Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: .500 in Florida + Battling Bedard

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look back on the Leafs' 5-3 win over the Lightning on Saturday night. They get into Nick Robertson breaking his scoring drought, Auston Matthews' return, Pontus Holmberg's poor fit in the top six and another elite game from Joseph Woll. Then, they discuss Jake McCabe's injury, whether we've seen the last of Jani Hakanpää after his move to IR and a rare down-game for OEL. Later, Darren Pang (31:33) helps set the stage for the Leafs' game tonight against the Blackhawks and discusses the pressure on Connor Bedard and how Chicago enters the next steps of their rebuild.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.

all right let's roar into december here gang real kipper and bornne show. Leaf edition. Live on Sportsnet 590. The fan and Sportsnet Plus. Nick Kipper, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Derek Brandeo, and Jake the Snake Schultz. Ready to kick off the week on this Monday. Another game night on Monday for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they just put the Tampa Bay Lightning away Saturday night, JB. 11 Leafs games in the next 21 days, Kip. So more than every other night, Sammy's got Leafs talks with some frequency. And we've got, I think, a few games coming up in December.

We are. Wow. I kind of like the schedule. I do too. You know? What do you mean? We got to work. We still got a lot of regional games to go, but it's been quiet in October. I kind of like the schedule. I do too. You know? What do you mean? We got to work.

We still got a lot of regional games to go, but it's been quiet in October and November. Yeah. Just going home and having dinner and opening up a nice vino. Chianti. It's kind of nice. They saved Kip and I for the meat of the order. We're about to clean up here. Right in the middle of the season, we get to do a whole bunch of games.

I'm very excited about that. What do you think about our decorations, boys? Credits. Spent all night. Were you like Will Ferrell in Elf where you spent the whole night in the department store to get it ready? No, but I'm a little concerned about the stuff that's around my desk. I'm getting sparkles

rained on my knees over here. My pants and shoes are never going to be the same. Mike's going to think you're at a strip club. Yeah, I thought you were going to work. It does look great, though. Credit to whoever decorated this. Love it. Very festive.

Love it. All right, which looked like a fairly comfortable lead may have turned into something a little bit, you know, hairy for Leaf fans. But at the end of the day, I think the leafs got the win that they needed and despite a push at the end of the game by tampa it was a game that the leafs were fairly in control on the return of austin matthews yeah give him credit uh you know

tampa bay was on a back-to-back uh and kind of looked at at times but you know they got out to a four nothing lead in tampa bay and that's no small accomplishment um you know the puck went in for him sammy was chirping vasilevsky online saying the last saturday night and the last what about the round one 2023 what about that yeah and two yeah i he's looking real human these days well i think the the start of that playoff series with the leafs and then into last year and then into parts of this year it's kind of been the downward part for him. But I will say, since that happened, I've never had any fear of going up against him.

He's a guy that the Leafs shoot holes in every game. So they own him. They do. They score four goals on him every game. Not to take anything away from Nick Robertson's shot because it was like a bullet. But that type of goal, when Vasilevsky's on just doesn't go in he's just six he's too big he's too big far hash marks that look like it's almost at the top of the circle those pucks just never found ways to go in and and break tampa's back yeah i will say uh joseph

wall had a quote about Nick Robertson's shot. He says, what did I say to you? One of the best shots he's ever seen. And we've known that. This is not new information. So good for him for getting on the board and screaming, which I don't think he was celebrating the Leafs going up 3-0. That did not seem like a celebration for the team.

I can't blame him. I can't blame him for that. Right? Been there breaking a 20-goal drought and going, that one was for me. All right, let's start right there with head coach Craig Berube on Nick Robertson. Well, hopefully give him confidence.

We talked to him today about that, you know, and just build off it. And I thought Nick had a good game. You know, I thought he was working hard and he had some chances tonight. One went in for him, which was great. He's just got to keep at it.

He's working hard. No problem with the work ethic. Talk to him today about getting on the inside more and getting around the net and scoring some greasy goals, but it was great to see him get one for sure so not that goal well and also like is that the goal he's gonna score i don't even know if that's good advice for him in particular but i mean i did hear craig ruby just say you know yeah okay go go do it again yeah not real

thrilled about your one goal in 20 some games go do it again yeah Yeah. Not real thrilled about your one goal in 20-some games. Go do it again. Yeah. So we mentioned Austin Matthews coming back, and there is a sense that they are getting healthier. How do you think Matthews looked? Kind of the same before he disappeared for three weeks. Yeah? Yeah.

But he's been off for three weeks. I expect him to be a lot more engaged at home against a weaker opponent like chicago this could be easily a game that he ends up with two or three goals and and maybe just starts getting on a bit of a roll but as far as how i saw him saturday night much like i did before he got hurt where it's like he's not there. He's just not there. Yeah. A little hesitant.

