Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: At 'C' Level

Episode Date: February 15, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a look at the Flyers as they come to town to take on the Leafs, and John Tortorella's comments on young players' expectations entering the NHL. Looking ahead to the game, they discuss Marner, Tavares and Nylander coming back from illness and Giordano's injury status. After, a chat about whether Morgan Rielly could or should be the Leafs' next captain. Finally, Flyers GM Daniel Brière (27:19) shares how he's approaching the trade deadline, the addition of Jamie Drysdale and the decision to name Sean Couturier captain.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.

it's the real kipper and born show the kipper is justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo jen rolnick with you for the next two hours sportsnet 590 sportsnet 360 sportsnet plus wherever you're following us we're glad you are along for the ride and when you can't catch us live go to a podcast and download us wherever you get your pods and as always little text here and there 590 590 comments opinions don't like sammy's hair. What? It's looking really good. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

I'm paying attention. All right. Your hair's okay. I was reading about a lovely lunch my parents are having in Spain. In Spain? Spain. Yeah. Termolinos in Spain.

They go away for, they're retired. They go for three months in the winter. Jeez. They do what you should do, Kipper. Yeah. What are you doing here with us? Have you ever stopped to think about that? I'm looking out the window. I'm like, but why aren't you at Riviera right now?

I know. The weather sucks right now. This winter's been the worst. Just kidding. Is that a good sign for me and you that our producer, like 10 seconds in the show, is checking on his parents in Spain? Went to get for lunch. I was looking at my phone right before we started and then you were making fun of my hair and then i looked up

and here we are here we are and here we are tonight the philadelphia flyers facing against the toronto maple leafs and this is the first of three meetings against the flyers they have not played since last year is that right weird that is't that weird? That is weird. We're already like... I guess it's got to happen with some teams. Only 30 games left and they're going to play them three more times starting tonight. I think they got the Coyotes three more times too. They got... Some awesome history between these teams.

The Flyers were maybe my most hated team of my youth up there with the Sens. A lot of heartbreak to the Flyers. Specifically, Jeremy Roenickick Tucker on Kapanen yeah yeah like they it's just it's been there's been battles between these two teams I'm older so I'm going back to being what seven eight years old and watching the Leafs and the Flyers the Broad Street Bullies the Bobby Clarks the Bill Barbers. Good games. Don Selesky.

They got charged for going into the stands or throwing a glove and hitting an usher at Maple Leaf Gardens. Retire iron. Oh, yeah. It was Cuckooville back then. They saw Riley. Riley did to Greg, those guys, and they went, what's the problem? They're like, suspension.

I don't see the issue. Not sure we're going to get that out of the Flyers tonight, but we'll get a Tortorella-ready team. I think I've watched enough of the Flyers this year, and there's been a team that I've caught enough that there's just something about that jersey and that logo and that building and that fan base. You need to have a certain type of player, a certain type of energy about you for them to respond, like the fan base you need to have a certain type of player a certain type of like

energy about you for them to kind of respond like the fan base and it feels like this team kind of has it he's got it hathaway's got it i signed my first professional contract with them on an invitation to uh at a junior hockey and i went went there like a little boy, and I came back feeling like I was a flyer. Yeah. And it was like, no going back. Yeah. Like, I spent three weeks there.

And when you've got Bobby Clark, Bill Barber, Bernie Perrant walking the buildings or the practice facility in Cherry Hill and you get to kind of hang out there and it's like everything was about what being a flyer is all about and it was that moxie that

you never actually played you never actually played we'll beat you every which way we're going to beat you in the alley or we're going to beat you on the scoreboard but we're coming for you but you never actually played. He's held on to that. We'll beat you every which way, right? We're going to beat you in the alley or we're going to beat you on the scoreboard, but we're coming for you. But you never actually played for them, Kip. No. What happened again?

I got claimed. The year I was supposed to start with them, I got claimed off waivers by the Washington Capitals. Because you went to camp four times, right? Yeah, but I also had the technicality was that I was eligible because of 10 games that I played with the Hershey Bears that I think the Flyers weren't sure it counted or not. But regardless, even if I, I mean, you listen to Bobby Clark

and, you know, I brought it up once or twice and I think maybe he claims that he may have known back then. I'm not sure. I know he forgot Claude Giroux's name when he drafted him. Yeah, it happens. It happens. No, it's great, and lots of reasons that this Flyer team is super relevant right now.

You know, they're hanging on to a playoff spot, but probably don't see themselves that way. They may be trading some big guys. We got comments from Torts on the state of his team and what he thinks they are. They had the Gautier stuff earlier in the year. Like, there's just a lot going on around this team. Okay, let's start with Sheldon Key for the Toronto Maple Leafs

on what he sees tonight from the Philadelphia Flyers. Well, a lot of the young players have taken big steps. They've just played hard. I think they've played at a playoff level and playoff intensity, playoff mindset from the start of the season. And with that, with some good talent and depth, that serves you well.

