Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Berube Experience Begins

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee share their first impressions from today's introductory press conference for the Leafs' new head coach, Craig Berube. They get into the emphasis on accountability, the experience he brings and they project how he'll fit in the Toronto market and alongside the Leafs stars. Then, with a coach in the building, they debate the next top priority - making a big-splash trade, beefing up the blueline or finding a goalie? Finally, they go through the Leafs' expiring contracts and weigh in on who they should keep and who they should move on from. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

all right welcome into the real kipper and born show got a bit of a new time slot from here on in closing out the 23 24 hockey seasons plenty of meat on the bone still as we just enter the conference final starting this week but But we are two to four today, Eastern. We'll still give it one more Leaf Edition hour coming up momentarily as we introduce Craig Berube as MLSC introduces Craig Berube as the 32nd head coach. And we will literally introduce him today. We will.

Yes. He will join us later on in the show. Yes. I don't know about you guys, but the 2 p.m. start, it's throwing me off. I'm like, you know, I'm sure you played as a New York Ranger. You played in a lot of matinee affairs where it was probably like 2 p.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. starts. 11 a.m. one. Oh, my God. 11 a.m. oh my god 11 a.m that's ridiculous

i'm feeling just way off like we're in here at the wrong time there's a new little tv that we're looking at it what was it two to four not that was three to five i don't know so tomorrow though tomorrow we'll go down to one hour yeah which will be three eastern and that's it that's our spot just one hour three to four the leafs hour One hour, which will be 3 Eastern. And that's it. That's our spot. Just one hour, 3 to 4. The Leafs hour, c'est la vie.

That's not the right expression at all, but it's gone. C'est la vie is definitely not the right expression. There will be, I'm sure, knowing the Leafs the way we've known them all these years, there will be news trickling in. Sure. You might mention the Leafs in the NHL hour. Also, if there's time. If there's big enough news, boys,

you better believe we're doing a full hour. Fabbro's going to slap a full hour onto our show, guarantee, if there's big news. Need a day's notice to change the tee time, then. In the meantime, we'll focus on this one-hour Leaf edition of the hiring of Craig Berube, and we saw the press conference I don't know whether it was 10 or 15 seconds where Sammy sent me a note saying Kippers Clippers are all but dead they're dead next year I did say that I said that pretty quickly

I thought like a skull he sends me a skull. You sent me the skull. Oh, did I? You're acting like the young guy. Yeah, that's right. I sent you a skull. Yeah, he sent me the skull emoji. You know, that's like when something's very funny, you just send the skull emoji because like, oh, I'm dead. I laughed so hard I'm dead. So, yeah, you were looking very youthful in the group chat today, Kippy.

Wow. Yes, sir. There you go. That's pretty cool. Yeah. So your first impressions of the introduction. Yeah. You know, kind of exactly what I expected.

You know, like we're going to beat the drum here, that this is a different voice and mentality, and he's an honest, straight shooter, hardworking. This is, yeah, I don't think I was surprised by much today. Were you? No. I did get a bit of a chuckle, though, that over the last 10 or 15 years, there was a sense of trying to get away from the retreads. And, I mean, is Craig Bruby a retread?

He's been around long enough, but he's won a Stanley Cup, but he's safe, stanley cup but he's safe he's reliable right he's everything that that you're not willing to put on the line again right so outside the box was kyle dubas yeah like extreme outside the box. Who is he? Where is he from? What has he done? New progressive thinking. I can't wait to learn more about all these things,

about analytics and blah, blah, blah, blah. And here we are, 2004, and they can't get out accountability fast enough. And we're right back to safe reliable old school i feel like it's kind of reflective of where the pendulum has swung in hockey that it was going to be it's a totally different game now it's speed it's possession it's skill and then every year in the playoffs one team went womp womp womp and the other team lost and they went hey the team that before checks and hits, pretty good. Yeah, the team with the big mean guys tends to win a lot.

They sure win a lot. Screens and tips and rebounds. But you're trumpeting something that should be a given, that someone's going to be honest with you, tell you what they're thinking, and you do well, you get rewarded. You don't do well, you suffer consequences. And it's like, whoa, what a concept. That is so cool.

