Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: Could Leafs Be Sellers?

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the development that the Leafs have fallen out of the top 3 of the Atlantic Division and the idea of them missing the playoffs becoming more real. How will their recent skid impact their direction at the deadline? Then, evaluating Treliving's signings after the halfway point of the season. Finally, Sportsnets' Eric Francis (29:52) tees up tonight's matchup between the Leafs and Flames and discusses the status of Calgary's rumoured trade-assets now that the team is starting to string together some wins.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

all right let's get her going the real kipper and born show sportsnet 590 or set 360 horse that plus from four to six and wherever you download your pod you can find us texas at 590 590 if you have any causes and concerns, including the one that Sammy's leaving us tonight, he's bailing on us. Rome is almost burning here with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he's going to Vegas, baby. Vegas.

Yeah. It is an interesting time to leave. I will admit. Totally fine. Like, if there's a time you can go, it's game 42. However, if they lose tonight, let's say they make a trade or fire the coach. I'll be touching down in Vegas checking the old Sportsnet app. Be like, what happened?

On camera from Vegas tomorrow. I already got your replacement set up for tomorrow. Oh, who is it? Buddy. It's Disco Dan. Oh, Daniele. Is he coming to sit for tomorrow. Oh, who is it? Buddy. It's Disco Dan. Oh, Daniele. Is he coming to sit in here? Oh, yeah.

I told him, as of now, you start warming up like you're Tom Hankey. He did drop a Tom Hankey on him. Because you're going sidearm tomorrow. I told Daniele he doesn't have to do it if he doesn't want to. We'll see. It's up to him. All right, here we go. 11 games on top, including the Toronto Maple Leafs

on this edition of the Real Kipper and Bourne Show on Calgary to try and shut down a four-game losing streak. I know there's a million places we're going to go in the next little while but leaf nation woke up today and found the leafs in a wild card position is that does that matter to you guys at all does that does that yeah matters to me. It does? Yeah. Or is that just a kind of a systematic thing and you still see the Leafs where you've seen them as a week ago? They were doing okay.

Does one week now cause a panic on a wild card position instead of that comfortable position in the Atlantic? Here's why it matters to me. Not because of the wild card position instead of that that comfortable position in the atlantic here's why it matters to me not because of the wild card position but because the team behind the wild card position is one point behind them the tampa bay lightning and the spot after wild card is a concerning spot now by points percentage they're still technically in third in the division but the point is it's a tight division and uh yeah it matters that things are extremely close um i would say it's very disheartening to look at the standings and see them out of the top three because you know over this era of leafs hockey in the way the standings have been it's just something you've been able to

kind of not think about a lot yeah it's like you've measured this team against the playoffs and what they're going to do in the playoffs and clearly the playoffs and clearly it has not gone well but playoffs but looking at it now and seeing them i'm like oh this is this a possibility like seeing them out of that top three is jarring to me i have to say well that brings me to a couple questions so we were talking about um trade candidates and playing the flames tonight the flames for a long time were the team that you know the leafs were coveting their assets right it was chris tannev like oh can we get chris tannev noah hannah finn's available and i asked

you today could they get get Elias Lindholm? Like, could Lindholm be the guy, you know, that plays center for them, maybe pushes Tavares to wing the way that O'Reilly came and pushed him to wing? But all of a sudden, you look at the two teams and you go, Flames are pretty good. They've won four in a row. And the Leafs aren't that great, right? They're not but things can cool down quickly for them for calgary no for the leafs

with a win tonight and maybe a point saturday night even an overtime loss yeah taking three out of four points into seattle a team that they have proven that they can beat now you're five of six points coming home is that enough to just calm the waters down and bring everything back to yeah they're a pretty good team and maybe they should consider getting a tan of or a lindholm and are we back to that conversation pretty quick with a successful next three games because the next question is how ugly could it get yeah well this is the thing. If they lose tonight and lose to Vancouver. It's a really funny thing to be like, if they go get five of six, five of six,

they're on the road against a team. Here's their last 10. Calgary last 10, 7-3-0. Seattle, 8-2-0. Vancouver, 7-2-1. So they're going to go on the road and just take five of six? Do you know what I mean here when I'm'm listening and we're only still halfway through here of the of the season yeah right yeah but these next three games look to me like a real fork in the road. Yeah.

And you know what Yogi Berra says? And Sammy, if you ask me who Yogi Berra is, I'm going to come over there and slap you in the head. Buddy, I know who Yogi Berra is. Come on. All right. He's seen the cartoon. I saw your jacket you're wearing today,

and I don't know if you know the difference between Yogi Berra and Yogi Berra. You know, I wore that jacket a million times the first time I ever said anything about it. Anyways, continue. But it looks like you mugged Yogi Bear. I'm telling you right now. I can put it on for the next segment if you want. It's too hot in here.