They don't beat themselves. They make it hard to get to their net. Five on five and penalty kill. And then they are killing teams in transition. Like they're as dangerous as anybody on the rush in the entire league. So we've had some troubles with that here of late. So we've got to clean that up, including the other night against St. Louis.

We got away with a bunch that didn't show up. We broke up plays, you know, plays before it got to our net, or the opposition didn't execute. So that's, as well as we played the other night, if we don't improve that area of the game here tonight, it's going to be tough. I can confirm looking at Sheldon's, or the stats after hearing Sheldon,

the Flyers are first in the NHL at creating odd man rushes and second in the NHL at limiting odd man rushes against so they get a ton going that way and they give up none going this way wow which to me is how you end up where they are in the standing that's a recipe to me this just has a good coach Tortlla. And we can say all we want about his bedside manners. But once you put those aside, this is one hell of a coach. He's getting the most out of what he has here. If you look at this roster, remember Seattle? They said they have like four second lines.

That's kind of the Flyers. Like their best player, who is it? Konechny? Konechny, probably. Couturier. Couturier. I'd still give Couturier. And are they both outside the top 50 in the NHL?

I don't know where you'd rank them. That's a good point. No. You know, elite guys. Listen, they don't have superstars. They got very good players, but they don't have a superstar carrying them right now. Yeah. So being well coached, doing the right things with the puck, you know, that actually might

be a relevant time. Is that Tortorella clip? Is that? Well, I mean, he held court this morning. You know, he came here and it feels like. Visiting coach holding court in Toronto. Yeah. Is that new?

These guys love coming here. There's nothing they love more. All the people down there just eat. The guys who like the media do. Maurice and Cooper and Tort. Wouldn't you love to have Maurice, Cooper, and Tortorella all together at the same time? Sounds like

nightmare blunt rotation. That should be a skills competition at the All-star right where you just put them on a podium and you each give them a minute it's a media skills contest we're like sarah valley's got to do a question for each of those guys then we grade oh my god a media skills comp that's an excellent idea maurice would be alive the edgier soundb. You put up a mill. Wouldn't be a ton of athletes in that one. No, no, you're right. So what...

You talked about a lot of stuff. He had a lot of praise for Sheldon Keefe. He was saying that he's a really good coach. But the clip that I put there, it's a great clip. If you guys want to just hear it, we can come off the back of it. It's excellent. So if you want to play that first, Derek. It's a different league.

It's a different league in... I'm going to be really careful how I say it. I think there is... Well, it's a dumb league. It's changed for coaches, too. And we've had to make adjustments because there are so many mistakes made. And I guess the thing with the young athletes is sometimes you have to wait your turn. Right. As far as gaining respect and not wanting everything right now, not expecting everything right now.

As far as ice time, as far as your contract, whatever it may be. Sometimes it's good just to wait your turn and earn it. I think that's where I think the athletes have changed. They have entourages around them that I think direct them the wrong way. And the hierarchy of a room, the hierarchy of what it is to be a pro, the process you have to go through as a pro, I think is lost a little bit. Yeah, you won't get an argument out of me. No, I think the point that guys come in

and want to be treated like a Hall of Famer before having accomplished any run of things in the NHL is a more common thread now among young players, particularly that we make stars out of them in junior now, right? Oh, yeah. So by the time they get to the league, they're like, you know. I mean, he's just waxing poetic. Yeah.

Like, he gets the Toronto audience, he's like, let's go, baby. It's time to, it's time. In a couple of, or in 20 minutes, we're going to welcome in Daniel Breer, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, and we can get into a ton. But is he talking, Tortorella, really about that last incident with the kid that refused to sign? What was his name again?

Cutter Gauthier. I literally was writing that. There you go. Okay, so is that really kind of a backhanded way of discussing that situation with those words? I do think it's fair to use that and generalize about guys like him because i do think that's the case i think it's it's fair to say that trevor's egress came into the league and expected whatever he what's he done in this league

and he's holding out and we throw him on a cover of e2 24 whatever that video game is. What is that? EA? EA Sports? Yeah, it's just like NHL 24. And that is one of the biggest, most ultimate ego-driven thing. Right. And that's the type of thing we're referring to when you say guys come in. And we gave it to him because he's a trick shot artist, which to Tortorella's point is embarrassing. Sammy, this is your era, my friend.

I'm older than you think, I think. This is where people hear you saying that and go, you know, you're among the people that why can't hockey be fun? And, you know, we're trying to have this, like, entertainment product. Great. ESPN wants this. Have your entertainment. But you're talking about winning.