Tell me more. But you can't fake what we're talking about here, where it is in the nature of a guy like Berube, from my first impressions of him or second or third impressions. But same with Rick To tocket or whatever coach you think fits that mold where they're just like this is the way i am i don't let things go we talk about it immediately and i'm not sure that that is the case with a first-time coach who's maybe a little more careful and thoughtful and is this the right time and like i don't think guy like barubi cares

if it's the right time to have the chat right right? That's what experience is supposed to do for you. Exactly. It's supposed to separate the crap and being decisive. And, oh, like he's got a million stories either as an assistant coach. Let's go to playing, to assistant coaching, to head coaching, to what's worked, what hasn i've chased stanley cups i've won stanley cups yeah like it's it's so easy for a guy like this is where you know you cannot substitute or or or uh go to something else besides experience experience is what yeah they are paying for right now been there done that but the program and it's a little bit of like watching what's happened here at the end of years with guys chasing records and

chasing stats and the players not necessarily being held accountable all the time and just being like we see that as one of the fundamental flaws of this team and that's not going to happen now bruby all everything you said is team first right it's all about the team team team team but which means they're insinuating that we weren't about the team for sure right yes there was something wrong there was something missing and that wasn't a given no i feel like sheldon thought he was going to go as far as his superstars carried him which is not a ridiculous opinion. And he catered to them a little bit accordingly and tried more this year. We spent four months saying, you got a team A and a team B.

For sure we did. It was just so obvious to us. Yes, you're right. And took Marner, it was Marner got hurt there. And then they kind of started to jumble it up a little bit before they even, like they wouldn't even have done. All of a sudden you found McMahon and you found Holmberg. But they wouldn't have even done that without the Marner injury. Like it took them, it forced their hand on that one.

One thing that I noticed from the press conference today, and it's an introductory press conference, and I think everybody wants to be very nice, you know, and don't want to push buttons too hard. I don't know if you'll be getting a lot of follow-ups with craig berube like just up to that uh no okay no just set of my hands he looked dead in the eyes of people just him looking out over there and just like he's a tough guy i would imagine like i'm not gonna be on a lot of scrums boys i'll tell you that yeah but to push on something like if you're gonna like because

keith it felt like towards the end people were pushing him on stuff and he would give these long detailed answers and all that stuff it's gonna be it's gonna take some stones to go down there look peruba in the eye and push him on stuff no we're gonna need our decoder ring a lot less often i feel like oh i think we need it like way more now oh yeah oh yeah? Oh, yeah. He's going to say less? He's going to say less, and we're going to have to tell you why he's saying less. Great. Oh, yeah. We're good at that. Oh, we're really good at that.

We solve nothing at the end of the day, but we're really good at that. We can wildly speculate. Okay, let's go to our first Kipper's Clipper of Craig Berube's new career as the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs with his opening statement. First, I want to thank Brad, Brendan, ownership for giving me the opportunity to be the Maple Leafs head coach. It's a huge honor, obviously.

Great franchise, original six. I had the opportunity to play here for a little bit way back in the day, and it's nothing but first class here in a first class organization and i'm i'm very honored to be the head coach that was it yeah that's it opening statement that's why i cut it that was 20 seconds of him which i love but if you're him too there's nothing else to say thanks no that's not true because in the past we've we've seen some syrup oh yeah yeah i see what you're saying i'm just saying that flowery not too much yeah exactly do you remember i don't know who was ron wilson brought up his uh his passport i don't know like people were questioned whether he was canadian or american or

you know i don't remember that at all maybe i'm i anyways that's questioning my integrity is the only thing i remember about ron Ron Wilson is after the 2010 Olympics, when he was the head coach, he came back and he's like, well, if that ref hadn't got out of the way, we would have won the game. Anyways. Anyways. Continue. My point is that, like, it can go a lot of different ways.

You know, it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't up there talking about ad nauseum what a dream job this is. Great. You know, it's like, ugh. You know. Yeah, he said what he said, and it was over. And that's the start of what we're going to get out of him moving forward. I remember in the past you and I disagreeing on the idea of I loved that guys wanted to come play for Toronto.

So Spezza wants to come play here,onto so spezza wants to come play here and giordano wants to play here and thornton wants to play here the ontario boys and it means so much for them they want to do it for cheap and that's great and part of your quibbling with that i think was is it for the right reasons you know other than just wanting to come back home like is it right comfort is it really about the cup is there is this about a cool thing and and i think to your point that's not what this is for craig berube just it's a win just to be here it's like that doesn't seem like it's a win to be here he just wants a good opportunity listen whether it was my era before me after me we all come in with this fantasy right of what it would be like to win here.

And we romance it to death. And then you get to work and then you look around and you can see some pitfalls where there's some traps, including off ice. Friends. Friends, distractions, jealousy. Like there's a jealousy situation here, unlike any club I've ever been on.

