Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Clash in Columbus + Don Waddell

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with a look back on the Leafs' 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames. They get into Max Domi's two-goal night, the Leafs' team structure still working up to speed, how they can improve the struggling power play, and Anthony Stolarz showing slight signs of regression. Later, Blue Jackets GM and President of Hockey Ops. Don Waddell joins the show (31:18) ahead of his team's matchup against the Leafs to discuss Columbus's start to the year, the trade landscape in a raised-cap world, Yegor Chinakhov's trade request, and much more.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.

Welcome back to the program. The Real Kipper and Bourne show, Leaf Hour edition. You are watching or listening all over the place. Sportsnet 360, Sportsnet 590, the fan in Toronto, and streaming always on Sportsnet Plus. Our show is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. This hour of Real Kipper and Born, brought to you by Bet 365. That Kipreels, Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee.

A few minutes or not, probably about a half hour. 30 minutes. We'll welcome in President of Hockey Operations, Don Waddell, who is kind enough to send us the Cannon Jersey. Not just any jersey, the Canon jersey that we're sporting right now. For all of those watching our program, not just in the NHL, but all over the world. Do you want to send us a jersey? would gladly put it up in the wall.

Totally. We handle them with extreme care. Kipper is going to kill me for this. That was the soundbite of our very own Sammy McKee who lost Don Weddell's jersey on the TTC, only to have the TTC recover it for us. Not only lost it, lost it, and then left for Hawaii with my phone off for a week.

And then reacquired it. The first message, the first two message I got on my phone when I turned it back on a tweet about you guys talking about it and my nightmare, and then a tweet, a text from a guy for the TTC saying they had it. Back to back. Incredible. In the meantime,

the Toronto Maple Leafs will face Don Weddell's Columbus Blue Jackets tonight as the lone wolf game in the National Hockey League. Tonight on Sportsland one? Why not the main sports? We'll have the double split baseball hockey tonight. So sports net has you covered But last night The pros and cons of the Toronto Maple Leafs

What you liked What you don't like so far Is that safe to say That we will focus on the positives Well I'm not trying to be a jerk But are we gonna? Why not? Okay

Are we doing something new? Why not? Are we doing something new? Why not? I mean, I'm going to Oh, my God. People think we've already dumped on them a ton. Why do you think they think that?

I wonder what would give them that idea. Well, they're not that great right now. Okay. Well, just don't like surprised by it. That's why I'm trying to bring the positives. Listen, they've won two in a row. Two points last night. And I'll tell you, regulation win.

And if the whole plan this year is to get help from the depth, Max Domi's shooting two in the net, awfully good. We talked about him yesterday. There's the top of our show. Max Domi coming up with a game that he desperately needed. Well-timed game as he was working himself into the headlines. The coach had to comment on him. We talked about him.

There's no doubt that when he gets a look, you can shoot it. Let's go to Craig Barubi on Max Domi, clip two. He's been good. I mean, Max, for me, the last three games, been a different player like you talk about just more engaged and when he's an engaged player he's a good player is that why you double shifts in there yeah just offensive zone you know he's got a hot hand right now got a lot of he was getting a lot of opportunities at the net he was competitive on the puck, skiing with a puck.

So that's why. The thing you want to avoid as a player is ever having a coach tell you you're not engaged. To me, it's not being called soft, but it's kind of in the family a little bit. It's a cousin of soft. Yeah, you're right. Maybe a distant one. But second cousin, twice or marriage.

But it's not a good thing to hear a coach accuse you of not being engaged. No. No, it's related to disinterested, related to, you know, a lot of words, it's just like,

oh, that's not going to earn you. Not going to earn you more ice time opportunity or money when people think you're that. But no question. Like, Max was noticeable. last night the one thing that stood out most about max domi last night for me personally is he had for

the maybe the first time i've watched him a shoot first mentality to me like he was not thinking about looking around and finding a different option he went in there and he shot the puck with purpose to score but so i don't know what to do with stuff like this because i you don't want Max Domey to shoot first, do you? Like, I understand you don't want them to never shoot either, but... Well, the trick is to pick the times that you need to and then pick the times when you're not to. That's...

A little from Calum A, a little bit of Colombe! That's what makes players special or elite. Yeah. And, you know, once upon a time, like, this guy was 12th overall pick. I know it was, like, a long time ago. Yeah. 2012 maybe but he was the 12th best 18 year old in the world that's like there's there's

there's skill there there's high level skill there and part of it is knowing when to shoot and when to pass or at least playing the percentages of it it it is really strange when you look at his career statistics and go all right one year in 22 23 he totaled 20 goals one other time out of the just such a weird blip in 1819 he had 28 goals otherwise you look at his years it's nine goals

nine goals last year was eight year before was nine like he's not a goal score but for a guy to be able to score almost 30 goals in the league you can do it right like it is a mindset thing Kip and I don't know how you know what I'll also say this let me add the complications for Jomi is

as your role changes you have to think differently right if you're going to be a depth guy playing 12 minutes. I assume that Montreal team, he was playing a much different role, 72 points. So, yeah, it's just, you're right. He can do it. He has a skill.

