Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: 34 & 16 Reunited

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Leafs' 3-2 win over the Predators for their third straight victory. They get into Craig Berube reuniting Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews on the same line, the longevity of the move and how it impacts the rest of the lineup. Then, they discuss whether this is the best we've seen from Marner, Fraser Minten earning a bigger role, Jani Hakanpää's recent surgery and the idea of the Leafs' reacquiring Luke Schenn. Finally, they look over the Atlantic Division landscape and why this could be the year the Leafs finally win it.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.

kick your feet up and relax for the next two hours but not if you're driving it's a terrible advice real kipper and born here for the next two hours as we kick it off in the leaf hour nick kiprios justin bourne sammy mckee der Derek Brandeo, Jen Rolnick. We are live on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, Sportsnet 360, and Sportsnet Plus. The Toronto Maple Leafs erased an early deficit to win their third in a row over the Nashville Predators. JB, another game, maybe a consecutive game where we could have said the old Leafs would have found a way to lose this one. That's exactly how I feel about last night.

That's a game I'm so familiar with them getting rid of a point or two somehow. They got the two points. I mean, at the end of the day, if you're them, you don't really care how it happened. Well, maybe you care a little bit, but they got two points. So we'll start the day off with a standing O for that. Sammy, 82 of these, right? Maybe it's just a little funk that they're going through where they're not showing their best yet.

Yeah. I don't know if that's how I felt about that game. You know, I thought it was pretty boring for sure, but I don't think they necessarily played badly through 40 minutes. Like, I think the whole... Do you think they played goodly i think the whole difference with this team with this coaching staff and much of the reason that i was starting to get excited yesterday before kipper slapped me across the face was that last night is a way more patient

defensive effort than they ever gave under sheldon keith there would have been so many more risks taken they would have been so many more risks taken. They would have been pushing for offense, pushing the puck. And, I mean, what did the Predators have? 11, 12 shots after two periods? Like, they weren't getting chances. It was just a low-event game that the Leafs found a way to win. Like, I don't think, it wasn't exciting.

I don't think they played great, but they were patient. They looked well-coached. That's what I thought. Okay, for the record, I kind of brushed you a little bit. It wasn't like one of those internet slap contests. Those slap fights. Whose idea was that? That's just straight CTE.

The CTE championships live on ESPN. It's got to be fake. No, there's no way. We're allowing people to slap people like that in today's world. And I saw one of the grand prizes for one of these events was like five grand for the winner. Five grand? Yeah. Five grand.

And that's for the winner. Like everyone else is playing for lunch money. It doesn't get you past like your dental bill, let alone get to your brain. I know. I know. So, yeah. Anyway, that's not what you did to sam no it's not uh gentle dismissal you know to to sammy's point that they look how do i phrase this they look comfortable when things aren't going well. Yeah. And that's a good thing to have when you're trying to win a division or eventually a championship is that if you can identify when things aren't going well, yet there's no panic, yet there's no reason to feel like

you got to jump up on a rush where maybe it's not the best idea or pinch when it's not the best idea. If you can have the patience to wait and last night was a prime example because we know what happened once berube made the switch in between the second and third period when things really got going yeah you know to your guys's point at five on five um the the predators only had six rushes over the entire course of the game you know that's just like you're down a goal you don't have to open the floodgates and start to take a ton of chances like the leafs do they have it in them to do it probably and i don't know how much of this is personnel but yeah

they they remain patient they hung in there and you know the elite players did the elite player things get your win wall was good again very good as you know i like to bring up the state controlled media the belief or whatever it's called. They actually had a clip of the second intermission as opposed to the end of the game address, which is rare for them. They usually put out the end-of-game thing where he goes in and does this, you know,

good job, Stoli, whatever he says. But he was in that thing. He was like, yeah, I know. Just stick with it. Stay patient. Like, keep check. Like, i don't know i just see the clips of this guy and they're putting out the best stuff but it just feels like

the way he communicates is so straightforward propaganda is working it is but i just i like the way he communicates yeah it's straightforward it's simple let's go to our first kippers clipper of the show on barubi's thoughts last night. Clip one. So Jake, did Cabe okay to go tonight? No. That's true. What happened? No, McCabe. I'm feeling good enough to play.

He will not play tonight. Did you submit all the clips? Listen, I put in today's clips. Our boy Derek is away. We have another guy in. Okay. Listen, there's a lot's clips. Our boy Derek is away. We have another guy. Okay. And he just, listen, there's a lot of clips in there from yesterday. He made a mistake.

I didn't put in the lineup. I forgot until right this second. So, no, you're good. You're good, Andrew. Don't worry. You know, it's rookie hazy season. You're just like the Leafs, except you're not comfortable when you're not playing well. You're a mess.

I'm fine. I'm totally fine. I think Andrew's probably worried, but I'm well. You're a mess. I'm fine. I'm totally fine. I think Andrew's probably worried, but I'm fine. You're fine? I'm totally fine. So do we have the right overview of the game now, Andrew? Clip one. Talk before the game about the game.

That's a good team over there. I know their record doesn't show, but it's a good team. And it's going to be a tight game. I knew that. I thought our guys stuck with it and didn't open it up and played good defense. And third period, we started to attack a little bit more. And, you know, power play got us a big goal.

