Real Kyper & Bourne - Leafs Hour: D-Man Decisions

Episode Date: March 5, 2024

Nick Kypreos, Justin Bourne and Sam McKee start with the Leafs' 4-1 loss to the Bruins last night. They get into what was another slow start for the Leafs, a night to forget for the Brodie/Liljegren pair, Boston's unkillable culture, Woll still working his way back to full speed and Rielly struggling as the power play QB. Then, a look around the league at available defencemen at the deadline and which would be the best fit in Toronto. Finally, the guys go through the lineup and discuss which combinations should be left untouched at the trade deadline, and which need to be addressed.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates.

here we go it's the real kipper and born show nick kiprios justin born sammy mckee derrick brandeo jen rolnik next two hours we're glad you are with us wherever you are watching listening sportsnet 590 sportsnet 360 sportsnet plus j JB, how's the microphone treating you right now? Am I making lots of noise? Tons of noise. Sorry, guys. What's happening there? You're good.

He's just adjusting. He's just making an adjustment. Us professionals do that before the show. In-game adjustments. Only the greats can do it on the fly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And as always, if you can't catch us live, give us a download wherever you get your pod.

And especially this week with your thoughts and ideas on trade deadline week, give us a text at 590-590. So here we go, boys. In the world of don't get too high from Saturday night's win against the Rangers to don't get too high from Saturday night's win against the Rangers to don't get so low with a 4-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. Where are you between Saturday and last night? You don't know me very well, Kippy.

You know, I was contemplating yesterday grabbing that clip off of you at the beginning where you got super optimistic a little bit coming off. I didn't want to do that to you. I didn't want to bring that back up. But it just goes to show you, and I'm not that far off of you. And we know it's just such a roller coaster with this team. It is and it isn't. I think I'm going to be the most frustrating version of myself today to

have a show where a show with for you guys because i thought they were pretty good last night i didn't think they were that bad i a terrible start they fell behind the game and they chased the game the whole way and that was hard but i thought they created just as much as boston did i thought they well i know they had way more time in the Boston end than the Toronto end. You know, to me, one goalie was really good. And the Leafs got off to a bad start. And, you know, they weren't able to catch up, I think, with a worse goalie in net or a couple of better finishes to different games. So I didn't think they were that bad last night.

You think they got pumped? I just think, no, I don't think they got pumped. Yeah. But I have question marks, and you said terrible start. So I'm okay with you saying terrible start, but I want answers to why a terrible start. Why weren't you ready to play? Why do you win a faceoff at 7.05 puck drop, get the puck in deep, and then look for a breakaway six seconds later,

maybe four, between Boston behind their net and then a breakaway. Somebody explain to me how that happens. I am not capable of doing that. The best I can do is that this team does tend to get complacent when they have a lot of success.

The Rangers game felt like they really proved to the good teams they can play with the good teams and maybe they just will settle in and we'll show our stuff as this game gets going but no it the bruins came in with a purpose and uh and the leafs certainly did not i've the leafs are usually up for these kind of games yeah that's true like to me i was pretty stunned by that start and i feel like i have a really good feel of this team by now i have a master's degree in in this team but i i don't know why they started like that that's you know

they have a great game on saturday against the rangers which we talked about a bunch yesterday yeah they go into that game against a division rival one that they're potentially going to play in the playoffs with a ton of history yeah i just don't get why that would be the way you would start the game. Wouldn't that be one of the ones that this team usually gets up for and plays hard? It was just a really confounding start to me, and it cost them the game. It was really weird.

I didn't see that coming. No, I didn't either. You know, and I just, I guess when I see a lot of criticism of the Leafs when I go online and the reaction to these games, it's treated like some sort of moral failing. Like, you know, they didn't try or they don't care or they don't whatever. You know, I didn't see that. And I know I'm kind of swimming upstream on that, but I thought they played a pretty good hockey game.

You're right. The start, I agree. We need some answers for what happened there. Why you come out of the gate, you're out of position. You know, you give up the first few goals. That stunk. But, you know, 50 minutes of decent hockey to me is not anything to panic about. I don't feel much different about the team today than I did two days ago.

That's fair. Although, let me say this. I'm glad it happened 72 hours before trade deadline. So they can go, that defense isn't good enough. Like the Leafs defense, we need someone else. Timothy Lilligren was awful. Brody, terrible. Like I'm glad it was like, hey, if we're going to beat the Bruins,

we don't have enough here. We're still going to need more. Do you really think that Brad Treelaven needed to see that last night to come to the conclusion that you're talking about they were starting to like the smell of their own farts kip nine wins in 10 they were starting to go maybe we're okay there's a bit maybe we don't want to disrupt the chemistry here there's a bit of i i chill and huffing i would say if if what you're saying if it if it's remotely true yeah i don't like your chances of finding the answers between discovering this last night and Friday at 3 p.m. No.

