Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Buds Back Home on Halloween

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with some Halloween stories before looking ahead to tonight's Leafs game against the LA Kings. They discuss the dynamic of the first game back home after a long road trip, the Kings' depth down the middle, the Leafs' third-line centre hole, the longevity of Anze Kopitar and Drew Doughty and evaluate the fourth line so far. They are joined by Kings team president and Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille (28:36), who discusses LA's start to the season, how the team went through their 'rebuild' phase without scraping the bottom of the standings and how they take the next steps in becoming a serious contender. The guys close with a chat on expectations for high-level prospects and if teams are better off developing players outside of their NHL roster.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.

here we go october 31st happy halloween it's the real kipper and born show the toronto maple leaf edition we're on sportsnet 590 sportsnet 360 and sportsnet plus from four to six eastern and you can always download us wherever you get your pods and remember remember to text us at 590-590. If you want to text and complain that we're not wearing a costume, direct them all to Justin Bourne. I wondered how quickly into this show that would go. It screwed me. Because right now, you know, I mean, I could pass for...

Mr. Rogers? Mr. Rogers, Richie Cunningham. That puts you either Potsy or Ralph, but... I don't know. That's not a current enough reference for Sam and I. No, no, no, no. That's way over your head. But I don't care.

I don't care. I think we look very handsome today in our matching, our sweaters. You do. We look very classy, yeah. My mom... We dress like a bunch of dorks for Halloween. That's our costume. It's a cable knit sweater.

Costumeless. We got a great show. We do have a great show. For the next two hours, because we have not won. One. One. A key hall of famers. Two.

Two. A key hall of famers. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. One. Hockey Hall of Famers. Two. Two. Hockey Hall of Famers. Yeah! What the hell was that? Two Hockey Hall of Famers on the show. Luke Robitaille, the president of the LA Kings, will join us in about half an hour. And then we're going to track down Mark Messier, who's doing the game on ESPN.

Tonight, Toronto and LA, of course. Brandeo came over to our down Mark Messier, who's doing the game on ESPN. Yeah. Tonight, Toronto and L.A., of course. Brandeo came over to our desk and was like, is Kipper here? I got something for him. And I just, you didn't come around. And then I forgot. And I think he wanted to tell you that he did that. Well, that kind of makes up for having no costumes right now. Don't you a little bit? Yeah, I feel better.

Now, was that festive? Can we hear that one more time? One. One. Up he Hall of Fam time? One. One. Up he Hall of Famers. Two. Two. Up he Hall of Famers.

Is that Rondeo? I don't know. Who is that? Is that the Sesame Street guy or is that like the cereal box commercial guy? Is that AI? Maybe it was AI. Yeah, it was AI. It was AI?

I'm trying to get the Count's voice as close as possible. Oh, my Lord. That was really... The world is moving too fast for me. That was pretty good. I'm an old... I thought it was like a cereal guy that I grew up with. Yeah, yeah.

Count Chocula. Yes. Yes. Were you allowed to eat that? No. Absolutely not. I couldn't even look at the box at the grocery store. And if I did, my mom would smack me in the back of the head.

I did like to sneak it in there. Like, we should be off and put it in there and we'd get up to the cash. Never make it home, though. Never got past the scanner. A bowl of chocolate for breakfast. Not in my household. What's your favorite costume you've ever done for Halloween? I really like the

lion and the Wizard of Oz. It was me, Amber and Doug McClain and then the kiss one was pretty good too. But like is there one from your youth that you did that you were particularly fond of or just those ones? It was never a real I just wanted the candy.

Give me the candy. Do you have a memorable one? Not really. I did like a robot one ever a real... I just wanted the candy. Give me the candy. Put in the bag. I don't know. Do you have a memorable one? Yeah, not really. I did a robot one year. I did an alien a lot of years. I hated it every year.

I was Kramer like four years in a row. Do they still do the plastic masks with the string that's stapled to the plastic? I was going to bring one in today. They were banned. It's in the technology. Can't be healthy. I was going to bring one in today. There's been an advance within the technology. Can't be healthy. Yeah, it's, you know. I think I was grapes one year,

just taped a bunch of purple balloons to my body and mailed it in. Oh, wow, yeah. Wow, a bunch of... A lot of pirates. Pirate three years in a row. Yeah. I like Halloween.

I don't have kids, but... But you guys will get a ton of trick-or-treaters at your guys' place, but... No, no. My place is Times Square. Is it? At Halloween.

Oh, God, yeah. You know, we're all tightly packed in semis and it's just a zillion kids. Really? What about you? No, well, we moved from a fairly quiet area where, like, you don't know whether one kid will show up or 20. Yeah, they couldn't get past the gates. That's when you have an estate, by the way.

You're not sharing a wall with your neighbor. Yellowstone range. Oh, my God. There's one year I think I had nothing, and my wife was out of town. I was down to, like, handing out staples. You just gave out the gold watch off your wrist. Paper clips.