Okay, we went heavy on Nashville yesterday, but Brew was a little wrong. They aren't a good team. And their record shows it yeah it is reflected in their play they they can't produce a thing they don't they're not dangerous that that's not a very good hockey team oh no they're quite bad and i you know i don't want to do it because toronto guy you know legend of the game but the stamco's play outside taking a penalty last night it's like he's not no noticeable five on five dangerous on the power play as usual but just it's not a good looking unit there that

team but they're gonna start selling guys off to flip it back to the toronto side of things about how they didn't start opening up i do feel like a lot of this is personnel you look at the leafs lineup and fraser minton is a guy that just kind of does it the right way and holmberg does it the right way and lorenz does the right way and do it like they are kind of does it the right way, and Holmberg does it the right way, and Lorenz does it the right way, and Deward. Like, they are kind of a steady group now. Yeah. It just feels more solid when they're in those situations than it used to be like, here comes Engvall and Mikheyev,

who were good players, but they're a little bit more, I don't know, anything could happen. They're pop rocks. Big talk after the game was the head coach's big move right genius creative stroke of wizardry unbelievable move scotty bowman the likes we've never seen let's go to craig berube clip two off his einstein moment how much credit do you take for reuniting Matthews and Marner in that moment? I don't take credit. I mean, late in the second period, there wasn't much going on,

so I thought I'd move a couple guys around and see if we could get something going. I think it was five minutes to go in the second when I moved them, and then I just stuck with it in the third. Got a couple opportunities and capitalized on them. How much credit do you take? And then you wanted to say absolutely zero credit. Yeah, I mean, this is like, boy, you know, Oates and Hull.

What if we reunited them, you know? What if we put Axum on the ice with Ovechkin? Envision like Ruby going to the bottom drawer of his coaching desk and then seeing Sheldon Keefe didn't take his last playbook and he opened it up and he said, when in doubt put 16 and 34 together.

I think you want to give him a bit of credit. He pushed the button at the right time. He bit of credit. Like he did have a good. He pushed the button at the right time. He had a good feel. Because he hasn't done that. And like, you know, you guys are going to make fun of me for loving

Perubi so much. But he hasn't really done huge in-game changes like that. He felt that he needed. He pushed the right button and it worked. He does deserve some credit. It was only a matter of time before it was coming. You cannot have Austin Matthews on pace for like 30 goals

or just sit at five goals now coming back and not feeling like he needs 16. I don't know. He does. What do you mean he does? He does. When they didn't play

together, he scored at a better pace without him last year. So he doesn't. No, he does. He does. He does. What do you mean he does? He does. When they didn't play together, he scored at a better pace without him last year. So he doesn't. He doesn't. No, he does. He does. Oh, okay. Never mind. Oh, I'm just saying that.

I don't think it's just a coincidence. I don't think it's just Marner coming in now. And Marner's gone to another level. How does a guy go from kind of not feeling it to looking like that with one switch? You mean Matthews? Yeah. Yeah, I think. He got tremendous energy off of Marner.

For sure. But I think this is something that that energy that he got from that is something that to me you could bottle in terms of not going to it all the time because i think if you stick with them together all the time then there's a complacency with them and they start to get a little too cute at times and then you go back to willie yeah but if you go for five or seven games and then it's back to whoever at the right time like they did last night with then it really energizes them and they they both look unbelievable. You need a game to win. You start the playoffs. It's a done deal.

That's 16s with 34. 34 wants 16. Of course it does. Doesn't want 88. Marner is one of the few best passers in the NHL. He creates offense like nobody. Tavares wants to play with him, too. It's a matter of what's best for your team.

He's number one in the league right now in that creating slot chances as our stat guy yeah yeah uh steve valicata told us he there's no one close to him right now in creating offensive danger zone opportunities and the first thing that he does is is find austin and all by himself in the slot great great pass by the way on that play by morgan riley to sniff it out rim it around hard to uh marner who then pass it to matthew's a great tic-tac-toe no question but yeah if you wanted listen like chemistry is a real thing we We all, you know, he's played hockey. You understand what chemistry is when those two guys get together. They're really good. I think they're great apart,

but they both are excellent and they love playing together. So they probably want to play together. Everyone has chemistry with Marner. He is as good as it gets for that sort of thing. The only question is, is, is it like, you know,

I mentioned Sheldon Keefe before. It's something that he used to do all the time as well. It's like, what does it do to the rest of the team, the rest of the lineup? And does John get a little lost right now again? Or can he find that magic that he just had for three weeks with Marner and McMahon and just carry it over to a follow-up line right now.

Yeah, you know, kind of didn't get mentioned on the show because they were winning so much, but Tavares didn't score a five-on-five goal until last game going back to October. Like, it had been a good run for him where he wasn't that hot. So, I don't know. I do worry about losing Tavares in the shuffle because Marner does help him get better looks.

So, yeah, it's a matter of what gives your team the best overall look. But you do think like the Oilers, when they need it, it's McDavid and Dreisaitl together. You put your best guys out there. That's just the sport, right? Yeah. I think, I mean, if we're going into Friday night, right, they play the Caps tomorrow.

