Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Centreman Max + Lucky Luc

Episode Date: October 16, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee discuss the potential lineup changes in the Leafs' matchup against the Kings tonight, Max Domi's playmaking vs. scoring skills, if he can perform as a centreman, Timothy Liljegren carving a role under Craig Berube and whether Anthony Stolarz has become the Maple Leafs' No. 1 goaltender. Then, Hockey Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Kings President Luc Robitaille (27:38) shares why Jim Hiller was the perfect fit to be the team's coach, the void without Drew Doughty in the lineup, how Adrian Kempe has developed his shooting and the franchise's window for the Stanley Cup.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.

you guys all right i know we got a deep sign and oh boy from sam right as we went to air and as momentarily concerned you good sammy all good boys all good you know why it's game day welcome into the real kipper and born program program. This is our Leaf Hour Edition. I'm Nick Kiprios. He's Justin Bourne. He is a very good and eager Sammy McKee. Let me stop you real quick. Yeah.

Which hour is this? Leaf Edition. It's the Leafs Hour. So we're going to talk about the Leafs. You get your shorts in a knot, eh, with social media? No, my shorts aren't in a knot. They get you. There's some knotted shorts out there.

There are some knotted shorts out there, correct. Holy mackerel! Anyway, carry on. But that's okay. They'll figure it out. I think by January, they'll figure out that our first hour is a Leaf edition. Our second hour is the National edition. Coast to coast.

We'll be there. All right. You guys ready? Ready. Nice suit. I look pretty good, eh? You look fantastic. Shout out to Hershey at Blue Industry. This looks pretty good right now. That's really nice. Is that new? It is new.

When you walked in today, I can just tell. He's got the suit. He's got the ring on. the monocle we can go to the the one shot on kipper get the hand up a little bit i gotta get the hand up mr peanut we got a we got an event uh queen's way for mercedes-benz today i'll go there but a late start a 7 30 start kind of rare i'm thinking maybe i can cover both tonight you're gonna go to the least game i may with the 7 30 start30 start, I may end up at the game tonight.

Well, the Gardner, you should be there by... You got a helicopter? By the third period? I was going to say, by, you know... Do Mercedes fly? If it goes to overtime, you might have a chance to see some of it. Anyways. All right, we got a fun show today coming on in about half an hour.

The president of the Los Angeles Kings, Luke, lucky Luke Robitaille. We've had him on before. Always worth a few good laughs with Luke. And then in the national hour, we're going to welcome in another familiar face, Ray Ferraro. One of my childhood memories of my dad being in the NHL is my dad's retirement party from the Kings and Luke Robitaille playing soccer with my brother and I in a field nearby.

I was six years old, but Luke was cool enough to play with a little kid, so I got a lot of love for him. Okay. Toronto Maple Leafs right back at it. Take on a Los Angeles Kings team, and we'll get into this with Luke and and what we can expect out of his hockey club without Drew Dowdy who went down during the preseason is not expected to be back for a few months uh but it was not a great game for them the other night in Ottawa maybe we see a tighter team um and you know the leafs seem to be growing now since uh their initial loss

to montreal yeah but there seems to be some momentum on on the leaf side now i would say so you know they they feel pretty good about the direction they've been going the defense has been shored up nicely lilligren's gonna come in tonight which is which is good yeah no they've looked good the last couple games and even the montreal game wasn't that bad so good start yeah and after uh ferocious started the season where they play wednesday thursday saturday it's been a while since they've played a game of hockey here so yeah you're going in you're rested against an opponent opponent that had a wild game on monday night on a on a road trip it's a good spot for the leafs it feels like to kind of impose their will but you know in years past the rest versus rust with the least team and expecting to beat a team that's gone the

wrong way sometimes so we'll see how they how they do tonight so you saw me coming in with my blazer yeah and forming an opinion i also have an opinion when i saw your face it looked a little more cheerful could it be because craig brubyy spoke a little bit longer for us today? I thought he was going to say because I was wearing my amulet today. I thought that's why he thought I was smiling a little brighter. Are we doing that already? So, okay. Okay, you threw something out there.

Get it off your chest right now. I don't know where to go with this. This has to do with John Tavares endorsing a product. Listen, I don't know where to go with this. This has to do with John Tavares endorsing a product. Listen, I don't know where to go with this. I'm not well enough informed. I've just been making a lot of jokes and reading a lot of jokes. I'm enjoying it. It protects them from Wi-Fi.

I don't know. You know Butter Borny. You explain it. So just to be clear here, John Tavares is endorsing a product out there that Sammy's trying to explain to me has to do with uh radiation from wi-fi or like what sammy please enlighten us yeah that's the idea and they're you know it's one of those things where it's not doing any harm it's but it is one of those things that is some people are making fun of because yeah i think the website says you know i think it that is some people are making fun of because, yeah, I think the website says, you know, I think it taps into some people's fear of like, what's all this Wi-Fi doing?

