Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Considering Corey Perry

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with Corey Perry’s rumoured links to the Leafs, and the guys debate his fit in Toronto both on and off the ice. Then, looking ahead to the Leafs' game tonight against the plateauing Islanders. Later, a conversation about the ongoing goaltender situation and if Matt Murray could re-enter the fold as he makes progress on his rehab. They welcome in former Leafs GM Gord Stellick (30:31), who shares his thoughts on whether Toronto should consider signing Corey Perry, if the NHL would ever expand to a second team in Toronto and Martin Jones' heroics.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.

come on in the real kipper and born show live sports at 590 sports at 360 and sports that plus from four to six eastern this is the maple leaf edition of our show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick Brandeo, Jen Rolnick. Plenty to get into, including the Toronto Maple Leafs on Long Island tonight. Looking towards making it five in a row. We'll see if they back off Captain John Tavares tonight. Probably not JB, but in the meantime. Is it weird that they're playing twice there?

They usually play twice there in a season? Like an out of competition? Well, you play three times, so I think you kind of take turns getting two games away or two games at home weird yeah in the meantime yes we got into a little cory perry discussion yesterday i told you guys all along he's coming back and then i you guys mentioned the Leafs yesterday, and I said probably not based on a lot of factors, which we're going to revisit right now. Oh, great. But I also said yesterday, don't be surprised to hear about the Leafs floating something out there

that would link them. I think that may have happened yesterday because it seems to be a very hot conversation today amongst many. Yes. In Leaf Nation on Corey Perry. Do you see a fit? Do you want him here? Do you not want to have him here?

Sammy, you've been licking your chops for the last 24 hours you know much like the last cory perry situation i have received a unbelievable amount of texts and questions about this people really find cory perry talk interest i was in two hockey dressing rooms within the last 12 hours. Don't ask me why I was in there. Self-as-mental playing that much hockey? You're trying to make the pros. That's what you're doing.

I just love it. I love playing. Great game. Dominated the conversation in both of those dressing rooms last night, this morning. It's a huge thing. And everyone's, I text, group chats, everyone. I didn't expect it to be this hot, but it's immediately this hot.

Obviously, Carlo on the other station saying that there's mutual interest this morning. Like, this seems like it's really popping up here. Very interesting. Very interesting. I always linked it to the comparison of Evander Kane, where you come in with some baggage, and let's make no bones about it here. Baggage. Baggage.

Chicago Blackhawk baggage here. And where do you think the majority of the public is on that in the hockey world, let alone Leaf Nation here? Sammy, did you not float out? You were so excited about the talk about Corey Perry that you actually... Did prep. No, but you also put something on your ex-formerly Twitter account.

Well, I was just... You did a poll. I was genuinely interested to see how people are feeling about this because I think it's a pretty polarizing situation, and it's not nearly as polarizing as I thought it was. Let's hear the results. I said, with uncertainty and questions about what led to Corey Perry being cut by Chicago, would you be comfortable with the Leafs signing him?

Pretty simple, cut and dry, not leaning one way or the other. And 73% of over 2,000 people voted yes yeah that they're comfortable and this is the the poll the Leafs are looking for this is going to be in trees are they like Sammy every every reply 50 replies yes can I vote twice yes are they all like Sammy where it's like I don't care what he did uh just he's gonna help us win win. It's over words and Sammy's out. Listen, I do care what he did, but when you're looking at the Toronto Maple Leafs here, there is a

very clear fit for Corey Perry. Great observation. That's what I mean. There's been mutual interest, and you don't know what bringing him in here and what it does to your chemistry and all that stuff, but for a team that has had these playoff failures many of them to the man himself yeah cory perry there's going to be a fan

base that when he is available we get the guy who loses in the cup final all the time we get that guy buddy i'm joking i just i think that's what's got people all fired up here. I would say there's a bit of a misunderstanding that seems to be driving some of this just like blanket acceptance of Corey Perry coming to everyone's favorite team. And people seem to think that what Corey Perry did went to Commissioner Bettman, who reviewed what happened, said it's not that bad, it's okay, he's eligible to play, and everyone's saying we want Corey Perry. When, as I understand it, Kip,

and you can better correct me on this, no one's really sure what happened, the details of this case, exactly. Bettman doesn't know enough to say he can't play. So he can play until he knows enough. This has basically been the way it's been for years maybe even since the league started that and yes sammy you care what he did but we'll never know what he did that thing is somewhere in a vault. And whether it's Corey Perry or anything else that's been questionable over the years,

there's been a policy in the National Hockey League where the fans are just on a need-to-know basis. And right now, you all don't need to know. And so what's left to us to base anything on? If we just will never know the answers. Listen, people still got questions on Joel Quenville. Like, he's out of the league. We're under the impression that he can't come back. Nobody knows why well i mean they

