Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: A Final Game at Home

Episode Date: April 13, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee get set for the final home game of the Toronto Maple Leafs' season against the Dallas Stars. They discuss the Leafs' position in the bottom five after a loss to the Florida Panthers on Saturday, what Auston Matthews might say at Locker Clean-out Day, and what the future front office structure might look like. Later, Prime NHL analyst Jody Shelley (28:50) joins the show to tee up Leafs vs. Stars and discuss the top offseason priorities in Toronto. Finally, Nick, Justin and Sam react to Morgan Rielly's wistful comments ahead of what could be his final home game in Toronto.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.

Closing out the regular season in the National Hockey League, closing out the Toronto Maple Leaf season, which we have not said in five years until today. Yeah, April. We know when their regular season ends. Nickyprio's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, Frank, the Tank, Baraska, Derek Brandeo. Live on Sportsnet, 360, 590, the fan,

streaming always on Sportsnet, It's also available Spotify, Apple Podcast, and YouTube. Toronto Maple Leafs play their last home regular season tonight. Scotia Bank Arena, Dallas Stars. Bonesie's last game. Bonesie's last game, Joe Bowen. Big news there. Last home game.

And then he'll close out the season Wednesday in Ottawa where he'll actually be there. Awesome. Yep. Awesome. So. I have a lot of great memories for the Toronto Maple Police in that building. So they'll be. Oh, yeah.

Friday. Friday. Friday after the show, I'm scrambling to get to a gala, right? Canadian Orthopedic Foundation gala. Oh. Dr. James Waddell and Cherry Basson, who we all know very well. Killed my centennials on a couple occasions to try. try to get to a Memorial Cup.

I'm sure he squashed your Owen Sound team many times, Sammy. They were honored Friday night. I'm coming out, so I got to put on a tuxedo shirt, bowtie. And I'm racing out to get to this gala. And Sammy stops me. He goes, let me take a quick picture. I'm like, right, I don't care. Take a picture.

And then he posts it. Yeah. Right? With a certain type of captioned. Right? He posts it. Like, without, can I, can I post it? Without authorization, nothing. Just post it.

And I get killed. Killed. Absolutely annihilated for the rest of the weekend. Your mentions just flooded. Oh, my God. You had the bow tie on. People don't know listening that you had the bow tie going. Sammy's caption was like, where is he headed?

Where is he going? Wrong answers only. Wrong answers only. But, I mean, I'm like, I'm at the gala and I'm like feeling like a million bucks. Aero's going through me. Didn't you treat him to golf last week? Yeah. What's that? Didn't you treat him to golf last week and then he threw he under the bus?

Oh, buddy. He didn't treat me. I forgot my wallet and didn't pick a pack. The old. Very different. The old I forgot my wallet, right? Which I did. Can you just quickly pick up my green fee and then any.

anything else I got going and then he does that to me. I'm not going to lie. I did have a lot of laughs. I sure expect. I didn't expect people to be so creative, but it was quite good. You know, you actually sent it to me and said,

check out the replies here. I was somewhere. Where was I on Friday night? Yeah. You know what they say, though, about paybacks. What goes around is all around?

That's what really is. What they say with paybacks? They're a witch. I've heard such things. All right. You called it back in January. Just mail it in and get your top five pick. Yeah.

And they're right there. They're there. They're fifth last. If they don't win again, that is. So just so people understand how this works, because you've been mentioning it. But like, if teams behind you win the lottery, there's two lotteries.

If either team behind you wins, they move up, you get bumped out. You're sixth. You could be seventh. They have a 41. 1.7% chance of picking in the top 5. So it is more likely than not that they will get bumped out. Yeah. But they gave himself a chance at it.

All you can do. You're in the mix. It would have been a lot nicer to do it in January when I suggested it and finished third last or fourth last. But here we are. My feeling is that it's been such a horrific season that first and foremost, to salvage something out of it, I got on board later on about at least one new name,

a fresh face, something you can hang your hat on, moving forward, wouldn't be the worst thing for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The reality is pay now or pay later, but the fiddler is getting paid here. For all of the depleted assets, you are going to pick a top five,

and he is going to kind of be a man on an island for the next couple of years. There's no one beside him to grow with him, which is, you know. Wow. No. People would argue Matthew Nyes. No, no, no, no. That kid's 17 slash 18.

Matthew Nyes is five, six years older. It's not the same. Okay. It's not the same. I mean, I've gone through that process. It's nice when you have a group of peers that follow right with you and grow together with you. and move up with you.

Okay. Unfortunately, this guy's going to kind of be on an island if he comes, but that's the reality. I'll still take him right now in terms of selling some hope moving forward. Yeah, I mean, this is... Is there a butt to that? No, there's no butt. Oh, okay.

