Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Bottom-Five Focus + True or False!

Episode Date: April 14, 2026

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee reflect on the Toronto Maple Leafs finding a way to lose to the Dallas Stars in their final home game of the season. They discuss whether this losing stretch will have any bearing on next season, the Kings clinching a playoff spot to improve the Leafs' pick from a third to a second-rounder, and whether the team have found something in Luke Haymes, Jacob Quillan, and Artur Akhtyamov. Then, they look at the latest on the GM search and evaluate Washington's Ross Mahoney as a candidate. Finally, they play a game of True or False on the Leafs' past, present and future. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

All right, let's get her going. Thrill Kippin-Born show. Live and in color. Sportsnet 360, 590, the fan in Toronto. Streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube, where we like a thumbs up. That Kiprios, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee,

Jake the Snake Shultz, Derek Brandale, with you for the next two hours, Leaf Hour edition, and then National, Steve Aliquette, analyst with the New York Rangers on MSG. Always fun as we go into our final, final regular season grill marks. Oh yeah, this would be it.

Right. And I think you're winning, J.B. But is it the regular season or is it just? I don't know. I'm not the producer. Well, I think I'm not the producer of that either. We'll have to ask the boss when he's on. We'll have to ask.

Also, in about 35 minutes, you're going to give us a true and false? I came up with 12 questions. There's no way we use all 12, but there's 12 questions about the past, president, future of the Toronto Maple Leafs that I will ask you in the true or false form.

So we'll do that after the break. In the meantime, we close out game number 81 for the Toronto Maple Leafs as they get ready, travel day to Ottawa to close out the regular season. Oh, my God. I can only imagine. I can only imagine what was going through Sammy's mind

and to a lesser degree yours with the Leafs up 3-0 against the Dallas Stars and the Dallas Stars showing no interest in this game like zero. I got to tell you that the fact that the stat here at the top of your sheet is absolutely baffling. Correct. The Stars became the sixth team in NHL history. to overcome a three goal and a two goal deficit

in the same game en route to regulation win. That's how unlikely it was that the Leafs would find a way to give those points away. Six times in NHL history, and they pulled it off. Unbelievable. Just pulled defeat from the jaws of victory. We may have a lot of markings of this regular season,

but does that one just kind of like put the cherry on top? Oh, that is the cherry. I will say, you know, I came on here yesterday, and I kind of, you know, talked longingly about the playoffs and the playoff atmosphere and the stress and how much. Last night was a playoff game. Like I was standing for the last 10 minutes of that game. I was standing in front of my television.

I'm like, surely to God they could give it up. You're sick. And I mean, you are sick. If I will make this claim right now, if the Toronto Maple Leafs get one of the top five picks, I will take my own money and I will buy a maverick Bork Dallas. Stars jersey. Because Maverick Bork

just be getting a choice jerse jerse is what you should get. And that boy, I don't know who the hell Huru is on the stars. He was buzzing the whole night. I will buy a Maverick Bork jersey with my own dollars because he put the team on his back. Hat trick. Legends

Roll. I'm listening to you say all of this and all I can think up think of in my mind is if and when they go from fifth to six. It's going to suck. It's going to suck. It's going to be painful.

It may be one of the most painful things that you, like, you're setting yourself up again, bud. You mean, me? Yeah. Setting myself up for disappointment? Yes. Oh, no. How will the leave? There's no way to let me down.

How would I ever handle that? We know. We know what you'll do. We'll know you'll go out and buy the jersey, but like give us something when they go from fifth to six. Yeah. What happens with Sammy McKee? I'll be sour.

I would be sour. I would say that the end of this season has kind of given you something to watch for and to root against the Leafs and to have something that there's something there for the end of it. And they've found their way to the bottom. They still need to lose on Wednesday or have the crack and get one more point. And boy, they're putrid.

They might not get another point. So they still need to lose on Wednesday. But I'm just happy that they've found the way to put themselves in this position. We can talk about the process and how they got there. And James Myrtle wrote a great piece today about it. It wasn't a pretty process to get them there. It wasn't on purpose. It wasn't on purpose.

But the fact that they're there and they have a 42% chance of getting a top five pick, it's pretty amazing. You got to take it. And it's going to suck. Yeah, for sure. I get it. But, God, I don't know. The only thing that as I'm watching this team just absolutely.

Absolutely. I really believe that if there was another two or three weeks left in the season, they could be looking at first overall. Like, they, that's a team that they, they just need this season to extend a little longer. And they would have given Vancouver a run for their money for being the worst team in the league. I don't know about Vancouver. Vancouver's been pretty wretched for a long time. Did you watch them, like, compete? That game last thing was.

Vancouver's last two games. They don't look like the Leafs. I can tell you that. It is a combination of American League players, waiver claims, you know, mailing it in as the season's over. It's bad, man. I cannot believe how bad it is.