know no what tell me tell me you i mean what i mean they know why they know the situation who knows why well not us but we kind of know kippy like we kind of know why i don't need to lay it out do i have to lay it out the blackhawk situation of 10 years ago like there's a pretty clear reason why you know the big picture sammy you don't know anything about joel quenville and why he's out now well and we don't know why any more than we know what what happened to cory perry and why they found cause on him for sure and i'm just saying that like if cory perry comes to a market like this where there's gonna be a lot of questions like you've laid out yesterday is it gonna be more people sniffing around trying to find out what happened is it gonna be more people that are like oh well

we gotta get like is there a way he signs here and then it comes out and then everybody looks horrible like is that in the cards that's kind of the thing if an organization in the nhl deemed what he did bad enough that you can't handle the truth not have the good player on their team but you know then why would it be different for your organization are you saying what he did doesn't matter then like is it that happened to some other people we don't care about that like if they said it was bad enough that they don't want him around why do we want him around like maybe and if the Leafs or any other club says we don't think it was remotely as bad as people thought yeah you just take them for their word yeah I mean to your point that we're not going

to know exactly I feel like we will will we your point that we're not going to know exactly, I feel like we will. Will we not? I don't know. Will there not have to be some sort of, like is there going to be a legal case involved? I don't know. No.

So this is where probably it's still open-ended on whether or not Corey Perry will go back to Chicago and grieve their decision on terminating his contract. It's still, sorry, undecided is what you just said? Undecided. Okay, yeah. He had 60 days to decide whether or not he wanted to put a formal grievance together through the Players Association. And that has not happened as of yet.

Yeah. But if Corey Perry does want to come back to play, I would assume that grieving it can only help him. Like without the optics of it. The optics. Well, if he grieves it, do they then have to make public no more of it no it would still say it would stay internal certainly it would stay internal and it would all you would be uh privileged to is the result and what would gary betman have to know about this cory perry great question case right now like what level of knowledge would he have about it or would he have to be

informed on it to say that yeah he can still play like i he hasn't legally been charged with anything so how can i tell him he can't play in the league you know do they have to does he have to know anything he may not know anything either. He just says, I don't know enough to say. He knows everything. He knows everything. He knows everything. And he said.

He's spoken to Chicago. Okay. He's spoken to Corey Perry. Okay. He's spoken to everybody, at least my understanding is, he's done his own investigation on it. So then, you know, maybe I need to walk back what I said earlier in the show, that he has looked at this and he has said that it doesn't rise to the level

where he can't play in the league. In which case, I start going back to Sammy's side and saying, okay, if they've taken their time and they have the facts and the commissioner says it's okay, you know, or you have flawed people all over the league. There's also a thought that he may still not like what he found, but is it enough to set a precedent to is it enough to keep a man away from his right to a livelihood meaning you want to tell him that he can't play anymore in the league

and he hasn't been charged with anything he hasn't shown anybody that he's broken the law. So am I not setting myself up for the potential of a lawsuit? I mean, those are the things that they got to think about. The union would probably be very upset. Yes. So my understanding as of today is the NHLPA will grieve this. Yeah. And they don't need, again, my understanding is, they won't need Corey Perry to say yes or no. Oh, really?

The union itself can say, we don't like what's happening here. Yeah, when you think about it from a union perspective, from a players association perspective. We do not agree. No, I think we agree. The union doesn't. We do.

The union doesn't. Okay. perspective we do not agree no i think we agree we do the union does okay uh that this is probably less about cory perry and more about 750 members on if chicago thinks that they can just form a judgment on where that line has been crossed on code of conduct then man there's there's a lot of other teams that would like to look at two or three of their contracts and go man i'd love to get out of that one yeah yeah heard about a night you had uh you know whatever that's why the pa the PA has to grieve it and I think they will and if it is favorable to Corey Perry then it kind of helps but the optics of Chicago overreacted how about that sure I would agree but if it doesn't go his way you know does that hurt things i don't know you know it's

um if if you were a general manager that's like wanting to sign cory perry you could also i guess convince yourself that you're like well chicago obviously had these issues in the past where it was a fairly high profile scandal and they have to be uber sensitive with any sort of situation like this and maybe that's the reason that they let him, like there's all sorts of mental gymnastics that you would pull yourself through to try to convince yourself. Yeah. They're trying to lose a sock. Like there's all these different things,

but yeah, I, I gotta say, I was surprised at how overwhelmingly, you know, and it's like, I'm not like, I'm not on right wing Twitter here.

Like a pretty normal following of people that like the Leafs and are normal people, and everyone is saying yes. Yeah, you know, because I think... Which I'm surprised by. No, I just think it's people assessing, like, you know, there's a hockey player who fits a need that the Leafs have, and I get that.

You know, it's... I do think it's a valuable question of is the juice worth the squeeze? You know, like, Corey Perry's a big name. There's a lot of attention that comes with him. He's probably a fourth-line level player right now. He's not going to play first power play unit like he was in Chicago. His contribution is going to be of some value.