He has to get in that sort of mindset. But I imagine it's hard for him when it's like, okay, I'm a role guy, I'm a depth guy, but also I need to be this guy. But you're also told sometimes you're this guy, so you're going to play with this guy, Austin Matthews. And you also have to be kind of be tough too.

Yeah. And you've got to bring energy guy. There's no doubt. He's got the hardest, what am I guy, thing to figure out. And they ask him to be a little bit everything. And I do think that's uniquely challenging. I will say that I think every Leaf fan watching that game

thought that it was a minor miracle that he shot that puck. The one at the end of the game, I was sure was going to Mattis. Because he had Matthew Nyes in a pretty good spot with the hips open. And I'm like, oh, he needs the sauce one here. He's addicted to the sauce. Oh, he can't wait to do it. And I think probably that's what Dustin Wolf was thinking too. and he nice low blocker rips scores a big goal for the Leafs

and he's fired up about it. It was awesome. No, it was a big moment. As far as what else we saw last night of the Toronto Maple Leafs, let's go to Craig Brewby's clip of his overview of the game and then you'll get ours. Yeah, I mean, I liked our game pretty much overall. I thought there's a lot of good things.

There's obviously mistakes that happen, but I liked their bounce back, you know. We were behind a couple times tonight, but we showed a lot of resilience and fought back and kind of thought we had everybody playing the night, everybody kind of going. Lots of opportunities at the net tonight, which is good to see.

Pretty direct game overall. Yeah, there's things we can do better still, but overall I was pretty happy with the game. He got his coveted directness. I appreciate a coach trying to stay positive and finding, like us at the beginning of the show, finding good things early, but... But the beginning, you mean, eight minutes ago?

There's... There's not much there for me still out of their performance last night to suggest anything's changed over what we've seen so far. Well, Matthew Nyes was excellent. I can't... Can I sit here and... I'm talking about a team, not certain individual efforts right now.

a team game you thought you didn't think they were far and away the better team in that game uh because i did no no i did not you did i did i mean they they heavily outshot them for most of the game they carried the possession for most of the game like i don't think they did carry the possession i thought they i mean felt like they i didn't even look at numbers i did uh very close in terms of uh time with the puck it was very close in terms of uh course he was 50% each uh they did get expected goals was actually in the flame favor but it's all it was pretty close all around

but I do think some of that is influenced by we are talking about we are talking about yeah it was a bit like that way so far by far the worst team in the league last night I mean you had said multiple times yesterday that you thought they were better than Buffalo not what I saw last night you didn't like the flames last night eh

I loved I loved Cadry Cadry could have given them a three nothing lead by himself. Hit the post last night. But look at the goals that the Leafs got were Calgary Flames handing to them on a platter.

They get a very emotional goal to tie the game late in the third period. And Weeger puts it on a platter on the game winning goal. And it's like this is this is not convincing for me just yet

out of the Toronto Maple Leaf. No. I do think that there is some growth. that they're trying to find their way through like the neutral zone they still have struggled with we talked about that quite a bit yesterday and then who was it Frost or Farabee that danced through for the first goal of the game

it was Cadrey entered the zone passed it over to Frost he shot it in off the post before that just okay if you want to go neutral zone it's like trying to six feet inside their blue line the Morgan Riley giveaway yeah that was that was there's a lot of giveaway goals last night

yeah I'm thinking though like the one I'm talking about the first goal, Joshua takes such a stinky angle. Like, you got to push the guy one way or the other towards the boards into your traffic. He's just bad angles. That was Cowan, I think. Well, Cowan also could have, yeah, and then Cowan tried to pressure him at the Reds. Still didn't stop them.

Like, they still have so much work to do just to slow down the opposition. It does, it does look, Calgary looked faster than the Leafs to me last night. Yeah. The team structure is still something we're waiting to see. I will say there's a good article today, Dom Lucision, and the Athletic wrote about their you know what changed when barubi took over and they went from a team that was like expected goals you know 52% pretty consistently last year to 49% this year down to 47% and you can win that way if you get all the high danger chances but he can't let it get too far

away from the 50% line and still claim that you're competitive with the big boys and they they haven't found a game yet where they really just you know he said that yesterday i wanted to see them just go win five two just go win going away you're the better team you're at home that didn't happen they did get the win it feels to me like they're buying themselves time to figure it out yeah i mean i guess the the numbers were closed i don't know i just felt like the leaves had a lot of i don't know they're just listen the flames stink the flame stink but like at least they're working hard and like i don't know dust and waltz a good goalie like but i'm not in a position to really sit here and be like oh my god those they barely beat them but

we're at the point where they just need to kind of stack up points to figure themselves out. And I think they're getting closer. Here's the great news is like, ooh, there's 15, 20 teams that are all in the same boat right now, in my opinion right now where it's like we can pick a lot of stuff off of a lot of teams. But they are not, they are far from looking elite. Yeah.