You just had to eat it here for a few weeks. It's over on Wednesday. And cross your fingers. I get the sense, though, that you like, think this has some cross over effect to next season. 100% I do. But that's where I completely disagree with you. Because if they were playing great right now,

you would be like, this has no bearing on next season. This has no bearing on next season. This is just a moment in time where they were awful, all the stuff that came together for them to suck. No, I don't think this has an effect on next season. Two weeks ago, three weeks ago,

and we said it, you said it as well. This team's too good. They're just too good. And they're not. No. They're not too good. So are they truly tanking? Are they not trying on purpose?

Or is this kind of who they are a little bit? Well, I think that is probably the bigger concern is that not that the team has intentionally orchestrated some, you know, HL heavy lineup so they could get losses, but rather is this more what they are going into next year. I got to believe, you know, you get... So a healthy Matthews, a healthy Christanav? Well, and you got rid of three good players that this summer they're going to have to replace guys, right?

They're going to have to get bodies too. You know, better than... It's not going to be Kelly Yarncrock, Luke Hames, Jacob Quillen, and Ryan Twerberg game one next year. Yeah, you could have maybe one of those type of guys fighting for a spot. Find another... Yeah.

Find another Machelli, find another Dakota, right? Find another. Well, I'm sure Dakota Joshua will probably be a part of it next year to imagine, right? Yeah. Like, I don't think you can look, hey, the lease could suck next year. Don't get me wrong. Like, that is a possibility that's on the table. But I'm not just saying that this death march that's been meaningless for all these players

who have never been in this situation before. I'm not saying that just because this has happened, it means that they're a bad, have no chance next year. That's kind of what I'm getting at. But you seem to feel different. I don't know. I got to be honest with you. I'm not sure what I'm looking at it.

I am sure I'm looking at a team that just can't end the season fast enough. Yeah. But I guess it's like what should they do differently? You know? Yeah. I don't know. Just look a little better. Look a little invested in your job.

To what end? Yeah. Yeah, that's it. I guess as a fan, you can't have the threat of them be like, oh, they're trying and you can't middle it. You can't be like,

hey, lose good. It just have to lose. And in fact, had they just pulled the plug earlier, they could be guaranteed to keep a very, very good pick. The guarantee would have been top three,

right? Yep. That's the, that's. Which they're going to finish two points out of. Which is crazy to think about. Yeah. It's crazy to think about.

Yeah. One game different. Yeah. Anyway. All right. That was atrocious. Yeah, I mean, I just an amazing game. Like, I can't believe they lost.

It was just, it was one of the crazier games that you can make. It was very exciting. So do we want Greg Ruby's overall view of the game? Absolutely. Clip two. Yes, clip two. Clip two from, from, go. Eden, and we give it.

I mean, I was disappointed. We get a three-nothing lead, and then we give it back to them that quickly in the second period, just on mistake. like coverage they're right there but we're not close enough and different things so you know it's disappointing on my end for sure we talked about getting a win here tonight and you know we didn't it would have been nice but didn't happen if they if they lose on Wednesday yeah they'll have dropped 30 points in the standing the 78 right now finished the 108 last year it's amazing I wonder if there's ever been well three of the four to

vision winners from last year aren't in the playoffs this year. Caps, Jets, Leafs. Back to back years, the president's trophy winner will miss the playoffs. It was the Rangers, right, 23, 24 to 24, 25. Jets doing it this year. So, yes, free falls do happen

on occasion. Good news from the West Coast. I mean, the Cracken don't get a point against the Kings, but the Kings officially clinched their playoff spot, which means the trade that they made for a lot at the deadline. the third becomes the second.

Yeah. I tell you, that's great news. It's great news. Hey. 24% chance that that guy plays in the NHL. Take it over. And the other part of this, too, yeah, take it over, you know, third rounder, which is 5%.

Drops even more. Yeah. The other part of this is when you do bottom out as the Leafs have, your second rounder is higher than if you don't. You know, if you miss the playoffs by one point, you're picking the middle of that rounds. At least you're picking at the front end of the second round with your seconds. Yeah, and hopefully in 40th or whatever it'll be.

Three or four years from now, he's ready. Yeah. Come on. What? Come on. Oh, yeah. This team's had no wins all year. It's just like, let me downplay this.

But also downplay this. You can't get overly. You can't get overly excited about a third to a second. Can you? Go ahead. You do it. Your job right now is so easy. You just sit.

get to sit there and be like, and just be like, they're bad. We know. They're bad. We don't not know that. Yes. I, listen, it's your energy that keeps me going sometimes. It keeps the show going because if we also sat here and, yeah, they're probably not going to be great. But if you look.

You guys can talk me into it. I tell my wife all the time, talk me into it. Talk me into it. Well, if you go to their cap wages page and you look at their draft picks, if they're to add a, you know, add a actual pick in the first round this year, get into the bottom, win the lottery, which Kipper is going to make fun of me when it doesn't happen. He's going to be super happy about that.