Here's paper clips. I live in a really busy street, so I'll buy, like, 40, 50 chocolates every year, and I give out two to three, and then I just eat the rest. It just makes me have chocolate. All right. Okay. No costumes, but plenty of hockey talk in the next two hours.

But for now, we focus on the Toronto Maple Leafs. They return home from a five-game, 12-day road trip, and they take on a big, deep L.A. Kings hockey club. Do you expect a little lull coming off the road, or is this game a big test where they'll bypass that and feel the urgency to not get off to a slow start? Well, you know, I don't think they left nashville feeling great about things good like overall successful road trip but sheldon's pretty good at getting the team aware of

who's coming in and right now the team with the most goals for in the nhl is the los angeles kings 4.38 goals per game on average right now leafs d hasn't exactly been stellar i think they need to be pretty aware of what's coming in tonight. You mentioned big. They also score like crazy. So big night, big test. Yeah, it'd be a really nice test for Joseph Wall tonight. A real team that scores a lot with a defense that's banged up.

You know, Lilligren's probably going to play tonight, but he hasn't. He left the game injured. He took just a bonk from training. Looked like a pretty. Yeah, banged up maybe. Like, they're not at full strength, and they're a good offensive team.

So, good test for Joe Wall. Okay, let's go to Sheldon Keefe for our first Clippers. Kipper? Kippers, Clipper, coming back off a road trip. Yeah, I think, I mean, based on practice yesterday, I think, you know, the energy and the mood is good. You know, in a lot of ways, I think, I mean, based on practice yesterday, I think, you know, the energy and the mood is good. You know, in a lot of ways, for me, as I've come through the league in such, you know, you go through some of these road trips,

I think I've said this before, but I like to approach a game like today and even yesterday's practice in some ways that it's almost like you're still, it's part of the road trip. You know, we get to come home, we get to sleep in our own beds, we get the support of our fans here tonight. But, you know, you don't have enough time to come back from the road to relax and feel like you're home. And then before we know it, we're going to be back on the plane tomorrow.

So it's really kind of part of the trip. And I say that in the sense that I'd like to see us take a road type of mindset to the game you know in terms of managing the game and having patience in the game and getting off to a good start like the to me our two best first periods have come in her last two games so little things like that i think it's important to have that same type of mindset well if he wants that mentality then should have kept them out last night party yeah whatever but when they're fatigued they they think better what yeah when you're tired you actually make better decisions not when you're tired tired yeah off of a 45 second shift i'm just saying that you you gamble less oh yeah you uh take less risk take less risks yeah and if we blamed

that on being tired at the end of the road trip maybe that's a it's a good place to start at home and pretend that you're tired pretend that you're you're playing the percentages out there sounds to me like a coach who wants his team to do exactly what you're saying playing for a low scoring tight game kings score a bunch we're gonna play this as a road trip chip it off the boards get it in deep not try and play run and gun hockey like i watched the pittsburgh penguins do last night i'm so mad at them we'll talk about it there's a few wow you are sour i just can't believe how bad they are all right all right sorry um there's few more certain things in this game for pretty much in any sport they're coming off the long road trip first home game like i bet if there's betting trends three or something there's betting trends on this like

the the road team in this game would have a really high conversion rate, it feels like. This is a really tough spot. It feels like all coaches talk about it, but then it just still happens no matter what. It's a tough spot for the Leafs tonight. Exhale. The good news, I guess, in all of this is if you're Max Domi or Bertuzzi,

you're feeling a lot better coming home than I think you did leaving. Yeah. Well, it's all in a better place now, right? Like, you know the guys better. You've definitely gone out and had some dinners. You've had some success. You feel more like a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs,

I would imagine. Let's get Sheldon Keefe's thoughts on building off the road trip for some guys. For all of our new guys, I think they all just got better throughout that trip. And Keefe's thoughts on building off the road trip for some guys. For all of our new guys, I think they all just got better throughout that trip. Max certainly is one of them, but not the only one. So I think there's part of it, you're just playing more games. The other part of it is you're around the guys more.

You're around the coaches more even. There's more interactions. There's more discussions. So I think all of that is healthy. Maybe you don't want every trip to be 12 days but um it's it's nice to to have that time i think is really important and it's you don't get that in pre-season training camp you know we had a couple days so we went out to cravenhurst and all that but you don't get the road trips you're traveling the day of and all that sort of stuff so it starts to feel more like a regular nhl rhythm and i think that could benefit everyone yeah i agree with that for sure and as someone that had a very small sample size of being a toronto maple leaf you've gotta you

gotta come in and and get a feel for that rhythm that he's talking about there's no bigger distractions constantly than in this town being a toronto maple leaf it is out there and it does not you it never backs off there's always something either it's if if you're one of those guys that needs to know what's being said and and written written about you, then you've got probably what 12, 14 outlets that you need to get to. And trust me, there are guys out there that are need to be, do you need to know?

