Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: A Mammoth Game Looms

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee look ahead to the Leafs wrapping up the road trip with a game vs. the Mammoth. Will the team play the way they played the Avalanche or is there danger of a letdown with the end of the west coast swing coming up in Utah? They get into the ailing d-corps this early in the season, the potential return of John Tavares to the lineup (and the power play), the goaltending the team gets from either Anthony Stolarz or Sergei Bobrovsky, the future value of Artur Akhtyamov in net compared to that of Stolarz, and what they've seen out of Kirill Marchenko so far. Plus, Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong (30:19) stops by to discuss a 4-2-0 start, adding some youth and size in the offseason, the evolution of Nick Schmaltz, and how Utah might be primed for some big moves with lots of assets and cap space at their disposal.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 affiliate. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Toronto Maple Leafs set to close out their road trip tonight. It is game night on the Real Kipper and Bourne show. Leifes in Utah. We are live on Sports at 360, 590, the fan in Toronto, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Also available on Spotify, Apple, Apple, and YouTube. Nick Kipperyl, host Justin Boren, Sammy McKee. What's wrong, Sammy?

Nothing. You're giving me... Honestly, every time I start a show. Sometimes I look over and I see a troubled looking Sammy. And either the, it's usually linked to the jersey not being changed. Right. I think in this case. But then there's also this overall look like he just swallowed a canary.

I was sitting here smiling. I'm just happy to be here. I'm happy to be with two of my great friends talking with the team I love. I was literally just smiling. I was happy, happy. I was curious to see how you would perform given the new layout of this new lineup. that the gas man, all gas, no brakes upstairs, Sam Gacera put together for us. Sammy squared has now given us a lineup that I don't know if you can see this, but like,

oh my God. Like, look how beautiful that is. Incredible. And it's colored. It's digest and full of information. A child could do the show with this much information. And Sammy, you know, to be fair to him, he did warn us for getting a new lineup right around. Two, three hours ago.

I texted the group, China said, our boy Sammy put together a new lineup. That is 10 times better than anything I've ever done. So just prepare yourselves and enjoy. He didn't want us to come in and be like, wow. Yeah. Wanted to just soften the blow a little bit for your boy, you know? The Toronto Releads in Utah are part of a 16 game extravaganza. Yeah, the frenzy.

Tuesday night, frozen friends. NZ night. This could have just sneaks up. It does. First puck drops at 6 p.m. All start times are staggered on the quarter hour, 6, 6, 6, 15, all the way. I think the last one's like 11 p.m. Love it.

I love it. Let's play hockey. What's not to like? I would prefer every half an hour and start the games like in the afternoon. Yeah. Okay, you'd tell me on that. You know what I would prefer? Let's do it on Canadian Thanksgiving.

Let's have a day long, play all the Canadian teams. Americans won't allow that to happen. Is there some things we can just not let them have a say on? I don't think there's anything anymore. Why not? Just all the Canadian teams on Canadian Thanksgiving. You get football on American Thanksgiving. We can't do that.

Drop the puck on. I'd be okay with it. Yeah. Well, I'll talk to some people. See what I can do. God, if they're able to pull this off tonight, the Toronto Maple Leafs, I think a lot of people would be thinking maybe. Maybe?

Maybe. Maybe that. This team's better than what we may have thought. Okay. You're not saying they are. You're saying if they win tonight, maybe we'll think it. I'm not there yet. But it would be a damn good road trip.

McCabe Radish, Riley Stetcher, what do you think? Larsen, Blankenberg. About their chances tonight or agree just to general? Can you feel like, listen, we're going to get in more on the blue line and no TAN of, obviously. But they're going to have their challenges back there.

But again, just based on the overall feel coming out of this road trip, another one or two points, I think would go a long way to make people believe that they're going to be right there. I think as the team's identity starts to take shape, it's clear that offense and skill are going to be a part of it, which is kind of what it used to be. And that's fun. We've talked about that being fun,

and then I think you can start to pick it apart from there. If you can't score, you're really got no chance. So I think that's going to be a part of what this team looks like, right? I mean, they scored two goals per game for three straight games, and then since then have put up, I don't know, 14 goals in the next three or something. So they're finding what they're going to be, and I think that's part of what they're going to be. Yeah, I, you know, trust tree here. if you had told me going into this road trip that they're going to get three points,

I probably would have signed up quite frankly. Come home 500 on the trip. I'm hoping they're not. Free money tonight. I'm hoping they're not thinking that. And I'm hoping they're not thinking that it's a successful trip or whatever. But yeah, if you go into this game and you find a way to win or get a point in this, you can't say that playing, I don't know, Kipper picked them to win the Pacific vision.

And I think he picked them to win the Cup. Who's that? No, I picked them to win the Pacific. Oh, no, the Central, in the Central. Central. I think that's fair. That division is ruthless. If they go into these three games

against three of the, you know, better teams in the West and they find a way to come out with, you know, four or five points on this trip, that's a, that's a rousing success. And then they come home and lose to Buffalo in embarrassing fashion on Thursday, of course. That's part of the drill. That's what's going on.

But I have to say, once again, woke up today, just can't wait for the game. Yeah. Like, I really can't stress how stoked I am again, turn on the TV, and it'll be a good one tonight. They'll be in tough, good young, fast team, but it'll be exciting. Have we heard officially what lineup they're going with? They went 7 and 11 last game.