A little hesitant, a little apprehensive. Fade of contact a bit. Like the very first shift, I think he went to throw a hit that he braked three-quarters of the way into. I just feel like it's almost like he's not stopping and starting. Like we, you know, kind of some loopier patterns to me he's still they played him 20 and a half minutes or something which i don't know how i feel about that i guess the game kind of dictated that towards the end where you start protecting

a leader whatever but yeah i i thought okay he was okay but we've seen him when he's been really hot and going, right? And it's just like nowhere near that level where we've seen him at his very best, dominating, stealing pucks. Stealing pucks and skating through the neutral zone. Really getting up to speed. And guys crawling on his back trying to stop him, right? Not his best night ends up with two points, so...

Can it happen as early as... Can it happen as early as tonight, or is this something he's going to have to play himself into? I think, you know, he talked about... God, it was that he had half a practice and gave it a little extra time, and I think you get another practice and another game, and then you get, you know, another morning skate.

Yeah, he definitely can. I don't think there's any reason why you shouldn't expect him to be better tonight i think it's pretty reasonable yeah i thought you know what what percentage would you say of himself was he at on on saturday you're gonna put it 75 75 that's why you know you look at who he's playing with and nize clearly had just come back to but you get other guys back when you get him back to like william neilander was so much more engaged flying around playing with him it's like you see how much better others feel around it gives you another line where it's been mitch and john yeah you know

dragging this team through the injury mark willie playing with marley's right Right. Yeah. That's the other thing that stood out to me Saturday night is it felt like it was less rhythm of what we've seen from one line, from the first line to the fourth line,

where without Austin, it's Tavares and Mitch and, you know, McMahon before he got hurt and then Willie on on a second line and it was like more of a rotation feel where you just go through your lines and Saturday night it felt more broken down to when do if you're Ruby when do I get Matthews back out there? And a few times there was offensive zone face-offs. I think on one play, Tavares started a period, pulled him off like 19 seconds later for an offensive zone face-off where he wanted to get Austin out there.

So it just felt a little bit more jagged to me in terms of Berube really figuring out what he wanted to do with those first two lines. How do you match them up? I wonder if it's a combination of things there where it's like Nyes hadn't been in for a while either. So you have two guys finding their way back from injury and

Willie is maybe your defensive stud the way that Marner and Tavares are and you say this is just a better opportunity for them that sets everyone up in their best spots. But yeah, it is a different look when you have two first lines, essentially. And you look at the ice times,

it would reflect that, right? Like the top guys are all up around 20 and then everyone underneath there is like 10 and 11 and 8. It's actually really funny you say that. Amongst forwards, Holmberg played 17-21, and he was the sixth highest ice time. The seventh highest is Minton at 11-31. So there's a six-minute gap between your sixth and seventh forward.

Do you have all the ice times broken down? Yep. So what did Nylander end up with power play ice time again? Oh, I actually don't have the time on ice broken down. Okay. But Nylander was 20-35. Yeah. power play ice time again. Oh, I actually don't have the time on ice broken down. But Nylander is 20-35 on the game. Matthews 20-23, Mitch 21-08. I found it interesting, Craig Simpson

on the telecast, who's a regular guest on our show, made a comment about Willie playing all the two minutes and on one instance with about a buck 30, buck40, he didn't have, as Craig said, didn't have really the juice to go after maybe a loose puck or a play. And at that point, I'm with Craig that, okay, enough of all of two minutes for Willie.

I mean, none of these guys, none of them are good enough power play players to play two minutes. It makes no sense. For any of them to be out there for that long, you got more than enough good forwards, maybe a little thing right now. If you're doing five forwards, though, on the top unit, you understand how much that neuters your second unit. That's a good point.

You understand why you would leave one of them out there. But if I'm Berube, I'm gonna rotate who through who that is each power play like maybe marner does it one time kneelander does it one time matthews does it one time yeah that could be a merit thing who's playing yeah for always just to be willy like i you know i i agreed with simmer on that it was a good point where it's just like you know i don't know if this needs to be every power play and the one case too is like a guy like ovechkin who typically does that has a very low output situation parks and shoots and he comes back to the blue line or like skates into the center center ice line a little bit and then back towards yeah he's not twisting and turning no he's not doing the break

you know he's twisting and turning doing yes this uh you want to go to Robertson moving up in the lineup? No, that was from today. That was just, he got asked if you'd ever consider him moving up there with the spot where Holmberg is. He was like, our whole team's hurting, we didn't, so no. Yeah, so somebody asked him about that. But, you know, there's been a lot of questions, and it's a good conversation to have.

You know, the temperature from Leafs Nation on Pontus Holmberg continuing to play in the top six of this team i would say is quite warm and i would say the takes on it like what is it that keeps him there why does he play six minutes more than the next guy below him because you know mitch martin is bouncing pucks off his head he doesn't even know where they're coming from like he's just like, what was that? Oh, is that a pass?

What was that? It just, what is it with him? Is it just the lanes? Like you've mentioned? I just, I don't, the defensive responsibility.