And it's supposed to protect you from that. You know, I'm hearing in my ear it's supposed to increase healing. One of the things says it helps with your thoughts, which I don't know how you research. So it feels like a kind of a junk science-y type of thing. Russell Brand is hawking the product. Okay. He's a little nutty, though, isn't he, Russell? Hey, he's selling it for $2.49 per amulet.

You too can. Listen, I just didn't have on my Leafs bingo board to start the season. So you're telling me. Magical amulet within the first week. I didn't expect that. Here's what I'm telling you. Magical amulet was not on my bingo card. John Tavares does not have a big personality.

He's a bit of a blank canvas. And I think people see an opportunity here to paint this kaleidoscope of guy who's into magic crystals or something. For the record, this product is Canada basketball and UFC also has partnerships. There are people who think this stuff is, and maybe it is something.

Just like my pen protects me from tigers. I've never once been eaten by a tiger. I carry it everywhere. We've all gone and tried to push some products from time to time here. Some of them have been great and home runs. Some of them you'd like to forget, but he's no different than anyone else, I guess,

except maybe he's making 11 sheets, which can kind of help him comfort the fact that this thing, if it sucks and it doesn't work, is anybody going to truly remember it? In a more serious spin on it, athletes throughout history have tried to gain

any edge, and if this helps him get more sleep, or he thinks it does, and they get some placebo effect from it, if it helps at all, great. And if it doesn't, what's the harm? I think the idea is that it's one of those things that, like, you might as well. I have not been happy with my morning skate performances Thursday morning. You're one amulet away. You're telling me if I put one on each skate, it would cost

me 500 bucks? Yes. But here's, you know, if it weren't called an amulet, it would be so much better. Right? They're just not called an amulet. The picture you did send me, though, I would say this. If I got

one knock against this endorsement for JT, just put a better picture of yourself up than the one that you just look like you came off of practice it doesn't feel like something that he's been like a paid sponsor of i feel like he just uses the product and listen and they're like he here's that guy who uses it if russell brand company wants to sponsor me their magical amulets i'll wear one every day. You want the amulets? 100%.

I'll wear one every single day. You got on your hands and knees and begged CCM to send you skates the other day. Yes, I would do it again. Anything. I am for sale. So amulet companies, reach out to me. I'll wear them all.

Magical amulets from Pears Tech. All right. With or without these things. Oh, good draw. With or without these things tied to John Tavares' skates tonight, he's in the lineup. He is. I just wanted that out there so we can make jokes about it.

Carry on. Yeah. Amulets. That's it. Magical amulets going to fix the Leafs. Is it when the company's wearing it? He's in the lineup with these things. Possibly Nylander is out.

What's the latest here, Sammy? We have a clip from Berube who's going to lay it all out for you in detail. Okay. So, Berube, clip one, please, Derek. It'll be a game-time decision, yeah. So, see how the day goes for him. You know, I think there's improvement. So, hopefully he's better later and able to play. There you go.

There's the update. He just needs some quicker healing somehow. There's only a way flu flu for him too uh yeah going through the room wow like it's so early here you don't need to drag anything in make anybody else sick no you don't and that's always been the biggest case on a hockey team it's not about like playing through it and showing you can it's about hey don't get the rest of the team sick because that'll help out the team more i do wonder if i wear this magical ambulance oh my god i do think there is some pressure to show the new coach that

you're willing to play through things is there not like to show barubi hey i'm not just going to go away like if you're kneelander would you not feel a little bit more pressure at the new coach yeah i think so yeah i think everybody felt it from day one in in training camp that uh like you only get one chance at a first impression and you'd rather have them on on your side than yeah then maybe behind the eight ball like mcmahon was really behind the eight ball but dug himself out in the last week very nicely yeah but i think everybody still feels like they need to be on their best behavior with a new coach i did too uh lines are interesting so the top line is the same uh holmberg is going to be with tavarez and robertson is the second line if neil under doesn't play so they're still giving

robertson some chance there mcmahon domi patch ready uh lorenz camp reeves so domi playing center already kind of showing himself to be versatile playing first line wing third line center now i would like to tell you that this is by far the most interesting craig berube clip of the season so far oh like by far so if we would like to play domi uh the clip two on domomi playing center, please, Derek. Well, he was moving really well. You know, I think he moves a lot better in the middle, you know, I would say, and moving his feet.

