Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Acquire Centres + Werenski Watch

Episode Date: July 1, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee begin their NHL Free Agency special reacting to former Edmonton Oilers' centreman Jack Roslovic and Vegas Golden Knights centreman Colton Sissons joining the Toronto Maple Leafs, if Easton Cowan would be included in a deal for defenseman Zach Werenski instead of Matthew Knies, Quinn Hughes's next contract extension, if Sergei Bobrovsky would gel well with the Maple Leafs' style of play in front of him, and whether Kyle Dubas is trying to unite the Robertson brothers after acquiring Nick from the Leafs. Then, the guys look at Luke Schenn returning to the Vancouver Canucks and the tricky contract talks with Jason Robertson.  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.

Happy Canada Day. Also falls on the 2026 NHL free agent day. Nick Kiprios, Justin Boren, Sammy McKee, Jake the Snake Shilts, Derek Brandeo, the real Kipper and Bourne show live on Sportsnet 360, 590, the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. If you miss our show, Spotify, Apple, podcast, and YouTube, or we always appreciate the chat and the thumbs up. All right.

I mean, out of the gate, lots of signings, a few moves. Not the sexy names out there, except maybe for the exception of Connor Hellebuck, Zach Wrenski. Noah Juleson. I'm fixated on this Jeff VL signing, the Tampa Vagest. VL signing, the loading up in the Atlantic Division. Imagine signing up to fight Florida once a month?

For five years. I know. It's like, what a foolish mission? In the meantime, if you're around your computer or your phone, Sportsnet.com.com, you have my latest real kipper trade board number nine. Nine already, hey? I think it's it. Well, yeah. I want to golf.

I'll be honest with you. Listen, we're heading into, we're heading into mega golf territory here. I'm heading out at West next week on vacation. Got a lot of golf plan. I better start to be able to figure it out. I got to say, Kipper, just this day, this is one of my favorite days to not be at work. I love Canada Day. I'm a very bleeding hurt Canadian.

As you can see with my hat and the way I act. But to be here with you is a, you know, it's cool, man. We're going to have our own little Canada Day party. I used to watch every year on Canada Day and the year that they signed John Tavares. I remember a buddy of mine said, call the cottage phone if John Tavares signs. He gave me his landline. And I remember you going on there. They said it.

I called my buddy on his landline on his college phone. And then I had to turn on the TV and have Nick Kiprios and Doug McLean crap all over the signing of John Tavares. We kind of question whether it was a good idea or not. Craped all over it. No, no, no, no. Hold on for a second. Get it right here. We crapped over it kind of screwing up their salary cap.

Yeah, listen. There was some, looking back on it, you weren't the wrongest guy alive. Okay, I'll give you that, but that was a fun time. Anyways, happy to be here. Jack Roselvic to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm really glad you didn't say when I was like, you know, a little kid watching me. Thanks for sparing me on. Well, I mean, I was like, you know, my 20s.

Hold on. I got snacks for a little while. Oh, you brought snacks. I got Rosdale snacks. I didn't think you had enough time to get round a golf in today. I did Eminem's. Oh, my kids will be thrilled. One for you, Sammy.

One for J.B. Got any cotwaters over there? It's not time yet. So what do we got here? Roselovic. Rosslovick. Yeah. To me that's like, hey, we got Nick Robertson that we're sure can get his points.

You know, Nick Robertson, maybe they weren't as sure as you wanted a winger who could help produce and make plays and pass the puck. Okay. I'm not, okay. Any word on the deal? I'm not thrilled about it. No, no word on the actual numbers yet. I don't even know where I saw it. Just came across.

Elliot. There he is. Okay. He's just working on the terms. So Jack Rock Roslovick last year scored 21 times in 69 games for the... Early. He was hot early.

Yeah. And he... Six playoff games, one assist. Yeah. He kind of became not important to them down the stretch it felt like. It's interesting. But yeah, I mean, 21 goals and 40 points, 36 points in 69 games. So you let go of Machelli.

you let go of Robertson, you know, okay, two year deal with a four million AAV. So $8 million over two, you know, over two years. There's a lot of talk of Colton Sisions, who's a UFA, most recently with Vegas Golden Knights. Does that mean that's shut down? No, I don't think so. That definitely doesn't preclude them from doing that by any means. They could do that. Well, and the fact that they moved off of Nick Robertson.

For a fourth wrong pick? Well, they have tons of cap space and they have needs still, particularly a defensive, third, fourth line center who can kill penalties, right shot. Checks a lot of boxes in that way? Penalty killer. Yeah. Big penalty killer. Okay.

15 seconds per game last year for Vegas. So that's some breaking news there, Jack Roswick. Two years, $8 million? Which, by the way, is almost exactly what Machieli was owed. So they basically said we prefer Rossovic to Machete. So I think the big news that people are probably turning in here to hear about. And off the top, we should probably do. Yeah.

Last night, Elliot, late night, I'm not sure when it was, I was already sleeping, because I'm an old man, but I was already sleeping. But he publishes a story on Sportsnet.comte. That Zach Rorensky vetoed a trade to the Dallas Stars. And then in that, after that's kind of come out, that Tampa Bay and Toronto would be places that he would consider going. He wants to go, whatever the verbiage is. What's the latest on Werensky?