Like no signs of eliteness. I'm talking out of training camp guys. Yeah. Well, I think there's a different conversation where I think you and all of people that have talked to Leafs all the time have had the quiet conversations earlier in this year about them being a playoff team. Like, I think them being a competitive playoff team and them being elite are two different conversations. But I think over what I've seen over the last little while, they're at least going to be a playoff team. But they're at least going to be pushing for one of the three spots in the division that they're going to be a wild card team. But elite is a different conversation.

Right now, Sammy, they're getting. have the conversation was never they weren't elite the last five or seven years oh no but this in the height of marner matthews kneelander there was always world class seventh best team eighth best last year i remember that well and now we have them 14th 15th well no i don't know where do you have them right now i think i said 12th last week i'll give them 12th's low bud not great we're working on it here you're talking about six or seven to 12 it's it's a drop it's a process oh okay let's Listen. It's a process.

I'm not expecting them. Listen, you're the guy who sent this whole year up as it's going to take them 20 games to find their. They're going to need to be patient. They're going to need to figure it out. That's the process. If I saw different things out of them, I'd be more inclined to say that I'm comfortable on the process. But right now, again, you know, the Fairby goal last night where I'm not used to watching this blue line the last few years. let a guy walk in on on stolars and to be fair the guy that did it hasn't been here for the last few years so

and he wasn't very good last year he hasn't been very good yeah i mean he's been here for less than a full season just go confront him yeah hammer him he's cruising into the squad jack something but just to give him a a red carpet to the net like that like that's that's the part where that bothers me anyways to that's not a process that's just a guy that just refuses to do what he's supposed to do right now. That was a strange play from Carlo. You know, talking about the whole shape of it all, two things right now that are happening

that I don't believe are going to happen is they have the fifth worst goaltending in the NHL so far this season. I don't think they have the fifth worst goaltenders in the league. So I think they're going to get better goaltending. The next thing is they are 27th in power play. I don't think they're the fifth worst team in terms of ability to score

with the man advantage. I think they're going to get better there. Don't you? Don't you think those things would help? I don't have a lot of faith because it's going back to a third or fourth time on a guy like Morgan Riley who on three occasions you told him he's not good enough to be on the number one power play. So I don't know what's changing here.

Is Morgan Riley going to turn elite on the power play now? No. But so where's the growth? for you to be a middle of the pack power play or a top 10 power play. Well, I mean, I hate to, you know, bang the same drum, but Morgan Riley ran the power play when they were first in the NHL three years ago. Yeah. You know, like there's a way to have success with him on the power play.

So, you know, it's not like he shoots it. He's not that player anymore, though. You don't think he's the same guys three years ago? No, I don't. Okay. I don't. And I don't know if he's gotten slower, the league's gotten faster. Well, that something's happened.

That would be a development that you would have to sort out and say, can OEL do it better? And if not, can Nielander do it? And if not, do we need someone in here who can do it? Leave, sir, 27th in the league in power play at 14.8% success rate. Would you like to hazard a guess at two of the teams that are behind them? Yes. Columbus?

Tampa Bay is behind them at 14.3. You know, it's the worst power play in the league? I have no idea. I don't know. Carolina. 10%. You're right. right you know what's fascinating right now is remember they signed that nick eelers uh deal nick

yelers hasn't scored yet in carolina wow not nuts anyways not to get too sidetracked but i i think if you're looking up the least power play there's two ways to look at it with the lightning behind them with carolina behind them that like it's early in the season these things figure themselves out that's one way to look at it but i think watching it is another way to look at it yeah also they got a power play goal last night and it wasn't off good power play process it was a bunch of bounces that laying it up in front of the dead colin gave it away in the but yes they've they've calgary had possession like it seemed like all night and then they handed well that was the one that matthews caught and put down yeah yeah i just i've said this a hundred times already this year and

i've brought it up to you two guys but the top unit is a full of guys that want to shoot and the second unit's full of guys that want to pass why not take a couple of the passers put them with the shooters and put them with the passers sugar and salt in the recipe you say yes maybe a little like maybe a little frosting on the like on the on the on the pumpkin pie I guess it's that time of year maybe I don't know it's just it's just feels disjointed what can I ask you what are they trying to set up yeah we've done this I know but do I do it again awesome but are they did they execute that once when's the last time he hit when's the last time he hit when he scored that's it but like it that feels like I'm curious how many one timers he has on the power play this year I bet just less than five I I don't know. Just it doesn't feel like there's any. To Sam's point, it isn't clear what they're trying to do as a vision. And I also will note that I have seen college hockey power plays where people are rotating,