Fork in the road, you gotta take it. According to Yogi Bear. So where are you on, like, how pivotal, like, tonight, Saturday night, and Sunday against Seattle is? Is this their season on the line in these next three games, potentially? Hey, boo-boo. All right, I'm going to ask you something.

Yeah. So Sports Talk Radio is about just kicking around sports you know you can't you're kicking things around right hypotheticals what if we're just talking about the local sports team until you start something well i don't mean to do that but i know what if what if it goes poorly over the next three games here or whatever, and they don't have success on the road against very good teams, and you're talking about, okay, you need maybe two defensemen, you need a center, you need a goalie, whatever it may be. What would it look like if the Leafs were sellers?

Oh, my God. Okay, it's happening. Everybody stay calm. Everybody stay calm. What's the procedure? What would it look like, hypothetically? Listen, they're going in tonight. I'm not saying they are sellers.

I think they're buyers. To JB's point, they've got a four-game losing streak going into tonight. If it turns into a... He's counting the schedule. going into tonight if it turns into a what happens if it turns into a nine game losing why is their schedule that hard after that too double jets calgary vancouver seattle winnipeg winnipeg all-star break ah none of those teams have been any good listen to me it's fair where where okay let's say they don't lose nine in a row but they've lost eight out of nine yeah where is that question now on on going out there and getting a tan of still you're saying does it change well and i'll tell you where this came from i did calgary radio today uh My boy, George Rusick, we were chatting about things.

And he said, he asked me the question about the Flames and they're having some success. And does that still mean that you would want to trade Tanev, Hannafin, Lindholm, all these guys? And I said, of course you do. You know, they need to be realistic that even if they got in the playoffs, this isn't the year they're going to win a cup. And they would be so much better off going forward getting assets for those guys rather than doing what the raptors did

trading for pertle pushing into playoffs as a team below 500 well done bernie thank you and then you've got nothing to show for it when you should have made those moves when you had the chance to move them and all of a sudden i had this epiphany. It's not impossible that the Leafs could be there if things went poorly enough for a stretch of game. So I was thinking what it would look like if they were to trade Mitch Marner, TJ Brody, Tyler Bertuzzi, and all of a sudden you have Matthews, Nylander, Tavares, the assets you got back from all these guys.

Are you better positioned in the years ahead to win a cup? Wow. Well, you know what it's not your fault this conversation you're the guy from goodwill hunting no it's not your fault yeah it's not your fault yeah we've had a lot of guests i've done this for quite a while even through television over years, I can't recall too many times when I was just like had a whoa moment. Our buddy Bukala, our pro scout yesterday, really gave me a whoa moment. Bukala started this yesterday where he said, what if it's so bleak that you can't throw and chase whatever you have for more assets? What if this is not the year to chase it?

What if it's not the year to chase it? As we have alluded to, Kyle Dubas didn't leave a lot for Bradtree Living. And if the season and maybe the next four or five games looks not in your favor are you still having a conversation to give up a first rounder for Chris Tannev you're talking about giving up Cowan or Minton a first rounder you know I just read an article by Dom Lucision on the way in here that one of the things is TJ Brody. He was one of the best at defending the blue line last year.

And statistically, this year, he's bottom 10 in the league. And he was great at retrievals. This year, he's a bottom puck retrieval guy. So all of a sudden, the guy you count on is not good. When the core four are off the ice, your depth guys are, you know, well below 50%. Like in past years they've been above it in terms of scoring chances so yeah there's some things that make you go do you want

to chase it this year now i want to be very clear that i think anytime you have the elite talents the leafs do and they're in their prime and you know you've seen what a bunch of these guys can do in a year anyone can win i think they're more likely this year to win the stanley cup than miss the playoffs if you kept everything the same i really do i think it's more likely so i'm not saying they should sell but it's worth entertaining the thought the exercise what does it look like if you were to do those things okay let's go to our uh the president of the leaf fan club here and just say optically how is your fan base i don't even begin to wonder what bay street would think about watching the leaf say this is the year we're not gonna be all in right i think there's a pretty strong, not the right, apathy is not the right word,

but sort of a disdain towards this group. And I don't think that Willie contract helped anything. I think it's the spoiled guy narrative is still out there big and maybe worse than it's ever been. And doing a shakeup to the core and having different people come in and trading away guys that have been here for a long time. I don't think that's going to be as badly received as some people might think it would

be. Right. I do think there is some credence to them being like, it's time that this changes a bit. And I think people would be a lot more receptive than I think you may think. Yeah. Just move on. Go ahead if you have something.

You go ahead. I was going to say that. But like Marner and Brody, like those are like, that's, you know, that changes your whole thing. That's changing the whole thing, which this whole thing hasn't worked particularly great. No. As we all know.

