mitch even has an average game yeah he has to be first or second star third star yeah the leafs to play consistently well it's the way they're set up and so there's a lot of pressure on them and for you know i for his pace and matthew's pace to be below the season before kind of in their primes here the team's done wonderfully i just don't think they've been the brightest bright spot i think they've been yeah good but not yeah blowing me away and tavaris again model of consistency. And, you know, he can go through stretches where he disappears,

but he'll get hot and he'll bring up his 80 points and 80 game average. Yeah. Just like it doesn't matter. Right. Yeah. He's just going to find a way just to chip away his points. And it may be streaky at times, he he is what he is yeah all right i'm given

if i can get in here of course i'm giving i'm giving i think a solid a for the top six yeah because i put this stat in the lineup going into the boston bruins game uh and i just dug it up here and it was the percentage of goals that the core four has scored for the Toronto Maple Leafs. So the core four is, you can put it in the top six. I guess you include Bunting and Jaron Kroc, whoever's been in the top six, Kerfoot, whoever's kind of made their way in there,

but I kind of consider it the core four. They have scored 92 of the 173 goals that the Toronto Maple Leafs have scored this year, which is 53.2%, which is up from 50% last year. Last year was an exact even split between the core four and the rest of the team. And this year, the secondary has scored 81 of the 173. And that was going into the Boston game. I think that is great. It's great evidence.

But I don't like it. don't think like it'd be 48 no i just don't think i know it's an easy thing to say for a team that hasn't won anything but i really in my heart of hearts don't believe you can win like that yeah i i think you can you do i do i know it hasn't happened but you know the greatest point of all is just that the power play hasn't come through they've been so close boys yeah it's hard to just have a show and be like it's like not this or it's that it's the power play yeah all right so then that's a perfect uh transition the bottom six fellas letter grid i'm maybe more generous on this one yeah i'm not okay good yeah i'm not i i i mean it's a b for me

i know that's you know they they have some they found some guys like holmberg didn't exist preseason mcmahon didn't exist you know i i think yarn crock has been fine kerfoot spent a lot of time down there angvall starting he's got 10 goals he's starting to come a bit expectations they're different for me than the top six so you know even though i have them around the same letter grade i want so much more from those top guys and i expect so little of the bottom six yeah i'll get i'll give them a c okay you're really unimpressed just okay yeah and not outward bad you didn't fail them i mean ever failing classes if you were in a foxhole like you know which guys would you want on your you know helping you out i'm assuming not the bottom six in your estimation just give me somebody i'll take wayne simmons

but i know that's not what you're asking. I would definitely take Wayne Simmons. We're talking about a guy that everybody thought his career was over three months ago. And I don't know what he's played, 14 games or something? In all honesty, I exclude Wayne Simmons out of this even conversation. He's like the 13th forward, 14th forward. He's not in the bottom six. He's been through waivers a couple times. We think he's done they call him up

they said he disappears for two or three weeks i don't even have him right now bottom six is like zach aston reese david camp and it's some sort of mix of hunt and abe kubel and they've struggled but the call-ups have been better for me camp Kemp, for the most part, is, I think, I'm okay with him. I think I can win. He's at least a B. I think I can win with him. Yeah. But I will say this.

Boston chasing down Greer. Yeah, it's a bad play. And then letting go of his stick. When did this become a thing, by the way? Just haul him down. Right? Don't let him shoot him. Guys are so scared when they're, you know, fishing for pucks that they actually let go of their stick.

And I'm like, you're watching it and going. You're already getting the penalty. No, take the penalty. I don't think he was taking a penalty. I think he just felt like he was about to, so he let go of his stick. And I'm like, and give him that free shot yeah just haul him down take the penalty like stop stop liking letting go of your stick so you can avoid a two-minute call yeah i get that it's it is a tough spot right like it's aj greer it's not

david pasternak like that's past i'm like hook him in the ankle well i mean he's a guy in the hl from the top of this even if tripped him, it's a good penalty. Yeah. That's a great A chance and he buried it. But hey, listen, if that's the only fault I can find in a year and a half on David Camp, he's doing real well. Right. But as far as the bottom six, just give me somebody that I feel like he's ready to fight the fight.

Yeah. Fight the fights. You know, like, Kemp's not going to do that, but he's a good bottom six player. He'll battle. I think Kemp will battle. Yeah. There's guys that I question on, and I like Engvall.

If I had the right team around Engvall, I can get away with. You can have one Engvall. You can have one. You can have two. Yeah. But you just can't away with you can have one angle you can have one you can have two yeah but you just can't have seven you can't have exclusively angles you can't have your whole bottom six pretty much egg balls he's gonna make a lot of money oh watching some of the plays he makes this year if you took a best of engvall from the year and took his eight best plays i mean he'd look as good as anyone in the league how many many guys, 6'5", can skate like that?

Carry the puck and shoot it. He's going to make three plus million next year on a long-term deal. Somebody's going to give it to him. Who? Engvall. No, I don't. Who? Can I just say that? Anaheim. Like a crappy team. Columbus.

Yeah. Oilers, Vancouver. McKay of Vancouver last year. Yeah, McKay was better than Pierre Engvall. Probably. He had a better year last year. But Engvall's, listen, Engvall's going to end up scoring 15 goals, 20 goals. You know, some of the guys on the Marlies have called Engvall Zoolander when he was there because he doesn't really process.

He's just... What are you saying? He can still play 15 minutes a night. He has so many talents. He could kill penalties. He's played back half of the power play, and he's showed a recent run of shooting the puck. Yeah.

Boys, that's $3 million all day long in this league now. He can go play with kairi somewhere else so outside of that holmberg you're asking him to now step in and be a uh a key contributor to winning a stanley cup big ask uh i'm saying d plus boys you know d plus not a bottom six guy i whine about it every show i ever do in any platform about the bottom six i can't give them a good grade it's just they're not getting nearly enough they're when they go up against a good team i.e tampa boston their bottom six gets caved in every time all right it's just the big games they're no good i i went average i'm finding it hard for a team that has a record of 31 13 and 8 to to give anybody like d i know i know i did it i i didn't fire it up on a cold day like we're

about to do decor and for me you know like it's been a good year they haven't given up a ton they've had a lot of success sandy and lilligren have taken steps. Like a B again? A B? B plus. By the way, I have an article coming out today on sportsnet.ca on how they can't stop the cycle lately. The last five games, they've been giving up like way more chances in their own D zone than they have the previous part of the year.

The starting gets sloppy there. Anyway. And you know why? I don't. They're just not physical. Yeah? You think it's getting more physical Because they're just not physical. Yeah? They're not big. You think it's getting more physical or they've been playing more physical teams?

They're not big. They're not big, heavy guys. They've played the Capitals, the Islanders, the Bruins. Like, they've played some bigger teams. Yeah. Be related. I guess I've got to call Gordo here. Ottawa and the Rangers, the other two teams in the last five, are fourth and fifth in hitting in the NHL this year.

They're physical teams, even if they're not huge teams. So that could be related. B for the D-Corps? Or a B for the D-Corps? Yeah, I'm okay with a B-minus. Okay. I think it's a better grade without Morgan Riley. Okay, I'm going to call Gordon.

All right. No, the one thing that this is a team that's knocking on the door, but can they get in on a real conversation of contending for a Stanley Cup if Morgan Rielly is just what he presents now? No, he needs to be the best version of himself, which is a very good version. He's not even close to what you expect out of Morgan Rielly right now. He's supposed to lead this core blue line.

He's supposed to be what Josh Morrissey is right now to the Winnipeg Jets. Yeah. And you'll see in my article, he's been struggling in the D zone. Like, you know, he's starting to shoot the puck more on the offensive end, which is good. He scored a goal. But it's still, he leaves you wanting in the D zone. You know, this is a team that breaks the puck out well,

and they just haven't lately. Is it a processing issue with him sometimes? He's not reading. I think the processing is fine, but he's thinking about offensive processing. He's not considering D as a priority. All right, we're going down to Florida with a gentleman who's calling the NHL All-Star Game.

Sick. I'm so excited about that. This is huge stuff. Career break for Gord. This is unbelievable. Gord, where does passing suntan lotion to Steve Koulias on the beach at the NHL All-Star Game rank for greatest career moments for you? Well, hey, good afternoon, Justin and Kool. Well, before that, it was, excuse me, Kipper.

By the way, Kool-Aid did tweet out a picture of him jogging with his shirt off if you want to catch it just to get a – he's full in. Kipper, I think it was how many years ago that you and I and everybody got their picture taken with the Mary Tyler Moore statue in Minnesota? That's my last all-star game in Minneapolis. So that was my thrill. That was my thrill up until then. And God, it was cold back then, and it is so warm now.

So I got to tell you, I am really, really thrilled to be back in the mix of things. So look at all getting aside. So, you know, looking forward to be doing the color. And it's been fun just seeing people. So, but the biggest thrill right now is just the last two minutes being on your show. Didn't you also get frisked at airport security where they actually made you pull your pants down? Okay, I don't say pull your pants down. You didn't pay extra for that.