What do you mean? Explain that. Like jealousy from other players that want to be on the Leafs or people outside the Leafs? Like what is it? Yeah, it's just there's sometimes you can have a teammate that can think outside the box and, you know, again, get distracted and then where your priorities are and, you know,

this guy's got a commercial. How did he get a commercial? Right? How did you and Mikheyev get a soup commercial? Mikheyev gets a national soup commercial. No, like charries, hock soup commercial. That stuff gets noted by teammates. Sometimes,

like I said, it's easier to be jealous of a teammate here than probably anywhere else in the league. It's interesting. My point in all of this is that when you get here, you have one thought of what it's like to be a Toronto Maple Leaf and how great it could be and then once you start to get to work and you you kind of lose the sizzle right you lose the sexiness of it and then it becomes work and then sometimes it becomes

a weight or an anchor on you yeah and most often that you come in with these rose colored glasses on of what it's like to be a Toronto Maple Leaf and then at the end you're either booted out or you can't wait to run out right one of the two yeah and the whole key is to to kind of match you know and take uh temper your expectations of what it is. And I think I got a good grasp out of Craig Berube coming in here and saying, listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that, you know, it's going to be the greatest job that I ever lived because I've watched it from afar spit up and chew out a lot of probably good hockey people in the past. It's a beast and don't don't let don't ever lose that

sight yeah that this being a maple leaf is a double-edged sword yeah the uh it's funny because you could really see becoming a leaf or getting that job as a reward in itself that is the victory i've already won by getting this job you know and you don't want someone who that's the mentality for it's actually a hard market to win and people are hard on you when you don't and you know get to work rather than saying you know patting yourself on the back and popping champagne before anything's happened so yeah i'm with you there kip that makes sense okay let's go to another craig broby where he talks about the core group because that seemed to be a couple of the questions

that came out of the media today is, you know, who's he talked to or, you know, what's the plan for Tavares and Marner, I heard. So let's go to Craig Berube on the core group. Clip two. Just wondering what you think of the team that just finished this season. Obviously, there's a lot of speculation about change. Mitch Marner, John Tavares. What do you think of what you saw,

and what do you think of the core players that you have going forward? Well, I was one of the attractions. The core player group is great here. I mean, they've got some great players here, and that was definitely one of the attractions to come and coach this team. You know watching the playoffs this year with them I thought that you know there's already that change kind of going on with how they want to be built and play and that's Brad bringing that in and again you know talking with Brad

and Brendan and in the conversations um we're all we're on the same page and i think that's important um and again that was one of the big attractions is you know we got some real good players here you know i mean potato leaves boys yeah but you know yeah be careful with that right i mean that's what i got out of that clip when i was listening to him talk he's like well i watched them play by far the most boring style of they've ever played and where it's played played the hardest they won every game every two one and like kipper's probably he's looking at me like he wants to punch me with what i'm saying here but like you can be careful what you wish for in that factor where it's like you go full meat and potatoes i don't know i just

that that stuck out to me. I like the way they played this playoff series as opposed to others. He didn't catch a little unintentional dubious stray there. Oh, yeah. Huge. He's like, you can see the way they want to play now, and that's Brad. Yeah. You know, kind of making a different thing. To that point, I think of the four teams left in playoffs,

the best defensive team was like ninth in goals against of the four teams left. Like they weren't great defensive teams. So he's still got to score. Yeah. Got to score. Got to score goals. Got to shoot in the net. I think not only today, but in prior interviews with Craig,

I think he goes out of his way to sell that the game has changed. Yeah. He mentions it in one of the clips too. Oh, of course he does, yeah. And he wants to make it abundantly clear that I'm not just old school, right? I'm not just meat and potatoes. I'm not just beat him in the alley, although he is a beat him in the alley guy. Yeah.

When it comes right down to it. But he's not, he understands the kids, 2024, relationships, buying in, all of that. Yeah. I also think it helps that the kids in Toronto are not kids. And he can't turn Matthewthews into you know he he can bring the total down for matthews but it can't be looking like he's taking anything away from him like if matthew scores 45 or 50 goals next year and he turns a 70 score into a 45 or 50 goal score, it's okay as long as it doesn't look like he's taken anything away from him.

If it's a conscious decision, if it's Matthews going to spread the wealth a little bit. And unity, chemistry. Having him look like he's going, no, we're not gambling 30 chances. Yeah. You know, I just don't know that there's a way to change Matthews anyway. He scored 70 goals. He was nominated for the Salke. Right.

He scored 69. I don't know what you would do because he's not a cheat behind the opposing D, get breakaways kind of guy. He's not. Well, a power play merchant from 65 to 40 plus. Sure.

You might say he passed the puck more if that's, you know, and maybe that's it, you know, but I don't think that that would be encouraging to him to produce less offense in favor of defense. But Hyman's offense went up. Right.

Right. So I don't think that this though it would be all right we need you to be better defensively and that's going to take away from your offense it's maybe we want you to be different offensively and that could be and we saw it once marner went out that like there he struggled for maybe two or three games after marner went out and then he played some of the best hockey of his career once he figured out how to pass the puck more and he was pat like, I remember that it was that stretch where he was leading. He was high in the league and slot passes and like doing all this stuff,

playing with those guys. So he found a little something there. And if you see more of that next year, you see the assist total go up. Yeah. But like the last thing I'm worried about is his defensive side of the puck. Like I, he's an elite defensive player.