Yeah. So. And, you know, Marner, I mentioned, because he has a year and a half left, if you give someone two playoff runs as values through the roof, I was, the one thing I do believe is that if you think you're in the pack of teams from the fifth best team to the 12th best team you know

somewhere in that sort of pocket you're taking your chances on joe wool as the goalie you're hoping to all against all hope that he comes back and he can do it you're not trading an asset to improve from ninth to seventh or whatever you're just kind of hoping he can be the guy without spending there. We've covered the Leafs for a very long time. I mean, that small window of Joseph Wall's play before he got hurt was the type of play that teams can climb on the back of and ride into a first, a second round win. He shrug it off and go.

That's how good he was. And like we've alluded to multiple times, he was in the middle of one of the greatest Leafs regular season performances of the last five years when his ankle exploded. Yes. He was unbelievable. So good. If you're the Toronto Maple Leafs,

do you want to just get a little bit of a sample size of how good he can get, how quickly? And again, I'm thinking it's against all odds here that a guy can be off for two months with a high ankle sprain and then come back and hit that mark that he had before he got hurt, especially when you're dealing with inexperience and especially when you deal with a guy that has been prone to these type of injuries before.

But do you want to see a Joseph Wall back before you make any definitive decisions on which way you want to go with the trade deadline? I just think that where they are is changing my tune from you can't trust a guy who's played 15 games this season is 23 and has had a lot of injuries to i don't think you spend the asset to shore up the position and you at least cross your fingers and just hope you know with that position and there's a few you're not good

enough to say we have to patch all five holes and spend to whatever you may want to improve still you may want to add a defenseman here there or whatever sealer walker or something like that but i just feel less confident about the idea that they're going to go sell the farm to really push the chips in and true living has said in multiple different platforms that he's not really a trade deadline guy, that he doesn't love it. So either way, like selling off may not happen or an adding may not happen.

Like he doesn't love to use the trade deadline in general. He's mentioned it in multiple spots. So I don't know. What does this mean for Sheldon Keith? If they don't like moving players, are they looking at the Oilers and saying, we don't want to fire Sheldon Keith if they don't like moving players you know are they looking at the Oilers and saying we don't want to fire Sheldon but we also don't want to trade the core of our team away should we just make this one big change and see if that can be did Bruby take over the

Blues the year they won was did he take it over that year or the year before I know Dan Balsma took over the Penguins the year they won the cup that's a good question i don't remember exactly when he took them over but my point is we're in last place it's not unprecedented for coaches to come in and take pretty good teams the distance so again i think sheldon's a good coach i'm just saying i'm talking about what their options are sheldon needs some wins here in a hurry well I think we can all agree. Well, I think that's where we're at. I really, you know, I'm not going to say I want it because I don't think that's going to change anything. Really?

Like, if you gun to my head ask me, are they going to take off if Craig Berube is the coach of this team? My answer would be probably not. Like, I really think they kind of are what they are. But at the same time, it's pro sports, and the optics of this with a team that's supposed to be really good, you lose seven or eight in a row with the Leafs. Yeah.

And you've been here for a long time. It's going to get louder and louder here. So that brings me to the next question. If in fact what you are suggesting could be more reality in a quick hurry on on this might not be the year to push your chips in yet again and now you go into the summer and again i i don't know what momentum is there is it a is it a quiet first round exit is it you won a round and now you lost in the second i get where is that that cut line where is that pga cut line where where you know who gets to decide moving forward is it like brendan

shanahan's been here 10 years guys yeah right so where is the cut line on him on if if you're gonna potentially be in a position to sell a few pieces and then move a big name like marner is brendan doing that is does he get the green light from leaf nation to suggest that i can tweak this i can get us back in or we kind of got to regroup and start again but i'll i'll give you a championship in two or three years like yeah where's leaf nation on brendan shanahan making these changes moving forward because the one thing about brendan shanahan for the last 10 years is it's really been from the moment he was hired up until this point where he's not called an audible on anything. He's never gone to a plan B. That is the defining trait.

You're talking about a plan B. Does Brendan get a chance for the first time to come back to the fan base and go, yeah, it didn't quite work, but we've got a new plan and we're going to change the Marners or anyone else here and give me another chance here because I'm the guy to do it. I mean, that's a great question. I do think that how it goes in the playoffs matters a lot because the thing you're talking about, the plan A, was that this group, this core group, will pull them through.

Double down, triple down. Quadruple down. Yeah. This core group. Willie Nylander gets signed, quadruple down. Yeah. So he's faced that question so many times after a playoff loss and said it'll happen it'll happen it'll happen it's not like you can say okay now he's tried trying plan b let's see if

the second option works out he's had the chance to do it so many times that it's i don't know it would be tough to see how that, it going that way, Kep, I guess. It's just tough for me to imagine them saying, okay, you've been stubborn with this for 10 years, but now we're going to see if it works the other way now that we've lost eight straight times in the early playoffs or whatever.