No, that's really cramming. You don't think last night exposed to them like, oh, man, we need to cram before the exam? No, no, it's too late. So you're giving them credit and you think they knew they needed to study. I would hope that they've been working on something and I would hope that they've been working on something and i would hope that things are in place right now so you can put the final stamp of approval on it and get it done

to me this was they're in their office going do we really want to give up a first for david savard are we sure we want to do this and then after the game they all went yeah we do we definitely want to do that deal yeah i just are they a david savard away from being a competitive blue line buddy there was headlines in the toronto sun uh last year in the deadline great work doobie i believe was the headline wow they like you're never over the hump now was that the ryan o'reilly yeah you're never over the hump you get as good as you can and cross your fingers yeah but you know it's not like no one's perfect yeah now we get name the best player available hannifin and buchnevich they get them both is that enough to win a cup i don't know yeah maybe who knows i don't know all right let's go to sheldon key

for our first kippers clipper on playing the Bruins last night. They're a premier team in the league. You know, every night you play them, you're in for a tough night. So, yeah, it was exactly what we expected in that sense. There you go. So he says every night, you're in for a tough night against the Bruins. The one thing that I kind of got reminded last night on is the Bruins and the

culture of the Bruins. Why won't it die? What's that? Why won't the culture die? It won't die. Is it Brad Marchand? Is he the thread? It doesn't die. So, here they are supposedly

weaker than they were just a few years ago. No Patrice Bergeron. They lose Krejci. Lindholm's their best defenseman. No Hall. And yet that culture came through last night. And that's why Sheldon says every every night it's tough against them every night and with the Leafs not every night's tough some nights are great Saturday night and then some

nights are kind of not great yeah and I put the I put the the culture for the Leafs was not great last night. Yes, there were windows when they looked okay. But Boston's culture doesn't allow many nights where you're just going, we just don't have it. We just don't have it. And Pasternak doesn't allow that. Like last night, guys, Leafs had no answer. Marner wasn't an answer for Pasternak last night matthews wasn't an answer and nylander wasn't an answer for pastranak he was by far the best guy in the rank pastranak like not even close no not even close okay but here's the thing that sammy isn't

that a problem in itself that you're paying these guys $10, $11 million and it's not even close? Yes. I would not argue with that. But I think this culture thing you're talking about, they've lost how many since the All-Star break? Nine of 13 or whatever. Their culture is they get up to play the Leafs. They love beating the Leafs. They know they own the Leafs.

They're not afraid of their big boys. They come into this matchup and they know that they can go in there and they can impose their will. That's the big part of this culture is that they're not afraid of the Leafs big guys at all. And Pastrette clearly loves playing against the Leafs. Marchand

loves it. And that's a huge issue for me. When you go into playoffs and you look at the other teams, elite players, you know, when you run the Matthews line head to head with the Bruins guys, or whether it's,

I don't know, Colorado's guys, or it's Vegas's guys. Like there hasn't been enough times where you feel like in good, meaningful games that the Leafs guys head-to-head just roll over the Pasternak line or they dominate the Kachuk line, you know, in Florida. Like, they haven't shown yet that in big games their line can be the best line on the ice consistently.

And even on Saturday, it wasn't those guys that did it, right? Like, anyways. All right, let's go to Sheldon Keefe on his overview of what he thought about last night Boston played hard they defended their net extremely well and and I thought were better than us in that area for sure but I think you know when they make good on their chances and we don't make good on ours, you tend to overanalyze the game and overemphasize the negative. We did a lot of good things here today, but you can't just do good things and expect to beat a team like Boston.

You've got to do great things. You've got to be ultra-competitive. You've got to be great on special teams. There's a lot of things we need to line up, and there weren't enough of those for us tonight the leafs out possessed the the bruins by more than i've seen them out possess the team in a while i know and you guys don't care about that but like to his point i think there's a lot of analysis going into you know the game where if shots go in it probably feels a lot different but the bruins do defend the net very well

bunkus had a point on leafs talk with him last night where he basically said that this felt like a playoff game where the leaves fall down one or two and then they play great for the whole game but they can't quite get inside and the goalie plays really well and it's just one of those frustrating chase the game nights that felt like a playoff failure did he throw in that the power play kind of disappears power disappears you give up a shorty i mean the power play was the turning point in the game because i thought they played in the first yeah outside of the wide open breakaway on the first possession of the game for the bruins i thought the least were pretty good in terms of they can earn that penalty it feels like, and then they get every bit of momentum off of that power play

and they go up two and they never look back. It was really strange when Marner turned. He just didn't make a bad play on that one, and then he didn't skate back. I think he thought Samson or Wall was going to come out of the net to play it maybe, but there's no urgency from anyone to get back. Is this the JVR? It didn't end in a goal. It was just the very first PK where they gave up three chances.