No, I don't think so. I don't, he doesn't strike me and I don't, I can't tell you that I know Max well enough to say definitively. But I don't think everything he's seen and gone through with his dad that he would be one of those guys. But that's just one distraction I'm talking about.

Of course, there's family, friends, tickets, you name it. It's out there. Endorsements, guys doing commercials guys getting deals done with beverage companies it's out there yeah it is i you know i i actually think the players who don't seek out some knowledge of what's being said about them are less common and maybe even a little weirder than the people who, like, is it not common to want to know what people are saying and think of you? Is that?

Oh, it's such an individual thing. Yeah. And it really stems from, I think, just the way either you were brought up or the way you've felt about how secure you are. There's some guys that every day it's like, does the coach like me? Yeah.

And I'm like, I don't know. Yeah. You'll be at lunch. You think the coach likes me? You're asking me? Yeah. I don't even know if he likes me. How am I going to answer you?

And I hated that. He's talking about on the road trip, there's more time to interact with the coaches. I always hated that too. You're like, you know, go have your pregame meal and a coach sits beside you. And you're like, great, great, here we go. Yeah, it's like sitting beside the teacher on the bus on a road trip or a field trip. This is not better for me.

Or being on a restaurant and having him walk in or a bar later at night. Your first thought is, oh, my God, what's in front of me? There's pain coming. You got two beers in front of me oh my god why didn't she pick up the empty bottle both where are you come and get this empty bottle it makes me look like i'm drunk yeah we were out with the coaching staff of the marlies one night like 1 a.m alex stalock was down in the american league whatever time walked in by himself at i don't know 1 30 in the morning or whatever time it was he knew he was down just for a short stick yeah he wasn't too happy about it either no he

couldn't have cared less what anyone thought it's rare to see a player who doesn't immediately do the grandpa simpson turn around in the establishment but he was he said to hell with it big challenge for the toronto maple leafs up the middle of the ice tonight because uh with the addition of pierre luke de bois this is arguably the best one two three punch in the nhl up the middle uh kopitar is still a mule out there then oh has been regarded as one of the best third line centers in the league this is a huge challenge yeah i mean sell it all you want kip but if i give you the choice all right you got a team this year and you can have kopitar dono and or matthews tavarez and kampf yeah i understand kampf maybe not in that same group but yeah

i take i think i take the leafs guys okay hold on for a second hold on um how much better is matthews and kopitar right now moving forward this year 20 23 24 in a in a seven game series i'm taking the la guys you're taking over camp philip dino yeah over tavarez matthews and camp i'm taking LA's top three. And that's fine. Cause you have a preference of the way you like your team to play. I have a preference where I like my team to play. My point here is that this is not some, Oh my God,

we can't hang with this team. It's as good in Toronto and maybe in your opinion, incrementally worse. They're not getting blown out of the water by the, no, no, no, no,

no, no, no, no, not at all. Not at all. But a style of play, come playoff time, big, heavy. I certainly give LA the advantage.

In a playoff style game, I get it. Deneau, you know, in particular is fine, but we've seen him. We're all in Toronto. We all saw him shut down Matthews for a series. So everyone thinks he's the second coming of esotica now he's okay you know you can pin that on math as you'd be like then it was not that good he's oh i got a mid good player i got him much higher yeah yeah on on a on a championship team yeah okay he is okay i'll hear that um hear that. I think it's a little underwhelming that the Leafs might have a bigger issue down the road. The focus has always been on the blue line for the last year and a half.

Right. But I think something was said the moment they introduced us to Willie Nylander being a possible centerman. Yeah. And then having Minton come in and steal a job to start the season. How they tried to give Ryan O'Reilly, what, $20 million? $18 million? Now, you want to tell me that your centerman going up against

L.A. centerman and a best of seven in the playoffs has matthews tavaris and o'reilly yeah oh you're so right you're so right now you're telling me matthews tavaris and camp i don't i don't even think i'm not even convinced camps a third line centerman yeah on a contending stanley cup. So just to kind of bring this around here, like it's not, the focus is the blue line and coming into the season, what are you really going to get in that? And Wall's certainly been there every step of the way to convince people it's not a sense of urgency on it,

but there's a question mark on the third line centerman for the Toronto Maple Leafs yeah because I think it's pretty reasonable to say Matthews Kopitar you know most people would take Matthews there Dubois and Tavares I think most people take Dubois, Deneau and Kampf is probably where it's a little different Deneau's the better player he has some offensive side to his game

no better defensively but has the offensive side so yeah definitely it's somewhere the Leafs have a shortcoming and one that probably has to be rectified to be a Stanley Cup contending team. Yeah, they kind of need a lot. And then you...