No, you know, Kipper, if you remember, a couple things happened in Minneapolis, and I don't mean to be personal, but a couple of days earlier, I happened to get snipped to make sure I could not procreate anymore, and you warned me on the flight of the consequences, and I'm going, Kipper, what do you know?

And then as soon as we got to the hotel, most people were grabbing ice for drinks, and I was grabbing ice for another reason. You were right about that. And then at the airport, you pulled out your camera when, yeah, the guy... Oh, I had it all on video, eh? That was when you... Somewhere, yeah. Now you get arrested, eh, if you pull out your camera at security and start filming?

Probably. And the thing was, I had a hip replacement a lot of years ago, which has been phenomenal. But when 9-11 hit, it's a big pain now, always going through. So, yeah, Kipper, don't you remember the hockey and the fun times? You remember all the other stuff, me dropping my pants and getting frizzed? Yes. Nice. Don't you remember the hockey and the fun times? You remember all the other stuff? Me dropping my pants and getting frizzed. Yes. Yeah.

Nice. We're joined by Gord Stelic, who's giving us his medical records since the age of 17, down at the NHL all-star weekend. Gord, how was media with the guys were set up on, on the beach. Did you get a chance to move around?

Talk to all these guys uh um like give us the the scoop on that uh gordon got eaten by when you go talking to the doc they um they said there's a huge spike in the amount of men who do it in april and may because of the masters and march madness or sorry march and april and everyone like it's like a great time to sit on the couch for a week stop so guys there's a huge like rise in vasectomies in march and april and that's why i got it done master's week so sorry honey can't help this week i'm watching golf i can't i can't believe there's data on my day today on uh there's actual data on that yes

that's my doc told me anyway. Sammy's trying. He's giving him a call back. You want to talk about any of your personal health issues? You ever get your tonsils out? You think he was okay with sharing all that information? He doesn't have a choice. Yeah, he's fine.

We got him back. Oh, hold on. Sammy's scrambling right now. Scram, McKee. There you go. Scramble. What happened? We said you're going to the ice machine. I said they brought all kinds of players.

There's a backdrop setting. You could have used ice out there, actually, in Fort Lauderdale by the ocean. And, you know, I don't just guys were in a really good mood. It's a great setting. And, you know, really, it's the guys were in a really good mood. It's a great setting. And, you know, really it's the first time in three years you've had like, you know, full on, no lockdowns in all the cities and that. So, yeah, all kinds of players like Dylan Larkin talked about how he wants to be a Red Wing.

You know, we talked about his contract situation. And Johnny Goodrell talked about things just, you know, glad he wished the Calgary visit was earlier in the season. But just getting those kind of things out of the way. Kevin Fiala's got a bunch of gutty buddies from the old country over and they're having a blast this weekend and on and on and on right into sydney crosby and the he was with some family members like very very low-key uh nondescript just having like at the marriott coffee shop lunch and that so it's it's just great to get out and see people. And, you know, the hockey players, just always great athletes, you know, very accommodating.

And it's not a side we see often being able to chat with them for about 10 minutes about, you know, just stuff, a lot of stuff. Is it a weekend, Gord, where, you know, there's a good enough buzz where you can actually question why on many nights the building's been half empty for the Florida Panthers? Yeah, well, it's hard to gauge. I mean, there's all-star buzz here, but is there Panther buzz normally? I don't, you know, that's the thing. It's funny, we're setting up there and I see that the first draft ever, there's Ed Jovanovsky and they got the trio of Bill Torrey, Bobby Clark,

and Roger Nielsen, right? And those were the guys that took them to the final. Was it year two or three? I mean, Doug McClain got involved as well. So, you know, just real sentimental memories. But, yeah, Kipper, it's never really taken off, you know? And here they got a great product. I know they're struggling a bit this year.

So I don't know if this is something, a weekend like this, does this get you more sustainability? Do people come and come to year. So I don't know if this is something, a weekend like this, does this get you more sustainability? Do people come and come to more games? I don't know. So I can't, you know, there's obviously excitement about the weekend, but I can't say there's a buzz about the Panthers one way or another. Gord, how has the meaning of the All-Star Game changed over the years you've been involved in the NHL?

Like I just, I saw Ray Bork the other day. He made 19 All-star games over his career. And to me, that's like, that's an accomplishment. What an honor. And it tells you a lot. But Crosby's been to like nine because there hasn't been three or four during his time. And it's gotten tougher to measure guys

by all-star appearances. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, it was, it used to have a bit more bite. I remember Wendell as a rookie or second year, they actually had a pretty good hit in his game. They were playing in Hartford and they went to Clark and they, they kind of told him, Hey,

lay off a little bit. We don't do, we don't do that so much in the game. So, you know, a big part used to be, you won that car. There was that car to the MVP of the game.

I think sport, I think sport magazine sponsored it. And, and it, and it used to be, you know, Justin just in and out, you had something the night before and then, you know, then you were gone. I mean, you know,

guys like Kipper probably, you just, you didn't go anywhere. You probably just stayed somewhere close for two or three days off if you weren't at the all-star game. So it's, it's, yeah, it, I don't know, like at one point, was there an East West bite a bit, a little bit with the expansion teams when they went from six to 12, but it got there sometimes where it's been a bit a little bit with the expansion teams when they went from six to 12 but it got there's sometimes when it's been a bit of a joke the way the game's actually gone and the last time was when it was in Columbus when it was you know regular six on six and I think right now this particular system works and I think it's just once once the skills got going and they've kind of made it a you know a corporate schmooze fest about partners and things like that I think it's just

sort of turned into a um fun weekend, you know, than a landmark actual on-ice event. So with Ray Bork, it was like, wow, 19 All-Stars, you're really good. And now it's like, oh, you're an NHL All-Star. You're really popular on Instagram. Right? Well, yeah. And the other thing, Kipper, you would have been,

just when it started, these weeks off now, it changes it. You've got a chance to go away for a week if you're not at the All-Star game. In Ray Bork's era, all 19, and I chuckle when you say that because, yeah, it was funny. Defensemen in particular, it was the same group all the time, whether it's Pronger, Lidstrom, Bork, Stevens, Potvin, you know. And now part of it, I think, Kipper, there are so many great young defensemen to consider along with the veterans.

But, yeah, they got the fan voting back in. And, I mean, that's just the way of the world nowadays. And, you know, that's part of it whether you like it or not. I would think that there's even more pressure now on the guys than in any previous All-Star games, even when they were competitive. Like right now, you're asking the guys tonight on Friday to become performers, entertainers, like some of the things that we've seen over the years.

And then there's Jack Hughes doing a magician act, and now you're choreographing things and you need costume designers and you need props and it's like like you don't want to go up there and and you know have those cringe moments and you know disappoint people either because you'll get completely carved up on the internet and it's like you know do the guys enjoy this are they welcoming it or have we got the right guys to go out there and pull this off year after year these these little shows you know kipper you're bringing up a good point i don't they don't feel i think there's a competitiveness to the game and obviously there is but they do feel pressure for the skills they do you're right

i'm telling you they do i talked to them them. We're talking. Yeah. Yeah. Also, nobody wants to be embarrassed. Totally, totally, totally, totally. That is the big thing. And yeah, so all of a sudden, say you're doing the fastest skater, like we talked to Dylan Larkin about it. Well, he's a real fast skater. All of them in it are, but they don't practice it like 100. It's

like a 100 meter dash all of a sudden one day. It's almost like you should be practicing like it's the Olympic gold medal, but that's not what you should be practicing like it's the Olympic gold medal, but that's not what you do normally. Right. And, and so, you know, he mentioned it was someone that probably got some extra practice in, but I think tonight would be the night that actually guys, even though they laugh and it's fun, are feeling more pressure, way more pressure than the actual game tomorrow.

So what is your role? Are you actually doing color for the game then Gord? Yeah. Concise, incisive color commentary from a broadcast legend. I think that's how it's being filled. Am I wrong? No, that's how we're selling it. Steve Koulias is doing play-by-play, and Scott Laughlin is doing ringside and all that, and I'm doing color commentary, which I look forward to.

It's been part of – I think I've done everything at some point, but I'm looking forward – I really enjoy doing color, so I'm looking forward to it. Have you handicapped it at all? Is there a favorite division? Is there still the Norris and Smythe? I'm trying to remember now. Yeah, go Wales Conference, I think.

I'm not big on research. But the other part is it's three-on-three. I talked to some of the guys about it. But it's three-on-three like you're playing shinny. You're not trying to get just the one goal. So you're not going to take the puck and try to keep possession for a buck and a half, right? Even if you don't, you'll never give up possession to try to get that one good scoring chance. So the puck drops.

If you get scored against, it's not a big deal. You just got to go out and try to, you know, score the next two or three. So it's, you know, it's kind of fun that way because to me there's an element of a backyard rink feel to it, you know? Okay, so just so I'm clear here,

Sportsnet's doing it in Canada and it's ESPN in the States. And what are you guys doing it for exactly? For who? Like, am I going to watch you on the side of And what are you guys doing it for exactly? For who? Like, am I going to watch you on the side of our building? Like, what's going on? Yeah, we're on cable 10, and I think if you get past Girard, the signal starts the weekend.