The Lee fans are in a full-on horn fest by this. This is the topic. Yeah, from my perspective that he has indeed mentioned it to a lot of people in Columbus that his first preference is Tampa Bay. So whether or not we believe that there's something there that engages Columbus into a serious discussion, I don't know. I mean, we're all putting Moser around. a deal, are we not?

Of course. Moser is... And there's a few guys on limited, no trade contracts, you know, including, you know, Sorrelli. I mean, would that, would they be interested in something like that? He's 28-year-old centerman, Anthony Sorrelli. Would Anthony go there after everything he's experienced in Tampa Bay? Yeah. Maybe Columbus isn't on his list.

Yeah. Well, you know what? But his no trade doesn't even have modified listed on cap wages. It's just 10 teams, is it not? It's starting June 15th, 2027, the player submits a 16 team trade list. 16. Up until that, nothing? I don't think any.

Okay. It doesn't seem like any. So either that or Toronto and there's various reports, whether or not, and I think Darren mentioned earlier today that maybe the Leafs could still do a deal without nyes. So that would be a bigger. trick than just getting nice in the deal for me. Well, that means Easton Cowan for sure. Yeah.

Yeah. Which, okay. You know, like, you're not going to be like, sorry, I can't give that guy up. The Norris trophy winner for a guy with, you know, albeit a blue chip prospect. Love Easton Cowan. It's not about Cowan. It's about no one would say he has more value than Zach Werenski. No.

If I had, I, I don't know we should do this today, but I, if I had my choice, I would probably rather trade Nyes than Kowen. Yeah, I don't, we said that yesterday. Did we not have that conversation? I think we've had this conversation. I think people think I'm nuts when I say that. So like, I just, I like, I like the profile of Kowen and what Kauan's going to become more than maybe Nyes.

So just to your point, like, how many teams now, how many teams now has Nyes been linked to? A lot of. Five? I don't know. Mucho. Chicago? Yep.

Montreal. It was everyone with the draft pick. They wanted to trade into the top 10. So like when do we get the hint that they don't want to, they don't want to keep nice? No, that's trash. No, it's not trash. No, no, it's not.

Not when you keep trying to trade this guy. It felt like they were trying to trade into the top 10. It also feels like they're trying to like move off of him. And he's our best chance to get multiple assets. Yeah. I get, to me, those are different things. He's our best chance to get multiple assets versus we're trying to move off of him. And I get the same thing.

I get the sense that they feel like I don't know how much more upside they can get out of him. You know, I could see that. I could see internally if they said, hey, we're not sure about this guy's head. You know, we're not sure about X, Y, Z. But by all accounts, he's, you know, I don't need to go through the list of reasons. I love the player and his upside and his contract and all that. I just, like, okay, we get it. You want to move him.

You want to trade him. If you're hearing that, you're hearing that. But I wouldn't take it without the information from you, I wouldn't take it based on their actions alone. Are you alluding to the fact that the amount of teams that he's been linked to and how much his name's been out there could devalue him? Like, does that, does people start getting a sniff of like, why is this guy so available? It just lends to what you're saying that I think at this point,

they'd rather move nyes than even Cowan. Yeah. They would rather move Nise than Cowan. Yeah. That's, again, that's the feeling I'm getting is it won't go away, Nyes. We've said that here, you know, given one of the two guys probably prefer to keep Cowan. I am curious to see. And I get the sense that they don't feel that his upside is quite as high as maybe the perception that's out there.

And they want to capitalize on it. Well, he also, he fits that profile of everyone looks at Nyes and says, how rare is it to get a Tom Wilson like player and whether they don't believe he can become Tom Wilson or not. I mean, I had an eyes on the American team in my roster. I thought he was that good. And I think he was a victim of this past season where it all just fell apart.

And everyone's motivation and it just all flagged. They're stuck in the D zone. I think he had as bad a year as he could. He had 60 some points and 20-some goals. So back to the Orensky thing. Do you feel, I read a little bit of, of your trade board before we came on here. Yeah.

This isn't something that you feel is necessarily imminent is what I'm reading. I would be shocked. And I would be shocked if Columbus just buckle that we just got to get whatever we can out of them. And it has to happen now because it doesn't seem to me that there is enough assets to really entice me for. Wrenski. I'd back off. I wouldn't do anything. I'd hold them.

I'd make them come back in the summer training camp and I'd revisit it in the fall. That's what I would do if I was Columbus. If I'm the Leafs, go and try to steal him right now. What do you make? If Waddell buckles, then you're going to be a hero. What are you making this whole thing that he rejected

to trade to Dallas and that pissed off his camp? and now he's going to reject any trade offer that comes to him because he's mad about it. I mean, is that? Well, listen, I am watching this whole thing right from the trade deadline. Did Dallas or Columbus not learn anything from St. Louis trading, Pareco to Buffalo?

And then you guys work out this deal. So there's Thomas Harley. Hey, Thomas, we trade. you to Columbus. Oh, oh, no, we didn't. Sorry, we didn't. So that happened? But it was done deal.