Like, it's like maybe two guys on defense. 2D, a center, and someone for Reeves when he's watching. Maybe a goalie. Yeah, well, you hope the goalie thing... They went into playoffs last year with this same tandem, essentially. Yeah, I guess. But if they're, if they're, you okay? I'm alive.

I used the butt. Good thing you're not wearing like a polyester on a costume or anything. You'd be sneezing all show. Inside the mask. So this, the test tonight against the centerman for for the likes of a camp even is is we'll have a better idea of where they really are at center maybe who you know so dino is going to be okay dino you shut down matthews who is camp's assignment on the other team who's their best guy gobertar dubois i guess dubois i would say i would say dubois yeah

i can see that matchup happening right they can't fly in against dubois and then it's it's uh fiala or or adrian kemp that look pretty good finishers good scores yeah. Yeah. That's a big challenge. It is. This L.A. team is really interesting. They have some unique talents over there. Like, is Dowdy still good? Okay, before we go on there, Blue Line, let's go to Sheldon Keefe on the challenges

that the Leafs will have with the L kings center eight center ice depth yeah i mean it gives them obviously lots of lots of different options you know dubois slid in there to know it's been used a little bit differently and maybe has been in years past but it just gives them so many more uh so many more different options and protection being on the road um you know they haven't lost on the road here yet, and I don't think that's by accident. I think when you have that depth and those options and that comfort, you know, it helps a lot as a coach and with your team. So, yeah, it makes them an even deeper, you know,

forward group than they've been, and guys that are really good on both sides. And then there's Trevor Mooreore who's turned himself into a a dangerous guy too yep kaliev has scored at the american hockey league level and we can bomb it he can he can shoot the puck like this is there's some serious depth going on in their top nine you know it's interesting a lot of leafs guys guys. Yeah. After those trades that they made, they made all those, because I think Grundstrom's on their fourth line now.

Grundstrom's on the fourth line. Dersey's gone now. Yeah, Dersey's gone more. You know, there's a lot of Marlies represented on this team. Yep. Yeah, it is. It's an interesting matchup for them. To me, it's a battle of,

can you just be good all the way through your lineup and the elite talents that the Leafs have, and I tend to prefer the sort of elite guys, but, man, they are good all the way through the lineup, aren't they? Where's more at? Five goals, two assists already in eight games. Yeah. Hummin'.

Yeah. This L.A. club team reminds me a lot of even the New York Rangers where how long ago did it seem like the Rangers sent out that letter that said we're going to kind of retool or fix? No, they never did bottom out, though. No, they didn't. I think they said there was going to be pain, and then there wasn't. And there wasn't as much as anyone thought.

It didn't have to get to the point where they're absolutely giving away games like Chicago. And they were able to do this in L.A. And we're going to have Luke Robitaille join us in about seven, nine minutes here to talk about, I don't know if you want to even say the rebuild, the tooling of the L.A. Kings, where I didn't think that there would be much of a chance that they could start competing again and still have Kopitar and around Drew Dowdy too. Yeah, Kopitar, you know, four goals and four assists for eight points.

He's been kind of a point per game guy while being a Selke Trophy nominee for years for them. He's been a staple, and you keep kind of wondering, like the Penguins and some of these teams, how long can those guys hang on for? And Kopitar and Doughty, they need to be good while those guys are still contributors. Doughty's six points in eight games, too. So they're still contributing for that team, no doubt about it.

That letter to the fans that you mentioned for the Rangers was February 8, 2018. Wow. team no doubt about it that letter to the fans that you mentioned for the rangers was february 8 2018 wow and they've been deep in the playoffs a couple times since then yeah doesn't seem that far off by the way the rangers are seven and two and plus 10 goal differential they're yeah really good they're at the end of a road trip too and they're finding ways to they just won five to finish teams off. Metro's pretty soft, I feel like. That's kind of theirs for the taking.

Another big challenge tonight against this LA Kings team is, for me, is Willie Nylander. Coming off a road trip, at times we've seen him take a few nights off low and then the gaps are closing in on off nights for willie kneelander yeah is that willie maturing is that willie just saying i got a lot of money on the line this year yeah it could also be willie just getting so much better that it's easier you know like it's just he gets more chances than he ever did because he's big and fast and strong and they come up a little bit more readily even without changing his effort level guy is really good yeah they i i think you could say the the contract year thing for sure but he was just pretty close to this consistent last year too like i think

towards the end of last year he had a pretty big lull maybe the last couple weeks of the season before the playoffs i remember particularly him kind of going away but i would hear the the contract year thing more if this was the first time that this has happened but i thought last year he showed a lot of growth in it too so i think he's just really good like i think he's now finally reached his potential as what a lot of people thought he could be and what a lot of people didn't think he could now finally reached his potential as what a lot of people thought he could be and what a lot of people didn't think he could be to be quite frank there was a lot of people on both sides of it but you know now we get to have the conversation if you can keep the guy because of

the cap that's fun hey it's great yeah you spend eight years being patient and developing a guy to where he gets to his absolute peak and you're a billion-dollar organization and you're not allowed to re-sign him because of an arbitrary number picked by the league. Sick. Fun sport. Really cool. Really cool.