I'll flip over your handy-dandy lineup there. Yep. Looks like no refi-in, 8 and 12, or sorry, 12 and 6? Yeah, I think so. Okay. Ekman-Larsen-Blankenberg is your third pair. Ekman Larson, apparently okay. And not just okay, Jim Hiller had some comments about him going to play more in the absence of

Chris Tanev. just kind of a next man up mentality. So that's a good sign that he's apparently feeling good. All right, let's get Jim Hiller on it. Clip one. Yeah, I mean, you know, everybody's going to have to do a little bit more in his absence, right? But, you know, it's not necessarily the role we want him, you know,

to do to give those heavy defensive minutes, but he's shown he can handle them. But I think, you know, there'll be some other guys. I think OEL we haven't probably played as much as we need to. He's going to get a little more tonight. He's healthy and ready to go, so we're going to have to lean on him big time. He's talking about Radish off the top.

Yeah, he is. As far as OEL, I hope it feels to him like the last few days is like a bit of a reset because he is not off to a good start. No, he's not. And you just wonder, is it just where he is at his age? And also, much like Chris Tanna, a certain amount of wear and tear that just catches. is up to you or is this guy going to bounce back and be a guy that they can lean on tonight as much

as 20 minutes. I am curious if he does get more minutes how he looks because he has, you know, he's been playing 17 minutes and definite third pair kind of role. Last year when they asked a lot of him, he gave them a lot. So yeah, I think we'll get a decent idea of what he's able to do. Lankenberg going to get in again. See if he can do it alongside OEL. But yeah, he'll play PK. And interestingly said that Rattish going to get more defensive starts, you know, that maybe they had anticipated when they first signed them. But that's just, you play with McCabe and you're a top pair guy. It's just the way it goes.

I'm kind of surprised how we all playing, quite frankly. Like, you know, last year. Do we think bonged in the head? Yeah, I mean, he got slammed down pretty good, went off immediately with the head stuff. And then remember last year when we thought he wasn't going to be playing? And then he came in. Yeah, he's a tough. He's tough.

He plays hard. He plays hard. He plays hard. him not being very good when he came back when he thought he shouldn't have last year. Like it's, I'm just surprised that he's going in there tonight as all. But not really an easy line to match up with. You got Keller Smaltz Krauss,

Yamamoto, Cooley, Gunther, Hayton Trocheck Lee is your third line is really, really good. McBain, Stenland, and Daniel,

Boo? Do you say boo or butt? I don't know. So, like, they got four lines. Police could get a kick in the butt tonight. They got a old Daniel.

So, according to our lineup here from Sammy, Utah has two lines in the top 11 of expected goals for with minimum 40 minutes played. Kraus Hayton and McBain's been really good, and Schmaltz Trocheck Keller has been really good as well. That's a big physical team. It is. It definitely is. Any more thoughts on Life Without TANF, at least for the next three games?

I think they're going to find out if they need to make a trade or not. Like how desperate is. I don't know if you've seen what Pittsburgh's done in the last. last couple days, but they're like, they got that Spencer Stassney from Edmonton and then just traded for, is it Ryan Johnson or something? Like, they're just, they know they're not good enough defensively, like with depth wise. Those guys are always out there. But like you believe they need someone who's not that, who's another tier above that. A healthy, a healthy tan of we were sitting here going. They need more. They need more. They need help. And we know what in a perfect world it would be.

be a significant guy that could play another 17, 20 minutes and be reliable on the offense and the defense, but they're not out there. They don't exist right now to trade for. So you can plug and play, I guess, another guy off the waiver wire or top six, but you need to push now for a major guy. I mean, White Cloud's names out there. Bristelan's name's been out there for a year and a half, two years. The Flyers would dearly love to get rid of him.

You never want the guy the team dearly loves to get rid of. He's a right-headed shot. The bad team, by the way, has yet to win. The 05 and 2 team wants to get rid of this guy you want him. So clearly, I mean, Ritzelan doesn't get you excited. I'm, you know, being sarcastic. I have in the past. He played well.

He played well last year for them. I was going to say I have in the past liked him, so I'm not sure what's going on this year. I know they don't love the number that he's being paid. paid, it's a five and a half or something like that. At the end of, and he needs a new contract, Sammy, is his deal done for Salananin?

He's a UFA at the end of the year. You're sounding like you know the... I'm taking a guesstimate here. Okay. You good? I'm looking at it right now. A couple of the news and notes. I want to hear from...

Let's hear from Jim Hiller on the absence of TANF. Oh, that was the first clip. Did we play it already? Yeah. Oh, good. I'm sleeping. Well, it's the same.

It's on separate lines. Okay. The thing I am interested in, John Tavares, is back after the birth of Tucker. Do we know if there's a Darcy Tucker connection? Is it a Leafs tribute? I'm not sure. Gotta be.

I got to think, absolutely not. And his other son, Wendell, is really excited about the birth of his new brother. Matt's Tavares. Judging, by the way, we've watched John Tavar's play. and Darcy play. Oh, but it would be a tribute. Yeah, no, no link.