Is that it? Who's left then? That's I agree. I agree. He's the necessary evil, but these stations are pissed off about it. I guess it's Robertson is the one that people are upset about. They're,

um, they're, and I, I, but these nations are pissed off about it. I guess it's Robertson is the one that people are upset about. It really just comes down to a bigger body. That's it. And they'd rather go with the bigger body. It's that simple between Nick Robertson and Holmberg. If you played 82 games with Holmberg, Tavares, Marner, or 82 games with Robertson, Tavares, Marner, I would not be surprised if the Holmberg group outperformed them just in terms of how often you played at the right end of the ice and you

know the maybe he can at least create something in front of the net maybe Mitch gets a few more assists with Robertson but and Holmberg right now despite how Leaf Nation feel about them, can buy them time. They're buying. Homburg is buying them time for the eventual trade that they're going to make. Trade? Yeah. You think like before deadline? Oh, yeah.

Really? Oh, 100%. And looking for. Center. Center. Excuse me. Just coughing in the mic. It's great.

People love that. Yep. That's an interesting thought. Absolutely. And do you have any thought on what type of center, what they're dropping around for? Go big. Go big.

This is the year to go big. So it'll feel like, I think, another Ryan O'Reilly type of trade. And what do you think timeline are we looking at here? Like what's the... Still a cap issue. I know we're all excited that the cap's going up, but it's not going up in the next three months. So there's some juggling to do on that front.

And you still got to see how things kind of open up because we are past american thanksgiving and teams are now figuring out who the pretenders and contenders are so there'll be a separation now moving forward but they're winning they're gaining they're gaining they've got they've put themselves in a great position to win the atlantic is. So there's no real race to go get a centerman today. Is it Kadri? I was just going to say, wait, now I'm back. It's somebody. Okay.

Yeah, it is somebody. You think the Calgary Flames are going to do the thing where they trade to Toronto? Because it was not a big problem with Payne? It's very hard, no matter how you feel about someone personally, to turn down an offer you can't refuse. I also think, you know, Kadri maybe doesn't match up with their timeline.

And so getting that money off the book, the Flames timeline, as he gets older and they get better, maybe it doesn't make as much sense for them to carry 7 mil until 20. There's still some juggling going on, but it wouldn't surprise me at all to see an influential centerman like that come in that can, it depends on what you see between Matthews and Tavares. I think Tavares will still be in a position that he is now where he can

find ways to produce. He's still going to find his area in front of the net and he's going to find a way to bank one in like he did Saturday night. Great goal on Saturday. Typical goal by him in front of the net. They're all spinning fires. That was a nice one.

It's that space of ice between the slot and in front of the net. I love Kadri for them this year. I love that fit for them. It makes a ton of sense. So you need someone big and heavy that can at times. He's competitive. He can kill penalties.

At times can match up with their second best centerman. And I'm not sure they want Tavares to do that in April and May. So if it isn't a Kadri, it's got to be a Nick Paul type of guy that can play against the other team's top second line centermen if you go head-to-head with Matthews. And they don't have to find him today or tomorrow. They're good enough to keep their head above water here. With Holmberg. Yeah, that's underselling it for sure.

With Holmberg, with Robertson, with McMahon when he's back, with all of these guys. So don't take for granted, Leaf Nation, how good your good players are. When we said what we just said about Holmberg and Robertson, they are, by points percentage, the best team in the Atlantic right now. You know, with six injuries, with Holmberg in Robertson, they are by points percentage the best team in the Atlantic right now. With six injuries, with Holmberg in the top six. Passengers out there. Yeah, with some guys that

you could fix that tomorrow if you wanted to. It's just a real testament to how good their good players are. And they will get healthy, so do you want to start with the injuries or the guys that may be coming back? Well, we should finish off on the game and wall. I think we should probably do a minute on wall here.

Okay. What did you think of the lightning getting back in the game? What did you chalk that up to? Too little, too late. The game was decided. Totally agree. And not a real big worry for me. Not the same level of urgency.

Look at the goals that went in that went off a skate. Totally agree. Totally. I'm not hanging that on Joseph Wall. You're playing the scoreboard. A couple get banked in. And an offensive penalty call on Oliver Ekman-Larsen. You hear that one?

Oh, my God. I don't know if the ref's watching the game. Sorry to do this but he's watching like they're standing there these two guys are it's having a war in front of the net i think he missed maybe of the very first cross check and it was like a makeup for the one i missed maybe but but so you don't watch the game very well bingo but uh it was genzel he was battling with in front of the net gave him a hard slash lower leg before they're battling in front he gives him a little shot

and then Sorelli gives for him to pick Oliver Ekman Larson at that spot of the game would have been fighting all night I couldn't believe they called that it was such a definition of hockey late game fighting for ice hero call by the ref he's like I haven't made a call I got to insert myself here

I just hate when they do that. Anyways, I agree with you on that. But other than that, like, stellar. Good game. Stellar. The breakaway, all of it. Key saves at the right time. Five? Sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say, say what you will

about Nookucherov or Nick Paul. Those are key guys, for sure. Yeah, yeah. And it's a different feel with them in it but overall they they did what they were supposed to do and that's at the very least come out of the state of florida with a split yep and joseph wall's last five games now 5010 um 1.79 goals against in a 939 save percentage he's humming so he's found his game a little let's listen to coach craig Berube in clip four on Joseph Wolfe. He was solid all game.