I'm not. I'm not, Sammy, I'm going to come over and I'm going to console you. You're going to be just really consoling me. Sammy, or J.B. and I will take shifts. But look at this. This year now, you'll have a round two. You'll have two third rounders. You have a fourth rounder. You have two fifth rounders.

If you could potentially add that first round pick this year, which is a huge if still, don't get me wrong. it's like that's a draft class. A full draft class. That's a chance to go in there and pick somebody in the top of the draft, get somebody in the second round. I just hope that they, who owns the chiefs is scouting. Right.

I just hope there's somebody out there looking at who they're going to take or whatever. But it just, you know, it doesn't look quite as bad if they can find it. And next year they still have their own second. They have the Colorado first. They have a second from Columbus. Like, if they can get that first this year, I'm actually not feeling as dire as I have been about the what's the cupboards. Yeah.

There's actually some, there's some beans in the cupboard all of a sudden. Some dry can't beans. Some beans. There I'm with you. Like I said it before, I'll say it again. I'll take a top five pick right now just to hang Sammy's hat on. Right. It'll make Sammy and a few other people feel better.

Well, feel better or not. Right. makes your team better. You know, the sooner you can get someone in, the sooner you can have good players, the better. You want your money now or do you want your money later? Give it to me up front. I'll worry about how to deal with it from there. Jacob Quillan scores his first NHL goal.

Yeah, does his family mad at you? His brother got mad at me. Why is that? Because I said there was a kick. I didn't want them to win. He kicked a puck right in the net. His brother tweeted me. He said, shut up, Sam McKee.

Oh, boy. I'm going to say, love it. Love the energy. Great brother. Good family guys. Love that. Good point. And he was right and you were wrong.

You didn't think that was a kick? No. You're allowed to knowingly redirect the puck into the net. He's stopping. He's stopping. He's stopping. You're allowed to do that. You're allowed to wink stop.

J.B. wants more goals. Yeah, that's fair. Yep. I think we should be allowed to throw it in the net for all I care. Why don't we listen to Barumi talk about? Because he weighed in on the Marley's too. So clip one, please. Yeah, I'm always excited for that and see the young guys.

You know, it's fun for them to get in their first NHL goal. What have you thought, generally speaking of the Marley's call-ups that you've had? You know, they do some good things. They're not bad. They're like, you know, it's a lot for them, right? It's a lot for the young goalie, you know, coming into the NHL too. And, you know, now you're facing NHL shooters. and, you know, you really got to do a good job of being composed in that and tracking the puck and all that stuff.

So there's mistakes. But, you know, they're working. They're trying. You know, I thought villain, I've had another good game. I was happy with Villeneuve's game tonight. So how many of these guys do you think can actually contribute to an NHL roster? Zero to one? I think Hames has a chance to.

I kind of like what, you know, his energy. Willing. I like Quillen's pace, too. Quillan to me would have been an easy guy to kind of fit in for David Kemp, you know, back then. So I think there's enough upside for him to think that he could come in and maybe fight for a fourth place spot next year.

Yep. After that, it is really hard. And, you know, I kind of feel for these guys just a little bit because, first of all, you will take any chance to be in a national hockey league, put on a national hockey league jersey under any circumstances, and that includes preseason. But it's not the most ideal to come in because, you know, the team sucks and they want to lose.

And you could look at it as a bit insulting, right? It's like, it's kind of, it's not ideal that your first NHL game comes because, you know, it's not like, you know, it's ideal. You crack a lineup and you're in game one in the opening of the regular season. Like that's, you're undeniable. That's the ideal scenario where you went through a three-week training camp and you beat out of their guys and you won it on heart and merit and all of that. That's the most ideal.

Of course. But now you're watching this team and, you know, everybody's telling them to lose. and everybody wants to end the season as fast as you can, and now you're going to try to have the best experience of your life, right? It's not ideal. Like I said, you'll take it. It's a weird spot. It's a weird spot.

I think no one has kind of got it worse since Actyamov. Because this guy's a legitimate NHL. He just signed a contract. My last night, he was. Oh, he was horrible. It was horrible. This is like if you two. Horrible.

My son turned 16. He gets his chance, his driver's license. He has to go with a parent. And I took him to the back roads of Italy. And, you know, navigate these ones on the wrong side of the road. Yeah. It's not a normal situation. No one's playing well.

The team's not trying to de-stink. Yeah. You got to call a tow truck because he put it in the ditch. Yeah, totally. Like, give him a chance. Drive around a parking lot. Taking him to the LeMont. It looked like, yeah, I mean, that just doesn't look, doesn't look necessarily ready.