I would imagine that they start together. I think you click like that in a game, you're just going to end up leaving. You probably have to go back to it. But I do think that as a new coach and a guy that's new to these guys, I think it'll be an interesting sort of factor to see how he feels out. Because you know how they can get those two together. It's great defensively always, but they get a little too cute offensively a little bit there is some stuff with them that people don't want them playing together so we'll see how berube handles

that but it's good last night i actually think nize on that line that to me outside of whoever you put with leon and connor that's the best line maybe in the nhl like nize is the perfect fit as someone who cleans up garbage when they create things and i went back and watched all nize goals for a package i'm doing for tv tonight and it's mostly marner and matthews doing nasty things and nize getting in being like donk yeah you know it's a pretty good spot for him well it might be for the first time since marner and matthews have been on the team or together all these years that they've finally locked in a left winger. You want to go down the list of left wingers for these guys?

It's been long. Like, Malgan. I mean, it's been crazy. Malgan's lighting it up in Switzerland. I'm so happy for him. 21 points in 18 games last I checked. And yet, Austin's found ways to score 70 goals, 69.

Mitch has been on this close to 100 points. And really no left winger. Yeah. Think about it for a second. This could be the thing that changes things for that line. I do think that's. And they're also, you know, as much as we like to get excited about young players,

it takes some time for guys to find that level of having seen playoffs and experience. These guys are peak right now. They're the best they're ever going to be. This is it. This is it? Well, probably. I don't think there's years better than this for their prime.

27 years. Okay, but it'll be like this for a little while? Like a couple more years? Yeah, you can have it for a bit, but I mean, it's not going to be. 30 is over, right? The line's going fast. The line stops going up. It's just going a lot faster than I expected.

You got 36 months. At 30, they're done. Oh, my God. At the very least, you're on the plateau, you know? Oh, that's dark. doesn't go up forever yeah and is this enough to now watch austin get on one of those heaters that we've been accustomed to over the next 10 12 games i think that's safe to say he's got five points in three games since he came back three goals um yeah we've seen him do. The biggest thing is we agreed on the show after his first game or two

that he didn't quite look like his all-around. We said, what, 70%, 75%? Yeah, engaged for me. And for me, it's still like he kind of has looked like he did when he was a younger player where you could tell the offense is there, but it's still kind of swoopy and not as hard as we know he can play yeah i think unfortunately it's and this is just not austin this is me talking about goal scores in general

there has to be a level of selfishness for these guys they love to score goals right and you know when austin's his best, he wants the puck, he wants to shoot it in the net. But there just has to be that now next phase of his leadership, captaincy, goal scoring, how do I make the team better? I know I can score 60 goals or 70 goals, but is it going to help us win in advance? So that's the tricky part for me

because I do acknowledge that there is a level of selfishness in any goal scorer. Yeah. I remember this one goal in junior. The puck was slowly crossing the goal line, and if I left it alone, I think Keith Osborne would have gotten it. I stuffed it in. But you know what?

I stuffed it in. But you know what? You should. Not until it's in. I know. Put it over the line regardless. I know. But, you know, I got razzed a little bit.

I remember the guy like, what way did Keith Osborne shoot, Kev? Right. Okay. 12th overall pick, St. Louis Blues. I played with me and Dave McIlwain. Well, that's you. You watched, like, last night, Tavares in an all-out sprint down the ice.

I don't think I've seen him faster. You know, and it's like, it's three, two, or two seconds. Cookie! And it's like, but at the same time, you get it. It's like, go get your cookie. It's a hard game. Go get a freebie. You know, I had to nitpick. Yeah. time you get it it's like go get your cookie it's a hard game go get a freebie i you know it is

i had to nitpick yeah i know uh austin and i think even mitch got caught out for the last two minutes of the game okay too long but there was an icing involved they got a timeout i get it leave them out there but three two puck starts to come out and i think tavaris had it over the blue line could bank it off the wall gain the red line probably the safest bet was to get it to mitch marner up front austin with the one big beaver tap slap you want a hat trick wants a hat trick yeah no not there you're talking about robbing a goal from keith i know but he wanted a party but it but that's the fine line i'm talking about i get sam that's the fine line he missed it it's an icing thank goodness uh the next face off nash, I think even Stammer,

who didn't have a great game, just fires it out on a bad pass. And, you know, the game's over. But if that's Vegas, if that's another team that's better or a little stronger, might have ended up a different game. Let's listen to what Berube had to say on Matthew's clip five there. Get his thoughts. I thought tonight was his best game. I know he scored, but to me, he had his legs more tonight, skated.