What about him at Reeves? Is it enough to justify what it's going to bring to the team, the organization, the attention? That's a fair question. The point that I really made yesterday is that this market's a beast. For you and your

1,000, 2,000 voters, they're probably kind of like you, right? Really lovely people, good golfers. They follow you, they love you. Like-minded. It's like, yeah, let them play.

I don't see anything wrong, which is fine. But this market, as we know it, how many people won't let it go and move on in this market? How many people that don't necessarily cover hockey, but cover human interest stories yeah that's the nightmare when you're a hockey player when like the yeah you don't want to see television there and you're like oh come on the crime reporter from city news 680 shows up like practice that's not what you are cory perry robin do and there's also no you know It's just not Corey. He's got a wife. He's got a family.

Yeah, of course. In this market, are they prepared to, I don't know, think that they can just come in and weather the storm for a few days and then everybody's going to leave you alone, or is it not? And that's a tough question to ask, really tough question to ask. I would say it's a substantial risk for the Leafs to take. The only thing is if he signs, he's probably going to sign for minimum or close to, right?

And if it doesn't work out, you could bury a guy in the minors. Yeah, you can. But I hope that's not the case, right? Yeah. And I know we set up a comparable to maybe the baggage that evander came brought edmonton and that seemed to overall work out right well shoot a lot of pucks in the net and people yeah yes it did seem to work out to answer your question but that's kates' one owner. Just, yeah, go for it. Here.

Yeah, getting an approval here involves a few more conversations. Bell, Rogers, big corporations, big picture, ownership. Think a lot bigger than wins and losses. A few more cooks in the kitchen. Yeah. So not an easy decision for the Toronto Maple Leafs on Corey Perry is basically the gist of this conversation. Would love to hear from people and get their opinion beyond Sam's poll. If you want to text 59590 or are they?

Yeah. They're texting. Whatever. Tweet. I mean, do you think there's interest? Listen, they're not doing their jobs if there's no interest how's that for an answer correct correct okay

yeah good enough hockey game tonight or you want to keep talking about Corey Perry no I'm good just one more is he still the player he was two or three years ago that we saw in Tampa Bay and that can piss people off and score a big goal?

He's how old now? 38, if I'm not mistaken. I don't know. Is he still got the Zeus? It's just who, like a bad version of Corey Perry, is just like kind of better than what the Leafs have had on the fourth line for years in the playoffs. Someone who can, you know, be annoying, play in traffic, shoot one in the net if it comes to his stick.

Corey Perry signing buries Ryan Reeves, right? He's gone. Buries him. You know, Reeves has had a tough go. He's ready to play, by the way. Is he not? He's skating. He's functioning.

He's Wayne Simmons of last year. Like, he's able to be a part of it. He's just around the team. Is he playing? Is he not playing? Is he not to the point where maybe go play some games with the Marlies and stay sharp? Is that where we're at?

I wonder if, well. He's got two more years left on his deal. I know. That makes things more challenging. He had nine points in 16 games to start this year, Corey Perry. Yeah. I think I watched him. Do you have the TOI there?

Yeah, but he did it as a number one guy. Yeah. He was important. But, I mean, I think that would probably... If he can give nine points over playoffs, that'd be awesome. Yeah, and I saw him shoot one in the net and blow a kiss to the crowd in Toronto

when we went to the alumni box, so... You know, I think there's still some... Anyways. McMahon looks pretty good it's gonna really suck when he signs with Florida boys it's really gonna suck and he's gonna be great and everyone's gonna be like oh he's washed up

he's no good and he's gonna go play for Carolina or Florida score a big goal in the playoffs it's gonna happen this is the fan coming out though this is not the rational yeah but guess what guess why I'm here buddy I'm a, buddy. I'm a fan.

I know. And I hate Corey Perry's guts, and I've hated Corey Perry's guts. You're speaking out of fear. No, I'm speaking out of watching it happen year after year. Montreal. This is uncomfortable. Tampa. Yeah. Ask Oilers fans what they think about Corey Perry.

The Ducks, like. He's done it to a lot of teams i just it's gonna suck it's gonna suck when he signs somewhere else and is a good contributor in the playoffs and the leafs didn't do it because of reasons that it might be worse to have him here and have him score three goals then find out he did something horrific and you were the team that was okay with it because he could shoot a couple in the net yeah for sure that sucks too yeah but i mean like is going to happen if he goes to Florida? I mean, just as well. Because someone's going to sign him.

Someone is going to sign him. Oh, yeah. Someone's definitely going to sign him. So, anyways. I despise that dude. I do. And I've hated him for too long and I'm ready to like him. I'm ready to go to the dark side.

I'm ready to like him. I know. All right. This almost feels like we've had this conversation before, but like, well, JT in the island, what do we expect? Let's go to Sheldon King because I'm tired of this one, but we'll hear from the head coach. You don't have to. No, go for it.