I like tough players and wasn't one. No link. They're not connected. So, DeVaris is back. He's going to be playing on PowerPlay 1. No McKenna. Which you're not too excited about? It's not going to end like this.

It's going to be Gavin McKenna. And you want it in the sixth game of the season? I'm patient enough, but it does seem stupid when you know what's going to happen to just not have it happen, but he has been there a long time. He's a good PowerPlay player, plays a different spot. Why don't we listen to Jim Hiller? Clip five on John DeVar's back on PowerPlay 1.

No, I mean, Gavin did a good job. And, you know, just like other situations in the game, Gavin will get put in and then pulled back a little bit. We're talking about John Traveris. It's a pretty easy decision to get John back in there. It's had a great career. It's still a great goal. score. So that wasn't a hard one at all.

See, I'm with Jim, man. Just keep the kid hungry. Keep them. Yeah, I like it. It's what I preached right from the beginning of the season. So make it worse in the sake of... No, it's a lot easier to bump them up than it is to... Give it to him. It doesn't go well. We gave it to him too soon. Now his confidence is down. Okay. Yeah. I think there's definitely some John Devaris Slander going on in terms of what he brings him on power play.

Like he's been a really good power play player for them for a lot of years, scored a ton of goals on the power play for them. I mean, would he lead them in power play goals over this era? Like, he'd be close. Yeah. Like, he's really been a good net front guy. I understand that. And I understand the coach's perspective of being hesitant to strip a guy who's all

the stuff we know with Tavares. Having said all that, it would be better if he was up there consistent. And they're not, they want to, you know, know, reward the old guy and it's veterans and it's the NHL and all this different stuff, I get it. Not a developmental league. Yeah, I know. I know.

But I just watched Gavin McKenna play a puck off the boards to himself and then no-look pass across the ice like Kucharov the other night. So I'd like to steal a little bit more of that. So. And, you know, I like, I like, see. The seam, the seam that McKenna found over to Willie doesn't exist with Tavares, right? Net front? In the net front.

Yeah. So it just seemed without him, there's a little bit more creativity. But I kind of am on board with you. But it's game six or seven, whatever it is of 84. People are going to get hurt. There's going to be opportunities. He's going to work his way there. You know, maybe Tavar shoots one in tonight.

He's shot lots in. I can promise you with the temperature of leaves Twitter and leaves fans and all the messages I'm getting from my buddies with a tweet from Luke Fox about them taking them off. I am, that's going to happen in game time in our second hour. John DeVarro's power play goal tonight is a lock. It is an absolute lock with the way that people are talking. People are talking about him like he's, I don't know, like,

par Lindholm out there. Like it's, it is John DeVaris. Like, guys got pretty silky bits. He's tucked a lot. I don't disagree with you. We do know where we think it'll end up, but you can't bail on John. You can't create what you've created.

throughout the off-season training camp. Right. First five games. And then go, oh, John, we're going with Plan B now. Sorry. But, I mean, they don't care. Just let's, the toy is shiny.

Oh, it's the shiny. You know, like when you're talking of shiny toys to play with, it's like, boy, that's the one. That's the one at the time. It's the lineup. It's still blinding all the colors. But I just, they don't care about fans

and fan perception and media perception, all this different stuff. but I'm telling you, O for two tonight, they can't gain the zone, they're doing that thing when they flip it over to DeVarra's center of the zone,

it's chopping it around, it's not gaining, people are going to be losing their minds. Well, they have... Lose it in the comfort of their own homes tonight. Well, I know, for sure, but like this temperature is going to... Because we saw it.

We got the look, we know what it feels like, it's just the pressure is going to build to put them up there. Yeah. Well, it's his job to keep putting it on. Yep. Good start.

Yep. Specialty teams. opposite of the power play is penalty killing and nobody off to a better start than the Leifes. No, no one off to a better start. The Leif's penalty kills at 95%. Oh, the Minnesota Wild is also 95% now. Really, Tannav's a huge part of that, right? Block shots, gets in lanes.

Block shots, breakaways. Yeah, that's true, has an assist. Easton Cowan. Blocking a shot, breakaway. And, you know, you throw him in McCabe out there. it's pretty much as good as you can get for a couple of defensively responsible guys and clear out the net front.

It'll be a little different with Radish, eating more minutes of that. I don't think Blankenberg's going to contribute. So, you know, a lot of OEL, Morgan Riley probably going to get involved at some point. I do worry about Radish a little bit because he just started to kind of feel comfortable with those type of minutes

or where he's in his wheelhouse, Now you're going to add an element to him that, you know, I hope it doesn't kind of throw off the rhythm that he's had the last few games. Yeah, because he's improved a lot. It started to look kind of like Darren Raddish. And I agree. And I also, he's pretty important to their team right now. If you look at the way, hey, everything slots in beneath them.

Yeah. I don't know if I want them out there eating talks. And doing the killing penalty stuff. Like, that's a risk for sure. You could do McCabe Stetcher to start. Beckman-Larsen-Riley is a pretty dicey boy. You got to do radish. Yeah, you got to do radish.

It has to be radish. Second guy. Second pair out there. Yep. We got Stolars going tonight. Did we do the PK? We haven't played the clip yet. Yeah, let's play it.