I thought he had his legs better and skated better and capitalized on his opportunities that he got which is important that's what he does but overall it's coming and it's coming you know you didn't think he was very good who to start the game who matthews yeah i thought he was a little quieter offensively but i think simmer did a great job they did a pack coming out of the second intermission where like you know you do take for granted how good he is in his own zone and like you're still gonna get that from him blocking shots digging pucks out along the boards like i think he was a little bit i mean he rung one off the post in the first period of a great pass

from willie from behind the net you know i think he's still at about probably 80 85 percent i don't think he's at 100 but you know you get a couple stick puck on your stick in the slot and you're awesome matthews they're probably going to go in the back of the net so i mean he has three goals since he's returned and we've talked about like he can't yeah i'm not quite finding it but it is good this would be a nice time for him to get feeling good considering how much hockey they play coming up so this would be the right time and uh marner can cash some of that in they can get some run some numbers up here over the softer schedule too even though it's busy this has to be let's say i don't want to get accused of driving the price up for you guys on the marner talk

this is this is probably as good as we've ever seen him no doubt about this stretch he's he's been dominant i don't know if that's true like i he's been good i think that's recency bias like he's always had these stretches over regular seasons where he's been unbelievable like when he had a 27 point or how when they gain but it's also coming off of carrying the team for three weeks that austin wasn't on that's never really we've never really seen it like that but he's and i agree with you yeah all of it like he's he's quietly done all the great things that we we're seeing today but it just seems like it's it's shining a little brighter right now i think it's because yeah i mean and

you get named a team canada and it just feels like everybody's pretty impressed with how amazing he's been but i think we do this a lot in november december january where we talk about how unbelievable he is i mean i agree he is in his prime prime right now he's undeniably great one of the sounds like uh let's wait till we get to the playoffs no i've said to you a hundred times plug your nose and sign the damn contract just do it i've said that a million times but like think everybody, we've had these conversations about him in the regular season a million times. But to Kip's point, playing good drives the price up. He's like, well, he's on his.

Yeah. And Nylander was red hot when his contract negotiations were going on. And we used to come on the show all the time and be like, we even had tree living on, I think. And we're like, what are you going to pay him, Brad? We had the general manager of the Leafs on our show. Did we not? We once got a gas. I don't remember that.

That magnitude from the Leafs. But anyway, yeah, he's playing great at a time when he's talking money. Good for him. Where do you guys want to go? You want to go on Minton, the standings? Where do you want to go? I think, I mean, the Minton love affair with Craig Berube is pretty funny.

He really loves this guy. You know, like, the, like, movie trope of, like, the big ogre who, like, loves a little cat, like there's, like, a mice and men or whatever. Like, I feel like this is Minton and Berube. Like, he's found his, like, special thing that he loves, which is great. We have multiple clips of him talking about Minton. Like he went on about Minton. He compared Minton to his work ethic and everything

to John Tavares at one point earlier. He's like, he's like John Tavares. You know, he just, but we'll go with the first one of elevating Minton, clip six. I thought he was, get some chances, you know, round the net, shot pucks. Just liked his positioning, his poise out there, all that. So just put him to the wing when I switched those lines up.

And, you know, he was solid for me tonight, all around. Finished with seven hits, five shots. You know, he's poised out there. He doesn't panic. He's always in the right spot. He bought me a beautiful lunch. I like his haircut. He delivers food to underprivileged children.

What else? He's setting them up that they're going to get healthy, and I don't want to lose them. That's what's going on. Well, I'm getting choked up thinking I'm like Craig Verruve. But this is clip now this is from today they talked about it more and bear with the audio here they decided instead of having the media availability under a fan they decided to do it right beside a crossbar

but uh here is clip nine please andrew would be the automatic guy to send down given he doesn't need waivers but is he making that more difficult if you guys are all healthy? No, definitely. Definitely. I mean, if he can help us, I want him here. Like, you know, that's how I look at it. I mean, he's the type of player that we like a lot. Okay.

Don't take away my teddy bear. Is it harder to send him down? Yes, it is i'm sure brett tree living and brendan shanahan will take that in a heavy consideration but if it may cost you some depth i.e losing someone in the waiver wire then they still might have some hard decisions to make yeah like as much as, you know, I have been hard on Pontus Holmberg, which, by the way, has purely been

because he is not offensively capable of playing with Mitch Marner. Yeah, that guy's getting claimed. For sure. Absolutely getting claimed. He's a very good... He's an... I'll pump the brakes there.

He's an NHL player. He's an extremely fine hockey player. Fine. Nick Robertson has not scored. I don't see a world where he clears waivers either. No chance. Not a chance he clears waivers. So it starts to get like,

Grabenkin can go first. Is Steve still around? I don't think so, is he? No, he went back down. But he wasn't waver eligible, but it was like a 10-day, there's like a certain loophole that he fit into, so he went back down.

Let me ask you. Rather have Holmberg or Dewar? Dewar. I've liked Dewar. Probably Dewar. See, it's a... Are we more comfortable with Dewar playing center than Holmberg? Yeah.

I like that fourth line, you know, having him out there and he seems responsible. I don't know. He just hammered somebody last night. I just like a bigger, heavier body. It's fair. He's not very big at all. You know, he does have a 10-goal NHL season.

How? We need to study that one. I'm going to go back and watch them all. But anyways, I don't think Max Domi's ready to play this weekend, but he's getting close. You know who else is getting close too? Who? Patches.

Patch. Patch ready. He's ahead of schedule. Like you think in the next week or two? Well, yeah, I do. Do we know when he went on the IR and when he's eligible to come off of it? No, but we could figure that out, I'm sure. Is it 10 games?