And, you know, he's a very good playmaker. So, when he gets open ice and gets some speed going, he can really skate. He's dangerous. He can really skate. He's dangerous. He can make plays. And saying that, he should shoot more. He had a couple opportunities, and, you know, he passed up on some shots. So it's, you know, we're trying to get him to shoot a little bit more on his opportunities. opportunities the the pass to kneelander for the uh is that one of those instances i don't think so

but there was one after that where it was like god do you ever shoot it he hates shooting was it pre-season the breakaway he had where he tried to pass it back through two guys i think he's just he just loves to dish he doesn't that's it in a nutshell he just loves to make those type of passes in place he's addicted to ufos i think that's all he wants to do that's the whole point this is this has been him since minor hockey is that right yes Warren Jr. no well it's his first thought is to make a play not shoot a puck and then goal scores is all I need is this much of a crack between me and the net and I'm shooting it but you do have to shoot enough that people honor it and I actually think throughout Marner's career that maybe was an early career criticism that he didn't look for a shot and then he found it he had a 30 goal year somewhere in there he

started to shoot the puck a little bit more now i don't think it's a fair criticism at all i think he shoots it when the shot's there domi probably needs to find that what is interesting from that clip though is all the skating stuff and he needs to move his feet and he's better moving his feet here and he's good when he gets his feet going and i think that's a great observation of domi's game when he's moving out there he's dangerous when he's just in the tracks and looking around for someone to sauce it to it's going nowhere is there a second clip on him playing center it's on getting him to shoot more oh there's more detail on it yeah okay let's get to that and then we'll get our thoughts on on max well it's a

habit right and habits take time to break and you know it's just about constant reminders and you know and i think in practice it's important that he's you know probably overshooting at times and just trying to get get out of those habits it's like in your golf swing when you need to overcorrect in practice so you can be better on the course. It's just about constant reminders. It's a nice way to put me being on you all the time

about this. I think there's an ability to work with a small percentage of getting him to shoot more. I think just at this point in time habits it is what it is and you know unlike sitting on the the the t-box getting ready to hit and then reminding yourself about the million things that you need to do on your backswing or your hips or your shoulders or your hands. That ain't hockey.

No. Hockey's. Need to be free up here to just play. Free. React. And clear. And subconscious takes over. Natural instincts take over.

This isn't, I got time to think about all the things that i've been told or i worked on in practice it's just gotta it's gotta click in you only have a split second yeah and you know i would say in the nhl probably 80 of the guys are pass or shoot they'll take the best option and 10 of the guys are shoot first guys and the Leafs seem to have all of that 10%. You know, it's like Matthews and Nylander and Tavares and Pacioretty and Robertson. So to have one guy who's in the 10% of wants to pass all the time, probably not terrible. Not terrible to have a disher out there.

What was the number that Valley gave us on the long shots from Tavares? 149 shots in the last two years, I think, from distance unscreened. And one went in. One went in. Yeah so you might want to pass a few of those 140 so just to follow up on max at center is there a world now where you could see possibly max being a second line centerman for the Toronto Maple Leafs, could it be down the stretch or in the first round we see Matthews and then Domi? And then Tavares?

Third line. Yeah. Do you like that? Because I feel like I'm about to be the guy who's going to be a bear. Are you asking a question with a question? I am because I don't want to have to be a hater. I don't like it. For me, if there's a thought of the leafs thinking that max could center a second line then once again we're into that conversation like we were with nylander

give it a try give me a nice then stick with it give me a long stretch where it's it's feeling good and depending on your opponents as well what the matchups are you want a good matchup situation against the Tampa Bay Lightning soon to be playing against uh put it to the test yeah but to you to answer your question that i asked with a question with a question yeah uh up up until this point the answer probably be no because because of that's not what you sign max for right what'd you sign him for uh Versatility, depth, top nine. A guy that has puck skills when he has it. You don't sign, you know, traditionally you don't sign top six wingers

for less than five million bucks. I mean, to me, he wasn't brought in so he could solidify the center ice position on the second unit. So if he's going to work towards that, then give him a large stretch here to prove it. But are we getting lost in semantics about what line is the second and what's the third line?

Like if Tavares, Nylander, and whomever is your second line and domi's in the middle between you know tonight's patch ready and mcmahon pretty good are you more comfortable if you call it the third line then and he's he slots in better for you there so i'm old school because i think that it it sets a pecking order and it does give you a sense of where you are on the pecking order and there's something to be worked upon in terms of moving yourself up the line up if you just assume that you got one number one line and that's whatever matthews and marner are on and then you've got three lines that think that they can go anywhere between two and four, I'm not a fan of that. No, but no one is going to think that a Domi line is ahead of