There's no butt. It's just, it's not perfect, knowing that you got nothing coming in the next two years. No, you shot yourself in both feet and you have to walk 100 miles. I mean, that's the situation they're in, but this can give them a head start. You hope that they're talking about retool. The only chance to get this thing turned around

and have it not be what Chicago is going through or Detroit or the Buffalo just went through is to just try to get good players in as soon as possible. You know, in a couple of years he's 20. You hope by then things are going better. But I mean, I also think that in terms of selling it to Matthews long term or selling it to Connor McDavid in two years, we'll get to that article, the athletic thing.

Yeah. You need good players. You do. I particularly don't think whether or not they get this pick or not will determine Matthew's fate or change his mind in any way. Well, I mean, whatever he's going through, whatever he's going to go through. He's going to have to come to a conclusion here in the next, this summer, midpoint next season or next summer. He's going to have to make some hard decisions now in the very short period of time. So Lees will have their locker clean-out day. It's either Thursday or Friday of this week after the season ends.

And I think Matthews is scheduled to speak for the first time since whenever that happened. Strange hasn't for a month, right? I haven't heard a word. Like, should we have? Really strange. Is it strange? He's the captain of the team. How about just like?

Here's what's going on and update. Can we see in the stands? Can we see in like the, we've got no problem seeing four or five of them, you know, in the press box, right? as extras. We've seen Tan of. We've seen Willie every time he was there. Willie with his, you know, T-shirt and fingers in a T-shirt, yeah. Right? But like,

T-shirt. No signs of Austin at all. We did get major knee surgery. I don't know. I get that. Yeah. But, you know, you could, I don't know, just find a way to kind of. How mobile is he? Show that you're around. So anyways, I just, I wonder what we'll hear from him on Thursday or Friday,

when they talk. Because like you said, it's been a long time since we've heard from them and we haven't heard from them since that incident and what is, what his thoughts will be?

You probably won't say anything. But I think if there's ever a time that he might say something, it would be at the end of this season. Yeah. Yeah. I agree with you that we'll probably hear. Nata.

Yeah. Just, uh, hey, learning, learning season. Yeah. Hey,

uh, question for you here. Please God, don't say learn. What's that? I think, I think if I was running the Leafs PR department, the

edict I would say for all the Leafs Learned enough lessons. No more lessons, no more learning. You should have a master's by now. If you're learning about... Yeah. But, you know, I just... You can learn from it, Tammy. I'll just say it does

really suck from a Leaf fan's perspective. Like, we're heading into this time of year. Like, it's getting warm outside. You know, the master's just happened. It's that time of year in the sports calendar. Like, the Raps are in the playoffs. The playoffs start this weekend for the, for the NHTS. This is when you start to get really excited.

This is usually the most fun week for me. You've made it through the dregs of the regular season and you're getting excited about the matchups. And we've been used to it here for nine years. I know they haven't had any success once they've got to the playoffs, but we're breaking down the matchups. We're talking about hockey. It's just like now we're looking ahead to the stinky draft lottery

where they might get screwed by the Bruins. Like, sick. Like we're going to do the draft lottery. You know, the difference between the Leafs, like, having hope and no hope at all might be half a million people watching. Yeah, and, you know. Oh, yeah.

It is. Oh, I mean. It's now must watch television. Oh, yeah. It went from like nobody really cared around here to we're all watching bingo bangle balls at night. I mean, not only that, you have Vancouver involved.

You have Calgary involved. Like, you have two of the other Canadian markets that are going to be involved in that, and that. So we'll be watching. But anyways, just suck. I like the playoffs. You know what my favorite part of like playoff hockey is that like to the weather, right?

The weather, but it's also like the sun's still out at puck drop. It's the best. It's the best. It's like the door. The breeze is coming through. It's like, oh. Nothing like it. I can't wait to watch Carolina and Ottawa instead.

Great. So if they were to get the first overall pick, what happens then? How much does it change things? Because realistically, they're one of. five, six, seven teams that have a chance, you know, 15% in that little pocket. They'll have 8% at first and 8% at second, a little bit more than 8%. So, you know, what happens there? Are they going to take one of these undersized wingers?

Are they going to trade back for this D that everyone has said they wanted forever? Can we find out who's in charge? Well, please. Can we? But that's a massive question. I think that's actually the best answer you could have given. Like, I mean, it's a great question, but like, who owns the chiefs? I know.

Who owns. Owns. Owns. Who owns the chiefs? We were literally. It's great. It's great reference. You know, you guys mentioned, or sorry, in our group chat, Sam sent like,

Hey, Morgan Riley said some interesting stuff today. You know, maybe when we'll get to that about him waxing nostalgic a little bit about being here. But I was just thinking, like, Morgan, can. can't possibly know if he's going to leave or be asked to leave because they don't know who's making decisions and what they want to do. Like there's no, like he's kind of generally going to weigh in on it and we'll get to that in one sec.

But like, who owns the chief? The chiefs. And I don't know. Here we are going into this week. And there's still not a real defining kind of, at least public game plan on they're going to go hire a general manager or they're going to go hire a president or they're going to go look for a hockey guy first or they're going to get the analytic guy first. And it's, I don't know, what's coming here?