So if you get friends to move, you know, like south. I'm serious now. Yeah, we're doing Sirius XM and HL Network Radio, but a lot of stations are picking up. Like, we're the coverage. It's on the fan this weekend? It's on the fan. Oh, okay, so no television, right?

No, no, no television. Just radio. That's why ever since I let my appearance go, I can't. I'm not on TV so much anymore. I thought maybe it was like an international feed or something. Well, it could be. What do you mean? USA to Canada worldwide.

You know, satellite radio is worldwide, Kipper, so you're not wrong. There's an NHL international feed too, right? I'll knock on one of the doors and say Kipper wants to know who's, yeah, I'm sure there is. Is that what you're going to watch tonight? You're going to switch to the international feed in Swedish? I'm going to listen to you tonight. We're on the fan. We're on the fan. We're on the fan.

And your buddy, Koulias. Awesome. And Scott Laughlin. Yeah. Awesome. We're looking forward to that. You guys are great, and you're going to do a great job, no question. That's all I have to say.

Well, I appreciate that. Appreciate that. It's not even a question. Gord, do you have any questions for us? You're reading from a teleprompter there. to be reading from a teleprompter there. He's reading from a teleprompter. That's sincere. Best wishes.

I'm Nick Kiprios. What else you got for us down there? Are guys talking about 30 days away from a trade deadline? I mean, people talking about Beau Horvat? Yeah, a little bit about that. You talk to a guy like Kevin Hayes, and he knows, he heard the talk, you know, and he thinks he actually kind of kidded.

I got a pretty good contract, which probably makes it tough. Everybody in the East, which is so jammed now, and now the Islanders who have been kind of sliding, you know, just said, okay, Bo Horvat, that makes it serious again. And obviously everyone thinks, I mean, Lou obviously did this, thinking, knowing, knowing, knowing mean, Lou obviously did this thinking, knowing, knowing, knowing that, what are you doing? Don't forget me.

I said, Koulias, you. Koulias opens the door here to me. Make sure I mention him. Gosh. Okay. Anyway, he says. He sounds as secure as ever. I got to say, holy mackerel.

Anyway, he said, you know, talking about just different deals in that regard. Also, there's got to be a contract in the option for Bo. You know, you guys have talked about, no, like there's no such thing as tampering, but there's nudge, nudge, wink, wink, circuitous, whatever, getting the facts out there. And then, yeah, so essentially we've got a great playoff races, too. So that's good. That's intriguing. And then, of course, you get Strom signing.

You wonder why didn't Chicago keep Dylan Strom? Guys, like, you know, he's a restricted free agent. It was a reasonable one-year contract. They could have kept him another year, like Washington did. Anyway, stuff like that. Right. All right, Gord. Well, we appreciate you giving us some time, buddy.

We needed you today, and you were there for us. Well, I appreciate it. I'm just going to draw a sign saying, please knock and put it on my outside door here. Anyway. Anything you can ice down between now and your call tonight? No, I'm all good. And the surgery worked, Kipper.

It's all here we are, like whatever years later. And let's go find that picture of all of us by the Mary Tyler Moore statue where she threw her hat to kick off that show. That's our last time together at an All-Star game. What's that opening line? Who can make the world turn with a smile? Who can turn the world on with a smile, Kipper? You can, Gord.

You can. Thanks for doing this, pal. Thanks, Gord. Okay. See you guys. Well, we'll look forward to being on the fan tonight. See you guys. See you.

Bye. Bye. Oh, I was going to tell him, don't drive home in a golf cart. Oh. How about that story? Yeah. Andrew Burnett was arrested on the suspicion of a DUI, but it was a golf cart.

I know. I was surprised to learn the same rules apply, apparently. I guess it's machinery, right? And you're not, don't handle any machinery when you've been drinking. Yeah. I don't know the details of that case. So, I mean, hopefully that is not what it sounds like. Well, it does sound like he got in a car or a golf cart

and started driving home. I don't know if it's the same as driving an actual car. Obviously it is. If he got dinged, it's the same. I mean, if I ripped... What vessel does it change? If I ripped down Bloor Street,

loaded on my bike, and somebody... I ran into somebody and then the cops told me over, they'd probably give me a DUI on my bike. DUI, the same as if you're driving a car. Yeah, you're operating a vehicle. Wow. Right? I don't know. Machinery might be... It's a golf cart. You can hurt somebody with a golf cart. Oh, I know you can.

And it's serious. I get that. Yeah, yeah. I just don't understand, like, oh, we're going to ask Doug McClain. He's coming up after the break. Are people driving around in golf carts? Absolutely. Their cars? Yes.

In Florida? Oh, God, yeah. You're not allowed to do that in Toronto. You cannot take a golf cart. Can I try something, Kipper? I live by a golf course. Yeah. Right?

That was my dream is to buy a golf cart. The golf course, Roselle said, no, no, no, you're not doing that. I think you can get license plates for them to make them road legal. In Toronto? No. Well, there's some golf courses that have holes on the other side of a road that need to be insured so they can drive across the road. They need actual car insurance. In Florida, you can literally drive to Publix and get a sub in a golf cart.

That stage doesn't exist to me. You got parking spots shaped for golf carts now everywhere? Listen, the differences in rules... I've been to Bluebird a few times. I haven't seen too many golf carts on... It's a little different on... It's a bit different on South Beach, Kipper,

and Sarasota. It's a different scenario. Kipper wants a golf cart on the Autobobahn my dream is to get into my garage and just go to the first tee yeah it sounds nice on my on like a golf cart yes oh god yeah you got those like retirement places in arizona where you know everyone's out like their garage has a mini fridge you got a stereo gotta be careful Yeah, don't get loaded and do it. Yeah, brutal. We got a question from one of our tweets.

It says, when are you guys going to film a golf match between Kipper and Bourne for content? When are we going to do that? My only concern is making it look like we're copying Spittin' Chicklets because we do have fun on the golf course and we're all in a cluster talent-wise. You guys got to give me three strokes each. Not in a million years would I give you six.

I'm a 10 cap. You guys are like six or seven. And you just got, you just came back like a week ago from a golf trip. No, I was horrible on that trip. I only broke 90 once. You guys, you guys are better golfers than me.

You got to give me a couple of strokes for doing a match. What's your low round ever? 75 with Kipper. And you think you're going to get shots? Yeah. You shot 75 with Kipper? I did. When we we played at that i forgot that course up north or whatever it was my first day with the new clubs and it was like um what's the placebo effect yeah i just couldn't hit a bad when i

had an eagle i think i had two or three birdies i was on fire that day we're in aurora what the hell was that course called i forget what's What's your low? 74. Yeah. You? You. I got two 70s. One of my 70s, I tripled 18. Oh, my God. That's disgusting. I made seven birdies.

Are you pooping me? I poop, yes. I am pooping. Oh, I'm not pooping. I know. I know. Devastating. We'll get Sportsnet on that.

If anyone's listening, that free content. Oh, no. Maybe not free. With Kipper involved, maybe'm not. I know. I know. Devastating. We'll get Sportsnet on that if anyone's listening, that free content. Oh, no, maybe not free. With Kipper involved, maybe not free, but we'll go out and play golf. Okay, we're going to take a quick break. Off the Rails Friday continues with Doug McClain, former NHL president, GM head coach. We're going to get his all-star experience with the likes of Gretzky and Lemieux. Beautiful. That's it. with the likes of Gretzky and Lemieux. Beautiful. Bye.

Okay, bye. We're back after this. Bye. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jazz Mary Show. 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, this is the part of the show where we're not responsible for anything this guy says in the next 10-12 minutes. I like to think I'm not responsible for anything he says ever. Let's bring in Doug McClain, former NHL president, general manager, head coach. You know, Doug, when I first heard that a former Florida Panther

coach was arrested on suspicious of driving a golf cart under the influence and then taken to county jail. I thought it was you. Yeah. Well, interestingly enough, a guy that lives in my building here said he almost threw up his breakfast when he saw the headline

because he was sure it was me. Okay. We had a little bit. And he said, well, the guy that was charged even looks like you because they showed his picture, the mugshot they took in the jail. And, you know, it wasn't a good looking. It wasn't a good looking shot of our poor friend, Andrew and you know it wasn't a good looking it wasn't a good looking shot of uh of our poor friend andrew you know so and you know what you know me kipper come on if i'm getting charged with impaired i'm driving my porsche not a goddamn golf cart listen on okay

we were talking earlier like is this a thing in Florida, driving a golf cart out at night socially to go to bars or restaurants or, you know, just run errands? A lot of people have them, and they're licensed. So you buy these bigger golf carts or club carts. I see lots with them on it, and they're bigger than the typical golf cart, obviously four or six seats, and a ton of families use them, whether to go to the beach or just to jig around town. See, I don't think you're allowed that here. No, and it caught me off guard because they're licensed,

and it's pretty bizarre. So it didn't really catch me off guard that he was driving. And I guess running stoplights with them is not really a good idea, even if you're sober. But I feel bad. I mean, look, Andrew Burnett's a good guy. I just feel bad for him. Well, he wasn't hurt.

Nobody was hurt. But you know what? We all know the seriousness of impaired driving, and it's not a wise thing to do. I feel bad for him, but I don't empathize with anybody that doesn't. I'm sorry. You've got to know better. Now, would you need a license for your mobility scooter?