Let's play the clip. Clip one, two. I mean, that's collective. You know, it always starts with the goaltenders. I think our goalies have been really sharp there. But, you know, in fact, guys blocking shots, winning faceoffs. The D have done a nice job, not giving up. you know, a lot of little rebounds or plays in tight.

They've had some looks from outside. But none of those little tapins, cross-creasers, so they've done a nice job there. But that's a collective effort. That's, you know, that's everybody who's on the ice when you're on the PK. Yeah, all right. I mean, they sign guys that are really good at it. Cizons is great.

I really like Blugher out there. Du Hane flies around. Pan Evan McCabe been good. Their goal has been good. Like, it's a good mix of guys. In Colorado, they put together six on five, Duhane Blugher Sisons at one point. It's just real solid.

Like they have some purpose-built guys. They have a clear role in the team. Yeah. Maybe last year farther down the line. Just less Matthews too. Yeah. Which is nice. Because I don't feel like he should be the first guy over the boards every single time.

He's still doing it. He's been out there. But Trilly wrote an article that mentioned Matthews DZone starts for like four and a half a game last year. This year it's three and a half. It's a little bit per game. But it adds up over the course of the season and helps him out a little bit. Stollars going tonight? Yeah.

No surprise there. We said that yesterday. You could hear it in Jim Hiller's comments that they got, they, they, they played and they got Bobrowski his win. Mm-hmm. No question that he's got some good mojo,

momentum going. No need to press it tonight when you got Stolars waiting. Not that tough of question. Let's listen to Jim Hiller on what he likes about Stolars. I like his personality. That's the, that's the one thing. Just a happy,

go lucky guy. I think that's important for, a goal tender sometimes, not to be too tight. He seems like he's a pretty relaxed guy. And the obvious is massive in the net. So, yeah, he's not a good job so far, just like Bob. He is massive. He's almost like he was on a dating app.

He had a great personality. Handsome. Handsome. Tall. Big in the net. It was right now. Great cook. Right now at this time last season, if you flash back one year,

I believe it was after six games. I was wearing the same shirt one year ago today. You were. So was Jeff Blair. There you go. Anthony Stollars. Went down. No.

No. He was critical of the team. Oh, yeah. We said not that big a deal. No, he didn't. No, we did. You and I did. And Kippre yelled at us.

We're mad at us. Yeah, you know. He was the best guy ever. Yeah. I said I didn't like it. Yeah. I did at the time. Didn't go well.

Didn't go well for Stoli. And it also didn't seem to fit his personality. I had a year when I was named a captain, my college team, and I tried to be like a different sort of like tough leader type guy, and that's just not who I am. People didn't like it. What do you think, you know, for you, first of all, that what brought on this next level, Justin Bourne,

or what do you think brought on Anthony Stollars this time last year to take whatever he thought he had to the next level by calling out some of his teammates. Yeah, I think in my case, it was ego, you know, that it was like, all right, I'm important now. Like, I'm someone. I need to, you know, you have this vision of what a leader is supposed to be. And, you know, if it's not authentic, it doesn't work. That's just the reality is I've gotten older and more mature. You see that.

And I don't think that Stolars needs to be that guy. It also put pressure on him he didn't need to be available when he's not sure that he can be available. So I think he didn't help his own cause in retrospect. I think too, maybe for the first time in 10 years or 12 years, he saw himself as a legitimate number one goalie. Totally. And that played into it. They're straight off a second round appearance, spent a seven games.

And now, a year later, I think he's really comfortable being number two. Number two. A little humility. And knowing that Barowski's the guy. And all he has to do is find a way to stay healthy. And stop it. Whatever that number is, is it 30, is it 35, is it 37? Could he get to 40?

We don't know. He doesn't know. Nobody knows. But whatever that number is, I don't think there's a doubt in his mind that he's going to be number two. Yeah. And that's great. And there's a comfort. There's $3 million a year.

There's guys. And we're going to have Steve Aliquette on. And we'll ask him about just that type of comfort. But I have, I think it has everything to do with it. He was just out of his element last year. And then that was up for grabs. We talked about that between him and Joseph Wall. But Joseph Wall wasn't present at that time.

He was like Joseph Wall was. Yeah, not around. Not sure where Wool was. We all know the conversation. But like, he was the guy. He had to be the guy. Yeah, he had to be the guy. And he'll be for a bit there.

But I assume he'll do. It wasn't actually. Caden, Prey. Oh, was it Caden Primo last year? Caden Primo was last year, yeah. But wherever they were at that specific time, injured, hurt, not hurt, there was a race to April to be the guy. Yeah.

It was open. And now it's not open. No. You know, you've talked about in the past with lineup how guys need to be slotted properly to be effective. And Morgan Riley's been miscast. and at times we've seen it in their forward lineup, particularly with left wingers.

But Stolars is very, he's a perfect number two. Call it a tandem if you like. It's a one B, possibly a one C. He's important, but he's the second guy and that's where he's supposed to be. Yeah, and he's, you just hope, if they could just find a way to keep him healthy, you feel really comfortable in that.

But it just first. The first Kauai run here. How do you load manager? But it feels, much like the Tanev conversation. He's kind of goalie Tanev. Like it feels like a ticking time bomb. It does.