The chicken or the egg? Well, I think there is, you know, there's an article in the star today about this, about potential reshuffling. You know, I don't know with Rogers buying a piece of the team and how does that change ownership structures. And like, I just think there's a lot to sort out before you. Who wrote that? Jonas Eagle. Jonas Eagle for the Toronto Star. Yeah.

Well, I think that if they least, if whoever is in charge, whoever owns the Chiefs is in charge, and the least get the first overall pick, they should see if anyone's willing to trade into that first overall pick to stock their assets. That would be, if you're thinking analytically, if you're trying to be a data-centric front office where you have no assets whatsoever,

if one of the teams behind you is super into McKenna or into Steinberg, right, or Stenberg, or whatever, whoever it is. And they're willing to give you a future first or another second or a player or whatever. That's the kind of thing that I'd be wanting to do because they don't, I'm sorry. You want to trade Wendell? They need a stud d man. They've needed a stud d man their entire franchise's history. We've talked about it a million times.

It's like they're going to take this mechanic kid. Everyone loves them. And it's just not going to turn out the way they want it. I can just picture it now. If they trade out of that spot, you'll turn into season. Sid, but I just McKenna might be like Jack Hughes. He just needs three or four years to really kind of come in.

Right. Right. Yeah. Especially when you're... Which in that case, you'd be glad to get him in early. Anyways, when you're light. That's how I would do it if I was in charge, but I'm certainly not.

Maybe I am. Maybe I'm in the running. They're interviewing everybody. So... A lot of names. Yeah. Coming up. Yeah.

Any guesses to what direction that they go? Like, could we see... I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. No. Sign a sunny meta. Before, uh, before, like, could he, could Sunny or that type of analytic darling be their first major announcement? It just seems unlikely to me unless you decide, like, the structure needs to be decided first.

I guess it's possible. Listen, this guy has also, he's got quite the resume, you know, being a professional poker player and playing guitar in New Orleans. And, like, he's a, he's done a lot of stuff. he's an interesting guy. I don't know enough about him to be like, yeah, he can run a, you know, have it be just Pelly or whoever. And then him, I have no idea. I saw, we had Bookes on our show.

Was that, I don't know when that was last week. And he mentioned Ross Mahoney from the Caps, which is a guy that he thinks he's worked there for 30 years. He's a really long scouting director for them. I think Luke Fox had in his article that that's a name that they're throwing out there. Bookes had said that first on our show. Like, I don't need it to be a big name that everybody knows. I just need to be the right person.

Yeah, totally. How do you know, though? Like, how would, when do you get to decide, like, would you? But people know who Mike Gillis. It'll take a year. It'll take a year to decide whether or not he's the right guy or not. Maybe 18 months. But no, but like, I guess the right guy in their minds, whoever's making the decision.

I just, I don't want them to be like, well, Mike Gillis has the experience. He's been in a Canadian market. He gets it. He gets the job. Everybody wants Sonny Mata, so give it to Sonny Meda. Like, I just, you know, I hope that. They seem to be really doing their due diligence, the big decision. I think for Lee fans listening out there right now, they're like, okay, so what, like, if it's Mike Gillis, like, why not Mike Gillis and Sonny?

And now you got a little bit of both. I mean, I see no reason why not. Why do? Okay. It's just they don't, they eliminated that role and they don't want to go back to it. They had it. They had a president, general manager.

Yeah. And then they got rid of it. And they got rid of it on the basketball side. And they got rid of it in the soccer side. And now they're restructuring. So you're going to go back to it. To me, it's like I look at the investments that these companies, Rogers in particular, has made in the Blue Jays, right?

Like hundreds of millions of dollars into, you know, where they play. And it's fantastic. now and the Dunedin is better and all that and it's it makes it a more appealing environment. So you get more players. You get more competitive. To me, it's like if on the hockey side, if you need to invest in another job, whatever it costs, if it helps you make better decisions, get better players in, fundamentally you'll be a better team. You'll sell more tickets.

It's a, you want to be successful at the end of the day. And I think it requires another person. I think it's a huge job running the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I don't, I have no insight into what they're going. going to do, but I personally feel like it's too big. I can't imagine after watching this year that they're like, because I see Frege saying that it may be one, like I just can't imagine after the way this year went with all,

like all the stuff we've talked about a million times in the show, that they'd be like, yeah, let's circle back on that again. Like, it's just, there's no way. I'm sorry. No way they'll do it? You think they're just going to hire one? No, I just think there's no way they only do one person. I can't believe that they would only do one person.

I'd be totally stunned by that. Maybe I'll be wrong. I don't think it's just whether it's just one person or not. It's to the restructuring of it too, right? So, okay, on top of that, we don't know what it's going to look like as they eventually maybe bring everything under one roof here. But even if it is two people, like how does it work? Like on the Blue Jay side, right, you got Shapiro.