Play the right way. But those other kids, they'll win the championships. I know. And you will enjoy your Froot Loops cover box. Yeah. Right? So I totally agree. Put them on a cereal box put them on ea sports

most likes on instagram but those kids are winning and you aren't you know getting the job done yeah you got a lot of guys who um who aren't like that not everyone is like that but certainly there are more kids who come in with their own followings before they get here and that's part of the challenge also i think towards this point is that we are more accepting of mistakes in the league it used to be like all right you have to like wait until you have this all figured out before you can do the fancy stuff and now you get the chance to play and make mistakes and learn on the job the nhl didn't used to be a developmental league it was a learn on you know you have to be ready to play and make mistakes and learn on the job. The NHL didn't used to be a developmental league. It was a learn on, you know, you have to be ready to play. Now some guys are like Slavkovsky's finally finding it in year two

of making mistakes in the league. To be fair to some of the kids, though, salary cap has changed the dynamics of that. We have to lean on them way harder. Once the kids get locked in, once they get locked in, where we've overpaid them on potential instead of what they've done in the past,

now there's no flexibility to move them in and out of the lineup. They are locked in. Therefore, these kids today develop a comfort zone. It's like, hey, buddy, I make $4 million. Where do you think I'm going? Right.

There's also a good clip today. Nick never doesn't get me that clip. It gets me every single time. I hate it. I know. I hate it so much. Which one is this one, sorry? Jack Hughes.

I'd say we're doing it. Say we're doing okay. Someone questioned them in the middle of a heater. An eight-game heater. In the middle of a heater. An eight-game heater. In the middle of a heater. A little less, unless they get Markstrom, but that's a conversation for later in the show. Yeah.

But so, you know, towards his credit, he's got them playing the right way. They're winning a lot of games. So they won five straight games in January. Then they lost five straight games in january then they lost five straight games to end january then they've won four straight going in tonight's could be five straight against the leafs so they're they've been streaky and i think it would be hard for the man we're going to talk to in 20 minutes to decide what to do with this group as far as the

flyers are concerned they should be getting um at least a better leaf team on paper it does sound like um marner tavaris uh willie and willie did he practice this morning all of them practiced all of them practiced today so uh let's get sheldon keith on on managing the energy level of some of his sick guys yeah you always you always got to be mindful of it. Seems they're doing well. Willie in particular, who obviously played less than 100%, seems to bounce back really well. But, yeah, anytime you got guys coming back, same with injuries and stuff.

But, you know, they haven't missed long, but it's the type of illness they had. You're not sleeping well. You're not eating well. All that kind of stuff. So, yeah, we'll monitor it and take it from there. So do these guys have some bad shellfish or something? I don't know.

I just know that I never felt worse than, like, the first game off illness where your cardio is a bit down you don't quite have your legs or your lungs like it's just really tough to like you know have that pop you exist out there but it's tough to have any i mean after what an incredible showing it was from the least role players on yeah on tuesday night now he'll play them more right right? Well, I hope not. What do you mean? Well, no, I mean, I hope we don't get a different look. I hope these guys can come back and you can still feel. You want the Rovers to still play. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, no, 100%. I hope they have a good look as early as the first period where they're just kind of picking up the energy off of the St. Louis game. Yeah, I would be fine if 88 played 15 minutes tonight and Mitch played 17 and whatever. You know, like that's okay tonight. And Domi and those guys can see if they can do it again.

Show us again. These guys make $11 million, but there will always be that part of them that says, I don't want the team to look really good without me. You're so right. It's for too long. of them that says, well, I don't want the team to look really good without me. You're so right. It's for too long. And that alone could speed up the process of getting better sometimes.

I don't care where you are, where you think you are in the pecking order. You're like. Tavares watches Bertuzzi dish to eight people and get nine chances at net front on PB1 goes, I actually feel okay. Yes. I'm starting to come around. You know? Yeah.

Put me back in, coach. Let me get your VapoRub and I'm ready. What's the word on Geo? Well, just listen to this clip and we can talk about it after, okay? No, it's tied to it. It's not overly comfortable for him to have a skate on right now. He's fine when he has it on, but the on and off and all that kind of stuff doesn't serve him well on the same day in particular. So, yeah, he's reluctantly stayed off.

On the same day in particular, is he leaving his skates on from one day to the next? No, I don't know. What happened to his foot? It hurts to have a skate on. It seems like an important part of being a hockey player. Is this, are we going to start hearing about these kind of, without being really detailed, are we going to start hearing about guys with bumps and bruises

that could go to IR at any time with a trade coming? Some mystery bumps and bruises. I was just asking. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe. You might have seen it with Wall already coming back here. Like, oh, Jonesy.