Like you want to depend on it. You've seen him. He looks great in that first game where he got the win against the Isles, made some big save towards the end against the Preds. Got a, you know, little couple wins under his belt. Did he get, he already got run pretty good? Yeah, he got balls.

Was it preseason he took him on? No, no, regular season. It was in the, wasn't it in the Isles game? When the guy scored on him coming across, he ran right into him. Yeah. That's right. And knocked his knocked his head.

And he took it. I want to believe in it. And I want to believe that this one A, one B thing's going to work. I just feel like we're still getting 10 to 15 Actions. So there's already conversations about double A needing to clear waivers next year.

Act him off. I can't do next year. No, I'm just saying, no. But it is, with his run in the Calder Cup, it is kind of shaping up towards in all probability this being Stolars last season. Actyamov has this year and then two more years,

and I believe those are one-way years. But he has to clear waivers. He's not next season. So. So those are one-way years, so he'll be making that money regardless. He's 24 years old and coming off a fantastic season. So you think for Stolars, it's like one of the, the two of them will have to go.

He makes three, seven, five dollars. Not one of the two of them, one of them has to go. You think he's definitely A.A. that would stay over Stolars? 100%. Yeah. Well, hold on to both of you. Unless.

He's not good enough. No, he's got to get those numbers up in the game. Unless you are so desperate to improve this team that you trade them. Yeah, that crossed my mind, too. Then you probably should have kept Hilda Bee or one of the other ones. I just, you know, you can, we're talking about these guys. He is an asset.

We know that Actimov is, you know, an NHL goalie. And he probably is. Everything looks good. But we know Stolars is a very good backup. Elite backup. And so if, that is his best ever year as a backup. 30 plus with bad knees.

Totally. Yep. But if double A can't play, he doesn't, that doesn't help you. Yeah. And you got nobody. He was unbelievable in the,

He was so good. He played 22 games. He had a 2-22 goals against and a 9-23 stay percentage in that run. Massive pressure. That's crazy. And again, depending on the tan of injury. Right? I thought he's smaller than that.

Depending on the tan of injury, you've come this far. Chica's going to have to spend something on somebody. You're right. You're right. Come on, guys. You're right. You're right. He's traded the...

No, well. The batteries. Yeah, it's risky, but. You're kind of right. I don't know. Can Stolars, can you build enough stock where Stolars gets some love? Oh, yeah. If teams are looking for a goalie.

Yeah, his price for sure you can. And then move him. This season. We're just spitballing here. I don't want a third rounder for a guy who can be a 920 when he's in the net. Everything's about fixing that blue line, guys. I'd be interested to hear this clip from Hiller on Marchenko so far quickly before we go. I didn't, I didn't, my boy, Sandy cut all these, so I'd like to hear that.

Clip four, please, Marchenko. Yeah, I mean, it's a little bit different for him. You know, in Columbus, he was relied upon to provide a lot of offense, and he's certainly going to rely upon for that here, but there are other players that can be spread around. So I think he's just kind of finding his way there right now. But listen, we all know he's had a lot of looks. The puck hasn't gone in for him.

He still made some plays in the power play. So, yeah, just probably wants to get going a little better than he has, but we've got plenty of patience for him. We love the player. Great personality, and it would be just fine. You have five points in six games. He's playing the most he's ever played over 19 minutes a night right now. You have concerns?

No. Okay. Well, no, no. Here's what I'll say. You were a little underwhelmed. Big night tonight would like to see some expected goals turned to actual goals. We'd like to see if you enter the net tonight.

Maybe a nice three-point game, a couple tucks, maybe one of the power play. Like, you know, they've had a lot of contributions from Willie and Matthews, and those guys have carried them offensively. Larchenko is getting paid, well, not this year, but next year, like he is in that class. So I'd like to see him score a couple tonight.

Is that fair? If he's not, I'd like to see him a little heavier. I like to see him. run a few people over. I don't know. I'm not saying he'll ever be Ovechkin, who absolutely could crush guys, but he's a big body, right?

He could. He could be that guy. I think Ovi's hit on Yager at the Olympics is the hardest hit. Anyone's ever been hit? He just broke his visor, caught him over the middle. That was insane. He's been Dustin Bufflin on anyone.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I still think Ovi's on Yager maybe the biggest ever. Yeah. And transition to put him out of course. I'd like to see a little bit more natural kind of, out of him. Yeah, it's not.

No. Well, I mean, he runs into some people. He gets some hits. Yeah. That's kind of a thing. But he's a play driver, push it the right way. You need to have a good plus-minus then, and so far that needs some work, too. Two goals and an assist tonight for Marchenko.

Oh, get it in game time. Call it. Call it. Okay. We got to get. Okay. We'll take a quick break when we return. Bill Armstrong, Utah, General Manager, as Bill.

and all of Lee fans out there await the start of the frozen frenzy in the National Hockey League. All right, back when we return after these words. Welcome back in studio, Nick Kiprios, Justin Boran, Sammy McKee. Let's welcome in Bill Armstrong, general manager of Utah as they get set to host the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Bill, thanks for joining us. How are you? I'm doing great. How are you guys doing today? Yeah, we're good. Just, let's start with your hockey club and the start. I guess you guys are coming off a road trip, three and two. A few highs, a few lows, obviously, the game

against Boston. But overall, what have you seen out of your hockey club? And, you know, in terms of going to the next level, what have you seen out of the start? Well, I think we got out of the Vegas series, you know, and it was a great series.