Tavares-Nylander in the second slot there. Like that to me is pretty clearly your second line. Or do you think Tavares is better? No, it's whatever Nylander's on, not Tavares. Right. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Okay. Yeah. So, yeah. on right not Tavares right yeah yeah you're right okay yeah so yeah if Domi's playing with Nylander he's on the second line right and tonight he's not but I do think that Nye's Domi Nylander

intrigues me like that because then Domi has really good players to play with really good really good and Matthews Marner whoever you want to throw on the left side there I'd love for mcmahon to find it a little bit here you know get getting bruby's good books a little bit because i'm not sure who else you put in the left wing aside from nize higher up i think it's just right now i think the season's just warming up here yeah i think there's plenty of times time for um mcmahon plenty of time um you good on that one i am we got uh timothy lilligren in tonight we talked a little bit about it yesterday let's get to berubi and see what he has to say about lilligren he has ability right skating moving the puck and things like that and he's you know he's he should be a good puck mover and um it's just about him managing his game and managing his puck

movement and making good decisions with it not risky ones and simple just simplify and then you got to win your battles right as a defenseman it's important that you're defending well and you're you're stronger your net front you're winning those board battles and corner battles and things like that that's he's got, he's got to do that. There can't be a harder job in hockey than to be a guy whose job is to be steady and not make mistakes while trying to impress to stay in the lineup. Don't try to do too much.

Don't be fancy. Keep it simple, but also impress us. You're so right. It's like, what do you do? I do think there's a better chance for him to be better, calmer, and more predictable with this blue line than others in the past because it's been such an open-ended question mark for the Leafs the last few years on the blue line, and it's not good enough, right?

It's just not good enough. And then that presents an opportunity for four or five of those guys to go, okay, I'm going to be the guy. I'm going to step up. And Lilligren, if I'm not mistaken, had a bit of a history of being an offensive player growing up. And I think he envisioned himself to be a certain defenseman when everybody's telling you that it's wide open,

the leaf blue line stinks, and you could be a guy. You could be a power play guy. You could be this, you could be that. Just go out there and make it happen. And it's like, no. Now it seems like guys are more slotted into their roles and their expectations. And if he wants to be part of this lineup, just find what you need.

Well, you did it. What's the adjustment like when you're a scorer and junior to mentally accepting a different role? How long does it take to get there? Well, it depends on how quickly you get sick and tired of being sick and tired. Yeah, sick and tired of watching, being a healthy scratch in playoffs. And just saying, waking up one day and just saying, okay, I'm going to find a way that they can't keep me off the lineup.

Yeah. And if you bring it, and listen, it could be as simple for him as just getting your own zone and just, like, you can skate and you can move the puck. You got to make sure you understand what play is needed at this particular time. Make a good first pass. If you got room, skate with the puck. And do not get beat to the net.

And that's it. Like I'm watching, who was the defenseman last night that I watched? Just get roasted? Philly? Edmonton? What team? Vancouver? Calgary?

Dallas? No, it'll come to me. Okay. Well, Kulak got roasted by Owen Tippett. Yes, but that wasn't it. Anyways, it was, oh, my God, Severson. Oh, yeah? And it was... Columbus, right?

Yes. And it was as poor of coverage I've seen in 10 years. I'll get it for you after the break and you tell me. Anyways, my point is those things cannot happen to a Severson and it cannot happen to a Lilligren. Yeah. Right? And that's not that hard to just defend.

Eliminate the big mistake. Eliminate the big mistakes. Bad pinches have been historically his issues for a long time, but it's also been historically an issue for all Sheldon's years here. It's like, where are you going? Three minutes left on the clock. You're up or down a goal. Where are you going?

That's always been a great observation of yours. It's just a lack of clock awareness that like, hey, we're up one here. We don't, you know, I think there is this mentality that if you shift the way you play, it's like to prevent defense and football and it's all going to come back your way. At some point, you just can't let a guy behind you for the Hail Mary.

Is there a chance here that they just kind of develop him a bit more? In a new system with a more defensive-minded guy, that he just comes back into the lineup with a lower role, with more guys in front of him, and he just turns into a part of this team? Is there a chance that that happens? There is. There is a chance chance but the odds are against it for sure okay no question so where where are you that's why i asked the question where are you on that i think the

best case scenario is that this guy can prove that he's cleaned up his game a little bit and then there's some team that wants him after American Thanksgiving. And once they figure it out that their team stinks, which happens a lot between training camp and American Thanksgiving, then somebody's going to go, he's a serviceable player. He's not perfect. Maybe the Oilers. But I need a right-handed defenseman that can play

anywhere from 12 minutes to 16 minutes and guess what he's it yeah he's it oh yeah he can do that no problem um we have stole ours uh clips as well one thing i want to share with you guys on him uh sport logic had some stats on his goaltending going back to the 23-24 season. So all last season and the start of this year. His ranks in goals against, save percentage, and even strength save percentage are first, first, and first in the NHL. And he's second in inner slot save percentage.