Yeah. Okay, but he is the president and baseball operational guy. So, but he's, he's also been completely inundated the last few years on the dome. The dome, which is spectacular. They've done pretty great job. And you can't, you can't do what he did or what they did and just have it as a kind of a part-time thing. It is like you're all in on that. They made one of the best spring training facilities on the planet there.

The things like Disneyland down there at Dunedin. That was a big part of Shapiro. So, of course, he's keeping an eye on the baseball part. And I don't think still Ross Atkins can go and do anything without his blessing or his stamp of approval. So I think we kind of know how the Blue Jays work. But like are the Leafs going to hire someone that has that type of presence and authority as Shapiro on the hockey side? I sure hope. Well, the article.

I get the sense that he's not coming. He's not coming. That guy. That guy. Oh, I think that Mark Shapiro. No. Could he be it for all the properties at once and have all of them. answering into him.

So, again, we're talking about a major, major, like, and I guess that's what Pelley does. And then where does Pelley fall in on this, right? So. I don't know. You know, there was a few different ideas. I know. I know.

So these are the real questions that people are probably wondering right now. You just hope that there's time enough to make these decisions for the leaf's sake before they may potentially have first, fifth or no draft. pick, which changes how you operate, right? Like, if they don't get a draft pick this year at all, so one of them is paid, next year's is top 10 protected, you're much more willing to be bad next year. Like, it's an option all of a sudden. And that change, I'm just saying it changes strategy for how you operate going into next season.

So, you know, there are decisions that are going to have to be made by May. I would see it different. If you lose a pick this year and you're going to next year, this top 10 protected, I think there's more incentive to be decent next year. If you lose your first round pick next year, it's below 10. And then then you make some real hard decisions going into the following season where you have your own protect, where you have your own

pick back maybe. I don't know. See it to two different ways, but I... Like, do you understand what I'm saying? No, but it doesn't matter. All right. Well, we can move out. You meant like, if you have a top 10 protected pick, below 10 is not necessarily going to be a superstar player. And if you go into the following year and you're bad... Why would it not

be a superstar player in the top 10? Below the 10. Generally aren't. Yeah. The real franchise type of players. Outside the top 10. Yes. So the top 10 are. And you'd lose your first job pick next year. You're not as offended as the following year where you lose it unprotected.

Right. Yes. We're on the same page. Okay. Talk in circle. Okay. Anyways. Yeah.

The, good talk. Sorry. But the greater point is just there will be decisions to be made. And they can't be made by temporary placeholders. I don't think without a long-term vision. You need to have a strategy here in place. The one thing I am wondering is someone was like, let's say,

all right, so locker clean. is this weekend. They're going to have a media day. If Craig Barubi is to be let go, are they going to have them do these press conferences and exit meetings and all that or is it going to happen immediately? And if he is let go, who is left to answer questions or do exit meetings? Like, will we hear here?

Will Brandon Pridham do availability or just no one this year just never happened? Yeah, I don't. Well, Pelly kind of already did it, right, with his press conference. So maybe they feel like that's already the man. management speaking so they don't need to have other people talk. You can't call everybody in and just say

hey listen we're going through we're going through some changes here and when the proper people come in we'll get to you. Yeah. Right? Don't get over caught up in exit meeting, especially on bad teams that

outside of a few people really are left questioning, you know, they can wait a week, two weeks to hear from a hockey club. It's not that big of a deal. But, you know, Craig also has two years left on his contract, if I'm not mistaken. And it's significant amount of cash. So I don't anticipate him getting fired the next day, if that's what you're asking.

You don't. You don't? The lease just got ranked They make the most money in the league They're $4. Whatever billion dollars I don't I don't think that you

You kept them around on purpose To embarrass him They're in 32nd In every category I'm not saying that you're not going to fire him I'm telling you that you just You don't end a game

At 1030 Wednesday night and fire him at 9 a.m. the next morning. It's just kind of classless. I don't agree with that. It was worse to drag him out and have him come speak to the media. No, no, no. There's a grace period of a day and a half, two days. Craig, if they want to make, they can do it. They can do it in a couple of days.

They can let everybody just breathe a little bit. They kept them around this long. You don't have to kick them to the curb the moment the buzzer goes. I'm not insisting that it happened. I just, you know, if it's going to happen, I don't know. It happens all across professional sports every single season, where the season ends and they lose their job. It happens all the time.

Yeah. I think it would be more cruel to run them out there in front of the Toronto media talking about a horrible season. They fired Brad, but they kept him. And I think Keith Pelly went on record too saying that it may have to fall into other people's hands to decide Craig's future. Yeah, yeah.

So I don't anticipate the hours later letting him go. Yeah. You know, it's just, it's crazy. The dollars we're talking about, right? There's massive dollars and all that. And Craig has owed a lot of money. But like, you're paying Santander, what do you mean? What do you mean?