Had to make some real good saves, you know, especially in the third. I thought he made some great saves. And their power play was that in the second period, I thought. Yeah, he made some good saves there, too. So, you know, he was solid. Very good. Just make good saves. That's Berube's coaching philosophy when it comes to goaltending.

Yeah. Make good saves. All right. So, like, just to finish off the goaltending thing, they're both going to play a ton here. There's no reason to really. There's no real reason to. Yeah.

I totally agree. Read into anything? No, it's too early. It's just too early all good the mere fact that they're both going at the same time means that it doesn't really matter okay no it's the difference between last season and this year right now they're a 9 10 say percentage combined last year this time they're at 893 and there's the standing difference 93 yeah they got no help yeah okay let's uh let's focus on the latest injury update uh no jake mccabe tonight he took a shot towards the back of the head ear area saturday night only ended up with 11 plus minutes never returned sounds like it's not serious.

He will miss tonight. They're calling it precautionary. You want to hear the update from the coach? Yeah, Phillip Myers will be in tonight. Let's get an update from Craig Berube. Clip five. Drake is day-to-day, but I think he'll be fine. Just a little precautionary tonight.

But he should be good. But he's not in tonight. And Hawk and Paw is on IR And Hawk and Paw is on IR. Hawk and Paw is on IR. He's on IS, L-A-N-D. He's on Robita Island. He's gone. Mark Masters asked.

No, he's not gone. He has to follow up being like, is it an E thing? He's like, yeah. Sure is. Basically, he's like, yeah, yeah. The old Steve Simmons bone on bone may have been right this this was a roll of the dice right from the get-go yeah so what are your thoughts on that decision here's the the question mark it's 1.4 million yeah i don't i i yeah i mentioned that

to you guys upstairs i don't really get the 1.4 they had to give them yeah i'm not sure how many teams were racing out there to sign them if if i'm jamming down everyone's throat the the minimum contract of 850 how does a guy with no knee get 1.4 i don't know agent great agent i would like more than that on what basis i would like more than that. On what basis? I would like more. All right? Here it is. So, I don't believe that this is the last we'll ever hear of him again, but for him to legitimately be a guy that they can go to in April, he has to get in games. Yeah, Kip. He's got to play a run of a month.

He's got to play 35 games where he plays three weeks in a row not hurt. Yeah, if this guy's playing 15 games this year, I don't know how you can go to him in April. I got to tell you, when Simone Benoit plays well, I really like him. Yeah. He was really good Saturday night. Really good. He's skating again.

He's finishing his checks, getting physical and competitive. No one's going along the wall past him. No. And he loves that. He loves to smunch guys over there. Yes, he does. So, great. You know, like, that's what Hawk and Paw is supposed to do.

And, you know, Berube seems to really like Timmons. So, off we go. Why don't we get Coach's thoughts on Myers going in? This is kind of a different one. He's been with the team all year just practicing, so let's get an affiliate Myers clip seven. I think just, you know, he hasn't played for a while since the Boston game in Boston, but, you know, he's practiced well

and he works extremely hard, so just keep it simple with him. Like, he's a big guy. He can move well, be physical, defend well. You know, he's playing with Morgan Riley, and, you know, Morgan can move the puck. And just play your game. That's his game. It's simple.

You know, you don't have to complicate it. He's got a good shot. Let's use it tonight. You know, when we get opportunities in the offensive zone, he should be ripping pucks. There you go. Love that. He should be ripping pucks. There you go. Love that. He's had... Ripping pucks. Yeah.

Myers has had good success in different places in his career. Just seems like, even before that, I think Nashville. Yeah. It was looking good there for a while and then it kind of falls off and then they quit on him.

Because Myers is not young, young, right? Is he 27 or something? I will find that answer. 27. No, it's 28 in January. Yeah. He's a big guy. Yeah, that seems to be.

That was the mandate from Tree Living. Big guy shoots right. Get big, get long. Yeah. And shoot right. That doesn't hurt either. Certainly very helpful. What a really fun, bizarre Leaf stat, and this can be a useful or useless thing for you, Kip.

NHL edge, tracks, you know, what's the fastest someone has skated on your team this year? What's the hardest someone has shot a puck? And then they rank it around the NHL. The Leafs maybe last in their top shot speed. The hardest a Leaf has shot the puck this year is 93.7 miles per hour. Does that mean anything? That they don't have anyone that shoots it hard?