switching positions, you know, moving parts. It doesn't seem like these guys are trying much, but get it to the net. Let's get Craig Bruy's thoughts on his power play. Clip three. The PKs broke down, right? So that's where you take advantage of them by getting things that I'm. net and outnumbered them the other power plays I thought there was some good stuff that went on it just seemed like the shots got I don't know if they miss a net I got to watch them rewatch them

or if they got blocked or what it hit but you know I like the idea of Matthews coming downhill and shooting those pucks and Willie was on the goal line tonight so you know I like that look where you know Matthews can rip it you got a couple big guys to the net or you can go to the goal with Willie. If there's an opportunity, Willie can make a play, they're all looking at lefties, right? So, you know, again, you know, we're just going to keep banging away at it. That plan is a perfect, guaranteed 18% power play to me. That's, you know, you have big guys are shooting. You got more guys on the ice, some talented guys. They'll get it to the net. They'll outnumber them. They'll not be the worst team in the league. They'll finish like 18%.

That'll be like 17th best. But if you want, they have so much more talent. than that. Yeah. They could do so much more than that. And I don't, what do you think of the idea of taking one of these guys off it for a, I think they're close to Sam's point of just like you're doing it five on five.

So why not have a little bit of that on the power play, that mentality of I'm just going to, just going to shake it up and see what comes about. Other thing I am curious to look at, which I haven't done statistically yet, is break-ins, because that was something Marner did very well for them, is get them set up, the entries. I don't know if they're getting a setup as often,

but I'll look into that for next show. Yeah, just for me, Nyes and Riley off top unit, Machelli OEL, or Domi OEL top unit for four games. Yeah. Just let me see it. So he did it in Buffalo, the night of the game, and he gave away one right for a shorty. and it's immediately off,

but you're allowed to watch the other guy beat it to a square all season. It's like, try it one more time. Like, holy. Yeah. Try it again. The one where it was Farabee that went to the net

and slid it under Stolar's without shooting it. That's my first Stolar's moment where I'm like, oh, you just never saw that last year. No. You know, and that one was that a product of guys bowling them over all year? Is that like fear as another guy barrels down on him or?

Yeah, I, I'm not. I don't know goaltending that well. It was shocking to me how quickly I was like, I wonder how soon Wall's ready. He's been with the Leafs again

for four days and I was like, along to like that guy's ready. There's a couple of different looks. That definitely is one of them. Not as aggressive. Seems like more rebounds now for me. It just seems like remember how sometimes no matter what,

he just absorb everything and get a whistle. Yeah. Now it's kind of a little loose right now. Before we move on, on to the next topic. Just want to remind people, Real Kippram Born are playing in the Eric Lindross

Celebrity Classic in support of Easter Seals, Ontario. Nick and Justin, along with other sports net personalities. It is very funny that your other sports net personalities. Listen, I am. You're looking at one.

We'll be taking the ice to raise money for this great cause. You can support our team fundraising by scanning the QR code on your screen right now. So scan that, support our team, raise lots of money for a fantastic cause.

And you'll hear stories the following Monday about my absolute. And my blown Achilles. How fast. No, no, don't say that. What level of effort are we talking about here? What's the pace of this? Emailing it in. I'm telling you right now.

No, listen, I'm... I won't allow that. I'm ready to go to war for you here. You're in great shape, brother. Look at you. I know. I know. I'm ready for the post whistle scrums with Kip.

I'm in there. I'm in there. Don't worry. Anyway, so yeah, scan that QR code that's on your screen right now. and donate to our team. Fantastic cause. Easter Steels, Ontario. Yeah, let's go.

And if you want to text 595.90, you can suggest names for our line. I had someone throw a couple of anything you'd like to name our line. We'd like to hear that. I have no idea. I'm trying to take, I'm trying to take part of the initials of our. Can I just add one more plug here for our Leaf alumni? Yes. I am playing in this game, November 28th at Scotia Bank Arena.

The Shoresy classic. Oh, I got to go. I'm coming to watch. So, Shorzie and Terry Ryan Hitch, I think. Yeah. Right. Oh, yeah. Awesome.

So, Letterkenny.tv for tickets. Apparently it's getting close to a sellout or something. I mean, these guys are pretty popular. I got to tell you, I'm really excited that there's not going to be an audience for our games. Oh, there'll be an audience. There's people there. Yeah, for sure. What else did I put in here?

Did you guys want to talk about the turnover from Riley? Yeah, no, I do. You want to hear what Brubay had to say about it? Let's go clip four, please. I get what Morgan's thinking. His deep partner will jump a little bit. That's an easy play, but he didn't, so got turned over, and then it's in our net. Like, I mean, overall, you can say, well, Morgan can turn it over, but, you know, as the partner probably should read that,

and be available. It's an execution play, right? We didn't execute on it, and they capitalized on it. So, you know. That's actually the most I've ever heard Ruby get a guy's back and try to pick him up publicly.