No, I don't need a license for that. I can just go. All right. I'm just checking. I'm just checking. All right, I'm just checking. I'm just checking. All right, go ask him a hard question. You know, you should feel really bad. You know what?

You should feel really bad because you know, I'm sure that my father was in a wheelchair. Oh, gosh, don't do this to me, please. Every time I would go with my mother for a walk and she'd see this guy pull up in the parking spot and stick his handicap sticker in his windshield and then jog across the street, she used to just scream at him.

With good reason. So it's a very sensitive issue you're saying about my mobility scooter. Jamie, get in here and say this. All I can't help. All I can say is my brother is in a wheelchair and I have been in fist fights over people parking spots.

That's a real thing. It's upsetting. There's a guy here in Toronto that parts his little Porsche. I think it is. Sorry, Doug, but in a spot all the time who I've had it out with. Okay. Those guys are rude people.

Last time you were on the show, you were looking for a single ticket for your golf buddy to the NHL All-Star Weekend. Did you find one? No, because I was told that there was only one ticket, that you bought a ticket, and it was for both. And so I used that as my excuse when I went to play golf on Sunday that, you know, I could, or Wednesday that I, look, it was,

it was too crazy because it was a ticket to the game and the skills competition. He said, Oh, well, that's fine, Doug. Don't worry about it. So I got off the hook. You know what? I could have phoned my buddy, Randy Moeller, well, that's fine, Doug. Don't worry about it. So I got off the hook. You know what? I could have phoned my buddy Randy Moeller, who, by the way, works for the Panthers, Vice President of Media. He does their color. Fabulous guy, Randy. And I feel kind of bad every time I phone him for a ticket because I cut him

and basically ended his career with the Panthers. But he's a great guy, and he helps me out usually for tickets but I didn't want to bother them this is a big event down here and it's really going seems to be going over pretty big good it's great Doug I'm looking at our lineup today for our interview with you and the one thing is Doug McLean's all-star experience and I wanted to get your your take on the NHL all-star game. Is this something you enjoy? Have you been involved? I was really fortunate.

In my first year coaching in the NHL, I was the All-Star coach. And in my second year coaching the NHL, I was the All-Star coach. So back-to-back years. And I've got some unbelievable fond memories of it. And I think the fondest of it of all was that after the second period, the first year was in Boston, and it was an – Ray Bork was on our team, and it was an unbelievable game. And it ended up, I believe it was 4-3,

with Bork scoring the winning goal with like 50 seconds left in the game in Boston. And it was just an amazing end. But I'll never forget after the second period, it was a tough, hard-fought game. And I walked down the bench to Lindy Ruff, who was my assistant coach. I said, Lindy, Hammerlick is brutal. He's awful. Don't play him the rest of the game. So we benched Hammerlick. Lindy looked at me and said, youy, Hammerlick is brutal. He's awful. Don't play him the rest of the game.

So we benched Hammerlick. Lindy looked at me and said, you're not serious. I said, I'm serious, Lindy. If we win this game, we get $10,000 each. If we lose the game, we get nothing. Hammerlick sits the rest of the game. Then I looked at poor Craig McTavish. Poor Craig McTavish.

At that time, we had an honorary captain that played on the team, and that year it was Craig McTavish. And I had four lines and Craig McTavish. And I leaned down to Craig. I said, Craig, it's too hard trying to fit you in on the lines. I'm going to sit you the rest of the game, too. So, hey. Benched in an all-star game i'll never forget uh you know like why i walked in after the second

period and the boys were you know they have it's kind of a fun event i said boys here's the deal you guys don't want to play you don't want to play that's fine you want to just come and party for the weekend that's great with you i want to win the game i'm going to win the game because it's 10 grand to me so if you don't want to play hard you're not going to play simple as that they thought i was crazy but you know we ended up winning so it was good paid for a scooter today that's right but i got the best story i listen this is this is this is a story and kippy's heard this story a hundred times but i got to tell you this tells you all you need to know about NHL players. So Clark comes with me to the All-Star game in San Jose.

That's the next year. Wayne Gretzky's on my team. And my son Clark was nine and Wayne Gretzky was on my team. And he had a, Clark had this amazing stick collection in, you know, where he had Federoff and Eisenman and Lindros and Lemieux, but he didn't have a Gretzky, Silver Easton. And so I phoned Mike Burnett. I said, look, Wayne's coming to the All-Star Game.

Is there any way you could get Clark a stick from Wayne? So Wayne shows up. I'm sitting in the office. Wayne comes in the office with Mike and his agent, and Clark's in the office in the dressing room with me, gives him a stick, signs it right away, get a hit, Clark, here's your stick. Clark just about fainted meeting Wayne Gretzky.

So that was fine. Clark's a stick boy for the weekend. Come on the bench for me. Come on the bench with me as a stick boy during the game. It was a highlight of one of the greatest highlights of my life, have him on the bench. After the game, after the game, Wayne Gretzky calls Clark over in the dressing room and said, Hey Clark, you, you were really great helping out. I really appreciate all the help you gave us. Takes off his game worn Jersey, signs it to Clark,

your friend Wayne Gretzky gives him his game, gives him his game worn Jersey. Tell me who would ever think to do that or who who would ever do that, except Wayne Gretzky. So I meet Wayne about three or four years later in Columbus at the opening of a huge event in Columbus, Easton Project it was called, and Wayne was there with the limited people, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was with him, and I'm there at the event,

and I go over to him one more time. I said, Wayne, I can't believe what you did for Clark three years. So years ago, you gave him that jersey, and he said, well, Doug, he said, I really, really hope he's enjoying it because I'm still in s**t with the NHL for giving it to him. Oh, I'm sure. Oh, really? Yeah.

That's a big deal, that jersey. What do you think it's worth today? Not nothing. Well, because it's got... Well, it's personalized. It's personalized to Clark, but you wouldn't believe the number of people that... Clark has it in his cottage and PEI on the wall. I mean, it's just so cool. Wayne Gretzky's all-star jersey.

I mean, it's just... It's Wayne Gretzky's All-Star jersey. I mean, it's just mind-boggling, you know. So I think, you know, it was a great story because Wayne, I've always respected him so much. And for him to do that for a kid is just mind-boggling. And Clark will never forget. He was nine, and he will never forget that event. So the All-Star game was great. I'll never forget. He was nine, and he will never forget that event. So the All-Star game was great. I'll never forget.

We're walking out of the rink in San Jose when Clark's got his jersey, wearing Wayne Gretzky's jersey out of the rink. And Ron Joyce, the former, you know, the owner of Tim Hortons and Wendy's or Tim Hortons, whatever he was involved in. And Ron was a minority owner of Calgary. And he said to Jill, he said, your son's got Wayne Gretzky jersey on, right? And Jill said, yeah. She said, he said, I would pick him up and hold on to him because somebody may kidnap him just to get that jersey.

Yeah. And you were not very smart to tell everybody where it was right now. I mean, you want to repeat that it's in a vault right now at the bank? That's right. So anyway, look, I had a great time, and the players were so great. It was, but they were competitive games then. It was competitive games.

The game I coached in San Jose, the second one, was the one where Olin Nolan pointed at the net and scored. Remember that one? That was a bit of a wide-open 9-7 affair, but I mean, on was the one where Olin Nolan pointed at the net and scored. Remember that one? Yeah. And that was a bit of a wide-open 9-7 affair. But, I mean, I put on the ice the last minute of the game, I put this line. I put Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, Coffey,

and who was the fifth defenseman? Was it Lidstrom? It wasn't Lidstrom. It could have been Roman Hamerlich, and they'd the fifth defenseman? Was it Lidstrom? It wasn't Lidstrom. It could have been Roman Hamerlich, and they'd have been just fine. No, no. And I remember the crowd going crazy when these five guys come over there. It says coffee, and I don't know. I forget who it was.

But anyway, it was the best five players in the world at that time, and they stepped on the ice for the final shift of the game. So it was just a fun event to be around you know you know mac we we can sit here and critique uh what's going on in today's nhl all-star weekend and uh you know whether or not they they try to appease the instagram people too much or not and pushing the envelope on what they're doing out there. But the story that you just reiterated with your son Clark, that stuff still happens today, whether it'll be McKinnon or McDavid. Some nine-year-old is going home incredibly happy after this weekend. And that's, I think, the one thing that kind of pulls us back to, you know,

why they maybe still do it today. Yeah, you know what? It drives me crazy to watch the games now. I can't even be bothered to watch it. But you know what? I really see with the players. Like, they're having a ball down here in Florida, and it's a break. These guys, and then people on the outside

that pay the money. I know they pay a lot of money for games and that, but to watch guys play, and I was on the bench coaching guys that were playing three games in five nights and four games in seven nights and traveling right across the country. This is a break for them.