Don't know what it is, but boy, he's just not feeling right. Suddenly he's hurt. Wall coming back. Do you remember an incident with Gio? Did he block a shot? I know he's... He blocks a lot. Yeah, he's the league's all-time leader.

He was given a golden shin pad last year. Trophy. A plaque. That's... I mean... You didn't like it, if I recall. It's a badass trophy. A golden shin pad?

To be the all-time leader in block shots, regardless of when they started tracking him, it's a great... It's cool, leader in block shots, regardless of when they started tracking them, it's a great honor. It's cool, but you can't say regardless of when they started tracking them. You know, you got Craig Ludvig sitting at home going, what? Blocked 4,000 shots a day. Could just speak to, like,

some bad goalies. Maybe if you had better goalies, you wouldn't block so many. Wouldn't have to get in the way of so many. Alright, so Geo's a hard hard maybe kipper you i want to actually can we talk about your article you wrote today because i thought it was very good well uh yeah uh i kind of uh my weekly article for the toronto star went out today and it was on morgan and you know what he ended up doing to cost himself five games. And I also talked about the potential of Morgan being a candidate for the Toronto Maple Leafs moving forward as an ex-captain. And I only say, I premised that Tavares is in his last year of his deal.

And he'll certainly get another chance this spring to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs as the captain, but if it doesn't fare well and he's going into his last year, would it be unheard of that the Leafs would pick a new captain as early as September knowing he's in his last year of his deal? Well, I guess what stands out to me is they're only a few years apart in age, right? It's not like you're handing it down to the next generation.

He's 33. Morgan's going to be 30 in a month or less then. That's a big three years, though. It is. And in terms of where they're at in their playing quality and all that, that matters too. You did mention in your article something that I've said for years, that it seems like inevitably MLSC and the Leafs will want to sell a 34

with a C on it. Like that's inevitable that they want that to happen. So, but if he's not the right guy for the team, you know, maybe Riley is. I just think it's hard to see them take it off Tavares' sweater or Riley. Matthews I can see because he is the face of the team. Yeah, I did mention that I don't think Austin's emotionally there to wear the C yet.

No, I agree. But I don't think that's stopping the team from the pass. So you're just thinking about selling jerseys? No, I'm thinking about where they see him, the commitment they make to him, the fans seeing. So even though we don't think you're perfect, we've boxed ourselves into just building you up to be this guy, and there's no turning back.

Yeah, I mean, you look at 20-year-olds who are handed the C in the NHL. You know, they're probably not the best leaders on their team. But teams say, you're our guy. We go as you go. Yeah. It should be Morgan. Huh? It should be Morgan.

It should have been Morgan when they gave it to JT. Yeah. In retrospect, at the time, I don't remember having that opinion. No, that wasn't ever really talked about. And you mentioned that as well. When it happened, it was really between Matthews and Tavares. And we all know what happened with Matthews. Matthews pantsed himself.

Towards the end of that summer, and that conversation kind of went away. And then they gave it to Tavares. But I do feel kind of bad that during that time, it wasn't really more of a consideration for Riley because I think he's always been a heart and soul guy. He really is. He's always been the voice of reason for them. He's the best in the media.

He talks the most. If after next year the Leafs move off of JT and it's wide open, this is the guy that's most ready to wear the C. And he's also under contract for five more years whatever just like matthews is like he's you know he's going to be here he's cheap he's yeah i mean he's the right guy he's the dad to me you know the adult in the room i i don't yet see matthews that way i i think he can be and i actually think he's gotten a lot

better in the media he's thoughtful he's not defensive at all like he's pretty open he's good but i do think that riley still feels like the guy that we're like okay how does the team really feel let's talk to morgan the all or nothing series he was in it like zero times and it was like yeah because he didn't do anything like inflammable really's just Morgan. Yeah, or they just chose not to use it. Right? HBO. Was it HBO? I don't even know what it was.

Amazon, HBO, whatever the case is. I'm sure they had a ton of Morgan Rielly. They just didn't use it. Yeah, maybe. Or the Leafs chose not to use it. I don't know. Because he's not that exciting, and I mean that in a complimentary way. He's just... But maybe that's the perfect guy maybe

in this market it probably is not too high not too low just you know they probably thought that about tavarez who's just the but he's extreme of that but he he would never do what morgan did saturday night god no no right and same time yeah you need to have that ability to get outside that emotional range and you're in your article did make the point about when you're leading, finding the emotion of a game, that's part of leading. And that's been a knock against the core four for a long time. They'll out-skill you and they'll find a way to bury one last puck in the net but they they won't beat you in in other ways can you recall a guy getting a five game suspension for something and it leading to

universal acclaim like not one person is like that made me think less of him like to a man all the lead fans i thought i've talked to her like glad it happened yeah even you know his coach says it was fitting or yeah it just something needed to happen right you just could not watch another episode where the leafs eat a crap sandwich and there's no response. Right. I saw a clip from Evander Kane talking about it yesterday, too, and he said he thought it was an appropriate response, too. I saw Braden Shenn say the same thing.