Leafs are 0 for 14 on the power play and their six consecutive losses to the Bruins. I think that might even speak to a guy like Brad Marchand, who I think will go down in history as one of the better penalty killers in our game. He's just so good. Yeah. Yeah.

He's not the same guy that he was. He's obviously gone down in terms of, like, his production. And, like, I don't even think he's as noticeable as he has been in years past. He's just been with... He's been with Patrice Bergeron all these years. But he still has such a good impact on the game like he's a responsible player like you said he's a great penalty killer i i really do think that the leafs have made strides and i don't want this to be too negative because i do see your side of the

story but when you see the way it looks last night and it's just the same old story against the same old team that you're gonna play in the same old first round of the playoffs that's where you start to panic a little bit as a fan. Did anyone have any wall thoughts? Do you blame wall at all for the outcome last night? No, I don't think so. I mean, still been off for a very long time. Nine weeks, two months, and what, two weeks?

You okay with them starting him? I certainly had the feel like Samsonov. This time yesterday, I said Samsonov and then Wall. Now what do you do? Now you've got to go back to Boston. You going back to Wall after we assume samsonov's going to start tomorrow night against buffalo yeah what are your thoughts you know my thoughts are that i think it's fantasy to pretend that if we just you know the less we play this guy don't show him to boston whatever

like i think he needs to play and he needs to play a good team and get reps and you know be in big games against good teams and what's it going to feel like so i i go back to wall it's not against boston it's not on the lineup here but we do have a clip uh from keith on joseph wall uh derrick there i think it's clip five in i thought he was fine you know four is too many but but um like i said they defended their net a lot better than we defended our shoot tonight the quality of chance i thought that we gave up was uh was a little more challenging than theirs. I would say the exception, maybe, like I gave that example on the third goal. You know, we just had a great chance.

Their goalie gets a glove on it, and then we give one up right after, and it goes in our net. The exception to that, you know, I thought Joseph battled. We've got to get him going. We've got to get him more games before we really start critiquing him. But I don't think he was – certainly was not an issue for us tonight. They're just going to have to work him in and pick his spots. But he's not going to play four in a row it doesn't appear like that's gonna happen between now and the end of the regular season no i mean would you go back

to him wednesday and then go samson of thursday saturday that's who you like right yeah that's what i like but i mean it's just I don't like showing him to Boston twice, in my opinion. Yeah, to me it's not like a pitcher, though, you know? Okay. You know, like, I don't feel like he does anything unique to goaltending that they're going to be like, aha, we figured out his. Yeah, I know, but in all probability,

are we looking at Toronto and Boston the first round? Yeah, right now it's the odds-on favorite. Do you envision Joe Wall starting in Boston, game one, and then having two losses in a week in the back of his mind? Is it relevant by then? Yeah, I don't know. Like, I don't think it's – I do think it's relevant. It's relevant for sure, but I don't think that disqualifies him in any way.

Like, you know, do you think that disqualifies him in any way like you know do you think that boston now is like do we want to show him swayman twice in a row like they know they trust this guy's better than the opposition and he's going to get his saves and can we go just maybe get to win feels good about himself do you have any more on the goaltending because i just wanted to go kind of back to the Bruins penalty kill against the Leafs. No, I'm good. Wait, what? Why does it seem that they just own the Leafs power plays? They're moving it too slow.

I don't know what it is. It just doesn't feel like a good stylistic matchup for the Leafs. I know they had one pulled off the line there, but it felt like that was really their only chance. It's a stylistic matchup that doesn't fit my eye. I hate to do this, but... Uh-oh. No, it might be still Morgan Rielly.

Yeah. Yeah. I don't know the numbers. Was Powerplay on fire without him, and then he comes back? We're a Rielly-loving show. We do love him. We're a Rielly-loving show. But no one's saying he's a PP1 wizard.

I don't know if he's in the top half of the league of guys who are power play demon. So is it because he's either looking too much for Austin or a factor in that he doesn't have a threat for a shot, that he's not making decisions fast enough, that teams are able to read better with him back there. You got to go back to the thought, guys, that for whatever reason, Bradtree Living and Brendan Shanahan thought that they needed Klingberg more than anything

for a power play option yeah you didn't get it and there was no plan b it was let's just go back to Morgan Riley and I'm wondering that you know if you've kind of showed your cards a little bit to go out there and get Klingberg when, really, he's just been on the downside of his career for, like, the last two years. But you had the one thing hanging was that he could shoot a puck. Yeah. And he could come in and help Morgan on a power play.