When's Yarncroft eligible? No, we're not even mentioning his name? He got surgery here. All right, well, let's Sam look that up. Why don't we listen to the last Ruby on Minton, then we'll be done with him, which is Clip. Are you done with Minton? You had enough?

Okay, let's go. All right, Clip 10, Minton on the plane. Minton, Minton, Minton. Yeah, I think centermen in general can go to the wing. I don't think it's a big change, you know. I had Robbie Thomas as a young 18-year-old, or maybe he's 19, in St. Louis. And I played him on wing most of the year.

He did not play center until the next year coming in. So, you know, and he did a great job for us you know he's playing in the playoffs and everything so i don't think going to the wing whether he plays the wing tomorrow or not i think it's he's a versatile guy that can handle that i don't think it's a big change from a centerman to go to the wing i wonder if that gives him a better chance of sticking around what oh i'm just I'm just laughing because it's almost as if every team, there's always like this little public kind of love affair for a coach and a player.

Yeah. And my year at Hartford, I scored like 17 goals at 300 penalty minutes and Al Peterson and a few of the guys on the team would be calling me Homer Jr. Paul Holmgren was our coach. Yeah. And I'd be like, they'd be calling me Homerer jr and i'm like i hated that right and not a bad spot and then the coach loves you though i know a few years ago when babcock was around he had the the big love affair for zach hyman because zach was on writing Shotgun with Austin and all the top centermen.

And I think Matt Martin always gave it to him as being Babcock's son. Yeah. Right? Yeah. So it's like. What did they say about Kerfoot and Keefe? I think that was Keefe's favorite guy. I don't know.

I didn't get. Yeah. Did you? I didn't get that sense. What? He would put him in the top six a hundred times. Like. They didn't get that sense. What? He put him in the top six a hundred times? They didn't have anyone. We did more for Flex Seal than anybody.

I guess. Okay. But anyways, maybe that's now Berube and Minton. Yeah. Maybe the playing wing thing gives him some viable longevity with the Leafs. You know, it's not hard to see a fourth line where he's the reliable guy with a little bit of offensive upside. So, just to go back to your point,

Pat Shreddy was placed on IR on November 11th. So, that's quite some time ago now. So, he's eligible soon. Yeah. The more I think about it, though, there's no way Minton's here for playoffs, right? He would have to have such a good year.

All I'll say is watching the game last night. It's a crazy game. It is. It's a crazy game. All I'll say is watching the game last night, and it was 39 in the top six instead of 29. I was like, oh, thank God. I know. I was like, oh, thank God.

They're bouncing pucks off Holmberg. He doesn't know where it's going. Holmberg had Marner try to hit him backdoor, and holmberg was just like oh yeah that coming oh you should is that a puck what is that like i just i can't anticipate that i was not i mean i don't know if like it's very seldom that you get a young kid that can turn into like the early success of uh wyatt johnson in dallas but there's a guy that a lot of people did envision last year being a key part in the playoffs yeah for for dallas real early when he got when he made the team yeah i don't know i don't know where minton stands but i i wouldn't be shocked i wouldn't be shocked now to see him

somehow find a way into the the lineup maybe in maybe in an early playoff round. Yeah, okay. All right. Our thoughts on this guy have changed. And might be some shifting going on with the lineup. What are you hearing? I'm just hearing what everybody hears. What's everybody hearing?

Brad's making calls. Oh, he's busy. Busy. And there's just no way the team's going to, this team that we saw last night will be the team in April. Yeah. Right. It's going to.

Is it going to be the team in January is the question. Is it going to be before Christmas break? No, no. I don't get that sense. Okay. Is it going to be before Christmas break? No, no, I don't get that sense. I think let the cap get eaten up a little bit, free some people up, and then January, February, we're going to start hearing some names being linked to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's going to be fascinating.

Like, let's say they had back right now, Pacioretty, Domi, and Yarncroft. You know, you look at that that lineup and all of a sudden mintin grabenkin holmberg or doer you know like it's it's a really deep lineup at that point yeah well i did not have this early success of patch already and he came in and gave them a real physical presence and you just hope he picks up where he left off because that is something that when we've seen other players like a Thornton or even I know Marleau came in with a big contract and a lot of still decent years, but Patch is like for free

and he's on bonus time for the leafs it's so funny though because to me that was um giordano for them last year and you were all over giordano all year long he was free and i thought he was effective i think they're like the same guy for me where it's like it's great except defense is way more pivotal for me than a winger. Yeah. That's all. That's fair. Right?

That's totally fair. Just the speed was an issue for me for Geo, that eventually the wear and tear over the course, and he was as competitive as can be. And to your point, he gave them some really good nights. Really good nights. He gave them all they had.

When you needed it at the end, it was not there. He's supposedly skating right now. Sniffing around. Oh, he is. I think he's going to play in the Spangler Cup. Is it Christmas? Or at least they wanted i saw that

in your article that's where i saw that they wanted him i don't know if he'll go but he was he was sniffing around i know edmonton like he wanted to go to edmonton i'm not sure they don't immediately get better with i'm not i totally agree with you like he just another leaf heading out to albert he can give you some decent minutes. He gives you 15 hard, even-strength minutes and some PK block shots. In January and February. Actually, they need PK help, too, don't they? Yes.