Yeah. I don't think it's about, you know, we need you back in your own Zen more. Even more. No. But I liked the passing from him at the end of the year. I defensive player. Yeah, I don't think it's about, you know, we need you back in your own Zen mode. Even more, no. But I liked the passing from him at the end of the year. I really did. Do you want to hear the clip on what he wants the Leafs to look like?

Because I think that's related to this. Clip seven, if we could. Competitive. You know, we don't want to get outworked ever. We want to be highly competitive every night. And it's all about the team for me. You know, that's one of the things I really focus on, and that's part of building a team. Everybody's important on a team.

Everybody's got to be used on a team, and they all have jobs and roles on a team. And that's a real important aspect for me. You know, we want to play a North game. We want to play fast. We want to be a heavy team. When I talk about heaviness, it's not, you know, running guys through boards and fighting and all that stuff. You know, listen, the game's changed, but you still have to be strong on pucks, you've got to win puck battles. Those are priorities for me, and just playing predictable and north, and playing as fast as we can.

That's, structure is huge. And we've got to have structure in all three zones, and that's going to be a priority. Yeah, I mean, the game has changed. But the team thing is definitely a hobby horse of his. I think the Leafs have a better chance, much better chance, to look like this, like a team in October, November,

and then have that same look in April and May. And that's where Sheldon was just couldn't do it. If they get anything out of this Berube thing in terms of playoff success, it would be accountability in October, November. So you win more there. So you finish first in the division. So you draw a team that limps into playoffs. Like that to me is how you look at some of the teams that moved on in the

West or whatever. I don't think they were much better than the Leafs. It's like you get Washington. Yeah. You get the Islanders. You get someone. Sorry, Borny,

but you get Nashville. You get, you know, you get someone that is like, okay, you should beat that team. And the Leafs haven't given themselves enough opportunities to make a tap and putt rather than having to make a 20 footer. Boston, Boston's like, okay, you should beat that team. And the Leafs haven't given themselves enough opportunities to make a tap and putt rather than having to make a 20-footer.

Boston, Boston, Boston, Boston. Tampa, Tampa, Tampa, Tampa. Will next year, regardless of the changes, will it get to the point ever where Craig Berube is thinking to himself, if not saying in the public, we're too soft, right? Oh, I think that's going to happen. Well, will it though?

That's how we play. If he holds people accountable and he's got good relationships, then he should be able to nip it in the bud before he gets to a microphone to call his team soft sammy okay uh we have a clip on that clip eight all right on holding players accountable to hold players accountable and and for players to understand the accountability you have to form a partnership throughout you know i think it starts in the summertime getting to know these players, them getting to understand what I'm all about and how I'm going to coach and how I'm going to coach each individual and the team. And, you know, so then when you have to hold the player accountable for whatever,

and it could be ice time, it could be whatever the situation is, they understand it more. And communication is huge. And I think one of my strengths is I'm a great communicator with my players. They know where they stand. I'm going to tell them when they're playing well. I'm going to tell them when they're not playing well. I'm going to tell them the things that need to be improved upon.

There's all types of things. So accountability is accepted almost by your players when you have that partnership. Yeah, the accountability thing comes down to just being direct and not letting things fester. I think the earlier you address things, the better. These guys are just like looking forward to their summer and they're just like, oh, crap.

Good. I know. But they're just like, oh, crap. We're going to be talking to Berube a lot this summer. Maybe a little less time out on the golf course. You know, actually talking to the coach and having him say what he expects from you and all this stuff. Like, it's good. But I'm just thinking from a player's perspective, that's kind of what I want.

How are they feeling? Are they dreading or are they excited? I think it's good to have to go reprove yourself to someone. Uncomfortable. Okay. Right? And I don't know if it was said or not today, but like the teams that end up winning, going to a Final Four, Final or Stanley Cup, are the teams who are best equipped to look comfortable being uncomfortable. And the Leafs have never gotten there yet in the last 10 years where they're just comfortable being uncomfortable.

And that's what the 82 games are for, is to start playing that way. So it's okay to make them uncomfortable or not feel relaxed in November, December, January. And that's what these types of coaches like Craig Berube do, is that if you've lost three in a row or four in a row or maybe you're even winning games that you shouldn't win, it gets identified and it's like, who are you fooling? This won't work in April.

So wipe the smile off your face. Yeah. Jeremy Rutherford had a good piece today. You know, he covered him for years and talked about basically what you're talking about, how immediately the feedback is. And even when it's going good, you still say, hey, but I don't like it from you.