It's like, yeah, yes. It's almost like it should have been a five-game suspension, boys. Right. Almost like that, but, you know, Leafs tax, baby. It sounds like there's just too much surrounding it right yeah the league doesn't like we don't need to re-litigate this no we don't we can talk about it again when the appeals go through uh the philadelphia flyers will have sean couturier as their 20th captain in flyer history uh where the sea for the first time against the leafs yeah

claude geroux was their last captain in 21 22 So it's been a couple years since they named a captain. Couturier, two-way, selkie guy, 30 years old. I mean, he, to me, is a perfect leader. Oh, what's that face? Oh, I know. I'm okay. I like Konechny, too. Yeah.

Only because... He's a little too young for me. Ah, listen. But it's the Flyers. It's like giving it to Marshawn, like, five years into his career. but it's the flyers it's like giving it to marshawn like yeah five years like we want to but it's the flyers and you've brought keith jones back and he talks about the history and bringing back that pride he's more that guy for me and it to go back a little bit to their history yeah it is crazy to sit here and i know leaf fans are like

don't even say it. But, you know, they traded the Konechny pick for Dermott and Bracco, and it was the idea of outsmarting the draft position. And, you know, at this point in the draft,

two picks around here worth more than one. You had two lottery tickets. Meanwhile, imagine Konechny and the Leafs. How about just take the first round guy? Take the guy.

How about take the guy who's like a, yeah. Point per game liar liar, with emotion. Way to go, Kyle. Way to go, Dumas. Well, we'll see. I don't even know, was it him? I don't even know, was it him?

It was definitely him, yeah. But Hunter, Lou, they were all there at that time. Was it him? This was a Kyle one. Okay. Yeah. Let's go to break. I can't remember.

Let's go to break. I don't know what I had for breakfast. All right, let's take a quick break. General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Breer, will join us. And we'll get into Sean Couturier, his next captain. And plenty more when Real Kipper and Bourne return. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Merrick Show.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nick Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee, you are listening to The Real Kipper and Bourne Show. The Toronto Maple Leafs are set to take on the Philadelphia Flyers who are in town tonight at Scotiabank Arena.

This will be the first of three meetings between both clubs. And let's welcome in general manager of those Philadelphia Flyers, Daniel Breer. Hey, Danny, thanks for joining us. How are you? I'm good. How about you guys? We're good.

We're good. Did you travel with the team? Are you in Toronto? Are you home working the phones? Give us the latest, pal. I'm in town in Toronto. Always a fun time to come to Toronto. I think it's our only visit to the Maple Leafs this year,

so I'm on the trip, wanted to be here for it. Well, we know that two more games, March 14th and March 19th as well. So since you have been there and watched this team progress here, where are you in terms of the process? And now we're looking at a potential situation where there's a trade deadline there's a playoff scenario here are you ahead of where you thought you'd have this hockey club by now well first of all credit goes to our coaching staff and our players for really having the type of

season that they're having this year. Probably a little bit ahead of the progress that we thought we would be in. You know, bringing a couple of veterans back in the lineup that didn't play last year in Kateri and Atkinson was a big help leadership-wise. But our young guys have really stepped up, and that makes a big difference. But, you know, we're trying to stay realistic, and it's finding the fine line between, you know, making sure that we also take care of the future

while we give our players, you know, the chance to move ahead and make a playoff run. But we're certainly excited with the chance and the possibility of playing big games. Experience-wise, it's so good for all our players to be in a playoff squad at this time of the year the games are getting bigger more intense um i i think it's fabulous uh but at the same time we're keeping an eye on the future and we have to listen to what's out there and if there's something that makes too much sense for for the future of the flyers it's uh it's something that we'll we'll have to take care of well we're certainly keeping a close eye on your team i know five game winning streak then a five game losing

streak four game winning streak we're trying to figure out what you guys got there um one of the players that you have added this year was jamie drysdale where It was a highly publicized trade at the time. How has Drysdale acclimated himself so far with the Flyers? He's been great. First of all, he's such a high character person to start with. He fit right into our group. He wants to win. I think he's excited to be here with this group, it sounds like. But it wasn't easy for him. It's a change. He's only 21 years old. It's a big change at this stage of his career. He probably imagined that he'd be

an Anaheim Duck for a long, long time and have the chance to grow with that organization. So I'm sure he was a little surprised by the move, but he's adapted well. He hasn't shown that he's uncomfortable with the pressure that comes from playing in Philadelphia.