Okay. When it comes for the Oilers. Oh, poor Flamesman. I have a little. Do we get a cut if he signs there? We should. I just had a little thing watching that game last night. A pitch to you two guys.

You know, I watched everybody who says, Graank and, oh, what a big player. What a big player. And then he ran into a big player, Luke Shen. Yeah, he got smoked a couple times. Luke Shen. He eats up big men. There's big men and then there's Luke Shen. Yeah.

I got to ask you the question, boys. Bring Luke home. Where? New Hawk and Paw. Like, why not not didn't he get national paid him paid not too bad they just signed a guy that's on team of finland hawk and paw is not gonna play true there's like just seven oh yeah finished defensemen in the whole league and they're all playing in this thing he had a he had surgery by the way

oh yeah yeah he had he had surgery oh just a little. Hockenpah. Oh, yeah, yeah. He had surgery. Oh, just a little procedure on his knee. He did? Yes. When? I don't know. It's about to happen. We have an update on it.

He had it, I think. Let's listen. Let's listen to the Brubaker 12 Hockenpah update. Well, he'll be back on the ice soon, you know, and then, you know, he's good to go. He got something done, a little procedure done to help himself out a little bit. And he just needs a few days, and then he'll be back on the ice and get up to speed again and be ready to go. Was he in Berlin?

Again, he's just giving you a little bit. I'll extend Craig Berube's comments. He got a little procedure. He's going to come back. He's going to be good to go. Then he's going to take another break. He's going to get another little procedure. He's going to train his knees, fall over the watermelon. Then he's going to get going again.

Then March will roll around and we're going to lose him again. There's going to be a little procedure. We're going to just take this right thing right into April. Every two weeks two weeks hawk and pause checks are gonna clear to my point bring luke home morgan riley's never looked better with anyone else than luke luke shen they were excellent the playoffs that you know the year they actually won a round tough knows the market professional defensive defenseman the way that opens up their decor

if you're playing them together. You know, it's going to, you know, it does a slow decline. Yeah, but this year in net, it's not like it's a 10-year contract. It's not that much. The Caps want to go to $100 million. No, it's not about to. Give me a break. It's not about to.

It's not too much. It will, but it's not about to. And, Sammy, if they wanted to keep him with that contract, they would have signed him before he even left. Yeah, but it's a different scenario. It's a different scenario now. Yeah, you can, but so can 12 other teams. I know old Hockenpah is a star for Team Finland,

but I don't like relying on him, and they need more of that element on the decor. And Luke Shen is tough. He hammers guys. I've heard worse ideas. If they only retain half of that, I've heard worse ideas. And they're going to blow it up. They stink. Send him a pic. Send him Nick Robertson. They need scoring.

Robertson for Shen would be hilarious contrast. Anyway, so both you guys are out on that? No. You need to retain retain there would be a dozen teams that would love him and if the leafs could get him and you knew what he did before he left just most recently who wouldn't want him this is he was here last year right no two years ago two years ago yeah oh you know when they won that round and he beat the crap out of tanner janeau and beat the crap out of pat maroon and shut down everybody he was an integral part of that victory massive but don't you just want to like don't make gladiator 2

don't go there so don't you go there it was perfect the way it ended here for luke shen don't you go there okay let's take a quick break yeah later on in the show we're going to welcome in david amber as well plenty more and keith jones president of the philadelphia flyers i think will join us plenty still more unreal kipper and born don't go away hey it's matt marchese and i'm mike fuda we're discussing the top stories of the day across the nhl and the hockey world weekdays at noon it's the fan hockey show on sportsnet, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the Leaf Edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. So we got some internet love, eh, from those guys on the street.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Fan First Network. Fan First Network. Just to shout them out. Remember their name, we were told. Yeah, remember their from those guys on the street. Oh, yeah, yeah. Fan first network. Fan first network. Just to shout them out and remember their name, we were told. Yeah, remember their name. They're abrasive. But they're working their asses off. Now it's cold out there.

They're grinding. They are. They're working hard. Microphone out there. Way to go, boys. Love it. Keep it up. We need people like you.

Passion. I love all the Four Nations stuff. We're going to talk to DA at the top of the hour about the Four Nations team and all the release or whatever. But I don't know who would have done this for Sportsnet, but they put together the, like, omissions team. Yeah. The snub team. And I asked Jen to grab this. Oh, good job.

That's great. So she put up the all snub team. Yeah. Right? So if you're watching on SportsCenter, you're watching on YouTube later, you can see this. I look at that team.

It dummies the Finnish team. I mean, first of all, that's a silver medal team to me. Secondly, I completely understand that John Tavares, not on team one, not a team Canada guy at this point of his career

but whoever put this together give your head a shake no Tavares in there bothers you stop it for a second and listen I want to acknowledge that John is having a very good season he was the first line center for a month on the best team in the Atlantic

between Shifley, Celebrini, Suzuki, and Thomas, who are you taking out? Nick Suzuki. Easy. Done deal. No. Macklin Celebrini, out. John Tavares has played for a team candidate at every level.