I think it was good at his first start against him. It's going to take his feet. wet to get to get a little bit you know more acclimated to NHL and he's got a mature he's not ready but action off yeah yeah yeah that's the way I see him it's really tough to get

a read on for me I think that if they thought he's NHL ready he'd probably be in the NHL but yeah need so yeah I don't think which leaves them in an interesting predicament when it comes to the goalie situation

and who's coming in once again to decide whether or not they're going to take another run at Stolars and Joseph Wall or they want to try to move one of these kids and then and uh you have to be careful when you move Stolars though to move them in physical bubble wrap very careful now poor guy man now I feel for him yeah it is what it is he's got a fat contract he's not trying to do it no but he's got some nice insurance that helps four-year contract under his belt doesn't hurt yeah Yeah, but it's just not ideal for the new guy to come in and have to deal with that. Did you write something new today for four seconds?

I did, yeah. There's a buzz once again. Oh, buzz buzz. Talk about, uh... Yeah, I did, Sammy. I did. You know, when you're on your third beer tonight, have a peek. I had a peak when I was on my third sip of coffee.

Okay. And you think I'd have three beers on a Tuesday night? What do you think of me? Part of it revolves around what's going on around the league when it comes to maybe Vancouver, Nashville, New Jersey and Toronto's in it as well. I did mention that it didn't appear like the Leafs had made any official call to St. Louis to see Doug Armstrong's situation. That could still come.

I don't know. But it really isn't leaning towards. Doug Armstrong, Dean Lombardi, Shirelli wasn't contacted at all, I think going into at least the weekend or early this week. So what does that mean to you? What do you make of that?

Yeah, it means that they're looking for new and fresh and a different way. And I think it matches to what Keith Pelley talked about in his press conference, that they're going to look at things differently. and we don't want to go back to, you know, that safety net of another. Someone who knows the landscape more? Landscape kind of guide.

Yeah, like a Brad Tree Living. And Brendan was quick on Brad Tree Living. We know that. Do you think there's a world where Sunny Meda gets the job and there's no one above him and he's the dude? The answer is yes, I do think there might be a world for that. But that doesn't mean that it begins. begins and ends with Sunny.

They could still promote people within. They could still go and get someone with some hockey experience at a later date and build around Sunny. But yeah, it could mean that they could just announce one signing right now and it could fall into that analytical world. You know, I think one of my bigger fears is just that they don't do the hiring order. Yeah. Right?

they do the backwards hiring and we you got that whole thing where you got the guy above going well I didn't want that guy he doesn't work with you want him to work with you know I'm of the personal belief that sometimes the worst thing you could do is attach titles people want titles sure right

and just get good good people get good people in the organization I wish they wouldn't come as a title should just say, hey, Sunday Mata's joining the Toronto Maple Leafs. And it's like, oh, what's he going to do? He's going to do a lot of great things. And then we're going to give him more responsibility. But what's his title?

Why I'm not telling you? You know what I don't worry about it. I've had multiple jobs. I've got to pick my title. It's all made up. The other thing, too, the other thing, too, is like, just look at the Leafs in the past few years. I lost count. How many assistant general managers?

Right now there's six. Countless. Why? Why? Well, I'll tell you. Like, if I knew they had three or four already, and they're like, hey, guess what we're going to make you our fifth? That's when I go, no thanks.

But, you know, you're kind of contradicting yourself here. Why do I want? They want these people in there regardless. Yeah. So who cares what they're called? That's what I'm saying. Yeah. That's exactly what I'm saying.

Directors or. But don't, don't give me the fifth assistant general manager because you want. that title because it makes you feel better about yourself? Well, you know, and I think there's a lot of people who in hockey where it's sort of unstable hiring whatever, if it doesn't make a difference to the organization, it doesn't cost them any money, they'll say, I want to be able to go to the next place and say, I wasn't the video coach. I actually think my title might have been.

So do you think they want it just so they can turn around and have it on their resume? Yes, of course that's what it is. And so you can say I was an assistant coach. I was an AGM. I wasn't a director. Those are, but this is not, this isn't corporate America.

It's hockey where people can just pick up the phone and say, what did he do in there? No, who did he answer to? Right now, the requirements for this job is like how many, we want a data driven guy who's got some AGM experience is basically what we know they're looking for. See, it's a loaded, dumb question.

because all you need to do is semantics. Just pick up the phone and find out from people that you trust. And this is where your experience comes in. This is where you know people and go, hey, give me the goods on that guy. You can call him. They're going to go, hey, his responsibilities sounded less AGM and more directory to me. I disapprove of the labeling of that. It's the same thing as you.

He was there. He was helping contribute in whatever department. I don't know that it's all I we're kind of making the same point none of the titles matter I just those okay go ahead yeah no I just uh like to me if you can get sunny in your organization and you believe in him and you think he was a big part of I'm all forced stealing good people away from other teams right that's good

especially the Panthers but you know does he what's he need does he need the general manager's title can he still come and have more responsibility without getting it? So, but just, you know, in your piece there, you named those names, right? It's like, is it possible they're just talking to different hockeymen? Like, no disrespect to any of those guys. I mean, Doug Armstrong, I'm not going to lie, be thrilled about. But the other three that you mentioned there, like, I would be pretty devastated

if those are the choices for president of hockey ops for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I'm not going to lie. Like, I just, maybe they're talking to somebody. else that we don't know for that role. Just because those names haven't been contacted, it doesn't necessarily mean I think that I'm panicking about it. You know? They could be talking to other hockey guys.