I think it matters. Were they ranked in goal scoring? Pretty high, I would think, right? Actually i would think right actually who who's scoring goals for them you're right you're right you're right let's see here teams goals for per game they are currently 15th in the nhl mid 0.04 mid mid to say the least so that's what their shot who's the hardest shot the heart the team with the hardest shot? No, no. Does it say who on the Leafs had the hardest shot? No, it doesn't. Tanev, Saturday night.

Ooh! Already riffed one. How about our boy? I got to say, that was awesome. Just to get for him to get, like, you know, you could have gone the whole year without him getting one point and the contract's worth it. But to have, you know, he's still fun to score a goal.

He got a great shot on the tip that Nyes ended up getting, too. So, good offensive night for Tanev. And he almost had another, like, a couple shifts later, he went cheese. Do you want to go to an OEL 10 of Kipper's Clippers? Yeah, they're playing together tonight. Let's do it. Clip eight. Well, just with losing McCabe,

kind of put two guys together that we can use as a shutdown pair. That's where we're thinking, you know, in terms of that. You know, he's got a shutdown pair. That's what we're thinking, you know, in terms of that. You know, he's got a great stick. Ekman Larson, great stick, skates well, big, you know, plays physical. So that's what we're thinking there with the pair.

In about 10 minutes, we're going to welcome in Darren Pang, Blackhawks analyst. Does a terrific job also for TNT. And we'll get his thoughts on on oel and tan of going up against connor bedard looking forward to that uh update for you the slap shot uh was william nylander against edmonton in november oh um we do have another injury update we kind of been tracking the progress everyone i just want to ask about all rec and larson okay didn't wouldn't say loved him on saturday night i wouldn't say i loved him in florida a couple i didn't think he was

good against panthers yeah a couple of that turnover into the middle to the for the breakaway for was it ac mod that had the breakaway i was like oh boy that was that was travis dermot asking it was no you're right the only you know thing we've brought up a lot earlier in the year was how much do you want to go to him? He was a top third pair guy on a Stanley Cup team last year. And would the Leafs continually use him as a three or four and be over 20 minutes a night? Maybe those. Some of those early minutes in the first quarter of the season maybe caught up to him a little bit going into the last two games. I think he's been handed a bit too much.

The Leafs, like TOI, time on ice leaders, Oliver Ekman-Larsen is fourth on the team. He averages over 21 minutes a game for Toronto. Yeah, that's too much for me. That's a lot of hockey for OEL. Guy who's been... And he plays hard. Yeah. He plays hard. He finishes.

He's engaged constantly. So, maybe just a little bit of a letdown in Florida. He's playing almost two minutes more per game than Tanev. I mean, there's a clear drop. They have their top four guys who play all the time, and then they have sort of the Timmons pair,

and Benoit's been playing with him, but it's very clear that he's in that group, so that's probably why. They signed him. They paid him $3.5 million. I think that's what they thought they were going to get from him, right? They were going to play him that much. To your point, while we're talking about gaps in ice time,

the top four D are obviously McCabe, Riley, OEL, and Tanev, and then the drop between Tanev and number five at Timmins is three minutes per game. Yeah, so he's in that group. But anyways. Okay, we got a Craig Berube, Kipper's Clipper on Bedard

going into tonight. He's warming up. Let's just see what Coach Berube has to say. Elite shooter. Does a lot of little things with a shot. Push and pull stuff. And it gets through all the time. He's got an elite shot.

And really good vision. You know, like he sees the ice very well. And knows where people are and can make plays. He's going to be a good player. He is a good player. You know, and he's only going to get better. I love the push and pull. Love that.

Yeah. He barely scored in November. He had one goal the whole month, and it was towards the end. But now he has, was it four points in his last three games, starting to play a little better. I know he's struggled, but he's the type of guy that could show up tonight on a big stage. Amazon Prime Hockey, big stage. Played well in Edmonton.

We're going to get Darren Pang's thought on it. But yeah, kind of told you guys a long time ago, you got to be careful. Too much, too soon. I think that's all that's happened to this kid. And I think... He's got no one to work with. Yeah, I know.

They stink. He was born in the year 2005. I totally get what you're saying, but there has to be a greater picture here, too. I think there's times when he's turned the puck over and usually a 19-year-old or 20-year-old that isn't labeled generational has to sit his ass on the bench and miss a few shifts

or get called into the office and look at video and not saying that that doesn't happen, but it has to come with a bit of a we're not happy with you feel. It's different. And it's different for him. You have to live with more mistakes. I think that's going on in that dressing room right now. People frustrated with it?

Well, I think sometimes you can look around the room and say there's different rules for different guys, and then there's other times when you go, okay, enough's enough. Like I get different rules for different guys, but if you feel like it's getting out of hand, he's taking too much liberty with it, maybe that can be a thing. It's also, I think, hard. He is 19 years old and second year in the league.

The team's near the bottom of the league, so he's in his own zone a lot. I think it's A, hard to have success, and then B, hard to go in the dressing room when you're doing commercials for six brands and they're like you're the guy who's supposed to pull us out of this and you're like i'm still 19 it's like well you can't have it both ways i'm just a baby and i got a free car they're like you're either supposed to be able to fix it or not do the commercial okay we'll we'll take a quick break. We'll get into all of that and more with Darren Pang, Blackhawks analyst.