This is a mini vacation for them and their families. They come down to these events and they have a ball, and I don't blame them one bit for that. I really don't blame them one bit. The game is a secondary part of it. The skills competition has become a fun event for the fans. I don't blame them for not pushing it. I really don't. I don't want

to really watch the game, but I don't blame the players one bit. To me, it's a showcase of the league, and it's all about the players being out there and being around and having a ball. The corporate companies, too. That's a big weekend for all the major

corporate companies that are a big part of your $6 billion industry. Big time. They love being around, and they love being in the boxes, and they love meeting the players. And the players, our guys, and I can't speak for other leagues because I haven't been around them, but our guys are still unbelievable ambassadors of our game.

They really are. They go out of their way. You know, you watch McKinnon. You watch even Crosby, you know, Vetchkin, you know, going back and forth the last couple of days. And I think it's just they promote the game. People like to criticize them. We criticize them for their play.

But you can't criticize them for the way they promote our game. I'm telling you, I really believe that. Oh, I can't believe some of the things that they're asked to do, and they do them. 100%. 100%. You know? So, you know what?

But it's a great weekend for the league. Now, is this true that they're seriously considering a three-city warm climate cycle to keep the all-star game in florida wherever wherever california vegas is that is that the idea yeah they're really they're really nervous about uh uh not having a place where the the guys can feel like they can relax. Yeah, the best players in the league deserve a break, too.

And the league wants them playing refreshed and, you know. And I think it's a great idea. And I just heard it today. And I think it's a really great idea. I think, you know, it's something where your families can really, really enjoy. Like, you see every shot. Every shot was taken of the players at the beach,

you know, at the beach, around the beach. It was pretty good. The only... Who's the mascot in Philly? What's his name? Gritty. Gritty.

Gritty. That's the only thing that bothered me about the weekend. Gritty is at the new beach in Miami, and he runs by the sign. He runs by the new beach in Miami, and he runs by the sign. He runs by the new beach sign and throws off his suit and runs into the water. I couldn't believe the Flyers let him do that. Wow.

Expose himself like that on the beach. He is technically their biggest star and the only mascot to actually be voted into the All-Star game. The fan vote, yeah, he got in. Yeah, he's one of the guys that the league wanted in. They're like, connect me or Gritty. Let's go Gritty. Let's go with the more popular guy, Gritty. You know what ticked me off

was watching Gritty's hairy body run into the beach and still look better than mine. No, you got all that pickleball stuff going on. You're good now. Yes. As a matter of fact, I had to push my match back to 530 today because of this damn show. Do we dare ask you about

trade deadline and whether or not you were surprised at Horvat for moving this quickly or what the package was? You know what? I kind of like it. I mean, look, Islanders got to get in the playoffs. They're four or five points out, whatever it is. They're close.

They've got to find a way to get back into the playoffs. Lou is 80 years of age. Why wouldn't he do it? To me, it's an easy deal for them. Vancouver keeps 25% of the money firstly they take bevilier forced to take bevilier as far as i'm concerned i mean they had to make the money work and they they end up stalling a draft pick so vancouver gets a first round pick and the kid they'll be lucky if he plays in five years because it's protected this year. So in other words,

Lou will push it back a year for sure. And, you know, Vancouver gets a first-round pick that probably will play in five years' time. So to me, it was a great pickup for the Islanders. I know if this kid, Ratty, becomes a player, he's got seven goals in the American

League. What's his second year in the American League? He's got seven goals. I mean, I don't know how good he's going to be. I know people like him. So you hope it works out for Vancouver. You hope the first round pick. But for me, you know, for the Islanders situation or a Boston situation, Horvat is a great pickup

for them. And they'll get him signed. I'll be shocked if Lou doesn't already. I would say Lou already has a deal done right now for him, but it's not out. It's funny. I mean, Horvat obviously doesn't know the area or know much about it yet,

but pretty good place to be stuck for a lot of years. Last one for me is we haven't got your two cents yet on the Leafs-Bruins game on Wednesday night. Just wanted to know your thoughts. Any major takeaways from that game? Or without Matthews, did that affect your opinion? What were your thoughts of any major takeaways from that game or uh without matthews did that affect your opinion what were your thoughts that that was a downer for me that you got a matchup like that and the best and your best player the league's best player isn't available that was disappointing it was to me it was a no-show the first period sam sonoff made

five six great saves to keep them in it. You know, it wasn't his one-third, but he did have to make some outstanding saves. I thought the Bruins came in on a mission that they were not going to lose to the Leafs in that game, and I guess without Matthews, it makes it a little easier. Look, the Leafs have had a good

run. They're going to be a tough team to play. I like Marchand's comments. You know, about Marner. He takes this team serious. The Bruins take the Leafs serious, but I'm bothered by their goaltending still. I don't like the Murray injury problem.

Samsonov has been real good, but, geez, you're going against Tampa, and you know Vasilevsky is going to be real good. You would think that's going to be the case, and they better figure this out. I know you did a column on it, Nick. So, okay.

And your columns. Your columns are great, but I don't have to read them because I know everything you're going to say. I know everything you're going to say. I don't even have to read them anymore. So, where are you on the goaltending then? Do you just take your chance and say, you know, I made my bed with Murray and Samsonov,

and that's just what I'm going to have to roll the dice with? Or would you get some reinforcements? I think they're locked in. I mean, you know, I don't think they go anywhere with their goaltending. I think they're, I think he's too stubborn, number one. He thinks he made a brilliant move, bringing them both in in the summer. And it really looked that way. And it has looked that way a lot of the season until Murray gets hurt. And Samsonov looks shaky at times and looks terrific at times. I wouldn't have expected anything different than both of them to come in and both of them to look great and both of them to look shaky at times.

That's what I would have expected of both of them. That's been their careers, both of them, other than Murray winning the Stanley Cup. And other than that, it's been a shaky up-down. But I don't know what he can do. How does he get another goalie? I just don't think it's going to happen. It's just not enough time.

I think he's going to war with these guys. There's not enough time and there's not enough space. And I think he ends up there. And, hey, both of them may – hopefully they're good in the playoffs. Hopefully they're good because they better be good because Vasilevsky is going to be very good. All right. We're going to be very good. All right. We're going to let you go.

Enjoy the skills competition tonight. It's too bad they didn't make coaches do stuff like when you were on the bench. I will not be watching the skills either, although I would encourage all fans to really watch it. And, you know, I mean, anyway, forget it. Well, that's a really strong finish to our show all right mac go back to your uh you guys have you guys have to watch it that's what i that's the lucky part of me now i don't have to watch anything if i don't want to except because i

have to go on this damn show i have to watch stuff see you later guys thanks for having me on it guys i really appreciate listen we really appreciate when you listen when you're on, too. I love listening to you when I'm on. Doug McClain. All right. Take care, guys. See you. Thanks, Doug.

Okay. We got it back on the rails, didn't we there? I don't know. I don't know either. It's loose definition of rails today. Tough to even find the rails, to be honest. Yeah, for sure. Okay, are we going to take a quick break here?

Yeah, we'll take a quick break. Those All-Star games he was talking about, that was like the best. Oh, yeah. When there was... Did they get child's nostalgia? Sorry? No, their games were great, and it was just the stars were so big. I do now remember Ray Bork scoring a game-winning goal in one.

Yeah, I remember that too, actually. I do remember that. I love that. You know how you'd reinvigorate it is go back to USA, or sorry, North America versus the world. I love the world versus Russia. Do you think the NHL would sanction that? Yeah, probably.

Remember that? How long did they do that? It was the North America versus the world? Oh, that was 79. No, they did that. The NHL Challenge? No, they did that in the 2000s. The All-Star Game.

Yeah. Oh, gosh, I don't remember. Yeah. You probably covered it for sports. I was a kid. No, it was a while ago. He would have been just out of the league probably, but they had it for years.

Kipper went for sports the second he was out of the league. Kipper, you're looking at me like I'm crazy. This happened. Yeah, okay, all right. It did, right? It happened? Yes. I didn't dream this?

It happened. Okay. YouTube chat, please confirm that this happened. I swear it happened. All right, we're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to take some of your questions on YouTube, on Twitter, Instagram, whatever you want to throw our way.

We're going to do our best to answer them. What is the number, the combination of digits? Oh, 590, 590. It's just fan 590. I'm a professional host. How come I can't remember that? Twice.

Okay, and Chris Cutthbert too, when we come back, we'll get his thoughts on teeing up tonight's skilled competition and the three-on-three game tomorrow. You are watching and listening to Real Kipper and Born. Great daily gambling advice from Ailish Forfar and Justin Cuthbert in the fan morning shows,

Wake and Rake. 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. We're like three and a half hours to skills competition. I'm going to have the PBR set, buddy. It is one of those things where you could easily have it in the background, right?

I'm talking about people our age. Yeah, if you miss a few minutes, you're going to be okay. Are you in my group here or are you younger? I don't know. I think I'm in your group. How old are you again?'m 40 oh yeah you're on the other side for sure okay good all right and there's another guy on our side chris cuthbert's uh kind enough to join us uh cc thanks for doing this man and uh we're just discussing where we are on the new wave here. And, of course, you're trying to create an attraction to a newer generation. And for many, it works. But what are your thoughts going into tonight's skill competition?