There was almost like a TSN turning point in the series, you know. Excuse me. Sports net, turning point. Bill? Bill's to pay here. I know.

I shouldn't have used that one. It was, my bad. I was out of bounds on that one. Out of bounds. That's okay. We forgive you. Out of bounds.

But it was a turning point in our series. And, you know, I felt like there was a few things that, you know, our club, you know, just going to the front of the net and some physicality and just some small things.

What I call, like, glue, you know, just face-offs. And there's like, just better on penalty killing. And so we went in there in the summer and a time, try to address it, you know, and I think with

Andrews Lee coming on board and Trocheck coming on board, you know, and just adding some of our youth that's got some size with Simasheb and Boot and adding peak also into our lineup on our backside, you know, we've gained some size and we're just

a little bit grittier. We go to the tough areas. We're a little bit better on some of the finer points of the draws and just some key points. And with our leadership, I think, you know, Anders Lee and and also Vincent Trochev have really, really added in. Yeah, it's fascinating.

You know, it's uncommon for teams to add two guys with such history in the league and such ability. Tell us a little bit about trying to integrate guys who have so much experience within sort of a young core that you guys had been building slowly over some years. Well, the good news is, you know, on that, it's not always easy sometimes when you're adding, you know, guys into your team.

But Cooley and Trochev were from Pee. Pittsburgh and they knew each other inside and out. So it was, you know, that was an easy fit to bring, you know, a Troche into our team. And Anders Lee, you know, obviously just a captain in the National Hockey League for a long time with the Islanders. He was a smooth fit too because there are roles here we needed.

And you always like when you bring in a guy and he can jump right into his role and find that early and fit in with your team. And those two guys have done that. So there's some of really good fits early on in the season now. it's still young. We haven't, you know, gone the distance yet and we haven't been really tested. So, you know, there's more to come, but I like what I've seen from our group and the fit's been really good. You know, we sometimes want to label frontline players as game breakers or game changers here. And you're certainly looking at maybe a few now, ready to go to the next level.

Gunther is one of the best shooters. I think of around the National Hockey League. Schmaltz is a guy that has six goals here. Is he someone we should be looking at differently now as a front line guy, a gamebreaker? Yeah, you know, Schmaltz he is, you know, he's one of those guys when he's with your organization. You realize how valuable he is because you're with him every day and you realize how good he is. And we moved him from the wing to center and that was a game changer last season for us. Logan Cooley got banged up and Smolsey went to the middle and he just took off. and he hasn't stopped since.

And I just, he plays the game and thinks the game at a high level, and he thinks it fast, and he plays fast. And when he's at center, just allows him to kind of get to that next level. And I think our group went home and made some adjustments on the power play.

I think, as I said, when we went to the Vegas series, I think there was some growing up in that series for us, and our group came back, with a little bit more focus and a little bit more determination on our power play. And that's where you see Smolzi. I think he's got four of his six goals on the power play.

Tell us a little bit about a guy I think has star potential and that might be underselling it and Logan Cooney. Just 22 years old last year he's almost a goal every other game, almost a point per game getting up there. Tell us about his start and what you're seeing out of him. Well, cool. He loves hockey, you know. He's an awesome kid to have from the moment we drafted him.

We were so excited. I think I screamed out his name at the draft because I couldn't believe he was there when we were picking. And he's been a game changer from the moment. moment we've drafted him. He just has so much energy. He loves the game of hockey. He's just truly a driven kid and he plays fast.

There's not too many minus McDavid. You know, Kool's is one of the fastest guys in the game. So, you know, he gives you that different look. I think he, when he's in our lineup, you know, everybody can feel it on the other side because you're forced to make decisions quick because he's absolutely flying. And I think him and Gunther over the course of their time together, I've built a special relationship, a great chemistry together. they find each other.

And I think, you know, with the speed that Cools has, he backs guys up off the line and that creates some room for Gunther to shoot. You're listening to Bill Armstrong, Joe manager of Utah Mammoth. We've got your jersey in the background. Ryan Smith was kind enough to send us a jersey. But just the Utah Hockey Club right now, though. We don't have the actual Mammons jersey.

It's just the Utah Hockey Club. Well, it looks close enough. For my comments early on, I'm going to have to put you guys. full swag with a New Jersey in the back. Hockey pants and gentlemen. You're going to get rewarded for my miss cue on that one. I know if I don't,

I'm going to pay a huge price at some point in time when we're on like a five-game losing streak. Oh, yeah. Well, I'm not going to take that chance. We will hammer you hard here, Bill. Just in terms of your job now moving forward and where you are, when I think of two teams that could have the assets to do pretty much what they want with whatever's available

out there in the trade world. You and the Montreal Canadian seem real prime to maybe do something big. Is your team ready for you to do something big? So that's a great question. I think as a GM, you know, I have to come in every morning and try to improve the club. And I've always said that, you know, publicly and I have that philosophy every morning that I wake up is trying to get better. You know, but you have to watch some of the trades too,

because some of the trades that look great on paper. there'll be a big splash, but they might not improve your team as much as you think. You know, so you definitely have to be very careful. I think you have to look at everything. I think you have to be in and have conversations, and, you know, everybody knows we have the assets to do that. It has to make sense for us. So I think we look at almost everything and see if it can improve our club.