I don't know. I think Brendan Shanahan's name has been mentioned more by Leaf fans in the last little while than I remember it being talked about. The plan is supposed to be culminating now, the best of it, right? I think when you bring in a new general manager and you sort of keep everything pretty similar, people's kind of antennas have gone up, right? Like with Dubas, you could kind of, you knew Shanahan was in charge,

but Dubas was big, tied to the core four, we can and we will or whatever. When they bring in another guy and it's just exactly the same the way other than, you know, them adding snot, whatever, that really has not been very snotty. No. They've been quite healthy. In fact, their nose has not been running much, but you know, it's when it's exactly the same, I think people are starting to be like, well, okay, well then really, I guess we do know who's in charge here.

We do know that another loss, you know, in April this year, will mean something in terms of major change. Like whether from January to April, that means Sheldon Keefe, or that means Marner or Nylander or Matthews or whoever, Tavares, or it means Shanahan

or whatever, there's going to be major change if they don't have success at this point. So, do they not? But is there? Does Shanahan have another year on his deal? Oh, I'm sure he does. Multiple years. But we've had this conversation for four straight years. And you're like like surely this will be the year but will it

surely right like i've had this conversation after the hab series that was but here's three playoff failures but here's a thought on that which is the best way to deflect some of that heat would be to change before a failure and say we're trying, we're going to go in another direction. We're going to, you know, we're able to get a first and a prospect for this guy, and we're able to get a first for this guy. You know, you look at what, you know, D-men go at the deadline and what a guy like Bertuzzi would,

I don't know what Bertuzzi would have gone for last year. It's a first. Yeah, you know, like you look at the haul, if you're sitting here going into the summer and you got three firsts all of a sudden, you know, could you turn that and you have the cap space from a big name? I think you could sell that as a front office a little bit more as buying time. The other equation that factors into this is there's a new boss maybe for Brendan Shanahan and there may be a new boss for Messiah

who we heard today just prior to our show. Hour and 15 minutes you talked about. Hour and 15 minutes. We got all the inside stuff from our Raptor boys. Yeah. And like now Keith Pelley comes in and he's the new ceo and i don't know i can't sit here and definitively tell you how it works now yeah but i assume that both those guys have to go through Keith Pelley. And where's Keith Pelley now here

coming in from all those years being the commissioner of European golf? Has he made any quotes on the Maple Leafs over this time? Can we Google Keith Pelley Leafs and see if anything comes up? I would think if this would be a quiet year where the Leafs don't make a lot of noise, he'd have to kind of reassess everything as a whole,

and he would be the guy who decides who gets another chance and who doesn't. It's funny. If he were just a strongly opinionated guy in the Leafs and was like, we're not doing this anymore. You guys aren't winning with this group. You've got to trade someone. It'd be funny to see how that would trickle down. But I was just kicking it around because I do see a world

where the cap goes up. You trade a few guys on high salaries. You've got a bunch of picks all of a sudden. You still have a couple of really good core players and Morgan Riley on the back end. Can you turn this cap space and these picks into... Can I do trust tree with you guys? Sure.

After this offseason, like, am I sure I want True Living to be the one doing that? Oh, you thought it was poor enough? I mean, it hasn't been very good. It's a legitimate thought. Like, I seem to, the guy seems like a great guy and all this stuff, but, like, the moves he made in the offseason, none of them have been home runs other than Simone Benoit

and Martin Jones who saved him. He's going to be the guy. I know. I'm not saying he's going to be the guy. I'm asking myself that question. If I want that to be the guy. I think it's a worthwhile point. He is going to be the guy.

Before you ask the tree-living question, you ask the Brendan Shanahan question, because if it's Brendan, it's Brad. If it's not Brendan, there's a very good chance it might not be Brad because all bets would be off on then who's the new guy coming in? Well, it's funny because when Brandon took the job of president here, president didn't mean what it means now a decade later where Gorton is the guy behind Hughes and Rutherford's the guy behind Alvin. Like, the president felt more like a guy who was in business, not in hockey. Now the president job feels more tied to hockey than it did 10 years ago.

Yeah. So. Listen i i think the one thing that i've gotten out of this season is again where the winnipeg jets have got pierre luke dubois and he's supposed to be this core guy and a leader and a top three guy who's going to make $8, $9 million. They got to trade him. Think about the pieces that they got for a guy who they traded for at a weakness. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Lardy and Ifalo. Ifalo was a very popular guy in LA.

They loved him. And now they love him in Winnipeg. But getting... And Kampari, who was a first-round pick, plus a second in that trade. Like, those are... That's a haul. That's a haul. Yeah.