Listen, he wants to protect Morgan. Morgan's, we think Morgan's made some strides, right, for getting more engaged in the offense. Sorry, I'm still just laughing at Phil Myers, be like, what? He's like, he fired a hand grenade across the ice without looking at strides. This really comes. back to just managing the clock and playing safe and just...

But they're telling them they don't want them to place. Can you've got to be 90-10 that you're going to get a D-to-D pass. You know, this is late in the third period here. But you're trying to protect the lead. He's your highest paid guy. He's supposed to be a leader. You can't have to make a plan. I just think that the most important thing,

is to know what you're supposed to do, right? What is your role? We talked about how it's hard for domi at times. You need to know predictability is something important. What are you asking Morgan Riley to be if he can't make a D-D-D pass? You know, it's like... Safe. I'm asking him to be safe.

But you also are asking him to score 60 points because you don't get any other offense from the back end. So be up in the play, but also don't be up in the play. I just want you to be good and reliable. That's what I'm asking you to do. Be good. It's a tough... You can't sacrifice.

Because you're asked to put 60 points up on the board doesn't mean that you get to have some wiggle room on dangerous passes. Yeah, it looked bad. It's tough. Yeah, I know. I know what you're trying to say. I'm torn on. Should Myers go up? Should he fall back?

Should Riley? I mean, they got a guy behind them. What happens if he's lost an edge? What happens if something happens and he doesn't do it? Then you're just going to still. say on, hey, I know you lost an edge, but you still should have been there. Like, it doesn't, whatever the case is,

a brain cramp, a lost edge. If you're not there, you're not there. Yeah. We should go. Let's do game time. Okay. It's game time presented by Bet365. Visit the app for the latest dollars

and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365. It's 19 plus Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Like Magic Johnson said, game five tonight, very important. Very important game for both of these teams. Um, nervous. Gotta be honest with you, boys.

Woke up nervous today after that win. I was excited. Woke up very nervous today. The Js who have been pretty significant underdogs in every game so far, as I quickly pull it up here, that trend continues. Tonight with Blake Snell on the mound, the L.A. Dodgers are minus 205 favorites going up against the Toronto Blue Jays who are plus 170 on the money line. They have Trey Y's Savage who every day, I'm like,

God, it's a lot to ask, it's a lot to ask. And again, tonight, it is a lot to ask from the kid. He's been seemingly up to the moment, so we'll see. What do you think the Jay's odds of winning this game are? Like, it's close to 50-50. You know, if you think there are a 45% chance, then that line of plus 170 is very advantageous. And if you want to get in on the Jays right now to win the whole thing,

which is the best two to three now with two games at Roger Center starting Friday for game six and potentially a game seven, the Js are plus 150 in the series. 150? Plus 150 in the series. Dodgers are minus 180, which isn't an awful number if you're considering a happiness hedge, which I will not be doing,

but the Toronto Blue Jays plus 150 for the rest of this series. I think the odds are better than that, man. I do too. What I'm saying is I think that's, if you wanted to bet, I mean, we did Jays in our first hour if you want to hear our Js takes again.

You can go back to our first. But if they can win that game last night, they can win any game. And I'm really done. Heart of a champion. Heart of a champion, man. To win that game is unbelievable. I just don't see him denied.

Like, they've just got this. It doesn't matter how 18, 18 innings. It's crazy when they've done it as a team, and they've hardly been healthy. Like, I don't think they'll have Springer tonight. I bet you Springer's there for game six. I would say that. Bo can't run.

This team is grit. It's gritty. It's a gritty group, and I love them dearly. Mark Massier, he is, anytime you went past first overtime. it's like boys I don't care if we have to be here all night we ain't losing and it was like

almost like okay that's all settling that like those words were just like kind of it calmed the whole room down because it's like okay you don't have to go out there and think you're going to be a hero on the very next shift it doesn't matter

it's just like okay first shift third shift 100th shift thousand it doesn't matter same same effort and that was the exact exact same thing you got out of now the Blue Jays. They don't care, 18, 20, 12, 9. That's what makes their offense so good

is that they'll be patient, they'll work counts, they'll get starters out. Or if Tyler Glasno hangs a first pitch curveball, Alejandro Kirk's going to smash it over the fence. So anyways, that was game time, presented by Bet365, visit the app for latest odds and see why it's never ordinary at Bet365 Miss 19 plus Ontario only.

Please play responsibly. Okay, let's take a quick break. When we return, the president of the hockey operations general manager for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Don Waddell, who was kind enough to send us this beautiful jersey behind our very own Justin Bourne. Did he find out about the story of Sammy almost losing it? Boy, I hope not. We're about to find out after these commercial breaks. Dive deep into Toronto Sports and the NFL, the J.D. Bunk is podcast.

Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify. or wherever you get your podcasts. Nickyprio's Justin Bourne, Sammy McKee and our Canon jersey. You know, we're a Leaf Edition show. I mean, we should. All about the Cannon, baby. We haven't had the Leafs Jersey up in three weeks.