And how after practice, he's going around and talking to everyone. It's interesting to hear himself call himself a great communicator, because that's obviously something he values and he already did talk to some of the guys on the team it sounds like we have a we have a clip on that if you want to play that uh three three please yeah i've made contact with most of the team to be honest with you um you know on the phone met some guys in person here too but i've talked to uh pretty much everybody on the

team already um it's been great great support i'm looking forward to uh working with these guys all right yeah so he's he's already done some due diligence most that's uh so he got hired friday call samson off he got hired friday yeah oh he did yeah two or three days of calls or maybe bumping into a few guys at the rink. I don't know. Not to be this guy, but are they at the rink over the long weekend? Getting stuff out of their locker? Maybe they had to pick up the

flip-flops and head up to the cottage. You'd be surprised some of the players that still stick around or need to get a workout in. Rehab is a big thing too. Hopefully someone will notice me. I'm here or rehab is a big thing too. Yeah. Just hopefully someone will notice me. Yeah. Oh yeah. For sure.

I'm here in May. I know the season just ended, Craig, but I was doing squats since the season ended. I guess if you know the new coaches hanging around, you're just like, I don't know if you heard me. I was doing over a thousand.

Exactly. Anything. I think they were, they were mentioned about uh changing his staff or the assistant coaches no decisions on any of them right now yeah they didn't he they asked him he didn't give him anything so i didn't even put the clip in there he just didn't he said no info really on it the one that does catch my eye i know we gotta do a break at some point but on on using the media, that to me is fascinating. Free HR boy asked him about how it's a, you know,

the temperature. Do you want to play it after a break? Yeah, let's hit a break. We'll come back. We still got a ton of clubs from Tree and a couple from Shani too. All right, we'll work through the rest of the presser. All right, plenty more to still dissect on the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Craig Berube. After these words. In-depth Blue Jays coverage with an analytical twist.

Jays Talk Plus with Blake Murphy. Be sure to subscribe and download Jays Talk on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Big Kipper, it's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee. Leaf edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show as the Toronto Maple Leafs introduce Craig Berube as their 32nd head coach for your, Sammy, Toronto Maple Leafs. So I sent out a tweet during our show on Friday about how you're feeling about Berube or whatever.

And I've seen a little bit of this bubbling up on, you know, X and people sending stuff to me. And I saw, even saw biz talking about this, like looking with Berube now, and we've been talking about how much different he is than Keefe and like how huge accountability,

like all this stuff. And like, I hate saying that Keefe never held anyone accountable. It's like, you don't really know what he was like behind the scenes. I just, I hate saying that Keith never held anyone accountable. It's like, you don't really know what he was like behind the scenes. I just, I hate saying that he had no accountability. He backpedaled.

I know. I know. And that's good. Where it all started. So people are saying like, do you think they should maybe bring back the core 400 Ruby? Like, would it look different?

I don't think that. That thought has been out there. I think that's starting to bubble up a little bit. Do you think Berube is different enough that that would make a big enough difference or you have to change it? It's a great question. I'm not dismissing the question. Let me speak on behalf

of Leafs Nation when I say kill me. I agree. I completely agree. It's a question I want to ask. Kipper? I will maintain this like I have consistently this whole time that it's less about how you feel

and just the economics of what it means to your salary cap as early as next year or moving forward. And it just doesn't make any sense you can't handle the truth and is there a world where you know mitch marner scores stays scores 120 points you lose tavaris's 11 million You add that to Mitch Marner To make 12 and a half 13

How's everybody feeling then? Not great Not great I don't think Not even with 120 points 120 points is great For sure I would like that a lot But does that mean a Stanley Cup final?

No Kip I am speaking kind of half tongue in cheek Like that's great That would be You should have three stars. I would love to hang on to everyone. This next year really is the challenge, right? Like, you can't just kind of be in this waiting mode for another year.

Ah, next year, we'll get them in 25-26. Like, it's hard for me to punt on a year to get where you're talking about. Because I like that idea. I would like for Mitch Marner to stay as a member of of the leafs and you have three great offensive players and all that it just it's really hard to make it work and when you look at playoffs obviously that has a big effect saying that i expect a very busy summer for the toronto maple leafs i accept uh i expect a vastly different look to the roster by September, October. Do you think the Marner and Tavares have been approached yet about their contract? No.

No? There's no time. And Brad Tree Living alluded to that. He's like, I've been so busy and it was very very clear today that the file the coaching file has taken up all yeah the time and attention and now we'll address things internally so it will it will come around fairly quickly on where do we go from here yeah Yeah. Yeah. But it is interesting. Now, on a number of occasions with the likes of Brendan Shanahan

and Brad Tree Living on a podium where specifically the names Marner and Tavares have come up and they have indicated zilch that they want him back. There's no like, of course we want them. Has there been a 100-point guy

in the past where in their prime, prime in their career where it's like, listen, we're going to sit down, we're going to talk, and we're going to do everything we can. We like him here. He likes it here.