I don't care anything about that. What I care is Steve Valliquette came on yesterday and gave him the stamp of approval. And all these Leaf fans are tweeting now that he's the man because Valley said he's the man. How about how things change for Joe Wohl over a two-week span? Two weeks ago, right? He's like the guy, he's 1A to Stolarz is 1B.

Here we go, three-year contract. I can't picture anybody else playing a big game for the least other than stolars like i'm like they're gonna put joe wall in it's like i no don't do that like stolars to me is now the number one until wall can earn his way back in there two games two games i've seen enough that's why this show is the best we just just ride the rollercoaster. Let's get Craig Ruby's thoughts on Stoller's. I don't know. I mean, I've known him for a while, had him in Philly. This year, I think, you know, he's calm and cool in that.

He's making the saves that he's supposed to and looks pretty comfortable in that and tracking pucks well. But we're doing a good job in front of them too which is good we need to and um it's kind of kind of a combination that works you know both ways with a goalie and higher defending in front of them i was intrigued by the i had him in philly thing i can't remember what years barubi was in philly but looking at some of his save percentages when he was there stole ours 928 and 7 games uh over 912 games like he was very good there so barubi probably thinks he's a pretty good goalie to begin with so that's great what what's the catch here

was stolen yeah just hasn't played nobody was willing to give him any money he hasn't played any games hey i'm not sure what the same as all of them when they first start out consistency that's all okay there's not a whole run of games in his career where he wasn't very good so i don't i don't know that's i don't know what that's what i'm i'm concerned about the catch i'm like an ahl okay he's a 922 there then he's a 926 in the nhl the 920 ahl i don't know i don't know what i mean yeah okay anyway we should go because we gotta get lucky luke on the other side all right okay plenty more to talk about that's more anyways all right we'll take a quick break and then we'll get to lucky luke put your anulets on and come

right back luke robita, one of the highest scoring wingers in NHL history. Ready to join us here on the Real Kipper and Orange Show. It's the Fan Hockey Show on Sportsnet 590, The Fan, and wherever you get your podcasts. As promised, as advertised on the Real Kipper and Bourne Show, let's welcome in Hockey Hall of Famer, top NHL scoring left winger in history, president of the LA Kings, all the way from California, Lucky Luke Robitaille. What's up, boys?

What's up, Lucky? How are you? Good. I'm doing good. How are you doing? We're good. We're good. We're all set.

The LA Kings, your LA Kings, set to play the toronto maple leafs tonight on wednesday night hockey uh your kings coming off an eight seven loss to the ottawa senators on monday and you know as i'm watching this i'm thinking to myself lucky luke in his heyday would have loved to play a game like that you know end up with two and two and you know pad those stats but lucky Luke the president I could picture

watching the game feeling much differently than that it is so different you are 100% right as a player you're like ah we picked up a point I got two and two that's a win it's not the same, you're like, ah, we picked up a point. I got two and two to the other side. That's a win. It's not the same when you're on the other side.

No kidding. It was... Go ahead, Lou. I was just going to say, it was an exciting game. Do you take at least a way that you guys do have these flashes of offense and there's enough positive things to take from a game like that or is it all frustration uh you know it's not frustration i mean we all know it's a process

you know you got 82 games and uh you know we're doing a lot of new things like you know we have a lot of new players this year so it's going to take time to to adjust to from game to game and but what's frustrating you're like oh man we played so well defensively against Boston, and then the next night there seemed to be so many holes. So you're trying to figure it out. Everybody's trying to figure out what's the best way. But it is our game. I mean, that's the way it is.

The skill level in the NHL is incredible. And when guys have a chance, they find a way to put them in. Now you can't give up too many chances in this league because it could happen any night. find a way to put them in now it's uh you can't give up too many chances in this league because it could happen any night not only uh the la kings uh players versus the leaf players but two uh new head coaches to their respective clubs you have jim hiller they have craig brooby in terms of hiller what led you to believe that this was the guy moving forward in terms of style and play what is it exactly uh that brought you uh to the conclusion that jim's the guy i think that the biggest thing

for us is you know we had a great start last year and then for some reason we were on on this hole for 16 games and then we look back and when jim took over we were basically we basically had the same record for the last 32 games and the same amount of points as the first 32 games of the year. And we thought Jimmy came in and really communicated well with the players and

found a way to get the most out of guys. And then we had at the end of the season a meeting with each player and they all spoke highly of him of the way it was and he was way more intense that probably was perceived by people and we liked that and he's got some great ideas about the way to play the game he's been around for a long time he's had some great mentor and barry truck and babs in in toronto so those guys you know they

they kind of helped him uh you know getting becoming a great coach. And it's his first real chance and we trust him. And there's another thing that he's a good coach behind the bench. And we all know there's a real value to that in our game. Yeah, absolutely. One thing that makes his job a little harder, Luke, obviously, is being without Drew Doughty, such a big part of your guys' team in the past. You know, what does a timeline look like for Doughty? And more importantly, how do you expect to fill in or with who do you expect to fill in to bridge that gap

to getting such an important piece back? Well, when you're missing a Drew Doughty or, you know, it's like missing Austin Matthews, you know, or Mark, or a great team, and you can't have one guy replace him. So it's going to be a committee of six defensemen playing together, playing the system. You know, it's definitely going to give Brent Clark, like, more opportunity on the power play.