What do you make, 18 million this year or something? You know, it's like, you know, some business decisions don't go great. And you try to get better. I don't think, like, I think people are making a mistake if they just assume because they give the purse strings to. the blues jays are going to give it to the Leafs. Wow. Don't say that.

Yeah. Don't say that. Yeah. I will say that. Yeah. It's not a given for me. It could end up being that way, but I don't get that sense that they've got unlimited funds to just do whatever they want. Man, that would be a change, right?

They certainly have operated differently than that. I know. I know. But this is the first time salary cap is going up and it's open and you can do it. Now we're finally in the window where it's like, the timing has just really stunk a lot of this. They were willing to do it when the cap was flat and when the guys couldn't make any more money

and you couldn't add around them. Yeah. And anyway, I know it's not trying to be like defeatist about this whole thing. Just saying there are decisions that have to be made here. I know. We're at that time of year. I know, but like it doesn't,

there's no sense that we're going to get someone named by the end of this week. I am raising that as an issue. Right? Like, how many people can you get to this week? How many people can you really talk to? Why don't it's not say this week? They've had two weeks already.

I think it's realistic to think that I don't know. By May. May, middle of May, right? You think after the draft lottery? I think three weeks. Another three weeks. Like if you went out and got firm and kneel,

like, what do you, like, you can't race to something. It makes you look. looked like it was kind of just set up. I mean, I don't agree with anything you've said today. We got a case with them on days, boys. It's okay. Had a couple of weeks.

We've got another, this May 5th deadline to me is important. You may want to trade that pick before the lottery. There's things at stake. And to me, if you don't make decisions by then, you're at risk of just missing out on opportunities. So you're telling me they've made the decision on one main guy. or two guys by now. They know. I'm not telling you they have.

I'm telling you I think they should think it's important. I know they should. We all do. I agree with you on that. I said to Sam before we came in here. Is there a world where the Leafs win the draft lottery first overall and they say you know, we're willing to trade it

or someone has number one overall and they don't get their pick and they say we'll give you Matthews for one overall. Like you know, we really want to start fresh with the younger guy. You're Florida. You're in this cup contention window. We'll give you Matthews for that number one overall. I'm just saying there are options out there. Not that

I want them to do that, but these things, you need people to be able to make decisions. A decision maker. Yes. Like a general manager. Someone who can just like manage things. Generally. But in a general sense. Yeah, that'd be nice. That would be great. How much time do we have?

Not much. Not much. We got Joey Shelley. Last game tonight at home. Morgan Riley. potentially his last game tonight? Do we want to have this conversation now or do we want to have it after we talk to Jody Shelley? I don't care.

You're the producer. Let's hit the break. We'll talk to Jody. Then we'll talk about that after. All right. Okay. Former National Hockey leaguer does a terrific job on Amazon covering tonight Dallas Stars

and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jody Shelley when we return to Real Kipper and Bourne. Hey, it's Aylish Forafar. And I'm Justin Cuthbert. Join us as we discuss the most important sports stories of the day and tee up the biggest games of the night. It's the fan free game. 6 p.m. weekdays on Sports stats, SportsSat 590, the fan,

and wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back to the program. The Kippreos, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKee, it's the real Kipper and Born show. Leaf Hour edition. Let's welcome in Jody Shelley, former National Hockey Leagueer, over 600 games played.

Now doing a terrific job on Amazon as their top analyst. I threw it in the top just to make you feel good. Thanks, buddy. My pleasure. Hey, just in terms of, of course, you're going to do the game tonight. You're going to make it sound as great as ever. But, you know, they're not the easiest games, right?

When you're dealing with one team that's out. And, you know, I know we both as professional NHLers have both experienced playing on teams, playing games, knowing that your season's going to end, and there's no playoffs for us. they're not the easiest games to play, and I imagine they're not the easiest ones to call, you know, this time of year, too. You know, I know they're not the easiest to play,

but I never had the luxury of being 100% sure I was going to be back next season. So anytime I got to play in a game, I was like, oh, maybe tonight I'll get some power play time. There's different opportunities out there. Fair enough. You know, you try to show off that you're going to do whatever you can for a team and be that team member that they're looking for for the next thing.

You know, everything's going to change. And as a broadcast, you know, I enjoy every game. I really do. I mean, some games, you never know what's going to happen, right? So we're prepared for if it is a game where it's one-sided to tell a lot of great stories. But just honestly, and this probably sounds like the company line, but it's a privilege to call these games. Some of them are games where you, you know,

it's the three periods are over and you're like, wow, that was a great one-one hockey game where what really happened, it was just a bunch of battles and good hockey play. And then there's been a few lopsided ones this year. But they're all fun and they're all, you know, exciting. Is there a tone difference on the bench for a player? Like there's some quotes from Leafs guys that said,

these are kind of weird games. Like, you know, there's, you know, blow hards, me being like, they should tank and then, you know, the GM's gone, the coaches on thin ice. It's just a weird vibe. It is, but it's still that, like, it's amazing. Like, Broubet this morning, it's all business. I mean, he's coaching a team to win a hockey game. And it's nothing has changed from game one.