It was done. And then they couldn't get... Werenstki to sign on. They couldn't get Werenstki to sign off on Dallas. And it's like, why do you guys do deals? When you don't know... The player will go. The player will go.

Find out if the player will go. Totally. And then do the deal. In this case where it's one place, You know, doesn't seem that unreasonable. No, that's completely reasonable. And it's one player who just says,

hey, I want to play somewhere else. You start with, would you go to that team if we made a deal? Jim Nill, you traded Tom Harley. He's 24 years old. He's an up-and-comer. He's a big part of your future prior to all of this. One of the best D on Team Canada. And you traded him to Seattle.

And now you haven't traded him to Seattle. It's like... Columbus, yeah. Oh, yeah. Columbus, my apologies. And it's like, okay. I mean, I don't know. I mean, Harley needs to say, that's just business.

And come back and be a pro, and I expect them to. And if... If you're a reasonable person, you're like, yeah, he's the Norris trophy winner. They're trying to get the guy. If Larkin has to go back into the Detroit dressing room, be a pro. And if Wrenski needs to go back to Columbus, be a pro. I think in 226, yeah, there might be a couple of guys with their noses bent a little bit. But the rest of them will say, hey, glad you're still here.

Could the lease goal just be like, if you're going to trade him, trade him to us? Well, that's immediately my thought. And to me, that's what happened with Nyes, where they, you know, last year at the deadline, had something cooked up with Montreal. All of a sudden, everyone found out, hey, wait, are you going to trade Nize? And it became a thing. That's like, wait, is hardly a guy you would trade? Like, hold on.

Let's talk then. I love Harley. Yeah. I think the whole idea is Wrenski and at least don't have that to give to Dallas. So for Harley. Yeah. Do you think that like there is a chance that

Wrenski dawns a blue and white hair? Yeah, I do believe. I do is, you know, as we mentioned, Judd's, uh, Moldaviors is, uh, is, uh, is, crap is the agent behind here. And, you know, he's trying his best

to please his client. Yeah. And where the wishes are, Toronto's close to family, I guess, when it comes to Rowensky. Is that is that close enough, Michigan to Toronto?

I think you just have to find a That's an annoying drive. You have to take 10, don't tell him. Sorry. You have to take Tampa's offer and just you just have to exceed it. You just have to blow it out of the water.

You just need... Where? Well, whether that be picks or prospects. I don't know what value... For Toronto, you're talking about? I'm saying to go above Tampa Bay's offer in the Lerensky thing. Yeah. Just please give me a scenario.

I know. Listen, I've been trying to cook it up. Do you like any of the kids they just drafted? Oh. Outside of getting... For the Norris Trophy. But do you like Mosier and Geeky for the Norris trophy winner? We've also done this.

You have come to my store and told... told me, you know, you want to sell your thing. I'm afraid that's all I can do. What's the line? Best I can do. Best I can do is this. To my point, is there something down the road? Does it happen?

Does it have to happen today? Does it have to happen next week? Next month? No, no, no. And I think this thing has a chance to potentially drag for a little while. So, I mean, the Lightning have their pick in 28. 29, 30. They have their first round picks,

which if that's the kind of way, the way you want to build, they have those assets, they have second rounders, they have first rounders, but the Blue Jackets, the reporting has been that they won NHL players. I don't know.

I think whatever the lease can put together is just as good as what the Lightning are going to do. Nyes has value. There's no doubt. Well, and it's not Nyes Cowan has value. They, the Columbus Blue Jacket fans need something that they can sink their teeth in if they're going to give up the Norris trophy winner here.

Of course. If you go back, I don't know, Nash, when did Nash want out of Columbus? What was it? 15 years ago, 12 years ago, they're in the exact same spot. They haven't moved. They haven't moved. I was going to look it up. Look it up.

It's another good player. They got, oh, and Artemisimov. They got Dubinsky and Isamov. You know, but that's what they're going to get, Dubinsky and Nisimov. I always like Dubinsky. Rick Nash. He was rude. 28 years old in the prime of his career.

Wrenski's 28. I won out. And now they've got to go through the whole thing all over again with one of the top defensemen in the league. And you're going to do a deal for potentials and prospects in a pick in 2029. Cowan. Don Waddell needs to be committed, not just fired, but committed. if he pulls off a deal for Wurinsky

and starts looking at picks three years from now. Yeah, it was Brandon Dubinsky, Ardomew, Tim Erickson, and a first round pick that turned into Kirby Reichel. Ye. Yardt. But you never win these deals. But that sounds like J.J. Moser and Connor geeky.

That sounds like that to me. Sorry. Matthew Nyes sounds, I don't know. Oh, that's, you know, the whole last few months, you've been saying the Leafs should trade Nyes. and get three guys back for him. But that's what you get back. You get back a bunch of rusty guys who, you know, I don't know.

Anyway, we should talk about signings on UFA Day probably, no. I mean, I'm enjoying this conversation. If you have any more to add. So if I'm Columbus and you want to go to Tampa Bay, just wait two years, you know, and then you can go anywhere you want. But is he going to be a whiner? Not on ever.

Like, are these guys going to whine coming back to camp? Like I'm looking at Larkin, I'm looking at him. I'm looking at this guy. I'd say the Americans have a new reputation here right now. You're going to Jujubes? They really stick to the T. I kept that one sealed. I got the M's going over here.