Are we cheating on the Leafs here by having a Columbus Jersey? No, you know why? Because we love when Don joins us. John, Don always gives us the goods. No, no, we love when anybody sends us a free jersey. Well, you can even eliminate Jersey from that. We just like free stuff. I think that's true.

But it is a good-looking, good-looking jersey. Well, you can tell the man himself. Yes, we are going to tell the man himself as he joins us. Don Waddell, president of hockey operations, general manager of the Columbus Blue Jacks, now joins us. Don, we're a leaf edition, our show. but we've got the Canon jersey right behind our Justin Bourne, and it looks good.

I'm glad you're able to put it to good use, at least when I'm on the show. Did you happen to hear the story of the jersey when you sent it, how our very own Sammy McKee lost it? Did that ever get back to you? Yeah, well, I actually heard your show where he left him to the taxi. I have to admit, I do pay attention a little bit. bit to you guys, you know.

So I did hear the whole story that they had the board is that afternoon. That is awesome stuff. Well, we certainly appreciate it. And in the meantime, let's talk about your team a little bit that came so close to a playoff spot last season, only to be disappointed at the end. But, you know, the thought of picking up where you left off and expectations and what have you seen so far out of your start that sits at 5.4. and one.

Yeah, well, going back to last year, you know, the two days after we had fallen short of our goal, you know, these players were decimated. You know, a lot of people, you know, were congratulating us on getting through the year and having a successful year, but we didn't look at it that way, and our players certainly didn't. So, you know, that's why I said. I didn't think we need to make a lot of changes. Few areas we wanted to address.

And when the players came back this year, it's just a completely different vibe in the locker room. These guys are proud athletes. We have great leadership, good young players. And they know it came a little short last year and they don't want to happen again. Well, it's, you know, you guys have had a tough start to the year in terms of schedule. You've played a lot of challenging opponents and you find yourself above 500. Part of that is probably due to goaltending.

I think at five on five, you guys have the second best save percentage in the league as a team. What do you make of your team's improved goaltending this year? Well, I think, you know, having two guys. that you could be one starters, you know, there's great competition, friendly competition, but great competition, and we've been able just to rotate them every other game. And I think

with the schedule, like he said, being difficult and with all the travel, you know, this is a two-goly league. You know, the days of somebody playing 60, 65 games, I think, are pretty much behind us. Maybe a few guys still do it. But so I think our goal tenets has been outstanding. It's given

us a chance every night to win. And that's all we can ask for. And, you know, some nights are going to be really good and steal us some games. And other night's going to have to score more goals for him. You know, there seems to just be, at least for the first 10 games, that there is a clump of teams

that just are right there in the middle. And you hope at some point there's a separation, no different than you looking at your hockey club. But, you know, does it feel different to you as a general manager or is this probably the trend that we've seen the last little while? and what ultimately will separate the Columbus blue jackets from that mushy middle? Yeah, I think what we're seeing is something we're going to probably see for a while

because, you know, let's face it, the parody in the league, you know, if you go back to look at what happened this summer, it's probably the fewest transactions ever made in the summertime because years past there's always been some teams in some cap trouble and trying to move some contracts. And it wasn't the case this year with the cap going up. So, you know, I think what you're seeing is what we're going to be the norm going forward saying that, you know, for us, you know, we feel like we've played pretty good hockey

this year. You know, you could have had another winner or two here and be sitting a couple games over 500, but, you know, we need to make sure that we show up every night. When we play hard, Dean's got him playing hard, and when we play hard and play the game that we're capable playing, I think we're a pretty good hockey team and continue to get the goal tending that we've gotten. And the other thing is, too, we still have some guys that haven't really produced a whole lot offensively, and we know that's going to come. You know, it's just a matter of time. Yeah, Sean Monaghan, one of those guys,

I think he's got 24 shots on goal this year, and it hasn't gone on the net for him. It certainly should at some point. When people maybe don't watch as much Columbus Blue Jackets hockey as they should, who do you think that they don't know about that there may be missing out on someone that you guys, you know, that does a great job? Well, Marchenko is unbelievable.

You know, he carried us the first four or five games sort of, He was on fire there. He's one of those guys that can make a difference every time it's on the ice. And then the big other Russian Varankov has been really good for us. I think he's got five or six goals right now. It's a big body. He stands in front of that and he's hard to move. But, you know, the way I look at it, we're a complete team.

You know, last night we're in Buffalo and we won in overtime. We had a power play goal. And our fourth line scored at our three other goals. Miles Wood had two and Chinikoff had one. So you're going to need, you know, in this league, playing back-to-back games and as many games and it's been a few days, you're going to need all four lines to be able to contribute. And right now we're getting that. You're watching and listening to Don Waddell, President of Hockey Operations, General Manager, the Columbus Blue Jackets. Don, we've, we saw some real changes, obviously, with the new CBA, particularly on the ability or inability to trade for players, especially if you load.

up in the playoffs and how it counts against your salary cap. How is this affected general managers in general, first and foremost, and then more specifically to you when it comes to wants and needs to take your team to the next level? Right. And I don't know if it will have as big effect as some people thought when it first came out. There's very few teams that are right up against the cap right now.