They go tonight, 7.30, Scotiabank Arena, back after these words. Hey, it's Matt Marchese. And I'm Mike Futa. 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 590, The Fan, and wherever

you get your podcasts. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. All right. Let's get to them right away. Because this is a guy that carried me for a few years at Sportsnet here. Welcome in Darren Pang. The voice now of the Chicago Blackhhawks banger how are you pal i never carried you at all kipper you carried me right to your uh uh right to the basement

of your house where we drank wine and hit golf balls in the simulator that was a memorable night yeah that was fantastic how you doing there Borny? How's everything going for you? Yes, you're ready to go here. Well, it is Monday night hockey at Maple Leaf Gardens. There you go. It's not Saturday night, but it's still good. You're following now as well as your national gig with TNT.

You follow the Chicago Blackhawks extensively here. Let me just ask you, before we get into specifics, including Conor Bedard, of course, just the overall feel of this season at 8-14-2. They haven't had a real sense of being a playoff team and we'll exclude the pandemic and all of this for a very long time. So at 8-14 2 where where are where

is everybody in chicago on are they where they need to be or is this a very disappointing start to the season you know i think it's disappointing in the fact that um kipper that the winds haven't been there because if you look even closer to you know the actual numbers or the actual uh one loss record i mean they've been in every game in the third period i believe 23 of 24 games um right there so what i'm saying is the games have been tighter than what you might think they've given up nine or ten empty net goals um so that goes with your goals four goals against five, five on five, and overall totals. They just haven't been on the winning side of that. They've only come back going into the third period once.

It was in L.A. They trailed 3-0, Kipper. But I'll say that and kind of put that in the proper context because people see a record and they think, oh, they must be getting blown out. It's just not going very well. But they're trying to build the right culture. They're trying to build it with guys that have won before, like Alec Martinez and Pat Maroon. Craig Smith's played with a ton of really good teams and playoff-caliber teams throughout his entire career.

You know, T.J. Brody's been there long enough that you guys know enough about T.J. and his experience. So I guess where I'm getting to is, yeah, did they think they were going to be better in the numbers? Yeah. And do I think they should be? Yeah, I do, actually, Kipper. I think the numbers should be better. This should be, at worst, for me, the way they played,

a 500-hockey team, at worst. So, yeah. So I guess, you know, they've added older players. They added, you know, some guys that could help out young players like Conor Bedard and Lucas Reichel and Alex Vlasic. And, you know, we've got young defensemen as well. And I know they were looking for better numbers or better results at this particular point, but they're building.

So, you know, they have been in a lot of close hockey games and just kind of looking for a little bit more offense at times. Natural question is to go to Bedard on this. He's, you know, 19 points in 24 games. Seems like he's finding it the past few games. Where is Bedard at in his evolution to one of the league's finer players yeah and you know what justin this is what i love about uh about connor is that you know he's taking this on the chin he's he takes it personally he doesn't go home and

fluff it off and play video games i mean this kid just thinks eats breathes dreams about being a winner and uh and so i know that he went through a rugged, you know, two to three weeks where you guys probably saw some of his quotes where he was pretty open about what he wasn't doing well. And so, yeah, right now, I think his last three games, you'll see him tonight. He's making plays. His stick handling ability in traffic, you know,

is I think much improved from last year. I would have to say this, watching all these games, that if there's one area that he could improve on to make himself a faster player, and that is more of a give-and-go game. And I think he'll learn that, Justin, in time. Just when to move that puck through the neutral zone, play it to somebody ahead of him instead of carrying it all the way

and then slowing everything down and waiting for a pass that's behind everybody instead of maybe going forward. So these are constant reminders that Luke Richardson and his teammates, the older guys like Nick Foligno, constantly give to him to want to make him a better hockey player. So the little tricks of the trades are things that he's going to learn along the way. Payne, I want to just follow up Bedard with maybe just what he's feeling today and what he's felt for the past year and change here.

I get the buildup of a generational player. We don't get to say it that often, but we certainly did it big time here in this country as he started his career in Chicago. He gets there. And this is not necessarily a reflection of Chicago, but just maybe us in general as a business or as a league business to put so much weight on this player to dig out an original six team

out of the basement, be a face for them, be that next generation past McDavid. And is it caught up to him at all at this point? You know what, Kipper? He's really good at taking on this responsibility. Pretty shocked by, as a young man, how he's been able to handle it. Is it fair, Kipper? I don't believe it's fair at all. But it's the way it is right now we've we've seen

videos of him since he was 12 or 13 you know playing up in burnaby and playing in the brick tournament and you know he said then he followed it up with you know really great three years on a bad team in regina and then he uh you know then he sets records for the for the world junior canadian team so why wouldn't we think as as you compare him to all the other greats? I'm just saying it's not fair because he's just a different player. You know, he doesn't skate a million miles an hour like Conor McDavid. He's not big and strong like Austin Matthews. He's not – no one's Wayne Gretzky, so let's leave him alone.