Are we one game away from another quiet night from Matthews and Marner where people are going to start screaming that we need changes? I'm already there. You're already there. If they get blank tonight, you got to split them up.

For Boston? I forgot about that. Yeah. But if you got Tavares and Nylander playing some of their best hockey ever together, how do you break up Matthews and Marner? I guess maybe you can find another way. You know, give some other guys an opportunity. Nyes and Domi play with some of them. I bet you you'd love having marner play with camp right natural finisher for marner setup abilities yeah i don't i don't know what i don't think there

is an answer to be honest with you i just can't see it i think you just you wait it out you just let them work through it. Sometimes that's a fine answer, and sometimes guys do. But yeah, Pontus Holmberg is 4C. He's fine. He's fine as a stopgap, but it does feel like there has to be some sort of improvement there. You know, that fourth line is interesting. I thought Gregor's been really good.

Agree. Like, he gets chances. Skates well. Skates well. He had a couple chances against Nashville. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He had a post. Like, he's chances. Skates well. He had a couple chances against Nashville. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He had a post.

Like, he's involved and emotionally involved, right? He had a fight this year. Yeah. So, that fourth line for, you know, how has Reeves been compared to your expectations? Just what you thought. Listen, I played in an era where I played with these type of players on every team. Sometimes we were on two. Like, God, thank God there wasn't analytics back then to tell us how often we were. These type of players on every team. Sometimes we're on two.

Thank God there wasn't analytics back then to tell us how often we were in our own zone. So for you, it doesn't matter. I see him, and he's been in a couple of fights, and he's chirping to the other team a little bit. He's doing what he's paid to do. Scaring people at practice. You see that video? No. There's a video of him jumping out of a box wearing a mask.

There will be a time when there's going to be a window where Sheldon goes not playing him tonight. There's a very good chance that he won't be a regular come playoff time yeah but i think the man's coming as advertised yeah and i so i have to come to grips with this too

so like there was the the play i don't was it dallas or nashville where nize flipped it out reeves skated onto it didn't wasn't able to skate fast enough to influence the play and the puck we came back the other way and the leafs got scored on and i remember just being a little frustrated like god like you just need to be able to skate in this league a little bit more than that but i need to come to grips with the fact that reeves is there to serve a purpose and during the regular season i'm glad the leafs have something like this i'm glad there's a nuclear deterrent i'm glad that there's someone ready to stand up if a guy like Kane says, what are any of you going to do?

Yeah. I am glad. But I do think come playoffs, that may be a question that remains to be answered. I don't see any real threat off the LA Kings that would scare or intimidate anyone on the Leafs. I mean, this could be arguably a game where even if you healthy scratched them, would it be that big of a deal? Would people go, oh, my God, Reeves isn't in there. What's going on?

Dubois and Matthews have a pretty long history not liking each other. I think from that Canadian bubble series. Oh, the season where they were all playing each other. I think from that Canadian. The bubble series. The season where they were all playing each other 100 times in Canada. They really developed a healthy unlike for each other. They've kind of had a thing going, but I don't think there will be much tonight. We should probably break to get to Luke Robitaille. Lucky Luke. Okay.

As we said, not one Hall of Famer. Two on our show. Real Kipper and Bourne. Luke Robitaille after the break. Fresh views on everything in the National Football League. It's the Fan Checkdown with Matt Marchese and Donovan Bennett. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts welcome back into the tim mccallough studio here real kipper and born nick kiprios justin born

sammy mckee derrick brandeo pushing all the right buttons and born nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo pushing all the right buttons and jen roll nick and let's welcome in our first guest i told you two hall of famers messier and luke robitaille it doesn't get any better than that hall of famer president of the la kings luke how are you is is it true that you you took one look at the weather here in Toronto and said I'm not going to Toronto to watch that game that's a big set you got a big budget you guys I told you man you're coming on like a really hot show right now okay It's almost as good as hosting Saturday Night Live for you right now. Almost, almost. Everything's good out in California?

Yeah, everything's good. No, it wasn't the weather. It's just like we got too much going on with the team and different things. So I wasn't able to go, unfortunately. You must be pretty pleased right now for the start. Like no one's given away playoff spots, but, you know, a bad October, maybe like some teams like Calgary might be,

you know, looking at, can really stress out your whole regular season, those first 10 or 15 games? Yeah, I think the biggest thing is you look at it the way your team is playing. You know, we like the way we're playing. You know, we're not happy with a few results. But, you know, there's a couple games that we're still questioning. We're like, maybe we could do this better and so forth.