And then, you know, so he's the type of player that will want to take that chance. We know that. But you don't replace Drew Dowdy. I mean, as much as people talk about his offensive game and so forth, he is still one of the best defenders in the NHL. And he was so good last year, and we're going to miss him. And I think, you know, to be fair,

we'll probably expect him back around Christmas, you know, around January 1st or something. And we're not sure because it's week to week, and we'll see. But it's going to week and we'll see but it's going to take a while a leading score for you has been uh you know just the the growth of uh Adrian Kempe and I mean I watched him score again and I know I know today with the equipment and there there's everybody's got a great shooter like even fourth line guys can shoot the puck, but there's something a little extra special there. Is there anything that you've seen in Kempe

that kind of reminds you of a very young Luke Robitaille? He's way faster. He's not even close. He's a really good defender too. He plays every PK. I was nowhere near those. I thought it was politics though, by the way. But, no, he's a special player on his own.

He has found a way to develop his shot the last three years. I give players credit. They're adjusting with the new sticks and everything. Adrian Kempe came in our league. He wasn't really viewed as a scorer. In the last three years, he found a way to become a better scorer. Like his release is different. And you give those guys credit because they work in the offseason,

and that's the reason he's done so well. He's always been a really good player. He was a center like the first few years in our league, and we put him on the wing with Kopi, and he's never looked back. But we trust him like for 200 feet. And that's a great thing to have on your team when your guy can score 30 to 40 goals and you trust him in every situation.

Luke, as you guys sort of build towards a championship, where do you see yourself in that process? The Oilers in your division, obviously very good. Vegas recently won a Stanley Cup. Canucks have had a great year last year. Where do you guys see yourself in that division and where, I guess, where you're at in trying to get to that Stanley Cup? Well, we're like every team.

Once you get in the playoffs, we all believe we have a chance to get in. And then, you know, things happen and so forth. But there's a learning process. It takes time. I mean, you know, things happen and so forth. But there's a learning process. It takes time. I mean, we look at Tampa Bay. It took them, I think, 10 years before they won the Cup. They made it a bunch of years. Then they actually missed the playoffs.

Then they came back up. I mean, you look at from the time Pittsburgh won in 2009, they won again with the same kind of group in 2017, if I'm not mistaken. You know, our owner asked us how long it took Colorado, and I think we said, well, when did Landerscott get drafted in McKinnon? It was 2010 or 12 and so forth. So it takes time.

We don't want it to take that long, but we know there's a process to learn. I mean, it's been hard losing three years in a row against the same team. It's never easy. You guys know by the fan base, it's not a good thing. But we're in and we're giving ourselves a chance. This year, what excites us the most is we have four new young kids on our roster and they're coming in. It's going to take time. We understand that. But at the same time, they have the opportunity to play with Anansi copetar and when drew dowdy comes back and we have great veterans around them and adrian can't be now as a veteran philip deno those are great guys for us to teach our young players to play the game but we know in the nhl you got to get in and if you can get outside the first round you got as good

a chance anyone and that that's our goal to keep moving the goal goal is you start a season, you want to win the Stanley Cup, and then see if you don't win it, like, what do you have to adjust? I get the time and process and no better example, I think, than Quentin Byfield as well, who's gone from being a boy to a man. But, Lucky, you ruined it for everybody. And Jimmy Carson, when you came out of the Quebec League and led the team in scoring right away, it's your fault if nobody's patient.

They called me lucky. It's funny, but you still don't know how to win until later. Like the first few years in the league, you're still trying to position yourself to be part of the roster, part of the team, and then sometimes you look at it and you're playing for your first big contract

and then suddenly you're like, oh man, we really got to win. Even Dean Lombardi used to talk about that and Blakey talks about it. There's a process to becoming a player that is doing things a little bit different. Every once in a while you're lucky and you're playing with the right players at the right time and you learn a little quicker, but there is a process.