That's a haul. And that changes... Is Mitch Marner worth less than that? I don't think so. Oh, my gosh. More. Yes. More.

So, you know, it's... But so is Willie. Yeah. Not with that anchor contract but that's how you start thinking but that's a major commitment and that is without a doubt a plan b but you gotta you gotta get there yeah no i just you know the the one thing that we do find with the show is that the conversations that people have off air with us tend to be worth having on air. Like your hockey dressing room, some of this came from talking to a buddy. That's what his beer league team's talking about in the locker room.

It's like. Yeah, well, I mean, yeah. Fans are what makes us do this. I understand. We should have the conversations they're having. For sure, for sure. But it really, you know, when I had, all right, put some thought into that, and I come in and go, Kipper, should they go get Lindholm?

What do you think about Elias Lindholm? And he's there, okay, well, what's Lindholm cost? You start thinking about, okay, you got to trade away one of your prospects. You don't have many picks. You traded that guy away, and now you're going to lose in six instead of four? Yeah. You know, to Florida in the first round? What is the wisest thing to do with your assets?

Can I just say one thing though it's like for the leafs even if they want to make these trades they cannot make them like they've made the last few years which has been a disaster and that's giving up top picks for rentals it is the felino thing and for the life of me i don't I don't know how you set up a Ryan O'Reilly trade and you don't have a commitment that he is staying and re-signing. Yeah. You cannot trade. You can still trade for Chris Tanov. He's got to be staying there.

You better make sure that the contract's done on the extension and he's going to be here for better you better make sure that he's the contract's done on the extension and he's gonna be here for the next two or three years you know you look at what tampa bay did and getting brandon haggle cost them a lot but they got him for years least rent on that remember yeah that's a what if and no kidding and you know the leafs also did really well well in like the jake mccabe trade because you get him for years cheap. And they had Lafferty too. Oh yeah, that'd be nice to have. You're talking about Lindholm coming.

Ryan O'Reilly would have been a difference maker on and off the ice for this team this year. Oh yeah. Right? Big time. And did they just assume he was going to stay? That I don't know. I don't know when and how that would have

come together but i mean a couple of nice pieces at the time geez well okay do we want to we should probably break to get to francis he's none of our clips that's okay that's way better than what yeah no kippers clippers have kipper clippers ever been shut out before maybe the first time yeah just like tavares. Oh, God, Lord. I got a positive. All right, we're going to take a quick break. And when we come back, as JB alluded to, Eric Francis, who does a terrific job on Sportsnet and sportsnet.ca, will join us to help us tee up Toronto Maple Leafs versus the Calgary

Flames tonight. Back after these words. Breaking down the top stories in the NHL every day. The Jeff Merritt Show. Subscribe and download the show on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Calgary Flames are hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight, which means we get the expert out of Calgary on.

Eric Francis joins us now, senior columnist, one of the best writers on Sportsnet.ca. Unless I'm talking to you, JB. Unless I'm talking to Luke Fox. Whoever is on the show is the best writer on Sportsnet.ca. Fair to me. I get it. I get the business. Eric, how are you, pal?

Thanks for joining us. I'm good, my man. I'm okay with that flexible opinion of yours. Hey, I got two hours of tremendous flexibility. Listen, we're watching the Calgary flames refuse to go away and i don't know what that means as the season hits the halfway point whether or not it'll still be a busy uh trade deadline for them will it not who's resigning who's who's staying who's going where do you see this thing going

other than maybe a legitimate shot of making the playoffs? Well, I do think they have a legitimate shot of making the playoffs. I think they're a good enough team to make the playoffs, but it always comes with this great big giant asterisk, which is, you know,

what's going to happen before March 8th. I mean, obviously they've got significant issues to resolve in terms of whether or not they're going to sign Noah Hannafin. And my intel is telling me they're pretty close. You know, I mean, I think that's something they definitely would like to do. Wow. You know, and then if you're going to sign him, would you maybe want to sign Chris Tannev as well

and solidify a real good, you know, top four, top five defensive group? And then, you know, I think Elias Lindholm is as good as gone. I mean, the asking price for him is astronomical, and I think it's a non-starter. So he's on the move out. So again, they're moving in a great direction. They've been fantastic for about a month now, and they've got tremendous depth.

They're inserting all these youngsters from their minor league team that are looking really good. Like the future is looking bright except for you might be missing two or three significant pieces when it comes to crunch time. That kind of moves over the full club for the next little while.

And where do you stand on that direction as a team that sort of seems to be trying the we would like to trade the assets and make playoffs and see what happens sort of card. Do you think it should be a massive sell-off or do you think that it makes sense to kind of play this down the middle of it?