But when the work is there and you see the guys are believing in something, that's what makes you happy. You obviously win the results business, and you expect to win as many games as possible and so forth. But when your team is trending in the right direction, that's when you feel better as an organization. Luke, you guys have a lot of exciting talent on your team and you have some guys that have been around in big parts of the league for a long time you know how do you feel your or where do you feel your organization

is at is it sort of the sweet spot right now that you have dowdy and kopitar still so good with these young guys contributing already yeah like i know, it's funny you ask that. I remember when we were kind of on a rebuild and when Dean Lombardi started and at the time he talked about getting some guys that would come in and help the room. And, you know, he traded for guys like Justin Williams, Matt Green, Jared Stoll. And those were guys that were going to come in and really help our room. Rob Scuderi, you know, there's a few guys like Justin Williams, Matt Green, Jared Stoll, and those were guys that were going to come in and really help our room. Rob Scuderi, you know, there's a few guys like that. And we're fortunate that while we were doing this rebuild,

we had guys that had Stanley Cup pedigree, they're great players and they're great people. You know, Anze Kopitar, Drew Dowdy. I mean, we had Kweki here for many years, you know, Dustin Brown, and those guys, you know, Dustin Brown. And those guys, you know, when you're bringing along young guys and they see what it takes every day to be a pro, it's not just on the ice. It's everything you do around it that makes you better.

And then you realize, you know, these guys know, you know, you'll be lucky to play 15 years or 12 or 14 or 16. So from that standpoint, we feel pretty fortunate we have those guys. And to finish the answer, our young guys, we're happy with some of the young guys that we have. They're making steps. We were talking about that yesterday. We have four young guys playing on our roster right now,

and they're helping us make a difference. You know, Luke, if we look over the past few years at teams that once they make a certain decision to go a certain way some organizations like chicago last year or even the leafs when when they got austin matthews would allow themselves to be the very worst and and that's okay to be the last place team then there's i watched the rangers and we just mentioned in 2018 they send out the letter saying hey listen there's going to be some some bumps along the way but and then i watch you guys you never felt like you needed to go to the very bottom and reshape your organization. I mean, was that ever a thought?

Or did you guys just say, no, no, we can do this, we can compete again, and we don't have to embarrass ourselves? Well, it's not like you're trying to embarrass yourself. I think at some point you've got to look at your organization and say, you know, we're not going to get anywhere. I mean, we actually, funny enough, we just sent a letter. It's just that we're in L.A. You guys didn't see it.

You were asleep by the time we sent it. It was 8.30 L.A. time. And, you know, but we explained more to our core fans that we were going to have to rebuild and retweak our team. It's not like you sit and say, we're going to be bad. By the time you do it, you're already bad. You know you're going that route. And then if you think for one second you can add one or two players to the team

and it'll make a difference, you're in dreamland, especially the way our system works now you know even though you you know it took us a couple years of going through the rebuild it's not fun to lose you know you're you're competing every game and you know you get disappointed and at the end of the game you you study well did we make a step forward or backward today and so forth but it's really it really comes down to you have to come to realize what kind of team you have. And for me, I think the way we looked at it, too, is we didn't want to be a team that would hang in there

and be in the middle of the pack for the next five, six, seven, eight years. I'd rather say let's go for it and really try to win versus being in the middle of the pack. Because in the middle of the pack because in the middle of the pack you're either in or out and every year you pick 14 15 16 and it's really hard to you got to be really lucky to get a very impactful player when you're picking there and it makes it really hard and i think sometimes a lot of teams in canada so much pressure to be in there every year that it's hard to do and i every year that it's hard to do.

And I command Montreal. It's hard to do what they're doing, but actually they're playing really well right now. But I know you mentioned the Leafs. It was the hardest thing to do to say, you know, it might be hard for the next couple of years, but we'll be better in the future. I know you guys are hard.

A lot of people are hard, but they're in the playoffs every year. They know they're going to be in the club but they're in the playoffs every year they know they're going to be in the club they're still trying to win the cup and that's that's when you know you have your organization in the right direction so we see a lot of these teams that rebuild or retool and they get from you know kind of bad to just in the playoffs and getting that mushy middle you're talking about you know what do the kings need to avoid ending up in that part of the standings this season or next when you guys kind of feel like you have a chance at this point? Well, we need to win it all. That's it.

Then we're all in the middle of the pack. Need to get you to suit up again. I think where we're at, we like where we're at. We know we've still got a lot of young guys that need to make step Quinton by field and we got brent clark he's playing in the minors right now jordan spence is playing real well calief kirk hot is finally healthy and he you know he's still a ways away he's got to play more games and we know these kids are going to make an impact but you know there's very few guys that have a huge impact at 18, 19, 20. And, you know, guys that you see that they play another level, it's about winning.