On commercial break, we'll break out the Jiubs. Okay. See if we can get one down in the three-minute break. I love you guys. Yeah, so, I mean, Ottawa blinked real fast. I don't know if Columbus will do the same thing. They could. and do a deal with Toronto?

I like that. Where they can, they can kind of wait it out a little bit. I would say that. Jake McCabe help. Throw him in with Cowan. I think he's got, doesn't have trade protection?

No, he's got no, or, oh God, he does too. Definitely. Everyone, the 16 team. Columbus, probably on that. Willing to, well, and to, that. From a fan's perspective,

you know, I've been surprised at the amount of, I wouldn't say pushback, but apprehension towards a potential what it would take package to get Zacharensky here. And I just have to say, if you're listening to this and you're a Leaf fan, this is the type of guy you do whatever you can to get on your team. Like he's 28. He's 20. I think. It's so similar to me.

You can work around the edges for Austin Matthews, right? With your Roscovic and Cisions and Cytton Cisns and whatever you want. but this is the guy. Frankly, here's a fun thought exercise. Not that it would happen. Would you do Matthews for Werensky? Not that I'm saying that's a thing. But who has more value to your club?

Probably Werenstki. Probably Werenzki. That's typically what this trade should look like. Right. If you're going to trade the best defensemen in the league last year for one of the top goal scores in the league last few years, that it's a one for one. And I only do that for context for people

of Werenski's values. Yes. And I think it's, you know... Highlander signing Micelli. Really? Oh, wow. Fair thee well. Yes.

Oh, everyone forget your mixtape. What was I going to say? I had something more on Moranski, but it's slipped my mind. Sorry, right, Michelle. No, we're just talking about, like, that's what all deals would look like. Yeah. Oh, I know what I was going to say.

Bill Simmons used to do this article called the trade. value list. Good as a guess. And Werensky, if he, I mean, he's a little short on his contract. He's only got two years left. But if he was, had no trade protection and was available to be traded to the entire league, where does he rank in the league amongst guys? Like, he's in the top 15 guys, top 10 guys for the Norris trophy winner who makes not too

much for the next two seasons. Like, trade protection kind of sucks. It's kind of ruined the fun stuff for me, you know? Yeah. Well, we talked about that too. But Werenski's not coming up here without knowing that he's got at least a good year to feel it out and impress. I don't even think that the Leafs would even worry about two years from now. I think based on the fact that we just watched the Raptors go get Kawhi Leonard.

And I know he got an extension at what, two years? He's got one year left and then it goes two after that. Okay. So three years. Yeah. So, you know, they have the ability to do that right away. They can't sign Wrenski or Austin until for another year, according to the CBA. But, like, you know, we have the owners at Rogers here and MLSC making the decisions still with Keith Pelley.

This is about, like, getting both those organizations right back to the front page, right? And let's get people talking about it. You know what else changes? Get people back in, like, get Bay Street back in the building. not giving away the tickets to, you know, their neighbor. You know what changes to is when you have good players, people want to go there, right? You look at like the Canucks right now, so you know, they lost Ian Cole to Chicago. They lost out on, like, no one wants to go when you're no good.

And suddenly you get good and people go, I'll sign with the Oilers. Vancouver did just sign Paul Carter. So, oh, they're back. So you get Wrenzky up here. You give him a year to feel out everything about it. And you just hope and pray that the team's doing well and he falls in love with the place and is ready for a long-term commitment. That to me is the game plan. And I think if you start winning, right, you start, like the things go well.

That's everything. That's everything. So the Hughes model. With Minnesota? Quinn Hughes, yeah. Yeah. Quinn's going to get that. 18 million for three years, four years.

If the least- And if you're Minnesota, awesome. If the Leafs did that trade and then got Werenzky to sign for three more years after that. Awesome. Fantastic. Here's your 18. Yes. Let's go. I don't know.

No, we'll do this before we break. Anything more on Bobroski? That's been the next. Ron McLean, Bobroski. And I wrote on Sportsnet.com, I don't think Florida offered them three years. Florida wouldn't go three. No, they wouldn't go three. I think they went two.

I think they went two, which means any team right now, if you're New Jersey or Toronto or. or Buffalo, I don't know, can get away with offering them three years. And I would imagine that the highest AAV would maybe win that out. Yeah, and now I'm interested. Yes. You know, three years you can work me on that. I think he's going to be just fine next year.

I don't think you need to go for. Yeah. So the next question I would have is that, sorry, that one seemed like, I mean, there's been a ton of smoke about it. We've been talking on this show for however long. Frege has been mentioning it. Is that one that you're surprised isn't one of the first ones off the board here?

Like, is there other suitors for him? Well, I think there's plenty. Yeah. For suitors that would take a look at a short-term deal with a high AV. I do believe that that's a difficult decision for no other reason that he's 38 years old and you've got to match up an off-season for him

on where you truly believe he is and how much he can rebound. Now, for me, I would probably lean on analytics, my analytics department more for Bobroski than maybe any other goalie out there, which means what happened last year, you know, to our buddy Valley.