Yeah, Francis, I ask you this because we're talking about the Leafs here and we're starting to see a lot of parallels. Yeah, yeah. I think you play it down the middle in Calgary, but that's what drives Calgarians crazy is because this team has been in the mushy middle for 30 years, guys. 30 years, not a couple of them.

They're always finishing barely in the playoffs or barely out of the playoffs, and that gets you nothing in terms of really good draft picks. So people in this city, there are a lot of people, probably the loudest ones who are saying tank tank tank but i can tell you that ownership and craig conroy are not interested in tanking now or anytime soon because they believe in the importance of maintaining a solid winning culture a culture that's always striving to win and not one that's willing to take steps backwards

with an eye on hopefully getting you you know, several steps forward eventually. So I think that they are going to. I think they can. And I think they want to play it down the middle where, yeah, they're going to lose their number one center. But with the depth in the organization, all these junctures that they've really done well to integrate into their lineup, they think that they could still have a chance of making the playoffs this year.

So it is one of those things where you're playing it right down the middle from now right until March 8th and beyond. Always nice when players step up and give you more than maybe you might have expected. I got to admit, Eric, Sharon Govich, I wouldn't have known this guy if I ran him over with a zamboni and i'm watching him the other night score the the game winner on a absolute rocket but you know talk about a guy that i think calgary flames weren't too happy at the time getting when they lost to foley to him well to foley was on their top line last year.

They got like 37 goals. He was their leading point getter, which was a bit of an anomaly. Everybody knew that that's probably not who he is or what he is. And his contract demands were, you know, he wanted to stay several, several years at an advanced stage. And he wasn't fitting into their plans for a retool. So they traded him. Not only did they get Sharon Govich, they got a third rounder for him too,

who they're really, really high on, the kid that they drafted. But going back to Sharon Govich, he started the year. They didn't know what he was. At one point, they had him on the fourth line, Kipper. They didn't know. And he was really timid, on the ice, wasn't a mucker. I think there was legitimate concern like i'm not sure this guy's gonna stay in our lineup uh but once you found his group and they put him back on the top line the guy's a finisher he's got six goals his

last four games he's the only calgary flame to have scored in the shootout this year. I said that. Only guy. Nobody else other than he scored three or four times. Everybody else is over. So he's like their number one finisher on the franchise. And they're giving him the puck more and more. Huberto's starting to play better. Set him up a little more. And yeah, people

in this city are really excited. Because really, that was really kind of the first significant trade that Craig Connor had to make as the gm and i think it's good for the organization that it's turned out to be a pretty good trade and only going to get better as this traffic kind of emerges his name is suniev um either way it's a good trade just even if it was a one for one at this point in time because you got a player who's a whole lot younger, and he's already got more points than Toffoli. Is there a chance that the next big trade he has to make involves a goalie?

You've got Markstrom, you've got Vladar, you've got Wolff. What's the status of the crease in Calgary these days? Marky's been pretty good. Marky's been one of the hotter goalies in the league since you know we're at christmas time um you know everybody wants to talk about marks from being traded except for management i can tell you behind closed doors this is a non-starter guys this is not something yeah that the organization's thinking of it's not something they plan on bringing to more jacob markstrom to say if they'll waive his no tradetrade cost for this and the next two years at $6 million per.

You know, I think traveling around the league last week to Vegas and Tempe, talking to different people around the league, there's a real feel that the value of high-paid, even though they're proven and reliable goaltenders like Markstrom, the market is very, very low for them right now, mostly because all the contenders who might need a goalie like that don't have any cap space. But also because of what Vegas did last year with five goalies

helping them get to the Stanley Cup final. Four of them were complete unknowns. The other one was Jonathan Quick, who wasn't having a very good year. So teams are doing what the Leafs are doing with Martin Jones and what Jersey's doing with Nico Dawes. They're just saying, well, let's just try this guy, see if it works. It doesn't cost us much, and nothing ventured, nothing gained. So nobody's willing to pay the sort of assets.

You'd have to pay tremendous assets for the Flames to consider trading their MVP. You know, first rounder, probably a top draft pick at the starting point. And I'm not sure anyone's even thinking about that on top of the $6 million they'd have to pay. So I don't see a goalie moving. And there's not a marketplace right now for Dan Vladar. He's making too much money for a backup, $2.2 million. I think he's a capable backup. I think he'll be somewhere else next year. And that's when we'll see the warfare begin here in Calgary next year.

We're talking to Eric Francis, senior columnist, analyst with Sportsnet. So Tuesday night, of course, it always gets built up. Matthews versus McDavid. And tonight, can we. Matthews versus McDavid. And tonight, can we expect Matthews versus Coleman? 20 goals. He leads the team. Well, that's an incredible story.

I think if you want to really hype it up, it's Connor McZerry they're calling him out here. He's kind of been one of their top players lately. And, of course, Saturday, the whole world can't wait to see the big Connor versus Connor matchup. That's awesome. Connor Zerry and Connor McDavid.