It's not just about the next contract. So they're usually 24, 25. So we understand that. And hopefully by the time a lot of our guys hit that 23, 24, 25, they're really impactful player that can help us make a difference. And we're seeing some of the kids right now, they're making a big difference day in and day out with our team. We're talking to Luke Robitaille, Hockey Hall of Famer and president of the LA Kings. Mentioning young kids.

We're watching Conor Bedard in Chicago come in and the attention that he got was off the charts and well deserved. He's an extraordinary talent. But then we also saw him come in, play 22, 23 minutes a night, play almost two minutes of a power play. And I'm sure at times early in his career, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders. You guys had not the number one pick overall in Quinton Byfield, but number two. And just talk about his development and, you know,

sometimes the pressure that these kids can feel knowing that they are such high picks and what's expected out of them almost instantaneously. Yeah, there's a lot of pressure on these guys. I think, too, from the time they're 12, 13, 14, they're the best players and everything, but when we were kids, we didn't have agents. I was a ninth-round draft player.

I didn't even have an agent when I got drafted. You don't have agents. You know, they have agents telling them, you know, how great they are and what they're going to do. They're talking about signing a stick deal, and they got, like, everything being done, trainers and everything. So there's a tremendous amount of pressure when they turn pro. For us, it was a little bit different.

When Quinton came in, it was a COVID hit, and then the kid got sick a couple of times. He got hurt. So it was kind of weird because he missed a lot of games for two years. We've had a couple of first-round picks early on that literally missed one, two years. We look after a couple of years, they would only have 40, 50 games played at any level level and that was the same with

Gabriel Artie for us it took him two and a half years to start playing games and now he's going to be a great player in the NHL he is already a great player but it's just the way it is so you look at a kid like Conor Bedard like he comes in tremendous amount of pressure I do believe like the Blackhawks have done a really good job of surrounding him with the right veterans, the guys like Corey Perry, Felino. Those guys, they know how to handle the room. They've seen it. They've been through different situations,

so it should help a kid like that over the long term because you guys know it's a long year. It's October, November. It's way different than January when it gets really heavy and the game changes a little bit. Look, two questions, one short. What year did you guys send out a letter to your fans? It was 2000.

I'll tell you what it was. Right before we traded Jake Muzzin. I think it was 2018. Sorry, guys. I think I stopped working. Hold on. Turning the lights off on us. There you go.

So it was 2018 January, I think. Okay. Or November. It might have been November. I mean, with our owner, we sent a letter not too long after that. And you guys were in playoffs. The guy that traded was Jake Muzzin. It was really hard, but that was part.

Well, I think that's the second part of my question, was about some of the players you guys have got from Toronto. The first hour of our show is a Leafs show. You know, how has Trevor Moore been? Carl Grundstrom, you guys had had dersey for a bit how have the leafs acquisitions worked out for the kings uh really good like a trevor's really come on his own as a player he's a very impactful player i mean you guys are going to see him tonight he he just puts a tremendous amount of pressure on the puck i mean this year i'm really happy

for him he's done what some guys have done, worked on his shot. He's had a great start. We love his work ethic and what he brings, game in and game out. And same with Carl Grunstrom. He's played really well, both end of the ice, and he could put the puck in the net and but that's the way it is you know when you want to get a good player you got to give up good players and that's that's the way this trade made out i mean unfortunately jake jake got hurt but he was a great player and you have to give up some good players to to get a good player look is the the philosophy moving forward for the LA Kings is that the Stanley Cup's wide open and we're now in one of two years or three years where we see an opportunity either by adding somebody now or at the trade deadline.

We're going for it here. Yeah, I would say so. That's where we're at for us. We know, you know, if you put yourself in a position where you're in your top eight, top ten teams and you have a chance to be in the playoffs every year and compete, yeah, you're there where, you know, you look and make moves, say, what can be the difference maker to help us?

And you hope that your core is there. It's more like building around. A little bit like Tampa did, you know, they were adding guys to come around and to bring that grit and so forth. And you guys did that. It goes all the way back to the Rangers. It was like you had your core.

It was you, mess, and Mike. And then they added like 17 guys around you three. Yeah, they built around us. I'd lead you two, sorry. Hey, I took you under my wing in new york city you're dead you're dead you're dead as long as you picked up lunch one one more one more luke if if we looked at your roster right now there are some people that would say the weak link is in that uh cop please there talbot um is is the game changed enough where you don't need the kelly rudy's of the world carrying you in a in a playoff or or star goaltenders here did we learn

something the last few years i i don't know i i think you need a great goalie you need a goalie that's hot you know ken holland said to me like i think in 1998 and 97 they had a goalie. You need a goalie that's hot. You know, Ken Holland said to me, like I think in 1998 and 97, they had a goalie that never lost a game for them. So you got to start that way. You want to have a goalie that never lose the game for you. But if your goalie can make a few saves that are unexpected and on top never lose the game for you,