For Jamie, we're watching him not just for this season. He's going to be here for a long time. We're excited by what he brings, and our goal is to develop him into one of the top defenders in the league. We're talking to Daniel Breyer, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers. Danny, when I signed my first professional contract with the Philadelphia Flyers, it didn't take me long to understand

what the C meant on that jersey, led by Bobby Clark. And now you've got Sean Couturier sporting the C tonight for the first time as your 20th captain in franchise history. Just the process of getting there with Sean. You know, I like that Travis Konechny, like him as an old school type of guy,

but how hard was that decision on ultimately settling on Sean? It wasn't hard at all. The tough part was for Torts to get to know Sean a little better. Torts came aboard last year. He didn't have him. They crossed paths in the hallways and around the rink, but he never had the chance to coach Sean and never had the chance to be behind the bench in the heat of the action

during a game and see how he'd react. So, you know, coming into the season, we felt it was the right thing to do for Torts to get to know Sean a little better. I think everybody around the team, you know, myself and Jonesy and everybody else kind of knew that it was Sean's team. But, you know, Torts didn't know him well. And, you know, we all agreed that it was the right thing to do to wait and see when the time would be right to name him captain after Torts got to know him better. And in the last few days, we started discussing that,

and Torts agreed that it was time to do it. The team is performing well coots had been you know one of the leader uh and really reacted well to adversity this season uh and then it was time to do it and in tk's case and travis's case it's uh you know you mentioned that he plays uh you know he gets under your skin. What we like to say, he's a typical flyer. He's always in the mix. He never stops coming after you. He's been, you know, on the ice, probably our best player this year. So, you know, very deservedly so for him as well.

Just one thing on Couturier, because we do know that he signed an eight-year deal, and then after that, if my memory serves correct, Daniel, he had the back issues or he had surgery. Was it touch and go with this guy for a little while there on where he was heading the rest of his career with this injury? Yes. I mean, there were a time where it got a little scary. You know, at first we thought he'd be, you know, he had to have surgery and he'd be ready to go the next year. And unfortunately, the next season he didn't feel better.

So he had to go under the knife again. And that's when, you know, you never know where these things are going to go after. But I give him a lot of credit because he spent a lot of time. He wanted to be back on the ice. He took care of himself and really sacrificed a lot of things to make sure that he was in the best condition possible to make a comeback. So really impressed how he handled it, how he handled himself. I've known sean since since

he was drafted as an 18 year old um so i've known him very really well over you know the course of his career and um you know i thought it was it was time for him to to don the sea very representative of what the flyers are all about daniel i wanted to ask you a little bit about uh john tortorella and uh coaching in 2024 he made some comments today uh or yesterday to luke fox from sportsnet just about the league today and the type of players you know that they come into the league these young guys now and almost feel like there's maybe a sense of entitlement and it's it's harder to wait for these guys to be patient and make them earn it i want to get your thoughts on that,

on the idea that it's tough to get young guys to be patient for their spot and also just a guy like John Tortorella, who's an old school coach, and how he's done dealing with today's young player. I'm not going to comment on that. For the record, he called it a dumb league. He's allowed his opinion. I'm not going to go against it. He's coached for a long time, and he's done some league, so. He's allowed his opinion. I'm not going to go against it. He's coached for a long time, and he's done a fabulous job.

He's earned the right, you know, to have his opinion, and he's a tremendous coach. You know, what he's done with our team this year, not just this year, even last year, because the rebuild for me started last year with him. He was the first piece that we brought in as our rebuild. He's been amazing with our young guys. And the perception out there that, you know, Torts is just a coach for the veterans, you know, it's so wrong.

You look at what he's done this year with our young guys, and you get to appreciate how good of a coach he is and how good he is at developing not just older players but also the young guys and giving them a chance to be successful, to be difference makers, to take a large role on the team. He's certainly not afraid to use the young guys. So I've been really happy with what he has provided him and his coaching staff to the flyers for the last you know year and a half since he was hired daniel i gotta ask you about the goaltending situation and you know i'm not going to rehash

anything about 2018 with but carter hart is no longer there And if and when he gets back, no one knows. How do you prepare moving forward when it comes to depth in your net? Yeah, it's certainly not an easy situation to lose a top goaltender. Fortunately for us, you know, we have another guy that stepped up this year in Sam Erson that's taken a big role and not just since Carter has left the team but even before I mean he was challenging Carter you know until he left the probably the previous month month and a half before Carter left he was challenging him to start and he earned him. It's not like he was given a free role there.