And he had moments when he played early in the year on the power play where you're like, okay, I get it. Like the way he snapped it around, his decision-making at the top. Yeah, it was the one thing. It was like, oh yeah. It was the only thing. But then you lose him and then you're like,

do you try again or do you just revert back to what you thought wasn't working great to begin with? What was their power play in playoffs last year? I don't remember their percentage. I know it wasn't great against Florida, right? But it was good against Tampa. It was. It was successful against the Lightning,

and that helped them through. I think you just say, I just hope we get that version of it again, you know, and encourage Morgan, I think, to do what he does quickly, make decisions quickly, and shoot it when there's a lane. There has to be somebody that they're searching for between now and friday that can again i'm not saying

replace morgan riley on the power play but you can have a second option as a point guy what do you mean chicken whoikrin. Who are you talking about? Well, there's always the last little while on Chikrin as a guy that the Leafs have shown interest. I don't think there's any time, to be honest with you, to pull that off. There's time. You need 10 minutes to make a phone call. Okay.

I'll agree with you. You're right. I'm wrong. Now, left-handed shot, does that bother you? He's not right. So much. He's not's not right yeah is that enough to squash the thought of chicken no it's not enough to squash it i'm thinking about it you know the it's so funny kip like you know seeing names out there that fit with the leafs are after david savar right big right shot guy who kills penalty.

Their penalty kill stinks too. But that's less likely to happen now because you got Labushkin. Is it less likely to happen now? I think so. Yeah? I do think so. I mean, let's be clear.

Their penalty kill is a much bigger problem than their power play in the big picture. They're in the bottom third of the NHL in penalty killing. Yeah. You know. And I i mean you spent does that lend towards maybe getting i'll throw the name out nick dowd from washington capitals has a feel of a centerman i'm listening pk guy more depth yeah i'd be into that that helps you know that helps right we're trying to get one

percent better at the fringes at some point it's not a terrible suggestion um bigger picture on the back end yeah what about this thing everyone's talking about pareko colton pareko st louis blues the thing that scares me the most on Colton Pareko, guys, if I'm not mistaking, six more years at six and a half million, Sammy. He's making 6.2 until the year 2930. 6.2. We'll be flying cars by then. We'll still be on the air by then for sure. You know, and will he ever hit the level that he had

when they beat the Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup? Will you ever get that Colton Pareko left? And there are back issues. He's 30. So you're getting him age 30 to 36. The comparable. Turning 31 this year. Is he?

Yeah. You know, the thing I mentioned to Sam when we brought this up briefly before the show is that it reminds me of the oliver ekman larson contract where it's really long on a guy you liked and he had a couple down years and you said boy but if he becomes the guy he was before we've got a good one and the organization is going we'll give them to you for next to nothing just take them you know and then you're getting a buyout type player in a few years. I worry about that. But do you, I mean, it's been a hot conversation.

Guy's been texting me about it. I've been getting a lot of messages from my friends. I see it on X, see it on Instagram. Do you think they're interested in Pareko? Is that somewhere they actually would go? You do. Well, listen, there's a big difference and then showing interest and actually yeah of course getting close yeah i just don't know if they'd be willing to completely take that contract off

their hands well i mean no one's doing retention on a six-year deal right you're you're wearing it entirely so i cannot see channels they did it on four for carlson i can't see doug armstrong yeah taking uh keeping any salary off of that i can't see and he historically doesn't do that he doesn't like that yeah i can't see giving doesn't like to retain for that pareko contract like if st louis is like we want to unload this deal we'll take tj brody off your hands um so you guys can make the cap fit this year you take pareko one for one all of a sudden you're you know you make it you got your fit is better right you've got a right shot guy you like it in the short term you just again you really worry about how that age is i'm not sure st louis is in the, we'd love to just give him away either.

No? I don't think that they're willing to give him away. I mean, he's a massive right-hand shot defenseman that skates beautifully and initiates offense. And like, he's not, you know, he's not a bomb. Conor's not that bad. No, it's just, you worry about what it's going to look like at the end. But that's a guy, out of anyone that's out there now,

that you could legitimately picture pairing with Morgan Rielly and being like, that guy can play 20 minutes, 24 minutes in a playoff series. There's no one else out there. I'm worried they're going to play Labushkin with him the whole time. You should be. Yeah. You should be very worried. I haven't hated Labushkin.