Just not those hockey guys. First of all, there's the ones that if you're going to talk to other ones, are they available? Do you have to ask for permission on them? Right? That's the separation. Okay.

Between the two. So, like I told you, it's not uncommon for Keith Pelley. to pick up the phone and call the Montreal Canadians and say, you know, can I talk to Jeff Gordon? And that's not happening because he just re-opt. He's got a brand new contract. Ken Hughes has a brand new contract, but it won't stop you from trying that. Doesn't it also sound like every time this has come up over the past 10 years, like these jobs open up, they call Gary Bettman and say, Gary, what do you think?

Yeah. Who do you like? Who do you know? You know, so being tied to you? into the NHL. Absolutely. Yeah. For sure.

Just the name that I keep, I've seen a couple times still, and the one that Bucula mentioned us, and I've said it before, is Ross Mahoney. And the more reading I've done on this guy and the drafting and the way the caps have looked and the development, they're a guy,

like that's the name to me that. I think they should absolutely go through the Washington Capitals with a fine-tooth combing go. I like the way that comes. And I'm telling you, they're set up. They are set up. As soon as they... You guys like the team that pursued

Rasmus Sandoan, Timothy Lilligran? Yeah, I do. I do because there's still it cost them really. It didn't catch. Sandin's playing 15, 20 minutes. Yeah, I mean, he's

Like how did Washington, let me ask you something about Washington, how did they see Jacob Chikrin and nobody wanted them, including the Leafs? What are you? talking about nobody wanted jacob chickering i was told step couldn't shoot what are we talking about here

and now he's 25 goals and 60 points he was on the ottawa senators and doing very well before this they they couldn't wait to get rid of them what are you talking about we don't do the whole thing they had three left wingers they had sanderson shabbar or left shots yeah they couldn't keep them all that was the thing but they trade in for nick we do not agree i i i get it i get it but they There was no demand for him, J.B. There was no demand. There should have been. You're right.

There was no demand. Yeah. I'm just telling you. Well, based on what they got back, you're right. That it wasn't. Dick Jensen and a third. Come on. They gave him away.

You want to trade that guy today? Yeah. I mean, that's the vision that Leif's going to use it. Washington has. Yeah. No, for sure. That's a great, great.

Listen, they stole him. That's a great, great pickup. No doubt about it. And I like, I like you like the Sordeefe one a lot. which I like. That guy's going to play for 10 years. I think that TOTUS is going to play for. Michael they drafted.

He's plus 16. Yeah. That guy played, I don't know, three or four games in Florida. And I don't know if it was on Sunny's watch or not letting him go or not fighting for him to stay. But that one got, I think Florida goofed on that one.

I think we can either give Sunny credit for the guys they kept or we can not, which is fine. But then if we're going to blame him for the guys who left, it's like you either have to give him credit and take credit. Oh, you can do both. So you give him credit? He gets no credit for the good stuff. And then you can rip on him too, right?

It's not one or the other. Has he never seen a contract before or is he making player decisions? Which is it? As long as... Is he not going to dial a phone? I don't know what he recommended. How's that? I have no idea what he's.

recommended on it. Okay. I wonder if. So, yeah. So in a nutshell, it just seems like they're, they're shying away right now. They're not aggressive on

that. And I don't know where Mike Gillis sits in all of this. That conversation seems to have died down a little bit. Gillis feels tree livingesque and that like his name came up almost immediately. Yeah. And there hasn't been other names mentioned. No.

But we'll see. Okay. Do I have a True or false, they're good questions. I have a list of questions for you guys. I think 12. All right. So if you guys want to hit the break here and then we'll come back.

All right, you're the boss, buddy. Thank you. True and false with Sammy McKee. And then at the top of the hour, Steve Aliquette will join us. Plenty more on The Real Kipper and Born Show. Do not touch a button, a dial, or knob. Everything you need to know about the rap. and the biggest stories around the NBA.

Smith and Jones. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back to the program. It's the Leaf Hour edition of the Real Kipperman Bourne show. Nick Kippreos, Justin Bourne. Sammy McKeigh, true or false, Sammy? Before we get to True or False,

big day for you, your boy, Landon Sim got signed by the Leafs today. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah. Next for next year. Sorry, next year. Oh, my God. I would have liked to seen him out here.

in the last week. Tries too hard. Tries too hard. He would wake everybody up. We don't need the wake-up call. Good. But this guy, I mean, just so people know who he is, 30 goals for the London Knights,

and you say led them and scored. You're undersized, but he makes up for it. Big Hart. 100-plus Pim. 30 goals and 100 Pims in his final year with the Knights when they won the championship, played on the same team as Easton Cowan, Denver Barkie, Sam Dickinson.