I don't think there's anything additional to it in terms of fuel or anything, but it creates an environment environment you know which you come in here for a midweek game and uh you know sometimes in the league those midweek games can be a little um a little quiet and and uh different and it brings a little more to it for sure so you go it makes the game a little bit more important. At this point, you got to, I mean, JT can't be bothered by this point. He knows what to expect.

He just scored his thousandth point in a last-minute goal on Long Island. Like, he had a moment there. That may fuel the fire then. Yeah, maybe it will. But, like, to me, this is not like, what are they going to do to him? You know? I don't think this has any bearing on the game anymore. Yeah.

No? But I would like to hear sheldon talk with the islanders islanders have just lost a couple in a row um i i kind of like the islanders more than i thought i would going into this season i think they're pretty uh there's some talent on that team let's check out what keith says about the islanders aggressive team offensively they're going to come to the net hard puck's going to go to the net. You know, great goaltending, and they play well in transition. And they also kind of, you know, they almost bait you into some of those plays where you want to put the puck to the middle of the ice, and they turn on it really quickly.

They defend the middle of the ice really well. So, you know, when you're playing here, it's a tough environment, tough game, all those kind of things. I think the biggest thing for us is just it's going to be a different type of game than we've played here of, like, different type of opponent, different type of challenge. You know, and we've talked about that. I believe we're prepared for that.

It might take us a little bit to recalibrate a little bit. But those are the things that we're focused on today. They haven't won back-to-back games since like two weeks into December. The Islanders. Yeah. But they just kind of skim along. They win, they lose, they win, they lose. I mean, they're in that dogfight. I think they're in the last wildcard spot,

and there's four teams within a point of them. Like, they're in the fight. Keefe said pucks to the net. Was he talking about his team getting pucks to the net? Because against the Islanders, they're one of the worst teams in the league, are they not? Yeah, here's the bottom teams in shots against per game. Chicago's pretty terrible.

Anaheim's worse. Montreal's worse. Columbus. Then the Islanders. Then San Jose. Wow. So they're 31st in goal and shots against per game. So tons of pucks go to the net against them as well.

But I don't necessarily understand that. Like, you know, they've been without Pelich and Pulak for a lot of the season. Pulak is still out. But Pelich is back now. And he is a huge part of their team. Yeah, he's really good. He was like a guy that was like on the cusp of Team Canada

when we were making rosters, whatever it was, a year or two ago. But, you know, Romanov's pretty good. Dobson's pretty good. Mayfield's pretty good. So I don't understand

why their D is as bad as it is. If I'm being dead honest, I don't think they're, they don't look all that well coached. I'm not saying Lane Lambert isn't a good coach. I'm just saying they don't look structured. For years with trots there and whatever, they were so tight. They're not as tight as they've been in the past.

So now they score their way out of trouble and give the puck to Pierre Engvall. And get a lot of saves. Yes. Barlamov and Sorokin have been very good this year. All right. We'll have a quick conversation on the goaltending, but we can't until we hear from Sheldon Keefe on Samsonov.

Yeah, sure. I'm sure it gives him a boost, you know. So, yeah, that's it. He's putting the work, like I said yesterday, and then you give him a boost to come back here. You know, it's a hill to be. We do want to get back and play in and all of that kind of stuff. But the other side of it is that he does get to reconnect

with the group. And as I said, we're going to Curtis Sanford too. Working with higher caliber shooters and all these types of things in our practices we think is important to help him get back on track. Didn't sound enthused, eh?

No, but you know what I take from that? Is that they're like, so Samsonov back with the guys. Like, this has to be good for his morale. And he was like, yeah, we needed Hildeby to get back playing. You know, like this is... They've lost faith in Sammy. Yeah. They want to be as...

It feels like every answer about him is as cold and calculated as he possibly can make it. I thought... Puck just kept one in his hand. Yesterday, or this guy over here, Kip, made a really good point about Sunday's game, that it's like more likely he'll be starts against Detroit than Samsonov, even though Samsonov's the guy that's here right now. I wrote an article, my article today for the Toronto Star.

It's a little follow-up on Neil Lander, but you guys didn't see my news and notes on Matt Murray today? You know what, Kip? I did not read it. What was your Matt? Let's have it live. Let's hear it live. Here we go.

We had an earlier conference. Oh, first of all, Brett Tree Living did make a comment like last week on Matt Murray. It was a couple weeks ago. Was it that long ago? Yeah, it was a while ago now. But he was talking about it like, he got it.

I don't know when that was. I don't know. All these weeks go together. But anyways, continue. He's going to play this year. In the National League. Oh, hold on. We have the clip.

Okay. Let's go revisit. I want to revisit it He's doing well It's a significant Excuse me, rehab But he's doing There's been no setbacks

He's attacked at full steam He's up to the stage now where I think Actually I shouldn't say this because I probably may be wrong but I think he's actually not goaltender skated but sort of did a public skate where he throws a sweatsuit on and kind of wanders around on the ice a little bit

so that's a good progression I mean he's still got he's got a ways to go but everything's been really really positive in terms of no setbacks or he's been on track and things are going well. Are you hopeful?