We have to be super smart about what we're bringing in if we're going to make that big trade. We've got some really good young kids come. in our pipeline, the Ginnla, the denoes of the world. You know, and there's some Ethan Bell, Chesa, we drafted last year that's at Michigan State. He's a hell of a player. So we've got a lot of good players coming into the pipeline. And so it's exciting times for us.

And as soon as you start talking trades, obviously there's teams that, you know, they want to get in on some of your good young prospects. And so there's some tough decisions, obviously, in the future for us. But I like what I've seen from our prospects and our, our young guys. So we'll see. We'll move smartly.

How does that sound? Yeah. Bill, just to follow up on that, the calls that you're making, are they kind of consistent with the calls in the last few years, this time of year? Is there a different sense when you make calls now? Maybe because it just seems like so many teams are in a position

where they just can't have a bad couple of weeks. You could end up missing the playoffs. and there's more, it seems like there's more injuries and, like, or is it just, is it too early, or do you get a sense that the market could be shifting and it might get a little bit more aggressive earlier this season? It's a great question. I don't, I don't, there has been, there's been a lot more injuries,

I think, this year for some reason, who knows, or they've been heightened in the press for sure. And when that happens, it changes the market, you know, because teams don't want to wait around to find out, you know, what's going to happen. They've got to make moves. And so that could be something that we see early on with a lot of moves that could happen here. You know, but at the same time, you have to let your team settle and you have to let your team grow.

And you've got to do that, you know, smartly because sometimes, you know, as you go through the season, there's stuff that you can't see in front of you that. It just develops. And like example, last year, you know, Smoltz went from the wing to center and he just took off, you know. So some of that thing is some of some of those moves and stuff that happens to your team or it happens organically. And so you need some time to let your team grow. And that's the tough part of making big time trades right now or big time decisions right now because you haven't seen some things in your team that are definitely going to come out. You know, one of the things that you talking about like moving stuff and what you guys have done, you made the JJ Pritcher.

trade this summer and you guys ended up with two first rounders one of them you got to use this summer which is pretty awesome tell us about the decision to move on from jj and was it just a fit issue you guys have a lot of good players and i understand you can't get everyone enough ice time sometimes yeah jj is a heck of a player like he is really a good player um you know and you know listen he put up over 20 goals for us here um so it just wasn't a good fit in the sense uh for us we needed a little bit more net front, a little grittier puck play in some areas. I felt like we had a lot of skill and the Anders Leeds of the world that anchor the front of the net. You know, we need a little bit more of that. And I think that that was evident in the Vegas series for us. So, you know, at the point

we had to, you know, we had to move JJ. Unfortunately, we couldn't hold him. We felt like we needed some more net front, just different, different, you know, bodies, different position. He's a heck of a player. We wish him the best too. He's a great kid. What is, Bill, if you were to kind of guesstimate where you might be in a month or February or March, what would be your

wish list here, or at least to watch your team develop and get stronger in certain areas? Where would that be? You know, just like, we have a battle. Every team has their battle, right? You know, and some go through the injuries early on. Ours is that we play

the amount of road games that we do. all the way up until after Christmas. I think by the time we get to Christmas, we've played eight more road games, and that wears on your team, and it can change your view of your team because you get worn down. So we just want to stay above 500 in that fight,

and that grind, and if we can keep the power play in the PK, you know, going as we have early on in the season, that's where we hope our team can move to. And just stay in the fight. You know, I think our guys grew up a lot in the playoff battle last year, and it's a battle to get in every season.

single year and you have these up and down, these highs and lows and just trying to stay consistent and knowing that road wears you down and you've got to play smart hockey through the early part to get us to Christmas. Kind of annoying that there's not any slug teams in the Central, hey, like a couple would be nice. Well, back in the day, you know, everybody was doing the rebuild, you know, and they love seeing us, you know, and so there's only a couple teams in the National High School. doing the rebuild. That's just terrible.

You know, now it's like a punch in the face competition. You get the San Jose of the world and the Anaheims in the world. They're just great teams. Like, there's just no easy points anywhere to be had. And which makes your club better. It makes you more consistent and it makes you a little bit tougher.

But, yeah, you kind of miss the old days. If there's a team going through the rebuild that you could lay a real good beating on, you know? Bill, looking forward to our mammoth jersey. end the game tonight. Oh, boy.

And the game tonight. My slip of the tongue is going to pay dividends for your swag, all right? Appreciate your time. Thanks, Bill. I appreciate you. As Bill Armstrong. Thank you, gentlemen. General manager.

Thanks a lot. They got one of those teams, guys, that you're going to go, when did they get good? Oh, yeah. I look at their roster right now. It's like, man, they have a lot. You know who I like that? Or like, too, is that Sergachev from Tampa Bay? Yeah.

Yeah, I like him, too. I do. He can do a little bit of everything. Good offensive guy. Yeah. They got Weiger. That's nice. The D is obviously the place where you're not so sure about it.