And when you put the equipment on and tonight is at Toronto Maple Leaf, you're putting it on to go out there and win the game. And it's the same emotions. There are blocks within the game. you're kind of like maybe you'll look at the stamp a little more or, you know, maybe you'll try something a little different. But on the bench, it's

it seems to be, well, I remember being down there. It's business as usual. I get for the big boys, but there's also a little nostalgia, right? What's going to happen with the coach? There's a lot of questions here. What's going to happen? Who's going to be back next year? Are you hearing what all these changed? It's already been a change with the GM gone.

I mean, that kind of gut you in one breath and well where, you know, you're responsible for that. Now you're part of a kind of a chaotic situation for a lot. So sometimes on the ice in the bench in the locker and with the guys is the most peaceful place, if that makes sense. Yep. You're watching and listening to Jody Shelley as he gets ready to call Dallas Stars versus Toronto Maple Leafs that could be watched and seen on Amazon.

Jody, everybody's got an opinion on the Leafs and what to do and who to hire analytical darling, no hockey guy. what is your perfect structure for the Toronto Maple Leafs? Wow, yeah. Well, I thought they had the number one analytical guy here before in Dubin. He was the guy that was the innovator and brought in a lot of that. I've always loved

their team. I love what they had going into last year. The changes that were made in the off season with Barner, it just didn't work. Any injuries? I look at the Florida Panthers and went Billy Zito there. Billy Zito was an the show TGM with the Columbus Blue Jackets when he left.

I got to know Billy a little bit, you know, well enough. He was a guy with unique ideas and fully thinking he meant in. But when he went there, I was so impressed with how he changed the culture by bringing in Patrick Hornquist. That was his first move. And what I'm saying is his knowledge of players, his knowledge and relationships around the league enabled him to make some decisions, Plus, provide himself with a big staff, a good staff, a working staff, not just people around wondering what they're doing in the organization.

No fingerheads, if you will. It's put together very well. So success in these tunes, most of the favorite vote, I heard it like three weeks ago. I think that's a brilliant thing to say. I think that's a great thing to say. And the other big move he made was he traded Hubertoe, and he got Kacham. You know, is Huberto, Neelander Huberto in this situation? Matthew's going to be here.

That's the big question. I think he would be here if you got yourself a goalie and how do you get that? That was something that Billings had in Florida. He had an equate abhorpe and Barkoff. And he loved Barkoff surrounded him with as the piece moving forward. Is Matthews the Barkoff piece that wants to be here? I hear a lot of noise that he does it. We all do.

Let's go through that. I go through that. I go through the pieces that are here and build around them as big as I could because superstars are rare. And you waited for Austin Magic to arrive here. And, you know, the feeling like he's done is really kind of baffling to me from the outside. Because, you know, I think there's an upside here, but you have to get those key pieces. And it's got to be a goaltender. And it's got to be something that the spine of the team has got to be made. So to answer your question, figure out what's going on with him.

I think everyone has said that so far. And then build around him if he wants to be here. I'm getting excited about it because the rest of the league would envy a player like Austin Matthews in their lineup. Just one more and we'll let you go. The Dallas Stars, are they ready to challenge Colorado? Can they win this thing? I think they can, Kipper. I like last game.

I mean, I know they lost Haskin in, but they got a great goaltender and Otten here. I mean, that's where it starts for me. But they had to find their game against the Minnesota wild, which is a preview in the playoffs. They found some puffness in their game. I think that's good for them. I think that Minnesota's built to kind of grind everything down, bring it down deep.

I know Colorado's worried about Dallas. I mean, they've made changes specifically for the Dallas start coming in when they've seen in the playoffs. And I think that's a good thing for the start. They've got young players that are doing well. They've had so many injuries. They've tested their depth. I think all this regular season, when they hit the playoffs, it's going to serve them well.

Have fun tonight, Jody. Appreciate your time, man. Thanks, God. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you. That is the Dallas stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Amazon covered by the great Jody Shelley. Yeah. Love his little thing he threw in there is Willie Hubertel.

Mm-hmm. TBD. It's interesting. It is. I mean, there's some parallels, you know? Like, honestly, like, that's, you know, they made a huge swing there when they traded. I mean, they got Matthew Kuchuk, so that helps. That was an identity guy.

but like getting him in there really changed the forecast for them. But as I've repeatedly said, this team needs to look at who they can get in, not worry about who they're shipping out. Sure. Like if Matthew Kachuk, part two wants to come here, let's talk. Okay. But not just getting rid of a guy.

No, I agree. You know? I agree. I agree. I mean like, all right. Can you find someone that wants to come here? You need someone looking for sure. Who owns the Chiefs?

Who owns? Who owns? The jeeps. Sorry, there's two different types of willie trades. There's one, the Hubert O type of trade where you're trading for an identity guy or a different type of great player or you're trading it for picks to rebuild. Those are the two type of trades you make with him. Yep.