Son of the great John Sim who showed out So there's a lot of terms that get thrown around a lot in hockey that I love. But my favorite term and the best thing I think you can be called in hockey is a nail gun. And Landon Sims is a nail gun. He's the type of guy that small guy going to any battle. You know what else is? I like. He's a hockey player.

You need to develop grit. You can't try to sign grit. You got to develop it. Looking forward to a couple of suspensions next year. For sure. Anyways. I'm in. Yeah.

So anyways, let's do true or false. How do we want to start? That's a good start right there. I got 13 good ones. I got 13 good ones. I don't know where to start. Okay, I'll go with this one. True or false.

The Leafs goal tending duo next year will be Joseph Wall and Anthony Stollers. I'm going to say the opposite of Kip, which is true. I'm going to say you're not going to have someone in here making decisions till, I don't know, May, something like that. And I just think, you know, they've been pretty good. doesn't feel like anyone's going to take Stolars you're almost better just to see what they got Kip?

Yeah I'm going to say false and I just think the body's talking and I'm not sure what Stolars is going to be willing to try to do in terms of coming back yet again and trying but like you see the last injury that he went down with

that's concerning really concerning I think the body's talking to him. The definition of non-contact. Well, it's just playing the position. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

What do you think they'd do with them? He's not going to just stop playing hockey, though. I think. I don't know. I have no idea where he is with his head and what he thinks his body's capable of doing or not doing. He had already suffered major, major injuries, major surgeries. He had a loose body in his knee. I don't know.

I mean, you know, does he reassess his future? And I'm not telling you I know anything. But anytime you're over 30 and your body starts breaking down, you got some decisions to make. My body's in shambles of hip. I can't even walk. My first physio appointment next week for a non-contact back injury. I just booked an acupuncture appointment for my ankle today.

And that includes Chris Spine, by the way, too. Right? Chris Tannaf, too. Don't tell me he's not sitting there talking, trying to ask himself questions on where I am at and how much more I can take and how much I'm willing to put out there. And all indications, first of all, all indications is, you know, he's going to rehab real hard here

and get his body as best shape as he can. He's going to come back and hopefully pick up where he was at the top. of his game, but you suffer maybe another one or another situation. That's it. Yeah, it's like enough.

I think my only comment on the TANF thing, aside from he is walking around the beach, I can confirm that. As you look. Looking good. Good. Is that six years seems unlike. Yeah.

Oh, thanks. Oh, careful on that limb, you're out on there, brother. Buddy. Hey, how about until next December? How's that? look for you. It's more stable than six. I can tell you that. Good. Good to hear. Well, this is perfect

a perfect transition to the next question here. Two or false. Three of the six Leif's full-time defensemen will be back next season. Riley, Carlo, Tanev, McCabe, Benoit, all of Reckman-Larsen. Oh, absolutely true. Three? Yeah. Absolutely true.

You sure about that? McCabe? McCabe for sure. McCabe for sure. OEL. OEL for sure. Carlo for sure? And Carlo will be opening day roster. So that leaves Morgan Riley

will Tanev will be in. Yeah. So Morgan twisting in the wind a little bit here. Yep. Benoit. Benoit's twisting. Yeah. Not a great year for all the night. You don't think there's a world where Carlo or McCabe or one of these guys? Yes, there is. Again, new guy. Hello, new guy. What do you think? Like it's, but But you're trying to make the playoffs next year, too.

Sure are. I think if you run the fancy numbers and you're a data guy and you pull up Benwos. Here's the data guy. Go find another Carlo at that price. Yeah, totally. Okay. Here's your data. You cost $3 million.

That's all the data you need. And I'm no Sonny. Let's get this guy. I pray. Sonny gets hired because what it will be a mess of thing. What it will do for our show if he gets hired. Perfect. True or false.

Sunny Mayda will be working for the Leafs this offseason. I just think it's less likely than likely. So you're saying false. I'm going to be data-centric on this. It's, I'm going to say false. And I want it, I want it to happen. I'm in favor of it happening. I'll say false.

I think he stays in the States. Yeah. The States is very vague. Devils? Devils. Devils. The devils are reaching out to. data people for sure.

So they're going to get a data eagy. Okay. For the devil. The devils. For the devil. The numbers. The number. Okay.

So Austin Matthews seen yesterday at Squishbank Arena. Sighting. Buddy, they might still listen to our show and be like, we got to get them out there. Got to get them out there. Got to get him out there. Got to get him out there.

I like his outfit last night. They gave away season tickets. Yeah. Season tickets. Do we know where they are? seasons? But whatever it is, it's better than what he's not down by giving. Whatever, wherever they are, they're better than what he had before.

Yeah, that's for sure. Right. But I don't really recall ever, I don't know, maybe they have done it, but I don't ever recall hearing giving away season tickets. They're reaching, that's exactly what it is. They're trying. You still got seasons? I do, yeah.