And we talk about Columbus, you know, we have lots of cap space. So if we need to make a deal and, you know, the percentage of the contract is X, you know, we're going to be able to fit it into our salary cap. So I think a lot of teams are in that same boat. So, you know, it may not have the biggest effect right now with the cap continue to, you know, go up like it's going up. So, you know, this will be, this is like a test year for a lot of things for all of us. And, you know, we'll see how we'll be talking about this in April,

on the season ends, how it all worked out. So does that mean the Chinikov for Nick Robertson deal is dead that Elliot Friedman keeps telling us about? I have no idea what you're talking about. You know, we got a player that we really like. We had a tough time done to stretch last year. We've got a healthy scratch a few times and just felt that, you know, maybe a change would be necessary. And like I've told him and his age, and, you know, it's not the first time in my career that somebody's asked for trade. probably came more public quicker than some of them have.

But, you know, like I said, you know, we don't need to win a trade, but I need to fill a position here because, you know, right now we're healthy in our top nine, but as soon as you lose a guy, you know, we know Chinikov can jump up there and play in that group. So, you know, we're being patient, and right now he's playing, scored another big goal for us last night.

So, you know, we'll just see how it all rolls out here in the next little bit. You know, one thing here, we have you on in our Leafs Hour, and I don't know if you know this, but last year, Werensky outscored the Leafs DECOR. He, what's it like having a guy like that? He had 23 goals of the Leafs Decor, which had 21. First, I didn't know that step, but I will say about Werenzki last year and the way he's coming on right now is, you know,

the first three months of the season, we would not have even been given any hope if Zach didn't have the start he had. He took his team right on his back. And you can see it last night, he made a great. play in overtime the score of the overtime goal you know he's elite player great skater a big time competitor and he wants to be the best and when you have somebody like that that plays 27 28 minutes a night and leads that back end you know you feel pretty good about your hockey club yeah i mean and he's such an important piece of it so the one thing with

your season so far i would say that you guys are probably looking to improve on i believe your combined power play and penalty kill percentages are suspect uh near the bottom what's uh you know what are the next steps to get that back to where you want them you're being kind suspect yeah last week we're ready around 8% around the power play 50% penalty kill so we've improved a little bit from last week but uh you know it it gets frustrated you know power play sometimes it's a bounce here and there penalty kill is a whole different story you know we work at it every day you know dean emphasizes it we talk about it it. We've changed a little bit up there,

changing the personnel on it. Our penalty killing probably has cost us all our losses. We give up three one night short-handed when we were killing. So it's something that we were very much aware of. We know this is a special team league.

There's lots of power clubs every night, and you've got to be able to score, but you also got to, more importantly, be able to defend, and we need to get there. As far as some special young players in the league, watching it yet again in San Jose, you know, with Celebrini, Will Smith, and you got a guy in Fantilli and Kent Johnson as well. And we saw Fantilli have a big night against the

Leafs last season and just, you know, his start, his overall growth. What can we expect out of Adam tonight? Well, I think, you know, he's going to be excited at playing at Leaves, obviously, hometown kid. But, you know, with all these young players and, you know, Adam, Adam's had a little struggle this year. He started squeezing a stick a little bit. You know, these young players, you know, it's all about points right now for them. That's how they're going to get their big contracts. And we've talked to Adam and talked to his reference limitation multiple times about this.

You know, the way you're going to get more points is earn more ice time. If you're playing both ends of the ice, coach bleeds in it, you're going to get more ice time, which is going to lead to offensive opportunities. So I know Adam's excited about playing at least. He always did. So I expect him to be ready to go. And, you know, we need him to have a big. night for us.

Don, we always appreciate your time on the show and we'll prove that by keeping your jersey up there for a little longer. Great, great catching up with you and all the best of luck to you moving forward. Thanks. Great, always a pleasure to be with you guys. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for time. We appreciate it.

Don Rodel. Interesting comment on Fantilli for me, listening to him. And, you know, this may fall. on the Logan Cooley contract is that I mean I can only just talk to you about my experiences when I broke into the league and it's like just make the team man even the first rounders just making the team was a big deal getting your a jersey getting a locker getting a number that doesn't look like a football jersey number those were big Deals. Not number 50. And now, you know, listening to Don, these guys want their points. They want their points because they want their $80 million contract in year one or two

or three, which that they can earn. And it's like, whoa, man, that's just a different world right now. And he's sitting there going, hey, Fantelli, you want your points. You better earn your ice time first. Don't think about points. Go back and think about, you know. earning it or staying in the lineup and just crawl before you walk, walk before you run here. You guys know I'm doing that Daryl Sutterbook.