Yeah, I'm hearing it's more than a pleasure skate. He's been cutting laps at the Greenwood outdoor track. Yeah, no, he's – So he doesn't need the chair to move around or nothing? I think from the time he had surgery, they said four to six months. And right on the end of March, April april he barring any setback will be ready to play so that sounds like a significant problem for the toronto maple leafs and all and their salary cap no no no no this is all after the trade deadline this is i don't think

we have the correct understanding of the trade deadline like there's still a salary cap i don't get it every day i don't understand until the playoffs correct understanding of the trade deadline. Like, there's still a salary cap. I don't get it. Do we talk about it every day? I don't understand. Until the playoffs start, there's a salary cap that they have to adhere to. Listen, if they're thinking about a Matt Murray by then, that means Samsonov's back down with the Marlies. If they're thinking about, like, the Leafs would use Matt Murray in goal? I'm telling you, Matt Murray's going to play in the NHL next year again.

I thought you were going to say this year. Not this year? Yeah. He may get games at the end of the year with the Leafs. Oh, my. Yeah. I'm not ruling it out. Yeah.

Okay. Timestamp. He's going to play in the NHL again next year. And he's going to sign a contract. He could end up signing a contract for three, $4 million next year. What are you talking about? What?

Listen, that's insane. And it's not happening. It's not insane. It is not happening. What? No way. It's not insane. Yes, it is. No, it's not insane yes it is no it's not

we do not agree he's gonna sign a pto with carolina tell me how old he is 30 30 young yeah young and now if proven healthy this guy's gonna get a contract next year my son is young too no one signs you just because you're young he's been like an 860 save percentage guy hasn't he what's he done go look at the shortage of goaltenders and tell me he can't find work next year if he is proven healthy his chief kip's an agent see if kip's an agent look this up god he's 903 918 906 those are his his resume will get him work next year he was at 903 last year in 26 if he if he feels as good as he's telling people he's gonna play next year well and i'll tell you another thing money i tell people it's good. I'll tell you another thing. It could be the Leafs resigning him.

Oh. No, I'm telling you. No, it's not. No. You are incorrect. Listen, we're getting ahead of ourselves here. We do not agree. I'm telling you right now.

He's back in play. We do not agree. If he comes back and clears his physical by the end of March, he'll be very much back in play. I don't know where it means for the Leafs and where Joseph Wall is or Samsonov is, but this guy's, at that age, he's very much in play to resume his career.

Okay. I hope it doesn't happen, but this next thing I'm going to say, and then his bones will spider-lab like a shattered windshield, and he'll be done two weeks later. And he'll go right back on the Leafs. This next thing I'm going to say, but, and then his bones will spider lab like a shattered windshield. Two weeks later, he'll go right back on the leash. Yes. I don't wish that on any. That's a bad luck.

All right, let's go. All right. We're going to go to break. Gord Stelic, Toronto Maple Leaf analyst for Sportsnet. 590, the fan, former general manager is going to join us after the break. And then at the top of the hour, Chris Terry and former former Flyer defenseman, known for Snow the Goalie. The podcast is going to join us as well, and we'll get into the Philadelphia Flyers and torts. Lighting up some guy who...

Anthony Sanfilippo. Oh, is that who it was? Apparently. Well, we'll ask Chris all about it. Love that. Plenty more on Real Kipper and Bourne. Don't go away. Covering the Raptors in depth like

no one else the raptor show with will lou subscribe and download the show on apple spotify or wherever you get your podcasts Welcome back in to the Real Kipper and Boren show. All right, let's welcome in Toronto Maple Leaf analyst for Sportsnet 590, the fan, former general manager of the Leafs. And for those of you that can't see on our Zoom call, sporting powder blue Hockey Night in Canada shirt. Let's welcome in Gord Stelic. Stelicricity.

These powder blue jackets, Dave Hodge used to wear them, and they were like gold. I know a guy said that if you wore it at Maple Leaf Gardens, whatever, you got in anywhere. ABC had the mustard colored, and they had the powder blue. You weren't being held up at the hot stove by Nick if you had that jacket on? No, no, no, no.

Hey, the hot stove, I cut back through the kitchen there. Nick and Pano and everybody, there was a secret way in there. They took care of everybody. Nick had the tuxedo on and everything was fine. Everyone ran a really good ship in their respective departments. Gord, I don't know if you caught a good portion of our opening, but we were talking about the Corey Perry situation. Elliot Friedman reporting yesterday that he's eligible to sign again,

got the blessing of the league. Does that, for you, open him up to all teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs or someone that has lived it like you understands that what may work in Carolina or Florida for Corey Perry may not work in the big smoke here in Toronto it'll work it'll work if I'm the Toronto Maple Leafs I'd be interested in Corey Perry and And, you know, as you guys talked about it, I mean, the thing is, he has not contravened. I mean, Chicago unilaterally says they terminate his contract.