Is he a CEO of an earlier? Where? Where we're, Where was the dangers? Where did, where were most of the bad goals on him last year? What did my defense look like last year? How much can Hiller improve on taking away things that made him look bad? I don't know.

But I need, I need convincing here to make a commitment to a 38-year-old, albeit Vavroski. And can we say the quiet part out loud about some of these guys? Like, they shut it down on teams that are no good. Like Bob has multiple Stanley Cups, multiple. individual awards. The team was crap. They had 84 points. You're going to get his best every night.

Not going to say, oh, he's a quitter or whatever. But, like, you just, you don't grind in the same way you might grind in the big games. Put them in a spot where they're competitive again and I think you get better. I feel that way about Nyes and Matthews and some of the guys in Toronto. Like, Toronto's D sucked last year. They did suck. They were bad. They were bad.

I mean, I, you're at Troche. You're telling me I did 70 least talks last year, brother. Right. I witnessed it. As is, right. I know Radish is there now, and that's an improvement, no question. But you got to figure out style of play last year with five or six of those guys and where Bob is on it.

And it might not be a great mix. No, I get it. I get it. And I hear what you're saying. Interesting. That's a Micelli deals one year. I wonder if that's a deadline, trade them if it doesn't work out sort of thing. Yeah, it's just musical chairs out there.

And you'd rather, you'd rather, Ross Levick. At four per year for two, as opposed to Machelli for one at 2.5? It is fine. Well, was it 2.25? Did they have,

they could have not qualified him and then signed him. I don't know. Ross Levick scored some big goals and some impressive goals. Good in the power play. He's, you know, he's 6-1 and he says, passes the pock, he's like. Now, just to go back to Rewinsky for a little bit. Oh, let's do it.

And just. Talk offer sheets after. If, if you got a time, if you got. If you got Werensky first, where would the sense of urgency be on getting radish after that? Well, I don't know. See, I'm not on board with this idea that it's somehow like, now you don't want radish. Like, we just said their de-s sucked.

I don't. I didn't say that they want them. I'm saying where would you have been on the urgency after that? I totally get the direction you're heading here, but they need it. Okay. The right side is now. But keep in mind. When we heard Darren Radish, the first thing we said was power play.

Yes. Right? It's a part of it for sure. Okay. So he's the big cheese on the power play. Well, Werensky's used to being a big cheese on the power play. Yeah, but like what is the point you're making? You don't want two good players?

I don't know if two on the power play. No, but just like what? Does Faber? Is he bad because Quinn Hughes exists? One constantly takes 80% of the power play. Right. But you're not worried about. Darren Radish's individual numbers,

and he is not worried because he has an eight-year contract. We are a team trying to win the Stanley Cup. But he needs, he needs a minute and a half on the power play. Why? You signed him to $8.5 million. That's what he's best at. Well, that's fine. He's best, but we've got Zach Wrenzky now.

Like, I get, I get the idea. It's a chemistry thing for me. It's, it's why didn't, why didn't, why didn't, why didn't, why didn't, why didn't, Brent Burns and Carlson work in San Jose. But those guys needed contracts and have, you know, it's like you just call it like an ego thing if you want. To me, it gets so lost in the idea of building a Stanley Cup winning team and saying,

I got my money. I said by 20 and my whatever last year, let's win a Stanley Cup. And it's so strange to me when I have these conversations with you who's won a cup that you have this ego thing where it's like, but what about Radish's points? I don't care if he gets four points. I know. but it's not realistic in an NHL dress room. Egos are huge.

What about this idea? I'm no Jim Hiller here, but give me the left and right-handed shot, two defensemen at the top. Werenski saw feathers over to Radish, Cabralet and McCabe reincarnated. There's no reason I couldn't play a flame. Eddie Belfort reincarnated an net.

We're back to the early 2000s, baby, let's go. There's no reason it couldn't work. It could totally work. Austin, Willie, and... McAvarez. Sure, Tavares. Yeah, sure. Yeah, sure.

Yeah, sure. Yeah. That's your number one power play. I do nize over Tavaris, but sure. If you don't have Tavares out of power play, you might as well get rid of them. Okay. I love these hard leaves takes on July 1st. I love it.

All right. Where do you want to go? Do you want to do Nick Robertson quickly here before we break? Sure. Yeah. All right. You put him in the Carlo, would you have kept him around than rather a fourth? Like, I'm with Sam in that I'm ready for the Leafs to not have a bunch of little wingers who aren't awesome. Like, I'm ready for that.

Go sign Ross Levick, that's fine. I'm okay. I'm just disappointed. It's just a fourth. Like, I just feel like he's clearly an established guy. He can get you 15 to 20 goals a year. That feels better than a fourth to me, but I'm not going to quibble too much about it. I said a tweet today.

mentioning you in it. I don't know if you saw it or not. But you back in the day, I don't know when this was, when you were doing before you came back to sports that when you were still fired. Real Kipper at noon. Yeah, you did your real Kippert and noon thing.

And I remember you did a... Thanks for bringing up a very difficult time in your life. Oh, yeah. I'm sure you're devastated. Getting fired. Playing golf every day. And your simulator. I'm sure you're devastated. You mentioned that the lease for Sam Bennett

when he was available with the flames. And you mentioned Nick Robertson and being like you know that could be part of it. And I remember Lee fans killing you with it.