Labushkin was good. Two games, I like him. I'll be honest. I've not watched Colton Pareko remotely close enough to tell you if he can still play like he did four years ago. I know that I've watched, I don't know, a half dozen Blues games this year and couldn't tell you anything he's done, which, you know, that might be good, that might be bad, yeah he's never noteworthy some of the

fancier stats that i've seen on my ex today seem to lend to him still being pretty good they like him they do like him so i that's the only one for me but it's just it's such a huge risk that contract is just such a massive risk okay where do you guys want to go you want to stay on the d with tilly uh timothy lilligren might as well address it i do yeah what's going on um do you guys want to go you want to stay on the d with tilly uh timothy lilligran might as well address it i do yeah what's going on um do you want to go to sheldon first or you want to yeah let's go to show okay let's hear his thoughts uh you know just he's got to dust himself off and get ready for the next game we have four games and six nights here this week and we're right back at it tomorrow.

There's no time for anything other than preparing for the next one. You know, we've given him a great opportunity here, one that we thought he was building some positive momentum and doing well. You know, when you take a step back or slip a little bit, you've just got to be confident in the good things that you've done. Be confident after that quote. Can we get the start of that as a drop, please, Dan? No, no, no.

The one that got me was the one after he sighed. Can we get it again? Go. He's got to dust himself off.'s it that's it that's it that's the money shot right there just dust himself off what does that mean

it means get a dust buster he needs a dust buster lying in a pool of his own blood just going how'd he do in the fight dust yourself off and just going, how'd he do in the fight? Hope he does better in the next one. Dust yourself off. It's terrible. Terrible.

He was really good for a stretch of games, and then he missed a couple for an absence that no one will tell us what happened or what the injury was, and boy, he stood beside people shooting it in the net all night last night. The one, which one? The fourth.

The fourth goal. Where it's a three on three, and he has a guy, and he just decides to watch the guy behind the net, and his guy just shoots it in the net. It was like, what do you think your role is here? He is so confounding to me. You know, and I've heard people say, like, you know, when you have these guys who make these brain farts,

at least they're usually in players that have these, like bursts where you're like like what a trade-off like funoff or gardner yeah or jake mccabe even on the leafs now where it's like i'm okay with some of these things because you give you this thing lilligren i don't what does he give me to make that worth it yeah like. Like what is it? You get okay. And then that's not offense. It's not defense. No.

So what is it? He's Goldilocks. He's the opposite of Goldilocks. He's the opposite of Goldilocks. He's just looking for something that's just right. Yeah, he is. And that's, it hasn't been. So I don't know. I don't know what that means for playoffs for him it's

one game you know but it's really funny that keith was asked about him he was like next game we'll hope he's better in the next one but it's just the inconsistencies will kill you if you're keith but he can't start doing this march 5th you know if you're going to be a guy they go into the deadline saying okay he's one of our six but can't look like i mean would anybody around here talk and be offended if he wasn't part of the six i have said recently that i think he will be but that's due to a lack of options now you have labushkin you have another right shot guy if they get another right shot guy all of a sudden you go okay one guy can play his offside maybe lilligran's out but maybe chicken yeah i i was left to me we talked about it a little bit before the show but the sandin thing last year is a option for me not that they're gonna get a first round pick

for lilligran but like just trading him for another guy for just a different person cannot give up a right-handed d right now okay you can't i'm just you can't sam's point maybe that has massive value well if unless you've if you got a couple of cards up your sleeve yeah with one or two coming back okay i get it right but what does that mean you're getting rid of lilligran and you're inviting dumba to the party nick jensen sure honestly like i just maybe i'm just too close to it and i watch him every night maybe dumba and jensen are worse but guys we're we've been talking about this for we've had the same conversation with the same player for four years in a row like look at the

names we're throwing out i know yeah i know but i i'm just sick of having the conversation all the time yeah i'd rather him just like i don't want to have the combo every day i feel like i'm getting this is like a relationship lecture we're like we talked about this what are we doing here is there a seinfeld episode here what are we doing here? Isn't there a Seinfeld episode here? What are we doing here? We're not men. I talk about the Leafs 20 hours a week, and it's like four of them. It's like, well, Lilligren again.

I'm like, oh, can we just – How can I have a conversation? Let's complain about someone else. All right. Let's take a break. We're going to take a break, and then we'll come back, JB, and you'll complain more. We got thoughts on Tavares' line.

Oh, we had one on Keith on the Bruins PK owning the Leafs. Buddy, we're not going anywhere. We got time. We got time. All right. More of JB complaining after the break. You're listening and watching Real Kipper and Born. Diving deep into Leafs, Raptors, Real Kipper and born on the leaf edition of our show so where do you want to go jb we got uh we got a few different clips here we just touched on lilligran, Domi line, or Tavares? Take a pick.

I'll start positive. Okay, Tavares. So last night, watching that line, I was going to tweet a half-negative thing about Tavares, how he takes the most long-distance, unscreened wrist shots in the NHL, and it was meant to be critical, and then he took an unscreened, long-distance wrist shot,

and he ripped it top corner. A great shot. High blocker. Nice shot. Very Johnny T-type goal. But I love that line. Still love it. Still feel very good about it.