Like when you have the opportunity to play, when I was younger with Mark Messier and Adam Graves and Kippy when we were with the Rangers, it's like I saw a whole different level too, you know, and I started thinking differently because then you're realizing you haven't won. It's been eight years or 10 years and you might pay a different price to win the game that you thought was important maybe four or five years earlier

because you're just trying to stay in the league. So is it less about what you do then as an individual and more about how you come together as a team to win? Is that what you learned later on? It's about the price you're willing to pay for the greater good of the cause. So you learn that when you have the great veterans around you and you understand they do little things. You know, like as a fan, you don't see they chip it out of zone on a 3-2 game.

They dump it in at the right time, and it's 3-2 or it's 3-3. There's no play there. You don't force it. The next thing you know, when you win the cup, you never regret it because they never ask anyone unless the guy's the MVP, what'd you do? It's like, what was the team you won on? You know, and that's what people remember. How do you feel about the evolution of Quinton Byfield?

This guy looks like a guy, you know, I've heard people, you're talking about a dark horse candidate for Team Canada in the, what's it called? The Frozen Four. That sounds right. Four Nations Face-Off. Four Nations Face-Off. That's it.

How do you feel about where Byfield's at? You're selling the game. I know. And it's our product too. But he is a name that is getting talked about for that team, which is a high praise. Yeah, you know, he's tremendous. He's got so much energy.

He can play the game at a high tempo the whole game. And, you know, the beauty about Q is he's learning with alizé kopitar philip dino those are two center days learning to play the right way he understands what it will take to win it all and he but he's always played that way and there are some guys that might get 100 100 points and i'm not sure like you you can win as many games as a guy that will get you 80 points, but the way he plays in all situations with his intensity. So we really love the way he's playing. We understand he's still very young, but it doesn't surprise me that he's in a talk with Team Canada

because of the level that he brings in game in and game out and every practice the same. Listen, Luke, I'm not asking you to go back and tell me why it didn't work out with Pierre-Luc Dubois, but obviously the change for Darcy Kemper. I mean, was that a tough decision? Because the tendency is when you make a type of commitment, you're in it for the long haul.

But, you know, and what Darcy could still bring, I know he's not in the lineup tonight. He might be dealing with, you know, something minor. But just the overall thought process of flipping this quickly to get an experienced goaltender. Well, it's never easy, but we definitely, we knew we needed a goaltender for the next couple of years. We have some young kids coming up, like, you know, and we know they're going to be knocking the door.

But we all know with goaltending, you got to be patient. You got to be patient with all players, but you got to be extra patient with goaltenders. So Darcy, we're familiar with him because we had him before he went to Phoenix. And, you know, Billy Rankford, our head of goalie department, spoke highly of him. So that was, it made sense for us. And at the same time, you know, sometimes situations just don't work out. You know, Pierre-Luc is still a great player. I mean, he can skate.

He's an impactful player. For some reason, it was hard to play. You know, like I said, we have Philippe Deneau and Anze Kopitar coming in. It just didn't seem to mesh well. And it was one of those things where, you know, they needed a center, we needed a goalie, and it made sense. Luke, I did, in talking to you, I'm thinking about, you know, the Four Nations face-off come up,

and we talked a little bit this morning about their goaltending. You're from a part of the world originally where we had some great Canadian goaltenders come out of, you know, Patrick Waugh and Brodeur and, you know, numerous others. Felix Potvin. What's going on? What's happened here where Canada isn't producing goaltenders? Like, we're likely to have, like, Bennington and Montembeau

or something as our duo, which obviously they're very good goalies. I don't mean to be disrespectful to them, but it's not quite the level where you have future Hall of Famers, you know, begging to get in the crease. Yeah, it's hard to say. I mean, it's like getting goal scores out of a league in Canada. You know, every year it seems to change every three years. And, you know, I think what was Patrick what was that patrick's coach a lair like

there like he was coach it seemed like he was coaching every friend french goalies and and you gotta remember when patrick came in the league every kid in quebec wanted to be a goalie and everybody started you know playing like him and so forth then there was marty burdur you know there was all these guys coming you guys are right and you And, you know, Carey Price came in. You know, I don't. Here's what I might say. Oh, man, there's like six great goalies from Canada. I just think right now there's no big names because none of the guys have won a cup the last few years, too.

Probably that makes a difference. But it might change quickly in the next two to three years listen the three of us never played professional hockey in net uh but you ended up scoring uh 668 goals when you watch the goaltenders today with the reverse hv or you know, I'm watching again last night, Shelov's on a Braden Point shot where he was on his knees, where he was on his knees well before the puck left his stick. I'm sitting there going, it would have been nice to shoot a couple of goalies that looked like they were four foot two when I played.