I spend a lot of time with Daryl talking about this and how there's this progression for young players today. And it is make the team and then it's get your money and then it's help the team win. And as a coach, you need to fix that, right? Like you need to be like, yeah, make the team help us win. If you win, rising tide raises all boats, you'll get your money, you know, you'll show your value. you all that but it is easy for player you know for a young guy to see another young guy and go oh points equals money because to some extent it's true but you need to get them to think about the hockey club and we are we are in the leaf edition hour so let's just tie that right back

to maybe where the issues kind of started for the Leafs is you had Austin you had Mitch you had Willie and what did they do yeah they numbers yeah I don't I need the numbers. I need the numbers. I get the contract. I get the term. I get this. And it's like that that's your Daryl Sutter example right there.

Yeah, totally. And it totally is. And you can see how hard it would be to convince guys. There's really, you know, you want to win a Stanley Cup. But a lot of these guys, be nice to put $20 million in the bank and then worry about, you know, the cherry on top. I think the point is that it's not supposed to be the cherry on top. I do love Fantelli, though. He scored 31 times last year.

So, in our chat room, we're going to... Chat room? Yeah. Our group, our group chat. What's up? Chat room. I don't know. What do you call it?

I don't even know what to call you. We were doing ICQ here. Just to take this, just to take this subject or conversation towards baseball. Oh, yeah. Who sent the clip of Bichette? I mean, the quote? I think it was from, I think it's from Ken Rosenzal's piece. I sent it in there.

Would you like to read it? Yeah, I do, because it falls into what we're talking about. So this is it. This is an excerpt. This is an excerpt from Ken Rosenthal's piece. Bichette is adamant about contributing, even though he is less than 100%. Even as he prepares to become a free agent for the first time, he figures that if he suffers a setback, the worst case scenario is that he will accept

a short-term deal, then rebuild his value next season at age 28. But to win a World Series, he said, I'll risk it all. Dump cold water on Kip Here, dump your water on Kip I love that How could you not? Buddy, I told you Baseball

is turning into the hockey And the hockey's turning into the baseball God, I think he's right I mean the Js literally have a hockey player on their team Ernie Clement laid it up in high school That goes I want to win

I want a championship, I want to be known As a world I'll rebuild my value down the road Just give me a chance to win. Just give me a chance. That just brings tears to my eyes. He ripped one off the fence the other day and had to somersault the first thing for a single.

It's like I can't put any weight on this. That's pretty cool. Not to do. I mean, we got two minutes. We're doing full baseball now because we got two minutes left in show. His bat's coming around. Yeah. I said it also in the, what do you say?

In the chat room before the at bat. I said, Bo's going to run into one here. He's going to sign him. Yeah. James are signing him. I agree. Not a chance. If he'll stay, yes.

Okay. I think he likes it. You know what? This year should have convinced him. You can win here. This is not me sucking up to the boss. Okay. But through all of this, it's been really, really quiet on Edward Rogers.

But this guy is going down right now as a guy that paid to win. Oh? Anything, any, Vladdy, trades, sorry, Ed, Ed Rogers.

Shurzer, 15 million, no problem. Vladdy got him done. Boy, that contract came around. Ain't that Scherzer deal? He will sign Bo because I think,

you know, say what you will, whether he's a sports guy or he knows or not, Bo's a talent. You don't get rid of talent. And when you go to the, special talent.

When you go to the Rogers Center and boy, have I been there a lot at this playoffs. he's someone to watch there is it's laddie it's bow it's springer those are the three most jersey you see people beloved that he is beloved in this and this is a team that can run it now for the next five years how old is kirk you could tell me 17 or 48 and they just signed him to a five-year contract like great value bill 13 million yeah they got great value and they bought low on him coming off a bad year and he had an unbelievable year it could be the world series MVP he's been

unbelievable oh my god that's awesome Woo! Back at it. Are we auditioning for a baseball show, too? You know, we could be overdrive. We could go ahead and become a multi-sport show. No, no, no, no. You want to go more time? They don't get summers off.

They don't. They complain to me all the time. That's a good point. We don't want to become a multi-sport show. How can we be more like you? Yeah, be more. I told them, first of all, make your show to four to six. And you can compete against us.

How much money do you think Ernie Clement makes? Oh, God. I want to say it's like, I want to say one point two. 1.9. Oh, okay. He's been worth that per game. He's under team control. Is he a USA?

No. His contract makes him a free agent in 2029, under team control for three more seasons. Oh, poor guy. I hope he gets paid. Catch your breath, everybody. I hope he gets paid. We got a lot of sports coming up your way. Go Jays, baby.

Go Jays. Leifes and Columbus. We got another, I said five. 252 yesterday and I got 4362. Not bad. And first pitch 805. You got it, bud. 5252. Our thanks to Jason Gregor in our first

hour and Don Waddell. Give me a score. 5252. 5252. Works for me. 43J's. Enjoy your night, everybody. We're back. Talk all about it again tomorrow on the Real Kipper and Born Show.