Did last night do anything to change your opinion? No. Clearly, if there's going to be any offense there, it's Tavares shooting the puck. I think it's everyone just shooting the puck. Like, they're shooting the puck like they're gonna have to be a rebound passing yeah get to the blue paint shoot it to the net listen i i still have some issues overall with the leafs not being a below average passing team i dare anyone to deny that i mean yarn croc's a shooter first mcmahon's a shooter first tavara's a shooter first willie's a shooter first matthew's a shooter first

i mean it's a long list for tuesday and domi i'll pass it they will yeah is that enough nope not even close and domi only passed every time he gets it and he has to shoot he's like shocked yeah i know you're flying it's like pulling teeth to get him to shoot the puck. And you wish that would kind of rub off on a few others. But just to go back to your question, as long as JT has his legs and his energy, I think he can still be very effective. Yeah. It's just there's some guys that are okay still

if they lose 5% of their skating, he's not one of them. No. And if he can somehow keep his energy going, his legs, we can tell when JT has fresh legs. Yeah. He's a much different player. For sure.

I do feel like having him farther down the lineup gives you those moments of, hey, we got one from the bottom six, if you want to call his line that. Like, he'll be able to provide a spark here and there because he can finish, right? And he gets to the dangerous areas. Yarncroft shoots it there.

McMahon has good speed and all that. Again, I really like the line. Why don't we listen? Do we have something on the Tavares line here? We do. Flip four. Why don't we have a listen to that on them? Bobby had a little bit of a dip at his game,

but it's come back up here, and Yarncroft has come in fresh and has given the group a boost. And John has just played extremely well. I think he's played a good, honest game and waited for his opportunities, but also really pushed things on offense. It was good to see him get another goal here tonight. But, you know the uh

i thought the other night um against new york you know he he was he gets one that goes goes off his body but like that's the kind of kind of goal that he's that he earned and his line earned by just being relentless on the puck and there's you know i guess if there's one trait of that line that you like it's it's how relentless they are they hound the puck ernie hounds the puck john hounds hounds the puck by mcmahon is really doing that well so yeah that to that end you like those elements and again i don't deny any of that for any second but i just saw a boston brewing team that shared and passed the puck to each other better than the leafs and somehow if they can find a way to still hound and shoot at the right time but there's so many times when even JT and Austin at times,

they shoot just for the sake of shooting. And if it's not there, hold on to it, turn, cycle, have support, keep the play alive, not be a one and done, and then it's out of your zone. For me, I would rather a team that overshoots than overpasses. And, you know, they are the number one team in the NHL at creating goals. I think they're first or maybe they're second now

in goals for per game. Like they create a ton of offense doing it that way. So I totally know what you're saying. I think if they pass the puck more they could prolong ozone possessions wear down the and have to defend less so right now it feels like it's like we take our shot you get yours when it works it's great yeah but when it doesn't work it's a little too chance tradie i guess it would be the criticism even though it creates a lot of offense but for this line in particular i like the word hounds but but it does it does go

into it does paint a picture a little bit of how they've been over the last few years and that is let's exchange chances and we like our chances when the night's over that we'll just have one or two or three more goals than you. Yeah. They said that. It just lends to the details on defense for me. I can't believe how much I believe in Bobby McMahon as just a guy, though. Yeah, just someone to get in on the floor and get pucks back. As a player on the team. Yeah.

He was a guy that was a healthy scratch and then got into the lineup because two guys were sick and he scored a hat trick and he's just been a nhl contributor ever since can i tell you the funniest thing it's so weird yeah so my son is seven and not a hockey fan like does not care all that much but he started to watch about halfway through this season he started to sit with me and watch a bit of this game favorite player bobby mcmahon but since he's been watching mcmahon all he does is shoot in the net he's on the puck glenn anderson dropping the shoulder going to the net like he's an awesome player i'm like yeah i guess i see it if you've only watched the last 20 games you think this guy's an all-star he's been very good so no i i think for me that's he's just propelled himself

from a bubble guy in the playoffs into a lock in the lineup for the playoffs. Interesting. Do you guys think Gregor's been out too long? Like, I know Ryan Reeves has been better, but Gregor was a player on this team here, and now how long has it been since he played? Two weeks?

Just a forgotten guy. You know, early in the year with his speed, he was getting chances and blowing wide. I remember I was clamoring to get him a look in the like i think with marner and matthews i was saying he did get it give him the top six go he was really effective he did get it two weeks a long time to tell a guy sorry we can't take out ryan reeves for a night oh and now now you start reading you start reading some stuff out there it's like how do the leafs make cap space while you waive Gregor?