They all stood up. Luke, do you see that as one of the top scoring wingers in the history of our game? Do you see what I see or am I making this up? I think today with the technology of the sticks, which is totally different than when we played, I think if you're smart and you really practice your shot and you can start picking, not necessarily the tight corner, but like an area, like a quarter of the

net here and there, and you constantly aim for that, the minute you have time, you have better shot because they're set positions on goaltending. And sometimes there's a couple of spots that really are, but they're playing the odds. It's like pitching. You know, they're playing the odds. It's almost the data tells you that. And it's, you know, so if you can hit the spot, you score. And they're not big, big holes, but you got to hit them. And I think the technology of the six have changed.

So if you practice it enough, you should be able to pick those spots and get there. Well, nobody picked them finer than you during your career man so appreciate your time luke good luck tonight man okay all right thank you great talking to you guys yeah thanks for your time appreciate it that is the great lucky luke robotai yeah he could shoot a man so we got a couple of minutes left in our leaf hour and i found it fascinating to listen to luke talk about the success that he had early and how you're wrapped up into finding your spot and getting the first setting contract setting up your contract and all of that and then you kind of figure out later that you know is it conducive to winning as a team and i'm sitting there going he's also talking about the toronto maple leafs he is and

it's funny because i had that thought too and if you look at their lineup and you can pretty clearly assess what most guys priorities would be nick Nick Robertson's, what are his priorities? Establish himself. Yes. He's trying to become an NHL. He wants a contract. He wants permanence, you know,

McMahon Holmberg. Those guys don't have, they're playing to stay in the league. That's what they're playing for. You know, Matthew knives, he's playing for a money deal. He's playing for his first one.

It's those big guys. The core four who have been here, who should have turned the page now, right? Who should? It's like, okay, y'all have been paid, been in the playoffs. All of a sudden, you start looking at the sands of the hourglass of your career and going. But he also spoke of being a player that all of a sudden had to, quote, unquote, betterment of the team and chip the puck out yeah get it in deep don't turn it over and i

like him saying sometimes you just don't make a play you just hang on to it because there's nothing there and that's where you're hoping or assume that matthews nylander marner and tavaris are especially up front that they have now realized that 60 goals, 70 goals, 50 goals, no one cares, no one cares, no one cares. No one will care if you don't win. And so, you know, Pacioretty's at that point of his career. Riley is for sure. Tanev is for sure.

You know, OEL's won. McCabe would be there. Like, they've got guys who you think, okay, this is a team that should prioritize winning. Obviously, not everyone is there in their career, but there's enough guys for the Leafs that that should be, we should see that in their play this year. So the LA Kings, again, coming off Monday night's 8-7 loss

to the Ottawa Senators where Darcy Kemper stayed and remained in the game, which I found interesting. I also found interesting that he is now out day to day with an injury and i can't bruised ego and i can't help but think of steve alicat telling me that some guys just don't want to do it on a night they might get lit just don't want to go back in there after something that maybe bothered him on Monday outside of whatever ails him. You're like, I'm sorry,

Austin Matthews has not scored and he's extra hungry at home. It's like, I think I'm in pain. I think I'm in physical pain right now. Check in with me on the weekend. Yeah. I think there's probably something to that. And I really,

what having Valaket on as a guest regularly has done for me is just, I look at everything cynically when it comes to the game. Like, I just think about it being like, well. I don't know if you have to go that far. Well, not from his perspective. It does change the way you look at the position now. I mean, listen, I, as players every year, we've all had goalies. We've all said they're a little different. They're a little goofy.

There's times when you want to talk to them, times when you want to leave them alone. But, you know, and then you form the conclusion as a player, do I feel better with him in the net or the other guy? Yeah. And we can all share that quietly or with a teammate on a bus or something like that. But outside of that, you never really went any deeper to say,

you know, maybe the guy's just protecting his save percentage tonight. Yeah. No, it didn't come up. But was there not always consensus about which goalie everyone wanted in the net? Like, were you on any teams it was it was it was always kind of skewed or um suggested by your team prior to even starting in the season you know who was number one or who was the backup and how the starter needed to truly lose his position or lose the trust of the team

and then where it left you. And listen, I don't know if Kemper's going to be that guy. We just heard from Luke talking about how much they needed a goalie. Is Darcy Kemper that guy for L.A.? Are you sold? We'll see. No, I'm not sold. Before we go to break, Leafs have not started in the first 10 games have had the chance to get 20 points.

They've not done better than 12 out of 20 points the past three seasons. You know, we need we as a show. We'd like them to have a better start. It's a big game for them tonight. They're all big. Sammy had the Oilers mathematically eliminated if they lost

last night. That's right. They won their must win. They listened to the show. They knew. They won their must win. We'll get into more of that. Ray was there, too, so he called the game, so he'll have that. Perfect.

That is Ray Farrar, ESPN hockey analyst, former National Hockey Leaguer. We'll join us next on the National Hour. Do not move. The Real Kipper and Bourne Show.