No. Killing. And listen, you're used to, like you got the Montour one. People kill you for that one. Like listen, we do radio every day.

People kill us for stuff all the time. That's where it is. I still like Montour on this team. I know. And that's fine. I love you dying on that hill. But part of this Varenski thing to me is in the value

of this conversation with Robertson is you never know about these guys. And like Easton challenge shown great at the start of his NHL career. He played well with the Marley's. He's seemingly on the right track. Totally. But like, you know who I would love on the least right now?

Yeah. Sam Bennett when he's like in his early 30s and just one of the better play. You know? Yeah, you turn maybe into for sure every chance you can get. And which is what I think Pittsburgh just did with their fourth round pick. And they held on way too long to Nick Robertson. They, he was a guy that we talked about multiple and they just held on and held. And it was a tree.

I kicked tires on it a hundred times they never had. That fourth round pick has been around for two years. Oh, yeah, you could have had that at any moment in the last two years. Maybe Tree was pushing for a second rounder. Yeah. And stubborn as hell. Yeah. I mean, you know, there was times last year where you're going,

okay, Machelli can't play in the top six because he's not, you know, not quite at that level. And Robertson can't play because he doesn't pass it. And Domi, you know, throwing out blind passes. It's just like, okay, they're moving on from those wingers. That didn't work. And that's fine. Yeah.

And, yeah, I just, it jumps out to me that he had his career high goals. He can shoot the puck. The team of the league. He can shoot the puck? There's no question. Can he turn being a 15 goal score into a 25 goal score in Pittsburgh? Depends where they use them.

I tell you what, he'll shoot one in the net against the Leafs on the ice. Under the goalie stick between his legs. Oh, it's going to beat him five. He's going to rip it. That is. Right now. I don't know.

Look it today. Yeah, like look ahead to November the first game. He might score a hatcher. Yeah, he's going. Here's one food for thought with Kyle Dubas, getting Nick Robertson. Oh, I know where we're going here. Lauren the brother right in. Interesting.

What do you think? God, this show's fun. Right? I like it. Say, hey, dangling a little trail here for you. Hey, Jason, you want something special for your family? Yeah. Come play here.

Come be a penguin. Interesting. Yeah. How would that work? Okay, you want to take a quick break? Yeah, we should probably break. All right, let's take a quick break when we follow up. after the commercial break.

I got my boy Adam Stanley, sportsness golf reporter of covering the Sends on our... Yeah, I love it. Looking great. Want to get into the Jason Robinson scenario. I want to talk offer sheets still.

Why Dallas is in a pickle right now. A dilly of a pickle. That and more, when we return to Free Agent Day in the National Hockey League. Back after these words. Hey, it's Ben Ennis. And I'm Brent Cunning.

We got you covered on all things Leafs, Raptors, and Blue J's every weekday morning, six to nine. It's the fan morning show. Sportsnet 590 the fan and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in studio. Nick Kippreos, Justin Borenz, Sammy McKee. It's a real Kippur and Born show.

Free agent day today, Canada Day, 26. Luke Shen. To Vancouver. A Kinnock? Yeah, he's a gunnuck. He's been a Kinnuk at heart. Sam, how do you feel about it? Great.

No, you don't. I can't, listen. Why are you being a cynic? I love Luke Shen. I know you do. Luke's troops. Big part of my life. I had a lot of arguments when he got drafted,

how much I loved them, the human eraser. Big Luke Shen guy, been a Luke Shen guy forever. It's just so close to over. And I guess getting that one last contract, but Knoch's just going to rake. It sucks. Yeah. You're like the one team where I am trying to be competitive.

Can we just talk a little bit about just like the value of toughness right now and how it's at a premium that. Luke Shen can, he does, yeah. He does. Enough for Vancouver to sign him. And he gives them a present. I thought there was a chance he was going to come back to Toronto.

Did you? Yeah. Well, just based on what Florida and Tampa Bayer doing. It's like, I don't know if I would maybe prefer someone like that, someone who is just like, hey, I'm going to play minimal minutes and I'm going to be a protector of some variety. You know, I'm glad you brought that up. And maybe it's not the total conversation for today, but we can have it like. You do have to add a couple.

Meanies. Well, this Roselwick thing made me think it even further. Like, you look at the Leafs roster, and it is buttery saw. Yeah. And you're going to have a 18-year-old kid who is supposed to be one of the, you know, bright young stars coming in here. And you're going to be going up against Tampa who's mean, Florida, who's mean. Like, Goudis at six years. I, Goudis is, I like that for the Leafs.

Good. That one, I mean, but that's caps of convention. 100%. It is. And it's just like, Gary's just, oh, I don't need to do it. They can do whatever they want. The guy that took out the captain's knee is going to come in here two or three times a year. And it's a good thing.

I think, yeah, I don't think it hurts the hockey team unless you're just... He hurt the captain. You think he's going to continue to hurt captains? I think he's dangerous. And I think that as a Maple Leaf, I want that answered. Listen, I'm saying that. I'm saying they need that. They need someone who can stand up.