All you got. Morgan Riley? Morgan Riley. So he was a little wistful, nostalgic perhaps, today. Should we listen to it to Morgan? Let me just double check with the clip. Yeah, let's listen to Morgan. About playing your even when, maybe it's not the greatest time on the ice.

It's an outstanding place. to play and a great place to live. And, you know, this organization means a lot to a lot of people. And so to be a part of it is an honor. And I don't believe that that's lost on anyone in here. Do you have your mind that it could be on a home game tonight? Just feels uncertain, right?

I mean, it's crossed my mind before. All athletes, you know, have that at some point. They think about that. And so, you know, again, tonight's no different than that. I think we're Morgan Riley to, get traded this offseason, he will have been beloved here. Like he will,

I think he'll come back with, to great fanfare, to people remembering, you know, great numbers, statistics, he was always a good guy. There's no,

he doesn't get a single boo when he comes back. Oh, okay. Like on his, like, tribute video when he returns at the San Jose sharks next March.

I don't, I don't know how, beloved, but I don't know how, uh, Lee fans will remember this particular group. I think they're probably the most disappointing in franchise history.

Yep. No question. So, I don't know. I mean... They will have been the good times. Like, you know... What were the good times again? Well, being in contention every year, winning the division, you know,

being an important part of runs and having hope and that sort of stuff. I know they didn't go far. I was there. I remember. Yeah. I was around. Yeah.

Had an eye on it. I think it'll be kind of, like the acknowledgement that you tried your best. He'll fall into the rest of the categories that like, hey, you gave it your best shot. Thanks. Totally. And I do think, you know, the story is not yet written on the end of Tavaras, Matthews, Neelander, whatever, but those years where, yeah, it's close.

Yeah. But like the years where they had a heart trophy winner and, you know, Willie's scoring 40 or whatever. And they don't have more to celebrate, Kip. And people celebrate the past. They get nostalgic for a different thing. Did you cap, did you read John Taviris's comments about, I think it was in the athletic, about just about the city being unwavering or towards him,

that he goes out still. as disappointing as the last two and three weeks were, as disappointing as game seven was, that, you know, in many ways it was kind of, they were still beloved, right? They still love us. And, I mean, I just found it a little kind of, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. No, I know that. But, like, I just don't know about, after experiencing one of the most disappointing seasons in history, you really want to go there. Mitch tried to go there. He was misunderstood or it was taken out of context or whatever, how you want to say it.

But like, we all know how it ended up for Mitch with those, you know, we're still kind of rock stars here, right? And it's just, it's a very touchy subject right now with Leaf fans. in terms of not everybody's, you know, feeling that way, you know, even though that's the way you see it. Right. No, I'm not saying, I guess I'm confused about what conversation we're having because I'm saying that this time, 10, 15 years from now,

people look back at this time, you know, obviously with disappointment, no doubt, but I don't think they will have been bad years to people. But you're saying Tavares now is experiencing. I'm just saying sometimes what the vibe is actually out there and how you perceive it. It can be very disconnected. So, you know, like I'm not sure if Morgan really knows how bad it's been out there, right? I mean, I don't know. I mean, listen to Sammy and a lot of other people about how it's just time for Morgan to go.

And he doesn't want to go because he's got this loyalty thing. going and John's loyal but it's not working but you're still and there's it just seems to be a little bit of a. So you're saying the players don't know that the fans. I don't know if I don't know if they truly know like what it's what it's out there. What's out there for them in terms of their perception of like there's a lot of people that's saying Morgan is time to go. I don't know if he realizes it or not.

Yeah. Well, I mean this is just life right. Like I wrote a book. And every person I talked to has told me it's awesome. It did not sell like J.K. Rowling. You know, or however you say her name. Rowling, who cares? Not a Harry Potter sequel.

Right. You know, like it did good. But it's, you know, by the reviews I got from people, everyone to your face tells you you're doing great. When you go to the ring, people are like, God, I hate the show. But you can't. His show sucks. But Morgan and J.T.

Never wrote a good book. They never wrote a good book. Okay. You wrote a good book and it cannot sell well, but they can't play well and not have results. They can't. It's not a fair comparison. But there's never been a ton of great authors in this city.

You move on. For the record, the book did good. But it's not like this is measured against the Stanley Cups of years past. Right. It's been 67. Like sometimes they get a little tone deaf. Yeah. That's all.

Yeah. Sure. Sure. Whose job is it to tell them the tone? Their agents? Their coach? Yeah. The general manager, the president, the owner, okay?

The PR guy. Be like, well, it's not great. That's how it's going up there right now. Certainly this year, peak frustration. So will this be Morgan Rale's last home game as a Toronto Maple Leaf? Again. Who owns the chiefs? Who's coming in?

Who's going to decide that? Eventually going to be a general. Girl manager. That's going to happen. Does a new guy come in and say, hey, get even in better shape than you were last year and let's go till Christmas and see how it goes? I could see it happening. I could see it happening.