He really earned his start. And, you know, now we understand that it's a lot tougher when you don't have a guy like Carter Hart beside you, but Sam has kept playing just as well as he was, and we hope he keeps developing. But we've been really, really impressed with him. Now Cal Peterson gives him the chance to come up and play some games and show what he's all about. But the exciting part for us is the pool of prospects that are coming.

They might not be ready this season or next season, but we have a lot of good young goaltender and coming up behind them that you know hopefully will hit and we'll be able to provide some help down the road the uh you know looking at your roster there's just a number of players who have had seasons that i would say exceeded or met or exceeded expectations one of them for me is travis sanheim he's been on the ice more than any other player for you guys this year he's in the first year of a pretty long-term contract uh tell us about his development and where you think he's at yeah he's taken a huge step this year um to be honest we challenged him in the offseason um and I think when you know it's not a secret, his name circulated in a rumor mill.

I'm sure he didn't like that, but kudos to him. He stepped up his game, and with the departure of Ivan Provorov, he really took it upon himself to be the leader back there on defense. He stepped up from game one, even training camp, I should say. He showed up at camp, you at camp in amazing physical condition, and then he just started going rolling from that point on. He's been the leader back there, and it's really helped our young defense, our young guys behind him.

He took the lead, and everybody's following along. We've been really happy with Travis Anaheim this season. Hey, take me back a little bit here. Did you take heat for trading for Owen Tippett? Because I think it's turned out. It's working out okay. I think it's worked out okay. And, of course, very popular in Claude Giroux getting traded to Florida.

But if I recall, everybody was going, okay, like, oh, and Tippett, please. We could have done so much better. And here he is on the front line, earned himself a nice $50 million contract. Talk about Tippett's rise to stardom a little bit here. Yeah, he's been simply amazing. It's been exciting to watch him develop last season and this season. It was Chuck Fletcher's deal, to be honest. A lot of people were involved in that,

but I really commend Chuck for holding his ground there. We did a lot of work as far as who would be coming our way, but Chuck did tremendous in this deal. Owen has developed. He's getting better and better. Torch keeps saying that he has three or four more years

left to him that he hasn't used yet. Who knows where he can get to, but it's been so exciting to watch him this year take into a leadership role and really a force on the ice with his power, his skating, his shot. It just shows you sometimes you have to be patient with certain players.

Some players it takes a little longer to develop. Owen is one of them, but if you're willing to put the patience in sometimes it can pay off it's not always easy to do because we're in a win now league unfortunately um but it was definitely worth it with uh with owen tippett all right last one for me um just want to get your thoughts on some of the teams in your division or in that wild card hunt even uh in the metro behind you guys the devils the islanders the penguins some pretty good teams nipping at your heels is there any of those teams that you guys feel is a real threat it's it's pretty scary when you look at those facing you um yeah we we thought you know

early in the season i think everybody thought we'd be chasing them. You have to respect what the Penguins have done with their core players that are still there. You know they can turn it on at any moment and get on a string. You look at the Devils last year, how good they were. So we know they can certainly turn it on pretty quick. Now the addition of Patrick Wye in Long Island, anything is possible with the Islanders. It's pretty scary

to look behind. We're trying not to look behind and look forward. Try to keep winning as many games as we can in the meantime. Is Brad Treeliving still calling you three times a day for Nick Seeler and Sean Walker? I haven't heard from Treeliving. He gave him your number. Pass it on. We'll see what happens.

Obviously, things are heating up for for a lot of teams and it's going to be interesting to see how it goes uh coming down the stretch it's going to be my first rodeo and uh you know going through the the trade deadline so it's that's pretty exciting yeah you're looking forward to it i bet uh really appreciate your time doing this daniel thanks man yeah thanks so much for your time. Good luck the rest of the year. Thanks, guys. Thanks for having me. Daniel Breer, general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers

and one of the nicer guys you'll meet in our game. Did he say that Tree hadn't called him at all? I don't know. Sent him a text maybe? See how he just kind of threw that out? They're on WhatsApp. Hey, you throw something out, a little tongue-in-cheek, and you get an answer.

Yeah. Brad, you got to check in. You're listening to the show today, give him a call. See what he wants. Don't tell me Brad's not making any calls. That's all he's been doing, I'm sure, since what? October? Yeah, well, I don't know.

It didn't sound like he's talked to Danny. I love Danny Breer as a player. Yeah, me too. Big, big fan. He always scored some big goals. Yeah, he's a gamer. Total gamer. Killed the Leafs.