Nice. Yeah. Don't take us sometime? Are you ruined? I'm financially. Yeah. trying to give it a little money. It ain't cheap.

It ain't cheap. It ain't cheap. You get to pay people to go by the end of it. All right. So the reason I brought that up is because you were seen, true or false, Austin Matthews will sign another contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh, geez, these are heavy.

False. I don't need to say heavy. That's an easy false for you. Yeah, it's an easy false for me. With two years left on his deal, if I had to put money on it, right now. I don't, I don't see him re-upping. Yeah, so I'm having a tough time with this one because I think typically it's tough.

Like once you're somewhere, your roots are down. If the team, if they turn around, they look pretty decent, I could see him signing a short deal to keep her going here. So I'm, I'm kind of on the fence, but I can't deny the fact that I do kind of feel like it's fault. Like, I don't know. Where are you at? I think true. I think that, Everybody just feels like they want to have the take that he wants to leave without him ever saying that he wants to leave. And without every thing that he ever says is that he likes it here. If they don't suck, flat out, which is a possibility. Yeah.

I don't know why he wouldn't potentially sign him. You know, I think there is. Does he like being a star? Well, and that's the thing is this is kind of the place. If you want to be the dude, he seems to like being the dude. Yeah. I don't know. I just don't think it's that crazy.

Everyone just like, he's gone. I don't either. I'm legit like. Add to your records. You built something here. Yeah. And do you want to see it through? Do you want to try to see it through?

But he's got to... I think I'm a sign me up for true. He's got a... Sign me up for true. A lot of things have to turn for him in my mind to resign. Right? Just the team to me. They need to play good.

I don't think that he loved this coaching experience. You know, Sheldon Keefe was the coach before Craig Buruby. And the only thing I can tell you in my experience with him is he is hyper diligent about what you take to the team has to be perfect if you're going to ask for perfection out of them. I mean, commas, kef was, commas, details, systems, structure, like you didn't go in front of the dressing room without dialed in. And I don't know that it's been like that the last couple of years. I don't think it's been as tight. And I think you would sense that if you're in the dressing. You think if they let Ruby go, they go to him and he helped him.

and he helps pick a coach. No, you can't do that. I'm just asking. Do you? I don't. I think you have enough trust. They might go. Would you be okay with this guy?

I'll tell you what. If I'm ownership or Keith Pelly or whoever the new guy's coming in and it's like this time next year we got to get this guy signed, I could see it where he has a say. Where you just go, hey, we just need to make sure you don't hate the idea of this.

If they really. want him to stay, you can kind of say, well, you can't not sign next July when, you know, you kind of, we got your guy.

This is the, uh, Chris Knoblock hire. They're like, Brian Matthews, the new coach of the Leafs. Judd Moldover behind the bench. Kind of. Yeah. Kind of. Didn't they try that? Who did they? D.C. They put his dad in the...

Yeah, they did. hired V.C.'s dad. Which he may be an excellent scout. I don't know anything about that. But then it was the, remember the vanilla comment with Keither? Right. What do you think is going on in New Jersey with the Hughes family? I think they get... Hughes's mom going to be the coach?

Think the boys aren't involved with, you know, potentially having some feedback in what they might want to see? Can I steal a true false, not about the leaf? Yes. If Fitzgerald makes a trade for Quinn Hughes, he's still the GM.

True. The devils. True. Totally true. Because they're better. And they have the Hughes three. Right? What do you think?

Yeah, I think a lot of that went on. Yeah. Yeah. But no, just back to the quick Matthews coaching thing. If you're hiring somebody, if you're Pellian, you're putting whoever in charge, whether it be Mata or whoever they're going to put in charge, I think you have to put the trust in them to find the right coach that you think is going to work the best with Matthews. Like, I think you could talk to him.

Clearly, like, you can have a phone call with him. But you can't be like, hey, we're going to hire Mani Mulhotra, but he wants David Carl. So we're going to go. Is David Carl from Denver? We can't. So we're going to go that direction. We're going to pay.

Like, I think you can take his input, but you can't make the decision on what he says because that's just doing what you've always done here and empowered them way too much. David Carl coming in somewhere in the NHL. Yeah, that guy is a win. Could he do it in Toronto? So a guy like Sonny now, if it's a big free. A guy like Sonny now, if he comes in and he's the general manager, now he's got to find a coach.

And like, is there any computer that can, you can plug information to spit something out on that? He's not so dumb, Kip. No. No, come on. Like, he doesn't have a brain. Would he know Matthews enough to know what he thinks he might need? That's, I think if you.

Totally fair question. I think if you looked at like, this is maybe for you more, but like looked at what his analytics, how they grade out, and the type of system that a coach has may work together. Is that something? Sure. Okay. It works best than a sister.

He had more success. We just like to dump it in every time. Yeah. But that's, I mean, that's my, I was being a smart ass before, but that's a legitimate question. It's like, how does a guy like that come in now and then go to Matthews who he's never met before or maybe he has, but like, I'm not sure how closely he's watched him and go, this might be more your style.