We'll find a way. And they've had multiple times to do it. Nada. Yeah. Nothing. Not even an inclination. There's why she's so right about that. They want either of these guys back or he's our captain and he's our leader. He's over in Prague leading our nation and doing a heck of a job.

And he's going to come back and do nothing. But you know what, Kip? For years here, the criticism was the second the failure happens, they rush out there to say, it's okay, boys. It's okay. Don't be nervous. We wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable for 20 minutes. You know, so that's fine. No, me too. I'm fine with it's okay don't be nervous we wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable for 20 minutes you know so yeah that's fine no me too i'm fine you don't feel uncomfortable to your point about and if they decide that they do want to keep him it's still an option maybe at risk pissing

them off but i don't think you should care you know the one thing that is a little different is that they're not entirely in the driver's seat with no-move clauses. They're not at all. Right? So it's not for them to decide if he stays. At the end of the day, it has to be Mitch Marner or Tavares if they want to stay and be in a place where they kind of know they're not wanted. So where is that game?

Where's that line? Where's that game of chicken right now yeah i think you know we're talking about being direct here and this is for bruby and i'm sure tree living is it's gonna have to be the same thing where it is direct and just says you know what do you want to do here you know we, we'd like to see what's out there. See, I disagree with that just in terms of I don't think that you go to Mitch Marner or Tavares. You've got to go do your homework first. Yeah. Bring them something as opposed to going to them first

and then trying to find something first of all you know everything the points moot until you talk to another club and you even can come to some sort of agreement on what a structure of a mitch marner trade would look like yeah like you're not wasting anyone's time if you can't sit there and go, okay, I want that guy and I want to pick and I want this. And you need to go and haggle and negotiate. And I don't know, it could take a week, it could take July, it could take August,

it could take March. We don't know. But you need to come to terms on what a potential deal could be. And then if you have any kind of meeting of the minds, then one of the last things is to go back to Mitch Marner and his agent and say there's an opportunity. Would you be interested in it?

You saw Nashville open up some money with the trade for Ryan McDonough today. So do they hold? To Tampa. So what did McDonough have left on his deal? Two years? At six and a half? Six, seven, five, yeah. And does Nashville hold?

Nothing. Nothing. All the money moved. They do have to be wary of some Matt Duchesne buyout money that they're going to get hit with, so that was certainly part of it. I had a guy write me, a exiled usher on Twitter says, all right,

here's my opening offer. Leafs choice of Ryan Pollock or Adam Pellick plus Varlamov and a second round pick full retention for Varley for Marner. Who do you want? No, thank you. You don't want either of those guys. How about new?

If that's the trade, just run it back. Yeah. I do think there's a world where you just go out and pursue all these offers and you keep going, ah, and then you're stuck. I think, I mean, the goalie conversation, I mean, do you want to play? They got asked about the goaltending today. Do you want to play?

Sure. Clip 10 from Berube. Craig, virtually every coach I've ever spoken to says, you're only as good as your goaltending. That said, who is and what is your goaltending? Well, that's something that Brad, myself, Brendan are going to discuss, and we're going to look at all areas, and, you know, that's not for today. Confident in it?

Yeah, but, again, like I said, that's not for today to discuss. That's discussions that we're going to have here going forward, and hopefully we'll figure that out soon. I think just to piggyback on that, Steve, obviously we, as part of this process, you go through roster, you know, of what we've got right now. You know, Craig giving me his thoughts, me giving him my thoughts. But, you know, today's day one of, you know, we're going through the process of how we build a team.

We're going to start digging in today from everything from obviously we have a staff to to to look at and and craig will have those discussions with guys that are here and and and and figure out where we go from there and then and then most importantly dig right into our roster and and and uh you know start get to work on that so double question to the coach about gold honey yes i don't know who my goalies are yet From the coach That's not for today Great drop right there The number one priority

Is the net and the blue line For the Toronto Maple Leafs For sure What do they have on the cap Coming up right 20 million dollars Oh I don't know yeah i think so okay just under 2018 17 18.53 18.53 is money that they got to fill it with a number of roles,

but it gives you a chance now to go to unrestricted free agency. Yeah. Right? And go get a defenseman. And there's some big names out there that are available. Can I tell you... Brandon Montour seems to be at the top of everyone's list. Here's an interesting stat to go with that.