I agree with that. But I don't think Goudis over the next six years is a great hockey player. I thought not a good hockey player today. But those, they don't care six, seven years. They don't care because they're just going to write them off when they want to retire. Then why is that allowed? Yeah, we're at the point. Like we did this when it was like Duncan Keith and a lot of Brent Seabrook.

All these guys saw in this huge contracts in the league going, whoa, whoa, whoa, we see what's going on here. The Marsh and one last year is just as egregious. But this is the thing. Now I think the league might have to be like, okay, we know he's not going to play six more years. You know he's not going to play six more years. Even if you're an insurance company, all of a sudden after three years, he says, oh, my knee's no good.

I'm going to just collect that check. I think if I'm the insurance company, I'm going, I don't know about this. I need to look into this. Shouldn't it? I do think it should be looked at it. At least just have to do it, and then they'll start looking at it.

I guess it kind of... Not wrong, though. With Tanev, but he's trying to play it. But at least Luke Shann's a great guy. Okay? Love everywhere. And Vancouver needs some character in the room.

Yeah, that's good. I mean, they got Gallagher and him. I mean, that's a lot of character. It's just going to be... I'm not sure how many wins. It's going to be a little tough. Character. Right?

Yeah. It'll just be a little tough, you know, accumulating some losses. They got to get that Patterson out of there. So two things before he went to break. You said you wanted to do something more on Jason Robertson. You said you wanted to do offer sheets. Well, the Maverick Bork thing.

The Maverick Bork got traded to Nashville for a second and a third, which is nothing for a good young, player like that. Yeah, it was mixed, though. There's some people that are a lot higher on them than, and there's some that go, no, not for me. To me, a worthwhile risk. Obviously, they were threatened with an offer sheet by

whomever they had been. You thought the Leafs could have gone in on that? Yeah. Yeah, I wouldn't hated that one bit. Some of their assets. They have picks? Yeah. Bring home a hero? Bring home a hero that won the mechanic. Yeah. So, I had... Tricky against the Leafs. I wrote...

On that game and regulate... Loss that game and regulations. I wrote today on... Sportsnet.ca, that it looks like Jason Robertson's best case scenario may be just to sign an arbitration contract at one year. No. That's mental, risky. Like Dallas, Dallas probably offering them 8 by 12, right? Are you guys like 7 by 12 now under the... No, no, 8 by 12.

You're right. And that was, I guess, two months ago. Right. And... God, is this going to be... Seattle... offered him maybe 130. I think it was 15-5, 15-6.

That Klingberg-Gill sticks out to me. I was honestly like he should call John Klingberg and talk to John Klingberg. Who's a free agent, by the way? So here's where it's kind of unique because this doesn't really happen because very seldom do we see players in Jason Robertson's position where you're kind of a free agent, but you're not a free agent. You got this one-year window where you're a restricted free agent. And that one year is really screwing things up

because if Dallas moves off of their $12 million from a few months ago and goes to $13, you can sit there and go, okay, that $13 is really like $15 somewhere else. Yeah. Right? And that's okay. But if I sign it, and it's an eight-year deal prior to last night, it's great. But what I can't sign on that eight-year deal at $13 million is next season's trade protection.

So I can agree to Dallas's 13 times eight. And then Jim Nill, the next day, could trade me to Seattle. and my contract goes to 13 in Seattle. When I turned down 15.5 and I'm leaving $30 million on the table. And I look like a donkey. He can't get trade protection at his age as an RFA. Can't get trade protection. He's not there yet.

Man, right? That's crazy. So right now, how does he have protection? Yeah, he doesn't have protection. He has zero protection. Oh, he's just saying he won't sign extensions. He won't sign extensions. So you can now trade my.

rights to anywhere you want and they can sign me to a seven year deal and still have the ability to trade me if they're not happy by Christmas or January or February and now it's just like who do you trust that's a dangerous game brother so you're in you're within 12 months of controlling your destiny with cash and a no move clause but if you if you if you get traded or you sign in Dallas, you don't have total control of your destiny for the next seven years. I'll tell you how you get a no trade clause. You can sign an offer sheet. One year, they can't trade you if they match the offer sheet. So if he got an offer from somewhere else right now as an RFA, you could sign it. Dallas can match. He couldn't be traded for a year.

No, they won't match. They won't match. They'll take four first. They'll take four first. But who's doing that? And who has the four picks? It gets a little tricky. It's a lot. And really, you're probably in a position to say, well, I don't like if we're first rounders, man, just sign them next summer. So it's tricky now.

But I mean, this is the way this is constructed is that the teams have some control. The fans know that they have their players for X amount of time. And he's young to have this success and be in this spot. So it is. Very seldom. Do we see this? probably get a commitment from a team, look him in the eye.

If he signs an eight year deal, no one's going to turn around. No, eight's done. But I'm saying if Dallas signs him to an eight year deal. Before last night. Today. Yeah. They're not.

No, they can't sign him eight years. Dallas can't sign him. No. Seven years now. Seven. But still, they're not going to turn around and trade him after signing him immediately. Why?

Because that's who. Well, that you would, you'd have to have those good faith conversations that. Okay, good faith. Yeah, good faith. Yeah. You think they're looking in the eye. be like, we're not going to trade you. Sike!