You know, I think what we heard. heard from Keith Pelly is he wants someone to be able to justify the decisions he makes. So if you got a GM that says, look, he worked better when he played this system under him instead of this, he's under him. This coach likes to play that system. That's why I like this coach. You have done the thing Keith Pelly has asked you to do.

So yeah, I think that could have. Okay. A couple more here. True or false. If the least get the first overall pick, they'll select Gavin McKenna. False. Oh. So you think they'll reach out a defenseman or they trade it?

I think they want Chase Reed. Yeah, that's who I want, but it's just such a gamble to reach that hard for the first overall pick. I wish McKenna plate center. Yeah. Yeah. That's what.

So ultimately they need somebody to come in. If Matthews is going to be around for another year or two, they're going to have to find something behind him. And that's not to take away that John Tavares found a way to still look like John Tavares pretty much his whole career, that 70 or 80 point guy. But I can't believe he got there again. You can't.

You can't. Listen, he's really good at collecting cookies. Yeah. Right? He is. He's really good at hockey. He's really good. Yeah, Gavin McKenna could be New Marner for him,

just Dishing for Matthews. I think they've true serum. The ideal scenario is they get the third overall pick. Yeah. Where somebody else makes the decision for them and then they kind of get the... If you talk me in a second. Chase Reed's going to be really good.

You like you more than that Verhof? Yes. Yeah. We do. Yeah. Me too. I don't know. I've seen more of Chase than I have of Verhof, who might be like, you know,

maybe the next Eric Johnson. Yeah, I think that's probably a really good comparable. Yeah. Eric Johnson, he's the guy, he's doing interviews right now with his shirt unbuttoned. Is he? Oh, but.

He looks like a movie star. He shouldn't be interviewing guys. Guess what? He's on our show tomorrow. Yes, he? Yes, he is. Last one. True or false,

Lees will be in the playoffs next year. Yeah, I don't have them back. I got to be the first show. True. I think there's going to be some growing pains, again. Some, there's going to be some regrouping that I don't think 12 months will be enough. I think it's interesting.

interesting, you know, to go back to the Matthews question, if they show promise in direction, is that enough? All right, they get a high pick. Next year is a lot better. They're competing for a playoff spot. It looks like things, you know, they make a trade for someone else. And all of a sudden, I wonder if that would be enough direction, like still miss playoffs, but sell a direction.

I'll say true. I think he, I think he needs to make some pretty quick decisions. And I only say that because the other thing going against, Austin that isn't necessarily going against other ones is we don't know what's going on with his body is it starting to break down is he just now that guy that can't stay healthy and if that's

the case he's going to want to re-up as fast as he can he may want to sign as early as next year if he can if he can glue together 60-70 games then he'll have no problem getting traded in signing a max deal of seven years. Well, why wouldn't you just sign the seven years here? Whatever the case is, you want to lock it in.

If that guy's staring at another 45 games and another 25 or 30 goal season, that puts the seven years in jeopardy. No way. No way. Have you paid attention to the last three years? I think somebody would. I think somebody signed them.

Maybe not the least, but I still think there's a team out there that's like, oh, Austin Matthews, we can fix them, we take a chance. Like, they're not going to, you know him seven years? he's been one of the premier players in the league. He's on a higher goal pace. I'm talking about another year that mirrored the last two, Sam. Yeah, I still think someone's seven. Three consecutive years where he can't stay healthy.

And I want to meet the general manager that says, I got no problem signing him to seven years with my owner's money. Yeah, we disagree. It's fine. That's done that plenty. Yep. There we go. There's true or false, boys.

We do not agree. Beautifully done. Thank you. Looking for you. Those are excellent. And the big questions that do loom over the franchise. Yeah, this year, 60 games from Matthews, 67 the year before. All right.

What else? I mean, we're going to have Valley up coming up here. Valley coming up, your boy, Marner. Yeah. Has they got one game left. Yeah, what's going on there in Vegas? To get to a point per game. He's one below.

Seriously, just Tortorella comes in, and now they're like one of the favorites now in the Western Conference? And they're going to boat race, whoever they get in the first round, whatever West Wildcard team. It's almost like a coaching change works. It's almost like you can be a better team with a different coach. You think Marner's at a point of game is disappointing?

Yeah, for sure, right? He's 100 points last year. Yeah, a big ticket free agent deal. Yeah. $12 million? I just wonder, like, if Cassidy, right? Was that the difference? Didn't work for him.

They played them a lot. I still think he had a very good year. Yeah. Whatever. Who are they shaping up to play? Probably Utah. Utah? Utah could be sneaky.

Utah be a handful. You'd rather play Anaheim in the middle game. Night and five either way. Night and five twice. Sammy, nice job on the True and Falls, my friend. Thanks, man. Appreciate that. Really good stuff.

All right. Steve Aliquette. When we return, we go national on the Real Kipper and Born Show.