He's played world junior, Olympics, world championship. Anything, like, sorry. He's on the team. If he's playing wing, like, sorry, Matthew Shane, you're gone. Like, sorry. Whoever put this together, shame on you. You know, it's tough. No, it's not.

It's just the window has passed. No. And it unfortunately has passed for Stamkos too, guys. Okay? It's just the window is gone. I disagree. I think that this is obviously not, this is a moot point and it doesn't matter. But to me, the under,

like John Tavares has been so beaten down by people like me. Don't get me wrong. I've been in the camp where he was like the highest, second highest. Where's he been beaten down? No, it was like people saying that he isn't like Sam's right. What are you talking about? I mean,

we're hard on him. They literally stripped the sea off of him this year. Like they, he has been, he's taken a lot of crap. Yeah, but he's not a great captain. Anyways, what I'm saying is, is he has gone from overrated, overrated, to totally underappreciated. Like, it's happened overnight here. And, like, they're putting together a 12-forward omission,

and John Tavares, who played first line center for a team that's leading the Atlantic division and is a point per game, can't get on the omissions list? Point a game. Give me a break. Hey. Point a game. Give me a break. I like this energy.

Point a game. No, like, I'm not Mr. John Tavares. I'll criticize him as much as anybody, but I was blown away by that. Sorry. Didn't help that he was the captain of the world championship team. They didn't meddle. I know. They almost lost to Germany. I know, but he wouldn't be the captain of the... He's not on A-team. He's not captain of the world championship team. They didn't medal. I know. They almost lost to Germany.

I know, but he wouldn't be the captain of the... He's not on A-team. You're not that upset that Morgan Riley's not on the admissions list. He should be on there, too. Yeah. He should be on there, too. Tanev and him. He hasn't been strong enough this season.

Anyways. Morgan. Sorry to my colleagues that put that together. I hope that Morgan not being named on Team Canada lights a fire under him. Yeah. Because he's got... I maintain it's hard to have a newborn. It is hard.

And when you're talking about the elite elite, the best of the best, and you're this much worse, it makes a difference. And it's hard. I saw an interview he did recently with... God, I'm so mad I can't remember who it was. But he said like...

Was it Cloak? No, it was an in-person one. But anyway, he said that, like, you know, trying to get sleep is a struggle right now. It's a challenge. Anyways. Everybody's been through it. Yeah.

It's not new. It's not new, but neither is getting punched in the face. It still sucks to get punched in the face. But you've got to manage it. You've got to overcome it. We just had Mark Messier talking about no excuses. Come on. Just find a way.

But that's not. I hate that. Because it's not an excuse. It's something he's dealing with. But it is a complicating factor. You know, it makes things 1% harder for him to manage. He's not complaining about it. I'm doing it for him.

Many have found a way to manage it and be great. Yes. That's your job now to do that. He's not complaining. I'm saying it could be a difficulty and part of the reason he's 1% worse. So you're telling me John Tavares is one of the 26 best Canadian forwards in the league this year? I guess that's what I'm saying, Bruxy.

That's crazy. We do. Oh, I also what I'm saying, Bruxy. That's crazy. We do... Oh, I also want to talk about Nylander. Did you guys have any thoughts last night on him? I've never seen him talk to the ref that much. He went full Kyle Lowry. His brother got scratched, and he's like, I'm pissed.

He was all over the official last night in a way I've never seen him before. I thought it was a bad look. Just frustrated? Yeah, I think he was frustrated. He's actually having a good year. Yeah, he's not going in at the same rate it was earlier in the season. I think he came out of the gates pretty en fuego,

and he just seemed really frustrated last night. Ended up scoring. He did. He actually almost missed a wide-open net on a great pass by Matthew Nyes. But even the thing that he was frustrated about, because it was that behind-the-net play on the first or second shift of the game, I didn't really think it was much of anything. It was kind of like they got tied up and he was pissed off.

People on the internet thought he gave Nick Robertson a bit of a hairy eyeball. Yeah, he did. Which one? Did you see it? I did see it. Yeah. So it was a play where I saw it live. He tried to stick handle right to the net.

Yeah. And Willie was off the post and thought maybe he could have slid him over. It was a play where I saw it live. He tried to stick handle right to the net. Yeah, and he was sitting there with a stick on the ice. And Willie was off the post and thought maybe he could have slid the puck over and then maybe Willie thought he could have a walk around the post for an opportunity, but I don't know. It's hard to tell sometimes on those things. It can be, but I think if he did give him a hairy eyeball or almost did and he's talking to the official all night you kind of feel like a guy who really wants it and

just felt frustrated for whatever reason and can i be honest about something you should pass it to willie yeah that's not the first time when he should have passed it to willie the two-on-one the other day yeah are you are you the one that's really opening up yeah we do so i think it was you that was talking about how robertson it's just like hockey to him is called nick robertson yeah and it was never more evident he got his goal oh yeah no it's just like he's so tunnel vision offensively i actually wonder if you know we've talked about boy six guys injured he can't get it in the top six. I wonder if part of the problem is, you know, the top six guys going, I'm not playing with him.

Yeah. You know? So if I give it to him, I'm never getting it back. No, I would rather not. Like, it's like the anti-Marner situation where the puck's going to land on your stick in the sweet spot every time, or you're going to watch Robertson shoot it into a goalie's chest. Right. So, yeah.