And I'm like, wait, didn't you invest four months into this guy just to say, we don't like him anymore? Is that what's going on? He's 25 or 26. He's got hundreds of NHL games. Yeah. Like, if they're going to waive him and bring in another player who's better, and that's part of it, fine.

Like, I like him. He's fast. But he didn't score in three calendar months like he's lost his position to ryan reeves and you needed like you needed to discover that now that he wasn't gonna score or come on like that's what you scout guys for him to score you certainly didn't put him in a position to do it so he brought him to not score and to do other things i mean he killed and he forechecked i just don't understand the part where you invest all this time and then just come to the conclusion that he can't score so we're going to get rid of him and we're going to go to what what do you think's coming in to replace him you know who how he might get back in uh keith didn't like your boy homie last night i don't think he had a long chat with him after practice

today they they talked about it um did you want outside of that did you want to talk about the the domey line because yes before we talk about the fourth line more the second line has been a bit of an issue and uh clip seven he he talked about it at length today well there's we just think that uh the offensive skills of the line the characteristics make up a line that can be effective and then it also you know has effects on the rest of the lineup right i mean our ability to to have john on a different line uh sets us up well and we're seeing some of the positive things that are coming out of that. So it's all connected. So for those reasons, you want to stay with it,

and the team has played well, and the team has had good results. So you want to be able to continue to work with it and let it breathe a little bit, but obviously monitoring at the same time. Okay, we're not making any changes anytime soon. That's what you got out of that. I got out of that, we like the third line, or the Tavares line, we like our top line.

What else do you want us to do with that group, basically? Yeah. They're getting caved in, though. Every single night. Again, last night. Yeah, I put the onus on nylander to take it up a notch here that seems charitable to max i just think he's uh well i think overall max has been really good and i don't know whether or not you just want to turn him into a selkie uh you

know nominee that's not happening no i but it's become like an awkward conversation the max domy thing because he is beloved in toronto not just because of his dad he's an awesome personality like his twitter videos he's played well he's played well he makes created exciting he scores that winner on his birthday like he's a part of this and people love him i thought you didn't care about birthday stuff touche um and so there's a lot of reasons that everyone wants it to work and i include myself in that i want it to work it's a little like the lilligren thing for me though where it's like it doesn't work it it hasn't you know 10 straight games when his line is on the ice the other team gets more chances than the Leafs do.

You know, I don't know how many points he has this year. I can find that out pretty quick. But it's not a ton, right? It's, I think, more than that. Is it? Whatever it is. But, yeah, so some offense but not a ton. And then to balance that out, yeah, he's at 31 points, seven goals.

Okay. I know he's not on the power play, so that definitely has some effect on it. But I don't think he skates a ton. He is fast, but I don't think he skates a ton. Well, he's faster than JT. He's very fast. But he doesn't skate until it's like time to go. There's not a lot of stops and starts.

I'm not trying to turn him into a selkie guy. I just don't know what is is the answer at the trade deadline to bring somebody else in and then what have him more of of a utility guy that can move up and down yeah the lineup i still like him on the i would like him to play with the best players like to me if you're gonna put him somewhere for the playoffs you put him in niza's spot, I think you can't go 82 games without giving him a look with Marner and Matthews. He's one of the only guys who thinks the game offensively at that elite level and has the hands to set them up

and make plays. And Nyes has been better? Nyes has been better, but it's still a big ask for... It's crazy he gets no points there. A college guy's coming in and ends up your number one left winger to try to contend for stanley cup yeah i get it if you want to show him give him some sample sizes of uh what you can be one day but it's just it's just too big of an ask for for nize and so like i want to be clear that i think domi is a

good player and i think they should use him in that spot and just see if that's the spot i'd like to i'd like to see him with matthews and marner let's just see you know matthews blocks more shots than anyone the nhl marner gets selkie he's not a big body can defend he's not he's not a big body and he cannot uh do what nize does with uh some work on the walls yeah that's fair right it's just gonna be a different look it is a different look and then you can move nize down and he can help out in the lineup somewhere else if you bring in another center i i don't know you're not spending domi's money any better than max domi like he has a has value i i don't know i struggle to see where he should go and i i yeah i don't know and him and

willie do bring out the worst in each other on the line it just feels like they both i mean he got benched for it on saturday just a lot of flying him by and then standing still he also took the wrong guy last night on a goal against again so to your point about willie i i just i i think he's got a yeah he's got to work harder and he's got to work smarter and he's got to show that him and pasternak should be equal last night right i just i'm making more money than you. I should be as good or better. He's next here, right? Like he is a 50-plus goal scorer who last night led the game with vision and passing. I didn't want to do this today. Yeah, you did.