Like, come on, kid, grow up. Man, look, each other eye and eyes here. Are you going to keep me or not? If you want me, if they don't want him, then trade him now. They know what he is. Jim Nill gets fired in November, December. The owner wants to trade or sell the team by Christmas. This is a fantasy you're creating.

No, it's not. So he signs, Jim Nill gets fired, and he turns a different player. Just sign the contract. Buddy. Strict came on her show yesterday made the best point It probably doesn't matter He's going to get paid regardless If he's gonna get hurt

So you know he was like You know He's somebody's not gonna pay him Even if he does get hurt If that's the case Something would have been done a long time ago Okay If he was just about the money Sam

As you're what you're trying to tell me to He would have signed by now $130 million in Seattle And said I don't care You're gonna suck for three years I'm taking my money He's not like that But no that's not what I'm saying

I mean like Even if he takes a one-year contract from Dallas gets hurt. Somebody's still going to give him $100 million. But he's not like that. And he's going to be, he wants to handpick his team at 25 years old and get paid. But he, that's the kids today.

He wants his cake and eating it. Totally. He's not about the money. He's about the money and the team. But I get your, your, your, look me in the eye, shake hands. Yeah. Four months later, you're going to see you later. There's already a lot of bad blood right now between Dallas and.

Robertson. I don't think he trusts. They trust each other as far as they can bowl each other. Ship him out. Right? Ship him out. As far as they can bowl each other? Yeah. Yeah, it's tough to bowl human. I've never heard that one before. Anything else jump out to you before you got to break? Do Damadov? Bowen Byram.

Oh, yeah. A billion dollar deal. Twelve and a half. Oh. Times six. Oh. Chicago just desperate, eh? This is... Yeah. Reeks of desperate. I think he's good.

I do too. I like the player. I would hope. He's in the exact class of, you know, Rasmus Anderson got eight and a half. Darren Radish got eight and a half. Give him nine. This is what I've learned over the last few years,

especially with the cap going up, is every time and Leon Drysadle did it at 14 million, you're like, ooh, who, ooh, and I was like, hey, Leon, looking good, Edmonton, looking good at 14 million. Yes. And that. But it's the Marner thing where you're going,

it's not that the number's bad. It's the number in context to what everyone else is doing. And what everyone else is doing is not Bo Byram's worth 12.5 mil. That's a lot for a guy who's been a third D on two D. To quote the price is right. That's too much, Bob. Rasmus Anderson, eight and a half times seven. Is that done?

Done. Did you rather have Rassus Anderson? That was done like days after he got traded there. Let's be honest. Why don't he have to wait for today? Because it had to do with a new calendar year and what you could do on your cap. Vegas just threw overboard all the spare parts, kept everything else that kept the boat running. People really dumped on him at the end, too.

Yeah. They asked a lot of him. Are the people in this room? No. Yeah, he made some bad plays. But I think for the most part, he's a minute buncher and he brings a lot to the table. So I think this kind of answers my question. You'd rather have him at eight and a half than radish at eight and a half?

Because I'd rather have radish. Different play styles, right? If Radish needs someone who can move a puck. Radish can get 15, 20 goals and 60 points, then it's Radish's offense. You see that there on our TV? Truba to the sharks and Mason Marchman. Sharks are starting to throw some money around. Four years, 8.25 million?

That's a hell of a deal for Truba. Can I hire his agent? Trubidor. That's insane. Did you see when... Hold on for a second. Again, right-handed shots that can play 15, 20 minutes.

Put your shoulder through your... That guy scares people. Okay. And it's rare. Okay. It's very rare to find still a guy like Truba who could end someone's career if their heads down. There's a...

He hasn't been ended as many careers as he did. It's still the threat out there, though, Sam. They just don't see it because it's after you go to sleep. No, he... Listen. He had a three-year stretch there where... Scott Stevens. He was hurting boys.

But that hasn't been the same. Something that fascinated me, there's a Twitter account, jock taxes, I think it's called, and it does a lot of hockey stuff. And when Eklund went from San Jose to Ottawa, he actually saved $300,000 in taxes on his contract. The point being that taxes in San Jose in California are even worse. They come into Canada, you save money than these California deals.

Wow. You don't hear about that as much when you talk about Canada and the perils of coming up north, you know? Good point. California's worse. Good point by you, buddy. I'm here to help, pal.

You just need a good account in these days. You got one? Yeah. Yeah, plenty. Plenty. He's got a team. Got an army. It's like juggling these.

Right? Keep as many as these as you can. Debed off, Montreal. Eight years, 9.1.25 million. But if they're magic when it comes to, like making undervalued contracts in a short period of time. It's all, you know, Nathan McKinnon playing for $6 million for all those years or go through the list.

Brad Marchand has never been paid. It's because these guys, when they're young, they go long and the team locks them up early. Demadov is so good, so talented. There's no chance five years from now that he couldn't sign for 15. We should get into this more on there. And we got books running over from the TV to come. coming here. Jason Bukala, pro-hockey group.

We'll be in studio with us as he shifts over from the television side. Plenty more on this Free Agent Day, Canada Day. Unreal Kippenborn. Do not go away.