So we're just going to do the same thing again. We do a tree where it's like, well, these guys are great. I could see someone go, God, he only makes seven and a half. You know. Take a look at the last 60 years. A second pair guy. There's a lot of rinse and repeat. Great.

Can't wait. I'm not saying it's the right thing, but it is a concern of mine that someone will come in and not be aware of the tone that has been around the team and around his play. Will they have to eat money if they trade them? Sure. I mean, if you want to get return. I think there's value in Morgan.

I would trade for Morgan. I would trade for Morgan. Morgan can come in and help 15 teams with 17, 18 minutes a night. I have no doubt about that. But I just don't want to pay seven and a half million. Seven and a half, yeah. I mean, sharks literally have no D-Corps under contract next year.

Totally. Like, they, I think they're, I think they need five defensemen. Yeah. And lots of capital. And I need a good pro. I need a, I need a guy. Which Morgan is. Which Morgan is.

He says the right thing. Call the league. Call it in. We just traded him to San Jose. There's value there, but it just, it's run its course here. Who plays D for the sharks? No one next year. Like, it's actually there, have no one.

Yeah, under contract. Who do they have? So right now it's Orlov, I think they still have under contract. And right now Ferrari, Kagnoni, DeHarnay, Dickinson, and MacModulin. Wow, what a murderer is wrong. MacMudan must be under D. They're under contract. I just, I think, to your, just to put a circle on the, or a bow on the conversation.

They have to worry about the floor, sorry. Yeah, yeah, oh yeah. They got to get guys in their team. I don't know. I think it's a complicated relationship with Morgan Riley because of his, perceived accountability in the media with his willingness to say stuff versus some of the other stars that didn't have that accountability. And I think there's always been this little bit of leeway for him

as opposed to the other guys because he's always said the right thing and he seems like a great guy. But like he's as much a part of this as anybody. Totally. He's as much as much a part of it as anyone. Whether it's a number one D man during this time, it's just, he's got to wear it too. Whether it's inexperience coming in or someone that's done it

and been there before, they need to come in. and say organization first. Yes. Okay. Not Morgan. Not Willie. Not Austin. Organization first.

And if you do that, then Morgan should move on. Nyes has a comment on it potentially being Morgan's last game. It's a little interesting. Yeah, let's play it. Clip one. Clip one. Yeah, I think you could say that about almost every guy in this locker room. you just kind of get so close throughout a year.

And, you know, we were saying about, you know, Lawton at the trade deadline, too. Like, he's only been here for a year. Bobby McMan, only been here for a few years. And, you know, I felt weird with those guys not being here. So, yeah, I think it would be weird to see anyone in a different jersey. Man, that's the guy that really enjoys his teammates off the ice. And he almost got traded at the trade.

Right? Nice, yeah. Yeah. But he's going to get older and he's going to realize that I can have fun with these guys anytime I want for the rest of my life off the ice. Get me some guys that can help me win on the ice. A loss of Lawton, Wah, and McMahon, like, real players. Those are hockey players.

Yeah, they were kind of propping the, like, they were like, oh, this house is great. And they got rid of the foundation. Like, oh, this team, the house is really bad. Plug it in with some marlies. And it's like, oh, it's, uh. And yeah, we mentioned it a little bit. Oh, sorry. Oh, go ahead.

I was just going to say we mentioned a little bit off the top, but huge night for Joe Boland tonight. I mean, unbelievable career. It's just the soundtrack to many of my very favorite moments in sports ever. You know, he's been doing it for so long. I can only imagine the emotions he's going through. So good luck tonight, Joe, and try not to try to cry. Let's listen to the coach.

Craig Barubi had a comment on Joe Bowen, the five. Great career, you know, the voice and how he announces the games and has his own style. you go through the guys over the years. Those guys all stick out to you, you know. You know, growing up for me, listening or watching on TV, the Montreal Canadians and listening to Danny Gallivan, you know, like, just guys like that. He's in that, you know, it's in that category.

They create their own identity and how they do things and how they call games. So he's one of the best, one of the greats. Love him. You can feel how much, Joe. wants it for the leaves, you know. And it's just, I'm sick. They never got on one. Holy maca!

Yeah. And this is his last year. It's like the tanking crap leaves to the end. It's like, it stinks. Stinks. Don't tell me about heart and dedication. Resilience. This is unbelievable.

Even a Stanley Cup final would have been. Yeah. Anything. Nice experience. Yeah. But, you know, wish them all the best. I, uh, yeah. Got to work with them a few.

years lucky enough. Good luck tonight, Joe. Try not to cry, buddy. Good luck. Thank you well. Probably. I would. Yeah. I would cry about watching the Leafs tonight, that's for sure. Our thanks to Jody Shelley. Times putt drop tonight. 7.30. It's on Amazon,

so may, AK 815. Not ideal. All right. Just getting started, warm up. We go national next. Jason, your co-host of coming in hot next