No, I didn't. Okay. I mentioned that I didn't want to do it, but you brought it up. And it's like Willie makes more than pass, eh? Yes. Yeah. And it's upon you every night you go up against a guy like that. You got to be insecure.

I like that. In feeling like I have to measure, I have to prove, right? That's the one time that you need to be insecure that I can't have people thinking I'm not as good as him. So I'm going to outplay him tonight. I'm going to outwork him. I'm going to just

do everything I can. And last night was a missed opportunity. Now here's the good news. Willie, you get another crack at it Thursday night. In a tougher environment. Have the us against the world. Nobody loves me.

Nobody thinks I'm as good as Pasternak. I'm going to go in there and I'm going to show them. The question is, does he play hard enough on Wednesday to be in the lineup Thursday? It's a huge trap game, right? Oh, there's never been a bigger look-ahead game. Just lost to the Bruins. They're on your mind.

We get them again later this week. This is division. If we win that, we're right. And then Buffalo's just going to be like. The Leafs have had great success against the Sabres. I don't think they lost 9-3 last game, did they? Was it 9-3? Was it that bad?

I think we probably worked the game. The Sabres might win by another touchdown. It was 9-3. Well, the good news is you're working Wednesday night. It's our Wednesday night Scotiabank game of the week, and you're going to be on the panel, so you'll tell us. I'll be paying close attention, boys. I'll have all the answers for you.

Yeah. Speaking of the division. Oh, well, I didn't. Go ahead. Could I just mention that uh simmer said something last night that really jumped out to me about how past tracks the only guy that kind of reminds him of kucherov on the power play i thought that was really well said just the way he rolls the wrists and it looks like he's gonna shoot but he passes and he passes he looks like he's gonna shoot like

it just he's so elite. He rolls the wrists like... There's no tell. There's no tell. There's absolutely no tell. You know, Marner might be the best passer in the league. You're one of them. Matthews is the best shooter in the league. But Kucherov and Pasternak can do both.

But here's the problem is that Marner's predictability and Matthews is far higher than Pasternak's and Kucharov's. These two guys can do both. So it's easier to game plan against the Leafs because you're like, I'll tell you what he's going to do and I'll tell you what he's going to do. Kucharov and Pasternak, I got no idea. No idea. We're talking about the Leafs power play, which is, again,

one of the best in the NHL, second in the league or something. They're very, very good, but, you know, when you're against the best PKs in the league, deception is valuable. Yeah, the division. Yes. So last night, the Leafs lose, Boston wins, Florida gets another win.

You know, like they just... Which Florida beat? The Rangers. Oh, on home ice. You see that Barkov goal? Oh, my God. Or assist. That's one of the nicest hockey highlights I've ever seen. I't think i've i've seen a better uh effort on a pass in my in my life touch to get

it back to his own forehand to make the pass is the touch for me not even the hacky stack one yeah i wonder why reinhardt scored so many i could tap that baby yeah hubert i was watching Maybe. Yeah, Huberto's watching Reinhardt going, I remember the days. Like, that's... When you play in Florida, you don't get recognized as one of the best centermen in the league. No. And how are we not talking about Barkov as being just... But no, we do this. The best...

No, we do this. The best 200-foot guy in the league. He's been the proverbial most underrated guy in the league for 10 years. He's not underrated. He's properly rated. Everybody says he's great. He's great. But nobody talks about him.

No, because he plays for the Panthers. Okay, thank you. But he, I think every hockey fan, if you're like, hey, Sasha Barkov, really good. They'd be like, who is that? I've never heard of him. It's not like that. He's not underrated.

He's properly rated. Everyone thinks he's elite. Yeah. Shout out Bukes for that draft. Yes, absolutely. Is anybody going to stop Florida? Like, what do you do? I don't know.

They're pretty damn good, man. They're good. They're really good. Like, they, like, something has, you need injuries. Every be every team in the east two years needs florida to get hurt yeah why don't we i don't know how else they stop i mean it's not good forget it how else do you stop the florida panthers i don't know just let nick cousins take 300 penalties last night this guy ends up in the ice every game flopping around install handles in his jersey to pick him up every night you know what they keep winning they don't mind helping

either coming in to help them or defend them they're just a tight team who scored the ot winner against the leafs last year i didn't i didn't notice it was a cousin no comments or questions at this time oh all. All right. All right. It's a quick hour. We done already? We don't even have a guest to thank in that hour. That's how much we had to talk about. Who do we have to talk about next? Brian Lawton, former NHL player, agent, general manager.

He's done it all. Trade deadline coming up. We'll get into what he expects between Friday. All right. Take a quick break. Go get a drink. Grab a towel. Wipe off.

And we're back.