But he's like – you know, he's a shooting – he's a guy that creates stuff through the rush and is a shooting machine. And so, I mean, those are the assets that he has and has brought to the table, Kipper. And I, you know, we put him on, we put him on a pedestal quite easy. He's in Chicago Magazine. You go to the grocery store, you know, there's Connor right there. Is it his fault? Not whatsoever. They're selling tons of 98 sweaters.

Every kid around the league, when you go through the warmups, all you see is, can I get a puck, Conor Bedard? You know, I love you. Number 98, you know. Let's play rock, paper, scissors. I mean, it's constant. So for him to play, especially last year, as well as he played last year in his first year, and then you know in the sophomore year people are going to go after him a little bit more, play him a lot harder, that it's going to be a little bit more difficult.

But he carries it like the great players have carried it before uh and does the interviews and does the does the work that everybody else has done before him at a young age so um but again is it fair no because i i'll even go to one example okay the four nations is a very good example of this there are so many great players in our game you can only name what 13 7 and what 3 on that team yeah and yet every time i looked up in canada it was like you know connor was automatically there right away and that might have put extra pressure on him as well thinking man i'm like i'm i'm on this team with all these you know these guys are they're the greats of the greats right now and they're not even in their prime yet and he's in only in his you know half of his second year so i that kind of is a little unfair to both the coaches the

managers and everybody else for people to expect that he's going to be on that team which you know i mean we poured through the list there's a lot of guys that deserve to be on that team yeah and i think connor would probably say man i i'm not one of those guys right now at this particular point whether it makes or not i'm not sure but i'm just saying that that was one of those guys right now at this particular point whether it makes or not i'm not sure but i'm just saying that that was one of those things that i looked at too that said wow that's a that's an awful lot to just throw out there like it's an automatic when you have to earn the space on that team in my opinion and and right now i think there's there's other guys so what i'm saying to everybody is it it would it surprise me if he was on the team not

really but it wouldn't surprise me if he's not on that team either because of the way other guys have played for sure of a spot for sure so like looking at the arc of the chicago blackhawks rebuild obviously there's got to be young players that are coming up that they're you know kind of seeing as their future and then try they're trying to surround them with some older guys some veterans some proven. I look at this Blackhawks lineup. It's not laden with young prospects below Bedard on the lineup. Are they on the way? Is there enough in the lineup for them to have a bright future in the years ahead here? Well, I think one of the main things, Justin,

was to make sure that the guys like Frank Nazer or upcoming players like that aren't just anointed to this roster. Sure, yeah, he's lighting it up in the American League, right? That's right. And Connor's special, and it's a specialty. And he comes in, he's not not making the team. I mean, he was making the team come hell or high water that he was on that team.

And so, but they want to make sure that everybody else marinates in the minors. Like, even Alex Vlasic only played one year. When did you see this horse, big number 72? We've got Nolan Allen, that was the last pick of the first round. You've got Wyatt Kaiser, that's a really good defenseman. They're all young players. But as far as the forward group is concerned,

if you don't fill up the roster with guys that have experience, guys like Tara Vine in there, guys like Tyler Bertuzzi, would be the youngest of the group. To go along with other players that are on expiring contracts, the guys that you look at is Lucas Reichel. You look at Philip Kurashev. You know, that's the group right there, you know, that's going to be with Conor Bedard, you know, going forward,

along with the fellas that I say, and all you have to do is look at the minors, Artie Levshanov, the defenseman, second overall pick. You know, he's down in Chicago. You've got Nazer, like I'm saying, is down in Chicago. So, you know, I think Kyle Davidson is doing a good job of saying we do not want to put these guys ahead. We do not want to anoint them. And that's why we got these older players is to teach and groom

and cultivate something that reminds people of winning and having character and being able to go out in the media and speak and represent the franchise. Well, so yeah, that, that would be my best answer on that. So Panger, if I would have told you at the beginning of the year,

that up until this point, going into December, the MVP of the team wouldn't have been Connor Bedard, but Peter Morazic, you would have looked at me like I had three heads. I've looked at you like that before. But you know what, Kipper? Yeah, I think people would be surprised.

But last year, Mrazek was the MVP last year for me. He and Vlasic and Conor. But Conor missed 14 games. And I thought Foligno last year played such a pivotal role. And Jason Dickinson had a career year with 22 goals and checks the other team's best players every single night. But for people that don't know, like Soderblom's going to play tonight, they average two goals, four or fewer, for both these goaltenders

on a nightly basis, except for last night against Columbus. And that was maybe Peter's worst game of the year. And I think he's just a little out of gas. But the goaltending has been fine. In fact of gas, but the goaltending has been fine. In fact, I would say the goaltending has been spectacular at this particular point. Just got to score more goals. The power play now is red hot, but it was a little quiet.