His contract is not terminated. He's got a right to appeal. They're saying that he violated whatever their code of conduct is. They probably have the most stringent code of conduct in Chicago, about 32 teams. So, anyway, we know all that. He had a $4 million dollar salary that would be the cap hit even though he got a two million dollar signing bonus so at four million dollars very

few teams can afford him but if i'm sure he would just re-up for the minimum or close to it and what you got to do you know kippy and justin and you take you take a look what sheldon keith did when he signed with the toronto marlies he addressed his days when he was associated with David Frost, the whole Mike Danton situation, right? Like he got that out of the way his first press conference and you move forward. And if Corey Perry is going to come to here, my advice would be that would be something like that.

Basically touch on whatever it was. You don't have to go into details. Apologies, you know, like kind of like carrie price's situation and in montreal i know it was different apples and oranges but just and people respect that but i i think he is a guy that every every playoff team every playoff mound team including the toronto maple leafs would love to get uh kip are you good on cory perry if i turn the page yeah sure um gordo i you know hearing all your stories from your time being involved in the Maple Leafs, Brass and you know,

the people who've been running this these organizations or this organization for a long time. I wanted to ask you about a new hiring. Keith Pelley was just hired to run MLSC. Just wondering your thoughts on that. You seem like a guy who might have know a thing or two or have an opinion on what that could mean for the organization. So now one thing i'm not 100 clear about is he taking over what richard petty used to be and oversees brendan shanahan and the

nba where the last ceo was kind of parallel to them but to answer your question about keith pelly really big on him first as a person uh been a you know a great individual down to earth really gets it work from the you know the the ground up and particularly the international experience now which is important running the Toronto Argonauts in their most successful time really the last whatever number of years they were kind of a happening team for a few years so uh I like someone that has that sports knowledge that it's not just a brand it's not just the business side it's just not all those things so i probably the timing is great with what's going on with the european tour i think so he's had a habit of being in the right place at the right time but i i think this is a real positive addition to mlse hey look what he

did at sportsnet you put the package together like when you talk about his involvement over the years, there's the Bell side he had with TSN, there's the Rogers side, and there's that $5 billion 12-year deal that he fronted. I mean, everything's covered here for him moving forward. I wish there was no salary cap because he'd be unafraid to spend. He'd be like Mike Gillich in Detroit way back when that, but it's a, yeah, it's like, you look at all the tentacles that he's covered again. What does that mean as far as wins?

Because that's what the average fan wants to know. I don't know what a new CEO means, but I just like that to me, he gets it, you know, not, not again, he gets the sports side. He gets the on ice side, the on court side, as well as, you know gets the sports side. He gets the on-ice side, the on-court side, as well as, you know, the business side of what's going on. So, Kip, I want to throw something at you because this has been kind of eating at me. We had Brian Burke on the other day, Gord,

and he says that NHL owners will, I believe he said, dislocate their shoulders voting yes on expansion. He's like, everyone will want to expand as soon as possible. And we've kind of been kicking this around you know they get a new guy at mlsc he's not afraid of big deals do you ever see a world kip gordo where there's another toronto team where i don't know if mlsc'd be involved in that or how this would work but like is something like that ever possible here for me first and i'll let you i'll just go real quick

here gordon i'd like you to follow up that uh what's probably going to happen in the next uh 12 months to 24 months is maybe perhaps a little bit of restructuring uh larry tannenbaum appears to have uh put up his 25 and where that leaves him moving forward. We believe that he's on his way out, which means now you're down to Bell and Rogers. Gord, you see potentially one of the behemoth tech companies, one of them taking the Leafs, the other one may be moving on to, I don't know, a second team.

Well, you know, I don't know, a second team? Well, you know, Kippy and Justin, that's always been the urban myth that part of the deal with the two giants being involved in MLSC is that there is a deal that at some point they each move forward. One has the Maple Leafs. One forms a second team somewhere. And the big nut being the indemnification payment that would have to be paid is already covered by virtue of this deal. So I mean, Rogers has either the Leafs or the new team. Bell has either the Leafs or the new team. I mean, you got two teams in L.A.

and Anaheim that are about an hour drive apart. You got three teams in the New York area. You could put a second Leaf team, I think, across the street, and it would still do great. So again, I don't know how much substance there is to the urban myth, but certainly this area could support a second team, whether it's a relocation or expansion team. And I could see both sides, much like Rodgers has with the Jays, that they would want, you know, their own vehicle. They would want their own sports vehicle for their media network so uh i don't know if it's already written there or if maybe it's something they're willing to explore but i think that's a possibility for sure and again with pelly's personal relationships at bell and rogers he would be the perfect guy to broker this type of deal now Now, Tannenbaum has sold 5% of his stake for $400 million to OMERS.

And he still has 20 to go. 20 to go. And he sold that stake for $400 million, valuing MLSC at like $8 billion. I believe it's $8 billion, right? Yes. After they bought it for $1.23 from the pension plan. No, no, I believe 8 is the number for...