Of the 16 playoffs teams, in terms of points per game from your defense, the least finished, 16th. 1.29 points per game from their defense right now. The Oilers are first with three points per game from their defense, and they're going to the conference finals. Vancouver was up there, Carolina, Florida, Dallas, top teams. Bouchard's at another level right now that's uh what's he got 20 points yeah like it's scary goals almost five that's that's snapper oh

was it hyman tipped it i think so snapper but that's cross body that's all world numbers and not making mistakes really defensively like he he will get into the oilers for sure in the second hour but here's who's under contract next year for the Leafs, for their defense. Morgan Riley, Jake McCabe, Simone Benoit, Connor Timmons, and Cade Weber. That's it. That's who's under contract. So basically...

Good start. You got... No, it's a good start. It's half. You got three guys. You got three guys. And then you got nothing after that. Lilligren's...

He's an RFA. An RFA. What do you do with him? Drive him to the airport. Okay. Oh, no. You're better off. You got three defensemen.

You got to fill. They're going to have Lilligren. He's not. Oh, you can get rid of him, though. I'm saying that you can. You could, yeah, if that's the decision you make. Yeah. I think he's going to have a good couple years.

I've had enough. Okay. Bucket of pucks. If you trade him away. That, yeah. I think he's going to have a good couple years. I've had enough. A bucket of pucks. If you trade him away. That's saying you get nothing. Are you terrified that he's going to become something great that you lose him? Because I am not. That's the old 3D. I have some reservations that he's a 37-point guy on TV, too.

Now, out of the 18-4, did you say 18-3? 18-5. Do you want a $6.5 million goalie or do you want another 3-2 Samsonov? I do think that this is a huge issue with this era of Leafs hockey and has always been a Leaf an era where you just, you keep going with these half measures for your goaltending. And it's like, oh, well, you know, if you keep pointing at the one team who gets lucky and does it

rather than saying, hey, it's Shosturkin, Otten, Jabobrovsky. They've been goalied every single year. Could we do that one year maybe? Like, is that something that the Leafs could look at? I don't know. I just, you know, there's Soros out there, Markstrom out there. Go get a real guy. I'm with you.

Yeah, I just don't trust that an older guy, I don't trust he's definitely going to be better. Is Soros' track record long enough? Do you think Markstrom's going to fall off? I don't know. It makes me a little nervous, that's all. I just worry you're like oh you get you know your walls your starter and then you get the 1b guy and then that's not happening after game two walls like oh my back hurt again they're not going in october with the feeling that they're going to take the year to build wall up as a number one what so sorrows it's his last year before his contract

expires and you're gonna five million dollars good he's gonna cost you 10 or nine and a half or something if was markstrom have two years left at six and change i think i think you're right so to me that holds more appeal like maybe you can get if you're talking about that six and whatever number two years commitment i'm a little more on board with that but you just goalie goaltending so strange love sorrows yeah this is a career 917 he's awesome he's awesome he's awesome and what's he 30 uh so then you're gonna have to give him a big contract he's 29 sorrows sorrows is 29 yeah give him a big contract because then you have a good goalie for a long time like they've just you know think of the guys that they've tried to win playoff series with

sammy's 511 is he gonna be good if he slows down a little like uh i don't know markstrom does have this year in nexus six okay i do mark you would well it depends right now now we're talking about trading living trading what martyr to the flames let's flames? Let's just say that you've signed Montour. Yeah. And you found a way to get a $6.5 million goalie. You're 14 out of 18, and that's only two bodies to replace how many? Five? A lot of spots.

TJ. No, they have like 12 UFAs. 12 UFAs? They do. That frees up $ and a half million that's a lot of bodies that you got to go back and you haven't figured out what you're going to do with max domi you haven't figured out bertuzzi yeah you're just going to replace them with 850 000 cowans ufas are labushkin giordano edmondson uh brody lilligren's an rfa domi bertuzzi

robertson's an rfa gregor's doers an rfa you want to sign edmondson back with his old head coach yeah i do at four million oh no no no much there uh genius uh less than that less than that yeah Less than that. He's not taking a pay cut. It is the fantasy of like, I'd like to have that player for less than he makes. I don't think he's taking a pay cut. Oh, he's not going to make four.

What's he at now? Three and a half. I don't think it's much of a haircut. You think he's going to take three million? Maybe. How old is he? 30? He's still young.

But he never plays 70 games. I hear that. That I hear. 44, 61, 55, 68, 64. I'll give you three quarters of a season pay because you're a $5 million guy. You just finished a four-year, $3.5 million per year contract. So you want to give him $3.5 million for another three years? Sure.

I'm in. I'm in. I loved him in playoffs. Loved him. And he's only 30. Yeah, sure. Yep. We can do that. I think someone's going to give him the fourth or fifth year out there because that's how desperate people are for defense and

a guy with his experience and they'll take their chances on health. That's how desperate it is. There's so many teams out there. And there's only a handful of these type of guys. So you can't beg and choose here. So you have a good goalie, Montour, Edmonton, and then no more money. That's why you're trying to move the big money.