But Coleman's been like, guys, this is one of those great stories. They brought him here to be like a third-line defensive stud, and now they're leading scorer. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It just keeps going and going. He's just tied his season career high for 38 points in a year, and there's still, what, 40 games to go. Guy's doing it all for them.

He's got the highest plus-minus in the league over the last three weeks. He does it defensively. He does it offensively. Like this guy is, and he's a leader. I can't say enough about Blake Coleman. Like, you know, if every team had a bunch of that, like, well, that, Hey, he helped Tampa win a cup. He was a big part of that, right?

For sure. Big part of that. And you know, he, they had, he had crazy like underlying stats there. I think this Coleman Backland, Majapahni line I think is the bestBackland-Mangipani line, I think, is the best team in the NHL over the last stretch. Or, sorry, the best line in the NHL in terms of, like, driving expected goals and all that.

Another name worth questioning there. How's things going for Jonathan Huberto? Feels like he's got things on a better track? Yeah, he missed the last game due to an illness, but he was skating today. He's going to play tonight, he told me. Yeah, I think he's got eight points in his last eight games. There are signs of hope, right?

I mean, they need him to be a point-of-game guy for anyone to think about that $10.5 million contract being justified in any way. It's a lot of pressure on the guy. He hasn't responded the way he'd hoped, the way he'd hoped. But I do see a lot of positive signs lately, and I'm not just saying that to try and be all overly optimistic for no reason. I mean, he's had some dangles of late where you're like, huh, that's the kind of move or attempted move by a confident hockey player

or a guy getting his confidence back. He just played with no confidence. Now it's coming, and we'll see where it goes. Like with Sharon Govich playing as well as he has, and Huberto on the other wing, that has the makings of a pretty good top line if the last Lindholm plays his part too. So it's interesting to watch.

Listen, this lineup has some very, very good hockey players, and when they traded for Jonathan Huberto, I believe that Calgary Flames, especially with his contract, were expecting a superstar. For the most part, Eric, this team has no superstar. Is this a market that needs one, especially looking at the Edmonton Oilers, or is it much like a goalie situation where you may be scared to commit ever again?

Big money like that if, in fact, a player's value drops? And that's certainly happened with Jonathan. But where are you in that marketplace without a bonafide superstar? You know, I think they can get by without one. I mean, obviously on the ice, every team wants a superstar, a go-to guy, an 85-point guy. But I'm not sure that this organization, like obviously he's the most important player in the franchise.

When you're making that much money, he's got to come around. And I do believe most people in the organization think he will come around. I know he certainly believes it. But if you're asking from like a fan's point of view, people in this city are so excited about the youth movement that's going on in Calgary.

I'll give you an example. My son's 13. He got one of those Heritage Classic jerseys for Christmas without a name on the back because I wasn't sure who his favorite player was. He can't decide who to get on it. And I think that kind of sums up where this team's at like there's nobody that's kind of like the clear fan favorite you know

cadres lived up to expectations i have to say that he's playing really really well he's exactly what i think they hoped he would bring but i don't see many people rushed out to get a coleman jersey um honest to god i think my son's gonna get connor connor's dairy because he represents the future and he's had a great start and he's in the calder trophy conversation so that that's how i'll answer that by just saying it's the youngsters that people are the most excited about now francis your kid is going to have the most eclectic jersey closet of all time with that team canada manjapani jersey and a Connor Zeri jersey. You remember that? That's right. That's awesome.

And somewhere deep in that closet I got a Darren Pupa jersey. Is there anything more eclectic than that? Wow. I think I ran him one night in Hartford. Then Brad May came in there and just gave it to me. That doesn't sound fun. Hey Eric, really appreciate your time.

Enjoy the game tonight. Always welcome on our show, pal. Thanks for doing this. Always good to be here, boys. You take care. Thanks, Eric. Appreciate it. I'm hoping for the same energy.

I really believe the Leafs are going to come out as hard as they did against the Edmonton Oilers. I do do too. I do believe that for the most part, and I believe this from the top to the very bottom, you're never as great as you think you are and you're never as bad as you think you are. There's somewhere where the middle kind of can tell the truth here. So can the Leafs beat Calgary tonight?

I don't know who's favored, who's not. Maybe we'll get that on game time with Sammy in the next hour. But I expect a high-energy game again tonight. Yeah, I do too. You know, this team tends to be at their best, and they have historically when the chips are down, when you think they're done, when they've just embarrassed themselves. And not that they did in Edmonton by any means, but

whether it's, you know, against David Ayers or whatever the, you know, the moment is, they tend to come out after those things and play really well. Go ahead. Tuesday was that game. So Tuesday was that game, and they came out like a house on fire. Pertuzzi

touches that one, it's 2-0, five minutes in on the road in Edmonton. You know, they came out really good. It's, you know, that Edmonton team is maybe the best team in the league. Yeah, they're good. As insane as that sounds right now. I mean, it's possible. So, yeah, you come out with that effort.