If you guys are on the other side, I'm way out there at my age. But listen, you know what? I hear you. And I sort of feel the same but i i'm a hockey fan and i this is the one weekend of the year i go to work as a fan and uh i i love the the celebration of the game i love the fact that uh we'll see sydney crosby line up with Alex Ovechkin this weekend and we get to watch Drysdale and McDavid together or Rantanen and McKinnon or you know every every team or the Kachuk brothers will line up together so you know I'll take the positives and try not to get bogged down with the fact that it really isn't a whole lot

like the hockey we love come playoff time. Chris, throughout the season, you're watching a lot of Toronto Maple Leafs games and you've been watching them for a lot of years here. What have you seen in the evolution of their superstars? We were giving them a letter grade this season earlier on our show. They're different players than they were when they entered the league i'm sure you've noticed that too what do you see is different with these guys than when they were the young superstars well i i guess the best example is austin matthews and you blew me away the other day with that stat about his

defensive plays and how far ahead he is of the rest of the field, including Patrice Bergeron. I mean, that was that, that, that's a striking stat that I'm, I'm, I'm driving in for the game second. Well, does that mean he's the Selkie trophy winner? You know, and, and so, but you know, to answer the question, obviously he has become a more complete player. I, I, you know, I'm still trying to, and you guys, I think, have talked about this, trying to decide, has there been an injury that's held him back a little bit this year

prior to the knee that we all now know about? Or is it just a complete commitment to the defensive end of the game? I know, you know, the final game before he got hurt, he was leading all forwards in shot blocks. I mean, that's not the guy that lined up in his rookie year. And I think you see a bigger hunger maybe or more team play from Mitch Marner.

And, you know, it's just not all about the points. And, you know, the way he's become a great penalty killer in the last couple of years, and the guy that's improved the most this season and should be down here is William Nylander, who's really taken his game to another level. Chris, Wednesday night, we're all impressed by the Boston Bruins, but was there anything different that added some sprinkles on top of the Sunday with them? Because it's a game that came in as a mini slump,

and there's distractions of guys going to All-Star or going on vacation, and, man, they were real business-like on Wednesday night. Just what your thoughts were for Boston and what it means to the Leafs and maybe what it means to Kyle Dubas for the next 30 days. Yeah, it certainly gave him something to think about. I'd ask you, though, you know, you're going into the break, and I agree with you. I think Boston, because of their situation,

and they got three days off prior to that game, which the Leafs did too, but I know talking to some people in Boston that they really targeted the Florida game because they didn't like their chances the next night going into Carolina. They did get blown out by Carolina for the most part. And so they really did, you know, retool, refocus to not go into the break with another loss. And, you know, I think the Leafs obviously wanted to play well, but as the game went on, it was getting away from them. I guess what really impressed me the most is from a Boston point of view, they got beat by

as much by the Pavel Zakas and their blue line defensemen adding some offense. It was the unsung guys that were they didn't get beat by Pasternak and Marchand as much as they got beat

by the bottom six guys. So maybe there's a message there. they got beat by uh by the uh the bottom six guys so maybe there's a message there they got to be better in the bottom six or or they gotta raise the ante in the top six and move people down and uh you know that was a tough night for sandina and lilligren and certainly going to give uh kyle dubas and the leaf brass pause about whether they can be a a starting tandem in the postseason. You know, it's interesting you mentioned Sandin and Lilligren.

I thought your co-host there, Simmer, did a really great job of highlighting that it had been an off night for them, and I thought it was an honest assessment. You know, you look around the NHL at a lot of play-by-play and color people, and, you know, there are blatant homers out there. I think Jack Edwards gets a lot of play-by-play and color people and you know there are blatant homers out there I think Jack Edwards gets a lot of heat for that sometimes do you feel any pressure to root for the Canadian teams or to not root for the Canadian teams does it does it affect how you try to do your job well we are in a unique position because uh even though a lot of the leaf games so we do all the we do the the quote-unquote regional Leaf games,

but many of them become national. And, you know, I don't spend a lot of time on social media anymore, but I found that a third of the people were upset that we were pro-Leaf, and another third were upset we were not pro-Leaf enough. And the other third aren't too sure what to think of me. But, you know, we are kind of caught in, I guess, when I started way back when at the Canadian Sports Network in the 80s. I mean, they were rigid about no homerism. And, you know, I'd get heck if I said it's the Leafs won and Boston nothing. If I didn't say Leafs and Bruins or Boston and Toronto,

you might be showing some kind of partisanship. So, I mean, that's the era I come from. Clearly, I know that on most nights on a Leaf broadcast, most of the fans are Toronto. But I also know there's a lot of people that are watching because they've been Boston Bruins fans since Bobby Orr came into the league. And there's lots of Canadian guys on every team in the NHL. So, you know, you just try and respect the game,

but you also keep in mind what and who your audience is. We're talking to Chris Cutbert, the voice of Hockey Night in Canada and the NHL on Sportsnet. CeCe, we had a discussion the other day about Connor McDavid and not so much what he's just doing on the ice, but whether or not he gets the attention that he deserves. And I can't remember whether it was on Instagram

or an article that I read, but some of the players were like, he's the most dominant guy in any league right now in his sport. And I don't know if they felt like he was being underappreciated or he's just not getting the credit he deserves. And I know Justin made the point that, you know, and Sam, that Canada's fine, but south of the border, man, do they really know who this guy is or what he's doing? Yeah, if he was in an Eastern market, it would help.

If he was in an American market, it would make a big difference. I mean, even just sitting here getting ready for this weekend, and two things blew me away about what he's done so far this year. I'll give you two stats. One, that he has, what, 90 points or what? He has more points than J.B. Ben had when he won the scoring title seven years ago. And we're just at the All-Star break. And the other one is he has 46 power play points.

There are only two teams in the league right now, and he plays for one of them, who have more than 46 power play goals this season. So he's just way beyond everybody else this year. And, you know, I was certain. I had plenty of company in voting for Austin Matthews last year, I believed. And the players ended up backing it up that Austin Matthews had the best season last year. But, you know, it's probably going to be unanimous for Connor McDavid this year.

And there might be some splaining to do if it isn't unanimous. You know, you mentioned that you do the Leafs regionals, so you watch them all the time. Are you ever just thankful that you're not calling like a Blue Jackets game or something? I guess they got a superstar or two as well. But it is unique, right, to follow a team so closely that has so many superstars. And I know they're not on mcdavid's level who's having the exceptional season this year but boy just a fun team to watch

it must make your job easier when it's actually enjoyable to be watching this team well it is you know i was thinking about that the other day because uh for for 30 of of almost 40 years doing it, I was only doing national games. And then you start to do, in my case, Ottawa for a while. And it was Ottawa when they were going to the playoffs. And now the Leafs for the last few years. And yeah, your job is so much easier. You watch some of the other regional games with teams that are already

probably out of the playoffs or thinking about Conor Bedard. And that possibility is intriguing. But I think that's got to be pretty frustrating, 82 games a year, when you know it's not leading anywhere and doesn't have the potential to lead somewhere. And I guess the other good part for me, and selfishly, is we get to keep going. So let's get to the playoffs where it really becomes special.

And obviously everybody anxious to find out if this is the year where the script is different. Chris, one last one for me, and that is, have you got any buzz at all on what we could see tonight in the skills competition? We were talking earlier in the show that these guys have stopped being athletes tonight, and they turn into entertainment performers, and the pressure that they may feel now to not only

get the job done but not be embarrassed yeah it's an entertainment night from what I hear I am intrigued and I mentioned we'll see Crosby and Ovechkin together tonight too which is kind of neat in one of those

David Pasternak's going to give us something a little bit different. You know, I was upset last year because I thought Trevor Zegers gave the league exactly what they wanted, and the league kind of prearranged that the local guy, Alex Petrangelo in Vegas, would win the event, while Zegers provided the highlight that went viral for everybody. And I don't know if we'll get a viral moment tonight but uh uh Mitch Marner will be involved but uh I think

you know I don't want to give it away but Mitch might might have agreed to get upstage tonight we'll find out if that's the case or not and and uh let's just say there might be some Miami Vice and Happy Gilmore overtones to the evening. Let's go. I don't really know where to go from there. They're trying to appeal to us. There you go. I'm in.

I'm in. You sold me. Have to stick around for that one for sure. Chris, thanks for doing this, man. Really appreciate your time. Have fun down there. All right, guys. Enjoy driving in on game days listening to you. It's great.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks so much. That's Chris Cutbert, one of the best voices you'll ever find calling a hockey game. And we're lucky to have him here at Sportsnet. Yeah, absolutely. And we do appreciate the mentions on some of the broadcasts. He is a great promoter for us.

I cannot believe you called him a homer and you compared him to Boston. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was not the framing. That's how I caught it. The framing was, you're not a homer. Is there pressure to be one? Holy mackinac! Thank you.

There's the biggest one right there. Okay, all right. My goodness. I had people message me after the bruins leafs game and were like what was with that pro bruins broadcast and i was like oh i don't know they're better pants off the leafs that night i mean um so cc mentioned conor bedard in one of his answers and it reminded me i just wanted to give you guys a quick update on his stats now he's the junior player yes he's yes he's the guy that's rather good uh do you know these stats kipper i do i know his stats yeah do you know what he's at wow yeah

they're off the charts i know that so he's played 36 games this year yeah so the stats so point per game would be 36 okay he's on 90 or something he is he's at 90 points he's got 44 goals and 46 uh assists in in 36 games 90 points in 36 games? How old is he? 18, 17? That pales in comparison to selling out buildings now. He's got little Elvis going on. I, listen, I don't want to give the competition ideas, but they've got the junior hockey rights these days.