And that's why do you get to just move Marner? Or if you move Marner and Tavares in there, that changes the whole look. And you have 180 less points on your team. Yeah. Moving Marner should scare the bloody hell out of everyone. I wake up every day and it's one of the first thoughts that cross my mind.

It shouldn't happen. Yeah. But it should scare people. Absolutely. Do we want to hear Brooby on the playoff failures on his thoughts of what what well we kind of teed up elliot friedman's question oh yeah he's in the media so yeah let's play let's play that it's uh clip nine please derek yeah and i don't really bring that up publicly very often um you know i could think of a couple times i have done that but for the most part it's

all internal it's with my players uh management um but um i keep that stuff internal for the most part there you go yeah you should just say i'm gonna apologize to the real kipper and born show right now yeah that's not for today. What are we going to do? I'm giving them nothing. So did you guys want to hear the clip of, because it's kind of funny, we're getting towards the end of our hour, of Shani talking about fighting Berube? It's a funny story.

I think it's clip one, Derek, from Shanahan. You can play it. Yeah, I've seen that video. And I remember, look, I probably had hundreds of fights in the NHL. Craig probably had more than 200 fights in the NHL. I remember that one in particular. I think I was around 19. I think when I came in as an 18-year-old, I was playing in the bottom six

and playing a lot against Craig. And then about halfway through my second year, I got put on the first line and doing really well on the first line. And Craig came up to me at the end of a game and said, well, I guess you're not going to fight us guys anymore. And I said, let's go. And at the end of the fight, I said, you know what? He might have had it right.

Maybe I should stop doing that. It's such a triumphant story until he got his face filled in. The fight is bad. Yeah, Berube. Berube filled him in. I'm interested to see how Berube has an influence on a guy like Matthew Nyes, who I think has that type of range where you know he's not going to be brendan shanahan hall of famer 600 goals but he has that ability to be a uh high-end player and still bring a

level of physicality and on occasion has shown that he could actually drop the gloves. The question is, what's the gap between some nights looking like the Incredible Hulk or looking like... I don't know. What's his name? Bannister? Oh, Drew Bannister? Drew Bannister.

Drew Bannister. Is it Drew Bannister, the guy who replaced him? Wearing a white coat in the lab waiting to be, you know, upset. Yeah. It is going to be, uh, I agree with that. I think you, you stand the Bruce banner.

Yeah. Not banister. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you stand your best chance of getting the most out of guys. And even a guy like Bobby McMahon and, you know, guys farther down the lineup.

And it's like, you know, hold them accountable to not try to be Mitch Marner if it is in the absence of Mitch Marner. Not to be a dangly type and say, hey, we need you in straight lines. You can still make plays. But I think, yeah, I think Leafs fans are going to like the blue-collar nature of Berube and be on board with the most. Do Leafs fans like blue-collar stuff? I don't know. Oh, God, they're dying. Oh, my God.

Yeah, like I said on our last show on Friday, and I'll say it again, I was excited beforehand, watched his press conference. Got to tell you, like the cut of his jab, I was really fired up hearing a lot of the stuff he said. Straight shooter. Just bad for Kippers Clippers. I am back. It's good for us.

You know, I still find it quite interesting. One of the most talented players that he had in St. Louis, Kairou, had the feeling that a thousand pound weight fell off his shoulders when Berube got fired. Yeah, but you know, A, I could see Berube using that as a learning experience and handling a kid, a talented kid like him. But also, he got a lot out of Kairou and Thomas.

You know, like, I think those players became good players under his tutelage. So, yeah, maybe it's okay to make them feel. Just the playoffs. Well, the team stunk. I think the 1,000-pound weight, there's a couple guys who could use that on their shoulders here. So, it's fine. A couple of pounds.

Give me one. No, I don't want to do it. Willie? Mitch Martin? No, not Mitch. I was going to say Martin. Listen, Mitch is a selkie finalist, okay? He's got no problem with a 200-foot game of Mitch.

You know, whether or not you sit there and says he shows up. You think he wouldn't hold him accountable for the playoff performances? Buddy, take a look around what's going on. There's nights Connor McDavid doesn't look like he's shown up. That's how tough it is to score five on five this time of year.

No accountability on this show. Plenty! Plenty! Connor McDavid had three primary assists in a crucial Game 6 victory that led them to Game 7. I'm not saying that. Listen. Okay. We'll see what happens in the conference final.

Yes, we will. All right, we'll get into that. Yes. On our next hour as we go national, real Kipper and Bourne show. Don't go away. We're just getting started.