Blanket, not just the Leafs. Everybody, right? So he'll take essentially 25% of $8 billion. Right. And some are suggesting eight's a little light. And do you think then that Larry would be involved with a new team? If that were... I don't know.

I would just kick things around. You're getting down on me. Well, I mean, I don't think it's unrealistic that 10 years from now when we're doing this show, Kip and I for sure definitely, I'm sure this person will have us, is that we're talking about the other team sometimes. Gord, a second team in Toronto, would you think that it would jump right into a top five revenue team

in the National Hockey League? Is that how you see the second team in this market? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, it would be like the new kid on the block. They go about it differently. Obviously, they're not an original six team, but they've got this fan base that just has this insatiable appetite,

and there's not enough tickets really to go around the gta area of about five million i don't know how many are sports fans so i i absolutely do i absolutely think it would it would take off from day number one again not the things where people were seeking notoriety about putting a team in markham or putting whatever you know people trying to front something that's not realistic but you know the, the other part about the ownership situation, whatever happens, is I got to tell you that let's get some wins. Let's get some playoff wins. Like when the teacher's pension fund sold, that was the most nauseating presser, everyone kissing each other's ass about what a great deal it was. You guys sucked. You were terrible owners. Terrible. All you cared about. What a terrible example to our kids.

You're out there and all you cared about was the return on value. And then you undersold. You should have kept it. Brutal. So all I'm saying is this is all great big money. Give us something. Give us something like the Yankees did, the Dodgers did, whatever. Okay?

Give us something for all that money you're making. Well, they did. That's so good. They gave it to Willie. $92 million. Well, if Willie helps go deeper in the playoffs, which I think he will, that's great. But I'm tired of it anyway.

Whatever. I'm not going to rant anymore about it. But just, you know, instead of all this, wow, look how much it's worth and everything. How about what the Raptors did a championship year once, or close to it? So we got to get your thoughts, because we haven't seen you uh since the big news uh you're okay with the 92 million the

five uh 250 000 more than pasternak you're good well first the big news do does everyone's kids steal their earbuds and power chargers for the phones i just want to know does that does that happen in every household sure because i'm wearing Because I'm wearing like air Acme earbuds. I don't know if Justin or Jesse, where the hell are they? And where is my phone charger? Okay, so thank God I can make this. I'm totally, your article in the Toronto Star is bang on. It's like, okay, you build a new house.

Then maybe you're in it. You go, oh, jeez, I don't know. Maybe it's expensive. And they come at you from where you go house then maybe you're in it you go oh jeez i don't know maybe it's expense you know expensive and they come at you from where you go no you're in you're in you got to do it so you're doubling down now on a situation that has proved unworkable as far as playoff success goes having a disproportionate amount of money going to your top four forwards but they're great players it's not not their fault. You want the players. Cap space, you know, compared to those kind of players. So anyway, those other challenges, it's going to be a bigger challenge right now next year.

There's other ways, you know, we can talk about that. Unfortunately, not a lot, not enough young players on entry-level contracts to, you know, help that situation. But boy, what a great time to have those great elite players. So entertaining. Just continues to lack that playoff success, which hopefully can be alleviated this spring. Gord, in the interest of alleviating some of the past frustration, what are your thoughts on old Marty Jones?

Guy has come in here and done a job. Okay. Last year, the trade deadline. We talked about Ryan O'Reilly. We talked about, you know, McCabe, everybody. The gem was Luke Shen. Okay. And that's what quite often happens. The gem was Luke Shen, I think for a third round pick, how he played. All these free agents in the offseason, we never even talked about Marty Jones. And he actually cleared waivers to start the year. He is the most valuable unrestricted free agent they're signed he is saving their bacon right now they would have to go out and get an NHL body a rent-a-goalie type to get through this patch so he has been a great band-aid and then some as they move forward to hopefully get Joe Wall healthy I don't know Samsonov can ever get his game back Kippy I know you wrote about it that you know Matt

Murray again that's a little bit you know to to on it, but is expected to be able to play. This guy absolutely at the most critical time saved his bacon. And I liked it. You know, you were there, Justin, with the Marlies, like a strong setup that he saw. OK, I'm an older guy. I got family. I'm going to get a reset. I'm going to be in the American Hockey League.

I'm not going to have to move all over the place that they get called up. They're in the same city. So it was a great fit, and he seems to have really embraced that reset and seized this opportunity coming up because they would have been screwed without him the last couple of weeks. Terrific stuff. Gordo, and maybe a little bit of a plug. I know you've got the book with Damien Cox called Revival, right?

That's right. Yeah. But also a plug that you're following in my footsteps and you're writing for the Toronto Star. When's your next one? We lost Dave Poole and he was the other, but I'm really enjoying doing it, Kippy. And I've got a column coming out this weekend.