If I was... Well, we had them. We used to have them. We gave them to them. We know. We used to have them. There's nothing that fired up junior markets like getting to be on the national television. That was such a huge thing.

But I will say, if I was them, I'd be following them every game. No matter where he's going, Friday night is Conor Bedard night. Well, first of all, it's not that easy. I know. It's my... Right? And it's expensive. I understand all this.

Right? But there's a lack... The network's not brimming with extra money? Listen, you look at the states with college basketball, and it's, you know, it's like, if there's a big star, those teams get to play on the biggest games. Like, if you're broadcasting it, this guy is unbelievable. He is like a Connor McDavid.

You'd want to have people seeing him. Anyways, that's just my... You do, but in general, Junior's a tough sell. And I'm not talking about the World Championships because that is just a built for Christmas time. And, you know, give credit to TSN. They've done a nice job building the hype of it.

But the majority of the people in Canada who are marginally hockey fans, you know, know Connor McDavid. They know Austin Matthews. They know, you know, everybody that are the top stars in their respective NHL clubs. But you'd be hard-pressed for people to still know who Connor Bedard is in this country. No.

Hmm. No question. As a salesman. Does Jimmy Kim still know who conor bedard is in this country no no question as a sales jimmy kimmel know who kind of like are you telling me now if tsn followed him around they would get four or five hundred thousand people watching junior hockey i think your ratings would definitely go up big time after what he did at the world juniors that goal against slovakia the numbers the the buzz. I disagree. I disagree. Those are hard numbers, Sammy. Selling junior hockey, selling CHL hockey once a week is a tough sell in this country. An easier sell if you're showing the best prospects since, you know, sliced bread. I'm not arguing that, but to the point where it makes it worth its while to broadcast a live event for two and a half hours nationally.

But if you're doing it anyway, they're doing it every week. I guess if you're doing it anyway, you might as well do Bedard Games. But to your point, it takes a lot of people to put on a broadcast. Like you're paying, I don't know, a dozen people minimum. It's a lot. I love it. Yeah. I just, I watched part of the game when he was involved and I would never have flicked

it on otherwise. Yeah. Right. Like I love junior hockey, but I'm not going to tune into, you know, Kitchener and Hamilton on a Friday. But if Conor Bernard's involved, I might flick it on. Right. Anyways, you want to do some questions and stuff?

Sure. All right. So we got a lot of sort of off the, you know, not just hockey questions. And I actually love this one. We got nothing else on the balloon. No. I don't know what the hell that means. Oh, the balloon.

The China balloon. I thought that was one of your old timey sayings. We got nothing. It's just a balloon. Okay. Okay. So this is from KM on Twitter. Dr. Philosophical. dr philosophical okay boys most important question

what's your go-to food choice when you're at the arena first off thanks to dr philosophical a regular tweeter commenter who i enjoy um dog guy easy dog guy gotta it up. Get it glizzy. I'll go lamb chops in the... That's why I asked it. Atlantic or Pacific salmon, which is your choice. Sushi or red wine. Yes. By the way, the people ahead of us, so I took my son to his first game a couple weeks ago. You know, we get a bag of popcorn, whatever.

And the, like, row of middle-aged men ahead of us was drinking red wine. And like, I don't know if they're real wine glasses, like those, the stemless, or if they're like plastic pseudo wine glasses. No glass. Yeah. But they're, you know, four dudes just drinking red wine. Nice got laying. I like, I like the game has changed.

Well, we seem to change. You said, you said as a video of a couple new season ticket holders in the lower bowl yesterday that maybe wouldn't have been two. Oh, yeah. They'd had a couple glasses of red wine. They did. Oh, that video is.

What was that? That doesn't give you much reassurance of the next gen, the next generation. I was like doing something when you sent that and I need to watch this. So is this, whose video is this? It was on Six Plus. It was a couple that were at the Leaf game. And they looked a little greased up.

Maybe too many glasses of wine. He's watching it now, for those of you who are not on YouTube. Oh, she seems to be sending quite a message to section, I don't know. That's just pure class. 102. The kind of woman you take home to mom.

All right. What else we got? This is from Staley's on Twitter. Would the league benefit from going back to seeing the playoffs one by eight by conference, or is this just a Toronto-centric idealism? No, the league would benefit 100%. Okay. You cannot...

And I'm with you on this, Sammy. I mean, it took me a while here. But, like, this is horrible that we've got three months to tee up a first round playoff match. Give the best teams the best chance to advance. We'd like to see the best teams go deeper in the playoffs and be rewarded for the regular season. Listen, this is a strong market. We know it's the strongest market. Robust.

People aren't that interested in every single game now, knowing that they just have to wait for Tampa and Toronto. There's some people that are checked out, if not mildly checked out we're lucky the trade deadline is so late because after that there's a bit of a black hole oh there's a gap you know until april 17th i think is the last day of the season here's here is if we went back to the old system of 1 to 16 who are the leafs facing oh 1 to 18 no one to 16 you know because a lot of it was transportation related i think minnesota did you look this up already no but somebody mentioned it

to me so three would play 13 probably who is it yeah washington washington oh washington okay they got minnesota below them in edmonton above them. Okay, so I missed it. Oh, leave Edmonton. Let's go. Oh, I would love that. What a series. I know it's a cost thing. But it's different. Transportation, I understand it's still expensive to fly a bit farther.

But, like, you know, you're not flying in these uncomfortable, you know, sorry, like. You're not flying commercial. With the people. You're not flying commercial is the word I'm looking for. You're not staying in a Motel 6. It's cost. What is the additional cost of flying from here to Edmonton, flying to, who are they going to play? Tampa.

Tampa. You know? What's the difference? I don't know. Maybe it's the Metro then that you get to save all the money in. Right? I guess. Islanders, Jersey, New York.

Yeah. I suppose, you know, you're looking at Vegas is going to play who, Edmonton or something. I don't know. Anyway. Thoughts of Seattle playing LA, you know, I mean i understand vancouver i just don't think that's enough to say we are now going to turf the most logical playoff format that's best for the teams because of cost again i mean you run the risk and i know it's it's been focused on the atlantic

division the last few years right boston tampa, Toronto. They're not only the best teams in the Atlantic Division, they're the best teams in the league. But you got to absolutely, at all costs, find a way to not eliminate a top five team in the first round by having them play each other. That can never happen again that should not happen the nba you know say what you will about that league the best teams generally win just they're able to get the ball in the hands of lebron in the big moments you know like that

sort of thing so they they have their best teams make it deeper and then you have more compelling matchups later on you don't have the habs playing the Stars in the final or whatever it was last time. Lightning. It was Dallas in the final the next year. Yes. No, it was the year before. 2020 was Dallas and Tampa in the final. Yeah, that was a Asterix Cup.

That's all they don't have. All right, what else you got for us? Okay, so you don't want to hear about me taking away from cups and the type of Bay Lightning? Let's see what else we got here um here is an impossible question to answer but i feel like we haven't really done a lot of this on the show and it's a comparing eras question how many goals would gretzky get if he played in 2023 against these goalies so gretzky's still gretzky to me like he's he's mcdavid he's still that guy like with the training and the equipment and everything else i i don't know i'm not this guy i i think probably his numbers would drop well like if you took 1983 wayne gretzky with his those skates and that

stick and dropped him into today yeah his numbers. But if he's able to have everything that McDavid has, the training and the gear... Yeah, I don't disagree. I mean, he's... The greatest strength he had was his mind and predictability of what was going to happen next. Yeah, think about how Mitch Marner does it. Better than anyone else.

You know, that sort of thing where you're not relying on Braun or... He would have excelled. Yeah. But now the average goalie is 6'4". My favorite thing to imagine is dropping current Ovechkin with current gear and stick and dropping him in 1980 and just letting him take slap shots.

Or he could have ended up with 300 points because all those goalies play the reverse VH. Yeah. And his... Behind the net. Behind the net, coming around, around going down right over their shoulders also ovi may not have made it out of 1982 if you did the hot stick celebration on the boys would have just does it beside billy smith he just chops his head off no the literal for me beheading

gretzky and mario lemieux like mario would have been yeah. He would have had no question the same type of effect offensively. Yeah. Well, now that they put his soul in Tage Thompson's body, we get to watch it in real time. So it's great. All right. We got another one? Yeah, I think I know your thoughts.