But up front with Cooley, Schmalt, Keller, Gunther, Trochick, Lee, Krauss. I really appreciated the way you tried to ask the Dylan Larkin and Hellebuck question without saying Dylan and Larkin and Hellebuck. You pick that up to all these guys. There's some available talent out there. Get a little more aggressive earlier. And Bill didn't answer directly by saying, well, we move Schmaltz to center. We don't actually, you know, like they're had the conversation without having the conversation.

It's easily sliding back, Bill. Boy, I reckon it look good right there. Haliboc could look pretty good in their net. You guys would be saying the stuff you stay about the Leafs. You'd be like, sure you don't want to use that chip. I don't know if they're ready to. It's fair. Well, they have a lot of chips, though.

At least have two chips. They have a full selection of chips. How about his point that they got a Genla on the way and Caleb Denoi? I know. I know, no. They got some pieces that teams would love to take off their hands. Yeah. I don't know if they're ready to

give up on Vermilke for Hellebuck. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They drop on him. So they would drop him like a hot potato? How old is veggie, as they call him? For the record, I also like the veggie.

I think he's got to be around 29. 27? 28? 30. Oh, he's that old. So he's not that much. So I was thinking like if they're maybe thinking that the Helibuck move might be a bit ahead of schedule.

He would have, he'd have Winnipeg on there. their list. I think so? Yeah. I mean, he has, does he have a list? Why does he get to have a list? What's he making? Six? I'm looking at his. 4.75. Yeah, he's got it. 10 team, no trade.

How does every guy happen? When you're almost a $5 million goalie, you get a list. You do, at less than five, it should be no trade clauses less than five. You got to make more than five to get a no trade. Well, then he ain't signing it unless it's a five.

Stay at home. with Hella Buck. Yeah, it is, it's, I guess that does complicate things, but he's, he's six foot four. He's got some years where he's posted 900 plus, 8% of the NFL. The Leaves will have a challenge tonight. Yeah, they will. This is a, this is a good hockey club.

Logan Cooley being slower than basically only Connor McDavid, Nick David is a guy to get a bell on and keep tabs of where he's at. Smaltz already has six goals through eight games. I wish six games. I wish Cooley was an American. Yeah. Yeah, he's going to be a staple on their team for the next 10 best on bests.

And here's what's really good about Utah is they just got him signed. Take a look at his contract right now. Did he get one of those ones where? Okay, I'm looking. It's a steel. Yeah, I got it. Ten mil for 100 years. Eight years, 80 million.

10, 10 a year. 10 a year. And think about like, okay. How far is he away from Leo Carlson? Oh, not that far at all. Not that far off. No. But 8 million difference?

To me, Logan Cooley's 30 goals, 80 points this year. It's like they're getting him for free now. Seriously. 10 million is free. It was such a good move to get him locked up. Yeah. And like, I don't know if you go to your agent and go, you didn't see a salary cap rise coming,

or if you just say, that's what the rate was at the time. That's what people were signed for. Probably making, giant onion to wear a belt. Probably being like, hey, I get to make $10 million for the next eight years.

Yeah. Soffens the blow on. Security sounds pretty good. The only thing that will make, I would take that gun. Cooley and a lot of the Montreal Canadian players happy is just winning. That's the only thing.

But also they're going to get another crack at it. Coolly's eight-year contract takes them to 29. years old. Oh, I think you'll probably get a big one. I think the odds are, there's some money waiting for him on the other end. You know, if your knees hold up or whatever, no, there's not. No guarantees. The one guy that's got to be the most pissed is Lane Hudson.

He's got to be the number one at the front of the queue. Hudson might today, six games into his deal, be underpaid by $10 million a year. How much does he get in? He left $40, $50 million. He makes $9 a year. By not, by not waiting. He doesn't make $9 a year. He makes $8.8.

He makes less than $9. Really? Yes. By not waiting, it just cost him $50 million. By just not waiting. I think you're light on $50. Maybe. Yeah, you're right.

I mean, Kail McCar just got 20. Yeah, he's not, I mean, he's not, Kelle McCar. No, but is he what? $3 million less, $4 million, $4 million? Yes. $5 million less? Oh, he could have got $15. Easy.

Easy. Why do you do that? Well, he's still rich. His agent, is it Milstein? I don't think so. Whoever will. No. No?

Okay. Well, whatever. Billstein came out about the Demadov contract and said that Demadov just wanted to get it done. He wanted to commit to the franchise. His agent is Sean coffee. What's that? His agent was.

Oh, these guys both said they just wanted the security and to be with the Canadians and to help them long term. Oh, those guys. Just great guys. Hearts of gold. Maybe they could help them score more than that. You sure about that?

Maybe they could help them score more than zero goals against the Redwoods. That'd be nice. The Toronto Maple Leafs in Utah. One of 16 games on this Frenzy Tuesday. Frenzy! Did I say it right? I don't know it doesn't matter. I really butcher it.

I don't think we sell it as the frenzy. I think that's an ESPN. Oh, is it? There's just lots of games. Maybe we do. Some of them are on sports set. Yeah. Coming up.

Deep in the Valley. Steve Valleket. Can't wait to hear what he thinks of Shasturkin and the Rangers. Oh, boy. That's tough. Really sucks. All right, it's Valley when we go national on the real Kippin-Born show.