They were only generating one power play per game for five straight games. It's an all-time Hawks record for fewest power play opportunities as an average in a five-game span. Panger, we're going to let you go. Thanks, buddy. Have a great night tonight. Say hello to our good friend Rick Ball for us. How's he doing?

I will say hello to Rick Ball. I made him go to practice today. Good. Rick is fantastic. It's a great acquisition for us. And for me personally, he's so experienced, such a nice guy. We go for dinners. He loves his red wine.

He loves his steak. He eats too much steak. I've got to get him off that a little bit. But, no, he's been fantastic. So thanks for sending another great Sportsnet talent over here to the United States of America with me. Have a great call, pal. All the best. Thanks.

Thanks, man. Darren Pang, analyst with the Chicago Blackhawks and TNT. Rick Ball has been in Calgary for however many years. He's going to eat some red meat. That's a prerequisite. Rick Ball, one of my faves, calls a hell of a game. Grew up in Kelowna when he was just starting out. Oh, really?

That's on the ball. I'm Rick Ball. Really? I'm sure he loves it. Got a read for us? I got a read. You guys ready? Here we go. As ready as we can be. Okay. All right. You got to rate this one out of 10 by the time I'm sure he loves it too bad. Got a read for us? I got a read. You guys ready? Here we go.

As ready as we can be. Okay. All right. You got to rate this one out of 10 by the time I'm done. Who wants to win a bunch of cash while doing the best thing this holiday season? JB and I. Yep. It's Sportsnet 590, the fans' 50-50 fortune supporting food for kids.

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Good job, Samuel. Oh boy, I was holding on for dear life. Terrific job. We got a few minutes left. What did you get out of listening to Darren Pang talk about Conor Bedard? I think, you know, how impressed he is with him as like a pro

and being groomed to be this next one, which is certainly part of it. I take it you took something different. Yeah, it kind of caught me a little bit off guard when he referred to him as slow he needs to be faster i think is what banger said which means to me he's saying he's a little too slow yeah he he referred to working on the give and go game which also implies that i don't know if you love the people you're playing with you feel like you can't get it back if you give it up you know and that's part of speed too i see i see it differently but i'm not saying that you're sure you're not you're wrong on this you're you're probably right but i also get from that is hey buddy what you did in junior and what you worked at the world juniors

where you just got to dance around everybody ain't working. No. This is the best league in the world, and you don't have the time and space that you had in junior. So better learn the give and go because the other stuff ain't working. You know, I watched some highlights of him today, knowing we'd be watching him tonight, and he is one of those guys that, you know, watched some highlights of him today you know i knowing we'd be watching him tonight and he is one of those guys that you know like mitch marner who is so confident when he has the puck just like he just has it right like he just he'll have it for longer periods of time than

someone else but in bedard's case it's not getting anywhere he has it out on the paint out on the yellow and you know we talked about bruby talking about robertson getting to the inside so you got to find your way in well like teams now they'll let you have it out there go ahead you can play with it the uh the most recent game they lost against uh columbus yeah i watched him go down on a two-on-one where his feet stopped moving just a little over the red line and was looking past the whole time, and he did pass it. But your shot is world-class here. Nobody wants to see Otani get called on a third-strike pitch for otani but the last thing you can't do is not shoot the puck connor when you are in your prime area and that just speaks to the lack of

confidence that he has that he wouldn't recognize that as my wheelhouse. This is what I'm supposed to do. Shoot the puck. Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, that's, you know, we saw Nick Robertson do that the other day on a two-on-one where it's like, dude, that's the thing you do. Shoot it from that spot. It's a hat-trick incoming from Bedard tonight. A lot of former Leafs in this team.

So we should clarify the Blackhawks on a back-to-back. Yeah. And missing a body. Seth Jones. Seth Jones. I think he's still hurt. It should be a night where the Leafs can handle themselves.

Go ahead on the Leafs thing, though. That's interesting. Bertuzzi. Yeah. Foligno. TJ Brody. Yeah. Ilya Mikheyev.

Wow. And obviously Peter Mrazek, but he's not playing tonight. Mrazek a 9-0-8 this year for them. I think Bertuzzi and Bedard are playing together tonight with Taylor Hall, which go big or go home. I mean, that's your meat and potatoes right there. Hall had a hat trick the other night. I've never been a huge Hall guy, but hat trick the other night,

maybe they're all getting hot at the right time. I say as a bit of a dash. Bertuzzi will score tonight. They can't all score. You can't have a hat trick for him and one for Bert. Sammy, are you calling for a Blackhawk win tonight? Just shake up the Bert. Sammy, knock it off. They should win tonight? A little shake. Just shake up the bird cage a little bit. Knock it off.

They should win tonight. Easily. All right. Once again, our thanks to Darren Pang for joining us on our Leaf Hour. Don't go away. We go national next. Don Waddell, president of hockey operations

for the Columbus Blue Jackets, will join us. He just completed a pretty big trade. We'll tell you all about it when we return.