Nashville did manage to score the first goal, which was crazy, but that would have been a goal if Samsonov was in the net last year. We would have been like click. I'm not even watching the rest of this game. Was it the shorthanded one you're talking about where he wall got a little piece of it? He made such a

great save there. Oh, yeah. You know. But no, but the goal, the first goal. The first goal, yeah. Weirdest bounce you could ever see. Weirdest. Oh, that one. Yeah, sorry.

Yeah, the Marchessault one was insane. I don't even know. Like, none of the replays showed how the puck got there for the longest time. I was trying to figure out what happened. That is the most bizarre bounce I think I've ever seen. And credit to Marchessault for skating to the most bizarre bounce I think I've ever seen. And credit to Marcius for skating to the

goal. He picked it up immediately. He skated on the goal. That's what you're supposed to do. For sure. You cannot give credit to somebody that's supposed to go to the net. He did it. But I mean, he shot it and it hits the end glass. Skating into the blue paint isn't exactly what you're going to do. You're calling Berube a genius last day for putting 34-16. You're supposed to go to

the net, Sammy. That's what you're supposed to do. And he's making $6 million. I thought it was a good play by him. Followed up it. And he batted it in out of midair and it was a nice pretty much their only good moment. Joseph Wall now 6-0 in his last six starts.

Can't go wrong. Pick a goalie on the Leafs to play. Can't go wrong. Kind of looking pretty good here. I imagine they'll a goalie on the leafs to play can't go wrong kind of looking pretty good here i imagine they'll both get in on the friday and the saturday the back to back here it's friday saturday yep uh washington on friday night and then saturday night in pittsburgh to play the all of a sudden red hot penguins if they've won four or five in a row here now so they're getting they're getting hot oh i watched uh them lose a 4-1 lead the other night to florida like it was nothing they won it in overtime good on them for the two points but it wasn't pretty to hold on you know curious to see what the penguins end up doing here. You know, they... I mean, the Penguins have beaten some good teams here in the last little bit. What's their...

They beat the Canucks, who are good. They beat the Florida Panthers, who Kipper just made fun of them for. Beat the Flames. Beat the Bruins. Some decent wins in there. Yeah. Not bad. But, like, you hear they're interested in, like, Nils Hoaglander.

You know, it's like... That's the most dubious player of all time. You're going to go get another five foot ten guy who scores 20 goals that'd be great but they're uh yeah they're trying to figure it out there mostly they just need goaltending like like so many teams right yes sir anyways i just it is really again i'll say it like i said yesterday without kipper giving me the hairy eyeball it's great the least goaltending is making me feel very different yeah you know it's just another night where you know it wasn't even his best night like he made some great saves but it's

just it's their standard is their standard of okay is so much higher than i'm used to seeing ever for at least i just think it's the one thing that stands out for me it it looks like it's never been easier like just to get through to the wind be a goalie for the leafs to be a goal to be a goalie for the leafs when there's a level of predictability on guys not gambling or losing positioning the number of block shots that i continue to get it's it's got to be nice a feeling for both those goalies right now yeah waking up today the leafs uh hottest team in the nhl eight wins in the last 10 games also in the past they were struggling with uh regulation wins regulation overtime wins or whatever um one of the top teams league wide there there are two points up in the atlantic division over florida with a game

in hand on them so you know this is kind of a time to make hay as they're getting a little bit healthier some soft games ahead and it just feels more than other years if you are going to believe in them that the thing the table is set for them to actually win the division so kip i talked about this with sam the other day boston kind of figuring it out a little bit are they not like they're I still feel like they could very well end up playing them whether it's one v8 or two versus three that could very well be their first round matchup again thanks Gary just doesn't it doesn't seem like again again we talk about blown leads how about Buffalo the other night oh my, my God. Yeah. Like, there's reporters now calling for, like,

somebody get fired there. Somebody get traded. Somebody get sent down. Yeah. That's how bad it is. Watching them blow a 4-0 lead to Colorado the other night. But Sabres, Red Wings tonight, Detroit and Ottawa. Like, if you want to talk about almost a must win for the ottawa senators talk about that but to your just to kind of bring it around full circle here yeah boston

seems to be like they're they're they're gonna be four coming out of the at. Yeah, it does feel like there are. I guess it's, for me, the Bruins are doing, they've kind of changed a little bit since they moved on from Montgomery. A little bit lower event, a little bit, I think they'll make goaltending a little bit easier as a team. And then, you know,

if you get into a playoff series with them, they're still going to have Swayman, who can get hot. They're still going to have McAvoy and Pasternak. And, you know, if you get into a playoff series with them, they're still going to have Swayman, who can get hot. They're still going to have McAvoy and Pasternak. And, you know, got to slay the dragon sometimes to get to the... Bottom four teams in the Atlantic by points percentage. Buffalo, Detroit, Ottawa, Montreal. Okay, fast.

Your Atlantic division. Fast. Leaf hour. We're not even halfway through. We got national next. David Amber, studio host, Hockey Night in Canada, NHL Network on Sportsnet is next. Stick around.