I expect a better result against the Flames. And we're expecting the same lines that started in Edmonton, correct? You guys okay with that? You know, I was on the morning show on 590 today, and I made a suggestion that maybe if it's a slow start again for Tavares, maybe you think about putting him on the wing. A couple of different options. Max Domi's one at center

and then you can think about mitch marner at center or willie nylander at center what are your thoughts on the second line knives starting with tavaris and nylander i mean i thought knives could probably use a night off you know the best game he. Did he miss one game due to illness? Two games. They missed the extra one. And then he came back and played Pittsburgh and scored an unbelievable goal. Like Gordie Howe hat trick. Yeah.

He was the best he's ever been in the NHL after a couple of days off. I think he's at a point here where a little rest might have helped him. But I will say, more than ever, I'm willing to hear you on Mitch Marner at center. I'm definitely willing to hear Willie Nylander at center. You know, you need some new looks here.

Like I said yesterday, if there is a new coach that comes in here, that's going to be the first thing he does. And everybody's going to be like, oh my God, this guy is reinvented. Like, it's just, you can just see it already. No Samsonov, what does that mean to you? you want to hear what uh he said about that yeah we gotta i gotta do a read here okay so what are your thoughts then on my thoughts is that uh they just they they have no

confidence in samsonov yeah crazy that this is like such an obvious spot but you know what it says to me is they know how desperately they need to win. And he feels like this is not the time to play experimenting. You've got to go with the guy that you think. You're trying to win it like it's a playoff game. We'll give you the best chance to win tonight. And no one can argue that it isn't Martin Jones. And that's why the Lions are the same too.

They're like, yeah, maybe there's things we need to find out, but we can't afford to lose more games. All right. From February 1st through the 3rd, all the stars are in Toronto for the NHL All-Star Weekend, and we'll be giving away tickets to the different events and episodes today until January 26th. Today we have tickets for the NHL All-Star Competition

featuring 12 NHL All-Stars competing in a series of challenges like the Rogers NHL Hardest Shot to take home a prize of $1 million. $1 million. $1 million. To enter for a chance to win, text in today's code word SKILLS to 590590. And we have another code word in tomorrow's episode, so be sure to tune in. Today's code word is SKILLS. A million bucks. Hardest shot.

Love it. A little extra incentive behind that wind up, huh? I am really looking forward to this because I know there won't be any like Superman capes or funny glasses or... Oh, it's business time. Business. Yeah, it's business. Let's go. It's hilarious that it's business time and then they put them in fruit roll-up jerseys.

Well, they'll be wearing those at the Skills Comp. Yeah, fair. They'll be wearing their home sweaters or whatever. That's a good point. Yeah, which is nice. What I see is silly. I think what could help the Leafs tonight is chasing the game early. Yeah, not leading.

Go down early. Yes. Have incentive to keep playing all the way through. Well, you know, what's funny is the Leafs get a hard time, justifiably so, for blown leads. They've got, I think, the most comeback, or they're in the conversation, most comeback wins this year. I'm comfortable with them down a goal in the last period.

I think it was Simmer who said on the broadcast that they have eight goals with the goal he pulled this year. Eight? To me, yeah. I don't know what to think anymore. To me, I want them to get a lead and hold it. That's the ideal scenario. It's like they finally figured out a way to hold a lead.

Well, I had an article. My article came out in the Toronto Star today, and I just talked about just the fundamentals of standing in the right place at the right time when it's needed most. Yes. That's what you're looking for tonight. of standing in the right place at the right time when it's needed most. Yes. That's what you're looking for tonight. We talked about Babs being right about a lot of things.

That man loved someone who stood in the right place. Stand in the right place. He just wants guys to stand in the right place, and they could use a few of that, a few of those guys. Yep. After with the lead. All right. What do you got for me on a score tonight?

The Leafs win going away. 5-2. Okay, I got 4-2 Leafs. No idea. I'll be in the sky the entire game. Sammy's going to Vegas, baby. Yeah, I'm not going to see a second. I'll watch the first little bit before we take off.

You got your cheesy Vegas shirt ready to... No, not that kind of guy. Come on. You seem like a cheesy shirt guy. Go big or go home, Sammy. Just based on your general wardrobe. All right. Good luck, buddy.

Bet with your head. Not over it. The show's not over. We still have an hour. We'll talk in five minutes. Oh, I'll see you again in a minute. It's okay. Okay.

No one's saying we're going away. Everybody's sticking around. We're back after these commercial breaks.