I got a lot. I think I probably know both of your thoughts on this, but I'm going to get them anyway. Thoughts on Connor Garland for the Leafs' two-wing, sorry, second-line left-wing spot. Smaller side, however, skates well, four checks, Thoughts on Connor Garland For the Leafs two wing Sorry second line left wing spot Smaller side However skates well four checks And goes to the net

And ability to score goals Allow you to add size for 3C position Plus pushes Jaren Kroc to third left wing And camp to fourth center I'm not a Garland fan I actually am He makes five million dollars For the next three years

Or something like that He's undersized Thank you for confirming Ireland fan. I actually am. He makes $5 million for the next three years or something like that. He's undersized. Thank you for confirming what I thought you guys would think. Yeah. Yeah, I don't dislike the player, but too much money. Let me ask you guys with Bo Horvat off, who's the

biggest name out there right now? Meyer. And this is a perfect question. This is a perfect question from Muzz on Twitter twitter who always interacts with us a lot top pick for from each of you guys for the left wing second uh the left wing two position and another d-man edition the top pick for each of you matthias ekholm is my d-man he's a great defender offensive upside larger love him um timo meyer is also a larger guy who scores and shoots it a bunch and i like those things uh yeah i mean timo can we name someone not named timo meyer like who's the next option out there for these guys? I'd go get Kraus out of Arizona. I wrote about that a while

ago. But JVR? No. Another guy who just won't look at someone else and they're angry? We've got Engvall. Come on. You're going to compare Engvall to JVR? Favorably right now. I don't take Engvall

over him right now. JVR needs the power play, doesvall to JVR? Favoritely right now. I don't take Engvall over him right now. JVR needs the power play, does he not? JVR is a, listen, I have drawn comparisons to JVR in my career, my hockey career, so I have a softball for him. But what I'll say is. Or you're just soft. Yeah, soft, big, and can score. That's pretty much my MO.

JVR, he is a guy around the net point producer around the net right soft hands around the net yes needs the power play yeah guess what's always killed him in the playoffs their power play and the lack of scoring I mean is he better than Mitch

on the power play then you make two units and you have one that has JVR in front of the net with his soft hands tucking him home. Back end. See, for me, if I got power play issues, I think it stems from the back end. Me too. And I think Chikrin would

fix that. At least Ekholm can do both. He's Muzzin. He'd be the guy replacing Muzzin. Yeah. But at home can't quarterback a power play i do wonder how much the leafs can do here at the deadline in terms of moving money around like that muzzin money is pretty significant you know guys actual cost is significantly less at that point in the season like they could probably add a couple of guys

you know assuming they moved i would think they need multiple moves to bigger ones people believe that they're going to be ready to challenge you know one thing about timo i want to mention here is that i just need you to take back that jv jvr is better player than pierre angvall today no like it's just like if you could have angle or jvr you take jvr today jvr i don't know if he's healthy uh and he's angvall's faster than jvr yeah he plays with pace he carries it up the ice jvr is not for checking he's not hitting people back like sam's dying right now jvr as a leaf is over. Okay. I wouldn't mind it. Wouldn't hate it.

One thought on... He was a great Leaf. He was a great Leaf. Top 100 Leaf. Yeah. Coming to Toronto or going to the Rangers, it's like he's got a $10 million qualifying offer. Yeah. So are you prepared to qualify him at $10 million?

Do you think if you qualify him him he's not a valuable trade piece at that point no not a 10 million bucks he's a 10 million dollar winger i mean he's i don't want him at 10 million dollars moving forward you could extend him you know the way that cockney emmy signed for six or whatever with carolina his qo would have had to be there, but they gave him a longer term at four. Okay. So it's not 10, but it's not six and a half either. Right. So I would think he'd be in the ballpark of eight, eight and a half. Can the Leafs go there? Well, you can be over the cap in the summer and then you got to trade someone, you know,

whether it is the Meyer contract at that point or would you would you take timo long term and then uh move out nylander because you can't avoid uh that's basically the conversation you'd be having i don't want to do that it would be interesting let's say i don't want to i don't want to trade william nylander after he's having the one year we all dreamt of him ever but how about this so they trade for timo they extend them for whatever six times eight point two three number i made up then they have what number what is it six point eight oh sorry six times oh eight million yeah okay yeah eight million or whatever and then you say to everyone i got one gently used william neil who's 27 years old and just scored 90 points. What does the return on that look like?

I think it would look really good. Really good. Yeah. You know, and all of a sudden you've got Meyer under contract. You get back the assets you spent to get Meyer. And you get them both for this year. And you take the extra money and you get a defenseman. Let's go.

Listen, I love Willie Nylander. He's been wonderful, but if they don't get out of the first round, someone's gone. Yeah, for Timo Mayer to have any future here, somebody's got to go. Yes. Or the cap's going to go way up. Do we think that you'd rather have Nylander than Timo Mayer,

but you don't want Nylander at $10.5 million or $11 million? Absolutely. Which he scores 90 and he scores 40-plus goals. He's in that ballpark, guys. He's not having this season in a career. It's not a contract year. He's having this year before. If he was having this year next year and he had had, like,

an average Willie Ny neilander year do you understand that like it's like that that that saying that the 50 uh you know 50 40 is the new 50 or 50 is the new whatever that's the same way it is with free agency you you don't even you almost think of that last year it's it the new Matthew Kachuk rule, guys. You don't want that guy playing out the last year. Or you get Bo Horvath returned. Exactly. That's what's going to happen. And you don't want that scenario.

So you're going to know July 1st where this thing's heading with Matthews and Nylander really quick. No, I don't agree with you on that. You're all over that, that Nylander and Matthews. Pastrana should get traded from Boston now because they haven't signed him yet. They don't want to risk losing him for nothing. They better sign. They better trade him. You know, unless you're adamant on not signing a short-term deal and you're trying to jam a seven- or eight-year deal down their throats,

you should know by July 1st what's going on see i don't know about that why well i i think if i'm one of those guys i want to see what the team looks like like have they made moves in the off season to significantly change it am i confident we're gonna win how did the you know if you that's another thing here is if you trade all the futures to understand that like that's not that's not matthew kachuk matthew kachuk and johnny were like we're out of here yeah i don't care what the team looks like i don't know how carry i don't care how close you think it is to a cup i don't want to play here anymore yeah that's a possibility i you know you find it hard to believe i don't can't think of that ever happening in tor. Well, they've never really been in this position before.

I mean, the last guys to get away with it and saying all the right things in the last year and kind of feeding the media like there's a chance when there was no chance at all, Johnny Gaudreau and John Tavares in the island. Yeah. He knew that last year. Tavares did. island. Yeah. He knew that last year. Tavares did.

Yes. Oh, no way. Are you nuts? Are you? You think he knew he wasn't going to stay? He screwed the team? I don't think he screwed the team. He was within his rights to play out his contract

and test free agency. I don't think he screwed the team over. Do I think he said stuff to alleviate the pressure of dealing with it and did he kind of you know manipulate his words so people wouldn't you know make a big deal out of it 100 and johnny did the same thing in calgary okay just yeah yeah you know i like it here and you know we'll just see where it goes and yeah yeah oh yeah and it's like no no no so you think if they're doing that next year that's what's happening I would be I would be really weary of that yeah and at least Matthew Kachuk had the guts to tell the management that I'm not coming back next year.

And, you know, Dubois did it earlier. So I go back to my further question, should Boston trade faster right now? And you know what's going to happen now? Right now. Is any star player that does that in his last year and doesn't sign, they'll roast him. Yeah. And the Islanders did that a little bit with Johnny early in the first few years.

What's that? Roasting him? Yeah. They hate him, Kip. They hate him. It's like he can't even enjoy those years of his career yet. And now, like, so there, like, Tavares was a big deal in the island. He should, when he retires, he should be able to go back there and hold his head high. Of course he should.

He's a wonderful islander. But I don't think the Islander fans will let him do that. I agree. Right? Which I respect. I don't respect that at all. No. Oh, my.

No, no. What's he supposed to do? Who's he supposed to? He did what he was supposed to do, but you're allowed to absolutely hate his guts. Yeah. Hate his guts for what? It's like here in Toronto with Vince Carter and they're like. For not letting us know or we could have traded you for a first rounder.

We could have gotten some value for you. You walked out on us and we got nothing for you. That's the bitterness. Yeah, there can be some of that bitterness, but you have to understand the thing you just said, that he is within his rights. He doesn't have to get traded to Philly for you. They don't care about that, though.

They don't see it that way. The fans don't see it that way. It's a loyalty play. Yeah, but it's not a long-term. And you were disloyal to us. I'm talking as a business deal right and as someone that uh has gone through process as a as an athlete and knowing my rights and how it uh benefit me they don't see that the fans don't see that they they see a guy that screwed them over

yeah to me that's not i i understand the being upset about it not liking the way it went down but i am i think there's more of a human element where they should be able to see, you know, that the players... You know where the human element is right now? Calgary fans having no issues with Matthew Kachuk right now. No issues. Yeah. No, I

listen, he handled it well. And I think now markets will want to see it as handled as well as Matthew Kachuk. He set the bar. All right. What about Pasta? You didn't answer my question, Kipper.

What's that? They should trade him, right? Because they don't know if he's going to resign? Boston? I think he's going to resign. Oh, okay. Okay. Just like Matthew's here.

And he's going to take less, too. Oh, yeah. Just like Matthew's. Because Brad Marchand told him. Okay. Enjoy All-Star Weekend everybody. We're back Monday.

Thanks for listening and watching Real Kipper and Born. Big guests and bigger opinions on everything happening in Leafs land. Real Kipper and Born.

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