And it's, yeah, it's been fun doing. Your column was bang on about willie kneeland and justin i know you write all the time especially on sportsnet.ca so you know kippy and i are kind of new to it um i think we get a little more help than you do justin sometimes my crayon smudges right but anyway it's it's neat when you've read the those papers for all your decades that yeah it's neat to be in there every now and then so great i'm evolving great stuff pal really appreciate your time gordo we'll talk to you soon thanks gordo do i get a free phone cord for coming

on yes you do buddy no problem all right all right see ya gordon stelic he almost had a like a doug mclean like i don't know where he's going with the phone cords and the buds and i'm like i can't keep up with him uh first off that's as good a gourd stellick hit as we've ever got that was a heat yes um but i really love the point about the leafs actually getting an advantage having their american league team in this city if you're an older guy like martin jones you're saying I don't have to go live in Utica until I get called up. I'll live in Toronto. Hopefully I get called up, but if not,

at least I'm there. At least I'm in a good city. A nice advantage for the Leafs. In this case, it really helped them out. The only thing they lose money on. What's that? The Marlies. It's expensive, but it's very helpful for the parent club. Hopefully the Leafs and the Rodgers team. Yeah, no, it's expensive, but it's very helpful for the parent club.

Hopefully, the Leafs are the Rodgers team. Yeah, no, it would have to be. Have to be. I just got to come on here and crap all over the Leafs. Ah, those Leafs. But I love the idea of there being the original six blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs. People who are, I don't care, I'm going to be with this team until I die. And people being like, I'm so sick of it, give me the

Toronto Tickle Monsters or whatever they are. We've talked about this before, I always said the Toronto Hearts. I don't know how you do that. Who said that? I did. Why are you saying that? Toronto Hearts. What am I missing? No idea. I just came up with that. Well, put it back wherever it came from. I like it. Quickly, we've got to go, something before we go to break here.

From February 1st through the 3rd the All-Stars are in Toronto for the NHL All-Star Weekend. We'll be giving away tickets to the different events and episodes today until January 26th. Today we have tickets to the NHL All-Star Thursday, which includes a PWHL three-on-three showcase, the NHL All-Star Player Draft, plus a tribute to the 1967 Leafs.

I'm sure no one will make any jokes about that. To enter for a chance to win, text into today's code word TH to 590-590, and we have another code word in tomorrow's episode, so be sure to tune in. That code word is Thursday. Look for the Toronto Maple Leafs to load up All-Stars. Yeah.

Mitch Marner. We haven't had this talk yet. Willie. You're not having an All-star weekend without Willie Stiles. Fifth in the league in scoring. I see the Toronto Maple Leafs Twitter account, because every retweet means a vote. And they're just pumping out tweets every day.

They're getting like 15,000 retweets. Really voting, you think? Oh, you think they're juicing it no do you not remember like under the old system you would get updates every second on who's leading and how many votes and how many someone's behind oh you're suggesting where did that go oh you suggested you overturned the election where is the storm the capital where is it let me get let me grab my you know what they do now they've got the john scott vote yeah okay you think they're gonna ever let no public put a john scott back in yeah to the NHL All-Star Game ever again. Thanks, though, Merrick and Lashinsky, for that one.

Listen, just they're going to put in whoever they want, and that's the way it should be. I'm telling you right now, there's going to be so much interest in the skills competition. They got a million dollars going for it. One guy can make a million bucks. That's why it's so tough that Conor Bedard broke his jaw because this guy would have doubled his salary.

Think about that. He would have been electric watching him push. He only makes $750 all year, and they would have given him a chance to make a million bucks. You know what would have been the best part? If he was really close coming down to the wire, watching the other guys tank on purpose to let him win some money. What do you think?

And you know, I was just going to say, yeah, maybe, you know, but I'll tell you what the best thing about. Is second place like a card and a handshake or what? Like, is there no tearing up this money? I don't know. I think it's all or nothing. It should be. Second place should be. Thanks for coming. And I'll tell you another great thing about All-Star Weekend. The cheese is gone.

We won't be seeing Mitch Marner at Lake Ontario and then coming in with his polyester suit to go on a breakaway. That's over. The players said cringe TV is over. All right. Except we have to still watch three on three. Well, that's less cringey than everything else we've had to witness in those games. Can we play hockey?

Give us a match. How about a five on five game? What was it? North America versus the world for a while? That was my favorite world. Is that the Owen Nolan point and finish? Maybe. With the Fox tracker on it.

Ka-ding. Yeah. Against Haas. Yep. Our thanks to Gord Stelic, Toronto Maple Leaf analyst for Sportsnet 590. The fan. Terrific stuff, Gordo. on it. Ka-ding! Yeah, against Haas. Yep. Our thanks to Gord Stelik, Toronto Maple Leaf analyst for Sportsnet 590, the fan. Terrific stuff, Gordo.

Appreciate it. Next hour, Chris Terrien, former Flyer defenseman. He covered last night's game that was on Wednesday Night Hockey here on Sportsnet. He's going to be by

to tell us what's going on in Flyer land. It was a crazy week. We'll get into that when we return on Real Kipper and Bourne.