I just remember him scoring Buffalo. Oh, yeah. Those stupid slug jerseys. He just lit up the Leafs. I have this obscure memory of him from when Hall and Sagan were rookies, or about to be drafted, and Breer is going through. They were doing a walkthrough before the draft, and Breer is telling him about his sticks. And he says he starts the year using a 75 flex this was briere

oh yeah because he you know you can't keep muscle on during the season by the end of the year he switches to a 65 flex 65 flex 65 but even 75 is absurd it is that's crazy yeah short stick though right he's not that yeah so and he's the reason we have Auston Matthews. He was Auston Matthews' favorite player when he was playing for Arizona. Arizona. Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

Who's most attractive here for you on the flyers? Scott Laughlin we hear as a potential centerman that teams might be interested in. Nick Seeler, who is a good second pair guy for me. Is he? Yeah. Okay. I couldn't give you one seat to take, but I don't know. Okay. I don't know.

Yeah. To me, Konechny is a guy I like. You're not getting Konechny. Okay. You're not getting him. All right. It's funny because his name had just comes up as a you know potential guy if you're picking a carcass of a team it's like they're a playoff team they love him he's having a great year yeah no reason to think he's going

anywhere yeah well we'll watch jamie drysdale we heard uh we heard daniel you Daniel speak very highly of him. For me, he's still in this development stage of his career where he's got some good upside, but still needs, I think, to work on his overall game. I'm not sure how much coaching he's had from the defensive side over the years, but that needs to strengthen up. But I think he's going to have a really solid career. I think it's hard for guys when really talented players

go to kind of uncompetitive teams, and they say, we got no one else. You're going to play 21 minutes a night on a team that's losing. You go to Anaheim. I don't think it's good for a guy like him. So Philly should help. Just seeing a report from uh chris johnson saying that the uh in person here are the the suspension appeal to nhl

commissioner gary batman is scheduled for noon tomorrow in new york connected it it'll be uh conducted in person great and that shouldn't take that long like you have the conversation whatever that 30 minutes hour whatever and gary should be able to make a decision within a day. Yeah, it doesn't work that fast, I think. But like why can't it or why shouldn't it? Well, because none of the other ones have in the past. I agree, but that to me – But it's the Leafs, Kipper.

But no, no, no, no. There's your answer. No, but the answer is not – but it's the Leafs. It's that the other one should be fast too. You hear the appeal. You're the decision maker. Make the decision. Yeah. I don't know. You're the decision maker. Make the decision. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe it is faster. Like, maybe it's a faster no. My hot take of the day is that he's going to back it off to four. Just go put it down to two. I cannot.

Set the internet ablaze. I don't see that for a second because you're going to have to put up with all the naysayers. It shouldn't be five. Who cares what team it is and the noise. It should not be a five-game suspension. Yes. It's a dumb league. A million other Leaf fans feel the same way.

Oh, my God. That is such a good drop. It's a dumb league? It's a dumb league. It's a dumb league. I've often heard best sport, worst league. I've often heard best sport, worst league. I've often heard that. In my article today, I did talk a little bit about the lack of emotion

has a lot to do with the game and the systems are being so analytically driven. It's taken away the spontaneity of the players and and the intensity like it's almost robotic sometimes watching the kids play well because you're saying instead of go go you're saying i don't know what you're saying here and we're this far away from drawing arrows for the kids we draw the arrows and the kids who remember to follow them get to play more. Yes. You know? Yeah.

It's kind of how it works. Now, I don't know. It's a part of torts, I should say. You know, dumb coaches sometimes, too. Yeah, for sure. That's fair. When do we get to yell? Suck the emotion out of the game.

What were you going to say, buddy? When do we get to yell about Fanatics jerseys? Oh, do you want to do that now? I don't know. See, this is more up your alley because you are a jersey guy. I am a jersey guy. So what's the problem here? The problem is that they're taking some heat for the MLB

because I think Nike, did Nike pawn it off on them? Like they designed them and now Fanatics is making them. And they're taking heat. Like the players are like filing grievances with Nike. Like our buttons falling off. They have a Costanza and the jerseys are all made of cotton. Like Justin Verlander, how many numbers are in Justin? There's only nine letters in his name.

And it's like Jared Saltalamakia. It's like a rainbow. Like the kerning is the fancy word for the spacing. But it's gross. This is devastating. Next year, oh my God. It's the NHL. Don't patronize us.

Next year is the NHL, boys. They're taking over the NHL jerseys. Yeah, and it's going to be spelled A-E-F. They're going to mess up the spelling on the jersey somehow. The fails. Well, we just can't leave this conversation hanging here. We're going to have to pick this up in our national hour of the Real Kipper and Bourne show. All right.

Our thanks to Daniel Brier, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as they get set to go head-to-head tonight at the Scotiabank Arena. We're going to take a quick break. And when we return, David Amber, number one host here at Sportsnet. Anyone that's coming on our show is number one. He's going to bench press us both on television. Yes, he is.

I hope he's wearing a guns shirt today, too. They're all gun shirts to him, pal. More of real Kipper and Bourne and David Amber. Amber, when we return.