you're going to win a lot of game. And I just think that the way the game is played now, actually, we forgot that for about 15 years or so there were about 12 to 15 teams that we knew their goalies that were the same goalie all the time and i think we got spoiled and today there's only like four or five teams that have these type of goalie that year in and year out they're the same it's been a weird position i'm not sure if it's the the skill level the players better i mean you see the short side like right by the right by the neck on goal and and you think it's the goalie's fault but really if you look

back the hole is not big and this guy seems to hit it every single time. It's amazing. So I just think as long as your goalie has a certain save percentage and keeps you in the game, it gives you really good chances. And it's just been a little bit different the last couple of years. Well, we're looking forward to the game tonight and watching your team. And you look much better with the lights on, for sure. Thank you. Thank you. Lucky your team, and you look much better with the lights on, for sure. Thank you. Thank you. Lucky Luke.

RoboTie. Thanks, Luke. Hockey Hall of Famer and always a great guest on The Real Kipper and Borch. He's never not funny. I will give him that. He's so dry. Whatever the situation is, wherever you are, this guy loves to look at the lighter things. It's never, nothing's ever that bad.

Which is a healthy attitude. Very healthy. It's one of my first childhood memories of being in an NHL dressing room, my dad playing for the Kings, and them having me fill a hair dryer with baby powder. So when Luke got out of the shower and turned on the blow dryer. You should have told them that. That was you.

He probably remembers that. Probably scarred him a little bit. They probably did it every day to him, a rookie with a coif like he had. Yeah. A great guy. You know, I just, to me, it's good to see Quentin Byfield up there. I think he's playing with Kopitar tonight, if I'm not mistaken. That's top line duty.

But, you know, just, Sammy, pull up that draft 2020. Like, you're not, you never want to look at somebody so early and say this is what they're going to be and pigeonhole them and say they're never going to be anything more than this, this, and this. But he's got Mount Everest to jump over to get to the point where he's going to be regarded in that same mix with some other names in that draft sammy and so give us some names here uh lafreniere was the first overall pick and if you'll remember correctly the the least they did like a that the lottery almost

won yeah like it was like in the tube before the rangers one went up so quick leaf thing there and then stutzla was third lucas raymond was fourth jake sanderson was fifth jamie drysdale and then it kind of yeah well to me it's it's stutzel. Like if you were going to pick all over again, it's Stutzel all day long. Yeah. Right? Yes. He is a 100-point guy for the next eight years or something.

And I don't know, but right now the Jake Sanderson pick. Looks pretty good. It looks really good. I'm going to take us off the board for something similar. This guy, Simon Sezma. I can't even pronounce his last name i'm sorry simon um he's a long time studios watcher the game managing director in european hockey club he's writing about slavkovsky on twitter today and about how drafting and developing and sometimes there's this pressure he says habs made every possible mistake with slavkovsky from the minute he was drafted escorting him like

royalty through the locker room handing him 20 signing him keeping with the team not releasing to the world juniors this harm can't be undone but at the least they should send him back to Europe whatever he says the NHL is the league made for business not development GM thinks they could do the last five percent of a player's development when someone else has provided the first 95 I think that's relevant for guys like Byfield, who teams are excited about. They're big. They want them in the league. Slavkovsky's another guy.

He's 230 pounds, looks like a man. But these players are probably better served dominating a lower league than struggling in the NHL. Remember we did the Montreal-Toronto exhibition game, and I really thought that Slavkovsky was going to end up maybe in Laval just for the first month or two. Just get shot out of a can in here. Go and play every situation.

Play 20 minutes. It hasn't happened. He hasn't been horrible. He's been underwhelming. He's got one point, and it was on the assist in the first league game. Yes, it's underwhelming. He's got one point, and it was on the assist in the first league game. It's underwhelming, but it's not like he's completely out of his league. No, but it would be interesting. Is it too late to send a guy to go dominate somewhere?

By the way, the name is Simon Zemberg. I couldn't see the whole name before. But anyway, is it too late for a guy to go to Europe and be on Power Play 1, handle the puck, score goals, feel good about things? Well, you can send him to the American Hockey League, right? He's eligible for that. Yeah.

So the answer is no. Or is that just damaging to the confidence? No, the answer is no. Not too late. But this is also a guy that if the scouts were totally honest, they fell in love with him on the international stage. I think World Juniors and the Olympics. And I don't know.

I mean, we look at the, again, it's only one year removed, 2022 NHL draft. But off the top, you're like Logan Cooley, number one all day long. He's in Arizona now, right? Yep. Absolutely. Well, okay. Our thanks to Luke Robitaille joining us in our first hour,

and we'll continue with the Hall of Fame theme with Mark Messier, ESPN, covering the Toronto Maple Leafs and the LA Kings. More with Moose as we return to Real Kipper and Bourne after these words. We'll be right back.